• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt (I probably could have left this out)

I don’t even have a bbq grill. I’ve got a Calphalon Grilling Pan which worked amazingly well on top of my electric burner.

Since I’m more cautious about whether my chicken is cooked properly, I decided against the ‘experienced’ way, and just cut it into, especially since I was planning to cut it up anyway. Michael’s 6 minutes + 10 minutes timing was perfect.

So go check out the recipe at Cooking for Engineers.

In particular, these foods are supposed to promote healthy brain function. Of course, you should do your own reading and research, but this isn’t a terrible jumping off point. I really should have included all the sources that I referenced, but what’s interesting and reassuring is that they all overlapped greatly.

I condensed this list into a page so it’s just 1 sheet to slap up on your fridge or take with you to the store. I’ve included a PDF version as well as the original doc which I created using OpenOffice so you can edit it yourself.

• Foods for a Healthy Brain (PDF)
• Foods for a Healthy Brain (original ODT)

If you care even a little about your health, the quality of your food, the environment and even animal rights, then you owe it yourself to read these 2 fantastic books: Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I just read these and was floored. There’s no question they’ve changed how I look at food and how I eat.

FFN focuses on the fast food industry, while IDoF takes an in-depth look at how the food industry, particularly in the Western world, has completely changed how we humans eat in less than 100 years.

While these are just 2 books among many, they’ve lead the vanguard in what is hopefully a revolution. What’s ironic is that it’ll be a ‘revolution’ to get us back to how we used to eat, a practically pre-science status.

Next up on my reading list is Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. If you’d like to read even more, you can check out these refs:

• Michael Pollan’s blog at the NY Times
• Michael Pollan’s list of links on his website
• Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed piece on family farming

At $11/mo for the paperback book plan, I think you would need to read 2-3 books per month for it to pay off. The audiobook plans are more pricey and the any format you want plan tops out at $30.49/mo.

As my reading sources have shifted to the Net, I probably wouldn’t break even – I think I’ll stick to the local library for now.

More info at Best Camarillo Dentists site. They’re also running a free teeth whitening offer.

However, I’ve found that sometimes I don’t have time to either cook an extensive meal, go shopping and/or plan the week’s meals, or just want something different and/or simpler. So I went searching for some alternative recipe sources and found these. I was also specifically looking for ‘healthy’ dishes as it’s totally easy to get fast food or nuke a frozen dinner. I’ll bet that there are lot of these recipes that don’t qualify as ‘healthy’, but there are lots to choose from so you don’t need to depend on all of them.

1. Lifehack
2. WebMD
3. The Food Network (also has useful search tool for finding recipes with specific ingredients in under x # of minutes)
4. WHFoods

I’m yet to try any of the recipes here, but my goal wasn’t to necessarily find the best recipes, but more to find ideas. And after all, I’m yet to find a recipe that I ever followed to a ‘T’!

Any company that gets big enough where they have so many products/projects and/or groups and/or diversity such that infighting starts needs to split up and/or downsize. Pronto.

When a company starts reflecting the human race in the clannish aspect, the one group vs another, the zero-sum game that everyone thinks it is, they need to step back and take a good look at themselves, because this is not a way for any company to succeed.

Ironically, there was a great deal of pride taken in the action. This is not something to be proud of. This is symbolic of a dysfunctional company.

I’ve attached an Excel spreadsheet w/ formulae that I used to compare
mortgages. Just punch in the value of the house you want to buy, the downpayment you plan to make, and the various fees that your potential lender is going to charge you. You can adjust this to suit
you.

Good real estate sites for searching and even for background knowledge:
Realtor.com, Homes.com, Homefair.com.

I’d recommend going with a big realtor like Century21, Coldwell Banker,
etc. They typically have more resources. On the other hand, you may
find a smaller realtor will give you more personal attention – just
make sure they have access to MLS listings.

Find out about current interest rates: bankrate.com. You can
also do some comparison shopping there.

Mortgage shopping comparison: lendingtree.com. Of
course, once you plug in all your personal info, expect to get lots of
calls! Do it once you’re sure you need to secure a loan. I highly
recommend checking with the big lenders as well as what you get from a
shopping comparison agent. The big guys can typically offer you the
best rates, loans backed up by lots of money, they probably won’t
resell the loan and they have more resources to support you in the long
run. So consider: eTrade, ABNAmro, eLoan.

There is a Wharton Prof who has a really good website discussing all of the
ins and outs of mortgages, loans, banks, etc. You should definitely
check it out. In fact, it’s useful even if you already own property. He
calls himself the Mortgage Professor. Go figure…

The day you decide to lock in on an interest rate is the day that you
can expect to spend most of the day doing that (at least if you want to
try to secure the best rate and and the lowest lender closing costs).

Good luck!

PS> This was originally an e-mail that I was about to re-send to yet another person when I realized (yet again) that I should really blog this and share it with the rest of the world. That way, I don’t even need to re-send the e-mail, but instead say – just check out my blog! Yeah, some of you may not agree, but that’s ok – you don’t have to; you don’t even have to read this!

Companies are yet to widely acknowledge this ‘flaw’ in our makeup and adjust accordingly. I for one, don’t think I could do without multitasking at work. As someone in IT, I think it comes with the territory. For example, let’s say I’m patching a machine that could take at least 30 mins or more. I’m hardly going to sit there staring at the progress bar while twiddling my thumbs, and 99% of the time, I’ll be off doing something(s) else. Add to that the fact that I’m constantly interrupted by users with problems and/or further requests that are invariable ‘urgent’ (they’re never urgent; they just don’t plan well). Of course, this is probably the reason why I feel my brain is fried at the end of the day.

Setting myself goals outside of work (like writing this blog), means that the multitasking bug is just part and parcel of my everyday existence. Right now, as I write this, I’m listening to a podcast and trying very hard to swat away my other thoughts about all of the other things I need to do.

There are 2 ways to define multitasking – performing multiple tasks simultaneously or near to it, or switching from one task to the next before completing one or the other. While I’ve hinted mainly at performing tasks concurrently, switching tasks – even though you’re only performing one at any given time – can be just as detrimental in all ways mentioned above. Why? Because it takes time to effectively switch from one task to the next, or just to get spun up effectively on 1 task. Even at work, if I view a project as requiring a fair amount of brain power and planning, I reserve at least a couple of hours, because it takes at least 15 minutes (some say as much as an hour) to become properly immersed in the subject before you start making progress on it. There’s no question about that in my mind.

Hmm… I wonder if sitting in a completely white empty room with just a keyboard, mouse and monitor would make me more productive. Of course, the screen would have to be devoid of all other icons and windows not pertaining to what I’m currently working on. Who knows? I may have just accidentally predicted a future work environment. So the next time you decide to multitask, jot some time estimates down before and after the fact, and ask yourself if you’re really being more productive.

References:
Joel Spolsky’s article, Human Task Switches Considered Harmful
NY Times
Wall Street Journal
CIO Magazine