05 Aug 08 $2 Starbucks Grande Cold Drinks
Yep…only $2 for your favorite Starbucks cold beverages…all you have to do is find a receipt lying on the ground, or actually go out and buy some morning coffee and bring that receipt back sometime after 2pm and your Grande (16oz) cold drink is only $2.
Now of course things like this couldn’t last forever, but it will last from now (August 5th) thru September 2nd which is really the end of summer anyway (unless you live in San Francisco where they have Indian Summers or Florida where it never leaves summertime).
BTW b/c of my diet I don’t visit Starbucks very often as the only 3 drinks I can stand there (Vanilla Bean Frappuccino, Straberry Cream Frappuccino, and Caramel Apple Cider) are waaaaaaay too high in carbs, fat, etc, and I can’t stand coffee or tea.
Tags: $2, $2 Starbucks, cheap, coffee, Frappuccino, grande, starbucks, summer, tea
05 Aug 08 The secret to my success…
HA! If you know me for real, you know that I am not a wildly successful person, but recently I have been quite successful at losing weight. I remember going clothes shopping with my mother and buying size husky as a child. I’ve always been heavy as far back as I can remember, and was picked on at school for it. I got down to 177 back in 2002 in order to join the Navy, but haven’t been that low until now. Recently, I have gone from my all time high (that I measured on a scale) of around 220 (but there was a period where I didn’t get on a scale because I knew I had been eating poorly and gained a lot of weight since the last time I weighed myself and topped at around 250) all the way down to 155 where I am at now. I’m in the best shape of my life (including most of high school). How did I do it? Let me tell you.
Feb 2005
First off I started as most people do at New Year’s thinking to myself that I would love to shed some extra pounds. My friend (at the time) Billy and I were hanging out and going to the gym. He told me he wanted to lose weight in time for Pride, which I had no idea about at that time. Pride in San Francisco is the last weekend in June, which put the goal about 6 months out. I figured this was a good goal to set and decided on 165-160 as my goal. Quite lofty for a guy in his 200’s, but something to strive for.
Feb 2006
Before this I was doing a high carb; low fat diet. I would eat all the foods I wanted as long as there was little to no fat in them. Pretty much my diet consisted of beans & rice. While this diet might of been effective for some, it wasn’t working for me very well.
May 2006
I decided to go with an old diet I had done in the past with mild success. I got down to about 185 with it before and figured I would give it a full go this time. It isn’t the Atkins diet and it isn’t the South Beach diet, but somewhere in between. (Let me also interject here that I drink a SHITLOAD of water every day. While I do still occasionally drink diet soda, I make sure to have at least 9-10 8oz glasses of Voss water a day.)
Sept 2006
Breakfast: I would eat depending on time (which most days was very little) an Atkins breakfast bar or shake shortly after waking up (6am-8am). These chocolate shakes turn out to be pretty yummy. If I had more time, I would fix up about 2 eggs as scrambled or over medium. When I got to work, I would microwave 2-4 pieces of precooked bacon as a 9am-10am snack.
March 2007
Snack: If I got hungry outside of the bacon, I would have a string cheese. Cheese turned out to be one of the best snacks for me, as it is something I love, but also is very low in carbs. I would get 50% reduced fat cheese and other low-fat cheese to help reduce the daily fat intake.
June 2007
Lunch: Now let me explain that I am very much a meat and potatoes person. I don’t like most vegetables, fruits, salads, etc. I am one of the pickiest eaters I’ve ever met. My lunch would consist of 2 turkey sausages or 2-3 turkey hot dogs. I would microwave them for about 30-45 seconds, then pull them out and slice them down the middle. Pour my favorite condiment of the day on, then finish cooking.
Sept 2007 (I didn’t eat anything for 3 weeks)
Here is a HUGE tip…these meals are quite repetitive, at least they were for me. Here’s the tip on mixing them up. SPICES & SAUCES! Every day I would pick a different spice, mustard, etc to put on my meals to help mix things up and keep the tastes different. I love Emril’s Essence, Boar’s head spicy mustard, and low-carb/reduced sugar Heinz ketchup. BTW be careful with mustard, almost all of them are zero carbs, but once you start getting into honey mustards the carbs rack up quickly.
Sept 2007 (Obviously started eating again)
Snack: In the afternoon I would grab another string cheese or more often a sugar free Jello. Throw on a dollop of light whipped cream (0-2 carbs) and you have a yummy and low-carb snack.
November 2007
Snack: Between leaving work and dinner I would sometimes have a snack. It might of been a carrot, piece of cheese, or Atkins bar (which are going up in price recently, but still worth buying to help fight those chocolate/sugary cravings).
December 2007
Dinner: Being new to California and not used to the expensive cost of living, I would stay clear of eating out as much as possible. Instead I would buy frozen or raw chicken breasts and cook them up at home. There are plenty of great zero/low carb dressings to marinade your chicken in. This is where spices would play a huge factor as well. Every night a different spice or different sauce to pour on. I would occasionally eat a helping of cooked broccoli (with melted cheese on top) to round out my dinner and keep me from being hungry the rest of the night.
Feb 2008
Here is the key though…as much as diet played a factor….EXERCISE is what helped me lose the weight. I would go to the gym, even if I didn’t want to 3-6 times a week and do at least 30 minutes on the elliptical machine. I would go and work on some of the equipment as well, and always do at least 100-200 crunches. It wasn’t an intense workout, but I would maintain certain goals while on the elliptical.
April 2008
Working out became something that I looked forward to (so cliche I know), but it is true. I would typically go after work, but have recently started toning up more and doing more machines, so I go in the morning to do weights and still do my cardio on the way home from work.
May 2008
I also for a large portion of the diet have taken Alli. It is one of the first OTC diet/weightloss drugs the FDA has approved. It has some crazy “treatment effects” which I am glad to say I never had, but with the wrong intake of fat you are in for some nasty times. I would take one pill with each meal. Alli isn’t the answer for everyone, but it does help eliminate up to 25% of the fat put into your body while eating.
June 2008
That’s about it….diet, exercise, and Alli were the main secrets to my success. I am still not exactly where I want to be and with such rapid and dramatic weight loss I have some left over areas I am trying to tone up now. Am I where I want to be? No way…Don’t get me wrong, I love the new me and feel great as I went from a size 36 to 34 to 33 to 32/31 and now to 31/30. I just want to feel more comfortable nekkid and specifically with my shirt off. I am sure that I will get there with time and effort.
July 2008
I hope this helps you, I know this plan isn’t right of everyone, but being a very picky eater I think I can maintain the diet for sometime to come…as long as they keep slaughtering those stupid chickens, I will be sure to have them for dinner.
Tags: 155, 220, alli, alli weight loss, atkins, cardio, exercise, fat, fatso, loss, nick, nick starr, pride, pride sf, south beach, starr, weight, weight loss
03 Nov 07 NY Times – The Global Sympathetic Audience
My NY Times article about Twitter and the entire suicide issue is finally published. It is online, and looks to be in print tomorrow, November 4th. Below is the article, but it can also be found on the NY Times site here. There are a few inaccuracies. The police didn’t find me in my car the next morning, and I’ve had no contact with any law enforcement about this incident (others did by calling them and reporting the incident though). On the site, it doesn’t look like they used any of the photos we took the day of my second break-in.
Currently, I am still without a computer as well, but I hope to have enough money by the middle of the month to get one. The donation link is still available as well.
Before I publish the article, I want to take this time to give an update on what has been going on. My job in the north bay found out about my recent break-ins. My boss donated towards my fund, and other various donations have been coming in.
I decided that the best way to start over, since I was down to 2 outfits and the clothes on my back, was to move outside of the city and find a place to live. I found a beautiful house that was renting out rooms. Check out my Flickr page for some pics.
The rent is VERY reasonable, but coming up with the first/last/deposit/etc was a HUGE drain on my finances. In the end I believe it is worth it, and putting off my goal of buying a new computer has suffered, but I am now safe and sleeping on a real bed (it’s a queen sized double high air mattress).
It feels good to be out of my car and sleeping in a real house. I’m using my only piece of technology left to watch lots of YouTube and other videos on my iPhone.
Other then that, I’ve been better. Things are looking up and moving forward. With all of that being said, here is the article after the jump: (more…)
15 Oct 07 Over $300 so far & Now accepting PayPal
At the main donation site, http://NickStarr.com/donate.html, there is a new widget for ChipIn, which someone told me about on Twitter. They include the ability to send money via PayPal. A lot of people have emailed me saying they have some extra money in PayPal they could send my way, but up until now I didn’t have the ability to collect via PayPal.
Over $300 has been raised so far, totaling 31% towards the purchase of a new laptop. Thanks to everyone who has donated so far. Still a long ways from being able to get a new system, but the goal seems closer each day.
I want to thank everyone who has helped out again.
13 Oct 07 Traveshamockery – Or How I Lost My Digital Life
As many of you already know, the past 24 hours have been quite a trying time for me. Last night I was out and parked my car in what seemed to be a safe area. I was going to be at a show and didn’t want to lug around my laptop with me, so I left in the car covered by a hoodie.
After the show, I returned to my vehicle to find the passenger side window smashed in, and my laptop bag and all of it’s contents stolen. They attempted to get my Harmon/Kardon Drive+Play system (I would guess they thought it was a GPS), but it is bolted down to the dash pretty tight.
I also have made this a bit more public on my LifeAs.NickStarr.com site, but for the past year off and on (more on then off), I have been living and sleeping in my car. Not having a place to store my items, my entire life (especially my digital life) has been compiled and stored on my laptop. It has become an accessory that I found I am unable to live without, and now it and all of its contents are gone. I know there are many who haven’t agreed with my lifestyle choices, but I have my reasons which I have gone into on my LifeAs site.
Last night I was able to find a remote spot of town, but there were people walking around at all hours of the night. With the cold wind blowing in, and constantly having cars and people go by, I was barely able to get any sleep last night. I had to make sure that my vehicle wasn’t robbed again while I was in it.
Inside my bag were the following items:
- Apple MacBook Pro 2.2Ghz Santa Rosa (including charger)- $1999
- Nintendo DS Lite (with 8 games and G6 lite imported from overseas)- $129 + Games + $100
- Apple iPod connector cord + ear buds – $19 + $29
- Apple iPhone USB Charger – $29
- AT&T Global Option 3.6 ExpressCard 3G card – $299 Retail + $59/month
- Bose Quiet Comfort 3 Charger + Battery – $40 + $50
- The bag itself – $50
- ..and other misc items.
My entire life was on that laptop, and I haven’t performed a backup in some time now. All of my music, photos, videos, documents, SAVED PASSWORDS, and more were on that computer.
If you have known me or read the site for any length of time now, you know that I am on my computer nearly every moment I am not traveling or working. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself without a computer. I am in the Apple SF store writing this, and trying to cancel the debit card that was in the case.
I know this is a huge thing to ask, but I just recently moved to San Francisco, and haven’t gotten a single paycheck yet. I had to have my best friend from Florida Western Union me the $160 to have my window replaced, as my bank account now reads in the negative figures.
If you find an extra $5 lying around and are willing to donate it to me toward getting a new laptop, I would HIGHLY appreciate it.
I’ve never put a sticker or any sort on my laptop, but if you have a company and what the logo displayed on my laptop, I will post a sticker on it. I travel all over the Bay Area, and to a ton of the tech meetups, so your logo will be visible in a WIDE variety of locations.
I think that the more reasonable thing to do is to try to just raise enough for a MacBook (non-Pro), as the difference in price is around $700-$800. I do need to get a new wireless card, and my old one was ExpressCard/34, which only works on the MacBook Pro, but they have a USB option (which sticks out like a sore thumb), but it does the job. The base model is $1099 (or $999 with a student discount).
I know this is a huge gesture, but I don’t know what else to say or do. I honestly feel lost and alone in a city I barely know. My life hasn’t been coming together the way I planned, but maybe this can be a huge step in the rebuilding effort.
Below is a way to donate via Google Checkout (think Paypal, but Google’s version without fees). I have also included a link to Amazon’s Honor System which provides donations at a cheap transaction fee (paid on my side). There are pre-set amounts in the Google one, and you can choose any amount you want via Amazon. I regret that I don’t have a PayPal account, but these are the options I have left.
I once again thank everyone who has been supportive and left me well wishes today. Until I get a new laptop, updates in tech as well as my life will be few and far between. I apologize, but once I am back up and running, I will be posting a lot more, and have a podcast in the works as well.
Thank you,
Nicholas R. Starr Schuler
Donate via Amazon 
