idano Blog Network

As I go into the Thanksgiving season I am overwhelmed by the things that I have to be thankful for. The reason for this is where I was at in my life just one year ago. To be honest I was not very thankful at that time.

A year ago in September I had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. I year ago this week I was in the middle of chemo and radiation treatment. I remember only being able to take one bite of ham for Thanksgiving because I could not swallow. It was a scary and sad time in my life.

This year it is so much different. After a reoccurrence of cancer at the beginning of this year, major surgery, and another regime of chemo I am done and cancer free. Wow, that is the first time I have said that – I am cancer free! It feels good .

This year I am looking forward to eating as much ham as I can stuff in my stomach along with all the other Thanksgiving goodies. I have no doctor’s appointments to go to, no treatments, no medications. I am back to a normal life. It feels so good to be here, I am so thankful that I made it through.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

There is no way that I could have made it this far without some key people in my life. For them I give much thanks.

God

He was with me every moment of my battle against cancer. It is not that anyone left me or ran out on me but it is physically impossible for another human being to be there all the time for you. That is not impossible with God.

He said:

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. – Joshua 1:5 NKJV

And He didn’t. There were times when I honestly would get mad at God and throw fits like a little kid because I did not like what I was going through. That did not matter to Him, He was still there for me, and He still is today.

My Wife

Although I said above that nobody could be there all the time for you my wife could only be beat by God himself. She takes such good care of me. There were times when I had to tell her to go do something for herself because she so attentive to me. She amazed me on how she could continue to love me and be there for me even when I would snap at her because I wasn’t feeling well.

The bible righty says:

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord. – Proverbs 18:22 NKJV

All I can say is that I have received a ton of favor from God in the form of my wife. I love you babe!

My Kids

My kids helped me so much through this you have no idea. The did this by making me hopeful for the future. I did not bring them into this world to leave when they are young. No, I want to be here to see them grow up, finish school, get good jobs, marry, and have kids. I want to be apart of their lives every step of the way.

Their smiles, laughter, and questions about how I felt pushed me through every needle stick, treatment, and procedure. My view was if I could push myself and go through this then I could help them get through the hard parts of their lives. That is a part of why I am here.

I had to overcome so much fear in the last year that I feel much more qualified to help them overcome the fears that they will face. Going through what I went through has equipped me to be a better parent now. My hope is that by being a better parent they will have better lives.

Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father. – Proverbs 17:6 NKJV

They truly are my crown.

Other Family, Friends, …

There are countless other people that helped during this time. Family members, friends, ministries, organization, etc that in some way reached out to my family and I and helped. They were instrumental in helping us when we could not help ourselves. Seeing people reach out like that inspires me to want to do the same.

Thank you to all of you that helped during this time.

Conclusion

The things that I have had to go through in the last year have not been pleasant but I made it through them. I truly feel like I have come out better on the other side. I am so thankful to have made it and am thankful for the people that were there that helped my family and I along the way.

My hope is that as I return to normal life that I can take what I have experienced and learned and use it help others that may need a little help themselves.

As I go into the Thanksgiving season I am overwhelmed by the things that I have to be thankful for. The reason for this is where I was at in my life just one year ago. To be honest I was not very thankful at that time.

A year ago in September I had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. I year ago this week I was in the middle of chemo and radiation treatment. I remember only being able to take one bite of ham for Thanksgiving because I could not swallow. It was a scary and sad time in my life.

This year it is so much different. After a reoccurrence of cancer at the beginning of this year, major surgery, and another regime of chemo I am done and cancer free. Wow, that is the first time I have said that – I am cancer free! It feels good .

This year I am looking forward to eating as much ham as I can stuff in my stomach along with all the other Thanksgiving goodies. I have no doctor’s appointments to go to, no treatments, no medications. I am back to a normal life. It feels so good to be here, I am so thankful that I made it through.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

There is no way that I could have made it this far without some key people in my life. For them I give much thanks.

God

He was with me every moment of my battle against cancer. It is not that anyone left me or ran out on me but it is physically impossible for another human being to be there all the time for you. That is not impossible with God.

He said:

No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. – Joshua 1:5 NKJV

And He didn’t. There were times when I honestly would get mad at God and throw fits like a little kid because I did not like what I was going through. That did not matter to Him, He was still there for me, and He still is today.

My Wife

Although I said above that nobody could be there all the time for you my wife could only be beat by God himself. She takes such good care of me. There were times when I had to tell her to go do something for herself because she so attentive to me. She amazed me on how she could continue to love me and be there for me even when I would snap at her because I wasn’t feeling well.

The bible righty says:

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord. – Proverbs 18:22 NKJV

All I can say is that I have received a ton of favor from God in the form of my wife. I love you babe!

My Kids

My kids helped me so much through this you have no idea. The did this by making me hopeful for the future. I did not bring them into this world to leave when they are young. No, I want to be here to see them grow up, finish school, get good jobs, marry, and have kids. I want to be apart of their lives every step of the way.

Their smiles, laughter, and questions about how I felt pushed me through every needle stick, treatment, and procedure. My view was if I could push myself and go through this then I could help them get through the hard parts of their lives. That is a part of why I am here.

I had to overcome so much fear in the last year that I feel much more qualified to help them overcome the fears that they will face. Going through what I went through has equipped me to be a better parent now. My hope is that by being a better parent they will have better lives.

Children’s children are the crown of old men, And the glory of children is their father. – Proverbs 17:6 NKJV

They truly are my crown.

Other Family, Friends, …

There are countless other people that helped during this time. Family members, friends, ministries, organization, etc that in some way reached out to my family and I and helped. They were instrumental in helping us when we could not help ourselves. Seeing people reach out like that inspires me to want to do the same.

Thank you to all of you that helped during this time.

Conclusion

The things that I have had to go through in the last year have not been pleasant but I made it through them. I truly feel like I have come out better on the other side. I am so thankful to have made it and am thankful for the people that were there that helped my family and I along the way.

My hope is that as I return to normal life that I can take what I have experienced and learned and use it help others that may need a little help themselves.

That’s right, yesterday was my last dose of chemo!

I am very happy to be all done and am actually feeling pretty well, actually I feel the best I ever have after a dose.

From here I have a couple of follow up appointments for the side effects from this last dose and then I have a CAT scan in about 3 weeks. After that I won’t have a CAT scan for another 6 months and I don’t see my oncologist until then as well. Basically they don’t want to see me any more, which I don’t mind .

I really am looking to get my energy back and trying to get back to work to keep myself busy.

Thank you for everyone’s prayers and support during this time. I could not have done it without you!

My local Walmart started to carry gluten free Bisquick so I decided to give it a try this morning and make some pancakes. I have one word to sum them up -

Yummy!

I was actually surprised at how good they were. Granted it has been 9-12 months since I have had pancakes at minimum but from what I remember these were pretty close. The biggest difference in taste to me was that these pancakes tasted more like they were all natural and not processed type pancakes (McDonalds vs homemade). They weren’t super fluffy but weren’t flat either. I liked them!

I have to say the Bisquick gluten free pancakes blew away the gluten free frozen waffles I tried the other day. They tasted like cardboard .

If I get brave I will try the waffle recipe on the back of the package.

Additional note – my wife made more pancakes substituting the milk in the recipe with bananas to make gluten and casein free pancakes for my son. He loved them and ate 2 without stopping.

I will have to stock up to make sure we have plenty on gluten free Bisquick in the house!

It has been a while since I posted on this site. The reason for that is that I have been going through a lot personally especially with going through chemo. As bad as the chemo has been at times I will admit that the emotional and spiritual battles have also been very difficult. During these times the feelings of loneliness and dispair were quite great. It is by God’s grace and the people that He has had around me that I believe allowed me to persevere through these times. There is one other thing that happened during this time that I believe allowed me to push through to victory.

I learned to speak to my mountains.

I am sure that if you have been in church for any amount of time you have heard the scripture that references this phrase. As a recap here it is again:

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. – Mark 11:23

I was reminded of this verse while listening to Joel Osteen recently. In that message he explained that a lot of us when we get into trouble pray about the mountain that is front of us. We talk about the mountain. We even get others to pray about the mountain for us. What we don’t do is speak to the mountain.

How is Speaking to the Mountain Different then Praying About It?

It is the is the difference between someone talking to you and talking about you – there is a difference.

If someone is talking about you and not to you it is usually because they are afraid of you. It is the bold people who don’t beat around the bush and go directly to the source in order to get a result. These people may seem rude at times for being so direct but these are the people that usually get results.

We need to be direct when a mountain is staring us down.

For me I had a whole host of mountains that were trying to stop me from getting better. The biggest mountain was nausea which was a direct result of chemo treatment. A byproduct of the nausea was depression in that I was starting to feel disconnect and like I didn’t care any more. On top of that our finances were looking the worst that they ever had through our entire battle with cancer. Things were not looking good. These mountains were the biggest that I had ever seen.

With God’s grace I realized that focusing on the mountains was not a good path to go down. After listen to Pastor Joel’s message I knew what I needed to do – speak to the mountains and get them out of my way. Don’t get me wrong, I had prayed about the mountains and even asked others to pray for me as well. Unfortunately the mountains didn’t seem to care that they were being prayed or “talked” about. As long as no one was addressing them directly they weren’t going anywhere.

I Spoke to Directly to My Mountains

So I spoke to my mountains… and they didn’t go anywhere, at first. But, by speaking to the mountains I did begin to feel better. I felt better because I knew that I was acting in faith according to God’s word. I was doing this on a couple different levels. By me talking to the mountains I was acknowledging that God had the power to change my situation and that He had given me His power to do so. The bible says:

…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4

I was also acknowledging God in the fact that it was not His will for me to be sick, depressed, or broke.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Deuteronomy 8:7-10

My mountains did eventually fall into the sea. My nausea went away, finances started to come to dig us out, and depression started to lift. In speaking to the mountains that were in front of me I believe it gave me the faith to overcome those mountains. Initially I thought that the mountains were impassable but with God’s help I overcame them. I overcame them by speaking directly to them.

Here is the message from Joel Olsteen that reminded me to speak to my mountains. I hope you find it helpful as well.

Joel Osteen – Mountain Moving Faith

Photo By ecstaticist via flickr.

It has been a while since I posted on this site. The reason for that is that I have been going through a lot personally especially with going through chemo. As bad as the chemo has been at times I will admit that the emotional and spiritual battles have also been very difficult. During these times the feelings of loneliness and dispair were quite great. It is by God’s grace and the people that He has had around me that I believe allowed me to persevere through these times. There is one other thing that happened during this time that I believe allowed me to push through to victory.

I learned to speak to my mountains.

I am sure that if you have been in church for any amount of time you have heard the scripture that references this phrase. As a recap here it is again:

“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. – Mark 11:23

I was reminded of this verse while listening to Joel Osteen recently. In that message he explained that a lot of us when we get into trouble pray about the mountain that is front of us. We talk about the mountain. We even get others to pray about the mountain for us. What we don’t do is speak to the mountain.

How is Speaking to the Mountain Different then Praying About It?

It is the is the difference between someone talking to you and talking about you – there is a difference.

If someone is talking about you and not to you it is usually because they are afraid of you. It is the bold people who don’t beat around the bush and go directly to the source in order to get a result. These people may seem rude at times for being so direct but these are the people that usually get results.

We need to be direct when a mountain is staring us down.

For me I had a whole host of mountains that were trying to stop me from getting better. The biggest mountain was nausea which was a direct result of chemo treatment. A byproduct of the nausea was depression in that I was starting to feel disconnect and like I didn’t care any more. On top of that our finances were looking the worst that they ever had through our entire battle with cancer. Things were not looking good. These mountains were the biggest that I had ever seen.

With God’s grace I realized that focusing on the mountains was not a good path to go down. After listen to Pastor Joel’s message I knew what I needed to do – speak to the mountains and get them out of my way. Don’t get me wrong, I had prayed about the mountains and even asked others to pray for me as well. Unfortunately the mountains didn’t seem to care that they were being prayed or “talked” about. As long as no one was addressing them directly they weren’t going anywhere.

I Spoke to Directly to My Mountains

So I spoke to my mountains… and they didn’t go anywhere, at first. But, by speaking to the mountains I did begin to feel better. I felt better because I knew that I was acting in faith according to God’s word. I was doing this on a couple different levels. By me talking to the mountains I was acknowledging that God had the power to change my situation and that He had given me His power to do so. The bible says:

…the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4

I was also acknowledging God in the fact that it was not His will for me to be sick, depressed, or broke.

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Deuteronomy 8:7-10

My mountains did eventually fall into the sea. My nausea went away, finances started to come to dig us out, and depression started to lift. In speaking to the mountains that were in front of me I believe it gave me the faith to overcome those mountains. Initially I thought that the mountains were impassable but with God’s help I overcame them. I overcame them by speaking directly to them.

Here is the message from Joel Olsteen that reminded me to speak to my mountains. I hope you find it helpful as well.

Joel Osteen – Mountain Moving Faith

Photo By ecstaticist via flickr.

My GI doctor has successfully removed the stent from my throat. He said he had to tug on it a little to get it out but other then that the procedure went smooth. My throat is a little scratchy but that is to be expected.

The hope is that my throat will remain open to where I won’t need any more dilations or another stent. We will just have to monitor it and see how things work out. I am expecting that everything will be just fine .

Related posts:

1. 4th Stent Out, 5th Stent In
2. 5th Stent Out and the 6th “Long Term” Stent is In
3. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later

Air Hogs is stepping up their game by releasing the Helix 360 which is a 4 channel helicopter that is similar to the size as the Havoc Heli and the Syma S107. I got my hands on one and layout the good and the bad of it below.

The Good

• Small and lightweight – about the size of a Havoc Heli
• Durable plastic instead of foam
• Extra tail rotors included in the package

The Bad

• Price – $80
• Stability – Gyro only affects tail
• Controllability - takes a lot of practice to control it well

My Hands on Experience with the Helix 360

I was really excited initially when I stumbled upon the Air Hogs Helix 360 at Target. I had not heard of it before and was taken back that this little copter had 4 channels and a gyro built into it. The price seemed a little high but I expected there to be a more real helicopter feel to it with the extra channel so I figured it would be worth it.

Out of the box the micro heli seemed like it was put together well and it charged up pretty quick. My initial flight with the Helix 360 wasn’t near as fun as I expected it to be though. It took a little effort to trim the copter and even when I could not trim it any more I still could not get it to hover in place. It always wanted to go to the left a little no matter how much I turned the trim knob.

Forward flight did not seem much better then what you would get with a Havoc Heli. It would go forward when you push the stick but then would rock back some and then go forward a little more. I really expected more from a 4 channel helicopter.

On my first flight I got about 7 minutes of flight time from the Helix. The copter was a little difficult to control compared to other 2 and 3 channel micro helis that I have flow. This is understandable though as the extra channel does require more input and concentration. I guess the issue that I had was that I seemed to spend more time concentrating on getting it not to do something I didn’t want it to do as opposed to doing what I wanted it to do. I fly these things to have fun and buzz my kid’s and dog’s heads, not to fight against them.

Compared to the Syma S107

The overall feeling of flying the Helix 360 wasn’t near as fun as what I experienced with the Syma S107. There are two main reasons for this – price and stability.

The price of the S107 is only $30 which is nearly 1/3 of the Helix 360. This makes it easier to swallow (and justify) when purchasing. With the Syma you aren’t spending much so your expectation isn’t as high but then it blows you away. With the Helix you are paying a good amount and personally I was disappointed with the performance at the price I paid. I expected more then what I got from the Syma.

Out of the box the Syma was stable and hovered in place without any trimming. Forward flight is a little bit of struggle with it but so is it with the Havoc Heli and the rest of the small and inexpensive micro heli’s. As mentioned above even after doing a lot of trimming the Helix did not hover as well as the Syma.

Overall the Syma had more of a wow and fun factor (especially for the price) then the Helix 360. I feel like I got more then my money’s worth with the Syma S107. I felt like I wanted my money back with the Helix 360.

If you are looking for a micro helicopter that is going to give you the most bang for your buck I would recommend the Syma S107.

Conclusion

It is cool to see Air Hogs pushing the envelope and packing so much technology into a small package. Unfortunately I don’t think they quite delivered for the price on this one. The Air Hogs Helix 360 is a great idea but not the best execution. My recommendation would be to spend your money on a Syma S107 instead.

Videos

Hear are some videos of the Air Hogs Helix 360

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8CEN7cHRRg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt_E3OLHYT8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4FIAg3vVdM

While going to Sprouts the other day in Round Rock I noticed a candy store in the same complex that I had to check out. I had been craving chocolate covered almonds from See’s Candies in California but unfortunately See’s isn’t in Texas. The place I found was Lammes Candies.

The store looked similar to a See’s Candies store and sure enough they had chocolate covered almonds. I purchased some for my wife and I and also sampled a toffee nut bar and left.

Half way through the toffee nut bar I thought “I wonder if this has gluten in it?”. I had not thought of it before eating because I was so excited about my discovery. I went back inside the store and asked the cashier and she said that they were working on a list of items that were gluten free but did not have it available yet.

When I got home I decided to check out their Facebook page that the cashier had also told me about. I posted on their page inquiring about gluten in their products. Here is the exchange:

Me: I just discovered your Round Rock store today! I was wondering if you guys had a list of which items are gluten free? I checked your website and did not find anything.

Them: Hi Dan, we’re glad you found us! All of our items are gluten-free except our chocolate-covered pretzels. Thanks for your interest!

Groovy! That means I can have good chocolate candies anytime I want.

I can’t wait until they have their chocolate covered strawberries when they have them!

Here is a link to their Facebook page and to our exchange about gluten.

After discussing it with my wife I have decided to postpone my next dose of chemo.

The reason for this is that the cumulative effects of the last 4 doses of chemo are really beginning to take their toll on me. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my last dose yet I feel like I am at the 3-4th day since my last dose. I am nauseated more then I have ever been and I have neuropathy (numbness and sensitivity to cold) in my body, especially in my figer tips to where I freezing cold most of the time. Last night I had to sit on my hands for almost 45 minutes to get them to warm up.

The neuropathy is of concern because I am told that once it shows up that it does not go away for a long while.

There was already talk of reducing my dose of chemo that I was supposed to get tomorrow but after the week that I have had I cannot imagine taking another dose and making myself feel worse. My hope is that I can take the next 3 weeks off from chemo, get back on my feet, and then finish up my last two doses from there if appropriate. I don’t want to drag it out any longer but I really need to give my body a chance to catch up.

I would appreciate everyone’s happy thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks so my body can recover to the point that I can get this finished up.

Related posts:

1. I Am Done with Chemo and Radiation!
2. Stent and Chemo Status – 4 Weeks Later
3. I Am Done with Chemo!

God has answered my prayers and put in the hearts of Mama Fu’s to make a great gluten free Chinese food Menu.

I had not eaten at Mama Fu’s since before going on my gluten free diet. I was going to meet a friend near the Mama Fu’s in Georgetown and decided to see if they had anything I could eat. Boy did they! It seems that they have taken nearly their entire menu and made a gluten free version of it. I guess they do this stating with a gluten free soy sauce base which I think is great.

Here is a list of some of the thing that they have on their gluten free menu:

• Appetizers
  • Edamame
  • Chicken Lettuce Wraps
  • Seared Ahi Tuna
• Kid Selections
  • Scooby “Fu”
  • Ninja Noodles
  • Mei Mei’s
• Rice Dishes
  • Sweet-n-Sour
  • Steam Bowl
    • Spicy General Fu
    • Teriyaki
    • Sesame
    • Thai Cashew Stir Fry
    • Fried Rice
    • Mongolian
    • Honey Glazed
    • Ginger Broccoli
    • Orange Peel
• Noodle Bowls
  • Lo Mein
  • Pad Thai
  • Thai Basil
  • Singapore Noodles
  • Thai Fu Noodles
• Seared Entrees
  • Seared Ahi Tuna Steak
• Sides
  • Fried Rice
  • Thai Green Beans
  • Edamame

That is a great menu and I can tell you that food is fresh and tastes great. I just wish they would put one in Round Rock so it is closer to my house!

Here is a link to their website where you can get their gluten free menu – Mama Fu’s Nutritional Info

I was a Pei Wei junky before I went gluten free and would eat their chicken teriyaki a couple times a week. I was broken hearted when I found out that regular soy sauce (the base for teriyaki sauce) has gluten in it. Unfortunately Pei Wei does not offer a gluten free teriyaki bowl. They do have a gluten free menu though with some good things on it – specifically the Spicy Chicken.

Here is what is on their gluten free menu:

• Edamame
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls
• Asian Chopped Chicken Salad
• Pei Wei Spicy Salad
  • Chicken or Shrimp
• Pei Wei Spicy
  • Chicken or Shrimp
• Sweet & Sour
  • Chicken or Shrimp

It is not a huge list but the food is good.

Here is a link to their website where you can download their nutritional PDF that has their gluten free menu. – Pei Wei Nutrition Info.

Before I went gluten free I used to eat at Taco Bueno all the time. I alway saw them as a Taco Bell but with good, fresh food.

Liking them as much as I did I went to their website to see if they had a gluten free menu – they didn’t – so I emails them and they responded. Here is the email thread:

from: comments <comments@tacobueno.com>

to: **************************

date: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:48 AM

subject: FW: Feedback from tacobueno.com

Hello,

Sorry at this time we cannot recommend our menu as gluten-free as the same fryer is used for both the corn and the flour. A menu item that can be recommended is the Ultimate Gourmet Bowl (offered in limited markets), and black beans and white rice.

—–Original Message—–

From: TacoBueno.com Feedback [mailto:no-reply@tacobueno.com]

Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 9:54 AM

To: Taco.Bueno@encirclemarketing.com;

Subject: Feedback from tacobueno.com

Store Number:

Feedback Type: Other

Feedback Related To: Ingredients

Feedback:

I would like to know if you have any gluten free items on your menu.

Contact Type: Yes, by email

Name: Dan Masters

Phone Number: ************

from: comments <comments@tacobueno.com>to: **************************date: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:48 AMsubject: FW: Feedback from tacobueno.com
Hello,
Sorry at this time we cannot recommend our menu as gluten-free as the same fryer is used for both the corn and the flour. A menu item that can be recommended is the Ultimate Gourmet Bowl (offered in limited markets), and black beans and white rice.

—–Original Message—–From: TacoBueno.com Feedback [mailto:no-reply@tacobueno.com]Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 9:54 AMTo: Taco.Bueno@encirclemarketing.com;Subject: Feedback from tacobueno.com

Store Number:
Feedback Type: Other
Feedback Related To: Ingredients
Feedback:
I would like to know if you have any gluten free items on your menu.

Contact Type: Yes, by email
Name: Dan Masters
Phone Number: ************

So as you can see unfortunately they have a very limited selection of items that would be gluten free. It would be nice if they would get a separate frier in the future that would eliminate cross contamination. I appreciate their quick response though!

Air Hogs has come out with their new Hawk Eye video helicopter that allows you to take photos and video while flying. This is the perfect spy helicopter! It has built-in memory so you can take photos and videos and then use the included USB adapter to transfer them to your computer.

The Hawk Eye is basically a Havoc Heli but without the tail rotor and a larger midsection that houses the camera. It has built in stability software that gives it better flying characteristics then previous Havoc Heli’s.

The camera is activated via the controller an allows you to snap photos and/or start and stop the video camera.

The best thing about the Hawk Eye is the price – it only goes for about $70 which is much cheaper then other heli’s with built in cameras (I think the next cheapest goes for around$300). Amazon has the Hawk Eye available and you can get free 2 day shipping with their Amazon Prime Trial Membership.

Here are some videos of the Hawk Eye in action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkcuXr9wRaQ

The Syma S107 Mini Helicopter is the best micro helicopter available right now hands down. There are several reasons for this which include:

• Materials – The frame is made of metal, not plastic
• Stability – It has a gyro built into it
• Control – It has 3 channels
• Price – Average price is $30!

The S107 is the upgraded version of the Syma S105 which also had metal construction but did not include a gyro.

Metal Body

The significance of the metal body means that it has a better chance of surviving when you crash it. It also causes it to be more ridged which helps it be more stable thus enabling to be easier to control. All the other micro helicopter out there are plastic and foam construction and after a few emergency landings start to lose their shape.

Built in Gyro

To me this is one of the most significate features of the helicopter. I have used both the little Havoc Heli’s and the larger Blade CX and the biggest difference between the two is the gyro. The gyro adds precision and stability that you only find in the more expensive and larger helicopters.

3 Channel Control

The Air Hogs Havoc Heli took us all by storm a couple of years ago with their cool 2 channel controls that allowed for left/right and up/down control. It was pretty much stuck going forward at all times. With the addition of a 3rd channel you now have the ability to hover along with forward/back control. This is more true to what flying a real helicopter would be like.

Unbelievable Price

It is hard to believe the Syma S107 is price at around $30. The similar Blade mCX is almost 3 times the amount of money but is still plastic construction. I saw similar looking helicopter at Fry’s recently and the non-gyro models were around $30 while the gyro models were $60. Also, they were knock of brands, Syma has been around for a while and has a good name.

Amazon seems to have the best price and selection of Syma S107′s and you can also get free 2 day shipping if you sign up for their Amazon Prime program. You can check it out with the link to the right.

Videos

Here are some videos of the S107 in action just so you can see what you are in for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFW0xqk8d38

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGFtfoWWAYc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSPi54JuEiU

Going over the reasons why WordPress may be running slow. Includes checking your plugins, setting up caching, and looking at your web host.

A few days after I got the new Acer Aspire One all installed with my software I came upstairs and my MacBook’s screen was locked up. This is the first time in the history of having this computer that this has ever happened. Horrified I restarted the computer and a terrible clicking noise was came from it which could only mean one thing – a dead hard drive.

I was not too upset about this as this was not the original hard drive that came with the computer. This was an aftermarket Hitachi 200GB 7200rpm hard drive that was over 3 years old. In fact I used this hard drive in other MacBook I had for a year before I got this Macbook. The hard drive was older then the computer.

To remedy the situation I headed over to Fry’s and picked up a new Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM hard drive. 2 1/2 times the storage. Thank God I had a good Time Machine backup as I was able to get the computer back up and running in just a couple of hours.

So What Does This Have to do With the Acer Apsire One?

Well the first thing this has to do with it is that I got the Acer because my MacBook was running slow the last few weeks especially with Windows 7 in Parallels. After I put the new hard drive in it ran better then before it started to run slow. I could now run Windows 7 in Parallels without skipping a beat.

The second thing was that after loading everything on the Acer it ran slower then Windows on my MacBook so it kind of defeated the purpose. The biggest culprit for this was Dropbox which is a necessity for me. If I turned Dropbox off it ran pretty well, with it on it was a dog.

So having the Acer kind of defeated the purpose. I needed to check browser compatibility the quickest way possible and that was now with the MacBook.

The Acer was cool but it just didn’t quite fit the bill for what I needed.

Related posts to my journey of MacBooks and Acer Aspire One’s:

• I Picked Up Another Acer Aspire One Netbook
• Trading in the Acer Aspire One for a MacBook
• Acer Aspire One – The Perfect Vacation Computer
• Blogging from the Acer Aspire One Mini Laptop

Related posts:

1. Trading in the Acer Aspire One for a MacBook
2. I Picked Up Another Acer Aspire One Netbook
3. Acer Aspire One – The Perfect Vacation Computer

The Five Guys Fries that I got to eat last week got me craving french fries even more so I set out to find where I can get some a little closer to Round Rock. After putting on my thinking cap I remember Might Fine Burgers and how they say that all their ingredients are fresh and natural. That had to mean their french fries are possibly gluten free right?

I checked out their website but there wasn’t any allergen information on it so I decided to give them a call.

A really nice guy answered and explained that their fries were indeed gluten free because they were fresh cut potatoes fried in peanut oil and lightly salted with sea salt. He also explained that their hamburger was gluten free and even looked up the info on the seasoning that they used on the hamburger – it was gluten free as well. He also let me know that their chili was gluten while he was at it (see below on chili). In fact everything is gluten free except for the buns and the chili that they use. He told me to just let someone know of my allergy when ordering and they will be careful about contamiation.

I went that day to Mighty Fine and got Fries and a bun-less chopped chili cheese dog. While ordering I told them of my gluten allergy and the girl wrote it on my order bag and circled it – cool!

Anyway I was happy that their is a burger joint that is so close that I can good fresh gluten free fries. I will try a convertible bacon cheeseburger sometime here in the future.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: Allison from Mighty Fine Burgers was nice and enough to comment below that upon further research that the chili IS NOT gluten free due to the spices that they use in it. Allison also verified that all the shakes the make all use gluten free vanilla ice cream and syrups.  It is great to see Mighty Fine read little guy websites like mine and taking the time to research and comment on them. Thanks Allison! Here is a post on the Might Fine blog confirming the information above – Gluten Free at Mighty Fine.

Personal Note: I am asymptomatic in regard to celiac disease so eating the chili did not do anything to me. I probably could eat all the glutenI want but I know it is not good for me. That is why I do my best to not eat any gluten because I know from time-to-time I may accidentally  eat some.

I was up in Temple this past week and before I went gluten free I would always stop at the Five Guys Burgers up there as they have great burgers and fries. Now I know that I couldn’t have a full blown hamburger from there because of the bun but I thought maybe it is possible that their fries are gluten free. I jumped on the internet to find out.

Sure enough the fries at Five Guys are gluten free as they are freshly sliced potatoes that are fried in peanut oil and then lightly salted.

In my research I also found out that their beef is gluten free as well so you could actually have a convertible hamburger if you wanted without the bun. My capacity to eat isn’t back to where it usually was so I just opted for the fries as they give you a lot anyway. They were delicious and hit the spot.

I will definitely be visiting Five Guys again when I am down in the Arboretum are in Austin.

Here is a link to their website where they address gluten (only their buns have it) – Five Guys FAQ’s