Cals & Macros – Your quick calorie and macronutrient calculator

What is “Cals & Macros”?

Cals & Macros is a free calorie calculator app that calculates your calorie and macronutrient requirements based on a few factors.

The Soul Rebels are a brass band, and for their song 504 they requested remixes of either dance or urban genres. I decided to go for the dance genre, though my mix is more house/trance.

Please have a listen and vote for me if you like it

You can vote for me by either using the widget above or by visiting my 504 by The Soul Rebels remix submission. 504 by The Soul Rebels is a great song and was great to remix!

It’s a house style remix with some dub step elements, and though I had to rush it a little and am not 100% content with the finished product, I think it sounds pretty good The only samples I used from the original song are the lead and background vocals, all other sounds/melodies I made myself.

Voting has begun and will end on the 24th September 2011, so have a listen using the app below, and vote for me if you like it! Thanks!

I used to prepare my oats the usual way and just cook them in the microwave with water/milk plus whatever flavourings I fancied at the time. Then I discovered baked oatmeal. You can basically put the same stuff that you would put in “normal” oats, except that instead of nuking it in the microwave, you bake it in the oven. The result is a firmer surface with a softer, mushier underneath. This works really well with the palm sugar syrup I make that I pour over the top!

I’ve adapted the recipe from many that I’ve seen online, and added my own touches to make, what I find, something pretty delicious.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups oats (I prefer plain ol’ rolled oats, but instant are alright too)
• 1 1/2 cups (350ml) of milk (I use skimmed)
• 2 egg whites
• 60g sugar (I use glucose powder)
• 1/2 cup of raisins
• 2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp mixed spice
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g palm sugar (for the syrup)

Steps:

1. Turn on the oven to 170C (or 340F)
2. Lightly coat an oven-proof dish with cooking spray (I use a glass dish approximately 30cm across, which makes about an inch thick layer of oatmeal).
   
3. Get the egg whites out of the eggs and put them in a large bowl (throw away the yokes or freeze them like I do). Beat them a little, then add the milk.
   
4. Add the sugar and stir until mixed or dissolved.
   
5. Add everything except the baking powder and palm sugar.
   
6. Mix then refrigerate for around an hour or so (for the oats to soak up the liquid).
7. Take out of the fridge and add the baking powder.
8. Pour into the oven-proof dish from step 2 then bake in the oven for around 45 minutes, or until the top is firm and browned.
   
9. Take the dish out of the oven and set aside.
   
10. Put the palm sugar into a small saucepan and add a little water (I use about 1/4 cup), how much depends on how thick you want the syrup. Put on a high heat until it starts to boil, then lower the temperature to medium and simmer a little longer, until it reaches the right consistency (again, it depends how thick you want it).
    
11. Pour the syrup all over the oats, and let it cool for around 5-10 minutes.
    
12. EAT!
    

Nutritional info:

• Calories: 1,500
• Fat: 14g (saturated: 2g)
• Carbs: 320g (fibre: 20g, sugars: 175g)
• Protein: 45g

The link to the tool is http://www.designbyvh.com/myfitnesspal-export-data/.

My remix is of the Drum and Bass genre, which I believe works pretty well with the vocals of Nick Carter. I used both the lead and background vocals from his song, all other sounds/melodies are created by myself (I use the alias Falling Out Loud when creating music either by myself or with my younger sister, Jess).

If you like it, please vote by visiting my submission page at indaba music, or by using the widget below. Voting ends 26th August 2011.

There are several places to buy an iPhone 4 in Hua Hin, most of which reside in the Market Village shopping centre (on the top floor, where all of the mobile phone shops are). I decided to buy mine from Telewiz, which is where you are able to pay for your AIS phone bills and such.

The price of the iPhone 4 in Hua Hin (and possibly everywhere in Thailand) at the time this post was written, ranges from 22,096.- to 27,860.- including VAT, depending on the model you choose and whether or not you sign up for a phone “package” which includes free calls, SMS, MMS and GPRS/EDGE. It’s not cheap by any means.

To keep this post reasonably short, I bought an iPhone recently at Telewiz in Market Village (which is owned by AIS), and was happy with the purchase (the staff were very helpful and friendly), and everything was in good working order (as you would expect when buying something this expensive with a good reputation)…… until I got home and it didn’t work any more. The screen just stopped working and I just couldn’t use it at all. I didn’t even have a chance to test it out!

The next day I went back to Telewiz and was confident they would replace the faulty goods with a new one, considering it was brand new and I had just bought it the day before. To my disappointment, however, I was told to go to an iStudio/AIS store in Bangkok, where they should give me a new one. Huh? I remember being told the day before that if there was something wrong with the phone then I would need to go to Bangkok to get it fixed/replaced, and that there was a 7 day period where I would be able to exchange the phone if something were wrong. I just didn’t expect to have to go to Bangkok if it stopped working within those 7 days, especially if it were the very next day!! I complained to the manager and they put me on the phone with one of their Bangkok representatives who basically told me I had to go to Bangkok to sort this out because Telewiz in Hua Hin have no authority to help me. Great. Not only is this extremely inconvenient if you have to work, but it’ll also cost you a day and up to 1,000 baht for travel, etc.

So, this is a warning to those of you who decide to buy an iPhone 4 in Hua Hin. I know this could be a 1 in a million defective phones, but if it happens to you, be prepared to have to spend your day going to Bangkok and getting it sorted out, because it seems the stores here are only good at selling you the stuff, not helping you with it after you’ve bought it.

iStudio stores, which are where you can get your faulty iPhone replaced/fixed in Bangkok, can be found here: http://www.istudio.in.th/stores.php. I’m going to try the one at Siam Paragon.

Update: because I have to work, my girlfriend volunteered to go to Bangkok and try to get my iPhone replaced. She went to an iStudio store in one of the Central World shopping malls, who told her to go to the AIS store there. They then told her to go to the AIS shop in Siam Paragon, who then told her to come back tomorrow because they have none left in stock. So what happens if they don’t get any by the time 7 days are up?

Update: my girlfriend went back to the AIS shop the following day in Siam Paragon, and was told by their staff that they didn’t have any iPhone 4′s in stock. We asked for the phone number of the shop so that we could call and ask if they have any new arrivals of the phone, but they told us that there isn’t a phone number! How can it be possible that AIS, a leading phone company in Thailand does not have a telephone number in one of their main stores? Instead, they told us to contact their call centre, which we already did, and was told to go to the store. In the end, they told my girlfriend that when they get some more in stock, they will contact her, which means she or I will need to go back to the shop to pick it up. Hopefully, it’ll be soon, amazing if it’s on a weekend, and that they actually remember that we are waiting for a new one, and not turn around and tell us that the 7 days are up. Fingers crossed…

Update: It’s been a week today and still no contact from AIS. We’ve tried calling their call centre, and they told us they would try to find out the situation and call us back today.

Update: Finally! My girlfriend went back to the shop and waited for over an hour in a queue that seemed to have other unhappy customers with faulty iPhones. After the long wait, she was called to the desk and had to fill out some paper work before being given the long-awaited replacement handset. 

After I received the phone, everything was working as it should, and there was none of the previous problem present. The lady at the AIS shop who dealt with my girlfriend with the replacement phone, however, took the protective film off the faulty phone and “pinched” it before putting it on the new one, which created a bubble on the film. By this point I was happy I received the phone at all!

So there you have it. If you plan on buying an iPhone in Thailand (or more specifically, Hua Hin), be prepared to move to Bangkok temporarily, or at least have someone there with loads of free time, in case you are unfortunate enough to be given a faulty product.

Oh yeah, about a week after my girlfriend went to pick my replacement phone from the AIS store, I got a phone call from AIS saying that the new stock had arrived. Typical.

The WeighTrainer has a great load of info about this issue, and how most of us are deceived about just how much muscle we can naturally put on. They also have a formula, which was formulated from loads of research of past and present bodybuilders, which lets you predict the amount of lean body mass you can realistically put on without the use of drugs, as well as predicting your body weight with that potential at a particular body fat percentage.

The formula is shown below (I take no credit for it, please visit http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html for more info):

• H = Height in inches
• A = Ankle circumference at the smallest point
• W = Wrist circumference measured on the hand side of the styloid process (The styloid process is the bony lump on the outside of your wrist)
• %bf = The body fat percentage at which you want to predict your maximum lean body mass

As an example, I will use my measurements to calculate my maximum muscular potential at a 10% body fat percentage:

• H = 72 inches
• A = 8.25 inches
• W = 6.5 inches
• %bf = 10

Plugging those variables into the formula, I get a value of 179.5 pounds / 81.6 kg for my maximum lean body mass. This means this is roughly the maximum potential amount of muscular weight I can attain. To work out the weight I would be at this body fat level, we need to use the formula:

Body weight = (Lean body mass / (100 – %body fat)) x 100

Plugging my numbers into this formula, I get 199.5 pounds / 90.7 kg at a 10% body fat percentage. This means that, according to this formula, the maximum weight I have the potential to get to, whilst having a 10% body fat level, is 90.7kg (or 199.4 pounds). Due to the fluctuations of food intake and hydration levels, however, this weight can be expected to rise, especially when “bulking” (trying to increase weight). This can be accounted for by multiplying the number found above by a factor of 1.04.

Using 90.7kg, this would mean my potential “bulking” weight at 10% body fat would be roughly 94.3kg (or 207.5 pounds).

I found this formula a great way to realistically estimate my muscular potential, and according to the data found on their site, it proves to be quite an accurate tool for natural lifters to use.

If you found this post interesting, visit their site at http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html for the full article.

After my last servicing at the Honda dealership in Hua Hin, I noticed that my front wheels were put on the wrong way. I have aftermarket wheels/tires and they’re supposed to rotate in one direction. They’re pretty common, but apparently the staff at the Hua Hin Honda dealership don’t know that and put them on the wrong way around. So I had to go back and ask that they rotate the front wheels around. They were surprised they had made the mistake and proceeded to change them while I waited. After they had finished, I was glad they fixed the problem they had caused, even though it was my time they had wasted. But I was in for quite a surprise after I left.

I had to drive back to work (roughly 15km from the dealership) and then drive home (roughly 15km from my work). As I was driving home, my car started to make loud noises. This was weird, I never experienced it before. I got out and had a quick look checking the suspension and the wheels and I couldn’t see anything that was wrong. I drove a little more. As I approached my house my car started vibrating. I thought, “Shit, there is DEFINITELY something wrong with my car”, so I got out and had another look, but still, I couldn’t see anything that was obviously wrong. As I was nearly home I decided to drive all the way home and investigate further what the cause of this noise/vibration was. All the way, my car was rattling and shaking very loudly.

When I got home I checked more thoroughly at the wheels and suspension areas, as this is where I believed the problems originated from. I checked the front right tire; nothing wrong. I checked the front left tire, and I noticed what appeared to be a lot of sparkly dust. As I got closer I realised it was metal shavings. Where could all of this metal dust have come from? I touched the wheel, and then the lug nuts, and to my horror, they started coming off easily when just using MY HAND!! (Lug nuts are the “bolts” that hold the wheel to your car).

I have 4 lug nuts on each wheel. All 4 of them on the front left wheel were coming off. What this means is that while I was DRIVING, my wheel was slowly falling off. How could this have happened? Surely, it must have had something to do with the servicing I had at the Honda dealership, as I had absolutely no problems before. They must have not put the lug nuts back on properly after putting the wheels back on, thus resulting in the wheel being improperly connected to the car, which caused vibrations while driving, which caused the wheel and the lug nuts to violently clash and rub together, which caused them to break each other down slowly, and thus producing the metal dust. I was furious. I had driven roughly 30km after having my car serviced that day, and if the wheel was not properly attached to my car the WHOLE time, it could have easily fallen off while driving!! It was a good thing I was almost home when the shaking occurred.

Enraged, we called the Honda dealership and explained the situation and demanded they fix it at once. They told us the garage was closed so they would fix it the next day. We told them to come to our house and fix it as driving the car seemed extremely dangerous. They said they would.

The next day, a small team of 1 mechanic and 1 other person (who seemed to be some sort of representative of Honda who knew nothing about cars) came to my house. They proceeded to jack the car up and take a look at the damage. After removing the lug nuts from the wheel, and the wheel from the car, it became apparent that the lug nuts and the wheel were damaged. There was no paint left on either where they had rubbed against each other, and they looked as though they had been sanded down (hence the metal dust). The mechanic then removed the other front wheel to compare with.

Now, because I have aftermarket wheels (not Honda wheels), they require “spacers” to be fitted in order for the wheel to properly fit the car. This is common, and not a difficult concept to understand. Well, at least for most. After he removed the right front wheel, the mechanic realised that there were NO spacers on the right wheel. Instead, there were TWO on the left!!! This means that the right wheel (with no spacers) was incorrectly attached to the car, and the left wheel (with TWO spacers) was also incorrectly attached to the car and as a result of the 2 spacers, it was too “far” from the car for the lug nuts to hold it on properly. The mechanic then explained that when swapping the wheels around after putting them on WRONG the first time, they must have forgot about the spacers, which ended up leaving one wheel with none, and one wheel with two. Absolutely ridiculous.

The representative then tried to explain some bullshit story how this could have happened, when it’s pretty obvious that by making not one but TWO mistakes, their staff were completely incompetent with this, and could have resulted with my wheel coming off and me crashing the car. Luckily, that did not happen, but now my wheel and lug nuts are damaged – what are they going to do about it?

They took one of the spacers from the wheel with two of them, and transferred it to the other wheel before putting both wheels back on. They put the spacers on incorrectly a few times before getting it right – not very impressive, eh? After putting them on they asked us to take the car to the dealership where they can more thoroughly check for problems and make repairs where necessary. We drove to the dealership.

After arriving at the dealership, it was obvious everybody there knew of what happened with my car as they seemed ever so attentive and polite. They took my car away and started checking for further problems. A few hours later they said that the wheel seemed fine, though they changed the wheel bolts as a precaution. They gave me the old bolts which they had replaced – they looked fine to me. The bolts weren’t the problem, it was the lug nuts and the actual wheel that were damaged, but I guess they wouldn’t fix those so they probably thought they should change SOMETHING to make it look like they care, so this is what they did.

After this “repair” the manager came out to speak to us and briefly apologised for this incident and said it would be taken care of. Yeah right! We told him that we will be taking this matter further and want to speak to the owner of the dealership. He said it doesn’t need to get that far as he will speak to the staff. Seems like someone was a little scared. We tried to contact the owner of the dealership and so far haven’t been able to. We are sure he knows about this incident and that he is probably trying to avoid us to avoid confrontation. They have not apologised in any formal way whatsoever and any kind of compensation from them seems highly unlikely. Typical.

My message to you is ALWAYS check after sending your car in for repairs, or take someone with you who knows at least a little about cars, as after this event I’m almost certain they don’t really care about the condition of your car, but more about the condition of their bank account.

This modern, cosy Italian restaurant is located on the busy Petchkasem road, and is easily accessible (and pretty easy to find). I have heard and read many good reviews about this restaurant so my girlfriend and I decided to celebrate our anniversary there. We booked a table in advance, but there weren’t many people there the day we went so I’m sure making a reservation wasn’t necessary.

Seating: Peppino offers indoor and outdoor seating; the indoor space is not very large, but enough for a decent number of people to fit, while there are several tables outdoors which surround part of the perimeter of the building. There is a small garden next to where the outdoor seating area is which adds to the atmosphere, and is quite pleasant.

Service: The staff at Peppino are very friendly and speak very good English, which is always handy and helpful. They also seemed to know exactly what was on the menu, unlike some restaurants where the staff are unsure what some food items are exactly. I found that the service was very efficient and made us feel like we were in an expensive restaurant (whereas the prices at Peppino are not very high).

Food: As it was our first time dining at Peppino (and one of the very few times I’ve eaten at an Italian restaurant), we wanted to try a variety of dishes to see what all the fuss was about. I’m not very good at remembering the names of the dishes as they’re in Italian, so I’ll try and describe them the best I can.

After ordering our food, we were brought a small bread basket as well as some green and black olives. These were complimentary and was a nice surprise.

For starters, we ordered two dishes: one salmon and one beef. Each weremade of thin slices of meat/fish and then had some sort of salad/herbs. Both of the dishes seemed to be uncooked but I could be wrong. I liked both of them and found they tasted nice and fresh, but my girlfriend wasn’t so keen.

For the main course, she ordered Spaghetti Carbonara and I ordered a lamb shank dish which comes vegetables and a complimentary side dish (I asked for pasta). She let me try some of her spaghetti and I have to say, if you like spaghetti carbonara, you will LOVE Peppino’s version. It has to be the best one I have tried (this is one Italian dish I have tried quite a number of). It was thick, creamy, tasted incredible, the spaghetti had a perfect texture – very nice.

My lamb shank dish was also very nice. The meat was very tender and was very enjoyable to eat. The pasta that came with it shared the same “perfect” texture as the spaghetti, and while it might not have been the best combination with the lamb, it was very nice. We were both very happy.

For dessert, my lady ordered a crème brûlée and I ordered some sort of egg and brandy concoction (sorry, I can’t remember the name and I’m also not sure what the alcohol was, though it definitely had alcohol in it). The crème brûlée came as a pair which was a nice surprise; I wasn’t sure if it was supposed to come like that or if they made it like that because there were two of us, but it was great! Now, I’ve never tried crème brûlée before, but this tasted fantastic! The top layer was solid and broke with a tap of the spoon, unearthing the soft, yummy goodness below. Very recommended.

The dessert I ordered was quite unusual on the other hand. It came in what looked like a large glass (one you would have a margarita in), and was warm and foamy. It was very sweet and the taste of the alcohol was obvious, but blending nicely with the overall flavour. I quite liked it, but the misses didn’t, so I would say this one wasn’t for everyone.

To drink, we ordered a glass of the house red wine each. Neither one of us are regular drinkers, especially wine, but their wine was very easy to drink and was very nice actually. We ended up ordering another glass each.

The price of the meal was just over 2,500 baht, which is more expensive than the average street stall or restaurant around town, but for the quality of the food and service, I think it was well justified. I definitely recommend Peppino to those looking to try some Italian food, or even just to go somewhere nice to eat. You can expect to have a pleasant night out with excellent food and great service, without having to break the bank.

Food: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Value: 5/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

Highly recommended!