1. What is hunger? One of the biggest realizations is the distinction between physical hunger and mental hunger becomes a little clearer the days go by. I felt like 80% of the time, the hunger was due to mental cravings and only 20% of the time was it physical hunger. Makes me wonder if I even need to eat 80% of the time that I am “hungry..” Cutting all the unnecessary calories could make me healthier.

2. The sense of smell heightens 3.2x. How did I come up with that number? Educated guess. But really, I was standing in my cube at work and when the time was approaching for lunch, BAM! I was able to narrow it down to a tee! ::sniff:: “The Habit, seared tuna burger with a side of medium fries and a diet coke”. ::sniff:: “Lean Cuisine, orange glazed chicken with rice and a side of string bean veggies with a sprinkle of pepper!” Everything smelled delicious. Even the plain multi-grain wheat bread smelled amazing. The smell of food has become a new found appreciation in my life.

3. “Fuck you, banana!” Yep, I said it. Sometimes, the most random-est things are said when we’re delirious, which can happen quite often when the intense hunger is actually physical. “Mutherfucker!! Give me some wheat thins!!” I screamed as I attacked and choked Christian. He was a casualty between my war with food when he waved a box of wheat thins in front of my face.

4. Food talk. “So the other day, I took out my sketchpad and pen.. and then I just started writing down everything I wanted to eat!” - Kennard. I realized that all of our conversations (and any moment we spent not working and not asleep) would revolve around food. What sounds delicious, what is the first thing we’re going to eat when we’re finished, what our favorite cakes were, why can’t we eat just a little bit, etc.. and the list goes on and on. Every minute of the day that we didn’t keep our minds busy, our minds wondered in foodland. Food talk fun. Food talk without food, not so much.

5. Relate to the starving children. After I got pass the intense hunger moments, where holding my stomach and curling up was the best medicine, the constant hunger became less distracting with the help of the daily chores of life. I began to understand how being hungry with nothing to eat feels like. Although I’ve been extremely hungry (including moments on this cleanse), I realize that I have never been starving. Starving is another level of hunger that we are fortunate to not have to experience too often. Calorie intake matters.

6. Ideas and visions come plenty. From iPhone apps to business plans to bucket list additions to what ingredients would taste good together. Enriched as well as dumb ideas arise in rapid succession. It was very interesting because ideas that may seem far fetched to the sober eye, would seem extremely rational to someone that hasn’t eaten for 5 days. It was like an innovation light bulb being flicked on and off with an “ichy fingered kid” next to the witch. Positive lesson? Of course! We all know that innovation first always draws a crowd of many doubters.

7. Fearlessness inherited. I was driving down the 405 next to the center divider. Generally people would gravitate away from it, but I wanted to reach out to touch it, so I crept closer and closer. Eventually so close, my elbow could have easily made contact if I had extended it out. This and many, many other eventful moments made me realize that once I had been deprived of the most important thing in your life.. food, I became immune to the other generally fearful things like heights, rejection, boiling water (yes, boiling water can be scary sometimes). This reminded me of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Eliminate the bottom of the pyramid and the higher functions begin to not matter as much.

These moments of realization had definitely changed my perspective of my life and others. Read on for my final thoughts. Joe Nguyen and Part 3/3 of the Master Cleanse Experience.

Some call my reason for doing it “stupid”. Others, “crazy”. Honestly, I didn’t do for the weight loss (I don’t have any weight to lose). Nor did I do it for the detox (I believe shiting is a good enough detox). Nor because Beyonce did it (I love her music by the way). I did it because lately, I’ve been making too many empty promises to myself.

Now that may be a little difficult to understand, but if you take a minute to reflect upon your past and count how many times you have said “I am going to…” or “I want to…” and you never went through with it, then you’d understand where I’m coming from when I say “empty promises.”

Who am I doing this for? Who am I trying to prove that I have the will power to do it? The most important person.. myself of course. Joe Nguyen. There are very little consequences when I fail to not perform for myself. I’m done making empty promises to myself. Let’s prove it. Although the Master Cleanse actually lasts for 10 days, I’m going for 5. I can’t afford the muscle loss. So here was the game plan that I was going to stick with.

Goal:
5 days.
No solid foods.
2 liters of “lemon water” per day.
Record my thoughts and behavior for the next 5 days.
Share it with the world.

Day 1: Monday

8:30 Hunger
9:00 Extreme irritation - Just knowing that I can’t have any food
9:30 Music is my savior - Talking to my coworker helps (she’s on the cleanse too)
9:50 Christian makes me laugh - Hunger subsides
10:20 Ping pong brightens my day. I feel motivated again. Hunger spikes and subsides. Missing something…
10:35 Thinking about food excessively - notice that it’s not even a physical hunger - we want what we can’t have
11:13 Proactive calls - started doodling and not even noticing. Pictures of food
11:43 The realization of obstacles to accomplish while on this plan - must accomplish goals!
11:45 For without struggle, there is no progress!
12:00 A hunger surge! Shit! Owl city chills me out! Lunch time! Need to get out of the office. Leave with Master Cleansing co-workers (there are 3 of us total)

During lunch, we leave for the park. Away from the office. I don’t take any notes here, but the green grass and warm weather puts me to sleep under the shade.

2:00 Must stay goal oriented. Get work done, love music, stay happy!
5:24 Work day done. Full of energy and feeling awesome!
7:00 Roommates burritos smell so good! fuck lemon juice!
8:00 Watched heroes and no reminder of food
10:00 Watched the movie, Taken - no hunger
1:00 Meeting with friend about side project
2:30 Bed time. Hungry.

Basically these are the exact notes I took that day. I agree that they lack an emotional thought process, but I wasn’t sure how to note take this experience exactly. For the other Master Cleanse Blog Posts, I won’t do this time outline. Instead, I’ll just write about my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned about myself. The first day there wasn’t much thinking, just doing. The next blog post will tell you more about my mental change.

Having nothing solid to chew on for a whole day was a very unorthodox for me. It was tough, but compared to the other days, this was nothing. I almost killed a man. Almost. Of 3 parts, read on for part 2 of Joe Nguyen on the Master Cleanse.

You know when everything around you seems so serene, that it’s almost like a dream? Well I had one of those experience just this past weekend. It was one of the most unorthodox experiences ever since I’ve been here in LA and I must say, being at Deer Valley Monastery is an eye opener.

The weekend prior, I realized that every since Los Angeles became my new home, I’ve been drinking at least once every weekend and up to five times a week! The thought of it just blew my mind and I made a commitment for the following weekend. No drinking, no partying.

Deer Valley Monastery resides in the hills where there isn’t much outside contact, except Sundays when people are actually allowed to come to visit. I came to visit my friend. He is a monk and is definitely enlighten in a sense. His personality has changed dramatically since I’ve last seen him which was 4 years ago and he is now much calmer and in such a peaceful state. The interesting part is, we went to UCSB together and if anyone knows what happens in Santa Barbara, they’d be astonished of his commitment as well. Anyways, it is an awesome place. We walked transverse the stairs, played some ping pong, got some in and out (yep, burgers) and sat around drinking tea, hanging out with hummingbirds and watching the sun set behind the hills.

Their lives are so simple, yet so happy. Almost satisfying. Not too much technology and the music from the plentiful animals that crowd around the monastery is enough feel good.

I’m not saying I will abandon my strive for success or stop my experiences, but I wouldn’t mind leaving my cellphone off for a day a week and reconnecting with myself in the present.

You know what they say. Don’t stress it. The future isn’t here yet and the past is long gone. Now lets live in the present, because its a gift of now.

Stop motion is amazing. Something that takes a lot of time and patience. Applaud!

On 9-9-09 a highly anticipated movie 9 by Tim Burton is coming out. Now generally I don’t really get excited about animations (besides Toy Story and the Madagascar series), but after seeing this trailer, this one is definitely on my “to watch” list.

The movie, 9 takes place towards the end of humanity. In order to save what is left of the human kind against it’s own creation, the machines, an ingenious scientist create 9 dolls who strive through post-apocalypse. Elijah Wood takes the main role as 9 and the animated movie is directed by Shane Acker, a renown short firm director. Full of action, antagonists and heroes with swords, along with superb CG, my expectations are through the roof. This could possibly disappoint me, but heck, the trailer really looks awesome! Check out the trailer below and tell me what you think?

Large cows can’t, but you can. Visit Tim Burton’s, 9, website.

Today was an interesting day. Shout out to my friend Ali for being an awesome friend and an incredible inspiration. Sometimes, we just need someone to grab you by the collar and tell you what’s truly important. I’m re-prioritizing. It’s a beautiful day today. It’s a new day in LA.

Thank you!

The revolution in navigation is here and its for the iPhone 3gs. You know that compass that is a default on your iPhone? The one that entertains your for no more than 30 seconds when you first get your mobile? Well, Acrossair has just produced an easily more entertaining one.

Acrossair has created an augmented reality for the New York subway stations. Check out the video below.

Wow right? What’s next?

Could they make navigation any easier?

I was driving around Los Angeles (Santa Monica area to be exact) looking for a place to set up my battle station. For a search engine marketeer, a complete set up would be my laptop screen opened at 110 degree angle and thats about it.. However, I needed a camp site that provided an external source for charging this Macbook and free wifi.

Could Barnes and Noble help me? Nope. The giant franchise Starbucks? No, they charged for internet. Borders? Their internet was slower than service provided by a 28.8k modem! Coffee Bean? Well to my surprise, they had all of the above. Awesome free internet, delicious coffee and enough outlets to hook up your entire home theater.

Its been a year since that day of searching and I am still in agreement with myself that Coffee Bean reigns supreme for any search engine marketeer that wants to freeload of electricity and wifi.

They should make some I <3 CoffeeBean tees that say “free wifi”. I’d buy 2.

So what is Toms Shoes? For every pair purchased, Toms Shoes & Blake Mycoskie donates a pair to a child that needs it. Blake, an american traveler visiting Argentina noticed children playing without shoes on. Motivated to help, something amazing soon happened.

The idea of One for One came about and a shoe giving company was born. As of 2009, 140,000 shoes have been given away and it is not slowing down. We’ve all seen it, but here check out the extended AT&T commercial collaboration with Toms Shoes to learn more.

Never underestimate the power of giving. Join the One for One Movement with Toms Shoes & Blake, the chief shoe giver. Or just buy a pair!

Beautiful. The new Infiniti G Convertible is a work of art. Inside and out. Besides breaking necks when the car blows by, the 3.7 liter V6 engine boasts 325 horse power & 267 lb-ft of torque with suspension and brakes technology that never forgets its a machine built for luxury.

Hardtops are always a better choice for convertible owners that think about the seasons. Rain or shine, drivers get the best of both worlds and a low volume drive compared to a rag top. A minor downside would be the weight distribution with the top down and a 3 piece top means less trunk space for all those dead bodies.

19 inch rims with 10 spokes come standard with the manual transmission starting at $43,900. If I had the loose change, I wouldn’t mind driving one of these around. With undeniable power at the foot and voluptuous curves for the eyes, the 2009 Infinity G37 Convertible is nothing less than sexy.

By the way, the InfinitiUSA.com site definitely needs to fix their canonicalization issues.