Quinn Chrest

Killing two birds with one stone this evening. I’ve wanted to look into other frameworks that can easily implement web API’s and learn Python. Django! That is the answer! So far I’ve worked through the first two tutorials and I have to say I’m really enjoying it. I feel like the last two years of experience I have accrued working with Restful API’s makes Django feel really easy to pick up. Don’t really know what my end goal is but a lot of roadblocks to ideas I’ve had is not knowing what to use to set up a back end of sorts to handle requests and interact with a database. Oh and did I mention that it is already preconfigured to use SQLite! So no need to worry about the database aspect either. Going to keep working through the tutorials and see if I can think of some ideas for apps to utilize this project. Would probably be a good thing for me to work through handling user logins and dealing with auth tokens.

Got down to the Mall of America to try Kura!! It’s a conveyor belt sushi place where the food rotates around the restaurant and you pay for what you take. When you are done eating the food you slide the empty plate down a shoot and grab more! It was really good just kind of spendy.

I hit my first 10 min mile today!!! Freaking dying after though 🤣

My first Wild game was amazing! Got some new found respect for the sport of hockey. Would love to go again. Thank you to my cousin Jamie for inviting me along!

Been on the weight loss journey for a couple years now and the worst thing is fighting off the hunger. I will say if you plan on going the route of caloric deficit being hungry is just something that you are going to have to be ok with. I wouldn’t say you are starving but it is good to get in tune with your body and try to differentiate between hunger wants and needs. The difference between I am bored and I want to eat something versus I need to eat lunch.

The idea that I had in the beginning was to eat low-calorie options so I could eat more. This tactic is flawed in that just because you get to eat more doesn’t mean you will stay full. So I have pivoted into eating food that has a high amount of satiation. Usually upping the amount of protein and fiber in your diet will help you feel fuller longer, but I have found the secret that I don’t hear often. POTATOES!! I have never had anything I meal prepped keep me fuller longer than the potato-based meals I started making. This is not hidden knowledge though. If you google the most satiating foods you will find that potatoes are at the top of the list, and they beat out protein by a pretty decent margin. This is due to a lot of factors but I won’t go into too much detail. The basics are it’s a complex carbohydrate, a good amount of fiber, and it’s high in volume and low in calories. All factors make potatoes more filling and take your body longer to break down.

Meals I have prepped to be more potato-focused are a taco-baked potato bowl and a sweet and spicy sweet potato bowl. For the taco baked potato bowl, I prepared taco meat using ground turkey and added bell peppers, garlic, onion, and black beans served over a bed of cut-up baked potato, and topping with salsa. The sweet and spicy sweet potato bowl is made with ground beef, bell pepper, onion, and garlic simmered in a sauce mixture of Bachan’s Original Japanese BBQ Sauce, hoisin, siracha, and apple cider vinegar, served over a bed of cut up baked sweet potato. These recipes have allowed me to meal prep lunches that fit into the 500-550 calorie range which is great for my 2000 daily goal.

I’ll update you all if I come up with some new ideas, but I’ll finish this by saying SCREW CHICKEN AND RICE GIVE ME POTATOES!

Went out to Broken Clock brewery with Heidi. They opened up a kitchen and had fresh tamales and some pablano potato soup. Great food and beer!

I made some homemade beef stir fry for dinner tonight and Rosalin says “This is so pretty you should take a picture”! Turned out pretty good 👍

Having some fun learning Kotlin in Android Studio. Spent a bit of time working on a step tracker app the last couple of days. Got navigation between a few different fragments working and a SQLite database working. The plan is to have a view for looking at all records logged, a screen to add steps, and a graph view to look at progress over time. Also might add achievements and maybe goal tracking. Pretty excited about my progress so far!

The Vikings did not play well last night… We are in a weird situation with not really having a quarterback but still had a fun time with Brandon and Cody! Would go again!

SKOL Vikings!!!

Out for a walk and tried to snap a pic of the Lignite railroad sign. Might be a bit hard to read…

I like the Black and White as recommended by @jthingelstad

Made it through security! Minot bound in an hour for Christmas. Now to find a cocktail bar and read a book.

Some app ideas that I’ve shied away from in the past involve some simple database tables but I didn’t want to pay to deploy one or worry about hosting one locally that is open on the network. For some reason, I didn’t know SQLite existed. For those of you who also have been under a rock like me, SQLite is a database engine that is self-contained within an application stored as a data file. Found out it’s popular in mobile development with IOS and Android applications. Giving the SQLite3 node package a go on a step tracking/logging application I want to build.

I wanted to give myself the challenge of recreating a game in Javascript! Took it easy for the first go around with Snake. Used the PixiJS library for rendering and handling the game loop. Wrote up a basic overview with some code documentation over on GitHub. Also deployed it on GitHub pages if you wanna give it a try!

Repo: https://github.com/QuinnChrest/Snake

Deployed at: https://quinnchrest.github.io/Snake/

Hey it’s been a while… Life’s been busy, but here’s some cookies! I made some cake box cookies like I used to make with my mother. Easy peasy recipe! You just need a stick of butter, one egg, and a box of cake mix at 350 for 10 or so min. Strawberry and lemon are the ones shown below 👇

Making homemade scones with Rosalin and Tim! I made blackberry lime and Rosalin has white chocolate and strawberry in the oven.

In Fargo for the last Bison home game of the season with my old man! ROLL HERD

Super proud of my friend Blair for completing his Warrant Officer training! I attended his graduation ceremony at Camp Ripley this morning to congratulate him on his efforts. Thank you for going above and beyond the normal call of duty.

We are 8.5 hours into When We Were Young 2023 and I’m hitting the wall! Gotta rally for Blink-182 and Green Day.

Went to Anoka Vintage Fest with Aunt Heidi today. Had a great time and found some cool stuff! Wanted to share some of the haul. I got a Naruto shirt to match my Naruto sweatpants and a Tokyo-themed shirt. Loved the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Nintendo Power poster. It is unfortunate that it originally came folded so there are creases, but it is cool nonetheless. Got a great deal on the medieval chess set which is made in Italy. A couple of the pieces are a little broken but I can fix that with some super glue and modeling paint. Finally, rest his soul, I found a Jimmy Buffett greatest hits CD. I grew up listening to Jimmy Buffett with my father so his music holds a special place in my heart.

Had my Bison sweatshirt on for game day! Caught bits and pieces of Missouri State game while I was out. Dad was a bit concerned after their recent performance but it looks like we stomped them out 38 - 10!