I just read this article that talked about kids and their snacking habits. It's easy for me to say that there is a problem now that I'm 27 and at high risk for heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes and hypertension, but kids need to change their eating habits. As recently as a four years ago, I ate like complete crap and as a result I got fat. Not obviously fat like I was morbidly obese, but in retrospect, I have no idea how I got so fat. Right now I weigh 155 and I'm arguably the healthiest/fittest I've ever been. 4 years ago I weighed an astonishing 184. I can't imagine 30 pounds on me right now, especially since I still have fat to burn.
Here's what happened...In middle school and high school, I ate like crap. I mean crap. My mom didn't pack me a lunch and my school didn't provide a healthy option for me (or any option for that matter - we had no hot lunch despite me running for Student Council on a mission to get hot lunch) so I ate whatever I wanted. Generally this constituted a couple bags of chips, a couple sodas and a Big Texas. This was lunch probably 3 times a week and the other 2 days was pizza day. This continued until my senior year of high school when we finally got rid of the guy who brought in crusty sandwiches and overpriced milk (his name was literally The Sandwich Man) and replaced him with a local mexican restaurant once a week, Subway twice a week and pizza twice a week. This bad eating continued into college and finally when I started drinking my metabolism slowed down and fat started creeping in. I was 125 lbs when I graduated high school and 130 when I turned 21. Beer and late night food quickly turned that into 150 and years and a lack of basketball or any real excercise slowly turned that into 184. I was a beast. But then Other Guy and a few friends that are as close as brothers called me out on being fat and I started running and quickly lost 20 pounds and hovered around 165 for a few years until this last year when I was training for my half marathon and dropped to 148. Ive worked my way back up to 150 but I now run, eat right (though I do have my days of complete indulgence like this Sunday when Mark Twain and I will probably eat an entire cake while watching the Oscars) and I've maintained a solid 155.
My point is this, kids need to learn to eat right at school. I loved vegetables as a kid and if the option were there for something tasty and healthy, I would have happily eaten it. Kids need to eat better and schools shouldn't provide any option of things that are unhealthy. They should have juice and milk and water and fruit at school and not cookies and Coke. Obesity is an epidemic and needs to be stopped while it's still somewhat unacceptable to be fat, but the more people that get fat and lazy, the closer we get to Wall-e being the future.
Go big or go home. Get out your running shoes...
-M, p, z & shredder
Thursday, March 04, 2010
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
A Good Night's Sleep...
Monday morning marked the first night in a very long time that I slept through the night and didn't have a bad dream. I'm not sure what my deal is lately but for the last 5 or 6 weeks, I haven't been sleeping well. I go to bed early, but then wake up in the middle of the night and can't fall back asleep, or I have a scary dream and it'll take me a while to get settled again. Take last night for example, I went bed around 10:30, fell asleep relatively quick then had a dream that Other Guy and I were looking at special edition Halo controllers at this video game store (yes, even in my dreams I'm a nerd) and on our way out of the store these two guys followed us into the parking lot and mugged me while my brother ran inside to get help. Then this guy picked me up high in the air and threw me into the ground. I ended up waking up as I was body slammed at 4:30am and couldn't fall back asleep forever.
My question is this: what can I do to get a more peaceful rest? It can't be video games influencing my dreams, because I've been playing them my whole life and specifically playing pretty much only Halo since 2004. I thought maybe it's my diet, but I generally try and eat very health concious (no salt, no fried foods, no saturated deliciousness) but Sunday I had all those things, chips, (3!) ice cream sandwiches, waffles, sour patch kids, fried chicken and somehow got the only quality sleep I've had in months.
I'm hoping that once the weather gets nicer, so will my dreams but until then any advice anyone has would be awesome. Go big.
-M, p, z & shredder
My question is this: what can I do to get a more peaceful rest? It can't be video games influencing my dreams, because I've been playing them my whole life and specifically playing pretty much only Halo since 2004. I thought maybe it's my diet, but I generally try and eat very health concious (no salt, no fried foods, no saturated deliciousness) but Sunday I had all those things, chips, (3!) ice cream sandwiches, waffles, sour patch kids, fried chicken and somehow got the only quality sleep I've had in months.
I'm hoping that once the weather gets nicer, so will my dreams but until then any advice anyone has would be awesome. Go big.
-M, p, z & shredder
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Ghostbusters 3...
This movie has been in the pipeline for about 20 years. I posted a while back that they started working on a new script and that everyone had agreed to return and I just wanted to weigh in on a couple things and get my two cents in before anything is actually official. Usually I'm excited for any new movie in a much loved franchise i.e. Fast and Furious, G.I. Joe, The A-Team, Star Trek, Transformers, TMNT and lately the list goes on and on. However, I'm cautious about this one. The first Ghostbusters is a classic. An absolute classic. Getting those actors at that time and doing that movie was like everything clicked at the right time and it was magical. The second one was hilarious but not nearly as good as the first. I don't quite yet know how I feel. I posted a little while back that Bill Murray said he would do it if they killed him off (confirmed again on Letterman) and he played the rest as a ghost and people really seemed to like that idea but I kind of hated it. I think it need to be the original cast and it needs to be perfect if they do a new one.
The main theory floating around the interwebs right now is that it'll be the old guys coming out of retirement but they are sort of mentors to a new crew which would most likely suck unless done right. My fear is that they get Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill to be in it and it'll turn into something completely different than it is. Bill Muray is Dr. Peter Venkman and there's no way you can do a movie without him in a starring role. Anyway, I hope that if this happens they do everything right and so far, it seems like they have (Ivan Reitman is set to direct again with Akroyd and Ramis returning as well and I can only assume Ernie Hudson will be back as Winston).
Let's hope this either doesn't happen or happens perfectly. Anyone remember Indiana Jones 4? Yeah, me neither...
Go big.
-M, p, z & shredder
The main theory floating around the interwebs right now is that it'll be the old guys coming out of retirement but they are sort of mentors to a new crew which would most likely suck unless done right. My fear is that they get Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill to be in it and it'll turn into something completely different than it is. Bill Muray is Dr. Peter Venkman and there's no way you can do a movie without him in a starring role. Anyway, I hope that if this happens they do everything right and so far, it seems like they have (Ivan Reitman is set to direct again with Akroyd and Ramis returning as well and I can only assume Ernie Hudson will be back as Winston).
Let's hope this either doesn't happen or happens perfectly. Anyone remember Indiana Jones 4? Yeah, me neither...
Go big.
-M, p, z & shredder
Monday, March 01, 2010
Monday Two Three...
One
Almost in spite of yesterday's blog, the Olympics ended on a high note. Despite the loss, that hockey game was incredibly exciting and really fun to watch. While watching the game, I kept thinking about an article I read that the winter Olympics were really the greatest showcase and advertisement to the US for the NHL and how true it was. I am fortunate enough to be a Red Wings fan and while I enjoy watching them play, I can't say that I would ever want to watch a game where they aren't playing (much like the Tigers) however, after watching these Olympics it's very clear that hockey is a sport that is just exciting. No matter who is playing, it's exciting and fun to watch. It also helps that Ryan Miller grew up in Lansing and went to State. The only complaint I have is why did it have to be Crosby? The only player I dislike on either team and it's him who's the hero. As if the Penguins beating us wasn't bad enough?
Two
It's March. This year is flying by. It really feels like it was just New Years. One thing is clear to me, I'm ready for warm weather. I woke up hoping that today would be nice out but instead it's cold and cloudy. Another day in the Midwest. I feel like the older I get, the shorter my tolerance for bogus weather. I'm not bailing on the Midwest anytime soon, but folks out in LA really don't have a clue. I love all the seasons and I'm a huge fan of snow and Winter, but can't it be like a month shorter? Can't I live in a place that has a full three seasons like Michigan and a shortened Winter? All I know is that I need some sun soon or I'm going to start showing signs of S.A.D.
Three
Lighter Than, posted this article on fb about the Tea Party movement and I want to take a second to talk about it. Read it first because it's a solid article and outlines a potentially scary movement. First of all, I can see that my readership is growing and while it used to be mostly frequented by people who share my political ideologies, I assume that with that growth it has shifted a bit to also have readers who align themseleves with the GOP. Fear not you crazy Republicans because when it comes to the Tea Partiers, we're in the same boat. Last month when Sarah Palin was speaking at the Tea Party Conference (and famously read cheat words off her hand) I didn't think anything of it but after reading this article I found myself wondering what would happen if this movement gained massive momentum. Then I realized that was crazy for one simple reason, people don't want to 'waste' their votes. I'm a good example of this. While I am a registered Democrat and and align myself with the party, I find myself leaning closer to the doctrines of the Green Party on many issues. But I'm not enthusiastic about Nader and I'm pretty sure most of their ideas are not only more complex than tackling Health Care Reform but also harder to pass into law. So I vote for Democrats, though last year I did vote for each office individually and voted for several Green Partiers in the Michigan State elections. I think the same is true for the Tea Party, it's a group of angry citizens who hate government (and for some reason they don't find it hypocrytical or oxymoronical to vote someone into a government office who hates government) and will vote for the closest thing to their beliefs without 'wasting' their vote (I put wasting in quotations because I don't actually think it's a waste, I'm just using an expression).
Go big
-M, p, z & shredder
Almost in spite of yesterday's blog, the Olympics ended on a high note. Despite the loss, that hockey game was incredibly exciting and really fun to watch. While watching the game, I kept thinking about an article I read that the winter Olympics were really the greatest showcase and advertisement to the US for the NHL and how true it was. I am fortunate enough to be a Red Wings fan and while I enjoy watching them play, I can't say that I would ever want to watch a game where they aren't playing (much like the Tigers) however, after watching these Olympics it's very clear that hockey is a sport that is just exciting. No matter who is playing, it's exciting and fun to watch. It also helps that Ryan Miller grew up in Lansing and went to State. The only complaint I have is why did it have to be Crosby? The only player I dislike on either team and it's him who's the hero. As if the Penguins beating us wasn't bad enough?
Two
It's March. This year is flying by. It really feels like it was just New Years. One thing is clear to me, I'm ready for warm weather. I woke up hoping that today would be nice out but instead it's cold and cloudy. Another day in the Midwest. I feel like the older I get, the shorter my tolerance for bogus weather. I'm not bailing on the Midwest anytime soon, but folks out in LA really don't have a clue. I love all the seasons and I'm a huge fan of snow and Winter, but can't it be like a month shorter? Can't I live in a place that has a full three seasons like Michigan and a shortened Winter? All I know is that I need some sun soon or I'm going to start showing signs of S.A.D.
Three
Lighter Than, posted this article on fb about the Tea Party movement and I want to take a second to talk about it. Read it first because it's a solid article and outlines a potentially scary movement. First of all, I can see that my readership is growing and while it used to be mostly frequented by people who share my political ideologies, I assume that with that growth it has shifted a bit to also have readers who align themseleves with the GOP. Fear not you crazy Republicans because when it comes to the Tea Partiers, we're in the same boat. Last month when Sarah Palin was speaking at the Tea Party Conference (and famously read cheat words off her hand) I didn't think anything of it but after reading this article I found myself wondering what would happen if this movement gained massive momentum. Then I realized that was crazy for one simple reason, people don't want to 'waste' their votes. I'm a good example of this. While I am a registered Democrat and and align myself with the party, I find myself leaning closer to the doctrines of the Green Party on many issues. But I'm not enthusiastic about Nader and I'm pretty sure most of their ideas are not only more complex than tackling Health Care Reform but also harder to pass into law. So I vote for Democrats, though last year I did vote for each office individually and voted for several Green Partiers in the Michigan State elections. I think the same is true for the Tea Party, it's a group of angry citizens who hate government (and for some reason they don't find it hypocrytical or oxymoronical to vote someone into a government office who hates government) and will vote for the closest thing to their beliefs without 'wasting' their vote (I put wasting in quotations because I don't actually think it's a waste, I'm just using an expression).
Go big
-M, p, z & shredder
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