analytical-life.com

I”m not feeling terribly focused at the moment, so please excuse me if I have a variety of things to say, in no particular order.  This has been a bizarre week, as if any on them these days aren’t.  First on my list is the Susan G. Koman flap.  For those of you that aren’t familiar, SGK is a large non-profit that works for the breast cancer cure and prevention.  I’ve donated for years, and while I still think that the organization was created for good, lately it’s been a little political.  It pulled funds from Planned Parenthood, and the reasons publicly given were patently dishonest.  If you’re going to treat the public at large, the very public that you depend upon it’s donations to keep you going, as if it’s stupid, well, you’ll probably see your funding diminish.

I won’t go in to the full flap, you have the Internet at your disposal here, so google it.  In this case, I’d have to say the point and game goes to planned parenthood, who due to SGK’s bad politics and public dishonesty, will probably gain that funding immediately, while I’d be willing to bet donations to SGK drop dramatically and possibly permanently.  This is a shame, really, as it never had to happen.  But womens health issues shouldn’t be a political issue.

On my “normal” radar of fitness and nutrition, I’ve done my usual experimenting with eating and exercise.  My protein intake rose, total caloric intake fell, and so I’ve dropped a few pounds.  I’d gotten up to around 194.  While most of this wasn’t fat, I wanted to reduce my weight while increasing my muscle efficiency.  That’s right, not mass.  I don’t want bulk, just a good working body.  So anyway, here’s the change:  2 eggs for breakfast, a protein shake snack, low-fat cottage cheese instead of yogurt, sunflower seed and raisin/dried cranberry trail mix, hard boiled egg whites, and a half gallon of water a day.  I feed nearly constantly.  So far, I’ve dropped about 7 lbs, while maintaining strength levels (200+ on straight bench, 360-400 on the machine).  Clap-push ups and elevated foot planks, as well as the box-jump until I’m breathless.

Hard core.  I mean mine, not the work out.  ;)

All of this can be done in increments of 15 minutes.  No gym necessary, except for the self-imposed stress test on machines.

Now, I hope you can all get out and do some good for yourselves, your families, your community and your soul in general.

Words can be used as weapons, tool, intoxicants, obfuscates, and a variety of other things.  We use them to hurt people, enable them, inform them, seduce them, amuse them, and confuse them.

And the public in general seems aware of this, if only vaguely.  Liberals and conservatives decry the media, whom they almost universally refer to as “MSM”, or “Main Stream Media”, although as far as i can tell, this is used mostly as a shot at the news outlets.  MSNBC and Fox do show news, but they both also use a lot of commentators, many of whom don’t seem to care about any facts at all.

Awareness, however, seems to be only a part of the battle.  I have a lot of really smart friends who pick and choose their facts nearly as often as those that they mock.  From what I can gather, in the  modern age that we live in, shopping for facts that suit us is as necessary for our self-esteem as what brand of cereal or car.

I’m a big fan of watching and reading multiple sources, seeing how the reporting matches up, which facts can be corroborated on a reported event, and drawing my conclusions that way.  I don’t need a fat, drug abusing loudmouth or a mannequin with good hair and bad manners telling me what I should think about an event, I just want what facts are available.  I may watch someone for their amusement value, but I’m sure not watching so that I may gain an opinion.

Indeed, all sources that consider themselves non mainstream like to bash the news media.  Report it the way they want it, or you are part of the media elite.  Never mind if you got the information reported clearly and accurately, did you convince me of a view point?  If not, you are indisputably a schill.  Or not.

“Get your facts first, and then you can distort ‘em as much as you please.”  ~Mark Twain

I enjoy politics.  That may not be entirely true, but I do enjoy watching the politicians.  Pandering is something of a fashion statement amongst them, and I honestly believe that if any of them spent nearly as much time trying to objectively see a problem and solve it in a way that benefits the most people possible, rather than pandering to the noisiest of their constituents, the U.S. might actually start improving.

Most, however, want to solve things only in the worst possible way.  Immigration?  Well, lets see, our pot-bangers are gun-toting and pro-jail for everyone, so we hear a lot of mass deportations, racial profiling random drivers, and electric fences.  Never mind that all of these are either impractical at this point, expensive, which we sure can’t afford, or violate the constitution.

The debt?  Hmm…easy, stop spending money.  Except, as in most cases with national issues, is not really a feasible or easy solution.

Taxes?  Theres a good one.  Mitt and Newt want zero taxes on the kind of income that they pay (capital gains), yet want the poorest of the land to pay more proportionately than they can afford.  yes, yes, yes, 47% pay none (except that they pay more everyday taxes on a paltry income, but hey, those greedy bastards have refrigerators, thus proving that they can’t really be all that poor, right?).  Except that over the last 15 years or so, those getting wealthier off of a capital gains only lifestyle haven’t created jobs with that money, but rather off-shored it and spent it in places where slave-labor is only about 3.79 a day away.

The military?  MORE!!!!  Except that unless something drastic has happened, we have a very top-heavy military, and I’m curious as to how much of that budget went to blackwater, and if it wasn’t paid out of military coffers, where did it come from, and why was the U.S. Government paying for these guys at all anyway?

You see?  The issues are all there, murky, not clearly defined as right or left, arguable from either angle.  And yes, I know most of this will be seen as left-leaning.  It used to be called “moderate”, but then Moderates are now called socialists, or Rinos, or Dinos, or some other unpleasant term.  In an era where it’s okay to tell your President “you lie” in front of national TV audiences, yet a candidate won’t even correct a crack pot in the audience on something demonstrably incorrect, backbone, it seems, is what neither side has much of.

“remember that when you vote for the lesser of two evils, you are still voting for evil”.

I gave blood today.  I do it pretty much as soon as I’m eligible each time, I don’t just wait for a convenient blood drive.   I consider it my civic duty to my community, since it only costs me a little time, I get a free cookie, and the good that it does cannot be understated.  I have the premium blood, the kind that they can give to newborns.  That’s about as close to being a “pureblood” as I get.

I always get some comment on my vascularity when I go, and today I was described as “juicy”, as if I were some grub just dug up, but I can imagine that if you have to find veins on people all day, every day, you develop your own standards and definitions as to a persons veins and ease or difficulty to stick.  Believe me, with very little exertion, my arms look like road maps, so they love that at the blood bank.  And then there’s that cookie.  ;)

I encourage everyone to give blood.  Don’t be a miser.  The life you save may be inconsequential to you, but to somebody else, it’s a dear loved one.

“The future can be anything we want it to be, providing we have the faith and that we realize that peace, no less than war, required “blood and sweat and tears.”.”
Charles F. Kettering

Today is the 11th anniversary of the day my mother passed away.  I think about all of the things she missed, the changes in the world since she left it, and the people she left behind.  She was a fine lady; well read, educated, erudite even.  I inherited her sense of humor and her eyes, and unfortunately, her white hair.  But hey, you take the bad with the good.  She never met my children, whom I know she would have loved quite a lot.  I’m always a little sad when I think about the things in my life that would have been richer for her presence.

A good parent can prepare you for life.  While I know a lot of people that consider money and career the most important thing in life, Kay left me with the knowledge that more important is your love of life.  She had a tough one all the way from the start, yet always met me with a smile.  She always had a book with her, and when her eyes started getting really bad, I bought her large print books.  Were she around today, I know she would have a kindle in her hand non-stop, large font, with about a thousand books on it.

I hope that when my time has come and gone, and all that my children have of me is a memory, that I am remembered with as much love as my own mother is remembered with.  She didn’t make a million dollars, marry well, or change the course of human history, but she did leave a large empty spot in the universe when she left it.  I miss her dearly.

Be careless in your dress if you will, but keep a tidy soul.
Mark Twain

After leaving my blog for many months, I’ve decided to pick it back up.  This is a new year, and I’ll have to dust myself off, recover from 2011, and move on.  I’ll probably add a fiction section too.  Possibly a political opinion page too.

but for now, I have to run off and get ready for work.  Stay tuned, and if you want to contribute (writing, I’m not begging for money), let me know and we can discuss it.

Marc

I’m pretty beat from a weird week so far.  I know it’s hectic when I’m so busy that i don’t even notice a day is gone and I’ve hardly uttered a word, or even more strangely, written one.  I’m looking forward to next week, in as much as I can brush the cobwebs out of my skull and rediscover being organized, for as long as that lasts.

Weeks like this I don’t even realize the passing of time, the thundering roar of silence can be deafening, and numbing.  I’ve hit the work outs even harder, pushing 250lbs on the shoulder press, several times in a row.  Oh, I’m feeling it today, but it was worth it.  I’m not sure if the new limit was hit out of frustration or boredom, but either way it’s a nice feeling to max out a machine.  It would pale in comparison to the satisfaction of a good night with friends, but hey, middle of the week, strange work schedule, you take what you can get.

I’m already working on plans and schemes for the day, and have some straightening up to do around here.  My daughters morning was disrupted, and let me tell you, the girl likes her couch time with her dad.  I’ll be making up for this week for a while.  ;)

I hope everyone out there is having a nice week, or at least is finding something nice in an otherwise unpleasant week.  Finding that thing that pushes one more rep, a smile, warmth in your heart to fire you up, whatever it takes to get you through the days…

The most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
Pierre de Courbertin

To all good things there comes an end.  True.  And all bad.  But for those that we would like to have last (friendships, loves, life, tasty meals…you get my drift) we wish that they would last longer.

Obviously good health will help you live longer, providing you don’t get hit by an errant fruit truck.  The key to good health, as far as I can tell, has a few key components: Good diet, at least moderate exercise, support structure, genetics, and yes, some luck.  In other words, nobody does it alone.  You have to eat things that are good for you, ignore the stupid “some other study will show it kills you” nonsense, and moderate your quantities.  you need friends.  Mental health is every bit as important.  Sure we’ve all known some mean old codger that lived way to long, seemingly living to spread his or her unhappiness, but those are the exception, not the rule.  And no, you may NOT refer to ME as the mean old codger.

Exercise I harp on quite a lot here, and for good reason:  fighting the fragility of old age doesn’t come from a sedentary life style.  Even if all you do is walk hard, you need to keep your body fit.  Fuel it right, but work it, too.

And try to find things that make you happy.  Got a friend that you just love, but don’t seem to have any time for?  Make that time.  I’ve remarked that a garden doesnt grow on the memory of sunshine and water.  Nor do friendships remain because you remember to appreciate your friends once every 18 months or so.   In the same way that to keep your body healthy you have to feed it good, whole foods and clean water often, your relationships need nurturing too.  And doing it not only keeps the friendship going, it strengthens you as a person.

Go on a girls night out, a guys night out, a couples dinner, or just hang out with friends watching a movie and enjoying a few laughs.  it will be time well spent.

“True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.”
– Charles Caleb Colton

“Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant.”
– Socrates