Tuesday, May 29, 2007

I attempted a Jedi-mind-trick on myself, but it didn't work.

So, in regards to jogging, I finally compromised with myself and decided to do fast walking instead.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

I've started reading 3 new books

The 1st book is "How to Expand Love" by the Dalai Lama. I've only read the 1st chapter, and I will say that 'profound' doesn't even begin to describe it. I'll go even further and say--anything written by the Dalai Lama is worth the read.

The 2nd book is "The Peoples History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. I've read the some of the 1st chapter, and it makes me sad. Did you know that Indians inhabited all of the Caribbean Islands, yet if you were to go to any of the islands today whether it was Haiti, Cuba, or Bahamas, you would primarily see people of African decent without seeing anyone looking remotely like an Indian? The reason for this, as you know probably already know, a genocide occurred. This book looks at history from an unusual perspective--it looks at history from the perspective of the people who have been savagely brutalized like the Indians

The 3rd book is "Seizure" by Erica Wagner. I saw her on Charlie Rose. She's the literary editor for the London Times who also happens to be a writer. I've only read the 1st couple of pages, but from what I can tell, it's well written, and she's quite intelligent--she might actually be too smart, if that's possible.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Jogging

Jogging is pretty much my least favorite activity.

If I had to rank it, jogging would rank somewhere between forgetting to zip my pants up at a sporting event, a camera zooms in on me, and I look up and see myself on the jumbotron with a caption underneath that read "Hey, check out this jackass!!" Actually, just saying jogging ranks past that is enough.

In another sick twist of events, jogging is probably the most effective activity for losing chub.

I can get on a bike and ride it for an hour and burn a 1000 calories, which I did at least 100 times last year, but it didn't do much for problematic areas of chub. In fact, the only thing cycling does for me is, it helps keep me from getting winded when I walk up a flight of stairs, and that's about it.

If I ran two miles in about 20 to 25 minutes twice a week, it would have a dramatic effect on the chub almost immediately.

Anyways, I'm only writing about this because I'm trying to deal with the grim reality that I need to start jogging.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

China, Tibet, and an ecological disaster.

Let me go on record here and say, it's not very smart to eat any produce grown in China. China has the worst environmental record of any country in the Western Hemisphere.

All you have to do is watch a documentary on China. All you'll see is polluted rivers and smoke stacks releasing toxic fumes everywhere.

China, in pursuit to become an economic powerhouse, has cut every environmental corner imaginable. As it is know, it is not safe to eat produce or livestock from China, and it will more than likely be this way for the next 30 or so years. You can also expect to hear, from China, of astronomical cancer rates because of all this pollution.

OK, so maybe you won't hear about it--China doesn't have a Free Press, which brings this story to China's humanitarian record. China invaded Tibet in 1950!

In 1958, the Dalai Lama fled to India to avoid being imprisoned and tortured. Yes, the Dalai Lama has lived in exile for close to 50 years. You don't hear much about it. In fact, you really don't hear anything about it. Sad to say it, but Tibet doesn't have any oil.

The genocide that's occurred there has not received very much coverage here in the U. S--OK, it really hasn't recieved any coverage. An overwhelming majority of Americans are unaware of the 1 million or so Tibetans, who've been murdered and thrown into concentration camps, nor have they heard about the 1 million who fled to India. Americans don't realize Tibetans can't even carry around a picture of the Dalai Lama lest they get caught, imprisoned, and tortured until they renounce their beliefs, or if they don't renounce, they can expect to sit in prison for 20 years or longer.

The situation in Tibet is horrible. Chinese now outnumber Tibetans in their own country!!--8 million to 9 million. Over 6,000 monastaries have been leveled.

Basically, the primary perveyors of compassion on planet earth have been kicked out of there own country, and we, as human beings, cannot simply stand aside without saying something about it.

If you buy something made in China in the near future, and you think you're getting a deal--please think about the actual cost.

blogs as a work of art

I suppose there are a great many reasons for someone to blog. It's definitely a form of self-expression, which means it is a kind of art.

As in all subjective forms of media there are varying degrees of quality.

I hope mine doesn't completely suck.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

I guess I'm going to have to start obeying traffic laws

I got a letter from the City of Dallas about a week ago saying I owed them $75 for running a red light.

I couldn't even get pissed off because I absolutely positively 100%--no-doubt-about-it ran a red light, and they had the photographs to prove it.

As I was driving through it, I even remember thinking, "I hope this isn't one of red lights with the flippin' cameras because just totally freakin' ran that sucker." Lo and behold, 3 weeks later, C of D sends me a letter. Crap!!

So, I guess this also means I'll have to stop driving with my head up my ass--I'm going to miss that.