Healthy Eating

I don't know if there are very many people out there that could say that everything they eat is healthy. We all have a few weaknesses, chocolate, pizza, ice cream, cake, pie, a candy bar, a nice juicy burger, and the list goes on. There are many people out there that have eaten healthy for a while and so many of those things, while they may sound good, make them sick, or not feel as good as they would have, had they eaten healthy. Eating healthy makes us feel better, in various ways. I don't think that is really debatable. What is debatable however, is what is healthy?

I have a co-worker, and I know everyone does, that swears organic food is leaps and bounds healthier for you. That may be true. I am sure something come fresh off a tree or a plant into your mouth is a lot healthier than passing than a processing plant into a can or what have you and making it's way into your mouth. But here is my problem with all of this natural eating, organic argument. Since the development of preserving and canning, along with modern medicine, man has lived longer than ever before. 500 years ago 40 was considered old. It seems like every other month I am reading about another person who has lived to be a 100. So, does it really matter if my servings of fruit and vegetables comes fresh out of my garden or out of a bag from the frozen food section?

At some point in time we have to leave the organic realm and move to preservation/non-organic just so we have fruits and vegetables year round. An apple, organic or non-organic, can only stay fresh and good for you for so long.

Don't think I hate health food/organic food stores. Not by any means. I enjoy gardening and like to grow my own fruits and vegetables. And I think if someone wants to go down and spend a couple more dollars for organic food, go for it. But it seems to me that those who buy organic food seem to hold that over your head, like there organic banana just raised their IQ by 10 points... Yeah, not so much. Rather than look down at someone because they like fast food, why not encourage them to eat a couple more pieces of fruit every day (organic or not), rather than go off on your rant about how your body would shrivel up and die if you even looked at a McDonald's chicken nugget. 

Crappy Internet

Have you ever heard the saying, " If you really want to know some one, give them slow internet and see how they react?" I got to see a side of me last week that normally isn't there. Granted, I have gone months without a wi-fi connection, so a few days of the internet cutting in and out and all of the other problems that came with it, weren't awful, but I did miss out on some good potential blogs. I thought about just sitting down one night and plowing out like 3 or 4 to keep up with the one a day idea but I realized it would just make for some really crappy blog posts and then I would probably get burnt out for a week, or a month, and probably another five years.

I did get to take in a couple good basketball games this weekend. Very proud to be a Duke fan and see them advance to the Final Four. I was highly disappointed that Notre Dame ran out of gas at the end and didn't finish off Kentucky. I think that would have made a ton of people super happy. Michigan State is a little bit of a surprise, but it's Tom Izzo, they seem to always outperform in March. It says a lot about the guy. I wish Gonzaga would have been seeded in another region because it would be nice to see them make a Final Four appearance, Mark Few is very deserving of it. Last but not least Wisconsin, I hope those cheese heads give Kentucky a nice beat down, but I am not sure if they have the legs to stay with them. Kentucky is deep, but they can be beaten as seen on Saturday night.

You want to know what is sad about all of this. The past two years I have not filled out a bracket. 16 year old me would be in fits right now if I knew that I wasn't going to be filling out a bracket. Sad I know. But life is a bit busy and when you don't have a printer set up in your home, its a lot harder to make that happen. It's not like I revile sports now, they just don't consume my life like they use to. We grow up and learn things, and priorities change, and that's okay.

Running

By no means am I a professional runner. I am not even an avid runner. I enjoy running, I suck at it, but I enjoy it. According to my Nike Running up, its been about 2 years since I went on a run. So, like I said, far from an avid runner.

In high school I had a coach tell me that I would be a great long distance runner. I didn't believe him and I hated running at the time. Its boring, and in New Mexico its windy, and just not all that fun to do. But, then I grew up a little bit and got really out of shape, and seeing that I didn't have any one to wrestle with or a wrestling team to join, I had to pick up something, and running was an easy something to do. I swore I wrote a blog about running during my freshmen year of college. I'd get home from work, eat, veg out for a bit and then put on the running shoes, grab my little mp3 player and head out the door. A little Relient K, Blink-182, and some other random bands from a cd a friend gave me and I was in my own little world.

The last year has been rather crazy and so running went down the drain but since I need to look some what decent before my family makes a trip to Jamaica I decided that it was time to get back into running. Now, to be honest, without an Ipod or some music to run with and my Nike Running app, I probably wouldn't like it as much. But seriously, how can you complain when you have an app telling you how far, how long, and your average pace. Not to mention, since I haven't ran in forever, it kicks out a nice workout routine for me, giving me some suggestions for how long I should run each day and different methods like, walk for a minute and then run for a minute.Its a nice little helpful thing.

What is crazy about all of this, is that over the last couple years I have noticed that the things I hated and refused to do in high school, have turned into things I really enjoy doing. I hated English class because of all the writing and the grammar, and now I enjoy writing, still suck at grammar but I have improved a little over the years. I hated running, but I wish I would have been on the cross country and track teams. I am sure the list goes on. While waking up an extra 30 minutes to go for a light jog sucked, but once I got out the door I felt like I was in my little sanctuary with LMFAO's "Sexy and I know it" blaring as I ran down the empty streets. 

Beauty comes at a price, a sweet price!

Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a hairy guy. This is nothing new to family and close friends. I am very comfortable with my hair. Outside of having to shave my face every day I have never really been annoyed by the amount of hair that I have, that is until I got these devilish little things known as ingrown hairs. One every now and then happens, and that is okay, but about a year ago, I started getting a lot of them.

Like most people I turned to the source of all truth and knowledge, my peeps of the internets, and tried to discover a magical cure. Some said change your bath soap, exfoliate more, use more or a different lotion, and last but not least, remove all of the hair... not by shaving, not by trimming, but by waxing.

When it comes to waxing all I think about is that movie with Steve Carrell getting a wax on his chest. Or in Hitch when Will Smith is next to chocking Kevin James as he is getting his back waxed. It's not my definition of a good time, nor is getting ingrown hairs plucked and dug out. So, for some unknown reason to me, I got my chest waxed.

Being the cheap guy that I am, I wasn't going to go and drop an insane amount for someone to rip all of the hair off my body. I have attempted waxing before, and so has my wife. One using the typical hot wax that you warm up in a pot of boiling water, the other using strips that are pre-waxed - neither being fun. As I searched the internet for some cheap solution I stumbled across sugar waxing. It seemed simple enough, mix some sugar, water, lemon juice, heat it up until it turns golden brown, allow to cool for a few minutes, and then apply and cry as you remove hair in a way that God never intended for you to do.

Some how after I thought I screwed up the first patch of molten hair ripping flesh, I decided to look up another persons take on how to make sugar wax. Anyone with kids knows that if you want to have all of your attention focused on something you either hire a baby sitter, or wait until everyone is a sleep and walk around the house very, very quietly. So I started in on batch number two at around midnight.

Now, remember, this is a piece of cake. Sugar, water, lemon juice, heat it up until golden brown, and let cool for a few minutes, before applying. You can also let it cool, store it in the fridge and warm it up for later use. Sugar wax is different from normal wax, you can make it so you can use it without strips or anything else. So, after heating it up until golden brown, I pour it on a slightly damp plate, (just like the women said in her video) and waited for it to cool for 45 seconds before I was suppose to start gathering the nice hot molten lava wax with my hands.

After waiting 45 seconds, as I was told to do, I started to gather the wax up and thought this stuff is FREAKING HOT!!!!!! I rewatched the 30 seconds where the lady said, "Wait about 45 seconds and start gathering the wax before it cools down." How I let this women on youtube talk me into what I am about to tell you I have no idea, BYU should probably come and take my degree away because I am clearly lacking common sense.

After about 2 minutes after removing the wax, which was boiling, I begin to gather it in my hand and knead it so it gains a consistent texture, as I was directed. It's 12:30 at night, and my kids are sleeping so I am trying to control myself from saying various swear words, along with not freaking out. After about a minute I realize I am in a losing battle. What genius takes boiling hot sugar wax and try's to rub it in their hands? This guy! So, here I am standing in my kitchen with my hands just about stuck together with lovely hot wax. Thank goodness sugar dissolves with enough water. 

What did I learn? I already knew waxing was a painful thing, but like any DIY project, you better be prepared for the unexpected, like bad directions, or wrong directions, or a wife who gets way too much joy out of ripping your hair out. All I know, the people of the internets lie!

Communication

I've never thought of this before but I am sure that just like there are different learning styles, I am sure there are different responses to leadership based on the person. I'd have to research and read up on it but one thing I have noticed that probably doesn't change is the importance of effective communication. I work in a facility with nearly 100 other people. Roughly 6 people or so manage the group in various forms and capacities. As you can imagine each of the 100 people that I work with have their own way of going about their work and their own way of measuring their success. Now, you have to take into account that this is a job, some people are here for the paycheck. Some are here to learn, some are here for the experience, and so on.

However, while we are okay with peoples motivation being different. Think about that, you are given a task to do, say paint a wall. Sounds simple enough, so I take my paint brush with a couple quick rolls most of the wall is painted and looks okay but you on the other hand go and get the paper and tape and tape the edges, place paper on the floor for any drips or spills, get a smaller brush to go around and get all of the corners and trim painted nicely and all the way to the end, and then finish with a couple of coats of paint. Both of us painted the wall and depending on who you are you may say one was more successful than the other.

I wrote a post before about a guy I work with that is lazy. While all of those that work around him know that, and even the manager knows that, no one has done anything about it. I understand that managers are busy and they have things they need to do and get done and they don't always have the time to be standing over us, making sure that we are working, no one like to be micro-managed. But, having some effective communication about what things need to get done and how they need to be done can go a long way.

I think about this all of the time with my kids. When you have 3 kids under the age of 4, things take longer to do. Yes, my kids recognize and hear the words I am telling them, but they rarely understand what I am saying. How many times have you caught yourself getting anger and frustrated when you told some one to paint a wall? For kids, they don't know where to begin when it comes to painting a wall so taking time to demonstrate, show them, maybe watch a youtube video, or read a story about it. While there may be various leadership styles and learning methods, learning how to communicate our thoughts and desires so we are understood has to be close to the top of that list.

Blessings

I heard a story once about a man looking at a newly constructed building and asking the question, "why do so few get blessed with so much?" I am not sure how true the story is, but either way the question points out the vast economic blessings that are seen all around the world. Every day I get done with work and I drive roughly 5 miles in less than 20 minutes to get home, to a heated and cooled home, where there is plenty of food to eat, running water, and electricity. As I take a shower and get cleaned up I sometimes think about people half across the world who don't even get fresh water every day, yet alone enough to take a 10-15 minute shower. I wonder what those people would think if they spent a few days in my home. My apartment isn't very big, some 1200 square feet. But to some people that is a mansion.

Now, I don't want to come off as someone who finishes half of my posts as #firstworldproblems, because while I may live in a first world country and have all of these things placed before me, I still do have problems and struggles. We often talk about blessings and forget to talk about the responsibilities that come with them. I have the opportunity to move about the country and earn an income, provide food and shelter for my family, in some what of an easy environment but I also have the responsibility to try and better other peoples lives.

I read an article the other day about a couple that lives in Dallas, they make roughly 150,000 dollars a year between both of their income, of which they try and save about 75% or more. They try and live off around 30,000 of that. People asked them why they were trying to save so much and not enjoy it more, and they said, we don't know what we have ahead of us and all of the philanthropy work and other chances to serve out. They have been richly blessed, and yes they do enjoy it a little (very little to be honest) they really are taking the blessings they have and trying to make sure they are living up to their responsibility.

I often think about my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and what it means for me. I know a lot of people in this world haven't had the chance to learn about Christ, or even God for that matter, but that doesn't mean that I deny myself of that right to, instead, I try and recognize the blessing that it is and fulfill the responsibility to share it with as many people as I can. No, it is not exactly the easiest thing to do, and not everyone wants it, but we still must try to help create those opportunities for other people to receive the gospel.

Lazy People

I am by no means the most productive person, just ask my want to be 6 pack abs how often I work them out, but have you ever met or worked with an extremely lazy person? I'm not talking about those who hate work, gripe, moan, and complain all day long. I am not talking about people who find creative ways to get out of doing things, without them we wouldn't have half of the things we have. I am talking about the people who literally do absolutely nothing.

I have a co-worker like that right now. He is not the first person I have worked with that is extremely lazy, and won't be the last one I work with. I am just stuck wondering, how do you do it? How can you come to work and sit and do nothing for 9-10 hours a day? There is only so much one can do on the internet. At some point your brain or your body just wants to explode from not doing anything. I am a mechanic, we work on things. We climb over, under, and around pieces of equipment to make sure they are working properly, so to stand back and watch some one sit and do nothing, absolutely nothing all day is painful.

I have often wondered how people could be so lazy, and then I had kids. I realized that so many habits that my parents have, I have to. From the way I eat, meals I make, places I shop, shopping habits, money management, exercise, and the list goes on and on. All of those habits, I learned from my parents. I see it when I take my kids to the park and see over weight kids with over weight parents. Its what we see every day, its what we are familiar with, and what we know, so we follow suit. I am not blaming parents for every lazy person. Or every over weight person, or every smart person. But parents did have a little bit to do with it. However, at the end of the day, a person is responsible for themselves and they have to learn how to break the cycle, if they so choose. There are some things that every parent does great, that we want to keep and do for the rest of our lives, and there are other things that we ought to change.

What is sad to me is seeing people live in America, where there is so much, and so many opportunities and pass them up. Not because they aren't smart enough, or talented enough, but because they don't know how to break the habit. They don't know any different, and no matter what you tell them, or how hard you convince them, they don't want to change because they don't think they can, or that everyone else is out to get them or better then them.

Like I said to start this post, I am not the most productive, pro-active, get it done guy. I have lots of room to improve. Maybe, I just see others sit around for 9-10 hours a day and think I'm doing more than him, when in reality I should be asking, what more can I be doing? How much better can I be?

15 Minutes

My freshmen English class in college introduced me to blogging. The teacher wanted us to learn how to write, and a way to do that, was to practice, so blogging fit naturally into the goal. The assignment was simple, write 50 blog posts over the course of the semester. There was no list of topics, no proofreading or editing requirments, he actually discouarged it. He wanted us to sit down, set a timer, and write for 15 minutes. If we had more to say at the end of the 15 minutes, then we could continue to do so, but at least write for 15 minutes. Don't edit, correct, re-word, look up facts or figures, nothing but writing. I loved it. I wrote mostly about sports, but also about random activites and incidents with school, girls, the gym, and family, like when my grandpa died during that semester. It was liberating and fun.

I got away from that as I progressed in my college career and after my mission. I became a history major and got tied up in having the right facts and details to support the argument. So, blogging became work, and a lot of it. To produce a simple 3 or 4 paragraph blog took hours to go back and proofread and fact check. I got really worried about my audience, thinking that people might look at my blog and tear it to shreds over my spelling or grammar use. Instead of doing something I loved, like writing, I stopped because I was worried that what I would produce wasn't going to sound as cool as it did in my head. That people wouldn't see the humor in the post, or what have you.

Now I work as a mechanic, I rarely open a book, and without college professors and deadlines, I don't write, like ever. And I noticed I missed school. I missed sitting down in front of a blank word document and writing what I had learned, what I saw, what I felt, what I thought. Not to prove a point or win an argument, but just because I liked it. Because putting words on a paper that formed sentences and paragraphs felt good, like I had accomplished some thing that day. I remember sitting in my dorm as a freshmen and pounding one blog post after another out, because I had so many different ideas that I wanted to get down. It was better than working on chemistry or dealing with the crappy emotions that go with relationships.

A couple of weeks ago I took my wife to Barnes and Noble for a valentine's date, I know, lame. But we hadn't really gone and looked at books together in our 5 years of knowing each other, so it was fun. She always tells me that I don't talk to her, and that is true, I would rather write, it sounds better to me. But we stumbled across a book, "642 things to write about". I said we should get this and we can write and talk about random things and get to know each other better. She wasn't to fond on the idea so I bought it and I started writing, it was random crap, like "Write a Facebook post from 2020". I wrote a few, and then my wife told me a few days later, "I've been reading a few of those things you wrote and you should become a writer, your really good." I'm not sure how good I am, but I do know writing can be fun. I think a lot of laugh can be fun, if we would quit worrying about what others think and do what we actually like.