Observations

Looking for some good tea?  I just found this at The Good Food Store here in Rochester.  I really like it.  It’s green tea with Ginseng, and a pretty strong spearmint flavor.   It smells just like a pack of gum, and the spearmint hides the grassy flavor or the green tea.  I normally make a couple cups of this stuff in the morning in place of a coffee, or can of soda.   If you see it in a store near your give it a shot.

Ok, so some of you may think I’m paranoid, but I have a growing skepticism that plastic is really bad for people.   Most recently I discovered that the really expensive Nalgene plastic water bottles I bought awhile back where made from a plastic known as polycarbonate.

Polycarbonate plastic (Recycling code of “7″) contains a chemical known as BPA, which is a chemical that once in your body mimics estrogen.   I knew shortly after buying those bottles that something wasn’t quite right.   If you have one at home, fill it half full of water and cap off the container then wait 3 days and smell the water.  It tastes and smells very plastic-like.  This concerns me, especially since the Nalgene bottles I bought we “BPA free”.   If the water smells like and tastes like plastic, then chemicals from the bottle are most definitely leeching from it.   Since almost all plastic is made from petroleum which is toxic if ingested, it’s got me questioning the safety of plastic in general.

Other things have raised my suspicion of plastic as well.  I went to the grocery store while back and noticed a massive sale on Gladware, and Ziplock containers.  Hy-vee had pallets of this stuff out on the sales floor marked at 80% off its normal price, with no explanation as to why.   I purchased tons of it, paying like 25 cents per container.  Then about a month later I went to buy some more because I liked the smaller containers, only to realize the price had adjusted back to its original pricing.  When carefully looking at the label, these NEW containers where marked “BPA free”.  I was under the impression that only very tough, transparent plastics like polycarbonate contained it.   I noticed that many other companies are going BPA free as well, but while quietly slashing costs on all of their back stock.

This, in combination with several studies that show evidence that plastic is not only hurting the planet in terms of garbage and pollution, but also in terms of poisoning lakes and rivers, which then poison the fish we eat, was enough to make me switch to only drinking water from glass or stainless steel.

So today while feeling proud of myself for making a switch to a stainless steel bottle caught myself filling it up from a Culligan water cooler…  dispensing water that is stored in a POLYCARBONATE JUG.   I felt like a fool.  Reasonable, considering today is April Fools Day, but this isn’t a joke.

BE CAREFUL and BE AWARE of what you eat and drink, and what things are made out of.  BPA is a chemical that is BANNED in many other countries.   I have always wondered why Americans are so stupid at times, and why we live in a pretty violent country for a civilized society.  People always joked that it’s “probably something in the water” (or food) and now that seems to be a real possibility.   Autism, mental retardation, ADHD, Alzhemers, dementia and many other mental disabilities or disorders are spiking to record highs in recent years.  I really believe that this isn’t a fluke, but instead directly correlated to the foods we eat, the things we drink, and the chemical makeup of the things we cook with, the synthetic dyes, and the pesticides we dump by the ton on our crops.  It’s got me seriously thinking and changing my habits.

In the same way that 1 pack of cigarettes wont guarantee lung cancer later in life, I believe that the chemicals in foods don’t show immediate dangers.  It’s over time these chemicals build up in the body and start effecting and corrupting cells, DNA, hormones, your immune system, and your brain chemistry, which lead to these diseases.

Here are some things to read and watch in your downtime…
BPA (Wikipedia) Direct links to obesity, ADHD, Cancer, long-term adverse reproductive health, (Shocking)
Food Rules and Eaters Manual (Fora.tv)

Avoid all plastics with the recycling code of “7″.  Educate yourself especially when it comes to the food your eat!
Just because its sold in stores or is approved by the FDA DOES NOT MEAN ITS SAFE!

According with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which supports BPA ban, after lobbyists for the chemical industry met with administration officials, the EPA delayed BPA regulation and had not included the chemical in action plan released December 30, 2009.

Sadly, this is just one case out of the thousands yearly where money comes before the safety of the public, and serves as a prime example of how large companies and organizations control the country by “buying out” politicians and legally bribing regulators through the use of lobbyists, to continue to push toxic chemicals and substances to the market in the effort to make more money and avoid lawsuits while simultaneously poisoning customers, and slashing health coverage for their employees.  We live in a really screwed up society.  If you don’t believe me, I encourage you to look this stuff up on your own.

I have been listening to Gorillaz’s new album “Plastic Beach” for a couple days now and really like it. I was going to embed some of their videos on my blog, to give you a taste of it but since they banned the option to embed the videos, (thanks again digital rights management!) just download the whole album here and give it a listen.  It is really quite original.

Disclaimer: I did not upload nor do I have any control over what FilesTube.com does or does not reference. Obviously.

The following was a comment posted on Digg.com regarding the passing of the health care bill. It sums up the past decade and struggle the American people faced in getting a health care bill passed. Stop watching Fox News, people!

Democrats: “We need health care reform”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! Give us a majority and we’ll do it better”
Democrats: “Done, you have majority of both houses”

12 years later, health care is irrefutably worse in every respect for every single person in the United States

Democrats: “We need health care reform”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! Americans are tired of partisan politics!”
Democrats: “OK, let’s compromise”
Republicans: “OK, get rid of half your ideas”
Democrats: “Done”
Republicans: “Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas”
Democrats: “Done”
Republicans: “Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas”
Democrats: “Done”
Republicans: “Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas”
Democrats: “Done”
Republicans: “Too liberal, get rid of half your ideas”
Democrats: “Done. Time to end debate”
Republicans: “Too liberal, we need more debate, we will filibuster to prevent you from voting”
Democrats: “OK, we’ll vote–sorry guys, debate is ended. It’s time to vote on the bill”
Republicans: “Too liberal, we vote no”
Democrats: “OK, it passed anyway–sorry guys.”

One month later…

Republicans: “Wait–wait, OK, we have less of a minority now so we can filibuster forever.”
Democrats: “Sorry, the bill already passed, we need it to pass the House now”
Republicans: “But we have enough to filibuster”
Democrats: “Sorry, the bill already passed, we need it to pass the House now”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! You haven’t listened to our ideas! You’ve shut us out of this whole process!”
Democrats: “Sorry, show us your proposal”
Republicans: “Smaller government”
Democrats: “That’s not very specific”
Republicans: “OK, here’s our detailed proposal–It’s our common-sense ideas we spent 12 years not enacting”
Democrats: “OK, we’ll add a bunch more of your ideas”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! You included all these back-room deals”
Democrats: “OK, we’ll get rid of the back-room deals”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! You’re using obscure procedural tricks to eliminate the back-room deals!”
Democrats: “No, we’re using reconciliation, which both parties have used dozens of times for much larger bills”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! You’re pressuring Congressmen to vote for your bill! Scandal!”
Democrats: “It’s called ‘whipping’, it’s been done since 1789″
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! Can’t you see the American people don’t want this?”
Democrats: “This bill is mildly unpopular (40-50%), doing nothing (your proposal) is extraordinarily unpopular (4-6%)”
Republicans: “We need to start over! We need to start over!”
Democrats: “We should really consider voting–”
Republicans: “Liberal fascists! Start over! Clean slate! Common-sense! America!”

Last night I made a list of all the books I am going to read this year. Here is my list in case you looking for some good ones. Okay so I don’t KNOW they are good yet. All of these books were recommended by other people I follow on TV or online. In parenthesis below each one is where I first heard about the book.

1) My Footprint: Carrying the Weight of the World
By Jeff Garlin
(Daily Show with John Stewart)

2) Sophie’s World – A Novel about the History of Philosophy
Jostein Gaarder,
(Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast)

3) The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
By Al Ries & Jack Trout
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

4) Getting Real: The smarter, faster, easier way to build a successful web application.
By 37 Signals
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

5) Vagabonding
By Rolf Potts
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

6) Seneca Letters from a Stoic
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

7) Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
By John Wood
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

8 ) Envisioning Information
Edward R. Tufte
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

9) The Tipping Point
Malcom Gladwell
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

10) 8 Weeks to Optimum Health
Dr. Andrew Weil
(Kevin Rose Blog Founder of Digg.com)

11) Zen Mind Beginners Mind
Shunyu Suzuk
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

13) The Intelligent Investor
By Benjamin Graham
(Tim Ferriss’ blog author of the 4 hour work week)

Random w/ Tim and Kevin – Ep3 from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

What good is a proclamation without action? It’s time to post my goals for this year. I am hoping this will help make me more accountable for them. If these inspire you all the better.

Health
Lose 50lbs before November 1st
April 1st through November 1st
30mins walking and 30 minutes biking weekdays.
No more eating out at fast food places.
Drink at least 2 cups of tea per day.
Drink a glass of water with a meal at least 3 times a day.
Take a Multi-Vitamin Daily.
Always eat breakfast.
Eat 5-7 SMALL Meals/Snacks per day. (every 2.5-3 hours)
Make sure at least 3 of those meals or snacks contain 1 fruit or vegetable.
Drink at most 1 caffeinated beverage per day.
Cut back on all soda to not more than a can a day.
Lower salt intake.
Take vitamin D during winter months.
Take vitamin B-12 and B-6 and drink Matcha instead of sugar and caffeine.
Buy more organic food.
Bike to Pine Island (30 miles).
No eating or drinking anything but water after 7pm.

Lifestyle
Buy a lamp this year.
Buy a plant.
Buy a desktop computer.
Visit Chicago
Go 2 at least 2 different sporting events.
Go to a Concert.
Read or Listen to 10 Books.
Open an account at a public library.
Go discing at least twice per month.
Go discing at Blue Ribbon Pines.
Get a higher paying second job.
Be more punctual set all clocks to exact time.
Develop better routines.
Try Matcha, buy a Matcha set.
Donate at least $20 to 2 charities.
Volunteer somewhere at least 1 time.
Go see Bound for Severance again.
Update my blog once per week.
Floss more often.

Some new independent music for you guys. I like this song, discovered it while listening to the Current.

I was looking into electric water kettles when I stumbled across this hilariously passionate review of the DeLonghi Toaster Oven. Enjoy.

Alright, its been while since I’ve done a blog post on myself, or included something other than a video post. So here we go. Over the past several days I have been doing a lot of thinking, and since we are rapidly approaching spring it’s got me focused on my life, health and entertainment. Some people set new years resolutions or give something up for lent. I realized I pretty much have been just kind of drifting through life for the past 3 years just working, eating, watching tv, and sleeping. In other words my life has stagnated. I spend time looking back at all the fun I had in college and in high school, and long for that again. I fear that this stagnation in my life will continue until I am old enough to retire, and to be honest that scares the shit out of me.

I began to realize that all the fun in HS and in college revolved around new things. Doing, learning, and experimenting. New places, new people, new things, and new decisions made that part of my life so rewarding. Not just with alcohol and drugs but learning how to live on your own, manage your money, meet new people, try new things, and deal with responsibilities of life. What made this rewarding was that while learning about the downside of responsibilities, I could offset this with fun.

Now that I am older and have graduated from college, responsibilities tend to get in the way of fun, and although I am learning new things, I am not getting that kick out of life I loved so much when I was in college. I am beginning to realize that the fun doesn’t have to end just because you’re out of college, just the type of things you do has to change. Change is what makes life worth living.

After writing this post and pondering about title for it, I came up with the “Proclamation of Life” I thought it was a great title, and in searching Google for the term to make sure I was using it correctly discovered other peoples proclamations! It just so happens that the very first listing in Google happened to share many of the same outlooks on life that I did! Nice job Google!

So I am borrowing his and modifying it slightly as I am not as poetic.
Here it is MY PROCLAMATION OF LIFE 2010.

On this day, one do hereby vow to live
ones life in reason, and logic.
One vow to embrace the phases of life.
One does not need religion or guidance from a superstitious source.
One is self-reliant and independent.
From this day forward,
hence now and into the future,
one vows to remain in control of ones self,
think about ones surroundings,
think bigger and outside the box of religion,
remain independent from the bible and religion,
accept science as truth but never stop thinking, questioning, and challenging,
remain a rationalist thinker and being,
fight for freedom for all,
question the ways of life and nourish the mind,
to always be ones self.
and to live by these codes.

The codes:
Self-control, Thinking, Independence, Questioning, Challenging,
Freedom, Rationalist, Atheist, Agnostic, and Science.
These codes are ones way of living and existence.