Work In Progress

"Progress and improvement comes in little steps along the way."

Well, I'm a month into the Wellness and Strength focus, so it's time for a pretty pathetic update on how it's going so far. I get the concept of step by step progress, but I need to start walking a little faster. I'm crossing the Big 50 mark in three months, and I'm actually looking forward to it. But I also want to live stronger (ugh...did I quote Lance Armstrong?). I want to approach upper middle age with a sense of strength and a heart of wellness. Maybe I should take some of Lance's medicine? -NOT.

I have figured out that the divide and conquer technique doesn't work with Wellness and Strength. All of the components are interrelated and cannot be separated and dealt with individually. That makes the project harder, but also tenable.

I do think I can document progress by looking at different components of the paradigm. So...

SMOKING: I'm still smoking my first cigarette or two every day and usually one in the evening. The evening cigarettes are getting fewer and farther apart. Starting next month, I'm going to try really hard not to have any in the evening, and I'm going to try putting off the morning smoke a little longer each day. The Vaping thing works really well - better than any other nicotine replacement therapy I've tried so far. And, let's face it. Nicotine is a drug with benefits. Otherwise everybody would have quit smoking a long time ago. So, I'm content with using the Vape Stick (e-cigarette) and smoking just a couple of real ones a day for now. That's gotta better than two and a half packs, right?

DIET: I really am working on it. Honest. For Real. I just don't have a clue what I'm doing and progress takes a while to document. But I'm eating more often, making better choices and not doing so much of the obvious no-no's. I hardly ever drink Coke anymore, for example. I drink a lot more water and a glass of aloe vera juice every day. That really helps with stomach issues, BTW.

EXERCISE: No habla Engles. But it is on the list.

MUSIC: (Yes, this is right up there with the rest in my world). I got a new piano and amp. I've been spending more time playing. It's fun, healthy and just as important as anything else on the list. There are other things I need to focus on in this category as well. But they are (for me) secondary to the first three.

So, here I am. Ready for February. We'll see how that goes.

Can I Get A Straignt Answer?

"All of the important questions in life are circular."

I said to the cloud, "Why won't you rain?"
"I will," said the cloud with a hint of disdain.
"The rain that I have belongs not to you
But to someone else. I'm just passing through."

"Will other clouds come and bring us some rain?
We really need it, our lives to sustain."
"How should I know?" said the cloud with a sigh,
"I'm just a cloud. You should go ask the sky."

The sky told me it didn't have a clue why
The rain didn't fall, "But it will by and by.
Talk to the wind if you want to know
Where the rain is and where it will go."

"Ah," said the wind. "That is a good question.
Thank you for asking it with such affection.
I never know til the thunder gets loud.
The best course of action is, Go Ask A Cloud."

Oh, wait...It's raining.

Cool.

Fast Carbs, Slow Carbs, Tofu and Bean Sprouts

"Does a pot of coffee qualify as the Breakfast of Champions?"

As my focus this year is Wellness and Strength, and specifically eating better (for now), I'm reading about a more intelligent way to eat. I'm not going to eat tofu and bean sprouts for the rest of my life, but I can do better than I am.

So, I've been studying a little, and here's what I've learned so far:

1) I should eat breakfast within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning, and should eat something every 2-3 hours all day. This is supposed to kick start my metabolism and make my body use more energy. God knows I could use a good kick start.

2) At least one meal each day should include protein (which is pretty easy), some - but not too many - fast carbs, and a whole bunch of slow carbs.

I'm stuck on the slow carbs. Seems like this is cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, etc. How do I eat that for breakfast? I think some beans count too. Most of this stuff gives me gas, and I don't want any of it 30 minutes after waking up.

So, I'm sitting around my house this morning drinking my morning pot of coffee and sucking on this E-Cigarette, thinking about what I should eat for breakfast. Honestly, I don't have anything on hand. I haven't regularly eaten breakfast since...well, ever.

I began to think of all of my travels. If I were any place in the whole world, and could have anything at all that I wanted for breakfast, what would I eat?

I really just want my coffee. And a real cigarette.

How about a 'fat pill' (I think they're called doughnuts). Yumm.

Time To Go Home

"A six and a half year project is now completed successfully."

In August, 2006, a Chinese foreign exchange student somehow found his way to my house.

My Gookito (cause in Spanish, everything small ends in 'ito') left my house in 2007 and enrolled at UNO in New Orleans. In December, 2012 he graduated with a BS in Business Somethingorother. He says that the worst degree from the worst US college is more valuable than the best degree from the best Chinese university.

Yesterday, he went home to China to begin his adult life for real. I already miss him, even though he hasn't lived with me for years.

Somehow I got him through a semester of high school.

When he first moved to New Orleans, he would ask me to call Domino's Pizza down there and order his dinner for him. He couldn't communicate with the people on the phone and they were rude as hell to him.

I taught him to drive and helped him get his license. (Yeah, that's scary, huh?).

I watched him change and grow through the normal college stuff, through the language barrier issues, through the loneliness of being in a foreign country away from family and friends, etc.

Now he speaks English just like one of us, has a ton of friends, has traveled the U.S. as much as I have, got his degree, partied like a rock star for a while and lived the American college student life as well as anyone.

I am really proud of him, and proud to have had a role in helping him get this far in life. I would like to take this opportunity to wish him the very best in life. May he find happiness, success, good health and peace for years to come.

I'll Have To Think About This One...

"What is right about America just totally dwarfs what’s wrong with Washington."

Warren Buffett came up with this nice, warm and fuzzy statement about the good old U.S. in a video on AOL today. He was talking about the challenges Obama will face in his second term. He is apparently referring to Congress.

Congress is taking a lot of heat just now. From one perspective, rightfully so. Those guys can't agree on anything except to disagree. Their effectiveness seems to be at an all time low. They can't get anything done, then at the last minute they put off the decision for another couple of months. Members on both sides take unreasonable, untenable positions and stick to them without compromise or negotiation.

And they know it. But with today's technology, everybody in Congress is always running for re-election. If they say or do something that solves a problem for now, they'll suffer greatly for doing it in the next election cycle.

Self Preservation is a primal instinct all of us have.

To me, the irony of the situation is that Congress more accurately reflects American society now that at any point in our history. The American Public is selfish, demanding, never satisfied, non-negotiable and wants to take more than it gives. All of the shenanigans in Congress are accurate all the way through our society. At least that's how it seems to me.

The result is exactly what is should be. Until Americans as a group of people resolve our differences, learn to cooperate and love each other, stop being so self righteous and start being more responsive to the needs, strengths, weaknesses and expectations of others, we're in for a really big circus for the foreseeable future.

Personally, I think in is entertaining as hell.

Wellness and Strength Cop-Out #1: I'm Too Busy

"Nobody does what he HAS time to do. He does what he MAKES time to do"

Well, I'm supposed to be focused on Wellness and Strength this year, and more specifically on learning to eat better. As I look at the first three weeks of the year, I guess it's time for my first excuse, "I'm Really Busy!"

Bullshit! Everybody is busy!

A couple of months ago, I was in a ghetto in Kenya. There were up to a million people living there by some estimates. They don't have jobs. They don't have food. They don't have electricity. They don't have anything - not even time. They're all busy.

I learned all about 'busy' from dentists in the Kansas City area back in the early '90's when I sold dental practice management software. The busiest dentist in Kansas City would find a way to take my call if it was important to him to talk with me - even if he had both hands and one foot in a patient's mouth.

The dentist who hadn't seen a patient in four days was too busy to talk to me if he didn't want to.

"I'm too busy" is a universally acceptable way to tell someone that they just aren't important enough, It's a socially and professionally acceptable excuse for not getting something done on time (or at all). It's a way to justify not doing things that someone else thinks are important.

But when you pull that line on the guy in the mirror, it's a self delusional lie.

In other words, "Bullshit!"

I'll do better, I promise.

Gun Control Questions

"Knowing the Right Thing to do shouldn't be this hard."

Is the gun control question really as complex, difficult and divisive as everyone is making it? How hard can this be?

The second amendment is clear. Its motivation and intention, as well as its impact could not be more obvious.

The need to protect the public from harm is equally obvious, and very much within the scope and function of government on all levels.

The terrorist is the problem. The depressed guy that opens fire with an assault weapon on a shopping mall or classroom full of innocent people is the problem. Logic says, "Take away his gun and this won't happen." Since we don't know who 'he' is, we have to take the guns away from everyone. This is what gun control advocates seem to think.

And the debate starts there and gets more passionate and less intelligent as the discussion goes on. I have no interest in summarizing the debate here. But I do have some questions:

Could the people who originally wrote the Second Amendment have conceived of a gun that could fire 30 rounds a second and kill a school full of kids in less than 5 minutes? If they could have conceived of such a weapon, would they have written the Second Amendment as is?

Does the Gun Control logic above apply to cars as well? After all, a depressed guy can run over a lot of people quickly. Why aren't we discussing "car control"?

Do the rednecks yelling the loudest about keeping their guns really need the ability to do so much damage so quickly? Honestly, from what I've seen of the most passionate gun control opponents, I don't want them to have guns.

It seems like everyone agrees that we need an equal playing field. Either give everyone a gun so we can shoot each other when we think it's appropriate or take everyone's gun away so that nobody can shoot anybody. Is that really what it comes down to?

If that's the bottom line, I think I vote for 'no guns'. Let's all just get along.

Can Cats Suffer From Mental Illness?

"I'm much to clever to fall for your attempts to make my life better."

My brother really screwed up for Christmas. His idea was fine. He wanted to give each of my three youngest nieces and nephews a cute, cuddly, kitty-kitty for Christmas.

Of course he waited until Christmas Eve to actually try to find three kittens and he had to take what he could get. And that was three not so little. barely cute, barn cats that don't have a clue how to cuddle or purr.

Two of the the cats have begun the rehabilitation process. They sort of like being fed, having their ears scratched, sleeping in a warm house, etc. But the third cat won't have any part of it.

He ain't havin' any of that lovey-dovey stuff, he refuses to eat that food from a bag and would never be caught sleeping anywhere. Try to challenge its perspective and make its life better and you're in for a fight!

I had an employee once that behaved the same way. I could just tell him, "Good Morning" and he acted like I was attacking him. One time I screwed up and said, "Why are you being so defensive. I'm not picking a fight." This, of course, was a direct attack.

Unfortunately, the young man treated my customers exactly the same way, so I eventually had to attack him, which I did by kicking him to the curb. Sad.

Why couldn't he see me as an asset? Why couldn't he join my team and work with me instead of turning everything into a confrontation? Who knows? Was he insane or just way too clever to be manipulated by someone like me?

How many times does life put a real asset in our path and we respond like we're being attacked? So many people face disastrous consequences to problems with easy solutions, but woe to the one who tries to introduce them to the solution. "It's my life. I have rights. You can't possibly understand what I'm going through." Blah, blah.

It's amazing how hard we hang on to things that hurt us or hold us back. Just like that cat, we get all stubborn and belligerent if a suggestion is made that we could do life differently and experience different results.

Maybe we all need to try to be smarter (or not as smart) as this damn cat.

Music: Food For The Soul

"If playing my piano consumed more calories, I'd be set."

It's been said, "You are what you eat." Fair enough. But I think it is equally true to say, "You are what you listen to."

And just as some prefer to eat food they prepare for themselves as opposed to going out, I prefer to listen to the music I play on my piano.

I've needed to upgrade my piano for a couple or more years. I finally did it. I bought a Casio PX350 this week. I ordered it mail order from a fellow blogger who wrote the best review including the best samples of the auto accompaniment I found out there anywhere. I haven't received it yet, but I'm hoping it is everything my old (inexpensive) Yamaha YPG-235 isn't.

The guy's name is Tim Praskins, and his blog is AZ Piano Wholesale. I'm not going to try to review the instrument here since I don't even have it yet, and Tim already did a great job.

I just want to point out how important music is to me, that I got a new tool for making it, that I'm really excited to start playing it and that I consider the move directly related to my theme for 2013 of Wellness and Strength. Music, especially the stuff I play by myself, for myself, is one of the most important ingredients in maintaining sanity and promoting well being.

Now if I could just figure out how it can help me lose weight!

Overfed and Undernourished

"This is so true on a number of levels."

What a great description of life in North America. Sure, concerning what we eat. But this statement applies to a whole lot more than food.

I was doing some research online about eating smarter. I know I don't eat like I should. I know there is a better answer than the tofu and bean sprouts diets that don't really work and I won't stick to anyway. I know I need to develop some eating common sense. I don't know how.

For the most part, everyone out there talking about it is selling some supplement, advocating some extreme diet, promoting some political agenda or something else that is off subject as far as I am concerned.

But the slogan above rang really true to me, and the more I thought about it the broader the application and scope of these three words.

It applies to our cultural eating habits, obviously.

It also applies to our education system. We're not taught to think, we're taught to regurgitate facts. There's a big bias toward educational conflict avoidance so that nobody is offended or challenged by things they learn about. We're not teaching kids the truth, we're teaching them approved curriculum. The result is obvious in a five minute conversation with a high school or college graduate.

It also applies to our healthcare system. We are over extremely medicated and still sick. Healthcare suffers from being driven by money on every level, and not driven by public welfare or health.

It also applies on a shear entertainment level. We spend hours watching TV programs with a lot of words and nothing to say. So many books fit this paradigm too. I can't stand reading a book that doesn't say anything.

It also applies to relationships. Casual sex and shallow relationships have become the norm. Intimacy and relational integrity and just not the norm anymore.

We need better food for our bodies. Also for our minds, our emotions, our spirits and our environment. We need intimate, quality relationships, platonic and otherwise, that nourish our lives. We need better nutrition on many different levels of life.

Maybe it's a good thing I'm prepared to work on Wellness and Strngth all year this year.

I Don't Smoke, I Vape

"Say 'Hello' To My Little Friend."

Please allow me to introduce my Brand New E-cigarette. It is a Joyetech Ego Twist 1000 with a CE4 Cartomizer. (Wow, does that sound technical or what?). It's blue and pretty. (OK, that sounds gay.)

It is everything an e-cigarette should be. The battery lasts all day, and is consistent from the first drag to the last. The tank holds 1.6 ml of nicotine 'juice', which is roughly a pack and a half of cigarettes. It is used by inhaling through the mouthpiece while pressing the button on the battery to produce a nicotine laden vapor that looks and feels just like smoke. It doesn't smell, nor does it contain any of the 4,000 chemicals other than nicotine that old fashioned, 'analog' cigarettes have.

It costs $80, but I've probably paid a thousand for it if you take into account all of the other crap I tried before I found this little gem.

Last year, I sort of quit smoking for almost two months by using a combination of nicotine patches, nicotine losenges and traditional e-cigarettes. Every day was a fight, and I still smoked a couple of real cigarettes every day.

I've been using this guy for a little more than a week. I am not using the patches or losenges, and I'm smoking only a couple of cigarettes per day now. And I'm not really fighting with it. I just use the T-1000 instead of a smoke. I actually like the taste, the effect and the outcome. It's new and improved smoking.

The play here is...I'm not quitting smoking, I'm 'vaping' instead. I'm still getting my nicotine fix. I'm not getting the tar and crap that regular cigs have provided for the past 25 years. I'm not suffering or fighting. I'm not losing my mind. It's the greatest thing I've found since my Asus e-Pad Transformer.

The juice comes in about 80 different flavors and 5 different strengths. I use the strongest. I picked out a whole handful of really gay flavors too... Pineapple, Grape, Strawberry, Lime Ice and Coconut. I also got the unflavored and the American Tobacco flavor. They're all pretty good.

And, except for that ever famous first cigarette of the morning, and maybe one before bed, I'm not smoking.

Well, It's About Time for Wellness and Strength

"New Year is New Focus"

I have mentioned previously that for me, I intend 2013 to be a year of Wellness and Strength just as 2011 was a year of Momentum. It's now time for me to think through what that means a little more specifically.

Maybe a good overview is in order. Maybe some thoughts on each area of life is appropriate. Maybe a list of goals or accomplishments will help. Maybe I have no clue what wellness is, which is why I need to focus on it this year.

But there are a bunch of issues I know need my attention, and I've already started working on them.

First, Smoking. I gotta quit this shit!. I am trying a new nicotine replacement system. There's a whole subculture of ex-smokers who can't quite get rid of the nicotine. They have managed to quit smoking and start 'vaping'. There's a store here called "The Vapor Hut" that sells the equipment and supplies. I saw someone using it at a bar a couple of weeks ago, and bought one the next day. So far, so good. This is what an e-cigarette should have been from the beginning.

Second, Eating. For years I have skipped breakfast, waited until I'm so hungry I can't think about anything else, ate whatever was close and fast without regard to health, then ate a big dinner and went to bed. I've been living this way since my early 20's, and there has to be a better way. I'm not going to eat tofu and bean sprouts for the rest of my life, but surely I can do better than I am. I have a plan. I'll document my progress as I get it started.

Third, Exercise. This should be the easy one. I don't need a plan or a new concept. I don't need education or knowledge. I don't need motivation or encouragement. I don't need to focus on the benefits. I just need to get up off of my fat, lazy ass and go do it. Sounds good, right? We'll see.

What occurs to me as I focus on Wellness and Strength is that each of these things (and fifty more) are hard. Logically, I think I should tackle them one at a time. This is what I've tried (and failed) to do in the past.

So the 2013 Wellness and Strength wisdom is that all of these things are related. They're not separate issues. Exercise will be more practical and effective if I can actually breathe and eat right. Eating right will be more palatable if I am exercising enough to use up the calories I consume.

My thinking as I start the New Year is that Wellness and Strength cannot be broken down and compartmentalized like the chart above. It's all one thing, and all of it affects all of life. And each step forward makes the whole better and the whole is no stronger than the weakest part.

But I want to be well and strong. And 2013 is now officially designated as the year for that process to take tangible form in my life.