while most everyone is familiar with the relationship between human proximity to cats and intelligence, less well known is the fact that toxoplasmosis carrying cats could make your crazy and emerging research links the the bacterium behind cat scratch fever to chronic fatigue syndrome. clearly, if you need a friend – get a dog.
Monthly Archives: January 2013
take two hours of pine forest and call me in the morning.
from the captain-obvious dept: turns out researchers are discovering that being out in nature can lower your blood pressure, fight off depression, beat back stress—and even prevent cancer. also, going on a hike boosts creativity by 50%, though the researchers admit they are unable to determine if , “…the effects are due to an increased exposure to nature, a decreased exposure to technology, or to other factors associated with spending three days immersed in nature.”
the lies we tell ourselves while running with a chest cold.
“oh, a -5°F wind chill isn’t really that cold. and it’s only 4 miles. i mean, the cold will agitate my chest in a good way and help, you know, clear the gunk out.”
uh, huh. the icicle’s hanging from my eyelashes produced from my breath venting out the face mask are messing with the “it’s good for you” narrative. that said, it did clear things out. briefly. sort-of.
2 surprising answers to the question, “when was gas under $1 per gallon in the US”.
a bit ago i asked on twitter and and facebook, “Without googling it, when was gas under $1/gallon in the US?” and received a lot of answers, many of them wrong ( in retrospect i should have asked when was the last time prices were under a $1/per gallon because there was a the whole oil crisis which raised prices in the late 70s ). the answer? in nonimal terms – 1999, which is surprising. i guessed the late-80’s. that’s the answer to the spirit of the question, when was the last time you could stare at a gas pump and see a price under $1/gallon. an economist would ask, “yes but when was the real price ( i.e. adjusted for inflation ) under $1/gallon”. that answer is equally surprising. in 2012 dollars, a gallon of gas has never been under $1/gallon and the 2011 average price of gas was just over the real price paid in 1919.
The Greatest Burger, EVAR!
to celebrate losing 90 pounds by the new year, i whipped up a 100% grass-fed, organic, bacon, blue cheese, olive burger with caramelized onions and onion rings.
losing 90 pounds involved lots of running and careful consideration of what i’ve been eating for the past year. and while i’d be lying if i said i haven’t had a burger in a year, this was the best one in a long time.
i will also admit that, because it was so rich, i could only eat half of it 🙂
and since i now can roughly estimate the number of calories in pretty much everything i eat i’m obligated to mention that one of The Greatest Burgers, EVAR will set you back about 800 calories.
everything in moderation, except moderation!
YOU GUYS, I DID IT! I LOST 90 POUNDS BY THE NEW YEAR!
i really didn’t think i was going to do be able to do it over the holidays, but thanks in part to burning over 2,000 calories on a new year’s eve 13 miler with a new toy i weighed in this morning and have lost 15 pounds since my big fitness milestone ( and 12 pounds over december alone! ) which means I LOST 90 POUNDS BY THE NEW YEAR!
it’s hard to believe i’ve lost 30 pounds since running the chicago marathon and 55 pounds since august when i adjusted the weight loss program and began doubling my monthly weight losses to average 11-12 pounds a month ( i’ll write up more about how i did it at another time since, unsurprisingly, i get a lot of questions about how i managed to lose 90 pounds from people who can’t seem to lose 10 ).
i suppose it’s worth noting that, at 205 pounds ( yes, if you do the math i weighed an astonishing 295 when i started running again ), i have now reversed 18 years of weight gains and am now, finally, at a “normal” BMI ( and the 36th percentile for my age and height ). i do plan on losing 10 or 15 more pounds over the next couple of month to finally escape the brutal math of Being A Clydesdale and get solidly in the middle of a normal BMI ( at least in the US! ).
so, what’s next? i’m going to try and take a break from running in the freezing cold and blizzards ( or at least run a lot less ) and read up on how to design a Phase II fitness program focused on strength training ( send me your reading suggestions! ).
and while i realize the challenge of losing 90 pounds is only going to be surpassed by actually keeping it off, you can bet i’m going to enjoy a new year’s day 100% grass-fed, bacon, blue cheese, olive burger with caramelized onions and french fries while relishing in the fact that i don’t have to make a new year’s resolution to lose 90 pounds.