We got a dog last December. I held out on the idea because we already had cats and they get temperamental with change. Plus, I know all the promises that children might make would never pan out. I was right.
However, I have grown to fully enjoy the dog ownership life. She is a great dog. Very playful. Very responsive and submissive to commands. She’s the perfect size to walk and run.
I have been walking her pretty regularly in either the evenings or mornings. Lately the mornings are proving more enjoyable with the time change and the great weather. Tori loves it. She shadows me in the morning while I drink some coffee, check email, etc. When she sees me grab for my shoes, her eyes brighten, her step is more pronounced. She knows the game is on.
So I grab the leash, my ipod, my fitbit and we head out. I listen to podcasts (Adam Carolla or Bill Simmons) and the walk goes by quickly. Tori is on the lookout for birds and other dogs. She is a super social mutt. The Emily Post of dog etiquette, Ceasar Milan, would be complimentary of her behavior. Tori will do all the appropriate head gestures and butt sniffs when greeting other dogs. Of course this is not playtime and we move on quickly but not without her looking back with a faint “catcha next time new dog friend”.
I’ve lost almost 10 lbs since January. I attribute most of it to not watching as much TV since my son broke our 65″ plasma, a little to the FitBit which monitors and motivates by tracking steps, but part of it to walking the dog. She needs the exercise too. I know this all sounds super “First World Problems”. Third World citizens have dictators and wars to help them lose pounds, but we need electronics and pets to get us to drop some pounds.
Either way, its working and it’s 30 minutes of valued time in the morning.
I’m torn. I have been a Laker fan since the Showtime days with Magic and Worthy (and Rambis).
This series against the Thunder I am pulling for for OKC. Its gonna be a good one.
We have lost our way
As I watch news talk shows and listen to the hosts and guest discuss the problems of our society, government and news stories, there is always a common question that comes to mind. Don’t you think this problem is rooted in a cultural misdirection?
I say this in my head over and over. Our cultural misdirection are forms of instant gratification. The American Dream still lives but it seems people are not taking advantage of the opportunities that exist.
Whether you are discussing education, labor costs, federal budgeting, or healthcare the root of the issue can trace back to wanting something for nothing.
Education is not a funding issue. Education is a value issue. We have to value the education. Value comes from the elder care takers of the student. In its simplest form, parents must instill the value into the child. We have lost our way on this tenet of our society. If more parents took a more active role in the students life, more schools would be successful. As any teacher and they would tell you this. Teachers would prioritize parental involvement way above salary in terms of making education more successful.
High labor costs are often rooted in unions and minimum wage. Smart organizations will modify their bidding to market value. The more intimidating of unions will hike up the bids and demand a larger stake even at the risk of putting workers on the sidelines. We lost our way. We want something for nothing. Government workers should be paid equally as the same job function as private sector workers. Unions can be useful as a collective force, but when they power grab, they hurt themselves and the economy as a whole.
Budgeting at home is a challenge for many people. But we have to weigh our wants and needs to create the financial balance. Those who have more wants tend to incur debt to make that happen which can lead to troubles later. Federal budgeting is a disaster right now. Something as simple as only spending what you can collect in taxes from the people, is derailed because we want something for nothing. No matter who you want to blame individually or collectively (democrats or republicans), the fact remains we don’t have a budget. The argument is spend less or tax more. We want something for nothing.
Healthcare is the grandest example of “something for nothing”. Healthcare is trying to fix itself by throwing money at it. The real fix to a healthy community is the individual who needs to take care of themselves. Our instant gratification has lead us to obesity. Obesity leads to diabetes and cancers. I simplify, yes, but you do recognize that your chances of good health go up when you keep yourself fit and healthy.
We have lost our way.
We can find it again. Every individual can do this.
Earn more than you spend.
Learn everything you can. Be productive and valued.
Don’t feed your ego with money. It’s not about money, its about respect from peers.
To solve a problem, you must identify the problem. Just because an answer feels good, be sure it addresses the problem even in the face of unpopularity. In most cases, the identification of the problem is the hard part. The fix is the easy part.
Take care of yourself physically. Instant gratification with food, tobacco, drugs, or booze can quickly lead you down the wrong path in the long run. In the same methodology of finances, burn more calories than you consume. Exercise. Sweat at least once a day.
Avoid advertising. Throw out flyers, catalogs, and other mailings that suck you in and try to convince you to purchase something. You will be happier for it.
Get 8 hours of sleep.
Work hard and hug your kids.
Teaching your kids sports will benefit everyone. Learning to lose is more valuable than winning.
Wear sunscreen.
Here is a short video of our pup Tori playing catch with a Kong Flyer.
Jenna Marbles YouTube 'er. Funny, sexy.
Jenna, I stumbled across your YouTube Channel. I find you quite funny. I also see that you are quite sexy.
I feel the need to point out that you don’t have tats all over (Kudos!). It is refreshing to see a normal person. Do you workout?
You are creative and adequately self deprecating.
Keep up the fun work and I hope you are doing well.
YouTube Channel – http://www.youtube.com/user/JennaMarbles
Blog – http://jennamarblesblog.com – The blog isn’t as entertaining as the YouTube channel. What some vids.
Here is a nice video example…
Decent fishing this weekend. We experienced low water conditions and perfect weather. We fished around the Wild Cat Access. I preferred going downstream and working the wildcat shoals.
I didnt catch much of size. Mostly caught rainbows around 12″. The fly of choice was a tan elk hair caddis #18.
Thanks again trout house cabin.
I have things to comment on about this phenomenal golf course. More to come later.
Congrats to Bubba Watson, you big cry baby.
Bubba Watson 2012 Masters Champion
Gratuitous Image
Sorry for the image. Caught your eye right?
This is a followup to this old post ( http://craighope.com/wordpress/?p=1390 ).
I like Instant Messaging (IM) and I had it.
I like the “instant” feedback (duh). I like that you can have multiple convo’s simultaneously. I like that you can archive the conversation.
I dislike IM because it can be intrusive, bothersome, and too interrupting. When you get an IM, you feel you have to respond immediately as opposed to email or a phone call. Where you have multiple convo’s (a like) it is also a bother when you are having a convo and someone IM’s you and interrupt. They don’t know you are having other IM’s going (not their fault). I wish I could see how many convo’s others have going so that I can think twice about my need to IM then.
In my opinion, the best way to IM is to open it up during a conference call and have side conversations with your colleagues. You can have a little sidebar while the conf call is going on then engage with better info.
People often misuse IM. If your question, comment, whatever is something that can be responded to later, send an email. When you send an email, people have the courtesy (mostly) to respond to do you in a timely manner. An email (in my opinion) is something of a task that sits in my inbox that I will get to eventually. Priorities range.
One thing I can’t stand is this. I will send someone an email of minor importance but requires a response and that email NEVER gets responded to. That pisses me off. When you never respond, I interpret that as “I am not that important”. To that I say F off!
Moving on…
I’ve witnessed this phenomenon where people refrain from using email for the reason that they don’t want their words “recorded”. I don’t get this line of thinking at all. In my estimation, no matter how you communicate your message will be remembered no matter if it is an email or not. If you write, say, communicate something that later changes in nature of fact etc. that’s fine. You have the right to retract or change your message. Maybe its because people are afraid of being wrong. I get that, but I also respect you more if you can admit you were incorrect about something. Moving on…
What have we learned?
Use email when don’t need immediate feedback. Use IM only if necessary, don’t overuse it.
As I write this, the Supreme Court is still hearing the arguments regarding the Constitutionality of the Mandate to buy health insurance.
My personal belief is that everyone should buy insurance coverage. It is the prudent thing to do in order to take of yourself and your loved ones. I also don’t believe that our system of government should force people to purchase. I believe in that inherent freedom at the same time understand the reality.
So here we are. You win Liberals. You have once again created a program under the guise of basic human rights. While at the same time with little regard of how to pay for it. Like always you use the term “shared sacrifice” but it boils down to putting the burden on all the people. Not all people, but the wealthiest of the people.
There are realities to funding something so large and so overreaching. We are seeing it with Social Security, Veterans administration, Medicare, and Medicaid.
Let’s only talk about how to implement a “mandate”. How do we enforce/encourage all the citizenry to get health coverage insurance?
The car insurance analogy gets tossed around. The only difference is that we choose to buy a car thus we have to carry insurance. This is a choice. With your health, there is no absolute that can assure you never visit a doctor or ER which WILL treat you and then the costs get spread among the paying consumers. You can claim you never get sick, but you can’t guarantee it. If your religion dictates no medical attention or use of modern science, we can allow for that. However, there may come a time when you are unconscious and end up in a medical facility needing treatment. The people who don’t want insurance is a small portion of the entire population (maybe 5% or less).
I don’t know the answer to this 5% outlier. My only thought is a national registry of exempt individuals based on either self insured (more in a second) or religious reasons. If you are on this list, you don’t get treatment. Sort of a like a living will or do not resuscitate order. Maybe a “medic alert” bracelet equivalent. If you claim to be self insured, you must keep a special account active and well funded. That account must be referenced before treatment is administered. This sounds somewhat complicated and when executed by a federal system, it is sure to be performed poorly. If you ever receive treatment while on this exemption, you are then put into the system by way of the “penalty” that is added to your taxation. Probably another can of worms.
Our health care system works from the Hippocratic Oath premise that everyone who needs treatment will get treatment. If we somehow establish an exemption system where people can choose and accept the consequence of no treatment we can stop calling coverage a mandate.
Heck, it may pay for itself. Those who refuse medical science probably live shorter lives. I’m speculating.
The “Take a Kid Fishing” campaign has been around for quite some time now. I can’t remember when it started exactly but I know it was long before I had kids (mine are 12 and 
and long before the introduction of the Wii and PlayStation3.
The cause is well intended and promotes getting kids out and teaching them the outdoors. I do enjoy this. I do support the idea and the cause. I enjoy spending the time with my kids.
But let’s be real (or should I say “reel” [rimshot]). [record scratch]
Taking a kid fishing in 2012 is not the same as was in 1950 when kids were stuck at home playing with sticks and Radio Flyer wagons. Fishing competes with video games, DVR’s, NetFlix, you name it.
My version of a successful “take a kid fishing” relies on the fact that I have to put the kid(s) in a boat and move away from shore. To my credit, I pack a cooler full of snacks and drinks to help occupy the false hunger pains they seem to endure 1 hour after eating a full meal. I am also lucky to own a private lake on which I am 98% confident we can catch fish.
Catching a fish or fishes will hold their attention. Not catching fish creates boredom. The formula is simple.
If I try to take my kids to our neighborhood pond, the adventure lasts about 10 minutes and they walk back to home to fire up the DVR, the Video game, the NetFlix, etc. etc.
If any fish are caught, the trip ends with a session of cleaning the fish. This is always entertaining from both my boy and girl alike. Maybe I am raising a couple of sociopaths, but they do not shy away from the bloody mess of which is “cleaning” the fish for consumption.
Now… eating them later is another story.
Take a Kid Fishing
