SarahC_1225

I'm betting that she is not an actual member of singlesnet.com. I wonder if she's even a teacher.

Here's another. These show up on the CNN website on occasion. Nice. Found a 3rd!

Boston Globe - The Big Picture

Found this link at one of my other favorite blogs:

The Big Picture. Wonderful photography of current events.

This Year I Will (Book Review)

Just finished reading this book by M.J. Ryan. Someone needs to help me stop reading books like this. Pretty soon, I'll get it. I think I got a quote from my boy Eli in an eMail this past year from the book, and like always, I checked it out, bought it. I don't mean checked it out, as in the pinetop-lakeside library, that ain't the way I roll.

I can't quickly find out what the M.J. stands for, so, we'll keep calling her that. I'll do MJ. Never mind, I just did, it's Mary Jane! I love that name. OK, onto the book review.

I enjoyed the book. Lots of short chapters, lots of research and quoting of happiness experts. Wouldn't it be cool if someday someone is writing a book like this and they're quoting me? Get real. How about, "Do nothing and achieve all things.". Ooops, that's kevJuan. Really, onto the review.

I recommend the book, primarily because it's easy to read, and full of positive ideas about getting control of yourself. There's lots of suggestions for getting focused and working on your goal(s). I'll read it again. Here are some of my favorite quotes (you knew this was coming). Every single link, to every single picture/page here is made up, I have no idea if it's who these folks are or not, well a couple of um I know ARE NOT!

• Nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin
• Every successful person I have heard of has done the best he could with the conditions as he found them, and not waited until next year to be better. E. W. Howe
• People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are catching cold. John Jay Chapman
• When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done. Lou Holtz
• A goal without an action plan is a daydream. Nathaniel Branden
• Be like a postage stamp - stick to one thing till you get there. Josh Billings
• The ark was built by amateurs and the Titanic by experts. Don't wait for experts. Murray Cohen
• Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution. William A. Foster
• Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time" is to say, "I don't want to." Lao Tzu
• Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses. George Washington Carver
• Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers
• We do this one day at a time in a row. Craig (posted on a recovery website)
• There are two voices in your head - one is always wrong. Karen Casey
• Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain. Edward De Bono
• We are the choices we make. Meryl Streep

Grain Damage (A Book Review)

This short (52 page) book was an interesting read. The author, Douglas Graham is the Raw Food guru I'm reading in preparation for a month-long all raw-food-arama! [Click on Pic for link to Amazon]. Amazon tricked me into buying it during the (wait, you can...) checkout process, happens all the time.

I can't help but read these kinds of books, I have a food problem I guess. Here, Graham really goes against the grain. He modifies the old saying "never talk about politics or religion" as "never talk about politics, religion or food", since people seem to have equally strong feelings and convictions about diet too. I've certainly ran into that whenever the discussion about being a vegetarian comes up! And you are already getting worked up inside when you imagine that someone is about to tell you that whole-grain-bread is not good, not healthy, not an excellent source of fiber, and in fact is poison. It's heresy. This guy is suggesting that we live like monkeys, plain and simple.

I often think about how long we've been eating what we've been eating. Has it always been this way? It's on the aisle at Safeway, isn't that good enough? And, Mom told us what was good, and it was good what Mom told us. And what is the consequence of these choices, these packages I put in the cart? Like meat for example, how long ago did it actually become something that everyone ate, all the time? The same goes for grains. It looks to me like we've been eating grains a lot longer than we have been meat. I bet the low-carb folks have no problem with what Graham is saying about grains.

Here's some quotes from the book:

• The illogic of low-carb diets: You can eat all the butter and mayo you want, but you have nothing to put them on.
• For more than 99% of the time that man has walked the Earth, he has done so without consuming grains.
• Bread simply does not exist in nature.
• Before we began farming grains, the human population doubled approximately every twenty thousand years. Today, our population is doubling out of control: once every twenty years.
• In terms of yield in pounds per acre, grains are the least productive of all plant foods.
• Plant a tree, and it will yield for generations. Plant grains, and you are lucky if you get a crop.
• Before the introduction of grains, a squirrel could go from Maine to Texas without ever leaving the treetops.
• Farmers know that we can feed forty people fruit from the same acreage necessary to feed one person beef.
• Grains claim to fame is its storability, a feature that nullifies your chances of ever buying it fresh.

To wrap this up. I don't recommend this book unless you are serious about moving away from grains, and want some motivation. You can borrow my copy before I donate it to the Goodwill soon. I've always liked the idea of eating closer to the earth (not proximity-wise), less packaging, processing, organic, you know. As it turns out, grains cannot be eaten straight from the field, but require a whole lot of processing, water, energy, and come with a relatively puny amount of nutrition apparently. I am not giving up pizza, bread or grains, or anything that makes ME feel good! I'm not going to complain too much about population explosion either, else I may not have made it to the show myself! But, as always, I like to chip away at these kinds of things, awake.

Between 1 & 5?

Why don't they go ahead and say it: the repair man, the tree man, the A/C man, the carpet cleaners, the handy man. They're not gonna be here between 1 and 5! They're gonna be here after 5, and not only that, they're not gonna call before they come! I can handle the truth!

30 Years Ago

These two beauties were probably close to 3 years old when this photograph was taken, they just turned 33 years young yesterday. Sometimes I think it's as sweet as ever right now, having these two around, being their dad. Certainly, looking at this picture, I can get smitten by memories of little girls, nothing but fun on their minds. Today though, I get to face the cold hard reality that I'm still their dad, and how lucky and blessed I am that one of the twists of fate that happened to me, was having twin daughters come into my life. Some of us get all the luck. Happy Birthday my girls.

[as always, don't forget to click-pick for full size]

The next Thing

Since my 8 day fast back in May, I've been playing around with one-day fasts for the past couple of weeks. My daughter Bobby even joined me a couple of weeks ago. Just liquids from dinner time Monday till dinner time Tuesday. Missed this week, and am putting a different kind of plan together, way different.

If you know me, you know I'm a flexitarian, which is a clever way of saying I'm a wanna-be vegetarian. I'm also a tree hugger. But you can find meat (i.e. animal flesh) on my plate with the slightest excuse, particulary social situations with family and friends. Next thing you know, I'm having a sausage-egg-mcmuffin for breakfast on my way to work. Yikes.

Since my longer fast in May, I've been amazed at how much food I eat, and how full I get, and how fat I am, I'm amazed! So, I've been thinking lately about making a run for something that requires a bit more of a committment from myself. Like say, 1-month strict vegetarian, followed by 1-month strict vegan, followed by 1-month raw-atarian. OK, I made up the raw-atarian. I had been thinking about mono-style fasts, where say, for a week you eat only apples or some single fruit, and stumbled across this raw-food idea. I like it. There's plenty about it on the web. I liked this guy's reporting/take on it. He's got several posts on his blog on the subject.

Here's what I'm gonna do.

First month starts tomorrow.

For all 3 months, use common sense and don't push myself beyond reasonable.

For all 3 months, no meat.

For all 3 months, only two alcoholic drinks per day, and believe me, they're gonna be huge!

For all 3 months, exercise at least 1 hour 6 days per week.

For all 3 months, no refined flours (chips, etc.) or sugars.

For the first 2 months, eat only whole-grain breads, if any.

For the first month, start clearing out the cabinets and fridge of foods that won't make it through all three months (perishables, frozen veggie burgers, any fresh/frozen foods that will need to be cooked to be eaten).

For the second month, continue, but give up any cheese, dairy, egg/milk-based stuff. I will still wear my leather belt and shoes, but I won't buy any leather during this time.

This gives me two months to put together the plan for Month 3, where I will be eating only raw foods (mostly fruits, nuts and veggies). More To Come (MTC)... Watch out for Future Bob!

Got Tissue?

Time for a little 70s love.

5 on the 5th

Anyone who knows me, knows about this charity. Started by my daughter Andy and her good friend Jody. You can and should check them out here: http://www.singletonmoms.org/. One of the coolest ideas they have is $5 on the 5th. If we all chipped in $5.00 each month on the 5th day of the month, they could easily continue to support the moms! Easily. Put it on your calendar now, and join me each month! An easy way to make a big difference!