Wednesday Weigh-In 20140226

I still haven't been walking at lunch time. Also we've got another snow-less lull, so I haven't even been active shoveling snow.

Waist = 39.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Dream: Plotting Against the Telecom Company

It's night time.  I'm at someone's house for an informal meeting.  The people here are dissatisfied or upset with the telecommunications provider and want to take some action against it.  The discussion seems to be focused on getting access to the control circuitry and modifying it so that it provides either free service or improved service at no extra charge.

Now I'm in a lecture hall in Boston.  I'm attending a workshop on how to infiltrate the phone company service areas and make modifications to the wiring and programming.  This is the next step after the informal meeting at the house.  The leader has passed out packets of information, plus an agreement for each person to sign.

This is serious and possibly dangerous activity, and I have concerns.  But I'm not the only one.  My coworker TL stands up and walks out, declining to be a part of this.  I don't want to go through with it, either.  I'm particularly concerned about what to do if I were to encounter a company employee.  The instructor hasn't even mentioned this possibility.  I don't mind messing around with wires, circuits and programming, but I definitely do not want to attack or injure anyone.  But even though I don't want to participate, I decide to stay in the lecture.  I'm curious about how to make the modifications.  Besides, I drove two hours to get here, so I might as well stay a while.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20140221

I have been dreaming a lot lately. After waking, I find it difficult to leave the dream world behind in order to be firmly planted in this world. Yet I'm too lazy to write my dreams down.

Waist = 38.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Sleep Well For a Healthy Brain

The latest issue of Neurology Now features an article on the importance of sleep for maintaining a healthy brain, "Sleep Well: Could getting more high-quality sleep protect the brain?".  It is during sleep when the brain cells get rid of waste products.  The article includes tips to ensure you get more sleep.

The same issue lists the following resources that you can use to improve your sleep:

• NINDS Fact Sheet on normal and disordered sleep.
• The American Academy of Neurology's brochure "Sleep Disorders".
• American Sleep Apnea Association.
• National Sleep Foundation.

It's ironic that I'm staying up late in order to bring this information to you.

Good night!

Wednesday Weigh-In 20140212

My weight is a bit higher than I'd like it to be. But it's been an unusually cold winter, and I'd rather not stress my body out too much by cutting back on calories or fat.

Hope you have a nice Valentine's Day!

Waist = 38.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

No More Tobacco at CVS

CVS pharmacy recently announced that it intends to stop selling cigarettes starting October 1, 2014¹.  This announcement comes out just over fifty years after the US Surgeon General released its report that linked smoking with disease².

A pharmacy is a place where people who are sick obtain products that are supposed to make them well.  So it's ironic that pharmacies also sell products that are known to make you unwell.

Tobacco is just one example of such a product.  But consider sugar.  Although the Surgeon General hasn't mandated the labeling of sugar-laden products with health warnings, it does state that "...eating healthy means ... limiting intake of ... added sugars."³

Sugar can be found in some form in every drug store.  It's in the candy isle, of course.  And in the soda aisle.  Some larger stores might harbor it in the freezer case in the form of ice cream and other frozen desserts.  Then of course the seasonal isle erupts with candy right after Labor Day with Halloween candy, which transforms into Christmas candy on November 1, then into Valentine's candy in January, and ultimately appears in a majestic fanfare as Easter candy at various times in Spring.  Come Memorial Day, sugar goes on a much needed vacation, at least until it becomes fashionable to eat candy for Independence Day.

Eventually CVS will find it necessary to eliminate candy from its stores once it realizes that selling candy "...is inconsistent with our purpose – helping people on their path to better health."¹  It might take CVS another fifty years to reach that conclusion, although without the profits from tobacco sales to keep it afloat, CVS might not be around that long.

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¹ https://cvshealth.com/newsroom/press-releases/cvs-caremark-stop-selling-tobacco-all-cvspharmacy-locations
² https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK179276/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK179276.pdf
³ https://www.hhs.gov/fitness/eat-healthy/dietary-guidelines-for-americans/index.html

2020-02-29 SPG -- Updated broken links in footnotes.

Wednesday Weigh-In 20140206

Yesterday we had a nice heavy snowfall of about ten inches. I worked from home and took a couple of hours to shovel the driveway, using my new snow shovel.

Waist = 38.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.