I’m not messing around today. I set my alarm for 5:13 this morning so I could give myself enough time to make breakfast, pack my meals for the day, and weather the um, weather to go vote in today’s special Senate election in Massachusetts between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown before I head to CP for the day. All I’m gonna say is that if I don’t walk away with something like a sticker, or I don’t know, a ball point pen for getting up this early to vote, there will be hell to pay.**
In any case, as I’ve stated in the past, I try to steer clear of any political talk on this blog, for obvious reasons. The only hint I’ll give as to who I’m voting for is that his (or her) name rhymes with not Martha Coakley.
Suffice it to say, I’m a little rushed this morning so here are some random thoughts:
1. A HUGE congratulations goes out to CP client Bree Schaaf this morning, who officially qualified for the U.S Winter Olympic team (women’s bobsled), and will be representing the United States next month in Vancouver.
2. If I get one more person e-mailing me asking me what I do for cardio, I swear I’m going to throw my face into my keyboard. People are often dumbfounded when I tell them that I don’t do a lot of traditional cardio. “Well, what about your cardiovascular health?” they’ll cry out! Do me a favor. Walk over to the squat rack, or, if your gym is lame and doesn’t have a squat rack, grab a pair of dumbbells. Put said weight on your shoulders and squat it for twenty repetitions. Is your heart rate elevated? There, you just did some “cardio.” Now, shut up.
3. In keeping with my New Year’s resolution to try new foods every week, my girlfriend and I my girlfriend made dinner this weekend using something called Punjabi wadi, which if you asked me, sounds more like a Star Wars character than something you can eat.
Suffice it to say, I tried it. That’s about it. Next week? Jerusalem artichokes. I can’t wait…………………………………….to put a hole in my head.
4. I can’t believe The Hangover won the Golden Glove for Best Comedy over (500) Days of Summer this past weekend. This is almost worse than when Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over Saving Private Ryan back in ’98. Yeah, you thought I forgot didn’t you Hollywood foreign press? I never forget!!!!!!
5. I have a 35-40 minute commute to and from work every day. As such, I typically spend that time listening to The Fitcast, strengthcoachpodcast.com, In the Trenches Fitness, or various other podcasts, like Leigh Peele’s for instance. Lately, however, I’ve been rocking books on cd, and loving it. I joined audible.com last week, and have been listening to Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Seemingly, based off the title alone, one would think the author’s agenda is to make a case for vegetarianism. Truthfully, in part, he is (to a degree). However, in his defense, the main objective is to give the reader a more thorough look into the world of factorized farming- fish, poultry, beef, pig, you name it- which, as you might expect, is downright atrocious.
What’s more, he also goes into detail about the inhumane ways we treat said animals, which as you might expect (again), is brutal- to say the least. I mean, there are things we do to pigs, for example, that would be a felony if we even thought about doing them to a dog. But, since a pig can’t jump onto the back of a Volvo, we don’t think twice about it. I get it, we don’t eat dogs. However, it really is sad how we treat these animals.
For the record, I’m still going to eat animals- but I’m definitely more cognizant about where my food is coming from, and, more importantly, how it’s treated. Given that 99% of the meat we eat in this country comes from factorized farming, it’s going to be an upward battle.
**UPDATE: 5th in line at the polls, bitches. Ball point pen? Pfffft, at the very least, I deserve my own bald eagle for being to patriotic.
