Monday, April 30, 2007

Commuting Via Bike...

So, I'm progressing on my way to becoming a bike commuter (well, technically, a trike commuter, as I got my recumbent trike, but you get the idea)! I rode from Kirkland to Edmonds on Saturday afternoon, a 21 mile ride, to test out the trike for going the distance. It was a great first experience and I couldn't believe what an asset having a trike on hills was. On great steep hills where one might tire out, I could easily stop midway by just locking the pedals with my feet or just using the disc brakes, which hold remarkably well, and take a quick breather before continuing on. I found the ride to be manageable, which was great news as I wasn't sure I'd make it the first time out! I'll try my first time actually going to work sometime this week, but I'll have to plan out how early to leave.

In the search for different ways to travel, I found a plethora of online information. Bikely had all sorts of different routes that have been recommended by other cyclists. I've already taken down a route from my house to the Burke-Gilman Trail, so hopefully, I find it to be handy! It has trails and routes that people have told about in all different countries and just looking through the Seattle area, I found heaps of different routes from one destination to another, including just the route I was looking for! This can be extremely useful to find good routes, as it can be very intimidating getting stuck on roads that just aren't well suited to cyclists. Also, the Bicycle Alliance of Washington offers all sorts of information from pertinent bicycle links (like to Bikely!), community cycling events, lots of bike maps, and safety information. This group is a great resource.

With spring here and summer right around the corner, biking to work seems like a great idea! Many employers offer benefits to employees who do use bikes (as well as carpooling/public transit) to commute. Also, the health benefits are outstanding as well! It can be a big benefit to pull that bike out of the garage, pump up the tires and ride it to work a couple of times a week! Your heart and your pocketbook just might give you their own "thank you's" (not to mention the environment)!

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Iraq Supplemental Bill

The Senate approved a bill today for Iraqi funding that included a timeline for pulling our troops out of Iraq, beginning in October of this year (or even sooner, if they fail to meet some guidelines). Unfortunately, this bill was passed 51-46, far below the 2/3 vote needed to overturn the President's promised veto of it. President Bush has already stated that he would veto any bill that included a timeline, or "surrender date" as many Republicans have dubbed it, on Iraq and so the passing of this bill will most likely end up being just symbolic. President Bush has stood strong against any consideration of an Iraqi timeline and this will really show in the form of a veto on this, after passing in the House and Senate.

One thing that has constantly come to mind for me in regards to the occupation in Iraq is "Mission Accomplished", Bush's "bold statement" about the state of affairs in Iraq nearly 4 years ago. I've joked about alternative meanings for "Mission Accomplished", as its meaning definitely didn't seem to mean what one might have thought it meant in this case. Now after so much has occurred since then, it's hard if we can't even begin to conceptualize an end to this situation and must continue to "stay the course" without an end in mind. Will we only be able to consider a withdrawal after the President finishes his term in office?

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

How much is too much?

According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the state of Washington is $3.15 right now, up 30 cents from a month ago. That's only 2 cents lower than the highest it's ever been in the area, the second highest average in the nation, and yet gas usage hasn't declined at all. How much is too much, before people start reducing their gas usage?

It's true that the gas prices in the US are far cheaper than in Europe, where most of Europe pays up to and more than twice the price we pay at the pumps, but the outcry is great here each time fuel prices rise to what is still far less than European fuel prices. The difference is the reactions to fuel prices. While prices in the US are very high in terms of what the US has paid at the pump, there hasn't been much move towards decreased driving, carpooling, or taking alternative transportation options. Also, in Europe, there are far more efficient cars and people focus more on purchasing cars that are smaller and more efficient. There is a much greater demand for fuel efficient cars and diesel-fueled engines there. Sure, hybrid vehicles are being produced and have increased in usage somewhat, but not nearly to levels that would seem natural in response to the rising fuel costs. Many foreign cars that are smaller and more efficient never even make it to the US because of little expected interest in them.

Europe pays far greater taxes on fuel which explains the higher fuel costs over there. If the US increased the taxation of fuel here, would it have a greater effect on fuel usage? It seems that a great increase in the tax, and thus the cost of the gas, would push people to think about their fuel usage instead of just complaining about it. It would reduce the number of cars on the road as fuel became unaffordable for some. Hopefully, it would also create a bigger push towards more fuel economic cars hitting the market. Those tax dollars could also be used to pursue more mass transit options to further lessen the use of fuel, at least in personal autos. Unfortunately, it would be an incredibly hard sell to push increased taxes on fuel when they are reaching up close to record highs for the US. It's hard to swallow now, but I believe it would create a better situation overall in the long-run.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Think Green...

Earth Day is this Sunday and it brings to mind thoughts of how we can perhaps recycle more, reduce our waste, and help the environment. We need to think about more than planting a tree or recycling some extra cans and then moving on until the next Earth Day.

The environment is clearly a fragile thing and we have seemingly affected more change on it in a short period of time than has happened in twice the time. Global warming is rapidly changing environments and things are changing in negative ways. Water levels rising from melting icecaps is going to reduce land and probably just eliminate many island nations that are around today. If the water levels rise as predicted, some countries, such as a number of Polynesian countries in the South Pacific Ocean will just not exist in the future. Are we going to try to stop this?

I think it's a real coincidence that I was earlier talking about recumbent trikes and I had a building interest in these and now, I'm getting one this weekend. I've bid on one in an auction on eBay that actually ends on Earth Day! This is one thing that I figure that I can do to reduce the pollution that I create, as I've been one that's always had a number of cars and many of them have also been older cars that have no emissions restrictions set for them. I've also had quite a few that have definitely put out more than their fair share of pollution as a result of this. Now, I can use this recumbent trike to at least reduce (for now, possibly/hopefully elimintate later?) my usage of fossil fuel-burning automobiles. I'm getting rid of my cars now, one at a time, and I'll probably keep one for some uses, but I'm going to try to eliminate all of the rest. For me, eliminating even all but 1 car is a big step. I've had at least 4 cars at any given point since at least 2000. Now, I'm already down to 3 as of last month! I've donated one and sold one since the beginning of the year! So, this is one step I'm taking in an effort to do a little bit for the environment. I don't have any illusions, though, and I don't think it's nearly enough.

Aside from switching to an alternative method of transport (human-powered vehicles, electric, and alternative [hopefully cleaner-burning] fuels), one thing just about anybody can do is just reduce the usage of your vehicle(s). There are plenty of ways that most people can reduce their driving. Carpooling is one that can split fuel used and driving in half, but is really not "in fashion" in Seattle. I read an article last year and it was right around 10% of people that are carpooling in the Seattle area. One in ten! Look around you as you are stuck in traffic on I-5, parked waiting to get across the 520 floating-bridge, or stuck on I-405 or in the southend. Usually, as far as the eye can see, each car/truck/SUV contains just 1 person. If everybody carpooled with just 1 person, 1/2 the cars now wouldn't be on the road. How about that for a traffic solution? Imagine if 1/2 the cars you're commonly stuck in traffic with weren't there at all. You're commute would surely be shorter, you'd use less gas as you drove instead of sat and let the engine idle, and there would be a stress reduction from reduced traffic worries! That also equates to 1/2 the car emissions, 1/2 the smog in the air that you can see in the summer after a number of rain-free days, not to mention sharing the costs of gas with someone.

Reducing waste can really help out as well. We put out SO MUCH waste each year it is absolutely ridiculous. In the US, we generate on average about 4 1/2 pounds of waste a day per person! Imagine that multiplied by each person by 365 days and try to visualize just how much waste that is! Just try to think about packaging as one simple source of reduction. There is so much packaging in typical products that goes straight from store shelves to our garbage (or hopefully at least the recycling bin) as soon as we get home and open up the package. Try purchasing items that don't use so much packaging. Items that are pre-packaged into individual servings use far more packaging than items in larger quantities that you can separate yourself. Some simply have less packing material in general. Use reusable grocery bags and reduce those wastes. Every little bit we can reduce helps. Fortunately, the Seattle area is pretty good about recycling as well, but we need to stay vigilent.

I can go on and on about other methods of reducing, reusing, and recycling (yeah, I stole it from the recycling slogan), but I probably shouldn't. A few other things to look up, though, are compact florescent lightbulbs which use far less (2/3's less, I believe) electricity, public transit, and Earth-friendly products that cause less harm to the environment. If everybody helps a little, we'll all help a lot in the big scheme of things!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Virginia Tech...

I don't want to really cover this topic, as it has been covered thoroughly, but I just wanted to take space to think about all of those affected by this, the victims, and this horrible tragedy in general, that occurred last Monday. My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by this awful episode in American history.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

The Supreme Court Bans Some Abortions

The Supreme Court decided today in favor of a upholding a ban on intact dilation and extraction abortions, what is commonly referred to as "partial-birth abortion" by its opponents. This new law doesn't even include any exceptions to save the life of the mother. I've read a lot of reports, some on each side, arguing the safety "partial-birth" abortions. Some specialists and doctors have said that there are times when it is the safest option and others have said that there is never a time when it is safer than other methods of abortion. If there is a chance that it is sometimes the safest option, why not allow for it in extreme cases when it's necessary in order to preserve the life of the mother, rather than barring it completely? The penalty for a doctor found to have provided this form of abortion is up to two years in jail. If there is no time that it would be safer than other options, then having that as a "last-ditch option" wouldn't matter because there wouldn't be a time when a partial-birth abortion was necessary. If there is a chance that this is sometimes the safest, why not allow for extreme circumstances? If the doctors who say that there are times when this form of abortion is safest are wrong, then nothing is changed by banning them. Unfortunately, if the Supreme Court's majority (5 to 4) is wrong, then there are times when it would be safest and yet even in those times, it would be illegal to perform such an operation. Is this now going to become a "slippery slope" for states to fight for stricter abortion laws and for banning other types of abortions? Is it time that legislators, rather than doctors, decide what is best and safest in medical procedures?

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Is it time to quit smoking?

I don't know if this only a campaign that has been launched in the Seattle area or if this is a national campaign, but there is a fairly new anti-smoking campaign that seems to almost discourage quitting smoking "cold turkey". These commercials basically say that you can't quit just cold turkey. I think that's a bad message to put out there. Sure, it's easy to say that if someone could just quit cold turkey, they would, but then what about people who could quit cold turkey but haven't gotten to that point in their life or their "smoking career"? That's really discouraging for them.

Th real reason I even thought of this topic was that I'm going to Las Vegas later this afternoon until the middle of next week and I am a "retired" smoker. I officially quit a few years ago, but I still "secretly" smoked when I was out drinking up until the beginning of this year (it wasn't much of a secret to many people I drank with). When I travelled to Las Vegas (and I do so often... last year, I was in Las Vegas for no less than 5 separate trips), I always would smoke at least a little because I just liked the ability and "convenience" of being able to smoke practically everywhere I went. I liked walking through the casinos, where the air filters allowed none of the evidence to remain, puffing away happily. I've been thinking about it for a couple weeks now, and I think I'm really going to miss walking around smoking. I don't miss it here in Seattle when I drink anymore, but just the idea of being in Las Vegas and not smoking seems so foreign. I think that's my last "trigger". It used to be drinking once I'd quit the regular smoking scene and before that it was everything from boredom to meals to driving to idle hands to stress to a work break to... Anyways, I quit cold turkey and didn't have too much of a problem with it. For me, it was the fact that I'd told people far in advance of my intent to quit smoking. This worked because I wanted to save face, not look like I'd failed in my plans, and just had to go through with it because people were already proud of me in advance. There was a bit of thought to health, but it wasn't nearly as much that. After I'd quit, I surely loved not smelling like smoke, though, and that's been a huge bonus ever since, along with the financial savings! The stress and withdrawal symptoms were a nuisance but I just figured I had to tough it out. The first day, I was pacing around at work and looked frantic and highly stressed, but it was pretty cool from there. I started smoking while I drank months later, when I'd decided that my quitting had been successful and that I could smoke while I drank without smoking regularly. It was true for me. I could. Unfortunately, I fell into the trap where I then couldn't drink without smoking and that seemed harder to me to quit than the initial quitting. I think it's because I would be drunk and it's harder to reason with yourself about these things. I did the advance notice and let people know that I was quitting smoking altogether at the end of the year (2006) and so I knew people would know and ask about it so I had that same factor of accountability that helped to keep me clean, but the first few times I went out and had drinks, I was just dying for a smoke. Then, a couple months in, I just noticed one day that I didn't want a smoke while I was drinking. I was impressed that it had happened and surprised! I think that it just kind of sneaked up on me and there it was: I was done!

Ok, that was a lot about my smoking history, but what I really intended to say was that it's definitely possible to quit smoking cold turkey and I don't think that people should be dissuaded from trying.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

I read the news today, oh boy...

Just what is taking place in the world right now? If I were to base my beliefs on what I've been seeing lately on local news on network television, on MSN's and Yahoo's news, it looks like the biggest stories right now are (and have been for some time) the death of Anna Nicole Smith and the identity of her child's father and the American Idol "phenom", Sanjaya. Why is so much focus placed on these (like one guy's failed hunger strike until Sanjaya got kicked off the show), as though they are the important news events of the times? Is this what people will look back on, in thinking about what has taken place this year? With all that is going on in the world right now, such as our occupation of Iraq, years after the supposed end to the war and the billions upon billions of dollars that is costing us, isn't there something "more interesting" to report on? Just a quick thought as I can't seem to get away from hearing about American Idol, even without watching it, and the Anna Nicole stories are shooting right back up.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Seattle Traffic

So, Seattle's commutes are getting longer and longer every year. Every street is used by more and more cars and traffic is getting worse throughout the region. There has been a constant growth in Seattle and with that has come a constant stream of more and more cars onto the same roads that we are already dealing with traffic on. We can't keep building more roads. We can't expand our highways until they are sprawling 10-lane+ "superhighways" to accomodate more cars. These would just become larger "parking lots" for the increasing numbers of cars that are filling the roads every day. Seattle needs to look at other options to find better solutions to the problem.

Our bus systems are adequate for some people, but you really need to coordinate and plan things out very well. If you're out too late, you may not have that "ride" home. If you need to be there early, you may be out of luck. You may have to arrive at your meeting either an hour early or 15 minutes late. Bus travel is also unfortunately a slow process of travel. Metro (as well as Community Transit and other transit) does a decent job of maintaining frequent service in highly-trafficked areas, but it's clearly not enough. It's unfortunate that our area didn't invest in a more sophisticated mass transit program in the earlier years. Now, we are left with a region that really has inadequate (I remember that I called it adequate above) public transit services, overall. We need to work on a system that will be convenient, one that would convert drivers into riders. If we can implement a system that would greatly reduce the number of cars on the road, we'll all be winners in the end. Traffic would be lighter and hopefully everyone could travel easier. Pollution from vehicle exhaust would be decreased as well. It would also help to make it more appealing to carpool as the great majority of cars on the road are single-occupant vehicles. Creating a greater incentive for carpooling would also aid in reducing the cars on the road.

At this point in the game, it's tough to say what form of mass transit would work the best for Seattle. I thought that the monorail project was an excellent idea for a transport system that would be above street level (so not blocking traffic as it travels), quiet and safe (especially with good "durability" through earthquakes). It was a clean efficient method of transport which is definitely what we need to develop. Whatever we do implement, it's going to be very expensive, but we have to pay for it sometime. We can't keep pushing it off further as it's not going to get any cheaper and traffic is getting worse and worse no matter what. The worse traffic gets, the worse it will be during construction of any systems and that really means it's just not getting any easier. There's no time like the present to keep pushing so we can push our region forward.

Monday, April 09, 2007

The iPod hasn't fallen far from the tree...

Apple announced that they have hit the 100 million mark on the sales of their iPod music players since they began selling these devices. They've really turned the corner from being a company that was once on the edge of the "technological abyss", no longer of much interest to anyone. Apple had reached a point where they were looked at as kind of a joke in the developing computer market. PC's were so dominant and Apple was not doing anything to slow them down.

Apple turned things around with their iMac in the late 90's and started the ball rolling once more. This all-in-one computer was sleek and sexy and became a big hit, throwing Apple's name back into the foreground of computing. Then, a few years later came the first iPod. The iPod delivered the ability to play music loaded onto it and while it wasn't the first device to allow for this, it was one of the simpler-to-use devices and also had that slick design and great aesthetics that Apple was becoming more known for. The iPod became a big seller and not just with "computer geeks". It quickly became the must-have device and everybody wanted one. They became cooler to tote around than a Starbucks Coffee cup and the trademark white earbuds could be seen everywhere. From businessmen to middle school children, the device was getting more and more popular by the day. Apple's iTunes software is also simple to use and is designed to mate up with the iPod and really helped in popularizing the device. iTunes also really helped in the efforts to sell music online, in a burgeoning music pirating market. Among all manner of different peer-to-peer software and music "sharing", Apple's iTunes Stores have sold millions (if not billions) of songs.

Apple has gone from being a great leader in the computer industry to yesterday's news and back again in a matter of years. Apple is now recognized as a strong force in the computer industry, is probably dominant in the digital video editing department (Final Cut software which really is some of the top editing software), and is definitely the leader in the portable music device department. There are cheaper devices than the iPod that offer more storage space and more options yet the iPod continues its strong sales and popularity. It's no longer a niche offering and digital music has definitely started to rule the scene. Amongst frequent closures of record stores and music shops, Apple continues to bring the music forward and people continue to throw money at Apple. Apple has definitely found the formula to turn itself around and to become a dominant force in whatever ring(s) it's thrown its hat into. Now, with the iPhone having created such a buzz just from the talk of the device's capabilities, we'll have to see if Apple is making another excellent choice. They surely seem to know what they're doing...

Thursday, April 05, 2007

On a personal note...


So, on a personal topic, I've decided that I must have a tadpole-style recumbent trike. Why? I've always thought they were really cool, but I actually decided this yesterday around lunch time. I was thinking about my mountain bike which is outside on my deck at my home and how it had been sitting there when I got onto Craigslist and checked out the bikes for sale. I saw a nice-looking bright yellow recumbent that was what is referred to as "tadpole" style. That means it has the two parallel wheels in the front and if the two parallel wheels are in the rear it is a "delta". I think the tadpoles look fantastic and they supposedly have a lot of better handling characteristics that interest me. So anyway, I saw this online for sale and I knew I had to have one. It was already decided. I want one so bad. That means I have to have one quickly and I'm posting up my van online for sale at Craigslist to subsidize the cost. They are quite expensive. I imagine myself clocking thousands of miles on this thing. I see myself riding it to work and have already looked up the trails and easiest ways to ride one to work from Edmonds to Redmond. I need to stop making such impulse-buys at some point, but not right now because I just feel like I really have to have one right away! Impulse-buying-and-me is how I ended up with my Mercedes that I just sold, my van, a constant count of 3 or more cars at any given time since 2000, my condo... I just randomly get an idea in my head that I need something or need to do something and then I have to do it. The condo worked out well because it started out when I was just thinking about how I needed to get a new apartment and I was considering my sister's complex when I just thought, "I want to own a place!" and I looked at a few places online the same day. Within 2 days, I was in contact with realtors, mortgage companies/brokers, and in a very active search for a place to call my own. Now, with a mortgage hanging constantly over my head almost two years later, I have built up a really impressive amount of equity and so my impulsive purchase paid off. In my Mercedes, I lost thousands of dollars and I only owned it for 1 year and sold it earlier this week. In my van, I'll lose a bit, probably, but not such a big hit. When I bought my iPod, I pictured myself in every possible situation with it in-hand, in-pocket, or otherwise on my person and with those distinctive earbuds "plugged-in" to my ears. In reality, I don't use the iPod more than 1 hour every few weeks. I've just started to listen to it more often simply because my work gave us these cool little backpacks that have a hole for headphone wires and a little pouch inside to put your iPod, MP3 player, CD player, Walkman (?), etc. I guess I'll be getting good use out of it until at least I get tired of the backpack...
Anyways, the bottom line of all of this is that I'm going to Vegas next Thursday, one week from today, and I WILL have a recumbent trike by then if there's any way I can make it happen. I'm going to scour bike shops all weekend if I'm not showing my van-for-sale. It's really hard to be this impulsive about some things, but I really can't stop even though I think that I should because I have this feeling, one like you'd picture a little kid having, that I just MUST ABSOLUTELY HAVE THIS TRIKE!!! I hope I use it because they're very expensive...

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

What rights do the incurably infectiously ill have?

I read an article earlier today off of the AP about a man who was diagnosed with what is apparently being touted as an uncurable strain of tuberculosis. He has been locked up, imprisoned in a locked room without the modern day amenities available to the common man. He's imprisoned in this room in Phoenix, Arizona, where health authorities had obtained a court order to lock him up, citing the reason as he was a threat to the public because he had not worn a mask in public. He's been locked up since last July and he could potentially be locked up for the rest of his life in order to protect the public from this illness that he suffers from.

This brings up the issue of how to deal with such a situation of a person infected with some possibly incurable and highly contageous disease. I feel kind of torn on the whole issue. On the one hand, it makes sense to take action to avoid an outbreak of said disease, but on the other hand, this person is going to have their life and rights taken away from them because they are sick. This has become a hot topic due to issues such as influenza viruses that have been killing more people lately and threatening talks of pandemics sweeping the globe quickly and killing millions of people. What will happen if such an occurrence does happen? Will people's rights be ignored in an effort to stop the spread of these infectious killers? When will the efforts of governments be enough to stop the spread and when will they become too much infringement on the rights of the people that the people will not tolerate it? It's tough to imagine and there will clearly be people on both sides of the line, depending on people's own, their family's, and friends' situations. I know I don't have the answers and I have a hard time just imagining what to do in such a situation myself...

Monday, April 02, 2007

Moleskine Notebooks

I don't mean to be an advertisement for products here, but if there's one thing I would gladly advertise, it's these Moleskine notebooks. The Moleskine writing/sketch/notebook is apparently an iconic item, according to its historical background (which is included on a leaflet in many languages when you purchase one). Van Gogh, Matisse, Hemingway and others are reported to have used these for all of their sketches and notes and such. These books are so invaluable to me I can't even begin to describe it. They are hard-bound books that contain blank pages of different sorts for different uses. They come in different sizes, from a larger one that is 13.5 x 21cm to smaller sizes that are the "pocket notebooks". I definitely prefer these pocket-sized notebooks which are 9 x 14cm. They are a bit large for the pocket but I always find one fits perfectly in my back pocket, as I feel weird when I don't have it there.

Of the pocket-sized notebooks, there are a lot of varieties. There is one with thicker finer-quality paper that is touted as a sketchbook and the paper there does work well for sketching, watercolor, charcoal and other sketching/drawing/painting work. There is also one that just has lined paper, one that has small-squared pages (which I always use for writing [I don't know why I prefer the squared to the lined, but I do]), and even address books and others. There are some new variations on these books which I just saw today which inspired my increased interest in these (i.e. blogging about them). Now, there is a "reporter-style" book where the book flips open on the top and a travel-based book that has divided sections for different travel topics to note different aspects of your trips as you travel. I am interested in acquiring the travel one and will probably pick a couple up soon to use for referencing all of my future travels.

Something that all of these varieties of books have in common is the elastic strap that holds the whole thing closed. It wraps around from the back binding and stretches over to keep the front closed. I think this is an ingenious idea. Also, they all have a pouch in the back suitable for holding loose sheets of paper, business cards, and such and this really comes in handy for me as well. Most of them also come with an attached "bookmark" that is a thin cloth "ribbon" that is attached in the spine that can be used to mark some important spot.

I've just always recommended these to everybody I've known and most all people that know me know that I always have one in my back pocket just in case I need to jot something down, write down a passing thought, or jot down an address. I give these as gifts as I think they are just so great for anyone to have. I keep a number of these stacked up in my office for quick access in case I do need a new one for a specific use or to use as the others fill up. The one I carry now, on a daily basis, is one I've had since 2004 and it is just a plethora of information for me when I look back in it to see what I've deemed worthy of filling these pages. This one is obviously worn from the fact that I've carried it in my pocket day-in and day-out, whether I was wearing jeans on a hike or a suit in a wedding. I've resurrected the cover which has been bent up by my sitting on it and throwing it around and it has stood up well to the constant abuse I've put it through.

You can pick up the pocket-sized ones for around $9-15 depending on where you get them and you can find them at stationary stores, travel stores, and I usually purchase mine online. I've got to say, there's not a lot of products being sold out there that I'd write a lengthy "essay" about, but this is one that I just cannot ever rave enough about. Once you have one, you'll be surprised at how it becomes as invaluable to carry as your wallet/keys/passport/whatever you always hold close and make sure you have!

Sunday, April 01, 2007

Overweight? Poor? Rich? Lean?

I've thought about it and it seems as though the largest grouping of overweight people has "shifted places" from in the past. I don't know if I phrased this correctly but what I mean is this: It seems that in the past, one might think more of overweight people as those who had more "lives of luxury" and it seemed almost more a trait of the "upper class" to be somewhat overweight (at least in comparison to middle/lower classes). The poorer classes who had more strenuous work and less money to put food on the table would be the leaner ones in the picture.

This picture is no longer an accurate illustration of this issue. Now, it seems that the problem has shifted to poorer classes of people seeming to suffer from obesity more. Being fit and in shape is almost a sign of living a more affluent life. What has happened to change things? The foods that are the cheapest now are some of the worst foods. All of the menu items at fast food restaurants that are offering $1 items are mostly unhealthy foods. Unhealthy foods are becoming the cheapest foods. Healthier fares are something you need to shell out a little bit more for and for poorer families, there often isn't an option to increase the food budget. This often means that the unhealthier foods are what gets consumed by poorer families. Aside from the costs of food seeming to increase with the healthy content of the food, there are additional costs for gyms. The gyms need their dues which is yet one more bill to add onto budgets. Many people don't, won't or can't adjust their budgets to fit this bill in. Then there is the time needed to even spend at the gym. If you are working long hours and can't find the time to get into the gym, then you also can't make the gym workouts a reality.

Being in good health and fit and trim can now be associated with having the time and money to get to gyms and workout to stay in shape as well as having the money to afford to eat healthy enough. Just my thoughts and not the final word on the situation but the topic had been in my mind...