You've got to be kidding me!

I just read a commentary article on Slate about Pixar's new movie, Wall-E. The whole article is about how the movie is hurtful towards obese Americans, equating obesity with the destruction of Earth. I have not seen this movie and have no idea what it's about, but now I really want to see it.

Daniel Engber, the author, disagrees with the notion that obesity causes ecological destruction. I'm not sure I agree with this either, and isn't what has me shaking my head in disbelief. In an excerpt taken from the article, Engber pretty much states that obesity isn't a person's fault

How fat you are has a lot more to do with your genes than with your behavior. As much as 80 percent of the variation in human body weight can be explained by differences in our DNA.

I honestly don't know if that genetic bit is true or not. I haven't read the necessary scientific research articles about the issue. He goes on to say

there's little evidence that overeating causes obesity on an individual level and no real reason to think that anyone can lose a lot of weight by dieting. (Most of us fluctuate around a natural "set point.") We also know that children who watch a lot of television are no less active than other kids and that pediatric obesity rates are not the direct result of high-fat diets.

So let me get this straight. You mean to say, should I choose to eat a super sized Big Mac meal for dinner everyday, along with calorie-rich super sized portions for breakfast and lunch, and some savory high fat snacks throughout the day, I won't get obese if my genes are just right? Well, there's no obesity in my family so I guess I'm safe here. Why have I been watching what I eat all this time when I could have been safely stuffing my face with this crap?! Are you kidding me here?! As I was reading these words, I was in such disbelief that I convinced myself that this whole article was a joke of Engbert's, that he was going to write at the end of it, "Gotcha! Just kidding!" True, some people cannot control the fact that they are obese, no matter the effort they put into their diets, but that's not everyone's case! It's simple math for the rest of us here. If you want to stay slim, calories in must equal calories out, and daily calorie requirements are different for everyone due to genetic makeup. 

In college I managed to gain 25 pounds in the first year (eek, I went above the Freshman 15!). But how did I do this? I consumed more calories than I was used to consuming and my body compensated by growing larger. As long as you keep your calorie intake consistent, your body will reach an equilibrium state and you will stop gaining weight....but you won't lose it because now you are consuming enough calories to maintain your new, larger self. If I chose to eat even more calories I would have grown larger. So how did I lose that weight? Duh...I ate less. I just ate enough to maintain a lower weight. And of course I had to exercise too because being overweight and inactive can wreak havoc on your metabolism and hormones (why can't losing weight be as easy as gaining it?)

What do you all think? Am I crazy in telling myself that I will limit my children's TV time and try to be active with them, all the while feeding them wholesome, nutritious food?

Much more than a party trick...

...although I would like to try this out myself! Got this from a friend from work. Too crazy!

Téléphone Portable + Maïs = Pop-corn - Vidéo

LT G shut down

***UPDATE***

Lt. G's blog has been deleted. However, you can still access the address because his fiance, City Girl took over the domain name. She has announced that she will post as frequently as possible about how Lt. G and the rest of the Gravediggers are doing. She has also archived his blog!

This is the only soldier's blog that I've been reading on a regular basis and he's been ordered to shut it down due to this post! I'm so mad and disappointed. So stupid....

How could this happen?

I just now heard about this news story while watching my local news. So I decided to look it up on the good ol' Seattle Times. It's so sad. Apparently a father in Federal Way fell asleep with his son outside and had a fire going in the fire pit. When he woke up, he found his son in the pit, badly burned and dead. He's been taken into custody for investigation of manslaughter. If it was an accident, how can one be so careless with fire when their child is present? Did he pass out from intoxication? That's what I'm wondering, if in fact, this is a horrible accident. But I find it hard to believe that somebody could sleep through the poor child's screams of pain.

A common weakness among females

I love shoes. I don't think I can have enough of them. I love strappy heels and wedges especially. Unfortunately, my job requires me to stand on my feet and run around most of the day, so I've been sticking to flip flops and sneakers in order to save my ankles and joints for the constant pounding I subject them to. This doesn't stop me from occasionally splurging on what I consider a must-have to my shoe collection. A couple months ago I indulged myself with a shoe shopping excursion, as I hadn't bought a pair of shoes in a while. I found a pair of strappy sandals at Dillard's that I just had to have, since the pair I had been eyeing at Nordstrom's was discontinued. I've been wanting those shoes for 2 years now, and considering they were available last year still, I figured they would be this year as well. Not so. These shoes that I bought were close to what I wanted....minus the wedge heel and the ankle strap. But I loved them and couldn't wait to wear them! Too bad my dog, Sammy, got to them first.

I pulled these shoes out of the closet for the first time a couple weeks ago to possibly wear to a get-together with my co-workers. It's been so warm lately, so I was going to wear a skirt or dress and these shoes. At the last minute, I decided to go more casual and just went with a pair of shorts and a tank top. In my hurry, I left the shoes out of the closet and forgot about them for a couple days, as they were in a part of the bedroom that I don't go to very often. So my precious shoes were out in the open, unprotected from inconsiderate doggy temptations.

It happened while I was at home people! This dog has no shame! I was making my usual rounds in the blogosphere, which takes a considerable amount of time. I noticed after a while that Sammy was being a little too quiet--usually he is demanding something of me: I'm not giving him enough attention, I'm eating something he wants, he wants to go outside (again). When I noticed the lack of annoyance I perked up my ears to hear his location. I heard him doing something in the bedroom so I rushed over there to behold this scene

I could not believe it. After months of not pulling a bad stunt, he had to do this! I immediately grabbed the shoes and asked him "What is this?!" When Sammy hears these words, he knows mommy is very angry. Down go the ears and the eyes--he can't even look at me. "Bad boy!" I tell him. And then the dreaded words: "Go in your box!" (Jon and I call the crate the "box" after we heard his mom use that word--we thought it was funny.) At this point Sammy ran into his box. For us, this is the equivalent of time out and sending a child to their room--he doesn't particularly like it, but he accepts it.

Truth be told, I thought the mutt was over this stage. There were times where I left him out of his crate for a couple hours at a time while I visited with my neighbors or went grocery shopping. I guess I was testing him so maybe eventually I wouldn't have to crate him all day when I go to work. I inspected every corner of the house when I got home, looking for any hint of chewed up baseboards or remnants of my socks and underwear. Up till now, he always passed these little tests. Well, this incident showed me that he's not ready and he has been crated every time I even needed to step out of the house for a few minutes. He totally betrayed my trust and he's going to have to work to regain it!

I'm so upset with my loss! What makes it more upsetting is the fact that I paid $70 for these shoes that I never got to wear! (In retrospect, I should not have spent so much money on these--they totally don't look like they should have cost $70!) The fact that I spent so much money on a chew toy upsets me. I'm looking into getting them repaired. I need to justify spending that much money on them by actually wearing them!

OK I admit it....I'm a Harry Potter fan

I finished Harry Potter book 6 (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince) on Friday. One of my co-workers has been gracious enough to lend me the whole series and I've been going through the books pretty fast. I think I started the series last summer or a little bit before. Now I have one book left! Book 6 was my favorite one by far! I can't wait for the movie to come out--I just found out to my horror that it's due out in November when I was expecting it for the summer. The beginning of the book was really slow and hard for me to get into. I think I stayed on the same page for over a month! But once my knitting started to bore me I dove in. Once I passed the halfway point in the plot, everything started to happen and I finished the book in a snap!

I got through the book by reading during my lunch hour and on Friday I was two chapters short of finishing the book, but a very upsetting thing happened in the story (if you want a spoiler, read Wikipedia's entry about the book). When I wandered back in the lab, one of my co-workers (the one who lent me the book) noticed that I was very upset about something. It's funny now that I think back on it. When I returned to my workspace, I was silent with the events of the book still turning over in my head ("It didn't happen. Rowling got me good that time--maybe in the next two chapters she'll fix what she's done!"). I barely responded to him when he talked to me and no smile escaped me. So he asks me what's up...what's wrong. Imagine his amusement when I wailed out "I'm upset at how the book is turning out right now!" Seriously, watching me over the course of those few minutes and you would think something horrible happened! But after a while, the events of the book faded into the background as I reluctantly focused on Western blots ....again (I'm admittedly extremely sick of these!). I hope I get book 7 soon so I can be done with this misery!

What is this world coming to?

When you hear about how third graders were plotting to attack their teacher, you know we're in trouble. I'm sure you all have already heard about this, but here's the article if you haven't. I remember being that age and not even thinking about looking at an adult the wrong way, much less try to stab one! Kids are lashing out more these days and I feel there is a loss of respect from the younger generations. These kids were planning an attack because the teacher scolded them and they wanted to retaliate. They were well prepared too! I'm glad somebody caught it before they had the chance to harm anyone!