Take Time for Living

Let me whine for a minute about the not-really-joys of growing older

I remember when I was a kid, like most kids I suppose, I really didn't understand adults. My parents weren't really "adults," in my mind -- they were my parents. Separate category of living creatures, I suppose. (I know MY kids certainly wondered sometimes if their dad wasn't perhaps an alien from an unknown part of the Universe.)

What I never got about adults more than anything else was this: Why did so few adults I knew seem to have very little fun in life? I remember thinking, "Hey, grown ups have the money, they have the power to make choices I can't make for myself -- what's with 'em that they seem so sad, or so angry, or just not all that much fun??"

Nevertheless, I was willing to risk sadness, grimness, whatever, just so I could hurry and grow up -- at least grow up enough to be allowed to do what I wanted in life, to make my own decisions.

Never saw "aging" in all that, just growing up. But what I've learned in a hurry is this: Life means aging, and it really all happens way to fast.

Personally, as I grow older, I find things aren't as joyful as they may have been a few years ago, because of aging. Just about the time you feel happy about getting rid of the zits when you find your best acne treatment -- WHAM! You body is already plunging straight into arthritis, bursitis, and a dozen other annoying "itises."

It's not just the body betraying me as it ages, however. It is, to some extent, the mind, or at least my attitudes and outlook on life. The older I get, the less pleasure I find in the little things like good food and drink, reading a good book. I become more impatient with pretty much everything, especially the ignorance and stupidity of most drivers I'm forced to share the road with.

Maybe all this is just uniquely my cross(es) to bear. Perhaps you have no problems with aging, no signs of body sabotage, mental grumpiness, and other not-really-joys of growing older? Good for you. As for me, I gotta work at it. And I really WILL take time for living today.

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Need to lose weight, get in shape? Here are my best tips

I saw a news brief and photo in our local newspaper yesterday that I simply haven't been able to get out of my mind. It was about a guy in Mexico who's hoping to lose enough weight to be able to walk his fiancee down the aisle at their wedding. Currently, the man weighs something over 700 pounds and can't stand up. But he's DOWN from a weight of something over 1,200 pounds a couple of years ago!!

The real question here really isn't, "How did he lose all that weight?" The REAL question is, "Who in the world helped him get that enormously fat??" Think about it: If he has been so huge he couldn't stand up, someone else -- family, friends, both -- had to continue bringing him food and watching him eat his way rapidly toward the grave.

So, I think I should tell you a few things in the course of offering you some "weight loss" tips:

1. I am currently very overweight myself, chiefly due to poor eating habits and too little exercise.

2. I have tried, long ago, using diet pills, Phentermine-type prescription drugs (though NOT Phentermine itself) as well as over-the-counter diet pills. The prescription pills made me feel so "peppy" they scared me and I quit them. The OTC pills seemed to be a complete waste of time.

3. I have successfully lost a lot of weight in the past and kept it off for two or three years, meaning I have had success when using the "sure-thing" suggestion I am going to give you now.

Ready for the big revelation on how to lose weight and get in shape?? Here it is:

Eat less food and exercise regularly.

Wow, you're thinking, that was a major let down.

And that's exactly why so many of US are overweight and out of shape. We hope for the "magic bullet" or secret formula that'll work quickly and easily to make us healthy, happy, wealthy, and wise.

Alas, if life worked that way it would be wonderful, wouldn't it? But life, whether we're talking about losing weight and being healthy or making tons of wonderful money, just works one day at a time, generally, so we must live it that way.

Starting today, starting right now, make better food choices (come on, you and I both know we really know what's a good food choice -- think high-fiber, low-fat, low-to-no sugar, moderate protein, balanced carbs, etc.) and get up and move around more.

Then do that every day. Enjoy your new, healthier lifestyle. I won't even charge you for it!

Technorati Tags: diet pills, healthy eating, regular exercise, health tips, take time for living

How would we live in a world without airlines??

As World War II was coming to an end, executives from the various airlines and airplane manufacturers met with Truman Administration officials and indicated something of a panic -- no war meant little call for what they manufactured and supplied, which meant bad news for the country's major manufacturing industry and fledgling airline industry.

Cynics (and I know some history teachers who are among them) suggest that was a major reason people within and outside the Truman Administration sort of "cooked up" what became the 40+ year Cold War -- to bolster American manufacturing, particular the aircraft industry, following the end of WW II.

Nowadays, we're in need of something to bolster the airline industry, if not the aircraft manufacturers, too. Imagine what happens if soaring gas prices translated into soaring airline fuel prices shut down all, or at least most, of the airliners. You carefully pack your beautiful new Johnston and Murphy luggage, hustle out to the airport -- and watch the empty runways leading up into the empty skies, hoping one or two remaining flights for the week will come along for you to shove your way onto for the trip to grandma's house.

Okay, so that picture is probably a little bleak. But a story I just read online says that the current, ongoing jump in oil prices puts the U.S. airline industry on course to lose $6.1 billion in 2008. That's more than a little thing. No wonder ticket prices are rising and baggage charges abound.

Peanuts or pretzels anyone??

Technorati Tags: soaring oil prices, soaring airline fares, airline losses, take time for living