Don't You Forget About Me: Just Checking In

*Simple Minds

Ok so, I'm just checking in to let ya'll know that I haven't forgotten about you. It's been a sort of hectic kind of week or two, with a bit of unregulated laziness. You see, I've been trying to get used to this 3 hour time change, but not very diligently. This causes me to wake up no earlier than 9:30 everyday.

I've also been in the fruitless search of a decent job. I even went on a two-hour interview yesterday. At the very end of said interview, as I was saying my thank-yous and goodbyes, my interviewer informed be that she was "not hiring right this second," but that she would let me know when something becomes available. Excuse me? This is information that would have been helpful to me YESTERDAY!!! Well, you know, before the interview. Or two weeks ago when I had the phone interview.

So now my granny's sick. She's got pneumonia in both of her lungs, and she was admitted into the hospital today. My mom and I are going up to Virginia to see her. So, as you can see, I have been a bit distracted. Oh, and I'm having lunch with my childhood best friend tomorrow. We haven't seen each other in 15 years and I just found her a couple weeks ago on Myspace.

If I have any advice today, it's this. Get your priorities straight. Know what's more important. Family or job. Money or lack of stress.

I Need Perspective 'Cause I'm Facing the Wall: Putting Things Into Perspective

*Peter Gabriel

Ok so, I know it's been a long time since I've posted; I've been really busy. In the space of a week, I flew from Phoenix to Raleigh, drove to Wilmington, drove back to Raleigh, drove to Charleston, drove back to Raleigh, and then returned to Phoenix. And now that I'm back, I'm continuing the pattern. In fact, I have other things that I should be doing right now. Packing, for instance. You see, I'm moving back to the Raleigh area tomorrow.

And there are a lot of things that could be stressing me out. I'm flying standby in the wake of a hurricane that hit my connection airport. I'm taking my infant niece with me, and we're flying alone. I have a job interview next week, if they haven't filled it by the time I get there. I'm moving in with my parents until I find a place to live on my own. I'm looking at condos to possibly purchase, and I'm not sure I'll have a large enough down payment to get financing.

I have a lot to be preoccupied with, but what good is that? It doesn't give me anymore money or time or peace. So I have to put things into perspective. There are several ways I've found helpful to do this.

When I was in college, I had an off-the-charts low stress level. And I was living with an off-the-charts highly stressed individual. Don't get me wrong, she had plenty of reasons to be stressed, but I definitely cherish my, for the most part, low-stress college experience. Whenever I would have a paper due or a test coming up that was turning into a reason to worry or feel anxious, I would ask myself one question. "When I'm 70, will it matter if I passed this Math 107 class?" or "When I'm 70, will it matter if I made an A+ or a C- on this Intro to Psych paper?" The answer was always a definitive no. And I would almost immediately stop worrying about it. Now I'm not saying that the present doesn't matter; it absolutely does. The future depends on it. But sometimes we get so caught up in it that we start to think that's all there is. There is a long run. And it's more important that the short term.

If you're not good at destressing yourself, then try a buddy. An honest friend who cares enough to listen to your worries and tell you the truth. Someone outside of your emotional box has the perspective to see what's a major deal in your life and what will make little impact. This person can also offer advice on how to handle the stressful situations that pop up, and support through the ones that linger.

My final suggestion is a journal. This can act as documentation for your life, which can help you to remember how you handled other situations in the past, and remind you how insignificant some things can be. Also, the simple act of writing something out can be a calming agent. It can help you to express yourself without fear of judgement from your audience. It can be a canvas for you to work things out that you just couldn't get straight in your head. It can help you purge the worries from your system. Sometimes it just feels better when they're on paper where you can look at them, or crumple them up and throw them away.

Large amounts of negative stress can become physically unhealthy, lead to a lower quality of life, and even fewer years. So, whatever your worries, just remember to get some perspective before they take over your thought process. If God can make the universe, and everything in it, in 6 days, He can certainly take on your latest worry.

"Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." -Matthew 6:34

"Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere." -Glenn Turner

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." -Philippians 4:13

"Drag your thoughts away from your troubles... by the ears, by the heels, or any other way you can manage it." -Mark Twain

I'm Bringin' Sexy Back Part 3: Having Goals

*Justin Timberlake

Ok so with the changes in my schedule, like the trip to Colorado, and the effects of my monotonous routine, I've become not-so-successful in my getting fit scheme. It's just a couple days until I fly out to the east coast, and I'm feeling like a failure. So last night I developed a list of goals.

Goals are super important in the planning of any major change. And not just the obvious ultimate goal. That, of course, is where you are hoping to end up and without it you wouldn't have had a reason to make a change in the first place. But the whole process can become rather mountainous looking without smaller, shorter-term goals. With these mini-goals, you can not only track your progress, but also celebrate the milestones in your path. How can you get discouraged when your celebrating victory on the regular?

Jillian Michaels, author of Winning by Losing: Drop the Weight, Change Your Life and my mentor in this process, recommends daily, weekly, and monthly goals. She also insists that you plan ways to celebrate hitting these targets that are NOT FOOD RELATED. This tip is obviously for those who are trying to lose weight, but I think it's a good tip for anyone. No sense in overcoming one obstacle by taking on another.

When you figure out your daily, weekly, and monthly aspirations, it's a good idea to write them down. This act will help solidify them in your mind, and, if placed in a high-traffic area, a great way to remind you what you're working for. Accountability helps you stick too, so give someone else a copy of your list and tell them to check up on you. It might seem a little silly right now, but who'll have the last laugh?

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them." -Denis Watley

"I feel that the most important step in any major accomplishment is setting a specific goal. This enables you to keep your mind focused on your goal and off the many obstacles that will arise when you're striving to do your best." -Kurt Thomas

"If you're bored with life -- you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things -- you don't have enough goals." -Lou Holtz

Keep Your Drink Just Give Me the Money: How Bad is Soda?

*Pink

Ok so we all know that soda, also known as a soft drink or pop, isn't the healthiest of beverages. It doesn't have extra vitamins or fiber or protein in it, but is it really all that bad? Unfortunately, yes. Even the sugarless, or "diet", varieties. And what is it that's so terrible about these delicious refreshers? Caffeine, carbonation, acid, and sweetner.

Caffeine: There's not much good about this ingredient. It's addicting. And a diuretic. A Johns Hopkins study found that the symptoms of caffeine withdrawal "include not only headache, but also fatigue, mild depression, muscle pain and stiffness, flu-like feelings, nausea and vomiting." It also found that in women, it can increase the severity of symptoms from PMS, and reduce fertility by up to 50 percent. As a diuretic, caffeine causes the body to pass more water than it retains. This leads to dehydration, which among other things can present itself as dry skin, constipation, and bladder infections.

Carbonation: The carbonation in soft drinks is made of carbon-dioxide--the air we exhale that is used by plants to make oxygen. Not only does the act of drinking carbon-dioxide infused water put bodily output back in, it fills the stomach with air, which can cause a bloated abdomen, discomfort, and gas.

Acid: The phosporic acid in soda has the same acidity as vinegar, and can quickly rust metal. This ingredient leaches calcium from the body and is linked to osteoporosis, tooth loss, peridontal disease and gingivitis. Teamed with the sugar present in soda, it also easily dissolves tooth enamel.

Sweetner: High-fructose corn syrup, the sugar found in soda, has a reputation of being the worst ingredient of all. Not only does it contribute to the breakdown of tooth enamel, as mentioned above, it contains so many calories that it is estimated that each soft drink may increase the risk of obesity 1.6 times. In addition to that, Dr. James Howenstein, author of A Physician’s Guide to Natural Health Products That Work, references a study that found that "the sugar from one soft drink was able to damage the white blood cells’ ability to ingest and kill bacteria for seven hours.”

And the sweetener in diet drinks isn't any better. Sacchrine has been found to increase the level of carcinogens in lab rats that consume the equivalent of one to two sodas per day. Aspertame produces methanol in the blood--about 56 milligrams per one liter of soda--which is basically poison. Several of these beverages consumed within a day's time can increase the level of methanol in the blood to many times the EPA limit.

It's recommended that soda be removed from your diet altogether. Convinced? If not, do yourself a favor and try to limit your consumption as much as possible.

Some other fun soda facts:

• To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl... Let the "real thing" sit for one hour, then flush clean.
• The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china.
• To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a crumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola.
• To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away corrosion.
• To loosen a rusted bolt: Applying a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes.
• To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield.
• To carry Coca Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous material place cards reserved for Highly Corrosive materials.

"Actually, I think all addiction starts with soda. Every junkie did soda first. But no one counts that. Maybe they should. The soda connection is clear. Why isn't a presidential commission looking into this? Or at least some guys from the National Carbonation Council." -Chris Rock

Prescribe Pills to Offset the Shakes to Offset the Pills: Can Pills Replace Exercise?

*Panic at the Disco

Ok so now there's this pill that is being tested in lab rats that has similar effects on the body as exercise. Apparently, these rats burn more calories, have less fat, and can run faster and longer on a treadmill than their untreated counterparts.

As it stands now, this is only the case in rats. Human testing has not yet begun. Of course, the researchers are dreaming of helping the morbidly obese and those with physical limitations attain a healthier lifestyle. But I'm concerned with the fulfillment of these dreams. Such substances are easily abused.

The scientists have already developed a way to detect it's presence in the body so as to prevent athletes from illegally enhancing their performance, but I wonder if that's the only problem. Seemingly, it's a better alternative to the dangerous and extremely invasive gastric bypass surgery, and it sounds like a godsend for those who are physically incapable of exercising. However, what about the high school student that just wants to be as thin as the models in the magazines? Could it not become something of an addiction, or substitute for an eating disorder?

And what about the promotion of instant gratification? Results without work. Isn't that what got our country the gold medal in obesity? And isn't that what has entrapped us in the cycle of fad diets and weight-loss pills? Now you could possibly have some of the benefits of exercise without trying. What's next, mass production and distribution of steroids?

I have an idea. Why don't we start promoting a work ethic and enjoying the reward of accomplishing goals through our own effort? As you can see, I'm a little worked up about this; I hope I'm not being too dramatic. But I see a slippery slope in this new advancement, and I dread the day it's approved by the FDA.

Note: This pill mimics aerobic exercise only, so the strength training is still up to the individual. The developers are saying that because of this, among other reasons, exercise is better for most people.

So, what do you think?

We have exercise in a pill. With no exercise, you can take a drug and chemically mimic it."-Ron Evans, author of study

"[Laurie] Goodyear [of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston] said exercise has such widespread benefits in the body that she doubts any one pill will ever be able to supply all of them. 'For the majority of people,' she said, 'it would be better to do exercise than to take a pill.'" -Malcolm Ritter, Associated Press