Sidewalks of aMErica

Despite the fierce winds and the snow this morning, I got to school using my most frequently utilised means of transportation: my size 13EEs. One and a half miles from my apartment to the first bus stop on campus that I come across, which is in front of the law school building. Two generations ago, that would have been an easy, leisurely stroll. It has become that for me, as well, by now, though sometimes the stiff fingers and cold wind across the face becomes somewhat irritating. Still, it's good for exercise, self-discipline, and saving money on gas and a semester parking pass.

However, now, with cars so readily available for purchase to practically anyone who wants one, and communities built in such segmentation that, literally, "nothing is close by" one's house, the thought of walking more than a couple hundred yards seems utmost preposterous, if not for reasons of how utterly strenous walking (or riding a bicycle) can be, then simply for reasons of the amount of time it takes. I agree, I also feel the direst need to sit around my house doing nothing until a few minutes before I need to be somewhere and then hopping in my car and disregarding the authority of the government and its regulations on how fast I should be driving in order to be there on time.

Thus I noticed this morning that sidewalks have become little more than decor, another relic of the past to be kept looking good for no particular reason.

And I love how we keep griping about how high oil prices are, as if there's an infinite amount of it underground and if production can't keep up with the demand, then it's the fault of the people producing it. It's also the ozone layers' fault for not being able to absorb the CFC's we put into the air. That, or cranking up my car this one time won't hurt that much, you know?

Many of my peers ridicule "tree-huggers." While I sometimes think their methods are humourous and...interesting, I still have more respect for them, because they are at least devoting themselves to needs other than their own. That is more than can be said to a number of people I share this school, this city, this country with, sadly.

More to come.

Workouts

It always unnerves me to go to work and watch many of the people in the weight room work out. It seems that most of these guys (there are occasionally girls, though they tend to stick to the machine weight room, whereas my job only brings me to the free weight room at times; no one monitors the machine weight room consistently. I tend to find many of my employers' policies rather inane at times, but that's neither here not there) are not doing their research before engaging in these workouts, but only doing what a friend or an article in a muscle magazine told them. This leads to improper form and useless performance of an exercise, and will prove a hindrance.

Granted, part of the reason I disagree with how most of them do things may be simply that our goals are different: most of them want to gain weight (though I honestly cannot figure out why) and look "jacked," while I simply want to stay strong and in shape (and about the same size, since I'm cheap and don't want to buy new clothes!)

But I cannot stress how important it is to know as much as you can about an exercise before performing it. Consult a coach, personal trainer, or other person who is knowledgeable about exercise, both its gains and risks. They can tell you the proper way to perform it, as well as if it will help you achieve the results you desire. I will say one thing: if the lift makes you look silly (such as holding a weight in each hand and twisting your torso so that you swing the weights around) then you probably should avoid it.

And as far as protein supplements go....I stay away from them, as nothing beats what the body was designed to use as nourishment: a balanced meal. But that's not as important to me as proper performance of lifts.

Now is when I would generally rant the day away about other wonderful habits of the typical Rec Center patron, but I will leave that for another time.

Where are we going?

It's official; I'm attending Bowling Green State University for graduate school in statistics. I was offered a teaching assistantship, which will cover the entire tuition cost and also pay my rent and other bills, in return for a few hours a week of teaching and assisting professors. I am extremely thankful to God and to the maths department admissions committee.

This is going to be crazy, of course. I'll be living in Ohio, many hours' drive away from almost all of my family, except my cousin Michael, who lives in Michigan. I'll probably end up with a new automobile before going up there, which will be a fun search in itself; I'm looking for something with comparable fuel mileage to my current one (25 city, 33 hwy) and is big enough so that I can fit comfortably inside it, not too many miles, and not terribly expensive. I'll probably also be finding a completely different church: I currently attend a Baptist church, and don't intend on leaving it until I leave Lubbock, since I'm a member of the musical praise team. However, when I get to Bowling Green, I plan on attending one of the Orthodox churches in Toledo.

It will be a bittersweet experience, leaving friends behind and being so separated from family. But I'm ready to embrace whatever God has in store for me up there.