Weight Loss "Encouragement" at the Ballpark

Last weekend we went to a minor league baseball game. There is some lovely food at a baseball game, and I particularly enjoyed a hot dog with mustard and a real Coke (not diet). There are also so many other good snacks I was sort of tempted.

Then I looked at the people around me. Literally 1/2 of the people were morbidly obese, and 1/3 of the remaining were overweight. This is not an exaggeration. The obese woman next to me bragging to another obese woman in front of me that she had to keep buying snacks for her child because he was bored and it kept him in his seat. The child was not very overweight, yet. She was doing that because she didn't want to have get up and go look for him on the small field beside the outfield where other bored children were playing, because in 4 innings he was supposed to do one of the between-inning contests. The obese woman in front nodded and praised him for being a good eater. I must have dropped my jaw, because the obese woman next to me shot me an annoyed look. I didn't look at them for the rest of the game.

All around me the largest people were chewing chewing chewing like a gigantic herd. The only time they moved was to go get more food or to go to the bathroom.

I lost all temptation to eat beyond my hotdog and coke. The legions of obese people were a wonderful deterent to overeating--living examples of how it all happens. It is so mindless.

Presently I am on a weight loss vigil for myself, since slothful computer habits and a penchant for night time snacking have slowly packed on more pounds than my favorite clothes can handle. I do not want to become another barrel shaped Chicago woman. If I follow the lead of the suburbanite women around me at the ballpark, I will be become a cylindrical, stationary, depressed woman who will develop type 2 diabetes way before my time (it runs in my family, but usually not until getting into the 60s or 70s). This is a conformity I can do without.

I don't have an issue with people hanging on to more weight than is healthy because of genuine health issues, or a lack of resources for wholesome foods or safe exercise venues in their communities. Most of these people did not have those issues. They just weren't thinking. They weren't being mindful that what they were eating was not needed, just wanted. They were actually killing themselves and their children with mindless "good ol' American" overconsumerist greed. From their size, that is how they apparently live their lives.

How much weight could be lost if people were just made mindful of their eating habits? Why is it that one person can look at a group of obese people eating and be made more mindful, where another would take it as a cue to join in the food fest?

I don't have any solutions. Not for the people who are not thinking. Not for the people who are not interested in thinking. But for those who are interested in being more mindful, take a moment before each meal, before each snack, and ask yourself why you are eating and whether it is a need for nourishment, or a want to fill a void. Take a look at the people around you in a social situation--are you following their eating cues, and if so, do you want to look like them? If not, put your money back in your wallet. Your bank account, and eventually, your health care provider will thank you.

Bush and Mukasey and the Forever War on the World

From the ACLU:

This sounds so outrageous, it seems like a joke or something out of "The Onion."

Attorney General Michael Mukasey is demanding that Congress issue a new declaration of war so that anyone that this president or the next one declares to be an "enemy combatant" can be held indefinitely without a trial.

The new declaration of war would make the entire globe — including the United States itself — a “battlefield” where the president decides who will be locked up forever.

With only five weeks left in the Congressional schedule and only six months left in the Bush presidency, Mukasey’s ridiculous power grab should be laughed out of town. But given this Congress’ track record, the Mukasey proposal is no laughing matter. Especially because it also includes a cover-up of the Bush administration’s systemic torture and abuse of detainees.

We can’t take for granted that Congress will reject this outrageous proposal. We have to meet it with an immediate wall of protest that says to Congress: “Don’t you dare.”

P.S. You can read a blog post from Christopher Anders, ACLU Seinor Legislative Counsel, on the Bush/Mukasey plan to subvert the constitution here:
http://action.aclu.org/site/R?i=ops0mQwJic7Q6KhW_RHZ3Q..

I just told my members of Congress to reject the dangerous Bush/Mukasey plan. You can do the same thing here:

http://action.aclu.org/mukasey

"Eyelids" A Cannes Film Short 2008

This is a film short that made it to the Short Film Corner at Cannes this year, made by my talented young friends at www.lookatrubbish.com It stars my son, Alex.

Bush a Total Failure? Worse.

Oh, it is rich. The mainstream US media getting all up at arms about Nancy Pelosi coming right out and calling George W. a "total failure."

Congress also has no record to be proud of, since they are all still dithering with minutiae of political maneuvering of the sort that stalls any real action on anything--like real alternative energy tax credits (worth billions in dollars, employment and megawattage) or, oh...impeachment.

But why is the mainstream media going all " oh no she di'nt!" on her when Bush is acting like a totally smug, entitled arrogant asshole at the G8 conference?

"The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock."

Nancy Pelosi gets indignant "media uproar" while George W. continues to be a smug, arrogant, entitled asshole to the world's leaders. And you wonder why we have lost respect in record time from the rest of the world...

Soft hearted (headed) for Birds

I observe this has been a birdy month.

Observation #1 Baby ducks can break my heart.

Last week, a momma duck and her last baby were in the Target parking lot, and 2 ladies had been watching over them until animal control could come get the ducks and get them to a nearby pond. The momma duck had already lost two babies. Animal control was one lady with a net, and she didn't want to spook the momma. We tried to corral them, but the momma and baby kept walking back and forth between cars. It was important to get the momma first, because we did not want her to think that her baby was captured and she needed to abandon it. The baby was getting tired and sat down, panting. The momma was tired too. The momma finally started to try to distract the lady with the net by pretending to fly away, and the very, very tired baby peeped frantically, almost screaming, and ran after her, and he was so tired! The momma stayed. It was breaking my heart, and even now I am tearing up for that poor scared baby duck and his momma. I wasn't being much help, just being another giant scary human, and I walked into the store I was going to, and by the time I walked out, animal control was driving away. I wish I knew if the baby duck and his momma were okay. I couldn't find the ladies who had been watching over them. Baby ducks break my heart.

Observation #2 I have become "head" of the flock to a cockatiel

Unrelated to the first observation, I have decided to take in a friend's young cockatiel. I have never had a bird before. This one is very cute. He was on my head as I type this, but now he is on the monitor. He is gosh darn cute. The kids are fighting to have him sit on their heads. It's a win for everyone, especially the cockatiel, which was in danger of getting eaten by a german shepherd puppy. My cat is unimpressed, and goes on with life as usual. The bird's name is Sunny. Say hello, Sunny! ... Not yet, but he may, some day.