Inspired By Deflated Washington I Am Losing My Texas Inflation

Day one in Washington, August 8, David, Theo and Ruby took me to a neighborhood party at another Ruby's, known for her fried potatoes.

At that party, what with me being known as a Washingtonian who has spent considerable time exiled in Texas, I was asked if I'd noticed anything about Washington different than what I see in Texas (other than the obvious things like scenic mountains and a well educated population).

Well, I told the person asking me this question that that subject had sort of come up shortly after I arrived, when David, Theo and Ruby had their mom drive us to Southcenter to go to Duke's for seafood and to wait out the I-5 traffic jam.

After Duke's we walked the mall til we got to a Lego Store. Leaving the Lego Store I remarked to David, Theo and Ruby's mom that I was freshly amazed at the difference from Texas in what I was seeing, as in, so many people looking like the air has been let out of them, looking well dressed, and, well, just looking good and healthy, as to compared to what I see, way too often, in Texas.

As in, in Texas, I see way more people who look as if they have been over inflated, sloppily dressed, and, well, just slovenly.

I was feeling just a bit judgmental, but then again, ones sees what ones sees and thinks what one thinks when one sees what one sees.

This trip to Washington and Arizona was not the first time I have reacted to suddenly seeing deflated humans.

On a roadtrip back to Washington the human deflation phenomenon begins in the least obese state in the union, Colorado.

In a 2001 roadtrip back to Washington I remember overnighting in Pueblo, Colorado and making note of two noticeable things. One the dramatic decrease in litter from what I was used to seeing in Texas. And, two, the shrunken size of most of the humans.

In February of 2004 I remember getting picked up at Sea-Tac and taken to downtown Seattle, to Pioneer Square and Pike Place, because the person picking me up had to make some deliveries of her crafty products.

Ironically this Washingtonian taking me to downtown Seattle is the biggest Washingtonian I have ever known, up close and personal.  Yet, at a gallery in Pioneer Square, when learning I was freshly arrived from Texas, the proprietor asked me what my impression was of seeing my old home state again. I recollect first off mentioning the unseasonably warm weather was pleasant.

And then that I was struck by how so many people look as if they have had the air let out of them.

I think this instance was the first time I had used that "air let out of them" verbiage.

Previous to my recent return to Washington it had been nine years since I'd been to my old home state.

During those nine years I added over 30 pounds of Texas blubber to my previously skinny self.

I had not quite become a stereotypically over inflated Texan, but that has been the direction I have been trending, even though I have not even remotely adopted the Texas Food Pyramid.

I have now been back in Texas five full days.

I am currently in serious deflation mode, intending to return to my formerly skinny self, abolishing my acquired Texas blubber forever, I hope....

Black Friday In Walmart Wondering About Humanity Sanity Before Seeing A Flooding Trinity River

Donald Trump being the Republican front runner has a lot of people concerned about the sanity of a large number of my fellow Americans.

Well, I was finding myself concerned about the sanity of a large number of my fellow Americans when I had myself a Walmart visit on this Black Friday.

As I drove on to the Sam's Club/Walmart parking lot I saw the largest woman I have ever seen. She was loading stuff into her trunk. She was as wide as her trunk. How was she able to drive I found myself wondering. But, I did not linger long enough to satisfy my curiosity.

The two ladies you see using motorized transplant inside Walmart were dainty in comparison to the large woman I just got done telling you about.

In Walmart today I saw an inordinate number of people ill-fitted into clothes, sporting too much weight for the clothes they were stuffing themselves in to, along with sporting tattoos, piercings and one with his ear lobes enlarged into big circles.

The guy with the expanded ear lobes looked quite slovenly.

It always perplexes me when I see such things, wondering why would getting tattoos and piercings and ear lobe expansions be something one thought improved or enhanced their appearance, when there are other things one would think would come first. Like losing weight, getting a haircut, wearing clothes that fit, that type thing.

I did not realize so much rain had dropped during the current storm til I  learned, on Facebook, via Mary Kelleher, that the Trinity has once again flooded her ranch, with some of her cow babies needing a middle of the night rescue from the unexpected flood.

After leaving Walmart, on the way back to relative safety, I drove Randol Mill Road and was surprised to see how high the flood waters  had risen.  Eventually I drove into Mallard Cove Park.

The water appears to have risen higher than last spring's flood, which was the first time I ever saw Mallard Cove Park flooded. I did not get out of my vehicle. Those are big raindrops hitting my windshield you see above looking like Village Creek ghosts.

More rain is on the menu for the next several days. Not good.

The 3rd Wednesday Of December Thinking About Fort Worth's Drunk Drivers & Fat People Floating On Ferries In Washington

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the outer world this 3rd Wednesday of the last month of 2011, one day before the start of Winter, it is not too shocking to see what appears to be possible frost on the window.

Not shocking because at the point in time when I looked out the window it was 30 degrees. With the arrival of the sun the outer world has been heated to a balmier 33.

Speaking of the weather, I got an amusingly ridiculous comment, last night, to a blogging from last week, from someone named Anonymous who seems to be obsessed with what s/he perceives to be my weather reports. I think I'll turn that comment into its own blogging, due its wealth of amusing mockworthiness.

Changing the subject to Fort Worth's ongoing attempts to break into any of those ubiquitous Top Ten type lists.

This morning I learned that Fort Worth's plan to increase the number of drunk drivers on its streets via programs like the Trinity River Vision's Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Floats, has paid off.

Fort Worth has broken into the Top Ten in a survey of cities with the most Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) citations. San Diego is #1, with the next big city to the north, Los Angeles, coming in in the #2 most drunk spot.

Changing the subject from too much drunk driving, in Fort Worth, to too many FAT people riding the Washington State Ferry fleet.

Apparently the American Obesity Epidemic has forced the Coast Guard to change the passenger capacity of Washington Ferries.

The former Coast Guard calculations were based on the average passenger weighing in the 140 - 160 pound zone. In 2011 the average passenger weighs 185.

So, a ferry, like the Yakima, which formerly had a 2,000 passenger capacity, has been reduced to 1,783.

Washington currently has the highest obesity percentage of the West Coast states. It is no where near the Texas level of obesity, but still, Washington has gotten a lot FATTER since I moved to Texas. I do not believe there is any causal relationship.

Men's Health: Five Of The 10 Fattest Cities Are In Texas

Being obese is stigmatized in most of the modern Western world, though those thus endowed were seen as a symbol of wealth at other times in history, and still are in many parts of Africa. And possibly Texas.

The current issue of Men's Health Magazine has yet one more of those ubiquitous lists, listing, this time, the Fattest Cities in America, from #1 to 100.

From the Men's Health website...

"Go to Google Maps, type in "United States," and you'll be reminded of just how big Texas is. But what you can't see is the size of the state's citizenry: Five Lone Star cities are among the nation's fattest, with Corpulent Christi at the top."

Joining Corpulent Christi in the Top Ten from Texas are #3 El Paso, #4 Dallas, #7 San Antonio and #9 Houston. All received a Grade of F, except for Houston, which got a D-.

Also on the list from Texas, but extremely lean, is Austin, at #97. Getting an A grade, along with Seattle at #98. Only Seattle, Washington, D.C., Burlington, Vermont and San Francisco are skinnier than Austin.

Other Texas towns on the list are # 13 Lubbock with a D- Grade, #54 Arlington with a C+ and #66 Fort Worth with a B-.

Some optimistic Obesity News for Texas is that NBC's Biggest Loser reality TV show is going to help Texas lose some of its poundage, promising to help America's 2nd biggest state shrink.

Currently, I am in Fort Worth, which, according to Men's Health, is almost as skinny as Austin. I am guessing it is all those natives constantly hiking all over the Tandy Hills that keeps Fort Worth from ballooning to a Dallas/Arlington size of bigness.

I Was SAD Seeing Way Too Many Texas Balloon People Waddling Around Wal-Mart Today

You are looking at my very SAD (Seasonally Affected Disorder) view out my patio window, this very dreary Wednesday, in cold, cloudy Texas.

Yesterday's return to blue sky was a fluke. Gray skies is the new Texas norm.

Snow is still in the forecast, supposedly happening anytime now, with a 100% chance of snow or rain tomorrow.

I had a morning full of aggravation and annoyance, followed by an early afternoon of some more aggravation and annoyance.

About 2 I decided to escape the aggravation and annoyance and go to Village Creek Natural Historic Area for some natural communing with nature.

Had I been thinking clearly and not distracted by all that aggravation and annoyance, I would have remembered we had heavy rain 2 days ago, which rendered Village Creek closed to pedestrian traffic, due to this inconvenience that is known as flooding.

With my walking options dwindled and with me being a mile or so from my friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter, I decided to go there and load up a cart with heavy stuff and push it for a couple miles.

I should have asked a shopper or two if they'd like a ride. I saw a lot of plus-sized balloon people waddling about today. The way too many obese people issue hasn't been at the forefront of my imagination of late, but today I saw some distortions of the human form that had me all appalled.

Why do some humans let themselves go to such a shocking degree? At what point do they quit caring? Or did they ever care? It's not just the obesity, it's also the overall slovenliness, the unkemptness of the hair, the ill-fitting clothes, stretching material beyond what fabric making science intended.

Now, I am in no way, even remotely, any sort of a bigot. But I have to say, my fellow Anglos are the worst offenders. My African American neighbors, who I see walking about Wal-Mart, do so, for the most part, with way more style and way less weight. This is particularly noticeable on Sunday after church, the style part. Now, my Hispanic neighbors, they sort of trend towards the Anglos in terms of obesity and level of slovenleness.

Now the ethnic group I think we could all do well to emulate.

The Asians.

I go to Arlington's Chinatown and see all these well-dressed, some stylishly in native garb, Vietnamese, Laotians, Cambodians, Thai, Chinese, Koreans. The Asians eat better, dress better and look better, weight-wise, than the Americans, both South and North (continents), the Africans and the Europeans.

It's appalling. I think America collectively, for the most part, really needs to go on a diet. This would be beneficial in so many ways. Let's make it a goal that within 20 years the Europeans no longer refer to us as the "Balloon People."

It's a worthy goal.

Texas Train Troubles, Strange Fruit, Wal-Mart & Obesity

That's an annoying very slow train that slowed my return home after walking around Oakland Lake and going to the Beach Street Wal-Mart. Which would make this the Beach Street railroad crossing.

A lot of trains run through this D/FW Metroplex zone. This one had people, myself included, u-turning to an alternative route. A lot of cities and towns have over or under passes to deal with trains, with little towns and rural areas being the only places where a train crossing can stop traffic. In Arlington there is not a single crossing that is not blocked when a train runs through town. Since this has always been the norm, people here think this is just the way the world works.

Wal-Mart was a zoo today. People are such sheep. 4th of July. There was a line of 3 at the shortest self-checkout. The girl ahead of me had only two items, cat food cans, and a humongous rumpus (can't use the "B" word). When she went to pay she was 2 pennies short. She asked me if I had 2 pennies. I did not. She asked others. They did not. I was getting out my debit card to pay the 2 pennies when a nice lady gave the big rumped girl 2 pennies.

Speaking of big rumps. Today whilst walking around Oakland Lake Park, at 96 degrees, and feeling fine due to a chilling breeze, a new obesity theory occured to me. The most obese person I have ever personally known is about 5 foot 4 and, I would guess, about 600 pounds. Unlike most obese persons, this one was not sedentary. She actually was quite active. Going up and down stairs, walking, doing all sorts of physical activity.

A 600 pound person who is active is constantly doing heavy duty exercise. I can't imagine walking around Oakland Lake carrying 400 pounds in weights. I could not do it. But some obese people do. They develop an incredible musculature to haul all that heft. So, under all that blubber there is a very strong person.

I don't think you could be obese in a hot climate, like it is here, if you lived without benefit of modern conveniences, like air-conditioning. Your body's metabolism would rebel in the heat, stifling your appetite, wanting to burn off the overheating layer of fat. Just like a body's metabolism would try to get a skinny person to put on more fat in a cold climate.

So, if my theory is correct, back before A/C, I'm guessing Mississippi was not the fattest state in the nation. Nor was Texas as fat as it is now. I'm guessing New York, Washington, Colorado and Alaska were way fatter than the states of the south. It is air-conditioning that has made people fat. In this climate in Texas most of the fat people do not go outside, their bodies do not know they live in a HOT climate, so their metabolism allows them to lard on the lard.

This Obesity Theory of mine could be tested by moving 10 morbidly obese people to this climate, keeping their indoor thermostats no cooler than 82 and having them outdoors for at least 2 hours, daily, in the HEAT. I'm guessing the pounds would melt away.

That sure is what happened to me. If I remember right I was about 200 pounds overweight when I moved here. I'm 178 now. It melted off effortlessly.

I did see 2 interesting things at Oakland Lake Park today. One was this weird looking fruit like thing growing in a tree. What is it? Anyone know? The other was very ironic. Just as I was musing about obese people, and HEAT, a large, but not obese, woman came jogging, slowly towards me. I was impressed. I would not jog in 96 degrees. Walk fast, yes, jog no.

So, that's been my day before the 4th of July in Texas, swimming after the sun came up, weird fruit at Oakland Lake Park. an overly busy Wal-Mart, train troubles and an Obesity Treatment.

William Howard Taft: Biggest Presidential Butt

This blogging would seem to combine all my favorite subjects, those being the search for the biggest butts in the world, its companion subject, that being obesity. And history. I guess this blogging would also have to have something to do with Texas if it truly combined all my favorite subjects.

I have no idea if our 27th President, William Howard Taft, ever visited Texas. But I do know he had the biggest butt of any of our Presidents.

Taft was also the heaviest of our Presidents. He was a fairly tall guy, 6' 2". Who weighed in at around 325 pounds. That number could go up at times.

William Howard Taft was our first president to take up the golf habit. And he did not start the habit until he became president. Taft did not like being president. He was not very good at it. So, he often escaped the White House to go golfing, which worried a lot of people that he was not taking his job seriously. During the signing of one of his administration's few important achievements, that being the signing of the General Arbitration Treaty with Great Britain, Taft escaped the signing when the weather suddenly improved, to go golfing.

Taft was known for falling asleep at any time. It was one of Taft's aide's jobs to nudge Taft awake if he saw him falling asleep. Taft fell asleep at meetings, funerals and even while actively campaigning, passing out in an open car during a motorcade in New York City, to the amusement of the throngs of onlookers.

When Taft was the Governor of the Philippines he sent a telegram to Secretary of War Elihu Root saying, "Took long horseback ride today. Feeling fine." Root wired back, "How's the horse?"

Taft went to visit the Russian Czar. He was getting out of his carriage when his pants split open. He then slowly backed away from the Czar so as not to expose his ample backside.

Taft was so fat, in the gut zone, that he could not tie his own shoes. A valet had to perform that task for him.

President Taft got stuck so many times in the White House bathtub, with aides having to get him unstuck, that Taft had a new tub installed. It was 7 feet long, weighed a ton and was big enough to hold 4 regular sized men.

I don't know if the Taft Tub is still in the White House. I do know Taft lost his bid to be re-elected. Taft got the lowest percentage of the vote, at 23%, of any President trying to get re-elected. Teddy Roosevelt, who had picked Taft as his successor, got more votes than the President, as did the winner of that election, Woodrow Wilson.

In 1921 the next Republican President, he being Warren G. Harding, appointed Taft to be a Justice on the Supreme Court. A job Taft liked much better than being President.

Lap Band: Weight Loss For Life...

In some parts of America billboards are not allowed. That is not the case in Texas. I see 2 billboards that catch my eye between where I am right now and Tandy Hills Park.

Today I took a picture of one of them.

Dr. Kim has been a Lap Band Expert since 2002. That doesn't seem like a long time to me. Dr. Kim has a nice website where you can learn all about him, watch videos and learn all you might want to know about bariatric surgery.

I think the Lap Band procedure is the one where your stomach is squeezed by the band, making it way smaller, so you can't eat as much pie, as you pre-surgery could, without feeling very stuffed. I guess I could spend more than 2 seconds at Dr. Kim's website if I wanted to know for sure what the Lap Band procedure is.

What I do know for sure I don't know why anyone would want to have such a thing done to their stomach. Just stop eating so much. Okay, I know that's easy to say, might be hard to do. But I've seen hugely obese people up close and have observed their behavior and feeding patterns. All the hugely obese people I've known have been very self-indulgent with very little self-discipline.

They just can't say no to that second box of cookies or that second quart of ice cream. Or that stray donut or two that passes within their reach. It would be a sad, hard thing to live with, being trapped in a jail cell of your own making.

I wonder how much the Lap Band procedure costs? It probably pays for itself due to the Obese Person's reduced Feeding Costs. Feeding an Obese Person is extremely expensive. I don't know how buffets afford to have them as customers.

Today's Obese Outhouse Joke

Regarding yesterday's incident where an intoxicated wannabe flier was not allowed to fly, but was instead allowed to spend the day in the airport jail, well, Gar the Texan opined regarding the absurdity of being so harsh with someone who is a tad tipsy, due to the tipsiness potentially presenting a hazard to the other fliers once they are in the air and facing some potential problem, where it'd be best if everyone were stone cold sober.

While at the same time, an obese person, who it would logically seem might present just as much a safety hazard, if not worse, to their fellow fliers in case of an emergency, is allowed to fly. Sometimes after having to purchase a second seat to hold all their girth.

As usual, Gar the Texan, with his extremely highly evolved thought processing, seems to be making a valid point.

I truly would not want to be seated next to either a drunk or an extremely obese person. Either would be uncomfortable and a potential safety hazard, particularly if I had the window seat, in both an emergency and a restroom call.

US Airways Hudson River Landing

If you'd seen it in a movie, you would have thought it a real stretch in the believability department. I don't recollect the last event that caused me to think it was some sort of miracle, but this crash of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, after taking off from New York's LaGuardia Airport, then running into a flock of geese that killed the engines, forcing the emergency landing in the water, with no one killed, is definitely a miracle.

And, apparently, the miracle came about in no small part due to the pilot's calm skill, in addition to the flight crew's, equally calm skill, at doing their jobs to perfection.

But, what crossed my mind when I read about how the passengers remained calm, for the most part, how they made an orderly exit from the slowly sinking plane, was this....

Now, I may be going, once again, into totally politically incorrect territory here, but what if one or two of the passengers had been of the hugely obese sort? Would we have had such a happy ending? What if there had been a hugely obese person onboard, and that person happened to be out at the end of a wing, upon getting out of the plane, causing the plane to tip, like a teeter totter?

I really think it is time to have a universal ban on oversized people getting on a plane. It is not fair to the other passengers, both for safety and for comfort sake. I know I would not want to be seated next to someone who oozed into my seat. I believe if that happened I would make a fuss and ask to be moved.

It may sound harsh, but I believe if a person allows themself to get into a fat state of bloatedness, due to self indulgent overeating, that they should expect not to be allowed to do some things. Like sit on certain pieces of furniture. Or use certain types of public transportation.

The rights of the majority, with the majority of us not being hugely overweight, outweigh the rights of those who's sloth has put their own health at risk, to endanger us who have not. It's that simple.

Winter Starts with a Freeze in Fort Worth

I was stopped by the city of Fort Worth from making a video of me swimming on the first day of winter. It would have been very cold this morning making that video. I'm probably better off.

So, I went roller blading, instead of swimming, for something aerobic on the first day of winter. It was 30 degrees when I took off from here, around noon, to put on my blades. It's now a balmy 35. The sky is back to our norm here, nice and clear and blue.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I can see one advantage to being hugely obese. The most obese person I used to know was constantly getting heavy duty aerobic exercise. Just getting out the car involved using her arms in a sort of pull-up motion to get the heft swiveled towards the door and then lifted to a walking position.

In one extremely aerobic, sort of amusing and potentially tragic incident we were in a McDonald's and the Big One had it in her head that she wanted to sit on one of the tall stools at the tall table. But she could not get her bulk on that stool. I was mortified as I watched her huff and puff and try harder and harder, so determined to get on that stool.

And then she tried a new maneuver which rang alarm bells instantly. She tried to hold on to the table and use her thicker-than-my-legs arms to pull herself on to the stool in much the same manner in which she pulls herself out of her car. Well, the table quickly began to tremble under the pressure of all that weight pulling on it. I insisted she cease at once, before she pulled the table over on both of us. Would you not think, after such a humiliating moment, that one would not proceed to eat 2 Quarter Pounders with Cheese and a Chocolate Milkshake? And Fries?

How does such a person get on an airplane, I can not help but wonder? I know Southwest Airlines is making the Heftys buy two seats. But that does not get them on the plane. I mean, how do they get down the aisle? It's a balancing act for me, due to the carry-on and laptop. But I'm basically a skinny guy. How does someone with a 4 foot diameter get down an airplane aisle that doesn't seem wider than 3 feet? And how is it fair to the other passengers to have such a dangerous clot in the aisle? It perplexes me.

I wonder what would happen if an obese person tried to roller blade? Just getting on the skates would be a challenge. I had to help an obese person put on her shoes once. It was appalling.

Anyway, below is a very short video of me roller blading at Quanah Parker Park on the first day of winter.

It's Freezing In Texas But I'm Still Swimming

At midnight it was 58 here in Fort Worth. When I went swimming this morning it was 43. I did not last too long in the pool. It is 2 hours later and I'm still feeling cold. I've not felt this cold since I was up in Tacoma locked down in the basement.

Tonight the weather prediction is for our first frost of the year.

I don't know if I'll be tempted to see if I can actually get into the water when the air temp is below 32.

This morning, about 5 minutes into the icy pool, Miss Puerto Rico popped up, wearing a heavy jacket and gloves. She told me I was nuts. She may be right.

This morning while getting chilled to the bone it crossed my mind to wonder if a seriously obese person would get cold in cold water. They've got all that built-in insulation. I remember being around a morbidly obese person when I was in Washington last summer. I'd be shivering in the cold and this obese person would tell me I was being ridiculous. That's easy to say when you're sporting a 12 inch layer of insulating adipose tissue while all I've got between me and the elements is a thin T-shirt and thin cargo pants.

Two Very Obese Videos

Below are 2 YouTube videos. In the first video you'll meet several extremely obese people, shockingly so. One of them is named Lisa. You'll see much more about Lisa in the second video. I've seen the type of lack of self-control exhibited by these people up close and personal. It totally perplexes me. It's a sad sad thing....



And now the video that is all about Lisa...

Part VI In My Ongoing Obesity Series

Alma, the Songbird of the South, sends me funny stuff. Today, among other funny stuff was this one, the theme of which is why NFL Quarterbacks should keep their names short...

Obesity Is No Laughing Matter

Usually Gar the Texan is quite refined and of impeccably good taste and manners. But, apparently he's having some marital/relationship distress and that somehow had him blogging about a long ago, back in the 90s, Internet sensation known as "Bob the Anal Fissure."

Well, I've long been puzzled by a certain delicate subject that usually I'd just let fade into the recesses of my curiosity, but Gar going on about his Anal Fissure Bob thing gave me the courage to be in really bad taste. For once.

It's good to dare to go where you've never dared to go before.

There was this guy in Granbury. That's a really nice Texas town outside the D/FW Metroplex. They put on great events. Best 4th of July Parade I've ever been to. And don't get me started on General Granbury's Birthday Party.

Anyway, this guy in Granbury weighed way way over a half ton. He was bed ridden. Unless there was a huge intervention, he'd die in bed. Now, when I read things like that, and you read it way too often, I think, who brings this guy the food? And what about his bathroom needs, both of the most basic nature, and things like taking a shower? How does that work?

Now I spent time with a morbidly obese person when I was in Tacoma. This person was not bed-ridden, no one had to bring food to her in bed, except on weekends when her husband was home. This obese person was totally mobile. She was able to forage buffet lines and dessert trays all by herself. But still, having seen the difficultly she had in getting to a prone position or putting on a shoe I could not help but wonder how safe a bath tub was. Or a toilet.

That guy in Granbury was totally non-mobile. So, who brought him the food? And where did the food go when his body finished processing it, since he was bedridden and couldn't get to the bathroom? When it came time to get the Granbury guy to a hospital in Dallas a wall to his bedroom had to be removed and a forklift lifted him, bed and all and put him on one of those flatbed trailers you see all the time here being pulled by a Ford pickup. He was hauled down I-30 to Dallas, operated on with what I don't remember. Stomach staple? Liposuction? I don't know.

I do recollect a follow up article quite awhile later. The guy was back home in Granbury, the wall to his bedroom fixed. He, able to walk. After a few more months of losing weight the Granbury Guy decided to see if he could drive to the store. I would hope not to get cookies and donuts. He got in his pickup, started it. And made it a couple blocks before it stopped. I don't remember if he ran out of gas or if the vehicle had a breakdown. I do remember it was too far for him to walk back home in his condition. I don't remember how he got back home. I imagine it involved calling 911.

Anyway, I Googled "obese person bathroom" and found an appalling amount of info. I was going to link to the specific websites, but some of it is so disgusting I think I'll just let you Google it yourself if you want to put yourself through that.

Suffice to say, it ain't easy being extra fat. One would think being in that condition there would be so many reasons to lose the weight. But having said that, one thing I read when I Googled the "obese person bathroom" string was that some obese people claim they can't help it. One woman claimed she went from petite to big in just a few months due to hormonal imbalances. Still seems that food going in the mouth had to be involved. I've never heard of hormones having many calories.

Okay, I'm being insensitive. I'll shut up about it now.

The Morbidly Obese Perplex Me

I'm probably going to be treading on dangerous ground here. Verbalizing my opinion about those who are obese.

Obesity is fresh on my mind due to going to the Super Bowl Buffet yesterday for lunch. Sitting right by me were two totally morbidly obese women. It was not difficult to see why they were obese. First off, going to a buffet? Not a smart choice. Second bad choice? The stuff those two put on their plates and in their mouths. Mounds of everything deep-fried. And they did not miss a single item from the dessert area.

From my personal up close observations of obese people they all seem to have some things in common. Emotional issues beyond the eating disorder is one. Low self-esteem is another. Self-indulgence in areas beyond food is another. A lack of self-discipline in other parts of their lives is another. As in they are usually slobs. Yes, I know that's harsh, but, it's the sad truth.

When you get so fat that you have trouble putting shoes on, trouble getting up from a sitting position, trouble breathing, your doctor having told you that you are morbidly obese, how and why do you make the decision to put more bad stuff in your mouth? What makes you reach for that cookie or donut or ice cream or fudge? I can't understand this type of out of control self-indulgence. Is it a mental illness?

Now, I've never been what one would think of as fat. I have weighed more than I do now. As in I think at my heaviest I was somewhere in the 220's zone. That would have been when I lived in Washington. Of course, I thought it was all muscle. It wasn't.

Now I weigh in the 160's zone. So, I know what it's like to lose weight. It isn't that hard to do. It makes a huge difference in how you feel to be leaned out. I've always hated flying. I did not realize that being skinnier would make such a difference til I flew north in July and back in August. Best flights ever. Never felt uncomfortable and squeezed in.

When a person gets to the point of morbid obesity they are so fat that their body needs way more calories than does a normal sized person just to maintain. As in, to support all that weight a person who is 300 or 400 pounds over their ideal weight probably needs 5 or 6 thousand daily calories just to stay even. If the fat person ate a normal calorie load they'd lose a pound or more a day. Particularly if they are still able to be somewhat mobile.

I've known a couple of surgeons who talked about what it's like to operate on smokers and fat people. With the smokers as soon as you cut them open you can smell the smoke. With fat people it makes operating way more difficult due to the fat making everything greasy and slippery.

Okay, I'm done talking about obesity for now. Now, next time you want a cookie reach for a carrot instead.

Half Ton Texas Woman Too Fat To Kill

In another example of how obesity is a health hazard that kills, a Texas woman, Mayra Rosales, was charged with the killing of her 2 year-old nephew. Rosales' attorney has claimed Rosales could not have beaten her nephew because she is too fat to use her arms to do so.

Though Rosales is charged with capital murder she is being held under house arrest because Hidalgo County does not have a jail cell large enough to hold the half ton woman or the medical staff to attend to her needs. Hidalgo County is on the Texas Gulf Coast, south of Houston.

The mother of the murdered boy has been charged with injury to a child for leaving her son in the care of his bed-ridden aunt. The mother believes the death was an accident possibly caused when her morbidly obese sister rolled over on to the boy.

However, prosecutors claim the boy had 2 head injuries not explainable by being rolled over by an obese woman.

Sad story.

Why do people let themselves get so obese? I've had reason to ponder that up close and personal of late. When an obese person is still mobile, as in they are able to get out and about and walk, their musculature must be well-developed to haul all that heft. And their caloric needs, just to stay at a steady weight, are much greater than a healthy weighted person. Hence their ability to lose weight quickly if they decide to get healthy.

It is possible for a morbidly obese person to exercise and amp up the weight loss if they ever decide to get off the gravy train and cross over to fruit and vegetable world. Below is a YouTube video that is an example of a health motivated obese person exercising.

Michelangelo's David's Two Year American Tour

I learned from my little sister in Tacom this morning that Michelangelo's David is returning to Italy after two years of touring America. I don't know if David made it to Tacoma. It appears David may have spent a lot of time in the South part of America.

DAVID'S TRIP WAS SPONSORED BY:
McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Burger King, Krispy Kreme & Starbucks

Fort Trinity Trail Again, Plus Video

About noon I slowly coasted to my nearest gas station and pumped half a gallon into my nearly dry van. And then for the 3rd Sunday in a row I burned up half that half gallon driving to Gateway Park to bike the Trinity Trail to the Stockyards zone.

It was not windy today. That was nice. I had a huge surprise this time on the Trinity Trail. I have never seen so many bikers on this trail as I saw today. And it was the hot part of the day. I'm talking dozens. Usually I see none. I even saw non-homeless people walking the trail. When I finished my ride I even had a couple drive up to me and ask how to get to the Trinity Trail. That's definitely never happened before. I showed them how to go the scenic route. Or the shortcut. They took the shortcut.

Of course, self-deluded person that I am, attribute this sudden increase in bikers to being caused by my having blogged about it, in addition to being so earnestly trying to get Fort Worthers off their collective butts and work on getting Fort Worth off the Top 20 of those Most Obese Cities Lists. I feel I am making progress. Slow, but steady.

Here are a pair of videos showing what it's like to bike on the Trinity Trail. In the first video we start about a mile north of downtown, heading south towards downtown. We cross under the Main Street Bridge, that I've mentioned before. And then we cross another bridge to get to the other side of the Trinity River. The second video continues from that point.



The second video goes through the busiest part of the Trinty Trail, that being the part that runs from downtown through Trinity Park.

Australia Overtakes America's #1 Position

I am in some sort of state of minor shock. For weeks I have been imploring Americans to draw down on our National Strategic Fat Preserve in order to cut food costs and shrink waist lines. And for aesthetic reasons.

I bragged about how we Americans have such an advantage over other nations in this strategic area, with us Americans collectively storing billions of dollars worth of food in our personal Fat Banks.

And, so, what do I learn on this last day of Spring? Australia, of all places, has passed us Americans as the fattest people on earth. How could this happen? I think of Aussies as being like west coasters, a fit and trim people with plenty of health nuts.

26% of Australians are obese. Only 25% of Americans are obese. With a population of 300 million, that's 75 million obese Americans. Australia's population is only about 20.5 million. That's even less people than Canada and California. With 20.5 million people, and 26% of them obese, Australia only has 5.33 million obese people compared to America's whopping 75 million.

So, though we may no longer be #1 in the percentage of our people who are obese, America is still proudly #1 in total number of obese people and in the amount of calories stored in our collective National Strategic Fat Preserve.