An October Saturday in Texas

I did my regular early morning swim. The temperature got down to 51 overnight. Coldest yet. And yet I swam for almost a half hour.

This morning I see Gar the Texan rudely blogged about me rudely blogging about my obsession over the obesity epidemic. He used an amusing video to illustrate whatever point he thought he was making.

I'm going to be at Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine by noon or so today. If you want to go hiking with me, that's where I'll be. I may take my video camcorder along, so you can be in a movie if you show up. The last time I took my camcorder to Rockledge I messed up most of what I thought I was videoing, due to getting the off and on buttons reversed. So, I ended up with an awful lot of video of jerky images of the ground I was walking over.

Before going to Rockledge I'm going to Costco to have free samples for lunch and to buy a pizza to picnic with after hiking.

After I'm done with Rockledge I'm going to my favorite grocery store, Sprouts Farmers Market to get some fruits, vegetables and grain products. Sprouts always has good coffee to sample. Among other things.

Below is the previous video I made of Rockledge Park on Lake Grapevine....

McDonald's in Iraq

I don't remember where I read it, maybe it was in the Bob Woodward "State of Denial" book, maybe not. But somewhere I read that when we hear that a McDonald's has opened in Iraq we'll know we've won the war. Or something like that.

So, I was curious if a McDonald's has opened in that forsaken country, thinking that maybe in the peaceful, prosperous Kurd zone the Golden Arches may have sprouted.

Well, I haven't been able to find out if Iraqis can get Big Macs yet, but I did find something interesting.

In the eastern part of Iraqi Kurdistan there is a city named Sulaimanya. In that city are 2 restaurants that purposefully copy McDonald's, both in appearance and menu. One of the restaurants is called MaDonal's. The other is Matbax.

That's MaDonal's in the photo on the right.

On the MaDonal's menu you'll find "Big Macks." The owner of MaDonal's, Suleiman Qassab, fought in the Kurdish resistance back in the 1970s. After that he escaped to Austria where he was a cook at a Vienna McDonald's. In the 1990s Suleiman applied for a McDonald's franchise in Iraq, but McDonald's turned him down.

So, he opened MaDonal's. Suleiman gives free food to U.S. troops, has been threatened by suicide bombers and has become a Kurdish celebrity. He hopes one day to turn MaDonal's into a real McDonald's.

There have now been multiple requests from various Iraqis hoping to open a McDonald's. So far McDonald's has not agreed to open in Iraq.

Michelle Obama Really Likes Lobster

I'd not listened to Rush Limbaugh in quite some time. But today I did whilst roller blading.

Speaking of roller blading. I ran over a snake today. It was a little one, slithering fast out onto the warm cement and under my blades before I could avoid him. I looked back to see the snake sort of jerking around. I expected to find it deceased on my way back. But there was no snake corpse to be seen. So it must have survived its run-in with me.

So, back to Rush Limbaugh. He seems to be harping on Obama being an elitist. Somehow Joe the Plumber got mixed in. I'm not getting the Joe the Plumber thing.

Somehow John and Elizabeth Edwards going out on their anniversary to a Wendy's with John Kerry and his wife got churned into the ranting. Something about Teresa Heinz looking at a picture of a bowl of chili, asking what it was and then asking if she could have a bowl. While John Kerry marvelled over a chocolate Frosty. According to Limbaugh, after a half hour of photo-opping the Edward's and Kerry's got on a bus where they ate a real meal from some country club.

I somehow thought this Wendy's thing had just happened, but no, this was way back during the last election. This story was somehow supposed to illustrate how elitist and phony liberals are. Or something like that.

Limbaugh's other example of democrat liberal elitism did just happen. As in on Wednesday October 15 the Obama's were in New York City. While Mr. Obama had a meeting somewhere in the Waldorf-Astoria, at 4 pm Mrs. Obama called up room service and ordered a platter of lobster hors d'oeuvres, 2 whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar. And champagne.

Did she eat all this herself? Isn't 4 in the afternoon in the middle of the week a tad bit early to get into ones cups? Iranian caviar? That stuff is expensive. I'm thinking Mrs. O is gonna make a very interesting First Lady.

John McCain on the Letterman Show

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...

Opinionated Over Obesity

I thought my opinions on the Obesity Epidemic were a tad on the harsh and judgmental side. And then I heard from someone regarding my blogging earlier today where I verbalized how appalled I am that people let themselves get so big.

Well, this person, far more harsh in the opinion department than I, opined that there should be laws passed. That if the government can control what drugs adults can buy due to certain drugs being detrimental to a person's well-being, then the same principle should apply to what a person is allowed to buy that is contributing to our nation's #1 health problem.

So, this anti-obesity fanatic suggested that obese persons should not be allowed to buy and consume certain foods, like cookies, donuts, pies, well, basically anything that is high caloric, high fat and empty of nutrition.

The fanatic thinks anyone who helps an obese person get around the Food Prohibition by buying them their donuts, that that enabling person should be charged with the crime of aiding and abetting an obese person.

The fanatic thinks obese people should have to pay more to fly. Why should the healthy weighted subsidize the obese person's flight? It costs more airplane fuel to haul those extra pounds.

Obviously obese people should not be allowed in buffets. That would have cut Zorro's Buffet's business by about 25% today. But once again, how is it fair that an obese person pays the same at a buffet as a healthy-weighted person? I doubt Zorro's makes much money off the obese people. I should have taken a picture of some of the mounds of food on the obese people's plates. But that would have been a little tacky.

Now, I know there is a school of thought that maintains that the obese are doing a heroic thing, contributing to our National Strategic Fat Preserve. If times get tough the obese can live off their stored reserves while the rest of us go hungry. I think this school of thought is ridiculous.

Sarah Palin in the Oval Office

This is amusing. Go here and move your mouse around and do some clicking. Supposedly this is updated daily til November 4. Be sure to click the phone....

Fort Worth Gas Price, Rats & Zorro's Buffet

Earlier today I blogged about obesity. And then a few hours after that I found myself talked into going to the biggest buffet in Texas. That being Zorro's Buffet.

I've blogged about Zorro's Buffet before. Sadly, for Zorro's Buffet, their official website is badly designed, so my blog shows up before their website when someone Googles "zorros buffet fort worth."

The Race Way gas station next to Zorro's had gas at $2.64. There was no line. You can get the stuff in the $2.60 range all over this zone now.

A large percentage of the Zorro's Buffet customers today were obese. One sat near me. Obese people can really eat a lot of food.

Today was Mexican food day at Zorro's. Which included chile rellenos, which is my favorite Mexican food. I had 5 rellenos. They were good. I always judge the quality of a Mexican restaurant by the quality of their rellenos. Zorro's was not quite as good as Esperanza's, but like I said, I had 5 of them.

Two guys sitting behind me, judging from overhearing their conversation, were exterminators. They were having their best extermination year ever. Getting rid of rats.

And now the weird part. One of them said the rats were on the move due to all the gas drilling disturbing their habitat. So, the rats move into people's homes and garages.

Now, as much as I find much to be disturbed about regarding all the urban gas drilling, I find it hard to believe that it has caused a mass exodus of rats.

I've not seen any rats in my neighborhood and I've got a gas operation going on right across the street.

Morbid Obesity Kills Me

Okay. I know I've made no secret of the fact that I think there are way too many way too big people. Particularly here in Texas. I have no understanding of why a person would let themselves get in such a condition. When you get so big you have trouble putting on your shoes why do you decide to eat another cookie slathered with frosting? It seems, to me, such an act of self-destruction combined with child-like self-indulgence. I don't see how an obese person could have any self-esteem, they must be constantly in a state of extreme self-loathing.

I've really only known, personally, one morbidly obese person. The behaviors that caused the obesity were bizarrely self-indulgent, almost arrogantly so. I just don't understand why one would continue to eat like a pig when ones upper body has grown so fat that you no longer have a neck and your head sits atop a mound of flesh like a ball on top of a blob.

Looking at it clinically, obesity is a condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that ones health is negatively affected. Excessive body weight is associated with various diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancers and osteoarthritis. As a result, obesity reduces life expectancy. The primary treatment for obesity is dieting and physical exercise. If dieting and exercise fails, anti-obesity drugs and surgery can be tried.

Obesity is the result from too much energy intake overwhelming a person's basal metabolic rate and level of physical exercise. Excessive caloric intake and a lack of physical activity in genetically susceptible individuals is thought to explain most cases of obesity. With rates of adult and childhood obesity increasing, it is currently viewed as a serious public health problem.

Most obesity experts agree that a combination of excessive calorie consumption and a sedentary lifestyle are the primary causes of obesity. In a minority of cases, increased food consumption can be attributed to genetic, medical, or psychiatric illness. The rising prevalence of obesity is attributed to the availability of an easily accessible highly caloric variety of bad things to eat.

Certain physical and mental illnesses and the pharmaceutical substances used to treat them can increase risk of obesity. However, obesity is currently not regarded as a psychiatric disorder.

Personally. I think it should be. Just as any other form of self-destructiveness is considered a mental illness. The morbidly obese person who's casual acquaintance it was my misfortune to make has serious mental health issues in addition to the morbid obesity. It seems to me that the morbid obesity is just another manifestation of the underlying mental health issues. And should be treated as such.

Dow Jones, Debates & Icy Water

It is now the Ides of October, as in October 16. I continue to go swimming early in the morning. At midnight it was 59 degrees here. When I went swimming this morning it was 56. I continue to be amazed that this is doable, to swim when the water is so cold.

I've gotten so many problems fixed this week that I'm feeling sort of relieved. And then I opened the morning paper to see that the Stock Market crashed again. Just when I thought things were starting to look up.

I tried to watch last night's debate, really I did. I am truly perplexed as to what has gone wrong with me. I used to watch all things political religiously. Conventions beginning to end. All the debates. I made it through several of the primary debates. But I've only made it through one of the current string of debates, that being the Palin/Biden debate.

Maybe it has something to do with I already know who I'm voting for. But that hasn't stopped me from watching a debate previously. Maybe I'm turning into a cranky old man. Just way too easily annoyed. I think I made it past maybe 4 instances of rolling my eyes and thinking I was hearing pure idiocy and then turned off the TV and went to bed.

McCain was embarrassing. Obama seemed like the grown-up in the room. We live in scary times.