So many great cups of tea to be had… Been in Calgary for a couple days, and decided to sit and enjoy some tea for a few hours – good way to spend a day for sure, delicious and healthy too 
Sit back, enjoy some tea… Don’t even ask me about tires…
So the last few days have been overly interesting.
I went online and discovered that in 2005 the province of Alberta opened all adoption records, so I sent in an application to find out who my birth mother is. The main reason I say mother, rather than parents, is the information we did have told us that my father was “unknown”.
After I got the application downloaded, I was feeling productive so I posted the relevant facts on an adoption registry.
Enter the e-mail I got a few days later…
A gentleman who might be my father sent me an e-mail.
No idea where it’s going from here, but depending on what the government sends me, I may have some answers soon.
Needless to say I’m excited
Be careful.
There’s a tried and true strategy – if you can make someone hate you – like seething, passionate, fiery, murderous, contemptuous HATE.
you can get them into bed, 100% of the time.
I’ve never tried the strategy, because I’m not a fan of hate… but I’ve seen it work, and well.
There’s a few things most religions share
greed is a big one
but the thing that is most pervasive?
people are forced to believe.
okay, you say – I chose this, on my own volition, with nobody but me pushing me in this direction!
don’t get me wrong, that does happen sometimes – but most people are of a certain belief system because it’s what their parents were, and their grandparents.
and so on, and so on, until back in the day when their great great great grandparents were given a choice – which was something along the lines of “this is what you will believe, and this is what you will teach your children, or we will tear your arms from their sockets and beat you with them until you’re dead”
oddly enough, many people chose that awful death, rather than follow a false god… the rest? they lead to you.
there are a few religions that have no interest in recruiting – oddly enough they tend to be small
BUT
if something was honest, would they need to recruit?
I’m absolutely 100% sure nobody has ever figured out the truth about religion – I mean… the concept of higher power, and someone who cares about us… it could be comforting
but then… the old testament god (the one the Jews follow) was kind of a douchebag
the new testament god (the ones that christians follow) is kind of a wimp
which makes NO sense… I mean, it’s the same deity. An omnipotent, omnipresent being… knows everything about everything, can do anything, is everywhere, in every time, at the same time?
this creature would be in every way perfect – would know exactly, all the time.
so they would never change.
except maybe to be a douchebag.
anyways – if you have to recruit to your religion?
it’s not real, sorry to tell you.
if you have to modify your body or kill living things?
also not real.
if there’s a heaven or a hell?
it’s fake.
gotta irk you that some holier than thou asshat is living large because his ancestors conned YOUR ancestors, and you fell for it too, all out of the desire to find meaning in life (and the whole, insignificant lifetime of indoctrination that didn’t affect YOU at all, you’re a believer because it makes sense!)
So the major camping trip is in August this year, the weekend before the September long weekend.
It’ll be in Revelstoke, so central to Calgary and Vancouver
anyone who plans on coming and needs details, please join the facebook group, and you can follow clubgross on twitter
only thing for sure?
there will be fun! (boys only fun though, it IS Club GroSs)
No really, cheese – the super delicious, melty, awesome on anything dairy product that goes awesome with almost anything?
I have, on a daily basis, Cheddar Cheese, Asiago Cheese, Cream Cheese, Feta Cheese, Monterey Cheese, Asadero Cheese…
That’s an average day – if you were to take a list of all the foods I absolutely LOVE and rely on for daily nutrition, cheese is easily my #1
No joke.
I’d give up both testicles, some fingers, and a leg before I gave up cheese, that’s how much I love it.
for the record, I wouldn’t give all of that up for 10 billion dollars, tax free.
just to put it in perspective.
it doesn’t bother my tummy, it doesn’t give me gas, it doesn’t cause any digestive issues (which is a small miracle, as an IBS sufferer… most things do… I gave up drinking milk years ago because of that)
For some reason, cheese and my tummy get along great – like… really, really great.
And then I read a bunch of things that actually make giving up dairy make sense.
Not likely.
I already gave up beef, pork, chicken, turkey, sushi, venison… pretty much anything meat
except Sundays – on Sundays, I have NO dietary rules…
except for the whole… try not to inflame your digestive tract rule – that one is pretty much an every day thing
but yeah
I’m not giving up cheese.
I AM going to try out the fancy expensive Vegan cheese that was recommended to me – apparently it’s melty and delicious and awesome on nachos… it’s also way more expensive than cheese (I shop in the US, and generally pay around $2.50lb for cheese… this stuff is more like $12 a pound)
But I want to do my part, ya know?
*sigh*
for now, when I stop at a dairy, I will personally thank the cows for the hardships they endure for my taste buds – same as I thank a pig every time I see one, for all the many many joyous strips of bacon I’ve enjoyed – because everyone should thank the animals for being such good providers… and go out of their way to ensure that those same animals are not the victims of abuse. Fact of the matter is they have short lives, and those short lives should be free of trauma.
Also, I’ve heard rumour that properly treated animals are much more delicious as well.
I was going to post another Dilbert, but todays just weren’t as good as yesterday
I made it back to the gym today, quite proud of myself, and filled my mom in on all the excitement that’s been going on over the last few months – the megaupdate. She thanked me in an e-mail for not scaring her with “could be” type information…
The could be was pretty simple – I was at the gym, doing some exercise… which people tend to do at the gym, and I was feeling a little wheezy, not so pleased… but going… pretty hard… and then my left arm went numb.
Now, from what I’ve heard, this can be indicative of bad things – such as heart problems.
Anyways, the next afternoon I went to the doctor, about my numb arm, and my lost voice (been gone for over 2 months, and counting…) and they did a bunch of blood tests, and an EKG.
I got the results on Monday, and apparently everything is excellent – no nasty bugs, no diabetes, no mono, no strep, and no heart problems… and no explanation for the lost voice, so I have to go see a specialist in June… almost a month from now actually, so if I don’t have my voice back by then, I’ll have been mute for 3 months to the day (June 22nd)
Anyways, I’m back to a 6 day a week gym schedule – I have a fitness evaluation on Monday to see if I’m making any progress with my exercise and vegetarian diet.
Last evaluation, I was sitting at 244lbs, at a chubby but healthy BMI (keep in mind I’m a big guy, with a lot of muscle… dead skinny I’m around 180lbs) – at my last test, I was 2 points south of ideal, and within reach of athletic. That caught me off guard, since I’m pretty far from athletic at the moment, but on the flipside, that’s just talking body fat levels, more than actual fitness levels.
Anyways, wish me luck! After 10 days off the gym on the advice of a doctor, I backslid just a little bit – not too much, but hey, I’m committed to getting better every month, and my goals are long term, so the short term just isn’t as important. I want a strong, healthy heart that will see me through until whatever age I live to, allowing me to continue enjoying life. I never want to be the guy that just sits on the couch because he HAS to – I don’t mind sitting on the couch watching TV, but when I do so, I want to be fit enough I can hop up and run 26km without even thinking about it.
Sedentary is fine, so long as it’s a choice, and I’m fit enough to choose something else too – so even a sedentary day will have an hour or two of exercise to balance out the rest of the day.
The vegetarian thing?
Well, I read a lot about how vegan is THE way to go – because of things like animal cruelty, and because domestic animals contribute to global warming… truth is, I hate animal cruelty as much as anyone – I have nightmares about someone hurting my dog… but at the same time, if an animal raised for food, or dairy production, or egg production, or whatever the case may be – if those animals are treated properly, with respect, and they all SHOULD be (sadly too many are not) how THEY affect the environment is minimal compared to what we as humans do, even at our greenest.
And I honestly, sincerely believe that humans are meant to be omnivores.
While we are certainly capable of surviving on other diets, I’m not so sure we’re meant to – the number one evidence I find to support this is our eyes.
If you take your hands, and feel to the sides of your head, beside your eyes… move them further apart until you feel your temples.
What do you think those are?
I have a theory (and it’s a damned good theory actually) – those are your herbivore eye sockets – or rather, where your eye sockets would be if you were a herbivore.
A carnivorous animal (or an creature designed to eat other animals) has front facing eyes that can see in 3 dimensions, and allow depth perception – the purpose of this is very specific. It makes hunting much easier.
A herbivore ( A creature that eats plants) had side facing eyes, that offer a good all around view, and allow them to see things coming towards them from any direction – the purpose of this is also very specific. It makes seeing hunters approaching much easier. It also doesn’t offer any tools for hunting, but it’s fine for finding plants as sources of food.
IF you were meant to be a herbivore, you wouldn’t be able to drive a car, catch a ball, or do many of the things we take for granted – but you would be able to see behind you.
As it is, I think eating less meat, to this point, has been a good experience, and one I plan to continue… but until I grow eyes in the side of my head? Meat, and animal products will always be an option for me.
And I will always pull for the health and well being of animals – because I also believe that any animal, be they food, pet, or wild, deserves our respect.
So I enjoyed that lame “Google Pacman” game that was running around the Google search page this weekend, so I added it to my site
is the address, as well, there’s a link to it on the right of the page
Enjoy!
(figured something lighthearted was appropriate, been too serious lately)
Patrick.