seanwillson.com

is anyone else tired of the ongoing browser wars? why can’t it just end like most real wars do? the recent news that phoenix and minotaur were renamed to firebird and thunderbird is the perfect example of what i’m talking about. just to name a few we have safari, phoenix firebird, chimera camino, omniweb, ie, konqueror, opera, and then all of the small browsers.

i use phoenix and ie 6 at home, ie 5 and phoenix at work, camino and safari on a mac, and i wouldn’t touch mozilla without a 10gb hard drive. why can’t it just be a clean simple world of one browser per platform? safari=apple, ie=windows, firebird=all the rest … are we really gaining anything with each new browser version? ok, maybe that’s a harsh question because i do think we’ve gained a lot. within the past few years we have gained more standards and usability support. we’ve also seen faster and more stable browsers released. there are also some browsers like safari that are actually doing new and interesting things with browsers and user interaction design. then you have colossal development projects reminiscent of huge legacy cobol application in the mozilla browser. is there anything that browser doesn’t do? is there anything it does well other than take up disk space?

i’m kind of just venting right now … i’m so far from effecting this movement in any way, shape, or form. i’m just an innocent bystander on the battlefield of the ongoing never ending browser war. i just wonder if the number of browser projects were cut in half and those left over developers either went to another browser project or a different project type entirely if we’d be a better served community?

amy and i went to village cyclesport, our local friendly cycle shop this evening to get my bike fixed. i snapped a spoke a few weeks back, i needed a new back tire, and a wheel true. anyhow, we arrived at the schaumburg store only to see huge signs in the window announcing that they were closing the store. everything was 20-50% off. needless to say i was floored.

i’ve been a customer for the past 2 years. i’ve spent a pretty penny in there, told all of my friends about it, and brought them at least three high end bike purchases. no, i’m not saying they should keep the shop open for me, but that would be nice. i’m just trying to fill you in on the fact that they were a great shop that treated customers right. alan, the manager of the store always took care of us. if we had trouble with a bike he would fix it or replace whatever we were having trouble with, pretty much no questions asked. he treated customers like friends and valued their patronage.

when we went into the store we found out that they let alan go. kaput, gone, outta here … again, floored. their reasoning was that the lease was up soon, rent was expensive in schaumburg, business wasn’t as good as in the past, and construction was coming to golf road next year that would hurt business. two words come to mind, lame-ass excuses. believe it or not the owner was the one giving me those b.s. excuses. it’s expensive everything in chicago, they were making money just not as much (he said this not me), and construction is a part of any city. anyhow, angered and having to get my bike fixed still we were off to their other store.

i’ve been to their arlington heights store before. i’ve always felt like a number at that store. usually you enter the store, step into a giant queue, open mouth and empty wallet; today was no exception. right off the bat the repair guys seemed to either have attitudes or were to busy talking rather than working. they started out by talking down the schaumburg store and alan. i was pissed and had trouble not just telling the guy off right there and walking out, but i had to get my bike fixed. i figured i’d give them a chance. after a few more snide comments, a line of people all waiting with no service, a tech that looked lost replacing my tube, 45 minutes of waiting, and the owners brother bragging about all the business they get and my decision was made.

i will do everything i can to find another shop with good technical and personal service. i will use village cyclesport when i have to, but otherwise i will try to find another shop that values me as a customer and not just a wallet.

this past week i had the misfortune of being slapped a few times because of a mistake of mine. what mistake might this be? i mistook modern society as one that still values the honor of the spoken word. not so long ago when a friend, family member, or coworker gave you their word you had gold. they do everything within their power to live up to that word. gone are these days of honor, instead replaced with the here and now, the instant gratification, the decade of me’ism.

so what happened to me this past week that threw me for such a loop to make this drastic hypothesis? where should i begin … lets jump back 12 months into the past. about this time in my life i was talking to my friend at work, lets call him john. he was building his own house and was going to be selling his current townhouse. after looking at the house i was interested in purchasing it from him so we entered into a verbal agreement to purchase. jump forward 6 months, about this time or a little after i was at home and spoke with some of my friends and family about coming into town to celebrate my birthday. they were all up for it so we started planning the trip, being sure to give everyone ample time to save and get ready.

over the next few months i spoke almost daily with john daily about his new house and my interest in it. i told him how i was going through the mortgage paperwork, setting up my lease to start going month to month when my lease was up till the time he finished construction, and saving cash for the down payment. i was making sure i handled my end of the deal getting everything ready for the purchase. at the same time i was talking to my family every few weeks about the trip, making sure everything was still on track and everyone was still interested. i was also trying to start planning new things to do while they were in town so they had a great time.

moving forward to the beginning of august, john is getting closer to finishing his house, he should be done around the middle of october. i’ve all but been approved for the mortgage, i’ve saved most of the money for the down payment and i have started pinging john every other day about getting the paperwork moving on the sale. he says he is talking to his lawyer and is picking up the paperwork tomorrow. i’m extremely excited to say the least … my family is looking forward to coming into town, as are mike, lori, kris, and michelle … i hope so anyhow. everything appears to be on track for the weekend before my birthday.

now that i’ve set up the stage lets fast forward to the end of the previous week. i talk with john about the paperwork again. he apologizes for forgetting about it over and over again. him and i plan on getting together tuesday evening to go over it. i talk to christina about the next weekend … they are excited and from everything she said they are going, everyone is.

on to monday, i get a call at work from my brother. out of the blue he tells me that they can’t come to chicago this weekend. they don’t have the money! … really, could have swore they had 5+ months to save it. i am very disappointed but don’t let my disappointment or anger control me. i ask why, he gives his explanation. i am speechless … totally and absolutely speechless. after months of them saying yes they were coming, after talking with them friday and they said they were coming i see no reasoning behind this news. about to cry, as i do when i am angry/disappointed i say “ok”. what else am i supposed to say. i can’t yell at them, i can’t ask questions really, it’s their life. so then he says “did mike and lori call you?” … “no” i say. “huh … they told us yesterday they called you.” … “nope”. so now he tells me that they to can’t come. now i understand their situation a bit more, their well being dried up, but i am still pretty disappointed. i ask if kris and michelle are still coming. they are as far as he knows. i cut the conversation short and hang up … staring at my desk i feel a mix of anger, disappointment, confusion and denial. i listen to them harp on me week after week about not coming home to michigan. i’ve spent the last 4 years of my life coming home almost every single 4-6 weeks. spending on average $300 every trip home, sometimes more and putting 50,000+ miles on my 2 year old car driving home. i ask them to come see me in chicago 1 or 2 time per year and they are incapable of gracing me with this request. i love them, they are my family, yet how come i still feel so betrayed and slapped in the face? they gave me their word, they said they were coming to see me, and now that trust in words was broken.

so the week sucked, and then it got worse. at work on thursday i tell john that i got approved for the mortgage. he gives my a kind of blank stare and tells me we need to talk. so a few minutes later we are in the war room at work and he starts talking. he is uncomfortable and draws out his words … and he proceeds to tell me that a “friend” of his gave his name to a appraiser friend of theirs. this “friend” called them and asked what he was selling his place for, he told them, and this “friend” proceeded to tell him he was crazy, that he could get much more. all of this happened the previous night according to john. i sit there staring at him, not saying a word. i can feel what is coming next but i’m in a state of denial. he begins to tell me how crazy he would be to not try and get more for it. how all the townhouses in itasca are going for more then what he was selling it to me for. he then says he is going to put it on the market and try to get more for it. i am blown away … again, anger … disappointment … confusion overwhelm me. i don’t let this take over my actions though … i tell him he is going to do what he is going to do, i can’t change his mind. he stares at me and then makes a half assed attempt at trying to make me feel better by saying if it doesn’t net him at least $15k more he will just sell it to me. gee, a consolation prize. whatever … i again cut this conversation short and walk out. i proceed to my desk, grab my bag, turn my computer off … i swing my bski’s desk and tell him i am “getting the fuck out of here”. as soon as i walk out the door into the hall i come a micron away from crying. i feel so destroyed and betrayed. this is something i have been planning for over 12 months. a huge step in my life … and now, i have nothing. sure i have the mortgage and the savings but all my planning is for nothing. my lease is up in a week, i have no clue about other locations, prices, neighborhoods, nothing … i again planned something important in my life on someone elses word. someone gave me their word and in my stupidity i trusted them, honored their word, and planned around it.

so i have to ask again … what happened to the honor someone bestows when they give their word? this intangible thing that is supposed to bestow a feeling of trust in the receiving party. this thing that is supposed to make the receiver move on with their life knowing they have this thing of value they can be sure that person will honor. what happened to it? why have we lost it? is a little bit of cash really king? could my family not have spent $40 in gas and $50 dollars in food coming to see me, skipping out on the mega bar partying downtown? do they really not have $100 to come see me? does john really think i am naive enough to believe this all happened overnight? does he really think $25k more will make his life all pretty and easy? i don’t understand this insane world … what do we have now days if we have no honor in words? i’ll tell you what, we have chaos … no ones word can be trusted … no one … sounds drastic right? yes and no … yes, some people still can be trusted and it’s not like i hate my family and won’t trust them ever again. it’s more like i am wounded right now … and it is going to take a long while before i am going to listen to anyone, yes anyone’s word. it is going to be a long time before i go home again, likely around xmas. i also don’t think i will every really talk to john again outside or work related things. at this moment i could care less about anything he has to say to me. at this point in my life the only person who has honored their every word is amy. other then from her, as far as i am concerned, there is no longer honor in the spoken word.

lately i have been reading a lot of articles on fitness in america throughout the years. it seems that everyone has something to say on this topic, including me. while reading these articles i couldn’t help but see their common thread. over the past 40 years america as become more and more obese, more and more sedentary, less and less concerned with what they eat. my favorite quote from these articles is that “america is the land of the over fed and under nourished.” but why is this? how has society degenerated into the obese state that it is currently in? lets dig into this some shall we.

lets start by looking at the hard numbers. in the 90’s 56% of america was overweight or obese. in the 70’s 46% of america was considered overweight or obese. during that same period the rates within the teenage population doubled. today over 25% of all americans under the age of 19 are overweight or obese. these are the hard no holds barred statistics. so after seeing these numbers you are probably either saying why? how? or so what? let answer those questions …

first lets answer the “so what” question. you are probably wondering how this really effects you. well if you look at the statistics on a.i.d.s. you will see that they are much lower then the ones i outlined above on obesity. today hundreds of millions of government dollars are spend researching and dealing with the a.i.d.s. epidemic. in 1998 the u.s. surgeon general declared childhood obesity an epidemic. it is estimated that by the year 2020 the u.s. government (i.e. taxpayers) will spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually addressing this epidemic. no, not millions, billions … so how does this effect you? it effects your pocket book … or maybe you have or will have a child. that child has a high likelyhood of being obese in todays day and age.

so now your probably wondering how we got in this mess in the first place. that is actually a pretty simple question to answer if you think about it. if you ask your grandparents how many mcdonald’s there were in their town 40 years ago, or how many taco bells, burger kings, or kfc’s there were i am willing to wager you would hear zero as the answer. if you were to ask them how many companies there were that made insulin and how much they made per year off insulin you would more then likely hear a pretty low number. what about soda, candy bars, hot pockets, frozen pizza, oreo’s, frosted flakes, gummy bears, capri sun, or klondike ice cream bars? basically get rid of 70% of your local supermarket and those products didn’t exist 20 or 40 years ago. now look at those products and what are their primary ingredient? sugar, high fructose corn surup, fat, or other strange chemical names. but why are they in the supermarket in the first place. well how many hours did you work last week? how many hours did you spend relaxing watching tv? what about sleeping? now ask yourself how often last week you stopped to think about what you were eating? the fact of the matter is, in today’s day and age everyone is running here or running there. we have little time to worry about something as small as food … right? wrong …

wait a minute how can i sit here and blame this whole thing on you? what did you have for breakfast … wait let me guess. a toaster strudel and a glass of fruit punch or a venti half caf whipped mocha coffee. what about lunch, you were probably busy so you just ran into the burger king and had a double whopper, fries, and a coke. for dinner … you had a sensible frozen pizza and ended it with a pint of ben and jerries. sounds familiar? is that your daily diet? if it is then your at fault … and yes, it is my fault to. i don’t claim to be exempt of fault. i do however only claim fault for the first 25 years of my life and every saturday for the last 6 months. during the other 6 days of the week i don’t rely on cash happy corporate america for their latest concoction to keep me going. i instead cook my own meals or take nutritionally balanced supplements. yes, a company makes some of the products i eat but what company is better … the one that makes oreo’s or the one that makes a meal replacement shake with a balance of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals? you decide …

so why are these food so bad for you … lets look at a typical trip to mcdonald’s. you grab your kid a cheeseburger, fries and a coke. they are pretty hungry so you decide to drop another 40 cents and super size it. so what do you get for your money? you get 1340 calories of refined sugar and starch. that’s over half of what their daily calorie intake should be … that wouldn’t be so bad if the nutritional value of the food was high. but those calories are low in protein, nutritionally barren, and full of fats and other goodies that have been shown to add body fat. but don’t you worry, virtually every fast food joint out there has similar food and nutritional offerings.

but my kids exercise so they are fine. well the fact of the matter is that the only state that requires daily physical education in k-12 is illinois. all other states either no longer require it or have phased it out. an example is california, it recently passed proposition 13 which strips all school based physical education classes and limits after school sports. why? as a society we are always asking government to cut the budget. what better place then in our children’s health?

so why is this article entitled “obesity vs corporate america”? well looking back at that insulin question i asked above. how much do you think eli lilly made from insulin last year? in case you didn’t know insulin is used to balance out the blood sugar of diabetics. and where is the largest population of diabetics, yep you guessed it, overweight and obese individuals. so how much did they make off of insulin sales last year? $1.5 billion dollars … and there are around 50 companies that produce insulin products. this is only a small view of how corporate america profits from an obese society. what about fast food and all of the other products i listed above? how many trillions of dollars do we have to spend before we wake up and start asking for more out of our government and american corporations? we need better education of our youth on the importance of health and fitness. we need goverment funded programs to address these problems in children and adults. we need the help of corporate america to fund these programs and others to fight this obesity epidemic, hell, they helped us get obese, now they can help us get healthy.

so what can you do to help, your a small cog in the machine that is america. well you can start by taking your own health seriously. start taking care of your body and mind. start watching what you eat and start getting involved in a fitness program. no, you don’t need to go buy a gym membership but you can go for a walk every evening or go rollerblading with your kids. and speaking of kids, you can start explaining to them the importance of health and fitness. you can feed them the nutrient dense food they need to grow and be healthy. start by caring about those around you and as time goes on you will notice an improvement not only in your immediate family but in those that you interact with. if everyone were to take these small steps we would no longer be known as “the land of the over fed and under nourished”, we would instead be known as “the land of the healthy and fit”.

but that’s just my opinion, for what its worth …

when you buy a casket while planning for your death would you imagine that after you died the casket company would change the shape of the casket to be to small to hold your corpse? when you buy a car would you expect the car maker to change the make and model the day you picked it up? these are pretty unacceptable changes aren’t they? what i don’t get is how companies can use deals or services they offer to get you to buy their product and then change the terms they are offering you. why do we accept these changes in service with a shrug of “well thats business”?

i am just plain tired of it. in one weeks time my apartment stopped doing dry cleaning, they stopped accepting packages in their office for the residents, at&t changed my phone contract, the company that insures my phone changed their contract, and a magazine i subscribed to changed their service from monthly to bimonthly. what the hell gives? first of all i think its a stroke of bad luck, but is it more then that? is our economy going south? neither of those i can answer with any certainty, but i do know for sure that when companies change their service they risk the chance of losing a customer.

so why do you care? i am willing to bet that most of you take these with a shrug and nothing more. i am willing to bet that most of you continue your service with the company without commenting or requesting change? why do you do that and how can i be so certain of these “bets”?

well the why is simple, you are lazy. ouch … sorry for slapping you so hard there. or are you just angry because the comment struck home? well maybe not you exactly, but the fact of the matter is a lot of people walk through life, never questioning anything, that is until something huge jumps up and smacks them. slowly the government changes our laws on us, for example the right to bare arms. no one really cared about it until a few kids got shot in the last few years. like everyone else i was saddened greatly by these children losing their lives. but i was angry as well, no, not at the children or even the parents, i was angry at the ostriches that popped out of the ground and said “take those guns away, people have no reason to have guns in this day and age”. so who are those ostriches i am speaking of that have their head in the ground 99% of their lives. well maybe not you, because you have read this far, but look at your neighbor, your friends, your politicians. do you see it? the long neck, and the i cannot be bothered now attitude? i bet you do …

so how else might i know. well i went to the front office of my apartment complex and asked about their canceling the dry cleaning and their no longer accepting packages. the first thing out of their mouth was “well your the first to ask, we were wondering if anyone cared”. they explained that the dry cleaners were tired of coming by and not getting any dry cleaning. i can understand that one … but then they said that the package thing, well that was an “inconvenience” to them. what? i pay rent here, to much as a matter of fact. i think i am entitled to some service other then them raising my rent each year. she didn’t seem to care and said no one else seemed inconvenienced. i was pretty steamed but i held it in. i walked back to my apartment complex and on my way in i ran into 3 different residents walking out. i stopped them and asked what they thought about the change. one said she never got packages so who cared, one said she had no idea and when i mentioned the letter we all got under the door she said she threw it away, and the final person said there was nothing he could do. pretty lame ahe … i tried getting them interested in petitioning but they just couldn’t be bothered.

so what can i do about this? well i will try and get some people to help me start a petition but if those 3 are any representative of the populace in this complex i have little hope. as for the others, i called all of them and let them know of my disapproval of their changes. i signed on with them for a reason, for a service, and by them lessening the value of their service they would be losing me as a customer when my contracts were up. sounds a bit drastic? no? i don’t think so. we have to send a message to these companies, a message that we are people and want to be treated with respect. at least give us a choice of paying more or the loss of a service with money back. there are just certain things that make business sense.

but that’s just my opinion, for what its worth …

while i was surfing around today i found an article by bryan cooley that struck a cord with me. everything he says in this article is so true that it hit home with me as well. so many people that i encounter throughout the day think that i am on a diet, or that i am going through a “phase” in my life. little do they realize that i have made a change, a life change. i have chosen to take care of my body for life, not to just do a fad diet or exercise program. this is something that will be life long for me, it is the new me.

so everyone that is overweight has to be on a fad diet right? forget the fad part, why must i be on a diet? what is the first thing you think of when you think of the word “diet”? i am guessing low fat, low calorie, only eating a few times a day. eating meals that are bland and taste like crap. am i right? if you are thinking of a new fad diet you might be thinking of bacon, butter, steak, pork rinds, and eggs. so is that what i am eating? the simple answer is no. i eat 6 meals a day, i eat a balance of carbohydrates and protein with portions of vegetables. i eat chicken, lean meat, potatoes, wheat bread, broccoli, cottage cheese, basically food that is healthy. there’s a new word, “healthy”. no, not pre-processed, pre-packaged, industrialized food that comes from a manufacturing facility. this is real food, some of it organic, and all of it healthy.

ask 10 people on diets why they are dieting and i bet none of them answer “because i want to be healthy”. so then why do people diet and why do people think i am on one? well they probably think i am on a diet because they don’t see me as a fit person. i am a big guy and i am over weight, i will be the first to admit that. no rippling abs here, not yet anyhow. is that really a reason to think i am on a diet? no, not really. so why do people diet anyhow? that’s an easyone , they want to lose weight and they want to get into those pants they bought 5 years ago that no longer fit. basically they want to look better. so whats wrong with that? absolutely nothing, except that most people diet, get into those pants, and then celebrate their progress by returning to their old self. they just stop cold, they don’t watch what they eat any more and they certainly don’t exercise. basically they reached their goal and don’t see beyond that. i know quite a few people like this, and to be frank it disappoints me. why does it disappoint me? look at them 6 months after they are off their diet and they are back to their old body weight. what happened? thats simple, they set no goals beyond those pants, and they never decided to eat “healthy”, they just were on a “diet”.

wait a minute, dieting is healthy right? if i were asked this question i would have to say no. most people don’t realize what their body needs to be healthy. vitamins and minerals are the building block of everything in our body. our body is made up of these nutrients and the only place it can get them from is the food we eat. yea yea, i know, you learned that in high school health class right. so did you really learn anything? if you had i bet you wouldn’t be feeding yourself what you are now. that coffee, pizza, hamburger, or even that diet cola you are drinking. that diet food you were eating, sure it said it was “fat free” right? did you read the label to see what was in it? how did they get rid of that fat? in one word, sugar. there’s no fat in sugar, just pure unadulterated carbohydrates. but wait, there are something like 5 high carbohydrate diets on the market today, so they have to be good for you right? wrong, carbohydrates have a great byproduct when eaten in abundance, it is called fat. that’s a nice vicious circle we created - fat, fat free, sugar, carbs, fat.

now i am getting really off track, sorry about that. another reason people think i am on a fad diet is that i don’t eat the things they are eating. as soon as someone sees that, they instantly say “diet”. it’s so ingrained it is sickening and really pisses me off. they think it feels good when they say that to me, and it does right? no, absolutely not! i have to many goals and have changed my life forever in to many ways to be on a diet. i don’t belong in that neat little category of the over weight and underfed trying to fit into those 5 year old pants only to fail once i have reached that one goal. i have dreams that i will achieve, i have goals, and when i reach those, i have goals after those. my changes are a lifestyle, not a diet.

so i told you what i eat and how much of it i eat. i don’t eat when i am not hungry and i don’t over eat. if i am full i stop eating, why stuff yourself, because you paid for it right? hehhe … yea, that’s the ticket. i balance each meal to make sure my body is running at optimal levels and i complement my healthy eating with an intense exercise program. is this different then what you are doing? if yes, then i must be on a diet right? well what are you on? you eat 3 meals a day, you eat foods that are high in carbohydrates and fat and low in nutritional value. then you wash them down with soda. yep, your on a diet all right, on a diet to make your body as out of shape as possible. don’t worry, i used to be on that one as well but i decided to make a change. which one sounds better to you? a lifestyle that gives you energy, helps you lose weight, keeps that weight off, and helps fight off disease and colds. or a diet that promotes sluggishness, short bursts of energy that leave you run down, you gain weight and keep putting more on, and you are sick a lot. i know which one i want, your choice is your own … just do me a favor, and don’t ask me how my “diet” is going.

but that’s just my opinion, for what its worth …

if you are interested in reading more about my lifestyle change you can check out what i have to say or you can get it from the horses mouth.

while i was home earlier this year i was driving to my friends house and off the road about 1000 feet or so i saw a large mall like building being constructed. being the nosy person that i am i drove up to the building and asked a worker what this place was going to be. “fitness center” he replied. fitness center? i don’t get it. this place was humongous, 2 stories tall, i am sure a few hundred thousand square feet at least … think super wallmart on steroids.

so why don’t i get it? when i think of fitness i think of a personal process of bettering my body. i think of trying to transform my body from an old version of myself to a new version. i think of health and family. what i don’t think of is a thousand people on stair climbers, treadmills, and lines to use a weight machine. i don’t think about cleaning a machine because the previous hundred people refused to use a towel. i don’t think about trying to find a parking space while driving around in circles. where’s the fitness and health in that? sounds like it will raise, not lower ones blood pressure.

this last time i was home, i headed out to my friends home again. this time as i got within a half a mile of this fitness megaplex the traffic began. the traffic was so bad around this place it took me 15 minutes to drive up to it so i could pass it. the traffic going the other way was worse, it was backed up over a mile just to pull into the parking lot which was overflowing into the recently renovated dirt field. i was flabbergasted, dumfounded, and shocked all at the same time. what were these people flocking to? was there an attraction to this mass fitness thing? was i missing the boat? i think the answer is simple …

so whats the answer? well as i see it people see summer coming, they have a few months before they have to fit into that bathing suit again. so they people run out and sign up for a gym membership. but wait, what do you know, there is a new gym in town. it’s bigger then anything they have seen before, as big as a mall. well bigger has to be better, the mall is a fun place so this has to be to. so they joined up and are now waiting in line at the ellipical trainer.

where did they go wrong? well the first thing is they think fitness is as seasonal as birds migrating south. they think that those few months in the gym are all they need to stay healthy when really they are just yo yo’ing their bodies and will gain weight not lose it. so lets stop and concider the lining up to get in this place. well, lets first consider that 70% of the united states is overweight. lets add to that the summer migration to the gym to look great. add to that a plush new gym to hang out in. finally mix in some good marketing by the company itself and you have all the requirements for a nice healthy cash flow. while this isn’t the answer for someone who wants to get “fit” it’s got to be the answer for the owners. with the cash they are pulling in they can just get plastic surgery. in fact they are opening one up a half mile from my house and i live 4 states away from the first one i saw in michigan. don’t tell me they aren’t loving it .. but i digress.

i can hear my friends now or maybe even someone reading this who doesn’t know me. they are talking about my holier then thou attitude and how i think i can just lay it out like that and get credit for an original thought. i never claimed that this idea of fitness was all mine, but for some reason i appear to be the only one who is venting about it this megaplex fitness thing. yes yes, now your hollering about how out of shape i am and i have no place. well my first rebuttal is to tell you to read my body section to see how that is changing daily. then i have to ask you, did you buy a membership at one of these places, or better yet, did you buy a swim suit last fall that was 5 sizes to small for you to wear? how much did you work out last summer? today? planning on doing anything to solve that in the next few months?

why do i care right? well remember this is my article so i can write about what i want .. heheh … my vent not yours. but really, it disturbs me that people are content with deteriorating over time, accepting that they are out of shape, and chalking it up as genetics. they just continue to spiral down to their couch with their clickers and chips in hand. come on, wake up. there is a world out there to explore. don’t you want to visit the amazon some day? what about diving in the great barrier reef? maybe run a marathon? ok, so maybe you don’t think that grand but what about playing ball with your kids without being tired? being able to walk up a flight of stairs without being winded?

what does this have to do with a fitness megaplex. i never claimed to think in straight paths, i’m a programmer not an author .. hehhe … give me a sec here. so does anyone get fit in these megaplex’s? well they are hoping you don’t. if you did you might not come back. they want you to come in during that migratory cycle and then leave after a few months. all the while, during the rest of the year you still pay the dues each month for that “life time” membership you signed up for. keeps the place empty, keeps them in jobs, and keeps a nice flow of cash on the books. so what do i suggest to solve this dilemma? well first you have to dig deep into yourself and ask a few personal questions. think about where you want to be in a few year … what shape is your body in? what about success in your job? your family? these are dreams and desires … we all have them. now you just need the energy to reach those dreams. what better way then through fitness? not the wait in line kind of fitness, i am talking about the fitness that has a personal touch. the fitness that makes you smile, makes you grow mentally as well as physically. the kind of fitness that gives you the energy from morning to night.

where do you find such a fitness program? well that answer for me was the body for life program. for you it might be finding a small local gym that offers a personal touch. it might be buying some weights for your home and finding a support group online. whatever it is, put some thought into it, some serious thought. this isn’t a migratory decision your making, this is a life decision. it will determine your health and happiness for the rest of your life. you owe it to yourself to break the cycle and build a few bridges to those dreams.

but that’s just my opinion, for what its worth …

the main catalyst to this article was the opening of these fitness megaplexs but there was also an underlying personal motive. i plan on opening a gym within a few years and i am attempting to design a fitness environment that is conducive to growth physically and mentally. a place where families can get healthy and happy. i would apologize for the rambling .. but that’s just me.