Duh.

I went on a little rant at work today about my intolerance of ignorant people. In the back of my mind I’m always afraid that I’m going to sound snobby or elitest, but sometimes people just seem so, well, dumb. For example, as I have mentioned countless times, Earl and I live in Upstate New York. To our west is a REALLY big lake. In fact, it’s so big, it’s called a Great Lake. It’s so Great, they even named a Canadian Province after it. And on the other side of this Great Lake is Canada. So when a cold wind blows from Canada, across this warmer Great Lake, it tends to produce a lot of snow on our side of the lake. This is called Lake Effect snow. This sort of “effect” has undoubtedly been happening for thousands, if not millions of years. Why is it then that the news media decides that they need to frighten the be-joozies out of the public. “We’re going to get up to a foot of snow!” “Run for cover, buy your milk, buy your bread, a big lake effect snow storm is coming!” “Whoooooo”.

People. You need to calm down. I can’t count the number of times that we’ve been dumped on with almost four feet of snow in a day in the past thirty years. A foot of snow does not paralyze our area. We know how to take care of it. Is it inconvenient? Yes! Is it armageddon? For pity’s sake, of course not. Chill. Literally.

And why is it when there is snow on the ground, regardless of the quantity, are all rules of the road null and void? Here in Central N.Y., if there’s snow on the ground, half the drivers abandon all pretenses of driving between the lines of the road and obeying the traffic signals and signs. Guess what? When the light is red, you still have to stop! Here’s a shocker… when the mall parking lot is full of snow, it’s still NOT o.k. to form a row of cars three deep. That doesn’t make sense. The lines aren’t dancing underneath the snow. They’re in straight rows. They’re still a uniform length apart. Stop being selfish or stupid and use a little common sense. Please.

And just because it’s unbelieveably cold at -15 degrees, but the road is still bare, does not mean that you have to slow down to 15 MPH on the Interstate. Use your brains.

There’s a couple other things I’ve been ranting about at work. I suppose I’m becoming unpopular, but I don’t really care. With the New Year several co-workers have decided to do something about their eating habits. This is GREAT. The world, more specifically the United States, needs to be a healthier place. However, I think they’re approaching it all wrong. The Atkins Diet (gag). The South Beach Diet (boo). It seems to me that these are fad diets that are looking to pad somebody’s wallet. You have to buy the more expensive low carb bread. You better buy the book so you know the exact details of the plan. Please. Losing weight is simple math. Burn off more calories than you take in. Period. Watch your fat intake. Get rid of the junk food. Get off your fat ass and do something. Move. Be productive. Contribute to society.

It’s going to take some time to lose weight. It’s taken months or years to put it all on, why should it come off in three weeks? I could go into a whole thing about eating animals and such, but I’m not going to, because that shouldn’t make a difference. You lose weight on these fad diets because you’re cheating your body from it’s balance. Balance your diet. Eat some protein. Eat some carbs. Then work it off. Be active.

I’ve been told “what do you know?” Well at Easter 2002, I weighed 220lbs. Today I weigh 170lbs. Did I do the Atkins diet? God no. Did I do this South Beach thing (it’s like Atkins but less restrictive I’ve been told). Why waste the energy? I ride my bike in the summer, I try to keep active in the winter (doing everything from traditional ab crunches to sliding around on the wood floors in my stocking feet), I strive to keep my caloric intake between 1200 and 1700 and I don’t eat anything with double digit fat grams. Was I fim and trim in 2 months? No, it’s taken almost 18 months, but I’m keeping off the weight. Go ahead, starve your body of carbs. Then eat half of a pop-tart and gain 10 lbs. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

And lastly, what is this friggin’ obsession with Wal*mart? Wal*mart this. Wal*mart that. They save me money, blah blah blah. Ugh. They may be saving you money, but they’re destroying the United States of America and just about every other country. Take a look at this link. Here’s another informative link.