Punishment for Having an Ideal BMI

Lately, for say, the past two weeks, I've been dressing more business like. I've been really getting into it. It makes me feel a little more respectable and it is actually a bit more comfortable than street clothes, in my opinion. Dressing nice is something I've been wanting to do for a while, but really couldn't find any good motivation to. With the new job and location, I figured it would be a good time to start.

I've got a few dress shirts from over the past few years that I wear. I'm a tall guy, with abnormally long arms. I'm also pretty thin compared to most. Seems every shirt I have or have tried on does not fit quite right. It's like they are designed in a way that says I need to gain 30lbs. This also includes most fitted shirts. The back of these shirts puff out like a boat sail. I can't necessarily get a smaller size, either, since the smaller shirts don't have the correct arm length.

How is it, that I am more or less a healthy size and nothing fits? This may be laughable, but I actually did some Googling on the subject of how to find a decent fitted dress shirt, and most places I came across would forward a concern that America in whole is a bigger country than it was 50 years ago. The average American shirt size is a bit larger than it used to be and is also tailored baggier as more men find that comfortable. It only makes sense to tailor shirts based on an average demographic, but it leaves me with few options.

From what I read, these are a few routes I could go: I could get my shirts tailored at $8-10 a pop, or I could buy $80 Italian dress shirts. Both sound much less appealing than throwing $20 on the table for a shirt at JC Penny. I should have been alive in the earlier half of the 20th century, I guess.


Tags: Clothes, America, Consumerism, Health



Spring Time Once Again \ Farm Life

The weather starts perking up and no one blogs anymore. Figures. Then again, it's not like I've sat down to write a blog recently, either. Since my last inspirational writing, we've had a couple cookouts, late nights on the porch and ideas on how we want to spend our warm weather months. I forgot exactly how much I like Summer. I feel more energetic and stoked to get some stuff done.

Lately I've been on a whim of starting a garden and having a few chickens, geese, lambs, whatever. Granted the animals would have to be kept at my parents, it sounds like a ton of fun and quite rewarding. Mom and Dad, it'd probably be another excuse to visit, right? I think I've been in this mood for two reasons. First and most obviously, I'm pumped about summer. Secondly, I like the idea of making my own food from the ground up. It's a lost art, if you think of it. A good organically produced meal you tended to from the ground up. It's been replaced with what? eighty-eight cent TV dinners? Have people honestly become too busy to enjoy the simplicity all around us? Though it takes work to support a garden and livestock, in the end, I believe it's cheaper, healthier and more efficient.

It's most likely a hobby at the moment. Ideally, I'd like it to see it be an established lifestyle; the art of frugal spending, utilizing the resources around me in a non-wasteful, healthy manner and living a simple life. A lot of this mentality stems from my upbringing, I think. As a kid I liked to build stuff from ground-up, Rockets, Legos, 400-in-1 electronic kits, etc. My Dad had a pretty "Do it yourself" mentality and would figure out how stuff works, which I admire greatly, Mom was a health nut and we'd generally try lots of weird food together. All of that wrapped in a frugal mind-setting, it makes sense in my mind why I like to do what I do. I like to "Build" what I have. It's easy to pay someone else to do it, but it's not always as beneficial and you definitely lose the great feeling that you did it yourself.

I'm glad I have Jacinda to back me up with this stuff, too. I'm really blessed to have found someone as awesome as her to share ideas and get excited with. I love you, dear!
 

Tags: Archive_Blogger, diy, Food, Health, organic, simplicity, spring, Urban Farming



Here Comes Another Health Streak

Jacinda and I recently made the choice to become health-nuts again. We are both sick of over-induldging and sitting around too much. We are extremely excited for this turn and are planning on keeping on track. We are laying a lot of accountability in the hand of others so that we can press on.

As far as excersize, we are attending Kick-boxing with Aaron Thomsen once a week, great work-out and stress reliever (not to mention fun). We also signed up to the YMCA, taking advantage of my Insurance plan. They give us a good discount on the membership as long as each of us goes at least 12 times a month. Three days a week? Of course! I also have my Tae Kwon Do, which does great work on my flexibility and endurance.

We are trying to cleanse our house of unhealthy foods, anything with an overwhelming amount of corn-syrups or unecessary fats. We'll keep a couple things around in case we feel induldgent, but so far it's looked unappealing. My mom recently gave us a ton of whole foods, such as Brown rice, freshly ground whole wheat flour and some weird 7 grain stuff (looks like bird food, cooks like malto-meal.) We've been using these as basics for our meals. I honestly feel amazing eating such simple foods. We are shooting for as natural/simple of a diet as possible.

I'm very excited to get in shape! yay. I'll probably write about it more from time to time, if not for my own benefit.

Tags: Archive_Blogger, Diet, Excersize, Food, Health