#4. Big Brother's Broken Policy...

I have never thought much about where our food comes from or the health affects that it has on our bodies, which is very visually apparent when considering the current health state of my body.  Now, however, after beginning this food-related writing project, I have been pushed to re-address my threshold for "disgusting." 

• The CDC estimated in 2011 that 48 million people contracted a food-borne illness, 128,000 were hospitalized, and 3,000 died.
• The U.S. Surgeon General, in 2001, attributed 300,000 deaths each year to obesity (though that number is likely MUCH higher now, considering the quickly-rising percentage of obese people).

The factory farming industry certainly deserves their share of blame for this affect on the public.  They are, after all, the ones who are actively participating in the abhorrent practices that we all have come to see in Food, Inc. and subsequent research.  However, the food industry doesn't shoulder all of the blame.  The legislators making laws in the U.S. that either encourage, or conveniently ignore, these practices does deserve criticism as well.

E-Cig starter guide...Follow-up post...

For those of you who read my previous post about my switch from traditional, tobacco cigarettes (aka analogues) to electronic-cigarettes (aka e-cigs), I wanted to make a follow-up post with a few different set-ups for people to get started.  The first 2 will be lower cost options that function very well, and the final option is more expensive.  For each, I will give a little description of the reasoning behind the recommendation.

Smoking... Switching from Analogue to Digital...

I thought this was the funniest of the no-smoking pictures...
In a morbid kind of humor...

For the past 2 weeks, my family and I have been attempting to plan a trip to Casper, Wyoming, where the majority of my Dad's-side of the family lives, specifically his father... my last grandparent.

About a month ago, he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer, which has since spread to his spine, liver, kidneys and bones (which, apparently, is the point when the doctors start talking about quality of life, because the quantity is just about ZERO). In addition to his quickly degrading condition, time is NOT on our side because our family doesn't get "normal" cancer... we get the Navy-Seal-Team-6 cancer: It strikes hard, and it strikes fast.

• My Mother's-Father died in 1997... Lung Cancer.
• My Mother's-Mother died in 2001... Emphysema
• My Father's-Mother died in 2003... Lung Cancer
• My Father's-Father WILL die in 2013... Lung Cancer

All from smoking cigarettes.

For most people, that would be enough to swear off cigarettes and fantasize about all tobacco companies going bankrupt.  However, as the saying goes, the acorn does not fall from the genetic tree...

so, I'm happy to say that I am WAS a smoker.  I had my last cigarette at 7:53 AM on Monday, March 25th, 2013.

Now, I am a VAPER.  I've been using e-cigarettes for the past 9 months while smoking tobacco cigarettes, and I've finally made the full transition away from tobacco.

#3. Human Dystopia?

Upon watching this video, I frankly did not understand why it was titled "Human DYSTOPIA."  I'm pretty certain that the person who uploaded the video did not either a. know how to spell utopia, or b. understand what the word dystopia means.

Speaking With More Than Your Words...

This post has been brought to you by The Home Depot and Skrillex.

I'm in deep in the midst of remodeling my spare bedroom.  Currently, this room serves as my home-office, but it will soon become my home-office/man-cave/audio-recording studio... So, here I am on blogger, literally waiting for paint to dry, and distracting myself from the obvious need to CLEAN.

So... Much... Mess...

So far, I've painted the back wall black (the tape marks indicate where the sound deadening panels and decoration will go), framed and began installing drywall in the opening between my office and the living room (the drywall will be finished when the door is installed), built my desk (if you can see it beneath the mess), and wall mounted a TV.

2 coats of Behr Paint and Primer...
I'm glad that I spent the extra
$10 to get Behr instead of Glidden

Progress is being made, but I cannot help wishing everything was finished.  Side note: when a furniture company says that your brand new couch will be delivered on XYZ date... don't believe them... they LIE.

First time framing a wall...
I impressed myself.

Without further adieu, here's my post on body language!