Eat $#!@, not that!

It’s the evolution of men’s magazines snatching my money.

I’ve read Men’s Health magazine for many years now and I became interested when I heard of the concept of “Eat this, not that,” and the books that were released. These books showed an easy way to avoid eating half a day’s worth of calories in one sitting when eating at a restaurant. However, I have someissues when that way of thinking is applied to the holidays.

First, let me quickly talk about the “Eat this, not that” books. They’re basically books that compare similar foods and informs you of the choice with less calories.

The comparison of calories opened my eyes to the kind of stuff I put into my body. A Big Mac has over 200 calories less than a Whopper? It’s still not great since 540 calories is still pretty bad for a sandwich in a meal. I found out through further investigation that a Whopper Jr. with no cheese and no mayo is only 290 calories. Also, a small order of Burger King fries is 340 calories, about 50 calories more than the special made Whopper Jr. So eating two Whopper Jr.’s with no cheese and no mayo with a diet Coke is “healthier” than a small Whopper Jr. meal.

Of course, the smarter idea would be to make a healthier lunch or break out a Lean Cuisine, but that is not always practical, and there’s only so many times one can stomach Subway sandwiches. The same goes for breakfast.

How the hell can an Egg McMuffin be 170 calories less than a plain bagel with cream cheese? These books can have some boggling facts about food. I can’t even look at Chili’s the same way again.

One plate can have almost a thousand calories more than the other. That’s crazy, bro. That’s crazy.

However, the issue I have with the idea is that it should be followed throughout the holidays. I don’t think that would work, not because it’s impossible to follow, but maybe it shouldn’t be followed. Look, I know it’s important to watch what you eat and there’s an obesity epidemic, but I don’t think that cutting out traditional food is going to solve the problem. I saw a holiday edition of these books, which is understandably smaller than the other books and for some reason I can’t find a photo of it, but most people put on a few pounds during the Christmas season anyway.

I know Egg Nog is unhealthy, but I still drink it. I don’t drink it everyday and I only drink it in December. I’m not going to only drink Hot Chocolate and forgo Egg Nog. That’s crazy, bro.

I think the idea of New Year’s Resolutions came from some loser clown who overheard a conversation. Two people were probably talking about going to the gym after New Years in order to lose the added weight and the eavesdropper probably thought it was a year long plan for the New Year. Antisocial losers like that causes all kinds of problems.

Facebook is going to be the next big thing?

People are going to do what they’re going to do on the holidays and that includes drinking up a storm, eating all kinds of fatty comfort foods, and eat lots of sweets. As long as one doesn’t pig out the whole year and at least makes an attempt to ease on the fat intake, it’s okay to let go on the holidays. Aren’t these celebrations supposed to be about fun?

I think it is.

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#@$%!!!!!

What the hell? Twenty-four straight days of posting (mostly) and then I miss most of December? Well, there’s two reasons why I’ve been silent on WordPress and I think they’re pretty much legit.

1)   Needed a break from the daily posts.

I never did a Thanksgiving countdown before and I wanted to give it some justice. I could have easily posted a picture with a comment on most days, and I have seen other blogs do things like that. I don’t knock those blogs at all, but I wanted to do a little bit more. I wanted to post something that web surfers would actually want to read. I figured that a post around 500 words would be best for well-rounded articles. Sometimes I had to write and post them in one sitting, which include the time sucking tasks of searching and editing of pictures. Don’t get me wrong though because I’m certainly not complaining or whining about the task. I actually had fun with the posts but they can be draining. After my last post, I was a little bit sad that it was over, yet I was mentally exhausted. My word count for the month was at least over 10,000. I’m not used to writing so much.

2)   Hell bound Semester.

I just finished the first semester of my senior year in college and while the Major classes are usually winding down at that time, I took a senior seminar class in Philosophy. I had a full schedule which included another Philosophy class, the second Spanish course, and Piano I. I still don’t know what the hell I was thinking when I made the class schedule. Hell, I am not graduating with honors, so the senior seminar wasn’t even necessary.

Yes, there were many So-Crates jokes.

In addition, I suck at Spanish. I took the first class my freshman year and then waited until my senior year to take the second. Yeah, I know, stupid me. And as an elective, I took Piano I since I have a keyboard that is collecting dust. That was pretty fun since I did not know much of anything with pianos and now I can play and read several songs. As fun as learning piano is, it definitely takes discipline. I had to make sure I practiced at least an hour every day or else it would show that I slacked off when I played the exercise in front of the class every week. Pressure!

I’m coming for you, Yanni! Betta watch yo back!

This coming semester should be a piece of cake since I finished my Majors and now have to take BullShizzle classes. Still, with all the bad choices I made for myself when it comes to college workload, I’m surprised I don’t have a drug or alcohol problem. I’ll have a beer once in a while to take off the edge but it’s obvious I don’t think ahead when making choices. I mean, I did decide to do a Thanksgiving countdown with an insane amount of course work due.

Finally, I’ve been following other blogs that have Christmas themed posts, messing with my new Nintendo 3DS, and reading books. I slowed down drastically with Television because of my school business and have to catch up on Christmas classics. Talk to you later.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Holy crap, I made it. I really thought I was gonna quit this countdown halfway through, especially with the hectic schedule that I have now. Heck, I have to turn in a 4000 word paper six days from today on Utilitarianism and Information Technology and all I did so far was just get links together. Truly, I think I was able to finish the month because I wrote some of the articles in September and October.

Also, about halfway through, I started wondering if this countdown was an over saturation of Thanksgiving. Was this too much Thanksgiving? It’s hard for me to tell because that’s all you think about when working on daily posts about one subject. It was hard work, but I’m sad it’s over. If anything, the countdown let me celebrate one of my most favorite holidays and I feel like I gave it props while everyone else is roasting chestnuts and counting down the days till Christmas.

The daily posting also got me used to writing all the time. I’m not too worried about writing that Philosophy paper I mentioned above and I will probably post more regularly than ever. Maybe I can learn to schedule better than writing at 3am Thanksgiving morning.

I can’t help it though. I’ve been busy all day and I will be busy the whole day on Thanksgiving. I’ll be leaving my home at 2pm with my family to visit the in-laws in Montclair, NJ. It’s about 45 minutes from where I’m at but you know how the traffic will be.

Well, might as well break out the baked macaroni.

It’s possible that we could arrive at our destination at 4pm, which is when guests are expected. Then there’s a chance that we could be there up to five hours, just BS’ing and whatever, and it also depends on how much I drink and how long I have to wait until I’m under the limit.

It’s funny though because my wife and I are used to making our own Thanksgiving dinner. We get a free turkey at the local supermarket cause we spend enough money there in October and November to reach the smallest amount required for the turkey deal. So, we’re going to the in-laws today and then we’re cooking our own meal on Friday. It may sound crazy to some, but that’s what we’ve done the last few years and it’s totally worth it. Not one, but two Thanksgivings. Sweet.

If they didn’t have those turkey sales, I would probably be inclined to buy a crossbow and stalk my neighborhood streets for some birds. No, I’m not looking for pidgins. My neighborhood happens to have wild turkeys running around. They’re mostly by the nearby hospital, but they wander off. I’ve seen then right on my block several times.

Pic taken with my phone.

They can be a real pest too. They get in front of traffic and stand there like a turkey in headlights. You can’t just kill them either. You would need a hunting license (which the city won’t give) to catch them. It wouldn’t matter if you were starving or anything like that.

I don’t hate the birds. They’re kinda cool to see, especially if they’re walking with their babies. The problem is that no one curbs their reproducing. There can be a lot of them at times. Some dude got arrested for trapping some even though they kept damaging his property. That blows.

The authorities should take at least some of the turkeys for food. There are a lot of broke families in New York City who may not have a proper Thanksgiving. Imagine that. No turkey or stuffing while everyone else is eating it (mostly). I’ve always had a Thanksgiving and not having one must be the worst. This is one of the reasons why I always check out food charities around this time of year. It may seem silly to some, but I think it’s terrible not to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving because you can’t, not because you won’t. There are charities everywhere and there’s one in NYC called FeedingNYC. These people wake up early to get to the packing area at 6am on Thanksgiving to set up boxes of food to deliver around the city.

These people are hardcore. They work 13 hours on Thanksgiving for free and finish at 7pm. Although it is a nice gesture, I doubt I’ll do that. But you could always give to their cause or to a similar local food charity. Help give others something to be thankful for.

I’m a busy person on Thanksgiving, but I know there are others who don’t do anything on the holiday cause they have nothing to do. It’s widely known that suicides rise during the holidays. If I had no one, I would volunteer to help deliver food on Thanksgiving because helping others is a good feeling and they all seem like cool people.

One last point; I hit a milestone recently during the countdown. November 13th was the second anniversary of this blog here. I was so busy with many things that I forgot to acknowledge the date. I didn’t really have anything planned and truthfully, I didn’t post that many updates. Still, I believe my writing has improved ten fold since I started this, and I wanted to give tributes to certain subjects along the way (which I have).

As of this point, I don’t see any reason to end the blog. I don’t have a large amount of readers but I get at least over 30 views a post. That means at least a few people find what I write interesting. Another weird thing I didn’t expect was the emotional attachment for the blog that slowly grew over time. Even if no one was reading this, I would miss doing this and would probably be upset. I probably would get better at Call of Duty, but I think there’s more freedom writing to my blog.

So, this is the end to the Thanksgiving countdown. I don’t know if I’ll do it again next year cause it can be hard to find a month’s worth of things to write about for one holiday. I’ll let the comments decide for me. Let me know if the countdown was Good, Meh, or “don’t quit your day job.”

I had fun.

Happy Thanksgiving. Eat up and be safe.

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