Random thoughts from a conservative democrat

First off, I actually have considered myself as a Republican for a long time. I am a strong believer in a small government and fiscal responsibility. Unfortunately, since the 1980's on, the Democrats seem to be more in line with some of my viewpoints.

Abortion
I personally abhor the thought of abortion. And from some of the feelings I have heard from people who I have known that received one, it was not an easy choice. Many Neo-Cons(modern day Republicans) make it seem like women use abortion as a method of birth control and the decision of getting skim or lowfat milk is a harder one to make than the choice of the abortion. Not true. I will not go into the finer points of a family's decision of why or why not they chose abortion. As part of my belief in small government, I believe the decision belongs with the family. It is not my business and it is not the business of the government to regulate family choices.

Gay Rights
This one affects me personally. Again, like the abortion section, the government should not have a say as to who I fall in love with or deny me the same benefits that a heterosexual couple can receive. All that matters is that two consenting adults enter into this contract. We are not demanding that all heterosexual people are required to get gay-married. We are not demanding of anything of anyone else outside of equal recognition. And to this day, all we get is "The Bible says..." as the excuse that homosexual couples should not be allowed to be married. This is in violation of the First Amendment since it would be stating that this country is favoring Judeo-Christian beliefs.

Fiscal Responsibility
This is one that has always chaffed my hind. Our country is allowing itself to fall into debt in both Trade Balances and Budget. It is hard to stay ahead of the Trade Balance issue since you would have to manufacture goods that other countries would want. Americans are cheap ass tight wads when it comes to spending. Yet, at the same time, they have the trophy holder mentality. I have to have the best this or the most of that. Since American workers require a set level of pay, we then contract out portions of the work to third world or low-end first world countries. America, once a major player in the realm of televisions, textiles and farming has become more of an importer now...losing the ability to manufacture or improve on the existing goods. With more importing comes more trade imbalance.

The second half of this is a Balanced Budget. I cannot stand Republicans pushing for multiple wars at the same time as pushing for tax breaks for high income earners. I am for giving people a break in their taxes when we can. I am for war when the last options for peaceful resolution have failed. But you cannot have both. Modern wars use a lot of specialized equipment with servicemen who require even more training than before. This costs money. To be brutally honest, it costs a shit-ton of money. So, if we are going to wage wars, we need to keep taxes higher to pay for them. At least until we can get back to the days of President Clinton's budget surplus.


But, that ends my rant for today.

Transportation Models

I always thought that Operations and Production Management was a neat side item to my IT degree. The things you can do once you know the algorithm to solve a problem is always pretty neat. But, I have prepared a lesson on how using Transportation Models.

Transportation Model Lesson

Weekly Weight Goals

Well... I stepped on the scales today. I weighed in at 247.6 with a BMI of 30.4(Obese). From last week's weigh-in of 248.8, this was a 0.32% weight loss. My goal was to hit 22.5 BMI by the end of December, which means I need to weigh a little under 183.7 by December 31st. To meet that goal, I need to lose about 1.25 pounds per week. I did barely meet that goal, and while the weight loss was in a good direction, I do need to step up my game a little.

A New Year...

Well.. 2011 has rolled around. Not much to say about it outside of trying a few resolutions, which are subject to modification, deletion or addition as the year goes on.

#1. I will get at least 7 hours of sleep a night.

This means that on workdays, I must be in bed by 11. I am very bad about this with rolling into bed late, sometimes after midnight. Then I wake up groggy, weary and annoyed. This also has negative impacts on health. So, By getting sleep, I am hoping to make sure I don't get sick and hopefully have some energy to work out once in a while.

#2. I must ensure I take my gout medication every day.

This is very important. I am very bad about doing stuff in a routine. Gout causes a lot of pain when it strikes, and it pretty much hobbles me for a month or two. This means that I can't exercise since any movement of my feet is excruciating and I wind up just sitting or laying down all day. So, if I take my medication for it, I hopefully will not have another attack which should make me a happier person in addition to being able to do things.

#3. Commit myself to losing weight.

Exercise is very difficult. Due to gout attacks tearing up the joints in my feet, walking can be uncomfortable at times, but running is pretty painful. This means that rugby is permanently out for me. I have found I can still participate in hockey since I do not need to be able to run and the tarsal joints don't get flexed. But I am so out of shape right now, I will have to start slow with walking and focusing on dietary changes. Eventually as I start to lose weight, I can consider biking or other low foot-impact exercises.

Currently, my current BMI is 30.6 which is classified as Obese. I want to be at 22.5 by the end of December which is in the upper portion of the Normal category. To achieve this, The quantitative portion of this goal is that I need to lose roughly 0.75 BMI points per month. This should be completely doable since it equates to less than 3 pounds per month.

#4. Start yoga.

I want to get into yoga for multiple reasons. The first is that I need the stress relief. The stress is bad for health and weight. This is especially true since I am a stress eater. But also, with me eventually getting back into hockey, I need the flexibility as a goaltender. I have become so inflexible over the years, it is not even funny.

There we have it. These are my 4 main goals for the year.