Sunday, August 31, 2008

Short -term physical goals

Perhaps these are not overly ambitious, but here are my goals for the end of September:

Able to do the following consecutively:
50 push-ups
12 pull ups
75 Furey Squats

The push-ups are about right on, the pulls ups I am unsure of (might be high) and the squats are probably low and I may revise it upwards.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

2 really IS better than 1!

A friend of mine came across a news item that she knew I would appreciate. You see, it turns out that 2 really IS better than one. At least when it comes to wives. The study looked at men older than 60 from 140 countries that practice polygamy and found that they lived an average of 12 percent longer than men from 49 monogamous nations, according to a report from the Times of India.

An interesting point, they looked at 140 nations, only 49 of them are monogamous? Our sensitive Judeo-Christian sense of propriety makes us think that monogamy is the norm, but it seems that it isn't. The study chalks up the difference in life span to the polygamous man having a greater reason to live. While that is possible I would suggest that a greater division of labor would also play a big part of the difference. A home requires X amount of work to maintain. X includes income from outside sources as well as upkeep of the homes via chores. Adding an another adult doesn't to the household doesn't mean that the work required is now X+X, rather it is X+Y with Y being only a fraction of Y. Furthermore there are more people to give upkeep meaning that each adult in the house has less to do than before.

The above affect could also apply to income. In modern, western, society the model has the man working a full time job, and often the wife has to hold down at least a part time job just to make ends meet. For simplicities sake, lets then assume that it takes 60 hours of outside income each week to maintain the household. If another wife was added who also worked 20 hours a week, this extra income would push them above merely the economic holding pattern that we see here in the West and is no doubt what others see across the world. Perhaps one of the women is particularly employable (or simply enjoys working) and the other wants to stay at home with the children? These are options available to a polygamous family which would likely reduce the stress placed upon each member, improving their quality of life.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Camping Trip #1

I took Lil Bear on an overnight camping trip friday night up at Mueller State Park. Mueller was a very large estate on the western flank of Pikes Peak that is full of gorgeous views, aspens and plenty of wildlife. You can find pics of our last hiking trip to Mueller here.

It was a last minute decision to go so I wouldn't say that I packed real well. Rather, I think I overpacked. Made it up there a little after 6pm on friday night and grabbed the very last camping spot. Got settled in and took off for some hiking. As it was getting dark we didn't head out too far or even take any trail smaller than an access road. But we did scare three deer (at least one buck) that scared us almost as much as we scared them. We hadn't seen them until they started running less than 30 yards from us and crashed thru the trees. After returning we laid out a blanket and snuggled up to look at the stars. We couldn't see a whole lot as there were clouds coming in and lightning brightening the sky. Turns out that the storm we were watching spawned a tornado at another popular campsite, Eleven Mile.

The morning brought clear skies and a happy boy. I attempted breakfast but burned it bad enough even I wouldn't eat it. So we snacked and headed out hiking again. This time we headed out on a single track and were treated to the site of a small turkey "family" of a mother and three half-grown chicks. We then scared a chipmunk that was racing back and forth across the trail gathering pine cones. We watched him for a while going back and forth, each time pausing briefly at the trail before dashing across. We finished up the trip with some time at the playground before heading back home.

All in all a wonderful trip and one that will hopefully be repeated soon.