The best caffeine?

Caffeine is not the real solution to being wide awake and perky.  Sleep and exercise is.  Apparently.  Who has time to exercise everyday?  Not me, cause I'm fucking lazy.  When I was exercising, I never felt really good afterwards.  I was tired and sweaty and was in need of a shower.  I didn't get to the end of exercising and felt good.  I didn't like it.  And who has it planned out to sleep for eight hours a night?  I try to, but end up staying awake until ten thirty or eleven and wake up at five thirty in the morning.  Not exactly eight hours of sleep.  So what do we do as people when we need more energy?  We drink caffeine.

I bring a thermos of coffee to work each day and people look at me like I'm some kind of nut for bringing that much coffee.  I make half a pot of coffee each day, drink a cup before work and bring the rest.  Drink a cup for my first break and usually have the rest at lunch time.  I say usually because there are days when I don't, but for the most part I do.  It saves on spending money on water or pop or whatever, but I also drink it because I enjoy coffee.  I enjoy the taste of it.  The caffeine is just an added bonus.  And it's a natural.  It comes from the coffee beans that the young children of Latin or South American slave over so I can enjoy it.    So it's natural and is proven to be good for you, but why don't more people drink it? 

Why are more people turning towards drinks like 5 hour energy, Monster, Red Bull, etc.?  Is it the marketing?  I know I see ads for energy drinks more often than for coffee and they advertise that they are better at keeping energy up than coffee.  I have a problem with it because it doesn't seem natural.  Here is a list of ingredients.  You'll notice some asterisk next to some of their claims to helping to keep the person taking it stay awake and energized.  And when you look at drinks like Red Bull and Monster, the majority of the ingredients are sugar or sugar-like products. 

Now, I know that sugar is a naturally occurring ingredient, but it is processed so much that it gets away from being natural.  Coffee beans are just roasted and ground.  That's it.  That's all.  And that's why coffee is better than energy drinks. 





Plus, douche bags sponsor energy drinks.  You don't want to be a douche, do you?

Not a good win

Now, don't get me wrong, this week's win against the Vikings was excellent.  It was exasperating, it was inspiring, it was stress inducing, it was only possible against the Vikings.  This is the pattern for the Vikings so far this year, and you know what, I'm not gonna complain.  The Vikings are 0-3 after blowing three straight games when leading big time at halftime.   

However, if the Lions were down by twenty to the world champion Green Bay Packers, they would have just poured it on and the Lions could have lost by thirty or more.  If they were playing the Pats and were down by twenty at the half, it could have been worse.  But it wasn't, thankfully.  I know that the Vikings are fast starters so far this year and can't close the game even against a college team, but the fact that the Lions had that many problems against a team that is so much worse than them, it's scary to think about what is gong to happen when they play good teams.

The big factor from what I saw was their inability to stop the running game.  I know it was against the best back in the game right now, but it was hard to watch what little bit I could when I was on lunch at work today.  I don't think Jim Schwartz will be happy with the way the team performed today, but a win's a win.





And I'll take them any way they come.   

A little letter

Dear NBA: 

Please don't reach an agreement.  The sports world is better without you and your spoiled whiny players. 

Sincerely yours,



Litzner

Life without cable

We went about a month without cable television.  And you know what?  I didn't really miss it.  Well, there were some aspects of it that I missed, but all in all, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been.  It's not like I sat in the corner in the fetal position because I was missing a show or a sporting event, but I was also looking forward to watching some stuff and then had an 'oh wait' moment.

It wasn't that big of a deal when we were down in Wichita because it just came with the apartment (one of the benefits of living in a nicer place) and it was always there.  We got accustom to having it and the shows we found and loved.  Up here in Woodbury, we're in a cheaper place and one thing that we have to pay for is the cable.  One of the problems you come to realize when you try to save money on a place you live is that you give up some nicer things.  Such as having a washer and dryer.  So instead of having a washer and dryer in the apartment, we have to pay through the nose for the cleaning of our clothes.  Thanks cheap apartment complex!  Maybe we should look into a laundromat.  Don't know if it would be cheaper, but what could it hurt?  

We debated on whether or not to get the cable, but in the end we found a cheapish deal for internet and cable so we went with it.  Once again, it's not like we needed it, it's just nice to have because you can only watch so many PBS specials before you start to need something mind numbing like a sporting event.  So it's nice to have again just to feel connected to the world again.  There is a little part of me that just wants to get rid of it all together, but what would be the point?  Maybe it would lead to reading more books?  Doubtful.  I think I would still flip through the channels looking for something to watch. 





It would just take less time because there would be less channels. 

What about books?

While we were getting the cable hooked up last week, we were talking with the cable guy about shows and movies.  Our movies are on display in our living room because, well, it makes sense that's where the television is.  We were waiting for the cable channels to update or whatever and just started talking about movies like we were long lost friends.  Movies are always the way to break ice amongst people who don't know each other very well.  People who like the same movies have a tendency to get along.  That's all well and good, but what about books?

If people take a look at your book collection, shouldn't there be something there that can spark a conversation?  For example, a very good friend of ours hates The Catcher in the Rye which happens to be my favorite book.  I connected with it in high school because I enjoyed the writing style and the main character that was disinterested in the world around him.  She didn't like it because the main character is a self absorbed, rich, shallow person who whines about his privileged life.  I am well aware of his privileged life, but wasn't focused on it.  And that is perfectly alright.  Everyone has the right to their opinion, especially if they are well thought out opinions like she has.  Totally respect that.  At the end of these discussions, I always feel mentally better because the discussion revolves around literature, not around the latest Michael Bay explosion-fest.


But that is the world we live in now.  The majority of people want to spend just two hours watching overpaid actors and actresses as opposed to taking some time to read a book.  For me, it takes weeks and weeks to read a book.  I'm a slow reader.  It always feels like an accomplishment finishing a book.  It's great to get to that last page and close the back cover and go find a new book to read.  With a movie, you feel a little bit of satisfaction when the end credits roll, but you never sit through them all.  And I guess at the end of it all it took one person pouring their heart and soul into a book as opposed to a movie..... 














Which employes more than a local hospital.