Today I was invited to run trails with a friend.  However, the trails were covered in loose gravel.  Ouch.  My feet are tender.  However, I’m hoping my feet will toughen to the point where gravel won’t bother me.

Overall, I really enjoy the Vibram Five Finger shoes.  They cause me to run the way my body was designed to run.  Shoes allow me to lengthen my stride to land on my heals.  However, this causes my knees and quad leg muscles to absorb the impact.  Each landing causes my legs to absorb more impact that should be partially absorbed by the structure of my feet.  Regular running shoes restrict the feet from doing their job.  Therefore, we run with an un-natural gate.  Running barefoot of with minimalistic shoes force us to run with a gate for which we were designed.  This natural gate prevents injury and causes me to run more efficiently.

My goal this Summer is to only run with the Vibram Five Finger shoes.  So far, I’m off to a good start.

No way.  Why?

• It may inspire bin Laden supporters to lash out even more.
• The photos will be on the cover of every newspaper and TV news program. I don’t want my children to accidentally see the photos of someone shot in the head.
• If the Obama administration is lying(I don’t think they are), they have the ability to create some very realistic fake images of a dead Osama bin Laden. A photo is not not good proof that he is dead.

The Obama administration is smart enough to know that if they are not 100% Osama bin Laden is dead, and then he appears alive, it would be very damaging to Obama’s presidency and the United States.  I believe Osama bin Laden is dead and I don’t need a photo for proof.

Dumping bin Laden’s body in the ocean was a good idea.  It meant that bin Laden’s supporters cannot use his body or location of burial as a shrine and it closes the door on any further investigation on what happened.  Further assurance that Osama bin Laden will be unable to continue his terrorism from the grave.  The less Osama bin Laden in this World the better.

Oswego Election 2011

Iowa wrestler defaults rather than face girl – chicagotribune.com.

“Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” – President John F. Kennedy

The attitude of which JFK is speaking is what made this country great. However, fewer and fewer people have this attitude.   People need strive to become assets to our country and not burdens, parasites.  This is how our country is going to stay a great nation.

So call your elected officials and tell them, cut the budget and raise our taxes till it hurts.  Because this is how we are going to stop our self destructive behavior. We want a strong United States for our children to enjoy and I’m willing to make sacrifices for that to happen.

Sinus Infections

Many many people suffer from chronic sinus infections.  About every couple months I would contract a sinus infection that would reduce the quality of my life.  This past September I visited my doctor hoping to get a course of antibiotics to cure a sinus infection.  However, I got something better – he taught me how to cure and, more importantly, prevent sinus infections.  After following his advice, I have avoided a sinus infection this Winter, so far.

I get sinus infections during allergy season and after a cold.  The following practices during these times have prevented me from getting a sinus infection this year.

1. Rinse my sinuses twice a day – When I brush my teach in the morning and evening, I also rinse my sinuses.  Some people use a neti pot, but I can’t rinse my sinuses well enough.  I use a Sinus Rinse from Neilmed .  It really cleans out the sinuses quickly and easily.  I ran out of the salt packets that came with the bottle so now I just use table salt directly from the large salt container.  Rinsing the sinuses with salt water does two things.  One, it gets ride of the junk in my sinuses and two, bacteria can’t grow in salt water.
2. During times of allergies and colds I take pseudoephedrine (Sudafed). The 12 hour one works best for me. It keeps my sinuses clear of congestion. I usually buy the store brand, but in Illinois it’s behind the counter at the Pharmacy.  Because it’s used to make meth, it has to be sign your name to buy it and show an ID.  The stuff on the shelf labelled “PE” doesn’t work nearly as well.
3. I also take Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) at night before I go to bed. I buy the store brand at Costco.  The psuedoephedrine prevents me sleeping well.  So the Diphenhydramine helps me sleep and also dries out my sinuses at night.
4. I coat my nostrils with petroleum jelly before going to bed.  It helps to keep my nostrils from getting dry and cracked.
5. Drink lots of water.  Drinking water is good for everything.

That’s it.  Not only have a dodged sinus infections.  I’ve less colds and the ones I have had have been shorter.

The man, looking shocked, says, “Yahoo”.

The dolphin responds, “Oh, I see.”  Then begins to turn to swim away.

The man says, “Wait!” As the dolphin stops and turns again towards the man, the man asks, “Where did you learn to talk?”

The dolphin responds, “Yahoo”.

The dolphin swims away leaving the man in even greater shock.

The Internet is awesome.  The knowledge I find on the Internet has saved me lots of time and money.

Just this morning, I was planning on spending the day fixing our dishwasher that stopped working two days ago.  The lights were displaying on the buttons, but  cycle wouldn’t start.  A quick search on Google I found this page, within about 30 seconds, which described  the symptoms exactly along with several answers.

After spending a few minutes reading the page, I walked over to the dishwasher and pressed a few buttons. Voila! The dishwasher now works.  Before the Internet, I would have had to hire a repair person for $50 to $100 to come to my house to press the buttons.

I have many other stories where the collective shared knowledge of the Internet community has saved me time, money and frustration.  My advice to you next time you have a problem. First pray the Lord helps you find a solution.  Then spend a few moments educating yourself using a few Google searches.  You be surprised how quickly you can solve your problems.