OK, so today isn’t the start of the new year, traditionally the time when we vow to change our slothful ways. It may not be the start of a new year, but you should think of it that way.
Starting today and continuing through the end of the year, our lives tend to change. This afternoon around 2, there’s the turkey, the dressing, the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the cranberry sauce, the pecan pie, the drooling, the nap. Repeat around 6 p.m. and again at 11. Figures very wildly on the total damage done on Thanksgiving Day, but the American Council on Exercise believes the typical American consumes 3,000 calories during the main meal and 4,500 calories over the course of the day. That’s more than twice the recommended daily caloric intake for the average American.read more
Early on during a backpacking trip a couple weeks ago I felt a cold coming on. Pulling my clogged-up and sniffling self out of the tent the second morning into a mid-30 degree chill, I thought I was going to have to pull the plug on my adventure. “If I can just make it to Hot Springs,” I told myself, “I can make it back to the car.”read more
OK, time for a current events quiz. What was the most disturbing aspect of a Goldsboro middle school principal’s decision to allow kids to earn grades by selling candy for a fundraiser. Was it:
a) That the parent advisory council that pitched the scheme felt so pressured to raise money to supplement programs once funded by the school district that they resorted to the candy-for-grades scheme?read more
Every Wednesday through Thanksgiving, GetGoingNC.com will feature a hike in North Carolina that just about anyone can do. It won’t be a long hike (though we may throw in a recommendation for going longer), it won’t be strenuous hike (there could be a hill-climb option as well). The hikes will be timed to coincide with the changing colors of fall. This week, the 1.5-mile Buckquarter Creek Trail in Eno River State Park.read more
While fact-checking (yes, bloggers fact check) a post that will appear next week, I ran across a curious aside noting that “the most fuel-efficient vehicle available — the bicycle” gets “30+ miles per burrito.”
Frankly, that seemed conservative to me. Granted, it was unclear whether the author was burning a basic 350-calorie burrito from the dollar menu or a higher-octane version, say, Moe’s 950-calorie Homewrecker. Still, an assertion was made. So I Googled “energy from a burrito.”read more