True confession time, friends. Potty Blogger does not use a toilet seat cover every time he sits down to make the poops.
Don’t judge me.
Sometimes, I’m in a hurry and seconds count. Other times, I simply prefer the cold hard industrial plastic to the crinkle of the tissue paper. (Something about the paper reminds me of a doctor’s office visit. Is it just me?)
And really, how much protection does that flimsy strip provide? I mean, if the potty crabs are out, they’re going to find a way into your bottom casa, aren’t they?
Anyhoo, I would guess my ratio is probably 60-40, plastic to paper.
But the other day, I was faced with an etiquette question. Potty Blogger entered fourth floor men’s room and headed for the penthouse stall. A colleague was finishing his business at one of the urinals and said hello as he headed toward the sink.
When I got into the penthouse, I was faced with the question: do I just sit down and commence download or do I now need to make a rather elaborate show of pulling out the seat cover, making sure that my colleague overhears my effort? Do I need to send an audible signal that I am, in fact, not a disgusting pig?
I buckled to peer pressure, pulled out the cover and made a few overly-dramatic flourishes and crinkles that surely telegraphed "I am a clean teen."
My colleague left with his delicate sensibilities in tact. But my session felt like a trip to the doctor’s office. The things we do for other people.
Tuna fart
Let’s be honest, dear readers. Fourth floor men’s room is a pretty nice place.
This is the men’s room that is most frequently used but the men whose names are on the building. That sort of clientele means that you’re not usually going to find a rogue deposit sitting around unattended. That’s why this men’s room is a destination of choice for those with discriminating tastes.
But even fourth floor men’s room is not immune to the occasional bio-terror attack.
This morning, upon opening the door to fourth floor men’s room, Potty Blogger’s nose was assaulted with what can only be described as...tuna fart.
Not one of those personal serving snack size cans of tuna. We’re talking about one of those I-own-a-small-sandwich-shop-down-on-Kearny-and-go-to-Costco-for-those-bigger-than-your-head-cans of tuna.
It was a smell that made me feel bad for both tuna and farts.
Be strong, friends. Be strong.
This is the men’s room that is most frequently used but the men whose names are on the building. That sort of clientele means that you’re not usually going to find a rogue deposit sitting around unattended. That’s why this men’s room is a destination of choice for those with discriminating tastes.
But even fourth floor men’s room is not immune to the occasional bio-terror attack.
This morning, upon opening the door to fourth floor men’s room, Potty Blogger’s nose was assaulted with what can only be described as...tuna fart.
Not one of those personal serving snack size cans of tuna. We’re talking about one of those I-own-a-small-sandwich-shop-down-on-Kearny-and-go-to-Costco-for-those-bigger-than-your-head-cans of tuna.
It was a smell that made me feel bad for both tuna and farts.
Be strong, friends. Be strong.
Why A STD Dating Site Is Awesome To Meet Someone!
After all, STD rates are excelerating, and presumably, a lot of that has to do with the fact that our sexual partners are either completely in the dark about the fact that they are infected, or worse, lying when they say they're "clean," so to speak.
Conversely, the members of STD Love are responsible enough to keep up-to-date on their medical status, and courageous and honest enough to be totally up front about it, all traits that everyone is looking for in a intimate romantic partner.
Read more »
The Workout the World Forgot
It's called Natural Movement -- or "MovNat" in its French abbreviation. I admit that before last night I had never heard of what has been called "humankind's oldest, trickiest, and most indispensable physical disciplines." Writing for Men's Health magazine, Christopher McDougall has a terrific article on this beautifully primal training method.
Describing its beginnings, McDougall writes:
In 1902, Georges Hebert was a 27-year-old French naval officer stationed on the Caribbean island of Martinique. On May 8 of that year, he was aboard a ship off the coast when an ominous plume began rising from Mont Pelee, the volcano looming over Saint-Pierre, Martinique's largest city. Sometime around 8 a.m., Pelee erupted, raining hot ash and sizzling rocks on the horrified population. Molten lava gushed down the slope and spread through the streets in fiery streams, igniting everything in its path. Swarms of pit vipers poured off the mountain to flee the searing heat, tangling in the feet of fleeing people and biting at their legs. In minutes, the Paris of the Caribbean had turned into an absolute hell.
Into this inferno plunged Hebert. Leading his troops ashore, he scouted out viable escape routes and waded into the panicky crowds, trying to shepherd them to safety. By the time the eruptions ceased, fewer than 700 people had survived, many thanks to Hebert's improvised rescue operation.
While touted as a hero, Hebert couldn't help but focus on those lives lost in the incident.
The modern world, Hebert believed, was producing hollow men who focused on appearance and forgot about function. At the same time, they stopped exercising with the wildness of kids and instead insulated themselves from risk. The cost, he felt, was far more destructive than they might think.
Motivated to do what he could to realign our fitness philosophy, Hebert convinced the French navy to put him in charge of conditioning for a class of its recruits. Using the recruits as guinea pigs, he incubated a system he called Methode Naturelle -- the Natural Method. Hebert preached a simple philosophy -- "Be strong to be useful" -- and focused on 10 essential skills: walking, running, jumping, walking on all fours, climbing, balancing, throwing, lifting, defending, and swimming.
Next, Hebert set to work on an outdoor training facility. He designed it to look like a giant playground, equipping it with climbing towers, vaulting horses, sandpits, and ponds. Scattered about were rocks and logs and long poles to be used for throwing, or balancing, or passing hand-to-hand while running, or anything else an athlete dreamed up at the moment. Hebert had only one firm rule: No competing. When you try to beat the other guy, he believed, you test the other man's weaknesses and not your own.
Within a few years, Hebert's "Be Useful" system was adopted by the entire French navy. In 1913, speaking before the French Physical Education Congress, he astounded them with the results of tests he'd performed on 350 navy recruits. On a rating system that scored performance according to strength, speed, agility, and endurance, French sailors ranked with world-class decathletes.
The time had come to take Methode Naturelle to the world. Hebert handpicked an elite team of trainers and prepared them to spread the word throughout Europe, Asia, and America. But before they scattered, the First World War erupted. Because of their superb physical conditioning and dedication to service, the men of Methode Naturelle were deployed in frontline positions against German troops armed with machine guns and poison gas. By the end of the war, the trainers were all dead or maimed. Hebert was heartbroken, but not surprised. Methode Naturelle was never about trying to live forever -- it was about trying to make a difference before you died. (all emphasis mine)
And if that's not enough to get you motivated, read the entire article and/or check out this promo video.
(Feed readers click through for video)
McDougall continues:
A smart body, he explains, knows how to convert force and speed into an almost endless menu of practical movements. Hoisting yourself onto a pole may seem as trivial as a circus stunt, but if you're ever caught in a flood or fleeing an attacking dog, elevating your body 5 feet off the ground could mean the difference between safety and sorrow.
And with that one word -- "practical" -- Le Corre exposes a key weakness in modern exercise: Our workouts are domesticated, while the world out there is still plenty wild. In a pinch, can a man put gym-generated biceps and tank-tread abs to any real use? Could it be that our treadmill-running, elliptical-gliding, well-oiled Cybex world has turned us into show dogs who can't hold our own in the hunt?
"I meet men all the time who can bench 400 pounds but can't climb up through a window to pull someone from a burning building," Le Corre says. "I know guys who can run marathons but can't sprint to anyone's rescue unless they put their shoes on first. Lots of swimmers do laps every day but can't dive deep enough to save a friend, or know how to carry him over rocks and out of the surf."
...
"Being fit isn't about being able to lift a steel bar or finish an Ironman," Le Corre says... "It's about rediscovering our biological nature and releasing the wild human animal inside."
I don't know about you, but I feel like climbing a tree. Where do I sign up?
Who Can Argue with Health Care for Children?
Not to get too political, but I found this post from the Men's Health Office quite interesting.
What are your thoughts on the subject? Are you skeptical of increased government intervention in the health care system in this country? Optimistic?
Last month President Obama signed a bill that adds nearly $33 billion to the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The program will insure 11 million children in lower-income families. Health care for children - who can argue with that? It makes sense, and is obviously the right thing to do. But as with so many good ideas out of Washington that turn sour, the devil will be in the details. My worry, based on past experience, is just how this may actually back-fire and end up hurting children. "But how can that happen?' you ask. Let's look at past government attempts at caring for children.
In Hawaii they came up with what sounded like a good idea - provide health care to all children in the state. Seems like a no-brainer. But it failed and failed miserably.
Continue reading...
What are your thoughts on the subject? Are you skeptical of increased government intervention in the health care system in this country? Optimistic?
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