The FDA banned flavored cigarettes recently. There is still some debate/discussion about whether or not it will apply to Djarums (Clove cigarettes).
John Geoghegan, director of brand development for Moorpark, Calif.-based Kretek International, said the private company has been “puzzled about (the ban) since the very beginning” because clove cigarettes constitute less than 1 percent of cigarettes sold in the U.S.
It doesn’t seem very logical to me that people would start smoking with cloves. Not only are they expensive, they comprise a very small portion of the overall market. It seems more likely that people would start smoking with any of the “light” cigarettes or with menthols (which are not banned). If they really wanted to discourage smoking, the easiest way to do it would be continue raising taxes.
I apologize in advance to any vegans looking at this page. You may not want to read any further.
I have gained a ton of weight while working in Arkansas. Ok, maybe it is not quite a ton, but definitely >10 lbs. This is probably the result of eating too many “Cheddar Bombs.” I have blogged about this before. But in case you didn’t see my earlier post, a Cheddar Bomb is a 1/3 pound of hamburger covered with 1/4 – 1/2 lb of cheese.
(11:53:59 AM) Sal Darji: How much cheese is on a cheddar bomb?
(11:54:02 AM) Sal Darji: 1/4 lb?
(11:55:07 AM) Aaron Gresko: Probably
(11:55:24 AM) Aaron Gresko: It is so nasty
(11:55:28 AM) Aaron Gresko: and delicious
I’m not sure about the total amount of cheese, but it overflows the burger and covers an entire plate. You have to cut up the cheese and stack it on top of the burger, like Ralph Schaffner has done below.
Procter & Gamble’s lawyers claimed at a May hearing that Pringles don’t look like a chip, don’t feel like a chip, and don’t taste like a chip, according to the judgment. They also claim the snack isn’t made like a chip since it is cooked from baked dough, not potato slices.
Uh…I’m pretty sure that once you try Pringle’s new-fangled potato chips, other potato chips just don’t stack up.
The total number of beds in hospitals has declined steadily from 1,465,828 in 1975 to 946,997 in 2005. Surprisingly, the occupancy rate has also declined from 76.7 to 69.3 in the same period.
Our national health expenditures went from 27.5 billion dollars in 1960 to 1,987.7 billion in 2005.
In 2005, our health expenditures as a percentage of our GDP was 15.3%. Canada’s was 9.9%. France’s was 10.5%. Germany’s was 10.6% Iceland’s was 10.2%. Correspondingly, our per capita health expenditure was higher than every other country listed.
Marijuana use by seniors in high school has declined from 33.7 percent in 1980 to 18.3 percent in 2006.
The number of people considered obese has gone from 13 percent in the 1960s to 34 percent in 2004. 67 percent fall into the overweight or obese category today.
I’ve been sitting on the bench, waiting for a new project to be assigned to me. Since I am not in Bentonville, I have been eating a lot healthier. Also, it keeps snowing here, so I keep shoveling out the driveway. This is how I lost three pounds in the last week.
I may be going back to Bentonville again in January. If I do, I will try very hard to eat healthier and get some real exercise.
One of my favorite places to shop in Massachusetts is Ocean State Job Lot. If you live near one, I highly recommend you go check out their deals. Most of it is unnecessary crap, but they usually have a great selection of staples. Occasionally, there is an item that you need at half the price you’d find elsewhere.
I was in there the other day looking for some things for Tracey‘s workshop yesterday and I found something on my Christmas list at a significant discount. I found a Taylor Digital Scale with a body fat analyzer. The scale was $20 at Ocean State, but is $35 on Amazon. The body fat analyzer is supposed to be used as an estimate, but the actual scale is very precise. It is much more precise than my $5 Ikea scale – that is for sure.
My scale tells me that I way 13 pounds more than I did before I went to Arkansas. And on top of that, I have approximately 24-25% body fat. I need to start working out and eating healthier, and I hope I can bring that down to 15%…which is considered healthy for my age and height.
I had lunch at this place called “J’Bo’s” today. J’Bos is one of our regular lunch places. Their signature dish is called the “Cheddar Bomb.” (btw, cheddar bomb is something quite different in the urban dictionary.) The cheddar bomb is a 1/3 pound hamburger with a 1/4 pound of cheese on it. It is served with a side of cheese fries. Although I have had that once before, I went with a regular burger.
Tonight was our team dinner. The team chose to go to a Brazilian Churrascaria. When I was working at KPMG, one of my clients did not have any extra office space. They signed an agreement to have the auditors sit in a Mexican Churrascaria in the building. I listened to really bad Mexican music on a very unergonomic chair for a few weeks. I left with a backache and a distaste for the Big Four. I hate Churrascarias now, but I decided to go with the flow rather than fighting it.
Arkansas is a pretty obese state. According to this article, it is tied for ninth place in a list of fattest states. It is very unhealthy for me to keep consulting here. The food is very good and very unhealthy. I get little or no exercise while I am here, since I choose to play golf rather than go to the gym. It is very hard to pass up free golf.
All of the bad choices I have made has had two effects. I now weigh 10 pounds more than when I started this project 9 months ago. Secondly, I have two extra inches of body fat around my waist.
I need to start making healthier choices and start exercising more.
I have been getting some really bad headaches lately. I believe that my eyeglass prescriptions may be out of date. It is really tough to find a decent pair of glasses that are covered by my insurance in Bentonville Arkansas. Delivery time on a set of glasses here is up to a week.
I had a few options. The first is just to suck it up and buy a pair of glasses that will last me two years. The second is to buy a cheap pair of glasses without insurance that will save my eyesight until I can get a decent pair. Lastly, I could shell out the 300+ bucks it would cost to get replacement lenses for my current pair.
I found a pair of 70 dollar glasses that are reasonably wearable. I hope to get them next week.
All these headaches and my bad eyesight reminded me of the classic Richard Pryor/Gene Wilder movie, “Hear no evil, see no evil“. It was one of my ex-roommate-from-high-school’s favorite movies. I’m heading back for my HS reunion this weekend so I guess that is another reason why I have been thinking of it. It’s a good comedy and it’s highly recommended by me.
I have way too many projects on my plate right now. I am trying to buy some camping gear for some hiking in Northwest Arkansas. I have to rebuild Tracey’s Website. I have to do my taxes. And lastly, I really want to put together a server to share my photographs and music with people.
I have plans to hang out with my brother (go see 300), Nadine (co-worker who is moving to Mpls), and Tonya (coffee) at some point.
