There is no doubt. These are difficult times; lost jobs, empty homes, shattered retirements and worse. It often feels as though we’re weighed down by the sheer size of the problems around us.

But last night I saw something that up until just a few months ago no one had ever seen and it lifted me. It was something that Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein never saw. And I suspect they would have traded their wealth, prestige and maybe even their lives for just a peek. It is a view into the distance, beyond the reach of our imaginations.

It’s Hubble. And it’s bringing us a breathtaking, mind-numbing view of the heavens. With all due respect to the Apollo moonshot, this must be the most amazing scientific achievement of our time. And that’s coming from someone so unfamiliar with science and the cosmos, it’s embarrassing to even lodge an opinion. And yet, when I took just a few moments to look at these remarkable images of massive heavenly bodies literally billions of miles from earth, I felt a sense of privilege, calm and wonder. The colors are amazing. The sheer breadth of the images is hard to understand. And the deep love that God must have for us by letting us in on his work is a testament to His grace.

For more: http://hubblesite.org/gallery/

The country is amazing. The work is profoundly important. But most of all, the people of East Africa are remarkable. To find out more about the vision and work that Floresta is doing in the developing world, click below.

www.floresta.org

If you’re losing sleep over the global economic meltdown, this interview from last week with Charlie Rose on PBS is important viewing. I believe Warren is America’s greatest patriot. A capitalist in the very best sense of the word. (Link below)

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2008/10/01/1/an-exclusive-conversation-with-warren-buffett

Greed

noun- The desire for or pursuit of money, wealth, power, food, or other posessions, especially when this denies the same goods to others.

+++++++++++++

I admit the recent string of setbacks on Wall Street have left me sad, angry and confused…Sad for all the fixed income seniors who have suddenly lost the metrics for retirement they so carefully planned…Angry for the lack of leadership by those we entrust with the public good…and confusion over why this has happened. But nothing I’ve heard or read left me in the condition I found myself after reading an article on Time’s website this morning entitled “How Financial Madness Overtook Wall Street. I was virtually apoplectic.

Here is the line from the article. Particular emphasis on bold copy.

“This latest go-round featured hedge-fund operators, leveraged-buyout boys (who took to calling themselves “private-equity firms”) and whiz-kid quants who devised and plugged in those new financial instruments, creating a financial Frankenstein the likes of which we had never seen. Great new fortunes were made, and with them came great new hubris. The newly minted masters of the universe even had the nerve to defend their ridiculous income tax break — much of the private-equity managers’ piece of their investors’ profits is taxed at the 15% capital-gains rate rather than at the normal top federal income tax rate of 35% — as being good for society.”

Oh baby, this sort of stuff has driven rational people into the streets. Are you kidding me? These guys have not only skimmed billions right off the top of our economy, fueled by lending practices that are nothing short of immoral, but they have been paying taxes at least 58% lower than everyone else in the country. And now the rest of us, who have been paying our taxes at the legal rate, are left holding the bag. Now I’m really angry.

Regardless of your political persuasion, I believe you would agree, this is a stain of monumental proportions on our country. We can begin to remove it on Nov 4.

After graduating magna butt laude and becoming a career Sendentarian, I find myself faced with the aforementioned choice, get off the couch or head back to the buffet. In a moment of weakness, I chose the former. I’m not honestly sure why. It could be vanity, a mid life thing or a desire to see my grandchildren graduate from high school, but I am serious about getting into shape. To a great extent it’s the final frontier for a Sedentarian. A life of activity, where inactivity once ruled. No birthday cake, beer at the ballgame or extra servings of pasta. Sounds like a blast. But a deals a deal and I’m publicly committing to getting off the couch and getting sweaty.

Breaking through is a two step process, lose weight and get in shape. That can happen simultaneously or one following the other. I’m starting at 225lbs, not morbidly obese, but according to the National Institute of Health, and who can argue with them, my body mass index (BMI) is 32. Not bad if I was playing the front nine at Augusta, but obese per their scale:

• Underweight = <18.5
• Normal weight = 18.5-24.9
• Overweight = 25-29.9
• Obesity = BMI of 30 or greater

The NIH says I have to drop down to 175 to be normal. Sorry, but I think I’ll have to pass on normal and split the difference at 190lbs and be a pleasantly overweight BMI of 27. No sense in looking like I did a tour at Guantanamo just to keep the folks at NIH happy.

Now we arrive at an interesting question. Is it better to drag all 225lbs off the couch and get sweaty, or perhaps diet for a while and lose a few first? After all, no one at the gym totes a backpack loaded with fat just for fun. So it makes sense to diet first, from the safety of the couch of course.

After dropping 15lbs in six weeks, I’m ready to move to phase two and hit the gym. A client recommends a personal trainer who runs a boot camp style program. It sounds good. Maybe I can work out in khakis. But fashion sense aside, the first visit reveals the depth of my Sendentarianism.

With visions of a herculean performance and starring in my own Nike commercial, I head to the gym. Not necessarily confident, but optimistic. After completing the two page form that guarantees the trainer I won’t call to complain if I seize up and die in the first week, I start a series of simple exercises. I’m pretty sure it was a test to see if I was a ringer from a fitness magazine doing market research. Seems easy enough. I start with 500 meters on the flywheel rowing machine at pace with resistance. Not too tough. Then we move to some weird pull ups on rings at the ends of two straps from a 45 degree angle. I’m supposed to do 20, but after about a dozen I am pretty well tapped. We then move to push ups (20), sit ups (30) and squats (30). Sounds simple enough right? The entire routine took 9 minutes and 30 seconds. Nothing to it.

Here’s where things go south. Within minutes after the squats, I am on the floor flat on my back, breathless, cramping and fighting waves of nausea. And try as I might, I can’t sit up. Awesome, this is just dandy. And right on cue, some guy at least 10 years older than me looks down and says, “hang in there buddy, it gets easier.”

It gets easier? Hey pal, I am pretty sure I see a tunnel of bright light in front of me. Is that what you mean by getting easier? Then I swear I hear someone say something about an EMT. Great, I’m going out of the gym on a stretcher after a nine and a half minute workout.

I think I stayed in the prone position for about 20 minutes before I could crawl to my feet and grab a chair. After another 10 minutes in the chair, I head for the door. All I can say as I pass the trainer is, “Thursday.” It’s the date when I return for my next suicide attempt.

After winding my way through the parking lot like a drunk sailor, I get in my car and head for home. Once home, I spend 20 minutes laying on the floor of my bedroom, shower briefly and lay on the bed for half an hour.

It’s at this point I wonder just what the heck I was thinking. Life on the couch was decent enough. No one got hurt. And I wasn’t really expected to be fit as a fiddle at 55. I could return to my life as a Sedentarian. But a deals a deal. I’ll stick with it. At least until I break the 10 minute barrier.

The dictionary defines sedentary four ways.

1.    involving a lot of sitting and correspondingly little exercise
2.    tending to sit most of the time and getting little exercise
3.    used to describe shellfish that remain in one place, usually attached to a rock, for most of their lives
4.    remaining in the same area throughout the year and not migrating

Considering I haven’t attached myself to a rock lately and occasionally travel, I’ll assume that only the first and second definitions apply to me. I have spent the better part of my adult life flattening the old cheeks and rarely exercise.  So in a nod to of our ever evolving English language I hereby christen a new demographic subset of the US population, the Sedentarians, those individuals who like me tend to sit a great deal and get little or no exercise. It’s is a modern affliction that magnetically affixes more butts to chairs than in any previous generation. Our parents only had TV and radio to glue their posteriors to a sofa and succumb. We have endless electronic appliances all with the same goal in mind, to hold us completely and utterly motionless. And don’t start with the Wii Dance Dance Revolution shtick. I’m not buying it. We’re all sitting on our asses and wondering why the seat cushions in our sofas look like waffles after a year.

So back to the end in question, mine. As a confessed Sentenarian, I am faced with a couple of tough choices. Do something about it or call the Scooter Store and put the black one with the Harley logo on layaway.

More on next post…Flat on the Mat.

Before we tackle some of the most blatant violators, let’s be fair and extend a golf clap to these fine products and pubs that get a pass.

• Lifesavers
• Life Magazine
• Life Cereal
• Life the board game
• Life Insurance (just kidding)
• Life (I only have one to give to my country)

And now, here are just a handful of Hall of Fame LIFEsuckers.

• LIFE Comes At You Fast – Nationwide Insurance (step aside or we’re mailing a check to your family)
• Life Beckons. Choose wisely Amstel (pick the wrong beer and die)
  
• Life is ticking Timex. (tell me about it)
• Leading Light for Life. Pfizer (absolutely no clue. Better copy writing through pharmaceuticals?)
• My life. My card. American Express (my draining cash flow)
• Shoes for life. Clarks Shoes (wow, one pair that expands and then gets super comfy 75 years later)
• Healthy, Beautiful Smiles for Life. Fixodent (except when they’re in a glass of water)
• Where there’s life, there’s Bud. Anheuser Busch (where there’s vomit there’s lost car keys)
  
• Take it for Life. Midol (I swear, 33 years of marriage and not an unpleasant moment)
• Life is a journey, travel it well. United Air Lines (please return your life to its full upright position)
• Life’s a sport. Drink it up Gatorade (bad news…you’re sweating purple)
• Soak up life Viva Paper Towels (now that’s what I call absorbent)
• Grab Life by the Horns. Dodge (grab your wallet. You own a Dodge)
• Life uninterrupted. Luvs (finally a diaper that never needs changing)
  
• Eat Life Up. Wish-Bone Salad Dressing (life over 50 = lettuce)
• It’s not a hotel, it’s a way of life. Holiday Inn (no it’s a motel)
• The Way Life Should Be. Sicily (an offer you can’t refuse)
• Live Life. Stay Free. Poise pads and pantiliners (Pretty sure this isn’t a guy thing)
• Life is harsh. Your tequila shouldn’t be. Jose Cuervo (harsh is a Curevo hangover)
• Your Best LIFE Now by Joel Osteen (just cause this guy makes my molars ache)

Last and certainly least…

• Discover a Healthier Slice of Life! Kingsmill Bread (You’re killing me!)