Recently, Oklahoma has started requiring that all gas stations post whether they are selling gasoline mixed with ethanol.  One of the local gas stations has only posted that they may or may not have ethanol in the gasoline.  Since my husband and I have noticed a difference with our mileage, and my car isn’t made to burn ethanol, we have decided to boycott the stations owned by that franchise, or at least stop buying gas from them.

 Saturday when I went in to work, I stopped there for a fountain soda and some peanuts.  I asked the cashier if they’ve noticed a drop in the number of people buying gas now that they have to post whether they have ethanol.  She was clueless at first what I was talking about, but when I repeated what the sign on the pumps said, she said that all stations are going to have to carry an ethanol blend eventually, that they’d have to clean out their tanks, and if they couldn’t afford it, they wouldn’t be able to do business any longer.  I didn’t say anything, but that got me wondering. 

Two stroke engines cannot use ethanol.  My car is not made to burn ethanol, and the gas mileage suffers as a result.  So why would they require that all gas stations carry the “blended” gasoline with a 10% ethanol mix? 

So when I got home, I started doing some research.  I can find all sorts of information about lists of gas stations that do not have blended gasoline, and gas stations being required to post whether they have blended gasoline.  I can’t find anything about ethanol being required in all gasoline.  So where did she get this information?

 The best I can figure, she had no clue what she was talking about.  I know that the government is increasing the subsidies to ethanol production.  I know they want to increase the ethanol production.  BUT I cannot see the government requiring all gasoline contain ethanol. 

I suspect that she got the ethanol issue mixed up with the anti-knock compound that is put into gasoline.  The same compound that replaced the lead in the mid-80’s.  Unfortunately, until I can find more information, all I have is speculation.

I had to laugh the other day.  First, I saw an open letter from someone in the Corn Refiners Association on the Food Consumer website Letter to the Editor from the Corn Refiners Association.  This person was nice enough to try to say that there is no difference betwen High Fructose Corn Syrup and other types of sweeteners like sugar and honey.  Then I read on Natural News (http://naturalnews.com) that a Seattle based natural grocery store is no longer carrying foods that contain high fructose corn syrup. 

 Ok, so I give.  If there is no difference between HFCS and sugar, why do we even have it?  Why must we mess with corn syrup by adding enzymes and whatnot to make this?  So it’s sweeter.  Big deal. 

Honestly, I won’t feed my kids anything with HFCS in it if I have a choice.  My daughter was asking for yogurt the other day, and it took forever to find one that didn’t have either aspartame or high fructose corn syrup in it.  A 3 year old doesn’t need either of these types of sweeteners.  I finally found a “natural” yogurt that was sweetened with sugar.  Not the best, but at least it’s sweet.  And it doesn’t taste like candy, it tastes like yogurt. 

 I suspect that the person posted that open letter to the editor because they’re afraid their sales of high fructose corn syrup are going to go down because no one wants anything to do with it.  Once people start trying to improve their health and the health of their families, they stop buying garbage like that.  With the natural foods movement, it’s even more pronounced that we’re moving away from that type of artificial sweetener.  Yes, I lump it in with things like aspartame/nutra sweet, sweet ‘n low and splenda (I can’t remember the real names of the sweeteners right now, I’ll look them up later).  I eat them only when I don’t have a choice.  Lately I’ve been sticking mostly to either honey or no sweetener at all in my drinks.

 Guess if their sales fail on the high fructose corn syrup front, they can start selling the corn as food again, huh?

So lately, I’ve had lots of ideas for my blog, but by the time I get home, I forget them.  I can’t even remember any of them now.  About normal for me, my brain isn’t working correctly right now, and probably won’t for awhile yet.  It’s called stress, life has lots of it.

 One of the regular writers at a website that I read regularly  (http://naturalnews.com) has stated his opinion that the United States government, even our whole society is going to collapse because of the way the economy is going downhill.  His feeling is that Americans are going to unite against the FDA and pharmeceutical companies and start demanding that the truth come out about many of the drugs that are being sold.  There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the general idea of what he’s saying.

 But even if our society doesn’t collapse, what about our economy?  I’ve read a lot that has implied that the dollar is falling fast.  At this point, it’s about equivalent with the Canadian dollar.  That’s a long fall, with the government going further into debt every day.  What happens when other countries stop buying the treasury bonds or whatever they’re buying to support our debt?  What will we the government run on then?

Something else I’ve read/heard lately.  I’ve been listening to sermons online from the church I used to go to in Kansas City.  One of the sermons I listened to today had a very good point.

We spend a lot of time blaming politicians and Washington for being corrupt, saying they’re the cause of everything from the high gas prices to who knows what. 

If we want change, how do we get change?  An old song (and I can’t remember who sings it offhand) says that if we want a change, we need to start with the man in the mirror.  So to make changes, no matter what kind of changes we want, we need to start with ourselves.  Start small. 

 How can you complain about the government when you’re not volunteering to try to right the wrongs yourself?  Maybe it’s because you don’t want to put yourself out there… If you’re not working toward change, then you’re not stopping it.  When I was living in Branson, my then-boyfriend would complain about a lot of things.. including the government.  But he wasn’t registered to vote.  I voted in the 2000 election, but he didn’t.  I was trying to make a change, even a small one.  But there are smaller changes we can make every day. If you’re a Christian, ask God what you need to change to make a difference in our world.  Whether you are or you’re not a Christian, you can do some serious thinking about what changes you need to make, what changes you can initiate. 

As Americans, we can vote.  I’m not talking about just in the presidential election.  What about your city council? Mayor? Go to council meetings and have your say.  Not just to argue, but have reasoned thoughts as to why something will or will not work.  Really consider what needs to be done, and find ways to do it.  That’s starting with us, and that’s how we make the changes. 

As for voting with your pocket book, I’m not going to tell you to stop taking your prescription medications.  But try to get at least 5 servings of a combination of fruits and vegetables.  That leaves less room for the junk food.  Once you start eating healthier, you may find that you don’t need some of those medications as much as you did.  I know that if my husband stopped eating so many empty carbohydrates and sweets, he could cut back on his diabetes medication.  I’m not suggesting that you cut back on your medication without consulting your doctor, but you’d be surprised what eating healthy can do for you.

It’s on the news and everywhere else.  We’re in the middle of a recession.  No, we’re not in the middle of a recession, it’s just a slowdown.  No, it’s more than a slow down, we’re facing some real problems.  Depending on who you ask, Americans may be in for a hard time over the next few months, few years or however long it takes for our economy to straighten itself out.

 It’s hard to be specific when some of the indicators of a recession just aren’t clear.  Yes, I know the “legal” definition of a recession.  That’s not the problem.  The problem is, the information they use as indicators just doesn’t clearly represent the US economy at this point. 

 For example, anyone who has been to the grocery store recently can tell you that the price of groceries has gone up.  A lot in some cases.  My tea has only gone up about 10 or 15 cents.  On the other hand, my hot cocoa has gone up almost 50 cents a box.  Milk has gone up almost $1 a gallon.  Let’s not even count gas for this, or cigarettes — though my husband smokes 2 packs a day.  My health insurance went up, but my vision insurance didn’t.  My copay for generic medications and my health insurance deductible has gone up.   With the number of foreclosures and layoffs also going up, there’s a pretty depressing picture going around of what’s happening.

Then there’s those who like to place the blame.  Some say it’s Bill Clinton’s fault.  That the housing bubble started when he was president, and his policies brought on some of the problems.  Others like to blame Bush for the problems.  After all, he is the current president while these things are happening.  The problem is, I don’t think it’s either of their faults. 

Part of the problem is a matter of simple greed.  Many were seeing the money they could make by giving out loans to those who had poor credit.  Just charge a higher interest rate to cover the risk. 

Part of the problem is that many people don’t know how to budget.  Or they think they should be able to live at the same level as they did when they were growing up in their parents house, regardless of whether they have their own house payment and kids to support.  Many just want what they want when they want it and don’t think about how it’s going to get paid for after it goes on the credit card.  In our easy credit society, we are encouraged to buy now, pay later.  There’s a whole industry that makes a living off the interest charged for this mentality.  Some of them make pretty good money.  Even Visa and Mastercard got in on the action.  Then they released their stock to the public. 

What happened to paying cash for everything?  What happened to using things past when they break down? 

Don’t get me wrong, I do understand wanting nice things.  Heck, I go through that myself when I need to drive my car down to the city to go to the airport.  My car is 10 years old and has over 200,000 miles on it.  It’s still running well, even if the body is the worse for wear.  I’d love a newer car, but it’s simply not in the cards right now.  Besides, there’s nothing wrong with my current one.  It’d be great to live in a bigger place, to have a bigger tv.  I think of all of these things, and I understand them.  But, I feel that if I can’t pay cash, I don’t want to do it right now. 

A dear friend of mine laughed at me when I said that.  I want to buy a house, something big enough for my family.  But, I’d rather pay cash than have a 30 year loan out.  Or even a 15 year loan.  Yea, I know, it’s not feasible.  It’s too bad, that’s how things used to be.  Or people would do what my parents have done twice now.  Buy the land, build the house as they can afford it.  Of course it was cheaper to build houses back when people didn’t get loans for their houses.  They could get their own wood.  My parents had to buy a lot of lumber.  They did end up with a mortgage, just for about half of what their house is worth.  And the inspectors have all said that they can’t believe the house was made by a blind guy.  Or even a legally blind guy.

I guess it’s all in how you look at things.  Everything else aside, whether or not we’re going through a recession really doesn’t make a difference.  Bush’s stimulus checks didn’t make a difference either.  For many who have gotten themselves in trouble, even $1800 is a drop in the bucket compared to their real problem.  We’re all just going to have to find a way to tighten our belts and live simply while we wait for the dollar to come back, the gas prices to go down (if they ever will) and the unemployment rate to drop. 

I hear that container gardening is a cheap way to get food into the house.

White House Defends Food Based Biofuels

 You know, I noticed the price of food and gas going up, and assumed that the price of food was going up because of the cost to ship it.  I mean if they have to pay more for the diesel, then at some point, they’ll have to pass the cost on to the consumer.  Right?

 Then I started reading about riots in Haiti, and that China and other governments aren’t exporting as much rice because of the increases in food costs.  But they’re also not producing as much rice.  A lot of other countries aren’t producing as much food.  It’s not on purpose, there’s a drought in Australia, Russia isn’t growing as much wheat…

So what does the the US government think is the most important thing to do?  Yea, you got it, put more effort into growing corn for ethanol. Let’s ignore for the moment all of the problems with ethanol, and look at the rest of the issues with this scenario.

 I understand their reasoning that we need to get off our oil dependence.  But, if we are going through a food shortage, is this how we need to do it? 

I know that we’re short on wheat, not corn.  However, farmers are actually planting corn because this is the crop that’s going to get the most cash.  So then we’re short on the “food” crops since the corn isn’t going to be used for food. Yet we have a food shortage.

 Our government is very short-sighted, though they can deny it all they wish.  Anyone with brains knows they are worsening the food crisis on this planet.  Yet they say that it’s more important to reduce our dependancy on oil.  What they need to do is make laws to fix the loopholes they left in the mpg requirements.  Auto makers make trucks because they’re not required to get as high a mpg on these vehicles.  That’s the whole point behind the big SUV’s too.  Our own short sightedness has brought us to this pass.  Unfortunately, this same short-sightedness is helping starve others.

In addition to the 2 articles that I wrote for Associated Content, I also have one of my short stories published.  You can find that at www.associatedcontent.com/article/725765/missing.html

 To see the articles, click on the link to the right that says My Associated Content, or click here.

Hide the Doritos! Here comes HR

With work running the Biggest Loser contest, I found this article very interesting.  My work does not offer free food very often, so there’s not a whole lot they’d be able to do.  However, there are a few things that I find ironic.

 First of all, though I freely admit I’m a geek, I work for a fairly large meat processing plant.  The company I work for makes thinly sliced/Philly style steaks and beef patties, but they also make fully cooked meatloaf, cooked beef, pork and chicken, uncooked beef, pork and chicken — all with or without soy, and with or without breading — cooked and uncooked salisbury steaks, oh yea and partially fried breaded beef, pork and chicken, some of this even with cheese.  So anyone else see the irony in the company offering a Biggest Loser contest?  Though they may advertise items that have no trans fat, not all of these items are low in fat. 

 Second, on Tuesday, we’re going to have a “First Annual” hot dog eating contest.  Everyone at the building I work at is invited, as long as someone in their department is participating in the contest.  That’s really healthy, huh? 

 That’s not counting when my department (which includes the dietitians) has a pot luck, which generally happens once a month, for birthdays and/or holidays.  Though there’s usually salad or other healthy food, there’s always some sort of sweets too.  Cake, cheesecake, pie.  That’s conducive to losing weight, isn’t it?

 At work, we have a cafeteria where we can get our lunches or snacks.  About 2 years ago, the dietitians tried to get healthier food into the cafeteria.  Unfortunately, there were mixed results.  The cafeteria kept making too many changes, so the dietitians couldn’t give nutrition information for the healthier menu items.  The healthier menu items didn’t always go over well.  They still do offer one “healthier” menu item every day, but I’m never sure how healthy these items are even if they are listed as healthy on the menu. 

Then again, I’ve noticed that I have a more rigid idea of what is healthy than even the dietitians.  I guess reading the book SuperfoodsRX changed my opinion on a lot of things.  Well, that and reading posts by a girl on eDiets, she aimed for at least 10 servings of superfoods a day, and had energy at 40 that I envied at 34.

Does this mean I think the companies are doing the right thing offering the lower fat and healthier fare?  Well that depends.  Are they cracking down on people bringing their own (unhealthy) food?  Then, as much as I understand how much this helps with insurance costs, that’s restricting someone’s freedom. 

 On the other hand, offering incentives and lower insurance rates if someone loses weight, to me, that leaves the choice to them.  We do pay more in medical costs with the way that America’s weight has gone up.  The incidence of obesity related diseases has at least doubled in the last 20 years.  I’m not talking just heart disease and stroke risks.  My father was thin and had a several strokes.  My sister is thin and has had to have an operation to put stents in her arteries near her heart.  Heart disease and stroke may be related to bad diet (and smoking), even though type 2 diabetes may be more prevalent in those who are overweight or even obese, I’m talking about things like fractures in the heel bones from bearing all the weight over the years, or knee problems caused by the same.  What about when women have back pain from the extra weight in their breasts from being too heavy? 

 Of course, the food and drug companies are making a lot of money off this.  The more food people eat, the fatter they get, the more these companies get to earn money off our weight problems.  But the insurance companies and doctors are also earning money off this.  The sicker we are, the more we go visit them, the more we pay, and ’round and ’round it goes. 

The solution?  Take advantage of anything your company offers to help you lose weight.  Yea, it seems silly to be so focused on your weight, especially if you’re not worried about how you look, but if you want to live longer, you need to take care of yourself.  Exercise, & eat right, even add in more fruits and vegetables.  We may be getting mixed signals, but no one has ever said fruit and vegetables are unhealthy.

Oh yea, and just cuz I can…
 Happy Birthday to me 🙂 
 If you ask, I turn 18 again today 🙂

I was asked to explain more for my post on Game Snobbery.  So, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what I meant.  I mean what is a game snob?

 When I think about a game snob, I think about how someone who plays a time intensive game like World of Warcraft might think that someone who plays a game like Bejeweled isn’t really a gamer.  Bejeweled doesn’t seem to take the level of skill that WoW does.  What about someone who plays computer games feeling that someone who plays console games isn’t a gamer?  I’ve seen that myself.  My husband easily gets addicted to playing Need for Speed, but I never considered him a gamer because he didn’t play any computer games.  Of course part of my condescension might just be because I don’t have the hand-eye coordination to play video games.  Spyro is about my speed.  With the cheat codes to get unlimited lives 😛

 So, though my husband plays console games, and Yahoo! pool, I don’t consider him a gamer.  Is that being a snob?  How is that different from someone who plays WoW looking down on me because I play a text based game, or even because I only play a couple of hours a night? 

 Is it all interrelated to how much a person knows about computers?  I mean I’m a computer geek, my husband only knows enough about computers to be dangerous.  My friend who used to game was an artist, but also a computer geek.  His wife was a writer and only played online games because her husband did.  It’s a great way to help a relationship, but did that make her a gamer?  She played Asheron’s Call too.

 Oh yea, and I got an email from my brother after he read my blog… he used to play Dungeon Siege.  Does that make him a gamer?  Where is the line? 

 Is a gamer really different in any way than a non-gamer?  It seems to me that we all have addictions, just varying degrees of addiction.  Oh yea, and we’re not all interested in the same thing. That’d be boring if we were.

Since it’s almost midnight my time, I’d best try to sleep.  A dear friend of mine is going to comment on how late I’m up. 

If you have any comments on my interpreation of a game snob, feel free.  I’m curious what others think, and whether they look down on others that do not play the same type of games…

*edit: I had to turn off the comments because I kept getting spam.

Women in Games

I struggled a bit with what to write about after my last few posts.  After all, I had said everything I could about women gamers.  Or had I?

 The article above talks about theoretical reasons for women gamers to be mostly social gamers.  In a way, I agree with what was said, as a general rule, women are more social than men.  However, I don’t entirely agree with what the author said because I am not the type that is interested in soap operas.  Granted, I’ll admit, I do read romance novels, but the ones I prefer are the ones with a mystery involved.  A crime to be solved, an adventure to be had, something more intellectual than just girl meets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy. 

 The stories I like the best though, are not romances at all.  They’re fantasy novels… the kind with dragons and elves.  Halflings and dwarves.  Or magic.  JK Rowling, Mercedes Lackey, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman, Terry Brooks, Anne McCaffrey.  If you were to look at my bookshelves, those are the books that you’d find.  Well, then I have some that lean more toward science fiction.  Especially some of Anne McCaffrey’s, she does both fantasy combined with science fiction. 

 Back to my topic though, one thing I’ve found is that a lot of times, women who are online tend to be rather defensive about being women.  I asked one person that I MUD with whether she was actually female, and she said that I could ask a couple of other people who would verify that she was.  Odd, I prefer to take peoples word for it.  Especially when there’s nothing extra they’d get out of lying to me.  I mean I fully admit I’m female.  A guy playing a female character isn’t going to get more help from me than a guy playing a male character.  I just never saw the point.  I mean the other people live who knows how far.  Plus, I’m married.  I help when I feel I can help.  If I don’t have extra, I just don’t help.  Oh yea, unless you become my friend.  Then you’ll get as much help as I can give, all you have to do is ask.

Oh yea, and as for the misconception that female gamers don’t know as much about gaming as male gamers.  Try logging onto any game I play and you’ll find that misconception crushed.  I may not have the hand-eye coordination for a first person shooter, but I certainly can play Dungeon Siege, Diablo III, or even MUD as well as, if not better than a good many male gamers.

I don’t need to post a pic proving that I’m a female on the internet.  I am NOT a gamer’s girlfriend or sister.  I am a gamer, and I am proud of it.