Good day to you all, enjoying the internet are we?

Remember like, oh, just a little over ten years ago when the Internet was still something of a novelty?  I do, and at 25 years of age I feel as if perhaps I was a part of the last teenage group to go through life without it being an integral part of our modern society.  If you are 13 years old right now, and assuming you are fortunate enough to live in a fairly developed part of our country (which is a great portion I would think), you not only have access to the Internet, you don't know a world without it.  I was in an elementary school a couple of years ago and I remember seeing a class that was learning how to log on to a computer, navigate websites, and do all types of crazy things that are considered almost necessary in today's world.

That goes for cell phones as well, I recall working for a retail store that provided some of the early models of cell phones, the ones after the ginormous one Zack Morris had on Saved By the Bell, I remember getting one when I was 16 (1997) and thinking I was the coolest.  Everyone else was rocking the pagers and I had a cell phone.  That was only ten years ago, how crazy is that?  Now I see these 10 year old kids with their own cell phones, if they don't have one of those they probably have a Nintendo DS and are using that to talk/text to each other.

I grew up with Atari 2600 and in 1986 I believe, my dad came home with the first Nintendo, the NES!  Super Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt were amazing!  I couldn't believe it, being able to play video games at home on the Television instead of having to go to the arcade to play, awesome!  Of course I was still at that age where I needed to exert so much energy that I couldn't be kept inside for any great deal of time without having to go run a muck  through the neighborhood with all my friends using that long forgotten art, Imagination.

That is one of the things that concerns me most in todays world, at least in very developed countries such as ours.  Sure, young kids still like to go outside and play, sometimes, but not like it was when I was a wee one, you had to threaten punishment before you could get me inside most of the time growing up, and mind you this persisted well into the development of the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo, Game Boy, and the first unremarkable computer games (though we loved them still). 

I wonder sometimes if this is going to continue or if there will one day come a reversal of sorts and children (and I suppose adults, I'm not talking to you, I mean everyone else of course) turns the hands of time back to having children run around all day burning energy outside embracing the harmonious natural world around them, climbing trees, building forts, and again using their imagination to play instead of having a video game take care of that for them.  Now don't get me wrong, I know kids are still doing this to a degree but I feel confident in saying that they are not doing it nearly as much as we did when we were young, am I right?

And here we have all these problems with child obesity, Attention Deficit Disorder, and other similar problems that are quickly "solved" or remedied with pharmaceutical concoctions that are not natural.  I don't know where I am going with all of this, I actually started this writing just reminiscing about how I didn't even know what the Internet was until I was maybe 14 and all this came out.  I guess what I am getting at is that I hope people including myself and those I love see that their are simple solutions to a lot of todays problems, and I truly believe it comes down to eating more healthy foods, limiting Television and video game use, and getting outdoors more, this goes for the parents as well.

I am a naturally active person so I am outside in nature quite often, even if you are in a very urban setting surrounded by buildings I am sure there is a park or area close enough to you that you can walk to or ride a bicycle to, and doing so as often as possible will do a great number of things to improve your wellbeing, I assure you of that.   I am guessing most of you reading this already do so and I commend you for that.  There is so much to love about this world and this life, I think a lot of people get caught up in the hustle and bustle of todays world and forget to step back and just take a deep breathe and appreciate their surroundings.

It is never too late to improve your life and change any habits you feel are detrimental to your health and your happiness.  Focus on yourself before focusing on helping others and then when you are ready share your light, love, and inspiration for these good actions with your loved ones and especially your children and any and all children you come in contact with.  They are the most important people alive to share this information with, after all, the next generations will be taught by, you guessed it, the children of our generation. 

I hope you are all enjoying this life as much as I am, let us all move away from the scare tactics and fear driven exploitations that the media, the government, and sadly ourselves have been spreading over the last, oh 50-100 years.  Let's reverse the trends!  Spread the light, the love, the joy, and the happiness with the world and together we shall make a difference today and for the future of all humanity.

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Well then, now that I got that off my chest...

I just found a pretty sweet site from my Ideal Bite daily tips e-mail, it is for Earth 911, I never had heard of this site before today but after surfing around it a bit it seems to be a pretty awesome site to help you organize and recycle pretty much anything, that and it is really a great resource for living with more respect for the natural world in general.  Just submit your zip code and they will show you the closest places (hopefully you live fairly close to one) that you can bring all the things you don't want to send to the dump, to sit there forever.

This is not the brightest piece of news to be sharing but I certainly wanted to inform you just for the safety factor in raising your awareness, it is an article I read through a newsletter I receive from the Organic Consumers Association, it is their Health Tip of the Week, I suggest you read it, it is about BPA (Bisphenol A) a chemical that is linked to birth defects, and A.D.D among other things.  Apparently it is leaking into most canned products at alarming rates and the sad part about it is there are simple solutions to remove that chemical from canned goods entirely that would not effect the containers (and especially you) at all.

Here is a spot of bright news, perhaps you have already heard it but I wanted to share it now regardless.  Bank of America has decided to spend $20 Billion, that is $20,000,000,000 on renewable energy developments, it is a 10 year initiative that will take $20 billion and use it to help develop alternative energy sources by offering more money to businesses and developers willing to utilize current and new technologies in renewable energies.  I give Richard Branson my props for the $3 Billion he forked up to help reduce global warming but $20 billion?  That is outrageous and absolutely wonderful.

That is all I have to share at this time, I hope as always that everyone is making the most of right now and having the time of their lives (figuratively and literally).  I am going to relax for a bit myself, catch up on some more reading and get ready to rock and roll tonight for two reasons, one I get to play soccer at 9:30 and then afterwords I get to go to my good friend Nicholas "The Feelin" Mrozinski's concert.  The way I see it, tonight is going to be a great night indeed.  I hope you can say the same...

All the love I have to give,

Joseph