Rubbing Me The Wrong Way

Running is all about friction points. Some of these friction points are helpful, such as the friction between your feet and the ground. In these situations, you want as much friction as possible.

There are other areas, however, where you do not want friction.

1. Between your nipples and your sweat-saturated shirt. Even worse on cold days when “nippage” is likely to occur. It might look like those suckers could cut diamonds on such days, but I assure you they can not.
2. Between your underarms and the side of your body. In running, your arms are like pistons producing momentum helping you chug along forward. To avoid viscosity breakdown, these pistons need to be well-oiled, just like a V8 engine. Just like it.
3. Between your thighs, a.k.a “chub-rub”. Some people are blessed with ample space between their thighs. Others, like me, are not. If you wish to live the dream of walking the next day without wincing in pain at each step, friction reduction is required.

How do you avoid such friction? Aquaphor. Learn this name early, beginner runner, as you will be saying it often in regret when you forget it.

Six Tips from Three (Hundred) Wisemen

Today I sat down with my wife and discussed our 2011 accomplishments, and our 2012 goals.

While many Christians began some other wisemen and celebrating the 12 days of Christmastide this week, I thought it wise to consider the collective words of some more modern wisemen. Below are the results of a study of 1,200 elder American, with ages ranging from 60 to 108. They were all asked “What mistakes should you avoid”?

A wise man learns by the mistakes of others,
a fool by his own.
- Latin Proverb

1. Putting too high a priority on money — Most of the elders believe that a fulfilling job trumps a higher-paying but unsatisfying one any day.
2. Getting into debt — As one 89-year-old succinctly stated, “They should avoid spending money they don’t have.” In other words, don’t buy stuff you can not afford.”
3. Worrying too much – “Worrying never solved anything. So don’t.”
4. Excessive drinking and drugs — Our elders don’t ask that we to be a puritan, just that we know what moderation is and practice it.
5. Rushing into marriage before you’re ready – As a 93-year-old said, “They should think at the beginning, is this going to be for a lifetime?”
6. Passing up opportunities — “Life is an adventure, but to take advantage of it, you have to say yes to things”. Which reminds me of my 2012 goal — gathering 12 friends to run 200 miles in a Ragnar!

What else do you think should be added to this list? I was surprised to not find anything about exercise and health outside the excessive drinking and drugs.

Also, what about sunscreen?!

Who is the Top 1%?

A lot has been reported lately on the plight of the Top 1% in the US. This made me curious, so here is a profile of the Top 1% in the US:

1. what income it takes to be in this group — 24%
2. how much of the nation’s worth you own — 35%
3. how much of the nation’s tax revenues they produce — 28%

What Percentage Are You?

Before we get started, let’s get personal — go ahead and find out how your income ranks, and what portion of the tax burden you bear according to your income.

Simply enter your AGI from your most recent tax return. You’ll find it on line 37 if you used the Form 1040, line 21 on Form 1040A or line 4 on the 1040-EZ. Or enter your annual salary (the IRS categories are broad enough that your result will likely be the same).

Now, let’s talk about the actual Top 1%, starting with their income.

The Top 1% receive/earn 21% of all income in the US

In 2009 of a total of 75.6 million wage earners, 1.4 million received an adjusted gross income of $343,927 or more. At an hourly wage, that means you need to earn at least $165.35/hr to be part of this group. The average hourly wage in the US is $18.52.

And that was 2009. In 2011, the number increased to 24%, up from 9% in 1976 — meaning their share of the national income pool has nearly tripled since. In terms of income inequality, that ranks the US 52 out of 125 nations.

To put that in a global perspective, there are only 107,565 other people in the world making more than this amount — that’s the top 0.001% richest people in the world.

The Top 1% Owns 35% of the Nation’s Wealth

Where is the wealth of the top 1%? In terms of net worth — total assets minus total outside liabilities —— the top 1% own 34.6% of all privately held wealth in the US.

What you quickly see is that the top 1% don’t invest like the rest of us. For one, that wealth isn’t from real estate. In fact, the top 1% isn’t investing heavily in deposits, pensions, life insurance, or their homes. This is different from the vast majority of Americans, in which their homes are the most significant wealth they possess — 70% of white families’ wealth is in the form of their principal residence; for Blacks and Hispanics, the figures are 95% and 96%, respectively.

What’s more, when you look at financial wealth — total net worth minus the value of one’s home — we find that the top 1% own 42.7% of income-producing assets.

And they are especially not investing it in debt — the top 1% have only 5% of the nation’s personal debt.

The Top 1% pay 28% of all federal taxes

While it’s true that the top 1 percent of wage earners paid 38 percent of the federal income taxes in 2008, it shouldn’t be forgotten that income tax is less than half of all federal taxes, and only 1/5 of all government taxes at all levels.

On the flip-side, Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance taxes (known as federal payroll taxes) are covered mostly by the bottom 90 percent of wage earners. That’s because, once you reach $106,800 of income, you pay no more for Social Security. Think of it this way — Warren Buffett pays the exact same amount of Social Security taxes as everyone who earns $106,800+.

Why does this distinction of income vs payroll taxes matter? More than half of all wage earners pay more in Social Security and Medicare taxes than they do income tax. What’s more, if you count both the employer and employee share of the taxes, the percentage of those paying more payroll tax than income tax soars to nearly 90%.

Here are what the Top 1% share for each federal tax:

1. Federal income taxes: 39.5 percent share
2. Federal payroll taxes: 4.1 percent share
3. Federal corporate taxes: 57.0 percent share
4. Federal excise taxes: 4.7 percent share

Why Does This Matter?

This post isn’t support any market theory or fiscal policy. Rather, it was my research into better understanding what it means to say “the top 1%”.

During this research, it was most interesting to discover two things. First, how bad all of us, regardless of our gender, income, or political party affiliation, are at guessing where we fit in to the top 1%.

Second, it seems that when you look at these ACTUAL, IDEAL and ESTIMATE by INCOME, GENDER, and VOTING, you find that people generally have the same IDEAL wealth distribution. In other word’s — we aren’t that different in what we think is fair, we just have different ways of expressing it.

RIP Steve Jobs

I can’t state enough how much Job’s creative genius has impacted my personal career, business, & design philosophy. Nearly three decades ago his vision would change how we the masses would interact with computers — via a graphical user interface. 20 years ago he would share with us the creative genius of Pixar, which has given me immeasurable joy & touched my spirit. 10 years ago he made us fall in love with his genius all over again in the form of digital music players, gesture-based mobile phones, & now gesture-based tablet computing — all while tenaciously battling pancreatic cancer.

Steve, I’ll miss your black, long-sleeved St. Croix mock turtlenecks Levi’s 501 blue jeans, and New Balance 991 sneakers. I’m happy to hear your Zen Buddhist spirit passed in peace in the warm, loving company of your family.

RIP Steve — you left behind a truly “amazing” legacy & “revolutionary” vision. Thank you.

What is Wellness?

This week, September 19-25, is National Wellness Week, which made me wonder “How do I ensure wellness?”

For me, wellness is currently my most important goal. While I can’t control wellness completely — thankfully I was given some pretty good DNA to work from — the aspects I can control have taken front and center in my life.

My goals with wellness are straight-forward:

1. I want to prevent illness.
2. When I can’t, I want to bounce back quickly.

How I’m Ensuring Wellness

Wellness, to me, isn’t about being a particular weight (although it will help), having a specific Body Mass Index (although lower is better), or running a mile in a certain time (although faster is great). Rather, it’s monitoring my performance in the following 10 Domains of Wellness.

Stress management

“Prolonged stress has an undeniable adverse effect on health. It can — and does — lead to illness. It can also precipitate relapse, both in mental illness and in addiction. The ability to reduce and/or counter stress is critical in dealing with behavioral health problems, as well in promoting health and wellness” (CIHS).

For me, that means ensuring I do things that first avoid stress, and then help me deal with it. To avoid stress, I’m practicing the art of “no” more, or scheduling things 3-4 weeks in advance. Doing so gives me time to prepare as I attend to the other commitments I’ve already made.

To help me deal with stress, I schedule in activities that help me de-stress — exercise, time with wife and pets, and hobbies like this blog.

Healthy eating

The fuel I put into my body directly correlates with my mood. Some foods “burn” dirty, while others clean. Sugary, fatty, or processed foods leave me feeling blah while fruit, vegetables, and lean meats leave me satiated and recharged. Try reducing your sugar intake for a couple of weeks — it’s amazing how different you will feel!

Physical activity

Daily exercise helps me lose weight. However, that’s not entirely my goal. First and foremost, I exercise to reduce stress, spend time with my wife and friends, and for the joy of movement. Scheduling daily exercise helps me achieve these things.

I often put out a large challenge — participating in triathlon, running a half-marathon, or cycling a century — just for the challenge. I know I can complete any of these challenges if I put my mind to it, and when I do it serves to boost my self-confidence. Although some say that is boosted enough.

Restful sleep

Long-term sleep deprivation is associated with many illnesses, including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, obesity, and behavioral health problems. So I schedule my sleep, sometimes even rescheduling commitments if I haven’t had enough. Sure, I accept a 4-hour rest some days, but that means the next day I need to make up that deficit; I don’t keep running on empty.

Support network

I know I can’t do this alone. If you are reading this, you are part of my support network — welcome! I “fat blog” because I want to be held accountable. If you see me not taking care of myself, call me out and let me know, please.

Service to others

Wellness isn’t all about me. I get a extra boost of joy when I help others, either volunteering, donating, or even helping a friend with some struggle. In a rut with your wellness plan? Try helping someone else for a bit.

Optimism

There are tons of stuff I can’t do, I’m bad at, etc. But focusing and worrying on these things doesn’t accomplish much. Instead, I try to focus my thoughts on the things I can control and be successful with.

Turns out, there are tons of stuff I can do and I’m good at, too.

Cognitive skills to avoid negative thinking

A person increases their chance at happiness by telling his or her self a more positive story, rather than a miserable one.

As Health Consultant and Writer Martha Beck stated, “Your situation may endanger your life and limbs, but only your thoughts can endanger your happiness.”

Spiritual beliefs and practices

It’s strange an atheist like me would bring up spiritual beliefs and practices. Take a read/listen to this sermon — The Spirituality of Atheism — by Rev. Anthony David of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.

A sense of meaning and purpose

I need to be able to answer why. It turns out this question has lead to a pretty interesting journey.

What is your meaning and purpose?

What do you do to stay well?