February 26, 2008 - A fairly tame Tuesday. I had my normal work stuff, then came home to hit the gym with Ellie. I've been kicking it up a notch every time I use the leg press machine. Unbelievably, I've worked up to 360 pounds on that machine for 10 reps. It's got a top capacity of about 495 pounds, and I think 400 is well within my reach. 360 pounds sounds like a lot, but I figure that the first 165 are my weight, so I'm only doing about 200 pounds more than my legs handle on a daily basis every time I am standing up. It's great that I am back into a regular routine at the gym. I feel like that is a goal that I wasn't meeting a year ago, but now that I am in a good rhythm it is pointing me in the right direction. There are a few other things I want to make adjustments to in my daily life, such as reading the bible again and working towards starting my own business, but at least I can say that I'm doing something towards making my life better every day now. It's really easy to get into a routine of bad habits like coming home and sitting on the couch, and making excuses for not making a change, but in the end the person who suffers the most from the decisions I make is going to be me. I've been following all the bad economic news lately, and I've come to a realization about how gas prices are related to economic growth. At first I thought, if gas used to 6 years ago cost me about $1.50 a gallon, or $85 a month, and now it costs me $3.00 a gallon, I'm only spending about $85 more a month on gas. It's nothing that will keep me from eating, and shouldn't really keep anyone else from surviving. But I think the problem is that those extra $85 could have gone towards something else. Something else could be anything from computer games to DVD's to nights out at fancy restaurants to savings to a more expensive home to charity and everywhere in between. Instead, it all goes towards the oil industry. And it is not just me that has to make that sacrifice, it is the entire world. At the expense of pumping money into a myriad of businesses, I have to put it all in my gas tank. I don't realistically have the option to drive half as much, and most people don't, because of the transportation system we've built around cars. So anyone who is involved in the oil industry has seen a huge influx of cash coming their way, but the guy who installs security systems and the guy who cuts lawns and the guy who sells shoes all see their prosperity limited because people across the world are all being forced to put more money into gasoline. And it doesn't stop at the pump. I pay more for those shoes and the lawn care and the security system because they take oil to build, they take oil for the guy who sells or services it to drive around, and those guys have to raise their prices or reduce their profits to make up for the increase in oil prices. So while the world economy might be growing at a cool 3% every year, oil prices doubling over the past several years are causing havoc as all of the people who seemingly don't have interests in the world oil markets are feeling the repercussions of consumers with less money available to spend on discretionary items. So while the oil companies have made out like bandits in the short term, the long term implications are inflation, recession, and increased divide between the working poor and the rich. It is amazing how much society allows a small group of people to take advantage of the majority, and then sit back and worship the small group for all the money they've amassed. What a world we live in.