The United State’s is known as the fattest country in the world. And it is slowly getting to be known as one of the most uneducated countries (statistics, not calling people stupid). I came from Dominican Republic where my mom would cook almost every day a decent food (by decent I mean not full of fat). Every now and then we would go out to eat pizza and once in a blue we would stop at a McDonald or Burger King, we would usually prefer Taco Bell. But now I’m in college where there is no time to cook and everything needs to be rushed. What matters the most is what is open the latest and could deliver. Because of this I would say I eat at least twice or three times a week junk food, usually a cheeseburger (or double) and probably some bacon with it too. It is my fault that I am lazy and not go to the gym as often as I should. But I’m not overweight or in health problems, this is just my case and how I ended up eating more junk food than usually.
In school there is a “wide” selection of what we could eat which is usually divided into Grill (burgers, grilled chicken, anything else fried or very unhealthy with fries) , Deli (sandwiches which are good but a bit overpriced sometimes) , Pizza and Pasta, Others (Sushi once in a blue, Chinese food, Salads, etc.) The funny part is that the cheapest one is the least healthy one. But this year they have made great changes to the vending machines adding nutritional packages and labeling them so we could identify it. In my case I say I would average 1 slice of pizza a week, 2 or 3 burgers, 2 orders of fries, 2 or 3 grilled chicken sandwiches, 2 salads (new to my menu). This is minimum and a quick estimate. I don’t drink soda unless it’s free or I go out to eat to a fast food place.
All of this thinking comes from me watching Super Size Me, the very well known documentary about fast food and it’s impact in health (mainly McDonald). One of the most surprising things to me was learning that the can of lemonade brings just as much calories as a can of soda would. I would of thought well it’s juice, can’t be that bad…but I was wrong. I always find it weird that people never consider the portions they eat. The popular way of thinking is what is going to fill me up and it’s not too expensive. Specially in college life where every dollar matters. I’ve been successful on giving up soda, drink it very rarely. I’ve also managed to stop eating fries except for when I go Wendy’s or some other burger place because it’s part of the combo and it’s just easier to order. But now my new goal will be to give up Burgers in general. This might be one of the hardest challenges I have given myself. But I’m positive I will accomplish it one way or another. The best thing to do is drink water, all the time. The more water you drink the better you will be. It is the best way to clean your system.
Yasser
I finally got a new phone and it is exactly what I have been wanting for a while, a Blackberry Pearl. It is the nicest phone I have seen in a while and it is full of applications. Most PDA are a bit big but this one is the perfect size. I have also become a txting addict and the Pearl would help me with it’s bigger keyboard. It has a decent camera and battery life is great so far. I got it about two days ago so I am still playing around with it. And yes I did get the black one like the picture shows (not my phone in the picture). I love customizing my things so right now I am looking for websites where I can download free mp3 ringtones; if anyone knows of any please let me know. I know I can make them myself but I am a bit lazy about that right now. After I find a few nice ringtones for a few people who I deserve there own ringtone, I want to find some cool themes and maybe end up making my own theme. I also need to find a nice case to prevent scratches on the phone, have to treat my baby nice. It is light as a feather, sexy like a model and it does everything I need it to do and extra. I don’t have the internet and email functions because I can’t really pay for it, even though an uncle is paying for it right now (thank you very much). But if in the future I do need these functions then it will be available.
Yasser
Immigration and border patrol’s have now been more focused on catching illegal immigrants at bus stops and at train stations. Yesterday I witness the way they treat people who don’t seem to have the write papers to prove they are legal in the country. When I got in an Amtrak train, border patrol was checking for people and asked a women who looked Hispanic for her papers. Apparently she didn’t have the papers they needed to prove if she was legal or not so they made her get out of the train with her baby (a couple of months old) and was denied to make any calls until they took her to the station. A friend of mine commented that he also was victim of the “random” checkups and went through the same thing but at a bus stop and it was the same officer. I understand that they must ensure that people don’t get into the country illegally. What I’m not so sure about is the way they “randomly” select the people to check on. If you are Puerto Rican they could tell right away, at least in Rochester, so they wouldn’t bug you. But if you seem to be Hispanic and not from P.R. then you will be asked questions and be treated like you are the scum of the world. The least they could do is treat you well until proven guilty and even then you deserve to be treated as a regular person. The story sounds “normal” so far but what most people forget that Hispanics/Latinos are not the only illegal immigrants in this country. What about the Europeans and Asians that are illegal in this country? How many times do they get targeted? Are they ever in the news? It would be a lot harder to inspect illegal Europeans because you would probably have to stop every other white person and that would take forever. So why single out only the Hispanics?
On another note I was just told by a friend today that she was victim of racism at her job. A old lady (50’s-60’s) came into her job and was complaining about having a Puerto Rican help her out. She was complaining that she had left the other store because of the same reason and she apparently couldn’t find someone that was “American” to attend her. I’m not sure of how stupid this women was because if she would know better being American means being part of the American Continent. She must be following the old Monroe Doctrine that made Americans be Americans only if they are from America (that is, United States of America). My friend was in shock when to women was saying these things so she helped her out and after the customer left she went and told her manager what happened. I on the other hand would of had a big argument and not helped out this client for being such an ignorant and racist person. This is further and contemporary proof that racism is not a thing from the past, it is the present. It still exists in this new world.
Yasser
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