People are starting to visit my site now – which is mega cool – but it's making me feel a bit self-conscious.  Is my site interesting enough?  More importantly, does it look cool?  These are the thoughts that concern me this fine evening...

First off, I'm not sure about the name of this site.  I've called it, hold on to your hats: "A Walking Blog".  Whoa, man, whoa. Now as awesome as that title is, I kind of want something more catchy, funny, and (especially) sexy. Yet for some strange reason, I can not make "walking" seem/sound sexy. 

Why is this? 

You say, "he drives a sports car" and people will picture a man in a sleek suit behind the wheel of a shiny red vehicle.  And of course ladies just love to drape themselves, in a half naked manner, around nice cars. Now say, "he walks everywhere" and people will picture a hippie.  Or perhaps a homeless man.  

This, ladies and gentlemen, is one of our largest obstacles.  Walking lacks sex appeal.  We should change this!  I'm thinking that instead of the usual "no car day" we should do a "walking is sexy too day" where everyone gets to walk around in their hottest outfits.  Who wouldn't be up for that?    

Anyways, if any of you have any ideas that would help me pump up my site, I would be happy to hear them.

PS: For the record, I do think hippies are sexy.
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I'm doing some reading for class.  Well, I'm trying to do some reading.  My roommates - yay Craig's list! - are a couple and they're presently working out a disagreement.  Loudly.

So I can't concentrate.  But, this one reading is pretty interesting, and since it mentions walking I thought I'd share it.  It's by my professor, R. W. Morris, and the article is called "Beyond Body-Spirit Dualism" (2001).  Here are a few segments:

"The automobile, which Borgmann (1992) aptly refers to as the 'vehicle of modernism' (p.58), has gone a long way in replacing the bicycle and walking – two modes of transportation that put us in direct contact with our bodies and the outside world.  Walking activates all the senses.  It allows us to slow down long enough to see, hear, smell, touch and sometimes even taste.  The car and its supporting cast of gadgets, furthermore, has rendered the body almost superfluous (Le Breton, 200, p.13)..."

"...Even a mundane technology like the automatic garage door opener radically severs the possibility of an embodied relationship with nature.  The price 'is any real relationship to the physical world.  If you live in a suburban home and commute to a parking garage somewhere, that ten seconds opening the garage door might be nearly the only rain you ever feel' (p. 247).  In northern countries like Canada the growing popularity of the remote car starter means that the ten seconds it takes to walk from your home or place of work to your car might be the only cold you ever feel..."

"...The fitness revolution is largely rooted in our ever-increasing preoccupation with the appearance of our bodies.  Taken at face value, this phenomenon seems to indicate an attitude of wonder and care for the human body.  A closer look, however, reveals a new attempt to escape our moral, corruptible and imperfect bodies.  Here our bodies are objects, 'commodious surfaces', to be altered, enhanced, perfected and make forever youthful.  The body is not a friend but rather an enemy to be defeated."

So, let's make friends with our bodies and take them for a walk! 

As well, if you are interested in the topic of body/mind separation, you should check this out:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html
It's a lecture by Ken Robinson about schools killing creativity and educating from the head up "and slightly to one side".  A super good talk, funny too. 

(P.S., TED.com is an awesome site) 

My roommates aren't fighting anymore.  They have the music turned up and one of them is singing loudly.  Off tune.  Save me.        
 
I just finished writing the research essay that never ends never endingly (Martlet, 2008).  If that sentence made sense to you, good.  That's about the level of brilliance I could muster up for that paper.  

I should try to walk out my "essay butt", but it's pretty late.  Instead I'll write about walking, which is really not the same thing at all but I'm too tired to go to bed. 

Also! I really want to answer my first comment.  Bryce wanted to start a conversation about "how towns are set up for the convenience of cars over that of walkers" (Bryce, 2009). 

I totally see where he's coming from. I think this is especially evident during construction when the construction workers take over the sidewalk instead of the road.  Us poor, freezing pedestrians have to wait for a light, cross the street, wait for a light, cross the street, and finally, wait for a light and cross the street. Aww, look at us, being all cold and having to walk more in the wind and rain while the drivers are not inconvenienced at all...

...but, on the upside, think of the hot leg muscles we're developing with all the extra walking! 

Hey, something cool happened to me when I was going to school today.  This random girl gave me a huge pink rose and said "have a nice day".  Then she walked away.  So I carried the rose from class to class, reveling in the fact that all my classmates thought it was my birthday or something. 

Carrying a rose all day without crushing it is a huge responsibility.  You will be happy to know that the rose survived.  When I finally got home, I put it in water in a tall beer glass (I have no vase.  Classy, I know).  It looks very nice on the table (Murphy, 2009).

Take that, car drivers!  I bet you didn't get a random rose on the street!
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Yah, it's true, that's a beer mug. I don't have a real vase to put it in.
 
Sunday was a pretty awful day.  I had to make one of those big questionable, life-changing decisions. I made it and ... I felt shitty.  So I was doing the "I feel shitty" walk, which consists of me walking and walking and walking until I feel better (or get hungry).

I was walking in the hope that something would come along and cheer me up, and Montreal, you did not disappoint! 

I was on Rue Saint Laurent, one of the hip-happenen streets in Montreal, and I hear this dance music.  I'm tempted to call it techno, but I'm not sure.  Whatever it was, it was rock'n stuff and I liked it.  I looked around to see what bar the music was coming from and, to my surprise, I saw that it was coming from a bike!  This bike was totally tricked out.  It was covered in lights and on the back there was a fancy speaker blasting out tunes. 

The best part about it all was that the bike was not being ridden by some hipster kid – no - it was controlled by a very normal looking, older gentleman.  Grinning from ear to ear, he just drifted up and down the street, sharing his love of techno to the world.

I felt better.  

It reminded me of this guy I occasionally see when I walk to school.  He's a tough looking kid with a stereo backpack that pumps out rap music.  Whenever I'm behind him, I can't help but to fantasize about sneaking some Jewel music onto his playlist.  Perhaps a little Sarah McLaughlin.  

This post is getting long, but I just want to say that I'm super excited because I got my very first comment!  Thank you, Bryce, for making my day.  I do have a few thoughts on that issue and I will respond!  Maybe even tomorrow (if I can finish my school essay...sigh...).