The Road to a Lesser Dave: Day 3 - Part 1

Today will be an incredibly busy and long day, which is why I am posting something short this morning in hopes of posting something very short again way way later. I am going to the Twin Tech event in DC tonight, preceded by dinner at Eli's. After that, I will be home for an hour (spouse time :)) and then off to the first showing of Batman at 12:01am. I will post my daily stats at some point later tonight, but for now I wanted post a quote I saw yesterday and discuss it a little.

I love Twitter. What is Twitter you ask? Glad you asked... Here is a short and simple video explaining exactly what makes this new online social media tool a success.

One of the people I follow, Erica Douglass, posted this:

@ericabiz Reading: "A $1 increase in the price of gasoline could cut the obesity rate by 10 percent, saving 16,000 lives..." http://xrl.us/kk3bm

Charles Courtemanche, an economics professor at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro wrote his dissertation on "The connection between gas prices and obesity." By surveying statistics from the past 20 years of government health studies and gas prices he was able to show that our cheap prices helped further our fatter nation. Now, with people finding new ways to get to work and around in general, whether by metro, bicycle, walking or more, we are slimming down. Gas prices go up, weight goes down.

I have already looked into the likelihood of riding a bike to work. For one, I don't yet own a bike... (if you have have an extra one and live in the DC area, give me a shout). Two, I take back roads almost the entire way to my office (from Silver Spring to Bethesda, MD) and the roads are quiet narrow. I'm nervous about getting hit by a car. Half the time I drive on the side of a park, which I should be able to bike through, but the other times.... speedy cars, nervous fat guy on a bike. Probably not the best combination. I love bike riding, and think I will take it up one a leisurely level.

Do you think I could make the 6.9 mile trek there and back each day?