Just finished reading Hot, Flat & Crowded by Tom Friedman. The premise of the book is that the earth is getting flatter (see his other book The World is Flat), hotter due to global warming, and more crowded due to population growth. With 6 billion and growing people polluting at our current rate, we are in big trouble since we're not sustainable. His book goes into why we need a green revolution (Code Green in his words) to change our world.

The full title is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. It was a terrific book. And now I want a library cat in Tyngsboro. :-) This book compliments two other animal books I've read in the few past years: The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and Marley & Me by John Grogan. All three are for animal lovers and really show the relationship animals have with humans and the bond that is formed. I highly suggest all of them.

... and take some time to relax. The graph I just read (posted here) is very powerful and shows that the relationship of "time the average person in a given country spends eating and that country’s obesity rate". Basically, the less time you spend eating, the higher the obesity rate.

This year, my aim is to become a national competitor - at least someone who's noticed by those who are truly competitive in my class nationally. I want to be at least near the top third of my class at the National Championship, which is a tall order for a first time competitor at Nationals in a car that definitely isn't the popular car in FSP. In pursuit of that goal, I planned to make several National Tour and ProSolo events this year to ensure I got to meet up with some of the names I've heard, but never met before.