You can't get there from here...

So, I think the worst part about where we currently live is that it's pseudo-country.  If it were the city, we'd have access to sidewalks and nice roads; If it were the country, we'd have access to wide open spaces.  Instead, we have neither.  The street outside our house is fairly busy.  Busy enough that I won't walk or bicycle on it, and I think that says a lot.  And, strangely enough, every week you see a random tractor go bouncing down the street.  It's a total nether region, existing in neither city nor country.

Because of this phantom zone, in order for us to exercise, we have to actually get into a car and drive somewhere else.  If this meant a gym it'd be normal, but this includes parks, and bicycling and walking/running.  If it would stop raining, technically you could run around the yard - we sit on 1/3 of an acre, so there's enough room that you don't look 100% stupid running in a big circle.  But the rain has the yard all muddy, and muddy running is bad.  Plus, it's too muddy to mow back there, so the grass is getting pretty tall.

So here's my commentary: this is why America is facing an obesity epidemic.  I won't go so far as to say people are lazy, which is certainly true for some.  It's that it's just so hard to find a place to go exercise outdoors.  There are some who are happy running in place on a treadmill, but there are some of us who would rather see more than the wall in front of us (assuming there's a wall, most of the time it's someone else in front of us).  And for that segment of the population, it's counter intuitive for you to have to drive 1/2 hour away from your house to get a 1/2 hour of exercise.

The biggest argument against this rationale is that most people have sidewalks, and would just prefer to sit on the couch watching matlock or jeopardy than get outdoors and sweat a bit.  To this I say, studies are now showing that a sedentary lifecycle not only shortens your life, but increases your risk of future heart issues by up to 60%.  Google it, folks.

So... go get out there and sweat a bit.  Or, at a minimum, try to stand up at least once every hour while you're vegging out.