Hypothermic Weight Loss Plan

I know I haven't blogged for a while. Partly it's exhaustion; partly it's just that I've been busy with activities that don't blog very well (e.g. met 50 new people).

Anyway, the recent drop in temperature combined with living in a place without free heat for the first time in ten years led me to this brilliant idea: I ought to publish a weight loss planned focused on freezing. If the temperature is lower, my body ought to burn more energy to keep itself warm, right? So there ought to be a point where my body is continuously burning lots of extra energy to keep itself warm, but not too cold so that I suffer from hypothermia and die.

This brilliant plan has great benefits:

• First, it is continuous and automatic. None of the hard work of getting on an exercise bike, going to the gym, or getting outside. Instead, every moment that I am at home, being a lazy couch potato, my diet plan is hard at work.
• I know it's working. None of this "hrm, I wonder if limiting myself to a syrup and lemon diet is working" doubts - the constant shivering is an automatic reminder that your body is burning energy.
• It saves on heating bills.
• Others share your misery, even if they aren't trying to loose weight.
• If you want a roommate or spouse to loose weight, no more nagging them to exercise or diet: Just drop the temperature. If one is mechanically minded, figure out how to rig the thermostat so it won't go above 62 or so.
• It's a great way to make others feel sorry for you: "Yeah, my doctor said I have to be on the hypothermia weight loss plan and I can't have the temperature above 49 degrees - can you believe it?"

I figure the plan is lousy, but I ought to be able to write a 100 page book and make millions anyway. I just need a better name for it.

Llama Economics

So I made a trip to lamafest this weekend. (Yes, lamafest is the correct grammar; llama is a type within the lama genus. And since the festival also included alpacas, it is properly called lamafest.)

I had a good time getting to hang out with the lama farmers and just hearing them talk about their craft. It's a bit stunning, though, to walk around at all the custom craft items which usually cost $30-50, although some larger pieces of art cost much, much more.

Some factoids:

• You can purchase your own pregnant alpaca for $20,000-25,000.
• Shearing a lama (yearly) yields around 10lbs of wool.
  
• Lama have 1 baby, or "cria", per year.
  
• For alpaca, Internet suggests fleece yields $20-40/lb, or $160/lb for yarn

I'm still trying to figure out if it's profitable to get into the lama business. It's a bit troubling to me that the primary value of alpaca is currently breeding them since there is a short supply of them. That is, selling alpaca doesn't seem like a stable business model since unlike, say, food, there's not a need for an on-going supply of alpaca. It also seems very expensive to get into: One needs shelter, land, transport, vaccinations, veterinary visits, time at the shows, etc., etc.

On the plus side, one can get a lama pet for a couple hundred bucks, which seems like a very attractive option for a furry self-propelled lawn-mower. They also don't smell, generate fertilizer, make wool, and hum. I suppose that's not bad for a pet.

There are also miniature lama, I discovered -- I suppose for small lawns and indoor pets.