| | | | | | | |
|
|
|
|
Visit South Padre to Live Longer and Lose Weight
818 Views ::
11 Comments ::  :: South Padre Island |
Visit South Padre to Live Longer and Lose WeightThere is more here than fun in the sun and great deals on beach homes New Research shows that regular getaways may extend your life by saving your heart from wear and tear. In a 9-year study, men who took at least one vacation per year were almost 30 percent less likely to die from a heart-related cause compared with the men who basically kept working.
The study tracked the health of 12,000 middle-aged men who were at high risk for heart disease and surveyed them to see how many vacations they took each year. - Regardless of their overall health and income, their risk of dying from heart problems was clearly connected to their willingness to get away from it all.
- Researchers suspect that vacation-prone people may have better heart health because time off helps reduce stress. Vacation time also provides opportunities to do other good-for-your-health things, like reconnecting with family and friends and pursuing fulfilling interests.
- Scheduling some fun could make you slimmer, too.
South Padre Island is a great get-a-way with great deals on Texas' best beach properties!
A note about vacation home from the National Association of Realtors' Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun Investors and vacation-home purchasers have had a hard time since the bubble burst. Prices declined and both renters and sellers were scarce. The market share, however, is holding its own. National Association of Realtors' Chief Economist, Lawrence Yun, reports, “Despite extraordinarily tight credit conditions for purchasing a second home, the market share for vacation and investment homes held steady,” he said. “A sizeable number of buyers made deals with all-cash offerings.” |
|
|
|
|
| Comments | |
economy watcher @
Thursday, April 14, 2011 3:59 PM |
Playing with a computer on the beach? Yikes! That picture looks completely counter to the spirit of the article, which highlights the benefits of "getting away from it all". The last thing in the world you want to do is take your job with you to the beach.
Yes, the south padre lifestyle is good for the body and soul. Nobody can deny that. Vacations are a basic human need, and South Padre is a great place to relax and unwind.
If you're looking for island property, buy now, before prices go up any more. During this past March the average sales prices of two bedroom island condos were UP almost 18% from the same month a year earlier. That's a fact:
Average Sales Price
March of 2011 vs March of 2010
South Pardre Island
Two Bedroom Condos
Actual average sales price
$236,357 (March of 2011), vs $200,800 (March of 2010)
**** 17.7% increase ***
|
|
|
|
Mike S @
Saturday, April 16, 2011 7:03 PM | |
The computer should be left at home for get-a-ways, but if you just must, at least you can do it on the beach |
|
|
|
vacation agent @
Saturday, April 23, 2011 10:59 AM |
I wonder if the violence in Mexico is causing a lot of Mexicans to take their beach vacations inside Mexico, avoiding the dangerous border areas:
http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldetampico/notas/n2051406.htm
I'm also fascinated by the article's contention that Facebook and Twitter are helping tourism. How can we leverage social networks to increase tourism on South Padre? Anybody got any ideas?
|
|
|
|
Paranoid Traveler @
Saturday, April 23, 2011 10:42 PM |
This past week there was a well advertised campaign claiming that the Mexican military was going to guarantee safe travel for the Holy Week, which also helps explain the record turnout at Miramar Beach. Unfortunately it sounds like they were less than successful with their efforts to protect all travelers. Please say a prayer tonight in hopes that all our beloved tourists (and travelers everywhere) make it home safely this Holy Week.
Nuevamente atacan autobuses de pasajeros
sábado 23 de abril de 2011
Las autoridades han informado en diferentes ocasiones que en las vacaciones de Semana Santa se puede viajar tranquilamente por carretera, esto después de que se dieran a conocer los terribles hechos que ocurrieron en el municipio de San Fernando, Tamaulipas, fue así que se implementaron operativos de seguridad, con el fin de dar tranquilidad a la sociedad, sin embargo durante la madrugada de hoy nuevamente ocurrieron ataques contra pasajeros.
Dos autobuses de pasajeros fueron atacados a balazos por grupos armados, el primer ataque ocurrió alrededor de las 03:00 horas en la Carretera Federal 85, mejor conocida como la Carretera Nacional, fue justo a la altura del poblado El Tomaseño, a pocos kilómetros de la cabecera municipal de Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, cuando los pistoleros accionaron sus armas contra un autobús de turismo.
El otro ataque se registró contra pasajeros que viajaban a bordo de un autobús que hacía su recorrido de Tampico a Saltillo.
Hasta el momento se tiene conocimiento de al menos una pasajera herida, identificada como Alejandra, de 29 años, y originaria de Linares, Nuevo León.
De forma extraoficial se habla de al menos cuatro autobuses atacados, sin embargo solo se han logrado confirmar que dos fueron afectados.
http://www.blogdelnarco.com/2011/04/nuevamente-atacan-autobuses-de.html#more
O Almighty and merciful God, who hast commissioned Thy angels to guide and protect us, command them to be our assiduous companions from our setting out until our return; to clothe us with their invisible protection; to keep from us all danger of collision, of fire, of explosion, of fall and bruises, and finally, having preserved us from all evil, and especially from sin, to guide us to our heavenly home. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. |
|
|
|
former drunk @
Monday, April 25, 2011 11:46 AM |
Not only can you "live longer and lose weight" on South Padre, you can also "sober up"!
http://www.originsrecovery.com/facilities
http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=567061 |
|
|
|
Gene H. @
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 7:04 PM | |
That picture of the woman working on the beach is repulsive. But, if that's what it takes to get away to the island, then maybe the island should offer free WiFi everywhere on the beach. Wouldn't cost much, and might actually convince some of those wealthy city workaholics to spend a little time money on the island (and eventually buy a condo)
|
|
|
|
Ironman Mike @
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 10:29 PM |
If you want to shed a few pounds, get up and go for a walk/jog on the beach at sunrise. It's the most incredible sight to see the sun come up over the horizon. Morning beach exercise is a popular activity, and you'll feel perfectly safe and have lots of company. The air is fresh, and with the cool morning air you won't sweat as bad as you normally would during mid-day. It's also fun to watch the morning beach fishermen, and see what they haul in. A lot of beach combers also like to see what the tide washed in overnight, such as some fantastic sea shells. Just try a morning walk once, and you'll get hooked forever. It just melts all your tension away, and rejuvenates your senses. The ultimate antidote for civilization.
If you ever question your decision to buy property on this wonderful little island, just refresh your memory by going for a morning walk on the beach. This place is good for the soul. |
|
|
|
Vacationer @
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 11:29 AM |
Here is another good reason to spend time on the island - it could enhance your career!
Take Vacation Now, Be More Productive Later
CNBC.com
| 23 May 2011 | 11:51 AM ET
American workers should take breaks if they want to increase their productivity, and their employers must be more liberal in giving vacation time, said Tony Schwartz, chief executive of The Energy Project.
Schwartz, author of "the Way We're Working Isn't Working," told CNBC Monday companies ranging from Ford Motor to Goldman Sachs to Apple have turned to his company to help them provide more flexible and liberal vacation schedules to workers and have seen growth in productivity as a result.
"The idea is that human beings aren’t made to operate like computers running at high speeds continuously for long periods of time," he said. "We’re actually designed to pulse. Think about breathing. You don’t get any credit in life for breathing in if you can’t breathe out."
Even short breaks throughout the workday are good if they allow a person to be refreshed. However, many employers fear workers will take advantage of such a policy and there are also employees who get addicted to the adrenaline rush of working at a high level. Both are wrong, Schwartz said.
For employers, "you, in effect, bring people in, you have people on call, you make sure that when a person is engaged they’re fully engaged and when they’re at the limits of being able to be engaged they’re in a position to recover," Schwartz explained.
As for the employees, "We have made a mistake by thinking the way we value someone is by the number of hours they put in instead of the value they generate," he said. "If you hold them accountable to generating a certain amount of value and your measure them by the value they create…then you are shifting the focus to what really matters."
URL: http://www.cnbc.com/id/43136927/ |
|
|
|
Money Magazine @
Tuesday, May 24, 2011 8:17 PM |
How badly do you need a vacation? Take the quiz:
http://money.cnn.com/quizzes/2011/fortune/vacation/index.html |
|
|
|
Time magazine @
Saturday, May 28, 2011 7:29 AM |
Interesting article from Time Magazine:
http://techland.time.com/2011/05/27/70-of-adults-will-untether-from-work-this-summer-lets-make-that-number-higher/
"Though only 64% plan on actually taking vacations this year (down from 74% last year), the data suggests that a good percentage of people are looking to untether themselves completely, especially since technology has effectively turned our 9 to 5's into 24/7 jobs."
Now I'm darn curious as to why 10% fewer people are planning to take a vacation this year. That is an amazing statistic, almost horrifying. From the standpoint of this island, tourism feeds the real estate market, and with fewer tourists it's logical to expect fewer property transactions. That's a bad trend we have to turn around.
If the economy is getting better, then why are fewer people taking a vacation? Too attached to their jobs? The Time article says people are increasing looking to "untether" themselves from their jobs, but it also implies that many tourists already need to feel well connected to the office back home, especially the younger ones. Perhaps it would really help if rental agencies insist that all rental property owners have WiFi? Pass some kind of local ordinance making it a requirement? Would the island really attract more tourists if we had WiFi on the beach? These are all interesting and legitimate questions to ponder. What would happen if we were the first beach community in the nation to offer free WiFi to all tourists? That might attract national attention, and probably wouldn't cost much. Heck, in places like Starbucks, free Wifi is just considered a normal and necessary business expense. If people can't go on vacation without WiFi, then why don't we find a way to give it to them at every beach access? If we don't do it first, then some other beach town up the road probably will.
What I see here is a beautiful little island, being battered hard by strong outside forces: Weak economy, extra thrifty tourists, challenging mortgage situation, problems in Mexico, high gas prices, etc. We can't control the outside world, but we can control the way we react to it. Significantly enhanced access to free WiFi could really help business, and wouldn't cost much.
Now look at your own real estate office. Do YOU offer free WiFi for your clients?
Let's all think about it.
|
|
|
|
Dr. Pepper Drinker @
Monday, June 06, 2011 12:06 PM |
The problem with WiFi on this island is that there is TOO much of it. Yesterday I hauled out my WiFi analyzer and found 14 different broadcasters within range of my condo. There are so many users out there stepping on other users, that getting a quality high speed wireless signal on any channel is nearly impossible.
One alternative for people who want to run high bandwidth applications such as Netflix would be to set up a private power line network in their home/condo. It doesn't cost much, on Ebay you can find these things for as little as $50 a pair. (One connects to your router, the other in a distant room connected to your computer) That allows you to turn your home AC wiring into a high speed internet network, with no interference from the neighbors. But, it requires a physical wire connection to the AC wall adapter.
The problem we have here on the island is that most everybody is a tourist, and wants the easy/fast wireless connection. So everybody has it, and therefore it's a massive traffic jam for most users.
Some time ago I heard that Google was working on some kind of scheme to get high speed wireless connectivity for entire cities, but I don't know how far they have gotten with this project. This kind of thing is however exactly what the City of South Padre Island desperately needs. Right now the island is the Wild Wild West on the Wireless frontier.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14366409/ |
|
|
You must be logged in to post a comment. You can login here |
|
| | | | | | | |
|
|