Not that I'd ever have a band. I don't play a musical instrument. I do sing, but not in any type of way that would make me worthy of actually performing for people. But I do have a ton of names for potential bands. I was almost hesitant to write this post because suppose someone somewhere hears one of these names and likes it, starts to use it as their band name, and then they achieve fame and fortune without ever giving props to me about it? But then I figured, it would all be documented on this interweb business, and also, why would I begrudge someone a cool band name I happened to dream up? It's not like I'm going to use it.
No idea how this all started, but have you ever said something and thought that it would make a great band name? Or a great name for a bar? I had an idea for a bar. I was going to call it "The Space Bar." Like a space bar on a keyboard, but it could also be like outer space.
Anyway, one day years ago I ran into the woman who lived downstairs from me. Her name was Sashi and she used to dye her hair purple. So I asked my roommate at the time what she thought of Sashi's dye job, and it occurred to me that it was a GREAT name for a band. Sashi's Dye Job.
Well, some people at work had the same idea and we started to keep a running list of potential band names. Like someone would say something, and someone else would seize on it as being a good band name. Not all of these names originated that way, but a good chunk of them. Here are a few:
1. Beat the Hese. I worked with a guy whose last name was Heser, and I believe I was competing with him in a football pool? Anyway, voila. Band name.
2. Shift the Bubble. This had something to do with the NCAA basketball playoffs, which teams were 'on the bubble,' that kind of thing.
3. Baloney Pony. Origin unknown.
4. Long Yellow Pad. Because we keep the band names listed on a long yellow pad of paper.
5. Gone Postal. 'Nuff said.
6. Eight Grade Nun. There are a lot of Catholics here.
7. Squishy Bottom. A coworker commented that the bottom of her stapler was squishy.
8. Howard Sprague's Groovy Bachelor Pad. Reference to the Andy Griffith show.
9. Silent Rhythm. See #3.
10. Rebellious Cog. Referring to someone who refused to be a 'cog in a wheel of the machine.'
11. Whitehurst. Green Bay quarterback from 1977-1983.
12. Knife Wielding Savages. No clue.
13. Credit the Cat. Again, no idea.
14. Ramen Phase. Referencing the phase that all college students or young poor people go through when they eat lots and lots of Ramen noodles.
15. Chester Marcol. Former Packers place kicker. Yeah, we're Packer fans here.
16. Scotty Under the Sink. Refers to a conversation overheard by a friend of mine while on staying at a bed and breakfast. Some family strife that led to their youngest child hiding under the sink and not coming out.
17. Adam Slim. A descriptor of a certain type of slim resembling a guy named Adam.
18. Gas the Bird. One of mine. I'll explain in some other post.
19. Steak Boy. I called my friend Tim that because of his highly anticipated dinner at Coerper's 5 O'Clock Club, known for their steaks.
20. Spaetzle. German dumplings/noodles.
Well, those are the best of them. I've had this list for years and years and years. Always makes me laugh.
But please, if you happen to hear a song by Sashi's Dye Job on the radio, please tell me. I've got some suing to do.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Challenges
I've had a few over the last few days. The weekend is usually a challenge in and of itself, what with having a lack of routine and all. Friday and Saturday were OK. Sunday wasn't bad, but it was indeed a major challenge.
Sunday started with a fundraiser, a pancake breakfast (barkfest, as we call it) to benefit the adoption center. I didn't partake of the actual breakfast since I was working the event, but I could have. And I wanted to. Syrup and I are old, dear friends.
But I didn't. I had a cup of coffee, a banana and a WW 2 point bar.
The event was over by noon and I was famished, as was my friend who volunteered with me. We wanted to grab lunch, so after tossing around a few ideas, we went to Qdoba. I had a naked bean burrito (w/o cheese or sour cream, but w/a dollop of guacamole), which in the vast scheme of things isn't all that bad points-wise.
So I figured I was doing fine. But then my sister called me later. There's a deal among 25 participating restaurants in town where you get a 3 course meal for $25 throughout the month of October. Well, it was such a good deal and we both really wanted to go to Il Mito, so we did. I had a salad with field greens, artichoke hearts, fresh mushrooms and parmesan cheese in a lemony dressing. They also bring out fresh bread and fresh olive oil with that one really good cheese...it'll come to me...and I had some of that. Not too much, but some.
My entree was a roasted vegetable pizza, of which I ate half, and for dessert I had some cappuccino gelato (which was as good as it sounds).
So, while I was relatively happy with my choices, and most definitely happy with the food, anyone on WW would realize that going out to eat twice in one day is a bit extravagant on the old points (I dipped heavily into my weekly allotment of extras).
Yesterday went quite well, but now today we're having a bake sale at work as a fundraiser. I made dream bars for the event (butter, flour, salt, eggs, coconut, walnuts and brown sugar, in varying amounts--it ends up being a sweet salty melt in your mouth taste explosion). I only ate 1 sorry one (and I cut them very small) that didn't look suitable for the event. During the bake sale I bought a ridiculously tasty (though reasonably sized) brownie.
But, I haven't gone back and have no intention of buying anything else there and am just counting down the minutes until all the goodies are gone. They've even done the usual "end of bake sale half off until it's gone" email posting. I STILL haven't gone back in there, and I won't, dammit.
So, those were my challenges this week. Personally I think I met them head on and successfully defeated them. Whether the scale agrees with me or not is another thing, but you know what? Even if it doesn't, even if I gain, or stay the same this week, I won't be defeated because I came through knowing that I did the absolute best that I could and I didn't give in. And it wasn't like it's painful to do. It's the right thing to do. I am, as always, a bit resentful that I can't just eat whatever the hell I want.
But, I had some pretty awesome meals and I just feel good about the whole thing. So, when I face the scale on Thursday night I'm ready for whatever it shows me.
Sunday started with a fundraiser, a pancake breakfast (barkfest, as we call it) to benefit the adoption center. I didn't partake of the actual breakfast since I was working the event, but I could have. And I wanted to. Syrup and I are old, dear friends.
But I didn't. I had a cup of coffee, a banana and a WW 2 point bar.
The event was over by noon and I was famished, as was my friend who volunteered with me. We wanted to grab lunch, so after tossing around a few ideas, we went to Qdoba. I had a naked bean burrito (w/o cheese or sour cream, but w/a dollop of guacamole), which in the vast scheme of things isn't all that bad points-wise.
So I figured I was doing fine. But then my sister called me later. There's a deal among 25 participating restaurants in town where you get a 3 course meal for $25 throughout the month of October. Well, it was such a good deal and we both really wanted to go to Il Mito, so we did. I had a salad with field greens, artichoke hearts, fresh mushrooms and parmesan cheese in a lemony dressing. They also bring out fresh bread and fresh olive oil with that one really good cheese...it'll come to me...and I had some of that. Not too much, but some.
My entree was a roasted vegetable pizza, of which I ate half, and for dessert I had some cappuccino gelato (which was as good as it sounds).
So, while I was relatively happy with my choices, and most definitely happy with the food, anyone on WW would realize that going out to eat twice in one day is a bit extravagant on the old points (I dipped heavily into my weekly allotment of extras).
Yesterday went quite well, but now today we're having a bake sale at work as a fundraiser. I made dream bars for the event (butter, flour, salt, eggs, coconut, walnuts and brown sugar, in varying amounts--it ends up being a sweet salty melt in your mouth taste explosion). I only ate 1 sorry one (and I cut them very small) that didn't look suitable for the event. During the bake sale I bought a ridiculously tasty (though reasonably sized) brownie.
But, I haven't gone back and have no intention of buying anything else there and am just counting down the minutes until all the goodies are gone. They've even done the usual "end of bake sale half off until it's gone" email posting. I STILL haven't gone back in there, and I won't, dammit.
So, those were my challenges this week. Personally I think I met them head on and successfully defeated them. Whether the scale agrees with me or not is another thing, but you know what? Even if it doesn't, even if I gain, or stay the same this week, I won't be defeated because I came through knowing that I did the absolute best that I could and I didn't give in. And it wasn't like it's painful to do. It's the right thing to do. I am, as always, a bit resentful that I can't just eat whatever the hell I want.
But, I had some pretty awesome meals and I just feel good about the whole thing. So, when I face the scale on Thursday night I'm ready for whatever it shows me.
Friday, October 10, 2008
This 'n that
Hey Amigos,
I should really try and update this more often. Well, that's a bit ballsy of me, seeing as it makes the assumption that others are reading this often enough that they want to hear more from me. That could be true, but I shouldn't assume it.
I don't have an excuse for being silent, I just never got around to writing.
I posted a healthy loss last week, and posted the exact same amount as a gain last night. I'm not surprised. I wasn't exactly living a Bacchanalian existence this last week, but I certainly wasn't following any sort of real 'plan.' I had several things that caused this gain. Maybe if it had been one of these things it wouldn't have happened, but put them altogether and you've got a gain baby.
1. I didn't track my points (that is, I didn't log what I was eating and the points value of what I was eating).
2. Rather than cooking, I resorted to convenience foods. Not fast food or anything like that, but some premade sushi, a couple things from the Outpost deli, that sort of stuff.
3. Speaking of Outpost, I ate a few too many of their cookies. They're homemade all natural cookies, and I sometimes indulge myself because you can buy just one, but it's not something I should do regularly; and I obviously overdid it this week.
4. I didn't exercise enough.
5. I wasn't vigilant about drinking water.
So, you put all that stuff together, and what do you have? A gain.
On the interesting side, I gained the EXACT same amount I'd lost the previous week. So psychologically that is good because I can sort of convince myself that the past week didn't really happen. I'm exactly where I was a couple weeks ago and I can just pick up from here, which is exactly what I intend to do.
I'm not surprised I've lost a bit of steam. I've been going at this for 7 months now, and while I'm still quite satisfied with the program, I guess I felt tempted to push the envelope a bit. See what I could get away with.
Well, I learned a lot by doing so. My grip on my weight loss is tenuous and I need to be ever vigilant. I still see room for a little indulgence, but I need to maybe examine why I overdo the indulging thing every now and then. And I especially need to be more vigilant about getting out and moving around. I can almost guarantee that if I'd exercised better over the last week I wouldn't have gained, or at least not that amount.
And speaking of exercise, I just got back from my walk around campus. I'm going to try and do it again this afternoon. It's funny though, it's not that warm, but I still get awfully sweaty when I'm walking in the full sunlight (and there's not a cloud in the sky). I'd say my walk, which is about a mile, is about 1/3 in the shade and 2/3 in the sun. So I do come back to my desk a bit sweaty. But it feels so good to get my blood pumping. Something funny, I can tell that I didn't walk last week. It was just a teeny bit more difficult than normal. I'm sure my body reverted back to where it was. It's kind of done that all over the place, hasn't it.
Not much else is new amigos. I've got another busy weekend, but thankfully a friend is taking my 4 hour shift at the adoption center on Sunday. I took hers last week, a very last minute thing (the original sub didn't show), and was thrilled when she could do mine.
I steam cleaned my carpets over the weekend. I know that's not the most exciting thing, but it is one of those chores where you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you're through. I just rented a little Rug Doctor for a day and did the living room and kitchen (yes, my kitchen is carpeted; the owners installed brand new berber carpeting before I moved in; it's ridiculous but I haven't felt like changing it just yet). You should see the water when the canister fills up...nothing short of amazing, really. I also cleaned and polished my leather couch. The animals have done a number on it and it needed it BAD. I plan on bringing that into my regular cleaning rotation.
I'm sort of a changed person lately when it comes to cleaning. I'd say maybe in the last 6 months to a year I've just become a tidier person. I do my dishes more regularly, I vacuum more regularly, I tend to not leave stuff lying around. Except clothes. I haven't quite figured out the clothes sitch just yet.
I'm just really bad with figuring out what goes where. My bedroom has 2 closets; one is quite largish. It's not really a walk in, although you can walk into it, so maybe it is, it's just small. The other is an average closet. And i have a dresser and a bureau. But the thing is, I have no concept of what should go where. I've got bras over in one drawer, and undies and socks each have their own drawers. But everything else is a crap shoot. I have no idea how to best utilize the space; like what I should hang, where I should put sweaters, should I change things out with the seasons.
Yeah, I'm pretty lame that way. So a lot of the time I just have clothes around my bedroom. Folded and clean, mind you (that, like bras and undies, has a permanent space), just disorganized and not really put anywhere. I'm hopeless with arranging my clothes! And it's not like I'm not organized in the kitchen, because I am, relatively (you have to be with as little space as I have in my kitchen), but the clothes thing just has me stymied.
I'm tempted, though I never would, to hire an organizer. Don't sweat it amigos, I'm not going to do it, because in the end it seems foolish and should be something I can do on my own and I don't have money to spend on something like that. I am going to have to do some research, dig through some old Real Simple magazines, maybe watch an infomercial...
Whoah, jumped the track there didn't I...but I guess it's all tied in. Self improvement tends to have a ripple effect, don't you think?
I should really try and update this more often. Well, that's a bit ballsy of me, seeing as it makes the assumption that others are reading this often enough that they want to hear more from me. That could be true, but I shouldn't assume it.
I don't have an excuse for being silent, I just never got around to writing.
I posted a healthy loss last week, and posted the exact same amount as a gain last night. I'm not surprised. I wasn't exactly living a Bacchanalian existence this last week, but I certainly wasn't following any sort of real 'plan.' I had several things that caused this gain. Maybe if it had been one of these things it wouldn't have happened, but put them altogether and you've got a gain baby.
1. I didn't track my points (that is, I didn't log what I was eating and the points value of what I was eating).
2. Rather than cooking, I resorted to convenience foods. Not fast food or anything like that, but some premade sushi, a couple things from the Outpost deli, that sort of stuff.
3. Speaking of Outpost, I ate a few too many of their cookies. They're homemade all natural cookies, and I sometimes indulge myself because you can buy just one, but it's not something I should do regularly; and I obviously overdid it this week.
4. I didn't exercise enough.
5. I wasn't vigilant about drinking water.
So, you put all that stuff together, and what do you have? A gain.
On the interesting side, I gained the EXACT same amount I'd lost the previous week. So psychologically that is good because I can sort of convince myself that the past week didn't really happen. I'm exactly where I was a couple weeks ago and I can just pick up from here, which is exactly what I intend to do.
I'm not surprised I've lost a bit of steam. I've been going at this for 7 months now, and while I'm still quite satisfied with the program, I guess I felt tempted to push the envelope a bit. See what I could get away with.
Well, I learned a lot by doing so. My grip on my weight loss is tenuous and I need to be ever vigilant. I still see room for a little indulgence, but I need to maybe examine why I overdo the indulging thing every now and then. And I especially need to be more vigilant about getting out and moving around. I can almost guarantee that if I'd exercised better over the last week I wouldn't have gained, or at least not that amount.
And speaking of exercise, I just got back from my walk around campus. I'm going to try and do it again this afternoon. It's funny though, it's not that warm, but I still get awfully sweaty when I'm walking in the full sunlight (and there's not a cloud in the sky). I'd say my walk, which is about a mile, is about 1/3 in the shade and 2/3 in the sun. So I do come back to my desk a bit sweaty. But it feels so good to get my blood pumping. Something funny, I can tell that I didn't walk last week. It was just a teeny bit more difficult than normal. I'm sure my body reverted back to where it was. It's kind of done that all over the place, hasn't it.
Not much else is new amigos. I've got another busy weekend, but thankfully a friend is taking my 4 hour shift at the adoption center on Sunday. I took hers last week, a very last minute thing (the original sub didn't show), and was thrilled when she could do mine.
I steam cleaned my carpets over the weekend. I know that's not the most exciting thing, but it is one of those chores where you really feel a sense of accomplishment when you're through. I just rented a little Rug Doctor for a day and did the living room and kitchen (yes, my kitchen is carpeted; the owners installed brand new berber carpeting before I moved in; it's ridiculous but I haven't felt like changing it just yet). You should see the water when the canister fills up...nothing short of amazing, really. I also cleaned and polished my leather couch. The animals have done a number on it and it needed it BAD. I plan on bringing that into my regular cleaning rotation.
I'm sort of a changed person lately when it comes to cleaning. I'd say maybe in the last 6 months to a year I've just become a tidier person. I do my dishes more regularly, I vacuum more regularly, I tend to not leave stuff lying around. Except clothes. I haven't quite figured out the clothes sitch just yet.
I'm just really bad with figuring out what goes where. My bedroom has 2 closets; one is quite largish. It's not really a walk in, although you can walk into it, so maybe it is, it's just small. The other is an average closet. And i have a dresser and a bureau. But the thing is, I have no concept of what should go where. I've got bras over in one drawer, and undies and socks each have their own drawers. But everything else is a crap shoot. I have no idea how to best utilize the space; like what I should hang, where I should put sweaters, should I change things out with the seasons.
Yeah, I'm pretty lame that way. So a lot of the time I just have clothes around my bedroom. Folded and clean, mind you (that, like bras and undies, has a permanent space), just disorganized and not really put anywhere. I'm hopeless with arranging my clothes! And it's not like I'm not organized in the kitchen, because I am, relatively (you have to be with as little space as I have in my kitchen), but the clothes thing just has me stymied.
I'm tempted, though I never would, to hire an organizer. Don't sweat it amigos, I'm not going to do it, because in the end it seems foolish and should be something I can do on my own and I don't have money to spend on something like that. I am going to have to do some research, dig through some old Real Simple magazines, maybe watch an infomercial...
Whoah, jumped the track there didn't I...but I guess it's all tied in. Self improvement tends to have a ripple effect, don't you think?
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Thoughts of a Big Loser on "The Biggest Loser"
As I'm sure many people of the fat persuasion have done, I've watched a couple episodes of this season's Biggest Loser. I watched probably two episodes over the entire course of the series. But this year, seeing as I've joined WW and all, and I'm in a 'try and watch as many success stories/cautionary tales about obesity as possible to help keep me on track' phase, I had a bit more of an interest.
I'm pretty sure any interest I had in it has been stepped on and flattened by the banality of the show. Bottom line, it's crap reality programming, plain and simple.
(Let me take a moment to apologize to anyone reading this who likes the show...I mean no offense; I watch my own fair share of less than stellar programming, America's Funniest Home Videos for one, so I'd never judge another person by what they're watching; if you like it, watch away)
I have a lot of problems with this show. I have more problems with it than I can fit in one blog entry (and expect anyone to actually read it). So I'll try and be brief about them.
1. They rarely, if ever, show people eating food. One episode had the contestants cooking, with the help of Rocco Dispiritoroony or whatever his name is. And that's great, because I don't know about you guys, but stuff like that happens to me every week. They had a 'challenge' that involved guessing calories of fattening foods, and the punishment for failing to come the closest was having to eat the food itself. Would they do that to an alcoholic? "Oh, sorry buddy, you'll have to finish off that fifth of scotch. But it'll sure help those shakes!"
Occasionally they show them eating something, I'm assuming they're having a meal together. But I have no idea how the food got there, what it is, how often or how much they're eating. Now, maybe the general public doesn't realize this, but there's one reason why I am as big as I am. I eat too much. My problem is, has always been, and unfortunately always will be, with food. Sure, exercising isn't my favorite thing to do, but for me, my lack of movement followed my addition of weight. I would not have a weight problem if not for food. So, why don't they talk about it? Why don't they try and discuss these people's relationships with food, how to deal with them, and how to live a life of positive, healthy eating? And it's not like anything is so incredibly entertaining that they had to make room by bumping off anything related to food.
2. Another thing I find absolutely ridiculous are these workouts they go through. Where do I begin here? Really. They are taking people who haven't exercised, who don't exercise, and forcing them to do ridiculous workouts so they lose weight. They need trainers to help with FOOD. The exercise? Trainers are great. Exercise is key to weight loss. I get it. But this completely fabricated, phony atmosphere, with trainers like boot camp sergeants, and who I keep expecting to look at the camera and wink, because it's SO obvious they're performing, is just so far out of the realm of reality that I have a really hard time watching.
3. Another thing that gets me is the attitude toward the actual losing of the weight. I know it's a game show (because it really is, isn't it...just a really long game show) where they award the person who loses the most weight. But isn't the person who loses the least weight the one who needs help? And yet, that's the one (or in this case, the pair) who get sent home. Sure, they have their biggest loser program to follow and they keep losing weight and they get their 15 minutes of fame. But what exactly are we rewarding here?
A really sad thing is that some of these people feel bad, are downright crestfallen, because their weight loss didn't meet their expectations. So, someone who lost 7 pounds in a week feels bad because they lost less than their competitors. 7 pounds. Where the hell am I exactly? They're crying. They berate themselves. They get angry.
I've gotten angry over not losing what I'd hoped. But i remind myself, a loss is a loss.
4. A whole other reason I don't care for it is that it's just not very good. Goodly parts of it are downright boring. The challenges are boring. The people are, frankly, boring. On the last episode a father/daughter pair had to choose between them who would go home. The conversation between the father and daughter was endless, and I think it was supposed to be suspenseful, but I just felt like telling them to shut the hell up and decide already.
So, I don't think I'll be watching much anymore. Or at all. Maybe if it's on and I'm flipping around I'll....
Oh for crying out loud, who am I kidding. I'll never watch it again.
I'm pretty sure any interest I had in it has been stepped on and flattened by the banality of the show. Bottom line, it's crap reality programming, plain and simple.
(Let me take a moment to apologize to anyone reading this who likes the show...I mean no offense; I watch my own fair share of less than stellar programming, America's Funniest Home Videos for one, so I'd never judge another person by what they're watching; if you like it, watch away)
I have a lot of problems with this show. I have more problems with it than I can fit in one blog entry (and expect anyone to actually read it). So I'll try and be brief about them.
1. They rarely, if ever, show people eating food. One episode had the contestants cooking, with the help of Rocco Dispiritoroony or whatever his name is. And that's great, because I don't know about you guys, but stuff like that happens to me every week. They had a 'challenge' that involved guessing calories of fattening foods, and the punishment for failing to come the closest was having to eat the food itself. Would they do that to an alcoholic? "Oh, sorry buddy, you'll have to finish off that fifth of scotch. But it'll sure help those shakes!"
Occasionally they show them eating something, I'm assuming they're having a meal together. But I have no idea how the food got there, what it is, how often or how much they're eating. Now, maybe the general public doesn't realize this, but there's one reason why I am as big as I am. I eat too much. My problem is, has always been, and unfortunately always will be, with food. Sure, exercising isn't my favorite thing to do, but for me, my lack of movement followed my addition of weight. I would not have a weight problem if not for food. So, why don't they talk about it? Why don't they try and discuss these people's relationships with food, how to deal with them, and how to live a life of positive, healthy eating? And it's not like anything is so incredibly entertaining that they had to make room by bumping off anything related to food.
2. Another thing I find absolutely ridiculous are these workouts they go through. Where do I begin here? Really. They are taking people who haven't exercised, who don't exercise, and forcing them to do ridiculous workouts so they lose weight. They need trainers to help with FOOD. The exercise? Trainers are great. Exercise is key to weight loss. I get it. But this completely fabricated, phony atmosphere, with trainers like boot camp sergeants, and who I keep expecting to look at the camera and wink, because it's SO obvious they're performing, is just so far out of the realm of reality that I have a really hard time watching.
3. Another thing that gets me is the attitude toward the actual losing of the weight. I know it's a game show (because it really is, isn't it...just a really long game show) where they award the person who loses the most weight. But isn't the person who loses the least weight the one who needs help? And yet, that's the one (or in this case, the pair) who get sent home. Sure, they have their biggest loser program to follow and they keep losing weight and they get their 15 minutes of fame. But what exactly are we rewarding here?
A really sad thing is that some of these people feel bad, are downright crestfallen, because their weight loss didn't meet their expectations. So, someone who lost 7 pounds in a week feels bad because they lost less than their competitors. 7 pounds. Where the hell am I exactly? They're crying. They berate themselves. They get angry.
I've gotten angry over not losing what I'd hoped. But i remind myself, a loss is a loss.
4. A whole other reason I don't care for it is that it's just not very good. Goodly parts of it are downright boring. The challenges are boring. The people are, frankly, boring. On the last episode a father/daughter pair had to choose between them who would go home. The conversation between the father and daughter was endless, and I think it was supposed to be suspenseful, but I just felt like telling them to shut the hell up and decide already.
So, I don't think I'll be watching much anymore. Or at all. Maybe if it's on and I'm flipping around I'll....
Oh for crying out loud, who am I kidding. I'll never watch it again.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Catching Up!
Hey Amigos,
Sorry for the silence. The planets have not been aligned in such a way that is conducive to blogging, at least in my world.
I'm still losing, so in case you're wondering, that's all going quite well.
I slogged through a bunch of laundry yesterday. Some of it was pretty ugly (amazing how it just sort of leaves your mind after you toss it down the chute, you know?). I'm hoping to thin out my collection (some due to my weight loss, some due to just having too many clothes) and wanted to be sure it was clean prior to wearing/donating.
I stayed up WAY too late last night. I watched a very interesting movie yesterday, I'd dvr'd it from Turner Classic Movies. It was called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and it starred the fabulous Albert Finney. Gawd, how I love those young Brits (Albert Finney, Michael Caine, David McCallum, Malcolm MacDowell). I love 'em older too, but I don't know if you could ever find anyone as charming as a young Albert Finney. It was an excellent movie. I also watched The Woman in the Window, a movie directed by Fritz Lang with Edward G. Robinson. Nothing quite like those old movies, I say. I really liked this one. It had Dan Duryea in it too, and I got to wondering, has he been in any movies where he wasn't a complete slimeball? I can think of 4 movies he was in right off the top of my head, and he was a scoundrel in every last one.
I was very sad to hear about Paul Newman. He did live to a ripe old age, but still, to see a legend pass is just a sad thing. I almost went to see him on Broadway. He was the narrator in a revival of Our Town. The tickets would have been close to $200, and Paul Newman or not that's just too much to pay. I told my sister, maybe if he performed the entire play while sitting in my lap I'd pay $200.
I miss New York. I know I was just there in January, but amigos, I didn't really have a very good time. It wasn't the city's fault. I was in so much pain it was hard to enjoy it. I think in retrospect I should have cancelled the trip, but I didn't know that at the time. I thought I was doing OK, but I realize now that I was truly in a bad way. I ended up icing my knee every night for hours, and I just couldn't walk the city like I'm accustomed to doing. I'm so incredibly happy I got my knee taken care of, and now I can't wait to get back there. Unfortunately my friends don't have plans to leave the country so I don't have much of a reason to go. And I don't have all that much money these days, so travelling would probably be a mistake anyway.
But I do miss that city. I love that city. I love everything about it, even the scary parts. I love mostly that you can do stuff alone and not feel alone.
Sorry I don't have anything too exciting or funny to tell you about. I realize with such a long gap between posts that this one should be a corker, but it ain't.
I'll make it up to you.
Sorry for the silence. The planets have not been aligned in such a way that is conducive to blogging, at least in my world.
I'm still losing, so in case you're wondering, that's all going quite well.
I slogged through a bunch of laundry yesterday. Some of it was pretty ugly (amazing how it just sort of leaves your mind after you toss it down the chute, you know?). I'm hoping to thin out my collection (some due to my weight loss, some due to just having too many clothes) and wanted to be sure it was clean prior to wearing/donating.
I stayed up WAY too late last night. I watched a very interesting movie yesterday, I'd dvr'd it from Turner Classic Movies. It was called Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and it starred the fabulous Albert Finney. Gawd, how I love those young Brits (Albert Finney, Michael Caine, David McCallum, Malcolm MacDowell). I love 'em older too, but I don't know if you could ever find anyone as charming as a young Albert Finney. It was an excellent movie. I also watched The Woman in the Window, a movie directed by Fritz Lang with Edward G. Robinson. Nothing quite like those old movies, I say. I really liked this one. It had Dan Duryea in it too, and I got to wondering, has he been in any movies where he wasn't a complete slimeball? I can think of 4 movies he was in right off the top of my head, and he was a scoundrel in every last one.
I was very sad to hear about Paul Newman. He did live to a ripe old age, but still, to see a legend pass is just a sad thing. I almost went to see him on Broadway. He was the narrator in a revival of Our Town. The tickets would have been close to $200, and Paul Newman or not that's just too much to pay. I told my sister, maybe if he performed the entire play while sitting in my lap I'd pay $200.
I miss New York. I know I was just there in January, but amigos, I didn't really have a very good time. It wasn't the city's fault. I was in so much pain it was hard to enjoy it. I think in retrospect I should have cancelled the trip, but I didn't know that at the time. I thought I was doing OK, but I realize now that I was truly in a bad way. I ended up icing my knee every night for hours, and I just couldn't walk the city like I'm accustomed to doing. I'm so incredibly happy I got my knee taken care of, and now I can't wait to get back there. Unfortunately my friends don't have plans to leave the country so I don't have much of a reason to go. And I don't have all that much money these days, so travelling would probably be a mistake anyway.
But I do miss that city. I love that city. I love everything about it, even the scary parts. I love mostly that you can do stuff alone and not feel alone.
Sorry I don't have anything too exciting or funny to tell you about. I realize with such a long gap between posts that this one should be a corker, but it ain't.
I'll make it up to you.
Friday, September 19, 2008
.2 lousy %*#$ing pounds away...
I'd say it's been long enough since my last post, wouldn't you?
Things are going not too bad. I did post a loss this week at weigh in, although I missed a significant goal by only .2 lbs! It's my own damned fault though, so I won't complain. I know exactly what I did wrong, and that was go a little fast and loose from weigh in day until Sunday. Nothing horrible, but I wasn't counting my points and that spells disaster. So I reined things in starting Monday, but it obviously was too little and too late.
BUT, I'm already doing better this week. I weighed in last night, and came home and ate sensibly.
Oh, and I've stopped buying frozen novelties altogether. I just can't have them in the house. When they're in the house, all I want to do is eat them, and when they're not I don't even think about them, so that says they've overstayed their welcome in my world. To that I say 'no more.'
And, in a strange twist, I've gone back to the full-sized Orville Redenbacher 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn. That's not going to be a permanent change, but I figure it will make me miss my frozen novelties less. I have an unopened box of 100 calorie bags of OR94%FFKC just waiting to be opened when I'm through.
I've been getting out and walking on campus during my breaks, and that's nice. Every day I walk past the new law school site and I can see progress day by day. I walk past our art museum and through some lovely landscaped areas. It's a nice little haven right in the city and I love it. Honestly, I think the kids who go here are darned lucky. They're not isolated, they are right in the thick of it, and that's one of the things that makes us so unique. I've really been enjoying my walks.
I've got a heck of a weekend coming up, crammed full of things to do. Hopefully I'll be done on Saturday relatively early, because Sunday I've got my 4 hour shift at the adoption center and I'm already dreading it.
I say that every time. And every time it ends up being fine. But it just doesn't make me want to do it any more than it ever did. I think sometimes I just get so tired of the following scenario. Someone comes in, asks all sorts of ridiculous questions, takes up copious amounts of your time, and then leaves. They're not really interested in adopting, they're just killing time essentially, but we have to treat everyone like royalty (I'm not arguing with that...you just never know for sure who you're talking to, and they could turn out to be your biggest benefactor) and it can get tiring when you spend your whole day talking and not getting one application, or one donation.
But, we're not trying to win any contests, and I certainly don't relay my attitude to anyone I talk to. Actually, most people are quite nice. Not bright necessarily, but nice. But, it's tiring. It's 4 hours of my Sunday. It's time away from my dogs and cats when my time with them is precious as it is.
BUT, I won't stop doing it. Complain I will, but I am doing important work and I'd say every shift I spend there I learn something, and someone who visits there learns something. It's the right thing to do. So I will keep doing it.
Anyway, hopefully because I'm having a busy weekend I will stay on track better than last week. I need the structure of being busy for me to not focus on food.
Luckily I've been throwing together some very easy yet tasty recipes that have kept me going. I'm currently working on a crock pot of chili. It's merely 'ok' chili. Actually, when putting it together it just seemed weird. It's 2 cans of hot chili beans, a can of black beans, a jar of salsa, a can of FF refried beans, a packet of taco seasoning and some soy crumbles (instead of ground beef or turkey). I still don't get what the refried beans are doing in there. And where are the tomatoes? Sure, there's the salsa, but you can't even tell it's in there. And the beans sort of disintegrated. And the soy crumbles are sort of lost.
It doesn't suck or anything, but I probably won't be making that again. I've got a better recipe that uses less ingredients, is cheaper, and tastes much better.
I love making stuff in my crockpot. It's amazing the number of easy vegetarian recipes you can make. If you've got a crockpot gathering dust, get it out and dust it off sweeties, because I've got some of the easiest, best recipes ever that I'll be sure to share with you..
Not now, of course. I mean later.
OK, I've rambled plenty. Just wanted to update you on all things me.
Things are going not too bad. I did post a loss this week at weigh in, although I missed a significant goal by only .2 lbs! It's my own damned fault though, so I won't complain. I know exactly what I did wrong, and that was go a little fast and loose from weigh in day until Sunday. Nothing horrible, but I wasn't counting my points and that spells disaster. So I reined things in starting Monday, but it obviously was too little and too late.
BUT, I'm already doing better this week. I weighed in last night, and came home and ate sensibly.
Oh, and I've stopped buying frozen novelties altogether. I just can't have them in the house. When they're in the house, all I want to do is eat them, and when they're not I don't even think about them, so that says they've overstayed their welcome in my world. To that I say 'no more.'
And, in a strange twist, I've gone back to the full-sized Orville Redenbacher 94% Fat Free Kettle Corn. That's not going to be a permanent change, but I figure it will make me miss my frozen novelties less. I have an unopened box of 100 calorie bags of OR94%FFKC just waiting to be opened when I'm through.
I've been getting out and walking on campus during my breaks, and that's nice. Every day I walk past the new law school site and I can see progress day by day. I walk past our art museum and through some lovely landscaped areas. It's a nice little haven right in the city and I love it. Honestly, I think the kids who go here are darned lucky. They're not isolated, they are right in the thick of it, and that's one of the things that makes us so unique. I've really been enjoying my walks.
I've got a heck of a weekend coming up, crammed full of things to do. Hopefully I'll be done on Saturday relatively early, because Sunday I've got my 4 hour shift at the adoption center and I'm already dreading it.
I say that every time. And every time it ends up being fine. But it just doesn't make me want to do it any more than it ever did. I think sometimes I just get so tired of the following scenario. Someone comes in, asks all sorts of ridiculous questions, takes up copious amounts of your time, and then leaves. They're not really interested in adopting, they're just killing time essentially, but we have to treat everyone like royalty (I'm not arguing with that...you just never know for sure who you're talking to, and they could turn out to be your biggest benefactor) and it can get tiring when you spend your whole day talking and not getting one application, or one donation.
But, we're not trying to win any contests, and I certainly don't relay my attitude to anyone I talk to. Actually, most people are quite nice. Not bright necessarily, but nice. But, it's tiring. It's 4 hours of my Sunday. It's time away from my dogs and cats when my time with them is precious as it is.
BUT, I won't stop doing it. Complain I will, but I am doing important work and I'd say every shift I spend there I learn something, and someone who visits there learns something. It's the right thing to do. So I will keep doing it.
Anyway, hopefully because I'm having a busy weekend I will stay on track better than last week. I need the structure of being busy for me to not focus on food.
Luckily I've been throwing together some very easy yet tasty recipes that have kept me going. I'm currently working on a crock pot of chili. It's merely 'ok' chili. Actually, when putting it together it just seemed weird. It's 2 cans of hot chili beans, a can of black beans, a jar of salsa, a can of FF refried beans, a packet of taco seasoning and some soy crumbles (instead of ground beef or turkey). I still don't get what the refried beans are doing in there. And where are the tomatoes? Sure, there's the salsa, but you can't even tell it's in there. And the beans sort of disintegrated. And the soy crumbles are sort of lost.
It doesn't suck or anything, but I probably won't be making that again. I've got a better recipe that uses less ingredients, is cheaper, and tastes much better.
I love making stuff in my crockpot. It's amazing the number of easy vegetarian recipes you can make. If you've got a crockpot gathering dust, get it out and dust it off sweeties, because I've got some of the easiest, best recipes ever that I'll be sure to share with you..
Not now, of course. I mean later.
OK, I've rambled plenty. Just wanted to update you on all things me.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Focus! FOCUS!
Hey Amigos,
Lots of catching up to do here!
I had a busy, fun weekend. Saturday was the Boxer Bash, an annual fundraiser for Green Acres Boxer Rescue of Wisconsin. I drove up to Green Bay and it rained non-stop, but in spite of that I made very good time (without endangering myself or others, even). Once I got there it was sort of a whirlwind. GABR buddies, if you're reading this, was this bash over and done with before you even realized it? It sure felt that way!!! We did fantastic, it was a great crowd in spite of the rain (bless those boxer lovers, they're a hardy bunch) and I had a ball. And, I'm not schmoozing just because I think they may be reading this, it absolutely did my heart good to see all of my GABR buds. A harder working, nicer more dedicated group of people you're not going to meet.
My eating was OK that day. I did buy some goodies at the bake sale (this is a legendary bake sale that pretty much kick's all other bake sales' asses) that I devoured between GB and home, and felt sort of guilty about it. And I wasn't very serious about counting points since my last meeting.
I think I've gotten into a habit of sort of treating my weigh in day as a freebie (since I don't have to weigh in for another week, that kind of thing) and this time it sort of segued into the weekend ending in a 4 veggie corn-dog fiesta that I had last night.
I've really reined myself in today. I'm doing a modified 'kickstart' thing that WW talks about, where if you feel you need a bit of a boost (and I do) or if you've reached a plateau (and I will) you restrict your points to 20 for a set amount of time (no more than 2 weeks, though I'd never be able to last 2 weeks on 20 pts a day). I figured that I'd do that starting today through Friday, just so I can focus. I feel like I've lost a bit of my focus lately. I haven't done anything out and out horrible, but I've been taking some liberties and I know, I just know, that it's the beginning of major trouble if I don't put a stop to it right now. And I'm notorious for abandoning all hope when I get sick. It's SO hard for me to eat right when I'm sick. When I'm feeling well, I love to eat right. When I'm feeling poorly, I just want to eat something that tastes really good, and I don't care what it is and the quicker I can get to it the better. And I'm just NOT going to let that happen this time, no sir.
So, today I'm prepared. I'm having my same breakfast (Quaker cinnamon spice oatmeal), same lunch (broccoli slaw and fruit) and I've made a HUGE vat of chili that comes out to 3 points per cup, so I could foreseeably have 2 cups of that a night (for the next week...I ain't joking when I say it made a ton) and keep to around 20 points. Now, my WW buddies who may be reading this, don't worry about me. I'm being very sane about it. I just know that I need to get back that mojo that I had in the very beginning. I need to stop taking the program for granted. I need to focus and get serious. AND, I know myself very well, and this is the best way for me to do it.
So again, WW has come up with an incredibly smart way to meet the needs of someone like me (or anyone who needs to lose weight, really). They know we can lose focus, they know we can get discouraged if we don't see success, and they've come up with this guideline, and I already feel like it's helping. I really do!!!
My cold is hanging on. I don't feel too crappy, but I sound terrible, and my nose is beet red what with all the blowing and stuff.
This weekend was my 25th high school reunion. I didn't go, but my friend T did (egged on by a former classmate and by the fact that it was a multi-year reunion, and her parents would be there celebrating their 50th, and her uncle would be there celebrating his 40th) and I made sure she told me everything. Not that there's much to tell, and not that I cared a whole lot, but that sort of opportunity doesn't offer itself every day, where you can essentially be a fly on the wall. Our class was the least represented (even compared to the 50 year one, where we and her parents figured a large number of alums would have died already), which doesn't surprise me because my class was notorious for their lack of school spirit. Maybe we were ushering in Generation X?
They had been touting a DVD that was for sale that featured highlights of our years at Pius set to a rockin' 80s soundtrack. I hadn't really intended on buying one, but similar to my interest in what my classmates might be up to, I was curious as to what it was all about. It turns out it's just a video of someone flipping pages through our senior yearbook set to 80s music. I've still got my yearbook, I can do that myself!
I tell you, that's a true friend who will attend a reunion she really doesn't want to go to, not ask you to join her, AND tell you all the details you missed out on.
So, another week is here. And I'm doing well on my program today, and for that I'm grateful.
Lots of catching up to do here!
I had a busy, fun weekend. Saturday was the Boxer Bash, an annual fundraiser for Green Acres Boxer Rescue of Wisconsin. I drove up to Green Bay and it rained non-stop, but in spite of that I made very good time (without endangering myself or others, even). Once I got there it was sort of a whirlwind. GABR buddies, if you're reading this, was this bash over and done with before you even realized it? It sure felt that way!!! We did fantastic, it was a great crowd in spite of the rain (bless those boxer lovers, they're a hardy bunch) and I had a ball. And, I'm not schmoozing just because I think they may be reading this, it absolutely did my heart good to see all of my GABR buds. A harder working, nicer more dedicated group of people you're not going to meet.
My eating was OK that day. I did buy some goodies at the bake sale (this is a legendary bake sale that pretty much kick's all other bake sales' asses) that I devoured between GB and home, and felt sort of guilty about it. And I wasn't very serious about counting points since my last meeting.
I think I've gotten into a habit of sort of treating my weigh in day as a freebie (since I don't have to weigh in for another week, that kind of thing) and this time it sort of segued into the weekend ending in a 4 veggie corn-dog fiesta that I had last night.
I've really reined myself in today. I'm doing a modified 'kickstart' thing that WW talks about, where if you feel you need a bit of a boost (and I do) or if you've reached a plateau (and I will) you restrict your points to 20 for a set amount of time (no more than 2 weeks, though I'd never be able to last 2 weeks on 20 pts a day). I figured that I'd do that starting today through Friday, just so I can focus. I feel like I've lost a bit of my focus lately. I haven't done anything out and out horrible, but I've been taking some liberties and I know, I just know, that it's the beginning of major trouble if I don't put a stop to it right now. And I'm notorious for abandoning all hope when I get sick. It's SO hard for me to eat right when I'm sick. When I'm feeling well, I love to eat right. When I'm feeling poorly, I just want to eat something that tastes really good, and I don't care what it is and the quicker I can get to it the better. And I'm just NOT going to let that happen this time, no sir.
So, today I'm prepared. I'm having my same breakfast (Quaker cinnamon spice oatmeal), same lunch (broccoli slaw and fruit) and I've made a HUGE vat of chili that comes out to 3 points per cup, so I could foreseeably have 2 cups of that a night (for the next week...I ain't joking when I say it made a ton) and keep to around 20 points. Now, my WW buddies who may be reading this, don't worry about me. I'm being very sane about it. I just know that I need to get back that mojo that I had in the very beginning. I need to stop taking the program for granted. I need to focus and get serious. AND, I know myself very well, and this is the best way for me to do it.
So again, WW has come up with an incredibly smart way to meet the needs of someone like me (or anyone who needs to lose weight, really). They know we can lose focus, they know we can get discouraged if we don't see success, and they've come up with this guideline, and I already feel like it's helping. I really do!!!
My cold is hanging on. I don't feel too crappy, but I sound terrible, and my nose is beet red what with all the blowing and stuff.
This weekend was my 25th high school reunion. I didn't go, but my friend T did (egged on by a former classmate and by the fact that it was a multi-year reunion, and her parents would be there celebrating their 50th, and her uncle would be there celebrating his 40th) and I made sure she told me everything. Not that there's much to tell, and not that I cared a whole lot, but that sort of opportunity doesn't offer itself every day, where you can essentially be a fly on the wall. Our class was the least represented (even compared to the 50 year one, where we and her parents figured a large number of alums would have died already), which doesn't surprise me because my class was notorious for their lack of school spirit. Maybe we were ushering in Generation X?
They had been touting a DVD that was for sale that featured highlights of our years at Pius set to a rockin' 80s soundtrack. I hadn't really intended on buying one, but similar to my interest in what my classmates might be up to, I was curious as to what it was all about. It turns out it's just a video of someone flipping pages through our senior yearbook set to 80s music. I've still got my yearbook, I can do that myself!
I tell you, that's a true friend who will attend a reunion she really doesn't want to go to, not ask you to join her, AND tell you all the details you missed out on.
So, another week is here. And I'm doing well on my program today, and for that I'm grateful.
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