an approaching high tide

...waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Morning weigh-in: 178.5#, 14% body fat

Really cool Harper's, but I went out last night anyway; Joe G was alread on his way to Which Brew so I said I'd meet him there. The place was mobbed, lots & lots of cuties and me with a bulbous red nose... Hung out with Joe and "Two Brew Stu," also talked with Jackie S for a bit, couldn't catch Bill's attention, tell him we're going to Vermont. Not much chance for talking anyway, Three Monks were playing and things were loud. Their sound has really come together.

Anyway speaking of things coming together: every weekend lately has been great, been seeing a lot of great bands, work is good, ditto reading/surfing, I'm losing weight and my body feels like it's firing on all cylinders for the first time in a while (it likes sloth, but does better with something difficult to chew on), things are starting to come together... so when when and how will they all come apart again?

Going to see a movie tonight, In America up at the coffee-house-cum-movie-theater in Stroudsburg. I hope I don't crash on the way...

One more thing: I saw an ad, "Free to Good Home" for a black lab, 5 years old and rescued from an abusive situation (the new owner is moving & can't keep him). I wish I could have a dog.

Asthma Barbie Sez "Breathing ice is hard!"

Morning weigh-in: 179.0#, 13% body fat

Jeebus, it was cold this morning. Ran a little further than yesterday (which was further than the day before), took 12 minutes. A little further and I think I'll have my distance dialed in -- I want to run 15 minutes every weekday morning. Things started out OK, but after a while I thought I was going to puke from respiratory distress. Work week is over, so now I'm getting to go back out for my Friday bike ride. It's about 14 degrees and the snow is a serious nuisance, so we'll see how long I stay out there. It goes without saying that I'm going alone...

The dry air at work (& cold air everywhere) has been irritating my nose, I've been using vaseline to keep things from drying out too bad, and last night I started to get "snot burn" around my left nostril (or maybe it's frostbite, heh heh): nasty, red, swollen & painful, I think I'll be staying in tonight. Joe called, wondered what I was doing and I told him I didn't "feel pretty;" he said "just put some foundation on it." A real riot, that Joe. I could put lipstick on it, make it less red...

Anyway, the new Harper's is here, with the usual jeremiads (Medicare, "The Oil We Eat"), but also an article about Centralia -- I once read somewhere that the town will probably burn for another thousand years. Anyway, good night to stay in.

A Lively Meeting

Morning weigh-in: 179.0#, 13% body fat, obsession index approaching 105%

I guess great minds think alike -- or is it just that fools seldom differ?

At our meeting last night, most Chain Gang members opted in to a weight loss challenge we called "lose the flab for Moab," though not everyone is going to Moab this year, and you don't have to be going to join the challenge... Joe & Bob both had scales (we went with Joe's as the official one, after much debate), we paid $10 into a pot and weighed in as well as measured our heights. The formula is this: if your BMI is above 25, your target is the greater of either 95% your current weight, or the weight that gives you a BMI of 25. For those with a BMI below 25, the target weight is 97% of your current weight. (Those with a BMI below 20 were ineligible to participate.)

I'm not sure how you win though. It's either "winner take all" for the first person reaching their target, or the pot is split between all those who reach their targets by a certain date -- say, the meeting before Moab, which would be the March meeting because the trip is in the first week of April. All I really know is that Cindy now has my $10.

Things got pretty raucus as we all weighed in, checked our heights, and then made up a spreadsheet with the data and our target weights. Really, just one of several lively things at the meeting; I think the year is off to a good start.

So anyway, I got up this morning and ran, same time as yesterday but I ran a little further, which is good but I wanted to have the same pace and take longer... Took a spin class after work, then was dinner, now blogging and soon to bed. Tomorrow night I'm riding the towpath, then Three Monks are playing at Which Brew, & I want to make the most of my night out since I don't think there'll be too many more, at least until I win my money back...

a new thing, crashing through

Morning weigh-in: 179.5#, 14% body fat. woo-hoo!

Got up this morning at the early time, and ran. Only 10 minutes because this is an "acclimation period," and I wanted to leave room for bug fixes (note to self: wear a hat), but I was out there. Even with the early rise I managed to get to work late -- the sun glare between Exits 3 and 6 has I-78 pretty much stopped dead every morning. Another week or two and the sun will be up early enough for me to avoid this.

Anyway, once in work I see an email from the IT department, selling old computers & monitors: $25 gets you either a 17" or 19" monitor, with free computer plus maybe a keyboard (no mice) included. So I got one. I talked to a friend & he said the 'puters are old & low end (166 MHz) but the monitors are OK. Dual screen on my main computer, with backup server running maybe Slackware...

Back to work.

Another One Of Those Days

Morning weigh-in: 181#, 13.5% body fat

Yesterday, continued: Got home from work, ate a little something then went to spin class, which I had a lot of trouble getting motivated for, and which may have been a mistake (heart rate wouldn't go very high, felt tired), but it felt good to go anyway, and I really didn't push too hard, so OK whatever. Got home, decided to cook some couscous, and managed to spill an entire box of it on the floor (before you cook it, the stuff is like sand), and it got everywhere...

Today I got up late again. The "earlier rise acclimation plan" isn't really working out; I got up at 6:00, but went back to bed until 7:05. Great dreams though, between the alarm & the actual wake-up: yesterday I was in the apartment building (the narrow one with the lobby and the internal balconies) in dream-Easton, and this morning I was down by a river that looked like the Delaware, but was the Leimgruber's backyard, though it also had a Which Brew logo on one of the trees.

I don't recall thinking of the Leimgrubers in years. Lenny and Joanne, and Jennifer, and Steven. They were our next door neighbors in Englishtown until they moved, and Joanne (the mother) was my mom's best friend. She passed away from brain cancer many years ago. They were younger than my parents, and Joanne kind of treated me as a kid brother; she also gave me old back issues of Scientific American from her real kid brother... Their daughter Jennifer is exactly thirty years younger than my mom, a coincidence that was always good for a few chuckles. (Strangely enough, Brian Hahl's mom also has the same birthday as my mom.)

Anyway, off to the gym. Tomorrow is the first attempt at "early rise plus running," but otherwise it's a rest day because of the Chain Gang meeting.

UPDATE: Blew off the gym tonight.

One of those days

Morning weigh-in: 181.5#, 14% body fat

Gaaah, setbacks on multiple fronts!! Well, "slipping is crash's law" as Emily Dickenson sez, and I did a little backsliding yesterday: beer and cheese at the Beef Baron, then more beer at Porters (where I watched the aftermath of the Eagles game live from Philly), then up late surfing and answering emails. I also set my alarm a half hour early, so I'd get used to it (hubris: I plan to use the time to jog before work).

So, this morning: I get up at the new time, turn off the alarm, go back to sleep, get up for real at 7:15 -- 45 minutes late, 15 minutes before I have to be out the door -- so there's no time for healthy breakfast at home, and the scale tells me a sorry tale...

Well, tonight is Colette's spin class, and I can eat a healthy dinner and go to bed a little early, hope springs eternal.

Recommendo: "The Triplets of Belleville"

Morning weigh-in: 180#, 14% body fat

Saw that movie last night, I highly recommend it if it plays near you. Kind of funny, it started as a "cartoon in a cartoon," and in there were cameo appearances by Django Reinhardt (speak of the devil!) and Josephine Baker... anyway, great movie.

I went riding this morning, over at Jordan Park with Joe, Doug and Eric. We were supposed to meet at 1:00 but it got pushed up to noon. ( I was busy sleeping in when the call came -- doh!) Since it snowed all last night and through this afternoon -- wet, heavy stuff, 6" or more -- the riding was a real workout. It probably would have been frustrating if it wasn't supposed to just be stupid fun, which it was so I had a blast. Then again (and unlike Joe and Doug) my bike functioned flawlessly, no mechanicals. Afterwards I went with Joe and Doug to the Beef Baron, grilled cheese and a Stoudt's Winter Ale.

Next up: I think I'll stop in Porters while laundry is drying, see if anyone's there and if the Eagles game is on (if the game's not already over). And then to bed.