Yo-Yo my fat friend

I had to visit my doctor the week before last to have lab work done before my meds would be refilled. I hate to go. Not that I dislike my doc, he is really a nice guy, one I wouldn’t mind hanging out with watching sports and having a beer. But that’s not gonna happen. That white coat makes him an authority figure and the enforcer. I guess I am transferring my guilt to him because I have not followed his advice for some time now.
Loose weight. Get exercise. Watch diet. I really want to, I do, but just not enough to get off my big lazy butt and get in gear. My doc and I have had this discussion before, “I am the typical yo-yo dieter”. Loose 30 pounds, gain back 35. Loose 50 pounds, gain back 75.

I got my voicemail from the office that my lab results were in and to call the Lab Tree. I was given a PIN before I left the Dr office, so I knew exactly what to do. Well, let’s just say my kidneys and liver enzymes were normal, everything else was high. Yes, I did go there fasting, so wipe that excuse off the board. So while listening to the recorded results the last thing on the recording was, “Out of Control!” So it is back to loose weight, get exercise, watch diet.

This is today’s lunch.
Looks really good, doesn’t it? Actually it was pretty good, but I do have a gripe. Look closely at the picture… got it? How many ravioli do you see? I see at least seven. Okay six, if you count the two split open as the two halves of one. I had a robust four in my dish. No wonder folks loose weight eating Weight Watchers.


Now look at the calorie information. 250 calories and 45 of those are fat calories. I’m wondering what I could trade those 250 calories in for?

The Doc told me about an easy diet a farmer patient of his prescribes to, the 10 bite diet. Eat anything you want, but only eat ten bites a meal. If I were to follow this plan, at least I could eat 2 ½ WW Ravioli Florentine dinners for lunch.. Hey only 10 bites.

I’m hungry already.
Must be time for a new doctor.

Rice-a-roni

I had forgotten how great San Fran was. I had been there before, years ago, but when Marcy invited us out, it was hard to pass up, especially since the airfare was such at deal.

My youngest had never been there, so Marcy planned a first class tour covering as many high points as could be stuffed into three days. Great job Marcy.

We were fortunate that school Fall break coincided with Fleet Week in SF, where we were wowed by one of the best air shows ever.
Beside the Professor’s gourmet meals, we were taken to some of the finer local eating establishments (at least we don't have them in our neck of the woods). In and Out Burgers, mmmm. Chipotle, mmmmm. Krispy Krème Doughnuts, mmmmmm. Nick’s Seafood Restaurant, mmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, here’s a short list of the fun stuff.

1. Twin Peaks, one of the greatest views of SF, evva.

2. Pier 39 Wharf, the bay breezes, the Sea Lions, the sunset, the people






3. Muir Woods, the awe-inspiring beauty of the Redwoods











4. Chipotle, the greatest “Subway” style burrito restaurant

5. Golden Gate Bridge from every angle imaginable


















6. Wading in the ice cold Pacific Ocean and finding Sand Dollars.








7. Watching the pea soup Fog roll into the city and then driving in it.




8. Cruising from one end of town to the other via the Cable Cars.














9. Running the gauntlet on Lombard Street




10. Hot out of the fryer Krispy Kremes.









11. Ghirardelli ice cream.












12. The Weather. Perfect. That is all I can say about it. Perfect. Just the way October should be.
13. Eating killer homemade sausage and biscuits made by Neil.
14. Eating killer homemade chocolate chip pancakes made by Neil.
15. Eating killer Italian Sausage Pasta dinner made by Neil.
16. Sharing one bathroom between the four of us, just like the old days.
17. Chowing down on exceptional clam chowder, followed by delish crab cakes at Nick’s Seafood Restaurant.
18. Piling in the sleeper couch bed to view the day’s pics on the laptop.
19. Seeing the architecture of the city built on 45 degree streets.
20. Being with DADDY's girls.













Thank you Neil and Marcy for the grand time!

Misspent Youth

I remember thinking, in my youth, what it was going to be like in the year 2000. Back in the 60s and early 70s, the turn of the century seemed like a lifetime away. We had a high profile space program along with television shows like “Get Smart”, “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.”, “My Favorite Martian”, “The Avengers”, “The Jetsons”, “Space Ghost”, “Johnny Quest” and “Batman from which to make assumptions about the development of technology.

The years have flown by and the modern conveniences and gadgets today far exceed anything anyone could have imagined back then.

One area with magical progress is medicine. When we stop and consider what we deem routine, just a few years ago was unheard of. Despite our effort to hurry our demise through our diets and lack of exercise, the medical community finds ways to enable us to live longer with a greater quality of life. Amazing.

Now that we are well into the 21st century, I find myself well into my “middle age” years. Scary. I never really stopped to think of myself as middle age. How did I get there? Is this some place you wake up one morning and find yourself? Now that I’ve had a moment to ponder, there were signs, the creaking of joints, the exhaled sighs when plopping down in to an oversized comfortable chair, even more so when prying myself up and out of it.

Other signs…

Finding ingenious ways to pick up items without having to bend over.

Going to dinner parties and finding the topic of conversation always ends up comparing ailments.

Definitely becoming a tight wad (frugal if you like) as you purchase items and remember prices when you were younger (Gas $0.30/gal. Cigarettes $0.25/pack, Burgers $0.15/each).

You are amazed when the physician enters your examination room, thinking, “This guy can't be any older than my children!”

My family has a history of longevity. I have plenty of relatives that lived well into their 90s. Even so today, I have many very active 80-something family members. So does that mean you begin middle age at 35? 40? 45? 50?

What about those “Golden” years? Do they sneak up on you too? I am not sure I can handle all this.

Second thought, given my lack of maturity and my childish ways, I am not sure I have even reached middle age and am not sure I will ever get there.
That’s the way I like it.

Picking Bones.

Please tell me that I am over reacting. That it is just me.

My youngest daughter is now a junior in high school and she is very bright. She takes all honors (AP) classes and I don't mean basket weaving. We've been blessed with wonderfully intelligent and gifted young ladies (4 of them). Anyway, along with her academic prowess, she is also in the band and on the yearbook staff. In addition to school stuff, she is very active with her youth group at church. Needless to say, she is busy.

Here's my gripe.

Last week, the yearbook staff went on a SCHOOL field trip to a yearbook convention for training. They missed most of the classes that day and none of the absences were excused by the other teachers. Oh I don't mean she got reprimanded for not attending class, but they did not cut her any slack either, having to do all the class work at home, plus the regularly assigned homework. Some thing's wrong with this picture to me.

Now she and I are going to San Fran to visit Marcy (BIG sis) and Neil over the Fall break, which means we leave here Friday afternoon. Thus requiring that she miss the football game that night. OMG, the end of the world. Pookie was so intimidated by the band leader/instructor/teacher, that she wanted me to change our flight to later. I did not. I happen to believe that travels to other parts of the country or world are very educational, more so than a high school football game. I understand the need to have strict adherence to the attendance policy so evey one isn't "willy-nilly" missing them, but give me a break, why the intimidation? I sent an email message to the director, ex planing the situation and also reminding him that in the three years she has participated in band, she has not missed any practices, games, competitions or functions involving the band. That was several days ago, still no reply. Yesterday, he finally talked to her and expressed his displeasure, but that she was not to worry about it and they would work something out. It still would reflect on her grade somehow unless she did extra work.

We have yet to get to the subject of homework. Oh boy, blow my stack! Do these teachers not think that their students have a life outside of class? Pookie stays up past midnight most nights getting homework because, between after school band practices a few days a week, church activities and formal music lessons, she doesn't get to start on her work until 6-6:30 PM. Then there's dinner to consider. A chib has got to eat sometime. AND don't get me started on the 50 pounds of books in her backpack!

So now that I have vented, doesn't it seem to you that students, like my extremely intelligent and well rounded daughter, are penalized for participating in the very programs and activities the school encourages? These same chibs have had it drilled into their heads since junior high that they must build an impressive school resume to qualify for the best scholarships.

Sorry I just don't get it. In order to be successful they are supposed to walk through their high school years as zombies? We can count on Saturday being a sleep catch up day, where breakfast is 1 or 2 PM. Unless of course, there is a competition some where. This is craziness...

Do we have a renegade daughter who is playing us like a fiddle or do any of you have the same concerns?

"I could wile away the hours..."

When you are having a great day, feeling chipper with a skip in your step, considering the moment in your happy zone, are you a singer, whistler or a hummer? Come on now, most everyone does something. Just sit back sometime and listen to the folks around you. They can be waiting for the elevator, walking down the hall, printing copies, washing their hands in the lavatory or most any menial task, most everyone is rocking in their stance, tapping their foot and whistling, singing or humming, even if it is slightly audible.
Although I do whistle, and even sing from time to time, I am mainly a hummer.
I usually hum popular songs or pieces of songs, multiple songs blended together, which if sung, the lyrics would make absolutely no sense at all.

On the other hand my boss is a bold whistler, in the vein of Bing Crosby. We have come to know his presence in the office by his constant melody. He too has been known to verbalize an oldie or two from time to time, although not with the same vigor as his whistle. My wife, Chuckie and my youngest, Pookie are singers. They will walk around the house, oblivious to their surroundings, singing the lyrics to one of their favorite songs at the time, or the last song they heard on the radio, but barely at a decibel level detected by humans, as they are shy singer.

So how about you? What’s your game?

Frantic

Imagine yourself, alone, in the dark, standing outside your car fumbling for the keys, only to discover they are locked inside. Your heart beats faster and harder within your chest as you glance around, looking for help, but also taking in your surroundings in case of stalkers, muggers or anyone who may wish to do you bodily harm.

Forget it, didn’t happen, but it feels the same to me trying to log into any internet program that requires security that has not been used in some time.
Who in the heck can remember all these logins and passwords? I had to make a cheat sheet and hide it so I can refer to it later. Isn't that like carrying around your ATM card AND your PIN number?
Luckily most of my accounts are work programs and it’s not that big a deal to me to have the logins available at my desk. In fact, when gone for a period of time, for like vacation or something, I leave them with my associates in case they have to access my workstation.

This morning I got a popup reminder to change my password. Oh No! And I just got this one from Corp because I couldn’t remember my last one. Let’s see, it has to be something I can remember, yet long enough and be alpha-numeric. Yikes! It literally took me ten minutes to come up with something. It had to be catchy. It had to be related to the account, Reimbursement Expense account. Even so I wrote it down as not to take any chances. How does “Moneyman” sound? I will skip the numeric part just in case there are some secret hacker-spies out there. I see promise with this theme…”TheBanker”, “LoanShark”, “CoinCollector”…and so on, you get the drift.

It is hard coming up with this stuff as my company gives us restrictions, no family names, no birth dates, nothing obvious (not sure what that entails), do not repeat words (I’ve gotten by this one just by changing the numeric part). I have to be careful not to stretch the rules for fear the login police will get me. Kind of like the email police when you forward unauthorized emails under the threat of dismissal. Ever heard of anyone being fired because they sent Uncle Tim or Aunt Sue a joke, prayer or funny story (complete with cute pictures)? Me neither.

I will be so glad when the day comes that the general public can utilize the finger print or eye retina scanner for access to any secure site or program. Then you only have to worry about getting a blister or a stick in the eye and Bada-Bing, you’re locked out again.

Until then, I am thinking about getting a biker wallet on a chain to carry with me to protect my logins, much like the guy who jingles by you with a ring of a zillion keys. He must be somebody to have all that much stuff locked up!
Be safe out there, you never know who is waiting to take advantage of you just at that moment of indecision brought on by memory loss.

Sweet Pea Girl Can You Come Out Tonight?

If I can indulge for a moment,


August 12th was my youngest daughter’s birthday.
She’s the last one at home of four daughters. This Birthday is the big 1-6… sweet sixteen.Yeah, yeah, almost grown, at least she thinks she is.

Truth be known, she almost is.


Of course, just like most every other 16 year old, the pressure is on for us to get her to a car. I really don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. Not that I don’t trust her behind the wheel, you have to remember I drive a minimum of 110 miles a day and I see all the crazies! It’s them I worry about.

The other night we went to Red Robin for dinner, where they sang their birthday song to her. If her best friend wasn’t with us, I’m almost positive she would have been embarrassed, but not so this time. I think she is kind of relishing in the whole 16 thing.

Our “Pookie” has the sweetest smile, especially since she got her braces off a couple of months ago. That’s what comes to my mind’s eye whenever I think of her, the smile, along with her beautiful eyes.

Even from the earliest years, as a toddler, after her bath she would run naked like a wild child through the house, grinning from ear to ear, giggling all the way.



From her first day, she has been a “Daddy’s girl”. She was the only one I was able to be in the room for her birth. It was very special (especially after she was cleaned up).

I don’t know if that is what made the impact on me for which I have always doted over her, or if it was because I was just older. Maybe a little of both. I know as she has grown up, the older chibs accused me of acting more like a grandpa instead of a dad toward her.

Pookie was a bottle baby, which allowed me to have my time with her during those waking hours of the night. Even at the time I remember thinking how special the time was. In the darkness of the night, rocking gently, humming lullabies (I could not sing) while feeding her and continuing right on through until she was sound asleep again. I rocked and hummed to her enough that as she grew into a toddler, with passie in mouth, she would take her Pink Baby (terrycloth doll friends gave her), hold her under her little nose and start to hum whenever she got tired.

One of our best holiday family movies is “It’s A Wonderful Life”. I modified a song from the scene where George is walking Mary home from Peter’s prom and I would sing it to her as she laid still on her bed. “Sweetpea Girl can you come out tonight? Come out tonight? Come out tonight?”. She loved it and often times asked me to sing the sweetpea song.

She has always been fun loving and loved attention. Nothing like a game of hide-n-seek.


She was a helper from early on.


This kid has loved arts and crafts since she was able to pick up a crayon. Also there to coach everyone else through their projects too.


Even on our travels she was right there with her dad. Or dad was right their with her (wrapped around her finger).








We are fortunate that as the daughters grew up they also grew together. To this day they are very close sisters.






Not only is Pookie very busy being section leader of the HS marching band, where she plays flute. She is also on the staff of the yearbook and yet, she is an honor student carrying all AP classes. I don’t remember the last “B” we’ve seen on any of her report cards. She is very driven academically. Pookie has also been asked to participate in the Bridge Builders two year program, a diversity group that teaches teamwork and self worth for a select group of junior and seniors.

In addition to school, she is very active in church and all the youth programs. She is in the youth choir and the smaller special choir “Joyful Noise”, which requires additional commitment. Along with music, she participates in the service projects as well. This summer she went to NE Kentucky with the Appalachia Service Project (ASP) group to help physical and spiritual needs in this depressed region of the country.

Pookie is definitely not the perfect chib. She can throw that teenage attitude at you, but then again she can be loving and caring. The Mrs and I have always been proud of our baby girl and will continue to be as she makes her way into young adulthood and finds her own way in life.





Happy Birthday Sweetpea Girl!