Spring 2014 April 8 Tuesday

41 degrees, actually down to 38 degrees not, but sun is coming out.  I am really ready for Spring and Summer!

Starting to take morning "where I am" pictures again as the grass, trees and flowers start to come to life.  It got too depressing during the winter.  I know winter is necessary, but it doesn't mean I enjoy it. 

For the most part, our lives have a Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, either very long, or a large number of them depending on how you look at it.  I think I like to think of life in many cycles, maybe with a larger overall cycle, assuming ups and downs in our lives could be termed by the seasons.  On the other hand, it is depressing to think that our lives could be termed in a long term stage of "Winter" with no chance for another "Spring".  Eventually it does happen, but ....

I have been watching my weight (nothing new about that).  I seemed to have attracted two new pounds that seem to like me very well, I am having a more difficult time getting down to my "normal" weight.  My normal weight fluctuates about six pounds, but I am now two pounds over the "top" of the fluctuation cycle and I am having a difficult time getting back to my "normal cycle".  Actually I hope to reduce the "top" of the cycle by two or three pounds this Spring.  It (the extra pounds) came when we had our granddaughters visit.  It wasn't the visit from them, but the extra travel involved when I gained the weight, but I have stayed exactly  at the same weight for three weeks now.

One major problem with trying to maintain a healthy eating style is the restaurants.  There are normally "healthy" alternatives available, I just need to bear down and order the healthy items!  The "low carb" eating pattern has served me well, although it probably is more of a "low fast carb" eating pattern.  Anytime I deviate from that  I seem to get into trouble.  Peanut Butter is both my favorite as well as a problem!  I need to remember "balance".  

Seeing the AAA travel agent to finalize our China trip today.  While I love making plans, there are some things I just can't do or at least don't trust myself to do in a Country I am unfamiliar with.  There are a lot of choices.  Kind of like when you are in a City and don't know where to eat, and it is hard to make a choice because you don't want to make a bad choice, since you won't be in the city again!

That's it for now, may be more later today.

Winter 2013 December 30 Monday

30 degrees this morning (28 degrees now).  It really felt cold this morning, even for 30 degrees,l probably due to the wind.  Didn't help I forgot my keys (to ATC Fitness) and had to cycle back up the steep hill coming into the addition to get them!  (Only steep if you ride a bike!)

Read another story on design this morning, this time for noodles, among the more common tech type items!  I really have to wonder how design can be used to improve municipal services.  Design as oriented to making the experience easy to sue for the customer, not design as to make it attractive, although that could be part of it.  Interesting concept I'm researching it some more.

I am concentrating on watching what I eat and trying to increase my exercise.  I figure it is time to go for that last 10 lbs I need to lose!  (Probably 15 after the Christmas gorging!).  Basically, even then, my target weight is 10 lbs more than the "maximum" recommended for my height, but even when I was in my teens and early twenties I couldn't reach the "model" weight for my height.  The last time I weigh less than I weight now (currently I weight the least I have since 1989) I just couldn't maintain a weighty below my goal weight.  It has been two years since I lost weight (actually one year at my current weight) and it is well stabilized (for me this means a range of about 5 lbs), it is time to bear down and get down to my "model" weight.  I can decide then if I want to make it even more, but I need to reach the goal weight first.

It will also help train me for longer bike rides  I doubt if I will do the "ride with the summer" ride this year (probably 2015 or 2016 at the latest).  I may try the "ride across Tennessee" bike ride this year if I don't have any conflicts, but I need to develop my ability to ride further.  I ride my bike almost every day, but it is a relatively short distance and doesn't prepare me for a long ride.

Getting new eye-glasses today. My current ones are four years old.  I decided to change to provide myself with a backup pair.  The ophthalmologist advised I didn't really need a new prescription, but I wanted a pair of glasses I could wear for reading on the stationary bike.  I am going to try to ride my bike longer in the afternoon and maybe even take a second walk.

Current reading "The Catcher in the Rye" for my book discussion class.

Picked up new eye glasses, really feel good.

Summer 2013 September 16

63/67 degrees this morning.  I wonder if the warm weather is gone for the year?

Monday, need I say any more?  Actually, I normally look forward to returning to the office. The area of the dental surgery is aching this morning and so I feel I am somewhat subpar, although it isn't enough to worry about.

The Lakeland City election is this weekend.  Hopefully things will settle down after that and the residents will have made the correct decision for the future of Lakeland.  I feel the local elected officials of a municipality are the most important elected officials in how they affect the lives of residents.  A city can have a huge impact on the local environment.  At least the signs will be gone.

Going back to making 8 cups of coffee in the morning (I have been making individual cups since surgery since I was concerned about hurting my mouth).   I like drinking coffee, what I say is my only remaining vice, although I don't know if it is that much of a vice anymore.  I especially like drinking coffee while sitting on the patio and reading the paper, but I feel it is more valuable to read the papers while I exercise on the stationary bike.

Lost a little weight since dental surgery.  I would like to lose about 10 more lbs (just enough so I don't have to buy a bunch more clothes).  I lost weight in the past two years (with a modified "low carb" diet of little bread or potatoes, although I do eat fruit) and had to buy all new clothes at the tune of about $1500.  And I had the pleasure of finally being able to wear the clothes I had kept for years for "when I lost weight", which was probably the highpoint of losing weight!  I have been stalled at one weight for about a year (since November of  2012), although I am not dissatisfied with that weight.  

Losing weight, especially the relatively  large amount I did, was pleasing and I do everything possible to not let "weight creep" allow me to get overweight again.The weight charts still say I am overweight, but I know what I can maintain and look and feel great at, which is about 12 lbs less than I weigh now.  

Aliene's brother and his wife are coming by for a visit today.  This is their first visit to us here in Lakeland, so we will enjoy showing them around Lakeland and Memphis.  Probably include a trip on the Mississippi.  One good thing, when I was in grade school, I learned to spell "Mississippi" as a rhyme, so I never have a problem spelling it!

No poem today, I completed "The World Without End is Ending" and I have never written another poem that I would care to publish.