Week 201 Update

It was 04:50, and 43° when I stepped up on Mr. Scale, and he said, "185.5 pounds!"

It was a pretty good week. I got in some walking, and my average weight was within one pound of my target weight. Here's how it went...

Saturday - I weighed-in at 186.0 pounds. We were waiting for news on whether Jim and Tammy would be able to make it down for sure. I did my write-up online first thing. When Dotti got up, we took a 4-mile walk, that took us to Jamba Juice, and then beyond, before returning home. (The Jamba Juice was very good and was 7 points.) It was a very nice walk. The sun was out and it felt warm: the temperature in the shade was about 68°, but the sun was feeling pretty stout. I wore a thin long-sleeved shirt to keep from getting sunburned, and my DWLZ.com ball cap. Dotti wore a tee shirt, and she was warm all the way. I was plenty warm too, except right after we left Jamba Juice, and that cold icy drink chilled my inner core. But it wasn’t long before I warmed back up.

I used the GPS to track our position as we went. It was 1.5 miles to Jamba Juice, and then we walked on for another 0.5 miles, on a route that took us well into a nice residential area. Turning around at that point, and returning by the same route guaranteed our getting in 4 miles. As it turned out, we took a slightly different route back, but it all added up to 4 miles anyway.

We got the phone call around 11 AM that Jim and Tammy were really coming down!

I thought that it might be a good idea to get the air conditioner into Dot's study while we were waiting, or it might be a while before we would have time to do it. (When our temperatures were already climbing into the 70's in early March, it was a sign that warm days might lie just ahead.) Dotti agree. So, we went down to Home Depot and purchased a piece of white particleboard, some L-brackets. Soon I was busy installing the A/C. Dotti was vacuuming, and getting things ready for the visit.

I finally had he A/C installed and the window around all sealed up. Dotti and I got everything cleaned up, and I moved my car back into the garage, which I had moved out to give me room to work on my project. I put the last tools away in my toolbox, just as Jim and Tammy showed up. J

When Jim and Tammy arrived we had a great time visiting! We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and some great conversation as well as a great meal. It was a lot of fun, and I can't remember when we last laughed so hard.

Jim and I talked in the living room, discussing politics, while Tammy and Dotti were in her study discussing Weight Watchers, and catching up on family news. Before long it was time for bed.

I had walked 4.04 miles, and eaten 27.5 points by day's end.

Sunday - I woke up at 07:50, and the others were still sleeping. I weighed 185.0 pounds.

I took my laptop out to the kitchen table and I typed up my journal for the day before, and just finished up about the time that Jim woke up. I normally use instant coffee, but we always break out the coffee pot for Jim and Tammy's visits. Jim made some coffee, and then we visited until the ladies woke up.

We ended up going to Shari's for breakfast/lunch (it was about 12 noon). I ate 20.0 points worth of breakfast goodies. We next headed on to Costco, where Jim and I had a Very Berry Sundae. Dotti and Tammy held off on the sundae so that they could have a Starbucks on the way home. Once we got home, Dotti and Tammy decided that they would head back to Costco and get a cabinet that Dotti had fallen in love with, because Jim had "volunteered" (actually I think Tammy volunteered his labor for him J) to put it together for her. The box said that it weighed 181 pounds, but Dotti and Tammy assured us that the people at Costco would get it into the van for them. Soon they were back with the box in the van, and Jim, true to his word put it together. (Jim is a genius with tools, and what little help I was to his efforts isn't worth mentioning, so I won't.) He did a great job, and the cabinet looks really nice in the living room!

Afterwards, we went to Red Robin for dinner. I had a cheeseburger and fries, and then part of a "community" ice cream dessert. By the end of the meal, I had eaten 28.5 points, and I was stuffed.

We went back home and the ladies put the shelves in the cabinet, while Jim and I watched and critiqued their efforts. J They did a wonderful job, and it looks super!

We visited for a while, and finally it was time for me to get to bed, since I had to go to work the next day. The 3 of them decided to stay up and watch a movie. So, I said my goodbyes, and headed off to bed.

I didn't do any walking for exercise on Sunday, and I ate 58.5 points for the day. Not a stellar day to be sure, but it all fit into the program, which is why I love it so much!

Monday - I woke up just before the alarm went off, and turned it off so it wouldn’t bother Dotti. I got dressed and went out to the kitchen and had breakfast. I got the coffee pot ready so Jim and Tammy would just have to push a button to brew the coffee when they woke up. And it was time to kiss Dotti goodbye for the workday.

I arrived right about 7 AM and did a 3.17 mile walk. It was 37° when I started, and the sun was out. I wore my Columbia jacket, with no liner, cap and gloves and felt great all the way through the walk. I noticed that the pond and stream system over at the Park were completely drained of water. They must be doing some maintenance.

When I got into the building, I checked the weekend pass down log from my customer, and things looked quiet. I did some paper work, caught up on the parts we used on Friday.

Before long a parts stocking issue popped up that I had to look into, and then the customer wanted me to install some software on one of their machines. It was lunchtime before I knew it.

At lunch I walked 2.75 miles. I wanted to walk through the park to see what was going on with the water system. I found that the upper pond by my site, was dry except for a little puddle in the bottom that a couple of geese were trying to swim in. The adjoining pond was dry, as well as the creek running under the shady bridge. The serpentine brook was dry as was the pond below that. Only the very lowest pond still had water in it, and there was a large gas driven pump working on draining it as well, pouring the water out the back of it into the natural creek, which serves as the overflow for the man-made water system in the park.

To the east, where a second pond system is located, the lower pond was still full, but the upper pond was dry. I was not sure what they were planning, but it was clear that having drained ponds was part of their plans.

It was 64°, and the sun was shining all during my walk. There were some very light wispy clouds, thinly stretched out across the sky, but they were decorative only, serving no filtering purpose.

I walked out my 2-mile route, continued on to the bench that normally marks 1.25 miles on my 3.17-mile loop, and then turned around and came back to the corner, that marks the 1.0 mile mark on my out-and-back. I had covered 2 miles to that point. I then continued on down the main road on the 0.75-mile return path to my car. I took that path because it takes me by the upper pond of the eastern system. It gave me an opportunity to see the upper pond, which was the only one I had missed on my way out. Sure enough it was still dry. I completed 2.75 miles total for my lunchtime walk.

I then read in my car as I ate my lunch.

I prepared some parts for shipping during the afternoon, and otherwise had a quiet time of it. I got out the door a bit early and arrived home in good time. Jim and Tammy had left during the morning, and Dotti and I visited for a while as she was making dinner, and then we watched the 1942 Disney movie Bambi. It had been decades since I had seen it. It was a great movie! The music and the story were great, and the animation was all that Disney was famous for!

As is usually the case, the evening was over far too soon, and it was time for bed. I ended up eating 37.0 points and walking 5.92 miles.

Tuesday - On the "Ides of March" I weighed 188.5. Not good, but Ceaser had it worse.J I played around on the keyboard this morning after eating breakfast, playing the tune of the new song I am working on for the Conference. Dotti woke up while I was playing and then made my lunch for me. (She is a sweetheart!!!)

I arrived very near 7 AM at work, and I did my 3.17 mile walk. It was sunny but, at 35°, it was a bit colder than it has been. (Every year it seems that right after we install our air conditioners, the temperature drops. Murphy's Law I guess.) There was also a breeze that made things feel even cooler still. For the third time in a row on my walks, I saw a plane at the normally quiet airport, either taking off or landing. This time it was landing, just as one was doing at lunch yesterday. (Yesterday morning a fairly large jet was taking off as I was walking by.) This time I didn’t see the plane in the air, but only slowing down on the runway.

The pond just at the mouth of the tunnel was still dry. I am not sure how long it will remain drained.

When I got inside, I immediately went into the cleanroom to get an archive of the machine data files for the one with the new software that will be activated soon. I then shipped some parts with UPS, and started tracking down some information for my customer. It turned out to be two 8 megabyte files that I had to download with dialup access. That finished off the morning for me.

At lunch I didn't walk. Instead I just ate my lunch and read.

When I tried to email one of the files to my customer, his server just laughed at the 8 meg file and said, "Rejected!" So, I arranged to burn a CD with the files on them at home, and then give the CD to him. Much easier.

I arrived home before 6 PM. Dotti and I walked over to Red Robin for dinner. I ate 26.0 points total. Dotti is having some pain every time that we walk, and it worries me. Arthritis is no fun! However, she gets out there and walks anyway!

By the end of the day I had eaten 48.0 points and walked 6.37 miles.

Wednesday - I woke up a bit early at 5:05 AM. I weighed 186.0, which was better than Tuesday. I finish breakfast, got ready for work, and even after doing some reading, I still got out the door a few minutes early. I arrived before 7 AM and decided to walk 4 miles. I did my two-mile out-and-back route, with the one mile down to the bench added in. Returning to my starting point, I crossed the street and did my 1-mile out and back, to finish off my 4-mile walk. It was cloudy, 44°, and it even rained a bit. I had on my raincoat over my Columbia jacket.

I saw a couple of planes take off as I walked past the airport, and the pond and stream system at Dawson Creek was still drained.

When I got inside, I found that one of my machines was down and started working on that. It turned out to be a burnt cable and I found a replacement and installed it before lunch.

At lunch I walked 3 miles. It was cloudy and some rain was starting to fall when I first came out. So, I put on my raingear and headed out. By the time I got back, I was sweating pretty good. I was overdressed. There was a lot of wind, and at one point I was headed downhill, and still I was pushed backwards for a bit. Fun walk!

Back in the car I read once more and ate my lunch.

The afternoon was quiet, and I was able to get out the door at a reasonable time. The drive home was nice.

When I arrived home, I immediately headed out on a 3.05-mile walk. It was raining but the sun was still keeping things well lit. I did use my flashlight to alert cars to my presence on the one stretch where there is no sidewalk and a fence even blocks access to the curb. The last mile I felt pretty tired, and when I got back home I could tell that I had walked more than I normally do during the day.

When I got back Dotti was preparing our dinner. We got a call from her brother Rip and found that he had moved to the Washington side of the Columbia River, and is living just down the road from us; another Washingtonian.J

Dotti and started watching “The Incredibles,” during dinner, but we were interrupted by a DWLZ related call, and so we didn’t finish the movie that night. I went back to my computer and updated my walking numbers on the message board, and sent some emails out. Before long it was time for bed.

I had walked 10.05 miles during the day, and eaten 43.5 points.

Thursday - I woke up just before the alarm was to go off. I turned it off before it could make any unpleasant noises, and started my day. I weighed 186.0 pounds. Dotti got up as well and made my lunch for me. (Yep, I have it made!!!) Since she had not gotten as much sleep as I had during the night, she crawled back into bed about the time I was leaving.

The traffic was light on my drive in, and I arrived before 7 AM. The skies were cloudy, and the temperature was 38°, but it wasn’t raining.

Since they drained much of the water system in the park, nearly all of the interconnected ponds and streams looking very close to empty. The ducks and geese are making do, swimming around in the little puddles left at the bottom of the once full depressions. I assume that whoever is in charge is having some sort of maintenance done on the entire water system, because they have spent several days draining the water out, and dumping it into Dawson Creek; a water outlet that normally doesn’t have very much water in it. The plants and water animals that live in or near the creek probably are thriving on the extra water today, but they will have to go back to normal survival techniques soon, because the gasoline driven pump is set up on the very last pond, and the level in that pond is looking very low.

This morning the pumping process very nearly derailed my intended walk, because as I hit the bridge passing by that final pond, it was blocked off by yellow CAUTION tape. If I veered off, I would not have an accurate count of how many miles I walked. So, I stepped over the yellow tape on both ends of the bridge during my crossing and then stepped over the 8 – 10 inch diameter hose, which was the reason for the tape and for a number of orange cones placed on either side of it. I then continued on my way. I did not return on that route, as I had originally planned to, but instead, I jumped onto my normal 3.17 mile route at a point where I normally have walked 0.75 miles, but today had walked 1.0 mile. That meant at the end of the loop, I would have walked 3.17 + 0.25 miles or 3.42. As I approached the end, I saw that I had plenty of time to complete my intended 4 miles. So, I broke out my GPS, and reset it to zero just as I hit the 3.42 mile point, and then continued on for another 0.58 miles, to bring my total to 4.0 miles exactly. It took me 54:59 to complete, and left me a few minutes to make it inside before work started.

The cool morning air helped keep my pace up, and I didn’t get overheated at all.

When I got inside, I found that another one of my machines was having difficulty. The problems were already identified and all I could do at that point was to order some new parts for overnight delivery.

At lunch I did my 2.4-mile loop and then I continued reading while eating my lunch.

In the afternoon I found out that there was a problem one of the parts I put on order, and it would not be shipped out at all that day. It was scheduled to be shipped on Friday to arrive on Saturday. I hate it when that happens. It can mean a lot of money to a customer having a machine down for an extra day.

The drive home was routine except that the metering lights were backed up more than usual getting onto I-5. However, when I got onto I-5 itself, it wasn’t much worse than normal.

At home Dotti gotten there just a bit before I did, returning from her day's activities. She was typing away on her desktop computer. We had some of her tortillini soup for dinner, and we watched the rest of the Incredibles. As it turned out, the movie was much better than I thought it was going to be.

I spent some time online reading up on how the Long Valley Caldera's doing these days, and aimlessly wandered around the Internet for a while. I lay down early, about 9 PM and started to read a Perry Mason novel. It wasn’t long before I was ready to go to sleep.

I ended up walking 6.24 miles today, and ate 37.0 points.

Friday - I woke up around 5:00AM this morning. I weighed 185.5 pounds. I had a hearty breakfast (11 points), while I was reading a book. Dotti woke up around 5:45 to make my lunch for me, while I got ready to go. I got out the door early.

I took my camera with me today, so that I could get pictures of the part while the water is drained from the ponds. I decided to rely on my GPS to keep track of my distance as I walked, so I could take routes that I did not already have mapped out, while I was snapping pictures. I was a ways into the venture when the GPS gave me the warning that the battery was low. I was not a happy camper. I changed those batteries not too long ago, but I guess I have used the GPS quite a bit since then. Anyway, after calming down from the inconvenience, I decided to stick to paths that I had already mapped for the rest of the time, and estimate later a minimum number of miles that I had for sure walked up to that point. It would be a lower number than I had actually walked, but it would not be too bad. I walked past all the major water bodies of the park, and then set off on my normal walking paths. I joined up with my path that I would take on either my 2.4-mile, or 3.17-mile walks at the exit mouth of the first tunnel, beside the upper eastern pond. On my normal walk, I would have covered 0.32 miles to get there. When I got to the corner, it would normally have been 0.75 miles that I had walked. This time, I calculated that I had gone 0.43 miles from where I jumped onto the path. I then walked my normal one-mile path back to my customer's driveway, crossed the street and walked my one-mile out and back. So, I had 2.43 miles walked on my normal paths. I then went back to my old mapping data and figured that I had walked at least another 0.82 miles. So, I counted the entire walk as 3.25 miles. I took side trips and extensions that would have put me farther along than that, but I couldn’t measure them. This estimate isn’t too far off though. I walked for 58 minutes or so, and stopped a number of times for pictures. So, I couldn’t have gone more than 0.5 mile or so more, and probably less.

In the evening we relaxed and ate at home. I ended up eating 41.5 points for the day, and walked 3.25 miles. That led to my weigh-in of 185.5 this morning.

How did I do this week?

In area of eating, I averaged 40.86 points-per-day. That puts me well below my normal 46 points-per-day maintenance level.

I did much better on my water consumption this week! I got in at least 6 cups every single day. I averaged 54.86 ounces (6.8 cups) per day. That is just fine.

I was very happy with my exercise this week! I walked 36.03 miles for the week. I already have my month's total up to 91.15 miles, and I have walked 335.80 miles for the year. Last year I had only walked 178.8 miles at this point, so I have walked an additional 157 miles this year so far. That means this year I have walked 187% as much as I did last year. (Why settle for 110%? J)

The weather is still cool and damp, great for walking. We'll see how I do when it gets hot, and ugly. That will be the real test.

In the meantime, I have completed 201 weeks of my journey, and I am still having a good time with it. They say if you aren't having fun you aren't doing it right. I am sure that if I were not having a good time, I would have a lot of trouble sticking with it. Attitude is everything on a journey. So keep smiling!

3 years, 312 days OP; a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

6 '3" 239.5/185.5/180±2/BMI:23.19/WK-201

GRAPHS:

Weight Loss Maintenance Year 1 Maintenance Year 2 Maintenance Year 3 Maintenance Year 4 2005 Walking 2005 Walking Data

2004 Walking Data