I was very tired last night. I went to bed at about 10:00 PM, and this morning I didn’t get up for the day until 7:00 AM. I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, “189.0 pounds.”

Yesterday was spent packing, driving home, and unpacking for the most part. We usually take a lot of stuff with us when we go to Spokane. I have all my guitar stuff, including the guitar itself, my briefcase with the music books, the microphone, and the amplifier, which weighs 39 pounds. ⁽¹⁾   Dot fills up two very large suitcases with our clothes, and then there is a large gym bag with our exercise stuff, and a number of smaller bags and cases that pretty well fill up the back our van. The Spokane end of the trip is much easier to load and unload because Jim is always eager to lend a hand. Also, their driveway is on the same level with the house, along with the room where we have our stuff. On the Vancouver end of the trip, the stuff has to be moved up and down a flight of stairs which is a bit more taxing. Since I lost my weight, I have found the task of moving our stuff up and down the stairs to be much easier. When I was smoking and overweight, I felt like I was in danger of a heart problem every time I tackled those stairs with something heavy. Just trying to move quickly up the stairs, empty-handed was a difficult task. Now, I can load myself up to the maximum weight I can carry, and go right up the stairs with very little strain. The change is profound.

We said goodbye to our dear friends Jim and Tammy, about 8:30 AM, and headed out on the road. We were right behind Tammy, who was headed off to work at the Weight Watchers center. The normal route Dotti and I take to the freeway runs across the Maple St Bridge, which crosses the Spokane River. Tammy told us that the Monroe Bridge would be a much better choice for yesterday morning, because there was a multi-car accident on the Maple St Bridge. (It ended up being 10 cars involved, piled up because of the heavy fog hanging over the river, and the icy road conditions.) Thanks to her good advice, we went down only a few extra blocks, and hit Monroe, and headed right on down to the freeway, safely through the fog, and then were on our way out of town. Other than that, the drive was uneventful. The vibration in the car was gone, as we had hoped after spending all that money to get rid of it. The speed I could drive was limited by the road conditions and the flow of traffic, not the way the car was handling. That was a nice change of pace.

Dotti worked on calculating points for her web page restaurants on the trip home, just like she had done on the trip up to Spokane. I listened to some tapes, including a Patrick Stewart reading of Charles Dickens’, A Christmas Carol.

We pulled into our parking place at home a little after 3:00 PM. I unloaded the car (I am not letting Dotti injure the trapezius muscle in her back again!) while Dotti unpacked the things I brought up the stairs. We got things settled in, and the computers turned on (of course :) ) and then headed out to pick up a few things that we needed, including our dinner: a sub sandwich from Subway.

The rest of the evening was spent catching up on things on the computer. (I even played a 145,914-point game of Snood. Just when I thought I was going to catch up to my high score, I flubbed it.) By 10:00 PM I was exhausted and I was asleep almost the instant my head hit the pillow. I also slept in this morning, which is a real indication that I was in need of some sleep. On Friday night, I was up late, and ate late, as well as playing a lot of racquetball. Then on Saturday morning I woke up early to get my journal done before we headed off on our drive. Last night it appears to have caught up with me.

My eating on the road was not what you would call a stellar example of quality eating. I went through 22 cough drops during the 6 hour drive, and I picked up a 2 point bag of beef jerky at a gas station at Ritzville, about 60 miles west of Spokane. We stopped for a McDonalds ice cream cone too, when we hit Kennewick. And since it was a little after 11:00 AM when we got there, of course I had a sub sandwich at our traditional Kennewick Subway. However, I did stay within my points, and the Subway sandwiches have some very good nutritional value. It could have been much worse, as it was in the days before when I would stop for a 35 or 40-point Big Mac super-sized dinner, instead of a 6-point, 6-inch turkey sandwich.

Listing what I ate yesterday: I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch, I had a 6” turkey breast sandwich (6.0 pt.), and a diet Pepsi (0.0 pt.). For dinner, I had another 6-inch turkey breast sandwich, this time with a diet cream soda. So for meals I ate a total of 17.0 points. For snacks I had a 37 ounce bag of beef jerky (2.0 pt.), a McDonalds ice cream cone (3.0 pt.), 22 cough drops (6.5 pt.) and a Mr. Cookie Face ice cream sandwich (3.0 pt.) That added up to 14.5 points for snacks, and brought my total for the day to 31.5 points.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

For exercise I watched the scenery go by the car for 6 hours and loaded and unloaded the van. Zero Aerobic points.

197 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

^{1. When I stepped on the scale while holding the guitar amplifier, to check its weight, I was dressed in my heavy terrycloth bathrobe, slippers and pajamas, and still the scale only said, “234 pounds.” Before my weight-loss journey began, I was lugging around more weight in fat than what that big old heavy amplifier, and those clothes combined weigh, and that was before I even got dressed in the morning! I got another very clear picture of what I had been doing to myself all those years, when I realized that picking up that amplifier and carrying it around was no easy task. The happy part is, I can now put the amplifier down. :)}

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

At 5:45 AM I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, “191.5 pounds.” Since we got back home I have felt like my digestive track has not been quite right. Yesterday morning, I slept in fairly late and still I was up half of a pound from the day before. Today, I am up another 2.5 pounds. Since I have not gone over my points, I know this is not fat building up. It is already an interesting world, this land of maintenance. :)

Yesterday ended up a being a day at the keyboard all day long. I was working on gathering some old pictures for my “success story” on Dotti’s web page, and then I started writing the text for it. Before long 7 hours had past and I was still nowhere near being done. I had planned to head to the gym sometime during the day, but I never came close to actually doing it.

For dinner I had a large pickle, which is said to cause water retention, and with no exercise at all yesterday, I felt bloated and this morning my fingers are swollen a bit. My stomach is upset and my digestive track feels like it is shut down. What better way to start off a Monday morning after a vacation comes to an end, a Monday that marks the beginning of a week in which I will be on call all week long? That is the trouble with vacations; they must come to an end. As one of my co-workers is fond of saying, “No one is as in need of a day off, as he who is just coming back from a vacation.”

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch, I had 2 turkey sandwiches (5.0 pt.), and a diet cream soda (0.0 pt.). For dinner, I had 2 turkey hot dogs (2.0 pt.), baked French fries (4.0 pt.), stir fried vegetables (0.5 pt.), a huge, water retaining, but delicious pickle (0.0 pt.), along with another diet cream soda, totaling 6.5 points for dinner. So for meals I ate a total of 16.5 points. For snacks I had 10 Body Smart Chews (2.0 pt.), 2 Weight Watchers 2 point breakfast bars (4.0 pt.), 6 Dum Dum lollypops (2.0 pt.), one half of a Kashi bar that I split with Dotti (2.5 pt.) and a shot of Crown Royal (2.0 pt.). That added up to 12.5 points for snacks, and brought my total for the day to 29.0 points.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

198 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

On the 200th day of my journey, I woke up at 5:45 AM. The temperature was 40 degrees, and my throat was a bit sore as I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, “191.5 pounds.”

I am just a bit worried about Mr. Scale. It is probably unfounded concern, but since we have gotten back from the trip he has been reading a bit higher. Dotti got a new scale on our vacation that she tested against two Weight Watchers scales in Spokane, and now against the one here in Vancouver, and it is right on the money with all three of them. However, Mr. Scale is reading 3 pounds to 3.5 pounds higher. He was normally only 2 pounds higher than the Weight Watchers scale before. We packed him up in Styrofoam in his traveling box for the trip, and treated him with care, so I don’t see what could have happened to him. But this morning, Dotti’s scale read 188.5, which is 3 pounds lower than what Mr. Scale says. I will keep an eye on him and make sure that the difference between the scales doesn’t increase. It is bad enough having to worry about your weight, without having to worry about your scale at the same time.

Yesterday I felt, well like I always feel when returning to work, after having some glorious time off. When I showed up, I was hoping for some quiet time, to get caught up on my paperwork. Instead, a tasked that had been pending since sometime before I left for vacation, jumped up and the customer decided that yesterday was just the day to do it. So, the morning was taken up with grease, bearings, and an electric motor. But all in all it wasn’t bad. I got through it easily enough and the morning went by in a hurry. I got out to lunch a bit later than usually but it was okay.

At lunch I drove over to an Albertson’s supermarket and picked up a head of romaine lettuce and a bunch of celery sticks, to munch on during the trip home last night. While eating my lunch I was listening to my audio book, A Short History of Byzantium which was covering the period about the mid sixth century AD. It is an interesting story. The lessons of the past are always waiting to be learned, but usually most societies would rather relive the same mistakes for themselves.

The afternoon yesterday was spent trying to catch up on my paperwork, but the dial up connection to my company’s Intranet was giving some trouble, and I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked.

When I got home, Dotti and I went out to the mall, and stopped at Subway for dinner along the way. I had a 6 inch sub, and then at the mall we had an All American Ice Cream cone. Unfortunately, the flavor for the lowest calorie ice cream was Peanut Butter. I happen to love that flavor, but Dotti absolutely hates it. So, I got a the Peanut Butter cone, and she got a cone with Eggnog flavor, not quite as low in points, but not too bad even still. (It was about a point and a half more.)

We walked around the mall, stopping in stores that we usually do not stop in, just for a change of pace. We looked at stuff we had no intention of buying but that were fun to look at. There was one store called, America the Beautiful Dreamer, filled with beds, dressers and all sorts of decorative items. It seems that Egypt was “in” for that store because they had several sarcophagi standing up, that could be opened. A couple of them were full sized; one for a pharaoh and one for his queen. They were hinged and opened up as you might expect, and there was even a pin lock. However, short of using them for something that would cause Colombo to pay you a visit for, I couldn’t see the point of them. Perhaps if you laid them on their back, they would make a hope chest.

After going up and down the stairs, walking all around, and really not being overwhelmed with crowds either, in spite of the season, we finally headed back home. I tackled my “success story” again for a couple of hours, and got a rough draft done up to the part where I actually started my journey, after the 1st Annual Dotti’s Weight Loss Zone Conference, complete with lots of old pictures. Hopefully I will have the whole thing done some time this week and we can get it put up on the web page.

I got to bed a bit after 10:00 PM and read for a while, and the next thing I knew my eyes were falling shut in mid sentence. I laid the book down and fell asleep for the night right away.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.). For lunch, I had 2 turkey sandwiches (3.0 pt.), a yogurt (2.0 pt.), an applesauce cup (1.0 pt.), and a diet cream soda (0.0 pt.), which totaled 6.5 points. For dinner, I had a 6 inch turkey breast sub sandwich (6.0 pt.) with a Diet soft drink. So for meals I ate a total of 17.5 points. For snacks I had a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), 15 cough drops (4.5 pt.), a Weight Watchers Just 2 Points bar (2.0 pt.), an All American Ice Cream cone (2.5 pt.), and a Mr. Cookie Face (3.0 pt.). That came to 13.0 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 30.5 points.

For water I drank 10 cups, or 80 ounces.

199 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

I just have to love Wednesday mornings here in our neighborhood. A couple of trash trucks come by, one at 4:30 AM and another about 5:00 AM, and they each play around with a different dumpster not to far from our bedroom window, engines revving, metal clanking against metal, and then dumpster slamming back against he pavement. On days like today, when I am already sleeping lightly, my night’s rest is over when those noisy trucks come rumbling through. I finally gave up trying to get any more sleep at 5:00, and stepped up on Mr. Scale, who said, "191.0 pounds." That still is one pound over my personal goal weight, but it is a half-pound down from the last two days.

It is hard to believe that I have completed 200 days on this journey. It seems like such a short time ago that I set out on the path that led me here. After two hundred daily weigh-ins, and two hundred journal pages filled out, here I am hovering around my personal goal weight. I was hoping to reach my personal goal by the next conference, and instead I reached it before Thanksgiving. Following the program has been even more effective for me than I had originally expected.

I have been feeling like I might be coming down with a cold or something the last couple of days. My throat has been a bit sore in the mornings, I’ve been sneezing a bit, and I feel just a little under the weather. Yesterday, I had to load some parts onto a truck outside, and I didn’t have my coat on, which left me with a bit of a chill. Hopefully it will not go into a full-blown cold. I could do without that.

Last evening, the "Weather Bug" program I have on this computer started making chirping noises, just like it did on my laptop when we last visited Massachusetts, and the blizzard hit. This time the alert was only for the mountains and all areas above 3,000 feet. Snowfall is going to be between 6 and 12 inches for them (the skiers will be pleased), but I think we are safe for the time being. I do cross over the Sylvan Hill on my morning commute, but it is not that high. I have seen mornings in the past where a few flakes are falling on the hill when the rest of the drive is only rain, but I don't think that is going to be the case this time.

The temperature is 39 degrees outside, which is normal for this time of year. (However, the wind is holding steady at 20 miles per hour, giving a wind chill value of 29 degrees.) Usually, the temperature here doesn’t fall below freezing, even in the dead of winter. On average, our low temperature is in the mid to low 30s, and the highs hit the 40s. We occasionally do have a real cold snap, driving the temperature into the 20s, and even covering things with snow and ice, but those are not our normal winter conditions. We left that back in Massachusetts. :)

I had a productive day at work yesterday. There was a part that needed to be changed out on one of the machines, and they had been putting it off for a while. However, I was able to get that done in the morning. I was able to get caught up on all my paperwork, some of which went back before my vacation. There was a collection of parts that needed to be issued in the computer system, and another stack that had to go back to the office, and all of that is done. Along about 3:00 PM, I finally felt like I was on top of things. Another problem popped up about then, but a solution for that came along fairly quickly, and by day's end, I was tired but felt like I was where I wanted to be by the close of the business day.

On my drive home last night, I had a zero point banquet. Dotti had stuffed my large cooler with celery, cauliflower, a cucumber, and a head of romaine lettuce. I nearly finished it all, by the time I reached home. I am glad that we went to a larger cooler, so all that stuff will fit.

In the evening I was trying to finish up my "success story" for the web page, but Dotti had some problems with a virus, so we ended up doing some downloads from McAfee to make sure that all three of our computers on the network are properly protected. I think we are all set now.

When I laid down for the evening, along about 10:15, I opened up the book on my nightstand and read about an intergalactic criminal organization, and the Galactic Patrol crossing the boundary between our galaxy and the next to do battle with them, and before you know it my eyes were drifting closed, and I was ready for a good night's sleep.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner, I had some beef stew (4.0 pt.) and 2 slices of bread with Brummel (1.5 pt.), totaling 5.5 points. For meals I ate a total of 17.5 points. For snacks I had a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), 10 cough drops (3.0 pt.), 2 Weight Watchers Just 2 Points bars (4.0 pt.), and a Kashi bar (5.0 pt.). That came to 10.0 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 27.5 points.

For water I drank 9 cups, or 72 ounces.

200 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

I woke up this morning with a nose that was running and a head that was aching, and wishing that it wasn't a workday. But alas, I am fresh out of magic lamps, and wishing does little good. :( It was 48 degrees outside, when I stepped up on Mr. Scale at 5:30 AM, and he said, "190.5 pounds." I seem to be slowly sliding back down where I belong. Another half pound and I will be in my goal range again.

The drive to work yesterday was really slow. I am continually amazed how rain can slow things down so much in a city that is known for its rain. You would have thought that the roads had sheets of ice on them the way things came to a near halt. Yes, it was raining hard at times, and even driving on the lower lanes of a double-decked bridge found water dropping down in sheets from the seams leaking through above, but visibility was good and standing water was minimal. There was no excuse for the slow pace that the cars on the freeway were taking. But what are you going to do? Sit back and enjoy the scenery. There was one point where we came to a halt, and I programmed a couple of new numbers into my cell phone.

In the morning I had to modify a circuit card that had an issue with grounding on it. A trace run on the board had to be cut, one end of a resistor lifted, and a couple of jumper wires soldered in place to make things run with more stability. The hardest part of the job was getting the card out in the first place, but it all went smoothly and by lunch, the card was modified and back in place doing its job.

In the afternoon, I started getting a headache, and by the time I left for the day, I did not feel very well. I took a couple of aspirin when I got to the car and that helped some. On the drive home, I ate my celery sticks, cauliflower, cucumber and finished most of my romaine lettuce by the time the hour long trip was over. Traffic was moving a bit better on the drive home, mainly because the rain was lighter.

At Delta Park, waiting to get onto the freeway at the metering lights, I slowly crept by the Portland Speedway. I am often reminded of the fact that the speedway originally was created from the roads left over from a city once called Vanport, built to house World War II workers. Vanport was drowned in a flood in 1948, when a dyke gave way. The dyke had been built around that area to keep the Columbia River at bay, but the geniuses who built it, had used a wooden railroad bridge for support. The dyke was filled in around the posts of the bridge, but over time the posts rotted. The whole thing gave way and in a matter of minutes the entire neighborhood was under water. They just knocked the houses down that were left, which created a number of "ghost streets"; asphalt roads leading nowhere. Someone came up with the idea of running races on them and the Portland Speedway was born. About the time that Dotti and I left Portland in the mid 1970s, they redid the road surface for the Speedway, and now you could never guess what its origin was. There have been dams, and additional protection built to keep the Columbia away, and the Speedway is safe and sound, unlike the original neighborhood. Last night, I could see all the Christmas decorations up surrounding the track. Each year they put up displays, with creatures and scenes created with lights, and for a fee, the people of Portland can drive around the track and enjoy the festive view. Dotti and I do that every year.

When I got home I was very hungry. Dotti cooked up a type of "pancake" that she had heard about from the message board from Vicki. It was made from oatmeal, and that is what it tasted like. I am not a big fan of oatmeal, but it was okay. I was nibbling the rest of the evening, not quite feeling full. I drank lots of water too which helped. I ran my points all the way up to 31.5, and by the time I went to bed, I actually felt like I had had enough to eat, finally.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (6.0 pt. -minus the applesauce). For dinner, I had a "Vicki-pancake" (3.0 pt.), a pita bread (2.5 pt.) with Laughing Cow cheese spread (1.5 pt.). That came to 7.0 points for dinner. For meals I ate a total of 18.0 points. For snacks I had a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), 13 cough drops (4.0 pt.), 2 Weight Watchers Just 2 Points bars (4.0 pt.), a Skinny Cow ice cream (2.5 pt.), and 3 Dum Dum suckers (1.0 pt.). That came to 13.5 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 31.5 points.

For water I drank 16 cups, or 128 ounces.

Just 26 days until Christmas!

201 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

I woke up a little earlier this morning. My nose is still running, and my head once again is aching, but as with yesterday, I took a couple of aspirin and it helped a great deal. The wind was whipping past the eaves of our apartment building, and the rain was beating down on our roof, as I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "190.0 pounds"; down another half-pound and back in my goal range. That is a good thing.

The roads were dry yesterday on the way into work and the traffic was back to normal, better than the day before, but still "nothing to write home about." I also got a bit of an earlier start out the door, which combined with the somewhat lighter traffic, to have me arriving early to work. As it turned out, there was very little to do yesterday, but I was there. :)

I finally got my success story up on DWLZ.com, which I have been working on for the last few days. I still have to come up with some additional "after" pictures for the story but it is finally online.

Most of the day at work I felt pretty good. My nose stopped running for most of the day, and I actually felt nearly back to normal. When I got back home, later in the evening it started up again, and it is still acting up this morning. However, I physically do feel better this morning than I did yesterday morning. I wore a flannel shirt into work, rather than my normal dress shirt, because the area where my desk is always seems a bit chilly. With a possible cold settling in on me I did not want to catch a chill. I am very glad that I did wear the heavier shirt because I was fairly comfortable all day. I will probably do the same thing today.

I have been taking lots of vitamins the last few days, especially vitamin C. I don't know if they are helping or if the cold was going to be light anyway, but I am happy that I have not gotten any sicker than I have. So far, the cold has stayed above my shoulders and not dropped down into my chest. I hope it stays that way!

I felt my stomach rumbling a bit yesterday morning, about 10:30 or so, with an hour left before lunch. But it was not too bad. When I went down to my van I had my sandwiches and the rest of my lunch and felt much better. Dotti has added some free lettuce and free pepperoncini peppers to the turkey sandwiches, and they are very tasty! I ate my lunch as I drove to the gas station to fill up, and while I was listening to my Short History of Byzantium tape. (It is up to about 900 AD now, and since Constantinople was not overrun by the Arabs until 1453, it still has a ways to go.) If it had not been for the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire, the dominant religion in Europe and the Americas could well have been Islam rather than Christianity, and yet most world history classes do not spend a lot of time on the Eastern Empire.

Driving home yesterday, I went through all my free food before I got home. I really enjoy having that healthy food to munch on during the drive. It helps me get my fiber in, and to eat some vegetables on a regular basis.

It is Friday today, and it is coming none too soon for me. I am ready for the weekend. Unfortunately I am on call, but I have my fingers crossed that all the fabrication centers that are running so very slowly right now, will not need any service this weekend. I will just have to wait and see. After this weekend, I don't have pager coverage again until next year, and that sounds pretty good, even though it will be less than a month in between.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.), and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner, I had 1.5 cups of Life Cereal (4.0 pt.) with a cup of skim milk (2.0 pt.), and a chocolate WW Smoothie Shake (3.0 pt.). That came to 9.0 points for dinner. So, for meals I ate a total of 21.0 points. For snacks I had a cup of decaf (1.0 pt.), 15 cough drops (4.5 pt.), a Weight Watchers Just 2 Points bars (2.0 pt.), and a pita bread (2.5 pt.) with Laughing Cow cheese spread (1.5 pt.). That came to 11.5 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 32.5 points, one half point under my limit.

For water I drank 10 cups, or 80 ounces.

Just 25 days until Christmas!

202 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/188.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-28/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph

*** Weigh-in for WEEK 29 ***

Week Completed:	___29___
Weigh-In Weight:	189.5
Body Mass Index:	23.6
Aerobic Points for week:	0.0
Week’s Average Points/Day:	29.9
Pounds +/- for this week:	+1
Pounds lost total:	50.0
Pounds to go to 10%:	0.0*
Pounds to go to goal:	0.0**
Pounds to go to 20%:	0.0***
Made PERSONAL GOAL: 11/23/2001 †
* Made 10% at 215.5 pounds on 7/14/01 ** Made Goal at 200.0 pounds on 9/22/01 *** Made 20% at 191.5 pounds on 11/3/01 † Personal Goal is 190 pounds.

___________________________

I was a little surprised that I was able to sleep in until 6:00 AM this morning, the first day of December. It seems that I have been waking up about 5:00 or even earlier of late. I must have needed the extra sleep. When I stepped up on Mr. Scale, he said, "189.5 pounds." It is nice to be back in the 180s again.

I think when Dotti wakes up this morning, she is not going to be pleased. I know I wasn't, when I tried to access the Internet. I used my laptop for dialup access to check the ATT web page. It was not good news. So, I had to install AOL on the main computer just to get Internet access with it. And then, once I was online, AOL said that I had to upgrade immediately to version 7.0 to deal with Windows XP, because version 5.0 is incompatible with this operating system. Also, as an additional source of joy, our phone lines do not even handle 56kbps. We are stuck with 28.8Kbps. (Therefore, it is going to take over two hours -- 140 minutes actually -- to download version 7.0.) And the ATT web page says that it could be up to 14 days until our cable service is going to be restored. It is a beautiful thing.

Oh yes, and anyone calling us for the next couple of weeks will have to use our cell phone numbers, because our main line is going to be OCCUPIED! :(

As I drove into work yesterday, the rain was pouring down again, and the traffic was moving slowly. Not quite as bad as the other day, but still slow. I was happy when the drive was over. The drive home was much better, because the rain was very light, and traffic was fairly close to normal for a Friday night.

At work yesterday, it was a fairly quiet day. I wore another heavy flannel shirt in to work, and I could have used a heavier one still, but it wasn't too bad. This cold has taken up what appears to be a long-term residence in my nasal passages. Fortunately, so far it has not moved down into my chest. I hope that it doesn't. My nose and upper lip are getting a bit sore from all the tissue contact they have been exposed to. I hope that it is about to run its course out, and I can get back to normal.

Last night Dotti and I relaxed and watched a movie, after which Dotti went straight to bed. She may be coming down with my cold. I hope not but I think her nose is getting some sniffles.

I took my vitamins yesterday, and plan to do the same today. I like to give my body all the help that I can in fighting off this cold.

Once again I ate all of the point-free food I had in my cooler, during the drive home, including cauliflower, celery sticks, a cucumber and a small head of romaine lettuce. Right now, I think I am enjoying the celery sticks more than any of the other items. Maybe its because it reminds me of the rhubarb I used to eat so much of. :)

Where to now? I increased my average points per day by only 0.6 and I gained a pound this week. However, I spent the last several days losing weight to finally get me back down into my goal range for weigh-in. I think that the change of conditions of going from the fun and relaxed atmosphere of Jim's and Tammy's house, to the stressful return to work and the daily grind may have had more to do with that than what I was eating. My digestive track was slowed way down the first few days, and finally got back to normal only by midweek. Looking back even a week farther, my average points per day had gone up by 0.3 points, and my weight fell 2.5 pounds. Again, I feel that the change from the stress of my normal workweek, to the fun and relaxed environment in Spokane, helped my body to function at a better level, and drop excess weight, mostly in the form of water, etc.

So, my conclusions at this point must remain uncertain. I will continue eating in the range that I have been eating for this past week (26-33 points) and I will continue to monitor the results. I would like to have my daily weigh-ins all week remain in my personal goal range, and not just my Saturday weigh-ins. So, that is something I will be monitoring as well. I want to reach the point where I know my Saturday weigh-in is going to be fine, because the whole week has been fine. If I have to drive my weight down to 185 to assure that, then that will be my goal. For now, I am collecting data each day, and evaluating it each week.

I have felt under the weather all week long, and so I have neglected my exercise completely. The stormy weather, with its heavy rain, and cutting, chilly wind, has been a strong deterrent to taking any lunchtime walks in the park. In the evenings, after I have gotten home, I have not felt up to going to the gym. My hope is that this week I can shake this cold off, and get back on track with my exercise. Today is the day for the Zonie walk, and hopefully we will get to the gym and do a mile walk around the indoor track. With the colds, I am not sure that either of us is going to be up to it.

The thermometer outside says 44 degrees right now, and the rain is pouring down in sheets. Our wind chimes are singing merrily in the stiff breeze, and even banging up against the outside wall when the 31 miles-per-hour gusts hit. It is going to be a great day for well-heated rooms and indoor activities. It isn't even winter yet, but the weather is acting like it doesn't realize that fact. We have had a couple of dry years recently, so we are due to get back to normal rainfall. Portland averages 6 inches of rain in December and the months bordering it have similar rainfall averages. My rain gauge outside is showing over 3 inches of rain, and that has been collecting over just this past week. If things continue as they have been going, we should have above average rainfall for this winter, and that would be good for the area.

For eating yesterday I had my Standard Breakfast (5.0 pt.) and Standard Lunch (7.0 pt.). For dinner, I had some stew (3.5 pt.), and two slices of bread with Brummel on them (1.5 pt.), which gave me 5.0 points for dinner. So, for meals I ate a total of 17.0 points. For snacks I had 17 cough drops (5.0 pt.), a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich (2.5 pt.), and 3 Dum Dum suckers (1.0 pt.). That came to 8.5 snack points, and brought my total for the day to 25.5 points.

For water I drank 16 cups, or 128 ounces.

Just 24 days until Christmas!

203 days OP, a lifetime to follow.

-Al-

239.5/189.5/200/BMI:23.6/WK-29/Maintenance Graph/Weight Loss Graph