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| Weigh-In Date: | 11/08/2008 |
| Weight: | 195.0 |
| Body Mass Index: | 24.37 |
| Average Weight for week: | 197.57 |
| Miles Walked for week: | 9.10 |
| Miles Walked in 2008: | 288.32 |
| Pounds +/- for this week: | -3.0 |
| Pounds lost total: | 44.5 |
| Pounds From Personal Goal(185 lbs) † | +10.0 |
Week's Data
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
11/01/08 |
11/02/08 |
11/03/08 |
11/04/08 |
11/05/08 |
11/06/08 |
11/07/08 |
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198.0
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197.5
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197.5
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200.0
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200.0
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198.0
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195.0
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Week 391 Update
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CONTROL PANEL
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FUTURE
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60-DAYS
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90-DAYS
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1-YEAR
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It was 6:30 AM when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "195.0 pounds!"
I honestly have merely fastened my seatbelt and am hanging on for dear life, concerning my journey right now. I have managed to remain at or below the top of my normal range, and for now, I am very happy with that. Routine, normal life, and anything that might be related to these concepts have flown out the window.
I am going up and down a set of stairs in our new home several times a day, and moving things around a lot. I am far more active now than I was before, with the only exception being the amount of walking I have been doing for exercise. When things settle down a bit I hope to get that going on the other end of the move.
My graphs show that I am pretty much treading water. I am very happy that I am "treading water" in the NORMAL RANGE and not in the OVERWEIGHT RANGE.  All things considered, I can't really complain with where I am at. After where I was at the peak (see my 1-Year Graph above) I think where I am today is A-OK.
Having said that, I also must add that I am not counting points, and journaling what I am eating each day. I am trying to eat in ways that will limit the total number of calories, and I am trying to stay active around the property, and so far it has been working. I have eaten far more calories that I should have on some days, but then I have a really good day to balance it out. I did hit 200.0 pounds twice this week, and so I have to watch what happens in the future. One thing I always do is to weigh every day. It is my one control on what I am doing that is a constant. It tells me what I am doing, right or wrong. If the scale starts to rise then I have to act quickly, or I will see another runaway graph like the early part of 2008.
On Saturday our week began at home in Vancouver, after we had driven back from Mom's the day before. I worked through my email on my computer and caught up on what had piled up while we were gone. Well, I caught up on the most important stuff. We are having to push off some very important stuff for DWLZ as this goes on, and I am hoping that we can at least find a 'ledge of time" on the cliff we are climbing where we can regroup and get moving again. I am not on the message boards like I should be or getting the things we had planned to have done this year accomplished. But both Dotti and I are doing our best, and it will have to be good enough. The tunnel is still dark, but we hope to find that light on the other end appearing after one of these turns in the rocky walls.
Sunday we had the end of Daylight "Saving" Time. I had written a little something about how I feel about this, but decided that we could forego that rant in this journal.
Monday Dotti and I took what may be our last walk to Wal-Mart from our house. We walked together there, along the autumn leave covered sidewalk, which took 2.5 miles, and then Dotti went into the store to shop, and I walked an extra loop in the parking lot and then back home, for a total of 6 miles. I then took the car and drove back to get Dotti, and the groceries that she had purchased.
We got another load of stuff to take down with us in the van, and then, after I stopped in to see the dentist to get the base structure fitted for my crowns (can you say "teeth at last!"?) we were on the road yet once again for Mom's place.
We have been seeing some nice weather on Mom's end of the road, and the pine trees in front of her house look really nice in the sunlight. Mom planted the tree whose needles you can see in this picture.
 Looking towards my office will be located, you can see the deer in our yard enjoying the grass and the apples from our trees. The photo was taken through our bedroom window and it affected the contrast of the shot. We really love the scenery around our new place.
On Wednesday it was raining and nasty, just in time for the poor guy who had to install our satellite internet connection. After the less than impressive phone installer we had, I didn't have high hopes for getting a quality installer, and I had read that if the install is bad, your performance will be even worse. So, I set out to keep an eye on the guy. However, my fears were groundless. The installer knew what he was doing and he did it well. I tried to assist wherever I could, but he didn't need a lot of help. Coming up with a long J45 ended cable and letting him use our drier for his soaked coat was about all I could do. (I went through a couple of coats myself due to the rain that day.)
As part of the dish alignment, he did something he called "Squinting." It helped him to "dial in" the alignment perfectly for the dish. Once he had the dish lined up enough to get some signal, using his protractor device and knowledge of where we were, and the satellite is, he took a device that he placed over the receiver orifice. The device was circular in shape, and had an opening on half of it and it was blocked on the other half. He placed it so the opening was to the left, and fine tuned the antenna position. He then rotated the device around 180° and did it again. He went back and forth until the two orientations came up with an equal reading. This insured that the dish was aimed directly at the satellite, from left to right. He then did the same thing with the opening on the top and then on the bottom. Once the antenna was just right with the "squinter" in that orientation, he went back and tested the left to right again. He repeated these steps until he had a well balanced signal no matter which way he had the "squinter" positioned.
I enjoyed visiting with him as he did the install, and I wasn't the least bit surprised when he finished up and our download numbers were up around 3.5 Mbps. Upload speeds are much slower than that, between 400 and 600 kbps, but most of what we do on the internet is downloading pages and files, so the slower upload will not be a big problem. (Compared with the 24 kbps that dial up is around this area, the upload speed is screaming fast as well. )
As we were leaving on Thursday for home, a lady showed up and wanted to present a sales pitch for some insurance. We were all set to leave, and Dotti and I didn't want to be bothered, but we didn't like leaving Mom alone with such a person. So, since Mom was determined to talk with her, instead of showing her the door, as I would have liked to do, we left over an hour later than we would have had we not listened to her spiel. Salesmen are all too often ethically challenged, and I don't have a lot of patience with most of them. I have known some very honest ones, but I have known a lot more that were otherwise. It took some time to get the nasty taste out of my mouth after leaving Mom's house. Pushy, thoughtless, inconsistent, and condensending—and those were the lady's good points.
We were heading home especially because our friend Tammy was flying down to be with Dotti for a few days, to help her pack up the house. We needed to be back in the Portland area for Tammy's arrival on Friday.
Tammy is a very special lady! You have to understand that Tammy doesn't like to fly any better than I do, and yet she volunteered to fly down and be with Dotti during the packing. I don't think anyone without a fear of flying can truly appreciate what Tammy did. This was way beyond the "call of duty" of friendship. You can see why Dotti calls her "My Bestest Friend." Tammy is a very special one of a kind.
Tammy had a birthday party coming up soon in Spokane which we had planned to attend, but alas, this move canceled those plans for us. So, on Friday, after picking her up at the airport, we took Tammy to Red Robin and told our favorite waitress there that we were celebrating Tammy's birthday early. I can't remember whether it was Tammy's 25th or not, but that didn't matter. (I am being nice and not including a picture of her with balloons and blush that she was wearing when the waitress arrived with the serving crew to sing Happy Birthday to Tammy.) Tammy is smiling and I am not sure if it is because of happiness at being with her Bestest Friend or the fact that the flight was over; it was probably a little of both. I can see a touch of the often seen look in her eye that says, "Al do you have that stupid camera out again?" But it was just a touch of it.
Here is the other half of my dinner-companions team, and isn't she lovely? After 32 years of marriage, she is still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen! I am one lucky guy! 
Dotti had opened up the hall closet to get something out and Frostbyte, who was about to make a trip with me, climbed in and made himself at home. Making himself at home is what he does best. Relaxed, with his paws crossed, he doesn't seem to have a care in the entire world.
This is our 16th move in our 32 years of marriage. The Navy caused most of the moves of course, but we have had some practice at this. Dotti is a little dynamo, tearing through the house like the Tasmanian Devil, and it seems like magic how she moves through a room and suddenly the stuff is in boxes. Her approach is, "Stand back and stay out of my way." Usually, she has done the boxing while I was at work, and I still am amazed at how fast she has done it over the years.
This time around, the ladies have taken the project on, and I am delegated to head back to Mom's to be with her for the next few days. I am taking Frostbyte with me, and my computers, so I can put together a makeshift temporary office to use until my real office is complete. I am taking a van load of stuff down today
Over the years, sadly, Dotti and I have had to say goodbye far too many times. Sometimes it would be for a couple of weeks. Too often it was for 3 months, 7 months, or longer. We had a tradition while I was in the Navy, that whenever I would be leaving for an extended time, I would sing a song for Dotti: Leaving on a Jet Plane. Sometimes I was leaving on a jet plane, and sometimes it was a ship that was taking me away, but that didn't matter. It was a song of parting. I didn't sing the song this time, because this was a short trip I was planning, but I still didn't look forward to the separation. All those goodbyes have proved to be cumulative, and I don't have much tolerance for them any longer.
As I was pulling away this morning on my trip back to Mom's, Dotti was standing in the open garage watching me go, and I had to stop and look back. I pulled out my camera and took a picture of her there. Be safe Dotti! I love you!!!
7 years, 180 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.
-Al-
6'3" 239.5/195.0/185.0±2.5/BMI:24.37/WK-391
Starting weight: 239.5
Target Weight Range: 185.0±2.5 pounds
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