A FEW MORE THINGS
YOU MIGHT ENJOY
|
 |  |
|
WEEK 394
Week Ending November 29, 2008
Weight Watchers Goal
(the top of my normal weight range)
200.0 pounds
|
|
|
| Weigh-In Date: | 11/29/2008 |
| Weight: | 198.5 |
| Body Mass Index: | 24.81 |
| Average Weight for week: | 198.14 |
| Miles Walked for week: | 6.50 |
| Miles Walked in 2008: | 294.82 |
| Pounds +/- for this week: | -0.5 |
| Pounds lost total: | 41.0 |
| Pounds From Personal Goal(185 lbs) † | +13.5 |
Week 394 Update
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Week's Data
Saturday |
Sunday |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
11/22/08 |
11/23/08 |
11/24/08 |
11/25/08 |
11/26/08 |
11/27/08 |
11/28/08 |
|
199.0
|
198.5
|
198.5
|
200.0
|
197.0
|
195.0
|
199.5
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CONTROL PANEL
GRAPH |
FUTURE
GRAPH |
60-DAYS
GRAPH |
90-DAYS
GRAPH |
1 Year
GRAPH |
Daily Entries |
Time Capsule |
|
It was 5:55 AM when I stepped up on Mr. Scale and he said, "198.5 Pounds!"
I feel like I did back before I started my journey in a way. Although I am in the NORMAL RANGE instead of being about 40 pounds over it, I am merely checking the scale and eating accordingly, rather than writing down what I am eating and planning my meals. So far I have hung on and not let it get away from me, but it has to be only a matter of time before I get into trouble with this. On the upside, we are getting closer to the point where we will be able to set up a routine again and that will help I think.
The Weight Commander Control Panel Graph for this week shows that I halted the sharp rise I had the week before, and things leveled off a bit. I even weigh a pound less than I did one year ago. 
The Weight Commander Future Graph for this week is way better than last week!  If you recall it had me at 214 pounds around Valentine's Day. Now the gloom is far less gloomy, with my projected weight being at around 202 pounds at the end of February. This graph is more optimistic than the Excel spreadsheet projections. The 90-day projection based on my change in weight over the past 14 days puts me up at 213 pounds three months from now while the running average, fortunately only has me up to about 205 pounds. I will have to keep a close eye on these numbers and make sure that the dim projected future doesn't materialize.
The Weight Commander 60-Day Graph looks like an oscilloscope showing a noisy signal riding on a baseline of about 197.5 pounds. In other words, I have been basically maintaining my average weight around 197.5 for the past 60 days, despite all the peaks and valleys on the graph. I can live with that.
The Weight Commander 90-Day Graph shows that I was losing sharply the 30 days before the 60-Day Graph kicked in. Since the end of September have gone nowhere really on the scale. I have held fairly stead for 2 months. If I can hang on for another month or two, I should be able to start concentrating on returning to my set routine for eating and writing things down. I just don't want to start doing that from 210 or more again. I would love to be able to start from here and move on rather than having to retrace my steps yet once again.
The Weight Commander
One Year Graph is sort of like the 60-Day Graph, in that I am right now about where I was one year ago. The upwards excursion was not a good thing but I recovered okay, fortunately. The pressure is on right now to make sure I don't do that again. If I spent the rest of my life maintaining at 197.5, that would okay. But I don't want to be over 200 pounds.
The Weight Commander
Daily Entries window shows that over the past 436 day I have had 188 days where I lost weigh, and 172 days where I gained weight. So for 360 days of the total, I either gained or lost and on the remaining 76 days I remained the same.
Gain
Days |
Loss
Days |
Even
Days |
| 43% |
39% |
18% |
That tells me that I pretty much standing still. As long as I am at or under 200 pounds that is okay with me. I know I will have a lot of work ahead of me to make sure that happens!
The Weight Commander
Time Capsule is singing the same song: I am right where I started from when I first fired up the Weight Commander program.
This week Mom, Dotti, and I took 3 walks together, for a total of 6.5 miles. My miles for the year are approaching 300. It isn't as good as I once was doing, but it is already better than I did last year, and I hope to get a few more miles in this year still.
Thursday was the late Thanksgiving that came this year. On the positive side, Dotti cooked a great turkey centered meal and we had left over turkey afterwards to enjoy as well for the upcoming days. We got to spend the day with Mom and that was great too! On the downside, we really missed being up in Spokane on Thanksgiving Day, since we had been there for the past 11 years. It is a tradition that we love and next year we will do everything in our power to be up there again. (We did talk on the phone with LeRoy as well as our best friends Jim and Tammy, and of course our grandson Hunter!)
It was sad missing Hunter's birthday, and Tammy's birthday party, which we should have been there for. ( I mean you only turn 25 once, or is it twice? ) We love our family in Spokane and miss being with them every day, but especially at our traditional meeting times.
Still, we will focus on the positive—because as things progress, the negative will be more that sufficient to be overwhelming if we do not. We had a very nice Thanksgiving and I will cherish that time with Mom and Dotti, because it was precious.
On Saturday we took our 2-mile walk in the even as the sun was heading down. Since Dotti was there with the camera, Mom and I both got the same idea of using the CAT as a photo prop.
There was some color still in the sky, but the trees were getting pretty dark as we left. Dotti was looking for things to shoot with her camera and found us.
Mom and Dotti get along really well, and it is fun watching them together. Usually for part of our walks Dotti will search for pictures, while I walk with Mom and then we swap off. One of these times we will have to get Mom to bring her camera and join us in searching for pictures to take. In the meantime, we are all enjoying our walks together.
One of the things that Dotti most
loves about this area is the way that deer come into our yard and even tolerate our presence if we stand a few yards away and look at them and take pictures. They are not about to let us walk up them, but don't run simply because we come out of the house.
Meanwhile, Frostbyte is showing how he got his Master's Degree in relaxing. He finds dozens of ways to stretch out and unwind. He has to have the lowest stress level in the county. He managed to work my tennis shoe into his bed scheme, along with his little stuffed animal, his spare multicolored shag cushion, all for decoration around his comfy pillow. It's a tough life he has, but someone has to live it.
There is a small store with a cafe and a gas pump in town, and as you can see that pump is not the newest model available. The price shows 3099. Hmmm. That is a bit odd. My guess is that when this pump was built, the idea of gasoline costing more than $0.999 was not considered a possibility. Then came the 1970s, and Jimmy Carter era gas lines. Now, what to do? You modify the price window, and pump function to allow higher prices. To do it as cheap as possible you don't worry about ascetics, and it comes out looking like this.
Now, what does 3099 mean? Looking at the two sales shown on the dual pump we see one for 3.77 or so gallons for a price of $15.02. The other is for about 6.35 gallons for a cost of $20.02. Dividing 15.02 by 3.77 we get $3.98 per gallon. So, 3099 might mean the price is $3.99. To double check we'll look at the other one. Dividing 20.02 by 6.35 we get $3.15 per gallon. Both pump sides are labeled the same. Both appear to be dispensing unleaded regular 87 octane gasoline, with a price marked with 3099. Makes you sort of wonder just looking at it.
I have been having trouble coming up with an official population number for this town, but I was able to find that the Zip Code area that includes the town, had 335 people in it in 2007, up by 35 people from 2000. That is a tremendous rate of growth, at 5 new people every year. Dotti and I are helping to take up two of the 5 slots for the upcoming year.
As I said, I don't know how many of those people in our Zip code area are actually considered part of our town, but the town itself certainly has no more than 335 residents. Since it is not incorporated, I don't know if the question of where the boundary between being in town or outside of it can even be answered definitively. We are left wondering about the price of gas that the undetermined number of residents might pay if they purchased gas a this pump, as we continue on our walk.
This may be a hard path we have before us, but Mom is doing her best to make it as enjoyable as possible. Hugs like this can really warm a son's heart, at least it sure warms mine. (Thank you Mom! You may never read this, but that doesn't matter. You'll know it anyway.)
 The foundation is in place, and the lower skeleton is taking shape. Today we look at a project in process, a year from now, it will hopefully feel like a very productive office where the mountains, and the river will help keep the stress low, and my spirits high.
Can you tell that I am excited about my new office? Looking over my right shoulder you can see right through my still glassless window at the view I will have in that direction when sitting at my desk. I feel like I am moving to the Shire just a bit. Just up the hill to the left of this photo the only thing I have seen go up the grade has been deer. Maybe some Hobbits are up there, who can say? Look at the green in every direction! Sunrise and sunset are altered by the mountains on either side of us here. The morning sun has to clear the mountains to the east before we get to see it, and at night it sneaks home early behind the mountains to the west. This is like the opposite of the areas on the east coast where we lived, because everything was flat, and I always felt wrong not being able to look off in some direction and see a mountain. Now I can look in any direction and there will be a pine covered hill blocking my view. I am home.
There are two improvements that this photo offers over the last one. The most important positive difference is the lovely lady in the foreground, as opposed to the old guy in the last shot, and the second is the closer view of what is out my other desk window. She is pointing and smiling because that is quite a view. When thing get grim, the water will wash away the stress, and the raccoons and deer will cheer my heart, and most of all that wonderful wife of mine will be there for me.
When things are going incredibly well, Dotti makes them many times better with her happy free spirit. But when things are bad, Dotti is even better at making them okay. Growing up she walked a hard path, when she had no one but herself to carry her through, and it not only exposed her inner strength to face things with determination, but it refined it. I feel so lucky that she is my soulmate, and life partner! I have told her many times that is his perfect, which she of course denies. But what I mean is that she just what I need in life, and that makes her perfect for me. It isn't intended to imply she is infallible, but to say that Dotti is matched to my needs in a way that no other woman on earth could ever duplicate.
Mom, Dotti and I were starting out on a walk. Dotti had stopped to take a picture of bird in a tree, while Mom continued on towards me. The construction crew were working in the background, and you can see their trucks behind Dotti. You can see the difference in internal thermostats too. Mom was bundled up (as was I) and Dotti was in a tee shirt. As you can imagine, the household thermostat has a very hard time trying to keep both Dotti and I comfortable at the same time.
When my Dotti smiles like this, well it just melts all my worries and cares away. How can the world not be right when Dotti is smiling her gorgeous smile? The eagle on her shirt symbolizes the beautiful free spirit of this wonderful woman!
This is the stretch of our little river that we call home. We live just beyond the trees on the left. I first saw the South Umpqua River in 1966, when I came to this part of the world to go to High School. Mom attends church on that school campus today, and when I drop her of I feel the ghosts of high school days jumping here and there all over the campus. I look at the various classrooms and remember the classes I took in nearly every one of them. The music building and the gym, the cafeteria and of course the dormitories, are filled with almost living events of long ago, jumping out at odd moments to surprise me.
Forty-two years have passed by since our first meeting, and this river had never been far from my thoughts every since. I have seen a lot of the world since then, but the Pacific Northwest is unsurpassed in beauty, and this is the Pacific Northwest at its best.
Mom still isn't used to me and my camera and I still catch her by surprise a lot. Fortunately, she isn't camera shy so it usually brings a smile to her face when she realizes I am taking her picture, and not a hand up to cover her face. (Yes, you know who you are who I am thinking of right now. ) Mom looks really cute with that hat. It keeps her nice and warm too.
One last look at the naked frame before it finally gets some "clothes" on. It is about to start looking like a building and less like a woodworking project very soon.
Each time we come over to look at the progress of our building, we have to take another look at the river through my window. I don't think this view will ever grow old. And we are surrounded on 3 sides by government forest land, so it should remain in this state for some time. The river has a different look from day to day, as well as from month to month and season to season. It goes from full, brown and angry, ripping at the bank, trees and other growth along its bank, to being soft, and pure crystal clear like a mountain lake. Is it any wonder that Dotti is smiling?
Our building dressed up for Thanksgiving Day, with new siding, even though it has no roof yet. The doors and windows are in and the roof is not far behind. Once the roof is on, other than the painting, everything can be pretty well independent of the weather.
Looking down the river side of the new structure, with the door in the little shop area and the window over my desk indenting the wooden siding. One day, when we get our financial feet back under us from the dental and moving burden we have taken on, we may build a little deck out on this side of the building, looking over the river. But that is for the future. Right now we'll focus on getting this completed so we can finish our move down here.
You may have noticed how we have not be carrying umbrellas or wearing rain coats on our walks. We have had a lot of great weather for November and December so far! That was very lucky for this building project. We'll at least be able to finish up the inside it looks like without any weather delays. If we get it painted right away that will be a real plus as well.
7 years, 201 days on my journey; a lifetime to follow.
-Al-
6'3" 239.5/198.5/185.0±2.5/BMI:24.81/WK-394
Starting weight: 239.5
Target Weight Range: 185.0±2.5 pounds
BACK TO WEEK 393 On To WEEK 395
|
|
|
