Tuesday Weigh In

Greetings,

    Not a great week really.  I feel like I am stuck around 186 but comparing today to last Tuesday, I am down 1.67 lbs (about the right pace to make 180 in 20 days).  I know one night I did a no-no and ate some very salty chips right before bedtime (water weight is a killer of momentum).  The Pace column got me a little excited earlier at it stayed in the 170's for 5 straight days (my previous record was only 2 days in a row).  Other than that, maybe I am suffering from "the last 10 lbs are the hardest" syndrome.  Ate any rate, here are the results for the week.

Jon

Date	Weight1	Weight2	Weight3	Average	DaysToGo	Lost	Last7	Pace
07/29/09	186.0	186.0	186.0	186.0	26	26.67	3.00	178.8
07/30/09	185.5	185.5	185.5	185.5	25	27.17	3.50	178.5
07/31/09	186.5	186.0	186.0	186.2	24	26.50	3.00	179.7
08/01/09	185.5	185.5	185.5	185.5	23	27.17	2.67	179.2
08/02/09	186.0	186.5	186.5	185.7	22	27.00	3.17	179.7
08/03/09	187.0	186.5	186.5	186.7	21	26.00	1.33	181.3
08/04/09	186.0	186.5	186.0	185.8	20	26.83	1.67	180.6

Blog Number 380

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

Well it's about 9:30 and the wife is dead to the world.  Once we get the kids to bed it is tough for her to keep her eyelids open.  She is just the kind of person that needs at least 8 hours of sleep to function properly.  Me, well I do OK on 6 with a nap or 2 on the weekend to catch up.  We only got about 20 minutes viewed of Swing Vote tonight so that puts us a little past half way.  So far I like it but I am gearing up for a disappointing ending.  We did finish off one movie recently though.

• 21: A movie about math geniuses who count cards to beat the house at black jack.  What's not to like.  Jim Sturgess (who was in Across the Universe which I have previously reviewed) is back only instead of singing Beatle's tunes with his native accent, in this one he is an MIT student looking to somehow pay for Harvard.  I could have used a little less of the partying in Vegas scenes but this was a really good movie.  It also stars Kevin Spacey who I would have swore was in more movies that I had watched (I could only find Beyond The Sea, K-PAX, and A Bug's Life [the voice of Hopper]).  The movie is based on a fact (there really were 6 MIT students that had a card counting scheme that worked for a while).  Also in this movie was Laurence Fishburne who I have recently scene (as a much different character) in CSI and of course in The Matrix movies and in one of my all time favorite movies, Searching for Bobby Fischer.  Anyway, great movie and a neat twist at the end (which I will admit that I guessed).

I worked an hour later than normal tonight as I had to host a virtual training session with some co-workers that are based in Mexico.  I was blown away at how well they spoke and understood English.  I know many co-workers who speak English as a second language and having any grasp of English is impressive enough for me (since I have tried to learn Spanish) but these folks (or at least the 1/2 dozen or so that interacted with me during the training) were top notch.  One cool thing about my job in the last 2 or 3 years has been interacting with people all over the world.  I can think of people that I know in Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, UK, The Netherlands, Hungary, Egypt, New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, China...the list goes on.  I am eager to ask them about their countries while trying not to ask the wrong question and be offensive.  If you stick to food and weekend activities you can stay pretty safe.  I did have a lady in Brazil ask me a question that was kind of odd today but I think she thought I was in India (not Indiana) and she quickly caught herself.  You are usually safe asking about musical tastes but I have not found a good way to respond when someone says they like The Backstreet Boys (which has happened more than once).  OK, time for bed as I just looked around and the dogs and the wife have retired to the bedroom.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 379

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.
We attended the annual Indiana Home School Convention this year in April (at least I think it was April, honestly it is not quite the highlight of my calendar year that it is to my wife).  Anyway, one way to kill time (err, one great thing about it) is to wander through the vendor booth section.  To you non-home schoolers out there, you just have no idea the number of choices out there.  I have attended a few of these things and I am still shocked each year.  One thing I remember seeing this year is many little card games.  Some taught history, some math, some grammar or phonics, etc.  Others were just cool little games (Uno had to start small like this I would think).  One game that we saw was called Manners for Mealtimes.  The basic idea (according to the box) was to teach your children (and maybe husbands) some manners (all while having fun presumably).  I treated this game about like I did all the others (as a means of killing a minute or two) but the wife must have also seen this game as it arrived at our house the other day as part of our fall curriculum order.  Upon reading the more detailed rules we discovered that there were 2 levels of the game.  You move on to level 2 after you have mastered level 1.  Everyone brings some of their own money to the table (preferably all the same denomination [we chose dimes]) and each time you are caught breaking one of the manner rules, you put a dime (or quarter if you prefer) in front of your plate.  At the end of the game, whoever has the least amount of money in front of their own plate, gets all the money in front of the other plates.  If there is a tie, you split the winnings up as fair as possible.  Some of the level 1 rules are...

• Place your napkin on your lap
• Use polite conversation
• Use your utensils properly
• Ask for food to be passed rather than reaching

Level 2 uses all the level 1 rules and adds a few...

• Sit properly using good posture
• Ladies are seated first, boys/men should pull out chairs for ladies
• Always compliment or thank your hostess for the meal they prepared for you

Anyway, the kids were excited to play this game and so we each brought 15 dimes to the table and after a few meals realized we were already ready for level 2.  After playing the game on level 2 for a few meals I made the executive decision to stop playing the game.  Here is my reasoning.  The games original intent is to teach you proper mealtime manners and cause you to be mindful of YOUR manners and what YOU need to work on.  This seems like a great thing and would have likely bettered our family had we adopted this view of the game.  Instead, it appeared that we were all greatly interested in pointing out OTHERS mistakes.  We would sit and stare at each other in silence in hopes that someone would mess up.  We did not talk at all (for fear of breaking the Use Polite Conversation rule) and the kids ate much slower (this is not something we needed since they are incredibly slow eaters already).  So if your family is like ours (extremely competitive [with greedy kids] and already pretty good at table manners) then I would recommend you save the $6.95 and not buy this game.  However if mealtimes at your house more closely resemble feeding time at the hog pen than a family eating together and if you are not super competitive then perhaps this is the game for you.  Please contact me if you are interested in buying our copy, just don't pay us in dimes (we all have plenty of those).

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 378

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

My day did not start well.  Well I take that back, it is the weekend so the day started well in that it was a Saturday and as such 4:45 came and went on the clock and I was still in bed.  I got up around 6 and let the dogs out (dragging Nina off the bed, she is such a slug).  I did my normal weigh in and duly recorded the results on my super duper "heading towards 40" spreadsheet that I keep on my computer.  I then started to make the coffee.  We only make french press coffee here in the Dieterman household.  Ever since I bought one for the wife for Christmas last year, we put our coffee machine up in the cabinet and off the top of my head I don't even know what cupboard it is in now.  Anyway, french press coffee entails boiling water and then putting some freshly ground coffee into the press to await the hot water.  It was then I discovered that we were out of coffee.  Well, that is not exactly true.  It was then that I discovered that I could not find the coffee.  Historically, me not finding something only results in it not being there about 1/2 the time.  I wandered back into the back of the house (the wife was stirring since the dogs [after returning in from there morning, back yard roaming] had jumped on the bedroom door and somehow opened it).  Anyway, I met her hallway and said that I had a serious question for her.  She then admitted that she forgot to buy coffee while out shopping the day before (2 grocery stores mind you).  I had a few options here (and no, going without morning coffee was not one of them).  I could head to a nearby gas station that has fresh brewed coffee.  I could head to Starbucks (a little further away) for much better coffee.  Or I could head (back) to the grocery store and buy some coffee.  The first 2 options would have been faster but not financially wise so I headed toward Kroger around 6:45.  Not surprisingly the store was pretty empty but indeed surprising was that there were no donuts out in the bakery area (I momentarily toyed with the idea of donuts but the fates helped me stay true to the diet).  I would think 7 in the morning on Saturday would be prime time for donut purchases.  So I left with just the coffee and made the 10 minute trip back.  In the back of my mind I had hoped the wife had the water boiling and ready for its appointment with the coffee I had just fetched but alas when I walked in the front door she was right where I left her (in front of the computer using the dial up internet).  She did claim she thought about getting the water ready but since action speaks louder than words her words did not comfort me (and my symptoms that were starting due to caffeine withdraw).  The kids were up soon and then the breakfast menu quickly became the hot topic.  For weeks now the wife has promised the son that we would make souffles (like they have at our beloved Panera).  Each of the previous weeks she was able to delay for another week but this week the son would not be denied.  The cookbook was referenced and once we confirmed we had all the ingredients (much to the wife's disappointment) she dove in.  The prep work took about 20 minutes or so and only then did we look at the bottom of the recipe (where it states the cooking time).  We were shocked to see that it would be 50 - 60 minutes before they were ready.  I took the time to hit the treadmill which sucked up about 35 minutes or so and eventually we sat down with some impressive looking breakfast.

The son said it best when he stated that had we never had had the Panera souffles, then these would have tasted better.  This was his best attempt at a compliment that the wife was going to get.  These had a little bacon and some spinach in them and my only comment (after eating mine and most of the daughter's) was my typical "I am no longer hungry so this food served its primary purpose" (my best attempt at a compliment).  After some more coffee and some showers, we hit the library (as is our Saturday custom) only this week is the last of the free DVD rentals since our library will start charging 50 cents for the privilege on Monday (8/3).  We did polish of a movie last night however...

• National Treasure Book of Secrets: It is very hard to capture the newness of the first time anytime you do a sequel and I think that my hopes were way too high for this one.  After the reintroducing of the main characters, they quickly got into the looking for clues / solving riddles part of the movie.  Mind you, they had to do this.  I mean that was the coolest part of the first movie but I think they jumped into it a little too quickly.  Having had a day to think about it, I can say the movie was pretty good overall (and maybe even worth a 2nd watch someday [I will admit to watching the first one about a 1/2 dozen times {so far}]).  I am not rooting for a National Treasure 3 though.

Only 23 days til 40-hood.  I suppose I can be happy in the fact that I live in a base-10 world and not a base-8 world since I would be heading toward 50-hood (though would only be 47 today).  OK, perhaps I should have kept the fact that I think about these kinds of things to myself. 
Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 377

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am thinking that my blogs are not quite what they used to be.  I have thought about this a lot lately actually.  I have come to one conclusion, my life is too good right now to be much of a blogger.  I mean, my best blogs (in my opinion) are when I am ranting on about some injustice in my life or some suffering I am currently experiencing at the hands of others (mostly my wife).  But all is going well in my life, too well for effective blogging.  I have tried to think of something to gripe about but the empty New Blog page just stares back at me.  My Buick cost $400 to fix (window motor) but I had the money put away in savings so nothing to whine about there really.  My weight loss is going well and my LASIK went so well that I could be the poster child for LASIK.  No, I really don't have anything to gripe about.  I am turning 40 in 3 1/2 weeks but I am in good health and have a nice career still.  My hair is still there.

Well there's something for ya.  My hair.  Lately I have been thinking of cutting it all off or even shaving it all off.  I could save time in the shower and in front of the mirror each morning.  I could wear a sock cap in the winter and not mess up my hair (or a ball cap now) and could just use the trimmers that I bought about a year ago for $40 to keep it trimmed up and save money on hair cuts.  There is just one problem, the wife won't let me.  I don't mean that she asked me not to, I don't mean that she said that she preferred I not do so, I don't mean that she sympathizes with me and is simply giving me her thoughts on the matter.  I mean she actually forbid it.  She says that I do not have the skull to pull it off.  I countered with "what proof do you have that the shape of my shaved head would not be adequate" and she blew off that request with a "you just don't" answer.  I was not sure how to counter that exactly.  I tried the "it's my head and I'll do whatever I want with it" or the "just let me try it and if you are right it will grow back" or the "think of the money we will save on shampoo" but none of these worked.  She also expressed concern that it might not grow back in properly "this time" as if cutting my hair down would alter its growing patterns.  It is as if she is the prosecuting attorney, the jury and the judge.  Actually, that is not that different than most discussions that we have on matters of my looks (clothing included).  She "lets me" pick out my glasses but waits until my eyes are dialated before letting me try them on.  At that point in time they all look the same on my blurry face in the mirror.  I joke that I am just a life sized Ken doll (the wife does not laugh at this comments and just nods in agreement, like that was somehow in the fine print of our marriage license).  Ken's hair never grew though so maybe I can get an exception type ruling on hair and not be in violation of this fine print agreement (I seriously doubt it).  The only exception on my hair is when I went a year without cutting it (the picture on this site is from that period).  I think she actually liked my long hair though.  One argument she offers is that she likes my hair as is and since I have such great hair, it is somehow my duty to keep it styled in some manner that meets her approval.  It is a tough burden to bear having such awesome hair.  I have always had great hair (as long as I can remember however honestly I don't remember caring about or even recogonizing that I had hair in my pre-teen years).  I find myself almost asking men who have their head's shaved or cut real close when it was that they decided to give up on their hair.  I have not gotten up the nerve yet actually to ask someone this but I just might soon.  I imagine their reasons will mimic my current desires (just tired of wasting time on it or maybe that there was too much grey which is not necessarily true in my case but I do have some grey).  I don't think however that I will hear the response "I have a great skull."

I just might do it (some night when she is not here).  Maybe I can talk the son or daughter into doing the actual trimming (so I have an accomplice to share the wrath that will surely result).  I don't wear glasses any more, I soon will be down 30 pounds and I think I deserve a new look (good skull or bad skull).  I will have to keep you posted.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 376

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I am nearing the 100 day mark since the start of my attempt at losing weight before hitting 40.  I have spent 45+ hours on the treadmill and have walked 90+ miles.  That seems like a lot when I think about it.

One more note on my LASIK surgery.  I find myself staring at my eyes in the mirror.  I was concerned I was becoming (more) vain but then I thought about it a bit.  I have not seen my eyes in 25 years.  I mean my true eyes.  For the past 2 1/2 decades I have either looked at my eyes with my glasses on causing them to look quite large due to seeing them through the lenses of my glasses or I have looked at them with my glasses off and they appeared not only weak but a little out of focuse (since I could not see anything particularly well without my glasses).  So I am seeing my eyes as they really are for the first time in a long time.  I wonder how long it will be before this wears off.

I did finish a few more movies...

• Memoirs of a Geisha: Wow, I new this was a good movie based on reviews but it exceeded my expectations.  I watched it over 4 days (it was almost 2 1/2 hours long).  We were about an hour into it before last night and I made the mistake of allowing the kids to watch about 15 minutes of it before putting them to bed.  They just had so many questions about what was going on.  The ending was surprising as you quite expected a sudden and sad ending and that is not the case.  I recommend this one.
• Billy Elliot: One of the few rated R movies that I have checked out.  When I watch an R rated movie (or even PG-13), I think about what caused the rating and if those parts of the film add to the story or could have been omitted (a particularly sensual scene or perhaps strong language).  In the case of this movie (set against the background of some sort of labor strike that effected the main character's brother and father), the language (which is what casued the R rating) fits and the movie would not be believable with softer words (darn, heck, fudge, etc).  As an American I think I miss a little bit of every film that is set in England or Scotland (especially some of the more subtle humor) but I still enjoyed this one and would recommend it as well.
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry: Adam Sandler movies (even PG-13 ones) can not be to my liking.  He is a funny guy to be sure but relies a little too much on the crude humor.  I was hoping that Kevin James would have a calming effect on the humor.  Giving the subject of the film (2 straight guys pretending to be gay in order to get around some technicalities) I had my concerns.  The end result though was not too bad and quite funny in places.  There were lots of cameos (and even a short extra on the DVD where Kevin and Adam talk about all of them).  I am not so sure I would recommend this one to everyone.
• A Good Year: Wow, I am on a roll lately it seems.  Another great movie.  Come to think of it I don't think I have even seen a bad Russell Crowe film   I liked A Beautiful Mind (which we purchased from the pawn shop for $3), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Cinderella Man (at least the parts that I watched before it was due back at the Frisco, TX library).  Great characters surround Crowe in this one and the background shots are great (an old winery, vinyard and a large estate).  Anyway, another one that I recommend.

Well it is time to get going for the day.  I have my 1 week follow up eye doctor appointment this morning.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon

Blog Number 375

Greetings and welcome to today's random thought.

I have a few minutes before a late meeting (curse you Australia people for not working US hours!).  Anyway, at the end of my day the other day, I noticed that I had a few web pages open.  These were pages that I meant to look at and read but did not quite get to due to the busy day.  Here is what was left...

• http://www.skodalaura.co.in - I was IM'ing with a new coworker that is located in Bangalore, India.  He (or I guess a she, not sure based on the name) was telling me that their father had purchased a new car over the weekend.  I had never heard of the Skoda Laura so I found the website.  All I could gather before abandoning the page was that the motor was a diesel.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smore - I was IM'ing with another coworker (this one was in Cordoba, Argentina) and trying to explain that we had gone to a cook out that ended with us making s'mores.  I could not describe the technique so I sent him this link.  Amazing what I did not know about this tasty treat.
• http://news.google.com/news?um=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=slim+jim+factory+production - I had heard somewhere about the ONLY Slim Jim factory coming back online after being down for something like a month.  When I was at the gas station the other day, I did not think to see if the price of Slim Jims was up due to supply and demand economics.  I did not find a news article with the level of detail that I wanted.
• http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/opinion/27harris.html - I like reading Sam Harris.  I saw from another feed that he had written and article for the NY Times.  I think I made it through 2 paragraphs.
• http://articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-56385566-raqueta-head-liquidmetal-heat-antivibrador-head-funda-_JM - A link provided from (yet another) IM session (this time with someone in Buenos Aires) and he was telling me he was selling his tennis racquet online.  This must be the Argentina equivalent of eBay.  The pricing is in Argentinean Pesos (about 3.85 = $1 US) if you are interested.

Well it is about time for my meeting.

Thanks for reading my Random Thoughts.

Jon