90 Days In

Greetings,

90 days ago was the day after Christmas and when I (again) started to do something about my weight.  You may recall this blog post where I attempted to pay my children to help me (or at least not hinder me) with my weight loss.  I can tell you that they really have not kept up their end of the bargain to any great extent.  If you recall, this was supposed to start at the beginning of November.  I can tell you that their lack of assistance has not stopped me from keeping on the straight and narrow.  It just took me about 2 months to get started.  I think this chart says most of what this blog post is about…

When I got on the scales this morning they read 176.4 lbs/  I did get a new bathroom scale and it is pretty awesome.  I think we have had our old scale most of our 18 years of marriage so it was time for a new one.  Anyway, I cannot recall a time in my married life where I ever weighed less than ~178 so this is new ground for me.  I only have 1.4 lbs left to reach my stretch goal of 175 lbs.  As long as I get to this before May 3rd (5 weeks from now), the kids will get their final payment and will have “earned” $50 each for their “help”.

When I first started I thought I might be able to get to 180 (as I have many times before).  But people kept telling me that it is harder to lose weight as you get older.  This is just not the case for me, yet.  Part of my problem and what gets in me back in trouble and into the 200 lbs range is this very thing, the fact that I know I can get back in shape in just 3 months.  Hopefully this time is different and I can stay in this weight range for a while.  I cannot count on my kids to help me though.

Jon

The Listening Project–Supplemental Blog 12

It has been about 10 months since my last Listening Project blog entry.  I have only made (2) purchases of CDs since that time (one in September and one in January).  With apps like Songza, Pandora and my newly purchased Amazon Prime, the need to buy CDs has subsided somewhat but I still get the itch to head on out to my local Half Priced Books store and pull up a stool and peruse the clearance rack.

#	Artist	Album	Date Listened	Again?
1204	TobyMac	Alive And Transported	9/2/2014	Yes
1205	Creedence Clearwater Revival	Chronicle	9/2/2014	Yes
1206	Michael W. Smith	Freedom	9/3/2014	Yes
1207	Amy Grant	Home For Christmas	9/4/2014	Yes
1208	Norah Jones	Not Too Late	9/4/2014	Yes
1209	James Taylor	One Man Band	9/5/2014	Yes
1210	MC Hammer	Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em	9/8/2014	Yes
1211	R.E.M.	Reveal	9/11/2014	Yes
1212	Moby	Songs 1993 - 1998	9/12/2014	Yes
1213	Crowded House	The Very Best Of Crowded House	9/18/2014	Yes
1214	Sting & The Police	The Very Best Of Sting & The Police	9/19/2014	Yes
1215	James Blunt	Back To Bedlam	1/17/2015	Yes
1216	Bond	Classified	1/17/2015	Yes
1217	En Vogue	Funky Divas	1/18/2015	Yes
1218	10,000 Maniacs	In My Tribe	1/19/2015	Yes
1219	10,000 Maniacs	Love Among The Ruins	1/19/2015	Yes
1220	Christina Aguilera	Stripped	1/20/2015	Yes

• TobyMac “Alive And Transported”: I am not much for live CDs but this one came with a companion DVD and the DVD was the real reason I bought this in the first place.  I could not believe the whole thing was $2.
• James Taylor “One Man Band”: Another $2 find where there was a DVD of the artist in concert.  Well worth the price.
• MC Hammer “Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em”: A classic.
• Moby “Songs 1993 – 1998”: I really like Moby.  Did you know he goes by the name Moby since he is related to Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick (Moby’s given name is Richard Melville Hall).
• Crowded House “The Very Best Of Crowded House”: I will admin to only knowing one song by this group but the whole CD is good.  I broke a rule and bought this CD despite being a little scratched up (all but 2 tracks play fine).
• Bond “Classified”: The daughter really likes these ladies so I bought the CD for her.
• En Vogue “Funky Divas”: Their biggest hits are on this CD.  Well worth the $1.
• 10,000 Maniacs “In My Tribe” and “Love Among The Ruins”: So, I did not know that this group continued on after their lead singer left.  Both CDs are good but it is like listening to 2 different bands.

So, there you have it.  I do not know when I will get any more CD’s.  I have purchased some mp3’s from Charlie Peacock and The 77’s along with a Mark Heard LP recently but since this project is limited to CDs, I do not list them.

Jon

Twenty Thousand Miles

Greetings,

No, I did not make a New Year’s resolution to blog more (though that would have been a good idea if I had thought of it).  Sorry (or you’re welcome depending if you like my blog or not).

I did pass an important milestone though, namely the Fiat passing the 20,000 mile mark on the odometer.  You may recall my blog noting the passing of the 10,000 mile mark (link).  Let’s see if things got any better as my little, red Fiat gets a little more broken in now that 10,000 more miles has passed.

It took me 33 tanks to get to 10,000 miles but only 30 more to get to 20,000.  Logic would suggest that my miles / gallon is better and it is overall…

For the first 10,000 miles, my mileage was 32.02.  This has gone slightly up to 34.09 however, as you can see by the chart, this is partly due to some 38 mpg tanks on the far left side of the chart from a trip that I made to Indiana with my son.  If you omit those, the mileage drops to 33.38.  This is still better compared to the first 10,000 miles but not quite to the 34 mpg on the sticker that was in the window of the Fiat when I bought it.  I am not sure why my mileage has gone down in recent weeks.  Maybe the cold weather has lowered the tire pressure or maybe the dealership used a different oil during the last oil change.

Moving on to what is important…

For the first 10,000 miles, I hovered around a dime per mile to drive but with the slightly better gas mileage and the much better…

…you can see how my cost to drive (price per mile) has gone down significantly.  For my last tank, the cost per mile was less than $0.06!

I still enjoy driving this little car every day to and from work and around town with the wife.  We even piled the kids into the car during a recent dinner at Macaroni Grill (the Kia minivan had a headlight out) so it (almost) functions as a family car.  I am averaging 15k miles per year so far so I will see you in about 8 months for chapter 3 of this blog series.

Jon