Well that didn't last long

Oh well, guess I overdid the celebrating a little bit. Oh well, go down 5+ pounds one week and back up by 4 the next for a total of 34.4. At least I know I was able to get there and I know I will be there again. I just need to keep plugging away. On the positive side, the doctor was pleased and wants me to be at a total of 48 pounds lost by my next appointment in March which will be a year after my journey started. And my blood pressure is down by 10 points to 120/70 which I guess the experts say is borderline hypertension.

In other news, I survived the big snowstorm. Thankfully I didn't have to work so I was able to sit at home and watch all the snowflakes fall. From the amount we got I think it'll be safe to say we'll have a white Christmas.

And that brings me to one of my pet peeves. Who decided we needed white Christmases in the first place? Was it Irving Berlin or the greeting card people? Maybe it was meteorologists who needed a reason to be positive about snowfall? I was going to say it doesn't snow in Bethlehem but apparently it does. This is a picture taken in Jerusalem posted on the BBC website along with some other photos of snow in the Middle East.



Since my next weigh-in will be on Boxing Day, I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas.

I thought this day would never come

Today is December 12th and I just got off the scale. I began this little quest at the beginning of March so it is a little over 9 months later and I have reached, unofficially, my first major goal. I say unofficially since I have reached goals before only to see my weight go back up the next day. I knew something was going on since my belt is now over by another notch and when I lay in bed (oh so very alone) I can feel my ribs. Since you are all waiting with baited breath the scale said I had lost 38.4 pounds so I am now 90% of the man I was in March. Now I will hopefully reach a final goal of 197 pounds so I have another 149 to go. Think I'll go celebrate with 3 or 4 Big Macs! Just kidding. Here is a pic of the slighly more svelte me. Freshly taken this morning.

Hola!

OK so I am not spanish nor do I speak spanish but after the comment left on my last blog I figured it was worth a try to increase my audience. Anyway, the main reason for this little blog's existence is to track my journey with weight loss. So without further ado, I stepped on the scale Wednesday morning after way too many days off and the scale told me was now 33 pounds lighter than I was in March and 3.4 pounds lower than I was last week. And that puts me within 6 pounds of my first major goal of losing 10% of my total mass. Those of you who are good with math should be able to figure out how much of a fat slob I was. Just imagine how much more I could lose if I did some exercise. And yes, I plead guilty to not walking the dog as much as I did earlier this year. Guess I am a wimp when it comes to walking in heat and cold.

As for the days off, I am self-employed so days off mean less money in the bank account to pay bills and less chance for tips. So if anyone, especially in a warm southern US climate, wants to hire a nice, hard working guy from Canada, give me a call!

Up and down

What you gain one week you lose the next. I guess I should be used to this by now but it is still a little disappointing that I can't seem to get past the 30 pound plateau. I know I haven't been walking as much and eating more late at night but I am trying to behave myself. Guess I'll just have to keep plugging away. Guess I should provide the numbers. I am up by 1.6 pounds so basically back where I was a month ago with a total loss of 29.6 pounds. For those of you who care, that is 13.454 kilograms.

You may also notice on the right side of the page I have put up a link to Kate Bilo's video blog. It was there when I started and I took it down when things changed at AccuWeather. Now the link is back and the latest video will load and play automatically (at least it should) and most of the old ones are on there as well. And it's her fault I am writing this blog.

Just call me Mr Slacker

Been working a lot and spending too much time with my big butt parked in front of the computer or TV. Needless to say the dog is not very happy because I have not walked her very much lately but after the +5 pounds on November 7th I was less than pleased. I climbed on the scale on November 14 and I was -3.2 pounds from the previous week. Just a few minutes ago I climbed on again and am down by another 3.8 pounds or 7 pounds total from my last posting. The human body is truly a mysterious thing. If I can lose another 7.5 pounds I will be 10% smaller than I was in March when this journey began.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and be thankful you aren't eating turkey with a turkey!

Le sigh

I knew this day was coming. The scale says I am up 5 pounds over last week but I have no one to blame but myself. I have not been as active and have stopped taking my diet aids and have resumed the bad habit of late night snacking. So my total is now 24.2 pounds lost and I am now 14 pounds away from my first major goal which is to be 10% lighter than I was in March. Time to get back on the wagon. Wish me luck!

It's a another rerun!

Can you tell I am running out of ways of saying there is basically no change. Last Wednesday I was up by 0.2 pounds to make the total 29.2. I guess I should be happy that I am holding steady and not gaining but I'd like to lose some more. I do have to confess that I have not been overly active due to weather, illness and just basic laziness. Back on the scale tomorrow morning. Since I am going to have time to kill tonight going to Popeye's Fried Chicken may not be such a good idea.

It's a rerun!

From two weeks ago I can post the exact same thing. Down 0.4 pounds, total is now 29.4. That is all, nothing else to see here.

Outsmarted.

By who, you ask? By me, myself and I. As you know I went to Watertown NY to take take advantage of the high-flying loonie.

I planned to take my cell phone with me in case there was an emergency at home and I needed to be contacted. I called my cellular provider who will remain nameless but it rhymes with HELL. A pleasant young lady answered the phone and the conversation when something like this:

Me: "I'd like to add US roaming to my account for the weekend."
Her: "Of course sir, it'll only be $40."
Me: "What? $40 for a weekend?"
Her: "You have to keep it on your account for a month."

Once I found out the roaming charges were more reasonable than the last time I asked for my trip to Martinsville, VA in 2004 I decided to take my cell phone with me and risk it.

After I checked in at my motel, I went to the main shopping area and my first stop was K-Mart. Yeah I know but it was my mother's favourite store so at the very least I will stop in and look around. While I was in there, I saw the pay-as-you-go cell phones and one company (who will also remain nameless) was selling a phone for $15 including 10 minutes of airtime. When I got back to my motel, I got the package opened and charged the phone.

After talking to the K-Mart employee working in the department and reading the brochures it sounded like a good deal. Especially the parts about 800 numbers to call outside the US and being able to set up local numbers in Canadian cities for people to call me. So I'm thinking if I buy some more air time, my nieces can use the phone instead of calling collect from a phone at school which is 10 km away from home.

To make a long, internationally copyrighted story short. The phone doesn't work here, I either get a No Service or Emergency Only message, even when I go right by the lake to hope maybe a signal will bounce off the water. But I have had no such luck so the phone is a $35 paperweight. I was told the folks at Rogers may be able to sell me a new SIM card to use the phone but no such luck there either. Fortunately, K-Mart says I have 90 days to return the phone so there may be another provider out there that can help me.

Well, at least this part is on time...

for a change. The Wednesday update is up by a whopping 0.4 pounds so my total loss is 29 even. Which is shocking to me because I have been very undisciplined this week. Still haven't gotten around to looking for the USB cable to upload the zoo pics either.

Yeah, I suck.

I am way late with my updates

The weekend in Watertown was lots of fun, except for the spending too much money part. Got to explore some new stores and ended up out-smarting myself on one purchase. Finally discovered the New York State Zoo and got some cool pics which will be uploaded as soon as I find the USB cable to transfer the photos from my camera to the computer.

As for the weight thing... on October 3, after my return from Watertown after eating nothing but frozen prepared meals and restaurant food my weight increased by 0.8 pounds to bring the total back to 29 even. This past Wednesday, October 10 after being back home for 10 days my weight was down by 0.4 for the week and a total of 29.4 pounds. I need to get back to my routine of walking the dog everyday.

I know it is easy to want to stay indoors when it is wet and cold outside but the blubber won't go away on it's own. Wish me luck!

Stay tuned for the outsmarted story and the zoo pics.

You win some, you lose some

Every Wednesday when I step onto the scale, I hope the number I see is smaller than the one I saw 7 days previously. Last week I was pleased with the number, this week not so much. I have to admit that I have not been as active as I had the last few weeks so my weight has gone back up by 4.8 pounds so instead of being 4 pounds away from another goal I am now 9. I am heading off to Watertown NY for a weekend away and to take advantage of a very healthy Canadian dollar so lots of prepared food for 3 days so we'll see how things are when I get on the scale again next Wednesday.

Post #61

Can't believe I have had so much to babble about but I am back again for another visit. Since it is Wednesday I guess it is time for a weekly weight woundup. I was sure the number would be getting smaller since I had been so busy that I had no time to walk the dog and I bought a lot of junk food. To my surprise, the scale was actually good to me and showed that I had lost 5.8 pounds for the week and a total of 34.6 which puts me 4 pounds away from a 10% total weight loss. Funnily enough, I will be seeing the doctor tomorrow and see what he has to say.

In other news, I found a whole lot of neat junk at a local dollar store. And they are now letting people pay with their debit cards. And in the "you know your music career is over" category, when your autobiography is on the bottom shelf in a dollar store. I was looking for something to buy my nephew when I happened to glance down and saw The Harry Wayne Casey Story. 'Who the heck is that?' was my first thought. Then I bent down to pick the book up and saw the rest of the cover. The full title is 'That's the Way I Like It' and saw the KC and the Sunshine Band logo. Harry Wayne Casey is the KC of KC and the Sunshine Band. Apparently, according to the band's website they are still performing.

Speaking of performing my little home town is hosting the All Canadian Jazz Festival, saw the tents being set up in Memorial Park already for the weekend. So if you like jazz and are looking for something to do, come on down!

Such a sight has never been seen

Things that astound, amaze and confuse your lowly scribe. I have already confessed my love for Farmboy Markets in Peterborough. Sunday morning I headed there again since Friday was payday. So after finishing in there and buying a lovely 23 ounce t-bone I decided to swing by the nearby Dollarama store to see what they have. I pulled in front of the store a couple minutes before 11 am and there were actually people waiting outside for the store to open! There must have been around 15 people who all headed for the door when it was unlocked. I have heard of people lining up for the latest video game console or waiting for concert tickets. But waiting for a dollar store to open?? Well, I guess you learn something new everyday.

Two for the price of one!

Aren't you lucky? I have been so busy the last few weeks that sitting down here to update by weight loss has been pushed to the side and I enjoyed my first day off yesterday since late August. I guess I shouldn't complain too much since my paycheque should be really good.

Anyway, let your minds drift back to September 5th, my weight for the week was up by 2.4 pounds which makes the total of 28.2, and this past Wednesday I was down by 0.6 pounds for a total of 28.8 pounds. I still am not seeing any difference but other people have so I'll just take their word for it. I seem to have hit a bit of a plateau but I am maintaining instead of gaining it all back. Thanks for reading this.

Here I sit brokenhearted...

No I am not going to recite that lame little joke you sometimes see in bathroom stalls. What I am talking about is furniture or lack thereof. Yesterday I drove over the the local Canadian Tire store (no they don't just sell tires, consider it the Canadian Walmart with no groceries and a way better automotive section) to replace my antique computer desk. Years ago, my father found this old table sitting outside someone's house held together with baling wire and brought it home. He repaired and refinished it and turned it into a beautiful round dining table. With the two leafs folded down, it was perfect was displaying family photos and various knick-knacks.

When I bought my first computer, a beautiful Compaq Presario 486 running at a whopping 25 mHz, I needed someplace to put it and the round table with one leaf down was drafted into service. And it has been used as my computer desk since then.

Back to Canadian Tire, their flyer had a corner computer desk for only 79.99! Not a bad price for a piece of RTA furniture. Got it loaded into the minivan and headed home. Since there wasn't a NASCAR race to watch and I had the day off, I was planning on assembling it as my Sunday project.

Saturday was when the fun happened. I was going to be working and away for most of the day when my sister decided she was going to be helpful and put the desk together for me. Guess she was looking for a Saturday project. She opened the box, checked that all the required pieces were there and started building in my living room. I had disconnected my computer and moved it out of the way.

From what I understand to have happened. My sister got the right half of the desk basically together and decided to move it to where it would be located and finish it there. Well, I guess my 3 year old nephew bumped into the finished piece while she was on the phone and it fell apart. A couple pieces of particleboard were damaged and it looked like I was going to be out $80. (As an aside, even with the great price the local store threw a cherry on top. They were offering a $10 coupon if you spent more than $40 which the cashier subtracted from my bill when I paid for the desk.)

When I got home I heard the story and my nephew said he was sorry and gave me a big hug. How can you stay mad at that face?
We were trying to come up with a good story for when we returned the box to the store but I happened to glance at the instructions and it said to call the manufacturer instead of going back to the store. Since it is Saturday we'll have to wait until Monday to do that. Until then I guess I plug my laptop in and put it on a TV tray.

Postscript (Sat Sept 8): Called the manufacturer on Monday, the CSR said replacement pieces would be sent out via courier at no charge. The pieces arrived on Thursday afternoon, the desk was put together Thursday night and on Friday (1 week after buying the unit) the computer is back together and sitting on my new desk.

As for the weight thing, which I am sure is riveting to 1 or 2 insomniacs in California, there is no change from last week which makes me happy because I have been so busy there hasn't been any walking of the dog and more junk food than usual has been consumed. The usual now being very little at all.

One last thing before I sign off. My favourite confessing weather girl is away to attend her wedding ceremony. Kate Bilo will marry the lovely Scott Eby. As I write this, they should be in Turkey to begin their honeymoon. What? Don't all married couples want to fly to Ankara or Istanbul (or as Victor Borge used to call it, Instant Cow) right after their wedding? I wonder if she will continue to use her maiden name, switch to her husband's name or go the hyphenated route? I hope their ceremony was beautiful and filled with meaning and I wish them all the best. Maybe Kate will come back and announce she will be having an Accu-baby! *LOL*

The big 3-0!

No that is not my age, I am unfortunately much older than that. *heavy sigh* The 3-0 I am referring to is the number of pounds that have left my body since March. As I mentioned in a previous post, I am only going to weigh myself once a week, on Wednesday mornings since getting on the scale every day was driving me crazy. When I got on the scale, I saw the number and smiled and then when I got to the computer to add to my log, my smile got bigger since I was down 4.4 pounds from the week before and a total of 30.6 pounds, that would be 13.91 kg. I think it's time for another 22 ounce t-bone from Farmboy Markets!

I love Farmboy Markets

Is it possible to love a grocery store? Heck yeah if you are someone who loves to eat, and I think I qualify based on all my posts about trying to lose weight. Why do I love them so much? It's mainly because of the meat. For those who have been around for a few years may recognize that as the slogan for Dominion Stores, which still exist in the greater Toronto area but were bought out by A&P which was then purchased by Metro stores.

Farmboy isn't a mega superstore with 200,000 square feet of everything you can put in your mouth like marinated Mongolian yak-kebabs. It is a throwback to the neighbourhood grocery stores from years gone by. Not elaborate but a little of everything you need. And as I mentioned, an amazing meat counter. Not amazing by the selection but amazing by the prices. I bought a 22 ounce t-bone steak last Friday and paid $9.37 for it, that works out to $6.99/pound. Yeah Canada measures everything in metric so $15.38/kg and it was at least 1/2" thick! Add some mesquite seasoning and a BBQ and I was a happy camper except for the rained out NASCAR race on Sunday and today.

If you are within a short drive of Peterborough, check them out. Unlike the megamarts, they are not open 24 hours a day and they don't have a website for me to show you. All I can tell you is they are located at the corner of Lansdowne and Erskine in Peterborough across from the Minute Maid plant. Sometimes they'll snag a deal on something you won't see everyday like paper products made for Wegmans and Tops grocery stores in upstate NY. Now, if you'll excuse me there are some pork chops I bought there that need my attention.

And again...

Following the advice I took last week, I stayed away from the scale until this morning. The grand total was 0.4 pounds lighter for a total of 26.2 pounds. I've also switched diet aids. I was taking CLA and for some reason it seemed to make the side effects of my HBP medication worse. So one pharmacist recommended hoodia, which is supposed to be some kind of appetite suppresant. Problem there was I am supposed to take it 30 minutes before a meal but I never know when I am going to eat because I work such odd hours. Some days I am up at 8am and the next day I may not get home until 5am. So back to the pharmacy I went and something called Accelis was suggested. Apparently a couple of local GP's sent their patients to buy it, this one you take 2 pills right before bedtime. The dog is certainly getting lots of exercise and I guess I'll have to learn how to like the taste of water.

A watched pot never boils

On my weight update blog yesterday I talked about how discouraged I was that the numbers didn't seem to be getting small enough, fast enough. Then I saw this article online today to stay off the scale.

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/rockertraining/5130/stay-off-the-scale

So in an effort to stay accountable, only on Wednesday morning will I get on the scale so I can update my results. Other than that, the scale will be collecting dust.

Water, water everywhere

By my rough math, I have 495 half litre bottles of water in my house. That would be a little over 65 gallons or enough to fill a 55 gallon drum! None of it is that high fallutin' Fiji Water or that other ultra-yuppie stuff that has crystals in the bottles and sells for $75/litre or some obscene price but as long as it is on sale I will keep buying it.

It's Wednesday

That means it is time for the weekly weight woundup. I am getting a little discouraged to tell the truth. I'm not going up and I am not going down. I am like a car in a snowbank. Go forward a little, back a little, forward a little... so now that you are all seasick I am down by 0.4 pounds for the week. It's been six weeks since my last doctors appointment and I haven't moved very much at all. Guess I am guilty of assuming that since I lost 25 pounds in the first 3 months I would lose 25 more.

All I know is I am not giving up. I will lose the weight. Guess I should be thankful that I am not putting the weight back on.

It's picture time.

It's hard to believe that I have reached 50 posts and had more than a 1000 views to this little blog. Although I am convinced that 950 of those views are from me constantly coming back to fix spelling and grammatical errors. These are some of the pics I have taken over the last little while so I thought I would share them with you.





These first two photos are of a recent sunset. For some reason I am not usually awake at the time of day that would allow one to see many sunrises.



This photo when I had the dog out for a walk on the waterfront trail. Looking down the embankment I saw a gaggle of geese floating by. Here is the educational part of the blog. When geese are on the ground or in the water, they are a gaggle. If they are in the air, then they are a wedge or a skein. That's what Wikipedia says.




A little farther down the trail I happened to catch sight of a father and his children out for a canoe ride following the geese apparently.



Looking out over the lake to the east, there are other people out enjoying the waterfront trail. Click on the pic to see more detail.



On the little patch of shoreline where I normally take Angel swimming someone had built a makeshift inukshuk with some of the rocks that were there. However, it has been knocked over since I took the picture. If you are wondering what an inukshuk is, here is the explanation from thecanadianencyclopedia.com

Inukshuk (singular), meaning "likeness of a person" in Inuktitut (the Inuit language) is a stone figure made by the Inuit. The plural is inuksuit. The Inuit make inuksuit in different forms and for different purposes: to show directions to travellers, to warn of impending danger, to mark a place of respect, or to act as helpers in the hunting of caribou. Similar stone figures were made all over the world in ancient times, but the Arctic is one of the few places where they still stand. An inukshuk can be small or large, a single rock, several rocks balanced on each other, round boulders or flat. Inuit tradition forbids the destruction of inuksuit.

Inukshuk in the form of human beings, called inunnguaq, seem to have been a recent development, perhaps only appearing after the arrival of European whalers in the 19th century. One of the most important types of inuksuit are those that helped in the caribou hunt. These are usually built with 2 or 3 rocks piled up and placed in converging lines along the migration route of the herd. The Inuit placed arctic heather among the rocks to simulate human hair. The figures were intended to spook the caribou and stampede them towards the places where the hunters hid.

An open leg on an inukshuk found near water or a coastline may point to an open channel for navigation. If an inukshuk is in open land, a leg or arm might suggest a direction. Inuksuit placed near a lake might show that fish can be found in the lake at the same distance the figure is placed from the shoreline. Some inuksuit were built out of respect for a beloved person and are seen as memorials.

James Marsh

Here are several photos of a certain hyperactive puppydog playing in the water.




Depending on which way I walk home, I often have to cross the dual tracks of the Canadian National Railroad at an umarked crossing. I assume there used to be a road that went through there but that was long before my time. So here are views of both eastbound and westbound. And I would not have stuck around if I thought there was a train nearby.



And as we made our way home to look at all the cars at a nearby Chrysler dealership, I glanced over and saw this twisted hunk of metal. Hard to believe that signpost is still standing after taking some abuse but there it is marking a bus stop in front of a seniors residence. Hope you enjoyed the little tour.

WWW - part eleventy-teen +4... and other stuff

First, for the weightloss update, up by 1 pound for the week. I am not a happy camper since I have basically not changed since my last doctors appointment almost 6 weeks ago. So my total is now 24.2 pounds lost and now someone has mentioned seeing some gray in my hair. Just more proof everyone gets older.

On to thing number 2. I did get the iPod, I mean MP3 player this week. It is the Creative Labs Zen Stone. It holds 1 GB of music or about 250 songs and plays them in order or you can shuffle them. I got the blue one, in case you were wondering and still have room for lots more music. If you are interested, Popular Mechanics calls this device "an iPod killer". I'll take any suggestions as long as it is not rap, hip-hop or death metal. To help narrow it down, I really like music from the 50's to 80's plus country, classical, contemporary christian and comedy.

And thing number 3. I think I have mentioned how much I love my Sirius satellite radio. Well, the receiver I have isn't being made anymore and the equipment that lets you use it in the car is falling apart since I can't permanently attach it inside my work vehicles. And it seems no one in Canada sells the replacement parts. At least at the stores I have visited recently. The closest I came was at Future Shop who had 2 compete Sportster Replay kits. Problem there is that they were asking $150 and I have no need for 2 receivers and remotes.

However, if I bother to make another trip across the border to the town of Gouverneur, NY, I can buy the same exact same equipment for $60 plus taxes at the Radio Shack dealer store. Another solution is to just buy a new antenna which sells for $50 at the local The Source by Circuit City (nee Radio Shack) or go to the local Wal-Mart and buy a basic receiver and car kit (including the receiver) for $70. Or again across the border, the exact same receiver is $40. Or the Sirius One which is now selling for $19.97 at Radio Shack and not available at all in Canada (at least to my knowledge). And one more example before the steam leaks out of my ears. Noticed at Future Shop a bunch of air conditioners for sale. The exact same model was seen at K-Mart during my last trip across the border. $150 here, $100 there.

Hope you have a great week and if there is a weather expert lurking, can you please do something about this heat?

WWW - part eleventy-teen +3

I am up by 1 pound for the week which is slightly disappointing but slowly but surely I will be losing weight. So the total is now 25.2 pounds.

Joining the 1990's

OK, maybe they haven't been around that long but I am probably one of the few people I know who doesn't have an Ipod or MP3 player. Sorry I mean an iPod, don't want the people at Apple mad at me for typing their name wrong. And that would be Apple Computers and not Apple Corps, which is the music business founded by the Beatles. Suddenly I am dizzy.

What brought this on was an article I read this morning on yahoo.com about iPods helping people lose weight, reduce your blood pressure and alleviate pain. It was quite interesting and for anyone who has been here once or twice before weight loss and blood pressure are 2 things I am dealing with in my life right now.

Since I was at the local Wal-Mart shopping for a new microwave I took the time to visit the electronics section to see what was available. Of course they have several different sizes, colours and manufacturers of iPods available in prices from $30 all the way over $200 for the real iPod. I guess I should mention that iPod is becoming a name to describe a type of product rather than just one companies version of it. Just like Kleenex is used for all facial tissue and Band-Aid describes all types of bandages whether those companies make the product or not.

The unit I am looking at is the Creative Labs Zen Stone. It has no display (like the iPod Shuffle) and holds approx 250 songs on a 1GB memory and can play your music in order, repeat or shuffle mode. With taxes it will be about $57. If anyone else has this unit or wants to recommend something else in the same price range, click on the little link under this post. Happy listening!

WWW - part eleventy-teen +2

Happy Wednesday everyone. It's time for the weekly update and the grand total is... ZERO. Yup, the same as last week. Up a little one day and down a little the next but the grand total is no change.

The laptop is still un-wireless, guess I'll have to phone Dell and tell them to fix the goshdarn thing.

As for the lottery when I went to the retailer, the computer system was down so no tickets were purchased. And I have started the search for a new job. Wish me luck.

WWW - part eleventy-teen +1

Down 2 pounds from one week ago for a total of 26.2. I am also within 3.5 pounds of my next goal. Sorry for the brevity but I am trying to get my laptop to be wireless again.

Just noticed that today was July 11th, or 07/11. It was 6 years ago today that I won just under $1800 in Lotto 6/49. And there is a drawing tonight so I better buy a ticket. Maybe lightning will strike twice?

What I did on my summer vacation

Yeah it's a little early but I can't afford to really travel so it'll be the occasional day trip or possibly weekend away if I were to get a lot of generous passengers. Got up bright and early (yeah right) on Saturday June 23rd. By the time we figured out who was coming with us and what we were going to do, it was almost 10 am. Headed for Cobourg so I could deposit my paycheque and get some US currency. Next stop was the gas station and $45 worth of go-go juice later we were on our way with my sister, my nephew and youngest niece. The older niece and our house guest stayed home to dog sit.

A stop at the service centre in Trenton and at the one in Odessa on the eastbound 401 and we reached the border at the Ivy Lea Bridge around 1 in the afternoon. Showed our ID to US Customs and onto Interstate 81 we went, but not before another stop at the Travel Center. After our bathroom break my nephew said he was hungry. This was after the donut shop next door to the gas station, Mini-Oreos from the Trenton service centre and sharing some chicken and fries with my niece from KFC at the Odessa service centre.

The nice tourism lady said all they had were soda vending machines outside but at the next exit there was a bait shop that had snacks. I told my nephew we would buy him some worms to eat and he said "No. Worms are for fishing." I don't think he liked that idea. Anyway, we continued south on I-81 until we reached the Coffeen St exit and pulled off and headed west. We were searching for the mystical Watertown International Airport. Lo and behold, we found it. Looked rather small for an international airport but there were cars in the parking lot and we saw a small Cessna-sized plane attempt a touch-and-go, or the pilot just screwed up the landing. In either case the plane took off again, circled and made a good landing a few minutes later. My nephew was very excited to see the planes and helicopter parked there, so we thought we would head inside to see if you really could get on a commercial flight.

We thought we would, but we couldn't because the door was locked. Yes, at 2-something on a Saturday afternoon, the "International" airport was locked. So we settled on this nice picture of my nephew and you'll note the words on the building.



After our exciting time at the airport, it was time to let the women loose to go shopping. We approached Watertown from the east the whole time my nephew was asking when we would see Watertown. Unfortunately, we got clogged down in a construction zone right as we were getting to our first stop. We did notice that Watertown now had a Target store but we didn't go there. Our first stop, as it almost always is was at the Big K-Mart. My mother loved that store and she was heartbroken when all the Canadian stores closed down. So the last couple times we went to Watertown, I made sure we went to K-Mart.

Our next stop shared the same parking lot and that was Hannaford Brothers grocery store. We picked up a few things there like some Little Debbie snack cakes. Yes I know I am on a diet but they sponsor Ken Schrader so I have to do my part. Bought some other LD stuff at K-Mart as well. Much bigger selection than the stores around here.

Our penultimate (thats a $5 way of saying next to last) stop was at Friendly's. It was dinner time and after some driving around and discussion we finally chose a restaurant that didn't have plastic cutlery and paper plates. The food was good and the portions were large so we'll probably go back. Maybe next time I'll try some of their ice cream.

Our last major stop was at the new Wal-Mart Supercenter is Leray. I thought it was just part of Watertown and it is near Fort Drum which is home to the US Army's 10th Mountain Division. But my debit card statement says Leray so we'll go with that. Wandered around the store a little bit and bought some Red Baron frozen pizzas to bring home. Again, they sponsor Ken Schrader when he races his dirt late model.

That was our day in Watertown. We made a quick pitstop to re-fuel at Sunoco, although they insisted we paid cash before we pumped and they didn't offer me one of those "offical fuel of NASCAR" stickers. We made it through Customs unscathed and back onto the 401. One last stop at the Camden East service centre and everyone else in the van fell asleep. All-in-all a good, but expensive day was had by all.

Before I forget, there was a very cool trailer hitch decoration we saw on a pick-up truck while we were stuck in the construction zone. It was a deer that looked like it was sitting on the trailer hitch. When the brake lights came on, the deer would raise it's "arms" in surrender and you'd see a target painted on it's belly.

WWW - part eleventy-teen

No wonder people who are dieting are cranky. You get on the scale one day and you are happy because you have met one of your goals. The next day on the same scale, you are ticked off because you haven't done anything significantly different and your weight is back up. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging along. If I had cheated and used yesterday's number I would have been down a pound over last week. But since part of the reason for this blog is to hold myself accountable I am up 1.2 pounds for the week and up 2.2 pounds from yesterday. How does that happen? See what I mean about cranky? Thanks for visiting the weekly weight woundup and hopefully better news next week.

Freebies for the NASCAR fan this weekend

DirecTV will be offering a free preview of their HotPass package during the Firecracker 400 race this weekend. Also, nascar.com is also offering a free preview of their Trackpass service during the same race. Yes I know the race is sponsored by a moderately popular soft drink in a blue can, but I don't like their product so there will be no mention of it from me. And I am not talking about Royal Crown either.

25 again

Well, it's Wednesday so time for the WWW (weekly weight woundup). I am again at the 25 pound loss plateau. 25.4 pounds to be exact, accorording to my scale earlier today. That is 2.8 pounds lower than last week and again, on Sunday morning I was at 28 pounds but I guess the gluttony of my day trip to Watertown NY hadn't kicked in yet. Stay tuned for observations and maybe a pic or two from the trip.

She's Alive!!!

Well whatcha know 'bout dat? It seems Miss Bilo is alive and well after all. I see she has recorded a new video blog. The webpage is gone but it seems she will still bedoing the videos I reckon. So when you go to accuweather.com, look for the video on the right hand side of the page, click on the "Favorite" tab and then "Confessions of a Weather Girl". Since there isn't a specific page anymore, I have removed the link from this page.

I know she claims it is her mother-in-law who nudged her to record a new video but I am claiming 100% of the credit. Even if she doesn't appear to answer her e-mail anymore.

25... give or take

Well for a brief 24 hour period I flirted with the 25 pound plateau but unfortunately I slipped and ended up gaining 1.2 pounds since last Wednesday so my total is now 22.6. Onward and upward as they say. Just don't ask me who "they" is.

PS No, I did not eat any cheesecake, tempted as I was.

Where's Kate???

I get home from work today and check the website of my favourite weather girl, the lovely and talented Kate Bilo and the page is gone! All I see is a generic page with links to the other AccuWeather webcaster blogs but no Kate. And I see Katrina Voss is missing from the page as well. Where are they? Have they been kidnapped by aliens? Maybe they have secretly infiltrated the LA County Jail to get an exclusive interview with Paris Hilton? Perhaps they are in Colorado investigating the Jon Benet Ramsey case? Hopefully it is just a glitch or the pages are being updated. Call home Kate, your friends miss you.

Slacker - Part 2

As promised here is my on-time weight update. I wish I could say I was performing super-human feats of strength or suddently bench-pressing 600 pounds but I am not doing any of those things. My main inspirations are; #1, watching my 3 year old nephew grow up and #2 to stop taking these expensive high blood pressure pills. I am now at my lowest weight since this journey started and within 1 pound of meeting my second goal. My weight is down 5.6 pounds from June 6 and a total of 23.8 pounds so I think I'll eat a whole blueberry cheesecake to celebrate. Just kidding.

Get Sirius!

Here is a cheap plug for Sirius satellite radio. Lookit what I am listening to right now.

Slacker - Part 1

Sorry for not updating my weight loss results. It should have been done last Wednesday but I have been working everyday so to make up for lost time you get 2 in one week.

So as of June 6, I am down 0.2 pounds from the week before and a total of 18.2 so I am basically holding steady since I gained weight the week before. I am back on the beam and if I can stay away from junk food and find time for more exercise I am sure I will lose those pounds and hopefully a couple more. I should be able to resume my regular updates in 48 hours.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

If you are like me, you can now hear Aretha Franklin singing in your head. I love inflicting earworms on people. If you don't know what an earworm is, it is basically reading or hearing something that puts the lyrics to some annoying song like YMCA in your head and no matter what you do, it won't go away!

Anyway, the point of this blog is not to fill your heads with earworms. I am talking about the lack of respect shown to Ken Schrader. Who happens to be my favourite NASCAR driver. Why you ask? Heck if I know. It was probably from watching him on Inside Winston Cup on Speedvision which has now morphed into Inside Nextel Cup on Speed Channel. It might also have something to do with cheering for underdogs and M&M's, his sponsor at the time.

It seems that if you aren't one of the "pretty boys" or a favourite of the TV announcers you can forget about being seen on television. Which makes it hard for your fans to follow you or to gain new fans. Is it fair? Probably not, but when the networks are after ratings a 52 year old driving for a single car team whose best years are behind them will not win you TV time.

I guess I don't understand why in a four hour long telecast they can't find a minute or two to talk about every driver in the race. Even if he (or she) is 43rd and 6 laps down. If they are on the track, talk about them. If they are off the track, tell us why. It'd be impossible to track how many times we've heard "Driver so-and-so has gone to the garage" Why? Tell us why he is in the garage dang it. Even if it's just his parents, someone wants to know.

This might be part of the reason why TV ratings are going down every year. People get sick of hearing about the same 10 drivers week after week and they use Trackpass or listen to the radio play-by-play to follow their favourite driver(s). I've actually done more of that this year now that NASCAR is on Sirius. Listen to the radio announcers while watching the pictures on TV.

And then if one of the "non pretty boys" has a good run then it doesn't get mentioned either. Most recent example, the charity race at Eldora Speedway. Schrader finished fourth with a real chance to win. Look at the post-race quotes, Top 3 get mentioned as do the drivers that finished 11th, 15th and 23rd.

I know, life isn't fair but I'll just plug along cheering for a driver whose career is winding down because he is a good guy and who doesn't love an underdog?

To weigh or not to weigh

I have been dreading this visit to scale since I was not very disciplined this week. Lots of work usually means less time for home meals and exercise and more late night eating so after breaking the 20 pound loss plateau last week. I am sad to report I am up by 2.6 pounds in the last 7 days so my total is now back to 18 pounds. Maybe there is something to this weight training theory. Hmmm...

I've been plagarized

So there I was, minding my own business when I decided last Wednesday to start a thread on www.racingstalkers.com about these 100 calorie packs of snack food you can now buy. I don't think I commented on the quality or flavour. Most of my comments were about the lame name and it's french translation. In English, the product is called "Thinsations" and in French it's even worse "Mince Alors!" And you will also notice the French name gets an exclamation point.

I was kind of disappointed that no one responded but on Saturday while I was enjoying a week late Victoria Day weekend, I go online to the homepage of my favourite video blogger, the lovely and talented Kate Bilo and what is she talking about? 100 calorie packs of snack foods. Talk about borrowing a great idea. I think I should get a writing credit and 50% of the royalties.

Of course, after watching her blog about my topic I am now jealous. Mainly because she has a lot more options in these 100 calories products. All I've seen on the shelves of my small town A&P and Walmart stores has been Nabisco mostly. Oreos, Chips Ahoys, graham crackers, and shortbread cookies. I think I have also seen Sun chips and Doritos. Maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough? Maybe it is time for me to cross the border and visit my favourite grocery store in Watertown NY. Or better yet, Miss Bilo should send me some as the first payment on the piles of money she earns on all these video blogs.

Weekly weight loss update

I forgot to climb onto the scale this morning so you'll have to be satisfied with yesterday's result which was down 1.4 pounds from May 15th and a total of 20.6 pounds. Now I have been told I need to lift weights to increase my lean muscle mass. Isn't dragging a 40 some pound lawnmower up and down a steep hill once a week enough?

Job security

I think I know the perfect career if you want to have 1 job for your entire life. Become a travel agent. Granted you won't get rich but just trying to navigate all the possible permutations of choices in helping people get from Point A to Point B and back to Point A again. It makes my head spin and I'm not even seriously considering a trip right now.

This all began with a complaint about airline prices on a flight from Victoria to Winnipeg for a wedding. Unfortunately, or fortunately for them, there is no competition in Canada. You can fly Air Canada or you can fly WestJet and they don't serve near as many cities as AC. Harmony just went out of business, Air Transat doesn't offer domestic flights anymore and there are only a handful on Skyservice.

Since I sort of work in the travel industry and I'd like to travel someday. Perhaps Lotto 6/49 will tell me I am worth $25 million at this time tomorrow then I'd be traveling somewhere in the next week. I thought I'd see what kind of prices I could find for the Martinsville fall NASCAR race weekend. I chose Thursday Oct 18 for departure and Tuesday Oct 23 for my return since midweek days usually offer cheaper ticket prices. I started with flights from Toronto to Greensboro, NC because they are the closest cities to deal with.

So here are the results of my research, such as it is.

Airlines flying out of Toronto to GSO. (All prices in Canadian dollars provided by the airline or in US dollars and then calculated at www.xe.net using the current, live mid-market exchange rate at the time.) Prices were also rounded off to the nearest dollar.


Air Canada $628
American $747
Continental $630
Delta $618
Northwest $630
United $627
US Airways $630

Next option was Toronto to Raleigh-Durham.

Air Canada offers a direct flight for $544
And with 1 stop; Midwest Express charges $541, US Airways $510 and Delta $550.

And lastly, Toronto to Charlotte. Both Air Canada and US Airways offer direct, non-stop flights. And not much to choose from here in terms of different prices.

Air Canada $550
US Airways $547
Delta $554

Now be prepared to be shocked when I change my city of departure and am willing to drive a little farther to reach an airport. I limited my research to US Airways and Delta because I know they serve each city. (Again, all prices are in Canadian dollars and please no wagering.)

Buffalo to Greensboro, NC
Delta $210
US Airways $287

Buffalo to Charlotte
DAL $268
USA $375

Buffalo to Raleigh
DAL $150
USA $148

Rochester to Charlotte
DAL $264
USA $366

Syracuse to Greensboro
DAL $186
USA $255

Syracuse to Charlotte
DAL $248
USA $334

Syracuse to Raleigh
DAL $217
USA $233

Watertown to Greensboro
DAL $185

Watertown to Charlotte
DAL $358

Watertown to Raleigh
DAL $270

Just look at the different prices, just for different flights to Greensboro all flying on the same days.

Cheapest from Toronto is:
Delta $618

Fly out of Buffalo that price drops to:
Delta $210, thats $418 cheaper for those keeping score.

From Syracuse, Delta will fly you to Greensboro for $186 round trip and even from tiny little Watertown, NY it's $185 or $433 cheaper than flying from Toronto.

And don't even get me started on those travel websites that promise BIG savings if you book your flight, hotel and rental car at the same time. You know the ones, like the talking garden decoration one. From Toronto, the cheapest package was around $980 and went up from there. From Buffalo, prices started around $775. Looking by myself I came up with a rough total of $640 Canadian.

And on a humourous note for those who know the story. The Greensboro Coliseum Travelodge was one of the options for those travel packages and from the customer comments, it seems the place is still as big of a dump as it was in 2004 when I had the "pleasure" of staying there.

Quick update

Sorry for the brevity of this post. I am down another 0.8 pounds for this week for a total of 19.8 pounds, that's an even 9 kilograms.

Feeling artistic

Sitting here waiting for the dog to come in from doing her business outside I'd thought I would show you a couple more photos I took. These were taken today after something I saw yesterday.

I don't live in the most glamourous neighbourhood and there is a lot of activity nearby. We have two sets of rail lines, a busy 4 lane street, the factory of the largest employer in town and lots of retail with some residential thrown in. But the lake is only a few minutes of walking away.

On Sunday morning, I took the dog for a walk downtown so I could deposit my whopping (insert sarcasm smiley here) paycheque into my bank account. On our way home we walked through the property that used to be home to the Canadian Pacfic Railroad station. The original building has been torn down and replaced with a little pre-fab box.

As we got closer to the street, off to my right I could see some purple and yellow in a pile of rubble behind the restaurant on the south side of the tracks that must have come from the garden they used to have before they expanded. I thought it was just some weeds that had taken root but when I got closer, I could see they were tulips.

The puppy and other stuff

Combining a couple of topics into one post just because it's late and I am in need of my beauty sleep (Yeah right, not even a beauty coma could help me).

First of all, it's Wednesday so that means weight loss update. Little by little the number gets smaller. So I am down by another 1.4 pounds for this week for a total of 19 even. Yes I have given up on posting everything in metric, the math took too long.

Secondly, my birthday was last week. It was OK I guess. Nothing spectacular or memorable. As Tennessee Ernie Ford sang in his unmistakable baritone voice.. "You load sixteen tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt"

Lastly, my poor puppy dog had a very rough day on Tuesday. Angel is allergic to flea bites and when it happens she gets a rash called a hotspot. To help heal this condition the fur in the area has to be shaved to allow air circulation. Normally, this is not a big deal, at least it hasn't been until this year. Everytime my sister tried to trim the fur, the dog would either cover her head with her paw or try to push my sister's arm away.


So first thing on Tuesday morning, sis called a dog groomer who agreed to help. Into the van Angel went and half an hour later she came back with the same amount of fur she had before. Apparently, she didn't appreciate what the groomer was attempting to do and put up a fight.

So my sister then called the vet and explained the situation. Down to the vet they went along with another dog who had an appointment at the same time. Angel was taken into the examination room and was given a sedative. When the vet returned, Angel was sitting there staring at her because the shot had no effect on her. The vet then returned with another needle and a stronger sedative. This one made Angel drowsy and she laid down but as soon as the shears were turned on, she woke back up and again fought so the vet finally decided to have her knocked out with a couple of valium and another drug so the job was finally done. The vet also provided a steroid spray to help heal the area and Angel runs away anytime someone approaches with that!

Good news

In one of my first posts, I think I mentioned visiting the dentist and the hygenist finding a "lump" in my mouth, then going to see an oral surgeon and finally referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist. That appointment happened this morning and took all of 15 minutes. To make a long, internationally copyrighted story short. Everything is fine and no problems, no surgery and no cancer. To celebrate I bought a 1/2" thick ribeye steak and threw it on the BBQ when I got home.

Yay me!

Boy I've been a busy little blogger the last few days. But I guess that's what happens when you are self-employed and you have extra time on your hands.

Anyhoo, I am pleased to report that I have passed my first weight-loss goal. Actually I passed it a week ago but I wanted to be sure that I wasn't going to bounce back up again. I am down 1.4 pounds for the week and 17.4 total.

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

This handsome young man, is my nephew, Riley Vincent. Today, May 1, he turns the big oh-three. Have a great day buddy and your uncle will be *cough cough* years old on Friday.

And now you know...

and so do I. I was looking at the assessment form for my house and it said the corner lot we are on is a total of almost 7000 square feet. For whatever reason, I thought that was about a third of an acre. At this point, I have to confess that I am bad when it comes to visualizing size and distances. Across the street there used to be a hardware store/lumber yard and about 4 houses. I had no idea how they were going to remove those buildings and replace them with a 35000 sq ft grocery store and parking for 100 cars. Yet the grocery store and parking lot are there.

So using this little thing called Google, I looked up how many square feet are in an acre. I was a little disappointed to see our lot is only 16% or about 1/6th of an acre and that an acre is 43560 square feet. Why that odd number instead of one with a lot of zeros?
I'll leave that to Tom Dorn, who is the Extension Educator for Lancaster County at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln to explain. And he throws in some etymology (thats the study of word origins for those of you in State College) as a bonus.

The unit of land area in the United States is the acre. An acre contains 43,560 square feet. Have you ever wondered why an acre is 43,560 square feet instead of a round number like 40,000 or 50,000 square feet? The story goes like this. When plowing with a yoke of oxen, it was standard practice to rest the animals (and the farmer) after plowing a furrow 1/8 mile long. An eighth of a mile therefore became known as a furrow-long or furlong; (a furlong is a nearly forgotten term for distance, except at horse racing tracks where it remains in common use).

The usual practice after plowing a furlong was to then turn the team around on a "land" and plow the other direction. Lands were laid out so the farmer would be able to finish a land every 10 rounds with a 10 inch plowshare (about 16.5 feet). One could imagine that perhaps farmers used a pole or rod that was 16.5 feet long when laying out lands because this measure of distance is still called a rod today.

By starting early in the morning, two lands could be finished before noon with a good yoke of oxen. At noon, the farmer stopped for his noon meal and to feed, water, and rest his animals. After the noon break, another two lands could be finished before quitting time. Four lands, or forty rounds (80 furrows) measured 16.5 x 4 = 66 feet across by 1/8 mile (660 feet) long and was considered a good days work with a walking plow. The area plowed was therefore 43,560 square feet and became the standard unit of land area we call an acre.

By the way, a farmer who plowed 80 furrows an eighth of a mile long would have walked ten miles while wrestling with the hand guided walking plow. Is it any wonder this measure of land area became known as an acre (ache-er)! Actually, the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary states that the name comes from the Old English ‘aecer'; akin to Old High German ‘ackar' (field), Latin ‘ager' (field), Greek ‘agros' (field), or Latin ‘agere' (to drive).

Get a brain, morans

To the morons in Talladega who were throwing crap on the track. Keep it up and you will ruin a very good thing for a lot of us. The very good thing I am talking about? Being able to bring your own food and drink to the races. Only in motor sports are you able to do this. A lot of people scrimp and save all year to attend one race and bringing their own sandwiches and beer helps them afford to be there. Not everyone wants to, or can afford to pay $6 for a beer or $10 for a bag of ice.

But you go ahead and act all offended because Jeff Gordon has now won more races that Dale Earnhardt. This may come as a surprise but there are other drivers with more wins than the Intimidator and Jeff might pass them too. Somehow I can't imagine DW or Cale Yarborough fans throwing beer cans when Jeff passes them on the all-time win list.

Even the man's son can't get it through your thick skulls not to do this. It is just racing. Democracy isn't going to fall if the 24 car ends up in Victory Lane. Do any of you recall 2001 when some "fans" threatened Sterling Marlin after we lost Dale Sr. Y'all listened when Dale Jr said it wasn't Sterling's fault and to leave him alone. Listen to him again now and chuck a couple of cans at your own cars if you feel the need. Not all of you are NFL quarterbacks and your throws aren't reaching the track. Most of them are ending up in the stands hitting other people who paid just as much as you did to watch a stock car race and not be hit in the head by a can of beer thrown from above.

NASCAR likes to compare itself to the stick and ball sports. The NHL had to erect netting at the ends of all the arenas after a puck went into the stands, hit a 13 year old girl in the head and killed her. People at baseball games are getting hurt by bats and get away and foul balls. NASCAR even has catchfences around all the tracks to keep car parts from sailing into the stands and hurting you. But you think it's OK to throw things from the stands at the competitors.

Now I want you to name me a single arena or stadium in North America thats hosts NHL, NFL, CFL, MLB or NBA games that allows you to bring your own snacks and drinks inside with you. If this keeps up, ISC and the other track operators will ban people from bringing coolers into the stands and you'll be complaining as you wait in line for a $6 warm draught beer that you won't normally drink because it sponsors a different driver. And it'll be served in a paper cup and they'll stop serving with 1/3 of the race left to run. Next time, it might be you in the first 10 rows getting a 10 stitch gash in the back of your head.

And on top of all that, you are helping to reinforce the stereotype that all NASCAR fans are inbred, slack-jawed, beer swilling yokels. I can say that the majority of people at Talladega today are nothing like that. Nor are the vast majority of NASCAR fans that I have met but you just wait until the video of this makes it was onto all the news channels with headlines like "Rednecks litter track after Gordon win".

Kudos to law enforcement at Talladega who were handcuffing people when they saw something thrown, whether it reached it's intended target or not.

Photer-graphs

I talked in a previous entry about taking the dog for a walk and wishing I had a camera with me. Well, I went down there again, without the dog, because someone else had taken her for a walk. But I did bring my camera with me and will share a few of the photos with you.



The first photo is to show how close to the US border I am, so here is a lovely view of the city of Rochester NY . You may have to squint a little to see the skyline but it really is there. Wave to the nice people.



This photo is the shoreline of Lake Ontario looking to the east.


One side of the trail is Lake Ontario and there is a pond on the other. Here are a couple of canada geese soaking up the rays on a beautiful spring day.




Same pond. More geese out for a swim and a swan in the background looking for lunch.

At the end of the trail is the mouth of a creek flowing into Lake Ontario.


Another view of the shoreline looking towards the west.

Change of plans

I was going to write a blog about NASCAR and debris cautions and Tony Stewart's comments on his Sirius Satellite radio show Tuesday night but that has been beaten to death. Instead, after watching Nextel Cup qualifying today, I would like to offer this comment.

&^&^^%%*&^*%^^%&%&%*&^*^())((&&*%%$^$!!!

What the heck happened to the 21 car? Time wise they should have made the race, especially when you have a car that started on the front row driven by a past winner at the track, but no.... some teams wanted to do race runs in practice and since they are in the Top 35 in owner points a lot of faster cars went home. This just doesn't affect the 21 but also the 55, 83, 22, 84, 09 and 34. All of those cars were one of the 43 fastest in qualifying but they have all loaded up for the long drive back to Charlotte.

I will admit to being a fan of Ken Schrader, a peak at the links on this page should tell you that. But he was fast enough to make this race as were all the drivers listed above. I know that if all the cars were going to qualify the 7 teams that received gifts this week would probably qualify anyway but we don't know that for sure until they get on the track. In the case of the 55 car, it was 0.009 seconds between him making the race and going home. Written as a fraction, that would be 9/1000. Try doing anything in that period of time. In fact, the difference between Paul Menard, who made the race and Schrader, who is going home was a quarter of a second.

I understand why NASCAR changed the provisional rules when they did and why they did it. But times have changed when you have 50 full-time sponsored cars showing up every week and these rules need to be changed too. Maybe make it Top 25 in points, or let the "go or go home" cars all qualify at once. It's been reported Michael Waltrip has to return $300,000 dollars to NAPA everytime he doesn't make a race. So far he is up to $2.4 million dollars. Is the deal the same for the UPS and Domino's/Burger King cars?

Anyway, I'll probably still watch the race but not really pull for anyone to win. I just hope no one is hurt and whoever ends up in Victory Lane is someone who hasn't been there for a while.

Somebody must be reading this

Anyway, in an effort to keep myself motivated to lose more weight, I probably should not be posting this. I lost 1 pound for the week, which again is not very much but at least I keep going in the right direction which is lower. I am also down 3.8 pounds from this date a month ago and 16 pounds overall. Still a long way to go, 149 pounds to be exact but I think I can do it.

An Ode to Spring

Spring has sprung
The grass is riz
I wonder where my BBQ iz?

Ok so that isn't very creative but it is so nice to have temps in double digits and seeing that big, bright yellow ball in the sky. After the colder temperatures and all the rain/snow/sleet we have received in the last 2 weeks I am sure some people wondered if spring would ever arrive?

Since I was blessed with a day off, I took the opportunity to head out for my shed and pulled out my trusty BBQ after a long winter's nap. It started right up on the first try. But what to cook to celebrate the arrival of spring? After rooting through the freezer I chose an inch.. I mean 2.54 cm thick strip loin steak cooked to well done perfection and it was delicious! And I do not like my steaks to moo at me from the plate, thank you very much. For the curious few, I had some oriental rice and followed it up with apple pie a la mode.

Then of course I needed to walk some of those extra calories off so the dog and I went for a stroll along the waterfront trail and down to the mouth of Gage's Creek where we saw some Canada Geese and a beaver in the water. I wish I had brought my camera with me so I could post some photos.

The good news is tomorrow is supposed to be just as nice and I have it off as well, so there may be more barbecueing in my near future. Maybe some burgers this time with fresh tomato slices. Probably not a good idea to be talking about food before bedtime. That is part of the reason why I am trying to lose weight now.

Weekly Weigh-in

I know there may be someone out there, somewhere, who is anxiously awaiting the weekly update on my weight loss goal. This is where the drum roll would play. 0.36 kg is the total for the week. I know it may not sound like much, but it is the lowest number I have been since I have started, and the highest amount of weight loss. And it is better than going up 0.36 kgs for the week. So my total is now 7.27 kg. That would be 0.8 pounds this week and 16 pounds total for those in State College.

Speaking of State College, nice segue eh? Kate Bilo of AccuWeather was an on the scene reporter in Binghamton NY reporting on the nor'easter storm that made it rain a lot here. She did a great job and gets better with every report she does.

Who was right?

I know at least a dozen people are dying to know which weather forecast was correct. Based on the official hourly observations from Environment Canada. The answer is.... NOOOOOOO-BODY, as Blaine Lastman would say in his Bad Boy commercials. Only 3 hours were listed as snow/rain precipatation and I doubt that would have caused any accumulation. Even here, in the centre of the universe, we had no snow on the ground during or after the storm. The only problem I saw, or didn't see, was the HD coverage of the first night of the NHL playoffs that was knocked out by the bad weather. To be fair, the folks in Warkworth and Roseneath had snow, apparently so did Trenton and Belleville. But since we were talking about Toronto, they all scored a big fat goose egg.

Now there is another storm possibly headed our way. an April Nor'easter that could cause major damage. So keep your heads down in the areas that are predicted to get over 30 cm of snow.
My weightloss buddy, Kate Bilo is on her way to a unnamed secret location to report on the storm for accuweather.com so I send her and her camera "crew" traveling mercies for safety on their travels as well as any one else who has to be on the road. And for those of you who don't have to be on the road this weekend, STAY HOME!!!

So who's right - part deux

It is now Wednesday morning and it looks like Environment Canada and TWN have traded forecasts for Toronto.

TWN is now saying rain or snow today, up to 10 cm of accumulation changing over to just rain Wednesday overnight.

Environment Canada is now saying Toronto will basically get just rain with some wet snow mixed in.

680News, I haven't listened to today and can't get their online audio stream to work.

AccuWeather, no update from Brett Anderson

TWC is calling for light rain and snow this afternoon, periods of rain and snow tonight changing to rain overnight. Rain with some snow mixing in for tomorrow afternoon. Again no accumulation totals.

So who's right?

We apparently have ticked off Mother Nature so she is sending us some more winter weather this week and we also have a variety of guesses as to what will happen over the next 36 hours.

Since I was working today I was listening to 680 News for their traffic updates and since they do "traffic and weather, together on the ones" and they have their own staff of meteorologists. I heard Harold Hosein say that Toronto could get 10 cm of wet snow that won't accumulate Wednesday night and possibly another 10 cm on Thursday.

The publicly funded Environment Canada, which issues the forecasts that most radio/TV stations use is saying for Wednesday evening in Toronto, periods of wet snow mixed with rain. Snowfall amount possibly reaching 4 cm. Periods of snow for Thursday with no predictions for amounts.

The privately owned TWN (The Weather Network) which uses the same raw data that the publicly funded Environment Canada is calling for1-3 cm of snow in Toronto along with 2-4 mm of rain in the next 24 hours.

And finally, Brett Anderson who is the Canadian weather expert at AccuWeather is saying Toronto will get 4-8cm of wet snow mainly on grass and secondary roads.

And just for fun, here is the Toronto forecast from the American weather channel. Cloudy early with periods of light rain and snow later in the day. Wed night: Cloudy with rain and snow. Thursday: Rain. No accumulation amounts mentioned.

Since I am not working on Wednesday it will be interesting to see who is the closest to being correct.

Potpourri

Well I guess I'll combine a couple of different topics into one blog.

First off, since I am in a weight loss "challenge" with Kate Bilo (you can find a link to her blog over there --->) and she is in Weight Watchers and weighs in every Tuesday I will stick to that schedule as well. I put challenge in quotes because she doesn't respond to any of my taunts and where is the fun in that? Without further ado, the total is down 1 kilogram for the week and a total of 6.91 kgs since I have started.

Second topic is the NHL playoffs. In my last post I noted that God's team, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn't qualify to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup and have already cleaned out their stalls and headed for the golf course. That leaves me with the question of do I continue to watch with interest or just ignore the goings on? I think I will pay attention and cheer for a Calgary/Buffalo final, which I am sure will annoy the New York suits to no end.

And speaking of New York suits, I see an article in today's Globe and Mail that Gary "Baby" Bettman has ticked off the folks at CBC. It seems thanks to the NHL playoff schedule there will be NO Canadian teams playing on Saturday night. The Ottawa Senators are scheduled to play that day but at 3 in the afternoon to accomodate NBC which pays exactly ZERO dollars for television rights as opposed to the $65 million cheque the CBC writes. I guess in this case, those with the gold do not make the rules. Keep alienating the Canadian fans who built this sport and soon there will be no fans left, except for a handful in Buffalo and Pittsburgh.

Oh and for those taking some sort of perverted glee in the fact the Leafs missed the playoffs, I will point out that both of last years Stanley Cup finalists (Carolina and Edmonton), the Montreal Canadiens, Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche are also sitting at home.

Oh and I found my remote and clock has finally been changed.

Headed for the golf course...

are the Toronto Maple Leafs. After missing several chances to take care of business themselves, they had to wait for the New Jersey Devils to help them sneak in the back door of the playoffs. And as might be expected, that help was not to arrive. I give the Devils full marks for making a game of it and sending the game to a shootout. But the Leafs played the same Islanders last week and lost the game that might have eliminated the Islanders before today. And then there was the game in Buffalo where they blew a 4-1 lead in the third period. And to add to the list, there was Toronto's woeful record in shootouts. Ah well, there is nothing that can be done about it now and it is time to either enjoy the playoffs or move on to other things.

Happy Easter.

Go Devils Go!

I hate that the Maple Leafs didn't take advantage of their opportunities in the last couple of weeks to make the playoffs on their own. They caused countless cases of heartburn and ulcers with their performance tonight yet somehow managed to blow a 3-1 lead and then overcome a 5-3 deficit to win 6-5. Now they have to hope that the New Jersey Devils win on Sunday afternoon against the New York Islanders. It must be a helpless feeling knowing your playoff fate is being decided by 40 other men who are about 1200 kilometres away from you. For the next 24 hours, I am a fan of the New Jersey Devils. I hope Lou Lamierello starts his best lineup especially Martin Brodeur in net.

Until then I am going to enjoy the last installment of the 2006-2007 Battle of Alberta.

Welcome back!

Yes I changed the URL slightly to reflect my screen name on the few hundred message boards I post on. Not that I expect anyone to be reading this. I have told basically, no one that I am doing this.

After one month

As you can tell from my posts so far, part of the reason for this blog is to track my success, or lack thereof, in losing weight. Today is one month since I purchased a scale and saw that hideous number for the first time. I am here to report that I am now 14.6 pounds smaller than I was on March 5, 2007 not that you can tell from looking at me. Although other people claim to notice a difference. Only 150 or so pounds until I reach my ultimate goal. I also see that the smart and gifted Kate Bilo has now reached 4.6 pounds for which she deserves a round of applause.

P minus 5 days

That means there are 5 days left in the NHL regular season and 5 teams left to compete for the last 3 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. Since my last update, the defending Stanley Cup champions have been eliminated from the playoffs so they will not be able to defend their championship.

In a quick side note, the team they defeated, the Edmonton Oilers are sliding quickly into oblivion. Not that they are getting blown out every night but the team has been demoralized by the trade of Ryan Smyth. If they lose their last 2 games and St. Louis and Phoenix win all of theirs, the Oilers will have gone from competing for a playoff spot at the trade deadline to finishing last in the conference.

Here are the standings before the games tonight on Wed April 4.

Tampa Bay 92 pts, 80 GP
NY Rangers 92 pts, 80 GP
Montreal 90 pts, 80 GP
Toronto 89 pts, 80 GP
NY Islanders 86 pts, 79 GP

It'll still take a lot of help for the Islanders but they still have a chance with an extra game to play. Thursday through Sunday will be very interesting when all 5 teams will decide whether they make the playoffs or not.

Where the heck is my remote???

I have no idea where the remote for my VCR/DVD recorder is. Not that I have any specific movie I want to watch or record but I haven't been able to change the clock since we sprung forward by an hour and it's usually the first clock I see when I wake up AND IT IS DRIVING ME NUTS!!!

A little knowledge is not always a good thing

This is take three trying to write this blog. The first time I was too tired to start it and just now all my words just up and disappeared. So maybe I should hit the "save as draft" button after every paragraph?

I guess I will start from the beginning, again. I was supposed to have my semi-annual dentist appointment just before Christmas but I was ill so it was rescheduled for the middle of February. Everything proceeded as normal until the hygenist says "You might have a (something that sounded like) taurus. I'll get the dentist to check after I am finished." And he did and said that he can't tell what it is and he wants me to see an oral surgeon. Oh joy. Stuff like that is why I avoided dentists for 15-some years. That and they aren't covered by OHIP.

The appointment is set up for the end of February and I am given a piece of paper that tells this surgeon what to check for. After a few days, I look at the paper and it has the cryptic phrase "sub-mandibular gland". WTF is that? Being the smart fellow I am, I type that phrase into various search engines and every single link has the word CANCER in it. Wonderful. Not only am I overweight but now I might have cancer.

The day of the appointment finally arrives and I get to the office early. After sitting in the waiting room for half-an-hour, I am led to an examination room where I wait for another half-an-hour. Finally, the doctor arrives and asks me a few questions and says he needs some x-rays. The first couple were done there in the room with the 800 pound lead vest thingy, then a lovely young lady led me to a dark, closet sized room to deal with a machine not designed for a person who is 191 cm tall. After turning me into a human pretzel, we got the x-rays taken.

After another wait for the x-rays to be developed, he asks me about the symptoms I am having to which I reply "I have no idea what symptoms I am supposed to be having as I don't spend a lot of time exploring the bottom of my mouth." He then goes on to tell me that he can't locate any major problems other than the area is "not normal" and he'll refer me to an ear, nose and throat specialist just to be on the safe side.

Needless to say, that lifted a huge burden off my shoulders and I found out that sometimes a little knowledge is not a good thing.