Valentines

Yeah, that was weeks ago, but I'd like to point out that Austin, my favorite kid, went and bought on his own, with his own money, valentine-creating supplies and whipped up some valentines for us. When I was his age I'm pretty sure I didn't give it a thought until maybe the night before and it certainly never occurred to be to go out and get stuff to make my own. He is one cool kid. Here's some of the stuff I got.

Still here!

OK, the folks are gone so no excuse for eating non-stop. Managed to only gain back a couple of pounds while they were here. Back on the wagon. Sigh.

Urban Life

The Filipino neighbors - Alex's family - are playing mahjong on their back patio tonight. We joke about them sounding like a bunch of chickens, but really it's a nice kind of sound: exuberant, and perhaps mildly intoxicated. The cook - as we call him - is back again from one of the several-month stints he does on Alaskan fishing boats. Alex lives there with his girlfriend, her parents, and their one year old son Noah. And sometimes the cook. It's an eclectic neighborhood we live in but we know all our neighbors and there really aren't any bad apples. Music from the community center gets a little loud some Saturday nights, and the herd of drunken bikers firing up their choppers when the Queen of Hearts closes can be enervating. Hope, the 92 year old spitfire across the street is out working in her yard most days and likes to chat. Hmmm... I just looked up "spitfire" and the definition is more negative than I intended. She's actually quite nice, just shockingly active and sharp for her age. That's what I meant. Terri, across the other street, asked us what color we'd like her to paint her house since we'd be the ones looking at it. Funny. We seem to run into our friends from the cafe all the time. I almost ran over Nick the other day when he suddenly appeared from a side-street on his skateboard. He was too busy smoking and jamming out to some tunes on his comically huge headphones to notice. He and Sarah have a daughter, Coco, who is Austin's age. Nick still thinks he's 19. Toshi and her sons Cameron and Devin moved in with her parents John and Sylvia (behind us) a while back. I could go on and on, but this is starting to sound like the news from Lake Wobegon. Mostly I'm just rambling in a more or less continuous stream of consciousness as we contemplate maybe moving downtown to the Pearl in a year or two. That would certainly be a higher class neighborhood, and with a pretty great high school for Austin. But then, we know everybody here. This is the first time in my life that I've really felt comfortable with my surroundings. I think we all do. Hmmm...

The House Burned Down Today

Not really. Just checking to see if anyone's actually reading this. Hellooooooooooo???

Oh yeah, 193 lbs. today. Like watching a glacier melt.

The Drinking Man's Diet

Anyone ever heard of the Drinking Man's Diet? Looks good to me. Basically Atkin's with cocktails. While Googling how many carbs are in an olive (about 0.5 for green olives, practically 0 for black) I kept getting listings for calories/carbs in various Olive Garden dishes. Um, if you're trying to lose weight, don't eat at Olive Garden. Duh. 193.4 lbs. today.

Visual Aid

194.2 lbs this morning. I guess as long as there's measurable daily progress I can live with it. My face is noticeably less chipmunky and my jeans fall off without a belt now. Less than 30 lbs to go.

Food Poisoning

Lost a couple of pounds rather suddenly last night/this morning due to some bad ham. Not recommended.