Page 51 - The Bug

With the warm weather over the weekend, and the wandering we did because of it, I've got the travel/get out of town bug again.  I've always loved road tripping and exploring new cities and towns.  I would love to just drive from town to town, stopping wherever and whenever I felt like it for the night/day/whatever.  Unfortunately, that type of life was never realistic.  I've lived and worked in the same metro area my whole life.  With a few vacations and long weekends here or there, I've been able to travel through and see a lot of the states in the U.S.  I've been to 35 states, 36 if you count changing planes in Denver, CO on a couple different trips, and I'm always itching for more.  LM and I have a scratch off map of the U.S. for all the states we've visited together.  We haven't scratched off 35 states yet, but we are working on it....and well on our way to 50.  Hopefully, we'll get at least a couple more to scratch off on our next trip.
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Right now that next trip is making this bug a lot worse.  We haven't locked in on a specific destination(s) as of yet.  So it's something I am really looking forward to....but it's hard to not be able to plan anything regarding the trip just yet.  Normally at this point in February I would probably just be wishing for a warm weather destination, but with this burst of warm weather....I'm not getting that feeling that Spring is right around the corner, and our trips always start in late Spring.

Page 50 - Chelsea

Both LM and I have been all around Chelsea many times....but never went into the city to check it out.  While the above photo is pretty old, I can definitely point out exactly where it was taken from....and the town doesn't look like it's changed all that much.  The road is now paved, thankfully, but the buildings look the same and the clock tower looks almost identical.  We stopped in to have lunch at Cleary's Pub, and both of us really liked the food.  The service was absolutely fantastic, and we left one of the bigger tips (percentage wise) we've left for a meal in a long, long time.  Our server didn't have many other customers, but I don't think we could have gotten better service if we were the only ones in the place.  I would go there again, without hesitation.
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The downtown area was pretty small, and very walkable.  Even though we walked a bit around Plymouth before heading out to Chelsea, and walked around all of downtown Chelsea, neither one of us came close to our Fitbit step goal.  Thanks to the 60 degree plus weather, the streets seemed really vibrant around the city and gave it a little extra charm....to me, anyway.  It kind of reminded me of hanging out up north for the summer when I was a kid and we would go "into town".  Another cool thing about visiting Chelsea was finding out that it is the hometown of Jiffy mixes.  When I looked online at the recommendations for things to do in Chelsea, touring the Jiffy plant was one of the first things I noticed.  I always new it was a local company, but never realized it was in Chelsea.

Page 49 - Visiting the Capitol

Seeing as neither LM or I had ever been to the Capitol, we decided to take a trek out to Lansing and check it out.  The weather was better than expected, and we decided to walk around the surrounding area before going in to tour the Capitol.  After checking with Mr. Google on places to eat lunch, we headed over to Kewpee Sandwich Shop to fill our bellies.  The place was nearly full, but we still got a booth as soon as we walked in.  The fact that everyone came in at the same time just before us, though, slowed down our service a bit....but we had absolutely no problem with that.  Our waitress was fantastic, and we found out in talk to her that she used to live only a few miles from us.  The food was ok.  Pretty standard fries and onion rings, my club was pretty good (really good turkey, good bacon, average ham) but I would have chosen a different bread than the standard Texas Toast if I were going to have it again.

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Aside from the Capitol, we walked around Lansing Community College, as well as the "Old Town" area,  We stopped into Pruess Pets, which is a really cool pet store that we never knew was there.  The only drawback was the Girl Scouts that set up shop right at the entrance of the pet store.  Thankfully they were too busy to bully me into buying some Thin Mints as we entered or exited.

Page 48 - Looking Ahead

This weekend should be another unseasonably warm one.  We will be close to, if not above, the record high tomorrow.  On another Friday where I need something to look forward to, this really helps.  Enjoying the weather is one thing, but getting the feeling that Spring is just around the corner (in the middle of February) really helps combat the winter blues.  We've got no plans for the nice weather as of yet, but even if we just sit outside for a while when we'd normally be sitting inside each day....that will make it a nice weekend.

Page 47 - Miller's

So thankfully, my "Bro..." was able to swing by yesterday while I was selling the jukebox to the guys who came by to look at it.  I was very happy to hear that they want to fix it up and give it life again.  He seemed very happy with what he was getting for the price, so I figure that it was a great transaction on both sides.  We got more than the least that Uncle Dwaine would have taken for it, we didn't have to move the heavy old thing, and the guy is a collector who will probably get it running again and enjoy it for years to come.
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After they were gone, Bro suggested we head to Miller's to have a burger and hang out for a bit.  We talked a lot about a wide range of things and he ate more than I did....which I don't think anyone would have bet on, lol.  It was nice to be able to just chill and hang out with him again.  It seems like forever since we've had a chance to do that.

Page 46 - Juke Joint Jezebel

This afternoon I'll be taking a detour on my way home to (hopefully) sell my Uncle's Juke Box to some random guy my mom found on Facebook.  It sounds like this guy is serious about buying it, and it would be nice to get it out of the basement and out of my mom's hair.  If it happens, it'll definitely be worth the short detour I'll be taking.

Page 45 - Valentine

Look at that....another national holiday, less than a week from the last.  Again, far be it for me to not celebrate a holiday.  While I'm rarely a fan of holidays that pressure you into buying things you don't need, just to keep the bottom line of the companies pushing that holiday healthy....I don't think Valentine's Day really fits into that category for me.  Most of us have busy lives.  Rarely do we take time to show the loved ones in our lives that we appreciate them.  Ideally, we would do that on random days throughout the year for no reason at all.  I try to do that, but am not always all that great at it.  Today is one of those days that kind of forces me to do that, though.

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And I'm not saying that in a bitter way, but more out of appreciation.  I don't have to buy anything to show that I care.  And if I do, I can do so mindfully.  It's rarely the object that carries any meaning or value, it's the action.  The experience.  In the end, that's all life really is.  A collection of experiences.  I could give LM dozens of gifts and spend hundreds of dollars in the process.  I could also spend zero dollars, and do something for her.  Both would be very memorable. 

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In the end, one mindful gift is all that I gave.  I know LM loves fresh flowers, so it was a perfect day to bring flowers into the house again.  Although that was easier said than done..  It took me three cycles of the traffic light for people in traffic to allow me to turn into the florist, and when I finally got into the parking lot....the dude that pulled in behind me and parked further from the shop ran past me as I was approaching the door, just to make sure to get in before me.  The guy thought he was pretty slick too when the woman helping him told him that he got the last dozen red roses left in the shop....but when she cam back, she let him know she was mistaken and that he had to change his order, because they were out.  It was even better when I picked up my waiting order, gave him a smug look, and walked out before he got anything....while he watched the Doctor who had bought all the roses he wanted, walk out the door with them right in front of me.

Page 44 - Back to the Dead

Yesterday was the first Sunday without any NFL football since September, more than 5 months ago.  It's amazing how quick the season is over, once it finally starts.  That being said, the season ended with a fantastic Super Bowl and we have the Walking Dead back now to fill a little bit of the gap left by the absence of football.  While this mid-season premiere wasn't anything special, it's setting up for bigger and better things down the road.  In a few weeks, things should get really interesting in the show.

Page 43 - Wander Weather

Yesterday was seasonably warm, so LM and I got a little antsy and wanted out of the house.  While we wouldn't have been the only ones on a bike yesterday, I am not ready to pull the X out of the garage just yet.  There's still plenty of salt on the roads, and while it's warm for February....it ain't exactly warm just yet.
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So we ended up aimlessly driving in a general SW direction.  After finding some interesting areas that neither of us had ever been in, we made our way into Tecumseh and walked around there a bit.  We had lunch and also found a really cool hobby store that I think would be a good place to help find a nice home for Uncle Dwaine's train set.

Page 42 - The I in Detroit

It's really tough to put into words how much Mike Ilitch meant to the city of Detroit.  Although he was nearly 90 years old, and it was pretty apparent that he was nearing the end, it was still somewhat of a shock when we heard yesterday that he had died.  He brought us multiple Stanley Cups over the years, but never got that World Series win that everyone knows he wanted so much.  He never stopped trying though.  There weren't many years after he bought the team that the Tigers weren't playoff contenders.  I'd love to see it happen soon, but if it does....it'll be bittersweet without him.

Page 41 - TGIF

It's been a really long week.  It's rather normal to look forward to Fridays when you have a 9-5 job....but this week was particularly long for so many reasons.  5pm can't get here soon enough and I think, looking at the picture above, that having a root beer or two tonight would be an excellent idea.

Page 40 - National Pizza Day

So I wasn't planning on having Primo's again so soon after the Super Bowl....but I also had no idea that today was National Pizza Day.  It's not like I am complaining, I just wasn't expecting to eat it again that soon....but who am I to go against a national holiday???

Page 39 - Santa Clarita

LM and I found a new show on Netflix to watch.  I had heard something about it in passing, I believe it was while we watched an award show recently, then saw it on Netflix and looked into it a little bit before trying it out.  My wife loves Drew Berrymore, and we both watch things about the undead, so it seemed a decent chance that we'd like it....and we did.  It was a little outrageous, and at times super funny.  No matter what, though, it was always entertaining.  Episodes are only 30 minutes long, so it's not a huge commitment.  We binged all 10 of the episodes from season one in a couple of nights, and will definitely check out the second season whenever that comes out.

Page 38 - Misguided

Sometimes it seems like I'm surrounded by people that want to add to the confusion and prolong the race, rather than getting to the finish line.  I understand having reasonable concerns, but going to the extreme about everything....le sigh.

Page 37 - The Aftermath

Staying up late, while eating a lot of bad food and drinking a lot of calorie dense soda is probably not the best way to prepare for the busiest day of your work week.  Then again, the Super Bowl only happens once a year....and this year it was a fantastic game.  It's really hard to argue against Tom Brady being the best QB to ever play in the NFL after last night's game, and at 39 years old he looks to be playing as good as ever.

Page 36 - The Storm

There was a lot to get done today for the party, mostly done by LM, but it wasn't too hectic.  Even with changing the start time of the party to 30 minutes earlier, only two hours ahead of time as noted by one of the attendees, we got it all done before anyone showed up.  We did very well too.  With 12 people and a dog coming over, we had almost the exact right amount of pizza.  Only five pieces were left at the end, and I ate probably about 3 or 4 pieces less than I normally would have....partly because of our prop pool.
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I thought it would be cool to have everyone pick a few props off a sheet, and see how well we'd do. However, that meant that someone had to keep track of the correct answers during the game....and that got in the way of at least one refill run to the kitchen.  In the end it was a huge success, even with the printer problems I had right before the party, and LM was the winner....getting 20 of the 30 props correct.  I still can't believe that Peyton Manning wasn't in a single Super Bowl commercial.

Page 35 - The Calm

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl, and our annual party.  Today is a day of rest for the most part, but we'll do a little bit here and there to make the preparations tomorrow a little bit easier.  It's a grilled cheese and milkshake kind of day.  Thankfully that came before the heating element went out in the electric fireplace....and even more thankful was the fact that we were awake and aware of the wire failure in the heater.

Page 34 - Responsibility

Some responsibilities are welcome, others are not.  Lately I've been presented with more of the former.  While in the long run, I know I will organize things in a way that it will barely be noticeable....in the short term, however, this could get a little overwhelming.  Although, if being overwhelmed means I get to sleep in an extra hour or so....I think I can handle that.

Page 33 - Groundhog Day

Page 32 - Deadlines

I'm usually pretty good at hitting, or beating deadlines.  I plan too much to not be, really.  But every now and again, I have to count on someone else to make my deadline.  Those days aren't all that fun.

Page 31 - A Full Chapter?

Going 31-31 with blog posts because of this whole "page a day" thing got me to thinking.  Now that I've made it through the first month, does that equal the first full chapter?  That seems like too short of a time frame.  That would mean I'm into my 483rd chapter of my life so far....and that seems a bit much.  So would a year be a full chapter?  That seems more likely, but then why would I do a calendar year for each chapter....and not a birthday to birthday year?  I guess I never really thought this out.
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I guess it doesn't really matter.  Years, months, chapters....all user defined to one extent or another.  I could think of it one way today, only to think of it in a complete different way tomorrow, then another way the next day.
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I never expected to use this picture in a blog post.  It was the second or third search result when I Googled today's title, and I am a huge fan of Klosterman's writing.  I bought this book, read it, then passed it on to a friend to read....like I do with all his books.  When I first saw it in the search results, I didn't really consider using it.  I thought it was cool that it popped up, just not something I would normally use.  After scrolling through the results though, I started to think that it was rather fitting considering this is the most I've blogged since I first started, more than a decade ago.  Much of my inspiration came from other bloggers at that time, especially poker bloggers, and especially, especially Pauly....who is the first one to turn me on to Klosterman.

Page 30 - The Stiffness Returns

Not a great night of sleep last night.  I woke up yesterday morning to find the stiffness I had in my neck and shoulder a week or so back had somewhat returned.  When I tried to sleep in bed last night, I laid there for about 90 minutes without ever finding a comfortable spot, then moved to the couch to see how that would work for me.  I was able to get a little sleep at least, but I've been tired all day.  At least work kept me awake the whole time I was at the 9 to 5, but I got super sleepy as soon as I got home.  And, as it looks as I type this....I should probably plan for another night on the couch.

Page 29 - It's No Pizza Day!

Thankfully nobody stole my pizza today....I just didn't have any.  That's the first Sunday in quite a while that I haven't.  This should aid in my progress for the week.  I'l still progressing, but still behind my pace weight.  It's possible that I'll catch my pace weight in the next six days.  If I stay on track, I should come pretty close by my next weigh in.  I'm still confident about my progress, though I would prefer to be slowly increasing my lead over the pace instead of creeping up behind it.

The SAG Awards were tonight.  It's always cool to see who gets the awards when the people in the guild are the ones voting.  The speeches were definitely interesting, considering the Muslim ban Trump just put into effect....and it was really interesting breaking down Brie Larson's reaction when she didn't have to give Casey Affleck another award.  At first I thought she was bitter against Denzel, but it was obvious after comparing pictures from the Golden Globes that she was actually relieved.

Page 28 - The Ban

"On Friday, Trump signed an order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days and suspending all refugee admission for 120 days."

We're less than 10 days into Trump's reign, and it seems to get more ridiculous by the day.  It's still hard to believe that my country has been turned into a reality TV show.  I used to find reality TV entertaining, and in some instances I still do....but this is just sad.  At least the 'elected on name only' leader to the north gets it.

Page 27 - The Not-So-Great indoors

So my nap the other day cost me a proper dinner.  I slept too long.  I had no plan other than sleep when I slinked up the stairs and climbed into bed, so I didn't set an alarm or give LM a time to come wake me.  Because of that, LM had no idea when I'd be up and ready to eat dinner and, little did I know, she had something special planned for me for dinner.  Thankfully I didn't need a nap after work yesterday, and when dinner time rolled around I was treated to the sound and smell of grilled onions as well as the smell of the seasoning for her wonderful steak fajitas.  When I heard yesterday that I had missed out on a special dinner, I was hopeful that it was fajitas she was referring to.
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Aside from a fantastic dinner, there wasn't much from yesterday to talk about....and not much I can think of looking ahead today.  It will be nice not worrying about what time to head to bed tonight, and not getting up early tomorrow, but the weather has gone back to winter norms after a week or so of unseasonably warm temps.  For the next couple of weeks, the temp is expected to be at or above 35 degrees only once....so it seems pretty doubtful that we'll get to spend much time out of doors.
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Spending most of my time indoors at this time of the year makes it easy to get into a winter time funk.  I'm going to have to do some brainstorming to come up with things here or there to keep myself and LM from succumbing to the blues.  Having a set  destination for our June trip, which we don't as of yet, should help with that.  If it's someplace like Yellowstone, where we will be doing a LOT of hiking, I'll have a much bigger incentive to hit the gym every day just to get a few miles in on the treadmill.  There is a TON of stuff in Yellowstone that I want to see, and I am not going to let my current fitness level get in the way.

Page 26 - Uncluttering

After thinking about all my mental clutter yesterday, I've also had to consider the physical clutter I have in my life.  Just like I've always been a night owl, I've always been somewhat of a minimalist.  I've never been extreme with it, but I've gotten more and more mindful with what I willingly bring into my life through the years.  Even so, I still have plenty of physical clutter I can part with and just haven't done so yet.  This is where my procrastination ends up completely clashing with my minimalistic tendencies.  I probably have a few hundred things in the house that I don't want to keep per se, but I don't ever get motivated to get rid of either.
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In the last couple years, I've taken interest in the Tiny House movement and those who are looking to live that way.  It's an extreme form of minimalism, but I truly believe that I could do something like that in the right area and situation.  The problem is, since I'm not doing that anytime soon....I have no motivation to get rid of the stuff I have at this point in time that isn't getting in the way of anything for me or anyone else.
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Slowly but surely I have been taking some mental notes of things of mine in the house that have no real value to me, and most likely won't anytime in the future.  I've also been thinking of how to get rid of each of these items whether it's just tossing them out, donating them, or selling them.  Most of the stuff wouldn't have value to anyone else, so I'm afraid it's going to end up in the garbage.  No matter what, though, getting rid of any of it would be a good start.  I just need to motivate myself to do it sometime this weekend.

Page 25 - Clutter

Clutter isn't only physical.  Mental and emotional clutter can be just as bad....or even worse.  Right now, the mental clutter I have to deal with just seems like too much.  I have too much on my mental plate.  Maybe I need a mental diet to go along with my physical diet.  By the time I left the 9 to 5 today, my brain was fried.  Thankfully, it was an uneventful drive home.

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When I got home, I was pretty much useless.  Nearly fell asleep within 20 minutes of walking in the door and decided it wasn't going to be worth it to fight that off....so I took a nap.  Years ago, I used to make after work napping a habit.  Usually three days a week or more I would nap for an hour or two after I got home.  But at that time, I was starting work at 5:30 in the morning and leaving at 1:30 in the early afternoon.  I lived a lot closer to work at that time, so I was normally able to get home and into bed by about 2:00.  Even if I slept more than 2 hours, I was still getting up from my name before most people were home from work.  I've always been a night owl, so it's hard going to bed early enough for a 5:30am shift (especially since I cannot stand going to work without showering in the morning) and this was a way to work around that problem.

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That being said, I do go to bed early enough nowadays to get sufficient sleep for my current hours, so napping is no longer a habit I should need to consider.  Hopefully this is just a one time or here-or-there type thing.  Seeing as I've had a lot of mental clutter over the last month, it's no surprise that I'm so worn out right now.  I just need to find a way to organize this clutter, and dispose of however much of it that I can.

Page 24 - #AlternateMonday

Sometimes Tuesday just feels like a second Monday.  And since it's not actually Monday, but it seems like that....I guess calling it Alternate Monday is completely fine.  Just like a fact that isn't actually a fact, but seems like it is to someone is considered an alternate fact.  I wonder how long it's going to take for #AlternateFacts to fade away.  It's only been a couple days since it was uttered on meet the press, and it already seems like it's been in our lexicon for months now.  Maybe that is just another side effect of the 24 hour news cycle....maybe it's because I am just paying a lot more attention to what is going on politically right now.  Either way, it was ridiculous and I really hope this weekend doesn't set the tone for how this administration is going to work with the media for the next 4 years.
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While I stayed true to the diet during the day yesterday, I did have a rich dessert after dinner that was anything but smart.  I guess because of the timing I could consider it another late night snack, which I really need to avoid to lose all the weight I want, but I'm sure there were a lot more calories in the brownie/ice cream combo I had than there would have been in either of my pretzel snacks that I normally have at that time.  That all being said, I still posted a small loss this morning over yesterday.  I lost .4 lbs. between yesterday and today, and have lost 3.8 total since I started.  I'm about 3 lbs. behind my where I should be according to my stated pace for my goal.  That doesn't sound all that bad, three pounds isn't all that much at all....but that's nearly 50% behind already.  I just can't let myself be ok with it right now.  If I get that close to my goal by the end of the year, I will feel a lot different about three pounds.  If I get a little more than 50% of my goal by the end of the year....I won't be as enthusiastic.
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And yes, my uncle dying was so much harder on me that I could have expected....but I have no excuses for not being on this very obtainable pace.  There's a week left in January, and a couple days into that I'll have my 5th official weigh in of the year.  My pace weight for that weigh in is 10 lbs. lost.  I need to keep on the straight and narrow as much as possible to get there.  Hopefully reminding myself daily, damn near hourly really, that I need to make the best choices for my health will continue to work.  If not, I'll be completely honest with myself and find another way to get it done.

Page 23 - Monday, Yet Again

With only two days off per weekend again, I'm finding it really tough to get motivated for Mondays.  It's hard to complain about it, because I actually get to have weekends off now, but with Monday being my busiest day by far....it kinda sucks to drag myself into the 9 to 5 and start the week.  The flip side is that because I am pretty much busy from start to finish, Monday usually passes by pretty quickly....and the rest of the week seems a little shorter by comparison.  At least that's how it seems to me lately.

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I've gotten back to my planned diet now that things have calmed down a little bit in my life, so being busy at the 9 to 5 was very welcome today, and I didn't really notice any hunger issues.  It wasn't easy staying away from cola today, as a matter of fact I broke down and had about 12 ounces with dinner tonight, but considering I had a LOT of cola over the weekend....I'm rather happy with only having that much.

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I'm sure that will continue to be my biggest issue for me as I lose weight.  There are so many things that I drink cola with, and have a hard time changing that.  To me, it really adds flavor to my meals.  I know it's pretty much just sugar water and does nothing but terrible things to human health....but something that make food better is always going to be hard for me to quit, considering how much I like food.

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LM and I watched Zoolander 2 after dinner tonight.  It wasn't a great movie by any stretch, but there were definitely a few hearty laughs for us so it was worth watching.  Just glad I never paid to see it.

Page 22 - Patriots -3?

After starting off the afternoon celebrating my great-nephew's 4th birthday, we went home to watch the Conference Championship games.  Usually this is the best weekend of the season, with the top 4 teams fighting it out for a Super Bowl berth, but it was somewhat anticlimactic this year.  Anticlimactic might not be great for your viewing pleasure, but it can be very good for handicapping....which it was this weekend.  Both games ended as expected in terms of totals and sides, so that made up for the fact that the games weren't fantastic to watch.
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Since the Patriots always seem to win the Super Bowl by three points, as soon as it was apparent that they would be going to Houston this year I immediately guessed the line would be three.  By the time the game ended, I saw that they were indeed favored by three....with reduced juice.  At this point, even thought I love Tommy, I'm leaning toward Atlanta.  I don't recall the O/U I saw last night, but it seemed a little high to me....so I will have to keep an eye on that as well.

Page 21 - The Hat

These things were everywhere today.  Literally all over the world.  As the White House was telling the press what they should be reporting on, what they shouldn't, and openly reprimanding them for not reporting everything exactly the way the administration wanted to see it, there were hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people, definitely more than attended the inauguration, openly and peacefully protesting/marching for women's rights.
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I'll never try to understand how this President's thought process works, but I can't see why anyone would think that it would be a good idea to send the Press Secretary out for his very first presser and making him pretty much yell at the media for reporting something accurate, just because it's something you don't like.  Maybe don't stand on hallowed ground like the CIA Memorial Wall, completely ignoring the significance of the stars visible behind you, lying about how HUGE your inaugural crowd was.
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Maybe it was all an attempt to take the focus off of the marches/protests, but it was all in very poor taste....and telling the media what they should and shouldn't cover comes off as somewhat fascist.

Page 20 - High Noon

Page 19 - One Kilogram

So this is a little embarrassing.  I know I'm tired and unfocused lately, but I should be able to do very simple math at any time, under any circumstances.  When I weighed in this morning, I saw that I was still well above my pace weight and that I was going to have to lose 2.2 lbs. (or one kilogram) by Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, I was giving myself too much credit and I will actually need to lose 3.2 lbs. by Saturday morning to stay on pace for my goal.  I don't know how I miscalculated the weight, but I immediately thought it would be a good title for this post and never looked back.
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So while I thought it would be no problem to lose the kilo between now and Saturday, now I'm thinking I might end up falling a little short.  I know I can trim a couple pounds by avoiding salt the next couple of days, since my diet the last few days has been full of sodium, but any more than that might be pushing it.  I knew this week was going to be a rough one on my diet, so while I'll be disappointed if I don't make my pace weight, it also won't be devastating.  With just a little bit of work and eating better, I should be able to get ahead of my pace weight in the next couple weeks as I had hoped.
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My cousin will be flying back to Florida this afternoon, and my mother and aunt will drive back in a few days, then things will be back to "normal" around here for me.

Page 18 - Slow to Recover

I've always been rather quick to recover from pretty much anything physically or emotionally.  My wife and I actually joke about me being Wolverine because of how quickly I heal.  Right now, however, I'm struggling with this a bit.  It's been a week now since I got the news of my uncle dying, and subsequently going to his house to handle everything with the police and funeral home in terms of his body.  Thankfully the police department is still like my extended family in some ways, and the officers on scene made everything as easy as possible for me considering the circumstances.  Since then, I have been in kind of a haze or fog.  I've dealt with things like this one, maybe two days at a time....but never a full week.

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On top of my emotional recovery, I have a lingering muscle pull in my neck that is making it even harder to sleep.  I tweaked the muscle on Saturday, and it was just a slight pain here or there when I turned certain ways....until Saturday night.  I toss and turn a lot when I sleep, and it was no different that night.  About 3am I turned over as I normally would and felt the muscle "pop" and with it came a whole lot of pain.  Since then, it's gotten a little better each day, but should be completely gone by now.  At least today is a pretty good day with that, and should be the first day this week I don't need any Motrin to dull the pain.

Page 17 - The 5 Month Realization

My head has been spinning for the last week, and it's been hard to focus much on the future.  Today I realized that LM and I are almost exactly 5 months away from our anniversary trip.  True to form, we haven't nailed down anything solid yet in terms of destination or travel plans....but our trips always include plenty of outdoor activity, and at least one US National Park.  One thing they have not included, but I've been wanting to add since our first trip, was another travel companion.  Ever since I helped out a friend by taking pictures in Detroit with Flat Stan, I thought it was a cool idea to bring an inanimate friend along for the ride and some picture taking.  When I first saw the above image in my Google results, I thought it was providence....until I saw the price.  It's a really cool concept and all, but not with a triple-digit price tag.

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Maybe once we narrow down our destinations for this year I will have a better idea of who to bring along with us....and if that friend will be joining us on every trip going forward, or if we'll find a new friend to take with us on each trip.  Well considering we live in a consumer driven society, I'm sure it won't be hard to soon find one or more friends to take with us.

Page 16 - The Funeral

Today was brutal.  I have never liked funerals.  Now, that's not really a shocking revelation....because I don't think anyone actually LIKES funerals, not even the people who make a living from them.  This is a day that came way too soon.  I know my uncle wasn't in the best of health the last few years, but I couldn't imagine a day in the near future without him around.  From the day he died through today, there was so much going on.  Planning, preparing, moving things, searching for things, family travel....but now that the funeral is over and there are much fewer distractions, reality is really starting to set in.
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I can't really put into words what my uncle meant to me....at least not right now, but he was always one of the most important people in my life.  I'll miss him deeply until the day I die myself.

Page 15 - Family Dinner Day

LM and I will be hosting dinner for the family tonight.  I'm hoping just the fact that they are out of the house for a few hours will help them all out.  Plus I know that the early game (only early now because the Pit/KC game got moved back due to weather) will be on Fox, which Michael can't watch at that house.  No matter what, it will be nice to have us all together somewhere outside of that house.
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Seeing as Sunday is pizza night at our house, and that most of my family loves pizza, I'm pretty sure we're going to be having plenty of pizza tonight.  Pizza might not do the body good, but it can do the heart plenty of good....in an emotional way.

Page 14 - Two Weeks or: Too Weak?

This is the first picture that came up when I Googled my title for this post.  While I've definitely had my struggles over the first couple weeks of this year, losing 5.2 lbs. in week 1....then only losing .4 lbs. in week 2, but I definitely can't apply the "Can't do it myself" part of this to my struggles at the moment.  Luckily I don't have to do anything alone, I've got great family and friend support....especially right now.  Even with the all that I am currently struggling with, I haven't lost faith that I will meet my goal come 01/01/18.

Page 13 - Accountability

One thing I've always prided myself on is the fact that I am always accountable for my actions.  Spill something, clean it up.  Do something wrong at school or work, admit to it and work to fix the mistake.  It's really easy to admit your mistakes when you keep in mind that the best way to really learn something is to attempt it and fail.  No one steps out of the womb walking and talking perfectly.  It takes years to perfect those things, and along the way we all failed hundreds or thousands of times.

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Admitting the failure is only part of the process, though.  As I mentioned above, you have to work to fix whatever the mistake was when you want to move on.  This is the part I have always had a problem with when it comes to losing weight.  I'll take credit and feel good about anything I do to make progress, like the first week of this year, but I always have a reason behind my failures....or I just don't care enough about them.  It's very rare that I am unhappy enough about my weight, and all the issues it causes, that I will actually do something about it.  And almost all of those end prematurely for one reason or another.

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I'm writing this now because I can feel myself on the road to Eff-It-Ville, but I am calling myself out to be accountable for my direction.  I'm the one with the steering wheel.  The road conditions my be downright shitty at the moment, but I can still make it to my destination....as long as I travel in the right direction.  I'm admittedly a stress/emotional eater, and I have a lot of both in my life at this very moment.  No matter what I do in the short term, or why I am doing it, I am still holding myself accountable for my direction.  A little blip here and there is completely acceptable.  A complete change in course is not.

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Metaphorically speaking, I'm pulling off at a rest stop right now to have a cigarette and calm the eff down before getting back into shitty traffic.  Once this little break is over, my eyes and mind need to stay on the road.  It's a long journey, and I'm going to need all my faculties to get there.  And I will get there....because there is no one else accountable for this.  Just me.

Day 12 - Against My Will

I don't want to be here.  I don't want to be doing this.  It's hard enough to just exist right now.  I need to do something mindless to keep my brain occupied....and this is pretty much the opposite of that at the moment. 

Page 11 - The Splurge is the Word

Well, that escalated quickly.  Yesterday ended up being an unexpected splurge day.  I had planned to splurge on breakfast, that was going to be my one cheat meal today.  Then I ended up going out to lunch at work.  I limited that lunch to half an appetizer and water, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been....just not ideal.  So I scaled back a little with dinner, just my chicken without the normal side of bread....but then I ate a full bag of Flipz chocolate pretzels while LM and I watch three more episodes of Stranger Things after dinner.

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Even with that, I still posted a slight loss when I weighed in this morning.  It was just .2 lbs. again, but at least it was a loss the morning after a splurge day.  So while I am splurging better now than I would have just a couple weeks ago, I need to be a little more mindful of when I do it.  Splurging that much just a couple days after splurging really big with pizza may very well keep me from hitting my weekly goal, even if I don't go off script at all the rest of the week.

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Speaking of Stranger Things, LM is absolutely loving the show.  I am entertained by it, but not nearly as into it as she has gotten.  We should finish the first season tonight, and I am hoping that most of the questions we have will be resolved....but would not be surprised if there was at least some sort of cliffhanger for us.  Our next binge may end up being Goliath on Amazon.  I've already watched the whole season, but LM has not.  I'm sure she'll be up to trying it out, but we will see if it will come anywhere close to holding her attention as well as Stranger Things.

Page 10 - It's Still Winter

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Some mornings I take my time getting out of bed, relaxing in the hot water of a long shower, or just taking my time getting ready to hit the road.  Today was not one of those days.  Everyone in the area knew we were supposed to get a decent accumulation of snow overnight so when the alarm went off, I knew I couldn't take any extra time since my commute was going to be a little bit slower this morning.  However, not everyone was expecting to see completely untreated roads for the morning commute, due to the fact that it's supposed to rain all afternoon and evening and wash away the snow that we got.
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The drive to work wasn't as bad as I would have thought listening to the people on the radio complain, it wasn't even the worst I've seen on the way to work this season.  I think a lot of it had to do with the attitude of the drivers.  If it wasn't in everyone's head that the plows and salt trucks weren't doing their job that we pay good tax money for, would anyone really have complained?  We went from zero snow to 3-4 inches overnight.  Even without plowing or salting, the roads weren't bad at all.
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So I'm looking forward to that pizza weight coming off soon, but it wasn't this morning.  I weighed in .2 lbs. less than yesterday, which at least is a little bit of a loss....but still not below where I was Sunday morning. 

Page 9 - Avoid the Deep End

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So maybe eating ALL the pizza was a bad idea.  After losing more than 5 lbs. in my first week, by this morning I have given back more almost one full pound of that....and now have nearly 3 lbs. to lose by Saturday to make my 2 lb. goal.  Definitely doable, but that one bad decision yesterday is going to make it hard on me for the next 5 days.  Hopefully I can keep this in mind the next time I want to splurge.  A cheat day every so often is perfectly fine, and in my case very necessary, but I need to keep from going off the deep end on those cheat days, or pay the consequences afterward.
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Boy this past weekend felt very short....and this being my first full work week in nearly a month, I'm sure the week is going to feel super long.  Good thing there's another 3 day weekend on the horizon at the end of this week. 
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Not much more to say about today, aside from the fact that LM and I are going to see what this Stranger Things hype is all about, and finally watch a couple episodes of that tonight.

Page 8 - Not So Wild Card Weekend

This weekend's games went just as expected, with all the higher seeded teams advancing and (most importantly) covering in each game.  Of course, this means the Lions lost another postseason game....but our season pretty much ended with Stafford's finger injury in the Chicago game anyway.  I know it wasn't enough to keep him from playing, but it obviously affected him on a lot of throws since then and he just wasn't the same passer after that.  All in all, though, I can't be too down about it.  At the beginning of the season, I didn't even think we'd make the playoffs.  6-7 wins was what I thought we had in us, and we got to 9.  Without that injury in the Chicago game, we could have won a tenth game and hosted a playoff game for only the 3rd time in my lifetime....it just wasn't in the cards.

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Over the 4 games this weekend, I was 14-0 on various wagers with an outcome of +39 units.  Through the regular season I was a slight winner, but I always seem to make my hay on the first two weekends of the NFL playoffs.  If I could just nail my big SB bet every year too, it'd be feeling great....but I've missed on the SB each of the last 2 years, and 4 out of the last 5 I believe.
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Aside from sports, I did in fact have pizza each of the last two days....ugh I dread what the scale is going to say tomorrow morning.  Saturday wasn't as bad of a pizza night as I expected, since Mark made pizza instead of ordering it.  There wasn't much of it to eat, and I didn't really like it all that much.  Tonight, however, I ate more than I normally do on family pizza night.  That will hinder my effort on my weekly goal, but I'm sure it will still be obtainable.  I didn't eat much before we had the pizza, so it was basically my lunch and dinner and I had it in two different sittings....which is why I ate more than normal.
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One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that I stopped to get LM some flowers on the way home from work on Friday.  I know how much she likes them, and how much better getting them makes her day.  This past Thursday wasn't a great day at work for me, and even though she had a full day of her own, she went out of her way to make my night better after I got home from work.  I figured it was really the least I could do to show my appreciation.  Well, that and watching the Golden Globes with her tonight.  ;-)

Page 7 - One Week In

First official weigh in of 2017 complete.  My goal was to lose 2 lbs., and I lost a little more....weighing in 5.2 lbs. lighter than my starting weight.  I fully expected to lose a bit more than my goal each of the first few weeks this year, because it's really easy for me to lose 10-20 lbs. when I start out.  After that, it gets a little more difficult.  Now, just because I am currently ahead of my pace weight doesn't mean I am going to slow down.  My goal of losing 2 lbs. each week isn't an average....I want to weigh 2 lbs. less than the last weigh in, no matter how much I lost the previous week.  I think it's the best way for me to approach this, because getting ahead of my pace weight and letting up a bit has burned me in past weight loss attempts.
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This weekend will be a little bit of a challenge for me, and could really set the tone for whether or not I get to my goal by the end of the year or not.  With the Lions playing in Seattle tonight in the Wild Card round, a few of us are going to Mark's house to watch it.  Hanging out at Mark's house usually means Joe & Reno's pizza.  I really like their pizza, hardly ever get to eat it....and I eat too much of it.  Sunday is also usually pizza night at our house, which I am hoping to end.  I don't foresee pizza night ever going completely away for us, I really like pizza and all, but I'd like to cut it back to every other week, or once a month.  That could be the biggest factor in whether or not I make my goal, and I have enough of my own internal hurdles to jump over....I don't need to add more.

Page 6 - Check

First weekly weigh in for 2017 is tomorrow, but I was already 1 lb. below my week one target this morning.  All I have to do is not mess that up tonight, and I should be just fine.  2 lbs. is a pretty easy goal to hit in the first week of any weight loss, but it's nice to have that under the belt....you can't hit EVERY goal if you don't hit the first, amirite?  Even if I am down 5 lbs. by the time I weigh in tomorrow....the best part of the day will still be sleeping in.  I'm such a candy ass now that a 4 day work week feels like it drained the life out of me.

Page 5 - Critical

Yesterday afternoon I was all, "hey look at me" and patting myself on the back for starting off the year pretty well....then I got home.  I did exactly what I said I have to stop doing it I am going to achieve my weight goal for the year, snacking after dinner, and did that with the worst snack in the house.  Now, that right there is the key.  It was in the house to begin with, and I knew it.  There was eventually going to come a night where I had my favorite snack, and maybe two nights....because I'm not sure if there is another bag left or not.  Either way, I am perfectly fine with that as long as I keep it under control.  I was probably averaging 3-6 nights per week of snacking after dinner.  If I cut that down to 1 or less, that is a big step.


However, I am critical of myself for doing it because when I weighed in this morning I was almost to my weekly weight goal....and I probably would have hit it without that snack.  I could easily shrug it off and say it's not a big deal, because it really shouldn't be....but I can't let myself get complacent with the nightly snacking, especially so soon into the year.  So, for the foreseeable future I will ABC.  Always.  Be.  Critical.

Page 4 - Second Monday

Today feels like the second Monday in a week of Mondays, that started on Tuesday.  Coming back from the holiday break has been a little tougher than I expected.  I am tired today like I've already worked a full week....and I'm only halfway through a short week.  I guess I can chalk up today's sleepiness to the fact that the I woke up about 30 times last night, and never really got to fall into a deep sleep.  The wind woke me up, the wind woke the dog up....who then proceeded to wake me.  Just not a restful night at all.


Four days into 2017 and I am doing ok with the "eat less, move more" so far.  It's way too early to tell how this will work out, but so far it feels good.  I'm well on my way to my weekly goal of losing 2 lbs.  The first few are always the easiest, and I have plenty "few pounds" I can lose before it will probably start getting tough.  So far my 'moving more' part is just walking a little more than I normally would, but I am hopeful that in the next week or so I'll have a gym to go to again....considering our gym closed on us a couple months ago.


To keep me motivated to walk, I've watched a few hiking/camping videos the last couple of days.  I started with videos of Yellowstone, where we are looking at going this year....but I wasn't as engaged as I was with watching people hike through Yosemite.  It was cool to be able to immediately recognize a few places and be all like, "hey, I was there".  All I know is that I am not going to be able to fully appreciate wherever we go this year if I don't spend the next six months working up my hiking stamina.  It'll be here before we know it, so I've got no time to slack.

Page 3 - Back to the Grind

It's amazing how quickly 4-day weekends pass you by.  I just had two of them in a row, and now it's back at it like they never happened.  This is always a tough time at my 9 to 5 too.  There is plenty of work to do in each new year, and now that the holidays are over I don't have any extended time off work planned until late June.  6 months away.  I always feel better about the grind when I have a payoff looming, and being that far from one just makes things a little harder to bear.  One saving grace is that the weekend following this coming weekend will be a 3-day weekend, so I have that to look forward to and get myself in the right frame of mind for coming back from that, because then I'll only have a long Easter weekend until Memorial Day finally arrives.


I must admit, though, that being back at the 9 to 5 should really help me get into a groove as far as eating better.  Being on a tightly regimented schedule will keep me from just walking into the kitchen and picking up something bad to snack on.  Mind you, I can do that at the 9 to 5 too....but if I get into a strict schedule of having certain meals and certain snacks at the same time every day, I will continue to do that instead of grabbing something not on the daily menu.


So....this post here is #3 for 2017.  That's three times the output of last year, and equal to what I did in all of 2015.  Now I am not expecting 365 posts for this year....the most I've ever posted in one year was 116 in 2009.  2010 was my second most proficient at 90 posts, and no other year has reached even half of that, with my 3rd busiest year being 41 posts in 2006.  If you added the posts of all three of those years together it wouldn't even be closed to 365.  Hell, if I doubled my best year and then added the next two I would still fall 2 posts short of 365.  So I am in no way expecting that.  It would be pretty damn cool, though.


Looking at my stats on the sidebar there, it's amazing how different the first 6 years (5.5 really since I started the blog in July of 2005) of posting went for me compared to the last 6.  From my first post in 2005 to my last post of 2010, I totaled 346 published posts.  About 1.2 posts per week.  From 2011 through 2016 I published 74 posts....almost exactly one post per month.  And for that reason, I'm out.

Page 2 - More of the Same

The slow start to my 2017 continues with another day of rest and relaxation, with a rare Monday off of work.  I slept in later today than I probably will for the next 6 months at least.  I just had to catch up after staying up late two nights in a row.  Now, while staying up late on NYE was fun....last night was not.  I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that we were going to lose to the Packers last night, and took advantage of that on the ML, but there was still hope in me through most of the game that we would pull it off.  I just wish we could pull off a surprisingly improbable win from time to time. 

Today also contributed to my slow start to my weight lose resolution for this year.  I didn't eat nearly as much as I did yesterday, but I still finished off my leftovers from Primo's and had a few other bad things throughout the day.  I also had plenty of fluids the last couple days, so I'm not as dehydrated as I was early yesterday when I did my first official weigh in of the year.  I believe that the fluids are what contributed to a slight gain (.4 lbs) from yesterday, and I'm sure that'll bump up a little tomorrow too....but I should still be under my final weight from 2016 while starting my weight loss efforts in earnest.

We drove around Plymouth today to get some stops and catch whatever was out there.  It wasn't much activity, but it at least got us out of the house.  I also passed my first of many small tests for the year when we stopped at Kroger on our way back from Plymouth.  I didn't pick up a few of the things that I normally would have, and it felt good to walk out of there without some of the foods that contributed to my weight gain recently.  One of my biggest pitfalls the last few years has been snacking after dinner.  I eat plenty of food at dinner to last me the rest of the night.  I just need to get myself programmed to not expect anything but water after dinner, and that right there should get me 1/4 or more of my goal over the span of 2017.

In the late afternoon I tried a couple fixes for the garage door opener that has been giving us problems on and off for a couple years now, but a lot more often of late.  I resolved the biggest issue the opener was having the last time I tinkered with it, and was very happy that it worked....then another, different issue popped up.  I am very close to just giving up on this opener, which is probably almost as old as I am, and just finally replacing it.  With the time I've already spent on this, I could have replaced it twice already.

Revisiting my weight loss goal mentioned above.  My biggest mantra when I pack for hiking, or give advice to others on how to pack, is "Every Ounce Counts".  An extra ounce here or there won't make any difference on a short hike, but when you are out there all day it really does.  It's the same with food.  An extra ounce here or there each day won't make a difference in the short term, but in the long run it will.  My average snack is probably about 4 or 5 ounces.  Extrapolate 4.5 ounces over 365 days, and you get 1642.5 ounces....or 102.65 lbs.  Now, that is just the raw weight for the food.  Not every one of those lbs will end up staying.  It all depends on how many calories are in those snacks (mine are usually pretty dense) and how many I'll burn off, which isn't all that much at my current activity level.  As an example I figured out how much I'd gain if those snacks were always the chocolate covered pretzels that I really like, and if I had 4.5 ounces of those every day and didn't burn them off....I'd gain more than 60 lbs of fat.  So, again, by just cutting out the nightly snacks, I can achieve at least 1/4 of my goal.  The more I think about it, the more I really believe I can drop 100 lbs by this time next year as long as I hold myself accountable.