Of Star Power

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Raisin Bagel

Dinner: Two handfuls dried cranberries, two handfuls raisins, two handfuls dried blueberries. Rack of Lamb and broccoli. Chicken wings.

Liquids: Three coffees. One Propel. Four JC minis. Two margaritas.

Walked 15,000 steps.

Not a bad day at work. Dog took stick in the house and proceeded to chew it and make a mess.

Ripples On A Blank Shore

Dreamed of a tornado this morning. Very vivid dream. I was in some strange woman's house and she had two small kids. I looked out the window and saw that a tornado was bearing down on us. I told them to seek shelter than ran downstairs to the front door. When I opened the front door, the tornado was just outside and the wind was so strong I almost couldn't close the door. But I did and ran to the back of the house and a minute or two later, it was over. I went back upstairs to see if the others were all right (still don't know who they were) and looked out the window to see that all the houses around us had roofs either torn off completely or badly damaged. However, the roof to our house was in perfect shape.

Then had dreams after that but forgot what they were about.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Low-carb bagel

Dinner: Flat-crust pizza from Whole Foods. Two handfuls cranberries

Liquids: Three coffees. Four Pilsner Urquells. One glass Bordeaux wine.

Walked 13,000 steps.

Left My Cell Phone At Home Today

Went to downtown Boston today. I hate traffic. I was stuck in traffic for a great long while getting to Boston where I had to pay $32.00 just to park there.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Mulitgrain Bagel

Dinner: Spaghetti & Meatballs with Olive Oil.

Drinks: Three coffees. Four JC minis. Three glasses Bordeaux wine.

Walked 15,000 steps.

Dog Vomit

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Low-Carb Bagel

Dinner: Pizza. The thin pizza from Whole Foods. Two handfuls raisins.

Liquids: Three coffees, one Propel, three Pilsner Urquells.

Walked 13,650 steps.

Got four new tires, front wheel alignment and an oil change on the car today. Over $700 bill.

Most of the day, I worked out of the car or at the dealership.

Dog threw up tonight everywhere, spent over an hour cleaning up dog vomit.

Subscribed to a bunch of free music podcasts.

My belt has been on 17th notch for a few days now.

How Peanuts get shelled

Well I did find out how peanuts are shelled in mass quantities. I always imagined this sweatshop where little old ladies spend their days shelling peanuts that come tumbling down an never-ending assembly line. Actually what happens is that peanuts are sorted by size (after being sifted for twigs, dirt, bugs, pieces of squirrel (not kidding), and other debris. The peanuts are then sent down conveyor belts where they pass between two rotating drums that smash the peanut shell (allowing the peanut to sneak through) and their blowing air discards any remaining peanut shell fragments before the peanuts themselves are packaged.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt.

Lunch: Two handfuls of dried blueberries, two hard boiled eggs.

Dinner: Pasta shells stuffed with cheese and tomato sauce, olive oil. Several handfuls of dried raisins, blueberries and cranberries. Several handfuls of peanuts. I was hungry tonight.

Liquids: One coffee. One Propel. One bottle Zinfandel. Three Pilsner Urquells.

Walked 15,000 steps.

This morning, dog had massive case of diarrhea. Then took it for walk in Rich Forest in Groton. Came home and then went back to Rich Forest with wife for more walking.

It snowed for a good part of the day - couple of inches of fresh powder.

Slept good but still woke up early (for a Saturday) - around 6AM. Took dog for about 6 mile walk in Carlisle/Concord woods and took down the rest of the outside Christmas lights. Then another walk with the dog. Went to movie with wife and kids and ate at TGI Friday.

South Carolina primary tonight, Clinton got smoked by Obama by something like 28 percentage points.

Overall a cold day, 32 or 33 for a high but it felt good to be outside most of day. Just missing a big snowstorm that appears to be going out to sea. Will see if wife will come with me to take dog to beach tomorrow.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Egg, Tomato and Spinach wrap

Dinner: 12-ounce New York Strip with broccoli. One Quesidalla.

Liquids: Two coffees, Starbucks double-espresso drink, one Propel, 4 JC minis, two margaritas.

Walked about 18,500 steps.

Aspidistra

Yesterday got rid of bad apple.

Today, another clear cold day and I spent it up in the North for my last workday of this hectic week.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: None

Dinner: Meatloaf, squash, two handfuls peanuts, two handfuls raisins.

Drinks: Two coffees, four Pilsner Urquells.

Walked 13,500 steps.

Looking forward to catching up on some much needed sleep this weekend.

No More Blogging

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Low-carb bagel

Dinner: Porterhouse Steak, broccolli, chicken wings

Liquids: Three coffee, one Propel, one Fosters Lager, 4 JC Mini

11,500 steps

Hitler's Stolen Car

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: None

Dinner: Two handfuls raisins, steak fajitas, tortilla chips

Liquids: Three coffees, two Silver Patron margaritas, one Pilsner Urquell

Walked 15,500 steps

Got up a little late this morning after some vivid dreams. Had a somewhat okay day at the office for a change and got home at reasonable our so we could go to On The Border. Wednesday night and week is more than half over.

Rated X

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: Low Carb Bagel

Dinner: Slow-cooked Chicken, two handfuls raisins, two handfuls peanuts. A few crackers.

Liquids: Three coffees. One Starbucks iced coffee. Three Pilsner Urquells.

Walked 16,500 steps

Work today was relentless but at least I got some good walking in. Started out cold (11 degrees) but warmed well into the 30s.

It Was Late Last Night (10m)

Really didn't want to get up this morning at 5AM, being it was something like 9 degrees outdoors. I did sleep a little late, being it was the holiday, but was in the shower by 5:30 and once I got out in the crisp darkness (with a nearly full moon just setting), it wasn't so bad.

The drive to work was fantastic, it being MLK day and all that. If traffic was always that light, I'd be much happier about my commute. I was basically the only one in the office and it was good to have some peace and quiet. Around lunchtime, I took a four-mile walk in the woods near the office park. I hadn't been out there for quite some while due to the snow cover and it was good to be out there again, although it was still very slippery and icy.

Left work early and got home at very reasonable hour in which I ate dinner and took dog for a walk again - walked just about 10 miles today.

I was looking at the telephone poles while walking tonight and wondered how they lasted so long - so I did some research on the web. Turns out that they are coated with some kind of preservative and can easily last 100 years. Amazing that all the technology today like cable, fiber optic, telephone and power is still carried on the same wooden poles that were standing there when most people didn't even have those things.

There are also surprisingly few of them. If somebody asked me how many telephone poles you would require to string a cable across the continental United States, I would probably immediately think in terms of hundreds of thousands. But not the case at all. In fact, there are probably about 10 utility poles per mile so if you were to go coast to coast, you would only require around 9,000 to 10,000 poles!

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt

Lunch: Chicken teriyaki wrap from Fresh City.

Dinner: Slow-cooked chicken

Liquids: Two coffee, one Propel, 4 JC minis, two Pilsner Urquell

Walked 19,500 to 20,000 steps today.

It has now been three full weeks on the "whole food" diet. Hardly any processed foods or junk foods during this time. Today was the first day I felt really good and full of energy. Belt now comfortably on the 16th notch. Doesn't seem like I've lost that much weight yet but it's obvious I'm on the right track here.

Weekends are Short

Cannot believe it is late Sunday night already.

It was a great day to stay in and watch football. Temperatures dropped through the teens today and will be close to zero by morning.

Did get out for a few hours this morning and got a decent walk (about 6 miles) in Groton.

New England Patriots and New York Giants are in the Super Bowl. Two great games today, New England 21-12 over San Diego and NYG 23-20 over Green Bay.

Walked about 12,500 steps.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt

Lunch: Two hard-boiled eggs, peanuts.

Dinner: Pork roast, rice and olive oil.

Liquids: Two coffees, one Propel, five Pilsner Urquells and one bottle Christmas Mead.

Fade Into You

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt.

Lunch: Two hard-boiled eggs. Peanuts.

Dinner: Fish (Trout); Olive Oil; Sweet Potato.

Liquids: Two coffees; two Pilsner Urquells, 4 JC minis; one bottle Christmas Mead

Walked 16,000 steps (yesterday walked 14,500 steps)

Took dog for walk in Bedford narrow-rail trail this morning.

Spent rest of day mostly reading, walking, surfing web and adding tunes to my iPod.

A Statistic On A Government Chart

It's the end of the busiest week of work ever (I think).

Woke up to some fresh snow on the ground but rain falling down.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt

Lunch: Low Carb Bagel

Dinner: Two slices pizza, four cheese sticks, two potato skins, and then steak fajitas at a Mexican restuarant.

Liquids: Two coffees, two tall Sam Adams Winter Lager, four JC minis, one Silver Margarita at that Mexican restaurant.

Not much randomness yet

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt

Lunch: Raisin Bagel

Dinner: Three slices pizza, two eggs, two handfuls raisins, peanuts

Liquids: Two coffees, One Propel, Two Pilsner Urquells

14,000+ Steps

This Jackknife is Rusted

Morning started with an intense dream that had something to do with airplanes. Or was it trains? Anyway, I was disorganized the morning, looking for iPod and boots and by time I got ready for the walk, I had to cut it short. It was about 14 degrees this morning.

Work hit me like a ton of bricks. Made up for last two "quiet" days. Nonstop emails and commotion and meetings. Didn't leave office until 8:30PM (with a decent walk at midday). Fortunately I went out to eat with the wife tonight.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch: Low-carb bagel. Dinner: Porterhouse steak, lots of broccoli, then four handfuls of peanuts.

Liquids: Two coffees, two Foster Lagers, one coffee cup Kahlua.

Walked 11,000 steps.

Keeping The Wolves At Bay

I've been so tired lately but still I find too many things to do that keep me from sleeping as long as I should. But I dragged myself out of bed at 5AM nevertheless. At least work has not been as stressful as last week - at least not so far.

After my regular morning walk, drove into the office for a short meeting and actually got out of the office for a decent walk at midday. Left early to go to a wake of a co-workers relative and got home at reasonable hour where I caught up on email and watched COPS and then some National Geographic Special on Yellowstone Park. In between, saw Mitt Romney win the Michigan primary.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt; Lunch: Low-carb bagel; Dinner: Heaping plate of beef and wheat pasta with rice and a little bit of squash. Also two handfuls raisins and peanuts. I was hungry and ate as much at one time as I've done all year.

Tightened belt another notch today but still it doesn't really seem like I'm losing weight but it is obvious I am if I can make the belt tighter. Only 15 days into this year so I have another 350 days left to meet my weight goal of January 1, 2009. Just concentrating on one day at a time but so far, it hasn't been that hard.

Liquids: Three coffees. Four JC minis. One Pilner Urquell.

Walked 12,000+ steps.

Islands On The Coast

Woke up from a pleasant dream (that I cannot now remember anything about) a few minutes before the 5AM alarm went off. I always hate waking up just before the alarm as that means I end up lying awake until it goes off. I do like waking up several hours before the alarm because I know I can go back to bed and get substantially more sleep (and dreams).

The snowstorm was raging at 5AM. I got up and realized I wasn't going to make it to work on time so might as well take the dog for an extra long walk in the heavy snow. This time, I took a route through a neighborhood I never walked in before and it was so quiet and peaceful that I think I'll take that route more often. My street wasn't plowed yet so it was rough walking for a while.

Decided to drive to work anyway only to find my office had no power so I headed up to my "satellite" office up north where I had a very productive and happy work day.

Now that the local football team called New England Patriots have gone 17-0 and headed to the AFC Championship game this weekend, the naysayers have come out of the woodwork to try to tarnish the achievement.

What gets these people so angry is that the Patriots got EVEN BETTER after they stopped cheating! Now if the Pats had gone 9-7 or something like that, that would have been the end of it and "Camera-gate" or whatever you call it would have been long forgotten. But the fact that the Pats went 16-0 really frosts their butts!

It's like the Patriots were being forced to play with one hand behind their backs when they were cheating. Now that they can't cheat anymore, they turned into the greatest team in the history of the NFL.

This, the haters of Bill Belichick and the Patriots just can't handle. They cannot stomach that the team actually got better after their videotapes were taken away!

My theory is that the Pats were over analyzing their opponents and that is why they were so (comparatively) mediocre over these past six years. Only three Super Bowl victories when they could easily have had five or six if they weren't trying so hard to gain a competitive edge by analyzing hours and hours of videotapes of chubby men giving hand signals on the sidelines.

Anyway, I think the Patriots handled the aftermath of their little scandal with unparalleled class and dignity. They could have folded like a cheap suit but instead, they pulled together and socked it to the rest of the NFL. (And the rest of the NFL hates them for it.)

Lastly, I must commend Bill Belichick for his handling of the entire episode. Instead of denying the cheating, Bill accepted all the blame and all of the responsibility, as a true leader of men should do. As a result, Bill Belichick has vaulted himself into the rarefied air of the greatest coaches of all time. In fact, if there will ever be a Mount Rushmore of NFL Coaches, we would see sculpted up there the faces of Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, George Halas, Don Shula and towering over all of them, the grizzled, hooded face of Bill Belichick - the greatest of the greatest of all coaches.

Ok, so I laid it on pretty thick. But I went ahead and posted the above on a bulletin board where it is sure to get a rise out of people.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt. Lunch: Wheat Bagel. Dinner: Beef & Barley soup with crackers. Two handfuls raisins. Two handfuls peanuts.

Liquids: Three coffees. One Propel. Four JC minis. Two glasses wine.

Walked over 12,000 steps.

Heavy Snow Warning

As predicted, woke up sore this morning from all the gutter work yesterday. But the kind of sore that feels good because you know you got a good workout. Went to Groton for a five-mile walk with the dog and saw a lot of bare ground for the first time in a while. Won't last long however as there will be a heavy snowstorm moving in tonight that will dump a foot or more of snow by the time it ends.

Spent the entire afternoon catching up on emails from work and watching NFL playoff football. Two great games. San Diego beat Indianapolis and will be playing New England next week. The Dallas Cowboys got beat and now there will be a playoff game in Green Bay next week. Weather should be very cold for both games.

Overall, a very restful day after a hectic week.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch: Three hard-boiled eggs and two handfuls peanuts. Dinner: Some kind of spinach/garlic hamburger (good) with rice and two handfuls of raisins.

Liquids: Two coffees. Four Pilsner Urquells. Two glasses wine.

Walked only about 10,500 steps. After that five-mile walk this morning, that was about it for exercise. I'll make up for it tomorrow with the shoveling of all that snow.

The Beach Was Carpeted With Corpses

Woke up at 5AM but thankfully went back to sleep. After all, it was Saturday and I DID NOT have to go to work. Slept until about 7:30AM and then took dog for walk on the trail from Carlisle to Concord for about 5 miles .Well, it was very tough walking as the snow was still pretty deep in most areas and I earned every step I took during that walk.

After the walk, I drove to Concord in an effort to ship my son's defective power supply to California for another one but the Concord UPS store was slammed so I drove all the way back to the UPS Store in Chelmsford and finally got it out for about $20.

When I finally got home, I had to clean the gutters and take down some of the outside Christmas lights. I climbed up and down the ladder multiple times and I know I am going to be sore in the morning.


During the Green Bay/Seattle game, I drove to a family birthday party in which I saw most of that game (Green Bay slaughtered Seattle by a score of like 42-17.) Then I hustled home to see the New England/Jacksonville game.

Breakfast: Stonyfield Strawberry Yogurt. Lunch: Two handfuls peanuts; two hard-boiled eggs. Dinner: Two slices pizza.

Liquids: One coffee; one Propel; Three Pilsner Urqell, half bottle of some Italian liquer; one bottle of Christmas Mead.

The New England Game was a great one. New England won 31-20 against Jacksonville and they go to the AFC Championship next week. They are now 17-0 for the season.

I had a dream this morning of an employee who wanted to quit. For some reason, I was really disturbed by that dream. When I woke up, I am glad that this employee is going to be staying.

The walk in the woods this morning in the deep snow combined with the work on the gutters and the taking down of the Christmas lights pretty much guarantees tha I will be incredibly sore in the morning.

I walked 13,500 steps today as well as 11,500 steps yesterday.

I am on page 561 of "Worlds Without End" by Ken Follett.

Our Life Is Not A Movie But Maybe

So it is the end of probably the most hectic week at work ever. Anyway, I awoke to pouring rain and could not remember any of the great dreams I had, though they were great because I did not want to wake up.

It was raining so hard that I got drenched just taking the dog out to pee. Went to work sopping wet and got crushed as soon as I walked in the door. Fortunately I had a dentist appointment at 2PM to get me out of there early.

There was a car in our parking lot that caught fire not too far from my car. Scene of mass confusion. People rushing out of the office to move their car away. Fire trucks barreling in. Shortly the car was surrounded by firemen when the car exploded, shooting parts all over the place. I'm surprised none of the firemen were hurt. Very bizarre scene.

Very bizarre day overall. Rain came and went in tropical waves with lighting and thunder. Didn't get my walking in until after dark.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt
Lunch: None (had the dentist appointment coming up)
Dinner: Shrimp fajitas at some Mexican restaurant with beans, rice, peppers, onions, tortillas and a few chips. Two handfuls of peanuts at home.

Liquids: One coffee, four JC minis, two silver patron margaritas at that Mexican place.

Download of Day: "Harden My Heart" by Quarterflash.

Trying to train the dog not to chase cars...

Fat-Free Sewers

Day was consumed by work. Didn't get home until nearly 8PM and after the dog was walked, I was ready for bed.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch: Low-carb bagel. Dinner: Two hard-boiled eggs, four handfuls of raisins, two handfuls peanuts, about 30 unshelled peanuts and a Stonyfield strawberry yogurt.

Liquids: Two coffees, four Sam Adams lagers, and a wine glass full of some kind of Italian liqueur that I can't remember the name of.

Walked about 17,500 steps.

Had varying degrees of energy today. But right now I'm tired and about to go to bed.

Some Velvet Morning

The great melt is still on. It's been a while since I saw bare pavement on the driveway and out on the side streets. Even the great snowbanks have been demolished for the most part and there is bare grass here and there. It was about 60 degrees today but was cooling down by dark.

It was another very busy day at work, can't remember when it has been this hectic. It seems that everybody is in the same boat. I took a long walk around 2PM and I needed it.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch: Low-carb bagel. Dinner: Two slices pizza, two hard-boiled eggs, two handfuls peanuts, two handfuls raisins.

Liquids: Three coffees, three Pilsner Urquells and a coffee mug full of Kahlua.

I'm practicing my patience. At the Dunkin Donuts when I ordered a coffee and a low-carb bagel, I paid for them and received the coffee. But they forgot to give me the bagel. So I just stood there patiently, waiting for them to notice. I nonchalantly looked around and stood there, determined not to get their attention in any way. Eventually the clerk realized and quickly got the bagel and apologized for the delay. At the Dunkin Donuts this morning, three teenage boys got in line in front of me and I knew I was in for a long wait. They all ordered those complicated sandwiches along with toasted bagels and fancy coffees (doesn't anybody drink regular coffee anymore) that take a long time to make. But I just stood there and waited to order just my medium coffee with cream and no sugar.

Download of the Day: "Some Velvet Morning" by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood. Very trippy. Actually I already had it but added it to my iPod.

Walked about 15,000 steps today.

Arrows on Target

The compact disc is just about dead. Once a symbol of the cutting edge, it is now a nuisance. I back up my downloaded music to compact disc and it is a real hassle. I'm thinking of just purchasing an external hard drive for backup and do away with compact discs altogether. I don't even like buying music on compact disc. I'd rather just download it. I spent thousands of dollars on pre-recorded CDs every year during much of the 1980s and all of the 1990s. Now they are all in my attic awaiting the day they go on sale on eBay as antiques.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt; Lunch: Low-carb bagel and banana; Dinner: Wheat spaghetti & meatballs with two handfuls of raisins and peanuts.

Liquids: Three coffees, three Pilsner Urquells and two glasses California zinfandel.

Spent most of the workday on the road. Beverly, Wilmington, ended up in Newton end of day. Very busy time at work and don't care to mention about it here.

Weather was extraordinarily warm today - about 68 degrees which is ridiculous for January. Still a good snow base but it's melting fast. This would be a great day in March or April but in January, it just doesn't seem normal.

Continuing to add music to my iPod. I have a ridiculous 13,039 or so music files in my library but I cleared them all off on Christmas and I'm only selectively adding them to my iPod. Up to about 300 songs currently which is only about 2.3% of my total library.

Download of the day: "Reckoner" by Radiohead

Walked about 14,500 steps today.

For some reason, I can't make myself like Starbucks coffee. I prefer Dunkin Donuts and even McDonalds coffee to Starbucks. I think I'm going to stop trying to like Starbucks coffee and save some money. I do like the Starbucks espresso but then, the espresso from Dunkin Donuts is just as good.

Class II Power Supply

Why are cemeteries wasted on the dead? All that prime real estate given over to dead people. Think of all the golf courses, housing complexes and shopping malls that could be built on cemeteries if they did not exist. If we continue at the rate we are going, there will eventually be nothing but cemeteries. My solution is to cremate everybody and put the ashes in fertilizer.

I woke up early this morning, probably around 1:30AM. I like waking up briefly at that hour because I know I can go back to sleep for a long period of time. What I don't like is waking up close to when my alarm is to go off because I really can't get back to sleep at that point, knowing that at any minute, the peace will be shattered by the alarm.

I woke up shortly after 5AM and took the dog for a walk in the unusually mild weather. It was about 33 when I went out this morning - much better than 1 above! Then I headed off for what proved to be a brutal day at work. Nothing bad in particular, just a long day with a lot of problems to solve that never seemed to end. I did get a decent walk in at lunchtime to break it up. But I did not get home until after 7PM and I spent the next 45 minutes getting the trash and recycling ready for pickup tomorrow after which I took the dog for another walk. By the time I finally settled in at home, it was close to 9PM.

Yesterday I walked about 11,500 steps, today about 17,500.

Breakfast, once again, Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch, low-carb bagel. Dinner, chicken stew with some crackers; two handfuls raisins, two handfuls of Virginia peanuts.

Liquid: Three coffees, four Pilsner Urquells.

Today marks a full week back on the "diet." I'm glad that I thought of this the morning of January 1 as that is a perfect time to start something new. Already I can tighten my belt an extra notch and I feel much better. Got 51 more weeks to go and I expect to be at my target weight by December 31. This is quite a contrast from 2003 when I lost over 100 pounds to go from 304 to 197 in just seven months. Now I'm looking to lose maybe 40-50 pounds over 12 months to get to the 190-200 range.

Download of the Day: Cass Mccomb's "That's That."

And the first week of 2008 is just about over.

Stepping on the Dog's Tail

I never heard about peanut allergies when I was growing up. Now virtually everything you buy in the grocery store has a warning label telling you that this food originated from a facility that may have processed peanuts. These labels are even on peanuts themselves and peanut butter. Which seems a little ridiculous.

Obviously I am not allergic to peanuts.

Slept late again this morning (7:30) after not going to bed until after 1AM. Went to Groton for my morning walk where the dog and I went for about five miles. Lot more people out walking this morning, the parking lot at the trail head I use was full so I had to park by where the bike path is.

Early in the walk, we encountered an Australian Shepard which proceeded to play with my dog for a little while. But after that, the walk was uninterrupted.

This weekend was dominated by NFL playoff football. Watched most of all four wild-card games. Tried to get caught up on work in the meantime but it's a lost cause so I closed up the laptop and put it away for now.

Took down the Christmas tree today and stuck it out in the woods next to the house with the carcasses of other trees from Christmases past. Kids were working most of today so had the house to myself to watch some football. My wife made an excellent chicken dinner in the crockpot. Just stuck a five pound chicken in there this morning with some potatoes and carrots and it was delicious. The meat fell right off the bones and there was zero leftovers.

Breakfast: Stonyfield strawberry yogurt. Lunch: Two hard-boiled eggs and two handfuls of peanuts. Dinner, that excellent chicken, carrot and potato dinner spoken of before.

Liquids: One propel, two cups coffee, three Pilsner Urquells, two glasses zinfindel and a coffee mug full of Kahlua.

Still reading "World Without End" by Ken Follett and I need to find more time to finish it as it is quite a good read. But instead, I spent most of the night listening to Vic Scelsa's show on Sirius and downloading some good songs for my iPod from same. Including one great new track called "In Our Bedroom After The War" by Stars as well as some great Bob Dylan covers.

Speaking of covers, I am working through some back episodes of the podcast "Coverville" and discovering some great tracks from that source as well.

Well I guess I ought to get to bed but before that, I have to get back to that Follett book for at least a few more pages.

3rd and 7

Slept very well last night. Went to bed around 10:30 last night and didn't wake up until around 7:30 which is very late for me. Had a deep sleep and only remember one dream, in which I won $.8 million on a lottery ticket ($800,000).

Glad the weekend is here. Even though there was a holiday last week, it still seemed like a full week at work. Went to the narrow guage rail trail in Bedford this morning to walk the dog. The trail was still snow-packed but it was much easier walking then in past weeks as the snow is now compacted. Still, the snow won't last long with all the warm weather we are about to get. It got to about 36 degrees today but this is just the beginning of a long "heat wave."

After all this cold weather, the mid-30s actually seemed toasty warm! Didn't even bother with hat and gloves today. After the walk, went to Whole Foods and then headed home where I uploaded some music to my iPod and caught up on some blog reading. Then I took the dog to the Lime Quarry trails to get some more walking in.

Today starts the NFL playoffs and I'll spend the rest of the day watching them and catching up with email from work.

Breakfast was Stonyfield strawberry yogurt with a couple handfuls of peanuts. Lunch was two hard boiled eggs with couple handfuls of raisins. Dinner was a great beef/sausage stew that my wife make in her crockpot with some crackers.

Liquids were two coffees, four JC minis and a bottle of Christmas Mead from England.

Walked about 12,500 steps today (about 11,500 yesterday).

Golf Ball Sized Hail

Work was a blur today, a blizzard of emails punctuated by a couple of afternoon customer visits that broke up the monotony. As always, I started the day with an early morning walk of the dog. It was down to one degree again (it was -3 when I went to bed last night) so already the cold wave is moderating. The waning moon is now a slim crescent near the horizon in the pre-dawn darkness. Still, it didn't seem as cold, probably because of lack of wind or perhaps because I am getting used to it.

I think the United States people do not want to elect presidents with strange names. I went through all the president's names today and they are all easy-to-pronounce names like Adams, Bush, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Reagan, Carter, Truman, Lincoln and Taylor. The oddest name I could come up with was Eisenhower but I think Eisenhower got a free pass with his name by the voters due to his role in helping us win WW2.

So according to my theory, candidates such as Guiliani and Huckabee are probably out and we will probably end up with a Romney or Edwards or something simple like that.

Could somebody with the surname of Buttafucco ever get elected president? I doubt it. President Buttafucco will probably never happen and a name like that is condemned to remain in headlines of New York tabloids and in monologues of David Letterman shows.

Breakfast today: Stonyfield yogurt (strawberry). Lunch was a chicken teriyaki wrap at Fresh City. For dinner, five pieces of chicken (legs and wings), broccoli and a couple handfuls of peanuts. Liquid was two coffees, two Propels, three Pilsner Urquells and a coffee cup full of Kahlua (straight). Still have a full bottle of Kahlua left from Christmas and I intend to finish it.

I will probably have to start taking down some Christmas decorations over this weekend. I also intend to watch all four NFL wild-card playoff games.

Long day at work. Day started and ended at about zero degrees. Took the morning walk with dog with about -20 wind chill. My legs were numb when I returned. Had to go to small claims court this morning to fight a customer that was trying to get something for nothing. Sucked up the entire morning. At least I won one for the company. I spent the rest of afternoon and early evening getting caught up with the avalanche of emails.

Breakfast was strawberry Stonyfield yogurt, one rosemary olive oil bagel from Brueggers and for dinner, the wife and I went to Outback and I had salmon, broccoli and six chicken wings. Add to that a couple handfuls of peanuts back home. Liquid consumption was three coffees, two Pilsner Urqells, a 24-oz mug of Fosters (at Outback) and a coffee mug of Kahlua to warm me up after all that walking in subzero wind chill weather.

Logged about 14,500 steps on the pedometer today. Already, I'm able to tighten my belt a notch from New Year's Eve.

Well the Iowa caucuses were tonight. I'm already tired of the presidential campaign and it's only just begun! There are no candidates that particularly appeal to me at this point. I actually think I could do a better job than all of them.

I'm up to about page 460 in "World Without End" by Ken Follett. Very good book. I have so many more books to read but just not enough time. Wish I could stop time and just read nonstop for a few years to catch up. There are also a lot of books I want to re-read. "Call of The Wild", "Atlas Shrugged" and "Lord Of The Rings" just to name a few.

It is below zero as I type this and I am looking forward to the walk tomorrow morning. I really like walking in extreme weather. This morning, as it was about one above with -20 wind chill, I was walking in the pre-dawn darkness with a waning crescent moon up in the totally clear sky. Saw all the constellations and even a planet or two. This frigid weather is very invigorating.

Back to work today. Not a bad day overall. Got up at 5AM, walked the dog in comfortable 25 degree weather as the cold front had not come through yet. Had an easy drive to the office and the day flew by. About 2PM, went to Dunkin Donuts to get a coffee and low-carb bagel and decided to take a walk in the neighborhood first. Ended up getting lost on the side streets and it wasn't until 3 miles later that I found my car again. Wind chill must have been below zero at that time and I should have had my hat on. Felt good though.

Worked a little late and didn't get home until just after 7PM. By then it was down to 11 degrees. After dinner, took the dog on a 2.5 mile walk and it was brutally cold. Dog didn't mind though, it was rolling around in the snowbanks and having a great time. I think this dog is totally immune to all cold.

It actually is fun to go walking in brutally cold weather. Once you get a half-mile or so of brisk walking under your belt, your blood is pumping and it feels like the temperature just rose 20 degrees. By the end of my walk, I was feeling almost toasty warm despite the temperature being down to about 7 above with a strong north wind.

This snow cover is the deepest I remember it being this early in the winter. However, we are going to have a big warmup next week that should melt most of it away.

Checking the news, I see that CD sales are down 20% from last year. I was just thinking that I probably bought one or two CDs all of last year. I use to buy that many in a week. I checked my purchased songs on iTunes and I am up to 904 purchased tracks. That's equivalent to about 80 CDs. Not to mention the 360 tracks I downloaded off eMusic the past year.

My collection of nearly 1,000 CDs are now in the attic, having all been burned to MP3s. Maybe they will be worth money on Ebay someday so I'll hold on to them for a while.

For breakfast, one strawberry Stonyfield yogurt. For lunch, one low-carb bagel. For dinner, some wheat pasta with beef, peas, a little rice, a couple handfuls of peanuts and a couple handfuls of raisins.

Liquids: Two coffees, a Propel, and three Pilsner Urquells.

Logged just over 17,000 steps on my pedometer.

Only two days into this new routine and already I feel great. Got lots of energy. Reminds me of 2003 when I dropped over 100 pounds in about six months. During that time, I felt 20 years younger. Be good to get that feeling back again for the long haul.

Heard from my sister today that a childhood friend died this morning of a massive heart attack. He was only one year younger than me. Was still living in the same house he grew up in, just a few houses down the street from my childhood home. Haven't seen him in maybe 25 years. But I'll be going to the wake Friday night.

Up to 151 tunes in my iPod library. I reset everything on December 25 and I am only adding songs I really want to listen to so that I don't have to skip anything on my iPod anymore. Still have about 13,400 songs to go through and maybe by end of this year, I'll have about half that back on iPod, not including new downloads.

Add some shrimp (about a dozen) to the evening meal. Also today, I had two coffees, two minis of JC, two Pilsner Urquell and a 375mm bottle of muscato wine.

For reading, I got through two National Geographics, one PC magazine and a Wired magazine.
Up to about page 407 of "World Without End" by Ken Follett.

About 17,500 steps on my pedometer today.

Back to work tomorrow.

Not a bad New Year's Day. Walked the dog another 3-3.5 miles in Cranberry Bog Reservation this afternoon and walked a total of about 8 miles for the day. Got the car stuck in the snow at the parking lot and had to call AAA for a tow however. I knew pulling into the parking lot that it was going to be a hassle getting out. Nothing was plowed and snow was falling heavily.

It was a great walk however, with the snow coming down and almost nobody else out there. I don't understand why so few people want to get out and walk in weather like this. But that suits me fine as I don't like crowds when I go out walking.

Getting back to the car, I immediately got stuck trying to get out and the snow built up under the car to the point where the tires were getting no traction at all. Had my wife drive a snow shovel to me but that didn't help much so I had to call AAA - first time in about 15 years. So I guess AAA is still ahead of the game on me.

Kept the food intake to a minimum today - the first day of 2008. Just a Stonyfield yogurt for breakfast, one egg for lunch and for dinner, a bowl of split pea, ham and swiss cheese soup with a handful of raisins, a handful of peanuts and 5 flatbread crackers to go in the soup.

I am going to get back to my ideal weight in 2008. I have been overweight much of my life but in 2003, I went from 304 pounds on April 1 of that year to about 197 by that November. Dropped over 100 pounds in six months time - breaking all the rules along the way. But since then, I've been slowly creeping back up and while I haven't weighed myself in quite some time, I figure I'm back in the 230-240 range.

If not for the exercise, I'd be right back to 300+ pounds. Fortunately, the exercise regime never left me. Since April 1, 2003, I've been walking at least five miles daily (and considerably more than that on weekends). In fact, the last day I walked LESS than five miles in a day was December 23, 2005. So I have a streak going for over two years now of walking at least five miles per day - every day.

So for 2008, I will keep up the walking and get back on a good eating regimen. No "diet" in particular. I'll just try to eat nothing but whole "natural" foods and stay away from the fast food and processed crap.

Took dog for 5-mile walk at Harry Rich State Forest in Groton this New Year's morning. Not a single other person in sight. Pedometer malfunctioned due to crunching through some fresh snow but most of trail was packed well.

Why do dogs sometimes rub themselves in certain spots on the ground? Usually over some kind of dead animal?

Finished walk around 11AM and it immediately started snowing. Expecting a few inches of fresh powder this afternoon and maybe another walk with the dog later. Right now, I am posting this in a "snow globe" as snow is steadily falling outside the windows around me.

It is New Year's Day so I figure I might as well do something different this year, such as start a blog. New Year's Day is best time to make resolutions as you don't have to think much about them. During my walk this morning, I thought of several things I can do different. Such as read more books, exercise more, eat better, etc., etc. We shall see.