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.