#1847, Friday, April 28: One of those good miscellaneous days

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Post 1847, Day 118 of 2017
- 2,310 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I don't have much to say, today. That isn't going to stop me from writing, though.

For one thing, I never mentioned yesterday's new header pic - a throwback to my time in New Orleans a year ago. I hope to replace it with something new and wonderful this year, mostly because I'll be joined by friend and ace photographer Darren Otis, who has real photo skills.

I've been doing some organizing for the August 5 Festival, and I'm pleased with the progress.

I did my pre-trip final laundry today, too.

I ended the day doing the forty-minute drive to Moondog's Lounge in Auburn to hear The Ron Spencer Band, is one of my favorite local bands. Of course, I had a good time, and I'm always treated like a friend at Moondog's

I couldn't be more grateful for such a good day - oh, the weather was nice too.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/27/17):           203.1 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 0.9 lbs.

Diet Comment

Well, damn - I wasn't expecting that - and can't really account for it - no way two slices of sprouted, whole-grain bread should have caused this gain.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:05pm: Hamburger with Philippe's famous hot mustard and a salad (shaved parmesan cheese, chard, kale, spinach, cabbage, balsamic vinaigrette).

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

12:30am: Two Quest bars, Dubliner cheese.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 64+ oz. and a couple of shots of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1846, Thursday, April 27: No comment

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Post 1846, Day 117 of 2017
- 2,309 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Nothing today.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      203.1 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/26/17):           204.4 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 1.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

This weight loss is important, if futile, as I'm a week away from spending a week in New Orleans - where eating is as big an attraction as the music that draws me there.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:35pm: Hamburger on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax bread with salsa, cole slaw and a salad (shaved parmesan cheese, chard, kale, spinach, balsamic vinaigrette).

Lunch
7:45pm: Dubliner cheese.

Dinner

12:30am: Cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 64+ oz.

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#1845, Wednesday, April 26: NOLA JazzFest plans

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Post 1845, Day 116 of 2017
- 2,308 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

My trip to New Orleans is coming up, and I'm trying to keep my expectations down.

Am I excited? You bet! I'm leaving next Tuesday for a solid week of good music and good food. Yes, excited. I've been revisiting the photos and videos of last year's trip. The fun and excitement of that trip doesn't seem toppable - wanting to top that this year would be to set myself up for disappointment. The bar has been set really high.

Reviewing the JazzFest lineup to work out a schedule (with eleven stages, JazzFest forces you to make choices, sometimes difficult choices). That's a lesson I learned last year. But the choices are just as wonderful this year, and just as difficult. And JazzFest accounts for less than a third of my waking time in New Orleans, so plenty of time for eating, walking around and more music! As always, the city scene itself is the star of the show.

I was talking on the phone with a friend about getting together tonight, and mentioned that I'd be going out of town next week. He couldn't get out that night, but ten minutes after we hung up, he called me back and asked if he could come along, too.

Now we're a party of three - party being the operative word. Later, at an open mic, I found out that another friend of mine, a great drummer, is also going down there (I think he'll be performing). Someone else to meet up with this trip (he knows my other friends). At the same open mic, a guitarist/singer told me he'd be going to NOLA next week as well. Finally, Alex's girlfriend Stacy's mom is getting into town a couple of days before I leave. It's like a signal from the heavens!

Gratefulness for the way my life is playing doesn't seem like enough - but it's what I have.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.4 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/25/17):           205.3 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.9 lbs.

Diet Comment

This weight loss is important, if futile, as I'm a week away from spending a week in New Orleans - where eating is as big an attraction as the music that draws me there.

Food Log

Breakfast
7:05pm: 

Salmon-broccoli casserole with dal makhtani (red bean curry), chia seeds, hemp seeds.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

1:30am: Roasted turkey breast chopped salad (roasted turkey breast, shaved parmesan cheese, chard, kale, spinach, balsamic vinaigrette) and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 76+ oz. and a big shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1844, Tuesday, April 25: Jamming

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Post 1844, Day 115 of 2017
- 2,307 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I enjoyed a nice night of 'jamming' tonight.

I like jam sessions, although nobody calls them that in Syracuse - they call them open mics here. No big deal, it amounts to the same thing, as far as I can tell.

I enjoy playing with new people, because it's always a growth experience and sometimes very musically rewarding. There is excitement in playing in an ensemble with no rehearsal.

And when it works, it feels good - there are a lot of basic positive feelings coming along. One is simple pleasure - when it works, it sounds good. There is also a sense of community, of being part of a group. Part of that comes from a feeling of trust developed between the musicians, as well as a feeling of being trusted.

There's also a sense of peace that comes with the mindfulness of being totally engaged and aware of what you're doing.

Now, all these things come with bands as well, but there's a different kind of pressure, in that, as a group, you're planning and working out just what each member will play to make the music work. At a jam, it is spontaneous and organic.

I am always grateful for the opportunity to participate in something I enjoy so much!

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      205.3 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/24/17):           207.3 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 2.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

For some reason, this loss is very satisfying to me. Maybe because I also feel like I lost two pounds.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:05pm: Green protein smoothie with coconut-almond milk, kefir, large organic egg, chia gel, kale, spinach, celery, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, coconut oil and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

1:30am: Roasted turkey breast on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax bread with guacamole, a salad (chard, kale, spinach, home-made mayonnaise), cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 74+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1843, Monday, April 24: Grateful for bed time money

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Post 1843, Day 114 of 2017
- 2,306 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I can tell the weekend apart from the rest of the week by what I don't do on the weekends: any investment/trading work. The early part of my weekdays are spent doing stock and option trading, as well as working on my retirement investment portfolio.This I see as my 'job'.

If I were rational, so, too, would housekeeping and exercise. But I don't enjoy those, so I don't do them - they aren't so much a job as work.

I enjoy working with numbers, and always have. My degree is in Mathematics (BS Math, summa cum laude, mothafuckas). I do for pleasure what other people regard the same way as I do housework (repugnance): Make spreadsheets. And my work with investments is all spreadsheet stuff. I spend more time on the record-keeping of the transactions than on actually buying/selling stocks and options.

I disguise this other-ness by also liking sudoku a lot. I think everybody, even if they don't know their multiplication tables, likes sudoku. Or should.

It does me no harm, and it is practical. I have been surprisingly successful, far surpassing my goals for retirement portfolio growth (by about 35%) and managing a real-life income stream as well. OK, stream connotes something steady and regular, not the spurts I get, but you get the idea. My goal here was $50-100 a week, and I've done far better than that.

The sad part is I have made it so easy. I do it (like these blog posts) flat on my back in bed, my computer on an over-bed hospital tray cart.

I spend too much time on my computer, and too much time in bed. I'm so grateful for that!

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      207.3 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/20/17):           203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 4.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

Beginning last Thursday (ending last night), I ate lots of off-plan stuff while in Vermont, and in pretty lare quantities, now I'm just under the treadline. My comeback begins today.

Food Log

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
5:35pm, at CoreLife Eatery:

Tuna poke salad with: Kale, cabbage, quinoa, cucumber, carrots, scallions, ginger,edamame, avocado, tuna poke, sesame seeds, almonds and miso-sesame dressing.

Dinner

1:05am:  Scrambled eggs with peppers, onions, chia seeds and hemp seeds on a salad (chard, kale, spinach, home-made mayonnaise), with cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 56+ oz.

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#1842, Thursday, April 20: Just grateful for another day

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Post 1842, Day 110 of 2017
- 2,302 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I get embarrassed at Kellish Hills Farm - I am treated like a celebrity when I go there - but everybody's so nice and sincere.

They're not wrong about me, they are just exaggerating.

I don't see myself the way they do, and I know me better.

On the other hand, their flattery doesn't do me any harm, and doesn't seem to be accompanied by envy - they just think I'm a bigger deal than I am. So, they treat me very well. It is their generalized praise (words like 'best' and 'wonderful' thrown around) that discounts the validity of the whole thing for me.

It does me no harm, and I say, without bragging, that, in some ways I am the best and I am wonderful - but just like everybody else, I am the best and most wonderful me - but despite it not making me different from anybody else, I don't think about it, or appreciate it.

Because people's opinions of me, good or bad (and I am not held in such esteem by everyone, for certain) is none of my business, and says nothing about how I conduct my life.

I wake up grateful every day - for another day. What other people think about the same day doesn't affect how I do.

Note: I'm spending the weekend in Vermont - next post will be Monday's.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/19/17):           203.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

So, nothing.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:30pm: A Quest bar.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

2:05am: At Kellish Hill Farm:  Candy. Cookies. Later, at home: Cottage cheese. Quest bars.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 68+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1841, Wednesday, April 19: No comment

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Post 1841, Day 109 of 2017
- 2,301 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Nothing today.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      203.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/18/17):           204.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 1.7 lbs.

Diet Comment

A little light eating, some verboten popcorn and bread, a little stomach ache in the wee hours, a lot of water, and a loss. Not all the dots seem to connect.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:30pm: A Quest bar.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

2:05am: London broil chopped salad (London broil, kale, spinach, chard, cabbage, shaved parmesan cheese, home-made mayonnaise).

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 48+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey.

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#1840, Tuesday, April 18: A friend is dying

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Post 1840, Day 108 of 2017
- 2,300 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I don't fear death, at least not my own. I don't court dying - in fact, I think if you embrace life in the way I do (at this point - now - my attitude and behavior having changed/evolved over time), death seems like part of it.

Not something I think a lot about or dwell on.

Somebody else's death, however doesn't touch me the same way. The grief of those near who survive, and the inevitable hardship incurred by those closest saddens me.

But worst of all is when someone's death is pronounced while they are still alive, as in someone given a terminal diagnosis.

I've lived through that once, when first wife/ex-wife Nell was given the news that her cancer wasn't responding to medication, surgery or radiation. The remaining months of her life were... words fail, either being too melodramatic or understated.

I just learned that Marsha, wife of i am Fool guitarist Mike Sweeney, has received just such a death sentence - tomorrow she will come home from the hospital to die at home - hospice care. How long? That, nobody knows. Nell lived for almost three months after she was given a week's time. It is sad - a terrible thing, to watch someone you love die. Marsha was a friend. We weren't close, but we were friends. I will miss her.

My hope is, my only thought, really, is that I can be of some service, or comfort, in some way to Marsha, and to Mike and Hailey (their daughter). I am, selfishly, grateful that death has taken so few from me over the years, with the knowledge that eventually, it takes all.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/17/17):           203.9 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 0.8 lbs.

Diet Comment

I blame late-night eating and too little sleep for my recent weight gain. Gonna try and fix both.

Food Log

Breakfast
2:45pm: Green protein smoothie with coconut milk, kefir, large organic egg, chia gel, kale, spinach, celery, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, coconut oil and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

12:35am:  Popcorn, Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread with guacamole and cottage cheese, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 90+ oz.

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#1839, Monday, April 17: Procrastination and gratitude

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Post 1839, Day 107 of 2017
- 2,299 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

The idea I've expressed here before, that while I don't have the resources to do everything I want to do, but I do not need to do anything I don't want to do, is serving me well, most of the time.

At least, unless you think that avoiding things I should do that I don't want to, like housework and reducing my possessions, turns out to be a problem.

I figure, should is not a motivating force for me. 'Should' does not equal 'Need'. When these things need doing (or when small steps are required - I don't fall behind on doing the dishes or washing my clothes), I do them, because I want to, and don't mind.

Housework and sorting and tossing possessions, until there is a need, I'm living like a newly-minted bachelor boy. One who's a lazy slob by inclination, if not nature.

So it goes..

My brother sent me a science article about studies that show living gratefully has physical, emotional and social benefits. I've felt this for some time, and my living a life of expressed gratitude has been a wonderful thing - and there's no chicken-and-egg question about it: I was grateful before I decided to be happy.

I am grateful I made that choice, and grateful to be here to tell about it.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      203.9 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/14/17):           203.8 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 0.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

I'm thinking: Not bad, given some of the food I ate Sunday - I was going for a loss until then. Even so, look at the trend line: It no longer hits the upper bound.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:05pm:  

Omelet with peppers, onion, greens, chia seeds, hemp seeds, feta cheese and bacon.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

1:35am:  Salmon salad (wild-caught salmon, celery, and home-made mayonnaise), celery with cottage cheese, and two Quest bars.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 22 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 48+ oz.

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