#2615, Friday, February 26, '21: No comment

Post 2615

- 11 years and 57 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/25/21):         199.5 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

Staying this weight two days in a row - that's a win. 

Food Log

Breakfast
3:25pm: Brussels sprouts with a LEO (lox (smoked sockeye salmon, in this case), eggs and onions).

Lunch
8:45pm A Quest bar and peanut butter. 

Dinner
12:10am: Vegetarian sloppy Joe (Quorn Grounds [mushroom protein beef substitute], kale, spinach, chia and hemp seeds and Wegman's Grandpa's Sauce) with black soy spaghetti.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

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Thank you!

#2614, Thursday, February 25, '21: More music!

Post 2614

- 11 years and 56 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment

I got to play again, same place, different hosts, some same and different friends.

The night was wonderful. Even better, I got to play a set with not one person i knew on stage! I live for that. It is so challenging, and if the challenge is met and good music is made, it is very rewarding.

I didn't get to play with too many of the usual players i play with, but it was all still fun, and there were lots of my old friends around, with only a slight overlap with last week's jam. 

It went long, too, and I missed my Thursday night poker game, which apparently has only four more weeks, as the 'host' is looking forward to better weather, more busy-ness, and things opening up, including for him, now that he and his parents (he's been staying with them, helping them out) have been vaccinated. 

Still, a good night.

I'm grateful for being able to still have fun.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/24/21):         199.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.2 lbs.

Diet Comment

This is good. 

Food Log

Breakfast
2:15pm: Greens'n'eggs - kale, spinach, eggs, mushrooms, onions and peppers. Also, overnight oatmeal, with red-, black-, and raspberries, walnuts, hemp and chia seeds and kefir.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
10:55pm: Chef salad (roasted turkey breast, shaved parmesan cheese, walnuts, arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach and homemade mayonnaise).

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 52+ oz.; 2 shots of Jameson's Irish Whiskey

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2613, Wednesday, February 24, '21: No comment

Post 2613

- 11 years and 55 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/23/21):         201.5 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 1.8 lbs.

Diet Comment

I'm thinking yesterday was a bit of an outlier, today's weight is more like how I feel. 

Food Log

Breakfast
12:15pm:

LEO (lox (smoked sockeye salmon), eggs and onions) on riced cauliflower.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
10:15pm: Peanut butter and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2612, Tuesday, February 23, '21: Tax Day

Post 2612

- 11 years and 54 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment

I think I might be the only tax-paying person in the US who enjoys doing their taxes.

But I do. It's the numbers thing, how comfortable I am doing math and dealing with numbers. I really think I could have also been happy asa accountant. Sudoku is my favorite game.

I did my Federal and NY State Income Taxes today. It took about two hours, from start to fiiing, but it would have been a half-hour except for the hundred-plus entries for the day-trading I did last Summer and Fall.

I just don't mind it. I didn't even mind it when i ran afoul of the Alternative Minimum Tax and had to write the IRS a check for almost $80,000 in 2001 (20th anniversary coming up!). Well, i minded writing the check, but not doing the taxes that year. I remember somebody telling me, "Never to mind paying a lot of taxes, it means you've been financially successful." 

For the last twenty years, though, I've been getting refunds, this year, no exception. 

When I got my first regular job, at Frank Wolf's Drummers Supplies at age sixteen, my grandmother, the amazing Grandma Hannah, did my taxes. She made a little extra doing taxes in the season, the only work I ever knew her to do.

Of course, my taxes were dead simple, and we sat together and did them. I hired a family friend as an accountant when I incorporated my sales job (Ice-Nine, Inc.) at age nineteen. He did my taxes for the next two years.

During that time, Grandma Hannah died. I'd like to think it was just a coincidence. But, in my impoverished aftermath (and back again to dead-simple taxes), I took on doing my returns myself.

After my first year working at IBM, tax year 1978, with my taxes complicated by relocation expenses, I hired someone to do them for me. He gave me a form to fill out. When I realized that I had done all the most tedious work involved in tax prep when filling out the form, I vowed I would always do my taxes from then on.

Fast-forward a few years, and tax software arrived. Working with IBM, I was an early adopter, with a professional discount.

I started with Turbotax, then switched to TaxAct, and never looked back. And, like I said, it's like a fun puzzle to me now.

So today I'm grateful for a mindset that lets me look at something many regard as an odious and unpleasant task, and seeing it as fun.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/22/21):         199.5 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 2.0 lbs.

Diet Comment

Completely unexpected weight gain. "What He giveth, He taketh away." Of course, 'He' is the Diet Fairy. Anyway, I feel fine, and I'm enjoying the extra carbs I'm allowing myself these days. 

Food Log

Breakfast
3:30pm: Overnight oatmeal, with red-, black-, and raspberries, walnuts, hemp and chia seeds and kefir. Also, scrambled eggs.

Lunch
7:05pm: Carrots with homemade mayonnaise. 

Dinner
12:20am: Cottage cheese and vegetarian sloppy Joe (Quorn Grounds (mushroom protein meat substitute), kale, spinach and Wegman's Grandpa's Sauce) with parmesan crisps.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 60+ oz.; 

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Thank you!

#2611, Monday, February 22, '21: No comment

Post 2611

- 11 years and 53 days since I started this blog -
Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/19/21):         199.2 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

Well, that's all right. I'm happy to weigh under two-hundred pounds.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:40pm: A GOLEM (Greens, Onions, Lox, Eggs and Mushrooms - a LEO with kale, spinach and mushrooms). I just made that up.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
10:55pm: Vegetarian sloppy Joe (Quorn grounds, spinach, kale, Wegman's Grandpa's Sauce) with oats, hemp and chia seeds). And coleslaw. And a Quest bar and peanut butter for dessert.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 48+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2610, Friday, February 19, '21: After-glow

Post 2610

- 10 years and 50 days since I started this blog -

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 17, 2019

Daily Comment

I spent today smiling.

Admittedly, it's not that unusual for me to spend a lot of time smiling. I'm told I smile when I sleep, and when my face is relaxed.

But I felt so good after last night's open mic. I didn't realize just how much i missed these until after I'd had one back. 

I slept really well, getting one of my highest Fitbit sleep scores, woke up feeling well, and had a very relaxed, low-key day. 

I'm grateful, and taking nothing for granted.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.2 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/18/21):         201.6 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 2.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Wow! A night out, a bit of booze, an unusually low amount of water and an unusually large amount of movement (203 zone minutes, according to my Fitbit) and you have a whopping big one-day loss. Will it average out? Of course. But, look at that trend line! Down, for the first time in over a month! I'm happy!

Food Log

Breakfast
3:00pm: Overnight oatmeal with hemp and chia seeds, walnuts and three berries, and scrambled eggs. Also MetaboGreens.

Lunch
7:00pm: Cottage cheese, carrots and homemade mayonnaise, and a Quest bar. 

Dinner
12:45am: Chef's salad (arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, roasted turkey breast, shaved parmesan cheese and creamy balsamic vinaigrette).
Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 56+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2609, Thursday, February 18, '21: Whatta night!

Post 2609

- 10 years and 49 days since I started this blog -

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 17, 2019

Daily Comment

Finally, an almost-normal open mic!

Between coming home from LA March 2, when I went to the last-before-lockdown open mic at the Limp Lizard BBQ, I've been to two open mics. One was in July, outdoors, and was okay, but not really a good jam. The other was in September, was held in a garage open to an audience in beach chairs on the driveway, and, although well-intentioned, didn't attract enough players (no drummers!) to really be satisfying.

This was different and better. 

It was indoors. In fact, the club where it was held got special permission to have these kind of events. Mask wearing (except when at tables and the bar, where masks come off to allow eating and drinking), hand-sanitizing, and social distancing are enforced. 

My friend, trumpeter Nick Fields has been organizing jams. I haven't made it out to his jazz jam (yet), but this was the Rooters Jam, moved from the (now closed) Valley Blues House, formerly Rooters, where I made my Syracuse debut as a bass player.

While not perfect, it was a lot of fun. There was a lot of love. A lot of good music. The bass rig could have been better (or better set up). At one point, in the middle of a song, it just cut out. Much cord jiggling got it back, but still! 

I got to play with some good friends I 'always' get to play with in normal times, and played with a couple of new musicians. One, a drummer I hope I'm never on stage with again, and another new-to-me drummer who I'd play with anywhere, any time.

And I got to play with Melissa Gardiner, one of the state's best trombone players, and daughter of my very good friend Deborah. I've been wanting to play with Melissa for almost a decade, and it was a very good jam, with her stepping up in old chum, band mate, and producer Frank Stepanek.

The host band (not an actual band) was made up of good friends of mine and Valley Blues House stalwarts I have gigged with and enjoyed for a long time.

I had a great time. I got to play a lot, led a couple of songs that were well-played and well-received. But the highlight was the this-close-to-normal environment.

God, I've missed the music scene so intensely - I really needed this. You'll have to picture me smiling as I type this.

I'm grateful for all the wonderful people around me, and, yes, for music.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.6 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/17/21):         200.2 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 1.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Yesterday I ate a lot. And late, too. And I seem to always gain a bit when I eat my one and only favorite fast food item, Popeye's Spicy Chicken Sandwich. It's too good.And look! The big trend line is finally down!

Food Log

Breakfast
4:30pm: A greens and cheese omelet (3 large eggs, spinach, kale, mushrooms, onions, peppers, manchego cheese), avocado toast, and MetaboGreens.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
Skipped.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 48+ oz.; + 2 shots of Jameson's

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2608, Wednesday, February 17, '21: General health update

Post 2608

- 10 years and 48 days since I started this blog -

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 17, 2019

Daily Comment

I saw my Primary Care guy - I'm used to typing Primary Care Physician, but Nick is a PA. I like him a lot, better than the last two Primary Care Physicians I had, but he's not a doctor, not a "Physician". He's a Physician Assistant. Like my ex-wife, who was the first PA I ever met.

Anyway, it was a great visit. With one exception, my labs were excellent. That exception was my cholesterol levels, which weren't too bad, just worse than the last few test results.

Which I found amusing, because I have been modifying my diet since the last test, in ways to be more compliant with the standard American Heart Association guidelines I was taught in Cardiac Rehab: I've reduced my red meat intake, and added more whole grains, in particular, oatmeal, and, if anything, my lipid profile should have been better.

But no-o-o. Not better. I'm not worried - high cholesterol isn't going to kill me (just over half the people who die of heart attacks have normal cholesterol levels). 

I feel great, in fact. Things that were bothering me at the last visit, three months ago, have been addressed and found to need no intervention. Quote from Nick: "Did they end cardio rehab because you were doing so well?". 

And with that, he decreased the frequency of my visits to one every six months.

I am grateful for my health and the medical team that supports it.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    200.2 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/16/21):         199.9 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

Up a quarter pound. Sigh. It's all right. I'm feeling fine.

Food Log

Breakfast
2:30pm, from Popeye's, a Spicy Chicken Sandwich, and from CoreLife Eatery, a nice green salad to go with it.

Lunch
6:25pm: Ground venison with sautéed mushrooms and onions and brussels sprouts with butter, pepper, and shaved parmesan cheese. 

Dinner
12:10am: Oatmeal with blue-, red-, and rasp-berries, cottage cheese and peanut butter and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 76+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2607, Tuesday, February 16, '21: No comment

Post 2607

- 10 years and 47 days since I started this blog -

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 17, 2019

Daily Comment

I've got nothing to say, but it's okay.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    199.9 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/15/21):         200.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

I didn't think I'd gone off-plan over the weekend, but I did on Friday, a travel day when I didn't weigh in, so I wasn't sure how everything would play out. It was fine.

Food Log

Breakfast
2:30pm, at Dunkin' Donuts: Breakfast sandwich: Eggs, cheese, bacon on a multigrain bagel.

Lunch
5:15pm: MetaboGreens, (which is one of these powders with forty. vegetables and a dozen fruits. I got a good trial deal, we'll see if I feel anything) and cottage cheese. 

Dinner
12:10am: Chopped kale and spinach with lentil curry and a fried egg on riced cauliflower, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 16 oz.;  Water: 76+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2606, Monday, February 15, '21: COVID-19 Vaccination update

Post 2606

- 10 years and 46 days since I started this blog -

Chiang Mai, Thailand, February 17, 2019

Daily Comment

I did get my covid shot last Friday. I had to drive about 2-1/2 hours up near the Canadian border to the small town of Canton, where my friend Al's parents live. Knowing them is how I got my vaccination appointment (see last Wednesday's post).

The vaccination itself, given by the pharmacist at Walgreen's, was easy-peasy. The shot itself was painless. I felt comfortable not waiting around for fifteen minutes to see if there were any immediate side effects - and there weren't.

I woke up next day with a sore shoulder where the injection was given. It was gone by Sunday evening. No other side effects were noticed, and the sore shoulder wasn't too bad, nor too long-lasting. 

The appointment for the next shot (Moderna vaccine, by the way) is exactly four weeks and one hour after the first. I'll make the drive enthusiastically, knowing it is an important step bringing me closer to normalcy. 

And, lately, I am feeling a real yearning for a little normal human interaction and contact. Especially contact. Like so many, I am touch-deprived. 

Luckily, tomorrow I have an appointment for a three-month checkup with my primary care guy, and I'm looking forward to it - I like him. And I may get in a visit or two.

I am so grateful for the advantages bestowed on me that allow me to stay alive and healthy.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    200.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/11/21):         201.6 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 1.6 lbs.

Diet Comment

I didn't think I'd gone off-plan over the weekend, but I did on Friday, a travel day when I didn't weigh in, so I wasn't sure how everything would play out. It turned out fine, thankfully.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:45pm: 

Vite-Ramen Miso with kale, spinach and chicken. (Vite-Ramen is a premium brand I'm checking out - the noodles are high-protein, low carb, and the sauce mix is low sodium. Preliminary review; Pretty good.) Not shown: A Quest bar. 

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
12:40am: Cottage cheese and peanut butter and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

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

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2605, Thursday, February 11, '21: The crazy way I think

Post 2605

- 10 years and 42 days since I started this blog -

February 8, 2020, Cuenca, Ecuador

Daily Comment

When I talk about my sleep problems, I'm talking about the fact that for decades I've woken up a couple of times a night to pee.

Not a big problem, but until I was recovering from my bypass surgery, the fact was that often I couldn't go back to sleep.

Recently, I've been successful dealing with that and getting  back to sleep, with ther result that instead of an average of less than five hours a night, I'm averaging more than seven. 

The way I fall back asleep is to take a few tokes, then do breath-counting, a la meditation, or the "Relaxation Response". Breath counting is a method of meditation I have successfully used, and taught to other people. 

These days, when I meditate, it's mostly Transcendental Meditation style, repeating a mantra over and over. I got the mantra from a TM 'professional' in 1972. I believe it cost me $100 (for the class that culminated in a private session where I was given my personal, never-to-be-disclosed mantra. 

So... One aspect of practicing meditation is learning to ignore the thoughts that always bubble up.

But my sleep-calling breathe-counting isn't really meditation, although it effectively works the same way, and thoughts that come up are also ignored, and the count is returned to.

In this case, though, those thoughts are ignored, but not unnoticed. And what I've noticed are, is that they're very weird thoughts, indeed. Very random. And often ridiculous, sometimes humorously so.

And while I'm not going to recount any here, the important thing here is to remember a very important concept I learned without understanding a long time ago: "Don't believe everything you think."

Proven, again, by my recent experience with the thoughts that arise when I'm trying to go (back) to sleep.

I'm grateful for all the wonder in the world including the wonder that is me.

PS: I'm driving three-hours each way to get my COVID-19 vaccination tomorrow, making it a travel day. No post tomorrow, then.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.6 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/9/21):          201.7 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     - 0.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

No real move, but not a gain, so it's alright, and it breaks an undesirable trend forming.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:45pm: Scrambled eggs with mushrooms and peppers, and oatmeal with blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, and chia and hemp seeds.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
12:10am: Kimchee, manchego cheese, macadamia nuts and parmesan crisps.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 24 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2604, Wednesday, February 10, '21: Friends and vaccines

Post 2604

- 10 years and 41 days since I started this blog -

February 8, 2020, Cuenca, Ecuador

Daily Comment

Monday I had a very nice conversation with an old friend I don't get to see or talk to much.

Of course, the conversation at one point turned to the pandemic. Briefly. Along the way, he told me how he 'accidentally' got vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus. He suggested I look in small towns for my shot.

I have been checking every day to see if I could get an appointment sooner than my March 21 appointment, without success. I honestly don't know enough about the geography outside of my Syracuse-centered locality, but I did try and find something further down the list than I usually go, but still without success. 

Yesterday i was up early-ish for me, because i had gotten a notification that over a thousand new appointments were going to be available at ten o'clock. I had set an alarm (good thing, I was asleep at 9:55). 

But, no joy for me. 

Which is when I got a text message from my friend Al (I have previously referred to him as Saint Al). Simple message: "The local Walgreen's just called my parents to tell them they are looking for people who need to get vaccinated. Check up here, zip code 13212."

So I checked. And got an appointment for Friday. It's a long drive (over two hours), and I'm happy and excited about it.

Second shot appointment is already made, exactly four weeks later, on March 12. In late March or April, I'll be driving to Florida, I think.

I'm grateful for my luck, including the good fortune to have good friends. I take nothing for granted.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.7 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/9/21):          201.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.7 lbs.

Diet Comment

One day of weight gain after another is one day of weight gain short of a trend. Still, I honestly wasn't expecting to see this, even though I did eat a lot yesterday.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:15pm: Burger (1/4 pound organic beef, Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain bread, guacamole) with coleslaw and brussels sprouts.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
11:00pm: Rotisserie chicken salad (chicken, walnuts, parmesan crisps, arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, balsamic vinaigrette) and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 72+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!

#2603, Tuesday, February 9, '21: Blast from the past

Post 2603

- 10 years and 40 days since I started this blog -

February 8, 2020, Cuenca, Ecuador

Daily Comment

I'm not sure where to start this story. Maybe in 1961. I was eleven, and in September that year I started 7th grade at Wm. H. Carr Junior High School.

Everything was different than in 6th-grade - you had different classes with different teachers during the day! And they included vocational classes like typing and shop.

I had electric shop, Mr. Galland. Mr. Elliot Galland. Tonight, I saw him again (well, as he was about two years ago). He is a featured player in the documentary Three Identical Strangers. 

I didn't care for Mr. Galland - he was a rough, tough, discipline-oriented man, and he had a reputation for getting physical with troublesome students, and regarding all students as troublesome. 

The documentary I saw was the story of identical triplets separated and given to different adopted parents as part of an unethical psychology experiment in the fifties in New York.

I heard the story a few years ago, when the film was released, from a friend who was a classmate at JHS 194 (Carr) and was tangentially involved in the production of the movie.

It's an amazing story, although not my story to tell here. I recommend the movie.

It was amazing to see and hear a 90+ year old Mr. Galland - he was completely unrecognizeable. But historical photos of him and his adopted triplet son brought it all back. the time he knocked me off a table, gave me a C-plus on a crystal radio I'd built because it had a kink in the hand-wound tuning coil. How much I feared him back then.

I'm grateful for the amazing history of my life that has led to the present.

Food and Diet 

Today's Weight:                    201.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (2/8/21):          200.1 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                     + 0.9 lbs.

Diet Comment

Oh, well. Weight fluctuates.

Food Log

Breakfast
4:45pm:

LEGOM (lox, eggs, greens, onions and mushrooms). Not shown: Oatmeal-plus (oatmeal, hemp seeds, chia seeds, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, cinnamon, stevia, kefir). Yes, identical to yesterday's breakfast.

Lunch
Skipped. 

Dinner
11:30pm: Venison burger and a big salad (arugula, cabbage, chard, kale, spinach, shaved parmesan, walnuts, balsamic vinaigrette).

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 0;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Water: 60+ oz.; 

 Please leave a comment when you visit my blog.
Thank you!