#1852, Monday, May 15: Boringly grateful

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Post 1852, Day 135 of 2017
- 2,327 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Is my emphasis on gratitude in my life boring?

Even to me.

Sometimes it's worse. Sometimes, it feels like bragging. To me, it seems I have so much to be grateful for, when I express gratitude for my bounty, it can seem like a display of wealth. Gratitude, I guess, can be crass.

But I think that anybody who sees his or her life like I do should be grateful. I just happen to write about it. A lot. Because good things happen to me, and I appreciate them. I am humbled by my life.

And that includes it all: the great good fortune of my time and place of birth, growing up in New York in the fifties and sixties. Being male in a male-dominant society. Being white in a white-priveleged, if not white supremacist society. My family situation. All things that happened to me, none of my design. No plan here, folks. Gifts from the Universe.

Of course, if my beliefs about the Universe are anywhere near correct (who knows?), then I have also, will also live a life opposite the one I am enjoying. My life will spiral downward, instead of up. I will, or have, lived every variation of life a human can. I will have every experience a human can, and, in my mind, it is happening more or less spontaneously, in that the time construct is a human invention - there is no such thing as past or future, we've just locked ourselves in to one way of understanding time, and have already proven we don't.

But I digress. I'm back to being boring.

I have everything to be grateful for. And I am, indeed, grateful. I can never just take this for granted.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      201.0 lbs.

Previous Weight (5/12/17):           204.5 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 3.5 lbs.

Diet Comment

Less than two months ago, I weighed in at the high of the year, after spending three weeks in Florida. today I reached my low weight of the year. There's a fifteen-plus pound difference. Just saying, as far as weight control is concerned, my lifestyle seems to work (unless the yo-yo factor is problematic, anyway.

Food Log

Breakfast
5:25pm: 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
10:35pm: Salmon burger on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax sprouted grain bread with a salad (kale, chard, spinach, shaved parmesan and balsamic vinaigrette).

Dinner

11:40pm: Cottage cheese and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 86+ oz. 

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#1851, Friday, May 12: Living the dream

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Post 1851, Day 132 of 2017
- 2,324 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

A nice thing happened today - I picked up a bunch of gigs as a sub - with a couple of different groups. I am playing one tomorrow.

And I got my hearing aids (the tubes came out, both sides; I have to blame New Orleans heat and humidity for that) back from being fixed. They're good as new for $12.

And the equity trading was profitable.

It was a good day - how lucky I am.

I still find the situation I'm in miraculous, and I'm still awestruck at my fortune, and don't understand how or why it's come to me. 

To have won this lottery: 

Being in reasonably good health, and with good health coverage, having a steady and adequate income, enjoying good friends and a positive loving relationship with my family, while feeling I am making a contribution to the music community..

I have everything to be grateful for. And I am, indeed, grateful. I can never just take this for granted.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (5/11/17):           206.8 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 2.3 lbs.

Diet Comment

I've impressed myself with this loss - I didn't think it would be so great, in fact, I thought my near-fast that ended in quite a large meal might actually cause a gain.

Food Log

Breakfast
12:15pm: A Quest bar.

Lunch
4:45pm: A spinach and cheese fritta (3 large eggs, spinach, peppers and onions, shaved parmesan cheese, hemp seeds and chia seeds) topped with fresh salsa and a side of bacon.

Dinner

11:00pm: Pepperoni, cottage cheese, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 6 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 104+ oz. 

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#1850, Thursday, May 11: Sometimes, puking is the solution, not a symptom

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Post 1850, Day 131 of 2017
- 2,323 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Today was a rare sick day.

I woke up feeling fine, but sometime after I got out of bed, I began to feel a little nauseous and dizzy. I went back to bed.

Next time I got up, still feeling nauseous, I decided to puke. Nothing much came up, but after that I felt fine (neither nauseous nor dizzy).

I think the cause of it all was taking my daily, on-an-empty-stomach thyroid hormone supplement, and having the tiny pill get stuck somewhere in my esophagus.

I decided to take the night off, even with plans made.

I love New Orleans. People are friendly, the culture is pronounced and different from anywhere else. It's a cliche, but it is like being in a foreign country.

I'm grateful for my good health. It is amazing. Not that I don't have some physical complaints, I'm old and that's par for the course, but they don't seem serious and haven't kept me from doing anything I felt was important.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      206.8 lbs.

Previous Weight (5/10/17):           207.5 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       - 0.8 lbs.

Diet Comment

One day back, and even with ridiculous eating (due to a house completely empty of basic food, except for a big bag of macadamia nuts), a loss and I am below the trend line for the year.

Food Log

Breakfast
7:15pm: A Quest bar.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

11:10pm: Sliced London Broil on Ezekiel 4:9 Flax bread with guacamole, a salad with SuperGreens, chia seeds, hemp seeds, shaved parmesan and balsamic vinaigrette, and a Quest bar.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 74+ oz. 

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#1849, Wednesday, May 10: And... I'm back!

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Post 1849, Day 130 of 2017
- 2,322 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I got back from my trip to New Orleans last night (Tuesday). I trudged up the stairs, unlocked my door, put down my baggage, hung up my coat. I went to the bathroom, got undressed, and went to bed.

Officially putting a pin on this year's trip to New Orleans, and the Jazz and Heritage Festival.

I had a wonderful time.

I saw lots of good music, ate incredibly good food (including a trip to Emeril's - a meal I'll remember forever). On my last night there, I even got to jam with excellent musicians:

Jamming at DMac's Bar and Grille, New Orleans

I smiled a lot (see above). I danced a lot (see above). I walked a lot (which is why, I think, there was only a three pound weight gain). I laughed a lot. I made new friends.

I love New Orleans. People are friendly, the culture is pronounced and different from anywhere else. It's a cliche, but it is like being in a foreign country.

I am profoundly grateful for my friends and the ability to travel with them, to them. It's the people that make a place.

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      207.5 lbs.

Previous Weight (5/1/17):            204.4 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 3.1 lbs.

Diet Comment

I am beside myself with joy that I was able to indulge myself in New Orleans for a week and come back only three pounds heavier. This was unimaginable when I wrote my last Diet Comment. I seriously expected to gain ten pounds.

Food Log

Breakfast
5:05pm: An entire 11-ounce bag of dry-roasted macadamia nuts - this is what happens when you come back from vacation with an empty refrigerator.

Lunch
7:35pm: Sliced London broil with Philippe's famous hot mustard, and a Quest bar.

Dinner

10:30pm: At Shifty's:

Smothered burrito with chicken, rice, red beans, black beans, Southwest Sauce and cheddar cheese.

Snack
12:30am: Pepperoni.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 1;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 60+ oz. and a shot of Jameson's Irish whiskey

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#1848, Monday, May 1: Signing off for a week or so

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Post 1848, Day 121 of 2017
- 2,313 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Late tomorrow afternoon I'm flying out of Syracuse - by midnight, I'll be landing in New Orleans (if all things going on schedule, that is).

That's exciting, and belies the point I did very little today - accomplished only one thing, and let everything else ride.

I said goodbye to Marsha Sweeney. She will probably die while I'm out of town. Nothing to be done for her, except to tell her she was loved, how grateful I was to have her in my life, how much joining the band that led to meeting her had meant to me outside of the music; the band members and their families had become family to me.

I watched a bit of TV, did a minute amount of housework, made and ate my food.

That's what I did, today.

In all likelihood, my next blog entry will be for Wednesday, May 10, which should post Thursday.

If you're reading this, just know I'm grateful for your attention. Namaste!

Food and Diet

Today's Weight:                      204.4 lbs.

Previous Weight (4/28/17):           204.0 lbs.

Net Loss/Gain:                       + 0.4 lbs.

Diet Comment

Up less than a half pound for all the weekend fun? I'll take it. But I think when I get back from New Orleans, my favorite restaurant city in the World, I may have to change the range on the graph! Sigh.

Food Log

Breakfast
6:05pm: Omelet with peppers, onions, sauteed greens, chia seeds, hemp seeds, Dubliner cheese and  a salad of chard, kale, spinach and balsamic vinaigrette.

Lunch
9:35pm: Salmon-burger on buttered Ezekiel 4:9 Flax bread with salsa and some Dubliner cheese.

Dinner

12:20am: Broccoli and chick pea curry.

Liquid Intake

   Espressos: 2;   Coffee: 0 oz.;  Tea: 0 oz.;  Water: 90+ oz.

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#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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