September 20

Post 953, Day 259 of 2013
- and 990 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

"Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in." - Summer 2013 (and Michael Corleone, earlier).

Gorgeous weather the last two days and tomorrow's Clearview reunion should be just as good.

I've been thinking about some of my relationships lately. I get so confused by people's written things, which only approximate communication. I don't know where I stand with some people.

Then I remember that other people's opinion of me is none of my business. I try to release my attachment to my view of other people and myself, and my neurotic desire to control how people perceive me.

It isn't that I feel people are negative (about me), either - I think quite a few people think I am better in some way than I (think) I am. Which creates some oppressive expectations.

Then I have to remind myself that other peoples' expectations of me are not something I have to be concerned about, either.

It's a lot of releasing. Attachment, desire, expectation - all the building blocks of suffering. Might have to add a few minutes to my meditation today.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         214.4 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     215.0 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

I will take a little improvement.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia gel, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

Dal Tadka with scrambled eggs and spinach. Not shown: Coconut Paleo bread and cole slaw. 

Snack
A protein  bar.

Dinner

Roasted turkey on Paleo bread with cole slaw, and a salad of Spring Mix greens with black beans and balsamic vinaigrette.


Snack

Two protein bars.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 148+ oz.  

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September 19

Post 952, Day 258 of 2013
- and 989 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Nothing. Dead time, until my regular Thursday-night jam, which went well. Decided to hit the road to NYC Saturday morning instead of Friday after work, to support some friends' gig that night. 

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         215.0 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     214.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.8 lbs

Diet Comment

I don't like that weight at all. But it has to be accepted. Digested.

Hah-hah-hah.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
At Ling-Ling's Chinese Buffet and Grill:

Brussels sprouts, kimchee, and, from the "Mongolian Grill", my go-to dish, pork and chicken with cabbage, onions, mushrooms, green peppers and broccoli. Yes, it's the same meal I always have here, and yes, the same picture, too.

Snack
A protein  bar.

Dinner

Cole slaw and coconut Paleo bread.


Snack

A protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 140+ oz.

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September 18

Post 951, Day 257 of 2013
- and 988 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I will probably remember today as the first day I tried pangasius.

Which is a Vietnamese fish. It has a taste like halibut, but a form and texture more like Orange Roughy. 

Just thought I'd mention that, because, well, that's all I got at the moment. Oh, wait, one more thing: A new Thai retirement location, Pei. Thailand has such strong appeal, even though, for reasons of ease, it has fallen to second-place on my list after Ecuador, which now looks like the easiest place, with the most benefits, to retire to. 

All speculation, until the boots-on-the-ground tour that starts my retirement, in less than 2-1/2 years. 

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         214.2 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     210.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 3.6 lbs

Diet Comment

I was not expecting that. Yes, I had a late-night snack, and yes, it was off-plan. But wow1 That's a lot of sudden weight gain. The original plan was to eat all my meals out today, but my lunch partner Al was sick, so I ate at work.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A protein bar.

Lunch
Roasted turkey breast sandwich with cole slaw on coconut Paleo bread with a kale, Spring Mix and black bean salad, balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

Snack
Seafood Bisque at Eskapes Lounge.

Dinner

At Eskapes Lounge I discovered my phone's camera was in the middle of an update, so I got no pics. Dinner was, as mentioned above, pangasius, sauteed with jerk seasoning, on a bed of sauteed vegetables, a spinach salad (with bacon and egg and a citrus dressing) and a plate of homemade cookies.


Snack

A protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 130+ oz.  2-3 glasses of Pinot Grigio

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September 17

Post 950, Day 256 of 2013
- and 987 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

A draining day, full of half-thoughts (half full of thoughts?) - forming nothing. 

At rehearsal, I didn't know a song I thought I knew.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         210.6 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     212.0 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 0.4 lbs

Diet Comment

This is a good time to be starting a downward trend.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch

Wild-caught salmon and black bean salad on Spring Mix and cole slaw blend.

Snack
A protein bar.

Dinner

Buffalo chicken breast with Dal Makhtani (lentil curry) and broccoli.


Snack

Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax sprouted grain cereal with blueberries, coconut-almond milk and coconut sugar. Not shown: A protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  32 oz.   Water: 120+ oz. 

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September 16

Post 949, Day 255 of 2013
- and 986 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

What do you do with ambiguity?

You can make yourself crazy debating with yourself a belief topic with which you can argue either side. My mother... my sister... My mother... my sister...

There are not two sides to everything - it's all one, but the instant you're thinking is trapped in the "real" (sensual) world, there are. This is the two sides of the coin point of view: There's only one coin, and no matter which side you look at, the other side is still there, equally part of the coin.

So, I question whether there are limits to imagination.

On the one hand, we only imagine things we can describe, and therefore are limited to things which, above or below conscious level, we have already seen. Thus, our imaginations are limited by our real or imagined (!) experiences. We cannot imagine anything new.

But, if our imagination is limited, it is difficult to explain bread. For (at least) hundreds of thousands of years, as man evolved, the only grains eaten were the undigested insides of grass-eating animals. Humans can't digest raw grains.

Then, ten thousand years (or so) ago, comes the Agricultural revolution - animals are domesticated, crops are cultivated. 

Suddenly there is bread. How did humans go from no-grains to the complex and un-modeled process needed to make grains edible/digestible? With other edible sources of carbohydrate around (fruits and vegetables, that could be eaten raw, and, to let humans know that, tasted good that way), what was the driving motive behind cultivating grain, previously not part of the human diet?

Somebody's imagination must have had its limitations... broken through.

And if you can expand the boundaries of imagination, how far? Is there a limitation, when that limit can be exceeded?

OK. Have a good day. 

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         212.0 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     213.2 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 1.2 lbs

Diet Comment

Glad to buck the recent trend of higher low and higher high weights.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (almond-coconut milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Snack
Homemade nut rolls, a very sweet fail.

Lunch
Roasted turkey  breast on kale, cabbage and tomatoes with creamy balsamic dressing.

Snack
Peanut butter crackers. Fail. Later, a protein bar.

Dinner

Buffalo chicken breast and cole slaw.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  30 oz.   Water: 80+ oz. 

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September 15

Post 948, Day 254 of 2013
- and 985 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Lazy, lazy day. watched some TV in bed - marathon of Ray Donovan catch-up episodes.

Pretty brutal.

Then, off to play!

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         213.2 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     212.6 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

Given the amount of food I ate last night, I'm happy I didn't put on multi-pounds.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
Skipped.

Dinner

Wild-caught salmon salad on coconut paleo bread with cole slaw and kale with creamy balsamic dressing.


Snack

Protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  0 oz.   Water: 60+ oz. 

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September 14

Post 947, Day 253 of 2013
- and 984 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I had a beautiful drive in the afternoon, on my way to visit my friends Doug and Nan in their country home in Cato, NY. During the drive, I had a nice conversation with Andy, but had to interrupt it to take a few pics along the way, and make it ongoing when I arrived at the house.

These are the pics I stopped to take:

Doug is a very interesting fellow - I know him from my first job up here in Central NY, and I know Nan through him. He is a technical writer by profession. He is also a guitarist, and quite good. He is the only person I have met to have survived Leukemia.

They have a garden, and all the dinner vegetables (see below) came from the garden. They get their chicken (and eggs, although that was not included) from local farms.

Here's a pic I took while the chicken with garlic and fennel was grilling:

.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         212.6 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     214.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      - 1.8 lbs

Diet Comment

A nice loss after a series of gains.

Food Log 

Breakfast
Skipped.

Lunch
At Mama Nancy's:

Half a "Big Anthony Fritatta" which includes eggs, potatoes, sausage, pepperoni, broccoli, Swiss cheese, ham, peppers and onions and rye toast (dry). 

Dinner

I just took a picture as the table was set. What you can see: Roasted root vegetables (squash, yam, turnip, potato.and onions), grilled chicken breast with garlic and fennel, heirloom tomatoes with fresh mozzarella, basil and garlic-infused olive oil. What you can't see is fresh-picked and cooked edamame, artisan sourdough rye bread, and raspberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Snack
Protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  24 oz.   Water: 48+ oz. Also, Happy Bitch Chardonnay, about half a bottle.

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September 13

Post 946, Day 252 of 2013
- and 983 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

I was at work - I got so tired. There was a cool driving rain after work, and I just scrapped my plans for the evening and went to bed early (for me).

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         214.4 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     213.8 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.6 lbs

Diet Comment

Another incremental gain in the wake of substantial cheats last night.

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (Almond-coconut milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, vanilla, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch
Roasted turkey breast on coconut Paleo bread with cole slaw, and a Spring Mix, baby spinach, cole slaw mix and balsamic vinaigrette salad.

Dinner

Take out from Wegman's salad bar was chick pea and black bean salad, chicken breast, walnuts and blue cheese.

Snack
Protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  34 oz.   Water: 96+ oz.  

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September 12

Post 945, Day 251 of 2013
- and 982 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Summer has gone out with a hot, wet and unwelcome kiss good-bye. The temperature dropped 30 degrees from the day's highs to my night time load-in, at a Community coffee house (that fronts for a non-profit for women's issues, and whose founder sometimes backs us up on drums - not tonight, though) near my apartment - a rainy night house, indeed.

And an easy, relaxed gig it was, too.

I'm processing thoughts about my musical associations - nothing heavy or exciting, but mulling.

Hmmm, thinking. That can't be good.

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 Food and Diet Section

2013 Daily Weight

Today's Weight:         213.8 lbs

Yesterday's Weight:     213.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:      + 0.4 lbs

Diet Comment

Still have nothing to say about this...

Food Log 

Breakfast
A cacao-kale-hemp-chia protein shake (Almond-coconut milk, kale, a large egg, raw organic cacao powder, hemp seeds, chia seeds, whey powder (24g protein), cinnamon, psyllium and stevia-inulin blend).

Lunch
At a catered lunch work session: Turkey wraps, chili, cookies.

Snack
Protein bar.

Dinner

At Cafe at 407:

Chef salad with kale, Mesclin mix, tomatoes, peppers, olives, mushrooms, turkey, hard-boiled egg and balsamic vinegar dressing.

Snack
A bag of salsa-seasoned almonds (salty!) and a protein bar.

Liquid Intake   

   Coffee:  28 oz.   Water: 106+ oz.  

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