Wednesday Cat Blogging

A bit slow on posting lately because my old computer had pretty much given up the ghost.  Spent my spare time shopping around for one, hooking it up, and transferring all the old to the new.  I'll be up again soon.

Black Friday

At one time, I worked for a large retail store.  I won't mention which other than to say the name began with a "T" and their logo resembled a bullseye.  Anyway; when I started working for them, I was in the receiving department.  A pretty low stress job.  We would get there several hours before the store opened to unload merchandise from trucks, push it out to the floor, then store the excess in the back warehouse.  The store would open for the day and we would go home.  Not exactly an exciting job, but I've had worse and I enjoyed the crew of people I worked with every morning.

Then I got a chance to work during that particular cultural phenomenon called Black Friday, which is basically a national holiday devoted to buying stuff.  I had never really experienced shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.  This was primarily because I was poor and couldn't buy anything no matter how big of a sale was going on.  Oh, I would watch the news reports and see all the mobs climbing over each other to grab crap that they normally wouldn't want...but since it was 25% off....gotta have it, gotta have it right now.  I usually sneered at people being stupid and wandered back into the kitchen for another sliver of Thanksgiving pie.  I had worked for the retail store for a few months and people warned me about Black Friday, but I mostly just brushed them off.  What did I care?  I didn't interact with customers and I would be gone by the time the store opened.  Just another work day.

I arrived at the store at the usual time.  We were told to go around to the loading dock to enter since there might be some customers waiting at the front.  The store would open an hour early...this was before all retail stores started competing on who would open first on this day.  I drove up and had to park on the perimeter of the lot because of all the cars and noticed a loooong line at the front of the store.  There was no truck to unload that morning and all we did was push the merchandise out to the floor in preparation for the big sale.  I had just finished the last of my stocking when the intercom announced that the doors were being opened.  I immediately heard a low rumble.  I looked up and a wall of people were literally running down the aisle straight toward me.  I freaked and ran to the back stock room and my supervisor told me to save myself, go upstairs to the employee lounge, clock out, and go home.  I was about to do so when the store manager grabbed my shoulders and with a wild look in his eyes yelled "I gotta have a cashier up front immediately!".

"I don't know how to do that", I told him.

"No problem, I'll train you" the manager said and proceeded to drag me through the mob to the front of the store, sticking me in front a cash register giving me a two-minute crash course in what to do over the the bedlam of customers waiting to check out.

For the next six hours I was at the cash register.  No break.  Not even a minute to catch my breath or yell out that I needed to go to the bathroom or I was going to wet my pants.  Worse day of my working life.  The upside to the whole thing is that I impressed the store manager; he thought I was a genius for learning what to do on the spot, so I received a promotion later on.  It has confirmed for me that I can always do a great deal more when under pressure.  

Still have nightmares about it though. 

Turkey Day

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Time?

Okay...I know what you're thinking...no post in a few days so I must be slacking.  Not so!  Just busy at work as this is the beginning of the season to be weird.  I'm also trying to finish up some home repairs before winter weather sets in.  I'm actually losing track of time.

Once I get the coming weekend out of the way, things should settle down.

Girl Scouts are Evil

Well...no...not really.  It's a fine organization, much better than the homophobic quasi-military group available to boys.  Still, I do wish the GSA would quit forcing me to buy their damn cookies every year.

Of course, Girl Scouts don't actually sell the cookies to me.  I get them from the mothers of Girl Scouts at my place of work.  They usually hit me up on my way to the vending machines or scouring the break room for some left over snack; when I'm so hungry that you could sell me gum scraped off the bottom of a chair.  The cookies seem good when I order but usually disappoint.  Dry, mostly tasteless, and expensive....about 15 cents per itty bitty cookie.

Yet, year after year, I buy a few boxes.  Absolutely not a good thing to be chomping on while trying to lose weight.

I do it for the girls.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

My Agenda

Well...actually...I did do quite a bit today.  I went to work early, attended a lot of meetings, and had an employee evaluation where I found out my agency still likes me.  A busy day but a good one.  Later this evening I facilitate a support group so I probably will not get home until 9 or 10 tonight.   No time for exercise but that's okay, because I didn't plan for it today.

Moral....missing a day here and there is not the end of the world.

.....or an excuse to give up

Leaf Grief

I didn't do my usual exercise today.  Not because I was lazy but because I had to do some yard chores.  One thing that is different about where I live now and where I grew up is the presence of trees...lotsa them.  Another thing that is different is that there is an actual change of seasons, and all the leaves on those trees fall to the ground.  So my day was spent raking and bagging.

You wouldn't think that tiny dried up leaves would be so heavy.

My back is killing me.

No Hiding Place

About a jillion years ago, I sang in a church choir.  It was in a Baptist church and, though my thoughts about religion have changed over the years, I still have very fond memories of belting out songs in that church.  There was absolutely nothing to do on a Sunday for a teenager growing up in the middle of nowhere Texas so....say what you will about Baptists; their services were entertaining and they knew how to enjoy themselves.  One of my favorite songs, one that had everybody in the congregation jumping, was "No Hiding Place Down Here".

I bring all of this up because it's pretty obvious that the posts on this blog have been a bit sparse lately.  This, my friends, is an indicator that I'm not doing quite all that I can toward my fitness goals.  I mean...really....who wants to write posts about being a slacker?  I stop writing.  I stop giving updates.  I'm hiding.

No more.  Daily posts everybody.  It's so dang easy to hide, to ignore, to build up that old familiar wall of denial.  I'm trying to eliminate all of my hiding places.

I went to the rock to hide my face, but the rock cried out: No hiding place.
There's no hiding place down here. 

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Two Months

No change at all from last month.  Well, I did somehow manage to lose half a pound....whoopdee doo.   My bodyfat percentage still hangs at 36% though.

I know what happened.  October was a busy month at work and I did a great deal of sitting during the day.  Feeling drained by the time I arrived back home, I was too tired to exercise.  So I put it off until the next day...then the next....then th.......you get the idea.

Diet is not enough.  I have to move more weights to get rid of my weight.

Halloweenie

This is a rough time of the year for someone like me who has a serious sweet tooth and trying to lose weight.  What to do about the tradition of giving out candy to groups of disguised little nose-pickers that come to your door, yell out "trick or treat", and stand there looking cute?  Take a stand against childhood obesity and early onset diabetes and give out apples and bananas?  I'm too soft-hearted for that.  Besides, I don't want to get my lawn TP'ed.

I thought of getting really cheap, really crappy candy....things like ribbon candy, butterscotch hard candy, and stale candy corn.  That would definitely deter me from sampling out of the Halloween bowl but, like I said, I'm too soft-hearted to inflict that upon kids.  They did go to all the trouble of dressing up in costume.  The least I can do is give out something to make it worth their while and to perk up their parents who have to drag their little darlings all over the neighborhood.

So...I get the good stuff...stuff I like....hence the problem.  There's the bowl by the door.  Oooooh lookie, an Almond Joy, I love those things, just one, it's a small size.  Hmmmm..Reese's...yum...just one....dang that was good, maybe one more.  Kit Kat eh?  I bet kids don't really like those, they're more an adult candy.

and on, and on, and on....till I turn off the lights so that there will not be a chance of any more trick or treaters while I sit in the dark gorging on the last Toostie Roll.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

The Giant Killer

Once upon a time
there was a boy named Jack,
who was told to take a cow
to market and...
Yeah, yeah, we know,
said the crowd to the old man,
about the magic beans
and the beanstalk
climbing to heaven,
where you met a giant
and killed him.

It's true, said the old man.
When I was young
I climbed a giant beanstalk
to the clouds
faced danger and excitement,
gathered wealth
and slew the terrible giant,
the story is true.
The old man harrumphed
eyeing the smiles of the crowd
that did not believe.

There are no such things,
said the crowd to Jack,
as a beanstalk so high
or a giant in the clouds.
You're old and senile,
confusing your life
with a fairy tale,
and if it were not so funny,
it would be sad
to listen to your delusion
day after day.

How can you scoff,
said Jack to the crowd,
when I have proof,
such as the magical harp
I freed from the castle
of the fearsome giant,
or the stump
of that great beanstalk
out in the field,
as wide as a house.
Don't take my word
see for yourselves.

What you call a harp,
foolish old man,
is only a radio
and the stump,
what is left of a tree.
What about the goose
who laid golden eggs?
Show that,
and maybe we will believe.
So Jack stood
and held out his hand.

The goose died,
since they never live long,
but I traded the last egg
for these.
He opened his hand
to show three dried beans
and said with glee,
These are worth more
than any gold or jewels.
They are the same magic beans
that I used when I was young.

And the crowd laughed
and walked away,
leaving Jack standing
his hand outstretched,
holding his beans,
till he knelt on the ground
and pushed the seeds
into the earth
and waited.
I'll show them, he said,
and waited.

Homeland

Wyman Meinzer's West Texas from Wyman Meinzer on Vimeo.

I've lived in Kansas for over 20 years....but I still love and miss where I grew up.

Wednesday Cat Blogging

Vitamins

One supplement in which there is some controversy are vitamins. Do they help? Are they necessary? Is it a waste of money?

My opinion is that they help. I take a multivitamin/mineral tablet every day. I know that the purists will say that one can get all these nutrients through food but, realistically, I'm not sure that you can eat all the varied types of foods to get everything from A to Z every day. Vitamins are something of an insurance policy....it covers my daily requirements even when I don't get to eat all the right types of foods during a hectic day which, by the way, is pretty much every day.

I also believe that it helps keep the immune system working at peak efficiency. Oh, I get sick once in awhile. The usual colds, bugs, and whatnot; but I rarely get lay-in-bed-wish-I-was-dead type sick. It's kind of odd that, though I'm the oldest person in the group of people that I work with, I hardly ever have called in a sick day. I'm thinking that making sure I have my vitamins, while not preventing sickness, helps me fight it off and recover much more easily.

I take a blend designed for men age fifty and over. It supposedly has stuff in there to promote the health of body parts that are of concern to men my age. I just buy the generic store brand with the thought that vitamins are vitamins and that there is no difference between store and national advertised brands. In fact, I'm pretty sure they are made by the same companies anyway.

One thing that is odd though....they list all the vitamins and minerals on the back label in super tiny print. These are suppose to be for guys over 50! Don't the packagers know that most of us are half-blind? They might be trying to slip some crack cocaine or plutonium in there for all I can tell.

Saturday Push Ups

The challenge is how many push ups can I do in one minute, but I'm finding that my first challenge is to do a minute's worth of push ups.  Still....17 this week.  I'm getting stronger.

Wednesday Cat Blogging