BFL Day 11

Jimminy Crickets.....how long is a cold suppose to last? Just when I think that the symptoms are going away, I get pounded again. I wound up taking time off from work yesterday because I was feeling lousy and really didn't want to interact with anybody on any level. Slept horrible last night with all the coughing and sinus draining. I've taken so much NyQuil that my pee is starting to turn green.

But off to work I go this morning ...cuz paperwork waits for no man. I guess I should be concerned that I may spread my germs to my co-workers; but I got this cold from them in the first place, so to hell with it. As far as exercise goes; I'm thinking this week will be a wash.

I never thought I would miss working out.

BFL Day 10

Well...I don't know what kind of an opportunity getting sick is, but I do know that I'm not going to let it be an excuse to quit.

It really sucks though. All the coughing, wheezing, and sneezing makes it impossible to do any type of significant exercise. Even if I could manage to haul my mucus laden head over to the gym, I wouldn't want to spread all those wonderful germs around for other members. I can't do much in the way of exercise at home before being racked by a coughing fit and feeling like my sinuses are going to detonate.

My normal pattern of behavior is to say "fuggit, I'm sick, I can't do this right now, I'll do it later". The usual result though is that "later" seems to take a long time to come around. I even thought briefly of re-starting the Body for Life Challenge; but that also seems to strangely take several weeks to happen, plus...I honestly think that I cannot bear to take before photos again.

So, I'm plowing ahead. Week two of my challenge is going to be pathetic as far as progress goes...but progress it will be. The next week will be better. The week after, better still. I won't have this cold forever.

It'll just seem like it.

BFL Day 9

BFL Day 8

BFL Day 5

I had a discussion the other day with a friend about machines vs free weights. He's into lifting iron and thinks that machines are useless. In fact, he comes pretty darn close to calling me a wuss for using weight machines at the gym.

He makes a few good points. There is the fact that machines provide stability and balance, thus making it unnecessary for your own muscles to grow and adapt for that purpose. But...that's kind of what I need right now. I need the frame around me to force proper form because I don't think that I can handle much free weight without dropping it or ripping out a tendon.

Maybe I am a wuss. I gaze toward the back of the gym at all the free weights and think "maybe next week I'll try some stuff over there".

Maybe I'll wait until there are other people in the gym.

Just in case.

BFL Day 4

One of the things I hate about starting a serious schedule of weightlifting, especially if I've only been doing it half-assed or not at all for several months, is the soreness. My arms, shoulders, and chest are killing me this morning. My legs seem to be okay, which I guess is not surprising since I use them quite a bit every day and there was no shock to them.

I have another upper body tomorrow. I hope the soreness eases up by then or, at least, I'm able to work through the pain. This is a point where a lot of people quit. It's where I have quit in the past.

BFL Day 3

One part of the Body for Life plan is the concept of eating six small meals during the day rather than gorging yourself three times a day. It's a pretty good idea and goes a long way in keeping you from feeling hungry between meals, thus helping to avoid the temptation to snack.

The problem is....there is not much, short of luggage, to stow all the meals when I go to the office. I work about 10 or more hours a day, which means I have to pack for around three to four meals. Even though the portions are small it's still a lot of food to lug around. My dinky little lunch pail just doesn't cut it, so I'm going to have to do a bit of shopping for something that will work.

I'm actually considering getting a small fridge for my office.

BFL Day 2

Monday Cat Blogging

Mother's Day

I've always thought I have the coolest Mother. Oh...she did the standard mothering stuff like kissing boo-boos, checking behind ears to make sure there was no fungus growing, ensuring that I would not go off to school dressed like a color blind rodeo clown, feeding me real food, and generally doing her best to make sure I didn't grow up to be a sociopath. That's all well and good, but the coolest thing about my Mother was that she always let me question...everything. My Mother values learning in all of its forms and nothing was taboo to my curiosity. One habit she passed on to me is a love of reading. Books were made my friends at an early age and, through books, I've explored entire universes. Because of her, I've forged my own life, my own beliefs, and my own sense of self. I did it through years of relentless questioning, reading, and thinking. I'm still evolving in that task.

My Father taught me how to be a man. My Mother taught me how to be a human.

Love you Mom!

Plans

Plan, planning, planned....strange word. To plan or not to plan, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the setbacks and frustrations of daily living, or to take arms against a sea of temptation, and by planning, end them.

Planning is important. The old saying "failure to plan is a plan for failure" may be hackneyed, but my experience has proven its validity. Now...I don't mean planning as in plotting out exactly what you are going to do each and every day. More like, planning for what happens when things don't go exactly as you expect...which is pretty much each and every day. It is a recipe for failure if one sort of hopes that the exercise will get done somehow before the day is over and that, maybe, the diet will be on target despite the lunch from the vending machine.

There are all types of plans. Boyd, as he says in the clip above, is going to use P90X as his plan. I looked into it and the folks who sell the plan were nice enough to tell me that, due to my present fitness level, it might kill me...though I guess I would get my money back in that case. So I'm going to use Body for Life as my plan.

I really need one. I need the structure. It's difficult, this losing weight stuff.

Free Slop

Have you heard the latest? KFC, with the blessings of Oprah, is giving out coupons for a free meal. Well...kind of a meal....two pieces of chicken and a biscuit. Oh, but the chicken is grilled, which I guess is suppose to mean it's healthy as compared to that greasy old fried stuff.

Except, the (ahem) meal is loaded to the brim with such nutritious ingredients as MSG, trans fats, and gobs of salt. Not to mention that the factory chickens that KFC cooks up by the millions are about the grossest animals on the planet. It may be finger-lickin good but crap like this is best left in the bucket. I honestly think that if most people took the time to read the ingredients they wouldn't eat it if somebody put a gun to their head. Why do you suppose that KFC calls this ad campaign "Unthink"?

No thanks, Colonel. I'll stick to home grilled free range chicken.

and you can keep the biscuit too

Yum!

Something that I noticed not often included in my diet is fruit. That's a bit surprising since I really love fruit...it just seems that I never bother to buy it or include it into my meals. I usually think of fruit in my yogurt or protein shake. I may get some bananas or apples, but they generally go bad before I eat them all. I like fruit salad but avoid buying cans of the stuff since it's usually pretty high in sugar, mushy, and generally not all that tasty.

Now...I could make it myself with a selection of fresh fruits.

Duh. I never even thought of that...not until a friend of mine, who happens to be a vegetarian, turned me on to a fruit salad that he makes for his lunches all the time. Really simple. Cut up whatever fruits you like. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar (my friend probably uses a lot more but I use just enough to keep the apples from turning brown), mix it up, chill it, and eat. I whipped up about a gallon for a cost of around five bucks.

Good stuff. I don't know how many calories a serving has and I don't really care. I know it is far, far less than just about anything else I may eat during the day. The sugar and the fructose satisfy my sweet tooth and turn off the "I'm hungry button" in my brain. I'm pretty sure there are no fats. Also, the fiber gives me a nice full feeling for just a tiny helping. Then, of course, there is all the good nutrients.

I'm incorporating this into my meal plan every day.

Goodbye Doritos.

Monday Cat Blogging

Life Lessons

There was a time in my life when I was an absolute mess. I was going nowhere and doing nothing...and I was angry. Oh boy, I was mad at the world because, of course, it was the world's fault that nothing was happening in my life. I never considered looking at myself and seeing what I was doing. I was great on blaming everything and everyone but short on accepting any responsibility at all for my behavior. I don't like to remember the type of person I was back then. I was a first-rate asshole.

I had an epiphany one day when my father finally laid it all out for me. It was harsh. It was blunt. It was given to me out of love and it stabbed right into my soul. The following clip gives the gist of what that talk was about. The words are not quite the same but the meaning is very much there. Watching and listening to Rocky make this speech to his son brings back my own father's talk to me.

It was something that changed my life....and not a moment too soon.

The Boyd and Jay Show

As I mentioned earlier, my friend Boyd and I have teamed up to challenge each other. We do this because we seem to share a common trait that is really pretty common among a lot of people we both know.....we don't stick to doing what we know will work. Losing weight and getting fit is a terribly lonely goal. It's our body and, ultimately, any success or failure is entirely up to us. It's also a goal that takes a tremendous amount of effort and time, so it's very easy to lose focus and shelf your desire for other needs that crop up every day.

A lot of people get around this by getting a personal trainer. I really can't afford one... a good one...one that will ride me like a drill instructor on meth. Some people join groups at gyms such as Terry with Crossfit or Sean who not only works for a gym, but seems to live in it as well. That would be great but there are no options for that where I live. Often times, I am literally the only person at my gym through my entire workout.

So Boyd and I have come up with something. We are going to support, encourage, and hold each other accountable. We're making videos....lots of them. Each of us will be making one every other day. We hope to make them entertaining and inspirational to others, especially as the format evolves over time; but the major purpose of the videos is to remind us that we are not doing what we are doing alone.

And you don't have to do it alone either. The internet makes the world a very small place. Comment or email. Share our experience.

Making Time

There's the old problem that I've often had and I bet that many others have complained about as well. Trying to fit in an exercise routine among all the other things that need to be done during the day.

"I don't have time to go to the gym. I've got things to do and places to be. I sure wish I had a little spare time...then...oh boy, look out...I would really get fit then. If I only had the time."

Well, I do have the time.

Really, one hour a day, that's all. That's even including the drive time back and forth to the gym. One hour. The length of one brain rotting TV show. I could probably do without an episode of American Idiot and not have it effect my life in the slightest. I don't think that I can say that about exercising.

So I'm back to a daily gym trek. I'm going sloooooooow. In the past, my enthusiasm led me to overextend my capacity and I've dropped off due to extreme soreness. That and I've had an overweight friend almost die from a heart attack pushing too hard at a gym recently. As much as I hate to admit it, I need to take into account that I'm not in my twenties anymore and that some of my body parts are a bit worn.

Slow and steady is the ticket. Steady is the key.

Monday Cat Blogging

Kiss that $25 Goodbye

Remember this? I posted it last year when several people on YouTube were getting together to have a bit of challenge. It seemed like a great idea at the time; support each other, have fun, and toss in twenty-five bucks just to make it interesting. Nothing like friendly competition to help with the old motivation.

But then everything started to get.......how shall I say this.....complicated.

The rules were vague and seemed to shift day to day. Money from everybody was sent to one of the participants to "hold" and that never seemed quite right to me. This participant also threw out deadlines for photos and progress which, though not effecting him since he was unemployed at the time, was a bit of a chore for the rest of us with busy schedules. Then the original finishing date was canceled and a new one delivered; by this same individual, with a demand for an additional $25 to stay in the game.

I think that was when most of us decided that enough was enough and drifted off. I believe the challenge ended last month though I haven't heard anything about it, and I really don't care. Whoever wound up with the money, plane fare, or whatever it was decided the prize would be...I hope they enjoy it with my blessings.

Why am I blathering about this? Because, despite the dysfunction of the $25 challenge and it's egotistical leader, I still see the value in them. Challenges let you focus your goals and compare your best with others. I'm still in the $100 challenge originated by Brian which has clear cut rules and goals, plus lets you hold on to your own entry fee. The money is not all that important since I would feel good about any of the people in that challenge winning.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be doing a one on one challenge with my friend Boyd. No money. No prizes. Not even any bragging rights or humiliation to the loser. Just a couple of guys spurring each other on in trying to do what we have both wanted to do for a long time....get physically fit.

And we plan to have a hell of a lot of fun doing it.

Stay tuned.

Please Don't Arrest Me

I'm rather busy this week in case anybody is wondering why I'm not doing much in the way of blogging. I'm doing training the next few days with area law enforcement. At the police station. Surrounded all day by big men carrying guns.

There was a time in my misspent youth where that would have been pretty much unthinkable...but if I had thought about it.....would have caused severe anxiety and panic.

One benefit of a clean conscience, I suppose. Plus my age seems to avail me a certain level of respect and deference.

Or perhaps they feel that if they really want to take me down, it wouldn't be too much effort.

Easter Cat Blogging

Identity Theft

I Love This Show....I Hate This Show

The Biggest Loser. In case you've never heard of it, the show gathers about a dozen very overweight people and they compete against each other to see who can lose the most pounds. Like all "reality shows" the primary entertainment is with the interpersonal interactions with the contestants.

I'm really hooked on this show. Being that I'm into losing weight and attaining fitness, it's interesting to see how other people are able to achieve their goals. I also find it inspiring because these people are seriously obese....but they pour their hearts into making a transformation of themselves. They work out. Hard! I mean, hours every day of intense exercise with a trainer riding their backs every step of the way.

That's why I hate this show as well.

Who has the option of secluding one's self from the world for a few months to train like that? Not me. As much as I want to lose weight and get fit, it's not the only thing I have going on every day. I have to go to work. I have to maintain a relationship. I have to take care of my household.

I guess I'm just grousing. I get inspired by the contestants putting in real work and achieving real results. Yet, like any reality show, there is very little reality involved.

Still....a good show. If you've never seen it, I recommend you watch an episode. You will get hooked.

MRE....Just Like Mom Use To Make

Well....not really....but not too far off the mark.

Meals ready to eat. The newest thing in military field rations and on every survivalists wish list. I ran across them a few days ago and, being interested in convenient ways to eat, decided to pick up one just for kicks. I got a beef enchilada thing and you just plop it in a bag, pour some salt water that's provided inside, seal it up, and wait for the little catalyst warmers to steam heat them for about 10 minutes. Rip open the pouch and gobble down the chow. I expected it to taste, at best, like nothing at all.

It was surprisingly good!

I mean...lip smacking good!

Light years better than any microwave dinner that I've ever had. I may start buying these things. The drawback is that they are rather high in calories, but I guess that's to be expected since they are designed to feed a combat soldier and not some flabby old couch potato. They are a damn sight tastier than the canned rations they gave us when I was in the military.




Of course...with enough hot sauce...you could manage to choke most of it down.

Monday Cat Blogging

Springtime in Kansas

Sometimes, I really miss living in Texas.

Monday Cat Blogging

It's Spring!

About bloody time too.

It's Gotta Be Rock N Roll Music

Just about the only place where I ever listen to the radio anymore is in my truck. Even then, it's only when I am driving alone these days because I have a tendency to turn up the volume...primarily because I'm old and deaf, but also because I like to rock out with good music. Sing along. Play air guitar and drums with the steering wheel. Things that make people believe I am having a seizure at stop lights and embarrass the hell out of my daughter when I drove her to school in the mornings.

It's getting harder to do that these days out here in Kansas. Spinning through the dial on the raid-ee-oh is increasingly becoming an exercise in annoying frustration. Country music dominates most of the selections and, while some of it is okay, I find most of the stuff sounds pretty much the same and get bored with it very quickly. Then there are the religious stations. They are actually kind of interesting, especially when they are preaching about the apocalypse and all that good stuff; but it's not what I need to put my groove on driving to work. There is one Spanish station that is kind of cool but I spend all my thoughts trying to translate the words to the songs rather than just enjoying the music, which sounds all the same to my ear anyway...kinda like rap. Oh, and then there is the classical music station...okay, but Mozart doesn't lend itself much to air drumming.

My one consistent oasis has been a rock station....a hard rock station. None of that namby pamby hip hop, or bee bop, pop, disco, or boy-band sludge. They played stuff that would get your adrenaline going and realize where the term 'heavy metal' came from.

No more.

That station switched its format to "alternative rock"....which, as near as I can figure out is a completely accurate label because it is definitely an alternative to anything I would call rock music.

Sigh. I use my Ipod now. It's just not the same. The damn earphone buds keep popping out.

Monday Cat Blogging

Athletic Supporter?

Fitness would be a lot easier for me if I had developed the habits of an athlete in my youth. Things like working out in a gym, running, sweating, being sore....would all be things that I am use to and probably even enjoy.

The problem is, I never got into the whole jock lifestyle. I sucked at sports. Even in Little League, I was stuck way out in right field with the hopes from my teammates and myself that a fly-ball would never be hit to me. P.E. in school was nothing more than an hour every day being humiliated in front of my peers by a fat sadistic coach. I had no interest at all in high school sports, preferring to play in the band as an escape from an activity of which I had no natural ability in favor of one I had a modicum of talent.

So I didn't like jocks. I didn't like exercise. I was an "in-too-lectual" and looked with contempt toward those who trained their bodies. I considered them vain and shallow. I even thought of those who enjoyed watching sports on television as fairly brain dead ex-jocks trying to live vicariously through steroid enhanced actors in fantasy contests. To me, watching athletes perform was akin to watching porn...I couldn't understand the attraction of other people playing while you sat passively and observed.

And here I am, after all this time, trying to become an athlete. I go to a gym. I talk about reps and sets and refer to parts of my body by muscle groups. Unless I'm drenched with sweat and have a bit of pain, I don't feel as if I have accomplished anything during the day. Still, it's a chore. To push every day when it would be oh so easy just to let things slide. I'm trying to make the transition from exercise being an unpleasant task, to a habitual one, to being a fun activity that I look forward to each morning.

Athletes are made... not born. I'm a work in progress.

Monday Cat Blogging

Tempus Fuggit

Daylight savings time really messes with my head. That's because my head takes a few days to get use to the concept that it is dark longer in the morning and lighter longer in the evening. It takes a while to train my brain to ignore visual cues and convince my body that...no...it is not being forced to wake up an hour earlier than usual. Then there is also the problem of going to bed at my usual time (according to the clock) when I'm not sleepy.

Plus, it is going to take about a month before I get around to setting all my clocks and watches up one hour.

Except for the one in my pickup. I never can remember how to set the time on that so screw it, I'll just wait for November and it will be showing the right time once again.

Time for a New Computer

I really didn't start out wanting to get a whole new computer. Originally, my thoughts were to get a nicer monitor...maybe spend a couple of hundred bucks at the most. So off I mosey to Best Buy after I eyeballed their ad both on paper and online.

I walk in to the store that was blasting out some crappy music through their speakers and I'm asked by an annoying blue shirt every couple of minutes if "I need any help".

No...I'm just looking and comparing a few monitors right now so I send them away, but they just stand right there beside me making me nervous, like they expect me to slip a monitor in my pants and walk out the store or something. Eventually, they do go off to pester some other customer and I have time to think and decide what I wish to buy. After a while, I come to a decision.

Nobody in sight. I wave my credit card in the air in the hopes of attracting the attention of somebody who wishes to take my money. Nothing. There is even a lull of silence while somebody is switching out one CD of incomprehensible rap crap for another.

I break up a gang of clerks trying to hit on some young girl and point to what I've decided to purchase.

"Oh...we're out of that"

"It was in your ad that came out today."

"Yeah, but we don't have anymore of them."

"Hookay how about this one", I said, pointing to what was my second choice...a bit more in price but one I was willing to settle for.

"Uhhhhh.....no more of those either."

I kind of rolled my eyes and said "just which of all these monitors you have displayed here do you actually have for sale?".

He then proceeded to show me a fine selection of 3 crappy monitors that I had no interest in buying. He did offer to sell me the display models....no discount....no warranty. No thanks.

Long story short; I went elsewhere to look for a monitor. I discovered that I could just get a whole new computer for not much more than I would pay for a high quality monitor. I started considering that my old computer was beginning to show signs of breaking down and decided to just take the plunge.

I wouldn't go back to Best Buy if they were giving out cookies and back rubs. I have a nice new computer to play with and didn't have to wade through all the bullshit to get it.

Though....I am stuck with Vista now.

Male Dysmorphic Disorder

The disadvantage of working in the mental health field is that all my colleagues like to diagnose each other....to label whatever minor or major weirdness in an effort to hone one's clinical skills and alleviate boredom during slow periods at work. One such co-worker suggested that I may be suffering from a dysmorphic disorder; more commonly known as an eating disorder due to a false self image of one's own body.

Well hell........as if I don't have enough to worry about.

I really don't think I have an eating disorder. Sure, I like food but the tendency to overeat and eat the wrong foods don't come from any deep seated psychological trauma, just bad habits. Though I often feel guilty if I've overindulged, I've certainly never contemplated purging as a means of canceling out a big pig out. I hate vomiting. Thinking about it makes me want to..well..vomit.

I also don't believe I have a faulty self image of myself. I think I'm fat but I know that I'm not near the gut dragging size of many men my age. I spent some time in the courthouse yesterday doing what I do most times when I'm summoned to testify about a case; sit in the hallway and wait, and wait, and wait. While waiting I was noticing all the lawyers scurrying to and fro with enormous bellies protruding like cowcatchers on locomotives. Even cops, who I assumed must keep some level of fitness for their jobs, looked like they were about to give birth to twins. I loved it because it made the self image I had of my body soar.

So what do I want? To be like the photo above?

Not really. I just want to have a flattened stomach. A defined chest and arms. Legs too would be nice. I want to wear clothing because I like them rather to hide my body. I want to be slimmer so that I can be more active. I want to be healthier so that I can live longer. As my role model and hero Terry says, "I want to extend my best if used by date".

I'm pretty sure that the guy at work is wrong about his diagnosis of my mental disorder. At least that's what the voices are telling me.

I Wasn't Always Fat

Lately I've been thinking about being fat and how that transformation happened while I wasn't paying any attention. Being fat is still a relatively unexplored country for me. I use to be thin. Scrawny, as a matter of fact.

I was the stereotypical 98-pound weakling for a good deal of my puberty. Right about the time of 17, I hit 120 pounds and stayed at that weight for over a decade. It was frustrating. No matter what I ate or what I did....my weight stayed a rock solid 120.

So I quit worrying about it. I ate whatever I wanted with the confidence that it would have no effect. I slowed down and pursued more sedentary activities with the thought that exercise would do nothing but make me sore. Then....little by little...year after year....calories and gravity started to do it's magic around my body's mid-section. Being nuevo fat as opposed to being a big guy in the first place, my fat is not distributed evenly. I'm not portly. I'm not chubby. I'm certainly not jolly about my body. I have a hanging gut that my frame is having difficulty supporting. The type of fat that I am actually hurts....and that pain holds me back in efforts to get back the body I dimly remember.

It truly sucks.

Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

Imagine that you sit down for breakfast one fine morning to a heaping bowl of about 46 sugar cubes. It would probably make even the least health conscious among us gag with that much sweetness all at once. Yet, this is about how much sugar a lot of us will eat during the day.

Now, imagine two 1 lb bags of sugar plopped on your table and being told that it's part of your diet for the week. Think you would start to get an idea of why it's difficult to lose weight and stave off diabetes?

Imagine up to 150 of those one pound bags each and every year.

It's easy to let sugar slip into our diet. There is sugar in everything. Lots of foods have sugars in them naturally..but food manufacturers aren't content to leave well enough alone and dump more in the form of syrups to make it more tasty, therefore attractive, so as to make money. You can't even get away with foods that declare "low sugar or no sugar added" since the alternative is artificial sweeteners that either have the same effect on your body or may do far worse damage in the long run.

It even appears that the more "healthy" a particular food product is touted as being, the more sugar it has. I was looking around in the grocery yesterday for some breakfast bars that I could slip into my desk for a quick meal when needed. All the healthy and diet bars had a sugar content roughly twice as much as a Snickers candy bar....and I'm willing to bet a Snickers would taste better, it would certainly be cheaper. It is an ongoing struggle to find foods that are convenient and cheap without being loaded with sugar.

Or sodium....but don't get me started on that.

Monday Cat Blogging

Emotional Eating

A drug is typically defined as a substance that produces a metabolic change in the body. Sometimes those changes affect the chemistry in our brains and can alter our mood. That's why alcohol has been so popular since humans first stumbled across it; despite the fact that it really tastes downright nasty. Don't give me any of that connoisseur crap about fine wines and beers...it's all flavorings to mask the fact that you are drinking spoiled grapes and grains. People drink for the effect of alcohol, period, and that effect is that it makes you feel good. The trap many people find themselves in is using alcohol to feel good, then using it not to feel bad, then using it whenever they do feel bad because they seem to feel bad pretty much all the time.

It's very much the same with food. Our brains have been hardwired by evolution to respond in a positive manner when we eat. When we have stress or feel lousy, our brains send out signals to do something to fix the problem. The brain doesn't really know the difference between the discomfort of having your leg bitten off by a saber toothed lion or anxiety of a boss chewing out your ass at work. All the brain knows is that it is uncomfortable...and the brain is all about comfort.

Of course, what's more comforting than eating? Your mouth is engaged. Your stomach is getting filled. Your brain is happy....and when your brain is happy, so are you.

Yet we slip oh so easily into the same trap with all other drugs. Over the years, you find yourself eating as a response to any emotion. We no longer eat because we are hungry. We eat as a coping mechanism.

We get fat.

We feel depressed about being fat.

So we eat because we are depressed.

We get fatter.

One hell of a merry-go-round that some of us ride trying to figure how to get off. The only way I have come up with is to take a pause before I go after that donut, or bag of chips, or soda....and ask myself why I am eating. Usually, I come up the answer that I'm bored or stressed. Hardly ever is it because I am actually hungry.

The pisser is that one cannot quit eating like we would tell an alcoholic or crack addict to quit using their drug of abuse. Still, it is fairly accepted theory in addiction treatment that it's not the drug that causes our addiction but a developed mindset that links emotion to the use of a drug. Addicts are not treated by simply taking away their drug but by helping them change the way they think.

No easy task...whether it be heroin or nachos.

I Know How to Cook

strips of lean pork
greeen and red pepper
red cabbage
edamame
water chestnut
snow pea pod
daikon radish
...over a bed of rice

with a bit of hot sauce, of course

Monday Cat Blogging

Monday Cat Blogging

Super Duper Bowl

I've never been able to get worked up about Super Bowl Sundays. My friends think that I'm just kidding when they ask me "which team I'm rooting for" and I reply that I don't even know who is playing. I find watching football on TV to be rather boring. In fact, watching just about any sport on TV pretty much fails to hold my interest. There is something intrinsically weird about sitting on one's rear end and shoveling junk food down one's throat while watching athletes perform. Going to a game at a stadium is a bit different; it's more of an event and I can appreciate the entertainment value though it wears thin for me after an hour or so.

I actually wish I did like watching sports on TV. I would always have something to watch. My cable has about a dozen channels with some type of football game going on 24/7.

But maybe that would be a bad thing. Can I afford to spend every evening and day-off plopped in front of the tube watching athletes rather than trying to become one?