Five Pounds

That's right, I lost five pounds this week, woo hoo! That means I'm down to 206. I excercised every weekday last week, and I followed the Weight Watchers point system pretty well. I think I got my focus back.

Taxman, Mr. Thief!

So, I quit procrastinating and did my taxes yesterday. Ouch! I'm getting nailed. Last year between what I got back in State and owed in Federal, it was about a wash, but this year I made a little extra freelance money and my estimated tax payments didn't cover it. Plus, my son John no longer qualifies for the $1,000 child tax credit because he's now 17. Since when is 17 not still a child? Plus he turned 17 on December 24, so shouldn't they at least pro-rate the credit?

I know taxes are a necessary evil, but holy smoke. It's not like I'm rolling in the money. I make a good 30K/year less than the average here in this county. Could I be a better money manager? Sure. However, I think it kind of becomes a disincentive to earn extra money if you get hit so hard. Oh, well. Onward and upward, but it would be a lot easier to pay taxes if I knew they weren't wasting so much on inflated government salaries and pointless programs.

Get thee hence!

So a few hours after that last post, I went to a meeting at work. The person who called the meeting always generously supplies tasty snacks as an incentive to attendees.

Anyway, the snacks happen to be three of my favorite things: pretzels, Garden Salsa Sun Chips and (worst of all) Peanut M&Ms! Arrgghh!

You'll be happy to know that I was able to resist even the pretty sparkly colors of the M&Ms. I may be finally in the zone. Once I'm locked in, I can't be locked out.

211

All right, I'm officially a fatass.

I weighed in yesterday at 211 pounds. I have a small frame, thin arms and legs and stand barely over 5'10". I have stuggled with weight most of my life. I first put on weight in grade school, somewhere between first and second grade. I was the "fat kid" in class until I hit puberty. Once that happened, I was a rail. I stayed skinny until right about the time I got married. Then I put on a pound or two, but nothing serious until the kids came. The next thing I knew, I weighed about 220 pounds. I was not happy, I was not healthy.

I decided to join Jenny Craig and within three months, I was back to my high school weight (165). I managed to keep it off for several years, but as time and laziness crept in, I started to gain some back. Sometimes I could get control of it, sometimes I couldn't.

A few years ago, I had crept back up to close to 200 pounds so I went on Weight Watchers. Using their program, I lost all the weight again and again, kept it off until now. I just have lost my will power. It's not the excercise because I ride a stationary bike pretty much everyday. My problem is (a) snacking at work and (b) snacking in the evenings. As evidenced above, when I focus on it, I can lose weight pretty quickly, but it's getting that focus that has been hard for me lately.

You know what's annoying? You always hear about how women are forced to be thin and saddled with body image issues, but no one cares when it happens to a man. It's completely emasculating to be the fat guy, trust me. No one takes you as seriously. Plus, all the weight loss programs are geared for women. When I went to Jenny Craig, I almost turned around and left because it was so feminine in its approach. Is it so far-fetched to believe guys want to lose weight too?

Maybe if I track my progress here, it will help me get my focus back.

An elephant never forgets ...

I had to go downtown yesterday for a meeting at the Department of Agriculture. I got there about an hour earlier than I needed to be there, so I killed the time over at the Museum of Natural History. I've always loved that elephant and I find it comforting that it's still there.

And then there's the king ...



He's just all around cool.

My dog

Odin, my dog, head-butted me this morning. Well, I guess it wasn't really a head butt, it was more of a snout butt. He hit my in the eye with his giant, slobbery snout. It's what he considers to be "playing."