Basically on Aug 4th I did something I hadn’t done in years, got a physical that included blood tests.
The tests didn’t come out very good to say the least and it looked like a lot of drugs and needles heading my way when the only medicine I have every been on was for blood pressure and that has only been for the last year or so.
I saw the results on MyChart and read them to my wife who gave me the bad news before the nurse-practitioner could call me. At that moment I resolved that I would try to take care of the problem myself, no shots, no pills, no cutting out half of my stomach.
I called the nurse-practitioner on the Feast of St. Myron of Crete (August 8th) and told the doctor that I was going to give myself one year from that date to get myself in better shape and if next year on that date my blood tests were still horrible I’d submit to whatever medication she would prescribe but I got myself into this problem so I want to try to get myself out of it.
On Aug 3rd I weighed in at 303.3
As of 15 minutes ago (Oct 23rd 6 am) I’m at 280 on the nose. My goal is 250. I choose 250 because all my old clothes will still fit me at 250 if I go below that weight I have to buy new stuff and nothing becomes more discouraging than losing weight, buying new clothes and then slowing growing to big for them again.
For those interested here is
DaTechguy’s Personal Diet
No fast food: McDonalds, Wendy’s Burger king OUT
No bread (I get two slices when I go out for breakfast that’s it)
No sausage (I had one piece a week ago) 1st since Aug 8th
No chocolate bars (had one since the 8th)
No candy, cake etc basically no deserts
No Ice Cream (I’ve had two servings since Aug 8th)
No potatoes (two servings since Aug 8th)
Salads with a mean whenever possible simple oil/vinegar dressings only
Soups when possible
Soda only if a restaurant has iffy water
Lots of peppers, onions & garlic
No Pasta (UPDATE forgot to include this in the list)
NO SECOND HELPINGS NO EXCEPTIONS!
I don’t have “cheat days” but what I do have is a rule that if there is a birthday or a holiday (Christmas, Thanksgiving) all these rules are suspended for the day but I don’t go nuts.
That and I’ve added walking when possible and the elliptical twice a week when It’s not.
I’m on track to hit my goal by Valentines day but I do have till aug 8th so It’s looking good and the NP has scheduled a blood test next month to check on the progress.
D J Giles:Just a minute. You’re selling horses to Maximilian in preference to your own country’s army?
John Henry Thomas: No, I’m selling horses for $35 in preference to 25.
The Undefeated 1969
There are a lot of really stupid arguments being made by a lot of people who think they’re very smart concerning what this election comes down to.
But for all the idiocy that’s being spewed by “experts” let me break it down to one simple thing.
The best fish in the city of Fitchburg Massachusetts is at the 5th Street Diner. This has been true since they opened in the year of the great Ice Storm. It was true when Ed and Tina ran the place as husband and wife and it’s still true now that they have broken up and Tina works the morning and Ed the evenings. No matter how you slice it they have the best fish and chips and I would highly recommend it to anyone.
But if you want to understand what his election is all about I can’t think of a better example then the fish and chips at the dinner.
Four years ago when Donald Trump was president I could go down to the 5th street diner and get my fish and chips and a diet coke with a ten dollar bill in my pocket (they don’t take plastic)
When I got the same meal today four years later, it cost me a $20.
Yesterday I went to lunch with my two older brothers. The oldest of us is 74 the middle turns 70 this December and I’m bringing up the rear at 61. We are all very different but we have one big thing in common, one marriage very long. I’ve been married 36, the middle one 39 years and my oldest 54 years. That’s a combined 129 years of being married without a divorce.
I’ve failed at a lot of things in life, but marriage is something all three of us have aced.
Of the three of us my oldest brother is the best in managing money and avoiding debt. In fact he said he had done so well lately he insisted on paying for lunch only asking for a fiver to make the tip come out right. He’s not what anyone would call “rich” but he’s doing OK and his children, grandchildren are pretty much set. He was once been asked what was the secret of his ability to make smart financial decisions and avoiding debts.
His answer, getting married at the age of 20 and having a daughter at 21 forced him to be prudent with his cash and make good decisions to keep his family going.
So many people run away from responsibility at 19 and 20 saying they have their whole life ahead of them but the reality is that if you run toward responsibility when you are young you won’t end up living with your parents with a bunch of college debt and no prospect to have a house.
It’s ironic because that’s the trajectory of George “Georgie” Cooper in Young Sheldon. He ends up getting married before 20, having a child before twenty and having to, while raising his own family help keep things together for his mother and sister with his fathers sudden death and eventually grows up to be, as the older Sheldon describes him “A loser who sells more tires than anyone in Texas”.
My brother never got rich but he also only had the one marriage, advantage Tony.
One of the reasons why neither of my brothers are rich is that both while civil servants who worked for the state for decades were incorruptible. Both had plenty of opportunities for graft if they had chosen to take them and had temptation put out in front of them in terms of money and women etc but turned it down.
They were wise enough to recognize these temptations as traps because once you cross that line those who know you did or find out you did own you. I suspect this drives a lot of the corruption in both the state and federal governments , people crossing the line, people who want favors using that to gain more favors. That’s how a Joe Biden and a Nancy Pelosi become multi millionaires on a member of congress’ salary.
I also suspect this is why Joe Biden and the left is so determined to crush the middle class out of existence. A person who is content with a middle class life isn’t owned by others and can’t be easily manipulated.
I arrived second for our lunch yesterday and found one of my brothers sitting outside in the beautiful day for us and sat with him. I had just had a VERY annoying experience in solving a problem that shouldn’t have existed that had put me off and relished the chance to vent about it to my brother outside of other people’s hearing. It was just what I needed at the time.
One of the hardest things about being the generation whose turn it is to die is you start to run out of people to vent to. You don’t have parents or elders for advice because you’re the elder and the number of people who you’ve known all your life decreases with age as people start dropping dead.
I suspect I won’t have both of my brothers for more than a few years at most. So I plan on taking advantage of this and having regular bi-monthly lunches with them while we still can.
My youngest son realizes this dynamic as well. He walked over to the house after his work yesterday and we spent a hour chatting and then hitting the local 99’s to watch the Bruins be eliminated from the playoffs on a late goal with under 2 minutes (their specialty) It was two hours of talk, chat and company and I found myself talking to him about the times my dad would drive me to the nearest comic book store in Harvard Square which was 60 miles away (this was in the 70’s when such stores were rare) those were good times. My youngest is a lot like my father, gregarious, cooks up a storm and seems to be loved by everyone around him and he seems to recognize the value of this time we get together while it’s still in play.
That’s wisdom.
One of the few really bright points about the cuts and work and my current shift. My best mass window is the 6 PM mass right after work on Sunday which happens to be the mass my sons attend together weekly. So I am spoiled in terms of time with them lately. Of course at the end of a 10 hour day that starts a 5:17 AM I’m not up for much
Today however I have off, alas my wife will be working but both sons are free so we’ll be heading up to Manchester on a road trip to the Tycoon Arcade (we talked about them during my Pintastic ne 2024 coverage)
While my youngest is into the pinball scene my oldest oldest isn’t a big arcade guy but again it’s the time together that is of value. Last weekend DaWife and I went with him to help setup at a New Hampshire Renaissance Fair where he was volunteering to spend time with a friend. The time together was of great value and as he grows closer to a decision on a vocation within the church these times together become of even more value because if that what he is called to such times will likely cease to exist.
That’s also one of the advantages of not actually having a machine, it gives an excuse to do something and makes such a trip more enjoyable. Because when it comes down to it no matter what you have, whether it’s pinball machines or games or anything else it’s pretty much stuff and how much of the stuff you have do you really use on a regular basis? One of the best parts of getting older is the realization that stuff does not bring happiness. It can be the basis for a pleasant memory but it’s the memory, not the stuff that produces the smile.
I made some pleasant memories with my brothers yesterday. I’ll make some pleasant memories with my sons today. Take my advice and if your day is free or if you have a free day coming up, use it to make pleasant memories with people you like while they are available. It will pay a higher dividend than any of the stuff you aquire.
In yesterday’s Under the Fedora I mentioned both that the reason I had not made it to CPAC lately was my full time job and also how DaTipJar has been falling short to the point where this will likely be the blog’s last year.
Well it only took 24 hours for things to get worse.
Things have been nasty at my work for a couple of years. The normal peak seasons at Christmastime that were crazy during the Trump years lasted less that a week. We closed two warehouses in the area and every single temp worker at our place was let go.
All of this despite the insistence of the media/left that our economy is absolutely fantastic and we need to thank the Biden Administration for it. Well I’ll give them this much, I do give Joe Biden/Obama credit for the economy we have. I got another dose of that economy last night.
Yesterday we were told that my shift, the 2nd shift is to be eliminated. I don’t know what my new shift is going to be but the end results at minimum are
a 4% pay decrease
Daily mass at best eliminated for 3 days a week and at worst eliminated completely
A 67% chance that I’ll have to give up both running the parish Adoration and my two hours
The joys of early mornings and rush hour traffic
And not only a shift no longer corresponding with my wife but because she sleeps in a recliner due to hip issues an excellent chance of waking her each morning and disrupting her sleep every day.
At my age and with the economy we have there is not much I can do I’ve done two of the three things that can be done.
I’ve arranged a Mass with all of us at the company as the Mass intention.
I voted for Trump today when I had the chance.
The only other thing I can do is ask you to consider hitting DaTipJar and or Sharing this post for that purpose. I’ll cut back and we’ll get by the best we can.
But if you would like to give a hand it would be most appreciated.
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