Day 356

Okay, I missed a day again. I apologize, but classes started yesterday and I was wiped out last night. It takes a lot of effort to kick off a semester, and I have a lot of classes on two different campuses for two different schools. I also have the usual glitch stuff, like a student who somehow, mysteriously, got dropped out of the university’s computer grading system after I posted her grade at the end of the fall semester. She emailed that she didn’t understand why she received an “F” (she didn’t), and when I tried to check it – poof she wasn’t even there anymore. Thirteen days of trying to get the registrar to care later, I finally have the assistant registrar involved and hopefully she will get the grade she needs. Meanwhile, the same computer system dropped her out of her second half freshman English class because she had failed the first half (which she didn’t). “Round and round we go…”

Out of the blue this morning the wife said, “I can tell you are losing weight” and that really helped. I’m passing up candy machines and soft drink machines and Starbucks right and left, and it’s good to know that maybe it really is helping. I do feel healthier – and that might be the additional veggies, or the awful V-8 juice, or the better food overall or whatever. Works for me. Belly – that’s where guys keep the extra weight – out front where you can see it. Not hidden on the back of legs or on their hips or butts (for the most part) but right out there in front. Where you have to hitch your pants up all the time. And, according to experts, right where it matters the most. Both from a health standpoint and a “looks bad” standpoint. Up front and honest. Hate it. Hate it a lot.

Been doing breakfast virtually every morning and that’s getting even easier. I used to hate eating first thing – and by first thing, I mean any time within an hour of getting up at the minimum. It’s funny. On vacation (when we actually have time for one), it’s no big deal. Love breakfast first thing then. But in the day-to-day routine of the average week, it’s been a hassle. No more (at least, I don’t think so). I have cereal daily. Usually Cheerios (oats and all that) and I found a good breakfast oats/corn flake sort of cereal (with yogurt) made by a company called “Mom’s.” Says they have been around thirty years, but I don’t know where because I’ve never seen them. Good stuff though. And speaking of cereal. I’ve travelled a little and there is nothing weirder to me than going down the cereal aisle in the typical American grocery store and seeing a hundred different types of cereal. In other countries, there are a few. We have unlimited possibilities. Cheerios. Cheerios with banana. Cheerios with strawberries. Cheerios with – you name it. All kinds of good-for-you (they say) cereals and all kinds of ain’t-no-way-my-mom-would-have-ever-bought-it-kinds (like Count Dracula, and cereal with candy in it and cereal that is little cinnamon buns. Come on now!). Anyway, doing it and liking it. Who’d a thought?

With classes on now, I grab something for lunch on campus on MWF. We have the usual gamut of mediocre places – Mexican food, Chinese, sushi (bait), chicken, pizza, etc. – but we also have salads (pretty decent ones) and some good sandwiches. So I can do that if I am careful. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have an hour between classes and nowhere to really eat as the campus there is pretty poorly equipped for any decent meals. To help, I am taking some almond slivers and some real cheese hunks and trying to find something that will keep the blood sugar evened out while still being somewhat satisfying and easy to carry. I have a professorial shoulder bag with books, assignments, syllabuses, and a lot of other stuff, and I’m a little too old for a Star Trek lunch box, so it has to fit in my bag around the essentials or in a pocket. Still working on it.

I did have a few graham crackers with some peanut butter (for the protein) when I got home, as it was really too late for lunch and still considerably too early for dinner. Worked okay and I shared with the dog. Does that count?

Dinner was light last night. A two-egg omelet with a very little lean ham and some dry toast. Worked fine. Before that was some leftover veggie chili. Tonight was a splurge for a local burger, ‘cause sometimes we are both just too tired to cook or we want to get out of the house. Still relatively light. Passed on any dessert or drink and it’s now just past seven, so nothing else tonight.

Haven’t heard the wild M&M’s lately, but I know they’re out there. Waiting. Watching. And I might just have a few when I want. This is about changes, not deprivation. But it’s also about getting to where I want to be in less than a year. And that is more important than anything else.

See you tomorrow – if all goes well. Should be – after the first couple of days of classes things settle down some.

_Average Joe
Somewhere, USA