Day 358

Just wandered into the kitchen (not very far, as I can see into it from my little office). A little hungry, and having to sort that out to make sure that’s what it is and not boredom or frustration (water frozen issues). Yep, hungry. Had a look in the cookie jar (actually a fat lady ceramic one we refer to simply as “the fat lady”), and decided why not a piece of fruit. Okay, I know it’s a tad radical for me, the pretty much a non-fruit eater guy, but I grabbed one of the oranges we got a few days ago (before it got so darn cold). I’ve been messing with the water here as I let it freeze up some and the kitchen faucet is actually the closest to the well, but the farthest from the on-demand water heater. It is also mounted outside (the water heater, not the kitchen faucet), and we did that for space reasons (small house, remember?) and because the itty-bitty Japanese instructions said it was okay to do (and actually the preferred method when using gas or propane). I know it gets pretty darn cold in Japan, so we figured what the heck. Made sense. But with the extraordinary cold here at the moment, and the fact that we are 1800 feet up on the side of a hill (with gorgeous views), I guess I will have to put a heater strip on to keep it from happening again.

Anyway, back to the orange. Good, sweet, and just about perfect for right now. I really hate the white membrane that remains when you peel an orange, but actually love (okay, maybe too strong a word) the fruit, so I have to either figure out how to peel better (quite the likely answer) or find a better, membrane-less (if there is such a thing) orange. If so, it’s likely Japanese or German, as those guys really seem to know how to do things like that. Or maybe there's one from California, as they always seem to be on the cutting edge (with fruit, veggies, cars, architecture, and just plain weirdness).

Like some other things about this journey, it’s not quite as hard as I thought it would be to keep focused on doing the right things, but then again, things aren’t normal here at the moment, and by that I mean, the “regular routine.” Although that too changes, semester to semester. For example, I had classes at 8:00 am MWF last semester, which meant getting up at 6:00. On Tu/Th, they were at 9:30, which meant I got up at 7:00 on those days. This semester, I have classes starting at 11:00 or so (at least at the moment. I’ve had two changes ion the last few days). So this semester will shake itself out as some sort of routine, likely up at 7:00 or so everyday so I can write (and grade papers).

Breakfast was Cheerios again. The honey nut kind is good and, as a guy, I can always use the healthy benefits of the oats part. Lunch was left over gourmet pizza from our sort-of friend, the raw chef’s restaurant. It’s one of the hidden wonders here and in a town that no one, and I mean nobody, would ever expect it to be. The pizza is whole-wheat crust, thin, with several types of lettuce on it, goat cheese, and pistachios. Yeah, me too. I though no way, not at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. My wife ordered it last night and I tried a piece. Amazing. So we split the last two pieces at lunch today and had some leftover homemade soup. Good value (essentially free at this point), nutritious (I really do know what that means), and easy to do. No muss, no fuss, minimal cleanup (no hot water, remember?).

Not sure what dinner will be, but it might be Cuban black bean soup (probably not – getting kind of burned out on soup at the moment), or it could be my semi-famous Mexican cornbread (stuffed with peppers, onion, corn, some cheese). KL has mentioned making her really famous veggie chili. It has squash in it of all things, and as a guy who has eaten chili all his life, it amazes me. I really like it, but I have to have crackers (wheat, of course) to go with it, and we are fresh out at the moment.
Will have to see what shakes out there. Usually I write this after dinner – sometime between then and bedtime – so I’m really early at the moment.

The girl went home – to find she too had water in her yard and some issue with pipes there. She’s only three hours away, and it’s cold there too at the moment. She called to ask me what to do – Dad and all – and she’s already got it handled. She is super capable, and an amazing young woman. There is little she thinks she can’t do, and she is right about most of it. The rest she just asks me because she thinks I know pretty much everything (and if I wasn’t so humble, I’d state that I sort of do - okay, not really, but I’ve done a lot of different things in the past).

If I wasn’t teaching I could be a relatively good handyman as I have, at one time or another, managed my own businesses, done international consulting (where I had access to a Gulf Stream jet – the only way to fly), worked on the Alaska Pipeline (Point Barrow - about as far north as I ever want to be again), owned a stained glass studio (with work I designed all over the US, some in Europe, and even a few pieces in the Middle East), renovated houses, been a real estate mogul (okay, not really. But I did have 20 houses at one time), worked as a research librarian, been a derrick man 200 feet up in the air in the oil fields, designed electronic gas process instrumentation from scratch (and installed and maintained it up 400-500 feet in the air), cleaned houses, and a few other things I can’t remember at the moment. And that doesn’t count the hobbies and stuff (some serious, some stupid) I did for fun.

Oh - I just got the hot water going again and all looks fine. Whew. Seems like it's always something.

Anyway, the quest for health seems to be going good at the moment. I weighed in again this morning and I am still even with the original eight pounds lost. I’ll take that, and raise you about another 50 or so. I hope. Scratch that. I know. Maybe (maybe more).

-Average Joe
Somewhere, USA