Fit by 60! - TomO's Pledge

Tom, I know exactly what your saying. Even though I haven't dumped a ton of weight yet, from all the working out I've done in the past year, I can FEEL a huge difference. I feel so much stronger, and my breathing is so much better. It's amazing! I'm really excited to see how much of a difference there will be for me in another 6 months. YEAH!! Have a great weekend!:jump:
Kim
 
Thanks for dropping by, Cannon, Blancita, & Kim!

Weight this morning: 221.6 -- nice, after jumping up to 223 over the weekend. We'll see what happens by the end of the month.

I rode my bike 34 miles on Friday, and 43 miles on Saturday, so I got a fair amount of exercise in. Also, my diet was pretty good over the weekend.

Yesterday afternoon the clutch on our car gave out (yes, we have a manual transmission), so this morning, instead of my bike ride, I had to drive the car to the dealer in first gear. That was fun! Now I gotta wait for the bad news when they tell me how many hundreds of dollars I'll be out to fix it. ARGGHH!

Too bad I can't give up cars altogether, but Marlene needs one to get to her school. I've actually ridden to her school on my bike - 24 miles from our house -- but I'm not sure she'd be very receptive to that idea. No showers there, either, so she'd have to teach all day in sweaty clothes, a non-starter all by itself.

I read today there's a big teacher shortage all across the country -- baby boomer teachers are retiring, and new teachers are quitting in disgust. What do they expect, with NCLB? Turn every child into a number, don't provide the funding to improve things, penalize teachers who teach at the hardest schools, and gee whiz, teachers quit in disgust? How surprising!
 
Oh yes, we are in agreement once again. The article in the NY Times talked about how towns are fighting for teachers. I would think this would at least lead to a more equitable pay scale for our teachers.

Good job on your bike rides. 43 miles is absolutely loco!
 
I hear that's why we have a lot of teachers coming in from other countries, they are liking the salary here, go figure! I have a lot of friends who are teachers, so I don't even want to get started on this topic. Anyways, Man oh man Tom, your going to be in onederland real soon, I can feel it. Your dropping nice and slow, but it's happening. Every time I visit your diary lately I see a pound down, so I'm really excited for you. To bad your having car trouble, UGGGG!! been there and done that for to many years to count. I told myself I would never buy a new car, always a used car about 2 years old. But this last one, I broke down and bought new and so far, I'm happy I did. Cars can really give you a pain in the neck! Well, I hope it doesn't cost to much!! I'll check in later and see the damage.
Kim
 
Hi Tom,

Thanks for stopping by my diary today....Bruce and I were just remarking that we have not gotten out on our bikes yet!! Seems it is always something at our house and our calendar! (not an entirely bad thing...we are consistently working out otherwise, but we have to pencil in some time to get reaquainted with the fine art of bike riding!! LOL! :)
 
221-ish, OH YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, Marlene would be awfully sweaty--when I first moved to Santa Cruz I spent the first 3 years on my bike and on the bus and people at my work would sometimes complain about my BO, but damn, I tried to stay smellin like a rose!! I also wore all natural deoderant, which really doesn't work too well. I now use this crystal that works amazingly well, but whatever....BO SHmee-O.

I'm so sorry about the clutch....that's money right there!!

This country is awful to teachers. We really need a hardcore reform on the matter. Sometimes I wonder how Joe stands it. I think these teaches might have to bartend on the side or something!! It's kind of amazing, how people will throw their money away on alcohol but when it comes to children they complain about taxes. Weird. Maybe I should donate some wine!! Our company does that a lot, actually. Anyway, glad your weight is so close to the two-teens!!
 
Blancita said:
Oh yes, we are in agreement once again. The article in the NY Times talked about how towns are fighting for teachers. I would think this would at least lead to a more equitable pay scale for our teachers.
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I would hope so, but I don't think it's going to happen any time soon. Education is dependent on property taxes, which condemns it to be a political football, along with everyone who depends on it. On top of that, we have idiotic, short-sighted politicians who think they are experts on education just because they passed through 12 years of school.

Miss Ladybug said:
I hear that's why we have a lot of teachers coming in from other countries, they are liking the salary here, go figure! I have a lot of friends who are teachers, so I don't even want to get started on this topic. Anyways, Man oh man Tom, your going to be in onederland real soon, I can feel it. Your dropping nice and slow, but it's happening. Every time I visit your diary lately I see a pound down, so I'm really excited for you. To bad your having car trouble, UGGGG!! been there and done that for to many years to count. I told myself I would never buy a new car, always a used car about 2 years old. But this last one, I broke down and bought new and so far, I'm happy I did. Cars can really give you a pain in the neck! Well, I hope it doesn't cost to much!! I'll check in later and see the damage.
Kim
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Hi, Kim. I know I'll eventually get to onederland, but I'm guessing it will be about April of next year, if the Scale Gods are really charitable. The car thing is sure a drag -- I couldn't exercise yesterday, because I spent too much time taking care of it. I had to drive 20 miles to the dealer with no clutch -- that was fun! They tell me it will cost about $500 to fix it. Oh well, that's the first major repair in 95,000 miles, so I guess I shouldn't complain too much.


bethann1156 said:
Thanks for stopping by my diary today....Bruce and I were just remarking that we have not gotten out on our bikes yet!! Seems it is always something at our house and our calendar! (not an entirely bad thing...we are consistently working out otherwise, but we have to pencil in some time to get reaquainted with the fine art of bike riding!! LOL!
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Hmmmmm. . . Are you sure you and Bruce aren't just pulling my leg about having bikes? :D

Curvie Girlie said:
Yes, Marlene would be awfully sweaty--when I first moved to Santa Cruz I spent the first 3 years on my bike and on the bus and people at my work would sometimes complain about my BO, but damn, I tried to stay smellin like a rose!! I also wore all natural deoderant, which really doesn't work too well. I now use this crystal that works amazingly well, but whatever....BO SHmee-O.

I'm so sorry about the clutch....that's money right there!!

This country is awful to teachers. We really need a hardcore reform on the matter. Sometimes I wonder how Joe stands it. I think these teaches might have to bartend on the side or something!! It's kind of amazing, how people will throw their money away on alcohol but when it comes to children they complain about taxes. Weird. Maybe I should donate some wine!! Our company does that a lot, actually. Anyway, glad your weight is so close to the two-teens!!
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In order to have reform, your generation will have to get active in politics. I'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon.

Having any luck on your job search?

==============================================================

Weight this morning: 222.8 - up and down, up and down. Round 7 is taking forever! However, the ups are getting weaker and the downs are getting stronger, so I'm hoping I can win this round by the end of the month.

I rode 36 miles this morning at a fairly leisurely pace - 16 mph. I checked on the car on the way up the coast, and heard the bad news of $500, but at least it will be fixed by the end of today. I told them the "clutch cable" was broken. The guy laughed, and told me thay haven't had cables for clutches in a long, long time. Well, that certainly aged me!

I also stopped at the grocery store and bought $50 worth of food. I just barely managed to stuff it all in my pannier bags, but I did it. When I got home, the shrimp was still cold, the strawberries were fine, and the eggs were unbroken, so I'm a happy camper.

Anyway, my bike ride used up 1775 calories, so I should have a nice deficit for the day.
 
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ugh....car repairs...just paid $659 on mine in for 60k servicing and misc odds and ends. ouch.

yeah, we have bikes...honest....or at least the last time I looked in the garage we did....LOL!
 
That is a lot of calories used up!! I hope it helped shift some of the tension you doubtless built up during a 20 mile drive with no gear shifts!!

I didn't know that cars don't have clutch cables any more either. I also remember that they could be replaced for way under $500!
 
TomO said:
In order to have reform, your generation will have to get active in politics. I'm not sure that's going to happen any time soon.

Having any luck on your job search?

I rode 36 miles this morning at a fairly leisurely pace - 16 mph.
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My generation is just as lazy as I am--and we're all pretty shell-shocked from the tear gass and sleeper holds we see in school on political activists back in the day. UCSC went under tent campus last year and students got the fuck beaten out of them for trying to get free education to support the teacher strike--the Regents are just a big corporation. It's sad and hopeless.

No luck on jobs yet, I'm taking it easy and trying to remain Zen and not stressed.

WOW that is SOME deficit--and I remember the days where for years, I'd bring home bags of groceries on my bike--it was a work out, wow!
 
Interesting post TomO. You are a great husband doing the shopping and that.

Be happy its only $500, I'm paying lots lots more for my repairs right now. It totally sucks but that's life I guess (boo hoooooooooo). That's cute how you dated yourself with the clutch cable.

I will pray to the scale gods on your behalf.
 
bethann1156 said:
ugh....car repairs...just paid $659 on mine in for 60k servicing and misc odds and ends. ouch.

yeah, we have bikes...honest....or at least the last time I looked in the garage we did....LOL!
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And helmets, too? :D

felici said:
That is a lot of calories used up!! I hope it helped shift some of the tension you doubtless built up during a 20 mile drive with no gear shifts!!

I didn't know that cars don't have clutch cables any more either. I also remember that they could be replaced for way under $500!
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Yeah, a cable is cheap. Master and slave cylinders -- now that's some real money. Now I'm worried about when I have to change the batteries -- that's a several thousand dollar repair. The guy at the dealership told me that some of the Insights have lasted 150,000 miles without a change, so I'm hoping I have a ways to go. We're hoping to get a plug-in hybrid in about 3 years.

Curvie Girlie said:
My generation is just as lazy as I am--and we're all pretty shell-shocked from the tear gass and sleeper holds we see in school on political activists back in the day. UCSC went under tent campus last year and students got the fuck beaten out of them for trying to get free education to support the teacher strike--the Regents are just a big corporation. It's sad and hopeless.

No luck on jobs yet, I'm taking it easy and trying to remain Zen and not stressed.

WOW that is SOME deficit--and I remember the days where for years, I'd bring home bags of groceries on my bike--it was a work out, wow!
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It's not that your generation is "lazy"; rather, it's a product of our country having a "professional warrior class" whose job it is to fight the politicians wars while the rest of the country shops and consumes. The one thing the pols didn't count on, though, is that an endless war would eventually exhaust the military. And when the military is exhausted, there are only two choices - restart the draft, or stop the war. If they restart the draft, say goodbye to the political apathy of your generation. It'll be the '60's all over again.


wishes said:
glad im not the only one having car probs lol - the bikes getting a good workout
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Hi Wishes. Yes, I've actually ridden about 3 times as many miles on my bike in the last 10 weeks as I have in the car.

Blancita said:
Interesting post TomO. You are a great husband doing the shopping and that.

Be happy its only $500, I'm paying lots lots more for my repairs right now. It totally sucks but that's life I guess (boo hoooooooooo). That's cute how you dated yourself with the clutch cable.

I will pray to the scale gods on your behalf.
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I do all the cooking during the week, and Marlene does it on the weekends. And during the summer, when she's off, she does most of the cooking. When I cook, she does the dishes, and vice versa. It's a pretty good division of labor.

Our other car was facing a lot more in repairs, which is why we decided to sell it and go with one car.

================================================================
OK, yesterday was up, today is down - 221.8. Tomorrow will probably be back up again, LOL.

We had a great dinner last night. Our neighbor went fishing in Alaska and gave us some salmon he caught up there. Yummy. That was one of the best pieces of salmon I ever had, and cooked to perfection, if I do say so myself. Along with a lemon and fresh dill sauce, sauteed potatoes with herbs, and asparagus, it made for a fine meal -- much better, in fact, than the meal we had at a nice restaurant the night before.

That's why I don't enjoy going out to eat as much anymore. It seems like half the places we go to provide us with meals that are expensive and of lesser quality than I could do myself. So you just feel like you wasted your money. And on top of that you're charged $8 for a glass of wine, when the entire bottle could be had at the liquor store for $10.
 
Your so right Tom on a glass of wine costing 8 bucks and that's not even the best wine. LOL LOL I love my wine at dinner, so I know oh to well what your talking about. I see your weight is down a little again, OH YEAH!! See, the scale gods are liking you that's all I'm going to say. But with all the bike riding and weights you do, there is no way they couldn't. I was thinking about you the other day, when I went over to my BF's house for dinner, her hubby is a doctor and he likes a nice glass of scotch every now and again, we got into this big discussion about which scotch was the best and is there a huge difference in a pricier scotch tasting better, and he said "NO" it's all personal preference. So, I learned something that night. Maybe I'm passing up some good wines, because I'm thinking the more you pay the better they will taste, I'm sure I've lost out or passed by some good ones, because I just wasn't with the program, so to speak. I just felt like sharing that with you. :doh:
Kim
 
True about eating out. I think it boils down more to laziness and business for me. Plus I have a tiny kitchen, as do most apartments in this crowded ass city. I think I'd cook a lot more if I owned a house and didnt have access to a million take out restaurants that I can ring up til the wee hours.
 
Kim, there's a new book out called "Deluxe - how luxury lost its luster". It's premise is that 30 or 40 years ago, "luxury" used to mean something -- better materials, better workmanship, long life, etc. However, today it means precious little. You may spend hundreds of dollars for a name brand purse, but it's made just like all the other purses -- with cheaper leather and assembled in China.

So now you pay 10 or 12 times the cost of production for nothing more than a name.

I have no doubt this has affected the wine trade as well. Today, there are a lot of $5 wines that are every bit as good as their $20 counterparts.

With Scotch, I still think you can depend on some good quality, but only in the single malt variety. That's because the distilleries haven't changed that much, so a bottle of Dalwhinnie you purchase today is much the same as it was 30 years ago.

As for blended scotch, what you say is totally true. I've bought some $12 scotch at Trader Joes that is just as good as the $25 scotch at the liquor store.
 
Blancita said:
True about eating out. I think it boils down more to laziness and business for me. Plus I have a tiny kitchen, as do most apartments in this crowded ass city. I think I'd cook a lot more if I owned a house and didnt have access to a million take out restaurants that I can ring up til the wee hours.
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Yeah, cooking in a tiny kitchen is a challenge. Another BIG drawback about eating out a lot is that you have no real control over the ingredients. Sure, you can tell them to cut out the butter and salt, but you have no way of knowing if they really do it. When you make it on your own, you start getting used to the real taste of a vegetable, for example, as opposed to the taste of that vegetable slathered in butter and coated with salt.
 
TomO said:
If they restart the draft, say goodbye to the political apathy of your generation. It'll be the '60's all over again.
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No shit, huh!!??

TomO said:
Our neighbor went fishing in Alaska and gave us some salmon he caught up there. Yummy. That was one of the best pieces of salmon I ever had, and cooked to perfection.
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I'm seriously jealous--I have a second cousin in Homer and at a wedding a few years ago she brought Alaskan Smoked Salmon and it was the most delicious thing ever!!

Don't get me started on wine by the glass!!!!!
Nice weight!
 
What's wrong with wine by the glass? There's no way I could polish off a whole bottle, LOL, and Marlene doesn't like red wine, and I don't like white wine.
 
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