The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach

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  • Week 9 in the program

    The truly observant will notice that somehow I skipped from Week 7 to Week 9. I’m not a time traveler… I had miscounted earlier. *sigh*

    Weight this week | Change since last week | Total change
    318.8 | -6.6 | -49.6
    Blood Pressure | Systolic | Diastolic
    * | 120 | 70

    I fell just short of the magic number, 50 lbs total weight loss.  That would put me halfway to my first goal.  Oh, well, I’ll take a 6 lb/wk loss rate.  My blood pressure is now in the normal range and seems stable, which is nice.

    People at PWMC were nicely supportive.  I’m going to say something all other dieters are going to hate, but this actually hasn’t been too hard.  I think the HMR system is uniquely suited to my own quirks.  For example, I don’t missing cooking at all, and despite being a continual grazer, I don’t actually miss food all that much.  A lot of the weekly class revolves around strategies for variety, which leaves me cold.  I’m OK with eating the same 4 or 5 things day in and day out.  I like not having to work at it.

    That said, there are still challenges.  When I’m in school and on schedule, everything’s easy, but weekends and snow days still throw me for a loop.  I’m not sure how well I’ll handle my upcoming conference and trip to Chicago.  But most days, this is remarkably easy.  Still, a long long way to go remains, and then I face the challenge of maintenance.

    weight-2009_0203bp-2009_0203

  • 25 Things

    There is a viral meme going around Facebook about listing 25 random things about yourself. It’s not accurate, since people spend some time crafting the 25 things (so they’re not really random … it’s not like people write 500 things and do a Monte Carlo selection or anything). Anyone, I got tagged by Annie and gamely set out to make my list, which is reproduced below the fold.
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  • Somewhere Beyond the Bitter End

    This is another in my intermittent series of posting things I’d written long before, so that they’re out there on the Net. I wrote this one quite some time ago, back when I was in the Bard Writing Workshop that Hun runs. I wrote most of it after taking a quick walk on a brisk October day right before that day’s meeting of Bard — so yes, this is yet another of my last-minute desperate writings because I didn’t have anything. But it came out OK. I eventually submitted it to The Hun Review and it made it … in 2007, I think.

    The title comes from a Patty Griffin song.
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  • Week 7 on HMR

    Weight this week | Change since last week | Total change
    325.4 | -5.8 | -43.0
    Blood Pressure | Systolic | Diastolic
    * | 120 | 80

    I had a pretty good week, losing almost six pounds. It’s not quite a record but I’ll take it. 🙂 My blood pressure has clearly settled down to an equilibrium, as it is now bumping between 120/84 and 110/80 weekly. My doctor has decided I need only biweekly visits, and I’ll be having blood work done monthly rather than biweekly. All in all a very satisfying round of progress.
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    bp-2009_0127

  • Week 6 on HMR

    Weight this week | Change since last week | Total change
    331.2 | -4.2 | -37.2
    Blood Pressure | Systolic | Diastolic
    * | 110 | 84

    It would seem I’ve hit my steady state in the program. Weight loss is bumping around 5 lbs weekly, which is more than satisfactory. My blood pressure also seems to have leveled off and found its equilibrium value. I’m still in for the long haul but it honestly hasn’t been so bad so far.
    weight-2009_01201
    bp-2009_0120

  • Health of the Republic: Reset to 50%

    It’s been a while since I’ve updated this ticker.  And it remains completely arbitrary, of course.  But with a new administration taking hold of the reins, it’s time for some (cautious) optimism about the restoration of the Republic.  I have genuine high hopes for Barack Obama and his people.  I think this is a smart, dedicated man who “gets” America — not the stupid rah-rah of the Bush years, but a deep and abiding commitment to the principles of this great nations — the principles that, in fact, make this nation great.

    On the other hand…  only 50%?  But yes, there are still the forces of malice and stupidity.  Over a quarter of the population somehow thinks the 43rd President did a good job.  Nearly 20% believe Saddam Hussein sent the 9/11 highjackers!  The Republicans are licking their wounds, but they’re not reforming.  We face a financial and economic criss of literally once-a-century severity, with a significantly weakened industrial and social base from which to launch a recovery.  We are still embroiled in two wars which appear intractable, and we still do have people out there hoping to cause us real harm.  And we’ve got all the long-lasting pernicious effects of the Bush administration — from torture to spying to “burrowing” — to overcome.

    So, here’s a glass lifted in celebration and anticipation of you, President Barack Hussein Obama.  Good luck and godspeed.

    Now, let’s get to work.

  • Worst. President. EVER.

    I know it’s early to ring in with the verdict of history and I know there’s room for reasonable debate. But I feel pretty sure that this will indeed be the epitaph of George Walker Bush, 43rd President of the United States (to our everlasting chagrin and shame). Hopefully the crimes committed by he and his cronies will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and the nation will reach a consensus on exactly how disastrous the past eight years have been – largely, I would point out, through acts of will, not acts of God. While others will compiled fuller lists, and while I intend to steal mercilessly as I compile this, what follows below the fold is my recitation of the sins of W:
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  • Really interesting MLK clip

    Apparently, someone at the BBC unearthed this snippet of an interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in which he is asked about RFK’s 1964 prediction of a Negro President within 40 years.  King says he wouldn’t be amazed if it came sooner.  (Interesting that RFK was right within 4 years… not a bad piece of prognostication!)

  • America the Beautiful

    A stirring rendition, courtesy of Beyoncé at HBO’s “We Are One” Inauguration Concert.

  • Noted with approval

    emptywheel makes an excellent point we don’t hear enough, in commenting on the US Airways crash into the Hudson.  Noting that no one died and indeed injuries were comparatively slight, emptywheel reminds us that “This Miracle Brought to You by America’s Unions“.