Weekend Update
Dieting and other good things
I have been watching what I eat since I am a marginal diabetic now. My last blood sugar test came in very well.
I essentially stopped eating candy and sweets sometime last year. I rarely have dessert anymore unless I am at Morton’s. Then, I will have dessert. For example, I bought a box of Girl Scout cookies last Saturday; thin mints, my personal favorites. Normally, the box would have been gone by the end of the weekend. I still have almost third of the box left now, a week later.
Carbohydrates are a challenge for me. I have been reducing them as well. I actually look at the nutritional serving information on food packages now when I never even gave them a passing glance. I used to enjoy bagels in the morning until I read that the brand I liked contained almost 60 grams of carbohydrates in one bagel and that did not include cream cheese, even light cream cheese.
I switched to English muffins with peanut butter; 28 grams of carbohydrates instead and just as filling. Of course, I have had to give up the banana that I used to have with the muffin.
Another new variation with my diet has been to increase my greens consumption. I usually have a salad for lunch now and do not altogether miss the sandwiches and hamburgers and French fried potatoes.
I also have taken to adding chili powder and salsa to the salads I make at home. I read somewhere that eating spicy foods was good for you and that this was a simple way to add spice to your diet. Surprisingly, this all tastes rather good. I will admit that it does take some time to get used to though.
The net result of my eating better has been a slow and steady weight loss. So far, I think I have lost close to 20 pounds/9 kilograms so far. I am very close to the top end of my target weight range and I figure I can be in the target range in another couple of months.
I did not set the target range. The range, based on my height and age, came from my doctor and the United States Marine Corps. One supplied each end of the range.
Anyway; I have been losing weight and fell good about it. But, with all good things comes the dark side of life, my suits are not fitting as well as they did when they were made for me. Of course, I was heavier than and the loose fitting is to be expected. If I continue along the path of healthy eating, I will either paying for a lot of alterations or may be buying a bunch of new suits.
That is a very nice corundum to face.
Job Searching and Interviewing
Things seemed to improve on the job front for me at the end of the week.
I had sent a resume off to a credit union that was in some trouble with its lending programs. I have cleaned up other credit messes before and this one looked fairly manageable.
It had been a month since I sent the resume in and there had been no response. I figured that I was out of the running for the position. Then, I came home on Friday and found an email from the credit union’s human resources person that said they would like to schedule a preliminary telephone interview with me this coming week.
The telephone interview makes a lot of sense since they are a drive from the beach. The credit union, while still in Los Angeles County, is about 112 miles/180 kilometers from home, according to the driving direction from MSN.com. It doesn’t make much sense to drive all that distance unless there is a strong interest in me as the candidate.
That was very nice.
Then, on Friday morning, I got a call from the compliance job recruiter. His client wants to set up preliminary telephone interview for sometime next week. Gentle readers, you may recall that this is the recruiter who called me in less than five minutes of sending him my resume.
Telephone interviews are always a challenge because it is difficult to convey enthusiasm and interest in the job when you only have your voice to work with.
Annual Physical
I am healthy.
That was the Cliff Notes – executive summary version of the examination results. My cholesterol is well under control and I am below the desired levels. So, that means I can have my steak at Morton’s this weekend when I celebrate the Princess’ birthday in Atlanta.
My blood sugar is under control but I think I can do better with time and drive the level lower. I have only recently been paying attention to my diet and the carbohydrate levels.
I do have to go in for a colonoscopy examination in the next few months. I am not looking forward to that at all.
PC Video Camera
I hooked up my video camera to the laptop over the weekend. Some of the people I chat with online want to see what I look like in a semi-live version. I have no idea why they would want to see me live. I have exchanged photos with them.
Perhaps, they do not realize that when you get as old as I am that you do not change very much from year to year. I mean, grey hair is not going to suddenly, and naturally, turn dark brown over night now. Sure, I could go get some of the hair plugs and star to re-grow some of my hair. But, I am not willing to spend the money.
I figure that if women can not accept me with an almost full head of grey hair; then, I do not need to worry about them and their make-up they put on with a trowel.
The Navigator or L. A. J. or Jay
Doug called me last night, needing some Los Angeles driving directions.
He used to call me all of the time when he and Robin would be coming up to Los Angeles to see a show or go to a basketball game at the Staples Center. Now that he has a navigation computer in his car, the Marisa Couper [the name is a long story and I won’t bore you with here], he can find his way around on his own.
Last night, he was the passenger and, I suppose, the navigator.
He was looking for a particular street and asked me if I could help out. I don’t know every street in Los Angeles, just the major ones and how to go from one area to another area easily.
I had to pull out my Los Angeles Street Guide to find the street. As things turned out, they were only a block short of the street they were looking for. I told him they could get out of the car and walk to the destination since they found a parking spot. Parking in West Hollywood is usually bad most of the time and generally terrible on the weekends.
Doug was happy and surprised that they were there.
I told him that he could call me if he needed driving directions back to behind the Orange Curtain and his home. Doug said that if he called it would be very late and that he didn’t want to wake me. I said that if he called, he would not be the first child to call me, late at night, looking for driving directions.
Doug said thank you and that he thought he had everything figured out about how to get home. Since I did not receive a phone call, I assume that he made it home eventually.
I did follow-up with the Big Guy this morning. He did make it home in one piece; I didn’t ask how late it was. He and his friend had gone to hear a performance at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and had stopped at a store in West Hollywood to pick up a shirt that his friend had ordered during the week.
Doug said his friend had gotten some driving directions from MapQuest.com and that they were not very good. He said he regularly uses Google maps. I prefer the tried and true of paper maps; I have spent too much time with paper maps and charts to give them up so easily.
For the record, I actually served as my ship's navigator when I was a youngster. This was in 1969 on the good ship USS Lucid, an ocean going minesweeper.
Balcony Smoking
No balcony smoking for me this weekend. It was sunny and clear but it was also cool at my house, even with the sun. The temperature never got above 62F/17C. Plus, it was breezy as well; a damp wind chill can be very biting.
It is no fun to have to bundle up just to enjoy a cigar and read a good book.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
On the subject of good books, I did go by my local Barnes & Noble on Friday afternoon on my way home from work. I wanted to pick up a book to read on the plane ride home from Atlanta next Sunday. I am planning on the movie on the plane being bad or badly cut for general viewing.
I am first class flying on Delta Airlines to burn up my frequent flyer miles. This will kill about 75,000 miles on the scorecard. I don’t want Delta to go down the drain in bankruptcy court and leave me holding several hundred thousand useless frequent flyer miles.
That would be a real shame for me.
I was able to buy three books from a series that I started reading the first of the year. With the three books I purchased, added to the four that I have, I am now just over half way through the series. There are only twelve books in the series.
I figure that one book will be more than enough to hold me for the flight, especially when you figure in a meal of some sorts and, of course, the free drinks.
Courtyard Smokers
It was an interesting day out in the courtyard on Friday.
Almost all were bundled up because of the winds that were blowing in the aftermath of a rainstorm that passed through on Thursday night and early Friday morning. It was a nice, wintry day.
One of the smokers caught my eye. This time it was a male smoker and I was shocked, surprised, baffled, dazed, and confused by what he was wearing.
I asked the female manager who is across the hall from me to give me her opinion on his dress. Her first reaction was, “Oh, my god.” That sort of summed everything up in three simple words.
The man was wearing some aqua colored jeans or denim pants. The color alone would have been enough to cause comment. The pants had a highly unusual pattern on them. I would call the design either a floral print or a tribal design. After thinking about the design for a while, I am more inclined to go with the tribal design more than anything else. The pattern reminded of me of photos that I had seen of Aboriginal rock drawings in Australia or other cave drawings.
It made no sense to me whatsoever. For the record, I have absolutely no plans to go out and buy a pair of pants like that now or in the future.
Cinema
I did finally get out to the cinema this weekend.
I only saw one film over the weekend. This is a far cry from the six films Doug and I saw in one weekend.
I saw V FOR VENDETTA. I really liked the film. It seemed to play true to its graphic novel roots. The visual impact was close to that feel. The cast was well selected.
Natalie Portman does a fine job in her role. I think she is trying to reduce the Queen Amidala/Padme character now with a more challenging character, dressing up as prostitute in a school girl’s dress was certainly going against her past characters. I was wondering why Portman went around for a third of the film with no bra on; I guessed she wanted to remind us that, with her head shaved, she was still very much a female.
John Hurt played the bad guy in the film. He did a good job in his limited appearances. Still, I kept thinking about how much better job Sir Ian McKellen could have done a much better job. I was continually reminded of McKellen’s updated version of Richard III as I watched the scenes in the film that showed the totalitarian state’s regime.
I can highly recommend the film. I will also purchase the DVD when it is available in about five months, wide screen version of course.
I don’t think it is a date film unless you have found a partner that likes action, adventure, and stylized and well choreographed violence. But, it is an excellent film to go see after sitting through something like EIGHT BELOW or THE PINK PANTHER.
Foreign Visitors to the Blog
Last week was a good week for foreign visitors to the blog. We had visitors from:
United Kingdom
Canada but is Canada a foreign country since they are like us except for Quebec
Taiwan
Singapore
Australia
New Zealand
That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope your weekend was enjoyable for you; mine was.
Be well and stay happy.
I have been watching what I eat since I am a marginal diabetic now. My last blood sugar test came in very well.
I essentially stopped eating candy and sweets sometime last year. I rarely have dessert anymore unless I am at Morton’s. Then, I will have dessert. For example, I bought a box of Girl Scout cookies last Saturday; thin mints, my personal favorites. Normally, the box would have been gone by the end of the weekend. I still have almost third of the box left now, a week later.
Carbohydrates are a challenge for me. I have been reducing them as well. I actually look at the nutritional serving information on food packages now when I never even gave them a passing glance. I used to enjoy bagels in the morning until I read that the brand I liked contained almost 60 grams of carbohydrates in one bagel and that did not include cream cheese, even light cream cheese.
I switched to English muffins with peanut butter; 28 grams of carbohydrates instead and just as filling. Of course, I have had to give up the banana that I used to have with the muffin.
Another new variation with my diet has been to increase my greens consumption. I usually have a salad for lunch now and do not altogether miss the sandwiches and hamburgers and French fried potatoes.
I also have taken to adding chili powder and salsa to the salads I make at home. I read somewhere that eating spicy foods was good for you and that this was a simple way to add spice to your diet. Surprisingly, this all tastes rather good. I will admit that it does take some time to get used to though.
The net result of my eating better has been a slow and steady weight loss. So far, I think I have lost close to 20 pounds/9 kilograms so far. I am very close to the top end of my target weight range and I figure I can be in the target range in another couple of months.
I did not set the target range. The range, based on my height and age, came from my doctor and the United States Marine Corps. One supplied each end of the range.
Anyway; I have been losing weight and fell good about it. But, with all good things comes the dark side of life, my suits are not fitting as well as they did when they were made for me. Of course, I was heavier than and the loose fitting is to be expected. If I continue along the path of healthy eating, I will either paying for a lot of alterations or may be buying a bunch of new suits.
That is a very nice corundum to face.
Job Searching and Interviewing
Things seemed to improve on the job front for me at the end of the week.
I had sent a resume off to a credit union that was in some trouble with its lending programs. I have cleaned up other credit messes before and this one looked fairly manageable.
It had been a month since I sent the resume in and there had been no response. I figured that I was out of the running for the position. Then, I came home on Friday and found an email from the credit union’s human resources person that said they would like to schedule a preliminary telephone interview with me this coming week.
The telephone interview makes a lot of sense since they are a drive from the beach. The credit union, while still in Los Angeles County, is about 112 miles/180 kilometers from home, according to the driving direction from MSN.com. It doesn’t make much sense to drive all that distance unless there is a strong interest in me as the candidate.
That was very nice.
Then, on Friday morning, I got a call from the compliance job recruiter. His client wants to set up preliminary telephone interview for sometime next week. Gentle readers, you may recall that this is the recruiter who called me in less than five minutes of sending him my resume.
Telephone interviews are always a challenge because it is difficult to convey enthusiasm and interest in the job when you only have your voice to work with.
Annual Physical
I am healthy.
That was the Cliff Notes – executive summary version of the examination results. My cholesterol is well under control and I am below the desired levels. So, that means I can have my steak at Morton’s this weekend when I celebrate the Princess’ birthday in Atlanta.
My blood sugar is under control but I think I can do better with time and drive the level lower. I have only recently been paying attention to my diet and the carbohydrate levels.
I do have to go in for a colonoscopy examination in the next few months. I am not looking forward to that at all.
PC Video Camera
I hooked up my video camera to the laptop over the weekend. Some of the people I chat with online want to see what I look like in a semi-live version. I have no idea why they would want to see me live. I have exchanged photos with them.
Perhaps, they do not realize that when you get as old as I am that you do not change very much from year to year. I mean, grey hair is not going to suddenly, and naturally, turn dark brown over night now. Sure, I could go get some of the hair plugs and star to re-grow some of my hair. But, I am not willing to spend the money.
I figure that if women can not accept me with an almost full head of grey hair; then, I do not need to worry about them and their make-up they put on with a trowel.
The Navigator or L. A. J. or Jay
Doug called me last night, needing some Los Angeles driving directions.
He used to call me all of the time when he and Robin would be coming up to Los Angeles to see a show or go to a basketball game at the Staples Center. Now that he has a navigation computer in his car, the Marisa Couper [the name is a long story and I won’t bore you with here], he can find his way around on his own.
Last night, he was the passenger and, I suppose, the navigator.
He was looking for a particular street and asked me if I could help out. I don’t know every street in Los Angeles, just the major ones and how to go from one area to another area easily.
I had to pull out my Los Angeles Street Guide to find the street. As things turned out, they were only a block short of the street they were looking for. I told him they could get out of the car and walk to the destination since they found a parking spot. Parking in West Hollywood is usually bad most of the time and generally terrible on the weekends.
Doug was happy and surprised that they were there.
I told him that he could call me if he needed driving directions back to behind the Orange Curtain and his home. Doug said that if he called it would be very late and that he didn’t want to wake me. I said that if he called, he would not be the first child to call me, late at night, looking for driving directions.
Doug said thank you and that he thought he had everything figured out about how to get home. Since I did not receive a phone call, I assume that he made it home eventually.
I did follow-up with the Big Guy this morning. He did make it home in one piece; I didn’t ask how late it was. He and his friend had gone to hear a performance at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and had stopped at a store in West Hollywood to pick up a shirt that his friend had ordered during the week.
Doug said his friend had gotten some driving directions from MapQuest.com and that they were not very good. He said he regularly uses Google maps. I prefer the tried and true of paper maps; I have spent too much time with paper maps and charts to give them up so easily.
For the record, I actually served as my ship's navigator when I was a youngster. This was in 1969 on the good ship USS Lucid, an ocean going minesweeper.
Balcony Smoking
No balcony smoking for me this weekend. It was sunny and clear but it was also cool at my house, even with the sun. The temperature never got above 62F/17C. Plus, it was breezy as well; a damp wind chill can be very biting.
It is no fun to have to bundle up just to enjoy a cigar and read a good book.
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
On the subject of good books, I did go by my local Barnes & Noble on Friday afternoon on my way home from work. I wanted to pick up a book to read on the plane ride home from Atlanta next Sunday. I am planning on the movie on the plane being bad or badly cut for general viewing.
I am first class flying on Delta Airlines to burn up my frequent flyer miles. This will kill about 75,000 miles on the scorecard. I don’t want Delta to go down the drain in bankruptcy court and leave me holding several hundred thousand useless frequent flyer miles.
That would be a real shame for me.
I was able to buy three books from a series that I started reading the first of the year. With the three books I purchased, added to the four that I have, I am now just over half way through the series. There are only twelve books in the series.
I figure that one book will be more than enough to hold me for the flight, especially when you figure in a meal of some sorts and, of course, the free drinks.
Courtyard Smokers
It was an interesting day out in the courtyard on Friday.
Almost all were bundled up because of the winds that were blowing in the aftermath of a rainstorm that passed through on Thursday night and early Friday morning. It was a nice, wintry day.
One of the smokers caught my eye. This time it was a male smoker and I was shocked, surprised, baffled, dazed, and confused by what he was wearing.
I asked the female manager who is across the hall from me to give me her opinion on his dress. Her first reaction was, “Oh, my god.” That sort of summed everything up in three simple words.
The man was wearing some aqua colored jeans or denim pants. The color alone would have been enough to cause comment. The pants had a highly unusual pattern on them. I would call the design either a floral print or a tribal design. After thinking about the design for a while, I am more inclined to go with the tribal design more than anything else. The pattern reminded of me of photos that I had seen of Aboriginal rock drawings in Australia or other cave drawings.
It made no sense to me whatsoever. For the record, I have absolutely no plans to go out and buy a pair of pants like that now or in the future.
Cinema
I did finally get out to the cinema this weekend.
I only saw one film over the weekend. This is a far cry from the six films Doug and I saw in one weekend.
I saw V FOR VENDETTA. I really liked the film. It seemed to play true to its graphic novel roots. The visual impact was close to that feel. The cast was well selected.
Natalie Portman does a fine job in her role. I think she is trying to reduce the Queen Amidala/Padme character now with a more challenging character, dressing up as prostitute in a school girl’s dress was certainly going against her past characters. I was wondering why Portman went around for a third of the film with no bra on; I guessed she wanted to remind us that, with her head shaved, she was still very much a female.
John Hurt played the bad guy in the film. He did a good job in his limited appearances. Still, I kept thinking about how much better job Sir Ian McKellen could have done a much better job. I was continually reminded of McKellen’s updated version of Richard III as I watched the scenes in the film that showed the totalitarian state’s regime.
I can highly recommend the film. I will also purchase the DVD when it is available in about five months, wide screen version of course.
I don’t think it is a date film unless you have found a partner that likes action, adventure, and stylized and well choreographed violence. But, it is an excellent film to go see after sitting through something like EIGHT BELOW or THE PINK PANTHER.
Foreign Visitors to the Blog
Last week was a good week for foreign visitors to the blog. We had visitors from:
United Kingdom
Canada but is Canada a foreign country since they are like us except for Quebec
Taiwan
Singapore
Australia
New Zealand
That was my weekend gentle readers. I hope your weekend was enjoyable for you; mine was.
Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 1:52 PM
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