I'm Hungry

Right Now I Am Hungry. Yesterday I Was Hungry. I Have Been Hungry For Days On End. Since I Have Never Been On A Formal"Diet", It Never Occurred To Me That I Would Be Hungry. I Say The Worse Is First. Get On The Scale. It May Get Ugly But The Truth Is What It Is. Maybe My Thoughts Were The Pounds Would Just Jump Off My Body Once I Used The Word Diet. What Was I Thinking?
I Am 54 Years Old And I Never Considered Going On A Diet. Maybe Most Refer To It As "Watching Your Weight".
The Ugly Truth Of It Is You Are STARVING Yourself! Considering When Hunger Enters Into Your Mind Your Brain Guides You To The Refrigerator. It's Will Power That Throws You Back And Forbids You To Partake.
Food Must Be Addictive. I Can Remember The Days I smoked. When My Brain Told Me My Body Needs A Cigarette I Would Light One Up. Was It The Physical Addiction My Mind Was Craving Or Was It All Mental?
This Diet Thing. Will The Hunger Pain Always Be With Me? Will It Get Better In Time As Did My Addiction To Cigarettes? If It's A Battle That Can Be Concored Then I Must Ask Myself If This Is Worth It. Would The End Result Bring Me The Inner Happiness I Crave For?
I See It This Way. I Can Diet For Whatever Reason That Is Important To Me. Just Like It Was When I Quit Smoking. I Quit Because Of The Expense. It Wasn't Because Of All The Dangers Associated With It Or What It May Do To My Health. My Reasons For Quitting Were Important Enough For Me To Stare Down My Enemy And Rule That I Refuse To Allow This Addiction To Control My Life. I'm Not Sure I Am Ready To Say I'm On A Diet. I Can Remember All Of My Failed Attempts Of Trying To Quit Smoking. So If I Gain A Pound When I Step On The Scale On Wednesday, Does That Mean I Failed Again?
I Don't Want To Live Out The Rest Of My Life Hungry. I Want To Be Happy. I'm Not Happy When I'm Hungry.
The Bottom Line With Me And This Diet Thing Is Why I Am Doing It. I Am Dieting Because I Need To Be In Good Shape To Work In The Truck This Coming April. I Must Be Able To Get My Lard Ass In The Back Lifting Bags And Boxes Of Items That Must Be Delivered. I'm Not Getting Any Younger. It's Important To Me That I Am Healthy To Continue My Mission.
So All In All This Diet Thing Will Rule My Life Until The Day I Concor The Battle.
Stay Tuned For Further Updates To My Diet Ramblings.....

Why Do I Capitalize My Words?

It's Not The First Time I Had Been Asked. The Other Day My Brother Tuck Had Asked Me Why I Capitalize All Of My Words. I Simply Told Him I Liked The Appearance Better Than If They Were Not Capitalized. It's Just A Matter Of Appearance With Me. I Find Myself Being Very Picky About The Layout Of My Blogspace. Not That I Get Alot Of People Who Visit Here But When They Do I Would Like To Have Them Enjoy The Complete Layout Of My Page.
I Recently Halted My E-Mail Notifications Because I Wanted My Readers To Come Directly To My Page Instead Of Receiving It As An E-Mail.
So, My Brother Tuck Said Capitalizing Must Take Me A Very Long Time. I Said No I Didn't Think So. He Then Said There Must Be A Feature That Allows Each Word To Be Capitalized. If There Is Such A Thing Out There Would Someone So Kindly Show Me Where It Is? I Know This Must Be Rather Trivial To Many But Just A Simple Explanation In Case Anyone Else Was Curious.
Stay Tuned For More Worthless Information Forthcoming On This Page.
You Never Know What You Will Read About Here.

Just A Bump In The Road

Recently, After Years Of Observing My Mother Losing Hundreds Of Pounds I Decided To Join TOPS. Take Off Pounds Sensibly Is A Wonderful Weight Losing Organization That Encourages People To Shed Their Weight In A Sensible Manner.
I Never Considered Myself To Be Obese. It Wasn't Until I Quit Smoking That I Saw The Weight Accumulate On My Body. I Was Always One Of Those Persons Who Ate To Live. My Weight Hovered Anywhere Around The 130-140 Pounds For Many Years. I Weighed 126 Pounds When I Joined The Navy.
After Years Of Coaxing From My Mother To Join I Didn't Think I Needed An Organized Group To Help Me Shed The Weight. Being 40 Pounds Overweight Has Not Been An Important Issue With Me Until Recently. My Mother Thought By My Joining Would Encourage My Brother To Lose Weight As Well. My Brother And I Have Competed In Alot Of Different Things Over The Years. This Is One Time I Hope To Lose To Him.
On June 6th 2006,(666)My Brother Became A Victim To A Heart Attack. He At That Time Was Living In California. All We Could Do As Family Was Sit At Home And Pray For God's Healing Hand To Be Placed Onto Him. After Inserting 6 Stints He Got Another Opportunity To Live. His Heart Is Better Yet The Weight That Contributed To His Attack Is Still There. If I As His Loving Brother Can Help In Any Way To Prolong His Life Then I Am Determined To Participate.
My Second Week Of Weighing In I Lost 4 Pounds. The Following Week I Gained Two Of Those Pounds Back. In The Meantime My Brother Tuck Has Seen A Loss In Two Straight Weeks. I Hope He Continues To Lose Each Week.
As For Me This Has Been An Every Winter Ordeal With Me. I Am Very Active In The Warmer Months With The Charitable Work That I Am Involved With. This Keeps Me Very Active From April Through October. Lifting, Loading And Unloading Trucks Is An Everyday Activity For Me. I Eventually Lose All Of The Weight That Had Gained Over The Previous Winter. However, I Decided To Join Tops This Year Because I Need To Rid Myself Of More Weight Than What I Had In Previous Years. Once I Have Accomplished This It Would Make My Life So Much Easier.
As I Get Older I Find Myself Unable To Be As Active In The Things That I Do. Instead Of Waiting Until After April 1st To Lose My Weight, Why Not Lose It Before I Put It On? That's My Plan. Now That The Holidays Are Behind Me I Can Focus More On What Matters Most. If I Were To Lose 25 Of The 40 Pounds I Feel I Am Overweight, Then That Makes Things More Simpler In The Warmer Months. Losing 15 Pounds Is Nothing For Me In The Summer Months. Because Of The Heat, I Sweat. I Continue To Mow Grass By Pushing The Lawnmower. Come April After A Long Winter Of Eating And Lounging I Find It Harder To Push That Lawmower The Distance Needed To Complete The Task. Walking The Woods And Hills For What I Call The White Man's Soul Food(Mushrooms). Simple Things As Getting In And Out Of The Back Of My Truck Has Been A Struggle.
So I Say To Myself, Self, It's Much Simpler To Lose The Weight When You Have The Support From People Who Are Fighting The Same Battle. People Who Encourages You To Lose And Continues To Support You When You Gain.
My Two Pound Gain Last Week Was Depressing. Instead Of Wallering In Self Pity I Must Be More Determined Than Ever Before If I Am To Lose The Weight. No Different Than The Time I Quit Smoking. After Years Of Trying I Failed. It Was So Difficult And People Just Did Not Understand The Addiction. Now That I Am On The Other Side Of That Addiction It Has Come Clear To Me That No Matter What, I Would Have To Make Some Life Changing Decisions. It's Not Important To Other People If I Weigh More Than I Would Like. It's Not Important To Other People If I Smoked Or Not. What Matters Most Is What's Best For Me. When I Stand In Front Of The Mirror I Want To Say I Like What I See. I No Longer View My Body In A Full Length Mirror Because I'm Ashamed To See What I Have Become.
From This Day Forward I Commit Myself To Lose More Weight Than I Ever Have Before. Not Because I Want To Compete With My Brother. I Want To Lose Weight So I Can Again Feel Good About My Body. So I Can Continue Helping Those Less Fortunate As I Have For The Past 24 Years. That's What Is Important To Me. I Was Told Years Ago By A Friend That I Would Never Quit Smoking Because Of The Price. He Had Told Me My Chances Were Better If I Were Told By A Doctor I Had Better Quit Or I Would Die If I Didn't.
Whatever Your Reason Is for Quitting Or Losing Weight, It Must Be Important Enough For You To Accomplish It. So, No Matter What Your Reasons Are For Setting Your Goal Always Remember You Can Do It. So You Gain A Pound Or Two In The Meantime. I Think That's Just To Remind Us We Are Human. It's Just A Bump In The Road. Move Forward!

Thank You Oliver!

I Want To Thank "Oliver" For Rescuing Me When My Computer Crashed. I Sent Out An E-Mail Telling Everybody I Correspond With On A Regular Basis That My Computer Was About To Crash. If They Haven't Heard From Me In Awhile It Was Because I No Longer Had A Computer. He Sent A Message To My Brother Tuck That He Had A Spare Computer He Would Gladly Give Me With No Guarantees. Well, It's An Older Computer And Not As Fast As The One I Had But That's Because It's An Older Computer. I Guess We All Get That Way As We Get Older.
You Can Never Have Too Many Good Friends. I Never Expected Anyone To Step Up And Help A Friend In Need. Oliver Without Hesitation Came To My Rescue And Did What Friends Do Best! I Can't Thank You Enough Oliver. You Are A Wonderful Friend And I Will Never Forget Your Kindness. You Can Bet On It.

Upsetting And Disappointment

I Knew It Was Always A Possibility That One Day I Would Disappoint My Team Mates.
That Day Came Yesterday At The Senior Bowling On Thursday. As I Stated In A Previous Post Titled David Vs Goliath I Explained I Was The Teams Anchor On My Bowling Team. In That Post I Described A Moment Where I Felt Like A Hero And Saved My Team. Yesterday Was Quite The Opposite.
The Bowling Match Began With My Team Winning The First Game. We Lost The Second Game. It Was Coming Down To The Wire On The Last Game. It Came Down To The Teams Anchor's To Decide What Would Happen Next. By Doing Fast Calculation I Knew Our Team Was Going To Lose Game Three. However, We Had A Chance To Win Total Series. My First Ball I Knocked Down Eight Pins. I Left Two Pins Standing On The Left Side. It Was The First Time I Had Left Pins Standing On The Left Side All Afternoon. 98% Of My Spare Conversions Take Place On The Right Side Of The Alley. Once I Picked Up Those Two Pins Left Standing All I Would Need On The Next Ball Is Good Count And Our Team Would Split And Each Receive Two Points.
I Blew It! I Missed Those Two Pins And I Was So Disappointed In Myself. I Take My Bowling Very Seriously. I Cannot Get What Happened Out Of My Mind. I Told My Team Mates I Was Sorry But Sorry Would Not Give Us The Point We Needed To Stay In Competition. Our Team Is Now Two Games Out Of First Place. We Still Have Plenty Of Season Left So Anything Can Happen Between Now And The End.
I Still Want Our Team To Win First Place In The End. However I Pray If We Do Lose It Won't Be By Only One Point.
I Could Not Be More Disappointed In Myself At This Point In Time. I Only Wish I Had That Moment Back Because I Made A Rare Move To Where I Normally Stood To Convert That Spare.
I Hope That Next Time It Comes Down To The Last Bowler I Won't Be The One Who Disappoints My Team Mates.

It Was A Kodak Moment

Billie And I Went To A Chinese Buffet. As We Sat There Waiting For Our Drinks To Be Served I Glanced At A Paper Place Mat That Sat On The Table In Front Of Me. Being The Typical Me I Took Advantage Of A Moment I Just Could Not Resist.
Billie Cannot Read Fine Print Without Her Glasses. The Place Mat Explained The Chinese Zodiac. Each Picture Represented A 12 Year Cycle. Each Year Was Named After A Different Animal. Ok, For Those Who Are Thinking Ahead, You Guessed It Correctly.
Billie Looking Down At The Place Mat Trying To Make Sense Of It I Spoke Up And Said...Oh, Here Is The Meat Selection. It Listed Monkey, Dog, Boar, Dragon, Rat, Snake....Ok You Get The Idea. She Gave Me One Of Those Once In A Lifetime Looks And Told Me There Was No Way In Hell She Was Eating That Kind Of Meat. I Couldn't Hold Back The Laughter Any Longer. Those Who Sat Around Us Couldn't Help But Notice My Laughing So Hard.
As I Said It Was One Of Those Precious Moments Of A Lifetime That I Could Not Resist. I Guess It Was The Devil That Made Me Do It.

Jack's

Traditionally, Jacks Are Metal Objects Bearing Six Tips At Right Angles To One Another, Four Of Which Are Usually Rounded, With Two Opposite Tips More Pointed. This Ensures The Jack Is Relatively Easy To Pick Up. Also Required Is A Small Rubber Ball, Used As a Sort Of Timing Device: The Jacks Are Manipulated In The Time It Takes The Ball To Bounce Up In The Air And Return To The Height Of The Hand That Catches It.
Now, Was That A Bunch Of Useless Information To You? It Could Be Or Could Be Not.
I Was A Sophomore In High School And My Class Was Speech With Ms Darlene Miller.
We Were Instructed To Reach Into The Sack And Pull Out An Item. Your Hopes Are Always That Someone Goes Before You. It Gives You An Opportunity To Prepare Yourself For A Path For Mystery. What Would I Pull Out? A Student Pulled Out A Light bulb. Another Was A Wristwatch.
We Were Required To Give A 3 Minute Speech On Whatever Item We Pulled Out. We Were To Explain The Subject. It's Purpose, History, Creator, Etc.
Yes It Was A Jack That I Pulled Out Of That Sack. I Had A Little Bit Of Experience In Playing With Jacks As A Young Boy. My Sister Use To Play It. I Was Not As Good As Her But It Was Fun And Different. Games Back Then Were Simple And Cheap.
I Decided To Take That Class So I Could Overcome My Fear Of Speaking To Audiences.
The Class Really Never Accomplished My Goal. Today I Continue My Fear In Speaking To Large Crowds.
I Deal With It And Put My Self In The Position Where I Must Speak To Large Crowds.
35 Years Later I Gave The Biggest Speech Of My Life To Danville City Officials. Because Of The Essential Tools I Used Back In 1972 Ignited My Ability To Perform What I Considered A Passionate Battle I Knew I Could Not Win.
No Matter The End Result, My Days In Speech Class Became An Indirect Memorable Speech 35 Years Later.
From That Day On My Views Are Known By All. I Enjoy Expressing Myself Through My Writings. Maybe Those Who Know Me Best Are The Ones Who Read My Thoughts.

Happy 50TH Birthday Channa!

On This Day 50 Years ago It Was January 7th 1960. It Was Before Color TV And Before Cable. Grandma & Grandpa's House Was Without An Indoor Toilet.
Dwight Eisenhower Was President. A Young Senator From Massachusetts Named John F Kennedy Defeated Vice President Richard Nixon For President Of The United States.
713 Franklin Was The Home You Lived In When You Were Born. Franklin Grade School Was Just Across The Street. This Was Years Before The New Family Room Addition Was Built Onto The Existing House. The Baumgarts Were Our Neighbors To The South And Mr Roth Was Your Buddy To The North.
My First Reaction To Being Told I Had A New Little Sister Was Noooooo I Wanted Another Brother! Hahaha!!(Atleast I Wasn't Expecting A Pony)
I Was Just About To Turn 5 That Year. I Know It Must Make Both My Parents Feel Old Now That Their Youngest Child Just Turned 50 Years Old.
My Message To My Sister Is This. It's A Possibility You May Live To Be 100 Years Old. Odds Are That You Won't. You Already Know How Fast These 50 Years Have Gone For You. Looking Back All Those Years Doesn't Seem That Long Ago.
You Will Always Be My Little Sister And I Love You. I Know I Rarely Tell You This But I Wanted To Make Sure You Knew.
I Hope You Have A Wonderful Birthday. I Wish You Many Many More To Come.
Speaking From Experience, Don't Put 50 Candles On Your Cake. If You Do You May Want The Fire Department Standing By.
One Last Thing. It's Better To Be Over The Hill Than Under It.
Happy Birthday!

David Vs Goliath

As Most Of My Readers Are Aware I Just Love Bowling. I Can't Seem To Get Enough Of It. I Bowl On Two Different Leagues.
My Tuesday Night League Has Some Rather High Average Bowlers. I Consider Myself An Average Bowler. I Am However The Highest Average Bowler On My Teams. In Most Cases Teams Reserve The Bottom Position For The Highest Average Bowler In Which They Refer To Them As The Anchor. The Primary Reason Teams Do This Is In Those Cases The Score Is Close And The Difference Comes Down To The Last Bowlers For Each Team.
Just A Few Weeks Ago I Got The Opportunity To Watch A Man Bowl A Perfect Game. Ofcourse The Place Exploded With Excitement For The Guy And Congratulations Came His Way From Almost Every Bowler In The House. I Over Heard Another Person Say It Really Wasn't A Big Deal To That Guy Because It's Not His First 300 Game.
For The Weeks That Followed, I Had Witnessed This Bowler Pick Up Some Rather Incredible Spare Shots. To Be Quite Honest I Was Envious. He Is The Bowler I Have Always Wanted To Be But Wasn't. I Will Most Likely Always Be An Average Bowler.
Last Night My Team Competed Against 'His' Team. I Was In Awe In The Finesse In The Method Of How He Delivered The Ball. I Have Watched Alot Of People Bowl Over The Years. I Go To Indianapolis Every Year To Watch The Professionals Compete Against Each Other. I Enjoyed Myself Last Night Just Watching This Man Throw Strike After Strike.
We Were Beaten The First Two Games. The Last Game Came Right Down To The Team Anchor's. When I Looked At The Score I Knew I Had To Throw Two Strikes In A Row To Even Stand A Chance For My Team To Win. I Already Knew He Would Throw Three Without Thinking About It. You Might As Well Mark It Up.
I Bowled Those Two Strikes That I Needed. My Third Throw Gave Me Enough Count To Declare A Win Over The Other Team.
My Point? It's Not About Me Facing A Giant In Bowling And Winning. It's To Remind You That Even Though You Have Goliath On Your Team, It's Not A Guaranteed Win.
I Didn't Win It For The Team. Without The Teams Effort We Would Not See The Victory.

Winter In Illinois

What's This Global Warming All About?
It Hasn't Effected The Danville Area Recently. The ONLY Bittersweetness To This Is That This Is The First Winter My Sister-InLaw Has Expierenced In Illinois. She Is A Native Southern Californian. Almost Paradise Country.
My Brother Tuck Recently Retired In San Diego As A Train Operator. His Wife Evie Has Lived No Place Other Than Southern California. She Has Never Had The Opportunity To Sit And Watch It Snow. She Nor Their Dog Has Ever Had The Opportunity To Play In The White Stuff Until Recently. We Have Another 4-5 Inches Predicted In A Couple Days. Shortly After This Snowfall That Have Predicted Strong Winds That Will Create Drifting.
My Being The President Of The Senior Bowling League It Appears I May Have To Cancel Bowling For This Coming Thursday. Unfortunatly Tuck Has Been Working On Mondays So He May Have To Miss Bowling Next Week Since The Make Up Day Will Be On That Day.
I Hope Evie Get's Her Share Of Snow And Cold Temps. I Think I Have Already Reached My Limit And I Have Begun A Countdown Until April 1st.
Evie's Journey To The Midwest Made The Local Commercial News In Today's Edition.
It Told The Story Of Her Spending 50 Years In The Land Of Paradise And Her Move To America's Heartland Just In Time For Winter. Her Facination For Snow Will Be Shortlived I'm Sure. She Will Eventually Be Like The Rest Of Us. Snow For Christmas.
She Does Have Something To Look For. January Thaw! I Have Witnessed Several January Thaws Throughout My Years. Hoping To See It Happen Soon. The Forcast Has Predicted This Cold Snap To Continue Through Next Week. I Don't Believe It Broke 10 Degree's Today. That Was Actual Air Temperatures Without The Wind Chill Factor Which Makes It Well Below Zero.
He Needs To Drive Her By Lake Vermilion While It's Frozen Over In Thick Ice.
Let Her Create Her Own Snowman In Her Yard. Make Her Snow Angel Like She Has Mentioned To Do Once Danville Got It's First Measuable Snowfall.
As For Me. I'm Happy For Her Because She Is Not Much Different Than A Young Child. I Still Would Enjoy Being Near Her When A Good Old Thunderstorm Passes Through. Tornado Warnings, High Winds, Lightning And Thunder And Yes Even Hail! You Know She Will Questions Ice Falling Out Of The Sky In The Summer Months.
My Truck Battery Konked Out On Me And Needs To Be Replaced. Got A Flat Tire On The Car So It Appears I Will Be Driving On A Donut For Awhile. Money Is Tight For Alot Of People. Nobody Wants These Types Of Problems In This Kind Of Temperatures.
So I Guess I Will Be Monitoring All The Weather Stations Tomorrow To Determine Whether Or Not I Should Cancel Bowling For Thursday.
It Would Be Much Simpler If We Were To Fast Forward Our Lives To About April 1st 2010. That Would Not Break My Heart, It Would Warm It.