Do you think I have a problem?
Streak
Author: robertjames1971
I'm wicked tall.
No Good
Someone is up to no good.
Natural Caffeine Alternatives
I was a teenager when my taste buds and I first fell head over heels in love with Coca~Cola. Thus began my lifelong dependency on caffeine. That ended at one of my first weight loss clinic appointments when the dietician told me that one of the costs of the surgery was never having caffeine again. Despite my addiction, I was okay with that. Maybe because of my addiction. I was more than ready to put an end to caffeine.
Here we are, a year and a half and one gastric bypass surgery later, and I am working in the office today. I am in a conference room with two other staff members. One of them is drinking a diet coke and for the first time I am finding myself gazing longingly at the can. What the hell, Robert? I thought we’d moved beyond this.
I’ve also been finding myself getting really sleepy in the afternoons. It’s just the sort of things that a little caffeinated beverage would go a long way toward helping. Nope. We’re not going down that road again. My caffeinated days are 100% over.
It did start me wondering about natural caffeine alternatives. Is there anything that is reasonably healthy and gastric bypass friendly that I could use as a replacement? The first article I hit on had a couple of things that might be worth looking into. What is Carob? It’s a chocolate substitute? Interesting. There is a link to a carob bark recipe that uses some weird berry I’ve never heard of. I wonder if I could replace the berries with peanuts?
One thing the article listed will not be going into my diet today or ever. Cordyceps. First of all… mushrooms? Eh, no. Second, I saw The Last of Us and cordyceps literally* brought on the end of the world so keep them the hell away from me!
I have also brought this up in a post to one of the bariatric surgery facebook groups. Sometimes I get a ton of responses when I ask questions there. Sometimes I get nothing. I expect to get nothing this time, but it was worth a try.
I will keep digging around and see if I can find anything interesting. I’ll let you know.
*Cordyceps literally brought about the end of the world in a fictional story. Would it be then more correct for me to have said Cordyceps fictionally brought about the end of the world? Ah, grammar.
Commute
The traffic on this morning’s commute was pretty good. It’s the day after a national holiday so I wasn’t expecting any problems. There were two accidents. Waze called the second one major and tried to route me around it, but it took me so long to get to it that it was cleared by the time I arrived, and the traffic on the Waze detour was so bad that it re-routed me back to my normal route. I did get a pic of the first accident, which was very minor:
The weird part of this drive was all the breakdowns. There must have been about 20 cars pulled over during my 40 mile drive. That’s an insane number. No clue why there were so many people having so many problems. I don’t get it, but the Waze community was losing it’s shit reporting pulled over vehicles. There were very few moments during the entire drive when I wasn’t getting a warning of some sort.
Gratitude
This is a tough one. How do I express my gratitude? I have never thought about it before. Is the way that I think I express gratitude the same as the way I actually express it? I like to think that I am quick to say thank you when it’s warranted. I like to think that I repay kindness with kindness. I like to think that I pay random kindness forward, you know… randomly.
I’ve never given this much thought before. Here’s hoping I’m not the kind of asshole who thinks he’s thankful but acts like he’s an arrogant prick and does not express it. I don’t want to be that guy, but I fear I might be.
Because I don’t really know what my answer is, let’s ask Google Bard for an appropriate answer, shall we?
There are many ways to express gratitude, but some of the most common and effective methods include:
- Saying “thank you” sincerely. This is the simplest and most direct way to show your appreciation. When you say “thank you,” make sure to mean it and to look the person in the eye.
- Writing a thank-you note. A handwritten note is a more personal and thoughtful way to express your gratitude. Take some time to write a few sentences about what you appreciate about the person or their actions.
- Doing something nice for them. This could be anything from cooking them dinner to giving them a massage. Showing someone that you appreciate them by doing something nice for them is a great way to express your gratitude.
- Giving them a gift. A gift doesn’t have to be expensive to be meaningful. A small token of your appreciation, such as a plant, a book, or a piece of jewelry, can show someone that you’re thinking of them.
- Volunteer your time. If you’re grateful for something someone has done for you, you can show your appreciation by volunteering your time to a cause they care about. This is a great way to give back and make a difference in the world.
No matter how you choose to express your gratitude, make sure it’s genuine and from the heart. When you express gratitude, you’re not only making the other person feel good, you’re also making yourself feel good. Gratitude has been shown to have many benefits for both the giver and the receiver, including improved mood, increased happiness, and stronger relationships.
Here are some additional tips for expressing gratitude:
- Be specific. Don’t just say “thank you.” Take the time to explain what you’re grateful for.
- Be timely. Don’t wait too long to express your gratitude. The sooner you do it, the more meaningful it will be.
- Be personal. Make it personal by sharing why you’re grateful for the person or their actions.
- Be genuine. Make sure your gratitude is genuine and from the heart.
Expressing gratitude is a simple but powerful way to show appreciation for the people and things in your life. By following these tips, you can make your expressions of gratitude more meaningful and impactful.
https://bard.google.com
2023 50/90 Challenge Day 1/90
One day of the 50 songs in 90 days challenge is down. Well, it will be in about 2.5 hours, but I am definitely done for the day so I’m calling it now.
How did I do on this rainy and dreary 4th of July?
Not bad, if I do say so myself. Three songs underway. No guitars or voices or actual real life musical instruments yet, but all three songs already have all of the changes, the song form, a guide guitar (MIDI only) track, a vocal melody, and complete lyrics.
Like I said, not too bad.
Day two probably won’t have much of anything as it’s a work-from-the-office day, but at least day one went well.
New Music Project
It’s the 4th of July. I think I mentioned that in a post already. That means it’s Independence Day but it also means it’s the first day of the 50/90 music challenge. Write 50 songs in 90 days between July 4th and October 1st. I’ve completed this back breaker a few times in the past (2016, 2020, and 2021, I think). Will I pull it off again this year?
Not likely.
I did, however, kick off song #1 for this year’s challenge. It’s just a rhythm exercise, really. I have never written anything in 13/8 time so I started out with a drum loop in 13/8 and just waited to see what happened. An hour later I am sitting here with the first song of the challenge completely written. It’s short and sweet and not very good and it’s only MIDI tracks in GarageBand at this point, no real live musical instruments are involved yet, but it exists.
Now let’s celebrate with a couple of pictures of Lily being lazy, and then I’ll go to the Apple Store to run an errand for the love of my life.
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
Worries
How’s this for a banger of a daily question, eh? What am I most worried about for the future?
Everything. Literally everything. 52 years old and the only thing that surprises me is that I am not six feet four inches of walking, talking ulcer due to constantly worrying about literally everything.
- I constantly worry about the health and well being of my wife and my step kids
- I constantly worry about the health and well being of my extended family, including all of my in laws
- I constantly worry about the state of my job and the company I work for
- I constantly worry about my family’s financial standing
- I constantly worry about my health, even more so over the last year when I flipped my entire physical state upside down and inside out. Who knows what’s going to happen now?
- In the spirit of Independence Day in the United States, I constantly worry about the rise of fascism in my country and the break down of our society that will likely end with the end of the society I have always known
- On a related note, I constantly worry about which of my neighbors are embracing the rise of fascism and would gleefully sell out all of the good people around them because they look or act different than what they consider acceptable
That’s just the tip of the iceberg, I think. Just the first few things that popped into my mind when I read the writing prompt. I am sure if I sit here and stress over it I could increase the length of that list by 9000% or so.
Suffice to say, worrying is more or less my personal national pass time. I’m good at it. It comes naturally to me.
Week Three, Run One
Each time I got out for a run it is exponentially worse than all the times before combined. This morning was no different. To be blunt, that fucking sucked.
One minute walking followed by one minute running, repeated 15 times. Adding in a little cool down walk at the end where the coach lady wouldn’t shut the hell up, it worked out to 31 minutes and 17 seconds and a total of 2.29 miles burning 244 calories.
I was never feeling good about any of it at any point but it wasn’t until maybe the sixth repeat that I started feeling in really rough shape. After repeat number nine I was strongly considering just stopping and going home. After 12 I just said the hell with it and finished. The next run will be Thursday and it will be the same as today. I am wondering if I should repeat it a time or two more after that before moving on to the next thing. I wonder if building up a little extra stamina might be a good idea. We will see how I feel on Saturday when we get to the scheduled end of week three.
Until Thursday’s run then, I think I am going to sit on the couch and hope my legs start working again. I’m not feeling terribly optimistic about that just now.
Month 14 Weigh In
Happy 4th of July! You know what happens around here on the 4th of each month? It’s weigh in day! Boy are we going in the wrong direction now!
They told me I would level off. They told me after I level off I would start creeping back up. Last month was a clear leveling off. Today is a clear creeping back up. I’ve gone from 205.4 to 213.0. I’m up 7.6 pounds. I am very much happy with that. My BMI is up to 25.9 so I guess I am officially overweight again.
I knew I was going to be up this month. Not just because that’s how it goes, but because I have clearly been eating more and more at each meal, and equally important, more and more between each meal. I told the surgeon that last week and she said, paraphrasing, yup that’s good. So even with a significant jump in the wrong direction I am still somehow on track.
So that’s the story at month number 14. Until month number 15, happy weight loss and stuff.
Inside the Red Head's Head 