Category: health

Cautious Optimism

The United Kingdom has approved one of the Covid-19 vaccines (Pfizer’s? I think?). They are starting to work on actual distribution.

There is suddenly a very tiny pin prick of light at the end of this long, black coronavirus tunnel.

The United States isn’t there yet. I’m not sure what the FDA’s timeline is, or even if they have a timeline yet. I’m not sure what Pfizer and Moderna need to do to proceed. I’ve heard that first responders and elderly folks in homes will be the first Americans to receive the vaccine. I’m good with that. After that, I don’t know what the rumors are. I hope my step son and his immune deficiencies will be near the front of the line. My weight problem puts me at risk too, but I want him taken care of first.

It’s still going to take months for that tiny pin prick of light to grow into an opening big enough for us to walk through, and it is WAY too early to start making plans. Still, we have a high school graduation in the Spring. We are hoping to go back to Disney World in the Summer.

I’m spending my lunch break today listening to a podcast where two part time musicians are fantasizing about getting their bands back together in the Spring and what that’s going to be like. I don’t want to look that far ahead. I don’t want to get optimistic. I don’t want to start fantasizing. But… that first band practice is going to feel like a victory parade. We’re going to play like garbage and it’s going to be the most enjoyable rehearsal in the history of rehearsals. The first gig… when we can fill up a room with friends and family and music lovers and people from all walks of life… that is going to be a celebration like no other. That is going to be an amazing experience. I mean, yeah we’re just a silly cover band, but it’s going to be a wonderful thing.

Don’t get cocky, Robert. Cautious optimism is all you get for now. Maybe stop thinking about that tiny little point of light at the end of the tunnel. Try, at least.

Oops

We ate dinner tonight at around 7:00 PM. Jen worked while she ate so I sat with her in the office. As I ate the chicken and the quinoa I watched an episode of The Flash (Grod!) and messed with iCloud settings for GarageBand. We recently switched from individual iCloud accounts to a big giant family sized account and for some reason GarageBand was still looking to my individual while the stuff I uploaded today was in the family. I rebooted and it fixed things (have you tried turning it off and on again?). After that I started mixing the song I shared here a few minutes ago.

At about 8:30 I thought I should probably have a snack. My daily intermittent fast starts at 9:00 and the thought of having the usual 9pm to 1pm fast become 7pm to 1pm seemed like something to avoid.

Five seconds later my watched buzzed. It was 9:00 and time to start tonight’s fast.

I never stopped for the snack.

Oops.

Welcome to December

Hello and welcome to December 1, 2020. It is really hard to believe we are here, but we are. We are just a couple of weeks away from the first day of Winter. When the lock downs started back in March it was at the very end of Winter. All of Spring, locked down. All of Summer, locked down. Pretty soon all of Autumn, locked down. If you stop and think of it, it is pretty overwhelming. For that reason, I suggest you don’t stop and think about it. Just put your head down and keep moving forward.

I’ve done 10 album in a month projects over the last 10 months. Today marks the start of project #11. I think I want to restrict myself to just my Les Paul, a Klon Klone overdrive pedal, and my two 15 watt tube amps. I need to put new strings on the Les Paul, but I can do that tonight. I still have five songs left on the re-recording project too so those might be Les Paul. We’ll see.

November was noteworthy for this here little bloggie. It had the most page views in any month since I created the account. It also had the most unique visitors of any month since I created the account. How about that? The numbers are still teeny tiny in terms of most real bloggers’ goals but for me it was kinda cool. Thanks for dropping by, everyone. Ya’ll come back now, ya hear?

Today is my weigh in day. I was down a little. That’s nice. I hit a minor milestone. That’s nice too. I was paranoid that I was going to be up, and out of fear I did my entire 30 minute exercise first thing this morning. I doubt it had any effect on the scale, but it sort of made me feel almost better at the time. I find myself doing this on most Tuesdays now. Whatever works, right?

I Forgot

I was up late last night because I’m dumb. It was coming up on 1:00 AM before I finally conked out.

I woke up about an hour and a half later and realized I wasn’t wearing my CPAP mask. Where the hell was it?

I forgot to put it on when I lay down for the night/morning. I’ve been doing this for a year and a half now, how the hell can I still be forgetting it after all this time? How is that possible? They say when you do something repeatedly for… is it three weeks or three months… it becomes routine. After 17 months, this should be pretty routine.

Didn’t Think of That

Intermittent Fasting and Daylight Savings don’t play nicely together. I just got a notification from the Zero app telling me that I hit my 16 hour goal. How is that possible? It’s not 1:00, it’s only noon.

Oh yeah. There’s an extra hour today. Daylight Savings time starting in the Spring is going to make it worse. My 16 hour fast won’t end until 2:00 on that day! Crap!

Complete change of subject:

Yesterday I brought a bag of trash outside to the barrels and there was a deer in the trees about 10 feet from me. We scared the crap out of each other. She ran off about 20 yards away and then stood there watching me. I stayed too and had a little chat. I tried the trick you do with cats where you close your eyes to show that you trust them. When I opened them again she looked away. Did it work? I managed a picture. It was awesome.

Amazingly, almost exactly the same thing happened today! I went to the trash barrels and there was a stirring in the trees just a few feet away from me. This time the deer was calmly walking away. I caught a good look. It was a buck with antlers! I think there were three points… assuming I know what I’m talking about, which I honestly don’t. He didn’t stay to chat, which was sad. He strolled up a little hill just inside the tree line and vanished.

November 1st

As I was turning to head back to the house I saw a doe too. She’s probably in this picture at the far right. They camouflage so well, the little furry bastards.

I want to be friends with them. We can’t have people over anymore, so maybe the deer could keep coming for visits? That would be nice.

Don’t Start This Crap

I told myself I wasn’t going to do this but here we are. No one wants to read about my weight. Sure, there’s more than enough of it to go around but no one cares but me so don’t go posting shit about your weight, Robert. No one cares.

Today was my eighth weigh in since I started intermittent fasting and I hit the 20 pound mark. Now I just need to mind the words of the great Han Solo who once said, “great kid. Don’t get cocky.” I still have about 500 pounds to go. 20 pounds isn’t anything special in the grand scheme of things.

Still… feels pretty good.

Take That

Sure, I only got four hours of sleep last night but I still have my 30 minutes of exercise finished before 10am. Take that, morbid obesity.

I don’t know why I couldn’t fall asleep last night, but it was about 2am before I managed it. I need to stop doom scrolling twitter. I should have just watched some Netflix. I’m halfway through Haunting of Bly Manor. It’s not as scary as Haunting of Hill House but it’s still really good. I probably would have had a better night had I just let the show scare the crap out of me then letting America scare the crap out of me.

No more doom scrolling twitter after 10pm, Robert. Let’s put an end to that stupidity, shall we?

Becoming a Hobbit

Remember that scene in Lord of the Rings where Peregrin Took laments missing his normal meal time?

What about second breakfast?
I don’t think he knows about second breakfast.

I have suddenly found myself sympathizing with ol’ Pip.

I finished my 44th consecutive intermittent fast thing today. Because of my work meeting schedule I was about an hour late getting to break last night’s fast. That was rough. This morning I was really hungry. My stomach was rumbling and I was feeling a little sick/hungry. I came really close to ending it early. I’m glad I didn’t, but I probably should have.

As soon as my meeting ended I went to the kitchen and made lunch. I brought it back to my desk and ate it. Then I went out to the kitchen and made lunch again and took it back to my desk and ate it. If that’s not indicative of an eating problem then I don’t know what is.

What about second lunch?
I don’t think he knows about second lunch.