Tag: lifestyle

I Miss It So Much

I’m having a weird stomach day. Not a bad day, just a weird day. That’s not what this post is about though. This post is about caffeine.

I used to consume caffeine by the truck load. I took it in caramel colored, carbonated form. Soda. Decades of Coca~Cola followed by a few years of Diet Pepsi. I just couldn’t get enough of that sweet, sweet, bubbly caffeine.

Then I signed up for elective weight loss surgery. I met with a dietitian at one of my first consultation appointments and was given a list of things that I had to say goodbye to forever. Both caffeine and carbonated beverages were on the list. I knew it was going to be tough but I also knew I was up for the challenge. I had my last ever soda that day.

Now here we are, about two and a half years later, and I would KILL for some caffeine right now. I have had a moderately decent night’s sleep each of the last three nights. I should be feeling fine in the exhausted department right now but I am not. Quite the opposite. I’m really tired. Back in the days prior to February 2022 I had so much caffeine each day that it barely affected me. Now? After over two years cold turkey? I bet even the tiniest sip of a caffeinated drink would leave me wired for hours on end. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Ah, for the good old days (he said sarcastically because the good old days included weighing over 400 pounds and he never ever wants to go back to that again).

Yeah, as nice as it would be to have a little caffeinated pick me up right now, I wouldn’t. No, I like the way I feel these days and I don’t want to do anything that will make me sick. Nope, while I miss it today I do not miss it enough to start thinking about how things used to be. No nostalgia here, my friends. I’ll trade a sleepy afternoon for being able to walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like I am going to die. That’s a trade that I win easily.

As for my stomach being weird today, I don’t think it’s diet or bypass surgery related though what else could it be? I woke up at 4:00am this morning (bladder: I’m old, it happens) and my stomach was pretty upset. I actually said out loud, “uh oh.” I whispered it. My wife was asleep and I didn’t want to wake her. I went back to bed and fell asleep immediately. When I woke up at 5:15 I felt better. Half an hour later I was doing my morning exercise and drinking some water and I felt off again. I paused on the water for a while and felt better again. I ate breakfast in the car on the way to work and it went fine. A little before lunch I felt a little queasy. I thought I was hungry and I think I was. I had some chicken for lunch and felt a little better at first, but then started feeling off again. I stopped eating for a while and eventually felt a little better. I had a snack and it went fine. That was about 90 minutes ago. Now I am drinking some water. In about five minutes I am going to have my last round of daily vitamins for the day. Here’s hoping things continue to feel okay through that. I expect I am going to have to have something to eat before I leave work today. There will be too long a gap between my after-lunch snack and dinner. My stomach is scheduled to be empty and angry starting around 5:30 tonight. I’ll have something small and then I should be okay for dinner.

Until then… dreams of that sweet, sweet caffeine. Sigh.

Things We Need to Do

We’re leaving for Florida a day and a half from now. What do we need to do before we leave?

Tonight we’re packing. I did all of the laundry in the house over the last couple of days. We need to sort, fold, and put away what isn’t going with us, and pack what is.

We need to pack toiletries. Everything that is coming along that isn’t going to be needed tonight or tomorrow needs to be packed.

On Friday morning before work I need to go to the grocery store and pick up some stuff. Bottles of water, maybe some Gatorade, and ice for the cooler… assuming we’re taking the cooler. Maybe we shouldn’t. It’s going to eat up a lot of room. I might be changing my mind on that one. I also need to pack up a ton of protein bars and sugar free snacks. I also, also need to figure out how to keep that stuff from melting in the car. Maybe the cooler is coming after all. I have an insulated lunch bag that I can throw an ice pack into that should work on a day to day basis, but we’re talking about a multiple day drive. I will also need to bring a stash of stomach safe foods to the parks each day, and I will need to have some for the drive home. That’s a lot of protein bars. I don’t know. I need to think about this.

What else? Chargers for our iPhones, Apple Watches, Air Pods, and laptops. All that needs to be packed. I also need to figure out exactly what my camera needs will be. One digital (my Nikon Z5) and one film (my Nikon FG-20, I think). Do I bring two lenses for the Z5? How much film should I bring for the FG-20? I also need a back pack to hold all of this stuff while I journey through the parks each day. I think I know what to do about all of this. I just have to pack it up.

Should we get an audio book for the long drive there and back? We’ve done that before. What book though? Do you think Jen will be down to listen to Isaac Azimov’s Foundation? Am I down to listen to that? Probably not. There’s a new Stephen King short story collection coming. Is that out yet? Maybe just go with the old standard and listen to a Harry Potter novel? I would be fine with any of them, but 3, 4, and 7 are my favs.

This seems like a lot of things to take care of before we go, but it’s really not. We’ll have everything set long before we load up the car and head out on Friday. The only real question I have is, will this place be open when we drive by?

The Best Time of Day

Daily writing prompt
When do you feel most productive?
View all responses

I’ve actually thought about this topic quite a bit in recent years. I may have even written a post or two before. The answer is, simply, that I used to know the answer but I don’t anymore.

In my younger days I was 100% a night person. Through high school and college (all the different times) and even into the start of my career in programming I did my best work at night. When we got to 8:00, 9:00, or even later, my brain would clear up in some weird way and everything became noticeably easier for me. Writing, working on math, reading comprehension and retention, analysis, writing music, playing music, it all worked better later at night. That was my time to do my best work. It was clear and obvious and it always worked for me.

Today? I still can do good work later at night, but is that when I am most productive? I think now it might be early in the morning. I had to change my daily routine after the gastric bypass surgery. I needed to start exercising every day and I needed to make sure I had breakfast, where for decades prior to surgery I rarely if ever ate breakfast, and that lead to my days starting earlier and earlier. Now I find that very early in the morning, we are talking sunrise early, I am able to get a lot done. First it was exercise, then it was exercise and just random things around the house, then I added guitar playing and writing and recording, and now I even sometimes will log into work a few hours early and get some things done.

It is a really odd feeling for me. I had about 50 years worth of feeling like a vegetable early in the morning and now I’m suddenly full of piss and vinegar* at the start of the day and I don’t know what to think of it. It also means I need to go to bed earlier in order to not be comatose by lunch time, which by extension means much of my usual best time of day is spent sleeping! What the hell is up with that, Robert?

So the answer to the question of the day is an honest I don’t know. Can a person have two most productive times of day? Or is it possible that my best time is slowly transitioning from the traditional time to a new time? I don’t know. If I ever figure it out, I’ll share the news with you all.

*I am pretty sure I have never used the phrase, “piss and vinegar” before. I don’t think I have ever spoken it or written it or really even thought it… and somehow using it here makes me feel like more of a senior citizen than I have ever felt prior. I am 10 days away from my 53rd birthday… is it possible that on some subconscious level I am totally buying into the idea of being a crusty, grumpy, old man? It very well could be!

Friday

It is Friday.  That is good.  Tomorrow is Saturday.  That is better.

My wife seemed a little better last night, but she said she felt just as lousy.  She’s wondering if the antibiotics are causing an allergic reaction.  I hope not.  She’s working from home today.  The kids are going to an arcade with their father and then coming back to our house.  My worries about the reaction to Santa’s gifts is a little less today than it was a couple of days ago.  They are both using things that didn’t seem to go over all that well when they were opened.  That makes me happy.

We don’t have much planned for the weekend.  We had a get together scheduled with Larry and family and Mike and family, but pneumonia has postponed that for a couple of weeks.  It will be good to see everyone all at once again.  It’s been much too long.

All that’s left is a trip to the Apple store.  The kids and I all got iPads for Christmas (yes, we are all spoiled rotten.  Mostly me!) and the kids want to get cases for theirs.  I thought that maybe if Jen is feeling better by Sunday afternoon we might take a shot at seeing The Hobbit, but that’s probably not the smartest idea on my part.  Mostly we should just stay home and take care of Mom.  I think that is the best plan.  I’ll take care of any errands that need to be run, and the kids can stay in their pajamas, which they both love to do.

It’s the last weekend of 2012.  Let’s hope 2013 gets off to a healthier start for all of us.