Time to Celebrate a Big Loss

It's almost my anniversary. I'm not sure how to celebrate. Do I buy a cake? Nah....... That would be defeating the purpose of my celebration . I guess I should explain. I had bariatric surgery on Oct. 5th, 2004. It was one of the best things I have ever done.
I was always the biggest person in the room. for my whole life, I was the fat guy. I heard all the insults, caught all the second glances. I even heard the innocent truth from many young children.
I guess I was ahead of the times. All of the reports say Americans are getting larger and larger. The rate of obesity has never been higher.America is becoming fatter and
fatter, with no slow down to the weight gain.
I had my surgery at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax Va. My surgery was on a Monday morning and I was released on the following Friday. Without going into details, I was restricted to the house for two weeks. No driving...........That was tough. It was a month before I could go to work and 2 months before I could start driving again.
In the 1st month, I lost 54 lbs. By the second month, I had lost a total of 77 lbs and 9 inches off my waist. The last month I kept records in my journal was Jan. 2005. I had lost 97 lbs in 3 months.
Needless to say things slowed down a couple of months after this. At the end of the 1st year, I had witnessed a low weight of 189 lbs. I gained a few pounds back and I hovered at 195-198lbs.
Fast forward to today. I'm seeing a slight weight gain. I'm currently at 205. Still a far cry from the 370 I weighed at my surgery date. And this is an amazing 200 lbs or more from my highest weight.
Life has changed in more ways than I could have imagined from two years ago.
Walking across the parking lot at Walmart is not a challenge now. On our recent vacation to the mountains of California and the canyonlands of Utah, I was able to move more than 100 yards away from the car. Something I couldn't do in 2000. Life is good. I feel great. Now to decide on the celebration. Laters, Paul

We took this picture on our vacation to the Grand Canyon on July 2000.













This is from our vacation last month in Utah.

Watch Out Big Truck, Honda Needing Fuel

Honda.......I gotta love this company. By the time they are through, there will be a line of Accords and Civics at every Flying J truckstop diesel pump. Seriously, I think it will once again take Japanese ingenuity to change the way America thinks about diesel engines. I understand we still have a bad taste in our mouths from the clunkers GM pushed on the unsuspecting public in the 80's. Remember those 1980's Oldsmobile converted diesel engines?? If you don't then it's just one nightmare you need not want to lookup.
I hope the General will wake up. This just seems like another instance of US carmakers sleeping at the wheel. I admit they are working on new diesel engines but they are concentrating on V8 diesels for trucks and SUV's. How about a fuel-sipping 4 cylinder?? I need a good reason to buy a new 2-seat convertible. I'm not getting any younger. Come on GM put a diesel in the Saturn Sky. If it gets 45mpg that would be the perfect excuse to trade in the ole Toyota Celica. I'm waiting General.

Reuters


Honda, the car maker that floored the world in the 1970s with the first gasoline engine to meet U.S. clean air guidelines without a catalytic converter, said it has developed a new and simple diesel power train that is as clean as gasoline-fueled cars.

The technology marks a big step forward for Honda at a time when rivals are racing to come up with ways to clear the world's strictest emissions regulations, called Tier II Bin 5, that the United States will usher in next year.

Diesel engines, which now power half of Europe's new cars, are slowly gaining traction with fuel-conscious consumers around the world since they typically get 30 percent better mileage than gasoline cars. Their weakness has been the higher exhaust levels of nitrogen oxide (NOx), a greenhouse gas.

Honda said on Monday its new diesel drive train features a unique method that generates and stores ammonia within a two-layer catalytic converter to turn nitrogen oxide into harmless nitrogen.

Honda engineers said the technology is superior to a process pioneered by Germany's DaimlerChrysler because the latter requires a complex system and heavy add-ons to generate ammonia from urea-based additives.

Some technical hurdles remain.

The system would need fine-tuning for the wide-ranging cetane indices of diesel fuel found in the United States. Honda also needs to develop technology to measure emissions levels according to U.S. On-Board Diagnostic System requirements.

But Japan's third-biggest automaker said it planned to roll out the advanced diesel engine in the United States within three years. DaimlerChrysler, which along with Volkswagen already sells diesel cars in the world's biggest auto market, is preparing its next-generation diesel car for a 2008 launch.

"Just as we paved the way for cleaner gasoline engines, we will take the leadership in the progress of diesel engines," Honda Chief Executive Takeo Fukui told a news conference at the automaker's R&D center north of Tokyo.

Fukui said Honda would be "open to considering" the licensing of its new diesel technology once it was perfected.

Honda has long been at the forefront of green power train technology, perhaps most famously with the development in 1973 of the CVCC (Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion) engine, which gave the popular Civic its name.

Earlier this year, it became the first in the world to announce voluntary global carbon dioxide reduction targets for its products and production processes.

In a demonstration of other new power plant technologies, Honda also showed off a prototype of its next-generation fuel cell vehicle that runs on a newly developed compact and more powerful fuel cell stack.

The new stack is designed to allow the hydrogen and water formed during electricity generation to flow vertically instead of horizontally, making the component 20 percent smaller and 30 percent lighter than the previous version.

Honda's new FCX fuel-cell car now has a driving range of 354 miles--a 30 percent improvement from the 2005 model--a maximum speed of 100 miles per hour and can be driven in temperatures as low as minus 22 degrees.

Honda plans to begin marketing the car in limited numbers in 2008 in Japan and the United States.

Honda said it also developed a flexible fuel vehicle (FFV) system that can operate on any ethanol-to-gasoline ratio between 20 percent and 100 percent. That car will be sold in Brazil, the biggest market for ethanol-based vehicles, later this year.

"Way out in the future, the ultimate green car will be fuel cell vehicles," Fukui said. "But in the meantime, you need a wide range of green technology to meet varying local needs and fuel supply.

Tickle me to the Ebay Bank

This will be the most sought after, and after a while, annoying toy of the year. It's been 10 years since we saw our first Elmo. Now, just in time for the shopping season, it's Tickle-Me-Elmo Extreme.......You better start looking now. I see a run on Ebay in late November. If Fur Real Friends kitties would go for $75+, two years ago. Then this should go for a $100.

Moonwalking Bird

This bird has got it down. Watch out Micheal Jackson.


You Tube Video

Go sit in the corner young man

Well, I feel like a Bozo. I totally goofed at school this week. I would've sworn I had until friday to turn in my homework. It was actually due today,Wednesday. Ouch....... I promise it was almost finished. All I had to do is put in the link's URLs and finish the table. I will admit I should have put it together quickly Wednesday night and uploaded it to the server at school before the lab closed. But, after the last couple of long days at work, and trying to get back on east coast time, I thought I needed the sleep more than worry about a couple of points off on my homework. I DID have to be up at 2am and it would've been 11pm before I was back at home and in bed.
Not only did I turn my homework in late, I looked like the dunce of the class. We had a "guest" professor in this week. He really knows a lot and is the type that teaches with a very fast paced hands-on technique. Just about the time he was to get started, dispatch called, so I had to walk outside. When I got back in the room, he had given the class directions on where to log into the school's servers. This is where the java script he wanted to use as an example could be viewed. Everyone had found it except for one student. This teacher highlights the students in his class who are having a little trouble and makes a point out of these students holding up the rest of the class. In his philosophy, this is to make you mad or light a fire, so to speak.
Well, he came back to me and since I was the last one and "holding" up the class he made an "example" out of me. I was instructed to come to the front so he could keep an eye on me and I could get "help" logging on.
Now I'm at a terminal that was turned off and I'm waiting for Windows to boot............ he's waiting for me. Hell the class is waiting for me. Am I logged on yet? No not quite. I'm still waiting for Windows.......waiting......waiting.......Hey kewl, Windows finally booted. Now I can log into the server.....No, I can't..... I have to log off on the terminal in the back first. Ok, that's done. Now log on up front.....Waiting here for my preferences to load........Have you gotten it loaded yet Mr P.?? Ok so he didn't ask me by name.
After an eternity, I'm logged on to his webpages on the Shepherd servers.
From this point it just gets worse. I'm already wiped out from our vacation the previous weeks and trying to get back to my normal work schedule, so I'm not with it for sure. I'm running on coffee and an energy drink full of gaurana. So, I'm not exactly keeoing up with his instructions. From this point till the end of the class I'm lost.
Thankfully he isn't teaching the entire length of our class, but I feel like I have set myself up for a failure this semester. I come home ready to drop out this semester. I'm still not sure I'm going to get caught up. Glo talks me into staying. I'm not sure I even want to go on with this post actually. We'll see if she's right. Laters

Back In town

Well, I have a little time to spare this morning. It seems I got loaded at the plant a lot quicker than I expected. If Pooh, my cat, will let me type, I'll at least leave a little post to confirm that we made it back.

I know I had planned to post everyday, explaining the travels and adventures of our vacation before the little details disappeared. Well......that didn't work out. It seems when we checked in the room at night, it was later and later. I would download our pictures and that would be about all I did before crashing. I was trying to live up to my bargain I made before the trip and NOT stay on the computer. Sometimes it takes me awhile to make a post. I know, after reading some of them you're going.......Why? It's not if it's a literary masterpiece.

In short, we made it back with little excitement. Long Beach airport wasn't the most comfortable place to wait. (We actually made it to the airport with a couple of hours to spare.) I made two mistakes that morning. One, we didn't buy anything to eat before getting to the airport. $5.79 for a tuna sandwich!!!

The other MAJOR mistake I made was to go to McD's for breakfast. I ordered their deluxe breakfast and orange juice with it. Now, I went light on the syrup for the pancakes cause I know how much sugar was in it. I even did without the grape jelly for the English muffin. The BIG mistake I made was drinking the orange juice. OMG how much sugar is in a glass of OJ?? Needless to say, less than an hour before we were to leave, I was not feeling well and I should say now I didn't have a comfortable flight. It was actually pretty miserable. I felt a little bloated and had stomach cramps. I will say this much. I took one for the team so to speak. If I had "released" a little pressure.....Well, let's say, I think the other passengers would've shouted bomb, or something to get off the plane. Ok I know I'm leaving ya hanging, but I gotta get to work. It might take awhile but I promise to post some pics and details on the vacation.

Back to the Beach

Well, we got mom to the airport and I've already talked about me throwing my back out on Monday morning. Well Monday was our day to ride up the Pacific Coast Highway. Glo wanted to stick her toe in the Pacific ,so, we decided we'd see how the wealthy peeps live in the beach houses on the coast. Again, we saw some beautiful views. We ran up to Santa Maria, where we stayed the night. That's where I saw the Doc, by the way. He placed these electrodes and hot towel on my back and turned up the juice. I was sort of expecting I was going to live out some torture scene from Lethal Weapon or something. It actually felt quite good. A little massage and a hot towel......well, needless to say I fell asleep. I woke up before the Doc came back! He did his little adjustment and we left. I still need a little more but I'll tough it out the rest of the vacation. We have too much planned to wuss out now. I'll post more pics of the coast leg of our trip. Laters guys gotta get ready.

Wedding Day

Ok I better get busy before I start getting my days mixed up. My brother's wedding was really nice. I was worried it was going to be a ...well, I wasn't sure. It seemed every little detail was ...nick-picked. I had already decided what my brother's fiance was going to be like and I couldn't have been more incorrect. Everything was great. I have to admit I'm jealous about the spot for his wedding. It was a beautiful chapel and the marina where they held the reception was very nice too. I didn't stutter too much during my reading in the ceremony, thank God. Some people actually say I did GOOD. Yippee. Anyway, I met some great people from all areas of the country and out of the country. All in all a great time. Below are a couple of pictures of the chapel and the chapel's view of the Pacific.

Celebrity Sighting Missed

I'm so bad. I have a crap load of pictures to post and I haven't had time. I did something dumb Monday morning and pulled my back out. Needless to say we wasted Tuesday setting up a Chiropractor visit. Well, good news is that worked. Sorta. At least now, I'm not hunched over.
Ok so a quick vacation story. I had mentioned the trip up the Sunset strip and down Hollywood Blvd. The traffic was horrible and I thought it was just that time of day. Of course, we found the reason. It seems a Porsche 911 rear ended a Buick which rammed the Porsche 911 ahead of it. I know, two Porsches in wreck, only in LA, huh? A celebrity was driving the front Porsche which was sitting at a red light in front of a Buick. When a 52yr old drunk woman in a second Porsche slammed into the Buick it pushed the Buick into the 2nd Porsche.
From a news article on AOL, I was able to put 2 and 2 together and get an integer. I didn't realize it at the time, but I could have seen Ellen Degeneres in person since she was involved in the accident. It seems news of the accident spread throughout the media and when we woke up Saturday and we saw this article on AOL.

California Dreamin'

Well, we got mom settled in the motel. We actually "lost" her at the airport for a while last night. I was about to report her missing. She wound up grabbing her luggage and was waiting outside, while we were looking for her to come down the escalator in baggage. We finally made it back to the room around 11pm West coast time. I know she was beat.
After getting a late start yesterday. We found a WalMart and what a WalMart it was. I've never seen one arranged as funny and the people..............Well I can see why no one votes and idiots like Bush get in office. Hell, I can see why everyone in the world hates us. I must live in a small world, protected from the masses. Some of the people I saw.....I can't describe it. I noticed this little girl who must have been 7-8 sucking her thumb and totally oblivious to her surroundings. Unbelievable, I just looked at Glo and just shook my head in amazement. Just looking at he shelves on this store, nothing was put back in order, things were thrown anywhere was another example of the mentality. I'll never laugh at hicks, rednecks and hillbillies again.

Ok got to wrap this up. After the little trip to WalMart we went to Hollywood. Glo learned first hand about LA freeway traffic. We drove up the Sunset Strip, Hollywood Blvd, Santa Monica Blvd and Rodeo drive. We also went into a couple of communities in the Beverly Hills area. I admit I was drooling on Rodeo drive. In the hour we spent walking around I saw Ferraris and Bentlys. Ok got to go I'll post pics later

Update and flight out to California

Long time no post huh?? What a week. From the total fiasco that was the Western Maryland Truck Show, in which I actually got a 1st place out of a huge group of , let's see, ONE truck. Hmmmmm I think I had that one won. It was a total disapointment. I really wanted the guy in the Ford that had won the last two years to be there. And, after seeing the competition I really thought I might have a shot at Best of Show. There were two trucks that I thought really deserved it but they were passed over and the BOS was given to a co-worker of the last year's winner( who lives in the area). I smell something fishy in Cumberland. Anyway I'm not sure I'll be back. Not only was this disappointing but the whole show was extremely disorganized.
OK after that and a quick 3 days of running around trying to get the house in shape for a 2 week vacation, we finally made it out to sunny Southern California, just in time to miss Hurricane Earnesto. The flight out, not to be a big commercial, is the best flying experience I've ever had. This could be due to my sweeties doing most of the work ahad of time e.q. printing boarding passes and bag check in before arriving. We just had to check the bags at the curb and go straight to security. Security was also pretty easy. After taking off my shoes and my phone, iPod, keys, and laptop and sending them through the scanner everything flew through, along with us!!!!! I would guess from the time we dropped our baggage to the time we were in the airport took less than 20mins.
With the quick check in, we had a couple of hours to wait which we grabbed a little to eat and waited. The flight was extremely comfortable. I loved the cable but I have to admit the onscreen GPS of the plane's position got the most attention from me. Ths way I could not only look at the features of the landscape but also tell where they were. Ok it's time to get out and enjoy LA. I'll post a couple of airplane shots before I go.