Monday Monday 2.25.2008

Monday Monday Readers,

My weekly status report hasn't been published in a couple of weeks now, so I guess many of you are overdue for another installment of my life and times.

Firstly, my reason for not writing last week comes in celebration and recognition of the fine men responsible for running the country's affairs these past 232 years (notice the emphasis on the word "fine" as I'm sure there are a few of these men that we may not all approve of). If you are a lost on this opening thought - I didn't write last week because I had Monday off for the observation of President's Day. Although many of my IBM colleagues think it is BS that I didn't have to work, let me remind you all that I do work on a Government contract. Anyway, I write the Monday Monday email every Monday morning when I get to work. Since I didn't work last Monday, no Monday Monday was issued. Having a short week, I didn't make it up with a Tuesday Tuesday, Wednesday Wednesday or anything of the sort.

Moving On -

A couple of weeks ago, the Charlotte based crew went on a major adventure to the Charlotte Bobcats Arena to watch one of America's greatest past times: Monster Trucks. I also observed this spectacle about 15 years ago when I was 9 or 10 years old. In my honest opinion, I think they were better back then. . . In other words, I'll wait another 15 years or so before I go see them again. I wonder if any other countries around the world celebrate anything like this. In general terms, we saw a bunch of oversized vehicles running over a bunch of normal sized vehicles while some guy repeatedly shouted the same poorly spoke English phrases over a microphone. If I'm still writing Monday Monday emails 15 years from now, I'll let you know if it gets any better.

I normally devote a portion of this email to the experimental cooking that I do over the weekend, so I'll share that now. I cooked a whole chicken this past weekend that got some pretty good reviews from Maggie. I stuffed the bird with apples, oranges, lemons, and garlic. I was happily surprised that my first attempt at this task came out so well. I also baked some Banana bread over the weekend. . . This homemade recipe book that I'm making is getting bigger and bigger.

About a month or two ago, I wrote that I would attempt losing some weight through diet and exercise. This is always a struggle as my two favorite things in life are food and drink. Combine that with the fact that exercise takes ambition, and you have quite a task on your hands. Anyway, I'm happy to report that I'm down a considerable amount of weight from where I was in the May/June period (about 30 pounds in all). I have been eating a lot healthier, but I simply can't stick to a diet that involves me eating significantly less of my favorite foods. What has been working is my new workout routine that has been going on (consistently I might add) for about six weeks now. It is a lot of work, but life on the road gives me the time. The routine goes for about two hours - three times a week (more if I get ambitious on the weekend) - and it includes walking/running, strength, calisthenics, and swimming. I suppose what is said about making lifestyle changes to lose and keep off is true though.

We had a new sports complex open down the street from us, so a few of us went bowling this past weekend. The new place was nice, but I bowled horribly. Perhaps having lanes so close will improve my game though. Stay tuned. . . .

Until Next Time, enjoy the week ahead.

Ryan