The Joys of a 6th Grade Class Trip

   We just got back from Camp Wartburg.  My 3rd son, Jalen is in 6th grade. The 6th grade class at Grant Middle School gets to go on a camping trip. If I had to use one word to describe the bus ride, it would be deafening!  I am always amazed at the sheer volume a bus load of 6th graders can generate. It defies the laws of physics, mathematics, and many other laws as well.  It is a miracle that anyone survives adolescence with their hearing unimpaired.   I don't know how many different words there are in the English language, but I think I heard them all in just a one hour bus ride. The kids seemed to enjoy the ride, though.

I had the privilege of sleeping in a room full of 6th grade boys.  I have discovered the answer to the world's energy crisis. We just need to harness the energy that radiates from every pore of 6th grade boys when you turn the lights out at night! Something magical also occurs when the lights go out...every word, noise, or smell is automatically hysterical!

   Our trip lasted for two nights and almost three days. We had many wonderful adventures. We did a pond study and found a leech, a dragonfly nymph, a baby fish, and a full grown bullfrog.  We went canoing. We did a three hour team-building exercise. We spent three hours on a really cool high-rope course. We did a scavenger hunt, and some field games. We did a nature hike and learned some really neat things about trees and flowers.  We ate ravioli, sloppy-joe's, and many other good things.

   This is my third time going on this 6th grade camping trip and I am dreading the next one because it will be the last one. It seems like such a short time since Jeron's 6th grade trip. This fall Jeron will go off to college!

So...the adventures continue, but the adventures do change. Children grow and change so quickly and then, one day far too soon, they will live in a different house. I have a feeling I will remember the chaos of the 6th grade camping trip and I will yearn for that brief, noisy, carefree moment when life is just about perfect.

 

Feeling Good in the Neighborhood

After a couple weeks of minor setbacks, I am actually starting to enjoy the exercising. 

The first few trips to the gym were a little rough.  On day one, there was the barking knee after only about 5 minutes on the eliptical trainer.  I made it to ten minutes before giving up the eliptical machine.  Leg cramps in the night are a real pain!

The second or third trip to the gym was interesting.  As I entered the gym with water bottle in hand and towel over the shoulder (must look like I know what I'm doing)  I noticed a man on an eliptical trainer going about 137 miles per hour!  Well, it seemed so compared to my pace.  He was really flying!  His legs and arms were hammering and the sweat was glistening.  Of course, experienced gym rats such as myself know that you have to "pace yourself".  After a vigorous and exhausting 15 minutes on the eliptical at low resistance, and a few minutes gasping on the rowing machine, I did a few mediocre abdominal crunches and a few shaky chest presses and headed for the locker room feeling pretty good about myself...until I passed by the guy on the eliptical trainer still going strong after over an hour.  I suppose he was pacing himself after all.  I think I need to work on pacing myself at a little higher level!

Since then, I am doing better.  I'm up to 15 hard minutes on the rowing machine and 25 killer minutes on the eliptical machine, as well as a good hard effort on about 4 other machines.  I'm really surprised at the difference.  I have lost nearly 14 lbs and my blood pressure, which was 139 over 78  has gone down to 118 over 70 in a month. My clothes are are fitting in a pain-free manner, which is good, and the last time I picked up something off of the floor I did not even grunt or gasp!

Now for the hard part...staying with it. 

P.S.  If anyone has any extra willpower, I'll take it.  There is a carton of gourmet white chocolate macadamia nut cookies on my kitchen counter.  I must resist...

 

Phase Two

The big E.  Exercise has begun. 

I think it was year before last when it hit me hard.  I was getting old. There were many little clues, but the realization smacked me right in the face during the first inning of a softball game on the old campground.  It wasn't supposed to be any different than years past, but when I made my little trot to left field, my legs felt a little shaky.  I stood there thinking about all of the awesome times playing ball at camp.  I remembered the adreneline rush that comes with the home run ball.  I remembered the high fives from happy teammates.  It was right about then that the young kid (did I mention I was playing with young teenagers?) hit a nice easy pop fly  over third base.  With a thrill of relief I started to run...eyes on the ball...no problem...easy one...done this countless times...a little extra burst of speed...extend the glove...and...oh no...huff puff...oh man, this is not going to be good.  To conclude the story, let me say that despite my confidence and 110% effort, the ball dropped into the grass at least thirty feet from my extended glove.  It wasn't even close.  To make matters worse, the bottom half of me finished running before the top half which is never good.  After a somewhat spectacular rolling crash with body parts flying in all directions I correctly concluded that I am getting old.

There is hope, though.  I have been  to the YMCA fitness center a couple of times in the past week and I have found that despite the total lack of evidence, I have muscles!  I can't see them, but believe me when I say that I have them!  Ouch.

But, as I said before, it's all good.  I am getting used to the sight of certain things such as tiny little piles of cereal in the bottom of the bowl, and leftover biscuits on the kitchen counter.  I really don't need to eat everything in sight!  One thing I am really enjoying is the declining number on the bathroom scale.  225...223...219...214.  That's right, eleven pounds. 

I think I'll go celebrate with a smidgen of cereal and a fish oil pill the size of a hot dog!

 

It's All Good!

Sabotaged by Valentine's Day!!! 

I am not on a diet!  I am just trying to find some balance, right?  Well, if I had been sitting on a seesaw, my tailbone would have a bruise on it.  There was no balance on Valentine's Day.  There is a new place in town called "Texas Roadhouse", which happens to be one of my favorite places to eat...especially while on the "seafood diet" (see previous blog entry).  "Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!" 

So, after fresh rolls with cinnamon butter, onion blossom, salad, prime rib, and a baked sweet potato (with cinnamon butter and brown sugar, of course),  and I waddled out with a silly grin on my face.  Actually, it wasn't that bad.  I did eat the salad and that negates much of the other stuff, right?  It really was a great meal and I have decided that if I am going to maintain balance in my life, there will have to be times when I sit down and enjoy a fabulous meal.  My problem in the past  has been that I continuously ate too much...and then had dessert!  So, I'm doing much better.  If I was any more balanced,  I could be a tightrope walker!

By-the-way, I thought of a new food invention.  Just imagine...Flavored Air! 

Flavored Air could be the next greatest invention!!!  It could be Cheesy Flavored Air, or it could be Caramel Flavored Air...Oh, wait.  I guess it's already been done.  I think the product is called a Rice Cake. 

 

 

A Philosophical Discussion of Dieting Hi, again.  Well it's been a couple of days, and I thought I would give you an update.

I don't believe I can be successful going on a diet.  Now, before you give up on me, let me explain.  I have been on diets.  I have done lo-cal and high-cal.  I've done lo-fat and high fat.  I've counted grams and I've counted calories.  I've starved and I've stuffed.  I've realized that diets work!  All of them  work.!   It is just hard to stay on any diet indefinitely.

The most successful diet I have been on (for most of my life) is one you have probably heard of.  It is called my "seafood" diet.  It works like this...everything I see I eat.  Actually that old joke is better told than written, but you get the point.

This particular diet is spectacular in its effectiveness!  It works like a charm!  It goes like this:
* Why have one biscuit, when you can have four?
* Salad is to be enjoyed when everything else has already been consumed!  "May I have some extra salad dressing please?"
* The biggest challenge on this diet is portion stacking.  When the plate gets full, go vertical!
* Breakfast cereal is not just for breakfast anymore...and by the way, a box of cereal usually holds about two servings.  Big bowls work best.
* If you put a whole cookie in your mouth and take a sip of milk, it gets wonderfully soft...you can eat many more cookies using this technique.
* Hunger is something to be avoided at all costs!  Don't take a chance!  Eat as often as possible to avoid any chance of experiencing this unpleasant sensation.
* When eating socially, always eat more than the others near you.  This is the polite thing to do so that each of them will not be embarrassed by how much they have eaten.
* When eating alone, eat as much as you want.  Nobody is watching.
* Holidays are designated feast days.  Test your limits!!!

There are many more guidelines to this diet.  I may share more of these later.

I think for the time being I will just strive for balance.  It's noon.  What's for lunch?
 

Alright! Enough is enough!

I have been putting this off for a looooong time, but the time has come for this rapidly-becoming-chunky middle aged man to get serious about fitness.

In the past couple of years I have run directly into the middle of my"perfect storm".  I passed the age 40 point at the same time my job became much less physical.  These things have converged right in front of me and I have blissfully sailed into this storm with a smile on my face (as well as cookie crumbs and a milk mustache).

I have realized that if I don't find some balance between my diet and my exercise regimen (or lack thereof), I will be diminishing my chances for health and wellbeing later in life. I also face the unhappy prospect of choosing a new wardrobe so that I can breathe again!

So...here goes.  I am going to write a few lines from time to time to share my little successes and/or failures. 

For now, I think I'll have some of those pop-tarts...just kidding.

 

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