Lost my bet
2005-05-06, 1:17 p.m.

Day 257 Who wants to collect on that $0.56 bet?

Oi! I was less than correct, to put it kindly. You�ll never guess who I met at the gym. I knew I lost as was walking in. I could see C upstairs, heading over to the cardio equipment as I was walking in the front door. She even got there about when I said I�d be headed upstairs, I was just running a few minutes late.

So we did our respective workout routines. She walked for 30 minutes, I did a 2 mile run with a 2 minute cool down. Went through the weight machines. Nice work out, racked up some more Fit Points, spent some quality sweat time with C.

Because I offered to cook, I got to hit up the grocery store on the way home for last minute ingredients. Ran into a heckuva deal too. I was only looking for small packages of Italian sausage. When I found them, they were hanging out next to the rack of full pork loins. These pork loins were marked on sale from $4.39/lb all the way down to $1.99/lb. I ended up grabbing a 12 lb loin, just because I couldn�t pass up the deal. I can get 2 loin roasts and 2 or 3 meals worth of loin chops out of that baby. With the boys coming home from college next week, we�re going to need all the extra food we can get.

Got a nice semi surprise phone call from kid #2 last night too. His finals schedule is set, so we locked down his moving home day. He was able to finalize his arrangements for his summer job, and will be starting bright & early Sunday morning. He and his brother both work in the local warehouses for Wegman�s Food Markets. Pays $8+ per hour and they work almost as much overtime as they want. Over the 13 weeks they�ll work this summer, they�ll each earn $5,000 or so, probably net $4K � all towards college expenses, of course (NOT). I imaging they�ll each have a couple thousand put away for school. Kid #1 may want to accelerate his car payments, and he better be considering paying us back his insurance money. Kid #2 wants to replace his car (can�t blame him there), so that�ll chew up a bit too.

Other part of the surprise is that kid #2 will be blowing through town tonight. He�s on Fredonia�s Ultimate Frisbee Club team. They�re playing Saturday down in Geneseo which is only 30 or so miles from us. So #2 and 4 of his friends/team mates will be stopping at our house tonight for dinner and a sleep over. Feeding 5 20 yr olds dinner on short notice? No choice but chili. I�m curious how this batch will turn out. Had no cumin on hand, even after another trip to the grocery store for fixins. But I did have plenty of regular chili powder, ancho chili powder, some chipotle�s in adobo sauce, and a few jalapenos. Toss in some onion, sweet pepper, about 56 cloves of garlic, crushed tomatoes, 2 lb beef and various beans, set the crock pot on low and let �er rip. The ancho & chipotle will add a nice smokiness and the jalapeno will bring up the heat a wee bit. For the braver ones, I have some smoked, dried habanero flakes left from last years garden. We�ll see how many are willing to try those. I love them, but I understand they�re not universally appreciated. Oh well, more for me then.

Now, I did say I wasn�t completely right about that little bet. Regarding C�s whereabouts & activities on the way home. She did make it to the gym, contrary to my fears. But it seems she did manage to stop at a liquor store in there somewhere too. Got herself a new supply for the weekend. Oh boy. The good news is I know what�s coming. The bad news is I�m not very good at handling it. Practice, practice, practice.

Wif is also having some minor health related issues going on. Seems her thyroid is slowing down. She�s been on medication for that, and has been very good about taking it the last 6 months or so. She seems to think the thyroid slowdown is the reason for her weight issues. There are other things going on (or not going, as the case may be) that are certainly attributable to the thyroid, and part of her weight issue may be thyroid related as well. But. (There�s always a but, no?) I can not get her to understand that all that liquor & ginger ale she is drinking has calories. When she bothers to track her food intake using Fit Day, she never includes any cocktails, beer, wine, nothing alcoholic. Now, while she believes she�s barely subsisting on a 1200 calorie diet, in truth she is probably consuming 2400 plus calories on her �average� drinking days. But she is in such a state of denial, alcohol and mixers have no calories in her world.

I�m thinking hatching a hare-brained scheme. We both use the same doctor for our GP. She has an appointment today (rather unfortunate), I have one next week. Today, C is trying to get her thyroid medicine cranked up a bit. I can�t say whether or not she needs that done, because, like I said, there are other symptoms that are thyroid related. But personally, her weight issues are by and large diet, not thyroid. I also wonder if abusing alcohol can damage the thyroid? Oh, my point - at my appointment next week, I can blow through my stuff pretty quick. Get refills for my prescriptions, maybe a little advice on dieting & exercising. But since Dr. B also sees C, I think I�ll fill in some informational blanks that I think C has created. Especially surrounding drinking habits. Then I�ll have to swear Dr. B to secrecy. If C finds out I�m leaking the truth to Dr. B, I�m going to become a eunuch. By way of one pissed off wife and a dull butter knife.

Problem is� there�s something broken. I�m an engineer. I found a tool. I have to use it. It�s irresistible. I�m either going to fix what�s broken, or break it worse (make it brokerer). Ultimately, I�m trying to do good, but it�s still a muddy moral issue. I�m not violating doctor-patient privilege, I�m not causing any violations of the new HIPA rules, my intentions are good, but maybe my methods are a little underhanded. Still, if Dr. B can cite a potential link between thyroid function and alcohol consumption, it�s worth a shot. There�d be another condition I�d have to insist on too. No matter what, Dr. B is not to manufacture any �link� between booze & thyroids. If it exists, fine. If not, I�ll just have to find another lever. I don�t want her having to lie on my account to solve a problem C has. But at least Dr. B will know the truth about C�s imbibing habits. Which will actually only do any good if Dr. B remembers to not this stuff in C�s records. That�s why I�m kinda bummed about the timing of the appointments, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Ah well. Back to the zoo.

257 days down. Fun weekend coming up.

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