All's well that ends.
2006-04-10, 1:59 p.m.

Day 596 All�s well that ends?

Quickest blow up and recovery on record. No steamy make up sex story though. Also the furthest (highest?) an argument has gone in such a short amount of time. I can�t figure it out. I�m sure she�s stressing about her dad and his whole situation (which isn�t getting better, in her opinion), but her source for a solution sucks. Plus, it could work against her. I�m dead sure Cindy�s brother has comments about her drinking habits just simmering in the back of his mind. When he needs to play them to swing his fathers opinion about where to settle down, he won�t hold back. Cindy will be pissed and devastated, all at once. Will that be the breaking point? Haven�t a clue, but I bet I get to be there to mop up the mess.

Just have to remember to keep my gym membership current so I can go run off these frustrations. A few sets of 410lb leg presses kinda takes the wind out of your sails, ya know?

This is a couple of days old, but over at serenaville, there�s a sorta cooking challenge happening. Something about a boil-in-bag omelet. For grins, I�m going to give one a whirl and see what comes of it. I�m too lazy to tag the actual entry, but it was posted 4/8/06 if anyone is interested. I�ll probably take pictures, hoping for a spectacular mess. I have a feeling I may be disappointed though. It�s kind of a cool idea, because you can potentially do several different omelets all at once and have nothing to clean up but the plates and a mixing bowl. We�ll see.

Thanks are also due to mom-on-roof and Alison for their kind words in the aftermath of my latest sob story about Cindy and her penchant for the booze. Ya see � and mom-on-roof hit this dead on � I�m definitely a guy, an engineer at that, and I just can�t help but want to fix something I see that�s broken. But even my thick skull has been able to accept the fact that you can�t fix something that doesn�t want to be fixed (I SO want to add a �yet� to that). So, I hang around, waiting for the thing that�s broke to figure out it needs fixing. What I need to figure out for myself is how long a wait is long enough? I don�t know that answer yet. But as long as the YMCA keeps it�s elliptical trainers and weight machines in good working order, I can wait a while longer.

Tried this for dinner last night. Boneless, skinless chicken breast, marinated in a roasted garlic pesto, then grilled outdoors, served with roasted yams & Brussels sprouts. If you thought you didn�t like sprouts, you have to try them roasted. Here�s the recipe for how I do them (straight from Wegmans actually):

1 lb Brussel sprouts
1 lb yam or sweet potato
� cup olive oil (or canola if you prefer)
1 � tsp dried basil
1 � tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried parsley
garlic powder to taste (I used about 1 � tsp)

Oven to 350

Rinse & drain sprouts. Trim ends & halve lengthwise.
Chunk up yam into about � to � � cubes
Dump all in a large bowl, drizzle with the oil.
Sprinkle herbs over the top then mix well.
You want everything coated evenly with the oil/herb mixture.

Roast in oven 35 � 45 minutes or until yams show no resistance to a poke with a fork.
Sprouts and yams will be browned (caramelized) and so sweet. Comes out to about 100 calories a cup. Wegmans has the nutrient break down posted I think.

This is a pretty strongly flavored veggie dish, so have it with a meat that can stand up to it.
The pesto marinated chicken went well with it. We�ve also done grilled salmon, lemon/garlic chicken and plain old steak.

Yes, I do a lot of the cooking at home, probably half or so. My mostest favoritest dish of all time is a nice turkey & sausage gumbo. I could eat that for a week straight and not get tired of it. Might weigh 300 lbs, but my taste buds would be oh so happy. That�s it for the FoodTV portion of the show.

Weighed in again this morning. Must have been dehydrated from working out. Scale actually read 196.5. I think that�s also why most places advise you to weigh in only once a week. If you do it more than that, you get to see too much of the daily variation that naturally happens. Too much noise in the measurements, then you get all spazzed about going up a half pound when maybe all you did was eat breakfast before getting weighed.

Yeah. So no more peeking till Saturdays anymore. Too much shit flying through my head.

Got to make a trip to Syracuse next month, one of many actually. This one is to attend the presentation of Zach�s senior design project. The program he�s in at ESF has their students do some big design project their senior year (hence the �senior design project�. Did I mention that enough?) Now ESF is a small college, and Zach�s program is one of the smaller curriculums there. So we interested parents will get to see all 3 design project presentations on May 2. Each design team is comprised of 6 students � all pitching in towards the final design. The project itself is also something that benefits the community in some way, so there�s added incentive to complete the project and have it operate properly. I mean, he IS in an engineering program after all, so something that actually works would probably enhance the grade. Afterwards we�ll probably drag he and Jill out to dinner someplace, provided they�re not scheduled to work that evening. (Hey Serena, you ever get to the Wegmans in Dewitt (on 92), look for a kinda tall (6�2�) cashier with a goatee (chin beard?), dirty blond hair and ear rings, name of Zach. That�d be my older son. He�s only there till May 12th, so you better hurry)

Oh. Real news. Kicking Time Warner out of the house. Between cable TV and the internet, we pay $100 a month for Time Warner�s services. We don�t even get Animal Planet or National Geographic Channels. So they�re gone. Switching to Frontier DSL and Dish TV. Next week. So the old way, cable, internet + phone (local & long distance) were running us ~$150 a month. With the Frontier deal, we�ll be at $120/month for everything, and we also get about 60 music channels, on top of 120 TV channels. Asked about cutting out all the QVC�s and televangelist schtuph, but they get to ride along as part of the package.

Checked out the new email account with Frontier. We don�t even have the service yet, but the email already is active. I�m already sending schtuph to it. But that�ll be the public, family friendly account. If�n I figure out some not too stupid sounding name for a second account, I might make it available through here.

Anyhow, lunch is over, work beckons. Anyone know how to stuff a PLL with a slow clock, then switch the faster output over to a global clock track inside the device? No? I will know how to do that before I leave today.

Updated stats:

Weight start: 206.5 on 1/1/06 (265.0 on 1/15/05)
Current weight 197.25 on 4/8/06 (It was actually a little lower this morning, but I figured I was a wee bit dehydtared after working out, so I�m not counting it)
Target: 180 by 7/1/06 (looking harder & harder to hit)
Next �official� weigh in: 4/15/06

The Keep on Truckin goal: (idea stolen shamelessly from Marn�s Big Adventure)
Miles at speed 4/10/06: 264.85
Miles with cooldown: 292.08
Target for 2006: 1000 miles

Might have to add a little something for the 5K training too.

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