Day 354 - Oh aren't we close

What is it eleven more days?  How exciting is that?  And I am celebrating.  I am going to the House of Prime Rib.  As T2 said I will have the rest of the week to starve myself.  I will also have a swimming session in the am so that should be fine.

TH says that I should go to Brisbane in the morning instead of going to Rossmoor, but I really don't feel comfortable yet to swim in the big bad world.  I feel very safe at Rossmoor, and I don't feel like people are judging me.  If I swim at Brisbane, there are a lot of fairly good swimmers there, and I can't keep up.  What did I say 20 pounds six weeks?

I am excited about K showing up.  I am thinking of making her get up with me at 5:45 in the morning and going swimming with me.  It will be just like the old days, except instead of going to bed at 3 am we will be going to bed at 3 pm.  She never was much of a morning person, though I hear she is getting better, but my guess is she won't want to get up at 5 am during her vacation.  Hmm should I or shouldn't I.  Y'all will just have to wait to find out.

Day 353 - Ravenous

There comes a time when I think I am screwed, going back to the way things were, I can't stop eating.  That is the way I felt the last couple of days.  I just couldn't seem to fill up and then by 4 pm I had eaten all I could eat and I still had two meals left in the fridge.  Today I was hungry again.  I  ate two lunches and two bars and my breakfast and a snack and I have nothing left for dinner.  I guess I can last until the morning, but still...what is up with this?

And on top of all that I went to bed last night weighing the lightest I have ever weighed at bed time only to wake up heavier they when I went to bed.  That just isn't suppose to happen.  It just ain't right I tell you.

So I still have an hour of exercise to do.  I didn't take T for a walk (again) but I did work work work.  In fact I think I got enough done that I will be able to sleep tonight.  Yay!!

Day 352 - Improvement

Swimming this morning felt much better then it did last week.  In fact I could swim four laps without gulping for air.

I was a little worried that LZ would take one look at me this week and decide that she just didn't want to take me on.  Especially since I told her that an 85 year old man beat my butt while swimming.  But she was good about it, and even praised me a little.

As she said, which I knew, improvement will be fast in the beginning, then comes the hard work.  But the truth is I won't get fast if I don't lose the weight.  The less weight I have to pull through the water the faster I can be.  But  the lemonade side of it is - won't I get stronger by pulling more weight in the beginning?  Heck I may not even have to lift weights.

Also I can't pull myself out of the pool yet.  That is strength and weight, so every time I get in the pool (all 4 times now) I have tried to pull myself out like I used to.  I did get out once, but in the process I got a full on leg cramp, so now we are just practicing to see how far I can get without straining.

Stayed tuned, the day may come when I really can do it again.

Day 351 - Weigh in

Well it is weigh in and I have like three pounds to lose by 5 pm.  It is amazing how much weight fluctuates day by day hour by hour.

Actually the only day that I weigh myself during the day is Tuesdays.  Sometimes in delight, sometimes in trepidation.  But more and more it seems that I have a whole bunch of weight to lose on Tuesdays.  So if I do the same thing every Tuesday to lose weight - am I really cheating?  Maybe the first time I did it it was a bit of a cheat, but now - not so much.

Walking with J certainly does help - I get my water and will drink the full 16 ounces (453.6 grams) after I get weighed.  Also I must sweat at least 32 ounces of water, so if one gallon of water is 8.35 pounds that would make 32 oz 2.0875 pounds.    So I was right - by dehydrating myself I can lose mucho pounds.

But for all that dehydrating myself I only lost .8 of a pound.  Maybe next week it will be hotter and I can sweat out 64 oz.  One can only hope.

Day 350 - New phones

So for years we have had one phone that would hold a charge and the other three just wouldn't hold a full charge.  So we finally broke down and bought a new phone system, one that hopefully we can use in the living room as well.

It has other perks as well.  I never told people that the old answering machine only recorded the first five seconds of the message.  Many a times someone would say can you call me at and that would be it.  Since I hate calling people I thought it was a perfect way to ignore them.  I guess it would have been nice to tell them that the answering machine didn't work, but then I would hear - why don't you get a new machine.

So now I have no excuses (I think - nobody ever calls me anymore I can't figure that one out.)  So call away leave a message, just don't ask me to call back.  

Day 349 - Sometimes I just don't think it is working

Last week I had a good weight - lose this week I haven't been losing weight, in fact it looks like I gained a pound.  It gets to be a bit of an emotional roller coaster.  Last week I was sure that I was going to hit my October 12 goal, now I am sure it just isn't going to happen.

I did not do my 1000 calories exercise on Friday, so I am sure that is the problem.  Or maybe it was going out to eat twice this week.  Who knows.

Today I walk with J.  She barrels up hills and I do my best to keep up, but at least I am being aerobic.  The T2 test if you can sing you are not working hard enough.  What if you can't talk?  Our facilitator says we should be able to carry on a conversation or we are working too hard.  Well it is up hill one way which means it is all down hill on the way back, so then I can chat away.

I did swim yesterday, terrible terrible cramp.  I went on line to see what to do about it, and they said it was all about lactic acid build up, so electrolytes and stretching.  Or don't work so hard.

So that was the second day that I swam.  I didn't get the full hour workout in an hour and fifteen minutes, but I got closer.  I decided to keep doing the workout until I can do the whole workout in an hour.   I expect immediate results in everything - I do.  So I thought I would be able to do it the second time around. -- Maybe the third?

Another website states that you lose .6% of your ability/strength every year and then when you hit 70 it goes down faster (exponentially.)  My questions is not how much I lost, but the real question is did I hit my full potential in HS or can I get better then I was in HS?  I have been moaning and groaning that I did not hit full potential in HS, and I could have been so much faster with proper training.   So if I could get to HS times at this age then I will know I hadn't hit my potential in HS.  Well - it is a goal.
  

Day 348 - Ever met a person who couldn't wait for you to stop speaking?

So it was a work day, and I had to finish up the field work at a client.  Got to the client, took much longer then I thought, got done and started to chat with the said client.   I soon gathered that she didn't want me to particpate she just wanted to talk. 

I don't mind listening to people talking, I actually enjoy it.  And being a bit lazy I really enjoy not having to make conversation, if I have someone who can lead the conversation I am a very happy camper.  So it didn't bother me that she wanted to talk, it just took me a while to figure it out.  I really like her, and she has lots of interesting things to say that I haven't heard before, so I am not complaining, just making an observation.  Some people are good talkers.

However, there are those who don't want you to talk and don't let you talk even if you wanted to.  Those are people who have a tendency to repeat themselves and there numerous stories ad naseum.  I have had a few people in my life (not any more thank goodness.)  They will talk about people that you don't know, and won't give you any background on the person they are talking about - for instance Sally just got biten by Georges dog and now they are fueding.   Now that could be a really interesting story if only they would tell who they were what there relationship was to them and to each other.  But without any background who gives a wiff?

Nobody in my life does that anymore.  I guess that is what getting older is all about.  You just don't have time for someone who doesn't have time for you. 

Day 347 - bites mites and swimming

So I swam at Big D's pool on Thursday, and I was disappointed and pleased at the same time.  It was not easy, swimming laps - hard - trying to do the workout for beginners - harder, but trying to follow LZ suggestion of mixing it up (an hour here - half an hour there) when the time hit an hour and fifteen minutes and I still had 8 fifties to do, I knew I wasn't going to get it done.  Ah well, I did get 2200 yards in.  Back in the day that would have taken what 20 minutes?

So we went for lunch then off to the casino.  A very fun day to say the least.

So when I got home I was itchy - really itchy.  Sat scratching and trying not to, but didn't help.  So my conclusion is - a - the casino had mites -b- the pool had biting bugs or -c- the chlorinated water dried my skin out.  I am leaning towards a.

Day 346 - Clothes

So here I was getting ready to go to a client and I proudly brought out a new outfit that I had bought a few months ago.  It was a little tight, so I figured it would fit in a couple of months.  Well...it is a little too big now.  I am sad to say that I never measured my cottage cheese thighs, but I am getting an inkling that I lost a lot of weight in my thighs (probably the reason that they are so ugly.)   The pant legs were way to big.  I could fit both legs into one leg, and to think just 4 months ago it was too tight.

  Oh well I am still going to wear them.

I also bought a couple of outfits that were smaller then what I have been wearing, so when I found that this outfit was too big I went running in to check and make sure that the other outfit was still too small.  Wouldn't that be cool to have dropped another two sizes?

So I put them on and did a squat to see if I would rip it out, then when that was fine, I checked the top.  That fit too.  Only problem is they are straight legged so they fit kind of tight - and I don't like feeling the clothes constricting me.  But maybe by goal they will be loose enough to wear to dinner.  I have never worn yellow before.

Day 345 - Vanity wins out

So in anticipation to my swimming I went out and bought two new suits.  I tried them on, and they are a touch too big, but I won't wear them because - well they show my thighs.  My cottage cheese thighs.  Even just writing that grosses me out.  Thank god I don't have to look at them all the time.  Jeez.

I can deal with the big stomach and the droopy arms, but the thighs - nope, I just can't deal with that.  I am actually wearing a little swimming dress, that covers most of it, but...they had a full length mirror at the pool and I still saw those thighs.  And the worst thing about it - there ain't a damn thing I can do about it (except surgery of course.)

You know if wishes were horses - then I wouldn't have these thighs I would have lost the weight 20 years ago and would never have quit swimming.  That is if wishes were horses.

Now I just have to figure out a schedule that won't take all day.  Last time I tried swimming I would go at noon, and it would be three before I got home and ready to work, and that just won't really work.

Day 344 - Trying to not eat

I am trying to diet and I am careful of what I eat, but...it is hard to be good all the time.  I don't know about the hunger thing, but I do know some days I just want to eat more then others.  So all those little snacks here and there do add up.  And though I am careful about the calories, sometimes - sometimes they creep up.

I am not sure I remember how I ate before.  I think that on my bad days that I am eating BD, but then if I look at the calories for the day - I realize not so much.  But I do occasionally eat that extra bowl of fruit, I guess it is better then eating that extra bowl of ice cream.  But as the year mark comes closer, and my weight doesn't drop, I wonder if I will ever move from this weight.  Maybe to maintain this weight I have to eat like this for the rest of my life.  So to lose weight what do I have to do?  I have upped the exercise this last week, according to the website calculation I have exercised 6898 - a little less then the 1000 calories I had planned on doing, and I have exercised 697 minutes (that includes walking) so I am over the programs desire to do 420 minutes a week.

So...like in the past everyday I get up and say I am not going to graze, but every night I end up having grazed a couple of hundred calories.  This week my new goal is not to graze at all - at least for one week.  So we will see if I am grazing myself out of weight loss.  Watch out TH - I might be a little grumpy.

Day 343 - Week 49

Week 49 - the longest I have ever been on  a diet.  Tomorrow weigh in.  Wednesday swimming.  Thursday gambling Friday client - is life wonderful.

It was a quiet day.  Don't have much to say.

Day 342 - Swimming and other stuff

So I finally have an appointment with LZ, and since I am in GV I thought I would try some swimming.  I am hesitant about this whole endeavor, mainly because I am afraid that I won't be able to work hard enough.  I really don't know how to workout anymore.  I have not done a workout where I ache all over since I was swimming in High School, and even then I didn't do it that often.  That kind of work takes more then physical training it takes mental training as well, and I just don't know if I have it.

I have walked to the point that I have ached all over, but that was different, I couldn't stop because if I did I would never get home.  And walking is different, it doesn't really take any strength, it just - walking.

Swimming is different.  I find my arms start to burn - I stop.  I find that I am getting out of breath - I stop.  Any physical discomfort - I stop.  And I am weak on top of all that.  After 37 years of not using my arms, my strength is almost gone.  I wonder, can I even get it back?

I don't have a full size pool, just the Endless pool (swim against the current.)  I don't have the current cranked up  high because I don't have the arm strength to keep up.  But at a low current I can swim forever - sort of.  But it also doesn't give me a aerobic exercise.  I doubt that my pulse gets much pass 75.

Anyway that is my dilemma.

    

Day 341 - 7 miles

It hardly seems like anything now, but it was a breakthrough of sorts for me.  When I was training for the 50 mile walk, I walked from our house to Lake Merced.  We walked around the lake twice and then I called TH to come get me.

That walk was 11.5 miles, and I was exhausted and hurting all over, I couldn't move and it took much longer then expected.  But the thing was I couldn't have for the life of me walked back up the hill.  Even if I only walked once around the lake.

Yesterday we did a short cut (probably shaved a half mile to a mile off the walk) but we still ended up walking 7.2 miles and the last half was all up hill.

T wasn't really sure what we were doing and when we got to the parking lot we usually park at she frantically looked for the car.  And then I had to spend the next 20 minutes explaining to her that we didn't park there and we had to keep going.  She kept trying to turn me around to go back to the parking lot.

She is the only dog I have known that decides when she has had enough and tries to turn around.  She will stop and look at me with those big brown eyes and I can almost hear her - why do we keep walking - I am done had a good time lets go home and bark.


Anyway my feet did hurt, I don't know what I am going to do about my poor tootsies, they always seem to be hurting, the blisters, the toenails gouging the toes, no matter how many shoes I buy, I just can't seem to find that magical pair.

And after walking for 133 minutes I just didn't have the energy to exercise for another half our so I could make my 1000 calorie workout goal.  You would think that a two hour walked should do it, and ten months ago it would, now it is only 840 (that is walking a 3.5 mile) - oh the pain of it all.

Day 340- Walk walk walk

T and I went for a walk to the Planet of the Apes and it was delightful.  I wasn't sure about it mainly due to the high usage by mountain bikers and dogs.  But I guessed if I went in the middle of a week day there wouldn't be that many people out and about, and I was right.

On our way up the hill we came across two mountain bikers (one with a dog) and nobody else.  At the top we were standing around looking to see where else we should go when another mountain biker came up behind us.  Curious to know how to continue on I asked if any of the paths led up to the top.  He pointed to one, and said but it is really steep.

After he took back down the mountain T and I tried the path he pointed us towards.  It was steep and narrow, and I got a few feet up it and started worrying about coming back down, so we turned around.

Thinking that maybe he was pointing to the other path instead (it looked wider) we started up that path, only to find very quickly the path is only for Hobbits.

I just wanted to get six miles in - who knew it was hard to find a six mile walk.

Day 339 - Again with the grammar

Okay, at least for the next few posts I will try and proof read the blog before posting.  I have found after rereading many of the posts, they have one error or another, ones that I could have easily fixed if I had just reread it.  So...once again my apologies.

For those of you who don't know, I learned my grammar by reading, and I never paid much attention to commas, colons, semicolons etc...  By the time I got into school that whole basic grammar thing had been learned and I was left out in the cold.  I have no idea what a participle is let alone a dangling participle.  Adverbs and adjectives I have a glimmer of an idea what they are but I have to stop and really think about it.

I was told by my English teacher that  all great artist need to know how to punctuate before they can disregard the punctuation rules.  This was the teacher who xeroxed my paper and handed it out to the class to show other students how not to write.

Now I can look back at it and say shame on her, but at the time I was the one shamed.  It is clear to see how easily we let the world judge us - In so many different ways.  

Day 338 - What the...

So today KFC was back in group  She is quite a character and I was never really sure why she was in the group anyway.  Maybe she a fat groupie.  But she is always good for a laugh or two.   This time she was talking about being on vacation - family reunion and how she just could not not eat all the good food.  It was pretty funny, but then Miss I love myself chimed in.

Miss I love myself is the one who lost the most weight the first week (even more the B) and told us how hard it was going to be losing weight because she was so beautiful.  She was worried about being too good looking, and she didn't want to be known for that.  Most people in the group are good looking, as I feel most people are.  It is just how you present yourself, and your attitude can get you further then anything else.  And I don't have a problem with someone telling me they are good looking (TH tells me he is good looking all the time) but I do have a problem with people telling me that they are using their fat to hide how good looking they are.

You hear it all the time, you are using the fat as a wall.  You are trying to keep people away from you, you are hiding from the world.  I do not believe that is the case for most (of course their are those who actually do it, but that is rare I think.)  It does happen that when you get fat you tend to hide yourself away, but you don't generally get fat to hide yourself away.  Come on think about it.  Is it easier to be fat in this world?  Does it make relationships easier?   Does it make anything easier?

Anyway back to my point - she actually scolded KFC telling her she was "bad" the food wasn't good.  She needed to realize that what she was doing was bad and unhealthy.  Blah blah blah - this from a girl who ate 30 almond roca?  Then when it was her time she said that she had fried chicken, but that was all good because she was merely fulfilling a craving, and she still felt good about herself and she was maintaining her weight.

I can't tell whether she is maintaining or not, but how does the saying go about casting the stone? 

Day 337 - Foggy pea soup

It is another one of those foggy pea soup days where I can't see out my window three feet.  It is also weigh in.

I will be happy if I can break even this week.  I never thought that I would but to say the least it was a diffucult week.  I also have four days worth of food in my fridge.  I wonder if there will ever be a day that I wish that I hadn't wasted so much food.  I am sure some day in the future there will be people talking about how wasteful we were.  I think I will be lucky if it doesn't happen in my life time.

I still find it hard to believe that it is going to be a year in less then a month.  Amazing.

So from now until November I can stick strictly to my diet, here is hoping that I can make my goal in a month.

Day 336 - Pizza

So I had my first "real" lapse/cheat.  Horrible.  I was not out of control, I knew what I was doing and I went ahead and did it anyway.  I am lucky that I didn't gain weight from it, but my guilt factor is off the charts.

We all want to be able to control.  Show a little self discipline stop when we need to stop, but  sometimes it just doesn't happen.  Why.  Well I guess if I could answer that question I would be that much ahead in the game.  Indeed why?

Did I really want to over indulge - no, but it did taste really good, I wanted to continue to savior that taste.  I think maybe if I ate it a little slower, as we learned in class, mindful eating, I wouldn't have had that other piece.

We weren't even going to eat there.  I was expecting to go home and eat at home.  So - hmm- that might have been it.  I am not ready to do the unexpected.  Every other time I have gone out I have planned the outing, and I had been aware that I was not going to be eating my regularly scheduled food.  This time was the first time that I went out completely unplanned and obviously unprepared.

I don't think it will happen again, at least not for a while, so it was a blip.  Now I know that I need to always plan my outings.  Like today - we are going out - I know exactly what I am having and how many calories they are - it is already planned.  But that is easy right now - I am still full from yesterday.  

Day 335 - Yikes

So since May I have been "social" and I am finding it go slowing as far as the weight loss.  Especially this last couple of months.  Yesterday was particularly hard, and I thought I had done really bad, but when I put the calories in it was under 1400.  Since we went out to dinner, I really don't know what the true calorie count is, but I try and make it higher rather then lower, so ...

I am learning how to eat out.   But I still have so much to lose that I really shouldn't be eating out as much as I have.  My bad habits are just around the corner, waiting like a hungry lion to pounce as soon as let down my guard.  And there are times when I just want to let go, give in to the food, for whatever reason.  To be social, because it taste good, because it is there.

I have nine pounds to my next goal, and I wanted to hit the goal by my birthday, but at this rate, I am not sure it is going to happen.  If I do a thousand calories in exercise starting Tuesday and I only eat the 1200 calories according to my calculation I will just make it.  But do you know how much exercise a thousand calories is?  Pooh.

Day 334 - Oldest Nephew

I am picking up my oldest nephew today in about an hour.  I haven't seen him since his senior year in high school, so that is going on six years.  Amazing.  It is a good thing he is staying at Big D's house because ours looks like a tornado has hit it.

I don't have everything filed yet (after 14 years in practice) so when I need to find a paper I have to take the whole office apart to find it.  B has promised me that she would help me organize the office and I am going to keep her at her word.

We are going to go to a really nice restaurant tonight, so I hope I will have some calories left for dinner.  And I will need to start exercising soon.

Day 333 - Work Work Work

I am so behind in all my work, that I feel like I am never going to catch up.  I just hope and pray nobody calls me asking for anything because I am not sure I can get it done.  So I had 6 financials statements that I had to get out (print, assembly, write cover letter, send) and one that wanted it yesterday.  So I spent the whole day printing and assembling financial statements (literally the whole day.)

At 4pm I took a tiny tiny break for a tiny tiny walk, and then it was back to the grind.  miserable.

Day 332 - Procedure

Nothing really happened of import today except of course I don't have colon cancer.  Yea for me.  However, when I was being prepped the nurse asked my weight and when I told her she did a double take, then said you certainly don't look like you weigh the much.  It made me feel good, except the part you don't look like you weigh that much.

They gave me this gown that would wrap around me twice, and when she came and saw it on me she said oh they only have two sizes - one for people under...and one for people over...so it is probably really big, but the other one might be too small, and you don't want too small.

No worries, I don't have to do that again for another 10 years.

I went home and slept the day away.

Day 331 - Home and work

I was very happy to see my family, but my trials weren't over yet.  I had a procedure that was scheduled for the following day, and I couldn't eat at all on Wednesday.  I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, I had gone 4 months without eating - what is one day?  But it was hard.

I had kept my calories during my trip to Telluride under 1200, and when I got home I weighed myself and was back to the weight I was two weeks ago (I gained a pound and a half the last weigh in day) so I was happy since I hadn't been doing any exercise.  Then I had to take a laxative that night.  By the end of that journey I had lost 10 pounds.  But it came right back the next day, so lets just say I broke even through all these travel.

That seems good to me.

Day 330 - Smooth sailing through the rain storm

Well we got up early and were on the road by 8 am.  My flight didn't leave until 7 so we had plenty of time to stop have breakfast and lunch.  I am one of those people who have to be at the airport two hours ahead even before they had this horrible horrible security check.

I hate security, it drives me bonkers.  They say it is for my own good, but really - really?  They go through my stuff, they can take x-rays of my body, they can pull me out of line for no reason, or because they think my pants are too loose, and do a body search.  I know if I want to have anything private or personal not to take it with me on an airplane.  And don't think putting it in your suitcase will keep it from prying eyes.  They can go through your suitcase as well.

If they didn't do all these checks would I still fly?  Absolutely.

Day 329 - Last day

It is always sad for me to see the end of the festival.  I was especially sad because I wouldn't be seeing T2 for a few months.  I have gotten a bit spoiled this last couple of months, but I was missing T and I have a boat load of work to do, so all things must come to an end.

We saw three movies the last day, and it seemed that the time just flew.  None of them were my favorite, but they were all enjoyable.  I think Sunday was the best day, but I really liked the first one we saw on Saturday too.

We had a leisurely dinner and off to bed - we had a six hour drive back to Denver, and home.

Day 328 - Lines

So when we are at this film festival we have to wait in line.  We are pretty much guaranteed a seat at our theater, but we are not guaranteed the best seat.  So we have to rush out after the show to get in line hoping to be close enough to the beginning of the line to get a decent seat.  It seems to me no matter how filled up the theater is, no matter how quickly we get out of the theater we still manage to be at the back of the line.

This of course annoyed me.  how can we have a sold out theater and we sit at the back of the theater, we are one of the first ones out and we are at the back of the line?

Well we noticed that as people came pouring out of the theater they did not go and stand behind us, the actually had people holding there places in line.  It was amazing how many people could squeeze into such a small space.  The next film I decided to count how many went before us.  This time we had gotten there early and we were 17 back (17 people in front of us) by the time they started letting us in there were 40 people in front of us.  So imagine if there were 30 people in front of us...

Very annoying.

Day 327 - Good times in Telluride

So Friday is just a warm up for the festival, they don't show the first one until about 5 pm.  Neither T2 nor I really wanted to stay up late to watch the movies after 8pm, especially since we were planning on getting up to watch the first one on Saturday.  Which meant we had to be in line by 7am.  To when we got there at 7 am our  line was already 30 deep, and we were wondering how that could be.  Last year when we got to the first showing at 7 am we were like 3rd in line - what a difference a year makes.  So we took are places and waited the hour and a half to get in, but it was well worth it.

The next movie we decided to see was downtown Telluride, and while we had never been outside the Chuck Jones theater, we decided that we had to see this particular movie on Saturday and it wasn't playing until Sunday at the CJ so we would have to see five movies in a row on Sunday and that would just be too much.

We got in line, and I didn't have any worries that we would get in.  None.  So then they came and handed out these number "Q's" my number was 74 and T2's number was 75, I was sure we would get in (the theater holds 185) and I didn't worry about it.    But the person who handed out the Q's told us that this did not guarantee that we would get in.  But I was sure that we would.  Absolutely.

Then they started letting people in, and as we got closer and closer to the front I heard the dreaded words we have 12 seats left.  T2 and I were15 back.  They let 11 go, then there were 4.  The two ahead of us kept telling the guy that they already had seats that their husbands had gone in and they were waiting for them.  Finally they let them in, and told us we they didn't have any left.  T2 asked about the two in front that they said that they had, but they said no - that we should go- it was all filled up.  We were sure that they had two left so we didn't budge and they shut the doors.  Still we stayed stubbornly standing there - how could we be two seats short, and then it happened - we heard the radio crackle and we have two open seats...

One was in front one was in back - T2 gave me the back one she took the front one.  I had a perfect view - T2 not so much.  T2 loved it, me not so much.  Not because it wasn't beautiful and powerful, but because it was.

Day 326 - Early Birthday

We had my birthday celebration because I won't see T2 until November or December.  It was like Christmas, I woke up and couldn't wait.  We had champagne and cookies and presents!!!

What a great way to start the festival.

Last year when I was at the festival I was much much heavier and it was hard to walk up to the Gondola.  I dreaded the walk every morning and secretly prayed that some good Samaritan would stop and put me out of my misery.  My legs would burn, my lungs would burn and I would think that I was going to pass out.  When we got to the top I would hang over the railing and just pant.  It was horrible.  And every year I would say - if only I was 50 pounds lighter it wouldn't be hard.

Well I am lighter, and it was easier, but not as easy as I thought it would be.  The truth - it is hard to walk at 10,000 feet.

Day 325 First class

So this is the time of year I head to Telluride for the annual film festival. I have always loved movies and these are some of the best in the world. But before I get to enjoy the movies I have to get there first.

So many years ago I started going first class for my comfort as well as those around me. First class on the planes I went on was taking out the middle seat so there is more room. Perfect for my needs plus I got on first off first and got my bags first all worth the extra money to me.

I had just gotten back from a first class ride coming from Seattle and it was just as I had expected it. This time I checked in and I got upset because they put me in 1k when I specifically asked and had been confirmed 2 A. I don't like sitting in the first row because I can't put my purse under the seat and I know they would confiscate it and put it the overhead bin. so I was in a bit of a tizzy getting on.

So to my surprise instead of twelve first class seats there were six. They had changed them into these little suites,with our own tv full bed if you wanted or recliner, curtains for privacy, outlets for all electronic equipment and our very own remote control. I bet the bathroom flushed too. In fact the only thing missing in these little suites were bathrooms I am sure that will be next.