Wednesday Weigh-In 20131114

Gosh I ate too much last night!

I was at a social gathering. It was at a classier joint where they serve you craft beer in very clean glasses instead of in bottles or grimy plastic mugs. As soon as I saw a waitress with a tray full of them, I asked for one for myself. And when it was empty, I smiled and nodded imploringly when she asked if I'd like another.

Then there were appetizers: chicken wings, mostly, but I tried the mussels and nachos, too. I was surprised when they let us order sandwiches. I knew I had enough, but I figured I would order a salad of mixed greens to balance myself out. And then coffee, but no dessert.

After I got home, I ripped into a bag of dark chocolate morsels while I applied software updates to the family laptop. Then I sent two e-mails that I promised to a fellow reveler.

Waist = 39.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

1. Wikipedia BMI page
2. Tanita Scale with Body Fat monitor
3. Javascript must be enabled to view the data.

Free Online Meditation Series

Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Deepak Chopra have again collaborated on another free, 21-day meditation series, which they call "Desire and Destiny."

The series started on Monday, November 11, but I think they make each daily meditation available a full five days after it first appears.

Here are two blurbs from the website:

In our interactive online program we invite you to meditate and journal with us each day to embrace your dreams and desires, expand your understanding of divine purpose, and experience the peace, joy and abundance of living your destiny.

The Chopra Center 21-Day Meditation Challenge® is made available by the Chopra Center for Wellbeing, founded by Dr. Deepak Chopra. It is open to the worldwide public and is free to all who register.

You can access the meditation series here: http://chopracentermeditation.com/.  You'll be able to register and login with either Facebook or Google+, or you can create your own user name and password.  Please note that this link may be valid for the meditation series only during the 21-day promotional period.

BTW, I tried meditating on Day 1.  I awoke early in the morning, and I started it at about 5am.  But then the cat whom I call "Pee-meister" meowed at my closed bedroom door, wanting to use his private litterbox.  Luckily there's a pause button on the meditation page, so I clicked it in and then got up to let him in.  Then I resumed the meditation.  But not for long.  Pee-meister wanted to leave the room right after he was done¹.  Either that, or he was hungry.  Anyway, it was obvious I'd have no peace that morning until the cats and dog were fed, by which time the daughter would need breakfast and a lunch packed for school.

I hope your meditation experience is better than mine!

Peace

---

¹ Well, sure, who'd want to stick around after stinking up the room like he did!

Cat Cravings

I was preparing my usual low-fuss breakfast this morning -- almond butter on spelt toast, which I then top with blueberries.  After the toast popped up, I placed it on the kitchen table on a plate.  Then I turned to prepare some tea.

Soon I heard "lap lap lap lap lap..."  I turned to look at the noise.  The cat was licking my toast.

I'll repeat that.  The Cat.  Was Licking.  My Toast.

My toast!  Not My Bacon, or My Breakfast Sausage, or my Egg-Crust-Pizza.  He was licking my toast, with his cat saliva tongue, which had just licked his own fur and whatever was clinging to it.

"No, please stop," I said gently.  Gently, because I know about food addiction.  I know he's not thinking, "Let's piss the human off by licking his toast."  He's thinking, "I really, really, Really, REALLY need to lick that."  (Perhaps the moist warmth exuded by the toast reminded him of a freshly decapitated mouse carcass.)

Gently, also, because he's a big cat -- 22 pounds -- and a formidable opponent.  I lose my balance whenever he rubs against my legs.  One time, hissing and spitting, he took a swipe at the dog's nose and missed.  He raked my kneecap instead.  I'm sure he shape-shifted briefly into a bobcat, too.

So I fended him off while I spread on the almond butter.  I guessed that the almond butter would mask whatever was attracting him to the toast.  Sure enough, he lost interest and strode away.


Wheat gluten is added to some cat food in order to provide taurine, an essential amino acid.  Could our cat food be deficient in taurine?  I always buy food that has added taurine and no wheat gluten, But maybe the pet food manufacturer is cutting back on the formula.


Do your pets occasionally show unusual preferences for human food?  What are they?

Dream: Spider Web Scarf

I'm sitting at a table in a diner with my family, and the art teacher is sitting directly across from me.  She is talking to me.  I'm distracted by spider webs and other nature debris that's stuck to my left forearm.  I pull it off while trying to listen to the art teacher.  But she notices and says, "Don't you like that?  That's Nature!"  So I try to be discrete about removing it from my arm.  Finally we get up.  Now that I'm standing I grab a large string of it and pull it from around my neck as if removing a scarf.  I look for a place to hang it.  Eventually I just hang it off the edge of the table.

Dream: Big Dog, Small Car

I'm driving west a on country road near my work place.  A very small black car cuts in front of me from a side street from the right.  The car is an open, one-seater, no bigger than a go-cart.  I recognize the driver as JG, whom I worked with at my first job at least 25 years ago.  But most noticeable is that there is a big black dog in the compartment behind the driver.

We come to a stop at the end of the road behind a line of other cars that are waiting to enter the intersection.  The dog lies down, but only its body fits in the compartment, so it rests its head on the driver's bald head.  I call out to him, "Hey JG, are you alright under there?"  The dog stands up and turns around, and JG turns his head halfway and responds, "I'm okay.  And you?"

I notice that his response doesn't include surprise at having met by chance after so long.

Invasive Plants

As a weekend gardener, I've long lamented how the most prized plants are those that are most difficult to grow and maintain.   And weeds, which grow prolifically, are considered a blight on the landscape.  I've wondered why this is so.  Perhaps there's a Great Conspiracy -- a conglomerate of companies that specialize in fertilizer, weed killer, pest control, fungicide and plant sourcing have joined forces to brainwash people into thinking that the easiest growing plants need to be eradicated to ensure brisk business.

It reminds me of the fashion industry.  Get people to despise their wide ties and bell bottom jeans in favor of straight-leg jeans and narrow ties.  After sales start to dwindle and people have gotten rid of their old clothes, reverse the trend and get everyone to buy the formerly despised products and ditch their newly out-of-favor clothes.  The only difference is that no one can thoroughly get rid of weeds -- they continue to spread or sow themselves year after year.


Recently I assessed the flora on our property and concluded that weeds are not our best-growing plants.  Did I celebrate?  No, because our best-growing plants now are actually "Invasive Plants."  These are plants that government agencies are actively trying to eradicate. There are laws in place to prohibit the spread of this class of plant.  No, I won't get fined or jailed for having the plants on our property.  But it is illegal to traffic and transport such plants.

The term "invasive" is applied to a non-native plant when it out-competes many other native plants and has no natural growth inhibitors.  Some plants actaully release a chemical that prohibits other plants from growing nearby.  You can find a really good description and explanation of the issue on the United States National Arboretum Invasive Plants page, so I won't try to repeat it here.


I believe there is a silver lining to this problem.  Scientists are starting to realize that some plants are actually edible and nutritious.  We might even discover new medicines from these plants.  Once we realize just how inexpensive it is to add invasive plants into our diets, the problem may dissolve and lead to the growth of new industry that specializes in harvesting wild-growing plants. And perhaps we can end world hunger, too.

Raised To Be Suspicious

"Who would want to send a bomb to you? Why?" 

I started to answer in a comment to Reactions to a Mystery Gift.  Then I realized I was about to write another blog post.

The premise is that a package arrives for you unexpectedly.  What do you do?  Well, I already described what I'd do in that post that I linked to, above.  But why?

Ted Kaczynski, aka The Unabomber, targeted public technology figures.  When he was actively mailing bombs to people, I was an engineer at a high-tech company, and I sometimes made public appearances.  I felt that I fit the description well enough to be targeted.

One day I actually did receive an unsolicited package that had no recognizable return address.  So I walked up to a coworker with said package, handed it to him and asked him to open it.  It was mostly in fun.  He was a friend with a good sense of humor, and I think he appreciated how I stuck my fingers in my ears in case there was a loud popping sound.  I also said something to the effect that he was more expendable than me.  Whatever.

Well, the package of course did not blow up.  What was inside?  Promotional materials for a new website, TechRepublic, perhaps.

The criminal was caught more than 17 years ago, yet my first impulse upon receiving an unexpected package is to be suspicious.  When I wonder why, I realize that I was raised this way.  The bomb threats simply revived my train of thought on suspicion.

I was raised in New York.  Nothing's for free, especially in New York.  Free samples are used to entice you to buy a product, get you addicted, get you framed.  If someone walks up to you and hands you a can of spray paint, don't be surprised if, thirty seconds later, a cop shows up and puts cuffs on you for writing graffiti.

Street wise people know not to accept anything for free.  You don't pick up money on the sidewalk.  You don't go into a store that promises "Free Ice Cream."  You don't talk to the man offering the free lollipop.

Whoever said "The best things in life are free" did not live in New York.