Wednesday Weigh-In 20141030

NaBlogPoMo will start on Saturday. I'm not sure yet if I'll have time to write -- I'm already stretched thin, figuratively speaking, of course.



Waist = 40.75"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

Dream: The Long Drive to Work

I begin my drive to work.  But I decide to go in a different direction, following a very roundabout route that will allow me to drive past a doctor's office that I need to visit later in the week.

I'm driving on a quiet residential side street. I encounter three stop signs that are less than fifty yards apart.  They are for even smaller roads that intersect from the right and are totally inappropriate and unnecessary.  How annoying.  I definitely won't want to take this route every day.

I come to an intersection with a main road.  I look at the choices of which way to go.  I don't have written directions - I'm navigating by feel.  If a road appears to go in the direction I need to go in, I'll take it.  I'd like to take a right turn and then another immediate right turn that would take me past a cemetery, but that second road is closed off with a wire fence.  Still, a right turn seems to be a good choice here, so I decide to go that way.

But the traffic is heavy - I'll need to wait a long time before I can enter the road.  Every so often it seems that there's a gap in the line of cars that I could pull out into, but then another car appears in that gap just before I decide to go.  At one such time I start to inch out, and then the car stops to allow me to go.  So I go.

Unfortunately, my car fails to accelerate well.  Perhaps the air cleaner or fuel filter is clogged because I can't seem to get the car to go faster than 20 mph.  I'm frustrated because I just had work done on the car yesterday.  I wonder what the mechanic did to the car aside from the work on the suspension that I requested.  And I feel especially bad for the driver who allowed me to go. 

Eventually I make it to my mechanics shop.  But the shop is closed.  There are two guys there though, but they won't be able to help me.

The scene changes so that I'm at work in a conference room.  The two guys are now customers who want us to design and implement impedance matching networks for filters that they bought from a competitor.  It's a cheeky thing for them to ask for.  But in business, the saying, "The customer is always right," keeps me from chiding them on their impudent behavior.

But I'm an engineer, not a diplomat, so I challenge them for a sample of a filter.  They respond that they can't provide one.  Then I ask for s-parameter data.  They explain that the supplier went out of business, so their website is down, and the data is no longer available.  Finally, I've reached the limit of my patience and tell them that it will take at least three months to implement, a ridiculously long time for a circuit as simple as that.  I can tell from their expressions that they correctly interpret my response as "fuck you."  (And I didn't even tell them how expensive it would be.)

Wednesday Weigh-In 20141022

Last week my wife called out to me frantically from the bathroom. When I got to her, I saw her standing in a small pool of her own blood. We called 911 for an ambulance (first time ever). She was taken away to the ER.

A varicose vein had ruptured. There was so much pressure that it sprayed sideways from her leg and onto a wall that was about 18 inches away.

It has nothing to do with weight loss, but I thought you might be interested!

Waist = 40.5"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

Wednesday Weigh-In 20141016

My wife bought me two pairs of slacks for my birthday recently. Even though I told her that my size is 34 x 31 (meaning the waist is 34 inches around and the inseam is 31 inches) she came home with 36 x 31. Well of course the pants fit -- my stomach quickly expanded to fill in the extra room. But now I lack the important feedback that tells me my stomach is getting bigger. I'm doomed!

Waist = 40"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

October is LBD Month

Lewy body dementias (LBD) affect an estimated 1.3 million individuals and their families in the United States. Though many families are affected by this disease, few individuals and medical professionals are aware of the symptoms, diagnostic criteria, or even that LBD exists. Here are 10 important facts about Lewy body dementias that you should know if you, a loved one, or a patient you are treating may have LBD: http://www.lbda.org/content/10-things-you-should-know-about-lbd

Wednesday Weigh-In 20141008

I noticed that my face has been feeling itchy. Then I noticed a rash. At first, I thought it was due to some gluten-free fried chicken that I ate at a new restaurant. But it was too persistent and getting worse for me to be convinced that it was a single allergen. Then I realized the rash was probably caused by all the dairy I was consuming! So I've scaled back my dairy intake. Definitely no more milk in coffee. I'll still use ghee as liberally as before, though.

Waist = 40.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

Wednesday Weigh-In 20141002

I've been on a dairy binge -- mostly adding milk or cream to my coffee. I thought the bloating would encourage me to eat less. But the increase in weight and waist size indicates that this isn't a good strategy.

Waist = 40.25"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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