Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2010

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Wednesday Weigh-In 20101230

Last night I volunteered to cook the beef for our tacos. My wife was not looking, so I threw away the seasoning packet that came with the taco kit. Instead, I used the spices we had on hand, lots of Chile powder, cumin, salt, a little cocoa powder and fresh oregano leaves. As well, I cooked in the fresh garlic and onions.

Nobody complained, and I was able to avoid a load of nasty ingredients⁴, such as:

• Yellow Corn Flour
• Maltodextrin
• Modified Corn Starch
• Citric Acid
• Autolyzed Yeast Extract
• Caramel Color (sulfites)

We also always discard the cheese sauce. When I eat tacos, I just eat the meat filling with some rice, and I skip the corn taco. But my wife and daughter do eat the tacos normally. Hopefully from now on she will buy just the taco shells instead of wasting money on the kits.

Waist = 37.0"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

Dream: Meeting at the Park

I've organized an engineering meeting at a park. We're eating lunch together on a picnic table waiting for others to arrive. Nearby there's an underground pipe that opens in a ditch, and there's foul smoke coming from it. Sometimes the wind blows the smoke in our direction, so it stinks up the place. I decide that we should move to another table on another part of the grounds.

The grounds themselves are arranged like the Tower, but it's expansive like my elementary school's yards. The table we're at now would be in front of the entrance to the "Tower." We move around the right side of it.

A group of people from work show up. They're doing a fundraising challenge for United Way. Kasie asks me if I'd like to participate, since I usually get involved. But I tell her, with genuine regret, no this time because I have a meeting.

The spot for the meeting has been selected. But for some reason I'm now on the other side of the grounds. I just have to walk through the building and come out on the other side to get to the new picnic table location.

I enter the building. It's a country gift store, very cluttered with all sorts of knickknacks. There's also an adjoining restaurant and meeting room. The place has been reserved by another group as well as by us. I walk through a roped off section in order to get to the other side of the building and out to my meeting. There's some sort of black ball tied to a loop of yellow rope hanging off one of the pylons that serves to rope off the section. I take this object as I step over the rope. The object seems to be like a mace.

I take about a dozen steps further, but then I decide to return the ball back to where it was hanging. Having done that, I retrace my steps and now find myself holding a blue doll's dress with a blond wig attached. The hair on the wig is made from thick yellow yarn and has a hat attached. I don't want to keep carrying it, so I look for a clever place that can be adorned and hang the dress on the back of a white wooden chair.

Now I really need to get to my meeting, so I try to wind my way through the store. I come to another store, a "head" shop. I can see a way out the building, but there's a low concrete wall that defines an arcing path around to an aquarium. Now I'm starting to get frustrated. I follow that for a short distance to see if there's a way out of that maze. Beyond that is a bowling alley. Finally, I find an alley that leads up hill. I think it will take me to the area where the picnic table is situated. I struggle. It's not that steep, but I feel as if I'm tugging something heavy or pushing against a large weight. The ground is hard black asphalt.

I come to a young man sitting on the ground on the left in the alley with his legs in the alley. The low concrete wall is on my right. At first I feel trepidation. What if he's a criminal and tries to rob me or beat me up? But that's a fleeting thought, and I lumber by him. Just beyond, again on the left, there are huge red-orange trash bins with a man and a woman lying together next to them. As I approach, they get up and start walking ahead of me in the same direction that I'm going. As well, there are many people over-taking me from behind. I feel like a slow-poke on a highway where everyone's speeding.

Dream: Telephone Code Pamphlet

I'm reading a pamphlet with a blue cover that's meant to be read while using a telephone. In place of some words there are numbers. You're supposed to use the telephone keypad to translate the numbers into words, and then you fill in the blanks on the opposite page. One sentence is a title like, "Can You Live Happily Ever After?"

I'm reading this book with my daughter. Two of her friends will visit soon.

Make People Think You're Normal

Although I bought "How to Make People Think You're Normal" over one year ago, I didn't give it to my daughter until today. She thoroughly enjoyed it, even though I don't think she appreciated some of the ideas. For example, there's the chapter devoted to the author's perspective as a teacher and his veiled rants against the pressures to give out A grades to all his students.

OTOH, there's plenty of sophomoric humor, too.

Anyway, I hope you had a great day!

Wednesday Weigh-In 20101222

The dog's tumor is growing too fast. It's infected and oozing blood. We decided to have it operated on again. But this time, a specialist will remove part of the jaw as well, to prevent it from growing back.

That activity, plus a hectic work day, means I sometimes eat half the lunch I normally do and fewer snacks.

I hope you enjoy all your holiday events!

Waist = 37.5"
Height = 5' 9"

References:

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

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