Something's wrong...I just don't know what.

The title says it all.  I can't seem to get my act together.  Procrastination seems to be ruling my life and my decisions...or lack of correct decisions.  With my research projects not completed or barely started, I've spent most of this weekend in my pajamas....doing nothing but sleeping.

Paper, paper, too much paper...not really

I think I'm getting better at the titles.  Last night (early this morning actually) I tried to check to see if I had a case of paper on the Staples order I had about an hour prior.  Unfortunately, the website decided at that moment to be "unavailable".  It was late and I was tired, so I just ordered another case.  Now, I discovered that I did in fact have a case of paper on my first order.  Now I have another case of copy paper being processed for delivery.  No need to cancel the second order because it just means I won't have to reorder anytime soon.  However, the way I go through copy paper, these two cases should last about 3 to 4 months (before I'll need to order more).

Money Earned...Money Spent!

Yep, the title says it all.  This past summer, I went to a few workshops.  Well, a couple of weeks ago, I received a nice check (about $300) for the time spent.  I haven't cashed it knowing that I would spend it on my classroom or on credit card bills.  My Christmas club money has already been spent on bills. Returning to college was the reason for the loss of my Christmas Club money this year.  Last year, I was determined to spend it on myself, but accidentally spending it on bill payments.  This year the plan was to quickly take the club money right on the day it was due to be deposited.  Unfortunately, a college bill and a change in my insurance premiums (I should have read the small print), made this year's club money disappear.  Well anyway, with the $300 check, I wanted to buy something for myself.  After thinking of various "toys/electronics(netbook, cell phone, tablet, etc...", I finally made a decision.  I would spent the dollar amount online and deposit the check to cover the expenses.  Below is my list:

 

Vaultz Locking Storage Clipboard Black
Collapsible Blue Fairshare Mug
Hi-Tec Men's Altitude IV WP Hiking Boot,Black
Trendy Military Fitted Cap- Black
Rubbermaid Blue Ice Flexible Ice Blanket
Alpha Industries Hooded MA-1 Flight Jacket- Black 2XL
BoxWave Capacitive Samsung Galaxy Tab Stylus (Jet Black)"
and
3 TIME For Kids The Amazing Fact and Puzzle Book

 

• The clipboard was an impulse I bought trying to spend the full $300. 
• The collapsible cup was a impulse from a collapsible cup that's been on my Amazon.com "buy later" list for several months.  During the summer I've been a bit annoyed at the low pressure of public water fountains.  I also always wanted a collapsible cup. 
• The boots were a necessity.  My previous boots had holes and always got my feet wet when it rained, but  I was always putting off getting a new pair.  Actually, the boots were never really waterproof.  I really wanted to buy a pair of winter/rain boots, but a couple of reviews about the "clunkiness" of the boots turned me off.  The fitted cap was an impulse after almost getting the imitation fur cap with the ear flaps. 
• The ice blanket is just a sheet of bubble wrap where the bubbles are filled with water.  I already have a 9 bubble sheet for my Polar Bear cooler.  I'm loving that bag -- this morning I woke up and realized that I had forgotten to open my PB bag.  I was amazed that the water bottle that had been place (frozen) in my PB bag over 24 hours before, was still definitely cool to the touch.  Amazing! 
• The bomber jacket was becoming a necessity.  My current jacket is about 5 or 6 years old.  I don't remember when or where I purchased it, but I do know that it was a cheap imitation bomber jacket that really lasted much longer than I had expected it to.  Now, it has worn out holes and the fiber-fill seems to have slowly disintegrated over time.  Lately, it seems as if the wind blows right through it.  I like the style of the jacket.  This one has a hood.  I'm not really comfortable with a hood, but I said what the heck. 
• The stylus pen was a purchase to replace the one I had lost on the train platform a couple of months ago.  I was so stressed out when I found out the last minute...(the very last minute [by rumor]) that I would be teaching 6th grade after a full day setting up my classroom believing that I would be teaching 4th grade.  I like using the stylus because my finger coordination isn't very good, and I really don't like the finger prints and smudges on my cell phone.  Also, I dug out my imitation tablet with the Chinese operating system.  I'm going to take it to a Staples store or a Best Buy and see if their computer department can change the Chinese system to an English one. I've had it for almost a year doing nothing but collecting dust. 
• The Time for Kids puzzle books were extras.  A couple of months ago, I purchased a class set for my students to have something to do during indoor rainy days when they couldn't go outside.  Unfortunately, I hadn't purchased enough to go with my slowly increasing class roster.  I now have 25 students in my class.  I hadn't planned on spending any of my $300 on my classroom or my students, but old habits die hard.

 

Once I finished my personal online shopping trip, I had to log onto Staples to purchase a few items.  My classroom personal printer/copier needs a new drum(about $200).  I also know that the ink cartridge($100 will run out soon. The custodian that sweeps and empties the trash in my classroom told me that due to budget cuts, there was no money for paper towels, so I purchased a case of paper towels (about $25) and a paper towel dispenser (about $25).  As I type this, I think I forgot to add a case of copy paper to my order(about $30).  I'm down to my last pack.  At my school, we have to provide our own paper, or seek admin approval for any copies to be made, fill out a requisition form and wait until the school aid can get around to it.  It is just easier to use my personal printer/copier.  I'm going to have to purchase another machine soon.  My current printer/copier is about 5 years old.  I've never had any real problems other than minor paper jams, but I know a break down is only a matter of time.  Unfortunately, I've grown accustom to (maybe even addicted to) the convenience of have a copies at my fingertips (no lines, wait, or requests).

 

Well I think that's..

 

Oh, the exercise thing.  Nope, I haven't been exercising.  Last Saturday was the last time I did any exercising.  So, my weight has been slowly going up.  Right now I weigh about 211lbs.  Last week, I was too stressed out about....never mind.  Anyway, going for full days (hyper kids and evening class, as well as paperwork for both) on about 4 hours of sleep was taking its toll.  Today I slept most of Saturday away.  As soon as I finish here, I'm going to check to make sure I ordered copy paper, then I'm going to call it a night.  I'm going to try to do a morning ride on my stationary bike.  I also want to try and finish my laundry and lesson plans early, so that I can get to be at a decent hour.  Hopefully, I can resume daily workouts on Monday.  Oh, and I need to (one of these days) open my Total Home Gym, it has been sitting in my hallway still in the box untouched and unopened.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll try again, but old habits die hard...VERY HARD!!!

Well, another weekend wasted.  I slept most of it through.  I'll try again tomorrow to get back into a workout routine.  I wasn't consistant this past week and as a result, I regain about 5lbs.  I'm currently weigh about 210lbs. 

Oh, I'm loving my little black bag.  I'm amazed at how it keeps things cold.  Yep, cold.  I fell asleep with the bag left open and to my surprise, the items inside were still chilled even though it was at that point almost 20 hours later.  Yep, I'm impressed with my little bag.

Work...work...I could comment about work, but I won't.

College.  I have several assignmens due. So that is another source of stress.

Well, I'd better go.  I have to get up early to get on my stationary bike.  If I manage it, I'll be depending on about 4 hours of sleep to get me through the day.  Not a good start to the work week.

Another setback

Another setback.  This morning I rode my stationary bike for 45 minues.  Unfortunately, today was another stressful day.  Another schedule change at work.

I did try out my new lunch cooler.  So far, I think it is great.  It kept my food cold, not cool, but cold.  It felt like I was taking my food from a refrigerator.

I'm falling asleep in this chair, so I'm going to end this entry now.

Quick Update

This will be a quick entry.  Today I did a bit of cleaning in my apartment.  I got tired of stepping over, and around the mounds of old newspapers and other trash cluttering up my apartment.  I also wrote out checks for my monthly bills, stuff them in envelopes ready to drop in a mailbox tomorrow morning.  Writing checks is something I haven't done in many months.  Up until today, I had gotten too comfortable with waiting until the last minute and then paying the bills at the local check cashing place.  I also shredded some papers. 

Oh, I weighed myself today.  Although I haven't been too consistent with my workouts, I have been trying to eat better than I have in the past.  Well, I'm now about 205lbs.  I'm now days (I hope) away for falling out of the 200lbs range.  I haven't weighed under 200lbs in over 15 years.  I also dusted off my stationary rowing machine.  I'm going to try alternating working out between my stationary bike and my stationary rowing machine.  My TOTAL GYM is still in the box in the hallway, I'll take it out eventually.

I forgot.  I also took out my IRON GYM and hung it above the kitchen jam.  Yep, it too was covered in dust.  I'm going to spend this month trying to do at least one pull up.  To start off slow, I'm going to spend the next week or so just hanging.  Waay back in high school I took a weight training class and the coach had those who couldn't do pull ups, just hang.  He counted the seconds. 

Gotta go. 

205lbs.

Spiderman - Turn Off the Dark (Review)

I thought the show was entertaining. I thought the sets were great. I think I would have enjoyed the show more if I had gotten better seats -- Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to get my ticket. I was was in the back balcony in the second to last row, in the corner, with the guide rail blocking my view. If I didn't have my binoculars, I probably would have been really annoyed. As for the show itself, I thought it was nice. Not being a real Broadway goer, I'm not the best person to comment. Personally, I thought there were too many slow songs. At times, it was hard to tell if the cast were singing or if it was a sound track -- probably from being so far back. I thought the actors played their roles well. I thought the Green Goblin received the best lines/ moments in the show. I wanted to take photos, but no picture taking was allowed, not even before the show started. So, the photos I'm going to upload were taken from the internet. However, the outside photos are mine.

https://picasaweb.google.com/jannxb/SpidermanTurnOffTheDark#

Results

I woke up this morning (Friday) and checked my Polar Bear Cooler.  It was about 8 hours later.  No, the ice didn't last.  It was just about melted.  However, I was pleased with the results.  Deep-down inside I wasn't expecting it to keep the ice for 24 hours -- that was just wishful thinking.  But, I did like that the condensation was kept down.  I put in a room temperature bottle of water, and it was cool to the touch.

Today I went food shopping, but I mostly bought snacks and smaller portions foods.  I'm starting to get the hang of better eating habits.  I still have a very looong way to go, but I think I'm making good progress.  I'm starting to get better at finding better substitutes (for me) that is keeping me from pigging out on junkfood. 

Just some of the new foods I'm liking(getting used to):
Clear Delight Sparkling Beverage (I love this!!!)
Nabisco's 100 calories snack packs (from cookies to Cheez Its)
Weight Watchers Giant Ice Cream Bars
single serving boxes of raisins
Healthy Choices (and old favorite)
Thomas's "Bagel Thins" (110 calories as oppose to 270 calories)
V8 Low Sodium vegetable drink

I'm also getting better at creating substitutes.  For example, I now reuse single-servings plastic bottles to bring orange juice and milk to work.  I think it is cheaper to make my own "single-servings" than to buy a cartoon of juice each day.  The same goes for cereal.  Lately I've been making my own single-servings of cereal (just filling up a sandwich bag half-way with my favorite cereals).  Now, when I'm rushing in the morning to not miss my train, I can eat my cereal on the train, or later in the morning.  I've also gotten into eating fruit.  I put in one or two pieces of fruit (peaches, apples, plums, etc...) along with my drinks and snacks, I'm covered when I have the urge to munch. 

Although the weight loss is slow going, I am making some progress.  I'm starting to lose my beer belly.  Although I'm clearly happy to be losing weight, it is a bit strange to not have my belly to rest my hands on while I'm standing (especially when I'm reading a book). 

Tomorrow (now today), I'll be heading to 42nd Street to see Spiderman the musical "Turn of the Dark". 

Another Black Bag

Yep, I bought another black bag.  This one is the Polar Bear Cooler.  Lately, I've been trying to avoid the junk food by bring my own food to work.  I liked the previous green bag, but it just wasn't cutting it.  Some days it seem to hold the cold better than other days.  This new bag is a bit bigger than the green bag, but it is suppose to be better.  According to its description, it keeps ice for 24 hours, and can withstand hot water of up to 200 degrees.  Also, it is suppose to not "sweat" (meaning that condensation won't soak through).  It is suppose to be easy to clean.  If it really does keep ice for 24 hours, I could pack my breakfast and lunch the night before, so that I can just grab and go in the morning.  I'm one of those people who is always running out the door in the morning, so I don't have time to eat breakfast and certainly no time to pack a lunch bag. 

Lately, I have been working on my portion control.  I've also been working on finding substitute foods for the foods that I like.  Recently, I've discovered Ritz's 100 snack packs.  A couple of snack packs and a couple of apples really help with the food cravings.  Now, I just need to be consistent with the work out routine.  Work related stress has been keeping me from exercising from time to time. 

Well, I better go.  I'm going to toss a few ice cubes in my new bag and see how they hold up overnight.

Quick Entry

This will be a quick update.  No, I won't make any comments about work at this time, so this entry should be fairly short.

Over the weekend I purchased an insulated bag to bring my breakfast and my lunch.  I filled my aluminum water bottle with water and froze it.  I then used my "ice pack" to keep my things cold. 

After many false starts, I resumed my workout routine.  I did 35 minutes on my stationary bike this morning, then I did 55 minutes this evening. 

Wt. 214lbs.

First Day

First day was a bit of a stressful start.  The day started with rain coming down in buckets.  I was soaked when I walked through the door.  Luckily, I had brought my new shoes to work the previous day -- work shoes last longer if I only wear them at work. 

Other than first day jitters, it was a nice day.  Still waaay to early to say I like this new change.  There are still kinks to work out in the schedule, but it was a nice start.

Since I had very little sleep, I left as soon as I could after 3pm.  I was dozing off from time to time on the train ride home.  I hope tomorrow is an equal or better day.

Still Awake

Yep.  I'm still awake.  I spent much of the day lifting and moving things.  I returned home about 8pm.  After eating a Healthy Choice meal, I was out like a light minutes later. I woke up about 10pm.  I told myself that I wouldn't have anymore days (and nights) like this.  By the time I pick out my clothes for today, shower, and set up for the day, it will be time to leave for work.  If I risk going to sleep now, I might oversleep.  I sent off an email to the professor of my evening class.  I cancelled because I'm too tired.

Stress is back!!!

This has been a difficult week.  This was suppose to be the year that I was going to do things differently.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.  The major hurdle is knowing what (and who) I'll be teaching.  Today is the first day of school.  Yesterday, I did find out that I would be teaching only science.  Sooo, again, I'm got overly excited and over spent money on classroom materials that I don't need.  I ended up spending about $800 on materials for 6th grade.  Problem, most of that materials isn't science.  The day before school opens, I spent moving and setting up things I didn't need.  The books that I had brought down to my classroom had to be sent up to another room so that I could then pick up the science materials.  As for my 6th grade materials purchased from Amazon.com, they are en route.  Next summer, I think I might just rent a storage area to put all the extra materials away.  I feel guilty about being so impulsive, so I don't want to return the things I bought.  A part of me feels that I might raise a red flag if I keep buying and returning large volumes of merchandise.

As for exercising and dieting.  I plan to resume on Monday.  In the past, once I have a fairly confirmed start date for starting (or resuming) a workout routine, I will eat anything (greasy, fattening, or salty) with the idea that I will be starting a new exercise routine.  This time around, I've been trying to avoid the junk food, and watching my portions. Yesterday, when I had a taste for some cake on my way home, I searched the snack rack at a corner delit until I could find a cake that didn't have a lot of calories.  Most of the cakes had over 400 calories.  I settled for a lemon iced cake that had 200 calories.  It was small, but I was pleased with myself for my self-control.  At the moment, my weight seems to be fluctuating between 210lbs ~ 214lbs.

My Vacation is Over

My vacation is over.  Today I just took things slowly.  I slept late.  I went to pay my bills and went shopping.  I decided to try another drink just for the heck of it.  I bought flavored seltzer water.

Yuck!!!!  That stuff was NASTY!!!!!!

I haven't done any exercising at this time.  Hopefully, I will be able to resume September 12th.  This week I'll be too stressed out setting up my classroom, and dealing with first day jitters, AND getting used to my two evening classes. 

Crazy week.  Stressful too.  This was suppose to be a different start to the new school year, but everything seems to be playing out like a broken record. 

Quick summary because it is very, very late.  With relative certainty, I'll be teaching 6th grade this year.  With that, I did what I do when I'm nervous about the coming school year, I went shopping. 

Yesterday, I went to the teacher's store in Brooklyn.  They (in my opinion) have a better selection of middle school materials.  The plan was to get there at opening to avoid the crowd.  I managed to be the second person to arrive before the store opened up.  My plan was just to briefly look at the books --with the idea of not spending more than $100.  Well, when I left, I was about $300 poorer.  From there, my plan was to go home, drop off the purchased materials and then continue on to the mall to go clothes shopping.  But since it was getting late -- the last evening bus from the mall is 7pm.  The problem with depending on public transportation is that you have to plan around the bus and/or train schedule.  At the mall, I needed to buy some "back to school" clothes for myself.  Unfortunately, I tend to wear clothes until they are falling apart.  By the time it was time to go, I was about $300 poorer.  I caught a few sells, so I was pleased about that.  I purchased a couple of pair of shoes, 3 slacks, 5 shirts (three color, and two white), and underwear.

Today (Sunday), the plan was to go to the teacher's store closer to where I live (Lakeshore).  Lakeshore is a bigger chain of educational supply stores.  I went to try and exchange the 4th grade materials that I had purchased.  I thought it might be difficult to exchange, but it was very easy.  I just said that I wanted to exchange....Before I finished my sentence, the person behind the counter just said, "don't worry, I can help with your refund."  I also went to use their laminating machine.  Wow, it was very convenient.  It was a bit annoying waiting on the line.  I was a bit annoyed at a couple of people on the machine when I arrived.  One lady was moving as slow as molasses, another lady was making her (center) signs while she was using the machine.  One lady on line complained about how slow the line was moving, and yet, when she got to the machine, she had about 15 or 20 hand-made charts that she was planning to laminate. AND, she was picking through her pile trying to decide what she wanted.  The lady in front of me was nice, but she seemed a bit old.  Not that there's anything wrong with an older person teacher.  I just thought she seemed a bit out of it.  Not to mention the very old poster she was laminating.  It must have been from the 70's.  The poster was of an African-American family (with Afros) sitting around and reading.  Behind me, there was a guy complaining loudly about his new teaching assignment and how he wasn't spending any money now.  He said he might spend some after he assesses his students.  When it came my turn to use the laminating machine, to be fair, I offered to use it for 5 minutes, then I would let the next person use it.  And then use it for another five minutes, and then let the next person go, etc... After laminating, I went to briefly look through the materials for 6th grade materials.  And, I ended up leaving about...$300 poorer.  Since I had to travel by bus, I decided to cut and trim the decorations and posters so that they would be easy to carry.  It ended up taking about 2 hours of cutting.  When I finished, I discovered that about 1/3 of the items didn't laminate properly.  At first when I went the the person behind the counter, the manage was about to say it was my fault that I didn't have the machine on hot enough.  However, when one of the cashiers mentioned to him that another person had the same problem earlier, he went straight to the machine, and tried to solve my problem.  I was impressed that despite the crowd, when the manager said that he would return in a couple of minutes, he actually did!  He used one of the two laminating machines that was broken to feed in my posters and decals one by one until the heat melted the plastic lamination.  AND for my time wasted, he gave me 3 coupons for free laminating (15ft. each). 

No exercising today.  I hadn't eaten anything since I had a can of V8 this morning, so I was hungry.  I went to Wendy's restaurant on the way home.  I was thinking that a 1/2 lbs burger and medium fries would fill me up.  NOPE!  While I was waiting for the try, I ate the fries.  I finished off the hamburger minutes later.  I avoided the soda because I know it has a lot of calories.  The strange thing was that it felt like I had eaten a White Castle burger.  I was ready for dinner.  I settled on a Healthy Choice sweet and sour chicken meal.  I also drank a liter of ShopRite Zero Carbs and Calorie Free Sugar Free and Caffeine Free soda. 

Well, that is ....

Oh, I almost forgot.  I just finished looking at the materials that were in my Amazon.com shopping cart.  When I first found out I would be teaching 4th grade, I went online to purchase 4th grade copies of the 3rd grade versions that I liked.  Well, when I found out I would be teaching 6th grade, I did the same thing.  Luckily, I was able to delete some of the items since I had already purchases them.  In the end, I spent about another $200.  My credit card is smoking like a five alarm fire.  But there is one more thing I really, really, need to get.

Even more than a decent photocopy machine, I need a grading machine.  My school is very, very big on "Data Driving Instruction".  I was drowning in paperwork last year.  I will lose my mind if I have to try to keep up with testing paperwork again this year.  This machine (and others like it) can do in about 30 seconds, what it would take me 2 hours or longer to do (grade a class set of a single test AND provide a data analysis for each student).

Now, I think  that's it...

Short post.  I'll just say that things seem to be "back to normal". 

[....comment deleted ....]

Never mind. 

This Labor Day weekend, I'll have to do some last minute errands.  Tomorrow, I will try to do a double errand.  Now that I'm fairly certain that I will in fact be teaching 6th grand.  I need to buy some supplemental materials to make sure that I'm covering everything that I should.  I also need to do some back to school clothes shopping for myself.  I have a bad habit of wearing my clothes until they fall apart.  Sunday, I want to go to the teacher's supply store to laminate some posters and wall decorations. 

Exercising.
At the moment, I'm doing all of my exercising by moving and lifting large items.  Today, I had to move all of the students textbooks and workbooks from the 3rd floor to the 2nd (about 6 ~ 8 trips).  Hopefully, I will be able to resume exercising on Monday (Labor Day).

Feeling a bit better

After spending a few hours moping in bed, I finally got up.  There might be some positive aspects to moving to 6th grade.

I also had my first class of the semester.  I was okay.  I was surprised that a couple of the adults in the room  were actually acting like the students in my 3rd grade classroom.  They both seemed to spend a large amount of time whinning or complaining to the professor. The guy sitting next to me appeared (to me) to be a know it all. I was a bit surprised that he was actually acting like my 3rd graders act from time to time. It is understandable in a child, but very annoying a grown man huffy and verbalizing that he would rather read than do the assigned project, or telling us he's done 10 minutes into a 30 minute project. Then, complaining to the professor asking why he had to take that course. All the while I was saying to myself, "Thank God I don't have this guy in my class".

A bit of a set back...

I went to bed about 1am.  I woke up about 5am.  I couldn't go back to sleep until about 7am.  I got up about 10am.  It is now 12noon.  I should have been at school about 4 hours ago.  I won't be at work until about 2:45pm (the earliest).  And I have my first evening class for this semester.  I was suppose to have been done with all my heavy lifting and moving yesterday.  But now, I'll either have to wait until the other teachers arrive after tomorrow, Friday, or even after Labor Day.  Yes, there are teachers who won't do an ounce more than legally required...if at all.  Or, ...I will have to go to my classroom and remove all of the fourth grade materials (student textbooks, and test prep materials, etc...), go through my things to remove 2nd and 3rd grade materials.  Since the other two 4th grade teachers already have their things, they will not be taking any extra materials.  In other words, there won't be anyone to come pick up the 4th grade materials.  The materials will probably have to be taken to one of the book closets on another floors (of course).  I'll probably have to be the one to go up to the third floor and go through the contents of the unpacked 6th grade classroom to find the 6th grade materials, and then bring them down to my room.  Then, pack away those materials.  And after all that is done, figure out what I'll be should be teaching sixth graders.

Oh, and can I do this before 4:30pm and not sweat up a storm.  I would prefer not going to my first class of the semester stinking to high heaven.

I better stop procrastinating.  I have work to do.

When It Rains...

Here in NYC, we just went through Hurricane Irene.  Some people did better than others.  I was one of the lucky ones.  From my apartment, it seems like just a heavy rainy day.  However, there was flooding in other areas.

I was suppose to see the Spiderman Broadway show, but it was cancelled due to Hurricane Irene.  I ended up staying home and doing some long term organizing of my classroom curriculum.  Finding out that I would be teaching fourth grade this coming school year (with the bulk of my students) had me stressed out.  So, as most of you long time readers know, I went shopping.  I ended up spending about $500 on various 4th grade materials.  Each new item gave me a bit of peace of mind.  My stress decreased as the summer when on.  I also mentioned that I was taking summer professional development at my school -- optional, of course.  One colleague found out the second week into the summer than his new teaching assignment would change.  I smile, I tried to make him feel that the sudden change was a good thing (secretly being grateful that it wasn't me).  Anyway, I continue to come the school during the summer.  Since, I never got the call (or received a message) that my class assignment would change, I continued spending money (I didn't really have, going deeper in credit card debt), buying 4th grade teaching materials.  I even managed to create an academic calendar to help with my long-term planning.  I was able to do long-term planning for most of the subjects that I would be teaching.  It felt good.

Today, was the first (unofficial) day back for me.  Although the school was open for teachers who wanted to come to the workshop, the classrooms were not available at that time, so I couldn't really do anything in terms of setting up or moving furniture.  Teachers official are suppose to come back the day after Labor Day.  There may be a teacher that can fix up a classroom in only two days, but I know that I can't.  Anyway, I've always returned when the school building official opens for administrators and other non-classroom staff (cafeteria, security, secretary, etc...). 

Anyway, I arrived about 8:45am.  I was about 45 minutes later than I wanted to be, but I was not stressed.  I was determined to start off the school year differently than previous "Preparation" days.  I was a bit annoyed that I hadn't returned yesterday, but since the train system near my home was suspended due to the hurricane, I didn't stress about it.  So, how did I do for the first Preparation Day?  If you look at previous blog entries entitled "Preparation", you would notice a theme (or similarity) among them.  This time, I had the plan to unpack better than previous years.  That meant trying to not let myself get distracted to the point of wasting time and accomplishing nothing (and end up stressing out and rushing at the end along with the late comers and poor planners).  This time, I really don't want to be the first one in, and the last one out.

Day 1 was going fairly nicely for me.  When I arrived I went right for the boxes and items piled up in the back of the room.  An hour later that back shelf was cleared off!  Next, I rearranged the furniture in my room.  In the past, I've gotten stuck doing this too, but not this time.  When I finished, I unpacked most of my boxes.  Again, in the past, I've gotten stuck with this too.  However, I managed to unpack and group and organized most of my stuff.  In the past, I've done a sloppy unpacking, straightened up my room and then a day or two later, I would need to unpack a few more boxes, or closet, and then boom, my classroom would look like I hadn't done anything.  Well, not this time.  My classroom is a mess, but it is cluster of piles I know where I'm going to put them.  My goal was to do all of the heavy lifting and heavy moving today, so that I won't need to do that (moving furniture or heavy objects).  Just before the custodians rang the alarm letting us know that we had to leave...immediately, I had just finished moving the last shelving unit.  And yes, I did clear out the cabinet before I moved the shelving unit, so I won't have to do any rearranging later.  

With the alarm going off, that is the signal to all must leave the building.  Normally, when that alarm goes off, I start panicking and rushing to leave.  Today, I was pleased with myself.  I strolled, briefly chatted with colleagues as I left (the way the others do).

Outside the building, one of my colleagues casually asked, "Soo, did you see the new reorganization sheet? It was emailed to us yesterday."  The shocked (but curious) look on my face gave her a quick case of amnesia.  It wasn't until I was on the train, that another colleague gave me the news:

I will be teaching 6th grade this school year.

F**K!!!

Sorry, I don't like to curse, but I was angry.  Now, I'm just kind of numb.  Did I mention that I have evening classes starting tomorrow and Thursday of this week? 

Stress just can't seem to do without me.

East Coast Earthquake

Well, you've probably heard or read about the east coast earthquake that happened today about 1:50pm.  Luckily, there were no major injuries or damages. Where was I when the earthquake hit?  I was on my stationary bike.  I decided to do another 90minute/30minute workout.  The quake struck just when I was nearly finished with ten minutes to go.  At first, I wasn't sure it was an earthquake because I was on the bike; I had to stop peddling to check.  The shaking lasted only a few seconds (maybe 15 or 20 seconds).  Having lived in Japan, I did recognize the shaking motion.  I wasn't too nervous about the quake.  The crazy thing is that I was more nervous about having to leave in the condition I was in.  I was soaked in sweat with nothing on but my underwear and undershirt  -- both in very poor condition.  Also, I was literally soaked and dripping wet.  I really didn't want to walk outside in the condition I was in.  A few years ago, I did buy an emergency pack from the Red Cross, and I do have my important papers on the same shelf like my passport.  The only thing I don't have are my copies of important papers like birth certificate, social security card, credit card information, phone numbers, etc...I've been planning to get those documents copied to keep the copies in the emergency backpack, but I never did.  At the time, it required me to take those documents to get them copied.  However, now that I have a copy feature on my home printer, I really don't have any excuse.  I'll see if I can do it tonight or tomorrow.  Also, now that I'm thinking about it -- considering my first reaction when I thought I might have to leave my apartment dressed the way I was, I need to have an overnight bag packed also in case of an emergency evacuation (stashed on the same shelf of course).  I think I might work on that this week too.  But, I need to buy some clean underwear.

Wt. 219lbs.

A Visit to the Queens Museum



The view of the Unisphere from the Queens Museum



Another short blog entry.  Tomorrow my plan is to start going through the books I brought home for planning purposes.  Since I'll be teaching 4th grade when school resumes in about two weeks, I want to make sure I have some clear understanding about the materials.  Now, what I need to do is to start slowly readjusting to a work schedule.  Hopefully, I will be able to set aside a few hours each day next week for planning purposes.  I want to be able to focus on getting my classroom together the following week.  For those who have been reading this blog for several years will see a very unfortunate pattern of procrastination and poor planning at the beginning of each school year.  I really want this year to be different.  Now, a quick summary about today before I call it a night.

Today was a nice day.  I didn't do any exercising.  Lately, I've been thinking about taking a break on the weekends, or at least cutting back on the weekend in terms of exercising.  So without exercising, what did I do?

I participated in a social networking event.  The group went to Queens Museum.  It was a nice event.  I didn't realize until I got there that I probably hadn't been there since I was in elementary school.  After the museum, I went to MacDonald's and bought the Big Mac meal with apple pies.  I think I consumed about 1,630 calories.  After MacDonald's I walked to Grand Central Station to catch a Metro-North train home.  Strange thing though, while walking, I stopped in KFC and ordered a Thigh & Drumstick meal.  I told myself that I was going to be hungry when I got home.  Well in GCS, I stopped by a bakery called Zaro's and ordered a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting to go.  I ate as soon as I got home.  That was 1,810 calories eaten.  In total, in the span of an hour, I had consumed about 4,299 calories. The strange thing is...I'm not the least bit upset.  Well, gotta go.

Wt. 223.2lbs.

Short blog entry.  Today I was feeling the effects of a two hour ride.  I was sore!  I didn't get on my stationary bike today.  I'm going to the museum tomorrow, so I didn't want to push myself.  I slept most of the day.  I went to see my foster father this evening.  Nothing to write about.

Oh, slowly the realization that school resumes soon here in NYC.  As if I didn't need a reminder.  While on the Metro-North train, a girl about 7 or 8 years old gets on the train with two adult women (one with a baby carriage [with baby]).  As they are walking down the aisle, the girl is taking each of the train tickets from the chairs as she is passing.  The tickets are placed on the chairs as proof that the person sitting there has paid.  So what does the woman walking behind the girl say?  "Noo, noo. Don't do that (smiling)".  The girl keeps taking the tickets, and they keep on walking.  No one seemed upset, but in my mind, I was.  I wasn't sure if it was the idea that the girl thought it was cute to take someone that didn't belong to her, or if I was upset that the adult walking behind the girl didn't feel the need to correct the behavior.  Well, moving on.

I started a new book.  Stephen King's Pet Semetary.  I only read Mr. King's introduction and the first 3 pages, so I don't know if I will get into it.  Tomorrow I'm going to the museum, I read a bit more on the train ride to the museum and see if I can enjoy it.  Awhile back, I wanted to buy the Stephen King book "The Dome", but I told myself that I wouldn't buy it until I read another King book cover to cover, just to be sure I would be able to read that book.  We'll see if the sematary holds my interest.

Wt. 219.8lbs.

Today (Friday) the plan was to get up early to do an hour on my stationary bike, but since I had to go for the professional development workshop (and I woke up too late), I didn't have time to exercise this morning.  I decided to do a double workout this evening.  The plan was to ride for 90 minutes straight, then take a brief break, and then continue for another 30 minutes.  To do 2 hours straight  for me was a bit of a psychological block.  I had to break it down, or I don't think I would have been able to do it.  Plus, having not eaten lunch  today, I was hungry.   I had a fried chicken wings and vegetable fried rice dinner  (a takeout from a local Chinese takeout restaurant).  Since I had the greasy dinner, I really felt like I had to get on my bike even though I was beginning to get tired.  Well, I did manage to do the two hours.  I burned about 1,008 calories on the bike. 

Oh, I think I'm becoming addicted to the zero calorie seltzer drinks I mentioned previously.  I bought about 8 more.  Unfortunately, I drank three of them already.  I also bought some snack foods that I hope will help me when I have the urge to eat, usually right before bed.  I'm not sure because it is too early to tell, but the diet and working out might be starting to take hold.  Lately, I seem to usually be satisfied with fruit, raisins,  etc...

I'm going to call it a night now.

Wt. 219lbs.

School Shopping

Below is an entry that was supposed to have been published last year, but it has been in my draft's folder.  The new changes to Blogger causes draft entries to be listed with current entries.  And, looking and rereading the entry caused Blogger to automatically reset the post date.  Since I already typed -- and I haven't posted very many blog entries, I'm going to post (or repost) this entry.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, August 27th

Well, she did it again. Ms. Across the Hall asked if I was interested in going shopping at the local teacher's store in Brooklyn. I thought it would be nice to meet a colleague outside of school. Having a not too successful attempt last summer to meet up to see a movie, I wasn't putting too much thought into meeting.

Meeting to see a movie

Ms. Across the Hall (ATH) is very nice, but can sometimes be forgetful. This time, I tried to keep the "meeting" informal. I emailed that the meeting shouldn't anything more than "if you're there, call and say hi". Well, I checked my email last night and this morning, and no messages. I went to the teacher's store anyway. Since I already had it in my mind that she probably wouldn't show, it didn't mess up my schedule.

So, I went, to the teacher's store in Brooklyn. I got there about 3PM, and I stayed until about 6PM. I had a shopping cart full of books, materials, resources, etc...
I had to take my shopping cart to a corner of the store and go through everything to see what I could put back. I ended up putting back about 15 resource books.

And after I finished...

Anyone want to guess what I spent?

...

My bill came to about $490.

School hasn't even started yet, and I've already spent about $1,000 on teaching materials and school supplies for my students. This year, my shopping focuse is on being able to differentiate my instruction and target specific skills for those students who need more practice. While I was shopping, an idea came to me to try "front loading" my classroom curriculum -- meaning to try spent the first three or four months really focusing on skills and drills, and the second half (or remainder months) applying the skills and/or practicing through enrichment activities. Only time will tell what comes up.

Post Date -

Another slow start to my day today, but it was a bit productive towards the end.  I managed to do two hours on my stationary bike (one hour in the morning and the other in the evening).  I burned about 1, 040calories on my bike.  I also FINALLY started to do a bit of cleaning in my apartment.  I won't embarrass myself by mentioned how dirty I allowed my apartment to get.  I made a To Do list of 11 things, and I managed to get to 10 of the items listed.  I still have a long way to go, but at least it is a start. Tomorrow is another half-day professional development session at school.  I'm going to try to get up early enough so that I can get on my stationary bike before I have to leave.  The last few days I've been managing to keep up with doing a double workout on my bike, so I want to keep up the routine.

Wt. 217.4lbs.

Quick Update

Today was another one of those days that has left me wondering what happened to it.  I had a couple of bowls of Special K cereal; I like the fruit and yogurt one.  I got on my stationary bike about 12 noon for an hour.  According to the digital readout, I burned 531.5 calories.  After I showered and napped, it was about 5pm.  I watched the evening news, then the entertainment news.  I had a Healthy Choice meal of Balsamic Garlic Chicken with a cup of instant Minute Maid Rice mixed in to help fill me up.  For dessert, I had a couple of Weight Watchers' vanilla ice cream sandwiches.  I got on my stationary bike for another hour.  This time burning 563.4 calories.  After showering, I weighed myself.  I'm now 216.4lbs.  I also made an entry in my LostIt.com account.

Random Thoughts

Hello All.  Yes, it has been a while.  I just finished eating a rather unappealing container of Weight Watchers mint ice cream.  Yuck.  Lately, I've been trying to find substitute foods that taste interesting, but are less in calories (and sugar).  The mint ice cream was a miss.  However, I do like their (so called) Giant Ice Cream Bars.  Two of those bars are usually enough to satisfy my cravings for ice creams.  240 calories for the two bars as oppose to a pint of Ben & Jerry's about 1,000 calories. Oh, and I'm really liking favored seltzer drinks.  They are suppose to (according to the label) have zero calories, no caffeine, zero carbs, and sodium and sugar free.  It tastes like a cheap imitation soda, but it does taste like soda.  Before I discovered these drinks, I was buying liters of ginger ale at the local deli (about 450 calories each). I hope these aren't too good to be true.

Sorry for the lack of postings.  I've been in my usual summer vacation vegetative state.  Not doing much but laying around my very messy apartment.  Today I finally got around to doing the laundry.  It only took me about 7 loads to complete.  Today was also the day I finally did two workouts in a single day.  For the last few days I've only been able to get on my stationary bike once a day.  And sometimes, I didn't even do that.  Long story short, I fell off the exercise bandwagon around the end of July.  Doing a single squat had my knees crunching like a bag of chips.  After that, I've been very stiff in the knees and reluctant to run on them.  So, most of this summer I've been riding my stationary bike off and on, trying to keep up the routine I started the summer with, but with little success.  My weight has been one long inconsistent roller coaster ride.  Finally, the last couple of weeks or so, I've been fairly consistent with getting on my stationary bike at least once a day.  Oh, and I purchased a new digital scale.  With my poor eyesight, I need the larger numbers.  Unfortunately, this new scale is showing that I'm fatter than the old $10 scale.  I went from thinking I was 116lbs. to discovering that the old scale was lying.  On the new digital scale, I was 122lbs.  And I've been yo-yoing around 122lbs for the last couple of weeks.

This evening, I'm now 119.4lbs.  Before the spaghetti dinner and ice cream, I was 116lbs. on the digital scale.  But then, I hadn't had anything but a Power Bar and 16oz of orange juice all day.

I'm going to have to wrap this entry up, so that I can get to bed to get up early enough to do the two rides on my bike.  There were several near blogs I could have written, but since I didn't write notes for myself, I don't remember the details about those blogs.  What I'm going to do now, is just jot down a few random thoughts about some of the things that come to mind.  Hopefully with this blog entry, I will be able to get back into a regular posting routine.

Movies
I went to the movies a few times.  Below are those movies that come to mind at this moment.
Captain America - I liked it.  A bit long, but enjoyable.
Surfs - I should have hated it, but it was cute.
Planet of the Apes - Nice set up for a sequel.  Enjoyable.

Broadway Shows
Wicked - Saw it.  Liked it.  Had to get the book to read it.
Spiderman - I just purchased tickets to see this in a few days.

Exercising - See above.

Reading
Wicked - I read it, but didn't really like it.  It wasn't what I thought it would be.  It tried too hard to appeal to adults.
Star Trek Voyager "Children of the Storm" - I liked it. It does a good job of continuing the series, but in novel form.

New "Neighbor"
Yesterday while chatting online, I met another "neighbor".  After chatting for awhile, we discovered that we live very close by.  How close?  He lives in a building across the street.  Can you believe it, right across the street? 

Shopping
When school resumes in a few weeks, I will be teaching a new grade for the first time.  I have been assigned to teach 4th grade.  Luckily, it is close to the grade I've already been teaching.  Luckily, or not so lucky (I'm not sure which), I will have most of my same students from last (school) year.  Why is this in the "shopping" area?  Somehow, I ended up spending most (if not all) of one of my paychecks on buying copies of 4th grade resource and reproducible books that I already have in 3rd grade.  I wanted to make sure that I didn't fall into my comfort zone.  I also purchased various baskets, for my classroom library, as well as a few other things for my classroom.

I could've rambled on some more, but it is time to end this entry.  Hopefully, I will now be able to start getting good routines down.  Tomorrow, I need to start cleaning my pigsty of an apartment.  I also need to resume posting on LoseIt.com.

Quick Entry

I was planning to call it an early night, but I decided to log onto the Loseit.com website to log in my calorie consumption and exercise.  So far, I am still on my double workout routine.  Yep, even in the heat wave we are in, I managed to do my two exercises.

Today was also the day of the professional development my school is providing....never mind.   I was goin to go into details of the program that probably cost...never mind.  I'll just focus on my workout routine. 

I weighed myself today.  I am now down to 210lbs.  I started this summer weighing around 232lbs.

I better go, so I can get to bed to do my morning turtle trot.

My Park

I'm going to have to learn to get used to the new layout of Blogger.  Well, I'm going to try keeping this short.  I haven't been doing much blogging lately.

Today was day two of my new exercise plan.  I did my morning turtle trot for an hour.  I went home, and slept most of the day away.  However, I was pleased that I was able to get on my stationary bike.  Yep, I did another hour of exercise on my bike.  I am please with myself for being able to do about 2 hours of physical fitness today and yesterday.  I burned about 1,100 calories.  It is the first time I think I've ever burned more calories in a day than I took in.  I ate about 900 calories today. 

Other random comments.  I received a message on my cell phone "offering" PD (professional development) for each Friday this summer for 4 hours.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to say no.  So, I'll be returning each Friday this summer until school opens getting "professional development.

Oh, and why is it that some people can be so careless with their dogs.  This morning while I was doing my turtle trot, this guy brought his rottweiler for a walk.  I've gotten so comfortable with having the whole park to myself that I was annoyed that the guy brought his dog to crap all over the place.  The dog did his business about 3 times before the guy went home.  And of course, it was too much for the guy to clean up after his dog.  What annoyed me (other than the guy letting his dog run free off the chain forcing me to keep altering my running route) was that after the guy left, about 3 or 4 minutes later, I started smelling the dog crap as I was running.  

I better go.  I need to call it a night so that I can do my morning run.  I took several photos of the park over the past couple of months, I don't have time to edit the photos and post them (with comments), so I'll just post one photo for now.  The photo was taken from the northern entrance to the park.  I run around the rectangular perimeter of the two baseball fields.

Day Trip - Staten Island

Wow, it appears things have changed.  Blogger has a new look.  Anyway, sorry for the delay with posting.  Yep, I'm on vacation.  And yes, I'm basically doing what I do every vacation.  I sleep.  The only saving grace this time around is that I've been doing my morning jog most mornings.  No, I didn't run this morning.  No, I didn't run yesterday morning either.

Back on track.  I planned an event for my social networking group.  I asked members for a day for the event...I got one reply, so I posted the event for July 14th, thinking at least one person would show.  Well, over the course of a few weeks, another member (who lives on Staten Island), suggested a restaurant that the group would enjoy.  And he said that he was going to join us on the Staten Island exploration.  Well, the day of the trip, I called to confirm a meeting spot.  Unfortunately, Staten Islander was busy.  He told me that his car wasn't working for an appointment that he had to go to...but moments later said he cancelled.  I decided, I would do the Staten Island Day Trip on my own.  Everything went according to schedule.  I enjoyed the ferry ride over.  The ferry ride was free.  There wasn't much to see at the Staten Island 9/11 Memorial.  Snug Harbor was enjoyable for its botanical gardens and wide open feel.  There was a 9/11 educational center located in Snug Harbor.  I thought the educational center should have been located nearer to the 9/11 memorial.  The Staten Island Zoo at $8 was a bit pricey for what was there.  The place was very small.  In my opinion, it wasn't so much a zoo as it was an exhibition of animals and animal facts.  The Staten Island Museum was also small.  However, the $3 price seemed right. Beso's?  It was a very nice restaurant, but it really didn't fit in with the overall theme of the "Day Trip".  It was very pricey!!  But since it was recommended by a member who I thought was going, I included it in the scheduling.  Although it didn't seem to fit, I didn't want to seem like an uncultured cheapskate, so I went to the restaurant.  I paid $30 for a pasta and meat dinner with an extra side order of spinach and two 12oz. glasses of water.  Both the vegetables and the water were extra.  Although the water was free, I had to ask for it.  After I left, I wanted to go to Burger King, but I needed to catch my train.  So, I settled for two donuts and a pint of Haagen Daaz.

I took about 200 photos.  I will post some of them here.  The attached photo above was taken from the Internet.

Shopping

Quick entry.  I need to go to bed so that I have the strength to run in the morning.  Yesterday I didn't run, so today was a return to my turtle trotting running style. 

As most of you already know, school is out here in NYC.  Unfortunately, I didn't follow the other teachers who were packing up during school hours, so I'm not one ... if not the only one who still has to return to school to finish packing up for the summer.  I thought I would only need the two extra days that admin is required to come in. But no, I'm still not ready.  Tuesday will be the fourth day I will be in school packing.  Why the delay?  As much as I said that I wouldn't look at any of the materials that were sent to me, I couldn't resist (for one reason or another).  So what have I been doing?  Sorting and organizing the materials.  This coming school year, I will be teaching 4th grade for the first time.  I've been teaching 3rd for the past few years.  I inherited the materials of a colleague who will be moving up to teaching 6th grade.  The problem?  She wasn't too organized in how she sent the materials to me.  She had several of her students help with the move.  Unfortunately, the timing and method of delivery was off.  One, I was trying to maintain the learning environment until the very end.  Two, I didn't really have  the room for the 4th grade materials because I still had the 3rd grade materials.  The monitors were a bit too eager to help, but they just basically made a mess.  Textbooks were mixed up.  Testing materials arrived in large trash bags.  I really can't function with disorder.  I went through the books and group them according to levels.  I went through the test prep materials and organized it.  Although I'm a bit annoyed that I'm the only one who is still packing up, I am pleased that I went through the materials and organized it.  I've observed that several teachers tend to rush to pack up for the summer, but then rush to unpack in the fall.  And then complain because they can't find anything, or don't realize what they have in terms of materials.

It is getting late.  I will continue this another time...
Next time, I'll summarize my Saturday of shopping and movie viewing.  I bought 4 new paperback novels.  A new pair of sneakers, and some teaching materials from B&N.

A Mini Milestone

Today I reached last stage (Stage 12) from the book "Run Your Butt Off.  I ran for a full 30 minutes without stopping.  Even though I went to bed late -- I had to finish up my students' report cards.  Last Sunday, I took some photos of the park I where I do my morning run.  It is nice to feel like I have the whole park to myself...oh and with the deer.  Yep, that deer has been returning for the last few days.  Yes, I managed to get a photo of that deer also.

Today was also the last full day of school.  Tomorrow is a half-day.  It will be THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for the 2010/2011 school year here in NYC.

Well, I'm going to end this entry now, I want to go to bed to have the strength to get up early.

I'm back...sort of.

Quick entry.  After going hog wild a for a few days last weekend, I'm back to trying to get in shape.  I had stopped my morning jogging for about three days last weekend, but I returned last Tuesday.  Currently, I'm at Stage 11 following the "Run Your Butt Off!" plan.  Today I ran for 14 minutes, walked for 1 minute, then I repeated again.  The run was okay, so much so that I ran an extra three minutes.  If the weather cooperates, I will reach Stage 12 on Monday.  Stage 12 is running for a full 30 minutes without a walk break.  Although it is taking some getting used to dragging myself out of bed, I do look forward to the morning run.  And now that summer vacation is almost here, I really do need to keep up the morning run routine.  My new plan is going to try to build up to running for an hour each day this summer.  I really can't afford to return to my lazy sleep away the summer routine.  Oh, and I also need to get a handle on my eating habit.  Without the liquid diet, I'm slowing gaining back the pounds I lost.  I'm now up to 222lbs.  Right now however, my focus is on finishing up the school year.  Next week is the last week of school. 

I better go.  I need to get ready for bed soon so that I have to strength to get up for my morning run.

Wicked

Yesterday was my second Broadway show.  I almost missed it.  I was returning to my "eat/sleep away the weekend" mode.  I wasn't in the mood to see the show.  But since I already had my ticket and I was the one who had planned the social networking event, I decided to go anyway.  Once again, no one signed up, so I was going solo. 

I arrived with a minute to spare.  I paid for an obstructed view, so my ticket was a bit cheaper than others.  The view wasn't  that bad.

Anyway, at 2hrs and 45minutes (almost three hours), I thought the show was very nice.  I'm not really a musical kind of guy, but I thought it was a nice show.  I enjoyed "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" more.  For someone like me, I need a hook to enjoy a musical (for the "Desert" it was the songs).  For "Wicked", I enjoyed the retelling of a familar story most know so well.  Now, I want to read the book.  After doing a Google search, I just discovered that there are about 40 stories of Oz adventures.  From Wikipedia, I learned that the original author wrote about 15 of the first part of the series.  Another author wrote the next 15 books in the series.  And various other authors wrote the remaining books in the series.  I had no idea this book was a series or a cash cow.  I did a quick search  on Amazon.com to see if they had a complete collection of the series.  Yes, they did.  However, the bound books are a collection minus the illustrations.  I think I would like to have the series -- only the first part written by the original author.  I'm not interested in the cash cow continuation.  I'll have to try reading the original book I bought a few months ago.  I was bored by it then.  However, I'll see if I can get into the book again.  If I can enjoy the first book, then I think this would be a good series to get on an electronic reader.  I'm still holding out for an e-reader.   The Stephen King book "The Dome" is also on my to read list.  However, I don't want to get an e-reader until I finish reading  the paperback books I already have.  And yet, I keep buying more books.  It will be quite awhile before I get an e-reader, unless I buy one on an impulse.

Anyway, I was entertained by the show.  And I was lucky enough to have a seat right by the exit with the bathroom.  With my second Broadway show, I'm learning that it pays to leave quickly to reach the bathroom, or you will have to wait on a long line (although not nearly as long as the women's line).

After "Wicked", I walked to 42nd street to see "X-men: First Class". I enjoyed the movie, despite the rowdy crowd in the theater.  It has been a long time since I've been in a theater where people talk loudly during the movie, and making loud comments during the movie.  As for the movie itself.  I thought all of the characters were well casted.  If you can get past the "creative license" the movie takes with the origins, then I think most sci-fi fans will enjoy the movie.  It isn't a great movie, but I think it is an enjoyable one.

After the movie I stopped at Midtown Comics Shop to use the 25% coupon that was in the free daily paper.  My last stop of the evening was dinner at Tick Tock Diner on 34th Street.  I had their BBQ bacon burger with waffle fries, soda, and pie with ice cream for dessert.  I won't even count the calories for that meal.  Since I haven't exercised this weekend, and I've been eating nothing healthy for the last three days,

I guess you could say that (in a way), I've been Wicked.  

I asssumed that picture taking wouldn't be allowed, so I didn't bother to take my camera.  the only photo I took was during intermission when others were taking out their cell phones. I took a photo of the stage screen.  The logo attached to this entry was taken from the internet.  My photo is the small one. 

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

Quick update.  Once again the title says it all.  Thursday morning started off rainy, but I didn't let that stop me.  I rode my stationary bike to keep up my daily morning exercising routine.  Unfortunately, I've had a couple of setbacks in the dieting department.  The day before,  I had a spaghetti dinner with a 5 piece chicken tender appetizer (with BBQ dipping sauce).  Friday evening I went to a retirement party for a couple of colleagues who will be retiring this year.  I ordered a baby back ribs and chicken combo plate (with a large piece of chocolate cake).  After returning home, I fell asleep on the couch and now I'm up at 2am.  Old habits die hard.  So far I haven't missed a morning of exercising since I started at the beginning of this month.  I'm about to head off to bed, and see if I have the strength to run in the morning.  If I do the run, I want to move up to a modification of Stage 9 (walk for 3 minutes/run for 12 minutes and repeat).  If I can keep up with the running routine, I should be able to run for a solid 30 minutes by next weekend.

 Later on today, I will be attending a social networking event that I planned.  The event is to see the Broadway show "Wicked" and see "X-men: First Class" afterwards.  Unfortunately, no one signed up, so I will be seeing the shows alone.

Quick Update

Quick update.  Yesterday, I didn't do too well with my calorie consumption.  I did better, but still over my maximum daily goal.  Yesterday I had a total of 1,790cal.

Today was a bit better.  I told myself that I had to stop eating with my old habits of trying to fill up the belly.  Results?

7am - 200cal. Quaker Instant Grits
11am - 70cal. V8
12pm - 200cal. Campbell's low sodium Chicken Noodle Soup
7pm - 730cal. Healthy Choice Steamer (Spicy Chicken), Minute Rice(cup), & Stonyfield smoothie.
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Total = 1,100 calories

I am also still sticking with the running.  I am currently at the 9 minute run / 3 minute walk (repeated 3x).  Oh, and today, I saw a young deer walk onto the sport's field as I did my running.  It keep an eye on me as I ran around the perimeter of the field, but it didn't run away. 

Now, I'm going to head to bed. 

Summer vacation is almost here.  Yippee!!!

The attached photo was taken off of the internet.  However the deer I saw was very similar. 

The End

This blog entry will be short.  The title says it all.  I knew it.  Once I had the taste of food, the liquid diet was history.  Today, I decided to end the liquid diet.  I was dying for something hot, greasy, and fattening.  KFC was calling. Once the idea popped into my head, I couldn't get it out.  For dinner, I had a KFC dinner, and needless to say, I went over my daily calorie limit.  Below are the damages:

1, 440cal. - 2pc. chicken dinner (leg and thigh with a biscut)
570cal. - mashed potatoes with gravy (less than1cup)
640cal. - Cole Slaw (also about less than a cup)
80cal. - Green Beans
250cal. - Soda (about 16oz.)
300cal. - Welch's Grape Juice (about 16oz. [I was still thirsty])
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Dinner came to about 3,280cal. alone

Today I also had an imitation (store brand) Ensure and a V8
250cal. ShopRite Energy Drink (8oz.)
70cal. - V8 (11.5oz.)
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Total Calories consumed today (assuming I don't eat or drink anymore tonight) is
3,600cal.

So, what is the next step now?

The liquid diet is dead for now.  I will still stick with "being on a diet".  My goal now is to count calories and grams of sugar.  I will try to stick with the calorie numbers I've been working with while one the liquid diet.  And barring any injuries, I will of course continue with the morning running.

Relapse

I lost about 14lbs.  I've been keeping up with the running, I'm now at Stage 6 (walking for 3 minutes, running for 7 minutes, repeating 2x).  As for the liquid diet, I was doing okay until today,  for some reason I couldn't take the liquid anymore.  I had a bit of an eating binge.  For dinner, I had 2 Healthy Choice Dinners, and one Stonyfield smoothie.  In total, I ate about 1,000 today.  I'm a bit disappointed, but not too upset, since I managed to stay within my target daily calorie intake goal.  Hopefully, I will be able to get back on track for the liquid diet.  My plan was to finish this Friday.

Quick Update

Quick update.  For those that are interested, I am still on my diet/exercise routine.  To keep with the new schedule, I haven't been going online.  In the past, a quick online visit would usually throw off my motivation, and a quick visit turns into several hours later.  Even now, I should have just prepped for bedtime. 

Quick Summaries:

I'm not doing my run/walk in the neighborhood park.  I walk/run around the two baseball fields.  My body has been adjusting to the walk/run a bit too quickly.  By the second day, I start to lose focus and motivation.  Now, instead of stickly with the book's pacing of one stage per week, I'm going to move up the stages every two or three days.  Tomorrow, I'm going to go to stage 4 (30 minutes of 3 minute walk, 3 minute run [or what I've been calling the "turtle trot"])

On an impulse, I visited one of the old social networking sites and replied to a profile that I've replied to before.  Much to my surprise, he responded.  It turns out the guy lives in the very next block.  We walked around downtown for a couple of hours, we had a lot in common.  It would have been cool to have someone in the neighborhood who shared similar interests.  Unfortunately, we had different ideas about friendship.  After my refusal to see friendship the way he did, I think he lost interest. After first planning to do another walk around, the epal ended the last text message with "have a great day".

My new black backpack arrived within about 3 days.  There was a bit of a mixup at the post office, but I finally have it.  The bag looks nice, however, I am a bit put off by the number of buckles and clips on it.  I'll try it out and see how it is.

Well, I better go.  I should have been in bed, but I thought I should do a quick entry letting the two or three people who read this blog know that I am still in the game so to speak.  I started my liquid diet on June 1st, and I still have managed to stick with it.  The problem?  Even though I am staying withing the suggested calorie intake of 1,784 calories per day, I don't seem to be losing weight.  The morning walk/run really isn't burning many calories (probably due to my body needing to adjust to the running.  I am going to try to use my stationary bike starting tomorrow in the evenings.  Once I'm able to do a consistant cardio workout for 30 minutes or more, I think I'll start to see the results.

Day 2

Day 2 of my diet and exercise program.  I did my exercise (walking and running) in the neighborhood park.  Bed time now...so I can be able to get up about 4:45am.

Day 1

After a bit of a restless night, I was able to get up and start the running program.  Stage 2 (walk for 4 minutes and run for 1 minute, then repeat four more times).  I started about 5AM and finished about 30 minutes later.  I'm glad I started at Stage 2, I don't think I would have had the strength to do Stage 3 (walk for 3 minutes and run for 2 minutes).  Basically, I ran up and down the residential block I live on.  There is a small park very near me, but unfortunately, it is on the side of a mountain, so the whole park is basically built on a slope.

After the walk/run, I decide to relax by soaking in the bathtub.  With a full day to go, I didn't want to stiffen up.  After the bath, I was moving slow, but I wasn't in any pain.

I also started my new liquid diet today.  My goal is to use the liquid diet to break old eating habits.  After the two weeks is over, I'm hoping I'll be able to retrain myself to better portion controls.  In total today, I drank about 1,140calories today.

It is getting late.  I need to end this entry now, so I can get to bed to repeat the workout for day two.

The Night Before....

This will have to be brief. Well....

Tomorrow is June 1st. I am suppose to start a new exercising and dieting routine. Today, I picked up my order from the post office from Amazon.com. See the attached photo to get a sneak peak at my new exercise routine....

Yep, that's right. I'll be trying to run. Also,....

My plan is to do it in the morning before work. Too many times, I've had false starts with waiting until the end of the day. However, I'm always too tired. Actually, the main reason for doing the running in the morning is to minimize the embarrassment of running at 230lbs. Hopefully, I'll have the strength to get out of bed early to follow the program. AND...Be able to arrive to work early.

Basically, the running plan is a 12 step program that combines running with walking. By the end of 12 weeks, a participant should be able to run for 30 minutes. Stage 1 is walking for 30 minutes. Since I don't have any problem with walking long distances for an hour or two, I'm skipping Stage 1. I would like to skip Stage 2 (Walk for 4 minutes, Run for 1 minute. And repeat for four more times), but I don't want to over do it. So, I'll be starting with Stage 2.

The little red pad in the photo will be the notebook I'll use to help me keep track of the food and exercising so that I can put it onto the diet website mentioned in the previous blog entry.  I'm not really good at counting calories, but I will try.  The site computed that I will have to stay within about 1,780 calories per day if I want to reach my targeted goal of losing 60lbs by December 27, 2011. 

I gotta go.  I also need to be in bed by 10PM.  Changing my bad sleep habits is also a goal I'll need to work on.

Another Little Black Bag

I just purchased yet another little black bag.  In this case, it is a back pack(pronounced "Molly").  I've tried the messenger bag, but I want to go back to the backpack.  After a bit of internet searching, I purchased this pack from Amazon.com.  It should arrive in about 2 weeks. 

It has been a while since my last posting.  And not much new.  Oh, I do plan to start another exercise/diet plan.  My appologies to those who received a strange email from a dieting website.  When I registered (on an impulse), I added about 5 names and email addresses of those who I thought might be interested in the site/friending me as I went through the plan.  I was planning to send another email to explain the diet site, but being the procrastinator, I never did. I thought it would be similar to Blogger, but now I think it is more like Facebook.  With Blogger anyone can follow your blog entries, however with Facebook, you have to register to have access.  No need to register, I'll keep updating my progress on this blogging page.

At this point, I could go into the new diet/exercise routine I'm planning to start on June 1st, but having done the "New Plan" thing for quite some time now, I'm going to just fill in the details as I go through them.  I hope.  However, I will mention that I also recently purchased a metronome.  I've wanted one for years and I've finally purchased one.  Why?  In the past, I've been so easily distracted that I often lose focus with reps and pacing.  Whether I was rowing, running, or on my stationary bike, I would often find myself barely keeping up a steady pace.  Usually, programs will say to maintain a certain heartrate, but more often than not once I'm into a physical routine, my mind starts wandering and I barely seem to be doing much of any sweating.  I'm hoping the metronome will help me keep a consistant pace while I'm exercising.  It also has an earphone jack, so I won't disturb others.
I just did a quick YouTube search -- not really expecting to see the metronone.  Imagine my surprise when the exact metronome I purchased had a video clip.  So of course I have to attach it.

Military Pen Pal - Update

Quick entry.  Today was the last day of my spring break, so what did I do?  What I always do.  I waited until today to do 6 loads of wash at the laundromat.  I went shopping for items to send my military pen pal in Afghanistan.  Of course I went way over budget.  I ended up spending about $300.  My original plan was to send off a large box of snacks, food, and activities.  But considering how much I spent, I'm now going to ration out the items so that I'll be able to ship a care package each month for several months.  While I was shopping I was thinking about what the soldier might want.  But Red Bull, did a really need to buy that.  Since I waited until the last minute, I won't be able to send off a box until the weekend.  I settled for writing an introduction letter.  I'll put it in the mailbox tomorrow on my way to work.

I'm back...from nowhere.

I think the title says it all.  I wasn't in the blogging mood, so I stopped for a while.  What did you miss?  Well, minus work related topics, incidents, etc... nothing was missed.  In fact, you could have reread any of the previous posts (substituting the date for the current date) and you would have a fairly accurate summary of the past 4 months.  The only real  change is my waistline.  I'm now about 230lbs.

So, what else is new?

I just made another impulse purchase on Amazon.com.  Once they have your credit card info, some of us are just one click away from the poor house.  Latest purchase?  The Total Home Gym 1800.  I watched an infomercial that I've seen in on form or another.  I got online to see how much it cost, and one click later, I'll have my machine in about a week.  So what happened to the expensive clothes rack (exercise bike)?  It has been collecting dust as a...a clothes rack.

Other new information?  I adopted a soldier.  Another impulse.  Bored at the computer, having failed with the online pen pal request both near and far, I decided to try another route.  I would try find a pen pal with a soldier.  The other option was prison, but well,...I'm not that desperate.  Anyway once I had the idea, I thought it would be no problem to find a program that would match civilians stateside with soldiers overseas.  Well, nothing seems easy after committing to an idea.  After searching various sites that just didn't seem right, I found one that I thought was exactly what what I was looking for.  Well, being the slow person I am, it took me a while to register, a while to figure out how to enter the site, but I managed.  I just assumed that the fee they were asking and the difficulty was to protect the soldiers.  Only after registering (making my payment) did I guess that it was a dating site, I'm guessing to match soldiers with civilians.  No one was interested in being pen pals.  Oh, except for the 3 different women who posted seeking long-term relationship on their profile.  Although two of the responders seem to have faded away, one woman seems to be a bit too eager to provide that she is only looking for a friend.  Although she seems very nice -- I do wish her the best of luck with find a pen pal that will make her happy.  Just from the few emails we've exchanged, I can tell we have ZERO similarities.  I'll just leave it at that.

Well, I tried again, but this time I think I might have found the correct type of site.  This one was fairly easy to register and has a fairly easy requirement.  I only have to send one letter once a month to the soldier that I've been assigned to.  There was another nice site, but it required one letter per week.  I like the idea of sending a letter per week, but I'm too much of a procrastinator, and I would rather not make that kind of commitment.

Yesterday, I was approved for the program.  I received my soldier's information.  Considering they didn't ask much during the registration, I'm guessing my soldier was just a random pick from a list.  So, what information did I receive?  The soldier's name, age, rank, location, start and end dates of deployment, and the soldier's needs and wants list.  Wow, kind of like a prison.  Sorry about that.

Below is a cut and paste of the soldiers information:

> Rank:
> Branch: Army
> age: 28
> birthdate:
> dateDeployment:
> ReturnDate:
> Mail Stop Date: Jan. 1, 2012
> location:
> Hobbies: general
> needs: Batteries "AA" foot/body powder body wash razors baby wipes Q-tips sun block chap stick with spf
> wishes: sweets electic razor word puzzle books DVD's Beef Jerky books chips

Seems like very reasonable requests from a soldier on the front line.  I left out the specific information about the soldier.  Oh and no, I am not a war person, far, far, faar from it, but this seems like an easy way to show support for those men and women overseas.

Anyway, I wrote a quick letter yesterday just so I don't fall into the procrastinator's pit.  Once I commit to something, then I tend to be dependable and reliable.  Tomorrow, I'll head out and try to pick up as much of things listed as I can.  I will also add in a few second-hand items I have -- I hope he doesn't mind the second hand items.

As you readers of my blog already know, I can waste money like there is no tomorrow. But if this program is legit -- to save myself the embarrassment in case it isn't, I left out the program's information. If it turns out to work okay, then I'll provide more information.

Oh, I just received an email saying that my registration is completely approved (I had difficult also with this site).