Week 3 of the Infiltration

I had my third WW meeting on Monday. The good news is that I have lost 7.4 pounds so far over the past two weeks. The bad news is that I know I have lost more than that, I just gained pieces of it back over the weekends. That's the bad part of having my meeting on a Monday.

The large group of ladies (not group of large ladies!) is seeming to tolerate my infiltration. They do notice me sitting off to the side, eating my sandwich and drinking coffee from a Styrofoam cup. I was wearing a tie today, so they might have even thought I was "The Man".


I got a gold star for making my first 5 pound weight goal. There were only two of us in this meeting that got stars. When the stars were passed out, I saw some flashes of jealousy in people's eyes. They say that it is easier for men to lose weight when first starting out. I guess I'll also hit that plateau sometime in the coming weeks. I do feel better even after just losing this much. Haven't started walking for exercise yet. I don't want to get all healthy too quickly!

After I left the meeting I felt like there was a hushed buzzing back in the meeting room. Are they planning some type of a coup? Will they spike my coffee with pure cane sugar while I am weighing in? Why are there chocolate chips in my sandwich? How did all this loose change make it's way into my pockets?


As my mission continues I will keep you all posted. Carb Master Delta - Out!!!

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The Eagle and The Chicken

A man once found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest
of a barnyard hen. The eagle hatched and grew up with the rest
of a brood of chicks and though he didn't look at all the same.
He scratched the earth for worms and bugs and played the chicken's games.

The eagle clucked and cackled, he made a chicken's sound;
He thrashed his wings, but only flew some two feet off the ground.
That's high as chickens fly, the eagle had been told.
The years passed and one day when the eagle was quite old.

He saw something magnificent flying very high
And making great majestic circles up there in the sky.
He'd never seen the likes of it. "What's that?" he asked in awe,
While he watched in wonder at the grace and power he saw.

"Why that's an eagle," someone said, "He belongs up there, it's clear.
Just as we, since we are chickens, belong earthbound down here."
The old eagle just accepted that, most everybody does.
And he lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.


Never believe that you have limitations.

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Encyclopedia Brown and the case of the striped patio

It was the summer of 1997, and my family was enjoying the "salad years", as they call them. Our two boys were 6 and 3. We had built a nice covered patio that provided a shaded haven in our back yard. We had some cherry trees for shade and a nice green lawn.


Our oldest son had his first two wheeled bicycle. Since we didn't trust the street traffic in front of the house we had figured a way for our oldest to ride his bike on a small loop in the back yard. The route went longways across the patio, around the metal shed, through the two cherry trees, and back around to the patio to start again. There was a small rut worn in the lawn after a few weeks of riding, but we were happy with the kids being outside.


During this time, as with all the rest of our married life, we had at least one dog.


The challenge of the backyard riding loop had some conflict with the lawn area where the dog(s) would relieve themselves of their previously digested food. Piles of this scattered the yard.


Although I tried to keep the yard clean, there were instances when bicycle tire met with pile, and the brown mess became strewn all about. Filled tire tread became a rotating applicator on the surface of the concrete. There was an array of light brown striping all across the patio.


Determined to keep this situation from happening, I became the daily cleaner of the yard, as well as the bike tires and the patio surface. I scrubbed that patio with soapy water and a push broom. I felt that for the happiness of our boys, and the cleanliness of our yard and house, I had succeeded in this master plan.

As the days went on I realized that these stripes were reappearing on the patio, and at an alarming rate! I went back out, scrubbed the patio again, and cleaned all the dog residue from the yard. We are good to go once again.

A few days later I noticed the brown stripes happening again. Confused as to how this was happening I decided to view the process of the boy's actions, instead of trying to figure out how it was happening from the final result. I waited for our boy to go outside and ride his bike, and watched from behind the curtain at the patio door.

What I saw I could not have deduced as any part of my curious puzzle. There was the boy, making his laps through the yard, leaning over the handlebars with a keen eye on the front tire of the bicycle. With the tactile concentration of a Kamikaze diving his Zero towards a prime military target at full speed, he was deliberately hitting every single dog pile in sight.

Ever since then I have learned to never assume that any puzzle or problem has any elements that think or perform in a logical manner. In life, always factor in for the illogical. And, while you are at it, you should always factor in for dealing with lots of dog piles.

What is it worth to you?

There are certain people in this life that try to focus on one thing as what "defines" them. Some people are obsessed with their bodies and health. Some people focus solely on collecting objects (cars, houses, "shiny" things). Some only think about their careers and how to make it to that next rung up the corporate ladder (I work with some of these). Some are all about money, making money, having money, making more money.

I was taken back recently by a news article I read. A German named Adolf Merckle had started in business in 1967 when he took over his family business, which employed about 80 people. Since then the business had grown, and done very well. With his leadership the company is now a conglomerate of 120 separate companies that at present employ around 100,000 people and have revenues of 30 billion euros. In 2007 he is listed in the top 50 richest people on the Forbes list.

Adolf's companies have fallen on hard times recently, as many companies have. He asked for help from several banks to obtain loans to help keep these companies viable. He did not find any banks that were willing to help him.

With his identity being solely focused on building his companies, he did not think there was anything else more important in life.




I wonder if this was still in his thoughts when he left his home on Monday night and intentionally walked in front of a speeding train?




What he thought defined him as a person were the companies he ran. Did he have any hobbies? Did he have a favorite movie? Did he do anything for himself?

I feel that we need to have a balance in our lives. We cannot focus on one thing and expect that to define who we are as a person.

We can have a job, or a career, but it should be something that we enjoy doing. If you enjoy what you do, it doesn't seem as much like "work". I was once told that the secret of succeeding in business is "Find something that you would enjoy doing any other day of the year, and then get someone to pay you to do that".

We can build our lives around appearances, but when it comes down to it the only other people that focus on our appearances are other people that obsess about their appearances. Those who focuses on appearances always believe that they aren't as good looking as everyone else.

We can buy "things", and try to have "more" and "better" than other people. In the end, when you are gone, all you have done is given your loved ones "chores" to deal with what you left.


The bottom line is that we need a balance of things in our life. Family, friends, pets, movies, food, games, camping, sunlight, beaches. No one thing is meant to define who we think we are.


So I now turn that question back to you .... what do you find that's "of worth"?

WW and the 11th floor invasion

I have decided to commit to the challenge of losing weight. This is not solely for the want of being lighting, feeling better, or any sense of vanity that I might have. You might say that I have a financial interest in losing weight.

My wife and I are presently planning a cruise to Alaska. One of the excursions we are planning on taking is a helicopter ride out to land on one of the glaciers. Once we are there we can get out and walk around. Well, since not everyone weighs the same, but the helicopter only has a certain number of seats, there is a 250 lb. limit per person without having to book a second seat and pay a weight surcharge. I am presently hovering around 260 lbs, and I don't want to pay extra for my additional weight, or deny some other person the opportunity of riding the helicopter out to the glacier. I would be upset if I was not able to fly out to the glacier based on someone else being overweight.

As chance would have it, last month one of the ladies I work with mentioned that in January we were starting a Weight Watchers at Work meeting. If we get 20 people or more we can have it hosted in our building. It would make it very convenient to meet, weigh in, and be accountable to each other for proper eating habits and food ideas. I thought this would be a good thing, and a way to motivate myself to stick with a weight loss program, and possibly an eating lifestyle change.

Today was the introductory meeting. I met up with my friend, and two of her girlfriends from her floor, and we all rode the elevators down to the 11th floor. As I walked into the conference room with them I noticed a few other ladies that I recognized. I thought to myself that this was good. There would be other people that I know in the group. I moved to the back of the conference room. More ladies. I sat and the back table of the room. This is where I found myself in a situation I realized I had not been before. 26 Ladies ..... 1 Man. Me.

As we listened to the instructor, I realized that any of my usual "jokes" that I could have thrown out would not have been well accepted in the present company. I think I really had a good feel of what being a "minority" is like. There was one moment that I really had to hold myself back from raising my hand. The instructor had asked if there were any nursing mothers in the room. I realized that I will have to face these women for the next 17 weeks. Best not to be "that guy" on week 1. Apparently if you are a nursing mother, you get some extra points each week. I'll keep that fact in my hip pocket in case I need it for a joke later.

I will update you as I work on this challenge. Hopefully if I show that I can do it then maybe someone out there that doesn't think they can make a change will be inspired to give it a try. I'll also update you on the secrets that I discover from continuing to infiltrate the "land of women".

Coffee and Decorations

We took down our Christmas decorations. The house seems much bigger now. It also seems a little more empty. The colors and lights that brightened our home during Christmas are now replaced with slightly parted blinds and a sea of properly selected neutral colors. The coffee even seems to have a slightly less festive taste.

We prepare our minds to go back to work after the holidays. The presents are all put away, the newness somewhat worn off. We will have the pictures saved on our cameras and computers, but will only see them as they rotate through on our screen savers.

What we do have now is the blessings of our friends and family, the security of employment, the ability to sustain ourselves, and the memories of the less busy times that we have just shared.

May you all have a full and rewarding new year.