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Day 2 - Saturday

Breakfast

1 Sesame Bagel with Low Fat Cream Cheese 420 calories
1 Coffee

Snack

1 Banana 105 calories

Lunch

1 Chicken Salad sandwich (low fat mayo) 225 Calories
1/4 Cantaloupe 60 calories
1 cup carrots 50 calories
1 Diet Snapple 10 calories

Snack

1 Healthy Choice Fudge Bar 100 calories
1 ounce unsalted cashews 165 calories

Dinner

6 oz Grilled Beef 310 calories
1 cup Grilled Yellow Squash 20 calories
1/2 cup sauteed onion 100 calories
1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms 30 calories

Snack

1 Healthy Choice Fudge Bar 100 calories
3 oz LF Cheese 180 calories

Total: 1875

Diet -- Day 1

Motivation:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/heavy-burden-obesity-may-be-even-deadlier-thought-6C10930019

Breakfast

1 Special K Breakfast Sandwich 240 calories
1 Medium Green Apple  95 calories
1 Large Coffee with Splenda and SF Creamer

Lunch

1 SaladWorks Autumn Harvest Salad 300 calories
1 White roll  120 calories
1 Diet Pepsi

Snack

4 Low Fat cheese 240 calories
1 Diet Snapple 10 calories

Dinner

1 Hamburger on bun 450 calories
1 Avocado 234 calories
1/4 Cantaloupe 60 calories
1 Cup salad 75 calories

Snack

1 Healthy Choice Fudge Bar 100 calories

Total: 1924

Goal: 2000 calories per day or less.  

I'm Back

I've been away on vacation.  I love Arizona.  Someday we will retire and move back there to live.  Even in August, with the temperature around 105, we had a great time.  Thanks to our friends that live out there and keep an eye on our place when we are stuck here in NJ.  

I've made a decision to go on a diet.  Here is the plan.....short term goals.  My plan is to go hard core until Thanksgiving 2013.  That is about 10 weeks.  I will reevaluate at that time.  I'll try and post my ups and downs here as I fight the battle of the bulge.  Wish me luck...I'm going to need it.

Day one starts tomorrow........

Dead as a Doornail

Woke up this morning and one of the two garage door openers is dead as a doornail.  (interesting saying, "dead as a door nail").  I love when an unexpected expense rears it's ugly head.  It normally pops up just after you've spent lots and lots of money on something else.  In this case, we just finished painting and carpeting two rooms.  So when cash is tight you can always count on the "unexpected expense" to tag you and say, "You're It!".  Not only do you need to deal with the expense, but there is also the inconvenience of calling a repair guy, making an appointment, and getting them out to the house.  Then you can always get the dagger when they tell you the parts are "out of stock" and need to be ordered.  Well, there is not much you can do about things like these.  It is best to not get too worked up over these small annoyances.  You really need to take them in stride and move on.  They keep coming and all you can do is hope that none are too serious.

As far as "dead as a doornail" goes, this is what I found:

William and Mary Morris, in The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, quote a correspondent who points out that it could come from a standard term in carpentry. If you hammer a nail through a piece of timber and then flatten the end over on the inside so it can’t be removed again (a technique called clinching), the nail is said to be dead, because you can’t use it again. Doornails would very probably have been subjected to this treatment to give extra strength in the years before screws were available. So they were dead because they’d been clinched. It sounds plausible, but whether it’s right or not we will probably never know.

Birthday present from my daughter.  Now I'm really ready for opening day of the NFL season.

Thank God It's Friday

TGIF

I have had one heck of a week. Both at work and at home. I am so glad that Friday has arrived. Looking forward to getting together with some of my watch buddies on Saturday to hang out and show off my new Glycine Airman 08 Chrono. And, as an added bonus, my son will be visiting from Knoxville starting on Sunday. So, things are looking up. But getting this week behind me is my #1 priority. Just one of those weeks when I was never able to catch up. The heat has not helped either. Pushing 100+ here today with very high humidity. Seven days of this has been enough. When is vacation again? Soon, but not soon enough......

SiriusXM Radio

Hey now.....

For several years now I have had SiriusXM satellite radio in my car.  I listen to it exclusively.  I am a Howard Stern listener during my commute time Monday through Friday.  My drive in to work takes me about 40 minutes one way.  If I catch it just right, I can listen to 40 minutes on the way in and a different 40 minutes on the way home.  On the occasion, and much more frequently recently, that Howard and the gang are on vacation or hiatus or just working their 3 day work week, I like to listen to classic rock channels, coffee house, or a little Top 40. I'll even catch a baseball or football broadcast if we are out for a drive.

Today my car was in for routine service.  I really love the Infiniti service center that I use.  They do excellent work and provide a loaner car for the day.  The only problem is that the loaner cars do not have satellite radio in them.  As a result I was forced to listen to terrestrial radio for the the first time in a long time. Ouch, was it painful.  The silly banter mixed in with the never ending commercials, and the repetitive weather and traffic were almost too much to bear.  I don't know what I am going to do once Howard Stern retires for good.  I may need to plan my retirement around his.  The thought of the drive to work without some laughs and the much needed distraction is scary to say the least.

This is funny to my married watch collector friends....

1973 Yearbook Picture

Found this while cleaning out the closet while preparing to paint......this was a long, long, long, time ago.

Watch Obsession

It is true that I am obsessed with wrist watches of all types.  I have been for as long as I can remember.  When I was very young my father came home with a Bulova Accutron Spaceview on his wrist. I thought it was the most amazing thing I'd ever seen.  Right then and there I was hooked.  

For the next 30 years my obsession was held in check by my lack of funds.  Now as I have some cash it has flourished into a full fledged hobby.  I am a watch enthusiast as opposed to a collector.  An enthusiast buys watches for their enjoyment, to wear and use as part of their everyday wardrobe.  I try to keep my collection small, buying and selling watches to fund the hobby.  I am amazed at how many brands and models there are.  The supply of new and interesting timepieces seems to be endless.  I truly believe that this is a hobby that could last a lifetime.  It is relatively harmless, if you can control the buying impulse.  There are plenty of groups for enthusiasts to join so that they can share the obsession with other enthusiasts.  As for watches being a relic of the past and quickly being pushed out by the smartphone, well, I don't buy it.  I think the wristwatch is here to stay.  They are miniature machines with beauty and artistry.  Here is a picture of my newest acquisition.  It is a work of art.  Take a moment to absorb some of its beauty.  

Resume Attached

How come there are so many people unemployed and I can't find a decent candidate to interview, never mind hire? Somebody needs to teach people how to write a resume and a cover letter. 

I'm serious.  I get all kinds of crap from potential candidates.  Don't they realize that this is the one shot they get at making a first impression.  The resume and cover letter are what, hopefully, leads to an interview.  Why would you send a sloppily written cover letter and an equally poor quality resume to a potential employer?  How long does it take to write a brief, well constructed, intelligent cover letter? Don't send me a form letter, a hand scribbled letter, or worse yet, a FAX cover letter with the words "resume attached".  That is the fastest way to find your paperwork heading to the shredder. 

I have two job openings for candidates with a bachelors degree in the biological sciences.  You would think that having a four year college education would enable these candidates to construct a grade A cover letter and resume to submit.  I am very disappointed in the quality of applications I see.  I think colleges and universities have done a great disservice to their students if they have not, at least, taught them this job hunting skill before they set them loose on the world.  

Good luck to all candidates hunting for a job.  If you don't know how to send in a proper cover letter and a resume, please ask around and maybe somebody can help you.  It will be worth your time and effort.

Painting Project

My wife and I started a major painting project over this long holiday weekend.  Honestly, painting is not my favorite thing to do.  I think my biggest issue with the chore is that it takes so much time out of your weekend.    I know some people enjoy painting.  I'm just not one of them.  

The real reason we took this on is that the existing carpet was shot.  These were last two rooms in the house with original carpet.  We cleared the MB and my office. As of this report we have two coats of paint on the MB walls and the office is prepped and ready to be painted today. Once painting is done it will be a few weeks before the carpet will arrive and we can reassemble the rooms.  Everything is packed into the spare bedrooms at this point.  Disassembling the room was harder than I thought.  The computer in my office along with the two printers and all the network connections took some time to pack up properly.  Also, this was the first time in 17 years that we really did anything in the office.  Plenty of stuff that needed to go in the trash.  The MB has been painted before.  The issue there was the furniture and moving it out.  A bigger chore than I anticipated.  At least today I can see the end of the project.  The office will paint quickly as we are painting the ceiling and the walls the same color so we do not need to be as careful as we were in the MB.  

I certainly will save a bunch of $$$ with the DYI project.  Back to work.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  I know how I'll be spending mine.  

Sink Hole Nightmare

Ohio sinkhole swallows car; driver climbs ladder to escape.

Fourth of July

New Commandment

Save Our Post Office

I've had my frustrations with USPS over the years as I ship a lot of watches all over the world.  However, I think the USPS is an important part of American culture.  I believe that the USPS can be run in a manner that serves the people and is financially sound.  Please help save the USPS.

Save Our Post Office

100th Tour de France

I've always enjoyed this event, even though I'm not a cyclist.  I've lost a little interest over the years as a result of all the cheating and drug doping issues the Tour has had.  Today marked the start of the 100th Tour de France.  I turned on the race today and I must say, it was fascinating.  First off it was a sprint stage.  This means that the terrain was very flat and the sprinters would be in control at the end of the stage. With a little over 10 miles to race a huge tour bus got stuck under the finish banner.  The banner is more of a structure than a banner.  A team of people were scampering around trying to move the bus before the peloton sped towards the finish line at 50 mph.  The race organizers attempted to move the finish to the 3 km mark in order to avoid the bus.  At the last minute, the bus was moved and the finish line was cleared so the race finish was restored.  While this was going on, the racers were trying to get in position for a possible 3 km finish.  This resulted in at least 3 crashes in the last few kilometers.  Of the four top sprinters in the race, three were knocked out by the crashes.  It remains to see if any were injured.  That left a wild free for all to the finish.  The race was finally won by the last remaining sprinter, Marcel Kittel.  It was a wild Stage 1.  If this is what we are in store for this year it may be some event.

For more info:  http://www.letour.fr/le-tour/2013/us/

Where is the world is .....Edward Snowden?

Edward Snowden

One simple question.  Is he a trader, a whistle blower, or both?  

I think it is a very important question to ask of our democracy.  If our government is doing something questionable and an employee reports it, even with Top Secret clearance, then is that treason?  Soldiers in the field are told it is not.  That they can disobey an order that they know is criminal, such as murdering innocent civilians.  If employees can't find the line then you can never expect them to come forward with information.  They must be able to clearly establish right from wrong and then have confidence that the system designed to protect them works.. All in all, the whistle blower laws are silly.  Can they really protect an employee from the wrath of his employer?   One of the main reasons the employee has performed a questionable practice is he feared for his job and the repercussions from ownership.  The employee generally does not profit from the act.  Ownership forces them to break a rule or overlook a regulation in the name of profit and greed.  Now if the employer is the US Government, well, who is going to protect the whistle blower?  Certainly not the Executive branch of our government, certainly not the Judicial branch, and who would expect the Legislative branch to even be able to get out of their own way.   Maybe he is better off hiding out in Ecuador or Iceland.  

Don't Eat Where You Poop

OK..this is a first.

I went to use the public restroom at work. I entered the last stall, as that one gives you a little more elbow room. When I pushed open the door I saw a Starbucks cup on the floor and a napkin with a smattering of crumbs. I can only conclude that somebody has been eating, drinking and pooping. I moved to another stall.

Sometimes I am so ashamed of the human race.