Life Update

Irene
The forecasts and warnings got me into super prep mode gearing up for the storm. I hauled out my red cross emergency kit and packed a go bag. I also lined up two evacuation locations. If driving was fairly decent, I'd go to my parents. If driving was FUBAR, I'd go to my grandpa (who was alone at my aunt and uncle's place one town over). With the cats of course... I was hoping that they'd get along enough in an emergency that I could cram them in one big carrier. Luckily, my area of Quincy survived unscathed. No power outages and only one limb down and no flooding. My parents had no electricity for two days and my grandpa was fine with a two hour outage. For some weird reason, I had the urge to bake in the middle of the night. I had everything for my mom's sugar cookies recipe just sitting in my cupboard. I also tried to whip up baking chocolate flavoring using powdered bakers chocolate, sugar, and crisco. It didn't work 100% but it did give the cookies a light cocoa flavoring.


Work
I'm plugging away on my job search. I'm trying to use my network more and finally using the services offered at my local unemployment center. The e-learning classes look awesome! I can finally learn Quickbooks and SQL. Only 3 rejections and 1 phone interview so far. Some companies must have me on some kind of black list because every time I apply to them, I get a rejection in less than 24 hours. I'm also playing with the idea of selling Tupperware as a way to make money. It isn't as scammy as Mary Kay and I really enjoyed a recent party I went to.

Fun
Two weeks ago, I went camping here. I love the Berkshires and there is nothing like camping out there in the summer! Setting up our campsite was deceptively easy. I didn't even need a mallet for my tent stakes. Since I'm a camping noob, my friend was the shelter set-up guru with a massive tarp, tons of rope, and tricky knots. I am so going to learn survival stuff this coming year! We went downtown to get supplies at the local general store. As we were waiting for our dinner, subs to go, rain blew in with ginormous raindrops and gusts. We hurried back to our site only to see that the ground under our tents was a lake. Gee, wonder why it was so easy to stake them? As I huddled under our sagging shelter, I threw on the rain poncho I had packed only to find that it was a children's poncho. ARGH! I looked ridiculous and we decided to hotel it. We found a room here as we frantically drove towards Lee with me trying to figure out the GPS on my new cell phone. I gotta say, the attached Indian restaurant is AMAZING! So, if you're in the Lee vicinity and have a craving for Indian food, check out the Bombay. Also, a new discovery is Sula wine. Delicious, smooth and great nose.

The next day, we surveyed the campsite mess. Which wasn't too bad for me. Amazingly, my cheapo $17 tent kept my stuff fairly dry! I just had to dry off my sleeping mat. My friend had other soggy challenges. So, we drove to Bash Bish falls and wound up getting horribly turned around and as we were trying to get righted, I discovered that the falls required hiking. So, we decided to try Bartholemew's Cobble. Crap, more hiking. Then we went onto Great Barrington and had a great day. Hiking was a deal breaker for me since my knee is still recovering from those multiple falls and camping was already pushing it. I had an awesome sampler here and sweet potato fries. This store is amazing. That night, we had a nice campfire dinner with hot dogs, potatoes and s'mores. Then a nice rousing game of Uno. The next day on our way home, we had lunch with my brother. Everything was delicious and I got a growler of their strawberry lager. Sadly, Irene probably devastated all the places we visited.




Life

I am a sucker for interesting diagrams or theories, so see above! Lately, I am kicking ass on the left side of the wheel. I have contacted a local chorus and asked about joining. Plus, I have ordered my high holiday tickets from my old synagogue. And I have been widening my social circle through friends and family. That is basically a maneuver to maintain my sanity while being unemployed. Also, on the up side, my blood sugar was re-checked and is fine. But my blood pressure and cholesterol are still not so great. The dumb thing is that I can get my eating under control easily but the exercise part is tough for me now. It's the stupid voice in my head that has me delay all my exercise plans. The "Why don't you do it tomorrow?" devil on my shoulder. Sweet Lord, I am just trying to take a stroll on Wollaston beach not run a marathon!

Paying the Piper

I love food. I have been eating like a maniac for decades. If food is my drug then I am Keith Richards. Oh sure, there were years here and there where I made an effort to eat healthy but that never lasted. I'm approaching 35 at my highest weight ever. Sadly, that knowledge doesn't make ice cream taste less sweet or chocolate less tantalizing...

Maybe fear can get me into food rehab? I had to change PCP doctors because my old one is retiring (pun intended). So, my first appointment with Dr. New Guy was a physical. I like him. He's a good listener and explains things well. Plus, he has a dry sense of humor. So, the fear kicked in Tuesday morning when I was told 3 things:

1) My cholesterol is screwed up. Bad cholesterol (LDL) too high and good cholesterol (HDL) too low.
2) My blood sugar is too high
and
3) My blood pressure is skirting hypertensive.

Basically, my body is giving out from neglect. Dr. New Guy told me that I'm at a crossroads where I can pull myself back from a lot of medical mess. Cholesterol is food and exercise dependent. Blood sugar is food and my awful genetics (parent and grandparents who are diabetic). The doctor ran a new blood test that looks at my sugar levels over time. Blood pressure can be helped with weight loss and exercise. In the interim, he has me monitoring my bp at home to make sure mine isn't spiking due to being at the doctors office. My blood pressure used to be down around 120/80. At home, it hasn't reached that low yet but it is definitely not as high as the doctor's office.

I also decided to track my sugar, salt and cholesterol intake on random days. So far, both salt and cholesterol are within reason (1200mg and 300 mg respectively). But sugar is horribly out of whack. My doctor also mentioned that I lost 3 lbs between our initial meeting and the follow-up appointment. He asked me if I had noticed the weight loss. I snorted and explained that I am so disconnected to my body the only loss I would notice would be 100 lbs.

You know what is the most idiotic part of the shambles of my health? All of this is under my control and all the out of whack readings are stroke risk factors! Diabetes, high blood pressure, and bad cholesterol is a recipe for a cerebral vascular accident. This shit has to get under control. The gate is coming down now! I'm reading up on the DASH diet and food exchanges. I love oatmeal but unfortunately, the instant kind has a ton of salt. I'll have to research alternatives...