Blocking Out More of the Sun

Another family holiday in the books (and a 60th birthday dinner for my mother), and yet another weekend of eating in excess. It has become a ritual, to be honest, and I need for it to stop. Things just aren't as comfortable on me any more. I certainly don't have genetics on my side (my father seems to have taken to wearing Hawaiian shirts because they are more spacious and easier to button around his belly). I'm not getting any younger. And lately, I have been eating too many bundt cakes.

You know it's time for a change when you tell your friends "chest up" when describing how you would like to be photographed. I seem to recall saying those words in this photo taken in Positano, Italy.

So, perhaps writing it down will force me to take diet and exercise more seriously. I saw a few photos of me on my parents' fridge, and my face does looks slimmer. It was probably during a time of the Atkins diet (which I tried twice before, and lost twenty pounds each time).

I announced my Summer Lent here last year, and actually stuck with it. Being that the real Lent just ended today, perhaps it's time for a Spring Lent. I don't know the official rules yet, but imagine that eating fewer carbs and hitting the gym more frequently will be on the list.

As comfortable as it might be, I certainly cannot live my life in stretchy-waist shorts.

Drinking helps with the losses

I am a bit drained after yesterday's game (I'm referring to the Yankees latest playoff loss), and it is becoming evident to me that the Yanks of the 2000's simply cannot win in the playoffs. They were big game players and a big game team back from 1996-2000, but besides the ALCS against Boston where they actually won, the Yankees cannot get the job done. It's quite heartening to watch a team for 6 months fall apart during one final week, but I am getting used to it.

Part of me is tempted to burn my Yanks hat and shirt, because when I wear them, they never seem to win. But, I can't get myself to doing that. The 1980's were worse for them, and I was able to stomach through.

Even after last night's disappointment, I'm happy to be home for a weekend. Plus, it's nice to be back in Boston during a weekend AND be off the wagon (drinking makes the losses easier to take). Summer Lent is over, and the last time I had a sip of booze here in Boston during a weekend was eight weekends ago.

I'm glad we have some decent weather today - I might grab my camera again and head downtown.

The End of Summer Lent

I'm headed off for vacation today to Italy, somewhere I haven't been in over twelve years. Actually, I have never been to Europe in late September, so I am looking forward to some comfortable temperatures during this trip!

Today also marks the end of Summer Lent. Thank God. Well, technically the day ends at midnight, but since it will be after midnight at my destination, I'm thinking that an 8pm cocktail at Newark Airport is permissible.

I believe I will be much more tolerable to my friends once I resume drinking. I plan to put that experiment to test often with much chianti and limoncello during my time in Tuscany.

Neck Pillow

I just checked my calendar, and by the time I'm ready to leave for Italy on Friday night, it will have been 81 days since my last flight. I am truly not used to these huge gaps of time between visits to Airworld, and the irony is that Platinum Elite was conceived in an airport, meant to depict the lunacy of business travel.

Hard to do that when the job becomes more of a Boston endeavor (or getting to other nearby cities via car). I believe that will be changing once again come the fall and beyond, as our corporate team is growing, and I will be able to resume hitting the road and working on-site again.

So Friday marks my first overnight flight in quite some time (probably since Athens last year), and I should be switching my schedule to adjust for being super tired around 10pm. Rather, I'm up until 12:30 as usual. I bought a neck pillow at the outlets a couple weekends ago, so I'm going to be joining the legions of silly looking Airworldians who have probably been less weary than I, due to the added comfort. I thought of adding some NyQuil to the mix to knock me out.

But Friday also marks the end of Summer Lent, which means red wine. Is it bad to mix NyQuil and red wine at 35,000 feet after not having drunk in over a month?

Burger Countdown

I had the strangest thought today during lunch.

The closest eatery to my office in UBurger. For a fast food burger joint, they have very tasty burgers, onion rings, and fries. Their frappes look great too, but I'm in my final seven days of my Summer Lent, and frappes are not an approved beverage.

Upon sitting down to eat my cheeseburger, I looked at it and wondered how many more burgers I will eat during the remainder of my life.

I don't usually eat more than one burger each week (actually, this is a liberal estimate). Let's say three per month. 12 months in a year, 36 burgers per year.

I'm turning 33 in November, and hope to have another good 50 years at least. Some quick math, carry the three, and I'm thinking I have about 1,800 burgers left in me.

Of course that's assuming I don't go all vegan or anything during my upcoming Autumn Lent.

Still on the Wagon

Yesterday was Day 22 of my Summer Lent, and I'm still on the wagon.

It's more difficult to avoid soda than it is booze, to be honest. I just never realized how much soda I consumed. Even though most of what I had drunk were diet or sugar-free equivalents of the full liquid candy bars that are main line carbonated beverages, I had a sense that diet sodas weren't the answer to clean living.

The coffee / tea / seltzer / water component is growing a bit old, but at least I know that the liquids I'm putting inside of me were not manufactured by chemistry majors. (Although I did add milk into that equation when I began desiring cereal for breakfast...and lord knows what hormones they give to cows these days)

I am simply amazed at the social role of alcohol in the lives of (relatively) young Bostonians like myself. You meet people for drinks, you have a drink with dinner, you drink on the beach, drink at the game, meet friends for drinks after work - it's everywhere. That's what I miss the most. When "another round" includes your third club soda, that blows.

It's simply no fun being the furthest from drunk among a group of people drinking. And it's definitely not the physical feeling obtained from drinking alcohol as much as the connection with others while drinking.

Now I can (partly) understand how difficult life is for recovering alcoholics - people who have a dependency on the bottle but are able to kick that need must struggle through the social aspects of watching and interacting with friends and family who are drinking.