Shamrock Shakes, They're Just Not the Same

 

Being that Saint Patrick's Day is just around the corner, I decided to indulge myself by having a McDonald's McCafé Shamrock Shake. Now as I have been working on losing weight, this was the one and only Shamrock Shake I will have this year. The Shamrock Shake is something I have enjoyed much of my life. I remember looking forward to having them when I was a kid, and they were always good. I wish I could say that the shake I had today brought back memories of this treat from my childhood, but it did not.

Apparently McDonald's decided a while back to change their milkshakes from the slightly textured semi-frozen liquid that one could easily drink way too quickly, to a thick and creamy drink of ice cream adorned with whipped cream and a cherry on top that is much harder to drink through the straw. And to make it even fancier, McDonald's now serves its shakes in the same plastic cup they use for their fancy coffee drinks instead of the regular soft drink cup that they used to use. Aside from these differences, the shake I had today just did not have a very strong minty flavor. That was probably the most disappointing thing about it. I had already been planning on not having any more Shamrock Shakes this year, but I think I may be done with them for good now. It just wasn't worth the $2.88 that it cost me nor the 660 calories and 19 grams of fat I consumed. From now on if I have a craving for a mint-flavored shake, I think I will just visit my local Dairy Queen.

Working from Home

With the recent news that Yahoo! is no longer going to allow its employees to work from home, the topic of working from home has been in the news a lot lately. And now I read that Best Buy is also ending its program that allowed some corporate employees to work flexible schedules from home or elsewhere. I have been home since July 2008 when my family moved to Minnesota from Iowa for my wife's job. I really appreciate that my employer offers its employees the flexibility to work from home because I really like my job and 

A Little Better

After last week's disappointing loss of just 0.2 pounds, I wanted to work harder this week at watching what I ate. I'd like to say I accomplished that goal, but I didn't. As usual I started out the week carefully tracking my food intake, but by Friday I started to slip. It took me until yesterday to get back on track with tracking what I ate. I do not know why the weekends end up being so difficult for this, but I do have a tough time with it. Anyway, despite not doing a good job tracking my food this past weekend, I did manage to lose 2.0 pounds. If I can keep up losing 2.0 pounds per week, I can be happy with that.

Since Last Week: -2.0 lb
Percent change: -0.8%
Total Change: -2.2 lb
Total Percent: -0.9%

A Slow Beginning

I would like to start this entry by stating that I did manage to lose weight this first week of trying to do so. However it wasn't all that much weight, just 0.2 pounds. I know exactly where I went wrong with my weight loss this week. I did not carefully track my food after the first couple of days. It didn't help that I ate out a couple of times this past weekend and didn't even attempt to find healthier options on the menu. I am happy that I at least lost some weight though. I will have to work harder this next week.

Since Last Week: -0.2 lb
Percent change: -0.1%
Total Change: -0.2 lb
Total Percent: -0.1%

I Need to Lose Weight

This morning when I stepped on the scale I learned that my weight is 245.8 pounds. This is the most I've weighed in a very long time. This gives me a body mass index of 30.5, which puts me in the obese category, although barely as obese is defined as having a body mass index of 30 or more. Needless to say, I am not happy with this weight. I do not feel at all healthy.

I am immediately going to make some changes to my life to help to remedy this situation. First of all, I am going to start paying much more attention to what I eat and will record my calorie intake. This is probably the biggest thing I can do to help myself lose weight and become more healthy. Secondly, I am going to stop drinking soda for at least the next 46 days. After that, I may drink an occasional soda, but I will not return to my current usual 44 to 100 ounces of soda each day. While this soda drinking has been limited to diet soft drinks, those still are not good for my health.

My goal is to get my weight down to 199 pounds. This would result in me having a body mass index of 24.7, which is in range that is considered normal. I have succeeded in getting my weight down to 199 pounds in the past, although it has been almost five years since my weight was at this level. I do believe I can do this though once again.

Hello Again

I't been a while since I have posted an entry to my blog, 337 days to be exact. I think the reason I haven't posted anything in the past eleven months is that I simply got bored with it, I didn't have much to share, and I was just too busy. However, I am now returning to my blog. One reason for my return is that I want to write about the weight loss journey I am about to undertake. Also, I sometimes want to share things that are just too long or detailed to be accomplished with a tweet or Facebook status update. I guess time will tell whether I am able to keep up on my blog or not. Anyway, I would like to welcome you back.

Maximus and Daddy's Day Off

All last week, as well as today, Max's usual daycare provider has been closed so she and her husband could go on a cruise. Because of that, we sent Max to the daycare center that Emma goes  to for the week last week. While we could have sent him there today as well, we decided that instead of paying for a single day at the daycare center, we would just keep him home. So I am using one of my personal days from work to stay home with him. I should add that I would be staying home regardless, since I do work from home. However, having a two-year-old at home while trying to get some real work done would be pure madness. I would be spending a majority of my time just trying to keep him from the computer keyboard, or keeping him from turning the computer off.

Our day started out fairly well. We dropped Emma of at daycare at her usual drop-off time, and then we returned home where I fed Max his breakfast of key lime pie yogurt and toast with peanut butter and strawberry jelly. Max decided to be helpful and volunteered to get into his booster seat at the table, something that he oftentimes resists doing. When he was done eating, he played with his toys a bit. Then while running into the kitchen, Max tripped over the leg of one of the chairs and fell head-first into the corner of the kitchen cupboards. While there was much crying, fortunately he did not see to be too injured. We then sat and watched TV for a little bit before heading out of the house for some errands.

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Max was a good boy while getting his haircut."][/caption]

Our first stop of the day was to get a haircut for Max. It had been about five weeks since his last haircut, so he was due. Max did an excellent job sitting up in the chair at the hair salon. In fact, he hardly moved at all when getting his hair cut. Because he was so good, he got a sucker when he was finished.

The two of us then drove over to the Mall of America where we needed to find some birthday presents for Mommy. We spent a couple of hours wandering around the mall, finding some presents, and eating lunch. As we were walking around the third floor of the mall after eating lunch, I heard someone calling my name from behind me. I turned around, and after a moment I recognized the person calling my name. It was Julie, the manager of the Hardee's restaurant I worked at when I was a student at the University of Northern Iowa. I think the last time I had seen Julie had to be in 1998 when I worked there briefly during the summer between teaching jobs. We chatted for a bit until Max started pointing ahead, indicating that he wanted to get moving. We then parted ways and Max and I continued out shopping, picking up some birthday presents for Mel before returning home so Max could take a nap.

I Hate Needles

Despite the fact that I hate needles, I donated blood today. This was only the second time since we moved to Minnesota in 2008 that I donated blood. I gave pretty regularly before we moved here, but once we moved I just never got around to it. Donating blood is not something I enjoy doing, but it is something that I feel I should do, especially considering that my blood type is O negative. I know that there are people who need my blood, and since I am healthy and can donate it, I am more than willing to put up with a little pain as long as my blood is wanted.

Goodbye Desk

A couple of months ago we bought a new, larger desk at IKEA to use in the home office since the desk I had been using for work was kind of small for my needs. And since we had to move the office to the basement to keep Max away from the computer, it was a good time to do it. Since then, the plan has been to change the upstairs office into a toy room for the kids. Today that happened because I finally got around to getting rid of the desk. We did not need the desk anymore, but I kind of hated to see it go. That desk came from the music store my parents ran when I was a kid, and was in our house after the music store closed. It is nice having the desk gone though. It frees up some space, and I wouldn't want to have to move it again.

To get rid of the desk I resorted to listing it on Craigslist. Deciding it would be easier to unload on someone if it were free, I decided not to ask any money for it. Within an hour of listing the desk, I had already received four emails from people inquiring about the desk.

Now I am not completely clear about the proper etiquette regarding Craigslist, but I was taken aback by some of the emails I received. The very first one simply contained the text "address and zip i will map." Excuse me? Is that really a proper way to respond to an advertisement? Yes, it is short and to the point, but my time isn't too valuable that I can't take the time to read a complete sentence or two. The next email asked for my address and said he could pick it up today. Another email was fairly similar in its content.

As I really wanted to take care of this today, I responded to the second email I received letting him know the desk was still available and I gave information needed for him to get the desk. The fourth email came after I sent my reply. This one was someone who took the time to actually write a response to my ad in complete sentences, asking if the desk was still available and asking for other details about the desk. If I hadn't already replied to the email I replied to, I would have offered it to the final emailer.

Things worked out, and the person to whom I replied picked up the desk this afternoon. I will be using Craigslist to get rid of a couple more things we don't need as this seems to be an efficient way to use. Perhaps if I am not giving things away for free, but instead charging for them, the replies will be a little less curt, and more polite. On the other hand, maybe I just expect too much civility from people on the Internet.

I Love a Parade, and So Does Emma!

[caption id="attachment_231" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma and the Vulcan Krewe"][/caption]

Emma, Max, and I went to the Woodbury Days parade today. When I mentioned yesterday to Emma that we would be going to the parade today, she insisted that I check the weather first. The last time we went to a parade, the Cottage Grove Strawberry Fest parade earlier this summer, we got caught in a downpour. We left that parade early and all the way home Emma cried that she never wanted to go to a parade again. Checking the weather, I told Emma that there was a very small chance it would rain, but she was fine with that, so we went.

[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Max enjoyed the parade."][/caption]

I was very impressed with Emma at this parade. With every other parade we have taken her to, she had been terrified by the sirens from the police cars and firetrucks that invariably begin the parade. So when I heard the sirens off in the distance this afternoon, I braced myself to deal with her asking to go home. I was pleasantly surprised though when Emma didn't react to the sound at all. She watched the emergency vehicles drive by with their lights on and sirens blaring. I am so happy that she seems to be done with that phase. Max has never had problems with the noise, and today was no different.

[caption id="attachment_233" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma and Petey P. Cup"][/caption]

Emma also seems to have gotten over her fear of dogs as several dogs went by within inches of us in the padare. Emma liked the dogs this time. Both kids had a good time. I let Max have a few pieces of candy, mainly a package of Smarties and a Tootsie Roll or two. And he didn't get at all cranky sitting in his stroller for the parade which lasted at least two hours.

Of course the highlight of the parade for Emma was when she saw her favorite mascot, Petey P. Cup. She was super excited when she saw him coming in the distance. She gave him a nice big hug. I do not think it will be difficult getting her to go to any parades in the future.

[caption id="attachment_234" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Emma ended up collecting a little candy at the parade."][/caption]

Landscaping

Mel and I tackled a couple landscaping tasks today. The first one we worked on was the small garden in the corner of our front yard. Since we moved into this house over three years ago, we have never bothered to plant anything there. There were some flowers there, but we let my mom take them a summer or two ago, because they were a type of flower to which Mel is allergic. In the meantime, the fence that surrounded the two straight edges of the garden had fallen into disarray, and the area had become overrun with weeds. I am certain that the neighbors hated that eyesore. For this area, Mel ripped out all the weeds, the two of us tore down the fence, and then Mel put down some mulch. We will probably end up planting some bulbs this fall, but we haven't yet figured that out.

[caption id="attachment_217" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="This is the front yard  "garden" before we began work.And here is the after picture.And here is the after picture.And here is the after picture.And here is the after picture."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_218" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="And here is the after picture."][/caption]

The second task was taking care of a nice-sized area of the backyard set apart from the rest of the backyard by some small, wooden beams. This area had grass in it when we moved in, but because of the wooden beams, mowing it was difficult. As a result, this area had also become overridden with very tall grass and weeds. A few weeks ago I sprayed the entire area with a heavy-duty weed killer, so today Mel removed the dead grass. Afterwards, I put covered the area with a weed barrier. Finally, Mel and I covered the area with 30 cubic feet of river rock, weighing a total of 1.5 tons. We finished off the area with some garden gnomes and other decor. We will add some more to this area in the future. But for now it is a vast improvement over how this corner of the yard previously looked.

[caption id="attachment_221" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="Before we began, the back corner of the yard was an out-of-control mess of weeds and grass.The area is now much improved.The area is now much improved.The area is now much improved."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_222" align="aligncenter" width="400" caption="The area is now much improved."][/caption]

My Day With Maximus

[caption id="attachment_214" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Maximus got a little yogurt on his face when he fed himself breakfast."][/caption]

Max's daycare provider took the day off yesterday so she and her husband could go to the state fair. Because of this, I used a day of my vacation time to watch him. Lately Max has had the tendency to get cranky and throw little temper tantrums when he doesn't get his way. Fortunately there was little of this Friday.

Usually Max eats a small breakfast at home before going to daycare, and then eats again when he gets there. However, Max didn't show any interest in eating before we took Emma to daycare, so I waited to give him food until we got home from dropping her off. When we got home I let Max feed himself some yogurt so I could empty the dishwasher and put clothes in the dryer and start another load of laundry. He didn't do too bad of a job feeding himself, although he did get a bit of yogurt on his face and in his hair.

After breakfast we played for a little while before leaving the house again to run some errands. On our way back home from dropping a package off at The UPS Store in Woodbury, Max fell asleep. He stayed pretty much asleep as I transferred him from his car seat to his crib. He ended up sleeping until around noon. We then shared a can of Chef Boyardee Mini Pasta Shells and Meatballs. I was impressed by how little of the sauce ended up on his face.

After lunch I took Max for a haircut. I received a compliment from another customer about how patient Max was being as we waited for his haircut. Max squirmed a bit for his haircut, but it was still much easier than when I used to cut his hair. After the haircut, Max and I went to Target to pick up a fer things and returned home to play a bit more before Mommy got home from work. Of all the days I have watched Max because his daycare provider was taking the day off, this was the smoothest.

Pain!

For the past several days I have been experiencing severe tooth pain. Before I continue though, I must point out that I realize there are some people who live with almost constant pain daily. I do not mean to diminish their experiences, but this pain is something I am just not used to.

It began last Friday night when I was getting ready to go to bed in my hotel room while on my business trip to San Antonio, Texas. Fortunately the hotel was next to a 24-hour grocery store, so I went there and bought some Advil. That did the trick, and my pain went away allowing me to sleep. On Saturday I again experienced some discomfort while on my flight home, so I took some more ibuprofen. At this point the pain was not intolerable.

Things changed on Sunday. The pain in my mouth was getting progressively worse to the point where the Advil was having very little effect. I began alternating the Advil with Motrin, which did not seem to help much either. The pain was so bad that I only slept about three hours Sunday night.

Monday I went to the dentist and discovered that I had an abscess and was told that the root canal that I had done in October 2008 was failing and would need to be redone. Because it would have to be done through an existing crown, I was referred to an endodontist to have the procedure done.

The earliest I could get in to be seen by the endodontist was Wednesday at noon, so I had to deal with the pain until then. The dentist I saw Monday did prescribe me an antibiotic as well as Vicodin. On Tuesday when the Vicodin did not control the pain for more than an hour at a time, she prescribed me Percocet. I ended up alternating between them as neither seemed to do the trick. I did sleep better Tuesday than I did on either Sunday or Monday nights, but still did not get a good, restful sleep.

Yesterday I made it into the endodontist. After viewing the X-ray of my tooth, I was told that a root canal would be difficult to do, although he was confident he could do it. My other option was to just have the tooth extracted. While the endodontist would have preferred for me to keep the tooth, he said that given the difficulty in fixing it, he would not blame me if I wanted to just have it removed. After giving me an injection of Novocaine, so I could make my decision without being influenced by immediate pain, I ended up deciding to just have the tooth extracted. I really wanted to get it done that day, it was significantly less costly to have it extracted than to have a root canal, and I did not want to have to worry about future issues with the tooth.

I ended up in the dental surgeon's office at 3:00 yesterday afternoon, and by 4:00 I was walking out without any pain. I am very happy this is done. I think this was the worst pain I had ever experienced. The pain from when I had my gallbladder attacks last year may have been worse, but that pain did not persist like this pain did.

Trip to San Antonio

 

[caption id="attachment_207" align="alignright" width="225" caption="This painting of Bill Clinton wearing a La Tierra T-shirt was on a wall in the restaurant."][/caption]

Since Saturday evening I have been in San Antonio for work, and I will be here until late Saturday morning. On this trip, I finally met my functional manager in person for the first time, and I visited my company's San Antonio office. We have had a productive week of work, meeting with a client. Tonight though, a coworker from Iowa City and I got to see some of the sights of San Antonio. A colleague of ours who lives here drove us downtown where we went to Market Square, where I got gifts for Mel and Emma. We went through Mi Tierra Restaurant and Bakery, although we did not stop there to eat. We also checked out the exterior of the Alamo since it was closed for the day. After visiting these sights, we had dinner at La Tuna Grill. There was a lot to see on our shopping trip, and the food was good where we ate. It was nice to try something for dinner besides eatting at a chain restaurant another night, although I do like chain restaurants as well.

And before I complete this blog posting, no visit to the Alamo would be complete without mentioning the basement as in the video below.

The Irish Fair

[caption id="attachment_204" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Emma watches the Minnesota Police Pipe Band perform at the Irish Fair of Minnesota."][/caption]

The Irish Fair of Minnesota was held this past Friday through today at Harriet Island in Saint Paul. We had a good time last year, this past March when I saw a Groupon offer to get $20 in food tickets for just $10, I jumped at the chance. So yesterday, we all went to the Irish Fair. We listened to a few different groups of performers, and watched a few groups dancing. I did find it interesting to see the dance groups dancing to C+C Music Factory's "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)."  We did some shopping at the merchandise tents, buying the kids some Irish soccer outfits, and had some food to eat. I had a corned beef and swiss sandwich. We left the Irish Fair when it was clear that Max was tired and needed to go home to nap.

Another GCC Milestone

This morning I received another email from the Global Corporate Challenge. I have reached a total of 1,000,000 steps so far while participating in this year's challenge.  My team has only made it 52% around the world on our virtual tour. With just three weeks to go before we finish, I am fairly certain we will not be making it all the way around the world. That is okay though. I have found that the Global Corporate Challenge has gotten me to walk more than I would have previously. When I go shopping now, I am much more likely to park far away from the door than I was before. And if walking somewhere is a viable alternative to driving, I will walk. I hope I have the opportunity to participate in the Global Corporate Challenge again next year.

My Big Boy

[caption id="attachment_198" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Maximus waits for the nurse to return to give him a shot."][/caption]

Maximus is one big kid. At just eighteen months of age he is already wearing size 3T shirts and 2T pants. And in just this past week, I have received multiple comments from strangers about how big a kid he is. Max, Emma, and I were shopping at Super Target on Saturday morning. While we were looking at the Jell-O, a boy who appeared to me to be between two and three years of age drew his mother's attention to the "baby" in the shopping cart. His mom responded to him that he was closer to being a baby than Max was. I then mentioned to her that Max was only eighteen months old. She then had to retract her statement to her son.

Then yesterday when I was picking Max up from daycare, I reminded his daycare provider that he would be leaving early Wednesday for his eighteen-month doctor visit. Another parent was surprised that he was only eighteen months old as he is larger than her older child. I got a similar comment form a customer behind me in line at SuperAmerica this morning when I was talking to the employee about Max.

So as I just mentioned, Maximus had his eighteen-month doctor visit this afternoon. This was probably the best Max has done for any doctor appointment. He did struggle a bit when the doctor tried to look in his ears, but there was no screaming this time. And he barely cried when he got his vaccination today. Max is doing just fine. His vocabulary and behavior are typical of a toddler of his age. The only aspects that were atypical were his height and weight. Max weighed in at 29 pounds 12 ounces, putting him at the 92nd percentile for weight. This seems like it could be a problem until you know that Max is 36.75 inches tall, which is over the 97th percentile for height. As his percentile rank for weight is lower than that for his height, it is just fine. I really wish I had a picture of his growth chart that I could share here. His height has always been above the top curve on the chart, but until today's measurement his growth has followed a nice curve. His height today was 2.75 inches greater than it was at his fifteen-month visit. So he grew almost three inches in three months! On the other hand, his weight did not increase very much over that time period. I guess we will see how his growth progresses when we go back to the doctor in January for his two-year visit.

Emma's Blankie

[caption id="attachment_193" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Emma holds her blankie in this photo from June 2008."][/caption]

Emma has been taking her blankie with her to daycare ever since she started going to daycare three months after she was born. She is now in pre-kindergarten and I have occasionally suggested that she leave her blankie at home, but she has largely dismissed that idea. I have told her than when she starts kindergarten next year, she will not be able to take her blankie with her. She has seemed confused by that, asking me if they take naps in kindergarten.

Anyway, Monday morning she said to me that she might leave her blankie at home. They have not been taking naps recently in her class as many of her classmates will be starting kindergarten next month and, from what I was told, they do not take naps in the half-day kindergarten classes, although the kindergarteners who go all day do have rest time. She ended up taking her blankie. I mentioned to Mel that Emma had thought about leaving it at home Monday, even though she ended up taking it. The two of them had a chat about Emma's blankie, because this morning Emma left it at home so I could wash it. Things seemed to go fine without it today.

At dinner tonight I asked her if she was going to leave her blankie at home again tomorrow. She did not seem certain that she would. After all, I washed it today, so why would she need to leave it at home? We will see in the morning. It would be nice if she decides to leave it at home, but it will be fine if she ultimately decides to take it with her.

Weight Watchers Week 2

As I begin my second week on Weight Watchers, my weight is down 4.6 pounds from my weigh-in last Tuesday. This brings my weight down to 225.4 pounds. While I am happy to have lost this much weight in the past week, I know that this is not a healthy rate at which to continue to lose. In the past however, I have found that the first week of counting points using Weight Watchers often results in a significant amount of weight loss. It is also possible that some of the weight I lost this past week was due to losing water that I had retained from RAGBRAI the week before. Regardless of the reason, this rate should slow down over the next couple of weeks.

Five Million Steps

[caption id="attachment_188" align="alignright" width="221" caption="My GCC team has recorded 5,000,000 steps!"][/caption]

Yesterday morning I discovered an email from the Global Corporate Challenge in my work inbox. It was an email informing me that my seven-person GCC team has reached a milestone of 5,000,000 steps since the challenge began on May 19. Looking at my data, I have recorded a total of 965,120 steps myself. Of these steps, 234,448 were from the week before last week, the week I was on RAGBRAI. That means that I recorded nearly one-fourth of my total step count in one week out of the eleven and a half weeks we have completed so far. That is amazing.