Yippie

I am typing this without my glasses, so please excuse any typos.
Yesterday, I went to help my friend move some of his heavier furniture into storage. He is cleaning out his home with plans to sell it.
His stairway is a bit off balance and is hard for me to negotiate, and most of his stuff was upstairs. I got a workout, and worked up a sweat.
We had to maneuver around a few corners too in order to get the bookcases and other things down the stairs, but we managed.
It all took about an hour and a half to load the van. Then we took it to the storage area and dropped it off.
We took a second trip to finish things off.
Then, I came home and asked my wife if she wanted to take a ride on the Helix with me. For the second time in her life, she said yes.
So, we headed for Middle Creek and their visitor's center, which was closed. But, that didn't matter since we wanted to see the butterfly/hummingbird area out front.
The bees were there too, but they were too interested in pollinating the flowers to bother with us.
Got some great pictures, but not of the hummingbirds. They were too small and fast for us to catch. They look like big bees to me.
I did all that yesterday. Wow!

Evolution of the support group meetings.

Last night, I did the "Ham".
I got up in front of everyone at the support group meeting and did a warm up act for the presentation while they were doing food prep.
The new office has a great room with state of the art audio/video equipment, including a number of HD TVs, a sound system with wireless mics, a large projector type screen, and a camera aimed at the professional kitchen.
They were supposed to have a grocery store come in and do a demo about fresh veggies and how to prep them, but they cancelled out at the last minute.

So, while they were scrambling with food prep, I did my thing.

The crowd was just as huge as usual. I keep thinking of how hard it is to get a support group together and here we have over 100 people on a regular basis. I should sell stuff there. I wouldn't have to work!

The meeting went well after I got off the stage. The camera allowed everyone to see what they were doing and the food got passed around for folks to try. Stuff was good. Squash, and some other stuff were sprinkled with toppings and baked. The aroma was worth the price of admission (free?).

I helped out where I could and when we broke into groups I wandered around and talked with lots of people about my experiences so far.

We have a covered dish picnic coming up and hope to see another huge crowd!

In October, we will be dressing up in our fat clothes to show off what we lost. I told them I could give them all a thrill by not wearing anything under them, but they said no for some reason.

Oh well, life is good!

Forced to write, yeah, right!

I am not being forced to write. I like to write. What I am starting to not like is to sit still.
I never thought it would happen, but I really don't like to sit down anymore than I have to. If you haven't experienced this feeling, I hope you do sometime in your journey to lose weight.

I went to my workout today and met the new workout guru. He isn't as pretty as the lady workout guru, but I am not there to oogle the pretty female.

I started out on the treadmill to warm up. Someday, I'll be able to learn how to work the damn thing. I decided to try a hill climb program, so I entered all of my specs as requested, and stated that I didn't want to go above 3.5 mph jogging or a 6% grade. I have to walk fast or jog at 3.1, and have no problem climbing hills now. A 6% grade is steeper than an old locomotive can travel. Most of them won't go over anything more than a 4%. I know this because I walk rail trails here and they are set to no more than 4%.

So, the machine starts out at a very slow pace. I increase the speed to 2.5 which is a slow walk for me. I want to warm up, so I start out slow and work up to faster speeds. Anyway, I do this for about 5 minutes, and the machine beeps to tell me it's going to change. I glance down and the machine tells me it is going to increase my speed to 4.5 mph. I exclaim "holy s***" and plant my left foot on the side rail followed by the right foot.
I then go to shut the machine down and start over. In the meantime, the gurus hear my exclamation and come running to help. How many gyms do you know of that people will run over to help you? Not any that I've been to.
Anyway, I reset the machine and end up doing 30 minutes at speeds from 2.5 to 3.5 at the same grades as listed above. They have an automatic heart rate monitor on the handles, so I watched my rate go up to 147, and I kept it there for most of the workout. I varied things to make sure I kept everything where I wanted it.
After I finished that, I did weight machines. I am working to help the gurus rewrite the papers so I can record my results better. The way it's set up now is not very efficient. This makes it difficult to see improvement.
I next went onto the elliptical and ran that for 10 minutes, again keeping my heart rate up around the 147. Since I had already done a lot, keeping my heart rate up didn't take as much effort.
Oh yeah, after each machine, I walk around a bit. If you haven't felt the effects of re-gaining your footing, you should try the moving machines! I walk around until my legs work again. Until then, I walk very carefully...and funny!
Looking back to last month, I have made much progress. I couldn't do more than 5 minutes on the elliptical, and no more than 10 minutes on the treadmill at much slower speeds.
I feel good!

The day before work

I have been enjoying the freedom to work at my own pace at things I want/need to do this summer. It's a privilege not too many people have, except for teachers, school bus drivers, and the rich. There are others also. I just don't feel like thinking too much about them right now.

So, I have worked on my body and mind. My mind is worthless (not really) and my body is improving. I don't know how much I have lost in weight since the beginning of the summer, just what I have lost in total. 100 pounds.
I have been stuck at 205 most of the past month. I have started working out, and still do more aerobics than weight training. I plan to do both in excess soon.

So, tomorrow I start driving the school bus again. Actually, on Friday, I started by picking up a student who is lucky enough to go to a private school. It is a very progressive school with a college type curriculum. The student seems smart and is very friendly.

I started out the beginning of last week with one route, as I said in a previous post, and managed to get back to a small bus that I can take home with me.

I now have 3 schools that I will cover for my district. I still don't know how many kids I will transport, or where they all live. I ran the route yesterday (Saturday) to see the houses on my list so far. I found out one thing that I don't really like, but it will be OK I think. That is, I have to go past the private school in the afternoon and take all the other kids home, and then go back to that school to pick the student up. This means a lot more travel and more time. If I could get them all at once it would be fine. But, the school doesn't let out until much later than the other schools. Now on the positive side, the private school has longer breaks during the year than the other school, so there will be times when I won't have to go at all. And that school lets out a whole month earlier than the other schools.

In addition to 3 different schedules that I have to coordinate, I have to be aware of the weather. If the home school district has a delay due to weather, then I delay. If they have off, I have off. This may cause some friction with parents, but I don't have nay control over that. You see, the home school district is quite a distance from the area I will be going to and that means the weather conditions may be different.

So tomorrow, I will go to 2 of the 3 schools to and from with 2 students I think. The other school doesn't start until September 9th due to construction at the school. They will also go until at least the middle of June since they start so late.

The fun part will be checking the schedule every morning to make sure which kids I have and what schools. Then, I hope I don't screw it up. Oh, I forgot to mention one student will be here for two weeks, and then has two weeks off. If you can imagine juggling with an odd number of balls, you might get a handle on this.

Did I also mention that some students will only ride home with me? I will drop them off at someones house because I won't have time to take them all the way home.

But, I get to take the bus home with me, so that is good!

Next:
I am starting to get serious about getting out of debt so I contacted someone to help me do that. I may talk about it in depth another time.

Next:
I am reading more recipes and am going to try something with beef or chicken in a stew that doesn't use breading, beans, or potatoes as it's filler. I want to be able to crock pot it so I can store it. I bought more containers for that purpose. Our new freezer in the fridge has more storage so I will be able to mix and match stuff. One of the ideas is something Mexican in nature, such as a taco mixture with veggies.
One more thing is that I decided to look into alternate meat, such as Buffalo. I've heard that it is good and lower in fat than regular beef.
If you have any ideas, let me know.

I left the stairwell for last in my painting project, so sometime this week I will finish it. I also have a few more things to move from the back bedroom and the closet. I could use one of those organizers for the closets, but don't have the funds just yet, so I will leave that alone.

And, I am still in the planning stages for my guitar/voice project. I think I will work on that too.

Other than that, I need to lose 10 more pounds this month and 40 after that before I can say I'm finished with weight loss and move to maintenance.

That's it for now.

To School with me!

So, after a little over a year, I am down 100 pounds from where I started, and my life is back.....again. UGH!
I was told about a month ago that my school bus was now considered a van, and that they could bring in anyone off the street to drive it with little or no skills, and a driver's license. Because of that re-assessment, they lowered my wage below that of a lowly school bus driver. This made it almost impossible for me to continue driving and still survive.
Now, on Monday of this week, my boss called me and asked me if I would want to drive a "real" school bus, because one of the regular drivers had knee surgery and couldn't continue.
We don't get paid for learning a new route, or taking the bus out for a test run. We don't get paid for a lot of things like supplying our own cleaning supplies, or a trash can for the bus. We also don't get paid for time to and from home to work, or for fueling up the bus on our own time. But, it's a great job and it all balances out in the end. There are many days where we get to go home early and they pay us full anyway. We also get lots of extra "gifts". The one I don't participate in anymore is that they take us out to lunch or breakfast. I have a series of sweatshirts, umbrellas, chairs, coats, hats, and other do dads from the company.
Are you following so far, or did I just ramble right off the subject? And what does all this have to do with weigh loss surgery?
So, they offered me the school bus run and I took it.
I took the knee surgery driver out on Tuesday to show her where the van goes. It's a long drive and covers a large area, so we took the van she is going to drive. My van...the one that I put 30,000+ miles on the past two years. It was fun.
Yesterday, I drove my new 84 passenger bus on a fun cruise to see how it fit through the back country roads of Conestoga Valley. Past all the road apples, and buggies, Amish farms, etc.
I hammered out some of the kinks in the route, and came home to write it all down in a turn by turn form to follow when I started this coming Monday.
This morning, I went out again to work on a new elementary run that they changed last night. It sometimes gets confusing. They did the change because one of the other buses was out of position and needed more time to get to their next destination. So they swapped me. It worked out better for me because my new ending point was closer to the garage, allowing me to get home sooner than before.
Still there?
So this morning I was finishing up the turn by turn and getting ready to hard copy it, when they called to offer me another run where I get to take the bus home with me.
Now, after all this, I am back to where I started at the beginning of the summer. I have a full schedule on a "real" bus that I can take home with me. This saves me 50+ miles a day of driving my car, and allows me more time to goof off, I mean, work at losing weight.
They also benefit because I have a turn by turn that I will send them that will save the new driver of the big bus from having to do the route.
I am also covering a new area this year, so I will be happy to have something fresh.
I think if this had happened before my surgery, I would have jumped off a bridge from stress.
For now, it's just another day I don't have to be locked up in a cubicle.
I get paid full, am outside, and having fun driving kids around in the country.
Life is Good!

Prayer and meditation

I do one, but can't do the other.

I have been working out for three weeks now. I am making progress, as I expected. The problem, is that things at home are becoming much more difficult too.
I have so many things to do that are just so much busy work that my mind is racing, and I'm not sleeping well.
I must be eating more too because my weight has gone up a few pounds. It could be water because I am drinking a lot with the heat and exercise.
I covered two miles this morning as well as doing about a half dozen upper body exercises. I hadn't slept since 2am so I was/am tired.
I vacuumed after I got back from my school bus job. I had to learn my new route and try out the new bus. I was on the road for about two hours.
I am happy to have a full size bus because that means I am back on the payroll and don't have to worry about lack of money.
So now, it's 85 and humid and I'm going to go out and push the lawn mower.
I need to play my guitar too, but I will be too tired when I finish. I will probably take a nap.
So, I think I've proven that extra exercise doesn't help my mental state. I feel like I'm on the world's fastest roller coaster........zoom!

What a difference.

If you look back as I do at the difference between me in the beginning of this quest, and me now, you will see that I still bitch and complain about things, but I am moving forward none the less. I still have aches and pains, but today I cut the lawn in the morning (9am to 10:30am), then took a shower and headed over to video
"The Howling".
I just got back.
I could not have done those two things in the same day a year ago.
Can you imagine ordering a cup of water in a bar? I did.
Mr. T's is a great place. It's very clean. The sound system is Bose. They have a real juke box, and they get live music and DJs in there on a regular basis.
Today, I went over to support my friends in the band.
They put an old car trailer in the parking lot, and set up their equipment and played.
Check out my Facebook (Look for Lee Feldman) for the pictures. I will put the video on youtube.
The Howling has a myspace page, so you will be able to see the other videos I recorded in a few days. I gave that card to Greg, the guitarist, and he will pick the ones he wants.
We all thought it was going to rain, but it held off and was hot and humid as August goes here in central PA.
So, I spent the better part of 3 hours hanging out, enjoying the scene.
If this was a year ago, you would have been reading about me in the Obits.

Milestones abound

I got up at 3 am. because my mind wouldn't quit last night.
It wanted to make me panic that I had run out of money and was going to be hunted down and shot, or something like that.
So, I got up and walked around. Then, I went online and surfed a bit.
When my wife got up at 4:45 am. , went and did some stuff I needed to do.
I figured I had a full day ahead, so I planned it out. Usually when I do this, I don't get everything done. But today was different. (Yesterday)
I finished everything I needed to do and then some.
I went to the gym at 7. I got back home around 8. I did a good workout and felt awake, but tired.
When I got home, I started in on the freezer and fridge. I pulled the old fridge out after moving all the food to the freezer, and cleaned the floor and walls behind.
Then, I started in on the rest of the kitchen. I had to move quite a lot of stuff, but I finished.
I was going to try to nap and then wait for the guy to bring my new/old fridge, but he called and was heading over, so I waited for him.
It took him about an hour to move the old unit out and the new one in. Our doors are too narrow, so we had fun.
When they left, I repopulated the new fridge after cleaning it and letting it cool down.
Then, I got my butt in gear and went out and cut the lawn.
No, I didn't. I took a nap, and then I cut the lawn. The whole lawn! It was 87 and the humidity was off the scale, so I worked up a sweat. I only stopped once for liquid and to catch my breath.
When I finished, I took a shower, ate, and then headed out to my East Petersburg Day meeting. I got home at 9 pm.
I almost forgot my online meeting, so I logged on and finished that at 10:30.
Man, was I tired!
So, I got to do everything I set out to do yesterday, and I actually finished everything on my list!
That's a milestone for me.
And, I lived to tell about it today.
Thank God I found WLS!

Oh my aching back!

It's from stress, and not physical.
As hard as I have tried, I am still failing.
My refrigerator died today.
So, as I always try to do, I found one from an ad on Craigslist for a relatively small amount of money.
The problem is I forgot that I paid all the bills this week, and I spent money at BJs for food and other supplies today.
When I went to check on my account, I found that I was going to be overdrawn. So, I went to another account and found out I was wiped out there too.
I am hoping BJs doesn't post the bill until at least Thursday. Otherwise, I'll be paying bills with money that isn't there.
I know the government can print money to pay for things they can't afford. Too bad I can't do the same.
I haven't been this poor for a good many years. I've always been able to provide for my family. It's killing me to not be able to keep up anymore.
Anyway, I got a discount on the fridge. I also got it delivered free because the guy is going to take some of the stuff off the porch, such as the washer, and water heater that he can get scrap fees for to recover his costs.
So far this summer, I replaced the Water Heater (I had to buy a new one at full price but installed it myself to save money), the washer ($50), and now the fridge ($100).
Two years ago I got the lawn mower for free. I fixed it up and am still using it. I also bought the washer and dryer before that for $2 total. Yup, that's right $2. I think I got my money's worth.
Now, I need to get myself a full time job to pay off my debt.
I'm trying. I really am.....

Workout?

My Physiologist had a pile of paper for me this morning. She was actually listening to me when I told her I wanted to get rid of the pain in my back by building my muscles.
She gave me a whole list of exercises to add to my routine just for my back.
Since I have a written schedule to keep track of where I am going, this will be fun for me. I can look back and see the progress.
I did schedule Wednesday and Friday already, but will have to cancel Friday because my Wife has a hospital visit and I have to be there for her.
I wish they had a 7 day schedule, and longer hours, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. I know I can't afford to join a gym, and I won't get the same attention there, so I will have to learn what I can here and take it with me when I can't go anymore.
I doubled what I did last week on the machines, but that really isn't getting me to work up a sweat....yet. I will continue to double what I do, and also try to increase the level of difficulty in order to work up that all important sweat. I did lose another pound or so.
I also found that I had to force myself to eat before going this morning because, I wasn't hungry. That's a strange feeling.

I am also looking for work.

I would like to write a book, but doesn't everyone want to do that?

I started to play my guitar today. I listed 6 songs I would like to try. I got the lyrics online, and will write the chords as a further step over the next few days. The music will come easy for me. I picture the chords in my head. Any that I can't figure out will come to me overnight. I used to lay down and nap when figuring out songs. Just before I would doze off, I would be able to hear all of the individual instruments, and I would know what chords were used. What a way to learn!

And, I wrote some chords down, and hope to remember how I did them (I did some notation, but it isn't technical) so I can repeat them. I think I can write some lyrics to go with them. Who knows? After 55 years, maybe I can really write a song!

Monday morning

Today, I will start a grueling regimen of exercise in an effort to drop another 45 pounds from my frame by the end of 2010. I plan to build a bit of muscle too.
Starvation forced on me by the government taking all my money is not part of the plan. If they do manage to get it all, then I will lose the weight faster.
I didn't win the Powerball yesterday, so I guess I will have to do things the hard way.
I report at 7am and will finish around 8, I hope. I may even take a shower there.
Then, I will come home and eat lunch.
Next, I will start working on my song list. I have a good idea of some of the songs I want to play and sing. It will be a multi-step process.

1. Is the song playable for me? Can I sing it? Do I sound good singing it? Do I like the song?
2. Programming the drum machine to play along.
3. Writing down the chord changes
4. Writing down the lyrics
5. Polishing it so I can feel confident.

Now in addition to the music, I will have to continue all of my other activities.

• I still have to paint the stairwell into the basement.
• I have to move boxes and set up the treadmill, total gym and weight bench. I set them aside for painting.
• I have to empty the back bedroom, and get it ready for painting and redecorating so my wife doesn't kill me.
• The grass is still growing.
• School van is coming up in two weeks or less.
• East Petersburg day is September 20.

I hope to be finished with all of this by the end of September, if not sooner.
My workout for now, will be every other day in the morning until I go back to school. I need to find another job, or start playing out for money soon.
I feel a bit overwhelmed, but I think that is the old/fat me. The new/thinner me can handle most of it.
Anyone have some drugs I can shoot????

The death of a friend

Ted Weber

I never met the man.
I never spoke with him on the phone.
But I knew him through his business.
My friend, Dave Marion, talked me into buying a set of speakers for an old amp he talked me into buying.
Dave talks me into doing a lot of things I don't think of doing normally. He is like that.
Anyway, I had no idea that speakers were really different, or how they were different, so I sent an email to the company he told me to contact. I told them I had an old Sears Silvertone 1484 amplifier, and needed speakers. I got an email back the same day, telling me the model number for the speakers I should get for it.
This amp was built in the 1960's by Danelectro for Sears. This is 2007 or so. Then, I checked the email and saw that Ted Weber himself had written it. I was impressed.
I have also sent emails asking other questions over the years, and Ted always answered them.
Can you imagine Bill Gates doing that?
Granted, Weber speakers are a lot smaller than Microsoft, but if you google his name, you will see hundreds of valid website where his name is mentioned, and even some where he actually participated.
All this, and he ran Weber speakers until recently (I believe his son is doing so now), and designed speakers, amplifiers, and other related components.
Ted was a very busy man.
There is something else here too. His companies service record.
If something broke on the way to your house, he replaced it, no questions asked.
He always stood behind his products. 100% no hassle. Just send him a note, or call him, and it was taken care of.
I remember reading on one of the forums that this one guy was having problems with his amp project. It was missing parts. So he called and Ted had the stuff sent out right away.
If you look at his amp kits, you will see two types of amplifiers.

1. Clones of the major amplifiers from the past like Fenders, Marshall, and others.
2. Original amplifiers designed by Weber. These amps had the most requested modifications that people asked for over the years.

Now, the original amps had to have a name or designation. So, Ted gave them names. Each one was named after his female family members. I think they were daughters or grand daughters.
Ted built amps for many of the big name musical acts over the years. One of his favorites was an amp made for Joe Walsh (the Eagles). He named it "Smokin Joe". He had two versions. One was the basic, and the second a little more powerful.

Ted liked to ask for other help too. He had my amp builder design and test quite a few new designs. One was called "The Gaylon" which is a steel guitar amp. Jamie kept me in the loop through emails so I could observe the process. It was an amazing exchange.
Rascal Flatts had asked Ted for an amp and they supplied specs for the build. Ted sent it out and through a back and forth communication of numerous emails, they were able to fine tune the amp. It took a bit longer than expected because Jamie was building my amp at the same time. Some of my parts burned out on the first try, and he had to beef up the B+ section of the amp. He ended up using parts from Rascal Flatts amp on mine. So, I guess that is my claim to fame.
I believe that Ted will go down in music history as one of the all time greats. He worked behind the scenes much of the time, and took very little interest in the celebrity that he could have had. He choose to focus on making the world a little louder one speaker at a time.

Before and after, the room that is!

For some reason, the pictures didn't come out in the order I wanted them to, so I'll just let them go the way they are. Not much choice, huh?
The green is the before and the white is the after.
I will have some finished pictures too when I can get around to it. The ones with my music equipment installed the way I want.
The carpet stayed on the floor, although I moved it a bit to center it. The flooring under it is ruined from a carpet tech who layed glue down to hold the "Kangaback" carpet we had when we first moved into the home in 1992. We had to peal the carpet up and it left most of the padding and glue on the wood.
When I win the lottery, I will have some laminated flooring put in.
The curtains are worn out, but they cover up nicely when needed. The windows in the house are almost new. They have security built in, and are double pane, providing protection from the heat/cold, and noise.
The basement has the original tile that was there from when my In laws lived here. The tile is worn out, faded, and ugly, but, it is also stuck the the concrete floor. I don't know how I will get it off the floor. I might just cover that up too.
Lots of work to do in the house yet. I have to repaint the rest of the house since the paint was new in 1992, and badly needs it. I didn't do the kitchen, so that paint is even older than that.
The bathroom needs everything. The electrical system is sadly lacking there.
Carpet throughout the house is pretty worn out too. Add to that the wonderful aroma left over from up to 7 cats at a time, and 2 dogs.
I can't imagine how far along I would have been had I been able to continue working at a good paying job instead of driving a school bus. Had I been in shape too. Oh well. I guess I have my work cut out for me.

Two steps forward...

I finished the studio today, as far as I can go for now.
It is functional.
I was fighting fatigue, so the work went slowly. I took a two hour nap this afternoon.
The equipment moved easily enough.
The little old laptop was a real pain. I'll be happy when they invent wireless everything.
I spent a full hour crawling under the table to unplug everything, and move it, piece by piece onto the new table.
I had a 6 foot table in the back bedroom. I still have that table and I love it......but....
I have everything set up on a 4 foot table now. That leaves me no room for the printer and the all in one. Right now, the printer is on the table, and the all in one is on a speaker cabinet, not in use.

I got up in the middle of this and went outside to cut the lawn. I finished 2/3 of it. I have been fighting a struggle between the old lazy me, and the new energetic me. I started reading what I was writing, and saw the old me, and I got mad.

I feel a little better now. A bit sweaty, but good.

While I was chugging outside with the mower, I made some other decisions. I will keep them to myself..... for now.

So, after everything I tried to do today and didn't succeed, I still made progress. I will play my guitar tomorrow.

The work out!

I went over to the Bariatric clinic this morning to check out the gym.
They have a very nice set up with everything I would need to torture myself, I mean, get a good workout.
The new Physiologist is very pleasant and seems to know what she is talking about.
She showed me the equipment, and let me get started on a treadmill that has one really neat feature in addition to all the latest bells and whistles. It has a fan! The fan delivers a breeze right to my face and made me feel as if I could go forever.
As it turned out, I only stayed on it for 20 minutes or so. I like to set the incline up a bit in order to get a more thorough workout. My legs are short, so 2.9-3.0 mph is about all I can do without jogging. I am not ready to jog although I've done a bit of it at the house on my treadmill. I get too sore, so for now, I won't jog.
Then, she showed me the elliptical runner, and I managed only 3 minutes on that. It did OK with my short legs, but I was really interested in becoming familiar with the machines, rather than doing a workout. Today was my break day. I needed some recovery time after working hard for the past 3 days.
I did work up a slight sweat, so that is good.
I plan to wear out the equipment in order to lose the last 45 pounds and have the energy to go back to work. I also have a treadmill at home, so I'll concentrate more on weight training at the Clinic rather than aerobic. I'll cover both bases and I'll share any insight I have right here.
If there is anything you do to get into shape, feel free to share it. I need all the variety I can get.
Kayaking will have to wait a bit.
Hershey Park? Not this year. I am ready, but I am broke.

My aching back!

Ok, it's time to put all the stuff back into the studio.
I planned to carry all the stuff I won't be using right away back down into the basement, so, it's going to be fun to say the least.
I have a ton of stuff to move and it should take me the better part of a day.
I have pictures of my newly painted studio that I'll post when I'm too sore and tired to move stuff.
The room I'm in now (the back bedroom) is slightly larger and has one fewer door. It has more room the way it is, so I will have to move stuff downstairs. No way out.
All in all, I'm pleased with the results. I did a second coat on the whole room, except for the corners and trim and there is a bit of bleed through there. I don't want anyone to think I enjoyed painting, or can do a good job at it, so I am going to leave it the way it is!
So, Saturday should be the day I start playing my guitar again.
I've been listening to my entire music collection while working this past week. I don't have a system in the basement, so I listened to the voices in my head when I was downstairs. It wasn't so bad, but I would rather hear the music.
Alabama is playing "There's no way" right now. I've listened to Tony Bennett, and various classical pieces. I also have my friend's various bands that I've recorded to inspire me.

Dave Marion has some of the stuff, but he has a band called "The Howling" right now that is really driving. My favorite band of his was called BRB. They were doing blues and old rock and roll. That stuff is not available right now. You can find it here. Look for DJLEE and my radio station. I'm not sure if the site is down for maintenance or just down.

So, my work is cut out for me. Time to go do it!

The Paint, The Paint!

I'm not done bitchin' about the job yet, but I won't put that here.

Whooo Hoooo!

I went back to painting and reached my milestone!

So, yesterday, I painted in the morning before my 9am. meeting, then I cut the lawn, and then, I finished the studio painting.

Man, was I tired, but, I did it!

Whooo Hooo!

I still have to finish the trim, which takes the small brush, and not much effort, just concentration. I figure that will take an hour once I get set up. I may have to do a second coat since most of it is just the green paint from before and hasn't been touched yet by the Kilz or paint.

I went over to the Bariatric office this morning. I seemed to remember them saying that we could drop in between 6 and 8:30 any morning until the end of the month and they would set up a program for us. I wasn't really planning on doing this yet, but I wanted to push myself a bit.
Turns out, I was wrong. No one was home.
So, I cam home and ate a gallon of ice cream to drown my sorrows. NOT!
NO big deal.
I came home, and waited until 10:30 to call them and set up an appointment to see the facility and get started on a plan. I start tomorrow.

A new job

This is my first thoughts on the subject so I hope you don't mind reading about my anger at being forced to change jobs.
The change has been contrived to draw blame away from anyone, so I don't have anyone to be angry at. This is the way it goes nowadays. I think they teach them how to do this in college. It should have a master degree attached to it.
Anyway, if I want to keep driving the school van, I will take a cut in pay.
I can't afford to do that, so it's time to move on. It doesn't matter that I've gotten paid the same wage since I started 3 years ago. It doesn't matter that I still have to have a CDL with school bus endorsement, passenger rated, FBI investigation, or any of the other stuff. I get paid less.
Now, in all fairness, I have wanted to stop driving for a long time. But, I hate having it forced on me. I still have issues between my ears that I want to resolve before changing.
And, I am a great bus driver.
I will have to work a little faster now. I am not happy about that, but, I have to deal with it.
Time to go cut the lawn. I finished the first coat of paint this morning. I have to do the second coat and trim when I get back to it. If I have the energy to do that after I cut the lawn today, it will be a new milestone for me. I can't imagine that, but I will try.

New ideas

One of my fellow bloggers pointed out an option for scheduling the posting of a blog entry when you want, instead of right away. I didn't really look too close at the options, so I missed that one.
I may use it sometime, but for now, I write when I get inspired, and don't really think too far ahead.
Our Bariatric clinic has expanded and changed over the past month, and the change is amazing.
I am on the steering committee for the support group meetings, and that is also changing, due to our nurse leaving the clinic and going back to teaching. The dietitian took the reins and made a list tonight that just made her job a little more involved. She is a stickler for details, and is notorious for getting things done. I wish I had that ability. I do, but only with medication.
They are producing a book now with everything in it to guide someone from beginning to end as far as the options and what to expect in Bariatric Surgery. Diet, exercise, pre op, post op, nutrition, side effects, and a lot of whys are included.
The difference now is that everything is clearly written out in one place, so you can instantly reference it. I have a pile of papers in a large shoe box that I used before.
There is also a new workout room, that I spoke of before, and it's free as long as you're a patient. All that is required is to sign up and show up.
I put the coat of Kilz primer on the walls of my studio this morning. It took hours to do the prep work and the paint. Kilz looks horrible. The green paint shows through, and I didn't have enough to do the whole room as far as the trim and edges, so I will probably have to do at least two more coats of paint on that, and maybe the whole room. When I finished, I was bushed. So, I hit the showers and took a nap. I was lucky to use the Central AC today, because the outside temp and humidity was way up, as it will be tomorrow.
Tomorrow, I have my first school bus driver's meeting in the morning, so I won't be able to start painting, and I have to cut the lawn because it is getting too long for the mower from all the rain we had over the weekend. I hope to start the painting in the afternoon, provided something else doesn't come up first.
I am also looking at a specific company for a job, and may end up taking a 2nd or 3rd shift just to get my foot in the door.
Life gets complicated every once in awhile. Well, maybe all the time. Oh, and I have to stop at UPS to send my wireless router back to Verizon. It died last week, and they sent me a new one.

Right on the edge

My purple amp is waiting for me!

Before cleaning the studio
The Eagle

We went for a short drive yesterday. My wife can't walk very far because she has some damage to her lungs from previous illness. So, I take her for drives where we don't have to walk very far, or can just stay in the car. She gets winded just from walking up or down our stairway into the basement.
It is frustrating for me since I really want to walk, and there is no one to walk with.
Add to that the fact that I'm almost finished with the painting for at least the next 20 years, and I want it now!
I have a ton of stuff that I need to move out of here next week. I also have a ton of stuff to move back into place. I emptied out the studio today, and loaded everything I could into the back bedroom.
When I am finished painting it, I will move some of the stuff back into the studio, and some to the basement for storage.
I will empty out the back bedroom so my wife can fix it up "her" way.
But, I want to be finished with it all now!
I don't have the energy to do it all.
I will keep plugging away at it as long as I can. Someday, it will be finished. Just think, a year and a half ago, I would have just let it sit. I probably would be dead by now.
I think that's progress......I'll get back to you on that. LOL