July 7, 2011: Last Day of Wedding Prep

Medifast Status: Day 66, Down ~38.5lbs

I stayed in bed as long as I could get away with this morning.  Oreo was very snuggly and I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed.  The room was so cold (Dominica really cranks the air conditioning) and Oreo was so warm.

Today was rather a busy day at work for me and I ended up working all day long.  No chance for a walk.  After work we ran out for dinner at Appleby’s with the family.

The evening was spent just getting ready for the wedding this weekend and the rehearsal dinner and show that we have tomorrow night.

July 6, 2011: Joe’s Bachelor Party

Medifast Status: Day 65, Down ~38.5lbs

New article up on SMB IT Journal: “Why You Never Get Advice from a Reseller or Vendor“.  Please check it out and remember to Tweet or post of FaceBook to support me!

Amazingly, perhaps even miraculously, I am officially completely caught up with SGL now!

I was up at 5:55am this morning, got dressed, stretched and got Emily up and we were out the door for our walk before six thirty.  I had the mapping software running and we did a nice, long walk up into the country and around the south side of Frankfort.  It was a really nice morning for a walk. We did a total of 5.7 miles and were home at eight thirty.

Shortly after returning from our morning walk, most of the family headed out for Gilbert Lake State Park near Oneonta, New York to spend the day with the kids at the lake while Dominica and I stayed home with Luciana.  Liesl was originally going to stay home as well but she was really excited to “go to the beach” and so they took her along with them.

Today I began reading “The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America“.  This book chronicles the long term aftereffects of the Treaty of Paris signed in 1763 which signaled the end of the Seven Year War which is often known as the French and Indian War here in the US where it began.  Amazingly, even though this war is of immense importance to Americans very little is known of it.  I wonder if students today study it at all.  It was barely mentioned when I was in school.

Work ended up being really, really busy this afternoon.  I was hoping to be able to wrap up on the early side today so that I could sneak away for Joe’s surprise bachelor party but instead of being able to finish up just after five (which was really a pipe dream anyway) it ended up taking until after eight before I was able to sign off from the office and leave the house.  That wasn’t good.  I was crazy late.

I am the designated driver tonight since I am both late and I am not supposed to be drinking on Medifast (it hampers ketosis.)  As soon as I reached the restaurant we loaded everyone up and headed out to the pool hall to play pool, darts and foosball for the evening.

It was a pretty early night and we were home by a quarter after midnight.  We even ran into a Town of Frankfort road block out on NY 5S stopping every car as they go by.  Good thing we had a DD (or a Weekend PASS as they call them in Texas – “Person Assigned to Stay Sober.)

We got home and found the girls still up drinking from their own party.  Bennie, Joe, Francesca, Dominica and I ended up staying up until after three in the morning playing cards and drinking whiskey.  Tomorrow is going to be a rough day and I need to get started early to help deal with the issues that we were unable to deal with tonight that kept me at the office so late.

I cheated significantly on my Medifast tonight for the first time.  I had part of a slice of cold pizza and a small cupcake that Francesca had made.  We will see how much that hurts me tomorrow.  I’ve been a little light-headed, though, so a few extra calories is probably not a bad thing.

I borrowed Dominica’s mother’s car and drove out to New Hartford to meet the guys at the restaurant there.  They had been having beer and wings for hours and had been just waiting for me to get there for a while.

 

July 5, 2011: A Walk in the Woods (Sort of)

Medifast Status: Day 64, Down ~38.5lbs

First thing this morning, probably around eight, Emily and I headed out for a morning walk to get some exercise.  We walked down Litchfield and found a hidden trail running along the Frankfort Gorge and Moyer Creek.  So we went back in the woods and walked along the trail.  Emily said that this was the first time that she had ever gone for a real walk in the woods – and it was not much of a woods with houses being visible just to the side of us.  It was a really nice walking area, though.

The walk took us a little over an hour and was roughly 2.3 miles.  Going through the woods made it much slower going than if we were on the road the entire time.  We walked back through town.  We are planning on trying another early morning walk tomorrow.

For lunch, Madeline, Emily and I went to The Bistro and ate there and brought food back for Dominica.

After lunch Francesca, Bennie and I took Madeline, Emily, Garrett and Liesl down to Moyer Creek near where it spills into the Mohawk River so that the kids could see where Francesca, as a child, used to come to use the “ol’ swimming hole.”  It was pretty hot to be down there but the water was nice and the kids had a good time playing in the brook.  That was a pretty short walk, just .6 miles in total.  Liesl did very well trying to keep up with everyone.  She thought that that was great fun.  She spent her time standing by the brook’s edge throwing small rocks into it.

After work was done and after I was done helping Dominica to look after the kids I went out for an evening stroll around the village.  I also tested out a new walk mapping app for my iPhone that makes a map of my walk, in real time, as I do it.  Very cool.  This will, in theory, make it easy for people at the house to watch me as I travel and not wonder where I am or worry that I am not moving anymore.  So I am testing that out on this walk.

My walk this evening came out to be 3.5 miles and took almost exactly an hour.  That makes my day total to be roughly 6.5 miles.  Not too bad at all.  I’m feeling it in my legs a little bit today but not as much as after the five mile walk to Ilion a few days ago.  I am doing all of this walking in my new Sketchers Tone Ups so I am getting more or a workout than normal.  I’m not sure how much more.  Probably not very much but a little.  After a long walk I can feel the difference in my leg muscles in a way that I don’t feel without the Tone Ups at least.

On my walk tonight I finally finished reading “The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd” which, to say the least, was pretty depressing.  This one has taken me forever to finish because it was both quite long and rather depressing and I have been reading it alone so I only got time to read it when not reading along with other people.  So I have finished several other books in the meantime.

I was off to bed as soon as I got home.  Emily and I are planning on a six in the morning walk tomorrow so that I can get a real walk in before it is time for work.

 

July 4, 2011: Waverly

Medifast Status: Day 63, Down ~38.5lbs

We had to be up early this morning so that we could get everyone packed and be on the road by eight thirty.  We were supposed to be moving by eight but it was all that we could do to get out when we did.  We have a lot of people to get ready and lots of kids to pack into cars.   We managed to get everyone into either the Sequoia or the Acadia, though, which was awesome.  That is a lot of people to squeeze into just two cars.  And three dogs as well.

It was a really nice day for the drive from Frankfort to Waverly which is nearly three hours and one hundred and forty miles.

It was great weather for the Doty family annual reunion in Waverly.  We had a really nice time out there but did not stay as long as we have in the past.  We arrived around eleven or eleven thirty and stayed until five thirty.  It is a long drive back and without a nap the kids, especially Liesl and Garrett, will be exhausted and unhappy.

On the way home we hit Tom Horton’s for some coffee and donuts.  Liesl loves donut holes.