My love affair...

For a long time I've had this secret love affair.

Every time I've let myself go and squelched the voice of my inner self telling me to stop, I've succeeded in feeling great for a few moments and feeling guilt the rest of the time.

Why do we do things fully knowing that there will be consequences, unfavorable ones at that! Following the path of least resistance, taking shortcuts, looking at the mirror and forgetting right away what we just beheld.

We sure are complex individuals, the answers are simple and yet not easy to implement.

To get to the bottom of my dilemma, I had to ask myself a few questions. Being honest with oneself is sometimes very difficult, easier said than done. The questions though, peering inside my soul, discovered and brought to light something I had forgotten.
When I was a little boy, every Sunday afternoon, my dad would take my brother and myself swimming among other things. While walking back we would have a large scoop of ice cream. My brother and I relished the moment; we waited every week for that special treat. That Ice Cream was the best!

Some forty years ago my brother and I with dad went to the pool, ran at the park and had some good fun. That ice cream was the climax of great afternoons and that is the memory that will never go away!

The problem resolved!

My brother passed away some years ago of a brain tumor. My dad has not quite let go and he is sick and frail now! After much soul searching I understand my love affair with Ice Cream. I also understand that trying to bring those happy moments back through having more Ice Cream than I should did affect my goals for a leaner version of me.

Emotional eating, a love affair with Ice Cream!

It was somewhat painful to realize this, as I thought that controlling my craving for Ice Cream would also mean forgetting the good times that my brother and I had with a much more vibrant dad. Yet I realize it does not have to be so! I can reminisce without participating in self destructive behavior and I can enjoy without over indulging.

Here is to good memories of years gone by! May we rekindle those good feelings appropriately not confusing them with something void or harmful in subtle ways!

Trying to rekindle memories inappropriately triggered an unhealthful response. What's your trigger?

Sandbag training again!

My previous sandbag met an untimely death. One of the seams gave way and sand spilled into the carpet. I've been looking for a replacement and ordered one from here: http://sandbagexercises.com/packagedeals.html  I hope this one last way longer than the last one since I'll be putting it to rigorous use.

I've taken my sandbag to the gym with me and it has been great! Looking forward to fun workouts with it.

Procrastination and its aftermath

For some time my car's alarm clicker has been showing sings of its battery dying. I have a pair of remotes for the alarm so I did not worry about it.

Judgment Day!

The battery died and I could not find the second alarm remote. I figured no problem. I'll just open and close the car manually until I get the new battery. That was the plan!

The aftermath!

I set out to work remembering not to engage the alarm so I would not have any problems. I had a productive day at work, time to go home. I walked to the parking lot and I pressed the alarm remote, ooops! I had forgotten that I had not engaged the alarm. In it's last dying breath the remote's battery engaged the car's alarm and now I could not turn it off.

It was dark, I said the heck with it, I opened the car. Essentially I broke into my own car. That set off the alarm. The remote does not work, alarm is going on! I waited, I figured it would eventually turn off. It did, momentarily. I got on the car and went home. All the while the alarm blazing and the car horns honking. I tried to take as many side streets as possible and on red lights stop way behind the line of cars. Car still honking, inside lights going on and off.

I finally turned the corner into my street, parked the car, closed the door and the alarm stopped. By this time my wife comes out to see what's going on and she heads directly to the car and guess what she does? She opens the door and the alarm starts going again.

I closed the door, put a bag over my head and went inside. The alarm finally stopped. My son in law got a battery for me and the whole ordeal is now over.

I know I like to be the center of attention but please, this was just too much!

No more 'hasta mañana'!

The aftermath and the power of denial

Yes while on vacation I stayed active. But I also ate a ton. Cuban bread with cheese for breakfast. Roast Pork, fried pork, stewed pork and more pork. I gained a few pounds. Since then I'm back on track and eliminated all the foods that caused me problems. It's easy, I'm not around them.

I have lost at least four pounds since I got back and feeling good. In retrospect, I should have been more careful. It's tough to get rid of these unwanted pounds but very doable. Looking forward to my next workout.

Speaking of resolustions

I was on vacation in Florida from December 15th, 2008 till January 5th, 2009. I did not want to gain weight on this vacation. I took my Kettlebell on the trip and filled it with sand and pebbles.  Used it at the beach, the hotel, my wife's cousins'  home, played baseball, ran at the beach, walked and laughed a lot.

I'm decompressing right now. We'll see how successful I was. Clothing still fits so this Friday I'll weigh in.

New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions. I do however believe that resolutions with actions to back up your goals are very effective.

So last year, about November, I'm implemented a tip on simplifying e-mail. No need to wait for the dreaded new year date. So everything goes to one box forwarded from the many other e-mails boxes I have. How did I ended up with Hotmail, Google, Att , Verizon, Yahoo mail plus others I can't remember, I'll never know.

The good news is that I've gone to the ones I remember and forward them to one box. No more going to different sites to get info.

Now to tackle RSS feeds.