update on the diet, plus much much more

First things first, I lost 3 more pounds last week. That's 5 total, bringing me to 188. Eight more pounds until my goal. After that, I'm going to set a goal a little farther back. But one step at a time.

To aid my weight loss, I've begun tricking out my decidedly un-tricked out bicycle. I mean, it's pink and purple for crying out loud. However, it's a 10-speed that my brother's ex-girlfriend gave to me a few years ago (thanks, Michelle!) and is still in good condition. The seat is kinda tough, though, so I bought and installed a new one this weekend. Also I bought new brake pads that I found for $1.00 at Wal-Mart. Not bad, eh?

Also last week, something happened to me that I didn't know was even possible. I slipped on a banana peel as I stepped out of my car. I've seen it happen in many Looney Tunes, but never in real life. It was a little traumatic but much more funny. Especially for all the people who saw it. No one laughed in front of me, but I know that as soon as I dragged myself up my stairs, the chuckling began.

The big news this week has been the oncoming potential ice storm. I woke this morning to a car completely frozen over. Once I got my door open, I realized I had neither an ice pick nor a can of de-icer spray. Then I saw an old Limp Bizkit CD from my old roommate's collection lying in my backseat. It made the perfect pick.

On a more serious note, however, I was extremely touched this weekend. We took the youth to a children's home in Independence, MS where we played Santa to the 15-16 kids living there. They sent us Christmas lists and, due to a nice donation we received, we were able to buy each kid 2 gifts. Then they had us come play basketball/soccer/football with them until we had to leave. These kids were so grateful...they all hugged and high-fived us numerous times until we had to drive away. Needless to say, this place will continue to be a mission spot for us in the future.

And finally, I'm trying to learn Christmas songs for Wednesday Night Worship (what we call our weekly service). Since Christmas is pretty much here, if anyone knows any songs I could learn pretty easily (I'm still a novice) then I'd appreciate the tip. I have learned Silent Night and play a pretty funky rendition of Jingle Bells...

christmas with weezer

Weezer did a few Christmas songs, and here are two of them. The rest are on YouTube, if you feel like checking them out. I am totally in the Christmas Spirit.

The First Noel

O Holy Night

week in review

Wow, didn't mean to go so long with a basically negative post greeting anyone stumbling onto this page. Guess I should update.

I've become a morning coffee drinker. All day long I'm guzzling this huge water bottle, so I don't get my caffiene during the day anymore like I did when I was a Coke drinker. This had led to headaches and a bad temper. My co-workers have even referred to my attitude as "doo-doo on a stick". So coffee has helped temper my...um...temper.

This past Wednesday I had to go back to the doctor to check on my stone. For the first time in my life, I had a good looking nurse. Wait, scratch that. TWO good looking nurses. They were really nice and smelled amazing. That was great, because next I got to see the X-Ray of my stone. It's friggin' HUGE! I shuddered when I thought of having to pass this thing. Still do.

The wedding last weekend was actually not that bad. I got to see some old friends and make new ones. My only complaint was...get this...the kidney stone. I was so high on painkillers during the wedding that I thought I was going to pass out. I was seriously shuffling and blinking a lot. Thankfully no one seemed to notice and the wedding was a success.

And Thanksgiving is here next week, which is great for two reasons. One, I love the food. Two, I can get into the Christmas spirit. My work has been playing Christmas music already and I'm sort of a Scrooge about that. I want Thanksgiving out of the way first. Then we can celebrate.

On a different note, I have been reading a book that has been pretty hard to put down. I started it yesterday on lunch break/before Oxygen/before bed and got about halfway through it. It's called Pathways to Abandon by Nathan Schnackenburg, and it's about a guy who grew up a missionary kid in Japan, moved back to America, and went a little crazy. It's basically a testimony, but it's been pretty entertaining. I like to hear stories of where people have been and what shapes them into who they are now. So if you need something to read in this cold weather, this is a pretty good choice.