Monday

Monday was a good start to a week of training and, I hope, weight loss. I have lost one pound for each of the last two weeks. That means I am down to only major fat now. Finally, I think, I am on the straight and narrow, getting my appetites under control, and doing what is necessary. Debbie Johnson continues to be an inspiration and a shining example to me because she has stayed on the straight and narrow with narry a deviation as far as I can tell. Penny and I eat with her and Gerald often and she always makes wise food choices.

Of course I viewed the eclipse. Without glasses, I went home after work to change clothes and get ready to head to the pool. Then I remembered I had some X-rays in the house. This was about 1:30. Already, the world looked like you were looking through some not too dark sunglasses. The light was dampened and everything had a blueish hue to it. I retrieved the X-ray, went outside, and took a peek. Dude, it was amazing. The eclipse was probably 80% or more. Then I held my phone up just above the X-ray and took a picture. All I got on the pic was bright sun. Huh! I looked again through the X-ray and once more saw the neat eclipse. So I took another picture. The photo only showed bright sun. I don't get it.

Anyway, I went to Twin Rivers where I was supposed to meet John at 1:30. We have swum together very little this year. Allegedly, he is not happy about this. I was twelve minutes late starting. I swam 1,700 and then did 6 X 50 for a total of 2,000. John never showed.

I worked late Thursday because I had the promise of two days of no office hours in return for handling late registration. I did this so John and I could swim together for two days this week. He didn't show. See why I stopped waiting on him. Next week he will want to know when we can swim together. I told him about all that already, but he thinks if he asks me enough times, the answer will change. I can't change the answer if I wanted to. He missed the chance. Maybe we can swim together in 2018.

The shoulder, by the way, is continuing to improve. I would say right now that it is about 60% well. My swimming is at a pretty leisurely pace and that is not causing it any problems. Slowly, I am able to do more and more and I yelp less and less. Actually, I yelp fewer and fewer times each day. Finally, I really believe it is going to be OK. I have believed this several days in a row.

After swimming, I took one of those walks. I slowed the cadence a bit and didn't do any shuffling. The pace of my recent walks along with some worn out shoes and the shuffling has been producing a bit of strain on my gimpy knee. After the 7.1 miles hike, the knee felt fine. I took a protein shake and an apple for supper and was not tempted to snack. That's how the weight comes off for me. If I can do this every day, I will drop two pounds this week instead of one. Only losing one pound per week was on account of me sneaking chips and cookies and stuff such as that. If I really push it, I can go down three.

Hope lives, hope grows, hope brings energy and motivation. Thank you Jesus.