I forgot I had my blog

Okay so it has been forever since I last posted here.  So a quick recap -
January 2015 - lots of theater and hockey work.
February 2015 - All of the month was spent in Kailua-Kona.  Somewhere I have a diary for a most wonderful time.
March 2015 - Back to Theater and hockey work.
April 2015 - The month of the toothache.
May 2015 - feeling better and getting ready for spring.

January 2015 - This was a month mostly of Hockey games with the Royals.  Added in I was at the Royal for a couple of symphony calls.  The rest of the month was just hunkering down and avoiding the cold of January.  There really wasn't a lot of cold though.  It was a pretty nice.

February 2015 - I will put a link into here for our Kona trip.

March 2015 - back to the routine of Royal Hockey games.  The team did well and made it into the playoffs.  I worked on Lynnard Skynnard and some more symphonies.  I did a talk about WLS to the students of Kristal's class at PISE.  It was a very good session.

April 2015 - Marla and I went out to J&J Wonton for another good lunch but something sticky grabbed my wisdom tooth and it broke.  So for the next month I had a headache and a bit of a sore mouth.  It wasn't all that bad, the high heavens didn't fall.  But it was a bit of a nuisance.  Dr. Mello but me under sedation for the removal of my two wisdom teeth and all went well.  Still working on Hockey and Symphony shows.  I ran again in the Times-Colonist 10K and improved my last year's time by ten minutes.

May 2015 - slow start to the month with not much happening.  I was in for a show with the Symphony and did an ice show with Paul Croy and Kendra.  I am not used to working those 9pm to 4am show calls.

Dinosaurs out - Alan Jackson in

Sunday was a day pretty much to rest up for the out of the Walking with Dinosaurs show.  I went downtown early to get a parking spot and it was no trouble at all.  It was interesting showing up and seeing the old gang from Camosun there.  Steve, Daryl, Alan, and Bryce were there.  Actually there were quite a few people there for a relatively small move in.So I chatted with the guys and slowly got ready.  We began by loading up the brontosaurus outside - he is only used in the first act.  He travels in his own trailer and takes two fork lifts to lift him up on the loading platform.  Then it was inside to get ride of the boarders and remove patagonia.  then we lifted the dreaded floor.

We were out of the arena by 11:30 which was kind of nice.  Especially because I had to be back in the arena at 9am for the Alan Jackson concert.  It was a much smaller show than Dinosaurs - rather than 20 trucks we only had three.  Ron was head LX which was good.  I like working with him.  We also had Vince and Stephen on the LX crew and we were a pretty good bunch.  Apparently we set a record because for the first time in the tour we hand all the gear set up and ready to fly before all the points were in.  We were out of the arena by 1pm so I had the afternoon off.  Marla was out seeing Dr. Quartley so I had the place to myself.  I finished packing up for our LA trip and had a bit of a nap with precious.

I went back for the show call and the closest parking spot I could find was way down on Douglas Street.  That kind of sucks but I parked in a bright area and headed up the hill.  The opening act was a girl and her group from Alberta.  Boy she really liked herself and came across with lots of "how good am I" lounge singer.  Alan Jackson's show was really good.  It was a little weird because he played a lot of his old videos behind him and yet singing up front he was about twenty years older.  I kept wondering who is the "old guy."  That being said, it was still an excellent show.  We were out of the arena by 12:45am and it was real nice to get home.  Even if it did mean staying up until 2am before my mind would shut up.

I missed Friday

Saturday, September 20th


Up early for a walk with Christopher and Precious.  I am going to be busy for a few Saturdays coming up so this will be our last for a couple of weeks at least.  It was a beautiful still morning for a walk.  The ocean had this strange purple hue to it.  However the air was fresh, sun was starting to shine and Precious was ready for a romp.

I stopped on the way home to get a replacement suction cup stand for the Garmin.  We are going to need it in LA.  First stop was Canadian Tire and then Future Shop.  Finally I went on line and found a good one, on sale, at the Source.  So that was cool.

We went out to Leslie's for supper.  It was treacherous stew.  But we made it through, came home and watched Dr. Who.


I do have to mention something from yesterday.

Friday, September 19th
Got up really early to take Marla to the Memorial Pavillion and her volunteering.  I picked her up at 12:30 and we drove over to Sears.  I had Marla's brown fringe bag but we payed full price for it the other day.  So we went in and checked it out and sure enough all bags were on 40% off.  So we exhanged her brown bag for a black bag and then traded it for the brown bag and more money off.

We celebrated save 30$ by going to John's for lunch.  I radically reduced my order to a simple slice of meatloaf with the marcella gravy and a little bit of potatoes.  I had them hold everything else.  It was still too much but it was pretty good.  Marla was adventurous and tried and egg benny.  Good for her.

A day of recovery - Thursday Sept 18

I was pretty stiff this morning when I woke up.  I actually slept in until 8am.  Precious and I went out to play ball a bit - when it is morning and it is a little damp her getting and returning the ball equals once.

Marla and I caught up on some tv (AGT and Amazing Race Canada) then Marla was off to get her hair cut and I took off to Costco.  Precious and I had a nice drive out.  We checked up on some prices for lumber at Home Depot - about $10 per board and we need 10 Boards for the deck.

We had a good night at the gym and then came home to do some serious relaxing.  Gee there is not much to say for the day.

Eating was good.

And That's all folks.

Sept 17 Working with Dinosaurs

Up at 6:30 to get ready for a day at Walking With Dinosaurs.  It is a pretty nice day.  Today I am a carp - I didn't really want to do electrics so that I could revisit some of my skill sets.  Also, although I am a lot lighter I am still not up to climbing steel rope ladders up the the truss.  So I am keeping my feet on firm ground.  Tom was being head carp today but Anton was also there to check out things and make his face seen.  He is doing really good, up and walking about.

This is the European tour of Walking With Dinosaurs, so their truss and gear is not really made for our smaller arenas.  But they still have a pretty good show.  The crew is very international - I was working with an Irishman from County Cork (Michael) and a nice American from Arizona (Adam).  They were quite funny and very nice.  The oddest fellow of the crew was their head carp.  He was a Kiwi from New Zealand who spend a great deal of the day running around and shouting instructions in a boisterous voice that no one understood.

I spent most of the day working with Colin, Roger, Stephen, Helen, Richard (new guy with big earring), and Dave and Nicki from Cowichan.  We were a pretty good crew.  Our job was laying out the floor for the stage, building the three mountains, and setting out the ground row and plants around the dasher.  One of the most disconcerting things is to be standing and look up to see a full size T-Rex looking over your shoulder.  Here are a few pictures:

We were supposed to finish at 5pm, then it became 7pm, then 8 and we finally left at 9pm.  It was a very long day, but also a good one.  Everything was catered and I kind of wish I could eat like this everyday. There were great spreads of high protein servings. I ate my small plates of turkey, beef, beans with a little bit of avocado, sour cream and salsa. No bread carbs at all. then there is the exercise part - According to my fitbit I walked 23,800 steps or 10.94 miles, climbed 23 flights of stairs, and burned 4,400 Calories.

I got home and had a nice hot bath and relaxed for a while.  We shall see how I do tomorrow.

2014 Chalk Art Festival

Well I had a great day today with Marla.  We watched a perfectly horrible Roughrider TiCat football game.  Hamilton won 28 to 3.  Just to balance things our we have a new quarterback now that Darrian  Durrant is hurt for a few more weeks.

After the game Marla and I went downtown to check out the Chalk Art Festival on Government Street.

We had a really nice time.  Marla got off on some First Nations Music and we bought a CD.  Then we checked out the art work.  We walked down to the Steamship Grill in the old wax museum for lunch. I had seafood chowder and Marla had a salad.  Then we walked back to the car with a stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate.  We came home and relaxed with Dr. Who and some old spy movies.  I went off on a nice walk with Precious (12kms) and then got comfy at home.

Story night and another wonderful day

I am so stiff.  Everything hurts from yesterday's 12km walk. I know it is supposed to make me feel better but.  Still it was a pretty good day.  Marla and I went downtown to check out an outfit for her but the store wasn't open so we went for a walk instead.  It was nice just to be a local tourist and check out some of the stuff we need for the house.  We are still on the search for the perfect travel bag for me.  I think it is the LL Bean  http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/60317?page=waxed-cotton-continental-field-bag but I am still shopping.

We went over to Hillside Mall and got Marla's glasses fixed.  Then we stopped for a snack/lunch at NY Fries.  They were good but messed with my system.  We shopped a bit more - Marla got a very cool fringe purse from Sears.  Boy, Sears was dead.  Very good service.  Marla tried on some high end shoes at Ingledews, again exceptionally good service. She was so impressed they had shoes that fit her.

In the evening we went to the Victoria Story Tellers Guild meeting.  It was fun.  Some nice old stories and not too many boring ones.  I told the story of Marla and my first meeting.  Eating was pretty good for the day and all is well in my world.

Except I am really stiff.

Working on a children's show

I was going to walk to the theater this morning.  It is only 5kms away, about an hour walk, and it would be great exercise on a nice day.  So I grabbed my bag and took off.  I got about three blocks away and realized I forgot my black shirt.  Seeing I was missing my uniform of the day I walked back home and drove to work.

Work was good.  It was a nice bunch of guys to work with.  Of course the highlight of the day was that Brendan got a new job in Vancouver as head LX of the Orpheum.  Congrats, it is a very good move for him.

Mikal and I were up on the follow spots for Disney Jr.'s presentation of the Imagination Movers.  If you were six years old this would be an exciting concert.  The other really nice thing about working a children show is that we were done by 4pm.  So Marla and I got a night of watching football which was really nice.

Speaking of food, okay I wasn't but I should, Lunch was a burrito.  I haven't had one in ages and so I picked up a small one with beef and bean - and no it didn't start a fart festival. Actually, protein doesn't make me fart.  Carbs, like the stuff we had at Pag's the other day, are.  Of course I didn't finish.

So all in all, this was a pretty good day.

I haven't looked here in a year

Well silly me.  I haven't looked at my blog in a whole year.  So this will be a brief look at my last year and let's see if we can do a little better.

September 13, 2013
I was busy in school at UVic taking a course in Russian History of the Tsars.  It was a very good course and I enjoyed myself.  It was a big help for what we did in the spring of 2014.  I did a bunch of hockey games with the Victoria Royals.

October 2013
I ran the Goodlife 8km Road Race and had a great time doing it.  We went to Parksville and Tofino for our regular October holiday.

November 2013
A very quiet month.  We didn't do much but school and hockey.

December 2013
Finished up my UVic class and did well with it.  The usual.  Lots of shows at the Royal.  Wayne and Shirley were in town for Christmas.

January 2014
Went back to work at Camosun for 10 days in January.  It was fun.  I liked not having to wear all the feathers.

February 2014
Spent three weeks in Kailua-Kona this time.  It was awesome.  Booked for a whole month for next year.

March 2014
Back to hockey games and good times.  Stayed in Victoria and enjoyed ourselves.

April 2014
Hockey is over but it is really nice walking weather.

May 2014
Flew off to Copenhagen for our cruise.  Copenhagen was wonderful.  Just like the song.  then our ship, the MS Eurodam, took off for Estonia, Russia, Finland, Sweden, Germany, and back to Denmark.  Awesome trip.

June 2014
We went to Vancouver for  a great weekend at the Cher Concert and then spent a few days down at the Tulalip.

July 2014
Spent most of the month at UVic in an East Central European History class.  It was a good class and I bettered my usual mark.  So I was pleased.  Now I want to go visit Prague, Budapest and Vienna.

August 2014
We went down to Seattle to see Book of Mormon and catch a baseball game.  We had a great time.  My mom passed away in early August.  I hope she has a great time in the great beyond. Her spirit still stays with me.  We saw an awesome exhibit at the Pacific Science Center about Spies.

September 2014
Wow, caught up.  We are travelling at the end of the month and then another trip in October so I am not taking any classes.  I am doing a whole lot of theater work and enjoying it.  Lots of walking and much needed exercise.

Coming up - more about food, exercise and enjoying life.  I will put up some trip reports and some stories.  And not wait another year to update my blog.

school history and horses

So I am back in school and it is feeling better. the course this year is Hist374 - Russian History of the Tsars.  Serhy is my instructor and he is pretty cool.  He is from the Ukraine and definately has some opinions.  There is lots of reading and it really tries my comprehension to understand all the Eastern European names.  But it is early and I am prepared to try hard.

Our other course is that Marla and I are taking horseback riding courses from Connect and Ride.  Carmen had to cancel today's ride which was a bit of a bummer but all in all it wasn't a bad thing because today was terribly hot. We actually set records today for Victoria being the hottest day since 1975.  I think it may have been too hot for the horses to hump us about.

Yeechy things happening in the house.  Our fridge sucks, it has since we bought it but seeing as the dishwasher decided to do its impression of a waterfall and we have to get the service rep out for that we might as well get the fridge looked at too.

On the good side, Trev from Arbour Renovations came over and fixed the back door.  He does a good job.  So I am going to get him to fix the back deck or build us a new one.

Yeehaw

Well just a little bit of a yee haw.  Marla and I started our horse riding course on Wednesday.  We went out to Connect and Ride to get started.  Last time Carmen said to come a little later - the week before we were really early.  This time she said we were a half hour late.  So next week we are going to get there 40 minutes early and see how that works.

We got out to the stable and the first thing we did was to go out to the paddock and get our horses.  I got a brownish gold mare named Sam and Marla was to ride a little gypsy horse named Vixen.  We put the halters and leads on them and brought them down to the stable.  Once we 'tied' them up to the fence we gave each of them a good brushing.  Then we scraped down their hooves.  We put on their saddle blankets, saddle pads, and got the saddle up.  Sam stands about 6ft high and it is a tall lift to get the saddle up on her.  We don't use a halter with a bit in it - the kind we use is called a hackamore.

We went out to the riding ring.  I was able to stretch up my stirrup and get my left foot in, I work my steeltoed boots rather than cowboy boots but they were just a little too wide.  Sam goes forward with a little click of the heels and a 'che che' sound.   "whoa" stops and sometimes goes into reverse.  To go left hold the reigns a little high and to the left, right goes the same way.  Actually the hard part was dropping down out of the saddle.  Rather than staying in the stirrup I take both feet out and slipped down to the ground.

The horses get another brush down and clean hooves.  I felt a little bad for Sam because I am so big but felt totally awesome that I am small enough to be able to ride.  Even if it was just circles in a ring, it felt great.

Bleh

I was so sore.  I woke up feeling really stiff, sore and generally yeechy.  Not only that, I was waking up at 6am on a day when I could be sleeping in.  But first lets go back to the out of Stomp.  It was a really good out.  The show started at 7:30pm and we were ready to take down the show at 9:30pm.  Our guys were expecting a three hour out, instead we had them out the door with the truck doors closed by 11:30.  We give good out.

Colin and I were doing a whole bunch of cleaning up.  There was a ton of sand and dust left from the show.  But we did our best and left the theatre cleaner than when we found it.  So I wasn't that hard worked from the night before.  And I happily went to bed before 1am.  So what I am doing up at six.  Well I am feeling really bad.

On the sideboard by my bed is my bookcase, alarm clock, a glass of water and two tylenol t-3s.  They are a pretty heavy duty pill that I have used in the past to help recover from surgery, cramps, and other bad stuff.  So I took them.  Within a few minutes I was rolled up in a ball on the floor.  I totally hurt.  I had not experienced pain like this since my surgery.

I was trying to decide if I should let it pass or go to emergency.  Emergency would mean waiting a couple of hours to see what is going on and I could do that or wait and see.  I elected to wait and see.  I felt terrible for two hours and it passed.  I guess the issue really lies with taking the NSAID.  The T-3 may have been too much.  So I think I will stay away from them.

As the day progressed I got better and was happy to spend quality time with Marla.  We watched the Labour Day Classic game between Saskatchewan and Winnipeg (why isn't it Manitoba?).  The Roughies won and the day is good again.

Its Showtime

It has been a busy week.  The national touring company of Stomp is in town and I have been working backstage on the crew.  Eight shows in five days is a bit of a tear up and really messes with the exercise schedule.

But going back a little further, I have completed my Ceramics course at University.  I got my usual mark, B+.  I am okay with that and will keep at it.  I was thinking that I may take the follow up course in January.  But I am also toying with the idea of taking the semester off.

Anyways, back to Stomp.  It was a really good show to work on.  The road crew was a fantastic bunch.  Graham (the head carp) and Sam (head props) were the guys that Colin and I worked with the most.  Doing props for the show is a nice active job.  The performers were also nice to work with.  They were funny and polite which is always a plus.

My eating has been a little all over the place.  Mostly because of working this schedule but also because I am drifting a bit.  I am being led astray by some of the 'treats' around the house.  So the best thing is to  get the bad stuff out of the house and stick to the good stuff.

The pear tree's fruit is ready.  It is really nice to go out into the back yard, pick a pear, brush it off and enjoy a healthy treat.  They are very sweet so it is a good thing they are small.

I have been pre-reading for my fall UVic class.  This time around it is Russian History.  I think it is going to be a lot harder getting the names right.  But I am ready for a challenge as much as I am ready for a holiday.

With Classes this summer and shows in September, Marla and I haven't been able to get away.  We are in serious need of a road trip but I don't see any available time until late September or early October.  Even a trip to Portland would be a good break.

But now things are on the way to returning to normal.  Two shows today and an out.  Horse riding on Wednesday and maybe a photo shoot for Camosun, UVic on Thursday and a concert on next Sunday.

Whew.

An evening with Ty Cobb

Well today was a fun day.  Chris, Precious and I had a nice morning walk along the ocean.  The weird part was that the Map My Walk app only measured half the distance and all the time.  So where I think we walked about 8km we only walked 4.  Still it was a nice walk.

I came home and Marla and I watched the Blue Bombers lose to Hamilton TC.  Then we watched a really good game between Saskatchewan and Edmonton.  I can say it was a good game because the Riders won.

Paula invited us over to her place to help celebrate Susan J's birthday.  It was a nice gathering of people.  We didn't eat anything there because we were going over to John's Place to watch a one man show about Ty Cobb.

My eating was pretty good at John's.  I caved and had a little of their bread.  Each time we go there I have a smaller amount.  I tried their Southern Fried Steak but could only eat about a third of it.  It will reheat okay.

Tomorrow is a rest day.

day by day

I had a rough weekend.  I felt like I had a kidney stone coming on.  That sharp pain in my back is very familiar.  So I decided this would be a good time to get rid of some of the lab requests I have stockpiled and go get my blood tested.  Yup, I am anemic - again.

Aside from the stabbing pain in my back every now and then Marla and I had a great time being artsy craftsy in the afternoon.  We went downtown to see the Fibrations show on the lawn of the St. Ann's Academy.  It was all really interesting.  Marla got to try out spinning - It is definately a learned skill.  I don't think she will become a spinner but she had fun.

It was also nice bumping into a bunch of people who we know.  Dallas from the gardening crew and Susan B among a whole bunch of other Camosun retirees were there.  Something I really liked was all the bright colours of the wool and the fabrics. 

Monday was a bit of a down day for me.  I did a few kilometre walk but for the most part I just hung out with Marla.  Any day hanging out with Marla is a good day.

I spent a lot of time doing my homework, I have a presentation for Tuesday to do.

Tuesday,
Well my presentation went very well.  I was very comfortable and worked my stuff.

I walked home from the University 8.1 Kms  and on this very hot day it was a really nice walk.

In the evening Marla and I went down to Centennial Square to check out the food trucks and the start of the fringe.  It kind of sucked, so we went to Shari's Halibut House for fish and chips.  But instead of Chinese food we actually had fish and chips.  It was okay, but felt kind of manufactures.  I think I prefer Brady's.

We came home and ended up giving Precious a bath.  She is really good in the tub.

putting one foot in front of the other

I was up early, about 6 and thought this is a good day for a walk.  My friend Christopher was busy this morning so we couldn't do our usual walk.  And Precious the Pooch has a sore foot, I think she has pulled a muscle in her foot, so I decide that today I would go solo.  I started my walk about 8am after my usual breakfast and headed off into the Victoria morning.  Best of all, I was walking with my new shoes.  I am back in Aasics - my favourite style of shoes and a little smaller now - I can wear size 11s.

My normal walk is to go from home to downtown Victoria and see the Inner Harbour.  It is about five kilometres away and it is a really pretty walk.  The walk was really nice, except I forgot my water bottle, and when I got down to the Inner Harbour the Dragon Boat races were underway.

I walked all around the Inner Harbour and continued through James Bay to the breakwater at Ogden Point.  It is quite nice walking out on the breakwater now with the railings up on it.  I didn't think I would like them but they are quite nice.  And it does open the walkway to people with physical challenges.

From there it was the usual trail that Chris and I take out to Beacon Hill park and what was once the world's tallest totem pole.  By the cricket pitch and up to the Christ Church Cathedral.  Finally I scooted over to Chinatown, through Fan Tan alley and then retracing my steps to home.

When all was said and done I walked 21.4 Kms or half a marathon.  I did it in just under four and a half hours and when you discount the twenty minutes when I watched the dragon boats, I think I am in good order to do the Goodlife half-marathon in October.

It was a pretty good walk and I felt great after it.  The rest of the day was wonderful.  I hung out with Marla and we watched two CFL games.  Both games were awesome, but best of all was that Saskatchewan won in the final plays of the game.

I had a good day.

I think all I do with my blog is catch up

So it has been three months (May some time) since my last blog.  Here I am and it has been quite a summer.  Looking back, shortly after the Burton Cummings concert in Bow, Wa, Marla and I caught the Golden Princess to Alaska from Seattle.  It was one of our best cruises we have ever been on and I promise I will write about it at another time.  It was an awesome trip.

I started with doing a week's run of Beauty and the Beast at the Royal on follow spot.  It was a very good show and it was just too bad that there was no advertising for it and the audiences were very small.  Then it was working at the College for a photoshoot and a video shoot.  It was nice working there for a while.  I even came back and worked for a while filling in as an AV Assistant.  

In July I was back in University - this time taking courses in Ceramics AE303A.  It was an Introduction to Pottery and I really enjoyed this course.  Opportunity knocked with another course.  Sylvia Hosie was going to teach her last beginner tap course.  I am finally small enough that I cannot hurt myself or others so I decided to take it.  It was a hoot.  Sylvia is a wonderful teacher and I had a great time.

Most of all I just enjoyed the summer as it raced past at lighting speed.  Marla and I took in some festivals (the Car Show, and the Buskers) but also we just enjoyed each other.  I puttered around the house.  Got used to my new MacBook Pro.  I walked - a lot.  Marla worried that I would wear out Precious going on these 10, 15 and 20 km walks from home to downtown.  

So in a nutshell - that was my summer of 2013.  So far it was a pretty good year.  Now if I can just keep remembering to write in my blog.

Once more unto the breech - well really just checking in

May 2013 - I started the month off working on a week of shows for Disney's Beauty and the Beast Musical at the Royal.  It was a very good show with the exception that they did no advertising so the audiences really sucked.  Most of the time it was less than half full. 

May 16 we took off to Sidney to catch the Washington State Ferry to Anacortes Washington.  Then we took off for the Skagit Valley Casino. 

 

 

The reason for this trip was that last fall I worked on the Burton Cummings concert at the Royal and I thought that it would be really cool for Marla to see the show.  So he was playing at the Skagit and I got tickets for us for a Christmas present.  We got to the Skagit and while we were unpacking the car a bus came in beside us.  I hustled us in to get checked in before the bus.  Marla went in to check out the room and I got the luggage.  As I was coming back I discovered it was Burton Cumming's bus so he and I had a nice chat for a while.  I told Marla about it and she was a bit ticked that she missed him.

That was the theme of the weekend, I bumped into Cummings a couple times when we talked about hockey, Victoria, and basketball.  Marla missed each time :)  I had a couple of great walks and runs at the Skagit.  they have my favourite hotel swimming pool.  We did a bunch of shopping at Freddies and then caught the concert the next day. 

 

It was a really good show.  Great music from the seventies.  The theater at the Skagit feels like a high school gym.  We had a really really good time. 

 

Then we took off the next day for a night at the River Rock Casino.  there are a few nice things we like about the River Rock.  Of course there are the beds, the view, and the room where you can watch airplanes landing at YVR.  The other cool thing we did at the River Rock was to slip next door and see the Richmond Night Market.  It is kinda tacky and cheap, not to mention cheesy but it is fun and I like the cultural exchange.

 

 

 

To be continued.

 





WLS 18 month check in

Mea Culpa -
It has been ages since I posted anything so this will be the start of a collection of posts.  But first the overview.  Seeing as this was originally about my weight loss journey here is how I have progressed.  From my heaviest weight of 339 I am down to 234.  That's 105 pounds!  I feel great.  I have gone from where size 48 pants are comfortable to where size 36 pants fall off.  My eating sucks.  Dr. Amson said that after my surgery I could eat anything - just not a lot of it.  He was right.  I can eat just about anything as long as it is only in a small amount.  So I graze. A lot.

What I can eat -
Soups - especially ones with meat in them.
Meat - if it is rare
Veggies - cooked
Veggies - raw but only if massively chewed.
Eggs - best if they are poached and not overcooked
Shrimp
Nuts
Beef Jerky

What I can't eat -
Ice Cream
Raw Veggies
Pineapple
Apple - raw
Oatmeal
Mayonnaise
Most Salads
Salmon
Doughnuts
Chow Mein


What I shouldn't eat but sometimes have a bite
Bread - the only bread I will have is when we eat out at Pag's or Olive Garden.  And where I used to have 10 pieces now I have one or two.
Peanuts - devil temptation food
Pizza

Things that have been great since my surgery - I have really got into doing exercise.  I especially like walking.  I regularly work out and try to get two or three 10k walks a week.  I am even at the point now where it is difficult to rest for a day.

I wholeheartedly recommend having this surgery but whoever gets it done has to know that they cannot return to their old life without gaining the (or at least some) weight back.  Weight loss surgery is only the tool - most of the changes have to happen in your head.

week two of this retirement thing.

Well I made it through my first week of retirement.  So far so good.  On the bad side, my plan for getting up and going for early morning walks got a little thwarted first of all that it is bloody cold outside in February, dark too.  Also, I got busy.  On the good side, I have been pretty relaxed.  I have been enjoying my time with Marla.

Today was nice, I went out for lunch with Anne and Kathy.  It was great to share some time with old workmates and friends.  I think seafood chowder or clam chowder is becoming my favourite soup.  I tried making fresh tomato soup, which was really good, but only made 1.5 cups of soup.  I have to try thiagain.

I worked on a couple of Royals Hockey games.  Good games and good times.  my downfall is the buffet of cookies they leave out.  I have got it down to a limit of four per night.  One before the game and one ofter each mid-period commercial break. 

Tomorrow I am working on the Tenors and then I have a week or so off.  Most of it I should be using for my studying.  I have been working of making my memory right.  So I am trying to learn some Shakespeare speeches.  I am starting with All The World's A Stage - Jacques' speech from As You Like It.  It took three days but I think I have it -
All the world's a stage,
and all the men and women merely players.
Their acts being seven ages.
They have their exits and their entrances
Each man in his time plays many parts.
First the infant, mewling and puking in the nurses arms.
And Then the whinning school boy with satchel and shinning morning face
creeping unwillingly to school.  Then the lover, sighing like a furnace,
with a woeful ballad made to his mistresses eyebrow.

Then a soldier, full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard. 
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel
seeking the bubble reputation, even in the cannon's mouth.

Then the justice, with fair round belly and good capon lined
eyes severe, with beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances, and so he plays his part.

he sixth age shifts to the lean and slipp'red pantaloon. 
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
his hose, well saved, a world to wide for his shrunk shrank,
His big manly voice turning again to childish trebles, pipes and whistles
in his sound. 

The last scene of all to end this eventful history is that of second
childishness and mere oblivion.
Sans teeth, Sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.