Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Black Friday. Show all posts

Friday, November 24, 2017

BLACK FRIDAY

Today is the so-called, Black Friday in the retail world. This is the mythical and legendary day when retailers are said to finally go into the 'black' - that is profitability. This is the mythical and legendary day when shoppers used to try to purchase a widescreen TV for some insanely low price by camping out in front of the store for a few hours (or days).   In days gone by, the nearest parking spot at a suburban mall might have seemed to be miles from the entrance, that is if one could even procure a parking spot at all. America has changed. The internet has changed retail. And with each passing year, sales volume online grows and sales volume at brick and mortar stores shrink.  It will likely be crowded today at the malls, but Black Friday ain't what it used to be. Very few things are.


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PRE-DINNER WALK
WALKING DOWNTOWN TO MEET MY FAMILY
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WALKING BACK HOME FROM DOWNTOWN.

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Your Food Diary For:

BREAKFAST Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
Grits 400 88 6 8 1,240 4
Colby & Monterey Jack cheese 160 0 14 10 260 0

560 88 20 18 1,500 4
L U N C H
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich 700 55 31 17 286 31

700 55 31 17 286 31
D I N N E R
Beef Pot Roast 400 38 10 37 2,558 5
Mashed Sweet Potatoes 200 38 4 2 375 10
Classic Bread Stuffing 200 25 9 5 876 3

800 101 23 44 3,809 18
S N A C K S
Frozen Fudge Bar 300 63 3 9 165 60
Volpi - Mozzarella and Prosciutto Roltin 300 3 20 30 1,975 0
Pumpkin Pie 400 52 18 7 394 26

1,000 118 41 46 2,534 86
   
Totals 3,060 362 115 125 8,129 139
Your Daily Goal 4,427 553 147 222 2,300 166
Remaining 1,367 191 32 97 -5,829 27
Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
*You've earned 2,497 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 212.1 lbs in 5 weeks     
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Monday, September 11, 2017

WRONGER TOGETHER

Clinton and scandal go together as smoothly as peanut butter and jelly. It now turns out that Hillary Clinton's pastor who sent her daily devotionals during the campaign had plagiarized many of his words. This news item announcing the book that collected all these daily letters to Hillary was posted by aol.com on August 10, 2017. Headlines less than one month later reported that the book published by Abingdon Press has been withdrawn due to plagiarism.  All remaining copies of the book are to be destroyed.

Hillary's pastor was dishonest?
It's hard to believe.
Not exactly.
In fact, it makes perfect sense.

This book is about to become a collectors item as it will be withdrawn, and all existing copies will be destroyed by its publisher, Abingdon Press. Apparently, the Pastor who sent daily devotionals to Hillary Clinton during the campaign plagiarized much of his writing.  It is hard to believe that Hillary Clinton's pastor might be dishonorable, right. Not exactly. In fact, it makes perfect sense.

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from aol.com

Hillary Clinton’s pastor emailed her after the election: 'It might well be hell for a while’ Aug 10th 2017 10:06PM


CNN has published the email Hillary Clinton's pastor sent her the morning after the 2016 presidential election was called in Donald Trump's favor. It is being released as part of a promotion for the forthcoming book titled 'Strong for a Moment Like This' which is a collection of daily devotionals Rev. Bill Shillady had sent to Clinton during the campaign. His November 9 letter says, "This is not the devotional I had hoped to write. This is not the devotional you wish to receive this day." He then talks about Good Friday which "represented the day that everything fell apart. All was lost.”Shillady later adds, "Today, you are experiencing a Friday. Your Friday is what happened in the last few weeks and last night in the tragic loss. But Sunday is coming!" He ends by saying, "My sister Hillary. You, our nation, our world is experiencing a black Friday. Our hope is that Sunday is coming. But it might well be hell for a while." The letter is one of 635 devotionals Shillady sent Clinton; according to a recent McClatchy piece, "Beginning April 6, 2015, Shillady would start each day by looking at news headlines and finding a Bible verse appropriate to what was happening in the world or in Clinton's life. He would write a short meditation on the verse, offer a prayer and email the devotional to Clinton by 5 a.m." The final one was sent on the last day of 2016. According to Shillady, it was Clinton's idea to release the book which includes 365 messages and a foreword written by her.

from the Washington Post
Book by Hillary Clinton's Pastor Will be Pulled from Shelves due to Extensive Plagiarism

By Julie Zauzmer  (September 5 at 5:46PM


Hillary Clinton said that the email her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Bill Shillady, sent her on the morning after she lost the 2016 presidential election helped her heal from her devastating defeat. It wasn’t until months later, when Shillady published that email in a book, that it came to light that he had plagiarized the words that so moved the candidate. Now, less than a month after the book’s publication, the publishing house that printed it says it is pulling the book off the shelves because it’s riddled with plagiarism. “Abingdon Press initiated an extensive review of the book and was alarmed to discover other content unattributed by the author. Abingdon Press has zero tolerance for plagiarism,” the Rev. Brian K. Milford, the president of the publishing company, said in a statement. “Consequently, we have discontinued sales, will remove existing copies from all sales outlets, and will have them destroyed along with our existing inventory.” Shillady, who did not respond to a Washington Post reporter’s call on Tuesday evening, sent an emailed statement: “I deeply regret my actions. I was wrong and there is no excuse for it. I apologize to those whose work I mistakenly did not attribute. I apologize to those I have disappointed, including Secretary Hillary Clinton, Abingdon Press, and all the writers and others who have helped me publish and promote this book. I ask for everyone’s forgiveness.” His book, “Strong for a Moment Like This,” compiled the emails that he and other pastors sent to Clinton every morning of her campaign. She read the morning emails, which contained a biblical passage, a short sermon and a prayer, throughout her grueling run for president. Shortly before the book came out last month, CNN published the day-after email that Shillady sent on Nov. 9. Indiana pastor Matt Deuel recognized the words as nearly identical to his own and contacted CNN, which broke the news that the portion of the book was plagiarized on the day before it came out. Clinton wrote the foreword for her pastor’s now-discredited book. Her own book about the campaign, “What Happened,” comes out next week.
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This is what I take issue with. How dare this pastor write to Hillary on the day after the election and write the following: 

"My sister Hillary. You, our nation, our world is experiencing a black Friday. Our hope is that Sunday is coming. But it might well be hell for a while."

This is addressed to Pastor Bill Shillady. Sir, the millions of Americans who voted for Donald Trump were not experiencing any kind of 'Black Friday' on Wednesday morning, November 9, 2016. In fact, half of America was experiencing a type of political euphoria that seemed quite implausible months, weeks, days and in fact, hours before election day. And while, in the wake of the election, we are not experiencing 'Heaven' (Heaven on Earth is some type of oxymoron) we sure as hell ain't experiencing hell! 


While we are on the subject of stupid unwanted books... Hillary Clinton's own book, WHAT HAPPENED, is about to be unleashed on the public on September 12.  My guess is, that I might have something to say about that too.  Stay tuned.


...and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...



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The irony of the weather is that while Florida has been bracing for a direct hit from Hurricane Irma all weekend, the weather in Chicago was spectacular beyond words. One could not find a single cloud anywhere in the sky on Saturday or Sunday. On Sunday morning, my legs felt a little bit wobbly from some recent high levels of activity. Still, the Sunday weather 'demanded' that I get outside and take an urban hike. I managed to log nine miles before dinner. I walked at a 'leisurely pace' not quite 4mph.  I am once again getting addicted to the satisfaction I feel when I have logged more than 20,000 steps in a day. This, at least, is a healthy addiction. 





Your Food Diary For:

BREAKFAST Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
Egg - Poached Eggs 300 2 20 25 629 1
Lunch Mate Honey Smoked Ham 100 7 3 17 701 5
Quaker - Instant Oatmeal Packet - Unflavored 300 57 6 12 225 0

700 66 29 54 1,555 6
L U N C H
Oki Sushi - Tuna Roll Maki With Avocado 400 51 9 31 0 0

400 51 9 31 0 0
D I N N E R
Campbell's Chunky Sirloin Burger Soup 260 34 8 14 1,580 6
Little Salad Bar - Asian Chopped Salad 385 46 21 7 1,190 25

645 80 29 21 2,770 31


Totals 1,745 197 67 106 4,325 37
Your Daily Goal 3,304 413 110 166 2,300 124
Remaining 1,559 216 43 60 -2,025 87
Calories
kcal
Carbs
g
Fat
g
Protein
g
Sodium
mg
Sugar
g
*You've earned 1,374 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 227.2 lbs in 5 weeks     



Saturday, November 28, 2015

MARC BY MARC JACOBS

Somewhere within the past decade, the term, BLACK FRIDAY, became a marketing sensation.  When I was younger, Black Friday, simply meant the busy shopping day on the Friday after Thanksgiving that retailers finally went 'into the black' and starting actually booking profits for the year.  Nowadays, whether that it still true or not, is no longer the point.  BLACK FRIDAY, today, means that retail stores are making extraordinary efforts to earn the dollars of consumers.  Some stores offer impossibly low prices on very limited numbers of items, other stores have markdowns on the entire inventory of their store and still more stores open for business on Friday morning at ridiculous times like 5:00AM.  The latest trend has been for BLACK FRIDAY to start on Thursday.  More and more stores are opening sometime on Thanksgiving Day and then staying open all through the night until closing time on Friday.  In Chicago, we took notice of this trend at Banana Republic, The Gap and Macy*s. Our family had some minor shopping to do for the final preparation of our daughters' Bat-Mitzvah next weekend.  Me?  I am always looking for an 'excuse' to walk downtown and build up my 'steps.'  My family walked along Michigan Avenue, we took a detour to check out Millenium Park and then we finally headed to the legendary Macy*s store on State Street. (This location was the original home of Marshall Fields flagship store)  Before a dress and shoes were purchased for my wife and daughter - we stopped by the Marc Jacobs section where his handbags were for sale. Our shopping expedition was complete by 1:30AM early Friday morning, and since it was raining, we relented and took the subway home.  

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Yesterday morning, I awoke around 7:30 for my 10 mile walk.  Although when I started it wasn't exactly raining, it wasn't exactly not raining either.  The gusty winds were quite evident and the temperature had dropped around 20° from the relative warmth of the night before.  It wasn't too long during my walk that it started to unambiguously rain.  The lakefront looked much more like an ocean than a lake.  I was walking on a paved path close to the waters, and a wave surprised me and I found myself standing in 2" of cold lake water.  This made the last 1.5 miles of my walk just a bit more uncomfortable.  (note to self: when the Lake Michigan waters are so evidently choppy - stay away)

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Your Food Diary For:

Friday, November 27, 2015

BREAKFAST Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar
Quakers - Rice Cake Lightly Salted, 14 Cake (9g) 490 98 0 14 210 0
michiganApples - red delicious apple, 1 large 130 34 0 1 0 25
Kind Healthy Grains - Dark Chocolate Chunk, 1 bar (35g) 150 23 5 2 70 8

770 155 5 17 280 33
L U N C H
Libby's - Whole Kernel Sweet Corn, 1 3/4 cup cooked 210 32 5 7 700 25
Campbell's - Home Style Mexican-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup, 2 cup 260 40 4 14 1,700 8

470 72 9 21 2,400 33
D I N N E R
Bobak's - Polish Sausage, 1 link 230 1 21 10 0 0
Wegmans - Herb Stuffing, 4 oz 160 20 7 4 360 2
Broccoli - Broccoli, 1 cup 60 6 1 5 49 0

450 27 29 19 409 2
S N A C K S
WHOLE FOODS 7700 - ORGANIC DATE PIECES w/OAT FLOWER, 80 g (2 TBSP) 240 60 0 2 20 44
WHOLE FOODS 8497 - CHERRY VANILLA GRANOLA, 77.0 g (3/4 cup) 336 56 10 7 84 21

576 116 10 9 104 65
Totals 2,266 370 53 66 3,193 132
Your Daily Goal 5,043 630 168 253 2,300 189
Remaining 2,777 260 115 186 -892 56
Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar
*You've earned 3,113 extra calories from exercise today         

Your Exercise Diary for:

Friday, November 27, 2015
Cardiovascular Minutes Calories Burned
Walking, 4.5 mph, very, very brisk pace 132 1,968
Walking, 3.5 mph, brisk pace 123 1,091
MFP iOS calorie adjustment Ic_i N/A 54

   
Daily Total / Goal 256 / 30 3,113 / 590  
Weekly Total / Goal 1050 / 210 16,306 / 4,130             
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total calories consumed 2266 calories
total calories burned (10 mile walk) 1968 calories
total net calories 298 calories
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fitbit day 86
40912 steps
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ten mile walking streak reached 19 days.


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

214.8 lbs

I weigh 214.8 lbs.
I lost 2.2 lb this week
I have lost 94.2 lbs in 339 days. Today begins Day 340.
I will always be at the beginning of a journey that never ends.
I weigh 214.8 lbs (339 days ago I weighed 309 lbs)
I have lost 30.48% of my weight since Dec 24.
I have a BMI, body mass index of 28.73
I had a 42.0 BMI on Dec 24 just 339 days ago (Class III obesity)

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My daughter does not share my opinion that this is a clever photograph.