LONG BEACH

In the spirit of Homer Simpson, it has been my 'lifelong dream' for the past two years to walk to Long Beach from my Mom's house in Lynbrook where I grew up. My Mom still lives in the house that I grew up in and I got it into my head that it would be a interesting to walk to the beach sometime during a visit. During my last visit to Lynbrook, a family crisis interfered with my plans.  When my Mom shattered her ankle in three places during my last visit, my enthusiasm for taking such a walk and the opportunity to do so disappeared. Fast forward, fourteen months, and my Mom is back on her feet and while the ankle is not 100%, it still qualifies as a wonderful miracle that she can walk again, and while my Mom humorously says the ankle is not painful, but gives her discomfort. Me? I consider pain and discomfort to be synonyms - but I digress.

I woke up early on Wednesday morning in the same bed that I used to wake up in when I was going to high school nearly, but not quite 50 years ago.  I made myself two bowls of instant oatmeal and set out for my suburban hike. I bundled up quite well, and checked the temperature. The temperature when I set out was 20°F. I was able to easily convince myself that it was not so cold, because back at my home in Chicago at the very same moment, it was -1°F.

The trek to the beach, the the Atlantic Ocean was just 6.5 miles and it took just over an hour and a half. Had I just turned around and returned the way I came, I would have taken a 13 mile trek. I did not do that. I continued west along the boardwalk which was recently re-built after 'Super Storm Sandy' five years ago to the very end, and then I continued on the main road to the Atlantic Beach Bridge. I don't think that I crossed this bridge even a dozen times in my entire life growing up. In fact, I wasn't sure that I could cross it as a pedestrian until I googled it during my hike and confirmed that it did have a pedestrian sidewalk. Using my MapMyWalk App, I saw that the way back to Lynbrook was very uncomplicated. I made a right turn shortly after crossing this bridge and walked a few miles on Broadway right back to my neighborhood. I made a short detour to walk past the elementary school that I started attending as a kindergartner likely in 1962.

My hike was 17 miles. I came home, had some lunch with my Mom and then I had to go back outside to do my chores. My Mom had asked me to clear some leaves in her front yard and yesterday seemed like a good day to do that.

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Your Food Diary For:

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Trader Joe's - Maple and Brown Instant Oatmeal	320	64	4	8	480	26
	320	64	4	8	480	26
L U N C H
Oven Broiled Chicken	200	0	13	20	146	0
	200	0	13	20	146	0
D I N N E R
Garden Salad	100	6	0	4	400	4
Chicken Parmesan and Spaghetti	600	99	21	79	858	0
French Baguette	300	60	2	10	740	2
Rataouille	200	44	3	8	216	44
	1,200	209	26	101	2,214	50
S N A C K S
Cookies, Brownie	300	47	12	4	231	27
	300	47	12	4	231	27
Totals	2,020	320	55	133	3,071	103
Your Daily Goal	4,560	570	152	229	2,300	171
Remaining	2,540	250	97	96	-771	68
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 2,630 extra calories from exercise today

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This was just the beginning of my hike, when I arrived at the boardwalk for my view of the Atlantic Ocean.

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I am facing east, but the camera is facing west while standing on the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

I am facing west, but the camera is facing east while standing on the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

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TOBACCO FREE CAMPUS

During my ten mile urban hike close to home in Chicago yesterday, I passed by the elementary school that my daughter attended from Kindergarten through fifth grade. I saw a sign that stopped me in my tracks. The sign appears to be brand new.  I can imagine the parents of the kindergarteners arriving next September, the 8th grade CLASS OF 2025.  What will they think? Will they think that this sign was posted because smoking was ubiquitous at this school?  When my daughter attended this school I hardly saw any of the elementary school kids chewing tobacco or smoking.  Not a cigarette, not a pipe, not a cigar.  I never even saw someone vaping. (Of course, vaping had not been invented yet when my daughter started kindergarten. Besides the sign does not prohibit vaping as there is no tobacco used with that system.) I graduated from grade school in 1969.  We were not the beneficiary of such a sign. And yet, I never saw anyone smoking on my 'campus' at the William L. Buck Elementary School on Horton Avenue in Valley Stream.  Back then, smoking was actually a popular activity among the adult population. Smoking never really took off among us elementary school kids. We were too busy trading and flipping baseball cards. And yet, I never once, saw any child or adult smoking anywhere on that 'campus.' Not only is BIG GOVERNMENT harmful, it is also silly.

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47 years after I graduated 6th grade from William L Buck School - The school looks the same from the outside.  I wonder if that school now finds it necessary to post signs advising all that it is Tobacco Free. Somehow I managed to avoid all tobacco products without similar warning signs within ten feet of the monkey bars. How ever did I manage?

ten mile urban hike in the early afternoon

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four mile urban hike in the late afternoon

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I squeezed in another 30 minutes on the elliptical machine from 11:30AM to Midnight

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Your Food Diary For:

Saturday, July 23, 2016

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Nabisco - Ritz Crakers, 15 Crackers	240	30	14	3	315	3
Creamy - Peanut Butter	300	13	25	11	221	5
Quaker - Instant Oatmeal - Blueberries & Cream	390	78	6	9	510	33
	930	121	45	23	1,046	41
L U N C H
Sweet Potato Mashed Potatoes	200	46	0	4	80	14
Meatballs with Cheese	599	27	30	54	1,935	3
Mashed Potatoes With Ham	300	30	12	14	876	0
	1,099	103	42	72	2,891	17
D I N N E R
Double Luck - Sweet Peas	280	53	0	14	1,330	14
Read 4 Bean Salad	300	65	0	5	1,500	40
Double Luck - Corn	245	46	4	7	1,260	21
	825	164	4	26	4,090	75
S N A C K S
Kind - Dark Chocolate Chunk Bar, 2 bar	300	50	9	6	130	18
	300	50	9	6	130	18
Totals	3,154	438	100	127	8,157	151
Your Daily Goal	3,543	443	118	178	2,300	132
Remaining	389	5	18	51	-5,857	-19
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,613 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 212.1 lbs in 5 weeks     

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Your Exercise Diary for:

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Cardiovascular	Minutes	Calories Burned
Walking	131	893
Walking	65	443
MATRIX TREADMILL	30	450
Daily Total / Goal	226 / 30	1,786 / 590
Weekly Total / Goal	1134 / 210	8,263 / 4,130

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Vaping

The process by which one inhales vapour from a personal vaporiser, or e-cig. 

Used instead of 'smoking' to describe the action of someone sucking on the business end of an e-cig 

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e-cigarette

[ee-sig-uh-ret]

noun

a device used to simulate the experience of smoking, having a cartridge with a heater that vaporizes liquid nicotine instead of burning tobacco. Also called electronic cigarette, Informal, e-cig

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SINCE VAPING (SMOKING AN E-CIGARETTE) DOES NOT USE TOBACCO - I TAKE IT THE LITTLE KIDS IN KINDERGARTEN CAN USE THIS PRODUCT?  Certainly their parents waiting on the playground to pick up their kids after school will be able to use e-cigarettes, yes?  Why have this tobacco-free sign?  Why was there not a sign proclaiming that this was an alcohol free zone? Or a drug-free zone? I looked, but I didn't even see the my favorite stupid sign proclaiming a gun-free zone. (I may have to look closer next time - gun-free signs are a favorite among school administrators)