THIS IS IT

Well, this may not be IT.
But it is me, standing in front of a wall mural advertising the new Stephen King flick, IT.
I just downloaded iOS 11 last night, and Apple has upgraded the efficiency of the iphone camera.
Perhaps it is my imagination, but I do think that colors captured by this photograph are more vivid.
Whatever. It is what it is. Obviously.

As I set out for my urban hike right around 3:00PM, it can be said that yesterday's twelve mile jaunt was the first  of the new fall season. Ironically, it felt more like one of the hottest days of the summer.

Since the universe tends to run like 'clockwork' it is easy to make certain predictions. It is easy to predict when the seasons change, and it is easy to predict phases of the moon, and for that matter, it is easy to predict solar eclipses...years, decades or even centuries into the future. As predicted, Summer gave way to Autumn yesterday afternoon in Chicago at 3:02PM. Apparently someone forgot to tell the weather forecasters, because they correctly predicted that the temperatures would approach 90°F in the late afternoon. Still seemed like summer to me.

Your Food Diary For:

Friday, September 22, 2017

BREAKFAST	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
Scrambled Eggs	325	3	22	28	317	2
Nova Lox Haven - Smoked Salmon	100	0	6	12	650	0
Kraft  Ham and American Cheese	340	37	16	11	620	17
	765	40	44	51	1,587	19
L U N C H
Jimmy John's - Bootlegger Unwich	320	3	22	28	1,120	0
	320	3	22	28	1,120	0
D I N N E R
Bagel With Cream Cheese	400	58	12	13	780	4
	400	58	12	13	780	4
S N A C K S
Chewy Oat & Honey Cranola Bar	400	76	8	8	220	28
	400	76	8	8	220	28
Totals	1,885	177	86	100	3,707	51
Your Daily Goal	3,649	456	121	183	2,300	136
Remaining	1,764	279	35	83	-1,407	85
	Calories kcal	Carbs g	Fat g	Protein g	Sodium mg	Sugar g
	*You've earned 1,719 extra calories from exercise today

If every day were like today...   You'd weigh 222.8 lbs in 5 weeks     

SATURDAY...TIME TO WEIGH IN

This morning I weighed 250.2 lbs. 
I lost an additional 3.1 lbs this past week.

On August 26, just one month ago my weight has crested at 263.3 lbs.
I WAS depressed.
I was NOT walking.
I was NOT eating well.
I was NOT blogging.

Fast forward one month.
I am NOT depressed.
I AM walking.
I AM eating well (OK, technically not well, but certainly better)
I AM blogging.

THIS IS IT.
It appears to me that I have recaptured the will to succeed that had evaded me for way too long.

ECLIPSE

Totality. My family needed to be 350 miles away from Chicago to see totality. We bucked the traffic trend from northern Illinois and drove northeast to St Clair, Missouri after spending a couple of days in Branson. The difference between seeing a 99% eclipse and totality is huge. While the slimmest sliver of the sun is showing, you need your protective goggles. When totality begins, you enjoy the show with your naked eye. I didn't remember to experience everything. I was unaware of the sounds of cicadas ratcheting up. The temperature did drop in the last moments before the sun disappeared altogether. The bright sunshine of the day made it feel like the light of the last few moments of a day before the sun hides under the horizon. It took a lot of effort to get this experience and it was well worth it. The weather forecast was depressing with 24 hours to go, but miraculously, on the dot on the map that my family selected to experience this, the sun was shining brightly when it counted. This photo is not mine. It was the closest photo that I could find online so that I could remember what I did see with my naked eyes. My next eclipse posting will be April 8, 2024. I will likely recount my adventures from somewhere in Ohio. One thing I might do differently next time? Find a hotel room to stay over wherever I am after the event. That 350 mile trip home from St Clair, Missouri to Chicago took about 11 hours.
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This blog that I did everyday for nearly two years was a good idea. It was a very bad idea to cease blogging. The blog kept me in check. My weight this morning is 261 lbs. Oh yeah, I started at 309 llbs a long time ago. So technically I could say that I lost 47 lbs. The problem is, my low weight was under 220 lbs. So really, I have recently gained 40 lbs. Within a day, a week or sometime soon... I am going to rededicate myself to a eating healthy and exercising. Why this blog was so important to keeping my focused? I don't know... I just was. I will be back.