Michelle, Rita, Eleanor, Lucy

What do these names have in common, besides being names of women? I'm looking for one specific answer. Leave your answer as a comment, the first correct one wins a prize.

The World Without Us

I forget what list I stumbled across this book on, but I'm thankful for it. This book has been pretty amazing so far, and I'm just halfway through it.

Basically, it's about what would happen to our planet should all human life vanish. It details how nature would slowly flex her muscles and take back what what we've claimed. It's really showing me how we as humans are not only consuming our planet, but destroying it as well.

Entire species have vanished. Vast forests have been decimated. Plants and animals have been imported into foreign ecosystems with devastating results. Rivers run dry, and there are deserts where there once was abundance. But there's hope.

Reading on you can see how God made this planet to cure itself. Without human interference, the balance will be restored. Scars will remain, but life will flourish and take back what we've paved over.

It's a book about hope and rebirth. Your library probably has it. Read it. Share your thoughts.

Do you ever wonder...

If your life is a movie, and you're watching it from the outside? And when does the good stuff happen?

Make up your own holiday day

So today is "Make Up Your Own Holiday Day". I declare today to be "Post a pic of yourself where you are right now. I'm at work, so here I am in my cube.

 

Where are you? I'm tagging all of you who read this... get busy!

Expectations...

Starting when I was a kid, I had expectations of great things. Santa Claus and all the presents he brings, things that I was told if I just believe, they will come true. True love, friends for life, a dream job, big expectations. Smaller ones also - I'll be able to rely on people to do what they say, stuff will work when I want it to, my friends will remember my birthday.

I usually expect things in life to work as I believe they should. And when they don't it, it gets bad. It gets ugly.

Lately I've noticed my bad days are a result of my expectations not being met. It doesn't matter how much I was relying on it, but when it doesn't turn out the way I expected it to it really bothers me. I anticipate results from certain situations and they end up being the exact opposite of what I hoped for. It's not making me happy.

Is it so wrong to expect something positive? Should I not be anticipating joy and happiness? Should I not work towards that goal, as long as I don't forget the here and now?

Or is the problem the things I'm hoping for in the future are clouding what I need to work on in my present? Am I holding my happiness in the present hostage to expected happiness in the future? And then what do I fall back on when things don't work out the way I anticipated them?

Maybe I should go back to just worrying about today and let the future develop as it will. Maybe I should just live for this moment right now.

Good Friday

Pretty much sums it all up

How to get your heart rate to 180bpm without much effort.

I think I'll skip this method...

My Celebrity look-alikes.

I've always been a big fan of John Belushi, so this is pretty neat!

MyHeritage: Celebrity Morph - Descendants - Family tree outline

60.4

Just got back from my latest weigh-in.

Here I am in August 07 - 2 weeks after I started on WW (disregard the tiara!)

Here I am yesterday - 7 months later

60.4 pounds lighter! Yay God and yay me!

I feel a whole lot better - more energy, more stamina, I want to get out and do more stuff instead of vegging. I do need to buy a bunch of clothes, I'm hitting Goodwill for now for basic stuff like jeans and tee's, but I'm spending a little more on work clothes. I've pretty much had to replace everything I used to wear.

I want to get to 185, that's another 75 pounds. I'll be there hopefully by the end of the year - that's a conservative 8 lbs a month loss.

Moving...

Not me, this blog. It'll be hosted on it's own domain with the next week or so. If you're coming here through www.stevenixon.net, you will see a parked page in the next 72 hours. If you're coming here through snixon67.blogspot.com there will be no change until the switch is made, then you'll see a reminder...

Thanks to the splendiferous Merlene at Madbo for providing hosting.

Snow Day Part Duex

Here's the view looking up my street. That's my truck on the right

Todd, Bruce, and I decided to walk over to Kroger to pick up a few things. I needed stuff to make chili, and Todd had a couple items he wanted. Bruce came along because he was wanting to get out of his house for a bit

Kroger was packed! The lot was full, and people were in a full shopping frenzy inside.

The road crews were out in full force - this was one of three snowplows in a row that went by. I don't like the dirty, nasty, slushy stuff. Say what you want about it, there's few things prettier than a fresh blanket of white snow

Here's my truck, he's a little cold. I'll have to clear him soon, it's supposed to get down to 13 tonight, so that nice snow covering is going to be rock-hard tomorrow morning.

One last look up the street. It really is quite pretty, and it's going to be around for a while

The walk was good, I'm going to call it 3 activity points since it was a little tough walking through all the snow for 1/2 mile round trip. But it was worth more, since I got to chat with Todd and Bruce on the way.

Why I love Weight Watchers

This was my breakfast today: An Eggbeaters omelette with broccoli, ham, and cheddar cheese, and toast

So simple - 1/2 cup Eggbeaters (1 point), 1/4 cup Kraft 2% sharp cheddar (4.5 points), a cup of steamed broccoli (0 points), and 4 slices of Healthy Ones Ham (.5 points)

2 slices of Aunt Millies Fiber for Life Light Potato Bread (1 point), and an 8oz glass of Tropicana Light and Healthy Orage Juice (1 point). The I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray on the toast and the Garlic Tabasco are free in normal servings.

So I had this killer, very filling breakfast for 8 points, and I've lost 56 pounds since July 14th. Since I'm going to walk over to Kroger after a bit, I'll earn a couple activity points also. Weight Watchers is a plan that works - it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle.

Catching snowflakes...

on my tounge.

It's snowing pretty hard here, a blizzard warning was just issued. I haven't been in a blizzard since I left North Dakota in 1981. This could be interesting, especially with how everyone here panics when there's even a hint of snow.

I hate to see what Kroger looks like right now

8 things you may not know about me

Inspired by my friend Merlene, who's pretty cool for a Canadian ;)

1. I was bit by a bat when I was 4 years old. Since the bat was not caught, I had to undergo the rabies series, which back then was 14 shots, 2 a day in the stomach. To this day I still have a fear of bats and I loathe injections.

2. I read on average 3 books at a time. I have one in the truck that I read while crossing the ferry or at work, one next to the bed, and one in the bathroom. The book in the truck is almost always fiction, and the others are usually spiritual and other non-fiction.

3. I am Mexican Indian, my grandmother was a Yaqui Indian from Monterrey, Mexico.

4. I have a fascination with bagpipes and drums. I have several cds featuring them, and I've always wanted to learn to play the pipes.

5. I won the 6th grade spelling bee at Carl Ben Eielson Elementary because I could spell "martyr", which I had read about in an encyclopedia the night before.

6. For one week, the only food I had in my apartment was a 30-gallon bag of movie-theater popcorn and a 6 pack of Coors light. That was what I subsisted on until I was paid next. And I still like popcorn.

7. In one 6-month period, I traveled 10,000 miles between Cincinnati OH, Jacksonville FL Chicago IL, Johnson City TN, Salt Lake City UT, and Albuquerque NM.

8. I joined Weight Watchers on July 14 and to date I have lost 55.6 pounds. 80 more to my goal, at which I am getting a tattoo

Now - tell me 8 things I don't know about you. Comment here with a link to your blog.

iPod guilt?

Does anyone else feel guilty when you skip over a song that comes up when your iPod is on shuffle?

I loaded that song, I must like it. So why I am skipping it? And is the artist offended when I do. Not that Beck (for example) looks at my iPod playlist.

Or does he?

Is it just me?