Nothing to say. . .

I know, you're shocked. Really, I'm tired and tonight I have nothing to say. Lots happened today and I have alot to be grateful for, but not too much noteworthy (ok, not true, just not ready to make note of it).

So, I'll say this. Most of you know I am on a diet. As best I can tell, I have lost 32 lbs. so far in about 60 days. I am happy with that. More to get rid of. I am using the on-line version of www.weightwatchers.com - and clearly its working. Thanks to everyone for your support - I really appreciate it.

Now, can I go to bed? Thanks!
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A week passed. . . ugh.

A whole week passed since my last post, ouch. . . . well, I HAVE been on vacation (as if that was a good excuse.)

I had alot of fun and got to see alot of my old friends while I was back. OK, the few that I didn't get to connect with, you know who you are, we have another chance in December. Can't wait. Did I mention I have alot of great friends? - oh, you say you knew that - oh, well, you're right because if you are reading this you clearly are one of them.

I have a great family too! And it was awesome to spend time with all of them. Thanks Dad and Mom for letting me hang out and putting up with me for a week. Thanks Julie for being a great sister and going out of your way to see me a couple of times. It was an amazing time and my Grandmother and Aunt hosted an amazing Thanksgiving feast - a am truly Thankful!

Back in Gardnerville and working on an incredible church set for Christmas. I cannot believe how many people it takes to put together a production and how many details have to be handled. I have been humbled to be a part of such a great team.
These are great people and they work hard, day and night, serving the Lord. One of the coolest things about CVC is how much JOY is around the place!

Vacation Day One. . . and Taco Bell. . .

What a great day. Slept in, met a great friend for lunch and a walk and then spent time with my Grandmother and Aunt - I am a lucky guy. After that, dinner with my parents and a low key evening. Not alot of excitement for you, but it was a nice day for me.

For those who don't know, I started a diet 8 or 9 weeks ago. The diet I started is Weight Watchers On-line - I like it because I don't have to go to meetings, and I can keep track of what I eat on-line. The Weight Watchers diet is amazing, it really seems like a lifestyle change that can be made for a lifetime. Anyway, one of the things is you can eat anything. . . pretty much. . . you just have to count the points.

Tonight, I got to thinking, I wonder if there is anything I can eat at Taco Bell? I gave up a 3 - 4 (ok maybe 5 - 6) time per week habit when I started this diet. I am not saying that I can't live without my Taco Bell fix, it was just an innocent thought. To be clear, I really like Taco Bell and I know there are ways to eat things on the menu that are "healthy", it's just not as good as the full "unhealthy" stuff. But, this is what I found. . . any two items that I would normally have eaten for lunch had almost 30 grams of fat and *** 3,000 **** mg. of SODIUM. THINK ABOUT THAT - I gave up 3,000 mg. of sodium X 5 or 6 days a week X 9 weeks ago. THAT is alot of salt. . .

My blood pressure seems to be a little low and I have gotten dizzy a couple times in the last few weeks. . . losing weight and starting to work out is why I thought this happened. . . could it be 135,000 mg. less of sodium in the last 9 weeks. . . yes yes. . . I am going to the doctor to have my blood sugar AND blood pressure checked.

"Home" again. . .

Driving home (back to Fresno) was a blast. Normally, I am on the cell phone whenever I am doing this drive. This time, I had a thirty minute praise and worship CD from my church which I pretty much listened to over and over. What an awesome way to cruise along, praising the Lord. Did I mention how incredibly talented the worship team vocalists and band are? They are a great blessing. Anyway, the drive was beautiful in many ways. BTW, missed my church home this weekend!

Wow, nice to be back in Fresno. Dinner with my sister last night and then to my parent's place. We went to church this morning and then had a great lunch (thanks Dad). After that, watching Nascar and Jimmy Johnson win the championship. Very cool and very relaxed.

Went to Cheesecake Factory tonight with a couple of friends. Go ahead, find something to eat there on a diet. :-) Well, I think I did ok. My latest realization, when I set down to eat, I can choose the food I should eat OR I can choose to eat what I shouldn't. . . either way, when I am done, I will be full (or at least not hungry) and satisfied. So, why would I eat things that aren't good for me?? Pretty powerful. . . how is it that it took me 45 years to figure that out. And, would someone remind me of this if I forget it. Vacation is in full swing. . more later.

Catching up. . .

Hmmm. Well, a few days pass again.

High points from the last few days.
Tuesday night - Cabela's Grand Opening. If you don't know what it is, well, I understand. If you don't know what I was doing there, I understand. It's like this, I was invited by some great friends and it was an incredible experience. My retail roots were on overdrive, these people are GREAT at what they do - so my hat is off to Cabela's Reno. I enjoyed the experience (even waiting in line to pay for an hour), and I enjoyed my friends, they are tremendous people (you know who you are)!

Thursday night - Dinner and computer lessons with a friend. Awesome Dinner. . . great company. Did you know that iTunes software has come a long way in the last year or so? I (yes, even I) was impressed with the ease of use and functionality. Wait, isn't that an Apple product, yep, can't wait to get me one of them there iPods. No really!

Friday. . . last day at work for 10 days. Rest, relaxation, friends and family. Can't wait.

What am I doing up this late?

I need to seriously work on sleeping. . . I stay up late and then get up late and rush to work. . . this isn't really working for me.

Anyway, a quick post, I walked again tonight but thankfully earlier than last night. Tonight I went out about 6:30 or so I think. I was 25 minutes into the walk when a Dodge Durango slowed down at the end of the cul-de-sac I was in. I considered my neighborhood VERY safe, however, I still wondered what was about to develop.

A women hung her head out and said "Be careful, I just saw a bear going this direction" and she pointed right where I was headed to. Needless to say I went the other way. Being at 4700 ft and in a valley, and in a drought, bears have been showing up all over town. . . so I believed her.

I finished my 40 minute walk and was glad to NOT have met the bear.

Victory. . . and a promise kept.

Have you ever found that it is easy to keep promises to other people, but sometimes not so easy to keep promises to yourself?? Well, it has been a problem for me, probably only me, some kind of character flaw? Anyway, about 6 weeks ago I promised myself that I would walk at least 30 minutes a day three times a week. Simple, yes, easy, not always.

For a reason I will leave out here, my "promise" week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. This week I had trouble from the start but had two days down by Thursday evening. Now its SUNDAY and I KNEW I had to do the last walk. Well, below you can see I had a great day and I didn't get home until after 7 and it felt like 10 p.m. (I know, it wasn't).

Anyway, I was sitting on the couch and REALLY grappling with this. I was trying to rationalize skipping it, forgive myself in advance, promise to make it up next week. . . and then I remembered that I had PROMISED myself that I would do this. FINALLY, at 10:45 p.m I did it - I got up - put on several layers of clothes (hey, its 40 degrees out there!)and walked the neighborhood for 40 minutes.

For me. . . this is SO HUGE. Major personal let down averted! Thank you Lord!

In a flash, three days pass

OK, so I thought I would write something everyday, but now it's late Sunday and Friday/Saturday disappeared.

So, Friday, looked like this, rain, clouds, cold, awesome.
Saturday, working with a group of great folks on a Christmas stage set, then going to an awesome church service. . . special thanks to a great band and worship team, they rocked and we all worshipped. Then Pastor John spoke with power on disputable matters. . . well, it was on Life Transformation and specifically, managing disagreements. BUT I have never heard a better, more authentic teaching on disputable matters. It will be on this page in a day or so, but don't miss Life Transformers 1 - 4, they are all great. Carson Valley Christian podcasts

Sunday...Movin'Out with my friends and an incredible restaurant for dinner, The Wild River Grille (downtown right on the river!). No, no, no, I am not "movin'out" - it was the Broadway play, second time for me, first for my friends and we all loved it. The band, the dancers, the songs, the story. . . all great. Then a wonderful dinner. . . did I mention it takes great friends to have this much fun???

It's a new day - two

Well, here we are, second attempt, day two. I decided to try my hand at uploading a picture. Seems that they have made this alot easier (even I could do it.)

This is a picture I took early evening in the very late summer, the last alfalfa coming off the fields. If you look in this picture you can see the highway cut in the side of the hill. That is Kingbury Grade and just over the hill is Lake Tahoe.

One thing that I am always reminded of since I moved here is the beauty of God's creation. The Sierras, Lake Tahoe, or the desert, the scenery is amazing around here.

Links worth linking to. . .

http://www.cvcwired.com/ - the incredible church I have joined in Minden,NV

Annoyed with myself

Well, it's true. I haven't posted in over a year. THAT's why I am annoyed with myself. Anyway, I will try to be better at this. There are a ton of things to report on / write about. So tonight is a new beginning. Once a day, hmmm, ok, I will try. Oh, I heard you, shorter posts too. (ok, but try to add a comment on your own then!)

Most all of you know that 6 weeks to the day (or was it 7 weeks), my luggage returned to the Reno airport it originally left from. . . everything was in tact and it appearred to be completely untouched. My laptop, keys, watch, everything was there. But that was a year ago, more current things tomorrow.