llcoolvad | vacation, drive-ins, walkies, apnea, etc.

Sunday the 10th started my long weekend in Provincetown with my pals Steve and Val. Had a good time, and for the first time since I've been going there I was able to walk into town, and walk all over town, and walk on the beach, and so on! Awesome! Took a ton of photos, too. We also did the drive-in movies, and decided this time to take two cars so no one was stuck in the back seat, which was an excellent decision. I really love the drive-in and I don't even know why! I mean, the visuals aren't great. The sound is ok. The movies are never ones you'd necessarily choose, since there's always a kid one first, and then the more grownup one after (we saw Madagascar 3 and Men in Black 3). I guess it's nice to not have to deal with other people breathing down your neck and rustling wrappers and walking in front of you. The car is way more comfy than an average theater seat, for sure. I don't think it's the nostalgia for me, because I never went to drive-ins as a kid. But I love them.

Meep meep!

Oh, the talented refreshment food.

Where we stayed.

More photos at Flickr.

[A neat aside: so S&V are super early risers and the condo they'd rented doesn't really have any sound insulation. I asked them to listen when they got up in the morning to see if I was snoring. They reported that they didn't hear anything. During all previous stays they could always hear steady snoring. Wouldn't that be an awesome side effect of weight loss, losing my apnea? Here's hoping. I'm going to set up some sound recorder on my desktop one of these nights and see if it's true. I've actually been feeling better lately, less tired, which is why I wanted them to listen for me. Mom can never tell because I keep my door closed so I won't be kept awake by her tv.

Besides the obvious live longer and better aspect of not having apnea, it would be nice to be able to travel again with people without having to have them hate me. This could be more relevant later in the year, as there's a slight chance that I'll get the opportunity to go to France with my coworker and her brother and some of their other friends. I'm on the waiting list — there's a max of six that can fit in the house they rented, and they have four yeses and two maybes. If one of the maybes turns to a no, I'm in. Her brother is a flight attendant and can get us super cheap plane fare. Whee!]

Work was crazy busy all last week — every once in a while everything seems to heat up from all corners at the same time, and this was one of those times. We were also preparing for my friend Theresa's disappearing act for the next few weeks. She's the daytime workflow guru, and she's having surgery and being out of work for a few weeks. We're panicky, as she's really the only organized person in the whole department.

Friday I went into town to see Patrick in a one-act that was so bizarre I can't really describe it. It was a night of one-acts, and most of them had an "experimental" side to them. Not really my thing, but I had a good time anyway. Took the T in (was near BU) then rode back with P.

Sunday I drove out to western Mass to help Suzanne get some packing done. She's closing on a new house in a couple weeks and needs to get out of her old one quickly so she can put it on the market, so getting everything packed up for quick moving is key. I've got too much experience with packing (the last time I checked I'd lived in something like 25 places?), but it's a useful skill. I also ate lots of nummy food, so the work was mitigated by the nummy food.

Monday was all chores and standing in line at Comcast, etc. My usual Monday. After dinner, P and I took a walk around the lake. I am still a little sore from Sunday's box hefting, so I was slightly off pace, but I'm ok with that. I still walked! This time last year I couldn't have done any of it.

I have a friend who just had gastric bypass (or something. I didn't ask the specifics on which type of WLS) on the 6th. So that's what, two weeks ago? And she's lost 30 pounds. It's taken me just a tiny bit shy of an entire year to lose 80+. THAT's a little discouraging. Surgery is not something I'd consider for myself (I don't think I'd have the discipline to eat a liquid diet for weeks, and then the sticktoitiveness to eat restricted forever, plus I don't think I would feel good about deliberately damaging an organ), but it does get some super dramatic results! I should probably hide her posts on FB so I don't see the delight. Sigh!

(Another aside: I have heard that the latest technique for that surgery is to go down the esophagus and into the stomach from the INSIDE, so there aren't giant wounds to heal in addition to the stomach to heal. That's pretty fascinating. It makes perfect sense, really. If you've got a handy orifice, why not use it?)

Tracked over 40 miles so far this month. There were short walks also that I didn't track. I had a mini vacation in there, and I spend calories other ways a couple of days and so didn't walk. I've started reading about walking and how to improve my speed and distance. I shoot for about three miles per walk, and mostly that takes me an hour. I want to get to a faster pace. I plan to stick to doing an hour per day.

One thing I realized about myself when I'd go to the gym is that I quit exercising really easily. So to compensate for that I make it so that I can't quit. I launch myself in a direction and keep going for a half hour. Then I turn around and come back. I have no choice, I can't quit, because otherwise I couldn't get home. I was thinking about that on Monday because I was pretty sore from moving stuff the day before, and I knew that if I'd been on the treadmill I'd have just gotten off again, probably around minute twenty. Instead, we walked the whole lake, which takes me just about an hour (it's 3.05 miles) at my "I can still talk with Patrick" pace.

This whole thing I'm doing isn't entirely about willpower. It's about tweaking my own behaviors so it doesn't MATTER how much willpower I have or don't have.