A New Blog

Yep, I've created a new blog. This one is about Tennis. It's called Views From The Baseline. I don't know where I'll find the time to keep all the blogs going. I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of work. But check out the blog if you want to.

Update

Well, the Norton people activated the subscription thing I bought. It only serves to reinforce my belief that they never intended for me to be able to do it myself. That they bulit in that stupid error message on purpose to make me contact them so they would know that I have a real version of their product and not a pirated copy.

I weighed myself today for the first time since Feb 20th and while I fully expected to weigh a lot more than I did then since I went on an eating binge after Phoebe passed away, I was surprised to find out that I am actually 0.2 pounds less than I was then. I've been walking outside for 20 to 30 minutes a day and getting on the treadmill for a little bit longer. And I've been dieting again. Hopefully, I can lose a few more pounds. Oh, I've also been doing pilates.

I may be creating yet another blog. I've been posting entirely too much tennis stuff on my golf blog.

Another person at work asked me about how I lost all the weight. I really should write a book.

I Hate Computers

I ordered the renewal subscription thing for the norton internet security program that came with my computer. I tried to activate it and it won't let me. So, I emailed the norton people. They probably want people to email them so they can make sure people aren't stealing and copying their programs. Like I would want to do that. I don't even want the renewal thing but the stupid program keeps putting up these pop up boxes every few seconds and it's driving me nuts.

Another Sunny Day

Today was another sunny day and I was lucky enough to be off from work. I went to Mom and Dad's for a while today then came home and ate lunch. I was outside using a wire brush to scrape old peeling paint off some lawn furniture when Dad drove up. He had bought a small trailer at an auction yesterday and picked it up today. He stopped by here to get some things he needed to work on the trailer. So, I helped him with some things and then washed my car. Fritz and Steffi were out with me most of the time and they really got tuckered out. I waxed my car, which hasn't been done since sometime in 2005 and then got in a half hour of walking outside. Took a nap and walked another half hour then ate supper, fed the dogs and cats and took a bath. Oh, and I did pilates a couple of times today, trying to suck in everything.

I've been watching the Tennis Channel for two days and haven't seen Rafael Nadal once. I'm greatly disappointed.

Early to Rise

I got up at 5am as usual this morning, but this time I went to Krogers and Walmart instead of staying home on Saturday. I wanted to go really early because when traffic picks up, you can't get out of the Krogers parking lot without going a long way out of your way. At walmart I got these doggie treats that have joint maintenance stuff in them. I figure it will be easier to give those to Steffi rather than pills. And she ate the first one just fine.

I got home and tried to take a nap, but didn't fall asleep. So, I got up and ate lunch (taco salad made with low fat ground turkey breast and baked tortilla chips and reduced fat grated cheese), and went outside and walked for about 50 minutes. Then I took another nap and this one included sleep. I ate supper and then went out and walked a little bit more and raked up some leaves. The dogs have been worn out with all this going outside business, but I'm taking advantage of the good weather. We've been cold and snowy for months. It's about time we get some warm air and sun.

Steffi

A few years ago, Steffi had an operation on her hind leg to repair what the vet said was like an athlete's torn ACL. In the last few days I've noticed that this leg is swollen. She's still using it and doesn't act like it hurts any. I'm guessing this is just arthritis. She will be 15 years old this summer.

YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hostess 100 calorie cupcake snack packs. Very, very good.

Nice, Sunny and Warm

I went outside to walk tonight. There are no flowers out there yet to attract the bees, which means no bees to swarm around my hair.

Today Show

I just saw a piece on the Today Show about the controversial 'Tomb of Jesus' documentary. There was a representative of the Catholic church on the show. This man spent the whole time yelling at Meredith Viera. He said that every year around Easter time something comes out to try to discredit the biblical story of Jesus. Well, he should be used to it by now then and not be so angry. There was absolutely no reason for this man to yell like he did. Meredith didn't produce the documentary, neither did the Agnostic guy they had on there sitting next to the yeller.

Pet Food Recall

Found this at yahoo news:

WASHINGTON - A major manufacturer of dog and cat food sold under Wal-Mart, Safeway, Kroger and other store brands recalled 60 million containers of wet pet food Friday after reports of kidney failure and deaths.

An unknown number of cats and dogs suffered kidney failure and about 10 died after eating the affected pet food, Menu Foods said in announcing the North American recall. Product testing has not revealed a link explaining the reported cases of illness and death, the company said.

"At this juncture, we're not 100 percent sure what's happened," said Paul Henderson, the company's president and chief executive officer. However, the recalled products were made using wheat gluten purchased from a new supplier, since dropped for another source, spokeswoman Sarah Tuite said. Wheat gluten is a source of protein.

The recall covers the company's "cuts and gravy" style food, which consists of chunks of meat in gravy, sold in cans and small foil pouches between Dec. 3 and March 6 throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

The pet food was sold by stores operated by the Kroger Company, Safeway Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and PetSmart Inc., among others, Henderson said.

Here's a list of the stores that have the affected foods:
http://www.menufoods.com/recall/

New Shopping Experience

Our new Walmart Supercenter just opened on Wednesday. I got to go see it this morning before work. It's nice. They say that if you walk around the inside perimeter of the store, you'll have walked a whole mile. If I can do that each work morning then that's extra exercise for me. I'm usually in walmart every work day morning for something or other. I'll probably go back tomorrow morning to look at more things and then on Saturday I'll do some real shopping. I've written down the prices I pay for things at Krogers and I'm going to compare. I think they made a mistake though by putting in a game room. It will only encourage the hoodlums to hang around there harrassing people.

I got the Casino Royale DVD today in the mail. I plan to watch it tonight. I would be watching golf but the Golf Channel is only featuring Tiger Woods instead of all the players in the event. So, I wouldn't enjoy watching that at all.

Weekend Work

This weekend I did some yardwork. It was warm and sunny part of the time so it made yardwork better. I took Steffi and Fritz out with me. They enjoyed it. I picked up all the tree branches that had fallen out of the trees and into the yard in the pas 5 or 6 months. Then I cleaned out the gutter that runs beside the house and removed the old peonies bushes from the flower beds. They die every year in the Fall and then come up in the Spring. I'm sure most people cut back the old dead parts in the Fall or Winter but I wait until Spring because a gardening expert on the local news said they could provide extra protection for the bulbs during the Winter. And since I don't need curb appeal because I don't have a curb, it doesn't really matter what the flower beds look like in the Winter.

I think the time change got me this time. Yesterday I only ate about 950 calories and worked out some. That's way too few calories. But I wasn't really, really hungry or anything. This morning I woke up and just wanted to go back to sleep, when usually I'm pretty much awake when the alarm goes off. Then I developed a headache and was just dragging around all day. I ate extra tonight to see if that would make me feel a little better. And although I had intended to work out tonight, I thought I'd better just take it easy. I may go to bed a little earlier tonight. Josh Bernstein's Digging for the Truth tonight is about mummies, and I really don't want to watch a show about dead bodies.

Oh, and starting out for work at 7;30am when it's really really really dark outside is horrible. They shouldn't have started daylight savings time three weeks early. I can just imagine how many kids got hit by cars this morning standing around in the dark waiting for the school bus. And all this was done so the oil companies could make even more money. Seriously, I saw it on the news that the impact of having more daylight in the evenings is that people will drive longer and farther and use more gasoline. Forget what they tell you about conserving energy by not having to turn the lights on until an hour later at night. It isn't what time the clock says it is, it's when people start their day. And I start mine at 5 am. Which means last week I had lights on until about 6:30am and then around 7-7:30am I went to work. I got home and didn't have to turn the lights on until about 5pm. Today, I had the lights on until I left for work around 7:30 am and then I turned them on after work around 6- 6-30 pm. So, for the hour to hour and a half I gained in the evening, I spent an hour in the morning with lights on. Kind of cancels itself out which pretty much means that Daylight Savings Time doesn't really save anything.

Wait a Minute Mr. Postman......

Soon to be arriving in my mailbox:

The Casino Royale 2 disc dvd

ThePretender Movies

I can't wait to get them.

Update on the Crooks

I called the insurance people. They told me I had 50,000 of coverage. But the policy they sent me in December said 10,000. They also acted like my bank was still involved in all of this when they aren't. They also told me the 16.50 I've paid for the last 7 years has been added to the value of the 50,000 policy. They never told me that before. I still canceled it. If I want life insurance I'll go to an insurance agency and pay more but actually know what it covers.

Crooks

When I first opened my checking account back in 1998, the bank offered a program that for a small monthly fee would provide things like notary services, insurance etc. I signed up for it back then because Dad said it was a good idea. Well, last fall, the bank informed its customers that it would no longer offer these services and the company that offers the insurance would send the customers a separate mailing and the customers could opt to cancel the insurance or continue. Well, I submitted a form to them in December telling them to cancel the insurance. Guess what I found today - the crooks are still taking money out of my account.

I'm going to call them tomorrow and they won't be a bit happy to hear from me because I'm not a bit happy with them.

Hard to Spend Money

I never thought it would be so hard to spend $10.00. I signed up with the google checkout thing and I got a $10.00 gift certificate/bonus that would apply to my first order of $10.00 or more before shipping and taxes apply. Well, I've been trying to find things to buy but either the price would be more than I wanted to spend with the credit or they were under $10.00 to begin with. But, I finally found something to buy. Gary Allan, country singer, has finally, I emphasize finally, come out with a greatest hits cd. Walmart.com had it for $9.72 but I found it at CD Universe for $11.16. I ended up only paying about $4.15 after the credit was applied. So, I'm happy.

A Plea

Please, World, Stop naming chihuahuas after mexican foods!!! No more Tacos and Chalupas! I was checking out the local animal shelter website and they have two chihuahua mixed breeds, they are named Taco and Chalupa. That is not cute. That is not clever.

On a different note, one of the chihuahuas at the shelter is a male and the other one is a 2 year old female. They don't mention of the female is housebroken. They say she's used to a leash. I don't think Steffi and Fritz would accept a 2 year old.

Yuck

A woman at work talked me into getting some watermelon to eat. Bad decision on my part. I knew there was a reason I don't eat watermelon. But I think I'll have to eat it anyway. I paid $3.00 for it.

I got some apples too. I don't mind eating those.

I Knew It

When Doctor Who first came to the Sci Fi channel I said that I would come to love Eccleston's Doctor and really really hate it when the new Doctor showed up. And guess what - I was right. I deliberately didn't watch much of that first season for this specific reason, but I did just now see the last half hour of the final episode of the first season. Eccleston's Doctor kissed Rose and everything and then changed. Bah!

I'm going to have to read about a dozen romance novels to get back that happy ending feeling that this episode stole away.