Days 29 and 30

Thus ends the hungry month. Weigh in the morning said 183, which I think comes out to and even six pounds lost. This is a little less than half my goal. I'm not depressed, but neither am I thrilled. There were several unforeseens that really changed the equation mid-stride. I'm going to think about it for a few days and see where the diet (and blog) need to go in the future.

Days 26, 26, 28

Buddhists take refuge in the three jewels (often depicted by the lotus) by contemplating the balance of Buddha, Dharma, and Sanga. We have apparently reached a similarly higher plane of balance at our house as we have lost our old car to irreparable engine trouble while having gained two kittens, which--if weighed on my special emotional scale--total out to right around 2,800 pounds, or exactly the same as a late model Ford compact. We spent the day car shopping--I haggled--and came home with a new ... er less used car.

I had planned on an afternoon ride, but after six hours of car dealerships we got home twenty minutes ahead of a brutal thunderstorm and all outside activity is canceled from the evening.

I had bread and a fried egg for breakfast and eight pieces of vegi sushi for lunch. Dinner will most likely be some sort of rice and vegetable combination. Lets call it 2000 kcal today.

I'm going to weigh in tomorrow in preparation for the final entry (coming on day 30) of the hungry month portion of this blog. We'll see where things go from there.

Day 25
Breakfast was about a cup of grits with two Tbs of shredded cheese, and a scrambled egg sandwich with mustard, hot sauce, tomatoes and two pieces of Morning Star Facon. For lunch I had two mini-Clif bars during my bike ride and a Boca Chic'n sandwich with mustard and rooster sauce after.



Let me pause here for a minute to say that I really, *really* think that Boca makes some of the best stuff out there for busy vegetarians. Eleven grams of protein, six grams of fat, fifteen grams of carbohydrates wrapped up into 160 calories--yum.

Dinner was a big salad and a small bean burrito. All told, I think the damage was around 1800kcals--not bad.

My bike ride today was great. If Map My Ride is correct I covered just a whisker under 30 miles with 584 feet of climbing in one hour forty-five minutes.



I'm not ready for the Tour, but it felt good for a change. On a side note, riding by yourself affords one with a pretty much overpowering opportunity to sing. Over the course of my ride I sang both of these at least twice (and not just because I was having trouble remembering some of the words).



and



without a group, however, it's difficult to do the audience participation part in the Coulton song.

I did achieve something close to audience participation though, when--while I was out of the saddle climbing the last hill--a guy in a late-model Tercel, wearing a gigantic straw hat, hollered "Ride that thang, boy," as he passed me.

Day 24

Breakfast: grits and an egg with hot sauce and lots of pepper
Lunch: Boca sandwich and some cottage cheese
Dinner: Grilled tofu and squash over rice and *gasp* a small thing of ice cream with a couple sugar cookies (crap). Lets say 2200 kcals.

I have a feeling I'm going to finish the month with only about a five pound loss. Clearly I need to change a few things. The eating hasn't been as good as I'd like, but the exercise is coming back. I've been on my bike every one the last three days and I'm actually feeling pretty good about how I'm riding. Solo rides aren't as much fun, but I'm getting better at amusing myself. Tomorrow I'm going to try to do a slightly longer loop and see how that feel. If I'm up for it I might even add a short run afterward.

The fireflies are out in force. I stepped into the back yard for a minute last night and they were popping all around me. I guess this means it's officially summer and I better take advantage of the long days while I still can.

Days 21, 22, 23

Cats continue to define much of what's going on. Summer orientations are starting up on campus, so that's going to start eating up a bunch of time too. That said, I got out on my bike Wednesday and Thursday. I've been tuning my rear shifter--it's funny how nothing seems to knock a bike out of tune as fast and not riding it. Neither ride was long--just an hour each. I'm still sorting out some of the routes here and I'm not ready to get way out there by myself yet.

I've been mostly having grits or bagels for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch. We had Thai last night and rice with vegetables the night before. I'm not working out as much as I'd like, but hopefully I'll get that on track soon.

Day 20
Some normalcy returned today. The cats are still here, but I'm pretty convinced that the black one's funk is over so I didn't fell like I had to get up and check on it every couple hours. Feeling better rested, I actually got up and made a real breakfast: bagels with provolone, half a grapefruit, and about a half cup of cottage cheese. For lunch I made a Boca Chik'n sandwich and for dinner I grilled some vegetables and couscous for dinner (plus a very small bowl of ice cream).

I also ran four miles, put up "kittens need a good home" posters around campus and did a little work in the garden, which has so far produced a few pounds of radishes (they mature quickly) and a ton of weeds (they mature even more quickly). My plot is part of a community garden project that gives most of its food to a local food bank. We're waiting to hear next week if the grant application I wrote to Gardenburger got approved.



I hope to make it into the gym for some more swimming and a weigh in tomorrow. I'm not feeling all the optimistic, but I should be somewhere in the low 180s.

Days 18 and 19
A twofer--the cat situation has gotten more complicated. Eight days ago we found the gray one from the Day 12 post. Two days ago this one literally fell out of a tree at our feet.



I called fifteen more shelters today and none of them were willing to take cats.

I'm embarrassed at how much this consumes me and how little time I have for anything else, but I feel on the verge of panic over these cats. I can't imagine taking care of them for the next twenty years, but I can't give them to the pound (which euthanizes kittens after only twenty-four hours) either.

I haven't worked our or thought too much about my diet for the last couple days. I was hoping to reboot this week, but I don't see how I'll do it while facing the cat-aclysm.

Day 17:

Sausage sandwiches with mustard and cheese for breakfast. For lunch I had a boca sandwich and more radishes. Dinner was about half a frozen pizza. I spent most of the day trying to find something to do with this kitten. There's an adoptathon tomorrow morning and I'm hoping we can find someone there. For something that weighs 1.05 pounds the thing takes up an incredible space in my life.

I have some work-type stuff to do tomorrow afternoon, but I hope to get a bike ride in later in the afternoon.

Day 16:

Not much to report. I had eggs and toast for breakfast plus a couple oranges. Lunch was a boca sandwich and radishes from the garden. Dinner was a bowl of coconut curry with rice. Call it 2000 kcals.

I swam 500 meters and ran four miles today, but I sort of feel like the diet is stalling. I'm going to think about what I need to do to re-energize it.

Days 13, 14, and 15

I know, three days in one post (the blog à trois, I like to call it) is kind of lame, but since I was out of town and eating in someone else's kitchen there isn't a whole lot to report. Monday we drove most of the day to get to the place we were staying Monday and Tuesday nights. It's kind of a left-wing cult. . .er, resort on a private mountain so it felt sort of like the Boy Scout camps I used to go to as a kid if the scout oath had included fidelity to a higher power of your own choosing or creation and the mess tent had held a 5:30-6:30 cocktail hour.

The food was buffet style and very good (the chef studied in Tuscany) so I ate more than I should have, but there was some exertion to balance that out. To whit: exhibit A--the lookout we hiked to on Tuesday morning.



It isn't Kilimanjaro, but we dropped 35000 ft into the valley, gained another 3500 to get to that peak, then did the whole thing backwards to get home.

We drove home Wednesday afternoon and I got back in time to do some errands including a very pathetic 500 meters in the pool--no triathlon for millstone-boy anytime soon. I weighed in at 182 after my swim (I think the two lost pounds came from my self-esteem) but I can't complain. I'm not traveling again for a while and I'm set to run with G tomorrow morning so for at least the next couple weeks the word is discipline and we'll see what happens.

Day 13:

The diet continues (barely) and I'm getting in a little exercise. I did a slow jog for about four miles yesterday with no real problems. The cat is still with us. Every no-kill shelter within fifty miles is full. I've put ads on frecycle and hit up the people I know here, but it doesn't look good. We have to go out of town for a few days so a friend is going to take care of the cat temporarily. Hopefully we'll be able to sort something out when we get back.

Day 12:



This cat ran out in front of my car while I was driving home from dinner Saturday night. It was on its own and we just didn't have the heart to leave it. At the same time, we aren't set up to take care of a cat. Everything has stopped in the daunting attempt to find this little guy a home.