we walked!

 

Pam is just off the DL list and we were able to walk yesterday.We didn't go far, but we saw lots of cool stuff that I've been too lazy to go look at.

I met Pam at the ArtsQuest campus.Her husband was working at PBS39 yesterday. She said to park in the little lot behind the station. The email he sent while she was driving was cute. He gave me directions to the lot. 

When I arrived there was a gate and a strange man tending the gate. Turns out the strange man was her husband. Now I've know him as long as I've known her ... 30ish years. Probably pre-wedding when he worked at Lehigh. He's always been clean shaven, short, and a tad overweight. The guy tending the gate had a beard and was skinny. Plus wearing winter gear. It wasn't until he talked that I recognized him. Maybe if it was inside I would have been quicker. He had a good laugh.

We said good-bye to him and headed to "town square" and then up Founders's Way and out 2nd past the museum. The "garden" looks really good. It's still a pile of relics but it no longer looks like a junk yard. There is a huge Air Products logo so I'm guessing they footed the bill. We walked over to see the steel Christmas Tree which is part of the Christmas Tree trail. The ribbon in front is also steel and the box says steel ribbon. 

We cut thru NCC's parking lot and headed west on 3rd. When we arrived at Webster we turned right to see the new mural on the side of the Poutine place. We had to cross the street to see it in one piece. I stitched the three photos together in Photoshop. Clearly the artist was influenced by the '80s art of Keith Harring.

Then we crossed back to see details. It's like a game of "Where's Waldo". Click on the photos and see for yourself.

 
We returned to 3rd and went to Adams. There Pam got to see the mural painted in the street.  It's on all four corners and is damn near impossible to take a picture of. I took this one from the Sarah Karass website. She's one of the two artists. There's a cool drone shot on her IG page (sarahsword). She's also done a mural on the bus station in Allentown. Now I have an excuse to go there.

Then we headed up to the Greenway for the return trip.

All in all it was a generous 1.5. Maybe close to 1.75. It was cold and windy. Time to get out the winter gear.

I also "walked" on Thanksgiving. I ate at my brother's house and he's on 24/7 oxygen. The compressor lives in the dining room and he has a long leash. (No, he never smoked but he does have asthma.) We had gotten the table set and he told me to take "Darth" for a walk to the pantry/laundry room and shut the door. That's his name for the compressor. Because it sounds like Darth Vader. But louder. So I grabbed Darth and we went for a walk. It was a bit of work because Darth does not like walking. And he has wheels! I set off all kinds of alarms until he was re-plugged in. Then, when dinner was cleared up, we made the return trip to the dining room. I think Darth liked the change of scenery.

I stole the photo from his Facebook page. Technology can send Jeff Bezos riding a giant phallus into space but they can't make a compressor that's quiet. That's just bullshit.

no, i didn't stop writing this blog

 

Cascade of Flowers art installation at Nativity Church. When I walk, I often walk past this church.

No, I did not stop writing this blog. I literally stopped walking for exercise. Actually I stopped walking except to get from point A to point B. I had three posts in September and three in October. That's it. And August was no walk in the park either.

Why?

Here's my list of excuses. It's a fine list, but I know that they are excuses. I own that.

• I have 5 classes and long commutes. And more grading than ever. I also have one class that is entirely new and that takes three times the work. August and September are a blur. For example, I arranged to host a Volkssport group walk in South Bethlehem today and I forgot to write it in my book. If it isn't in the book it doesn't get done. When I found out last Sunday I had just rescheduled something into that spot.
• Angel and I have started a publishing company—Parisian Phoenix Publishing. Angel is doing the lion's share of the work. I'm designing books. I have several in production for PPP, one for a local Kink Noir writer, and one for a Holocaust survivor. For a few minutes I even fancied myself a writer and submitted something for an upcoming anthology. I need to make it disappear. It's rot.
       I'm not exaggerating when I say I spend all my time working. Unless I make an appointment outside of the house AND spend money, I don't leave this desk. At the end of the day I turn into a couch potato.
  
• I lost my FitBit. I was even signed up to do two challenges in October, and still did not go get another one. I really need to look for something I like. The waist ones are no longer an option and I hate shit on my arms if I'm not in air conditioning. I have never worn a watch. Not even once. My options are limited. No FitBit = No Accountability.
• I hate to walk alone. It's so easy to push it off. Pam has been on the disabled list. Bonnie doesn't walk with me anymore. (And she's on the DL too!) Neither does Lydia.  I tried connecting with another walking friend and she doesn't like to walk in the cold. I just need to have someone drag my fat ass out there and do it.
• Being the point person for the twins takes up a lot of time. Time I could spend walking.

As they say in the Nike commercials, I have to "just do it".  On my 66th birthday one class ends. One big commute ends. I am going to replace that day workday with a walk day. Maybe I can even get a weekend date in. Sad when walking twice a week is a goal.

New goal. I want to go to the Volkssport Olympiad in Texas in February of 2023. I need to be able to walk at least two 10Ks a day for several days. In the process, I can pick up several states on the drive down there. And see Gutenberg bible in Austin. I need to start big time saving. That's going to be mucho bucks.

There is another walking festival in Canada. However it's in British Columbia. That is way too long a drive to walk and come home. Though I could get all the northern US states and the Trans Canadian trail ...

the fat lady sung

My subscription to Noom ended on the 16th. Originally I should have lost enough weight by Halloween to reach my 199 goal. As the weight did not come off, they pushed the date further into the future. When I left Noom it was around mid-April.

It was not a success. I lost about 10 pounds. I could have done that on my own. They had us weigh daily and my lowest was 15 pounds one day. But then I gained four overnight. So I always use the highest number as the real number. I'd say 80% of what they were teaching us I already knew something about.I had no aha moments. When I finished the "course" They started doing some other things that were very interesting. If they would have led with those, maybe I would have kept my motivation. But by the time they arrive I no longer cared. Even though I was still logging and weighing I basically gave up mentally. I really think it's because it took till July to lose the first 5pounds. Maybe if I would have been exercising, more would have come off in the last few months. But I didn't. See above.

I now have a really bad relationship with food. Not an optimal outcome. Breakfast is a nightmare of epic proportions. I've given up on breakfast. I am so tired of eggs.  Basically, everything that I want to eat is "red".  That's supposed to mean eat in moderation, they are calorie dense foods. But many of them are healthy. So what do you pick? The nuts (red) or the potato chips (red). I'm fucked coming and going. Fruits, veg, and whole grains are green. So if you only eat these things you're fine. But even vegetarians and vegans eat nuts. It's a Catch-22.

I think I would have done better with the "psychology" if it's was a weekend of "fat camp". Mini lessons squeezed in between commitments didn't work for me. For example this assignment, to draw a self portrait with words happened in the last module of the class.I finished it about 6 weeks later. When I had the time to really think about it. Using Illustrator was me. The sketched versions I hated. When you were done with these exercises you were supposed to post them for the group. 

The teen and I used to have long discussions on people shapes. This image grew, years later, from those discussion.

I'm happy Noom works for some people. But I knew two weeks in it wasn't for me. I haven't weighed or logged since it ended. I must do that. Even if it's on paper. Weighing I think will be once a week. Sunday's. Logging has to be meal by meal. And I have to buy a tracker of some kind.