Fruit is free

Ignore the title, you still have to pay for it. Or grow it yourself, but that means you're spending your time, so whatever.

I lost a fair amount of weight over the past year. Going to the gym certainly helped, but when I started recording everything I ate I was able to better control it. For example, I would put the bowl on the food scale, then add some ice cream. I put in the amount after scanning the bar code, and after realizing how many calories and how much sugar I was about to eat, I would take some back out until the numbers looked better. My kids eventually figured out the look on my face and would stand nearby to receive the newly rejected scoop into their conveniently available bowls.

Smart kids.

Sometimes I'd hit my calorie limit, but I'd still be hungry. Eventually I learned what foods filled me up, and which ones filled my limit without doing much else. Then I realized something.

Fruits and vegetables didn't count.

Oh sure they do, they're always healthy and whatnot, but the calories they added were always minimal. So I concluded that fruit is free. Veggies are free. Don't bother weighing and adding them into the record. Once I did that, it got easier. 

It doesn't help me reach my protein, but I'm down three pants sizes, so I count that as a win.

And then she moves

So, my Tiny One just finished college in Buffalo, and has a job at Johns Hopkins - which is in Baltimore. From one apartment to the other is 384 miles, which is over six hours driving a Uhaul truck.

Driving the stretch through New York is fine. It was mostly long stretches of big roads with the occasional jaunt through a hamlet. Pennsylvania was the same - until I got about halfway through. After that, all the convenient travel plazas just disappeared. Maryland... sucks. The drivers are needlessly aggressive, and seemingly unaware of their own mortality when facing a heavy laden box truck. Nonetheless, I got there without any issues.

Do you know that the cab of a Uhaul truck is loud? It's almost as if there's nothing stopping the noise from that big engine from digging right into your ears. No aux cord, either. There was no way to get the sound from my phone (GPS) to the vehicle speakers, so I just had to wing it with the phone speakers - newsflash, they're not great when mixed with the rumble of the engine. And they don't have cruise control. I understand why, but it still sucks.

...nobody rents those things for the luxuries.

I don't envy anyone that's moving - it's one of my least favorite things to do. Packing, hauling, unpacking. And you're completely unsettled during the whole process. Unpacking isn't even that easy because you have to decide what goes where and everything feels off until you finally settle in.

I'll happily drive the truck, though.

Congratulations Tiny One!

Someone graduated nursing school this year.

The last time I saw her graduate was when she finished her K-8 school moving on to high school. She graduated high school in 2020... nobody attended that one. I was thrilled to see she was going to attend my old college for nursing school.

Though, the Geography department is on the north end of north campus, on the far end of everything. Their departments graduation was in a tiny little building off to the side. The school of nursing is on south campus, and takes up a lot more space. Their graduation consumed the alumni arena.

Fair enough. Though during her time on campus she was able to find and photograph my hidden graffiti. Unfortunately the building it was in was closed during my visit, so I wasn't able to do the same.

Whatever.

She's a first generation college grad, and already had a job lined up at Johns Hopkins. No connections, no family ties, just pure determination. I can't even tell you how proud I am of her.

I do not show my teeth when I smile and when I try I just look like a kitten that's trying too hard.

"Rest" day

Rest days: I don't go to the gym and I sleep a little extra. Makes for good recovery.

If I sleep, that is.

I keep waking up at the same time, which is early enough to go to the gym. I don't have to get up nearly that early when I don't go, so I can sleep extra. But I don't sleep. I wake up and I'm just... awake. I might still be tired, groggy if I had a rough night, but I never fall back asleep. 

At least I can just lay there and stare at the dark ceiling.

Headphones

All through college, I carried earbuds. I went through maybe half a dozen pair, all wired (it was ages ago) so they would get tangled in my pockets every time. They were convenient, and they kept my music private, and that's where it ended. When I graduated, the last pair I had went into a drawer in my desk. I lost track of them.

At home, I had a bulky pair of headphones selected because they had high quality and were wireless. I worked nights, so when I had time off work I was wide awake all night, and they kept whatever I was listening to to myself. I left night shift almost 9 years ago, and after moving twice and rearranging things more than that, I put them in a drawer and haven't used them since.

I tried to use a pair of earbuds about a year or so ago, when I was on my bike. The sound quality was garbage and I would rather listen to static. Tossed them out. 

Then I was gifted a set of those wireless earbuds. No, I don't use fruit-named technology, so I have a much wider range of options. I tried them out and, oddly, I was surprised. The quality was better than the desk based bulky ones I used to wear. But... they're tiny. So very tiny. 

I still don't know how they got good bass into a teeny little thing.