5/21 Morning of Phase 2, after two days of loading(Monday): 193
5/22 Tuesday morning: 189.5
5/23 Wednesday morning: 187.5
5/24 Thursday: 184.5 (!!!!!)
5/25 Friday: 184
5/26 Saturday: 183
5/27 Sunday: 183
5/28 Monday: 183
5/29 Tuesday: 182
So total weight lost so far: 196-182: 14lbs (in a week!)
Measurements:
Start: Current: Change:
Bust: 43 41 -2
arm: 13 12.25 -.75
waist: 39.5 37.5 -2
hips: 48.25 46.5 -1.75
thigh: 27.5 24.5 -3
Total body loss so far: 9.5 inches
Pretty happy with everything except the bust! haha! But what are you going to do? My face also looks so much leaner. I'm getting definition back in my chin, jaw, and cheekbones. It's quite amazing! In fact, my face looks skinnier than it has in years, even when my actual weight was a lot lower than it is right now. Very, very happy!!!
We've really been missing comfort food on the diet, and with a tropical storm wailing outside the window, it was doubly hard. So, my husband came up with a great idea. We did a sort of pseudo shepherd's pie and stayed in the confines of the diet.
We cooked off cabbage and onions, chopped lean steak up into little tiny pieces, and mixed it up with some good spices. Then we mashed cauliflower with some vegetable stock and layered them together. It was delicious and very filling. We could only eat about half of our serving and saved the rest for lunch the next day. Let me put this into perspective for you. 1.25 grams of meat, 5 grams of veggies. And I was completely stuffed! It's amazing what the hCG does for your portions.
A couple of hours later, we had dessert and it was so delish! This will definitely stay in our diet as a "treat." We cored and chopped up a Macintosh apple, crumbled a few Melba Toasts, added cinnamon, nutmeg, Stevia, and a pinch of clove and pumpkin spice, then mixed it all up and baked it. Viola! Delicious apple crumble with no added sugar or butter.
(Tastes a lot better than it looks!
And it made the whole house smell as though we'd been baking all day. Yum yum!!)
It was very nice to get a break and eat some "tasty" food. However, I think this food, combined with not enough water, (and two days of red meat) stalled me for 3 days! Grr!!! It was worth it to see what we can and cannot do, and I will probably eat these foods again, just not back to back for two consecutive days. Lesson learned.
Yesterday, I skipped a fruit and bread serving, and we ate our leftover shepherd's pie (which was only half a serving), and chicken and cabbage for dinner. I also drank a gallon and a half of water. And this morning, I was back on track, losing another pound, and at least a half inch off of every one of my measurements. Yay!! Next up, first week weight and measurement report!
So...I think I'm going to start combining days, since life is pretty monotonous right now. My day consists of getting up, bathroom break, weighing and measuring, taking my hCG and waiting til it's time to drink my coffee. Then, I wait as long as I can, and have a piece of fruit or a breadstick for a midmorning snack, wait for lunch, take my second round of hCG, wait for dinner, then eat a breadstick or fruit for "dessert." All while trying to drink at least a gallon of water a day. To pass the time, I've been watching TV, reading, going to the beach, hanging out with the husband...nothing terribly exciting. I'm also reading up and researching some of my Buddhist literature, and getting ready for my meditation phase to begin.
I've been having a really hard time with cravings, and I'm starting to realize how emotionally addicted to food I was (am). We've been dealing with a tropical storm, and stuck inside watching movies/TV, and I found myself getting angry and bored simply because I couldn't eat. It's been really hard to deal with, but I'm glad that I'm aware, and working to fix it. I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I will eventually be able to eat what I want again (although definitely in severe moderation), and I will be skinny and healthy by July. I keep reminding myself of the old adage "If you commit the crime, you gotta do the time." So, I'm putting in my time for sure.
I did find myself at a point where I didn't want to eat anything because I couldn't eat what I wanted. Not even a week in, I was so tired of the limited diet and food options. I'd rather not eat anything than have to eat what I was allowed to. I was eating to live for once, instead of living to eat. I ate because I had to. It was a nice and necessary lesson. Very eye opening.
In light of this frustration, we decided we needed to get creative or go insane. So, back to the grocery store we went. Man, this was really hard with all the tempting treats at every corner. I was happy that some of the foods I was craving were more healthy things, like oatmeal and yogurt. But I do still crave bread, cheese, and sweets. For some reason, my mind keeps going back to pizza. I think it's because of the cheese and bread factor.
So, getting creative ended up in a little bit of a stall, but I think it was necessary and worth it just as a lesson. We ate red meat on Saturday for both meals. For lunch, we had lean steak seasoned like taco meat in a lettuce wrap, and for dinner, a soup made of meat, cabbage, onions, and vegetable stock. I knew that night that it was a bad idea. I was so stuffed and felt gross.
On a side note, we went down the bandshell at the beach and watched the US Navy band and a dixieland jazz band, and I met my cravings head on. One of my all time favorite treats is funnel cake, and I sat beside the vendor truck, and was surrounded by people enjoying hot dogs, ice cream, funnel cake, and burgers. I was only mildly stressed. I am very proud of myself and see it as a step in the right direction. It all smelled and looked so good, but the thought of actually eating it, and what it would do to me, was deterrent enough. I kept telling my husband that the smell was enough for me right now, and I am so glad that you can't consume calories through smell! Up next, creativity, stalls, and finally progress...
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Here's another awesome song for you....get up and dance if you must. I can't blame you. I do the same thing...but please, when you're done, check out my next blog entry :)
So, again, I'm going to combine Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. There really isn't much to report and the days were pretty much the same thing, different day.
Monday: I got up and took my HCG and waited for the 15 minutes to be up when I could eat or drink. I took B-12 drop and gulped down a glass of water. That B-12 sucks! It tastes like cough medicine. ugh. I developed a massive headache, and so I took a "magic" pill (tension headache) and about 15 minutes after I took it, I got weak, violently nauseous, shaky, and the headache got worse. We were getting ready to go grocery shopping, but I had to lie down for almost an hour.
When I woke up, I felt much better, and I just assumed that it was the caffeine on an empty stomach. I ate one of my breadsticks and we headed to Publix. We bought apples, spinach, asparagus, zucchini, tilapia, stevia, chicken breast, and coffee. It was the easiest and quickest grocery store run I think we've ever done! haha!! We got home and cooked up some chicken breast and made a salad dressing with apple cider vinegar, water, lemon juice, garlic, and spices. Then had a chicken and spinach salad. The headache returned a couple of hours after lunch, and continued for the next day and half. It was horrible. We did some research and discovered that people that have a strong addiction to carbs (my favorite thing in the world...let's be real) have a hard time with nausea, headaches, and even muscle aches as they come off the carbs. Bingo! We also found it only lasts a couple of days, so I settled in for a long two days of pain, grinned and bore it, and crossed my fingers that it would be worth it.
We had chicken and curried zucchini and apple for dinner and the vegetables were so delish! Then shared half an orange for dessert. We also started watching a documentary on the Buddha, and it was really good and interesting, and actually answered a few questions I didn't know I had! But unfortunately, with the headache, that was as close to my meditative journey as I could get that day! All in all, except for the headache, it wasn't bad at all. I did get hungry, but no more so than any other day. I ate my breadstick as a midnight snack and was excited to step on the scale and see if this was working!
Tuesday morning eats are basically the exact same as Monday, but we had grilled Tilapia and asparagus for dinner:
So yummy! Except for the blasted headache, I am beginning to think this diet won't be so bad. And you know what the BEST part is?!?! I'm losing weight like crazy! Whoohoo!
Wednesday morning started off pretty bad headache wise. I had an apple and two cups of coffee and then started to feel so much better. By the afternoon, I was pretty much bouncing off the walls! I had so much energy and felt so good! It didn't hurt that I was losing weight every couple of hours or so. No lie. Crazy....check this awesomeness out:
A lady never tells her age or weight, so I guess I'm no lady! Cause here I goes! :)
Loading day Starting weight (Saturday): 190
Loading day 2 (Sunday): 196
Morning of Phase 2, after two days of loading(Monday): 193
Tuesday morning: 189.5
Wednesday morning: 187.5
Wowza!!! Definitely worth the headache! And just to give you a preview of things to come...it gets better! Yes!!
Here's a badass motivational song for you. Take a listen...it's a favorite :) It'll be nice background music while you're reading the blog!
Monday started Phase 2 of my HCG diet and my meditative journey. Well, the HCG happened, but the meditation will come a little later. For those of you not familiar with the diet plan here is a brief intro:
We are using the formula one drops with African Mango. Read lots of good reviews online, and the African Mango is supposed to taste better than straight up hCG.
Phase 1: 2 days of loading the fattiest foods you can manage, until you're completely stuffed, while taking the drops in the morning and afternoon.
Phase 2: hCG in the morning and the afternoon. 500 calorie a day diet, with strict meal plans. Acceptable foods:
Liquids: Coffee, Tea, and Water in any quantity. No sugar or aspartame. Stevia may be used as a sweetener. One tablespoon of milk allowed in a 24 hr period
Breads: 2 servings of bread a day. Grissini breadstick or Melba Toast
Meats: 2 servings of meat a day. Do not combine servings. Serving=100grams. Allowable meats:
I must note here that this is from the plan that came with the drops and not with Dr. Simeon's plan. Dr. Simeon's plan is a little more strict in what foods are acceptable. We are staying with his plan as long as we can, and will only substitute what's on here if we get frustrated or tempted to cheat with other foods.
We will follow this plan for either 24 or 44 days, depending on how we feel, and then go to Phase 3, which is maintenance. No more drops, and a wider variety of foods, just no sugar or starches. This phase lasts 3 weeks and you have to eat at least 1,500 calories, and stay within 2 lbs of your last drop dose weight. So...hold on tight.....HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Sunday was our second "load" day before going into phase 2 of the hCG diet. It was also a Disney day! So that made it a little harder to eat all that fatty, crappy food! We got up at 4:30 to take Joey's mom to the airport and then drove on over to Disney. We arrived on property about an hour before Hollywood Studios (where we decided to start) opened, so we stopped at McDonald's to eat breakfast. Ugh. I haven't eaten a Mickey D's anything in a long time. I got a sausage, egg, and cheese biscuit, hashbrowns, and regular soda. I finished most of it, refilled my soda, and it was time to hit the parks.
We went straight for the rock'n'roller coaster and walked right onto the ride twice, then walked right onto the Tower of Terror. It took us less than an hour to ride 3 times! It was awesome! So after that, we walked around the shops, and meandered our way over to the backlot tour. We hadn't done this one in almost 6 years, so it was fun. After that, it was time to eat something, although we weren't hungry at all. We sat in the shade and had nutter bars, chips, and soda. I was starting to get a pretty bad headache, so I also took some tension headache medicine. That stuff is amazing! They have caffeine in them, and we call them "magic pills" because they work so well. After our snack, we watched Lights, Motor, Action! Car show and then ate some more. Ugh! Then we went to watch the American Idol Experience because that was another attraction that we'd never done.
At this point, Joey was feeling really bad. We'd stuffed ourselves on gross food, and walking around in the 90 degree sun just wasn't a good idea. So we made a good compromise. We made our way back to the car, and headed over to Downtown Disney. We ate at Earl of Sandwich, and this was a great choice to me for my "last meal." I got the roast beef, cheddar, and horseradish, and Joey got the Montagu (turkey, ham, mayo, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, and swiss). Then we shared with each other, because we couldn't decide which sandwich we wanted more! He also got a brownie and since I dont like chocolate, I opted for potato salad. Oh, it was SOOOO good! I love the Earl so much!! I am a crazy bread lover, but I knew something was working, because I left most of the bread from my sandwich and was stuffed!
After lunch, we walked around in the air conditioned shops, but were so bloated and tired, that we decided that we should probably just go. I was a little disappointed because we are open to close disney goers, but we made another good compromise and decided to drive over to Celebration (disney's housing community) to look at all the pretty houses, and dream about living there someday! We got home around 6 PM and just hung out and relaxed a bit. We munched on junk food for the rest of the night, and I swear, I was so excited for the next morning when I didn't have to eat like a freakin' pig anymore!! Up next: It's diet time!
Monday, May 21, 2012
I'm going to combine Friday and Saturday eats just because there isn't really a whole lot of special going on. It was pretty much junk food city and the only wonderful meal I had, I forgot to take a picture, so let's just get all this out of the way, shall we?
Friday: Again, we spent the whole day on the beach. The whole day. And since I've never been sunburned a day in my life, I didn't think anything about lying on my stomach for 2 hours straight with no sunscreen. Needless to say, I got my first sunburn! yay! It sucks. I hate it. I never want that again. Boo. Beach snacks included more powdered donuts, BLT potato chips, redbull, soda, cookies, crackers, blah, blah, blah...I honestly don't even want to to think about that crap!
So, after the beach, we pick up Joey from work, and head to the store to get even more junk food and snacks. Saturday and Sunday were our loading days for the hCG, so we wanted to find the fattiest crap we could find. Also, we planned on going to Disney World on Sunday, so we needed stuff that we could take into the parks with us. I'll give you a little highlight of the snacky food that we ate over the next two days:
Ok, I think that's it. Enough right? So after we got all that nasty and tasty food, we headed to Krystal (mother in law's choice), and loaded up on all sorts of bite sized burgers, chicken, hot dogs, and corn dogs, had a movie night and ate up! Ugh.
Saturday morning: We took our first round of hCG drops and headed to iHop for breakfast. I ordered the stuffed french toast as it had a lot of fat. The point of the first two loading days is to eat as much fat as you can, and eat til you are completely stuffed. After taking the drops, I was full after only a couple of bites. I was amazed! This stuff really works. Joey and I both pushed through and finished our food, waddled out of the restaurant and dreaded eating the rest of the day.
I forced myself to eat as much as I could throughout the day. For lunch, we stopped by the flea market (weird huh?) to eat at the best Thai restaurant in town. We both had pad thai, and shared egg rolls and crab rangoons. Again, after a few bites, I was finished, but managed to eat about half of it. After walking around for a bit, we left and went to Rhokkoh's (a frozen yogurt shop) for dessert. I managed to get most of that down too, and loaded up on the toppings because my yogurt was fat free! For dinner that night, my mother in law wanted KFC, and we agreed because we still needed some more fatty food! We took our second dose of hCG and headed out. Joey got a couple of pieces of extra crispy chicken and I got the mashed potato bowl. We didn't make it through half of our food, and finally, had to give up. I had to go lie down, I was feeling awful!!! I packed the backpack with a bunch of junk food for our Disney day the next morning and hit the sack, feeling full, gross, and ready for my 500 calorie diet plan to begin!
Ok...so I've been a slacker the past few days and haven't updated. So I have about four days worth of glorious gluttony to report before we get down to business today. Today is the first day of phase 2 of our diet. That means it's bye bye eating, and hello praying. Well, for me, it will be meditating and studying Buddhism. Semantics...whatever. Ok...so let me take you back to Thursday (wow, this is gonna take a while!), and a nice day for good eats. My mother in law and I spent the morning on the beach, snacking on sweets, fruit, and chips, and sipping on Red Bulls and sodas. It was quite lovely. My husband got off work early, and I left Mama 2 on the beach to pick him up. After we all got home, we decided to head to a little hole in the wall Honduran restaurant to pick up the best Cubanitos in town. We were served a cup of delightful veggie soup, and then our cubans with a side of black beans and rice, followed by sweet plaintains. Those sandwiches are huge! It is a whole loaf of cuban bread filled with pork, ham, pickles, swiss, mustard, and a touch of Mojo marinade. YUM!!
Ok...So I have a really hard time remembering to take photos for you guys before I dive in to all the yummy goodness. But this will give you an idea, at least! You can definitely tell that the woman who owns the restaurant is full of love. You might even suspect, after eating her food, that she actually loves you too! There is something beautiful and exciting in her food, and you feel so good and comforted and satisfied after eating here. So delicious and yummy!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Today was an amazing food day. Probably my favorite yet. Of all time. Oh, yes. I had one of my all time favorite meals! About a 30 minute drive south of us is a little shack on the river called JB's Fish Camp. It started as just that about 20 years ago. JB bought a bunch of oyster beds along the river in New Smyrna Beach. At first, folks just bought the fish, oysters, shrimp, etc. Then every once in a while, they'd have a fish fry. Since then, it has turned into a full fledged restaurant, with kitschy crap on the walls, brown paper torn off a roll for a "table cloth," paper plates, and plastic cups.
For starters, we had clam strips and softshell crab. So delicious and unfortunately, the crab was devoured before pictorial evidence could be obtained. I still have a little trouble with the crab, because I have this weird thing about eating anything that I could distinguish what it looked like in it's living form. But I quickly get over it because it tastes so freakin good that it doesn't matter.
For dinner, I had a half pound of cajun spiced, steamed hot shrimp with a side of cole slaw. I have never had such amazing shrimp. I can't even describe for you the deliciousness. Here, this will give you a vague idea...
...but seriously, get your patooties down to JB's and get some shrimp. It will change your life. Sure changed mine. Luckily, on my new hCG diet, shrimp is allowed. So, that makes me a happy girl!
Look at all that shrimp in its shrimpy goodness! Ahh! The food was amazing, it's a cool place to eat, and it's right on the river. A lot of people pull up their boats to the dock, jump off, feed their faces, and sail away to play with the dolphins and manatees in the river. Unfortunately, we didn't see any marine life on this trip, but the first time we went to JB's, there was a manatee in the river. He swam right up to the dock, and played with the guests that were brave enough to venture into the water with him. It was super cool.
Anyway, we gorged ourselves and enjoyed being under the Florida sky, looking out over the river and enjoying the breeze. And I honestly couldn't tell if I was eating, praying, or loving this day. And I have a feeling that when all is said and done, that will be the point of my journey. Hopefully, every experience will be like this one.
For dessert, we were treated to a thunderstorm off in the distance, and my husband managed to snap these amazing pictures....
What an amazing end to an amazing meal! When we arrived back home, we were treated yet again to this:
That, ladies and gents, is a double rainbow! As if the day couldn't get any better! Someone once told me that a double rainbow represents transformations and new beginnings in your life. It couldn't be more fitting for me right now, as I am on a desperate journey for just that. I'll take it as a sign for sure!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
So today was another day of crazy eats. Breakfast was...powdered donuts. Wow, that is kinda hard to write! Usually, breakfast is oatmeal, a banana, sometimes a bowl of shredded wheat. I haven't eaten powdered donuts in years. But for some reason, that's all I wanted. All I could think about. And boy, were they delicious! After breakfast, my mother in law and I went apartment hunting for her. She is seriously considering moving down to the beach. Who could blame her? It's a great place to be! Apartment hunting can be tiring, and soon we needed nourishment. We found it at the Pizza Hut buffet. Here I am on this food journey, and so far, I've had donuts and pizza. Not a great food day, and not quite what I had in mind. Determined not to let the day go to waste, we headed to a good beach side BBQ joint for dinner. We sat outside, and had a great view of the ocean, ferris wheel, and boardwalk. For the first time in my life, I got something other than BBQ at a BBQ restaurant. We started off with fried pickles...yummy!
Then, for my main course, I had fried catfish, cole slaw, and baked beans. It was pretty good, and I was glad I didn't have the heavy sauce covered pork. The baked beans weren't my favorite, but it is really hard to please me. I am a self proclaimed baked bean connoisseur and I adore a good bowl of beans. These were run of the mill, average, blah. Oh, well. A pretty disappointing food day on my eating journey. Let's hope for better tomorrow, shall we?
Day two of yummy eats! We headed over to a local diner for breakfast this morning. Bertie's Good Eats. Definitely lives up to it's name. I love how everyone is a local, knows everyone else. It's a nice change of pace considering we live in such a touristy beach town! Since I am in my eating phase, I decided that I might as well go all out. Next week, I'm down to 500 calories a day, and have a very limited food selection. If you're going to do something, do it well right? So, I ordered biscuits and gravy, and hashbrowns sprinkled with cheddar cheese. Our poor waitress screwed up and put the cheese on the gravy. At first, I wasn't excited. I was downright disappointed. But oh my goodness, holy cheesy gravy! If I ever get to eat biscuits and gravy again, I will only eat it with cheese! Heaven in my mouth! So, of course I gorged myself. I tried really hard to clean my plate, but alas, no luck.
This was the yummy aftermath of my breakfast of fatty champions! I thoroughly enjoyed the eating. The digesting, not so much. I haven't been that sick in a while. I had to lie down my stomach hurt so bad! Then, we had the great idea to go to the beach. Putting on a bathing suit was less than enjoyable, and the hot sun? Not pleasant when you have a big greasy gravy belly.
At the beach however, I was blessed with this heartwarming sight:
Sweet lovebirds! Out for a Sunday stroll on the beach. Glad someone felt like walking on the beach. I could only lie in the sun in my stuffed misery!
Eventually, it was time to eat again, and with joyous abandon, we devoured steak fajitas, fruit salad, and one big heaping spoonful of salted caramel gelato. I was happy for my lighter (yet just as deliciously sinful) dinner choice. Another full belly, this time a very happy one. However...I think by the end of this week, I will be thankful and more than ready for my fasting/praying/hCG phase of life. Until then...bring on the eats!
Lately, I've been feeling some sort of...something...in my bones. Growing pains, wanderlust, boredom, yearning...yada, yada, yada. 2011 was a pretty crazy, awesome, life changing year. I married the love of my life, moved 500 miles away from home and family, left the only job I've ever loved or ever wanted, and found myself surrounded by palm trees, warm Florida sunshine, ocean breezes, and (this is the best part!) Disney World! So, everyday I am reminded of one of my favorite quotes, (and it seems I'm living it these days), "Life is like licking honey off a thorn." So the theme of 2012 seems to be, "how do I cope with all this delicious honey and keep from cutting my tongue on the thorns?"
Bear with me for a moment, because I'm going to jump around a bit. I have to get a few things off my chest, then I intend to more formally introduce myself, organize my life (and blog!), and hopefully make some sense! I am a very random girl, with very random interests, and this will definitely be reflected in this very random blog...Ok, so let's get this off my chest and into motion....
I started ballet classes when I was three years old. I've been dancing or teaching ever since. Until now. Over the years, I did a lot more teaching than dancing, and my body has changed accordingly. I am almost 31 years old, and I weigh twice as much as I did when I was 21. Of course, I was a sickly 92 lbs at 21 years old, but still, twice as much?! I've finally decided that this is unacceptable. So, for me, the first step of my journey will be to find a happy medium somewhere.
My husband and I have decided to try HCG and the crazy diet that goes with it. A co-worker of his has found great success, and I hope that we do as well. It's a really scary prospect for me, mostly because I don't believe in my willpower or my dedication. Especially when that willpower involves turning down good food. So...I've decided to look at the process in a new light, and give more meaning to this journey than just losing weight. Inspired by the lovely Elizabeth Gilbert, I'm going into this a la "eat, pray, love." For the next week and a half, I'm eating. Good food, my favorite food, any food I want. And I'm not going to feel guilty about it. Not one iota. Of course, I'll be doing all of this from Florida, and not Italy, but it's all I've got to work with at the moment! When the HCG comes in, we will be going on a strict diet and to go with my (hopefully) new found discipline, I want to start a spiritual journey (for lack of a better word) as well. I am going to incorporate meditation, buddhist teachings, and a whole lot of self searching into this 24 day period of my life. It won't be India, but it will be the ocean! And that for me, could be just as good! So, the plan is that when my eating and praying is through, that there will be a lot of love waiting for me on the other side. Since I have already found (and married) the love of my life, I hope to find a different kind of love. Most importantly, a self-love, a love of life, more confidence, acceptance and contentment.
Tonight was definitely a good start to eating! We had an early dinner at a European Cafe and Schnitzel house. Home made, authentic German cuisine! Amazing!! We (my husband, mother in law, and a good friend) shared schnitzel, goulash, cabbage rolls, pirogies, saurkraut, bread, cheese, potatoes, and apple strudel! I wish I'd taken pictures! So much good food! My belly was definitely happy. And the atmosphere was great. I was really transported by the experience. When we were done, walking out into the Florida sunshine was shocking to me. I honestly thought that I had been transported to Germany. It was such a great experience, I wanted to latch on to it, hold it. I didn't want to leave. It was a perfect dining experience!!! I have a feeling that this eating phase will be quite enjoyable! And soon, the praying phase will be quite necessary! haha!!
Welcome to my blog! This is the first time I've ever attempted a blog, so I'm really excited and kind of nervous! The last shot I took at journaling was probably 15 years ago, so this has the potential to be rusty, dusty, and rambling! Also, I must warn you now, that I have a ridiculous propensity for exclamation points. I use them all the time, but I use them correctly. Because I really get that excited. Honest, I do! So make sure that you read everything accordingly. I'm also a very random person with very random interests, so I'm sure that will make for some interesting posts. Hopefully this will be more interesting than boring, and more enlightening (for someone...me perhaps?) than confounding, more like fun, and less like work.
Okay folks, keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, and here we go!
