Mid-range Goals...

Ok... so... not only did Lisa not post, but I'm a week late...It is all for a good cause however.

As you may have guessed from the title this post is about mid-range goals that aren't quite where you want to get to, but a sure sign that you're on your way...

First up on our hit list... While I was in the hospital last month the lowest my insulin dosage got was 20 units of long acting each day and a sliding scale of short acting before meals. Then, they put me on a steroid for others stuff they needed to treat and the long lasting went up to 40 units and they added 3 units per meal to the short acting... Well, as of last Wednesday I'm at 18 units of the long acting and haven't used the short acting in weeks... this is a mid-range goal because I wanted beat where I was in the hospital at a minimum. I really want to be using zero (0) injected insulin, which is a lot harder and will take more work. In the mean time I've gotten the long acting below it's previous lowest point and that feels pretty good (I'll be dropping to 15 units tomorrow if all goes right with the numbers...)

One of my other goals is to drink more water and (gasp!) less soda. To do this it would be nice to have a way to carry water with me. True I could carry a bottle of water like a normal person but, well, anyone who knows me can see the problem with that! (hint: normal?) I could also go the military route and carry a canteen, but I already did the military thing with my medical pouch insulin pouch and first aid kid med vault so that one is kind of played... After I got out of the hospital I started my MK1 chainmaille bottle carrier (you can go back and look (it's a couple posts back) but please don't, it didn't work well...) but now I have the:

The Mk2 (this one is configured for a 20oz bottle). And:

The MK3. This one is the one I intended in the first place, I just had to experiment with a new material (rubber rings) to get the tension to hold the bottle right. So, I finished the goal of making a neat new water carrier (which is it's own goal of making stuff and an mid-range goal in the process of drinking more water (now I actually have to drink the water...)

We also survived our first, post hospital, trip away from home last weekend. This is a major step, and a mid-range goal, because figuring out schedule away from home and eating in restaurants is harder than working and cooking at home (from a carb intake and being in control of my schedule perspective...). This one gives me confidence for bigger trips later on.

I've also finished an editing pass on my novella (mid-range goal) and it is progressing toward publication (long range goal). I have also started writing text for a non fiction book I was planning a month and a half ahead of schedule (some parts are ready to go, but for others the research part is dragging...)

No, I haven't forgotten about Lisa (actually she's supposed to be working on her dissertation right now... but, she's reading blog posts instead (not really complaining too much (one of them was mine!)). She has also been asked to do some teaching in what I understand to be the QM organizations first entirely non English speaking class, and to teach in a webinar series they're doing (now if we can get her back to that dissertation...).

Actually I can't rag on her about that too much... Lately her thought process has been like mine... For those who have seen this before I'm sorry (I like it and think it's worth a repeat...). If you replace the word "rum" with the word "carbs" this has been my brain trying to work on writing the last couple of weeks...



(Note: I really wouldn't  try to attach any character in the video to any specific person, real or imagined... (and thanks to Andrew Van Vlear for a great video...))

Well, that's about it for this week. Till next time "Where have the carbs gone?"

Gains and Losses

Well you win some and you lose some, and some times you win by losing!

This last Thursday I succeeded in losing my 'super hero socks' which is a win because now I can take showers again! (much to the relief of, well pretty much every body).

We also won by 'losing' the battery on our seven year old weed eater (it died). For about $15 more than a replacement battery we got a new weed eater (which is cutting better than the old one (even though the old one has the better replacement cord and the new one has the cheap line that came with it out of the box). The new one also came with a new, better charger that has auto shut off! This has really sped up doing some of the yard work.

I am also continuing to lose weight (which is a win unless you count the fact that I am too small for my relatively new suit coat and really need to think about buying new, smaller pants).

Of course sometimes when one person loses others lose too. Like when the person on the Tor book printing line 'lost' just over thirty pages of one of the books I ordered with birthday money... I lost too because I had to send it back and get a replacement (which delayed my reading the book).

Seriously, thirty pages! Take a look...

It jumped from page 6 to page 39...

Of course there are some just plain wins too. The other day as I was celebrating my 'lose' of my super hero socks I decided to get something silly for Lisa. I found some cheap 'taco plates' that made her laugh (win). And then this happened...

(also a win...). Of course Lisa had to try to 'out healthy' me, so this happened...

So, she's going to be around for a while longer (another win) (Note: she still has sour cream on there she just hides it better!)

One of the other things that I've tried to do is drink more water and less soda (hah! that might result in blood in my caffeine system, that can't be a good thing...). Of course I can't just have a bottle of water like a normal person (ok... I can...but I don't want to...) so this happened...

The chainmaille water bottle. Ok this is where it gets complicated kids... It's a new design I invented myself (win). It didn't work the way I planned (Lose!). But in the process of figuring out how to make the design more what I wanted I have an excuse to buy the rubber rings I've been wanting to play with (Win!!!). The mark 2 (in the works) will have a strap. The mark 3 (which happens when I get the rubber rings) will fit tighter to the bottle in ways I like better. The rubber rings will also go into a remake of my chainmaille belt (making it lighter and more colorful as well as stretchy).

Lisa really is working on her dissertation (win). She got out a statistics book and everything... of course the mere presence of the book rendered college students two doors down unconscious (actually also a win (when they're asleep they can't park like idiots...)).

Part one of my novella I'm working on is pretty ready to go. Part two is taking a lot of work at the moment but moving, but it' getting there. I have full confidence in my ability to sell books! (which results in royalties (super dollar sign win...!).

Well that's about all the wackiness for this week (WIN!!!!! (sniff sniff, yeah for you guys...I was having fun (Oh wait! I still bet to bug people on my other blog (WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

Ok... actually I forgot one uber wacky thing I found this week...



That absolutely preposterous little tank is an FT 17... it is a tiny cramped two man number that can be taken out by an M2 heavy machine gun (I'd like to say 'lose' but keep in mind that it is the first modern style turreted tank... back in '17 nobody had ever built one before (heck mass produced cars were really, really new!) so it was really a win!). Compared to the British things that took an eight man crew and weren't much better armed or armored it was actually not bad.

Have a good week. Lisa should be writing next week and if not I'll be back in two...