2798 Thursday stuff

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Democracy is the worst system in the world - except for the other ones.
-- Unknown --

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Falling down on this blogging stuff. Not much happening. I was sick in the throat and chest Monday, the diarrhea and queasy stomach (probably due to the zinc tabs) started Tuesday, and Wednesday I felt better, but I was weak.

When the throat and chest started on Monday, I dug through the medicine cabinet to see what I had that might help. There were all kinds of cold remedies there, but the expiration dates gave me pause - 2001, 2003. There were even some from the '90s. The most recent was a Tylenol severe cold prep with a 2009 date, so I took some of that. It worked. I hope it didn't kill my liver.

Yesterday was the first day I could get out, so I went to the pharmacy and stocked up on various head/throat/chest combinations. Naturally, the very act seemed to vanquish the virus. I haven't even opened the packages. The expiration dates on all this is late 2011. I found myself hoping I'd get sick between now and then, so I could use the flippin' stuff.

You'd think that with such short effective dates, and the fact that it's taken by the ounce, they'd sell at least the liquids in smaller packages. What do they expect you to do with it when it expires? Dump it down the drain, into the water supply?

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Dinner this evening at a Puerto Rican restaurant with the southern Orange County Mensans. This weekend is the central NJ Mensa gathering. None of the southern Orange folks had ever been to a regional gathering, so I talked a bunch into signing up for it. They're getting all excited about it. When I got sick I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to go. Irony there.

But, I'm going, and I've arranged for Jasper to stay through Monday at Pussyfoot Lodge (kitty summer camp - that's where each kitty gets a room with a window and a bird feeder outside), to see how he does before the big stay for the Morocco trip. Which trip, by the way, I am seriously wondering is going to happen at all. The woman organizing it is unresponsive.

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I've been on the diabetes diet for three weeks now, eating tiny amounts six times a day. It feels like I'm eating constantly, and when I total up what I eat each day, it's like twice the mass quantity of what I'd normally have eaten. I was worried that I'd gain weight, but I've lost 4 pounds! Cutting out fat and sugar and increasing protein really does make a difference. I try to keep each meal close to 300 calories, and each snack around 100.

TMI: This diet has a lot more fiber than I've been used to. It's messed up my poopies. I've never had problems in that area. I go every mid-morning, and it's always the previous day's intake. It knocks and says, I'm here. I sit down, and it does its thing with no effort on my part. All of a piece, not too hard, not too soft, a rich dark tan or brown, and that's it. (Occasionally, if I've eaten too much during the day, there's an evening delivery, too, and that can be very soft and a bit of a surprise, but that's highly unusual.)

So with all this fiber I was expecting some change. I was not expecting hard and reluctant one day and watery the next, and generally the color of old gold. I don't like this change at all. I thought fiber and low fat was supposed to be good.

Maybe it's because I'm allowed much less fruit daily than I had been eating before. I didn't realize how much fruit I ate until I couldn't have it. Apples, pears, dates, figs, melons, plums, prunes, bananas, oranges, berries, ... I used to eat two, three, four or more fruits a day. Now I'm allowed one serving of fruit - which is defined as half a banana, half an apple, half an orange, or 1/4 cup of berries - and it must be eaten with a protein. That's *half* a fruit.

I guess I used to eat like a bear, or a monkey. Far as I know, neither of them have problems pooping.
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