Friday, May 23, 2008

Updates, Updates, Updates

I know I've neglected this site for too long. But you'll be happy to learn that I haven't neglected my garden! It's really starting to shape up. And I have the requisite back pain to prove it. Oh yeah. I promise pictures when I can bend down to retrieve the camera from its case on the floor of my bedroom closet. Really. Let's just say the words "bend down" don't exist in my vocab at the moment.

Some highlights:

1. We have a wedding date! Yay! June 29. The date was dependent on the schedule of the person we wanted to officiate at our wedding. Well, he said, "I do" and we're all set. What's nice is that it's someone we both know and and love. If he's reading this, I'm sure he's smiling now. Plus, he's a Mets fan which makes DF happy.

We both wanted a non-religious ceremony. DF, because he's a fallen Catholic. Me, because my Deist self has not set foot in a house of worship in so many years I've lost track. I always say, "I love God, I just don't like religious people." But, you know, that's another post another time.

2. Wedding plans haven't been TOO hairy. The worst aggravation we've had so far is ordering the invitations. Since I know the the printer in question is NOT reading this (not even sure he can read actually), I can say without compunction that he and his assistant are dumber than a bucket of grass. I mean, we didn't ask for the friggin' Guttenburg Bible. So why in the world would it take three proofs for a pretty basic wedding announcement? They would correct one mistake only to make another. The fonts on the invites didn't match those on the envelopes. But finally, since there were no glaring spelling or grammatical errors, we let it go. Time was of the essence.

The thing that burns me up most about all this is that this printer in question is the printer for our running club. Actually, the print shop used to owned by a member who since retired from the business and sold his shop. Out of laziness, convenience or whatever, we stayed with this print shop and its new owner who has the personality of a house plant but who is not as pretty. Also, not as competent. Do you know that this asshole had the audacity to tell DF when he complained, "Well, if you don't like it, you can take your business elsewhere?"

That's it. Since I sit on the board of our running club I am going to make a lot of noise and suggest we switch to another printer. Since the aforementioned member is no longer an owner, it's no skin off our collective noses. So, not only is said printer losing OUR business, he's losing that of our club, of 300 or so members. Don't mess with a Scorpio. Ever.

3. I had my 6-month cardiologist appointment two weeks ago. Basically, I get weighed (weight has been the same for 3 years now--I've kept off the 10 pounds), have my cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar and BP tested, and she listens to my heart and all that jazz.

A little background: When I first started going to her a few years ago, I was 10 pounds heavier, and had cholesterol of 257. My other values were OK but I was concerned about the cholesterol since heart disease runs in the male strain of my family. To make a long story short, I lost the weight and my cholesterol came down to 213. Not optimal (under 200) but we could both live with that since my good cholesterol (HDL) was high and I really had no risk factors other than family history.

So, at this latest appointment, she takes my blood and asks me, "Are you doing anything differently?" I had to think about that one. I've always been an exerciser, that was never an issue. I was doing about the same amount of running as I've always done. My diet was about the same, pretty good. What was she getting at?
"Do you realize that your cholesterol is 185, your HDL is is 73, your tris are 50 and your glucose is 93? This is the best blood profile you've had since you've been coming here!" To say I was in shock is an understatement. I haven't had blood values like that since I was in my early 30s!

But then I thought about it some more. I AM doing something differently. Due to the recession--and with food prices so high--I cannot afford to eat out as often. Most of the time (and I mean like 4 out of 5 days at work) my lunches consist of a romaine lettuce salad with egg whites or grilled chicken, peas, broccoli, corn, edamame (when they have it), walnuts and....black beans. Truth be told, I could probably eat this every day and not get tired of it. And it costs around just $6. Beans, as you might know, are extremely high in soluble fiber which has been shown to lower cholesterol. I've always liked beans but I wasn't eating them every day until now.

Nutritionists often tell people who don't like--or can't eat beans for whatever reason--to take Metamucil to help lower cholesterol. Personally, I'd rather eat the beans. I think that stuff tastes nasty--ugh.

In the past, I had tried everything. If you remember, about a year ago, I worked out with a personal trainer and lost body fat (BF was down to 15.5%--now I realize that was too low for my sanity). Still, my cholesterol hovered around 213.

So, what I conclude from this experiment on myself is that body fat doesn't have THAT much affect on cholesterol as does the daily intake of soluble fiber.

Should I now be thankful for the recession?