Baby, It's Cold Outside!

This morning, it's 23 below 0 in High Plains City.

Roxy went out this morning to pee and came right back in, holding her foot up off the ground -- I imagine that the snow got caked in her pad and she was feeling the cold.

On tap for today -- working at home! I'll probably make a bit pot of stew or chili or something, and bake some cornbread.

In other news, I'm keeping up well with my decision to exercise 30 minutes a day and have added on a determination to cut my portion sizes. Result: I've lost 7 pounds! Woo-hoo! Still about 30 to go, but still... progress is sweet.

Losing It

No, not my mind.

I got on the scale this morning, expecting to have gained a couple of pounds, due to not exercising, not really paying attention to what I eat (although, see below for a caveat), and generally being stressed and anxious about life and teaching and etc.

Instead, I had lost three pounds.

That is a shocker!

I can only attribute this loss to the daily riding of my new cruiser, the cutting back of carbs and booze in an attempt to lower my triglycerides, and perhaps aforementioned stress and anxiety?

Anyway, I'll take it.

In other news, the students in my college algebra class yesterday had me rolling my eyes and snorting with laughter. First, there is the fact that my instructor is an undergraduate and looks like he is about 12. Granted, he seems to know his math. Then there are the two girls in the back row (and yes, I'm using "girls" advisedly, because they look and act like 8th-graders who are getting to go to the prom with a senior) who NEVER STOP TALKING the entire class. The instructor doesn't take roll, so I'm not sure why they are there. Certainly not to learn anything.

And then there was the poor kid on the back row with a cold, who blew his/her nose at least 30 times in a 50-minute period. No kidding. It got to the point where every time I heard a nose blowing from behind me, I started giggling and couldn't stop. Seriously. I think I even snorted a couple of times.

I'll post more later about the interesting computer system for doing our homework online, which I love but the other students hate.

For now, I'm off to teach a class, attend a meeting (with pizza, which I will not eat), teach another class, attend a meeting, and then go to a volleyball game. Ha. Crazy day.

Down by Half!

Yesterday the results of my blood work arrived, and my cholesterol values are CUT IN HALF! IN HALF! I have to say, I love me some Lipitor.

Now for the bad news: my triglycerides are still high. I did a google search on cutting triglycerides, and it looks like I have to cut out all of the stuff I love:
* carbohydrates
* sugar
* alcohol

Yes, alcohol.

I'm bummed. I guess I'll go have a salad for lunch. Cause I'm supposed to eat more green leafy vegetables and lose weight.

Of Tiling, Asbestos, and a New Diet Plan

Yesterday, our college administrative person (who is utterly fabulous, so I don't blame her for this AT ALL) (really, I don't blame anyone, I'm just whining) emailed everyone whose office resides on my floor to let us know that after noon today, we won't have access to our offices for a week. Why, you may ask, in the middle of getting ready for fall classes, would this happen? Well, we're getting new tile flooring in the hallway and the stairwells. Oh, and in order to take out the existing flooring, they have to do asbestos abatement. Enthusiasm for this project was sparked when we had our accreditation visit last spring (which we passed! with flying colors!). Part of getting-ready-for-the-accreditation-visit was spiffing up the buildings, which included retiling and repainting the hallway on the first floor, where most of the action is. Third floor? I don't think the accreditation visitors ever made it up that far! So anyway, I'll be heading in to the office early this morning, hoping to finish AT LEAST getting the readings lined up for one of my fall courses (the one I'm completely revising) so that I can work on other stuff at home.

Like the 300-page dissertation I have to read from a field completely outside of my knowledge base. I'm interested in this field, but not knowledgeable at all. Remember the science geek attempts? It's in that field: geology/geophysics. I'm the outside member, as in way outside. Let's just say that the title includes lots of things I don't know about, like "lattice-preferred orientation analysis" and "abyssal peridotites." Whew.

The science geek project, by the way, is still ongoing, but I'm in such lower-level courses at the moment that it feels like one of those dreams where you're trying really hard to run, but your body will not move? Like trying to run through big vats of yogurt or something.

Anyway, in other news, I have been running on my treadmill all summer, and not losing any weight (which is ANNOYING!) so I decided I should probably pay attention to my diet as well. I've downloaded this software, which is still in its trial period. But I'm thinking about purchasing it, because I really like the ability to track what I'm eating and how much I'm exercising. If nothing else, it gives me something positive to do in that direction. And -- other than hiking for six months at a time -- this process of tracking intake and output is the only way I've lost weight in the past. So, I'm shooting for losing about 25 pounds by January.