Welcome To Moe’s!

We had a coupon to buy one, get one free as long as you bought two large drinks. Donna ordered a Billy Barou that looked big enough to split, so we did. I’ll have my Joey Bag of Donuts for lunch tomorrow. It was still nice enough at 6:30 that we ate outside on the patio and watched the traffic go by on Whiskey Road (although by the end of the meal I wished I had a jacket on.)

Meal Cost: $9.08
Tip: None
Spent Today: $9.08
Year to Date: $265.67

There was pine pollen on the car when we got off of work this afternoon, but I ain’t complaining, it was 69° outside. So I went rollerblading when we got home, had to. I did my usual 3 mile circuit and it felt pretty good to stretch it out, but I bet tomorrow morning I’ll feel it in my lower back and legs. The high temps are headed back towards fifty again by the weekend, so I’ll be back to hibernating ’til spring, but it can’t be far away now.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 34

Afternoon Snack

Mine! Mine!This afternoon I had the sudden urge to get a bag of chips or something from the gedunk machines in the cafeteria. I usually don’t need a snack, but today for some reason I just had to have something. This unnatural craving must have come from some leftover subliminal suggestion implanted during my watching of Super Bowl commercials.

Mixed in between the three soft drink machines, the coffee machine, the change machine and a sandwich machine are two snack machines filled with a selection of salty or sweet or salty/sweet choices. Even though the 2 machines have a nearly identical mix of products, before choosing an item you have to look over every item in each machine before buying something. Almost everything is a national brand, but there are usually a couple of regional selections. Today, if I wanted (and I didn’t) I could have had a bag of Danny’s Pork Bits, AKA pork rinds, AKA the skin of a pig with a layer of fat still attached that has been deep fried to a crunchy consistency. The nutritional information proudly displayed on the front said that a serving of this snack would have 7.5 grams of fat and 70 calories.

I opted for something I thought might be a healtier, a 1-1/2 ounce bag of Lay’s Sour Cream & Chive Potato Chips cooked in sunflower oil and advertising no trans fats. As I sat at my desk enjoying my chips, I read the back panel’s nutrition label and discovered that one serving of these chips had 15 grams of total fat and 240 calories. Wait a minute, how could this bag of chips have twice the fat and 3 times the calories of a larger 2oz bag of pork rinds (which are essentially fat fried in fat?)

I went back over to the machine and re-read the pork skin’s nutrition label again. Yep, 7.5 fat and 70 calories. Oh, here it is, serving size 1/2 oz, servings per bag 4, so if you ate the whole bag yourself, not sharing with 3 of your buddies as expected, you’d get 30 grams of fat and 280 calories.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 33

Life of the Party or Annoying Guest?

RummicubeWhen I went for my esophagogastroduodenoscopy (I just love that word, I can’t say it, but boy does it look impressive written down) on Friday, I had a hospital arrival time of 7:30 and a procedure time of 8:30. Donna dropped me off about 7:15 so she could get to work at her normal hour. The patient registration clerks were ready and efficient, so when I entered the Endoscopy Lab where I was to have my procedure, I was very early. All the nurses were sitting in a big circle drinking coffee, cutting up and laughing. When I was noticed, everyone quieted down and one of the nurses directed me to the waiting room and told me they would call me when they were ready for me. They were probably having a morning staff meeting or something, but they sure were a happy bunch with all that laughing.

What ever the feel good juice is that they give you before the scoping, it is awesome. One of the nurses stuck the needle in the IV and said this will take about 5 minutes to kick in. I looked up at the clock and saw that it was 9:05 and I thought that I better remind the doctor that I wanted a picture of my insides, when the next thing I knew I was in the recovery area and a nurse asked if I wanted a Coke to drink.

Memories of the next hour or two are very scattered, for me. My wife will tell you different. Apparently I babbled on and on, repeating everything I said two or three times. Donna even tells me I was tormenting the other patients, particularly a woman who was in for a colonoscopy. I have zero recall of any of this. I wonder what else I was saying?

Over the weekend I figured out what all those nurses were laughing at when I walked in on them Friday morning and why they went so silent so fast. They were probably comparing notes on how their patients had acted and what they said while under the influence of the anesthesia the day before.

I expect they all had a pretty good laugh about me at this morning’s meeting.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 33

Time For A Rename?

DominoesInstead of Life of Brian maybe it should be called Eating With Brian?

We had Sunday lunch out with the usual suspects, but tried someplace different – Quiznos. We have had two previous experience with the chain, one that was good, we bought a sub onboard our flight to Seattle last year and it hit the spot, while second was not so good here in Aiken when we were seduced by a sign about a featured sub. Today’s experience was right about in the middle of those first two. Large Honey Bourbon Chicken with chips and a small Sierra Mist. We have vowed to give them at least one more chance before crossing them completely off our list.

Meal Cost: $10.68
Tip: None
Spent Today: $10.68
Year to Date: $256.59

After lunch we braved the elements and went outdoors. For the first time in a while it was actually nice enough to entice our fair-weather attituded selves into Hitchcock Woods. When we came out it was also nice enough still for us to drop the top on the Emperor for the drive home.

We are not even watching the Super Bowl for the commercials, although we have passed through CBS a few times to keep track of the score.

Started up, went down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 32

Saturday’s Culinary Wrap-Up

Our usual breakfast spot and our usual breakfast, except we went hog wild and bought an O.J. to split instead of water. Hardee?s Biscuits and Gravy for her, Sausage and Egg Biscuit for him.

Meal Cost: $5.38
Tip: None

For lunch, it was pizza at home, but for dinner we have a Papa Russ’s Big Platter that we are taking over to the Butler’s house for the MMC monthly meeting and game night. Chopped brisket & pulled pork with sides of baked beans & hash brown casserole. Corn bread muffins to mop up the plate.

Meal Cost: $12.71
Tip: None
Spent Today: $18.09
Year to Date: $245.91

I Am Brian’s Duodenum

Normal DuodenumI’ve been dealing with acid reflux & heart burn for a couple of years now. Medicine has helped, but I kept moving up the food chain in strength and prescription. A couple weeks ago I had heartburn so bad I made an appointment with a gastro guy. He thought it might be a good idea to have a look-see inside to see if he could find a reason for the escalation of symptoms, so this morning I had an Esophagogastroduodenoscopy done.

Having the EGD done was very similar to the colonoscopy of a couple a years ago, except there is no nasty prep work to be done the day before. You get an IV started and they wheel you into a room. You get rolled on your side, someone sticks a needle in the IV and you wake up later in a different room. Feeling mighty fine, I might add. The wheelchair ride out to the parking lot is worth the price of admission, the floor tiles rush between your feet sparkling with a sort of a visual doppler effect. Weeee.

I sort of remember the doctor saying that he saw nothing abnormal, but you better ask my wife, everything was very liquid for a couple hours after the procedure. I have to call and make a follow up appointment with the doc for next week, maybe by then he won’t look like the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 31

Your Own Personal DJ

Want to broaden your musical horizons, but not too far? I’ve got just the thing, well I don’t have it, the internet has it and it is called Pandora.You create your own personal radio stations based on music you already like. I typed in “The Cranberries” and I been listening to some pretty decent music for the last hour or so. Occasionally they serve a clunker and all you have to do is click the thumbs down button, the song will stop and another is offered up.

I think I’ll try and conjure up a Hawaiian music station…

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/07: 31