Losing a part of me

Category: Exercise

  • Day 276

    NEWS FLASH! After a week of faltering on my program and seeing my weight staying roughly the same (within a pound and a half), I was able to stick to the plan yesterday, eating only what is prescribed in my weight management guide, plus a challah roll with peanut butter, which replaced two meal replacements.

    SCALE VICTORY! I crashed through that elusive 310lbs barrier! With a whopping 2.6lbs drop from yesterday, not only bringing me into that last 300-pound decade, but also back into the best-weight-ever territory.

    Yes, it is entirely possible that the next time I see my wife (which will be in 27 days) I could weigh under 300 pounds… that terrible milestone that I have always hated, and that for the many years of my weight loss struggles I have viewed as the boundary between absolutely disgusting, and just really bad.

    My scale app (it should surprise nobody that I have a Bluetooth scale that connects to my phone and tracks my progress in the cloud) has a field that I set for myself years ago – likely sometime during my 2020 weight loss attempt – that is my target weight. I set it at 210lbs, which might or might not be realistic. For the first time since March 7, 2021 (almost exactly a year and a half ago) I am less than 100lbs from that goal weight.

    While it might be easy to see my next major milestone as being that century – I am 8.4lbs away from registering under 300 pounds – that would neglect one huge milestone that is between now and then. While I do not remember the first conversation I had with her, I know that Leslie and I started our training for the FastTrack team at Microsoft together on March 1, 2021. My best weight from that week was 305.6lbs, the morning of Wednesday, March 3. My next milestone is that… I am 2.6lbs away from my lowest weight since I met my wife. While she has seen pictures, Leslie has never known me weighing less than that. I am truly looking forward to her seeing me start to get slimmer than she has ever known me… and her watching me continue to shrink until I am at last in good and healthy shape.

    It is worth mentioning, by the way, that according to my scale app my Body Mass Index (BMI) is below 40. In fact, it has been straddling the line around 40 since the beginning of the month. This morning it is neither 40.1 nor 39.9… it is 39.6, which is cause for note as well!

    My goal for today is to do my best. Charlie is visiting with Princess Sophie for a couple of hours, and his mom asked me to not leave them home alone. I could drop him off at her apartment and go out, but I would rather not do that. Liz and Charlie have been so good to us that I think it is the least I can do to let them play together while she is out gardening. I will head to Lyle and Dorothy’s house after lunch, whether Liz is home or not… she should be. However, I do not have to go out before that… despite maybe wanting to go for a walk.

    While this weekend (and the next few days) is scheduled to be pretty nice, I know that winter is coming. I have been giving more serious thought to a gym membership. I spoke with my former personal trainer today (who is also a Facebook friend) and asked if she gets any sort of bonus or recognition if she brings me in to the club, but she does not. I will likely go into the club Monday or Tuesday to sign up.

    While joining the gym will give me access to the aerobic exercise machines that will take the place of my outdoor fitness walking, it will also give me access to anaerobic equipment, which will let me work on growing muscles. I do not want to be a body builder, but larger biceps and triceps would be great. I guess I should speak with my wife to confirm what she wants me to look like… I do not think she will want me to have a swimmer’s body, but if I am such a huge proponent of communications, it would be a good idea to ask!

    Okay, enough procrastinating. It is time to go about my day. I am going to make lunch, and then likely I’ll head over to Lyle and Dorothy’s to enjoy a cigar smoking afternoon on the patio. With a forecast high of 20° Celsius today, it might be the last day of the year where that mark will be hit. The next few days are projected at 17°, and from there it just drops into mid-autumn temperatures… and precipitation. Today will not be the last good cigar smoking day of the year… but if it was not for my propane heater, it would be one of them.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Change Of Plans

    I was planning on taking another day or two off from fitness walking, but decided to head out anyways. It was my intention to take a shorter walk than my last few, and if I needed to, then I would take it easy. I set out on a path that would be just over 6km, and if I felt I was hurting, there were plenty of opportunities to shorten that.

    • Distance: 6.23km (15.56km)
    • Duration: 59:59 (2:40:02)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:37 (10:17)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m23s (9m34)
    • Steps: 7.6k (19.3k)
    • Calories burned: 774 (1,871)
    • Elevation gain: 31 (76.5)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 128 (120)

    I am not at all disappointed by what I was able to accomplish today. I set out hoping to not be in too much agony, and any actual exercise I was able to get was a bonus. In the end, each of my split-pace kilometres was under 10m (except the first), with all but the first and last also under 9m40s. It was an excellent pace, and I did not feel pain, nor did I feel extreme fatigue. It is my first fitness walk in ten days, and I felt good about it. I will try go farther Thursday though.

    I thought about hopping onto the scale after my shower to see how my walking affected it, but I got distracted. It doesn’t matter, whatever my weight is, it is. I only count my first weigh-in of the morning, and today’s was pretty good. If tomorrow I lose another pound, I will be in best-weight territory again, which is where I always want to be!

    Time for me to relax the rest of the day. Enjoy the afternoon folks!

  • Day 256

    I slept very well last night, after yesterday’s monster walk. Leslie and I agree, however, that I pushed myself too far yesterday, and that I should dial it back a little bit. The way my legs are feeling (more last night than today, but still…) are a good indication that we are right about that. I should also mention that for the first time in my fitness walking journey, the insides of my thighs were chaffed last night, and required the application of baby powder. While that is not an indication of anything musculature, it is a reminder that when I plan a walk over 11km I should also take some precautionary measures.

    The numbers on the bathroom scale this morning were spectacular. Since the morning after I arrived in Dallas (ten days ago) I have lost ten pounds. I am thrilled by that, and even though I did not drop into the 310lbs range (I actually weigh 311lbs this morning), I am happy with another two-pound drop from yesterday. I know that type of progress will not be constant, but when it does happen, I am always going to celebrate it.

    This morning I prepared chocolate French toast for the family, but the boy decided he did not want any… likely as a passive aggressive protest against the man he sees as usurping his father’s place by his mother’s side. It is too bad, for too reasons. First, it was really tasty. Second, I ate what he did not. Rather than having a meal replacement, I had two and a half slices of French toast. Fortunately, I did not add syrup. That does not change the fact that the meal was not a smart one. I will do better the rest of the day. Of course, that will be contingent partly on Leslie’s son, who may decide that he wants us to bathe in deep-fried chicken shmaltz.

    I will not be fitness-walking today. I am taking the day off, and I will spend the entire day with the family. While the kid is mostly a good kid, he does his best to test the limits of his mother’s love. I understand better now why she often calls me with frayed nerves during her weeks with him. While it is easy for me to let his crap slide, I have been exposed to it for three days… she deals with it without any backup every other week. In short, this is just another reason why we need the State Department to let me move here sooner rather than later. His mother needs reinforcements!

    It is another beautiful day in Dallas, and looking at the forecast for Dallas and California it will be quite some time before I see another cloud or cold day. I am back in Canada two weeks today, and that might be it. The evenings are more comfortable than they were during the summer, but the daytime highs are still in the mid-eighties… and in California, the forecasted high temperatures from Tuesday through Friday range from 89° to 93° Fahrenheit. I am packing a couple pair of long pants and long-sleeve shirts (and a jacket) … but only because I have to go to synagogue for the holiday.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Go The Distance!

    I wrote this morning that I would need to register two walks of thirteen kilometres each today and tomorrow to come close to achieving the September Step Month badge from Garmin, which did not seem at all reasonable, considering that my longest walk to date was 10.5km.

    I killed today’s walk, breaking records… not Dallas records, but actual since-I-started-walking records. I did achieve the 13km distance, with an average page under 10m00. Obviously, my step count was higher than ever, as was my calories burned. Even so, I am still 23,750 steps from earning the badge… but I was not thinking about the badge as I walked. I was thinking about going the distance. I was thinking about shattering my limitations, and not simply beating my old record by .25km. I wanted to get out there and shatter things.

    • Distance: 13.02km (9km)
    • Duration: 2:08:09 (1:27:49)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:50 (9:44)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m40 (x2) (9m18s)
    • Steps: 16.3k (11.4k)
    • Calories burned: 1,571 (1,083)
    • Elevation gain: 66.6 (39.1)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 126 (130)

    Of course, the day is not nearly over (I should press the Publish button around 2:15pm), so it is still possible for me to end the day needing only 20,000 steps to earn the badge. It will not be hard for me to walk another 4,000 steps today – that will involve a trip to the recycling bin, maybe a couple of walks around the complex. I’ll take out the trash, maybe I will offer to do whatever shopping is needed (although I do not think there is any needed, as Leslie placed an order with Amazon Prime this morning). I don’t know… but if I wake up tomorrow needing only 20,000 steps, then I will try for the badge.

    The problem with that previous sentence is that I do not have too many days in the past year where I walked more than 18,000 steps… and I am not sure if I have broken the 20,000-step mark. I know that if I even want to think about that badge, I will have to hit 22,000 steps today, and then 20,000 tomorrow. Doable? Yes. Possible? Sure. Likely? That’s a whole other story.

    In the meantime, I signed up for some October challenges on Garmin. There is the Garmin Pink October, meant to support breast cancer awareness. It is 100,000 steps in 10 days… perfectly achievable. There is the Halloween Walking challenge, for which I will have to complete a 3-mile walk between the 28th and the 31st (no big deal). The big challenge though is the October Step Month, which is the continuation of the September challenge I am working toward. 300,000 steps in the month. If I do not get lazy as I did this month (My first recorded walk was only on September 5, and then from the 10th through the 23rd I only recorded three walks) then I should be able to knock that one out of the park.

    Something that I will have to start paying attention to when I get back to Canada mid-month is the weather. I have been spoiled, both in Canada and in Dallas, with the weather these last few months. The last half of October is when things in Canada really start to cool down, and more importantly start getting really wet. If I am going to be walking outdoors when I get back to Canada, I will have to start thinking about weather-appropriate clothing. I have a few baseball hats, and I have long-sleeved shirts and training pants. I also have my new Team Canada jackets which would probably be good outerwear. My biggest challenge will be remembering how important it is for me to get out and do it. Hopefully my beautiful wife will remind me if I do not get out for a couple of days. Hopefully I will not need prodding or reminding.

    The rest of the day is open for me. I have a few minor bits to take care of, but for the most part my day is over. Leslie is making dim sum for dinner (which we all love), and so far, I have only had two meal replacements. I will have another one around 3:00pm, and then the dim sum. Of course, I am drinking a lot of water… and yes, I stopped midway through my walk to pick up a Gatorade Zero. I think I am doing pretty well on my plan. My diet buddy texted me a few hours ago to let me know she is looking forward to talking this evening, and that she has a weight-loss announcement. I have no idea what that means, but I hope she accomplished something amazing. I am crossing my fingers for her.

    Have a great day folks!

  • Killing It!

    • I was planning on walking after my afternoon meeting. When we got home from the bank, I looked at the forecast and changed my mind. The current temperature at the time was 78°, but by 1:30pm it would be up to 90°. I did the math and knew that I had just under 2.5 hours to walk, cool down, shower, and be at my computer in time for the call. I could do it if I did not try to overdo it. I did not think it would be a problem, and it would be fine.
    • Distance: 9km (10km)
    • Duration: 1:27:49 (1:40:51)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:44 (10:03)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m18s (9m40)
    • Steps: 11.4k (12.7k)
    • Calories burned: 1,083 (1,203)
    • Elevation gain: 39.1 (47.5)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 130 (126)

    Owing mostly to the heat, I never expect to break records when I am in Texas. I hit the ground running though, and I knocked out the first five kilometres in a whopping 47:24, which had my average pace at under 9m30s! I was thrilled, but I was also losing hydration and electrolytes. I stopped at the 6km mark and bought a Gatorade Zero to supplement the bottle of water I was working through. My pace for the last four kilometres was about 10m03s per kilometre, the same pace of my entire walk from yesterday.

    I walked into the apartment sweaty and thirsty, but very proud of my accomplishment. I do not expect to be able to maintain this sort of pace every day, but every once in a while, it is good to push myself. I do not know if I did it knowing that I had to hurry home for my meeting, but whatever it was, I did it. Let’s see if I can do it again tomorrow!

    Today’s fitness walk was my eleventh such walk for the month of September. It has not been a very successful month, but at least I can finish strong, and spring into October on a good roll. Yes, of the eleven fitness walks of the month, four of them have been in the last five days. If I hit the road tomorrow and Friday, I will have a great streak to end the month with.

    Knowing that Leslie and I will be spending most of the weekend entertaining her son, I doubt I will be able to walk Saturday or Sunday, and Monday I am flying to California. Tuesday I will walk, but Wednesday is Yom Kippur, so I will be fasting and at synagogue services all day. Really, with my California jaunt, I likely will not be able to get into the swing of things for October until I am back in Dallas the afternoon of the ninth… but I will make sure to get right back on track starting that afternoon.

    Leslie was worried that the boy would want to go for fried chicken this evening, which I would not have been able to eat. Fortunately, when they came in, he announced that he wanted sushi, which is absolutely doable for me. In preparation for the evening meal, I have only had meal replacements today (three of them in fact, exactly what I should be having). All this to say that tomorrow I am looking for a happy number on the scale.

    It’s a gorgeous day in Dallas, and I am just happy to be alive, loved, and healthy.

    Have a great evening folks!

  • Push It!

    I was thinking, as I approached the last quarter-kilometre of my fitness walk today, that it was less than three months ago that I passed the exact same spot where I was today, and said ‘Wow, I can’t believe that I was able to finish five kilometres in such good time, with a pace of 10m54s per kilometre. I remember thinking to myself ‘I had better put on the brakes right here, stop my timer, and just take a relaxed pace back to the apartment. I really pushed myself today!’

    If I were to register a pace of 10m54s per kilometre today, I would consider it a terrible fail.

    I did push myself today, although I am still not hitting 8km, which in Canada is my bare minimum. I do not know if it is the heat (which today was nowhere near as prohibitive as it has been) or the humidity, or simply the fact that I do not know the area as well, and the routes I take are safer, but shorter. I do know that I am still proud of what I achieved today, and only wish I was carrying more water. Yes, I am worried that if I run out of water on a stretch of road where there is nowhere to buy another bottle of it, then I will end up panting my way back home. I finished my bottle as I came into the apartment today, 7.5km into the walk.

    • Distance: 7.5km (7km)
    • Duration: 1:13:40 (1:11:22)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:49 (10:11)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m28s (9m33s)
    • Steps: 9.2k (8.7k)
    • Calories burned: 941 (857)
    • Elevation gain: 34 (27)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 126 (120)

    Today’s was the first walk in Dallas on which I have a total average pace under ten minutes. I am happy about that, and remembered along the way of one walk in mid-July when I was just hoping to finish seven kilometres in under 1h15m. While there is still the occasional walk when I do not achieve that pace, today was not one of them. These days, I try to keep ahead of 10 minutes per kilometre pace, which means that I will always be under 1h10m on the seven. Today I did it in 1h8m19s… not my record, but certainly a very respectable pace for me!

    I am glad that I am keeping active, and hope that I will be able to stay on track with my weight loss regimen. The holiday aside, I can definitely get back on track starting tomorrow. If I keep up my walking, there is no reason I should not be able to get back down below 315lbs by the weekend!

  • Day 244

    I thought I did pretty well yesterday, although I did have some goldfish crackers – the last of them. Unless I go shopping for treats, I have no more temptations in the pantry that I can think of. I have no further need to shop – I went to the supermarket last night to pick up an onion and to collect my dry cleaning. I want to be able to wear those suits in a month; unless I stay on track, that is unlikely to happen. So, I will stay on track.

    Yesterday, I bought my ticket for Disneyland. There are not a lot of options for getting discounts, and rather than spending excessing time on this, I decided to just pay full boat. I am disappointed that my friend will be out of town – his wife works for the company, and they could have signed me in for free. I am really looking forward to it though – Leslie and her son are worth it!

    There is no rain in the forecast for today, and that means I will head out for a good walk. There are a few reasons for this, not the least of which are the consequences I mentioned a day or two ago. In truth, I am still trying to make fitness walking habitual. I am long past the stage when I worried if I was able to walk well, and most of the time when I embark on a fitness walk, I am going to try for a certain distance (almost always in excess of 8km). However, I have still not become addicted to it. I still have to say to myself on any given day, ‘Okay, I should go for a walk. This is what time I am going, and this is the route that I will take.’

    I really want fitness to be part of my nature that I just go. I want it to be an addiction. Of course, it will never be that simple… as it will never be as simple for me to lose and keep off all of my excess weight. I think, really I know that I will always have to work at these things. I have to admit that I was never a fitness junkie, which probably would have made a lot of things in my life much easier. If I had been, I likely never would have gotten to where I am. It is a sad realization maybe, but it is an honest one. Guys in my unit would wake up, roll out of their bunks, and be doing pushups before they even peed. I would always grumble something about coffee, even though I was in just as good shape as they were. I have never loved it… I just always knew it was good for me, and important to do. For far too many years, I ignored it. Wisdom comes with age, and at fifty years old I know that I can never ignore fitness, just like I will never be able to eat without thinking. That is a very certain recipe for failure, and I do not want that.

    Aside from my walking, I will likely stay pretty close to home today. If he were around, I might invite my son the elder for a drink; he is on the west coast with friends, so that’s a non-starter. I might reach out to a friend to see if they want to sit and chat, but I suspect that Lyle is busy preparing for his aunt’s visit. We’ll see.

    Speaking of my son (and his absence), I am going to have to get an Uber to take me to the airport on Thursday. That’s usually an opportunity to see my boy, but with his not being in town, I am deprived of that option.

    As it turns out, Lyle is free for a cigar. After my walk I’ll have lunch around 1:00pm, and then drive over there for a couple of hours. I do not plan to make it a late night – or even evening – because I am going to do laundry this evening, so that tomorrow afternoon everything that I want to take to Dallas (and of course to California) will be clean. I won’t pack tonight, but I will try to fold and organize everything.

    I was speaking with Leslie this week, and I told her that I am going to bring a lot of my summer clothes and just leave them there. After all, by the time I am back (October 16) it is a safe bet that the short-pants weather will be behind us for the season. When she asked if I won’t need them in the spring, my initial response was that I could bring them home in time for that. When I gave it some thought, I was happy to tell her that if all goes according to plan, all of the shorts that I am wearing now will be too big for me by the spring, and I will need new ones anyways. Despite the bumps along the road (like this past couple of weeks), my goal is to be down another fifty pounds by next spring… if not more. Leslie agrees that if I am able to accomplish that, it will be a pleasure to have to buy new shorts!

    I have procrastinated enough. It is time for me to hit the trails. I am not sure now steady my knees feel, so I am going to plan for an 8km walk, with the option to extend it if I am feeling up to it. I will walk through the park to Appleby Line, up to Dundas Street, then back down. If I am feeling ambitious at that point, I can continue down to Mainway for the extra couple of kilometres. We’ll see. For now, I am going to start by suiting up and heading out.

    Have a great day!

  • Day 237

    It was no surprise this morning when I stepped onto the scale to discover I was up nearly half a pound. While the Goldfish crackers might have contributed to that, I suspect it was more just righting the tremendous drop from the day before. Losing six pounds in one day is unbelievable, and more often than not will right itself, as it did.

    If we assume that the tremendous walk was an offset for the cheat, I find myself exactly where I should be. Yes, I would like to get back below the 315lbs mark (as I was ever so briefly, a week ago today), but that will take a few more days. I would love to get to 310lbs by next Thursday when I am getting onto an airplane to see my wife! In the meantime, I am going to the doctor’s office tomorrow to get weighed, and I am truly hoping to be down at least 2kg from two weeks ago. If it wasn’t for that pesky trip to Montreal…

    While today is Tuesday, and I should in theory be going to Taekwondo, I am having dinner with my son the younger, and that will most likely conflict with the class. In case we end early (which is quite likely), I will take my dobok in the car with me. I would like to get back onto the mat, if possible, but at the same time, spending time with my son is more important.

    On that Taekwondo front, the 7:00pm class is for Black Belt preparation class, which will be good for me because I do need to relearn the patterns that I needed for lower levels. The 7:45pm class is the teen/adults class (all belts), so while it will be a good workout, I do not expect that it will help prepare me for my test… whenever that might be.

    Speaking of which, I just remembered that my Master called me last night, and I need to call him back. With luck, he might have time to meet for a coffee between my dentist appointment and meeting my son. If not, then hopefully later in the week.

    Thinking about it now, there is little chance I will be able to go for a walk today. Between now and 2pm there is a 70%-100% chance of rain every hour. At 2pm I have a dentist appointment. If I would not be sweating like a pig from it, I might walk in Oakville between the dentist and meeting my son, but there is no way to make that work. In the evening, I will either be with my son, or at Taekwondo. I am going to have an enforced day off. Fortunately, the forecast from tomorrow through Saturday is dry, so I’ll be able to get my steps in for the week.

    My plans for food are to make my chicken and salad for lunch, then a meal replacement or two in the evening. Hopefully I will be able to stick to the plan, especially with the enforced no-eating-for-an-hour-after-the-dentist zone.

    Have a great day folks!

  • My Second Ten

    I was not pushing myself for speed today, as my first kilometre demonstrated way too clearly, with an abysmal 11m02s pace. I picked it up after that, with only one of the next nine kilometres paced over 10m10s.

    It felt good to record my second ten-kilometre walk knowing that I could have gone longer. I did not want to push myself too hard, or at least not further than I actually did.

    • Distance: 10km (8.21km)
    • Duration: 1:41:33 (1:24:56)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 10:08 (10:20)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m44s (10m02s)
    • Steps: 12.6k (10.3k)
    • Calories burned: 1,188 (971)
    • Elevation gain: 62.7 (53)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 124 (122)

    I was disappointed to look back to look back to July 25th, my first 10-km walk, and see that I actually did not break my time for that distance. I missed it by only six seconds, which means that my disastrous first kilometre made the difference. I am not going to lose any sleep over that; it was an excellent walk, and my elevation gain was much higher today than then. Of course, I need to remember that for the first 1500m of my walk, my knee was bothering me. I am going to see about picking up an ace bandage to wrap it for tomorrow’s walk.

    One thing that I thought for a minute might have made a difference was that I was wearing long training pants. Normally I am wearing shorts, which are not only lighter, they are much less constricting on my legs. That could have been a factor, but knowing how well I was able to pick up the pace after that first kilometre, I suspect it was not as much a factor as I thought at the time.

    King Charles III just finished his first public speech as the monarch, and he spoke well. I am not sure what to think of him, knowing that there have been so many negative stories around him throughout his life. I do know that aside from being our new King, he is a son who lost his mother and is mourning. I hope that he does well as our monarch, but today I wish him my condolences as a mourner.

    I am going to head out to lunch, and then to the cemetery. On reflection, I do not think that I will be heading to a cigar lounge this evening, but will stay close to home. After all, there will be less temptation to drink with my cigars here.

    Have a great day folks… and G-d save the King.

  • Island Walking

    It is funny what we do not pay attention to when we are driving. Of course, I am always aware of pedestrians and bicycles; I have probably spent more than one hundred nights at my friends’ house in Notre-Dame-de-l’Île-Perrot (just off the island of Montreal), and it never occurred to me, as I tried to think where to walk around here, that there is a walking path right outside the house. This quaint town is actually replete with them, and I will be exploring them more as my stay progresses.

    My walk this morning ended at 8.5 km, and I could have done more if I felt like it. If I am feeling this good tomorrow, I will try for ten kilometres. However, I will do it without forgetting one important item… Despite having prepared it, I left my water bottle at home, and so I did not drink until I got home (at which point I drained my bottle, and another). It was a sunny day, and the temperature was around 22° Celsius, which is not prohibitive by any measure. If I had been uncomfortably thirsty, I would have stopped to buy a bottle at any of the convenience stores that I passed along the way.

    • Distance: 8.5km (9.2 km)
    • Duration: 1:24:24 (1:27:44)
    • Average Pace (Min/km): 9:55 (9:29)
    • Best Split-Pace Kilometre: 9m45s (9m10s)
    • Steps: 10.3k (11.4k)
    • Calories burned: 1,033 (1,127)
    • Elevation gain: 56 (27.8)
    • Average cadence (steps per minute): 120 (128)

    I only broke the record for elevation today because most of the time I am walking around Burlington or Dallas, two very flat cities. In contrast, Montreal and the surrounding areas are anything but. Because of that, I am thinking that tomorrow or Friday I might end up at Mount Royal, and go for a walk on the mountain trails. That would be a nice walk, and one that I used to do quite a bit when I was living here, and when I was living in Toronto but visiting here a lot.

    I am going to get my lunch, and then go visit my friends Caryl and Lawrence. They adopted a new puppy, and I am looking forward to meeting her. This evening I will spend a few hours smoking cigars with Stephane, which is always a good time.

    Have a great day folks!