Month: November 2015

The New Colossus – Emma Lazarus

woodymw

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Friday Weigh In 11-13-2015

woodymw

Yikes – has it really been nearly a month since I made a real post?  Radio silence much?  <sheesh>

A week of vacation and a week of business travel completely derailed progress.  I’ve run not-much since I posted last, and I’ve struggled with food.  BUT – I’m back on the wagon for the last few days, and my run this morning went very well.  Felt a little like old times there for a bit in the middle.

Weight:  305.2 lbs

Weekly Gain/Loss:  +0.6 lbs

Total Gain/Loss:  (-17.8) lbs

So, since I weighed in last on the week before vacation (Captiva Island, by the way.  Just do it.  Seriously – make that happen.) I’ve gained 3.6 pounds, or a bit over 1%.  That’s obviously a rate that would make huge very quickly – but it also isn’t as bad as it could have been.  The trick, as always, is not to see this journey as an all-or-nothing affair.  I’m still down about 18 pounds since June, which is great.  And I can get RIGHT back on that wagon and head right back down.

There was a time in my life where, right now, I might throw my hands up and quit.  I lost momentum, I gained some weight, and getting out the door and making good food choices has become challenging again.  Screw it – lets go get a burger and a milkshake.  But that would be silly.  Its like saying these 18 pounds don’t count.  And they do – they count.

So – back on the wagon.  I’ve got a few posts lined up, too – got to make the vacation post, of course, and then talk about a few other things going on.  Radio silence – over.

Onward.

A Few Words on Food Drives

woodymw

That time of year again … give, and give generously – but lets be smart with our charity and do the most good that we can…

A Constant State of Hunger

‘Tis the season for giving.   And that urge to give, that desire to be helpful in a world that needs it, is a glorious thing, a ray of light in what can be an otherwise bleak world.  But here’s the thing.  We are VERY BAD at making efficient choices.   Inefficiency = waste, and waste = not helping people that need help.   So lets boil this down to one sentence:

 If you really want to help people who are hungry, don’t give food to food banks, food pantries, or soup kitchens – give them money.

Lets do some math, shall we?

(there is some rounding here – the scale works, regardless of how you round)

At this link, you can buy bulk pasta:

http://www.alibaba.com/product-tp/123143095/Vega_Spaghetti_and_Short_Cut_Pasta.html

That link takes you to dried spaghetti noodles that you purchase by the metric ton.  1 metric ton = 2,204 pounds of spaghetti.  And they charge, on average…

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