It's Wiscpunk You Idiot

9.27.2007

27 September 2007 - p.m.

27 September 2007 –

Well, so much for my celibacy experiment. Cody came by to get his mail and visit for a moment before he went to work at the Round Up, and we couldn’t really help it. It was nice, however, and I had missed him a great deal. He kept saying he wasn’t coming back, and I just kept enjoying the fact that he was here. So it’s all good, I suppose. I’m sure I can get twisted behind it again at some point if I choose to. For now I’ll just consider it a pleasant afternoon with someone I care about a great deal doing what seems to come very naturally to both of us.

I went a little overboard shopping this evening. I went to Target to get dad some speakers for his computer, and ended up spending $130 on that and housecleaning supplies and stuff like toothpaste, toilet paper, paper towels and shampoo. I then went to Tom Thumb and spent $75 on groceries. I got home a little after 9pm, and I just finished cutting up veggies and fruit and packing it all into little plastic tubs to carry with me for meals over the coming days. I also got a few packages of salmon, some smoked for omelets in the morning and some frozen and thawed for cooking tomorrow afternoon and in a few days time when I get sick of chicken again. Sometime early next week I’ll get myself a steak again as well. I don’t figure it hurts to have one per week.

I got some fat-free cottage cheese and bananas, raspberries, oranges, plums, new potatoes, red cabbage, broccoli, carrots and celery. I got skim milk and a half-dozen eggs to tide me over until I get to the farm tomorrow night. I also have frozen, unsweetened peaches from the farm in the freezer and one tub of those at work. They’re having a birthday breakfast at the office in the morning with sausage rolls and doughnuts, and I told Lynn to count me out on that. Historically, I’ve been the one to bring all that stuff in at least once per week, and I think I’ve used up my quota. I’ll treat myself to lots of fresh fruit and some of those rice cake snacks tomorrow. I got a few packages of those as well. I’m a huge fan of kettle corn popcorn, and I was disappointed to read all the fats and trans fats on the label two weeks ago. I have since found some of those rice-cake snacks that are the same flavor, and I’ve stocked up on those.

I actually eat quite a bit still, but none of it has any sugar or fat to speak of. I was amazed at how much sodium is in everything I buy, however, and I’ve been pretty careful to limit that. I went looking for vinaigrette the other night and ended up just buying some balsamic vinegar for my red cabbage, because everything else was loaded with sodium. I’m eating pretty good stuff, however. Every day I grill some chicken or fish and dress it up with lemon juice and perhaps a little rosemary or Tabasco. I eat a great big egg-white omelet just about every morning and accompany that with some oatmeal with nothing in it but skim milk and banana, though tomorrow I may opt for berries in it.

I noticed today that my chest and arm were still noticeably achy on my mid-day walk, but nothing like they were two weeks ago. I think I’m covering at least a mile each time I take off from the office, sometimes double that, but I’m taking it easily and reading as I go most of the time. I always feel better afterward, even though I’m sweaty and tired. I gave away an entire box of wild grape jelly to my landlady this evening when I stopped by to pay the rent for October. It was the last batch dad made, and it was pretty liquid stuff, but she likes it that way. She says she drizzles it on her waffles and stuff like that and uses it like syrup. She’s welcome to it. I enjoyed picking the grapes, but dad did more work making it. I was happy to give it up. I have a few jars of the first batch still, and I can eat a tiny bit of that on toast from time to time. She gave me one jar of homemade apricot preserves, and I’ll enjoy those for a weekly treat or something.

Come to think of it, I should mail off some chow-chow soon, as I’ll have less use for it with these eating habits. It’s got plenty of sugar in it, though most of the jars I have are the spicy kind. I have plenty of tomatoes canned from the garden, and I’ll have plenty of use for those in the coming months.

Money will be tight for the next week, but I have just about all the food I’ll need for four or five days at least. I shop for food more often, but I tend to eat everything I buy and enjoy most of it pretty well. I have less waste and less compulsive eating, and I still have plenty to eat. I’m not drinking nearly as much water as I had been for some reason. I’m just not nearly as thirsty, and I don’t feel the same need to continually flush my system that I did before. I should probably drink more than I am now, however. I made a pitcher of orange juice this evening.

Dad got high-speed internet this week for the first time. Sure enough, he’s enjoying the difference. I’ll head out to the river tomorrow night to look over that for him and hook up his new speakers. But mostly I’m going out to play with Sarah. I was only there for a few minutes last weekend, and I miss her all week long when I’m in town. I really love my dog, and she’s really attached to me as well. I should bring her into town more often when the weather cools down some, even though it means filling up my truck twice a week instead of once in order to accomplish that. I remember filling it up almost every day and charging the gas to dad’s card. A lot has changed in the last year and a half.

posted by Mugtoe at 23:11 0 comments

Another Youtube link

Not to lighten the mood or take away from Mugtoe's great posts, but yet again, I couldn't pass this one up... I mean, c'mon, Mr. Rogers and Breakin'???? Need I say more???

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 22:44 1 comments

27 September 2007

It's been a week and two days since I quit smoking. I walk at least three times per day from here at Zang & Davis down to Jefferson and back. I looked it up on google maps, and that is approximately a mile, I think. I have cut every bit of fat that I can out of my diet, and I take an aspirin every morning and separate the yolks from my eggs before making my morning omelet. I still haven't called a doctor. Frankly, I'm a tad scared of that, and I am resistant to spending the money, even though I have medical insurance. I read while I walk, so my walks are somewhat gentle. Even so, I sweat a great deal in the process and always feel better afterwards. I started this almost two weeks ago, and last Friday I had lost eight pounds when I weighed myself at the farm. I'll probably head out there tomorrow evening as well and check my weight once more to see if there's any more tangible evidence of progress in that regard. I still get some of that dull ache in my chest and my left arm, but I'm noticing improvement.

I'm reading a good deal more now. I just finished Jim Harrison's "True North" yesterday, and this morning I started reading Balzac's "The Wild Ass's Skin". I made the mistake of looking up the book online before I began reading, so I more or less know how it ends. It is, however, one of those books that makes me want to carry a pen with me so I can underline passages, write in the margins and otherwise tear it up in the process of owning it. That is my nature with books. Few of the paperbacks I read are suitable for much after I'm done with them. My copy of Stendahl's "Charterhouse of Parma" is held together by rubber bands somewhere.

I'm writing again, but everything is a jumble at the moment. I have several Word documents on both my computers at home and work that contain nothing but digitally scribbled notes and ideas that surface and give the vague notion of a greater substance in the depths beneath that remains hidden. If nothing ever comes from any of that, I still enjoy that process.

I had thoughts the other day about being celibate and avoiding emotional entanglements for the time being. I was on such a ride after giving up the smoking habit that I wanted to continue further removing whatever obvious props remained that allow the kinks in my psyche to govern me and create whatever tyranny under which I seem to labor. I still have that idea, but only by the accident of circumstance. An old lover of mine from years ago came over last night for a visit and lay with me in his arms while we watched a movie. I would've exchanged that tenderness for a quick fix had he been amenable to that impulse, but he was not. The moment he was gone I was glad nothing had happened. He has several women in his life now, and I am in need of my own company more than I am of some quick fix and the exchange of body fluids I would get from being serviced in that way. Still, it was nice to be quiet and lie next to someone and go through those motions.

posted by Mugtoe at 08:40 0 comments

9.26.2007

Singing Cats and Tay

Thanks to that guy that makes the funny animated gif videos on youtube:

and lets not forget TAY zonday from ni925:

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 20:59 1 comments

9.21.2007

TEchtonIK

I couldn't pass this up. Thanks to Buzzfeed I now know a little bit about something that is really funny and not worth much more than some passing attention.

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 12:37 0 comments

9.18.2007

letter to prison 09/18/07

Dear Bill,

Hey, buddy, I love the stuff you sent! In spite of what you think, I’m proud as hell of the belt and the holster. You’re right about the key fob - it’s odd looking - but I reckon I can handle that. I’m proud to have all that stuff. You do good work.

This past week or two has been rather eventful. I’ve had some major truck repairs. First it was my transmission, and that cost $1300. This past weekend the beast broke down half a dozen times on the way back from dad’s place on the river, and it felt like some kind of fuel problem. I’d had the filter in the tank replaced earlier this year, so I didn’t think that was the problem, but it still felt like a fuel issue. I took it to the shop, and they replaced a clogged in-line filter. Hell, I could’ve done that myself. I left the shop and got on the freeway, and it died again three times. I ended up unable to re-start it and stuck in the left turn lane of an intersection in Grand Prairie. I had it towed back to the shop. I’m a little annoyed that I’ll have to pony up the tow charge, but I’m assuming I’ll get stuck with it. The tow truck driver said he has an ‘89 Chevy truck that had identical problems, and that it ended up being the brain of the truck that was fried. I’m going to call the shop this morning and ask about that.

I just called the shop. They’re redneck as hell and reply in flat, monosyllabic utterances that make my gorge rise a bit, especially since I’m dropping some serious coin on them. I reckon that’s their job, however. I suppose I’ll know more about it by this afternoon. I’m going to be paying on this truck for a while, but I figure it’s still a better deal than going out and getting a new vehicle. I’m still trying to repair my credit and pay off old debts from my wilder days, so I’d be hard pressed to buy a new truck anyway. Mine is paid for and rarely gives me this kind of trouble. My insurance runs all of $35 per month, and the mileage isn’t so bad for a 3/4 ton pickup that is twenty years old.

My mother’s husband Jack passed away on Monday. I was about to eat Saturday evening when I got a call from her at Baylor in Irving. He had awoke from a nap with a stabbing pain behind his eye. She went in the other room and returned moments later to find him unresponsive. He never regained consciousness. He apparently had a massive hemorrhage in his brain stem and was more or less dead right away. They took him off life-support on Sunday and he stopped breathing early Monday morning. He was eighty-two and had been battling cancer most of this year. I figure the way he went was much preferable to what most of us probably have to look forward to. I was never particularly close to him, and this necessarily brings on some measure of family drama, but I still feel sorry for my mother and wonder how her life is going to change as a result of this. She seems to be in really good health at seventy-nine, and I don’t see any reason why she should change her living arrangements at all just yet. I’m not sure what her thoughts are on the matter, and I probably won’t ask. I’m not sure when the memorial service will be, but I assume it will be sometime this week, if only because his cousin flew down from Illinois. He’s being cremated, I think, so that takes some of the urgency out of it.

The other thing that’s been on my mind this last couple of weeks is my health. I was walking across a Wal-Mart in Hudson Oaks Friday night and experienced shortness of breath, pain in my chest and left arm and fatigue just walking from the front door to the auto parts section. I’ve had similar symptoms over the last few months, but it was pretty pronounced that night. I got a little frightened by it and decided to make some rather drastic changes. I have quit smoking for good. The sudden and forceful demonstration of my own frailty has made that rather a good deal easier than I’ve experienced in the past. I am doing my best to eliminate just about all the fat I can discover from my diet. Yesterday I had unsweetened oatmeal with sliced banana and an egg-white omelet for breakfast and then a Subway low-fat sandwich for lunch with water, and then watermelon for supper and nothing else. No more of my beloved kettle corn at the office. I checked it, and it’s loaded with trans-fats and shit. I’m also walking to work and back every day. My automotive difficulties have cooperated nicely in that regard.

I think that’s about it. Cody remains gone, and I miss him. He is not amenable to mending fences right now, and I respect his wishes, though I bitch at him a fair amount about it. I should give him his space for now and just carry on. I’ve always been a loner of a sort, and I can function well. I do whine a good deal, however.

I’ll holler at you again soon.

Yer faithful correspondent,


posted by Mugtoe at 16:25 0 comments

PRime Time Episode 1

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 07:04 0 comments

9.15.2007

happy b-day me


yeah
posted by Unknown at 08:39 0 comments

9.11.2007

New Hardboiled Video

OMFG
I luv this band and they are from SE WI.
sound quality of this is not the best as they are playin in a weird space, but it ripz my face off... especially at the end.... wait for it...

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 06:33 0 comments

9.10.2007

GO TEAM LIFT

TeamLift

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 17:27 0 comments

9.06.2007

Man on Fire

burning man pix=funny. Thanks tagbangerfor the image search.
Here's my favorite:

How could I pass that up???

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 05:52 0 comments

9.05.2007

TITANAUT

Thanx for the link gavin:
Titanaut

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 07:19 0 comments

9.02.2007

How To Be A Punx

To read: double click... thanks Mello Fello

Also, thankx Tyler, Huggies, and Jim for a pleasant exchange

Labels:

posted by wiscpunk at 06:35 2 comments

Feet

As referenced in previous post: Hello Kitty Feet= not shark with feet

Labels:

posted by Unknown at 06:23 0 comments