Which way do you put the toilet paper roll on?

Rolling away from the wall or rolling against the wall.

My 19th Anniversary is coming up with wife Vanessa Harris.  We will have been together for 20 years.  What should I get for the girl that needs nothing and gets everything she wants already?

Great weekend working on the remodel for the office.  I had family come over to help put up the ceiling sheet rock.  What a neck and back breaker.  But it is coming together and I am excited to see it finished and furnished.  We plan to also use it as a guest room.

Hopefully after finishing the office/guest room, we can start to do some work on our bedroom to make it more presentable.  I am thinking seriously of getting new furniture for the living room also.  So much in my head and so little money and time to make it reality.

Even worse, I sometimes think about just unplugging and going to Europe with Vanessa and just travel on the motorcycle and work where we can find it to pay for our nomad lifestyle.  Crazy right?

We found out today that Korrenn Jennine Harris-Breemes (@kbreemes228) is going to have a boy due May 30, 2012.

My new grandson already has a name: Seth Richard Breemes

I am so excited for her and Matt and of course for my opportunity to spoil the snot out of the little bugger!

I can already see motorbikes, various sports and monster truck events in my future.

My grandson is going to do all the things I couldn’t afford to do as a child, or couldn’t afford to do for my son as he grew up, although my son didn’t get denied much.

Can’t wait ‘til he is big enough to tear stuff up, we are gonna have some fun.

I want to convert my DVD collection of movies to hard drive stored media.  I want to be able to take my movies mobile on my #Xoom tablet or stream them to my @GoogleTV box.

I just did some quick searches on Google to see if there is an ‘app for that’ or some basic write up someone has done to get there easily.  Seems at first glance that it is still a complex and involved ordeal to convert a DVD disc to digital media and further to decide what format is needed to make that stored media available for mobile devices and streaming players.

It would be nice if the movie community and the digital community would get together and give consumers a price and a choice.  If I want to buy a movie and make it available digitally for my mobile device or stream it in my house or even at a friends house, I should be able to use the rights I purchased to do that.

I will do some more digging.  If I find a method I can recommend, I will post it.

Making spaghetti today.  Delicious and low carb.  The @Atkins way of life is still yummy!

I just use a spaghetti squash in place of pasta.  It’s a win/win since I love squash and it give the dish a sense of linguini texture and form, without all the carbs.

Plus the snap of the squash fibers is like al dente pasta without that sort of mushy chew if you don’t get it just right.

My version has

2 onions
2 green peppers
2 cans mushrooms (pieces)
2 cans whole peeled tomatoes
2 cans herbs and garlic hunts spaghetti sauce (only 8g carbs)
1 can diced tomatoes
lots of oregano (to taste)
garlic powder
green chilis (for spicy version)
1 lb ground beef
1 pkg Italian sausage
1 lg spaghetti squash

I was fat and getting fatter.  Let’s be clear on that.  I didn’t need to diet, I needed a life change.

I began my diet around the weekend of July 23, 2011.  I am not exactly sure when I started because, honestly, I took no mental (or physical) note of the event because I didn’t think I would be successful.

Now, looking back on that decision, I realize not only how wrong I was, but how impactful and important that event was.

Since I did not document the beginning of the event or my starting weight, I will start by giving some background on what events set in motion my diet and where I draw the conclusion from for my starting weight and approximate time period.

My boss and I were traveling back from seeing a customer of sorts; really a supplier to our customers.  While we were returning back to Tulsa the topic of my weight was brought up and I was challenged to slim down (eat better).

At that time, I weighed in at approximately 262 lbs.  Worse than my weight though was my physical appearance.  I had a thick layer of body fat evenly distributed and an even thicker neck.  You might say I had a double chin if you could actually discern one from the other to count them.  I was wearing a size 40 waist and they were snug, maybe even tight.  I bought my shirts in XL or 2XL to be more comfortable.

I took his challenge and committed to reaching a goal weight 225.  What I thought would be healthy and more importantly achievable.  He challenged me to shoot for 210 or 215.  I thought it would be tough and I was partially right.  But the results have been drastic and motivating.

In the first phase of the Atkins diet, you are supposed to limit your carb intake to around 30g.  I was struggling to find a balance in foods and portions to get there, but managed.  Within the first five weeks I had dropped off almost 20 lbs.

Keep in mind, my wife and I are both dieting and self-administering the plan.  We do a lot of reading and discussing to make sure we understand the facts we need to and manage our diet with some understanding.  Call it informed, not expert.

By September 15, 2011 (approx. 8 weeks) I had posted my first picture on Google+ showing the scale at 229 lbs.  This was a break-through for me that made me feel for the first time that a goal of 225 was achievable and that I could actually see real possibilities for getting to 210.

On October 31, 2011 I posted 219 lbs.  Crushing my original goal of 225 and giving me confidence that 210 was achievable and maybe more importantly, I could live like this and keep the weight off.  Even if I didn’t reach 210, I could do this and not slide back like so many I had seen diet before me.

As of this writing, I hover between 215 and 219 lbs.  But the changes physically are noteworthy.

I have gone from a size 40 to 34 waist.  I fit in jeans I packed away years ago, from the early days (maybe 10 or even 12 years ago).
I have eliminated or reduced significantly all of the layers of fat that made me look ‘bulky’.  Including my double chin.
I have gone from size XL (and sometimes 2XL) shirts to Large with a very comfortable and flattering fit.

I have energy to burn and thrive on the compliments I get regarding my apparent weight loss success.

I still look forward to reaching 210 lbs.  You have to realize that all the success I have to this point has come purely from diet changes and eating habits (limited portions, for instance).

I now have my sights set on exercise patterns that can be sustainable and activities that will come in the summer to keep the weight off when the food choices are less appropriate. 

I am warming up to the idea of #writing a blog for a number of reasons.

I want to be a hobbyist writer some day and I think this is a good venue for launching ideas for criticism as well as nurturing them to a sort of maturity that they might later become part of a story.

I have written some short works to express ideas or offer a memorial, but I have not set pen to paper (figuratively these days) to form the beginnings of even a simple story.

I want to write in the perspective.  That is to follow the style of writing that I find in master authors such as Stephen King.  He has a talent I have not found in many other writers.  The characters are written so vividly and their story explored so deeply in small helping along the way that you become connected to them.  Unconsciously, at first.  But eventually, you begin to anticipate, feel your way through the story with them, not just reading it, but experiencing the tale as it unfolds.

In this style, the subject matter, no matter how short, complex; sophomoric even can be woven into a real experience of the mind.  A sense that you have somehow become educated by the event and now own that experience as your own, borrowing from the characters fictional tale.  In a sense, this feels like mind manipulation to me, but then what is a story, if not a manipulation of reality for entertainment?