It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. You may have heard that Einstein said that. Or Mark Twain. Or even Benjamin Franklin. Well, it wasn’t any of them. It was me. Because I can’t think of anyone else offhand who’s lived by those words quite like I have.
For one hundred and five times now, I’ve played out this particular cycle:
- Get fed up
- Get fired up
- Get movin’
- Get skinny
- Get complacent
- Get hungry
- Get it all back
- Get fed up
I blame the shampoo manufacturers for indoctrinating me with the lather-rinse-repeat infinite loop.
Now if we look more closely at the fourth bullet, we find a highly repeated pattern there as well. It goes something like this: diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, diet, crash. During the diet phase, I always lose ten, twenty, or maybe even sixty pounds. And it works because I’m all fired up and I don’t let things like pasta drenched in olive oil get the best of me. Unfortunately, you know how it eventually ends.
There’s gotta be a better way. (There isn’t, but let’s just set that sticky point aside for now.)
The Latest Attempt
I got back from vacation all fired up. And in the first week I dropped six pounds. What’s my secret? No secret. I just didn’t eat as much. Why don’t I just do that all the time? Well, if I had the answer to that, I would bottle it, sell it, and then eventually the entire global cookie industry would fall to its knees.
But what if I didn’t do that? I mean, on purpose. What if I didn’t just not eat every single day of the diet until the inevitable crash. This is the convoluted thought that struck me one week ago. In short: what if just this once, I tried something different: one week on, one week off.
And that’s just what I did. One week on, one week off. How did it go? I’m glad you asked.
The Graph
Before getting to the first graph of Attempt 106, I need to explain the graph. In particular, the background images used.
At the top of the graph you find fire. This level covers weights between 220 and 230 and represents the burning I feel in my heart for pasta drenched in olive oil:
Next up are the storm clouds. This level covers weights between 200 and 220 and reminds me of the movie Twister because of how turbulent this part of the diet is, and also of flying cows.
As I drop into Onederland, we see the rising dawn background. This level covers weights between 195 and 200 and represents that twilight period between just being in Onederland and really being there. Because, let’s face it, when a single encounter with oil-drenched pasta can make you gain four pounds in two hours, a number like 197 doesn’t solidly feel like Onederland.
It’s not until we’re solidly in Onederland does the graph background image turn into a Corona commercial. This represents weights from 185 to 195.
Those are the main categories. However, I have two more special categories. For those truly awful times (like now) where the weight goes above 230, I have the Windows Blue Screen of Death graphic:
And on the absolutely unthinkable possibility of going below 185, I have the equally fantastic image of Robocop riding a Unicorn:
So, with the key defined, let’s look at the first graph—the first two weeks of Attempt 106.
| Week Two |
| Starting Weight |
233.0 |
| Current Weight |
227.8 |
| Change from Last Time |
-5.2 |
| Lost So Far |
5.2 |
| Pounds To Go |
28.8 |
That actually looks just like I planned it. The bump at the end was a bit higher than I wanted, but for the most part, that’s it. I had a great week of moving forward followed by a week of (more or less) regular eating. (And I do want to emphasize that part: the “week off” plan doesn’t mean “free for all.” I’m not out to create a saw-tooth graph. I’m shooting for a stair-step pattern.)
It may take twice as long, but the way I look at it, that just means double the success in the end. I’m really looking forward to the big Onederland party. Robocop has already said he’ll be bringing the pasta.
July 18th, 2011
When I first had the idea for my Harry Potter series of posts, it sounded like a good idea. But little did I know when I began eight weeks ago that: It wouldn’t be as much fun to write as I thought. It went on for what felt like a year. It would cost me […]
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July 11th, 2011
The seventh and final book. For the first time ever, I purposefully went to one of those midnight bookstore release parties. It was July 21, 2007 (the seventh book was so close to being released 7/7/7!) and I joined throngs of others, both in costume and in street clothes to wait, crammed shoulder to shoulder, […]
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July 4th, 2011
The sixth book came out in 2005. By this time I was finally reading the books as they came out and I had been really looking forward to this one. Not as much as a trip to Long John Silvers, but still a lot. Book Review There will be spoilers here so if you haven’t […]
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June 27th, 2011
The fifth book in the series arrived after a cruel, three-year wait. The previous books all came out a year apart, and many had assumed the rest would follow suit. For eleven-year-olds who took up Harry Potter from the beginning, this was a disappointment, as their lives were now out of sync with Harry’s. For […]
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June 20th, 2011
By July, 2000, I was well-aware of the growing Harry Potter phenomenon, though I was still more than a year away from picking up a book myself. Oddly enough, I just happened to be at a book store the night this book was released, gazed upon the bustling, costumed crowd and thought, “Man, this book […]
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June 13th, 2011
And the story at last begins! For me, the series really didn’t start rolling until this installment. The first book established the characters, setting, and conflict. The second book, development-wise, didn’t really add much to the overall story progression. But now—this is where things really get going. Book Review I did mention that my little […]
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June 6th, 2011
Last week, I kicked off a series of posts where I talk about my highly successful series of books and movies: Harry Potter. That’s right, I did say “my”. You see, the whole thing was my idea. I had it all planned out and at least half of it written in 1989 when an attractive, […]
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May 30th, 2011
The end is near. Harry Potter—love him or hate him—is about to complete his twenty-one year journey, from story inception to final big screen appearance. For those who read the books as they came out, your journey ended July 2007. But for everyone else, the tale comes to a close forty-six short days from today. […]
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May 26th, 2011
It’s not what you think. Just watch. 🙂
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May 23rd, 2011
This is a rerun of a post from November 14, 2008. Talking about discontinued foods the last couple weeks made me think of it again. And I doubt there’s more than two or three of you out there now who were here back then. Enjoy! There’s more to going out to eat than just “going […]
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May 15th, 2011
My topic trend of discontinued flavors now brings us to Kool-Aid’s MountainBerry Punch. While few people would use “Kool-Aid” and “gastronomic delights” in the same sentence, it’s only because few people know about this once-great flavor of sugary, mix-it-yourself beverage. To think that it’s no longer available brings a lump to my throat. Kool-Aid has […]
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May 9th, 2011
I’ve always assumed there were two kinds of food in the world: the kind you like and the kind you don’t like. The former category is filled with pizza, pasta, and peanut butter and tomato sandwiches; the latter category is filled with okra. However, as I’ve grown older I’ve found there’s a third category: sometimes-I-like-it-sometimes-I-don’t. […]
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May 2nd, 2011
It’s often said that it’s easier to identify the point at which something begins over the point at which it ends. Here are a few examples: Thanksgiving dinner. Your interest in basket weaving. The novelty of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. And, of course, the diet. Everybody knows exactly when a diet begins but […]
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April 25th, 2011
“I’ve got some good news and some bad news.” “What’s the good news?” “The good news is there’s no bad news.” “Excellent! What’s the bad news?” “The bad news is: I lied.” Okay, okay. The good news is that once again, due to the law of averages, I’m down three tenths of a pound this […]
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April 18th, 2011
This was the first week where I went the entire seven days without keeping the food log up to date. That’s usually a bad sign, and—sure enough—it was accompanied by my weight going from 217 to 218 to 219. Fortunately, I was able to turn it around before it went too far. I ended up […]
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April 11th, 2011
It was a mixed bag this week. First, I took a bag. Then I put a few good days in it. Then I put a few bad days in it. Then I lit it on fire and set it on my arch-enemy’s front porch. I feel better now. Actually, my real week can be summed […]
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April 4th, 2011
Time is a funny thing. All measurable signs point to time moving at a constant rate (at least at velocities well under the speed of light). Yet we don’t perceive it that way. As I look at the subject line of this post I think, “Week 5? That’s it? I feel like I’ve been at […]
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March 28th, 2011
The liquid fast last Monday went well until about eleven in the morning when I decided I wanted a banana. Then an apple. Then an entire box of Raisin Bran and twelve bagels. Okay, I made up those last two. The fast didn’t last but I did pretty much get back on track with the […]
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March 21st, 2011
Sorry for missing last week. Mostly because, as I’ve stated before, when a weight loss blogger stops blogging, the universe assumes something horrible has gone wrong. That’s not to say I didn’t have my moments. “Lots going on” usually translates to “don’t care what I’m eating anymore” and I only narrowly fended off a two-pound […]
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March 17th, 2011
Hey kids! . . . Yeah, I’m still here and a few days behind on the Week 2 update. No worries! It doesn’t mean I’ve done fall off the wagon again. On the contrary, things are going along fine. Just a bit of a crazy week here, that’s all. In the meantime, please have a […]
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March 7th, 2011
Well, I’m now one week into the reboot. As with my post-holiday fix, I began the week with a bit of fasting of sorts. It goes like this: eat nothing at all until you get hungry, usually around twelve hours after waking up, and then eat fifteen thousand calories in a half hour. How can […]
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March 2nd, 2011
Last time began with such promise. Of course, every time begins with such promise. That’s the greatest part about starting out. Nothing bad has happened to you yet. And you hope nothing will. Of course, seeing as how I am declaring this as Attempt Number 105, I obviously have a long and glorious history of […]
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February 21st, 2011
I actually started this post back in December. And in some ways, I’ve already written what I’m going to say at least twice before. But a recent chain of events has caused me to give this topic yet another go. It’s all about the fundamental question of “choice.” The first event in this chain happened […]
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February 18th, 2011
I just realized today that my web hosting account was hacked on (apparently) January 19. Nothing was destroyed or lost, but the script (that just about found its way into every directory of mine) liked to tack on about twenty thousand bytes of spam to the bottom of each page. The pages still looked okay […]
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February 7th, 2011
In my world of software development there’s this interesting little thing called a regular expression. Without going into too much detail, a “regex” is highly structured and very flexible method for finding text that matches a given pattern. At its simplest form, the regex “rib” could be used to positively match the strings “rib”, “ribbon”, […]
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January 24th, 2011
This trip back to Onederland is sure taking a long time. It’s been a while since I did a week by week comparison against my previous trip, but I’m pretty sure I did not stay stuck in the 216-219 range for about four straight months. I’ve only got one chart this week since nothing really […]
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January 21st, 2011
I realize that when a weight loss blogger stops posting, it means s/he has completely gone off the wagon and probably doesn’t know how to break it to his/her readers. Fortunately, that’s not the case here. While things have stagnated a bit in that area, I’m essentially okay. No, the lack of recent posts is […]
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January 10th, 2011
For anyone who’s ever worked his or her butt off only to . . . well, not actually work his or her butt off, you’ve probably come to resent, if not outright loathe, those who can drop weight quickly and effortlessly. If you find yourself in this category, you might want to quit reading right […]
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January 7th, 2011
I went to McDonald’s again. It’s no secret that I’m completely without shame when it comes to this restaurant. Yes, I actually enjoy McFood. So I thought I’d share three McStories with you today. McStory #1 This most recent trip happened to be for breakfast. One of my favorites, actually: Sausage McMuffin, “hashbrowns”, and a […]
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January 5th, 2011
As die-hard Fridge readers may remember, during weeks 17 and 18, my weight each day came in at or lower than the day before. This was good. Well, except, of course, for the pesky glitch where the first day of each week began with a mysterious, overnight, two-pound gain, thus starting the entire cycle over […]
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January 3rd, 2011
Hey, I just came up with a great idea! Let me know what you think of it. Another year has ended. We now find ourselves on the brink of a brand new one. Like standing on a beach staring out across a vast ocean: time now stretches out before us towards unknown shores. It fills […]
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December 23rd, 2010
The most interesting thing about Week 18 is the same as the most interesting thing about Week 17: every day’s weight came in either at or below the previous day’s weight, making for yet another nice downward slope. Granted the weights each day are eerily similar, but I’m still okay with any slope that doesn’t […]
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December 17th, 2010
You’d better watch out! You’d better not cry! You’d better not pout! I’m telling you why. It’s time for yummy Chex Mix . . . right now! I’m makin a list, Checkin’ it twice Buyin’ the Corn, The Wheat, and the Rice It’s time for yummy Chex Mix . . . right now! I’ll add […]
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December 15th, 2010
The most interesting thing about Week 17 is that every day’s weight came in either at or below the previous day’s weight, making for a nice (albeit gentle) downward slope: I’ll take that over the giant “spike to 219” any week. Not to mention, given the fact that we’re still in the holidays (you know, […]
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December 7th, 2010
I seem to have settled into what’s apparently my final weight. This current level of caloric intake and exercise has me essentially stuck at 217. That’s down 16 from when I began in mid-August but down essentially zero since mid-October. I know the counter-argument by now: “But at least you haven’t gained it back!” Yes, […]
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December 1st, 2010
Is it really December already? I mean really? If so, then that must mean it’s time to start my Christmas shopping. For Christmas 2009, that is. I’m always way behind. In Onederland news I survived the first real test of the season–barely. Although I started the week at 217 and ended at 219, thanks to […]
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November 24th, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving everybody! (Where “everybody” means “my readers who live in the United States and are celebrating this week.”) I know you’ve probably got big plans and won’t be following your usual daily routine—where you read all your favorite blogs and then stop by mine, so I’ll keep this short and sweet. Thanksgiving is more […]
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November 22nd, 2010
This week’s graph looks much better than last week’s: But the daily caloric intake is still higher than I’d like it to be. I’m down about a half pound this week but that’s in spite of my efforts, not because of them. And, as I mentioned last week, I’m still nervous about the upcoming holidays. […]
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November 19th, 2010
Welcome, once again, to my side-by-side comparison. This is where I take the current Week of this diet and compare it to the same Week of my last return to Onederland. The reasoning behind this is simple: what better way to motivate myself than with myself. After all, if I can do it, then I […]
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November 17th, 2010
It’s kicking in again. It’s that same old feeling where I feel like I need 3,000 calories a day and my body doesn’t care how many Almond Joys it takes to get there. The Switch isn’t quite off, but it sure feels like my finger is poised. This is typically the point where everyone says, […]
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November 12th, 2010
Welcome, once again, to my side-by-side comparison. This is where I take the current Week of this diet and compare it to the same Week of my last return to Onederland. The reasoning behind this is simple: what better way to motivate myself than with myself. After all, if I can do it, then I […]
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November 9th, 2010
I realize the whole point of having two separate blogs is that it allows me to address two completely different audiences, but I just felt like sharing my progress with you anyway. Read all about my first project milestone at Half a Draft, if you feel so inclined. If that’s not your thing, there’s always […]
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November 8th, 2010
Okay. This is three weeks in a row now where I’ve started the week low, gone up for a few days, then come back down to where I started. In fact, last week was nearly identical to Week 11. Check this out: The week’s start and end points are identical to the prior week. The […]
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November 5th, 2010
I wrote this as a guest post last week for Anne and since I’ve prepared next to NOTHING this week for my own blog, I thought I would share it with you today. I missed this week’s side-by-side comparison and I did not write about my Big Secret Which Isn’t a Secret as promised. What […]
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November 2nd, 2010
Well, this was interesting. Just like last week, I’m going to do a day by day, play by play. Let’s start with Sunday. As you can see by these two yellow dots, Week 11 began a full three pounds below Week 10’s starting point: I thought to myself, if this week follows last week’s pattern, […]
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November 1st, 2010
I hope everyone had a happy Halloween yesterday. Here at the Fridge Halloween can only mean two things: 1) the candy report, and 2) the pumpkin. First, the candy report. How much did I have? None. Yay me. In fact, total caloric input for the day was just 1770 calories. I’d go eat more but […]
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October 27th, 2010
Original Post: Date: October 6, 2008 Title: Dodged a Bullet I’ve changed up the format slightly this week. I’ve moved the original post date into this block and in doing so realized I was leaving off the original post title. The side-by-side comparison now follows the original post. And I do like this particular post, […]
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October 25th, 2010
Okay, so remember last week when I was bragging about spending an entire week below 220? Well, apparently the evil weight loss demons got a hold of this information and decided to have some fun with me. It began on Sunday with a slight uptick to 219.5: That made me very nervous, considering a spent […]
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October 22nd, 2010
When I was a senior in high school, somebody asked a very strange question. “What college are you going to?” I replied, “College? What’s that?” “It’s next four years of your education,” the same someone replied. “My what?” Apparently I was supposed to be giving this some thought. Who knew. Being from Illinois, I looked […]
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October 20th, 2010
The most fascinating part about this week’s comparison is that both times I’d lost fourteen pounds (or as they call it in England, a fortnight—ha ha, just a little obscure linguistic humor there—although I do like the idea of coining the term “fortpound”). Anyway, be sure to check out my amazing diet menu below. It’s […]
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October 18th, 2010
Today’s entry will be short and sweet since I’m hot and heavy into writing writing at the moment and would really like to get back to that. There’s only so many hours in a day, right? So let’s take a look at the Week Nine graph: The good news is that not only did I […]
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October 13th, 2010
I actually really like this post. It’s fascinating to come back and read something I wrote nearly two years ago. It’s like someone else wrote it. Someone who, unlike me, can actually write good. Side by Side Comparison But first the charts! Check out this time’s Week 8 compared to last time’s Week 8. Caloric […]
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October 11th, 2010
Two months from “now” always seems like a long time away. Can you imagine if you were given two whole months off from work, school, or whatever it is that keeps you busy against your will, and you could do whatever you wanted? You could conquer the world in two months. Or at least make […]
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October 8th, 2010
At times there are foods so spectacularly good, I alone cannot find the words to properly describe them. Though I do not speak of Pringles as often as other foods around here, this does not diminish my love of this well-formed, duck-billed potato crisp. So let us turn to the works of prose of the […]
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October 6th, 2010
I’d like to revive a Back to the Fridge feature I started (and then abandoned) over the summer. I’m going to republish my original Return to Onederland posts. Each week of this Return will be followed by the same week of the previous Return. The idea is to help keep me on track and remind […]
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October 4th, 2010
We entered October on Friday. I can almost see Halloweentown now way down the tracks. But I’m not worried. It’s not as if thirty-seven “fun sized” candy bars ever hurt anyone. Especially not for someone back on track this week. Check me out. No, really. Check me out: Those aren’t missing days on the graph. […]
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September 30th, 2010
This topic came up today at work so I thought I’d do another rerun. Question: does anyone mind the reruns? I look at it this way: I spent thousands of hours writing lots of creative posts once upon a time and a fair number of current visitors weren’t here then. It’s not that I’m trying […]
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September 28th, 2010
Today’s post is brought to you by the number ten and the letters Déjà and Vu. Hey, guess what? No, not “chicken butt.” Guess what! I have something to tell you. Go on, guess! No, I didn’t get an advance copy of the next Harry Potter movie. Try again. No, I didn’t win twenty million […]
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September 27th, 2010
I must admit it felt a little strange typing “Week 6” in today’s post title. In some ways it feels like I started this program last week. In other ways, it feels like it’s been two years. I’m not sure what to think of that. That aside, the most important part of the post title […]
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September 23rd, 2010
Sorry for the delay this week. Gots lots going on, that’s all. So, in light of that, let’s not waste a lot of time on mindless jibba jabba. Let’s get right to the graph: While the graph looks good, it wouldn’t be a true Charlie post if I didn’t spoil this silver lining with a […]
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September 20th, 2010
Still on the road this morning and a bit out of sorts, so I don’t have this week’s results ready yet. Hopefully missing my regular Monday-morning update doesn’t create a rift in the space-time continuum. On the plus side, though, Biz gave a rather thorough run-through of the weekend. Week Five Starting Weight 233.0 Current […]
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September 17th, 2010
My mom will attest to the fact that for eight years I consumed nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I’m positive that this strict and rigorous diet is what made me the man I am today. And why not eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over and over and over? This sandwich is nature’s […]
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September 15th, 2010
Hey, guess what? No, not “chicken butt.” Guess what! I have something to tell you. Go on, guess! No, I didn’t get an advance copy of the next Harry Potter movie. Try again. No, I didn’t win twenty million dollars in the Powerball. (Sheesh, that was last week. This is real news, people.) Guess again! […]
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September 13th, 2010
Is it Monday again already? Must be time for another graph! While each week’s graph is still pointing down, there are two emerging trends: 1) the slope isn’t quite as dramatic as it used to be, and 2) the lines are a lot closer together. I don’t understand this. This is me we’re talking about. […]
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September 10th, 2010
Have you ever gone to a movie and not gotten popcorn? I did once and let me tell you I regretted it for years and years afterwards. Going to a movie and not ordering a fifteen dollar tub of buttery heaven is like eating peanut butter without jelly, or macaroni without cheese, or ice cream […]
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September 8th, 2010
The word “Plateau” is of French origin. Etymologically speaking, it comes from the words: “pla” meaning, “The easy weight” and “teau” meaning, “loss period is definitely over.” I know I said I was stuck a short while back and ended up losing nine pounds in three weeks. But this time I can feel it. It’s […]
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September 6th, 2010
Time is flying by faster than a . . . than a . . . than a thing that goes very fast. It still feels like this latest diet just started a couple days ago, but suddenly here we are three weeks into it. If this pace keeps up, it’s going to be Christmas soon. […]
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September 3rd, 2010
I’m not sure if there’s a cookie more “cookie” than the chocolate chip cookie. Sure, there are sugar cookies and snickerdoodles, peanut butter cookies and oatmeal scotchies … but there’s just something just so … just so quintessential about the chocolate chip cookie, it’s hard to put into mere words. If you think you know […]
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September 1st, 2010
So last week I happened to mention that my super-duper-high-speed weight loss phase of the diet was over and presented “six days in a row at basically the same weight” as evidence. I thought it was a very straightforward statement, but the ladies did not quite take it as I intended. Paraphrasing several replies: “You […]
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August 30th, 2010
You’ll be happy to know I made it past my little plateau. After six days in a row essentially “stuck” around the same weight, I did manage to lose a little more. Here’s the graph, with Week 2 overlaid on Week 1, for comparison: You can see how many days were in that 229-ish range, […]
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August 27th, 2010
I first came up with this idea some twenty years ago. I think it happened one day when I ran across one of these: Much like pizza, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are, of course, proof of intelligent life in the universe. The first day those two people bumped into each other at the corner and […]
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August 25th, 2010
Welcome to the post I typically write at the end of the second or third week of a diet. The first week of a diet (I as posted just two days ago) is filled with rainbows and unicorns. I stay on track, I eat like a bird, never get hungry, and lose nearly a pound […]
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August 23rd, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010: Day One #104. Sunday, August 22, 2010: Week One Results Are In Monday, August 23, 2010: Week One Results Are Public But before we get to the results, let’s take a look at a few graphs. First, I’d like to go back in time to a happier era. This is what […]
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August 20th, 2010
So! Now that you’re on board, whatcha gonna do? Just saying you’re ready to get back in shape isn’t enough. We each need a plan for how we’re going to accomplish our goals. Everyone needs to choose her (or his—are there any hisses out there?) weapon before heading into battle. And, yes, I’m mixing warfare […]
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August 19th, 2010
The great thing about trains is there’s no arbitrary upper limit to the number of cars it can pull. Theoretically, with a strong enough engine and a long enough track, you can keep adding cars to a train forever. That means it’s never too late to hop on! Officially, there are three, four, five of […]
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August 17th, 2010
This past Sunday I took a vote among myself and it was unanimous: enough is enough, after all. It seems I had it right the first time. Now I know I’ve said this before, but trust me, this time will be different. This time it’s going to click. This time I won’t hop off the […]
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August 13th, 2010
If you missed it last week, I announced my new blog on writing called Elsewhither. There were three posts this week: The Creative Process The Journey of a Thousand Miles Query Letter Fail The last one falls under “Friday Fun” so if you had to pick just one of them, I might go with that […]
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August 10th, 2010
First, let me acquaint (or reacquaint) you with an important concept from my book, The Four Physical Laws of Dieting: Law I. Weight returns at five times the velocity at which it was lost. Unfortunately, most of us are all too familiar with this law. In some ways, this seems impossible. “How can it take […]
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August 6th, 2010
A short while ago I mentioned I had another blog in the works. This won’t be the first time I’ve had more than one blog. Some of you may remember I used to have two: Back to the Fridge and Lord of the Onion Rings. The latter was intended to be a place for recipes, […]
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August 3rd, 2010
Okay, never mind what I said last week about enough not being enough. Never mind that I sounded a bit resigned. Never mind that it sounded like I was giving up. I’m pretty sure all of that was due to the fact that my blog was hijacked by Glum and he can’t write anything but […]
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July 27th, 2010
Back in June, when I got fed up, I really thought I had what I needed to get my rear in gear. Apparently, enough wasn’t enough. I tried, then slipped, then tried again, then slipped again. At least fifteen of the days since were spent on trips to three different cities—never a good thing for […]
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July 15th, 2010
When I’m on a diet (which is essentially always), invariably at some point I’ll get hungry and go and do something stupid like eat seventeen orders of McDonald’s hash browns in a three minute period. When something like this happens (which is essentially always), invariably I feel guilty about it. Before you nod your head […]
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July 13th, 2010
One of humanity’s greatest inventions just happened to be developed by its most resourceful faction: kids. Over the ages, as children developed impromptu and casual sports such as kickball, four-square, or (my personal favorite) whack-each-other-with-sticks, they also developed the best unwritten rule ever: the Do Over. If both sides agree that a particular play just […]
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July 8th, 2010
Ah yes, the dreaded Cheez-It: encountered at Day 42 on my last Return to Onederland trip. This was a good post, not only because it dealt with the omnipresent Cheez-It issue, but also because I spoke of myself in the third person. Charlie should do that more often. The astute reader will also notice that […]
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July 6th, 2010
I tell you, there’s nothing like spending the second week of a new diet program on the road. We left on Saturday, June 26, and got back just a few hours ago, around three in the morning. Zzzz… Over the years, I’ve learned there are many pairs of terms which should simply never be used […]
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July 1st, 2010
It’s funny sometimes how memory works (or doesn’t work). My general recollection of this last Return to Onederland trip is all rainbows and unicorns: at 224 pounds, I made up my mind to lose weight, then two or three weeks later, I hit 194 pounds. Okay, so that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the […]
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on July 25, 2011 at 5:08 am
Love the backgrounds, especially Robo-Cop on the unicorn. Now I need to find that movie and watch it again! 🙂
Thanks for making me smile this morning!!
on July 25, 2011 at 10:04 am
Sounds like you are trying the Windshield Wiper Diet… now it’s working, now it’s not….
Greatest of luck with that (sincerely) and if it works for you then I might engage in the sincerest form of flattery (copying you I mean) unless I get even closer to my Robocop/Unicorn status here in which case I’ll just stick to what got me this far…
Flexible, sure, I can be flexible….
on July 26, 2011 at 9:01 am
I like that name. Windshield Wiper Diet. If this catches on and I make millions, I’ll be sure to send you $10 for the idea. 🙂
on July 25, 2011 at 11:20 am
Loved this post Charlie!! Especially Robocop on the unicorn!
I gained 1.0 last week – high heat = no exercise = more wine = +1.0.
And now I am waiting for my blood sugar to rise enough so I can walk outside – stupid diabetes!
Love, your prettier sister, Biz
on July 25, 2011 at 11:20 am
Hey, I just saw I am your 13,000 commenter – do I win a prize??
on July 26, 2011 at 8:54 am
Oddly enough, before this post, my number of approved comments was exactly 3900. And the difference, of course, between 3900 and 13000 comments is spammers. Thank you, kind people, for wasting all that time, energy, and resources on nothing.
I’m definitely in the wrong business if all it takes to make millions is writing robots that post gems like these:
on July 30, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Here’s one I just deleted:
“As I website owner I conceive the content material here is real wonderful, thankyou for your efforts.”
on August 15, 2011 at 11:19 pm
I love the illustrations here, they really help the visual reader. Keep it up!!