Sunday update

This afternoon we went to Best Buy to return the 13" TV that I got Sheri for her birthday. She wanted one that she could carry to the bathroom and watch while she is in the tub, but this one was too big for that. We looked at their smaller ones, but they had a bad selection. They were either very cheap, or twice as much as the 13" we just returned. We will keep looking around. She picked up the 2 CD set titled The Very Best of Elvis Costello.

I also picked up another Walkman radio that I am going to keep in my work briefcase. The reason is that I remember on the morning of 9/11, while it was still happening, walking around downtown Chicago not knowing what was going on. For all I knew they were saying that Union Station was bombed and stay away. With all the talk about war in Iraq and the terrorism threat upgraded to orange I just thought I would feel a little safer and better prepared if I had a radio with me while downtown. I like this radio for a few reasons. It has a seek function like in your car. Just hit the up or down button and it will find the next strong signal. Very nice for traveling. It also can receive NOAA weather transmissions, and TV sound. It has a tape player, but I didn't but it for that. I probably won't use it because we don't use tapes.

I made a great batch of baba ganoush today. I cut two eggplants into ¾ inch slices; sprinkled them with salt, and then brushed them with olive oil. I let them sit just a little bit and then grilled them outside. It gave it a really nice smoky and charred taste.

We also made a double batch of tabouli. We have been eating so much of it that we bought a gallon tin of extra virgin olive oil. I used the food processor to chop up an entire bunch of parsley. That is all we had for dinner; we each had a piece of pita bread to dip into the baba ganoush, and a plate of tabouli with diced cucumber.

My doctor appointment was good on Saturday. I lost three pounds since my visit between Christmas and New Years. He said I should ideally be at 240 pounds. I weighed in at 258 pounds on Saturday. I think I can do it. Our diet these last few weeks seems doable long term. Neither one of us feels deprived. Getting back to an exercise routine will really help too. Classes have made it difficult, but I guess that is just an excuse. No more excuses!

I really like my new doctor. He is probably the youngest one I have ever had, but he knows all of the latest research. He is presenting a whole new way of looking at and treating diabetes. I hated my last doctor. When I last went to him, and they did blood work, the tests indicated that the drug I was taking for cholesterol was starting to affect my liver, so he took me off of that drug. Did you give me a new drug? No, he gave me a photocopied sheet about low fat diets and sent me on my way. When I saw my new doctor, my cholesterol was almost at 300. My triglycerides were, in his words, at the scary level. He said I had canola oil in my veins. He is very aggressive with treatment, and we hope that by getting my weight down, and optimizing my meds, all the side effects of diabetes, like high cholesterol will take care of themselves.

I am also spilling protein in my urine. This means that my kidneys are gunked up with sugar and can't filter properly. They are supposed to be able to reabsorb the protein. I feel mad that my previous doctor never even checked for this. If this were to go on unchecked, the end result is dialysis. That is a good thing to keep in mind when I am trying to decide if I want one of the donuts that a co-worker brings to work. I have another follow-up appointment in six weeks. I told you this guy was aggressive. And super super nice. He says he is very competitive and I am not going to die on his watch. (A little dramatic?) But that's good. My doctor back in Columbus was like this, and I had better control of my sugar there.

My new boss will be in town to meet me tomorrow and Tuesday. He sounds like a really nice guy on the phone. No worries.

I didn't have any writing to do for class over the weekend, but I forgot that it will be my turn this week to present part of chapter seven in class. Every week there are five or six students have this responsibility. The professor goes around the room asking these people to talk a little bit about the chapter. I will read a little bit of the chapter tonight, and then tomorrow night make my copious notes.