Singing in Church: "As I have Loved You"

 When we were living in Ballard, Sheri and I were asked to speak in church.  We were going to sing "As I Have Loved You" between our talks as a family.  Jeremy was the baby; but we had worked very hard with Mark and Natalia to sing with us, and do the sign which is in the primary book.  We practiced and practiced, and the kids were so cute.  Jeremy was in the car seat so about six months, Mark would have been two and Natalia three.  It was going to be so good.  However by the time Sheri go done with her talk, Natalia and Mark were sleeping soundly on the floor.  Sheri and I could only stand, with babies between our feet, and sing it without them, hoping not to step on them.  It would have been so sweet.  As I have loved you (the kids hugging themselves) Love one another (their thumbs circling each other). I can see it in my mind.

Mark and Natalia

Weight Wars #4

 My previous weight post was during the middle of Covid, April 2021.  At that time I weighed 240, obese. Now I am hovering around 220.  My eventual goal is to be under190 overweight instead of obese.  My wife blames the weight loss on continued use of Victoza.  I feel this helps but it is more.  I don't eat quite as much.  I could exercise more.  I developed sciatica in 2022 which really limited my exercise.  But to be honest it has resolved enough I could be exercising more.

Weight Wars #3.   4/19/2021

 I have posted twice before, but not for the past two years.  I saw my weight go from 298 in 2003 to 248 in 2019 and 245 in 2019.  My weight has not dropped much more.  Now I weigh about 240.  I am no longer grossly obese but just obese.  However I have been stagnant in any further weight loss.  I was able to take pills to help with weight loss, and then Victoza shot.  Victoza helped me lose about ten pounds but then no more.  However it is going to take something more to get me below the 240 line and continue my trek to 190 which is my ultimate goal.   I was doing better before Covid made everything be work from home.  Then I did not walk near as much as I no longer took the train to work.  I have not gotten into a pattern of exercise since having retired.  I keep thinking something will change.  I guess that something will need to be myself.  I need to lose that last 50 lbs to be as healthy as I can be.  

So I commit to a half hour walk or activity everyday.  I commit to doing exercises to help my frozen shoulder.  I commit to watch my food intake.  I commit to no food after 8 p.m.  

Weight Wars #2. 4/11/2019

I published a previous post about my weight and being half way to not being obese, down from 298 to 248.  I can now say I am down another 5 lbs but still only half way.  The difference is an adjustment in my height.  I guess I am shrinking, which means I have another 10 pounds to lose before escaping the obesity line.  So down 55 pounds with a goal of 55 pounds more.  I hope this sharing will motivate me, as my life is at stake.

Weight Wars. 9/29/2018

I came across something really scary: a record of my weight from 2001 through 2003.  I started at 292 in December of 2001.  However I was down to 285 by mid January; only to blossom back up by the end of the year.  My last recorded weight in 2002, early December, was 292.  Then I became my heaviest.  I started 2003 at 298.  That is just gross.  That is the most I have weighed my entire life.  That is 100 pounds above the obese line.  I recorded that by the end of 2003 I was back to 285.  I have continued a mostly downward spiral, with significance periods of getting stuck.  I am half of the way to the obese line--in other words I am 50 pounds lighter than my heaviest with another 50 to go.
What have been the consequences.  I have diabetes and tinnitus, and sleep apnea and high blood pressure.  Weight is a contributing factor in all these areas.  I hope when I am no longer obese--some of these health issues will be resolved.  I would be grateful if just one or two  would improve and I not have to take so many medications.

Crossroads In Kansas; or Halfway from San Francisco to New York

 This is a place a remember growing up.  It is suppose to be halfway from the west to the east sides of the country, New York to San Francisco.  I remember we stopped her and took a break while driving from Utah to Illinois.  we likely had a bit of lunch while we were there.  We did climb on the train.  I don't remember the museum however.  Kinsley, Kansas.  I have passed it a few times traveling from Kingman to Omaha, having gone through Albuquerque.  It is off highway 50 where it intersects with highway 56.

Working graveyards at Sinclair in SLC

 After graduating from USU in 1981, I was accepted to graduate school in social work at the University of Utah.  During that summer I moved in with my father in Salt lake City, and worked two jobs; Sinclair and Utah Boys Ranch.  I worked graveyards at the Sinclair gas station on the corner of West Temple and Sixth South.  It was right off the freeway in two directions--so a prime location.  This was before they had electronic credit cards, so you had to check every credit car with a book.  One time I got a bonus for discovering a credit card that had been cancelled.  

One night after working at the Boys Ranch all day, going to Dad's and falling asleep, and then going to Sinclair, I was very tired.  An officer pulled me over as I arrived at Sinclair thinking I was drunk; I wasn't.

I met my first prostitute here.  The gas station was next to a hotel so one time some guy left his number so I passed it on to her.

One morning a police officer came and visited me about a robbery that took place across the street.  He asked if I had seen anything.  I hadn't.  But that was motivation for me to quit; so I did.