LittleBill

Double post deleted. This forum is slower than molasses. Wait! Molasses is bad for us! It's slower than... than... me running uphill!

There are a bunch of Quest bars I really like. The top of my list is occupied by their Mixed Berry Bliss. Close on the heels of that is a new one, Apple Pie. They also have a couple of really good chocolate ones. The double chocolate chunk should satisfy anyone's craving, and Mrs LittleBill really likes the Mint Chocolate Chip. They have a huge assortment of others as well.

@@Aggiemae Don't forget your can opener.

So much for the theory that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

@@sarahb309 My favorite exercises are pushing my luck and jumping to conclusions. Seriously, if you are looking for cheap, it is hard to beat walking. And if that gets to boring, try hiking over rough terrain, climbing, etc.

@@KristenVSG2014 Haha, I remember telling my kids one time when they were being particularly intractable and I was trying to eat, "Don't get between me and my food!" They teased me for years about that one.

@@suzzzzz Oh yeah. Hard lessons like this one take root real fast. I'll be like my friend the squirrel, with protein bars stashed everywhere I can think of.

I lost a bunch of weight pre op, and then the first few weeks post op. All of a sudden, I have come to a screeching halt. It happens. Your body is adjusting. It will pick up again. It has to.

Oh, lovely 65. I bet you love the traffic. Yeah, the heat is awful. It's humid and smothering. Last year I had to drive 2 months in a hot Jeep without any A/C. Talk about fun. We try to time our trips so we can avoid rush hour traffic. Montgomery is probably the worst for traffic, although we've gotten caught once in a while in construction south of Birmingham. Once we get south of Montgomery though, we get on some back roads, and it is very relaxing for the rest of the trip. Going north, it isn't to bad until we get to Chattanooga. And from there to Knoxville it can be a real mess.

It's been a wonderful day today at the LittleBill compound. I spent the morning in human interaction. Everything that could go wrong did. The only exercise I got at the gym was walking in from my truck and back out again. That, and complaining about my locker breaking - twice. The good news is, I didn't have to go out in the lobby wrapped in only a towel and a dignified poise. I saw it coming this time and was able to wear clothes. But this afternoon was even more fun. I am working on some outside wiring so I don't have to drag my generator across a hill for 150' in snow and ice when the power goes out. The temperature has been in the high 20s much of the day, with a cheery breeze blowing from 12-25 mph. And I have been outside in my newly modified and not so well insulated body. Add to that my coat is a lot bigger than it used to be - or really, it is the same size. It just seems bigger since I am smaller in diameter now. So the wind blows up to it and up through it, relieving me of what little body heat I have. I can hardly wait until Mrs. LittleBill gets home. For the past 32 plus years, she has treated me like her own thermal pile. I have freezer burns on my back from hands and feet placed there over the years. But now, the tide has turned. Positions have been reversed. She doesn't like it. Not one bit. The first cold night we had, I cuddled up to her in bed. Then, just as she has done to me so many times, I gently placed my corpse like hand on her warm body. I think the neighbors heard her scream. My ears rang for several hours. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!?!" I believe that is what she said. It is hard to remember. I was in a daze for a little while. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and that goes for cold hands and feet. If no one ever hears from me again, they were probably too cold.

@Carrie1122. Thank you! I hit 159 bpm on my heart rate throwing that ball. He was impressed. I think my artistic temperament helped out some.

Snow is nice. Ice encrusting everything, not to much. We're in a drought right now, so who knows what we'll see this winter?

We come down 59 from GA and pick up 65 from there to FL. I love driving therough southern AL on the back roads. But the heat would kill me in the summer.

I will do that. We travel through AL from time to time, too. Our oldest daughter and her family live in Niceville FL.

Thank you. Mrs LittleBill made the costume for me. I was roped into playing the Spirit of Christmas Present for a local theater group in a musical version of A Christmas Carol. We were getting a little more mileage out of it at this party.

@@jenn1 There is a story behind my screen name. I am a junior. So ever since I was a little boy, I was Little Billy. As I grew, that became little Bill, with my Dad being Big Bill. Now, I am several inches taller than he is, and much stockier (even without my adipose additions). But I remained Little Bill. Then the movie Unforgiven came out, with Gene Hackman playing the character of Little Bill. I actually used a picture of him as my avatar on some forums. Here is a picture of me from a Christmas party a few years ago with two of our friends. Both of them are five foot nothing - barely. But the lady on the right is a real firecracker, and inspires fear in all sorts of people.

I have the kind of build that even if I lose all my fat, I will be around 300 lbs. A friend of mine once told me I intimidate people just standing around. Add in a Darth Vader voice and you get the idea. But a woman with muscles? I suspect lots of people find that intimidating. They're probably just too skeered to say so!

@@Hiraeth Thank you, and I think she will never need this surgery, because it sounded like she was going to have her rear end chewed right off. I will find out more at my next appointment. I was actually thinking about having a party for all the folks here. We could have a big banquet hall and a buffet table with nothing on it! Seriously, I may think up something for next summer. We've had parties here for folks from the Internet many times, where we've had over 100 people here at our place.

It takes quite a bit to intimidate me. Some of my political activism has required me to face down both law enforcement and media, sometimes at the same time. But I do wonder about some of these folks at the gym, how they do what they do without hurting themselves. That list helps. Do you know where a mansplainer gets his Water? From a well, actually...

Is that for one arm, or two? I am really hoping you say two, since mine started me out with 20 lb weights for a lot of arm stuff. But then I am doing around 100 for some other large muscle groups. And I can lift 120 lbs with one arm. I know that because I have to move my bucket full of wheel weights around from time to time, and it weighs 120 lbs. Three times a month is a lot more than I am getting, but I have the most basic of packages. I get two consultations according to the membership rep, but then the trainer said I would be getting a third from him in a few weeks. According to what I have read, I will be allowed a pair of consultations every three months or something like that. Good luck with the pull up. I was never very good at them.

@@Anna Nim I'd discount that entire thing, except for this last part right here... "But remember, if you are locked into this thing and absolutely have to like a Lemming going towards a cliff; no matter what you do, you will always be my princess and I will always be your dad and I will always be there for you." Let's hope he means it. It looks like seeing is the only way for him to believe.

I've been using Gold Standard. Their Extreme Milk chocolate tastes a lot like Nestles Quik, something I have enjoyed since I was a small boy.

I got them frequently right after surgery. The doctor told me it was a result of them messing around with my diaphragm while fixing a small hiatal hernia, and that they would go away. They did. If yours continue, ask them to show you your bill. That should work to scare them out of you.

I see men there who are both older and smaller than I am lifting weights that I would not even begin to contemplate. At first I felt somewhat inferior, because I know I am stronger than the vast majority of the population, just on the things I have had to lift or move that no one else around me can do. And I interact with a lot of people. But then I started watching technique closer, and could see lots of stuff being done wrong. These guys may walk out the door all puffed up, but they are headed for some serious injury. This trainer is giving me a program to get my muscles back in shape much in the same way he would for injuries, and he knows all about my surgery. He knows I don't want to be Arnold Schwarzenegger or anything. He advised me to start light, take it slow, and move up 5-10 lbs per exercise in a few weeks, after I get the hang of things. We were actually laughing together about the muscleheads. He is a swimmer, so he trains for that. And he seems to have a very good outlook on balance in a person's life.

For me it is more weird than hard. I have no patience at all with arrogant, uppity people regardless of age, and it shows through no matter how hard I try for it not to. But this kid is very polite, respectful, and from what I have seen so far, knows his stuff. I have no problems taking orders from someone like that. It is just strange for me. By contrast, there is a kid who is almost the same age who works part time at the local woodworking supply store. The kid is a total jerk, and I suspect that no matter where he ends up, he will always be that way. I cannot stand having to deal with him. Beyond being arrogant, he has nothing to be arrogant about. He is a total novice, and is nothing more than a glorified clerk. But, he seems to think he has become some sort of expert by virtue of standing next to some machines for a while. I do a lot of teaching for my business, and for most people, my business is their hobby. I get doctors, engineers, lawyers, all sorts of people who could buy and sell me many times over. Most of them are older. I have even gotten quite a few fellow professionals who have come to me to fine tune some of their skills. You are absolutely right. Respect for the other person is essential. And just because I know more about one thing than they do doesn't mean I know more about everything. That is a huge mistake that most people seem to make regardless of their place in life.