My new weigh in!

I have officially dropped 242 pounds! That's right, I am now below 350! By the way, I am getting the shotgun ready for hunting season! It opens soon! Wabbits and ducks beware! Coming soon to a hunting ground near you! Deer season too! I haven't been physically able to hunt for years and I am looking forward to Wild Duck stuffed with wild rice and citrus as well as Hassenpheffer made with wild rabbit too! Some venison sounds good too! I don't trophy hunt though, I have always eaten what I brought home after hunting! Those who just take a trophy and abandon the kill after are wasteful and foolish!

A New Disaster Happening!

OK, Hurricane Rita is bearing down on the Gulf Coast! It looks like it's time for one of my departures from my usual subject, which is myself! I'm posting that list of reputable charities again! If anyone wants to copy the list to their sidebar on their blog, please do! The people of Texas and possibly western Louisiana will be needing all the help they can get! So here goes!
United Jewish Communities
http://www.ujc.org
Lutheran Disaster Response
http://www.ldr.org
Catholic Charities
http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
American Baptist Men
http://www.abc-usa.org
Episcople Relief and Developement
http://www.er-d.org
United Methodice Committee on Relief (MCOR)
http://www.gbgm-umc.org
RED CROSS
http://www.redcross.org
Salvation Army
http://www1.salvationarmy.org
Convoy of Hope
http://www.convoyofhope.org
Adventist Community Services
http://www.adventist.communityservices.org

and let us not forget our animal buddies!
Humane Society of the United States
http://www.hsus.org

These organizations will need funds to help out people who's lives have been devastated! Remember these words when you think about whether you will donate; "There but for the grace of God go I"!

I thought I'd tanked on an Algebra test!

I thought I had! As it turned out, I got 25/30 possible! Talk about a surprise! That made me feel a bit better, but I suffer from severe test anxiety here! Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with it? I can know what I need to know backwards, forward, and sideways until that blank piece of paper is sitting in front of me and the clock is ticking! Then my brain locks up and goes BLANK! Ideas would be appreciated!

Hi All~! Posting from school, so no pics!

Just a quick update! So far I've lost 232 pounds! Not bad, huh? 118 to go to goal! So far I'm doing well in classes, holding basically a low A average with Bigh B's and A's in individual classes! See ya later!

And Here's the Lake!

These pictures are from Lake Wawasee

Stone Tavern Continued

Weekend at the Lake and Stone Tavern!

My wife, Uncle John and Aunt Debbie attended the Stone Tavern Re-enactors Gathering Sunday! I must say, I had some fun! I'm going to share a few of the sights here over the next two posts!

Here's some of my weekend pics

This is us taking off on the ride to Cromwell! More pics coming as soon as I have time to crop and upload them! See ya later! (By the way, the next pics will be from the Stone Tavern Gathering! I also need to post a correction, Stone Tavern is actually in Ligonier, not Cromwell! OOPS!)

I had a great weekend!

Well, I went up to Lake Wawasee for my Uncles Birthday. Among other things, We went on a ride from Wawasee to Cromwell, IN on Sunday! This was a 9 mile ride and we rode at an average pace of about 10 mph. Aunt Debbie and I did some windsprints though that exceeded 25 mph! On this ride, I burned 1554 calories in the hourlong ride according to the calculator engine from the West Virginia Dietary Assoc. at http://www.wvda.org/calcs/sport.html . This site has been very usefull to me in my quest for a thinner me and I'd definately recommend it to you as an easy to use and understand site! Back to the weekend! We also attended a re-enactors festival at Stones Tavern Museum in Cromwell! This was an absolute blast with early american folk music and period costume. As soon as I have a chance, I'll post some of the 140 or so pics I shot at the festival! This should be in a couple of days! My weighin, by the way........and the drum rolls..........349 pounds! 232 pounds off!

Here is a list of relief agencies helping Katrina Victims

Again, I'm stepping outside of my normal topic........me! I've put together a list of relief organizations I know to be reputable who are assisting the victims of Katrina. The list is not to be considered to be comprehensive, but it does cover a wide range of organizations. As I've said before, even if you can only afford $10.00, that's fine because it's $10.00 more than they had before you donated!

The list isn't in any particular order, or level of preference by me! Choose the one you want to and DONATE!

United Jewish Communities

http://www.ujc.org

Lutheran Disaster Response http://www.ldr.org

Humane Society of the United States http://www.hsus.org

Catholic Charities http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org

American Baptist Men http://www.abc-usa.org

Episcopal relief and Developement http://www.er-d.org

United Methodist Committee on Relief http://www.gbgm-umc.org/umcor

Red Cross http://www.redcross.org

Salvation Army http://www1.salvationarmy.org (This is an alternate address to the one I posted in an earlier post, but it's them too!)

Convoy of Hope http://www.convoyofhope.org

Adventist Community Services http://www.adventist.communityservices.org

PLEASE, go to one of these sites and help those folks on the Gulf Coast! They are in dire straits and truly need our help and compassion!

These are my new weigh in results!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great labor day weekend. Before I get into my news, I'd like to remind everyone to donate to the Red Cross! Their website is http://www.redcross.org and there is a menu option to donate by credit card on the menu on the left side of the site! Even if it's only $10.00 it'll help! As I've said before, if enough people donate even the ten spot, the amount can be staggering! An alternative if you prefer would be the Salvation Army and their site is http://secure3.salvationarmy.org/donations.nsf/donate?openforum&projectid=USN-hurricane05 ! Please also remember to include the folk on the Gulf Coast in our prayers!
OK, on to my results! I lost another five pounds and this brings the total to 227 pounds I've lost since my surgery! If you're considering Bariatric services by the way, there is a web address at the header of my blog here for Saint Vincent Bariatric Services in Carmel, IN as well as my surgeons contact information. The results of this surgery are literally lifesaving!

I'm trying out a linux OS tonight and I think I like it!

I'm in shock! I'm using the Mozilla Firefox browser and it's F-A-S-T! The UBUNTU linux system is what I'm trying as an OS from a live boot disc. UBUNTU is a version of the Debian linux OS and I believe I'm impressed!