23, Time For a Change

Only lost one pound this past week. Not that happy with that, but considering I really do not have any physical activity whatsoever I really should not complain. I recall last time that I did the Atkins diet I hit a couple walls and this must be the first. Although last time I did it I started around the weight I am at now. Gulp!! The one major difference is that in my current job I have my own room that is not separate from my office. When i have down time here at Morse Pond I do not have 9 billion things to do like I did at the High School job either so often times I am just sitting at my computer. So, it is time to start getting active. Also, I think that I have the mental capacity to switch to a Weight Watchers type approach and I am going to start today. No matter what diet I am doing I am going to have to put in some time on a physical activity. This way I can eat what want and just eat less of it. I am still going to avoid the large carb items though. Pizza, bread, bagels. We will see how it goes.

22 and counting

Down 22 lbs. since January 5. Pretty psyched about it too. I have been working hard. Tough weekend this past weekend which included a birthday party packed with pizza and ice cream cake. Didn't touch it at all. Yesterday there was a lot of good eats at the Kerrigan's, but I managed to have small portions of chicken pot pie while avoiding the breading altogether. I did have a few chips with this really good dip, but that was minimal as well. Pretty happy considering I know how much I would have eaten in both of those circumstances in the past.

Fishing - Obviously not much to talk about because of the weather, but I still frequent the SurfTalk website and I really enjoy it. While doing the JDRF fundraiser for Thomas I met a couple fisherman who also have kids with diabetes. One of them, Colrain, is going to bring his 13 year old son and i am going to take them fishing in the spring. Can't wait.

New rod and reel. I am now kicking myself that when Christine told me to buy a new rod and reel while we were at the Trading Post in Maine I didn't pull the trigger. I feel really good about my light tackle and my heavy tackle. I think i am going to try and get a 7 1/2 foot rod that is capable of casting the soft plastics I like to throw, but can handle a bigger fish if it comes up. If I were to ever hook into a 20+ lb. bass on my little 6 foot freshwater rod I would be in deep trouble even though it has done well on fish in the teens. I will hold out for a good deal. In this economy there is sure to be some.

Jiving at 5

Since starting Wii Fit and weighing in I am down 5 pounds. Not sure how much stock I put in the Wii fit scale, but most likely it is right that I am at least losing weight. For some reason I have always been able to lose (or gain, unfortunately) weight really quick. I remember in college when i was between girlfriends and I wanted to lose a little weight my diet consisted of: not eating out, not getting seconds at the Dining Commons, not drinking soda. I would lose weight within weeks doing this and since I only needed to lose a few pounds back then it was easy and quick. Now, because I am a fat a$$ I need to work at it for longer amounts of time. Plus, I have developed really bad eating habits so i need to go on a more restricted diet.

I have come to the conclusion that so much of dieting is mental. Duh!! Just being able to fight through some cravings by drinking more fluids or eating celery, cucumbers or pickles is huge. Christine and I have a little saying that we have not used in awhile (which may have something to do with my current weight). "I think I am going to have sleep to eat" This is because we are both always ready for a nighttime snack around 9 o'clock or so. When we have tried to watch or weight in the past we would say this line and just go up to bed.

Well, off to a good start and I am hoping that I can keep it going. In the past on this diet the bulk of my weight loss happened in the first three weeks so we'll see.

Side note - Got a new camera for Christmas from Christine. Hopefully I can learn to use it correctly and post more pictures into this blog.

Hap..........................py new Year! Wii

Restarting the Atkins diet again. It has become very uncomfortable to tie my shoes. So far, so good. Although I just realized that cucumbers have carbs. Bummer! I am up to 293, the heaviest i have ever been as far as I know. In the '03-'04 school year I went on the Atkins diet and was able to lose 40 lbs. This time I am hoping to lose that 40 lbs. and keep it off by switching to a more realistic type of diet like Weight Watchers. I was happy with the Atkins diet last time I did it and even after i stopped I was able to keep it off for a couple months before i restarted my Master's program at UMASS. That was the beginning of the end being around all the food hangouts of old and needing to eat out for all of my meals for three days a week.

This time I am hoping to have that 40 lbs. off around May and keep it off. The big challenges that i see ahead are a vacation to see my dad in February and the fact that I am teaching at Boston Conservatory this July. I am a bit nervous of the easy food places that i will be able to hit during that time.

I remember last time I did Atkins I thought about food non-stop. After i ate and in-between meals i just thought about what i would be eating next. The tough part about this diet is making sure that there is food ready to be eaten. Steak, chicken, eggs etc. all take time to prepare and are not easily brought or made at work!

Wii. Santa brought us a Wii for Christmas and it is really cool. We have Wii Sports and Wii Fit. Between boxing and hula-hooping I can actually get a pretty good workout in my living room in 20 minutes or so. Better than nothing and I am just way too cheap to get a gym membership.

Catching Up, A couple things

The Boat -

The boat is winterized and ready to be picked up. Under warrantee the engine was fixed and problems gone. The trim motor was replaced and the excess salt that was building up in the engine was due to the transducer of the depthfinder/fishfinder. Apparently at high speed the water was splashing up from it and getting into the engine. The boat is shrinkwrapped and has a part being made to fit the fishbox up front that had a crack in it. Very happy to have all of this covered under warrantee.



The Concert -

Martin!!! Went to see martin Sexton with Christine, Mike and Jenny. So amazing, again. The acoustics in the Berklee Performing Arts Center are incredible which was an added bonus to the performance. Memorable moments to me were Candy, Glory Bound, Way I Am, My Maria and Blue Christmas. Most amazing of all was Hallelujah though. A song that I never really listened to much on my ipod. It was nothing short of breathtaking. He was able create an amazing chorus using the more talented than usual crowd. Everyone singing Hallelujah in harmony was unbelievable. Tears were literally streaming down my face. Gypsy Woman was also really cool. When he went over to his effects microphone he jammed out on an Eastern Scale for awhile until going into The Star Spangled Banner ala Jimi Hendrix. Awesome!!

Oh Well, Next year

Went out on the boat on Columbus Day weekend with Gene Bourque. We found a nice school of bluefish in Quicks' Hole. That was fun, but we were both looking for one more nice bass for the year. No such luck. Tons of people were out there for the final day of the Martha's Vineyard Fishing Derby. More boats than i had seen out there all year and we were out there early too.

Long story short(ish). Trimmed up my engine while fishing in close to some rocks. Left the engine in the water just barely and engine running. The trim motor ends up burning/shorting out on me and it would not go back down. Had to start heading back in early and it still took us nearly two hours to return. Normally a 20-25 minute drive. It's covered under warranty so I am optimistic. Boat is getting worked on and winterized at Edwards.

Thomas has officially caught the last bass of the season. We went to Parker's and he caught a 14" bass on a small Storm shad. Really cool. This was his first bass that he had casted, hooked and reeled in by himself. Doubt I will muster up the energy to fish one more time at Mashnee. Such a long haul to get there and now it is such a crap shoot as to whether or not there are fish.

I have to say that I had an awesome fishing season. I remember having an earlier post about trying to find the irony in how slow my season started. I think I learned a lot about fishing, family and me as a fisherman this year. I am not going to be one of those guys i read about that fish 5 nights a week between the hours of 2am and sunup. Isn't going to happen!! Sure I will do the occasional nighttime excursion, but not with enough regularity to compete with the likes of the local sharpies. I have come to realize that in the spring and fall (which happens to coincide with the best fishing for bass) I am just far too busy to fish like crazy. School is in session and our whole family revolves around a school schedule. Add the kids' spring sport schedule and it is hard to find any time to relax let alone fish.

My memories from this season will be:

1. The epic fishing at Mashnee during the first week of June. I caught and released multiple bass in the 20 lb. range.
2. Fishing the Elizabeth Islands including Cuttyhunk and catching bass on every trip. Almost a keeper every trip too.
3. Taking the boat out to Stellwagen Bank and watching the whales and searching for tuna.
4. Going out with the family in the boat and docking up in Onset and eating at Marc Anthony's.
5. Fishing in the same spot as other people that were catching nothing and hooking up on the 7" bone Hogy. Happened multiple times.

Tom's fishing blog will most likely become a Borning family blog for the next 6 months or so. :)

Where did September go?

I can't believe September has come and gone. I think my grand total of fishing outings for the month was 2!! Only really upset that I wasn't able to get out there and try for the Albies that finally came in to Buzzards Bay the past couple weeks. Between the start of school, kids soccer, vacations and weather it has just been near impossible for me to find the time to get out there. In situations like this in the past I normally would sacrifice a little sleep in order to get some fishing in, but the fact is that for the whole month of September I was sleeping horribly. I had the worst case of allergies that I can remember since I was in high school. So, the amount of sleep I was getting was already compromised - forget about adding fishing to that! There were even a few nights that I was up from 2-4am blowing my nose and sneezing that I considered heading out to wet a line. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Only a few weeks left and the big bass are on the move through the canal. If wishes were horses (I still have no idea what that saying means) I would get out to the Elizabeths one more time on the boat and the west end of the canal a few more times sprinkling in some dock fishing at my October secret fishing spot, Parker's Boatyard. Thanks to Dr. Mosychuk I can actually breathe and sleep again. So maybe I will get some nighttime fishing in with eels and search for my first 30 lb. shore fish. Frankly, one more keeper bass would be nice no matter what the size plus I would love to get a couple big bluefish. Here's to hoping.