Awright, enough is enough!

Like many other people, I've been trying to shed a few pounds -- well, more than a few -- that mysteriously attached themselves to my frame while I was busy being chained to my desk over the past year. I tried Curves. (They close too early in the evenings). I tried the yarn diet. (That lasted until I started finishing projects.) I tried eating more salads. (I got sick of them.)

Well, the one thing I haven't tried is to carefully monitor every morsel that goes into my mouth before it has a chance to stick. I've downloaded a program called Diet Diary for my Palm that allows me to keep a daily log of what I've ingested, the amount of water I've drunk, and the amount of exercise I get. It even contains a database of foods and their calories per serving. We'll see how well this works out, but so far it helps me pay attention -- and that's at least a start.

Two Weddings, No Funerals (Yet)

Greg has been very busy lately while wearing his church-musician hat. He's playing organ (and piano too, I think) at a wedding this weekend and another one next weekend. Between the rehearsals and the weddings themselves, plus the usual choir rehearsals (adults and kids) and two services every Sunday, he's had plenty to do when he's not composing or doing homework for grad school.

He says he has completed the fourth movement (the scherzo) of his Sax Quartet today. There's still plenty to do, including adding dynamics and general cleanup, but this is exciting stuff! He wants to get at least one movement played in December, and he might have two ready by then. He already has a violinist working on Hardanger, and I think the performance happens on December 6.

Finally Hit the Lottery

I almost never buy lottery tickets. Even though math isn't really my strongest suit, I do know enough about probability to know that I'm more likely to get hit by lightning than I am to win a multi-million-dollar prize... but in spite of myself, I wanted so badly to be that one-in-a-million-gajillion-bazillion prizewinner that I bought a Powerball ticket anyway.

Well, I'm happy to report that I'm finally a lottery winner. I managed to get three of the requisite five numbers, though I didn't get the Powerball. My payoff: $7. I think I'll buy myself a bottle of water to celebrate.