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Santa brought the kids a Wii Fit for Christmas and we’ve been playing with it since.  If you have a Wii you know that one of the fun things about it is creating a character that resembles yourself, called a Mii.  You can then use that Mii as your character when you play Wii games.  When we first got the Wii we all created our little Miis and made them look as close to ourselves as possible.  I’m not the smallest guy you’ll ever meet so I created my Mii to be as big as possible, but even Nintendo has its limits and my little Mii didn’t look all that bad.

With the Wii Fit Nintendo has decided to really make the Mii match your weight as I quickly found out.  Once I got on the Wii Fit it took me through some tests and then pumped my Mii up to match my weight.  My poor little Mii must have a glandular problem now because he is so plumped up that he looks stuffed and uncomfortable.  It’s too accurate!  Poor little guy.  I guess I better start using that Wii Fit to get my Mii (and me) back down to a more reasonable density.

I can’t believe I wrote about this a little over a year ago, but this just showed up again on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and I thought it was so ironic that nothing had really changed in all that time that I thought I’d write abut it again.

It looks as though the decision on whether Pennsylvania will go smoke-free has been delayed yet again.  You can read about it here.  It’s business as usual when it comes to politics and Pennsylvania.

Most people tend to think of the calendar year as January through December.  Around here we don’t use the standard calendar and instead our year goes something like this…

• New Year’s Day.  Say goodbye to our favorite foods.  Diet starts tomorrow
• Valentine’s Day – Chocolate season
• Girl Scout Cookie Season – speaks for itself
• Easter – Chocolate and peeps season
• Memorial Day – Cookout season starts
• July 4th – More Cookouts
• Labor Day – Cookout season ends
• Halloween – Candy season
• Thanksgiving – Stuff ourselves and then ease in to Christmas candy season
• Christmas – Christmas candy season
• New Year’s Eve – Parties and food

Then you start the year all over again.  Who needs a regular calendar?

Daycare.  Pre-School.  Elementary School.  All of them are just giant petri dishes of sickness.  Colds, chicken pox, strep throat, etc.  I don’t know about your kids, but mine really dislike getting a throat culture done to test for Strep, plus it takes too long for the result.  I know they now have a rapid test, but in our case our HMO won’t pay for it because it is only 80% accurate or some other number that I could easily make up.

So here’s the invention idea – come up with a light that changes color when you shine it on someone’s throat.  White is clear, any other color (we’ll say red) means they have Strep.  Take it a step further and give us the option of purchasing one at our local Pharmacy.  Our own immediate, personal Strep Throat detector.

Seem impossible?  That’s probably what people thought when someone came up with the idea to take your temperature in 2 seconds through your ear.  Remember what that used to be like, sitting there with that thermometer in your mouth for 1 minute? Remember back before thermometers were oral?  Yikes!

My youngest daughter would rather lie about her throat hurting than deal with the swab to the back of the throat method that is used today, plus we need more immediate results.  My oldest was tested on a Friday.  Doctors seem to go by the policy that if they don’t call you everything is fine.  So we didn’t hear anything Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, so she went to school Monday.  Late in the day Monday the doctor called to tell us the results were positive, so we had to go get her out of class because Strep is contagious. Situations like that could have been avoided.

So please take this idea, steal it, patent it, become filthy rich off of it, but we need a better solution.

I’ve always been a fan of Sheryl Crow’s music, but I had to read this article twice to make sure it wasn’t some kind of joke. She is coming out with a detachable “dining sleeve” for wiping your mouth to help reduce the amount of paper napkins used.

“The sleeve is detachable and can be replaced with another “dining sleeve” after the diner has used it to wipe their mouth.”

She’d also like us to use less toilet paper, which is admirable, but you have to wonder if that one will gain much traction.

Our 3 month long team Biggest Loser In The Neighborhood contest just came to an end. This year put a team of women against men, with the prize not only being bragging rights, but a 3 day getaway for the winners anywhere they choose. Now that’s a serious prize.

In the end the women came out on top by 1.01% The women lost 8.43% (71.5lbs) and the men lost 7.42% (106.5lbs).

Congratulations to our winners. Our neighborhood is now 178lbs lighter in just 3 months. Picture 20.65 gallons of milk on a table. That’s a lot of weight.

(How much does a gallon of milk weigh?)

I think I need to learn to to sleep all over again. My sleeping pattern is so far out of whack that I’m not sure how to bring it back. You know it’s bad when you find yourself glued to the hotel TV for a couple of hours watching Urban Cowboy at midnight.

Where’s that Lunesta butterfly when you need it?

Gotta go. Looks like a really bad movie about 1970′s roller disco called Roll Bounce is on.

We have one of the greatest beds ever made.  I couldn’t tell you what brand it is or who makes the mattress, etc. but I can tell you that it is just a phenomenal piece of furniture.  You can’t help but fall asleep in this bed.  It’s one of my favorite places to be.

At least it was until six nights ago when I finally broke down and brought home the breathing apparatus to address the sleep apnea problem I hear I have.  In one night my favorite place to be became my least favorite place to be.  There was a time when I couldn’t wait to get to bed.  Now I actually dread it because it means I have to wear this ridiculous mask that covers my nose and mouth.  To make sure it stays put through the night it has two straps around the back of your head and one that goes over the top of your head.  Think Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs.

Everyone keeps telling me how “it’s not that bad” or how I’ll get used to it.  I call bullshit.  It’s a miserable experience and it has ruined one of my favorite times of the day in one of my favorite places to be.  I used to go to bed when I was getting tired.  Now I hold out as long as I can until I just about pass out so that I get to sleep as fast as possible so I don’t have to think about this mask strapped to my head.  It’s not comfortable.  It is not completely quiet.  It pumps air in to me at a ridiculous pressure.  This is supposed to make me feel so much more well rested?  I don’t think so.

I once thought I could never be more uncomfortable than the time I had a kidney stone.  I’d take that experience back in a heartbeat if it meant I could throw this breathing apparatus in the trash.  I’m looking forward to business trips because there is no way I’m taking this thing to a hotel, or on vacation, or anywhere.  It stays home.

So far, so good.  No cheating.  No huge desires for sugar any more.  Results after 1 week – down 13 pounds.  Not too bad.  You have to like the first week where you lose some water weight along with the rest.  As much as I still don’t like it I am exercising 5 days a week.

On to week two.

Each year the build up to Christmas seems to increase. Stores seem to decorate for Christmas earlier and earlier. I don’t get suckered in to it very often, but I can honestly say I’m glad it’s over. Once Christmas day is done I look forward to taking down all of the decorations and getting the house back to normal.

Well, almost normal. This year we decided to take on a small home improvement project during my Christmas vacation – our downstairs powder room. It’s a pretty small bathroom, but we’re painting, replacing the vanity, sink, fixtures, mirror, and light fixture. Should be able to get it all done tomorrow if everything goes well.

I surprised Val this Christmas by replacing the diamond she lost from her engagement ring. If you remember, the stone fell out of the ring when she was cutting the grass, so how upset could I really be? It made it through 17 years. As much as she liked the ring I think she likes the gift that cost me no money at all – a commitment to lose 50 pounds in 2007. It looks like some of the neighbors and I are going to do the Biggest Loser In The Neighborhood contest again, so that should help with a little incentive. Between you and I, my intention is to try to lose closer to 100 pounds this year, so I am hopeful 50 definitely happens. She’ll be thrilled.

Of course, as with most of my life I’ll discuss the process here. My plan is exercise (yuck) and high protein / controlled carbs. Now settle down, I’ve been doing my research and I know what my body responds to the best. Three different doctors have told me it is OK to go for it. My wife doesn’t like the term “Atkins,” but I keep telling her that until she actually reads any of his books I am not listening to her opinion. Not on this one. I’ll let the results speak for themselves.

Hopefully you all had a great holiday (whatever you may, or may not, celebrate) and are looking forward to 2007 as much as I am. There’s something about heading in to a new year that gets my adrenaline kicking. It always seems like anything is possible. There’s probably no reason you can’t have this feeling all year round if you really want it, but it always seems that reality gets in the way and slaps me back to normal. We’ll see how long I can hold off reality in 2007.

What new resolutions are you going to make this year?