Weird day just kept getting weirder

I was woke after 3 hours of sleep by a drum corps drumming outside my bedroom window, they were marshalling for a parade, at the abandoned Transit turnaround across the street. Two things came to mind, there were only drums because very few northside kids have access to music programs in the school,and the bus turnaround no longer has buses, because service to the poor community has been severely curtailed.

I left a little after noon to get to the Health Store at Methodist to pick up a device for  "The Toe" they closed at 1pm, and I discovered southbound 100 was CLOSED!  I made a move cut thru Golden Valley to Louisiana and headed south, only to discover Louisiana was bumper to bumper traffic.28 St, next to the Louisiana Courts Apts.  I called and asked they not close. Got there by the skin of my teeth.

When I pulled out of the ramp the attendant said he'd not charge me for 13 minutes but I had to listen to his joke. "Two hats on hooks in the hallway, hat one says to hat two, you stay I'll go on a head."  I considered saying, "is it too late to pay?" but I demurred.

So I headed to the library in Golden Valley, via Taco Bell. Vegan's they have a vegan Cantina Bell that is very good.  A solitary seagull sat outside the car staring at me. We had a talk and I told him I wasn't sharing, if I had fries I'd give him fries, but he needed to move over to the Burger King lot. Julie thought he was waiting for me to toss my bag out so he could pick over it. I told her I was old, grey haired, bifocals, driving a sensible car, it should have been obvious I was no litterbug.

On to the GV library where the power was out!  The bathroom which I needed to pee was pitch dark, I had to feel  my way to the toilet. The lid was already up, and peed blind. I had eight cd's waiting for me and the octogenarian librarian had to write all the barcode numbers manually. She was a dear. Two notes to myself. Next phone has to have a flashlight app, write my county commisioner about a generator for library. I called Julie who asked for 2 plain hamburgers and a coke from the adjacent McDonalds, I went there and THE POWER WAS OUT. Plan B, I went and got her food at Byerlys but when I got to the register, I'd left my wallet in the car, and had a big line behind me.  I sprinted to the car, came back in, and paid the bill. The scowling owls that had been behind me were gone, herded thankfully by the Byerly manager, who was waiting for me.

I'm not leaving the house, that was enough for one day.

Then I find out Neil Armstrong died. Bummer

New Diet Frontier

I've been on the vegan diet since the week before Christmas 2011. It's February 3rd and I've lost 12 pounds, and have to say its not horrible.  About the only thing I miss is eggs, and butter on toast.  OK, butter in general. Butter is a really wonderful thing.

I don't miss fat as such.  I've stopped craving it. About a week in I went past the deli section of CUB foods and the smell of the wings almost brought me to my knees and I had to walk away and steady myself.  Since then I've not been seriously tempted.

I do think it would be much easier to cook with olive oil.

There was a funny moment when I was leaving for work and Josh brought home pizza.  So I imperiously inquired of Julie, in my best Torquemada voice. "Are you going to have pizza?"  She said, "Perhaps."

"Oh I see, I guess I'm doing this alone."  and headed out the door.  I've not had a fully unbridled passive aggressive attack like that in a while, with a heaping helping of self pity.  Julie had a great time pointing out how over the top pathetic this was the next day.

What's weird is how closely related self pity and self righteousness are. Kissing cousins of emotional drek.  Julie was right to call me on that.

If you are wondering how I wandered down this path, I had come across a youtube of Dr Neal Barnard talking about reversing diabetes through diet. Researching his work, I came across Caldwell Esselstyn (Bill Clinton's diet guru)  http://www.heartattackproof.com/   Who knows, I've dropped 12 pounds and Julie says my love handles are becoming more contoured. 

I can't remember who I heard say it, but whoever it was, when I heard them say, "Diabetes is one of the few diseases where the cure is what you put in your mouth."  That struck a nerve. Since I've been researching it, I think that actually covers a whole spectrum of problems we have.  Neal Cousin's is the one that described the Standard American Diet as S.A.D.   The processed food industry, Cargill and ADM are exquisitely evil.

So when I embarked on this diet after hearing Dr Barnard, I vowed to not be preachy, or attack people wearing leather etc. Then I picked up the Esselstyn's book and the first admonition was NEVER EAT ANYTHING THAT HAD A FACE OR A MOTHER.  I chuckled.