BP Update HNT

Note: See my last post if you want to know what this is all about.

I saw the cardiologist today. He checked me out and asked me a bunch of questions. Among them......

"Have you changed the way you take your meds lately?" No.

"Have you gained weight?" He read my chart and answered first, No.

"Have you increased your salt in take?" BINGO!!!!!!

Guess those cheeseburgers and fries might explain it? I've gotten very lazy and have been ordering take out or going out for 99% of my dinners. I almost never cook anymore.

He frowned........

I asked, "You mean that could trigger it?" Yes.

He told me, "Cut back on your salt intake, back to the way you were doing it when your BP was 116/68."

Meaning, stop eating take out and watch closer what you eat.

"If that doesn't work, increase the dosages of one of your meds."

"Also, your taking a cholesterol lowering drug, but eating burgers and fries, not good."

"Your cholesterol has improved significantly, but if you keep this up, it will go back up."

Meaning that if I don't watch what I eat, my arteries will get even more clogged and I will die. I added the die part, but that's what it means.

You and me both don't want that to happen, so tonight I got back on track with cooking rice & beans. It's a start back to a healthy life style. It would be a shame if this picture was to be no more.

Bummer dude..........

Lori and I were planning on flying to Detroit tomorrow (Tuesday), but I had to postpone the trip. Saturday I woke up feeling all kinds of strange. The weird feelings went on all day and when we sat down to dinner at 8:00pm, I asked Lori to get me my blood pressure monitor. Not good dudes, it was about 180/78.

I took an extra dose of my meds, but the BP still varied all over the place. I mean like every 5 to 10 minutes the top number varied by 20 points, 10 points, what ever. Thing is, the bottom number pretty mush stayed right around 80, which is normal. By about 2:00 AM my BP had stabilized to around 150/80 and stayed there the rest of the night. Sunday I was off my game, but the BP still stayed a tad high, but in the 140-130/80 range. Around 10:00pm it was closer to normal at 120/130/80. Today it varies, but well within the normal range 115-120/70-80.

WTF is going on dude????? IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE??????????

I have an appointment with the cardiologist Wednesday. That's why I had to postpone my trip. I'll know more Wednesday, so wish me luck.

Super Bowl HNT

Lori and I had our own Super Bowl party. We made lots of unhealthy very tasty snacks.

Oh yea, clothing was optional. You know what dress code I chose. ;-)

HAPPY NUDIST SUPER BOWL PARTY HNT!

25 Random Things About Me

I posted this on Facebook and thought I'd share more useless facts about me with you too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rules- Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you and I thought you might actually play:)

(To do this, go to "notes" under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people (in the right hand corner of the app) then click publish.

1. I’ve been the oldest person in my groups of friends for as long as I can remember.
2. I hate going to the dentist and have been putting it off WAY too long. When I finally do go, the work is going to cost a bloody fortune.
3. I chew my fingernails.
4. I enjoy cooking, but hate cleaning up. Sometimes I go for days with a sink of dirty dishes.
5. I hate unloading the dishwasher. That’s probably why I have a sink full of dirty dishes.
6. I don’t like anything sweet. No candy, no donuts, no desert, nothing.
7. With almost no exceptions. I had one piece of Twizzlers last night. They remind me of my teen years. I used to get them every time I went to the movies. Same thing with the chocolate covered cherry I had two weeks ago.
8. I didn’t go to my high school prom because I was too shy to ask anyone.
9. That’s probably why I’ve only dated six women in my life.
10. The first four for less than six months.
11. The fifth I was married to for 34 years until she died in 2005.
12. The sixth one I’ve been dating for almost three years. HI LORI!!!!
13. I was drafted into the army in 1968 and when I got out two years later, I held the rank of Specialist E-5. You can read about part of my army life in “My Vietnam Story” blog. http://my-vietnam-stories.blogspot.com/
14. I’m trying to write a book about army years and have written a lot more than what is on the blog, but procrastination gets the best of me. I’m up to 43,905 words, so have made good progress.
15. I am a life member of both the Disabled American Veterans and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
16. I retired on February 10, 2006 and love doing next to nothing.
17. No, I’m not bored. I spend tons of time with my Internet friends. Truthfully, they are some of the best friends I’ve ever had.
18. I met my best real-life friends now, in a Yahoo chat room. She had a little get together one afternoon for local members. I didn’t have anything better to do, so went.
19. Her and her husband and have been one of Lori and my best friends ever since.
20. I usually get along better with women than men. When I was boating, the wives of our group of friends voted me as an Honorary Woman. They told me that I understood them better than their husbands did. They also knew that I would keep their secrets, so was privy to many very interesting stories.
21. I loved those years of boating and had a ball! I miss it. Maybe some day I buy another boat.
22. My Internet handle, BTExpress, was the name of my boat.
23. I the over ten years I owned it, I never got around to putting her name on the transom.
24. I’m a procrastinator, but maybe you already figured that out.
25. Last but certainly not least. I spend almost all day, everyday, in just my bathrobe and socks. Gotta wear socks! That’s a lot more comfortable than wearing clothes.

PS
I’m not tagging anyone.

Gourmet HNT

Saturday night Lori and I went to dinner in a seafood restaurant next to the aquarium Lori works at. We used to go there almost every weekend, but we haven't been there for at least a year. It was good to go back. The food is good and inexpensive. After dinner we met Jeannie, a coworker of Lori's and Jeannie's friends for drinks. It was a going away thing for her, because she's moving to Boston.

Sunday I took Lori out to a fancy schmancy wine tasting dinner at a local seafood restaurant, The Cull House. I got an email from them advertising the dinner. I never heard of any of the food or the wines, but after reading about the chef, I figured it had to be good. According to the restaurant web site, Chef Bill (WTF? Chef Bill? Chef William would sound better.)

Chef Bill attended a culinary program here on Long Island for 2 years, then continued his culinary education in Paris at the John Ferrendie Culinary Institute. Then he traveled all over the USA, with stops in Dallas, Texas; the Sheraton of Clearwater, Florida; Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, DC. Executive Sous Chef. Washington: Georgetown on M street, the now-defunct The Three Faces under a 3-star Swiss chef; Manhattan: La Riserve, in Rockefeller Center Uptown: The Terrace Restaurant near Columbia university.

How a chef with that back ground found his way to a small hole in the wall seafood restaurant in my small town, is beyond me, but I'm glad he did. His five course dinner was 5-Stars! Here's what he prepared and all for just $44.99 p/p.

The Cull House "Country French Wine Dinner"

It started with wine for the first course and they didn't stop pouring until dessert was finished.


· Country Pate with Frisee Salad and Honey Vinaigrette
- Anselmi Soave 2007, San Vincenzo, Italy


· Potato and Goat Cheese Galette Garnished with Olives, Basil and Sundried tomatoes
- Domaine de Nizas Rose 2007, Languedoc, France


· Roasted Sea Bream with Juniper Berry Sauce
- JJ Vincent "JJ" Borgogne Blanc 2006, Burgundy, France


· Duck and Beef Cassoulet
- Segu Carmenere 2006, Maule Valley, Chile


· Dessert: Basque Custard Tart
- Marquis de la Tour Brut NV Champagne, France

While we were there, we saw a flier for a lobster dinner special. I couldn't resist that deal, so we went back Tuesday for dinner.

Complete(lobster) Madness!

Twin 1 1/4 lb lobsters with vegetable and potato, just $19.95!

One 1 1/4 lb lobsters with vegetable and potato, just $9.95!

Of course we both ordered the twin lobsters. It came with a baked potato and spinach souffle. Dinner was also first rate and the entertainment even better. Lori and I were seated in a room with just one other couple. We didn't pay much attention to them, but the fun started when they began bickering. Their voices were raised, so we couldn't help over hearing them. It all began over the weather. The man thought February has the worst and the woman thought it was January.

He said, "Why do you always disagree with me about everything? You don't know what your talking about, February weather is the worst!"

That started it. We couldn't really hear what she was saying, because she just mumbled, but he was pissed. He kept going on and on and neither of them would let it go.

When their dinner arrived. He dug into the twin lobsters, but she just sat there refusing to eat her shrimp dinner.

"What's the matter now? Aren't you going to eat?"

She shook her head no.

" WTF is your problem? I was in a good mood when we got here, but now you've ruined my birthday."

Not to be deterred from his lobster dinner, he took his sweet ass time eating while she sat there staring out the window. Neither of them spoke to each other again. As soon as he was finished eating, he went into the other room looking for his waitress. The owner saw him and quickly rushed into the room with his check. He paid and they quickly left.

When we were done eating our waitress came into the room and commented about the other couple. She said they could hear them arguing in the other room, but she didn't know it started, so we told her. Like us, she couldn't believe why.

HAPPY GOURMET HNT

Psssssst........ did you notice Lori's see through moment? Hehehehehe

To Whom It May Concern:

Some of you have never seen my old blog, so I thought I'd import the posts from there for your perusal. My first post on the old blog was on April 23, 2005 and the last on May 28, 2008. That's almost three years worth of posts, so there is a lot for you to peruse.

I started the blog as just something to keep me occupied. My late wife Barbara was diagnosed with brain cancer two years earlier and in February of 2005, she had a major brain seizure that almost killed her. When she came home from the hospital, she just laid in a hospital bed in our bedroom. She didn't talk much and usually just laid there staring off into space, so I spent most of my time watching TV or sat in the den at the computer browsing the Internet. She died in October 2005.

The almost fours years worth of blog posts here and on my old blog, is a journal of that part of my life. After I imported the posts here, I scanned the old post titles and saw just how much I "talked" about. Of course my day to day life, but also my Vietnam and army stories and so many stories about my past. I can't wait to go back and read some of them and relive a lot of memories. If you get a chance and feel like killing a few hundred hours reading all 921 posts, please do and l hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

Grand Canyon HNT

The fourth day of our last trip to Las Vegas we took a helicopter to the Grand Canyon.

It was worth every penny.

Click the pics for a much better view.

HAPPY GRAND CANYON HNT!