Wednesday, February 02, 2005. Somewhere 35,000 feet above Gobbler’s Knob (Home of today’s most famous rodent) Just left Pittsburgh. Being a lifetime Patriots fan I was delighted to see Steeler’s caps on clearance for $7.00. I have a feeling that this year will be the best ever for a New England sports fan. We may never pass this way again in my lifetime. Speaking of Groundhog Day, did you know there are about 36 groundhog celebrations today in the US? This factoid was heard on a morning San Diego news program as i was packing for my return trip. I wonder if Bill Murray ever made a guest appearance in Punxsutawney?

So let me recap Tuesday. Tuesday was scary day for me. The morning started out good. At Starbucks I had a tea, a gingerbread non-fat latte grande, and ½ (;-)) of a low-fat apricot blueberry muffin. Lunch was spent at my favorite lunch spot in San Diego, Souplantation. An excellent salad bar/soup joint. They are also known as Sweet Tomatoes on the East coast. My meal is always the same. A big healthy salad with the house balsamic vinaigrette and my favorite: big chunk chicken noodle soup. They’re not kidding when they say big chunk. I was pulling out chicken tender size chunks with every scoop of the ladel. There was so much chicken in my soup bowl that I felt embarrassed about my scoops. I quickly walked back to my table before security confiscated the 2 pounds of chicken out of my soup bowl. I was in heaven. Ah, there’s part of my problem – in heaven over a bowl of soup – yes, I am easy and I do have some issues. Eh, it could be worse. I went back for seconds and grabbed a small fresh, hot blueberry muffin for dessert. I had an afternoon appointment with #1 account. 3 hours long. Lots of issues we are currently working out. After, I drove my boss to the airport for his next appointment in another state. My plan was to workout after dropping him off. I didn’t have time to pack my workout clothes before the appointment so working out for free at Muscleland was not an option. I didn’t want to go back downtown through rush hour traffic either (where the airport and Muscleland are located.) The new plan was to workout out at a Bally’s close to my hotel which was located north of the city. On the ride home I was very tired, mentally and physically. I never adjust to the time changes. So on my ride home from dropping my Boss off at the airport I planned my “illegal” eating session. First, go back to the room and take a break before working out. When I got back to the room, I laid down on the bed, kicked off the shoes. I started fantasizing about what I was going to order off of the In ‘N Out menu. Yes, I was planning my demise at one of California’s greatest contributions to fast food – In N’ Out Burger. My mind wondered…one or 2 burgers? A chocolate shake? This was after I killed the idea of working out…..

Time to land…to be continued…..

….Friday, February, 4^th…. Back to Tuesday evening...I managed to fall asleep and therefore managed to save myself from diet hell on Tuesday night. Managed to skip dinner altogether. Thank god for my body not adjusting to the time change and choosing sleep over food.

Let me get back to Tuesday morning. Noticed I ate only half of the low-fat muffin at Starbucks. The other half I had the pleasure to share with one of the most inspirational weight-loss bloggers of our time. My friend and fellow comrade, Denise .

Now before I say a few things about this morning encounter and being in the shadow of Greatness, I have to say I was a little bit nervous. Yes me, nervous. Someone who is at ease with speaking and presenting to large groups (1,400 people was the record once), someone who is called upon frequently by his colleagues to “get the party started.” Here I am sitting at a Starbucks waiting to meet someone who knows somethings about me and my inner workings that I have chosen to keep from some of my close friends and family. Someone I trade comments & emails with ease on an ongoing basis. It’s funny how this works. It’s funny how comfortable blogging can be in your home hiding in anonymity with the help of the internet. Now it was time to come out from behind the curtain.

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to meet some of your blogger friends in person? It is quite different when you are in front of a computer screen trying to interact with humanity than in person and in the flesh. I have to say it is nice to know there isn’t any type of communication technology that can come close matching the experience of being in the company of another person.

How would she recognize me? I have seen pictures of her, but no one has seen pictures of me. I told her to look for the person behind a newspaper sipping a latte with pinkie finger extended. Now the guy sitting across from me 2 tables over probably would have had some choice words to say about me if he caught the pinkie action. Hopefully not.

As I was ready the sports page of USA Today, the room got intensely bright, as if the sun had come down from the sky and peeked in to witness this morning ritual of humans and their obsession with coffee drinking. We immediately connected as she joined me at acorner table. A few minutes later we were sipping lattes and talking about old times…..er…conversing about the only thing could we could converse about….the posts, comments, emails and bloggers from that "other" universe. So here we are making the “jump” and connecting like humans should…making conversation over coffee. A great way to start the day. Never mind about how good the San Diego weather was shaping up to be that morning. Time flew as we were talking about many subjects and it was time for her to get into the office. We parted and will now have to go back to using the internet. But for over an hour on a Tuesday morning, over coffee, 2 people on very important missions had a chance to take a break from their daily routines, commiserate, reflect, laugh and take solace in knowing...there are real genuine people at the other end of our computers in the vast ocean of the internet. Most importantly, it is nice to know, we are not alone in our struggles.