So here we are, Day 365. A year gone by. How quickly life passes us by. My hopes for an on plan day were ruined by a trip to Dunkin Donuts. The first trip was just for a coffee. I was hungry and went back for a cookie and bought a 1/2 dozen donuts home for dessert. "For dessert" I said? I suspect maybe more for my enjoyment than the family's dessert. Evil I am. Tonight was take-out night because of extracurricular activities with the kids. The bakery next to the donut shop with an assortment of pizza by the slice was tonight's choice. But first, a spinach pie to get me home.

On the exercise front - there was no exercise. But I was dressed in my workout clothes since 7:30 AM until 7:30 PM. At 7:30 PM I even threw on my reflective vest for night walking. At 9:30 PM I gave up.

Again. sorry about the drought of non-inspirational, failed attempts at improvement, excuse laden entries. I could just not post a thing but I need to keep one foot in the door. So far since Sunday I have been at the gym everyday except today and i could still pull this week off as my comeback week.

The Last Entry

Yes, you read correctly, this is my last entry. Why? Well it is time for a change...come on over to my Grand Opening of my new place. It's lean, it's new and is a work in progress, just like me.

The journey continues...over here at

http://www.thelastdietandbeyond.com/

Let me start back at last Wednesday. A business trip took me to San Diego through last Friday. A major launch of a new product line to my #1 customer. Here is a recap of the last few days just for the record...

Wed. 2/23/05:
Up at 1:10 AM finish packing, last minute office tasks. Flights on time. Lousy weather in San Diego (first time in 3 years!) Lunch at my fav salad bar -hit the baked goods section too many times. Dinner at PF Chang's . Why is it that people always ask me for my seal of approval when it comes to ordering dinner? When did I become the Director of M.E. (Meals and Entertainment)? To much food at dinner.

Thursday,2/24/05: Dressed and ready to go to gym at 5 AM. Answered email. At 5:30 AM,I decided I would not have time to use local gym. Went downstairs to hotel's fitnesss (room) - one treadmill was taken, one was empty. Didn't want to occupy treadmill next to guy on treadmill - to close for me (notice I am making excuses). I decide to go outside for a brisk walk. It's starts to rain. My iPod is unprotected - can't get it wet. I then go back into the hotel to the fitness center. Other treadmill is now taken. I think about going up and down the hotel stair cases and traversing corridors, but the thought of closing the stairwell doors might wake sleeping guests (more excuses). I decide to call off exercising and go back to my room and prepare for my presentation. It's interesting how easily working out can take a back seat when you are unmotivated. My intentions were good, but add a pinch of procrastination to an unmotivated mass and things start to unravel. Maybe it was because I had a 7:00 AM appointment at Starbucks I couldn't be late for. Coffee with Denise. It's a real treat to talk with someone who has been there and knows the ups downs a weight loss journey. The rest of the day went to shit eating wise. Cold Stone Creamery was hit in the afternoon. First time there and no, I didn't get the ff frozen yogurt. I don't think it's a menu item. While looking for the link to this site I just happened to put in my Zip code to see what nearest state had one of these demon dens. Would you believe a "Coming Soon" address popped up next to the grocery store I shop at? Good work Demons! Thursday night we ate at my favorite sushi place with my customer and colleagues. It recently turned into an "all-you-can-eat" sushi bar. It wasn't pretty.

Friday, 2/25/05: Out the door at 4:45 AM to airport, Computers are down at USeless Airways. People that showed up at 4:30 AM for the 6:30 AM Philly flight are still in line at 5:45 AM - the time I finally get in line. At 6:15 AM, after making it to the counter, I get into the line for security. It's the longest I have seen it. People are nervous and worried the 6:30 AM flight is going to leave on time. I tell them to chill because all of the flight's passengers are in this line. USeless Airways can't afford to leave SD with an empty plane and give all the passengers free tickets because their computers weren't working. Eating was poor, lousy airline food, pizza in Philly, etc. No exercise.

Saturday, 2/26/05: Lethargy sets in. With no exercise in days and eating poorly, I am a couch potato for most of the day.

Sunday, 2/27/05: I make it to the gym with hopes of starting the last week in the first year of the Last Diet, a successful one. I do cardio: 33 minutes on treadmill, 35 minutes on elliptical. I notice during cool down my heart rate doesn't drop like it use to - signs of lost fitness. The endorphins released during that workout give me a taste of that feeling I have been missing. I want more. Eating was good in AM but due to a last minute Easter Dinner invite, I end up eating dinner at 2:00 PM, right after eating lunch at 1:00 PM. This leaves me hungry at 10 PM. I attack the Fridge.

Monday, 2/28/05: Hit the gym again, I'm on a roll, 1 hour of cardio - elliptical and and treadmill. Personal trainer sees me and wants to know if I am doing weights. I tell him I only planned on cardio (I'm soaked with perspiration) and I don't have another t-shirt. He looks at me like I'm giving him a lame excuse. He's right. I can do free weights standing up without dripping sweat all over the machines. I pump out a great 30-40 minute mini circuit 3 times. I feel good after the workout. Eating was good until the evening.

Tuesday, 2/29/05: At the gym in AM. 35 minutes on elliptical. 34 minutes on stationary bike. Both with intervals. Again, eating was good until evening. Dinner was followed by a binge. Good news is - all cookies, chocolate are missing from house, courtesy of yours truly. Nothing but cereal bars.

Today, Wednesday, 3/30/05: I make it to the gym this morning. I had solid 75+ minute workout with free weights. Pushed myself on the abs too. Eating went well until dinner. One of my favorite comfort foods - American Chop Suey - don't ask me why. This was after i ate last night's left over swordfish - cold and right out of the container. I found left over Easter cupcakes from friend's Easter dinner. I also found in the freezer, 2 frozen homemade cookies - what a nice crunch to them.

Epilogue: Well what can I say. I am proud of my effort to get back to the gym. My overeating in the evening is my biggest barrier to my success. Right now there are many things I am responsible for at work, home and family obligations. A big balancing act. I don't have to tell you. I know what I have to do and I need to just do it! Tomorrow I will strive for an "on plan day."

223 lbs,....Me-ta-mor-pheus! Yep, broke into the 220's without even trying. Maybe it was losing my Cold Stone Creamery virginity in San Diego last week. Actually, it was a combination of things. Anyway, I'm back. I think I hit rock bottom while I was on the scale Sunday morning at Muscleland, I believe I have started what I think maybe a comeback. Yes it's only been 2 days, but the gears are slowly moving again and a few doses of endorphins have lubricated a highly demon-infested body. I'll be back later with a recap of my trip and the past few days.

I'm traveling again. I will try to update on the road. If I do, it will be here. Thanks to all of you for your patience as I get back into the groove.

Day 352. Almost a year. I find myself in a very dark place diet wise. Yet I am confident of a turnaround because it has started, even if off to a slow start.

Let me recap the business trip which started a week ago today. It was at trade show in Florida. A very big one for the line of work that I do. There are several things I have to battle when at this function. Endless dinners at fine restaurants, entertaining customers, finding time to workout. And the candy. Yes the candy. Bowls of it - on our booth. Picture your Halloween assortment right after you went out "Trick or Treat'ing." Then, place your bag at very convenient locations throughout every room in your house - you get the picture.

Exercising is tough because time is very limited. Not only that, but to do cardio in the morning and then to stand on your feet for 9-10 hours in shoes, isn't easy. But I did. I managed to get cardio in everyday except departure day -Wednesday. I managed to stay away from the candy bowls until the last day when news hit the company that would cause people like me to reach for something to eat. Just like an alcoholic would reach for a drink.

I managed to workout on Thursday. 53 minutes on the elliptical. This was an interesting session because I was watching my HR carefully. I know I was bragging on how the HR was still in good shape after being lax in exercising and eating during this dark period,

Well on Thursday I noticed the HR went into the 160's which isn't common when I'm doing the upper level at a good clip. The real evidence was the cool down. Normally from an HR in the150's at the very end of a workout, when I go into a cool down mode, the HR will drop about 20-35 beats within 2 minutes. Very frequently - within 5 minutes while in cool down, my HR is in the 110's. After 5 minutes from this 45 minute workout, my HR was still in the upper 120's. Interesting. Maybe it was because of dehydration or a combo of both. I don't know but I will keep an eye on both.

Though I did an excellent job of staying active while away, some uncharacteristically heavy drinking one night with heavy dinning every night, made for a lack of progress in the weight arena. Since I have been back, I have been participant to some of the worst eating in a 3-4 day consecutive period. Girl Scout Cookies by the sleeve (Thin MInts if you must ask - only because I found these easily - the Caramel Delights are hidden from me by the wife), Mint Milanos, Double Chocolate Milanos by the package -consumed in a 24 hour period - sometimes with the Girl Scout Cookies. Pizza, sub sandwiches, all the high caloric, high carb, high fat stuff you could imagine.

Yes, it hasn't been pretty. Add to that - tight pants and a lost notch on the belt. Enough to keep me in a this downward spiral.

Yet, with all this dark activity, I do not have a feeling of desperation. I know I can get back on the horse and carry on like so many other time I have done this year. I know one week of hard work will bring me back to the "better place."

The turnaround will begin today - this morning in fact. I will workout, I will go shopping too. I need to reload the fridge with my weapons and tools. The lack of a full arsenal (the fridge) has been a major reason for my bad food choices of late. I will start to drink more water and monitor it. I need to start logging again. I have the tools, I have the power. And I still have the vision of a svelte me.

As I leave you today, I leave you with one of my latest Rocky moments. Have you ever had a Rocky moment? I'm sure many of you have had one.

My Rocky moment came on Monday morning between 6-7 AM. I went down to the fitness center in the hotel to get my cardio in. I was too late. All the cardio machines were taken - about 8 in all - ellipticals, treadmills and bikes. This is the problem when you stay at a convention center hotel and the convention center is capable of hosting multiple conventions/ trade shows at once.

It was time to improvise. I had noticed the convention center was large, extremely large. You could land a plane on its roof. In fact you could dry dock several aircraft carriers on the roof. And this was just one building. The buildings were connected by covered, elevated walkways too. The walkways also went around the perimeter of each building. And there were huge stairwells at multiple points in the walkway connectors and the perimeter walkways all around the buildings.

So there I was as the sun was rising, briskly walking and jogging up and down stairways multiple times. The wasn't a stair at this complex that my sneakers didn't touch. I did this for an hour, all the while being very impressed by my resourcefulness but most importantly by my will to continue the journey through its darkest days.

They only thing I was missing was the Rocky Soundtrack. But that can be easily remedied by a click and a drag from a mouse.

My intentions were to update while I was away, but trade shows have a way of leaving very little time to do anything else beyond the 9 hour daily show hours. Leave very little anything but eat at great restaurants, drink with customers and colleagues, sleep and repeat the next 3 days.

I have more to write and will. But I just decided to get in some cardio at the gym after all ready deciding to push it off to the end of the day (I should be so lucky) or not doing it at all. It's important I go with this urge before the demons talk me out of it.

I'll be back later today.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm blogging on the wrong subject. Maybe I should create a blog called " The Joylessness of Air Travel."

Late Saturday afternoon, at the home airport ready for a 2 leg flight to Florida for business. I return home on Wednesday the 16th. The big annual industry trade show. I just voluntarily gave up my seat on an on time flight through Charlotte, NC. The announcement for volunteers came while I was at the gate counter trying for the upgrades. I asked the agent when the next flight to my destination was. :"At 5:15 PM, we have a direct flight." he said. This was a no brainer for a free ticket. Next question I always ask - "Can you get me in the emergency row?" I can upgrade to DC and E row from DC to Florida. "Do it!" I say. Sounds to good to be true. After he is done booking the ticket he says there is one stop in DC. Still not bad. Then he says " Ooops, you will have to change planes." Now I am getting nervous and feel that I am going to pay dearly for the free ticket. He then informs me the plane is already 10 minutes late. It is now 5:01PM and the only flight listed with a late departue is this flight. And now it is scheduled for departure at 5:50 PM! Now it gets interesting. There is a plane change in DC as I mentioned. We get on another flight and the flight number is the same. But my plane will land in DC when this same flight number is scheduled to take off. I thought I have seen it all. I guess I haven't. I go to the gate of the new flight and inquire that I might miss my connection.

"You can't sir," says the agent, "It goes on to FL."
"But there is a plane change and I will miss that connection," I say.
"I didn't know that," says agent.
"Look in the system -let me know," I say
"You are right." agent says.

The agent assures me I will not miss it the connection because the flight crew that boards the plane with me here will be flying the plane to the FL destination once we leave DC. Whatever. Again, I'm helpless. The plane is now scheduled to depart around 6:30 PM.

So what is going right today? You wouldn't believe it if I told you. And I am going to tell you - the diet and exercise. I got up and went out into the snow on the crappy roads. I actually thought of turning back when I passed 3 cars that had slid off the highway all within a 1/4 mile. I slowed it down and made it to the gym safely. Here is a recap of today's activities...

Pre-exercise: 6 oz ff yogurt, 1/2 bialy plain. 15 oz OJ.
Exercise: 33 minutes on treadmill 445 calories burned, 33 minutes on Precor 546 elliptical - 440 calories burned., Stretching 5-8 minutes.
Breakfast - 1 egg/1 EggBeater omelette with spinach, onions, ham, ff mozzarella, 1/2 bialy, 7 oz OJ. coffee with splenda and ff milk.
Lunch -skipped because of late breakfast.
Dinner 1 - hopefully this is my last meal. I really can't tell at this point. At 4:15 PM at Friday's at the Airport I had 1/2-2/3 of Cobb salad. I did exercise some portion control on this huge dinner-size salad. Hopefully I can hold out.
Water - not much -probably will not break 50 oz.

One thing I was happy about was my level of fitness. It may not be peak, but it is up there. I did a cardio program on the treadmill. the mill said the target rate was 144, The treadmill had to raise the incline to the max at 15 %. It was quite comical to see it go up by .2 every few seconds in an effort to get my HR up. At 15% my HR only made it to 122-123. It then told me to to increase the speed. I was walking at 3.7 mph which isn't a walk in the park at a 15% incline. The arms were sore from holding on. I was happy I wasn't struggling.

I updated yesterday's post with my strength training circuit for those who might want to peek. It's now 6:25 PM and my plane has arrived and is now dumping off its passengers.

Let the next plane odyssey begin!

By now you have noticed my lapse in posting the daily details of my quest. We all know what that usually means - nothing good or positive to write about. Such is the case with me.....

Polynesian Paralysis they say is caused by the Hawaiian environment. Very rarely have I ever been on vacation and have totally unwound. That's probably because of the short duration in many of my vacations and also traveling with the kids. Sure we have fun and great times, but there is still a huge amount responsibility when kids are involved. So here we are, my wife and I, no kids, a convertible, perfect weather, no humidity, a laid back Island, spectacular scenery you only dream of, and the sound of waves rolling into the beach.

Ah...the waves...

It was the endless sound of these waves rolling into the beach below our condo that really did me in. The desire to exercise, which was a deep rooted habit, had now disappeared. (I will add that I did manage to exercise 5 times while I was away) Even eating sensibly had taken a back seat to Hawaiian delicacies. I was on vacation, I had a valid excuse to relax - I reasoned with myself. Live, enjoy. I am an easy sell. Too easy. When I got back to the mainland on March 2nd, things progressed for the worse. The desire to exercise wasn't there. Sitting on the coach eating junk food had made its way back into my evenings. I would tell myself every evening that I will start tomorrow and get back on track right before I made the conscious decision to indulge in junk food. Even depression set in. This past week I had the worst week in the diet to date only managing to workout twice. One of those exercise sessions was only because I had a personal training appointment. I remember clearly when the trainer was a few minutes late, I was wishing he would not show up. And if he didn't, I was planing to leave without even working out on my own. It's been a rough couple of weeks. It has really been bothering me too because my one year anniversary of the lifestyle change is coming up on April 1st. I don't want to enter year 2 in this state of mind. In a way, maybe it is good for me to relive what my life was like before I started the Last Diet. Going through these past 2 weeks has reminded me how horrible it is to live without any ambition and motivation. It is a place I never want to go back to. I know how hard I have worked to get where I am today and I refuse to let it all slip away. So maybe this visit into pre-diet past did some good to remind me of what it was like and that the old lifestyle isn't for me.

The wife even noticed the change and started getting concerned.

Well, I want to finish this year on a high note. I want to hit goal in the next 6 months. I know it will be the hardest part of the journey but it has to be done. I started today with the weekly appointment with the personal trainer. He worked me hard with a full body circuit I did 4 times. I planned to do 20 minutes of walking after the strength training on the treadmill but instead managed to pull off 63 minutes on the elliptical. I felt good to again be covered in sweat from head to toe and a little sore in the legs from a good workout. Amazing what the endorphins can do to a down and out soul. So today I start the road to recovery to get back on course to lose the 9 lbs. I put on while I was away and during the last week.

Today eating went well except for a visit to my friend's house in the evening. While I was visiting and helping his son learn how to use his new iPod Mini, he handed me a bag of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. The very same bag we gave him as part of some things we brought him and his wife back from the Hawaii. Funny how that works.

B - 1/2 bialy, 1 egg, 10 oz OJ (pre-exercise)
Exercise - strength training 1 hour, 63 minutes elliptical.
S- non-fat, sugar-free hazelnut latte
L- skipped - didn't plan to; busy with work
D- some chicken (skinless) and 2 Egg Beater + 1 real egg omelette with mushrooms, onions, ham, and a sprinkle of ff mozzarella cheese. Coffee w ff milk.
Late night - est. 12 chocolate covered macadamia nuts

Updated: Today's strength training:

Did below circuit 4 times:

Pulldown (lats): 80 lb. 10 wide grip with 10 narrow grip
Leg Press 110# 10 wide stance/ 10 closed stance
Lying leg curls 10@ 80 lbs./ 10@70 lbs.
Front dumbbell raises alternating with side dumbbell raises 15 lb. 10 of each (20)
Hammer Strength Chest Press (incline) 45?# 10
Hammer Strength Chest Press (upright) 90# 10
Cable Pushdowns 100# (2 pulley) 10
with Cable curls 70 # 10
V crunches: each circuit: 30/25/20/ 30
Crunches on Abench: each circuit: 30/25/25/ 30

So let me continue on my saga as i make my way to the Hawaiian Islands...

We finally get airborne as we lift off from Chicago. 9+ hours to Maui - fingers crossed. In the back of a Boeing 777, there is a huge galley where about 3-4 flight attendants work getting all the meals, snacks and beverages out to the passengers. There are also 2 large bathrooms on either side right before the galley - (I am in row 53 in the right yellow seat.) I quickly make friends with the flight attendants and let them know if they need help with anything, dishes and what not, to let me know ;-). One of them, I really hit it off with. She was a seasoned proffesional. She was very quick witted and had a great sense of humor. I reminded her that I was helping keep her passengers happy with the recent seat swap. She smiled and continued to feed me chocolate bars from the First Class cabin through out the entire flight. Just what I needed. At least they were not full size bars. I have to say the service was very good for such a long flight: 2 movies, one hot meal which tasted good, one snack box, 2-3 snack runs and multiple beverage services including separate coffee and water runs to boot. To keep my undiagnosed ADHD in check, I actually brought a fiction book with me. I don't read fiction very much. I do enjoy it when I do. My only problem is once I start reading I have to finish the book. The book was "Five People You Meet In Heaven." I enjoyed the book greatly. In fact I read 3/4 of it standing up in the back of the plane in front of the rear emergency exit and back lavatory.

The flight was uneventful until we landed in Maui. They couldn't get the jet-way to the plane. That's was OK because the service door in the back galley was already open. I was already lost in the Hawaiian sunshine and climate for me to lose any more steam. I was in Hawaii! We de-planed and I immediately got on my voice mail. Before I left Chicago, I was having a conversation with the travel agent that originally booked everyone's tickets for the meeting on the cell phone. We started boarding for Maui while I was in the middle of the conversation. She had told me that everyone (the 3 colleagues now traveling with me) were already rebooked on an Aloha flight from Maui to Kauai. I wasn't . There was no room. I thought to myself how odd this was since I the CO of "Operation Get Us To The Meeting On Time". Go figure. When I retrieved the voice mail on our way to the Aloha gate, The travel agent did leave me a message telling me I was now confirmed on the Aloha Flight to Kauai. Yes!

We arrive at the Aloha gate 45 minutes before departure. We check at the counter to confirm we have seats. No luck. We are not in their system. Not even on the other 2 flights after this one and all the flights are full!. The Aloha agents tell us to go down to the United ticket counter (out through security) and square it away with them. We wait in line at the United counter. Gate agent looks at all of our tickets in his terminal and sends us over to the Aloha ticket counter. Aloha lady starts pushing buttons on her keyboard. I call United on the toll free customer service line to see what they are seeing on their end in the system. The United lady on the phone says we are all confirmed on the 4:15 PM Aloha flight to Kauai. It's 4:05 PM when she tells me this and I am ready to erupt like no other eruption Hawaii has ever seen. I take a deep breath and pause. I give the phone to the Aloha lady and tell her to talk to United to try to figure out where we are. A few moments pass and they are able to confirm us on the flight the next morning to Kauai.

I then shuttle us back to Untied to get us comp rooms in Maui for the night. We wait in line again. When we get to the agent. He spends about 1/2 hour processing us and another family who was traveling with us from Chicago. I immediately get on the phone to a fellow colleague who was already in Kauai and get the scoop on a place to eat. Forget about a place sleep - prioritize! After the dinner recommendation we start to call for reservations at Marriott, Sheraton, Hilton, etc. for a place to stay because it is looking like the agent isn't going to come through with rooms. Everybody is sold out on the Island. Of course, it's Saturday night. At last the United agent comes across this place. It is suppose to be nice the agent says. I rent a car and we are off to dinner. We eat here. I start drinking Mai Tais as soon as we arrive at the restaurant. Good meal. No, great meal. Great sunset...

(That's me on the left!)

We get to the hotel. As we walk into the hotel it happened. I have seen it on TV. I heard it happened only in Hawaii. She was beautiful. I got leid right in the lobby in front of everybody. In fact everybody was getting leid. I love this town. Was the curse broken?
Too early to tell. We were all exhausted as we headed for the rooms. Having finally made it to Hawaii, I needed another drink over looking the beach under the tiki torches. I needed to soak up any and every part of Hawaii even if it was night time.

Back in the room, I set the alarm clock AND call for a wake up call. The room was beautiful right down to the spa soap, shampoo and conditioners. They were in huge bottles too - so big I was afraid to take them for fear of being charged $20 each for them.

Alarm goes off at 4:00 AM. We get to the airport. Colleague #2 realizes he doesn't have his wallet. Calls hotel. Hotel checks room - nothing. Hotel calls back - they found it on the second pass and it is on its way via taxi to the airport. #2 sweats it as departure time is looming. Taxi arrives with wallet - all intact. Cost of fare - 60 bucks. Having your wallet returned to you intact - priceless! We all board plane. It takes off. It lands in Oahu to drop off passengers and pick up some too. Plane takes off. I see Molokai out the window of the plane. The weather is nice. We start to descend upon Kauai....touchdown! The curse is broken! Even if the doors to the plane or the airport jet-ways are all broken, what are the chances of all the emergency doors not working properly? Paradise, finally!

The rest of my time in Kauai was great! Meeting went well and the wife arrived on time. My luggage actually made it to Kauai before I did! Go figure. I treated the wife like the Princess she deserves to be, Manicures, pedicures, nice dinners including a romantic dinner on a beach as the sun set. And I bought her a Black pearl ring for her birthday. We left on an afternoon United flight on March 1st to San Francisco - got in at 9:00 PM. We had a red-eye from SFO to Philly from 10 PM to 6 AM. Remember that good deed I did from Chicago to Maui - giving up my aisle seat for the last row middle seat so the married couple could be together? Well, the red-eye was on my preferred airline - US Airways. I knew it was a long shot to get upgraded to First Class and sit with the wife because I couldn't even get on the upgrade list because this portion was a code share and I was on a United ticket. Well wouldn't you know when I went up to the gate counter to beg for an upgrade, my upgrade was already waiting for me! And the guy in the seat next to my wife was all to happy to let me sit with her. I believe this was the first time we ever sat in First Class together. So what if slept the whole way - we were together!

The rest of the flights were on time and flawless. We arrived home to a snow filled state.

There was one thing wrong with me though. I had come down with a bad case of Polynesian Paralysis I contracted during the last few days of our stay in Hawaii. I still have it to this day. More about that in my next post.

So where do I begin? Let me start back on Friday the 18th, I was about to take my longest flight to date, even longer than my Germany trip. New England to Chicago, Chicago to Maui, Maui to Kauai. I was suppose to arrive at 5:55 PM on Friday in Kaui (add 5 hours from a 7:30 AM departure from home.

Here's what happened. This could only happen to me. I am cursed. Nobody in my company wants to fly with me because shit happens. In PVD (the first leg of the trip) I am sitting on the plane when the captain comes on the PA and says we have a computer malfunction. This doesn't sit well with me because I am on an Airbus 320. I know to much. Pilots call the Airbus 300 series "fly by wire" - meaning it's all joy sticks and computers. What happens if the computer crashes while at 35,000 feet? Do the joy sticks freeze up?

A few minutes later the captain comes on an says he has to reboot the plane. Reboot the plane? Holy shit, what if the planes operating system is Microsoft Windows 98? I'm outta here. Have you ever been on a plane that has to reboot? Weird. Everything is shut down, emergency lighting activates and there is silence. Pilot reboots plane and comes back on the PA 15 minutes later to say it didn't work. The computer has to be replaced. Where's he going to get a new computer? CompUSA? Best Buy? Well, It is a good thing the airlines keep spare parts around because they happen to have had one. They finally fix it, we get off the ground and just as we land in Chicago, my Maui flight takes off. Of course this Chicago to Maui flight is the only flight to Maui from O'hare. I head on over to United's Red Carpet Club and get in line to speak to the customer service reps. Get this...there were no other flights to LA or San Francisco (other Hawaii connecting cities) for the remainder of the day. Can you believe this?? At O'hare International I can't get a flight to the west coast! Holiday weekends! The rep sends me over to a departing flight to LA that leaves in 20 minutes. I run to the gate only to be confronted by a stand-by list of 20+ people. When I finally get to the gate, the agent tells me to forget getting to LA or San Francisco today. I ask her with a straight face, "Should I just go home?" She looks at me like I am nuts.

I go back to the club and tell the rep I am not going to spend the day and evening at O'hare going from gate to gate trying to go standby to the West Coast. As a side note I am extremely polite to these people because they can make or break your travel plans. Get a good agent and show them the right attitude and you will get the most out of a bad situatuon. I was joking with her and told her I didn't know what to do with all the new found time I now have. I asked her if she had a copy of the movie "The Terminal. " (hopefully you guys have Quicktime, it's a free download if you don't - watch the trailer - it's funny). She said no and laughed. She asked me if I saw it and I told her I didn't becuase I heard it was horrible. She confided in me that she heard it was horrible too and that is why she hadn't seen it either. She tried her best to find something to get me out to the West coast but nothing was going to open up. I reminded her to check other airlines (Rule 240). Nothing was available. After securing food vouchers and a hotel compliments of United, I was on my way to the hotel. While still in the terminal, I made a stop at Wolfgang Puck's Bistro for a sandwich. I then walked by a Starbucks and yielded to a mocha and a pastry. When I got to my hotel, a $200/night one, I immediately called 2 Apple stores in search of a Shuffle (a stripped down version of an iPod...na...a souped upversion of a jump drive is more like it) I want one just for the gym. No luck. Every store was out. I had rented a car at the airport so I was mobile. My brother-in-law (wife's brother) lives downtown so we made plans to eat dinner at his house. I got to visit with the niece, nephews and my sister-in-law too. It was a nice diversion from airport. The night was complete after we visited our favorite Chicago hot dog institution. I was good. I only had one.

Oh and I went to Target earlier in the afternoon and bought workout shorts and a workout shirt (no luggage of course) once I saw a there was a Life Fitness Elliptical in the fitness room. I did an unplanned hour on the elliptical.

The next morning my flight was scheduled to leave at 6 AM. It would get into LA at 9:30 AM and then I would connect to a flight right into Kauai. I got back to the room at 12:30 AM. Did I tell you I was put in room 13? On the 13th floor? Many hotels do have a 13th floor but it is labeled the 14th floor. Did you ever notice that? My first inclination was to get a re-assignment. But I remember I became comfortable with 13 during the past year. I spent many hours on Level 13 on the elliptical. Never rushed by it on the way to Level 14. But I never encountered double 13's as in my current pad - Room 1313. For the 6 AM flight, I decided to leave at 3:30 AM, return rental car and be in line at the check-in counter 2 hours before flight time. No-way was I messing with a crowded O'hare Airport on a Saturday, holiday weekend morning. I proceeded to set my alarm clock on the night stand and found a Sony Dream Machine combo cd/clock radio/alarm with a million buttons. I knew it was an omen when I saw the special note card with printed instructions on how to set the alarm. After 8 steps the alarm was ready. At that point I usually call the front desk and get to wake-up calls -5 minutes apart. But I talked myself out of it since I never need an alarm because of my sleep apnea. Although the sleep apnea symptoms have subsided greatly with the weight loss, I have been sleeping recently with my usual apnea like patterns...1/2 hour to 3/4's of an hour at a time, I look at the alarm clock, repeat. No need for the wake-up calls. I did another thing that was unusual - I packed my belongings- new undies, new socks, assorted toiletries into my nice plastic Target bag. I fall asleep. I open my eyes and glance at the clock. 5 AM. Fear grips my stomach and tightens it. A sick feeling comes over my whole body as I jump out of bed looking for my watch to confirm my horror. As I looked at my watch and saw confirmation of my horror story, the curse of Room 1313 was now resonating inside me. In 4 minutes I am out the door. I get in the rental car, pay the parking lot attendant and rush onto the 1.5 mile highway connector to the airport. I don't know what I was thinking...could I actually make the flight? When I got on the on ramp my answer became clear: bumper to bumper traffic, at times the car wasn't even moving. It turns out that road construction just happened to be needed on this strip of highway that was bringing 3 lanes of departing passengers down to one lane to feed all of O'hare's hungry, yet to be filled airplanes. (At what radius does the curse of Room 1313 have power over the events shaping my morning?)

In the rental bus shuttle, I call United while silently praying,"Let there be another flight, let there be another flight!" The reservationist puts me on an 8 AM flight to LA with time to make my original connection! (I must be outside the Curse of Room 1313!)

At the airport counter I am reticketed, I meet up with 3 other colleagues heading for the meeting also. We board the plane and at about 5 minutes to departure, the captain gets on the PA and says the maintenance people were checking something in the plane and found a hydraulic fluid leak. That's a pretty serious mechanical problem. Planes have crashed because of no hydraulic fluid. (The curse of Room 1313 must have at least a 5 mile radius around it. I must escape from Chicago!)

At 8:30 AM the captain comes back on and says he is allowing all passengers to de-plane so we can hang in the terminal until the 9:30 AM update on the mechanical problem. Notice I said update and not departure. At this point I see Hawaii slipping away for the 2nd day in a row. I call Untied while on the plane and end up talking to a rookie reservationist who refuses to rebook me because the fate of the flight is still up in the air and she kept saying because I was confirmed on this flight - whatever the hell that meant. Meanwhile, a couple 2 rows behind have been on my radar once I overheard the man on the phone trying to get rerouted to Kauai. When he gets off the phone he tells me there is room on the 10:00 AM to Maui. Yes! The flight I was originally scheduled on yesterday. I quickly mobilize my 3 colleagues and tell them to get their bags. "Whe're outta here boys!"

Nobody hesitates - not after they heard about my horror story the day before. We head to the Maui gate and get in line. It's about 1 hour and 15 minutes before departure (8:45 AM) and there is no United personnel at the gate. I quickly grab a cell phone and head over to the United Red Carpet Club. I tell the colleagues to wait in line and whoever gets a Untied person first will start the rebooking process. I went to the Red Carpet Club because I know the counter ladies at the club can reissue tickets. The line here will be shorter than the United Customer Service desk somewhere in the terminal. While I am waiting in the line, I also dialed United on the phone, hoping to get a reservationist who would rebook all of us. It turns out I get to the phone person before the counter person in the club. She starts the rebooking process. I head back to the Maui gate and the counter people have arrived and are just about to get to us. At this point I terminate my call with the United reservationist once I see we are confirmed on the flight by the Maui gate person. Yes!

One problem though, we cant get confirmed from Maui to Kauai. It's usually either Aloha or Hawaiian who operate inter-island hopping in Hawaii and the United people are unable to confirm us on the Maui to Kauai flight. I then call the travel agent who was in charge of booking the company's flights for the meeting. I go through the scenarios and give her 3 specific Aloha flights to try to confirm us on. At that point we are boarding the plane and I tell the travel agent to leave a message on my voice mail as to the outcome of the maneuver. We board the plane. I did manage to get an aisle seat in the second to the last row of a Boeing 777 Airliner. Big plane with a 2-5-2 seat configuration. I am in row 52 - 2nd to the last row with no windows - aisles then lavatories. Well at least it is an aisle and I can drink plenty of water without bothering anybody. I sit down on what is about to be the longest flight to date I have ever taken - 9 hours - thank god for the aisle seat! The lady next to me taps me on the shoulder.

She explains to me that her husband and her are separated. He is in the last row of the plane directly in back of her. I glance over at him and he smiles. She nicely asks if I would be willing to switch seats with him. At that moment my entire trip since the day before flashes before my eyes. To myself I say."You have got to be kidding!"

Screw me and what I have just went through and I am still trying to get out of Chicago! I tell them both. "OK, here's the deal:we'll split the time or when ever I get cramped up we'll switch. Is that OK?" They were happy about the arraignment. I wasn't. I tap her on the shoulder and ask her if she would like to be with her husband during take off. She lit up like the Fourth of July. The husband was extremely happy and said whenever you want the seat back just ask. They were very nice people from Canada. I like Canadians. I love Canada. I even honey-mooned in Canada in the Canadian Rockies.

As I climbed into my cubby hole of a seat in the middle of the row, in the last aisle (row 53), I knew I wasn't going to ever sit in my original aisle seat. I believe in paying it forward. Maybe I can end the curse of Room 1313. As the plane taxied on down the runway for take off I started to kick the seat in front of me - the seat of the Canadian lady now sitting with her husband. She looked between the seats at me and with a straight Jack Nicholson face right from the movie, "The Shining" I said to her,

"You're going to pay for my new seat assignment!" I quickly grinned and we laughed together as the Boeing 777 left the ground and into the sky.

To be continued...

It was a pain to get the below pictures posted - huge file sizes - plus, I believe the beauty was too much for the blog software to handle. It's hard to believe Island X is part of the 50th United State, Hawaii.
It is the beautiful island of Kaua'i.

I'll get back to posting in a day or 2 when my soul returns back from the island. My soul refused to board the plane home when I did.

11:30 PM. I want to drive through a Drive-Thru and order a few burgers. I want some candy - chocolate perhaps. I leave for the airport in 5 hours and I am not even half way done packing. And it's a big pack. It's a 1/2 business trip and a 1/2 vacation. I had to run Kid #1 over to the doctor's today in the middle of a 7 person conference call with the corporate office. There were heavy weights in the crowd including my boss. Something wasn't right with my son. All I had to hear was that his neck was stiff and I was on my way to the doctors. He exhibited all but one of the symptoms found here listed under "Children and Adults."

Well, I over reacted. Typical for a concerned parent but very legal. He was diagnosed with Strepp Throat. Whether or not I will come down with it, I don't know. Maybe I will find out during my 9 hour flight from Chicago en-route to Island X. I'll be in coach because my airline of choice doesn't fly to the destination. I'm dreading this 2nd leg (9 hours) of a 3 flight trip. I just "upgraded" from an economy aisle seat to economy plus seat in the middle of a row of 5 seats (2-5-2 config). Supposedly, the seat to my left is blocked off. Trust me - it will be filled tomorrow, I know it. Well it's row 18 vs row 45 which I was in. Sitting in row 18 means I will get a choice of snack/meal boxes vs not getting to choose or not getting one at all if I was in row 45. When your flying on a long flight and you are in coach class, to me (and the stomach), it's all about the box, the snack or meal box that is. Very important things like getting a somewhat decent meal may make this miserable flight a tad better. Trust me, I'd pack my own lunch but with all the stuff i am hauling on the plane, another bag won't "fly."

I don't want any sympathy. You'll understand when you find out where the destination is. I am flying the wife in too. First Class, like she deserves. Partner airline took the points from me for the round trip ticket but has no policy in place for partner passengers that fly a lot -even though we treat their preferred flyers better. Should be interesting.

Here is the clincher. (You guys and gals will enjoy this one.) Wife comes in just as the meeting is ending. We then move into a beach front condo for a few days. We then both fly back on the same 3 flights (including a red eye). Guess who isn't in First Class and who is? I wouldn't have it any other way. She's enjoying this trip so far and she hasn't even left yet! Trust me on this one. We're keeping our fingers cross the strepp hasn't taken up shop in our bodies. She needs this trip more than I do. The nice part is that we have the In-law's coming in to watch the kids while we our gone. Sweet!

I don't know when I will catch up next, but I will. I will have the technology during the "business" half of the trip.

Now I am going to get a cat nap in for 1.5-2 hours and get up at 2-ish AM and finish the pack of all packs. Talk to you soon!

Exercise - 43 minutes on treadmill: average 3.8 mph at 6 incline. I did intervals at these settings with "hands off" HR went from 120's to low 140's. Interesting how holding on to a treadmill can "deprive" a full cardio workout. But better to "hold on" to a mill than to have never have had an opportunity to hold on to one at all - if you know what I mean. 22 minutes on Precor 546 elliptical no arms. Ramp 12, Resist. 10. 3-4 (2 minute) intervals on Ramp 20.

Time was a factor. Oldest son is sick, needed to get home by 8 AM before Wife had to leave for work. I had to cancel my 8:30 AM personal trainer appointment I wanted to get in before I go away on business tomorrow.

I created a mini circuit of just 4 exercises...I completed the below circuit 3 times probably in 15 to 18 minutes. It should be just enough to keep those muscles from forgetting they lift weights until I find a gym at my new business destination:

Lat Pull downs 110# 12 each
Hammer Strength Iso Chest Press 90# 12 each
Machine arm curls 50# 12 each
Precor Abench: crunches circuit (1-3) 50,50,50

Pre-exercise: Nothing. Wanted to let the body feed off of last night's peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Hopefully I metabolized the sandwich before it made it to my fat cells! No noticeable lack of energy during the workout.
Snack - (7:30 AM): Starbucks: grande sugar free hazlenut , non-fat latte
B - 2 egg omelette with red peepers, mushrooms, ham, spinach, ff shredded mozzarella, olive oil, 5 oz OJ. I was feeling a little guilty having the extra egg and OJ. This breakfast was a bit larger than I allow myself, but really satisfying. Loaded with protein. As I write this, (12:51 PM) I noticed I have gone almost 4 1/2 hours without any serious signals of hunger from the body. On top of it, add an exercise session too. Amazing. Something is to be said that protein takes longer to digest.
L - ( 1:30 PM): Cold chicken breast, grilled vegetables. 1/2 bialy, 3 melba toast slices, 2 oz. hummus
Snack - (6:00 PM)- 2 slices Melba toast
Dinner - ( 8:25 PM): 1/2 ham & turkey sandwich on wheat, mustard, 6 oz ff yogurt with milled flax seed and Fiber 1 Cereal mixed in.
Late Night - (9:35 PM) Starbucks: tall gingerbread nonfat latte

B - skipped
L- banana, 1 big slice ham, 1 trail mix bagel (380 cal, lots of fat too), broccoli rabe
Snack - 5:00 PM: Melba Toast Pack, ff cottage cheese, 1 slice deli ham
Dinner: 6:00 PM: Dinner was thrown together. Came across some fresh cleaned squid with tons of tentacles. The kids go nuts with squid tentacles. So I surprised them with "Squid a la Ramen Noodle Soup". I had some squid, rotisserie chicken, egg salad and chicken salad on Melba Rounds, green beans.
Late night: (8:45 PM): 1 Barry's Bakery Twist, Organic peanut butter and spreadable raspberry fruit/jam o whole wheat bread (2 slices).
Water: not to sure, at least 40 oz.

Didn't exercise today. I am trying to figure out why I didn;t go in the morning. I think I was busy with work related projects. Yes, that was it because i skipped breakfast. It is funny how when you are very focused on a project or task, hunger takes a back seat.

I had clearance to go to the gym at 7:30 PM tonight, but I got tied up again with work issues. A rest day wouldn't hurt anyway.