Why is it that you can drive past a specific Dairy Queen 900+ times in your life and not think anything of it, but as soon as you are in a weight loss competition, nothing looks more desirable than the plastic ice cream cone on the sign! There it is - every day - taunting me!
How do I deal with the taunting? I stocked my fridge. 
How long did I actually wear these socks?
10 HOURS!
When my co-worker and I drew up the contract for this competition, it seemed his biggest concern was that the weigh ins be fair, accurate, and practically impossible to cheat at. We decided that we would weigh in at home on certain days that that our spouses take a picture of our toes on the scale with the weight displayed (everyone knows you have to weigh nude for accuracy). That, among other rules and prizes, were put into a scribbled out contract and we signed. The appointed day for the first weigh in came. That morning I woke up a little nervous, but fully committed to this contest (I have yet to tell you about the prizes and consequences). As I prepared for the weigh in moment, I eyed my scale and warned it that it better be on it's best behavior over the next two months. I had chose this scale for it's many virtues, different profiles, and the many things it measures like bone mass and hydration levels. I had, however, overlooked one of it's biggest "features".
I stepped on the scale in all my birthday suit glory and was ecstatic at the weight it displayed. I grabbed my cell phone w/camera and prepared to snap a picture of my toes and the display. Right at that moment a glimmer caught my eye. It was that moment that I noticed the worst feature of all about my scale. It is made of Highly Reflective Glass! There was NO WAY I was going to take the picture as requested. NO WAY! NO WAY EVER! AIN'T HAPPENING! I took a picture of the scale without my toes or any reflections in it and hoped it would be good enough for the co-worker. I sent him a text message informing him he would not EVER be receiving a picture of the weigh in as stated in the contract. The resulting text conversation went like this:
Me: We are going to (well I already do) have a problem with the scale picture taking.
Him: Did your hubby nix it? Is it too revealing for me to see your toes?
Me: Nope, it was all me that nixed it.
Him: Are you conceding? Cool!
Me: Well, the issue is that my scale is reflective glass.
Him: Well, Linnea, Mine is glass also and I had my wife take the picture at an angle and close as to block the reflection
UGH! NO MERCY!
It seems I no matter how ridiculous a challenge is, I just keep jumping in head first! Is there some sort of disorder that causes this? Is it treatable, or am I doomed to a life of spontaneous commitment and resulting torture? Last year it was the triathlon that turned into TWO triathlons, which has turned into FOUR triathlons this year. One of these triathlons is scheduled to be an Olympic distance one. EEEK! In all my wisdom, I figured that these FOUR freaking triathlons would be much easier to do, if I didn’t have to lug all my extraneous weight around while training. Logical conclusion? Yes.
You might be thinking that the FOUR triathlons is where I got in over my head, but you are wrong.
To make a long story short, a co worker and I made a weight loss bet. Over lunch one day, we discovered we weigh exactly the same and both wanted to drop some of it. A week later we signed the contract for the bet. We have till March 31st to reach a certain weight. There is about $150 in prizes at stake for this bet. Now, allow me to tell you a bit about the guy I have to beat. He is two inches taller than me and massively muscular. He is also 18 years older than me (which I suspect is all I have going for me). The weight we are trying to reach by March 31st is also his target weight. My target weight would still be about 1000 lbs less than even that. He also spent a good portion of his life as a personal trainer. Ugh. Wish me luck!
This is a transcript of a chat conversation I had this morning with my friend Brett.
Brett: so...
me: as you were saying...
Brett: did i mention i decided to try out eharmony?
me: are you getting married? not that I recall...
Brett: just wondering if there are more quality people out there than the ones that i sometimes date...you know, like cute smart girls who maybe work at hooters...
me: and...
Brett: (that's where you laugh and say "yeah, i know of someone perfect for you that fits that mold!")
anyway... the way it works is that you get anywhere from 1-8 "matches" a day...
me: i can't wait to see where this is going!
and one of your "matches" today is someone I know?
Brett: well, linnea... you receive an email about each one with their name and age in the morning.
so when i was looking at them on my blackberry, i got one that said "eharmony would like to introduce you to linnea, 33!"
me: you should totally take her out! I bet she is AWESOME!
Artur and Linnea's 10 Year Aniversary--Today!
....we had too much fun with at the office today.
I finally got this to be right side up and with sound. Be impressed. Be VERY impressed (with both my ticket buying skills, and my video editing skills - which are both about the same level).
I have been informed that my pictures are "boring"...so here is some video snippets of some daily moments that may prove less boring to watch...perhaps. Arwyn and I made it with Artur in mind, but hey...why not just open it up to the world...right?
Things Taiwan Does Well Part II
1. Pineapple Cake
2. Oreo Milkshakes
3. Giant Carved Wood Tables
4. Masks for Scooter Riding (I have GOT to get one of these)
5. Christmas Cards (which is weird to me since they don't celebrate it)
Things Taiwan Does NOT Do Well Part II
1. Smog Control (Yes this can make the list twice)
2. Kiwi Milkshakes
3. Notify you that the "colored tofu" you are eating is really congealed pigs blood
4. Joke when you pay the $79 NTD bill in $1 NTD coins
5. Insulation
Things Taiwan Does Well...
1. Orange Juice
2. Scooter Traffic
3. Chinese Food
4. Recycling
5. Make Garbage Pleasant (the Garbage Truck sounds like an Ice Cream Truck which I think could turn out to be quite a let down under the right circumstances)
Things Taiwan Does NOT so well...
1. Sidewalks
2. Mosquito Control
3. Smog Control
4. Mattresses (is that how you spell it?)
5. Hot Water Heaters (I thought I was DONE with cold showers after living in Tbilisi).
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