Child of Divorce

My parents have been married for 47 years and while I suppose it is possible they could get divorced, I think it is highly unlikely. So why have I been feeling lately like a child whose parents are getting divorced?

This morning the most expensive divorce trial in California’s history began and its outcome will forever shape the landscape of the Dodger Organization. To date, Frank and Jamie McCourt have spent an estimated $20 Million dollars fighting over their most prized “shared” asset – ownership of the beloved Los Angeles Dodgers. If Mr. McCourt wins, he will remain the sole custodian of the team leaving Mrs. McCourt with only tens of millions of dollars instead of hundreds. On the flipside, if Mrs. McCourt wins, the team will be sold and she will walk away with half of the cash.

Since the McCourts bought the team in 2004, the organization has seen three different managers (we all like Joe, BTW), a revolving door of players (good luck in Chicago Manny), steady increases in ticket prices, crazy and unimaginable parking lot changes, all sorts of stadium renovations bringing much needed new seats and huge loses to the Dodgers’ foul territory, but still no World Series ring. Heck, I’d be happy with an NL Pennant. They have won their division two years in an a row, but in a city used to teams that are champions multiple years in a row often, division champs from one of the most storied franchises in baseball history, just isn’t good enough.

Reading...

Last year, I read many books. In fact, for the three of you who know me in real life, you have probably caught me whiling away on a nice afternoon with book in one hand and a modest glass of pinot in the other. Or maybe you and I have talked about contemporary literature, Pulitzer winners and best sellers.

But lately, it seems like I have fallen out of love with reading – the truth is I have started more books this year than I have finished. Amazing books, books that have come highly recommended, books that won awards and been on the top of the best seller list forever but books I can’t seem to finish. I know who have I become – what happened to the voracious reader you fell in love with? Where is that lady?

There is a good chance my demise is directly related to TIVO, which, like the Minnesota Vikings, I have a love/hate dynamic with. Okay, I really hate the Vikings but love #4. But back to TIVO – I think it causing me to watch nine million times more TV than I used to and is singly responsible for my brain turning to mush. I hardly even do the crossword anymore – I know, who have I become? And of course, good writers are readers, so TIVO is also affecting (or is it effecting?) my blog. Perhaps more than the adage, you are what you I eat, I believe you are what you read.

So, to bring shame upon my household, here goes, my list of books I started reading this year but never finished.

The Sparrow


Vin Scully: Pull Up a Chair


The Idiot
//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Idiot

Desmond Tutu: Rabble Rouser for Peace


How to be your Dog’s Best Friend


Ordering your Private World


We Drink From Our Own Wells



Up this week – I know I am jinxing my self – being a child of divorce, the fall of troy and 1975.

This Time

I know, you have been expecting this. It always comes to these sorts of inevitable posts where I beg for forgiveness – pleading that this time will be different.

This time I will keep my promise and blog on a more normal schedule. This time it won’t be weeks (or in some cases months) between posts. This time I won’t string you along saying things like more to come on (insert failed theme attempt here: ‘wring in Wednesday,’ ‘my trip to Peru,’ ‘my new dog Fisher,’ etc)… This time I won’t offer up some lame excuse like world travel, computer troubles or my personal favorite – GOOD OLD FASHION BUSY-NESS!! This time there won’t be a pathetic side bar on how much I despise being perpetually busy maybe adding something over the top in terms of harrowing-ness about how that being busy robs my soul. This time I won’t say something about how much I have missed blogging hoping you will ‘buy’ it and take me back.
Perhaps I am the Rodney Dangerfield of bloggers, but to my three readers out there (you know who you are), I am back.

Peru!

So it turns out that I was blessed enough to spend the past two weeks in Peru. I will try to post more specifics on our time in country, but thought a quick picture would whet “your” appetites!!

Fisher

About a month ago the beautiful Pug pictured above was found roaming the streets of the high desert. Victorville for those of you familiar with the high dessert. We will never know for how long, why or what his origins are. Perhaps he was a run away. Perhaps he was a cast off in a foreclosure. A Good Samaritan picked him up and delivered him to a friend he knew who had a sister who was very involved in rescuing dogs. The Good Samaritan and her sister, a woman named Donna, began their rescue magic. He was “fostered” in the sister’s house who got him micro chipped, neutered, cleaned up and checked out. One vet thought he was two years old, another said he was one year old.

Three weeks ago or so, they showcased the mysterious dog they called “Taz” at one of those parking lot adopt-a-pet shin digs in Orange County where my brother, who has a soft spot for pugs, found him. My brother was very taken in by the whole story and immediately called me saying this was my dog. I wasn’t sure, but went ahead with all of the paperwork. OK, somewhere along the line I got excited. The “foster” mom assured me he was good natured and didn’t cause any problems.

I officially adopted him the night after the LA Lakers won the finals and decided to name him Fisher, after Derek Fisher. While I am not a huge Laker fan, from what I know of Derek Fisher, he like my dog, has overcome amazing odds and time and time again has proven himself a resilient and admirable man. When he jumps or even acts surly in the least (which he doesn’t do often), I like to chide him that he isn’t named Kobe. He divides his time between rooting around in the back yard, napping or following me around.

The Biggest Loser

Since January 1st, I have been actively trying to lose weight. I know many of you have had first hand knowledge of this process over the past six months; still I have refrained from blogging on it for fearing I would become Oprah about it. But that stops today as I am departing from the diet (for now at least) as I have officially lost 10% of my starting body weight on January 1st bringing my grand total to 19 pounds! If I flash back to my starting weight in October of 2009, I have lost 25 pounds, which as this blog is testimony to, I am very proud of.

How did I do it you ask? Well, I began with just straight up calorie counting ever decreasing my daily total, which for long stretches was 1,100/day. If you have never calorie counted, 1,100 is LOW and some debate if that is even healthy. Confession: for most of the year, I took the weekends off which was my saving grace. Mondays were often fraught with guilt, but I am sure I would’ve called the whole thing off in March had I not had that default.

Slowly, over time, I combined the calorie counting with exercising. And again, if you know me in real life (as opposed to blog life), you know I am not one to go to the gym but focused instead on power walking (I know, could I be more dorky). Gradually, I power walked longer and more often – at times 6-7 days a week. As well, I bought a pair of Shape-Ups (yes, I could be more dorky), which I think helped. Somewhere along the line I started wearing arm weights. I was even doing Yoga a few nights a week bringing me to a season of “two-a-days.”

Off an on for the last month, I went to SlimFast doing their 3-2-1 method. I should add there was a fairly consistent season where I was eating Special K for two meals a day. SlimFast was decent, but I will not miss them. There were two separate two-day periods where I ate only spinach, eggs and grapefruit juice. Not to go into too many unpleasant specifics, but this cleansed my system and wasn’t nearly as unbearable as I thought it would be.

All told, I will be shifting to maintenance through when I depart to Peru in mid-July. When I return, I will reassess my goals and decide if I want to go another round or not. One really big prompt was a six-month contest organized by my work, which because of I won $100 but today’s finale, felt really anti-climatic. I wasn’t in the winners’ group/click and was so far from their percentage loss (and also not really in their friend group) that I wasn’t in on the “celebrations.” Fair enough, $100 is $100 and 10% weight loss is 10% weight loss.

Sorry, no before and after shots – not my style.

Living from a tip jar...