Monday Night Food and Fitness

Food

Wow, what a difference! I had been getting headaches several days per week and burning through my Imitrex supply like they were Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies. They seemed to come on around lunchtime. Since I read that article in NY Times that Jud emailed me, I went through all the lunch food supplies I had in my office and found a LOT of "autolyzed yeast extract." I took all those things out, and I haven't had a headache since. THANK YOU JUD! (And thank you NY Times for the article!)

Since then, my new favorite lunch item from the commissary is the Progresso Lentil Soup. It says on the side in big bold letters "NO MSG" and doesn't have any of the disguised varieties either. AAAAAND I tastes pretty good, too. Often the stuff that meets all my dietary needs tastes like corrugated cardboard.

I'm not exactly proud of the fact that shiftwork has resulted in me being much too familiar with the nuances between the different McDonalds on the island. If I go to the McD's on base and order a large coffee with two creams, they actually put the cream in the coffee for you. However, their drive-through is frequently closed even though their posted hours say the drive through should be open. So I end up having to get out of my car and walk in (I know, I know, I can feel your sympathy for my plight oozing through my keyboard and into my fingers - not). If I go to the McD's just down the street from our house, the drive-through is always open, 24/7. Unfortunately, when I go there and order a large coffee with two creams, they hand me the large coffee, and then they hand me a little bag with two creamer packets and a stir stick. So which is worse? Having to park and walk in to order your coffee, or having to pull the lid off and put the creamer in yourself? I know, I know, if these are the least of my worries in life, then I've got it pretty good.

Fitness

Fitness? What is that? I vaguely recall something about this place people call a "gym," but it seems like so long ago. Until recently when ES and I started going on bike rides together, the only "exercise" I was getting was climbing the ladders up and down between levels in the Engine Room.

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Talk about "can't teach an old dog new tricks"... Actually, this one might have to go in the file of "Stupid Kevin Tricks." Through years of experience, I have developed this confidence and physical ability to climb up and down the forward and aft escape trunk ladders while carrying things in one hand (coffee... notebook... small children... well, no small children in the AFT escape trunk, but you get the idea). Well, those years of experience were based on the "skirt" being in place. The skirt is this metal shield that is put there to create an area for divers to keep their head in an air pocket while they flood down, equalize, and open the escape trunk. Besides providing that shelter for divers, it also shrinks the size of the opening of the escape trunk and provides a handy smooth surface that you can lean your backside against as you reposition your one free hand on the ladder and continue your descent into the boat. When that skirt isn't there, and you let go with the one hand holding onto the ladder... there's nothing there to hold you up and you end up falling over [insert sound effect: "TIMBERRRRRR!"] until your back and elbow go crashing backwards a couple of feet into valves and pokey things sticking out of the side of the escape trunk. I wonder how many more times it will take me to unlearn the habit of leaning back into the skirt (since the skirt is removed / not there anymore).

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Not directly fitness related, but call it health and accident avoidance, I got a good laugh from this article one of my parental units sent me.