Virginny Beach

On Wednesday I drove with Zanne to the lab, where I gave a presentation on comparative eschatology. Afterward I picked Zanne up from the Columbia Mall, and we ate at a fancy Chinese cafe. Then we drove toward Richmond, stopping to visit with Raine and Jeff. They are having a hard time dealing with Harv's terminal illness, and we really feel for them.

We then drove down to Virginia Beach, and along the way I called Pam Bourgoine, and we made plans to meet with them later. We arrived at the hotel and headed to the beach as it was starting to get dark. I, of course, swam a little, and then we ate at our hotel restaurant right on the beach. I had delicious fried shrimp, and I was totally in the relax mode.

The next day we spent at the beach. Zanne read Heinlein's "Tunnel in the Sky" while I played in the water for six hours. I covered myself with waterproof SPF 50 sunblock and got burned to a fine red crisp anyway. The surf was really rough! I spent the whole time body-surfing, and the waves beat me up pretty bad. It was really fun and exhausting.

That evening we ate at a Mongolian Barbecue while we watched the news about Michael Jackson dying. We then returned to the hotel, where I trounced my bride in a game of Bokus (or whatever it's called). She whined and insisted on redesigning the game.

On Friday morning, we slept in and then had breakfast at IHOP. I had had too much sun, so we skipped the beach and started heading home. We met Dan and Pam (and John and Amy) at a Starbucks. Dan has a beard! And Amy has transformed from a cute little tomboy into a stunning and elegant young lady! I was amazed! John is about 8 feet tall, too! Pam and Suzanne got on very nicely, just like old friends. It was really great seeing them again.

We drove home to Martinsburg without incident and checked on the house. The stairs are stained beautifully, and the house is just about done. They graded the driveway and the surrounding lawn, too.

Today is Saturday, and Rosie and Trey have arrived for a week of fun with Grandma and Grandpa! Woot!

Father's Day and Some Movies

First, the movies. Recently have seen Up, Pelham 1-2-3, Mall Cop (DVD). Up was cute, especially the dog and the bird. Pelham was forgettable but okay. Mall Cop was better on DVD than it would have been in a theater. Zanne and I have been watching the HBO series ROME, and we really enjoyed it. Caesar just got whacked.

Molly and Joe came here to Martinsburg for Father's Day. We played Clue, and Molly won. We played Hearts, and Molly won. Excuse me...I thought it was FATHER'S Day!?!?! This morning we had panny cakes, chicken gravy, eggs, bacon, etc. Then we drove out to Poorhouse Farm Park, which we've decided to come back to with our fishing gear. They have a bass pond there (catch and release), and a whole bunch of trails.

We took Abby and Romy, who played frisbee and threatened all other dogs with instant death, respectively. Molly is making brocholi soup for lunch, and I can't wait! Bobby had to work all weekend in Wheeling, but he called. I'm anxious to hear from Sam to see if he's going to be able to go on his final FTX with his fractured wrist.

Best surprise of all: Suzanne and Kadey conspired to give me a really cool gift: Zanne and I are going to Virginia Beach next week for a couple of days, while Kadey holds down the fort, dogs, and cats, and Joe. They both gave me real nice cards, too. I'm very blessed!

I also picked up the Nana (aka "Bloody Nana", due to her volatile personality when playing cards...) and brought her down here. I'll be taking her back tonight.

23 Pounds Less of Me

Yep, since last December. Early in December 08 I changed everything about how I live, eat, drink, and exercise. I decided to quit screwing around--forever gaining/losing 3 pounds while slowly getting older and fatter. With the help of my wonderful wife, I became a calorie nazi, and I started working out twice a day: Biggest Loser in the morning, and weights/cardio at night. My strategy was twofold. First, an extra workout at night would give me the time to work on muscle building, which is important to me, along with giving me an extra calorie burn. But secondly, an evening workout helps me stay distracted from my danger time--at night. If I have nothing else to do, I gravitate toward the TV, where I want to sit, eat, and drink. Instead, I work out, and when I come back upstairs, I'm so drenched and de-hydrated that I just sit and down a bottle of seltzer.

The result was a solid loss of 10 pounds in about a month. And I kept it off. I was so amazed and happy about it that I backed off a bit (one workout per day and slipped on calories). For the next several months, I plateaued--no gain or loss. In May I decided to get back to the basics and drop another 10. I did it. I reached 195 last week. This morning, I'm 193. I now know that for me to lose weight, I need two workouts per day and strict calorie watching.

Each morning I have 2 eggs, 2 pieces of turkey bacon, and that's it. No bread. For lunch, I have six saltine crackers with pepper cheese and/or peanut butter. Then, we eat our evening meal early. I have either a Lean Cuisine or a home-cooked meal, but I eat off of a small plate, and I try like heck to manage my portions. Then comes the hard part: not eating the rest of the night. If things get really bad, I munch on a few nuts.

My goal (at least for now) is 185, which I should get to pretty quickly. If I'm tough on myself, I lose 2 pounds per day. That would mean that I reach the goal on Sunday, but weekends are tough, so more likely next week.

And since I've been working out hard with weights, I'm pretty much solid muscle. Makes Zanne and I both happy!

Ambitious Assault--ASLSK#2--Wargame AAR

Played ASL Scenario #9 solitaire. Avola, Sicily, 10 July, 1943. Americans and Brits converge on a town defended by Italians. I took Peter's advice and dispersed the Italians (rather than concentrating in mutually supporting positions), in an attempt to complicate the Allied mission of clearing the town.

When the Americans approached from the north, they advanced over the main hill and down into the center of town. I had split them into a base-of-fire element and an assault element. The base-of-fire element exchanged fires with the first Italian defensive position (situated in woods to the west of the town), and the Americans had the worst of it. Then, I really blew it by advancing the assault element through the woods, where they ran into point-blank fire from the Italians. The whole element broke and ran for cover, and I lost about a squad equivalent.

After that, I kept firing and eventually broke the Italians and then killed them all when I flushed them out of the woodline into the line of sight of the base-of-fire element. Still, it took time. By the time the Brits entered the town from the south, I had all but destroyed the second Italian position, but there were two groups still untouched.

Once again into the breech: I advanced the American assault unit, trying to surround the Italian main position (equipped with a very potent heavy machine gun). The Yanks "drew fire", wounding the lieutenant and sending the whole element routing again. The Brits tried to probe next to the building where the Italians were holed up but paid heavily. By game end, there was no time to regroup and try again.

Another platoon of Italians simply moved out of the path of the attack, forcing the Allies to chase them, but the Allies ran out of time before bringing them to ground.

Lessons Learned: Even Italians can be deadly. I need to look into using smoke grenades to assist in the assault, and/or put more soldiers into the base-of-fire element, so that I can achieve fire superiority against the Italians.

Ups and Downs of House Buying

We close on the new house on 14 July. Woot! Zanne-zanne the Amazing Woman found the most incredible deal I've ever seen. After months of researching banks and loans, she suddenly stumbled upon a deal from the West Virginia Development Fund called a 3-2-1 buydown. When a participating lender offers a loan for a new construction house (like ours!) WV will buydown the mortgage rate (no cost to us!!) 3% for the first year, 2% for the second year, and 1% for the third year! After that the rate reverts to its fixed level. This is just plain old free money.

In addition, the feds will give us an $8000 tax credit this year, because we are patriotically buying a house. Free money is my favorite kind.

On the down side...we have discovered the oogies related to "owner financing". Our borrower is currently in default. We are hoping he comes up with what he owes us in time for our closing, or we may be passing the hat to cover closing costs. Worst case may include foreclosing on him and re-selling the property...which, in this economy, may not be feasible.

I pulled out an old wargame called Geronimo, which I've had for years but never really played. It is a simulation of the Indian wars in the trans-Mississippi west. So far (1851-55), the US Army has been trading small blows with the Modoc, Cheyenne, Navajo, and some others. The biggest event so far was that the American Civil War occurred early, which has the effect of denuding the west of US soldiers. I expect to make Kansas a state this year, and possibly Nebraska, too.

Picked up a game from GMT on the Battle of Saratoga. Like all GMT games, it is beautiful and looks like a hoot.

Playing two games of Wilderness War--one online, and another face to face with Peter. I'm the Brits in the first one and the Frogs in the other. My Brits are doing okay--took Louisburg and Fort Duquesne--but I'm starved for more reinforcements, and my expeditionary army near Quebec just got wiped out to a man.

I did my eschatology pitch at the Lab last week, and it was very well received.

Zanne has been watching Horatio Hornblower with me lately, and she likes it, which I find amazing. At the start of each episode, I'm forced to lie to her that "this one includes a steamy romance". It's worked so far.

Zanne also baked Tolehouse Cookies for Sam (from scratch--a recipe she got from her mom, which makes me suspicious), and I sent them off to him today, along with some magazines and my Heroes of Might and Magic III game.

Sam graduates on 9 July, and we're going to fly out to watch.