This-N-That

Ms. Duck and I celebrated our 31st Anniversary with a nice dinner at a local Italian restaurant. We were both working our way through college when we met. I worked at a gameroom in the local mall and she worked in a kiosk in front of the gameroom. During slow times I would walk over to Ms. Bojangles (a costume jewelry kiosk) and talk with my future wife. She had (and has) a great sense of humor, was (and is) easy on the eyes, and our outlooks on life were similar, so we ended up playing the dating game.

Our first date was to a restaurant/bar called the Handlebar and then on to see "The Muppet Movie." Romantic huh? We hit it off from the start and I feel blessed to report that it has been smooth sailing ever since. Oh, there were the problems all couples have, mainly kids.

We were married eight years before our daughter was born. She was diagnosed with ADD in second grade and was hell on wheels as a teenager. She turns 23 next month and has settled down, currently working towards a BS and Masters in psychology. Her brother has the opposite personality, very low key. He's also in college (undecided major), and has a passion for history, be it art, military, American, or biblical. I think he'll end up heading in that direction, but what his specialization will be is still up in the air. His years as a teenager will end in February, so he has some big decisions coming up.

Our anniversary dinner was the most I've eaten in awhile. I've had blood pressure issues for quite a while, but seemed to have it under control with medication. However, last summer I noticed it was creeping up into an area I wasn't comfortable with. I cut out caffeine and salt, but it still stayed north of the 140/80 level, which is not acceptable to me. I knew I had gained some weight, which was probably the problem, but it was also the hardest to fix. My body seems to be its healthiest (BP, blood glucose, cholesterol, etc.) when my weight is between 165-170 pounds. When I stepped on the scales in early November it read 184. Not good. Two weeks before Thanksgiving is not when you want to start a diet, but start it I did. I'm too old to follow any of the "fad" diets, so I went old school and started counting calories, trying to limit my daily intake to 1,000-1,200. I also increased my jogging frequency. Cutting calories meant cutting back on red meat, any type of fried food, and sweets, not an easy thing to do this time of year. Although the bovine population is safer, the poultry family is in danger, especially turkeys and chickens. I'm happy to report that I've dropped 12 pounds so far, and rewarded myself by consuming some pasta with my sweetie. Although I haven't had any blood work done and can't update my blood sugar or cholesterol levels, I'm happy to report my BP has dropped down to the 120/60 level. Gotta love that :^)

On the job front, business has slowed some in the past few months. I have taken on a large project to try to increase sales by redesigning our company website. We have had a site for years, but it was limited. We had specifications for our products online, "Something to make an engineer happy," I said, but customers were unable to order thru our site. That has been corrected now. The updating process probably would have gone a lot faster if I were more knowledgeable about website design. Due to my limited skill, the update took several months, but has been completed. Click here if you want to take a look. Now we are working on an SEO program to help get our name out.

On the poker front, we will begin our "Vegas Or Bust Poker League" in a couple weeks, with two seats to the WSOP on the line, so I'm looking forward to that. You'll see updates after each monthly tournament.

I think that about wraps up the "goings on" in the heart of Texas. Wishing each one of you a Happy and Healthy 2012!