Step 1: Admit You Have a Problem

When I was 17 I was 6'2", 140 pounds and had body fat of 4.5%. I could eat a double Whopper with cheese every day for lunch and a half-gallon of ice-cream at night and never gain a pound.
Those days are over. I'm now almost 44. I'm still 6'2" but that's the only similarity. My Wii Fit just told me I'm overweight with a body mass index of 28 (it means I'm fat.)
Over the years I've tried different diets and weight loss programs. I've stayed fairly active, riding my bike on almost a daily basis. Yet the climb up the scale keeps going.
So, I've decided to shame myself into weight loss. I currently weigh 218 lbs. My goal is 178. I will post a weekly weigh-in.
I'm also planning to pack a healthy lunch each day instead of hitting the fast food joints or scrounging the office for food. So, any suggestions are welcome.

Those Dang Old Cars

I really like not having a car payment. But the trade-off for me is driving a 10-year-old Durango with 133k miles. This morning ol' blue refused to go. So instead I made the five house trek down the street to borrow the momandadmobile -- aka the communal car. Lucky for me Kimberly had just returned it the night before and it was clean!
However, I couldn't stand having an unfixed vehicle so I slipped out of work early and headed home for the frustration of car repair. Spark plugs seemed like a reasonable start. After all, they've never been changed. Seemed like a good call. The gap was twice what it should be on all eight and the post was almost completely gone. Problem solved? The car started, but doesn't seem to run a whole lot better.
While I had it in the garage I decided to change the oil (my last trip to Jiffy Lube cost me over $60! What happened to the $20 oil change?!) This resulted in oil running down my sleeve as I tried to remove the oil filter from it's hidden position.
Now I know that changing the oil won't make the engine run any better but it made me feel good nonetheless. Cars these days are so hard to work on. Everything is electronically controlled. You can't just get in and make a mechanical fix.
So, I don't expect ol' blue to run much better tomorrow. I'm hoping that he'll hold out until Spring when I can trade him in on a slightly less old car. After all, warm weather hides a lot of car ills.