Day 143

Finances
1 - XBox Live year subscription: $49.99
2 - Ticket: $31
3 - Ticket: $26.95

Over the Holiday Season there was a problem where my EZ Pass wasn't working and my license plate was logged wrong. These were the only two I couldn't fight.

4 - Dinner: $14

Food
1 - A banana
2 - Rosemary chicken with risotto
3 - A cup of apple sauce
4 - Steak kabob with rice and bread
5 - One glass of red wine
6 - Cup of skim milk and six Chips' Ahoy Low-Fat cookies

Workout
Nothing.

Day 142

Finances
1 - Coffee: $3
2 - Lunch: $6.13
3 - Amazon purchase: $94.37

Wireless adapter for the X-Box 360

Food
1 - Honey bunches of oats with skim milk
2 - Kung Pao Chicken with white rice
3 - Lasagna and garlic bread
4 - Special K cereal bar and a cup of skim milk

Workout
Nothing.

Day 141

I've been kind of slow with updating the website. At least I've kept my notebooks/recorder up-to-date...

Finances
1 - Parking: $20
2 - Vosges Hot Chocolate: $26.82
3 - Gas: $13.73

Food
1 - Piece of birthday cake
2 - Hot chocolate and two truffles
3 - Slice of pizza
4 - Half of a bagel
5 - Pirogues with garlic bread
6 - Four glasses of red wine and two pieces of dark chocolate

Workout
Nothing. Traveling day followed by the Oscars. However, I do have something that I need to check out at the doctors on Thursday before continuing any heavy lifting. So it may be an off week regardless.

Day 140

Finances
1 - Banana Republic: $85.50
2 - Drinks: $22.50

Food
1 - Slice of pizza
2 - Skim cappuccino
3 - Let's just call it "birthday dinner". If I had to estimate, I'd say close to 1.5 pounds of various meats, sushi, salads, etc, etc, etc. Lots of wine all night, as well, and a couple of Red Bull and vodkas.

Workout
Nothing.

Day 139

Finances
1 - Gas: $32.80
2 - Cup of coffee: $2
3- Pizza: $6.45
4 - Wine shop: $27.07

Food
1 - Waffles and boysenberry syrup
2 - Chicken burrito
3 - Meat pizza
4 - Fried calzone, some zeppoles, and two glasses of red wine
5 - Three more glasses of red wine

Workout
Nothing.

Day 138

Finances
1 - DMV: $20
2 - Metro: $2.70
3 - MyComicShop.com: $29.15

Food
1 - Two waffles and boysenberry syrup
2 - Several shrimp and fish plates samples from P.F. Chang's
3 - Pirogues with garlic bread
4 - Some birthday cake

Workout
Nothing.

Day 137

I should give some sort of update. I've actually been able to put $3500 in savings since starting this blog and I lost 20 pounds. So, not bad. I need to get into a gym habit again but it's been tough, admittedly. Anyway - today was my 30th birthday. So, you know, time to start being responsible and shit.

Finances
1 - Laundry: $3

In my defense, I was playing video games while the laundry was going. I needed some clean clothes...

2 - Safeway: $4.82

I needed to get some brown sugar and lime juice.

3 - Cab: $15

I was just the guy with the cash after the evening of wine tasting.

Food
1 - A banana
2 - Indian buffet, I had two plates, admittedly
3 - Cumin-dusted chicken with home-made guacamole and some fried potatoes.

Dinner was at home - the place I wanted to go to tonight didn't really have food.

4 - Birthday cake.
5 - Two flights of wine (3 half-glasses each) and one full-glass of wine. I shared three different cheeses and had some serrano ham and duck a l'orange. Some olives, jam, and bread accompanied the food.
6 - Some more birthday cake.

Workout
Nothing.

Day 136

Finances
1 - Dinner: $11
2 - Starbucks: $4.34
3 - Parking: $3

I teach class on Tuesday nights so dinner, coffee, and parking is sort of a standard.

Food
1 - Waffles with boysenberry syrup and a cup of skim milk.
2 - A banana.
3 - Rosemary chicken with risotto.
4 - Mixed-fruit cup.
5 - Stromboli with ground turkey and low-fat mozzarella
6 - Skim cappuccino
7 - Glass of red wine

Workout
Nothing - I wanted to go to the gym in the morning but I just didn't have the time.

Day 135

Finances
1 - Dinner: $5
Not the whole dinner, obviously, but a little bit so we could pay with cash.

Food
1 - Bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats
2 - A banana
3 - Left-over steak with fried onions
4 - Two pork chops with marsala sauce, steamed veggies, and mashed potatoes.

Workout
1 - 150 push-ups
2 - 300 crunches

Da 134

Finances
1 - Brunch: $20
2 - Costco: + $173.23

Returned a large item...

3 - Costco: $44.54

Couple of bottles of wine and some food stuffs.

4 - Whole Foods: $36.42

Food for the week and some steaks for tonight.

Food
1 - French toast, pancakes, eggs, corned-beef hash, sausage, bacon, syrup...

It was a brunch buffet. I had one full plate of food.

2 - Cheese samples
3 - Popcorn and a couple of milk duds and cookie dough bites

Went to see Rambo...

4 - Steak with soy sauce, shallots, hot sauce, and spices. Sauted potatoes and onions. Two glasses of red wine.
5 - Three glasses of wine with some cheese and chocolates.

We had friends over.

Workout
Nothing - tomorrow I'm back at the gym.

Day 133

Finances
1 - Breakfast: $22
2 - Dinner: $44

Friends in town so we've been eating out a bit...

Food
1 - Crab-cake Benedict with a side of strawberries
2 - Couple of dark chocolates
3 - Spaghetti with olive oil, lamb, pancetta, and spices
4 - Couple of choclates

Workout
Nothing.

Day 132

Finances
1 - Dinner: $36.25
2 - Drinks: $60

Friends 30th birthday party.

Food
1 - Bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with skim milk
2 - Can of Italian Wedding soup
3 - Steak fajitas (steak, rice, guacamole, refried beans, veggies) and a margarita
4 - Some chocolates
5 - 6 glasses of wine

Workout
Nothing.

Day 131

Finances
1 - Whole Foods: $8.74

Food
1 - Two waffles with boysenberry syrup and a cup of skim milk.
2 - A banana
3 - Grilled shrimp with polenta
4 - A cup of peaches
5 - Sauted chicken breast with pankanko crumbs, parmesan cheese, and flour. A small serving of angel hair pasta with marinara sauce
6 - Two glasses of red wine with some cheese and almonds

Workout
1 - 30 minutes on treadmill
2 - Benchpress (4 sets of 10 with 110 pounds)
3 - 100 push ups

Day 130

Finances
1 - Lunch: $6.91

I'm not sure if the company will pick this up or not...I had a day trip and grabbed lunch on the way home.

Food
1 - Bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats and skim milk
2 - Salad with ham, turkey, provolone, blue cheese, and croutons and a side of ranch dressing
3 - Chicken Parmesan, a slice of quesadilla with salsa and guacamole, and three glasses of white wine
4 - A couple of bites of an ice cream sundae

Workout
None. Early day at work, movie screening/wine tasting at night.

Day 129

Finances
1 - Lunch: $6.31

Food
1 - Bowl of Special K with skim milk
2 - One steak taco and one chicken taco with some tortilla chips

Free taco day at Cal Tort if you came in with a "I voted" sticker.

3 - Shrimp and mushrooms over polenta, a slice of bread with butter
4 - A glass of red wine and some dark chocolates

The chocolates were a gift from the boss from Brussels.

Workout
1 - 30-minutes on treadmill

Day 128

Finances
1 - I spent no money today.

Food
1 - Bowl of Special K w/skim milk
2 - Half of a rotisserie chicken
3 - Cup of mandarin orange
4 - Veggie lasagna and some garlic bread
5 - Six glasses of red wine

Filmed another podcast.

Workout
1 - 30-minutes on treadmill
2 - 150 push-ups

Day 127

Finances
1 - Mayorga Coffee: $15

Food
1 - A bowl of Special K with skim milk
2 - Grilled tuna salad with very little vinaigrette
3 - Mozzarella and tomato salad and a skim cappuccino
4 - Celery sticks and peanut butter and two glasses of red wine
5 - A bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats with skim milk

Workout
Nothing. I spent over five hours at an Obama rally and then had to head out to Maryland for a DCC meeting. By the time I got home at 8:30 I was beat.

Day 126

Finances
I didn't spend any money today.

Food
1 - Grilled skirt steak over mashed canelli beans with sauted onions
2 - Half of a rotisserie chicken
3 - Various dried fruits, cheeses, and hams with probably around five glasses of red wine

We went to a tasting last night - the glasses are so small it's difficult to estimate how much wine you actually drink.

5 - Braised lamb and a side of couscous
6 - A piece of pound cake with some lemon kurd

Workout
1 - Ten minutes of calisthenics
2 - Barbell hang clean (3 sets of 10 with 50 lbs)
3 - Dumbbell alternating bench-press (3 sets of 10 with 100 lbs)
4 - Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift (3 sets of 10 with 100 lbs)
5 - Dumbbell curl to overhead press (3 sets of 1o with 40 lbs)

Day 125

Finances
1 - Dinner: $55.56

Food
1 - Scrambled eggs with tomatoes and pesto. A cup of orange juice.
2 - Stuffed pepper
3 - Steamed chicken potstickers and a grilled chicken with teriyaki glaze, rice, and broccoli.
4 - Three glasses of white wine

Workout
100 push-ups and 300 crunches

Day 124

Finances
I didn't spend any money today

Food
1 - Scrambled eggs with onions, tomatoes, and polenta
2 - Stuffed pepper (turkey meat, onions, corn, horseradish, tomato sauce)
3 - Grilled skirt steak over mashed canilli beans topped with sauted onions
4 - Moose munch

Workout
1 - 100 push-ups
2 - 250 crunches

Day 123

Finances
1 - Comics: $27.51

Food
1 - Scrambled eggs with sauted mushrooms and pine nuts
2 - Turkey chili
3 - Blackberries and blueberries
4 - A stuffed pepper (turkey meat, corn, onions, sauce, horseradish) and a side of pasta with ricotta cheese
5 - A glass of red wine and three pieces of dark chocolate

Workout
1 - Ran to the gym
2 - Dead lifts (3 sets of 10 with 40lbs)
3 - Alternating dumbbell benchpress (3 sets of 10 for each side with 40 lbs in each hand)
4 - Romanian lifts (3 sets of 10 with 60 lbs)
5 - Curls to shoulder press (3 sets of 10 with 30 lbs in each hand)
6 - 10-minutes on exercise bike

Day 122

Forgot to hit publish yesterday...just saved the draft.

Food
1 - All-bran and skim milk
2 - Some chicken teriyaki, some corn beef, and a large salad
3 - Thomas' Light Bagel with peanut butter
4 - Steak kabob with rice and naan
5 - Some fries and three pints of beer

Last beer for the next 40 days, at least.

Finances
1 - Lunch: $6.04
2 - Dinner: $12.34
4 - Bar tab: $30

Workout
Nothing. Work early, had to teach afterwards, and then some Fat Tuesday fun.

Day 121

Finances
1 - Rent: $1595

Food
1 - Scrambled eggs with sauted mushrooms and pine nuts. Cup of orange juice.
2 - Cup of unsweetened apple sauce
3 - Cup of turkey chili
4 - Blueberries and blackberries
5 - Angel haired pasta with polenta, ricotta cheese, and sauce. A bread roll.
6 - 6 glasses of red wine.

For the drunken wine review - it's going to be fantastic. About an hour-and-a-half of footage that I need to cut down to seven minutes, tops.

7 - Cup of skim milk and a handful of M&Ms.

Workout
1 - 3.5 mile run on the Custis Trail and 20 minutes of medicine ball chops

Day 120

Finances
1 - Harris Teeter: $32.53

I went with Robin so she can grab the Super Bowl party beer and discovered that my favorite Montepulciano was on sale so I grabbed three bottles.

2 - Pizza/Beer: $15

We ran out of beer and we had to buy pizza...

Food
1 - Scrambled eggs with mushrooms, pine nuts, and salsa
2 - Bowl of turkey chili
3 - Let's just say Super Bowl. There was a good amount of beer (at least a six-pack), two slices of pizza, various cheeses with crackers, chips and dips, M&Ms, and a cookie.

Workout
Nothing. Slept late, ran errands, cleaned the apartment, threw a SB party.

Day 119

Finances
1 - Breakfast: $16
2 - Harris Teeter: 104.10
Probably around two weeks worth of dinner and lunch stuff plus some items I needed to refill like pine nuts and a couple of condiments (black bean sauce, siracha, soy sauce, etc).
3 - Whole Foods: $86.99

Super Bowl stuff, mainly. Chips, dips, cheeses. I also bought three bottles of wine to refill the stash.

4 - Video Games: $20

Just playing arcade games all night - a nice and cheap way to spend the evening.

Food
1 - Crab cake egg-beater omelet with salsa and a side of strawberries
2 - Homemade turkey chili
3 - A soft pretzel and four pints of beer

Workout
1 - 3.5 mile run on the Custis Trail with four stops to jump rope.

The Custis Trail is a nice and hilly trail that runs along 66. Now that the weather's warming up I'd love to run it every couple of days.

Day 118

So I decided to take advantage of Lent. I usually don't mess around with Lent, I use it as a great way to give something up that I like but that's also causing me weight/financial problems. And I tend to stick with it after Lent, as well. Lent is the reason why I haven't had non-diet soda in over five years, why I'm not a chain smoking son-of-a-bitch, and why I only eat pizza once a month, if that (I used to be two or three times a week). This year I'm going pretty hardcore. It's something I've been wanting to do for a while and I feel like I built up the confidence to take this final step...

No beer and no sandwiches.

I've become comfortable enough with wine to complete substitute it for beer. I know which places have good wine and which ones don't. I know a lot of good bottles in the $7-$17 range. A bottle of wine is only five servings. A bottle of wine is a friggin' party. A bottle of wine is also around 500 calories and 20g of carbs. Serving-wise, a bottle of wine is equal to two-and-a-half pints of beer. That's 750 calories and 65 grams of carbs. Half the drinking, a third of the calories, two-thirds of the carbs. But the rub is, I rarely put down a bottle of wine but two-and-a-half pints of beer is a warm up. And with Dremo's closed (all they served was beer) I think I'm ready to officially become a wine drinker.

It's going to be hard, though, because I really like beer.

And as far as no sandwiches go, I just need to eat more salads. I don't think giving up sandwiches for 40 days is going to prove to be that hard, I just need to prepare food for the week on Sunday and I already have a whole lot of healthy alternatives in mind.

So...Super Bowl on Sunday, maybe a tiny celebration on Fat Tuesday, and then Wednesday I start Lent.

Finances
1 - DMV: $140

Two-year registration and the $41 parking ticket I got for expired tags. Nice surprise!

2 - Breakfast: $4.11
3 - Arlington Cinema & Draft House: $67.05

Faced with the fact that I wanted to have dinner and I wanted to see a movie but I was too tired to do both I went to the good 'ole neighborhood standby with Robin where you can watch a movie and have dinner and have some good wine (or beer, in Robin's case) at the same exact time. Walk Hard was really good, by the way.

Food
1 - Egg and cheese biscuit w/an orange juice
2 - A third of a bear claw
3 - Weight Watcher's Pizza
4 - Peanut butter and no-sugar-added apple sauce sandwich
5 - Chicken ceaser salad, some cheese fries, a piece of quesadilla, and four glasses of red wine
6 - A cup of orange juice and a piece of dark chocolate

Workout
1 - 30-minutes on treadmill
2 - 20 minutes of chops and tosses with the medicine ball

Day 117

Today was nightmarishly long. We left the hotel at 6AM to go to observe an army training exercise. Went straight to the office for a meeting, discovered plane delays would make it impossible to get home UNLESS I flew out of Pensacola, Florida. Drove 2.5 hours to Pensacola, Florida. Flight delays, running through an airport, turbulence...everything to make the traveling enjoyable. Got in at 10PM and stayed up long enough to watch Lost.

And tomorrow's pretty jam-packed as well. I just need to rest...

Finances
1 - Hotel tip: $6
2 - Breakfast: $5
3 - Lunch: $5.73
4 - Bottle water: $1.25
5 - Dinner: $8.33

Per diem: $39.75
Amount under per diem: $13.44
Total trip over per diem: $44.11

Not horrible, I guess.

Food
1 - Half a waffle and a cup of OJ

This was the 6Am breakfast to get me to a real breakfast...

2 - Skim cappuccino and a ham and cheese croissant
3 - 6-inch roast beef with honey mustard on wheat from Subway (no cheese)
4 - Italian sub from Lenny's (not even close to small or good for you, the quickest thing to grab with five minutes before the door closes on your flight)
5 - Two bottles of light beer and some dark chocolates.

Workout
Nothing. Stress - does stress and lack of sleep make you lose weight?