George Carlin, 1937 - 2008

He was one of the first stand up comedians I have a distinct memory of. The man was simply eloquently silly. That was the first two words to pop into my mind as I am writing this small elegy. He was kind of the silly side of the beat generation. A sort of Allan Ginsberg of silliness with a bent of acerbic social commentary with a smile and a "its ok if you are square. Just as long as you and I both know it."

Naturally he is most famous for his 'seven words you can't say on television or radio." But I remember him for his irreverance. His "why do they call it a parkway when you drive on it and a driveway when you park on it." His other famous line was "why do they call it a shipment when carried overland and cargo when its over water." And finally, "what do they call those two parallel lines under the nose leading to your top lip. What is that?" This is what I thought he was great at. It's what I remember the most about him.

His humor and his stinging barbs at prudish sensibilites and religious hyprocracy will be sorely missed. So long George, we hardly knew ye.

Weightloss & Fitness Journal

Tomorrow is my Monday weigh in day for this low carb diet I'm on. I strayed a bit last week but I'm back on in earnest now. I have to lose this weight by August 4Th and get as close as possible to my target weight of 210 lbs. I did pretty good today only eating some cheese and celery until dinner time when I had a pork chop and my usual salad. Yesterday I went out and bought me a brand new pair of Wal-Mart sport shoes (tennis shoes for us old school guys).

I'm trying to hold the line here on the diet and exercise. I've started to walk a mile plus each day starting around this past Thursday. I will finish this week out with this very light regime and then I hope to pick it up with a regular added regime of pool laps. With this huge in ground pool in my back yard I should try and make it work for me health wise any way. I'm convinced this weight is the cause of my asthma and the pain I'm experiencing in my left buttock and right calf and part of the thigh. Today was a very good day as it hasn't bothered me that much. And I finished mowing the front lawn today as well for even more adds exercise. It was between 80 degrees and 85 degrees today and it provided a nice sweat laden workout. By next week I've got to get that garage cleaned out so I can weigh my options on that rowing machine.

Update: Ugh! Today my weigh in was 252 lbs. So in one month I've managed to lose 7 lbs. That's what I get for the diet with no exercise. Hopefully I'm already on the road to more weight loss as I've started my daily walk again in the past week. Hopefully I'll be able to fit in a swim routine to for the sake of my lower back (or should I just go ahead and say the right cheek of my ass.) Hopefully by next Monday I will have dropped below 250 lbs. Actually a realistic goal would be to weigh in at 248 lbs. Who knows with the light exercise regime thrown in it might happen.

Hypermiling

With the price of fuel now getting out of control my wife and I did a little investigating into the availability of electric motor vehicles over the weekend. I got a little excited at first because of a web site called Green Vehicles. This dealership located in San Jose California offers four vehicles that are electric only autos. My excitement was short lived because only one of the four vehicles is able to go faster than 35 mph. The one vehicle that go 80 mph is a three wheeled vehicle that seats only two. That means its out as far as our daughter and her car seat is concerned. After looking around all weekend the only one that satisfactorily met our needs was a vehicle called the Phoenix SUV which at his point is a cost prohibitive auto at $54,000. There is a buzz about the Honda Prius Hybrid getting 94 mpg.

Until then I am going to try something called hypermiling. I've been doing a bit of research on this as well. The different sites I've visited looking for tips and guides all say about the same thing. The first three things it says to do is optimize your tire pressure, make your car as light as possible, and track your gas mileage. Today I spent the afternoon doing just that pulling every thing out of the car that is simply not necessary. I also made a customized driving / fuel & mileage Journal for a 1" three ring binder. I'll check my tires again tomorrow and stop by nearby tire garage and make an appointment for tire rotation. I'm anxious to see how I start out with these hypermiling techniques. My initial goal is to top 35 mpg.