Well, here I sit, alone on a Sunday night with the only light coming from a candle flickering some 10 feet to my right.  I feel like someone has beaten the holy hell out of me right now.  I think its a case of the stomach flu again.  I had to deal with this last week and it really took a lot out of me.  Looks as if the darn thing is back for an encore.

It doesn’t appear that it will be that busy of a week for me.  I will have election night coverage on Tuesday night but since I’m still working out of my home office, its not that big of a deal.  That only drawback to Tuesday night is that I will miss the final home girls basketball game for the Lady Yellow Jackets.  They will host Anna Jonesboro and I won’t be there.

Speaking of the elections, there is only one local county race, everything else is statewide.  I’m the official Associated Press reporter for Randolph County.  Lucky me eh?  Its extra spending cash and again, I’ll get to cover the elections from home which isn’t a bad thing at all.  Just going to be a very long night or maybe not depending on voter turnout which is expected to be light.

I’ve been working on another website for my boss, this one is for our FM radio station, KBDZ.  The website is www.kbdz931.com is you want to check it out.  Its not 100% complete but I’m hoping to officially launch it later this week.  So far so good I believe but you can be the judge of that.

I took the weekend off from my diet plan and will crank it back up on Monday.  I had to give myself a break for just a couple of days to feed the cravings.  Those are now taken care of and its back to work.  I have another 25 pounds to lose and have until late July to do so.  We got about seven inches of snow Friday night into Saturday morning and that will hamper the walking a bit until its melts but maybe I can get out to the Cohen Complex and get a couple of walks in there before walking the streets of Chester again.  I have a treadmill but I’m not fond of looking at a white wall for 40 minutes.  I’d rather be outside moving around.

Ok, gotta take some flu meds and heart meds and go to bed.

See You After Midnight…

For the past couple of weeks, I have been dreading this appointment with the cardiologist and to tell you the truth, I really don’t know why.  But after leaving the doctor’s office this morning, I caught myself smiling from ear to ear.

It’s been a difficult week here to say the least.  Earlier this week, the founder of KSGM Radio, Elmer Donze, passed away at his home in Sainte Genevieve at the age of 93.  When I first started at KSGM, it was he and his son and my current boss Elmo, who employed an 18 year old kid straight out of high school and took him under their wings and showed him the ropes of the radio business.  I learned a lot from Mr. Donze throughout the years, more than any college education could have ever taught me.  To him, I owe a debt of gratitude that can never be repayed.

So while dealing with his loss, I knew this cardiologist appointment was on the horizon.  But something else happened that I wasn’t prepared for.  I came down with a flu bug Tuesday night.  I must have caught it at the basketball game because I was feeling OK up til that point but after the game, I felt like I was someone’s punching bag.  Wednesday was just awful.  It was so bad that I couldn’t make it to Mr. Donze’s wake because I didn’t want to spread the flu bug around.  So I stayed at home.

I managed to get to the cardiologist’s office this morning…some how.  After all of the extra work I’ve put in to lose the 20 pounds, there wasn’t much of a chance I was going to miss this appointment.  But now the extra concern, to pull off the biggest acting job of all time because I didn’t want him to put me in the hospital because I was sick.

When I left the house before the appointment, I stepped on the scale one final time.  294 it said.  Wow, was that a rush of adrenaline. I was ready.  Got to the flipping hospital and stepped on their scale and it said 299.  What the hell?  How in the blue hell did I gain five pounds after the time I left my house?  I went straight there?

I think I invented a new Olympic sports.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I proudly give you SCALE TOSS!  (Insert crowd cheer here…)

Dr. Groll was really impressed with the weight loss so far.  I’ve been drinking these protein shakes and they have really worked.  One for breakfast and one for lunch. Then I can have whatever I want for the last meal of the day.  Also throw in the fact that I’m walking over 1.5 miles per day and that will help with the weight loss too.  But like I said, he was impressed and that made me feel good.  Unfortunately, I still have to undergo an echo-cardiogram later this summer but at least I’ll have time to save up money for the procedure because our insurance deductible is so high and its been three years since my last one so I might as well make sure its really pumping properly for that peace of mind.

Since July, I have dropped 20 pounds. I’m now officially just under 300. He wants me to drop another 25 pounds by this coming July and I know I can do this. Just think, when I get to 275, I will be at that weight for the first time since junior high. Are you flippin kidding me? The thought of that gives me goosebumps.

I give a lot of credit for the strength and will to do this to my Lord but I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wonderful friends.  What a support group to have.  How did I get so lucky to have an amazing cheerleading group.  They have been my rock through all of this and I can’t thank them enough.  They know who they are too.  Its times likes these when one realizes how blessed one is to have an amazing group of friends.  People who call you up to go on a walk with you.  Its the little things like that which are important to me.

Excuse me while the smile on my face gets even larger right now.

See ya After Midnight…