Sunday Wind Down

This is the smaller of the two fiber reels

Busy lately.  Big job that is wrapping up and lots of lessons learned.  I've been incredibly busy, blessed, loved by my girl and it never ceases to amaze me this journey we call life.  So much changed in such a short period of time after the divorce, I thank God every day for the wonderful girl that he brought into my life.

Gratuitous Stew-butt shot...

The big job was pretty stressful.  And the amount of return for the work expended is completely disproportionate, but I'll end up on the winning side nonetheless.  If nothing else, the lessons that I learned are worth it.  Many years ago I was visiting with a friend who asked me to accompany him to a landscape job in progress.  While there, the owner of the house being landscaped started in with the requisite 20 questions.  He made some statement about VGA resolution (it was a LONG time ago) and he was wrong.  I knew he was wrong but I doubted myself and didn't say anything.  Which, actually, may have been for the best as sometimes it's better to simply keep your mouth shut even if you know you're correct.  But the point is to have confidence in yourself.  Repeating that error is disastrous in this economy.  It's not always the best thing to keep the business if it costs you more than it's worth.

Perspective of large reel

I took a couple of photos of our fiber spools coming off the job.  It was a HUGE relief to see this task completed.

I asked my Sweet Girl to go with me to provide common sense and assistance.  To say that I needed her assistance on this task is a phenomenal understatement.  There is pretty much no way that this could've been completed in a day without her assistance.

When we were in the middle of rolling the second reel on the trailer, I thought the job was licked.  We had the confidence of doing the prior reel and even though this second reel was heavier, it seemed that it was going to go easily.  And it actually was going pretty well.  Until the reel rolled off the trailer.  Serves me right for not securing the load immediately...  But we got it done.  Without arguing, harsh words or drama.  Quite a departure from my previous life.  I love my girl.

I have an opportunity to bid on an even larger job in the near future.  We will see what happens...

  

200.4

Hasn't been very good week to stick to the diet, lots of stress.  But I've maintained what I've lost at least.  Will be under 200 next week (a week late).

It's amazing how much just simply walking will help lose the pounds.

And now I'm off to move several thousand pounds of fiber.  Yay

201.0

I am pretty sure I did everything to hit my 199 goal (save starvation) but to no avail. Trend is downward though.

203.1

eh, it fluctuates...

199 or less on Monday. I'll hit my goal.

202.0

Need to do a little more exercise. I would like to be @ 199 or lower by Monday. Goal set...

Underpants

Perhaps this line of thought is spilling over into the budget debate...

201.8

This with a momentary breakdown in discipline culminating in a drive through foot long chili-cheese dog.

I'm not proud, but I'm honest...

202.4

That is Ali snoring in his sleep...

202.6

It's begun...

203.4

yesterday consisted of lots of walking...

coffee for breakfast, light lunch and a sensible dinner is in store

tomorrow should start to see some results

You'll See Yourself

Vietnam is a former French colony and has a considerable French influence.  French movies and music played a major role influencing Vietnamese apparently.  I just get to enjoy listening to new music.

I vaguely recall taking French in pre-school but basically I remember Oof (egg) and Bacon (apparently bacon is universal, except if you're Muslim or Jewish [oh the irony]...)

This is a video of Ann-Marie David singing in Luxemborg in 1973.  The song is called Tu Te Reconnaîtras.  The title basically means You'll Recognize Yourself.



I found the following site which provided a translation into English.

Tu te reconnaîtras	You'll recognise yourself
Dans les rêves de l'enfance	In the dreams of childhood
Dans l'élève que le maître a puni	In the student that the teacher has punished
Dans la gare où commence	In the train station where
La première aventure de la vie	The first adventure of life begins
Dans celui qui doute	In the one who doubts
Dans celui qui croit	In the one who believes
Tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	You'll see, you'll recognise yourself
À chaque instant dans chaque joie, dans chaque larme	At every moment in each joy, in each tear
Tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	You'll see, you'll recognise yourself
Dans cet enfant, parmi ces gens, tous comme toi	In that child, surrounded by those people, just like you
Dans les rêves de l'artiste	In the dreams of the artist
Que la gloire n'a jamais couronné	That glory has never awarded
Dans ce monde égoïste	In that egoistic world
Qui renie ce qu'il a adoré	That denies what it has loved
Dans ceux qui ont peur	In those who are scared
Dans ceux qui ont froid	In those who are cold
Tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	You'll see, you'll recognise yourself
À chaque instant dans chaque joie, dans chaque larme	At every moment in every joy, in every tear
Tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	You'll see, you'll recognise yourself
Dans cet enfant, parmi ces gens, tous comme toi	In that child, surrounded by those people, just like you
Tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	You'll see, you'll recognise yourself
Dans cet amour que j'ai pour toi	In that love that I have for you
Oui, tu verras, tu te reconnaîtras	Yes, you'll see, you'll recognise yourself

Translation by Morgan Trouillet.

203.2

203.8

White guys are screwed.  We get chubby, pale, surprisingly hairy in spots and develop freckles in the damnedest places...

I managed to consume my body weight in Thanksgiving turkey last year and had some time to reminisce on the evil, diabolical scheme that somebody, years ago (who probably had designs on opening a fitness chain) decided to have Thanksgiving and Christmas a month apart.  Just enough time for you to completely lose the ability to diet and exercise and gain weight like a sumo.

So I've become rather corpulent.  Time, yet again, to go on a diet.  Dammit.

I'll be posting my weight on a daily basis.  Which will be a pain, but I think it'll help motivate me to get re-svelte.

In other news, there is no other news.  Sweet Girl and I are happy and that lil' bastid is in love with his duck.  I'll post a photo of him and his duck lovers later.

Peace