For the last 2 years we’ve had pretty mild winters with nothing really worth noting as far as snowfall. It only snowed like one time last winter that was even sledable. That even didn’t last long.

On Tuesday the 19th before Thankgiving, it snowed just enough to dust the ground white. But it did snow before Thanksgiving! So, I am anticipating a massive snowfall this season. I can’t wait. I got a bit lazy in our first winter in our new house, that I didn’t make our own sledding trail. This year, I really plan on doing it.

We have a very sloping yard, and it should be possible to make a sledding trail that goes about 200 to 300 yards long. If I plan it right I can make it go right into the backyard of the of the kids my kids are friends with.

Bring on the Noreaster baby!

I pray nearly everyday, by chanting, the phrase na-mu-myō-hō-ren-ge-kyō, a phrase representing the ultimate Law or true entity of life permeating all phenomena in the universe. The practice of changing is what is called daimoku. If I am chanting while driving home or something from work and I’m alone, I will do it more loudly. Normally I am not so I do it internally in my heart of at a barely audible town. I do it to calm myself in very stressful situations and to help give me strength to overcome things. I really should pick up and begin practising my faith more faithfully. Here is a link to a page that will allow you to download an audio clip of it being done in a group. The organizational part of my religion is Soka Gakkai International. Here you will find a plethora of information about. There is a United States based version of the same site here.

Just thought I’d share a bit of information about myself and my religion. May happiness and peace come your way.

I have always struggled with my weight ever since getting out of the military. I am not entirely sure that it’s centered around my not being full or feeling hungry while on a diet. I love fruits and vegetables though, so this approach may very well be the one for me. I made a commitment to myself to lose weight some time ago, and really being lazy and unmotivated I have fallen off the wagon a few times. I think that starting tomorrow, my first day of vacation, I will start to eat more fruits and vegetables to stay full longer, so the cravings don’t come as easily. I recently started use of the new weight loss supplement called Alli, together with the information from this study, I should be able to conquer this weight!

Reminds me of the time I got a bill for 10 cents. They paid postage to tell me I owe 10 cents? Sheesh! Rolling Eyes

LOL. I got that one beat!

When we first moved into a rental here in Massachusetts. We called Verizon and said, hey set us up with phone service, they said SURE!

Four days came and went no phone service, no Verizon truck. Call them up, they said they had been there and hooked it up. I said, hmm that’s funny, I HAVE NO PHONE SERVICE! So, I told them to cancel the service, I had already gotten RCN to hook up phone and internet and all that jazz. So what does Verizon do? Send me a bill for the month for phone service, just like they had turned it on and it was working all along. So, we call and straighten that out, not paying anything, as we had no service with them for even a minute.

About 2 months later, what do we get? A check in the mail from Verizon for like 24 cents. A refund for our service we never had. Stupid much?

HEHE.

Wolf’s Milk Slime Mold

Originally uploaded by atypically_me.
I had a dream last night, where things that resembled these in this picture here would sense anything organic or living (like humans) and try to attach to it and feed off it. It wasn’t a particularly scary dream, but it was intense.

I was with a group of people, in a neighborhood I used to live in when I was about 10 years old. I could see that the ground, just the ground, not the pavement and the concrete sidewalks, just where the grass was, or where there was standing water, were completely covered in these things. Imagine a sea of little pink mushrooms packed in so tight that you couldn’t see anything under them at all. In the dream, I didn’t grow up in this changed world, I came from some other world, or time, and was getting briefed on what was going on by someone that was on top of the car with me trying to avoid these mushroom looking things of pink ooze. I was told to spit on them to see them come to life. So, I spit out into a bunch of them, and they all erupted into a frenzy of activity seemingly fighting for who was going to eat my spit.

After a bit of this we skipped and jumped our way to the front door of my old house, which led to an elevator. Well of course my old house didn’t have an elevator, but I wasn’t really in my house at this time. At the end of the elevator ride down, we emerged into something that resembled a command center that was set up into an old abandoned missile silo. Here I was shown that people were working on a way to combat this pink menace. I saw them trying to freeze them with a freeze gun of sorts. I also saw fake lightening bolts shooting into patches of them seeing the effects.

I woke up soon after this last part. This was a very vivid dream for me, and seemed too real. I wonder what in the heck it all meant!

I lived in Colorado Springs for just over a year. Colorado has to have some of the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen. The road coming back from the airport in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak dominates that skyline. If I had a choice to move back there again, I’d go back in a heartbeat. Man, I need to win the lottery and go back to this wonderful, peaceful area.

Thinking back through my 34 years of life, I can only think of about 4 years where I was thin, and those were during my time in the Army. I liked the feeling of being able to fit most anything I bought, and not have to search the rack for XXX Large size shirts, and big boy pants. Not so recently, but recent enough, my first daughter has started to struggle with her weight, and with her clothes not fitting, I’m sure it’s getting to her emotionally as well. It pains me to see her struggling with it same as I do, and I worry about her self esteem and emotional state due to it.

This all gets me to thinking, what if I continue to be fat? Will I be able to enjoy my new house for many years to come? Will I widow my wife at an early age, due to some complication of being overweight. What will my daughter do if she stays on a path of weight struggle and strife? Will she have to write a blog in the future to detail her trials and tribulations of her overweight life?

Let it be known, that I, Brady Bowen, am done with being overweight. I will make the same conscious effort that I did with smoking, to stop. I am doing this not only for myself, but also for my children and my wife. I hope to set the example for my daughter, so that her weight will begin to taper off and she will get back on track. I also love my wife and family and I want to be around for as long as I can. I’m sure it won’t be easy, but I feel once, I acknowledge the fact that I am overweight, that I DON’T like being overweight, and that I am DONE with being fat, I am well on my way to being thin, by THINKING THIN!

I was totally freaking out, but still tried to go to work, but once there, my boss took a look at me and said you need to go to the hospital, also thinking I must have had some sort of stroke. I took his advice and went home, got a bit more sleep, and went to the emergency room the next morning, I was working overnights btw.

The nurse in the emergency room, seemed to know exactly what was going on with my face, and set me at ease, as to how common it was. Although, in my 32 years of life, I have never met anyone, or heard of the term Bell’s Palsy. I was sent to a neurologist and she prescribed some anti-viral medicine along with some steriod pill. The pain was actually quite bad for awhile after I started the medication. It was as if my face muscles were “cramping” or something. Almost unbearable at times. The pain is now long behind me with this problem. Although my face muscles or nerve, I don’t think have fully recovered. I still can’t smile fully on the right side.

I had almost forgot about the Bell’s Palsy that effected me last year, but as of late my hearing in my right ear has had a sort of loud, high pitched buzz in it, and it is effecting my sleep. I am thinking the two are related now, and will seek again medical attention in regards to it. I went to the doctor about the hearing and being congested, and he felt that it was just severe congestion on that side, but after 3 weeks of decongestants taken regularly the symptom of hearing is still almost EXACTLY the same.

Just thought I’d share this, in case anyone has had Bell’s Palsy, and later had hearing loss, that they should probably get back with their doctor and or neurologist.