Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Cardio Report

Just in case you were wondering, I do regularly see my doctors. 


Today, was my cardiologist.  Her report was very nice to hear. All in all, she was very positive about my health. 


Blood Pressure: 115/72
Liver enzymes: Very Good
Cholesterol: Extremely good.
Actually, all blood metrics were good or better than good. One reading was borderline.

She did have a recommendation for me:


  1. Need to exercise regularly to full sweat. 
  2. Need to lose 30 lbs (I am sure she wouldn't object if I lost more). 

If I really do exercise and lose weight, she expects all of my metrics to easily arrive well into the very good (or better) range which is gonzo for an old fart like me.

She doesn't want me to start heavy exercise until after stress test on Nov 5.

The weight and exercise are consistent with what I want to do. I want to make this my kick start so it really happens! 



Ciao, 


p

Friday, October 14, 2011

Pictures from Tahiti

Well, this is a quick photo set from the Tahiti trip, taken a the end of September.  The sailing was done on a 42 foot catamaran with Captain Kent at the helm. His spouse and First Mate, Nancy, was a great crew organizer and made us all feel at home. Nancy's brother, Bob, and his wife Linda joined the crew and the last couple were Laura and me. 
In this picture, from the left are Laura, Captain Kent, Bob, Linda, Pat and First Mate Nancy. 
 We stayed in an overwater bungalow before and after the sail and this was the mooring ball, a short swim from our unit. 
One of our on shore events was a dinner at Chez Louise on Raiatea. This is our boat at sunset from the restaurant. 


Getting ready for a snorkel session. 

We toured a pearl farm and this was the harvesting procedure. 

Bloody Mary's on Bora Bora. 

A series of shot using my underwater point and shoot camera. 


As we sailed from Bora Bora to Taha'a, a mother whale and her offspring joined us. 







Relaxing on the deck. 

We ate well, thanks to First Mate Nancy's planning. This was our spaghetti lunch. 

Another wonderful sunset. 

Entertainment at the Hotel Hawaiki Nui on Raiatea. 

Pat and Laura on the Dim Sum in the waters of Tahiti. 
Higher resolution pictures of these and many of the pictures from the Tahiti trip (a selected 300 or so) can be seen by clicking here.

Friday, October 7, 2011

Inquiring Minds...

Shawna's birthday has escaped me as you know. So, I contacted the breeder and asked if there was an easy way to determine when Shawna was born. 


Sandy sent back the data from the AKC registry.  And, Shawna is slightly younger than I thought!  



Name:        Dawnglow Return To Sender
Sex:         Female
Breed:       Spaniel (English Cocker)
Color:       Red
Birth Date:  09/14/1994
Sire:        Hobbithill McMurphys Optimum
Dam:         Dawnglow Demoiselle
Breeder:     Sandra L LaFlamme

Instead of Shawna approaching her 18th birthday next month, she passed her 17th birthday last month.  Well, 17 is nothing to sneeze at for a dog, and she is still doing very well.  I just checked the web for conversion of dog years to human years. It depends on a bunch of stuff but basically, Shawna is the equivalent of 82-94 years old now.  In other words, she is a really old dog! 

Ciao, 

p

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Where has he been?

On vacation again. This time to Tahiti with five friends.  I left on the 21st late in the day and returned today, arriving SFO about 3PM.  


As is my practice, I do not post about my travel while I am gone. I will be posting stories and pictures over the next week or so as I catch up with the real world. 


What a second, didn't you just get back from Peru?  Well, yes, but that was the beginning of August...almost two months ago!  It just turned out that two different sets of friends picked August and September for great vacations.  And, my prior vacation was November last year when I took Reenie and Tom to Hawaii. It really is not excessive, only the timing was a bit too close but I made it work out.  


And Shawna and Wiggles did fine during my absence with Courtney doing the house and dog sitting.  I cannot find the original documents from Sandy LaFlamme at Dawnglow Kennels but I think Shawna turns 18 in November. That is one "Methusala" dog!  Courtney was recommended by our vet and, in fact, works in the vets office so that made it very comforting and easy to leave Shawna with her.  


More later!  


Ciao! 


p