The Krispy Kreme Doughnut.

If an evil genus had labored to find the perfect device to make you fat, he couldn't have done better than the Krispy Kreme.

What is more tempting than a hot Krispy Kreme? The sugary glaze still dripping from that hot, melt-in-your-mouth, light-as-air taste of heaven?

But how diabolical it is...

The combination of sugar and refined flour conspire to spike your blood sugar as efficiently as mainlining pure glucose.

This of course triggers a massive insulin reaction as your body fights to regain control.

The elevated insulin, finding vast amounts of fat floating around from that deep fried delight, knowing that the last thing you need is to have that fat converted to sugar, dutifully takes that fat and sticks it directly to your [fill in your favorite trouble area - suggestions include: thighs, hips, or my personal demon: gut].

I can't imaging a more efficient way of taking ingested fat and putting it directly where it will look the worst.

And, if that wasn't bad enough, to add insult to injury, since the body tends to never shut off the flow of insulin soon enough to just deal with the spike, when all is said and done, you blood sugar will plummet, leaving you hungrier than when you started.

PS - if you like, you can substitute your favorite brand of premium ice cream in the diatribe above.

PPS - I had wanted to create an 'Ode to the evil Krispy Kreme,' but I wasn't creative enough. Extra credit will be given to any reader who provides one.

I can resist or push away from sweets.

Even if I have a bite or two of something sweet, it won't trigger a binge. And I can successfully bypass the temptation of a pie or cake sitting oh so vulnerable on the counter.

But, swap that sweet for a loaf of crusty bread, or some leftover stuffing, and I am as helpless as a new born babe.

Given that we still have a fair amount of leftover stuffing in the fridge, I don't think I'll be turning those keto-stix purple any time soon...

lucky enough to catch a good deal.

Apparently, I hadn't yearned hard enough, as, by the time I got to my three destinations - Circuit City, Best Buy, and Office Max - they had already sold out of all of the hot deals.

All was not in vain though, it got me dressed and out of this chair, and upon my return, in surfing my favorite deals sites, I found a great deal on a usb 2.0 card which was free after rebate. For details, check out Spoofee.com

The food was great.

We cooked the turkey - stuffed even - on the grill. It turned out perfect, even though the propane ran out. Apparently, it ran out at just the right time. The bird was fully cooked - which is unusual for me - but still moist.

Our homemade sugar-free cranberry sauce was passable, Wendy's vegetable casserole was delicious as usual. I had one bite of Jeanie's sweet potato casserole which was yummy, and Jeanie even made from scratch mashed potatoes and a cheesecake. Tara brought a pumpkin crisp for dessert, and Wendy brought two pecan pies.

I deviated a bit from my diet, but didn't go too far overboard.

Every thing would have been perfect, except that Mom was a total ass all evening. From the moment she walked in the door, it was a non-stop stream of inappropriate comments - some just rude, others downright hurtful. I was so embarrassed.

Finally, I could take no more, and hustled her out of our home and back to her place.

Between my father's death right around Thanksgiving a few years ago, and my mom being an ass for the last few Thanksgivings - I'm really starting to hate this holiday. Which is a real shame, since I used to enjoy it so much.

Office Max has a bunch of FAR (Free After Rebate) stuff including CD-Rs, network cards, an much more. Circuit City has binoculars, a modem, and a UPS FAR - but they usually only have a few in each store, and they get gone quickly. Best Buy has a DVD player for $39.99 and a 75GB hard drive & memory for $49.99 AR and 2 75 packs of CD-Rs FAR.

Last year, I got totally shut out, so, the idea of sleeping in is fairly attractive...

At first it was a lot of fun.

It was new and exciting. I really looked forward to making my entries.

But lately, there just doesn't seem to be much interest on my part.

I don't know if I'm just worn from work, or having a bout of SAD, or if the novelty has worn off and I'm ready for my NBT.

For the two or three folks who are regular readers, I apologize for the lack of entries.

One would think that it doesn't take much energy to sit and write, but, by the time I can stop to blog, I can't even think straight.

A full-day Advanced Fighter Tactics course at Air Combat USA.

It just sounds so cool!

Check in with yourself for five minutes every day. During this respite, ask yourself two questions:

1. What have I done today that was meaningful?

2. What meaningful change do I intend to make in my life tomorrow?

It will be really nice having her home for the week.

Not just any check.

A commission check from my Dealdom website. Even though it wasn't very much money, it was still really nice.

It came as a total shock.

Especially since I have stopped regularly updating it.

I still get almost no traffic on the site, so I'm guessing some nice Blogdom reader or other friend linked to a site for an on-line purchase just to be nice.

Assuming my guess is correct, thank you very much, whoever you are.

I was in a bit of a funk all day.

I think it was a combination of a particularly challenging work week, both in raw hours, and emotionally; continued uncertainty regarding my job security; paying bills, which is very stressful on only one income, much less when there is the nagging uncertainty of continued employment; and maybe having a slight reaction to last week's flu shot.

I had moved the keyboard tray on the desk a little lower to try to get my right wrist to stop hurting, but that required changes in my chair position, which led to my back starting to hurt again. So, I moved the keyboard tray back to its original position. Unfortunately, this was not just a simple adjustment. I had to pull the tray out, move the rails, replace a drawer cover I had removed, blah, blah, blah.

Jeanie had left some tools out in the rain, so I spent quite a while trying to remove the rust and get them back in shape.

While we were away a couple of months ago, the little girl who was taking care of the dogs left a wet newspaper on our oak dining room table. This caused the ink to transfer to the finish, and the grain to raise. Since we are hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year, I figured I should try to fix the damage. This involved very careful sanding with a very fine grit sandpaper, applying new finish, re-sanding, and applying more finish. It's not as good as it was before the damage, but it's better than it was with ink stains and raised grain.

I got all three of my Windows systems current on security patches. This took applying three sets of patches and two reboots per system.

I made some headway on catching up on the mountain of unread e-mail in my work in-box, but there's still a boat-load to go...

So, all in all, not quite a day wasted, but pretty close.

Actually, there are a number of you that I consider friends - even though for some of you, I've never met you or even talked to you.

The caring comments, the occasional e-mail, the fact that you take the time to visit - if that isn't friendship, what is?

You share your life with me, and visa-versa. You're not strangers.

It amazes me how quickly it happens too. Usually within 30-60 minutes. I really enjoy Asparagus, and the funny pee smell is just an added bonus.

It really bums me out.

I wonder why I let it?

I don't even know her, other than what I've read on her blog, and a few comments in both directions.

As much as I try not to be, I am quite thin skinned.

One of these days, maybe I will learn to not allow other's actions to affect me so much.

It's even worse than having to fire someone. At least when someone gets fired, they had responsibility for their actions which led to the firing.

But in layoffs, the person affected is purely a victim.

One can argue that in some layoffs, it is the lower performers that are let go, but in some layoffs, where an entire division is dissolved, there is nothing - except bad luck.

It sucks.

My days have been starting before 7:00 AM and ending around 11:00 PM.

It is interfering with my blogging, and my exercising - even with my TV watching.

But, it is better than not having a job...

Saturday night, Jeanie, Paulette, Laura, David, Andy, and I had a lovely dinner at Parizade. The food was almost as good as the company.

And speaking of food, I had 1/2 a slice of George's to-die-for whole wheat country bread, and a bite of their amazing vegan pumpkin pie. While the pumpkin pie might have been devoid of any animal products, it had more than its share of sugar.

So, I would think that qualifies as having fallen off the wagon.

Toward the end of dinner, our server informed us that they had baked too much bread, and asked us if we would like a free loaf to take home. We asked for 1/2 a loaf, and then decided to bring a loaf to our next door neighbors Peggy and Dave, so we ended up with a loaf and a half.

I took the whole loaf next door, and we kept the 1/2 loaf.

It smelled sooo good.

Well, if Saturday night's deviation didn't qualify as falling off the wagon, the three slices of bread I ate on Sunday definitely did.

And that's what got me wondering...

PS - I am back on the wagon.

i.e. is it all-or-nothing?

When you fall off the wagon, is it absolute, or can you fall off the wagon a little?

If there are degrees, have you really fallen off the wagon, or are you just partially hanging off the wagon?

If you have fallen off the wagon, how do you know when you are back on the wagon? Is there a waiting period before you can say you're back on the wagon, or are you back on as soon as you stop doing whatever threw you off?

Hmm, that's another question... does "it" throw you off of the wagon, or is "it" just beyond the edge of the wagon, and when you grasp it, that is what causes you to fall off?

And where did the expression come from anyway?

Talk about painless.

We lowered our interest rate 1 1/2 percent, with no points or origination fee.

With interest rates so low, we were able to change from a 30 year loan to a 15 year loan. Now there is a chance that we will have the house paid off before we crack off.

The best part was that we didn't even have to change mortgage companies, and because of this, we were able to do a streamlined process. A couple of phone calls, one fax, and thirty minutes at the attorney's office, and that was it!

Very different than our first closing twenty years ago which required mountains of forms, check stubs, bank records, etc., and took four hours. Of course, back then, I did insist on reading every word of every page before I would sign anything...

It took so much more time, and so much more energy, it will add so much more work and stress to my life, and ultimately, it may negatively impact my job/pay/career.

It would have been so much easier (and safer) to have done the wrong thing.

So, why did I choose to do the right thing?

THREE DOORS

A rather bad man dies and is sent directly to hell. Upon arrival he finds himself and Satan in a room with three doors.

Satan explains, "I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that you
have to spend eternity behind one of these doors. But, the good news is
that you can take a peek behind each and take your choice."

So, the man opens the first door and sees a room full of people,
standing on their heads on a concrete floor. Not very nice, he thinks.

Opening the second door, he sees a room full of people standing on their
heads on a wooden floor. Better, he thinks, but best to check the
last door.

Upon opening the last door, he sees a room full of people, standing
waist-deep in excrement and sipping coffee.

"Of the three, this one looks best," he says and wades in to get
something to drink while Satan closes the door.

A few minutes later the door opens, and Satan sticks his head in and says,
"Ok, coffee break`s over, back on your heads!"

My guess is that most of the folks who rate the site are young, and focus on style rather than substance.

Which is not to say that my blog has much of either. Nor that I really care any more. (Thanks Tess).

It would just be interesting to know a little about the raters. And to understand their reasoning.

Why people do what they do fascinates me. I guess that's one of the reasons I majored in psychology.

That is the conclusion of my totally unscientific empirical study.

I'm not wacko about hits like I used to be, but I do still check most days.

Normally, I average 24 hits a day. But, when I don't make an entry, the numbers drop off very quickly. My guess is that the most likely explanation is the loss of traffic generated by referrals from weblogs.com and movable type on their recently updated blogs lists.

I guess if I were trying to maximize the number of visitors, I would tend to spread my entries out during the day. This would increase the amount of time that the links were visible from the referring sites. But, as we have all seen by now, I tend to write in spurts. And, since I don't care about numbers for the sake of numbers, I have no intention of modifying my habits at this point.

Well, you didn't care enough to e-mail and ask, now did you?

Anyway, no, I'm still kicking.

Work has just been a bear lately.

It only has been two days, but it seems like much longer. I've been so busy, that I didn't even have time to flesh out one of my drafts.

And yes, I know that the last few entries were pretty weak. But, I was sick, so cut me a break.

So, did I work 24 hours a day the last two days?

No, but for the last two days, I didn't even have time to exercise! And yesterday, my only two breaks were for our weekly dinner with Mom, and to watch 24. (I might be dedicated - or stupid - but even I have my limits!)

The madness at work is a combination of having gotten behind while I was sick, compounded by a two week security peer review, picking up my new teams, and a relentless barrage of information requests needed by the group that will be putting my group out to pasture sometime next year.

Even though work hasn't let up, I did make time to go to the doctor today - only to learn that I will need to endure a barium swallow and an endoscopy in the next few weeks.

Since the doctor's appointment was relatively early, I decided to get up earlier, and do my exercises. It felt good to be able to exercise (I never thought I'd say that!) Not that I actually enjoy exercising mind you; it is an means to an end. A necessary evil. I like the results, I like the good feeling I get - physically and mentally - after I finish, but I don't enjoy the actual doing.

And, since I just sent off another pita data response, I decided to reward myself and make a blog entry.

I think the book was better - which is almost always the case - but, we enjoyed the movie, and felt it was worth the two hours and five bucks.

They have apparently helped.

I had some meetings on-site today, and felt well enough to go into the office.

I'm still not 100%, but definitely on the mend.

I was supposed to be home by 2:00 PM, but, it seems that once I get on-site, I end up getting stuck. I didn't end up getting home until almost 5:30 PM. I'm not complaining though, it was really nice getting to actually meet with folks in person.

A smaller one on the front bar that indicates pounds and fractional pounds, and a larger one on the back bar that moves in fifty pound increments?

Well, this morning, that back weight had to slide one notch to the left!

Woohoo!

Sore throat, runny nose - what a pain.

I am too busy at work to be sick right now. I guess it's good that I work from home; I can continue to work, albeit while feeling miserable.

Since I don't get out much, my opportunities for acquiring new bugs is limited. I must have picked this one up at dinner on Saturday with Jeanie and Mom. I thought that the little seafood restaurant we ate at on 15-501 between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill sucked, this just adds insult to injury (or technically, visa-versa I guess).

Amphetamine Annie, our high school School Nurse, always used to say that if she could bottle "Tincture Of Time" she'd be a millionaire. I sure could use some of that right now.

What kind of puritanical morons make up this organization?

They will allow a movie that has gallons of spurting blood and body parts a-flying to get by with a PG-13, but use a few curse words - even in reasonable context - or show certain portions of the human anatomy, and bang, the movie gets a "R" rating.

Of course, the movie industry is loathe to release a movie with an "R" rating, since it severely limits its potential audience, so, we are subjected to the bulk of released mainstream movies catering to the sensibilities of a bunch of de-facto censors with a moral compass stuck in the Elizabethan ages.

Actually, I don't have it installed on my "production" blogdom virtual server, I have it installed on a new test virtual server I set up.

I figured that way, I could play with the new, but not screw up the old.

While I was at it, I decided to set up the new test blog with mySQL as the database.

That took a little extra effort, as I first had to install DBI and DBD (from CPAN) for perl/mySQL.

I had never set up a separate cgi-bin directory for a virtual server, so that was a fun new learning experience too.

Anyway, I have it all working now, but I think I'll wait a little longer before I upgrade the production installation to 2.51.

The two components are the wrapper and the extractor.

The wrapper allows you to take a number of MP3 files, and wrap them into one single MP3 file.

What is really cool is that you can play the wrapped file just as you would any MP3 file.

The extractor allows you to take the single wrapped file and extract the individual MP3 files.

For example, let's say that you have each track from a CD stored as an individual MP3 file. AlbumWrap allows you to wrap all of those individual files into one large MP3 file that contains all of the tracks. You can then play this MP3 file just as you would any album.

If, like me, you like to listen to all tracks of an album, in the order that the artist intended, listening to the albumwrap MP3 is much simpler that having to queue up each song individually.

But, if you only want to take a few select tracks with you, let's say on your portable MP3 player, then you can extract just those tracks, and transfer them to your player.

Both pieces are shareware. The wrapper is free to try for ten days, and is $15 to keep. The extractor is free.

Very cool.

Jeanie ordered fifteen yards of double-shredded hardwood mulch, which was delivered in a large pile a few days ago.

This is pretty much an annual or at least bi-annual event. This is usually followed by days of forking, wheeling, and dumping, which is usually followed by days of back pain, whining, and pain-killers.

I am happy to report that this year, #1 son has replaced me in the loading, moving, and distribution role. I have yet to touch the first shred of mulch.

The flower beds look wonderful, and the plants - and my back - are very grateful.

A frost was forcast for last night, so yesterday, we picked our figs. We got about a dozen this year.

Yum!

Next year, maybe we'll get enough to make jam.