Another day in the life

So today I stepped it up a little tonight.

10 push ups
25 sit ups
7 min stairs

Yes, a whole two additional minutes. Right now, I just need to do something each day. On the other side of this equation, I did drive by one McDonald's, kept in check at lunch time, did fall off the wagon on the way home and had 2 McDoubles and 900 calories I really did not need. We are doing better, just want to keep improving.

Work was another day, the kids had school, and Andrew had work. Andrew I'd have some excitement as a customer had a seizure and he called 911 for help. I was going to submit him to Boys Life Scouts in Action. He is doing better with his SAT studying and hopefully it pays off this Saturday.

Delaney made dinner with me.  It was Shepard's Pie Baked Potato. Aside from the challenge of the InstaPot, Delaney made a wonderful dinner. She complained about school, found a bargain on airfare for the Disneyland / PowerPoint trip, couldn't sleep, and then fell asleep.

Just another day.

Need to lose weight

Dana and Amy went to see Bad Moms 2 last night. There was a sexy Santa contest in the movie. She normally tells me that she loves me no matter what I look like, but last night she said she wished I was thinner.  Not because of health reasons, but because the sexy Santa guts looked pretty good.

So tonight we will start Operation Sexy Santa

10 push ups
25 sit ups
5 min stairs

I will update periodically

Saturday after Thanksgiving

it was not quite as busy today, but still kept moving along. Dana had work, Andrew had work, and Delaney went to the movies with Grace. I spent the morning cleaning my closet which is something that happens every two or three years.  I needed space and decided that if I had not worn the shirt or pair of pants in the past year I should get rid of them. There were two shirts that still had the tags on them. Even then, I put them in a box in the attic and could not send them to Goodwill.

I did get some things to Goodwill, and returned aluminum cans at Safeway. The machine jammed and I thought about just going home because I know Andrew hates the bottle room.  He did come out and help me though.  Got Pop a loaf of bread and picked up a small Christmas tree for the front porch.  A busy day with little errands to keep me busy. Tried to keep the house clean but generally failed there. Laundry tomorrow.

The boing thing was trying to help Andrew with SAT tests.  I do not know what I can do to build a sense of urgency in Andrew. He has a million things almost done, but never completes them.  He is content just showing up and taking a test. Getting in to college will be easy.  No problem at all. Dana tells me he has to want something himself and she is right. It is frustrating when the easy path, the shortcut to success is right in front of him, but he is adamant in taking the longer, more difficult path to success. I do not know what to do.

I will end today with a pretty picture,  Delaney has been cutting paper snowflakes the last two days. I asked if she was going to gang them anywhere other than her room.  Tonight, over my bed, the snow arrived

NFL: your viewers aren't leaving because of the national anthem and/or kneeling

On the off chance that the NFL is listening the reason the NFL tv ratings are down this season is gambling. Yes, gambling. The same reason the NFL achieved its lofty perch in the sports universe, gambling has now become its demise. So what changed?

Contrary to the ingenuine protestations of the commissioner and the owners, people still bet millions of dollars each year on NFL games. Both legal and illegal betting.  Office pools, weighted pools, survival pools,point spreads and straight up.  And, now, the elephant in the room, Fantasy Football.

The biggest change from 10 or 15 years ago is the technology.  In the old days, one guy in the office organized the pool, people made their picks and counting the number right at the end of a long Sunday was fairly easy. The Monday night game did not add complexity, but was a convenient tie breaker.  Ten years ago, tabulating the amount of yards run or passed for each player was a full time job.  Ten years ago you watched football games and cheered for which ever team I chose that week.

Now, there are dozens of website with Fantasy Football that creates teams, and drafts, and calculates point total for a running back based on the number of yards rushed + rushing attempt + pass completions + yards passing + touchdowns scored - fumbles list + 2-pt conversions.  Automatically. I have more trouble remembering my password to Yahoo fantasy football than calculating my point totals for the week. Now, I cheer for Drew Brees to throw a lot, Todd Gurley to run, and the Houston defense to get sacks. I do not watch games any longer because it doesn't matter in my gambling life who won or who lost. How many yards did they throw for?  I track that on my iPhone. The only reason I watched any of the Monday Night football game was to see if the KC kicker missed a field goal. -3 points for every missed kick.  And if anyone still believes gambling does not drive the popularity of the NFL, the announcers were talking about point spreads and over/under bets, not who won the game.

The ratings for the pre-game shows are higher this year, while the games are lower.  The pre game shows will tell me last minute if I need to change my fantasy lineup.  The games are 3 hours of footbal where I can see the highlights in 3 minutes on the news, ESPN, Fox Sports, online, youtube, or even Twitter sometimes.  When it is time for the playoffs and the fantasy season has come to a close, then, the viewers will return and people will watch again.  For now, I have errands to run on the weekends and things I want to do with my kids.  Football on Thursday, Sunday morning, Sunday afternoon, Sunday evening, and Monday night is too much.  I do not have 15 hours a week to watch football on TV.  Thank you anyway, I will watch the updates on my iPhone.