Kosher dutch oven Shepherd’s Pie for Troop 234’s adult leaders (basically, me and Dan E.)
Morro Bay State Park. Six years ago today.
Achievement unlocked: Lose 130 lbs.
July 2016 starting weight: 355 lbs (161.4kg)
Goal weight: 220 lbs (100kg)
July 2019 weight: 219 lbs (99.6 kg)
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Total weight lost: 136 lbs (61.8 kg)
Thank G-d for small miracles and for helping me keep all of that extra poundage off for the past 3.5 years. For the record, appetite control and physical activity are a lot easier on the system than a banded stomach or a foreshortened intestine.
Books of 2021: American Slavery, American Freedom
In American Slavery, American Freedom, Edmund Morgan, a renowned and respected historian of the American Revolution, made a convincing case for systemic racism in the American polity, and he did it in 1970, six years before Derrick Bell published his article “Serving Two Masters” in the Yale Law Journal.
I am in what appears to be a small-and/or-quiet group that approaches race studies generally and Critical Race Theory specifically with an open mind and a critical thinker’s toolkit. It can be exhausting, but Morgan helped open that door and push me down the corridor beyond. Forget 1776, and forget 1619. Seek the truth, not someone else’s narrative, regardless of its provenance and intent.
September Progress Report: De-Amazoning
In our first month of cutting our ties with Amazon, we have taken the following steps.
1. Spouse cancelled her Prime subscription
2. Shifted all book purchases to a trustworthy list of independent booksellers, with Powell’s as our primary go-to.
3. Cancelled all “subscribe-and-save” subscriptions and found new and economical sources or substitutes for those items.
4. Ceased purchase of all Kindle books and began buying used hard copy editions from independent bookstores.
5. Began transcribing my Amazon Prime Music playlists in preparation for terminating Prime and beginning a long term effort to acquire LPs, DVDs, and legitimate digital recordings of my favorites.
Mugology: Easing Back into the Classroom
You know you spend a lot of money on virtual courseware when the company you patronize sends you a free stoneware coffee mug.
Returning to higher education after an absence of over three decades demands a gradual approach. I would be no match for the kids just coming out of high school right now: homework, tests, and a 10-week learning cycle are figments of memory, not skill sets.
The Learning Company – via their Great Courses series – has helped put my brain back into learning mode. I guess my gratitude shows in my spending pattern.
Patch of the Month: National HQ
One of our few “fun” stops on our 2015 trek to Dallas was a stop at the National Headquarters of the Boy Scouts of America, which has been in Texas since moving from New Jersey in 1979.
Mugology: Leading Scouts
Earned it six years ago today.
Patchology: Procrastinating Goldfish Patrol
My Life Scout son Aaron was elected as leader of his patrol in the contingent that our Council assembled to represent Ventura County at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree.
Soon after, the patrol named themselves “the Procrastinating Goldfish Patrol.”
Against all odds, I managed to find them appropriate BSA-regulation patrol patches. As you can see, the patch above shows a goldfish clearly in the act of procrastinating. At the Jamboree, the patrol wore this and all of their other insignia and regalia with slightly snarky pride.
Hoping the BSA can get back into the post-COVID game with a Jamboree in 2023. I won’t be there, and Aaron won’t, either, but at least that gives us a shot at going to one together in 2027.
This is how I dress before pledging into a fraternal organization. (I wore shoes, of course.) Just glad I can fit into these. Yes, that is an edgy look. I was beginning to remember why I didn’t go greek in college.
Winter Morning Music
Standing under a heater vent blowing 70-degree air on me, I still get goosebumps listening to Ed Sheeran singing “I See Fire” from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
Removed we may be from the foothills of Erebor, but we never seem far from the breath of the great drake.
For there are days beneath brown hills, Santannas blowing dry from the Northeast bending the palms and sending crackles of static through hair and wool, when if you listen closely, you can hear the chuckle of the Old Wyrm amidst the howling tempest, and your breath stops, waiting in dread for the ridges to explode in flame.
A Bucket and a Pen 