Good morning, all.  Well, I'm declaring the great experiment "Operation Med Dump" an official failure!  My blood pressure reading last night before bed was 131/74, but it took me a few minutes of sustained breathing/relaxation to get that reading after 3 higher ones.  Similar story this morning; BP was 142/86 after three tries. So, back on the meds.  I'm going to go take them now.

Done.

I'll keep you posted on the BP readings.  I also get to weigh myself tomorrow at Tina's to see how much weight I've lost.  Very curious.  Very curious, indeed.   (It may sound odd that I'm excited to check my weight at Tina's, but that's my standard scale and I've used it a dozen times or more, so I know I'm getting a consistent read...)  My statistics students will know that there is no validity without reliability.

So, in 30 minutes - give or take - I'll be rolling out of My Little House in the Desert to head down the hill.  But first, a stop at work to do some - you guessed it - paperwork!

Now that I've turned my attention away from obsessing about my blood pressure, I can focus my energy and attention on other matters...

I'm hearing from many of you in different forums.  That's great!!!  Don't get my wrong, I love it, but I'd like to see more posts here on the blog.  It sounds from the feedback I'm getting that people are still having a difficult time doing that, even though I changed settings for comments.  Okay, that is something I will look into next week.  It is going on the to-do list right now.  Part of my new daily routine is creating and tackling to-do lists.  What works best for me is specific, small tasks. For instance, 'clean the living room' might be best listed: Put away CDs and jewel cases, organize photos, clear off the top of the file cabinet. Well, you get the picture.

So, I see today as a transition day; a working day if you will.  Working on myself that is.  A person cannot exist in the euphoria of Thursday nor in the doldrums of Friday.  A person (okay, me - I!) need to learn how to stay more consistent - consistently positive would be nice, but let's be realistic. Hopefully it will be a bounce-back kind of day.  And I do have a date at 4:30, so that's cool, too.

So, I'll end this session with you now.  I know it's not earth-shattering or gut-wrenching (nor vomit-inducing, I hope), but it is what it is.  A few average comments from an average man starting out on an average day...  What???? Why did I write that like that???  That sounds damn depressing - I don't want to be average! I don't want to have an average day!  I want to be awesome and I want my day to be awesome, too!

So, I don't know. Consistent is good.  But consistently great is better...  I'm going to ponder on that one for a while.  Let's let Leigh have the last word this morning since I cut her off last night...

"One of the things you said in your graduation speech is to always be true to yourself and I really think you demonstrate just that.  You are not afraid to be silly, laugh with yourself or at yourself or share your stories - you are one of a kind, Mr. P! ... I know whatever you do it will be whole-heartedly because that's the type of person you are!  Thank you so much for your endless compassion this year..."

Thank you, Leigh. More tears for Mr. P this morning.

As Phil Porter once said to me in 10th grade, "Off to the showers!!!'   I mean, seriously, how many people get kicked out of a baseball game before it even starts?

Be well.

Carpe Diem.  I hope to get in a post or two from the road this weekend...