Random Thoughts - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

So as I mentioned in a previous post I finished my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge with some really nice results. This post is just a few random thoughts I had that are prompted by participating in the Challenge.

I really don't have anything planned to say this time around so we'll see what happens. We'll all be surprised.

So let's start with something thought provoking: my farts stink.

How's that for a starting topic?(!)

Seriously thought they stink. Actually I should stay the smell is different. Clearly it is from the change in diet and the substantial increase in the amount of beans I eat. Black beans, kidney beans, navy beans, beans, beans and more beans. But it's also because I am eating more vegetables across the board. I bring this up because while I remember thinking about it during the challenge, this morning my wife, Arisa, told me that smell of my breath was different. She didn't say "bad" she said different. And I asked for the clarification. Twice.

Progress to Celebrate - Kinda Sorta

Last night we had great Thanksgiving dinner. We had traditional Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes covered in gravy. We added some #plantstrong dishes as well. I added the Sweet Potato Bowl from the Engine 2 Diet. I also saw some really good looking recipes on +forksoverknives (Forks Over Knives Plant-based Thanksgiving Recipes post). I was going to make a couple of them then realized we had way to much food so I just picked the Brown Rice Casserole with Lentils. So we had that for dinner.

Wrap Up - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

Tuesday was the final day of the challenge so I had my blood test done again on Wednesday morning. The numbers pretty much speak for themselves actually. But I like to babble so you will have to wait. ;-)

So the 28 Day Challenge ended on Tuesday night but Wednesday was a busy day besides getting my blood work done and meeting with the Dietitian. So I treated it pretty much like any other day of the 28 day challenge. Thursday night though we went to Pacific East in Coventry in Cleveland Heights for our year end Board of Directors Meeting for the Japanese Association of Northeast Ohio (JANO). Reality is that I really like sushi and if I had not been mindful I would have eaten way more than I should have.

One of the take aways I have from the Hyland sponsored nutrition classes I took this summer, meeting with the Dietitian, but most of all through implementing it during the 28 Day Challenge is being aware of eating when I am eating. So Thursday night with literally a miniature boat of sushi placed in front of my I started to go into shark mode - a mindless feeding frenzy. Until I caught myself and realized that I was stuffing my face as fast as I could - so I slowed down and noticed that I was actually full. So I stopped eating. VICTORY!

Holiday Hold 2015

Similar to last year, Hyland is sponsoring a Holiday Hold.

Most Americans gain an average of about one pound during the holidays*. While this might not seem like much, they usually don’t lose it, and over time it adds up. Kick off your Thanksgiving week with the annual Holiday Hold!

Obviously the goal of the Holiday Hold is to maintain your weight over the holidays. Of course losing weight is also a perfectly acceptable option. This year at Hyland, we are weighed on November the 24th at work. Since it is at work it means we are clothed as opposed to weighing myself just before I jump in the shower. (Too much information?). In fact, I have seen people, and there are rumours that I was one of them, that did not remove their sweaters or anything else that added a little weight at the starting weigh in- shorts an t-shirts at the ending weight in of course!(sadly, I still failed, sigh.

Also similar to last year, I intend to invite my siblings to participate. Of course *you* dear anonymous user may also participate. Just add a comment to this post on the 24th with you starting weight. Then on January 5th, 2015 post a comment with your ending weight.

Two years ago I failed while last year I achieved the hold. We'll see what happens this year as I am starting just as I finish my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge so I am the lightest I've been since quitting smoking. The award for succeeding in the Neohawk Holiday Hold is the satisfaction of a goal accomplished. No more, no less.

Well, that's enough for me anyway.

Week 3 Recap - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

Happy SaturdaySunday! I spent 3-4 hours shoveling the snow off our driveway(yesterday). May not be exercise from Rip's books but it was a lot of work and sweat. So I'm going to count it anyway.

Speaking of Rip, I finally got my Engine 2 Diet book back from the Hyland dietitian. So the general theme for Rip, as well as his father's, is diet. Make your diet #plantstrong and good things will happen. That is not the only message though, particularly with Rip who as a triathlete knows the importance of exercise in all of this. In fact, the whole entirety of Chapter 6 is about exercise with pictures to help you learn. In fact he has a host of Youtube videos with stretches and then workouts(and #2) to help guide you.

Engine2 Diet 28 Day Challenge Week 2 Update

So if you are following this Challenge (all two of you), you know that last week started of with a power outage at work so I didn't get to meet with the dietician. This week, however, I did get to meet with the dietician so I was able to update her on progress and get my bodyfat % checked with that doohicky. But before I reveal the latest and greatest numbers let me talk a little bit about this week.

So normally I spend my Sunday afternoons on the elliptical watching the Cleveland Browns. I started during last year's NFL season for two reasons 1) to do something other than sitting on the couch and stuffing my face, and 2) to protect my TV - last year's Browns were absolutely pathetic, even though they were better last year than under Pat Shurmur.

Week 1 Recap - Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge

So Wednesday was started Week #2 of my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge. Normally I would have met with the dietician on Wednesday to review the week and take my Body Fat % measurement with that little gadget she's got. The power company had other plans for us - we were sent home due to a power outage and a failure in the backup generator.

Wednesday is also my spinning class but since we went home early Arisa and I ended up going to Planet Fitness where I did the PF 30 Minute Express circuit for the first time in ages. I really like that workout since you can push yourself as much or as little as you are up to on a given day. And you can see progress over time as the weights or reps increase as you get in better shape. But I'll tell you my arms have been killing me for the last two days because of it! I keep telling myself that old adage No Pain No Gain.

And So It Begins [28 Day Challenge]

Happy Sunday, Go Browns!Welcome to Day 5 of my Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge.
I as I said in my last post I am taking the Engine 2 Diet 28 Day Challenge. I started a hybrid version prior to kicking off on last Wednesday to get in the mindset and learn how to prepare some of the meals so the challenge wouldn't be such a shock. Actually, in the 28 Day Challenge there is a Firefighter version and a Fire Cadet version. The Firefighter version is cold turkey immersion into a plant-strong lifestyle for 28 days. The Fire Cadet version is for those fainter of heart and removes various things over the first three week. For example, the first week is no meat or processed foods, the second week implements no dairy, and the third is to eliminate extracted oils.
What I did was similar in that I drastically cut back on everything - I haven't really had milk that much if I had soy milk around. Even had some of the Engine 2 meals for dinner which means I wasn't having meat. I didn't really do the regimented way of eliminating the E2Diet non-compliant foods but cut way, way back on them replacing them with fruit and vegetables.

28 Day Challenge

Beginning on October 22, 2014 I will start the Engine 2 Diet's 28 Day Challenge. Arisa is going to do a modified version, but already there is no meat other than fish in the house!

Okay, so the last time I posted on my blog was almost a year ago and this my first post of 2014. My last post was about the Holiday Hold that I did last year through the New Year. I actually did lose weight an ended up under 170. At least for a short while anyway.

Well, it's October a year later and the news isn't so good. I ended up putting back almost all the weight. While my official "Holiday Hold" weight was 178, prior to that I had been as heavy as 190 pounds. At 5'5" that made me obese. (Using BMI of 32 to mean obese) So when I say I put almost all the weight back on, I was 5 pounds short of 190. When I hit 185 again I decided I couldn't wait anymore, so in late August I started making changes.

Holiday Hold - From Work To Family

Every year the company I work for (Hyland Software) sponsors a "Holiday Hold". I think a lot of companies implement similar programs whether on a enterprise level or in specific divisions or departments. Some acquaintances have said that their company does it on a departmental basis. Hyland does it on an company-wide basis.

The Holiday Hold is a challenge to keep your weight the same or reduce it over the Holidays. According to the study linked to Americans on average gain only one pound over the holidays - but that pound is a pound that is never lost. So after thirty years Americans on average will gain 30 pounds. Of course I added that amount of weight in two years after quitting smoking.

So this year, both Arisa and I are taking the challenge.

Fuel Right Program

I don't post much about work. And this post isn't really about work but about food and health. It starts off with Hyland though. This last week Hyland kicked off Good Nutrition Month. The basic goal of the month is to give up drinking soda permanently. Basically the idea is that soda provides two and half donuts worth of sugar with each glass (8oz?) and that by giving it up people would be that much more healthy.

Hyland has won company with the best perks in Northeast Ohio for several years running. As part of that Hyland provides free soda drinks for everyone. There is an irony that this month's wellness program is to get people to voluntarily give up one of the benefits. And this month's program so far has been impressive! Today, for example, we got free fruit (see picture above) and a cup for drinking water. The picture below was my take today! Tomorrow I get a free lunch!

But it really kicked off last week when on Wednesday, we had Kristen Kilpatrick, MS, RD, LD Wellness Manager at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Center (website, google plus page (+Cleveland Clinic, +Cleveland Clinic Wellness) kick off the month with a presentation. It was a tremendous presentation with an huge amount of information.

Trip to Jersey

So on my most recent business trip I went to a client with office in Jersey City. After work each day we went to Hoboken, NJ for dinner. Along Washington Street there is a host of restaurants. The first night we went to a Indian restaurant called Karma Kafe which was really good.

The view from our client's offices was absolutely fantastic. I haven't put up all of my pictures yet but the one on the right should give you a good idea.

Google Comments - The Right Way

So I occasionally head over to theciviccommons.com to catch up on some of the conversations and projects they are nurturing.  I like the concept that they are trying to build a community around engaging in civil discussion especially when we disagree.

Today I made a comment on a post and it was cross posted to Facebook by Jill Miller-Zimon. I happened to be logged into Facebook at the time as was pleased to see 4 or 5 comments and responses come in  a short period of time.  All very interesting and informative.  Unfortunately, the comments don't show up on theciviccommons.com.

Google recently announced the availability of Google Plus Comments integration with Blogger, the service I use to host this blog. In a recent post, I tried out this new capability.

グーグル＋コメントをブロッガーで利用可能に

先ほどGoogle+で発見しましたけど、ブロッガーのブログにコメントする仕組みとして今までいくつかがあったのですが、今日からグーグルプラスコメントを利用することが出来るようになりました。このブログに加えました。

このブログには今まではDisqusというコメントシステムを使っていましたが、JANOのブログにはブロッガーに標準についているコメントシステムを使っている。先程Google+コメントをこのブログに有効にしました。

グリーンハウスターバンでの誕生日会

East 4th Street

12月には我が家族では多くの誕生日があります。兄貴ダンが12月2日、母が15日、ありさが19日、甥っ子が20日だ。ありさの父も12月です。この誕生日がお月にクリスマスがあります。今年はババラさん（母: +Barbara Hawkins ）とありさ( +Arisa Hawkins の誕生日を一緒にお祝いするということでダウンタウンクリーブランドに行って外食するという形にしました。

母の家に行ってピックアップして高速道路にのってクリーブランドのダウンダウンに行きました。日曜日の夜だったのでクリーブランドブラウンズの試合が何時間前に終わっていて試合を見に行ってた方々既にダウンタウンから離れていたので簡単に駐車が出来ました。

Noodles in Cleveland

Last night we went to Noodlecat on Euclid Avenue near East 4th Street - it's about half a block towards Public Square from the East 4th and Euclid Corner. This is how Noodlecat's twitter account describes itself:

"Noodlecat is Chef Jonathon Sawyer's Japanese and American mashup ramenhouse in the CLE."

Google TV

As I ramp up towards Christmas and getting a large screen HDTV my real question is what exactly does   provide me with that is of any use at all?  Well this post answers part of that question. Via  I can access movies, music, and TV.  That is really handy.

Kinda.  Clearly it is nice since I'm a 'droid user on my cell phone, a Chrome user on my Windows/Linux laptop, the integration with my Google Apps ( and  to start) and  is a benefit.  Similar UIs to my phone and PC is also a benefit.  It's Google so that's cool too, right?

Home Projects

Our Home is Our Castle

As I am sure is true for every home owner there is always something to fix, tweak, improve on a house when you are a homeowner.  I'm not including those immediate or emergency things that happen.  Just the things that need improvement.  For example, when we were purchasing the house we had someone inspect the house (@Ron_Gerome)  as is typical.  He found that while we had a whole new breaker box which was clean, well done, at grounded, our other items (water heater, furnace, gas) were not grounded.  Not anything ground breaking but not something that you want to let go forever, particularly since it's "not up to code".  So we have begun the process of getting estimates for these items plus those items that we have noticed we want or have "broken" in the meantime.  For example, Arisa and George did something so now the kitchen sink faucet drips non-stop.  It'll probably be a 10 minute job for a plumber.  So we'll get the estimate for:

1. Electrical (done today)
2. Plumbing
3. Furnace and AC Check
4. Masonry (tuckpoint work)
5. Chimney Sweep (probably not this year)
6. Minimal Roofing Repair (not this year)

Walk to Remember at the Cleveland Zoo

Several weeks back, Arisa and I joined Team Hyland to participate in the "Walk To Remember", a fundraiser walk for the Hospice of the Western Reserve. The great thing about the walk was that it was through the Cleveland Zoo which I haven't been to since I got there on a yellow bus. You can check out some of the pics from the event at hospicewr.org : http://goo.gl/hQkCL. My pics are below:




If you need to know, here is the map to the Cleveland Zoo:


View Cleveland Zoo in a larger map

I think I'd do it again next year since it's for a good cause.

Council Rejects Lease Settlement - No Gas Wells in the Park

As I posted here and here, Highland Heights City Council has been deliberating an resolution that would allow Mayor Coleman to sign a lease with Bass Energy to place two gas wells on property within the Community Park as part of a lawsuit settlement. This last Tuesday while I was in Chicago on business City Council voted on the resolution.