Earlier I committed to accountability around goals for this trip. We’re into a new month now and I thought it would be a good time to post results.
My weight
Starting (03-Nov-2020) : 403 lb
Today: 389 lb
Weight Loss: 14 lb
Average Weekly Loss: 3 lb/week
So I’m slightly ahead of goal, which is just over 2 lb a week. I’m sure I will plateau in some places, so I’ll take the higher rate this month.
Tools I’m using: MyFitnessPal to track calories and exercise, Noom to change my mental/emotional relationship with food, Google Fit to track workouts. I will buy a smart watch in a month or two so I can track more parameters like heart rate.
We’ve also signed up and just finished our first week using the Derby KS Recreation Center. It’s a great facility (see below, and about a 10 minute drive from our house. Currently we’re walking the track (half a mile a day), stationary bike (15 or so minutes each day on a weight-loss workout program) and some strengthening using the weight machines (mostly arm and back at the moment). We intend to add water aerobics after first of the year and probably some other activities as time goes on.
Learning Spanish
I’m using DuoLingo as my learning tool. Here’s the progress I’ve made:
End of Month 1, DuoLingo progress-1 
End of Month 1, DuoLingo progress-2
The Present Tense section is the one I’m having the most difficulty with.
SCUBA
This goal will wait until late next summer or in the fall, when I’m in better shape.
Photography
I’ve not yet started on this goal
Be More Active in the Cruise Community
I’ve added several NCL-focused Facebook groups and posted a few times. Because of traveling for about 1/3 of the month and a big week work-wise last week, I’ve not been as active as I’d hoped.
And Speaking of Travel…
That 10-day trip started one week before Thanksgiving and I got home the Saturday after the holiday (a week ago today). I drove back and forth to California to help my best friend of 35 years get settled in his new home. I was driving and staying in hotels alone, and of course I wore a mask in public and followed each state’s restrictions and policies in effect at the time regarding distancing, etc.
The red markers denote where I took some photos.
I enjoy long-distance driving and seeing new parts of the country. On this trip I added driving and stopping in a few new states and areas: Arizona, the Las Vegas area, the Sierra Nevada mountains, and New Mexico. Some of the tourist destinations I saw included Wolf Creek Pass, CO, the Las Vegas Strip, and Ivanpah Solar Power Station in California along I-15. That was a neat experience. Full sunshine the morning I drove by, and for about 15 miles there was this brilliant shine in the sky. I should have stopped and gotten pictures. It’s the largest station of its type in the world as of 2014. The photos below are from Wikipedia and Google Maps/Street view.
The city in the bottom of the shot is Las Vegas, and this is almost an hour’s drive away.
About 20-22 hours of driving each way, most of it through areas I’d never seen from the ground. I’d do it again….and plan to at some point.
and then