Category Archives: General

Weight

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We’re back from Tennessee.

I’ll write all about it, but first, I can no longer deny the obvious.

I have gained weight.

I never gain weight. Weight gain is as foreign to me as, say, sickle cell anemia. It’s just something I’ve never had to worry about. I have a big appetite, and I’ve always been able to eat as much as I wanted to while staying thin.

I’m not talking about a lot of weight here. I’m still at a healthy weight for my height. But I can no longer fit into the 29-waist jeans I bought last December. I remember wearing them comfortably at one point this summer, even. But a couple of weeks ago, I tried to button them and I could barely breathe. So I went out and bought a pair of 32 jeans, which fit me comfortably, if a little loosely. Wearing 32-waist jeans is not unprecedented for me, but it’s been a long time since I’ve needed them.

I’ve weighed myself on two different scales in the last few days, and sure enough, I appear to have gained 10 pounds since the last time I weighed myself. A year, year and a half ago, I was actually down to 125 pounds, which had surprised me, since I’d normally been around 130. (I’m just under 5’6″.) But now I seem to be weighing in at 139 or 140.

I don’t know what’s causing this. It could be the Celexa I’ve been taking for a year. It could be all the eating out Matt and I have done. It could be the effects of age (I’m 30 now, and maybe my metabolism has slowed). I hope it’s not the latter, because that would be something I’d just be stuck with.

All I know is, I’ve never had to exercise or watch what I eat in order to stay thin. I guess I’ll just have to start.

Sigh.

Columbus Day Weekend

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Tomorrow morning, at the crack of dawn, Matt and I are flying down to southeastern Tennessee for Matt’s brother’s wedding. I’ve met Matt’s mom before, but now I’ll get to meet the rest of the family. I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m sure it will be great, and at any rate, it’ll be nice to get away for a few days.

See you next week!

Marshall Wittman Endorses Kerry

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Marshall Wittman, — John McCain’s former communications director, former member of the Christian Coalition, and self-described “Bull Moose” progressive — endorses John Kerry in a must-read, wide-ranging indictment of the Bush administration. He slams the leaders of the religious right; the attempt to repeal the estate tax; the Bush administration’s handling of Osama bin Laden, Afghanistan, and Iraq, its conduct during the 2002 mid-term elections, and its hypocrisy on “accountability”; and Bush’s lack of true conservatism. He says of Kerry:

Although I had my differences with Kerry during the Cold War, he has demonstrated by his hawkishness on Kosovo and Afghanistan that he is willing to use force to defend American ideas and interests. He advocates increasing the size of the U.S. military. On domestic issues, Kerry has positioned himself in the New Democrat tradition. Kerry has proposed an ambitious national service program. He would retain the tax cuts for the middle class while rolling them back on the super-rich. And he would reform, rather than eliminate, the estate tax.

. . .

Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have waged an unprecedentedly cynical and divisive campaign. The campaign has proven that there are no guard rails when it comes to a scorched-earth effort to hold on to power. However, Democrats can seize the opportunity to reach out to disaffected moderate Republicans and independents to build a new political coalition of national unity. That is both the hope and the cause of this unreconstructed Bull Moose.

It’s worth a read.