Hopstretch

Cute birthday, story bro! Hope it's a good one ...

Depeche Mode -- Delta Machine

Robbie Robertson -- How To Become Clairvoyant

Earn them. Tut tut.

Happy Birthday all. Wish we saw more of you!

Big Night does rule, though. Timpano should be served at all Head Case gatherings.

Hippety Burpday Duggeh!

Before we went full colonial, I used to get my shoes from these guys. In those days it was $25 flat rate shipping to the US, regardless of the # of pairs. Don't know if that still holds. http://www.shiptonandheneage.co.uk Don't wear the oxfords etc. much anymore but expect they'll all outlast me.

Nice! Biking is a great incentive, particularly where hills are concerned ...

We're metric down here, so my first arbitrary milestone was 10 kg (22 lbs) off, which came up yesterday. In addition to eliminating wheat (specifically) and gluten (generally), I've also started limiting liquid calories -- which in my case means cutting back on alcohol since I basically just drink water, tea and wine. This has also been a net positive for ... other reasons. Anyway, I'm now 102 kg (225 lbs) @ 6'7" for a 25.3 BMI. I'd like to get to around 210 lbs (95 kg) and am just going to keep doing what I'm doing until it stops working.

Saint Etienne -- Foxbase Alpha

The Mary Onettes -- Hit The Waves

Awesome. If you mess with the bull, you get the ... bull's nose right in the berries.

Happy Birthday!

Caspian -- Waking Season

World Party -- Take It Up. It is impossible to be depressed while listening to this song. I got an extra glimpse of the truth today. Staring at my breakfast, when I thought I heard it say: "Fighting is no good. Success an empty lie. The treasure hunt is lonely until you realize, We came to take it up, we came to take it up, we came to take it up! We came to raise it up, we came to take it up, we came to move it uuuuuuppppp!" (Wicked Hammond organ, Doodle oo doo etc.)

For complicated and boring reasons involving the South African agent for Omega and an unadvertised price rise, I never got the Speedy after all. The dealer did have a SeaMaster A/T Chrono in stock and gave me a very nice discount on that by way of apology. While it doesn't have the same backstory cachet, I actually like the fact that it is a little smaller and (arguably) dressier. So all's well that ends well.

World Party -- Arkeology

Happy birthday!

Lost Animal -- Ex Tropical

Boiiinnnng! If you ask me, as a 9-year-old in 1978, Lionheart has probably created more furries than any other album cover in the history of popular music.

OK, here's my story. About a year ago, I got a really bad stomach bug while on holiday in Mauritius and was never really the same in the digestion department after that. Basically became a high priest of the porcelain god -- making my offerings far too many times a day. Got checked, inside and out, and was told there was no obvious reason for my troubles. Diagnosis was post-infectious IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). May go away, may not. Good luck. And then I did have some. Our au pair was diagnosed with a hiatus hernia and recommended to follow a gluten-free diet as a result. Her main issues were with reflux rather than down the other end, but the gastroenterologist mentioned that cutting out wheat and other grains was often effective for people with both complaints, so I gave it a shot. And lo and behold, very quickly, no more IBS. Yay! Anyway, this is where the story sidles toward relevance. As soon as I stopped eating grains, I started losing weight. I was around 115 kg (253 lbs) at the start and am under 105 kg (230 lbs) at the moment. Once I realized what was happening -- after 10 years or so of seeing the scale going only one direction -- I also cut out refined sugar just to see what would happen. Seems to be compounding the virtuous circle. I still eat rice and potatoes, so it's not a low-carb diet per se, and I still drink beer, as my stomach will tolerate one or two (but no more than that). May be because the barley is fermented, I don't know. So what we've ended up with in our house is pretty close to the framework of the (somewhat-wankily-named) Perfect Health Diet, which is constituted thusly: And it has definitely worked for us. My wife is at her lowest weight since grad school, the au pair who started it all is down nearly 50 lbs and I reckon I'll be around my ideal size, say 215 lbs at 6'7", in a couple of months. Hasn't been hard to implement either. Basically we just don't eat bread or pasta or pizza anymore, plus no soda and nothing out of a box. No particular portion control and I substitute extra red wine for all foregone brews, as a matter of principle. That's all I got. YMMV etc. but have to say I really enjoy feeling less fat and less slow. Good luck to all of you!

The Agreeables -- S/T

Good stuff! Keep it up. OK if we share personal diet/nutrition experiences here? I don't want to crap in your thread.

Happy Birthday Nate! Expect a package soon. Well, actually, not too soon because things take a while from here. But one of your prodigals is coming home.