Hopstretch

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.

Happy Birthday, Naaman. Spend some more money on good booze!

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds -- Push The Sky Away As a longtime fan:

Happy Birthday Dan.

Happy Birthday!

Thanks for all the input. I've never really thought about this stuff before and have definitely learned a few things! Think I'm going to go for a bog-standard Omega Speedmaster Pro. At 42 mm, it's bigger than my current watch, but not too big. Also skews a bit more towards function over ornamentation, which I like.

Thanks gents. I like the Tudor Pelagos and the Blancpain 50 Fathoms a lot.

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Local Natives -- Hummingbird

Happy Birthday Steve!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

First post in this thread (I think.) Have worn one watch for the last 13 years since I got it as a present from my wife -- a plain stainless Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Wouldn't mind branching out a bit and quite like the idea of something slightly larger and more rugged, in the Submariner/Seamaster mold. Much bigger than that -- Panerai etc. -- I find a tad too assertive. Would welcome suggestions. Budget flexible, but I'm not looking for something expensive just for the sake of it. Thanks Case.

Happy Birthday!