Last night I looked in the mirror and my face was noticably thinner. I’m down about 6 pounds from my high of 192, and I’m down a half pound from what had been my lowest point in the last 6 months.

Being sick probably helped a bit. I’m back on the “eat what you want when you’re hungry” diet for the weekend, which probably means I’ll gain a pound or two on carb-binges (no self-control yet) unless the cold continues to hammer my appetite into quiet submission.

In other news, I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast for the crew. Sandra loved ’em, which is the important thing since today is her birthday. I had two, and they were pretty good, but not so good that I wanted to stuff myself. So far, so good.

I’m enjoying being out of my own house, but I’m already looking forward to going home and getting back to work. If I push just right, I’ll have the inked buffer a month ahead at the end of January, which means that by January 31st the first strips in March will already be inked. I haven’t been far enough ahead at the end of a month for that to happen since February of 2004.

I caught a cold. It’s not a bad one, but I’ve got the whole post-nasal-drip, no energy, low appetite thing going on. Oh, and I had to drive 3 hours to Pocatello in order to get the family out of town for Sandra’s birthday.

I crashed on a spare bed upon arrival (crashed me, not the minivan) and then went out to buy some diet soda and Vitamin C, so I could properly medicate myself for the weekend. Ahh, the magic of caffeine and ascorbic acid… two great tastes that fool me into thinking I’m not sick while my body works overtime fighting the yuck.

Speaking of yuck… I assume you’ve all seen Orville Necro-Redenbacher in his new commercial. No? Well, it’s frightening. They computer animated a new, hipper Orville so that the real popcorn magnate could remain in the grave without impacting the company’s bottom line.

And that raises the following question: which dead corporate icon is next? Me, I think Dave Thomas might be the next candidate for a return frome the grave, and I just hope Wendy’s can be convinced by Necro-Orville’s frightening demeanor that bringing Dave back from the dead would be a bad idea.

Ronald Reagan, however… they can bring him back. In fact, if you payed attention during Back to the Future you know that sometime before 2015 they WILL. They need to get started on the rest of those Jaws sequels, though.

The Very Quick Play-Count Meme

For this little three-question game you’ll need some sort of play-count record on your mp3 library. No guessing!

1) What’s the most-played track in your mp3 collection, and how many times has it been played?
“Promise” (radio edit) by Eve 6: 335

2) Divide that play count in half and round up. What’s the nearest song?
“Right Now” by SR-71: 172

3) Divide that play count in half, and round up again.
“Where’s the Walrus” by The Alan Parsons Project: 85

4) Care to explain yourself?
“Promise” was the very first track I bought from the iTunes store, and I listened to it a LOT. Lately it plays automatically in the morning as part of my “wake-up” playlist.

As usual, I’m already feeling better without the crap in my diet.

The basic rule is “keep the carb-count below about 30,” but the spirit of the law is “no refined foodstuffs.” I’ve had lots of cheese, fish, eggs, and some green stuff like lettuce, onions, and green peppers. Oh, and pickles. Love ’em. I’ve also had a couple of Atkins Shakes — they’re sort of a crutch. I like ’em, but “whey extracts” are, by definition, pretty refined.

And I’m down about four pounds from my start weight. I’ve been packing water (almost a gallon a day of assorted clear fluids, and very little soda), and peeing like the proverbial race-horse. I’m not sure the fat is exactly melting away from my body, but I feel pretty good. As usual, for this diet.

Except for the cravings. I want toast. I want oatmeal. I want to pack an entire bowl of sticky-rice into my drooling maw one dipped-in-curry fistful at a time. And so it goes. I settled for some low-carb masaman curry (sweetened with Splenda, and sans potatos) in a lettuce-wrap.

The funny thing is that when I’m hungry I feel GOOD about it. I feel like I can actually wait until mealtime to eat. It’s when I’m munchy that I run into trouble.

So… Day three, and it’s about par for the course. I’m doing a few calisthenics, and trying to work my way up to a full regimen of do-it-at-home exercises, but I’m still taking it kind of easy.

Once I lose another 8 pounds I get to treat myself to that big bowl of sticky-rice. But the bowl after that one is almost 20 pounds away…