By request, 2C4S, 3/02

I can tell by the message on my wall that it has been a few days. Possibly a week, or even more, since I last bedazzled you all with a fresh Too Cool. At this time, I find myself looking back a little bit to one of my first missives, the one, I believe, where I railed against the inanities of making New Year’s resolutions, while, most likely, I was compiling a list of things in the back of my mind that others might somehow consider resolutions. Hypocrite? Sure, why not. I guess there might have been a part of me that was trying to come at things a little more organically, rather than starting from scratch with some kind of New Year’s Powerpoint presentation on January 1.

So here we are, a little more than two months into the new year, far enough that it has lost some of that fresh, new year smell, but not so far that we should feel that we have not accomplished enough, not checked enough of our personal to do lists for the year. It is also sneaking up on slightly more than a month to go until my fortieth birthday, as good a time for personal stock taking as any other, as good as yesterday, as good as a 37th birthday or a 73rd birthday. And, as the year has progressed, it has been clear to me that there have been some changes, some slight reorganizations of my everyday life that seem positive and worth a mention.

I am still not exercising. Just thought I would get that one out of the way. But I have made some changes to be more aware of my health. The journey of a thousand steps begins with taking your vitamins everyday. Or something. Yes, I have been taking vitamins, I have tried to pay some attention to making dietary decisions that my heart will hopefully thank me for many, many years from now. I have gone at least one month without eating red meat. Since Carrie does not eat red meat, this typically translates to me not eating cheeseburgers from drive-throughs. I have not totally abandoned the Happy Meal place, but the prospect of chicken nuggets or a filet-o-fish is far less likely to pull me in. I do wish the suburbs of America were enlightened enough to have Falafel drive throughs. Other cultures do so much better at providing healthy eating options that actually taste good. In the US, seems like there are few options between eating a garden salad with flavorless chicken lumped on top or deep-frying something in lard. I’m feeling the no red meat plan should sail smoothly at least until grilling season. Cheeseburgers on the grill are about all I see myself craving at this point. I’m not even hankering for a steak. Frankly, steaks are one of the most disappointing foods on the planet. A great steak is a great steak, but 95 percent of the time, when I’ve had a steak, I’ve just felt it failed to live up to how good I wanted it to taste.

Successfully making the transition from afternoon coffee to afternoon green tea. Also eating at least a serving of nuts per day. Both those things are good for the heart. At least that’s what some article I read on Yahoo said. I’ll go with it …

Well, with the twin goals of not boring you too much in any single given day, and having something in the bank to write about real soon, I’m going to keep today’s musings strictly to the oh so exciting dietary changes I’ve made, and save the other random tidbits for another day. I gotta be able to respond quicker before KenNY comes after me on my wall again.