The Holidays….

The Holidays were fairly relaxing for me this year, which is something I was in fair need of. I had a couple days to enjoy all to myself before going up to Edmonton, which in turn gave me time to contemplate the news given to me by my Cardiologist on the 20th. I forced myself not to think about it overly much though and set about cleaning my place and doing some last minute shopping.

Saturday and Sunday were spent in Edmonton with my Folks and my Sister. As an added bonus my Mom’s brother and wife were there too. It was a great little visit. It was short though, and on Monday (Christmas day) I was on my way back to Calgary. This time however, I had a passenger with me, as Dad wanted to visit with his sister in Calgary. So I was lucky enough to visit two sides of the family throughout the holidays.

Dad and I even managed to throw some darts before he left back for McMurray on the 27th. I think we split a bunch of those games, but it was still a lot of fun. I wish the visit could have been longer.

The 30th was a pretty good day. I managed to throw some darts with a good friend of mine – Christian. He of course kicked my ass, but I managed to sneak in the occasional win so I wasn’t too disappointed. Later that evening was the broadcast of UFC 66. Great fights! Chuck Liddel retained his title in a fight against Tito Ortiz, but one of my favorites – Forest Griffin, lost a heartbreaker to Keith Jardine. Canadian Jason Macdonald took out Chris Leben. I was happy that he won since he fights out of Edmonton, but he looked really sluggish and not at all like the fighter I had watched defeat Ed Herman. He was pretty cocky after the fight was finished too. Good to see a Canadian do well, but I’m not a big fan of a fighter that struts like that after the win.

Dec 31st was also a pretty good day. I managed to visit with friends I haven’t seen in quite a while. I spent some time shooting pool over at Darren Rounce’s place after which we went over to Kelly and Tony’s place for drinks. We met up with Dez and Steph there before slipping over to the Kilt and Cabre down in Mackenzie town. The New Year’s party there was pretty good and the buffet had prime rib, lobster tail and ham for us to enjoy. Mmmmm mmmmm. It was sooo good I can’t believe I held myself back and didn’t go for seconds. My friend Christian joined us there just after we all arrived. It was a great time especially since Calgary won the hockey game that night too! I was surprised that the place wasn’t packed though. Still, plenty of eye candy to enjoy. ;)

I wasn’t thrilled to go back to work however. It was really nice sleeping in every day and being able to set my own agenda. Heck, even just playing with my cats was a treat. I’m sure that they enjoyed my company too. J Of course with my return to work, the worry I had suppressed before is now resurfacing. My Thallium Stress Test is only a week away. I’m dreading this test. I really don’t want to think of the possibilities of having another blockage and everything that goes along with that. I have to think positive but I still want to be realistic too. In the end, I can console myself with the fact that I have been actively trying to stay healthy and have not been very self destructive.

On the plus side, I have joined a weight loss competition at work to see about loosing a few more pounds. We are called the Fat Bastards Club (FBC for short) and have just over 20 members. It requires an entry fee of 50 bucks to join and the duration is 3 months. Over that time period, the person who looses the greatest percentage of fat will win the prize. I conservatively estimate that I will loose an average of 2 lbs per week for a total of about 24 lbs. That puts me at just over 10%. I think I’ll have a decent chance of being in the top 3 with that kind of weight loss. We’ll see what happens I guess. Maybe my competitors will lose their discipline and quit trying after a while, which should help my placement somewhat too. I’ll keep you posted with updates on this blog every once in a while.