Another Dry Night

OK, so it may seem as if I'm obsessing, but this is BIG - Rachel went from about 8pm to after 7am without going to the bathroom and didn't wet herself. That makes six straight nights. I think this might have stuck. She'd been making it through the night dry for a while and, mostly, getting up and taking the diaper off to use the toilet, but then we got rid of the pabu (her word for pacifier) and she regressed significantly. That was months ago. It fell in the toilet and we'd already clearly established the rule that if the thing falls in the toilet it goes in the garbage. Then we lied mercilessly about how we'd see if we could get her another and how there were no more at the store. Took about 3 days before she really stopped asking for it, but the bedtime routines got thrown out of whack and we had to adjust for a while. I don't think we thought even for am oment of pushing the diaper issue at that point. Now she's come back to it on her own!

Dawn's father is visiting now for the weekend. I think he'll be going home on Tuesday. It should be a nice weekend. We have lots of stuff planned and Dawn and Rachel are taking time off today and Monday to spend with him. Last night we went to the Oakland Zoo's member night for the introduction of their new elephant, Osh. We had a grand old time, and the dinners they were selling, which had sounded pretty nice when we ordered them in advance were actually from Rick & Ann's, a great little restaurant (brunch especially) near the Claremont Hotel. YUM! Anyway, we took Rachel to see the monkeys, the giraffes, the elephants, and the tigers. When we were leaving the giraffes had just gone back into their night house and there was much discussion over what kind of pajamas they would wear. Naturally, we were all over the 'going to bed' part since it was getting late and we wanted to make sure it wouldn't be too much of a hassle to get Rachel in bed when we got home. She even asked the security guard at the exit if he was going to bed.

Tomorrow, we're going, along with my parents, neice & nephew, to the train museum in Sacramento. This should be great for all the kids, including Dawn's dad who will be just like one, I'm sure. He digs trains. The older the better. We were toying for a couple of minutes with trying to go back to the zoo on Saturday night when they do another member night, but that just seems like too much. Sunday will probably be more laid back during the day; I'm sure Rachel will want some time to be at home, but then we're going to the Giants game that starts at 5, assuming we don't decide we're too beat for that.

I just started buying some music on iTunes. I love KFOG, but it'll be nice to be able to start listening to my own music when I want. I was playing the stuff I've ripped at home while I was working there yesterday. Makes me want to get back to ripping our whole collection and being able to play it on the media center device I put on the stereo and have used... twice, I think. And, of course, now we're thinking of getting a couple of Tivo Series 2s, which also have digital music capabilities, so I can get rid of the media center thing... that'll be good too, because I want to turn on encryption on my wireless router, but can't as long as I have the media center on it.

Well, now I'm stuck. I can buy BB King's Anthology, which looks GREAT, and if I buy the album it comes with 2 very long extra songs. But it's 19.99 and I might like to have the original box, but I also might like to have it right now - instant gratification. Hmm... And this is interesting... Amazon has two versions, one 2-disc and one 3-disc. And the commentary for the 2-disc version points out that the 4-disc "King of the Blues" set is better (more comprehensive), and seeing the picture there makes me think I may own it. This is why I haven't bought much on iTunes yet, because I don't really know what I have! But this settles it - I'm going to have to get down to pulling off all my music. Might have to buy a couple large hard drives, one for the original rip and one as a backup (which I'll put in an enclosure and not have connected except when I'm backing stuff up).

I did 'The Zone's body fat measurements today. In about mid-June my waist (@ the umbilicus) was 42.5 or 40 inches, depending on whether I held my stomach in (not SUCKED it in, just held). Now it's 39.5 or 38. I haven't lost any weight this month, just hovered within a couple of pounds of 235, but I have been thinking I might have lost some more size. According to these measurements and the table in the book, I've dropped from either 23 or 21% to 20 or 17%. Either way, it's better. Interestingly, while I'm trying to keep my meals balanced in the direction of 'the Zone', I'm not keeping to a low carb diet anymore and I haven't gained any real weight back. Dawn and I are thinking of, after the summer fruit season, doing the no carb thing again for a few weeks. I'd like to see if it has the same effect again and can take me down even further. I think my numeric target is somewhere between 210 and 225, but that's only a general indicator - I'm much more interested in how I look and feel.

We're going to have landscaping done soon... Luke will start around 8/9. Have to figure out exactly what and how much we want him to do as far as the landscaping goes; we're hiring him in large part because we like his style and we want him to help us with the plant selection and initial management. But I really should get to work, so I'll have to sort that out later.