One Week Down...

Well, after one week on the South Beach diet (phase one), I've lost 4.8 pounds.  My aim isn't really to lose weight, or not any significant weight anyway, but it still feels good to know that my metabolism hasn't slowed down too much.  The diet itself hasn't been bad at all, and I'm not craving sugar or bread or chocolate at all.  No, really.

The Up band has been very cool (thanks again, honey!), and the only hiccup I've seen with it so far was more than likely caused by me.  I've been using it to keep track of my meals and how I feel after them, as well as my sleep and my walking, and I think it's all tying in nicely with the diet and my aim to improve my health and fitness this year.  Laura and I intend to start playing tennis in the spring, which will be great for the both of us.

I believe I've finally resolved the ChinCam (http://www.andersensilva.com/chincamp.php) issues, by setting up my old iPhone 3G S as the webcam and by dumping Stickam in favor of USTREAM.  Though Meguilla the chinchilla is not going to be active 24/7, the stream will be up more often than it's down.  Maybe Meggy would be more interested in entertaining you if there were raisins involved...!  Chinny playtime, a nightly occurrence in the Silva/Liston household, will not be televised, for the most part, because it involves Meggy running all over the dining room floor, and often over us as well, and there's just no easy way to keep a cam trained on her.  There is also now a YouTube channel for the grumpchilla's finer moments, though!  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/meggychincam

I've started reading one of my Christmas gifts, "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid," by Douglas R. Hofstadter, and while it's not light reading at all, it's quite an intriguing book, and it had the unexpected side effect of prompting me to purchase and start listening to some Bach.  I've always been a Mozart fan, but I've now discovered that I really enjoy Bach, too.  Nothing wrong with switching the KMFDM and Metallica and Regina Spektor and Beatles with some Bach once in a while, eh?

I finally spent some more time with the guitar yesterday afternoon and started coming up with music to a new song, "So Much Happy."  I still need to record "Burning in the Sun" and "Let Me," both of which were written last year, and there are older songs which stil haven't been recorded, either, but it feels good to want to write music again.

SOPA sucks.  Google, Twitter, Facebook, and other Web giants have purportedly considered a one-day blackout in protest, and to demonstrate against the bill, though this is far from confirmed.  I hope they do it.  Too few Americans are paying attention to what gets done in their names these days, and suddenly not having access to those sites would certainly make them take notice.

One week down, fifty-one to go...  How's the New Year treating you?