Morning, Afternoon, Evening

Posted on January 22, 2012 by bakuzen

I admit, this will probably be a little boring to most, but I’m going to write about it anyway because it’s something that is salient with me, for some reason. I’m not offended if you move on.

I partition my day into three catagories: morning, afternoon, and evening. When  I say day, I mean only when the sun is up. Before the sun comes up it’s early morning and and then of course night, but I don’t really bother with those. Morning runs from when the sun comes up to, of course, around noon. Then afternoon goes until around 5pm. Evening goes until the sun goes down. So far things are pretty normal. I’ve “lived” in 10 places in my life, each with a varied amount of time. I consider myself having lived somewhere if I either registered with a government office, or sent and received mail with an address in that town/city. Stick with me, these two things, where I have lived and day categories, do go together.

For each place I’ve lived, I have either liked or disliked each time of day for that city/town/village. I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever heard of anyone else with this kind of classification. Maybe some people just don’t like afternoons in general, or mornings, or whatever, but it might just be because of that certain place they lived.

The following are places where I’ve lived and the day categories that I liked. The places I’ve lived are ordered by how long I lived in them, longest first:

Ontario – morning, evening. All of my growing up years, I never liked the afternoon. I thought it was just how I was, it was always hot, kind of boring, usually tired, stuff like that.

Provo – evening. I liked Provo in general, but the only time of day that stood out to me was evening.

Nancy – afternoon – Strangely, mornings and evenings weren’t anything great in Nancy, at least not like they were in other places I’ve lived.

Gimsbach/Saarbrücken afternoon, evening. Gimsbach and Saarbrücken aren’t even in the same state, but I split my time between the two during our first year in Germany. Gimsbach had very lovely afternoons, even on hot summer days, and the evenings were picture perfect. The only problem I had with Gimsbach was that there was a fair-sized hill to the west which meant the sun went down earlier than even a neighboring town.

Sendai – morning, afternoon, evening. I could be out and about in Sendai anytime and in any part of the city. Sendai is my favorite place of all time.

Aomori – morning, evening. Aomori is a great city in Tohoku, and the evenings were always splendid.

Elverdissen/Bielefeld - morning, afternoon, evening. I love that Elverdissen is quiet at all times of day, and is always pleasant. I have gone running, on walks, or on drives at all times and it is always awesome.

Joetsu - evening. I loved my first mission area, but the best time was in the evening.

Tagajo – evening. One of the strangest places I’ve ever lived.

Yamagata – morning, afternoon, evening. I loved Yamagata. I loved walking the streets at any time of day.

So, before you think that you are a morning person, or afternoons don’t do it for you, then it might just be related to where you live.

Posted in France, Germany, Gray Area, Japan | Leave a comment

Herford Frieseur Wagnitz

Posted on January 21, 2012 by bakuzen

I arrived in Bielefeld in September to start looking for a house. It just so happened that I stayed with Rüdiger and Doris Wagnitz, whom I had never met before. They were so kind to me the first time I stayed and they even let me stay a second time. In fact, it we because I stayed with them that I accidentally found the house where we currently live, just down the street from them. They helped us make phone calls, gave us some very useful advice about the area, and even let us stay with them (3 kids and all) while we waited for November to come and our house to become available. We have become very good friends with this very awesome couple.

It also happens that they are both hair dressers. They run a salon in Elverdissen (which is between Bad Saltzuflen, Herford, and Bielefeld in Germany) and they do an awesome job. They have very nice facilities. They also do things like massages, make up, and bridal services, if you are in need.

This post is a plug for them…. if you are ever in the area, it would be worth it to make an appointment. Here is their website:

http://www.friseur-kosmetik-wagnitz.de/

They also have a Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/wagnitz.friseur.kosmetic

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France Tribute

Posted on January 15, 2012 by bakuzen

Now that we’ve been in Germany for 3 months, I can say that there are certain things I miss about France. It doesn’t mean that we don’t love where we live, we certainly do, but there are some differences. Of course, we’ve been through this before. We’ve moved 4 times in the past 5 years, and we miss certain things about each place we’ve lived. When I was a missionaries, I lived in 6 different places in Japan, and it was the same story there.

I have found some good running paths here, but I do miss my old 5-mile running route that took me through some of the prettiest parts of the city. I also liked the area in that it was near the Alscace region and not far from Switzerland. I loved that it was near the Vosges Mountains which quickly became my favorite part of France.

At first, I was wary about the food, but now I miss it. We were able to get some things like certain snack foods, cookies, and other French-ish things that were nice. They sell vanilla flavoring in large quantities, something difficult to find in Germany. They had excellent butter, but Germany wins with yogurt by far. I liked Cora, the big hyper-market that we shopped at. It had everything, and things were of pretty good quality. I miss the bakery that was close to our apartment. They had amazing baguettes, very unique in how they were made, and the best lemon tarts. Oh yes.

I don’t miss our apartment or the area of the city where we lived, though the view from our apartment wasn’t the worst thing in the world. I remember clearly how nice the month of March and April were. It was so sunny and the weather in general allows for more sun through the year, which I do miss. Germany tends to have more clouds and rain. We’re also a lot farther north, so the sun goes down a lot earlier at this time of year.

I’ve been to a lot of European cities and they all of their very unique feel. Some have nice places to walk around, others are more vehicle-friendly. I admit that I really liked the downtown area of Nancy. It was nice to walk from the train station along the main street, then turn north towards the main square, Place Stanislas. Most areas of the city were somewhat dirty, as cities can be, and where we now live is very, very clean.

Though not something I did often, France is full of American cemeteries and I was able to visit some of them. We were close to 2 and they are really holy places.

Finally, the thing I miss the most are the people. We became friends with a lot of people while there. Despite the regular strike or demonstration, I found that overall the people in that area of France were nice. Of course there were exceptions. I don’t miss the doofis group of young men who rode their scooter continually around our building, waking up the girls from naps all the time. The people I really miss are those that were in our ward at church. We became fast friends with many of them. They were so welcoming to us, many invited us over to their homes and it was fun to see how French people live day-to-day. We still keep in touch with them and pray for them. We hope to go back in a month or two to visit and button up a few things that we still need to do.

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Endlich

Posted on January 15, 2012 by bakuzen

It finally happened last week….

Actually, I had been praying for it. It made me kind of nervous that our temporary stay visas for France (but good for Europe) had long expired and our residence permits hadn’t arrived. I had made several trips to the city office in Herford, but, as it usually happens, there were problems. It was the first time that office had to deal with a “visiting scholar” visa, and one with kids for that matter. Then there was a problem with my income, etc. We worked through it all and were finally approved, then we had to wait until the cards were made (that’s new this year, too… it used to just be a sticker in your passport, but now you have to have a card with a chip), which made it take longer. But, finally, on Thursday we got the letters informing us that they were ready. We went in on Friday to pick them up. Because of my scholarship type, they didn’t cost anything, so that was really nice. So, we can legally live in Germany for a few more years.

In other news, we test-drove a car that we are getting into a serious relationship with. We’re trying to find a way to make it a little more permanent… we’ll see what happens this week.

Other than that, life goes on. Mary is almost sitting up on her own and using her hands more. We found a kindergarten for Elsa and signed up. We will find out if she has a spot in a few weeks, then in August she can go in the mornings. We’re feeling more settled after the new year without anything crazy to look forward to, which is kind of nice. On the other hand, winter is finally upon us and I am ready for spring.

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How to Lose Weight

Posted on January 8, 2012 by bakuzen

I’ve seen blog posts and Facebook status updates that proclaim how someone lost X lbs in an incredibly short amount of time. I always debate whether or not I should spoil the party by telling them why they really lost the weight, but I usually don’t because I’m happy and optimistic that it really is only the beginning of some real weight loss. So far, however, 100% of the time there are no more posts of weight loss for that person. In the end, they didn’t lose any weight at all.

What happened was they lost water weight. I can weigh myself, go run 10 miles on a hot day, sweat a lot, and then weight myself again to find that I lost a whopping 4 lbs in one day!!! Most of the weight that I lost, however, was water through sweat. “So?” you are thinking. You read somewhere on some credible website like Pinterest and see that sweating is equivalent to losing huge amounts of weight. If you read slightly more credible sources, you’ll find that you should weigh yourself before a workout (especially when it is hot) and weigh yourself after. That will tell you how much water you lost, and how much water you should, therefore, replenish.

I’ve only lost weight two ways. The first was accidentally swallowing a parasite (either through bad sushi or some slightly undercooked meat) which resulted in the loss of 50 lbs in less than 3 months. Wow! Amazing! Fast and easy! Really, I didn’t have to do anything. However, it was a horrible, horrible three months for me physically (the heartburn, folks). I didn’t know what was wrong with me until months later and I found some medicine that killed the parasite (I admit that I owe that one to alternative medicine). The weight I lost wasn’t only chub, it was also muscle and probably some of my vital organs. I haven’t really been the same since. Don’t lose weight that way.

The other way was the traditional way. I lost 20 lbs in 2007 by….wait for it… exercise and healthy eating! The bottom line, folks, is calories, calories, calories. Maybe you read the article where a professor lost 27 lbs on a Twinkie diet. The point he made was that he lost weight by lowering his calorie count. It didn’t matter what he ate as long as his calorie quote wasn’t breeched.

So, here goes some caloric questions. You want to lose weight (pounds, kilos), but you are supposed to count your calories. So, the question is, (1) how many calories equal a pound of fat? The answer is about 3,500. If an average human can consume 2k calories in a day, that means a pound of fat is about two days worth of food. That also means that you consume a pound of fat in two days by regular activities. Next question (2)…. if you go for a run at an average speed (6 mph = 10 minutes per mile) then how many calories do you burn per mile? The answer is about 100, maybe a little bit more. That means that you would need to run a marathon to lose 1 lb of chub. You also probably hate running.

If you didn’t know either of those two facts, then your understanding of calories needs improvement. With that in mind, here is how to lose weight….

1. Understand calories. The goal here is that you are able to look at food and guess the calories within a pretty small margin of error. This means calorie counting. This means keeping a journal of your food intake. There are some useful websites like loseit.com (they have phone apps, too) where it’s really easy to keep track of your meals, snacks, whatever. I thought I knew about calories, but then I used losit.com for a number of weeks last year and I was surprised at how many calories certain things had. It took me about 2 months for me to be able to guess how many calories things had with any degree of accuracy.

2. Dealing with Hunger. There are some real problems when trying to lose weight, and one of them is the fact that you are hungry more often. Hunger stinks. It’s probably not motivating enough to say that through a diet you’ll be able to better empathize with people who are always hungry (but if it is, you can skip to the next part). Hunger is real and needs to be dealt with. This isn’t trivial, and it takes a number of weeks before you can really control yourself.  I’ll explain how to deal with this a little bit later.

3. Cravings are real. Maybe you love chocolate or gummy bears (guilty), bacon or ice cream, or…worse….bacon ice cream. when I say the word craving, I mean that sometimes you really really want to eat something, you have a hankering, whatever. Cravings are as real as hunger, and often the two work together against you. When I think fo the word “fulfilling” after eating something, I usually think that it satisfied a craving rather than a hunger.

And important principle: If you’ve spent time counting calories, you’ll notice that certain things have a lot more calories than others. Some things keep you full longer than others. You need to keep full (against hunger) and satisfied (against cravings). This is where weight is lost. This is where you need to figure out what you should do.

Here is the main point: losing weight isn’t just something to check off of a list. Say you make your weight loss goals and lost X lbs… check! Then what? Usually, it’s back to doing things the way you did them before and gaining the friggin’ weight right back. The main point, therefor, is this: you need to become such that you are healthier, whatever that means to you. This become concept has been worded in many ways (lifestyle change, healthy habits, etc), but it all means a long-term change and not going back to the old ways.

It essentially means changing the way you think about food.

Here’s how I did it. I lost 20 lbs in 2007 but then gained them back in 2009 after moving to a country which had awesome bakeries. I then lost 15 lbs in 2011 and kept it all off through Christmas and New Years. I made and kept some rules for myself. First, I spent 2 months around April and May using loseit.com. That made things easier. Here are some rules that I used, and some others that might work for you:

*count miles instead of calories – I like to run, so when I looked at a candy bar I would think about how many miles I would need to run to burn if off (Snickers = 3 miles). That put calories in perspective.

*Eat an awesome breakfast – this one was hardest for me because I love breakfast foods. When I say awesome, I mean one that deals with the two problems of hunger and satisfaction. For the past 6 months I’ve only eaten a half-cup of oatmeal with a handful of raisins. Oatmeal is amazing… it is very low in calories and keeps you full for hours. I eat at 6:00 am and I don’t feel any real hunger until around noon. It’s not as satisfying as, say, Captain Crunch, but that’s one of the parts of becoming such that I eat healthier. For the first two months I really didn’t like it, but after a while I started to love oatmeal for breakfast. Now, when I eat anything else, I just don’t feel as good for the rest of the day. By the time lunch hits, I’ve only consumed 400 calories.

Useful point: Flavor isn’t the only thing about food that is important. Flavor lasts for a short time, but eating the right food means feeling good and that is much longer lasting and has implications in other areas of your life.

*Fruits and veggies. You don’t have to eat fruits and veggies to lose weight, but here’s why they help: they provide more filling for the calories. You can eat like 5 carrots and not breech 100 calories and be full forever. Most veggies are like that. When I was really trying to lose weight last year, I would eat two carrots right before lunch to fill me up before I ate my regular lunch, and I made my regular lunch smaller than usual. That way I was always filled up and always satisfied (real lunch food after the carrots). My wife has learned how to make an awesome salad, and we always have a huge one for dinner before our main meal for the very same purpose. Now I crave the salad towards the end of my day. We are full, didn’t eat too many calories, and veggies, believe it or not, have a lot of vitamin and mineral content so it translates to real, lasting energy for the next day.

*Exercise to earn. In 2007 I decided to choose my favorite treat (Otis Spunkmeyer Chocolate Chip Cookies!!!!) and only eat them after I went running. Further, a rule was that I could only eat half as many calories as I burned when I ran. It’s really hard to lose weight only by adding exercise. It often doesn’t happen. You have to improve your food input. The two complement each other… when you exercise you feel like eating healthier things naturally, and when you eat healthy things you want to move around and be active. Exercise does burn calories, but if you want to lose weight fast, then when you exercise don’t count it as extra calories you can take in. Exercise will help you lose weight faster, but it won’t help you as much with becoming.

*Don’t rush things. This might be the most important one. If losing weight means becoming such that you are healthier overall, it means a change of a habit and that isn’t trivial, so you need to afford yourself time. I usually afford myself 6 months to lose 10 lbs. That’s pretty slow and you want to look good now. Well, you probably can but usually quick weight-loss things don’t change anything about your habits.

*If you must have sweets, then decide when and how much is enough. Sweets don’t satisfy hunger, they are mostly for cravings. I love LOVE sweets. I love candy, chocolate, pasteries, cake, pie, and the like. I love going to bakeries and sampling the awesome things they have. Actually, I don’t do that anymore (become). In fact, I don’t eat much sweets at all. I’ve chosen my favorites (usually chocolate based) and eat them. I only eat them at the end of the day and I only eat a certain amount. I don’t count calories anymore, but I know when enough is enough for the day.

*Only eat during certain time intervals. This might mean setting a rule to not eat anything within 2 hours before bed, or something like that.

*Drink lots of water. Fluids are awesome to help you curb hunger AND cravings. Try it.

Things I am working on now:
*becoming such that I like dark chocolate more…meaning dark chocolate will satisfy my craving for sweets, but offer fewer calories
*very little sugar… I have found that I have a daily threshold of sugar intake. If I breech that, I get a headache.
*oatmeal in the morning (probably forever more, though maybe I’ll substitute the raisins for something). I just get some dry oatmeal, put it into a bowl, mix in a handful of raisins, then pour in hot water and wait 30 seconds. Fast, easy, full. I then drink a lot of water after that (water further expands the oatmeal in my stomach, keeping me fuller longer) and water is just awesome anyway
*when I start to feel hungry, I give myself 30 minutes before responding… this allows me to train myself to live with being hungry once in a while (aka self-control, a must). I have found that when I feel hungry, it is really actually milder than what real hunger means.
*I exercise by running several times a week. I also do core workouts for 10 minutes several times a week. That helps my back never hurt. I only eat fast food or pasteries on days I run over 8 miles.
*I refrain from “cleaning up” my kids’ food. I hate waste, and I usually down the last few spoonfulls of whatever they didn’t eat, but no more of that. Throw it away.
*Walk around more – I spend most of my day at a computer, so I’m trying to get into the habit of walking around when I need to read or listen to something.
*etc.

Okay, I’m not perfect. Some days I go all-out and eat more than I should but I always regret it, not because I went back on my goals, but beacuse it always makes me feel worse. Tired. Sick. This is a good sign. It means that I prefer to eat better. It’s evidence of becoming. I hope in 2012 that will continue and by the end of the year, even if I haven’t lost a lot of weight, I think about food differently in a way that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Good luck.

Posted in Gray Area | 2 Comments