Daily Thoughts 4/23/2009

"Fact and Fiction". Color halftone reproduction of painting by American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), used as cover illustration for "Leslie's illustrated weekly newspaper", vol. 124, no. 3201, 11 January 1917.

Daily Thoughts 4/23/2009

I have a day off today. I spent much of the morning relaxing and unwinding. I watched a few more episodes of Roughnecks Starship Troopers on Youtube. I am enjoying it a lot. The CGI animation is excellent. There is also a lot of action in the shows.

I received the confirmation for Automatically Yours from Baker & Taylor for some fiction authors. They were not able to do all the authors I would have liked, but still covered quite a few authors. There are a lot of authors which are popular just at our library because of cultural and social composition of our community.

I also did my exercises from the book Yoga RX and listened to the hypnosis tape that came with the book I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna. I found a flaw with the book. While it has gotten me to eat less and lose some weight, it has not told me the specifics of the kind of food I should be eating. I will probably have to go back over proper nutrition to lose more weight. I am going to have to read some books on what to eat, not how to eat. I am going to try the Eat This, Not That! series of books by David Zinczenko and the Volumetric diet.

I'll probably walk up the hill to my local library and drop off some books. I am going to read something light and entertaining next. Maybe, a science fiction novel, or a nice graphic novel to take my mind off work. I went to my library and dropped off two books. I did not find anything I wanted to read. When I got back I got a recommendation to read Good to great : why some companies make the leap--and others don't by James C. Collins. It is very nice outside and the sky is clear.

Daily Thoughts 3/12/2009

Pablo Neruda reading at the Library of Congress, United States, June 20, 1966, government photograph, public domain.

Daily Thoughts 3/12/2009

I am off today. I walked around the neighborhood and walked up to my local library. All of the computers were full with people. The building was full as well. I did not pick up anything to read today at the library.

I am still listening to the cd that came with the book, I Can Make You Thin, and doing the exercises from Yoga RX. I have lost a pant size and have had to rummage through my closet to get my old clothes that did not fit before. I am going to have to have my pants taken in. My doctor asked me to do aerobic exercise every day to increase my heart rate. I am trying to compromise on this by doing lots of walking. I don't particularly like to move quickly.

Daily Thoughts

Paul Alexis Reading a Manuscript to Zola. Paul Cezanne.

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Right now, I am reading I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna as well as Building Hope. I Can Make You Thin is a behavior management program for eating. It admonishes you to eat what you want, stop eating when you are full, eat when you are hungry, and eat slowly. There are sections on how to make exercise fun as well as how to identify eating when you are angry, stressed or frustrated. I am about halfway through the book. It includes a hypnosis tape which runs for about half an hour. I have not played it yet. The book is not complicated and it is not like most diet books.

I finished reading the book in about two and half hours. There is also a hypnosis cd which has a guided relaxation and positive reinforcement session that runs for about half an hour. I found it quite relaxing.

In addition to the hypnosis tapes there are short meditative exercises focused on changing your body image, preventing cravings, and picturing yourself differently. My favorite example is an exercise with a mirror which asks to look at how you would look if you were in excellent physical shape.

This is not a diet book, it is a behavior modification book focused on food. It asks you to change specific behaviors and gives you meditative exercises on how to do this. I have to say reading this was quite different than what I expected. I don't know if it will work until a later date.

I found this book on Twitter, Sterling Publishers was advertising it on Twitters as part of a book marketing campaign. The book is in british english which makes it read a bit differently than many books which I have read. It does have a slightly new age feeling to it because of the meditation exercises, but it is not overbearing.

This was a nice short break from Building Hope. We have hundreds of diet books at the library. People are asking for The Zone, Pritikin, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, the American Heart Association diet, and many different diets. There are not just popular diets, there are also diets for specific conditions; heart disease, kidney problems, cancer, diabetes, celiac disease and many other conditions.

The diet books have even spun off into the cookbooks section. Now, you can get your American Heart Association diet book, get your American Heart Association cookbook, and get your American Heart Association exercise book in one step. Diet books are no longer diet books, they are a package of different books. Maybe, after you get your books, you can go to a meeting to discuss the three books at your local American Heart Association chapter. I am using American Heart Association because it is reputable much like the American Diabetes Association. I have trouble believing the commercial companies like Jenny Craig or Weightwatchers.

It is very hard to make sense out of the proliferation of these books. You wonder every time someone gets a diet book whether or not they will actually help. I sometimes am a little cynical about these kind of books.

Daily Thoughts

Hans Christian Andersen in his living room at his home in Nyhavn 18 in Copenhagen.

Daily Thoughts.

The BookCalendar is reviewing Rabbit Angstrom in memory of John Updike. It is sad to see this writer. While, I was not particularly fond of his works. I was fond of what he represented. http://www.thebookcalendar.com/

I am still reading Building Hope by John Bateson. It is a very serious book and a very slow read because he is trying to add depth and say very meaningful things. This could take me a while to read. There is quite a bit on hiring people both for board positions as well as staff positions.

I have another book which I am plainning on reading. I found the book on Twitter. It is called I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna. I am still watching my diet and doing yoga every single night.