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You call yourself my friends...
You call yourself my friends. If you are truly my friends, then we care about each other's success and wellbeing. I care about your success and wellbeing. That is why I want to share a thought with you that, above all others, is the reason why I have lost 48 pounds in around 2 months on here. It is not original, but it has…
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I am taking full responsibility for making a mistake.
Those of you who follow my exploits on MFP have likely recognized that I haven't been around here very much over the past week. In the trial and appellate litigation practice, the period between Halloween and Thanksgiving is as busy for litigators as the first two weeks of April are for tax accountants. That is so because…
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Things that people don't know about me.
Ok, my friend Otis Applethorpe assigned me the number zero. So here are that many things about me that most people don't know:
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Bottom and top
The good thing about hitting bottom is that there is nowhere to go but up.
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Just be there.
I did not write this. But I can share it with you. A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. “Your son is here,” she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words to him several times before the patient’s eyes opened. Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young…
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A pretty cool day.
Today was a pretty cool day. I had something shocking happen that proved I did the right thing in walking away from big paying "downtown" law firm job to open my sole practice 20 years ago. In the mid-1990's, a woman called me very upset wanting to appeal something that happened in family court. A bad result in a child…
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Price of Groceries
I remember being 14-15 years old back in the Dark Ages (mid-1970's). My father would take me grocery shopping so that I could help carry bags of groceries into our apartment. I grew up with five siblings, so he bought groceries for 8 people. And we were poor. So saving money mattered. One thing I remember the most is him…
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Last Cab Ride
I did not write this. I wish I had. But I can do the next best thing. I can share it with you. Last Cab Ride I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and…
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Towns that make you giggle.
Is there REALLY a Cumming, Georgia?
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A message to NYE 2013 me.
Hey, New Year's Eve 2013 me. It's me. Post-Labor Day holiday me. You remember Labor Day weekend, right? Beer, fudge, brats, brownies, bacon. Yeah. Well, it was wonderful fun eating that stuff during my three day foodstravaganza. Not so fun carrying it around my waist right now. So I'm going to make a promise to you. We…
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We've got your back.
On August 6, 2013, after a five month battle, my father-in-law died. His wife, my mother-in-law, has been by his side, day in, day out, for over half a century. Fifty-plus years. After the initial shock of his death began to subside, I knew there were things that needed to be done. They were the kind of things that my…
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Describe your manhood with the title of a movie.
Seven
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Need help with a PURELY hypothetical situation.
An MFP friend suggested that I post this on a message board. So here goes nothing. Let's say, PURELY hypothetically, you are half a country away from your house, cleaning out a deceased relative's home. And you happen upon a hypothetical bag of used rubber d*cks (and I don't mean ducks). Do you think the Salvation Army or…
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The Five Percent Solution.
Two mornings ago, I faced the 5% situation in court and met the challenge. This morning I did the same thing on my exercise walk. Thursday morning - I represented a high profile public official in a constitutional law case in federal district court. The issue was whether or not the court should dismiss the case in favor of…
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My MFP "Duh" moment after a year.
I passed the year mark on MFP last week. Was down 95, gained back 42, lost back 7 of that this past week. In the shower this morning, I had a major DUH moment that helped me understand how I gain weight so quickly and lose it so quickly. I am an anxiety eater. I tend to stuff my pie hole in order to fill holes caused by…
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One year on MFP.
I began MFP on July 26, 2012. I weighed 478 pounds. At the end of December, 2012, I had dropped 95 pounds to 383. I was knocking at the door of a 100 pound weight loss. Then I let real life interfere with what I was doing here. Over the next 7 months, my weight zoomed back up to 421. Still a 57 pound loss. But not the 120…
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Life nailed me but I didn't screw myself.
The usual warnings - I write long posts. If you have the attention span of a feral pig or get annoyed with long posts, don't read this one. Second, this post contains profanity. But it is contextually appropriate profanity that adds to the understanding of what I am trying to convey. If you feel the need to giggle when…
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June 19, 2013
I woke up this morning with my soul in as dark a place as the ink-black, pre-dawn sky. I worked so very hard from July of 2012 to January of 2012 to lose 95 pounds. Through anger eating, grief eating, and stress eating, I have put back a number of the pounds that I had lost. My clothes fit more tightly, my enthusiasm and…
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The change-up, the soft earth and the bluish-white sky...
I wrote this about a year and a half ago. Still makes me laugh to remember that day. One of the joys of having a son who plays competitive baseball is working him out during the off-season. This morning was a beautiful time to get out onto the baseball diamond. Fifty-five degrees, warm sun, a cool breeze, and low humidity.…
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Father's Day 2013
I've decided to be proactive and tell my kids what I want for Father's Day. Here it is: What I Want for Father’s Day Dear Sons, Father’s Day is coming up, and I thought I should tell you what I want. This way there’s no guilty panic or last minute purchasing of gift cards at the nearest convenience store. So, this is what…
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Mexican Grilled Corn with chile and lime
One of the true blessings of living in Houston, Texas, is that our city is so amazingly multicultural. Nowhere is this expressed more than in the foods that we eat. From New York deli to vietnamese bahn mi sandwiches to czech kolaches to one of my personal favorite recipes... Mexican Grilled Corn with chile and lime. It is…
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You just do.
About 9 months ago, I started my quest to lose about 260 or so pounds. I started at 478. In 5 months, I peeled off 95 pounds down to 383. Then "life" happened. The "what" is not important. The result is. Over the past 4 months, I have hutz-putzed around, sometimes logging food, sometimes not. Sometimes exercising,…
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Stepping out of the Shadows and back into the Sunshine
WARNING - Long post ahead. Many words will be used. Some of them, more than once. You have been warned. Approximately six months ago, I wrote a post on MFP about my sister who was very ill, and the difficulties I had in her not allowing me to help as much as I wanted to. Many of you responded to that post with wonderful…
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A favor.
When I took the big risk of opening my own law office in the early-to-mid 1990's, I hired a part time legal assistant, who turned into a full time legal assistant, who turned into a full time friend over the past two decades. We've known each other through raising our respective children, health scares, the death of loved…
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Not original, but amazing.
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books, and I thought to myself, “Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.” I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a…
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Best MFP Joke EVER
I went to the doctor for my yearly physical. The nurse started with the basics. "How much do you weigh?" she asked. "175," I said. The nurse put me on the scale. The scale said that I weigh 280. The nurse asked, "Your height?" "6 foot 3," I said. The nurse checked and saw that I only measured 5' 7." She then took my blood…
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My Shameful Secret.
For 17 years, I have been a volunteer little league umpire. It is one of the most rewarding things that I do. In addition to enjoying it, providing a community service, and being part of postive, formative activities for our neighborhood youth, it is extremely fun to do. When I am umpiring, time stands still. For two hours…
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The One-th of the Mon-th
Oh how I love the first day of a new month. April 1st. The first day of the month. The first day of a new calendar quarter. The second quarter of the year. But more important than that, a new month. A new chance to get it right as I resume my quest for health and fitness. A month in which I haven't yet screwed up or ruined…
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Why I have temporarily stopped logging.
God bless each of the dozen or so of you who have asked me over the past few days why I have stopped logging my food and exercise. I say that seriously, without a shred of sarcasm. I never imagined a place where people that I have never met cared so much about my wellbeing. Yes I have temporarily stopped logging. Yes I…
