Thursday morning things

* Recycling the can....I'm not so sure. I don't know what kind of metal it is (not lightweight enough to be aluminum, I haven't tried the magnet test) and also, there's lots of plastic stuff attached, and our local metals-recycling places tend to be picky about non-pure metals. (And recycling here is challenging.). Also it's really dirty, and I'd probably feel duty bound to wash it before taking it to recycling.

If it weren't so old and grimy I'd try putting it out in my yard to see if someone stole it (! No, really - I have lost sprinklers THAT WERE ATTACHED TO HOSES that way)

Maybe I save it for the next "bulky waste" day even though we've been told technically that's just for yard waste - but other people put couches and stuff out and they get picked up.

We have rollcarts with limited space in them so I can't just bung it in the rollcart.

I probably need to call the recycling center in town anyway and see if they will accept electronic waste (they have "days" when they do, but they are usually when I am at work all day). I have a broken dvd player, and old computer that's been stripped of its hard drive, a couple broken lamps....I need to get rid of all of them but I don't want to put them to the curb (I don't want someone to take the lamp that has a short in it somewhere and burn their house down) and I don't want to just put them in the trash.

I also have a still-working HP 720 inkjet printer I would love to give away, but I don't have the drivers for it any more and I doubt it would work with the higher-level Windows that are out right now. I've asked around and so far no takers. Maybe I take it to the Choctaw center as well and tell them, "It works but no one wants it"

* I got all the dropped stitches on La Grasse Matinee fixed, but the circular I found as a replacement has a shorter cable so they're a lot more crowded on there. (I THINK the needle that broke was one of the basic KnitPicks circulars - anyway, it had a purplish cord. I need to order a new, longer, size 3 circular but I think I'm going to spring for a more-expensive and hopefully more-reliable brand this time. I've never had problems with the Clover bamboo needles I use....)

* My brother and sister-in-law's birthday present to me came yesterday (I don't count my niece on it, really, she's too young to have spending money). It was the second "My Recital" CD (I had the first one - this was a pianist who played some of the simpler pieces that beginning students learn). Also a copy of "The Manga Guide to Regression." I know basic linear regression but really need to bone up on multivariate - haven't touched it in years.

(Then again: Math might wrest Biostats back from us, so I might not have to deal with it. Makes me sad - a few years ago there was talk of me "maybe" doing an advanced biostats class for our grad students.... it's an enrollment thing. When enrollments drop, the turf wars start. Though I will say one of the math profs said, with amazement, "She teaches them how to use *SPSS*? As undergrads?" so I guess I'm doing something right.

(And I admit my reaction to that was kind of "Honey, please...." I used SPSS back when you had to write your own programs and run it on a mainframe, the menu-driven version we have now is a doddle. As long as you know how the data structure works and what buttons to click, you can analyze data, so what is more important is knowing what test is appropriate when, and I cover that)

* Also, my friend Purlewe sent me a Simpson and Vail (teas) gift certificate. (They also sell a few gourmet food items and I may spend part of it on a jar of clotted cream, which I love and cannot buy locally)

* For Lent (and for other reasons) I decided to essentially giving up eating desserts (Well, other than designating one of the servings of fruit as a "dessert.") Or at least cut way way back, and cut back on carbohydrates - partly for weight loss, partly as just a little test to see what it does to my blood pressure (I think for me, too much sugar raises it - I've read that that's not impossible, so).

The annoying thing is: yes, I can tell I feel physically better eating less sugar. It does make the "augh, it's 8 pm and I didn't eat enough at dinner" a bit more challenging. I probably need to start keeping boiled eggs on hand again. (Cheese is too tough to digest that late in the evening for me).

I don't know that I could sustain a "no added sugars, ever*" diet FOREVER but maybe I can convince myself to cut back/limit based on this.

(*And yeah, the chocolate chips I put in my oatmeal have added sugars, but it's not MUCH given that they're bittersweet chips - it's probably less sugar than if I added maple syrup, for example)

And yeah, it will make navigating "public meals" a bit more challenging but at least with church or AAUW stuff I can cite Lent for now and people will understand.

(Other reasons: I have a fear and horror of being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and having to take YET ANOTHER darn medication. Never mind that I'm v. active, I didn't eat that much sugar to begin with, and my family history of it is weak at best. And no, I don't have any symptoms. But I didn't have any noticeable symptoms of hypertension either. Already most of my meals are at or close to the 45 g of carbohydrate limit so I could PROBABLY manage the dietary changes expected without too much trouble, but meh - I'd rather not develop it, if there are things I can do to prevent it)

I will say my gut has been a lot happier these past few days with less sugar, though I can't tell if that's just having just got over a stomach virus that I didn't realize I had, or if sugar and gluten do bother me ever so slightly. I still eat rye bread (lower in carbohydrates, as it turns out) and have no ill effects and I know that has gluten, so....I doubt I have a gluten intolerance because from everything I've read, I'd be malnourished and losing weight if I did, and I seem pretty robust and am giving up carbs in order to LOSE weight....

And yeah, I know, the whole FODMAPs thing but I am trying to ignore that as a possibility because a lot of the foods I default to (yogurt, cheese, fruit) would become no-nos on that diet, and I don't have a good reliable local meat source, so when I am too busy to drive to Sherman, I kind of have to rely on beans and cheese as protein sources.

(And I ate a lot of beets and garbonzos last night and suffered no ill effects, so....)