I am headed on a trip in the next few weeks.  I know that at 197 lbs some people will be wishing they weren’t sitting next to me because of my weight, but I do know for sure they’ll be wishing they weren’t sitting next to me because I’ll be traveling with the baby hahaha!!!

In all seriousness though, those airplane seats are a good reminder, a good inspiration to keep on The Program.

What inspires you to live a healthy lifestyle?  What inspires you on your weight loss journey?

We did a lot of exploring and walking during our trip. I’m so happy that I have been walking and exercising the last few months. If I would have went on this trip 7 months ago I don’t think I would have been able to do half of what I did. I was able to climb narrow stone spiral stairs in a castle tower all the way to the top! I was really scared but I did it and felt so proud! My weight has always held me back, more so in my mind than anywhere else. Going to Ireland is something that I have always wanted to do and having went now I know that the other things I have held back on can be accomplished.

Next week I am hoping to get back on track with my excercise routine. This week ive just felt like my head will explode from all the sinus pressure so ive been taking it easy. The only plus to being sick was when I went to the doctors I stood on the scale and I had actually lost weight. I will credit this to all of the exploring I did in Ireland.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. I thought I would share them with you.

My brother and I in Peppers Pub.

Bunratty Castle, Ireland. Climbed up to the top of the tower! The view was amazing. Then later that night we went to a medieval banquet which they hold in the soldiers hall. It was a lot of fun!

The scary spiral stairs we had to climb to get to the top of the castle tower. These suckers went around soooooo many times. It was scary. It was a challenge. It was worth it though.

Ashford Castle. Cong, Ireland. We stayed here our first night. The castle was converted into a five start hotel. The staff and service were amazing. This was by far my favorite place we went to during the entire trip. There were so many nooks and crannies to explore!

Kylemoore Abbey, Ireland. We took a bus tour up to the north western section of the country. This abbey was used as a private girls school up until last year. It was beautiful but the Victorian gardens and the view were the best parts of the location.

This is the view from the abbey, it was set in this valley next to a lake with these impressive mountains surrounding it. I wish this was my backyard

Hope everyone is well. I will update the blog more soon.

I have been adding the core, arms and leg exercise into my routine (thanks Ann for checking up on me). I have really been feeling the burn. I looked up different arm exercises online and also spoke to a friend of mine who goes to a trainer. I put together a mix of exercises that I think should work. At any rate its better than doing nothing. I still wish I could see results right away. I am working on accepting that it is a slow process.

 I figured I need to do something fun to keep me going with this so I purchased an exercise dvd that is line dancing but exercise as well. I think my legs almost fell off, how do they jump around like that for so long?! I will try it a few more times though maybe the thin people on the screen will give me motivation to move my rump (grins). I want to try stepping exercise as well so I bought a step with risers. This is all new to me so hopefully it will give me something different to mix in instead of doing the same thing all over again. The step is huge and the dog does not like it at all. He just runs around it barking, it’s rather funny to watch.

Something totally off topic from the above… I have been wanting to travel to Europe for a long time now. My brother and I were planning a trip to Ireland sometime late this fall. My Aunt called me last week and asked me if we would like to go with her and my uncle. They have a time share and it will have an extra room. This really caught me off guard because it is very short notice. It was so nice of them to ask because it will save us a ton of money being able to stay with them. So long story short I spoke with my brother and we were able to get him a passport (thank goodness for expedited processing) and find plane tickets. So it looks like we will be going to Ireland (does a happy dance). The only thing is, we leave next Thursday the 12th! That is insane fast! So I have been getting things settled here so we can go and not have to worry about anything. However I worry about the plane seat. In fact I am so freaked out about it. I am flying United and according to the seat guru website the plane seats are 17″ wide. That’s going to be a tight squeeze. I will be sitting next to my brother though so we can lift the arm rest and I did call and reserve a seatbelt extender incase it’s needed. My biggest fear is being removed from the plane due to the seat. Maybe I am over thinking this too much, it’s quite possible I tend to do that often.  I just don’t want to be embarrassed in front of all those people. I am really working on getting myself healthy and in shape but Ireland came before I could lose a few more lbs. I know everything happens for a reason and I am grateful that my aunt and uncle asked us along. I just cant help but being nervous.

Well this has turned into a mini novel. Hope you have a good rest of your day.

I got a peek behind the curtain yesterday during my flight to Dallas.  Discovered something that can turn a cold, distant flight attendant into a friendly and engaged conversationalist.

Cookies

It’s as simple as that.

Two pilots were deadheading on my flight from New York City, and they were in the row in front of me.  After we achieved a ‘comfortable cruising altitude,’ the flight attendants started coming.  One by one.  Big smiles on their faces.  Gratitude on their lips.

All because one of the pilots brought the crew cookies when he boarded the plane.

With the rest of the passengers, the flight attendants were polite, but we didn’t get those genuine grins.  Or the frequent check-ins to see if we needed anything else.

I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.  I’ve received a less effusive version of this treatment when I’ve given a flight attendant a magazine when I’m finished with it.  But yesterday I learned an important nuance:

Do it at the start of the flight.

Travelling with Children is often regarded as one of life’s great challenges. I am blessed with a daughter and step son who are wonderful travellers and we have had many wonderful holidays together.

Today I uploaded all the photos from our recent family holiday in Queensland and so I couldn’t think of a better thing to be grateful for today than SUMMER HOLIDAYS.

Top five things about summer holidays with kids:

1. Ice cream running down their chins

2. Eating ripe, delicious mango in the bath

3. Seeing the wonder of airplane seat pockets from a whole other perspective

4. Falling asleep in your pizza because you have had “the best day ever”!

and the ultimate compliment…

5. When you spend weeks scouring the internet to choose the best resort for kids and the children say, “Wow! This place is better than chocolate!” Could there be a higher compliment?

Thank you for Summer Holidays with the kids – how lucky are we!

Literally.

I was sitting on the airplane, and the passenger in front of me reclined his seat back in one fast, forceful, in-my-face motion.  Since he was quite tall, his head was suddenly inches from my face.

There was no look back to see if I had my tray table down.  (It was.)  No quick check to make sure he wouldn’t overturn food or crush a laptop.  (I almost dropped both.)  He just pushed his way into my personal space.

This was war.

Now, I have a lot of sympathy for the overly tall on airplanes.  I have given up my exit row seat on more than one occasion to folks jammed into middle seats.  But this man had two seats to himself.  He could have easily angled his body to gain more legroom without robbing me of mine.

Allowing seats to recline on airplanes is based on the assumption that people will do the right thing.  Can we assume that anymore?

Sadly, I think not.

So I propose that, going forward, we remove the recline lever from all airplane seats.  Instead, the standard airplane seat will be set at a gentle recline at all times.  This compromise position will accommodate the majority of travelers and do away with the growing recline lever abuse.

It will also free up flight attendants of one pre- and post-flight announcement and duty — no more seat backs to straighten or police.

I like it.  What say you?  Vote in the poll below.  Be heard!

SeatGuru’s Seating Charts By Flight

This concept rocks! For a traveler with pain, SeatGuru is an amazing resource. I plan to use this every time I book a flight from now on.

When you’re booking a flight online, you go to SeatGuru.com before you pick out the seats you want to sit in. Put in your airline and your flight number. The software pulls up the seating chart for your flight–the same chart you pick from when you’re making your flight reservations. But on SeatGuru, you get a seat-by-seat review of the cabin to help you make the best possible choice for your comfort.

Great seats appear in green. Problematic seats appear in yellow. Bad seats appear in red. When you mouse over the seating charts, pop-up boxes appear for each seat with basic information and descriptions. You can find out whether a seat reclines less/more than other seats, has less/more shoulder room, has less/more leg room, has an electrical outlet, has a personal TV, and so on.

On the down side, the white “typical seat” designation does not provide much detail–no pitch degree, no leg room measurements, no information about reclinability.

Another set of screens that provide great information are the comparison charts. Look to the left and look at the Comparison Chart area for the type of flight/plane you want to compare. The charts compare seat width and seat pitch, and amenities by flight number and airplane type.

Using this tool to find and book the most comfortable possible seats for your flight, and to avoid hidden “bad” seats that have less reclineability or no leg room.

Next year, 2012 will be very bad for everyone.  The Eurozone Crisis cannot make life easy for anyone. The United States’ recession, Japan’s post disaster environment, the closure due to flooding of major transnational industries like Honda, computer companies, many others manufacturing in Thailand, the setbacks in Greece that triggered EU’s headaches, and many other global scenarios.

All in all, it is best to enjoy the Christmas this year and New Year’s celebration up to Valentine’s Day! J

Our domestic economic performance is lackluster – to say the least – for the second quarter of 2011.  This is not going to improve next year.  Whatever the positive forecasts of rating organizations like Moody’s, Standard & Poor, etc., nothing can make the charts give a positive reading.

Recently, the national flag carrier experienced a serious setback.  It stands to lose hundreds of millions of pesos or more from the strike of Philippine Air Lines Employees’ Association or PALEA, and the losses will keep coming.  The Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines -  FASAP case in the Supreme Court of the Philippines, appears to be favoring the adversaries of Mr. Lucio Tan and PAL.

When the recent Australian Qantas Air Line lockout happened, the airline naturally became the butt of criticism and its chief executive officer was lambasted in the media for taking such a militant action. In the end, who will win?  Will Qantas grant its three largest unions their demands?  Will the Australian courts award damages to the workers, once they win any case they might file with the courts in Sydney?

In Thailand, workers’ unions in sheer numbers forced an ally of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to resign. A victory for workers, certainly. But what happens thereafter? The sister herself of Thaksin, Ms. Yingluck (Yinglak) Shinawatra, took over the government by winning by a landslide during the elections that followed the forced resignation of former Prime Minister Samak Sundravej.

The solution to Philippine Air Lines troubles will not be forthcoming.  These problems of the airline will reflect the country’s situation in the long run. People taking action out of desperation instead of balanced reasoning. The masses losing their cool.

However, we are forewarned. It will be difficult to sit idly and merely contemplate what is going to happen next. At its worst, this will be allowing the country to sink deeper into the quagmire. The best tact for His Excellency Benigno Aquino III to take is to prepare the country for the onslaught of the economic crisis 2012. He has to visit my bookshop more and read more books instead of just listening to his favorite CDs, maddeningly tinkering with his play stations and toys, shooting paper or metal targets, dating girls — as if, and doing things not presidential. Of course, he’d been advised by others before me. But I’m saying it again nevertheless.

The PAL and PALEA and the customers of the national flag carrier may pray that with the economic catastrophes of 2012 and who knows when it will end(?), the airline will continue instead of die. Or the prayers of PALEA in its case will no longer be heard and granted. PAL can no longer hope for outsourcing and recovering its losses – which it should have done decades ago. The clientele of PAL will sorely miss their rides in the flag carrier.

This Christmas, PAL and PALEA as well as the PAL riding clientele can accommodate a touch of understanding inside their hearts, have more tolerance and not fan anger and negative sentiments further.  Let the Christmas Spirit sink in and perhaps a token here and there of compassion, forgiveness, acceptance, a sense of peace and friendship. Give each other a gift during the season and let’s see what comes next?

Merry Christmas PAL, PALEA and PAL riders!!!  Love to you all!!!

But when I fly Philippine Air Line to vacation in beach Mindanao, my flight was grounded and in the rain I walk looking taxis and the one I find thinking I was tourist!  It driver took away all my money like a hold up and burglary.  What a thief!  Oh!  To be in the Philippine some time and to suffer by taxi driver. Bad taxi driver Philippine.

Why did they strike Phil Air Line worker?  It is like ASIANA Air Line back at home, also go strikeing. But the problems not same with Phil Air Line.

There no file case with Korea’s Supreme Court. Here in Phil, the union file case at Phil Supreme Court and win. Win!  They get 1 decision, then negative decision, then in the end, maybe win?

Bad for the airline, Phil Air Line. If I have money, Jesus save me, I will buy PAL. I will let Koreans run the air line. Good for PAL. No strike like ASIANA of my country and no bad habit of the pilot and the crew.

All the new airplane seats of Korea will replace old seats in PAL and all industrious worker will take the post of pilot and crew of PAL, but I don’t know if Pres. Aquino will make the Korean PAL go to fly!

I hope he will because Korean PAL will be good for Phil. I will not bring back my money earning to Korea because my Church is here in Phil. And I am happy here!

Maybe I ask Miss Kim Chiu to fly free in same flight with me? I am no married yet, but if my Kim will ask me to marry her, I say yes!!! Jesus save me!!!

Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. An Italian company, Aviointeriors, has invented a new airline seat that resembles a horse’s saddle. Known as the “Skyrider,” it’s been said to be the “least comfortable” seat but will provide about 40 percent more seating per plane, and airlines could charge less for such a seat. It’s also been described as a “bar stool” with a seatbelt. Perhaps riders of those seats will get drinks throughout the flight to help them forget what a terrible idea this ever was. (I was always a fan of Italian designers – until now).

There are airlines who are interested, including Ryanair and China’s Spring Airlines. And why not? With the industry hurting, it will get people to fly. Ryanair says it would offer such seats for flights of 90 minutes or less.  Truthfully, I suppose I could withstand a flying bar stool for 90 minutes, so thankfully Ryanair is thinking in that direction. But are other airlines going to do the same – or actually expect passengers to fly those cross-country? Maybe next we’ll just have rows of walls with belts, and we’ll just have standing room-only sections at the back of the plane.

The woman looked over at me and leaned very slightly into my imaginary space barrier, so she obviously had something important to say. With a serious look in her eyes, she said, “I’m glad that you’re not BIG.” She then lost all sternness and chuckled delightfully — probably imaging the horror and discomfort of having to sit next to someone that was  — GASP! — “big.”

Hearing this, I thought to myself, “You know, I’m glad that we Americans can degrade heavyset people so openly!” After all, modern society is taking all of our prejudices away — let alone the COUNTRY. When that one lady at a Town Hall meeting cried out “I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!” she was really pleading for a return to good old fashioned bigotry, all out in the open — as white and pure as the freshly fallen snow in Aryan Germany before those damn ethnic Jews riled up Hitler and the Nazis. (I mean, the GALL!)

Fat people take up our space, breathe up our air, cram in our airplane seats and look at my food all hungrily! It makes me feel like a piece of meat that they will most likely eat in two bites! It is GREAT that we still have the power to mock the fat.

Americans are forced to hide their hatred and ignorance behind big words like “experience,” “birth certificate” and “Tea Party,” and dang nab-bit, that’s not the America I grew up in!

I… remember a time, when I was a boy… when people were friendly to each other, knew their neighbors, and sprayed African-Americans with water hoses as powerful as jet engines! They weren’t forced to be “politically correct” and not talk about how a woman’s place was in the kitchen. You can thank the liberal media for that!

We are only displaying our natural instincts for being uncomfortable with things that are unnatural and scary. IT IS HUMAN NATURE. I mean, who wants foreigners getting in the country, mixing with our women and making good for themselves? IT’S UNNATURAL, AND IT KEEPS ME UP AT NIGHT.

I’m sorry… I’m just getting so upset right now.

That’s better.

So now we’re not allowed to express our discomfort with non-Christians, people that look like terrorists, the Chinese, and NOW they want to take away our right to poke fun at fatties? THAT’S not the America I want to live in. NOT AT ALL.

*takes in a breath*

America, we need to reclaim our repugnances. We need to shout out, “I am an AMERICAN, and I will not let you in my Old Country Buffet!” We need to SHAME those that are different and have the audacity to not be in a society-defined shape. We need to make people WANT to replicate the lifestyle choices that get models like Kate Moss on magazine covers, movie stars in box office smashes like The Bounty Hunter and Couples Retreat, and teenagers like Miley Cyrus being American success stories! We’re losing our way!

Like that woman said, “I want my country back.” America, I want my country back.

To be fair, I get up on airplanes also.  There’s nothing manly about wetting your pants and the challenge of actually hitting the toilet while in mid-flight is always a blast for me, so I treasure a mile-high trip to the water closet.  Somehow though, I can manage using my own weight and the help of my armrest to lift myself from my seat without so much as touching the seat in front of me.  Am I just more agile?  Not at all – I’m as clumsy as the next fool on a plane going hundreds of miles per hour.  I just prefer not setting myself up for a whiplash lawsuit from the passenger in 16c.  Basically, I actually give a shit about other human beings.  If you use the seat in front of you for leverage on airplanes, YOU AM DUMB.

Row ten

letter E

window seat

lucky me

Fat man

you’re a nice guy

everyone loves you

except when you fly

pondering seat

to my right

fatty won’t fit

what a plight

With a heave

and a grunt

fatty squirms in

what a stunt

Nasty wrinkle

of squishy fat

slithers over

to touch my lap

Passenger blob

is a cheat

he has stolen

half my seat

What the hell

I paid my fare

I’m entitled to

one whole chair

He’s fast asleep

hear that snore

like a sea walrus

on the shore

Clothing on

my side is wet

compliments of

fatty’s sweat

Need the bathroom

but am trapped

blocked by immobile

slab of fat

Here I sit

compressed in space

wish I had a

can of mace

Four attendants

and a crane

help poor

fatty off the plane

Next time I

intend to fly

hope to sit

by skinny guy

Airplane seat so tiny and small

makes my legs curl in a ball.

Chair in front reclines a bit

protruding head I want to hit.

“Sit back, relax, enjoy the flight.”

”If we hit some turbulence, hold on tight!”

”We are here for your convenience,” what a lie!

(We like you miserable when you fly!)

Six hour flight

that’s so long.

There is no food service.

It’s just wrong!

If you’re hungry, it is a trap!

Seven dollars buys Snack Box crap.

”I’ll buy a Snack box” said I with doubt.

(Too bad chump,) “we’re all sold out.”

The douche next door is making noise.

Her fellow passengers she annoys.

The blob in front blows a f _ _ t.

I hope his butt grows a wart.

The fight attendant may have once had youth.

Now her old age manners are uncouth.

”I can’t take your trash while I’m serving”

(multitasking would be unnerving.)

Coughing kid having a fit.

Cover his mouth you parental git!

Sewer f_ _t just pierced my nose.

A silent-but-deadly killed five rows.

Ass is cramped.

Legs are sore.

Air is foul.

How much more?

Seat belt light turned off for comfort.

”Waitress, I’ll have a tea and crumpet.”

(No you won’t you stupid sh _ t)

Three more hours you’ll have to sit.

Do you think we will arrive on time?

Hell effing no!

Gawd damned headwind!

We’re an hour behind.

Connecting flight?

Too bad we’re late.

Run like hell to find the gate.

“Fly with us on another date.”

Terry Suddarth
April 2009

I do understand that you want to enjoy your flight but if the person seating behind you is tall or  mentions to you that he cannot see his personal video screen or even eat for that matter, please be courteous enough to bring your seat in a bit of a more upright position. Don’t be an idiot and respect others as well.