Temptation and G-14 Classified Good News

I get a lot of stuff. Excuse me....we get a lot of stuff! Seems like every day somebody is getting a box filled with fudge, cookies, hard candy, gummy bears, Twizzlers, Skittles, candy bars, etc., and there's no way one human could consume that much sugar (even over a period of several weeks) without ending up with severe indigestion or being issued a set of dentures from Medical after their teeth fall out. If one person isn't getting something, we get a box addressed to "any soldier" from nice people from all over the United States filled with the stuff. And I have to give it up to these people; not only for sending what they do, but for thinking ahead. You see, not only are the boxes filled with a couple hundred-thousand calories worth of candy and sweets, but they also include about sixty-seven toothbrushes and a metric butt-load of toothpaste to go with it. Smart.

I'm really grateful to all of these people for taking the time out of their days (and the money out of their pockets) to send us all this stuff, but as you may or may not know, I've been doing the Body-For-Life diet since November 6th so I haven't been able to partake. (The Twix I'm holding in the above pic is just a prop.) I'm allowed one "free day" a week -- which for me is Sunday -- where I'm allowed to eat and drink whatever I want, but for the other six days I've got to stick to my calorie-counting ways and rigorous work-out schedule. And I've done well thus far: I've dropped 20 pounds in the last six weeks. w00t! Still have about ten pounds to go to get to my target weight, but I've been working hard at it and won't be giving up anytime soon. All the candy and sweets, however, do make for a rather large temptation and I have succumed to it once or twice, but for the most part I've been a good about sticking to the plan.

It's funny -- it's very easy to lose a lot of weight here, but it's also extremely easy to gain a lot of weight, too. Between the 700 calorie steaks at the DFAC and the forty bushels of M&Ms at the office, one can pack on the pounds without even realizing it. I know a couple people who blew up like friggin' blood-ticks after only a few weeks of boots on ground. Crazy.

Anyways, if you're one of the many who have sent us all the good stuff....thank you! It is very much appreciated, even if some of us can't always indulge ourselves.

In other news -- and this is strictly 'Jimmy on the Low-Low' for now -- I may be getting out of here much earlier than expected. If the new Boss coming in picks a new aide-de-camp (which is the norm after a change of command), I could be outta here as early as January 20th. But, sshhhhh.....don't tell anybody. Gotta keep this on the down-low because it's just a possibility; nothing's firm yet. Don't wanna get anybody's hopes up. I'm only posting this here because I know you can keep a secret.

:)

Yay!