We (my wife mostly) watch our grand-babies, Andy – 2yrs. old and Jadyn – 1 yr. old, at least three times a week while their mother works. With myy daughter being a single a mom, we are glad to help out as the costs of daycare can be enormous.

That being said, we have literally transformed portions of our home to keep these precious little ones safe. I thought it would be interesting to provide a peek at what we actually have to do every time these little ones are with us.

Of course there are the normal things most people do when they have toddlers running around – safety locks on cabinets, safety latches on doors leading to pools, and the like. In our case, we not only have these but many other pre-cautions in place, mostly for our grandson who is quite adventurous to say the least.

While we do have one bedroom in the house dedicated as a “playroom,” the grand-kids spend most of their time in our great room which consists of a family room, kitchen, large pantry and eating area. The following are safety measures we have put in place in order to make this area safe for our little ones.

One of two removable gates to keep babies out of dangerous kitchen where there are knives, hot stoves and other off-limit things including playing hide-and-seek in cabinets.

Here is gate number two, restricting baby access to kitchen.

This gate, which is permanently bolted to wall, keeps babies out of formal dining/living room.

Another permanent gate to keep them from hallways leading to bedrooms and front door.

Without a lock on this pantry (hanging skewer used to unlock), babies would get into a lot of mischief such as emptying out entire 5 gallon water jug from water dispenser.

No picture is not upside down. If bar stools were not placed on counter like this, babies would climb up on counter and then dive off. Seriously, they would!

By opening vertical blinds all they way, keeps babies from pulling them out. believe, I have already replaced half of them and reinforced top slots with steel brackets.

Okay, this one does nothing to protect the babies but it does protect the 73" TV and componets underneath FROM the babies

Finally, a safe place has to be fun as well so every time the grandkids come over, we pull out a selection of toys that they can play with. Here they are all neat and tidy just prior to them being strewn out all over the place.

There you go. Add to all this preparation the fact that we have to constantly keep an eye on them to make sure they are staying safe. It is not really about “restricting” their freedom and creativity but rather providing a safe environment where they can explore their freedom and creativity.

What about you, the reader? What kinds of steps have you taken, crazy or not, to ensure your little ones are safe in your home? Let us all know in the comments section of this post.

I recently purchased a Vox Custom Classic AC15CC1 Guitar Amp so the Marshall Guitar Amp I’ve been using for the last several years has to go. Because I’m running POD XT Live effects, I no longer need the four channels as well as all the effects that the Marshall amplifier offers. So she’s up for sale.

If you are looking for a 150 watt Marshall Combo amp, this is your chance to get one at about two-thirds of what you’d pay for it brand new.

The Details

The amp is loaded with 2 x 12-inch 100W Celestion speakers, paired with the 150W (75 watt per speaker) Valvestate amplifier in a combo unit. This amp features 2 x 12ax7 preamp tubes as well as solid-state poweramp circuitry. There are 16 onboard FX channels, including several reverbs, delay, chorus, flange, and various permutations.

The amp features 4 channels – Acoustic Simulator, Clean, OD1 and OD2 along with 2 EQ sections – one for the clean channels, one for the OD channels. There is one Master volume, and one master presence knob. FX send/return, headphone out, mono/stereo emulated line out for direct recording.

Includes power cable, 6 button LED footswitch to select channel and engage/disengage effects and original manual.

This Marshall functions like new but there is some wear and tear on unit itself from light gigging (few scratches in vinyl on back and small tear on bottom).

I have more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/david-wallace/sets/72157618749063770/.

How Much?

I’d like to get at least $650 for her. I paid almost a $1,000 brand new. If you are interested, send email to david [at] davidwallace.com or call me at 602-300-6927. I will not ship this amp so you have to be in the Phoenix area (sorry).

Happy Easter or as I like to refer to it, “Resurrection Day.” Because Jesus Christ was crucified (died) and rose again from the dead (resurrected), I too was able to die to my old sinful nature and now live in Him!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid ; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. “He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said. Come, see the place where He was lying.”

Matthew 28:5-6

Irma and myself have made it an annual event to visit San Francisco and the Bay Area annually in conjunction with Search Marketing Expo and Search Engine Strategies conferences that are held in the San Jose area.

Typically we take 3-4 days after the conference and head up the 101 to San Francisco as well as Napa and/or Sonoma Counties. Most recently, we decided to do the “vacation” portion of our trip first and limited it to just two days.

The reason why we decided to vacation prior to business was due to the fact I was scheduled to sing at my cousin’s wedding on Valentine’s Day. Seeing she had asked me well over a year in advance, there was just no way I was going to opt out due to my normal travel plans in conjunction with SMX West.

We also had to limit the trip to just two days because my youngest daughter’s birthday occurred just before the trip and seeing that we are her primary babysitters for her two young children (13 months and 2 months), we decided to sacrifice 1-2 days in the Bay Area so she could go out and celebrate her birthday with her best friend who has a birthday on the same day.

All the same, the limited time we had still worked out to be a great trip.

We decided to catch the earliest flight possible to San Francisco Airport so we could take advantage of the rest of the day to tour some wineries in Napa. Our flight was scheduled for about 8:45 am and we were due to land in S.F. by about 9:50 am (California is an hour behind us right now).

The flight was delayed by about 30 minutes so by the time we landed and had our rental car, it was about 11 am. This still gave us plenty of time to pick up Irma’s brother and friend and head to Napa.

Instead of trying to hit a bunch of wineries, we visited a total of four, three that are favorites and one that was brand new to us.

Viansa Winery

Overlooking the Sonoma valley, Viansa Winery is a picturesque wine country destination. Located in the world renowned Los Carneros region of Sonoma and Napa, Viansa produces over 15 fantastic varieties of wine, all available for wine tasting.

Viansa Winery sits gracefully on the crest of a hill, surrounded by acres of healthy vineyards, groves of olive trees and a unique 90-acre natural preserve that’s home to native California plants and wildlife. Embracing the Sonoma Valley land is a Mediterranean climate that nurtures Italian and California vines, and gives Viansa its distinct Tuscan environment.

The winery is incorporated into an Italian marketplace that offers an array of delectable food items as well as wine accessories. One feature we did miss from last year’s visit was the wood-fired pizzas which were most likely absent due to the fact that it had been raining. Instead we enjoyed one of their delicious sandwiches in which the bread was phenomenal.

We purchased two bottles from this winery – a 2004 Freisa, a very full-bodied wine with rich flavors of currants and blackberry and a 2006 Farneta Carneros Primitivo, a rich, yet soft and satisfying wine with a lingering fruity finish.

Roche Winery

Our next stop was the Roche Winery which is a very close neighbor of Viansa. The Roche family takes pride in their success of making some of the finest wines in Carneros. The ranch, which was once deemed as unsuitable for grapevines, is now perhaps the most valuable piece of property in the Southern Sonoma Region.

Last year as Irma and myself were sampling wines in their tasting room, I was sure that the couple next to us, in which we were having pleasant conversation with, was Rosie O’Donnell and Kelli Carpenter but later after seeing pictures of Kelli online, I realized we were mistaken. Luckily I did not embarrass myself by asking something like, “Hey, aren’t you Rosie O’Donnell” which I don’t think I’d ever do anyway if encountering a celebrity.

After sampling several of their quality wines, we decide to purchase two bottles – a 2007 Carneros Estate Chardonnay and a 2004 Carneros Estate Merlot . When visiting wineries in California, I always try to buy wines that are made from grapes grown right there on-site, which is typically indicated in the title “estate” or “estate-grown.”

Reynolds Family Winery

During last year’s visit, one of our favorite wineries was located on what is know as “The Silverado Trail,” home to some of Napa’s most prestigious wineries. Reynold’s Family Winery is probably one of the smaller wineries located in the region but one of the best in my opinion. It was last year that Steve Reynolds himself gave us a “behind the scenes” tour and represented himself as someone who is very passionate about wine-making.

We purchased four bottles from this winery – a 2005 Napa Valley Chardonnay, a 2005 Estate Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2 bottles of 2004 Persistence Red Wine. I believe we acquired 2 bottles of the Persistence because we thought we’d drink one while in California. However, they both made it home with us.

Pine Ridge

Our final destination for the day was Pine Ridge, located a bit north of Reynolds Family on the Silverado Trail. We enjoyed our tasting very much, mostly due to the young but very knowledgeable hostess who served us. She was even so gracious, at my brother-in-laws’ coaxing, to allow us to taste one of their Cabernets that sells for over $100 a bottle.

We chose one bottle from this winery – a 2005 Carneros Merlot which was absolutely delicious.

Manora’s Thai Cusine

Dinner that evening took place at a wonderful Thai restaurant called Manora’s Thai Cuisine located on Folsom street. We started off with Por-Pia-Sod as an appetizer, followed by Gang Jurd for the soup.

For our entrees, the four of us shared Pad Thai, Gai-Kraprao, Salad-Nur-Sun and Gang-Gari-Gai. Every dish was pure enjoyment to the palette. This is one of my all-time favorite Thai restaurants both for authenticity and appeal to the appetite.

Day Two

Day two was questionable as to whether it would be productive due to the fact it had been raining quite frequently in the city. Fortunately, we awoke in our Kensington Hotel Royal Court King room to clear skies. That meant that we would venture out into the city as opposed to being shut up in the room.

Because I had missed visiting North Beach during our last visit, it was a primary goal to be able to visit this section of the city which features fantastic Italian restaurants. We decided this time to try one that was new to us. Mona Lisa was our choice and a great choice it was. In fact, I think of all my visits to San Francisco, Mona Lisa is my favorite North Beach eatery. Check out a review I wrote on Likes n’ Gripes.

After a hearty lunch, we need to “walk off” the calories. Chinatown is just south of North Beach and that is where we spent the majority of the rest of our daytime hours. The streets were refreshingly uncrowded, which is not typically of this very popular tourist destination. Maybe it was the economy or simply the fact that winters in San Francisco combined with the possibility of rain are very cold. Nevertheless we had a great time moving from shop to shop and even took away with us some nifty merchandise and a couple of fine teas.

The Macy’s at Union Square is very unique and worth a visit when in the city. The basement includes a selection of eateries and a marketplace where they sell fine wines, mostly from California. Having worked off some of the Italian food we had at lunch, Irma and myself decided to get a snack before dinner.

A wood fired pizza from the Wolfgang Puck restaurant did the trick. We also picked up a couple of bottles of wine for the room so we would not be tempted to tap in to the collection we had amassed the day prior.

After resting for awhile, my brother-in-law and his friend picked us up for dinner. They had wanted to treat us to one of San Francisco’s best Mexican food restaurants located in the Sunset district but unfortunately it was closed (typical of traditional Mexican restaurants to close on Mondays).

So we opted for a past favorite – the Cafe for All Seasons located on Portal Avenue. I had their Seafood Stew which consisted of a melody of whitefish, jumbo prawns and scallops. It was wonderful indeed.

After dinner we hung out with Irma’s brother and friend for awhile back at the hotel and then called it an evening around eleven as both of them had to work the next day.

That comprises our short but very fulfilling trip to San Francisco. The next day we would drive down to Santa Clara to attend the SMX West conference where I was to speak on two panels.

If interested, you may read a recap of that portion of our trip on the SearchRank blog, which I will link to from here once it is written.

Just wanted to take some quick time out here to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll be spending mine at home with family although we are itching to get up to Flagstaff to see some snow.

This was a very interesting year for Irma and myself as it was a year when we became grandparents for the first time. What is even more interesting is the fact that we became grandparents twice – both grandchildren born to our youngest daughter.

It has been very exciting to watch Andy who was born in January to grow and develop as well as to see Jadyn who was born in November in her first month of life. We are very happy that they are both healthy and beautiful babies.

Both grandbabies and our daughter live with us so our lives have pretty much centered around them this year.

We did have the opportunity to some travel for business (which we always combine with pleasure as well). We were in the Bay area in February, Ohio in September and Vegas and Anaheim (Disneyland) in November. I myself also traveled to Houston in April and Seattle in June.

Other than that, it has been life as usual at the Wallace residence.

Finally remembering that “Jesus is the reason for the season” I leave you with this cartoon from Reverend Fun.

I’m about a week late getting this up but wanted to make the announcement that my youngest daughter, Leah gave birth to our second grandchild last Thursday at 12:58 in the morning. Her name is Jadyn Nicole and she weighed in at 8 lbs, 7 ounces and was 21 inches long at birth. She is completely healthy and gorgeous (just like her mamma).

With no further ado, here she is.

And if you think she is going to end up being grandpa’s spoiled girl, you are right.

Here is a breakdown of the approximate calories of each food allowed during the HCG diet. As a refresher, HCG, short for Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin is a hormone found in pregnant women that when taken allows a person to survive on a low calorie diet (500 calories a day) and in which case they are able to lose on average about a pound or two a day, all while maintaining a healthy physique and not experiencing the usual hunger pains that accompany many diets. Read “How I Lost 40 Pounds in 40 Days” for more information on this astounding diet.

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

The actual food consumption consists of lunch and dinner (no breakfast) and the following items per meal:

• 3.5 ounces of selected lean meats (see below)
• 3.5 ounces of selected vegetables (see below)
• 1 Grissini Breadstick or Melba Toast
• Selected fruit (see below)

You are encouraged to drink lots of water (I averaged over 100 ounces a day) and you can drink all the coffee and tea you want as well as moderate levels of 0 calorie diet sodas.

And now for the calorie count of allowable foods.

Fish (avg 98 calories)

• Cod (3.5 oz) – 83 calories
• Crab Meat (3.5 oz) – 100 calories
• Flounder (3.5 oz) – 90 calories
• Haddock (3.5 oz) – 88 calories
• Halibut (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
• Lobster (3.5 oz) – 98 calories
• Red Snapper (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
• Shrimp (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
• Tilapia (3.5 oz) – 94 calories

Additional white fish are listed at the bottom of the page.

Very Lean Beef (avg 152 calories)

• 93/7 Lean Ground Beef (3.5 oz) – 150 calories
• Cube Steak (3.5 oz) – 160 calories
• Sirloin Tip Side Steaks (3.5 oz) – 130 calories
• Top Round Steak (3.5 oz) – 166 calories
• Tri-Tip Steak (3.5 oz) – 154 calories

Chicken

• Chicken Breast (3.5 oz) – 87 calories

Veal (avg 114 calories)

• Veal, sirloin (3.5 oz) – 110 calories
• Veal, loin chop (3.5 oz) – 117 calories

Vegetables (avg 18.8 cal)

• Asparagus (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
• Asparagus (2″ tip) – 1 calories
• Asparagus (small spear) – 2 calories
• Asparagus (medium spear) – 3 calories
• Asparagus (large spear) – 4 calories

• Broccoli (3.5 oz) – 34 calories
• Broccoli (1 cup – 88g) – 30 calories
• Broccoli (5″ spear – 31 g) – 11 calories

• Celery (3.5 oz) – 15 cal
• Celery (medium stalk) – 6 calories

• Cabbage (3.5 oz) – 24 calories
• Cabbage (1 cup shredded) – 17 calories

• Cauliflower (3.5 oz) – 22 calories
• Cauliflower (1 cup) – 28 calories
• Cauliflower (3 flowerets) – 12 calories

• Cucumber (3.5 oz) – 12 calories
• Cucumber (small) – 19 calories
• Cucumber (medium) – 24 calories
• Cucumber (large) – 34 calories
• Cucumber (English long) – 60 calories

• Lettuce, all varieties (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
• Lettuce, all varieties (1 cup) – 8 calories
• Lettuce, all varieties (small head) – 32 calories

• Red Radishes (3.5 oz) – 12 calories
• Red Radishes (one medium) – 1 calories

• Spinach, raw (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
• Spinach, raw (1 cup) – 7 calories
• Spinach, frozen (3.5 oz) – 23 calories
• Spinach, frozen (1 cup) – 41 calories
• Spinach, cooked (3.5 oz) – 31 calories
• Spinach, cooked (1 cup) – 48 calories

• Tomato (3.5 oz) – 20 calories
• Tomato (cherry) – 3 calories
• Tomato (plumb) – 11 calories
• Tomato (small) – 16 calories
• Tomato (medium) – 22 calories
• Tomato (large) – 33 calories

Fruit

• Apple (small) – 55 calories
• Apple (medium) – 72 calories
• Apple (large) – 110 calories

• Orange (navel) – 69 calories
• Orange (Florida) – 65 calories
• Orange (California) – 59 calories

• Strawberries, 12 large – 72 calories
• Strawberries, 20 medium – 80 calories

• Pink Grapefruit (California) – 92 calories
• Pink Grapefruit (Florida) – 74 calories

Bread

• Grissini Breadstick (3 g) – 12 calories
• Melba Toast (3 gram) – 12 calories
• Melba Toast (5 gram) – 20 calories

White Fish List

• Ayr
• Cat Fish
• Cod
• Coley
• Dover Sole
• Flounder
• Flying Fish
• Haddock
• Hake
• Halibut
• Hoki
• John Dory
• Kalabasu
• Lemon Sole
• Ling
• Monk Fish
• Parrot Fish
• Plaice
• Pollack
• Pomfret
• Red & Grey Mullet
• Red Fish
• Red Snapper
• Rock Salmon/Dogfish
• Rohu
• Sea Bass
• Sea Bream
• Shark
• Skate
• Tilapia Turbot
• Whiting

Keep in mind that all the above calorie counts on meats and vegetables do not include any sauces, salad dressing or butter. You are in fact encouraged not to us sauces such as barbecue sauce, A-1 Steak Sauce, etc., on meats nor any salad dressings on salads or butter on vegetables.

One trick I learned in phase two of my diet is that I could use Louisiana Hot Sauce on chicken as it has zero calories. That has helped immensely and because it is spicy, you feel fuller. I also use Balsamic Vinegar on Spinach salads which is quite tasty.

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

I recently lost 40 pounds in 40 days using Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (HCG) and a very low calorie diet. While that is phenomenal weight loss, I still need to lose about 20 pounds to get to my goal weight of 190 pounds. So, after approximately 6 weeks after being off the first round of HCG, I am now starting the second phase.

This will be a much shorter phase – 23 days to be exact as opposed to the 42 days I did beforehand. After this second phase of HCG dieting is over, I should be at my goal weight from which I will simply need to maintain that for the rest of my life.

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

Like the first phase, the first two days consist of a “loading” phase. This is where you eat everything you want and then some. And wanting to obedient to the diet recommendations, eat I did.

I missed breakfast simply due to the fact that I was busy trying to get some work finished. We headed to Culvers for lunch (I’ve been wanting to eat here for some time but had not as of yet) where I ordered a double Cheddar ButterBurger, large fries and a large chocolate shake. I also ate half of my wife’s Wisconsin Swiss Melt. Culvers was awesome. I think they are a lot like In-N-Out but with a lot more choices and frankly, better food as well.

We then went to the movies to see Eagle Eye which I thought was very entertaining. After the movie, we decided to get a small snack before dinner. A Rubios shrimp and bacon taco did the trick. This was accompanied by some of their delicious beans, chips and salsa.

For dinner I wanted Italian food. So we headed to Buca di Beppo where we started out with a Mixed Green Salad and some of their tasty house bread. The main entrees would consist of Margherita Pizza and Penne Arrabbiata with spicy Italian sausage. I also downed two glasses of their house Chianti.

I was pretty full from all of this but at my wife’s suggestion, I decided to try to fit in a 24 ounce Hot Fudge Milkshake from Dairy Queen. These are the best chocolate shakes on the planet. And while I thoroughly enjoyed the shake, I thought I was going to burst after drinking it.

The second day started out with a Lamars Cinnamon Roll. For lunch, I wanted my favorite Tom Kha Gai soup but also was craving chicken wings. So why not do both which I did. We were going out with some friends for a movie and dinner that night so I grabbed a box of Reese’s Pieces for the movie and then had a 10 ounce sirloin accompanied by mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese at Logan’s Roadhouse for dinner. It all washed down well with a Michelob Amberbock followed by a Killians Red.

It didn’t seem like a lot of food to me even though it is more than I’m used to eating. It did cause me to gain 7 pounds in two days which shocked me. The loading is followed by a low calorie diet of just 500 calories a day. That’s essentially 2 meals – lunch and dinner, each one consisting of 250 calories each. Sound impossible? That is where the HCG helps.

I started out at 209 pounds and was at 216 pounds after loading. Fortunately, by day 5 (today), I had lost the 7 pounds and then some. In fact, I have lost 9 pounds in the 3 days after loading and that is where I am at as I write this.

So wish me luck. I have 18 more days to go and then hopefully I will be at my goal weight.

For more information on the HCG diet, check out my original post entitled “How I Lost 40 Pounds in 40 Days – The HCG Diet.”

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

The last few weeks have been quite a journey for me. A little over 40 days ago, I weighed in at a whopping 247 pounds. That’s about 50 pounds more than I should weigh and is for the most part the result of eleven plus years of poor eating habits and lack of exercise. Today as I write this post, I weigh 210 pounds. How did I lose so much weight in such little time? It was due to a combination of taking the hormone HCG and a very extreme low calorie diet.

Before I get into the “how I did it” I must say that I had to first change my mindset about food. I’ve come to the place in my life where I really need to lose all the extra pounds I have put on since leaving manual labor some eleven years ago when I started my Internet marketing business. I went from a size 34 waist and 180 pounds to a 42 inch waist and about 247 pounds. The goal is to get back to at least a 36 inch waist and a weight of about 190 lbs.

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

Now, what about this HCG? HCG is short for Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin which is a hormone found only in women during pregnancy. It is produced in enormous quantities, so that during certain phases of her pregnancy a woman may excrete as much as one million international units per day in her urine. It is never found in the male, obviously because men don’t get pregnant.

Seeing that HCG is only found in women during pregnancy and never in males, it is something I had to take daily. Some take it by injection but I took it sub-lingual meaning I’d have to hold it in liquid form under my tongue for about 15 minutes before swallowing. I repeated this process twice daily. Having this hormone present in my body for 40 plus days along with limiting myself to a very strict diet of just 500 calories a day (you read right – 500 calories) allowed me to not only lose about a pound a day, but also to maintain a healthy physique in the process.

Now I’m going to try to explain how HCG works in layman’s terms. So please forgive me if this is lacking its proper medical terminology.

First of all one must understand that there are three kinds of fat that are stored in the body. The first is the structural fat which fills the gaps between various organs, a sort of packing material. The second type of fat is a normal reserve of fuel upon which the body can freely draw when the nutritional income from the intestinal tract is insufficient to meet the demand. The third type of fat which is entirely abnormal is the accumulation of such fat, and of such fat only, from which overweight people suffer. This abnormal fat is also a potential reserve of fuel, but unlike the normal reserves it is not available to the body in a nutritional emergency. It is, so to speak, locked away in a fixed deposit and is not kept in a current account, as are the normal reserves.

What HCG does is to allow a person to comfortably go about their usual activities on a diet of only 500 calories daily and lose an average of about one pound per day. Because the body needs more than 500 calories a day to function, fat reserves are used for energy. Under the effect of HCG, the overweight body is always able to obtain all the calories it needs from the abnormal fat deposits, regardless of whether it uses up 1500 or 4000 per day. The HCG allows you to live to a far greater extent on the fat which you are losing than on what you eat. Normal fat reserves (the healthy kind) are not touched. In the meantime, skin remains fresh and turgid, and gradually body weight returns to normal. The daily administration of HCG appears to have no side-effects other than beneficial.

When I embarked on this diet, I had pretty good hopes it would be successful simply due to the fact that my wife had come across so many testimonies from people who experienced success with it. Nevertheless, I knew I’d have to change the way I eat and exercise for the rest of my life unless I want to return to the fat man I had become.

I am reminded of the lyrics from Jethro Tull’s song “Fat Man” –

Don’t want to be a fat man,
People would think that I was just good fun.
Would rather be a thin man,
I am so glad to go on being one.
Too much to carry around with you,
No chance of finding a woman who…
Will love you in the morning and all the night time too.

Don’t want to be a fat man,
Have not the patience to ignore all that.
Hate to admit to myself half of my problems
Came from being fat.
Wont waste my time feeling sorry for him,
I seen the other side to being thin.
Roll us both down a mountain
And I’m sure the fat man would win.

Here is a brief chronicle of my journey over the period of several weeks to become once again a “thin man.”

Day 1

I weighed in at 247 pounds prior to starting diet. After taking the initial dose of HCG, the first two days consist of “loading” or in other words, eating lots of food — pretty much anything i want.

Here’s what I loaded up with the first day:

• 4 donuts
• 4 pieces of Papa John’s Italian sausage pizza
• 1 hamburger
• Whole order of Tom Kha Gai soup with side of rice (usually feeds 2 people)
• Whole order of Crispy Shrimp (8 jumbo prawns, deep fried and dipped in spicy sauce)
• 1 Dancing Deer brownie
• 1 Snickers ice cream bar

It is supposed to be difficult to eat SO much food and the HCG makes you feel full. While i did feel full, I didn’t have any trouble eating all this stuff.

Day 2

I weighed in at 250 pounds, gaining 3 from the day before which I hear is normal. This is what I consumed on day 2 of loading:

• Jack in the Box Croissant Breakfast sandwich
• Jack in the Box Extreme Sausage sandwich
• Dairy Queen 32 oz. Hot Fudge Milkshake (my favorite)
• 1 Taco Bell taco and 1 burrito
• Breyers Coffee Ice Ice Cream in Waffle Cone
• 2 hamburgers and 2 hot dogs, 2 servings baked beans and potato chips (birthday party)
• Bowl of Goldfish (the crackers not actual fish silly)

Day 3

I weighed in at 252 pounds – a total gain of 5 lbs. after “loading.” It’s pretty crazy I could gain that much weight after just two days of stuffing my face.

Now I begin the journey of eating just 500 calories a day which essentially will consist of two meals (lunch and dinner) of just 250 calories each. Each of these meals will consist of the following:

Breakfast – Nothing

Lunch – 3 ounces of lean meat which may consist of one of the following: veal, lean beef, chicken breast, fresh white fish, lobster, crab, or shrimp.

3 ounces of select vegetables which may consist of one of the following: spinach, chard, chicory, beet-greens, green salad, tomatoes, celery, fennel, onions, red radishes, cucumbers, asparagus, and cabbage.

1 selection of fruit with choices of an apple, a handful of strawberries, half a grapefruit or an orange.

1 breadstick (grissino) or one Melba toast.

Dinner – same thing as lunch

It is important to note that no matter what combination of items you eat (i.e. choice of meat, vegetable and fruit), the meals could not exceed 500 calories a day. So if I decided to have cube steak instead of chicken, I’d have to watch my vegetable portion seeing that cube steak consists of more calories than chicken. It was also recommended that I eat the same things for lunch and dinner on any particular day.

I mostly ate grilled chicken and cucumbers with a touch of lemon juice. Periodically I substituted white fish and cube steak and variations in vegetable choice included spinach salads and cooked cabbage. For my fruit, I always stuck with an apple.

I would also add that you can drink all the coffee and tea you’d like (unsweetened of course) but must also drink 2 liters or more water every day. I drank about 3 liters a day besides about a pot of coffee and a glass of green tea daily.

Sound boring? It mostly is but surprisingly, because of the HCG, I did not feel hungry prior to meals. Also when consuming these small 250 calorie meals I felt comfortably full afterwards.

As I think back now, most of my initial struggles steamed from the boredom that comes from not eating all the time. In other words I had spent a good amount of my time eating, snacking, drinking wine, etc. and now I had to find things to replace the time I used to spend eating.

For the duration that the HCG was in my body, I could not use regular lotion or use any conditioner in my hair due to the fact that the body can absorb the oils in these products which adds to calorie intake. I ended up using Corn Huskers lotion (which contains no oil) for my feet as I wear sandals most the time which cause my feet to get very dry. This worked out as well if not better than the oil-based lotions I typically use.

Another thing I thought I’d struggle with is the fact that I could not have my peppermint Lifesavers. My wife sternly warned me that I can have no breath mints of any kind and that many doing the HCG diet complain of having bad breath. However, I found a solution – Starbucks sugar-free peppermint breath mints. These are extremely small but powerful mints that contain zero calories.

While I am not going to bore you with the daily details of what I ate, how much I weighted each day, etc., I will say that I lost an average of about a pound a day. On day 42 when I stopped taking the HCG, my weight had gone from 252 pounds (weight after “loading”) to 210 pounds. That’s 42 pounds from my weight after loading or if you count from the weight I was prior to loading – 37 pounds. They say that you should count the pounds you gain after the loading phase which is why I can say I lost 42 pounds. Oh and as for the title of this post – “40 pounds in 40 days” – I had actually lost 40 pounds at the 40 day mark. Besides, it sounds better than “42 pounds in 42 days.” (I like round numbers)

I feel great right now. Everyone I know says how I look so different, not only in the size of my gut but the face, legs, arms – everywhere. I no longer get heartburn after eating certain foods or snore at night. I don’t even recall bouts of sleep apnea as I did before. I have about 20 more pounds I feel I need to lose and so will embark on a second but shorter phase in October where I have a period of about 4 weeks in which I will not be traveling.

I must truly thank my wife, Irma, for not only discovering this diet but doing all the research on it as well as preparing all the meals. She has done remarkably well on this diet herself but I’ll let her tell you about that in her own way.

If you would like to shed some of your “abnormal” fat by means of this diet, I’d encourage you to first read the eBook by Dr. A.T.W Simeons called “Pounds and Inches” and then do additional research online simply by searching the keyword “HCG” or the full phrase “Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin.” When you get ready to actually purchase HCG, you can get it at PharmacyEscrow.com.

This is a very controversial diet, especially for males, seeing that you have a hormone in you that is only found in pregnant women. It has however been tested for years and always proved to be successful. Don’t worry men – you will not become pregnant nor develop female body parts. Most of the controversy will stem from telling people that you are only eating 500 calories a day. They will be shocked not only on the little amount of food you are living on, but how healthy you appear despite that. We kept the fact that we were taking the HCG secret for some time, at least until we were confident it was working.

Need HCG? Click here to buy quality HCG and HCG Diet Supplies

I am always afraid to open my electric bill in the summer. It is typical to have electric bills in the $500 range but this month’s bill of shocked me a bit. I’m not going to disclose the exact amount but let’s just say that in my seven years at my current residence, I have never seen a bill this high.

I called them of course to see if there was some error. It is not that I will have any difficulty in paying it. I was just concerned that there had to be some error and I hate wasting money. They informed me that I had indeed used the electricity. Even when I suggested the meter may be faulty, they implied that it would send them a signal, of which it did not. Bottom line is that I have nothing to complain about.

This is not my reason for this post and especially what I decided to title it. There are three “other” things that tick me off a bit which is my reason for writing an “APS Sucks” type of post.

1. The Extensive List of Charges

The APS bill provides a “line-item” list of charges that reads like the options you see when buying a car. I have never really paid much attention to this untill now of which I was quite shocked. Here is what it looks like.

• Basic Service Charge – The minimum charge for having service available, whether you used electricity or not.

• Delivery Service Charge – A charge, based on your kWh usage and/or kW demand, to build and operate the equipment for delivering electricity to your home/business, including lines, poles, transformers and substations.

• Environmental Benefits Surcharge – A charge to cover the costs of programs approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, including: energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

• Federal Environmental Improvement Surcharge – A charge to recover a portion of the cost of investments and expenses for environmental improvements at APS’ generation facilities designed to comply with environmental standards mandated by federal laws or regulations.

• Competition Rules Compliance Charge - A charge, based on your kWh usage, to cover costs associated with compliance and implementation of the Electric Competition Rules.

• System Benefits Charge – A charge to cover the costs of programs approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission, including low-income assistance, demand side management, customer education, environmental, renewables, long-term public benefit research and development, nuclear fuel disposal and nuclear power plant decommissioning programs as well as other programs approved by the Commission.

• Power Supply Adjustment * - An adjustment mechanism to recover fluctuations in fuel and purchased power costs. (i.e., fuel, natural gas)

• Metering * – A fixed fee for providing and servicing the meter.

• Meter Reading * – A fixed fee to determine your energy usage.

• Billing * – The cost of calculating and providing your monthly statement.

• Generation of Electricity * – The cost of producing the electricity you used this month.

• Transmission and Ancillary Services * – The cost for moving high voltage electricity from generating facilities and other sources to the APS distribution lines

• Transmission Cost Adjustment * – A cost, based on your kWh usage, to adjust for annual changes in transmission-related costs procured to serve retail customers.

• Franchise Fee - A charge by a municipality for APS’ use of the public rights-of-way for its facilities.

• Regulatory Assessment – A cost imposed on customers of state regulated utilities to help fund the Arizona Corporation Commission and Residential Utility Consumer’s Office.

Oh, and let’s not forget about good ol’ Uncle Sam. He has to have his cut as well.

• State Sales Tax
• County Sales Tax
• City Sales Tax

Now I can understand the Basic Service Charge, Generation of Electricity, and the taxes but what about all the rest of these charges?

Take the Delivery Service Charge for example which allows them to collect additional fees from me so they can build and operate the equipment for delivering electricity, including lines, poles, transformers and substations. This is so bogus. How many companies do you know of charge their customers additional fees so they can build and maintain the methods they use the goods and services customers seek? It would be like Wal-Mart charging me an extra fee on top of the cost of goods sold so they can not only maintain their stores but build new ones as well. Isn’t that what profits are for?

There is the Competition Rules Compliance Charge which charges me an extra fee so they can compete? WTH? At least that is the way I read it.

Why do I have to pay extra for the System Benefits Charge? What do programs for low-income assistance, customer education, long-term public benefit research and development and others have to do with me, especially if I am not using them?

The Transmission and Ancillary Services really gets me – an extra fee for moving high voltage electricity from generating facilities and other sources to the APS distribution lines. What do they have to ship the electricity or move it in trucks? Another bogus charge

On top of all these “extras” I have to pay APS extra so they can measure how much electricity I use and so they can bill me. Isn’t this simply a cost of doing business.

How the Arizona Corporation Commission ever approved all these “extra” charges is beyond me. I mean, does this commission have any real concept of business in the real world?

2. You Can Choose Another Electrical Provider, So Long As It Is APS

You might wonder what the asterisks are for in the line-item list above. They indicate that “the services are currently provided by APS but may be provided by a competitive supplier.” This is more of a taunting however as there is no other provider where I live. APS is the sole provider – a monopoly.

So why even taunt me like that? Reminds me of when Henry Ford starting making the Model T and offered consumers the choice of any color “so long as it is black.”

3. They Waste Money They Could Be Giving Back To Their Customers

I very often see commercials for APS on my television. Everyone knows how expensive television commercials are. They do other advertising besides all of which is ironic due to the fact that most of the areas they supply electricity to, they are the sole provider.

I completely understand why companies have marketing budgets and advertise – because there is competition. However, in APS’s situation, the only competition they have, at least where I live is NOBODY. There is of course another major electrical provider in the Valley – SRP, but as far as I understand, APS has their power grids and SRP has theirs . So where is the choice? And what is the purpose of wasting tens of thousands if not millions of dollars on ad spend when people HAVE TO use their service? It’s pure stupidity and waste , all of which are passed on to the consumer.

So what can I do about this? Nothing really.

I am starting to think very seriously about solar power and may be exploring how I can outfit this home so that it is completely powered by the sun. If not this one, certainly the next. I do live in the desert so why not take advantage of natural energy as opposed to making a company like APS richer and richer.

In the meantime, APS – you suck, not only for wasting money on advertising, money that could be put back in our pockets in the form of savings, and not only for lying to us that we can choose another provider when the exact opposite is true but most of all for sticking us with just about every bogus add-on fee you can get away with.

Related: Looking For a Realtor With a Low Commission? Hungry Agents Can Help.