Yet Another Personal Website

My Health

I had a birthday in April this year and turned 39 for the 16th year in a row. Shelly gave me a new printer/scanner/photocopy machine for my birthday. Whoohoo!

Latest on the Site

I've redesigned the look and feel of my home page and am experimenting with cascading style sheets (CSS) in order to eventually give the entire site a uniformity and ease of updating. Hope you like it. Had some time on my hand, since I'm at home, sick with bronchitis at the moment. In fact, both of us are not feeling too hot. Leanna, my step-daughter, on the other hand, is doing great.

Street sign from Boonton, NJ, where I grew up until the age of 18.

Other News

I love photography. Here are some nature photos that I recently captured.

Shelly and I  completed a motorcycle trip to Tombstone, Arizona, home of Wyatt Earp and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral this spring. Click here to see images of our trip!

See our trip last summer to see the Albuquerque, New Mexico, Aquarium.

There was a large gathering of friends and family members in Missouri last year. Here are the photos.

We're Wayne and Shelly (aka Jeanne) and although we now live between Amarillo and Canyon, in the Texas panhandle, neither of us are originally from Texas. She's from the St. Louis area and I was born in New Jersey and my Mom and brother live in Connecticut.

I love people, photography, motorcycles, flying private planes, traveling, computer programming, writing books, hiking in the Palo Duro Canyon, Hare Krishnas, Democrats, Star Wars, vegetarians, Forest Gump, astronomy, and correctional officers, CSI and Law and Order.

Shelly, Leanna and I just got back from an overnight whirlwind trip to Dallas Texas, where we visited the Dallas World Aquarium. Here are the photos!

Well, it's 2008 and I'm still kicking.For that matter so is Shelly and Leanna. This year will mark the birth of Leanna's baby girl, due June 17. I'm off work for 9 days, the second of three 9 day vacations that I'm taking to burn time at work from the end of December to the beginning of March.

Last November we returned from a trip to Connecticut. My mother gave me her car, and Shelly and I flew up there and drove it back to Texas.

Weight Loss Goal

Shelly and I are both working on a new, balanced eating program. Basically, we've both changed the way we eat. I'm following what's called "The Soy Zone" - a variation of the Zone Diet developed by Dr. Barry Sears. The Zone comes across as a simple, well-balanced, lifestyle that Dr. Sears claims can help lose excess weight, reduce incidences of chronic disorders and supposedly improve physical and mental performance. Other benefits are listed on the Zone Website.

It seems to be working.

When I started the Zone, on February 1st, 2008, I weighed in at 250.0 lbs. My weight as of this morning was 218.5 lbs. Total lost weight so far: 31.5 lbs.

Theory

The diet centers on a "40:30:30" ratio of calories obtained daily from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, respectively. The exact formula is always under debate, but studies over the past several years (including a non-scientific study by the PBS documentary show Scientific American Frontiers) have shown that it can produce weight loss at reasonable rates. The Scientific American Frontiers study compared the effectiveness of several popular 'diet' regimes including the Zone; somewhat to the surprise of the show's staff, the participants on the Zone experienced the greatest fat loss while simultaneously gaining muscle mass. Participants also reported the Zone as the easiest regime to adjust to, i.e. having the fewest adverse affects such as fatigue or hunger. Most people who report fatigue find that the fatigue diminishes by day 2 or 3.

"The Zone" is Sears' term for proper hormone balance. When insulin levels are neither too high nor too low, and glucagon levels are not too high, then specific anti-inflammatory chemicals (types of eicosanoids) are released, which have similar effects to aspirin, but without downsides such as gastric bleeding. Sears claims that a 30:40 ratio of protein to carbohydrates triggers this effect, and this is called 'The Zone.' Sears claims that these natural anti-inflammatories are heart and health friendly.