Day 33 - August 3, 2023

 Breakfast:  This breakfast is not getting old. I enjoy it every single day.  (Except the days where I get a little lazy)  In case it's your first time reading, it's 2 scrambled eggs, 3 pieces of Banquet Turkey Sausage and half a potato turned into home made fries using olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and cayenne pepper. 

                                                

Snack:  Couldn't help myself but grab a couple little spoonfuls of low carb Breyers Chocolate Ice Cream.  I did well with this because I didn't end up eating half the container like I often do in these situations.  I truly just had a couple quick spoonfuls and moved on. 

Lunch:  For lunch, I had leftovers from the night before.  Kristyn made this Chimichurri Beef with Jasmine Rice while I was at marching band. I think the beef came from Costco.  It was really good!  If I had to do it again, I'd make it with broccoli.  And I would have eaten maybe 2/3 of what's here.  I heated it up before I put it on the plate, so I didn't realize how much was gonna be there.  But by then, I thought it would be bad to reheat it a 3rd time tomorrow, so it was my household duty to not waste food, so I ate the whole thing.  :-)

Fun with Joey: Today, we went to the tennis courts for the first time.  He did great!  I had my old ball hopper from middle school when I used to take tennis lessons at Saw Creek, with the tennis pro, "H."  And it's filled with the tennis balls I used to play home run derby in my backyard on Ploch Rd in middle school with Jay Brock and some other characters here and there.  So that makes these tennis balls about 30 years old, and they bounce like it!  They are pretty rough, but they got the job done for the day.  

                                                              

We hit 2 hoppers full of balls (about 40 balls per hopper) up against the fence to get the hang of it.  He was really proud that he got one stuck in the fence.  

   

Then we moved on to the court and he did 7 more rounds of balls!  All in all, he hit probably around 360 balls today!  He did so great for the first day.  And he really loved it.  We had a good system of picking up the balls and he just kept saying "One more round!"  So that was a ton of fun. 

OK - Back to the food now!

Snack:  Just a handful of peanut butter Ritz Bitz sandwich minis.  They are about 10 calories per and I had about 15 of them.  Just a little something to pick on.  I worked up an appetite with the tennis.  Got an extra 3,500 steps in just hitting joey the balls and going to pick them up!

Dinner:  This was an interesting dinner.  I had some chicken that needed to be cooked and wanted to try something new, BUT I wanted to make sure that if it came out bad, we'd still have something to eat.  So part 1:  Marinated some chicken in a bag for about 4 hours with Guy Fieri's Sriracha BBQ sauce and pan cooked them on the stove.  That's in the plastic container.   Part 2:  Sweet Potato Fries.  These didn't come out as great as the regular potato fries.  I think I need to peel the skin off because the skin was kinda tough.  The potato part was good, but the skin didn't go well in the air fryer.   Part 3 - the real winner.  Air Fryer chicken with the seasoning I usually use on the morning potatoes.  First I coated the chicken with olive oil.  Then a little corn starch and then the combination from the potatoes.  This is the plate on the top of the picture below.  This was AWESOME!  A little crispy on the outside, but not breaded.  And it was JUICY on the inside and really flavorful.  This worked out better than I expected it to.  REALLY liked it and will definitely make chicken this way again.  

And that's it for the night. I sort of overdid it on the dinner by eating a ton of chicken.  I mean, it was not necessarily unhealthy but I ate a TON of it, and too much of almost anything can be problematic.  

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: Now, I just looked back at my phone to see what I documented as my weight for the morning of 8/4/23.  Looks like I was up 0.9 from the day before.  It makes me thing that it is very possible that this was the night that I overdid the snacks at night.  I don't remember what I did, but there was def a night that I ended up having 2-3 snacks and was not shy about them.  This must have been it.   Soooo, up 0.9 for the day but still down 11.3 in total.  

Day 32 - 8/2/23 - Another Marching Band Night

 Breakfast: The usual for breakfast.   3 turkey sausage, 2 scrambled eggs, and a half of a potato turned to fries!  Now, if you didn't already, sing that with the melody for the 12 Days of Christmas and chuckle a little to yourself.  

Lunch: For lunch, it was very quick and simple.  I made a spicy chicken breast patty in the air fryer  Delightful $1 lunch!  Can't beat that, huh?  Kristyn was taking the kids to the pool with some friends, so I had some time to get work done. Didn't want to waste time making or eating food, so I just did a real quick one.  That being said, it's a REALLY good piece of processed chicken, so I never regret eating it.

After getting some work done, I taught a trombone lesson.  It feels good to get back into teaching private trombone lessons.  I had taken a break from it while I lived in Nutley because it was just too hard to schedule with the limited time I was home, and I wanted to see the kids.  But now that I 'm in Norwood, the commute is great and I don't ever really need to go a day without seeing the family, I'd like to get back into more lessons.  So I have this one student for the summer heading into college and I'm having a blast teaching him.  

After that, it was off to Cresskill for Marching Band section leader meeting and rehearsal.  I got there and they had cleaned the floors, which means:  They moved everything out of the room and then put everything back in the room.  Just in the room.  It was sort of all over the place.  I don't blame them for this and I don't think  or expect anything else should happen.  BUT it's always just a shock to my system when it happens.  So we put the room back together when the section leaders showed up.  

Dinner: Good thing I packed an easy dinner tonight! Just a little peanut butter sandwich.  I was able to take bites in between the work I was doing.  I only go to work once a week in the summer, so I'm totally ok with it being like this.  I don't want to waste any time while I'm there. 

Dinner #2: After marching band, that peanut butter sandwich at 5pm was not cutting it.  I went to Ray's in Closter to get a slice.  I guess you can say that I'm on "Joe's Diet of Pizza" this week.  It's all good, I'm losing weight!  :-)  They have one of my favorite slices - Meatballs and Ricotta.  And they are not shy about the meatballs OR the ricotta.  It's such an amazing slice.  But they had a plain slice pie - completely fresh - sitting on the counter, so I had to get both.  Sat and ate it in the car, as they were closing up for the night.  I am so happy I got this pizza.  It was SOOOOOOOO good!  :-)

Weight Loss Update: As of 9am on 8/3/23, I am down 0.6 from yesterday and 12.4 pounds since July 2.  Moving in the right direction!    The pizza diet continues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 31 - August 1, 2023 - My Homemade Pizza Recipe is provided in here. . . . .

Breakfast: Today, I had to take Conor to the doctor and Kristyn took the kids to work with her.  I slept in and was a little lazier today since I didn't have to deal with all 3 of the little crazies.  So when it came time to leave, I just needed to throw something together real quick.  What did I go for?  A simple peanut butter sandwich.  This is the meal that never gets old, unless of course, the bread is moldy, in which case I do not make this meal. 

Lunch:  After the doctor visit was over, it was too late to bring the kids to swimming lessons, so we decided we would skip the pool altogether today. In my mind I was getting out of making lunches to bring with me and then I was getting out of paying for lunch and we'd just come home.   Here's the thing:  I had promised the kids that we would get some pizza in between swimming lessons and going back to the pool, and they held me to it.  So we went to Mario's, which is Joey's favorite place to get pizza. We got this pizza shown below (Photographed AFTER I served Joey & G their first slices.  I had 3 slices.  Then we went next door to Donut King and while I tried to stall by sending them ahead of me and staying back to pay the bill at Marios, it didn't work.  I got there and they had not paid yet, so I got an oreo donut.

   

Dinner: Since I was in Philly during Conor's 4 month birthday, we never did his 4 month photos. So inspite of already having eaten pizza for lunch, we had to make a pizza for dinner.  Can you tell how sad I was about this?  

That being said, this was a business transaction. I just wanted to make a really quick and cheap pie and throw it in the oven.  So I grabbed a dough from Mario's, used 8oz of pre-shredded mozzarella and grabbed a jar of "pizza sauce" from Shoprite.  It was the cheapest and laziest pizza I could make.  Cost me $8.  I could do it cheaper by the pie if I make a couple of pies, but usually, when I make my own sauce and use better cheese, I end up getting enough to make 4 pies, I make 2 and then have half the sauce and cheese leftover, which I never use.  In the end, it ends up costing me $17 to make 2 pies.  If I bought the 2 extra doughts, it would be $23, which is $5.75/pie, but I don't need 4 pies!  So I end up spending $17, throwing away extra supplies because I have the intention of using it, and then not using it.  AND of the 2 pies I did make, we only eat maybe 1 3/8 of it, and the leftovers also go to waste.   So 1 pie, $8 = victory.  Here' the uncooked pie.

And here it is after coming out of the oven.  Looks good, huh?

Here's the thing - it was cooked very well.  BUT since I cheaped out on the sauce and cheese, it was not really all that good!  I was excited because it looked awesome, but it was bland and not nearly as good as my usual pizza.  How do I usually make my pizza, you ask?  Here's how. 

0.  Pre-heat oven to 500 with the pizza stone or pizza steel inside it.  It's important to get the stone up to temperature so the crust is not soggy.  Take the stone out, use a little olive oil on it and spread it thin and even so it has a little coating.  You could sprinkle a little semolina on it too, if you want. 

1.  Stretch the pizzeria-bought dough out to about 15-16 inches and place right onto the heated pizza stone. At this point, try to move quickly so the stone doesn't get cold.

2.  Get a 28 oz can of San Marzano tomatoes and put the in the Ninja on Puree along with 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oils, 3-4 garlic cloves cut up, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, some basil, black pepper and oregano.  This is basically the Ooni Classic Sauce Recipe, with oregano added and pureed in the ninja. (Usually enough for 4 pies)  BTW - I puree it because I take after my mother and do not want ANY chunks of tomato on my pizza.  YUCK!

3.  One pound block of Galbani Low Moisture Whole Milk mozzarella gets shredded up and mixed with a 6 ounce combination of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano which is pre-shredded and available at Shop-Rite by the cheese in the refrigerator section.  The 22 ounces combined is good for about 4 pies.

4.  If kids are not eating it, sprinkle oregano on top. (My kids don't like "the green stuff."

5.  Sprinkle some grated cheese on top

6.  Cook for 9-12 minutes, depending on how you want it cooked.  If it's in the Ooni pizza oven, cook for 2 minutes, turning every 20-30 seconds as to not char the crust too much. 

**PIZZA STONE:  It's key that you get a pizza stone to cook on and get it up to temperature.  Don't get lazy or impatient with this.  Get that stone hot!

Anyway, here are the photos from Conor's 4 month birthday photo shoot.

   

 Snack:   Cheddar and Sour Cream chips and some ice cream (Low Carb).  No story here.  I think I gave you enough with the pizza recipe for this post!  :-)

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: As of 9am on 8/2/23, I am down 0.7 from yesterday and a total of 11.8 pounds since July 2.  

Day 30 - July 31, 2023 - Portions, Portions and More Portions

Hello everyone!  It's Monday!  Time for a new start.  I'm writing this a couple days later and I'll give you a little preview.  We have entered the time of J-DOC where it's less about what I'm eating and it's more about how much of it I'm eating.  Because the next few days are a mixture of good choices and slightly imperfect, BUT through it all, my portion control and lack of snacking are leading to moderate losses on a daily basis.  While I would be better off eating "better" choices consistently, portion control is something I generally struggle with also, so getting that under control is helpful and important too in the times where you are just in situations that are imperfect.

Breakfast: Eggs, potatoes & Sausage - home made.  I've done a really good job of eating at home for breakfast - saving money and eating healthier.  I really hope I can get up early enough to keep this up for the school year.  I miss heading to Griddle This every morning, but my credit card and belt are very happy with me.

**Side note:  I was supposed to bring Joey to Giants Training Camp today, but my butthead brain ordered the tickets thinking that we can go since camp was over.  BUT Kristyn still has to work this week, and swim lessons start today.  So I totally blew that chance by signing up for today.  UGH.  I'm annoyed because I think Joey would have really enjoyed that.  Oh well.  I guess we'll try again next year.

Lunch:  Today was the first day of swim lessons for the kids at the Cresskill pool.  They do a group thing in the morning at 11am.  Kristyn is still at work for this week, so it's all me to get them up, fed, dressed, pack the bag with changes of clothes, milk, pool stuff, lunch, snacks, etc.  Luckily, since they are not at camp this week, I don't have to get out of the house early, so the kids sleep and so do I!  And I can take my time getting everything ready to go.  (Which means I have time to watch an episode or two of "Who's the Boss!"  Because it was the first day, we didn't pack lunch, we went to the snack bar.  Not many healthy choices at a pool snack bar, so I had a burger and fries.

Dinner: Kristyn took Giuliana to gymnastics, so I was home with Joey & Conor.  The thing is that Conor has been a terror today and is basically just screaming and crying forever.  We think he is teething, giving him great discomfort.  So my last resort was to put the 2 of them in the car and drive around.  This always helped joey sleep when he was a baby.  Conor didn't fall asleep, but he definitely calmed down.  I bribed Joey with a Happy Meal.  While we were out, I grabbed 2 slices of pizza from Broadway II.  They were good.  Could have been really good with about 30 more seconds in the oven.  

Snack: One of Joey's favorite snacks these days is the King Cone.  I don't usually touch them, but he was complaining that he didn't like the flavors that were left, so I figured I would do my part and eat one of them.  :-)   A few hours later, during our nightly 90210 episode, Kristyn broke out the sour cream and Cheddar chips.  The are "Baked Ruffles" and they are amazing.  Probably my favorite chip.  I had some.  I didn't finish the bag, so that's a victory!

Weight Loss Update:  As of 9am on 8/1, I was down 0.7 from yesterday and a total of 11.1 for the 30 days.  Good good good! 

Day 29 - July 30, 2023 - A Day at the Plake & An Occasion To Sin

 Hey everyone!  It's SUNDAY FUNDAY!  Here's the story. . . . . . . 

Breakfast: I made what I think are best fries I've ever made.  The seasoning was perfect!  First, coated with olive oil and then combined Salt, pepper, onion, garlic, paprika and cayenne pepper and tossed the potatoes in this.  It was absolutely the best!  I am not sure I can ever make fries differently again!  :-)  Air fryer at 390 for 12-15 minutes from raw and you are good to go.  Give it a shot.  So good!           

Add to that 2 turkey sausage links and 2 scrambled eggs, quite a nice breakfast.  (Those pretzels are not mine.)

                   

Lunch:  Now it's time to head to the "Plake."  This is the Fair Lawn Memorial Pool which is pool with sand at the bottom, so it feels like a lake but it's a pool, but it's a lake, but it's a pool . . . . It's a Plake.  Went there with the Seiz clan and the Livera clan and the Mele clan.  Had a great time there.  Since I knew what kind of dinner we were going to have, I just packed myself a peanut butter sandwich for lunch to munch on when I got hungry and that did the trick. 

Check out this crew!

Dinner: Dinner was an occasion to sin. We went to Bruno's.  Still the best undistputed champion of the world for best pizza - the square pie at Bruno's and today was no exception.  There were 15 of us, so we ordered some pies.  I only had the square pie, BUT I had 3 slices.  I could not resist. It was SOOOO good.  The square pie has not really changed since the new partial-owners got in there, except for that I feel like there is just a little extra kick somewhere in there. Not sure what it is, but I like it.  This pie was fresh, hot and perfect!  I also had 1 birch  beer and a couple pieces of buttered bread.  This is why it was so easy to take it slow during the day - I knew what was waiting for me at night.  :-)  BTW - I didn't think to take photos until we were well into the pizza, but these are the masterpieces that came out tonight.  I didn't eat the round, but if it was anything like the square, then I have to say that you should RUN, don't walk, to Bruno's and get it!  

    

And then, just because it was weird, I took a little video of how Giuliana decided to eat her final slice of pizza of the night.  I have to be honest, I'm not quite sure I've ever seen anyone eat a pizza this way before!  Enjoy.  :-)

At night, I'm pretty sure I went after those Doritos for a little bit.  nothing crazy, just felt that I should do my civic duty of eating what was in the container.  I did it for the family.  :-)

That's all for today.  Not bad overall.  Sure, I could have cut a slice of pizza out at night and sure I could have skipped the buttered bread, but I saved all my love up for dinner, so I'm good with it!

Weight Loss Update:  I am down 0.2 from yesterday, so really nothing.  A total of 10.4 for the 29 days up to this point.  Still content. Nothing to complain about here.  Hoping for that big August push to come soon, though.  would be amazing to do another 10.4 before September 1. It's doable, if I really work at it.

Day 26, 27, 28 - July 27-29, 2023 - Another Day in P-A!

 Today was the final FULL day in PA for the Drum Set class.  I can't wait to get back home and be able to eat like a functional human again.  I"m not excited to step on the scale, as I fear that I will have undone a lot of the good work I did earlier in the month.  But I am thinking that a couple of really good days should put me back where i was to start August and make another good push leading into Marching Band Camp.

WEIGHT UPDATE: On Saturday morning, I checked in on the weight and was up a total of 4 lbs from the BBQ week and the week in Philly.  This is actually not alarming, as I can knock that off in 2 days, as we've seen.  I was honestly worried it would be much worse.  If I play my cards right, be the end of the weekend, I should be close to where I was and ready for the August push!  Should end July down 10-11 pounds in total, which I think is reasonable even though there was no good progress the past 2 weeks.

Breakfast: As predicted, another day at Starbucks.  The same sandwich - sausage and egg on English muffin. The same drink - Double Chocolatey Chip Frappucino with skim milk and no whipped cream.  Except the line was REALLY bad today.  I was 10 minutes late to class because of it.  But it was cool.  They don't really bust our chops about that.

Lunch: For lunch, they had a BBQ for all the students of all the classes going on right now.  I just had a hamburger, a diet coke and 4 small churros (Which I think would be equal to like 1.5 regular churros.)  This turned out to be nice because I ran into Jill from WCU who was taking the instrument repair class and we had lunch together with some of her friends from her class.  Was good to catch up.

Dinner: EEK!  Ok, so the other day, I tried to go to Tony Lukes, but they were closed.  Today, I was on the way to my craphole hotel and was very hungry.  I was driving by the Tony Lukes in the mall, so I tried again.  I ordered a buffalo chicken (cheese)steak along with cajun fries and a diet pepsi. Didn't get the cheese, but if I called it "chicken steak," some people would not understand what I got, believe it or not. Holy Moly - this was a great meal across the board - other than it being HUGE HUGE HUGE.  Luckily, it was a really early dinner, so hopefully, since I didn't eat anything after that, perhaps it won't have a dramatic affect on things on the non-existent scale tomorrow morning.  I have to tell you, I'm a Tony Lukes fan after having this.  Will probably by my go-to if I'm in the area down the line.

Evening: Not food related, but I went back to Harrah's because I was bored and it is only 13 minutes from my hotel.  Had another good lucrative night at the craps table.  The table was a lot of fun.  Good crew, good energy and everyone was having a  good time.  Glad I went. Partially because it was fun, but mostly because I made some money  :-)  I did have a Red Bull at the table.  Would have been easy to have 3 or 4, because they just gave them to you at the tables, so all I had to do is tip a buck and I get a Red Bull.  They even didn't open it!  Could have gotten some and brought them home. What was I thinking?  :-)

That's all for today.  Sorry it's a little boring, but it is what it is.  1 more day tomorrow and then I can get back to eating well.  It's just really hard being away, eating alone most meal sand having nothing to cook, prepare or make good choices with.

UPDATE FRIDAY:  I wrote this on Thursday, 7/27, but never posted it until today, 7/30.  The next day, I had the usual Starbucks breakfast and then a Wawa Lunch.  Had some chicken bites and Reese's Big Cups. From there, I went to Scott's house because it was pretty much on the way home.  He has wanted me to try this pizza place near his house called "Nova Trattoria." It was really quite good!  I won't tell you what percentage of this pie I ate, but let's just say that it rhymes with a part of your lower leg.  Official review - solid pizza.  Traveled well in the box, good texture - not droopy but not too crispy.  Cheese had a really nice taste - Had just enough oil on top that gave it a nice extra on top of the bite, but didn't drip all over you.  I would definitely go here again - probably every time - when visiting "Caesar Salad."  At night, I had some doritos and called it a night. 

   

    

UPDATE SATURDAY: Had a really late breakfast - just a couple eggs.  Went to a crazy awesome luau themed party at a friend's house in town with Kristyn and the kids. Knowing how I am with bbqs, I figured I would not eat much heading in.  Now this was not your typical BBQ.  It was catered with servers bringing around finger foods early on - pineapple coconut shrimp, fish tacos, meatballs with some awesome flavoring on them, sticks of thick-ass bacon - I've been to weddings with less at their cocktail hours!   Then for dinner, they had a whole Hawaii themed buffet.  They had chicken and steak skewers, shrimp, rice, chicken, all seasoned for the theme, and chicken fingers, fries and mac & cheese for the "kids."  Along with a couple Stellas and a rum & diet, let's say I ate well.  BUT I did not by any means overdo it, so that's good for me!

Oh - I had some doritos in between by eggs and the party.

I don't think I had anything at night when I got home. 

That's everything I have for you.  Now, back home and ready to get back to "normal" - I hope to have more full Blog posts with more detail on a daily basis.  Sorry to be a little light the past couple weeks.   Been pretty busy.

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: I'm down a total of 10.2 pounds. This is up 2.3 pounds from 7/21 weigh in, but only up 0.5 from 7/20 weigh in.  SOOOO, I basically stayed the course from 7/20 to 7/30.  I'll totally take that, considering how it all went the past 10 days.  Promising.  :-)

Day 25 - West Chester, PA Pizza Whore Tour Is Back!!!

 Well, it's official, this week is a lost week for J-DOC, but I'm having a great time here in PA while learning a ton, so I'll get back on the train when I get home Friday night.  For now, let's bring you in on the great day I had!

Breakfast:  I hit up the Starbucks today for breakfast.  Had a sausage and egg on an English Muffin along with a double chocolatey chip frappucino with skim milk and no whipped cream.  So let's talk about this meal.  So I get these Starbucks gift cards from my students sometimes for Christmas or end of the year.  I don't drink coffee at all.  So one year, I got over $250 for CHristmas to Starbucks alone.  I had to figure out what to do with that, so I found a drink I like.  This frozen chocolate drink with no coffee in it.   So that is my go-to.  On my drive to Villanova from the hotel, I figured I'd find something.  WRONG!  The only thing I passed was a Starbucks.  So I got this sandwich and the drink.  I have about $40 left on my gift cards from this year and this meal is $10.  So I went Tuesday and I went today.  I'll likely go tomorrow and Friday and then all my money will be gone. BUT this is convenient because it's the only place to eat on the way, AND it's technically free!  So I don't regret this one bit. :-)

Lunch: For lunch, I was on my way to Wawa, but passed a pizza shop that I had not seen the day before, so I went there!  I got a plain slice and a buffalo chicken slice.  Now, I'll tell you that the buffalo chicken slice - it looked SOOOOOOO terrible out of the oven.  The way the cheese was put on there was not a way I like it.  It was like they use a different type of cheese on top of this slice. BUT I never judge a book by a cover with pizza, so I tried it.  AND, it was much better than it looked.  THat being said, I'd never get that exact slice again.  The plain slice - it was droopy and so soggy at the top half that I could not tell where the cheese ended and the crust started.  Not a fan.  IT's a drag.  I wanted to like it, but it was not very good.  Had a diet coke to go with this. 

Yesterday, I went to WAWA for lunch and hada special - 4 inch sandwich and small soup for $6.50.  So I got a 4 inch buffalo chicken cheesesteak and a cup of meatballs. (Yes, that's a "Soup.")  With a diet orange soda, the holy grail of diet soda, it was a reasonable lunch.  

Dinner:  Ok - so this is where things got really hairy.  I decided to head into West Chester to check out my old stomping grounds and hopefully meet up with some friends.  In the meantime, I wanted to try some new pizzerias that were not around when I was a WCU.  I started off with the 3 that Portnoy went to.  WHY?  Because if he went there, it's usually because so many people recommended it on his app.  SO if that's the case, I'll just go with his research.  (not his reviews, but his research of where to go.)  I started at "Pizza West Chester."  Looked at the "menu" and it said slices were $4.  So I ordered one.  I was told "We don't do slices at this hour." And they looked at me like i was some idiot.  To which I responded, "I just looked at the menu and it says slice, so I figured you had that." He said "We are not a slice shop and don't do slices at this hour."  "What hours do you have slices?"  "In the morning."   So I walked out disgruntled.

Move onto the next place - West Chester Pizza Cafe.  This place is also new - never seen it before.  Slice was thin mostly, but the crust was a little fluffy.  OVerall, the slice was ok.  I enjoyed it, but I've definitely had better. 

Next up:  Benny's.  This is an old school place.  Been around for awhile and had a nice old pizza shop vibe.  I had a plain slice which was fine.  It was nothing special, but was what pizza is supposed to be.  The cheese was a little gooey and the taste was a little bland, but overall - I'd have it again. 

Now, on the way from the car to Benny's, I passed a place called "New Haven Pizza."  So I walked in and they were ALSO pies only.  So I only lasted there for 1 minute before walking out.  

At this point, I was pot committed to getting a 3rd slice, so I looked in Maps and found "Lorenzo's."  This place - the slices were out of this world huge!  O.M.G. Becky.  Look at that Pizza!  This slice made my house looks small.  And it was my 3rd slice of the hour, so this was going to be hard to put down.  Here's the thing - it was fantastic!  Crispy, tasty, a little oily but not too much.  Cheese was perfect, all of the textures were awesome and it really tasted good.  Best slice of the night.  I ate all the way down to the final crust.  But now, I'm in a food coma!

After my pizza binge, I went to see my student who is partaking in the Drum Major & Marching Band Clinic by Vivace at West Chester University.  Watched her do about 20-30 minutes of mace work with Ed Otto while also watching the full ensemble rehearse.  Later, she went on to do some color guard stuff.  It was REALLY great to watch other people run a band rehearsal.  It's been awhile and it just reminded me of some techniques I should be utilizing.  Here's a photo of the dorm I stayed in when I was a frosh and sophomore!

From there I headed out to Jake's Bar for $1 drafts.  I had a Yeungling and 2 Coors Lights.  These were small mugs.  Probably 8 oz, but for $1  can't beat that.  I met up with Joel for a little bit to shoot the Sh*t.  It was nice to catch up a little bit.  Very rarely see him so it was nice and I really appreciated the effort he made to come out and say hello while I was in the area!

Then Tony came by and we hung for a little bit.  Also, couldn't resist getting a new Jakes Bar t-shirt - the classic design!  Still only $6 for a t-shirt there!!!!!

 After Joel left and before TOny got there, I hit up Facebook for a minute and saw that John Grecia was having his weekly night at Pietro's Prime.  So Tony and I headed over there to see him play.  That was a real treat!  If you are Grecia's Facebook friend and have not checked out his live stream on Wednesday nights, you should!  He plays and sings awesomely and it was a real treat to hear him.  Had a glass of Glenlivet and a Founders beer while there.  Tony and I hung out, caught up and enjoyed some great music!

This was a great trip back to WCU.  I had some new pizza, saw my student who actually seemed happy to see me, saw some old friends and heard some great music.  OH  . . . . .. . . and we walked into Old Swope and walked around a little.  We needed to hit the bathroom.  The back door was locked, but TOny thought maybe we'd get lucky at the front.  We go to the old auditorium entrance and he hits the handicapped automatic door opener button. AND THE DOORS OPENED!!!  It was like the heavens opening up.  Tony's face was CLASSIC when that happened.  So we took a little tour of the building before moving. on.

Anyway, awesome times at WCU.  Hope to get back here again soon.  There's so much more to still see!

Day 23 - July 24, 2023 - Off to Villanova University!

I'm VERY far behind.  One of the things I am going to allow myself is to get away from the blog for a few days if I'm busy and just get on it when I have time.  I don't want to stress about it.  That drives me away - stressing about remembering every single thing from 3 days ago and then I just want to go to bed but I can't because I have to put the pieces together of my after lunch snacks from last Wednesday!  So I'm going to start back up today.  If I get on a roll, I'll write up some old ones from the past week, but maybe not.  We'll see. 

 Today, I started the Drum Set class through University of the Arts, but hosted at Villanova University.  So far, it's a GREAT class.  Learned so much in the first day alone.  This will be a challenge, but a really fun one that is going to help so much when working with my students.  Really great.  Can't wait for tomorrow.  But, let's back up.  I had to drive down here for an 8:30 class, but also had to find the parking lot, register, etc.  So last night, I went to bed around 2.  Got up at 3:45 to feed Conor, who did not really want to have much milk.  So I put him in his swing to fall asleep so I can get a half hour nap before the alarm went off at 5am!  Up and at 'em - out the door by 5:45.  

Breakfast:  I stopped at Griddle This.  I was going to need my energy for a 2+ hour drive at 6am after sleeping for only a little over 2 hours the night before!  I had a taylor ham and scrambled egg sandwich on a toasted bagel.  I was a TEENY BIT disappointed today because the bagel was a little black charred, which makes that part of the bagel tasteless.  This does not happen often, but when it does, it's a drag - especially when I only eat about 1 bagel a week these days.  Nevertheless, it was still a good breakfast!   I also had a Red Bull.  No way I was getting through today without that!

Lunch: After3 hours and 45 minutes of drumming in all of it's glory, it was time for a lunch break.  I don't have anything with me, so I went to the nearest pizza shop:  Campus Corner Pizza at Villanova on Lancaster Ave.  I order 2 slices and it turns out, as you can see below - I did NOT need 2 slices!  These things were monstrous!  I still ate both of them - I hate wasting food. :-)  IT was really droopy and the texture of the crust was  bleh, but it was better as I got closer to the end of the slice as it got more crispy there.   I also had a diet pepsi. 

Class ended at 4:30.  It was time to head to the hotel and find out what I got.  Well, it turns out (as usual), that I got what I paid for.  I got the cheapest actual "brand name" hotel i could find within 2 minutes.  The Days Inn by Wyndham in Springfield, PA.  THe photo on the website looked nice, but that's where it stopped.  This place is a DUMP!  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna find dirt in my towel or a mouse in by bed cuddling up to me after midnight.  I guess that'll be ok - I am a little lonely here.  :-) JK.  I'm fine, but I do miss my family.  

DINNER:  I decided that, well . . .."When in Rome,"  so I'd go get a cheesesteak.  Around here, there are tons of stops in regular towns that are not in the heart of Philly that you can go and just get a cheesesteak.  I tried to take a couple people's advice and go to Tony Lukes. 

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But it turns out that they closed at 8.  It was only 7:50, but they were long shut down already by then, so  that was a waste of time.  So I went back to where I came from and went to Jims.  I just had a plain steak, my usual, and some fries with a diet pepsi.  This sandwich was fine.  And I know, I know . . . .. "of course it was just 'fine', you got it all dry and stuff!  But I get it like that all the time and some are better than others.  This was pretty bland overall.  But it was still quite good. It's hard to completely screw up this meal!

I did not work to set up any social stuff for tonight because I had a feeling I'd be exhausted coming into this day and I'd want to sleep it off.  But the hotel is so crappy that I really just wanted to get out!  I couldn't find anyone on short notice  that was close enough at the hour it was.  It was already 7pm and I hadn't even gone to dinner yet, so I knew I wouldn't be ready to rock until after 8.  So I just decided to hop in the car, take the 15 minute drive and go to Harrah's to get just a little bit of my fix for "CRAPS!"  I took out $100 so I can play.  Hung out for about 90 minutes and ended up making $200!  And all of the winnings came on the 2 times that I was the shooter!    It was lots of fun and once I got up over 200, I set $200 as my bottom line so I took my winnings and went "home" for the night.   During the crap game, I had about 2/3 of a Miller Lite.  

So as you see, today I did not overeat.   I just didn't eat anything good.  And I guess the portions were a little big.  But I certainly did not snack, since I don't have any snacks with me!  I'm hoping I can make some better decisions moving forward this week, but I won't count on that   We'll see!

Now before I leave, let's talk about my butt.  It freaking hurts after sitting on a crappy (no pun intended) drum stool for 8 hours.  I am completely regretting not bringing the Roc 'n Soc comfortable drum throne that I have at school.  This is BRUTAL!  Everyone is feeling it.  At any point in class, you could see 5-6 people just standing up to get a break from their stools.  You'd think that at least we would have some stool softener!  (pun intended.)  THe moral of the story:  If you take this class (and you should, if you are a band teacher,) Bring a good throne.  You and your hiney will thank me later. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day, everyone!