Day 4 & 5 - Retirements, lots of chicken, and Phil Simms!!!!!

 Hello friends!  I hope all is great today.  Let's see if I can remember what I did yesterday . It's now Sunday night and it's been a nice and memorable weekend.  Let's see what I can recall.  

SATURDAY - Morning Weigh-In - (-6.6 lbs from start) *.5 pounds down from yesterday

Breakfast - I made waffles for the kids.  The "recipe" on the box combined with the little waffle makers we use makes 7 waffles.  Joe and Giuliana usually eat 2 or 3 each.  In this case, they each ate 2.  So I had 3, which is probably equivalent to 2 regular sized pancakes.  I put chocolate chips in my waffles.  Waffles = awesome choice?  NO.  Waffles = Fine because I'm not addicted to them and I did not overeat?  YES.  I was planning to have a healthy breakfast at Griddle This, but since there was extra wafflage, I went for it.  And saved myself $9.05.

Lunch - On Friday night, I used 2 chicken breasts to make the concoction I had for dinner last night. (I only ate half of it, btw).  I took the other 2, cut them up and marinaded them in some Sweet & Spicy BBQ sauce overnight.  Breaded them with Italian bread crumbs this morning and air fried them.  It actually created a very crispy coating around the flavored chicken.  It was REALLY good.  Also made a set of thin french fries out of a potato using just some Cajun spices.  I ate about 1/3 of a medium sized potato. 

Dinner - For dinner, I ate the 2nd half of that chicken from last night. 

Snacks - To be honest, I don't remember a whole ton.  Oh wait - I had an orange at 10:30pm.  I know, it was after 10pm.  But as I mentioned to a good friend of mine who commented on my initial rules post - if I'm eating an orange at 10:30pm and I'm happy about it, I'm taking the win.  I think I had 1 Ferrero Rochet and 2 cherry sugar chewies at some point after dinner.  Also, grabbed a couple 12 packs of black cherry seltzer, so that's back in the mix.  That's a GREAT crisp drink when I need a break from the water.  I feel like I snacked more during the day, but I can't really remember what I did. 

SUNDAY - Morning Weigh-In - (-7.6 lbs from start)  *1 pound down from  yesterday)

So . . .. . I dropped half a pound Saturday.  I'll take that!  consistent half pound days would be 15 pounds for the month, which is the goal for January.  The first month always goes faster. 

Breakfast - Today, I treated myself to "Griddle This" for breakfast.  First time of the new year.  I had what those "in the biz" would call a "ZERO POINT BREAKFAST".  Of course, this is referring to Weight Watchers.  I had Grilled chicken (0 points) tossed in buffalo sauce (0 points) with 3 scrambled eggs on the side (0 points) and a diet orange soda (0 points).  Solid meal, if you ask me - And GUILT FREE!

Lunch - For lunch, we went over to Tommy's Tap & Tavern in Clifton because the Giants Pregame show was broadcasting there with Phil Simms!   I wanted to bring the kids for a free autograph opportunity.  **Shout out to Andrew Van Dorn, my new autographing buddy for tipping me off to this one**  So first off - the food.  I was a pretty good boy, considering where I was.  I just ordered the crock of chili.  It came with some tostitos and a piece of corn bread.   A pretty light lunch. I  also ate about 1/3 of GIuliana's kids meal Mac & Cheese.  Only ordered water for myself - no beer or soda.  We'll get ot the Phil Simms stuff later.

Dinner - Tonight was the Cresskill Athletic Director's retirement party at the Ridgewood Country Club.  Walked into a massive cocktail-hour-like spread.  This type of setting is usually rough for me, but I was pretty good.  Let's see if I can add up what I had:

• about 6-7 large cocktail shrimp
• 7-8 cucumber slices
• 6 cheddar cheese square slices, 4 of them on little beefsteak-like breads
• 2 pieces of sausage bread (not large pieces)
• 1 Goose Island IPA
• 1 large Brownie

All things considered - this was a VERY good day for me at a party like this.  Typically, I go ham on a spread like this.  The Shrimp helped - Shrimp is another ZERO POINT food, so loading up on solid shrimp was helpful.   Good chance I will be even or up 1/2 a pound or a pound from today.  But that's ok.  I did GREAT today compared to what I would normally do on a day like that.  

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Now for the bonus info:  Meet & Greet with Phil Simms:

I'll start off by saying that Phil Simms might just be the NICEST and MOST GENEROUS famous athlete I've ever met.  So here's how it went.  

The radio show started at 11am, but Joey & Giuliana had CCD until 11:30am. So we didn't get there until about 12:15.  Only problem - Phil Simms was done on the radio by 11:53am.  BUT then he sat down and signed autographs for everyone who waited in line.  Me, knowing my kids, I sat down with the 3 of them and my mom to order some lunch.  While I was waiting for the food, I went to find out if they were planning to shut down the line at any point.  I then found out that the line was ALREADY SHUT DOWN!  They would not make an exception for me and my little dudes.  In the mean time, we arrived, ordered, ate, paid, and there were still like 40 more people on line.  They sent someone over with a "giveaway pack" for the kids - a couple of XL t-shirts and 2 adult sized hats . . . . . . ugh.  I was not totally pleased at this point because  was trying to make it work for my family, but it did not work out.  If the plan was to show up with 3 kids and just stand on line for 90 minutes to meet this dude, I would not have done it.  My kids are NOT into it like that.  They would not wait like that to meet Moana herself, so they would not do it for any athlete - short of maybe Aaron Judge. 

Anyway, so at that point, there was not reason to stay.  We packed up and left.  But as any experienced grapher would, I took a drive - 2 laps - around the building to decide if I was REALLY done or not.  During my first lap, I spotted 2 guys who were waiting for Phil to come out of the restaurant.  I did another lap and when I came back, the perfect parking spot had opened up.  I prepped the kids with their photos and sharpies and I got my newspaper ready.  I wasn't there 2 minutes and he came right out the door.  All Systems Go!

Phil took his time walking over to his car.  By the time we got there, 4-5 other people were there.  He took his time signing for them all, AGAIN.  My kids were being shy, but I told them "Get on up there!"  And the other adults were all supporting them - "Yes!  Let the kids in!"  So I made sure Phil knew that the kids were not just getting extra ones for me.  "Don't worry Phil - the kids photos are for them!  Not me!"  He said "It's no problem.  Don't worry about it!'  

He took Joey's photo, which was pretty dark.  I had a blue sharpie.  He said "Let me figure out where I'm gonna sign this . . . . .Wait, I got something better. . . . . Oh Shoot, I don't have my silver sharpie."  Another adult shared a silver sharpie.  As he was signing it, it wasn't coming out as clearly as he had hoped and he said something like "I should have just used your blue one!"

Then he took Giuliana's.  He used the blue sharpie on that because there was a really good spot for it with a light background. I told him that this was Giuliana's first autograph.  Not bad - Super Bowl MVP for her first one!  I didn't want to ask too much from him, so I told the kids to turn around so I can take a photo of them with him while he was signing. And he was like "Just wait a second.  I'll finish up and then I can pose with them."  He finished signing his name, along with Super Bowl XXI MVP" on her photo.  Then walked up to them and crouched down to their level for a fantastic photo. 

   

He then took my 1987 Super Bowl newspaper, exclaimed "McConkey!", the player featured on the cover.  He said "Did you know everyone was calling me lucky on that play?  I was like 'I HIT BAVARO IN THE HELMET!  I WASN'T LUCKY!'"  (For that play, check out this Youtube video around 1:28)

So, all of this interaction came after he spent 1 hour on the radio and then almost 2 hours signing autographs for people who did not pay for it.  People getting him and then getting back on line multiple times, people who have probably met him a number of times. . . . . I have to say, one of the most friendly interactions I have ever had during "the chase".  He could have easily said "Ya know what, guys, I have been signing for almost 2 hours.  I'm tired and I wanna get home."  And he would have been right.  But he stayed and chatted and took care of us all, kids or adults.    Just wanted to share that positive story.  And for those who say "Well, that's what he SHOULD do."  I mean, I guess you can say that, but I never feel like we are entitled to their time.  I always feel grateful when someone takes the time to support my hobby - especially when I don't pay for their time.  Phil Simms is now way up high on my list as a great dude.