A three day weekend (sic) comes to an end. Actually, one day is the same as the next for me but that is the burden of retirement. Ha! Anyway, I had heard nothing out of Rome since the overkills of the non-stop news of the death of one pope and the election and inauguration of another but today I read a story about the Pope Benedict XVI asking parishioners in Italy to reject a ballot initiative to roll back restrictions on fertility clinics. Why I am not surprised at that stance? Later in the year (August I think) he will be joined by Darth Vader II from San Francisco who will assume the post that Cardinal Ratzinger had prior to election as pope.

Having survived the weekend, especially Saturday night, today was a great day. The weather even warmed up. Yesterday was gray indoors and out but today made up for that.

I continue to lose weight and I am amazed and puzzled by this continuing loss of weight even though I have resumed a regular diet sans overly fat and sweet foods. I hope this is simply a result of my gym workouts and not something else. Today, even the scale in the locker room had me weighing slightly less than 130. When I started going to the gym in February I weighed 147 lbs. This is good, I think, but I thought that eating more would put a stop to that weight loss. So far that has not happened.

Only a little over seven months until my next journey to Thailand. That will be my fifth visit but will be a little different. On all other occasions I have gone to Bangkok and Chiang Mai. This time I will skip Bangkok and go to Pattaya instead. I will return to Chiang Mai however. One friend is already there and another is in Singapore. I want to go now but that is not possible but I think I can be patient. If the next six months go as rapidly as the previous six, I will do fine.