The weight loss group at my office had its first regular weigh-in today and showed the psychological strength of piddling financial incentives. Everybody lost weight, an average of three pounds in ten days. I'm $12 ahead (lost 4.5 pounds, 1.5 more than average) and one person is $16 ahead. Next week, I'm sure, the people who lost money this time will be out to recoup their losses.
Nobody skipped breakfast, so far as I know, but I did put off rehydrating after this morning's skating.
The Bedford section of the trail was decorated with fresh-cut grass this morning as the robot mower worked its way toward Lexington. This isn't an automatic robot, but a robotic arm of sorts mounted to a medium-sized piece of heavy equipment. The operator can lift and tilt the mower head at the end of the arm or move it closer or further from the tractor. It's an excellent tool for mowing the trail's long and irregular verges.
Yesterday was fine and breezy, this morning was cloudy and less breezy, and after this afternoon's thunderstorms the rest of the week is forecast to be fair and warm. With luck, I'll catch up a bit toward the ghost of 2007.
Today: 16.5 miles. This year: 243.8 miles.
I've long relied on skating and walking for weight control, never any fad diets or support programs. The closest I've come to an organized group was The Fat Man's Club when I worked at Wang Labs in the mid-80s. Prospective members showed up on the first workday after New Year, weighed in, and put $25 in the pot. Successful members showed up 15 pounds lighter on April 1st and split the pot. No other meetings, no advice, no support, just the prospect of a payoff. (I made the grade and collected $45.)
Now a current co-worker has put together something similar, but with more checkpoints. At each weekly weigh-in, you pay $1/pound of difference to everyone who lost more weight than you did and receive $1/pound if you out-dieted them. Moving with the group average is a financial wash. You win money by pulling ahead and lose it by falling behind, so there's your cash incentive.
I might be at a disadvantage from having the lowest starting weight in the group. (It's not that my co-workers are so fat, it's that they're taller than I am.) I'll let you know how this develops.
Today: 13 miles. This year: 202.3 miles.
Very nice flickr photo set by dsearls. Covers the trail from Alewife to East Lexington in late April.
Thanks largely to research by Yury Kats, I'm confident now that the post marked R is a ring post, signalling the driver to ring his bell, and not a resume speed marker. The first strong evidence is the following paragraph from page 229 of Elements of Railroad Track and Construction by Winter Lincoln Wilson (John Wiley and Sons, 1915).
Whistle and Ring posts are described as identical except for the letter displayed. Sure enough, our mystery post has just that relation to the whistle posts near the Bedford end of the trail. Past the Bedford end Yury saw matching W and R posts on the Reformatory Branch Trail and found them described in the trail guide as whistle and ring posts, respectively.
Last week: 0 miles due to a terrible head cold. This week doesn't look good either, with high winds forecast tomorrow and rain on Tuesday.
In a comment to last Wednesday's post, Yury asked what a wayside post with an R means. Posts marked W are whistle posts, cuing the engine driver to signal as he nears a crossing. I'm asking about the R posts on a couple of railfan sites, with no results yet. Anybody here have a theory?
The whistle post shown below is one of two on the outbound side of the trail less than half a mile from the Bedford end at South Road. The R post is on the outbound side as the trail parallels Valley Road in Lexington, about one-third of a mile from the bridge over I-95 / Mass 128. [Update: The post is exactly 2000 feet from the bridge, as nearly as I can measure with the Gmaps Pedometer. That round number makes me think they're related.]
Whistle post in Bedford, approaching South Road
R post near Valley Road in Lexington
Today: 13 miles. This year: 154.3 miles.
I put on new wheels and new bearings from Inline Warehouse yesterday. I expected them to feel faster than the old ones and wasn't disappointed. The surprise was how much smoother the ride is. The new wheels are the same as my previous ones, so it must be the bearings.
Yesterday: 14 miles. This year: 141.3 miles.
