A few thoughts as the days dwindle down to a precious few as far as my first two weeks on the Eades Diet goes:

…I’m ten days in on the Diet and have lost 11 pounds and 1/2″ around my waist. It hasn’t been pleasant, but neither has it been as tough as I’d expected it to be. No headaches or crankiness due to going cold turkey on the caffeine and alcohol. I think I’ve worked my way through the insomnia phase, which hasn’t been as bad as I remember it being last time.

…In four days I start the weeks 3 & 4 “meat weeks” where it’s any and all meat of every kind (as much as you can take) and green, leafy vegetables. I can go back to my normal half caffeine/half coffee regimen and can have two alcoholic drinks a week. The question is, what will they be?

…now I have to deal with a high blood pressure issue that has cropped up. Although my mom had it for (I think) quite a while, I’ve never had issues with my blood pressure, like, ever. It just so happened that I had to have a biometrics thing done as part of Tracey’s company’s “be well” initiative (I’m on her insurance plan), and, lo and behold, they take my blood pressure and I’m in the 160/100 range. So the guy doing the test freaks out, says I need to see my PCP immediately, and to expect a call from some nurse in ten days to see if I’m still alive and have gotten the needed blood work done.

…so I’m wondering why I would go from a non-HBP thing to a HBP thing? All the stress involving “The Client Who Shall Remain Nameless” has long ago subsided. Who knows – could that whole episode have tripped something permanent in my physiochemistry? Is it just that I’m getting older and this is one of those things that just go along with being past middle age? One thing’s for sure: it’s a good thing I’m on the Eades diet because one of it’s benefits is a reduction in your BP. Makes me wonder what it would have been had I not started the diet!

…congratulations to the Boston Red Sox for their advance to the 2018 World Series. That was quite a series with the Houston Astros. That Game 6 with closer Craig Kimbrel dancing on a pin of disaster was crazy, but I guess you can get away with what he did when you have the best outfield in baseball by far.

…and it wasn’t just the outfield’s performance – both defensively and offensively – that won the series for the Sawx. They don’t give the MVP award to managers, but has there ever been a manager in the post-season who has (at least to this point) been able to push all the right buttons as consistently as Alex Cora has? It was pretty amazing to watch. No wonder the team plays with such confidence – they know they have a manager who won’t screw things up on them.

…so we’re down to little more than two weeks before the mid-term elections. Forget about the polls – they’ve become meaningless, just words for lazy so-called “journalists” to take up space in columns on paper or something to induce clicks on a web page. At this point in the campaign, if you want to see how a political party is doing, just do what Deep Throat instructed in “All The President’s Men” and follow the money. Where is the national party allocating it’s resources? What candidates are having their national party support taken away from them so they can be reallocated somewhere else? What campaigns are seeing an infusion of dough-re-mi into their campaigns?

…and then there are the so-called “celebrities”. If you’re the Democrats, see where Barack Obama is being asked to go. Wherever he’s being asked to go, you know the Dems are concerned about holding a seat they once thought a given. If you’re the GOP, watch where President Trump is holding his rallies. As Deep Throat said, that should tell you a lot.

…also, watch for signs of one party or another seeking to expand their base. For example, if you see Barack Obama go to, say, South Carolina or Wyoming, you know the Dems are feeling good about the states and districts they already have and are seeing if a foray into “enemy territory” might allow them to pick off an additional seat or two. Likewise, President Trump isn’t going to visit places where the White House knows haven’t got a chance. Therefore, if you see PDJT scheduling rallies in places like Michigan or New Hampshire (something I’ve heard whispers about from my GOP party contact), that means he thinks there’s a chance to pick off a seat or two originally thought not to be worth contesting.

…also, watch what the mainstream media is writing. I know, they’re nothing more than Democratic Party operatives disguising themselves as so-called “journalists”, but in this case, watch for articles seeking to temper expectations – especially when it comes to Democratic turnout and hopes. Expect to see stories about “what happens if the GOP keeps the House and Senate”, or stories with words like “hopes” and “whispers” all over the place.

…finally, watch what the pollsters are doing. Until now, the majority of polls have been published under the guise of pushing a particular candidate or political agenda. At this point, the pollsters start worrying about their reputations and are looking at the ratio of early-voting and absentee ballots coming in by party, so they will start skewing their finding to match what they are seeing.