Business travel, then vacation, then more business travel, then a really nasty cold/sinus infection (which I just can't seem to shake) have significantly slowed my blogging output over the past three weeks, with no feature taking a harder hit than my weight loss chronicles. I have not had an official weigh-in over this period, so I can only report that I am still (officially) at 231 pounds, with a total cumulative weight loss of 67 pounds.

I managed to keep the exercise program going well both for the first business trip and vacation. In fact, thanks in part to a vigorous three-hour hike -- during which I stopped only to take the occasional picture -- I did about 6 hours of exercise while on vacation, which is probably more than I would have done in a regular work week.

Then I took a week off in honor of the second business trip and the aforementioned sinus problem.

In the spirit of getting back on the horse, I took my mountain bike into the shop for a tune-up to prepare for the upcoming biking season. This is something I should have done weeks ago. I meant to do it weeks ago. Anyhow, the mechanics had such a backlog that they won't be able to get my bike back to me until April 3.

That was the second shop I went to. The first gave me a similar story, so I decided to take the bike home and tune it up myself. How hard can it be, after all?

Um, hard. When did bicycles get so complicated, anyway? I thought I was pretty much up to the challenge, until I identified a problem -- straightening the wheel -- about which the manual itself said: "Only a mechanic should do this. You'll be wasting your time and putting yourself at risk if you try to fix this yourself. Don't be an idiot."

Or anyhow, words to that effect. So my summer biking is delayed. But I'm getting the hammer back in swing tomorrow. And I'll definitely get over to Dr. Harris's office this week to see what these last few unusual weeks have done to my weight.