Smoke Detectors: Why do batteries only fail during the night?

I am convinced that somewhere in the world there is a engineer just laughing his head off over the design of smoke detectors and their batteries. Why is it that the low battery warning beep only occurs during the night? Last night, or should I say this morning, at 3:08AM, that familiar beep woke both my wife and I. I heard it, wanted to pretend I didn't hear it, but a minute later my wife said "did you hear that beep?" Yes I did. That meant that it would sound again in 15-20 minutes. And that also meant that I would need to get up and figure out which of the 5 smoke detectors on the upper floor was the culprit. And at 3:22AM, another beep. Since two are in the kids rooms with doors closed, I was able to "quickly" (how quickly can you be at 3:22AM) ruled them out. So, I got up and stood in the hallway, locating myself between the other 3, hoping it wasn't the one in our room, with the vaulted ceiling, and waited. Next beep came at 3:34 and I determined it was the one in the hallway. Got the step stool out and removed it from the ceiling, pulled the battery, and sent it to the basement since it continued to beep after the battery was removed. (Capacitor still had a charge in it.)

Two weeks from now we end Daylight Savings Time, when I would normally go through the house and replace all of the batteries. I think smoke detectors know this as well.

It's flour time! Total loss now at 20.2 pounds.

Today marks 8 weeks since I started project David 2.0 (What is David 2.0?) and today also marks the second 10 pound bag of flour added to my desk! As of today's weigh in, I've lost 20.2 pounds. Can't believe how big those two bags of flour are, and that used to be part of me.

When I started this project I had hoped to lose 25 pounds by Christmas. I thought that would be a major accomplishment. I had no idea that I would be this far a head of my progress goal. I have no idea how the pace will continue as I work towards my goal of 61.6 pounds. I will not assume that it will continue as it has, but I am hoping that the daily cardio work out I started on 9/30 will help keep it close to this pace. I'm not a runner, but I am walking for 45 minutes every night and the pace has me up to 2.6 miles a night.

I feel great. I had no idea that taking 20 pounds off would feel this great. When I lost weight several years ago, it was over an extended period of time, and I don't remember really being aware of the changes. Maybe in part because I still should have lost more weight, and in part because it was much more gradual and the results were not as obvious. Today, my clothes are clearly getting too big. I joked that one of the goals I set was to donate all of my clothes by Spring. Not sure I'll be able to hold out. I've already dropped a shirt size. Pants are starting to hang on me, and when I needed to wear a shirt and tie a couple of weeks ago, I had extra room in the neck!! I know what will be on my list for Christmas - the gift we hated getting as a kid, clothes.

25 pounds is my first goal. At 30 pounds I'll be close to half way and plan to go in and have my A1C tested (Type II diabetic) I am not sure how the weight loss and diet change will impact it, but I am hoping that at some point I'll be able to reduce the medications that I am on. And maybe it won't be much of a change until I get to the 61.6 pound goal. Can't wait to find out!

S'mores - it doesn't get much better

The kids have been wanting to have a fire in our "fire pit" so that they could roast marshmallows and make s'mores. Too many activities this weekend when it was in the low 60's kept us from doing it. Tonight, when it had been 84 degrees today, we made a fire and made s'mores.

It is so relaxing to sit around the fire with the kids, marshmallows on the sticks, the kids waiting for daddy to set his on fire. After all, a marshmallow isn't roasted until you've had to blow out the flames.

It was a great evening, clear sky, and as the temperature cooled off, the warmth of the fire felt great. My wife and I shared with the kids memories of when we were kids and going to church camp every summer. What it was like to sit around the bonfire every night, under the stars.

I never get tired of a fire, especially outdoors. Hopefully we'll have a few more this year. I know the kids are hoping for more fires so that they can roast more marshmallows and make more s'mores.

"Small" victories in David 2.0

Today marks 7 weeks since I launched David 2.0, my personal and professional transformation project. I am well on my way towards my goals. As of this morning I have lost 17.4 pounds. This has translated into me dropping a shirt size, getting close to running out of holes in my belts, and an overall increase in energy. This past Friday I finally introduced a key component - exercise. Blew the dust off of the treadmill in my office and started walking. Boy did that feel great!

Another small victory is that for the first weekend my weigh in this morning was the same as it was on Thursday. Usually on Monday's I weigh in 1-2 pounds more than I did on Thursday/Friday. This puts me behind for a couple of days while I work that off.

Three things occurred this weekend. I walked 45 minutes each night, made "better" food choices, and did a better job of drinking. Water that is! To come out even this morning was huge. Saturday night my wife and I enjoyed the company of some good friends and had dinner at McCormick and Schmick's followed by drinks at The Local. Now my wife and I did share an entree, I did skipped the calamari - hard to do, and did enjoy a glass of wine and a fabulous upside down apple pie with ice cream (shared as well). This was followed at our next stop with a couple of high calorie, high carb beers. All enjoyable - friends, food, and drinks. Part of what helped was making wise choices through out the day on Saturday, knowing that I was going out that night, and making fairly wise choices at the restaurant. The shared entree was a perfect portion, supplemented by a salad.

Overall a great weekend that showed me you can enjoy when doing it smartly, making wise choices, and planning for the bump in intake through out the day.

Small victory on the path to an overall new David 2.0