Longmire

 

I started watching A&E’s Longmire when it premiered in June 2012.  I liked it so much, I sought out the book series the show is based on and have read them all, with the exception of a few of the short stories that I missed by being late to the party.  This is a quality show, with excellent writing and acting.  It’s also the highest rated scripted show on A&E.  Last season ended with a cliffhanger of epic proportions, guaranteed to have fans tuning in for the premiere of the fourth season.  So why did A&E cancel it?

To put it simply, A&E is run by idiots.  They want to own all the shows they air, making those shows cheaper for the network.  So any show they don’t own (The Glades and Longmire, to use recent examples) has gotten the axe in favor of cheap reality programming crap.

Fans are outraged and have mounted a massive online campaign on Twitter and Facebook to show A&E how dumb their decision to cancel the show was, and to help Longmire find a new network to call home.  #LongLiveLongmire has gotten a lot of attention and shows no signs of slowing down.  Author Craig Johnson, as well as the cast, have gotten involved in the campaign, encouraging fans to keep tweeting about Longmire to show other networks just how large and passionate the fan base is.  Fans are even calling their cable providers and demanding that A&E be dropped from their programming lineup.  Cancelling the show is going to end up costing A&E more in the long run than if they had renewed the show.

So what network would be a good fit for Longmire?  I’ve seen several bandied about, such as FX, AMC, and USA, as well as Netflix or even Amazon.

My personal opinion is that FX would be a great fit.  The network is known for its’ gritty, not-afraid-to-go-there programming.  They’re also in the market for shows to replace a couple of series that are ending in the next six months (Sons of Anarchy and Justified).  I would love to see FX grab Longmire.  I think it would be a great addition to their lineup.

If FX bows out, AMC would probably be my next choice.  They’re also in a situation of desperately needing original scripted programs to fill the vacancies left by several cancelled series.  My major hesitation here is that Longmire could end right back in a situation where it gets little to no love from the network’s marketing department.  Not only that, but the gritty western slot is currently filled by Hell On Wheels, which hasn’t done all that well the last couple of seasons.  So I’m not entirely certain that AMC is the right fit.

USA is another network whose name has been mentioned.  The only problem is that USA isn’t known for gritty drama.  They’re more known for “dramedy”, and many of their current shows are suffering viewership losses for various reasons (Suits is getting beyond ridiculous, Covert Affairs is just over-the-top wrong, Royal Pains just rehashes the same things over and over, and White Collar is ending its run).  They’re trying to up the drama factor by adding Graceland, Rush (which is supremely awful), and Satisfaction to their stable of shows, but of those, only Graceland is working.  I just don’t think Longmire fits the profile of a USA show, unfortunately.  But if they’re serious about a directional change, it could make a great addition.

Netflix or Amazon could also be a contender.  The plus here would be that fans could access the entire season at once, instead of having to wait each week for a new episode.  Netflix has seen great success with this platform (Orange is the New Black, House of Cards), and Amazon, while late to the game, is jumping in with both feet.  I could see either one of these as a viable option for Longmire.

I’ve also seen pay networks like HBO mentioned.  While Longmire could conceivably do well there, cutting it off from many fans probably isn’t the greatest move.  Not everyone wants to subscribe to a network for just one show.  Also, it seems like everything that isn’t Game of Thrones is getting lost in the shuffle over at HBO.

Regardless of where Longmire ends up, I’ll tune in to watch it.  It would be a crying shame for a show this good to not get a chance to finish telling its stories.  (Especially since season three ended in that cliffhanger!)  Keep up the good work, Longmire Posse.  Hopefully soon, I’ll be seeing you on the trail.

Moving

I hate moving.

I hate everything about it.  I hate having to put the house up for sale and all that entails.  I hate having all my stuff in boxes.  I hate unpacking in the new house and trying to find a place to put everything.  I hate realizing that I have a ton of stuff and that some of it is going to stay in boxes for the time being.  I hate feeling like my life is “on hold”.  I hate having to find a new hair stylist, a new dentist, a new doctor.

But the thing I’m hating most right now?  Trying to get freaking renters insurance.

I’ve been trying for weeks to get renters insurance, to no avail.  Farm Bureau South Carolina doesn’t write renters, just homeowners.  So it has to go through an affiliate company.  The only problem with that is because of the incident in April 2012, no one wants to insure us.  They say we’re too much of a risk.  We don’t even have a dog anymore!  So why are we such a risk?  That makes absolutely no sense to me.

I’ve been waiting on our agent to get back to me for a week now regarding a company that might write the policy.  I called him yesterday and told him I needed to know something by the end of business, because this has gone on long enough.  Our house is under contract, which means our homeowners policy will be cancelled soon, leaving us with no coverage of our belongings.  I have got to get this settled.

As I expected, I didn’t hear anything from him before the end of business yesterday.  So today I got on Progressive and bought a renters insurance policy.  It’s costing me a grand total of $30 a month to insure our personal property.  You snooze, you lose, Farm Bureau.  Now I’m going to see how long it takes our agent to get back to me without me nagging him every other day.  And when he does finally call?  I’m going to tell him, too bad, I gave up waiting around on you ages ago and found insurance elsewhere.

I shouldn’t have to nag a grown man about doing his damn job.  But at least now I have renters insurance.

I just can’t with the lack of logic.

Pet Peeve #6: People who ask you to participate in something, then don’t supply you with the information you need in a timely fashion (or at all, for that matter).

The husband got asked by someone at his workplace to participate in a local community program wherein people in the community volunteer to buy school supplies for needy kids in the area.  They give you the child’s name, what grade they’re going to be in, and where they will be attending school.  Then the volunteers go buy the supplies their assigned child requires and turn them in to the coordinator to be distributed to the kids.

Sounds great in theory, right?  Too bad it’s not working out that way.

So the coordinator at hubby’s workplace finally tells him who the kid we’ve been assigned is and where he goes to school.  She also says that Walmart has the list of required supplies.  So I go to Walmart.  The only lists I can find are for the elementary and junior high schools (and there are a lot of them).  I went through all the lists – nothing.  I asked an employee who was putting out more copies of lists and was told that they don’t have lists for the high schools.

Well, that’s just ducky.  How am I supposed to do this if I don’t know what to freaking buy?  I don’t have kids.  I’ve been out of high school since 1992.  I have no earthly idea what kids are supposed to have by way of school supplies these days.

Needless to say, I’m not real impressed with the people running this program.  You want people to participate?  Then make it easy for them.  Give them a list of things to buy.  Don’t assume they know what to get or that Walmart has the damn list.  Our assigned kid will be lucky if he gets anything at all because of how half-assed this program is being run.

 

You’ve got mail.

Today I got a parcel in the mail from my friend Sarah who lives in Australia.

With great anticipation, I opened the box to find a cornucopia of goodies.

Inside I found some mini packs of Tim Tams in limited edition flavors.  I love these things.  They’re like crack, you can’t eat just one!

I also got a bunch of cute notepads.

The cover of this journal made me laugh out loud.

I also got a cute bookmark, a humorous eraser, and some other interesting stuff.

I’m dying to open these pencils so I can read all the hilarious saying on them.

Where have these stamps been all my life?!

Sarah also burned me copies of several New Kids dvds.  I’m looking forward to watching the Fenway dvd.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for my box of goodies, Sarah!

 

 

 

The diet that isn’t.

Disclaimer: Please note that I’m not a nutritionist or a doctor, so I can’t tell you what to do to lose weight.  You should consult a doctor or nutritionist before starting any diet plan.   

Back in November, I had to go to the doctor because I was suffering from episodes of vertigo. Turns out, it wasn’t anything to be worried about, but I got the shock of my life when I got on the scale at the doctor’s office.

We hadn’t had a scale in the house in over a year, after our last one got broken. So I hadn’t been keeping track of my weight. I knew I needed to lose weight because my clothes (especially my pants) were too tight. Plus, I wasn’t exercising at all, whereas before Chaos died, I was walking with him 4-5 times a day.

But I still wasn’t prepared to see the number on the scale: 192 pounds. I was shocked, and also horrified that I’d let things get that bad.

So the next day, I bought a fancy Weight Watchers scale that not only tells you how much you weigh, but also tells you your BMI (Body Mass Index), percentage of body fat, percentage of body water, and percentage of bone mass.  I did my baseline weight the next morning, which was 190.1 pounds with a body fat percentage of 36.6 (my target range is 24.1 – 29), and a BMI of 30.5 (my target range is 20 – 25).

I wasn’t actively tracking my caloric intake at that point, but I was trying to eat smaller portions.  A little over two weeks later, I was seeing some progress, but I wanted an easier way to track what I was eating.  I discovered the myfitnesspal app after reading about it in Cosmopolitan, so I decided to give it a try since it was free.  At the time I started using the app, I weighed 186 pounds, with body fat of 35.4% and a BMI of 29.7.  I also purchased a digital food scale in order to weigh things like meat, since many times a chicken breast or steak weighs more than the standard serving size (which is 4 ounces).

The app works for me because you put in your height, current weight, age, and activity level and it calculates how many calories you can consume each day.  Exercise ups your caloric intake, so I exercise five days a week for at least 25 minutes a day.  Based on my activity level (sedentary), it calculated that my max was 1420 calories per day, with a minimum of 1200.  (Any less than 1200 and my body could go into “starvation” mode and stop losing weight.)  I’ll be honest, at first I was hungry all the time.  So I started drinking more water, and in doing so, realized that what I took for hunger was actually my body telling me to drink more.  Another good thing about tracking everything that goes in your mouth is that you become aware of what amounts to empty calories.  I love chocolate, but I had to pretty much stop eating it, at least at first.

But as I adjusted to my new eating pattern, I noticed that I didn’t have cravings like I used to.  I also didn’t experience the after lunch “crash” either.  Because I was eating smaller meals, and eating more often, my blood sugar was stable.

Eating out requires a bit of research first, but it is doable.  I usually Google the nutritional info for wherever we’re planning to go and narrow my choices down that way.  Then I can’t get sidetracked by something that looks good but is too high in calories.  For the record, we eat steak maybe once a week.  Pork is another that we eat maybe once a week.  If we’re eating pork in a given week, we won’t have a steak later in that same week.  We stick mainly to chicken and fish, since both are both fairly low in calories.

As of this writing, I weigh 158.2 pounds.  My BMI is 25.4, and my percentage of body fat is 28.9.  For those of you keeping count, that’s 31.9 pounds lost, 4.3 points lost on BMI, and a 6.5% drop in body fat.  I’m just outside the upper range of my target number for BMI, and my body fat is actually in the upper range of acceptable.  Counting calories is working for me and part of that is being aware of portion/serving sizes.  Plus, if I have an event or special occasion and exceed my daily intake, it’s no biggie.  Unlike fad diets, I won’t completely wreck my weight loss plan if I go off the rails once in awhile.  The biggest reason diets fail is because they make you change what you eat in addition to how much.  By tracking calories instead, I can eat the foods I love, just in smaller amounts.

My current goal is to get down to 145 pounds.  Once I’ve reached that goal, I’m going to decide whether to keep losing or to start maintaining.  Considering how much I’ve already lost, another 13 pounds is a cakewalk.  I don’t even consider what I’m doing a diet.  I even got my husband to use the app and he’s lost over 50 pounds!  I’m proud of both of us for sticking with it over the last six months.