I'm enjoying the long weekend. While the boys were skating this morning, Lucy and I took the dogs walking around the Amherst College campus. We walked up a couple hundred steps to get to the middle of campus and then wound around through campus finally returning to the rink. It reminded me of how difficult it would have been before I started dieting. I dieted pretty seriously until the summer and then managed to mostly maintain my weight until the fall -- during the holidays my weight crept up again, but Lucy and I have gone back on the wagon and I'm already close to where I was when I left off last spring. Phil and I are thinking of riding in 
this century, which is back in our old home town. It hasn't been scheduled yet for 2005, but assuming it is, it would be a good goal to work towards. If I lose some weight and train rigorously, I should be able to do it.
After our walk, we stopped at the library. I got a few books to read and picked up three DVD episodes of The Prisoner. It was a little before my time, but I remember Phil being a big fan when he was younger. I thought Charlie was of an age that he might enjoy them. We all watched the first episide this evening. It still holds up pretty well, although it certainly reflects different attitudes regarding government and authority. I remember from other contexts people's concerns about "being a number", which plays out The Prisoner, that you just don't hear anymore. Now people worry more about being a barcode, cookie, or RFID chip, but it relates more to privacy and control of information, than being a reflection of one's own identity and self-value.
StevenBrewer