review Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition software

What's fitting that my first post after a long hiatus will be a review of what is going to, hopefully, allow me to begin posting on a fairly regular basis. I'm writing this post with a program called Dragon naturally speaking speech recognition software. It was the Gold box deal of the day on Amazon.com at $49.99. After having seen it advertised and in the Woodfield Mall for $75 and up, I thought that the Amazon price was a steal so I went ahead and purchased it. I installed the software today and after about 15 min. of tutorial, in which I had to read approximately 15 min. worth of text, the program was up and running. From what I can tell thus far, the program performs as advertised. It is simple, easy-to-use and relatively error free. So, having only about an hours worth of practice with program thus far I would give it 4 1/2 out of five stars. You will have to be the judge of whether or not the program is worth it as I post more frequently and as you get the chance to read what Dragon has translated of my speech to this block.

The Biggest Loser

I was at the chiropractor a couple of weeks ago and she had me evaluated by the medical doctor she has affiliated with the practice. He is a rather old codger. I use the term codger here not as a pejorative, but rather a drescriptor to allow you to conjure up a mental picture of this Wilfred Brimleyesque old gentleman. I assume he is retired and doing this so that he can make a little on the side and so that the bone cracker can extract the maximum from the insurance company.

After a cursuory physical exam, he tells me I need to lose 45 lbs. I needed to pay $70 for that advice about as much as I need a third eyebrow. I'm fat and I know it. I don't like it but I know it. The problem is losing weight is hard...translate to not fun...translate to easier not to do. I have known I was fat (not overweight or pleasingly plump, but downright fat) for the better part of a year. It began with the necks of my dress shirts becoming too tight and progressed to the rest of my wardrobe, to the point that I was wearing 17 inch collars and 42 inch pants. But even the ignominy of wearing suits that would look good on Orson Wells didn't motivate me. I reached my size trying to comfort myself out of the stressful depressing situation that was my daughter's illness last year. Beer, wine, pizza, fried chicken and chinese food were the staples of my diet. I didn't care though, I was on my way to becoming a TLC channel new show, 2 ton dad.

But after thinking for a while, both Mary and I decided that we were tired of being the biggest losers, and it was necessary to lose weight. We also decided it would be easier to do it together. So just before Memorial Day 2011 we embarked upon the "diet". This post was begun back around that time and is being finished in October. In the four months since we began we had a pretty successful run. At this point I have lost 33 pounds and 4 inches in pant sizes. Mary is done much better than me having down to 50 pounds thus far. It's been a difficult transition however, for as I have said I like to eat fat! I will say that dieting in the summer months is been easier than dieting in the winter because of the availability of all the fresh fruits and vegetables at this time in year. The hardest thing for me to give up was beer. Love beer, cold beer, lagers, pilsners, ales and stouts. If it has a foamy head I love it. But I also found that I love red wine as well and for whatever reason my dieting body seems to accept red wine as a weight loss drink. And who am I to complain.

So, the struggle will continue as we move from the summer into the fall and winter. Both Mary and I are determined to see that 83 pound combined total weight loss swell significantly before the new year. As time goes on all post some of the recipes that we used to we found added to the overall weight loss and keep you posted on how were doing but for now, while we may not yet be the "Biggest Losers", we're moving away from being big losers.