Day 2: Why Key West?

Thanks to everyone who has visited and commented so far!

For those who don't know, here is a bit about Key West. Key West is the southernmost island in the florida keys, approximately 120 miles south of Miami, and only 90 miles north of Cuba. It is a small island, 4 miles long by 2 miles wide, and has a full-time population of about 23,000 people.

Key West has several areas: new town (very residential, toward the north end of the island), old town (the touristy area), and other areas like the naval base(the lower part of the picture).

The main tourist/nightlife area is on Duval St., where there are a bunch of great bars and hangout spots, some world-famous like the Hogs Breath Saloon, and these two: Sloppy Joe's, and Captain Tony's Saloon where Jimmy Buffett used to play before he was famous.

Ernest Hemmingway lived here while writing most of his best-known books

Key West is the southernmost point in the continental USA, and tourists always get their pictures taken by the marker at the south end of the island:

And KW is known as "the home of the sunset" because the water there is very calm and the sunsets look amazing:





On the home front, the diet/exersize plan is working so far! I have dropped 6 pounds since Xmas, down from 185 to 179. Today is back/biceps day in the gym, and I'm gonna try to jog on the treadmill for 20 minutes as well. This diet is killing me, but its easier to keep to now that i'm seeing results. I've developed a taste for diet coke, and am actually starting to lose my taste for fried foods. I've decided to deprive myself of alcohol until I'm at 175, since I tend to eat a lot of garbage when I drink. Hopefully I can do this in a week and a half or so! My official goal is to be down to 160 pounds before I leave, which will be tough, but I've done it before. I'll post before/after pictures when the time comes!

The hardest part of completing my goals is quitting smoking. The diet makes this even harder! I'm down to about 5 or 6 Ultra Lights a day, but certain times I just need a cigarette, like when I'm drinking coffee, or after a meal. If I still can't kick the habit after another month or so I'll try the patch or one of those methods. Until then, all I can do is try to fight the urge!

Again, thanks for reading! Tomorrow I'm going to post a few pictures of the houses that I'm considering, along with my future roomates! Be sure to read tomorrow and give me your opinions!