Almost a year since....

Well, it has been almost a full year since my last post on this blog and I guess one could say that a lot has happened in my life as well as the world. Of course, you already know what has happened in the world, so hows-about I tell you what has happened in my life.

Well for starters, back in February, Leslie and I went to Napa Valley to do a little wine tasting before a conference that I had. We had an absolute blast and swore we were coming back in the summer... that is when things changed permanently. Come March, we were both very frustrated with our lives and looking for a change. We decided that maybe we needed to move away to get what we felt we were lacking, after all, we both said we would like to move to Colorado some day, why not now. We started looking at properties out west and talked about putting our house on the market here.

Again, this is where the major change in our lives took place... On April 1 (April Fools Day) I was pricing out flights to go back to Napa when Leslie asked me to slow down with the plans for a bit. I did not understand what for but like any good husband, I listened. She hymn'ed and haw'ed a little bit and finally told me that she was "late" -- well for anyone who knows Leslie, this was nothing new, she is late for everything, but I knew she meant something different. We ran out to get a pregnancy test and sure enough, she was preggers!!!

Well plenty of time goes by and finally on December 1, 2007, our little bundle of joy (Michael Aidan) is born and now we have a whole new purpose in life. From this point forward, almost everything in our lives will focus around giving Michael every advantage that we can offer him.

Till next time (and hopefully it won't be another year)!!

World66 - Visited States

I just came across this website that tracks places you have been for you to create a map of your travels. World66 - Visited States - United States reports the following information for me:



create your own personalized map of the USA

Since my last post

Well since my last post a lot has happened. Let's see, for starters, on Body for Life, by day 84 I lost a grand total of 35 pounds and almost made it to my ideal weight for our cruise (I am still going to work even harder next cycle of 84 days to get down to my ultimate weight). Next I went on my cruise to the Western Caribbean -- you have got to see the pictures-- while there did one of the coolest things I think I have ever done in my life, swimming with the Stingrays.


It is almost Christmas 2006 and now I am getting ready for yet another dysfunctional Christmas with the families.

I have the rest of the year off from work (forced vacation, I like to call it, if I don't use it--I lose it). During this time, I think I may be reworking my website, converting it to web 2.0 from this basic PHP-database call stuff to make it more interactive with the end user in mind (that is you, goof-ball).

Anyway, till next time, have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year if I don't talk to you again before then.

Mac Guys in for a change

Jason Long is reportedly no longer being "the Mac" in the I'm a Mac/I'm a PC commercials. That really is too bad, I liked him in many of his movies (stupid as they are) such as Waiting and Accepted. Oh you don't remember who they are? Here is an image to refresh your memory...

Cult of Mac

Official Google Blog: Keep track of your Maps searches, too

Ahhh, yes, just one more way Google is making our lives easier... and keeping track of everything we do on the Internet. Is this covered by their privacy policy? Can a company get hold of this information on us at this point? I don't know, but it looks like one more thing to think about on the Internet.

Peace
Official Google Blog: Keep track of your Maps searches, too

Day 56 – Body for Life

So today marks one of the first major failures I have had on Body for Life… sad as I am about it, it was a party that one of my best friends had last night and I drank, alcohol if you can believe it. Well, it was kind of hard not to as my costume was that of a KEG of beer. My hat for the keg was a tapper that held about 20 ounces worth of beverage, my beverage of choice of course being beer.

The good news is I only filled it up twice and did not finish the second refill, but still a failure is a failure. Remember back when you were in school and you got your first (and hopefully only) failing grade? If it were something like a 58/100 you didn’t feel any better because you “just barely failed” did you now? I didn’t think so, that is about how I feel now, I have worked very hard to change my lifestyle that sent me into this tailspin of weight gain and I had come to realize that alcohol is the single biggest factor in my weight gain. You ask yourself, “how can he pin his fat ass on alcohol?” well, read on and I will let you know.

When you go out drinking, how do you feel (apart from tired) once you have finished drinking for the night, probably hungry and guess where you can stop on your way home (or actually convince the designated driver or cabbie to stop). That’s right, Taco Bell or some other place with the worst crap you can ingest into your body, oh, and then you go right home and to sleep. **side note for my single friends out there, you should probably try to insert the part about trying to score with the chick you brought home, but us married folks, we just want to sleep – the sex will be there another day when we are not so tired and drunk.

So anyway, back on track now, last night was a slip up and I have acknowledged it as such. Now with day 56 upon me and daylight savings time turning my clocks back an hour, I am ready to get moving again. I will work for an extra hour today trying to kick myself in the ass and burn off those worthless calories I consumed last night. I will not cry about how life is not fair and it was only one time, it was a failure and now I am moving back on track. As I said in my last blog, I am down over 25 pounds and still have a ways to go. I have started looking past the cruise at this point and want to lose the weight for the long term and that means a total of 60 pounds from starting point.

Till next time, watch yourself cause that evil enemy is out there, just waiting for you to slip up.

Day (I don't know)

Well I have been doing Body for Life now for quite a few weeks, don't know the number off the top of my head. I am now at the point where I have lost 25 pounds and need to lose another 15 before our cruise in 5 weeks.

One thing I am doing in addition to my regular workout is exercise boot camp. It is a 5:30 AM workout regimine that is quite tough although nothing like real boot camp. Our personal trainer for the boot camp is a guy who really knows his stuff and it really does make life easier (and harder at the same time).

I am pretty sure I will get down to my Cruise Goal weight in time, but I am happy with the progress so far anyway.

I also know that in previous blogs (they seem like so long ago), I mentioned that I would post video blogs... well, I have recorded them, but I have not encoded them for the web (and I kinda doubt I will) strictly from a time standpoint--I don't have any.

Till next time, keep on working out!

Day 19 -- Body for Life

So today is day 19 of Body for Life and weight loss is going good although I seemed to have hit a plateau on the “big time” loss. I am working out like a mad man but the weight is just not melting off like it was. Tonight I am going to do a long treadmill workout and tomorrow will be an upper body day. The food is starting to get a little old --- I miss PIZZA J.

I think I will do a lot better when I join a gym next week. I am either joining Lifetime Fitness or the Wheaton Park District Fitness Center; either way, they are both within a close proximity to work and not bad for home. I cannot find any information about the prices on the Lifetime Fitness Center website but there are several layers of membership, but the Wheaton Park District for an annual membership is $393 for a year or $37 on a monthly basis.

By the way, I have started my video journal and am editing the tape now. I will post a link to the video in my next blog. If you are interested, keep checking in!!

F1 vs Ferrari vs Fiat

Three cars race against each other but the Fiat and the Ferrari 360 Modena are both given headstarts against the Formula 1. As someone who has always wanted a Ferrari, this is a little embarrassing. Maybe it is time I change my dream car to a Formula 1 car, of course there is always that little problem about driving it down the street... yeah right, let the cops try to catch me!!

Day 11 -- "Body for Life"

Well, here I sit at the end of another work day, Day 11 on “Body for Life” and last night I went a little crazy on the treadmill. Exercising for over 65 minutes and burning over 1,000 calories!! Anyway, technically yesterday was not an aerobic exercise day, but an upper body day – today is an aerobic day so tonight I will be doing aerobic and upper body (as soon as Survivor is over J).

Everything seems to be going very good, I am losing weight, my clothes are getting looser in all the right places and my body is starting to tighten up.

I just had an awesome idea, tonight, I am going to pick up a mini-dv tape and start a video diary. Hell, I may even put it online every couple of days. I will keep you all posted. I am looking forward to getting out of work right now, so this will have to do for today… till next time, keep working out and eating right!