I'm Still Here Dammit!

I suck. I know. This work schedule is really not very blogger-friendly. I have GOT to talk to somebody about this! Anyway...

Jericho returns tonight!! 10 pm ET/PT, 9 in flyover country on your local CBS affiliate. Watch it and don't make me have to send more nuts to CBS again. Climb out of the malaise that is Dance Wars, The Biggest Loser, and Wife Swap. Watch a real show!

Not a helluva lot to report on the weight loss. The train/walking thing is somewhat beneficial, but my snacking habits are not. Curse the vending machines! New tweak to things. Instead of Tuesday mornings, my weekly goal dates are now Wednesday mornings. I'm doing this for two reasons. First, on Tuesday mornings I'm always in a rush to get out of Casa de Hoff in time to get to the train, and second, Monday evening is usually an evening with DAPGF going out to dinner and no real exercise. By moving it to Wednesdays, I'm less rushed in the mornings and might actually be able to write a post before heading off to my typical Wednesday staff meeting, and I have had the benefit of (hopefully) less to eat during the day because I don't bring a cooler bag with lunch in it, as well as the nearly 2 mile jaunt from the office to the Santa Ana train depot. As stated earlier, though, there's not a lot to report. This morning I weighed in at 283.0, a far cry from the 279.6 lbs that I managed to hit on the date of my last post (1/23, what kind of a loser am I?), but as is usually the case with me, it's been a yo-yo experience. I've spent several days from then to now in the 279s, actually 4 times hitting 279.6, and I've ranged up as high as 283.6. You have no idea what I would give for a consistent schedule, where I know I can get a solid amount of exercise every day. No gym tonight, but I did manage to make it to the driving range. Broke the head off of my 5 wood, but that gives me an excuse to look at replacements. This would be acceptable:
Let's see. Brakes for the Jeep? Taxes? Credit Card payments? Nah. I think this is a better idea.

A Taxi Cab Company of Orange County (yes, that's the official name) sucks at dispatching cabs on time. Tuesday and Friday I called for a cab 20 minutes or so ahead of when I wanted it, and 35 minutes ahead of when I NEEDED it, so I could catch my train back to San Diego. The first time the dude was just way too late, and picked me up at the time the train was scheduled to leave. No way to make it. The Friday one, the guy picked me up with what would've been enough time had he known where he was going. Unfortunately, I get the only white cab driver in Santa Ana, and he's apparently the only one who doesn't know where the damn train depot is! We pulled into the bus drop off area because it was closer to the train platform, just in time to see my Amtrak Pacific Surfliner pulling out of the station. Yeah. This was the wrong time of the month to explain to DAPGF (who was being neither D nor P at that point) why we were going to be late going out to dinner and so on. She teaches on Thursday night (Valentine's Day, for those who need the reminder) so we're celebrating on Friday. I think I'm going to leave work early enough to walk to the train depot (which is what I normally do), so that the only way I'll miss the train is if I get run over in a crosswalk or shot in a drive-by.

Last night at the gym, the last 5 songs to come up in the shuffle whilst on the elliptical hamster machine:

Iron Maiden - 2 Minutes to Midnight
Bad Religion - Los Angeles is Burning
Dream Theater - Pull Me Under
LA Guns - Rip and Tear
Stormtroopers of Death (S.O.D.) - Speak English or Die

Had an interesting revelation at the gym over the weekend. Was doing my hamster impression on the elliptical, when Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden shuffled it's way into my bluetooth headphones. Interesting thing about that song. It is far from the "fastest" song that I listen to. That honor would likely go to something by Stormtroopers of Death (probably "Milk" or "Speak English or Die"), or something by Anthrax, Nuclear Assault, Megadeth, or Slayer. But the song is very fast paced. And the problem I had was it was just fast paced enough that I was pushing probably 85 rpm or so, when I normally run at around 70 rpm (a steady 70-ish rpm will get you 2.13 miles over 20 minutes). But it was just at that right speed where I couldn't slow it down and catch a double beat on the stride for some of the superfast songs, so I had to just sprint like a fiend. When I finished, the dude next to me asked what song came on my player, because after 15 minutes of steady I just opened up into a sick sprint. Just something to keep in mind.

Have fun out there, and Stay Classy.

Happy Freaking New Year!!

Happy New Year all you freaks and such. Hope you had a fun and safe New Year's Eve, and that you are now ready for some heavy duty resolutions and weight loss efforts. Personally, I had a great NYE. Me and DAPGF went to an 80s party in a converted church. GF commented on how interesting people's different takes on the 80s were, especially those who missed them the first time. Me, I was there in all my headbanging glory. There were those dressed as hair metalers, or wearing concert Ts (some even appeared to have gone to the shows...damn my fatness that made all of those t-shirts unwearable). There were the New Wavers, with their Depeche Mode or Cure wigs and makeup on, Boy George was there, as were several Madonnas and Flavor Flav (pre Flavor of Love, natch). A couple of Molly Ringwalds (no Long Duk Dong, sadly) and one Marty McFly. Good times. On to bidness.

NYE morning, my weigh-in was 284.6, a decidedly bad weight, a good 7 pounds higher than my lowest point of 2007, but at least 6 pounds down from my highest point of 2007. January 1, 2008. Weigh in at 284.0 lbs. There is a small qualifier here, in that this weigh-in happened much later in the morning than normal, and as such likely would've been higher had I weighed myself early as is my normal practice. Still, it was my first weigh-in of 2008, so that's where I start. I'm also going to take advantage of the calendar and see if I can address a recurring problem from last year. I usually did alright during the week and fell apart on Sunday, erasing much if not all of my progress from the week. So given that January 1 is on a Tuesday, my weekly goals are now going to be from Tuesday to Tuesday. It just seems logical. Besides, DAPGF's teaching schedule is all screwed up, so I'm not sure how often I'm going to get to hit the gym during the week, so I may as well make it Tuesday to Tuesday and just run with it.

To formalize all of this, I'm sticking with the goal of 2 pounds loss per week, and I'm going to try and get back into tracking things regularly on My Fitness Pal. My work schedule makes it very difficult to get any kind of meaningful time on the internet, so it should present a whole new batch of challenges. In any respect, I don't see myself getting below 200 lbs, or at least in a healthy fashion, so my resolution is to lose enough weight to get below 240 lbs. I'm sitting at 284 lbs, so 44 pounds. Assuming I make my goals each week (nobody's THAT optimistic), by summer I should be ready to hit the beach. I'm going to try like hell to hit that, and in that regard, my current work assignments may actually help. Because of my limited time in my assignment in Santa Ana, I expect to take the train from San Diego to Santa Ana, work from 9:15 to 2:15 each day without taking a lunch (there's the key), at most eating a small snack from the lounge. If I can hold to that, that should cut out 200-500 calories per day.

Related to the assignment is my resolution to be more organized in my entire life. Tall order I know, but so many of my shortfallings, both professional and personal, can be traced to this one aspect of yours truly. I plan to hit this in several different ways, some of which I've already started. Blogging. Because of my limited internet time during the work day combined with my uncertain amount of free time in the evenings (depending on DAPGF's teaching schedule), finding time to both post and read other blogs is difficult at best. The first step I've taken is to setup a Bloglines reader. Most of the bloggers I know from the poker blogging world use them, and it's high time I do likewise. The great thing is that I can see at a glance who has new posts and how many. Reading them is little more than clicking on a link in the reader. No redirect, no having to "back page" or anything like that. I also plan to set aside periods of time at least twice per week (depending on DAPGF's schedule) to post on my blogs. I'm trying to use the Google empire more and more to keep things in my life accessible and organized. Google calendar is pretty slick and the email reminders are priceless. Google docs allows me to post something to an internet folder that I can access from anywhere. Having access to excel sheets that I use for budgeting or tracking my timesheets from home, my office, or my client's office is a real help. Right now the other key thing I'm trying to organize is my bill paying process. It used to be that I simply kept everything in my briefcase and paid them during a slow period at work. I've managed to get most of them able to be paid online, and a few are automatic debit. Still, I need to remember to pay the online ones, and there are a few that I actually have to mail a payment in for. My plan for this is to pay the mail ones while on the train. Dead time with no internet access, it should be a good way to work. The electronic ones I've been setting Google Calendar reminders, and hopefully I'll be better about minding those than I have been through November and December. I am also working hard at organizing my desk/computer area to make it easier to actually do some of these activities here at Casa de Hoff. Finally, every night before I crash out I'm going to take a half hour and log in my daily activities. Meals, exercise, and calories will go onto My Fitness Pal at that time, and any spending I've done will go onto my budget and expense worksheets. So I've got exercise, finance, and blogging planned out. Whether I can stick with them is anybody's guess, but I'm for damn sure going to try. Wish me luck, peeps, and good luck to all of you.

Dogs, steroids, and any excuse to not work out...

Wassup party peeps! I apologize for the lack of posts, but my dear doggie has been having some severe health issues, and I’ve been shuttling back and forth to vets, hand feeding her, and other assorted sick doggie activities. Right now the preliminary diagnosis is a slipped or herniated disc that has been causing lethargy, pain, lack of appetite, and a desire to not move her hind legs. The neurologist vet (yes, we’ve gotten to that stage) put her on steroids (my own little Dobie Bonds!) to see if they can reduce any inflammation in her spine. If they work, great. Still, on Tuesday she goes back to the neurologist for an MRI to specifically identify the injury. Even if the steroids reduce the inflammation, and the combo of ‘roids and doggie pain pills have given her her energy and appetite back, it’s likely that without surgery the problem would crop up again. So any good thoughts you can send towards Ginger and improvement to her health are much appreciated. And with that, on to my fat.

It’s a little frustrating. On August 27, my weigh-in was 279.2 lbs. At the time, it was the first real progress I’d seen in the month of August, and my next goal for 9/3 was to be 277.2 lbs. Ginger’s problems first cropped up that Thursday, August 30, and kind of screwed up my exercise over the weekend. I did get some weight-lifting in, hoisting 75 pounds of Dobie in and out of the Jeep, but with her lack of energy and pain, our 45 minute dog walks were reduced down to at most a lap around our condo building. I actually did pretty well on the eating end of things, especially impressive given the holiday, and wound up with a 9/3 weigh-in of 277.6 lbs, just .4 lbs shy of my goal. All things being equal, not bad.

Since I got so close, I set today’s goal at 2 pounds less than where I had planned to be last Monday, 275.2 lbs. Tuesday and Wednesday were both vet visit days where I ate no breakfast and didn’t go into the office, and thus didn’t really snack much. Wednesday’s weigh-in was actually 275.8 lbs, so I was actually pretty excited about making my goal. Unfortunately, Wednesday and Thursday’s gym opportunities were shot when I had to head home and take care of the dog, because DAPGF’s boss kept her late and she lost her window of time between work and teaching on both nights. And the weight had crept back up into the 279 range by Friday morning. I went to the driving range Friday at lunch, and I made it to the gym Saturday morning and was rewarded with a weigh-in of 278.2 lbs. Yes this was above where I started the week, but given the peak of the week (hey! That rhymed!) of 279.4, I was pretty pleased. Sunday I made it to the gym and managed to post a weigh-in of 277.8. Yay me! Fighting back! Sunday we went to Mimi’s Café for brunch. I had this stuffed BBQ chicken quesadilla. Now, I’ve had this thing a couple of times and it is just the perfect amount of food, IMO. It is tasty, satisfying, and just filling enough (it’s an appetizer, not an entrée) without making me feel stuffed. Sunday, though, I’m not sure what happened. I ate it and it just sat in my belly like a lead weight, and all I could think is that this was totally going to screw my Monday weigh-in. DAPGF went out with some friends, so I just had some Uncle Ben’s instant rice (about 400 cal. worth) and some baked Lays potato chips. End result, today’s weigh-in hit an ungodly 279.2 lbs. I gained almost 2 pounds this week, and wound up 4 pounds north of what my goal had been! I think they snuck some lead weights or something into my quesadilla.

You know, though, I’m disappointed but I remain optimistic. This recent effort that began in earnest on July 3, when I discovered My Fitness Pal (still the greatest weight-loss tool I’ve come across), and although the majority of August was lacking in progress, I didn’t backslide either. I’ve come to realize that I actually can control my weight. Logically (duh) all it takes is portion control and exercise. It sounds simple, but it ain’t the easiest thing to do. Especially when you are constantly bombarded by restaurants that have ever-increasing portion sizes, and fast food joints who charge $3.29 for a southwestern chicken pita sandwich that rings up at 254 calories (and is really tasty, btw – Jack in the Box) and $1.49 for a medium diet coke, but only charges 30 cents more to make it a combo with fries and a soda, or charging $2.29 for one sausage mcmuffin and $2.69 for 2 of them. Despite not needing a full combo, or 2 mcmuffins, I have such a mental block when it comes to trying to get my money’s worth, and I have such a hard time justifying to myself the idea of not getting the combo or not getting the two-fer deal. That being said, I’ve been really good at not hitting the drive-thru’s, and avoiding the Chinese buffets. I know I can do this. I’ve been doing it, and there’s no reason why I can’t. Given today’s weigh-in, my goal for 9/17 will be 277.2 lbs. I’m going to actually aim for where I should’ve been today, 275.2 lbs, but I’m trying to stick with the two pound drop per week. Wish me luck, and thank you in advance for any good vibes for Ginger.

It's going to be a good week...

Sez me…

 

This past 2 weeks has been brutally hectic.  Working late several nights, over the weekend, all to get a proposal together for a potentially $1.8 million contract.   We got it done, and now it's a waiting game to see if my company is going to be called for an interview.  I've got more projects to work on this week, but I'm hella relieved to be done with that proposal.   Of course, if we get the project I'm looking at 2 solid years of being busy, but it beats being unemployed.

 

A side effect of the work situation was that I played practically no poker at all for almost 2 weeks.  My first game of any substance, hell the only game I played recently was a 9 player $11 turbo on Tilt that I got into at about 12:30 in the morning, because I finally had a moment and was itching to play.   I played solid ABC poker and managed to take 2^nd place…that was my first cash in a while so I'll take it.

 

Last week had some rough spots on the weight loss front, which I partially attribute to how busy I was with work.   No gym last weekend, no gym on Wednesday, and after working late on Wednesday I succumbed to the siren call of Pickup Stix' House Special Chicken.  And I added 2 pounds that evening.   I fought back during the remainder of the week, and made it to the gym on both Saturday morning and Sunday morning.  Sunday's weigh-in gave me a fighting chance at hitting my 2 pound loss goal for the final week of June, but Sunday's eating did me in.   I'm not sure exactly what it is about Sundays (meaning why DAPGF and I eat what we do on Sundays), but my Monday morning weigh-ins are never good.  Case in point.  Sunday lunch was this killer restaurant in Solana Beach , where everything is organic, lean, and home-made.  So of course we order some of the least healthy things on the menu.  Calamari as a (very tasty) appetizer.   A Caesar salad to split, and a spiced turkey meatloaf (it tastes amazing) sandwich with home-cut Kennebec fries.  Then dinner.   Rubios Fish Tacos for a shrimp burrito.  And the weigh-in this morning was almost 2.5 pounds heavier than Sunday's.  So I'm starting (again) at 289.0 lbs, which is just about the heaviest I've ever (knowingly) been.  But the difference is, I've got a good feeling about this week.

 

I can't point to any one specific thing, but I feel good about this week (and everything else to come).  Over the weekend I managed to get some good housekeeping stuff done.  I made it to the gym twice.  DAPGF's new semester of teaching starts, and she's teaching twice a week which means two days plus the two weekend days of gym (or beach) opportunities.   On the beach note, the weather here in San Diego has been fantastic (eat your hearts out), and I'm dragging my fat to the beach for some good wave action.   I've gotten current on all my bills that piled up when I was out of work last year.  My checkbook register is all up to date, I've planned out my budget for the next 6 months, and it actually looks good, and my car insurance is going down because a speeding ticket expired and goes off of my record.  

 

I'm also trying something new on the diet.  I'm giving up on the oatmeal (for now) because one packet just doesn't do enough to keep me satisfied until lunch.   So I would then munch on my planned morning snack, and then my planned afternoon snack!  If I was lucky, that would hold me thru lunch, but then I'd have to go buy some sort of afternoon snack which seemed to never be low fat or healthy.   So I'm trying out a bagel with fat free cream cheese.  All told, about 260 calories and so far it's managed to fill me up better than a single packet of oatmeal.   Maybe if this one thing shows any kind of success, I can build some willpower off of that and do a better overall job of controlling my eating.

 

In addition to the gym and the diet changes, I'm going to the driving range.  The budgeting has allowed me money for time at the range once or twice a week, so I figure Mondays and Thursdays or Fridays (gym/beach on Tuesdays and Wednesdays) will give me some more exercise opportunities during the week, with the added benefit of keeping me occupied and not stuffing food in my face.   And for those of you who don't think swinging a golf club is exercise, go hit a hundred balls in 45 minutes to an hour.  I think you'll be surprised.

 

Finally, just having gotten some cleaning done around the house, buying a 2^nd hard drive cable for the new computer, getting the bills and budget current, I'm making a more concerted effort to plan my time wisely.   I suffer from poor time management skills, and it's been a problem both in my personal life as well as my professional life.  Having gotten caught up on my "chores" is giving me the opportunity to organize my overall life a little more efficiently.   Everything from planning out specific work tasks and checking email to playing poker and blogging, I'm trying to do a better job of time allocation and prioritizing.   Hopefully this will build on itself and I can apply it to all aspects of my life.

 

Self-control and will power.  This blog was started as a weight loss blog, and those two characteristics are key to any successful weight loss.   Maybe the expansion of the focus of the blog will help me control the expansion of my waist and gut!

 

An attempt to return to normalcy

Again, I want to express my extreme gratitude to everyone who stopped by and offered condolences regarding my mother's death.   It hasn't been easy, but it certainly has lightened the burden, knowing that so many of you have offered your prayers and warm thoughts.

 

But there has to be a return to a semblance of normalcy, and in this case it would be my weight.  Interestingly, from the morning before Mom's surgery (Wed 4/18) to the Friday after the memorial service (4/27), I dropped 5 pounds.   I actually was back below 283 pounds, for the first time since The Troubles hit me last summer.  There may have been some factor of depression there, but I attribute it to one main thing…I was busy and therefore not snacking.   And as a side note, I hadn't even made it to the gym since the day before surgery…no unusual physical activity beyond the dog walking.  I noticed a slight rise on last Monday and Tuesday (4/23-4/24), when I was back in the office.   I had to sit at the computer reading things, and naturally I felt compelled to snack.  But when Wednesday hit and I was off work and dealing with family and getting ready for the memorial service, I wasn't snacking.   It wasn't until Saturday morning that I noticed an increase of 2 pounds.  To thank DAPGF for going above and beyond in being supportive through all of this, I took her out to a swanky restaurant in La Jolla for their tapas buffet lunch.  It is very tasty and the menu items tend to be on the healthy side (calamari salad, chipotle pepper hummus dip, sushi, etc.), but anytime you factor the word "buffet" into it, any health benefits tend to go out the window.   And that was followed up by a nice dinner (huge chicken sandwich) and several beers with little sister and her hubby at a brewpub just blocks from Casa de Hoff.  End result after everybody went home and it was back to just DAPGF and I at our place, Monday morning on 4/30 I weighed in at 286.2 lbs.  Granted, that was still down more than a pound from the day before Mom's surgery, and was identical to what I weighed on 4/1.  And roughly 3 pounds below my all time (knowingly) heaviest.  

 

Now we enter a new month, one with some promise of being better than April.  One example: the last day I'd done my affirmations was the morning before Mom's surgery.   During the following week, I obviously had some other things on my mind and didn't do them.  For the most part, without the affirmations my weight did alright, but I did notice that I seemed to have a little more control when I was doing the affirmations.   And at around 9:45 a.m. this morning, when the snack bug seems to strike me the hardest, I wrote them out.  Granted, we're doing our office relocation today, and I figured that while I waited for the intranet and phones to get reactivated, it would be as good a time as any to do the affirmations.   And I haven't snacked today.  Granted, because of said relocation, our corporate masters saw fit to ply us with doughnuts this morning (no microwave for my oatmeal) and pizza for lunch (again, no microwave for the Lean Cuisine).   Still, I think I managed to control my intake reasonably well, so unless dinner with DAPGF turns into a disaster, I should come thru today in good shape.

 

5/1 Weigh-in:  285.6 lbs, down .6 lbs from 4/30.

 

I attribute this drop to the aforementioned office relocation.  When last my coworkers and I spoke of the move, it was determined that we'd go into the office Monday morning, and when the phones and computers were shut off and the movers showed up around noon, we'd scatter and work from home.   I showed up Monday morning just after 8 only to find that the phones were already off and nobody was there.  So I checked on a few things and left.   After getting home, I played a little poker and looked at computer prices online.  Side note, I played a few random games of poker during the past week (once the day of surgery while in the hospital waiting room, before the complications hit, and a couple of times over that following weekend as a mental break from everything else), and I was tearing it up.   I won 3 of the 4 tournaments I entered, and on a total investment of roughly 35 dollars I won about $150.  Not bad all things being equal.   Anyway, being mentally focused on the poker and researching computer prices distracted me from the need to graze during the day on Monday.  DAPGF and I even went to Sizzler for the salad buffet for dinner, and my weigh-in this morning was still down from Monday morning's.

 

So to recap, the family is slowly returning to a normal level of function (just to reassure you, we'll never be back to "normal" ever again, but you understand), I'm back on a roll for losing weight, I've been on a roll in poker, and I even managed to pay off one of my credit cards just before the end of the month.   And now we've moved my company from their original, tiny suite of crappy offices to a much swankier, 5 times larger suite in a much nicer area.  So family, weight, poker, finances, and work all seem to be heading in the right direction.  As a start to the month, I'll take it.  Keep checking in, and I'll keep you updated.

 

As a side note, Google in their attempt to take over the online world as Microsoft has done with the OS world has created a way to store, modify, share, etc. documents and spreadsheets online.   It also means that it becomes much easier (for those of us who aren't Alpha Geeks and don't know how to program Java or whatever) to embed those docs into blog posts.   I've been tracking my food intake on an MS Excel template that I downloaded from Microsoft specifically for that purpose.  If I can get that all figured out, maybe I can add that feature to future posts here.   We shall see.

I am serious. And don't call me Shirley.

"The fog is getting thicker.  And Leon Hoff's getting larger."  Points to anyone who can name that reference.  And yes, Hoff has been getting larger. 

 

Look!  A real post!  And it isn't even cross-posted over at The Randomness (which isn't illegal, RiverDriver…besides, I changed some of the poker discussion in the one here because my readers at The Randomness understand how the games work)!   Anyway, this past week and a half has not been good.  DAPGF and I have been house and pet sitting for some friends.   Half the time I would go over in the morning to release the creatures into the backyard before work (GF went the other half of the time).  Unfortunately, that early morning route took me past my most evil nemesis…McDonalds!   And not for something relatively harmless like coffee, not even the most safe of breakfast sandwiches, the Egg McMuffin with Canadian Bacon.  No, the Sausage Egg McMuffin.  And not just one, because they have a deal going.  A single McMuffin is typically $2.49 or so.   They had a deal for 2 McMuffins for $3.00.  I couldn't bring myself to just order one…it wasn't cost effective (thus proving the theory behind SuperSize Me!).   So I'd order two.  And I'd eat two.  900 freaking calories consumed by 7:30 a.m.  Normally, 900 calories would cover breakfast, lunch, and a mid-morning snack!    And this happened several times during this period.  I never went there to snack at any other time of the day, just breakfast.  

 

I spent my 2/3 of my potential gym time during this period either trying to revive my currently dead computer, or getting things together for Easter.   This past weekend also…Saturday I went to a memorial service for a friend, in keeping with his "religious" convictions, held at an Irish Pub in Orange County California.   So no working out and Guinness beer.  Yeah, that's an effective combination.  Easter Sunday.  Up for 6 a.m. sunrise church services, so no shot at the gym there.  Then the Easter buffet that DAPGF and I typically attend.  Then over to my parents' house for an early birthday celebration, complete with chocolate cream pie.   So Monday morning I hit my heaviest weight that I've ever (knowingly) been. Two hundred and eighty-eight pounds!  Holy gastric bypass, fatman!   And yes, I did cave in and have my McMuffins.  Fortunately this was the last day, so no more driving past McDonalds.   I did eat relatively sensibly for the rest of the day…Lean Cuisine and some soup for lunch; reduced fat Wheat Thins as a snack; and a BBQ Chicken Wrap from Red Robin.  No real exercising beyond a short dog walk in the morning and a 30 minute dog walk at 11:00 Monday evening.

 

Tuesday morning (today) I was down a whole 4/10 of a pound!  Woo hoo!!  So far I've eaten relatively sensibly.  Oatmeal for breakfast, some Wheat Thins for a snack. I made a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches from leftover Easter ham, and had some soup to go with them for lunch.   And I'm going to the gym after work.  Of course after that I'm going to attempt to buy a new motherboard for my poor computer, and hopefully install it.   The plus to that, I'll probably not get much chance to snack at home, which is a good thing.  Too much Easter candy sitting around, waiting to melt in my mouth, not in my hand.

 

As I mentioned earlier, my birthday is approaching.  I will be 36 this week (laugh it up, little sister, your early 30s are slipping away just as quickly!).   I started this here blog a few weeks before my 35^th birthday.  I wasn't thrilled with the idea of turning 35, and how getting older is affecting me (metabolism most of all…I don't seem to have any anymore).   I had started to make some progress, and unfortunately The Troubles (getting laid off) hit me a month after my birthday, and proceeded to utterly destroy not only any progress I had made, but also any motivation I had for just about anything.   It was most decidedly not fun, and probably the worst period of my life.  As part of this whole rededication of What Happened, I've been trying to improve various parts of my life.   I've actually made some progress in a variety of ways. 

 

Now that I'm working again (it's amazing what a steady paycheck can let you do), I'm starting to get my bills under control.   The Troubles really put me in a bind, and it's rough trying to dig out.  I was even in this weird position where I wanted to file bankruptcy but couldn't.   The way the new bankruptcy laws read, I made too much money recently to qualify for a Chapter 7, which would've eliminated my debts (they average your income over the previous 6 months, so it didn't matter that I didn't make any money, my average income was too high), and a Chapter 13 was pointless, because all it did was reorganize my debts…I was still obligated to pay them and the whole freaking point of the exercise was THAT I HAD NO INCOME AND COULDN'T PAY MY DEBTS!!!!   When I finally got to the point where my average income would've qualified me for a Chapter 7, I didn't have any money to pay the legal fees to actually file the bankruptcy!   And since a Chapter 7 eliminates all debts, nobody (especially the attorneys) was going to extend me credit for the $2500 in legal fees that it would've taken, only to have $2300 of it eliminated as part of the bankruptcy settlement.

 

I'm also getting control of my personal sense of organization (which somewhat ties into the financial aspect of Hoff).   I went thru all of my financial files, and got rid of (to quote Joe Speaker) a metric-ass ton of old credit card statements, bank statements, insurance premiums, car service records, pay stubs, etc.   Besides taxes, I had documents that went back to 2002, and in some cases were car registration materials that covered a car I had 2 cars ago (the Integra).   A clean environment has the potential to be self-fulfilling, and I'm trying to make it so.  And as my financial environment comes together, I lose the stress that went along with it.   And as my physical environment comes together, I am visually inspired to make sure that I am compatible with it.  This, combined with my newly lessened stress, is giving me the motivation to…

 

Get back on track for weight loss, which was the original point of this here blog anyway!  I've gotten way too fat.   Many of my clothes no longer fit me.  And to top it off, my dear brother in law has been extremely successful at losing weight.   AND HE DID IT ALL WITH WILLPOWER!!!  How dare he do it without a support group, or diet supplements, or Oprah, or whatever.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but he dropped something like 50 pounds over the past 6 to 8 months.   Now I really have no excuse.  So I'll see you at the gym.  And if I can get my computer working again, I can reload my mp3 player with more workout-appropriate music.   Come along for the ride.

New Horizons, New Challenges

So. As much as the new work gig is in fact a GREAT job (and not just because I was off work for 6 months…it really is a great company), the physical office layout does not provide me with much in the way of blogging opportunities. The company was a start-up, expansion branch of a larger company. They have established themselves, and we are expecting to relocate to much larger digs in the next few months. In the meanwhile, I’m sitting at a desk, working on a laptop, with not so much as a half-height cube wall to separate me from my coworkers. Meaning, I gots no privacy!!! Thus, I don’t want to be sitting with Blogger open, inserting pictures and hyperlinks while my boss walks behind me. Which is my cheap-ass excuse for why I haven’t posted in a while. But I’m attempting to change that (wait, we’ve heard this before, haven’t we).

You may have noticed a new appearance, and a new blog header/description. I’m expanding (no pun intended) the goal of this here Totally Ghey Online Diary to include all manner of personal improvement…not just weight. For this, I give the majority of the credit to Dear and Patient GF. We were watching either a movie or a TV show where one of the characters was being called out for not being willing to change, to meet the needs of their significant other. And we both noted parallels in our relationship, particularly on my end of things. Basically (as if you hadn’t noticed from my lack of consistent posting and consistent gym attendance), I’m a lazy schlub, who really doesn’t want to give up my easy, lazy habits. Well, I’m going to try to change that. In addition to the obvious tracking of the weight issues, I’m attempting to get my finances in order, and be a better boyfriend. I’m going to better prioritize my life. Basically all the little crap that becomes the first casualty of a lazy attitude, that’s what I’m going to try and improve on. Right here and now, I can’t tell you specifically what I’m going to do, but I am going to try and use better judgment to react to life and its unique challenges. I do hope to post at least several times per week, if not daily, so we shall see. Wish me luck.