New Year's Resolutions

I know you have all been waiting in breathless anticipation for my New Year's Resolutions. Well, all your dreams are about to come true. Some of them have parts but I'm planning on making them all a reality.

1) Continue to Lose Weight
a)Lose at least 100 pounds in the calendar year 2011
b)Drop 4 pant sizes and 2 shirt sizes
2) Increase My General Health
a)Run a mile in under 15 minutes (this was originally 10 mins but 12-15
would be okay)
b)Ride 10 miles on my bike in under 45 minutes (not the exercise bike)
c)Learn to rollerblade (I have rollerblades but have never used them)
d)Compete in a 5-K (I may have to walk some of it but I'll do it; and
maybe 'Compete' is a wrong word, maybe 'Participate' is better)
e)Work towards competing in Stoneman Triathlon here in Springfield in July
2012 (This is shooting kind of high on the difficulty scale but hey, a
guy needs goals, right?)
3) Pass 3 CPCU Exams
4) Curse Less (I'm not saying I'm totally cutting out swearing, because that would
be really dam.....whoops, DARN hard for me at this point but I'm going
to make an effort to cut it down)

Well, that's all I got. I think those are some fairly far-reaching yet imminently attainable goals and resolutions. Did that make sense? Heck, even if it didn't, who cares, I'll make up for it by saying something, anything, that makes sense in 2011. It's bound to happen. Happy New Year's everyone and what are your resolutions?

New Year's Eve

Well, it's the end of the year 2010 as the last few hours count down to midnight. It's hard to believe that the year is basically over. But, a new one is about to come around I'm looking forward to it. I'm not sure if I've said that about many of the past few years. Many years I'm thinking about starting to change my life or try to and lose some weight. This year though, I'm 5 1/2 months into it and that's extremely exciting to me. This isn't new and just isn't a "resolution", I've been consciously trying to change my life and am making a real concerted effort to follow through and succeed. I have no "end date" in mind for this undertaking, I want it to continue the rest of my life.

I ended this year by riding my exercise bike for 36 minutes and made it 10.1 miles. The last 6 minutes were spent riding fairly easy after churning out 8.76 miles in the first 30 minutes. I felt pretty great afterwards and am really seeing progress. I'll be doing a year-end weigh-in tomorrow morning so I know what my '2010' weight loss ended at although my official weigh-in will still be Monday. This will also set me up to know my weight loss and progress for 2011.

To my all my friends, readers, followers...be safe this New Year's and be careful. Happy New Year's to all of you and I hope that all of your 2011s are wonderful and get off to a great start!

New Year's Eve Eve

It's Thursday and the dread is building inside of me. Only a few more days until my vacation is over. I'm not thinking about it much because I've felt pretty good about how things have gone. I've had a good time off, a good Christmas, and a good birthday. I've watched some television, watched some movies, listened to some podcasts, rode my exercise bike alot and cleaned things up around the apartment. I have gotten some new stuff and gotten rid of old stuff. I've gone through a bunch of clothes that were too big anymore for me so that's been pretty good. I have a couple bags of clothes in my trunk right now that will be donated soon.

Other than that, things are well and my eating has gone pretty fabulously for being off of work. I'm pretty proud of that since being off of work and just being home alot has gotten in my way alot in the past. I'll post my New Year's Resolutions either tomorrow night or Saturday, I'm not sure yet but they are coming soon. Hopefully you all can wait a little while longer for them and know what I'm trying to do in this new year. I might do a little recap of what has been good or bad in 2010 as well. Just seems like the right thing to do just as a wrap-up for myself so I don't forget all the things that have happened.

They Say It's My Birthday

On this day, we celebrate my birthday because well, it's the day I was born. I was born December 28th, 1976. Soooooooo, for all of my non-math friends out there, that makes me 34. My dad called me earlier and asked if I felt another year older. The answer really is no, although it's crazy to me that I am almost 35. I know, I know...all those over 35 are groaning but give me a break! When you got to 34 I bet you felt kinda crazy that you were almost 35. And to those friends of mine younger than me....shut up! HAHA! I say that to all of you with the proper amount of kindness, I swear.

Anyways, it was a good day. I bought myself a little present, the tv show Archer, Season 1 on DVD. I love that show! It's not for everyone but it's one of the funniest damn shows going. I rode the bike this afternoon for 30 minutes and went 8.34 miles which was a good distance and left me properly tired. I ended the day, besides writing this blog, by going to my birthday buddy Ryan's 8th birthday party. It was a really good time. Lots of kids bowling, a cup of diet soda and 3 slices of pizza. I had had a single cupcake earlier in the day so I didn't have any cake but there was a cool Dallas Cowboys cake with ice cream cups. It was a fun party and a nice way to spend the evening of my birthday.

All in all, 33 was a pretty decent year and I'm looking forward to 34. I'll get into that more at an end of the year with a year-end wrapup. So, in conclusion, Happy Birthday to ME!!!!

Monday Morning Weigh-In #23

The week of Christmas apparently was very good to me. I watched what I ate everyday and even when I ate a little more than I should have, it wasn't alot more or anything out of control. Weighing myself this morning, I lost 3.2 pounds this week to bring my overall total to 84.2 pounds. YEA!!!! I don't think I'll get to my 90 pounds by the end of the year but between 85 and 90 pounds lost will make me very happy. This has been an exciting half a year and really a whole year but more on that later in the week.

Merry Christmas!!!

Well, today is Christmas. I had Christmas with my family last week so I just stayed in Springfield today by myself. Although I was by myself, it was a pretty good day. I've watched some DVDs and done a few things around the place. Earlier today I rode the exercise bike for 30 minutes on a higher intensity and training setting. I got just over 7 miles but that was pretty good on the setting it was on.

I made myself a seasoned pork roast with cut up carrots, onion and baby red and gold potatoes and had that for lunch. I have 4 meals of leftovers for it so it should last me a little while. Had two lean burgers(no buns) and some peas for dinner so, on the whole, I ate really great today. I did make some sugar cookies yesterday but they just didn't taste very good. Hard to do anything wrong with them since it was prepackaged cookie dough that you just slice and bake but I just didn't care for them. I ate probably 4 or 5 of them and wound up throwing the rest of them out. I just knew they really weren't anything good for me for one thing but even though they tasted bad, I would've eaten them. I just didn't need them at all.

Well, the Cowboys game is about to start so I'll be watching that and rooting hardily for my Cowboys to finish off Christmas the right way with a victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Let's go Cowboys!

And a hearty Merry Christmas to anyone out there who reads this blog! I hope it was a safe and happy Christmas for you and your families. You've all given me the gift of support and I am deeply grateful for it. Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Music

I've been meaning to do this post for awhile, not that many will care, but as I was walking through a department store a couple of weeks ago, I found myself singing along to almost every Christmas song that was being piped in through the speakers. There were Christmas seasons when I worked at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club that I HATED Christmas music because it was all you heard over your shift and hearing the same few songs, and ones you haven't picked, a whole bunch of times gets to be old very, very, very, very quickly.

Anyways, these songs are in no particular order but these are my favorite songs come around Christmas-time. Some you hear alot, some you hardly hear or don't hear at all unless you have the CD. Here it goes, please enjoy and let me know your personal faves.

Title........................................Artist
All I Want For Christmas is You.............Mariah Carey
Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24)..............Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Ornament....................................Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Old City Bar................................Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Santa Claus is Coming To Town...............Bruce Springsteen
Merry Christmas Baby........................Bruce Springsteen
That Spirit of Christmas....................Ray Charles
Happy Xmas (War Is Over)....................John Lennon
Please Come Home for Christmas..............Jon Bon Jovi
White Christmas.............................Bing Crosby
I'll Be Home For Christmas..................Bing Crosby or Michael Buble
The Christmas Song..........................Nat King Cole
Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas......Frank Sinatra
Blue Christmas..............................Elvis Presley
Christmastime is Here (with vocals).........Vince Guaraldi Trio
Where Are You Christmas?....................Faith Hill

Well, those are my Christmas songs and the ones that can always bring a twinkle to my eye, a song to my lips, a tap to my foot and the Christmas spirit to my heart.

Relaxing

I've been on vacation now for almost a week and let me tell ya, I really enjoy it. That's not to say I haven't been doing anything on my days off. One of the things around here I wanted to accomplish was going through my closets and getting rid of or donating a lot of things I don't use or don't need anymore. I've been donating clothes to thrift stores as they've gotten too big so that's cleared some space. My front closet was jammed with storage containers that I did not know what was in them. Sooooo, I went through those and rid myself of junk. I went through some other storage containers I had around and got rid of more junk. I know have a slightly cleaner and more organized place which makes me feel good. I at least got that accomplished over the last few days.

My eating has been going really well. I'm hoping for a good week this week and I think it's gotten off to a promising start. I could use a nice 2 or 3 pound weight loss this week. I wouldn't bet my life on it but it would be great if I could get that. Other than those things, the week has been kinda "boring" but in a great way as I'm really enjoying myself.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #22

Another week, another pound. I was excited this morning because I had lost one pound. Over the last couple of days, I had eaten a little more than I've been used to, so I thought I'd might wind up adding a half pound or so. Gosh, I may have lost 2-3 if I'd eaten a little less. The italian beef, spaghetti, cookies, pies my brother and mom(mostly my mom) made was so good though. Don't think I'm blaming them though for anything. Love both you guys and it was good to get some good food. And Stephanie, those little chocolate/fudge pieces you gave me were awesome! I don't know if you've ever commented on my blog but was there some peanut butter in them or something??? They were soooooooo good.

Anyways, I lost another 1 pound to increase my total to 81 pounds. Although it doesn't look like I'm going to get to 90 pounds lost inside the year it's been fabulous and I'm very proud. A pound lost at this time of year with all the goodies is pretty sweet!

Christmas with the Family

We had our family Christmas today. It was decided to do it a week early since my brother would not have the kids on Christmas day. I drove to my parent's house yesterday and spent the night. I actually slept pretty good and we watched the movie Toy Story. Well, my dad and I watched most of it and my mom watched a little of it.

Everyone got to open presents today though. We all enjoyed what we got. I got the 4th season of 30 Rock on DVD, a Minnesota Twins shot glass, a new shot glass case for my wall, $20 and a Duke Blue Devils cooler/freezer mug. A good day and lots of good gifts. Thanks to my Mom and Dad, Mike, Amie, Ashley, Ryan and Jacob. Love you guys and thanks for a happy holidays.

For dinner we had some really good italian beef sandwiches, green bean casserole, chips, deviled eggs and a vegetable tray. I ate conservatively but I think I might be up a little on my weigh-in tomorrow. I did have a couple of Christmas cookies over the last 2 days and a piece of lemon meringue pie. Not bad but over the last couple of days I've probably eaten a little more than I should have. It's alright though, not going to let it stop me from achieving my weight loss goals.

Also, the other day I got a Wii Fit Plus Balance Board in the mail that my friends Dave and Amanda sent me for Christmas. Thanks guys! I'll be putting it to some good use!!

First Full Day of Vacation

Today was the first full day of my holiday vacation. I didn't feel like posting anything last night even though I had half a day off from work. And jeez, was I busy at work over that half a day. My boss even told me, "If you can get out of here at 12, RUN!!!" It was pretty funny but it was one helluva busy morning. I just kinda came home after that and had a relaxing, wonderful evening at home just doing nothing.

Today started off slow but I got all my presents wrapped for Christmas with the family, I bought 2 new pillows for my bed and changed to another set of my new flannel sheets...the blue ones now and just like the brown ones, they are comfy...and generally took it easy for the most part. I went over today to help Jeremy move a couch so a hospital bed could be put in so Kim could come home after her surgery on a broken leg. She's healing and home now even though some things could've(and SHOULD'VE) been handled much, much, much, much better by the hospital and its staff. Some things like that can just be a joke and while that sucks, it's good that Kim is home and definitely on the road to recovery.

Eating has kinda been sporadic these last few days. Stressed by work and then relieved by vacation, I may have let off the reins a little bit too much but it'll get back on track. I don't think the situation is bad, just not great for this week's weight loss but I'll do some things next week and things will be smooth.

Not Much Longer...

Until I'm on vacation. Just a few hours tomorrow but they are filled with some meetings, helping people and trying to get a couple of final things done for the year. It's been a long and productive year at work this year. Wish some things could've gone more smoothly in regards to matters with agents and how things are for them but overally, a nice year and some things moving in the right direction with my states. Hopefully after vacation this holiday season, I'll be able to come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running in January for a productive 2011. Wow...2011...just seems strange to be to that year. Seems like yesterday it was just about to turn 2000. Guess this means I'm getting old that I'm semi-nostalgic. Oh well, just another thing to deal with.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #21

Well, definitely not as good a week this week as far as losing weight goes. I only lost 0.2 pounds for the week to bring my overall total to 80 even. I'm still happy though and if things go well over the next couple of weeks, I'll finish the year at somewhere over 80 pounds lost for the last 5 1/2 months...not too shabby.

I'm happy my life is changing....I'm proud that it is. I'm nowhere near where I want to be weight-wise but I'm getting there and I'm no longer totally embarrassed to go places and do things. There is still a lot of work to do but I feel more capable of walking around and keeping my head up high and not in the ground in shame. My clothes are getting smaller, my confidence is up and my self-respect is up which is just as important for me as getting into smaller clothes. I'm very excited for the next few weeks and to continue my journey.

It's About To Get Cold!!!

So far, our winter here in Springfield has been pretty mild. We've had a little rain, a few snow flurries, a little cold but nothing too bad. BUT, that is about to turn. The last 2 days here have been pretty warm but we're supposed to dip to Highs in the mid-teens with lows around zero and negative windchills. We're only supposed to get a little bit of show but lots and lots of wind. I know it's worse in other areas though so I hope everyone in those areas is getting through it alright.

This week has been pretty good eating-wise even with the extra time off because of the flood at work. I went to lunch at a Chinese place with my friends Todd and Alison yesterday and it was a good time and a good meal. I still have one more day to go on this weekend and I need to do some laundry but I'm ready for this next week or work to start for one reason....I only have 4 working days left this year!!! Woo-hoo!!! There is still alot to do over these 4 days and especially because we were closed the last two but I'll get it done and am just ready for my longer vacation.

Unexpected Time Off

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I was about to hop in the shower when my phone dinged with a text message at 5:45 or so. Evidently a water main had broken at Horace Mann and flooded the basement and the office was closed. Now, the basement is where all the servers and things are located so it flooding is most definitely not a good thing. Lots of IT folks have been there all day trying to get all of our stuff back up and running. Sounds like they're making some progress but still a ways to go and since the water main isn't fixed yet and we do not have water to the building, we have tomorrow off as well.

Gonna be an especially busy day for me on Monday as I work Monday-Thursday next week and then will be off the rest of the year. Got to get some stuff done.

What the Fudge?????!!!!!!

It's that time of year. It was finally the day. Don Closter brought in his wife's fudge today.....ohmygosh!!!! It's normally one of my favorite days of the year. This fudge is simply outstanding. It's a peanut butter fudge on the bottom and then chocolate fudge fudginess on top. The taste is simply heavenly. Once a year, Don brings in this huge tray of it. Three layers of small pieces that people gather some up and take home to spouses, kids, whatever. Someone who has been retired for 5years came in today for the fudge...that's how good it is!!!!

Anyways....I usually eat about 3 to 50 pieces. I actually don't know how many pieces I would eat but I'd say it was around 8-10 in a "normal" year. Today????? I had one. Just one. I picked it up around 9:30 this morning and kept it at my desk the whole day and enjoyed it around 3:45. Why did I keep it at my desk instead of eating it? I knew it was there and I told myself I had to eat that one first if I ate any. So, by waiting and eating it later, I didn't have the chance to have any more. It really was a lot easier for me than I thought it would be. But let me tell you, it was goooooooooooood!

Kay Closter's Fudge = outstanding
My willpower concerning the aforementioned fudge = outstanding

Those two things above make for a pretty good day and a proud one for me that I was able to resist. I would call that progress for me and I would definitely call it a success.

Monday Morning Weigh-In #20

Wow, 20 weigh-ins! I thought I was at #19 actually. Anyways, on to what you may have come here to read. Well, after a Thanksgiving week where I gained one pound, I came back strong this week and lost 5.6 pounds to bring my 20-week total to 79.8 pounds. Yea!!! Pretty exciting for me. I'm looking at an average of 4 pounds a week right now and that makes me pretty proud. I'm keeping strong and continuing to kick some butt.

Just a Few Days Later

I haven't had a whole lot to say these last few days so, as you've probably noticed, there have been no new posts. I went back to work and it was a looooooong week even though it was only 4 days for me. I got a lot of things accomplished though so that all worked out but I'm glad to get some time to relax this weekend. And hey, only 9 more working days left this year for me. Huzzah!

With how busy I was at work, in the old days my eating would've been pretty awful. Fast food, pizza, God knows what else....but this week was actually really good for me. We had poker last night as well and Van provided subs. I ate a small dinner here at home of soup and some cottage cheese with fruit and then at poker after I was out of the first game had one small section of a sub. Now, I probably could've put away numberous sections of the subs but I was able to resist and for that I'm proud.

I'm sure with Christmas, my birthday(and my birthday buddy Ryan's b-day), and vacation, I'll have a few things to say in the upcoming weeks. If I can make it through these weeks without pigging out, I should be pretty good for a little while and in the clear of MAJOR temptations. It's going to be a good December....at least I hope it is.