New Era

It's a new era in my life. I haven't had any major revelation this week as far as work or my life outside of work. I do have a better sense of who I am and what I am trying to accomplish in my life. I think I have finally become serious about my health.

With the help of my Wellness Coach, I am eating less when I eat out or at home, remain focused on taking two 15 minute walks each day, and reducing the number of Pepsi's I have. I have worked myself into 3 a day - two in the AM, one at lunch. Yesterday, I broke with that because I helped Fred move his couch and while I could have had the beer Fred offered me, I took a Mountain Dew instead as my "reward."

In my last meeting with my Wellness Coach, I talked about how I need to remain focused on what I want to do. I want to look good without a shirt on. I want to be able to mow without a shirt and not be embarassed. I want to go to the pool or to be sitting around the campfire and not have a gut. Period. I had a goal of losing 30 pounds and, well, that is proving to be unrealistic.

I have dropped a few pounds but I still hover where I was a couple of months ago when this all started. So, baby steps. It is crunch time and if I am going to accomplish my goal - to look good without a shirt - I need to really focus. The weekends are going to be hard as we are out of town this weekend and the following 2 weekends are probable that we will not be home. That opens the door for unhealthy eating - read: snacking - and unhealthy choices as far as beverages. I drink too many Pepsis on the weekend, I think, so I need to curb that. If I was a die-hard, I wouldn't drink any. A Pepsi in the AM, though, is like a cup of coffee for others. It helps me focus. Thus, I am not really interested in giving it up. I do not drink a Pepsi on the way to work. I have been eating more breakfast in the AM than I used to. Someone said you should eat the most in the AM, less @ noon, and even less @ night if you want to lose weight.

Anyways, I haven't written about work lately. It's been pretty good. I chopped my way through a few big projects on my list and am working on things that I should not be really working on until next week, per my "grand plan." I have a big deadline coming on Friday, 5/15, so I have just about 2 weeks to slam through as many projects and changes to the doc that I can.

After 5/15, there is going to be another 2 weeks where I will probably be making UI changes. There are a lot of exciting and extensive changes that are on their way to our clients. I am still overwhelmed with work - still have 40 or more weeks of work on my desk, though it seems like I'm not getting new projects added to it. There is just so much going on that it seems really crazy, yet somewhat calming to know that, as long as clients continue to fund the projects they want us to complete, we will be fine. That's why it is important to work effectively and to not spend a lot of time gossiping or in any other way unfocused on what I am being paid to do. That is why I am there - to do work. It is not to waste time talking about bird crap - remember that post from a while back?

So... I'm listening to Bayside now. That was just a tremendously great show. It is hard to believe it was a week ago already. I submitted my review to DV so that should, hopefully, be posted fairly soon. One tidbit I did not include in my review is that there was a little girl - like 4 or 5 - at that show with earplugs - not in her ear lobes, but in her ear to block the noise. While I can kind of see it, I also think that that little girl probably got nothing out of the show. It was kind of sad and seemed like a selfish gesture by the mom, who was holding the girl's hand. Not what I would choose, but that's what makes the world go round.

In Manchester, IA, there was a 36 year-old who cut the pacemaker out of his dad's chest. Good gravy! That's just crazy.

Meanwhile, there are protests by the Jews for calling the "swine flu" the "swine flu" because they don't eat pork and it's offensive. They want to call it the Mexican flu. Yeah, like that's not going to offend someone. "Offend whoever you want as long as it's not my group!" seems to be the mentality.

Tomorrow is practice for both kids but the forecast is for rain so I wonder if that will cancel practice.

Finally, Phil talked about some great pizza in Chicagoland. I looked at this website and, without getting too detailed, there is at least one location near the city I will be sleeping in this weekend: http://www.loumalnatis.com/ so maybe, possibly, I will be able to experience some tasty Chicago pizza!