Journal Entry: May 28, 2008

I had an incredibly productive day at work yesterday. I got a ton accomplished, and in between projects I spent some time working on our finances for the next four or five months, and found out that our prospects look a lot better than I had feared. Even with the double mortgage, we’re going to be able to get by (barring any disasters, of course).

That’s good news. It relieves a great burden of stress on me, which is an answered prayer in itself.

After I got home I called Dad and talked with him for half an hour or so, then T– and I headed to the gym. We met K– and N– there, and after we did our strength training, K– offered to run with me again. I did the first day of week 4 on my program (after so successfully finishing week 3 on Sunday).

Holy damn! What a monstrous leap in difficulty. In week 3, I basically did 18 minutes of running and jogging — half and half, taking four walking breaks along the way to help me catch my breath.

In week 4, I do 16 minutes of jogging, plus another 5 1/2 minutes of walking at much rarer intervals. The last 5-minute stretch of jogging nearly killed me.

I managed though (with much encouragement from K– and T–), and when I have to try to do the same thing again tomorrow night, I’ll be able to approach it with the full knowledge that, yeah, I can do this. I’ve already done it once.

And, from what I’ve seen, what’s impossible on day 1 is not really all that hard on day 3. It’s been consistent that way throughout the program so far.

After we got home, T– made quesadillas for dinner, and we watched some According to Jim for the first time in a while, and I spent most of that time playing with AB. Then she went to bed and we watched some Lost, and then it was 10:00 far too soon, and with that bedtime.

I didn’t actually play any AoC last night. Instead, I spent time with my family. I’m just saying, is all. Of course, tonight I’m playing AoC pretty much all night. But that’s beside the point.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Journal Entry: Memorial Day Weekend

I just finished a four-day weekend, and I definitely made the most of it.

Thursday night T– and I met N– at the gym, and I worked myself sick. Afterward, T– made us all Tilapia for dinner (an experiment for us, since T– and I don’t, generally, like fish). It was really good. We plan to try more in the future.

Anyway, N– hung around and we watched TV until 9-ish, then she headed home, T– decided to read, so I headed to the office to play some AoC. I think I got to bed around 2:00.

Friday was my RDO, so I was able to sleep in. After I got up, I just had time to do the dishes before heading to Mazzio’s to meet T– and my sister (with all three kids, between the two of them), and D– for lunch.

After that, I went home with the goal of catching up to D–‘s character in AoC. I got close, and when he showed up around 3:30 he helped me out some. We played until 6-ish, then he went home because the laptop just couldn’t handle the environments he was fighting in. I put the game aside, too, and went to watch Lost with T–.

Saturday, we got up early to head to the gym, but once I got there I started feeling sick, so I decided to put off my workout until Sunday. Instead, I went and picked up K–‘s birthday present while T– worked out.

Then we had a quick lunch, and headed downtown to watch the new Indiana Jones flick in celebration of K–‘s birthday. It was…pretty good. I’ve never been a huge fan of the series (I’ve seen each movie once), but this one didn’t seem as much a departure from the old ones as some people are saying. I think it’s just an adventure for kids, and all the kids who loved the old ones are grown-ups now, and turning up their noses at the new movie.

After the movie, T– and I ran home to pick up AB (because we couldn’t find a babysitter for all day Saturday), and then met K– and N– and D– at Olive Garden for dinner. Afterward, we all went back to our place and started our summer 80’s review with Mannequin, which was not good. It was a really fun time watching, but the movie was not good.

As far as the 80’s review goes, I’ll go into more detail on that some other time.

Sunday morning we went to church (and I got some writing done on my SK storyline for the first time in a while), and then we went to a Mexican place called Ole with K– and N–. It was pretty good. It’s nice to have another place to toss in the mix, even if it didn’t particularly stand out.

T– didn’t have a very good time, though, because AB was in a real fuss. She hadn’t had a morning nap, and she did not want to sit still. That was no fun.

We went home and put her down for a nap, then I ran up to the gym for my workout. I did my strength training, then went for a jog on the treadmill. I talked K– into trying it with me, and he had no problem jumping right in at the end of week 3. I made it through, too, so I’ll start on week 4 tonight.

Turns out there’s 9 weeks (I thought there were only 6), but I should be doing a lot more jogging than walking by the end of this week. By week 7 or so it should be closer to a 20-minute run.

Then, Sunday evening we went over to the Huddlestons’ for dinner — old family friends of D–‘s, who have fallen in love with AB. We got some free barbecue out of that, so we’re not complaining. When we got home, I played AoC on the laptop while we watched an episode of Lost, and then we went to bed relatively early.

Monday morning, Memorial Day, I had to make a quick run to Wal-Mart because B– and E– had requested that I bring salsa to lunch, and I was only too happy to oblige. I was up late enough that, after hitting Wal-Mart and then mixing up the salsa, it was time to head over there.

Lunch at B– and E–‘s was something of a last minute development, but they invited D– and K– and N– and us over sometime late Saturday. They grilled burgers and chicken for us, and we brought sangria and salsa and (among the others who came) several delicious sides and desserts.

The sangria was a new recipe T– stumbled upon in one of her cooking magazines, and it was a hit. We’d brought the same thing to the Huddlestons’, too. It’s essentially just lime juice, sugar, water, and Pinot Noir. I thought the recipe sounded foul, but the end product is actually really good.

Anyway, we had lunch and talked much. We also tried out B– and E–‘s Wii Fit, which was a huge success, and introduced B– and E– to MarioKart, which was roundly denounced. Whatever.

The girls (by which, at first, I meant AB and Maddy, but it ended up applying to all of them) went out in the back yard where E– had set up an inflatable wading pool, but I know not the details of that adventure, because I shun the outdoors and didn’t even glance their way. AB ended up sitting on Maddy’s head, though, and that brought an end to their fun.

It was a great afternoon, though. We were there until 4:30, and I spent most of the rest of the evening playing AoC. Overall, that was probably the most relaxing holiday weekend I’ve had in years.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Journal Entry

Friday after work I decided to mow the lawn for T–, so she wouldn’t have to worry about it when she came home. I didn’t want to feel all woozy and drugged out during my workout, though, so I didn’t take a Benadryl. Instead, I had an allergy attack during my workout.

I went ahead and did the full hour, though. As I do on Cardio days, I started with my jog, then went to the elliptical for the second half-hour. I was supposed to be on the third (and final) day of week two from my jogging program, but you’ll recall that I skipped the second day of it to try out the spinning class.

Turns out, that wasn’t really a problem. The first day of week two felt impossible, and I remember thinking, “These guys are crazy, if they think someone can progress in that big of steps.” But, then, on Friday I was thinking, “Wow, this is almost easy.” So that was pretty cool.

I start week 3 on Tuesday. Would’ve been yesterday, but I was driving back from Wichita.

Anyway, after I finished at the gym, I met up with K– and N– and D–, and we headed to Louie’s on the Lake for dinner, but the place was packed. We checked every table, and there wasn’t one free. So, after some discussion, we decided to head down to Joe’s Crab Shack. I had steak.

Afterward, we went back to K– and N–‘s place to watch some stand-up on Comedy Central. We were all exhausted, so around 10 when N– decided she was ready for bed, we were all ready to agree. Except maybe for D–, but he didn’t put up much argument. He headed home, and I crashed at their place, for a couple reasons.

First, it’s much closer to the gym. I woke up Saturday morning at 7 and ran up to the gym for my regular workout, and then went back to the house for a quick shower, and got on the road to Wichita. Their place is almost half an hour closer to Wichita, too.

The drive isn’t too bad, and I spent the whole trip listening to Eddie Izzard’s stand-up, so that was fun. I got to T–‘s parents’ place in time for lunch (tacos), and then grabbed a half-hour nap on the couch before we were sent out on errands to help with wedding preparation.

We got some food and stuff at Wal-Mart, then dropped it off at the reception hall and helped set up tables and whatnot. Then around 4 we ran home, got dressed in our finest, and went back up to the wedding.

The ceremony was outdoors, and it was just a perfect day for it. It was a quick wedding, too, and the reception was held right there at the site. Much less hassle than most weddings.

The reception only last a little over an hour, too. Afterward we helped clean up, and then went back home to watch some TV and generally veg out.

Sunday morning, I slept in. T–‘s parents have an exercise bike, but I was not about to try to use that thing. I woke up late, snacked on some fruits and veggies leftover from the wedding, and played with AB while we all waited for lunchtime to roll around.

John grilled up some chicken and burgers, and they had about half the wedding party over for lunch (a typical Charboneau Sunday, that). Lunch was delicious, and then afterward we gathered to watch the bride and groom open all their gifts, and right after that T– was ready to head home.

We got in around 4:15, unpacked the cars, watched last week’s Lost, and then ended up grabbing some Taco Bell for dinner and watching a bunch of season 2 Lost, and that was the whole evening.

It was fun. The weekend just flew by, but it was a pretty pleasant one. I can’t say I’m ready to be back at work, though. Alas.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Journal Entry

Okay, here’s the deal with Lost. About a year ago, the writers and producers worked out a deal which gave the series three more seasons (4, 5, and 6, and we’re currently late in season 4), of 16 episodes each.

Because of the writer’s strike, season 4 is only going to be 14 episodes long, missing 2 of the promised 16. Yesterday it was announced that seasons 5 and 6 will both be extended by one episode, bringing the total of all three seasons back in line with initial expectations.

As for the end of season 4, I’ve heard that the writers were granted an extra hour for the season finale (making it 2 hours instead of 1, naturally). I don’t know if that extra hour counts as one of the fourteen episodes in season 4, or if it’s like getting an extra hour. Finding that out would take some minor research, and I’m not going to do that.

Now, as far as journaling goes, yesterday I got home from work, went to the gym, and then came home and spent most of the evening burning DVDs and getting my computer ready for an OS rebuild. Nothing very interesting.

I did nearly weep in frustration when I was at the gym. K– and N–, if you’re reading this, you can probably just skip the rest of the post. Everybody else, too. I’m going to whine about my weight loss problems.

Here’s the story. Several years ago (summer of 2003, I think it was), I got severely sick late in July — lots of nausea, for weeks at a time — and I lost ten or fifteen pounds from not eating at all. Even when I got better, I basically starved myself for a couple months. I was in a depressive funk, and not taking care of myself. It had nothing to do with trying to lose weight, but I dropped twenty or thirty pounds over that time.

Then, noticing that, I decided to start taking some metabolism pills daily, and that really got things going. I walked a lot of mornings, working on my writing projects, but I wasn’t too consistent and I never walked at anything above a stroll. Still, before the end of the year, I was down to 190 pounds — the lowest I’d been since early in high school. At my build, 180 pounds is just about perfect (assuming a little bit of muscle tone).

Anyway, obviously, I didn’t keep that up. I put all the pounds back on gradually, and by 2005 I was my same old self — hovering around 240.

Last year, starting late in June, I decided to get in shape again. Remembering how much success I’d had in 2003 (and wrongly attributing it to the very light exercise), I decided to start walking. I didn’t really change my diet at all, but I went walking most evenings (which is well chronicled on my old Xanga blog), and in three weeks I dropped twelve pounds (from 248 to 236). After that, I pretty much stopped losing weight. I didn’t do anything to improve my regimen, and bounced around between 235 and 240 until the holidays, when I slid back up to 244 and stayed right there.

Okay, so this year I decided to do things right. In January, I joined a gym that had shown some amazing results for K– and N–. I got two free trainer sessions with a year’s membership, and K– had gone through two years of regular (almost monthly) trainer sessions, so he was in a position to help me out with lots of information.

I started out going three days a week, focusing on strength training (because dense muscle mass greatly boosts resting metabolism) and cardio in equal parts. My first few weeks, I’d get on the elliptical machine for a thirty minute workout and have to stop seven minutes in, lungs aching, heart pounding, and generally feeling like I was about to die.

I learned how to push through that, and kept at it, and within about four weeks I was able to go a full thirty minutes on the elliptical. That, essentially, is the only real progress I’ve seen. I can lift a little more weight than I could in January, but I started at such pathetically small amounts that I’m not ready to brag about it.

Anyway, I’ve since moved to five and then six days a week working out, because I wasn’t seeing the weight loss I expected. I still stick with only three days a week of weight training, with at least a day of rest in between, but I generally spend an hour of intensive cardio on those off days, running on the treadmill and then sprinting on the elliptical, hitting about 5-6 miles in an hour (according to the machines’ calculations).

I weigh myself on the gym’s scale every time I show up. I’ve heard to only weigh weekly, and keep averages, but the numbers are so consistent and even tracking just one of those measurements a week would yield the same results.

It’s this: the lowest I’ve weighed (and I only hit that weight once) was a week and a half ago on Saturday, when I weighed in at 232. In January, when I started, I was consistently weighing 244. That’s a twelve pound loss over the course of five months — the same thing I managed last year with some leisurely walking around the neighborhood, and then it only took me three weeks.

Actually, it’s worse than that, because I’ve never weighed in at 232 since then. My average for the last 10 days is about 237.

Now, as I said, this is the same gym K– and N– go to, and they’ve seen just how hard I’ve been working at it. Every time I complain to them at my lack of results (because it’s damned unmotivating), they both have the same answer (and it makes sense from their perspectives). They say, “Look, it’s obviously not a problem with the number of calories you’re burning, so it can only be one thing. It has to be your diet.”

I understand exactly why they feel that way, because they can see one aspect of my work and not the other, but I’ve changed my diet at least as much as I’ve changed my level of activity.

Before January, I typically ate somewhere around 2,400 calories a day. That’s not absurdly high, but it’s higher than recommended (1,800-2,000). The big problem was that about a third of that 2,400 calories was essentially sugar — sweet desserts, mainly — that had almost no nutritive value and converted easily to fats. I did a lot of snacking during the day at work (sweets and junk food), and I liked to have some kind of dessert after every lunch or dinner. I was also awful about having something to eat (usually something sweet) late in the evening, about an hour before bed.

The first thing I did was cut that late-night snack. For a New Year’s Resolution, I decided not to have anything with any significant amount of calories after eight o’clock. No desserts, no snacks (even healthier ones), and no drinks. That was even before I started at the gym. It just seemed like a good idea. And, with the exception of a few nights out drinking with D–, I’ve completely maintained that resolution. Actually, with far greater success than I ever expected. The first couple weeks were hard, but it became habit really quickly.

Then, a couple weeks into my gym membership when I hadn’t seen any progress on the scales, I was discussing things with K–, and he recommended switching to a five-meals-a-day diet — smaller meals spread throughout the day, to keep the metabolism going. Specifically, I picked up some protein shakes to fill in as snacks between meals. I have one with breakfast, one for a mid-morning snack, and one mid-afternoon. The protein is supposed to help with my strength training, the shake is surprisingly filling, and the calorie count is extremely low.

And it worked. Really, from the very start, it worked. I cut all snacks from my diet, except for the shakes as I described above. Sometimes, on strength training days, I’ll have one extra small meal in the afternoon (because I have a very early lunch, and a late dinner), but even that is scheduled. I’m not grabbing junk food just for something to munch on. I know exactly how much I’m eating every day.

Since I started on the shakes, I not only cut snacks, but I mostly stopped eating sides with my meals. I am satisfied with much smaller portions and — whether from feeling fuller or just general self-control developed through all of this — it’s gotten a lot easier for me to stop eating at “satisfied” instead of going on to “stuffed.”

Basically, within a few weeks of starting at the gym, I went from an average 2,400 calorie day to about a 1,900 calorie day. T– and I hit up the website of all our favorite restaurants (fast food included), and got the nutrition facts for pretty much everything I eat. Now that I’ve limited how many impulsive snacks I eat, it’s relatively easy to keep track of everything I have in a day, and 1,900 calories wasn’t too hard to manage.

But, even with the elimination of evening snacks, desserts were still making way too high a percentage of those calories empty sugar calories. And I still wasn’t losing weight, so sometime in March (I think), I got really frustrated and decided to cut sugar altogether. For three weeks, I didn’t eat anything sweet. Again, it was tough at first, but got a lot easier.

Still, I didn’t jump-start any big weight loss. By the end of that time (and the three months of workout leading up to it), I was looking at a total of about 7 pounds lost (the same thing I have now). When the three weeks expired without seeing any major changes, I decided to let myself have a little bit more reasonable restriction, and limited myself to two treats a week. To make up for the lost sugar calories, I’ve been working on incorporating a few healthier sides in with my meals. It hasn’t been too tough.

So, now, I’m consistently at around 1,800-2,000 calories a day (the recommended amount). Days that I’m really bad (going out drinking, or having a frozen custard for dessert), I still tend to come in under 2,200, and those are relatively rare.

In the last five months, I’ve radically altered both my diet and my level of activity — I’m living a healthier lifestyle than I ever have, at any point in my twenty-eight years — and, basically, I haven’t seen any more change in my body than I would expect on any given summer, with just a little light walking.

It’s been pointed out far too often that muscle weighs more than fat, but if I’d been burning fat at a rate reasonable for the work I’ve been doing (say, 1-2 pounds a week), and just maintaining weight through strength training, I’d be looking at about 30 pounds of new muscle now (and 30 pounds of lost fat). When I started, I was about 60 pounds overweight, so at this point half of my superfluous weight should be replaced with strong, toned muscles.

It’s just not there. I’ve been told I look a little better, from all the work, but it’s about what you’d expect if, say, I dropped seven pounds. I’ve got plenty of pictures from late last year, and it’s easy enough to compare. There’s just no way that’s the answer to the issue.

Honestly, I don’t know what to do now. I could try a severely restrictive diet, in the expectation that all the sacrifice will be worth it once I get in shape, but (as I’ve shown) I’ve already massively changed the way I lived — on a truly dramatic scale — and seen virtually no results from it. It’s terribly hard to find the motivation to invest the time and money into eating healthy (and accept all the sacrifices that go with it) when, at this point, I have seen no real reason to expect any change whatsoever.

Then again, I’ve invested so much already, I can’t just give up. As much as I hate sinking more time and money into something that’s about as effective as going for an evening stroll…what if I am on the verge of “really ramping up my metabolism”? I’ve dropped about $420 in gym membership so far (and I’m on the hook for another six months no matter what I decide), and about $120 in gas just for trips to the gym, and easily 160 hours over about 20 weeks, and I’ve got seven pounds of weight loss to show for it.

It drives me mad. It really does. No matter what else is going on in my life, as soon as I start thinking about this, it just makes me angry and disappointed and frustrated…. And then at the end of the day I have to find the energy to go put in another two hours, somehow, in spite of a scale that reads the same thing.

You know, I believed in the simplicity of the system. Work more, eat less. That should be all there is to it. I don’t have any good reasons to believe that I have gland problems or anything of that sort, but this is just ridiculous. I’ve worked more in the last five months than I ever have in my life. I’ve eaten more healthfully than I ever have in my life. I just don’t understand the results I’m seeing.

Anyway, I wanted to put it all down in one place — a snapshot of the whole story, in terms of what I’ve seen in the past, everything I’ve tried and everything I’ve been doing, and a thorough description of what the last five months have shown me. I’m not going to repeat this rant every time I see 237 on that scale. I just wanted to get it all down.

So, there you go. That’s how it’s been.

Other than that, it’s just things and stuff.

Journal Entry

Okay, obviously the waking up at 5:00 to jog thing was a bad idea. I’m sure everyone could see that coming, but I let optimism win out over reason.

The problem with hitting the snooze button once is that it makes it so much easier to hit it the second time, know what I mean?

I only woke up once during the night last night, but when the alarm went off at five I set it for six, and when it went off at six I set it for seven, and I didn’t really get up at seven. When I did finally get out of bed, I rushed through getting ready and got to work, instead of taking the morning off and going for a jog (like I did on Tuesday).

I don’t know what the solution is. I guess I’m going to get back to working on getting up right at six and getting to work on time, and find time later in the day for my jogging. That’s a little worrying, because I know I’ll have trouble being consistent at it, but I’ve done a good enough job going to the gym that maybe I can manage. If nothing else, I’ll just go back to aiming for five days a week at the gym (something I was planning to do a week ago).

Yesterday after work we went to Jason’s Deli for dinner. I’d been wanting to go for a while, but there’s not one terribly close to home or work, so it always made sense to put it off until we could get together with K– and N– at the one by their place. It was a little tricky working out the timing (and leaving enough time to get to church afterward), but we managed.

Afterward, I called B– and E– to see if I could come hang out, but B– is working evenings all week and E– was planning on going to bed early. Alas and sadface. I settled for doing the dishes and then working on my game while T– and I watched Lost. We’re into season two now.

I got a lot accomplished. Strongholds are now growing and changing over time, much like the character does. I’d guess I’m at about 70% of gameplay functionality, but when you factor in that I had to build the entire UI to get to this point, I’m probably closer to 90% done with the project.

Writing a game is remarkably like writing a book. The hard part is not coming up with an idea, or putting in the many hours to see your vision take shape. The hard past is putting in those last few hours to actually finish it. This particular game isn’t particularly good. I wrote it entirely on my own, in less than a month, using some pretty crappy tools. I don’t necessarily think anyone will ever spend an afternoon playing it and having a good time. Still, I want to see it finished, because I’ve worked on lots of programming projects before, and lots of those were games, and I’ve never actually gotten one done.

Anyway. Things are things. Maybe today will turn out good.

Journal Entry

Yesterday I got home from work and found T– and AB out in the back yard. Not a big surprise, since those two are always playing outdoors (yeah, I don’t get it either), but T– has also been talking a lot about gardening lately, and I found yesterday that she’d taken the first step.

When we bought the house, it had clearly had some landscaping work done. There were shrubs along the front walk, and out back the back of the house and a large area along the back fence were divided from the yard with some concrete landscaping, with rose bushes growing against the house and trees and shrubs growing along the fence.

Unfortunately, most of the rose bushes had been choked out by tall grass and climbing weeds, and 2/3 of the trees and shrubs were evergreens, which we hate.

On that note….

T– got a handsaw yesterday and started clearing out the evergreens. I don’t know how she did it. She said it only took a couple hours, but it must have been exhausting. Anyway, half of that area is cleaned out now, and it looks so much better than it ever has. She’s going to put a garden in there when it’s all cleared out, but just getting the old dead spruce out of there makes a huge difference.

I finally talked her into coming back inside (after pushing AB in her swing for ten minutes), and we called D– to see if he wanted to come by for dinner. I also had an invitation from my sister to go watch a movie premiere with them downtown, but T– was busy and I stayed home to help her out. D– didn’t end up coming over either, so it was another quiet night at home. We watched three episodes of Lost (and I redesigned the DetailsFrame for my game), and then we went to bed.

I had a better night than the one before, but I still found myself awake at 2:30, 4:00, 5:00, and 6:00.

And, yeah, my alarm was set for 5:00, so clearly I didn’t make my jog. That was a conscious decision, though. E– provided me a link a couple days ago to a site with a program for new runners, and it sounds like a really good one. I’m going to start following it, and one of their big recommendations is leaving a couple days off between jogs to let yourself heal up.

I need that. My calves and quads have been achy for five days now. I was thinking I needed to push through the pain, or something silly like that, but I realized I’m already doing three days of exercise a week at the gym (including half an hour of cardio), so there’s no pressing reason for me to try to get in 5-7 days a week jogging in the morning. It’s a nice goal, and I might make it by the end of the summer, but starting out too aggressively could keep me from accomplishing anything.

So, I’m planning to go to the gym Monday, Thursday, Saturday (as I’ve been doing), and make my jogs Tuesday, Friday, Sunday. That keeps me active all week, and still gives me some time to rest individual muscle groups. It should be good.

Oh! We’ve had one person look at the house so far, and her realtor reported that she didn’t like the neighborhood because of all the foundation issues. Fair enough. Given the age of the neighborhood, every house out there has foundation issues. I found it encouraging that her concern was general (for the neighborhood) and not specifically aimed at our house, though.

Journal Entry

I couldn’t sleep last night.

We went to the gym after work, then grabbed some dinner to-go and went over to K– and N–‘s place for a little bit. AB was better than usual, and it was a fun hour or so.

I also sent E– an email asking for her help with a project, and I wrote the whole thing in French. I’m not about to promise it was good French (for one, I figure every single noun and adjective probably had the wrong gender), but it got the point across. So, cool.

Anyway, we spent the evening watching TV while I worked on my game. Then ten o’clock rolled around, I headed to bed, and couldn’t sleep at all. When I did fall asleep, I’d wake up a few minutes later. Around three in the morning I got up and set my alarm for six instead of five (planning to skip my morning jog). When it went off at six I hit the snooze button once, and then turned it off altogether.

I’ve been having a lot of sleep issues lately. I’m not sure why. I have some guesses, but I don’t like them, so I’m trying to convince myself that I just don’t know why.

But, yeah, I skipped the morning at work. Got up about nine, had breakfast, went for a jog after all, had lunch, and then came in to work.

Still no word on the Tulsa house, as far as I know. I’ll keep you posted, though.

Journal Entry

Busy weekend.

Friday night, I went to the gym after work and put in an hour on the elliptical machine. It was a pretty good workout — I stayed above 160 strides/min the whole time, and according to the machines burned 900 calories and ran 5 miles. I also weighed in at 239, which is only 5 pounds below where I started back in January. Infuriating.

I’d already been thinking that I needed to extend my workouts beyond the 3 days a week that we’re going to the gym. I did 5 days last week, but the drive time is brutal.

So, instead, I’m going to start jogging every morning before work. I’m going to try, anyway. I have to leave at 6:30 to make it to work on time, so that means waking up around 5:00 to get in a half hour jog. I managed it today, but it will be tough keeping on that schedule. I’m sick of seeing so little progress, though, and I’ve done what I can easily do to fix my diet (short of a dramatic and miserable overhaul of everything I eat). I’d rather work more and eat what I like, as long as that’s an option.

Anyway. Friday night I killed myself at the gym, and then went over to my sister’s place for dinner. D– was supposed to meet us there, but he got home from work and fell asleep, so that didn’t happen. I can’t say I blame him. I was exhausted even before I got to the gym.

After dinner, T– and I went home and watched some TV, and we went to bed relatively early.

Saturday morning I woke up bright and early to go for the first of my morning jogs…and then I hit the snooze button and that was that. I woke up around 9:00, had some breakfast, and then went to the gym with T–. So, yeah, it’s not like I was skipping exercise for the day, but I thought getting in jogs on the weekend would make it easier for me to go ahead with the plan on Monday morning.

Bah. We worked out with K– and N– for an hour, and then split up again. Saturday afternoon, T– and N– went to the zoo (which will be well documented on both of their blogs, I’m sure).

I went to Tulsa. The only thing I had to do was replace a circuit breaker for the new air conditioner. I wanted to get that done so we could show the house, and get full advantage from the costly system we just put in. Unfortunately, it was a pretty petty project for a 3-hour drive.

There’s another job I need to do up there, but it sounds like a real chore. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t even try it on Saturday, but I didn’t want to go all the way up just to change out the breaker. I ended up spending a couple hours cleaning up the garage, which was still full of a lot of the detritus of our repair projects of weekends past, as well as some junk J– had left behind when he moved out. It took a while to get everything sorted, and in the end all I had to show for it was a clean garage (not a major selling point), but I did get the breaker replaced, too, so I’d done what I came for.

It was also my first chance to see the house with the new carpet and all the tile work done. It’s really an amazing transformation. The house looks great. I just hope it starts to show soon.

Anyway, I spent most of the drive home working on conceptual stuff for the game I’m writing, and organizing dinner by way of cell phone. I stopped at P F Chang’s on my way home, and picked up dinner for five. K– and N– came over and brought an XBox game (Fusion Frenzy), and D– brought an extra controller and Lego Star Wars, so we had a pretty full evening of good food and video games.

K– and N– headed home at 10:00 and T– headed to bed. D– and I sat up talking. For a while. My alarm clock was set for 5:00 (for the jogging practice, y’know?), but when I finally headed to bed at 3:58, I went ahead and turned off the alarm. No sense pretending.

Sunday morning I slept until 11:00, which meant I missed church. T– took AB to class and services, and then we met up with K– and N– for lunch at Mazzio’s. Afteward, I went over to K–‘s place, and he showed me how to jog.

I did try a real-world jog on Friday afternoon, before I’d headed to the gym. I felt this incredible, terrifying tightness in my chest and back, pressing on my lungs, and I gave up after less than a tenth of a mile. Humiliating, yeah. I’ve always had that reaction when I’ve tried jogging or running, but I figured my three months of cardio at the gym had gotten me past that.

K– wasn’t so surprised. He was a cross-country runner in high school, and he said that even though it felt like a problem with my lungs, it was just my heart working too hard and desperate for oxygen. The solution to that is more long-term, but it’ll get easier with practice.

Anyway, we went for a jog in his neighborhood, and then I collapsed on his couch for twenty minutes and watched some E. R. because I didn’t have the energy to drive home. There are some pretty unique aspects to the show, but I still don’t think I have any interest in watching it. I should for the perspective it would lend on Sarah’s story, but I don’t think I will.

At home, T– and I spent the evening watching old episodes of Lost. I also spent a while searching Google Images for monster portraits for my game. Overall, a pretty productive evening.

Then, this morning, I was up at 5:00 and I made my run. The course I’ve picked out is 2 miles, and I jogged the first half-mile and then walked the rest. My short-term goal is to jog the first and third half-miles, taking the second and fourth to rest. Long-term, of course, I’d like to bump it up to a three-mile route and jog the whole thing. That’s a ways off yet, though.

Oh, I also created a Blogger account this morning and got it all set up. But then, you already knew that….

Journal Entry

I took a nap when I got home from work yesterday, and didn’t wake up after the half hour I’d allotted myself. By the time I got up, we were running out of daycare time at the gym. Ugh.

Still, we were both able to finish our strength training, and then I did a fifteen minute sprint on the elliptical which is the hardest cardio workout I’ve done so far. It felt good to be able to accomplish it, though.

Afterward, we gave N– a ride home (K– had dropped her off then headed to my sister’s place to help install a new TV), and then picked up Taco Bell on the way home. It’s frustrating to go to the gym, get disappointed by the weight on the scale, work really hard, and then pick up junk food for dinner. On the other hand, that late in the day and as exhausted as I am after a workout, I never feel like doing anything other than just grabbing fast food. I’ll have to get over that, I know, but it’s tough.

Anyway, we watched all the Thursday night sitcoms on NBC and I finished Little Myth Marker, which is probably my favorite book in the series. Then I discovered I don’t actuall have the next two books in the series, so I’m switching over to another of his books while I try to dig those up.

I’ve got a scheduled lunch with D– today, but no real plans for the evening. K– and N– are going to a baseball game. I keep forgetting that and coming up with things to do with them, and then remembering and feeling stupid. It’s pretty pathetic.

Anyway, I’m glad it’s Friday, but I’ve got at least one Tulsa trip in store for the weekend, so I’m not super looking forward to it. Sleeping past six for a couple days will be nice, though.

Journal Entry

Last night I went back to the gym. As I mentioned, I’ve been going regularly three times a week since January, and I’ve seen a lot of strength and endurance improvement, but not a lot of weight loss.

When I started in January I had a goal for June that wasn’t terribly aggressive, but at this point I’m nowhere close to making it. So I’m thinknig I’ll switch to five days a week, and see if that helps any. I’ll devote the extra two days to cardio.

When the weather improves (and if I feel like I’m getting enough benefit from it) I’ll probably just jog the neighborhood for those two days, more often than not. For now, though, I’m going to stick with the gym. Adding Tuesday nad Sunday to my other three.

Anyway, I got home at five and the gym took two hours (with drive time). I dropped by B– and E–‘s to pick up some tools I’d lent them, that I’m going to need for my plumbing project tonight. Then I got home around 7:30 and T– had dinner waiting for me.

We watched the finale of Biggest Loser and she watched a Law and Order while I read. I finished another of the Myth books last night, and another one over lunch today. They’re short books.

I forgot my laptop when I came to work today, and it’s a thirty-minute drive, easy, so I’m just getting by without it. I have a desktop that is still “officially” my work computer, so I can still get some stuff done, but it’s really thrown me off, having to work on it.

I’m not sure how tonight will go. I’m just changing out a leaky faucet (with valve stem replacement), but I’ve had enough bad experiences with plumbing I expect there to be major problems. I don’t know what they’ll be yet, but that just adds to the excitement.

Ugh. If I can get it done, though, that’ll be a major improvement that’s been in need for a really long time. Here’s hoping it goes smoothly.