Day 410 - Have I Bored U Yet?

Welcome to Wednesday, Welcome to June; yes it is June already!

I'll resume the 14 part series on Leadership Traits soon. I never intended to present it 14 days in a row but to break it up over several weeks. Remember I have BADD, Bloggers Attention Deficit Disorder ADD, so I tend to jump topics from day to day without much rhyme or reason at times.

Actually I am way short on time this morning. We are moving within the office here. We do this every 12-18 months, shift everyone around to a different location within the corporate campus. Today is that day, today I am moving 14 columns to the north and 7 rows to the east. Our buildings are laid out like spreadsheets and cubical locations addressed similar to how a cell in a spreadsheet is addressed. Have I bored you yet? Have I scared you away from wanting to work here?

Anyhow, as I am short on time, let me share some recent photos of my days...
Up to there, my son's t-shirt he wore to the YMCA last week; hilarious.

And here Andrew is at the gym getting his curl on...

Ashley waiting for her cheesecake to arrive; we were at the Cheesecake Factory, what else would one wait for there?...

Cameron cleaning his rifle, notice the cat on the chair next to him? No animals,or cats, were hurt in publishing this post...

The family photo for Ashley's graduation; nice to see the boys dressed up for the occasion...

Me at the YMCA last week, taking a breather between sets I think...

My wife and Squishy after graduation; she has not let her go since...

Ribs going into the smoker on Memorial Day; they were my best yet!

Enjoy Your Wednesday!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 391-396: Past Week Or So

Hello one & all, hope all has been well with you. Last Friday Blogger was hosed-up somehow preventing me from logging in to create a post. Then I was away this past weekend at our hunting property where we were too busy to give much thought to all things electronic. Back home I chose to stay disconnected for a couple days to start the week and just focus on a mountain of needs at home and work. So there you have my brief absence explained. All is well, I am back, and a blogging I shall go...

I'll resume the leadership traits tomorrow. Today I'll share a handful of photos of the past week or so of our fun and healthy days...

Andrew waiting for me to finish my walk around Lake Andrea, he finished a couple minutes ahead of me

Squishy at Honors Night, she received recognition for her work on the Yearbook Club and National Honors Society

A cat pictures for the feline fanatics; these two sit at the chair next to me each night at the dinner table

Mmm, grilled pork chop & tomatoes w/ caesar salad

My wonderful wife getting her walk on with me

Squishy got game, this was the final soccer game I was able to attend of her high school career. Her season is now over, next team she'll play for is in college

That's it for now. I have a bunch of photos and video too of our time at the hunting property. I'll get that loaded up to my hunting blog soon and link back here for those interested.

Hope you're having a great week! Are you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 353 - Bring On The Needles!

Some good news on the cancer battlefield... The MRI on my knee showed NO metastatic cancer there; whew! Above is one of the 180+ images of my knee, I have no idea of know what I'm looking at there is good or not, and don't care as long as I'm told it is sans cancer.

We engage the enemy next on Thursday for a blood test to determine if there are any indicators that the melanoma has spread beyond skin or lymph nodes. Bring on the needles!

Exercise, lets talk exercise... I took two of the boys to the YMCA Sunday to get some sweat'n on...
Needed a warm up since I pulled them out of bed to join me, so we started with a mile on the elliptical:

I think they were hoping this was all we were going to do.

I dig the rowing station so it was our next stop:

Andrew working as fast as he can, like he has somewhere else to be.

Then it trying to get the boys more involved in the workout I let them pick what we did next...

Andrew picked incline sit ups:

Yep, there I am gett'n my 2d set in. I am enjoying myself; can't you tell?

Cameron then picked cross over flys:

Here he demonstrates, "Form" is his middle name.

Next I chose this 'thing' since it was available & I had never done it, need to try new stuff:

Andrew is seen here doing what I called Tri-Shoul-Back Press Downs, as it ravaged those three areas so.

Andrew took us next to the Overhead ISO Pull Down station:

and then he snapped this pic of me; this is a cool exercise.

Cameron got last choose and chose Squats, yes, Squats:

I was taught to squat early in a routine - Rebel!

That was enough, I was wiped, they were anything but wanting more. Not a routine you'd find a trainer advise perhaps, but on this day it was our routine.

Have you pulled the family out of bed lately to join you get some sweat'n on?

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 295 - Fit For Me & Familiy

Yesterday was a day of rest where my exercise is concerned. And much needed too. The soreness from the weeks workouts and snow removal needed the day to ease some.

Today is a new day and exercise was on the schedule. And that we did first thing today. Yes, I said we... My wife, two of my sons & I headed off to the YMCA first thing to get busy. My wife joined the Y last year so that she could swim. She was a swimmer in high-school & college so swimming is her exercise of choice.

Recently we expanded her membership to a family membership so that I can go with her and use some of the equipment there I do not have in my basement and never will. That and she suggested we do so as she'd be more apt to go and swim if I went to the Y too. So how could I say No to that?

Here are a few pictures of the boys & I getting busy. Nope, no pictures of my wife in the pool. But up top there I do have one of her pitching in to remove the snow the snow plows pushed back in our driveway over night...

Cameron getting to know the fun that is SQUATS

Andrew working through a set of LAT PULLDOWNS

I've had core on the mind allot lately and so making use of this INCLINE SITUP bench was a must.

Don't be too impressed, it is inclined just one notch above horizontal to the floor.

Cameron found the CROSS CABLE FLYS a challenge

We finished with some BACK-TO-BACK MEDICINE BALL TWISTS w/ a 12 pound ball.

Since there were three of us we rotated someone in/out on each 12 count.

In the end we each had participated in three sets of 24.

 

We had a BLAST.

 

What are you going to do this weekend to have a BLAST of your own!

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 224-226 Unplugged & Recharged

Good Morning Everyone! Hope all had a great weekend, and great holiday weekend at that. Did you?

Mine was quite good. For the most part I unplugged after Friday morning's post. A combination of allot planned with the family and just a need to mentally take a break from all of the structures that are my daily norm. Call it a mental vacation without going anywhere, just putting my mind at ease on other things.

A good decision too as I am ready for the new week re: work, home and health.  My brief stint away was not an unhealthy deviation from good sense. Had it been I wouldn't call it unplugging but rather unproductive.

Friday was largely spent at a wrestling tourney with Ryan which I spoke of with Friday's post. Ryan is a sophomore who wrestles on the J-V team. He was called up to the varsity team for the tourney to fill a void at his weight class; 189 pounds. His coach was upfront with him that this would be tough facing juniors & seniors many of whom have gone to state before. Just do the best you can for as long as you can and don't worry if you get your butt kicked. He lost both of his matches but he held his own. Mommadesure he knew that while he was beaten but his butt was far from kicked...

Before all of that wrestling excitement Friday morning started with my dropping Ryan off at the high school and then racing off (I almost typed 'scurrying', but I don't scurry!) to the sporting goods store for my foray into Black-Friday early bird madness. I do not hit the stores in the dark-hours on Black-Friday or any day no matter what the savings. But this store had a dang good combo deal on a 300-pound set of olympic weights and bar (pictured above) so I ventured into the madness. It wasn't too bad as the looney-tunes that camp out and lose sleep over sales had come and gone by the time I got there. Picked up a bench with leg attachment to use the new weights with. Oh these are not gifts, well I guess you can say they are for me and anyone else who wants to use them. But no wrapping paper needed. Came right home and set it all up in the brief window of time I had before it was off to watch wrestling.

Saturday was all about holiday prep. My wife and I took got in some shopping in the morning after breakfast allowing all of that day's early a.m. shopping-crazies to get in and out before us. Back home for a bit I got in the first workout on the new weights before rallying the boys to bring up the bins of holiday decorations and get that stuff out on the lawn. Well, we got started on it but soon came to remember that at the end of last year I threw away many items which were either broken down, tattered or just no longer wanted. This left us with way too little for the job. So off my wife & I went for another round in the stores to replenish the holiday decorations and as well we picked up the Christmas tree. Got a good one too, this thing just sucks up water like a sham-wow sucks money from the pockets of the easily entertained. Came home, got all of that set up and done which wore me out more so than the weights. Topped the day off by escorting my son and his girl friend to the movies. They made sure to sit on the opposite side of the theatre from my wife & I while we took in Due Date. ZZZzzz, I was ready for bed before bed was ready for me.

Sunday, a mix of fun. Up early and out the door with Andrew for a few hours of hunting on the last day of the regular gun season. We saw nothing, except other hunters; no deer for me...

We got in a good dose of cardio walking all over the public wildlife area we opted for this day. After coming home, a hot shower and a bowl of cereal; my wife & I were back out hitting various stores to try and knock out more Christmas shopping. If I had to guess we're about 60% done which means we'll go back out for the rest next weekend.

When we got home Andrew & I played darts on last time for the weekend. He has finally improved enough where he wins 1/2 the time. Over the course of the weekend he has amassed two more wins than I had so he was on the verge of winning a weekend series for just the second time. Bang, bang, I won two games quick and the weekend series was tied at 12-12... one more had to be played and nothing should ever, never-ever, end in a tie; right? Perhaps I should have settled for the tie as he rocked me in the deciding game. Man, next weekend he is so mine!

Ok, that is it; my weekend wrap up. Good fun, good time unplugging, good to ready to go for a new week.

Are you ready for the new week? 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 201 - My Endurance Video

Fruit Count: 73 - We have collectively eaten 73 pieces of fruit the past two days. Nearing 1/2-way to our goal of 199. Let's keep eating fruit people, it's good food for you; shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Our picture riddle was a good one if I may say so. Anne our Carb Tripper came right out of the gate with a great guess; a ceramic cow moo moo pitcher that pours cream. Now I have seen such a thing, and not just pouring cream. I wish I had one (Ok not really, don't add that to my list for Santa please) for if I had that would've made a great pic-riddle.

Dawn of Fixing Myself Thinner was first to touch on what it is with her guess of 'plastic horse toy or something'. Ann who is Livin' Large immediately followed up with her guess of  'a chess piece'. Then not long after that yet another Anne, Anne of How I am Losing It finished off the completeness of our riddle with her guess of 'a Knight from a chess set'. As you see there, that is indeed what it is. Good Fun. Well done!

Yesterday I got in my second of two committed cardio sessions for this week. My son & I returned to Lake Andrea where I set a challenge for this visit of jogging 1 mile of it's 2.25 mile loop. Not 1 mile consciously, that would be nice, but I am not there yet. Previous visits I jogged .85 of a mile, so I was looking for a slight challenge up for me to make it a mile.

Different from those previous attempts as well was the length of the jogs. Before, most legs were .125 miles; now for this challenge I mapped out four .25 legs; thank you Google Earth. As well as actually completing those four .25 mile jogging legs without stopping (my primary challenge here) was the added challenge to try and complete the loop in less than 29:32, my previous best. Here is the course I mapped out...

Away we went and the skinny on our result is this...

• The four .25 mile jogs: Achieved, all four loops jogged without stopping!
• The loop time: We completed the loop in 29:46 minutes, oh so close but no PR (Personal Record) today.Oh Yeah!

Andrew ran ahead of me at the end of the loop & took a short video of me finishing. Enjoy at my expense ;-)

The heavy breathing you hear is him, the cold air tickled his asthma. The heavy dude in black coming towards you, that's me. As I neared the line & saw him shooting I let out what was supposed to be a laugh but instead sounded like a goat giving birth to a pregnant-moose; a moment to visualize... I also blurted out 'Enough' although I am not sure why. Probably glad the the end was achieved. I'll give myself an Oh Yeah!

Endurance, that is the word for the day. This trait to me speaks to the ability to overcome the stress and fatigue that can come with the effort needed to be better than obese over the span of a lifetime. Sure, it applies to smaller spans too, such as my Lake Andrea challenge there. I've had to build up my endurance to be able to do that. Six months ago, no way. Eating better and Exercising better allowed that to happen. Now six months from now, whether I just maintain what I have now or improve my ability to do better; either way I'll have to endure the effort needed to do so. If I stop putting in the effort, then my endurance recedes and I recede back towards greater obesity. That's not going to happen.

Quickly, this post is way too long already; but here is yesterday's food intake...

Note to self; the "Red Robin Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad" that appeared to be healthy and which was my dinner actually accounted for 910 (F54, C57, P49) of those calories; ugh! I should've known better, and I do.

Give me your FRUIT and give me your latest OhYeah! moment!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 186 - NSV's in October

October is just flying by here, isn't it? Before you know it Halloween will be here. My wife already has candy at the ready. Last year I would have eaten a bag of it by now and forced her to have to buy more. not this year, no way!

My boy Andrew turns 17 this week; Happy Birthday son!


Our immediate & extended family has six birthday's in all in October. My brother-in-law Scott turned 49 earlier this month. And both of my wife's parents had birthday's earlier this month as well. Two more of our kids have them later in the month. So more happy birthday posts to come.
This week I have NSV's to share, well look to the picture for a pair of them...

First, that shirt there has been in my closet for 2 if not 3 years. A month or so back it was still too snug for my liking. Today I am wearing it with a new pair of slacks my wife bought me. She bought me 3 new pairs of 42's this past weekend. This pair of slacks is 'olive' in color and I couldn't find a shirt to go with it, that is what prompted me to try this one on and see if I were ready for it. How about that, this morning it fit just fine; maybe still a wee-bit snug. It felt good so today is it's maiden voyage.

Second, two more holes have been punched in my belt this week. Yes, I still have not purchased a new belt. Likely a new belt is in my near future as my wife is getting tired of seeing me 'play' with this one. The good news for this old belt, in addition to having punched 7 holes in it since April; it now wraps far enough around on my left side for the tip to go under the belt loop over there. There you see me holding the belt at its tip; thus the good news is that I don't need to use the double-sided tape anymore to keep it from flapping about.

What is your latest NSV? Come on, I know you've had one or more you may have neglected to share with the class...

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 173 - Riddle This Monster

Hello blogger loving - heatlhy craving - exercise wanting - happy folk. Does that sound like you? Sounds to me like a fine way to looked upon as.

Picture riddle for Thursday this week. There you see it. Looks shiny, looks symmetrical. Doesn't look like a liquid or a squid. What is it?

Wednesday was a great day on the exercise front. My son & I made a visit to Lake Andrea to chip away at my personal challenge there. Continuing to work to get around that lake's 2.25 mile loop faster and faster by mixing in more jogging with the walking. Last week we improved our time by 1:51 minutes doing just that.

This week we got after with even more intensity and achieved a monster PR shaving a monster 2:11 to finish in 30:55 minutes. Monster I'm telling you! Um, yeah, I was stunned when I looked at my watch (if you can't see it trust me it says 30:55)...

Cashed out, that was me afterwards. No time to catch my breath however, I had to take care of a little business before breathing, hydrating, celebrating. That done, I wanted to capture an Oh Yeah shot but my 'gasping for air' face over-rode my 'happy and prideful' face. So this is my Oh Yeah shot (why do us bloggers like to take pics in bathrooms? I cropped out as much of the porcelain furniture I could)...

Finally hydrating... my son tried to get a better Oh Yeah shot of me in a more celebratory moment. However this is not much better as I was too thirsty to pose and he was too impatient to wait...

After the exercise we went off to grab a meal & play before going to his high school for a presentation on college prep. Andrew was paying more attention to the baseball game on TV than his game controller where I was focused on the video poker battle between us...

But he didn't need to may much attention to the poker as he was wiping the floor with me as I kept getting hand after hand like this...

Finally, some food...

Have a MONSTER Day!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 131 - Seen Da Light

Top-o-Thursday to you.
"Time sneaks up on you like a windshield on a bug." -- John Lithgow
 
Great day yesterday, near perfection in eating & exercise. All meals balanced, portioned well, and mighty tasty too; what more can a healthy wanna be ask for?

Exercise before work was 5 sets each of sit-ups and push-ups with stretching exercises between sets; Thanks to all who answered my call the other day for help with stretching. After work my son & I walked Lake Andrea. Well, we didn't walk it all, we jogged the last .2-.25 miles of that 2.25 loop.

Funny thing was my pants were falling down while jogging. Picture if you can my 272'ish pound frame jogging in dockers & a dress shirt (on Wednesday's I don't go home before going up to hang with my son), having to hold his pants up with my left hand while fumbling an ipod nano with the other because I knocked the ear cords out with my right hand as it pumped away. I must have looked a mess, or a fool; and I loved looking just as I did.

We finished that loop in 35:29 minutes, a good 2.5 minutes faster than the previous best. Guess I can't call the Lake Andrea PR a walking event any longer. It is now a place to get my body around as fast as I can with a mix of walk, jog, crawl, skip, moon-walk, and dare I say better fitting clothes?

So yes, I enjoyed ruling the day yesterday - have you ruled a day lately?

I shall soon post that I have lost 50 pounds, it may be this weekend or next; but it is coming soon...
I shall RESIST temptation to return into the dark and put back on any unhappy weight; nope I have Seen Da Light.

I have learned so much in the past 131 days, thanks in large part to many of you; and I thirst for more...
I have LAUNCHED this mission to 199 pounds or less in pursuit of greater happiness; yes I have Seen Da Light.

I will remember that being healthy is all mental, my will to change and my choice to act; I and I alone decide success over failure...
I will FORGO excuses of all form as cause to choose unhappiness; I have Seen Da Light.

I am happier today than yesterday, tomorrow will be happier today, the next 45 years will be my happiest yet...
I AM Responsibility 199; I have Seen Da Light.
(picture of me up there at son's soccer game this week seemed fitting)

Have You Seen Da Light?

 
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 124 - Fielders Over Jackhammers

Good Morning!

Solid day of eating yesterday. Opportunities for temptation were snubbed by my insane focus on a crazy busy day at work. The picture you see to the left is my lunch from the office cafeteria; Grilled Salmon w/ Avocado Salsa, Stir-fried Veggies and Steamed Brown Rice. Overall our cafeteria is very friendly to those looking to live healthy. Of course there is also a line for burgers, pizza and other unfriendly choices.

In the evening my son & I were headed to a local minor league baseball game. Dining on ball park food for dinner did not appeal to me. Ok, it did appeal to me, but I thought better of such appealings. Instead we chose to go to Applebee's which was on the way. I am not a big fan of places like Applebee's, Chili's, Denny's, etc... to me these establishments rely on excessive salt & poorly administered seasoning to mask their inability to bring ingredients together to create flavor. But, Applebee's for convenience it was us last night. there I chose a dish off of the Under 550 Calorie menu, Spicy Shrimp Diavolo. It filled the void in my stomach, and I doubt it was just 550 calories, I'll leave it at that.

No exercise yesterday so I still need to get in another cardio and another strength workout before Sunday's weigh in. I plan to get in one or the other this evening.

As promised yesterday's log looked like this....

• 6a - Tomato Juice, Coleslaw (yes, I made too much the night before and wasn't letting it go to waste)
• 830a - More Tomato Juice,Banana
• 10a - Milk
• 1215p - Grilled Salmon w/ Avocado Salsa, Stir-fried Veggies and Steamed Brown Rice
• 6p - Spicy Shrimp Diavolo (seen below)

Baseball - Andrew & I went to see the Lake County Fielders host the Joliet Jackhammers last night; minor league teams have the best nick-names. Here are a few pictures of the game which Lake County won 6-4...

That is 'Lucky', the Fielders mascot. He was one busy dog between innings.

The Fielders fell behind 4-0 early and scrapped their way back with bunts like this.

Yes, bunt are seldom exciting, but this one was.

Between innings minor-league style. The John Deere Tractor-Tricycle race, the winner was neither of these dudes; they crashed into each other and wiped out.

Andrew cheking the stats in the program and recalling the days when he little & pony league ball played nearby.

Have an Amazingly Healthy Day! 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!