Good Start, Good Bird

First full week of this the 10th month of 2011. October is always a month of tectonic demand for our time, patience and sense of humor. Our family has six birthdays to celebrate, our kids make up half of them. Hunting season resumes so we have deer & turkey to harvest. The kids have school events to attend. Hockey season resumes so we have a Hockey game to go to. Tectonic I tell you!

In honest reflection of my mission here, it was this time last year my progress slowed to a point of inconsistent ups and downs beginning a string of months of clumsy maintenance. Was is the increased external demands of the final months of the year which contributed to that result? Certainly it did influence it, but, the result was something I allowed. Had I stayed sharp mentally and kept my mission prioritized properly the result would have been better.

That learned experience is a tool I now have to use my quest to emerge from the final months of this year healthier, happier and handsome. No tool is useful if not used, and proper prioritization of my own mission with all else October brings is the only way this quest will succeed.

Thanks to the challenges I've joined (Go The Distance and Fall 31 Day) I am off to a good start this month. Each of the first two days saw me get in a couple of miles of combined walk/jog activity. Yesterday I also put in an hour in the gym working on upper body pulling exercises.

Exercise is good, very good. But we all know sustained weight loss or maintenance is a combination of exercise & diet. So on the diet front I'm off to a good start too. I won't bore you (or myself) with a list of everything I have eaten. But I will share a dish I had fun with. We need to remind ourselves that when food is fun we use food more successfully. Oh, to be clear, having fun with food does not mean 'food-fight' fun, but rather using fun creatively and outside of the norms that most dull diets prescribe.

Saturday's dinner was Bacon & Apple Roasted Pheasant:

Raw pheasant ready for some loving attention...

Spices, soy sauce & water will become marinade in no time...

Two pheasants marinade the day away...

Each marinaded pheasant gets stuffed w/ apple & hit w/ apple wood seasoning...

Trussed, draped in bacon (I was told I needed to use more bacon), these are ready for bagging...

Oven roaster bags work on pheasants & birds of all kinds...

Ninety minutes later we have Apple/Bacon Roasted Pheasant...

And the final photo is the one way up at the top of the post, my dinner plate; Breast of Pheasant w/ Salsa Dressed Romaine Salad. A mighty tasty and healthy meal it was.

Are you off to a good start this October ?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Walking Catfish Wednesday

Great walk yesterday after work. Took on my 2 mile neighborhood loop for the first time in a long time. Maybe first time since last winter to be honest. It took me 32:50 to complete, a far cry from my best time of 29:30 on that loop. Not upset at all that I was that far off my best pace. It gives me something to challenge myself on as I get my mojo back.

Great eats yesterday too. Baked up a mess of catfish, here is what a mess of catfish looks like before...

These were in my freezer for a couple of months. A work mate of mine is a fisherman & hunter as am I. So a couple of times a year we have a game-exchange. Over the summer I traded him a mess of venison chops, brats & bacon for a bag of catfish & two pheasants. It's only right to share ones harvest with a neighbor!

Here is what they look like after giving them some love before cooking...

The dish on the left and another like it not pictured are traditional corn meal & spice coated fillets. The dish on the right is not coated in corn meal or any other starchy/carby coating, thus a bit healthier. That dish ese are seasoned in different flavor combos. Top to bottom: Chili Crusted,... Lime Pepper,... Garlic-Maple.

I oven baked all the fish versus frying in oil to keep them healthier still. Whoa these were some serious delicious! These were small fillets by standard, so my mind was telling me I could affrd to eaten six fillets. But I just had two as hard as it was to stop there.
Hey I wanted to let all know that I've been reading your blogs but have had a problem commenting on some of you that use Blogger. Oddest thing, I get that error when trying to comment on some blogger blogs, not all. The ones where the comments are left in pop-ups, I do not have a problem with. But when the comment is made on the page itself (like mine) and I have to select 'select profile' for google account, that is when I get this error. I am signed in, I have to be as I can post on my blog, edit, etc, yet never in the upper right corner does it show me signed in. I've posted a cry for help in the blogger help forum, we'll see if someone rescues me.

Enjoy This Day!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 460 - Kitty Kitty Shout Out

It is Wednesday, seems like a good day for some cat pictures, no?

Up top there you see Crush getting some scratching before dinner.

Below you see Crush & Zinger (w/ lazer-eyes) sitting oh so close to me as I eat my dinner...

My dinner was a delicious Jalapeno Bratwurst and Watermelon; no pictures of dinner.

Yes, I am on a Watermelon quest at the moment.

Before dinner I went for a 2.5 mile walk. No jogging of C25K was in order today. Just needed a good 45 minutes of walking to clear my head from the work day before dinner.

Today & tomorrow I'll be in training at work. Always grateful for training but never does training occur on a day where I feel I can just give up the tome for the day. As for exercise today it will be a day of rest. Tonight I will go see Andrew who is working through his last week of summer school. So there you have it, my day in a paragraph.

I mentioned work which jogged my memory of a photo I snapped the other day...

No, this is not my cubical.

I found it worthy of noting because of the over use if not abuse of sticky-notes.

Myself I dislike sticky notes, seldom use them, but I know some folks use them well.

This is not an example of using them well.

What is on your agenda today?

SHOUT OUT time... speaking of agenda, or plan; let me share with you a link to a fellow blogger who does a great job assessing her positive & negative actions of the day and laying out her plan for the next day. Give JW of Awake For The Dance - The Practice Of Mindful Living a read and enjoy!


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 459 - Here Fishy Fishy

I know, I know; I showed you a picture of fish yesterday. But, those fish we did not eat, which is a shame I know. But this fish, this fish I did eat. And it was so good!

Up there you see it as I placed it on the grill. It rests on a cedar planked soaked in water & lemon juice. The fish, Steelhead Salmon, is seasoned with a fish seasoning I bought in Seattle (the fish I did not buy in Seattle), and crusted in Onion & Garlic Macadamia Nuts. The came from Hawaii and from this package to be specific...

Here is dinner after it came off the grill...

Before I closed the grill I tossed in a handful of apple wood chips while cooking to give it a lovely blast of sweet smokiness.

As good as it looked coming off the grill I must say it looked its best when I plated it...

Yes, I was in the mood for fruit with dinner. or maybe I was in the mood for sweetness without the bad news from the sweets in the candy counter or bakery aisle.

That dinner was a great way to cap off a great workout. After worked I got my youngest off the couch to join me for C25K-Week1/Day2. The 93F heat was definitely a challenge. A slight breeze tried to take some sting out of the heavy air but to little avail.

Cameron is a soccer player in high school so you would expect him to look at this workout as a walk in the park. But it was quite the opposite for him. He has become quite out of shape since the end of soccer season his freshman year. Even though he hit his final growth spurt over the past six-months, oh how we hope it is his final spurt; his appetite spurted as well and not with a desire for healthy eats.

Thus he struggled to make it through the 60 second jogging segments and his walking segments were quite slow. He knew it, and wasn't happy about it. Soccer tryouts are in a couple of weeks and the start of his sophomore year  five weeks away; yes summer break has begun its descent for landing.

Myself, I got through D2 much better than D1. A day of good eating and anticipation of the workout helped that progression occur. Later this week I will get Day3  in and conclude the trio of workouts that make up a week. Hopefully I can grab Cameron for another workout; doubt he shares that same hope.

Got any recent successful grilling experiences to share?

What about exercise experiences?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 453-456: Lets Talk EEYORE, Shall We

This weekend sure seemed like it took a long long time to get here. Odd because I was so stinking busy with work and getting kids to and from places thsi week that I would have thought the week would have flown by. No doubt the power-outage we endured at the beginning of the week messed up our timing and left us playing catch up the rest of the week.

Our power came back on Tuesday afternoon. In all for us it was out for 30 hours. Total cost to me was $30-40 of dairy products, lunchmeat. No big deal. Some of that I probably could have saved but just to be safe I pitched it.

When I opened the freezers after the power resumed, they were still frozen solid. You really must avoid opening these during an outage. Let just a little warm air in there and the time to defrost drops faster than the weight of a recruit in boot camp. Get this... some 30,000 people not far from us, still do not have power! Thats 5days and an since the power went dark on them; yikes!

Since returning from Hawaii I have not been able to get my mind back into doing the things I need to do. Not sure why, guess I have mentally still been on vacation. Cardio particularly has not been something I've been able to get going again.

In effort to kick start my Cardio Caboose again I have decided to go through the nine-week C25K program. Even though much of it I can do when I get out there and do cardio, I feel right now I need some structured help to get back to where I want to be with my fitness. So this morning I went out there and did the first week one workout. If you don't know what C25K is, google it, I used this link.

The walk/jog combo ofthis workout felt good, and was just what I needed to be sure I accomplished a workout. So I will keep at this program until done if for no other reason to join the ranks of C25K veterans.

Lets talk EEYORE, shall we... last night was date night for my wife & I. A movie & dinner was on tap. A brief debate about which movie to go see took place. Allot of desire was there to go see Harry Potter 7 naturally. But since it was also opening day for Winnie The Pooh, or as I call it, The Eeyore Movie. The debate was short really, we wnt I saw Eeyore!

Eeyore also went to the mvoie with us. Up top you see him buckled in for the ride to the theatre. Since soda costs so much he brought his own to the show...

My wife wouldn't let him bring the pop into the theatre. Even worse, when we were watching the movie she took him from me and stuffed him in her purse! So he didn't even get to see the movie he starred in. I am thinking Academy Award for him by the way.

Have a great weekend; which you will if you go see the Eeyore Movie!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 404 - Leadership 199 / Trait 8 of 14: Integrity

Lived the words I've been sharing yesterday. Took initiative to make yesterday a great day and accomplished that. Early in the day I informed my son to be dressed to go to the YMCA after school, I picked him up and there we went. We decided to kick up the intensity a notch, something I could tell he wasn't sure of. Heck I was apprehensive too, but I knew I could leverage the power of my courage to get it done. In the end we endured a 60 minute session in the free weight room and then polished off the workout with 2 miles of walk/jog combo on the treadmill. Yesterday was an Oh Yeah day!

Onward we carry ourselves into a new day. With us we carry the lessons we've learned which we can revisit at will via these links...
Leadership 199 / Trait 7 of 14: Initiative
Leadership 199 / Trait 6 of 14: Enthusiasm
Leadership 199 / Trait 5 of 14: Endurance
Leadership 199 / Trait 4 of 14: Decisiveness
Leadership 199 / Trait 3 of 14: Courage
Leadership 199 / Trait 2 of 14: Bearing
Leadership 199 / Trait 1 of 14: Dependability

We're halfway through this series, which means we have lots of learning to do yet. Therefore, let us plunge into the power of our eighth trait…

Leadership 199 / Trait 8 of 14: Integrity

Defined: Uprightness of character and soundness of moral principles; includes the qualities of truthfulness and honesty.

Discovered: Let us start in on understanding this trait by visiting this definition backwards. Honesty, is something I will go out on a limb and proclaim that everyone acknowledges that honesty is a trait any leader must possess. No? I agree with my proclamation, I have to else I've been dishonest here; yet while I agree I will tell you now that honesty is not one of the 14 leadership traits.

What? How can that be you say? Look back up at the list above of the traits we've discussed thus far. Take a moment, I'll be right here when you scroll back down... I know, if only scrolling burned measurable calories. OK, having revisited those traits let us ask ourselves this question; Can any of those traits be successfully put into practice if we are not first honest with ourselves in choosing to lead with them?

Leadership is not something we can take on half-hearted. "Do or do not... there is no try", as Master Yoda would say. In short, if we are not honest in our endeavors, either with ourselves or with others, we will not succeed at them in the end.

Living with integrity is certainly dependent upon be honest. But integrity is not just about being honest.

Character, you don't have to know a person for very long to know whether there character is righteous or otherwise. Righteous meaning to be committed to doing what they believe to be right, right by themselves and others.  It is one thing to want what is right, another to do what is right. If our character is to do what is right, we are leading with integrity.

Morals, ah discussion/debate on morality sure can be a sticky-wicket. So lets limit our thought here to what it is about our morals that is essential to leading ourselves to success. To decide what we want to succeed at we first have to know what we want or who we want to be. Or more specifically, how do we want to live? If we can answer that question and come away with an answer gives us a clear picture of how we want to look and why, how we want to conduct yourself and why; we then know where our morals should be set to lead with integrity and succeed.

Da-Point: If we are honest, if we believe our mission to be right and are willing stand up for it's purpose; then we are leading with integrity.

When did you last take time to truly know your character, your moral code?

 
Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 403 - Leadership 199 / Trait 7 of 14: Initiative

I sincerely hope all are brimming with enthusiasm after yesterdays post. My engine was stoked red hot from the moment I hit the 'publish-post' button until I hit the bed last night. In between I knocked out a great day at work and got in 4.1 miles of walking cardio.

Lets get another great day off the ground with another leadership trait. Links to those we've covered thus far...
Leadership 199 / Trait 6 of 14: Enthusiasm
Leadership 199 / Trait 5 of 14: Endurance
Leadership 199 / Trait 4 of 14: Decisiveness
Leadership 199 / Trait 3 of 14: Courage
Leadership 199 / Trait 2 of 14: Bearing
Leadership 199 / Trait 1 of 14: Dependability

Our seventh trait…

Leadership 199 / Trait 7 of 14: Initiative

Defined: Taking action in the absence of orders.

Discovered: The word that sticks out like a sore thumb in that definition is "orders". Seems a bit strong in reference to getting healthy, losing weight, as nobody is ever there truly ordering us to do what needs doing. Yet, we receive help, encouragement, validation from others for our intentions and efforts. Some of that input we seek, some comes uninvited.

The context we need to apply to the word "orders" here is this; orders are nothing more than our plan to get healthy. However we've decided to do it, e.g. weight watchers, px90, canned physician/nutritionist program, surgery, sacrificing the neighbors pet to the goddess of six-pack abs; whatever it is our plan is the orders we've chosen to follow.

While "orders" sticks out like a sore thumb, it is the word "absence" that we need to notice.

We have our plan, we have all of that input from others, we have opportunity and the means to seize it all around us. The only thing that is absent now, is our taking action. We will only seize that which we want if WE take action...
if WE take those inputs from others we depend on and take action to filter them for what will help/work for us...
if WE believe in our plan so much that we enthusiastically put it into action...
if WE respect fear, embrace courage, and dare to take action to achieve victory...
if WE take "action"; while "orders" sticks out like a sore thumb, and "absence" needs to be noticed, "action" needs to be our result.

At the start, middle, and beginning of each day, it is up to US to take action, or choose inaction. No matter how loud our plan, our inputs, our opportunities, NO MATTER how loud they scream at us to get up and take action; it is YOU/I that must take the initiative to take action to make this day a better day than yesterday. This week better than last week, month, year, etc. until we have achieved our goals. Then we can take a celebratory breath before we seek new goals to act upon.

Da-Point: Achieving what you want starts and ends with you taking action to get it.

I said this on twitter yesterday, I am sure someone else authored it but I do not know who to give credit to; "We get old too fast and get smart too late in life; use each day to feel young & grow wise"

Initiative, what are we waiting for?

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 378-380: Reveille Weekend Success

Great News, I received the OK to return to full activity from all surgeons, doctors and even my guardian Eeyore gave his OK. Excellent, no time to waste!...

With the weekend here I got busy getting the heart rate and sweat pumping once again. So Saturday morning my wife, one son & I headed off to the YMCA. My wife got her workout on in the swimming pool as usual; a fish she is. Andrew & I hit the weights, above you see him working the lat-pulldowns which seemed like a fine machine to get started on.

Below is the rest of our routine that day...

Rowing

 Iso-Pulldowns

 Assisted Pull Ups

 Calf Press

 Tricep Presses

 Leg Press

 Horizontal Chest Press

 Incline Sit Ups

It felt great to get back in the gym. There were a few other exercises we did which I forgot to take photos of, e.g.squats, flys; we got in good variety in the hour we were there.

Sore, sore was the word of the day for the rest of my weekend. Amazing how muscle-memory works, it was like I hadn't skipped much of a beat. I felt a bit awkward on some of the exercises, felt a tad weak on triceps; but otherwise I was owning the steel.

Sore or not on Sunday, it was time to get in some more. I was determine to make this my Reveille Weekend and awaken from the stagnant slumber that I had been in for too long. Sunday, cardio! My wife was not feeling good so she didn't join as as she wanted to. Andrew & I got after it at the Rollins Savannah...

Last year I put in some great efforts here and put up a streak of personal records here as well. My best time last year on this 3.6 mile loop was 54:49 minutes. We set out with the idea of getting as close to it as possible. No way was achieving that time going to happen this day; No Way! I hadn't put in any consistent cardio in April, I still haven't shed that 10 pound regain from the winter, and my sore muscles weren't feeling extraordinary effort within them.

Never Say Never!

We smashed that PR in a big way.

I came in at 52:04 minutes...

Andrew at 51:35 minutes.

I feel an Oh Yeah!

Did you feel any Oh Yeah's this weekend/recently?

Final thought: We have Never Forgot 9/11 and those murdered, maimed and devastated. The news of OBL's termination is reason for pride swell and affirmation in our determination for justice; but it is not reason to now forget. The cause continues, sadly in the throws of war. Never Forget means just that; NEVER FORGET!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 358-360: Just Stuff U Wanna Read

Hope all had a fantastic weekend!. I did; highlights:
Wife bought me a new LaZBoy chair to replace the LaZBoy she bought some 11 years ago.
Dinner with my wife & mother at Bonefish Grill.
Watching (on TV) Matt Kenseth win the NASCAR race in Texas.
Watching the Blackhawks secure a playoff spot even though they lost their final game of the season.
Getting in an outdoor walk with my wife.
Going to the DMV on a Saturday morning, wait; that was NOT a highlight!

Yeah, I know it is Tuesday and that weekend well wish may be a day late. Took Sunday off from blogging and yesterday just too busy to get here. Almost made the time but just couldn't get the quality 10-15 minutes needed to write a post.

Question: How long does it take you to write your typical blog post? I know some can bust their typical post out in 5 minutes, others need an hour or more. Myself, 10-15 usually.

So the picture there to the top/left, what do you think that is? No, this is not a picture riddle. Has been a while since I've posted one of those, about time for another; soon I promise. But as I added in those two red circles to this cell phone photo of mine I wondered just what others might think I am highlighting...

A. That I started to draw a pair of googly-eyes and forget to finish?
B. My way of reminding myself that if I want to look so far away I need to remember to wear my glasses?
C. Using these circles meant to highlight something else?
D. Other?

My guess is more of you have D thoughts and if so please do share. While it is true both B & C apply here, C is what my intent is. As for A, I rarely draw googly-eyes but when I do, I am the Picasso or googly-eyes; just another of my many unknown talents now made public.

So the something else I am highlighting for you here is a pair of deer. The walk my gorgeous wife & I went on this past Sunday was at the Rollins Savanna, a place I have blogged about often. We just did the 2-mile segment versus the 3.6 mile full loop. Weather was amazing, it was this amazing...

Friday it was 50F'something, Monday 60F'something; great days sandwiching an awesome 84F Sunday. A freak temp spike for April for sure, not complaining for certain.

OK, back to the red circles, sorry had a momentary bout of bloggers ADD, aka as BADD. As I said there are deer in them circles, see them? No, of course you don't, neither do I. This photo was taken while my amazing wife & I were on that walk. I used my trusty Blackberry to snap that shot knowing full well it was futile. OK, it was an excuse to stop walking for a minute and look at lunch, I mean at the deer.

Trust me, there is a deer in each of those circles. I could see them clearly with my naked-eye, and not at all with the Blackberry camera; doesn't say much for Blackberry does it?

Gas prices continue to rise around here. Hard to find the cheap stuff under $4 now. Saw one yesterday that was $3.97, this however seems to be the norm north of Chicago & Cook County...

Last week John shared with me his horror of when he landed at Chicago's Midway airport and was shocked to see 4.29 for regular unleaded... ugh, soon that will make its way north to my pump I am afraid. Forgetting about gas, let me talk about John. Not that he has gas, not uncool correlation intended there. Rather let it be know John is way cool and you would be way cooler if you followed him. My opinion, for what it's worth. What is it worth by the way?

HAVE FUN!

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!!