It's go time...

It's go time.

I'm tired...

Of my clothes being tight.
Of being overweight.
Of being out of shape.
Of being tired.

It's time to get back to things I like to do.  Mountain biking, fishing, being outside.

It's time to get back in line.  Kid #1 on the way, so it's time to get right before he/she comes into the world.

It's go time.

Well, here I am again

Well, I'm back in whatever cycle I was a while ago.  I had a so-so starting week of P90X, lost of people leaving at my work, did horrible out on the disc golf course Saturday, had an 'off' night last night, and an atrocious football game to cap it off.

Regardless, I need to try and mix it up.  One of those things being blogging more, just to get my thoughts out.  I'll probably be making this blog for selected readers only, so if you want to stay on the list, just shoot me an email.

"So get started. Right freaking now."

So where did this quote come from?  I stumbled across it from a retweet on someone I follow.  Here's the blog post.

Am I looking to change the world?  Become a superstar, inspiring millions of people?  Have some incredible blog that has tons of followers?  Not exactly.  Babysteps, young grasshoppa.

Just a little under six weeks until my wedding in Key West. It was time to get shit straight.  It actually started this morning before I found the article.  Finally got my ass out of bed after a two week hiatus and did my P90X for the day.  Even little stuff was bugging me... letting a thing of strawberries go bad because I wasn't working out and making my shakes in the morning.  Wasting a half gallon of milk for the same reason.  Being lazy and having to throw away leftovers because I decided fast food was just easier.

Something bad happens in my sleep.  I read these great articles on just about anything.  SharePoint (my work), SQL (I don't do much of it, but Brent Ozar is a cool dude), exercise (Tony Horton has a good page here and here that I started reading), etc.  I get all inspired... pumped up to fire off an hour of P90X the next morning... and then I go to sleep.  The alarm goes off and holy hell, where did all of that inspiration go?

Maybe this is all about me being a night owl.  I've never liked the mornings.  Stay up until 12 or 1 in the morning and get up around 9 has been much more my style.  Maybe I should switch up working out in the evenings.  That might be the plan for P90X round two.  Right now I'm getting solid on this morning routine, so I gotta stick with it.

I had one stumble yesterday.  I was so ridiculously sore, I could barely turn over in bed to turn off the alarm.  It just wasn't going to happen.  So I made up the workout this morning and I have Yoga on Fridays, to that'll be happening tonight.  Not sure if two workouts in one day is good, but Yoga is a lower impact so we'll see how it goes...

Where'd my motivation go?

I'm not even sure where to start on this one.  I've pretty much lost any shred of motivation for a few things, most notably working out and doing P90X.  The alarm goes off in the morning and it's snooze after snooze for a good 45 minutes.  Even getting home after work and by the time dinner is done it's 7pm or sometimes even 8.  There's always a constant battle with laundry, dishes, clutter around the house... more things I have no motivation for.  Maybe my feeling of lack of accomplishment at work is carrying over.  Who knows.

Hot damn

So P90X day two this morning... Plyometrics.  As if I wasn't sore enough from Day 1 I had to do Plyo.  I forgot how hard Plyo is... 'jump training' is pretty intense, especially right after rolling out of bed in the morning.  I ended up having to skip the last 10 minutes of it because I was smoked.  Onward to day 3 tomorrow!

P90X back in the house

So after having a crazy past couple of weeks, things have finally slowed down enough where I can get some decent sleep and get back on the P90X wagon.  Took some initial measurements so I can see where I'm at now and in 90 days see how far I have come.  I did this for a little over 30 days a while back, so I'm better prepared for what's in store.

Initial Measurements:
Weight: 221 lbs
Biceps: R - 14.5  L - 14
Chest: 44.25
Waist: 41.75
Hips: 43
Thighs: R - 22  L - 22.25
Calves: R - 15.25  L - 15

So now I'm all set to bring it every morning from now until June 13th!

What's new...

Some new things going on... been shopping for a new car for a little while now.  The Xterra is almost at 120k miles and is six years old.  We've been at a few dealerships, checking prices, incentives, trade values, etc.  So probably by the end of the week we'll figure out what we want to do.

P90X is starting back up again too.  Going to be doing some cooking tonight for the week and getting my butt to bed early so I can get going right away at 6am.  It's going to be an early day, but last time I was on P90X I just felt better all day long.  Eating better helps a lot, but I think the workout in the morning just got my blood flowing and I was just ready to rock and roll.  I'll have to get some before pictures along with measurements so I can really track my progress over the next 90 days.

For the first time in my life...

I'm really ready for Spring to get here.  There's so much to do with the house and the winter weather is really a buzz-kill for that.  It's time for some change.  I'm usually a big time winter guy, but it's different this year.

So that was a draft from the 7th that I never got around to finishing.  Still very true.  I'm ready for Spring to roll around.  And yet again, I'm posting more than a month after my last post.  Time to get back to doing this on a more regular basis.

So some changes coming up.  For starters, P90X is happening March 1st.  I was doing it and working on my 2nd month when I felt some pain in my chest and then it migrated to my back.  From what I was reading, it seemed to be some muscle or cartiledge problems.  That's all better now so I'm ready to rock and roll.  That and I need to get into shape before my wedding in Key West on June 30th.  I really don't want to have honeymoon pictures of fat me again.  So I figured if I started March 1st that would finish it up at the end of May, just in time for the big trip.
Another big change is we're giving up our rescue, LucyJo.  She's had some bad moments, especially around other dogs.  She doesn't get along with any other dogs we've introduced her to other than Cricket.  Since just about everyone we know has other dogs, we just can't see how it's going to work out in keeping her.  We're fostering her for a short time, but eventually, she's probably going to have to go back into a shelter.  As sad as that makes me, she really needs the right home for her... and I just don't think it's with us.

I think that's about all I got right now.  Might write a bit more if it strikes me.

Big weekend coming up... hopefully

Well, there's a ton of house projects that need to get done.  Where to start...

• Finish the living room floor and shoe moulding
• Renovate the bathrooms
• Hardwood in the dining room
• Remove wallpaper and paint the stairway
• Powerwash and seal/paint both decks
• Tile the kitchen
• New kitchen cabinets
• New HVACs
• Siding and paint the house
• etc, etc, etc

So this weekend I'm hoping to get the floor done in the living room and get things situated in the half bathroom so it can be worked on.  Not only that, but the Christmas decorations need to be packed up.  We'll see how it goes.  Maybe a picture or two to go with it.

Catching up again...

Well, time to catch up again.  Nothing really new to report, just the holidays have come and gone.  We had Christmas lights up on the front porch, had decorations in the house, put up a tree, and had a very busy Christmas day.  We started at our place in the AM with just us and the dogs.  Then we went over to the soon to be in-laws.  After all of that we ended up packing the dogs in the car and heading up north for a few days, which turned into a week.
So I got three big gifts this year... a dremel kit, compressor/nailer combo pack, and a big Lowes gift card.  So now I can finally get to a lot of those house projects I've been waiting to finish.  I'm very excited and can't wait to get some warm weather again so I can get to work in the mancave.
I think that's about it for now.  I'll try and update more frequently, but no promises!

Well..

Holy smokes it's been a while since I posted.  What's new...
Well, I changed teams and got a promotion at work.  Pretty cool stuff.  Now I'm doing SharePoint.  It's a new technology for me, but it's a huge opportunity.  I'm not sure quite which direction I want to take with it yet (as there are 6 or 7 different areas you could go into).  I'm leaning toward more of a SharePoint architect focus, but the company I work for is really going to need a jack-of-all-SharePoint.  So it's going to be fast and furious to get lots of knowledge so I can start making an impact right away.
Outside of work... we got a new dog.  She's a rescue and very sweet.  Her name is Lucy Jo and we're thinking she's a Beagle/Dachshund mix.  She's definitely more Beagle, but she has a long body and looks to have Dachshund eyes and snout. We've had some minor chewing incidents, but she's doing very well.  Her and the 'mouth of the south' Cricket are getting along very well and have started running around, wrestling, and playing with each other.  She does very well on car rides, which is good since my parents are about 6 hours away.  I'm very excited to see what happens when we get her out in the woods next to Bailey.

Catching up...

So some great news... finally sold my house in PA!  It was a long trip, but finally got it sold on Thursday.  I ended up staying with a friend for the weekend and caught up with a few more friends for my last trip to SE PA for a while.

It was great to catch up, but I think it was even better this time around to get rid of the last lingering piece of my bad history... and to get rid of that second mortgage.

Sick

So I'm sick.  The first time in about two years.  I loaded up on the OJ last night and got a decent night's sleep, so hopefully it will be out of my system soon.

Cool Voting Website

I found this the other week and thought it was pretty cool.  Helps you learn more about the candidates and how they relate to your values.

http://www.votesmart.org/

Back and on a break...

So I'm back in the blogging biz.  My old site decided to take a crap so I've given up on it.  I migrated some of my relevant posts over to here, but will be mainly starting from scratch.

Even though I'm back, I'm on a break... from P90X.  Last week after one of my workouts, I started with some back pain right on my shoulder blade.  Eventually it made it's way 'through' me and started making my chest hurt like a mofo.  It spread around to my ribs and that was about it.  I looked it up and with the combination of back and chest pain and the way it hurt when I moved or leaned a certain way, it seemed to be some rib issues.  Things have been getting better, but I'm still sore if I twist a certain way or lay on my side wrong.  I think I'm going to give P90X a break right now.  I've learned quite a bit and I think I'm going to start fresh in a couple of weeks... right from day one.

10.07.2010 - P90X Day 31

Well, I didn't get to Plyometrics last night like I wanted.  Ended up doing quite a bit around the house, cleaning up, laundry, etc.  This morning though... Back and Biceps, holy crap that was hard.  My arms felt like rubber after and I had a hard time even washing my hair.  I'm feeling better now, and not really sore.  Must be the chocolate milk wonderdrink that I have after every workout.

Need to get my chicken cooked up tonight and can't wait for my filet on Friday.  Had one last night and... delicious!  Now that I can have rice and some carbs, I think chicken and rice will be a big staple for the next couple of weeks.  I was surprised at how much a cup of rice really is.  Throw some chicken and broccoli in there and it's a great meal.

10.05.2010 - P90X Day 29

Well, I can tell that I didn't do a thing during my recovery week other than eat OK.  Started month two with Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.  Holy crap.  I got to the point where I couldn't do the last two sets of pushups.  My triceps hurt something fierce right now, but I know it's going to be worth it in the end.

Still sitting at about 12-13 pounds of weight loss and some noticeable changes in my body shape and look.  This month is going to be good and I'm hoping month three will be kick-ass.  Since I haven't done the Ab Ripper as part of my routine, I think I'm going to do that once I finish day 90.  Do three months off with Ab Ripper three or four times a week... see how I feel and maybe start another round to get ready for summer 2011.

So that's about it right now.  Still pretty shocked at myself that I have stuck with this for a month.  At this point, I've come this far, seen pretty good results, so I can't stop now, right?

10.06.2010 - P90X Day 30

Well, holy crap did yesterday whoop my ass.  I woke up this morning and my back was screaming.  So I decided to head into work a little early and do my workout tonight.

We'll see how it goes.  Plyometrics is hard to begin with, let alone with a sore back.

10.04.2010 - P90X Month Two

So month two starts for P90X tomorrow.  I did absolutely nothing over my 'recovery' week.  My back was pretty beat up and every morning I woke up with serious stiffness.  I figured I wouldn't risk hurting it more since it was only the recovery week and hit hard starting month two.

Just need to get my nutrition plan figured out for this week, do some grocery shopping, and get ready to bring it for another 8 weeks.

09.24.2010 - P90X Day 18

So Day 18... Yoga day.  Man that shit is tough.  I got out of bed a little late, so I only ended up putting in about 35 minutes worth.  Still, Yoga had me sweating.  Ended up weighing myself again and was down to 212.  I've been weighing myself the same time every morning to stay consistent.  So the tally is up to 13 pounds down in a little under 3 weeks.  I'm sure that will slow down here soon, because that's a lot to drop in such a short amount of time.  I did have quite a bit of excess to deal with, so it's good to see the weight go.  I'm also able to do more reps, which means I'm getting more fit as well.  It's all coming together pretty much as planned, which is good.