Week 4

When I think about the year as percentage complete, it feels like the year is going by quickly. But I guess it's not really. The good thing is that I'm on track with just about everything except a little behind in the jumping jacks and walking. With snow today and temperatures all month under 40, it's been difficult getting much walking in. As I think of it, I'm additional things I want to do this year. I will have the jumping jacks caught up by the next report. I'm also having trouble getting to bed by 11.

Darn It All

Birthday Party. Cake and Ice Cream and there was candy on the cake. And lunch out because I had to run errands. Must exercise much this weekend.

Week 3

I wonder if I was too ambitious in some of my goals. We're almost 6% of the year already. Wow.

We tried a new restaurant recently, called "Oh Ryan" in Auburn. Diner-style. We had some big breakfasts. Was a little pricey, but there was lots of food.

I'm ahead on book reading, it should be interesting to see how many I do end up reading this year. I'm looking forward to the summer months when I can sit on the back porch and read.

And I'm ahead on most of my exercising. I'm lagging in walking, but that will improve as well when the weather gets better. It's supposed to remain below 40 all day tomorrow. That's rough considering I usually don't walk when it's under 40. Supposedly it's 34 outside, but that it feels more like mid-to-low 20s. My weight loss has also mostly disappeared. It'll pick up. I have been better, but I think it was the past few days of not exercising much that kind of hurt. Going back to work tomorrow will put out of reach of all of the crackers in the pantry here that I grazed on all weekend.

Week 2

I've backslid a little on the weight loss. Though perhaps losing 3 pounds in the first week isn't really legit. It did happen. But some of it came back. My biggest weakness is the stupid candy jar that Mike has on his desk. I'm not doing so well at staying out of it.

I am ahead on most of my exercise, which is good. I need to do more walking, but it's been a challenge. First, it's been under 40 in the mornings. My rule is to only walk when it's over 40, but today I forgot to check my car's thermometer and did walk, but I'm pretty sure it was under 40. Very cold. At lunch I was a little rushed and it was pouring like crazy. I pushed on for three laps, but if less rushed and if less rainy, I could have done more. And I was very late leaving today so spent no time walking after work.

A number of my goals are still zero, but they're the kind that even hitting them once or twice and they'll be way ahead of the game.

Week 1

Well, one week down. 2.19% of the year already gone.

It's not been an easy week. Cold weather has made walking difficult. As the weather warms, I should be able to make better progress towards the walking goal. Some things will only need to be done once or twice and suddenly I'm at 100%. I wish I knew more Javascript and could do a better job with the charts. I've finished two books already this year. They were both fiction pieces I could blow through pretty quickly which puts me ahead of the curve on that. I've just started The Dip by Seth Godin.

I'm also a little ahead on jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups. It says I'm ahead of the game on weight loss, but not sure how reasonable that is, I've been doing poorly lately. Again, with better weather will come more walking which will help. I may revise the goal to lose even more. We shall see.

Wasted Evening

I'm a little grumpy with Google tonight. See the really lame stats to the right under "Progress"? I was trying to do some cool bar graphs. However, I could not get them to work... until I found Google Charts. Very neat and easy to use. However, not compatible with Blogger. Not sure why. Blogger is trying to help, or prevent you from doing certain things in Javascript. And therefore the charts (or pretty much anything with an equal sign in it) doesn't really work as expected. Very frustrating. I figure I probably wasted two hours tonight that I could have been doing other stuff.

Anyhow, got extra sleep last night but still felt tired and disagreeable today.

At least I've moved the needle off of most categories, even if I'm not yet able to show a needle. Hopefully I'll figure something out.

It Was Worse Than We Thought

Wow... On one hand, it wasn't entirely surprising, on the other, quite disappointing. My weight this morning was up to 182. That means 11 months to lose 22 pounds -- 2 pounds a month. Not a large amount, but still.

I did get some great exercise in and ate more sensibly today.

The countdown begins

366 days
8,784 hours
527,040 minutes
31,622,400 seconds

Well, another year is upon us. In a more cyclical view, what's the big deal? Yesterday night, 11:59:59 came and went and then midnight, a new day. But in our linear view of things, another year has come to a close, and a new one lays before us. For the briefest of moments, newness.

What will transpire in this short amount of time? I expect to greet a new life, the second human who gets to address me by the special title "Daddy." I hope I will draw closer to God and my family. There will be times of pure, absolute joy. And surely, some periods of tragedy, sorrow and pain as well. I won't pray that they pass me by, but that I am sustained through them. I will be thinner, healthier and hopefully on a little better financial footing.

And so this, a special blog. I intend to keep it for only a year, and then be done with it. A year from now, God-willing, I'll be back here again saying "Wow, 2008. What a year that was."