Couldn't bring myself to do it

So today is the last day of January, and in a blog a while back about weight loss I said I would need an extension on 1/1/100....maybe to the end of January. Well it is here now and I can't bring myself to step on that damn scale. I'm scared of what it is going to say! I know it is not going to read 100 pounds lost, but I feel like it will say 85 pounds lost. Again. My sticking point. Everyone who has tried to lose weight has landed on a plateau from time to time, mine just seems to be like an incredibly LOOOOOOOONG plateau. I have tried to mix things up a little, I started lifting weights (light weight, high # reps) to try to boost my metabolism. And I have also added a bunch of those awful sit up things to my daily routine. I hate them. I hate them more than anything I think! Anyway, hopefully they will help out a little too. All I know is my muscles are all sore, pretty much from my head to my toes!

So I keep chugging along, I keep trying to break this 85 pound barrier. I'll keep you posted, in the mean time I need a new name for my weight loss project. 1/1/100 isn't working for me since I don't want to wait until January 2009 for that! And I don't want to keep changing the date like I did when I suggested 1/31/100, plus it lacks that panache. Any ideas? Something that incorporates 100 pounds, that's pretty much my only requirement. Hit me up with your suggestions!

Two pictures below I took today. They are of me in a pair of suit pants from the suit that I wore to my job interviews in Omaha and in Rochester. Pretty crazy huh?!?

Bathroom is coming along

We have all of the plumbing done, all of the ceiling work is done, the new light and fan are in, and the drywall patches have been made and all holes filled. Today is priming and painting everything, in hopes of starting to put tile up on Thursday or Friday. We might actually finish by early next week...but no promises. About 1000 different things will probably pop up and need to get fixed! I'll post some pictures when we are all done, that is if it looks good! Just kidding, it is going to look great!

Tic Tac Toe Trivia

I got this link in an e-mail, and it is actually pretty cool. If you have time, play a game of Tic Tac Tow Trivia. In order to place your X in a box you have to answer a trivia question, some of them are really good and some are really obscure. I got one that asked who was the manager of the baseball team with the worst record in 1985? Who the heck knows that? Anyway, de-stress a little bit while at work, or relax for a few if you are at home....and enjoy the game!

CLICK HERE FOR TIC TAC TOE TRIVIA GAME

Resolution

I realized that I never gave a final chapter to the water heater saga! I bet you are all thrilled to finally have conclusion to this riveting tale. The water heater continued to deteriorate to the point where I was turning the thermostat up nearly every day and the water was getting cooler and cooler every day. It was also spurting water each time we would take a shower! I think it was really close to completely failing. So as I began to plan a replacement, I received two pieces of GREAT news. The first piece of good news was that Bridget's parents and sister were coming to SLC for a ski vacation, and Tom offered to help install a new heater on his vacation. What a huge help he was, he even let me do a lot of the work (which I wanted) and now I think I could install one on my own in a pinch. The second piece of good news was that Bridget's Grandma Tine read about our saga on the old blog and offered to buy us the water heater! What a gift! That part was truly amazing!!

So a few days before my help arrived I went shopping. I found an energy efficient model at Sears that was a little more than the less efficient ones at Lowes and Home Depot, but it also came with a 12 year warranty which is pretty good in the water heater world. So I bought it and managed to cram it into the back of Bridget's VW Jetta (with the back seats folded down) and got it down in the basement with out killing myself or breaking the heater! When it came to the install it was pretty simple actually, take out the old one and plug in the new one. We did replace an older copper line with a new braided steel hose, and I got to do a little soldiering on that one! Fun with tools, yeah! And there was some drama on if we were actually going to be able to get it past this big support beam, we talked about lifting it up and over some pipes...one of us even contemplated knocking a hole in the drywall to get the new one in. But it didn't come to that, it was a tight squeeze...but we got it in there no deconstruction or disassembly required.

And now we have plenty of hot water, no leaks, energy efficiency, and some much needed experience! Thanks to Tom and Melissa for all of their hard work, and a special big thanks to Grandma Tine!

Project 1/1/100

Ok, so here it is...gonna lay it all on the line here. I'm stuck! I have not gained any weight this month, but I have not lost any either. I think if you look at the bottom of the blog you'll see that I have been working out like a madman, and I feel that my diet has been pretty good (although not as good as say August through November). But still no weight loss. The interesting part is that all of the jeans I bought in November are starting to get to be too big, and my belt is on the smallest hole already. My theory is that I am converting fat and gaining muscle. It's an optimistic thought anyway. This could also be a sign that I need to mix things up a bit. So I think I am going to start lifting weights 3 times a week. I think this will do a couple of things, it will give my legs a much needed rest, spice up my daily routine, add much needed strength to my pudgy core, and it might keep me from going postal on the treadmill or elliptical machine! I am comfortable at my current weight, which would be 85 pounds lost. I think if I lose more weight it is going to be very gradual weight loss, no more 3 or 4 pound weeks. But I am not going to stop trying, this is definitely not the end of Project 1/1/100!

Funny Picture

Speaking of pictures, my dad sent this to me yesterday. Here I am just a few months before my 16th birthday. We figured I was a freshman in high school, that was the year I went to Bishop Machebeuf Catholic High School in Denver. The time stamp on the photo is 9/10/93:

What's going on

I feel like I am slipping a little bit on my other website. We are smack dab in the middle of our bathroom renovation, and have been turning down photo ops in order to stay home and work. Then yesterday I went to my site and saw that the last update I had was 12/29/07! I have not even published anything in 2008! I am such a slacker. Plus there is so much to see, like Sydney's super new hair style (I was informed that girls don't get hair cuts, they get their hair styled). Perhaps I will take the camera to Sydney's dance class today, and maybe get some pictures of Aiden boy in the daycare. I just wanted everybody to know that I am thinking about it, haven't forgotten, just been busy and who really wants a ton of pictures of the kids in the living room? We want action shots!

Triathlon Tuesday

Perhaps I was inspired by my recent triathlon purchases, or feeling guilty because I hadn't killed myself on a workout in a while. Whatever the rationale, I decided to do a triathlon today. Here are the results:

Swim - 1500 yards - 25:20
Bike - 20 miles - 57:06
Run - 6 miles - 54:14

Not too shabby, huh? I was most impressed with that run time. After all of that fatiguing exercise I still managed to not only cover 6 miles but in 9 minutes per mile. I think those distances are pretty comparable to an olympic distance triathlon, although there is some variation from course to course.

I had plans to do some more work on our bathroom renovation today, but the thought of manual labor at this point and time sounds about as appealing as slamming my finger in a sliding glass door about 100 times. I don't think so!

All Triathloned up

I have registered for my triathlons for the summer! I am super excited, I have 3 sprint distances, 1 Olympic distance, and 1 half iron man! Here is the race schedule in case you want to come watch me race or help Bridget wrangle the kiddos.

• Icebreaker - March 29th - Sprint distance - 300 Meters, 12 mile bike, 5K
  
• Shark Attack - May 31st - Sprint distance - 400 Yards, 12 mile bike, 5K
• Salem - June 7 - Sprint distance - swim 800 yards, bike 12 miles, run 5K
• Utah Half - Aug 9 - Half Ironman - Swim 1.2 miles, Bike 56 miles, Run 13.1 miles
• Yuba - Sept 13 - Olympic distance - Swim 1 mile, bike 25 miles, 10K

I might try to squeeze an Olympic distance in there in July. Pretty exciting, huh?!

Finding a little Solitude

We went boarding again today, Melissa, Bridget and I went to Solitude resort. While it was a wee bit chilly, the powder was amazing. In fact, on our last runs of the day we were still blazing fresh tracks! We did have to search a bit harder, but it was there to be found. We really had a great time, even with one CLOSE call. Before this run of boarding trips I told Bridget we should get some helmets....I said my melon can get damaged, but we need hers for the rest of forever. She disagreed and said both of our heads were equally important. Anyway, on the next to last run of the day while we were snarfing up some awesome powder, Bridget lost her edge and biffed it into a tree (she was partially trying to avoid me after I face planted....again). She slid backwards and conker her head on an aspen tree. She was a bit stunned, but thankful she had the helmet on. The best part about being a doctor is that you can check your own pupils in search of a concussion! None was found, but a few Advil were taken for the headache. Other than that, it was a really great day!

Your name is so cool!

After the movie we went to the ice cream shop next to the theater and the girl behind the counter saw my name on my credit card and said "your name is Chris Brown, that is so cool." I was kind of confused and just sort of laughed it off. When we sat down to eat our yummy ice cream we were talking about it and figured she was referring to the rapper named Chris Brown. Before we left we had to buy some ice cream to take home to our babysitters, and the same girl rang us up again. I asked her why she thought my name was cool, and yep it was because of the rapper. I told her that I Googled myself once and one of the first results said "Chris Brown is so fine!" so I naturally clicked on that one and low and behold it was about this rapper guy. So I decided I needed to learn one of his lyrics, so in the event that this situation arises again I'll have something clever to say. His biggest hit is "Run It" so I think that is the way to go...UNFORTUNATELY I had the common sense to look up "Run It" on UrbanDictionary.com and was less than thrilled with the results:

run it:
	To follow through with your actions or perform sexual act In Chris Brown's song..."Let me see if you can run it

I think I need to keep looking for a snappy comeback, and the fact that I just used the term snappy comeback means I am not cool enough to use it!

Juno what I am saying

Bridget and I got a date last night! It was super fun, and Melissa and Karen watched the kiddos for us. So we went to The Outback for dinner, it was good. We had the same waiter we had last time we were there, he was a bit of a goof. Anyway, after that we went to a movie. We had about an hour to kill before hand so we played some games in the movie theater lobby. I worked Bridget over on the air hockey table, I won 7-0 the first game. And then we played a few games of pinball. Then, alas, it was time for our movie. We chose Juno, and it was great. It was greater than great, we would highly recommend it! I don't even want to give away any of the plot it was so good. It is one of those movies that we saw in theaters and will rent when it comes out on video...it was that good. See it, you'll like it.

USAT

Yesterday I made a big leap, I registered myself with the USA Triathlon association. They sanction a large percentage of the triathlons across the country, so if you want to race in them you either need to be a member or buy a day pass....Usually about $10 a pop. The annual membership was only $40 so I'll come out ahead if I can get to my 5 race goal.

While I did that I also registered for the Icebreaker Triathlon at the end of March. I figured I'd sign up early as the Utah triathlons tend to fill up really quickly and I didn't want to miss this one. I did it last year and it was a really nice race. The pool is a 50 meter pool, as opposed to the 25 yard pool that I train in. So those walls seem like they are forever apart. The bike as 1 tough hill, but a big downhill on the home stretch. And the run goes 1/2 way up the aforementioned big hill and finishes on a downhill as well. I am hoping to blow last years time out of the water, and since I have been training for triathlons that are double this ones distance I am hopeful!

I'll keep you posted!

Boarding in Brighton

Yesterday we went skiing/boarding at Brighton ski resort, it was awesome! I had an unbelievable day, I couldn't believe the difference between my boarding now and my boarding of a few years ago. I felt like the energizer bunny yesterday I could go from the top of the run all the way to the bottom without stopping. I used to need to take little rest breaks 2 or 3 times per run, but man not yesterday! The conditions were awesome, there was some fresh powder and let me just tell you that skiing in Utah on a Sunday morning is a glorious thing. We arrived about 10 minutes before the lifts opened and we parked directly in front of the lodge in the second row! We walked to the lift and were making fresh powder tracks until nearly lunchtime! It was great!

Lost in Lost

Well it's official....Bridget and I are nuts! We finished watching season 3 of Lost last night on DVD. We watched the final 3 episodes, and the night before we watched 4 episodes, 2 the night before that and 2 the night before that. We watched 3 DVD's with 4 episodes each over the weekend. And believe it or not, that is showing restraint! But now our big dilemma arises, season 4 of Lost begins January 31st and now that we are all caught up do we watch it "live" or wait till the DVD's come out in 2 years? We have never watched the original airings of the show, always waited for the DVD's, but we were behind from the get go (as in watching season 1 while season 2 was being aired on TV)...now we are all up to date. And at $3.50 per DVD times 6 DVD's in a season we might actually save some money. I can't convince Bridget of this though, she wants to wait or have somebody record it for us. I want to tune in each week? Hmmmm, what should we do?

Swim little fishy swim!

I swam today. It felt like it had been a really long time since I had been in the pool, even though it had only been a week. I have been using the website www.swimplan.com to get my workouts, I highly recommend it to any swimmer out there from novice to expert. The part I like best is that you enter in data like times for certain distances or strokes per 25, and it tailors swim workouts to help you get faster or more efficient. I have seen my strokes per 25 cut nearly in half and my times are really picking up. And of course they mix in a wide variety of drills, and you can tell it to do different strokes too. I only swim freestyle cause that's all I want to be good at for the triathlon stuff.

Speaking of triathlons, I have already began scouting out events for 2008. I would like to do at least 5 races, but at around $60 to $90 (with wet suit rental) they get a little pricey. This season I would also like to try my first open water swim! We'll see!

Here is my initial list of triathlons:

• Ice Breaker Triathlon - March 29th - Favorite race of last year, want to do it again.

• Shark Attack Triathlon - May 31st - Did it last year, lots of fun with the camping overnight.

• Viking Man 1/2 iron man - June 7th - I'd REALLY like to do this one 1.2 mile swim/56 mile bike/13.1 mile run. Would be awesome, but it is in Idaho 190 miles from home.

• Jordanelle Triathlon - August 23rd - Pretty much the largest tri in Utah

I think there is at least one more big race that I would like to do...I just can't remember the name of it. And of course there is the West Valley City Triathlon which is held at the pool I swim in and around the city I live in. I feel sort of obligated to compete in it cause it is my "home turf", but I have never seen such a disorganized mess of a race before. Maybe 2008 will be better though.

What, Parents setting rules and boundries?

I saw this article in the paper today and I just thought it was great so I had to share in case you missed it. It is about a mom who sold her sons car because she found a bottle of booze in the car. The best part was the ad:

OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.

That is great, isn't it! She did say that she believed her sons excuse that it was left by a passenger. Still he broke one of the 2 rules they had agreed on for his car - 1. No Booze and 2. Always lock it.

She gets my applause for the day!

Not much going on

I can't seem to get excited about blogging today. I don't have anything new, interesting, or exciting to write about. Pretty much the same old, went to the rec center and now we are home eating lunch and watching cartoons. Bridget is at work, but that's about it. We went to look at a pedestal sink that we found in the classifieds, but the guy selling it stood us up! His price is pretty cheap, so we might give him another chance. We are planning to put it in our upstairs bathroom, which is getting a makeover....we think. I checked the hot water heater today and found a small puddle of water near it, and I found the manufactured date - 1985! I wish it would last another 18 months but I worry that the people that bought our house would probably be a little leery of a 23 year old hot water heater. So I don't want to spend our money on the new bathroom stuff if the hot water heater is really dieing. We'll see I guess, I turned the heat up on it today which is what caused the issues last time so we'll see if that is the straw that will brake the camels back, the past 2 days it wasn't supplying enough hot water for Bridget or me to finish a normal shower.

7 Years ago....

I know Bridget's family members are my primary readers, but I can assure you I would be writing this regardless of who was reading it. Seven years ago today I made the best decision of all time, I married Bridget. Not only are we a match made in heaven, or as my father says "you two deserve each other", but we are still just as happy today as we were 2555 days ago. My kids and my wife are really my passion in life and I wouldn't change a thing about any of them. If they say you are defined by the choices that you make in this life, then let my record show that my family ranks #1 and I wouldn't change a thing! I hope that Bridget and I live until we are 100 and we are the cute old couple that they push down the hall in our wheel chairs while we hold hands.

Bridget and I were talking about our very first encounter. My friend Nick introduced us at a swim meet, I was in the stands and Bridget was standing on the deck. Bridget asked Nick if he has seen his girlfriend, he said no and "have you met Chris?" We said hi and that was it. So the amazing part was 2 or 3 days later I asked Nick about the girl from the swim meet. Now, I'm not a big believer in fate or destiny, but how else could it be explained? I don't know how Cupids arrows work, but I'm thankful that they found us on that chance encounter. I love Bridget more and more by the day, no ulterior motives...not trying to score any points or earn any credits....just the honest truth. Man oh man, I am a lucky boy and that is one thing I never take for granted!

Dog sitting the worlds dumbest dog

We are currently dog sitting the worlds dumbest dog, thank goodness he goes to another dog sitter tonight cause I think I might just kill him. His name is Rowan, and he is a big fat lab. He weighs 110 pounds, 5 more pounds than Buddha weighed at his last visit. So Rowan enjoys eating the kids toys. He also enjoys eating their DIRTY diapers! He knocks over the trash and eats it. He is constantly trying to hump poor Buddha. And every time you open the door he runs out, he is very sneaky. Even when I am prepared for it he somehow sneaks out. Then he won't come back in. And oh my gosh he barks incessantly when he is outside, non stop. Then when you call him to come inside he stands 5 feet from the door and wags his tail. You can call him every name in the book and he stands there with that same stupid look on his face. So today he ran out of the front door and wouldn't come back in. I eventually lured him back with his treats and then when I grabbed his collar I dragged him inside and put his treats on the table and told him he was a bad dog ( I didn't give him a treat either, cause I'm a meany). He got the last laugh as he took the package of treats off of the table while we were out and ate all of the treats! Then he polished it off with some nice dirty diapers which he spread all over the living room floor.

I suppose it is all somehow payback for all of the antics Buddha has cause to our dog sitters. I've heard that he destroyed a potted plant at one house, escaped and ran all over Loveland while we were on our honeymoon, created a Buddha sized hole in Melissa's basement bathroom drywall, scratched up the shag carpet in Bridget's old room in Broomfield. Most recently he attacked a dog while our dog sitter was on a hike with him over Christmas. The lady watching him had taken him off of the leash, so that one was partly her fault since he had specific instructions that included always keep him on a leash for walks.

Anyway, good bye and good riddance Rowan!

UPDATE: Here is a copy of the text message I just sent Bridget at work. I meant every word of it too!

Get this idiot retard dog out of my house NOW! He just escaped out of the backyard somehow and I had to chase his dumbass all around cause he wouldn't come to me. I hate this dog, he is surely sent to us straight from hell!

Banned from buffet

So Bridget banned my access to Buffets about 2 years ago. She will throw a fit if I even suggest we go to a buffet for lunch or dinner. I think that is why I got such a kick out of this article. It is funny on so many levels!

• The waitresses comment "She says, 'Y'all fat, and y'all eat too much,'" I especially like the overuse of y'all, real classy!
• When the guy complains that when seafood on the buffet line runs out, the restaurant only grudgingly cooks more.
• The fact the 2 guys were charged an extra $10 each because they made a habit of dining exclusively on the more expensive seafood dishes, including crab legs and frog legs. Mmmmm, y'all thems is yummy!
• I also liked it when the guy says "I ain't that fat, I only weigh 277"

The whole thing really cracks me up, I chuckled at pretty every set of direct quotes.

New Blog Feature

Down at the Bottom of the page I've added my exercise tracker. After each workout I'll add to my totals. It could either be really cool to see how much time I workout, or really disappointing when I find out it isn't as much as I thought it was!

Enjoy!

Last Fantasy Football post....maybe

Just wanted to share this short video of the trophy for The Best Damn League Ever that I made. I thought it was pretty cool. So I just wanted to share!

Excuses, Excuses

So I could rattle off 100 excuses for ya, but I'll spare you....I didn't make my goal (Project 1/1/100). While I am disappointed, I am not discouraged and I'm not giving up. In fact it is the exact opposite, I am more motivated than ever! Deep down inside I know that there is nothing to hang my head about. I have lost a lot of weight in the past year, now I want to keep it up and keep it off.

I do however think I am not going to set a time line. Doing that does seem to add a lot of pressure, and if I miss the mark I end up feeling like I do today....that is, I know I did a great job, but I feel like I failed. So I'll keep you posted, I'll announce my goal weight when I get there. Hopefully, that won't be too long...cause I'm not that far off!