Weight Loss

As several of you may have seen, via my Facebook post, Ryan Davis died a couple of months ago. There's no reason any of you should know him, he was a 'web personality' at one of my favorite Video Game websites. He was a riot to listen to and a great writer. He died five days after he got married. He was also fat. You can find pictures if you want, but let's not beat around the bush here; there's not a whole lot of guessing about what killed him. After I read about Ryan dying, I walked into the bathroom and weighed myself. I was 236 pounds. That might be the most I've ever weighed. It was right after the 4^th of July weekend, so it may have been a little skewed by recent munchitude, but 236 was too much.

The next day I started doing something I didn't think I'd ever do: count calories.

I got on a website called MyFitnessPal, put it my weight, guessed at a goal weight and, started trying to keep my caloric intake under the goal number for the day (roughly 2000). As it turns out, calories can sneak in via some pretty circuitous routes. My trail mix? Lots of calories in there. I only ate 5 fig newtons a day, for my daily 'lunch-dessert', but considering the low number I was trying to hit, that had to hit the highway. PB&J after Tyler goes to bed? Nearly 400 calories by my estimation, and that's just too much. I've gotten down to small dinners, carefully measured lunches, and...pretty much the same breakfast I've been eating for years, so that was okay. I might try and throw some more eggs in there, though. They seem like good breakfast fare.

It's made me really reconsider what I want to eat. When you start limiting yourself like this you start to really think about where you want your calories to come from, and when you want to eat them. Especially, too, when you make yourself exercise, and you start to see how much effort it is just to burn off a few hundred calories. Did you know I don't even get to eat fruit whenever I want anymore? Too much energy in most fruit. I can eat veggies at will, but let's be honest, Tyler is right: veggies are pretty gross.

It's a lot of effort, and I never thought I'd spend this much time thinking about what I eat, scrutinizing every meal. I'm not tracking calories every day anymore, I tend to estimate just to keep my sanity, but a couple of times a week I try to keep a solid count, just to keep myself honest.

Oh, and last time I checked, I was at 224 and dropping. So the effort is paying off. I'm just hoping I can keep this up, you know, forever.

Tyler. Is. Wearing. Underwear. Holy crap! This is big news, people, stop whatever you're doing. Well, okay, technically, now he's wearing diapers, because he's asleep and we're not crazy, but we started him on saturday and kept him in underwear most of the weekend. He did pretty well, though we have to lead him periodically to the bathroom, and he won't think of it on his own yet. #2 is also pretty tricky, but it's a work in progress. The point is that we've taken a big step, here, people. One that is going to involve a lot of extra laundry for a while. But if you recall, we had him in cloth diapers for many, many months, so super-gross laundry is nothing new to us.

Today was his first day back at school with underwear. He was a little bummed out when he realized that his pants obscured his totally sweet Lighting McQueen underwear, but for the most part he did pretty good today. It'll be a work in process (and don't be surprised if we totally wuss out for the New York Trip) but the little guy is growing up. Apologies to whichever family members' floor he pees on first. I figure it's only a matter of time.

Tyler is also starting to have full conversations, though for some reason he likes it better when he has a toy and you have a toy and your toy asks his toy what his toy did during the school day. Too modest, otherwise, I suppose. He also is putting together some pretty elaborate play scenarios. On Sunday he got his luggage, some luggage for daddy (a pumpkin bucket) some luggage for mommy (a purse) and then we went to the airport (kitchen) and sat in the airplane (floor) and went to new york. He walked over to the museum (Office) and saw the Dinosaur (actual Toy Dinosaur, I was impressed) and then we looked up and saw the big Blue Whale (ceiling). It was too high up to touch. We checked. And then, after all of that, we went back on the plane, flew back to Texas, and then said hello to the kitties when we got back to the house. Then he did our tax returns!

Micro-News!

Tyler has been taking swim lessons. Next week is his last class and I am coming to watch and see how good Tyler is now.

Tyler is starting to learn numbers and sounds. He'll be writing novellas before you know it.

Till next time, everyone,

-N

First Ever Zumba Class

Recently, I joined a gym.  I'm not really a 'gym person,' but the gap between the fit an unfit in the household has been getting unbearable lately.  With my current work, I don't need to move around much, or even put on shoes every day.  I've noticed that takes a toll on a lot when we go hiking, I'm the slowest, and I get absurd blisters. In the past, I was never able to justify the cost of a membership to somewhere close to home, given that I could go to the student gym across campus for free; I usually compromised by not working out at all. But even then I had to walk places sometimes. Anyway, this new fancy LA Fitness opened up in our neighborhood, and I joined at a discount thinking with my schedule the way it is, I may as well get the perk of being able to work out where there isn't another soul around.

I decided I should try to get to some different fitness classes and just generally shop the place around for a while.  This morning, despite the autumn crisp, I jumped in the car and run down for my first ever Zumba class.  I knew Zumba is some kind of loud music, energetic dance thing.  I've been told by everyone who has tried it you can't take yourself too seriously, and just have fun.  This is a good attitude for someone who doesn't learn choreography well, and is not in peak condition.

The girl teaching was super glad to see me, since I was the only student. So much for hiding in the back; looks like there is a downside to daytime workouts. I opted to stand to the right of the instructor so I could watch her in the mirror without tripping myself, but this also put me in front of the door, with its giant windows into the weight room.  I tried not to notice that we were clearly "on the tour" as trainers introduced new members to gym.  I like to imagine they would breeze past, saying, "And if showing off your lack of coordination is the easiest way for you to work out, it looks like we've got a friend for you."  Strangely, no one joined us for a dose of bad latin dance moves.

The instructor gamely showed me the 4 basic steps (salsa, cha-cha, reggaeton and bouncing around like a Sounders fan) and then we got started.  The music was turned up loud enough she couldn't hear my chorus of mumbling "1 2 double 4... no... one two cha cha ...3 ?"  That turned out to be a real advantage.  And as the class went on, and we were warmed up, or getting the feel of it, or whatever you call it, the class started to seem a lot less like dancing, and a lot more like bouncing around with my arms up like a crazy person. I'm not going to say I was good at it, but it was a really good workout.  Sometimes those classes aren't so good if you can't keep up, but as long as I kept cheerfully bouncing around the instructor was encouraging.  I actually wonder if it would be as good a workout if I could follow along better, and didn't substitute High Knees or something exhausting for every merengue step I couldn't keep track of. By the end, I was plumb tuckered and ready to get back to my mercifully sedentary job.

On my way to the gym, I briefly pondered that I might lift some weights or something if the class was short or easy, but fortunately, I just turned around and headed home instantly.  Thanks Zumba Instructor, I'm gonna go melt at my house now.  Now, I live about 5 min from this big gym, and like I said, I'm not in great shape, or generally familiar with what that might be like.  In fact, when I was about 2 minutes down the road, all my skin started to feel VERY HOT.  Unnaturally so.  Is this heat stroke?  Don't you usually pass out from too much exercise while you are doing it?  Omigosh, I only thought I ironically felt like I could die, am I ok? Should I be driving right now??  And then I noticed that the vents in the car were finally pumping in hot air.  Just past the nick of time.

Clearly, I survived my drive home, and even my first Zumba class.  There are some spin classes, and yoga and pilates and stuff that I'm hoping to go back to the gym and try.  Maybe once I am not too stiff to leave my office chair again.

Just One More Thing About Virii

The good news is that the family is feeling much better. Tyler seems like he's on the mend, mom and dad are over their respective illnesses, and the whole household is feeling relatively healthy. Which is why it's almost comical that now my computer has a virus. Ha. I managed to defeat the initial threat, but it's popped up again a few times. From what I've been told, the one I picked up is a tenacious one.

Which is why it's good that I've finally managed to get our household-wide backup working. Well, at least potentially working. My plan is to offload everything important off this computer and wipe the thing clean, then install the backup software so I don't have to worry about it anymore. All pictures of cute babies are totally safe, no worries there. It's an annoyance more than anything else, really. Just a heads up, in case you guys pick up something similar, too. If a brand new program shows up unannounced and starts 'scanning your computer' and 'discovering viruses', and then offering to delete them if you'll just 'buy the full version of the program' with your 'tender, delicious credit card', don't be fooled. You may need to do some technical gymnastics to clean up the mess, but it can be cleaned up.

Anyway, between that and some other chores, I've been keeping quite busy at home and surprisingly idle at work. Very frustrating to see Jessie have so much important stuff to do while I struggle to get even the most menial tasks. Anyway, lots has gotten done, and this weekend is definitely for relaxing. Though I've been getting a lot of exercise, too. The Kinect workouts are really tough, if you push yourself, and between that, Judo, and going out skating with Jess (I'm still practicing, she is more like a real skater) I've managed to trim a few more pounds. I don't really have a goal weight, but I've decided I'm too out of shape and need to trim up. Fortunately, I believe this will involve eating more tuna. Yum.

-N

I am a Stay at Home Dad...

If only for a little while. Jess has started her transition back into 'working' status, and we're taking our time and letting her get back into the swing of things while also letting me get some at home time with Tyler. This past week I stayed at home for two days and Jess stayed at home for three, the other of us going off to work at the time. Next week will see Jessie at work for three days and me at work for two. The week after that Grandma Swanson comes for a month and we both go back to work...*leaving Tyler with someone else.* Dun dun dun! I'm guessing Jessie will be calling for hourly updates.

As for my part, pretty good, all told. I've been in charge of Tyler before, so I do know what I'm doing, but doing it for 8 or 9 hours requires a slightly different mindset. You do have to pace yourself. Also, the first day I was in charge of Tyler I had to deal with a mountain of vomit, and not all of it from the baby. Tyler was having some stomach problems, a bummer, but then Nagano spit up the largest volume of cat vomit I have ever seen in my life. I don't even know what he was eating, but he ate a lot of it and then decided he didn't want it anymore. Cleaning up cat vomit while holding a baby is a tricky maneuver. Well, doing anything with a baby in your arms is pretty tricky, actually.

Today Jess is off at Derby ('Her day.' Mine is either Monday or Wednesday when I get to go to Judo.) and is all excited to finish getting back into shape post-baby. Everyone wish her luck! Tyler is down for the count after a long session of playing and then a good amount of time relaxing on the front hammock with daddy, so I'm taking the time to write this while I copy all of my everything from my old laptop (mac) to my new one. Once I figured out how to do it through the LAN, everything went much smoother.

Tyler is discovering new sounds, as well. He's come up with 'the squeal', 'the raspberry' and a million variations on 'sounds to make while sucking on a pinkie.' He's made us laugh several times while contentedly groaning and falling asleep only to have his voice box completely get away from him on occasion.

Nana got to visit with our down-the-street neighbors and their baby. I figure it will be good for her to have an image of Grant in her mind, because we're sure to bring him up all the time. He's like our prototype baby. We watch him to get a sense of what we should be aiming for or attempting to avoid. He's a really neat little guy, especially as he is now in full control of his hands and capable of grabbing things and flinging them off the table. We got some take-n-bake pizza for dinner (easy and delicious!) and had to be very careful not to let any get within grant's reach.

The Electronic Entertainment Expo happened this week, which is very exciting if you like video games. Nothing terribly *shocking* happened, except that Nintendo announced their next console, the Wii U (pronounced We You). Once again the video game astounds us with it's ability to come up with some of the most ridiculous names in the known universe. And I'll bet some marketing firm got a trillion dollars for coming up with that. Anyway, the Wii U is a pretty big departure from the Wii. It's got a more traditional-looking controller, with buttons and knobs, as well as a 6 inch touch screen IN THE CONTROLLER. Totally bonkers, I know, but Nintendo seems to do well when it goes out on a limb and does something ridiculous, so I'm willing to suspend disgust until further information is available. But you know those controllers are going to be so expensive. Seriously. Oh, also, it's not coming out until 2012, so no rush or anything. Just now when you hear people talking about the Wii U you'll know what they're talking about. I provide useful services.

It's official, everyone in the house but me is asleep. Two kittens, one great-grandmother and the baby. Freedom!

-N

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to do my next post about Tyler's numbers. We've stopped using the little App that keeps track of all his stuff (accurately predicted by Dad) and I took pictures of the month-long graphs we got out of the projects, but now I've got a new laptop and all my pictures are still on the old one, so I guess you guys will have to wait for that one while I get my data all sorted out.

Mother's day! Jess told me she wanted flowers for mothers day, then she told me she didn't. So Tyler and I are teaming up for a mothers day morning surprise. I made Jessie some breakfast biscuits and scones for whenever she wakes up. Tyler is doing the important work of staying asleep while Daddy bakes. The other part of my mothers day present, and weekends in general, is that I take over Tyler duties during the morning so Jess can sleep in as much as she wants. She still takes care of him at night during the weekend though. What a trooper.

Speaking of moms, we have a couple of them on their way in just a day or so. We're excited for the additional visitors, of course, and we're quite pleased with ourselves that we managed to go a whole week just with the two of us in charge of Tyler, even with me working. Fantastic work, all. Tyler continues to be pretty much the best sleeper in the whole world. He wakes up 2 or sometimes just once at night, and he usually sleeps for 10 or 11 hours around that. Yes, we know how lucky that makes us. It also makes me nervous to consider another kid. What are *real* babies like? This one feels like we are cheating!

Tyler is starting to interact more, too. Though in this case, 'more' really means 'at all'. He's started smiling at us! When he hasn't seen you in a while and you come over and give him a big smile...and wait a few minutes while he figures out why that particular blob looks familiar...he'll smile at you! He was all grins for a good half-hour yesterday during morning playtime. The heart melts!

Oh, and because we've been told to write this down, and I can't remember if I've blogged about it before: nicknames. We do call him T-rex every once in a while, especially wen he's nursing. Jessie's nipples are getting tougher, but the kid definitely has some serious mouth-grip going on. I can tell when he latches, Jessie starts to wince...and occasionally curse.

The more common nickname is 'Starfish.' When he startles, like all babies, all of the limbs go out in every direction, even when he's asleep, sometimes. He tends to startle at a lot of things, from sudden noises to the sound of daddy laughing. I laugh loud, anyone who has ever lived with me can tell you that. Jessie sometimes calls him 'startlefish'.

Most common, though, is still 'Baby Tyler.' I tend to make up songs for him when I get home. Usually songs about how he is a baby and is so cute and likes to dance and occasionally tries to throw up on me. Different song every day. How come I can't make anything in my studio. I should be recording these.

It rained (finally) last week on one of the days I biked into work. Oh, I've been biking into work a lot. I like doing it, and it's just me going in, so that's been my exercise, most days. But it did rain one day, and Jess came out to get me. She insisted I was cold and miserable and needed a hot shower. I didn't, of course. It's just water, and the biking was keeping me plenty warm, although totally soaked, but she tends to project her worry for me. She's cute. Then on Friday my tire got flat at work and Jess had to come pick me up. We got some new tubes to replace the punctured one and then the three of us went out for Thai food. Tyler especially liked the Pad Se Ew.

Yes, I'm kidding. He just had formula. With coconut milk in it. No! I'm kidding again!

Speaking of coconut milk, I'm hoping to try and make some Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner today. Alton brown has a recipe, and I've got the whole spices to try out. Yum.

Oop, I hear the stirrings of a little baby. Ciao!

-N

Dorky Workouts- In the Comfort of my Home!

With all this (intermittent) free time on my hands this semester, I got to thinking I should get more fit. This didn't come out of no-where, Matt has dropped some 20 lbs riding his bike, and the day he bought a heart monitor was the day I realized "recreational exercise" had been toppled by "athletic training." I ought to at LEAST be able to keep up with the recreational parts. But nothing really sticks. I can ride the trainer, but it is so loud I don't ride very hard or else I can't hear the TV. I've got some excersize videos to do at home, but that seems stagnant. The weather has been to crappy to run, and I am not a natural gazelle anyway. So I've been frustrated and bored and unfit, and Matt has been designing interval trainings...

But while I was at work one evening, he walked up to the game store and found a copy of EA Sportsactive. This is a last generation of game that uses sensors you stick on yourself (ie- this is not Kinect) while you perform a variety of activities in your home. And at first I thought it would be kinda lame, but there is a lot of variability built into the game, and then a lot of system to get hooked on. For example, it keeps track of your weekly goals, and awards you trophies for every 100 calories you burn. There isn't special equipment, it's all stuff you could in theory do without the game, but have you ever tried to hold a squat for a minute in your own living room? 20 secs in, and you are thinking- Nevermind, we've got chairs here. There is a video trainer who says encouraging things, and gives you pointers on good form. And it lets you do imaginary boxing, fake soccer drills, and even fake mountain biking (which is really squats and jumping). The sit-ups, though, those are real. Hopefully the bajillion combinations and mid-term goal setting will help me stick with it through the next high stress chapter of my life.

107 days until the defense. I have 30 days left until I need to start writing. Eek.

Playing with Tyler

I got to play with Tyler a few nights ago. As is his custom, as soon as Jessie was lying on her side and was ready to sleep, he woke up and started kicking and punching or doing yoga or whatever it is little pre-children do in there. I put my hand on her belly to feel the bumps, and then I started pushing back. He’d push, I’d push, he’d push, I’d push. We actually worked up a pretty long rally back and forth. Jess and I would get completely giggly everytime he did it, a good 10 or 15 times in total. Tyler already understands cause and effect, that’s very advanced for a kid his age (-5 weeks).

While we haven’t had any dramatic weather since the snow closed businesses for the first half or so of last friday, the weather has been particularly un-Jessie-friendly. It’s been below freezing every night for about a week, and some days it doesn’t even get above freezing during the day. Given that Jessie’s only real form of exercise is going out for walks (usually with me) the frigid weather has kept her mostly outside, and it is only because I make her go (well, she asks me to maker her go, and then I do. And I go with her, too.) that she gets out at all. This cold thing is definitely starting to get on her nerves, though. She’s asked for a free quote on changing the house over to double-paned windows. No obligation, of course, but I think we all know where this is going.

The other Amaryllis is in full bloom and has managed to not fall over or anything, yet. But it does beggar the question: what do you do with bulbs after they have bloomed? Are they done? I could just do a google search and find out in a few seconds, but for some reason I haven’t yet.

People are going to come over on Saturday to play rock band and Dominion and eat food (probably pizza). I’m quite excited. It’ll be nice to remind people that we are here before we disappear for several months.

Oh, and also, there are some new neighbors down the street that moved in just a few weeks ago, and they have a 4-month old boy! So exciting! We met them and made them cookies, and they invited us out to dinner this weekend. We’re making friends!

-N

Matt broke the exercise bike with his fitness

I've probably mentioned that Matt has been riding his bike a lot more. Even in this unappealing winter weather, he usually makes it out for a couple of weekend rides. He stays in shape for an hour or two of pedaling away from the cold by riding our exercise bike inside, which is an occasional prompt for me to give it a try as well. He has much higher ambitions for his workout, and often complains he can't get enough resistance on that bike- I, on the other hand, find it utterly sufficient. But it isn't too surprised that he's outgrown this thing. He's lost more than 20 pounds, and now had a hard time buying pants that both stay on his thing hips and accommodate he disproportionate leg muscles. He is like a mountain biking robot, and it isn't even spring time yet.

Yesterday, I was all kitted up and ready for my turn on the bike when it started making this tortured, grinding noise. We let it cool down, and it still made the noise, so today Matt is taking it apart (which he loves!). Now, this is not some fancy piece of equipment, it's just a bog standard bike, made for squidgy grad students to putter along with and get your heart rate up for a while. It isn't really meant for aggressively muscled mountain bikers to thrash out an estimated thousand calories of fitness 5 days a week, so I wasn't really surprised when he said that the central plate was cracked in half. For some reason though, he was. He is now sitting behind the couch, collecting springs and magnets and trying to decide is the shattered plastic heart of this bike can be patched back together. While I have my doubts, he does love fixing things, and I would love to have my bike back. But it may be time for Matt to upgrade to his own set of rollers for indoor training.

The Old Man and the Concert

This weekend I turn 30. That’s years, people. It feels...pretty much the same as 29 did. Plus it’ll be convenient shorthand for me to remember about how old our first kid is. My age minus 30, about. No specific festivities, but we do tend to spread celebration around, so I get a birthday in stages over the course of about a week, which is nice for me.

Thursday was sort of my ‘Birthday at Work (observed)’ day because Jess made me cupcakes the day before. Cupcakes are the way to go when there’s just two of you for the cake-based celebration. There’s no way for two people to eat an *entire* cake, and so you either have to stuff yourself with cake for days (tempting, but I’m trying to keep slim) or bring leftover cake to work, which is always nice, but cupcakes are pre-measured for your convenience, and very easy to distribute since we got our cupcake carrier. So I gave away cupcakes at work and got a lot of ‘happy birthdays’ for our trouble. I also ate several of them myself. Cupcakes are delicious.

Jess then organized a ‘Nerf fight’ for me. I’ve been buying and distributing Nerf guns around the office for a few years now, and there’s now enough of them that we can get a pretty good firefight going if we all show up at the same time. Jess ambushed me in my office and I retaliated with my ridiculous Nerf Machine Gun. Fun was had by all. Then my officemate got me a couple more nerf guns the next day. They’re clear! I’m hoping to get to home depot this weekend to buy some LEDs so I can make a *glowing Nerf gun*. I think home depot sells random electronic components. Where else would I go. Radio shack? Have you seen that place recently?

Friday, also ‘for my birthday’ but realistically just because the timing worked out, I got to see Rodrigo y Gabriella in concert. A blast! The wait was pretty rough, unfortunately. We got there at 7 and there was an opening act at 8:30, the concert proper didn’t start until 9:30, which is a lot of time to stand on your feet. My long-suffering wife decided to just go hang out in the back where she could sit, but I stayed up pretty close to the action for the whole concert. They were a blast to listen to. I’m not sure how they mic the guitars but every time they gave their instruments a smack it resounded through the subwoofers for a serious kick. They did a bunch of songs I’ve heard from their albums, though they tended to have neat variations in the performance. High energy and lots of fun, though I think I’ve burned Jessie out on concerts for a while. Between the close quarters, tired legs, big crowds, and smoke, tobacco and...otherwise, she was pretty worn out at the end of the night.

We got home before midnight and got to wake up early, though, to head out to the Velloway again, a paved loop in southern Austin that’s only open to bikers and skaters. Jess hung out and exercised with her derby girls while I rode around on my bike. 13 miles for me, 7 for Jess. Not bad for the start of the weekend. We stopped at a place called Moonies that we’d been meaning to try out. They’re up by us and they do a *great* hamburger and really good chicken burger, too. They may have displaced Hutts as my second favorite hamburger spot in Austin. They’re certainly closer to the house. I could walk if I want to.

Later, for my birthday again, heh, I’m going to head out to McCormick and Shmicks. I get fish on my birthday. Then we’re going to stop at Whole Foods and check out some of those pastries that always look so pretty in the display cases.

-N

My simulation is taking too long to run…

So I’ll write.

It’s been a mostly normal week, all told. Things are beginning to shift now that we can openly talk about being future-parents, but for the most part the big changes are still months away. We make little plans here and there, reading magazines about being new parents, things we can and shouldn’t do, but the whole thing still seems abstract and unreal for now. I’m sure that’ll change when I’ve got my own little one that I *can’t ever give away*.

The best thing for Jessie’s pregnancy pains, many and varied as they are, has actually turned out to be exercise. Whenever she feels down, if she goes out skating, or out to derby or hockey, she always feels far and away improved when she gets done. Of course, exercise is usually the last thing you want to do when you feel bad, but the results speak for themselves. The downside is that it’s summer here. Really summer. And that means that just going out and running for exercise is pretty much out of the question unless it’s so early in the morning that the sun has not successfully blistered the earth to unbearable temperatures, or so late at night that we risk having to run in the dark.

I’m working on music again, which is nice. I’ve lowered my standards of what is acceptable in my music, which is actually really useful, because it allows me to produce more stuff. It’s okay if it doesn’t rock me to my very core. If it sounds good, it’s good enough. And since I’m actually creating things, I’m getting better at the production. And with any luck, someday I’ll actually be good at it. Strange, I know.

Also, hoping to try another neighborhood get-together soon. This time I’ll hold it indoors and serve Ice cream or something else cold, as opposed to outside and grilling. It gets hot. I like meeting my neighbors, especially the ones with kids, and especially the ones with new babies. We can steal their clothes once their baby grows up, which I’m told happens pretty fast.
Hey, it’s done! Back to work.

Oh, but one other thing real quick. Remember that little frog from when we were de-swamping the area next to our house? The one we relocated to the front of the house near the garden? Yeah, we saw him again. Still there. Good for him.

-N

Exercisey!

So I still haven’t gotten on any Martial Art-based exercise program, but don’t think that means I’m idle. I’ve been doing some outdoor running and some indoor aerobics to get my heart rate up a few times a week. Running is *so much easier* now that I weigh less. I’ve noticed a few other changes, too. It’s easier for me to move around, and yesterday I went from laying on my stomach to standing up by walking my hands back toward my feet. And this time I got all the way up. I haven’t been able to do that before. Also, my wedding ring is dangerously close to falling off. I’m thinking about getting another one a half-size smaller. Maybe tungsten or titanium this time. Current low weight: 206 pounds. Leveling off, but still room to grow. Or shrink, I guess.

My latest exercise escapade has been ‘barefoot running’. Which I’m actually not doing barefoot. I have some old waders which offer excellent ‘pebble and asphalt’ protection, without offering a lot of foot support, which is the idea. It forces you to run on your toes, which is a serious calf workout, let me tell you. But the idea is that running shoes ‘allow’ you to run on your heels, stomping down with enough protection that it doesn’t hurt to run that way. But unfortunately, that means that all the impact is either absorbed by your shoes or by your *knees*. A little rough, in the long term. Barefoot running means you land on the balls of your feet. Any other running method will feel really weird. That means you have a much longer impact time and much more impact is absorbed by your feet and calves. It’s definitely a different mode of running. We’ll see how it works out.

I eventually want to get back into some form of ‘exercise inspiration’, whether martial arts-based or otherwise. I never exercised until I had some reason to, and that used to be Tae Kwon Do or some other martial art. I do it now for the health, and because I get really tired if I don’t, but it’s nice to have something else to work for. I’m actually considering taking drum lessons. I know that every time I sit down at my (electronic) drums for more than a few minutes, I work up a serious sweat. Could be something else neat to try.

Speaking of music, I’ve started doing that, as well, though in a decidedly roundabout way. I’ve actually gone back to my old music theory textbooks, which are great because they offer *tons* of examples and exercises to work through, and I’m re-learning everything again, from simple part-writing and chord selection all the way through writing simple Piano music. I’m hoping to start with some simple melodies and chords, written properly, and then get into the strange synthesizers and filters of the rest of my ‘studio’. We’ll see how it goes. If I make anything that sounds good, I’ll put it up here.

And on a final note, I’m sitting on the couch, and Tigger is laying next to me. Nagano is laying on the back of the couch above my head. They’re both asleep. Very cute.

-N

H1N1 is my nutritionist

So maybe one of you 'bioengineering' or 'doctor' types can chime in, but I have a theory.

When your significant other, the person you live with and spend all your time around, gets sick, their immune system goes to work killing off the virus, and what you get is all of these weakened, nearly dead virii flying off of their body and smacking into yours. And, much like an immunization, this weakened version of the sickness helps your body build up an immunity to the disease so that you don't get it. This explains why when either Jess or I gets sick, the other usually doesn't. This goes further to explain parents often get sick from their kids. Children don't have as developed an immune system, and so therefore the virii flying off of them are fully formed, and instead of getting immunized, you just get sick. I await my nobel prize with baited breath.

So I'm feeling a lot better. I was only out of work for about a day and a half, and am rapidly coming up to 100% strength. Jess, on the other hand, being the work-focused, highly driven (to save time off for vacation), girl that she is, has made quite a game effort to get into work and get something done, but has only been in for a few hours this week. She's actually taking the whole day off again to try and rest, and when I told her to sleep as much as she wanted and only call me when she woke up I didn't hear from her until 1:30. She's still got it pretty rough. Thank goodness for my husbandly immunity. Hopefully she'll be able to finish recovery over the weekend and start the week off fresh. She's mostly just been tired and worn down, no doubt from fighting off the dreaded H1N1.

Yeah, we're pretty sure that's what we got. The general symptom list is 'general flu-like symptoms', such as aches, tiredness, and nausea (we both got to use a bucket on monday night), and then also a fever, which Jess definitely had, (thermometer verified!) and I probably had (I felt really cold!). And it lasts for a long time. Unless your wife gets it first. Like I said, Jessie is still recovering, and is mostly just tired. My only lingering systems is a loss of appetite which, in some ways, isn't *all* bad.

So let me take a moment to brag about weight loss. I'd like to point out that most of my progress has been made gradually, step by step, and is accompanied by a wide variety of healthy foods, veggies included, mom. (V8 is good stuff!) I'm just eating less of it. Only a little bit of weight loss has come from the fact that I didn't eat anything heavier than a piece of bread for about three days there. For reference, my 'high weight' happened right after I got back from xmas. I was 230 pounds. Last time I weighed myself, (in the morning, which is always less, but it makes me feel better), I was at 210 lbs. I haven't been that skinny in a long time, and I even got my first 'hey, you look like you're loosing weight' comment, which always feels nice. The real discovery here is that I don't need to eat as much as I thought I did, even if it's good for me. Less still fills me up. Guess that's part of getting older. My exercise regimen has dropped off somewhat, as I've decided to stop doing Ving Tsun in favor of...something else yet undecided. And there was also the fact that I was sick for a few days there, but I'm actually excited to go running again soon. Imagine how much easier it will be! 20 lbs. Yay!

Progress still marches on in contractorland. Perhaps unsurprisingly the contractors discovered that they couldn't get access to the 3/4" pipes they wanted in order to run two showers at once. Just the 1/2" ones that were already there. So the cost of the project got bumped up a bit. Also, the shower pan they wanted to install turned out to not be available until just today, so they're a bit behind schedule, too. But nothing catastrophic, certainly, and everything has been accomplished with skill, good communication, and excellent craftsmanship. We're pleased. If you guys are very nice, I may post a few pictures later today when I get home. I think they'll get to start working on the tiles on Monday. Exciting!

Also, someone should remind me to write the story of the RSVP project I did back in college. It's been lost to history, a bit, but it was a fun class that I'll bet parents and grandparents alike would like to hear about. Cheerio!

-N

Worth One Picture

I wanted to do this blog post with pictures, but I keep being busy at home, so I will replace said pictures with 1000 words. I hear there’s an equivalency there.

Further adventures in home ownership!

Project 1: Killing my lawn.

So I’ve noticed that when you put a brick down on the lawn and wait for a little while, when you come back the place under the brick is just dirt. I’ve also noticed that the grass we have in our lawn is a non-native type, and it is therefore pretty hard to keep it alive during hot, dry summers. So I’m trying to kill my lawn, in stages, and replace the grass with something native and easier to manage. The first step is, of course, killing it.

So I went out and bought a big tarp. It’s currently sitting over a patch of lawn in the backyard that is, already, pretty dead. I’m hoping it will get reduced to just dirt so I can get a bunch of seeds and give them a good watering to see how well the new grass will work out. I’ll keep everyone posted.

Project 2: New bathroom!

So after much soul (read: contractor) searching, Jess and I settled upon a contracting company to redo our bathroom shower. Our current shower is just a one-person stall with a tub next to it and a big ol’ closet that we don’t use on the other side of it. And Jess and I like to shower together. That’s right. I said it. I like seeing my wife naked. *What of it?* Also we go exercising together a lot and often need to shower at the same time anyway. So we’re getting the contractor to come by, tear out the closet and the old shower and give us a new shower that is much larger and has two shower heads. Premium!

Well the price was right and the company seems competent and dedicated, so we’re hoping for the best. They cover all the costs except for tile and the valves (and the glass, but that's later), which are aesthetic things that are probably best left to the customer. So over the past few weeks I’ve learned more about tiles and shower valves than I ever thought I would.

The tile is relatively easy. We went to a place called ‘The Tile Guy’ and looked that their selection of tiles, all of which were a lot less expensive than we would have thought. We weren’t sure which kind we wanted, though, so the guy at the store just let us pluck some tile off the walls and take it home to see which we liked best. Very kind of them. Calculating how many we would need, what with extras for waste and edging and the like, was a bit taxing, but I think we’ve figured it out.

Valves were more odd. For one, Home Depot had *nothing*. I even asked. Just some pipes and replacement handles. Lowes had many more, but nothing in the configuration we (initially) wanted. We were going to have one temperature spot and then a ‘transfer valve’ to put it out to one shower, the other shower, or both. We figured out a better scheme where we would have one temperature valve and two volume control valves so we could turn each head on or off as we saw fit. Well as it turns out that configuration, just with the valves and the handles, was going to run us $700. We could have gone around the corner and bought a couple of full shower sets for like $80 each, but for some reason ordering the parts individually was going to run us a lot higher.

Well I was feeling a little down about that until I went home. Ah, internet. Now that I knew what it was I wanted to buy, It was trivial to find it for much cheaper online. Dramatically so. We decided to change our minds again and just put in two separate shower systems, with temperature and pressure controls on each, and finding and purchasing those valves was a snap, and much cheaper than it would have been at Lowes. (Yes, dad, I’ve already told the contractors, they know.) So now I’m pretty much a professional when it comes to shower valves. Go ahead. Ask me anything.

Project 3: Hockey in Vegas (not a real home project)

Tomorrow (Thursday) Jess and I take off for Sin City once again, for her annual “Hockey tournament and meet up with old hockey friends from LA” gathering. Also it’s nice to visit some of my extended family out there, too. It’s always good fun. I know a lot of them, I get to come to the games, and Its always nice to have a long weekend. I’ll put up pictures as appropriate.

Also…I’m quitting Wing Tsun. I haven’t told my Sifu (teacher) yet, but I will tonight, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t read this. It’s a few things, but it’s mostly that Wing Tsun is not providing the challenge, or the exercise, that I want out of my martial arts. It’s all cool in practice, and it has its perks, but the main thing you’re trying to train is your sensitivity. Literally the ability of your arms to sense *very* subtle change and respond accordingly. It’s interesting and fun at times, but that’s not really what I want. I want to sweat, I want to hit things. I need a different kind of challenge. There have been other things, too, but Jess helped me decide on this, and so it’s back to the internet to search for another style to try. I’m hoping to find Judo somewhere. I need to learn how to fall. *That’s* a useful day-to-day skill.

Also, I’m losing weight! This whole ‘eating less’ thing seems to be working out for me. Jess tells me she can even tell the difference. When I got back from Xmas break I weighed 230 lbs. I’m currently around 215 most of the time. And I haven’t been that hungry, much, either. I just have to treat food a little differently and it seems like my body will take care of the rest. I want to go running, again, too. I want to see if it feels any different with the equivalent of a young toddler of weight off my knees.

So, yes, that’s the big news, and I’ve clocked in at just over a thousand words so far. There you go. Enjoy my wall of text, peace and hugs to all.

-N

Vacation Time

Tomorrow Jess and I head out to travel the world, or at least small, warm, beautiful parts of it. We'll start out by hanging out in Fort Lauderdale and running a 5K with Jessie's sister. You know, relaxing stuff.

Jess and her sister got all excited about doing more running together and running a 5K the same weekend after they got faster together. Well that weekend is this weekend, and since, as luck would have it, we'll both be in the same city, we're all going to run together. Well, 'together', I guess. Jess and, I'm sure, Shannon, are both a lot faster than I am, being as I can't go running with any regularity in Texas summer heat. Still, we are signed up as a team, so yay for us! Being as Jess and I just finished a 5K run around the neighborhood, I feel confident that I can, at the very least, finish the run. It's all about setting achievable goals.

On monday, we go Cruising! Very exciting. We've signed up for some shore excursions, though a great deal of them involve water, so it's hard to know what, if any, pictures will be drawn from our experience. I'll definitely write about it, though. Having a journal to look back on is very nice.

We get back from the cruise on, I think, Saturday, spend a little more time in FLA, and then fly back on Sunday. So wish us luck, though it looks like we're already pretty lucky. Hurricane bill looks like it will miss us. :)

-N

I did it! And so did they!

Today was the 5k- The Race for Grace my first 5k, ever. In case it isn't clear what a non runner I am, when I was in school I ran a 12 minute mile when that was all we did in class. I've never run a second mile until just a couple weeks ago, so I was nervous about hitting mile three (5K = 3.1 miles), only to say "Just a little farther." But my pottery friend was involved in organizing this fundraiser, since she was a friend of the family that lost their daughter to cancer. She promised that there would be people walking the whole course, so we couldn't be last. So I figured, why not?

Reflections of Grace was hoping to get 300 people to come, and raise $25,000 dollars for their first fundraiser. I was told that the race numbers were given out numerically, and I saw at least 930. The fundraising goal was also met weeks before the race, not counting the money from concessions, the bake sale, the silent auction, Chinese auction, face painting or any of that. It was pretty exciting to see this nascent non-profit blow past their goals like that, and obviously it was a pretty fun day overall

For myself, my goal was to be back before the awards ceremony and hour and fifteen after the start. Not that I was worried about missing my trophy, but I had no idea how long this might take, especially if I coughed up a lung before the first mile was out. Why worry about that? Look at the topo for this race! Who wouldn't be scared about that final climb up to the finish? I am quite happy to say that we actually finished in under 38 minutes, Matt ran with me. I guess this means I am signing up for the Race for the Cure on Mother's Day- Any one want to try to run a 5k with me?

------ UPDATE-----
Turns out you can register as a 'Team' without Racing for the Cure at the same site. That is, we could form a team with members in Juneau, Seattle, Austin, Pittsburgh and Sonoma, if you all had interest in in teaming up. Then it would be like we ran a 5K together. It's like they say, the family that runs together, cures cancer together.

Intimidated? Check out this easy training program Couch to 5K in 10 weeks.

Turns out, it's a fundraiser

I mentioned earlier that I am planning to 'participate' in a 5k. This is the Race for Grace, supporting a new Charity intending to support research for a rare type of brain cancer that took the namesake of the charity, Grace. In order to more fully participate in this event, I will share with you my fundraising page.

I'll warn you though- if I don't die doing this, there is a fair chance I'll participate in the Race for the Cure, which will be another time for you to support a good cause and motivate me to go for a run.

Worn down

What a weekend. It started Saturday morning. When I went to sleep in the guest bedroom, Nagano was in there with me. When I woke up, Jess and Tigger were in there, and Jess was trying to feed Tigger some Hot dog.

It turned out that Tigger had hurt himself somehow. We suspect by jumping off the top of the cat condo while being a fat kitty. His back legs were giving him grief. He didn't even want any food. Now that's a sore Tigger. He got better pretty quickly, though, but we've been keeping him and Nagano separated all the time for a while. I don't think Tigger's in the mood for any shenannegans.

After helping him settle in, we went out to watch WANTED with Tabi and Jeff, who are taking care of our cats for us over the 4th of july weekend while we're in Florida. I really liked it. Lots of very creative, very silly action. Way fun.

[;'=[]o009. Nagano typed that.

After that we came back home and picked up the first few round of response cards sent back from invitations. It's pretty fun to open those things up, even if we mostly have 'no's.'

Today, Sunday, we woke up and went off to do some morning swimming. Arobics are supposed to be better for you on an empty stomach, but doing 2200 meters in the pool before breakfast makes me tired.

After that we went to the mall where we did some looking around and got the Tuxedoes set up for everyone. I'll send out e-mails for that later to the effected parties.

Then we came home and OH MAN I WAS SO TIRED I FELL ASLEEP. Untill Nagano and Tigger started harrying each other under the door. Keeping the two of them apart is almost as much work as keeping them civil when they're together.

Nagano went to the vet this week, too. In three weeks, he gets his last vaccinations and a little bit of 'elective surgery'.

Love and naps.

-N

Wing Tsun

Jess and I just got back from Wing Tsun (remember when she used to be J(5)?) and that class is a lot of fun, let me tell you. We've started learning some exercises we can do around the house. Some alone, and some with each other.

I'm definitely enjoying the sense of re-learning and slowly uncovering all the hidden depths that you start to see when you learn a martial art. That sense that you've started swimming and you can just feel the water below you getting deeper and deeper. Learning that depth is one of my favorite things about martial arts. And the fact that Wing Tsun is making me want to exercise my arms to get better is an indication of how much I like it.

In other exercising news, Jess and I have joined a 24 hour fitness gym near our house. It's pretty big, and it's got a smallish, but long enough, pool where we've been going swiming at lunch. It's good to get back into that daily fitness routine, it's good for my overall health and keeps me awake during the day.

It's also got a heck of a lot of different ways to exercise, so if we ever feel like hitting up the weight machines or dumbells or joining a Yoga class, we can just walk right in. The freedom is a nice touch.

Fitfully yours,

-N