3 months gone

Well, it's hard to believe it's been 3 months since I last posted here. And I was doing so good before that! Anyhow, here we are in 2008 already, and I'm in the middle of the biggest decision of my life. More on that later...

For now let me see if I can get this blog looking a little better. Back shortly...

Lose those Manboobs

One day you just wake up, look down, and suddenly you are faced with these things on your chest. You get dressed and go about your business until suddenly you look in the mirror and realize that your young chiseled physique has slowly, gradually been transformed into a middle aged pear.. with chest bumps. Damn, how'd that happen?

I dunno about the rest of you guys but another year of looking in the mirror at manboobs is too much. It's time for me to start fighting back. If you'd like to fight back also, and want to try a training program that is truly remarkable, then I'd first like you to read the article How to Lose Manboobs by Craig Ballantyne.

Through childrens eyes

This came to me the other day through a friend who sends us jokes regularly. I normally have a good laugh at her jokes and then move on with my day. This one actually made me sit back and think a little harder about how I often take my children for granted. Take the time to recognize that they are precious parts of our lives for only a short amount of time.

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When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard. My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.

When I look at an old drunk and he smiles at me, I see a smelly, dirty person who probably wants money and I look away. My kids see someone smiling at them and they smile back.

When I hear music I love, I know I can't carry a tune and don't have much rhythm so I sit self-consciously and listen. My kids feel the beat and move to it. They sing out the words. If they don't know them, they make up their own.

When I feel wind on my face, I brace myself against it. I feel it messing up my hair and pulling me back when I walk. My kids close their eyes, spread their arms and fly with it, until they fall to the ground laughing.

When I pray, I say thee and thou and grant me this, give me that. My kids say, "Hi God! Thanks for my toys and my friends. Please keep the bad dreams away tonight. Sorry, I don't want to go to Heaven yet. I would miss my Mommy and Daddy."

When I see a mud puddle I step around it. I see muddy shoes and dirty carpets. My kids sit in it. They see dams to build, rivers to cross, and worms to play with.

I wonder if we are given kids to teach or to learn from. Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.

I wish you Big Mud Puddles and Sunny Yellow Dandelions!!!

Turbulence Training - Shake up your workouts!

I have been working out at gyms on and off for the past 3 years now. The first year was great. I lost almost 65 lbs of total body weight. In all likelihood, I lost more than 65 lbs of body fat, but gained a considerable amount of it back in the form of newly added muscle. Overall I went from 263 lbs down to 204 lbs. Staggering? Yes. Exhilarating? Indeed.

So why is it that I was recently climbing back over 230 lbs once again? Honestly, it's because I got so tired of the same old routines, day-in-day-out. Getting up every morning at 6:00am, heading to the gym at 6:30am, running on the treadmill for 20-30min, working out at the same machines for an hour or more, showering, then heading back to start the work day. Sound monotonous? Exactly... and that's exactly what happened to me. Boredom. And with boredom comes dislike. Ever heard the saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt"? Performing the same routine every day, getting stuck in the same 'ol rut eventually led me to dislike what I was doing. Wow, what a difference from 3 years ago when I started. I absolutely loved my workout routine. But that's what happens. We change as time changes. And if we don't "shake up" our workouts, then we are doomed before we even start.

And that's where Turbulence Training comes in to the picture. A little over 6 weeks ago, I was reading an article on MensHealth.com about the amazing Spartan-300 workout. For anyone that has seen the movie Spartan-300, you will undoubtedly remember the chiseled physiques demonstrated by the actors. The Spartan-300 workout is a good piece of how the actors were able to develop such a superior physique for this movie. I was intrigued. So I did more and more research on the subject, read many articles, client testimonials viewed videos, etc... At the end of day I was still very intrigued and felt that this sort of workout was exactly what I needed to get me back into the mode of fitness training. So I purchased the Turbulence Training program and decided I would give it a shot.

It's been just over 4 weeks since I actually began the program. In fact, I just finished the Beginner portion of the program this weekend and started the Intermediate level yesterday. I have lost at least a full inch off my waistline, and the need for loosening the belt has subsided! I am starting to see significant loss of fat from my torso. In terms of actual weight loss, I haven't stepped on a scale since I started the program. I was at least 230 lbs when I started and probably one or two pounds more. I plan to weigh myself this coming Saturday and will post an update on actual weight loss at that time.

If you have any interest in knowing more about this workout program, and what it can do for you, feel free to check out the Turbulence Training website and forums as well as the above links to MensHealth.

Day Camps - Who's In Charge?

Well, this is the first week of day camp for my boys. We would have had them enrolled sooner but there was a restriction on age groups. You had to be 5 years old... and of course there was no way we could sign up Delaney without Cace. So we enrolled both of them a few weeks ago in anticipation of Cace turning 5 this past weekend.

Day 1 was excellent. Cace was very excited about "Art" class, which was a shock to both Flo and I. He had not expressed any interest in art whenever we tried to get him to draw, etc.. So we took this as a good thing.

Day 2 was not so excellent! Cace it turns out was misbehaving for the majority of the day. When Flo arrived at day camp to pick them up, she noticed Cace had a small cut over his left eye. Nobody at camp realized he had even been cut. Upon arriving home we find out that this happened shortly after being dropped off at camp that morning. He had been there almost a full day and not a single camp counsellor noticed that his left eye had a cut and was bleeding slowly. This concerned us more than the cut itself. Who is watching our children at camp? Are they watching? How is it possible not to notice a child has a cut over his eye. As you can imagine, many questions and emotions surfaced.

I took Cace to the hospital to make sure the cut didn't need glue or stitches. A month+ ago he had cut the same place when he and his brother were skylarking around on their beds. The doctors at ER glued the cut closed rather than stitching it. That is why I was concerned... because he had reopened the same cut from a month earlier. Anyhow, after an hour wait, they decided he did not need to have anything on the cut... it would heal on its own. Sometimes I wonder about these ER interns/doctors. One day they are all concerned that he will have scarring and so they glue it... the next time, they decide to let the same cut heal on its own but proceed to tell me that it will be a small scarring but not noticeable because of location. Go figure... 2 completely different opinions from the same medical system. Shocker? Not at all. Our healthcare system is so lacking right now, that nothing shocks me. But that's an entire posting on it's own.

Anyhow, I guess after a few hours all the emotion settled and we got to thinking about the whole thing. Cace is a very strong little boy and never wants to show you emotion when he gets hurt. I don't know where he gets this from, but he always tries to hide his feelings. So I believe that when he cut his eye that morning, he hid it. When asked about it, he said it was nothing, as he usually does. He does not like to garner unnecessary attention. And so he shrugged it off. However, over the course of the day he likely was irritated by the cut and the soreness, etc.. and this led to him being a little "tyrant" that day... or at least that's what I like to think happened.

Day 3 was much better and no cuts from either! Off to a good start... now let's wait and see how Day 4 is. :-)

Get out and Enjoy Summer

Wow, Regatta Day is here and gone. Records were broken... along with rainfall records the previous day. And so be it... the downward slide of summer begins as the days start getting shorter and the nights a little longer.

This is actually my favourite time of year. So all I need to do is get up from my chair, march to the door, turn the knob, and step outside, right? Yeah, that's right. Just Do It as Nike always says!

Anyhow, I shall try to do just that over the next few weeks. Get out and enjoy what we have left of summer. Before you know it we will be shopping for Christmas gifts and wondering when the first snow will be falling. Let's see if we can leave those thoughts for a few more weeks and get on with enjoying summer already.

Ciao!

Peering out from the Dungeon!

Today while sitting here in the solitude of my dungeon (for those that do not know me, don't get the wrong idea. Flo does not have me handcuffed to the walls in a dug out trench beneath the house... although I'm sure the thought has crossed her mind many times!) I realized that I have very little sunlight coming in. And it's purposeful on my part, even though I hadn't really noticed before. I guess it's part of the whole working-from-home syndrome, that I tend to block out the light so that I don't get distracted and start wandering out the backdoor and doing work in my garden instead of doing my real job!

It's really a system that my mind has developed without my concsious taking notice. On days when it is sunny and nice outdoors, I close my blinds and on those not so nice rainy days, I oftentimes leave the blinds wide open. Is this a subconcious way of my mind dealing with distractions that could arise and disrupt my workday? Or am I just turning into a comple and utter recluse?

I guess time will tell!

Summer vacation

Seems like we spend so much time waitin' for summer to actually arrive, that when it does, we don't have the time to really enjoy it. Timing it is the problem. When do we take our holidays? How long do we take? Do we spread it out over many long weekends or make it one stretch of 2 weeks or more? In most other parts of the country, I imagine that the majority of people are pretty confident when they make their summer vacation plans. They can rely on the weather being somewhat consistent.

Here on The Rock we have a much more challenging time at choosing/guessing/gambling (whatever you want to call it) of when to make our vacation plans. This year I have decided to "wing it". I will plan to take some of my vacation in extended weekends rather than my usual one week stint here and there. I still don't know if that's a good plan or not, but at the end of the summer, or what we like to refer to as "summer", I'm sure I'll be happy that I had at least a few vacation days to enjoy. I hope!

Is the grass always greener?

Why does it always seem like the grass is greener on the other side. I'm not just referring to my neighbours garden either! In everything we do, eventually it seems like the grass is always greener. Even when we get what we want, eventually we feel like it wasn't what we really wanted after all, and now we want something different. Or maybe that's just me...

Here's an example... a year ago we were too cramped having 2 offices in the same room. So I decided to finish my basement and put my office downstairs. Loved it for the first little while. However, yesterday Flo was working and the kids were home with me during the day, so I decided to use Flo's office upstairs for the day. Easier to keep an eye on the kids. And guess what... her office felt much more comfortable to me. To the point that I was ready to kick her out and relinquish her to the basement office last night! No joking.

Why is it that no matter what we think we want, it never really turns out to be exactly what we really want.... or is it just that we get bored too easily. Again, maybe it's just me. :-)

Goin' to da Country

Ever hear someone say "we're goin' to da country"? What exactly does it mean? For most people that simple phrase probably invokes a bit of laughter, and for others a bit of bewilderment. What country are ya referrin' to dere buddy? Growing up I was never a "goin' to da country" kid. We always went off camping, and fishing, etc... but we never went to "da country". Did you? If so, then this is a no brainer. You already know what I'm talking about. You can leave now. If you have no idea what on earth I'm referring to, then by the lard dine tunderin' I'm gonna tell ya.



Goin' to da country is a way of tellin' folks that you're off to your cabin for the weekend. No, it's not in another country, per se, but it's just as well it was. Cause to hear everyone talking about it, you'd swear they were off to the lost island of Atlantis to enjoy the long weekend. There's nothin' like goin' to da country bye, is what they all say.



Well, I'm seriously considering partaking in this "da country" affair, and kicking it back a notch or two. Time to give meself and da wife and da kids a piece of da country. Or at least that's what I'm considering. Now comes da hard part... finding a place of me own out dere in da country. Know any good places? If so, drop me a line and let me know where da best place out dere in da country is!