I may change my mind on this within a day but, for right now, I'm going to invoke radio silence.  You only get to write so many words in a lifetime and what I'm going to be doing with the website I'm building will involve a lot of writing.

I don't think I have much time to devote to this awesome blog site.

Take care everyone and be good.

I have to admit it.  I was wrong about my teammates.  They are good people and they want to be good to me.  They're all very concerned about our struggle to adopt. 

I have actually enjoyed spending more time with them lately. 

Yeah, I know...I haven't been around in a bit.  Little busy here and there.

 

Last few days, though, the focus has been less work and more...I need a way to make some Internet money.  When we finally adopt (could be close, we've got a lead) I want wifey to be able to stay home.  Need to replace her income, though.

I've been reading all the web sites the last few days.  Affiliate Marketing, Ebay stores, wholesalers, you know...

Anybody out there like to chime in with their internet wealth secret?

Got mine today.  The boss is pleased with my progress but I have some things to work on with people skills.  I need to spend more time with my team (if you met them, you'd stay away too), I need to put myself in the other person's shoes before I discuss issues with them, and I need to be open to feedback from those more experienced (being open supposedly means you can't disagree if what they're telling you is bullshit).

There is some merit to his points, but they're 2 minute hallway conversations vs saving them up for a mid year eval.  I deal with people all the time who have thin skins.  Apparently now some of them are on my team.

If you have thin skin, sooner or later, you're gonna bleed.  That's just the way it goes...

Holy Shit!!!

Time flies when you're in a training class.  I have to say my company does training pretty well.  They don't let you just show up and coast.  You actually have to participate.

With the course I just finished today there was no choice.  It's a presenting course.  I have to do PowerPoint presentations from time to time.  I wish I would have taken this course alot earlier.  Man, I would have kicked so much ass!!

I belong to Toastmasters which is a public speaking and leadership club, but they tought me things in this three day course that I wouldn't have learned in a year of Toastmasters.

I did my last presentation and all the feedback was positive!  They like me, they really like me.

Cool....

Coming soon to a suburb near you...

Saturday night my wife's dad, wife #3 and grandmother will descend on us for a short visit.  The only full day they'll be here is Sunday.  We'll be taking in a ball game.

The preparations are well under way.  The liquor is bought (scotch for him, rum for her), the living room is almost back together after painting, the mosquito catcher is up and running, (Y'all gotta see this thing, needs another blog unto itself) and the patio is looking pretty decent.  Just gotta clean the house some and we'll be ready.

My father in law is a retired Army Lt. Colonel.  Decent enough guy, but he divorced my mother in law when my wife was 6.  He went off and kept doing his army thing while she raised two girls on her own.  He stayed in touch so it wasn't like he abandoned them, but it wasn't an every other weekend and Wednesday night kinda thing. 

My wife and him get along good now and she loves going to visit him on his ranch (especially since he takes care of the horse I bought her), but there are still some scars.  She feels abandoned.  I don't know if that will ever change. 

Grandma is another story.  First time I met her, she made a crack about what I do for a living.  I still married her granddaughter.  What's that say about me?  She's a battle-axe, no two ways about it.  She has been starting to mellow lately, though.  We'll see, maybe she's not that tough of a nut to crack.

Wish me luck!!

 

Cool!!

What a day yesterday.  The Mrs. is on mandatory overtime of 5 hours per week.  For some this may not be a big issue as its a bigger paycheck.  However, when you're wife doesn't like to work to begin with, it can be an issue. 

I do have to give her credit.  She focused on a goal of being able to take her overtime pay and buy a new couch.  Once I told her it was, indeed, OK to use the overtime money that way, she was all about it.

In addition to buying a couch, she really begged me to get NFL Sunday Ticket.  I said OK, but I'll need $150 of your overtime to go towards it.  No problem she said!!!  (I think I'm on to something here!)

Anyway, she worked 8:15 to 6:35 yesterday, then we went out to dinner (had some bad service gift certificates to use up) and did the grocery shopping for the week.  Got home at 10.  Still had to get some laundry started, not to mention we still need to put the living room back together after painting it Saturday.  Sheesh!!!

What are we going to do when kids come along?

My wife can be a little over the top sometimes.

Her new thing is walking around the house saying, 'We're going to die!' 

She's Catholic and when she sees the brink of war in the Middle East, a heatwave across the country, wildfires in California, and whatever other 'signs' that are out there, she immediately starts decreeing that the Rapture is not far behind.  'Better get right with God' she told me today.

I commented to her that I couldn't believe at least one news organization hadn't had some religious scholar on yet trying to match up everything with the book of Revelation and telling us that the end is nigh.

Well, I haven't been watching Fox News Channel lately so maybe someone has.

I told Jesus he was in my heart this morning, just in case.

This is almost getting too easy, which is a bit scary.

My wife and I ate out Friday and Saturday night.  Both nights went well food wise.  On Friday night, I had buffalo wings and a side salad.  On Saturday night I had a grilled chicken salad w/ ranch.  No dessert, I wasn't too full and I'm proud of myself.

I also set a new record for calories burned on the treadmill Friday.  I'm on a roll!!

The impromptu lunch when you've already planned something else...

I had done my homework already so I knew that a piece of pizza from a 12 inch pie had about 20 carbs.  I had 2 slices and salad w/ italian dressing so I believe I did fit in under my 50 a meal edict. 

I'm comfortable right now, not full by any stretch.  I did good, again.

I have to work towards one slice of pizza w/ the same amount of salad next time and then I can get ahead of the game.

I did a good job during Monday's team lunch.  No pasta, no bread, chicken parm, salad and veggies.  1/2 of a piece of cake for dessert.  No seconds.

I've lost 5 pounds so far.  I still drink beer (Bud Select) and eat Klondike bars (No Sugar Added).  This ain't bad.

Hurray Me!!!

We had that luncheon yesterday.  I had a small scoop of rigatoni and a little bit of tomato sauce on my sausage and peppers.  No roll, no potatoes.  No dessert.

We had a cookie and fruit tray later in the meeting and all I had was some fresh fruit.  I did pass the test. 

Next challenge, Monday team lunch meeting.  I'll have to work on minimizing carbs and helpings.  I did have a second helping yesterday, but it was salad, meat and veggies. 

Wish me luck!!!

I've always known that reducing the carb intake can result in fairly quick weight loss.  However, I was quite excited to notice that for the past couple days my work pants have felt looser.

This was unexpected as I had not gone on a low-carb diet, per se.  I was only told to reduce carb intake to 50 g per meal and 20-25 for snacks.  So I did it.  Not bad results.  There has been some hardship, but all in all, I'm not starving. 

There have been challenges and I've done pretty well so far.  I've had a couple meals out and I was at a 4th of July party yesterday.  No potato salad, macaroni salad, chips, pretzels, or cake.  No bun for my burger or dog.  I did have one of the rice krispies treats my wife made to bring over.  That's it.  Oh yeah, Bud Select is awesome.  Something like 3.3 g of carbs per.  So I could have 7 of them for a snack!!!  Who knew!!??

I think I can do this.  I know I can do this.  Catered luncheon today for a meeting.  Time to meet the next challenge.  I'll let you know how it went.

You wouldn't believe how fast a sandwich and an apple add up.  2 slices of bread has 30, the apple has about 12.   There's nothing really substantial enough to handle that other 8.  So that's it.  Not a really big lunch.

Makes you think, though.  Have you ever thought that you were getting cheated when you saw soup and 1/2 sandwich on the menu?  You're not.  Let's say its vegetable soup.  Now the portions restaurants kick out these days are gargantuan so that soup is probably two servings worth.  So 35-40 carbs for the soup.  One slice of bread is 15.  There's your 50.  You get a break when you do chicken noodle or cream of broccoli.  Two servings is only 22.  Now, you could make that 1/2 sandwich, with a whole can of soup and an apple and squeeze in under 50.  That wouldn't be so bad.  Eat the other half of the sandwich tomorrow, so long as you don't mind soggy lettuce, soaked bread, and squirrely meat.  On second thought...

"You can't make the other fellow feel important in your presence if you secretly feel that he is a nobody."  -Les Giblin

OK, anybody try this before?  Sure you have.  Small talk on an elevator or in a grocery store line.  Passing comments to a co-worker that you don't interact with that often.  We've all done it.

Do you talk to these people because you think it's expected of a friendly person or are geniunely interested in how someone is?  Think about that.

I tend not to talk to folks in small talk situations like that because I really don't care.  You'll barely get more than 'Hello' out of me unless we have something we need to talk about.  That's not really a societal norm and people may label me as aloof or shy or introverted, but maybe I'm just conserving words and thoughts for more important matters.

I also thing I have a fundamental aversion to other people that developed during childhood.  I did not have al ot of friends when I was little.  My mother didn't like me going to far away from the house because we lived in a rural area.  I also never learned how to ride a bicycle. (I did try, but I would bend my training wheels when I made turns, so mom and dad put the bike away rather than having me fall on my next left or right)  Also, when I reached school, I was quite overweight.  Back then, there were only a couple big kids in a class. (Not like today where a third or more of the kids in each class are overweight)  I took a lot of abuse.  It made me withdraw.  I didn't want to keep being rejected.

This obviously carried, to some degree, into my adult life.  If you don't take the chance by saying hello, nobody can ignore you in return.  Old habits die hard.  If you do get to know me, you'll find that I conversate quite well, I know something about a lot of different subjects, I'm funny and I'm genuine.  But, you've got to get through that wall of apathy first.

I like writing out my thoughts and sharing them because it requires no introduction.  I write it and you choose whether or not you'll read it and respond.  I can share my thoughts and even if I'm rejected, it's not face to face.  I have to admit, though, I do get a little down when I write something and nobody answers.  That just makes me work harder to put out something that's interesting and though provoking.

Why I needed a dietician to tell me that I don't know.  Actually I do know because I'm the guy who wrote on here that we all depend on each other.

See, I knew I couldn't do it on my own.  I knew I had to sit in front of a professional, come to terms with history and admit that what I was doing obviously wasn't working.  It was strangely liberating.

I have to cut the portion size, big time.  I'm eating a whole lot more than I think I am.  There are no magic pills or potions, no tricks, no gimmicks.  It's that simple, you have to think every time you are going to eat something.  Think about what it is, how much you're going to eat and how quickly or slowly you're going to eat it.

Just proves that old saying, 'Nothing worth having isn't worth working hard for.'

Babysitting can be fun but alot of things have to come together all at once for the child to have one helluva awesome time away from Mommy and Daddy.

First, if people who don't have kids (that would be us) are babysitting, make sure you bring all necessary items. (Sippy cup and Pack n Play come to mind)

Second, don't leave the house, drive almost the whole way to the office then turn around and come back because you forgot to leave the diaper bag!

Third, don't let Dad leave if he's not brought in the diaper bag. 

Fourth, keep 1 year olds off the stairs.  The first few times are cool, watching the lil' one crawl up the whole flight of stairs like a champion.  However, when said lil' one has just eaten lunch and cannot fall asleep because she doesn't have her Pack n Play, the stairs might not be such a good idea.  Which brings me to...

Fifth, kids fall down...a lot!!  It doesn't matter how close you are to them.  They canl go from upright to injured and bawling in 1.3 seconds.  You can't catch them fast enough.  This little one fell twice and hit her head on the bannister both times.  OUCH!!

The moral of the story.  Be prepared...be very prepared.

I'm reading a book right now by Dr. John C. Maxwell called Developing the Leaders Around You.  The basic tenet of his book is that we are only as effective as the people we surround ourselves with.  The people we run with determine how far we go.

Put good people all around you and you'll achieve more.  Go it alone or try to assert your superiority over everyone and you're bound to have some trouble.

Talk to a volleyball all day...well I guess we all know how that turned out.

Thanks everyone for your comments.  Something to discuss...this is what I was looking for.  I think it needs some more exploration, though.  You folks out there on an island probably draw on influences and inspiration from others more than you think.

If you could change something about yourself totally on your own, without any outside help or support, don't you think you would have already?

The fact is, we have to be able to look outside of ourselves to find support, inspiration, guidance, faith or whatever.  Whether you choose your spouse, significant other, friend, parent, co-worker, pastor or God Himself doesn't matter.  The fact is that you give in to the understanding that no man is an island.

We're all here to intertwine and help each other exist.  Who is going to help me exist?  It is time for me to make a big change, one that I hope will allow me to see myself the way I want to.  Thursday at 3pm starts my new life.