A Day Late, A Dollar Short

Well, I'm off to a shaky start on my challenge, but it's not going too bad.  I've had some unexpected issues to take care of in the last few evenings that have knocked me off track, but I'm not getting discouraged.  I think this can work.

Now, let me explain about what I mean by "short posts" and "long posts".  I used to include a lot of information in each of my blog posts.  I'd link everything I talked about.  I always included a pithy, relevant quote at the bottom.  For a while, I'd list my weight loss progress.  Besides all that, I had to go over everything that happened that week.  I'll still do those kinds of blog posts.  I'll just be adding smaller, easier-to-create posts to them.  The small posts will only have one or two links, no famous quotation, and generally only one topic, with a preamble or quick update about something else.  I'll probably include a quick note about what I'm planning on doing in the next day or two.  This post is a great example.

Tonight is my night to visit the D-Pad.  Electric Goldfish has just finished a long and difficult final project, and she wants to bang drums all night, so it looks like it'll be all Rock Band!  That's fine with me.  I love that game.  More on that tomorrow.

Rampant Growth

I know, I know.  I'm a couple weeks late.  Here I am again, back on schedule.

Well, the diet didn't go so well last week.  Too many snacks, I think.  I'm back on it again this week.  I'm hoping to drop below 320 for my next weigh-in.  That's entirely possible, since I'm only 1.2 pounds about that.  I just have to buckle down again.

Kay has reached a very exciting time in her development.  She's crawling, teething, pulling herself up to her feet, sleeping in her own room at night, eating Stage 2 food, using a "sippy" cup and getting used to her new crib.  All of this all at once is a little overwhelming for Kay and Misty and I sometimes, honestly.  Misty wishes she'd slow down just a bit, but she's really proud, and so am I.  I'll have to remember to post some new pics and videos this week.

Tampa Bay Anime is evolving as well.  We recently appointed a new vice president, first of all.  She's a good friend of mine, too, and creative and clever besides, so I'm sure she'll help bring the club to a good place.  We're also changing our website.  For one thing, I want to get away from our current webhost, which keeps pissing me off.  I've had problems getting into my account far too often.  Once is too often, really.  Plus, getting that account under the same host as my others will help me maintain the site more regularly.  On top of that, we're converting most of the site into a Blogger blog, for many reasons, not the least of which is ease of updating.  I look to have that project done by the end of the month.

One last change that's affecting me is that my family is now on a stricter leisure budget.  I've got a set amount that I can spend purely on myself per week, and so does Misty.  We also have a separate budget for things we do together, or buy for the apartment or family.  Basically, we need to get moving in a straight line after far too long on a financial roller-coaster.  The budget's a little tighter than I'd like, and I'm definitely going to have to make some changes to my personal spending habits.  To be honest, those habits are a large part of what's gotten us into trouble in the past.  My first big challenge is saving enough to get BioShock, which drops this Tuesday.  I hope to get it next week, but the week after that is more likely.

So much going on... I might have to blog twice this week.  *gasp*

Current weight: 321.2 lbs
Total weight lost: 6.8 lbs

Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Uncertain Times

I missed a couple of weeks here, because they were exceptionally busy.  It finally came to crunch time at work, so I had to work several nights and some weekdays.  That wasn't a lot of fun, but we did end up putting out a great product, which should roll out soon.  Metrocon also ate up a lot of the time I wasn't working, mostly because I procrastinated in making buttons and gathering prizes for our raffle.  More on that in a bit.  Finally, I was helping Kali with a Flash project for her class.  I feel a little bad about it, because it ended up being far more complex than it needed to be.  She's almost guaranteed to get an A, though.

All of this craziness meant that I spent little to no time on my diet.  I didn't completely pig out, but I didn't eat healthily enough to lose weight.  In the last couple of weeks, I've gained 0.6 pounds, which really isn't all that bad in the short term.  Now that all the craziness is behind me, we'll be back on our diet this week.  Expect weight loss to return.

Ah, Metrocon.  What a cluster-fuck that almost turned out to be.  For some reason, Anime Nation decided not to participate in this year's Metrocon, and they (through a friend) were the ones who were supposed to get me passes to the con.  I didn't know they had bailed until the day before the con, so I started to panic.  When I got to the con, hoping beyond reason that something would work out, it turned out that TBA had a table, but I didn't know which one, and I had no passes.  I walked around the con for hours (in my staff friend Justin's escort), looking for someone who could help me, but to no avail.  Finally, the con started, and I had no table or passes.  I started to despair when several TBA members found me and started to help.  They went out into the four corners of the con, looking for anybody who could help.  Finally, I got a call that all was taken care of, and I was able to set up our table and get to fund raising.  It was all pretty fun thereafter.  Special thanks to Mike, Jon, Les, Kali, and Angela for their help.  I'm gonna write up a Metrocon report today, and I'll have to make sure to thank them publicly there.

This was Kay's very first con, and she was a champ.  Misty and I worked out a system of taking turns watching her at night, and it worked out well.  We both ended up having a good time and we got to spend time together on the last day.  Kay drew lots of complements and even scored Misty a new friend from Orlando.  Pictures will be uploaded to the web this week.

Current weight: 324.2 lbs
Total weight lost: 3.8 lbs

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air.
-- John Quincy Adams

I'm Not Big. You're Just Small.

Electric Goldfish puts my blog to shame. There's something new up there all the time. Meanwhile, here I am with no posts since March. The trick is to post more often about smaller things. It's inevitable that I'm going to have a lot to post about if I don't write anything for three months at a time. Then again, my natural verbosity works against me. Let's see how I do this time...

Misty and I are back on our WeightWatchers diet. Since we last used it, they've altered the system to work better for men. The end result is that i get to eat even more than I did under the old system. That makes it trickier to work out a menu that works for both Misty and I, but I think we're up to it. It'll get easier as we get back into the groove of it. I hope to have more input into the menu this time. This is week one -- again. This time, I'm starting at 325.6 lbs. My goal is 225, at which point I should be able to wear XXL clothes comfortable. Maybe even XL. It's been so long since I've been that small, I really have no idea. All I do know is that some of my 3X clothes are starting to snug up a bit. That just will not do.

I'm enjoying working at Home Shopping Network. The work is challenging and satisfying, and I have a significant amount of control about how I do it. My managers don't bug me, and I don't have to lead anybody. Plus, I wear jeans and tennies to work every day. Also, for the first time, my work will be used by millions of people all over the world. That excites me.

As you might expect, Kay is a big part of my life right now. I'm proud of her health, intelligence, and spirit every time I see her. I'm taking plenty of pictures to show friends and family, and I'm posting most of them online. I've even put up a video on YouTube. Check it out.



I've already got another one to post. Kay is getting very "talkative", and she just found her feet. Good times!

Anybody wanna start a betting pool about when my next post will be?

Current weight: 235.6 lbs
Total weight loss: 2.4 lbs

That’s the miracle of babies, their ability to lay bare the tender, beating hearts of raging assholes.
--Heather Armstrong