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

Steady As He Goes

I splurged a little too much on my diet this week.  I weighed in today exactly the same as last week.  I'll have to be a little more diligent this week.

This last week, I've been very focused on The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.  I'm very near the end, and I've been trying to finish off some of the mini-quests before moving on to the final dungeon.  I played a lot Saturday and Sunday, getting much further along.  I resorted to FAQs a couple of times to get past some things that were stumping me.  I used to avoid reading FAQs, no matter what, but I've got too many games to play to waste much time trying to figure something out for long.  So, every now and then, I'll peek into a FAQ just to give myself that little extra nudge.  I expect to finish Twilight Princess this weekend.

Metrocon is coming up soon, so I need to make some buttons.  I design the buttons and Misty helps me make them.  Then, we sell then at the convention to raise money for TBA.  The hardest part is coming up with button designs that people will enjoy.  We got a couple popular ones, and I try to come up with cool new designs every year.  We also sell a couple of buttons that match Metrocon's theme every year.  This year, that's "Anime vs Video Games".  That won't be too hard to make.  Once I've got the buttons made, I'll post them on the TBA website and forums.

I'm going to have a couple of long days at work this week, because we're approaching another deadline.  Bugs are being fixed quickly, but there's still a lot of work to be done before the release date.

Oh!  I almost forgot!   During the latest TBA meeting part of the plug that connects to my computer's speaker jack came off in the jack.  I futzed with it during the meeting for 45 minutes before just giving up on it.  My computer has two sound jacks: one in front and one in back, for headphones and speakers, respectively.  While something is plugged into the front, though, no sound is sent to the back jack.  Bleh.  So, I spent a couple more hours trying to get it out the next day.  Finally, remembering my warranty and support plan, I logged into Dell's support website and chatted with a hardware support guy.  He arranged to have a technician come to my house in a day or two and replace the whole panel.  That's awesome.  It makes me really glad I paid for a computer from a real company.  If I had built it, it'd take me days and a bunch of money to get it all resolved.

Current weight: 321.2 lbs
Total weight lost: 6.8 lbs

To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
-- Farmers' Almanac, 1978

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

Triumphant Return

Wow. My last blog post was November 21, 2006. It's really easy to forget this thing once you've stopped for a bit. Lots of things have happened since then, so I'll give a quick summary, not necessarily in chronological order.

Most importantly of all, my daughter, Kay Lily Robinson, was born on February 9, 2007, at 4:07 PM. She was a big baby, weighing in at an impressive 9 lbs, 8oz. Misty had a couple complications due to Kay's size, but all went well, and they were both released on time. Right now, mother and daughter are visiting family in Louisiana. Gaze upon the fruit of my loins here.

In the meantime, I'm at a new job. I've moved from Chase to Home Shopping Network. The attitude and atmosphere are much more casual here, although the work seems no less challenging. It looks like they have much more of an "instructions-under-the-door" approach, which I like. The people seem cool and competent, too. I've been here for one week, so far. We'll see how it goes.

Misty and I spent the holiday's at her family's house, mostly because of her Dad's terminal illness. The trip was difficult for her because she was in the final trimester, and generally dull for me, but we felt it was for the best. As expected, all of our gifts were for Kay. ^_^ I don't expect to get any presents for myself for years.

I turned 30 this year. Meh. Doesn't feel any different. I took Misty's pregnancy as an excuse to not diet, but I haven't ballooned or anything. I last weighed myself yesterday, and the scale read 318. That's not too bad. I still want to get back to a good diet and exercise, especially since Misty will be able to share it with me.

I've been programming more lately. My latest project, CCG Console, is a program that will allow users to manage their collections and decks for any existing and future collectible card game, like Magic: The Gathering, VS, or Universal Fighting System. It's going well. I'm gonna try to get more organized about it this week. I'm also looking to get back to my guitar practice this week.

Whew. Looks like I have a lot to do this week. Next time, I'll talk about how Kay is changing my life. This is a whole new era for me. Come along for the ride! Wheee!

The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children.
-- Clarence Darrow