Saturday, October 11, 2008

Life and its suckiness

So before I delve too deeply into the matters of the suckiness of life... I'm one step closer to my Navy dream. I took the ASTB on Friday, and although I didn't do as well as I hoped (since I really wanted to have as much of a leg-up as possible due to many other things "against" me), I didn't do as bad as I feared.



I needed a minimum of 35 for the OAR score (used for Officer qualification in the Navy), and, out of a maximum of 80, I got a 54. Not bad, for being out of college (and out of practice) for more than 13 years. I could've also gone Pilot or Flight Officer (I'm too old for either, though), since I got a 6, 6 and 7 (out of a maximum of 9) from three other flight-related cores (not used for the other non-flight communities, except Intel, for which I needed a minimum of 3).



So all in all, and according to my recruiter as well, good scores, although not the "excellent" ones. So we'll wait and see.

Physical training is going well, albeit a little slower than I'd like, especially the weight loss itself. But it's getting there.

There's a lot of crap going on in my life right now, and although I have faith that it will all work out... it's tough getting there.

But my sister told me a great story, and I think it changed my mind a little about what I was going to write on here, and not "cry" about something that really is of trivial consequence in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, the story goes that a guy was walking down the street, and a rock landed next to him, kind of close. He paid no mind, and a bit later, another rock landed, this time even closer. He kept on walking. A third time, a rock hit him on the head. He yelled at the heavens, "WHY? WHY ME????"

And standing right before the guy, God appeared, with His arms outstretched, SURROUNDED by rocks and still being peletered by a rain of them. God said, "Are you okay? I think I may have missed some."

Thursday, September 25, 2008

An overdue update

Phew, it's been a while (well, not that long, but it just seems like an eternity in the blogosphere).

Let's see... weight-wise, I'm STILL 212, after all this time; I don't know what else to do. I mean, I'm running, doing push-ups, sit-ups, and watching what I eat... and nothing. Of course, if I eat a burger and fries just once, it balloons up at LEAST 2 pounds, if not up to 4, so that always sucks.

But hanging in there. I'll put here my results (so far) and my plans for next week.

And I really do need to talk about more than my little exercise plans... this IS a blog, after all... don't I have some unfathomably philosophical thoughts once in a while? Like, what I think about the economy, the political arena, life??? Maybe... hehehe. Maybe next update will be something new.

So here is this week:

MONDAY
* Couch-to-5K, Week 5, Day 1: this was a very interesting change of pace. I'm starting to enjoy it, but it still gets hard and boring. I think I'm gonna have to start listening to some tunes.

TUESDAY
* Hundredpushups, Week 1, Day 1, Column 3: YES, I went BACK to Week 1... the plan has been changed for all the weeks, which may explain why I was having so much trouble with Week 3, the exhaustion tests didn't really place me in the right column, etc. So I'd feel better if I re-start the program and breeze through the levels. :) I maxxed out at 18 at the last level, so pretty stoked about that.

* Sit-ups: Did 1 set of 20, rest, then a set of 10, and I had to stop because my tailbone was bothering me, since I didn't use any support, and I gave up. :) I will use a soft pad next time, but I think I'll try to do as many sets of 20, with rests in between, as I can before fatiguing.

WEDNESDAY
* Couch-to-5K, Week 5, Day 2: PHEW! Almost didn't make that one, especially the last 8 minutes. I REALLY don't know how I'm going to be able to pull off the 20 minutes on Friday!!!

THURSDAY
Today I plan on doing Day 2, Week 1, Column 3 of push-ups, and don't expect it to be trouble. :) I also plan on doing the sit-ups thing (well, curl-ups, since I'm training Navy-style), and see where that goes, with a soft pad/mat this time!

FRIDAY
* The crazy 20 minutes of jogging non-stop for the first time... I'm REALLY going to need some tunes to take me through it, especially since I'm training on a treadmill, and it gets BORING. I've managed to get through the other running days by praying an Our Father, a Hail Mary and a Glory Be over and over until the treadmill beeps. :)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Lil' Update

Hurricane Ike threw off my diet, so I'm not even going to post my weight. Ike FORCED me to eat cookies, cokes, go crazy on burgers once we got power, and the like... it wasn't me, honest! So I'm scared to look at the scale.

However, yesterday I DID manage to do Day 1 of Week 4 (WOW, FOUR!) of the Couch to 5K... those last 5 minutes of jogging almost did me in, but I finished it. I think I kind of pulled something, though, but not bad, between the hip and the thigh, cause it hurts a bit when I walk, but hopefully won't affect my jogging.

As far as hundred push-ups... okay, am I the only one having issues with Week 3? I cannot, for the life of me, finish Day 1 of Column 1 properly, and I've had to repeat Week 3 the last two weeks... so what gives? Is it me? Is it the program?

I just fatigue right before Level 5, every time.

Anyway, just trying to regain some semblance of normalcy after the Hurricane. Strange how we cling on the simple stuff.

Sarah, by the way, is your brother okay? Is there anything I can do since I'm here?

God bless all y'all. :)

Made it through Ike

So, we were blessed, in that the only damage our house suffered was a blown-in window, which we're going to have to get repaired as soon as possible, and our fence is kind of broken in places... but all in all, we fared well, compared to some of our neighbors and the rest of Houston and, especially, the Galveston and Bolivar Peninsula areas.

My prayers are with them. Power came back up last night, and man, you don't know how much you miss something until you miss it.

But thank God we're all okay. Back at work today (where I'm at at the moment), so... things starting to come back to "normal", if there is such a thing.

Since Josh put up his "big step" post... well, I don't want to feel like a "traitor", since I started thinking of joining the Army first, but... I've actually gone a step further with the Navy. Last week, before the Hurricane hit, I went and spoke to an officer recruiter, filled out some paperwork...

Still need to do get to physical standards, need some other things, take the ASTB (their ASVAB), and then see what happens, since the communities (their "branches") I'm going for are the two toughest to get into.

One major difference is that you know what you'd be going in as before you even ship to OCS. So we'll see.

The Army still tugs at me, so I'm slightly torn. However, since the Navy only allows up to 35, and I'll be 34 in November, I figured I should at least try there first; if not, there is always the Army, because I still want to serve.

I've actually considered the NG as well, especially seeing what they've done during Hurricane Ike, and that is a great cause they do, to serve their close neighbors that way.

So I'm looking forward to Josh's updates, to get more info and the inside scoop on the NG!

Friday, September 12, 2008

Ike a'Comin'!

Please say a prayer for us down here in Houston and especially around Galveston and the coast while we attempt to ride out Hurricane Ike...

I'll update as I can, but just in case we're out of power/access for the next few days (or weeks), as we've been warned could happen... don't get TOO worried if I don't update soon...

God bless everyone!

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Weekly Update

Sorry for the delay, but here's an update and my planned schedule for the week:

Weight as of today: 215.5 lbs

Sunday I did the second test for the Hundred Push-ups to see where I'd start on Week 3, and I maxxed out at 25, almost 26; which put me on column 2 of Week 3, but I could tell by the fact that I couldn't finish level 2 (15 push-ups) without resting, that I should've picked column 1.

The same thing happened with the first week; I don't think the exhaustion test really fits with the column you're supposed to follow, at least for me.

So, I'll try to finish Week 3 in column 2, without pushing myself too hard (since I don't want to cause any damage), and what I'll probably end up doing is... well, re-doing Week 3 with Column 2, at which point, it should be a breeze.

So, to re-cap from the "beginning" of this week for me:

Sunday:
* Push-up exhaustion test: Maxxed out at 25
* Week 2, Day 1 of Couch to 5k: jogging at 5.5 mph, and walking at 3.2 mph (seemed to be easy on my feet, tendons, etc., and the jogging really felt very smooth)

Monday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 1 of Hundred Push-ups (fatigued at the beginning of Level 3 :( )

Tuesday:
* Week 2, Day 2 of Couch to 5k: 5.5 and 3.2

Wednesday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 2 of Hundred Push-ups

Thursday:
* Week 2, Day 3 of Couch to 5k: 5.5 and 3.2

Friday:
* Week 3, Column 2, Day 3 of Hundred Push-ups

Saturday:
* REST


I realize that nowhere in there do I have sit-ups planned. I'll probably end up waiting for next week so that I can do them together with the push-ups, but I should start as soon as possible.

Too bad I haven't found a good sit-up exercise routine that shows me the results I've been getting with the Hundred Push-ups... and I haven't tried to use a similar approach.

Things seem to be going great; now, if only I could sell the house, find a new place, settle my debt, figure out what's going to happen to my marriage and on, and on, and on. :D

Good luck to y'all, my readers (all 2 of them, but they're MY readers ;) ).

Thursday, August 28, 2008

One step back...

Okay, so for some reason, I went one day from 219.5, to 217.5, and now I'm back to 221. Annoying as all heck, but... I would've thought that starting back up on a jogging routine would kick my metabolism into gear. I'm on my second week of hundredpushups.com... so either I'm putting on muscle really quick... or my body is just this amazing contraption that processes food to its utmost efficiency. Nah.

It could just be stress; work is hectic, and personal life is stressful; there's nowhere for me to rest, except Sundays at church.

If I stop and think about all the things that are "against" me at the moment... I don't think I'd ever come out of those depths. So I try not to dwell, and just focus on what I need to do, or rather, what I CAN do.

Trying to get rid of debt... you really don't know how much you truly owe until you REALLY try to pay it off; then that Netflix "paltry" fee you pay becomes a chance to PAY OFF a debt.

Trying to sell the house; trying to get in shape; trying to figure out what's going to happen with my marriage... it's enough to make someone depressed.

I feel like a broken man. And you know how, when you break pottery or your favorite mug or what have you, and you try to glue the pieces together, but there's always that WHITE line where you can see where the pieces shattered... that's how I feel; even if I were able to glue my life back together, I'd still see the WHITE scars of pain.

Wow. Depressing post... I'll add one with my "fitness" update and plan for next week, maybe that'll liven up the mood.

Monday, August 25, 2008

In my 'Teens again!

Holy moly, I'm in my teens again!

This morning, I weighed at 219.5... and although it's just half a pound (and with a digital scale, that may be even less) away from the 20's... well, it's still 2 pounds less than Friday.

Started the Couch to 5k program yesterday, and I can definitely feel my lighter body having an easier time of handling that stress. I got worried, since my heel pain came back this weekend... but I've found out the culprit.

If you've ever come back from work with your wrist/palm hurting from putting pressure on your desk while "mousing"... well, that's basically what happened with my heel; I played on my 360 and my PC for most of the weekend, and I realized I sit in a certain way, that puts pressure on my heel. So hopefully, since I'm conscious about that now, I'll try to avoid it.

On the Couch program, I started jogging at 5.5 mph, with the walking stages at 3.8 mph. However, after a few "laps" I started feeling a bit of a shin splint-like pain, so I did the rest of the 20 minutes at 5.2 mph and 3.5 mph, respectively, and I was able to come out of that shining.

What's interesting and good to know is that I have no problem with my breathing, but rather with the atrocious shape my legs are in regards to running... but they'll get there.

Since I recorded my program and speed changes on my treadmill, I'll do the same for the other 2 days of this week's running, and hopefully I'll notice less "stress" on my ankle/feet/shins as the week goes by, so I can maybe do the whole program next week at 5.5 or slightly faster.

I'm excited to begin Week 2 of the hundredpushups.com program. I breezed through Week 1, maxing out with nice numbers (though not incredibly high), so I'm hoping for the same experience this week.

At the end of this week is the next exhaustion test to see how many I can do without stopping, so I'm looking forward to that as well.

Here's to pushing hard, but not too hard!

Friday, August 22, 2008

Friday Update

Two more physical therapy sessions, and I'm done with it! Woo hoo! My ankle hasn't hurt in a long while, my calves and achilles' tendon doesn't feel as tight, and I just got the green light to start my Couch to 5K on the treadmill (no pavement yet).

As an added benefit that really made me feel good about what I've been doing... for a while, my liver enzymes were elevated everytime I had blood work. After some analysis a few years ago, my G.I. doctor told me it was more than likely the cause of a "fatty" liver. Great. And even still, it really didn't affect my health habits.

But recently, I had some blood work for some other reasons, and lo and behold... enzymes look great, white blood cell count looks great... wow. In just a few weeks, with a few pounds gone (most of them from my liver, apparently!)... it's amazing.

And judging from my pushup results today, breezing through the "prescribed" number of pushups, and maxing out at 18 (out of 10)... incredible feeling. My arms are starting to toning up, and this is just the first week!

Can't wait to see my progress at the end of the program. I'm looking at starting the Couch to 5k on Sunday, so I can alternate between that cardio, and the pushups... and I need to add in some situp program in there, too.

I have a Bowflex gathering dust upstairs... I guess it's time for me to use it. ;) I have an attachment specifically for ab work, so maybe I'll do that.

This accountability-by-blog, whom I share with my buddy jogren.blogspot.com, is really working and kicking my habits up a notch.

Weight is still not responding as quickly as I would like... but the benefits already, with 35 lbs. down, are definitely tangible.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Wednesday Update

I promised I would use this blog for accountability purposes, so here it is.

Currently, due to me having to go to physical therapy 3 times a week for ankle pain, bone spur, etc. (going extremely well), my exercise routine pretty much consists of the hundredpushups.com plan.

This week I re-started Week 1 of the plan, but using Column 2 instead of Column 3, as I couldn't keep up with Column 3 the first week. I'm BREEZING through it.

Monday: did the levels correctly, maxed out with 8 (almost 9, it was a minimum of 5).

Wednesday: did levels correctly, maxed out with 10 (it was a minimum of 7).

This is DEFINITELY an improvement, since that means I did about 38 push-ups today, with rest in between, and I almost did 11 at the end there. So I anticipate no problems with Friday, and with Week 2.

This coming from a guy who a few months ago was overweight, sedentary and just plain inactive. My arms are definitely starting to show a bit of toning, and it's very exciting.

The only issue I'm having is maintaining a steady weight loss rate. I'm down 35 lbs. since I started, but I should've been at least 40 down by now, if not more. This is what worries me a bit.

Also, since I haven't been able to get far into a running/jogging program, I'm at a disadvantage there, as well.

I should be able to start running in two Mondays (or maybe that Sunday), and see whether that helps with the weight loss (it SHOULD, by all accounts, but we'll see).

Monday, August 18, 2008

Fitness Goals

So by November, before the dreaded holidays, these are my goals:

Weight: 180 lbs. (I paid the dang Quick Weight Loss Centers to achieve this "guaranteed", so we'll see, although my frame may not "allow" for this)

Push-ups: 80 - 100 in 2 minutes

Sit-ups: 80-100 in 2 minutes

Running: 2 miles under 13:00, or at least a 9:30 per mile pace (this is going to be REAL tough) [edited]

Continuation of the journey

So here I am again, a month later (from my last post). Not much has changed, including my weight! Which is annoying; I reported 225 lbs. last month, and this morning I weighed 221 lbs. Not too shabby, but since I'm doing the Quick Weight Loss Center Program... I didn't pay that exhorbitant amount of money they charge to NOT lose "quickly".

I've been sort of an anomaly at the center, because my weight is not responding as quickly as it should. I'm really hoping there's nothing more than meets the eye, healthwise, because I'm following the program to a "T".

Speaking of healthwise... I had started the "Couch to 5K" program from www.coolrunnings.com, and I was doing well on my first week, but for months I had been feeling this strange "tight" pain around my ankle, and although it wasn't hurting me while doing the walking/jogging program, I figured I should have it checked out, just to prevent any further injuries or obstacles to my ultimate goals.

So come to find out I have a bone spur, and my leg muscles are extremely tight (which sounds HOT, but it really is a bad thing), so I've been going to physical therapy to streth the muscles, the tendons, etc. So this put a temporary restraint on the running aspect.

According to the doc, I should be back to being able to return to my jogging after next week, when physical therapy ends. And knowing that I'll have to stretch every day for the rest of my life doesn't sound bad at all. At least I have a chance to prevent actual ankle surgery... that would NOT be a good thing.

So I also started the http://hundredpushups.com program, and although after the initial test, I started at Column 3... I couldn't finish the program all the way, so today I'll restart Week 1 using Column 2. That should inspire me to continue, as I'm sure I'll be able to make it through this time.

That leaves sit-ups. I'm waiting for the weight to go a little more down before I start anything.

As far as the divorce... although my feelings haven't changed much, we've sort of decided to at least wait 'til the end of the year; I'm going in neutral, neither negative nor positive, but... I can't force myself to feel any different. It's a long, complicated story, so don't judge. ;)

It does worry me, however, because bein married and leading a military life has all sorts of implications, up to Court Martials or losing one's commission, under certain circumstances, so... but I'm not letting myself get to far ahead here.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Pain

Okay, so it's been almost 5 months since I've last posted. Obviously a lot of things can happen in that length of time. And unfortunately for me, some heavy things HAVE happened.


Let's see... I stopped my walking/running program, because, although thankfully I didn't injure myself, I felt that I was close to doing so. I also received a lot of "don't do them yet, since you're too heavy" recommendations from a lot of folks, so I stopped doing them.

It's ironic to think that you first have to lose weight to... lose weight. In any case... a few years ago I had started on this program at a "chain" called Quick Weight Loss Centers; it was quite a bit of money to get the program going, after all the "product" you had to buy (which mostly consists of bars, supplements, etc.), but what it boils down to is that you still eat your own food, based on portion control and how you space certain kinds of food.

Anyway, those years ago, I started at 265 lbs., and went down to 202 lbs. in a few months. Now, unfortunately, I was going through a painful time in my life, specifically in my marriage, so most of those pounds lost were due to the fact that I wasn't eating at all. And, even more unfortunate, once things started picking up a bit... so did my appetite, and so, slowly, but surely, I ballooned up, always wavering between 250 and 265 lbs. Now, granted, I was eating double cheeseburgers, ultimate cheeseburgers, pizza, triple cheeseburgers... and at LATE hours in the evening. So you get the drift.

So, a couple of months ago, I decided to try the program again, since it seemed to really work for me. And although my body hasn't responded as quickly as before, I started at 252, and, this morning, I weighed in at 225. Interesting change in digits. I'm looking forward to the next "decade", as I haven't seen the 'teens since 2000.

The program is based on weight loss (they guarantee you'll get to the weight you desire, as long as it's healthy and realistic, in the time they quote you), therefore I can't really exercise that much, lest it confuse the scale between true fat loss versus muscle gain.

But now that I'm much lighter, I can start the walking/running program, which should get me to my target weight that much sooner.

I'm planning on going this weekend to a running specialty store to get running shoes that match my gait, foot, supination, etc., because the shoes I currently have always make my left foot go absolutely numb (which is another reason I stopped walking/running).

My focus on this weight loss and eventual exercise routine is, as I may have mentioned before, the possibility of joining the military. And I need to hurry, because I'll be 34 come November, and time is running out for that.

Which brings me to another painful event. I'll be going through a divorce soon. And it's weirdly funny that I'm on the same program as I was when something similar and almost-divorce-causing happened. Everything seems to come full circle sometimes.

Anyhoo... I'm planning on starting my walk/run program on Monday again, so I'll use this log for accountability purposes, among other things.

So hopefully, whoever reads this, won't get too bored. In a few months I'm expecting to be able to detail my steps in joining the military, and see where we go from there.

Best to all, and God bless.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Journey Begins

So here's the thing; I've decided to push towards getting in shape in order to even consider the possibility of joining the Army. So hopefully I'll have something to talk about, mainly, my journey of shapedness. Or whatever.

Some starting stats, just for my own curiosity at the end of... however many months.

Age: 33
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 252 lbs (yes, a bit obese)

Today I started an 8-week walk/run program to get me in the groove of things and to safely get me started on this journey. It seems easily doable, and the expected results at the end of the 8 weeks seem highly achievable, which can only result in the feeling of fulfillment one needs to carry on.

You can find the routine here for those interested, plus other articles: http://running.about.com/od/getstartedwithrunning/ht/getstarted.htm

Stop here if you don't care a flying fig about what I did, but I'm using this also as a sort of journal to record my progress.

Here's what I did today:

Warm-up:
- Started at 2 MPH (I'm using a treadmill, so you may want to get a pedometer or something to that effect to help you easile keep pace, although always go for your comfort level).
- At 2:30, I increased it to 2.5 MPH
- At 5:00, I increased the speed to 3 MPH. This is the speed I used for my walking segments.

For my jogging segments, I was using 4 MPH. This seemed to work great for my current state. Obviously, your conditioning will greatly vary these speeds. But this is a good start for someone who's obsese for his height, and although I could feel my calves starting to burn even before the warm-up period was over, I was able to finish this first session with no problems, and my heart rate seemed to stay on target.'

For my cool-down, I went down to 2.8 MPH after finishing the last jogging segment. 1:30 into my cool-down, I went down to 2.5 MPH. 3:00 into my cooldown, went down to 2.2 MPH. 4:00, to 2.0 MPH, and ended up at 1.8 MPH. This seemed a good way to bring down my heart rate to non-insane levels.

Good luck to those about to embark in a similar endeavor, and please feel free to share tips!

Hopefully as I go along, I'll actually have something to contribute towards those who actually are trying to find information on joining the Army/Military.

Peace and God Bless.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

The Milky Way of Life

I've never been good at blogging; whether it's because I find nothing to talk about, or whether I just don't update it as often as I should, or whether my ego is hurt because no one is reading, I always end up giving up on blogging.

I'm attempting this again, in hopes that, because of the blog title, I'll now have a lot to talk about... although, ironically, the blog title is actually the opposite of that.

Because, in a way, although our lives could enjoy the outlook of infinite possibilities, when you really come down to it, and you apply the Reality Quotient (R.Q.) to solve the problem of life, you're really left with infinitesimal -- really small -- possibilities that are a consequence of the small amount of decisions you can actually make.

Take my life, for instance. I've lived a little over three decades, and to this day, I have many things pulling me in different directions -- as I'm sure everyone does -- as to where to go in my life: a musician, a writer, a filmmaker, an Army Officer, an FBI agent... and of course, a husband and a father.

Now, because I'm a relatively boring lead for a software development team (which means I really don't get to do the fun stuff, but rather, the pencil-pushing stuff), married and with a child... do I really have all those infinite possibilities?

If I stop being selfish for a minute, and apply the R.Q. to my life... can I really be a musician? It requires too much time practicing, too much money for equipment, and long road trips if you ever make it that far, which requires a lot of time away from your family.

Can I really be a writer? It requires absolute concentration, focus, no interruptions and a state of zen from which you can extract some ideas for stories, and then spend eight hours or more a day glued to your typewriter, laptop, notebook or what have you, trying to finish one more page. And considering you need food, water and shelter to even survive, and if you're starting in the writing business, you haven't sold anything at all and thus you need to find some other form of sustenance, which won't get the writing done, but you need to provide for your family... well, the list goes on, and you get my point.

So... I'm left with trying to figure out what I can do, what I can be, in the context of my own life. And thus, out of all those infinite possibilities, I'm left with infinitesimal ones... that, although they can certainly be fulfilling, they're harder to find.

So this blog will include passages of my life on my way to find what these infinitesimal possibilities are and where they could lead me.

And although I'm doing this mostly for my selfish self, I wouldn't mind having the ocassional passenger or passengers on this trip through the milky way of life.

God bless and best to all.