1. A sustainable exercise routine
2. Conscious control over what I eat
3. A written log of the journey

#1 is in the bag… I’ve committed myself to 30 minutes a day on the Wii Fit, and while it’s not the most rigorous workout ever, it’s better than nothing.  It’s challenging enough that I feel like I’m accomplishing something and not too challenging that I want to give up.  It’s sustainable and I don’t feel like a slug.  I’m sore and tired, but it’s a good tired.

As a side-note, commonly exercise it clears your head… not me.  I’m less focused than I was before.  Aside from the soreness, this has been the only downside.  On the plus-side, I do feel like I have more energy.

#2 involves a few things:

• Walking to Sunflower each day to get stuff to cook dinner that night (after Thanksgiving)
• Eating slower
• Choosing smaller portions, and
• Drinking more water

#3 is this blog and possibly a food journal.

I’m not sure what a food journal will look like yet.  It takes a lot of time to write down every meal and it adds a lot of guilt to something that should be pleasurable.  Keeping a food journal is like counting condoms before you have sex; probably not what you should be focusing on in that moment.

The reason I stopped going to Weight Watchers a few years back was simple: there was a poster on the wall that said, “Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.”

For me, thin seems like the wrong word.  Healthy is the right message.  Nothing tastes as good as being healthy feels.  So I’m keeping that in mind.

Might’ve been the vicodin.

My mobility has improved, I’m now about as mobile as your average 9-month-old. I’m going to drive again for the first time tomorrow.

I got the staples out from my appendectomy scar yesterday, which was more taxing than I would have thought.  It didn’t really hurt so much as pinch for a second. Leslie was there with me, which made it a lot better – things hurt a lot less when you have to concentrate on putting on your “manly man” face rather than focusing on the painful part.

I don’t know if it was just the real-ness of it all, or the possibility that maybe the incision hadn’t healed all the way, or that the doctor and his nurse were -very- concerned about infection even though my incision looks good.  I was definitely drained after getting those staples out and was ready for bed around 8 last night.

The weird thing is, the staples seemed to give me some sort of support – physical or mental, that now I catch my back hurting. My back is hurting because I’m subconsciously making myself lean forward so that I don’t inadvertently split open. So, after an hour or two walking around, I look like a decent rendition of Jeff Conway.

I’ve been working to fix that, but I still have trouble sometimes getting my abs to engage when I want to do something… so I look like an albino rollie pollie from time to time.  I’m not doing Yoga any time soon, but I’m definitely itching to do some sort of workout on it.

My only concern is that I still don’t have feeling on a small part of my belly.  If you imagine a clock on my bellybutton, the 6-9 area (lower left, if I’m facing you) has no feeling about 2 cm from the incision – which is a bummer.  The surgery wasn’t exactly an easy one, so if that’s the extent of the down-side, I’m satisfied.

On the plus side, I have stopped drinking soda/pop entirely. And I’m eating a LOT smaller portions than I was – I don’t eat to ruin anymore, for fear of splitting open like the guy in Monty Python (see video below if you don’t know… it’s gross).

I’m really enjoying my new job at DTS, these guys are programmers and know the drill.  I’d say this is aiming to be the best job I’ve had.  I’m getting really good at MVC, the C# is rolling like I never touched VB, and next week it looks like I’ll be diving into JavaScript/GIS/REST.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2Bs1ZZ-7b8

Who doesn’t want to be a Superhero?

So I decided today that I want to be a Superhero.  You know, mild mannered (kindof) by day, slaying demons and singing songs about heroics and glory by night… or at least a really kick-ass Karaoke version of Don’t Stop Believin’.   Yeah Journey.

If you know me, and chances are pretty good if you’re reading my blog – you know I’m crazy creative.  I don’t like tooting my own horn or being pretentious, I just like making people laugh.  What’s a better way to make people laugh than creating and becoming your own Superhero?

Some of you are going, “Jeeeze… this guy’s freakin nuts.”  But I know some of you are thinking, “Where the hell do I sign up?”  Most of you were thinking, “Oh no, he’s going to start his ‘lets wear tights’ phase.”  Not true.

Anyway, more details on that later.

Last night at the GitNit Right meeting, I talked in front of 9 Interns.  I informed them all that they were no longer Interns; they were now part of a Tribe.

It’s an interesting concept, and one that I whole-heartedly believe in.  More and more, corporations are treating employees like cannon fodder… or at least like clock-watching Internet zombies who can’t think for themselves, let alone speak or act for the good of the company.  The only defense against such nonsense is to instill a sense of self-worth and identity into ourselves.  We should each know that if we’re giving up our time on this earth to go do something, we’d better be getting more than just a paycheck – it had better mean something.

It has to.

Speaking of which, since I’d like a little more time on this Earth, I’m also going to be starting a section of this blog on my attempt to get back to a healthy weight.  Right now I’m at 250+… which you couldn’t guess from looking at me, but I definitely feel it.  This isn’t going to be easy for me.  I’m not even sure I can make it fun, but I’m going to try, dammit!  I’ve got a Wii Fit, which I was using… and then laziness took over, or a sense of being buried in projects… so, no more.  I always have at least a ten minute stretch during the night or the morning where I at least *think* about exercising and decide it’s too hard.

All I know is I have to be better.  So I will.