My Ass is Beat.

Holy Shit.  I'm fucking tired.  Not tired like I want to sleep, but tired from working myself physically, harder than I have ever before.  I went for my fitness assessment with the trainer last week.  She sent me all the results over email, I was really surprised with how poorly I was performing compared to the mean of Men.  She started off by having me do 4-5 days of cardio 35-40min sessions.  I got 3 days in last week (Wed, Thurs, Fri) so I came a little short last week, but I'm spot on for this week so far.  I've been going to the gym at work over my lunch hour doing my cardio, then going to the gym after work for strength and toning classes.  Tonight was my first real personal training session.  It was tough but it was nice to have someone challenge me, correct my form if I was doing something wrong, and motivate me to push through the pain. 

My first real test of willpower will be starting on Saturday as I travel to Washington DC for a Student Affairs conference and Job Placement fair.  I'm gonna try and find the gym at the hotel right away and figure out where in my schedule I will fit the time in to go work out.  One thing I have going for me is that since I'm searching for a job at the conference I won't get wasted and make an ass of myself as I interact with my colleagues in the evening.  Not that I'm one to go balls to the wall like that in a professional setting, though I see it happen all the time in my field.  It's a little embarrassing to see a grown person who works with college students every day, getting completely wasted and acting like a douche.  I got a new suit, and new shoes for the conference, so hopefully I will be looking my best to impress people and get invited to campus for interviews. 

I'm in a weird position at work currently.  With my position not ending until June, people don't really know how to interact with me in the workplace.  It is almost like they feel bad asking me to do things or will ask my boss to do things that they would normally come to me for.  I'm starting to feel like the invisible man around campus.  It is a really awkward place to be in.  Also there are numerous changes going on in anticipation of the reoganization that will be taking place.  In some ways I'm kind of glad that I won't be around, because I don't know how I feel about the direction things are going.  The thing that bothers me the worst is the way the students seem to feel.  Most know (we are a very small campus and things get around quickly) about my position not being renewed, and they either tell me how surprised and sorry they are, know about it but try to not let on, or get angry about the situation and talk about how it is not fair.  I feel like they are being let down, not by me per se, but in general.  Also I had one student tell me "I understand if you aren't invested in working with us anymore."  That one really hurt, and I explained to him, I want to see them continue to succeed and do amazing things in the roles that the play, but the college has told me to make my focus first and foremost on finding a new position.  It was really a blow to the gut to think that students believe because I don't have a position that I wouldn't care about them.  I don't know it was just shitty. 

Other than that, nothing else really to report.  I weighed in on Monday and I was down about 5lbs from where I was last week.  I figure on some of that being water weight and I will hopefully see the 1-2lb consistent weight loss from here on out.  This work out schedule is pretty intense, but I think if I can get into a routine, I will be alright.  The good thing about the trainer is she is teaching me exercises I can do on my own so I won't have to rely on her being there all the time.  This will be immensely helpful once I do find a new job and get into a schedule that probably won't be as flexible as mine currently is. 

Update

Well quick update.  Things have been going well so far.  I've been watching what I'm eating.  I haven't cheated (too much).  I've gone to the gym/worked out everyday so far minus Sunday but spent 3 hours walking around Home Depot.  That has to count for something right?  I'm drinking my 64oz of water pretty consistently.  Also I signed up for 3 sessions with a personal trainer at the gym.  It was a promo they are running so I'm gonna check that out and see how I like it.  Ill weigh myself on Monday morning and see how I've done.  

Happy ∏ Day

This is Hard and Phirm. I just saw them when I was in Nashville and their intellectual humor had me rolling. Happy ∏ Day.

A promise to myself

I made a promise to myself.  I am going to get healthy, lose weight, and be a happier person. I work in Student Activities at a small liberal arts college.  This means a lot of late night meetings, events, and other stuff that pop up because our jobs revolve around student schedules.  As a result, I have become very lax in taking care of myself.  In addition to my schedule, I would rather play video games than go to the gym, or help my wife in the garden or do other physical activities which would help me be in better shape.  Basically I am a lazy bastard. 

Despite my laziness, leading up to my wedding I had lost a tremendous amount of weight, and I had never felt better in my life.  I was doing Weight Watchers, and I think attending the meetings and having an opportunity to hear other people really helped with the weight loss.  Well due to the overwhelming success, my hubris kicked in and I thought why pay the money for WW, when I've learned everything I needed to, I can do this on my own.  So I quit weight watchers and did ok for awhile, but I have nearly put all the weight back on.  Two times I have tried to return to Weight Watchers but their programs were constantly changing it seemed like and I was not really having the success I had the first time.  I was a defeated person. 

I went to conference for Student Affairs professionals in mid-February, and one of the sessions I attended was about making time for yourself.   The person who led the conference talked about how she made a performance plan to help her with her goal of losing weight.  I had a similar goal, and created my own performance plan about how I was going to achieve this goal.  It was my plan that starting in March I was going to start going to the gym for atleast 20 min a day Mon-Fri.  I started a little late, but I went 4 out of 5 days so far this week.  I might go tomorrow because I feel like I cheated myself by skipping on Thursday.  In addition, the gym is offering a special for three sessions of Personal Training so I am going to try that out as well.   You see, I'm a weak willed person.  I need someone to hold me accountable or I usually will fail miserably.  I think this is why Weight Watchers worked well for me.  I think if I have personal trainer I will have that person there motivating me to keep going and hopefully call me out when I'm slacking. 

I'm not much of a blogger, but this could be a virtual outlet to hold myself accountable as well.  A documentation if you will of what I have been doing and successes and failures of my journey.  It is my hope that by August I will see a noticeable difference in my appearance and I will feel physcially better about myself. 

First sucess - I left work early, did some grocery shopping, then actually went to the gym and did cardio for 30 min instead of coming home and playing Warcraft.  I feel great now that my work out is done and will still have time to game! 

Philly Beer Week

Philly Beer Week (www.phillybeerweek.org) has been going on in and around the city since last Friday. It runs until tomorrow. For all you beer enthusiasts out there in and around the city, check out the website, as there are some pretty cool events.

Krista and I went out to a restaurant last night were they had tapped a Firkin of Troeg's Golden Nugget (a hoppy beer with an IBU of 93ish, that's pretty damn hoppy.) It was really exciting to get out and try a new place and some new beer outside of our old local microbrewery that we usually go to. We are thinking tomorrow of taking the train in and going event hopping as Philly Beer Week comes to a close.

We have been into good well crafted beers for a long time now. The local microbrewery that we go to has a mug club. Basically it is a membership card that you earn rewards for eating and drinking at the restaurant and you also get a ceramic 24oz mug to drink from for the price of a 16oz pint glass. Between the two of us, we have 10 mugs now. It's becoming quite the collection in our dining room.

Speaking of well crafted brews, as Spring approaches it will be time to bust out the brewing equipment once again. We have been brewing for almost two years now, the first being the favors for our wedding. Those were a Sam Adam's Boston Lager Clone and a Bass Ale Clone. We still have some and they seem to taste better every year. The following winter we made an Oatmeal Stout, which once again as its aging seems to taste better then when we first bottled it. This Christmas we made a Samuel Smith's Winter Welcome Clone for friends and family as part of a Christmas gift. Krista actually brewed that one on her own, I think I was out of town in Florida at the time. Finallly about a month ago we brewed a Cream Stout. I have yet to try this but I'm really looking forward to it. For Spring we are thinking we are going to do a Magic Hat #9, a not so quite pale ale. Krista really gets into the brewing as she likes cooking, and she likes beer, I'm more of an assist guy myself, for fear I would mess something up.

So if you are in or around Philly today or tomorrow check out the Beer Week. There a ton of restaurants and breweries participating, and it should be a really good way to start the weekend as Philly Beer Week draws to a close. Maybe we'll see you around.