2008: Epilogue

What kind of blogger would I be if I didn't do a recap of the year? Well I guess since I've never done this before, not a very good one. I hearby declare that 2008 was my last year of sleep walking.

Me
I started out the year doing my best to get over the Flu - which I did - however having the Flu kept me down for much longer than just the time it took to get over feeling like I was going to die at any moment (classic flu symptoms dramatized here for maximum effect). As a matter of fact starting the year out with the Flu left me weak for a good 4-6 weeks and I didn't do much of anything physically for all of that time. One would think that I would have been anxious to get back into the "Swing" (no pun intended) of things but I didn't and I really spent much of 2008 on what I will charitably term a sabbatical from most all exercise.

In April, I trained quite abit, and abit too late to get in shape for the Austin (read closer to Johnson City) Muddy Buddy and ended up compromising my immune system and catching a good cold.

In May I became one half of the team that came in next to dead last in our age category for the Austin (read closer to Johnson City)Muddy Buddy. The team that came in behind us didn't finish.

In July, I decided I would start running again and promptly hurt my knee. I had no base to build upon and, coupled with being 40 or so pounds overweight, therefore had no right to expect my body to respond any other way than it did. That's right I'm back up to 233 (from 193). My new reality television show "El Gordo y La Flaca" is set to begin filming any day now. Not really, I needed to do something about my weight but it would be another six months before I would get serious.

In September, the hurricane we were long overdue for, Ike rolled through Houston, luckily we made it through with little damage. I took my wife and daughter and actually spent our "Hurrication" week up in Frisco with relatives. I found out that our house seems to be on the same power circuit as the Emergency Transponder tower, just outside of our neighborhood (can you say "SELLING Feature"), and according to neighbors who stayed behind we were without power for only about 6 hours. Others were not as fortunate.

In October finally decided to get off my butt and start some exercising again. However, it was slow and tedious and I was consuming way to many empty calories - including beers during football and soccer games. Read between the lines here - that's 3-6 hours on my butt on Saturday watching a Dynamo and then a Longhorns game, then 3-6 hours on Sunday depending on wether or not the Cowboys or Texans had a Monday night game. Then let's not forget Sunday night or Monday night if the Bears or the Steelers were on. * Apologies to Jen, Chris Sims, Ahmard Hall, Michael Griffin and Bo Scaife here - I'd like to be a Titan's fan but there's a Television bias in the Houston market plus if I'm going to make the effort I want to see Vince or Chris at the helm.

One thing in October made my weight issue screechingly clear again. For Halloween my daughter wanted to be Curious George so I decided to be "The Man in the Big Yellow Hat"...make that (Jake and the Fat Man) in the big yellow hat - the pictures (thank God someone took some) were a good dose of reality for me and by this time I was well up into 240's territory

I had a really great November. Thanksgiving with the family including my Parents and one nephew at the Farm with both Sister-in-Law's and their families. Every time I get together with family, especially around the holidays, I feel energized to go out and do good in the world. It sounds cheesy, but it's really great. I hope that others find their way out of the ostrich in the sand routine from time to time. I also decided to begin training for a (May 2009) marathon in November - not sure if I'm going to do that or not - I'm still training - just not sure if I'm actually going to run in a sanctioned marathon or not.

In December, my wife and I finally found time to open the bottle of Cava that had been aging for the past year. I bought this bottle on what turned out to be great advice, by the way in December of 2007. I didn't know then that within the next 3 weeks my wife would have literally escaped dying in the hospital and I'd be hit with the flu the day she got out. So for New Years 2008 it ended up being me and the cat on the couch while my wife stayed with friends for a week. It's strange but our friends were much more receptive to taking in my wife (our daughter stayed with my parents) for a few days than taking me and my flu. Back to the Cava (The label was "Aria") Now most champagne I've ever had, including some of the pricer labels is crap. This was very different I'll describe it as a fair to good white wine with bubbles - we enjoyed it watching Dick Clark's rockin' New Years Eve and went to bed. I evacuated the air from the bottle and we had the remainder in Mimosa's with brunch on New Years day.

The blog
This blog has gone under some transition too. But not as much as it's going too. I have recently decided to start bringing work home with me .. not in the literal sense but I'm a career programmer...at this point I'm rather like an ASME Master Mechanic who refuses to work on his own cars. On the other hand I've always kind of stood by the maxim that a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client - however, I'm definitely moving this blog from where it sits I'll still figure a way to link content to/from here. I'm thinking of moving it over to Orcsweb and then porting the content to Graffiti after reading about the experiences of a fellow blogger.

What's in store for 2009?
Someone pointed me in the direction of Dax Moy - and I'd like to thank them publicly for that if I could only remember who it was.

I have a few goals for 2009 that I'd like to publicly share, if for no other reason than to really commit to it. I'm sort of fat at this point and I'm tired of the roller coaster of weight game. It's time to get serious and stay serious. I'm commiting right here to losing 20 pounds in the next 90 days. Right now I'm at 233 and losing 20 pounds in thereabouts of 12 weeks isn't going to kill me. Actually I want to lose 40 and maintain around 193 by the end of 2009 but for the first 100 days or so 20 pounds is doable and that's what I'm committing too.

I'd also like to read more. It seems that I only read 6 or 7 books in 2008, and that's pathetic. At the rate that my book list is growing, I'll never read all that I want. So far 99% of the books on my list are about software development, and I'd like to change that. I'm committing right now to complete the RLF 2009 Book List. I have been intrigued by this daunting task for the past few years - well this year I'm going to take the plunge and do it. It's three books a month and a discussion group the last week of each month.

I'd like to do a long series of posts, concerning my Spiritual, Physical, Professional, Intellect, and Social growth. It still remains my all time most popular motivator to put my goals and progress out in the open. I haven't honestly done this in probably a good 10 years. I've learned a lot about life since then.

I'm also going to get back into guitar. In 2008 I really didn't play more than once a month, and it shows. My fingers are soft, I've forgotten how to play many songs, and I've definitely lost my technique for fingering. It's all chords now. I'm looking at purchasing a new electric guitar to help give me the nudge.

So long 2008, in retrospect, you were a great motivator for 2009.