Health Assessment Class

Wow, it has been a long and rough few weeks since I last updated you on my health status.

The workout, even the walking, has drastically disappeared in the last few weeks. I hope now that my first big event is over and things went well. I can again focus on working out, getting in shape, and eating healthier. In the next few days, I will be getting a nutrition plan from my student. Until then, I will try to workout and continue the walking.

Update on the weight loss...
10-week program I lost 17 lbs to put me at 190.
Two weeks ago I lost 2 lbs but this week I have gained one of those lbs back.

How are you doing?

KYR SCCA Event #2

Results from the first autocross of the season and unfortunately, I am not sure how many more I will attend. It's amazing how fast weekends fill up.

It poured to start the day, cleared off in time to race, and rained again to finish the day off. Here are my times in order of runs:
47.206
44.593
45.052
45.621
44.798

NO CONES - The car handled a lot better than I thought it would in the rain. I am in dire need of seat time to improve.

The winning G Stock time was 41.608.
28/34 in PAX
32/34 in RAW

Top 100 Places to Live - Lexington, Columbus

Relocate-America's™ Top 100 Places to Live in 2009

Lexington, KY ranks in the top 12 best places to live.

Did you know that in 2008, Lexington was ranked as the 2nd most educated city in the U.S. behind Seattle, WA? This comes from Business Facilities.

Did you know that Toyota is apparently a major employer of Lexington? Unfortunately soon Lexington is going to eat up all of the neighboring towns into a greater Lexington area.

Check out the blurb about Lexington for some other interesting insights.

A couple other interesting cities to me and my other readers in the top 100 include:
Columbus, IN (approx 20 miles south of Franklin)
Noblesville and Fishers, IN
Columbus, OH

Enjoy the reading and finding your next location to live!

What a Weekend

First of all thanks to all of those who allowed me to visit and/or stay with them this weekend. It was awesome to see each and everyone of you.

For those I did not see especially those ill, I hope you get to feeling better soon and do not worry as this story continues, you will see I will be back maybe sooner than later.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

Congrats and Best Wishes to Dr. French! He served Georgetown proudly for 33 years and all of his fellow humans will never forget the compassion and love he showed for each of his students. By the way class starts at 9:30 Naval Observatory Time, you better set your watches appropriately. It was wonderful to see and catch up with professors, staff, and alumni.

Saturday was my first experience of Thunder over Louisville at least that I can remember. I did not actually head downtown for Thunder, but I did catch it on the TV at my friends, RJ squared. It was a lovely production and maybe one day I will venture down to the river to witness it first hand.

Autocross season is HERE. Though a very rainy, rainy day, I enjoyed my first autocross of the season and am now trying to rationalize going to EKU next weekend. Or maybe I should check out the rest of the month and rationalize another event. Either way, I really do not know if I can wait until June to race again. Also if I plan on being in anyway competitive this season, I must practice.

My overall results were not stellar today. I finished 28 out of 34 cars with my second run being the best of 5. The car was quite impressive and stayed under me plus no cones were taken out. The braking before the turns seemed to be good but the line was not all that smooth. The key to improvement is practice and driving the car approximately 300 miles a month is not very good practice.

Children, Children, and more Children The cute little ones of all of my friends was a joy to be around this weekend. I definitely had a good fill of children this weekend though very glad when mom, dad, and grandma were around to take care of the dirty diapers. :-)

Those are just a few of the many highlights from this weekend.

Please keep me in your thoughts this week as I prepare for a large event on Saturday.

12 Loads of Laundry for 1 Person

The weekend is here. I am on call for work so what better thing to do but clean the apartment. It is now 8:30 pm and the work is almost done. It all started about 12:30 pm.

12 Loads of Laundry, only 9 loads for the dryer - Seriously, Yes
I asked myself the same question earlier today and so did my friend Pauline when I told her. But after examining the contents of the 12 loads, it does not seem as crazy.

Loads Contents
2 Sheets
1 Mattress Pad
1 Blankets
1 Towels
1 Fleece Jackets/Sweatshirts
1 Sweaters
1 Reds
1 Jeans/PJs
1 Lights
1 Darks
1 Underwear/Cleaning Rags/Workout Clothes

So really only 6 real loads of laundry for about 3 weeks, which is not too bad especially since some were small loads.

Anyone want to come visit now that the apartment is clean. Everything has been cleaned though there is still a bit of clutter around the apartment.

Dump Your Plump - Conclusion - 10 Full Weeks

10 Weeks of Dump Your Plump is over and I met my weight loss goal of 7 lbs and exercising at least 30 minutes 5 days a week was accomplished. It has all gone down hill the past two weeks, but hopefully next week I can get back into the groove. This week has been really busy with work and preparing for Easter.

After Week 10 - 190 (0 lbs)
After Week 9 - 190 (0 lbs)
After Week 8 - 190 (0 lbs)
After Week 7 - 190 (-1 lb)
After Week 6 - 191 (-1 lb)
After Week 5 - 192 (-3 lbs)
After Week 4 - 195 (0 lbs)
After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

Dump Your Plump - 8 Full Weeks In

Well, I did not gain weight this past week nor did I lose. I will take this considering my eating habits over the past week. I hope to engage in healthier eating for the last two weeks and see how much I can lose after 10 weeks.

Current weight loss 17 lbs.

After Week 8 - 190 (0 lbs)
After Week 7 - 190 (-1 lb)
After Week 6 - 191 (-1 lb)
After Week 5 - 192 (-3 lbs)
After Week 4 - 195 (0 lbs)
After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

Health Update

Well as I am sharing what I am doing to lose weight and become healthy, I figure I might as well share some of the other progresses.

On March 3, our insurance did a free blood draw (actually we got $25 for doing it). The results came in today and in comparing them to my cholesterol results from early December, there is some good progress though everything is still out of normal except HDL.

Total Cholesterol dropped 29.
HDL dropped 4 which puts it on the border of being too low.
LDL dropped 10.
Triglycerides dropped 73.
Glucose dropped 6.

Overall, the three month turn around is very exciting for me. I just hope everything continues to drop except HDLs.

Update 2: I am not feeling so great about this weeks Dump Your Plump progress. Life has been very busy, not necessarily stressful, but busy. And through that I have been doing a lot of snacking and eating things that I really shouldn't be. We will see how I survive the weekend and if I can get a bit more active, this weekend.

Update 3: The pants which I have purchased in the last 8 months because the others were no longer fitting. Are now the ones no longer fitting? I am being swallowed up in them, which is exciting though now I need to check out the closet and find the old pants that now fit. I am not comfortable with the fit yet of the size lower but hopefully a few more lbs and I will be less concerned.
Thanks for all the votes of confidence and congratulations!

How are your efforts going?

Health Assessment Classes 1 and 2

As mentioned previously, I have turned myself over to the FC Health Assessment class.

Class 1 was spent getting all the necessary background information. We had to complete some forms about our history and then have several tests taken. The calipers came out to measure our body fat in three different locations and the tape measured was used for the waist, chest, thigh, and arm measurements. The students also took our blood pressure and pulse. We got on scales that not only measured our weight but also did some sort of body max index. Then there was a hand held object as well that measured BMI.

Results were not so great. My blood pressure was a bit high though nothing too concerning. My body max index is high putting me in the obesity class III category. Goals outlined previously have been defined as attainable and we will be working on exercising and healthy eating.

Class 2 tested our cardiovascular health. After a warm-up and some stretching, we walked as fast as we could for a mile around the track. Then it was to the aerobic step blocks, which about killed me. The left leg is definitely is in need of rehab. After a short period, I could no longer lead off with the left leg, which resulted in my right leg tiring out faster as well. I made it the 3 mins of stepping but it was not strong. After each activity my pulse was taking and so we will see next week what the results of my cardiovascular health is.

Class 3 will be a strength test.

Dump Your Plump - 7 Full Weeks In

The pounds keep coming off though a bit slower than initially. I cannot complain too much because my eating habits have not been the best in the last couple of weeks. The munchies are taking over as I am working a lot and just have the munchies. The bowl of dark chocolate m&m's has disappeared a lot faster within the last week to almost emptiness. The bowl will most likely be empty by the end of this week at the current rate.

Tomorrow is back to health assessment class a full report to follow soon.

Current weight loss 17 lbs.

After Week 7 - 190 (-1 lb)
After Week 6 - 191 (-1 lb)
After Week 5 - 192 (-3 lbs)
After Week 4 - 195 (0 lbs)
After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

Whats your favorite flavor of popcorn?

How many flavors of popcorn have you ever seen or had? Well if you like popcorn and would like to try more, I have just the place for you. Even if you are not a huge popcorn fan, you definitely will be hooked after a visit.

Not Just Popcorn in Edinburgh, IN has over 240 flavors. Divided into 5 categories: Premium, Gourmet, Savories, Chocolate Covered, and Chicago Cheddar.

Today I tried several including Pina Colada, Amaretto, Chicago Mix (Chicago Cheddar & Caramel), Banana Split, Root Beer Float, Dill, Mexican Salsa, Extremely Blue Raspberry, Caramel, Key Lime Pie, and more.

I left with a FC tin of Caramel because I really couldn't decide what I wanted and the Chicago Mix was a bit too expensive. It definitely is not a cheap item to purchase but something nice every now and again. The smaller bags are a lot less expensive but they would never last long enough.

There is a large variety of tins to purchase and fill with popcorn. If you return with the tin, all future fills are 1/2 the original cost.

What else can you do in Edinburgh? Head to the outlet malls and not too far out of the way on your way to Franklin you can see the grave in the middle of the road. Additionally, there are many wineries close, hiking, and an old movie at the ArtCraft in Franklin. I enjoyed great entertainment tonight and saw the all time classic "Hoosiers". So let me know when you would like to visit.

The Skullbuster Rally

Another event on last weekends schedule was a Road Rally. The first rally in several years and the skills were a bit rusty, especially at the beginning.

The Skullbuster Rally was a Time Speed Distance rally in northern Scott County, which actually went through Skullbuster, KY. G and I paired up once again to work on defeating the men's teams as well as all others. The skills as mentioned earlier were a bit rusty and sleep deprived, but that did not matter as we still finished 2nd. We defeated all the teams we really sought out and will look to improve in the future.

Definitely had some eventful moments with 2-3 missed turns and one navigator second guessing, which resulted in a couple minutes loss plus a potty break. All worked out as I was able to correct our time and purchase a time allowance to keep us inline for a victory. I try hard not to take time allowances but with a potty break there was not a whole lot of options.

Key things learned from this and past rallies:
- Remind driver to have gas in car.
- Keep driver from drinking too much before the event starts especially caffeinated beverages.
- I really need more sleep before starting and I'm definitely the nerd with the calculator and table for calculating :-)

I encourage you to try it out. If you like to drive and enjoy the country side, it can be fun times. The next event is a Gimmick rally which does not require time calculations like the TSD rallies. Unfortunately, I will not be in attendance as I have to be within 15 minutes of FC, but it should be a lot of fun. Check out the CKRSCCA website Rally Schedule.

Basketball Madness Before March

Last weekend was full of basketball.

Transylvania hosted the men's and women's HCAC Division III basketball tournament, which was great but not great. Not great because Franklin men had a chance to host the tournament had they defeated Defiance the week before. Great because I was headed to Lexington anyway that weekend therefore I could actually watch the games.

Friday at Transylvania
- Franklin women were defeated by Transy in the semifinal game during the early afternoon.
- Franklin men revenged the loss to Defiance to gain a final berth.

I enjoyed watching the second half of the game, unfortunately I was unable to leave in time to watch the full game or the women play.

Saturday Basketball
The afternoon started off with a nice walk from Transy to Rupp Arena to watch the UK vs LSU game. Reminder section 231 is a standing section, but I had a wonderful time with friends and Father. Unfortunately, the end result was not so great.

Previous post mentions the great dinner I had at Sawyers before walking back to Transy in the sleet/freezing rain to watch the Franklin vs Transy men's game, again an exciting game but one with unfortunate results. Franklin loss at the end.

March Basketball
A blessing in disguise may be at hand. With all the work ahead of me, I have not been watching a lot of basketball minus last weekend and doubt a lot will be watched in the upcoming weeks. Therefore, I will not be saddened by the fact the majority of my teams will most likely be missing from the tournament and keep on losing. I wish them all the best.

GO TIGERS!!!! They play tomorrow in the championship of the NAIA MSC in Frankfort.

Dump Your Plump - 6 Full Weeks In

A little late on this post, but thought I would share quickly anyway. Last week I had a weight loss of 1 lb though I am pretty impressed with that after last weekends fun.

Friday, February 27 was a light day but Saturday, February 28 was nothing but unhealthy eating. It was quite delicious and savoring, but not so healthy.

Saturday the enjoyment of a bacon, egg, cheese bagel from McDonalds. Lunch at Galvin's in Georgetown for a semi healthy buffalo chicken salad w/ blue cheese. The kicker comes Saturday night with a lovely, delicious famous Sawyer's burger with bacon, provolone, mushrooms, ketchup, and mustard, along with some fries and a Bass.

At least, I did get some exercise on Saturday walking to and from Transy and Rupp along with lots of standing at the UK/LSU and Franklin/Transy games more on that in another post.

Sunday included a wonderful breakfast at Alfalfa's but again not the healthiest. 3 blueberry/blackberry griddle cakes, over easy egg, bacon, and fruit. I did try kiwi for the first time. It is a very sweet fruit.

Well that is last weeks update. This weeks update will be forthcoming after Monday.

Current weight loss 16 lbs.

After Week 6 - 191 (-1 lb)
After Week 5 - 192 (-3 lbs)
After Week 4 - 195 (0 lbs)
After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

Try to forget...Duke vs UK 1992

A quick check of the latest local news in Lexington resulted in the following article New Ad Features Laettner, Pitino.

Health Assessment Class - Starts Thursday

The next item on the agenda for becoming healthier is participating in an FC Health Assessment class. They asked for volunteers to work with the undergraduate students and so I decided to take them up on the offer for a free health assessment and more.

My portion of the class starts on Thursday. TT will be assessing my health and helping me meet my goals. Here are the goals I look to set and accomplish by the end of May:
- Weight loss (Need to be advised at what is realistic)
- Increased Flexibility (Able to touch my toes without feeling the stress in my legs.)
- Run a 5K without dying.
- Improve my cholesterol and the various components of it.

I will continue to update you on these goals as well as the Dump Your Plump status. In ways they will start to overlap one another at least for the next 5 weeks until Dump Your Plump is over.

Good Luck on your health goals! Stay positive and keep looking towards a positive outcome!

Dump Your Plump - 5 Full Weeks In

With five more weeks to go, it is exciting that my large pants are starting to fall off of me and the next size is starting to fit a little less snug. I have met my initial goal of 7 lbs and hope to maintain a nice consistent weight loss for the remaining 5 weeks. I look forward to the day that I can truly fit back into my latest wardrobe and maybe eventually fitting into some clothes from the wardrobe prior to that one.

Current weight loss 15 lbs.

After Week 5 - 192 (-3 lbs)
After Week 4 - 195 (0 lbs)
After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

25 Random Things About Me

For those on Facebook, you may have already seen these, but for those not, I thought I would share with you what the rest of the world has learned about me this past weekend. For more information about the goal of the list, read details below the list.

1. My current car is 6 years old and has 137,000 miles (22,800 mi/year). Over half of those miles (78,000) were put on within a two year span. The car currently sits in great neglect lucky to move more than once a week, but it still has great adventures to see family and friends. Most friends say I am never in one place maybe that is true, maybe it is not. I do enjoy a nice drive through the countryside.

2. The trunk of my car contains a large blue Rubbermaid container (contents: a matte black Snell certified helmet, tarp and blanket, jumper cables, air compressor, window cleaner, paper towels, de-icer, sunscreen, Sahara Sombrero, blue chalk, flashlight), two folding chairs, magnetic numbers and letters (during the summer), spare tire, and spare tire tool kit.

3. From the age of 3 through 7th grade (10 years), I took dance lessons (tap & ballet with a few years of jazz, toe, and summer acrobatics/trampoline). I know this is shocking to those who have ever seen me attempt to dance or keep a beat/rhythm because I can’t.

4. My current job is the start of my second professional career. After spending six years as a web developer, application programmer, and database administrator, I left the technology field to pursue my desires to work with young people and help develop strong leaders in all aspects of our community.

5. I over analyze everything including the creation of this list.

6. While spending two months in Western Australia (Perth), I played basketball for the Lakeside women (Western Australian State Basketball League, second-tiered semi-professional basketball league), coached an under-9 boys basketball team, learned to kick a footy, had a kangaroo eating out of my hand, worked with the youth of the church and local schools, fell in love with Tim Tams, and much more.

7. One of the weirdest/strangest things I have ever eaten was fried cow’s blood in Puerto Rico.

8. August 1993 included a 24+ hour bus ride to Denver, Colorado for World Youth Day. I saw Pope John Paul II and still have the bandana that a kind soul gave me on the sick bus.

9. Photography is a great passion of mine. I stopped taking as many pictures years ago because I always felt like people were looking at me funny. A camera use to be attached to my every move and everything was documented. To give you an idea of my crazy picture taking: Australia 600 plus film pictures in 2 months and Ghana 2,100 plus digital pictures plus several rolls of film pictures in 2 weeks.

10. A dream of mine since freshman year of college is to have my own black & white dark room. I received honorable mention for an experimental black & white photograph in undergrad.

11. I am a pack rat rarely ever throwing anything away. That is why there are boxes and boxes of items waiting to go into scrapbooks from college years to friends’ weddings and baby showers.

12. Current collections include shot glasses, postcards, key chains, porcelain dolls, UK basketball posters, bibles, and money (state quarters, pennies, foreign currency). Collections not as frequently added to these days include pencils, pens, unicorns, stamps, baseball cards, NASCAR collectibles, and books (most have not been read).

13. Christmas is my favorite holiday and winter my favorite season. (I love the beautiful white snow outside.)

14. Often times, my first experience at events will never be topped by future experiences.
First NCAA basketball game 1994 SEC Championship game in the Pyramid, Memphis, TN, Kentucky defeated Florida. We had seats about 10 rows up from the floor across from the UK bench.
First NCAA football game UK vs #1 LSU 2007 in Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington, KY. I had seats in the end zone right in the middle of the LSU Indianapolis Alumni section. (Very nice fans to those of us wearing Wildcat blue.)

15. Would you like to catch me on IM? You probably can from any medium (ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GMail, Facebook) you use and some may have never known of their existence. Am I missing any?

16. Summer of 1998 included the creation of my own personal website and unlike today, I had to actually figure out HTML and design the site. There was also a cool little chat feature (at the time) that I added to the site to talk back and forth with friends.

17. The one thing you will always find in my refrigerator is cheese. Yes, I am 100% addicted to cheese and working very hard to reduce the intake. There is a crisis when the refrigerator is without cheese.

18. Snooze once upon a time was not in my vocabulary or in arms reach. I truly was a morning person except on Saturday’s. Then summer of 1998 happened and 12 hour shifts at campus safety on weekends. Life has never been the same and snooze has turned into two alarm clocks.

19. I have partaken in homecoming festivities at Georgetown College every year since I started in 1996, only missing the last two Songfests.

20. So the second of the 25 in this list still has you perplexed as why I have a helmet, magnetic numbers and letters, and blue chalk in my trunk. These are all necessary things in order to autocross or solo on a Sunday afternoon. Quick: Cones are setup in a pattern in a parking lot and cars are individually timed.

21. Besides autocross, I also love to road rally and am one mean navigator. Quick: Each team is given a set of directions to navigate through the countryside at or below speed. The goal is to hit hidden controls exactly on time based on speed and distance.

22. The first thing that pops in my mind when someone talks about skiing is water skiing not snow skiing. I spent my entire childhood on the lake water skiing and finally learned how to slalom ski in college before going on hiatus for the past 9 years.

23. The conclusion and beginning of a new year of life must be celebrated to its full extent no matter the year. Therefore I love to celebrate and wish others a Happy Birthday.

24. Many are scared of the dentist but I am not as the worst thing to happen to me at the dentist was getting my four wisdom teeth cut out. (Knock on wood) I have never had a cavity.

25. If you like to play cards, board games, and other logic/analytic games, you have found a friend who will play about anytime, anywhere. But if you are interested in video games, charades, trivia, and related games, then definitely do not call me. Also I should warn you that I am a competitive individual.

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Apparently, you're supposed to write a note of 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. Then, tag 25 people. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(To do this, go to “notes” under tabs on your profile page, paste these instructions in the body of the note, type your 25 random things, tag 25 people - in the right hand corner of the app - then click publish.)
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Dump Your Plump - 3 Full Weeks In

Wow...the weight keeps coming off to my great surprise. I am a bit concerned about the upcoming weekend and following week because I will be on call for the first time since this journey started. On-call means being up late and really not wanting to get up in the morning. But I will report back next week with an update, good or bad.

Current weight loss 12 lbs.

After Week 3 - 195 (-4 lbs)
After Week 2 - 199 (-2 lbs)
After Week 1 - 201 (-6 lbs)
The Start - 207

Thanks to all those who overtime have helped motivate me! Soon I will start actually running and maybe compete in a 5K with you. Give me a target date.

For my readers or just my personal notetaking...

Do I have any readers left? I feel the answer to be no, but surely there is one or two of you still out there. My latest posts just do not seek any comments or thoughts from those avid readers :-) Maybe, I can trick myself into believing that people are reading but like me are scanning quickly and have little time to comment. Whatever it is, I hope someone is enjoying my posts.