Halloween, Halloween, Trick or Treat

Katy was a princess for Halloween. She had told us quite awhile ago that that was what she wanted to be, so Kendra had purchased the princess outfit. Recently, when she couldn't make up her mind about what she wanted to be, I would help direct her back to the princess outfit: you want to be Dorothy the Dinosaur? How about Dorothy the Dinosaur dressed like a princess? You want to be Dora? How about Princess Dora? You want to be a kitty? How about a kitty princess? We had the costume, and gosh-darn-it, she was gonna wear it one way or another.



It was, of course, cold and rainy for trick or treating, but my little princess was excited anyway. I left a bowl of second-rate candy on the porch; I was saving the good stuff for distribution by Katy and me when we finished with her outing. We headed toward Claire 'n Abby's house, since there was a small group from the neighborhood going trick or treating together. I grabbed a picture of all the girls sitting together on the stairs in their various outfits, then we were off.



Initially, Katy wanted me to come up to the door with her, but she quickly got the hang of trick or treating and it was easy to encourage her to run up to the door herself or with the other girls. At this age, the concept of "together" is still pretty loose and the girls would sometimes be at a house begging for candy at the same time, while other times they'd be at different houses as someone would fall behind or someone would run ahead.



I tried to encourage Katy to hang back with Abby a little, since she is younger and was very clingy to Ron, her dad. Eventually, we had to split up, since Ron and Abby had to go catch up with Claire and Katy was ready to get back to our house. At her age, there still isn't the overwhelming need to hit every house at Halloween. As we were walking back home, we were passing by houses that we had not stopped at: when I would ask if she wanted to stop on the way, she said no, that she had enough candy.



At home, the second-rate candy was still about half-full, so I brought it in and mixed in "the good stuff." I sorted through Katy's candy to find stuff that she could eat, and then we sat on the stairs and waited for trick or treaters. As generous as I try to be with the candy, Katy makes me look like a scrooge: she would scoop candy with both hands and cheerfully distribute it to the masses.



About 7:15 or so, there was only a little candy left and it was pretty gloomy and rainy, so I turned off the light and Katy and I went to visit her preschool teacher, Miss Linnea; Linnea had sent home a note saying that she'd love to see the kids in costume and that any of the kids who were in the area were welcome to come and trick or treat. We arrived at the same time as her classmate, Gwen, did. After we went upstairs to her apartment, another classmate, Lizabeth, arrived. The kids had their pictures taken and got some candy and were excited to give the dog treats.



We got home after 8pm, at least fifteen minutes after Katy should have already been in bed sleeping. Halloween is a special occasion, though. She got ready for bed like she always does, we read a book and she happily went to sleep, likely thinking / dreaming about all the fun we had. It was a good Halloween for both of us.

Swimtime and the Floating Enemy

Tuesday evening was Katy's first swim lesson. She has always loved swimming and been fearless when it comes to the water. For example, in Jamaica, when she would tumble off of the lounging mat and would be underwater for a second before I'd retrieve her, she be smiley and laughing when I brought her up. Well, being fearless is one thing, but we felt is was important that she be able to back up her fearlessness with some awesome swimming skills.

We arrived at swim much earlier than needed; I wasn't sure how long it would take to pick her up from school and get to the Y and change, so we ended up waiting around for about 25 minutes! It wasn't all bad; the wait helped build excitement for the swim class. And, I think it helped that I took her to the edge of the pool a couple of times to give her a quick dunk. :)

The first sign of trouble arose when the kids started lining up for the class; they were all grabbing a little flotation device that strapped to their backs. When Katy saw this, she immediately told me that she "didn't need one" and didn't want to wear one. I told her not to worry and that she wouldn't have to put one on unless/until a teacher told her that she needed one.

The instructors then split the kids into two groups: the experienced "Pikes" (the younger group) and the "Eels" were in one group and the new "Pikes" were in the other group. Katy and two other kids were in the new kid group. Inevitably, all the kids in both groups had to put on the floaties. Katy was screaming and crying and really carrying on about having to wear one, but I eventually just put it on her and then the instructor picked her up and comforted her in the water.

The instructors must experience bugged-out little kids fairly frequently, because "Miss Sue" was able to quickly calm Katy about the whole experience. After the kids got used to the floaties on their backs, they added two extra yellow arm floaties that they all wore, too. Then, they started swimming with the floats on. It was amazing to me to see how quickly and easily Katy took to swimming. Sure, she is being propped up by floats, but she was able to propel herself quite a distance fairly quickly.

Well, I was sure Katy was over the floatie issue when, from half a pool-length away, she called out to me, "Daddy, I like the floatie now. The floatie's OK now." After the class was done, she asked me, "Please, five more minues?" I told her that I was glad that she liked it and that we would do it next week, but that the teachers said it was done for today. She was cool with that.

I am glad that she still likes the water as much as she used to and that she is so ready to swim. I am relieved that she got over having to wear the floatie, too. I tried to use it as an example of how she should trust that Daddy is not going to suggest something that isn't good; we'll see if I can remind her of this the next time she is freaking out about something meaningless. :)

After swimming, of course, we still went swinging for a little bit before bed. The extra missing pieces arrived in the mail, so I was able to attach the rings and the hand-holds for climbing. I'll probably install the extra anchors in the next couple of days.

Tonight is Halloween, so there might not be much time for swinging, but we'll see. Katy is going as "Princess Dora." We bought her a princess outfit a while ago, but she recently has been saying she wanted to be "Dora." So, I suggested "Princess Dora": the "Dora" part will be that she will say "Gracias" for the candy instead of "thank you." ;)

The Swingset Adventure

Katy has been asking about a swing set of her own for several months now. As the days have passed, she has become progressively more aggressive about it. Well, it was her fourth birthday a couple of weeks ago, and Kendra and I decided that she would finally get a swing set. When I heard that Grandpa Carl was coming to visit this weekend and wanted to help with the swing set, I knew it was time to get one.

Last weekend, Katy, Kendra and went to Menard's and picked out a swing set. During the course of the week, I tried to get as much prepped prior to Carl's visit. I borrowed a chop-saw from my buddy and co-worker, Jason, cut all the wood to length and started the assembly of the pieces. There wasn't much time on Saturday to work on the project, but that night, I made the roof and the two sides that, when combined, become the tower.



Sunday, I needed to buy one more 2x4x8 to support the gray "climber", so I ran back to the store. While I was shopping, Katy and her grandpa moved all of the cut wood, tools and play-pieces outside to the planned location. Then, Carl and I moved the large pieces I assembled out of the walkout basement where I constructed them and into the backyard.



Shortly after we started, Katy was already asking if I would push her on the swings. It took all day, and multiple swaps of the battery for the drill, but we finished. By the end, she was crazy excited: hanging off me, wanting to climb on it, wanting to swing. She was very cute for the duration.





We were short a couple of pieces, but I went back to Menard's and asked about them during lunch today. We were missing a two lag screws, eight pan screws and two short chains (for the rings.) Apparently, the company that manufactures these swing sets, Playstar, is very good: the guy helping me called them and told them what I was missing; they talked to me, took my name and are Fed-Ex-ing the materials to my home.



The entire process took about a week and much of the prep-work can be done by one person. The assembly process took all day on Sunday, but went much faster than if we had to cut everything as we needed it. It was a fun time, and it is a good feeling of accomplishment. A big thanks goes to Grandpa Carl: without his help and expertise, I seriously doubt that I would be posting about a finished swing set right now.

Reworking the Site

I am going to take some time to try to update the layout of the site. Some of the links might not work for awhile as I screw around.

As you can see, the site has a completely different look to it. When I first started my blog, I did a couple of pretty neat things. However, as time progressed, the neat things I was doing was making it difficult to add the even neater features, such as comments, that Blogger was adding.

Also, some aspects of the site were becoming outdated. The original blog I had here, the Silly Monkeys, was made with the intent of all my friends posting there. And, they did. However, as time went on, the interest faded and now it seems silly to even allow the option of it being a start page. I do intend on adding a link for posterity's sake, as well as the remote possibility it may yet be used again.

I think I will still put some thought into modifying the template so that I can change the look of the site without republishing everything.

In the mean time, give the comment system a try. :)

The Half-a-Sandwich Plan

As someone who has lost a modest amount of weight by obsessively counting calories, I have an insight into certain things that most people might not notice. Several of these insights are with regard to dining at restaurants, the most important being portion size.

Everywhere I eat, it seems that the caloric values of the food being served per person is much, much too high. An example is a burger with fries; regardless of which place you are eating, if it is a chain restaurant like Chilis, then you should expect a meal that consists of about 1300 calories, and that is without considering any additional condiments you might add after (like ketchup or ranch.) On my diet, both past and present, I have set a caloric intake value of 1500 per day. Thus, if I want to eat out, I have to know ahead of time and eat only minuscule amounts the remainder of the day, or the other option I have recently adopted: eat only half and take the rest home.

Even if not on a diet, I'd be amazed if it could be shown that anyone actually needs to consume 1300 calories at one meal. Mathematically, most men probably need no more than 2500 per day. If you eat 1300 in one meal, you are left with only 1200 for the rest of the day. So, while it is doable, the meal would necessarily be huge (more than twice as much) as each of the other meals for the day (assuming three meals). Eating out twice in one day (which happens frequently to those who travel for business) means eating more calories than one needs. And, most people like to snack at various points along the day, which becomes trickier.

A reasonable strategy is the one I listed above: eat only half the meal. A good rule of thumb is: if you are looking at your plate and think it looks like enough food, it is likely more than you need. If it looks like it isn't enough, then you are likely eating the right amount. Half a meal always looks too little, but it is plenty big enough. Take the other half home and eat it for dinner or lunch the next day. Or, if you really don't care for leftovers, either split with someone or just throw it away. Remember, it isn't a waste if you really don't need the food. I have had some limited success with convincing the guys I go to lunch with that we might consider ordering one thing and splitting it between two. If enough people did this, I am certain restaurants would change their portion sizes accordingly. Until that time, I am content to get a half-off deal on all my lunches.

I wonder why portion size is so ridiculously large in the US? I suspect it has to do with the concept of getting your money's worth: the more you get the better the deal. It also likely has to do with the cost of food to the restaurant: food is cheap, but the markup on it for being served is significant, and even more of a markup can be included if a larger portion is served. It might also have to do with the balance of quantity and quality: when I eat at the nicer restaurants, the portion size always seems much more reasonable.

As I briefly insinuated above, I have taken up my caloric restriction again; I had stopped keeping track and found it was very easy to return to my old ways of eating. A couple of months ago, I decided I needed to re-do my diet before it got way out of control. At 200 lbs, I wasn't even close to approaching my original pre-diet starting weight of 230 lbs, and I have already dropped back to a more reasonable 186 lbs. My intent is to get my weight to 180 lbs and then schedule my yearly free "healthy checkup" with my doctor. At that time, I'll discuss what a reasonable weight for me is. According to BMI, I'd need to drop to about 170 lbs to be at the top of the "normal" range, but BMI isn't a very accurate way to determine if you are at your ideal weight.

A Group of Updates

I went to a wedding several weeks ago, and one of my old friends there mentioned that he enjoyed my infrequently updated blog. So, this is for you, Mike. :)

At Work

Work has been dying down a litte now. At least, from my perspective. The big rush on the HD project has mostly been resolved, with the only issue being something outside the scope of what I am working on. So, I've been moved onto another project, one which is going to be vacant of people soon, since the last person working on it is going to be deployed to Iraq in a couple of months. This new project is much smaller and has had fewer people working on it, but there are a number of things that need to be resolved. It will be a nice change moving from bug fixing to more general problem solving / design.

Biking

I've become the crazy biking guy at work. There is a nature preserve, Al Sabo Land Preserve, near my house. Well, I had my bike serviced at the local bike repair shop and also bought a bike rack for my car. Since it takes about five minutes to get to the trails, I will often go after I put Katy to bed (when Kendra is home, of course.) I have actually gone enough now that I have lost track the number of times I've been there this year. I've also encouraged my group of co-worker/friends to come join me on Sunday nights at 6:30 for a biking excursion together there. The response has been much more favorable than I thought it would be, and there are about five-six of us that will meet. So far, the largest turn out and one time has been four. I think we will be short one person for awhile, since my boss wiped out and smashed his knee up pretty bad. :(

My best record is 28.58.40 for the first lap, 26.21.25 for the short lap and a total 55.19.65.

Gaming

I used to wonder why anyone would be excited about a portable gaming device, namely the Nintendo GameBoy; it always seemed like there would be limited opportunity to play it, since you really are only going to play while you are away from home. If you were at home, why wouldn't you just play a console hooked to a TV? Well, my eyes have been opened to the wonder and beauty of portable gaming devices, namely the Nintendo DS. The thing I overlooked was that the answer to when and where you are going to play isn't "when you are away from home, sometime" it is, "everywhere." I spend a bunch of time on "my little game" and even will screw around with it while we are watching something "light" on TV. Mucho fun.

Books

Well, I was able to actually drag myself away from my DS for several days when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out. Since I was afraid of encounter spoilers online, posted by a**holes, I took a break from the internet until I was done. Without revealing anything, I'll say it was a decent ending, but I really enjoyed the first five books more than the last two. These last two seemed to really be written with the intent of them being made into movies.

I've borrowed a book from one of my biking / Guild War playing co-workers, Matt, called "the Zombie Survival Guide" by Max Brooks. It is an amusing read, since it takes the threat of an attack from zombies very seriously. I wouldn't call it a hilarious book, but it is a fun read due to the subject matter.

I have a couple of books from one of my neighbors, the Hyperion series. I will probably take a quick read of those once I'm done with the zombie guide.

Resolutions and Such

Looking back at last year's resolutions, I realize that they were a bit too ambitious and I didn't even follow my own resolution rules. At any rate, let's revisit my previous resolutions and evaluate them, shall we?

1. Read 26 books this year - While I did read more this year than previously, including several good novels such as Greg Bear's Moving Mars and Asimov's Foundation trilogy, the expectation that I would be able to go from nearly zero to a book every two weeks was, perhaps, unrealistic. Although, I did accomplish my resolution from two years ago.
2. Maintain and follow an elaborate To Do list - This wasn't very quantitative. I used a To Do list and a day planner for a good part of the year; did I succeed then?
3. Fiscal Responsibility -Not very specific or quantitative. In fact, it was so open-ended that I barely did anything with this.
   
4. Donate blood as often as possible to the Red Cross -Come on! What part of "specific" and "quantitative" don't you get, Andy? I didn't give blood at all last year, but it could still be considered "as often as possible," couldn't it?
5. Attitude adjustment -Not quantitative, specific or definitive. More like a half-thought out wish.

So, it is clear that the problem wasn't with my execution, but instead with the actual resolutions themselves. I'll try again this year and will update in a future post.

Time and Time Again

I haven't taken the time to bother writing here for quite awhile. While I really only do it as a type of public journal without any monetary benefit, there is a definite feeling that I should be posting more frequently. Certainly, the creation process is rewarding. Additionally, it is always interesting to me to hear about who has been reading this. And, I occasionally read through the archives, which stirs memories that I had not recalled for a long while. So, once again, I decide that I will post on a more frequent basis. :)

A Pleasant Adventure

Kendra and I have returned from our trip to Mystic, CT. We arrived on Thursday of last week and came primarily to attend the wedding reception of her brother (Steve) and his new wife (Mary). My father-in-law and his girlfriend were kind enough to allow us to stay in their guest bedroom.

In fact, Kendra's dad (Carl) really took extra steps to ensure that we had a good visit. Like last year when we stayed here, he was more than willing to watch Katy, getting up with her and playing with her so Mom and Dad could relax and actually enjoy a little vacation. Also, for the reception on Saturday, he arranged (ahead of time) for a babysitter to watch Katy after we decided that it was her bedtime and needed to go back to the condo, and even paid for her. All our food, lodging and babysitting needs were met, and easily exceeded my expectations. Carl's girlfriend (Anne) was equally helpful and accomodating. Thanks for the great trip!

The Bachelor Party that Almost Wasn't

My good pal Ryan is getting married soon, July 15th of this year. I am his Best Man, and with that honor comes the important responsibility of throwing a bachelor party. Ryan was in town for Memorial Day weekend and we had a good time, but there was a question about whether we would be able to have the party at all.

Initially, the plan was that Ryan and Liannea were going to start the drive on Friday with their dog, stay someplace in-between and finish the drive on Saturday, arriving sometime around noon or so. I planned accordingly, scheduling whirlyball for 4:00-5:00 and coming up with speculative plans for before and after.

Disaster struck, as the doggy got sick and had to be taken to the vet and boarded. Because of that, it was possible that they wouldn't start the drive until Saturday morning meaning that they would arrive sometime in the evening, well after the appointed whirlyball time slot I had available. After waiting around a while, I got a call from Ryan letting me know that they were going to fly out on Saturday and that they would be in some time around 3:30.

4:00 would still be cutting it too close, as 3:30 was just a guess at their arrival time, so I called the whirlyball place on Saturday at noon, as soon as they opened. I was able to easily change the time to 5:00; apparently whirlyball is not the first thing people think of when they are planning their Memorial day weekends (something about grilling or something...)

After whirlyballing, we went to a bar and played trivia and watched the Pistons lose to the Heat. Then, we went to Davey's house and played Texas Hold'em (just for chips, but still fun.)

The interesting thing was the old group re-assembled at the party - Jamie, Jason, David, Me, Ryan - were able to pick up with our relationships and conversations as though not a day had passed since we last got together like this. Heck, I hadn't even really chatted with Jason for a couple of years before I called him up inviting him to the party and we were having a blast with old jokes and new, the same as we ever did.

These are the times that I look back to fondly. For many people, college was the time they made lasting friendships; for me, high school is where I made almost all of the friendships that I hold most dear. I'll have to make more of an effort to see this people more regularly.

Kendra and the Car

My Lexus RX 300 has been leaking oil. More important than that, though, is that there is often blue smoke that comes out the exhaust when I start the car, meaning that the oil is not just leaking outwardly, but that something bad is happening internally. So, this week I began my quest to correct the issue.

Tuesday evening, I looked up a couple of different local mechanics using an on-line, consumer-reviewed database at CarTalk.com. Wednesday morning, I called these places only to discover that most mechanics are not interested/qualified to work on Lexus/Toyota vehicles. Twice it was suggested that I call the local Toyota dealer.

The Toyota dealer in town mentioned that they could look at the car, but anything involving possible recall issues had to be handled by an actual Lexus dealer. So, I called the nearest Lexus dealership (which was ~45 miles away) in Grand Rapids and set up an appointment with them for Friday at 1:00pm.

Since Kendra's scheduled allowed for more fluctuations, she agreed to take my SUV to the appointment. Apparently, this problem is not at all uncommon for the RX 300. New valve covers are needed for the engine. How much does it cost to purchase new valve covers and have them installed? I do not know, and fortunately do not need to care, since the Lexus, at ~66,000 miles, is still covered by the 70k warranty. So, there is another appointment a week from this Thursday for them to install the new parts.

I cannot express the degree of relief I feel. It is extraordinarily pleasant to be on the correct side of a close call. The lesson here is to avoid procrastinating; less than 4,000 miles more would have meant this would have come out of my pocket instead of being paid for by Lexus.

Movie Explosion

I like movies. Lately, I have not watched many. This is due to a number of reasons, mostly cost and time. Although, cost is not the primary factor in this equation; I have had several movies on DVD for years without watching them at no cost at all. So, time seems to be the biggest factor. With Katy around, our movie choices are limited; after she goes to bed our time is short enough to make any disagreement about which movie is to be watched a show stopper. There are circumstances that lend themselves to the viewing of movies, however.

This previous Saturday was my pal Ryan's bachelor party. I had some things set for sure (like Whirlyball), but I wanted to leave a number of our events open since Ryan was to be driving in from out of state. One of the things I was considering was for all of us to go see the new "X-Men III" movie. I have "X-men II" on DVD, and had it for years, but had never seen it. Since I didn't want to see them out of order, I watched it on Thursday night (I liked it). Well, plans changed and Ryan didn't get into town until later on Saturday, so that nixed the movie idea. But, seeing "X-Men II" put me into a superhero-movie-viewing mode; after we all finished playing Texas Hold'em at Davey's, Davey and I stayed up and watched "Spiderman II" (which I also liked).

On Sunday, we after lunch, David, Dad, Jenny and I went to see "X-men III" (which I enjoyed, but have mixed feelings about). So, I drastically increased the number of movies I have seen this year in one weekend.

Kendra and I intended to watch some shows or movies on DVD tonight, but found that we were maybe a little too busy to do it. Maybe this weekend? I always forget how much I enjoy watching movies and how they give me a little feel-good lift-me-up.

Obsession as a Good Thing

I find myself spending a great deal of time on things in which those around me cannot see the value. An example of one of these "time-wasting" behaviors would be my devotion to video games. When I start playing a game, I will often play the game non-stop, using all my free time until I complete the story or burn out on the experience. I think this compulsion, this obsession, is a part of me in other areas of my life as well, and it can be used toward my benefit.

If I can convince myself that I am interested in something, I can, occasionally, develop the same sort of obsession with that behavior as I would with one of my games. My latest example of this would be my interest in selling my car. I've meant to sell it for a while now, but the compulsion to do so was lacking. Now that I have convinced myself that I am interested in doing this, I have been spending my time thinking about and acting toward the completion of this goal. I need to get some maintenance done, so yesterday I located several different mechanics that I would call the next day. Today, I called the mechanics and set up an appointment. Since there is the potential that the mechanic (the dealer, actually) might be interested in the purchase of the car, I spent the evening emptying the junk out of the car and thoroughly vacuuming and polishing it. Tomorrow, I intend to call the dealer again and address some other concerns involving my car.

The trick is to complete the task (complete the story) before I burn out on the experience.

The First Time in a Long Time

I recently dug out my old Franklin Planner and printed daily and monthly pages to fit using Microsoft Outlook. I still intend to read the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People", which I believe incorporates the use of a planner, but until that time, I have come to try to use my own makeshift system.

I am pleased to say that I had a list of tasks that I had set for myself today and (this is where the title comes into play) actually completed all of them. While I've come close in the past couple weeks, today I actually took care to include only items that I really needed to accomplish mixed with a realistic handful of little things that needed doing.

Part of my success comes from the use of a type of running To Do list that may contain vague or specific tasks. Anything that is not completed can safely be bumped to the next day.

I am hoping that this will be the beginning of a more productive and accomplished Andy.

A Bit of This and That

Often I think of things on which I'd like to comment, going so far as to begin the composition of these elements in my head. Yet, I never seem to ever commit these thoughts to the electronic medium of my website. While many of those thoughts are long lost, I think I will attempt to remedy this by making shorter posts, but more of them. Look for a number of posts in the near future.

Old Year / New Year

The New Year's Eve plans seem like they will be just me and K hanging out at home, watching the South Park countdown to the New Year. And, the New Year will start off in an interesting way; we will be driving to Sterling Heights on the first to visit my family and to attend the funeral of my great uncle Louie on Tuesday. He was 89 so it wasn't a big surprise, but funerals really are never much fun. :( On a positive note, there are several family members who have never met Katy so it should be fun. And, I have never seen my cousin's baby, so I look forward to that, too.

Hmmm... it doesn't look like I'll get around to my resolution from this year. Honestly, it was poorly thought out and I didn't have much interest, or at least enough interest to bother with it. This year, some resolutions come to mind that are, perhaps, a bit more intersting to me. Some are more clearly thought out, while others are currently just vague thoughts to be developed later. So, without further ado, here is...

Andy's Resolutions for 2006

1. Read 26 books this year - I've always enjoyed reading. As a youngster, I would frequently read in bed before going to sleep. But, in recent years, I've found that I have spent less and less time reading as a leisure activity (which is, apparently, not uncommon for adults to experience once they leave school.) So, my thought is that I would like to read one book every two weeks. But, I realized that there may be times when I am reading a longer book or I have less time and cannot finish in two weeks. There will likely also be books that are shorter, or I have more time and will take less than a week. So, a book every two weeks translates to 26 books in a year and will likely be an easier resolution to keep.
   
2. Maintain and follow an elaborate To Do list - There are a number of little mini resolutions I wanted to include, but, after thinking about how I would accomplish these resolutions, it became clear that they would be redundant if I included the To Do list. At any rate, this past year I have already experimented with developing a spreadsheet to be used for To Do items. The hard part will be to maintain it and act on the items contained within. However, this resolution is the one that holds the most interest for me, so I suspect it will be my focus.
   
3. Fiscal Responsibility - Our financial situation changed once we had Katy and I really haven't been as big a part in processing the finances as I feel I need to be. The first part of this resolution will involve creating a budget in Quicken and making sure that Quicken is kept up to date. Additionally, I'll probably sell the Lexus and buy a more responsible vehicle. These two items are significant enough that it is difficult to currently evaluate what further actions will be taken upon their completion. So, I will leave it at that.
   
4. Donate blood as often as possible to the Red Cross - While we currently are in a situation where it is not a wise idea to part willy-nilly with funds, I would still like to be able to donate to charity. Thus, since I can generate blood for free, I might as well donate.
   
5. Attitude adjustment - I think that I've fallen into a kind of grumpy state. In the past, I used to be a very mellow, easy going guy. I am going to try to be that guy again. I'm going to aggressively pursue tasks that others request of me and consider it an honor to be asked instead of upset that I am stuck doing it. I am going to look for ways to do things to help others and do them. I am going to stop procrastinating and try to do things right away. This is, by far, the most vague, least defined, and least likely resolution to be completed, but I feel it needs to be included, at least as a reminder to me.
   

Well, there is less than an hour remaining before the New Year. I am going to get back to watching the South Park mini-marathon. Happy New Year, everyone. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Katy!

My cute little baby is two years old today! At first, she was a little uncertain about what to do with the presents, but it didn't take too long for her to learn that opening presents is fun. :) She has a little pretend grocery cart that she now loves; she has been pushing it around the kitchen and family room, "shopping" for groceries. She loves the little wash-puppets we got her, as well as the books, DVDs and Dora stuff. Tonight, when I get home from work, we will open her final present from Mommy and Daddy; a Dora game for the computer, her first video game. :) Although it is listed as being for children 3 and up, Katy seems to be a quick learner and I think she'll get the hang of it, with a little help from Daddy.

Although Katy is allergic to tons of stuff, Mommy was able to find cake mix and frosting that were allergen free. Katy hasn't had sweets before, so she is a little uncertain about the cake. Maybe we'll be able to get her to try some tonight. :)

TV and Such

I had been suggesting to Kendra that we might want to get the 1st season of Lost, since we both had been hearing about how good it supposedly is. Well, Kendra seemed a bit luke warm about the idea, so I let it drop. But, she surprised me and brought it home from Best Buy on Thursday. So, after watching our recorded television programs, Starved (which is hilarious) and Reunion (which could be good, but is too early to tell), we popped in the first disc. I definitely understand now what the "big deal" about this show is. It is very good and I recommend it to anyone looking for something interesting on TV. We only watched the first three episodes (Pilot 1, Pilot 2, Tabula Rasa) and already we are ready for more.

As mentioned above, I would also recommend watching Starved on FX. While the subject matter might be considered questionable, it is both interesting and funny. IT'S NOT OK!!!

A Business Trip

While I have been working at SPX for over two years now, I have only had to take two business trips. The first was while I was still a contractor and was doing some work on the Mercury project. The second was just a couple of weeks ago, and it was to finish integrating my portion of the J2534 project ( PassThruIoctl ) with the rest of the system.

Actually, we really didn't do much integrating. Instead, we finished developing the code and waited on a couple other developers to finish their stuff, too. So, we could have done most of the stuff during those two weeks back at the Portage office instead of traveling to Owatonna, MN. However, it was good to see the other office and was a nice opportunity to meet co-workers there, as well as get to know the co-workers I had traveled with.

Aside from missing my family and my home, the only other big problem was eating. I love eating out, but when you do it every day, you need a big variety. There were really only about five different restaurants that we went to regularly, so it got old pretty fast.

The best part of the trip was that it inspired me to try to take more of a leadership role at my company. After seeing that there is more at SPX than just the Harley project that I had been working on since I arrived, I woke up to the desire to be more than "just" a software developer. I spoke with my local Department manager and made my desire to be a project lead known. Happily, his response was warm and encouraging. The next step is to express this desire to my boss, who was on a business trip of his own recently (to present the results of the project I was working on.)

In the mean time, I am working on a new project, which will involve writing scripts in a proprietary language to interface with specific automobiles. Additionally, I am still the sole developer on the Harley project.

NaNoWriMo

The National Novel Writing Month is coming up pretty soon. It occurs every year (since 1999) in the month of November. From November 1st through Novemeber 30th, the participants in this event attempt to write a 50,000 word novel. While the resulting work is typically not pretty, it is a good start to actually completing a novel. And, at the very least, it is quite an accomplishment.

I mention this because I am inviting you, all of you, to join me this November in trying to accomplish this goal. It will give us a fun experience to share, plus maybe a little friendly competition / peer pressure. :)

Sign up begins October 1st. While you aren't allowed to start until Novemeber, you can create a timeline / character guide / other notes. The official prize is a pat on the back and the admiration of your peers (plus the story you can tell about writing a novel in a month. ) Won't you join me?

Don't worry about quality; we can take care of that in March. ;)

A Picture Share!

Whale statues like this one are scattered around the Mystic area.

A Picture Share!

Kendra & I passed this statue honoring Civil war veterans while shopping in Mystic. Grandpa was watching Katy. :)

Let's start blogging!

A Picture Share!

This is the drawbridge as seen from my father-in-law's.

Ancient Relics of Great Worth

This is another little post about video games, specifically older ones. Just a warning for those who might be looking for something more interesting.

A long, long while ago, when I would frequent places like Best Buy or Babbages, more often than not, I would leave with at least one game. What would often happen is that I would enjoy the game(s) for a bit, but then would have many to play without enough time to play them all. Some would, inevitably, get set aside and forgotten rather quickly.

Times have changed; I no longer purchase my toys as frequently, and when I do, they tend to be used and slightly older than brand new. Recently, I have stumbled upon a stash of forgotten games. While not exactly cutting edge, they are, as the saying goes, new to me.

Within the last couple of weeks, I've been playing a game my brother bought for me as a gift, shortly after I bought the PS2. Batman: Vengeance, a game by Ubi-Soft, had a couple of flaws, especially the camera control and unprecise jumping, but was a pretty good time.

Another oldie takes on a slightly different form. Ages ago (around 1994 or so), Davey bought me the RPG, Final Fantasy III for the Super Nintendo. Over the years, I have started this game over a number of times. Typically, I would get pretty far in the game and then would either tire of it or be forced into taking an extended break; when I would try to return to it, often months later, I could not recall what I was doing and would decide that I needed to start again. While I still have the game and SNES sitting in the basement, the practicality of setting it up doesn't really excite me. However, I found that I can play it on my computer now. With an emulator for the SNES and the Final Fantasy III, (or VI, as it was known in Japan) rom, I am able to play through on the computer with some features that were not available on the original. For example, there were only specific locations that you could save at when playing on the SNES, and you could only have up to three saves at a time. With the emulator, I can still use those saves as normal, but it is easier to use one of the ten available "save states" that is, essentially, a snapshot of the moment in the game. Thus, I can save at any point, without any restrictions, as well as reload at any point without long delays. Plus, it has a fast forward button that allows for speeding through movie sections that have already been seen. Very nice. When I finally finish, I'll also take a look at Dragon Warrior 1-4 for the original NES.

For the PS2, I still have "Silent Hill 3" and for the GameCube I have the LOTR:ROTK that I am borrowing from the sibs. So, the need for the new new games is much less.

Games and the Gaming Gamers Who Play Them

Lately, I have been playing a lot of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory for the XBox (in co-op mode with a friend online, since I've finished the solo campaign) mixed in with Spider-Man (which is actually a based on the movie) for the PS2.

Splinter Cell is a blast and my favorite series for the XBox, but I have been on a Spider-Man rampage. I borrowed it from the sibs on Memorial Day weekend and have finished it on the normal difficulty. One feature in games that I really enjoy is the ability "unlock" bonuses or secrets by accomplishing different things in the games; it extends the replayability of the game by giving additional goals asside from simply beating the bad guy at the end. In some games, you need to collect various hidden items, or earn enough money to buy the bonus goodies. In the case of Spider-Man, you get points based on various goals for each level. You will always get points for finishing the level, but to earn enough points to unlock the bonuses, you need to use a variety of attacks, and some levels have an added point bonus if you take no damage. The game is very well done. Some of the bonuses require finishing the game on the harder difficulty levels, so I started over and am playing through on "Super Hero" mode.

And, when I've exhausted both Splinter Cell and Spider-Man, I'll probably continue with the Sims 2 on my PC. What is interesting about the Sims is that you cannot really "finish" the game. Often described as a "sandbox", play continues indefinitely, with the direction and story of the game being left up to the player. Often in games, if you get tired with a certain character, you start over and have to work from scratch. The beauty of the Sims 2 is that the setup allows for restarts with new characters, while the previous characters remain in the neighborhood and the new characters can interact with them. Not only does this allow for a restart with new characters, but it also allows for gameplay at an entirely different level; you are now playing an entire neighborhood instead of just a sim or a family of sims.

And, I think that is enough video game talk for now. Come back later and I'll be sure to bore you further. ;)

Young Man, Take 2

While my progress, and interest, in my 'official' goal for this year is minimal, I have taken to a defacto resolution. Amusingly, the resolution I have fallen into is one which many make in vain; I have returned to the Y.

Starting the second week of March, I've been to the gym three times a week. There have been only a couple of weeks in which I missed a workout, so it has been pretty routine. It all started because of my griping to a co-worker about how I have a membership to the YMCA that I never use and was planning on canceling it. Upon hearing this, he expressed an interest in the Y since he was looking to become more physically active due to doctor's orders. I took him for a quick tour and he signed up the same day; we worked out for the first time the very next day.

It is interesting how some days seem to be trivial, while others feel like I've never worked out before, even though the weights remain the same. We always start with a fifteen minute run before we lift weights, and I think that might be the issue. Maybe it would be better to do the weights first. Though, the one time we tried reversing the order, it made the run much less bearable. We'll see.

Graduation vs. the Pistons

So, it is now about 4:40pm on Sunday June 5th, and I am sitting at home writing this instead of having a graduation dinner with my sister and family at the Rainforest Cafe. The entire state of Michigan is under a Tornado Watch until 8 tonight, so it didn't seem wise to make the 2.5 hour journey to Auburn Hills to participate in Jenny's graduation. It is all the Pistons fault.

If the Pistons had just swept the Heat, or been swept, the graduation cerimonies would have been on Saturday as planned. But, because there was a game six, graduation got pushed to Sunday. So, since there were no weather problems yesterday, the trip would have been a non-issue.

At any rate, I'm sorry I cannot be there, Jenny; I hope it was fun anyways. :)

It is Decided

Finally, I have come to a conclusion regarding what my resolutions should be this year. I was interested in several aspects of my life, but the ones that stood out were work and my organizational habits (or lack thereof.) Thus, it occurred to me that it might be possible to combine these two areas into one resolution.

My resolution for this year is:

Read SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE : Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey and put the lessons into practice.

Gee, that took a while to come up with. The reviews at Amazon indicate that this book is great, so hopefully it will be worth my while. :)

My favorite part of the day

My favorite time of day really happens twice a day, once at lunch and once right after work. It is when I quietly sneak into the kitchen without Katy noticing. Then, eventually she'll either hear me moving or see me out of the corner of her eye. At this point, she goes ape-shit and comes streaking over to say hello. :) I love my baby. :-D

Let me be the first to say it...

Danny, on the Apprentice, is very annoying. The first episode is on right now and only a half hour into the show and he has already pushed me to the breaking point. Let's hope he gets fired first.

Still Deciding...

I'm still in the process of trying to determine what my New Year's resolutions should be. Last year, the decision was pretty easy; I was overweight and it was my number one priority. This year, however, I have a multitude of things that I could address, yet none jump out like last year. A comparision that I like is the priority ratings I have at work for issues. A "1" is a catastrophic, drop-what-you're-doing, the-customer-might-die-from-using-our-product type of issue. While, a "5" is more along the lines of the color-is-wrong-on-a-screen-that-nobody-goes-to type of issue. Last year, I would say that "Being Overweight" was about a "2". This year, all of my "issues" rate either "3" or "4"s, and there are a lot of them.

So, I didn't forget about posting; I've just been spending a lot of time considering what I should do. I think I have it narrowed down to about four and am working on the phrasing and details. I should be done in a day or two.

Be it Resolved...

Ah... December, the time of year when a young man's thoughts turn to... resolutions? Yup, it is getting to be that time of year again, the time to take an introspective look to determine where there is room for improvement and which changes are going to be made. While self-improvement is never a bad idea, the New Year tends to be a very tempting, and convenient, time for many people to make a bunch of unrealistic goals. Many tend to make more of a wish list than a list of achievable resolutions.

As someone who has made resolutions on a fairly regular, yearly basis, I have figured out some important techniques for goal making by comparing my successes with my failures. Since my goal for this year, "Lose weight with Hacker's Diet", was a definitive success, I am feeling pretty confident about next year. At any rate, here are:

Andy's Tips for Making and Achieving your New Year's Resolutions

• Be Choosey
• Be Specific
• Be Quantitative
• Be Definitive
• Be Persistent
  

Be Choosey

Ready to make a change for the better? Well, if one change is good, thirty changes is better! The reality is, if you had a hard time keeping even one of your resolutions from last year, you are likely not able to focus your attention on multiple goals right now. My suggestion is, pick one thing you want to change and really focus on it. Once you succeed, then it may be time to consider multiple goals.

Be Specific

"I'm gonna be a better person" may be a noble goal, but is effectively meaningless. Typically, you just need to put a little more thought into the goal, answering the question "how?". In this instance, in what way do you intend to be a better person? Donate more to charities? Spend more time at the soup kitchen? Or, do you just mean that you are going to stop eating babies?

Be Quantitative

...not qualitative. "I'm going to lose weight" should include at least the general amount you are planning on losing. In my case, though I had not stated it, I estimated about 50 pounds, with the understanding that I would have to re-evaluate when I was near my goal. You need to be able to tell when you have succeeded at your resolution.

Be Definitive

In other words, have a plan. Saying you are going to do something without having any idea how you intend to accomplish it is, at best, self deceiving. For my goal last year, my plan was to read about and follow the Hacker's Diet. Simply setting the goal of losing weight wasn't enough, as it left too much for me to figure out on the way.

Be Persistent

If your resolution is to quit smoking and you slip up, try again! A big reason that resolutions fail is that they are abandoned. The old, "Oops! I 'broke' my resolution, maybe next year!" is a sure-fire way to never succeed at accomplishing your goal.

I hope that helps. I know that taking the time to analyze the resolution process definitely helped me. Stay tuned for my resolutions. :)

Gee, TDM seems to be turning into my own little gay rights advocacy page. :)

Proposal 2 was approved because of intolerance of organized religions. This link does a good job of explaining why church and state should remain seperate.

Has marriage always been the way it is now?

An Open Letter to Jennifer Granholm

Governor Granholm:

I would like to express my concern and dismay over the legality and the social repercussions of the ban on gay marriage that was passed via proposal 2 this election.

This is a church-state issue: as some religions specifically allow for gay marriage, this is a violation of church and state separation by mandating that the only acceptable religious view is that of the majority.

This is a civil rights issue: the ban denigrates homosexuals as second-class citizens, without the same rights as others.

This is a economic issue: this ban cause homosexuals to incur extra cost due to not being guaranteed civil union rights, and this can be a drain on society. As an example, in a traditional marriage, when a working spouse dies, the remaining spouse can still collect benefits. If homosexuals are not allowed these same rights, it can cause an increased demand on unemployment and welfare that will cost the taxpayer.

This is a moral issue: this ban is bigoted and hateful. It benefits no one and only causes harm. It is comparable to laws prohibiting marriages between "mixed" races, or to "separate-but-equal" segregation laws. In this modern age we live in, I am deeply saddened, offended, and embarrassed that we as humans can still have so much fear of those who are different.

I ask that you, as governor, please prevent this amendment from becoming part of our state's constitution. While it may not be popular, it is the right thing to do and I hope that you can see that and feel compelled to act on it.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Andrew W. Stampor

Hey-ay, ay, aye, ay ay, aye...

Now that Survivor: All Stars is done, Kendra and I were pleased to see that the original Survivor, Survivor: Borneo is now available on DVD. We didn't start watching Survivor until Survivor:Thailand so it is interesting to see how it all started, what has remained the same, and what has changed.

In the first Survivor, it is odd to have alliances coming into play so late in the game. In recent Survivor seasons, there seems to be at least a little talk about alliances on the first day; in the first one, people are being voted out by an alliance and don't even think of forming their own to counter it. It really emphasizes just how much Richard Hatch has effected the game since he is the one that originated the concept of alliances, to the point of their being formed just being taken for granted.

In fact, not only are alliances avoided, they seem to be looked down upon. The players of the first survivor seem to have a notion of how the game ought to be played and are blindly marching forward with the assumption that the alliance will magically go away. Amusingly, the entire alliance completely denies its existence when at tribal council.

The journey to tribal council seems to be more of an ordeal than on newer seasons. While we still get to see the remaining survivors getting their torches and start marching back to camp, we never really see a long, painful trek through the jungle anymore. Whether tribal council is easier to get to, or the trip is not shown is not known.

What I really cannot understand is why Richard Hatch is viewed as a villian. He really doesn't seem that devious or sneaky. The only "bad" thing about him is that he created an alliance. Maybe I just don't understand because I've seen the other seasons before seeing this one. Maybe the expectations of what the show has become make his endeavors seem tame. Could someone who saw the first season while it was on explain this to me?

And, Speaking about reality TV...

It looks like the second season of Joe Schmo is starting June 15. I loved the first one, to the point where I want the first one when it comes out on DVD June 22nd.

The May Report

May was very slow and steady. I have been much more relaxed about calories this month; although my target value was 2000 per day, I allowed myself to go over by a hundred or two if I still felt hungry. Still, as long as my daily intake is less than the daily requirements, the diet continues to be successful.

The end of May saw the first dip below 190 with 189.5. Currently, two days into June, I am at 188.5 (for the record, my scale is accurate to half pounds, thus it is either going to end in '.5' or '.0'.) Other noteworthy events include moving from my 34 waist jeans to my size 32, which is the size I had in highschool. Now, if only I had kept those jeans, I'd be able to wear all of my fashions from the late 80's/early 90's.... maybe it is better I outgrew and got rid of them. :) My belt is really starting to look ridiculous, since it is on the smallest setting and the excess needs to be folded back over or just hang. I need to punch a new hole and trim the excess (although, Kendra thinks I could just get a new belt... nah. ;) )

Since my success at weightloss, my opinion about other weightloss programs and pills has become very negative. Especially when the "program" is taking pills bought from some commercial on TV. Their claim that the pills "really work" is not what I take issue with. The question is, at what cost are these pills working? So far, the pattern seems to be that the weightloss pill is released, becomes popular, and then is declared dangerous, to either the heart or other organs. It is unfortunate that such "supplements" don't need FDA approval; shouldn't that be warning enough that you don't want to take this? Look, people, you don't need a pill to lose weight; some careful planning is all you need. I swear to you, it really isn't as hard as you think. If you need some help, just let me know and I'll give you a hand, but, for the sake of your health, don't rely on weightloss pills.

The April Report

The chart:

Now at a daily intake of approximately 2000 calories, the results of April are much less dramatic, yet just as meaningful. Although it is taking longer than anticipated, it is worth noting that a diet need not be extreme to work.

At this point, I would classify myself as being in the same category as most of America, slightly overweight. The difference between me and most of America, however, is that I still know the "secret" to losing weight.

The Late March Report

Here is the belated March chart:

The consistent, downward trend is comforting. I was even more motivated than usual this month, as there were four days where I actually took part in the exercise portion of the diet. I still need to find a time during the day where I can routinely exercise. However, my focus is still on weight loss; an exercise routine may be easier to accomplish when it is my main focus.

There is a certain amount of pride that I feel regarding my weight loss. However, when it is analyzed, I am actually feeling pleased with myself for achieving a goal which should never have been necessary. In reality, I should never have been overweight, thus returning to an appropriate weight seems like what should be expected, not something to celebrate. I suppose the key to this is not whether I should have ever been overweight or not, but that I identified a problem and found a solution for it. And, the solution was not short term or quick; it required a great deal of patience, discipline and understanding.

Today, April 11, 2004, I am at a weight of 195.5 lbs. Several items of note regarding this:

• I started at a weight of 231; I have lost 35.5 lbs in three months.


• I am over two-thirds of the way to my goal of 180 lbs.


• The last time I recall being this weight was in high school, over 11 years ago.

In March, I increased my daily caloric intake to 1900 calories to slow my rate of weight loss. My estimate for when I should be around 180 lbs is June 18th.

The Second Month

Let's begin this month's analysis with the chart:

As you can see, the inclusion of a trend line is a valuable asset with regard to psychological effects during weight loss. Using just the weight does not provide enough information to determine if there needs to be a caloric adjustment on a day to day basis. However, looking at the trend, it becomes clear that the diet is effective, regardless of the day-to-day weight fluctuations.

A couple of other notes regarding the graph: the caloric daily deficit is correct, but is an average across the entire month. Many times, it was higher, but I increased my caloric values from 1500 to 1700 per day half way through the month after I realized that I would overshoot my weight loss goal, since it is recommended that caloric intake is increased by about 200 per week. Since then, I have noticed that my loss rate has decreased, likely because the caloric intake to maintain 231 is more than it is to maintain 206.5. At any rate, I expect to be close to completion somewhere in the middle of April.

I had a question regarding the Y-Axis on the right of the graph. Amusingly, I had not even noticed it and had to take a look at the Excel sheet I am using to figure out what it represents. Simply, it is the "ladder rung" of the exercise program suggested by this diet. This month, as I really didn't exercise at all, there is no use for it. However, the dashed line in January indicates that I was a ladder rung 1 and never really advanced with it. I suppose this is a good indicator that exercise is not necessarily required for weight loss.

People have made comments to me regarding my statements about the ease of my diet. Apparently, this frustrates some people, and I can understand why. What is important to remember is that I started with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 31, which is classified as "Obese" (I am now at 29, which is just "overweight.") It always seemed to me that it would be relatively easy for someone who was extremely obese to lose weight faster than someone who was only five to ten pounds overweight, since it takes a much higher amount of calories to maintain the extreme weight. I was never extremely obese, but I had enough extra weight that it made it easy and quick to lose a bunch of it. But, I think it will remain fairly easy to stick to my diet for another reason, too.

The Legend of Zelda series of games for the various Nintendo platforms are all very similar. You go around, looking for pieces of the Triforce and fight with bunches of creatures along the way. There are always several dungeons, at the end of which is always a main "boss" creature to fight. The boss is unable to be hurt normally, except by a trick, which is normally related to the new weapon you found in that dungeon. Once you figure out the trick, the boss goes from being impossible to beat to fairly easy. This is how I feel about my weight loss; now that I know the trick and have the right weapons, it has gone from something that seemed impossible to something which is inevitable.

Inevitable and noticeable, my clothes are starting to look too baggy and I am almost out of holes on my belt. At some point I will need to get new pants, but I don't want to buy them only to replace them with smaller ones in a month.

There are some other things which are noticeable, too. Kendra has commented that the muscles in my legs are very well defined now and that my face looks thinner. I have noticed that my tolerance and duration for sitting on hard surfaces has decreased (ahem.)

Some funny side effects that I hadn't considered include the amount of food needed to feel full. When dining at a restaurant, now I feel completely stuffed at the completion of just my entree, instead of having an appetizer, an entree, salad bar and dessert. Something that is kind of irritating is that now I am cold much more often, since there is less insulation, but also because my metabolism is likely a bit slower, too.

The First Month

As you may recall, on January 12 I started the Hacker's Diet. As I sit here eating a cream filled donut, I have concluded that dieting is really not that hard. With some careful consideration, it is possible to eat whatever you want. The trick is to monitor and plan calorie consumption. In other words, as long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. It is funny how simple that concept is, but it took so long for me to really "get it."

As you can see from the following chart, I am doing well so far.

My initial goal was to lose about a pound a week. Using a chart to estimate my caloric needs at about 2000, I divided the amount of calories in a pound of fat (3500) by seven and subtracted to arrive at my diet goal of 1500 calories a day. By examining the chart, it is apparent that my initial estimate of 2000 was very low. In fact, the analysis of my most recent data indicates that I am averaging a deficit of 2045 calories per day; on average, my body consumes 3545 calories per day. Amazingly, I am able to get by on the 1500 without really any hunger pangs. Thus, my plan is to continue at 1500 and lose the weight faster. My weight as of today is 214, 17 lbs less than when I started.

Diet tip of the day: frozen entrees make it VERY easy to count and distribute calories throughout the day. Diet pop is also very good, since it tastes like something, fills the belly, but has zero calories.

The only thing hard about this diet is going out to eat: it takes very careful forethought and planning for me to be able to eat out and still be within my caloric limit. For example, at Chilis, the Chicken Ranch Sandwich is about 846 and the fries that come with it are abour 440, for a total of about 1300. That leaves only 200 calories for the rest of the day (to get counts from Chilis, you actually need to call their hotline number (1-800-983-4637) as they don't provide any info on their website.)

Most restaraunts are very reluctant to provide the caloric values, which makes it even more difficult to eat out. There is one place that I have found that goes above and beyond when it comes to providing data, and that is Wendys. Wendys has a pdf file that contains all the nutritional info for their food which you can download, and they have a meal planner program on the website that lets you assemble a meal and get the nutritional breakdown, including the toppings for sandwiches and ketchup for fries. Heck, you can even see the difference between having crackers with your chili or not. I am very impressed with Wendys. Granted, you still can't eat a ton of stuff ( I limit myself to meal 1, the Classic Single with Biggie fries and then need to be careful the rest of the day) but at least you have the knowledge to make informed choices.

Regarding the reluctance of restaraunts to provide nutritional info, there is currently a bill in the House of Representatives regarding this. The Menu Education and Labeling Act (H.Are. 3444), or MEAL, would, if passed, force restaraunts to provide at least basic info (calories, salt, etc) on their menus for EVERY item. I would encourage you to contact your Representatives and ask them to vote in favor of this bill. As there are 14 cosponsors, it seems likely it will pass, but it is always good to make your voice heard.

Easier Said Than Done

Despite our best intentions, Kendra and I have not had a chance to get to the YMCA for a workout. And, since we are going to have Kathryn babtised at St. Francis this weekend, we will be spending our evening tonight gathering and packing items for the trip. Hopefully, we will be able to get in a workout on Monday when we get back.

The Apprentice

Sammy got kicked off last night, thank God. He was completely worthless and totally annoying. It seems like everyone on the show agrees with me, too; they elected him to be the leader of the project with the hope that he would fail and be the one to take the blame. I love reality TV. :)

Young Man...

On Monday, we stopped by the local YMCA, took the tour and decided to join. A big factor in joining the Y over some other health club is the three free hours of child care provided during your visit. Now, Kendra and I will be able to enjoy a quality workout together without having to worry about Katy. We are planning our first workout for right after work today; it should prove to be interesting.

My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance

The show is hilarious. The premise is this woman has to convince her family that she is really going to marry this clod; if she does, she wins $250k for herself and $250k for her family. What I didn't realize until watching last night is that she doesn't know this guy is an actor paid to drive her and her family crazy; she thinks he is someone selected just like her to try and win the money. It gives the show a bit of a Joe Schmo twist.

TV Fun

My Big, Fat, Obnoxious Fiance looks like it could be amusing, and it begins tonight at 9:00pm on Fox. American Idol is also on tonight, but it never really excited me.

What has been entertaining me lately are the Simpsons. I have seasons I-III on DVD and have found a neat new way to watch TV. I just always leave a DVD in the player and when nothing worth watching can be found on TV, it is a simple matter to flip over to the DVD content. Very convenient.

This weekend, I bought a RF switch for the TV. Now, I can have my Xbox, Gamecube and PS2 all plugged in at the same time. Much more convenient and easier to keep the entertainment cabinet neat.

And, speaking of the Gamecube, I have been playing tons of the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. Although I initially had concerns because it was a cartoon style of animation, it is awesome because of that very style. It really looks and feels like a 3D cartoon that you control. Mucho fun. :-D

A Beginning to a New Me

For awhile now, I have been wanting to lose some weight, and I like using the New Year as an opportunity to change for the better. So, starting on Monday of this week, I began the Hacker's Diet. The appeal of this diet is the person who wrote it, John Walker (no, not the terrorist) is the founder of AutoDesk, the AutoCAD company. As an engineer, he took a very analytical approach to losing weight and with the knowledge and tools he provides, it seems to be a fairly straightforward process that allows you to proceed with confidence.

According to the calculations provided, I should drop from 231 to 180 by 1/11/2005. Of course, the end goal may change as I get closer to that weight and determine what is appropriate for me. Additionally, it may take more or less time depending on the actual number of calories my body burns daily (until a couple of weeks pass, I only have an estimation for that value, which I have placed at 2000.) I'll be sure to post my progress here.

Baby and Me

My little Katy is a cutie-poopsie-pants. She is noticeably bigger now and can more quickly tire the arm of the one holding her. She smiles and laughs and likes to grab and play with her toys. She still doesn't pay too much attention to the kitties, but she sure likes her mom and dad. :)

Katy's baptism will be on Sunday, January 25th at St. Francis of Assisi parish in Ann Arbor. We thought it would be nice for her to be baptized at the same church Kendra and I were married in. Plus, St. Francis is the church we still feel the strongest tie to.

On the TV

With Survivor done (alas poor Rupert... happily, he'll be back on Survivor All Stars, I have turned my attention to a new show, the Apprentice. Interesting in that Donald Trump is the one who decides who leaves the losing "company". Reality tv makes me so happy. :)

Go see more pictures of baby. :)

It's a Baby!

Go check out the Baby Monkey to see the details. :)

So much to do, so little time

Much has come to pass since the last entry here. Let's try a brief synopsis:

My original contract at SPX was to be "for six or seven months." Starting in October of 2002, that would mean that six months would be up at the end of April, and seven at the end of May. After speaking with the person that is my contact at SPX, we determined that I would be kept on indefinitely until the project I was working on was in a stable condition. It was never my intent to be anything other than a contractor at SPX.

Then, I was offered a full time position. I had been looking for other jobs via Monster but had not found anything. Also, I noticed that this was the first job that I actually really enjoyed. Some others were fine, but this was the first one where I really didn't mind going to work. So, Kendra and I decided that I would take this job and continue to commute.

Well, it quickly became obvious that the 105 mile commute twice a day was really eating up tons of time and really wasn't much fun. Also, after chatting with one of my boss people who had recently just relocated from Maryland, it occurred to me that it might not be so bad living in Kalamazoo. Especially since there is a fairly nice relocation package included as part of my job; I like to think of it as a "signing bonus." :-D

Although it will be sad to leave the area, it made sense that we should be closer to my job. So, we went looking for houses. The second house Kendra and I saw together was the one we liked; we still went looking at eight more or so, but found we kept comparing them to this one. So, after only one day of looking, we made an offer. A couple of counter offers later, we have a new house in Portage (right next to K-zoo.)

We don't really need two houses so that meant it was time to say goodbye to our first house. It was a frantic week as we went through the house, getting rid of old junk. Most difficult was the basement with the tons of boxes and other stuff. Amusingly, many of these boxes were still sitting there from our move into the house, over four years ago.
However, sorting through the stuff went much easier than it had in the past, thanks to a book that Kendra gave me a while back. After reading it, I realized that I didn't need to continue to hold onto items that I did not need simply because they were "good." Of course, there is still much to go through. We did, however, get all the stuff prepared for the charity that came to take junk on that Thursday.

Kendra and I will each miss our activities in the local area. Kendra will miss singing with the choir and I will miss my karate (I have withdrawn at the rank of purple belt.) But, we are sure to find similar groups in Portage.

From whence I came...

Amusingly (or not,) it is becoming unlikely that my contract is going to be renewed at SPX. Although they definately have work for me to do, and they are thrilled with my performance, the "six month rule" seems to be the law. Apparently a case against Microsoft has frightened many companies into limiting the amount of time a contractor may spend working for them. Although it would seem my situation is much different than that of the MS case, it is a worthless endeavor to argue.

Thus, the job hunt begins, again. :)

Hopefully, the added experience working with diagnostic software (don't worry, I won't explain it again ;)) will leverage me into another company doing something similar, yet not being located 100 miles or so from home. At the very least, the six months spent programming in Visual Basic 6.0 should provide more leads. Again, if any of my loyal readers (all three of you ;)) have any jobs you for which I may be suited, I would be most appreciative if you were to pass those along to me. If you are uncertain if I would qualify for the said position, forward it to me anyway and I shall separate the chaff from the wheat.

Other things to note:

• Kendra is still pregnant
  
• I have promoted to the rank of green belt
  
• Been playing the Getaway on the PS2 and having a blast
  
• I made a correction to the scripts on this site so that the correct name and info will be display for the Daily Monkey even when certain selections are set in the Choose Style section.

Another Little Monkey

For those of you who have not yet heard, Kendra and I are having a baby. :) The due date is October 21, 2003. These are exciting times, indeed. :-D

Kendra apparently is a carrier for cystic fibrosis, so I was recently tested. Thankfully, I am not a carrier, and thus, our child will be C.F. free (although there is a 50% chance of baby being a carrier. Please consult your Punnet Squares for possibilities.)

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The Countless Days of SPX

I've been working at SPX for about five months now. The original contract was for six months, and it would have meant that it ended at the end of April (Friday, May 2nd, actually.) However, as the project I am working on has a scheduled release date in mid-July, they want to extend my contract until the end of June (it takes about two weeks for their testing/release process.) It is likely that I will continue until that time.

They have mentioned the desire to hire me as a full time employee after my contract. Although I am pleased with many aspects of this company, it is unlikely that I will take this position. As I am unwilling to commute, and they are unwilling to allow telecommuting, the only remaining option would be for us to move closer to Kalamazoo. A move is always a possibility and SPX is willing to compensate us for the move, but if we are going to move, I'd rather really make it count and go out of state (like Redmond, Washington.) And, of course, my karate school is in downtown Ann Arbor, so attending class would become a huge pain in the butt. And, since Kendra's job is in Ann Arbor, I suspect she might not be too excited to move away. Although, the cost of living is much cheaper in K-zoo, and it might be possible for Kendra to work at home, or just take care of baby. Still, I think it is most likely that I will try to find something closer to home. :)

Karate tournament this Saturday. I've taken several private lessons and have developed a routine with dual nunchuckus; it should be really cool. During the little practice session we had last Saturday, I got a round of applause from the spectators. :-D

In other Karate news, I am now officially one of the assistant instructors. Essentially, there is a program called SWAT (Special Winning Attitude Team) that certain students were invited to join. These monthly meetings are geared to help develop leadership and teaching skills, as well as help with karate skills. One of the options is to help with different classes. Since I always go to the 1:30 class on Saturdays, I volunteered to help at the 12:45 class. My first time was last Saturday, and I had a good time. I knew that the instructors were patient, but I only realized how endlessly patient they are after watching how the main instructor handled the inattentive little children for the entire 45 minute class. Amazing. :) So, I received a red SWAT member shirt to wear while assisting. Yay! :-D

In other news, I finished the heart blanket I was working on. I will post a picture of it here when I upload it.


Also, there was something amusing I noticed the first day at my new appartment that I meant to mention, but kept forgetting about. Below, you will find the exciting picture.

The Next Entry

It was always fairly easy to find time to update at a somewhat regular interval when I was unemployed; as I was busy doing nothing most of the day, I could easily schedule a little of something here and there. Now, as I am at work again during the day, the updates are limited to when I can find time at work, or when I can inspire myself (or remember) to update at my apartment. Several months have passed since the last update; amazing how quickly time can move.

Because of the time that has elapsed between posts, I will bullet several key happenings in my life:

• I took a trip to Mercury Marine in Fon du Lac, Wisconsin for work.
  
• We had a water softener from RainSoft installed in the house.
  
• My sister received a dog as a Christmas present.
  
• I have advanced to the rank of Orange belt in Karate.
  
• For Christmas, I received both a Gamecube and an XBox.
  
• Met with guy from Wallside Windows and scheduled an appointment to have our windows replaced.
  
• Both Kendra and I bought Treo 300s (didn't pay price listed at site!!!) from Handspring. Old PCS phone available for sale.
  
• Dryer broke. Maytag repairman was excited to actually have something to do. (actually Best Buy repairman)
  
• Ordered pizza online from Dominos. Very neat.

There. Now I should be all good for another couple of months. ;)

A Grand Adventure: a New Beginning

It was my intent to continue making updates on a regular basis after getting my job. However, it seems that I again value my time and am fairly selective about what I do outside of work. Granted, I have been spending most of my time playing GTA: Vice City, but I still only have a limited amount of time to spend when compared to having all day prior.

My apartment, although small, is large enough. It is neat to have my computer, bed, and television all in the same room. And, thankfully, the room is a large enough size that it does not feel cramped. Now that I have a cable modem, it is almost like being in my study back home.

The job is great. I enjoy it enough that it does not even really feel like work being there. My assignment is somewhat different from what I was doing before. Whereas at Nexiq I was working on the backend C++ code that interfaced with the controllers, here I am developing in Visual Basic 6.0 to create the front end GUI that interfaces with the C++ code. I think I may enjoy VB more than C++. We shall see how I feel in a couple of months.

The drive to work from my apartment only takes about 15 minutes; it is the closest I have been to work since my Cabletron days. The drive from Ypsilanti to Kalamazoo and back, however, is quite an ordeal. It is a little over a hundred miles and it takes about an hour and a half to travel it. Thankfully, it is a simple route; I get on 94 and take that for about 100 miles and then I am there. The only bad part so far is that the traffic can be cumbersome, regardless of the time. Hopefully, it will not continue to be so, but we shall see.

It will be nice to go home this weekend. It will be nice to see K and the kitties. :) Yay!

And, on a completely unrelated note, I really enjoy this Survivor show. So much so it makes me regret having avoided it the first three seasons. Don't be like me. Instead, start watching a great show from the beginning; check out "John Doe" Friday nights on Fox.

Laid Off: The Aftermath

The seemingly impossible task of finding a job has finally come to an end, however, it really just marks the beginning of my new adventure. Because my position at SPX is in Portage (around 105 miles away,) Kendra and I decided that it would make more sense to find an apartment in the Kalamazoo area for use during the week than it would to commute the four hour round trip daily. So, tomorrow, I am going to go get my new apartment set up.

As I only need it for myself, and only during the week, I figure an efficiency will suffice. Kendra and I loaded the car tonight with a bunch of stuff that I will need. Not much furniture, just a short rocking type seat, a TV with a TV stand, and an inflatable bed. I wonder if the bed will be comfortable enough to spend 6-7 months sleeping on it?

Tonight, prior to packing, Kendra and I went to dinner and a movie. Red Robin is one of our favorite restaurants and it is right next to our house. The movie, Jackass the movie, was hilarious. I have to wonder what is wrong with those people, though.

Earlier, I took a trip to Sterling Heights to eat lunch with my ex-co-workers at La Shish. It felt as though I had just returned from a long vacation. We all joked and chatted and had a good time. I got caught up on the details involving my old employer. Apparently, Nexiq is in a restructuring period since declaring bankruptcy. There is a meeting tomorrow between the CRO (Chief Restructuring Officer) and Sunshine Investors (the investment group that Nexiq is in debt to). As I recall, my layoff took place the same day as one such meeting, so hopefully that will not be the case for others. Unfortunately, there was already a temporary layoff of one week for forty Nexiq employees. Maybe they will be able to turn it around, but whether or not they do, my destiny, at least, lies elsewhere.

Afterwords, I visited my mom for a little while. It was nice working in the Sterling Heights area so I could see her and the rest of my family so often. Now that I am going to be working so far away, I doubt that I will even see them as much as I had been while working in Ann Arbor. I suspect that I will be less interested in making the drive to the Heights after my long trips to and from the office.

My job begins this Thursday, October 31st. I will meet Scott, my contact from Tek Systems, at 8:00am for coffee and we will drive over to the SPX around 9:00am. I am excited to be working again. Even though it means that I will no longer be able to sleep until noon, at least I will be close enough that I won't need to get up by 7 to get to work by 9.

And, so the grand adventure begins...

Laid Off: The Final Chapter

I have not been writing much as little has changed during the days. Eventually, each day begins to feel like the last. It could be a very depressing place, if you let yourself go there. For the most part, I have been pretty good about being optimistic while looking for jobs. A good way to do this is to spend time doing stuff that you would not normally have time during the day to do. Examples include going to noon karate classes, watching TV, playing games online, going to the store/mall and, most importantly, staying up really late and also getting up really late. All of these are things that help me to appreciate the state of unemployment.

However, I am pleased to announce that there is a very positive reason for the title of this entry. I have been employed by Tek Systems (formerly the Maxim Group) at a place called SPX. It is a contract position that will last 6-7 months. At the end of that time, it is likely that I will be offered a full time position there. The only problem with this position is that it is located in Kalamazoo. So, I will have to look for a little apartment for the week and only make the trip home for the weekends. Fortunately, I am to be given an additional sum of money per hour that will be tax free that will more than make up for the apartment and any gas spent on the trip. So, although the location is far from ideal, the additional sum should make up for it.

SPX is a company that has been around for a long time and does many different things. If you are interested, I suggest that you look at the website. What I will be specifically doing is writing diagnostic applications to be used on Harley-Davidson motorcycles as well as Mercury-Marine boats. Essentially, I will be doing what I was doing at Nexiq, just for different vehicles. In fact, when I was speaking to one of the other contractors there, I determined that I would be completely shocked if I was not selected for this position. While talking with my recruiter afterwords, he commented that he told his co-worker that he wouldn't attempt to do further business with SPX if they didn't hire me; I was that good of a fit.

So, hopefully I'll be happy there. I'll miss all the fun things, including sleeping till noon, but I knew that this state would not last forever. A belief I have that makes life easier is simply that everything changes. It helps you to make the most of a bad situation when you know it will not always be that way. Additionally, it helps with accepting the loss of a good situation. I've read somewhere about a saying that I believe is attributed to some Buddhist monks (or some sort of monks.) It says that if you have a favorite cup, behave as though the cup has been smashed to pieces. Thus, every time you use your cup, it is a celebration. And, if it is to break, it is as expected and not a loss.

Laid Off: Day X

Monday October 7, 2002
When I started writing these, I suspected that I would either tire of them or get a job and no longer have a reason to update them. It appears that the first condition has been met. Although, I feel that it is beneficial to continue updating these not only to make others aware of my status, but also to act as an outlet. It is helpful to be reminded that others enjoy reading these, so, thanks Kelly.

I had a job interview today. It was for a three day assignment with Analysts International. After driving to meet with them in Auburn Hills, it was discovered that I did not have experience necessary to complete the job in question. I suspected that the position was not going to be a match, but I went to this interview because I figured I would at least be able to make them aware of my skillset for the other jobs that they encounter. Also, I really didn't have anything else going on and at least there was the opportunity of getting some work. Well, at any rate, it was frustrating. :(

After the interview, I got to drive home in rush hour traffic. It reminded me of how glad I am that I no longer have to make that drive every day.

I received a voicemail from my old boss, asking if he would mind if he used me as a reference. I'll give him a call tomorrow. I somehow suspect that this is not a good sign for my old company. I am not sure if I have mentioned this here, but of all the companies where I have worked, Nexiq is the one I feel best about, even after being laid off. Thus, it is sad to see them crumble. :'(

I went to karate tonight. It is a nice constant to have during this unstructured time. The other day, I received an award stating that I had the qualities, skill and potential to become a black belt. Even though I can't help but wonder if everyone receives this award, I am still proud of my achievements. I would love to make a living via Tae Kwon Do, but at this stage, I do not have the required experience. Also, I doubt I would be able to make as much as I could as a programmer, and that is unfortunate.

Tomorrow, I am going to try to transport an old desk from my basement to my mom's. It doesn't look like it will fit, so I will have to see if it can be disassembled. Kendra has informed me that is has been glued together, so it might be a lost cause.

This past weekend, Kendra and I ran/walked in a 5k race. We finished in about 40 minutes. It is a pretty good pace and I think we can improve on that.

Also this past weekend, I finished the baby blanket for Megan, Dr. Jen's new baby. I don't know why I enjoy crochet as much as I do, but I am pretty good at it. Heh, I wouldn't mind making a living doing this, either. So, uh, anyone want to buy a blanket? Only $10,000 each. ;)



One final comment. Opera is great alternative to IE or Netscape. It has a built in popup killer and has a nifty "mouse motion" feature that you can use to do a variety of different things that can only be done with hot-keys or button clicks in Netscape and IE. Still a couple of oddities about the way some pages and links are represented, but definately worth a look.

Laid Off: The Lost Days

Sometimes more is communicated when less is said. I have been been doing a mix of sending out resumes, waiting, playing games and sleeping these past days. However, I really didn't feel like logging all these activities. Hopefully, I will feel up to continuing the log, but when each day seems like the last, it can be pointless.

One of the highlights of these Lost Days comes from Saturday. Keith Hafner's Karate, the place I train, had a tournament* for its students. At the beginning, they asked for anyone who wanted to try in the weapons competition, which was completely separate from the "forms demonstration" in which everyone was to compete. Since I have been playing around with the nuchuckus for several months, I figured it might be fun to see what everyone thought of my skill. So, of course, I was to perform first. What I learned is that, apparently, I am fairly advanced with them. Even though there was only one other competing with the chucks, I was proud to win, and was really pleased by the mounds of compliments from both students and instructors. My favorite was from a friend who said it was amazing. :) Then, I went on to win the forms demonstration for my division. That's right, I'm a karate champion. :-D

Recently, I have been taking care of things around the house. Yesterday, I called several places that needed calling for appointments and such. Today, I went to several stores to get groceries; it is nice not having to fight with a crowd of people while shopping. I also sent out several resumes and need to send out some more. Although it is definately nice to be able to sleep in, I hope I hear back from some of these companies soon.

Tomorrow, I have an eye-doctor's appointment at 11:30. Again, it is nice to have a reason to get out of the house. :)

Note: the tournament is a non-sparing event in which the competitors demonstrate the form (the sequence of moves associated with belt level) for a panel of judges.