Monday Morning Weigh In – 01/23/12
This one’s going to be short, I’m not happy. I gained 1.4 lbs, putting me squarely back where I started. I need to do better and try harder. Last time I dieted this happened at times as well, but not so early in the process. It just inspires me to do more and work even harder at my health.
Today, January 23, 2012, I weighed 192.4 lbs. I gained 1.4 lbs this week. My target is 165 lbs. I have 27.4 lbs to go.
Monday Morning Weigh In – 01/16/2012
I managed to lose weight. Somehow. In the last week, I’ve had a bon voyage lunch from MoJo Active at an Italian Restaurant (where I had too much pasta), a birthday dinner with my parents (where I had a “salad” that also contained steak and french fries), as well as a few other meals “out” and a big home cooked Sunday dinner. Truth be told, I didn’t watch my food like I wanted to, and yet I managed to succeed.
This week should go better, although my welcome lunch from CSSI at China King Buffet today won’t help…
Today, January 16, 2012, I weighed 191.0 lbs. I lost 1.4 lbs this week. My target is 165 lbs. I have 26 lbs to go.
Monday Morning Weigh In – 01/09/12
I didn’t get to update yesterday, sorry about that. I weighed in yesterday morning after my first week of Operation Wedding Weight. Then I noticed that the scale was touching something and wasn’t working properly. I pulled it out further so it was level and not being interfered with, and tried again. This time the weight was different… drastically.
Turns out I have more work to do than previously expected. The scale shaved at least 5lbs when I initially weighed myself! Oh well, it gives me more incentive.
On, January 9, 2012, I weighed 192.4 lbs. My target is 165 lbs. I have 27.4 lbs to go.
Paint, paint, paint, and some demolition
It’s been quite a week, starting Tuesday with me turning in my resignation at MoJo Active and concluding with a weekend full of working on the house. Jesica worked this weekend so the majority of the work was done by me. I’m happy to work on the house, but it’s more fun when you have company! I had my MP3 player along and got to listen to some hard rock that Jesica doesn’t usually enjoy, so I guess it wasn’t all for loss.
The master bedroom is finished, the master bathroom is finished, the hall bathroom is finished, and the family room desk is gone. We had a lot of trouble getting the desk out, but it’s finally taken apart. See the photo album at Facebook (you don’t need an account to see the pictures!) for full details.
I Don’t Know What To Put Here
On October 2, 2007, I was a junior in college. I sent an email to a company I had never heard of- MoJo Active, because it was located in Turbotville, PA and I needed a summer internship for my college credit. The company looked like a decent place to work, so I figured I’d go for it. The following January I job-shadowed for a week and actually wound up doing some hands on work during my time there. At the end of the week, I was told I’d probably be offered an internship for the summer of 2008.
A short time later I was offered an internship. After one work week during the summer, I was offered a full time position at MoJo Active starting once I graduated. I was elated. The economy was in the dumps, my classmates had very little progress in finding work (in the cities!) and here I was with a guaranteed job upon graduation, a year in advance.
It seems like such a long time ago. It’s January 2012 and I’ve been at MoJo Active for almost 3 years professionally, and almost 4 years overall. MoJo Active was my first real job out of college. They took a chance on me and it seemingly paid off. I’ve learned a ton over the years, and I think it’s worked out pretty well for both sides.
After a lot of thought, prayer, and deliberation- I’ve decided that it’s time to move on. This has been one of the more difficult decisions I’ve needed to make in recent memory. It’s more than a workplace, it’s a community. I’ve made a lot of friends here that I’m going to miss seeing each day. Business is business though, and I wouldn’t expect my coworkers to do anything differently than I am. It’s been tough to go through this process, but I’m confident in my choice. It was time for a change. This isn’t the place for details, so stop looking. All I will say is that I needed a new career opportunity, and one found me.
In mid-January I’ll be starting my new job at CSSI in Lewisburg as a Senior Programmer. It’s basically the same job I have now, but with a shorter commute, better pay, better benefits, and better hours. I’d be crazy not to take it. I will sincerely miss the community and friendship that’s been cultivated at MoJo Active, but I’m confident that the future is brighter than the past. To all that have been thinking and praying for me during this time, thank you.
Kitchen Updates, Bathroom Surprises and Some Paint
Sorry for the delay in updates, its been a busy day, with working on the house, watching half of the Penn State drubbing, and running errands. Today we updated the old-fashioned white cabinet/drawer knobs in the kitchen with brushed nickel styled ones. It makes a huge difference.
Also gone is the gold chandelier in the dining room that didn’t have any globes on the lights anyway. We got a brushed nickel chandelier from Lowes and installed it. This was my first real experience with wiring lights, nothing has caught on fire- yet. I’m pretty confident in it, since we had to wire it a total of three times since I kept forgetting to include various parts of the chandelier ON the chain itself. Had I read the entire set of directions instead of looking just at pictures, I could’ve saved an hour of work…
We also got a new vanity light for the bathroom, and when we took the old one down we discovered the junction box is offset to the left by about 3 inches. The previous light was a “box” styled solid back, and the new light is a simple circle mount that needs centered. I assume the offset box is due to a stud in the wall, but at any rate, I’m not moving the box. We decided to use this new vanity light for the master bathroom instead, and instead we found a similarly styled light but with a solid back for the hall bathroom.
We also did a lot of paint prep, including taping the master bedroom and bath, as well as painting the ceilings in the hall bath as well as beginning trim work. As always, check out the photos here:
Introducing Operation Wedding Weight
No, this is not a New Years resolution. In the months leading up to our wedding, I started dieting alongside my dad using Weight Watchers. When I started, I weighed 214 lbs. Not happy. College did a number on my eating habits, and I never touched a drop of alcohol… imagine how bad it would’ve been if I had consumed as much beer as my classmates!
Long story short, I dieted for 6ish months and got myself down to 165 lbs by our wedding. I lost almost 50 lbs! After we got married, I started “nesting” as my friends put it, and I didn’t pay as much attention to my dietary habits. Here we are almost two years later and I’ve put 22 lbs back on. I’m very frustrated. I’ve been meaning to work on this again for a few months, but starting a diet in November or December is just stupid around the holidays. There has also been a great deal of stress in my life, and I am the type to deal with stress by… eating.
It’s January 2nd. The holidays are over. I’m in two weddings this year, one in late April, the other in June. I’m aiming to get back to my wedding weight (165 lbs) and maybe a little lower this time in time for their weddings. I am using Weight Watchers online because it’s cheaper and I can’t stand the meetings. I’m one of the only men there, and I’m definitely the only adolescent male there. The meetings don’t apply to me. I tried doing it on my own but it’s easy to get off track (no pun intended) when no one’s holding you accountable. That’s what this is for. I’m sure you don’t care what my weight is, and you shouldn’t necessarily be interested in it down to the tenths of a pound. I hope you’re concerned about my well-being and health, though.
I need to do this in order to keep a visible record of how I’m doing. Think of it as public shaming… I plan to weigh in on Monday mornings and post sometime that day (probably in the evening or next day) my progress. Thanks for your support!
Today, January 2, 2012, I weigh 187.2 lbs. My target is 165 lbs. I have 22.7 lbs to go. (UPDATE: I messed up, the scale was off balance and it was weighing improperly. My weight was actually 193+. See here.)
Happy New Year! (12/31/11 House Update)
Happy New Year! Here’s a quick update on the house progress since I have church at 8AM tomorrow.
Today we worked on the living room of the house, cleaning up a little, taping, rolling and trimming the walls. We used a shade of green that is darker than the kitchen/dining room but still related. We wanted a natural transition from room to room but also to have the living room feel a little more comfortable, or “cozy” if you will.
The thin wall between the foyer and living room provided an interesting painting experience, but other than that everything went pretty smoothly. I need to do some research on a fast and easy way to get clean lines between walls and ceilings, because I don’t have the time or patience to do it the old fashioned way.
I’m not sure how much is on the agenda for tomorrow, between church and Christmas with my parents (yes, it was only 7 days ago- seems much longer) our time in the house will be a little more limited. We’re also planning a Lowe’s run to get new cabinet knobs and possibly chandelier for the kitchen. All we’ll need then is our stainless steel appliances…
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.720647155597.2152776.43603067&type=1&l=7b12e5640f
Kitchen Progress
We’ve finally reached the end of day 2. We got to the house around 9AM this morning and I didn’t leave until 10:30PM (let the record show that Jesica worked tonight so she did a little sleeping and couldn’t stay as long… I kid.). I spent most of the day taping the kitchen to prep for paint, and then doing the actual painting in the kitchen. I painted the ceilings and walls, Jesica pitched in with the 2nd coat on the walls and helped with trim. The kitchen went from a boring off-white color to “Harbour Town,” which is a greenish color.
Jesica also took the dog borders off the master bedroom walls in prep for painting that room. We gave two house tours today, her mom and grandparents stopped by. I might make a recording and let guests do a self-guided tour… I’m joking, I love showing people around the new digs and explaining all the nuances we’ve found so far. As will be standard (hopefully) here are the pictures from today’s progress. You don’t need a Facebook account to view them.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.720104208667.2152683.43603067&type=1&l=cb399b02d0
Big Announcement: New House!
Ready for some breaking news? Jesica and I are homeowners. We bought our first home earlier today after what seemed like months (it actually did take multiple months, but I mean it felt like 6-7, not 2-3, you know? Right…) of waiting and signing paperwork.
We’re moving to a relatively new house (built in 1999) in a nice development just outside of Mifflinburg. It’s in the Mifflinburg School District, which is what we were aiming for. The house is 4 Bedroom, 2 Bathroom, just under 1700 sq ft. We’re very excited to get to work on it and start moving in. We’re aiming for February but it might come sooner if we get all the work done we want…
There’s not a ton of hard labor involved, just cosmetic work and a lot of cleaning. We’re repainting every room of the house including all the ceilings. I’m sure I’ll be tired of rollers and brushes by room 2 or 3, but when it comes to painting you’ve got to stay persistent.
I figured I’d have more details to share but it’s 1:15AM and I’m exhausted. We’re planning on spending all day at the house tomorrow doing work too… In lieu of extra detail: have some pictures courtesy of Facebook. You don’t need an account to view them.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.719647014887.2152618.43603067&type=1&l=be6fb30b43
I’ll probably be posting more photos and updates as we get more work done and the sun comes back up (hopefully) so I can take more outside shots. Before I end this, an interesting anecdote- all month I’ve been commenting on the amount of rain we’ve been having and how we’re fortunate it wasn’t snow. Then I would follow the comment with “I’m sure as soon as we get the keys to the house we’ll start getting snow instead.” On the way to the bank today to sign the final paperwork, it started snowing. We’ve got a dusting of snow, but nothing too significant. I fear my prediction is coming true already…