Thank God it’s Friday

Not much to go on today. It’s Friday (whew), although when you have kids, every day’s the same. They don’t sleep in on the weekends, they don’t allow you to nurse a hangover for a few hours, and they are almost never quiet.

We’re going out to dinner Saturday night for the first time in a while and we can’t decide where to go. Do we hit a tried and true place like Outback Steakhouse, or do we try something relatively new like California Dreamings or Aqua Terra? Or maybe it’s the gold standard family-owned Italian place around the corner.

I feel like it should be more than a trip to the local Mexican place and then a hand shandy in the parking lot, but I am a bit undecided.

Anyway, that’s it for now or until I read or hear something that makes me nuts.

Oh, I was finally down another half a pound today bringing me to 211.5 pounds. I really want to get below 210 soon and see some progress towards 200 pounds. However, I believe that is going to require a new level of dietary discipline.

We’ll see what we find out. More later…

Day 4

Tonight was pretty basic:

70 minutes (including cool down)
73.4 carbs burned
587 calories burned
3.62 miles covered.

Shalom everybody.

Day 3 of forever…

So tonight I indulged for the first time since my surgery and just ate a big dinner of (get ready) Cooley’s pizza. I ate two thirds of a medium pizza.

And not only do I now feel like shit, but I feel guilty as shit too. At least I did. Now I only feel moderately guilty.

Tonight’s workout:

3.535 miles
72.1 carbs burned
575 calories burned

I feel good too. I got my heart rate a little too high so I spent the last 20 minutes trying to ease it down without leaving the fat burning nirvana of 135 bpm.

And now, it’s time to watch LOST, catch a shower during the second commercial and hit the rack. Hopefully urchin 2.0 will oblige, unlike last night….

We are POTY candidates

In case you’re out of the loop, that stands for Parents Of The Year, and man do we deserve it.

If you’ve been keeping track, we’ve been having a little trouble with urchin 2.0 in that she’s been crying and inconsolable when we pick her up and she’s been restless, fitful and downright upset at night, making sleep for the three of us impossible. She’s also not been eating right for her either.

So after a few days of this, the wife decided to take the urchin to the doctor, which happened yesterday.

First of all, our two month old weighs just a tick under 13 pounds. I think urchin 1.0 didn’t hit that mark until she was about four or so months old, so I expect this one to be holding her own by about 18 months.

Anyway, the doctor said that her not eating right was the result of her just getting over some sort of bug or ailment.

(Translation: I don’t have any freaking idea. I’m a pediatric doctor and myself and the geriatric doctors do more guessing and lying than any other doctors on the planet).

Then she said that she detected a very slight heart murmer in one chamber, which is the same thing my wife was born with, so that didn’t surprise or shock anyone.

We were then told why Sophia was crying when we picked her up every time. It seems that in doing so, we were causing her shoulder(s) to slip out of the socket just a bit, effectively causing a mild dislocation. And I say that as the guy that laughs when anyone says “Mild heart attack.”

So it was nice to hear that we were causing extreme physical pain to our two month old. You want that. Of course, they say she won’t remember it, but I fully expect to be awakened by a heavy bowl or MagLite to the forehead in about two years, and then you’ll never be able to convince me that she forgot.

She slept better the two nights prior to last night anyway, so I suspected that she was recovering from something. Last night she got fed around 11pm or so, and then was fitful and restless and noisy until around 1am, and I decided to feed her again, and she took the whole four ounces. She then proceeded to sleep until 5:30am, so I guess she’s feeling better.

We’d just prefer that she feel better around 9pm instead of waiting until after midnight.

Hope you’re all doing well this morning. Talk to you soon.

Peace out!!

I offer a pre-emptive ah HA!!

I figure that some of you had to be betting the under on how long it would take for me to stop hitting the treadmill and doing my “road work,” such that it is. Well I assure you that today was not the day.

The biggest concern was the little buzzer in my head that reminded me that I’m not supposed to do anything aerobic.

What’s aerobic for me, you might ask? Good question. And I had no freaking idea.

I called my dad who walks an hour every morning (unless it’s really cold like it was Saturday, and then he cuts it short. The state of Minnesota is hanging it’s collective head in shame, Pops).

Anyway, he said that it’s 200 minus your age times 85%, but that number seemed awfully low, so we both decided he was wrong.

Except he wasn’t.

I got a book with my treadmill about the three heart rate levels that matter:

The fat burning level
The maximum fat burning level
The aerobic level

For my age (two thirds of the way between the 30 and 40 range), the numbers were (roughly):

125 bpm
135 bpm
142 bpm

Since I didn’t want to have an “episode” on the treadmill on day two, I decided to be careful and sneak up on the correct heart rate like you would the temperature on your Big Green Egg (LOL).

Oddly enough, I found that I was about dead on last night. It turns out that a six degree incline at 3.2 mph gives me a good steady 135 bpm, so I was safe last night by a smidge and right on the money tonight.

Anyway, tonights effort was an hour and ten minutes including cool down. It was a little tougher than last night, but only because I am still suffering from a good bit of muscle atrophy, and it’s especially noticable in the big muscle groups and in the groinal region (hush Ethel).

Anyway, during the rest of my waking day I walked 2.7 miles. Then on the treadmill I hit 3.3 miles, burned 534 calories and 66 carbs. I feel good it actually feels good to do it, although I think I’m most excited about the fact that I basically get one hour and fifteen minutes of uninterrupted X-Box time, which hasn’t happened five times in over a year.

Also, the wife joined in and made a jaunty 30-40 minute walk at 3.1 mph, and she’s convinced that I was trying to one up her.

No way. That’ll happen this summer when I break out the speedo at the pool.

Now I’m thinking I may get up 15 minute earlier than I do now and put 30 minutes in before I shower up for work.

Those of you that know me and have known me for years, read that sentence again. I am actually seriously considering exercising, on PURPOSE, twice a day. Will wonders never cease?

Anyway, it’s time for bed. Actually, it’s time to watch Molly feed urchin 2.0 and get a little sleep before the 1:30am – 2:30am feeding that I’m responsible for tonight.

Talk to you tomorrow…

Prepare thyself to be flamed…

I read a story the other day that said that Courtney Love is broke. If you live under a rock or nowhere near a methadone clinic or cable tv systems with the E! network, you might not remember Courtney.

She’s the previously pretty attractive widow of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, lead singer of the once popular and successful band Hole and currently the mother (sometimes in absentia) of Francis Bean, the now 12 or so year old child born of their trainwreck of a relationship but bearing a remarkable resemblence to her father.

Anyway, the story I read said that Courtney was broke (and was even trying to sell her shitbag house in San Francisco with no takers) and that she was now putting the Nirvana library up for sale and could make up to 100 million dollars.

I then read on a couple of messageboards about fans that thought former bassist Krist Novoselic and former drummer and now frontman of The Foo Fighters Dave Grohl should “go in and buy it to keep it out of anyone else’s hands.”

I know the Foo Fighters have been successful, and I know Novaselic is a lobbyist of some sort, but why do people assume that guys in bands can just pull 50 or 100 million dollars out of there assholes? I mean, what if it’s tied up in Enron or something?

And another thing, why the fuck is the library of a three-chord band worth 100 million dollars? Have you listened to most of that stuff? It’s shit. And it’s not like I’m out of touch. In fact, in 1991 when Nirvana’s Nevermind dropped, (like that hip hop term?) I was a mostly disenchanted 23 year-old guy who loved rock and grunge. I enjoy some of Nirvana’s stuff, but I have never bought into the “one of the greatest/most revolutionary bands ever” or the “Cobain is a genius” bullshit. They were just a flavor du jour that was slapped into an elite category because Kurt found a shotgun in the greenhouse.

Kurt Cobain was a weak, heroin addicted guy who came along when rock and roll was floundering and hair metal was dying. I would contend that if the timing was different, Soundgarden or Alice In Chains or any other of 100 bands could have been in Nirvana’s shoes.

But instead, I have to listen to accoustic Nirvana “genius” every 3rd song on “New Rock” stations all the time in addition to hearing the media still spew about Cobaine’s greatness over and over and over again.

I believe Dave Grohl is infinitely more talented than Cobain could have ever hoped to be. He plays every instrument in some fashion or another on the Foo Fighters cd’s, he’s achieved great success with that band without Kurt or Krist, and he seems like a fairly well adjusted and decent guy. He’s never seemed caught up in that brooding rock star bullshit that Cobain so conveniently embraced.

And now for Courtney. Whether the library sells for 100 million dollars or just 100 bucks will make no difference. It’ll all be blown long before her daughter gets to college age. I also predict that Courtney will overdose when the money’s almost gone, leaving Francis Bean a broke orphan who will wonder why two of the most selfish and dysfunctional people on the planet even bothered to get together at all.

I think Courtney and Kurt are proof positive that drugs affect your decision-making and that this story, from beginning to end, should be the movie that kids are forced to watch in junior high school so they can see what will happen.

That said, I hope Paul McCartney pulls a Michael Jackson and buys the library and then sells the songs for tampon commercials or lesbian SUV ads.

That’d rule.

Isn’t that always the way?

So yesterday, urchin 2.0 was still doing the “don’t eat much, cry a bit, be generally unsettled, etc.,” and we just can’t figure it out.

Then, last night, I hit the treadmill and she laid next to me in the bassinette thingy while I walked for an hour, only crying a couple of times for a couple of minutes total. We went to sleep after I fed her at 10:30p last night, and she didn’t get up again until 2:30am, and then not again before my departure at 5:30am. She also ate both of those bottles in their entirety, so I have no idea what to think.

Molly’s got her an appointment with the pediatrician today at 9am, so if anything’s wrong, hopefully he can tell us what it is. If there’s nothing wrong, then I fear we’ve gone down the same Colic road as urchin 1.0, only a little later with this one.

Stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted when I know more…

The first day of the rest of my life

Well folks, the impossible has happened. I ordered a treadmill. And not to hang my clothes on either. I am committed to my new lifestyle that is to include a better diet and more exercise. Well, to be fair, the change is that it will now include exercise period, where as my old sedentary life did not.

Anyway, we ordered the Pro-Form XP 550s from Sears. Also, after doing much research, we decided to buy the warranty as well, simply because it includes two maintenance visits per year and everything fixed from stem to stern, no questions asked, for five years. That, my friends, is one hell of a warranty.

Anyway, I meant to include a picture of the treadmill and one with me on it, but I couldn’t since the wife was cooking chicken and doing everything else it takes to keep this household running whilst I whittle away the time on the treadmill.

I will include some pictures soon though, I promise.

I also found that, with some concentration, I am able to play Madden 2006 on the X-box while walking, and I’m pretty sure I can play World Series of Poker too as well as NASCAR 2006. That kicks total ass.

(I did nearly fall off once playing football, but I concentrated a lot harder after that).

Anyway, here are my results from day 1:

time – 65 minutes (including five minute cool-down)
distance – 3.25 miles
angle – 6.0 degrees
carbs burned – 65
calories burned – 522

I feel great. I hope I sleep great and can get out of bed tomorrow, but I look forward to doing it again tomorrow night, and maybe I’ll finally watch the 2005 Auburn-Georgia game on DVD while I’m doing it.

Come back soon now, ya hear?

I promised not to blog about work…

but this has to be said.

I know that I’m lucky to work where I do. I may not have always said it, and sometimes you get crabby about things, but this is a good company.

And it’s filled with great people.

While I was out for my bypass surgery and recovery, I received many emails and phone calls from co-workers checking on us, offering their help, etc., and that in itself amazed me.

But we also got a very generous gift that was collected from my co-workers here and from the distribution center as well that completely floored me and my wife.

I returned to work after the New Year started and everyone was very warm and welcoming to the guy who’d been at home for two months.

Then today we were to have an all-employee lunch (a quarterly thing we do to recognize employment anniversaries, etc).

Only it wasn’t for that. It was a welcome back luncheon for me.

Ordinarily our company will have some sort of goodbye luncheon for people that leave, and that is very nice. But to have our president stand up in front of everyone and welcome me back, say how much I was missed and that they were all thinking about me during the time I was out and that they were all thankful that I was okay, well, you could have knocked me over with a blocked Left Anterior Descending artery.

If the guy sitting next to me wasn’t joking with me I probably would have cried. (Go ahead and laugh here. I don’t really care). I have been completely overwhelmed by the support, generosity and kindness of this company and the people here that I can’t adequately find the words to express it. A simple “Thank You” doesn’t seem like nearly enough. I wish I could express what the support and well wishes have meant to me and my family. It’s meant more than any of them could possibly know.

And to top it off, I got AMEX gift certificates to take my wife out to dinner with, when just letting me come back to work here was generous enough.

All I can say is that I am a changed man. I will be a better person, a better employee, and a better friend to those with whom I work.

Thanks everyone. Thank you.