The first day

Ok so do you all remember wayyyy back to my last post when I was talking about my trip to Rome? Well, it's cancelled. As much as I REALLY want to go, my employment is very week to week at this point and I don't know what the future holds. So I decided to postpone that trip for now. Who knows, maybe if things look more secure in the coming months I'll re-book it.

In other news, after tomorrow I'll have officially gone one full month as a vegetarian. A vegetarian you say? Yeah, I know what you're thinking. Why?? Well, it wasn't a moral objection, nor do I intend in staying a vegetarian, far from it. In fact I've already talked with some friends and we're going out for steak on Thursday night in celebration. For me, this experience was a simple test of willpower. I'll admit it wasn't always easy, but it was much easier accomplished than I figured it would be. Really, to be a vegetarian you don't always have to eat a salad or even vegetables for that fact. Hell, you don't even need to be healthy. Pasta! Beans! Fruit! Cheese! (I didn't go vegan) There are plenty of options out there. And let me tell you a little secret, those Boca spicy chicken patties are amazing!!

And now for the biggest news item of this update, in a rather impulsive decision (much like buying a Wii a couple weeks ago) I signed up for the Twin Cities marathon. A marathon??!! Yeah I know. For someone who's only run a few 5k's, a marathon is a HUGE step. But I'm committed to this. As a result of this, this blog is going to turn into my workout / weight loss blog. I'll be updating weekly with how much I've run and how muchweight I've lost. I figure if I make everything public it will assist in the motivation. Because really, who wants to be seen a failure in the public eye? Besides, it worked really well for me last time I blogged my weight loss journey and helped me acheive some fantastic results.

So here are my main goals in this realm over the next 5 months:
Finish marathon (mini goal - in under 4 hours)
Weight down to the ~200 range (10lbs a month)

I need to figure out a nice prize to myself for completing those goals. Any ideas? When I was able to accomplish dropping from 265 to 205 a couple years ago I congratulated myself with a nice big HDTV...which probably helped me gain most of the weight back, but still. It's a damn nice present to myself. Any ideas? (not a trip to Rome. Be more original than that!)

First weight in
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256.5
http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/?l=training,1757377386

Fly, Fly Away

It's done! I've placed the deposit on my trip to Rome this October. I will fly into Italy on the morning on October 5th and fly back on the 11th. I was kicking around a few other intersting ideas such as travelling to Japan or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, but Rome was a wiser financial decision and plus I'd rather do a once-in-a-lifetime trip like Kilamanjaro with someone else. I was also hoping for a longer trip, but since I don't earn paid time off at this point, longer than a week would be way too expensive.

I'm also in the market for a new Ipod right now. My Nano isn't terribly old at a little under 4 years, by I've used that thing so much the battery life is horrible on it. I lose at least half the battery on my train ride in the morning and if I listen to it on the way home, it's almost dead. which means if I want to go for a run with it, I need to plug it in and wait awhile before I can go. And my motivation drops with each minute I sit on the couch. I don't know if I want to just get an ipod classic or shell out a little more and get the shiny ipod touch. Decisions, decisions...

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!

Man what a gorgeous day today huh? I felt bad for all the sucker who had to work all afternoon. After work I drug my butt outside for a run, then took an hour nap and went back outside for a walk since it was still light out. It needs to be nice like this more often!

In other news, my passport arrived in the mail yesterday so I'm now busy trying to plan my trip. I still haven't decided exactly where I'm going to go yet. I have a few ideas other than Rome I'm kicking around. But nothing final.

New Music Saturday!

I added 5 new songs to my playlist today! I hope everyone enjoys them and perhaps finds a new artist they like. I've reached the 100 song maximum on my playlist so rather than creating a completely new playlist, I'm just going to start deleting from the bottom since people probably don't venture that far down anyways.

Tonight I decided I was going to walk over to Sweeney's and have some food and drinks and chat it up with complete strangers. Upon arriving however, the place was absolutely packed! A crowded bar at 9pm on a Saturday night? Who'd have thought?! So I walked down to The Muddy Pig and...same thing. Packed. After that rejection I just gave up on the whole idea and walked home. On my way home however I saw something pretty cool. There was a guy walking 4 small dogs on leases with two unleashed cats prancing along behind the group. It was like Dr. Doolittle or something! There were probably birds following this guy too, but it was dark so I didn't see them. haha

Labores Luna

For anyone that missed it, there was a phenominal lunar eclipse last night. I snuck out of rehearsal for a couple minutes to check out out when it was at it's peak. Lunar eclipses happen much more frequently than solar eclipses, but that doesn't make them any less spectacular.



In other solar news, it was recently discovered that the Milky Way galaxy that our solar system spins within is twice as thick as previously thought. They now believe the galaxy to be 12,000 light years thick rather than 6,000 light years previously thought. That's huge! I love astronomy.

New Bat-time, Same Bat-channel

Next week I start my new hours at work; 6:00am-2:30pm. Yes, that's AM as in Ante Meridium, morning, daybreak, foreday, really really early. I can't complain too much since I sort of volunteered for the shift. It was either that or the 11:30-8:00 shift and there's no way that was happening. That's the meat of the day! So instead I'll find myself getting up earlier than I ever have. I used to have to work at 7am occasionally during college, but most of the time I lived on campus so I just had to walk there. Now, with my train ride factored in, I'm going to need to leave my apartment at shortly after 5:00. I'll have to play around a little bit and I might be able to make a faster trip if I drive to the Lake Street station and park there. It's just a matter if I want my car sitting on Lake Street all day...bleh.

Early to bed
Early to rise
Makes a man healthy
Wealthy
And wise

"God made me blind and unable to walk. Big deal!"

Tonight I somehow found myself watching Extreme Home Makeover, a show which I'd never really seen and found myself completely inspired. They were in Louisville, TN with the family of Patrick Henry Hughes, who is wheelchair-bound and blind. Other than being an extremely talented musician, he is also a very positive minded person. He considers himself, and rightly so, just a normal guy living his life the best he can with the hand he's been dealt. I can relate to Patrick in a sense. Although his is a more extreme case, we have medically the same joint issue.



Now although Patrick himself is an amazing person, almost equally amazing is his father. He works the graveyard shift and sacrifices his sleep so he can spend the day with his son at class and even doing marching band with him. If you watch the video above you can see what I mean.

After watching that video I was reminded of another father son story which is absolutely amazing. It's the story of Dick and Rick Hoyt. Rather than explaining the whole thing to you, just watch that video too....I hope I can be that type of father one day.