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Saturday, August 19, 2006

We are moving.

I signed up for a MySpace page a year ago to go with my webcast and then pretty much ignored it. I'm changing that now, I've got it all updated and such and I'm moving my blog to that site as I don't want to maintain multiple sites. You can link to it here:

http://blog.myspace.com/matman42

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Ya Dewn't Say

Your Inner European is Irish!
Sprited and boisterous!You drink everyone under the table.

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Get me the Pentagon.

Just a brief update. 15 weeks and I've only had 5 sodas in that time. I think after I got past the "need" to have soda I was ok with having one now and again. Exercise regiment isn't as strict as it should be, especially in light of a major project at work. I'm down to 326 lbs. Starting last week I'm doing the 'Coutch to 5k' running program from coolrunning.com. Needless to say I knew I was out of shape, just not quite as bad as I really am. Hopefully I actually be able to run 3 miles sometime in September with only minor problems. I'll keep you all up-to-date.

I can't wait for this week to be over. We are finishing up a major migration project and I'm in for a lot of overtime. I'm having some balance issues right now. It seems I have to concentrate on office work or house work and keeping up relations with my wife, but I don't have time to keep up with reading, studying, my online radio station, my podcast, etc. I have a real issue in procrastination also. I put things off until the very last minute. If I was better about my time management I might be able to devote time to the above.

I'm getting ready to add more to my plate too so we shall see if I'm ready for it or if it will be breakdown city.

Keep me in your prayers.

Monday, April 17, 2006

I don't sleep, I drink coffee instead

So about halfway through last year I was suffering from some major fatigue issues. I mean fatigue so bad I was falling asleep at me desk at work and it wasn't voluntary. So I called a doctor and they had to establish me as a patient which meant the one thing. The one thing I had been avoiding for a decade and a half atleast.

A physical.

So I scheduled a physical for November of last year and suffered for a few monthes through the fatigue. Somedays were normal, some were horrible. The worst was when I went to Bethesda, MD. for training in October. Class was horrible with me spending more time concentrating on staying awake then actual learning. Then I would get out of class and do and see as much as I could, eat horrible, and keep an absolutely poor sleeping schedule. The weekend I had between class weeks I did a lot in D.C. because it was only a 20 minute metro ride in and there was a lot I wanted to see. That Sunday I was sitting in bed at 9:00ish and I told myself I was going to check email and go to sleep. I woke up at 12:30, still sitting in bed with the laptop on my legs. I don't remember falling asleep, it was pretty much blackout city and a bit frightening, but I chalked it up to extreme fatigue and went about my business.

The drive out wasn't bad, the drive back was horrible. The lack of sleep I had + rainy day + 10 hour drive = miracle I'm still alive. I stopped several times to sleep for 20 minutes at a rest stop or convenience store parking lot or in one case a country church parking lot. I really don't remember the last half an hour of the trip at all.

So I had my physical and my blood pressure was high, the doctor referred me to a sleep clinic, I did a sleep test and was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. I got the CPAP machine and I've been using it for monthes and I can't begin to describe the difference it has made in my life. My docotor has me on blood pressure medicine and its dropping slowly but surely. The doc has also been on me to lose weight, roughly 160 pounds.

This week marks the 6th week since I had a soda. It was part one of my plan to lose some weight. I just had a doctors visit and he says I've gained weight. I respectfully disagree for many reasons, but I'm still too heavy.

"Where is all of this leading?" you ask, or if your into Python "Get on with it!"

Today I'm starting back on something I haven't done in two years, early morning workouts. I intend, if nothing else, to make weekly updates on my weight here so I can feel like I have some accountablity somewhere, even if noone is reading.

Todays weigh in: 335 lbs
Target weight short-term: 290
Target weight long-term : 185
Today's workout: 30 minutes on the treadmill(5 warm up, 20 workout, 5 cool down) and 10 minutes of hard stretching.

I'm starting out easy to keep from burning out too fast. Hopefully I'll have good news in a year or two.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Happy New Year!!!!

I know a few days late and a few dollars short. I'm not going to wax poetic about my resolutions and how I'm going to make this a better year in my health, family, and such. I have already been working on those and it just feels ingenuous to "resolve" to do those things.

Anyway, I do plan on writing more here and possibly doing a podcast of some kind this year, if I can keep my computer up and running smoothly.

So I was watching the Today show this morning and I realized that I'm getting more and more disinfranchised with the way they report things, especially the interviews. It isn't just the Today show that does it, but that is where I noticed it the first time. This morning Katie Couric was interview two children of one of the miners that died in the mining accident in West Virginia this week. One of the questions she asked really put me out of sorts. Now keep in mind the two kids were in their late teens early twenties.

Katie asked, "Your father had only been working in this mine for approximately six months. Why did he feel the need to continue working in the mining industry?"

My jaw kind of dropped at that point. I'm asking myself, who in America is really asking these questions right now? Isn't it obvious that he has been working in mines all of his life, it is what he knows and does? Its like asking me "Why do you choose to work on computers?"

BECAUSE THEY PAY ME AND I KNOW HOW TO. . .DUH!!!!!!!!

Which was pretty much the response from the kids, minus the duh of course as it is national television and we can't make the interviewer look bad or atleast any more bad than she is making herself look right now.

Maybe it is just me, but it feels like the media is getting worse about how they report. I realize that news is no longer just the facts. I realize that sensationalism is what gets the ratings. To a degree it isn't their fault, they are only giving us what we ask for. Maybe we should ask for more from them. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take this much longer.