Happy Ash Wednesday! - Here is your gift..

Dear Readers,

I am updating the look and feel of the blog starting today, so don't be confused that you are at the wrong site. We are still here, still moving along.

I am a writer and also a usability engineer, so I am always looking at the ways things work, and don't work, and I thought the old format was a bit drab and not very user-friendly. Here are my changes:

1) Only one post on the front page. You will have to use the links to the right to get to the previous posts or the archive.

2) I am adding some information on the right side, including the current stats and goals, the legend of shortcuts that I use in the diary, and links to things that inspire, help, or just interest me regarding this weight loss challenge. Also, I will add links to other blogs that interest me or just random links that I go to often or are somewhat important to me.

Let me know if you have suggestions for changes, or links that I have mentioned but should go in this area. Also, let me know if you think these changes are helpful, or add to readability.


ok, lets go....

Motivation:

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you will land among the stars"~Les Brown

Diary:

D: Turkey Chili (home-made by brother-in-law) - had fun with sister and neice and brother-in-law.
---------
B: bagel and peanut butter, coffee (men's breakfast)
S: protien bar
L: chili... (dang, I grabbed the wrong frozen meal, I meant to grab the chicken) and red pepper slices.
S: turkey and cheese that I forgot to eat yesterday.
G: elliptical 1.8 miles, 356+ calories, walk 1 mile, sauna

Notes:

gosh, with all the work I am doing and the new blog site, I haven't thought of an interesting thing to talk about. I am just plugging along.

I had my first stomach hunger growl today, which was the first one for a long time. I might meditate on that for a while and discuss that tommorow...

I recently saw a couple of my friends blogs that discussed the following questions, so I will also chime in:

Four jobs I have had
1) Farmer son. That required lots of things, from putting out pipe, pulling in pipe, rouging bean fields, working tractors and trucks of all sizes, mowing weeds, caring for pigs, cows, dogs, cats, chickens, picking vegetables, watering flowers, counting rows and rows and rows and rows of corn, digging trenches, irrigating, singing country tunes while waiting for the combine to finish it's daily duty, and kicking mud and dirt off my boots. It was what it was. Every fall I miss the farm. I can smell the dust in the air and see the low hanging sun in the west. I sometimes become melancholy and cry thinking about how much I miss the harvest, and wish I could take 2 weeks every fall to just hang out watching corn being grabbed by combines and pushed into carts, then filter down to augers and the feeling that you have at the end of the day. You are completely exhausted, and can hardly pick up the spoon to put dinner in your mouth. But at the same time, you have a feeling of satisfaction that you work the land and are part of a huge cycle of life that is really wholesome. You put your feet up and watch Johnny Carson and laugh out loud, then fall asleep on the couch. That is the life.

2) Nighttime Radio Disc Jockey and Newscaster - KUVR AM/FM in Holdrege Nebraska. Hits of the 60s, 70s and today! This was fun, and I would do it again, only under my terms. I dreamed and planned for purchasing this station and really making it cool, educational, and community centered. I spoke with my dad about this, and we decided that it would be fun to have a local rep from each town in the county that we interview on a weekly basis, just to know what is going on in the area. Maybe someday, if I make a bunch of money, I will do this.

3) Tech-Support for Gateway computers. I kept this job for less than one month, then skipped town and never came back. It was like I was working in a StarDestroyer, only it was completely open (no walls) and lines and lines of cubicles with drones sitting in their chairs constantly taking calls from people who just bought a computer and were having all sorts of problems (what do you expect?? Computers, like all technology, is meant to be frustrating, and ultimately not do what you really want them to, which is make your life easier, be smarter, get lots of hot women knock on your door and make you peanut butter sandwiches and ice cream all day!) . Well, this was not for me. After each call, the system would randomly give you another customer, and for me, it was always the customer who had been online for like 2 years and was now mad at me for not answering the phone. So, I would let them vent and fume at me and call me all sorts of disgusting things. I remember something about the back end of a farm animal and my mother being invovled in some military organization wearing large shoes.
Oh, did I mention that my pay was based on call length? the shorter the call, the better the pay, becuase you could get more calls done in a shift. the only problem -> my peers would just dump the caller without really answering the question. They would get a better call rating by 'getting rid of the caller' and they would call back EVEN MADDER. Guess what? That's right, they would get me. I just didn't care. I let them curse and yell for as long as they wanted, then I answered their questions. My supervisor, whose glasses were thicker than that glass they use as a concrete block replacement, would point me out every morning to the group as the type of employee you don't want to be, and would announce to everyone my pitiful call times and the fact that my percentage of daily calls was the worst that Gateway ever had.
On top of all this, the job was in North Souix City, SD, which is one step this side of hell. Hell, Bagdad, N Souix City. That is about the list. I didn't have any friends and the only restaurant was a dirty Perkins that never got my order right. Gambling is legal in SD, so on payday I would pass by the pawn shops, bars and casinos to get home, and see the cars of all my co-workers paked in, spending and losing their meager income. (and believe me, it was meager). There is tons more about this job that I could say, but I digress....

I fleed SD, and spent a month homeless in MN, living with friends and under park benches. Later I got job #4, and upgraded to a one-room suite in Northfield.

4) I was a consultant for HP installing computers and telemetry at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. This was a fun job, as they were remodeling a building, so I was working along with construction workers and had to wear a hard-hat. I installed the cabling, and the telemetry for the medical devices, (heart rate, air, etc) that were used to keep track of the patience in the ICU, Pediatric and Newborn wings. I got to drill holes, put infrastructure together and build columns. It was a blast, except for the commute (Northfield to Rochester in winter) and I got a hand cramp from all the drilling and screwing.

Four movies I can watch over and over
1) Empire Strikes back
2) Shawshank Redemption
3) Planes, Trains and Automobiles
4) Mary Poppins,
5 - Honorable Mention: the Incredibles, Die Hard I, II, III, the Indiana Jones movie with Sean Connery, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Blues Brothers, James Bond movies, The Good, the Bad, the Ugly.

Four places I have lived
Does 1 month constitute living somewhere? If so:
1) Japan
2) India
3) China
4) Egypt
If not, then just Nebraska and Minnesota.

Four TV shows I love
On my VCR right now:
1) Boston Legal
2) 24 on FOX
3) Almanac (minnesota public TV)
4) Scrubs, the Office and My Name is Earl on NBC Thursday Night

Four places I’ve vacationed
I like the modern-day Road Trip
1) Las Vegas
2) Chicago
3) Road Trip to Portland, San Fran, Reno Salt Lake, Gillete WY, Loomis NE, Minneapolis
4) Orlando, Florida

Four of my favorite dishes
1) Tied: Anything at the Oyster House in Boston - Steak at Murrays in Minneapolis
2) Hot and Sour Soup
3) Angel Food Cake with jello & coolwhip frosting
4) Brachs Nut Goodies

Four sites I visit daily
1) StarTribune.com - especially the Fun and Games Page
2) http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/
3) Google
4) http://www.twinsbaseball.com (or Baseball trackers at ESPN or CBS Sportsline

Four places I would rather be right now
1) At the gym
2) At a baseball game (Spring Training starts this week, and I understand Fort Myers is REALLY NICE this time of year.. Dad, let's go next year...)
3) Reading a book with my neice
4) In a hammock, reading a puzzle book (Games Magazine) and watching the sunset.


Chazz