still Sneezy, Weezy

Motivation:

"The best way to predict your future is to create it."~unknown

Diary:

b: eggs and turkey sausage
s: protien bar
l: chicken and veggies (homade thing that didn't really work), xs, vitamins
s: mixed greens, hardboiled eggs, dressing
d: turkey burger, whole-wheat pasta, organic tomato sauce (all combined into a spaghetti dish), a few nilla wafers dipped in coolwhip, just for a fun dessert.
g: none - day off.

Notes:

Have I posted the Dilbert comic before? (all rights reserved to Scott Adams and Universal Feature Syndicate). This is what work is feeling like right now. Endless meetings regarding what is going into the next version of the software, and trying to figure out what the business needs are, although the business people are not in town. I am asked to estimate how long it will take to re-write the documentation without knowing what specifically will be changing, how large of a scope the change is, and how many screens/fields/pages are affected. Talk about putting a cart before the horse.

This situation would cause me a lot of stress, normally, but as a contractor who gets paid by the hour, the more hemming and hawing that the business owners and analysts do regarding what is "in" and "out" of the product, extends the amount of time that it takes to write up the requirements and longer it takes to agree on a design and functional mock-ups, etc etc, which eventually means my contract gets extended. At the end of the day, I "punch the clock" and can leave the menutia behind. This is the main advantage of not being an employee, as I remember having to take the job home with me and being frustrated beyond belief that we aren't getting anything done as a company.

There are disadvanteges of being a contractor, such as being ill, which I am currently. I still have my headache, sneezy, congestion in my head and throat, and all over malaise. For this reason, and becuase I had SOO much writing to do, I didn't work out Wednesday. It is ok, becuase I can switch Thursday (an "Off" day) with Wednesday, so I will try to do some running on Thursday instead. I did walk a lot and walk the stairs instead of elevator. I also spent 2 hours after work cleaning, laundry, dishes, organizing downstairs, and outside most of the time watching and talking with "Frankie". Frankie was sent by the car dealer to my house to repair three dents on the side of the car. He did a great job and I was fascinated by the whole operation. Very cool. I got his card in case service is ever required again. (It is good to know people with skills that I don't have, and his personal work prices are much better than taking the car into a repair center.)

Good news! My legs are healing. I no longer have pain on the tops of my legs, so I think this was an overextension during my first 5K timed run. I think they are almost normal now, and will test them out during the run on Thursday.

Dilbert comics are genius. They seem to match the office politics/culture for many a software development organization.


Some fun motivational facts (although depressing) from Fitness Expert:

Overweight People are:

• 50% more likely to develop heart disease (obese: up to 100%)
• Up to 360% more likely to develop diabetes (obese: up to 1,020%)
• 16% more likely to die of a first heart attack (obese: up to 49%)
• Roughly 50% more likely to have a total cholesterol above 250 (obese: up to 120%)
• 50% more likely to have erectile dysfunction (obese: up to 200%)
• 14% less attractive to the opposite sex (obese: up to 43%)
• Likely to spend 37% more a year at the pharmacy (obese: up to 37%)
• Likely to stay 19% longer in the hospital (obese: up to 49%)
• 20% more likely to have asthma (obese: up to 50%)
• Up to 31% more likely to die of any cause (obese: up to 62%)
• 19% more likely to die in a car crash (obese: up to 37%)
• 120% more likely to develop stomach cancer (obese: up to 330%)
• Up to 90% more likely to develop gallstones (obese: up to 150%)
• 590% more likely to develop esophageal cancer (obese: up to 1,520%)
• 35% more likely to develop kidney cancer (obese: up to 70%)
• 14% more likely to have osteoarthritis (obese: up to 34%)
• 70% more likely to develop high blood pressure (obese: up to 170%)
• People who are obese have a 50 percent to 100 percent increased risk of premature death from all causes, compared with normal-weight individuals. Even as little as 10 excess pounds can increase a person's risk of death, and the risk of death increases with increasing weight.

The economic cost of obesity in the United States was $117 billion in 2000:

• $61 billion is attributed to direct costs relating to prevention and treatment
• $56 billion is linked to indirect costs, such as lost workdays
• Most of the cost associated with obesity is caused by diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Now if nothing else will motivate you to get out of the chair and start moving, walking, or eating right, I don't know what will.

Anyone else interested in joining me for the October 5K run?


more later,


Chazz.