I think I'm beginning to become accustomed to the "grind" of this busy-coder lifestyle I'm in the middle of. I'm getting stuff done and I'm finding a little bit of time to get non-work-related things done too.

Getting in (better) shape

Between Spring and Fall of 1992, I put on more than 20 pounds of extra weight. I generally attribute the weight gain to a emotional depression I experienced after my failed relationship with a girl named Amy. I'll save the details of that for another Fozzolog. The point of mentioning this is I've been carrying around at least that much extra weight since then.

Over the years, I've repeatedly tried aerobic exercise just to burn out and not want to do it anymore. The best luck I had with it was when Christine and I were living in Minnesota and I was running around Thomas Lake - the lake near our apartment - a few times a week.

(I tried to keep up the running regimen when I got back to Utah but nearly killed myself trying because I lost my breath so quickly. I realized I had been quite spoiled in the 600-feet-above-sea-level air of St. Paul.)

I've only lost a significant amount of weight a couple of times since 1992. The first time was during the summer of 1998 when Christine and I moved into our house. I wasn't working at the time, so I spent most of my days for the first couple of months we were in the house (until I started working at Sorenson Vision) doing stuff in the yard and working on framing and finishing rooms in the basement.

The second time was when I experienced the effects of diabetes. I lost so much weight in one week, it was scary. It was mostly water, however, so I gained a lot of that back quickly once I was treated with insulin.

Wanting to lose weight in a healthy way that I could deal with, I decided to do strength training exercises. I had read or heard that you can increase your metabolism by building muscle because muscle requires more calories than fat - so your body burns more calories faster.

So, I started doing squats, sit-ups, push-ups, and thrusts at night. At first, I was only doing about 20 to 30 sit-ups and 10 push-ups. That was about a month or so ago. Last night I did 100 sit-ups and 20 push-ups. I'm really making progress.

I haven't weighed myself - our scale is weird. When I was at the doctor last - about five weeks ago - I weighed about 220 pounds. I have another appointment with my doctor in late May and I'm looking forward to seeing a quantifiable measure of my work.

Despite not knowing my difference in weight, people have said I'm looking better. Christine has noticed a significant difference in how I look and how I feel when she hugs me. That's cool... and it's encouraging to know it's exciting to her. :-)

Coming sometime... my sister in Hell

I keep meaning to write a Fozzolog about my sister- she's been going to through Hell the last couple of years with her husband. It looks like they're finally getting divorced now, but she recently had to get a protective order against him because his behavior was getting erratic and harassing.

But, I'll save it for another night. It's getting late.