Nintendont (A Work-Related Post)

The Nintendo Wii was a groundbreaking device when it was released. In some ways, it probably still is. For years, we used it every day for Wii Fii. Now, we mostly use it for Netflix and occasionally YouTube. I use the balance board downstairs for freestep 60-90 minutes a day and if life ever gets less crazy I'll get back to doing some yoga regularly.

While it's commonplace on systems today, it was an early pioneer in online connectivity - you could email between Wiis, it could get system updates online, you could even download games and apps. And when it needed to tell you something, this really cool blue flashy thing would happen with the case around where the optical disc went.

But then the iPhone came out. And Nintendo seemed to completely ignore it. The game had changed. The iPhone (probably unfairly getting more credit here than it deserves) showed mainstream users some pretty cool new tricks:

• Regularly delivered updates
• Lots of apps due to making it easy to create apps and giving them a marketplace to sell them inexpensively (or give them away)
• Quick, casual games
• Limited multitasking
• Better and better graphics
• Eventually an ecosystem of related devices (iPod, iPad, etc.)

But the Wii sat there firmly resistant to the change happening around it. Sony and Microsoft continued to innovate and Nintendo said "Nope, we're not playing that game." and the Wii sat there, looking less and less innovative.

Fine, we thought, maybe the Wii's replacement would address all of those concerns. Maybe there was just enough drawbacks to the Wii (like limited graphics processing) to make continuing to enhance the platform difficult, unpleasant, unenjoyable, whatever. Eventually the blue flashy coolness came to mean bad news or annoyance, used to try to promote new products or tell us about features they were cutting:

Eventually it's reasonable to stop supporting old platforms, whether that's Minitel in France (1978-2012 - still had 10 million customers in 2009) or Windows XP from Microsoft (2001-2013, still the 2nd. most used Windows operating system).

And frankly, I'm not sure there's anything I'll miss.

But it's a reminder:

Plan your support and maintenance. You're not just having a child, you're raising that child - there are ongoing costs.

Plan your exit strategy. My Ford Sync tells me I get three years of free service, then they might charge me. I'm hoping they won't, but they could. And if I'm paying for it, there's probably a better chance it will be around longer. (Minitel would have been gone a lot sooner if it were free. Granted, also something better - the web - came along.)

Learn from the ever-changing world. The Wii U could have been a backwards-compatible upgrade (Wii 2 or Wii 2013) with better graphics and sound that still played all the existing games. But more importantly, the Wii ecosystem could have been opened up to the marketplace allowing for the easy creation of games and apps with Nintendo taking a cut of every sale.

Don't be stubborn (or appear stubborn). The Wii had a proprietary optical disc drive, sort of. I think some hackers proved years ago that you could get a Wii to play CDs, but Nintendo wasn't having any of that, in part because they didn't want all the extra wear and tear on the drives of people using it to play movies. Microsoft's original XBox used a competitor to Blu-ray that turned out to be unpopular in the marketplace, future XBoxes switched the the more popular standard. Apple created stores to help it address customer problems with broken devices.

I have fond memories of my NES and N64 and of the early days of my Wii. I want to cheer Nintendo on. But I can't. Sometimes an underdog proves it doesn't belong in the race because it is so clearly in the wrong weight class.

And I don't think it had to be that way.

See also:
How App Stores Changed How We Buy Software for Better or For Worse (Lifehacker)

Hey @Nintendo, why do you still not get it?

When my alarm goes off, I roll out of bed and the iPhone springs to life before my feet have even hit the floor.  I'm checking email, Facebook, Twitter and some games I play.

My very next step is down to the basement where the big TV is and the Wii Fit.

Sabotage

The cats keep sabotaging my Wii Fit use. They will step on the board upsetting the balance, they'll brush up against me messing up my balance, or when I'm doing events where my head is close to the ground, the cats will come by and either block my view of the TV or rub their tails in my face.

Wii 45 - 5/24 - 28.70, 189.4, 33, 56/270
Wii 46 - 5/25 - 28.94, 190.9, 32, 72/30
Wii 47 - 5/26 - 28.83, 190.3, 25, 30/50
Wii 48 - 5/27 - 28.63, 188.9, 29, 50/70

Redneck

Darn it all, I should have warn a towel under my hat today. I worked out in the yard a lot today and now my neck is burned.

Wii 43 (yesterday)

28.7 BMI, 189.4 pounds
Wii Fit Age: 35
16 minutes total, don't recall which exercises. Didn't do anything else, too busy.

Wii 44

28.7, 189.4 (yep, no change)
Wii Fit Age: 25
30 minutes total (did all the yoga exercises), 30 minutes step (3,401 steps)
5 hours working in yard (weeding, removing a big stump, minor construction in the garage, stuff like that.)

Building Muscle

So if you're a friend on Facebook, you've probably been unable to escape the fact we bought a Wii Fit the Friday before last. You're probably like "Wii get.." Oops, that is, "We get it already."

We had been working to get a used treadmill from friends in our small group, and we still may. But Lori suggested we get it and I started thinking about it. I knew I probably wasn't going to get my XBOX360, and if I did, I would never get all the use out of it to make sense. What's more, Microsoft would try to get me on the hook for a monthly charge.

So started looking into it. Except for some that I'd given to charity, I still had a nice chunk of Christmas money. And Lori had "loaned" her Christmas money to her mom. Figured why not get something we could all enjoy.

I haven't really lost any weight. I'm still at my resting weight*, but but I can tell I've melted away some fat. That's kind of exciting. I also know that it takes more to feed muscle, so I know there's a loss coming on. (*Don't know if there's such a thing, but I uttered it at a recent physical and the doctor didn't pause, so...)

I've been continuing to get my hour in on the exercise bike each day and trying to walk before and/or after work and/or on my lunch break. And then doing time on the Wii as well.

Gotta say... It's fun and I feel better and this is definitely more habit forming than a treadmill or exercise bike.

In no time at all, Starbucks and Fat Burger won't make me feel guilty at all. (Yeah, I may be exercising, but I'm still enjoying life.)

Where the Wild Winds Blow

I am on the Wii Fit doing Free Step. I have 25 minutes left and then I'll do another 30 minutes. Today is day 401 of using the Wii Fit every single day. In all that time, I've only managed to lose 14 pounds. I do not think that the Wii Fit is to blame. Most days, I do 90 minutes of free step. I think that Free Step alone is not enough. I think that I need to get back into the habit of also doing yoga and strength and balance exercises if I really want to see results. The problem is that Free Step is easy. I can watch TV or play on the computer while I do it. And I can do it while Lori's down here. So often in the evenings I do Free Step while she rides the exercise bike and we watch TV.

But there are some other reasons for such a cruddy showing after 401 days. Most notably, it's the really poor eating habits I have. There is always good stuff around and I have absolutely no will power. There was a time where I was blogging everything I was eating and another time where I was sending it all to Lori, a kind of accountability thing. That was cool. There was also a time where I was tweeting every time I avoided eating something not good for me. But then I got yelled at for using Social Media too much while I was at work. They didn't understand that you can call up Digsby and spend 5 seconds typing and post a Twitter update, but it was easier just to stop than try to tell them they were wrong and I wasn't. Because they had a point, it was all about perception. Anyhow, I can't blame them for my lack of weight loss.

Cutting the Cord, three weeks in

Canceled DirecTV yesterday. When Lori called to cancel, they asked why.  She said we were trying to save money and they offered to continue the subscription, but for $30 less per month.  So if you have DirecTV, definitely call and try to cancel.

Last week DirecTV's DVR didn't record Survivor for some reason. We plugged in the laptop and went to CBS.com and watched it.  This week it recorded fine.  We're watching tonight.  It'll be interesting to see tomorrow if it will let us watch recorded stuff off the DVR or not.  We made a list of everything that was on it.  When we turn it on this morning, it just says that nothing's authorized, so we can't get to recordings on the DVR or any channels, not that this was a surprise. The iPhone app registers an "unknown error" - guess they never bothered to write error handling for lapsed accounts. The DirecTV2PC app on our laptop also loads up, shows the shows and then responds with a generic "An error has occurred." alert if you try to play anything. Not surprised, but thought it was worth a shot.

Thanks to the way CenturyLink and DirecTV do their billing, we haven't purchased our Roku yet. We had to pay for this month and then wait to figure out who's going to send us a refund.  When I had been researching the Roku, I started getting ads from Amazon advertising it for $10 less than it was listed on their site.  But when I'd click through the ad, it would show the full price and not the advertised price. An email this morning from DirecTV confirms end of service, but it's all about additional ways they might bill you for more stuff.

Hulu Plus charges sales tax. Whatever. Still, a little bit of a surprise.

Our daughter's had frustration with the Wii remote going to sleep while she's watching Netflix.  She's not remembering to wake it up and getting deeply frustrated when her little brother interrupts her and she wants to pause it or rewind a little bit.  Often the Wii will need to be restarted or the Airport Express will need to be restarted before it will play well without stuttering or the app crashing.  May have to move the router and printer over and wire in the Wii directly or try to encourage more devices to plug in downstairs.  Or buy another Airport Express, but that's a last resort.  (We have to keep unplugging the router and plugging it back in before we print, so maybe it's just a problem with the refurbished router.)

Our big TV was someone's cast-off about 8 or 9 years ago and they had lost the remote. Thanks to Sony and Samsung's website, it was super easy to set up the Blu-Ray and VHS remotes to control the TV.

Wii 36

So they they 30 days to a habit.  But it's kind of like 36 days to almost bored.  I want some new games.

Anyhow, today...  28.7 BMI, 189.2 pounds.  Wii Fit Age of 35.  I'm also a little bit annoyed at the Wii for this... I've spent the past 6 or 7 years not entirely sure of my actual age and the danged machine is now telling me every day.

I did 10 minutes of yoga, only 6 minutes of strength training and only 4 minutes of balance training.  I did do 10 minutes of free running.  I thought I did pretty good.  I did a mile in less than seven minutes and ended up doing a total of 1.540 miles.  And then it showed the scores and I placed second.  Apparently my four-year-old daughter has already done free run and did 1.737 miles. 

I also did 30 minutes on free step for 3,599 steps.

I also rode the exercise bike this morning and again tonight for a total of an hour and walked a mile before work and a mile at lunch. 

Hopefully that combats the pizza and brownies for dinner. 

Day 1: 168.9

Alright... latest round.  When I stick to it, it's proven to work.  When I don't, I gain the weight.  I have no willpower and co-workers who like to bring doughnuts into the office.  So, with the help of my Wii Fit, RunKeeper, Lose It! and you, my audience of accountability, let's see how quickly I can lose 24 pounds.  (This time, the plan is to keep it off.)

Did two hours of Wii Fit Free Step today and ran 2.34 miles - I will sleep well tonight and the iPhone app from Simply Noise (I use the "brown noise," oscillating.) will help with that.  The numbers I enter into Lose It! are the calories as reported by the Wii and RunKeeper, so I erased the times that were listed on the screenshot because they're way off.  Also, I had a salad from Trader Joe's for lunch but when I scanned the barcode, the calorie count was way off so I just put in a generic placeholder to track the calories.

I should post a picture of me soon so we can watch the transformation.

Week 18 (Final)

Sunday evening wrap-up: Completed quite a few this week. The weekend was clear, which is unusual. There's a few things that I got checked off that I only partially completed, so I need to put them into next week to get them done.

Progress:

• Completed this week: 314
• Sunday: 19 items completed
• Monday: 40 items completed
• Tuesday: 33 items completed
• Wednesday: 35 items completed
• Thursday: 26 items completed
• Friday: 35 items completed
• Saturday: 67 items completed
• Sunday: 59 items completed

Two-Thousand-Nine

A tradition I've been doing for several years now, here's where I look back at the past year, as represented by what I posted on.  


January started off with a bang - 31 posts.  Bam.  The mother-in-law was newly out of the house, we had snow, some fog, and I predicted I'd see 160 on the scale by this coming Thursday.  I guess I need to find someone lighter than me to go stand on the scale.

January 3 - "Motivation" - am amazed at how much easier it is to get chores done on a weeknight than it is on a Saturday when there is all day to do stuff. Lori wondered if it was because I'd already spent the day feeling productive and getting stuff done. But, I'm not sure that's it. I think it's more that I have the mental idea of a very short timeframe in which to get stuff done.

February saw practical tips on handling large volumes of email (a guide based on people continuously asking me at work how I did it), regrets over a Daddy/Daughter day that I felt like I phoned in, lots of photos off my cell phone from my trip to Arizona, I looked back on all the major lessons I've learned from each of my post-college jobs, and we projected the superbowl on the wall and now I wanted a projector.

February 11 - "Dirty Tricks Division" - I think if I had a little color printer, I'd want to have some fun.  Like a new note on the toilet paper... "Westin is proud to offer you this extra roll of Heavenly Wipes(tm) because sometimes we know you need more.  To use, simply remove the outer wrapper.  $8 will be added to your bill at the time of checkout."

March was when I got temporarily hooked on Uno online.  That didn't last long, tried flying a kite with Rachel, complained that Qwest still keeps giving us Tacoma phone books, saw the Seattle P.I. cease to be, seriously cleaned my cube (with photos) and had a lot of dreams.

March 22 - "Father and Son" - Tonight, I was sitting on the couch with Ben on my lap.  I was handing him goldfish one at a time and also eating them myself.  He leaned back and lifted his head to look at me.  Then he raised his arm with the golfdish towards me.  He eventually just leaned back until he was lying down so he could look at me.  He would repeat the almost-offer of the goldfish several times.

In April, I counted stuff (# of offices, length of time unemployed, # of bosses named Jeff or Rich), learned that even "when to call a girl back after a date" is set forth in the Bible (thanks "How I Met Your Mother"), continued to rail against how badly GM's mucked things up, enjoyed the rain, complained about Old Navy, and seemingly the big news of our year, we got the Wii Fit.

April 24 - "Mine" - And then inspiration hit. I instructed her to stay put and went and found her birth certificate. I showed her where it said 'Certificate of Live Birth' and 'State of California' and she brightened up and said "That's me!". She liked the colors of the embossing on the paper and seemed impressed by the notary impression. So I showed her where on the paper that it listed her name and my name and Lori's name. And I told her that this was proof from the state of California that she was our daughter and always would be.

In May there was a scare that there was something large in our attic - nope, just a crow clubbing something to death on the roof at 5 am; I talked about TV shows a lot, I tried to document my Wii Fit progress every day (didn't last long), and I proposed fractional pony ownership (similar to NetJets). Think this was also the month that Marcus killed himself, not that we'd find out about it for a few months.

May 6 - "Getting the Band Back Together" - I don't know why, but as I was sitting at dinner, I was struck with inspiration. If I were musical, I'd want to start a band and I'd call it "Store Brand." Our musical style? Covers, of course. (Yeah, I think I'm pretty clever.)

In June I reflected back on an email that Lori and I have been sending back and forth for over 10 years, started doing more creative writing, and took a real honest-to-goodness vacation - foreign country, days spent sitting and doing nothing, views of the water.  All of the sudden, I really miss Victoria. In early June I was inspired to think of a new way of organizing stuff at home, but then really didn't follow through with it.

June 13 - "Inappropriately Insecure" - A rather interesting phrase came up tonight in Small Group: Inappropriately Insecure.  It was used to describe someone who is so insecure that they rely on the rigidity of rules to get by.  Everything is black and white.  There's no deviation from the rules and that's the only time they feel safe.  I thought it was a rather interesting description and a great phrase.  I think I know some people like that and that I once had those tendencies.  But, especially at work, I think I am becoming more confident, more secure, more able to determine when rules should apply and when there is flexibility to choose the best course of action.  It is liberating to be secure, confident.

July was a dry month - not much posting going on, mostly just videos I found cool and screen captures of a busy day or the thermometer in my car.  I also spent more than half an hour screwing with a spammer who had hijacked my friend's Facebook account and was trying to get me to wire them money because they had apparently gotten stuck in London without their wallet.  (Or their four children under the age of 4, one of whom has had some health issues and needs a lot of care and attention.)

July 30 - "Leadership" - Can't remember exactly where I heard it, or if I even am getting the attribution quite right (Dupree?), but thought it was compelling.... Leaders have but two jobs: (1) Define reality. (2) Say "Thank you"

August was also a slow month.  Firestone went on my list, I formulated a plan for cold-call emails, fought with as Waste Management (I think I lost), spent way too much time detailing my (albeit amazing) iTunes smart playlist composition and gave the world unsolicited advice on vacations. 

August 3 - "Woo Hoo" - Not only have the idiots at the Box network been fired and horribly killed and Planet Express is back on the air (errr... in the air), but the new idiots have done something right... thank you to Fox and the stars of Futurama to the compromise that brings back the original voices.

In September, Lori and I stole away to Seattle for a very quick vacation to celebrate 10 years (sadly, the Hawaii trip was out of reach) (thank you Eskews for entertaining our children!), and I took some screen captures of some positive results in Wii Fit.  What a dud of a month, as far as regular posting went.

September 15 - "Yeah, I Brought It (2 of 2)" - Today is going to be an excellent day. I tangled with someone the other day - they had presented some information in an email that they had gathered and I started to try to reply and address some incorrect points in the email but eventually gave up and just said their email had too many problems for me to know where to begin and that we ought to meet. (Today's lesson for the corporate world, kids - check the org chart first - person didn't like what I said/how I said it and let some others know.) I do believe I've managed to since convince them that I'm a good guy.

3 posts total in October?  Sad, just sad.  I think I must have posted more on Facebook.  But I'm trying to post here on the blog first and let it flow over to Facebook since it'll be retained much longer on the blog.  Yeah, so I made fun of something I like (candy corn), purged my friends lists, and finally learned that Marcus had killed himself.

October 12 - "Fight Night" - Something happened today that's making me re-think how I use Social Media, if at all.  Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy hearing from my friends, but this event made me take stock of who my friends really are.  I heard a researcher recently quoted saying that people can have, I think, between 80-110 friends and really know them. Anyhow, as I looked at it, there were 436 on Facebook and 76 on Twitter, without a lot of overlap.  Were they all friends that I genuinely knew?  No.  I began slashing.  And then I slashed some more.  In the end, I had 233 friends on Facebook and 38 on Twitter.  (And that was after adding two on Twitter.)

November was a little better with 18 posts.  In a number of cases, I had a notepad open as I went through my day and would flip over and jot observations and thoughts and then at the end of the day, post them all at once.  I posted my second-favorite 120 (my first was "Unspoken" in June) and I've intended to follow-it up with additional pieces, but I've been struggling to put them together cohesively.  I might need to just dive in and write about Dell's (my character) backstory before returning to the present where the cop is riding up on the motorcycle behind his stopped truck.  Also questioned Target's new brand strategy, thought I'd solved perpetual motion (but instead got some physics lessons - though those are mostly on Facebook) and Google releases a new toy that I thought I wouldn't see before I got to heaven.

November 7 - "When Will I Learn There Are No Guarantees" - What the world needs now is a new Frank Sinatra. And not in a Cracker way (the person most likely to understand this reference probably wouldn't be caught dead listening to Cracker, so there you go.) And if you say "What about John Mayer?" Then you need a kick in that teeth. That overhyped commercialized pretty boy is nothing but a corporate tool and "Waiting for the World to Change" is a piece of falsely optimistic tripe that appeals to people who are way too self-absorbed, prideful and egotistical (sadly, a topic I'm all too qualified to speak on). You can keep waiting for the world to change, but you will change first. Trust me. The sooner you get real about this fact and look at what you can change at the same time, the more effective you'll be. Don't wait for the world to change around you. Seize the carp and whatnot.

In December, I posted some stats from iTunes about our music listening habits, cheered as Time Warner excised the cancer known as AOL, and suggested I ought to write more.  Ha Ha, Mr. 7 Posts.  And then on Tuesday, December 29, I was late for work.  Though I was there an hour late last night and the office will be virtually empty this morning, I don't think anyone will begrudge me a few minutes.

December 17 - "Undertow: Not a Book Review" - But, yeah, where does that leave me?  If you say "Write what you know." then suddenly I feel very dumb.  I have absolutely no interest in non-fiction, but I feel like I don't know enough about anything to make for a very interesting fiction story.  Or that it's going to be flat because I lack actual experiences to draw from.  And the images in my head, while rich, are sometimes difficult to draw out, or the detail required to give them life will bore people as it veers into non-fiction.

Related posts: 2008, 2007 (parts one, two and three), 2006 and 2005.

Waiting for My Real Life to Begin

Started this like a week ago and never got it posted.

I think I've talked about this before - feeling like I'm in a rut, feeling like I'm waiting for something.  I'm not exactly complaining, it's a nice rut.  But it feels like it's a holding pattern.  I'm not just going through the motions, but I am certainly engaged in the exact same motions day after day.  I feel like there's a "someday," a future when -- not all, but enough -- changes.  But I don't know what, I don't know why, I don't know when, and I don't know how.

It's a very weird place to be in.  Because I'm not exactly unhappy with where I am.  And I'm not restless.  I'm not sitting here going "C'mon already."  I just feel like there's something more or something different.

How better than to look at my current day.  (Or skip past it as it's probably boring and more than you'd like to know.)

Monday-Friday


6:00 am - alarm goes off.  Option 1 - get up, do body test and do walk 30-40 minutes on Wii Fit while doing something on laptop (like Google Reader or this post which you'll see in a few days).  Check email.  Check stupid game on iPhone.. Option 2 - turn off the alarm, turn on the second alarm which goes off at 6:30 am.  Body test on Wii Fit.   In both cases, power down the laptop, go back upstairs and wake up Rachel.


6:40 am-7:10 am (approximately) - head upstairs and shower, squeegee the walls, gel in the hair, brush teeth, get dressed.


7:20-7:40 am (approximately) - get in car.  Snap the iPhone into holder, plug in, turn on music.  Drive the same way to work.  (Optional - stop at Fred Meyer for more oatmeal or Fred Meyer Fuel for gas for the car or Post Office to check post office box.)


7:50 am - arrive at work having driven essentially the same route as the day before the day before the day before.  Highlight - takes me through an area where they're reconstructing an overpass and I get to see all the construction workers.  Compelled to pray for their safety.  Park way away from building.  Long walk to building.


8 am - unload bag, snap in laptop.  Monday-Thursday - change from tennis shoes to dress shoes.  Take two mugs and two packets of oatmeal to coffee service and make oatmeal and coffee.  Return to desk.  Computer has booted up.  Sign in.  Click on the space shuttle icon that starts all of my programs, sweeps any clutter off the computer's desktop and makes a backup of a file I use daily.  Eat my oatmeal, drink my first cup of coffee.  Check out MSNBC and read through my email.


8:30 am - Monday, Thursday, Friday - devotions.  On M&F it will be 30 minutes at most.  On R it's a much bigger affair with a much larger team and also includes a business meeting.  Way too many people in a small area and it makes me anxious so I stand at the back so there's less people around me.  Lots of people checking their iPhones including the guy whose meeting it is.


9 am - "Office Hours" - like a college prof., I've blocked that time every day on my calendar (well, at 9:30 on Thursdays).   This is time each day when people can expect me to be at my desk so they can drop in and find me without needing to schedule a meeting with me.  I also try to get some email done during this time period.  If it's low priority, I'll write the email and then just save as draft.  If people call me, I'm most likely to let it go to voicemail and wait for the transcription of the call before emailing or calling them back.


Then, most days either have meetings or they have time I've booked with myself to work on specific projects.  At least half of that time I don't get to work on the projects and end up dragging the item to the next day on my calendar.  A big portion of my time is email.  Followed by handling new requests that come in.  Often they are fuzzy and incomplete and I spend a lot of time trying to hunt down missing requirements.  I say that if I can't fully understand the request and how to solve for it, I can't estimate how long it will take a developer or which developer to assign it to.


Noon - lunch.  If the weather's nice, I'll take a walk around the building. Working my way through a backlog of magazines.


Then, back at it.  If it's Thursday, I have 4 or 5 30 minute meetings with my staff.  This allows me to get up-to-30 minutes in with each member of my team every other week.  Sometimes, that may be the majority of the contact I get with them in any two-week period.  Especially the guys who work for me in Montana and Colorado.  In a few months, two of my team will give birth. I've asked for help from my boss on getting some temps or something but so far nothing.  I've also just asked for help in general but so far nothing.


If it's Friday, I have to look over all the requests that have come in that week and determine how many developer hours I'll have the following week.  If I have enough developer hours, it'll be a snap to assign all the work (the following week) but if I don't, there's a lengthy process to gather up all of the requests and distill them down so that I can take them to my boss and his peers and their boss on Monday so they can prioritize so I know which ones to assign and which ones to let slide to the following week.  I could mostly do this myself, but sometimes their choices surprise me, and it deflects any frustration over unassigned work off of me and onto them.


4-5 pm - another set of "Office Hours" - my calendar is again blocked to requests so that I can try to get some more email done, also so that people can find me.  I'm more likely to answer calls here, unless there's someone already standing at my desk.  I think that's so rude when you're talking to someone and their phone rings and they take that call.   I usually leave.   Or I'm less likely to even go to their desk in the future with questions, either Skyping or waiting for them to come to me.  And if I get a call, I make a big deal out of not taking the call and letting them know it's my attention they deserve and that the caller will email or Skype or leave a message if it's urgent.


5-5:30 - Going over my task list in Remember the Milk, doing some reading in Google Reader. A chance to decompress and transition from work to home. Long walk to the car. Listen to a Saddleback podcast while heading home.


6-7:30 - Family time. Dinner, playing with the children. Maybe some light chores like running some laundry.


7:30-8ish - Kids off to bed.


8-9ish - More chores... shaving, folding and putting away laundry, cleaning in the kitchen. Listening to music or watching some TED Talks.


9ish-11 - Watching TV with Lori and exercising (she on the exercise bike, me doing freestep on the Wii Fit) and playing on the computer.


11 - Getting ready for bed. Read.


Midnight - sleep.


Next verse, much like the first.


I do get to sleep in more on Saturday, but up at the same time on Sunday.

But, yeah, it feels a little repetitive.

I've been trying to figure out when it's going to change.  I have some ideas, but it's all a bunch of somedays... when the children are a little older and can feed themselves.... do more of getting themselves to bed...  when I've had time to clean the family room.. when I've had time to build my office underneath the deck... when I'm done exercising and magically stuck at my goal weight.. when I've gotten caught up on the TED Talks... when my Google Reader is empty... yeah... I can't figure out what changes, but I think at some point things change. I just can't figure it out.

Is Hell Bad?

Ok, so this might concern some people, but hear me out.

Hell wasn't designed for humans. It was designed for Satan. By God. But God is good. And God loves us and wants the best for us, even when we turn our backs on Him (though granted, He doesn't just make our life all coffee and chocolate). And Satan is often depicted as happy in hell, especially when tormenting humans. So maybe hell isn't a bad place if you happen to be a disgraced angel? Just a thought. Not claiming it makes sense.

Wii 41

BMI - 28.87; 190.5 pounds
Wii Fit Age: 43 (stupid walking test)
10 balance, 10 yoga, 9 strength training, a five minute jog and 30 minutes free step. Also 15 minutes walking (1 mile) and 60 minutes on the exercise bike.

Wii 37

I know my weight is gonna be bad tomorrow.

So, today... 28.8 BMI, 190.0 pounds.  Wii Fit age of 32.

10 minutes of yoga, 10 minutes of free run, 30 minutes of free walk.  I had to make an unplanned stop in the middle of the run which gave me a break.  That might have been what allowed me to do 1.814 miles in 10 minutes.  Before the stop, I did run a mile in 5:55.  I also did 15 minutes on the exercise bike and an hour and a half in the yard with the lawnmower and weedwhacker.

What's It Going to Be?

Some interesting thoughts in my head recently.

Studying earlier this week for small group, the reading asked "What is your idol?"  That is, "What do you place above Jesus?"  The book gave some examples and I thought "control" fit quite nicely.

We had another assessment with our son for therapy and that always makes me think about how I'm probably undiagnosed ADHD and probably somewhere on the autism spectrum myself.

I talked with a friend at lunch today about our social struggles.  He as an extrovert who's always surprised at what comes out of his mouth and me as an introvert.  We both end up struggling socially for different reasons but with the same results.

Small group tonight asked the question "What do you do in your quiet time?"  I didn't understand and I wasn't alone.  It also asked the question "What would you do if you found yourself waiting on a street corner for a friend and they were late and there was nothing to read or look at?"  I thought I would be mad at my friend for making me wait and I'd be worried that I'd lost my phone.

It also asked the question "What do you have nightmares of? What do you fear losing most? What makes you get up in the morning?"  I couldn't think of when I last had a nightmare.  The closest thing I could think of is that sometimes I'm up against people who are hunting me or want to kill me or harm others.  But it's not about me running or trying to flee, it's about me fighting, trying to get the upper-hand.

So am I my own idol?

It's weird... with all the technology, there is no more quiet time.  From the moment I get up I'm checking my email and Facebook, then Wii Fit and TV/DVR and Google Reader.  It is quiet in the shower.  Someone suggested that's the only remaining refuge.  That was interesting, so I thought about what I think about in the shower.  It turns out that I either don't think of anything (zone out) or come up with really crazy interesting ideas for work.  Is work an idol?

Then it's in the car.  Waze gives me details about traffic while the iPhone plays music.  Then I'm bombarded constantly at work.  Maybe I'll take a run at lunch and listen to music.  Or read a magazine while I walk.  For the drive home I'll listen to a podcast from Saddleback and then flip back to music when it's done.  It doesn't shut off at home and then after the kids are in bed, I might go for another run and then it's back to the Wii Fit with the laptop and the TV again.  And then, finally, bed.  Even on Sunday, even if I attend two church services, I hang out in the technical booth and even if I'm listening to the sermon twice and taking notes, I'm taking them for the purpose of putting them on my blog and another website.

I joked today that I felt like I had several areas under control and yet I haven't shaved in four days.   So control might not be entirely it.  If anything, it's only the illusion or perception of control - try to keep everything up in the air long enough to buy some time and hope that something comes up.

So if not control, perhaps it's that - noise, motion, activity... is that an idol?  Am I drowning out God?  Would attempting to create quiet time be yet another activity I cram into my scheduled, orderly, controlled life?

Sunday

Today actually turned out busier that I expected, but it was a good day.  I got to spend quite a bit of quality time with Ben, but not so much with Rachel.  I think I need to find some time for some 1:1 time with Rachel, just not sure when.  Wonder if it would help with her defiance, versus being an exercise in frustration.

Beautiful weather today.  I had been missing L.A. going into the weekend, but by today I was loving how beautiful it was. 

Wii 38

BMI - 29.04, 191.6... yeah, birthday party killed me.  Don't expect tomorrow's weigh-in to be any better, but maybe the week at work will help me get back on track.  (Most of the cake and ice cream are gone and we unloaded some other leftovers at church today.)   Wii Fit Age was 34.

Six minutes yoga, 4 minutes strength training, 10 minutes aerobics, plus 10 minutes free run (1.963 miles, 1 mile at 5:15) and 30 minutes free walk (3,660 steps). 

Maintenance

How cool is this? It's a rug!
(Completely unrelated, just a cool image.)
Image from TheRugs.com

Done. 23 pounds down from when I started using Lose It! on Sept. 5. 10 pounds additional pounds down during the summer. A few more on top of that. Probably close to 40 in total. I now weigh 155, my final goal weight. Lost It! has switched over to maintenance mode - an increase of about 700 calories a day.

The first year here, I came close. Wanted to go from 190 to 160. For some reason, I gave up at 163 and it all came rushing back.

But now, I finally have a tool that worked. So now what? Not sure. I may be able to exercise a little less. That doesn't exactly appeal to me. I like a walk in the morning and walking at night while watching TV. I like walking at lunch when the weather cooperates.

Either way, I know what's not next - slacking. This is my new weight for life. The Nintendo Wii disagress - says I need to drop another 10 pounds. Yeah. No. I'll continue to weigh daily since it's a function of using Wii Fit Plus anyhow. And if I go back over, the more restrictive calorie count will come back into play. But on the other hand, I don't feel like I've been missing those 700 calories. I might be forced to exercise less, or eat more. I bought a set of measuring cups and spoons for work so I can buy some dry cereal and stuff and keep more portion-controllable food at work. At home, I plan to eat the same sized portions as Lori -- first, I want to be supportive because she's still working towards her goal and second it's much easier to enter in my calories if I can copy off of her.

The holidays are coming up. They might be trouble, except that I already survived Halloween without issue. With care, I can survive Thanksgiving and Christmas as well.

Sadly, because I'm not interested in changing my exercise routine, I'm not sure this will give me any free time back. But that's something I'll definitely be thinking about. And I've been thinking about a few other things in my life that I have been slacking on. Formulating some new year's resolutions. Or CY2010 Goals, if you will.

9 Day Streak

Tax day. The Wii Fit also has felt it important to remind us daily that it was also Carol's birthday for a few weeks now. I had finally decided I was ready to let Carol fully go and remove her from the Wii Fit, but Lori said we ought to leave her in, that if Morticia had been in the system she would have wanted her to still be in there.

It's funny to think of tax day. I get all stressed and frustrated and anxious about needing to get it done, and then it's all done, the refund's back and the money's mostly spent more than a month before the actual tax deadline. It actually took longer than it needed to this year. It was probably about an hours' worth of work (I love hrblock.com) but I got about 57 minutes done and then thought I was stuck (I wasn't) and I let it sit for way too long bugging me. And then I finished it. We didn't get our refund until March 5 this year. It was a nice size. I like not giving very much to the government. I much prefer giving it to charity.

A good day. I turned off the email in the morning and worked on another project that's been eating at me for a long time. It was potentially due at the end of September, but they delayed it. Then it was due March 31, but I just didn't get it done. Now, it's mostly done. There are pieces in a number of other people's hands, but very little waiting on me at this point, which is a relief. I have a little work to do tomorrow, but yeah, mostly not on me. I do need to dog it all to done and then there's another administrivial thing hanging over me coming very soon, but it's at least nice to check one thing off the list.

Lori, Rachel and Ben came for lunch today. While we were setting up, we were trying to get Ben to say things. He was repeating simple words, so I tried "fascinating!" He tried a few times, saying things like "fasciwasha" each time I said "fascinating!" After the third time, he added "I doan know" in a sad voice. That to me is fascinating - how well he uses that phrase. He's correctly using yeah and no to answer questions. Our friends said that with their son, he went from not speaking to just talking constantly, like a flood gate opening. I'm hoping that will be the case for Ben. There seems to be plenty of words he recognizes and plenty of words that he used to use but has since stopped using. One weird thing is that he seems to use "milk" for "more" or just when he wants something. And then he gets frustrated when we hand him his milk and that's clearly not what he wants.

And, he's mastered "uh-oh." He says it very well. Of course, it's not really an uh-oh. It's just that he felt like throwing something.

Tonight Lori had choir practice so it was just me with Rachel and Ben. We had a nice night. I had to excuse myself to another room and Rachel sat with Ben. She said she was going to read with him and pray with him. Not sure if she did, but when I came down, she did read to the two of us two of her Bible stories. She's getting really good at reading, including sounding out "Hebron." Then I read them one more Bible story and then some in the Psalms. I had started over again when Ben was born and it feels like we're moving more slowly than when I read through it with Rachel. In the beginning there were more missed days and days where we could maybe get a paragraph, but now I'm able to read two pages a night. I should go back and see how long it took us to get through the first time. I know I blogged about it.

It was a nice evening. There was even a few times where they were both sitting on my lap together. That didn't last long, though, because Ben wanted to keep smacking at Rachel. They both did a good job at going to bed without problems tonight which was kind of night. I think Lori's right - Rachel needs to be in bed before 8 pm or else... pain.

Breaking Bad

Breaking Bad is a guilty pleasure of mine.  Well, mostly just Bryan Cranston.  I find myself skipping scenes tonight that he's not in.  But, finally a shark-jumping cliche... trying to do something really important and his wife goes into labor.  Really?  How irritatingly pedestrian. 

Wii 40

BMI -28.8, 190.0 pounds, Wii Fit Age 32
10 yoga, 10 strength, 10 balance, 2x3 minute jogs, 30 minutes free step (3,749 steps)
15 minutes walking (1 mile) and 30 minutes exercise bike

Random interesting link: What is the largest organism? (Tangentially related, I guess, to something else I've been watching - History Channel's "Life After People")

Sun and Rain

Watching the finale of "Scrubs" - well, apparently now only the season finale now.  It's ok.  I guess there's still some time.

The sun was brilliant at lunchtime today.  Walked extra. 

By the drive home, it was raining pretty decent.  The iPod was spot on and played "All Will Be Forgotten" by Holly Brook and "Black Velvet" by Alannah Myles.  I had the seat lowered and back, I wished I had abaseball cap to complete the chill.

Ok, Scrubs got better.  Makes you wonder why they are doing another season.  (Well, I know why, but almost seems like they shouldn't have.)

Wii 39

BMI - 28.9; 190.7 pounds; Wii Fit Age 30
10 yoga, 10 strength, 30 minutes free-step (3,867 steps)
Did about 45 minutes of walking and 40 minutes on the exercise bike.