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Self Improvement

Me, Self Improvement
The (Formerly) Running Man
08.10.09 | Permalink | 2 Comments

For about five months last year I worked second shift in the data center – 2pm to midnight. This left me with my mornings free and nothing to do once the kids were off to school. I was kind of tired of being such a fat slug, so one day I strapped on my sneakers and went for a run.

And I didn’t get very far. But the next day I got a little farther. In less than a month I was running 2.5 miles four times a week. From Labor Day to Christmas I lost nearly 25 pounds.

Then, inevitably, my body broke down.

See, I was born with a club foot (surgically corrected when I was an infant) and later I hurt my Achilles on that same leg, so I had a fallen arch on that side. This put a little extra pressure on my right knee, and finally something had to give. When it did it was the cartiledge over my kneecap.

So I sat around the house and waited for it to get better, and it never did. Nothing else seems to hurt except for running, but even a couple of running steps is painful. I later learned that it can be fixed, but the doctors recommend against it unless the pain is just unbearable. Apparently once you get your knee fixed it’s never the same again.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I spent three days wandering around Universal Studios. I was on my feet about six hours a day, and while the standing around got old after a while, the walking didn’t seem to hurt too much.

So when I got back I decided to keep it going. In the past 8 days I have walked more than 35 miles, and it feels pretty good. So far I have lost a grand total of… 1 pound. But hey, in a year that will be 52 pounds! And I’ll be down to the what I weighted when I was 15.

Or maybe not.
Self Improvement
Cold Turkey
04.08.08 | Permalink | Comment?

For the last ten years or so, a friend of mine has been with me practically every working day. A kindly Texan from Waco, he’s there in the morning when I first sit down at my desk, he usually joins me for lunch, and occasionally I see him at other times during the day.

His name is Dr Pepper. And yesterday, I said goodbye.

Oh, I’m sure we’ll still get together on the weekends, and maybe for dinner once in a while, but I have decided I have to quit my two-cans-a-day habit. I’ve tried before, but this time I have an alternative beverage: iced tea, synthesized from a cup of hot tea and a cup of ice. See, I don’t like hot tea without milk, and it’s a pain in the butt to keep fresh milk around… let’s just say it was a barrier.

The first thing I noticed after going cold turkey: I’m hungry all the time. Not only am I eliminating 80 grams of sugar from my daily diet, I also cut out the cubic meter of carbonation I used to ingest. As a result, I now begin thinking about lunch at 8:45 in the morning.

An unexpected benefit was that I had no trouble getting to sleep last night. Or to put it more accurately, I was IN A FREAKIN’ COMA BY 9:15! Still, a good night’s sleep is better than a sharp stick in the eye (unless that’s some sort of kinky sex thing…).

So far there has been no backsliding, although I did have a Pepper over the weekend. I don’t really miss its sweet, sweet nectar, the syrupy food of the gods… Er, I’ll be right back.
Self Improvement
Investing In Yourself
01.09.06 | Permalink | Comment?

Billionaire Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban had a great blog post the other day, a follow-up to a previous post about investing. In that previous post, he basically ran down investing in the stock market, arguing that by paying commissions you were throwing your money away when you could invest elsewhere with guaranteed returns.

In his follow-up, he details what he thinks is the best way to invest: invest in yourself. Spend that money on a book and learn how to program in PHP, or PERL, or if you’re a half-wit like me, VB Script. Come up with solutions to your own problems, then sell them to others. In my own small way, that’s what I’ve been trying to do with my various programming projects.

Most programming tools come free with the operation system. To learn ASP all you have to have is a computer with XP Professional installed. The hottest new technique, Asynchronous Javascript and XML (AJAX) requires no fancy software. It just requires patience and determination.

It’s not just programming that’s easier these days. It’s always been true that to make yourself an author you need only a typewriter, but digital technology lowers barriers to entry for other artistic types. Musicians can cut entire albums on their computers. Filmmakers can’t quite make featurs, but with an inexpensive MiniDV camcorder they can at least make some demos, and learn from their efforts.

With the approach of inexpensive computer-controlled fabrication, soon you will be able to create physical objects with a computer and a few hundred bucks. If you really want to do something, you no longer have any excuses.

Speaking of my programming projects, the latest one is nearing completion, and I hope to have a grand unveiling on February 1st. Some of you may hear about it ahead of time… the cool ones, anyway.