Employed!

Well, I got a call back today from that interview I did a month ago. I start tomorrow! Yay! I'm too thrilled. The money's right. The work environment is relaxed. I even know one of my coworkers! It's shaping up nicely.

There's a down side, as there always is. The position is contract, so no overtime or benefits and I'll pay taxes out of pocket. Also, I'll have to supply my own computer for work. (read: bring my laptop to work with me!) Plus, the route I'm currently taking has a lot of road construction.

OK, now for the positives. Contract work means I get 100% of my money! Watch out savings account, b/c daddy's bringing home more than double what unemployment's paying and you're getting the difference + the $25 a week I'm saving now! Money! Money! Money! Moooney! ... Mooonneey!

Did I go a little overboard on that one? Oh, my tax money's gonna gain interest too! Mooonneey! LMAO! House! Roadhouse! (That too.) Sorry, I'm just overjoyed about the job! And if you didn't get that last part, you've missed at least 2 hilarious episodes of Family Guy this season, JSYK!

Back to positives: I can bring some music with me on my laptop! And once the road construction is done, my route will run much smoother and have few red lights :) I love fewer red lights!

PS: Yes, I have been celebrating tonight!

Exercising: Stage 3, Week 1

I've been exercising on and off for the past 4 months. It's been a battle. The scale never seems to work in my favor. My stomach somehow looks worse when the scale does work in my favor! Why! Oh, Why!

A week ago, I finally realized that getting the muscular body I want is gonna happen in stages. Each stage will have a mini-goal and require me to change one habit, eating or exercising. The first two stage, I've already done:

Stage 1: Begin Exercising
Stage 2: Eat Healthier (2 Fruits & 3 Veggies Daily)

Stage 3: Building Muscle

I'm doing cardio and strength training 6 days a week. My eating habits will stay the same. (read: junk food is still unrestricted) Increasing my meat intake can be beneficial, but I won't worry if I don't. 6 weeks of exercising 6 days a week, starting 1/21. One Week Down!!!

My scale is in the closet. It can be a great de-motivator! Also, I am required to wear at least an A-shirt in front of the mirror. My belly looks worse since I started :( My arms are developing nicely though, so me posing in the mirror with a shirt is an awesome motivator...maybe I'll post y'all a pic.

Stage 4: Melting the Fat

Eating habits are the focus here. An optimal balance of Protein/Carbs/Fat/Salt must be found. Cardio & Strength Training will continue. More on this stage to come.

Stage 5: ?????

This stage, being a whole 2 stages out, I'm not so sure about. Maybe it'll be time to join a gym or get a bowflex? Que cera cera!

Junk Mail

Today is junk mail day. If you combined it's dimensions down to regular sized paper, you'd get 20 sheets. Now take that and multiply by 20,000 residences. That's 400,000 sheets of paper a week. I am part of the less than one percent who do recycle. That means that 360,000+ sheets of paper wind up in the land fill. Why has no one stopped this?

In the year 2010, we have the internet, we have the telephone, we have the television, we have e-mail, but advertisers still rely on old methodologies that should be strictly banned! Why we still have the mail system is beyond me. Private enterprise has been shipping packages for thousands of years but the postal service has only been around for less than 200!

It was nice to have mail and post offices and things of such a nature and while these ideas will live on at the UPS store and FedEx/Kinkos, customer service will be much better. The entire experience of life will be much better. Imagine no postal carriers out on the road. No more mail boxes. No more muddy puddles in front of where the mail box used to be.

A more beautiful, kinder world. A place where fewer emissions make the air just a bit cleaner. A place where trees aren't massacred to help make someone rich. A place where going postal permanently denotes a bad thing.

Passion

This weekend, I had a discussion with a 15 year old about their passion in life. He didn't really understand the question, 'What are you passionate about?' After working with him for about 15 minutes, he finally got it.

It can be quite tricky to figure it out. You've got to strip away what everyone else wants for you. On top of that, the answer doesn't come to you in a split second like 1 + 1. The icing on the cake is that you learn about yourself through answering the question. Knowing what you like to do and are highly motivated to do helps give direction.

For me, I am passionate about efficiency. I love to make things simple and easy. That's why I became a computer programmer to help computers simple and easy. It also make me a little OCD, but not in the turn the lock 7 times or wash my hands for 147 times a day kind of way.

Early Morning

Early morning has just begun
The day began for me at 1
My gaze passing from place to place
The day already too long
Out of the dark silence
2 miles away a train horn blows

A cigarette places itself in my lap
Put it up but my gaze returns
The ashtray alluringly singled out
Sweet nicotine cries the receptors
A third of a cigarette becons
With no release, I break

I start to grieve stopping at anger
Anger can be fuel for motivation
Anger can lead to depression
What is resolve? Can it be found?
Will the Lord allow me to find it?
Will I trust in the Lord to do as He sees fit?

Distractions

I noticed today, that I have a lot of distractions. I'm watching TV on my computer, as well as playing cafe world. Even as I am typing this up, I've got cafe world running. Both of these are my go to distractions. I've got plenty more.

I have a lack of motivation and focus. Distractions are my worst enemy, but are treated like a welcome friend. Minimizing the distractions doesn't help either. That only makes it worse.

Embracing the distractions, on the other hand, will guilt me into doing what I need to do. For instance, if I get into the TV show, my mind says, "Wait! Don't you have something else to do?" Suddenly, the situation is reversed and the chore becomes the distraction.

Here is a partial list of all my distractions:

• TV
• Movie
• Cigarette
• Cafe World
• Surfing the Web
• Driving Around
• Nap
• Making Coffee
• Playing any strategy/puzzle game
  
• Making Myself Happy (If you catch my drift)

Chantix Round 3

They say the third time is the charm. I hope it's right. I'm quitting smoking with Chantix for the third time. I've got enough for 3 weeks. I'm starting Sunday. That means my quit date is Sunday next weekend.

I wish I had more. It may or may not be enough. I did have a prescription for it and I may use some of my savings to get another 4 weeks worth. I know it'll cost me, but it's worth it, if I can shave $3.30 1/2 off my daily expenses.

Next week is prep week. I am to only smoke half a cigarette at a time, outside. If I'm feeling somewhat depressed, I'll smoke in only my boxers.

Motivation

I've whittled down my to do list to a minimum and I'm back in the same rut. I've got a 8 task from yesterday and 3 are 2 days overdue(the restart day). These tasks are quite simple, mainly just requiring me to physically perform an action. Hardly any mental effort goes into them.

This lack of mental effort is part of what is holding me back. Music is a cheerful distraction and it is a daily task on my cleaning project.

Getting up off the couch can sometimes be a challenge. I'll sit on the couch until my hips or back aches. I've got my netbook on a TV tray right here in front of the couch. Plus, the couch is my bed, so most of my time is spent on the couch.

Well, I'm off to sleep. My schedule is jacked up again. This is the first night I've been up after 2 in a while though. I think I can correct it by waking up in 6 hours.

Night Night Interwebs. lol

I'm back!

Each month, I go on a cycle. I get big hopes the first of the month. Those hopes sour when I cannot find motivation to complete the first week. Somewhere in the second week, I get up and start to dust myself off. I get back on track for all but the last 2-5 days of the month. The cycle repeats over and over and over.

Today, I dusted myself off. I'm so tired of this cycle. I've got to bust out next month. Even if I relapse in March, I pushed through Feb! That's something, isn't it? This month was especially bad due to a new year starting. It's like doubling the cycld.

Well, I'm not going to make big goals anymore. It's small, attainable, progressing goals that will lead me to where I want to be. I've revamped my to do list. I now have only 6 projects and will not let the number of tasks be more than 20 for any given day. I may add another project, but just one.

The Interview Pt 2

The interview went well this morning. I showed up a minute late, but one of my interviewers hadn't arrived yet. Once he was in, we got started. It went fairly well, for everyone.

For the first time, I actually felt like I was at a two-sided interview. They were telling me about their business and asked questions of me. It was a very pleasant experience.

I was nervous, don't get me wrong. It did keep me on my toes, but having 2 people interview me at the same time was a touch confusing. I think that was a test of my multi-tasking skills, and I was able to keep pace and not let my confusion show.

Once again, it ended on the "We'll get back with you." All in all, it was promising. The pay is good. The hours are good. The people are nice. The atmosphere is relaxed.

I really hope I get the job. It would be an awesome beginning to a brand new decade!

The Interview

I've got an interview tomorrow morning. It's kind of scary. It's just nerves. I waited all day yesterday in anticipation of going up there this morning, but they called to reschedule.

I still have to wash & dry a shirt to wear; everything else is set to go. I've got this nice wool coat I bought late fall '08 to wear. It is uber-warm and I look fabulous in it. Even got my listerine spray in the car, so I can smoke on my way over there.

I usually do well on interviews. I'm always nervous, but nervousness can help in critical situations like that, so long as you don't let it control you. That rush of adrenaline keeps me alert and on task.

I love when they present real world problems, so I can showcase the speed and thoroughness of my problem solving skills. That's my best asset. I can't stand those open ended questions like, 'If you were an animal, what would you be?' My brain doesn't process stuff like that quickly.

I hope they pay well. If they don't, I'm still taking the job, but will "continue actively seeking employment". I'll decide when to tell them that if I ever need to cross that bridge. OK, I think that's all the bases.

At any rate, I'm sure I'll do well and get the job, but keep your fingers cross for me, just in case. I'll post what happened as soon as I get a chance, probably by noon.

Welcome 2010!

I've completely reworked my todo list for the new year. I've got a total of 13 goals for this year. If I accomplish half of them, I'll be in a far better position for '11. The usual suspects are on the list: diet, exercise, savings, zero debt, making more money, and reading. My more personal goals are: remaking my wardrobe, taking back up french, learning more songs on guitar, and "stretching" a certain part of my anatomy to add another inch to it (Yes, if done properly, this does work and adds an inch over a year).

Today, I had 26 things to do and am down to 19 already. I am making use of my new dryer that I got as a belated Christmas present. Well, I will be using it in another 30 minutes when the washers done.

I did have no smoking on my to do list, but I was bad and have had 2 cigarettes since midnight. I didn't destroy my cigarettes from last night and still have 1 left. The urge is much easier to resist if I actually have to take a shower, get dressed and go to the store, so I'll try again once I finish this last cigarette.