Well…not a great weigh in but hey, I did not gain any weight. In fact still lost a bit.
I did increase my weight lifting which can tend to slow loss but decrease size. (hope that was it 
)
I knew this week would come at some point where my 1.5-2.0 a week loss would slow.
My weigh in came at 187.6 which is .6lbs for the week…a little better than half a pound.
This week more focus. A little discouraging but hey, still losing.
I have about 6 full weeks left. If I can get back to my 2 lbs a week I will be really close to my goal on the 31st of December.
My wife and I often play this game…What if we won the lottery?
Ironic figuring we never buy a ticket, but it is fun to dream.
We especially do this on long drives.
What would we buy first? (I would totally buy a Range Rover Sport)
Where would we live? (Still in Nashville but probably in a nice part of the Brentwood area) Where would our vacation home be? (Totally in the islands some where)
How much we would give away and to who? (Of course a big ole check to my church, and then select charities- family is on this list but not everyone…those who would be good stewards of it) Who would we leave off (that is the fun one )? I refuse to answer this until we actually win.
Would we still work and if so doing what? NO WAY. Well, I say no way. I would probably start a real-estate investment firm and deal in international properties, in the islands
So, this post is for you. You have heard mine.
If you won the lottery for say 25 million…. What would you do first? (after pulling yourself off the floor and changing your pants from peeing in them) What would your first big purchase be? Where would you want to live? Who would you give money to? What is the first vacation you would take?
The Church Handshake.
Something that has been done in churches forever.
It doesn’t matter how long you have gone to church or which churches you have visited you likely have been apart of the Church Handshake.
And forever it has bothered me or creeped me out. I just do not like it. It is something I find completely uncomfortable and really disingenuous.
I feel this way for several reasons but here is my short list:
1) I do not know how clean your hands are. Do you have H1N1? Are you a good washer after the potty stop?
2) I don’t really know you so how can you be that excited to shake my hand. P.S. I am not famous and will not be signing autographs afterward.
3) I do know you and shook your hand on the way into church. I then immediately went to the bathroom to scrub my hands in case you have H1N1 or your kids germs. Really I did. I do not wish to shake and repeat in church.
4) I know you do not really like me anyway…so why are you smiling at me and shaking my hand like you do? What are you trying to get from me???
5) You have sweaty hands. Totally GROSS….back to the restroom to wash up again. Stop 3 already. I am now missing a message I really need to hear.
6) You shake my hand like you own the church and I am just a visitor. Ummm…been here since we were in the middle school buddy! (A total statement to mister in front of me this Sunday-although I am certain he is very nice and I should be more welcoming to the new guy- ironic)
7) You are the hand crusher dude. These babies are how I make my living, please don’t crush them. Glad to see you lift a ton of weights! Stink, you wife must also lift weights…crushed by the both of you!
Your thoughts. Do you like the handshake thing in church? Why or why not?
I really thought this week was going to be the week I slowed a bit.
My exercise was good but not quite as intense as normal due to a ton of meetings and things going on.
My diet was pretty good although this week I need to refocus just a tad…all of the Halloween candy floating around made it a bit tough…LOVE those little mini Kit Kats and Baby Ruth bars..
Either way…2.2 lost for the week and I am in the 180’s!!!
I think one of the biggest challenges I face as an adult is being able to talk openly and freely about my feelings, my failures and my dreams.
Up until now I have only shared this story with friends and people who I thought I could inspire to change. The reason I am sharing it today, publicly, is because it is a step I am taking to be more open and a better communicator in my life.
You don’t have to brace yourself…it is not something that will drop you to your knees or anything. Some of you close to me already know the story. But many of you who only know me through the blog would might…well….I don’t know, you decide.
Either way, I am being selfish today and sharing a life story of mine to hopefully help me and some of you.
In 2000, me and my family was in debt. A ton of debt.
Between cars, student loans and credit cards, over $70,000 in debt.
For some that might not seem like a lot depending on your income, but for us it was crippling. Especially because at the time, my wife and I were not blessed with the resources we are today.
I got a new job that seemed to help the situation from an income standpoint and overnight I started making more than I ever had before…not good being that it worsened the problem. How you might ask? I thought I was income bullet proof.
In 2001, the company that I had worked for a couple of years, started a round of lay offs in my division. I escaped. I was one of the lucky 15 who were still employed and actually gained a little better income.
That was the wakeup call.
If at that time I would have been laid off, it certainly would have led to bankruptcy.
A great friend of mine, one that I mention periodically on my blog, Ernie, was enrolled in Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. We had gone to lunch and he really started to tell me about the program.
Now, I had listened to Dave for several years on the radio but the idea of pushing it, cutting back and paying off debt scared the heck out of me. How would I take a vacation without a credit card after all??
My wife and I knew something had to be done.
We bought in to the idea.
We sold my wife’s Infinity SUV. We sold the hot tub. I worked harder to insure more bonuses and commissions. We did not vacation. Cut back on just about everything. We started living our motto “debt free by 2003″. I even drove the ugliest Ford Tempo on the planet…all while making double what our friends were and yet doing half of what they did.
Over the whole time we kept things pretty quiet. Why? Simple. We were embarrassed that we were so far in debt and that we were one of the Ramsey followers. We never admitted it out loud, but it was the case.
When asked why we sold something or didn’t do something, a lot of times we would just say, we really weren’t using it or didn’t need it.
The conclusion of the journey came on September 11 of 2003. We had just celebrated becoming debt free a month earlier and while watching some news about the anniversary of the 911 attacks, I got a phone call.
My company was consolidating territories and wanted to buy me out. Ironic in that I had just spent a few weeks toiling over whether or not to quit and take a new job. I did not love my job but something told me to wait and it was the ultimate blessing.
Not only did I not quit and walk away, I was bought out and received a financial windfall that forever has helped me and my family.
I also was able to for the first time in my life pursue a career with a company doing something I really wanted to.
Today my family is STILL debt free and will forever be so. Outside of our home we owe nothing to anyone. No car debt, no credit cards, no student loans, nothing.
It has allowed us to save even through a rough economic period and not stress about our careers and what the future might hold.
We have traveled more in the last few years and seen things we would have never been able to see when we had debt.
We have given more money to our church and charities than we were ever able to give before.
We have invested in our retirements when everything was on “sale” so that we might be able to retire early one day…hopefully in Costa Rica
I tell you this long story to simply conclude with this.
Today, I take a leap of faith to live today and the rest of my life more open and a better communicator with my family, my friends, my co-workers and the people I meet.
Today, I take a leap of faith in that I will use my stories in life to help others and that even this story, although a common one, will help someone.
Today I jump.
Over the past several months the leading church cry has been Faith-Hope-Love.
It is everywhere.
It is the basis and mission for my church, Bellevue Community (The Church at HopePark) and a slogan we use constantly.
It is now a leading title of another local community church with their fundraising campaign.
Yesterday I received two more churches flyers both with Faith-Hope-Love printed on them.
And finally I drove past a billboard in Nashville this morning that used the same slogan.
So what is it with Faith-Hope-Love this year?
Don’t get me wrong.
I truly believe this should be the mantra of every single Christian church in the world as it best describes who we are and what we do in 3 words. I just find it wild that so many churches are taking it on at one time.
It leads me to this question though.
Are churches just using it and do they really believe it? Are the people attending the church seeing it as just a slogan or is an example being set by the church to show that it is more than just a slogan?
What does it mean to you?
It is one thing to just say it, it is another to live it.
Here is what it means to me:
Faith: Looking to God for guidance in everything we do and trusting that he will provide answers either that we like or might dislike.
Hope: Reaching out and making a difference to those in need.
Love: Caring about those around you or those in situations that need you. Genuinely caring. It might be a simple cup of coffee to a friend who needs to talk or a service project that changes someones life.
You turn.
Most of you know I am a coffee nut.
Love the concept of a coffee house, the coffee they sell and the environment that allows regular people a place to meet up and discuss what ever.
One of my favorite haunts is a little locally owned coffee house in Nashville. I am not going to mention any names for reasons I will explain now.
Yesterday I had stopped to grab a cup on the go and one of the patrons in line was absolutely dogging out Starbucks. The girl behind the bar was listening to the conversation but not really reacting a whole lot.
The patron went on and on how Starbucks was the “evil empire” and that other coffee shops have trouble surviving when they are around and so on and so on. The conversation eventually led into her stating she wished that no company could ever grow above 100 employees, so that way small companies would always thrive.
I thought this was interesting.
I see her point in that there are some large companies that get so large they harm instead of create opportunity. We are seeing this in the banking and insurance industries as well as some health care companies. Auto makers are right there as well.
But what I think was completely missed in the whole conversation was this:
Starbucks started it all.
The local coffee house was not a business.
In fact, when Howard Schultz started the concept many of us in the Seattle area called him a complete loon for thinking he could open up a coffee shop and charge more than .25 cents for a cup of coffee let alone $3 or more.
Low and behold, the concept took and spread like wildfire.
And because of Mr. Schultz and his risk taking and “crazy” concept, a new industry in the U.S. was created. Maybe not new to other parts of the world like Italy and France where the cafe is prevalent, but definitely new to us.
In fact I will go as far as to say, in the U.S. the local coffee shop would not exist today if it was not for Starbucks.
What I think is even more important about this is how creativity and a great idea took hold to employee millions across our country.
If there is one thing that the US has been strong at over the years, it is creating business.
So, in light of the current economic situation, what idea do you have that is a Starbuckian idea? Why have you not gone for it or are you going for it?
The past few months to say the least, have been stressful.
Slow business, uncertain futures, and piles of other little junk that just seem to build and build.
A friend asked me today “what do you do when you are stressed out?”
I had not really thought about it a bunch, but I do have a bit of a system to help me deal with it.
Here are some of the things I do.
1) Stop working…take a break at Starbucks. Grab a cup of coffee, read something not related to work and just check out for about 30 minutes.
2) Go for a brisk 45 minute to 1 hour walk. Plop my iPod into my pocket, listen to some meaningless talk radio podcasts, and grab some exercise. Not only does it clear my head, it helps me lose some calories too!
3) Meet a friend for lunch to talk things out. I tend to work alone, a lot so some friend interaction is good now and then.
4) Clean house or mow the lawn. My wife likes these best. Something about the work of it seems to clear my head…and my house looks better in the process
So, what do you do to de-stress your life?
Here we are, another Saturday..another weigh in.
No picture today because my camera was loaded for acommunity service project I will be posting later and I did not have it handy.
The results are in though…drum roll please….
190.4 was the weigh in. Sooooo close to the 180’s I can smell it.
Next week..goal 187! See if I can get there.
When tragedies hit be it a storm, a plane crash or something as senseless as yesterdays shooting at Ft. Hood, it causes us to sit back, take stock of our own lives and reflect.
Nothing more today except this…
Who do you love? Tell them.
What do you want to do? Stop waiting and do it!
Are you teetering on your faith? Stop, embrace and enjoy.
Are you really living your life or waffling? Start living- no excuses.
What about me?
This is my page and my chance to share with you all the crap I dream up on a daily basis. Here are the simple facts that make up my existence..live in Nashville...avid Hockey fan (one step from face painting), father of a 6 year old (genius child- she takes after me..I mean my wife), husband (I'm pretty sure my wife would kick me out if she could figure out how), and "normal" Christian. What is normal you ask? You tell me. I think I know what normal is but then again, we all think we are the normal ones.
My Favorite Web Sites
Bored Again Christian
Hockey Buzz
Nashville Predators