Fresh Start

So Thursday my boss told me I am probably being laid off on the 15th. I wasn't that surprised really but it does cause a lot of stress. I have spent the time since then updating my resume looking for jobs and building a new website. As soon as I get this site done I will start sending it out. I figure the more people I tell the more people I have that could help me find a new job. The money thing is a little stressful but we were smart when we bought the house and have enough in saving but defiantly causes stress. Not sure what I am wanting to do, I would stay in my field or even be up for making a change I guess it is up in the air right now. I better get back to "work" aka building a website and searching for jobs. Staying faithful in the meantime and trying to keep a positive attitude.

I'm Back

Alright it has been a while, no excuse I guess I could say I have been busy but I could have made time. Just got back from Florida which was a really good time. I read a book on the beach while I was there that my grandma gave me it was called "The Last Lecture" awesome book easy to read I would recommend it to anyone and everyone, may change the way you look at things.



Anyway Kona is getting HUGE...big thanks to Megan and Brad for taking care of her while we were in Florida (big job that pri was)

I'll post a pic or two

It's been a while

Haven't been on here for a while, I don't know why just haven't. Lots of stuff going on kind of I guess. Now that I said that I can't think of anything to write. Kona dog is good she a little bit bigger but still around 20lbs, she has a vet appointment on Saturday morning, where she is supposed to be 35lbs and I am doubting she will gain that in 4 days haha. Maybe we won't have a huge dog after all. I am hoping she will be around 50-60 that would be a good size. Her new thing is going upstairs I guess she is trying to become more independent. She also has developed a yippy little bark that is high pitched and annoying to hear. Other then that she is doing good, still has dry flaky skin but hopefully we will get that taken care of at the vet this week.

Stuff to live without

So at our church we really do not do lent. I thought it would be fun to try and give some stuff up for a while anyway, why not. I decided I eat way to much sugar and candy and drink a pop almost everyday. So no more candy, no more pop, and no more dessert type stuff. Candy will be the most difficult. Lindz and I are both doing it for fun I guess kind of just to see if we can. I think I will feel better when working out if I am eating healthier stuff so that will be a positive, I just lost 8 lbs and am down to 148 a low for like 2 years, but am lifting and doing a lot of core work along with getting back into running biking swimming mode more intensely we will see what happens. This post sucks sorry.

Lance laying the smack down at ToC

Awesome!

Pictures: Tim De Waele

Sledding

Lindz and I and Kona decided to go sledding on Saturday after all the snow on Friday night. We went and put all our ski clothes on and took the dog. I ran and dove onto the sled and hit the snow and just rolled and plopped down haha. We needed some ice or something, maybe a more high tech sled would have done it but the little kids were flying down the high next to us. Oh well it was fun and Kona loved the snow and chasing the sled down the high and chasing us back up...she then slept the rest of the day.

Healthcare (new twist)

Alright so my last post on the subject got all kinds of attention. That is great I like to hear what people have to say. This time though let take it right now for what it is. Yes it is expensive, making it very hard to afford for many people (reason for the problem), no one will probably argue that. Why is it so expensive though? Obesity is a HUGE problem right now in the US. The number one reason why healthcare costs are so high (number 2 is smokers). Basically if you are fit and healthy, you pay the same as you overweight couch potatoe co-worker that is on 8 different medications and gets sick easily due to a crappy immune system. Ok that was harsh but true. Many people on a lot of these medications for type two diabetes and high blood pressure and other things, all it would take is a few weeks of a drastic change of lifestyle and they could stop taking them all together. As long as they keep it up they could be totally off them. I don't get it. Not only are they driving our healthcare costs up but they are killing themselves. Maybe instead of focusing on making healthcare affordable by having the government step in, we should start focusing on the root of the problem....OBESITY. That is all for now, feel free to comment away.

Keeping work separate

I try and keep my two lives separate, I do not like to blend the two. I do not mixed the two or blend the two or at least try not to. When I leave work, I LEAVE it at work, unless of course I have to bring it home with me. I think this is very important to be able to turn it on and turn it off. I could never be good friends with work people cause when I leave work I don't want to talk about work I want to live my life. I defiantly work to live not live to work. To add to this if you are good friends with people you work with and you have to work out a work problem and someone is at fault then something gets said and someone takes it personally because there is a friendship involved everything gets stirred up. But to contradict myself I think it can be good sometimes to be friends with the people you work with especially if you can leave whats at the office at the office, some people can do this and it works out, I don't really know where I am at with this yet.

The other thing I do not like to mix is business with family or close friends. This is something thats hard to understand. It has its exceptions but overall it makes for awkward situations when it mixes. Say someone sells you something and something goes wrong with it, then you feel like it is there fault or they feel like it is their fault or you both feel bad in some way, it is almost guaranteed to happen. Or you find a better deal elsewhere after you paid a lot more because you bought it from someone you know and the gave you a "good" deal. You can't go back to them and be like I found it this much cheaper somewhere else like you could if you bought it from someone you didn't know...then you could go make a scene get the difference back or at least try without feeling bad about it.

Mixing business and friends family just feels like a bad idea sometimes, it causes a lot of problems. At the same time it causes problems when you do not mix it....so it is just a sensitive topic and you have to be careful when and how you do it.

Wow this post is a little of the wall, doesn't make a lot of since.....sorry.

Healthcare

I was just reading a post on a forum that I like to visit, it was a post from a Canadian triathete who has something wrong with his feet. It has been diagnosed and the test have been done. Because it is socialized health care in Canada, he doesn't have a lot of options and is in a lot of pain and won't be able to have surgery until April at the earliest. Wow. He is so desperate that he is willing to come to the US and pay out of pocket if he could have this done sooner. I think ALL of you people that think universal healthcare is this GREAT thing, you need to reconsider. I know it will never work in the US because people will always have the option of getting private healthcare and those people will then have better doctors and treatments then those who are on a universal healthcare plan. People don't think these things through at all, as soon as it happens then people will complain that they aren't getting as good of healthcare as someone who has it privately. PEOPLE NEED TO GO DEEPER THEN JUST "FREE HEALTHCARE, THATS A GREAT IDEA!" Seriously.

Happy Ground hog Day

Well it is groundhog day. A holiday. Guess what he saw his stupid shadow and crawled back into his little hole for 6 more weeks of sleep. Thanks Phil, we really can't take much more of this winter stuff. I am so ready for it to warm up. It was 50 degrees on Saturday and I couldn't even run outside because I was sick, finally I get hit with a cold, I haven't had one for close to two years so I am do for one I guess. Get set for some more winter!

Cell phones and driving

So they want to ban talking on your phone while driving here, but don't worry 16 year olds you can still send text messages that require one hand sometimes two plus looking down at the phone. Take about dangerous, I can't believe the texting generation, it is ridiculous. It is getting a little out of control. I remember in high school I maybe sent one every couple of days or so, now even I send a few a day maybe. I can make a call and get a lot more accomplished in a shorter amount of time then going back and forth on text messages.

Lets get back to it though. Why ban talking on a cell phone, and possibly even using a hands-free devise or bluetooth but not do anything about texting or even email. I catch myself reading email while driving and responding and I know it is dangerous.

People writing these things need to take a look around, talking is not the problem texting and email is the problem.

Kona Dog

Well it has been an interesting 11 days of having a puppy. Who knew they were so much work. Well we knew, but it is a lot to deal with the first few days. The first night she slept all night until 5am which was a complete fluke, but I didn't sleep at ll thinking about stuff and getting a dog and being OCD, because the next night she didn't sleep more then an hour at a time and let me tell you that dog can really scream. The next night we did a ticking clock and a water bottle with warm water in a sock and one of my t shirts, success, kind of. She only got up once at 2:30 then slept until 6. We then moved her to the 2nd bedroom, furthest room from a party wall. She still screamed when she went in, but settled down. Now she doesn't make a sound all night she sleeps all night and i wake her up around 6:15 to go outside and feed her, then I entertain her while Lindz gets ready for work then I shower quick before Lindz has to leave then it is me and Kona until I leave.

She is starting to go to the door and ring the bell to go outside thank God. She had a few peeing accidents, but a lot of it was because she had a UTI and she is now on meds to take care of it. She is not a dog motivated by food, thats for sure. She has no interest in any of the 6 kinds of treats we attempt to give her. She also gets very distracted while eating and has to be brought back to her food and to drink water. She likes the cheese i give her her pill with though.

She loves the snow. I had to finally get so boots because even though I shovel a nice large great patch in the year she prefers to pee and poop in the snow. I am glad she likes it outside even when it is cold I really don't mind walking with her in freezing temps and her playing out there it is kind of fun.

Most people say getting a dog to pee and poop outside in the winter is hard, I think it is a great time for them to learn they are only going outside for that purpose and first so they learn quickly. Kona seems to be a pretty smart dog, she is mastering sit right now and will then move onto down and come. A little hard training her when she doesn't like treats but we will get there.

She met my parents dog, Allie the other night then again last night. Allie tries to be dominant and there was a little snipping a growling but Kona will learn, or Allie will when Kona is 40 more pounds then she is. Last night they did a lot better though.

Stay tuned for more updates...

http://www.kcci.com/video/18558869/index.html

I was reminded that i have been pretty bad about keeping this updated this weekend. So I thought I would post this video from the weekend. A bunch of friends I haven't seen for a while riding in the mall to help raise awareness for the Livestrong foundation. This was pretty awesome. People really didn't understand what was going on in the mall though. Made me feel like my 45 minutes on the trainer was worthless compared to their 3 hour ride. I guess thats all for now check out the video.

Kona

So the dog has arrived. She is pretty good. She eats, sleeps, pees and poops, then repeats. She puts everything in her mouth. She seems to do pretty well outside going to the bathroom she has only pee'd a few times in the house and has yet to poop inside. We are using the bell method for her to signal us to go out, I think she would rather put the bell in her mouth then hit it with her paw. We will see how long it takes for her to figure out to go to the door on her own, hopefully within a week or two. The first night she slept until 5 am with no whining. it was a fluke, because the next night she screamed and whined and cried just about ever hour. So now we have the ticking clock a t shirt and a warm water bottle in her cage with her and last night she only cried and screamed at 1am and then slept the rest of the night. So hopefully she can get through the night tonight that would be great. The neighbors do hear her, we went and asked and introduced ourselves last night, I think it made us feel better to say, if it bothers you let us know. The woman was prego so I am sure we will have to deal with a crying baby eventually. I will post some pics.

The New Years Resoulutioners Invade

The gym was craziness last night, Monday nights are always very busy, start the week off right. So we wait until about 7 to go. Last night was nuts even at 7 the place was packed with people. Don't get me wrong, I think it is great these people are doing something good by getting into the gym and working out, but some take it a little overboard. I was on the treadmill people watching as a young overweight man sprinted at full speed around the track maybe one and half times before just about keeling over. Start slow, people wondering why they hurt so bad and don't want to go back to the gym in February. You can't go from doing absolutely nothing since last New Years Resolution to killing yourself the first week, anyone would burn out quick. You New Years Resolutioners sorry but you stick out like a swore thumb, regulars know who each other are familiar faces they see week after week, you are not blending in by pushing your body to the limit for short periods and making people think they are going to have to preform mouth to mouth on you before your first 15 minutes is up. I am not trying to be mean but seriously why is January 1st any different then any other time. People that want to get in shape need the drive all year around to stay in shape, it has to be a lifestyle not a new years goal that fades as the year goes on.

ok so thats my rant on that.... I am glad to see that people are getting out there and getting into shape I just wish some would go about it differently and stick to it. Not invade the gym like chickens with their heads cut off.