Goodbye, October

Sorry for taking so long for another post. (Not that I've heard any complaints!) And this isn't gonna be an audio one, because I'm doing this one from work on my lunch break.

It's pretty loose around here today. I guess cuz of Halloween. There was a potluck and several people dressed up. Today I'm 3-hole-punch-Josh (ala "The Office").

So, I'm on my last day of my cleanse program. Or maybe yesterday was...I caved and got some food here at lunch, and we're going out for pizza tonight cuz a friend is moving away. I don't think I'm cut out for a lifestyle of HUNGRY-ALL-THE-TIME, so this isn't going to be a regular thing for me.

But I was still pretty surprised when I got on the scale this morning to be greeted by a number combination I haven't seen since I was 17: 182. Really? I've been faithfully drinking the shakes, taking the pills, drinking the cleanse drink stuff; but a couple of times I've had to get "real food" on my way to church straight from work or whatever. So I thought that might've messed things up, yet somehow I lost 2 pounds since yesterday (184 yesterday morning).

So I'll finish drinking the stuff today, and that'll be that. Glad I did it....maaaaybe would do it again in a year or two or three if it feels like good timing. Otherwise, I'm gonna stick with keeping portion sizes down, minimal soda, exercising. As one of my favorite profs from Biola, Jerry Gruendyke, used to often say: "That's what we call 'A Good Deal'."

(p.s. Jeri - is that punctuation right? with the period where it is?) =)

Audio Blog Attempt

Just changed where the file is hosted...and confirmed with Wendy that it works now! (Although she says I talk to slow.)

Audio Blog Post

Ack...

Went back to work today...so this was my Monday....and boy did it act like one.

First of all, major bummer: Godspell's been cancelled. Vanguard is pulling back a bit to get expenses under control. Too bad I bought the CD and an audition book last week. I've been getting pretty psyched over the last couple weeks, but I guess I'll just put that on the shelf and hope they try again next year.

Second, I'm still sick...so that's fun. I'm gonna try to suck it up and go run tonight, though. Mental toughness....yea, dawg!

Third, Today was my first day on the cleanse program. Shake for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, just finished my shake for dinner. I'm gonna be dreaming about steak and fried chicken tonight. I also drank about 90-100 ounces of water today (so far), and peed more often than I remember ever doing before! Tomorrow is another "shake day" and then Thursday I switch to the cleanse drink stuff.

I'm probably gonna sack out early tonight. I'm only about 50 pages away from the end of Two Towers, so I might power through that and start on ROTK tomorrow.

Lazybones*

*name of a sweet jazz/blues song (on Harry Connick's "25" album)

I feel a bit like a "Lazybones" 1) because I haven't updated my blog in 9 days, and 2) because I stayed home from work today cause this cold is kicking my butt...but I didn't accomplish anything. I did what I was supposed to do when you're sick: I rested. I actually have a hard time sleeping during the day, but I spent several hours in bed, and actually slept! That's a sure sign that I'm sick.

I'm going to be in a few minutes (it's about 10:45 as I type this), and am actually feeling a bit better. I'm going to continue taking my over-the-counter meds, but I'm going to try going to work tomorrow. I know there are people out there that like to "milk it", even when there's a legitimate reason for skipping work, but I've always hated missing school/work/etc. I think I missed maybe 2-3 days of school during my 4 years in high school. When I was teaching, we had 10 "sick/personal" days allotted to us each year. The only time I used any of those days, is when Connor was born I took a week off. Other than that I had maybe (again) 2-3 days that I "stayed home sick" during the 4 years I taught.

Anyways, I haven't mentioned this on here yet, but in another phase of attack on my body, I'm starting a "cleanse" program tomorrow. It's called Isagenix. A guy at church that I met on the men's retreat in August has done it a few times and signed me up. Weight loss is more of a side-effect with this. The main purpose is to "cleanse" the body of all the toxins, chemicals, etc. we've got in our bodies. I'll be sure to give updates on how that goes. I'm not going to talk about it on Facebook though, just here.

I'm also less than 100 pages away from finishing The Two Towers, which I'm "scheduled" to finish by Thursday for the Tolkien Reading Quest. Yay me!

I'm auditioning for Godspell next week! I'm hoping this cold goes away soon so I can practice full voice and be confident physically. I'm not 100% on a song yet. They only want 16 bars (industry standard), and I'm leaning towards auditioning with a non-Godspell song. I'm thinking "Any Dream Will Do" from Joseph or (if I'm ballsy enough) "Who Am I?" from Les Mis. I kind of like the idea of belting out: "2-4-6-0-OOOOOONNNNNEE!!!" =)

That's all for now. Come back again. (When your RSS feed reader tells you I've updated)

Time = Dime

Most people probably aren't familiar with this phrase (since I'm making it up right now), but "I've got the time, so I'm gonna drop a dime" and give ya'll an update on the haps. (Nice blend of urban jive and country drawl, eh?(Canadian))

It's only been one week, so this still counts as a regular update...I just decided.

Anyway, since I'm rigorously boring and rooted in structure, I'm gonna skip intelligent-sounding prose and go for list format. To wit...

1. I'm so close to being productive. I can't believe it's actually been more than 2 weeks since I last played Starcraft (only one mission away from completing the Zerg missions), and have been tackling other projects. I've scanned 650 photos so far (mostly high school and years 1-2 of my Biola years.) Also, I'm want to get all the Biola Chorale and Winds concerts I have into digital format so I can share them with everyone.

2. TRQ (Tolkien Reading Quest) So far, it's going splendidly. I finished The Hobbit a couple days ahead of schedule...and as of right now, I am on the last chapter of FOTR - which is "due" by Monday. No sweat.

3. High Quest - I don't think I've shared about this yet on my blog. Over a year ago (August, 2007) on the Men's retreat, I met a couple guys with whom I started an accountability group. 14 months later, we're still meeting...every Saturday at 8:00 am. It's awesome. For the majority of the time, we had a loose structure: each guy share's what's going on with them, then prayer. At this year's men's retreat in early September, we decided to "step it up a notch" and go through a study together. A lot of guys in the church do the High Quest thing, so we're doing it...and it's been good.

4. Work: lots of changes - hopefully for the better! It's a long, complicated story (especially for those not familiar with the government contracting industry) but let's see if I can sum it up briefly and clearly. Here's the corporate structure: Nana Development Corporation -> owns 4 management companies (of which my company, KPSG, is one) -> each management company has under it anywhere from 4-15 subsidiary companies.

Basically, almost a year ago, to help improve performance and cut costs, Nana (top of the food chain) decided to merge it's 4 management companies into 2 management companies. So, we (KPSG) are being absorbed into one of the larger platforms. Due to many unknowns, they can't guarantee us job security, but they're saying 99%, because the contracts we manage are still active and need support...so we're logical choices, already being in place.

Whew! That's a mouthful, and I don't blame you if you skimmed all that. Essentially, this "re-org" is to take place over the next year. So we'll see how things sit in September, 2009. At least I recently got a 6% raise to help this next year out!

5. The Novel - ach...now I feel sheepish. I've had 2 people so far send me back some great feedback/suggestions. Perhaps I erred in deciding to wait to write more until after receiving feedback from most (if not all)...for I fear the "bug" has left me. I haven't added a word to my story in a month!! It is in no danger of being abandoned. In fact, if anything, this TRQ I'm on is inspiring and stirring me to dive back into my own world.

6. Lastly, just for fun...a guy is building a model city of Minas Tirith out of matchsticks! Looks pretty cool!

Week Wrap

(Or is it a weak rap?)

So, I was thinking today that other than the couple of people I've shared with this week (Wendy and Jonah...that's about it!), everyone else that knows me probably has no idea what I've been up to recently. So I'm going to go out on a limb here, and assume someone cares, and tell you. =)

Work-wise, I was pretty busy. Lots of stuff happened that I won't bore you with, but can be summed up with these three point: 1) I got to visit Peterson Air Force Base to out-process employees on a contract that was ending (including free lunch at Chili's!); 2) I almost had an opportunity to got to Ft. Knox, Kentucky to help in-process 17 new employees for a new contract; and 3) it was generally a very busy, somewhat-stressful week...and I was quite exhausted.

On top of work, I'm running sound for church this week, which includes running the Wednesday night service and the practices for Sunday. This week included extra rehearsals on Thursday night and today (Saturday). So...more time not at home.

On the funner side of things....via Netflix this week I watched the re-make of "3:10 to Yuma" and "The Golden Compass". Also, I've been scanning like the Dickens...something I've been wanting to get done for years. I started with high school photos, and am well into my 2nd year at Biola now. I know some folks are eager to finally see them after years of teasing about doing this. It's coming.....soon.

Though most friends/family may not care, I'm also doing very well in Fallen Sword. I'm a high-ranking leader of an established guild, and things are going swimmingly. I'm also just one mission away from completing the Zerg missions on Starcraft.

So, I've gotta leave in about a half hour to run sound for rehearsal at church. But hey, I finally did an update! *pats self on back*