Twisted Sideways

Easter weekend was one of these weekends that I wish could have gone on forever.  Time spent with family and just laughing, hanging out and enjoying the weather.  My cousin Brandy and her neice (my second cousin) had a birthday party over Easter weekend that was full of bounce houses, cake, presents and all the fun stuff that goes along with birthdays.  Chloe (pictured here) got all kinds of gifts.  She sure didn’t like me being a part of her opening gifts though.  You should have seen some of the looks I got for being right in the middle of the opening of presents.

It’s times like these than make me so thankful for family and the small joys that life brings. How was your Easter weekend?  Do you and your family have any traditions that you follow?

So it’s been awhile yet AGAIN since I posted here.  I used to be so good at posting updates but I have been so busy with trying to run a business that by the time I am done using the compute for work, the last thing I want to do is be on the computer more.

So here I go – This is probably going to be one of the more humiliating and honest posts I have written in awhile:

Running this business has taken it’s toll on me for sure.  It’s been a lot of fun and I have learned a ton of new things.  But a lot of that negative toll has been weight gain – long hours on the computer, working from home where there is a constant source of food and drinks and the ability to move from my office straight into the living room to watch TV when work is done…  It’s all been very nice and “comfortable”.

At the end of September I got the scale one morning and couldn’t believe my eyes. I weight in at 272 pounds.  It was the biggest that I have ever been and probably one of the lowest feeling moments I have felt in a long time.  I kept thinking to myself, I’m in contender weight for being a contestant on the Biggest Looser.  I knew I had to do something about this and to honest, I wasn’t really excited to get started either since I knew the holiday’s were quickly approaching.  I have quite a sweet tooth so Thanksgiving and Christmas are usually big struggles for me.

Weight is something that I have struggled with almost my entire life.  I just wasn’t blessed with a high metabolism.  I have joked for years that when I eat a chocolate chip it goes right to my gut!  And that seems to be pretty true recently.

I do have good news though, I started a pretty strict diet shortly after getting on the scale that morning and I have since lost over 30 pounds – I’m down to 242 with about 43 more pounds to go.

I purchased a device called FitBit.  It’s been a wonderful tool to help me track my fitness goals and be held accountable with friends online that have access to my profile.  FitBit keeps tracks of my steps, activity levels, calorie burn and sleep patterns.  And their website allows me to enter my weight, food intake and other activities that adjust the FitBit as my fitness level and goals increase and decrease.  I’m pretty excited about having lost the 30 pounds over the past few months.  Now I just looking forward to next 40 or so more coming off.

If you want to see my progress you can view my online profile here: http://www.fitbit.com/user/2299F3

So it’s been a while since I have posted on the ole’ blog.  I’ve been one busy guy these past few months.  My business has been taking off and we have been more busy than I could have ever imagined.  It’s all been a good thing, but a lot of things in my life have suffered because of it.

Mainly from a personal perspective.  Spending time with friends and staying plugged in have been two of the hardest things the past few weeks.  And I because of how busy I have been, I haven’t been back here to make an updates on what is going.

Thanksgiving is upon is in the next few days and something that I am truly Thankful for this season is my family and friends.  I haven’t been home in sometime and I’m excited to see my friends and family back home.  I think I have realized the past few days how much I truly have been working to stay on top of everything going on, that I am longing for the contact with friends and family back home – just to relax and hang out.

What are some things that you are thankful for this thanksgiving?

Now that things are cooling off here in Austin, I have started working on the house again.  My most recent project has been trying to convert the garage back into the garage.  When I bought my house three years ago, the previous owners had turned 3/4 of the garage into a bedroom.  I have had about 1/4 of the garage space to use as storage from another door that is located on the side of the house.

Currently, I can’t park my truck in the garage, nor can I even open the main garage door to bring stuff in and out.  You can imagine how tough it’s been getting the lawn mower in and out of the garage through a door about the width of typical front door.  It’s been awesome – trust me.

And to make matters worse, the previous owners decided that on the outside of the house they would put up hardy plank to cover the old garage door rather than leave it exposed.  They painted the entire house a different color at one point – from blue to tan – and as I am removing the hardy plank, I see the lovely baby blue on navy blue color scheme they chose before.

I’ll post a few pictures once I get the rest of the hardy plank and wall down.

I just returned from a two week vacation and right now I feel like I already need another one.  It’s been a stressfull few weeks in the (still new) self-employment world.  We have found that we have a few clients that just drain me.  Very needy and require quite a bit of time and hand holding.

I love what I do and wouldn’t trade this for anything right now.  However, there have just been days where I want to do nothing but walk away from the computer and just do nothing.  Sitting around the pool or watching movies or even playing outside (even in this heat) would be better somedays that dealing with the needy clients.

Just thought I would take a moment and vent.

On Friday morning the postmaster delivered the 2009 UT Season tickets to my front door.  Even though UT has the worst home football schedule, I’m still pretty excited about the upcoming season and football in general.

For those of you wanting to attend a UT game this fall, I have two extra tickets for most of the season this year.  One of our buddies is leaving for school for the next three years and has decided to keep the tickets in his name, but passed the possession of them over to me!  So…. Hook ‘Em Horns.

In just a few short hours, I am headed West to California, Oregeon, Washington and Vancouver.  I’ll be travleing for about two weeks with some friends on mine that left Austin by car a few weeks ago.  I’m pretty excited about getting out of some of this Texas heat to some cooler tempertaures.  I’m a little nervous about leaving home for so long with a roommate here too.  Not that I don’t trust the guy, but the AC and other things will be running while I am out and I still have a few issues with things working correctly while I’m gone.

While away, I plan to post pics along the way here on the blog and on my Facebook account.  So if your one of the few people that still come around these parts, you’ll be able to check out the pics here and on facebook.  I’m excited about seeing some mountains and just get away from the heat.

Now, I just have to get packed and wake up for a 5am flight!

I keep going through these phases where I just get completely burnt out on posting.  Once again, it’s been forever since I have posted on the blog.  A lot has changed for me over the past month and I’ve been busy just trying to get caught up on life.

I recently quite my job to work and focus on my web and graphic design business CoPilot Media.  My partner and I were able to land a large contract here in Austin that has afforded us the opportunity to both quit our jobs and work full time on our business.  It’s been a huge blessing to be able to work from home and be my own boss.  But another post on all that another time.

Even though I have more free time to do the things I want to do rather than being stuck in traffic 8-10 hours a day, I have failed to keep up with my writing and updates.  And despite the fact that I used to have a good numbrer of followers, I’m sure I’m down to one or two that actually follow me or even care about what I post here.  On this 4th of July, I’m sitting here waiting for a few get together to start and thought I would come back and revisit what is or was my blog.

If you still follow or read, drop me a comment here.  I’d be curious as to who is still around here these days.

A cool front came through Austin on Saturday night and it has felt amazing today.  So much so that I am headed back out in the yard to get some more yard work done.  I’ve been busy around the house replacing windows and doors and trying to get the yard back in shape for the upcoming summer.

I’ll have to post some picutres of all the stuff that I have been doing the past few weeks.  It’s been quite a change around the house for sure.   But until then, I’m headed back outside to get some work done.

This past weekend I ended up taking a water sample to my local pool supply store to have the water tested.  I have been having issues keeping the pool water blue after a few days of adding cholrine.  I had a feeling that something was up since I have been spending more and more money on chlorine than I have in the past.  Turns out that the hardness of my water as well as the cyanuric acid was extremely high.  When the cyanuric acid is high, it limits the ability for the chlorine to have an effect on the water in the pool and most of the chlorine is burned off on a sunny day.  The best way to remedy the issue was to just drain the pool.  I elected to drain the entire pool last weekend.  I am so glad that I did.  Since I have, I had the opportunity to scrub down the walls, fix a few of the return jets and basically just start fresh.

And a word to those of you that do have a pool and end up in a situation like myself, call your city water department and tell them that you are filling your pool.  They will wave the waste water charge on your water bill.  If you don’t do this, you will find yourself with one amazing high water bill.  So be sure to call the city and let them know how many gallons that your pool holds to allow for this waiver.

I haven’t seen the pool water this clear since I took ownership of the house.  It’s been amazing to see the difference in the water.  I even bought a few replacement parts to the pool pump like a new cover and gasket to help seal the pump and increase flow through the pipes.  I had no idea how this pump was supposed to function.  It’s like I have a completely different pool now.  And the best part of all of this is that this hasn’t cost me an arm and a leg.

Anyone that wasn’t to come for a dip, let me know!