onejdc

_health_
had a really good workout yesterday (even though it was fast), then went and played softball with JImmy over at Genworth. I played decently enough, but I obviously have a lot of room for improvement.

Anyway, I woke up this morning with a sore throat and now I feel like trash. Aches and chills are the status quo for a bit. Hello juice and vitamins!


_entertainment_
I just found a copy of Wacraft I: Orcs & Humans that is supposed to work in OSX. I really hope so- that game was so much fun!



_family_
I talked to my dad last night and apparently his medications were way too low. After an adjustment, talking to him you would think that the world was lifted off of his shoulders! He sounds so much better and idk about the meds or whatever but I'm so glad to hear that he's doing better!

Braveheart meets Robin Hood: video.

_weekend_
So today is Monday. How was your weekend? I partied, swam, played cornhole and ultimately baked my body at 94 degrees for several hours, flipping once.

Ah sunburn. How I've missed thee.

_work_
Today in one of my SharePoint classes I got to create a list of favorite foods for everyone. Yes, I included "Hot pocket" as an option. Thank you Jim Gaffigan.

_health_
This evening's gym routine will be lower body and cardio. Thank goodness. I don't feel like lifting weights with charred skin. Yuk.

I offered two of my coworkers a sample of my protein shake. One eagerly accepted to drink down with his cookie (ironic, yes?) because it has no chalky flavour AT ALL and is amazing.

The other...and I quote... "No thank you, I'm already fat enough."

I should point out that he A) Isn't really overweight and B) obviously doesn't really understand proteins.

Hard to say if he actually needed more of those essential amino acids or not--I don't track his diet. :P

_work_
This afternoon was pretty busy. I had a department meeting, immediately followed by a 2 hour class where I taught Microsoft InfoPath and SharePoint integration, immediately followed by a 45 minute meeting with our inventory department to help them design an inventory tracking system which accommodates incoming inventory orders and outgoing parts. WHEW.

I then took a few minutes to catch up with Brendan because he's going to Florida this weekend so that his parents can meet their new (month and half old) grandbaby. GL Brendan!


_health_
So I decided to go with TWO sonic grilled chicken sandwiches (w/o mayo) to help with my carb and protein intake. While it was really more food than I wanted, I think it helped me in the gym today. I pushed more today than I did on Monday in several areas and it felt really good.

Now I'm drinking my super super delicious post-workout protein shake and typing away! I need to come up with a meal for dinner but I have no idea what I'm going to eat. Probably some leftover grilled apricot chicken. NOM NOM!

_kids_
Went to Chick-fil-a last night. Had a great time. The kids had a blast and met David & Betty. They were super nice and bought a cool toy car for Trevor and a "ruff ruff" stuffed doggie for Audrey (complete in color-matching bags, of course!). The kids had a blast playing in the playground area and neither were super anxious to leave.

_health_
I also decided to sneak in a small cookies-n-cream milkshake. I probably shouldn't have but I was about 900 calories short on the day and even with the shake I was still about 40 cals short of my target (after late-night snacks). Not a regular thing but it was nice to delight my tastebuds.

I forgot to pack my lunch today so I'll probably be eating a grilled chicken sandwich from Sonic. I'm wondering if I should eat something else with it? Today is an upper body lift day and I think as long as I limit the fat I should be ok. A few extra carbs and extra protein can't hurt too badly, can they? CAN THEY??? I demand an answer! Uh.....er... never thee mind.

_geek_
I've contemplated getting one of the new iPhones but I really can't justify the cost. Yesterday a lady asked for advice on the comparative differences between a Windows-based laptop and a Macbook. Apparently her 18 year-old daughter is about to start college and people she knew have a Mac. The pretty, spiffy mac. Said daughter (read:parents) is on a limited budget and has been entranced by the beauty of the technical fruit company. She was ultimately advised to avoid the glamour and check out the lines of Netbooks available from many different manufacturers. Significantly cheaper and available in pink, the netbook route is a compact, affordable option that she will ultimately be much happier with.

If only social status didn't cost so much.

_music_
This morning I heard a guest on the radio just talking and then they asked him to sing. It turned out to be none other than Dennis DeYoung of Styx! Oh man he was fantastic. He plays piano beautifully too. (Here's a video for the curious: Styx Reunion Concert - Lady (Youtube)).

Had a great workout yesterday. Got in 20-25 minutes of solid cardio and worked on the legs a fair amount. Finding ways to eat healthy too. I like it!

ps. fried mozzarella sticks are NOT on the list of healthy foods. :-(

Today is one of those days when everything is lost in a whirlwind of activity. Two classes this morning, two classes this afternoon. I also have quite a bit of project work to do. I wanted to post something here though....release, maybe?

Some talented people worked on this project. They have too much time on their hands.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/elmarburchia/a-normal-day-2-7ve/

I've started going to the gym. This isn't an exercise that I have routinely done in the past so this is particularly exciting. Today marks 7 days since my first foray into the weight room. We'll see how things go. I don't know what my goals are, exactly.

I want to lose some weight. I want some more strength. I want to be forced to start eating healthier. :P

I'm using gyminee (formerly, now dailyburn.com) to help me track everything. Brandon, if you read this, I sent you an email @gmail that I hope you get...

So yeah. Here we go.

Here is a good deal on batteries:
100 pack of AAA Rayovac for $8.99

_geek_ (consider yourself warned)
At work, I'm trying to find ways to build "cooler" websites. Right now we use Microsoft SharePoint. SharePoint basically lets you store your data, files, etc online. It does much more than that, but the heart of SharePoint is holding your information.

SharePoint supports lots of types of documents. One of the things I'm looking into is creating interactive documents on SharePoint. Animations. Graphs. Charts. These kinds of things. I've found two main contenders:

Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe Flex.

I don't know if anyone who reads this knows anything about either one, but from what I've gathered they both do essentially the same thing. You know those little games on the internet that you can play? They likely use Adobe Flash. (you use Adobe Flex to create Adobe Flash files). Silverlight is a younger product, but has potential.

What does this mean? I'm going to see if I can't start developing stuff in these to make cool web applications and websites. We'll see.

_personal_
Will the weather ever be cooperative at the right time of day? It certainly doesn't feel like it! I went for my deposition ... early last week? The week before that? Something like that.

I'm going to look into using Shutterfly.com to store my pictures. Anyone know the differences between them and Flickr?

"Never lower your eyes to an enemy"

http://www.buzzfeed.com/sarahmorgan/cat-ambush/

Today is Monday. YAM. It seems that these hideous little beasts are always sneaking up on me. Must find a way to avoid them. Simply must.

I'm getting the itch to throw myself back into the online realm once again. I *think* this will be via a website, probably one which has a strong technical/geeky side and one which simply follows the more personal side.

My goal will be to use a small set of tools to update multiple sites at once. With so many different social portals available, updating them all at once would be a huge boon.

I've got all kinds of ideas running through my head about this...will any of it see daylight? Unlikely.


Random link:
http://www.pointlesssites.com/our-favorites.asp

Playing volleyball can be a painful experience when you haven't done it in nearly a year. This is your axiom for the day.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqANtViviME -- Sheep Herders

http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/web/trans0309walkthisway.html


Saving water via pictures is fun! Considering that there is ~326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons of water on earth....how much are you really saving? Gotta start somewhere!

Liberty University has offered me a position as an IT Trainer II. Looks like my future may involve teaching people how to use Excel? We'll have to see.

I think I found the perfect job:

---

*TS/SCI REQUIRED
*MCSA REQUIRED
*MUST COMPLETE FULL POLYGRAPH SCOPE

-Active Directory Experience
-MS Support with experience supporting the AD Server
*Willing to deploy to hostile areas in minimum of 4 month increments

* Location: Overseas
* Compensation: OPEN
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

---

Doesn't it sound fantastic? *laugh*

I found out yesterday that the IT department in France hasn't paid my contract for 8 months...and I'm being let go in 2 weeks.

At least they gave me notice.

The antibiotic I'm on is kicking the bacteria's butt. Unfortunately, it's kicking mine too.

Realtor is checking out the house. Anyone wanna buy it?

I've got some more pics to post soon.


LOTD: Most Disturbing Animals