%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
| Part 1 Today I am proud. I am exercising the knowledge it took me years to comprehend. I've had many bad habits over the years among them were experimenting with drugs and alcohol as a teen, smoking cigarettes, and probably the deadliest ....my addiction to unhealthy foods. The drugs were brought to an abrupt halt shortly after my 18th birthday due to an accident which damaged my aorta, I quit smoking when my daughter was born in 2005, but food and lack of exercise have been my toughest nemesis to date. Mostly due to lack of understanding of the biology of my body and how it affects the inner workings of my anatomy I had never successfully lost a significant amount of weight and maintained the changes necessary to keep it off. In 2017 I lost 60lbs shortly before covid. I was walking 3 miles a day and clocking almost 20,000 steps a day between exercise and work, watching my diet, and was occasionally taking a stint at the gym. Then Covid happened. During the pandemic the parks were closed, and everyone was afraid to go anywhere so we all sat at home and ate, and ate, and then ate some more. I gained back the entire 60 lbs. and then some. Lo and behold my health has deteriorated, go figure huh? Who would have ever guessed two years of staying mostly inside would have had an effect like that? Haha, but jokes aside, this is no laughing matter. The worst of it happened last fall when I noticed my blood pressure going haywire. This resulted in taking a medication that was prescribed to me that I had a bad reaction to and bottomed out my blood pressure. |
Yikes! Scary! Though I think unhealthy eating and lack of exercise is probably the #1 pair of problems in Western society.  |
Reply
| Part 2 I was at death's door and knocking hard. My dead brother called me while I was in and out of consciousness if that tells you anything. Long story short, I lived. Y'all don't need all the details past that. Well, in February I contracted covid. I work at a public school so who would've thought I could have been exposed to covid or that I would contract it after being vaccinated. (A local Dr.'s office gave me a $100 bill to take the shots and I made a smartass comment about "My wife says I need to be chipped before I get old and wander off at the grocery store," the nurses did not appreciate my humor.) After covid my breathing has still not returned to normal. I carry an albuterol inhaler and have for years. I have rarely had to use it till the past few months. On to the current week. On 5/21/2023 I became very paranoid about my aorta and health in general, mostly my weight's effect on things inside my body, and began watching what I eat and dedicating myself to my previous habits of exercising daily. The first few days this was a major struggle, but I have managed to lose my first ten pounds and drastically lower my blood pressure in just seven days. I know from experience that the weight loss will slow down but I am proud, nevertheless. On 5/21 I weighed 315lbs, recorded no exercise for the day and had a blood pressure of 150/83, and today on 5/28 I weighed 305 and had a blood pressure of 117/74 with a heart rate of 81. I have cut my caloric intake and began eating regular foods with portion control and calories in mind before I eat it. My favorite breakfast so far is an egg with shredded lettuce and salsa. I feel so much better after just a week of going back to my pre-covid exercise and diet. Holy cow, I cannot describe how much better I feel. |
| Both kids are now graduated from their respective grades and ready to move on to the future. The oldest is in Washington D.C. having a blast seeing the sites with some of her classmates and the youngest is having a blast with his friends. I, however, am balancing trig/precal, work, and working on upgrading our well pump and tank of the evenings this week. The joys of being the man of the house. This week's trade: Advanced Plumbing. |
| My oldest child, daddy's little girl, graduates high school tomorrow night. To say I have been on an emotional rollercoaster and a total wreck is an understatement. However, Dad holds it together reasonably well. She will be going off to college, but most likely home on the weekends, this fall. I love my little girl. Seems like yesterday, yet so long ago, that she was born. This little thing that was unable to breathe on her own and with an eventual speech delay (which she had overcome with the help of therapists by the fourth grade), is graduating Cum Laude from high school with a 3.8 GPA and entering the University of Tennessee to study Psychology in the fall. She has had a rough road but is tough, as I've found out time and again. She will always persevere when the odds are stacked against her. |
| Today, my late brother, would have been 57 years old. As I worked through my coursework last night, I thought about how well he would have done doing the same thing at the same age. The number of electronics (he was a ham operator and built repeaters for some of the regional ham radio clubs), Air Force Mars, and homeland security certifications and licenses he held was nothing short of astounding. there was nothing he couldn't figure out how to do. Today is a good day to remember him. |
| My son's band is playing their 3rd gig this evening. They are 13 and so far have played "Master of Puppets" at their Middle School Talent show and won 1st place, played the Star Spangled Banner at a volleyball game, and tonight are doing the same at a baseball game! I'm so excited that they are beginning their metal journey off to such a good start! |
| Its been a while since I've been on. A lot has happened these last few weeks. I've been very busy, mostly with school and work, but also with helping my son with his band and planning a recording project of my own. I've passed another course with WGU and will be finishing up my first term within the next week once I take my last exam. I will be 33% done with my bachelor's at that point. I haven't written in a while but will get back to that and finish up or add to my stories soon. I might try to start a blog, I saw an article on how to do that in my email and have printed it to look at later. That might be more expressive than just typing things out here and I can go into more detail without the feeling that I'm boring whoever is reading it. |
|
| Wow, what a week. It has been unusual to say the least. My wife and I had our second wedding anniversary on Sunday. Before it even started, we received a call at about 3am with terrible news. Our son in law's younger brother had been in a car accident and didn't make it. Everyone was heartbroken, he was so young and really just starting adulthood. I feel so terrible for the family and my wife as well, she had known him since he was my son Drake's age. She will be making the trip to the funeral this weekend. In other news, I'm getting closer to finishing my WGU college algebra course and have started a developmental psychology course. The DP course actually aligns very closely with the training I attended for work on Trauma Informed Schools. My daughter turns 18 years old on Sunday, it doesn't seem like it's been 18 years. The apple of my eye is getting closer to rolling away down the hill to start UTC this fall while my son, 13, is spending more time out of the house with his friends and bandmates. I wish I could have kept them little for longer, but I wouldn't trade them growing up for the world either. I hope anyone reading this has a wonderful week and weekend if I don't post again before that. Oh yeah, there are a few new items in my portfolio. The one work in progress is 18+ due to language. I'll be working on it more and hopefully pulling it together more cohesively as it evolves. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
GOOD LUCK! 
I believe in you! 
YAY! 
