Catching up!

Haven't blogged for a hot minute so I decided to do a little bit of a catch up.

     Been home in NC since early November helping in a local store till my travel job resumes in March and lord I cant wait for that to happen.

     I feel like since I came home I haven't really been able to stop moving.  Between getting ready for the holidays and being busy at work I haven't felt like I had a moment to myself. My diet and exercise program greatly suffered from this shift in life and roughly 40 of the 140 pounds I lost since my original diet started in April 2007 made their way back.

     But its 2010 now and that means new beginnings and exciting things ahead of me.

     I restarted my diet and have faithfully been recording my progress in a app on my iPod.  I've already seen a loss of 6 pounds this week so my motivation is back to keep going strong.  I think the best thing any dieter can do is make a food journal because nothing makes you more aware of just what it is you are eating and just how bad those "this cant be that bad for me" things are.

     As I said I will be returning to the road for the job I love in March.  New teams were being determined and a lot of my friends were holding there breath as we waited to find out what teams we would be assigned to and where we would be going.  Luckily I have been assigned to a manager I helped during a project in PA and the team consist of three people from that same project.  Two of these people are people I became very close with and speak with almost daily, the third is a close friend that i worked with before when I was an assistant manager and she is actually one of the two people who inspired me to step into my new career.
 
     The second thing I am really looking forward to is my upcoming assignment which will last much much longer then most projects.  You see most projects only last 12 weeks but the one I'm going to will keep me in the same place for about seven months (roughly 28 weeks).  We will hopefully be in an extended stay hotel like I was in PA which means I will have the opportunity to eat much healthier then other projects where I must make due with the best option I can come up with at local restaurants.  One of the girl on the team is starting a diet too which means we will be able to offer support.  And finally unlike the extended stay that i stayed at in PA this one has separate bedrooms and bathrooms which means that even though I'll have a roommate I will also have a sense of privacy.  I just hope everything goes through and we get the extended stay.

Well thats me in a nutshell for now.  I hope this becomes the beginning of a return to my blogging!  Write to whoever cares to read this again soon LOL!

What sucks the most about work (well at least my work)

You know this totally sucks.  I have found the one part of my job that I hate the most.  I hate saying goodbye.  You spend a few months with people and they become a intricate part of your daily life.  Then you reach the end and tell each other "its not goodbye, it's see you later" but you have no idea when "see you later" can and will happen.  Im thankful that the next project I go to will have one friend with me but I have no idea what next year brings.  Then again Ill have to go through all these sucky emotions again when I have to say goodbye to her.

Im glad to be home with Paul but I miss my friends as they are very important to me.  God goodbyes suck!

Some things for me (self-rewards for my progress)

So i set a goal at the beginning of the year to keep going strong with the weight loss as I continue to recreate myself.  Ive done great with it and am very proud of myself and know that while Im home soon Ill be able to work harder at my continued success.
     Ive had the opportunity to reward myself for my hard work.  It started last week by finally having the guts to get my tongue pierced.  Ive thought about it for a very long time.  certain thing kinda put it on the back burner like company policies and what not.  But i got it set back far enough that you cant see it when I talk.  Only problem is that ive learned to start playing with it and that can be a little distracting but I still love it and am glad I got it done.

     The second has been ten years in the waiting.  Ten years ago I got my first and only tattoo and I have always wanted another one (and more after that).  Financially I never really had the extra play money to splurge on one.  I told myself at the beginning of the year if I continued to loose weight maybe id get one as a reward to myself.  I finally had the opportunity to have one done for me.  Im ecstatic because its what Ive always wanted. Its a tribal design that accents my original tattoo and goes just below my shirt sleeve to the joint in my arm.  We made sure to stop the design every time it hit my original tattoo so the first would look like its laying on top of it.  All in all I'm very pleased with it.  Whole process didn't hurt and since my skin takes ink very well it didn't take much time at all.

I see you

     I see you.  I keep catching glimpses of you but its like your trapped behind glass.  I wish I knew how the shatter that glass because I want so bad for you to be free.

Geocaching for the day (Round 3)

     Mish and I spent yesterday morning geocaching again.  God I love that woman!  Im so glad she exposed me to this hobby.

     We started on our lunch break and were able to find three caches successfully during our hour long break and still had time to grab a bite to eat.  Then in the morning we planed a few caches we wanted to find and successfully located an additional 3 caches.

     My favorite part was when I managed to locate my first travel bug, of TB as they're abbreviated in the game.  A TB is a trackable item that is hidden in caches and when a geocacher locates they then place in another cache they locate and so on and so on.  The TB has a trackable number that you log so you and others who have come across the TB can keep track of where the TB has been and also where it goes after you find it.  I plan on taking the TB I found with me and placing it in a cache back in NC.

Geocaching for the day (Round 2)

     After the morning hike, and successful geocache hunt,  Chester and I decided to go out for round 2.

     We started off by walking to two caches that were located close to my home.  I had taken Paul to look for these before but was unsuccessful.  This time I had my car's GPS with me and was able to get a closer to the true coordinates.

     After reviewing the field notes and searching around Chester excitedly found his second cache of the day, a little film canister that had been placed in a drilled out hole in a log and rolled over to conceal it.

     We then headed a little down the road to another cache that Paul and I had tried to find together.  Again using the GPS this time we were able to get closer to the true area. After some searching I checked out a pipe and noticed a part of it would spin.  After some twisting and pulling the end of the pipe came off and a chain fell out of the remainder of the pipe holding cache find number three for the day.

  We decided we felt luck and wanted to strike one more cache out for the day.  We went back to my house and grabbed my car and headed to a local shopping center.  After reading the description and entering the coordinates in my GPS we headed off through the woods ready to successfully hunt out fourth cache of the day.

     After a short trek we got close to where it should be and started searching.  Its kinda funny to stand out in the middle of the woods holding my car's GPS trying to line myself up with the proper coordinates.  With a little luck I turned and spotted my second find and our fourth success for the day.  This was our second ammo box find of the day and it was filed with all kinds of trinkets.  We didn't take any but left two trinkets to keep the cache going.

     I think its now safe to say that I have found a new fun game that Chester and I can do each time I come home.  Im so thankful my friend in PA introduced me to this.

Want to know more about geocaching and how you can start hunting yourself for treasures around you?  Go to Geocaching.com and check it out for yourself.  But make sure you follow the rules and don't let the muggles see you!!

Long walks, and unexpected geocaching.

     Woke up this morning and got together with my friend Chester for a long walk down the nature trail.  Were both trying to live better and healthier and went for a walk while our partners stayed at home.  I had checked geocaching before and knew there was a cache somewhere along the trail but didnt find it before.  Chester was determined that we were gonna find it because he wanted to know exactly what this great new hobby was that I had told him about.  We went to the spot where we though the cache was and searched and searched and didnt find it so we continued our walk.
    
     On the way back, feeling proud for walking 5 miles instead of siting around the house, we decided to try one more time to find the cache.  We searched and searched and finaly I saw something.  Not even checking I screamed out "I got it"!  Turns out I was mistaken . . . . .

     What I had unearthed was a "story box" which is very similar to a geocach I guess.  With a story box you hide a box with your journal and a handmade stamp in it.  then as people find it they put a copy of their stamp in your journal and then put a copy of your stamp in their journal.

     Determined to find the true treasure we kept looking and looking and then finally chester spotted it.  Now I know how Mish felt when she took me hunting and I got excited over finding one.

     Now of course Im not gonna say where the cache was hidden cuz that would just ruin the fun for others but it was filled with all kinds of arts and crafts and a personal letter and the log.  I signed the log but didnt take a craft because I didnt have anything to replace it with.  I cant wait to find more of these as I go along!

Sirius, vets, and halloween PJs

I think I made things a little fough on my best friend this time around!  Sirius tends to figure out which days are my travel days and gets bummed and excited accordingly.  Well on this past time that I left I made things even more frustrating for him by giving him the dreaded B-A-T-H before leaving.  I swear this dog can controll gravity because when I get him close enough to the tub he sinks to the floor and becomes thirty pounds heavier.

Upon returning from my business trip he was excited as ever and all notions of the B-A-T-H were forgoten and forgiven.  The next day was another story as he was due for his checkup at the V-E-Ts.  So I tricked him with the usual "car ride" and off we went.  Of course once we got to the parking lot the wining started including one very loud yelp which must be dog for NOOO!

Everything turned out great and Sirius got a bunch of shots he was due for as well as a much needed nail trimming.  While he was taken in the back for his checkup I went through the store to get my "Im sorry buddy" gifts.  Well actually we needed more treats for him anyway but I did find a new collar and matching harness that I liked so I picked those up for him.

Much later that evening Paul and I went out for dinner and left Sirius home content in his bed.  After Dinner we stopped over at the local Target to see what was new.  I was  surprised to find the halloween goodies were coming out.  I couldn't resist myself and bough a pair of Halloween PJs for sirius which may just turn out to be his costume for the year (Slumber party)!

What wonderful parenting skills exist in todays world!

So I'm walking around the store the other night with my roommate/co-worker and as we turn the corner we com across a little girl siting as quietly as she possibly could in a cart.

Now where"s the parent you might ask?  My roomie and I both walked past the cart and stopped a bit further up and watched as the other shoppers nearby left.  Then finally, a man quite a few aisles from the cart came walking up from the back of the aisle.  When the little girl saw him she finally spoke calling out "dada".  Wow, unfreakin believable!  I cant believe how neglectful people are especially with children. Seeing things like this really upsets me.  Come on people, if your gonna F*ck and make it then F*cking take care of it!

It may be a part of life but it's still not fair

Shouldn't there be some kind of cosmic law on how much your allowed to loose in a years time!!??

I feel like the memories of my childhood and adolescence are being torn apart before my very eyes.  I lost my great uncle last year in March and my grandmother this past February and now I find that this morning that my uncle passed.

I know that all thing must come to an end and that death is just a part of life but damn it I'm tired of having to say goodbye to my family!  Its just not fair!