Oh sweet pain!

I had a bag of gummi worms but gave most of them to the little one pictured above and her sugar loving cohorts. I am down 9 lbs in 3 weeks. I am eating healthy with the exception of a couple delicious meals in California. My Coke Zero addiction has been gone for a month. I wake up at 430 in the morning to work out.

This semester is going to be a rough one but I suppose I should expect that from a master's program.

If anyone is curious I am strongly leaning towards a thesis related to health data. Specifically, I would like to model the potential spread of disease as it relates to immunization or I should say the anti-immunization movement. Last year the US had it's first outbreaks of measles since the 60s due to some anti-immuniztion parent's taking their non-immune child to another country and then bringing him home to infect other children. Basically I want to model the potential spread of the disease if there were more outbreaks perhaps on a state or even city scale and based on some social factors. Basically the US is an interesting case where poor children are ostly immunized but many upper middle class/rich children are not getting their shots thanks to their fearful parents. But enough about that.

As most of you know, my grandfather passed away and I traveled to California to celebrate his life and to visit with my grandmother. My grandfather was 91 years old. He was always a strong, kind, and confident figure to me. Through him I was exposed to culture, history, and religion that I would have otherwise missed. I have lived my entire life as a mountain boy but my grandfather was always there to connect me to the sea. He will always be my link to the water.

Here is his great-grandson Cale wearing his hat during a visit to Sandbridge, VA in 2004.

Clean eatin!

So far my resolutions are going well. My boss has noticed an improvement in my attitude in 2009. It helps when I talk to the people I work with. I finished Last Evening on Earth and have started Then We Came to the End
. I really liked the Bolano stories but am not so sure about the other one yet.

I have been eating clean since Sunday. No diet soda, no sugar or corn syrup. No fast food. For the initial 4 weeks of my program I am eating mostly veggies and protein. I have been getting up between 430 and 5 am depending on the length of the workout. Workouts are between 1 and 1.5 hours.

I am quitting the stupid computer game for good. I guess I have lost interest. On the other hand we are getting a Wii and some Mario Kart. I will play with Cale and Maya. After the kids are in bed Carrie and I might play and yell profanities at each other. It's actually kinda sweet.

More Classics!

Once again it has been a long time since the blog was updated. The holidays are over and we are glad. As much as we all like to despise our daily routines the consistency and routine can be comforting.

I have a lot of New Year's resolutions. My main one is too have a positive attitude about my job. I work with a lot of great people and have the security many lack. I have started P90X workout and nutrition program. Maybe you've seen the infomercial. I have managed to workout for months on end in the past but have never eaten as healthy as I'd like and now I'm trying. I even took fat pictures with my shirt off and we'll do more in 4 weeks. If I get results maybe I'll actually post them. I plan to read a lot more this year for both fun and school. Finally, I want to quit wasting my time with a certain video game. It detracts from school, movie, wife, and kid time. So everyone hold me accountable.

Carrie's resolution is to give high fives to at least one stranger everyday. Cale wants to continue building Lego's and we want to help him learn to ride his bike. I don't think Maya and Aden have any stated resolutions but I'd like to see Maya be a little more social at school. Aden just needs to sleep from 8pm to at least 6am without wake and I'll be so happy.

Goblin needs to re-discover that poop is best placed inside of a litter box. I don't how he forget. Maybe he has seasonal disorder or something. I think Ruby is much better than she was at this time last year but I hope she lowers her anxiety level a little bit. She really has nothing to worry about.

Go President Obama!

Happy New Year everyone.

Classic Pictures

Strange Form of Life

I should not forget to mention that since my November blog it has also been Cale's birthday and I now have one year left in my twenties. Ruby, our beloved pup, shares her birthday with Baby Jesus. Maybe one day Ruby we'll save us all from a burning fire and December 25th will become much more about her than about Christmas. Not that it is about Christmas now. I hope I am not offending anyone by saying so but our family is part of the 15% of Americans that do not have a religious affiliation (and prefer to keep it that way). Still we love Christmas... mostly we love the cold and snow and we all have birthdays in December. One day Ruby will save us all.

All My Days

Today is Maya's birthday. She is four years old and like any good father I hope she stays this old forever.