Quick Visit

 Interesting. I was a bit surprised to find my blog still active. It's been about 3 years since my last visit. I'll see if I can get back into blogging about my. I am TENTATIVELY expecting to relocate soon. My "relocation" might be a good idea for blogging about. I'll have to think about this.

Back to School

Quick entry...I hope.  Today was shopping for new clothes.  Although with my financial situation, I really shouldn't have been shopping for clothes.  I return to work next week.  Most of my clothes don't fit well.  I have been fairly inconsistant with my jogging, but I have been jog somewhat.  Enough to lose a few pounds.  Up until today, I only had one pair of pants with a 34in waist.  I have a couple of 36in waist pants, but they are becoming increasingly too loose.  My belts were also for a larger me.  Now, I have some comfortable clothes for the new year.  As for shoes, I'm going to have to stick with the ones I have for now.  As with previous summers, I mostly slept this one away.  My only saving grace was that I did run from time to time. 

I attached a photo of my purchases.  In total, I spent $244.95 for the clothes you see. Most (if not all) of the items shown were clearance sale or deeply discounted. 

Gotta go.  Considering the junkfood I ate at the mall today, I do need to run tomorrow.  I also have to retrain myself to running in the morning before work.  Now, my goal is to drop to a size 32 waist by the end of this year.  I would like to use my Holiday Club savings for a Kindle and a couple of size 32in waist pants.

I Need to Get Back on Track

I think the title says it all.  Lately, I've been very frustrated that my finances are a messy shambles.  I've been getting very tired of living paycheck to paycheck, having no clue where my money goes, or how much I spend in any given day, week, or month.  Scrounging around for loose change to tie me over until next payday was really hitting the bottom of the barrel.  Today, I finally paid my cell phone bill, so now I have access to the Internet on my cell and tablet.  AT&T has been a real "pill" about their bills.  They shut off my service with the bill only 15 days late.

On the left is a photo of book similar to one I bought at Staples today.  Starting tomorrow, my goal is to record ANY and ALL expenses made on a daily basis (anything from bills paid, to buying a daily newspaper.  I need to know where my money is going.  How is it a single guy with my car, family,  addictions, or other expenses, can't seem to keep money in the bank.  I'm getting older now, I need to keep better track of how much money I spend and where my money goes.  Right now, my goal is to carry this booklet around (the way I do with my calendar booklet).  Hopefully, if I keep track of all of my expenses for 4 or 5 months, I should begin the Year 2013 being able to create a realistic budget, and a better understanding of my finances.  I do know one of the things I'm going to have to stop doing is spending hundreds of dollars on school supplies and resource books.  Every school year, I start off spending 1 ~ 2 thousand dollars on classroom materials and supplies.  I'm not doing that this coming school year....I can't afford to.

Exercise has been another inconsistency.  Although, I've been running from time to time, I haven't been consistent with it.  Strange that my body has adjusted to the hourly runs so quickly, but hasn't shown real results. 

I just finished reading "Daemon" by Daniel Suarez for a book club I joined recently.   The book was okay.  It turns out the 617 page book was only the first part of a two part book.  Even though it ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, I have no interest to read the other half of the book.

I could go on, but it is past midnight.  I need to get up early so that I can do my morning run.     

Day 3 with the braces

Not off to a good start.  I missed yesterday to blog about my braces.  And now, it is well past the time I should have been in bed.  I'll try to wrap this up quickly.

So far, the braces seem to be okay.  Yesterday, I was still in my baby mode.  To avoid any pain, I ate grits and sardines a couple of times and oatmeal another time.  I was expecting the pain to be so severe that I would be losing weight because of the pain.  I was told by a colleagues that she lost weight due to the pain.  She said that it took her weeks to get over the pain.  Others had my stressed out about how the dentist would need to tighten the wires causing pain.  But so far, no pain.  Oh, I received a call from the dentist yesterday, she just wanted to check up on me and asked if I had any pain or discomfort.  Nice.   I managed to go the whole day without any discomfort, so of course I had to be Mr. Risky.  I thought that eating an ice cream bar wouldn't be a problem.  However, while eating the ice cream, one of the wires on the left side of my mouth gave me a very small cut.  Up until that point, I didn't think I would even need the wax, but now I know I will.

Today, I sleep most of the day away, but then I decided to go food shopping to buy some soft foods.  I ended up spending about $140 on food.  Things will be lean for the time being.  I paid about $1000 to get the braces, pluse there is another $4800 remaining on my bill.  My insurance will pay for some, but I'll have to pay the rest. Anyway, this evening on an impulse, I went for Chinese food at a local restaurant.  Not the best idea.  Saturday is their busy day.  I ended up waiting about 20 minutes for a small wonton soup and a small egg drop soup.  I also bought a Hostess cherry pie.  I got through the soups with no problem, but esthetics.  It was so gross looking at food caught in the braces that I think I won't be eating any solid foods for lunch.  I can't see myself having time to get that food out of the braces in the usually limited time I have for lunch.  I have a bad habit of using my lunch time like a prep period.  I'm thinking oatmeal, grits, and cream of wheat as my lunch time meals.  Much easier to rinse after those foods than some of the other foods.

What about the pie? Well, I'd forgotten the no hard food warning.  The crust on the pies were a bit hard.  Mild discomfort, but I was able to eat the pie....that is until I was about half-way through the second pie.  My braces clicked on something.  Luckily, no damage was done.  I don't want this metal grill in my mouth not a second longer than it needs to be. 

Well, I better go.

Paper, paper, too much paper...not really

I think I'm getting better at the titles.  Last night (early this morning actually) I tried to check to see if I had a case of paper on the Staples order I had about an hour prior.  Unfortunately, the website decided at that moment to be "unavailable".  It was late and I was tired, so I just ordered another case.  Now, I discovered that I did in fact have a case of paper on my first order.  Now I have another case of copy paper being processed for delivery.  No need to cancel the second order because it just means I won't have to reorder anytime soon.  However, the way I go through copy paper, these two cases should last about 3 to 4 months (before I'll need to order more).

I'll try again, but old habits die hard...VERY HARD!!!

Well, another weekend wasted.  I slept most of it through.  I'll try again tomorrow to get back into a workout routine.  I wasn't consistant this past week and as a result, I regain about 5lbs.  I'm currently weigh about 210lbs. 

Oh, I'm loving my little black bag.  I'm amazed at how it keeps things cold.  Yep, cold.  I fell asleep with the bag left open and to my surprise, the items inside were still chilled even though it was at that point almost 20 hours later.  Yep, I'm impressed with my little bag.

Work...work...I could comment about work, but I won't.

College.  I have several assignmens due. So that is another source of stress.

Well, I'd better go.  I have to get up early to get on my stationary bike.  If I manage it, I'll be depending on about 4 hours of sleep to get me through the day.  Not a good start to the work week.

Quick Update

This will be a quick entry.  Today I did a bit of cleaning in my apartment.  I got tired of stepping over, and around the mounds of old newspapers and other trash cluttering up my apartment.  I also wrote out checks for my monthly bills, stuff them in envelopes ready to drop in a mailbox tomorrow morning.  Writing checks is something I haven't done in many months.  Up until today, I had gotten too comfortable with waiting until the last minute and then paying the bills at the local check cashing place.  I also shredded some papers. 

Oh, I weighed myself today.  Although I haven't been too consistent with my workouts, I have been trying to eat better than I have in the past.  Well, I'm now about 205lbs.  I'm now days (I hope) away for falling out of the 200lbs range.  I haven't weighed under 200lbs in over 15 years.  I also dusted off my stationary rowing machine.  I'm going to try alternating working out between my stationary bike and my stationary rowing machine.  My TOTAL GYM is still in the box in the hallway, I'll take it out eventually.

I forgot.  I also took out my IRON GYM and hung it above the kitchen jam.  Yep, it too was covered in dust.  I'm going to spend this month trying to do at least one pull up.  To start off slow, I'm going to spend the next week or so just hanging.  Waay back in high school I took a weight training class and the coach had those who couldn't do pull ups, just hang.  He counted the seconds. 

Gotta go. 

205lbs.

Stress is back!!!

This has been a difficult week.  This was suppose to be the year that I was going to do things differently.  Unfortunately, that is no longer the case.  The major hurdle is knowing what (and who) I'll be teaching.  Today is the first day of school.  Yesterday, I did find out that I would be teaching only science.  Sooo, again, I'm got overly excited and over spent money on classroom materials that I don't need.  I ended up spending about $800 on materials for 6th grade.  Problem, most of that materials isn't science.  The day before school opens, I spent moving and setting up things I didn't need.  The books that I had brought down to my classroom had to be sent up to another room so that I could then pick up the science materials.  As for my 6th grade materials purchased from Amazon.com, they are en route.  Next summer, I think I might just rent a storage area to put all the extra materials away.  I feel guilty about being so impulsive, so I don't want to return the things I bought.  A part of me feels that I might raise a red flag if I keep buying and returning large volumes of merchandise.

As for exercising and dieting.  I plan to resume on Monday.  In the past, once I have a fairly confirmed start date for starting (or resuming) a workout routine, I will eat anything (greasy, fattening, or salty) with the idea that I will be starting a new exercise routine.  This time around, I've been trying to avoid the junk food, and watching my portions. Yesterday, when I had a taste for some cake on my way home, I searched the snack rack at a corner delit until I could find a cake that didn't have a lot of calories.  Most of the cakes had over 400 calories.  I settled for a lemon iced cake that had 200 calories.  It was small, but I was pleased with myself for my self-control.  At the moment, my weight seems to be fluctuating between 210lbs ~ 214lbs.

East Coast Earthquake

Well, you've probably heard or read about the east coast earthquake that happened today about 1:50pm.  Luckily, there were no major injuries or damages. Where was I when the earthquake hit?  I was on my stationary bike.  I decided to do another 90minute/30minute workout.  The quake struck just when I was nearly finished with ten minutes to go.  At first, I wasn't sure it was an earthquake because I was on the bike; I had to stop peddling to check.  The shaking lasted only a few seconds (maybe 15 or 20 seconds).  Having lived in Japan, I did recognize the shaking motion.  I wasn't too nervous about the quake.  The crazy thing is that I was more nervous about having to leave in the condition I was in.  I was soaked in sweat with nothing on but my underwear and undershirt  -- both in very poor condition.  Also, I was literally soaked and dripping wet.  I really didn't want to walk outside in the condition I was in.  A few years ago, I did buy an emergency pack from the Red Cross, and I do have my important papers on the same shelf like my passport.  The only thing I don't have are my copies of important papers like birth certificate, social security card, credit card information, phone numbers, etc...I've been planning to get those documents copied to keep the copies in the emergency backpack, but I never did.  At the time, it required me to take those documents to get them copied.  However, now that I have a copy feature on my home printer, I really don't have any excuse.  I'll see if I can do it tonight or tomorrow.  Also, now that I'm thinking about it -- considering my first reaction when I thought I might have to leave my apartment dressed the way I was, I need to have an overnight bag packed also in case of an emergency evacuation (stashed on the same shelf of course).  I think I might work on that this week too.  But, I need to buy some clean underwear.

Wt. 219lbs.

Short blog entry.  Today I was feeling the effects of a two hour ride.  I was sore!  I didn't get on my stationary bike today.  I'm going to the museum tomorrow, so I didn't want to push myself.  I slept most of the day.  I went to see my foster father this evening.  Nothing to write about.

Oh, slowly the realization that school resumes soon here in NYC.  As if I didn't need a reminder.  While on the Metro-North train, a girl about 7 or 8 years old gets on the train with two adult women (one with a baby carriage [with baby]).  As they are walking down the aisle, the girl is taking each of the train tickets from the chairs as she is passing.  The tickets are placed on the chairs as proof that the person sitting there has paid.  So what does the woman walking behind the girl say?  "Noo, noo. Don't do that (smiling)".  The girl keeps taking the tickets, and they keep on walking.  No one seemed upset, but in my mind, I was.  I wasn't sure if it was the idea that the girl thought it was cute to take someone that didn't belong to her, or if I was upset that the adult walking behind the girl didn't feel the need to correct the behavior.  Well, moving on.

I started a new book.  Stephen King's Pet Semetary.  I only read Mr. King's introduction and the first 3 pages, so I don't know if I will get into it.  Tomorrow I'm going to the museum, I read a bit more on the train ride to the museum and see if I can enjoy it.  Awhile back, I wanted to buy the Stephen King book "The Dome", but I told myself that I wouldn't buy it until I read another King book cover to cover, just to be sure I would be able to read that book.  We'll see if the sematary holds my interest.

Wt. 219.8lbs.

Today (Friday) the plan was to get up early to do an hour on my stationary bike, but since I had to go for the professional development workshop (and I woke up too late), I didn't have time to exercise this morning.  I decided to do a double workout this evening.  The plan was to ride for 90 minutes straight, then take a brief break, and then continue for another 30 minutes.  To do 2 hours straight  for me was a bit of a psychological block.  I had to break it down, or I don't think I would have been able to do it.  Plus, having not eaten lunch  today, I was hungry.   I had a fried chicken wings and vegetable fried rice dinner  (a takeout from a local Chinese takeout restaurant).  Since I had the greasy dinner, I really felt like I had to get on my bike even though I was beginning to get tired.  Well, I did manage to do the two hours.  I burned about 1,008 calories on the bike. 

Oh, I think I'm becoming addicted to the zero calorie seltzer drinks I mentioned previously.  I bought about 8 more.  Unfortunately, I drank three of them already.  I also bought some snack foods that I hope will help me when I have the urge to eat, usually right before bed.  I'm not sure because it is too early to tell, but the diet and working out might be starting to take hold.  Lately, I seem to usually be satisfied with fruit, raisins,  etc...

I'm going to call it a night now.

Wt. 219lbs.

Another slow start to my day today, but it was a bit productive towards the end.  I managed to do two hours on my stationary bike (one hour in the morning and the other in the evening).  I burned about 1, 040calories on my bike.  I also FINALLY started to do a bit of cleaning in my apartment.  I won't embarrass myself by mentioned how dirty I allowed my apartment to get.  I made a To Do list of 11 things, and I managed to get to 10 of the items listed.  I still have a long way to go, but at least it is a start. Tomorrow is another half-day professional development session at school.  I'm going to try to get up early enough so that I can get on my stationary bike before I have to leave.  The last few days I've been managing to keep up with doing a double workout on my bike, so I want to keep up the routine.

Wt. 217.4lbs.

Quick Update

Today was another one of those days that has left me wondering what happened to it.  I had a couple of bowls of Special K cereal; I like the fruit and yogurt one.  I got on my stationary bike about 12 noon for an hour.  According to the digital readout, I burned 531.5 calories.  After I showered and napped, it was about 5pm.  I watched the evening news, then the entertainment news.  I had a Healthy Choice meal of Balsamic Garlic Chicken with a cup of instant Minute Maid Rice mixed in to help fill me up.  For dessert, I had a couple of Weight Watchers' vanilla ice cream sandwiches.  I got on my stationary bike for another hour.  This time burning 563.4 calories.  After showering, I weighed myself.  I'm now 216.4lbs.  I also made an entry in my LostIt.com account.

Quick Entry

I was planning to call it an early night, but I decided to log onto the Loseit.com website to log in my calorie consumption and exercise.  So far, I am still on my double workout routine.  Yep, even in the heat wave we are in, I managed to do my two exercises.

Today was also the day of the professional development my school is providing....never mind.   I was goin to go into details of the program that probably cost...never mind.  I'll just focus on my workout routine. 

I weighed myself today.  I am now down to 210lbs.  I started this summer weighing around 232lbs.

I better go, so I can get to bed to do my morning turtle trot.

My Park

I'm going to have to learn to get used to the new layout of Blogger.  Well, I'm going to try keeping this short.  I haven't been doing much blogging lately.

Today was day two of my new exercise plan.  I did my morning turtle trot for an hour.  I went home, and slept most of the day away.  However, I was pleased that I was able to get on my stationary bike.  Yep, I did another hour of exercise on my bike.  I am please with myself for being able to do about 2 hours of physical fitness today and yesterday.  I burned about 1,100 calories.  It is the first time I think I've ever burned more calories in a day than I took in.  I ate about 900 calories today. 

Other random comments.  I received a message on my cell phone "offering" PD (professional development) for each Friday this summer for 4 hours.  Unfortunately, I don't know how to say no.  So, I'll be returning each Friday this summer until school opens getting "professional development.

Oh, and why is it that some people can be so careless with their dogs.  This morning while I was doing my turtle trot, this guy brought his rottweiler for a walk.  I've gotten so comfortable with having the whole park to myself that I was annoyed that the guy brought his dog to crap all over the place.  The dog did his business about 3 times before the guy went home.  And of course, it was too much for the guy to clean up after his dog.  What annoyed me (other than the guy letting his dog run free off the chain forcing me to keep altering my running route) was that after the guy left, about 3 or 4 minutes later, I started smelling the dog crap as I was running.  

I better go.  I need to call it a night so that I can do my morning run.  I took several photos of the park over the past couple of months, I don't have time to edit the photos and post them (with comments), so I'll just post one photo for now.  The photo was taken from the northern entrance to the park.  I run around the rectangular perimeter of the two baseball fields.

Shopping

Quick entry.  I need to go to bed so that I have the strength to run in the morning.  Yesterday I didn't run, so today was a return to my turtle trotting running style. 

As most of you already know, school is out here in NYC.  Unfortunately, I didn't follow the other teachers who were packing up during school hours, so I'm not one ... if not the only one who still has to return to school to finish packing up for the summer.  I thought I would only need the two extra days that admin is required to come in. But no, I'm still not ready.  Tuesday will be the fourth day I will be in school packing.  Why the delay?  As much as I said that I wouldn't look at any of the materials that were sent to me, I couldn't resist (for one reason or another).  So what have I been doing?  Sorting and organizing the materials.  This coming school year, I will be teaching 4th grade for the first time.  I've been teaching 3rd for the past few years.  I inherited the materials of a colleague who will be moving up to teaching 6th grade.  The problem?  She wasn't too organized in how she sent the materials to me.  She had several of her students help with the move.  Unfortunately, the timing and method of delivery was off.  One, I was trying to maintain the learning environment until the very end.  Two, I didn't really have  the room for the 4th grade materials because I still had the 3rd grade materials.  The monitors were a bit too eager to help, but they just basically made a mess.  Textbooks were mixed up.  Testing materials arrived in large trash bags.  I really can't function with disorder.  I went through the books and group them according to levels.  I went through the test prep materials and organized it.  Although I'm a bit annoyed that I'm the only one who is still packing up, I am pleased that I went through the materials and organized it.  I've observed that several teachers tend to rush to pack up for the summer, but then rush to unpack in the fall.  And then complain because they can't find anything, or don't realize what they have in terms of materials.

It is getting late.  I will continue this another time...
Next time, I'll summarize my Saturday of shopping and movie viewing.  I bought 4 new paperback novels.  A new pair of sneakers, and some teaching materials from B&N.

A Mini Milestone

Today I reached last stage (Stage 12) from the book "Run Your Butt Off.  I ran for a full 30 minutes without stopping.  Even though I went to bed late -- I had to finish up my students' report cards.  Last Sunday, I took some photos of the park I where I do my morning run.  It is nice to feel like I have the whole park to myself...oh and with the deer.  Yep, that deer has been returning for the last few days.  Yes, I managed to get a photo of that deer also.

Today was also the last full day of school.  Tomorrow is a half-day.  It will be THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL for the 2010/2011 school year here in NYC.

Well, I'm going to end this entry now, I want to go to bed to have the strength to get up early.

I'm back...sort of.

Quick entry.  After going hog wild a for a few days last weekend, I'm back to trying to get in shape.  I had stopped my morning jogging for about three days last weekend, but I returned last Tuesday.  Currently, I'm at Stage 11 following the "Run Your Butt Off!" plan.  Today I ran for 14 minutes, walked for 1 minute, then I repeated again.  The run was okay, so much so that I ran an extra three minutes.  If the weather cooperates, I will reach Stage 12 on Monday.  Stage 12 is running for a full 30 minutes without a walk break.  Although it is taking some getting used to dragging myself out of bed, I do look forward to the morning run.  And now that summer vacation is almost here, I really do need to keep up the morning run routine.  My new plan is going to try to build up to running for an hour each day this summer.  I really can't afford to return to my lazy sleep away the summer routine.  Oh, and I also need to get a handle on my eating habit.  Without the liquid diet, I'm slowing gaining back the pounds I lost.  I'm now up to 222lbs.  Right now however, my focus is on finishing up the school year.  Next week is the last week of school. 

I better go.  I need to get ready for bed soon so that I have to strength to get up for my morning run.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

Quick update.  Once again the title says it all.  Thursday morning started off rainy, but I didn't let that stop me.  I rode my stationary bike to keep up my daily morning exercising routine.  Unfortunately, I've had a couple of setbacks in the dieting department.  The day before,  I had a spaghetti dinner with a 5 piece chicken tender appetizer (with BBQ dipping sauce).  Friday evening I went to a retirement party for a couple of colleagues who will be retiring this year.  I ordered a baby back ribs and chicken combo plate (with a large piece of chocolate cake).  After returning home, I fell asleep on the couch and now I'm up at 2am.  Old habits die hard.  So far I haven't missed a morning of exercising since I started at the beginning of this month.  I'm about to head off to bed, and see if I have the strength to run in the morning.  If I do the run, I want to move up to a modification of Stage 9 (walk for 3 minutes/run for 12 minutes and repeat).  If I can keep up with the running routine, I should be able to run for a solid 30 minutes by next weekend.

 Later on today, I will be attending a social networking event that I planned.  The event is to see the Broadway show "Wicked" and see "X-men: First Class" afterwards.  Unfortunately, no one signed up, so I will be seeing the shows alone.

Quick Update

Quick update.  Yesterday, I didn't do too well with my calorie consumption.  I did better, but still over my maximum daily goal.  Yesterday I had a total of 1,790cal.

Today was a bit better.  I told myself that I had to stop eating with my old habits of trying to fill up the belly.  Results?

7am - 200cal. Quaker Instant Grits
11am - 70cal. V8
12pm - 200cal. Campbell's low sodium Chicken Noodle Soup
7pm - 730cal. Healthy Choice Steamer (Spicy Chicken), Minute Rice(cup), & Stonyfield smoothie.
----------------
Total = 1,100 calories

I am also still sticking with the running.  I am currently at the 9 minute run / 3 minute walk (repeated 3x).  Oh, and today, I saw a young deer walk onto the sport's field as I did my running.  It keep an eye on me as I ran around the perimeter of the field, but it didn't run away. 

Now, I'm going to head to bed. 

Summer vacation is almost here.  Yippee!!!

The attached photo was taken off of the internet.  However the deer I saw was very similar.