December

For the first time in my life I'm losing weight in a healthy way. I'm not doing
a low carb diet. I'm not starving myself or losing tons of weight quickly. I'm
eating low fat proteins, lots of raw veggies, fruit, & a little bit of fat free
milk & whole grains. Most shockingly I'm utilizing portion control without going
over board & starving myself! I weighed in on Sunday at 233. 23 lbs lighter
than Nov 23rd. There's only been 2 other times I've gotten below 220 since
adulthood. On both of those occasions by the time I got to the point where I was
thin enough for abdominal muscles to be seen & I started to work the abs in
hopes of getting the elusive 6 pack, I'd start gaining the weight back. I'm not
certain I'll get to the point where I'll be that thin this time. But just in
case I've started to really hammer my abs. My coach has me working my core 2X a
week. On top of that I've also started doing a pretty fierce abb routine a
couple times a week on my own. I'm keeping my fingers crossed & my food intake
in check. I'd love to have a 6 pack-heck, even a 2 pack for once in my life.

My work has us post bid every 6 months for days off, shift, & post. 6 months ago
was the first time in my 12 year career that I was able to get the tower. We
bidded on our posts again this week & low & behold I was able to get my sweet
tower again! Oh how I love this tower. I do up there what I'm unable to do even
at home. I sit there drinking coffee, & watch my peaceful surroundings. I don't
have to get up to vacuum, take out the trash, or change diapers. I just kick
back watching the surroundings. That's been my job for the last 6 months & now
will be my post for the next 6 too. Ah, the peaceful tranquility of seniority.
I'm #26 on the seniority list of 300 employees now. & 5 of the officers ahead of
me are eligible for retirement in the next 6 months. It's possible that since
the posts we man are based off of seniority I may be able to continue working
the tower until I retire. 8 years 10 months & counting. Life is sweet!


My Mom took my Mother-in-law, my wife, I, & my daughter to see the Nut Cracker this
weekend. That was one of the best times I've ever had! Not only because it was only
my 2nd day not working a 12 hour shift the entire month of Dec (my other day
off being the 9th for the Polar Bear tri). But because my 27 month old daughter
is completely fascinated with any kind of dancing. She'll sit through an entire
episode of Dancing w/ the stars. She runs around for hours throwing her hands in
the air & spinning in circles pretending she's dancing. I was a little worried
that she'd get bored & start misbehaving. But from start to finish she was
completely focused on the performance on stage. She'd see something she liked &
start clapping & yelling yeah, oh, & even an occasional awe! Most of the time it
was when everyone else decided to clap too. But there were quite a few times
when she she was the only one applauding. She didn't notice or didn't care if
she was the only one clapping. She was just a bundle joy the entire performance. I thought it was the cutest thing I'd ever seen in my life. I must admit there
was a few times when my eyes filled with tears seeing how happy she was. Being a
parent is by far the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never knew any
one thing could bring me this much joy. Ah, life is good.