Wiglaf

I have always been a fan about trying to understand our culture.  How did America get to be “America” kinda stuff.  One of the beliefs that I zeroed in on throughout my life is that our country is a country of individuals going through life on many paths that all somehow lead us to a similar experiences.  We may not walk on the same path in the woods but we all walk through the woods if I can be allowed a weak metaphor.  

So one of the things I feel strongly about is personal religious views.  You can have whatever views you want, they can have theirs, I can have mine as long as we all agree to infringe or impact anyone else.  To use another metaphor, you right to swing your fist ends when you touch me.  And my views have shifted throughout my life.  Catholic, methodist, baptist, buddhist, agnostic, atheist.  Those have been the major religious dogmas I have at one point followed.  I realize this so I do kinda take a less than serious approach to religion and strict devotion.  So much of faith is built upon not knowing and having to take things on faith… (That is one of the least elegant ways to make that point and I should do better.)  How dare I assume that something I believe be the one try answer.

So as with other times in my life I have felt the religious pendulum swing again in my life.  I don’t think it is a denominational swing but more of a participation swing.  Trying to walk the walk.  Being a better person based on my deeds and not just my thoughts.  Feels good but also feels very awkward.  At some point I’ll either drift again or the newness will wear off and it’ll be a habit.  Part of this shift comes from the Emerging Church movement.  That church life is more than slapping on some slacks and writing a check for the collection.  That “Thou shall” is just as important as “Thou shall not” to follow.  

I’ll let this rattle around a bit more in my life and maybe this will be an interesting ride.  Or maybe in six months from now I’ll be contemplating a conversion to Judaism or Wicca.

Got done with me and Shannon’s 2nd area hike.  A bit more fun than making yet another lap around the neighborhood.  But the pace is driving me nuts.  52 minutes to complete 3.5 km.  It was pretty steep and hilly but good lord, my farts travel faster.

Man I eat a lot of junk.  No easy way to excuse that.  Good thing is that I am lazy so if I stock my house with better snacks I don’t mind.  Time to purge the house of stuff the inlaws left behind and fill it with fruits and shit.

Ahem….  Let me begin my excuse.

2 week business trip.

1/2 big toenail removed on right foot.

Full big toenail removed on left foot.

In-laws evacuated to here and brought nothing but good tasting bad food for me.

Sheer laziness.

Now that I have that out of my system, time to move on and try again at losing weight.  Man this sucks.  Did go for a hike with Shannon in Hobbs State Park here in Arkansas.  Need to get some shoes that have ankle support.  Was a nice walk though.

Having to prepare for a multiweek business trip.  Hotel I am going to be in has wireless for a fee and my company is too cheap to pay for it.  So a good chunk of my free time will be spent no doing things on the internet.  Thinking about getting a Kindle for reading.  Either that or I’ll be playing a hell of a lot of Song Summoner.

After my little pity party this morning, I went ahead and made up my mind that I was going to do 5km today.  Didn’t matter if I did it slow or in multiple parts, I was going to do it.  Thankfully my toe didn’t force me to renege on that promise to myself.   Was able to do it in a simple stroll.  Was muggy and hot as hell outside but was also a beautiful evening.  So at least I got something to show for myself today.  Tomorrow is probably going to be a lift weights or dig in the backyard day.  @#$@ patio isn’t going like it should. 

Need to find some sort of hobby to take up my spare time.  Bored me isn’t a good me.  It is too hot outside and I am too lazy for most of the outdoor activities.  (Never mind the foot issue.)  Might go buy one of those mini-ITX boards and try and build a computer in to some weird case mod.  Either that or learn to write an app for my Blackberry.  Nothing spectacular just something to do.  It’s either that or go back to vegging out in front of the TV and that has paid off in pounds.

I don’t get it.  Last year I did the same damn thing as what I am doing now and was able to drop 30 pounds.  I was hoping to be able to do that on and off over the next couple of years and make long term progress.  But right now I can’t seem to get any headway.  Between my shins, ankle and feet versus work sucking, I don’t know which to try and blame.  (Of course I read that last sentence and think to myself that all of those have me in common so what should I REALLY blame.)  With Shannon gone for a week I am going to focus on getting some stuff straight.  Maybe without the distraction I can figure out what is different now versus then.

The only good thing I can say is that we have the money squared away for the adoption now.  Shannon and I can’t agree on when to start the process though.  I want a few more attempts at IUI’s and she is ready to throw in the towel.  I think the happy middle ground is going to be one more attempt and if it doesn’t work we start the process but continue doing IUI’s as well.  Just feels like we are giving up a little.

Went to a podiatrists to get a check up on my feet.  Besides having shin splints, I also have some pretty fugly toe nails.  He went ahead and took care of one nail permanently.  Said that it could have been a contributing factor to my ankle and shin issues.  Not the root of the issue but wasn’t helping.  I really should have done this so long ago.  Going to suck for the next two weeks but it will be worth it.

Worked to hard on my chest and back.  Sore as hell.  Made the mistake of telling some friends.  They decided to being as uproariously funny as they could.  Good times but damn it was painful to laugh that much.  Good times.

Since my shin splints need some time to heal I am going to start just lifting weights for a while.  Kinda feels like a cop out since I am changing paths without actually making any headway with the first path.