Posted via email from robweideman

Negatives:

• Can’t (really) workout – each time I get any aerobic activity going it feels like my lungs get inflamed and the cough comes back with a vengeance. 
• Can’t (really) talk – if I talk more than two sentences I will begin coughing. 
• Can’t (really) be outside much – the cold air just irritates my throat and lungs and coughing starts. 

Positives

None. What could possibly be positive about being sick?

My routine is off and I’m frustrated that I can’t get a workout in. In the past I wouldn’t have been so heartbroken about not working out but a couple of things changed recently.

1) I’m addicted to CrossFit and look forward to it even though it kills me and I’m still afraid of the workouts. Addiction is never good but it has been helpful to enjoy my workouts. 

2) I find that when my body has a physical routine the rest of my life sort of does as well. For some reason when my physical routine is regular then the other areas (work, family, God, friendships) seem to align better and I have what seems like balance in my life. 

3) Working out helps to relieve my stress. Didn’t give much credit to working out as a source of stress relief in the past but in the last 3 weeks opened my eyes to how much working out does help me with stress.

On another note, I’ve gotten back into my daily Bible reading plan and have really been enjoying Genesis, Psalms, and Matthew lately. I love my iPhone and the Bible application on it.

First of all, Jason (my workout/accountability partner) and I joined CrossFit Tacoma (http://crossfittacoma.com). Since joining we’ve never been so sore and so fit. Your first workout is free. I highly recommend it. Note: it’s not for everyone and that’s okay. 

Second, I’ve come to the very painful realization that the greatest need in my life for me to achieve a life of fitness is to confront my nutrition. Or probably more honestly, my lack of proper nutrition. I’m reading a book on the Zone Diet which is what CrossFit recommends and I’ll be attending a nutrition seminar tomorrow night to learn more about what I can do to start creating a healthy diet (When I say diet I’m referring the lifestyle not the 30 day starvation that most people put themselves through to lose weight).

One thing we did decide to do was to automate every bill possible through our bank’s billpay service and live by cash for our household expenses.

To make this work we had to turn in our debit card. We’ve tried this before but it never worked because we kept the debit cards. It was way too easy to pull the card out if we needed something.

Now, we get the cash we budgeted out at the 1st and 15th of the month and try to make it last.

We each carry our Alaska Air credit card for emergency only. I use it to buy gas as well but immediately email myself the amount of the gas cost and send a payment when I get home to the computer. 

We’ll see how this new “system” works for us and I’ll try to update about changes and quirks in March.

I’ve started working out again. It seems like an endless cycle of starting anew with getting into shape physically. Year after year I’ve been determined to get healthy. Year after year I fail. Here are some things that are a little different from my past attempts and are the reason I might succeed this time.

1. Workout partner – Jason can work out when I can work out and it helps to have a workout buddy. I know that when I don’t show up I’m not just letting myself down but him as well. That accountability is enough for me to keep going.

2. Crossfit – At first we were going to just do mostly running for our workout, mixing in some sprint and hill work, building up to 3 mile runs. But Jason’s knees aren’t really suited for running because of a past injury. Matt (a professional personal trainer) in my small group suggested we check out Crossfit. It is awesome. Hard to describe so I’ll just invite you to check out the website – Crossfit.com.

3. Noon – Our workout time is at lunchtime. Since our workouts are typically less than 30 minutes I’ve got enough time to do that and take a shower and get back to work. I’ve done the early morning and that never seems to stick for me. I’ve done the evening and that is so hard for me because I have lots of activities at night and when I don’t I’m pretty exhausted. For now, noon seems to be working really well. Bonus: I never seem to be as hungry after our workout so don’t eat a large lunch very often. Another bonus: It gives me a good boost heading into the afternoon work hours.

4. Logging – I keep track of our workouts online. The image above is the confirmation message that I get when I enter another workout online. I use Google forms to keep a log of our workouts.

Example workout from today:
10 box jumps (jump from a standing position to a bench or box)
Lunges (40 meters, no weight) – these were killer!
10 squats (no weight)
20 push-ups

We did 3 consecutive rounds of these exercises without stopping and no rest between each exercise. We tried to jog to each exercise since each one was equally spaced around the UPS track.
We also timed it so we could do it again someday and see if we improve. My time was 19 minutes and 34 seconds. It was less than 20 minutes but I was totally spent. We’ve tentatively named this workout The Four Horsemen.

I’m against any proposed Federal Bailout. UPDATE: I guess my opinion doesn’t matter. 

Why does all Christian Rock/Alternative music sound the same?

I can’t even imagine going to work the day after my son was buried. I get teary-eyed thinking about my son being hurt in any way.

I’m 2-2 in my fantasy football league. If you care about winning and understand fantasy football you probably know my pain. The Kimchee Killers will rise! UPDATE: I’m now 4-4 but have great hope the next few weeks will be fruitful for the win column. 

I’m currently reading several books: Talk Thru The Bible, Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML, Launching a Leadership Revolution, Co-Active Coaching. I don’t really enjoy reading all these books at once but my attention span is wacky lately. UPDATE: I’ve shelved some of those books for later and am onto some other good books. 

Getting ready to start a new devotional reading plan, walking through the New Testament from October through December using The Daily Walk Bible. UPDATE: Still doing it. Couple days behind but plan to catch up tomorrow. 

My son rocks my world. UPDATE: He still does. 

UPDATE: 10/29

I think I live with so much fluff and dancing-around-the-bush that when I hear someone being dreadfully honest it is so refreshing.

I want to get a fresh and direct perspective on life but feel most of the time my feelings are more important to people. I’m not without emotion and can get hurt by the truth. But that’s what I want. In the beginning I may be hurt but can usually recover enough to see the importance of what is being communicated. I can’t make progress, gain momentum, or grow significantly without an honest evaluation of who and where I am. 

That requires an outside perspective that is honest and caring. It isn’t very clear whether Gordon Ramsay actually cares about the people he “helps” in his shows by telling the truth but I like to think he does. 

Please be courageous and speak the truth while caring for people and for me. I’ll try to do the same.

Do I include all my friends? Do I include all the other interesting blogs I read? That’s a lot of links and most likely useless to include as most people seem to ignore the big Blog Roll of people that they don’t know and probably won’t read. 

So what do I do?

I’m going to include people that I consider “voices.” If you hover your mouse over their name a short description of why I read them will come up. I decided not to include the “family update” blogs because those don’t really line up with the purpose of this site. If you’ve got a voice and I read your stuff you’ll probably get a link and deemed an Associate. Aren’t you (and I) cool? Hopefully we can have a conversation and help one another on this journey. 

Peace.