RAWDEADFISH

this year i am setting some goals and actually writing them down somewhere, so that i can keep track and mark some progress and prove to myself that i do get things accomplished that are forward thinking, as opposed to just break/fix around the house.

here is the list, in no particular order:

• install zshell on my linux box
• start a weekly podcast – alone or with my wife or a friend (in progress!)
  • june update – recorded episods 2 and 3. i am starting slow and recording every other week or so. not very consistent yet. not very interesting either. and no intro or outro music.
  • july update – between jul4th parties, camping with the scouts, and just plain family stuff, i have not done much. there will only be one podcast recorded this month over the last weekend of the month, but all well. i am still getting into a groove and working things out. the first 10 are always embarrassing, anyways…
  • dec update – failed miserably. doing it by myself is boring and hitting on boring topics, doing one with the wife never amounted to anything because we can’t agree on a topic, doing one with a friend never happened because no friends seem to have the time or interest. they all just want to make money… but i’m not going to stop trying, i will make this happen!
• drop 50 lbs. starting at 244.5 and hoping to reach 194.5 (in progress!)
  • mar 31 – 244.5 – starting point
  • apr 29 – 235.5 – 41 lbs left to lose
  • may 24 – 236.0 – 41.5 lbs left
  • jun 24 – 238.0 – 43.5 lbs left
  • jul 19 – 230.5 – 36 lbs left
  • aug 30 – 235.0 – 40.5 lbs left
  • sep 27 – 233.5 – 38.5 lbs left
  • oct – stopped keeping track, started crying
  • nov – no idea, just ate turkey
  • dec 21 – 247.0 – going in the wrong direction…
• adopt weekly exercise program. (see above for how good this is helping my weight loss)
  • in apr i started a walking/jogging program and signed up with the gym at work because using the treader at 8pm was killing me and at 6am was killing my wife. the program consists of a 2-3 mile walk at 4% incline at 4 mph, with at least 2 1/4 mile jogs at 5.6 mph
  • may update – the program now consists of a 3-4 mile walk at 4% incline at 4.2 mph, with three 1/4 mile jogs at 6.0 or 6.5 mph
  • june update – shin splits has forced me to pretty much eliminate the jogging and lower the incline to a 3% grade, but now i am consistently walking 4 miles at a pace of 4.3 mi/hr.
  • july update – sticking with the 4 miles/day, 6 days/wk, even though sometimes i get to sneak in another half or whole mile. once or twice a week i jog between 1/4 and 1/2 mile. i really don’t want to hurt myself in a way that would force me to stop or ease up the program that i am on. it seems to be working well for me right now.
  • aug update – shaky month with so much going on but i am still doing good. jogging had nearly stopped either because i have been too tired or my chins have been too sore, but i have pretty much kept to 6 days/wk and close to 24 miles/wk. i have even done some 4.5 or 5 mile walks. i’ll be better once school sets in and everything gets less crazy.
  • sep/oct/nov update – switched to a program that is shorter but a little harder: 23 min on the eliptical (400 calories, 3 miles) and 10 min on the stair master. this feels worse on my back, but better on the legs.
  • dec update – tough month, to much going on at home and work to be consistent. I have missed at least one day each week. program is still rocking, and i have the motivation to do it, just am too busy. waiting desparately for jan and a return to normalcy.
• put kids computer back online but block bad websites (completed in feb – using opendns for site blocking)
  
• learn enough php and wordpress to be dangerous (well, i didn’t do a whole lot from the php side, but i think i did enough on the WP side to say that this is completed)
• refresh the look and feel of the blog (completed in may)
• upgrade blog from wp2.0 to wp2.3 (completed in mar)
• set up samba for shared music and shared pictures (completed in oct)
• buy a 22″ monitor for the linux computer move
• migrate to Linux as primary computer (completed in aug, by necessity, windows box motherboard and/or cpu took a dive off a tall building and i can’t afford to replace them. and why?)
  
• buy a new point-n-shoot camera (completed in apr – got the canon a590)
• buy a fireplace insert
• donate money or goods or services to a good cause (completed over the course of the year, topped it off in nov when we contributed a bunch of food to the soup kitchen, through cub scouts)
• get some storm windows replaced on the house
• plan mutual fund savings for college
• plan a family budget that the family can adhere to
• develop a c# or ppl app for the pocketpc – list app or broker game