Mission Update 002

Mission Update 002

I am dropping the theme for this post because I need to clear the air. February was crazy. January was intended to be a building month. Changing old habits, building new ones, getting into a rhythm. That rhythm never really solidified unfortunately and the old habits proved they would not go away without a fight. There were a number of things the universe decided to throw in my way over the last month and as a result I have gotten WAY off track and need to get back to it.

Grown-up Insurance

If you recall in the Rebirth series my wife and I got a life insurance policy. This is what I call our “grown-up insurance.” To remind you there could possibly be an issue with my weight. Well we finally got the results back from our blood work and everything was good for both of us. We even got a call from our agent (remember he was the one who asked how quickly I could get below 300 lbs) and he said everything was fine. He even specified that everything was fine with me. Turns out that was premature. The premium we were quoted was approved for my wife, but not for me. My premium was going to be about $20/month higher. In order to maintain the quoted premium, my coverage had to be lowered. When all the paperwork came in I had to sign an acknowledgment that my premium was higher. It even said the premium was higher because of my weight. I have never had to actually sign something acknowledging that I am overweight. I signed their paper and sent it back so now I have grown-up insurance and a lot of self loathing.

Knee Problems

I went to Austin for week for a work conference at the beginning of February. I had a challenge of having to eat out for every meal for 5 days. I am proud to say that I made a number of very good choices for food. I also walked A LOT. Our hotel was about .75 miles from the convention center and the convention center is stupid huge so I walked constantly all week. I almost hit a record 20k steps in a single day. At the end of the week I had walked over 30 miles. This is all well and good but my knees paid for it. Between walking everywhere and the all-over-the-place weather Texas has had my knees were done for when I got home. I made sure to take it easy that weekend to recover. I was very motivated to take the momentum of having logged so much walking to get my running program going. Monday morning came and I got on the treadmill to do C25K Day 1 for the umpteenth time. This was not a good idea. I pushed myself a bit too hard and my knees (especially the right knee) have been killing me ever since. I have not done anything in 2 weeks.

More Knee Problems

Given the state of my knees I wear knee braces regularly. I have worn out all but 1 of them. The 1 I have is really good but it is wearing out, and I have 2 knees. This is where things get ridiculous. I ordered 2 knee braces that should have fit according to the product page. I got excited when they showed up until they did not fit. They would not go around my fat ass thighs. I sent them back. I ordered 2 more that also should have fit, this time they were name brand and heavy duty. I was all excited when they came in until once again they would not go around my stupid fat thighs. I have sent that pair back as well. I began searching the Internet for a knee brace that would fit. The only search parameter I could come up with that seemed fitting was “plus size knee brace.” That actually found me exactly what I needed. Unfortunately the size I need is only available through medical supply. That being the case, the “plus-sized knee brace” is to treat knee pain caused by obesity. It’s even call that: Bariatric Knee Brace and/or Obesity Pain Knee Brace. So I have an order ready to go as soon as Amazon processes my return of the 2nd pair that does not fit. The icing on this soul-crushing cake...the interweb’s algorithm that makes custom ads based on your browsing got 1 last good shot in. The text ads on the Amazon page for the Bariatric Knee Brace offered me an orthopedic specialist and 2 weight loss surgery centers. Frak you very much.

Emotional Baskin Robbins

Remember how I said old habits were not going down without a fight? Well my habit of eating my feelings is a combination of Clubber Lang and Ivan Drago. I have not been doing well at all on my goal of not bored/stress/emotional eating. I am doing ok with taking a healthy lunch to work and not overeating at meals but between meals, late night, and my morning drive not so much. I have gotten 2nd breakfast on my way to work a couple of times a week lately, a habit I have really been working on breaking. I won’t lie, it has not been pretty at times. I am working on it but sometimes depression voice wins out.

A New Work Stress

Sometimes the downside of doing your job well is more work. I have had a good year thus far and everyone is happy with me. Of course this means we get to add to my plate. Next year I will be adding Foundations of Computer Science to my list of classes I am teaching. That is great. As of right now it is just replacing a class I am currently teaching so it is not more work in that sense. There is a small problem with this plan. We are offering this course for high school credit. In order to do so I have to get a new teaching certificate. This means I get a new project: learn the overall basics of every aspect of computer science….and some basic coding. Luckily I have some basic coding background from working on my Google Scripts project. The rest, however, will be a challenge. Now I get to spend my free time prepping for a test and learning the content I have to teach next year. The plus side is I have all summer to learn the actual class stuff I will be teaching but I have to be ready for the test in May. I wasn’t busy enough, right?

A New Plan

Clearly the original mission needs to be reworked. I am currently working on that and will have and update hopefully March 1st. Until then may the Force be with you and may the Power protect you.

\m/ THERE IS NO TRY \m/

PS -- I went a bit GIF happy. Sorry not sorry.