I think today is going to be a bust, and I’m pretty sure that the rest of the week will wind up the same way. Chris and Traci are changing jobs, which means their on-call schedule is going to change, which means my on-call schedule is going to change. This is their last week at their current job, so you know they will likely get called in every night, because their workplace knows that this is it, and they’re probably looking at it like hey, we’re paying for them, might as well use them as much as we can before they leave.

We’ll see what happens, but I might just have to accept that this is a lost week.

82 days to go. 22 days until the next weigh-in picture.

This weekend was fairly easy.

• Finish setting up the FreedomFiler system DONE
• Get 3 billing accounts set up for auto-pay with our bank DONE
• Throw away one box of clutter from the garage DONE

Between the meds, the odd work hours of being on-call, and the fact that last week was my first week of cardio hell, I decided to skip the Saturday workout to give my body an extra day to recover. That may or may not be a mistake, but the day will added to the end of the fitness program, so I’ll still be in this for 90 days.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back at it…because Cindy will make sure of it. My muscles are aching just thinking about it.

83 days to go. 23 days until the next weigh-in picture.

I haven’t used a laptop on a regular basis for 7 years. My primary computer has always been a desktop, and aside from my one year using an IBM Thinkpad, my only computers have been desktops.

Not long ago, we replaced Cindy’s aging Apple eMac with an Intel Apple MacBook, which she lurves, and has named Gertrude. She’s on the computer more these days (like all the damn time), and I’m sure it’s because of its portability. The weird thing is that, as much time as I now spend on my computer, it’s still significantly less time than I used to spend on it. One reason is that I don’t do much web work now, because it’s frustrating and stressful, and I hate people. What this means is that I also spend less time on the computer trying to distract myself from the work.

Since restarting the 90 Days Project, I’ve found that I’d rather pick up Cindy’s laptop in the livingroom, or Traci’s laptop in the kitchen, or even the AlphaSmart Neo in the bedroom (like I’m doing with this entry), than go sit at the desk because I just want to do one or two quick things. I needed the workspace of a 22-inch widescreen monitor when I was doing web work, but now that most of what I do is reading blogs and news sites, checking Facebook, reading Twitter, shopping on Amazon, and looking at Flickr, I’m really missing the convenience of a laptop, and wish the Acer Aspire One I ordered from Amazon would ship soon, but it’s out of stock (from Amazon’s warehouse), and backordered. Argh!

So, what about you guys? Who’s using primarily desktops, and who’s using laptops?

Fifth workout (third round of cardio). 85 days to go. 25 days until the next weigh-in picture.

It’s amazing how things change during a workout in such a short time. It’s not that I’m doing anymore than I was earlier this week (still getting my ass whipped by these workouts), but I’m starting to smooth out the movements (just a little), and I’m definitely recovery from the torture faster. Also, my balance has improved a bit, so that’s good.

I’m on-call this weekend to babysit my friends’ kid, so I’m not sure what exactly I can get done for the project, but I’m sure I can manage something. The big things on the list are:

• Finish setting up the FreedomFiler system
• Get 3 billing accounts set up for auto-pay with our bank
• Throw away one box of clutter from the garage

That’s it. Anything beyond that is just a bonus, but those three simple tasks are all that the universe asks of me this weekend, so I think I can handle that.

Workout Day 4 completed. 86 days to go, and counting.

Tired and achy as hell. Slight setback as the meds I’m on require that I drink plenty of water, but they also make me retain water. And they increase my appetite, so I’ve already gained a few pounds in the last couple of days. Thankfully, most of it is water weight.

The important thing today was that the cardio routine was a little better. I didn’t do any more than I did on Monday, but I didn’t have to stop as often today, and I recovered quicker. 87 days to go. 27 days until the next weigh-in picture.

And on a side note … Cindy’s already mentioned it, but last weekend, while cleaning out the garage, I had this little area on my back that just started itching like crazy. I thought I must have been bitten by something while cleaning. But when I looked in the mirror, I saw two more isolated rashes. Was I bitten by something during the night? A couple of days went by, and I finally googled the symptoms and came up with shingles. Shingles? Ugh, so itchy.

Here’s what I think happened. About a week before our trip to Portland, I started to get sick, and I wasn’t getting any better as our departure date neared. I was getting worse, and by the time we left Oklahoma City, I was in full sick-as-a-dog mode. And what are you supposed to do when you get sick? Get plenty of rest? Nah, I was on vacation, and was running around all the damn time. At the very worst — the second day in Portland, first full day — I had to go back to the motel room around 3:00p, and napped for hours. We had been up and about since 8:00 that morning, and soon after a late lunch (awesome salmon and dungeness crab chowder, btw), I was done. The next day, Brian and Amy arrived, and from that moment on, there was no stopping. I guess I pushed myself way too hard, further weakening my immune system, and this is what happened. And if you want to avoid getting sick a lot, it really doesn’t help to babysit a 3-year-old germ magnet who now goes to pre-school with a bunch of other germ magnets.

So, anyway, today, the doctor looked at the rash for about a second, and said, “Yep”. Criminy. An hour later, I was laying out $50 for $250’s worth of meds, eating a not-so-good-for-me-but-yummy breakfast sandwich from Sonic, taking seven pills, and speeding off to work. I was there maybe 10 minutes before I started getting a little buzzed and loopy. Fun times.

That was about it: had a doctor’s visit, ate some fattening food, went to work high on meds (didn’t get crap done), and did my cardio workout with Cindy. But, before we came home, we did pick up a 24 pocket over-the-door shoe organizer, which we’re going to hang in the office and fill will gadget chargers. We got the idea from an issue of Real Simple a couple of weeks ago. We have tons of gadgets and the chargers are scattered everywhere, and when they’re not scattered, they’re buried under more gadget chargers. It’s not the prettiest solution, but it works.

BTW, I did update the starting picture with my body measurements. Just sos you know.

Didn’t do much today. In fact, the only thing I did toward the project was the Power 90 workout. Only 88 more days of that left. Ow.

Too tired to do it right now, but tomorrow I need to add my beginning stats to the “before” picture, so expect at least that to be updated tomorrow.

UPDATE: Okay, it’s done.

I know. I know. Given this picture, it’s hard to believe that I weight about 25 lbs. more this same time last year.

But for the last few months, I’ve hit a plateau, and need to break it.

We recently ended our membership at the Y to help with the budget, so I thought I’d try the Power 90 program. I’m a little off on starting it because I didn’t order it until after I had decided to restart my 90 Days Project.

This is my "Before" shot.

Today, Cindy and I got up at the crack of ass to do the first routine. Cindy gets plenty of exercise, but she’s doing this with me for support (to make sure I actually do the program). Also, I’m supremely uncoordinated when it comes to any sort of floor workout, so it’s nice to have someone there to let me know just how much of a many-limbed menace I am.

Good god, this is going to be long 90 Days.

Also…I finished assembling the “Permanent” records sections of the new filing system.

UPDATE: [10.22.08 - 840p]

Here’s my measurements on Day 1:

Chest: 48″
Right Upper Arm: 17″
Left Upper Arm: “17″
Waist: 48″
Hips: 47″
Right Thigh: 27″
Left Thigh: 27″
Start Weight: 274.4 lbs.

Today, I started trying to get a handle on all the piles of paper (bills, junk mail, political material, etc.).

$15 for standard green letter-sized hanging folders from Sam’s, and $43 for the Maintenance-Free Home Filing Kit - Deluxe Edition from FreedomFiler.

I know it’s pricey, but seriously, after you get everything you need to make a system this well thought-out, you’ll have spend that much anyway. Also, there’s a lot more to this kit than the demo on the website mentions, and it includes tabs that would work great with David Allen’s Getting Things Done system.

I didn’t get all the sections put together today because, like I said, I’m doing these projects with Kaizen in mind. So, in a day or two I’ll do another section, and so on, until the project is complete. The trick is to not tackle so much at one time that I become overwhelmed.

I’d love to say that I managed to get the garage completely cleaned out and remodeled in a matter of hours ala HGTV, but that didn’t happen. I did manage to fill 1 of 2 garbage bins, and take 3 bags of stuff to charity. Even so, it barely looks like I put a dent in the mess.

Before:

After (It’s not done. This is in-progress):

Trying to deal with a mess this big is like solving one of those puzzles where you can only move one square at a time. The ultimate goal is to be to park a car in here, and have enough room so the scooters fit side-by-side.