Sunday (or Monday) weigh in...

165 lbs at 9:30 PM. Not bad for memorial day bbqs. I have been eating better, but still need to kick up the exercise. Sitting in front of the new iMac this weekend wasn't a positive influence.

The iMac Revealed!

My new iMac
Originally uploaded by jwarnke.

Here she is...bright, shining, and new. Come on board...she's expecting you....oops, sorry, I'm still in the cruising mood.

Here is my new iMac. This thing is so darn cool. I can't even begin to tell you all the ways I love it. Everything just works, the first time. No driver installs, searching for new software, etc. This is computing the way it was supposed to be. More to come....In the meantime, enjoy some pics.

New Apple iMac G5

WOW. More details to come tomorrow. I am having too much fun on this thing to even stop for a second....

Starting to get sick...

My travel day started with me feeling a little groggy and then by the time I got off the airplane I felt like I could be getting a cold. I swear there is something about being on airplanes that gets me sick all the time. Hmm, I wonder what it could be....maybe all the sick people that decide to fly every week ?!?!?

Anyways, I felt crappy all day; really worn down, antsy, etc. Nothing I ate seemed to fill me up. That doesn't mean that I overdid it, just that I was generally feeling like poo.

I had a salmon salad for lunch, and a chicken platter with 2 sides from Chicken Out. I was too tired to work out, so I did some work, watched a little TV and then crashed at 10:30 waking up this morning with a horrible sore throat. Not sure if this will turn into something worse, but to be cautious I am loading up on vitamin C and those awesome Airborne tablets.

Let's see if I can beat this thing.

Until later.......

Disney World Food, Oh My!

I also had a bad weekend - the weekend started off fine I was down near the 163-5 mark, but......then we headed to DisneyWorld for a weekend. Ah, let's just say that I didn't stay away from Mickey's treats.

Large breakfasts, big lunches and even bigger dinner buffets with desserts! I did; however, find one of my top eateries on the planet. The buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge is unbelievable. It was voted one of the top restaurants in the US last year and I can see why. You HAVE to try this place, but please don't eat for a week before you go.

Now, after all that, I ended the week only down 1 stinkin' lb. [169]

Ok, determination and the avoidance of all things sugar, is what will get me through this week. I shall stop at the health food market and stock up for a few weeks. Cardboard and veggies will be my saviors.

Come on Joe, let's kick this into high gear.

EXERCISE will be the only thing that gets these numbers movin'

A much better day today

I ate very sensibly today. A light turkey sandwich for lunch. A chicken ceasar salad for dinner.

I worked out for about 40 minutes (cardio and weights) and it felt wonderful.

I need to keep this up....

My progress (or lack there of)

Sensible breakfast and lunch....and then for dinner I fell apart. All the people on the project wanted stuff from TGI Fridays and my team just ordered something simple for me while I was at another meeting.

Long story short...I had chicken fingers with honey mustard dip and fries. Not horrible, but not healthy by any stretch of the imagination.

I again got no exercise today because I got to the office early and left late. I really need to get up at 5 AM and hit the gym for at least 30-45 minutes. I am not great at wanting to work out at night as I get all amped and can't get to sleep.

Ok - on to a better day today...will update you later.

Weight Loss Challenge

Today Joe Fisher and I started a weight loss challenge...which is really nothing more than keeping each other held accountable to a shared vision of losing weight.

I am the heaviest and unhealthiest I have ever been. We won't talk about the whys as they don't really matter, nor are they good reasons. The important part is that I recognize this and I need to do something about it.

As of today I weigh in at ~170 lbs. I need to get down to the 155-158 range and back into a 32" waist.

Today, to work towards this goal, I took the following actions:
- Ate a breakfast bar, and bottled water for breakfast
- Ate a 1/2 chicken wrap and side salad with water for lunch
- Had a tiny bag of sourdough pretzels for a mid day snack
- Ate a Chik Fil a chicken wrap, fruit bowl and water
- Had a light beer (needed to unwind from stressful workday)

So, this is the first day towards the end goal. One small step for me today, one large step for my future health and well being.

Watch my friend Joe Fisher's journey towards a similar goal at http://joefisher.blogspot.com

Neighborhood Crawfish Fest

Neighborhood Crawfish Boil 


We had a great Crawfish Boil in the hood yesterday. Todd and Jennifer put on their first one ever and boy did they ever do a great job! Yum, they were sure spicy.

Check out the shots here:

"Hey now ! That's not nice, cute, but not nice..." 

"Leesie !" 

Small Town Florida

Dade City Cruise-In 

We took a little one-tank trip up to Dade City, a quaint little town in the hilly NW corner of Pasco County, Florida. During the 1st Saturday of every month they have a great classic car cruise-in. We strolled through the old streets that were closed off for the show and then settled into a nice little family-style restaurant for some warm chow. The weather was kinda chilly, enough for light jackets and sweaters, but the sky was clear and blue. Dade City is definitely a must see - just take the Suncoast Parkway North until you get to SR-52 and head east until you see the signs for Dade City, you can't miss it.

See pics here

Disney Trip

Jason's Blog

We went to Disney for the weekend and had a great time. Magic Kingdom on Saturday and MGM Studios on Sunday. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter which was alot of fun. It was a cold weekend here, so much so that I was forced to buy a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. Check out the pics here.

We finally did it !

Our new mini-van ! 

We broke down and got the mini-van. We have crossed over, made it to the other side. The next thing we'll be doing is shuffling the girls off to ballet and soccer practice. But, we are very happy about making the move to the Odyssey. It is so pretty and has all kinds of great options. We love the DVD system and all the room inside. If we ever had to we could haul 8 people in this puppy. Check out some more pics here.

Mikal's 3rd Birthday

The kids enjoy some cake.... 

Anna and Ellie were invited to a fun birthday party at the park for Mikal's 3rd birthday. Wow - I can't believe he is that big already. We had lots of fun at the park. The weather was so nice, even a little Chilly. We ran around and chased each other, played follow the leader and even found clues (balloons) to find Pooh's Hunny Pot (lotsa treats). It was so much fun, we even had pizza and ice cream cake. Happy Birthday Mikal !!

Here are the pictures from our fun time.

2005 AKC Championship Dog Show Hits Tampa !

2005 AKC Championship Dog Show came to Tampa. 

The 2005 AKC Championship Dog Show came to town this weekend. WOW ! What a fun time, the girls loved to see all the amazing dogs. There were over 1400 of them from all different breeds. We really loved the Weimereiners, Labs and Retreivers. Anna thought all the golden retreievers were named Princess. Ellie of course made her famous dog sounds when she saw each and every one. We had fun going with the Lobbs. It was their great idea. There were some strange dog-people at that show, let me tell you. It is a whole subculture of people that are REALLY into their dogs.

Here are some pictures from the event...

Animal Kingdom January 2005

Animal Kingdom January 2005 

We went to Animal Kingdom for the day, a beautiful Saturday in sunny Florida. It was so nice outside, actually kinda warm. This was everyone's first time to Animal Kingdom and the girls loved it. The first thing we saw was the Safari which the girls just loved. Then, on to the Lion King show. We then raced over to something we should have skipped, the Bug's Life 4-D movie scared the girls both real bad. We will skip that until they are older. We then went to play in the big playground and ride the Dino ride. What a fun day.

Here are the pics. Enjoy !

New Years Eve 2004 ('05)

New Years Eve 2004 ('05) 

We spent this New Years Eve with the Lobbs. We had a nice dinner in our dining room and played games and had fun. We were all tuckered out by midnight and fell asleep soon after.

Here are some pictures from the fun.

Christmas 2004

Christmas Eve 2004 

Mermer and Jan came to visit for Christmas. We had a wonderful time sharing and playing with them. You can see from our pictures that we did all kinds of neat stuff.

Anna and Daddy painted pumpkins like Larry and Bob from VeggieTales.