30/5 Challenge: Day 3

Well, I'm good for the first 3 days.... only 27 more to go. This morning was tough because I'm already sore. It's surprising what a simple 5 minutes of exercise can do to a person like me (i.e. getting older). Okay, so I knew it would be hard at first. I just need to stick it out and see how I feel in the end.

New Exercise Program

Today I started a new 30 day challenge to exercise for at least 5 minutes every day. My plan is to make at least a small portion of that exercise (i.e. like sit-ups and push-ups) habit-forming. This seems somewhat daunting, but I'm trying to just focus on a little bit at a time. Thus arises the 30 day challenge with only 5 minutes a day. If I am successful, then I may go another 30 days with 10 minutes or something. We'll see.

Part of my "motivation" is to keep track of my progress semi-publicly, which is why I'm making this post. I will be updating weekly (or more often) with how things are going. Feel free to ask me about it when you see me, or post a comment, or send an email, whatever. If I don't answer to anyone, it'll be too easy to quit.

So... first update: The five minutes this morning went by a lot more slowly than I anticipated. I did several sit-ups and push-ups and felt feeble. But I did get it done!

The good old days

We went to the local Renaissance Festival last weekend with some friends and I finally got to watch some jousting. I've been many times before, but never had a chance to watch any of the shows or entertainment. We had fun, but I need to complain to someone in charge about their misleading "Sparta 300 battle" -- not a single man in a leather bikini; booo.

Special thanks to Michelle for taking pictures and letting me have some.

The year I didn't go...

... and Burning Man was perfect. No dust storms, moderate temperatures, perfect playa... all the things that I hope for, and I missed out. At least Justin got to enjoy it. I am going to prepare even better for next year to make up for what I missed!

My friend who also attended with Justin this year finally put up some pictures, so if you're interested, check it out: Burning Man Pics 2009.

Integration

Yes, I have been back from my GenCon trip for awhile now. I'm having trouble re-integrating into normal life. I don't want to lose the excitement and happiness from the trip....

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment in the meantime.

Silence

Okay, so I've been quiet on this site for awhile. I've decided to stop posting my thankful lists, not because I'm not grateful anymore, but because I think the novelty has worn out.

I realize people may be interested in what is going on at my company. For those who don't readily remember, I work at a financial institution -- a corporate credit union. The economic collapse of the past two years has hit my company hard. So hard in fact, that earlier this year the NCUA (kind of like the FDIC for credit unions) took us into conservatorship. The CEO and board of directors were replaced, and since then, the new leaders have been slowly trimming people until we have now vacated the first floor of our building to make room for a possible sub-lease tenant.

Many of you also may know that I have been through a few lay-offs before. Although I left Sprint voluntarily, I did get to witness some rounds of trimming at that company. Since then, my two other employers have both let me go for cut-back reasons. This feels like a pathetic cycle in my life. A cycle that I was given a nice opportunity to break out of today when my current company offered voluntary separation. If you're not familiar with that term, it basically means you can leave your employer but still receive severance benefits -- which from this place is a really nice package. Of course, it has to be approved by your manager and HR, but this is basically a way for the company to continue to trim personnel without looking like the bad guy.

Anyway, I sat and considered this offer for a few minutes today. The severance package is very tempting, because it gives me at least two months of paid time. However, the things I like about working here still outweigh the recent negatives. I still have the best manager I've ever worked with. I get along really well with all my teammates and most of the company at large. The location is close and convenient. The benefits are still pretty good despite the latest changes. Granted, I may not have worked at a ton of different companies, but I have had enough varied experience to know that most places will have all the same political problems. I have decided that I am comfortable with my loyalty trait and will try to weather out this storm a little longer.

Of course, it may become moot sometime in the future if the NCUA changes regulations so that the purpose of my company is no longer needed. That will be a problem for another day, hopefully at least a year from now.

Movies, movies, movies

Haven't done a movie marathon in awhile, so it was nice that Justin and I finally had a weekend to rent a stack and watch them all. We didn't think of any cool themes or anything; just pulled a bunch that we wanted to see.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 7. The special effects, as expected, were pretty spectacular. The acting was also very good. The story was even kind of interesting, but not as much as I had hoped for.

Quantam of Solace - 6. Although I had already seen this, Justin hadn't yet and of course we wanted to see it in all the glory of Bluray. Still, I don't like shaky-cam action shots, and the story was hard to follow.

Seven Pounds - 8. To me, not a realistic story, but still it was done very well. I liked the acting performances.

Taken - 7. A fairly decent single-man-revenge-action movie. I liked it better when it was Arnold blowing things up. But Liam tries so hard to look like he can kill with a punch, that I gave him the benefit of the doubt during this 2 hours. In the end, it made me not want to go to Paris.

Changling - 7. Not too bad of a movie overall; pretty much what I expected. The main reason I wanted to see it was to watch Jeffrey Donovan in something other than Burn Notice. I also think making a drinking game with that movie and the words 'my son' could be dangerous.