Things For Which I Am Grateful

/ / Blah-ness, Opinion, rantings

Two Sundays ago, I woke up with a fever. I decided to do what everyone with a fever does–warm up. My method of achieving comfort involved standing under a steaming stream of flowing hot water … the exact opposite of what I needed. Instead of feeling better, I felt exponentially worse. As the water cascaded down around me, I could feel myself starting to slip into that very special hell reserved for those stupid enough to take a shower with a fever. My muscles fought tooth and nail against whatever oncoming infection was on the offensive. They lost. Badly. I eventually ran out of hot water and was left standing with a level of convulsions typically exhibited by those having a grand mal seizure. It was all I could do to dry off, get dressed, and crawl back into bed. Somehow, I pulled it off. I slept all day. Ended up in some state of delirium where all I could think of was the bass line from Big Data’s “Dangerous.” Not an entirely austere bass line, but catchy enough that I had it playing in my head throughout the entire psychosis that was my Sunday.

 

Then Monday came. My fever of 102.9 from the day before dropped to 100.1. Manageable, but still a fever. I stood up to go to the bathroom, and I felt an immense pressure building in my lower left leg. A panic and dread filled me with a speed rivaled only by light.

 

A quick trip to the ER revealed what I already strongly suspected: cellulitis. This bacterial disease infects the dermal and sub-dermal layers of the skin, and it creates a pain in every individually infected that is the male equivalent of giving birth. Think I’m kidding? Wait until you go through it. I sincerely hope you don’t have to because it’s horrible, but if you do, you’ll understand what I mean when I say the pain is just that intense.

 

I was admitted to the hospital Wednesday afternoon. I wasn’t discharged until Saturday around noon. 8 rounds of IV anti-biotics. More blood samples and tests than I’ve ever seen. Pills galore.

 

And not a penny of health insurance. Oh, this is going to be fun. Lots and lots of fun.

 

Despite the fact that we don’t have health insurance right now, I’m incredibly optimistic about our future, and really life in general. Some things for which I’m grateful:

 

  • My family is amazing. Supportive, loving, awesome.
  • My friends are equally amazing.
  • Aside from the cellulitis, I’m generally healthy.
  • We have essential oils all over the house that help with our physical and psychological health. This cellulitis is definitely the exception and not the rule.
  • I’ve lost over 42 pounds in the last 3 months. Go grab yourself a bag of rock salt for your driveway or water softener. *That* is how much I’ve lost. Tell me that’s not awesome.
  • My new job is so understanding of everything. They know I’m down for the hard count, and we have this massive, looming deadline that is non-negotiable … but we’re working through it. My manager overnighted all the materials sitting on my desk so I can have them at my disposal here at the house, allowing me to work from home as I can.
  • We have food in the cupboards and a good supply of extra in the basement.
  • Both of our vehicles are running just fine. They need oil changes and fluid checks, but other than that, running just fine. AND they’re both paid off.
  • Our house is getting better and better as we make improvements.
  • We have more music and movies than I care to admit. I collect … so … yah.
  • If it comes down to it, I have some very useful talents like tie-dyeing that I could use to help pay off some of the hospital costs. I would include photography in that list of talents, but it’s more of a hobby than anything else. Could I turn a profit? Maybe … but it’d take a lot more studying, practicing, and research before I even attempt to go that route.
  • And above all–most important to me–I know who I am, and that is a son of a God who loves us and watches over us. I know why I’m here, and where I can go when I die. Do bad things happen to me? Sure. Do I blame God for them? Not at all. Sometimes, the only way to grow is to go through the refiner’s fire and see how you come out. I’ve been through challenges exponentially worse than this, and it was only by clinging to that knowledge of God’s love that my family and I made it through the challenges we have.

 

Like I said, my optimism is pretty high. The first sign of medical bills might kill that, but I’m going to work really hard to make sure it doesn’t. I’d much prefer a positive attitude to a crappy one.

 

Oh well. Onward and upward.

App Review: Endomondo–An Exercise Companion

/ / iPhone Apps, Opinion, rantings, review, software

Yup. I’ve actually taken that step: I plan on using an exercise app. SEE? I’m committed to this weight loss and health thing. I downloaded Endomondo, an exercise app for iOS devices. Probably around the same time I downloaded other iBike and MapMyRide+.

 

Except all I’ve done is download it and open it; I haven’t used it to its full capacity yet. I plan on doing that this weekend, when we go to Moab and hike all over the place. We spent a lot of time last night doing laundry for the things we want to pack, like sweats, shorts, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. Hey … gotta layer while we’re down there, right? Average morning temps in the 40s, average afternoon highs in the 70s. Again, layering. Yes.

 

Honestly, I’ve had this app for a long time. I don’t know exactly how long, but it’s been a while. I’ve never used it. I’ve opened it and looked at the user interface (UI) some, but nothing exetensive. Now that I have a solid game plan in place, I thought I’d open it up and look at it more closely.

 

When you first open the app, it asks if you’d like to log in or create an account. Obviously, being the exercise buff that I am, I had already created an account couch potato sloth that I am, I needed to create an account. Once I took care of that, it opened to its main page, where the first thing I noticed was the ad at the bottom of the screen. Distracting, right? To be fair, this *is* a free app. There’s an option to upgrade to Endomondo Premium, which has a bunch of extra features (namely, NO ADS), but it’s subscription-based, and it costs $3.99/month or $29.99/year. $30 is not a lot to ask for a digital personal trainer, right? Maybe I’ll explore that later, but not right now.

 

The app defaults to a pre-set screen that has a start button in the bottom left corner and a Duration counter in the top left. Nestled between these two prominent features are, in clockwise order, a distance tracker, heart rate in terms of beats per minute, workout type (defaults to basic), and your chosen sport (defaults to running, ha ha). Now … here’s the great part. ALL of these fields–the prominent and the sandwiched– are customizeable to whatever you’d like within the options. When I tap on Duration, I have options of displaying calories, heart rate, speed, distance, aveerage speed, and hydration. When I tap Sport (cuz, yah … I’m not running), I have close to 60 options, ranging from badminton to yoga. In anticipation of tomorrow, I’ve selected Hiking.

 

My favorite feature on this screen is the GPS function. In the bottom right corner, there’s a little green arrow-looking button. When I tap that, a map slides open to display my current location. As I go for a walk, or hike, or bike ride, my location is constantly updated on the map. Once the workout is done, it displays the path I took. That’s pretty nifty. I know that’s a standard feature for a lot of these kinds of apps, but come on! That’s awesome!

 

In the interst of fairness, the data wasn’t *entirely* accurate. According to the stats on my quick walk, I gained 33 feet in elevation, and lost no elevation. So, I went up the equivalent of 3 floors in a little over .16 miles … according to this. Not possible, since all I did was walk in a circle. At some point, there should have been a descent. Minor quibbling points, but worth mentioning all the same.

 

In the top right corner are three little horizontal lines. Tapping that icon takes you to a series of options. You can upgrade to premium (which I may do just to see what’s offered. Hey, I can use all the help I can get, right?), add Endomondo friends, see your workout history, add a training plan, accept challenges, see workout routes of local users, and update your settings.

 

In all, this looks like a complete app. I’m excited to get down to Moab and test it (and me). Is the $30/year worth it? Dunno yet … but I may soon find out. For now, though, the free version is packed with a bunch of great features.

How To Be Not Fat(ter Than You Are)

/ / Opinion, rantings

So I’ve lost some weight. I could be doing more about that, but for now, I’m down 27 pounds in 5 weeks. I’m kind of surprised by that, actually. My exercises have been minimal–just walking around my building’s perimeter at lunch. Nothing heavy-hitting, by any stretch. Tonight, though … I think I’m going to hop on the bike and meet my wife at her running park–a short ride of probably less than 2 miles there, but then she’ll run some, and I can circle around while she runs. We’ll see. It’s a start!

 

The thing I don’t like about my bike is that it’s a mountain bike. It’s not designed for street use. It’s heavy, the tires are super knobby, and it makes it extremely difficult to ride over even terrain, like pavement, roads, paths, etc. I plan on getting a “new” bike as soon as possible, so I can ride to work (a current commute of 4 miles one way; on a good bike, it’d take maybe 20 minutes with traffic).

 

Having said all of that, though, I think the real kicker is the change in eating habits. I eat *way* fewer processed sugars than I used to consume. I’ve eliminated soda entirely. I actually eat vegetables in small quantities, like a salad with a low-fat dressing, cucumbers and zuchinis blended into protein drinks (a peach smoothie with zuchini is indistinguishable from a peach smoothie without zuchini), and bless my wife’s heart, she made a veggie lasagne with more veggies than I’ve ever seen. I … well, let’s just say I really appreciate her efforts, but like I said, “you can’t expect a newborn to jump right into a 7-course meal when they’re used to baby food. It’s called ‘firehosing!'” Maybe someday I’ll get there. Last night was not that day. but her heart was in the right place. She’s an incredible woman with insane culinary skills. I’m sure that, as far as veggie lasagnes go, it’s delicious. For me … it’ll have to be a meal for another day. Or … year. 🙂

 

The fact that I’m even considering it an option down the road should tell you how my mentality has shifted over the last 5 weeks. I kid you not that eating vegetables for me is a *HUGE* step forward. So is exercising. I’ve led a pretty much exclusively sedentary life style. It … well, it shows. However, my genetic make-up and dispositions are such that, even just walking at a semi-brisk pace allows me to lose weight. I’m curious to see where more biking leads in terms of weight loss.

 

As of this morning, I weighed 287. That’s the least I’ve weighed since about 2005 or 2006. My goal is 250-260, but it’s not just the number that matters: it’s how I get there, and what sustainable activities I incorporate into my routines that help me maintain that weight once I achieve it. Numbers mean nothing if you can’t maintain that number or relatively close to it.

 

And of course, I’ve picked the 5 months from hell to start this, right? October through February are just brutal for food. October: Halloween. November: Thanksgiving. December: Christmas. January: Football playoffs and associated parties. February: Superbowl AND Valentine’s Day.

 

Honestly though … it’s not the seasons that worry me–it’s the potential lack of self control. I have hope though. I’ve seen signs the last few weeks that my mentality is changing. I’ve turned down cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, brownies, fudge, fritters, donuts … all voluntarily–not because the boxes were empty. Instead, I’ve had cashews, walnuts, pecans, bananas, grapes, protein shakes, water, cheese sticks … exponentially healthier items. I’ve “cheated,” of course. I’ve had chocolate, some candy, the afore-mentioned turned down items … but I’ve done so in extreme moderation. And in exercising that moderation, I don’t have to miss it, but I don’t have to engorge myself on them, either.

 

And it’s all paying off.

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