Yoga

If I were to list my relationship status with Yoga on Facebook, it would definitly be, "It's Complicated". We have a love/hate thing going on.

Things that I hate... It's long. It's an hour and a half! It's a little ridiculous if you ask me. And it's hard. There are a few of the poses that they want you to do, and all I can do is stand there and stare at the TV and say, really Tony Horton... who do you think I am? I can't do that!

This is the "Twisting Half Moon" pose. It may not look too difficult, but go ahead and give it a try and see what I mean. Now try and hold it for 30 seconds and you will really begin to see what I am talking about. This other pose is the "Crane" pose. Here is where I really start to laugh in disbelief. Seriously... who are these people that can do this? Certainly not me!

Maybe after 90 days of this, I will figure it out, but I am certainly skeptical.

Now, with that said, I do love the way I feel after I have finished the workout. It's just refreshing... as silly as that sounds. I feel quite accomplished when I am done.

So, I will continue to do the yoga workouts. Some times begrudgingly and others, happily because that's how we roll. Yoga and I are on again off again and that's apparantly how we like it.

Updates and Secretaries

I think the problem that I had with blogging during my last challenge was that it got a little monotonous. I got really tired of trying to make up something to talk about each day. So my new plan is to blog every few days. Also, instead of only talking about my workouts and readings, I will expand to talk about whatever I want. This will hopefully relieve some of the annoyance of having to blog every day.

So... on to other things.

A local auto glass shop hosts a lunch for all of the area insurance companies in town as a thank you for sending our customers to them for all of their windshield needs. They specifically schedule this lunch around this time of year to corrospond with "Secretaries Day" or should I say "Administrative Professionals Day". I am choosing to not be offended by the fact that I am often times considered a secretary. Not that there is anything wrong with being a secretary, it's just that people put this stigma on that title. Like they think I am incapable of independant thought and all I do is answer the phone and take messages all day. This is not the case. In fact, I am professionally licensed in 4 lines of insurance and conduct sales transactions all day long. I do all the work of an agent all day long but because I don't have the "Agent" title, people look at me like I am an idiot. Anyway... I digress.

They host this lunch every year at The Island Bay Yacht Club. It's super fancy and always a really good meal. The awkward thing about this gathering is that I am almost always the only guy in attendance. While there are guys that work in Agent offices, not very many choose to attend the lunch. I say, free lunch and out of the office for two hours.... sign me up! Also, they have door prizes and lots of them. While this was my 5th year in attendance, I have NEVER won a door prize. It's quite sad. Today, everyone else at my table won a prize, but I did not. All of the numbers around mine were called, but my sad little ticket number 793 was never called. It was a sad day. I think I should automatically get a prize for being the only man in the room, but that is just me.

Perhaps next year I will win something. 6th times a charm right?

Day 1.... Again

Dare I commit myself to 90 days of blogging yet again? Sigh... Perhaps I will only blog periodically as time allows. So I am doing my 90 day challenge again. I'm not 100% what has come over me this time. Other than the fact that I need something physical to do and apparantly I really like P90X because this will be my 4th round. Can't you tell by my rock hard abs? oh wait... not so much. Apparantly I am not as insane as all of those people on the infomercials. While I am still seeing results, I am definitely more on the 2 year plan. I know there are muscles in my stomach somewhere. I just know it and maybe one day I will find them. As far as the Bible reading goes, I am not so sure. Seeing that I have hardly done any Bible reading since I finished last summer, I suppose I have decided that it was time to pick it back up again. This time around I have even found a few people to do it with me. I have a few who are working out with me periodically and a few who are doing the Bible portion. It will be very nice to have some support on both accounts. And so on we go. 90 Days of getting up early and lots of reading and writing. I'm going to kick this challenges ass! (remind me of this at day 45 when I'm totally sick of this challenge!)

Day 90

Workout- Fit Test
Bible Reading- Revelation 18 - 22

I've done it! I'm done! I have followed the P90X workout plan, Blogged, and read the entire Bible in 90 Days! I am so stinking proud of myself. I have a long history of wanting to accomplish things and never quite following through with them. I am awesome at setting goals, however completing them is quite a different story. Here are some overall general observations that I have from my experience.

- I am stronger and more disciplined than I give myself credit for.
- I sometimes quit before I should. I've learned that I can persevere.
- The Bible is a complete story from Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. It all fits together.
- I still can't say that I love reading scripture. However, I've done it as an act of obedience.
- God doesn't always call us to do things that we particularly enjoy.
- My wife and my daughter are worth the sacrifice of time, sweat, and pain that is required for me to be healthy for many years to come.
- I am worth the sacrifice of time, sweat, and pain that is required for me to be healthy for many years to come!
- I have an incredibly supportive wife
- good writing requires a concerted effort. It just doesn't happen.

Overall, I would say that this has been an awesome experience. It has been extremely difficult and I won't say that I have loved it. It's been good however to see that I can set a goal like this and accomplish it. I have to give a huge thanks to my beautiful wife for being so supportive. Not only did she do the Bible in 90 days with me, but she also didn't complain about the time commitment for me to do my workouts as well. She knew why I was doing it, and went the extra mile to take care of the baby and the house while I was busy working out. I appreciate her so much!

Alright, now on to the results. I didn't lose a ton of weight and I won't be gracing the cover of any fitness magazines anytime soon, but I am still happy with my results. At the beginning I could only do a measly 12 push ups. This morning I did 30! That's still not an incredible amount, but for me that is a huge improvement. I have also lowered my resting heart rate by about 10 beats per minute. Overall, I think I am accomplishing my goal of being healthier. I have also lost 12 pounds in the process and can fit into clothes that I previously could not. Here are some pictures from before and after. You can see the biggest difference in the side picture.

Thanks to all of you who kept up with my progress and encouraged me! I am going to take a week off and start the P90X program again. I must be crazy! My two brothers have talked me into it. If anyone out there is wanting to start up, let me know and you can join me! I especially could use someone to actually work out with, because that would keep me from slacking off!

Thanks again everyone!

Day 89

Workout- Core Synergistics
Bible Reading- Jude 1 - Revelation 17

I am almost done!!! I started the final book of the Bible today!! And it's a really weird one. This book really makes me wish that I had taken a class on Revelation while I was in college. Not that I would have paid that much more attention than I did in any of my other classes, but I think I would at least feel a little more informed. It's all just so foreign to me. I have a hard time picturing what the "end times" will actually look like. I definitely don't go through life living with the possibility of those times in mind. I'm just trying to make it through the day.

What would life look like if all of us lived our lives like it was going to be our last? Would we love people more? Would we spend more time on what was truly important? Would we stop being scared of sharing our faith with others? I'm not really sure what that would look like for me.

It is some thing to keep in mind though. If I believe the Bible to be true, which I do, then I should know that a time is coming when Christ will return. So why do I not always live like I believe it? Maybe this week I can focus that. Instead of worrying about what my business and stress, perhaps I can focus on the really important things. Maybe gain a little perspective.

Perhaps we could all do that.

-Michael

Day 88

Workout- Stretch X
Bible Reading- James 3:13 - 3 John 1

It's soooooo close! I am sooooo ready to put this challenge to rest. 2 more days!!

Today we decided to attend bedside baptist for church this morning. It was a wonderful sermon by Pastor Sheets today. It was a much needed morning for us to relax around the house today. We don't make it a habit to skip church, but given the pending craziness that is about to descend upon us, we decided that we needed a restful day. We had breakfast together and then laid on the couch and watched a Sandra Bullock movie marathon that is playing on ABC today. Then Breanne dawned her cape and became super woman and cooked dinners for us to warm up throughout the week. We wont have any time between work and VBS so warmed up dinners are the plan for the entire week. And now we are relishing the last few precious hours that we have left before we have to go to church tonight. It's going to be fun and it will all be for a good cause, but it's going to be I-N-S-A-N-E. Wish us luck.

-Michael

Day 87

Workout- Kenpo X
Bible Reading- Hebrews 1 - James 3:12

It's a good thing that this challenge is going to be over soon because this week is going to be CRAZY!!!! I was asked to help out with the vacation bible school at our Church and it is starting tomorrow night with a big kick block party and will run every night until Friday. Breanne and I were trying to figure out logistics of picking up baby after work and getting to VBS by 6. We may or may not get to eat this week. We will see. Amidst all this we have to pack at some point in time for our whirlwind tour of the southwest for vacation. We are leaving early Saturday morning. I'm beginning to stress out over all of it.

For VBS, our theme is Egypt. I am playing Joseph and will be acting out his story to all of the kids each night. It will be quite difficult, but I will do my best to refrain from breaking out into song and channeling my inner Donnie Osmond. If you have a puzzled look on your face, you should know that Donnie Osmond played Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" on Broadway. I was in this show in college as "Asher", one of Joseph's brothers. The music of this show is fantastic and is already stuck in my head.

So I will do my best to keep my sanity this week and somehow finish these last 3 days with as much enthusiasm as I can muster. "Go, Go, Go Joseph"

-Michael