Simple Randomness

The Baby Slept All Night Long!!!

Last night was something to be remembered: our newborn (well, technically he’s over 2 months old now) actually slept through the night! Now admittedly he’s done this one other time, but I figured it was just a fluke. Now he’s done it twice, so I’m getting some hope that more normal nights are on the horizon!

For anyone that has never had a baby, I would have to say that the first month and a half to two months are probably the hardest. It gets really tiring when you have to get up every 2-3 hours to help your wife with the baby. Not fun. But after about 2 months things seem to normalize a little bit more.

Who knows, maybe sometime soon I’ll actually get a whole 3 days of normal sleep! Now that would be awesome!

I Think I’m a Fan of Perfect Pushups

So the other day I finally used up the last of my birthday money and bought a pair of Perfect Pushups. I’ve seen the short ads on TV and thought that they looked to be pretty cool, but I’m not one to believe the hype. So I did some looking around, checked reviews and such, and for the most part people were giving it good, realistic reviews. So I figured, “What the hey, it’s birthday money that I’ve had for 3 months, let’s give it a try!”

This morning I did my first official workout with them and I was impressed by how it really does work your muscles differently than regular pushups. I’ve been doing pushups for the last couple of months as a way to keep getting in some exercise, but these pushups are so much better!

Maybe I’ll give a further update later, but for now I give the Perfect Pushup an A+!

Resisting Candy Urges - This is Tough!

I wrote a post awhile back saying that I was going to try to stay off candy for about 3 months or so. Well, I failed miserably in that regard mainly due to my wife having a baby and having some candy each day was one of the few things that I could use to keep me going some of those days.

So I’ve renewed that goal with more vigor this time. And it’s amazing to me how often I can be tempted to just nibble on a little bit of candy! In fact the day after I reset the goal my boss offered me a handful of Easter candy, and I had to turn him down. But I’ll admit that I certainly thought about it for a minute!

You know what’s great about doing something like this? People thing you’re crazy! I’ve gotten several really funny looks when someone has offered me candy and I’ve said no. It’s great.

Next I’ll work on cutting out other things that aren’t optimal for my health. I’ve been eating ice cream off and on lately, so that will be one of the next to go. Along with popcorn. I’m a huge popcorn junkie, but the other day I actually read the nutrition facts and that really motivated me not to eat popcorn anymore!

I don’t plan on never eating candy again, just so you know. I’m being a little drastic for the next couple of months just so that it’s no longer a bad habit, then I’ll allow it in small amounts when the situation seems appropriate. But, I have some lifestyle changes I’d like to make and this is one that I’m starting with!

I Really Need to Work on My Posture

I’ve realized that I slouch a lot.  And I think that it’s starting to take its toll…  So what I’m trying to do right now (right now meaning for the next couple of days or so) is notice when I slouch and try to correct it.

For one, I think I need to raise my monitor or something.  I think that is contributing to the problem at least in a small way.  I could probably use a more comfortable chair, but I don’t know how much that would really help.  And I think I also just need to work on posture when I’m doing other things like driving, walking, etc.  Last thing I want to do when I get older is become a hunch back because I hunched over so much!

Any tips on correcting posture?  I really don’t want to go to a chiropractor cause I’m not a big believer in what they do.  Sure the popping feels good for a minute or two, but does it really do anything long-term?  Try getting in a conversation about that with my dad sometime.  He’s a doctor so he’ll be very convincing that it doesn’t help a lot..  Anyway, I’m open for ideas!

We Got a Jogging Stroller!

Ok, so we really got this jogging stroller about a week ago, but I’m just now getting around to writing about it. We had been looking at getting one for some time, but needless to say with my wife having the baby and then gallbladder surgery it really wasn’t at the top of our priority list!

In fact, before she even got pregnant we had started jogging rather consistently and were even planning on doing a half marathon. Who knows, maybe we’ll pick up that idea again. I know I’d like to, but we’ll just have to see.

Honestly, I’ve never been much of a runner. I played soccer until I was 14 (then I almost tore my ACL and stopped after that season), and since that time I really didn’t enjoy jogging or running. But then when we started doing it last year I started to enjoy it again. I don’t know that I’d ever be a marathon type guy, but its nice to get out for a jog.

But to be honest, I enjoy thinks like rollerblading and biking even better! In fact, that’s probably the next thing my wife and I are going to go for. So there’s a random update for today!

Identity Theft Really Ticks Me Off

Ok, I say that but as far as I know I have never been the victim of it. I just think it’s ridiculous that people will go out and do this kind of stuff. It really really messes up your life! And it seems to be getting easier for crooks and more common.

Well, I think we’ve all heard the ads for a company called LifeLock. You know, the guy that gives out his social to show his confidence in the product. That’s pretty encouraging if you ask me!

I think the coolest thing about this company is their $1,000,000 guarantee. Here’s what it says on their site about it:

If your Identity is stolen while you are a member of LifeLock, we’re going to do whatever it takes to recover your good name. If you need lawyers, we’re going to hire the best we can find. If you need investigators, accountants, case managers, whatever, they’re yours. If you lose money as a result of the theft, we’re going to give it back to you.

We will do whatever it takes to help you recover your good name and we will spend up to $1,000,000 to do it.

Now that’s a guarantee!

Ok, so there’s another random product review for you today. That seems to have been the theme for the last day or two, I hope you all don’t mind. We’ll see what randomness comes in next week!

Is Debt Getting Out of Control?

Lately it seems like I hear all of the time how much debt people are in… and it’s really not a good thing. I don’t know if it is just uncontrolled spending or people just don’t know how to manage their finances. Maybe it’s a combination of the two.

Last year (or maybe it was the year before) my wife and I decided that we were going to really work towards getting out of debt. We’ve made some bad decisions in the past that had all gone on credit cards and we’ve taken steps to where we no longer have any credit card debt! The only debts we currently have is our mortgage, car loan, and student loans. Now its just a matter of paying those down, too.

Another problem that we’re hearing about all of the time these days is the housing industry and how a good number of people are loosing their homes because they can’t afford the adjusted rates. For any of you that are in this situation you might want to check out CountryWideCredit.com to find out more about getting a better mortgage rate and other credit related topics. Who knows, you might learn something to save yourself having to pay more than you should or even learn more about a refinance.

I really think its time that we all do what we need to do to get out of debt. Take the steps you need to so you can live a better life without debt.

New Baby and Power Outages…Adventure???

On Friday our new son was born, Marshall!  He was considerably smaller than our first kid (7lbs 12oz vs. 9lbs 1oz), so it’s been a little different that way.  But he’s a cutie and its been fun seeing the little guy become more and more alert to the things going on around him.

Last night was a bit of an adventure too!  Where we live we tend to get really high winds that will cause the power to flicker a little bit here and there.  But last night the power company had to do an emergency shut down to fix some broken equipment or something.  So the power was out from about 5:30pm to 12:30am.  I’m just glad that there are people that are willing to go work on the power when its really cold outside with winds whipping by at 40+ mph!

So that’s the adventures I’ve been having the last couple of days.  Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!

Still Working on Changing Personal Prejudices

Have you ever read something that made you realize that you need to make some changes in your attitude towards certain things? This just happened to me again this morning about something that I’ve already been working on, but it was a good reminder.

I’ve never had a problem with weight. But every now and then I find myself being very aware of all of the overweight people around me, and many times in the past I have passed judgment on those people. I know a few years ago I was really bad about this. In the last 6-12 months though, I’ve stopped being as judgmental as I used to be. In fact, I remember an incident a few months ago where I started to slip back into my old habit and I felt really really bad about it.

I realize that it is not my place to judge people for their weight. I have plenty of my own problems to worry about, so why should I pass judgment?  I also find that its very easy to pass judgment on people I don’t know, but I really don’t pass it once I get to know someone.  That doesn’t make it right, but I’ve noticed that is my trend.

So today I read an article in Newsweek that was very interesting. It was by a lady that for most of her life was overweight. Then she underwent gastric bypass surgery and has now been part of the ‘normal weight class.’ She shares in this article some of the things that she’s heard people say to her that assume she has always been at a ‘normal’ weight. It makes me sick to think that people are really that prejudiced. And yet, if I look back at my own opinion a few years ago it would be very similar. And so my goal to change continues.

I think that all of us have some type of prejudice or another. It could be a racial prejudice. Maybe its prejudice against something like weight. Well, no matter what it is I think we should all work to be less judgmental of the people we meet everyday. Well, there’s my preaching to myself for the day. Thanks for listening!

PS - Here’s the article if you want to read it: My Secret History.