Ups and Downs

Let's see if I can get this right.  Trying to post under the one of the page categories. Just call me a novice blogger....still trying to master the whole thing.

The blood sugar is always on the ups and downs.  Typically my morning have always been high....around 180 or so. This drives me crazy.....I will just keep plugging away and hope that number eventually goes down. 

Here is how yesterday went....I woke up and decided to get back to running.  I had been back up to 1.5 miles....yes terrible, pathetic, shameful....I have already used all these to describe myself.  i know I should be too hard on myself but it was only 3 years or so ago that I ran a half marathon....then I had the bright idea of taking a break for a week to rest.......this has been the longest ONE WEEK break in history.......so back to running.  Wife bought me a treadmill for my birthday and off and running......okay.....not OFF and running......RUNNING in place.  I hate treadmills, but it will get me over the hump.....whatever it takes.  Anyway, I got up yesterday and jumped on the treadmill (while my wife was running 6 miles outside (did I already use the word shameful to describe myself....i think so), but I ran a good 2 miles.....so excited.  Felt good...not too sore.....except for feet......I also had the bright idea to run barefoot......toes are sore......yes......did I also use the word brainless to describe myself.....what was I thinking!

One of the hurdles I have had with diabetes is the weight control.  I cannot seem to keep off the weight when I am on the medicine.  Out of frustration in the past, i have sopped all the meds and dropped over 20 pounds....however my blood sugar (A1C) went crazy high.....back to the meds.....20 pounds back right back on.  The doctor gave me a new med when I recently went on UL500, it is called Vitosin and it basically makes you sick to your stomach....kind of like the feeling you get when you just get off of a roller coaster......except that is most of the time.  BLAH......they say you don't eat as much because you feel sick.....yeah, well I can always eat....love to eat.....still maintained weight.......so running it is!

Ups and Downs?  Blood Sugar is all over the place as you begin different "studies".....running yesterday made my Blood Sugar last night at midnight drop to 55.....and going down.  I run to the kitchen to get something and oops....This is Thursday evening...Friday is grocery day...no juice....no snacks......what can I eat or drink that might help...QUICKLY!  Red Bull?  I hate Red Bull, they are my daughter's.....what happens when you drink a red bull at 1:00 in the morning........BOING! Yep...cant stay asleep.....okay it wasn't too bad.....but I was up at 5:30!

Ups and Downs my friends....Ups and Downs!

Winter Mornings

I do not like Winter Mornings says Sam I am.  I do not like them in a coat, I do not like them with big boots.  I do not like cold mornings with feety pajamas, nor with a scarf and hat. I do not like cold mornings and that is that. Okay it isn't really winter yet...but I am in anticipation of them getting here.  My morning routine lately has been to wake up and my lovely wife brings me a cup of coffee in bed while I read the internet news, emails, facebook, linked in, blogger....etc.  You get the idea.  However, due to certain circumstances, I have been leaving the sacred confines of my warm cozy bed with the nice cover for coldy nights blankets all wrapped around my lap and have headed off to the living room.  Let me just say that it is less than appreciated in the morning.

FIRST REASON IT IS GOOD TO GET UP: Okay, I know that I will have to start getting up soon anyway so I can begin my running routine on the treadmill. Being cold weather, I will never again run outside until the sun yet brightens the day beyond 80 degrees in the early morning.....can you tell I don't like cold weather?....How did I ever survive those years in Pennsylvania? I need to do my exercise at 6:00 AM so I need to get up....I also cannot let my wife get too far ahead of me in training.  She is already running 5 miles a day.....Cold weather doesn't affect her.  She is invincible to the Mr. Frostbite...okay it is only 46 degrees right now....no frostbite but I believe my kryptonite is cold.....therefore I must stay far away.

SECOND REASON IT IS GOOD TO GET UP: Okay, yes I know that the day has only so many hours in it and I can get so much accomplished if I would only get my butt out of bed....evcn if I have professing that the the time spent on the internet reading and writing should be considered "marketing".....well it could be! Lately, by the time I get moving around and cleaned up it is tough to make it to the office in time for the start of the day.....the others are mostly already there.....I am the boss....true....I don't have to be there at the start (thank you to a bunch of great office staff), but still there is a lot to do running the business.  I can also get my work done....which truthfully never does "get done"...marketing always goes on, meetings, social networking...on and on....but it would allow me to get out of the office sooner if I got there quicker....think what I could accomplish.

THIRD REASON IT IS GOOD TO GET UP: Hmmmm, I cannot think of a third reason....there isn't a third reason....none what so ever.  Exercise, and work are the only reasons.....why am I writing this then? Oh my goodness, I have just proved to myself that I should be in bed....typing this blog.....waiting for my wife to bring me the second cup of coffee. Even the dog, after waking me up has now fell back asleep in bed. Okay, I have convinced myself.....back to bed.....wait, it is 7:30 now....NOW I do HAVE to get up.....being a responsible person isn't really what it is cracked up to be.... HAVE A GREAT DAY FRIENDS, even if you are still in bed reading this blog....!

Alright my friends, I need you to write me if there are any other reasons I should get up and MOVE....let me hear it! Post it here in the blog comments.

College Football Saturday!

I enjoyed yesterday afternoon getting the chance to watch Oklahoma State run over Texas. (The real orange color is OSU...not Texas....theirs is burnt ornage....just like they they got burnt for the second straight year by the cowboys in Texas.) It certainly hasn't been that way in the past. First of all we don't always get a chance to see the games here on the East Coast.  So let me thank you Cowboys first of all for having a great season these last couple of years that puts you up in the polls so I can watch on National TV.  Secondly for making me proud of my alma mater that I can even blog about it.

I cannot wear too much orange around here or they might just think I was preparing to go hunting or something.  Wearing orange back home was pretty easy to understand who you were cheering for. That's okay....I have the black jersey that I can where around town......But I do hate it when someone asks why do you have a black/orange cowboy jersey on? (Referring to the Dallas Cowboys).....PLEASE! Not on your LIFE!  On Sundays I am a Steeler Fan........The word COWBOYS only exists in my vocabulary for OK STATE!

My fellow Steeler fan Jeff Thomas and myself.
Sort of a ying and yang thing going on!

What Will the Day Bring?

Do you ever wake up and just wander what the day will turn out like?  I always hope and pray that it will be a glorious day. Glorious....does that mean Successful?....define successful. Profitable, family encrusted, relaxing.....what? That is a whole nother blog.  How about beautiful....does that mean weather? great temperatures...not too hot and not too cold......and oh yeah not too much work so you can enjoy the weather.....maybe end up with a great sunset. It could be a NICE day.....nice doesn't describe much....sort of like asking someone how they are and they respond, "FINE".... what is fine? Hair is fine...you cannot be fine! I still remember that line from George Carlin's stand up routine.

I really don't know what to expect when I get up. I just hope it is something positive and rewarding. Maybe meeting some new people, or maybe just an enjoyable relaxing day.  I could accomplish something work wise which would fulfill some great void I am sure.....other than that...I couldn't care less.

When you have a pretty regimented life, there are not always many deviations in what may or may not happen when you wake up. That may be some people's desire, "Don't throw anything unexpected at me today!" I am not sure I am like that.  It feels that each day is mostly different.  Mostly new.  Mostly something that hadn't ever happened before. I find that rewarding. I think it is funny so often when I think about my life of how there are so many adventures I have been on.  So many unique events and sets of circumstances that I have experienced. I guess that is why many people laugh at my stories....they are full of drama! I have become a storyteller of sorts.  Who would have thought.....just the expression of my life is all.

The bible tells us that "This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." Psalm 118:23-25 The Lord never says what kind of day it will be....just that he made it....so therefore we need to be happy with that knowledge. That is sometimes difficult to do cause there are sometimes we just don't want to get out of bed.....let's just wait until this day is over.......forget about today.....lets start tomorrow. I don't think that is what the Lord has desired for us.  Whether it is a great day, good day, fair day, bad day or terrible day....we are to embrace it whole heartedly. He has given us a day for us to enjoy and use......what will we do with that day?

Everyday is an opportunity.  What will you do with yours my friends?

Spare Time?

So tell me....Do any of you actually have any spare time? Me neither.  I just squeeze something in if I want to do it bad enough.  Work keeps me busy enough at the office, but a great design staff allows me to take some time for myself every now and then.  But what do I do with that time? What do you do with your time? When you actually find that there are a few moments available what do you do with it?

Usually there are periods of time or lengths that become available.  Like 5 min.....15 min.....an hour.....an afternoon or morning.....the ever so infrequent DAY......maybe possibly but the unlikely  weekend. Forget about the full week vacation....and no longer does the month long get-a-way happen ever since college. (Maybe once I get all the office running independently I can take some sabbaticals to far away distant lands.....we will see.)

Well I do not plan on going through the entire "things I do" because it will make me feel like I need to DO all those things......and I don't want to right now! Primarily, at nearly 46 years of life, I like to find time to rest.  Rest and recovery (sounds like a computer necessity....a reboot). If I have a few minutes I actually like to keep up with the news, sports, yes facebook or even this silly blog. I can even burn through an hour reading up on stuff on the Internet. If we get to an hour time frame, there isn't really much I can PLAN for....it just becomes spontaneous. Yes, I should come up with a few tasks that need to be done around the house or office, even a few chores but alas that doesn't help in the recovery category.

When it comes to a morning or afternoon time slot, I often try to mix in the TASK along with some down time. There is much to do regarding the yard work.  It seems it always needs mowing or trimming or something.  Nice part about that is we are getting close to winter so that will come to a close soon. Maybe the home repairs lists will kick in at that point? It would be nice to finish the base cove, a new coat of paint, remodel the stairs, redo the main bathroom.....ahhhh and yes the new kitchen floor which includes the walls, demo, lighting, wood flooring, tile flooring....and more.......stop already! Maybe I will just take some time to watch TV......a total waste of time. But I can unwind.  Better yet, I will do a little city building in SIM CITY! (I know, a complete departure from what I do all day long at work! Plan for commerical, industrial and residential areas, make sure there are proper traffic flows both private and public transportation. Incorporate parks and recreational areas for ....get this.... DOWNTIME....I think I will go live in one of my sim cities. Make sure there is enough police, fire and medical facilities and plenty of options for education.  Don't get the city bogged down in traffic or don't let the air and water pollution overcome the occupants. And do all this under budget!)

Okay, if I had a weekend.....it never really consists of just down time.  I always have to DO SOMETHING.  We did get away to the camping site over labor day and that was a complete departure....mostly because it rained the entire time. I usually have to accomplish a bit of everything during a weekend....maybe a bit more relaxing time for a holiday weekend....a real holiday weekend not like Columbus Day.

What about a week long? Well that happen very infrequently.  I haven't taken a vacation in a while. Keeping an eye on the business prevents that mostly.....having no money prevents that the rest of the time. But again if it does occur....I have the tether of the laptop and blackberry that keeps it all at my finger tips......I need a few of these soon.....maybe half weeks?

If I had a month to DO SOMETHING it would have to be an agenda item....you know one of my bucket list items. I have a few that I would really enjoy doing and it would probably be much like a TASK than a VACATION......something to all planned out and coordinated and organized and budgeted and and and.....yep....WORK. I have a massive Bucket List already containing 50 or more items.  I may share that with you all soon........until then......I a going to play SIM CITY!

Get some rest my friends.....or go do something!

There are Some Things I Don't Understand

TASTIDU for short.  Your right.... I just made that up. That's okay, it's my blog and I can make up stuff if I want.

You know it seems quite ironic how this world works and how we perceive things in life.

• When we are small children we need our parents to help us with so many things that we care not able to do yet.
• When we get older we are stubborn and want to 'do it ourselves' until finally we get help from mom and dad.
• As teens we are invincible.  Nothing can hurt us and we know everything and our parents know nothing.
• As young adults we set out on our own to discover our own paths, often forsaking the wisdom that was shared by our parents own mistakes.
• As a young family you begin to see and feel the struggles that our parents warned us about.
• As we enter midlife the cycle returns back to the beginning and we see more clearly and understand life a bit more.

From a parent's perspective this is such a hard thing to watch and observe.  We want to be there catch them and lift them out of the grime.  But truthfully we cannot.  We cannot because that grime is what allows them to grow, allows them to understand life on their own, allows them to gain strength, allows them to obtain perspective and yes....causes them pain.  It is the burning of the hand on the stove lesson.  If they don't experience the heat, they wont truly understand the pain. As a parent it hurts us more......yep, we heard that from our dads just before he gave us the swat, "This will hurt me more than it does you".  Yeah, right dad! Your the one holding the paddle....what going to hurt you? The kickback on that wooden paddle in your hand? We just don't understand at that young age that the HURT we feel as parents is WATCHING you make mistakes that we couldn't prevent you from learning the hard way.

So what have I learned as I approach the age of 46 with kids (young adults) from 25 to 17? I have learned a lot.  Learned that I probably made huge mistakes as I raised my kids, learned that I never really understood what I needed to do as a DAD.  Never found that 'operational manual' that was needed for each kid as they are ALL different. Learned that each day provides opportunities for you to fail or succeed. After 46 years.....I really still don't understand anything.

The only thing I DO know is I love my kids and pray for them each day. That is the only thing I can do. Be safe my friends.