Back to Zero

I couldn't decide what to do with the 'stache so I decided to get rid of it and start from scratch.  Up next is a beard.  Stay tuned.

The end of Movember

Hard to believe that a month of fundraising for Movember has come to an end.  I didn't quite make it to my goal of raising a thousand dollars.  I managed to reach a little over half of that though and helped contribute $600.00 towards prostate cancer.  I'm very pleased to have so many good friends kick in a few bucks towards a good cause.

I thought for sure that my social network on twitter would kick in a few bucks too, but sadly not a single person from Twitter made a contribution to my campaign.  I'm hoping that they found someone else to support through the month of Movember, but I would have figured that someone among my 300+ followers would answer the call. I also prodded my Google+ network for a contribution and didn't have any luck there either.  So much for the power of social media I guess.

I did manage to guilt a few colleagues into slapping their name behind a donation and for that I am also very grateful.  It is good to see that there is support there even if Twitter failed me. lol ;o)

One particular glaring omission was contributions from my family at large.  My mom, sister, and brother-in-law all made contributions and for that I am happy.  Surprisingly even though I have 3 other family members afflicted with cancer, no one else outside my immediate family felt compelled to donate.  wow.  I suppose they have bigger worries I guess (and I'm not referring to the members of my family suffering from cancer - they should NOT feel obligated to contribute but should be a beneficiary instead!).

Lastly I was floored that I did receive one anonymous donation.  I was elated that someone out of the blue would put down a few dollars on my campaign.  I suspect that I know this person based on the private message that was left for me on my Movember website but would definitely love to know who it was. :o) Thank You.

So if you didn't get a chance to visit my site, you can go to http://mobro.co/Jaicin to have a look at my gallery and see how progress was made on my Mo'stache.

Here is a pic taken on the final day of Movember. 

PS:  I think you can contribute till the end of Dec 2011 if you still have a desire to make a donation.

Stomped! On. :o(

Well, I was supposed to go to Stomp! Last night but I got a last minute email Thursday morning from my date saying that she couldn't make it. She of course offered the standard excuse "couldn't find a baby sitter" but I'm not so sure I believe it. I just happened to notice that earlier in the week in her twitter timeline, she had mentioned getting a new boyfriend the previous weekend. Yup, made the date with me last week, then went partying with another friend on the weekend and they hooked up.

No big deal really except I was expecting her to cancel sooner when her priorities changed. So I made an inquiry on Monday "Hey still looking forward to seeing stomp on Friday?". "Yup can't wait". Huh. Go figure. I thought for sure I was giving her an out so she could say something like "You know what, things have changed for me and I can't go anymore". No. I get the - "Yup, I can't wait" response.

If she would have cancelled on Monday at least I would have had more time to find another date or at least sell the tickets (which were just a smidge over $175 by the way). Nope. Instead I'm scrambling last minute on Thursday trying to find someone to go with me or at least sell the tickets. I'm practically begging my friends to help me out and in the end I had to drop the price just to make it attractive enough for a friend to take them off my hands. At least I sold them.

The funny thing is that this is the second time she stood me up. Well you know what they say. Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me. I won't make that mistake with her a third time.

Happy Birthday M

I'm not sure if you still read my blog or not but Happy Birthday M!  Today is Nov 22 and I was just reflecting how much fun we had on your birthday when we first met a few years ago.  I had a great time at the Loose Moose and think about it whenever I pass by there. :o)  This Friday I'm heading out to see Stomp again and can't help but think how you, S and myself had such a good time when we went to see it the last time.  :o)  Anyway... Happy Birthday and congratulations on another successful lap around the sun!

J

A night out at the Q

So I was trying on some of my "skinny" clothes the other day and found some stuff that I haven't seen in a while.  How do you like the Dragon shirt I'm wearing?  I bought that on a business trip to New Jersey a bunch of years ago.  When I picked up this shirt I also bought a cool looking spider-man shirt similar in style.  The best part about rediscovering these clothes was the jeans I tried on.  I was able to do up the 34's I had - mind you just barely, but still I was pretty happy at how close I am to fitting them again.  It has definitely motivated me to keep going on the workout plan! :o)

Flying Colors

Well, I just had my 6 month check up with my Cardiologist.  I passed with flying colors.  My cholesterol is better than it was 4 years ago when I was in better shape than I am now.  In fact my LDL is now at 1.49 (well under the recommended 2.0 measurement for heart patients) and 4 years ago it was 1.55.  Plus I eat 3 times the number of eggs per week than I was eating back then too.  Go figure.  I'm still down about 35 lbs with another 15-17 to go for my first major goal and then another 15+ after at which point I will hit the hold weight at about 185 or so.  I'm doing pretty good but I have to keep focused.  Sometimes it is so easy to give up when we get close.

In other news my Movember Mo is coming in nicely. :o)  If you wanna donate before Dec 10 2011 (I think) then feel free to visit my Movember page at http://mobro.co/jaicin There's a gallery there where you can point and laugh at my lip caterpillar. ;o) For those that are just not up to clicking the link, here's the latest progress pic.

Holy Crap - It's set up!

Ok, this is a short post.  I just wanted to show off a picture of my new pool table!  I've been wanting one for quite a while now.  I have spent  many hours scouring the classifieds and doing research into what type of table I wanted.  In the end the size of the table really governed my decision.    Due to the stair well configuration in my place, a small table would be the only thing that I'd be able to get downstairs into my "man cave".  In this case a 3.5 x 7 foot table is what would work in my space.  Not only did it fit down the stairs but it also allows me plenty of room around my table as well, and easily accommodates a 5' cue around every side.  

The table you see here is a Dufferin 3.5 x 7 and was originally covered in a purple felt.  Although it looked great in the former owners basement, the purple felt just wouldn't work for me.  So before setting it up in my basement, I put in an order for some Championship Cloth in a Khaki color which you can see in the photo above.   Ordering the cloth though, was just one step in the process towards getting my man cave set up!


I actually had to spend a bunch of time emptying out the side of my basement that I would dedicate towards housing my new table.  It meant purging a great deal of junk and relocating a bunch of other junk that I still have yet to go through.  Sometime over the course of the next month I'll sit down and wade through the rest of it to make another purge.  


Once I had the space empty I knew that i had to put some sort of floor covering down so that me and my company would have something comfortable to stand on while playing some 8-ball.   So last week I ordered some very cheap carpet and underlay and brought it in to my basement on Friday.  I've always known that I wouldn't spend a lot of time and money finishing my basement so I decided to install the carpet myself.  In this case I just kept things simple, and cut everything to fit and just used double sided carpet tape to secure the carpeting to the floor.  It doesn't look anywhere near professional but it will do the trick for what I need it to do. 

Next up would be the lights.  Another friend came over and helped me out with the electrical and  within about 3 hours we had a new light hung where the table would sit, relocated some track lighting for where my dartboard will eventually be relocated, and hung another chandelier style light in the corner. It looks pretty cool given the surroundings it lives in. 


Lastly the toughest part had to be done.  Another great friend came over and helped me to get the table set up and re-covered with my new cloth.  That entire process took about 8 hours (including some help from my electrician).  The hardest part was putting the new cloth on the rails and the table.  Surprisingly, setting up the frame and making sure it was all balanced went extremely well.  

Now I have my new toy set up and I look forward to the many hours I'll be spending on it to  improve my game.  The next challenge will be to keep my cats off of it so they don't wreck the beautiful new cloth that we painstakingly installed onto the table. Not to worry though, I do have a cover for the table. :o) 

Movember

Well, if there's one thing I'm good at it, it's growing hair.  Ok, maybe not on the top of my head, but everywhere else it seems like I can just hold my breath and grow some hair.  This of course seemed like a natural fit for a Movember competition...

What is Movember you say??  Well, if you think about all the types of cancer and the different fundraising platforms, then Movember is one of those but for the guys.  In Movember we try to raise money for prostate cancer (the #1 cancer that men can get).  We do this by growing a lip curtain.  Yup... a cookie duster, soup strainer, pillow tickler, pushbroom, flavour savor, lip caterpillar, or less commonly referred to as the nose mullet.  Starting on November first and ending at the end of the month, men everywhere are growing a porn stache to raise money for prostate cancer.  


So with my secret super power of facial hair growth, I decided to raise some money for a good cause and have decided to participate in Movember.  If you would like to donate some money to the cause, then please visit my MoBro page at: http://mobro.co/jaicin  


As you can see form this picture I'm currently working on a "Horseshoe" or "Trucker 'Stache".  It'll be a 'beaut' when she's done.  So visit my MoBro page to follow my progress and see where I end up after all this wraps up! :o) 


Since this is a short update, I thought I would also let you know how I'm doing on the weight loss front.  Do you remember this guy on the left?  Yup.  If you guessed Fat Jason, then you'd be right.  I started my journey in June at the tender weight of 252 lbs.  This picture was actually taken in Vegas just before I started my goal to lose a bunch of weight.  


It's 5 months later and I've finally met the first part of my goal - which was to lose 30 lbs by the end of August.  Well it took a couple of extra months but I finally hit it!  Slow and steady wins the race right?  I'm now sitting at about 220 lbs and hope to lose another 20 before the end of December (which was my original long term goal).  Hopefully I can stay on track and get there.  


It hasn't been easy and I'm now finding that the weight isn't coming off as regularly as it was before.  I'm still doing the same things and I have added exercise but it seems like the body has quickly adapted to my routine.  I'll have to find some ways to shake it up a bit and stimulate  the metabolism again.  


If you have a weight loss journey that you'd like to share, feel free to post a comment or add a link to your blog.  I'd love to learn new tips and techniques!