Well, here we are – the end is officially upon us. I must say reaching day 90 has a bittersweet taste to it. I’m both happy and sad this whole thing has come to an end. Happy because it was a lot of work keeping this site updated on a daily basis, but mostly sad because I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the past 3 months. Because of this blog, I’ve come to realize how powerful a little reflection can have on my life. When I think of all the things I’ve been through over the past 3 months – all my workouts, traveling, soccer games, injuries, dates, happy times, sad times, good times, bad times - I realize how much I can achieve in 90 days. Three months doesn’t seem like a long time, but if you work hard and take time to reflect on your progress, it’s obvious A LOT can happen in 90 days. That’s what I did these past few months, and I believe that has had a profound impact on my life. So while this might be the end of my blog, it’s just the beginning of a new, improved me. Working out, eating better, and taking time to reflect on a daily basis will continue to serve a significant role in my life.

By the way, in case you missed it, I made my final video update and it can be seen by checking out the homepage. I’m sure I’ll be repeating much of what I said in that video in this post, but I’ll do my best to keep you entertained! haha

If you’ve been following my blog, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I stopped doing P90X workouts about a month or so ago. By no means does that mean I stopped working out – in fact I’ve been working out a lot the past 30 days, but I stopped doing P90X (with AbRipperX as an exception) about a month ago. During my last trip to California, I felt it was almost impossible to squeeze 60-90 minutes of P90X into my daily routine. It was a lot easier to put on running shoes and to go running outside. Among other things, P90X requires weights and equipment, and I didn’t have those things when I traveled. I hate to make excuses because that’s really all this is, but that’s what happened. That being said, I’m still happy with what I’ve accomplished. Here’s why:

When I started P90X three months ago, I weighed 160lbs – today I weigh 152lbs. To put that in perspective, when I got back from California last August, I weighed 188lbs. It was then that I started working out and eating better. Since then, I’ve lost 36 lbs, 8 of which were during P90X. It’s hard to imagine carrying an extra 36lbs with me everywhere I go, but that’s what life was like for me 9 months ago. I also wore size 34/35″ pants – today I can comfortably wear size 30″ pants. Six months ago, I had a bag full of clothes that were too small for me. Today, many of those clothes are now too big for me.

Three months ago, I could do 1 pullup – today I can do 8. Same goes for pushups. When I started P90X, I could do 25 – now I can do 50+. Besides a Root Beer I had on my brother’s birthday, I haven’t had any soda since January 1st. And I used to drink a lot of diet soda! When I go to Subway (which is probably my favorite “restaurant” of all time), I get a 6″ sandwich – never a foot long, and instead of cookies or chips, I get yogurt and a bottle of water. I don’t put mayonaise on my sandwich, either. I started eating lots of yogurt, and I’ve really come to enjoy yogurt parfaits. Six months ago, I never would have purchased yogurt with fruit – and today I love it.

Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy junk every now and again, so I’m not trying to make it seem like I’m perfect when it comes to eating healthy. In fact I’m far from it, but I’m a lot better than I was 6 months ago. No more beefy 5-layer burritoes at Taco Bell, and no more double cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. I’ve said this a lot (and it’s pretty obvious), but as long as I do everything in moderation, I’ll be fine. A few more highlights from the past 90 days:

- I can now run a 6 minute mile.
- I recently ran the big lake in Winona for the first time ever.
- I ran 6 miles on a single run – a record for me.

Ultimately, this is what I’ve learned: if you have the will to push yourself, P90X is a formula for success. As for the future, I will continue to exercise on a daily basis. I want to incorporate some of the P90X exercises into my regular routine – including the chest/back workout, bicep/tricep workout, AbRipperX, and plyometrics. That – on top of the cardio exercise I already do – will continue to provide me with great results. I also want to start running 5K’s, and maybe even some triathlons and half marathons. Working out with a goal makes working out that much easier, and events like that would be a great goal for me. I also plan on joining a summer soccer league. I’ve really enjoyed playing soccer these past few months (well, for the most part), and living in the cities provides me with an opportunity to join any number of teams. So I hope to do that, too.

I have a few trips planned this year. I’m leaving for California this Friday, and then I’ll leave for California again at the end of June. This September, my good friend is getting married in Mexico, so I plan on attending his wedding, too. I’m sure there will be more trips throughout the year, but I’d actually like to take a break from traveling and enjoy my new life, apartment, etc. in the cities. My sister’s family will be in the twin cities this summer, too, so I look forward to spending more time with them.

Well, that’s it. I just want to say thank you – whoever you are, wherever you are – for taking an interest in my life the past 90 days! This blog really did motivate me to continue pushing forward, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my posts as much as I’ve enjoyed writing them.

All the best.

I went for a nice 2 mile run this afternoon. It wasn’t as long as yesterday’s run, but it was still a good run nonetheless. Now that the temps are warming up, I think I’ll run a lot more this summer than I have in the past. The stairmaster is a solid workout, and I really enjoy it, but it’s an indoor workout, and there’s just something about being outside when the weather is nice. Plus it’s fun to actually see the world, and when you’re on a stationary machine, it can get a little boring.

I played golf today and man oh man, I have lost my ability to hit a golf ball straight. I’m hooking my iron shots really bad, so I think it’s time to take some professional golf lessons. Anyone know Tiger Woods’ phone number? I lost another $42 playing golf today. Brad might be saving up for his future kids’ college education with the $$ I’ve been giving him lately. At this rate, I might need to get a line of credit at the bank.

I probably sound like a broken record, but I have another trip to California scheduled at the end of June. This time it’s with my sister Hallie. We’ll be flying to Fresno for a week so we can help my grandparents move into their new place. I have so many memories of their current home it’ll be a sad day saying goodbye to it, but at this point it’s inevitable that it’s going to happen. My grandparents had an awesome backyard, too, and I’ll always remember the summers we spent out back by the pool, and of course our epic croquet and card game matches. We played this fun game called PIT, too. I remember I sort of cheated at that game but I needed all the help I could get!

Story 15 of 15

I’ll save my last story for tomorrow – day 90.

I ran the big lake earlier this afternoon. I think the big lake is 3.2 miles around, but I’m not 100% sure about that. I felt like the run took me longer this time, too, but I actually ran it 2 minutes faster (28:30) than I did last Saturday night. It was definitely warmer today. When I ran on Saturday, it was about 40 degrees and drizzly. Today it was about 70 degrees and sunny, and it definitely made the run a bit harder. It was a good run, though. From now on, when I run in Winona, I’ll start running the big lake instead of the small lake. Might as well continue pushing myself to run farther and faster.

I decided to pay off my Porsche today, so that was very exciting. I still had roughly 4 years worth of payments on that thing, so I figured it’d be nice to get rid of that monthly payment – so I did. And I actually paid off my Lincoln earlier this year, too, so now I am free of car payments each month. It’s a good feeling to get rid of debt, especially that kind of debt. The next thing I’ll pay off is my Lasik eye surgery, but that’s pretty minimal and I’m not even paying any interest on it so there’s no big hurry. But how great would it be to eliminate monthly payments? That philosophy doesn’t change my wanting to buy a boat, though.

I actually went to two banks today to look into different financing options for boats. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to start looking into financing options (even though I don’t plan on buying a boat until next year).

Yesterday was the big season finale for Survivor, but I wasn’t able to watch it until this afternoon. Man I love that show. This season wasn’t quite as good as past seasons, but it was still really good. As usual, my fantasy survivor team didn’t quite deliver. My brother won it this season. So good job, Abe. I did get 2nd place, though (out of 4 teams).

I’ll be going to Prairie Moon again tomorrow afternoon, but only for 2 hours. Then Brad and I are playing golf, and hopefully I play well again. It’s supposed to be a beautiful day, so I’m looking forward to it. Then I’ll have a busy night of work!

Story 14 of 15

I never really liked middle school, but 6th grade was especially hard. It was my first year in Winona, my first year in middle school, and it was the year of my infamous 2-day relationships (yes, I had multiple 2-day relationships). That being said, a lot of good things happened that year, some of which helped shape me into the person I am today. For Christmas that year, my parents gave us Ebonee (our dog). It’s funny – I remember one of our presents told us to check the bathroom, so I went to look, and there she was – the best dog ever. It’s crazy to think Ebonee is still alive – granted, her days are numbered, but man, 6th grade was a looooong time ago! I wonder if she remembers the first time she saw me the way I remember the first time I saw her. I know, I know … of course she does! haha

When I was in sixth grade, the year was 1995,  and the internet was just starting to take off. I remember I was 1 of 2 students involved in an after school “website club”. I know, kinda nerdy, but it was that group that first introduced me to website design, and it was where I made my first website. The topic: food astronauts eat in space. My health marketing business is heavily reliant upon my website design skills, so I credit that club for much of what got me to where I am today.

Those were some of the positives. Here are some of the negatives:

In 6th grade, I “hacked” into both the principal and assistant principal’s email accounts from the school library. I only did it once, though, because I was too scared to try it again.  The principal’s name was Scott Hannon and his password was “scott”. The Assistant Principal was Ben Johnson and his password was – you guessed it – “ben”. Original, huh?

I also hacked the school administration password, which provided me with complete access to any computer in the school. One day the school librarian caught me off guard and discovered that I was logged in as an administrator. She told me to leave the library immediately, but not before telling me how disappointed she was in me and that I was one of the few people she had trusted. I’ll never forget the guilt I felt, but to this day, I still use the school administration password as my own personal password.

One morning, I was slow in getting ready for school, so I threw on some previously worn jeans to save time. During the day, while walking in between classes, I looked down at my feet and saw that I had a pair of tighty whities resting comfortably on top of my left shoe. Apparently I had forgotten to remove my previously worn underwear from my previously worn jeans, and they had made their way down my pant leg to my shoe. Fortunately nobody saw them, but it was around that time that I switched to boxers.

I also decided to play football in 6th grade. After the first day of school, I went to the “after school bus” for the 6th grade football team, got in line, then got out of line after realizing I knew no one and decided to quit. When I told my dad about not going to practice, I could tell he was disappointed in me, and that made me cry.

And then of course there was the paper route. Check out story #13.

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This blog is winding down quickly. Two more days to go!

My Pre-Interview Game Face

It’s weird to think my blog will be ending soon. There’s only a few days left to this whole thing. Crazy! I know it doesn’t have to end if I don’t want it to end, but I created this site with the intention of detailing a certain period of my life, and that’s where it’s going to end. That being said, I can honestly say I’ll miss a lot about this whole experience. It’s been a lot of fun reflecting on my life – it’s helped teach me about myself, and more importantly, it’s helped shape me into the person I want to be. Anyways, I’ll touch more on this stuff on day 90.

I didn’t go to the cities this afternoon, and that means I missed my flag football game. It just doesn’t make sense to leave as there are still things in the Winona area I need to figure out. My car being one of them. At this point, I think I’ll drive back to Minneapolis on Wednesday morning, and spend Wednesday and Thursday nights in the cities before heading to California on Friday. That gives me time to figure out some things both in Winona as well as home in the cities.

Totally unrelated, but I’ve decided I’m going to buy a sailboat. I’ve always wanted a sailboat, and it’s time to make that dream come true. It’s not something I’m going to rush, but I guarantee you it’s going to happen by next summer. The first step in the process will start this summer. I’ve decided to take sailing lessons in Bayfield, WI. Information about that can be found here (you know, in case you want to join me)! haha

In all seriousness, I love the idea of owning my own sailboat, and it’s been something I’ve thought about for many years. I love the idea of sleeping on a boat. At night, if I’m ever having trouble falling asleep, I sometimes picture myself sleeping in the cabin of a boat during a heavy rain storm, warm with plenty of blankets, anchored out somewhere on the lake. Of course having family and friend outings on the water would be great, and spending an entire weekend sailing around the Apostle Islands sounds pretty awesome, too. I finally have the financial resources to make it happen, so I’m going to start embarking down that road. Once I learn how to sail, I’ll start researching the different options available in sail boats, and the costs associated with docking a boat in a marina and winterizing the boat during the winter. The plan will be to learn to sail this summer, and then to buy a used boat big enough to sleep 5-6 people next spring. I’d like a boat like this.

Story 13 of 15

When I was in 6th grade, my sister, brother, and I all decided to get a paper route together. We figured it was the easiest way for us to make a quick buck at that age and, who knows, maybe have fun doing it in the process.

We were right about it being the easiest way to make $$ at that age, but we were wrong about it being fun. It was miserable from the get-go. First of all, we had to have the papers delivered by 6:30AM, which means we had to wake up no later than 5:30AM to get them delivered on time. For those of you who know me, yea, waking up at 5:30AM is like kicking me in the shins over and over again. 5:30AM is primetime dreamin’ time! Secondly, in order to get paid, we had to “collect” money from a lot of our customers, meaning we literally had to go door to door in our free time to ask for money from a bunch of deadbeats. Finally, when you have a paper route, you don’t get days off. You can’t call in sick, and you can’t not show up for work. Yes, that was a double negative, but that’s my best way to describe a paper route – a bunch of negatives.

Our first day delivering newspapers happened to be on a Sunday, and Sundays were the worst because the newspapers were at least double the normal size. That particular Sunday, it was Hallie and I doing the route. That’s how it worked – each person had 2 days on, 1 day off. So on any given day, there’d be 2 out of the 3 of us doing the route.

Our first day on the job it was raining buckets. Normally I like the rain, but not when I’m delivering heavy newspapers at 6 in the morning. So Hallie and I woke up at 5:30AM, rolled the big ass Sunday papers – then stuffed them in our yellow newspaper bags, and out the door we went.

It was miserable from beginning to end. We were soaking wet and we were trying to deliver the newspapers to the right houses and we hadn’t yet identified which houses got the papers and which ones didn’t. At one point, I remember my sister handed me a paper and told me the address where the paper needed to be delivered. So I went and looked for that house, and for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. I don’t know if it was because it was too dark and I couldn’t see the address, or if it was raining too hard, or if I simply forgot the address, but I couldn’t find the house.

So I threw the paper in some random bushes and said “screw it.”

Between the 3 of us, I recall we each made about $30/month. I remember one day – after getting paid – my brother and I went to a baseball card store in downtown Winona and spent all of our money on a box of unopened packs of baseball cards. We literally spent our entire months worth of income on a box of baseball cards. Our parents weren’t happy about that.

To make a long story short, we got a lot of complaints, and ended up getting fired after 6 months. The district manager came to our house, sat us down at our dining room table, and fired us. That was the greatest day of my life.

I chose this song because – 1: I like it, and 2: the day I got fired, I considered myself the luckiest man in the world. No, not really, but I had to draw a parallel somewhere, and that was the best I could come up with.

Tonight, I ran the big lake in Winona. It was cold, dark, and rainy, and I was the only person running around the lake, but I knew that’s how it would be before I did it, and I actually looked forward to the change in scenery. It sort of reminded me of being in California (you know, when I went running in the dark). It’s definitely different running in the dark, but there’s something cool about it – it’s almost like you feel as if you’re working harder because you’re exercising when no one else is around. I know that doesn’t really make sense, but that’s how it feels.

My brother and I went golfing today. That was in the rain, too, but it was still a good time. It was a little cold, though. I didn’t shoot all that great, either, but I had a couple good holes (I ended up shooting a 90).  Ashley Furniture didn’t have any bar stools so that was a little disappointing. I’ll just pick some up when I get to the cities. Probably easier that way anyhow.

Speaking of disappointment… the mechanic got back to me about my Porsche, and apparently I have a blown head gasket, which is about as bad as it gets for cars. All said and done, I’m looking at a total repair bill of at least three to five thousand dollars. And we’re not talking Zimbabwe dollars. You know – where everyone in that country has at least ten billion zimbabwe dollars. Yea, not those kind of dollars – I’m talking real US dollars.  UnFrickinBelievable. When the guy said the words “blown head gasket”, I almost started laughing because I knew that was major, and anything major on a Porsche is REALLY major. It’s one of those things where if it’s going to be bad, it might as well be really bad! haha At least someday I’ll have a good story to tell. In the end, it’s only money, and while I have the money to fix it, I’m in no hurry to have it fixed. Sometime this week, I’ll have it towed to LaCrosse for a second opinion and maybe to schedule repairs. We’ll see…

That being said, I think I’m going to keep my Jeep after all. That is also a convertible – and it seats 4-5 people vs. the 2 you can fit in a Porsche (unless of course someone crawls into the trunk, but that’d have to be a really small person who can also hold his or her breath for a very long time).

I’m heading back to the cities tomorrow morning. I have a flag football game tomorrow afternoon, and then I have a lot of work that I need to get done this week – and maybe even another interview. I think I’m leaving for  California on Friday (well, the 20th – whenever that is), so I want to get back soon so I can get started on my work.

Story 12 of 15

When I was in 6th grade, there was this girl named Lindsay Erickson – she was funny, smart, and crazy beautiful… the whole package, really. And I very much wanted to be her boyfriend. And one day, it actually happened. I don’t know how I did it, but I did it, and she was all mine. She had just broken up with some guy, and it was now my turn to give it a go.

The only thing was that I didn’t really know how to date back then. (Not that I really do now, either! haha)

Anyways, back to the story: so Lindsay and I started “going out.” I remember our lockers were right near one another, so everyday I would anxiously wait for the end of our school day so I could see her. And there she was! I remember she’d rush to her locker with her cute little Nike trapper keeper. She had a fancy one, too – it had a wrap around zipper and everything. She’d grab her coat, backpack, and then walk past me for the bus – and I could never muster up the courage to say anything to her, not even when she was my girlfriend. This routine went on for two days before she dumped me. We dated for 2 days and I didn’t say one word to her. And she didn’t actually dump me – a few of her friends came up to me at lunch and informed me that Lindsay and I were no longer together. In front of my friends, too.

The worst thing about it was that I was devastated. Crying on the way home from school devastated. I was so devastated I actually wrote her a goodbye note, but instead of giving it to her, I walked to the Mississippi River and buried it as part of a goodbye ritual. I can still vividly remember the day I buried my note to Lindsay. It was a cold, gloomy October day. She dumped me on a Thursday, and the next night, at the middle school Fun Night, I saw her dancing with one of my friends. It wasn’t a fun night for me! That was the first time I ever experienced a broken heart, and I’ll never forget it.

So Lindsay, this song’s for you.