07.02.07 :: half-nekkid thursday, part x (one day early ...)

so, the fruits of my 5 weeks of labor are shown, albeit only partially, at left. truth be told, it hasn't been -- and continues not to be -- all that horrible. i've lost 15 lbs. since the start of the year. and i feel really magnificent.

my diet has consisted of little, if any, sugar and only multigrain-type breads when i want bread. i don't drink soda, not even diet soda. and i drink lots of water. and crystal light. and coffee (with splenda and half-and-half; no nondairy creamer).

and i don't eat anything overly processed (cookies, cakes, etc.). and that's really the extent of the restrictions i've placed on my diet. i still eat white things: i have cheese, and yogurt, and mayonnaise. i eat eggs and veggies. and chicken. and fruit. and granola.

and my workouts are still going well. i work out about 4 times a week on a good week. i do 30 min. of some kind of cardio, usually the precore machine. then i concentrate on a body part. i can't tell you what this has done for my wardrobe, which has been fitting better and better by the week. in fact, a majority of my belts need to have another hole punched into them so that they don't hang too loosely around my middle.

imagine that? does anyone have a decent leather punch i can borrow?

posted by lonestarsteve on wed 07.02.07 11:27 PM

work is driving me bonkers today, so i had to cut out for some "lonestarsteve time" at my neighborhood starbucks. i needed the coffee anyway. my morning started out badly at work: they are out of regular coffee. they only have flavored and decaf.

i say, if you're going to have a coffee service for your employees, at least attempt to stay on top of the ordering so that this doesn't happen. you're just asking for disgruntled employees. uncaffeinated, disgruntled employees, no less.

and for god's sake don't order so much crappy flavored coffee. who even drinks that shit? and decaf? hello? what's the point?

all that said, i'm hoping to restore some sense of calm and peace and return to work, latte in hand, with a better attitude. only good energy attracts good energy, you know. and i don't want any of that bad shit rubbing off on me.

posted by lonestarsteve on tue 06.02.07 1:49 PM

so, i've been thinking that this blog-o-mine is long overdue for an overhaul. freshen it up a bit. make it easier to navagate. centralize more of the elements into a single launching point. keep it on the bleeding edge of technology, if you will (who am i kidding??)

regardless, i'm currently in discussions with my webmaster about cost, rollout dates, and other potential damages that would result from a complete redesign of lonestarsteve(dot)com. when i first helped with the design of this site back in early 2004, i chose not to use any make-ready blogging software, such as blogger, etc., so that i could pull specific elements of a lot of the blogs that i was reading at the time into the design of my own site. and since then, there have been things that have worked and others that haven't.

for instance, my gallery area is a virtual nightmare. about a year ago i tried to improve upon it by incorporating "flickr" to make viewing photos easier, but to no avail. so that needs my attention. also, the guestbook link, although nice to have, really doesn't see much traffic. people confuse it for the comments portion of my site, which isn't good. especially since i rarely check to see who has signed my guestbook as a matter of habit.

so i was thinking that i would incorporate more elements into a single, centralized page. i'd trash the main page (if you've ever seen it), and get the gallery more organized and user-friendly. i would also move the links page to somewhere on the main page rather than set off by itself.

as for the archiving system, i want to update this feature as well. i want to categorize my past posts by topic rather than by date, thus making them easier to navagate and search.

any other ideas? give me a shout. as always, i can be reached at steve@lonestarsteve.com. or leave a comment. and again, thanks for visiting. it means more than you know.

posted by lonestarsteve on fri 02.02.07 2:23 PM

if you wait long enough, miracles can happen. they really can. honest.

for instance, i have weighed in at 200 lbs. (or just shy of it) for a few years now. i've carried all that extra weight around like a second person. eating for two, sleeping for two. not exercising, for two. you get the picture.

now i realize that on a 5' 10" male frame, 200 lbs. might not sound like a lot, but we're talking years of inactivity here. and week after week of delivery pizzas. and pints and pints of ben & jerry's ice cream. these all add up, you know? and not in a good way, either.

so, what changed? lots. for example, i haven't had refined sugar (ice cream) or refined wheat bread (pizza) since jan. 1. the carbs that i eat are good carbs, and i keep them in balance with my fats and proteins. and i eat a lot of protein: shakes, meat, veggies.

oh, and did i mention that i've been working out at the gym like a motherf*cker? well, i have been. nearly every day. in fact, the darling little attendant boys at my gym's front desk see me more now than some of my coworkers do. or my cat. or some of my best friends. before the first of the year, these same boys would have to relearn my name because i saw them about as often as i saw my dentist! now that's a waste of $500, wouldn't you say? i have been a member at that gym for 4 years now, and i think i'd been there half a dozen times. sad, but true.

so, is this newfound venture into a "healthy lifestyle" sustainable? who knows. i do know, however, that i feel much better at one-hundred-eighty-something pounds than i ever did at two hundred-something pounds. there's a lot to be said about feeling better about something. and there's a lot to be said about feeling more inclined to be nekkid in front of someone.

trust.

posted by lonestarsteve on thu 01.02.07 7:06 AM