seanwillson.com

hello again. i have been doing rather well this past week. i had a good weekend this past week. i did a lot of relaxing and i finally did some things i have been wanting to for a while. i went and hit some golf balls at the range near my house. i really do miss golf … i have not done a lot of golfing in like 6 years or so. that is so weird given that in high school i went golfing every day. anyhow, i hit the ball like crap but i did hit quite a few nice ones. those few shots, that go perfectly straight or with a small tail feel so amazing. i know when i hit them well because i shift my weight perfectly and i can easily hold my final position without swaying or leaning at all. plus the feel and impact on my hands is unmistakable.


i also got out this weekend and did some bike riding. i rode for about 45 minutes on saturday just around my apartment and the surrounding neighborhood and businesses. i had not ridden my new bike in a few weeks and did not realize how much i loved it. between golf and biking i am set for hobbies … heheh … anyhow, i have to get either a new bike seat, a pad for the seat, or some padded bike shorts. until i lose some more weight, that seat is a bit to small for me. at least for any kind of extended bike ride anyhow. it was hell … then on sunday i went on a bike ride with my friend amy. we rode from my apartment to the local forest preserve (2 miles), around the forest preserve (8 miles), and then back home (2 miles). all in all a 12 mile ride which isn’t to shabby. it took us about an 1 hour and 20 minutes of leisurely riding. i was messing around going fast at some points but we generally just tootled around the preserve. it was a really beautiful day and the trails weren’t to crowded.


i could not take the suspense on friday so i decided to weight myself. not officially but to just get a feel for if i was making any progress at all this past month. well, i had lost 10 more pounds since june 26th. actually that is not to bad considering i was off the program for 4 days around the 4th of july and that i got back on slower then i wanted to. i think that is damn good. i don’t think i am going to hit the 16 pounds goal tomorrow but i think i will come in around 13. that will put me at around an 87 pounds loss. not to shabby if i do say so myself. my workouts are going great. i have been staying on the current regiment and changing up the exercises once a week or so. i am getting some really good intensity and burn now on my workouts. more so then when i was on the pyramid regiment of body for life. but i am not sure if that is just because i am getting stronger and developing a better mind muscle link or if it is due to this new regiment i am following. anyhow, time will tell.


after i finish my current cycle of supplements (cytovol, betagen, phen-free, zma) i am going to stop taking them all for about 2 weeks to try and flush the supplements out of my system and see how i feel. then when i get back on i am going to stop taking the zma and i was thinking of not using betagen either. i am not sure about that though … i will think about it more and read some more. i just wonder if i am wasting my money right now. a lot of the studies i have been reading about creatine’s effects are on average or fit people and not obese people like myself. so given that, i am not sure how much it is going to effect me. if when i am off it for 2 weeks i feel no change while working out then i am not going to take it any longer. if my gains fall off and i start feeling fatigued again then i will start taking it again. basically i want to figure out what is working for me and what isn’t while hopefully saving myself some cash in the process.


the next two months are going to be insane. between birthday parties, showers, bachelor parties, and my brothers wedding i am going to have a breakdown i am sure. add to that a ton of stuff at work with product releases and new coding efforts and i think i am going to be in desperate need of a vacation in october. i was thinking about going to the olympia expo in las vegas to see mr, ms, and the fitness olympia. i have never been to vegas, never been to a body building show, and never seen something i have read so much about in a magazine. so i was thinking about going … not sure if anyone would be interested in going with me but i do know a bunch of folks from the online forums i chat on are going. they are planning to meet up and do a bunch of stuff together. that would be fun to meet everyone i have been talking to online these past 7 months. anyhow, i will put some more thought into that.


the end …

it has been a while since i wrote. between work, traveling home, and my personal life i have been pretty busy. lets see … where do i begin. last weekend i drove home and saw the family again. we all went out on friday night for pj’s birthday. it was a lot of fun, there was no dancing or anything but it was still great. just handing out, talking about anything and everything, and getting drunk. i really need to get drunk less when i go home. maybe try a sober weekend … anyhow … it was cool … the next day my brother and i babysitted for my cousins child, alexia. i had never actually met her and she is 4. the family on that side has not been very close in quite a few years. anyhow, we had a great time that day playing with her. had not hung out with kids in a while and it was refreshing. she is a really bright little girl, one of the brightest 4 year olds i ever met thats for sure. anyhow, the next day we all went to see the x-men, i went swimming, and then i drove home. nothing to exciting happened but it was relaxing and fun.


work is going pretty well. i now have a project that i am over looking. my friend adam who was heading up the project we were working on moved over to our integration consulting group so i am heading up the project now. basically, i am the only one working on it but it is a very high profile project that i enjoy. so long as i have some creative freedom and get to develop some code i am happy.


divine interventures finally ipo’d. it took them forever and a day to do it. after tons of bad press, scathing reviews, and 6 delays they are now a public company. the espp program i was involved in turned out to be not that great, at least for the next 180 days anyhow. after that we can buy and sell fast withing much of a waiting period. but given that the stock is not performing very well i am not all that concerned about it. for now i will look at the shares as a mid term investment, not long term, but more then one day.


my workouts are going pretty good. i will know more for sure when i weight myself this friday. i feel that i am making progress, and the tape measure shows that i am still losing inches. i am doing weights 3 days a week and cardio 4-5 days a week. pretty much the program has been integrated into my life, it pretty seamless now, and has become a part of my daily ritual. i was concerned that i had reached a plateau but i am past that now. i think it was more of a mental plateau, i was still losing, but just not as fast as i wanted to. after listening again to the body for life cd i realized that it was all in my head and all i needed to do was refocus and get back into the program. lately i have been trying harder and harder to develop the mind muscle link so that i can feel the muscles during the concentric and eccentric phases of the lifting motion.


i made yet another car decision. i was thinking of buying a cheap economy car like the focus and then using the money i save to buy the sports car i want. this would lower my insurance rate on the sports car. instead i decided to keep my car, save all the cash i can, in january check out the new thunderbird at the autoshow. if it is what i want i am going to trade my sable into the dealer in july and buy the thunderbird. otherwise i will save enough to pay for half of a corvette and when i have that purchase a corvette. i can handle the insurance if i can get the payments to a reasonable level. plus two cars really is kind of impractical for my right now. though, i did love the gas mileage of the focus. anyhow, the jist of it is that i am going to at least wait till january to make the next decision. until then i am going to pay down the credit cards and get as much cash saved until then.


those are the snippets that happened the past few weeks. talk to you next time.

i had a great vacation weekend this past week. as you know it was the 4th of july weekend so i made it extra long and took monday off giving me 4 days of vacation. our family decided to go up to northern michigan, hale to be exact. we rented a cabin for the week and we all piled in there for some relaxation and fun outdoors. ellis, christina, me, mike, lori, and andrea ended up going up there for 4 days and my father and kelly ended up taking the cabin for the rest of the week after we came back on tuesday night. my roommate rob also ended up coming up to the cabin, he arrived on sunday and stayed the whole rest of the time we were there.


as for what we did this weekend, well we had a blast. we started by driving up on saturday, which took forever and a day with all of the traffic. that day we just kind of checked out the area, relaxed, messed around, drank, and got ready for the next few days. on sunday mike, lori, and me went fishing for most of the day. we ended up catching 2 perch and 1 bass. i came to find out later that the bass was actually undersized and we shouldn’t have taken it in the first place but you live and learn. anyhow, christina and andrea met up with us later in the day and we all fished together … that was fun, and eventful. with mike getting out of the boat to retreive a bobber in the reeds and sinking over his head in mud and then being unable to get back into the boat … lets just say we had a few laughs and have stories to tell our children about uncle mikey. that night we were all burnt and had a few fish so we retired to the cabin for some food, drinks, and some sleep. on monday mike, lori, and me attempted the fishing thing again, this time trying a local river. needless to say, after about 4 hours, more sun, and lots of bugs we caught nothing except a few measly small fish that were inedible. later in the afternoon mike and i tried to do some more fishing on the lake but we didn’t even get a bite. disappointed, more burnt, and tired we retired to the cabin for more food, drink, and some sleep. on tuesday we tried yet again at the river, this time a different area and were even more disappointed. we didn’t even get a damn bite all afternoon. so at around 3 we went back to the cabin and ate lunch. after that mike and lori left to go home and ellis, christina, and i stayed for the evening fireworks and then returned home late that night. the fireworks were spectacular as usual. a small show by city standards but large in taste, variety, and explosiveness. it always feels some personal having a small show with family and friends instead of in a huge place like chicago or detroit.


anyhow, after 4 days of vacation bliss i learned a few things. i enjoy fishing which is actually a big learning experience since i thought i hated it. i think as i grow up and mature i appreciate more diverse things which is good. fishing is a great bonding experience between friends. you can just sit back with your pole, some drinks, and the environment. enjoy conversation and the environment and just relax. pretty damn cool and i think we are going to do it a bit more often then once every 10 years. mike and i talked about fixing up my dads boat and getting a motor for it. we shall see … i also learned how much i miss camping in general. just getting out of the city, into nature or damn close in a cabin and just getting away from the concrete, steel, computers, and other technology and just relaxing. it puts my mind at ease and just lets me relax and rest.


as for my fitness … well i got a lot of walking, rowing, and swimming done over the weekend. so the cardio and general activity was there but the nutrition was not. i knew this was going to happen and i prepared as best as possible for it. right no i feel like i cheated all 4 days and basically failed my goals. but i also realize that it may have been good for my body and mind to just turn off all of the worries and stuff for a few days. so when i got back is started back up full force eating the meals and working out. these past few days have been hard getting into the groove. i have not cheated on the food but on the exercises instead of killing myself i just am slowly getting back on track. starting on sunday i will be back in the full regiment but the end of this week i am on a shortened program.


i updated my goals for the next 4 weeks and updated my status on my last 4 weeks worth of goals. i also weighed myself after i got back … i think i gained a few pounds but no biggie. it may have been the time of day that i weighed myself and i had just ate. anyhow, i vowed to not weight myself any more until my goal day at the end of the month when i report on my progress these past 4 weeks. weighing myself all the time is to deterring to my progress and i don’t want to put myself through that mental game. i think it is just a fad now using my new scale and all.


that about covers everything that has happened this past week …