Update XVI: Sidejackin' it in the Train Room.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Again, why am I being attacked for something that happened 6 years ago?

Because you seem to be justifying it or thinking that it wasn't that bad of a decision.

Inks, what is your opinion of Jeff's current job and how he's doing?

That seems more relevant to his future success than whether he's properly atoning for bad decisions in the distant past to strangers on a web forum.

Thank you.  I think what I'm doing now is far more relevant to my future than what I did over half a decade ago.  If I'm doing something wrong in my current job, let's have a discussion, but don't needlessly criticize me for mistakes I made a long time ago.  I realize it's much more fun to do the latter and I realize that my current job is getting kind of boring, but isn't that kind of the goal?  To make Update boring?

[Joe Biden 2020]

Thanks, guys.  I am officially starting Month 2 today.  I really like this job.  I have been there every day for the past month.  Like Eraser said, that's nor normally a big deal, but with my history it is.  As far as the weight goes - I am down to 282.0 as of this morning which is 11 lbs since mid-July and 1.6 lbs since the challenge started on September 1.  Yesterday, I ended up at 1,600 calories on the day.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Lunch time.  My boss is in a pretty crabby mood so it's making the day not as good as it could be.  Im trying to understand something, but he keeps yelling at me that I don't get it, yet.  One of my coworkers is going to look at it with me after lunch.  I'm just ready for this day to be over...

[Joe Biden 2020]

I am home from work and supper is over.  I had a bad day, but a learning day.  I'm in no danger of losing the job, but I just made several mistakes.  But, I prayed about it on the way home and I feel better tonight, just tired.  I am going to learn from my mistakes and try again tomorrow.  Everybody has bad days and everybody makes mistakes, so I'm far from alone in that respect.  I've only been there one month, so I still have a learning curve, yet, but some of the mistakes are the exact same mistakes I've been making time after time.  It's like I regressed some from the end of August.  The way I see it, though, I have had so many great days, but this kept me in check.  Tonight, I am going to watch the opening game of the 2014-2015 NFL Season on NBC at 1930 and then I think I will watch Big Brother from 2230-2315 before I go to bed.  Tomorrow is Friday, so I'll be fine.  Even though I had a bad day, I am looking forward to getting back in there tomorrow and improving on my errors.  All is good in my neck of the woods!  God is so very good!!

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'm still very excited about the job that I have.  I think it's the best job I've had in years.  I will learn from my mistakes and will progressively work to reduce and eliminate them.  This was a day that I needed, really.  It drained me mentally, and it was tough to get through, but I made it through and even stayed 45 minutes late trying to glean from my boss.  My dad gave me a good tip this evening on how to improve and show them I am trying - write down my errors at the end of each day and review them every morning when I get in and try to spot trends and work to check off those mistakes and eventually see my notes get shorter and shorter.  I may not eliminate all the errors in the next two months, but it will show them I am trying.  My old man gave me a lot of encouragement.

[Joe Biden 2020]

God is so very good!!

Actually, if I were you, I would, at the very least, have a nagging suspicion that God didn't like me very much. Because this appears to have come out of the blue. You appeared to be making progress and as far as we knew you weren't making many mistakes. I don't know what to make of this.

He just has a way to bring me back to reality and keep me in line.  I had so many good days that I was kind of due for a bad day.  The law of averages came into play today.  And, really, only about 90 minutes of it were bad.  The other 7 1/2 hours were pretty good as I worked.  The 90 minutes were enough to make it seem like it all was bad.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I may have missed the boat on this, but now I'm curious - Jeff, what were you doing at Northrop Grummann?

Technical Editor.  I was converting operation manuals for the British AWACS from paper to PDF.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It's a relaxing Thursday evening in progress. My mind is still trying to comprehend and visualize the mistakes I made today. My brain just can't completely relax. I'm starting to get tired, but I want to finish this game and watch Big Brother after the game. As I'm getting tired tonight, I'm disappointed in myself, and that's why I'm being harder on myself than what I should be. However, my spirit is not broken. My resolve is still just as strong as ever. I still enjoy this job immensely and believe it is the best job I have had in many years. I will dust this off and go to work tomorrow and improve on my errors and finish Week 5 on a high note. Then, I will have a fun weekend and get myself ready for Week 6. Next Friday evening, I get to see my parents again as I go for a quick 24-hour visit to my parents.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Jeff, why don't you play with that computer/CADD program that your parents bought you tonight instead of watching football?

I'm worried that you're not quite getting this CADD stuff.

I'm too tired tonight to think straight, but I may play with it some tomorrow night  and Saturday while I watch college football.  I can do both at the same time pretty easily.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Lunch time and today is MUCH better than yesterday.  I feel like I am grasping the concepts a little better.  I'll get out of here at 1600.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I was just glancing a quick peak while waiting on a print.

[Joe Biden 2020]

What would you choose for dinner?  TGI Friday's or Cracker Barrel?

[Joe Biden 2020]

I am at Friday's, but instead of ordering a burger with fries, I ordered a steak with mashed potatoes and Mac and cheese.

[Joe Biden 2020]

That was a mistake.  The steak was horrible...  The barbecue sauce was way too sweet.  The potatoes were gross.  I am moving onto dessert.  I will have ice cream just so I can eat something.  Sorry, King.  This was pitiful.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'll get back on the challenge tomorrow.  I did nothing wrong at dinner.  I don't feel bad at all.  Plus, King, it's Friday.  It's no fun to eat healthy on weekends.  I wanted to enjoy my Friday supper with what I wanted to eat and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  If you don't like it, then shut up and let me live my life.  I am still following the challenges you set forth.  Yes, I had a slip up tonight, but I have not completely blown it.  Just do not mock me.  I have done NOTHING worthy of mocking.  If you mock me, you're the idiot, not me.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I'll get back on the challenge tomorrow.  I did nothing wrong at dinner.  I don't feel bad at all.  Plus, King, it's Friday.  It's no fun to eat healthy on weekends.  I wanted to enjoy my Friday supper with what I wanted to eat and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 

If you wanna live past 40 you should drop the belief that eating should be "fun". The idea that you can eat differently on weekends makes a mockery of any attempt to improve your health and life chances, especially if you include Friday in the weekend. A three day weekend is almost half of the week. You cant halfass healthy living. One "unhealthy" day every second week might work (talk to a dietrician about it), but that should be the maximum.

Let me be completely truthful here for a bit:

Tonight, I was trying to go for a complete meal with a meat and veggie(s).  I ordered the steak as my meat, but there weren't any vegetables that I liked on the side list, so I had to go with mashed potatoes and mac and cheese.  It turns out that was FRIED mac and cheese.  I didn't touch it and only had a few bites of the potatoes and maybe 2 or 3 bites of the steak.  That should have been enough on its own, and I didn't need the ice cream, but I ordered without thinking.  Funny, though, I was cognizant of the challenge when I decided to go with steak instead of burger and fries.  So, yeah, i goofed and I may pay for that on the scale in the morning.  Not to mention, I've got a headache from the chocolate in the dessert.  I should have gone to Cracker Barrel.  At least there I could have gotten a real, home cooked meal complete with a poultry meat and at least a vegetable or two.  There are plenty of other good options besides breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  I went off the advice of some Facebook friends and I paid the price for it.  So, now tomorrow I have to behave myself and eat at the house and have no fries or ice cream.

As far as the no-ice cream challenge - I am going to issue a new challenge to myself.  I am going to restart the month and run it from September 6 through October 5.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I like how Bushie describes the meals at Cracker Barrel as "home cooked".

They pretty much are.  It is a southern cuisine restaurant.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I cannot express how much better of a day today was than yesterday.  There is no comparison.  I finished the drawing that gave me the problems yesterday about 1100 today.  Then, I started working on another drawing and I'm already almost finished with it.  I just have to do two or three things to it Monday morning before I get it ready to be looked at.  I expect to have that drawing finished by noon Monday.  I always get a good feeling whenever I finish a drawing or project without errors.  I really felt like I was picking stuff up a lot better today and making fewer repetitive errors.  I must have learned a lot in the solid hour that I spent with my boss Thursday evening.  I can now enjoy my weekend and look forward to Week 6!

[Joe Biden 2020]

k

[Joe Biden 2020]

Sorry for the nonchalant response I just posted.  I am coming off a very good day at work and I'm not going to let anybody or anything hurt my weekend.  I'm in such a good mood and you're not going to change that.  I am reading and comprehending everything you're saying, King, and i'm not dismissing any of it.  I'm just choosing not to respond to that in the way you'd like me to, because I know I could escalate this to levels unintended and unneeded.  Instead, I am choosing to let the scale do the talking while I enjoy my weekend.

[Joe Biden 2020]

Sorry for the nonchalant response I just posted.  I am coming off a very good day at work and I'm not going to let anybody or anything hurt my weekend.  I'm in such a good mood and you're not going to change that.  I am reading and comprehending everything you're saying, King, and i'm not dismissing any of it.  I'm just choosing not to respond to that in the way you'd like me to, because I know I could escalate this to levels unintended and unneeded.  Instead, I am choosing to let the scale do the talking while I enjoy my weekend.

I think the only way he'd like you to respond is in a genuine change in lifestyle. His challenge was very reasonable and much more manageable, given he recommended small changes. He's disappointed at a lapse, given that manageability. I understand.

We take the time to write here because we care, Jeff. King cares. And we get mad because we care, too.

I know he cares and I'm not intentionally disputing that.  I just know I've done really well this week so far and just had a momentary lapse in judgement due in part to frustration from a bad meal.  What I know i can do is get back on track tomorrow.  I will be having a Mexican pot-luck at my pastor's house tomorrow evening so there will be no burger or fries and no ice cream.  Since the challenge began on September 1, I have lost nearly 2 pounds which is 11 pounds overall since mid-July.    I don't think I necessarily went way over my calories today.  The dessert wasn't that much.  It was a moderate scoop of cookies and cream ice cream sandwiched in between moderately big Oreo cookies drizzled with hot fudge.  I'll do the calculation on the calories in a little bit, but I don't think I went way overboard on my calories today.  I hardly had any lunch, so I had a lot of calories to "spend".

But, yes, I can sense his frustration and I can genuinely understand it.  I'm just not going to let his anger spill over into my weekend.

EDIT:  I ended up with about 2,000 calories today.  Not too bad for the dinner disaster.

[Joe Biden 2020]

I can't believe I've already been at my job for 5 weeks.  The first week of Month 2 is already gone.  Week 6 will be a fun week.  We'll work like normal for the first four days and then we'll be moving across the street on Friday.  That will likely be a day free from drawing, but I'll be moving my desk and computer to the new office.  I'm not sure how we'll get it all moved on Friday, because we'll have to resume work on Monday, September 15.  I've heard I should have my own office.  I can't confirm that because I haven't seen the office, but that's an exciting prospect!

[Joe Biden 2020]

Who the hell puts bbq sauce on a steak? WTF?

I normally don't like BBQ sauce and this was no different.  A lot of people put A1 or KC Masterpiece on their steaks, but this was NOTA.  It was gross...

[Joe Biden 2020]

Haha!  That's epic...

[Joe Biden 2020]

Zzzzzzz