Days of Bushie's Life (Update Thread v4)

[patrick1]

Lord help the person who had to sit next to you on the plane.  15 hours of airport and fast food stank.

[patrick1]

You're at a call center for Xerox doing what exactly?

Tech Support for the US Forest Service.

Tech Support with what?

IT

You're just a general IT guy for the Forest Service?  Or you help them with Xerox products.  What do you do on an average day?  I highly doubt that whatever it is, it's really important enough to warrant keeping the branch open on Christmas.

After training, I will be taking calls answering technical-related questions.  The questions will be such as, my computer won't start or I have no internet connection or I need to install a printer, etc.  Its the same thing I was doing at Dell.  The Forest Service is still using outdated equipment, so I will be troubleshooting Windows XP.  I should be on the phones by next Monday, November 26.

They keep the centers open on holidays just in case someone calls with a question.  Normally, the calls are  pretty few and far between and they usually let people go early and from what I've heard, the holiday staffing is on a volunteer basis, unless not enough people are signed up.  Xerox has a contract with the US Forest Service and if they don't keep the center open at all times, they can get fined or possibly lose the contract.  Xerox would prefer to close the center on major holidays, as they have families they want to spend time with as well, but business is business.

Why are you doing IT help on products that Xerox doesn't manufacture?

I think a lot of companies that used to make "stuff" got into managing call centers for other companies as ancillary or separate business units or divisions.  I think it is a way to streamline and leverage expertise in operations- or a.k.a. a way to have a vendor be the one to pay people peanuts and deal with headaches they don't feel like handling.

[patrick1]

So, its either stick with this church and forgive this "trespass" or I stay home and do nothing.

Like I said, there are a few more churches than just one, but not many.  My options are pretty limited.

So, no, you didn't say that there were a few more churches.  You said there probably were but that you hadn't found them.  You DO have options.

And what kinds of things did you buy from Walmart for your meals?  Will you be actually cooking recipes?

I do have options, but again, I'm not going to drop this church just because they didn't invite me over for a meal.

I didn't buy anything that requires a recipe, but mostly things to heat up in the oven such as frozen pizza or frozen burritos.  I know that's not healthy, but I've already got down on my next Walmart list to get stuff for spaghetti.

You know how cheap turkey is?  Not exactly that labor intensive either. Enough of the learned helplessness bull$hit.   Happy Thanksgiving.

[patrick1]

I think Ive been over this before but I'll try again. Because of a variety of factors, I put on a lot of weight steadily over the last years and it really piled up.  Since the new year I took off about 125 lbs and going.  I know first hand hat it can be hard getting started. My suggestions are 1. buy a digital food scale. 2. weigh your portions. 3. keep a spreadsheet with how many  calories you ate and how much exercise you have done for the day. 4. share that spreadsheet and make goals/competition with a loved one. Have someone keep you accountable- this forum doesnt seem to work. 5. Find an exercise or activity that you can do and will stick to. For me it was a recumbent exercise bike- I could do it in all weather, could watch netflix/read forum, listen to music etc etc and it was easy on knees, feet and back.  I steadily got more active and added weights and other activities to mix it up as I went along.

With your obsessive type posting style, Id think you would be really good at keeping that excel spreadsheet. You have to want it though. It will make your life much easier and quality of life better being fit. It is hard lugging around all that extra baggage on your skeleton. I obviously had some of the same motivation struggles that you are going through or else why would I have gotten so out of shape. Feel free to pm me if you ever have any questions. 

[patrick1]

Bushie, we generally naturally underestimate how many calories we are taking in.  Honestly, if you are serious about losing weight shoot for about 2000 calories.  If you choose the rights foods, you will be full and get all of your nutritional needs. You are also probably eating around 2600-2700 in actuality.

Also re: doing activity 3 times a week.  For a man in your position that is crap. Do you think our hunter gatherer ancestors, or er Adam and Eve, sat on their a$$ 4 days a week? No, they were out walking constantly trying to get food.  This is how we are built genetically.  If you are serious about this make it a daily thing as part of your lifestyle.  Walk everywhere and be active.  It is only recently that we as a species, and mainly only those in the west,  are generally sedentary for extended periods of time throughout the day. We were stalking deer, plowing fields or even working at a factory until recently.   Going out daily and getting an hour or so of exercise a day won't kill you. Eating ding dongs and watching football all day without any activity will.

[patrick1]

You will find out what works and doesn't work for you.  And the thing is, it is all up to you. You arent in the Marine Corps with some DI screaming at you to run.  You succeed and fail on your own.

Let me give you a brief insight into what worked for me:

I receive motivation from results and tend toward the extreme on either side of things.  I was tired of feeling and looking like hell and eager to get back to a semblance of my athletic past.  So I started out doing a lot and restricting calories to around 1900.  In retrospect I overdid it but seeing consistent 5lbs off every week kept me into it.  The more weight I lost the easier it got to walk, exercise, live.

A key for long term health is that you should identify what trips you up, where you want to get to and why.  My roadblocks were that I was/am an alcoholic.  I drank too much, got lazy, ate too much, got depressed etc etc.  I plateaued for some months because I tried to be fit and a not very functioning drunk at the same time.   I sought out some therapy/help and got my life in order again. Excess- Food and drink had helped me deal with unresolved personal issues.

And it really does help to examine why we keep making the same mistakes over and again.  From what you post it seems you could use serious introspection and some hard truth telling to yourself on this topic. I'm still neurotic as hell with plenty of faults but I am more self aware of them and the traps I set for myself. Basically; and forgive me for the presumptuousness: your career and weight loss issues are linked.  I'd like you to accomplish your goals so I think you should find out why you are continually sabotaging and/or deluding yourself.  Stop playing dumb on here and sort it out.

[patrick1]

Well then as our friend Nix alluded to just above, why even describe it as an attempt.  As the great philosopher once said.  Do or do not, there is no try.  Set a goal, then accomplish that goal. Nice and simple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQ4yd2W50No

[patrick1]

Establishing healthful habits is more important than closely tracking your daily calorie intake. Don't eat a "lunchable." Have an apple and some yogurt tomorrow instead. Keep doing whatever is easiest and cheapest and you'll be dead before you're 60.

Nix, an important thing to note is that there are short term and long term goals. You know who eats a lot of apples and yogurt and assorted health food, fat chicks.  The denial of comfort food altogether eventually leads people to gorge themselves on cake and completely stop altogether. You are not going to break 30 years of poor eating habits quickly.  By tracking his calorie count and exercising, he will run a deficit and he will lose weight. By losing weight and getting active his blood pressure will go down and his energy level will increase.  It will eventually get to where he will lose his taste for some of the artery clogging foods.  I really think you have to build up to certain things; you just don't flip a switch and start liking healthy food over Arby's overnight.

[patrick1]

Jeff, again when you go to Walmart check out the Healthy Choice meals. They are cheap, filling, and really easy to make. I have about 4 in my freezer here, and about 3 in my freezer in work in case I don't want to go out for lunch, and at home for if I don't get a chance to cook an actual dinner.

I will definitely be looking into Healthy Choice meals.

Agree with Andrew.  Yes, they tend to be very high in salt but they are generally low in calories, taste good and are quick and easy. There are a range of different brands lean cuisine, weight watchers etc (hint: don't bother with 'lean' pockets) just start checking the labels on back and buy some when they are on sale.

Back to the quick thing, I know this forum is loaded with college kids and youngs but I dont know where some of you get the time to make all these gourmet meals.  I cook most every night but I save the labor intensive crap to the weekends. Id rather squeeze in a workout than stir some sauce for hours.

[patrick1]

Jeff, did you really lose 6 pounds?  Because the last time the forum convinced you to diet, you magically started losing weight really easily, but then we found out that you lied about the weight loss.

Yes, I have lost 6 pounds.  This is no lie.

That's what you told us before...

Might be taking the Clarence Darrow routine a bit far, Inks.

Someone stretched the truth or lied on the internet. The HORROR....

[patrick1]

Bushie, if you were reading this thread at all this was already explained to you- ad nauseum almost.

To lose an actual lb of fat you need to burn off about 3500 calories in excess of weight maintenance caloric levels. The way you were doing it you might have been running a deficit of 500 or so on food side. If you didnt increase your activity, you were on pace for a 1lb a week actual weight loss. 7x500

My first month I lost a lb a day of actual weight but I was exercising 3 hours a day and eating 1800 calories. Running 3500 calorie deficits a day. This isnt typically recommended but neither is better super fat.

[patrick1]

Stop being lazy and do this work yourself: You can add up your activity on a site like this:

http://www.caloriesperhour.com/

Shockingly you can also use the computer to google things to find how many calories are in what you eat. They even have it printed on the side of what you buy these days.  You can then use a thing called addition to add it all up...
There are hundreds or thousands of sites with this on there.

[patrick1]

Hey Roker.  Go out and get some exercise.

[patrick1]

Did you use organic, locally-sourced ground beef?

Walmart brand ground beef

I like Chinese food too. 

[patrick1]

Bushie, why did you stop your diet and walking?

[patrick1]

Wait you've already quit your diet....?

Well, there is always tomorrow until there isnt.  A problem is that you tend to pack on even more as you age and your metabolism slows.   There are millions of Americans in worse shape than Bushie but with his related health issues he should take this more serious.

[patrick1]

This series has tanked about as much as Homeland Season 2.

^^^^^^^^
Without faith, update is dead. We need a revival. As for Bushie walking to work, the greatest threat is not his heart, it's slipping and falling. Especially if conditions are icy. Make sure you have sturdy footwear.

I don't have any snow boots, yet, and my tennis shoes are in desperate need of being replaced, so the only pair I have is my dress shoes which is not too safe on snow and ice.

When I was at Bed Bath and Beyond last week, they had these rubber things that stretch over your shoes with metal studs on the bottom to help walk in slippery conditions. I thought it was a pretty clever product. Too bad they were trying to sell them in Memphis.

There's a Bed Bath and Beyond just about 3-4 miles from me, so after Christmas, I may go down and see if they sell them here.

It's cheaper on amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/Sharper-Image-Traction-Slip-Ons-Stretch-On/dp/B005H2RZDG

I tend not to buy much online as I don't like being hit with the use tax come tax time.  I know its not much, but I'd rather get my tax out of the way when I purchase the product then to pay for it again later.

I may be an oldie, but I still prefer brick-and-mortar buying vs. click-and-mortar or totally online.

I, uh, huh, what...oh,  never mind.

[patrick1]

Alright, Jeff, I'll bet you $20 that you don't have this job by July 1st.

July 1st? If he's still there on Feb. 1st, I'll be surprised.

Alright Tweed and I need to sort this out.  Bushie, doesnt bet but that doesnt mean that we can't set some point spreads in the update thread.  Over/unders on weight, parlays about Kenya and jobs.  The possibilities are endless. 

[patrick1]

I still don't understand why a thermostat would need to be set to a hgher temp just because it's colder outside. We all have an ideal temp, perhaps influenced by a desire to keep heating costs low, but a temp we are shooting for nonetheless. Why does the outside temp matter at all? I don't make my house any cooler on a 95 degree day than I do on an 85 defree day.the machine may have to work harder but I don't have to do anything.

It depends, if you have a larger house or a ah less than ideal HVAC system certain parts of the house will get cooler or warmer than others. If you have drafts, you may also need to turn up further on windy days.

[patrick1]

Alternative offer: I'll pay 1/2 the cost of a suit. That way, if one is too much, you can at least still have one.

Simfan, kindly stop acting like a big shot.

[patrick1]

I wonder how many calories posting bible quotes burns? Time for you to stop deluding yourself and blowing smoke and take action. Just my 2 bits, best of luck going forward.

[patrick1]

Bushie in New York City would be epic though!!! New Yorkers are so forthcoming in their opinions. 

Would he make it full week?

[patrick1]

Brooklyn is the new Manhattan. Essentially all of the young people are moving there because Manhattan is so expensive. There are a lot of great new places and restaurants opening there, so it's a really nice area.

I don't know anything about projects in other areas though. I imagine like most things in the city, they aren't easy to get in to either.

Many and most of the housing projects in NYC you aspire to get out of. There are waitlist for these things because  some of the newer ones haven't gone to crap yet and a deluge of hipster hayseeds want to pretend to be a New Yorker for a while and drive up rents for poor, working people.

NY is much safer now and Ill roll through neighborhoods I wouldnt have dreamt of venturing into 15-20 years ago. However, there are still some very rough neighborhoods. East New York,Brownsville, Flatbush, Queensbridge, South Jamaica, a few of the Rockaway ones and vast swaths of the Bronx. In Manhattan a couple of the projects down in Lower East side are rough and crime riddle projects around Washington heights, Harlem up north.

Basically look at the NYC murder map put out by NYtimes a few years back and worst areas are always around the projects.

[patrick1]

Jeff, this isn't an easy question (it sounds simple on surface) but what do you want to do with your life? As a thought exercise if you won the lottery; what would you do? 

Trust me I spent many years at jobs I didn't like and even actively loathed. It is a terrible way to live, It is really only now that I have just made some choices to set myself up into what I want to do. This jumping from job to job isn't healthy for you- mentally or physically.  It is not f#cking funny either.  Your life shouldnt be a series of adventures in futility and zany antics for us. I appreciate you driving forward through these troubles but the fact is that you create these problems for yourself.  Freaking aim before you fire man. 

[patrick1]

Bushie, please stop beating yourself up like this. You plan out Christmas decorations months in advance and just jump on the first snake oil salesman job that comes around.  I know there must be fear of not meeting bills here, but you really have to stop and make some rational decisions. What you are doing to yourself is sadistic and sick. You must stop this vicious circle.  Me wishing you best of luck and pray is bull$hit- I wish that you stop this.