Time: 6:20 AM
Weight beforehand: 367.5 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 84
Rating: *sigh* I have a slight tickle in my throat, I don't see that these workouts are helping at all, and I'm tired.
I sure hope this ends up like the anecdote about the man that the Lord tells to push the boulder, and he spends his life pushing the boulder, always feeling like a failure because the boulder doesn't move. One day, the Lord returns and the man cries out that he has failed to move the boulder, and therefore failed the Lord. The Lord kindly points out that he told the man to push the boulder, not to move the boulder, and that by doing what he had been asked to do, the man has gained great strength in his arms and legs, and THAT was what the Lord wanted for him.
I don't see much benefit these days, but I hope there is some hidden there somewhere.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Dealing With Errata
It's not quite 9:00 AM, and I've already been dealing with errata all day.
My oldest son is very bright, and he also has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) driven Tourette syndrome. Over the weekend, he discovered a computer game that my wife and I have enjoyed for some time that we thought he would like. It turns out he likes it so much that yesterday (about 6:10 AM) and today (before 6:00 AM) he has gotten up very early to play it before getting ready for school. This is of course unacceptable, and we've been dealing with him needing to understand why he can't do that, and having to hide the required CD to launch the game, and dealing with him being tired.
We also recently decided to cancel our home monitoring service and go with a new provider. In checking over my accounts today, I discovered that the old service was still billing us. I spent just over 15 minutes getting that resolved with them.
Then there's the video book report that we have to transfer to an actual VHS tape, finding out if Scouts really is going to be tonight or not due to it being Pack meeting week, etc, that my wife is handling.
Better busy that bored, but I think I was already kind of busy. I ended up not doing a workout today due to tiredness and errata.
My oldest son is very bright, and he also has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) driven Tourette syndrome. Over the weekend, he discovered a computer game that my wife and I have enjoyed for some time that we thought he would like. It turns out he likes it so much that yesterday (about 6:10 AM) and today (before 6:00 AM) he has gotten up very early to play it before getting ready for school. This is of course unacceptable, and we've been dealing with him needing to understand why he can't do that, and having to hide the required CD to launch the game, and dealing with him being tired.
We also recently decided to cancel our home monitoring service and go with a new provider. In checking over my accounts today, I discovered that the old service was still billing us. I spent just over 15 minutes getting that resolved with them.
Then there's the video book report that we have to transfer to an actual VHS tape, finding out if Scouts really is going to be tonight or not due to it being Pack meeting week, etc, that my wife is handling.
Better busy that bored, but I think I was already kind of busy. I ended up not doing a workout today due to tiredness and errata.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Online Business
My wife runs an online business, www.ctr-ring.com. She sells CTR rings (see the bottom of the page for an overview of what CTR means) and other Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints themed jewelry, craft items, clothing, literature, etc. She's been running it for about 18 months now, and it has been growing slowly but fairly steadily.
Recently she has been investigating using SEO to help her site show up on the first page of search results for people who are searching for her kind of business and merchandise. Many different companies are more than willing to take $500 or more off her hands in order to write articles, use keywords, and generally make her site more appealing to various search engines so that she'll be a top choice.
I'm writing this article about www.ctr-ring.com for free. *grin* I guess it's my way of playing around with the whole SEO concept, which to this point has only been theory to me.
She and I have talked about someday reaching a point where I could make enough money by investing/business ownership that I could work from home. Of course, I don't have any interesting business up and running right now, while she is pretty successful. Wouldn't it be a great thing if her business got to the point where it could cover our mortgage payment each month? All of our monthly bills? I'd be more than happy to work for her!
Recently she has been investigating using SEO to help her site show up on the first page of search results for people who are searching for her kind of business and merchandise. Many different companies are more than willing to take $500 or more off her hands in order to write articles, use keywords, and generally make her site more appealing to various search engines so that she'll be a top choice.
I'm writing this article about www.ctr-ring.com for free. *grin* I guess it's my way of playing around with the whole SEO concept, which to this point has only been theory to me.
She and I have talked about someday reaching a point where I could make enough money by investing/business ownership that I could work from home. Of course, I don't have any interesting business up and running right now, while she is pretty successful. Wouldn't it be a great thing if her business got to the point where it could cover our mortgage payment each month? All of our monthly bills? I'd be more than happy to work for her!
13 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:20 AM
Weight beforehand: 362.4 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 90
Rating: I'm glad my weight went down, but I'm not going to feel too confident about anything until I start dropping below the range I've been in. If I can get down below 355 and be consistently below that, I'll start feeling like I'm making real progress again.
Weight beforehand: 362.4 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 90
Rating: I'm glad my weight went down, but I'm not going to feel too confident about anything until I start dropping below the range I've been in. If I can get down below 355 and be consistently below that, I'll start feeling like I'm making real progress again.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Don't Panic
In my studies about financial markets, I've learned many things, and here is one of the most important ones. The greatest buying opportunities are when everyone else is so fearful that they sell everything and leave the market. We are starting to see that happen now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the markets start to rebound in a significant way over the next 12 months, and possibly sooner, though I'm not going to make predictions. It might take longer to happen, but I'll be able to tell when it does.
There is an easy way to know when the market is officially going down and when it is officially going up. That is to watch the 20 week moving average and the 40 week moving average on a stock chart of a major market index, like the S&P 500 or the NYSE. When the 20 week average is above the 40 week average, the market is going up. When the 20 week average is below the 40 week average, the market is going down.
Want to see? Go to the following link for the S&P 500 and set the parameters I specify below.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp?symb=SPX
Under the Time Frame area:
Time: 1 Decade
Frequency: Weekly
Under the Indicators area:
Moving Averages: EMA (2-Line) and the next box 20,40 to set it to 20 and 40 weeks
Those are the critical settings. I set other things like the Price Display (under Chart Style) to be Candlestick, but that's not really important. Click the Draw Chart button, and you should end up seeing something like the following, without the circles that I added.
I didn't include the dates in this picture, but you can find them at the bottom of the page when you go to the link. If you look closely, or click on the picture, you can see a brownish line and a blue line. The brown one is the 20 week moving average, and the blue one is the 40 week moving average.
The circles are when the 20 week went from above the 40 week to below (in the last few months of 2000), then from below to above (in the first few months of 2003), then again from above to below (at the very end of 2007). You'll notice that the general trend of the market is up when the brown line is above the blue, and it is down when the brown line is below the blue.
A simple way to use this information is to invest your money in the index you are tracking when the 20 week moving average moves from below the 40 week moving average to above it, then leave it invested there until the 20 week moving average moves below the 40 week moving average. At that point, you take your money out of the index and put it into CDs or bonds or something more stable until you see the 20 week moving average move above the 40 week moving average again.
So, don't panic. This might be close to the bottom, or it might not be there just yet, but the chances are pretty good that we are closer to the bottom than to the top, so if you don't need the money you have in stocks for the next few years, it might be better to hold on to them and wait for the market to go back up than to sell out this far from the top. It can be scary, and it could take a year or more to turn around, but if you have that much time, consider your options. Use the 20 week and 40 week moving averages, and you can know for sure when the index you are tracking is officially moving up again.
There is an easy way to know when the market is officially going down and when it is officially going up. That is to watch the 20 week moving average and the 40 week moving average on a stock chart of a major market index, like the S&P 500 or the NYSE. When the 20 week average is above the 40 week average, the market is going up. When the 20 week average is below the 40 week average, the market is going down.
Want to see? Go to the following link for the S&P 500 and set the parameters I specify below.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/advchart/frames/frames.asp?symb=SPX
Under the Time Frame area:
Time: 1 Decade
Frequency: Weekly
Under the Indicators area:
Moving Averages: EMA (2-Line) and the next box 20,40 to set it to 20 and 40 weeks
Those are the critical settings. I set other things like the Price Display (under Chart Style) to be Candlestick, but that's not really important. Click the Draw Chart button, and you should end up seeing something like the following, without the circles that I added.
I didn't include the dates in this picture, but you can find them at the bottom of the page when you go to the link. If you look closely, or click on the picture, you can see a brownish line and a blue line. The brown one is the 20 week moving average, and the blue one is the 40 week moving average.
The circles are when the 20 week went from above the 40 week to below (in the last few months of 2000), then from below to above (in the first few months of 2003), then again from above to below (at the very end of 2007). You'll notice that the general trend of the market is up when the brown line is above the blue, and it is down when the brown line is below the blue.
A simple way to use this information is to invest your money in the index you are tracking when the 20 week moving average moves from below the 40 week moving average to above it, then leave it invested there until the 20 week moving average moves below the 40 week moving average. At that point, you take your money out of the index and put it into CDs or bonds or something more stable until you see the 20 week moving average move above the 40 week moving average again.
So, don't panic. This might be close to the bottom, or it might not be there just yet, but the chances are pretty good that we are closer to the bottom than to the top, so if you don't need the money you have in stocks for the next few years, it might be better to hold on to them and wait for the market to go back up than to sell out this far from the top. It can be scary, and it could take a year or more to turn around, but if you have that much time, consider your options. Use the 20 week and 40 week moving averages, and you can know for sure when the index you are tracking is officially moving up again.
10 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:30 AM
Weight beforehand: 365.4 lbs
Length: 10 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 200
Rating: It sure doesn't feel like this is helping, but it's got to be good for me to be working out, doesn't it?!
Weight beforehand: 365.4 lbs
Length: 10 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 200
Rating: It sure doesn't feel like this is helping, but it's got to be good for me to be working out, doesn't it?!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
9 October Weight Update
I was feeling pretty bad last night, so I went to bed around 9:00. I tried to sleep in a little bit today too, so I didn't do a workout. I did weigh myself, and I came in at 364.7.
My wife has been feeling very ill recently, and we think it might be due to some pills she has been taking to try and assist her own weight loss. She's run out of pills, so we're watching to see if she stops feeling so poorly going forward. Other women she knows have had great success with this particular formula so we were surprised to realize that her sickness seemed to coincide with when she started taking it.
My wife has been feeling very ill recently, and we think it might be due to some pills she has been taking to try and assist her own weight loss. She's run out of pills, so we're watching to see if she stops feeling so poorly going forward. Other women she knows have had great success with this particular formula so we were surprised to realize that her sickness seemed to coincide with when she started taking it.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
8 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:25 AM
Weight beforehand: 365 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 84
Rating: I think the medicine helped me drop some water weight. I am getting pretty tired now, and I didn't want to get out of bed today. However, I DID get up, and I wimped my way through a little-bitty workout, but at least I did something.
Weight beforehand: 365 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 84
Rating: I think the medicine helped me drop some water weight. I am getting pretty tired now, and I didn't want to get out of bed today. However, I DID get up, and I wimped my way through a little-bitty workout, but at least I did something.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
7 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:35 AM
Weight beforehand: 367 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 109
Rating: I take some blood pressure medication that also acts as a diuretic (meaning it makes me have to go #1 a lot). I have missed a few days on that for various reasons, and today I started taking it again. My weight was up yet again this morning, so I worked out a little harder for the 5 minutes that I did, and I'm hoping that the water weight I expect to lose today coupled with the increased heart rate from the workout will help me drop some weight on tomorrow's reading.
Weight beforehand: 367 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 109
Rating: I take some blood pressure medication that also acts as a diuretic (meaning it makes me have to go #1 a lot). I have missed a few days on that for various reasons, and today I started taking it again. My weight was up yet again this morning, so I worked out a little harder for the 5 minutes that I did, and I'm hoping that the water weight I expect to lose today coupled with the increased heart rate from the workout will help me drop some weight on tomorrow's reading.
Monday, October 6, 2008
General Conference
My wife and I had decided a long time ago that we would try to take our children to experience a General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in person after they turned 8 years old. My oldest has just passed that mark, and so we were in attendance Saturday morning.
We were a little worried about how he would handle the two hour meeting since he can't sit still for it at home and watch on TV, but he was interested and attentive much of the time. We had brought some papers to do word games on to help with the other times, and he told us that he really enjoyed it. It made me feel good to share that experience with him, and to have him be in the same room with a prophet.
We were a little worried about how he would handle the two hour meeting since he can't sit still for it at home and watch on TV, but he was interested and attentive much of the time. We had brought some papers to do word games on to help with the other times, and he told us that he really enjoyed it. It made me feel good to share that experience with him, and to have him be in the same room with a prophet.
6 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:25 AM
Weight beforehand: 364.7 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 260
Rating: I need to watch what I'm eating, because I'm working out and my weight is going up!
Weight beforehand: 364.7 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 260
Rating: I need to watch what I'm eating, because I'm working out and my weight is going up!
Friday, October 3, 2008
3 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:25 AM
Weight beforehand: 361 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 84
Rating: We're watching a friend's children while she recovers from surgery today, and I had other tasks that needed to be done, so I cut the workout extra short. I still did one though.
Weight beforehand: 361 lbs
Length: 5 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 84
Rating: We're watching a friend's children while she recovers from surgery today, and I had other tasks that needed to be done, so I cut the workout extra short. I still did one though.
2 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:30 AM
Weight beforehand: 362.6 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 270
Rating: TPRU is still hard to do!
Weight beforehand: 362.6 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 270
Rating: TPRU is still hard to do!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
1 October 2008 Workout
Time: 6:30 AM
Weight beforehand: 359.2 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 260
Rating: The doctor confirmed that my middle son and I have strep as well. I've been taking my antibiotics, and I don't feel any worse than I did yesterday. Due to that, I decided to work out for at least 5 minutes and up to 15 minutes, and I ended up doing all 15.
Weight beforehand: 359.2 lbs
Length: 15 minutes
Program: TPRU
Elliptical Reported Calories Burned: 260
Rating: The doctor confirmed that my middle son and I have strep as well. I've been taking my antibiotics, and I don't feel any worse than I did yesterday. Due to that, I decided to work out for at least 5 minutes and up to 15 minutes, and I ended up doing all 15.
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