Super Ginormous

Category: Personal

Posts of a more personal nature.

  • Back to Basics

    I haven’t given up on Tersus. I’m trying to get into the habit of posting more and I felt like having an incomplete theme was too much of a distraction for me (and for anyone else who might stumble across my site). In the meantime, I’ve switched to using the wonderfully designed, Twenty Eleven Twenty Twelve theme. Will it stay this way for long? I hope not. If it encourages me to write more, maybe.

    Speaking of habits, I’m working on becoming more productive. How am I hoping to accomplish that? I’ve installed RescueTime on my Mac and it tracks my web browsing and app usage and has a running dashboard available that I can view and see exactly how productive I’ve been each day. The other thing I’m doing is using an app called SelfControl. SelfControl lets you create a blacklist of distracting sites. Once its running, you can’t turn it off.

    I’m hoping  these two changes will help me stay more focused and, in turn, I’ll get more shit done.

  • Meet Link

    You may have seen on Twitter or Facebook or Instagram or Path… But we rescued a puppy on Friday and adopted him into our family.

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    This is Link. Link has a Twitter: @LinkTheHeroic. We’re not 100% sure what he is, but we know his mom was a boxer. We’re thinking he might be part Lab, which would make him a Boxador.)

    Our other dog, Mighty Diego, is not happy about the addition. He’s tolerating Link but just barely.

    Diego was an easy pup, relatively speaking. Link, on the other hand, is way more mischievous. We’ll make it work though. :)

  • WallaBee Item Browser

    WallaB.ee is a new location-based item game that I’ve become quite enamored with. Over the past couple of weeks, my friend Will McCain and a few others have been working on a Google Doc that documented all of the available items and mixes/recipes that are available in the game. This weekend I took the idea a step further and created a visual guide: ItemBrowser.com. (It started in a subdirectory on this site and then I decided to move it to its own domain.)

    Right now it’s all updated manually. WallaBee has an API that I hope to leverage to automate the site in the near future.

    Since it’s an iPhone game, the site is geared towards that device. Got any feedback or want to see something done differently with it? Let me know in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter: @itembrowser

  • One Year Later

    What a difference a year makes…

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  • Dwelling on the past

    Dwelling on the past distracts you from the present. 2011 was a good year for me, but I struggled personally and professionally with a number of things. Rather than rehash it all, I’ve realized that I need to learn from those experiences, try my damnedest not to repeat the mistakes that were made and head full steam into 2012.

    To help me, I’ve set some attainable, professional goals.

    • Tweet less.
    • Blog more. Expect at least one blog post a week.
    • Create more. Expect at least one post to dribbble a week.
    • Build something I’m proud of.
    • Spend an hour a day learning/improving my skills.
    • Set realistic deadlines and expectations before starting any project.
    Personally, here’s what I’d like to improve upon:
    • Get more physically active. Since March 2011 I’ve lost 150lbs, but I’ve done so with little to no exercise. I need to get out and do more if I hope to lose any more weight.
    • Make relationships stronger. I’ve sacrificed quite a bit by working too much. I’ve got to find a better live/work balance.

    What are you going to do to make 2012 better than 2011?

  • Happiness is a Yellow Balloon

    Happiness is a yellow balloon

    I let a balloon go in front of my son yesterday and he got really, really upset – like, “You’re not my dude anymore” upset. To me it was just a balloon. To him, it was something much more. I told him that we’d get him another one to replace it at some point. I tried to let him know it wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t work.

    While riding with his mom last night he told her that he had wished upon a star that his balloon would come back to him.

    Kim, being the awesome mom she is, devised a plan. Shortly after Tyler went to sleep, she found a yellow balloon, blew it up and tied it with gold ribbon, perfectly matching the one I let go. We debated on leaving it on the front porch, but decided it was too cold. So she tied it to his bed instead.

    Tyler woke up and ran into our bedroom. “Daddy! Daddy! Wishes do come true. My balloon came back to me. I told you it would.” It blew his mind that the balloon returned.

    Kim made his day. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger smile on him.

  • Walk from Obesity

    In cities across the United States, individuals affected by obesity, their family members and friends, healthcare professionals and many others come together and proudly walk to raise awareness of the disease of obesity, childhood obesity and morbid obesity in the annual Walk from Obesity. On October 9th, I’ll be participating in the Augusta Walk from Obesity. I hope you’ll consider walking with me, or making a small donation to support my effort. I’m trying to raise at least $200 and I’m 10% there already. Would you please consider helping out in some way?

  • Weightloss

    Officially I’m down 17.2 lbs overall, but I didn’t weigh-in this past weekend. (I’m certain I’ve gained since last weigh-in.) I’ve started making excuses for myself. I haven’t been active. I’ve been feeling pretty defeated. WeightWatchers works, but I haven’t kept track of my Points, and I’ve allowed myself to cheat far too often. When you’re losing a pound here and pound there without really trying, it’s easy to trick yourself into thinking “this one bad snack/meal/whatever” is okay this one time. The problem is that one time turns into several if you let it.

    I’ve got a lot more weight to lose. So much so that I’m starting to consider seriously trying to get on The Biggest Loser or gastric bypass surgery. I refuse to give up. That’d be the easy way. I’ve got a long way to go and I’ve only just begun. I need to push myself harder. I need to be more realistic about what I can and cannot eat.

    How do you keep yourself motivated?

  • 15 Days Down

    It’s been 15 days since I started my “hiatus” from Facebook and Twitter. It hasn’t gone quite as I had hoped. I still find myself reading Twitter from time to time and I’ve played some games on Facebook, but overall my usage of both sites is significantly down. I feel like I’m missing out on lots by not keeping up with either site, but I still feel like this is something I need to continue on with.

  • Strange Encounter

    Last night, around 11:30pm, I was on the way home from picking Kim and my niece up from the Daughtry concert. We stopped at a Burger King to get something to drink and eat for the two of them. While in the drive-thru I was approached by an older woman who asked if we could help her get gas. She was shaking; said she was from Waynesboro and was using her brother’s van because she had to take him to the hospital today. She continuned to tell me that her purse was in her car in her brother’s driveway in Waynesboro. It sounded sketchy, as most requests for money usually do, but I helped her out anyway. Why? Well, I’d like to think that if I was ever in her position, assuming she was telling the truth (and I feel like she was), someone would be willing to help me out as well. I told her to drive across the street to a gas station and I’d buy some gas for her. I paid for enough fuel for her to easily get back to Waynesboro. Shook her hand. Wished her luck. And went back on my way home.

    I hope she made it to hers. I hope she’ll pay it forward.