Progress toward 32 by 40

The good news is that I lost my goal of 2 lbs last week, the bad news is that I missed the goal of running 4 times. I created this graph to help plot my progress because what gets measured is what gets managed. Anything I can do to keep me motivated is a good thing. I started running again with my Polar heart rate monitor which tracks speed, pace, distance, and heart rate. I'll post a graph of my next run when I get a chance. I've been glued to the TV wondering what's going to happen with Bush's bailout plan. Right now, I think it's bad idea jeans.

Pinche Hurricane Ike

See my favorite links to buy I Survived Pinche Ike t-shirts and merchandise at http://www.cafepress.com/Hondo85.

32 by 40

The countdown is on. I turn 40 in 126 days and have set a goal for myself to lose 32 pounds by my birthday, thus 32 by 40. If you break it down, I need to lose just shy of 2 pounds per week for the next 18 weeks. How am I going to achieve this? I don't have a fully baked plan, but my goal is to increase my physical activity and eat healthier. When I trained for the two half marathons that I ran in 2005 (I can't believe it's already been almost 3 years), I was running 4 times a week. I would typically run 4 miles 3 days during the week with a long run on the weekend. My current plan is to run 4 times a week, but I am going to run Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturday, and Sunday. I seem to have much more time during the weekends, although I may need to rethink that with the UT football season upon us. I don't know how well I will run "carb loading" on Miller Lite. I'll post the results of my progress.

Married? Yea, Married.

Well last Friday the 15th was the big day. We had a blast. Here are some teaser pictures from our photographer, Tyler Schmitt. He did an amazing job! We highly recommend him.

Happy New Year and the Big Day

Marisa and I wish you a joyous and happy new year. I can't believe it is less than six weeks until the big day.

Cereplast

A couple of weeks ago I happened to be watching the Sundance Channel. How I got there I'll never know...I guess I was just channel surfing. Anyways, there was an interesting program showcasing "Green" products where a gentleman was talking about how traditional plastics are made with oil which takes 100 million years to occur in nature. We then use the plastics for about 45 minutes like in take out containers or plastic water bottles, and then they go back into the landfill where they remain for over 500 years because they don't biodegrade. That sounds like a complete waste of natural resources, not to mention the impact to landfills.

Cereplast is a company that makes compostable and hybrid plastics made of corn, potatoes, and tapioca. This company is in it's early development stages; however, earlier this month, the company reported revenue of $1.6 million, a 258% increase year over year. The company attributed this predominantly to the commercial launch of Cereplast Compostables. While these earnings are encouraging, the company is still in the red and continues to issue shares as a means to finance operations. Total outstanding shares for the third quarter were 258.2 compared to 200.4 million during 2006. I picked up 1,000 shares as a pure speculative play that may be worth watching considering the price of a barrel of oil is approaching the century mark...I probably should have just gone to Vegas. This one will be fun to watch and has made me more environmentally/ recycling conscious. Click here for the video clip.

Mini Reunion

Last night Marisa and I met some old high school friends for dinner as we had a lot to celebrate. Kelly and Stephanie were celebrating their (12th??) wedding anniversary at the new NoRTH restaurant in the Domain, so we decided to crash the party. Bill and Audrey are in town for the next several weeks from Colorado because they are expecting their first child and want the baby to be born in Texas near family. They still don't know if the baby is a boy or a girl...how exciting! And, of course, Marisa and I are still celebrating our engagement. Kimmo and his wife, Jana, joined us as well. Marisa and I ran into Kimmo and Jana at a UT tailgate party on our first date in Austin about two years ago, but haven't seen them since. I hadn't seen Bill since our trip to San Francisco several years ago when Richard proposed to Lauren. It was really nice to see everyone again. I had some good, hearty, crying laughs as our conversations quickly seem to derail as we reminisce about the past. Hopefully we will see them all again soon at the wedding.