Guest Posting

I'm guest posting on my wife's blog once a month for a while to talk about music and what we're currently listening to in our house. Check her blog out at http://uniquety.blogspot.com. She's a righteous babe.

And so it begins...

Tomorrow I start into my healthy kick again. I know that sounds kind of like an arbitrary day to start, but for the past two weeks we've had some people visiting our site from Germany, and we've taken them out and shown them to some good restaurants. Yes, another excuse, but no longer! I am going to get back into the habit of using my BodyBugg and entering my food consumption on the website. I hope to be back down around my low by summer time and I hope to stay there instead of going back up. Wish me luck.

Motivation

Last year between January and May I dropped about 55lbs of weight and felt really good. I did this using a BodyBugg device and being a stickler about entering my food intake and uploading my calorie burn. Jogging with my wife almost every night to help her train for the Wasatch Back Ragnar was also a large factor. My problem since May of last year has been the eating. I really enjoy food. Different foods, with different textures, with different spices really interest me. My wife is a great cook and she makes pretty healthy stuff, but I eat too much of it. That is my problem. I do like healthy foods, they satisfy my interest in different types of foods with different textures, tastes and spices, but I eat too much of them. Even healthy foods, when eaten in large quantities, will add to one's waist. I've been trying to get the motivation to be a stickler about entering my eating and calorie burn like I did last year, but I can't seem to do it. I don't know why, I felt way better in May of last year than I ever have in my life. I weighed less at 28 than I did in high school. Any tips would be appreciated.

Old Times

In the past, my wife has asked me to play my trombone again. It's a "talent" I have and really enjoyed middle school through the first year in college. I started out in college as a music major. I really wanted to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Polychronis, my high school band teacher, and teach music to high school kids. Then, reality set in my first semester of college. I had 11 classes and 17 credit hours. I had to practice a huge amount and I realized I wasn't really that great at the trombone. I can play in groups pretty well and contribute a good sound, but I don't think I would ever be good enough to teach trombone to other people and have them turn out that great. It was a hard lesson I had to learn. So, after the first week of my second semester in college, I made the decision to switch majors. I went to the registrar and switched my schedule to be that of a computer science major. This decision was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I enjoyed computer science classes way more than the music classes, but I still played in a couple bands and enjoyed that. I think it was my second year in college that I stopped playing trombone at all. I didn't really have time in my schedule and I wasn't a music major, so I just quit. I've missed playing in a group. There is something about being in a group of musicians, and playing a piece of music that is really moving for me. Music speaks directly to my soul. Some pieces of music have the power to elevate my thoughts and feelings (this is mostly classical music; Dvorak's New World Symphony is an example). I haven't played my trombone regularly for about 6 years. I haven't practiced regularly and the only time I've played it is when my kids really want me to. My wife asked as a Christmas present to her that I audition for the EVMCO, an LDS music group that has children's choirs, adult choirs and an orchestra. I told her I would. I filled out the "I'm interested" form a week ago and received a response telling me about auditions and so forth. I'm nervous. I haven't played regularly in so long, I wonder if I am wasting the time of the audition people to go in there. I do love music; it has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. I miss it. So, Merry Christmas, My Love, I'll do my best.