Resolution update

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Written on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 8:17 PM by jkeyes0

So we're almost through January at this point, and I thought I'd give a bit of an update on my primary New Year's Resolution. My resolution was to lose 30 pounds this year, at least. I started at 207.5, and I'm down to 205 right now. 2.5 pounds... progress, but not great. I've started exercising more (2 10-minute workouts per night, walking more at work, etc.), and I've cut back on what I eat a little bit (avoiding snacks and desserts when I can make myself). However, I feel like I'm already starting to lose motivation.

Because of this, I've given myself an ultimatum. Those of you who have seen me lately know that I've been growing a beard since early November.
This is the first time I've ever actually grown a beard before, and I really enjoy having one.

However, knowing this made it simple to see what I need to do to motivate myself into losing weight. Take away something you love, then give it back as a reward. Just like training a dog, only I'm slightly larger and somewhat obese.

Therefore I have made a promise to myself. I have shaved off my beard (pics to follow, hehe), and I won't allow myself to regrow ANY facial hair until I have have lost 15 pounds (meaning I'll be at 190 pounds, since I'm starting at 205 today). At that time I'll decide if I'm making significant enough progress to allow myself a full beard, or if I should just regrow a goatee until I hit my 30 pound goal. Baby steps...
Here, I had removed the sideburns and most of the beard and goatee, but left the mustache and just a little bit of scruff on my chin. Not a great look for me, I must say.
Here I decided to try the mustache-only look, like my dad. Not quite my cup of tea, either. Kinda looks like a child molester in training, don't you think?
Aw. Clean shaven. :(

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Interesting few weeks

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Written on Monday, January 19, 2009 at 11:33 AM by jkeyes0

Well, I've been at my new job for 2 weeks now (sort of...). I missed my first Tuesday due to new employee orientation, and Monday - Thursday the second week for Sharepoint Administrator training.

Overall, things have been pretty slow, with the exception of the first day. Somehow, the previous programmer/DBA didn't include the year when she was selecting records from the database to show, so when the year changed, the program tried to go back 3 months in the current year, and the web application crashed every time someone tried to run it. I went back, added the year, and everything started working. It was great getting to work under pressure like that again. I hadn't done much real programming since college, so it was definitely fun.

Since that day, however, I haven't had much to do. I've been feeling my way around the system, gathering up what tools I think I'm going to need and familiarizing myself with the way everything works.

The Sharepoint class I took was to prepare me to redesign/redeploy our cabinet's website. What my supervisor did not realize (nor did I) was that the Internet Connector license for Sharepoint (required to set up an internet-facing website) costs $40,000, and we don't have one. It's possible we could get it for $20,000 with the state contract, but that's still a huge chunk of money. I've been investigating possible open source alternatives to Sharepoint that we can use for free, and just require me to learn them and train other people on them.

Anyway, that's just about it. To close, here's a before and after shot of my new office.

Before:
PSC office before
Kinda messy. I worked on that.

After:
PSC office after
Much, MUCH better.

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