259

My weekly Weight Watcher meetings are on Thursday, so my offical technical weigh in is then, however, I just thought I'd report that this morning I'm down to 259, and feeling fine.

Starting weight: 266
Current weight: 259
Total loss so far: 7 pounds

Plus, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm learning what portion control is. Sure, when I was younger I could all I wanted and it would melt off, but now that I'm getting a bit older, the metabolism starts to slow down.

My true test will be vacation on September 8. We'll be at the beach for a week. Here's to a strong week!

A Conversation with an Indian

I despise calling for technical support, customer service, or any other calls like that, especially since none of them speak English.

Today, I called a Linksys support line for troubleshooting with my router. They asked for my telephone number, so they could open up a case number. Here is the conversation with lady technician:

Linksys: Hello. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking with today?

Me: Yes, my name is Lane.

L: Can you give me your home telephone number so we can open a case for you?

Me: Okay, my number is (changed so I won't get junk calls) 256-682-5710.

L: I'm sorry, can you kindly give me that number again?

Me: Sure, its 256-682-5710

L: I'm sorry, I'm having a hard time understanding your English. Can you please speak clearly and slower so I can understand?

Me: Okay. its 2....5....6....6....8....2....5....7....1....0

L: Hold one moment please

I wait for a while, wondering what is taking so long, and also wondering how she's going to help me if she can't even understand my phone number. About 3 more minutes go by, and then I hear a different voice, this time male.

Linksys: Hello Mr. Lane, I understand that you are not giving your phone number to our technician, we can not help you until you do that.

Me: I gave the lady my number 3 times. She said she couldn't understand me, and then she put me on hold.

Linksys: All right, please hold for moment again (not a mistype, that's how he said it).

I wait for a few more moments. About 5 minutes later:

Linksys: Sir, we will not be able to help you at this time, please call back when you can give us your telephone number. Is there anything else we can help you with today?

Me: (Wanting to throw my phone at the guy, but remembering who I am, and that this isn't that big of a deal...) No thank you, I'll call back later.

Olympic Confusion

I'm more of a fan of the Olympics than I thought I would be. I honestly did not think I would get so into it. Of course, athletes like Michael Phelps has tremendously increased my interests, and the interests of millions of Americans. Enough so, that NBC is concerned their ratings will drop now that the swimming events are over.

Now, there are a lot of Olympic events in which I feel are merited as events: Track and Field (especially the marathon), all the racing events, the wrestling and gymnastics (even with the corrupt point systems they use). I'm amazed at the Diving, and the distance events like the 5000 meter events.

But there is one event, no matter how I look at it, that I can't understand it being an Olympic event, better yet, a sport at all. Now understandably, I'm not a horse lover. I'm not a horse hater either. I'm all for Horse Racing and the jumping events, but please some explain "Dressage" to me, and why its an Olympic event? Turn your volume down (annoying music) and watch the video below, and then weigh in.

The number is 39, no more

So, I took the plunge.

I took the plunge because I've been taking a plunge, daily, for the past 4 years.

If you went back over the writings of these blog pages, you would see at least 6 promises and guarantees to shed the pounds that have hindered me for so long.

But I haven't.

I've consistently stayed at the past year around 255-260 pounds. My scientifically determined healthy weight is 195. I was there 5 years ago. Now, I'm officially at 266, at least according to my official Weight Watchers weigh in last night.

How humiliating is it to get to a point where I have to pay someone to tell me I'm fat? How embarrassing is it to walk into a room where the youngest person by 20 years, and, oh yeah, the only guy? How does it affect one's budget to pay $39 a month to be a part of a group that weighs you in each week?

Turns out, not so much to all of the above. The meeting went well, and I found out what I already knew, I'm too fat and I eat too much.

My daily point allowance is 39. No more than 39 points worth of food can I eat. Let's talk about my bad days in the past and see how many points I would have had:

If I eat a breakfast sandwich from McDonalds: 9 points
If I eat the hash browns: 3 points
If I eat lunch with Jason at Five Guys: (cheeseburger) 13 points
If I eat the fries: 13 points
If I get a candy bar on the way home: 6 points
If I get dinner out with Kristen at the Italian Place in town: (with the bread sticks): 20 points

I'm already at 64 points, and I haven't added an evening snack to the mix. Now, this isn't a typical day, because most of the times, I don't even eat breakfast, and I don't eat lunch with Jason everyday, and we don't eat out every night. However, there are days when this happens in the life of a youth minister.

So here's to Weight Watchers, a program I know works for many, and praying it works for me.

I do get a weekly allowance of 35 extra points, that can be used all at one meal, or over the course of the week.

If I start exercising, I get to add so many points to my daily allowance.

Here goes nothing.

Josie "Cooing"

By the way, we officially moved Josie into her room on Tuesday night. She's been sleeping in her own little bed in our room for the past two and a half months, but now she has officially moved into her own room. We've been told horror stories of parents who waited too long to do this, and the kids would have a horrible transition.

For the past few nights, she has been sleeping wonderfully. She still gets up once a night, but that's to be expected for a while, because she still needs that early 3 am feeding. But we put her down at 8:30 or 9, and she sleeps till 3, and then she sleeps again till about 7.

So here's to the first major transition in her life, hoping it will continue to go smoothly.

The Gold, The Silver, and the Bronze

So Saturday morning, Kristen and I sit down to watch some of the Olympics. After such an AMAZING opening ceremony, I got really stoked about watching some of the events. We watched the US Women's Volleyball team beat China, we watched a game of Handball, which is really cool, and then we watched some of the Men's long distance cycling.

I believe, however, that I was most mesmerized by the Fencing event. I didn't understand a bit of it, but what was so amazing was that all three medals went to the Americans. As I watched the Medal Ceremony, it brought an enormous amount of Patriotism to me. Here I am, almost in tears over an event I know nothing about.

But what's even more amazing than that is that I find myself being extremely proud of anyone who wins a medal at all. Most recently I just saw a Men's Japanese swimmer win gold, and Norway's first swimming medalist ever on the Medal stand. These athletes work so hard to be as perfect as they can be to compete in these games.

It was stated in the opening ceremonies that around 80 of the 205 nations represented have never won a medal at all. The chances of winning a medal are extremely slim. Even though for most a medal is never realized, they strive for it with all their heart. Medals not being won because of a loss by less than .001 of a second. Its truly amazing

If we could learn as Christians from these athletes, I think it would be this: If we just try our hardest to be the best we can be in God's eyes, and do all we can to represent Him and His Kingdom, we have a guarantee of the prize. Why is so many can strive for something that is never guaranteed, but so many never strive for something that is promised?

Once they're in my head....

...they're stuck. The first one is my favorite. How about you?

God bless my family

Recently, I've been reminded how lucky I am.

- I have two very loving parents
- I have two very loving siblings
- I have two very great sibling-in-laws
- I have two very great parent-in-laws
- I have a great sister and brother in law on my wife's side
- I have a wonderful and beautiful daughter
- I have the most amazing wife

On top of this, I have a great extended family, with aunts and uncles on both sides who are all dedicated Christians.

My father and mother are in Cartagena, Columbia visiting with Missionaries. My father will be leading a team on a retreat for their ministry there in Columbia.

My parent-in-laws just returned from a mission trip to Timisoara, Romania.

My father is an elder and minister in the church.

My father in law is a deacon and teacher in the church.

I have a great family. Thank you God for such a great family.