Day 397 - Down In The Valley

159.2 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of it ran, and 150/100.

Well, last night I was at the office pretty late, like 12:45, pretty much tearing the place apart. I think I have all the dividers and desks about where they need to be, but I couldn't secure things down yet because I have to figure out exactly where I can put the Ikea suspended divider cabinets, who's poles have to work around ductwork and other tasty obstacles on the ceiling.

Anyway, I woke up a little late and not in the best of spirits, then after getting the blood moving again on the treadmill, I cleaned up and went straight from home to a Target meeting at 10:30.

I wasn't at the office very long today because I had a 4:00 appointment as well, and then a dinner and drinks appointment.

Tonight a handful of agency owners had our first PPG (Principle Peer Group) get-togethers. We went to JP's Bistro off Lyndale and had a few drinks, some good eats, and some frank, no-secrets discussion. I learned of an interesting rumor floating out there about me, and was a little dumbfounded about how it came about. I have some ideas, but I'll be testing those next week.

Anyway, after I got back, I found Jo just starting to watch Garden State, so she backed up, started it over while I made a huge batch of naughty, buttery popcorn (why the hell not??) and I watched with her.

The night ended with me in even lower spirits than I woke up with, but tomorrow is another day, and will be better, dagnabbit.

Day 396 - Manual Labor Ain't All That Bad

160.2 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Not much to report today. I finished taping the door and the trim and stuff around Kate's office, and then actually primed the door during business hours. Man, I don't enjoy painting 12-lite doors.

Anyway, I'm going to eat a bowl of soup and stick around here into the wee hours probably and do some more office rearranging/building/painting and stuff. It is kind of enjoyable actually. A nice change of pace.

Just crank the tunes and work.

Day 395 - Penguins, Penguins, Penguins!

159.4 on the scale. 2.0 miles on the treadmill, and 0/0.

Didn't get up early enough for all 3 miles and the abs/arms stuff, because I had to take the boys to school and help Cole get his penguin PowerPoint presentation set up in the gym for their Winter Wonderland extravaganza.

I lugged my flatscreen monitor from home and a Mac Mini, and got it set up pretty quickly with him, then walked him to his locker and headed out to work for the day.

After work, I met Jo and the boys and Jo's parents, at the gym again for the official "open house" where the parents got to walk through and see everyone's winter presentations. There were some really interesting ones, and it was nice to see that Cole's presentation was a popular attraction.

HAM Skyway Race - Angela vs. Alexis

Well, the Skyway Race actually came to fruition today, and though I'd like to say it was close since my money was on Alexis, it really wasn't. Angela stomped her ass.

Day 394 - Just Another Monday Really

159.4 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Well, I got to take those pictures of the dividers finally, and they have people in them! Wooo!





Pretty sharp, eh? I think so anyway.

Other than the Skyway Race, it was a relatively even-keel day. I took care of some designs for Target, replied to some emails and such, and then with the spare last hour or so of the day, I taped up the new door to get ready to paint it.

We had a contractor move the door in Kate's old office from one side to the other so that we could put another desk in that corner. Surprisingly, it also really really helps that office not feel like a hole. I didn't know it, but that door has always been on the wrong side of the office!



So, until tomorrow...

Day 393 - The Swedes Make Heavy Boxes

160.4 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

This morning, after making some apple-cinnamon pancakes for the boys and taking care of the treadmill action, we all packed in two cars and headed to the office for Cory, Cole and Mommy to play Wii, and Daddy to assemble desk dividers.

Jo also helped with some mass-assembly stuff, but I was most upset to find I'd purchased 12 heavy-ass boxes of the wrong freakin' finish.

So, my first task was to pile them back into the van, screech back to Ikea and exchange them for the RIGHT finish. So I got plenty of a workout, all in all.

Anyway, by the time I got back, Jo had to leave with Cory so he could have a play date with his friend Ethan. Cole and I stayed at the office for awhile until it was time to run and pick up Cole's play date, Matt, and bring him back to the office for pizza and Wii with Cole. They had a blast, and I was able to completely finish putting together two of the dividers.

Turns out I ran out of time to take pictures, so I'll do it tomorrow and post, but I've got it down to a system now. I'm able to assemble and erect the dividers all by myself, and I gotta say, they're lookin' sharp.

Hope the peeps like them tomorrow. They randomly show up to work to find their desk moved or some other in-progress antics.

Bear with me folks, it'll be great when it is done.

One step closer to being a real company.

Day 392 - Two Steps Forward

159.8 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, all of them ran, and 150/100.

After sleeping in, Jo and I got cleaned up and went to Ikea to get another shitload of stuff.

She did a little browsing around while I went straight to the self-service area and loaded everything I needed to build the three additional suspended dividers I know I'll need as part of the office reorg. (Yeah, I think $1,850 qualifies as a shitload.) After purchasing and packing it all into the van, I found her in the store and browsed a little as she finished, then we headed over to Cucumbers for a monstrous salad before I dropped her at home again.

I headed down to the office and unloaded everything and got back to finishing up the first divider set, getting them all secured, doors on, and the two workspaces cleaned up. I neglected to take a picture, but since I'm going there again tomorrow (probably with the boys), I'll snap some shots.

Kinda satisfying seeing it all come together, just can't wait until the whole office is finished.

Anyway, I got home around 6:15 or so to Jo's parents, who'd been shopping with Cole for a desk and were there to assemble it. Unfortunately, the top had a huge crack in it so Bruce has to return the part and get a replacement before he can build.

I got to making a naughty and indulgent supper of bacon cheeseburgers and Ore-Ida fries. I'd worked hard, and frankly I didn't give a shit what I ate.

However, I did immediately afterwards get on the treadmill and try to sweat some of it back out.

I know. Ew.

Day 391 - Troublesolving, Problemshooting

160.0 on the scale (yeah, whoops), and no exercise.

So, this morning I spent trapsing around town looking for just the right pre-fab hardware to connect Effektiv to Stolmen, to no avail. SO, I finally just said, "Fuck it! I'm making my own!"

I got some angled aluminum bracing, a metal blade for a circular saw, and a wild hair up my ass and then went to town after taking care of some work-type paperwork. I cut them down to a foot in length, predrilled the holes I needed to fasten the Stolmen connector to it, and then it to the cabinetry.

Then, after finding out the kids were spontaneously going to be at Grandma & Grandpa's overnight and Jo would be out with her mom's group friends, I decided to stick around and put my brackets (and the whole hairbrained idea) to the test.

Well, turns out it worked, and worked pretty well at that! Below, you can see the progress, I'm quite proud, thankyouverymuch. Ben, you watching this??!

Day 390 - Laptop-Free Since 1/23!

156.6 on the scale. 6.0 miles on the treadmill, most of 'em ran, and 300/200.

I got like 11 badly-needed hours of sleep. Wooo!

Yes, notice the numbers above are doubled. I got up and got on the treadmill which was nice, but then in the middle of the day I stopped at an indian buffet (Bombay Bistro) and suspended the usual restraints, so figured I better attone later in the evening.

So oddly enough, I didn't boot my laptop up at all today. Or last night. I had meetings most of the day, pretty much back-to-back, a late appointment, then I headed home, never having touched the power button on my MacBook Pro.

In the evening, we had these tasty (but very messy) Asian lettuce wraps that Jo made, then I got on the treadmill for the second shift. After a late-evening conversation (read "argument"), I planted my ass in front of the boob tube for a few hours of vegging, and shaking off the crazy.

I really haven't spent much time in front of the TV except for Heroes on Monday nights while it was on, so most of what I saw was new to me, and man, Family Guy is hilarious. Watched a little Letterman, and then was exposed to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He's pretty funny at first then starts to get old, but the crappiest part was they had Ringo Starr on for like 3 or 4 songs, and holy shit he sucks!

Good thing he didn't front the Beatles or they'd never had made it out of Liverpool.

Day 389 - Near Miss

158.2 on the scale. No exercise yet.

Got 4.5 hours of sleep due to a late night on a Target presentation, so if I'm cranky, that's why!

I also had an appointment this morning with the dental hygienist, so my pearly whites are pearly again, but my gums are throbbing. Don't mess with me.

ALSO, after the appointment, I stopped to get a decaf americano at Caribou, and had a near miss! Luckily, I asked before I took the cup whether it indeed was decaf, and it wasn't! I would have broken that particular resolution had I not asked!

I've been doing pretty well without the caffeine. Probably because I still get some in a can of diet coke here and there, and there's still a little bit in decaf, but I haven't experienced major headaches like I thought I might.

That's good.

Day 388 - Up And At 'Em

159.4 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, all of 'em ran, and 150/100.

Kinda felt good to get up and run in the morning rather than doing it at night. Maybe I should get back in the habit of that. That and blogging.

So last night I was at the office late putting together a buncha Ikea stuff that is part of the shuffle. I'm happy with how it is turning out, but I found out that I have to rethink my plan for the between desk divider/cabinets.

I'm getting creative and mixing their Effektiv stuff (which has the finish to match our existing stuff) with Stolmen (which has floor to ceiling posts to mount cabinetry/shelves between). I bought enough to test this out with one thingy before I go hogwild, but I bought wall-mount units thinking that they'd work well only to realize after building one that they are not finished on the back.

So, I gots to get down there and buy a little different stuff to test this out.

Not tonight though, there's a Wings family night thing for Cole.

Day 382 - Back After These Messages

158.2 on the scale. No exercise yet.

So yeah, my postings are trailing off. Been a bit preoccupied with other things, but I'll be back!

Day 380 - TRUCE!!

159.8 on the scale. Today will be a good day. The poking war has ended in a truce, the sun is shining, and I'm sharp and focused.

Quote of the Day

From the barista at my neighborhood Caribou, who I haven't seen since 2007 - "*surprised gasp* Did you switch to decaf?!"

Day 379 - Day of Rest

158.2 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, all of them ran, and 150/100.

Day 378 - I Like Saturday

161.6 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, little less than 2.5 ran, and 150/100. Not feeling the strongest today, dunno why.

So I learned last night that Cory won the Spelling Bee at his school, and will now represent Groveland Elementary in the district competitions in early February. Howzabout that?

Cole continues to garner support for his fundraiser thingy (thanks Alexis!).

We kinda lounged about most of the morning, sleeping in and napping on and off, until the afternoon, when Cole had a birthday party at a big sledding hill with his old Spring Hill buddies. Jo took him there, and after putzing around on the internets for awhile, I dragged my ass onto on the treadmill and eeked out 3.0 miles.

When it was time to pick up Cole, I rounded up Cory and we picked him up then headed to the office for awhile. Jo had a dinner with her mom's group, so we ordered pizza and had a "boys night out" of sorts.

The boys played Wii for hours, and I took care of a bunch of email archiving settings and stuff for '08. I'd intended to get to work on the new desks, but found that we don't have the hardware yet, or at least, if we do, I don't know where the hell it is.

We got back around 9:00 or so, and the kids went straight to bed, thus ending an alright day for a weekend.

Day 377 - It's Oh So Quiet

161.2 on the scale, won't be any exercise today.

Today is a very quiet day, which I intend to spend around the office doing some outstanding technical junk, space planning, and if the tops for the new desks get here, maybe doing a little desk assembly.

Then of course, my appointment late afternoon, and dinner and a movie with Jo.

Day 376 - Week's Almost Over, And That's A Good Thing

159.2 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

I've been geeking out and watching episodes of the original Star Trek series while jogging. I recognize how blatently cheesy some of the premises, stories and effects are, but I still get a kick out of watching them.

I got a good night's sleep last night, but this morning, I hit the snooze at about 6:40 (actually, turned it off outright), and then woke up at 7:30 to realize I had a dentist appointment at 7:45 that completely fell off my radar.

SO, I rushed like a madman, but got there 15 minutes late (I know! From awake to out the door in 15 minutes!), so they had to reschedule my cleaning for another day. They were gracious enough though to take care of the x-ray stuff and the checkup, and not chastise me too badly for costing them a full appointment.

Had a meeting this morning with Target about some '08 planning, which was good. Sounds like we're going to have a better idea of what to expect and when from them this year in terms of project work, and be brought to the table earlier in the process, likely WITH Offline early in the concepting stage.

An update on some of the home front, so Cole's involved in a fundraiser thingy for St. Jude's, so if you feel like backing him, you let him know. He'd appreciate the help. Has something to do with sponsoring him on a test sort-of-thing, like you can pledge a dime or a nickel for every question he gets right. Like a walk-a-thon, but a test-a-thon. Lemme know, and I'll let him know!

Cory, hopefully, has finally finished typing up his story for writing class. I have yet to read it, but now that it is perhaps done I'm gonna have to check it out.

Tomorrow should be quiet at work, I've got an appointment late in the afternoon, and then Jo and I are going out tomorrow night to use some gift certificates we got over Christmas (thanks Brady & Des). The weekend sees me spending some time at the office getting more stuff taken care of, and of course resting.

Jo's got a mom's dinner thing on Saturday night, and orchestra rehearsal on Sunday so she'll be getting out of the house, which will be good for her.

Day 375 - *yawn*

161.4 on the scale, 3.0 miles, about 2.5 of them ran, and 150/100.

On a personal level, last night was rough. As was today. That's all I have to say about that.

On a business level, the mini-summit went well I think. Although you'll have to ask my employees what they really think to know for sure. Now that it is over, I can say that the bulk of it was about a slight restructuring of a couple of roles and how the company operates, and then also about defining a number of things that needed defining, including roles, responsibilities, and how we form and run project teams.

Here's our new prettified org chart, indicating some hires on the horizon (the grey positions). Unless something crazy happens this year (either good or bad), we'll be 20 people by the end of '08. Had you told me 10 years ago that we'd be 20 people, let alone even still exist, I would probably have laughed.

I'm biased, but I think the ideas will help a lot in how '08 goes, and allow us to grow a bit more effectively as we continue to get great opportunities and people in the door.

The challenge now is how to fit us all into the space we have. *scratches head*

Day 374 - Movin' On Up!

162.2 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Today I was up way earlier than I am used to nowadays to be at a 7:00 am interview for a potential Account Director. It was kinda nice being up and at it early, and I was quite happy with the interviewee, but it made for a long day by the end of it.

We also had a conference call with Nickelodeon about getting a contract in the works for games for two new properties this year, a total of 4-6 games. How cool is that? Not bad for a little ol' interactive agency to have the likes of Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Target in their roster, eh? Wooo!

Also, we have the mini-summit tomorrow, so I spent the majority of the day on polishing that up, as well as getting an MPR mod out the door. The presentation for the summit? Yeah, 116 pages.

Day 372

162.0 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Day 371 - The Middle-Aged and the Restless

162.0 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, about 2.5 of them ran, and 150/100.

At my wife's prompting, I switched from doing crunches (which apparently are bad for you) and instead am doing 50 leg lifts, and then a series of sets of these "bicycle exercises" to equal 100 for the total of 150 tummy junks.

Certainly burns differently, I'll say that much.

So, this crazy new scale measures body fat percentage, bone density, muscle mass and water percentage in addition to just simply weighing you to the nearest .2 of a pound. I'm at 21.6% body fat (normal range for 30-39 is 11-21% so says the booklet), and water percentage of 58.6% (booklet says it should be around 60%). So I guess I'm doing alright, although percentage of body fat could be lower, and water percentage higher. I won't bore you with those details daily.

I swear, today I've been restless as hell, and yet unmotivated to do anything productive. When I'd had enough of pacing around aimlessly, I finally just got on the treadmill.

Not sure it has helped yet.

We finished the puzzle today, finally.



The sky was excruciatingly difficult, but I finally conquered it.

I think I'll make some turkey and gravy over mashed potatoes for dinner, and then who knows tonight. If I'm still restless, maybe I'll get out of the house, although no idea where I'll go.

Day 370 - A Bountiful Evening

162.0 on the scale, 3.0 miles on the treadmill, most of them ran, and 150/100.

Today was majorly low key. Like, I slept in, I worked on the puzzle, I napped, I read, I napped, and then when I got up again, I got on the treadmill.

By the time I got out of the shower afterwards, it was 5:00 already.

Jo went out with the neighbor for dinner and a movie, so I decided the boys and I would go out, but it wasn't sure where until I got out of the shower.

We hopped in the car and started heading to the place, which I wouldn't disclose to the boys, so on the way there they had a guessing game, asking yes or no questions and guessing the spot.

They never did come up with it, until I pulled into the parking lot of Dave & Buster's up in Maple Grove.

We ate, and then got some gaming cards and had some fun.

The boys frequented this coin game that gave a surprising amount of tickets out, and I spent most of my time on the timing games where you gotta stop the light as it goes around in a circle in just the right spot to hit the bonus. I hit the bonus twice on a vertical version that gave me 350+ tickets each time. Wooo!

I ended up with 1870 points to spend, Cory had something like 2,100 and Cole had something like 1,450. They took forever deciding what to spend their points on, whereas I picked up a Spongebob doll, a Patrick doll, a Superman Doll, and three chinese fingercuffs as my bounty after browsing for about 10 minutes.

Anyway, that was my first time there, although the boys had been there with Grandpa and Grandma once before, and I gotta say, it was pretty nice. A lot like GameWorks, but somehow better.

I even ended up with a free beer because the server thinks he charged my tab to someone else and couldn't find it! So he handed me my card and said, "Have a great night!"

We got home just before 10:00, so the boys went straight to bed. After some toodlin' around the internets, I downed some Nyquil and did the same.

Day 369 - The End of a Short Week

161.6 on the scale, no exercise.

So, Jo-Anne bought this new fancy-ass scale that measures not only your weight, but your percentage of body fat, water weight, bone density and everything.

So expect more accurate measurements from here on out.

Jo wasn't feeling well at all this morning, so I stayed home because it was so bad she might have had to be taken into the hospital. Luckily, that didn't have to happen.

I had to be at the office for a 1:00 interview, but after that, I spent the afternoon working on the presentation for the HAM Mini Summit on Wednesday, which I am looking forward to. We're gonna order in some Famous Daves too, wooo!

When I first got in, I had enough time before the interview to treat Tiffany, Alexis and Shirleen to a K.C. & the Sunshine Band tune, Give It Up, which I had stuck in my head for a good portion of the day. And of course, why wouldn't I get my groove on while I blasted the tune? I mean, have you seen me dance?

After supper, I've been laying low, having a few beers, and poking around the internets. Looking forward to a quiet weekend, and then a normal-lengthed week to follow again finally.

Day 368 - Thursday/Tuesday

163.5 on the scale. 3.0 miles on the treadmill while finishing It's a Wonderful Life, most of it ran, and 150/100.

I slept heap long time last night, which was nice. Although, apparently I woke up Jo-Anne with some snoring from being stuffed up, so tonight, I'm sleeping downstairs by myself.

Day 367 - I Resolve To...

164.0 on the scale, no exercise yet.

So, among my resolutions for this year are the following which I will publicly proclaim:

1) Dramatically reduce the amount of caffeine running through my veins at any time by giving up caffeinated coffee for at least 4 months. That's right, until May 1st. Decaf? Ok! Sodas with caffeine? Ok! Just no more large americanos twice a day.

2) I am going to dip back down and touch the 155 wall again for good measure. Gaunt or not.

3) And at work, we are going to land a promotional site for a movie. A major motion picture if possible.

I think that's plenty, don't you?

Day 366 - Hello 2008!

Not sure what I weigh (but I'm sure it ain't pretty), but 3.0 miles on the treadmill, about 2.5 of them ran, and 150/100.

We left Bismarck after a big breakfast (thanks Mom!), and made it home around 6:45 or so. After unpacking, Jo took all the ornaments off the tree and then we took the lights out and ejected it from the house to the side of the curb for pickup.

I always encourage a swift ushering out of the holidays. Let's get back to some normal life, eh?

Anyway, I also tried to install a wireless card that had arrived while we were away in the boy's Powerbook G4, but it turns out it wasn't compatible. Gotta wait for the new one I ordered to arrive.

So, on the last stretch of the drive, I could feel a whole buncha pent up energy in my limbs that was gonna need to get out somehow, so I had no choice but to get on the treadmill and do my time.

Then I showered up, and here I am now, catching up with the blogging. I figure now that it is exactly one year since I started this blog, and the blog started because of a new year's resolution, I really better have something for this year too.

I'm gonna noodle that and get back to you.