An Iron Bowl for Bama Fans to Forget

The showdown of Alabama schools known as the Iron Bowl took place the day after Thanksgiving. The game between Alabama and Auburn is one of the most heated rivalries in college football. It usually features close hard fought games where the records of the teams don't always matter in the game. There are certain games that stand out above the rest. Some examples are: Punt Bama Punt, Van Tiffin kick, the Bo Jackson games, and last years game winning drive that Alabama put together on the way to winning it all. The 2010 Iron Bowl will join the pantheon of games but it is a game Alabama fans will not want to be reminded of. The game went from a 24-0 Alabama knocking off Auburn kind of game to a 28-27 miracle comeback win by Auburn. Alabama blew some chances, gave up some big plays, and in the end imploded under the onslaught lead by Cam Newton. Alabama won all those close games, but this year came up short against South Carolina, LSU, and Auburn. So now the tables have turned and it is Auburn that has won all the close games and now only South Carolina and probably Oregon stand in the way Auburn bringing back the title to the state. While there is nothing to ashamed off and we still have the glow of the 2009 season the idea of the 28-27 Camback as it is being called now will living on in highlight reels for years to come just like Punt Bama Punt is going to be hard.

Project Glen: 11-29 Update

Checking in the Monday after Thanksgiving, and the news is good. I did not crazy on turkey day, and got bit of help from having a head cold for the weekend and therefore did not eat very much. I lost 4 pounds this week for a total of 9 pounds. It was exciting to have some tangible results, it makes it easier to continue this. It can be difficult and it is easy to get discouraged. Because it is going to take awhile to do this, any progress is encouraging. Just keeping at it.

Project Glen: 11-22 Update

I had a good week considering I had an office potluck on Friday. I just ate until I was full and did not go back into the break room. This was tricky because they bought Honeybaked ham and that is some damn good stuff. Overall I did a pretty good job of not over eating or eating between meals and the results were I lost 3 1/2 pounds for a total of 5 pounds lost so far. I have a long way to go but I am encouraged after a rough first week I am starting to show some progress. I just have to remember that is a long slow process and you go for cumulative results not the results from any one week. This is week is Thanksgiving a day you are supposed to give thanks and eat way to much, but I think I have a good handle on that and will try to approach the day in a sane way. We will see next week how successful I was with that.

My Update

I am assuming if you are reading this, you have been reading Glen's updates about his project. I am so proud of him, and I am doing my best to support him.

As for me, I have come to realize just how stressed out I am, and have been for some time. For the past year and a half or so, my life has been a mix of highs and lows. I as laid off from my job at International Paper. I finally got a temp job, but it wasn't really paying the bills, so I stayed stressed out. I got married. Got a new job. The campaign kicked into gear. Lost my new job, and now I am working two days a week for almost no money, living off the same couple of hundred dollars for the past six weeks, and I have absolutely no idea when I am going to get some relief.

Money is the thing that stresses me out the most. If I have it, I worry that I am spending too much or that I am not spending it on the right thing. If I don't have it, I panic about when I am going to get it again. I am never really comfortable, no matter what the circumstances, but I, of course, am very uncomfortable now.

I have gotten to the point where I can't reach out. There are friends I have lost touch with, family who thinks I should call more, and networking that I am not doing all because I have just lost the confidence to just pick up the phone and talk to people. I talk to the people who call me, of course. I wait for the phone to ring for that next job interview, and I am so excited when the phone does ring. I am constantly applying for things online, and never hearing back about the opportunities I think should be fairly easy to get.

It is so frustrating because it is an awful circle. I need to get out of my house and do things so that I am not as isolated with my thoughts, but doing things outside of the house tends to cost money, which I don't have, so I end up more isolated and alone with my thoughts. As Glen will tell you, if I have too much time on my hand to think about things, it is not a good thing.

So, that is where I am these days. If I haven't called in awhile, give me a call. I am here, I promise. If I do talk to you on a regular basis, thank you. It means the world to me.

Project Glen: 11-15 Update

Week two went better than week one. I lost about 2 1/2 pounds this week for a total loss of about a pound and a half. They say you are supposed to lose about two pounds a week. I just need to keep working at it. I had some people over for my birthday Saturday night. I tried not to eat and snack too much during the day because I knew I would eat a lot that night. I feel pretty good this week about what I have done so far. Overall I have done really well at cutting down on eating between meals, fried and fast foods. I basically have two meals a day lunch and dinner. I know I should probably be eating breakfast every day, but I have just never been a big breakfast type person. The thing I am trying to focus on right now is not eating just to eat and stopping when I am full. So far the not eating just to eat has gone pretty good, but the stopping when I am full has been trickier. I think this goes back to whole food addiction thing. You have that tasty plate of food in front of you and love the taste and sensations of eating it. You override your body when it says you are full and keep going. One thing I have been trying to do to combat that is eat slower. You enjoy the experience and savor each bite and also by eating slower you can get the sensation of being full and stopping when you need to. It is a struggle to do this and constant fight against self sabotage but I think the end results will be worth all the effort.

45 going on ..........

This particular Saturday morning there has been a convergence of two events that has me in a reflective mood. Last night Dabney and I watched The Social Network about the creation of Facebook, and the focus is on Mark Zuckerberg who was the main creative force behind Facebook and is also the youngest billionaire in the world. This is colliding with later tonight I will be celebrating my 45th birthday with some of my friends. I feel like I am entering the next phase of my life, but do not have a fucking clue as to what that is or what I am supposed to do. I sit and wonder what the fuck happened to the last the ten or fifteen years of my life and that I should be further along towards something by now. However I am not further along and feel a bit lost. The world is largely driven by the Type A personality, the go getters with the drive and passion to get things done. As with The Social Network, even if they took liberties with some of the facts it does not change the fact those guys passion and drive made Facebook happen. I don't think I have had that kind of drive or passion for anything. I guess I am what you call a dabbler there are lots of things I like but there is not that one thing that I feel like if I was never able to do that again my life would not be the same. I don't think I can become a Type A person I think most people that are like that are just wired that way from the get go. However I think I can motivate more to move towards a goal, because there have been times in my life when I have been able to accomplish things, I just feel there is now one overarching this is my life or this is me. Actually in the past few weeks I have been in a pretty good place and feel satisfied where my life, it is just some of the changes that are happening in my life are going to take some time and that is what makes me feel like I have a few lost years where I didn't know what I was doing and just didn't care where my life was going. While you can not go back and beating yourself up too much about something like that is pointless and unproductive, it is hard to avoid sometimes. Maybe the answer just keep working on the things I can work on to make myself a better person. What can I do today to make myself a better person. When Dabney and I working on our wedding, she would get overwhelmed by the scope of everything we were trying to do. I helped her by breaking it down into smaller units of time. We do not have to have all this done, and by taking it one step at a time and working towards smaller goals, it made the big picture easier to deal with. Maybe I just need to work on the things I know I want to change and now worry about being the big picture so much. Like the 12 steppers say One day at a time.

Project Glen: Update

Let's get the bad news out of the way first. I gained a pound, but I know what happened I ate too much over the weekend. It was my birthday weekend, my Mom was in town, and to put it simply I ate too much food over the last few days. Overall I still really good, while I am disappointed I did not lose any weight this week I still feel motivated and I did manage to drink less soda, cut down on sweets, cut down on snacking between meals, and tried to eat smaller portions at meals. I knew when I started at the beginning of last week it would be hard because my birthday this weekend, but that is over so I am just going to focus on the positive and move on from here. I know it is a process and I just need to keep at it.

Caught in a Frame

The gay bar down the street from me Backstreet was shut down again this past weekend. Apparently people had been doing drugs in there, selling alcohol after 3 AM and serving alcohol to minors. ABC 24 came around and talked to people in the neighborhood about what they thought about it. I talked to the lady reporter answered her questions, and then that night Dabney and I watched the 10 PM newscast. It must have been a slow news day in Memphis because that was the lead the story. They framed the story in the most negative way they could, emphasizing the drugs and all the bad things. They did use a clip of me and I was saying they did do drugs down there, but they didn't use where I said they don't bother me and long as it stays in their parking lot they can do whatever they want. Looking back on it, I should have known that is what they were looking for. They asked if I knew about Backstreet getting shut down and when I said it was probably because of drugs the reporter got excited and asked if I would say that on the air. It is very interesting to me that it appears the reporter had already written her story before she left the building, and instead of actually getting reaction from the neighbors, she used video and statements that just supported her thesis.

Day Before the Midterms

Obama is facing his first midterm elections and believe all the press out there is not going to be pretty. Unless some kind of miracle happens it looks like the Democrats will the House and barely hang on to control of the Senate. I have no idea what that will look like other than with such a slim majority I don't know how anything will pass the Senate even if does get through the House. I think these next couple of years are just going to be a complete cluster fuck. At some point the Republicans will actually have to do something and not just say to everything. Currently their only option seems to be the same one since Reagan of lowering taxes and deregulate, because taking all the regulations off the of the financial services and energy companies has worked so well up until now. I do know one thing after tomorrow I will not have to see any of those super political ads any more because I am frankly sick of seeing Haslam's face and Fincher's giant inbred clan of freaks saying what good Christians they are all.

Project Glen: Official Start

Today was my first official weigh in. I have a long way to go to reach my goal, but the good news is I lost a few pounds since last week just by cutting down on what I eat. The way I see it now I think I can lose quite a bit of weight just by eating a lot less and cutting out fast food and soda. Other than Subway I did not eat any fast food last week. At some point just eating less alone will not cause me lose weight and I will have to work at more with activity and exercise, but for now that is not as big of a concern. I am really psyched up to start this, and I feel like I have the right mental attitude to start this. I already feel more empowered over food, by saying I have a problem with it. The mental blocks and getting starting are two aspects of weight that for now I have been able to deal with, and I should be able to lose weight, but then you have the real enemy and the one that makes long term weight loss difficult, sticking with a plan. One thing I am trying to do to combat this is not approach this like a diet where I can only eat certain things, but more of portion control and at first not eating really unhealthy things like fast foods and desserts. I would like to make where It's not like I am never going to eat fried food or sweets again, but more of not making them a staple of my day to day menu. In addition to eating less I am going to start working in eating more vegetables and healthy food. I know I can do this, and like I said I have long way to go, but hopefully by the time approaching my 46th birthday one year from today I will be whole new person.