Wollio

I'm finishing up a course on HTML/CSS and then planning to start on PHP and SQL. My husband is a Scuba instructor and we have discovered that we really aren't happy with the student databases available currently. I work with database administration at the hospital I work at and am hoping that with a little programming experience I might be able to create something a little more usable for us (and hopefully other instructors as well).

Wow, so I apparently underestimated the amount of posting that would be going on in a creative group, lol. I have limited time/access to the computer over the weekends so most of my posts will be during the week. I think the side challenge of minutes sounds great! I updated our group spreadsheet to include a totals page for our weekly minutes. Here's the link again in case anyone missed it the first time around I will be tracking my minutes of blog writing (part of my main quest) and also minutes learning how to code. I know that doesn't sound very creative, but I figure the eventual outcome of the learning will be! I'll set my goal to a minimum of 1 hour/week writing, 5 hours learning code. Week 1 wrap-up: Did good on sweets, though I did decide not to be overly strict on this for things like mints at restaurants, etc. Workouts were good, but I can already tell I'm being lazy about getting up in the morning to do them, so that needs to get reigned in a bit. Got my first post up in a couple of months on the blog, so really happy about that and brainstorming my next post for tomorrow.

Your description made me want to travel to San Francisco. You should get into marketing, if you aren't already lol.

Why is it that we are all so obsessed with medieval times? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some epic fantasy, I just wonder why we have all decided that a world with no modern technology=fantasy and a world with technology=sci-fi.

So basically, its just an easy way to see all of your progress from the challenge in one place, along with everyone else from the group. If you go to the main template (first sheet), right click on the tab and Duplicate it. Then you can update any of the fields with your personal information to help you keep track of your goals day-to-day. You can use it like a Battle Log or anything you want really, you don't have to use the template if it isn't in a format that you think fits your style. Does that help at all?

Also, where exactly did you procure said saffron ice cream?

daggart: Thanks so much! I think sometimes we appear more organized than we feel, but I think that's just the nature of the game. Lt_Laurel: that is really cool that you know someone who has actually done cruising for a while! At this point, we aren't sure how long we will want to do it for, but we figure that it is going to be an awesome experience regardless. A lot of people say that people either come out of it divorced or with a better relationship than they ever thought possible. That's what happens when you are with someone literally 24 hours a day in a very small space dealing with situations that you have to depend on each other. On the workout front, I have changed up my program a little in order to accomplish more of what I want. I'm using Nia Shanks Beautiful Badass Bodyweight Workout program, but on more of a Angry Birds workout style schedule. The BBBW program has 3 circuits of doing 5 reps a piece of pull-ups (I'm doing inverted rows), pistol squats (working on one leg box squats), push-ups, and glute bridge/hip-thrusts. You are supposed to do a variation which you can perform 10 in a row perfectly and then increase the difficulty every 2 weeks (daily schedule of 3 days on, 1 off.) This seemed to be working fairly well, with a few caviats: The schedule was too hard for me to maintain. I like having the same days of the week be my workout days, and having them move around all the time was hard to keep up with and stay motivated. This time around, I am just going with a Monday, Wedneday, Friday schedule, with some basic yoga on Tuesdays and Thursdays to even me out. Because I'll have more recovery time between workouts, I am planning to push myself on variations a little harder. I'll still do 3 circuits of 5 reps, but instead of doing a variation that I can do 10 perfect reps in a row, I will do the next variation in which I can't currently complete the full three circuits. (similar to the Angry Birds workout on NF) Once I can consistently complete 3 perfect circuits, then I can move up to the next variation. I'm hoping these changes will help me to stay more motivated by pushing me to do better every workout and not get bored/complacent. Also, does anyone have any good suggestions for an Andriod yoga app I can use? I used to use Daily Yoga and really liked it, but now it isn't working on my phone at all and I'm not sure what happened. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling it with no luck, so I think I'm going to have to find something else.

Alright everyone! Here is the link to the google ss. The first tab is the Template that you can choose to duplicate and then edit as you like. Also, feel free to create your own sheet if this one doesn't fit your goals as well as you like. Just make your tab and then label it with your NF name so we can all keep each other accountable.

I'd be happy to get one together since I already have the template. I should have it posted by tomorrow morning at the latest.

I almost did the same thing last night! I poured my son a small handful of mini m&ms and then proceeded to toss a handful into my mouth as well. Luckily, I realized what I had just done and literally spit them back out, lol. I don't even really like mini m&m's! CONSTANT VIGILANCE! Nice workout this morning!

Question for the group: what does everyone do as far as tracking your progress through the challenge? The last group I was in (a bunch of people dropped out for this challenge) kept a Google drive shared spreadsheet to help us all be more accountable and see everyone's progress in one place to offer encouragement, etc. Is that something that anyone would be interested in, or does everyone just post on their individual thread and we follow it? Just wondering/learning how you guys keep in touch for motivation.

Yay for lifting at 10pm! Most of my workouts are all body weight based, but I can definitely relate.

So, I don't know your background enough to know if you are working towards being a concert pianist or something, but 12 hours of piano over 2 days seems like an enormous amount! If you enjoy it enough to do that, go for it, but just make sure you aren't burning yourself out on something you love.

Wow, so day 1 showed me how hard my 2 junk food a week goal is going to be for me. Yesterday afternoon, I got an email saying "Chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies in the breakroom!" Even though cookies are basically my greatest weakness, I held out and did not go get one, though I almost broke down. Then last night, my 3 year old asked me for some mini m&m's which I poured him out a small handful. I proceeded to pour myself a small handful and toss it in my mouth...and then I spit it out lol. I don't even really like mini m&m's! It gave me a reality check on how often I've actually been eating junk without realizing it. Day 2: baby shower at work, /sigh.

Thanks! Its kind of funny because we have been planning and preparing for it for over 2 years and the beginning of October started our 1 year remaining countdown. We are super excited, but at the same time I have this huge urgency all of a sudden when I think about all of the things we want and need to accomplish before next October! Doing these challenges helps me breakdown some of those things into more manageable goals.

As a fellow procrastinator, something that I've found that helps is to create a breakdown of the whole process into steps that have their own deadlines. So then, even if you find yourself waiting until the last minute to do each small step, the overall project still gets done at a reasonable pace.

Here's a little background on myself: approximately 1 year from now, my husband and I are planning to quit our jobs and move onto a sailboat, cruising the world. We've been planning and saving for about 2 years now and are super excited to be as close as we are. That being said, I want to make sure that I am ready for life aboard physically as well as mentally to assist with boat jobs and add safety to our journey. (For more info, visit my first challenge thread.) For this particular challenge, I'll be working on maintaining consistent workout habits, as well as breaking the bad habit that I have of eating any snacks that are available to me. Especially this time of year when there are so many temptations, wining the battle over my willpower is always a struggle. In addition, my life goal is also going along with the willpower theme. I need to be better about consistently updating my blog to maintain readership and grow it before we leave. Main Quest: To increase strength, dexterity, and overall health before casting off the lines. Fitness Goals: Get Strong! Going with this again since I want to just continue to increase my baseline strength. This time around, I will be following a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule to hopefully increase my motivation retention and eliminate confusion on when I should be working out. I am the Pretzel: Improve overall flexibility by doing yoga twice a week. The schedule will fit into the Tuesday/Thursday slots in my week, with the potential to use the weekends as catch up for special circumstances. Also, I've found in the past that yoga is a great way for me to relax. Defeat the Cookie Monster: Limit junk food intake to twice per week maximum. This includes (but not limited to): baked goods, candy, and other garbage made available at work and family gatherings during the holidays. Lifestyle Goal: Willpower Renaissance: Post a new article on my blog a minimum of once a week. Grading: Get Strong: 3pts of Strength possible. 3 = miss <4 days during challenge 2 = miss 4-6 days during challenge 1 = miss 7-9 days during challenge I am the Pretzel: 2pts of Dexterity; 2pts Stamina 2 Dex/2 Sta = 10+ yoga sessions 1 Dex/1 Sta = 8-9 yoga sessions Defeat the Cookie Monster: 2pts Constitution; 2pts Wisdom 2 Con/2 Wis = <13 samples of junk 1 Con/1 Wis = 13-15 samples of junk Willpower Renaissance: 4pts of Wisdom possible 4 = Publish 6+ posts on my blog 3 = Publish 5 posts 2 = Publish 4 posts 1 = Publish 3 posts Motivation: To be ready when my family needs me.

Hi everyone! I hope you don't mind adding another member to the team! I'm Wollio and I plan to kick some butt this challenge! I am 24 years old, married with a 3 year old son. My husband and I are planning to move onto a sailboat in less than a year from now, and most of my motivation for my challenges comes from the need to be physically fit and strong before we do that. I'm still working on getting my personal thread up but as far as creativity goes, my Life Quest this time around will be to consistently post on my blog a minimum of once a week. Edit: the link to my personal challenge thread is now listed in my signature Here is my response for the Week One question Apathy and Nonchalance: These forces like to disguise themselves as good traits of being laid-back and unstressed, but lead me down the path of no resistance at which point they ambush me and destroy all of my hard won progress. It is important that I post once a week, complete my workouts and resist snacking on everything offered to me, no ifs ands or buts about it! I have found recently that a "It's no big deal" attitude has befallen me about many aspects of my life. The It's Good Enough bug is poison to actually completing extraordinary goals. Something that would be a huge help to my goal of blogging regularly would be to get a few comments on my posts. Our stats are showing real traffic on our blog for quite some time now, but we rarely have anyone comment at all. It gets to be a bit demotivating to feel like there is no one listening. Please don't comment on any posts out of any crazy obligation or anything, but if you would like to read a little about our story, my blog is linked in my signature, and if something strikes you please leave us a comment. And/or if anyone currently has a blog and has any suggestions on how to increase reader participation that would be much welcomed as well!

Whelp, put in my votes and did my final summary. I didn't do as well as I would have liked but I think I rated myself fairly enough anyway. Anyone know when the next challenge starts? The next one is going to be a tough one with Thanksgiving coming up and Christmas soon after!

Okay so here is my wrap-up of the challenge. Let's start with my goals and see how I did overall. Main Quest: To increase strength, dexterity, and overall health before casting off the lines. Fitness Goals: Get Strong! Faithfully follow the "Get Strong" program from Nia Shanks for the entire challenge. (Program is 8 weeks long, just started it Monday.) Improve reaction time to under 225ms average on Human Benchmark test. This will hopefully be accomplished by reaction time drills, and beating Super Mario World on SNES. Yes, that Super Mario World...my reactions really are THAT slow. Drink 64oz of fluid per day, with at least 32oz of that being water. When my blood tests came back saying my kidneys are "chronically dehydrated" it's probably a good indication that I'm not drinking enough >.<Lifestyle Goal: Clean my garage and dispose of all items that are not being used and are not moving with us. Grading: Get Strong: 4pts of Strength possible. 4 = miss <6 days during challenge3 = miss 6-8 days during challenge2 = miss 8-10 days during challenge1 = miss 10-12 days during challengeReaction Time: 3pts of Dexterity/1pt Wisdom possible. 3 Dex = reaction time average <225ms 2 Dex = reaction time average 225-2301 Dex = reaction time average 230-235 1 Wis = Defeat Bowser (because it's a big deal)Hydration Station: 4pts Constitution possible 4 = average >64oz per day3 = average 56-64oz per day2 = average 48-56oz per day1 = average 40-48oz per dayClean the Garage: 3pts of Charisma possible 3 = Organize entire garage and have everything disposed of/listed on Craigslist2 = Dispose of all unnecessary items, organize half of garage1 = Organize and half of garage Motivation: To be ready when my family needs me. For my final grades: 3 pts of Strength (missed a total of 6 days of training during the challenge) 2 pts of Dexerity (ending speed 228.4ms on Human Benchmark) + 1 additional pt of Dex due to IRL speed test (already taken, see previous post) 4 pts of Constitution (66oz average over the entire challenge) 2 pts of Charisma (full garage organized but I haven't been able to get the donated/Craiglist items out yet)

Hey Ladies! Sorry I've been so absent the last couple of weeks! I'm trying to push through the last week without missing too many days. I thought I would be able to get a lot done this week with my hubby out of town, but honestly it has been harder than I thought to be a semi-single mom. The little guy has been extra needy from missing daddy and I feel like I'm having a hard time not getting stressed with him, plus it makes it a lot harder to get anything done with having to keep an eye on him constantly. Plus, I was highly irresponsible on Sunday night/Monday morning. I started reading a book before bed at 9:30 Sunday night and didn't put it down until I had to get ready for work the next morning! I haven't done that since I was in middle school probably. The book was really good (The Help) but I know better than getting no sleep. /sigh At least I was able to get to bed early last night to help make up for it.

Week 4 edit is up. It's ugly, I'm not going to lie.

Hey ladies, on the emails that I get from Nia Shanks, there was an invitation to sign up for a FREE online seminar that starts at the end of October called Inner Hottie Sexy Body. It's basically 20-30 min interviews with like 30 fitness/health/mental health gurus that go right to your inbox for a week or two. Here's the link if anyone is interested. http://innerhottiesexybodysummit.com/

Thanks Sally! Poor guy, he cried for like 5 minutes just from being scared and then scooted down the stairs on his butt the rest of the weekend, but at least he wasn't hurt!

Okay so kind of a big deal on the speed front happened this weekend. Saturday morning, my 2 year old was walking down the stairs slightly behind me. He wanted me to turn around and look at him so I could see how he could step like a big boy by himself. Just as I turned around, he stepped down and tripped, rolling forward on his foot. He immediately starting falling down our (very steep) steps, but I was able to catch him before he hit. This sounds like a normal "crisis averted" type of parent story, but for me it was huge. Normally, these kind of events end with my husband yelling "what were you doing?! You just stood there and watched him get hurt!" In fact, this kind of incident is exactly the reason why I wanted my reaction times to be faster to begin with. So basically, big win for me. So big, that I will actually be taking one of those Dex points now, regardless of whether my time on the test improves just because I deserve it. /bow Also, Week 3 edit is up.