Willard Watts

Checking in (finally)! Challenge is still going very well.  I have hit all of my goals with the exception of missing a "tidy" here or there.  Oh and I've abandoned the career goal.  Except for the fact that I passed the bar. So that was a big win for my career transition.

20 hours ago, PaulG said:

After some horribly boring training in Virginia near D.C., a coworker and I drove up to New York and I spent Saturday and Sunday going to every restaurant I'd heard of that I could squeeze into. This was a full-on food marathon: I had ramen at David Chang's Momofuku Noodle Bar, pizza at Motorino, a pastrami sandwich at Katz's Delicatessen (featuring what I think was, honest and literal guess, a half-pound of pastrami -- I just barely packed it all into my stomach, thinking "you need the protein..."). Also featured were lots of truly excellent cocktails at Death & Co and Amor y Amargo (they make a mean classic Old-Fashioned).

This sounds amazing and I now really want pastrami.

On 10/1/2017 at 1:32 PM, RogueLibrarian said:

Don't judge yourself too harshly your first semester. You'll figure out how to make it all work once you get used to the workload.

I second this.  You don't have to be squeezing Krav Maga classes in between Torts and Contracts to still be kicking ass.  Walking the dog and making good choices is a big win compared to the average first year law student.

Okay! Things are going pretty well.  I had a heck of a work week, especially towards the end (I ended up billing 18 hours on Friday, which is a new personal best...or worst depending on how you look at it).  However, I have managed to mostly keep all of my goals this week.  I brought lunch every day last week, made my bed, and went to the gym three times.  I did not tidy for 10 minutes on Thursday or Friday and then made up the time on Saturday, which is technically a fail but not a bad one.  Oh I suppose I also need to do a career thingy today as well (I always forget about that goal).  Last week I updated my resume, which will need to be done again anyways when I get my bar results back this month, so today I will maybe select and polish a writing sample.  I may just let that particular goal slide, since I have real work to do today anyways and nothing is really going to happen until I get my bar results so I'm in no particular rush.

Until next time!

23 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

 

That sounds about right. It's not that the work is difficult - it's just the sheer amount of it! At least I like most of it (the bluebook citations I could do without though).

Bluebook was the bane of my existence and is one of those things that exist solely in academia.  After graduating I literally have never once had to look up a citation form.  Maybe if I suddenly found a need to cite to a swiss trade agreement from the 90s...OH WAIT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.  And if it did Westlaw has a "copy with reference" feature that would do the work for me.

22 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

One of the great things about bodyweight is that you don't even have to be in the gym  I always feel awkward doing bodyweight in the gym because I feel like I am the only one doing it so it makes me super self conscious.  I also feel awkward in the gym because I don't know how to use any of the equipment properly, but that is a separate issue  

I agree, it is kind of awkward.  But I do it mostly because I am MORE self conscious about stomping around my condo and worrying about what my downstairs neighbors might be thinking. 

6 minutes ago, Asa Pond said:

No workout happened today because I had a lot more work than expected and it's taking longer than I hoped.

It'll start going faster once you get more used to it.  First year, especially first semester, is all about just figuring out what law school is about and surviving.  Hang in there!

4 hours ago, PaulG said:

Cutting news and retrospective: Waist is down to a hair above 31.75", weight is 199.67lbs. I've finally dipped below 200

Congratulations! Keep it up. 

9 hours ago, Jonesy said:

Not the same theme but appropriate.  

 

I am glad you posted this because as I was catching up on your thread this song was all I could think of.

18 hours ago, Jonesy said:

Do you have an idea what you will be doing at  the gym or are you just trying to build the habit of going?

Hi Jonesy! To answer your question, mostly the habit of going.  I think I will do a bodyweight routine though.  Nothing kills my motivation to be at the gym faster than having to wait for someone to finish at a machine or station and bodyweight I can do anywhere.

Also, I have to thank you again for introducing me to the concept of a bullet journal.  I have developed it into my entire case management and calendar system at work and it's been the organizational system that my world has been lacking.  You rock!

A lot has happened this year.  My then-fiancee's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and then passed away.  My wife matched into one of the top dermatology programs in the country.  We got married and spent two wonderful weeks together in Greece on a honeymoon.  She  matched into a program near her parents so we are now long distance.  I signed up for another bar exam and attempted to study for it while working full time.  Results are pending.  In the emptiness of living without my wife I have reverted to terrible eating habits, not working out, and not taking care of myself or working towards our future.

I need some routine.  I need... a challenge!

Gym 3x a week

Pack Lunch 5x a week

Make bed every morning

Spend 10 minutes every day tidying up

Do one thing every week to further your career transition.

Oh and don't forget to update your progress. Let's go!

I just finished the Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. What have you been reading? I have no idea what I'm going to read next.

On 3/25/2017 at 8:38 PM, Manarelle said:

Hello again and grats on breaking the lazy streak! That's odd, I could swear that I'd replied to your post, because I'm curious how you intend to work on enunciation (that's something I would like to do, too), but it appears it didn't post. Boo. Anyway, here now, and cheering you on! Glad you're finding things in the whole 30 you.... dream about?  

The pad Thai was seriously that good.

I'm not following a program or anything like that for enunciation, but I have been using my time in the car on the way to work to repeat various tongue twisters and stretches to warm up my face.  If I remember it, I will also try to quickly warm up my speaking muscles with some stretches before going in to speak with my boss.  That, and just trying to focus on speaking slightly slower when I am talking seems to have helped somewhat. I think in a future challenge I might try and look for a more structured program though.  Do you have any ideas?

Challenge is still going well! Did a great bit of networking over the weekend and establishing some old contacts from law school and have done some reading. Perhaps two books was ambitious, but I'll address that later.

4 hours ago, RogueLibrarian said:

I just need to meditate and put together the slow cooker meal prep to hit 100% on week 1.

Week 1 complete! Nice job!

15 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

So many people can't even claim a half marathon so any time is something to be proud of!

I am one of those people. So yeah, I am impressed by 1) the fact that you have done one AND 2) your time.

Considering I really started this challenge on Thursday and its only been two days, it's been going well.  I went to the gym yesterday, which broke my lazy off week streak. Whole30 has been...interesting.  My fiancee wanted to do it in preparation for our wedding and I agreed to do it with her. We let it get out of hand the first week and spent way too much at the grocery store and were unable to make everything before stuff started to go bad. This past week has been much more manageable. I had the best pad Thai ever last night using zucchini noodles. It haunts my dreams.

12 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

have officially broken the diet and the workout challenge because Merlin sent me on another honeypot mission. So... 

One slip up is not that big of deal and totally understandable for a date scenario (this was a date right? I've only seen Kingsmen once so I don't always pick up on your references). Don't let it derail your whole challenge! 

Challenge time! My last challenge was focused on my fiancee so this challenge is going to be all about me. I am going to focus this challenge on not being a passive player and on doing things to control my own life.

The challenge:

• Bodyweight workout 3x times a week
• 30 days of Whole30 diet
• Read 2 books
• Do a networking task each week

Extra Force Points:

-Research Philadelphia legal markets and compile a list of firms/attorneys to target

-Do all wedding related tasks

-Keep up with your bullet journal (shoutout to @Jonesy for introducing me to this concept)

-work on posture and enunciation

Alright, starting this a bit late, but here we go!

8 hours ago, Asa Pond said:

I'm getting better at living life instead of just letting it happen

It's funny, but this is the exact thought that I was trying to have the other day and how I need to work more on it.  Good job on crushing the game of adult life.

3 hours ago, Mr.Six said:

You can definitely do it. Go forth, do great things.

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A veterinarian employed by the city zoo feeds the same animals every morning. The animals—falcons, gorillas, hyenas, iguanas, kangaroos, monkeys, and okapis—are fed one at a time and exactly once every morning. To ensure the animals are fed in an acceptable order, the following requirements must be satisfied:

• The gorillas are fed second or sixth.
• If the kangaroos are fed earlier than the hyenas, then the falcons must be fed later than the okapis.
• If the kangaroos are fed later than the hyenas, then the falcons must be fed earlier than the okapis.
• Exactly two animal groups must be fed between the feedings of the hyenas and the gorillas.
• The falcons must be fed immediately before or immediately after the gorillas.
• The hyenas are fed earlier than the okapis or monkeys, but not both.

 

1. Which one of the following could be the feeding schedule in order from first to seventh?

(A) Kangaroos, iguanas, hyenas, okapis, falcons, gorillas, monkeys

(B) Falcons, gorillas, okapis, hyenas, kangaroos, monkeys, iguanas

(C) Iguanas, gorillas, monkeys, falcons, hyenas, kangaroos, okapis

(D) Monkeys, iguanas, hyenas, kangaroos, falcons, gorillas, okapis

(E) Okapis, gorillas, falcons, iguanas, hyenas, monkeys, kangaroos

This just gave me the worst LSAT PTSD.  Godspeed Ms. Pond!

On 3/5/2017 at 9:07 PM, Asa Pond said:

The PLAN (which hasn't really worked out as of yet but I'll keep trying...) is to go out on a 100% week.

Good luck! One last push to the finish of the challenge.

2 hours ago, Manarelle said:

Sorry to hear things have been so hectic, at work and at home. Best wishes to your fiancée's dad, and to all of you really for pulling through. Grats on keeping up with the workouts in spite of it all, though. Sounds like that's a solid habit now. Hope this week goes better and you all get some good news!

Thanks! Today wasn't great, but hopefully things start to improve!

Okay slipped a bit with staying accountable because I think it's been more than a week since I've posted in here.  It's been a crazy week, both professionally and personally.  I have managed to keep up with my workouts.  If nothing else, I want this challenge to have instilled in my that habit and then I can work on working in other things.

Other goals:  The distraction free hours at work are happening, I'm just not tracking them. Again it's mostly been by a virtue of being too busy to do anything but work in an undistracted way.  I did also do some writing last Sunday which was fun.  With everything that is going on, I probably won't have that luxury again this weekend.

As for making my fiancee's day...So one of the unspoken reasons for this particular goal was that my fiancee's father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a month ago.  This week they discovered a brain bleed and he had to go in for brain surgery on Monday.  It has been a long week and a slow recovery, but they now think think that he will be out of the ICU soon.  My fiancee came up on Monday to help her mom and give a medical perspective on things.  I wasn't able to drive up until yesterday.  However, I did bring our dog because he is so perfect and can make any situation better.  That being said, it's been a tough week.

On 2/24/2017 at 2:01 PM, Asa Pond said:

Send good vibes pleease.

WHOOOO GOOD VIBES! Good luck in the new place.

Great advice above re: the distractions.  Turns out the secret is just to have a deadline looming over my head. I billed a ridiculous number of hours last week working on getting ready for a court appearance on Friday and definitely am going to count it towards my goal.  It's not as cool as it sounds because I am now at a private law firm where I do not do the talking in court: I just do the research, write the briefs, and put together the presentation for my boss.

Other goals are still being met (mostly)! I have yet to miss a workout, knock on wood. I surprised my valentine with some earrings last week, which definitely made her day. And I have been doing a pretty good job of being accountable. Writing is again where I fall short. I am going to carve out some time over the weekend to get back on my story.