TheOxfordComma

Is that what we're doing, Joey?

Alright, I stuck the meetup for the 18th down in my schedule. Like I said, though. Really not familiar with guns or gun ranges so I'm going to hang back and let you guys decide where's best to go. As long as it's not, say, a 6-hour drive from Ann Arbor, that should be fine with me.

Cool; thanks so much for the advice, everyone. I've been trying out MyFitnessPal for food tracking and it seems to do pretty well; since I'm used to recording my food anyway it's actually really nice because even if I do a special dish that isn't in their program, I can just jot the relevant nutrition info down in notes and drop the calories into the tracker. I still haven't really decided on something to track my workouts. Mostly I've been alternating between the Beginner Bodyweight Workout, doing some hatha yoga as an active recovery thing when I get sore, and playing Kinect Sports. Hatha Yoga usually shows up but I've been having a lot of trouble finding a program that will let me record "60 squats, 30 pushups, 60 lunges, 60 dumbbell rows, 1min of planking, 90 jumping jacks, in 30-45min" all in one workout. I've mostly been just jotting it down as "calisthenics" but I guess I was expecting a bit more specificity?

Ha ha-- actually, that game sounds kind of fun! The Wii really does have several of those kinds of games, doesn't it? I'm still looking around for other Kinect games that will let me run and jump around and get exercise while playing video games. And thank you for the support about the resumes!

"Zombies, Run"? I'm actually not a huge runner but that sounds like a fantastic app. So fantastic I might just try it.

Thanks! I'll check those out. And I'm running Android, I've edited that back into the first post. Thank you again!

Hey, I finally got a smart phone. Running the most recent version of Android, even. I have been tracking my workouts and nutrition on an Excel sheet, but I'm pretty sure technology has allowed us to get a bit more accurate and a bit more in depth than that, yeah? What apps does everyone like to use for tracking workout and food nutrition data?

I don't really know what my schedule for August is at the moment, but at this point in time I am not aware of any reason why I could not make the 18th! And shooting range sounds fine-- actually, I've always been curious about guns. My fam is originally from the NYC area so even though I basically grew up in Michigan, we don't have any of that "cars and the outdoors" mentality. I think my dad has a BB gun he uses to encourage squirrels to leave the bird feeders alone, but I've never held it or fired it so that's that.

Hey, Mir! Thank you, the encouragement is really appreciated!

Thanks! Tracking my food has actually (finally) become an ingrained habit so I barely notice it anymore. I was going abroad a few years ago on a school program, and to encourage me to get in shape for all the hiking I'd be doing, my parents essentially made a bet with me that, for every 5lb I lost before I went overseas, they'd give me $250. It was a really good incentive, and I started tracking my food then to give me an edge. I found tracking my food really helped me not only lose weight but be aware of exactly what I was eating so I didn't boredom-eat or fill up on Doritos but skip a healthy dinner, so I kept trying to implement it even after I'd come back from study-abroad. Two years later, I keep a little notebook in my pocket all the time: one side of the page is for brainstorming article or story ideas, the other side is for jotting down what I'm eating. I put the caloric/protein/fiber information down too if it's on the food, and if not, at the end of the day when I'm getting ready to update this Organizer, I just go online to those nutrition sites and try to figure it out the best I can. As for Kinect Sports-- I started off fond of Soccer and Boxing, but now I'm really getting into the Track & Field game! There's also a Volleyball mini-game whose name I don't remember, but basically you have to "dodge" items that are being lobbed at you, and I can feel that making my body work in ways the other games don't necessarily encourage it to work, so I've been liking that. Mostly, I try to hit everything except Bowling and Table Tennis at least once a session, try to "level up" at least 3 times, and increase the computer's difficulty whenever I feel like I've been winning too easily.

Thanks, Horsedog. The encouragement is appreciated. Bad weeks ARE hard, but everyone here has been encouraging that getting back on the horse feels easier.

Challenge Week 3 Report: Daily Log Days exercised: 4/7 Weekly Grade: C Days food recorded: 7/7 Weekly Grade: A Current weight: 230 (1lb lost) Weekly Grade: B Career actions taken: 1/3 Weekly Grade: C Still not the best week ever, but much, much better than last week, and improvement is important!

Current Level: 2 Progress Bar [ |___________________ ] 5% Weekly Goals for July 9 through July 15: Complete BBWW Tue, Thu, and Sun!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 25%! Play Kinect Sports for 45 minutes all days not BBWW!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 25% Keep a record of what you eat each day!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 50%! Perform 3 career-advancing actions!| If completed, Progress Bar moves 25% Mon, 7/9 Played Kinect Sports. 10:10am-10:55am Breakfast: Cliff bar; Lunch: Chicken hash w/ celery and onion and a large salad; Snack: Cliff bar; Dinner: prosciutto & small salad; Total: 910 calories, 60g protein, 25g fiber. Finished resume revisions and sent it out to be reviewed. Tue, 7/10 2 circuits of BBWW. I really wanted to shoot for 3 but I could tell I hadn't done the BBWW in a few weeks because my endurance was basically shot. I also increased the hand weight I've been using in it to 10lb instead of 5lb because even without doing it often the 5lb weight was easy. 3 circuits will be Thursday's goal. 10:00am-10:45am Breakfast: Cliff bar; Lunch: edamame; Snack: Tim Hortons donut; Dinner: Ben's Favorite Stuffed Peppers; Dessert: scoop of banana frozen custard (that resulted in a mild allergic reaction!); Totals: 1195 calories, 59g protein, 19g fiber. Threw together a first copy of an Editors resume and cover letter when I found out a company I really like is currently hiring. Wed, 7/11 Sent my resume off to 3 different clerical/office administration jobs. Breakfast: peach; Lunch: edamame; Snack: an apple; Dinner: Pork & Sweet Potatoes in Coconut Milk; Totals: 678 calories, 43g protein; 26g fiber. Thu, 7/12 3 circuits of BBWW, muahaha! That actually felt really good; I started off sore but after the first circuit my body felt much better. 12:00pm-12:45pm Breakfast: cliff bar; Lunch: leftover pork & sweet potatoes, a peach; Snack: prosciutto, cheddar cheese, an apple, spoon of peanut butter; Dinner: Italian sausage and sauerkraut; Totals: 1543 calories, 97g protein, 26g fiber. Fri, 7/13 Wrote a full 1st draft of a 10-minute play. (Although it then turned out I'm not eligible to submit plays to the festival I wrote it for WHOOPS.) Breakfast: skipped (oops); Lunch: Cliff bar; Dinner: North African Roast Chicken; Totals: 750 calories, 58g protein, 11g fiber. Sat, 7/14 Played on the Kinect. 11:15am-12:00pm Breakfast: cliff bar; Lunch: leftover North African Roast Chicken; Snack: a milk chocolate kiss, graham crackers and skim milk, praline pecans; Dinner: a V8 fusion, the last of the North African Roast Chicken; Totals: 1144 calories, 176g protein, 8g fiber. Sun, 7/15 I did this really weird thing today where I woke up at 11 and went to do my BBWW, then after warming up and doing some lunges just-- sat on the couch and basically went back to sleep for three hours. Weird, body, you okay??? But when I woke up again I got up and did the full BBWW, so it sill got done I just slept until like 2:30 in the afternoon. 3:00pm-3:30pm Breakfast: cliff bar; Lunch: ham & 3-bean salad; Snack: cup of cherries; Dinner: hamburger on a whole wheat bun; Totals: 1072 calories, 77g protein, 26g fiber. Printed out copies of my resume and a list of local temp agencies to visit tomorrow. Yes! This was my best week so far! I feel like exercising regularly and keeping track of what I eat really are becoming habits; and that's what I wanted to do with this 6-week challenge, build habits. Now to keep up the good work!

Current Level: 1 Progress Bar [ |||||||||___________ ] 55% Weekly Goals for July 2 through July 8: Exercise for 45 min or more each day!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 50%! Keep a record of what you eat each day!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 50%! Perform 3 career-advancing actions!| If completed, Progress Bar moves 25% Mon, 7/2 Good day all around. Got my car back, fuel pump replaced! Played on the Kinect; it's hard to use the Kinect when my family is up and around, so perhaps I should consider using it before my shower in the morning, just to make sure I don't get locked out at night. 10:45pm-11:30pm Breakfast: 1 egg and a pear; Lunch: pear and prosciutto; Dinner: prosciutto; Totals: 570 calories, 45g protein, 12g fiber. Tue, 7/3 Woke up relatively early for me and decided to get on the Kinect before anyone else in the house nabbed it. 10:30am-11:15am Breakfast: apple; Lunch: eggplant/zucchini microwave meal thing; Snack: movie popcorn; Dinner: plain hot dog w/bun; Totals: 970 calories, 23g protein, 9g fiber. Wed, 7/4 Breakfast: Powdered donut & milk; Lunch: prosciutto; Snack: a pear; Dinner: beef tenderloin with salad; Dessert: parma cotta icecream; Totals: 1494 calories, 63g protein, 9g fiber. Thu, 7/5 Kinect. 12:45pm-1:30pm Breakfast: pear; Lunch: chicken with cucumbers & a large salad; Dinner: scrambled eggs, sausage links, fruit, and a multigrain pancake; Dessert: cookie sundae; Totals: 1323 calories, 53g protein, 20g fiber. Worked on my portfolio/resume. Fri, 7/6 Breakfast: raspberries and almonds; Lunch: beef/mushroom stew & steamed broccoli, Somersby cider; Snack: raspberries, dried mango, and a Naked fruit smoothie; Dinner: grilled halibut & a small salad; Totals: 1248 calories, 25g protein, 31g fiber. Sat, 7/7 Reel danced. 10:00pm-11:00pm Breakfast: Denny's Fit Slam minus english muffins; Lunch: salmon sandwich, a date bar, and a butter tart; Snack: Somersby, a Casablanca cocktail, and a Purple Haze; Dinner: soup???, salad w/berries, chicken, potato, and steamed vegetables; Totals: ???? NOTHING HAD NUTRITION INFORMATION ON IT and I didn't even get to choose my food after breakfast. >:C Sun, 7/8 Spent all day in the car driving from Kingston, ON to MI. Breakfast: apple; Lunch: grilled haddock & vegetables; Snack: hard-boiled egss; Dinner: Wendy's single & a pack of fruit leather; Totals: 1566 calories, 43g protein, 10g fiber. On the one hand, I think I did a decent job this week of managing damage from 4th of July parties and being unable to cook for myself most of the week. There's a lot of room for improvement, but I think it's still a step up from last week.

Challenge Week 2 Report: Daily Log Days exercised: 2/7 Weekly Grade: D Days food recorded: 3/7 Weekly Grade: D Current weight: 231 (2lb gained) Weekly Grade: D Career actions taken: 3/3 Weekly Grade: A Well, that week happened. Start fresh.

Augh, so sad I missed it. :C Well, I'm in the Ann Arbor area now and not moving for a while, so meetups should hopefully be easier. Once they fix my car, that should give me even less excuse.

WHEW. Okay. Move's over. Mechanics won't get to fix the fuel pump until Monday, but at least all my stuff's out, and I got my full security deposit back. So how was the meetup?

Mir, thanks for the offer-- really-- but it's not so much the transportation bit that is keeping me from coming but the "only being half moved out of my apartment with no car" thing. I got a friend to agree to help me transport the last of my stuff tomorrow morning (same friend who otherwise would have been coming with me) so finally I know what I'm doing and how I'm going to get out of paying a ton of fees. Lemme know where in A2 you guys are all meeting for drinks in the evening and I'll see if I can stop by though-- I do want to meet you all! Also sorry for the spotty contact I'd left my laptop at the apartment when the car broke down so I've been away from it.

Bad news, guys. My car (the thing I was moving everything in) broke down, so moving has been-- delayed. Luckily my landlord is being decently understanding of the situation, but I won't be able to make the meet-up. Hope everyone has fun though.

There's a place in A2 called the Havanah Club which is pretty nice, when it's not super crowded. There are also just a hell of a lot of bars right in that area within a 2-block distance of Main St. and Liberty. Also, getting my friend to come excursion-ing with me, and while I am not a skinny bitch, she is. So don't give up on your plans for shenanigans, Mir.

I'm in. I got my official move-out date moved to the 29th so I'll be all set by the 30th. And yeah, for rentals, staying at Kensington sounds better. Joey, I'll try to bring along maybe a female family member or friend so that your wife feels more comfortable. I was kind of wanting to drag someone along anyway. So, should we meet at the Black Locust Disk Golf Course at, hmm, 11/noon-ish? You said Disk Golf takes a couple hours to complete, right, so by the time that's done the sun would be all or mostly out of that "seriously do not go canoeing on a reflective uncovered water surface while the sun is brightest oh god why is my skin so flammable" danger zone. We could finish up disk golf, drive over to the Boat Rental, eat our lunch, and then go for a paddle. I also dug my Oxford Comma logo t-shirt out of the packing frenzy and put it somewhere I'll be able to find. I'll wear it on meetup day so I'll be obnoxiously recognizable.

Challenge Week 1 Report: Daily Log Days exercised: 3/7 Weekly Grade: D Days food recorded: 7/7 Weekly Grade: A Current weight: 229 (4lb lost) Weekly Grade: A Days career action taken: 3/3 Weekly Grade: A

Current Level: 1 Progress Bar [ ||||||______________ ] 30% Weekly Goals for June 25 through July 1: Exercise for 45 min or more each day!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 50%! Keep a record of what you eat each day!|If completed, Progress Bar moves 25%! Perform 3 career-advancing actions!| If completed, Progress Bar moves 25% Mon, 6/25 Didn't exercise. Derp. Ok really need to get back on the horse, I don't care if I'm packing for the move. Went to the career center and discussed my resume/grad school with the counselor. Breakfast: skipped; Lunch: chicken; Snack: Coke Zero; Dinner: Chicken & celery; Totals: 535 calories, 50g protein, 7g fiber. Tue, 6/26 Ha ha! Walked for an hour today! TAKE THAT, EXERCISE SLUMP! 6:00pm-7:00pm Breakfast: Oatmeal, tea; Lunch: Omelet & fruit, diet coke; Snack: coffee; Dinner: Applebees buffalo wings (1/2 order), 7oz steak w/ double veggie side; Totals: 1256 calories, 82g protein, 20g fiber. Wed, 6/27 Unable to record. Thu, 6/28 Unable to record. Fri, 6/29 Unable to record. Sat, 6/30 Unable to record. Sun, 7/1 Well the last few days have been pretty crap. Even though I have been eating as well as I could and exercising, mostly lifting heavy boxes and doing deep cleaning on the apartment because I was moving, I didn't get to put it in my records. Then the car broke down in the middle of the move; I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get out of my old apartment. Just one of those weeks. I'm going to say "fuck it" and start fresh today. I'm moved into my new living situation, and I have internet/access to my fitness records again, so I can't let the last few days tug me down! (Still no vehicle, but the garage will get to it on Monday and, well, you can't have everything.) Researched USC, UCLA, and Tisch's application requirements; looked into office jobs at USC; searched for local office jobs. Breakfast: 2 eggs; Lunch: hummous and celery; Snack: cheese and pears; Dinner: salmon and veggie rice; Totals: 1720 calories, 84g protein, 25g fiber. Welp. That week happened. On to the next.

Hmm, I kind of like the potluck idea. I'm not exactly eating full paleo but I'm interested in seeing what "healthy food" recipes everyone has. It might be a fun way to get new meal ideas. And, if everybody brings something they know they can eat, even if the other stuff doesn't mesh with peoples' diets, they'll still have ONE dish they can nom on.

I'm all for a full day. Also, my mistake, Kensington does canoe/kayak rentals for the lake but if we want to canoe the Huron, that's actually Island Lake State Rec Area. (Seriously I don't really understand the difference between one and the other they sort of just merge at the south end of the lake.) Not that big of a deal because it's pretty much right across the street, but if people only want to stick to one park, Kensington would be the choice, even if it's not as nice a canoeing location. As for time; if we're canoeing, I would suggest we either get on in the morning or in the late afternoon to avoid the direct sun of the 11am-1am time frame. Seriously, you do not want to be on the water with a ton of skin exposed when there's a lot of sun. Canoeing in my experience normally takes 2-3 hours depending on how far you go down on the Huron, or how long you want to be paddling about on the lake (lake might take less time; it's a less interesting trip). I don't know how much time disk golf would take.