Mac's Great Escape

[fluffyrin42]

Woot 5 miles!  And have fun in Japan.  

[Mac]

Well, it's almost the end of the work day, and I was going to take tomorrow off as my labor day, since I'll be in Japan for the holiday. But, I'm only at 19 "mostly productive" days for the challenge so far, and I need 20 to earn an A. Does that mean I'm coming to work tomorrow?

[tracknut]

Telecommute!

[prefect42]

Just wanted to pop in and say safe travels, and have an amazing trip to Japan! Can't wait to hear all about it.

[Mac]

One last check-in before departure tomorrow morning! The travel tomorrow is going to be just horrible--a 13+ hour flight to Tokyo, then a two hour layover before my 1+ hour flight to Nagoya, then a one hour wait at the airport for my bus that will take me the last 1+ hour leg to my hotel in Toyota. Naturally, I'm being officially "met" when I get off the plan in Nagyoa, so my loopy, jetlagged, dog-tired brain will have to make polite chit chat for an hour at the airport and an hour on the bus before I can crash at the hotel. Lordy.

 

I just entered my last two workouts into the spreadsheet, and though I've cracked 8000 points now, I don't know that I'll be adding a lot to my total in the next week. Lots and lots of walking, I'm sure, but not much more. 

 

I went into work this afternoon to finish up a few things and now am up to 19.5 productive days at work. I'll get the last .5 day on the trip, which even though it is for work only includes half a day of actual work. The rest is all planes, trucks, and warehouses. But, I'm now on track to hit an A on that goal! The others are a bit wonky...we shall see, we shall see.

 

Have a good weekend and week 6 everyone! I'll be back in Dallas for the last two days of the challenge, when I'll be back in the cheering sections!

[goodbye_farewell]

Good luck! Hope to see some awesome pictures.

[joedog]

Have a safe and fun trip! 

[fluffyrin42]

Have a fun trip!  Hopefully all the travel goes well.

[Mac]

Fitness summary: walked a ton yesterday, went for a 30 min run this morning. It is so humid and gross here that I feel like I should get double points for both. I sweated a least a liter this morning on my run.

 

Toyota is a very boring city. I'm blowing off my planned factory tour today to go to a nearby town where they make shiburi indigo tie-dye textiles. Also, there is lots of beautiful old architecture there. I think that's more my speed than hi-tech production of Priusi. 

[alienjenn]

I like the idea of throwing off the car factory tour...

[Mac]

Hoo boy, it's only been a week and a half since I last posted and I totally missed the end of the challenge! Sorry everyone, I suck. I had very bad internet connectivity in Tokyo (and so much stuff to see! One day I was walking around for 12 hours!), and then I came home and promptly turned into a zombie for the following week. The jet lag was bad (a 20-hour, 3-leg cargo flight that delivers you home at 3:00 am turns out to be a bad set-up for smooth re-entry to your timezone), but it was more than that. I was just happy to live in my head for a week. Anyway, I do want to come back and wrap up this thread and get ready for the next challenge, even if I could use another week to prepare...it's probably a good thing for me that I don't have it, though.

 

Okay, here's the final report:

 

Goal One: Cook Weekly

CON: 2 point, WIS: 1 points

Six weeks=A, five weeks=B , four weeks=C , three weeks=D, two weeks or fewer=F

 

I think when I set this goal up, I forgot that I would be out of the country one week, including Sunday. But, if I am allowed to count the Sunday that was the eve of the challenge, when I cooked up a storm, that I did in fact make an A on this goal. A couple of weeks I was a bit relaxed about making enough food to get me through the entire week and paid the price at the end of the week with some weird meals and too much eating out. But, I did at least the basics every single week, and often much more than that. This is a time-consuming habit, but it works for me, so I'm sticking with it. 

A, CON 2, WIS 1

 

Goal Two: Run, Lift, Play

STR: 2 point, STA: 1 point, DEX: 1 point

Six weeks x 5 workouts=A , five weeks x 5=B, four weeks x 5=C, three weeks x 5=D, two weeks or fewer=F

 

Again, I don't think that I fully accounted for the week away in this planning. I knew that I would be travelling one week, and I knew that I would not be getting regular workouts during that week, so why I did I not grade myself accordingly? Anyway, I met the goal for four of the first five weeks of this challenge, I was at four workouts the very first week (a terrible, no-good, very bad week, as I remember), and I really rediscovered my love of running this challenge. I guess that I'll call that:

B-, STR1, STA 1, DEX .5

 

Goal Three: The List

CHA: 2 points, WIS: 2 points

Six projects underway=A, 5 projects completed=B, 4 projects completed=C, 3 projects completed=D, 2 or fewer projects completed=F 

 

I did not do well on this one at all. I felt like I spent a lot of time working on my house, but it was all in the interest of completing the bathroom renovation (done! except I need to change the shower head because the current one is too short for me to wash my hair!) and keeping my air conditioning running. I didn't take on any new projects at all, or tackle any other long-deferred ones. I'm going to have to confess that this one is an 

F. No points.

 

Goal Four: Rescue Productivity

WIS: 4 points

20-25 work days rated (by me) "mostly productive"=A, 16-20 days=B, 13-15 days=C, 10-12 days=D, fewer than 10 days=F

 

This was my biggest anxiety at the start of last challenge, which is why I assigned it so many points. Surprisingly, I made the 20 productive days, and I discovered that it really, really helps me to keep the productivity journal during my work day. I'll be keeping that up during the next challenge or two, cause I have a huge project to finish, and I'll need all the help I can get!

A, WIS 4

 

Bonus Life Goal: Start practicing loving kindness meditation

As usual, nothing, nothing, nothing! I keep saying that I want to learn how to meditate, but...I never do anything about it. So, maybe I really don't want it all that much? I am still interested in pursuing this, but I have to confess that my head is just not there right now, not in the least little bit. This goal will have to keep until it becomes more urgent to my psyche, I think.

 

All in all, an interesting challenge. I thought that being at home for most of it would have been more motivating, and in some ways it was. But, that one week of travel at the end really threw me for a loop, totally messing up my sleep schedule, my ability to concentrate, and just my engagement with everything that I had been working on before I left. Hoping to get my head back in gear this weekend so I can figure out what I want out of the next challenge and get ready to hit those goals.

[joedog]

Welcome back! You may have gotten an F on The List but you had some real curveballs on that one. No way you could foresee all the AC drama. All in all a pretty good challenge. I'm so glad that I started following you so I could see how much success you have with cooking ahead. I've followed your lead and it is a huge part of meeting a diet goal. 

[Mac]

Hey there, Jo! I didn't know if anyone would even see these final posts in here--I guess everyone's already posting up a storm in the new challenge and I'm already behind and won't be able to catch up etc etc. But, I wanted to close things down here properly before moving on. Speaking of, I need to put in final measurements, which I actually took a couple of days after the end of the challenge, but they'll have to do!

 

Final stats (start of challenge):

 

Weight: 146.2 lbs (148.6)

Bodyfat % (per scale): 22.6 (23.3)

Chest/Underbust: 32 1/4 (31 1/2...um, I think I messed up on this one)

Waist: 27 1/2 (28 1/8)

Belly button: 31 1/2 (31 3/4)

Hips: 35 5/8 (35 3/4)

Thigh: 22 3/8 (22 1/2--??)

 

So, I still seem to suck at doing measurements for some reason. And, I have weirdly found my weight dropping steadily since I got back from Japan, even though I've barely been to the gym and have been eating fairly crap. Even this morning it was down to 145.8, just a few days after the measurement above, which was down half a pound from right after I got back to Dallas. Maybe my muscles are atrophying from lack of lifting? Or, I've just gotten past the latest plateau of 148-150 where I had been hovering for the past few months. Time will tell, I guess!

[alienjenn]

welcome back!!

 

 

don't worry about being behind just jump in where you are!!!!!!

[ShadowLion]

Welcome back! Totally understand the zombiedom after a trip like that!

 

Would love to hear about the indigo textiles if you have the time and hope to see some pics of your trip.

 

I think you did great on the challenge, especially given the overseas trip. Here's to rockin' the next one, productivity log style!

[goodbye_farewell]

Hey welcome back! My timezone just went backwards 22 hours

[chickie.monkey]

Welcome back! I was way behind on wrapping my thread up, too.  This challenge just flew by and was over before I had a chance to blink!

 

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that can't measure either! I just figure I'll use it as a base. Eventually there will be noticeable shrinkage, and that's what I'm looking for.

 

Great job on your challenge! See you on the next one... that's already started. Can you believe that?

[fluffyrin42]

Just popping in to say great job.  Can't wait to see what you have for this next challenge!  

[tracknut]

Welcome back to 'merica Mac!  I hope Japan was as fun as you hoped!  Good job on the challenge!  Hope to see you around for the next one!

[Mac]

Just popping in to say great job.  Can't wait to see what you have for this next challenge!  

 

Welcome back to 'merica Mac!  I hope Japan was as fun as you hoped!  Good job on the challenge!  Hope to see you around for the next one!

 

I'm around! Link to my new challenge in my sig!