Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Taking stock of yourself

I turned 39 today, which is I guess as close to officially being middle aged as one can get. Or at least most of my body is middle aged. My kidneys and liver are probably closer to retirement and my appendix is looking around nervously like Old Yeller and going “Nah, we don’t really need to go out back, do we?” Still, if there ever was a day to take an official reckoning of my life this is the day to do so. Here we go.

Height: Six foot one. Or so I still claim. The last couple of doctor’s visits have measured me more around six feet which means that either a) I even slouch at the doctor’s office, b) my poor posture has finally started causing back problems or c) the definition of an inch has been slightly changed from when I was twenty one. Outside of the concern of lower back problems (talk about entering middle age) the real reason this bothers me is if true I will no longer be able to say that Liz Phair wrote the following song about our failed relationship in the early 90s…


(Look, in the early 90’s we thought this sounded good. It was a weird decade.)

Weight: 185.4 pounds! That is a BMI of 24.4, which puts me in the normal weight range and slimmer than 63% of the population. This may not sound like much but back when Kim and I started dating I weighed more in the range of 215 pounds and was horribly out of shape. Now I have at least improved my diet to the point where I have been able to keep the weight off and have a personal trainer who has helped build up my strength (though I have faded a bit in that the past few months).

5K Time (treadmill at 0.5 incline): 39 minutes, 10 seconds. Yeah, that sucks. I’ve been trying to beat my age in a 5K and I can now almost do it but that is solely because I keep on getting older. One of my goals for the year is to really build up my speed and cardio and knock a couple of minutes off of this time. I don’t know if it is realistic for me to break 30 minutes given my history of leg injuries but I would love to get a lot closer to it.

Work: I now have a cubicle with a door on it. After 15 years of work, two years of grad school, and numerous times of staring up at the fluorescent lights while seeing grey walls around me I have finally advanced to the world of having my own door. And a massive whiteboard! Honestly, that might be the greatest thing that I have ever had. I can spend all day drawing up ideas, building lists and just jotting down ideas. Of course, they are making me move in a few weeks so it will probably go away and I will now be in a cubicle that sits above a bowling alley and below another bowling alley but such is life.

Personal: I think I have finally entered adulthood. Kim and I have been married for 17 months (take that Kim Kardashian) and while it hasn’t been the easiest thing in the world we work well together. The fact that I am always on the road makes things really challenging but we work through it. We just bought a new house, marking my first personal entry in the wonderful world of home ownership where I get to say things like “what does escrow mean” and “does the house really need gutters” and “instead of paint couldn’t we just put up a half dozen neon beer signs?” Again, the fact that I am with Kim makes me the luckiest man alive. There are times where I can barely deal with me and I’m me.

Writing: Yeah, this has been the biggest challenge. I just have not been able to get back into the swing of things writing wise but I want to give it one more try. I just miss sitting down and writing and talking about whatever is on my mind and having that outlet. It really is a time management issue. Marriage, work, travel, keeping up the house, exercise, keeping up the house, everything takes time. Sadly, I still waste a hell of a lot of time surfing the net and reading pro wrestling websites. I just have to prioritize and do what is important. So I will try to get back into the blogging game. Once more into the breach my friends, once more.