I have not blogged here in a bit. The main reason is a Sonic firewall was installed at work and Cardrunners is blocked since about 6 months ago. I usually browsed on my lunch hour and can no longer do it there. I have been meaning to post a few milestones I reached in my life and after reading Matt Janda's latest blog decided now was a great time.

I have officially passed the 50 lbs lost mark from my peak weight of 245lbs. From my peak at 245, I now weight in at 190lb for a total loss of 55lbs. (2.5 years ago when I started working out, I weighted 230 but that was not my peak.) Have you ever seen that bowflex commerical of that 45 year old guy saying, "I'm 45 and in the best shape of my life." Well, I can say, I am 43 and in the BEST shape of my life. I do 40 minutes of HARD cardio about 4-5 times a week and a circuit of exercise and weight training 3-4 times a week. In 2 and a half years, my body has transformed from an overweight (obese) slug to being on the verge of atheletic. About 3 weeks ago, work made a personal trainer available to us and I am meeting with him twice a week. He is hitting muscles that I don't think I have ever used in my life. I have been a walking sore muscle the last 3 weeks, but it's a good sore and I know once that passes, my body is going to transform even more than it already has. I just love being in shape. I feel like punching myself in the face for not doing it years ago.

Another milestone I reached last month is that I am officially out of credit card debt. When I graduated college in 1999 at the age of 29, I had $18,500 in credit card debt. That number is now $0 and it feels GREAT. In that time, I have bought and paid off 2 cars as well. (One brand new and one was one year old). The only debt that I currently have are the mortgages on the 2 houses I own.

On the poker front, things are going well. I attend a 1/2 home game every wednesday night and according to an app I have on my phone, I am up $2050 in cash games for a $19/hr average. My game has transformed from a passive live nit to an aggresive lag that is hard to play against. I am going to Las Vegas in July and cannot wait to see how my game plays out their. The last time I was there, my playing style was so different than it is now and I am excited to see how I do.