Dale's Thoughts

Getting The Body Of A Seal

2012-01-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

And no, not the kind with flippers. That's the body of which I want to rid myself.

So it's update and evaluation time on my new things for January.

I have lost 3 pounds in each of the past 2 weeks. Three pounds a week isn't good enough. I need to kick my metabolism into high gear. So this morning I will go to 24 hour fitness with a friend or two to sign up for a trial membership.

(I should probably stop cheating on the diet too.)

Originally the plan was to try out 24 hour fitness and Gold's gym but I went to the former yesterday to look around. I liked what I saw. We'll see after a week. How do I kick my metabolism into high gear with a gym membership?

Here's the plan.

THE U.S. NAVY SEAL WORKOUT

It's intense, and I'll have to fast walk at first rather than run but this ought to do the trick. I'm hoping to up my weight loss to 10 pounds a week with this. Do you think I can do it?

This laughing seal has no faith, but I know I can do it.

New Things for January

2012-01-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

So it's the new year and I should be making resolutions right?
Bah! Nobody ever keeps resolutions. I'm going to follow the lead of a friend and try new things every 30 days.

New Thing #1
Reduce caloric intake to 1200 per day.

So how do you do that? I figure the best way is to eat mostly a vegetarian diet this month, maybe with a little fish and chicken thrown in there for protein. I like rice and I like beans but I have no intention of eating rice and beans with every meal just to get complete proteins.

New Thing #2
Walk at least 3 miles a day, not counting Sundays.

This one should be easy. I'll end up doing most of that at work. It's just that I'll be tracking it now. So if you're one of my Facebook friends and you see something pop up in your news feed from my Cardio Trainer account...now you know why. I sure do love smart phones. It's my favorite toy (aside from the motorcycle of course).

So that I have some accountability, at the end of the month I will post how much weight I have lost. Dang, it better be a big number. Like a Biggest Loser type of number. I don't have anywhere to go if I vote myself off the show.

Sensing a theme here?

Forgiving

2011-12-30T11:16:00.001-07:00

Somebody once told me that my dad was too forgiving. If only I could be half as forgiving as him...if only. This person never realized just how forgiving of others that my dad really was. I'm sure their lips would have curled in disgust at the thought. "What a fool", they'd say.

I try everyday to see the best in the world, even if it's hard, to see the best in each person in the world. And I do it because of my dad. Some days I stumble in this endeavor; other days I succeed. Maybe I'm the fool. Maybe not. All I know is that it's not the coldly cunning that will inherit the earth. Today I find myself thinking of my dad and renewing my vow to be more forgiving of the mistakes of others.

Art Festivals

2011-08-08T05:57:00.002-06:00

I went to the Park City Art Festival yesterday. It was a lot of fun to wander around with friends and look at beautiful things that I can't possibly afford. Some of the Artists I saw in Salt Lake City were here too.

There is one thing in particular that I really liked. It was funny and I probably should have bought something. Lucky for me they are local.

Forked Up Art

I am drawn to metal sculpture and these guys are original and creative and they will do custom work for you. One of my friends was drawn to the handmade oil kaleidoscopes. She collects them. Her brother, the knives. He knows his stuff when it comes to quality knife work and was even able to compare one booth to another in quality.

Side Note: The car we took up the canyon was a Ford GT, I think. It's kind of like a Mustang. They look cool but I've decided that I don't like riding in them. It feels like I'm in a cage and if we were to roll (because lets face it, you are obligated to drive too fast in a car like that) I would be trapped inside. I've never experienced claustrophobic feelings like that before. Give me a motorcycle any day.

There were so many beautiful photos. I'm a big fan of artistic photography. It makes me feel like such an amateur with my photos and yet inspires me at the same time. And the silk screen prints, the watercolors, the oils, the pottery. I loved the pottery. One booth had beautiful pencil drawings that looked three dimensional.

I would have included photos but that is frowned upon. I got cussed out by an African painter for taking pictures of his work. It's not like I was going to copy it (as if I could). I just wanted to share the experience with my friends and would have given him full credit. I probably would have brought him some business too. What a fool.

We walked up the street and down it, in every booth, in the galleries, and into the book stores. I want to go back after the festival for lunch in one of the pubs. The smell of the food coming out of those places was wonderful but it was crazy busy.

Park City is beautiful and slightly cooler when it's so very hot down in the valley. It was a good day with good friends. I am slightly darker from the sun and that's a good thing. I always feel better after a big dose of vitamin D.

2011-07-01T15:40:00.000-06:00

I hardly write in my blog anymore my life has been so chaotic. And I think, what a shame? But then I did erase most of it in the first place.

That's because most of it sucked. I will at some point go back and add things in that shouldn't have been erased.

These days however have been trying ones and perhaps I should be grateful for that. It is through adversity that we become stronger. Or so THEY say.

By the end of this particular test of adversity THEY had better name me the newest Mr. Universe I'll be so strong...or not.

I have found that I am strengthened along the way when I seek help. When I am ready to give up, when I have done all that I know how, I fall to my knees and pray for help. Then our Savior lifts me up and we walk a little further down the path together.

And I know that it will be okay.

Neighbors

2011-05-02T12:21:00.002-06:00

I have been seeing some very disturbing posts on my facebook news feed from some friends now that Osama Bin Laden is dead. There have been very hateful things said against Muslims in general and out of love I feel compelled to rebuke those that say these things and I do so with Jesus Christ's own words.

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:36-40

Sometimes the most simple of all the commandments can be the hardest to keep.

I have no plans to murder, steal, worship false idols, or sleep with somebody's wife.

But love my neighbor? And when you read more into the scriptures and see just who your neighbor is (and it isn't just the guy living next door) well then it becomes difficult.

But from the sermon on the mount, Christ teaches us this about who to love:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if ye alove them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Matthew 5:43-48

Will I lose some friends? Possibly, but I can't bear to read anything more about killing.

Impulsive

2011-04-26T10:29:00.000-06:00

I just deleted years worth of my blog. Yeah, I'm impulsive like that.