Happenings and Goings on
It's been a little while since the last update, so I present to you a recap of the things that have been going on in the past few weeks...
The New Job
On Wednesday, October 29, 2008, I started in my new position at Georgetown as the Manager of Information Systems and Technology Contracts. So far it has gone fairly well, at least as far as I can tell. As with any job, there is a certain learning curve involved, so I've had to ask quite a few questions. Once I get the basic procedures down. though, I can start working on making it my own. I already have a couple ideas that I think would help the processes out a little bit. I just want to make sure I'm comfortable with everything before I start messing with any existing processes. One thing that I am really happy about with this position is the fact that I'll get to telecommute once a week. I've been looking for a position that offered that for a while now, and finally have it. I've decided to telecommute on Mondays, but won't be starting that until around Thanksgiving - when I should be more comfortable with everything that I'm doing.
Halloween
I haven't gone out to do anything for Halloween in quite a few years. This year, since I would be going out meant that I was going to attend a few parties that I'd been invited to. So, the first stop on the evening was to a party hosted by a few guys I play softball with. The picture you see here is a shot of all the guys who were at the party who played for our softball team (the Money $hot$) during the summer and fall leagues. (As a side note, after the team finished 0-18-0 in the summer league, we finished 9-8-1 in the fall league). Anyway, it was quite a good time, as with the number of people who attended, they ended up going through three kegs by midnight.
I'm the guy in the blue and yellow face paint. My shirt said "Go Ceiling" on the front, and "Ceiling is Number 1" on the back. What was I? A ceiling fan. A little humor for you there.
I ended up not making it to the second party ("by accident"). When I got back to Shirlington I got a call from a friend who lives in my building and I met his wife and him at Bungalow for another hour and a half. After shutting the bar down (and playing some pool), we went back to the club room for a little while. I ended up being up until a little after 4 AM - the latest I'd been up in a few years.
All in all, a great Halloween.
Fitness
I've been fairly dedicated to my workout routine for the past two months. This weekend marked the fact that I've been on a weight training program for an entire month. I have noticed that it has gotten easier to get my butt downstairs to work out the more I've been doing this. Based on the exercises I've been doing (as well as the cardio I do nearly every day), I can definitely see results. I've lost about 25 pounds since June, and I can see a change from the weight lifting, which is what I really wanted. They say if you can continue to do something for 60 days, it becomes habit. If I can get through November and keep this up that whole time, I should see some fairly significant changes. I've already seen about 15% increases in the weight I can lift.
Travel
In the next two months, I'll be traveling to a few places. Over Thanksgiving, I'll be returning to Michigan again. I'm actually hoping they see some snow on Thanksgiving again, because I rarely get to see any measurable amount here in DC. I'm planning on driving up, and may go to Canada as well for a day or two. In December, my mom is taking us to Disney World. She took me for my law school graduation, and she's going to be taking everyone again as Tom will be graduating from PA school next summer - but this was the best time to go, as over the summer it was likely both Tom and his girlfriend would not be able to go. I'm sure it will be quite a bit different than the last time I went to Disney, but I'm really looking forward to it. We're going December 20-24, which unfortunately means I'll be flying back in to DC on Christmas eve, and won't be spending the actual holiday with my family. I might go up for New Years and Tom's birthday, but haven't decided yet. It all depens on the financial situation.
So, that's the story for the last couple of weeks. I'll try to update again soon with some more thoughts....