Reflections on 40

This week I celebrated my 40th birthday which is more than I can say for anna nicole Smith who was born on the same day. While turning 40 was a little more painful than I thought it would be, it beats the alternative (right Nicole?).

Wednesday was a workday , like most days it had it's share of challenges, although tearing down my baby pictures off the walls around the building is not one of my usual challenges. I was reminded by my afternoon surprise fruit salad how fortunate I am to work with so many people I enjoy working with. That certainly wasn't always the case.

Upon leaving I was treated to a nice meal with members of my family. It was a nice night to count my blessing and I am certainly lucky to have many. I have a great wife and terrific kids, a great and healthy family, a good job with people I enjoy working with and better health than when I was 30. There are always greener pastures to chase, but I am certainly aware of how fortunate I am.

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I Killed a Man.......Again

Three years ago this past October, my wife and I got serious about losing weight. It was something we had struggled with for close to 20 years and seemed to be getting worse and not better. Collectively were tipping the scales over 600lbs with me making up at least 350lbs of that. 10 long months of hard work and good eating later we had dropped over 250lbs.

From that date we started I haven't had one cookie, pizza, piece of bread, pasta, or anything else that I shouldn't have. Last year I did the unthinkable. I spent a week in Italy, ate fantastically and lost 5 lbs on the trip.

During the first two years since committing to losing wieght and living healthy I would become a workoutaholic. I would routinely hit the gym 4x per week, running on off days doing 50 pushups every morning and enjoying every minute of it. I would on occasion play full court basketball for two hours running up and down the court every possession and then go workout at the gym afterwards.

Then last fall I started going to the gym less frequently and that became even less frequent this year. When I would go, I would dread going and got no enjoyment out of it. It became a chore.

While my eating habits haven't changed drastically, I have definitely snacked more between meals. The results have been that I am now tipping the scales about 25lbs more than my lowest point.

I am not the first approaching 40 year old male to find that I have put on a little extra weight I would rationalize. I've lost 130lbs, I can drop 25 any time I decide I would also rationalize. This is the same type of thinking that made me look like I do in picture above.

Last week I got a lecture from a friend that I need to get my lazy ass to the gym and stop making excuses. This was after having gone to the gym twice last week, but I was merely going through the motions. I've been twice this week so far(three times if you include the day I left because I forgot to pack sneakers)and am playing basketball tomorrow. Maybe I will even go to the gym afterwards. I'm not waiting another day.

While I am at it I am setting some goals and making them public (as public as a blog with 5 readers can be). So here are a few. I am going to drop 34 lbs, from 243 to 209. Also, barring injury next year I am going to run the New York Marathon in November. I am going to crack 200lb bench press, at my peak last year I could do 185, I'm back to about 135. Those are some fitness goals, all I can tell you is that when I felt better physically, everything else followed because my mindset was so much better.

I went to the gym Monday and ran into a friend of mine, and he reminded me that I said that "old Phil" isn't coming back because I killed him. What I discovered since is that he is tougher to kill than I thought, he was only sleeping. Tonight I had a great workout and killed him again. Tomorrow I will need to fight him and kill him again and fight him every day that follows. One at a time.

I started today, I'm not waiting for my 40th at the end of the month or the new year. Tomorrow is my enemy, today is my friend.

No more excuses

Reigning Champs

This year I took the insulting step by renaming my Fantasy team "the Reigning Champs" and making the team symbol a rotating Super Bowl Trophy. We are three weeks in to the Extreme Fantasy Football League season and my team is shaping pretty well and at least in the hunt.

At quarterback, I have Tom Brady who is probably the Fantasy Leader for quarterbacks and his back up Jake Delhomme is also having a good year (although he got hurt today). The way this is shaping up, Brady is a steal for the money I spent.

Running back is working out better than expected but is presenting challenges. We are in an auction league so I spent $72 for Shaun Alexander. He has done well, just not 40% of my team value well. Conversely I spent $8 on Jamal Lewis and $3 on Lamont Jordan, both are doing great. Other good back ups include Ahman Green, Ledell Betts and Chris Brown. Right now I am trying to move some back ups and Delhomme for an upgraded receiver.

Receiving is surprisingly tough, Roy Williams has been the stud receiver that I had hoped for but no one is stepping up from the combination of Laveraneaus Coles, Santonio Holmes, Darell Jackson, and Jeremy Shockey. Donte Stallworth was a 1st week cut.

Tynes has done ok for a kicker, one of these days I will get around to looking for an upgrade. Chicago D has been ok, but frankly I would rather pick the defence that plays the Bears and Grossman each week.

After 3 weeks I am 2-1 taking a tough loss this week despite good weeks from Brady and Williams (and having Jordan on the bench.

A Tale of a Dog Named Mia

Tonight I have company at the foot of my bed of our beloved family dog Mia for the last time. Tomorrow we are going on vacation and Mia is going to boarding at Canine College while we continue to look for new owners.

We have had Mia since getting her from a shelter for our kids in December 2002. Mia has been a fantastic dog with our family and our cats. Mia is a great dog, but she is not always a good dog. When Mia is around other dogs she goes crazy.

While I don't know if the origin of Mia's aggression began before we got her, I can say that in the early years we had her, we did not do her any favors. She was never good with dogs, but I did not make enough efforts to socialize her and I have plenty of other theories thanks to Cesar on what I could have done better.

Back in January we moved. While we moved, we sent Mia to Canine College. Mia spent 2 weeks there retraining to lose her aggression towards other dogs. Mia made great progress, but still needed a lot of work to continue to improve.

Later in the spring, two days before a follow up visit, Mia did something she has never done before. While my wife was talking outside with a neighbor, Mia pushed the door open and came out and attacked our new neighbor's dog. While separating the dogs, our neighbor’s 16 year old daughter sustained a few minor cuts. Their dog had an injured right paw that took about a week to heal.

We brought Mia immediately down to Canine College not knowing if we would ever pick her up. 6 weeks later, Mia was almost completely transformed. Mia made such progress that even my skeptical wife thought we could try to make it work at home.

Once home, within a few days, our neighbors confronted us on our decision to bring Mia back into the neighborhood. I was probably too blinded by my desire to make it work to understand their point of view. After many "discussions" with my wife we both agreed to give Mia up. Trust me when I tell you, we both contemplated moving after only three months in our new house. That is how much the family loves Mia.

I have been adamant since the beginning that I would keep Mia until we could find her a good home. Easier said than done, no no kill shelter in the state will take a dog with dog aggression and not all “no kill” shelters are truly no kill shelters. We have been very fortunate to find two outstanding rescue organizations that have provided help and council. I can't possibly thank them enough. Ken at Northeast Border Collie Rescue and Lori at Great Dane Rescue in New Bedford have been supportive beyond the call of duty. Ken also referred us to a behaviorist (from Best Behavior) that visited us and evaluated Mia. She was also extremely helpful and reassuring.

As long as I am thanking people I should also thank my good friend Rob. Rob besides owning a third rate fantasy football team is a first rate guy. He is actively involved with animal shelters. Rob has given us leads and given us advice and has overall been very supportive and reassuring. Thanks Rob.

I would also feel remiss if I did not say something about adopting dogs. People like Lori and Ken have more dogs that they need to find homes for than owners looking for dogs. If you are looking for a dog, look at shelters and rescue organization first. Also, before adopting, I would suggest doing a lot of research before making your selection. A great resource to start is Best Friends. They are an amazing animal society out of Utah that is home to 2000+ dogs. Their website is full of useful info.

We have had a number of people that have come to visit Mia. Most of them have fallen in love with her. They all have decided that Mia was not the best fit for their situation. On Thursday Tracey and the kids drove an hour and a half to meet prospective owners for Mia. They own a farm in Rhode Island and from what Tracey told me they are fantastic with animals. If they take Mia, she will be the dog of the 16 year old daughter. The family refers to the girl as the "animal whisperer" because she is so good with animals. The whole family is very experienced in dog behavior and training. The place is perfect except.....they have 4 other dogs. We are hopeful given how experienced they are with animals that they can handle her. We will know tomorrow. (NOTE: THIS DID NOT WORK OUT)

While we won't really have closure on Mia for a while, tonight will be her last night in this house. Mia has been a better dog than we have been owners I just hope we can repay her by finding her a good home.

Good night Mia! We will miss you.