Amy and I finally had enough with the paltry number of bars indicating our signal strength with AT&T; so we bought an AT&T Microcell last night. I had been waiting for its availability in our area since reading about it a long while back. Gizmodo has a decent review of it here. It was kinda weird when we bought it because we were both slightly incensed at having to pay $158 in order to use a service where we are already paying $180 dollars per month. We could have bought the Microcell for a lower price (after a crappy AT&T "rebate," which is actually some kind of rebate card), but would have had to pay an additional $20 a month for unlimited voice. The problem with the whole thing is that the Microcell is also using our home internet connection for some kind of VOIP/cell reception conversion. Grrr.

When waiting to speak to a customer representative, we had to wait in line for 30 minutes before someone would see us. After we told the salesman what we wanted, we attempted to register/activate the product there. There was some kind of computer network SNAFU; so we wound up wasting another 40 minutes trying to get out the door. They eventually sent us on our way and told us to activate it from home. When we got home, we tried to activate it and had the same problems; the web application told us to call an 800 number to activate it over the phone. I called the 800 number on my phone (with the paltry number of signal bars) and finally got through to someone after 35 minutes on hold. They tried to activate the Microcell and failed, telling us to try the web registration/activation again later in the evening or tomorrow. Grrr again.

Last night at around 12:30 AM, I was finally able to seemingly activate the Microcell. I set everything up, hardware-wise, but it wasn't working. The manual read that it might take up to an hour to complete some kind of network set-up. Fine, I went to bed and thought I would have five bars in the morning. :-) Wishful thinking... I woke up this morning and the Microcell was just blinking when it should have had solid indicator lights. The Microcell uses some kind of GPS signal/location lock for 911 purposes. I also suspect that the GPS lock also ensures it is being used at the address you have indicated in the registration process. Anyway, there was no GPS signal. I had to set-up the Microcell in an area close to an open window with a clear line of sight to the sky. Luckily, I have been using an Airport Express to extend the range of our Time Capsule and I was able to move the Express to a decent spot for the Microcell. After everything was set-up and I finally got a GPS lock, it wouldn't start displaying a solid light indicating it was broadcasting a cell signal. I checked the status of the Microcell on the AT&T site and realized that my registration from last night didn't take. I re-registered/activated the Microcell, power-cycled it, opened a window so it could get a GPS lock, and crossed my fingers. Grrr a third time.

After all of that mess, it finally started working after another 30 minutes. Good signal strength and I still have a little sanity left. $158 dollars + one wasted evening + another 2.5 hours in the early morning - sanity = success. I love my iPhone, but all of this because AT&T sucks? Yay. :-(

Thought that I would give folks a peek at what I am reading on my iPad. I have a ton of (physical) books that are stacked on the bookshelf downstairs that need to be read. I find carrying books on my iPad or iPhone much more convenient. The picture shows stuff on my immediate reading list and favorites that I re-read annually. I use Stanza on my iPhone, until iBooks is released for the smaller platform.

Good commercial. Apple makes things you didn't know you would want, until you see them.

                 

I have lost 55 pounds since the end of May 2009. This is just a follow-up to my previous weight-loss post. I thought I would include more data and updated pictures. Since the last post, I have lost another 10 pounds. I am about where I want to be weight-wise. If you look at my favorite foods chart, you will notice there are still a sizable number of junk foods on the list. I was hoping to have more fruits and vegetables represented, so my next goal is to have more fruits and vegetables at the top and chips and candy at the bottom or gone.

Loseit.com added more features to both their iPhone app and their website, reports being the most interesting and the source of my graphics for this post. From analyzing my data, it is apparent that December was a bad month for me. Though my exercise was fairly consistent, I consumed too many calories and I had weight gain of a couple of pounds. Once I hit my goal of 155, my BMI will be 25; still "overweight," but I will be happy with that result. If I dropped to 150, my BMI would be "normal" at 24.2. At the moment, my weight is 156 with a BMI of 25.2. My waist is ~31 inches and my height is 5'6". If I lost too much more weight, my wife would kill me because we would have to replace my wardrobe again and that would be too much on the budget. :-)

From my favorite exercises chart, you will see that weightlifting and running are my primary activities with calisthenics being the third. I substituted the calisthenics activity for recording yoga sessions in the Lose It iPhone app, because I didn't feel the yoga activity setting accurately reflected real caloric expenditures. I only added in yardwork, house cleaning, and snow shoveling when I was performing particularly hefty projects around the house. My favorite apps for helping me lose weight and keep it off are: Lose It, Run Keeper, and Fitness Builder. The combination of the three of these apps have helped me to easily lose weight and track my workouts. That's it for now, I will post more around the anniversary of starting my diet--end of May-ish.

       

I have lost 45 pounds since the last week of May, approximately 20 weeks. That is about 2.25 pounds per week. I started at 211 pounds and now weigh 166 pounds, at 66 inches in height. My initial weight loss goal was 170 pounds or a loss of 41 pounds. When I reached the first goal, around the second week of September, I decided to create a new goal of 165 pounds. Now that I am very close to the second goal, I have decided to push my weight goal to 160 pounds. This new goal will probably do two things: put me closer to an optimal BMI and probably let my ab muscles show through a bit better. My weight loss was not difficult and did not take a long time. I was already exercising and eating the right foods. The problem was that I was eating way too much. Instead of staying within 1500 calories or so, I was shoveling in 4000 or so calories per day. I kept wondering what the hell am I doing wrong!? I was exercising with frequency and intensity, but was only gaining weight and/or hovering around 215.

In the middle of May, the executive director of our department told me about an iPhone app named Lose It. It is a free application that measures calories (expended and consumed), plans weight loss/gain/maintenance, and plots the data over time. I downloaded the app and added a couple of other iPhone apps to aid me in my endeavor. I wanted a good way of keeping track of my running, biking, and weight lifting, so I downloaded Run Keeper and Fitness Builder too. I use/d Run Keeper to keep track of my hiking, biking, and running. I have written before about my struggles with rheumatoid arthritis, so I had to hike and bike before I could start running. Run Keeper was the perfect tool for managing all of my data and helping me to translate that data for Lose It. I use/d Fitness Builder to track all of my resistance training, from free weights to machines to kettlebell workouts. I created 19 custom workouts in the app and kept track of every rep and every set while working out in the man-cave (basement). A great number of my custom workouts were based on information that came out of Dumbbell Training for Strength and Fitness by Matt Brzycki and Fred Fornicola. Again, I would track my time spent lifting and move that data into Lose It for a more accurate calorie count. I also used Google Calendar as a tool for keeping a simple record of workouts, type, and distance (hiking, biking, running) at a glance.

The pictures attached to this post are not doctored. The "before" picture shows me the night before I started tracking calories and the "after" pic was taken today after returning from a short 4.5 mile run out at Ridley Creek State Park with the wife and dog. You might notice that the before pic was taken with my old first-generation iPhone and today's pic was taken with the new 3GS. Run Keeper required GPS to track location when I was hiking, biking, or running.

The reason I picked 170 pounds for my first goal was because the Marine Corps has height/weight standards and 170 was the upper limit for my height. Being a former Marine, I wanted to fit within those standards--even though I have been out of the Corps since 1994. When I reached the 170 pound goal, I realized I could do better and adjusted my goal to meet a more ideal weight. Another motivational aid was to subscribe to magazines, blogs (RSS), and Twitter feeds that focus on exercise. My subscriptions include Runner's World, Men's Health, Yoga Journal, Flex, and various blogs/Twitter feeds from professional figure competitors, runners, and bodybuilders. Whenever I didn't feel like hitting the man-cave at 6 AM, I would open a Flex magazine and leaf through for motivation. When I didn't feel like getting out and running in the rain, I would get on Google Reader and peruse a few blog feeds by athletes. You get the picture. I kept motivated even when I wasn't feeling it.

To be quite honest, losing the weight was not difficult. Yeah, I gave up a lot of sweets for vegetables, but it wasn't terrible. With the three iPhone apps, motivational reading material, and seeing the pounds fall off, it was really easy and happened much faster than I had anticipated. One thing that I did, which I haven't talked about, was visiting the doctor regularly. Because of RA, I was seeing a doctor every few months anyway; but with the weight loss goal, I visited a nurse for well-visits a few times over the past couple of months for added safety. I highly recommend making a well-visit before, during, and after your own program. It makes a difference and will probably keep you from doing something you may regret later.