Thursday, January 20, 2005

Jesus Connect.net Domain is down for now


Once again it has happened to us. Katy called me yesterday stating she went to our website to make a change and found that the DOMAIN Jesus Connect.net has expired. SIGH... This is not the first time this has happened. So, our family website which was part of that domain and has been for years is once again VANISHED. Katy and I think that it is time for us to register our own domain and then we can have our own website with our own domain name again. Most domain names give you website space, email and FTP access and it is getting cheaper by the year. So, stay tuned for our announcement in the very near future.

This week continues to be a good week with regards to our health. I am eating under 2000 calories per day and Katy and I both walked 1.6 miles on Monday and Wed. We are walking one day, resting the next. Four days on and three days off. I will be working in the County Office Building which means I will be making rounds in the parking garage which will count towards my exercise count. I can not wait until this Saturday. I get to work a double shift from 7 am until 11 pm. Wooooohoooooo sounds like fun filled excitement. hahahahahahah NOT....

We are having a heat wave today since it is up to 31 F. I think that I will go outside and get a tan today. LOL

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Hammer and nail anyone?

Have you ever used a hammer and nail to fix a computer? LOL. Well, I came pretty close today. Actually I wound up going to the VA Hospital in downtown Charleston this afternoon to fix one of their many MED carts. There is a manual locking mechanism which is installed to lock the cart just in case the electrical/computerized system were to fail. Somehow the thumb lever and the metal plate it rides on vibrated loose and fell off. I wound up spending two hours this afternoon figuring out how to disassemble the cart , fix the problem and then reassemble it to make sure it works. I had to use the hammer and nail to drive out the plastic gromets that were holding the four corners of the top of the med cart to the rest of the cart. I was standing in the storage room beating on the nail wondering if a doctor or nurse would walk in and ask me what in the world I was making all the racket for. LOL. Luckily that never happened.

I spent 3 hours today upgrading Timberline software at one of my client sites. I had to upgrade the server first and then I had to reinstall the updates to all the workstations.

Thus far , as of 7 pm I am at 810 calories. That will give me approximately 750 calories for me to consume for dinner and that will keep me well under 2000 calories for the day. Yeah me!!! I am going to rest tonight and walk tomorrow before church. Katy looked at me and said, there is NO WAY I am walking again in this cold. LOL.... Poor dear. I do hope that she gives in to my incessant whining and goes with me anyway. It is starting to look like we are both going to have a whine session tomorrow night to see if one or both of us is going for a walk. LOL

Caring Bridge Website

This is our Caring Bridge Website that I put up yesterday evening. I am not finished with it yet so please come back often to see what we have changed. The url is

http://www.caringbridge.org/sc/jessicamoffitt

Please visit this website and share it with your friends and family. Pray about helping Happy Days and Special Times as they are in need for funding for 2005 for all of the special events that they do for children with cancer and events that the siblings and parents can attend throughout the year. You can donate online at http://www.happydaysnspecialtimes.org in memory of our Jessica. I know that I know that she would appreciate your support. Thanks!!

A new day to make the right decisions

Good morning folks! It is a nice crisp 22 F here in the deep south. LOL... I am so happy that I purchased a car cover for our new chariot so I dont have to worrry about scraping ice off the windshield. I am also glad that the heater does not take 30 minutes to finally kick in. Speaking of that I wonder if I should go out and crank the engine so that when I do get in it will be nice and toasty when I get inside.

I decided this weekend that FAT BOY is going to DO SOMETHING about the weight problem. Sigh.... I gained 9 pounds over the Christmas holidays and I can really tell a difference. I am also wondering if my not taking my blood pressure medicine which was a diuretic has caused me to put on some extra weight. That is a question that a doctor is going to have to answer I suppose.

Well, anyway, not only did I gain 9 lbs but I also have not done any regular exercise either. Having the new job working 8 to 5 sitting in front of a computer most of the time did not help that. What walking that I was doing in the parking garage has been diminised down to two days on the weekend. So with that in mind I am going to do my best to walk atleast 3 or 4 times per week. I got home last night after work and my right ankle was sore since I stood up most of the day. I almost used that as an excuse not to go but I managed to bundle up and go outside to walk. I also managed to talk Katy into walking with me. Boy oh boy girlfriend did NOT want to walk in the cold. Can you say cheese with that whine honey? LOL... Thank you Katy for coming with me so that you could motivate me to do what I need to do. We both know that we both really need to try and do this together so we can support one another when one or both of us want to get lazy and stay at home and be couch potatoes. LOL....

In the calorie department I ate around 2400 calories. I guess I sort of blew it in that area. I need to get that down to under 2000 calories today. The formula is simple. Less calories and more exercise. The key is aerobic exercise I might add. Exercise that gets your heart to pumping at a specific rate which is designed to burn those FAT calories. Just thinking about how much work is necessary to lose ONE POUND or 2000 calories is almost depressing.

Baby steps. Tiny little baby steps. I have to keep reminding myself that I did not get this way over night and that it is going to take determined dedication to attack this problem one moment at a time and one day at a time. Tomorrow is gone and now I have today to make the right decisions and do the right things. Personal planning means that I need to DO SOMETHING and be proactive and NOT just let life happen to me and wind up being REACTIVE and doing damage control.

Maybe my new motto needs to be "Embrace The Tiger". Maybe that will help me to understand that my weight problem is the tiger in my life and that I need to face this monster (tiger) head on and not let it overwhelm me to the point that I feel helpless and hopeless. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. I need to also remember that. I am not alone and I have the power of God within me to dig down deep and do what I need to do. I just need to decide to tap into that power and put it to work every single day.

Today is God's gift to me and what I chose to do with this day will be my gift to God. Pray that I will make the right decisions today with regards to how much food I stick in my mouth and that I will continue to exercise atleast 30 min every day. Also remember to pray for the Tsunami victims in Asia and for our troops who are over seas fighting in a horrible war. Pray that our troops will come home safe and sound to their families. Pray for peace. Also pray for Happy Days and Special Times that they will continue to find the funds that they need through donations and other events through the year so that they can continue to bless children with cancer with all of their FREE activities to them and their families

Monday, January 17, 2005

Renissance Weekend Myrtle Beach South Carolina

Katy and I spent the weekend at Myrtle Beach at the Ocean Reef Hotel. When we arrived Friday evening around 6:30 pm the temperature was around 45 F. Before it was all over the temperature dipped down to around 34 F with a wind chill factor making it around 28 F. Now, I know for you snow birds up in Michigan or Iowa or wherever you might be building snow men this is a regular hot flash for you. However us beach bunnies are freezing our tails off with this weather.

Happy Days and Special Times sponsors the Renissance Weekend for parents who have lost children to cancer. I can not tell you how wonderful this organization really is. Not only do they minister to the needs of kids with cancer but they do not forget the siblings and parents AFTER the child is either recovered OR passes on. During the yearly weekend we come together as a support group and we comfort one another and we have the unfortunate opportunity of welcoming newcomers to our group.

This year we had three or four new couples that just recently lost children to one form of cancer or the other. As one person said we are all unwilling members of a horrible club. Friday evening we all gathered around and did introductions and got settled in to the hotel and ate Pizza around 9 pm. Saturday morning we had breakfast, two grief counseling break out sessions, lunch , free time between 1:30 pm and 4 pm and then we all gathered at Chuck Steak House for steak dinner compliments of Happy Days. After dinner we all piled in to our respective chariots and headed down to the Alabama Theater and enjoyed a Tribute to Patsy Cline radio show. I am not much of a Patsy Cline fan but I have to say that the entertainment and talent was absolutely amazing. After the show ended around 10:30 pm we all came back to the hotel and piled into one of the conference halls for more desert, coffee, soda pop and more informal conversation.

Sunday morning consisted of a breakfast, more informal conversation within the group of parents and then John Evans spoke to us. You can visit John Evans on the Web at http://www.johnevansspeaker.com/. John is a motivational speaker that just blesses our socks off every time we hear him speak. As a matter of fact I wish that we were able to spend more time with him than we do. John handed out a motivational brochure that was entitled Embrace The Tiger with a picture of John kneeling next to a huge Siberian Tiger. John Evans also told us all about a website called Caring Bridge at http://www.caringbridge.org. On this site you can register a web page and set up a memorial page for your loved one and let people know how they are doing etc. Check the site out for yourself. I plan on setting up a site there to let folks know about our Jessica and the impact that Camp Happy Days and Happy Days and Special Times had on Jessica and continues to bless our family today. My hope is that folks will be touched by the incredible genioristy and spirit of giving and volunteerism and will be moved to help support Happy Days and Special Times. Once all the events were over we all went outside on to the beach and proceeded to stand around like a bunch of frozen popsicles while we waited for everyone to show up for our balloon releasing ceremony. We take the white balloons and we put our hopes, fears, dreams and wishes and we then release those balloons up to God so that He can minister to those things within each of us. We also release them in honor of our children who have gone on before us. Our hope is that one day we will see Jessica again.