I have four minutes, go!! Hiding in lunch room eating food and surfing Facebook and my many other social networking sites. Today has been very busy but not more so than most. I have a 1 hour project conference call at 2 pm and I am hoping that some technical wizzards that are brighter than myself can help me solve a couple of very irritating issues I am having with network latency and an application server. I am getting ready to pull out the OSI layer chart and my magnifying chart. I am looking forward to the three day weekend. I am hoping to spend some time in the great out doors and away from technology. Is that even possible for me? I can stay away from the Internet for all of 2 or 3 hours but then I start to twitching because of my desire to connect to the Net and see what all of my netcitizen friends are up to. Ok, that is my four mintues, need to close this laptop up and get back to work. See you later aligator!!
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
This and that
How fast is your propeller turning today? Mine is at about 50% today. I am staying busy but nothing I am doing is really forcing me to put my brain into afterburner. Yesterday was a difficult day for me mentally in that I found it hard to focus. Last week was the first week back to school and it was pretty brutal. I already have a job where I have to go to work all day and solve problems. When I have to go sit down and focus and think about things that I dont necessarily want to focus on it makes it harder. No matter how hard it is to focus my secondary job is to increase my knowledge and become more educated. Yes, they will teach me things that I probably will never ever use for the rest of my natural life however they will teach me things that will make me a more rounded person. Considering my physique I am not sure that I need to be more rounded but you get my drift.
I think that old age is creeping up on me because I am having the hardest time remembering "Posterous". I keep remembering it as "Proteus". I think that must be because of the movie Matrix. One of their ships was named that wasn't it ? Anyway, good thing there are bookmarks or I would never find my way back in here. I was speaking to my wife the other day and she told me that 60 is not considered old by her anymore. I looked at her and laughed and said that is because you are in your fifties yourself. Of course 60 does not appear to be old from that stand point. I guess age is relative and you are only as old as you feel. With my joints acting up like they have in the last couple of weeks I have felt like I was 70. Thanks to the marvel of modern medicine I am walking again without a lot of pain.
Currently I am scanning the network computers and servers for missing Microsoft Security patches and critical updates. I am migrating users off of one Terminal Services server onto another server that has been configured for Terminal Services. I am gearing up for an application vendor to arrive here tomorrow so we can all three put our heads together and find out why the HECK their application is running like a locomotive that fell off the tracks. I have spent considerable time over the last 2 months agonizing over this and that trying to figure out why this application runs so slowly. I have been up and down the "Please dont take my pizza away" OSI network layer trying to figure out why it is so slow. The Pizza saying is the word picture that I memorized so that I can remember each of the OSI layers. Physical, Data, Transport, Media, application. I think I have Media wrong. Oh well, it is something close to that. When data leaves one computer and travels across the network media it stars at the bottom of the layer and works its way to the top and then when it arrives at the receiving computer it works its way from top to bottom. One huge cycle that goes around and around all day long millions of times per day as data packets are thrown around on the network. Pretty amazing stuff when you think about the complexities of it all.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Happy Tuesday
It is now 12:19 am and I am still awake. I am sitting here watching Conan Obrian and wrapping up school work. I just checked one of the discussion boards and one of our students in one of our computer classes has been waiting for the book store to get some more text books. I went online and searched Ebay, Textbooks.com and Amazon and could only find the older versions of this book. How crazy is that? I tried to help this chap find the book he needs but maybe he will have more luck. Hopefully the book store will have some on back order. I am glad that I went to the bookstore when I did and got all my books. I had something weird happen tonight while doing school work. Somehow I managed to get a week ahead in two out of four classes. How the heck did I do that? I also found out that I need to pay 197.00 to register Smartdraw which is an application for drawing network designs. That price is 30 percent off of the regular price of 300.00. Oh well, I guess I know where that much will be coming out of student loan money. I better get to bed and get some sleep since I have another full day ahead of me in about 7 hours. Nite Nite
Sunday, August 30, 2009
SoundClick artist: Bob Doyle - Bob Doyle creates ambient, new age, orchestral, soundtrack, and other electronic music.
Most of the time I listen to gospel and contemporary christian music. During my exploration of Posterous I found this artist who has some awesome instrumental music.
Technology, Theology, and Anything In Between
Here are some ideas as a technology business that I’ve used in order to keep my fixed costs and expenses low. Maybe some of these will be helpful to those that read this blog.
1. If you use a dedicated server, consider a VPS or shared hosting. I was using a dedicated server, but soon found out that a VPS would work just as well for the number and kinds of customers that I have. The virtual private server allows me the same control as a dedicated server, but at a much lower cost. Some VPS packages also can be faster than a low-end dedicated server, simply because the VPS has to use much better hardware if it is split up between 4-10 users. One thing to watch out for: Make sure that page load times and database stuff doesn’t bog down.
2. VOIP. One of my recent posts covered this. The specifics here was buying a decent VOIP phone (Aastra 480i to be exact), and then using a SIP-to-Skype bridge (SIPtheeSkype). This combination allows me to use my Skype subscription for unlimited US calling, plus a inbound telephone number, for $54/year. This is much better than paying the phone company $40+/month, and with some companies, a contract is involved. DISADVANTAGE: You won’t be listed in the phone book. Considering the kinds of people that contact my business, this isn’t a problem. Who looks for a software developer in the phone book? Other VOIP providers worth looking at are Gizmo5 and RingCentral.
3. Business finance. I know the debt-averse attitudes many Christians have, but I can’t say I completely agree with them. Certainly, this economic climate which we are in is causing us to rethink our ideas about debt and savings, but debt still remains a tool for businesses to use, especially to float through hard times. My suggestion here is to find a local bank that has money to lend, and use a line of credit. Currently, my bank offered me a line of credit at 4% + prime rate, which last I checked made my interest rate 7.25%. Contrast this with Chase Manahattan, a business credit card that hiked my rates up to 14.24%. Most of my views on debt and credit are based on things I read from Gary Moore. He runs this website, Financial Seminary. My best advice with this point is look to get away from credit cards, and use bank loans and lines of credit. The APR is much better, and usually, the bank line of credit forces more payment of principal every month, so you won’t be in a debt for years.
4. Credit cards. I’m going to be accepting credit cards this year, to hopefully bring in more customers that will make small purchases. I’m going to use PayPal, which will give me better control over my costs. While the transaction and discount rates won’t be as good as a merchant account, there are no monthly minimums to worry about. Also, they have a money market account that earns 0.5% now, which isn’t great, but better than 0% in my bank checking account.
Hopefully some of these ideas will be helpful to you. We will get through this year and turn a profit!
This is an excellent article from a friend of mine that I speak with on IRC. He said it was ok to share it here.
The difference between the North and the South
A friend of mine at work shared this with me. This is one of those things that is being passed around from one mail server to the next. I thought it was good enough to share here. Enjoy!!
The difference between the North and the South - at last, clearly explained.....
The North has Bloomingdale's , the South has Dollar General . The North has coffee houses, the South has Waffle Houses . The North has dating services, the South has family reunions. The North has switchblade knives; the South has .45's The North has double last names; the South has double first names. The North has Indy car races; The South has stock car races . North has Cream of Wheat , the South has grits. The North has green salads, the South has collard greens . The North has lobsters, the South has crawfish . The North has the rust belt; the South has the Bible Belt . FOR NORTHERNERS MOVING SOUTH . . .... In the South : --If you run your car into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive pickup truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don't try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for. Don't be surprised to find movie rentals and bait in the same store.... Do not buy food at this store. Remember, 'Yall' is singular, 'all yall' is plural, and 'all yall's' is plural possessive. (NO apostrophies ( ' ) either) Get used to hearing 'You ain't from round here, are ya?' Save all manner of bacon grease. You will be instructed later on how to use it. Don't be worried at not understanding what people are saying. They can't understand you either. The first Southern statement to creep into a transplanted Northerner's vocabulary is the adjective 'big'ol,' truck or 'big'ol' boy. Most Northerners begin their Sou thern-influenced dialect this way. All of them are in denial about it. The proper pronunciation you learned in school is no longer proper . Be advised that 'He needed killin..' is a valid defense here. If you hear a Southerner exclaim, 'Hey, yall watch this,' you should stay out of the way. These are likely to be the last words he'll ever say. If there is the prediction of the slightest chance of even the smallest accumulation of snow, your presence is required at the local grocery store. It doesn't matter whether you need anything or not. You just have to go there. Do not be surprised to find that 10-year olds own their own shotguns, they are proficient marksmen, and their mammas taught them how to aim. In the South, we have found that the best way to grow a lush green lawn is to pour gravel on it and call it a driveway. AND REMEMBER: If you do settle in the South and bear children, don't think we will accept them as Southerners. After all, if the cat had kittens in the oven, we ain't gonna call 'em biscuits. Send this to four people that ain't related to you, and I reckon your life will turn into a country music song 'fore you know it. Your kin would get a kick out of it too!
Good morning Lowcountry
I am happy to announce that my sleep cycle seems to have magically repaired itself. I stayed up until 2 am this morning watching Sons of Anarchy and talking with my IRC friends. I was able to go to sleep and get some sleep for about 7 hours. It feels nice to be awake and not all dopey feeling. It is important that I recharge my batteries with work and school putting a huge demand on my ability to think correctly.
Week one of school is over and for that I am thankful. I am also thankful that I was able to find some semblance of organization and I did not get stuck studying for 7 days straight. Everything seems to be due on Sundays and this last week most of my assignments were done by Friday morning. That means that on the weekend I will have a little bit of free time to do something fun.
This week will be another busy week at work as I work with our software vendor to fix the network latency our users are experiencing when using their software. I am in the midst of slowly and methodically making changes to optimize how well the network runs. When I say network I mean that we making changes at different layers. At the physical layer we moved one of the servers over to a 1 GB pipe when it was at 10/100. We offloaded DNS services off of the application server and we completely disabled WINS on the network since we do not have any Win9x boxes that require it. We off loaded Terminal Services off of the application server and moved that over to a different server. We have Net Observer running on the application server trying to determine where the bottleneck is. The application in question uses a flat file database and does not require SQL or Oracle to run which is sort of maddening since there are no transactional issues to look at.
Moving back to the home front my wife and I must be over the hill if we are sitting here drinking coffee and comparing the size of our horse pills that we have to take to manage certain health related issues such as blood pressure or mental equillibrium. Better living through chemicals is better than not living at all I guess.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Desire to learn again
Becoming a student of being a good student. Been way too long since I have done this. Need to slow down and read and understand what is being expected of me. Must leverage time more efficiently and allow myself to make a few mistakes along the way.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Hello Friday where have you been?
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| This is my first post to Posterous. My friend at work (Queen PITA) tweeted about this and I made the mistake of paying attention. I am losing count on how many blogs I actually have. The cool thing about Posterous is that I can post from any of the registered e-mail addresses and my crackberry and my drivel will be automatically updated on all of my social media sites. I think that is very cool but of course, this is not out of the ordinary since other social media sites do it to. Perhaps I am doing this because YOU are doing it and I don't want to be left behind wondering where everyone else went. LOL... Ok, here goes nothing, let me see if Posterous screws up my Incredimail formatting. | |||
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jcmoffitt.blogspot.com
843-323-1275
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Go Dallas Cowboys
The stadium is probably one of the nicest stadiums and most high tech stadiums around for the whopping price of 1.4 billion dollars. The HUGE scoreboard in the stadium itself runs around 400,000 dollars or some astronomical figure. If you go to the game at the stadium and you are up high where you find it difficult to see the action you can just watch the jumbo screen right in front of you and not miss a thing. I am hoping to go visit this stadium this year or next. During pre game warm ups the punters had fun punting the ball into the bottom of the big screen.
I must say that while I can be very critical of how Dallas performs during the past several years I was fairly impressed by what I saw on the field Friday night. The team did make some sloppy mistakes with regards to the unsportsmanship penalties they got for no good reason. Why are we pushing people while they are already out of bounds and on the way to the ground under their own steam? Maybe the coaches will explain the rules of the game to the BOYS and let them know they can't beat up the opponents when they are out of bounds already.
Terrell Owens is gone and so is Tank Johnson which is good news to me. Tony Romo appeared to have his head in the game and did well moving the ball down the field. John Kitna with number 3 on his jersey played quarter back in the second half seemed to be very mobile in the pocket and managed to keep from being sacked and was able to make some difficult completions. There were several recievers that I have never heard of that appeared to do a good job as well. Then there is the work horse full back in Marion Barber who showed that he could pound the ball through the offensive line.
I have no doubt that Dallas will be a team to be watched and hopefully will be able to live up to the talent and depth that they have. I am hopeful that the strict training camp from Wade Phillips instilled some much needed discipline in the troops and they are ready to play some serious smash mouth football. I would love to see the Dallas Cowboys exhibit some class and integrity both on the field and off the field. In the last several years I have seen some very poor decisions with regards to hiring football players who were supposedly awesome on the field playing the game but horrible role models to our youth off the field. Do we really need people like Michael Vick (now on the Eagles roster) who has been convicted of animal abuse and spent time in prison being a role model to our youth? How many people on the Dallas Cowboy roster are known ex cons?
Should we sacrifice the integrity of the game and the over all team class by hiring thugs just because their being there can sell tickets on Sunday? If you have a player that is awesome on the field but can not get along with his fellow team mates and is being traded over and over again to other teams to get rid of them could that be a sign? In professional sports just as in real life it is not always about the one individual but it is about the team. What one person succeeds in or fails in can have immediate and lasting consequences for the team for days and years to come.
Dallas, make me proud to call you America's team even though most of America can not stand you because of your failure to live up to the team reputation of the 1980's and 1990's. Be all that you can be and quit trying to take shortcuts.
A fan of yours through good and bad since 1969!!!
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Seacoast West Ashley Campus and Picture Perfect
Today marked our first visit at Seacoast West Ashley Campus church. We moved to Johns Island back in May of this year and we have been going back and forth to Grace Fellowship Church in Goose Creek. Actually, I have been struggling with letting go of my old church home because I love and care for the people I just spent 9 years of my life with on every Wed night and Sunday morning and all of the special events in between. Grace Fellowship was and still is a small family oriented group of folks who seek to serve God in any way that they can. They have been such a huge blessing to me and my family.
My family has been slowly and methodically encouraging me to let go and get on with our lives on Johns Island which includes finding a church home closer to home that we can attend and serve. Change is always scary especially since it means meeting new people and becoming known. I love to sing on the praise team and I love helping to manage technology so at any new church you have to become known and then you have to become qualified to be allowed to do most things. The important thing is that if you are part of a family or an organization there are rules and standards that are set in place for a reason. If you are going to be a part of the system then you have to be willing to follow those standards even if you may not totally agree with them. Ministry takes a team effort and most of that effort is getting along with others and playing well in the sand box. No one likes a “know it “all or someone who insists on doing it there way.
The service today was a little bit different than what we are used to but not in such a way that we were uncomfortable. I could tell from the stage and the sound booth that we would need to sit about halfway back even though I wanted to sit on the second row so I could really see what was going on. The music was loud but it was not over bearing. The music was contemporary and maybe even some of the songs were very new to me since I had never heard of them. I noticed that there were no screens in the back for the singers to see the words but I think that they had little pedestals in front of them where they could refer to the songs if they needed to which is good.
I was surprised to see that the message “Picture Perfect” was delivered via telecast to the big screen by the main pastor in another location. At first it was sort of weird but I have seen this before so I warmed right up and listened intently to what he had to say. The focus of the message was families and family pictures. The message was about how family pictures are more than just the photos but what goes on behind the scenes and almost never reflects any of the problems or issues that the family members may be facing or have faced in the past.
The pastor went on to expound on how the choices we have made in the past cause us to live through consequences now and can have consequences for generations to come. He spoke about the importance of making good choices and to think about long term consequences and not just the here and now. It was a very good message and service and I would encourage you to download their podcast if you have time to listen to it.
All in all today has been a very good day since I feel much better physically and that has helped me to feel better mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I am looking forward to the new week and what it has to offer. I will be spending a lot of my evening hours studying all four of my class materials which will be pretty new to me after being out of school for 29 years. I can do it!!!
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Friday, August 21, 2009
Pizza and Dallas Cowboys
Starting next week I will be working two jobs. I will be doing my I.T. job during the day and studying my new classes in the evening hours. The text books suggest that for each class I will need to study between 4 to 6 hours per week so that means Monday through Friday will be booked solid. All I can do is take one day at a time and one subject at a time and just do the best I can. It will be good to be beyond the paperwork and preparation stage of going back to school and actually doing something productive like learning.
I am looking forward to the challenge and it will be nice to learn some new things and review some things that I already do know. I am hoping that my I.T. experience will help me to get through some of the computer courses without too much trouble. Only time will tell and I am sure that I will be bloggin about my experiences on the weekends. Now for some pizza and Dallas Cowboys.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Monday, August 10, 2009
life and remediation
Today started out by dropping off my wife at work and then going to work myself. I had not been at work for 30 minutes when I got a phone call from the wife telling me that she had just gotten fired and to come get her. As you can imagine she was upset about this turn of events especially since she just started this job three weeks ago. The reason that they fired her was because she was not getting it. They also said that she did not finish her work on Saturday and left without doing it. As you probably already know in the state of SC the employer does not even need a reason to fire you. You are employed at will and the employer and yourself can terminate that employment at will as well. Neither one of you have to have a reason however the employer requires that you give them 2 weeks notice while at the same time they don't have to give you 5 seconds notice.
The problem with this picture is that my wife is a very intelligent and hard working individual who has always been a long term employee. I will indulge the fact that she prefers to be in a classroom setting and probably excels at teaching children more than she does in a restaurant or shop setting where she has to do things she is not too familiar with. When they said she did not do her job on Saturday they did not care that she did not finish all of the tasks given to her because she was stuck at the cash register the entire 7 hours. She also was told that she could not work beyond her shift. How in the world was she supposed to finish her side tasks if she was told to run the cash register?
I know, what is done is done and it does not matter that I think that her supervisor is full of malarkey. They decided that they did not like my wife for whatever reasons and dumped her back out on the street from where she came. I know and Katy knows that life is not fair and you just have to suck it up and go on. The good news is that school starts in about two weeks and Katy can always be a substitute teacher at one of the Charleston County schools in the immediate area.
This month we are hoping to get our daughter tested for her official drivers license. I have been getting her to cart me here and there in the Durango in an effort for her to get some more experience. Princess does pretty good with regards to handling the vehicle on a two lane road as well as freeway driving. She still needs to work on her turning from one lane and keeping the vehicle in the same lane she is turning into. In her defense the love boat is not exactly the easiest vehicle to learn how to drive. All in all she is doing pretty well. The next step for her will be to learn how to parallel park and do a three point turn. I am not sure I even know what that is but now that Katy is off of work for the next two weeks she can figure out a way to do this. Monitoring my daughters driving habits has been interesting and a test of my patience. One of the things that I have had to do is to remind my princess that part of driving from point A to point B is to know where you are at and where you are going. I guess I had forgotten that when you are just riding in a vehicle all the time you really dont pay attention to how you get somewhere.
I have learned the hard way that working for a publicly traded company means that you get to participate in lots of audits through the year. My goal once I am done with my degree program and have my new certifications is to find employment somewhere that is NOT a publicly traded company so I can alleviate a lot of stress and headaches from my work day. Thanks to people and organizations who have defrauded others of their hard earned cash the rest of us have to suffer through the painful audit process. Here is how it works.
The organization creates and publishes its I.T. Policies which include how you are to perform you daily, weekly and monthly tasks. The company then hires an outside consulting firm who then analyzes your tasks and makes you create data controls to match those tasks. Then the organization deems it necessary for you to perform all the tasks outlined in each data control so that you can pass an audit. Then the auditing firm comes through and puts all of your actions under a microscope to make sure you have performed all of the data controls to the letter and requires that you give them evidence of doing it.
It all boils down to checks and balances and all of the data controls are just a fancy way of encapsulating everything that you already should be doing in order to safeguard and protect the financial information that you are entrusted to take care of. If mistakes are found, and there usually are some human errors that pop up then you get to go through what is known as remediation. Remediation means that you sit down with your boss and the bosses boss and that bosses boss with the auditor and you get to explain why you screwed up. Once you have announced to the world that you are an idiot and promise not to ever not do that task the wrong way again you get to help redefine the data control that contains all of the tasks or task in question.
In an audit you only did a task if you can provide evidence that you did it. That evidence needs to be something that is generated by the system or systems that you are managing. Not only that but there has to be multiple people involved in each check and balance to confirm that you did in fact do the task that you said that you did.
We have decided that by the end of September or the beginning of October we are going to take a week off and go back to Texas. All of our friends and family are there and we have not been back home in about 6 years. We are hoping that we can fly vs driving so we can spend more of our time enjoying our time with everyone vs eating up the time driving between states. I am ready for some much needed time away from work.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
29 years later and I am back to college
I have to attribute my sudden burst of motivation and forward progress with regards to going to Trident Technical College to a new found friend who I met through the Lowcountry bloggers. I met Steve several months ago at one of the BBQ meetups in Charleston SC and I learned then that he and I have the love for Texas Holdem in common. I also know that we have the love of open source Operating Systems such as Linux in common. Steve seems to have a wealth of information when it comes to running Linux on a pc. One evening not too long ago I was speaking to Steve online via gtalk and he told me about Trident Technical College and the degree program he is taking. The more he spoke the more motivated I became. Steve even went as far as meeting me early one morning and introducing me to his advisor. Since that day I have been jumping through all of the numerous hoops necessary for getting registered and obtaining financial aid so I can afford to go back to school.
I have two teenagers left at home and I have been preaching to them the importance of getting the best education possible. The best education possible includes making good grades in high school so that they hopefully can pass an SAT and get into college and get a four year degree in something other than basket weaving. When I am telling my kids about the importance of college I have always been very real with them and used my life as an example. In retrospect I have gone a long way in the I.T. industry without a degree and tons of certifications. Most people that question me about my education are amazed at how far I have gotten. I believe that God has opened some doors for me and I have been a very hard worker and I have learned all that I can from each experience whether that was a contract or full time position. I tell my kids that my story is the exception to the rule. I also tell them that if I had gotten a four year degree when I got out of high school and certifications that I should be much further ahead today in this industry than I am.
I am glad that I can be transparent with my children and I am hopeful that they will learn from my mistakes. I think that all parents want nothing more for their children than for them to NOT make the same mistakes that we did. What I did not realize was that by doing this I was basically telling my kids and myself that my chance of doing the right thing was over. I was telling them “do as I say and not as I do”. Somehow I believed that because I had failed to be successful at getting a degree that it just was not possible. Someone said something at Trident Tech that rings true. One of the ladies in Admissions said “everything happens in its due season”. I do not know why my season did not happen sooner but I am glad that it has appeared out of no where because I CAN DO IT!!!
The first person that I had to sell the notion to was myself. The other day I was thinking that if I can be an I.T. manager and manage a small network and support 60+ people on a daily basis then I must not be all that stupid. If I can solve complex I.T. related problems for a living then surely I am smart enough to crack a book and learn whatever is inside. When I think about it I am always reading and researching something computer or network related to solve a problem and that requires a lot of reading and studying all the time.
No matter what the challenge might be it is always wise to count the cost. One thing that I need to do immediately is to reprioritize my free time more effectively. I told my wife the other night that if I can spend 2.5 hours or more on the Internet playing around on Facebook, blogging, playing Texas Holdem then I can better use that time to study and earn a degree. There is nothing wrong with winding down and doing something fun for entertainment however I realize that at my age I am not getting any younger. I can no longer sit around and put off something that can always be done tomorrow. Today is the day that I must act and not tomorrow. I have to approach this one task at a time and one day at a time. From a distance the prospect of going back to school is sort of daunting and scary. I have to count the cost and make a wise investment into my future and the future for my family. In the end , if I am successful, we will all be better off for it. Not only will there be possible financial rewards with a better job but I will be more educated and that can not be a bad thing.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Unless youre a professional athlete, chances are that you spend a fair portion of your day sitting at a desk. The average American works about 40 hours a week, and many spend a large portion of that time sitting at a desk. Unfortunately for desk-bound workers, research has shown that these people are likely to suffer from weight gain, decreased muscle tone, back pain and increased stress. Despite your best intentions, it can be difficult to balance exercise with the rest of your life. However, employees with desk jobs can find ways to incorporate healthy habits into our daily routine that will help alleviate the negative impact of sedentary work.
1. Skip the coffee and take a walk instead. If youre looking for an energy boost, walk straight past the coffee machine and just keep on walking. Taking a 15- to 20-minute walk will make you feel more alert, get your heart pumping and help you relieve stress without caffeine or sugar!
2. Avoid the snack machine.Many businesses have vending machines that dispense any number of tempting snacks such as chips and candy. To beat the temptation to indulge in these unhealthy items, try to keep some healthy, tasty treats nearby. Good choices include fruit, chopped vegetables, yogurt, nuts or low-fat cheese.
3. Enjoy a healthy lunch.Even if you manage to bypass the snack machine, there are still other food-related pitfalls at the office. One culprit could be frozen or take-out lunches, which are often high in calories. Specialty coffee drinks can also pack a punch sometimes upwards of 400 calories each! So whenever possible, try to bring a healthy lunch from home. This helps you control portions and is less expensive, too. If you must go out for lunch, choose a lighter option from the menu, like a salad. Trade your morning café mocha for a green tea, and be sure to drink plenty of water throughout the day.
4. Pretend the elevator is broken.If you work in a multi-story building, take the stairs as often as you can. About 10 minutes of stair-climbing burns approximately 50 calories, so the next time you need to take a report upstairs to the boss or go down to check on the fax machine, take the stairs rather than the elevator.
5. Get fit while you sit. Stuck at your desk waiting for an important call? If you can't get up, dont do a few exercises while you sit. Try push-ups: hold on to the armrests of your chair, and push up until arms are fully extended. Next, lower your body until youre almost seated, then push up again. Alternatively, do stretches at your desk. Place your hands behind your lower back while sitting up straight. Move your right ear toward your right shoulder and then slowly move your left ear toward your left shoulder. Then, look down at your desk while pulling in your stomach muscles and straighten your back. Then look up at the ceiling. These and other stretches can help protect your back during the work day.
6. Bike or walk to work.If possible, leave your car at home and walk or cycle to the office. You might be amazed how invigorating it is to start your day in the fresh air, or how relaxing it is to decompress and think over the days events as you stroll home in the sunshine. It saves on gas money and can provide you with a days recommended amount of exercise.
These are just a few of the many ways you can keep your desk job from negatively impacting your weight and health.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Back on Track with healthy choices
Six weeks ago when we moved from Goose Creek to Johns Island I determined that I would take advantage of having a safe place to walk and get more exercise. My goal was and still is to lose a minimum of 1 lb per week. As of today I have lost 5 lbs and while I have not kept my goal of 1 lb pe week I am going to be happy about the weight loss. I have discovered that as I increase my exercise levels the better I feel and I have more energy. I am also finding that the increased activity has helped me to manage stress during the week as well. As the hashtag in Twitter #backontrack suggests I am “back on track” with my health related goals and seeing some small but marked improvements. Every day I have a choice to “start over”. Every day I have to choose to make healthy choices when it comes to my body. I can eat garbage and not do those things that I know I need to do or I can educate myself about the things I do need to do and DO IT. You know the saying, “JUST DO IT!!!!”
One of the things I have been doing is going to www.calorie-count.com and logging all of my calories each day. Every time I eat a meal or snack I try to remember to go there and log what I am eating. If I forget to do it one day I go back and think about what I ate and add it to the list for the previous day. I also log my exercise and weight there as well. Keeping track of all my calories makes me aware of exactly what I am putting in my mouth and it keeps me from eating emotionally. I read the other day that my mindset about eating should not be that of entertainment but rather to think of eating as using food as fuel. I am eating because I am hungry and I am eating the right things so that I can give my body the fuels it needs to burn calories. One of the pitfalls of eating because it is entertaining is that I get into the habit of thinking “I am sitting in front of the TV so I must have a snack”.
I have found that it is too easy to use eating as a way to make me feel better when I find myself suffering from situational depression. I might be upset about this or that or a circumstance out of my control so I will go rummage around in the refrigerator and look for something to eat that I “like”. When I am doing this I am redirecting my attention away from that thing that has me depressed or angry and I am focusing on food instead. The only problem with emotional eating is that I am doing myself a disservice by packing in the calories and pounds when I do this. I am happy to say that my wife Katy has hopped on the #backontrack band wagon with me and she has the same goal as I do, to lose weight and be more healthy. I think that she realizes that I am serious about “JUST DO IT” and that her being a partner with me will give me the added encouragement that I need to keep on keeping on. We can encourage on another and have the same goals. There is nothing like having an accountability partner that can help you stay on track.
One of the struggles with losing weight is to change how I think about eating but also to change what I eat. One of the low country bloggers mentioned to me in a comment on my blog that we should not have junk food in the house. If you do not have it you will not eat it. There is a lot of wisdom in that thought process and thanks to our budget being as lean as it is we have not had a problem with having a bunch of junk around the house. We have found some low calorie ice cream that we like so we get some of that from time to time to share. We have been eating more salad and baked chicken and boiled eggs as well. I know that we need to get better about drinking more water. We have been drinking tea with splenda and diet Dr Pepper. Katy has actually slacked off of drinking regular Coke and I am proud of her choice to sacrifice the sugar and calories that comes with drinking that.
My goal this week is to walk each day for at least an hour and to eat less than 2200 calories per day. Thus far I am averaging around 1850 calories per day and I am burning somewhere around 450 to 650 calories with exercise. Hopefully if I can keep this up and not let anything discourage me from this then I can stay #backontrack with the rest of you good folks out there that are doing the same thing. We will only be better off and healthier because of good choices.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Camp Happy Days 2009
Kimberly also shared with us her jounral that she kept while taking care of our Jessica. Thanks Kimberly....
Kimberly writes
Jessica Ann Moffitt attended camp 8 years ago with a huge smile on her face and the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. She had an unbelievable week. She drove a golf cart, made a ridiculous amount of sweets, danced with a boy for the first (and last) time, laughed a ton, fought mightily with a water gun, and made her mark on mine and several other counselor’s hearts for life. She did all this from her wheel chair, with very little hair, and the recent knowledge that there was nothing more the doctors could do for her. She lost the battle she was fighting with a brain tumor a month later. Jessica is now in no pain, her body is no longer broken, and she may even have hair (if that’s how things work up there). She will never be forgotten and her spirit will always be present at this camp. Her strength, faith, and kind words are the things I remember most about her. Please release a balloon for Jessica today. I pray that her precious memory will touch your heart and stay with you always.
James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net
Monday, June 22, 2009
45 Rules by Regina Brett
Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.. It is the most-requested column I've ever written."
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood.. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain .
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words -- In five years, will this matter?
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."
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