Get and keep my weight under 200 pounds

Status: [Sunday April 17, 2005] Well, I hit 197 pounds at weigh-in day a couple weeks ago. The trouble now is keeping myself under that weight. Of course, I've been playing a lot of hockey and jogging whenever I get the chance. Also I started hiking up the Incline now that it's not dangerously icy any more. I did have a business trip last week that caused me to pack on a few more pounds, but they should be gone shortly. There are some mumblings about having another weight loss competition at work - I'd have to lose 5% of my weight again, or about 10 pounds. I think I could do it, but I'm not really sure...

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] According to the scale at work, I'm at 206 pounds (with my clothes on). I'm not too far from my personal goal and have just hit my goal for our weight-loss competition/bet at work. This will be easier to keep up in the summer when I'm more likely to head up the Incline after work or hike up where it's now too icy and snowy to safely do so.

Give more time to volunteer causes

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] This goal was spurred by a conversation with some slightly intoxicated co-workers at a recent work-related celebration. Okay, I guess you had to be there for it to completely understand! I think everyone needs to do their part, however small, to make a positive impact on their tiny corner of the world. Some ideas I'm throwing around right now are helping with Habitat for Humanity and Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado. Any other suggestions?

Race up Pikes Peak

Status: [Sunday August 28, 2005] I made up to the top of the race on August 20th -- I smashed through my goal of 4 hours and made it in 3 hours and 35 minutes! All the hard work and training paid off and I was ranked 202 out of 1223 male finishers! Now I'm starting to put together my plan of attack to do it again next year and break 3 hours!

Status: [Sunday April 17, 2005] I've been running a 6 mile loop from my house to the Garden of the Gods, around the Garden, and back to my house every weekend. Hopefully the weather will stay nice now and I can add in a few more runs each week to get me better prepared.

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] As of Monday, I'm officially registered to race in the Pikes Peak Ascent! So my plan is to make it up in 4 hours. I've done it in just over 5 last year, so I'll need to do quite a bit more training to get my time down another hour or more. The race is 13.3 miles up Pikes Peak (a vertical gain of more than 1.4 miles!).

Finish painting inside my house

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] I have painted the family room, kitchen, entry/laundry, main level bathroom, and upstairs hall bathroom. I still have to paint the living room (though, not sure how I'll reach up to the top of the 16' tall wall!), dining room, three bedrooms, master bathroom, and office. Also, the basement needs a fresh coat of paint, but that can wait a while since I don't really use it.

Refresh/expand my Japanese vocabulary

Status: [Sunday August 28, 2005] I'm in the process of setting up weekly tutoring lessons with a Japanese teacher from the Japan America Society of Southern Colorado. Sounds like they'll be fun!

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] I'm not quite sure how I should go about this. Maybe I should look into a tutor or lessons of some sort. Right now I'm attempting to read some books I have, but that's not helping with my writing skills. I think I need to buy some sort of textbook like thing for intermediate-advanced speakers and see if that will be helpful for me.

Get a new roof

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] Well, the only thing holding me back here is deciding how to pay for this. One of my co-workers bought a house just down the street from me and is in the same situation, so maybe we could learn how to install shingles ourselves and save money on both houses. Okay, I'm not really sure how good of an idea that would be, but it's a thought. First step will be to get some estimates for an installed roof and see how much it will shock me... I'm expecting up to $4000 to $5000 or so for this.

Join a second hockey league

Status: [Sunday April 17, 2005] I'll be joining the Monday night intermediate league at Honnen once it starts a new session (should be sometime in late May or early June). It should complement nicely the Thursday night league.

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] I'm immensely enjoying playing with my co-workers in the Honnen Novice League, but once a week is not nearly enough for me! I'm thinking of joining the World Arena league, which is for more intermediate level players and has longer games. Hopefully I'll be up to that level when summer starts and I'll have a year of hockey playing under my belt.

Paint the outside of my house

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] This is something I wouldn't mind doing myself, but my house is two stories tall with a walkout basement, so the back side is really three stories tall. By the time I bought or rented the equipment to reach everything, I figure it would be cheaper to hire someone to do it for me. Another possible case of sticker shock here, I have no idea what to expect to pay someone to paint a house this size. Then there's the whole mess of picking out colors for it and having our neighborhood's Architectural Control Committee approve it! Whew... I'm tired just thinking about it.

Replace the windows in my house

Status: [Sunday August 28, 2005] The new windows were installed in May and they look great! Hopefully they'll save me some money on the heating bill this winter. They're definitely a lot quieter than the old ones and much easier to operate. I still have to replace some of the exterior trim around the windows, so far I have four of them finished completely.

Status: [Sunday April 17, 2005] Pella will be installing my brand new fiberglass Impervia windows sometime in May. I'm very excited, and also very broke because of this. It will be nice to not freeze to death due to leaky windows next winter!

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] Well, Again, I have no idea how much something like this will cost. This month I will call/go to various places and see how much this will run me. I think I can put this off for a little while longer, but I'd like to replace the windows before I have the house painted. I have about 11 windows that need to be replaced. They should help pay for themselves once winter rolls around again since the ones I have now leak quite a bit of cold air. Additionally, they'll help me avoid having to buy an air conditioner in the summer since I would get the type that keep out some solar energy as well.

Climb at least one new 14'er

Status: [Sunday August 28, 2005] Well, I have two new mountains to add to my list this year. I made it to the top of the third tallest mountain in Colorado, Mt. Harvard, in July and the tallest mountain in Colorado, Mt. Elbert, in August!

Status: [Friday March 4, 2005] If you're not familiar with the term 14'er, it's used to refer to mountains that are in the 14,000 feet above sea level range. So for I've done Pikes Peak (several times!), and Mt. Yale. I'll start hiking up some more this summer once it warms up enough (usually in June).

©2005 - Brian Einsweiler