My first day is Monday

It didn't take too long. On Monday, I rejoin the working class. I knew my life of leisure couldn't last forever. Thank goodness.

I have had better weeks

If I separate the situation I'm in from how I got here, I look at this as a fabulous opportunity. I have a skill set that is very much in demand. The job market is really good right now. If I do this right, I can find a place that is rewarding personally, professionally, and financially. This is a very exciting time. But the other day

"Daddy, can we stop by your office?"
"No, I don't work there any more."
"Oh, can we go to your office?"
"That's not my office any more."
"Oh, why not?"

Shock to the system

I got fired today.

Anyone looking for a developer with ASP .NET and C# experience? I think I know one.

If I ruled the world

I just finished an interesting exercise. I started writing a list of all of the events that I would like to attend this month. In a 30 day month, I came up with 16 different things that I wanted to do. And here is the catch - none of them involved my family. It was all gaming related nights out.

In my own defense, five of them start well after my family goes to bed. Two of them I don't expect to go to as they occur during the day on the weekend. And four of them I consider very much optional. On redirect, I might note that I've been noted to be grumpy when awoken early in the morning after late nights, so even my ameliorations aren't as compelling.

It is somewhat eye opening that I can find that much that I want to do where the onus of child care is placed solely on my wife. In exchange, she gets a morning exercise class three times a week in the morning and one night out a month with her book club. Sometimes I wonder why she doesn't like my hobbies. Without trouble, I can think of 16 reasons.

Montessori day

My wife and I went to a meeting at Chesterfield Montessori today. Afterwards we toured the school. It was a very nice place, flooded with natural light. It was remarkably quiet too even though no teachers hovered over their charges with ruler in hand. The campus is very nice with a pool, a tennis court, a garden, some nice play equipment, and a lot of green space. All in all it was definitely a place where I'd be comfortable sending my child.

They sent us a packet of information containing the usual brochures. They also included at my request a study that was published comparing the long term effects of Montessori education on a group of 10th graders, some of whom had graduated from Montessori after 6th grade. With controls in place to control for gender, SES, and minority status, the Montessori graduates performed markedly better in science and math and almost statistically better in overall GPA. They didn't show marked improvement in language.

There are a lot of things that I like about sending my children to Montessori schools. Among them is the idea of fluid transitions. When a child shows that they are ready to move up, the teachers will allow them to flow into the next classroom. This is especially appealing to me as I have been grumping about being a year in school behind some of his cousin who is three months older. I accept that no matter how the age range sliced in a traditional educational setting, someone gets left behind. It may be that he would be bigger and more emotionally and intellectually ready when his time would come, but if he has my experience, he may just be bored. Montessori would help that as he could move up a section when he is ready move up, and not just when September rolls around again.

Having trouble maintaining motivation

I've lost 25 going on 30 pounds so far. I feel lighter. I've moved from a borderline 38 waist to a solid 33 waist. I need to do some shopping as belts can only help so much. I am finding myself wearing less baggy clothing as I'm less ashamed of my body. But even with all of these good things in mind, I've been having a hard time maintaining the motivation to lose weight.

The cracks in my armor are beginning to show. Last week I went out with coworkers to a Chinese place for lunch. I didn't overeat, but I finished what I'd ordered. There went that day's allotment of points. This weekend I made a double batch of cornbread with Oliver. Cooked cornmeal is Core, but cornbread is not. I'd love to confess that the cornbread went largely untasted and remained so after my wife checked and found my error, but the cornbread is no longer around to testify. And it was tasty. This morning I woke up late, had to rush the kids out of the house, forgot to pack a lunch or eat breakfast, stopped at Hardees for a breakfast sandwich, and had a Reuben sandwich for lunch. Again, not horrific, but not Core. And did I mention tasty?

Compounding my retreats off the reservation, I also have been cutting back on my exercise routine. In part, it's been schedule, but a number of days the past week I've found myself running behind, driving to work, and then not making up the exercise in other ways. At this point I should be ramping up my routine in preparation for summer running, but it's not happening. And I'm finding myself lacking the motivation to push it.

This may be a case where I am getting myself in trouble because I'm relatively easy to satisfy. Losing 25 lbs brings with it a certain level of satisfaction. And complacency. But that isn't what I need. I need to set a goal for myself. Weight loss by itself is good, but I don't see it as being an end in and of itself.