Today is a sad yet exciting day for me. It's a day that is marked with emotion, trepidation, joy, reminiscence and a pinch of anxiety. Today is my last day in my current job as web developer for Bay Alarm Company.
I've been with Bay Alarm for a little over four years now, having left my previous role at New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc (NUMMI) after a nine year career there. I came on board at Bay Alarm primarily to help migrate the previous incarnation of the online account management system to a newer, LAMP based solution. From there I began to take on deeper responsibilities, most currently in the realm of SOAP interaction against payment gateways and middleware development bridging disparate data sources for resource tracking.
I've loved every minute of the work I have done here. I've loved working with my coworkers, two of whom have mentored me far beyond any expectation I could have ever had for mentors and one with whom I share a joint peer-to-peer type relationship. I've had the pleasure of working on several large scale projects, both software and hardware driven. I've had the opportunity to challenge myself with learning new technologies, methodologies and practices. And I have been blessed with having had the support of a great team, great managers and a great company helping me push forward in my development efforts.
Because of this, it has been exceptionally difficult wrapping my head around the notion that I will no longer be a part of this team. I will miss my team more than I can put into words. But at the same time, I am looking forward to new challenges, new experiences and new growth opportunities in my new endeavor. I am excited to be stepping out into something new. And though it is hard for me to say goodbye to my family at Bay Alarm, it is with great anticipation that I say hello to my new company.
In addition to my team, I would be remiss not to mention my family and the wonderful support they have shown me in the last few weeks as I struggled with this decision. My wife, Sandi, has been extremely supportive even though I am sure she is a little worried about this change. My kids have been excited for me, my bother and sister both have supported my decision and my in-laws have shown their support and congratulations for me in this move. All in all, I can say that this will be a good thing.
Still, I am sad. Sad that I am leaving such a great team. Sad that I will no longer have the working relationship that I have with our Marketing department, our Customer Care department, our Finance department... all of the groups that I have the pleasure of working for, and with, while I've been here. And while there have been a number of people that I have worked with that I will never forget, there are few that I absolutely have to give a special shout out to because without them there is a good chance I would have never been able to do my job:
- Deanne - The most awesome DBA ever in the world, the fastest vi user ever in the world, the most security conscious person in the world... how did I ever develop software without you? You have been an inspiration, teacher, mentor and friend to me from day one. I am going to miss working closely with you, talking structure, architecture, data, interface and even knitting with you. I learned things from you that I never even knew I needed to know. Thank you for everything you have ever done for me.
- Royce - You still amaze me everyday, both from your technical expertise and who you are as a man and father. You have blessed me in so many ways, from your constant barrage of lunches to our drives to Fremont when my car was broken to a few late nights of getting things in order on our server. I have learned so much from you over the past few years, most of which I will carry with me for the rest of my technical life.
- Jason - Bro, you are an amazing developer. You've challenged me, you taught me, you've supported me. We've worked on some really cool stuff together and have done some amazing things. I've had the greatest time becoming your friend and I am proud to consider you my peer in all things technical.
So as my day draws to an end, and I begin to place my career at Bay Alarm into boxes, I'm taking a step back to remember all the awesome times I've had here and all the amazing people I've met here. You will all be missed.
I know this is very last minute but I wanted to post some of the replies I received today from the candidates that are running for Superintended of Public Instruction. Voting for the California Primary Election closes at 8:00 PM today, so if you haven't voted and you have a heart for home schooling, here are the candidates and their responses to the question: "What is your view on home schooling?"
- Gloria Romero
I couldn't contact her in my email list because her email address is not published anywhere. I find this a little odd for a state senator but, having exhausted my efforts in trying to located a contact email address, I chose to give up lest I spent my entire day trying to find her email address.
- Lydia Gutierrez
"Thank you for doing the ground work in wanting to support the best person who will fight for your child's well being.
I fully support homeschooling. Before traditional education, children were taught at home or self-taught, like our most favored President, Abraham Lincoln. I am concern what has been happening around the world of children being forced to go to public school or even families having to flee their country because of fear of being arrested because they homeschooled.
We must fight for parental rights and this is why I supported the 'Right to Work' initiative that would not allow unions to use dues for political use without the permission of the member. My union, California Teacher’s Association (CTA) supported the ‘No’ vote on Proposition 4. This was wrong; every parent has a right to know what is happening to his or her child at school.
When it comes to educating a child, the best scenario is parents, teachers, and the community are playing an active role in the child’s academic success."
- Alexia L. Deligianni
"I support a parent's right to homeschool their child."
- Leonard J. Martin
Please refer to a previous post of mine detailing Mr. Martin's response to this question.
- Grant McMicken
No response as of this writing.
- Karen Blake
"I fully support home schooling. I would work to keep the home schooling a viable option for all parents."
- Daniel M. Nusbaum
"Dear Ms. H., I support and encourage families who privately homeschool their children. As long as the parent(s) have sufficient education, they should be left alone by government to teach their own children. If anything, government could and should do more to support homeschooling parents in their efforts, by providing teaching materials and other educational support requested by parents in order to be the best homeschoolers they can be! If elected I will educate myself to learn as much as I can about the homeschooling movement and the laws pertaining to it in California." [NOTE: This is from his website. I could not find an email address for Mr. Nusbaum]
- Tom Torlakson
"Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate having an opportunity to respond to questions from voters. I'm glad you took the time to ask on Election Day!
Homeschooling is an option about which many parents feel strongly and want to pursue. So, I support parents' rights to choose this option for their children. "
- Faarax Dahir Sheikh-Noor
No response as of this writing.
- Henry Williams Jr.
- Diane A. Lenning
"Hi Robert, I support “free choice” in education which includes home schooling. My nephew was home schooled and got a quality education. It is important for parents and students to have choices in education."
- Larry Aceves
"Larry believes that homeschooling is a parent's right and if a parent chooses to home-school their child, he would support that decision.
I hope that this helps to answer your question. If not, please let us know."
If I get more responses I will post them as they come. Again, sorry for the late posting.
Today marks 15 years of marriage for my wife, Sandi, and I. Looking back on it, sometimes it feels longer than that. Other times, it feels shorter.
Regardless of how long it may or may not feel, the fact is Sandi and I have set ourselves apart in the world of marriage. Most marriages end after just a few years. Some make it as long as we have just to call it quits. Still, others never call it off. Whatever the circumstance, what Sandi and I have, by the grace of God, is quite an accomplishment.
Anyone that has known either her or I knows that we have had our share of trials, tribulations, struggles and challenges. But on the same plane as those we have also had an extraordinary number of successes, achievements, accomplishments and victories. You have to have those in order to make it in marriage for any length of time.
So I enter today thinking about 15 years of marriage, and almost 19 years of being together, I like to think of those times when we have had our act together, when we've been able to hold each other's hand overlooking the carnage of the battlefield upon which a great victory we've just had. I like thinking of those moments when all we could really see was the joy in each other's face as we realized that we did, indeed, make the right decision saying "I do".
I love you Sandi, more today than yesterday but not nearly as much as I'm going to love you tomorrow. We've grown together, taught each other, lifted each other and supported each other. We've done a lot of everything in our 15 short years of marriage and as I look to the future, I can smile knowing that we have so many more years ahead of us to spend loving each other, enjoying each other and becoming even better best friends.
My wife Sandi just ran across a blog post written by a homeschooling parent who made contact with Leo J. Martin, a candidate for Superintendent of Instruction for the State of California in this year's upcoming California elections.
In the blog post Mr. Martin is quoted as saying in reply to his position on homeschooling:
Home schooling’s appropriate for children who have special difficulties that make it impossible for them to participate in traditional schooling. But under California law, a parent has the right to home school provided the parent is qualified to offer instruction. Personally, I believe nearly all kids would benefit more from being in traditional schools. Many parents home school for religious reasons, because they still hold outdated views on race or ethnicity, or for what they consider to be moral reasons. Since we have provisions for students to attend a school outside of their local community when there are legitimate reasons to do so, home schooling as an alternative to “unsafe” campuses is hardly a legitimate alternative. For the most part – overwhelmingly – the public schools of California are not only safe but are providing a high quality education. Yucca Valley should be no exception. If it is, as Superintendent I would like to hear the
complaints.
There has also been a tremendous amount of fraud connected with home schooling. Corporate organizations have sprung up to drain precious taxpayer dollars from the state budget to “supervise” home schooling. That has been to the detriment of those children, who by necessity, must be home schooled.
My advice? Send the kids to a traditional public school.
Needless to say there are many points in his response that I take issue with as a homeschooling parent, such as:
- Home schooling’s appropriate for children who have special difficulties that make it impossible for them to participate in traditional schooling.
According to who? Appropriateness of homeschooling, location of education or educational curriculum should really only be defined by the parent of the child being educated or the adult who is seeking education. Just like many adults find that educating themselves at home is appropriate, so do many parents find educating their children at home appropriate. To say that homeschooling is "appropriate for children who have special difficulties that make it impossible for them to participate in traditional schooling" is completely ignorant and alienates a huge segment of the population of the state. Elected officials should know better than to call their constituents stupid. Candidates need to know this. Any person who would reveal such extraordinary ignorance in dealing with parents and their decisions on educating their children has no business being in a leadership position over the educational structure and development of an entire state.
- Many parents home school for religious reasons, because they still hold outdated views on race or ethnicity, or for what they consider to be moral reasons.
I actually had to read this sentence a few times to see for my own eyes that Mr. Martin did indeed say these words. Apparently he is completely out of touch with the reality that our kids face in public schools today, like issues of crime, drugs, rampant promiscuity, inability for staff and administrators to effectively discipline children, lack of values placed on education within the public school system and an increasing student to teacher ratio throughout the state at all levels of education. None of these have anything to do with religion, views on race, views on ethnicity or morality. These are all issues that our kids face in California public schools today, issues that all parents should be aware of and concerned with. These are just some of the reason parents choose to homeschool, and none of them are religious in nature nor indicative of outdated views on race or ethnicity.
- Since we have provisions for students to attend a school outside of their local community when there are legitimate reasons to do so, home schooling as an alternative to “unsafe” campuses is hardly a legitimate alternative.
Who gets to decide what is a legitimate reason for a student to attend a school outside their local community? Someone who believes homeschooling instead of sending your student to an unsafe campus is hardly a legitimate alternative? If this is the attitude of the highest ranking educational leader in our state, I'd rather not educate my kids in this state. With this statement he is in effect saying that just because your local campus is unsafe doesn't mean that he agrees with your decision to homeschool. Thanks Mr. Superintendent sir. Is there a way you could be less concerned about my child or my desire for him/her to be safe at school?
- My advice? Send the kids to a traditional public school.
And my advice to you? Stay out of office. Your incredible disregard for parents and their children would be comical if not so incredibly alarming. Parents in our state need an advocate against our government. What we don't need is an advocate for the government against our parents and children.
Mr. Martin's response to an another email inviting him to look closer at homeschooling and to see for himself why so many parents choose this route for their children's education was met with an equally alarming and ignorant response:
I did not expect any home schooler to be satisfied with my response. Nor will I change it to appeal to the thousands of home schoolers who are voters. If this election were in the 1950s I would have received a question from someone representing tens of thousands of parents who opposed the racial integration of our public schools. They would have been looking for a candidate who agreed with them. My response would have turned them off and they would have urged me to read all the arguments in favor of segregation. I know those arguments, as I know the arguments for home schooling. Now, I’m not equating home schoolers with segregationists, but the situation is the same. As I would not edit my response to the segregationists to win their votes, I will not shape my response to home schoolers to seek their votes
either.
I explained before that there are legitimate reasons for home schooling. If you meet those conditions, I fully support home schooling. But that is not why most home schoolers engage in it. And while they have a legal right to do so, I do not support home schooling in those situations.
Best Regards,
Leonard J. Martin
I am not going to go into my take on this response of his. All I will ask is that if you are a homeschooling parent in California, please spread the word that this man is bad for our state's educational system. All homeschooling parents and children will suffer if this man is elected. Let's do our part as a free state to see to it that he never makes it into office.
But it doesn't continue here.
I know it has been overwhelming the amount of content I have generated about Insanity, my workouts and my diet over the last two months. With my articles autoposting to Twitter and to Facebook anyone that follows me knows that I have blasted your streams with post after post about my diet and my workouts. And while many of you have expressed great support for my fitness journey, I do believe enough is enough when it comes to that.
So I have chosen to move my second Insanity journey, and potentially all future exercise and fitness endeavors, off of my personal blog and onto a new website dedicated specifically to Insanity. That new website is The Insanity Ward, an informational site focusing on the Insanity program. It will also include a daily log of my workouts, my diet and anything else I find interesting or useful in the way of health and fitness.
I hope by separating my Insanity journey from my personal blog that I can alleviate any stream strain I may have hammered you with. 
I also hope that the new Insanity site will be helpful to people that are looking for information on Insanity or want to keep up with my workouts and progress through the next nine weeks and beyond. Regardless, I thank you all for following my recent Insanity quest and for all of your interaction, input and your success stories. I look forward to carrying that on even further on The Insanity Ward.
Now that my Insanity journey is over I have some decisions to make. Like what will I do next? Will I continue to blog about it? What else is there to do?
The honest answer to that is I still have 30 pounds to lose to hit my ultimate goal so for me only the first round of Insanity is complete. I am going to be starting another round tomorrow because I know it works and I know what I want. I also know that health, and more specifically fitness, is not something you attain to but something you maintain. Which means I need to begin planning what I am going to do for the rest of my life to ensure I get and stay fit. I also need to deal with what I am going to do in the way of blogging, since it seems that my blog here has provided some support and assistance to people who are either on their own Insanity journey or are planning one.
That said, I think I am going to be starting another website to deal specifically with Insanity and Insanity related information. I may start something for fitness as well. Regardless, I think the people that read my blog have had enough of my spouting off on my Insanity routines and my diet. I think it's time my blog returned to what it was before Insanity.
I'm open to ideas from those that read my blog. If you find my continual blogging helpful, is it something you'd want to see more of as I go through it again? If so, does it matter if it is here or on another web site? Are there areas of improvement I could make to make the information I provide better, more useful or more inline with the program in general?
All thoughts are appreciated. Please comment and let me know what you think.
Skip to my fit test results
I had a great final fit test today. It was a heck of a way to end my first Insanity journey and showed me areas that I need to improve as well as areas that I have improved dramatically.
Looking back on my progress it would seem that I am maxed out on some of my fit test exercises. I say that because there was very little improvement in them today over the last fit test. My thought is that I have hit the most I am going to get out of that exercise. Of course, that may be jumping the gun a little bit since I still have a lot of weight to lose and after I lose that I should be able to work out harder. So perhaps I have only maxed out for this round of Insanity because I have yet to push deeper into it. Who knows?
Still, I was rather impressed with my results this morning. Especially in the area of power jumps. I had no idea that I could do that many in a minute. I am really, really stoked about that.
So, without further ado, here they are, my final fit test results for Round 1 of my Insanity journey.
Today's fit test results
My Insanity Fit Test Results for Day 63
| Routine |
Reps Day 1 |
Reps Day 15 |
Reps Day 36 |
Reps Day 50 |
Reps Day 63 |
| Switch Kicks |
41 |
50 |
63 |
69 |
71 |
| Power Jacks |
35 |
42 |
54 |
56 |
58 |
| Power Knee |
69 |
95 |
113 |
118 |
119 |
| Power Jump |
20 |
32 |
35 |
40 |
60 |
| Globe Jumps |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
| Suicide Jumps |
11 |
13 |
13 |
14 |
16 |
| Push Up Jacks |
16 |
27 |
25 |
29 |
28 |
| Low Plank Oblique |
35 |
46 |
45 |
50 |
55 |
Click here to go to my diet
Today was a whacked out day of eating for me. It started out rough because of the incredibly intense exercise that I did as my final real workout for Insanity. It moved quickly from there into having to take care of some errands before getting my day started. The way it all played out, I didn't eat anything until almost 10:00 AM, and at that it was only a couple of protein bars. Quick note: Carrot cake Clif Bars are incedibly delicious. I could see making these part of my every day diet.
Lunch was Jamba Juice. I had to get some more shopping done for the play my kids were in and we were pressed for time, so I thought it would be a nice treat and lunch to have Jamba Juice. Of course, that didn't fill me up at all, so before we left for the play I ended up cooking myself a couple of eggs to curb my hunger a little bit.
Dinner was just as haphazard as the last few days. Actually, it was worse because we had to be at the play venue earlier than before. So I ended up grabbing a box of fiber bars to eat throughout the night to keep me somewhat satisfied. Which they didn't. And because of that, when the appetizers were served at the end of the play, I stuffed my face full of 7 layer dip and tortilla chips. It was a huge mistake, but I was freaking hungry.
My Diet
My eating log for May 15, 2010
| Food |
Calories |
Fat (g) |
Sodium (mg) |
Sugar (g) |
Fiber (g) |
Protein (g) |
| Breakfast - Protein bar |
| 1 Met-Rx Chocolate Chocolate Chunk Protein Plus Bar |
310 |
9 |
200 |
1 |
2 |
32 |
| 1 Carrot Cake Clif Bar |
240 |
4 |
150 |
21 |
5 |
10 |
| Lunch - Jamba Juice |
| 1 16 Oz. Peach Perfection Jamba Juice |
210 |
0 |
20 |
42 |
4 |
1 |
| Dinner - Egg tacos, fiber bars |
| 4 Corn tortillas |
220 |
3 |
20 |
4 |
6 |
4 |
| 2 Eggs |
140 |
10 |
140 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
| 2 Tbsp Trader Joe's Cilantro salad dressing |
45 |
3.5 |
120 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| 3 Russell Stover Sugar Free Chocolate Delight bars |
300 |
18 |
255 |
0 |
18 |
12 |
| Late night - 7 layer dip and tortilla chips |
| 2 Servings 7 layer dip |
400 |
24 |
900 |
4 |
8 |
15 |
| 2 Servings Tortilla Chips |
280 |
14 |
300 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
| Totals |
| TOTALS |
2145 |
85.5 |
2105 |
73 |
45 |
91 |
As you may know from previous posts, my main goal in doing Insanity was to lose weight. I personally believe that people who have their weight under control experience fewer health problems than overweight people. I don't say this to deride people who struggle with their weight. I am one of those people. Weight control has always been a problem for me and because of news given to me by my doctor, I had a choice to make. That choice was to start taking medication regularly to help manage my blood pressure as well as potentially dealing with diabetes or get healthy enough so that my body would naturally do that for me. Seemed to me that losing weight was the easiest way to handle this issue naturally.
When I started insanity on March 15, 2010, I weight 289.5 pounds. I had been fluctuating in weight between 289 and 295, and as recently as July of last year had weighed in at 307 pounds. Looking at the exercises in the Insanity program I thought it was reasonable to expect a significant weight loss over the course of nine weeks, so I set a weight loss goal of 40 pounds. That meant that as of the end of my ninth week I wanted to weigh 250 pounds.
Today I am happy to say that I have hit that goal. I weighed in this morning at 249.5 pounds and I am beyond excited at the prospects this presents. I have so much more energy now than I did nine weeks ago. I have a zeal for living life again. I feel like I have earned my life back and that my health, fitness and weight is now something that is totally within my control as opposed to me being controlled by it.
I have not felt this accomplished in a long time. I have not felt this driven, this motivated, this inspired or this hungry in a long time. I wish I could put into words how awesome a feeling it is to hit a goal like this in the time I did it in. But honestly I think the only way for you to get a real grasp of how it feels is to try it and do it for yourself. Short of that, all I can say is that I am on cloud nine right now and feeling unstoppable. I really wish I could share this feeling with you.
To get a feel of what 40 pounds of fat loss coupled with some pretty good muscle development looks likes, check out my before and after picture.
My weight loss results through eight weeks of Insanity
| Week |
Date |
Weight |
Loss |
Total |
| 0 |
03/15/2010 |
289.5 |
- |
- |
| 1 |
03/20/2010 |
289.5 |
0 |
0 |
| 2 |
03/27/2010 |
285.0 |
4.5 |
4.5 |
| 3 |
04/03/2010 |
277.5 |
7.5 |
12.0 |
| 4 |
04/10/2010 |
271.0 |
6.5 |
18.5 |
| 5 |
04/17/2010 |
269.0 |
2.0 |
20.5 |
| 6 |
04/24/2010 |
266.0 |
3.0 |
23.5 |
| 7 |
05/01/2010 |
261.0 |
5.0 |
28.5 |
| 8 |
05/08/2010 |
255.5 |
5.5 |
34.0 |
| 9 |
05/15/2010 |
249.5 |
6.0 |
40.0 |
Good grief, what was I thinking?!?!?!
I decided to put as much into my workout today as I could and to do that I chose to substitute Insane Abs for Cardio Abs after doing Max Cardio Conditioning. I haven't done Insane Abs yet because of time constraints in the morning. But since I had no time constraints this morning, I went for it. And I think I am paying the price for that now.
Actually, it isn't that bad. Well, yes it is, but only because it piggy backed on top of another already intense work out program. I think Insane Abs could be a workout in and of itself. Coming out of Max Cardio Conditioning, Insane Abs is nearly impossible to complete in any capacity. The core work, the leg work... even the shoulder work are incredibly challenging. Combine that with the fact that the program is 33 minutes long and you can imagine that after killing yourself for 50 minutes or so with something like Max Cardio Conditioning, Insane Abs becomes quite the workout.
Max Cardio Conditioning was challenging this morning, but only because I was able to push harder through it than I have ever been able to do. I completed more circuits and more routines than I have ever completed on the program and was able to push harder through many of the jumping exercises. In fact, the first half of the program this morning I was able to keep up with almost all of the routines. The second half did destroy me, but I can understand that given how hard I worked in the first half.
I have one more day of Insanity left. And that day is tomorrow, when I do the Fit Test one last time for my first round of Insanity. I'm hoping to blast through that and put up the highest numbers I have so far. I will be sure to post them tomorrow when I finish.
Until then, I have a little celebrating to do. I weighed myself this morning and, all I can say right now is, I am really, really looking forward to writing my weight loss progress post. 
