Challenge 007: Plan a Birthday

I hate planning things. My wife hates that I hate planning things. I always worry about not having the perfect outcome, so I waffle on the details until the time to plan has passed and the event falls apart or never becomes.

In honor of my wife, I decided to plan her birthday this year. Today I made plans to go to a restaurant, and ordered flowers sent to her work through an online flower company near her work.

On Friday I made reservations for her friends, family, and ourselves to go to dinner and then follow that up with a ghost tour. I did need her help making sure that she would enjoy the events, and I did hit up her friends for advice, so I cannot give myself the most XP points available. But I am planning. It makes me nervous, but the follow through is important. I believe by following through, I can improve my success rates in my challenges.

XP for succesful outing: 50 XP

Sunday Morning Rewards II

Starting Level: 1
Starting XP: 200
XP to next level: 800

Current Weekly Progress:
Challenge 001: 100 XP - Bloged 3x this week. Need to improve my schedule.
Challenge 002: 0 XP - Ran out of food on Friday, and then celebrated at a wedding on Friday, also ate out on Saturday. Need to improve in this challenge for next week.
Challenge 003: 100 XP (50 x 2)- Pet Sematary and The Running Man
Challenge 004: Did it! Boy was it hard. 100 XP
Challenge 005: Except for day of the wedding night. (6 x 10) = 60 XP
Challenge 006: 25 XP
-----------------
Weekly Tally: 385 XP
Ending XP: 585 XP
XP To next level 415 XP


Current XP

Challenge 006: Join the Rebellion

I said it before. I am a big fan of Nerd Fitness. It's time to gain social accountability.So I am going to join the Nerd Fitness Rebellion.

XP: 25

Challenge 005: Make 7 Yours.

Before I move into today's challenge. A quick update on the last challenge. It turns out that the marathon training book was little too intense for my current level of fitness, so I decided to tone it down for the time being and look for a different training program. In the meanwhile I am going to build my endurance by running four times a week for 30 minutes, and then a long run on the weekend where I increase my mileage. So far so good. I am two runs into this week, and while I am tired and a little sore, I am in great spirits.

Speaking of tired; on to my next challenge. Studies say that for optimum performance a person needs 7-9 hours of sleep each night. So that is what I am going to do.

Challenge 005: Get at least seven and no more than nine hours of sleep a night.
XP Reward: 10 XP per day.

To achieve this I need to reorganize my day and prioritize. I will actually need to schedule sleep. I started this challenge on Sunday and will have a full week by this weeks rewards day.

Challenge 004:A Run Run Run Run R-Run Away

I am out of shape. I hate being out of shape. Many of these challenges are going to deal with getting back on track and in shape. I currently am a soft 200 lbs (this puts me in the borderline obese BMI category). What happened to me? I was on track to do amazing things. I was 175 lbs and running marathons.

I want that me back. Hopefully these challenges will motivate me to acheive my goal of being a toned sub 180 lbs.

So here's what I did today. I went to the nearby running store to get fitted for new running shoes. I am going to run a marathon sometime in 2012.

I am going to follow a training plan I found in Run Workouts for Runners and Triathletes (Workouts in a Binder).

For everyweek I follow the plan, I will get 100 XP.
For every race that I do: 5k = 500 XP, 10k = 1000 XP, 1/2 Marathon = 2000 XP, Marathon = 4000 XP with a 2000 XP bonus for breaking my P.R. of 4 hours during the marathon I ran back in 2005.

Sunday Morning Rewards

Starting Level: 1
Starting Exp: 0
Exp to Next Level: 1000

EXP Awaraded:
Challenge 001: 100
Challenge 002: 50 (100/6 *3)
Challenge 003: 50 pts - Different Seasons
-----------------------------
Weekly Total Award: 200 XP



New Level: 1
New Exp: 200
Exp to Next Level: 800

Challenge 003: King Me

About four years ago I got addicted to LOST (was a completely whelemed by the finale). During the seasons I got completely wrapped up in the mysteries, clues, and refferences.

I decided to read every book that Sawyer was reading. Good thing I did, because that led me to my favorite book of all time, Watership Down.

Eventually, that led me to discover The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. Wow. Was I blown away. I had read The Stand in high school around the time the miniseries came out, and while I loved the book, I never pursued King beyond that. Until The Dark Tower.

So about a year ago, I decided to read every single book Stephen King ever wrote. I am a little over 1/3 of the way through the list. So for the duration of this challenge, every time I read a Stephen King book for the first time, that is 50 XP in my account.

Challenge 002: Put Back the Mac

Okay. I know I said that I would update this challenge list on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I really feel that I need to start this challenge today, if not sooner.

See, I got some addiction problems. My drug of choice? Nothing illegal. The things that I crave? Really bad junk food and diet cola. I seriously crave them if I do not have them within a few hours. I fight with myself during my commute home, I tell myself not to stop and get a double cheeseburger or two. I tell myself that I don’t need the little Debbie double decker oatmeal cream pie (yes they exist and are just as bad for you as you would expect). I even gave in to the craving today. Two double cheeseburgers and one double decker oatmeal cream pie…. Bad me.

Yes I have seen Super Size Me and Food Inc. and I have read Fast Food Nation. I have, in the past, been able to walk away from the local gas station and golden arches. However, around the time I was making my career change, I dropped the ball and gave into my vices. That was a year and half ago. I haven’t found the motivation to change my ways since.

Luckily, my weight has only been creeping up, but I do know I have gone from a muscular 180 to a very soft 200 lbs in that time. However, I feel like garbage. My allergies have been worse. My skin feels greasy and I’m tired a lot. It’s time to make changes to my diet. It’s time to change, and I am going to use this blog for accountability. Not only will I improve my health, but I will improve my pocket book as well.

So here’s challenge 002: No Fast Food Restaurants for at least 6 days a week. No candy, slim jims, or snack cakes for the same.

Challenge EXP awarded weekly.
Challenge 001 – Bloggin x 3(100 xp / week) IN PROGRESS
Challenge 002 – No Junk for 6/7 (100 xp / week) IN PROGRESS

Challenge 001: Bloggin' Bloggin' Bloggin'

Wow.

It's been a long time, but I am back. I have had time to grow up a little and to reevaluate my life. What I've noticed is advancements in some very important aspects of my life (marriage and career change) while a whole bunch of stagnation in nearly every other portion of my life.

That's going to change. Starting today. Now.

I have decided that this is going to be my year of 100 challenges! Twice a week I am going to post a challenge. The challenge might be a goal (financial, health, relationship, or career). The challenge might be a project to work on around my (soon to be: fingers crossed) house. Or the challenge might even be an adventure such as a trip or a competition. Who knows? Not me.

My first goal: BLOG. Yep. That's it. Blog. See I want to be an okay writer, but I don't often get the chance to write. That's unfortunate, because I can't get better without practice.

As the horror master Stephen King wrote.

Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can't expect to become a good writer

So I am going to change my laziness. My first challenge is to Blog three times a week. I am shooting for Tuesday's and Thursday's being goal days. Then over the weekend I will do something a little more fun.

I am also going to take the lead from the Nerd Fitness Rebellion and "Level up My Life". Since I am a gamer. Each challenge with award me certain amounts of experience based on their difficulties. I will award myself experience every week and using the 4e experience chart, whenever I level up there will be a special post and I will reward myself with something inane and fun, like a video game or a board game or a new magic trick.

As I have time and as part of this challenge I will also be going through my previous posts and edit and retag them for the new format.

Anyways, my wife is calling for our dinner time.

Cheers