One of the things being installed is a soft-capture device, so something robotic can go up, grab it and do whatever with it once it has reached EOL.

I had a good start to the morning. I increased the incline for my 2.5 miles on the treadmill. I boosted the weight on my bench press to 210 lbs. And I got on the scale for the first time in awhile and I've lost some weight. If I continue to keep my snacking to a minimum, keep control of my portion sizes, and continue with my new 5 hour sleep minimum instead of 6 hour (to facilitate not skipping exercise), then maybe I can get back to the condition I was in five years ago.

2005 and 2006 were exceptionally stressful years for me and I really let my body go in a horrific way.

continue with my new 5 hour sleep minimum instead of 6 hour (to facilitate not skipping exercise), then maybe I can get back to the condition I was in five years ago.

I know it's hard to fit exercise into your busy life, with the working and kids etc., but you know getting a decent amount of sleep is a key to being healthy too, right? And, who knows if this will turn out to be bullshit or not, but there have been some recent studies that seem to link getting more sleep with an increased ability to lose weight (or the opposite, possibly? sleep deprivation linked to gaining weight).

[link]

Just something to think about. (But, go you with the taking care of yourself!!)

Minus exercise, six hours of sleep means I have 21 hours of my day accounted for. It's really, really hard to work in an hour of exercise without dipping into the sleep time.

but you know getting a decent amount of sleep is a key to being healthy too, right? And, who knows if this will turn out to be bullshit or not, but there have been some recent studies that seem to link getting more sleep with an increased ability to lose weight (or the opposite, possibly? sleep deprivation linked to gaining weight).

I've read conflicting stuff on how much sleep one needs. I'm betting that two and half miles on a treadmill and lifting weights is going to do more to lose weight and keep healthy than an extra hour of sleep.

Minus exercise, six hours of sleep means I have 21 hours of my day accounted for. It's really, really hard to work in an hour of exercise without dipping into the sleep time.

whoa, that would make me crazy. Is your commute super long?

I'm also approaching one of my favorite times of the year. The weeks between regular school and summer school I don't have to get the kids ready for school and I can sleep an hour extra. It's awesome! Christmas break is cool like that too!

1 hour getting kids ready for school. 1 hour commuting. 8 hours of work. 4 hours making dinner, cleaning, getting kids ready for bed, sometimes playing games facilitating baths and such. 1 hour combined for getting up and going to bed routine stuff, feeding the dogs, etc... That eats up 15 hours, I've never really been able to trim it.

I seriously wanted to call in too-tired-to-work today. But, today is Day 1 of the charity booksale that I volunteered to help set up the books for, and I've got a pile o' shit to do here at my desk, and I'm already taking a half day on Friday (it would have been a full day, but the boss is already taking the day off and at least one of us should be here part of the day just in case), so I'm here.

Gronk.

Funny story from last night--I had bought some jumbo marshmallows for snacking earlier this week and opened up the package yesterday to munch on a few. Sure enough, the cat came over to check out what I was eating as she always does, but since 90% of the time, she'll just sniff it and walk away, I was expecting the same reaction. I took a bite out of one and held it out for her to sniff, and she went wild!! She buried her nose in it, licking it, and then tearing bites off. I've never seen her act like that around human food! I only let her have a few nibbles before throwing it away, and she looked like she wanted to follow it into the garbage bin.

That eats up 15 hours, I've never really been able to trim it.

Well, hopefully as the kids get older and are better able to take care of and entertain themselves you'll have more time to take care of you!