Steve's Weight Loss Update

This week the weight loss started last Sunday morning after the 3-mile jog down to the outlet mall and back. Not much extra exercise the rest of the week. Both the moving average and the daily weight are at 210. That's a full 13 pounds lost since January. Have come a long way, still much farther to go.

I notice I do better when I know how far is left to go compared to how far I've gone. It's not so much "are we there yet?" as it is "is the target getting noticably closer?" We train to finish the race, to finish the course, not just to be on it. The target was to weigh 180 or less by the end of 2009. At the rate I am going, I could reach this goal by October!

Another reason to keep going: My friend Marc had by-pass surgery in his heart this week. His heart arteries were 95% blocked. See the prayer requests on Avails Much for more information. He had been walking a lot but may not have been keeping up with it this winter due to the cold weather and snow in Minnesota. I am carrying more pounds that he was, so need to get down to healthy weight and stay there.

Well, have a great day and may you finish your race with joy and peace.

Love, Steve

Looking Again at the Stock Market

I have been watching the stock market and some stocks closely since October or so. This month there has been an interesting turn for the better. On March 12, I have cautiously moved small percentages of my 401k from bond funds back to growth and small cap funds. These funds have risen solidly since then. It may be time to consider investing again, cautiously. When the market started dropping last year, I lost over 10% of my 401k value before I moved all the money into lower yield safe funds. Since I have only a few years left to retirement, my tolerance for loss is mimimal. I am hoping for some level of growth in these funds over the next few months.

Some stock I have been watching, but have not bought:
Ford (F), it was down to about $1.60. Today it closed at $2.47
Bank of America (BAC): it was down to nearly $3.00 early this month, today it closed at $7.68, over double.
There a lot of other examples like that.

May God cause your investments and all you do to grow for His glory.

Love, Steve

Wedding Weight-Loss Contest

Mary and Joel's wedding is planned for May 9. Mary, Joel, Joel's parents and Joel's uncle are competing to see who can lose the most pounds before the wedding with the final weigh-in on May 5. They asked me to join at the beginning and there has been speculation as to why I did not. Here are some of the comments:

• “he is the shadow watching from the sidelines”
  
• “Because he works out with his mind and he knew none of us would stand a chance against him. He can claim to be the champion from the sidelines or claim to not have been trying. He is one sneaky engineer….”
  
• “I think my dad is too independent of us to do it and he wants to blog about his contest with himself.”
  
• “Because he thinks we should spend more time solving algebraic equations and reading Latin”

I am proud of all of them. Together I think they have lost over 50 pounds! I wish you could lose mass and girth by "working out with my mind," I would be the winner for sure! But why didn't I join, really? Well I think there are two reasons: 1) I was too cheap to come up with the entry fee; and, 2) If I won, I would feel guilty taking other people's money. It's tough being raised a Catholic, even if you are born again.

They are all winners by wasting the weight, no matter who claims the contest cash.

Steve