Author: Dale Sackrider

I know I haven’t posted in a while – and this one isn’t going to be a great one. I just wanted to take a second to let any readers I may have left know that I haven’t been around here lately because work has been crazy. I have worked past ten pm several days in the last two weeks. Last friday I worked until 12 midnight. For those that don’t already know, I get to work around 9 AM everyday.

On the weightloss front, I told myself that if I went two weeks without training after my personal training sessions were over, I would renew. Looks like I’m going to have to renew… maybe. I say maybe, not because I still have time left in my two weeks to pull through, but because I’m giving myself another chance. I didn’t work out for the two weeks after my training, but I was sick one week and my work out buddy was out the other. This week (week 3 since professional training) I have worked out twice. I’m putting myself on a short lease – as long as I am working out three days a week, I will not spend the money on additional training, but as soon as I miss another session, I’m headed down to the gym to meet the trainer….

Anyway, I hope to get on here again this weekend and share some of the past month with you guys… thanks for reading.

I haven’t been posted as regular as required to keep a reader base, but for those of you still reading…

I paid for a personal trainer mid-way through January.  I got 12 one hour sessions scheduled at twice a week for six weeks.  Today was the last day of those sessions.  I have to say that I have seen a difference in my arms and chest.  I can feel my shoulders have developed too.  I have even seen some weight loss.  BUT…

I went to the BodPod testing center (its body composition – I.E. body fat verse lean muscle mass) at the end of last year and I was at 45% body fat.  I weighted about 305 lbs.  Two weeks ago I was tested again and I had lose over 5 lbs, but the great part was I had actually lost 13 lbs of fat and gained almost 8 lbs of muscle.  I was feeling pretty good about it.  BUT…

Yesterday I went to test again now that I am at the end of my personal training.  I expected to see another few pounds lost and maybe even see some gain in lean muscle mass.  I weighted in at 294 lbs – great!  Then the body composition testing…drum roll…..

I GAINED A POUND OF FAT AND LOST 7 POUNDS OF LEAN MUSCLE MASS!!!  Needless to say, I am discouraged and I am again fustrated.  I will continue the fight, but I do feel like I’ve just lost a battle…

Ok — I can’t keep it a secret any longer – We are pregnant!  We’ve been trying for two years now – we’ve been through doctor’s appointments, fertility treatments, injectables, more doctor’s visits, insurance changes, money challenges, and more injectables, pills, and procedures.  Well, its all over because we are pregnant!

I’m very excited about a new baby in the house (yes, only one according to the latest ultrasound).  If its a girl, her name will be Alexis.  If you ask Zander, he will tell you its a girl by simply declaring – “I can’t wait for Lexi”  I think I want another son.  Zander is going to be almost four when this child is born (BTW we are nine weeks pregnant).  I would hate for Zander to be six or even older before having a brother.  Four years is already much longer apart than we had hoped.

Anyway, we are all excited and I’m glad we could share it with you.  Oh, if its a boy we haven’t yet decided on a name.  We are wrestling between Aiden and Ashton.  We’ll see…

I think I’m going to begin to ‘Slap it forward’ when I get bad customer service. Something simple – like telling the customer service rep – “Are you aware that after being serviced by you, people lament the death of customer service?” Or “You inspire people — to question what happened to customer service.” I know I sound like a jerk, but think of it like having something stuck in your teeth all day and no one telling you. Maybe these people don’t know that they lack the skills to be in a service position. I know servers that are horrible at their job, but walking home every night without any tips leads them to believe that people are cheap and not that they are incompetent. (more…)

Well, tonight I stayed home from church to get some work done, but I also got a chance to clean out the spare room and put my brand new Blowflex Revolution together!  I’m still waiting on the accessory rack and the work mat.  After putting it together, I know how much I need the accessory rack – I have parts everywhere.  Zander helped me put it together – he was very excited to do so.

Now that my home gym is together, lets see if I can get my act together…

I’m listening to the Newsboys song “Where Ever We Go” right now thinking – this is how its supposed to be…

Wherever we go, the dumb get wise
And the crime rates drop
And the markets rise
It’s a curious thing
But it’s just our thing

The song is upbeat and fun to listen to, but the words are more than just a feel good ditty – I believe they are annointed! This is how it’s supposed to be – wherever we go, the world is supposed to notice. Our job isn’t as hard as we’ve made it – we are a light in a dark place. No matter how dark the room is, when you strike a match, the flame does its job – the room lights up!

Wherever we go, the dumb get wise, the crime rates drop,the markets rise — its just our thing! Lets begin to do just that! The bible says that whatever we put our hand to will be blessed – our workplaces should be blessed, our neighborhoods should be blessed, our schools should be blessed. When we get hired, business is good, when we move into the neighborhood, the home prices rise, when our kids are enrolled in school, bullies repent, teachers get saved, revival breaks out!!!!

This is what is should mean to be a follower of Christ – we stir things up and make things better. We don’t blend in, we don’t fade into the back ground, and we don’t look like those around us. We stand out – not because we don’t wear makeup, or cut our hair, not because we don’t cuss or laugh at dirty jokes – we stand out because we belong to the living God – and wherever we go – that’s where the party’s at! We are the light – reflecting our King – and while we may not laugh at dirty jokes, we do laugh and sing and shout because we are His, made in His image, reflecting His Light, bringing goodness into the world with force, on purpose, intentionally!

This is not a mistake, we don’t fall into this roll – we take it! We are the Children of God and wherever we go – That’s where the party’s at. Man, this song has me pumped!

Its been a while since my last post and I didn’t want you guys to think I dropped off the face of the earth. A lot is going on here – last week the whole family was sick and for the most part we still are, but I got a membership to the YMCA and I got a personal trainer to help me meet my weightloss goals. I also purchased the new bowflex revolution! It came friday, but with the spare bedroom still full of stuff and the whole family being sick, the boxes are still sitting in the living room. I will let you guys know if it becomes the most expensive clothes rack I’ve ever bought…

I should have posted this months ago, but I got busy and let it drop off in my drafts. I’m posting it now so that I will be able to look back someday and remember…

When I was in NC for my ten year reunion, I stayed at my Grandpa house. We were there for over a week and I had to work the whole week. I was connected over VPN and able to get a lot of my normal job functions done despite being thousands of miles away from the office. In the middle of one of my work days, Grandpa came up to me looking pretty curious and asked a few questions:

Grandpa – “So, where do you work again?”

Grandp – “I just don’t see how you can fix computers when you aren’t anywhere near them…”

I enjoyed the time I spent there, for the most part it was very quiet.

Today is Zander’s birthday. He turned three today. I took the entire day off work (despite having a couple of projects that are behind) and went to the library, the park, and grand finale …. Chucky Cheese! OK, Chucky Cheese isn’t that great, but it is cheap and Zander had a lot of fun.

Birthday’s were never a big deal for me that I can remember, but Stephanie (my wife) always had something special going on for her birthday. She has pushed me to make sure I make birthdays for Zander more than ‘just-another-day’ as I often find myself treating my birthdays. For that, I’m glad. We are having a birthday party for him on Saturday, but today was just us and I enjoyed it.

Finding friends almost feels like dating used to feel when I was single. Think about it – when you are dating, you look for someone you might click with, someone you would enjoy spending time with, right? Then you ask them out – maybe in a group setting or to coffee. If things go well, you might ask them to dinner. Over dinner, you spend a lot of time talking about everything you can thing of. During the whole process you are concerned about rejection and acceptance. Sometimes you even let the fear of rejection keep you from pursuing a relationship. As Stephanie and I meet new couples at the church, we look to see if we click. We might ask them if they want grab something to eat after church and if everything is going well, we might ask them over to dinner. And like dating, we sometimes wonder if other couples will like us – if they will accept or reject us. (more…)