I hopped on the scale recently (something I’ve never owned before, and still rarely step on), the other day, and saw a number that was new to me: 167.5.

This is the most I’ve ever weighed, topping my post-Katrina expansion. And I don’t really care about that, because it’s all relative. I don’t care that I weigh that, I care that my BMI is high. I also care that I wasn’t able to button a pair of pants.

The problem is I have become sedentary. I’m traditionally used to a much more active lifestyle, and that just isn’t happening these days. Between the day job, the design/development LLC that Bea and I formed, the housework, and the less-than-happy knees, I just haven’t been exercising. And I /need/ to. I want to.

I just have to make the time. And I am. My friends Chum Dumpster and Everything Butt Sex have been meeting up at NOMA M-W-F at 6am-ish to run 5k. Chum and EBS are hashers who have been concentrating on the drinking part of hashing over the running part. While they run a slower pace than I do, they’re doing the hard part: getting up and doing it. This is what I need. So, Mondays I plan on bringing one dog, and Friday the other, leaving Wednesdays to myself. The pups need exercise too, especially chubby little Indy.

And as for the knees/etc, I’ve already taken the first step, so to speak: I went to the Louisiana Running Co to get fitted for a new pair of shoes: K-Swiss K-Ona C. They’re meshy on top and drain out of the bottom! THE BOTTOM! I really liked that place, too. Just a two-person startup, and I didn’t feel like I was being “sold to” – he just wanted to help me run how I wanted to (no races / half-marathons / full marathons). I definitely recommend them.

Now, obviously running won’t fix the problem alone. I have plans to mountain bike (at least a few laps at the spillway) every few weeks, and do Wii Fit on an almost daily basis.

There are of course dietary concerns, and all I’m going to say is that I’m already making a concerted effort to eat better, and especially cut out as much high fructose corn syrup / crap foods overall. I also understand that it’s just not practical to go whole-hog on that effort, so it’ll be within reason. The last thing I want to is stress out about what I’m eating. If you are (or if you aren’t) familiar with the next handful of months in NOLA, then you should read Pistolette’s excellent rationalization on eating and goals in NOLA.

And as usual, she has inspired Bea and I with our life this year. We have a list of goals, broken down into months, for the year. We’re gonna get a lot of shit done that we’ve been putting off. We’re tired of a project being 85% done.

 

In the spirit of the manifesto set forth and in combination with a generally needed re-ordering of my day-to-day schedule and goals, I’ve figured out a calendar, or should I say guideline, to help me get the things done I want to get done.

This mostly means setting aside time for working on the house, and light yoga/exercise – something I wanted to more of this year, but have since lapsed.

I run (er, hash) ~5-6 miles every Thursday night, and bike pretty much everywhere, but need to do just a little more. And the housework I want done can be attacked in hour or sub-hour increments, and will probably be done faster in this manner than I had be doing before.

To help kick my ass, here is my rough daytime schedule for the work week (click to embiggen):

 
I start on Monday. Let’s see how things go.

I spent a good part of the evening tonight doing two things: reading Neil Stephenson’s Anathem while compiling software packages in the background, and playing the following on the Wii: Dr. Mario, Mario Kart, and Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels.

Holy Crap. Part of my right arm is sore from the Duels, but damn is it fun – it’s your traditional Mortal Kombat / Street Fighter style, but in a less 2d environment, and you lightsaber movements are controlled by your wiimote. The wiimote even makes the lightsaber sounds we nerds (and regular people, too) love. And I have to hand it to Nintendo, this is the funniest commercial I’ve seen in a while.

Mario Kart is terribly fun too – and when Bea’s 3 year old sister comes over, she can even play it (about as well as one would expect, but hey – she’s 3).

As for Dr. Mario, need I say more! Wii friends, buy it! it’s 8 damn dollars! Drop me a line, we’ll play online!

If you have a Wii and want my console code, drop me a comment here, and I’ll send it to the email you enter in the appropriate comment field. Jonah, I’m lookin’ at you!