mdrane’s BodyBlog

Year End Review

2008 is over.  And for the first time in my life I’m going to take the time to stop and reflect on the year past.

Overall 2008 was a success.  The 1000 pound gorilla in the room (Junior’s Sickle Cell) has really been put into his cage at the moment.  Today makes 17 weeks without a blood transfusion and a total return of his spleen to its original size!!!!  I could stop writing now.  When it all boils down that’s the part that really matters.

That being said I will do the remaining portions of my life due justice.

My Marriage:

In 2008 we truly matured as a couple.  This was the first year that tragedy of some sort wasn’t the underlying tie that binded us.  Until 2008 there has always been some grand situation that has forced us to drop our individuality and work as a unit.  In 2008 (and most likely as a result of all those past experiences) we noticed a true comfortableness in our roles in the marriage.  Although I entered it thinking that I had found someone strong enough to allow me to not have to be in charge in my home life, which is not what is best for my family.  In fact, I have found the exact opposite to be true.  The fact that I am the Alpha Male in all other aspects of my life is a personal responsibility and gratification.  It is being that Alpha Male/Husband/Father in my home that I should and now do take the most pride in.  And subsequently get the most joy/reward from.

My Day Job:

2008 also saw me finally come into my own as the manager of my unit.  I have done the homework necessary to gain my (206) students respect.  And shown myself consistently willing to do the dirty work enough for my (22) classified/adult workers.  In addition I have become upper managements go to guy.  Although this is frustrating because there is a GM in my building that get paid a lot more than me to get the job done, upper management has truly noticed that if they want it done efficiently to go through me.  Not to discredit my superior at all.  I often go to him for his opinion or to draw on his experience but the execution and implementation of things are where I’m strong and the auditing of the overall operation is where he is.

Although this has been professionally very gratifying it has not protected me from the backlash of our country’s economic state.  I did have a reduction in my contract that will lead to a significant pay cut.  Luckily do to the terms of the contract they notify me in Dec of the change that won’t go into effect until July.  So between now and then I have to bust my butt to find supplemental income.  That I have no problem with I’m always willing to find a hustle but the insurance for Junior was a major concern.  With this change in my contract we will still be covered 12 months out of the year.  The income I can make up.  The insurance is the necessity!

My Night Job:

After 7 years on the job and a year as the head of security I took a demotion.  At the time my increased work load at my day job had me relatively stressed.  That compiled with my home life and the re-addition of school to my load left me with a serious lack of respect for my night job.  Over the years I have gone from the absolute youngest employee on staff to one of “the old guys”.  The differences maturity levels between me and my staff was so blaringly obvious that I started to noticeably distance myself from them and that was beginning to affect my ability to lead.  Couple all of this with the fact that the only “bar-back” with more experience than I returned and was back in the mix of getting the priority shifts.  Stepping down and getting into the stress free realm of strictly bartending has turned out to be a blessing…PAY CUT…but a blessing.

My Schooling:

I finally broke down and started taking my MBA courses again.  The first time I started was when Junior’s Sickle Cell first started giving us problems.  The constant in and out of the hospital turned the semester into a total failure.  With things a lot more settled 2 years later I restarted my quest for my MBA and was quite successful in the Managerial Accounting course I enrolled in.

My Second Home:

Without question 2008 will be remembered most for my progress in fitness.  This is the same year that I made the idiot (blessing) of a decision to try power lifting to shock my body out of the plateau it had been on.  100 pound Arnold Presses and a 420 pound bench later my shoulder’s tendenosis had me unable to lift for 3 months.  Luckily this was about the same time that I really started paying attention to BodySpace.  I made the decision to get into the ab wars instead of sitting and moping about not being able to lift.  T

This decision led to me learning more about nutrition than I had ever thought about before.  As a meathead all I knew (cared about of course I know the science behind nutrition) was that the more I ate the bigger and stronger I could get.  With the goal of taking some pics that I could be proud of in the presence of the SteveP’s, JPhillips’, SuperMaine’s, and DeborahAnn’s of the world I set out on a dieting and cardio regiment.  This taught me a lot about my own body.  Until this point I never thought I would be able to run again due to my chronic knee pain and subsequent failures for surgeries.  I never would have thought that I would be running sub 6 minute miles on a treadmill!!  I also never thought that I could change my eating habits enough to reveal a couple ab muscles.  I hadn’t did abs since high school sports (and didn’t even through this process).  But there they were just as plain as the eyes could see.

And that process is what led me to where I am now.  Making contact with the people listed above as well as many others (ShanBL, FitMeg08, Mamaof2, gemmaleigh, miked512, niknak, chicana_peach, topchop90, VA’sFinest, momof8,one9one4, jumper11, sol4real, dnsigma, jencan, etc…) I became part of a little community that turned out to be more than just a random bunch people that happened to have a shared interest.  We are able to constantly joke with each other (some of these peoples wit’s are the fastest I’ve ever come across and I LOVE IT).  Exchange stories and support over the unique problems being fitness minded introduces to everyday life, as well as the common ground that a lot of our unique lives have with our spouses, friends, sick/non-stop kid issues, as well as just the normal day to day of life.
What really excites me is that there are a ton of people who respect me enough to constantly (Meg) ask me fitness questions and in turn if I don’t know the answer there are a ton of people whom I respect enough to pose the question to them!!!  I found my place where I’m not the Alpha Male.  I’m respected…but I’m far from the best.  That fuels my determination and my drive.
 

Cellucor:
Never would have thought in a million years that there would be a company that felt that I could benefit them as much as they could benefit me.  With Cellucor I have found a company that has a great product that is driven by its science and customer service my two favorite aspects of any business.  I am making contact with a lot of people because of it and the progress the product is adding to my own body make the product so easy to talk about and stay excited about!!
 

Training:
All of this kinda sums up to the fact that I am going to once again begin training.  I have renewed my passion for fitness, and a series of unfortunate events has presented the need and the opportunity for me to find a transferable source of income.  With my past experience, my love of research and self experimentation (Bruce Banner, LOL), and my secret weapon (he knows who he is), I feel like I’m geared to take the necessary steps to really make something of this.
 

Arnold:
If your reading this and have made it this far you are obviously bored and a really genuine person.  I am looking forward to meeting as many of you at the Arnold as I can.  Send me a PM and let me know you’re planning on going and we can be sure to exchange contact info so that we don’t miss each other in the madness and I can really get a chance to see and talk and take pics with all of you!!
 

2009 is here and SO AM I!!!