My 100th Post

100 Blog Entries, oh where has the time gone?

For my 100th entry, I thought I would show my progress on Goal #38 - Look good in a white shirt and blue jeans.

Understand that I think a white, long-sleeved, cotton shirt and blue jeans is just about the sexiest thing a guy can wear.  Last year I found a white shirt that I absolutely love, at Old Navy of all places.  The cotton isn't soft, but is more like a light canvas if that makes any sense.  While I think I look decent in it, I know I could look better (doesn't everyone say that about how they look).  I decided to wear it for my 40th birthday party.

So without further ado......

The Big 4-0

Saturday I turned 40 and it was a great birthday.  In the past I have had some pretty crappy birthdays and I have to admit that a few weeks ago I was really worried about this one turning out to be disappointing as well.  It was hard for me not to build up my hopes as I have a tendency to do that when events are about "me".  Matt realized how important this birthday was for me, so he really made every effort to make it special.

The celebration actually started on Friday night.  Andy, one of my best friends, is exactly one day older than I am.  He was born on October 21, 1971, I was born on the 22nd.   A group of us went out for a nice dinner at Christopher's restaurant down in Des Moines.  We were actually lucky to get reservations for our party, about 16 of us.  It seemed that every other nice restaurant in Des Moines was booked for birthday parties!  A lot of people, evidently, share our birthdays (well, that's kind of a given).

Dinner was wonderful!  The staff at Christopher's couldn't have been nicer and made us all feel right at home.  The food was beyond excellent.  I was able to get the Prime Rib and was in heaven.  The meat was cooked perfectly (medium rare, just like I like it) and was accompanied by a tasty horseradish cream (yum!).  Oh and I have to mention the alcohol.  My drink of choice is the Gin Gimlet made with Bombay Sapphire gin.  I can honestly say that I have never had one as well made as the one on Friday night.  It was perfect.  I regret not talking to the bartender about what they did to make it so perfectly.

To top off our evening, Christopher's treated Andy and I to dessert --- the Chocolate Fall Down Cake.  Let me just say that it's not quite a cake and not quite a pudding, but it's ALL delicious.  They serve it with a raspberry sauce and scoop of vanilla ice cream.  I think they have to add the ice cream to cut the richness and sweetness of the cake itself.  The cake was the perfect way to end the meal and the company was even better.

Saturday started out perfectly for me, with English Premier League soccer.  I love watching the EPL and on Saturday mornings ESPN shows a match.  This week it was Swansea City @ Wolverhampton.  The score ended up in a draw at 2, but I loved every minute of it.  I would love to go to the United Kingdom just to watch a few EPL matches in person.

Matt and I spent the day lounging around the house as the birthday celebration was planned for the evening. It was a nice Saturday to watch college football, which was exactly what we did.  Of course, we could only watch the first half of the Texas A&M - Iowa State game, as Iowa State is kinda terrible this year.  They started out strong, but have now lost 4 straight games.

Matt was actually worried about the party on Saturday night.  He honestly didn't know who all was going to show up and he feared that people wouldn't show up, which in turn would crush me (even though I kept telling myself it wouldn't, yeah, it kind of would have).  Anyhoo, our fears were allayed when everyone came. YAY!  There was a lot of laughter and food.  My birthday cake was exactly what I had asked for chocolate cake with cherry filling!  A great thing is that I made out like a bandit in the Buffalo Wild Wings gift cards!  Hmmm, it's like everyone knows that we eat there at least twice a week so that we can play trivia.  Oh those gift cards will be used!

Matt did give me the best gifts.  Sure, he got me the movie "Bad Teacher" on dvd and a book on the history of Florida State Seminole football (my alma mater).  But what was touching was that he went all out to make sure that I had a truly memorable 40th birthday and the card he got me had me getting teary-eyed.  It reminded me of how much he truly loves me and how lucky I am to have him in my life.

14,610 Days

Today I hit the BIG 4-0.  I have to admit that it hasn't hit me the way I thought it would, but it's gonna take a little getting used to the idea that I'm now 40.  For me it's always been one of those ages that seemed so distant and now BOOM! it's here.

I did use the opportunity to "come out" to one of my classes.  One of my best friends sent flowers to the school for my birthday.  The kids started asking me who had sent the flowers and one asked if it was my wife.  This was the dialogue that followed....

Me: I don't have a wife.

Student: But you're married.

Me: Yup.

Student: But you don't have a wife.

Me: Nope.

It was at that point that I heard one of the students make a kind of "yelp" sound.  I knew that she had put it all together.  I think a few more of the kids realized what I was telling them, but for those that didn't get it, I told them to talk to the student who had figured it out and she would fill them in.

I pretty much left it at that and went on with my lesson plans for the class.  I teach math, so my sexuality isn't something that is going to be a part of my curriculum.  I'm just hoping that it's not a big deal to any parents.  I have to believe that majority of my kids won't care, but you never know about parents.  I just have a problem with my kids being led to believe that I have a wife when it simply isn't true.

I'll have more on the 40th birthday celebrations tomorrow.  But, some friends online gave me a visual present with photos of some of my favorites.....

Kelly Shoppach

Mike Napoli

and Pat Burrell

Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?

I love/hate it when Pandora plays a song that simply makes me "think".  Today, that song was Brian McKnight's "Anytime" and it got me to thinking about a friend from high school and how we've lost touch.

"Dan" was my very best friend during high school.  We did everything together and were pretty much together all the time during my junior and senior years, he was a year behind me.  I could tell him everything.  Well, just about everything, I was still about 5 years from coming to terms with being gay.  But Dan and I just understood each other.  We were both "misfits" and socially awkward.

After I graduated and moved on to college, I lost touch with Dan.  I guess it's a natural part of life as this was before Facebook and MySpace.  By the time I realized that I missed our friendship, Dan had moved on to parts unknown.  It killed me that I couldn't tell him how much our friendship meant to me.

About 12 years ago I was able to get in contact with a mutual friend of ours who let me know that Dan had enlisted in the Air Force.  I was kinda shocked because Dan never seemed to be the military type.  I have a relative who was able to locate him and send him an email letting him know that I was looking for him.  I got an email from him in the fall of 2002 and was elated.  Through a few emails we caught up with one another, but I left out the BIG detail of what had gone on in my life.  Knowing the military can monitor emails, I didn't want to put Dan in an awkward position of finding out that I was gay via email.

I decided to write Dan a letter to come out to him.  I mailed it off with the best of hopes.  I waited and waited, but never got a direct response to the letter.  I did get one more email from Dan, but it was very generic.  I haven't received any correspondence from him since.  Not to say that I haven't tried to communicate with him.  Through the miracle of the internet (I google his name every once in a while to see if there's anything new, and he's not on facebook), I've been able to follow Dan's career and mailed him a letter last year, along with a card this year to congratulate him on a promotion.  I don't want to give the impression of "stalking", just every once in a while I get curious of how he's doing.

I've included my email in the letters, hoping that I would at least get a note on how he is doing.  But alas, nothing has been sent.  I just want to let him know that the line of communication is open should he ever want to contact me.

I have to admit, I've thought that Dan might be a "family" member like me, but I've never asked him about it.  Because of his military duties and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", I always thought if he was it might put his job in jeopardy.  Honestly I don't care one way or the other, I just miss my friend.

A Beautiful Sunday

The weather has finally turned cool here in Iowa and it's been wonderful.  Today was a crisp and clear and was the perfect day for Matt and I to head down to Des Moines for lunch and some shopping.

Our first stop was at Qdoba.  We used to have one here in Ames but they closed to due financial reasons (they put it in a bad location), now the nearest one is now in West Des Moines.  Let me just say, I LOVE QDOBA!  Sure, everyone raves about Chipotle, but for my money, nothing beats the Q.  So since I have a birthday coming up, Qdoba emailed me a birthday coupon.  So even though my birthday isn't until Saturday, Matt bought me my free lunch today. :-)  I had my favorite, the Ancho Chile BBQ Pork Burrito.  A perfect way to start lunch.

We walked over to Half-Price Books to do a little browsing.  I found a clearance copy of "The DaVinci Code", the illustrated edition and picked that up.  I've cut back on the number of books that I buy at Half-Price.  As much as I love books, I realized that I would buy books just to buy them and not really read them.  I'm much more selective now in the ones that I purchase.  If I find a book that I like, I actually put it back on the shelf and then if I come back to it later, then I know it's a book that I'm truly interested in.  The one exception to that rule is books by Steve Berry.  Those I automatically buy no questions asked.

Our next stop was Penzey's Spices, or as I like to call it, my personal addiction.  I cannot walk into a Penzey's and not end up buying something (and the staff there knows it!).  Baking is something that I love to do and Penzey's has the highest quality spices an seasonings that I've ever found.  If you have a Penzey's near you, please go and check them out.  Today I ended up buying a pound of their incredible Dutch Processed Cocoa, and also got a free gift box (their catalog always has great catalogs) which had four seasonings in it.  I told Matt I need to go through our cabinet and make a list of everything that I have from Penzey's.  Yes, my name is Robert, and I have an addiction to Penzey's Spices (and I love it!).

After feeding my Penzey's problem, it was on to World Market.  This is one of Matt's favorite stores and a great place to browse.  We did a lap there, but it was more just look at things.  Matt does enjoy their wine selection.  I'm not a wine drinker myself, but he enjoys it, so I go along.  The funny thing was that he was wishing that they would have a wine tasting at the store.  As we were leaving the parking lot, I saw a sign indicating that they had one.... yesterday.  Oh the irony!

Then it was off the Jordan Creek Mall.  I found an adorable hedgehog candle at Pottery Barn.  Matt and I collect hedgehogs so it was a nice find.  I also discovered that there were no less than three "family" members working at the Barn.  One of them working the floor was kinda cute, but the one who rang me up was kind of a jerk.  It was pretty obvious that Matt and I are a couple.  Maybe he was just jealous that I have the hot husband.  LOL

At the sporting goods store, Matt was lucky to find a Buster Posey jersey.  Buster is a catcher for the San Francisco Giants and one of Matt's favorite players.  It was on sale for half-price, so he had to get it.  It was the best find of the day.  I did want to go to the Apple Store (my second favorite addiction), but the place was insanely packed.  I think half the people in there were Apple Store employees.

Our final stop was at Trader Joe's.  Iowa FINALLY got one this past spring and we love going there.  Matt was used to having them when he lived in California, but I'm still new to the experience.  We don't get a lot of stuff there, but what we do get is sooooo delicious.  Plus the staff there are extremely friendly.  The one thing that I really wanted to pick up, frozen chocolate covered banana bites (so yummy) were completely sold out!  I asked one employee to check if they had any in the back.  When they didn't, she asked if we had tried their dark chocolate covered Powerberries (a combo of acai, blueberries, raspberries, etc.).  When we told her we hadn't, she just opened up a bag so we could!  Of course we loved them and ended up buying a bag.  I really appreciated her going to the effort to let us try something before we bought it.

Now we've settled in for a quiet evening at home.  Matt is downstairs watching "The Walking Dead" (I can't, don't get me started on why not) and I'm watching "Pan Am".  It's been a good day. :-)

How the heck did that happen?

At the beginning of the school year I stepped on the scale and dreaded seeing that I weighed 242.5 pounds.  I was pretty disappointed that I had let myself get so far out of shape.  But I have to admit, for some reason it wasn't a "hitting bottom" moment.  I was down on myself for being that heavy, but I didn't break down because of it.  I think I just kinda sighed and got ready for work.

I made the decision to NOT eat school lunch this year.  At my previous school all the teachers ate in the cafeteria for lunch and I would often just eat the cafeteria lunch as opposed to bringing my own.  It was easy.  Of course school cafeteria lunches are designed for school age kids, full of calories for students who's bodies are growing and in need of extra fuel.  For an adult, the lunches aren't the best.  Add to the facts that at my old school, the cafeteria staff always made sure the teachers were well fed.  They were like our moms and, of course, food = love.  LOL

But at my new school, I eat with a group of teachers each day and we all bring our own lunch.  On occasion I do sneak over to Jimmy John's and grab a sandwich, but that's only maybe once every couple of weeks.  I've noticed that I've been eating a lot less at lunch and am fuller on less as well.  In addition, I've been eating out a lot less because Matt, my husband, accepted a lay-off from his job at the university, so we've been working to limit our extra expenses.

On Thursday I realized that I hadn't stepped on the scale since the first day and thought, "heck, let's do it".  My pants had been feeling a little looser in the waist and I was thinking that maybe I had dropped 2 or 3 pounds.  You can imagine my surprise when "231" popped up on the digital readout.  I think I about feel on the floor in shock.  I actually had to step off the scale and do it over again just to make sure the reading was correct.  It was.  :-)

To that end, I really have taken this as my "wake up call" to get into better shape.  I've made sure to get out and walk the past few days and I gave EVERYTHING I had this afternoon during rec volleyball (see my previous post).  I've made it a point to eat smaller meals (even when eating out) and I've set a goal of getting to 220 by Thanksgiving.

Bump - Set - Spike

I played Rec League Volleyball today.  I was asked to join a team last year and was looking forward to playing.  My team plays in the B- co-ed league and in all honesty.... we're not very good.  We lost both matches today but I felt like I played really well.  I felt like I had to play out of my mind to cover for my teammates.

I don't want to give the impression that I'm some great player, because I'm not, but I am mobile and since I've started playing I have gotten much better.  I will run anywhere on the court I need to get to a ball.  I can't say the same for my teammates.  They are older and not in the best of shape.  There are a couple of guys who have good skills, but I can't say the same of the women on the team.  I really like them as people, but as a team I am frustrated (and there are times I wanna scream).  I want to get better as a player, but I just don't feel like I can do that on this team.  I know this is a rec league and it's supposed to be fun, but I want to feel like I'm on a competitive team.

I'm forced to ask myself if I truly want to stay with this team?  And if I don't, how do I got about finding a new team to play with?

Someone's All Wet

Saw this photo and couldn't resist posting it....

The goggles are a little goofy, but I can overlook that.

Goal #12 - Get a Massage

Now that I'm making a little more money at my new school, that provided me the opportunity to fulfill Goal #12 - Get a Professional Massage.

My friend Andy recommended his masseur in Ames and it was worth every penny I paid for it.  When I first met Nate, we sat down and actually discussed what my problem areas were (my neck and lower back).  Because I was also recovering from a head cold, Nate also decided to focus on my sinus areas to hopefully clear up my congestion.

Let me just say the massage was AMAZING!  Nate did a great job at finding the knots in my lower back, the ones that have been plaguing me for over a year now, applying a good amount of pressure and getting them to release.  From there he moved to my neck (where I carry a lot of tension) and worked wonders on that.  The following hour was everything I needed.  When Nate finished up, I was the most relaxed I had been in a long time.  Nate knew the exact amount of pressure to use and was great about communicating with me to make sure that I was getting exactly what I needed out of his work.

I'm pretty sure that I am going to make this a monthly treat.  My lower back problems have been off and on since August of last year.  I've tried muscle relaxers, pain killers and chiropractic care to help relieve it. I can't help but wonder how this all would have been better had I just not seen a massage therapist earlier.