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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Old One" data-source="post: 1938232" data-attributes="member: 83">(waves at Xath - Hi Gertie!)Good thread for 4:30 AM on New Year's Day when the 2-week old baby won't sleep and the wife is deep in the throes of baby-induced sleep deprivation <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />!Let's see...to set the stage...42 years old, two kids (a two-year old and 2-week old), work 60+ hour weeks (full-time job + part-time professional practice that brings in as much money as my full time job), average 12+ commuting hours per week, too much stress and not enough fun.However, my "day" job does provide me with 4 weeks of paid parental leave to help out with the newborn, so I get the month of January off (which means no commuting...wahoo!).Last face-to-face gaming was the MD-VA-DC Game Day on 10/2 at University of Maryland...My resolutions are:(1) De-Stress: Being a driven, type-A, ex-military personality isn't all it is cracked up to be <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />!  My life is way too f***ing busy and stress is the result.  Not good for the heart, mind or body.  I had an "incident" about 9 months ago on the return commute from my day job (2.5 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic) - chest pain, numbness down the left arm, tingling in my left hand - classic heart attack symptoms.  Called my wife (a nurse) from the car and had her meet me at the hospital.  Spent the night, full cardiac work-up, treadmill stress-test, etc.  Turned out to be nothing more than severe stress, but it was a clear wake-up call that I wasn't taking care of myself.  Since then, I have dropped about 25 lbs, been exercising much more regularly and have cut-back on non-essential commitments (which, unfortunately, includes most gaming activities).My main outlet for stress relief is exercise, but winter makes that difficult.  I have 2 bikes - keep one on-site at my day job and one at home - but I don't enjoy riding in sub-30 degree (F) weather.  I may take a page from Eric Noah's book and get in indoor trainer.  I also need to lift weights more, take up Pilates or yoga and carve out 15-30 to actively relax, meditate and decompress.I currently work 1 day a week from home and have the full-court press on to get another tele-commuting day per week. (2) Lose 40 Pounds by 10/6/2005:  Very specific...I want to get back down to graduation weight before my 20-year college reunion.  That means 40 more lbs.  Path to success is cutting out one of my major food groups - sweets - and redoubling the exercise effort.(3) Have More Fun: I bust my butt and make good money, but need to enjoy the fruits of my labor a bit more.  To that end, I have already booked a trip to Italy in September 2005 with my wife and 3 other couples who are good friends that we don't see nearly enough.  We are renting a very nice villa about 45 minutes outside of Florence for a week and doing the whole "Under the Tuscan Sun" thing.  I am also going to do my best to get to GenCon this year.  I have never been, have wanted to go for 20 years and am going to try and swing it this year.  Even if I can't make the whole event, I would love to be there for a couple of days, make the EN World gather, play some games, etc.  I have blocked the time out on both work calendars...now I just need to get spousal buy-in <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />!Gaming falls into this category.  My long running Faded Glory campaign is on hiatus and I have taken a 6-month sabbatical from all things gaming (except cruising these boards).  I do plan to get back into it around mid-2005, but may look to play or DM a shorter, more frequent weeknight game instead of a more infrequent weekend game to leave more time for family.(4) Run a Marathon: Those that know me can attest that I am not built to be a runner; built like a dwarf, not an elf (5'6", 195 lbs).  Since I have dropped some weight, I started running again for the first time in over a decade.  Before the weather got too cold, I worked my way up to 4-5 miles 3x per week at about a 9:30 per mile pace - not fast, but servicible.  I have never run a marathon (closest I came was the Berlin 1/2-Marathon in 1987 when I was stationed in Germany), but I figure I can train up for either the Baltimore or Marine Corps marathon in the fall of 2005.(5) Put Together Another MD-VA-DC Game Day: I had a great time at our 10/2 Game Day...met lots of cool EN-Worlders (Xath, Cthulu's Librarian, Rasyr, Psion and others)...got to demo Grim Tales...etc, etc.  It was a pain to put together, but well worth it.  I just need to do a better job of delegating next time (control freak that I am <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />).Here is wishing everyone a safe, happy, prosperous and gaming-filled 2005!~ Old OnePS - We should do a mid-year "Resolution Check" to see how we are all doing <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />!</blockquote>

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