#blamedrewscancer for this Post

Somehow July slipped past me and after reading E. Payne’s post from Wednesday I realized that I haven’t held myself accountable by writing an update on my resolutions. With the year more than half in the bag at this point I’m a little behind on some of the goals, but am working hard to get back on track.  Still, I’ve decided to #blamedrewscancer.

Overconfidence will kill you

I started off the year strong towards my goal of losing 25 pounds by dropping 14 quickly. In a total rookie move, however, I arrogantly upped my own ante in April and revised my goal to 30 pounds. However, with birthdays, vacations and holidays I’ve actually put on a net three pounds this past quarter.  We all know what excuses are akin to, but I actually gained a total of eight and quickly lost five – so, I’ve got that going for me.

On a good note, my diabetes is solidly in control and my latest lab results were encouraging. My a1c level (basically a three month look back at blood sugar levels) was a 6, which is considered normal, as compared with the 10.2 it was at back in November. I’m still on two medications to control it, but the change in my diet has been a major contributing factor to my near normal result.

I need to work on the whole exercise thing so I can reach not only my weight loss goal, but so I can hopefully reduce the strength of the two insulin sensitizing drugs I am taking. I’d love to eliminate one of the three prescription drugs I’m taking if at all possible, as I also take an ACE inhibitor more to protect my kidneys than to regulate blood pressure. Lastly, as if I wasn’t happy enough with my a1c level, I also found out that my cholesterol was a solid 165, down from 215 just nine months ago, so there will be no statin in my immediate future.

Off the market

Our house was on the market, and now it is not. It is a long story and I am not in the right frame of mind to go through the all the details right now. As unemotional as I am about the prospect of selling our home, I’m also not going to give it away. I worked my arse off turning it into something nice for my family, so, like Forrest Gump, that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Bliggity blogging

Probably the biggest success I’ve had in reaching my goals has been with the growth I’ve had right here on this blog. I won’t recap everything, but my readership has doubled in the past month based on feedburner, networked blogs and google friend connect figures. And I’m really starting to come out of my shell on Twitter. I’m not sharp witted enough to hanging with the likes of Weaselmomma, MochaDad or NukeDad (to name just a few of the many), but I have my moments.

I definitely see areas for improvements in my social networking life. Comments are big with me and I try to respond to every one I receive here and do my best to always leave one on the blogs I visit. If I don’t, see the above regarding the lack of a sharp wit. I do need to share more between Twitter and my Google Reader and I’m trying to decide if I post too much. I generally only post during the week and if anyone has any feedback for me on this I’d really appreciate it. Just make it constructive, I know I’m funny looking and dress poorly already.

Finally, between my guest post series at Building Camelot, music column at Dad-Blogs and my Examiner gig, I’m feeling good about my improving skills as a writer. At least, I hope you all think so and it’s not just the voices in my head.

#blamedrewscancer

In case you were wondering about the title of this post, and why I chose to toss a Twitter hashtag in there, you need to check out Blame Drew’s Cancer. The site is the work of Drew Olanoff who found out he had Hodgkins Lymphoma in May and is determined to beat it down.

Since his diagnosis he has been blaming everything possible on his cancer and has invited everyone to blame the things that go wrong in our day to day lives on his cancer. He is hoping to find a sponsor that will donate for each unique Twitter user that blames his cancer for something in a tweet and I wanted to pass along this unique idea and awesome cause.

So, the next time you get cut off on the road, some dumbass decides to write a check for $6 worth of groceries or a Columbian drug lord makes off with your TV go ahead and #blamedrewscancer.