I was not foolish enough to believe that a light would suddenly come on and I would find myself becoming some kind of gym rat that would spend every waking hour working out. If the FitBit would just remind me to not sit in front of the computer for countless hours it would be doing its job.

Instead, I find that I have become a slave of my pedometer. Every single step I take is accounted for and setting a goal of 10,000 steps a day is not a guideline as much as it has become a mandate. I have become obsessed with taking nightly walks in order to reach my goal.

Now here we are just two months later and I find that I have walked 764,181 steps, climbed 1,262 flights of stairs, and covered 372.04 miles in my journey to become healthier. To put this into perspective, since February 11, 2012 I have walked from Phoenix Arizona to Disneyland! No wonder I am tired.

Putting this kind of mileage on my feet and my shoes has taken its toll. What was once a nice pair of athletic shoes have become tattered with loose tread and tears along the side. It’s funny, I don’t remember escaping from prison and wading through the swamps and bayous to be free but from the looks of my shoes that is exactly what it appears I have done.

Obviously if I am going to continue at this pace I am either going to have to invest in a new set of shoes or call a cab because there is no way I am walking back from Disneyland to Phoenix wearing these sneakers.

I have long been a loyal Nike customer. I don’t remember the last time I bought another brand of shoe in the past two plus decades. While I have had a couple pair that I have been less than thrilled with, for the most part I have been pleased with the comfort and durability of this brand.

I went out online and began looking at new shoes. After a few hours of research I decided on a pair of Nike LunarGlide shoes. I don’t really have an ambition to go to the surface of the moon to walk but it is great to know that if I do make that trip I will be able to glide along the rocks and dust. I only hope my FitBit Ultra will be able to sync with the International Space Station so I get credit for the steps.

After ordering my shoes I will patiently wait for their delivery, currently scheduled for next week, so I can continue my nightly walks without fear of my toes hanging out the side of my shoes. Given the miles I am putting on these I may have to order a second pair just so that I have a spare. I’d hate to be stuck outside Quartzsite Arizona with a blown out sneaker walking back from Disneyland.

Initially I underestimated how heavy I had gotten. I thought my weight was around 200 pounds so my goal was to lose 25 pounds. When I started this diet I found I was not 200 but in actuality I was just over 210! This put my weight loss goal at 40 pounds instead of 25.

For the first few weeks this was a pretty depressing thought. Losing 25 pounds seemed like climbing a mountain. Losing 40 pounds was more like scaling Mt. Everest and as out of shape as I was that would be impossible.

I truly did not think I had what it took to get anywhere near my goal. Through hard work and the encouragement of my health coach Amy, I just kept working and staying on plan. Some days were better than others as I tried to overcome the everyday temptations that an obese society throws at us.

The first week was great losing 10 pounds but from that point forward the weight dropped much more slowly and it seemed as though I would never reach my goal. Today though I stepped on the scale and it read 179.9 pounds.

I have to admit, I did a double take when I looked at the scale display. I have not been in the 170’s since I graduated from college and that seemed like an eternity ago.

Now the goal seems obtainable. I am no longer trying to lose double-digits of weight. I am only 9.9 pounds away from my goal! I have to keep reminding myself that the last few pounds will likely be the hardest to lose.

My body has less fat now than it did when it started and my metabolism is becoming more efficient meaning that it doesn’t need as much fuel to maintain itself. Hopefully with continued exercise and sticking to the meal plans I will be able to continue the path.

I have to imagine this is a lot like running a marathon. In the beginning 26.2 miles may as well be 262,000 miles. When you start out you have the desire to finish the race but you can’t think about crossing the finish line. Instead you have to focus on the short-term goals. You just have to reach the first mile marker then the second and so forth.

After 13.1 miles you begin to tell yourself not that you still have halfway to go but rather that you have survived the first half and if you can just hang on the distance is getting shorter. It is not until you reach mile 20 that the end seems in sight. You still cannot sprint that last 6.2 miles but you can pace yourself and will your body to hold on.

I feel like I am in that final stretch. I can’t see the finish line on the horizon yet but I know it’s coming and I just need to find that little bit of energy that will keep me moving until the finish comes into view. So let the countdown begin as I move closer and closer to the end of this journey.

So when I went on something as simple as a diet to change my eating habits and become healthier I was sure that this would be one area that would be relatively technology free. I mean really how could anyone possibly add technology to something as simple as eating?

Well oddly enough there are a lot of technology touch points with dieting and exercise. A quick look at the Apple iTunes App Store will show you pages and pages of applications that have been written to help you make changes to your lifestyle and eating habits.

There are apps for tracking what you eat from simple food journaling to exhaustive encyclopedia-like databases that will give you facts about every food you could possibly imagine eating. I quickly began questioning where to even start.

As I perused the app store I would pick up an app here or there that sounded great or had interesting reviews to see whether it would help motivate me to stay close to the program. Before long I had several pages of applications on my iPhone each offering one piece of the puzzle. What I found though was if I wanted to track my overall health there was not one magic application.

During my search I uncovered an app specifically for Take Shape for Life the diet program I have been using. How could I have missed that? An app designed and distributed by the program had to be a perfect fit right?

I downloaded the free TSFL application and quickly entered the basic information. It asked for my name, whether I was on Weight Loss or Transition & Maintenance, and what my current week of the program. The last choice consisted of telling the app whether I was on week 1, week 2, week 3, or week 4+. That’s it for the settings.

From there I could set the time of my first meal of the day for each day of the week then create alerts that would tell me how long after eating I wanted to be reminded to eat again. Once I set all of this up I waited for the magic to begin.

At the first alert it reminded me to go into the app and log my meal. I had expected that would mean identifying the actual time I ate and what I had for that meal. That was only partially true. It did allow me to enter the actual time I ate and whether it was a meal replacement or my “lean and green” meal but there was no place to enter what I actually ate.

Once I recorded the meal the application would start the counter for the next meal and provide me with a message of encouragement or a tip. At the end of the day when I recorded my last meal the application congratulated me for becoming healthier and then suggested I come back tomorrow to do the process again.

That’s it? That’s all the application does? Sadly the answer is yes. There is no way to record the food you consumed, no way to know how many calories you had ingested. That was bad enough but I also found out that you cannot go back and look at when you recorded your meals.

When you have a busy day and only have your iPhone with you it is quick to record that a meal was made but no way to recall that to add to the Daily Success Tracker sheets that come with the program. There is also no way to record the amount of water you are drinking, the exercise/activity you have had, or even how you felt that day.

Overall the application is little more than an advertisement for the Take Shape for Life program. To really be usable serious rework needs to be done to this application. You should be able to upload before pictures of yourself and the ability to enter current pictures to see the progress you are making.

You should be able to enter all of the data that is tracked on the Daily Success Tracker which includes the times of the meal replacements, the actual food you have eaten, the components of your Lean and Green meal, the amount of water you drink, the exercise or activity you have done, and a simple good/ok/bad rating of how you felt.

That should be a minimum of what it does. You could enhance that with the ability to share any of this information with your friends on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. You should be able to send an email to your health coach with questions or comments. You should be able to find your reading assignments for each week with a link to more information for workbook exercises. Finally, instead of the canned tips and encouragement, it should allow your support group to send personalized encouragement to you. In a nutshell this should be a tool that can be used by people on the TSFL program to help them gain confidence.

After just a couple days of use I quickly deleted the application from my phone. Instead I’ll use the FitBit application. While it is focused more on the exercise portion it does allow me to track other things to remind me what I need to record when I get home about eating, activity, and food consumption.

Pooh and his friends find themselves in a bit of a wind story in the 100-Acre Woods. Pooh the eternal optimist goes around wishing everyone a happy Winds-day. During a visit with Owl, they learn that the winds are a result of “a mild spring zephyr”. The storm becomes anything but mild crashing Owl’s tree to the ground leaving him homeless.

The wind gives way to a torrential rainstorm and a fairly vivid nightmare where Pooh dreams his honey is being stolen by Heffalumps and Woozles. I don’t know about you but for years I checked under my bed and in the closet to make sure there were no striped or plaid honey-eating animals that would attack me at night.

I had not thought about that show in years until today. The normally quiet spring weather with sunshine and cloudless skies was replaced today with a storm that would even have scared Pooh and Tigger. Trees were blowing nearly sideways and everyone walked like a drunken sailor.

Storms such as this are fairly rare in this part of Arizona and the local weatherman began reminding everyone about the Haboob of 2011. No offense but it’s really hard to take a word like haboob seriously. In fact I thought they made that up until I looked it up and found out it is an Arabic word for strong wind. I guess haboob sounds more menacing than strong wind.

The adolescent boy in me immediately began to ponder whether two haboobs would be referred to as haboobies and whether there was a haboob equivalent of the Fujita scale for tornadoes. And instead of categories 1-5 the haboob scale came in cups A-D.

The intense winds made the thoughts of walking extremely dangerous. The last thing I needed was to be strolling down the street and be mistaken for a mime walking against the wind. I know how much people hate mimes and I just didn’t need that.

So for perhaps the first time since we moved to Arizona almost 20 years ago I decided not to go outside to walk. Instead we drove to the local mall where I wandered around the various stores in order to get in my 10,000 steps.

It wasn’t all bad though. I did stop by the local T-shirt shop to see if they could make me a shirt with a picture of the impending dust storm on the back and on the front it would say “Haboobies – yes they are real”. I could make a fortune.

It was a cool and crisp 68 degrees when I set out tonight. The walk was much later than I normally do; a result of way too many episodes of Gold Rush that I recorded on the Discovery Channel. As a side note, there is nothing that makes you feel smarter and more superior than watching a couple of episodes about a clueless cast of characters who leave their families to go to Alaska to search for gold without having a clue about being miners.

My walk usually takes me through the neighborhood and back towards a park that is located about a half a mile or so away. If I walked in a straight line it wouldn’t be much of a distance but going in and around the sidewalks and cul-de-sacs makes the entire journey around 4,500.

Tonight there is no one else along the path. The quietness allows you to be engulfed in the silence without any interruptions. This night as I walked I pondered why is it that the streetlights seem to go out just as I get to them? I find myself on more than one occasion to look over my shoulder to see if Hagrid is coming up behind me carrying a young Harry Potter but no one is there.

While I am busy looking at the now darkened streetlights and wondering if this is some sort of clue that I am really a vampire; a police car comes racing by me at a high rate of speed. He does not have his lights on but he is clearly in a hurry.

As the policeman reaches the stop sign across from the elementary school he briefly slows down before accelerating through the vacant traffic sign. As he accelerates he turns off his headlights making the police car almost disappear in the darkness.

I was staring after then car that had just vanished when I heard a car accelerating from behind me. I turn and look as another police car flies by me. This second car also does not have his lights on and like the first one slows briefly at the stop sign before accelerating and turning off his headlights.

Seeing one such car is a rarity in this neighborhood but seeing two back-to-back definitely piqued my interest. I continued my walk and soon came to the stop sign across from the school. Like the policemen I didn’t stop either but I don’t have headlights and decided it would be best to keep my eyes open.

A couple of blocks past the school the two police cars were parked in front of a house, their lights off and not a sound was heard. As I approached the two policemen got out of their car and walked across the street to the house.

I could hear them talking rather low and then heard a knock on the door of the house. Soon the door flew open along with a lot of screaming. A man and a woman were in the midst of an argument and colorful metaphors filled the night air like stars in the sky.

The argument lasted what seemed like an eternity before the police flipped the guy onto the ground and proceeded to handcuff him. The woman was near hysterics as the other officer attempted to calm her down.

Before long the policemen dragged the guy from the grass across the street into his car. In the now operating streetlight I couldn’t tell for sure but the guy looked like one of the Beverly Hillbillies. It wasn’t Jethro but could have been a distant cousin. The girl definitely wasn’t Ellie Mae but rather was a slightly younger granny.

I decided it was probably not in my best interest to hang around staring at the commotion so I continued my walk. Huh, who knew exercise and walking could be so entertaining?

Let me give you a historical example. A few years back I was involved in an online community of Disney pin traders. It was a close-knit group of people who loved Disney magic and happened to collect pins. Walt Disney World scheduled a pin trading convention at Epcot and several of the people from the online community decided to attend.

I thought it sounded like fun and made reservations for Trina and I to be at the convention. I mentioned online how it would be great if we all could meet at the convention and get to put a face with a name. Everyone loved the idea and I volunteered to set something up.

With Disney expecting well over 1,000 people at the event I wondered how in the world our little group would ever be able to identify each other since none of us had ever met in person. It occurred to me that we needed some way for us to know we were part of the same group. A simple nametag sticker would suffice but seemed kind of lame. Instead I suggested that we get matching pin lanyards. Everyone loved the idea. The problem was, we had no idea where to get them.

I approached Trina and knowing how talented and crafty she is I asked if she could make a pin-trading lanyard. I showed her what I was thinking and after pondering it for a bit she agreed that she should be able to do that but the question was, how many did I need. Trina constantly reminds me that my answer was, “oh not too many maybe 10 or 12.”

As God is my witness I thought that estimate was right. I went back to the online community and begin telling people about my plans and about Trina offering to make us each a custom lanyard. I set up a sign-up page online and asked everyone who was interested to sign up. At the end of the first day there were 25 people who planned on attending.

Obviously my estimate of 10 or 12 had suddenly doubled. I went back to Trina and apologized saying I had slightly underestimated but that the number should top out at around 25. Trina agreed and began making plans to create the lanyards. Within a week we had over 250 people sign up for the event and it became legendary. Trina not only made 250 custom lanyards but we also made lanyard cards, tags, and other things. That small gathering grew into three gigantic yearly events that people are still talking about a decade later.

As a result of that one small event Trina and I became an official 2002 Winter Olympics vendor selling lanyards in Salt Lake City. We’ve also sold lanyards to the National Football League as part of the Super Bowl and our lanyards have sold in national parks around the country. Don’t ask me how I still have no idea.

Today’s episode pales in comparison to the great lanyard debacle as it has come to be known in our household. During the recent goal setting exercise I committed to myself to walk 10,000 steps a day. Much like the lanyard thing, I didn’t really think that would be too difficult.

What I found out was that 10,000 are a lot of steps especially for someone who normally sits in front of a computer screen typing all day long. At the end of today I had just 1,000 steps well short of my goal. Instead of just shrugging it off I decided I would meet my goal even if it killed me.

I went to Trina and asked her if she wanted to walk with me. She asked where we were going and how long would we be. My response was, “oh not too far and it shouldn’t take us too long I just need to get some steps in.”

I have to say right here that after being married 30 years, part of the blame should go to Trina because she should know better than listen to me especially when I am estimating. Instead of a short 20-minute walk it turned into a 5.5-mile death march get to the 10,000 step goal.

By the end we were both exhausted but according to my FitBit we had walked about 11,000 steps putting my total at over 12,000 for the day. But at least we didn’t end up making 5,000 custom lanyards so I am getting better.

Before beginning this diet I knew that I had become much less active than I was earlier in my life. But with five kids going in different directions, a job requiring long hours in front of the computer, and not enough time in the day to complete any to-do list I could not possibly be expected to find time in my day to go to the gym.

It was definitely a dilemma and one that likely affects most if not all of us. If I was going to successfully reduce my weight I knew that an exercise program would be required but how and where would I find the time?

Looking back over my life I had always been active. Growing up I spent nearly every waking hour outside running, riding bicycles, and playing baseball. Now I spend most of my day indoors sitting at a desk and watching baseball. Three knee surgeries and four shoulder surgeries later and much of my playing seemed out of the question.

It doesn’t have to be that way though. There are ways to introduce some level of activity into our daily lives. Instead of sitting in a chair during a conference call or minimizing steps by combining trips to put kids’ toys away I could stand and walk around and take one single item at a time upstairs. Granted it may not be as efficient but every little bit of activity would help.

The question in my mind though was, will these few things make a difference and if so how much of a difference? As an engineer I am constantly reminded that in order to show progress you need to be able to measure it. The question with the steps was how do you measure it and once you have it measured what does it mean?

Clearly I needed something that would help me to collect the data from my daily attempts to increase movement and then be able to calculate what those measurements mean and how they will help me to become healthier.

At first glance it seemed that a simple pedometer would do what I asked. It could measure the steps I took and allow me to use those steps to calculate the amount of calories I had burned and hence measure the progress I was making.

The problem with a pedometer is that it’s good at collecting the data but not so well at evaluating it. I would be forced to collect the data and create some system or spreadsheet where I would have to manually do the analysis. The challenge was that if I was sitting in front of the computer analyzing data that meant that I was actually increasing my sedentary time instead of increasing my activity. What I needed was something that could automate the data collection and analysis.

After some research and talking to several people on multiple social media sites I found a device that will do just what I needed. The FitBit Ultra is kind of like a pedometer on steroids. Not only does it count the steps you take each day but will also record the number of calories burned, the number of stairs you’ve climbed, the distance you have walked, and the level of activity you have exerted. This was exactly what I needed.

The FitBit Ultra is the next generation of personal data collection device. The size of a small money clip or pack of gum it clips to your clothing and immediately begins collecting data. It comes with a base unit that is used to charge the device’s rechargeable battery. The base also acts as a Wi-Fi connection that allows the FitBit to send information wirelessly whenever it is within a few feet of the base.

The data collected is sent to a secure web site where it tracks your daily accomplishments. The web site allows you to set daily activity goals then will track how well you are doing against the goals.

I’ve just started using the FitBit and already I have begun to see changes in my behavior. With this tiny reminder clipped to my pocket I find myself taking the long way around the house or walking up and downstairs more than I used to do. With the help of the FitBit I am finding those small slots during the day to make myself more active.

If the FitBit only collected and analyzed my movement it would be worth it but it has a hidden feature that at first I thought was a gimmick but has become an important measuring tool to make me more aware of my health.

The FitBit Ultra came with a wristband that holds the device at night. Pressing and holding the button for a couple of seconds puts the device in sleep mode. Sleep mode does not refer to shutting down the FitBit but rather allows the device to being measuring your sleep.

Using a built-in cyclometer it measures when you are resting versus moving around. During the night it tracks this to provide you a glimpse of how much tossing and turning you do at night. I was shocked to learn that I spend nearly an hour a night rolling around interrupting my sleep.

Having this knowledge helps me to try and find ways to get a more restful night sleep whether that be eliminating distractions or finding a more comfortable pillow. I’m very curious to see whether changes I make to my sleeping will have an impact on my overall health. Perhaps I will finally wake up in the morning not feeling like I just ran a 5K. And if I did run a 5K the FitBit will give me credit for the calories I burned.

The FitBit Ultra is rather expensive with a retail price of $99 but given the amount of data and the ease of use it is well worth the cost. Watching the price on on-line sites such as Amazon it has fluctuated by more than $12 so if you can be patient in when you buy the device it is possible to save yourself a few dollars.

It’s amazing how much data such a small device can collect and how useful it can be for helping you develop an overall fitness plan that does not carve out huge chunks of time to go to a gym. I would definitely recommend the FitBit Ultra.

It’s funny, when I was younger I fashioned myself an athlete. From a very early age I was involved in one sport or another. I was always active whether it be running, throwing, hitting, kicking, or swimming. As I got older and heavier I found my level of activity diminish.

Some of that had to do with becoming a father and settling down to provide for my family. Other parts of my life took precedent and I was less active. Add to this the fact that my job became more sedentary requiring me to sit in front of a computer screen for long periods of time and it was no wonder why I was gaining weight.

Every year I would promise myself that I would become more active but the thoughts of going to the gym made me cringe. I didn’t have a good positive image of myself and thought I was too old to make any difference.

As a companion to changing my eating habits, my health coach has given me homework to read about how I can make changes to live a healthier lifestyle. I initially expected this to be how to start exercise but I was surprised to learn that the program instead was teaching simple motion versus devoted exercise routines.

The reading text sounded like something I had first-hand experience with. Sixty percent of people get no regular physical activity. Twenty-five percent get no activity at all. Fifty percent of those who begin an exercise program quit within six months. Within a year of purchase 90 percent of all exercise equipment goes unused.

With those kinds of statistics its no wonder I have failed in maintaining the proper approach to exercise. I have a million and one excuses for not exercising but somehow cannot find a single reason important enough for me to stay focused.

This program attempts to change my way of thinking about physical activity. It doesn’t have to involve going to the gym, using specialized equipment, or even tracking the amount of weight or minutes I exercise each day. Instead they focus on adding regular movement to my daily life.

Every movement we make burns calories. Some movements burn more than other but the important piece is to begin slowly increasing the amount of calories we expend and not increasing the amount we consume.

They talk about simple things such as the number of calories you burn standing versus sitting or how you can add to your movement program by getting up out of your chair even if you don’t do anything other than sitting back down. Walk to the television or to the sink rather than asking someone to bring something because they are already there.

I’ve begun looking at every motion I make on a daily basis and contemplating how I can use this to my advantage buy increasing either the duration or intensity to burn a few more calories. Rather than looking for a parking place close to the entrance I am not looking at each step from the parking lot as another opportunity to burn excess calories.

It’s an interesting way of looking at the world and one I had taken for granted. From this point forward I need to consider what I can do to maximize movement in my life. Every step I take, every move I make needs to work to help me become healthier. It’s a small thing that who knows may make a difference in me living longer.

At first I thought this was the standard welcome message then I realized that this email had a purpose. Attached at the bottom of the email were three documents. I had to go back and re-read the message to find out that I actually had homework!

Nobody told me there would be homework. I had to go back and check the web site. Did I make a mistake filling out the forms and put that I was going to take this diet for credit? The last thing I need is to flunk diet; that would be embarrassing.

My first inclination was to suggest to Trina that maybe she should do the homework since she was the one who thought this was a good idea. But then I remembered the last time Trina helped one of the kids with their geography homework. Let’s just say Trina’s license plate “IBLOST” is not a coincidence.

The homework didn’t look too bad. There were two PDF files that talked about fat burning and getting started on a diet plan. Those two weren’t too bad. I was kind of thrown for a loop when the third document was Lesson 8 from some book and it referred to other chapters of the non-existent tome. I was about to call foul when Trina explained that the book was coming as part of my “Welcome kit” that was being shipped to my house.

The final part of the homework was to go out and take a quiz. Wait what? First homework and now quizzes; this is not good. I figured I better nip this in the bud right now before I was asked to write a research paper on fat or something.

A quick email to my personal health coach and I was told that it wasn’t really a test as much as it was a baseline to understand my weight loss goals. Hopefully one of the test answers is that I am being forced into this by a nagging liver and a wife who never gains weight.

I was beginning to feel a little better about this until Amy suggested that one other item I would need would be a before picture. I’m pretty sure we have all seen these pictures that look like someone just swallowed the yellow short bus with a marshmallow chaser.

This is not good at all. It is an absolute no win situation for a person beginning a diet to provide a before picture. If the diet is successful you will forever see the before picture as a constant reminder that you were one fish away from being Shamu’s roommate at Sea World.

On the other hand, if the diet is not successful you will have that before picture that looks the same as the after picture except that at least in the before picture you have the look of hope on your face whereas the after picture looks like you are depressed to find out you are having fish for dinner and Shamu is still looking for a roommate.

Neither of these two options sounded like a good idea for me. No what I needed was a picture that no matter what the outcome of this diet may be I would at least feel better about myself. And since I have a copy of Adobe Photoshop and Google I have all the tools I am going to need.

After a quick search, a download of a file, and a couple of small edits I had the perfect before picture for my diet. If at the end of this adventure the diet works I am going to look amazing compared to this picture. If the diet fails I can be content knowing that it could be worse, I could look like that guy in the photo.

After my edits I was ready to unveil my picture to my family. A couple of things to note, never show pictures like this to anyone drinking milk or if you do be prepared with a camcorder to get a great video of milk snort out their nose. These kinds of pictures also seem to cause involuntary spasms in children especially teenage children.

Trina of course had to pretend to be the responsible parent and chastise me for my photo selection. She exclaimed that it didn’t look as though I was taking this seriously. I had to look around at whom she was talking to; it couldn’t be me could it? Of course I’m not taking this seriously it’s me.

It’s not that I am not taking losing weight seriously it is that it doesn’t have to be that serious. I mean I’m trying to lose weight not my sense of humor. I seem to remember a similar conversation we had after one of my doctor visits when I was asked whether I had any side effects from a particular medication and my response was, “other than hair growing on the tops of my feet and the ability to speak telepathically with dolphins things seem normal”. Hey they’re the ones asking, not me.

I’ll probably end up having to have a photo taken but for now I’m really thinking of going with this one.

Several of the highlights of the past 12 months have something to do with baseball and in particular the Arizona Diamondbacks, which is to be expected if you know me at all. Rather than recount everything that happened last year I have written it in our Family Newsletter that normally goes out with our Christmas cards which were somehow lost (I’m still claiming they are either in the pantry that needs to be cleaned or aliens abducted them and are now probing the cards for some scientific experiment).

Despite trying to say positive and optimistic about the past year there were some things I would just as soon try to forget some of the events we endured. As I stop to ponder the problems I’m left with an overwhelming sense of gratitude not because of the pain or suffering but for the humility these trials have taught me. In nearly every instance the problem or trial I’ve endured has resulted in more blessings.

While it was difficult to see Ashley and Eli’s marriage end and there were countless phone calls and trips to Utah to deal with the aftermath there was a hidden silver lining. Ashley and Lily have now moved back to Arizona and are currently living with us. When our kids were little I was so involved in my career that I was not around nearly as much as I should have been. Now I have been given a Mulligan to learn from that. Now I have the opportunity to be around every day and engage with Lily and watch everything she learns.

When 2011 started it did so under very uncertain terms. Starting in December 2010 I went through a series of surgeries. First my gallbladder was removed that was to help with a lot of the problems I was having with my health. During tests leading up to that though the doctors uncovered several other “areas of concern”.

During a chest X-ray doctors found an irregular mass in my chest that they cannot account for. I’ve seen several specialists and the mass to date continues to baffle the medical community. It is in such a place that it is impossible to remove or do a biopsy without potentially impacting my heart. It’s always fun when you’re told you have a mystery mass in your chest that may or may not be a problem and that the only treatment process seems to be to regularly do chest X-rays to monitor if it is moving or growing.

If that was not troublesome enough, tests also suggested that I might have prostate cancer. This of course led to additional tests and was finally given a clean bill of health at least in that area. These tests though led to other tests and a year ago I went in for exploratory surgery for possible pancreatic cancer.

It’s funny how different your outlook on life is when they start using the “C” word. More tests and more surgical procedures and the doctor came back with the diagnosis that what they found was “pre-cancerous”. I’m not exactly sure what “pre-cancerous” means. I thought the answer was a simple yes or no but that doesn’t necessarily seem to be the case.

I had always been under the impression that Medicine was kind of an exact science but the more deeply I get involved I realize that it’s a lot like playing the lottery but doctors get paid more and my odds of winning are greater for the lottery.

Despite all the uncertainty and being poked and prodded more than one of the Kardashian sisters I’m trying to relax and find the humor in all of this. That’s easier said than done at times. You try to come up with an appropriate comeback while wearing a hospital gown bent over a table with banjo music playing on the doctor’s office speakers.

Trina has begun going to the doctors with me. At first I thought it was because she wanted to see the hospital gown but she quickly denied that. No, she wanted to hear first hand what the doctor was saying. It’s not that she didn’t trust me. Ok, it’s exactly that she didn’t trust me to tell her what the doctor said.

During one visit as we were either going over the fielding statistics for the Arizona Diamondbacks infield or my blood work from the latest tests the doctor explained that I was overweight. It’s funny how they phrase it. It’s not, “Oh man you are seriously fat!” It’s a little more subtle than that. They use phrases like, “According to the levels you have a fatty liver.”

It’s kind of sneaky really. My response was, “ok doc so how much exercise do you think we should make my liver do so it gets back in shape and loses a few pounds?” This is met with some kind of blank stare followed by an explanation that its me who has to lose the pounds and that the liver just sits there.

So as a result Trina came away with the solution that I need to change my eating habits and lose some weight. And since it is New Years this is perfect since I will have plenty of company with other beached whales who’s liver is requiring them to drop a few pounds and a few hamburgers.

Just so we are all clear, this sucks. I like sitting on the couch and watching the MLB Network while eating Lucky Charms. My wife, my doctor, and that traitor my liver seems to think it’s time to change. So I have been given one New Years resolution, reduce my weight.

I figured that since this is my first attempt at dieting it might be fun to document the process. After all, if my liver and me end up getting into an argument I at least want everyone to know my side of the story.