Cystic Fibrosis Fatboy — Page 31 — The daily quest to gain weight

Happy Birthday, Beautiful

May 9, 2011

Beautiful!

Today is the day I most look forward to each year. Beautiful thinks my birthday is my fave, but it’s really hers. Sure, I get excited about mine out of celebration of kicking CF’s butt one more year and seeing what she has secretly planned behind my back, but I get more of a kick doing whatever the heck she wants and trying to surprise her.

This year has been a roller coaster on many fronts (mostly related to stress in one way or another from one source or another), but a combination of dedication and stubbornness on both our parts has us ready to take on the next 8 months of 2011 with a vengeance! So, while today may not be the most well-planned day we’ve ever had, we are sure to have fun… and I’ll see if I can slip in some surprises along the way. She thinks I don’t plan things because I’m so good at actually freaking out about some things (like presents she asks for) but she doesn’t see scheming. Yes, Babe, I scheme about your big day, too.

Since you’re reading this, presumably before I wake up, don’t rush, but let’s try to leave a little early, pack our lunch like planned, wear street clothes over our beachwear, and take a detour to eat. I am pretty sure you’ll like it.

Take a walk with me down memory lane…

[Read more…]

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month

May 6, 2011

This is only our second year acknowledging CF awareness month. Last year was the first year I’d “come out” as a CFer from my cocoon of insulation from the negativity that I thought everyone else had with CF to find a vibrant, caring crowd of people just like me.

This is also the season for Great Strides everywhere. We are still debating about what to do with ours in Tampa, since we will be going on vacation just a couple of days after it, and traveling across the country with CF takes a lot of planning, so I’m undecided if we can handle both. It might be nice to set up a table near registration and sell our purple CF awareness bands to walkers since people receive off-color blue and yellow bands as admission bands to the zoo that we hold our walk at each year. I don’t know what blue stands for and we all know yellow is for prostate cancer.

CFF, I can hook you up with bands any time if you want people to have purple awareness bands – let’s spread awareness with the true color!

I love this time of year now, seeing everyone ordering their t-shirts for their Great Strides teams, putting on purple awareness bands, and spreading the word about CF. I even had a regular Twitter acquaintance who is in the same field as I am order one this week when he saw my tweet on my normal Twitter ID about it being awareness month and provided a link to our bands. Please send me links via my contact form if you’re selling CF shirts for your team goals and I’ll get with you to get a photo, details, and link to your site in a few days for another awareness post.

I’ve worn my awareness bands almost every day (sometimes I don’t leave the house for days) and even got some “fat bands” that are 2-3x wider to try out. I them better because it looks better on my skinny wrist, more like one of those leather bands that cool people are allowed to wear. We’ll order more of them as our inventory runs lower and I determine that there is demand for them. I’ve been remiss adding what little we have to the page for fear of running out in one order. I think we have 8 left, but they are quite a bit more because we only ordered 10 instead of in bulk. I can get them down quite a bit if there is interest.

If you ask, people will support you. Live strong AND breathe easy.

My Trip to Chicago for a Conference

May 5, 2011

Back in 2005, I was already blogging about a game called World of Warcraft. I started on Blogspot and began writing every day as a way of journaling my way through my levels playing the game, as it’s a game that your character “levels up” as you play and gain experience. My memory was notoriously bad enough to warrant wanting to keep a record of things. I don’t know why, but I’m grateful that I did, as it would later become my career and way I bring in money. Websites and writing, that is, not playing the game.

I soon moved to the WordPress platform when my traffic reached levels that I thought deserved a domain name, so I bought a domain name and got a terrific hosting plan. I distinctly remember how painful it was to purchase an $80/yr plan up front, but it forever changed my life as I continued to write, break my site, fix my site, and grow an audience.

One blog I visited regularly at work was a haven for positive professionals who mused about life topics and business decisions. While I didn’t own a business yet (though I fantasized daily about being my own boss), I found that I had a knack for weighing options and discerning right and wrong in complex ethical situations based on others’ feedback of my comments. The Spring after Beautiful and I were wed – Spring of 2007 – the community around this blog organized a conference in Chicago called SOBCon: Successful Online Bloggers Conference.

Houston, we have a problem

I was flat broke. We were making enough to get by, but a $200 plane ticket, overnight in a Chicago hotel, and a $600 conference ticket were all out of the question. [Read more…]

Today – Epic in Every Way – Exhausted Day 2

April 29, 2011

Today, as good as yesterday was for our business with the meetings I set up with clients whom I’d never met in person, was the best day as far as epiphanies and life-changing information and personal development I’ve ever had.

It was one great speaker after another, but two very much made me think about who I am, what I do, and why I think about why I am feeling the way I do. You know me by now: you’re going to get the real deal here, so I hope this has as much meaning to you as it does me.

Find a happy place

The first speaker, Cathy Brooks, had us first close our laptops, close our eyes, breathe (deeply – hah!), and take ourselves to the place where we are most happy (preferably not in front of your computer).

I was lost. I was floating around from memory to memory, place to place trying to find where I am most happy. The beach in the shade in our lawn chairs? Our vacation in Tennessee? The floor watching TV with Beautiful? Our patio when we’re sitting in the sun reading and talking about stuff?

I was crushed! Am I happy? If I’m not, what is the cause? It was the next speaker who may have uncovered why I was questioning my happiness.

Today We Are Rich

That is the title of the latest book by Tim Sanders (@SandersSays). I put it on my nightstand in the hotel to read tonight to see how far I get before I sleep. I want to be quite clear about this next statement, as it holds no exaggeration. Apart from a speaker at church camp in Jr. High who cut me to the core with a talk and changed my life for an eternity, this was the single best talk I’ve ever heard in all of my years of sermons, going to motivational business meetings, watching videos, and fantastic conferences of the past. I’m even going to investigate a psychological diagnosis that makes sense for how I feel.

[Read more…]

Happy Birthday, Beautiful

May 9, 2011

Today is the day I most look forward to each year. Beautiful thinks my birthday is my fave, but it's really hers. Sure, I get excited about mine out of celebration of kicking CF's butt one more year and seeing what she has secretly planned behind my … [Read more]

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month

May 6, 2011

This is only our second year acknowledging CF awareness month. Last year was the first year I'd "come out" as a CFer from my cocoon of insulation from the negativity that I thought everyone else had with CF to find a vibrant, caring crowd of people … [Read more]

My Trip to Chicago for a Conference

May 5, 2011

Today – Epic in Every Way – Exhausted Day 2

April 29, 2011

Today, as good as yesterday was for our business with the meetings I set up with clients whom I'd never met in person, was the best day as far as epiphanies and life-changing information and personal development I've ever had. It was one great … [Read more]

Houston, we have a problem

Find a happy place

Today We Are Rich

Time Elapsed Since IVs