Weight Loss Picture Timeline

This post is meant as a preface to an entry with content. I still haven't come up with a snazzy title, but it will contain my tips, tricks, and FAQ to my 100+ lb weightloss.

I get questions all the time, mainly from girls. They always seem to be the ones focused on losing weight. Blame the media. They're usually hot.

Over the past few weeks, I've heard the following comments in LA, the Bay and everywhere else I've been:

• You're hot!
• You're beautiful!
• You look so conservative.
• How did you lose the weight?
• What's your secret?
• Do you even eat?
• You have definition in your face!
• You're a medium? I'm a medium! Whoa.

Picture 1: January 2006 @ ~300 Lbs.

Picture 2: July 2006 @ ~275 Lbs.



Picture 3: July 2007 @ ~190 Lbs.



Picture 4: November 2007 @ ~183 Lbs.

About being stupid...

I arrived back in the Midwest yesterday after a 4.5 hour flight from San Francisco.

Nai was gracious enough to wake up at 5:45am and take me to the Cal Train station in Downtown Mountain View. I then took the 6:23 Caltrain to the BART to SFO. They changed the way you get to SFO via BART. You used to be able to do a direct shot from Millbrae (the Caltrain/BART connection station). Now you have to go from the Millbrae BART to San Bruno and then shoot down to SFO. It wasn't a big deal, and probably only added 3 or so minutes to the ride.

I get to SFO for my 8:15 flight with plenty of time, well... just enough time. I get to Security at around 7:15am and to the Terminal by 7:30. So I was fine. The flight was easy breezy... and didn't nearly feel like almost 5 hours (which it pretty much was because we were delayed 20 minutes).

My next challenge. How to get from DTW Airport in Detroit to Ann Arbor? I took a Taxi with my roomie Kev when I left Ann Arbor. I read about the Michigan Flyer, a bus from a hotel near my apartment to DTW (and the reverse) for $15, vs. $60 for a taxi or sedan. I knew there was a 4:45 shuttle to Ann Arbor that i could catch. It showed up 15 minutes late. No Biggie. I get to Ann Arbor around 5:50pm. I was dropped to a hotel about 3/4 of a mile from my apartment. Now, how to get from this hotel to my apartment... when there aren't taxis around. It was 13 degrees outside and all I had was a thin sweatshirt and no gloves. I thought, why not walk? I always hear about how people had to trek miles in the snow... surely I can go this short distance with my two suitcases to my apartment. WRONG. I pretty much had frostbite on my hands after 5 minutes outside.

I made it to Briarwood Mall and in the parking lot a woman parked up next to me and said, 'You want a ride? I have kids your age and It's wayyy too cold outside.' She said, 'It's not a problem. Where are you going? You better not hope I'm a mass murderer! You know you're stupid for not wearing a jacket in this weather.' I thought, 'Um, I'll take my chances about you not being a mass murderer.' So it turns out she's a doctor at St. Joseph's in Ann Arbor. We bonded quickly because her daughter lives in Menlo Park (near me in the Bay Area) because her husband is getting a Ph.D at Stanford in Engineering. We talked quite a bit in our short 3 minute ride to my apartment.

We got to my apartment and I defrosted myself.

Someone was totally watching over me... and I thank you Deb Oberdoerster, MD.

Xmas at Home

You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to going back to Los Angeles for Christmas. Even if It's above 50 degrees and raining, I'll still be a happy camper!

It would have been cool to experience my first White Christmas, but I'll save it for another year. :)

DTW > LAX on Thursday 12/20/07. Arrive ~ 7:30pm, weather permitting.

Random Food Combination

I just had 'Golden Brown Sugar' Quaker Oatmeal with Organic Vanilla Soy Milk. It says to use water... but I thought I would be different.

It was a phenomenal decision. Super scrumptious. :)

It's nice not to travel for a change

I really need this weekend for recovery. I feel like I've been traveling so much lately. I'm usually in an airport, car or train station on the weekend it seems.

Yesterday was the Ann Arbor version of Google's Holiday party. I had a blast. It was nice to be in a small venue at St. John's Inn and know almost everyone. Part of me wanted to be in Mountain View, but I'm going to be in Ann Arbor and live it up, dammit! It was fairly depressing because everyone brought their significant others, but I still have fun with the singles.

It was nice to hang out with Ray, Heather and Ariel -- who came in this week from Mountain View for the Holiday Party as well. I have pictures that I'll upload later.

I booked a room with John as a crash pad so we didn't have to drive home after the party. It was one of the nicest hotel rooms I've stayed in in a long time. :)

After we woke up, I thought about buying Spice Girls tickets, but I'm still unsure if I want to go in Detroit, Chicago or DC. I'm leaning toward DC.

After we got back, John and I stopped by Ann Arbor's world-renowned Deli, Zingerman's. It was amazing. Read my review on Yelp!

Possible Missed Connection on Craigslist

I always love reading "missed connections" on Craigslist. I've always wanted to be one. Lol. It's like getting to read someones mind.

Anywho, I was just passing through the Chicago version of the site because I was there this past weekend. The "missed connection" below sounds like it could be me, because, I was in fact standing on the left side of the stage by myself standing next to two guys for a little while at Roscoe's. Although, I think I'd be an egomaniac if I responded...

Saturday night. guy at roscoes dancefloor - m4m - 25

---

Reply to: pers-496597447@craigslist.org
Date: 2007-12-02, 5:08PM CST


You were standing at the roscoes dance floor on the left side of the stage on the ledge standing area. You were alone and looking very hot.

I was with my friend and we were standing next to you. I was hoping you'd come talk to me but you left suddenly.

Hope you read this.

• Location: Lakeview
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 496597447

Personal Goals

I feel like 2007 was a year of a single goal of mine: Weight Loss. I've achieved that, but now I want to become well-rounded again. I feel like I've lost interest in my passions and don't have hobbies. I used to be on top of my game in entertainment, hollywood, politics, technology, etc. Now I feel like I don't keep track of any of them.

In the next couple of weeks, I will be setting my personal OKRs for 2008. An OKR is an Objective and Key Result. Basically, it's setting a benchmark and later evaluating how you held up against those benchmarks. It's often times used in the workplace, but can be used in life as well. People also refer to these personal goals as New Years Resolutions.

The key to these goals are making them metrics based. For example, a sample OKR could be:

Running and completing two 5K races.

What makes this an OKR is that (1) It has an action [running in a 5K] and (2) has a metric associated with it [2].

Then in 2009, you build upon your 2008 OKRs. So I could for example run a half marathon in 2009 to stretch my 2008 goal, etc.

What's important to remember is that you often times set goals that you can't necessarily achieve but can get darn near close. That way you stretch yourself.

Some of my personal OKRs will be silly but some will be super serious. I think i'll be adding to the 'list' frequently until 2008... but my mind has been running on overload with goals I want to achieve.

More Travel Ahead.

I've been using my time in Ann Arbor as an opportunity to take loads of mini trips. It's no secret I love to travel, talk with locals and discover the hidden gems of a city. Each city is unique -- whether it's the people, food or traditions.

I've spent 2 weekends in Chicago, 1 weekend in Toronto and 1 weekend in Las Vegas.

I'm heading back to Chicago this weekend. I think I'm going to Washington, D.C. the weekend of Dec. 14th because my old boss, Brent, is having a Holiday Party. The weekend in between is open game, but I'll probably keep it local because I have my Company Holiday Party on that Friday.

I'm planning on returning to Los Angeles on Dec. 20th and won't be going back to work until January 2nd, 2008. I only need to take 3 vacation days to get all of that time off, so I'll be taking advantage of it. :)

After Christmas, I'll probably head back to Northern California after spending some time with the Fam and Friends in So Cal. I want to check up on my apartment and just get back into my groove.

It's possible my time in Nor Cal will be super short. But I'll talk about that later if and when I find out any news...

Here's a story... of a lovely lady...

So a few weeks back I mentioned how I absolutely adore my housekeeper. We had a pretty long conversation about the single life and just random talk. She's just so full of spirit.

I had the pleasure again today of chatting with her. I left work a bit late and knew she would be coming by. We chatted about Vegas, trashy celebrity gossip, shopping and our Thanksgiving plans. She's had a lot of life experience and just goes with the flow. I love that.

I finally 'formally' introduced myself and got her name. Her name is Carol and she's a wonderful woman.

So Thankful

I've come to realize how excellent my life is right now. My gripes are pretty minor. Because I'll be traveling this thanksgiving to Las Vegas for a little R&R, I'll write what I'm thankful for now. These are in no particular order, just train of thought:

• My Family - Even though I haven't lived in LA for just under 2 years, my family still makes it point to keep in contact with me. It might not be as often as it used to, but such as life. I talk to my Mom, Dad and Sister often.
  
• My High School Friends - I've been trying to do a good job to keep in touch with as many of my High School friends as possible. Even though I say 'High School' some are really grade and middle school. At this point, I've known many of these people for over a decade. That's a long time. We've been through a lot and I hope our friendships only grow stronger.
• My College Friends - You know who you are. We've all diverged and went our separate ways to some extent. But we make it a point to have semi-annual 'reunions' and keep in contact by phone and email. You guys are all super smart and doing very well for yourselves. Considering it's been only a little over 2 years since we graduated, I think we're all off to wonderful careers. I have no doubt we'll be lifelong friends. I mean, who else can hold up a pinky finger and burst out laughing like we can? We left college during a bad job market and still managed to carve our name into the business world.
• My New Friends - Over the past few months, I've been lucky to meet new people by living in the Midwest and doing a bit of traveling. I've made new friends in Ann Arbor, Chicago and Toronto. From my Irish roomie Kevin to my new friends, such as JD in Toronto and Matt in Chicago, I hope that we'll be able to make future memories together. I've had a great time getting to know people in different cities around North America and I hope to make many more friendships to come.
  
• My Career - I've worked my way up at Google a good amount. I've tried to make a long term impact that will shape my division for some time to come. I started out as a temporary contractor, converted into an Account Associate and was recently promoted last week to an Account Strategist. I worked really hard to get ahead and I'm happy that everything is going well. I've gotten to work in Ann Arbor, MI and I hope this opens the doors to new opportunities in the future.
• My Co-Workers/Friends - Working at Google, It's hard to separate the distinction between friends and co-workers. Never in my life have I been surrounded by such sharp, motivated, and down to earth people. I love all of my fellow Googlers and Gayglers. I hang out with you all the time and I couldn't ask for a better set of people to spend my life with on a daily basis. Even when I moved to A2, you've done a great job keeping in contact. I appreciate it. :)
• My Online Friends - Don't think I forget about y'all. I still read your blogs and posts from time to time. I haven't met many of you in person, but I feel like I know you.
  
• My Health - To some extent, this is what I'm most thankful for this year. I never realized how much good health has on the quality of my life. Before about a year and a half ago, I weighed nearly 300 pounds. Today I weigh close to 180. Yea, I lost an average woman. I sometimes cry when I look at older pictures. I can't believe I let myself go so much. I'm happy I'm healthier in mind, body and spirit. I'm not totally where I want to be, but I'm damn near close.
• My Love Life - This is something I don't talk about much. I guess I'm relatively private about dating and relationships. But I'm thankful I've gained a lot of experience in dating over the past year or so. I've grown by getting to know other guys at a deeper level. I went from zero experience to more experience than many people I know. By no means am I an expert, but I now have people I can lean on to to give me advice. To some extent It was a whirlwind. I'm starting to look into settling down a bit more in the near future. I'm talking with someone, but It's hard because it's long distance. I hope things work out alright.

Soon I'll have a post about what I want to accomplish in 2008. 2007 has been a HUGE year for me. Hopefully I'll have a list created before the holiday rush.

Last Minute Trip to Toronto

I love to travel. I'm not very seasoned at it, however. I have NO international travel experience. Actually, I've never been abroad. That includes Canada and Mexico. I don't have a passport either. Sad, I know.

I was talking with John, my A2 ex pat extraordinare, and we were looking at our calendars for future travel while in A2. We both realized we have NO weekends left left to travel. None. We're both booked to the brim with other travel or personal plans. We both realized we did however have this weekend free. Ohio State is playing Michigan this weekend, so It's gonna be crazy in A2 anyhow. It's the biggest week of the year as far as college football is concerned.

I looked at Hotels, John looked at Travel options and we booked everything in about an hour. We somehow got some KILLER deals at the last minute for this weekend, Friday to Sunday.

We're driving to Windsor, ON, the closest part of Canada to Michigan. It's about half hour away, right across from Detroit. From there, we're gonna take the Canadian Train, ViaRail. The train takes about 4 hours to Toronto. We'll be arriving around 9:30pm. Just enough time to get to the hotel, change and hit the Nightlife. As it turns out, ViaRail has a 'youth' discount. It's 25% off for those who are between 18 and 25 years of age. Sweet! John missed out cause there wasn't a 'middle age' discount. Hehe. j/k

I booked a room at the SoHo Metropolitan in Downtown Toronto. It's right near the Harbor and in the middle of everything. We were able to score a good deal for about $125 CAD (133 US) a night. That's very good for a 4 star hotel in Toronto on the weekend, especially at the last minute.

We're not really sure what we'll be doing, but our Train leaves at 7:00pm on Sunday Night. We'll be back around Midnight. Yay! So if you have ANY tips or places to visit in Toronto, let me know. :)

I'm looking forward to a clean Metropolitan city! Yay!

Top 10 Best Resale Value Cars

I'm thinking in 2009 I'll probably look into getting a new car... if only to establish some credit for myself. I'm pretty practical, so there 'Top 10 Resale Value Cars' will most likely be on my test drive and research list.

These are the Top 10 for 1007, according to CNN/Money:

• Chevy Corvette, 50% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Honda Civic Sedan, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Infiniti G37, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Mini Cooper, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Scion tC, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Scion xB, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Toyota Corolla, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Volkswagen Eos, 52% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Volkswagen Jetta, 51% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years
• Volkswagen Rabbit, 51% Predicted Retained Value after 5 Years

The only cars on this list I haven't thought about are the Chevy Corvette and the Infiniti G37.

John Travolta for A Night

It was truly 'Saturday Night Fever' for me. This past Saturday I made my way to Detroit for a bit of clubbing action. As you might know, I go to dance, experience new music and meet new people. I don't go to drink or hookup. Cause I'm a good guy like that.

Anywho, I made my way over to Backstreet Nightclub. I couldn't find the club at first because It was located in a hidden part of a strip mall. I was like, 'Oh crap. What did I get myself into?'

I get there around 11 and there aren't too many people around. It wasn't until 12 until the party got jumping. It's probably the most unique club I've been to in the Midwest. It has an elevated 1970's lightup dance floor that No One gets on until like 11:45. Before that, It's a complete stare showdown a la 'The Abbey' in LA or 'Sidetrack' in Chicago.

You can kinda tell the place is a work in progress. There is exposed wood in some areas that is meant to be finished. Despite that, the place has a great dancefloor, fun music, and a cool lounge in the back meant to get away from it all. There are Cabanas with Curtains if you want that 'Private' moment as well.

Most of the night was spent observing and taking pictures. At one point I did dance with Ziggy, a younger (I believe latino?) guy in which I'm still wondering as of today if he is of legal age. Yowza. There was this cute late 20's/early 30's guy I've seen at Necto who kept looking at me, but still never went up to me. Maybe next time.

There was a drag show. It was quite scandalous, with a guy who I think got breast implants. I would share pictures, but I want to keep you sane. Instead, here are some tamer pictures.

Here is a YouTube video of the Dance Floor in Action at Backstreet. It's to the music of 'Show Stopper' by Danity Kane.




I ended the night with a quick stop stop at White Castle, just to say I've done it. I got a diet coke and a cheeseburger. I can offically say the Diet Coke tasted better than the burger. Lol.

Yes, I'm Me

After A wonderful week, My Sunday evening turned into one of major bad luck.

I wanted to be productive, so I did laundry. Sounds good, right? Until I realized I left Chapstick in one of my pockets in the dryer. Dun Dun Dun... That means a whole grip of clothes now has petroleum stains all over it. *Le Sigh*

Okay, so that's kinda bad, considering I only brought a limited amount of clothing with me to Michigan.

I go to Meijer, the local 'we have everything, plus we're open 24 hours' store, to grab some laundry stain remover. I also realized I was low on gas, so I headed to a gas station I knew would be open.

I then see the flashing red and blue lights. Now I'm confused because I have no idea what I could have possibly done to deserve to get pulled over by the A2 coppers.

The officer approaches my car on a dark empty major street, and this is what happens:
Officer: Good Evening. Do you know why you're being pulled over?
Me: I have no idea.
Officer: Did you see that flashing red light back there?
Me: I don't recall.
Officer: Do you know what that means?
Me: I'm not from here. I haven't seen that very often where I'm from.
Officer: Where are you from?
Me: California. I'm not used to those in all honesty. I wasn't sure what to do.
Officer: Where are you staying?
Me: Near the mall.
Officer: Ah. Can I see your license and registration?
Me: I can try to find the paperwork, but this is a rental car.
[Hands over License and Registration]
Officer: Is this you?
Me: Ya. I lost about 115 pounds.
Officer: You look great!
Me: Thanks.
Officer: I'll be right back. I'm going over to my vehicle.
Me: *sighs* as he can see the officer writing the ticket in his rearview mirror.

So basically, I'm not all that bothered with it. I panicked at first... only because of insurance issues. Turns out you can't do traffic school in Michigan. The fine for 'not yielding for a flashing red light' is $130 and 3 points on your record for 2 years. It kinda blows. Now I know about flashing red and yellow lights and what you're supposed to do.

So the only real cool thing about the evening was the compliment about my weight loss. Yes, I'm Me...

Let it snow!

Today was the first day I saw a bit of snow, even though it didn't stick. It was just cold enough that flakes would fall from the sky above. It was magical. You know. I've come to realize that it's nice to have snow. Sure it's cold... in the low 30's, but it's something different.

Once I saw the flakes coming down kinda hard, I ran outside with Dina to take a picture. My manager kinda thought I was crazy, but whatever. :P


Snow in front of the A2 GOOG Office