SharkysWorld

Life hit me with a couple of things today and I wanted to share.

First – I’ve become the dinosaur, the old man, the veteran, the lifer or whatever you want to call it. I’ve been working at the same place for 12 years now, same actual job for about 10 years and I see these new folks coming in and it amazes me that I was ever like they are. I remember my first day here, I wore a tie and I had one co-worker make fun of me all day because it was NOT that type of place. (That co-worker still works here but he is in rough shape but still kicking.)

Every day is basically the same- where I park, the path I walk in, the elevator I take. I come in, walk down a huge hall and pass a ton of cubes until I get to mine, pick up my water jug and head to the break room. I put my lunch in the fridge, fill up on water and head back to my cube where I plug my phone in, plug my Bluetooth headphones in and start checking email.

I answer emails, run reports and fix issues until my headphones charge up, then I get on YouTube and get “philled” in by Philip Defranco, hope that Boogie 2988 has something new for me, listen to some stuff about keto recipes, check OmniPoke for the best Pokemon content on the internet and then just listen to random videos as I do what has become 2^nd nature to me. I enter data and run reports pretty much all day- fix issues, answer questions, set stuff up but I just do what needs to be done.

I don’t know if that is good or bad- a part of me really enjoys knowing how my work day is going to go- knowing what I do and how to do it makes my day a lot easier because I hate doing stuff that I don’t understand and I understand what I do pretty well but another part realizes that I’m just counting the days until I get ass cancer.

The second thing I thought about today is perspective.

Once the day gets started, I set in my cube and when I look up I see a wall of windows- depending on the day, I could see a bright blue sky with huge fluffy clouds and the green of thousands of trees…for miles! I’m on the 3^rd floor and the view is pretty amazing. I could see gray skies with pouring down rain or I could literally set and watch a storm roll in- I can literally watch it come in, be over us and leave because being so high up lets me see for a crazy distance…I’m probably seeing the tops of trees in other counties….I bet I could see Russia from my cube! (I mean, Washington DC is that far from KY…right?)

There is nothing cooler than getting a really strong storm while I’m at work- it’s honestly amazing and breathtaking.

You can really tell the difference in the seasons when you can see so much- fall is amazing, snow storms are incredible and I love when Bill Meck tells me there is a massive storm coming because the view will be like a live painting.

That is the view I focus on because that is what I enjoy and my life is pretty amazing right now.

But there is something else that I see daily, right in the same view….sort of hidden in the trees and it’s the Office of the State Medical Examiner. There website says they “assist KY coroners and law enforcement agencies in all aspects of death investigations…perform forensic autopsy to aid in the determination of cause and manner of death.”

Death is right in the middle of my amazing view.

While I’m setting there, enjoying the view and how amazing nature is, I’m also staring at a building full of dead people who have been or are about to be cut open.

Could you imagine the effects of that on someone who was depressed or hated life…to know that you are basically staring at death for a large part of your day- 5 days a week?

So- in closing…I’m almost 40 and clearly on the “downside” of life and past the half way mark on the road to retirement and I get to set and stare at the death building all day….yet I’m still pretty damn happy and love life.

Life is what you make it….you can be amazed by life or focus on death….it’s really up to you.

Love, Peace and Sharkyenss
~~~~~shArky~~~~~

My last update was 9 days ago and it’s time to get things back on track….honestly, I’ve had a decent reason though.

Yesterday, my wife and I signed the final papers and are now “homeowners” and I say that with quotes because we are basically just renting to own a house because the mortgage company is the actual owners but that is how life works; you can’t make it unless you are in debt.

Honestly, we’ve spent the last two weeks “celebrating”- no one explains to you that the house buying process is INSANE and no amount of “approvals” matter until you actually have a deed in your name. We got our first approval- so we took a day off from Sharketo to celebrate…then we got another approval and another AND ANOTHER!!! With every approval came a carb filled celebration because we thought the house was ours…only to be told there were more approvals to come…..and with those, more celebrations.

That is all done. No more approvals, no more celebrations….time to get back on track with burgers, cheese, bacon, etc and I’ve got my delicious salad of baby spinach, bacon, cheese and ranch for lunch- then hitting up my coffee when I get home and some delicious dinner and almost NO CARBS!

We can’t actually start working on our new house until Sunday but every day this month will be loaded with fixing cracks, sanding, panting, cleaning, moving and just non-stop moving- so the calories are going to get burned…if we can just stick to the MACROS, then we will be back in ketosis in no time and right back where we were! Even though we went over bored with celebrations…we didn’t do a crazy amount of damage so we should be fine.

The real exercise starts in August- once we have everything moved and the Sharketo Dojo set up and ready to go- it’s going to be amazing!

If you follow me on Facebook, you know I’ve talked about buying the house a lot and that is because it’s a huge step for someone like me- I grew up in the projects on welfare and food stamps; my mom busted her ass and got us into a house when I got into high school but it was through Section 8. Once I graduated, I moved back into the projects and then met the girl that became my wife. We lived in a small apartment, then we moved up to a duplex and then to a house….but we were always renters- owning a home didn’t seem possible to me and it still doesn’t really. I try to make my son understand the importance of this step but he only remembers living in a 3 bedroom brick home…so he doesn’t have a clue- and I guess that is a good thing.

He hasn’t gone through anything like I had to go through and I’m proud of that…that is the actual job of a parent- make sure they don’t die and make their childhood better than yours.

I have a very busy month ahead of me and my goal is NO MORE days off for the rest of the year- Sharketo 24/7! This is a huge step and I need to get this weight off in order to be around long enough to enjoy it!

Starting in August- we should be bringing you more reviews, recipes and several weekly updates so keep checking in!

Love, Peace and Sharkyness!
~~~~~shArky~~~~~

4 days from now, 2017 will be half over and I’m already seeing that infamous meme- “almost half way through 2017 and I lost no weight, didn’t learn anything, haven’t made an effort to save any money and still ugly”. It seems that every year I see something like that- people who make New Year’s Resolutions but just continue to live the same life and never trying to make anything better and it made me reflect on the first half of 2017 for myself and, honestly, I was pretty damn amazed!

I started off 2017 by not making New Year’s Resolution but by trying to start a Sharky Revolution.

Revolution: a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

I wanted to overthrow myself in favor of a new me and it seems to be working pretty awesome. I took January away from Facebook- I didn’t make any announcement of it, I just stopped posting and really slowed down on scrolling. I made a post on January 31^st announcing that 2017 would be “The Year of The Shark”. So…at the half way point, let’s check out where I’m at-

1.      In January, I was one of only 19 individuals who got a 2016 Outstanding Employee Award, out of several hundred. There were several more “group” awards but only a handful of us actually got the plaque.

2.      In February I bought my wife Lady Gaga tickets (for a concert in NOVEMBER!!!) because she is the most amazing girl in the world.

3.      In February I announced my dedication to Pokemon…I’ve been into the cards for a few months and was really learning the game but I really go into it- I try to play every day, watch videos and learn about decks and how to get better- it’s the single greatest stress reliever I have ever found. It’s helped me stay away from news and just become a happier person.

4.      Sadly…also in February, I feel off the weight loss track after losing 15 lbs. but I did manage to maintain that 15 lbs lost under April…(more on that later)

5.      In March I started writing way more and revamped SharkysWorld.com into something I update more regularly and really pour my heart into.

6.      In late March, after reconsolidating all of my credit cards into one payment with a much lower rate, I finally upgraded from a 1999 Cavalier that was literally falling apart to a 2013 Dodge Avenger in amazing shop, good miles and has been an outstanding car.

7.      April 17^th I started keto- aka Sharketo. I was still down 15 lbs. from earlier and I hit it really hard and I’ve stuck with it (for the most part) and I’m currently down 52 lbs. for the year. There has been some rough spots but it’s a way of eating that is really easy to get back into and your screw ups don’t set you back as much as with a different types of eating. I’m still pretty motivated and inspired to keep going- just need to slow down on the screw ups.

8.      On April 17^th our son was Citizen of the Month for 2^nd year in a row and received one of the special awards that only a small group of kids get.

9.      We spent April learning new recipes, cooking more and losing weight like crazy.

10.   In May I got my first booster box of Guardians Rising (Pokemon cards) and pulled a Secret Rare Gold Aqua Patch out of my first pack. 

11.   In May, my trading card charity – Commons4Kids donated our 7 millionth trading card! We’ve donated over 7 million cards now to kids in 13 different states and literally worked with people all over the world, in tons of different countries.

12.   Our son graduated from 5^th grade in May- he graduated “with honors” as never making anything less than an A during his entire elementary school career and with being one of only three kids not missing a single day his 5^thgrade year. His elementary school years were loaded with awards and accomplishments.

13.   May 26^th my wife and I celebrated our 11^th year of marriage (14 years together though!)

14.   May 31^st, we signed a contract to make an offer on our first house!

15.   During June, our house got appraised, passed inspection and got final approval from the underwriter and we are only waiting on the title to come back and to set up the closing date AND I hit the 50 lbs. lost mark.

For me, 2017 has been NOTHING short of “The Year of The Shark” and I am very motivated to make the 2^nd half of the year even better!

As for the meme from the first paragraph – “almost half way through 2017 and I lost 52 lbs., learned a ton about Pokemon while relieving stress, saved tons of money with lower interest rates while building up a credit score and reputation that has people throwing credit at us…but….still ugly”

I mean, come on guys, it’s really hard to fix ugly.

Love, Peace and Sharkyness
~~~~~shArky~~~~~

…I’m stuck in a loop!!!

I lost some weight, screwed up a few days and jumped back to 399 last week- then I had a great week and got down to 388 on Saturday, only to screw up again and I didn’t even get on the scale this morning but I’m sure I’m back up again!

I keep working my ass off and getting lower during the week, screwing up on Saturday/Sunday and going way up and then spending the next 4-5 days getting back to I was, usually a pound or two lower. I do manage to scrap a pound or two but if I would stop screwing up and keep myself in ketosis, I would still be dropping mad weight!

There isn’t a reason for it either; that is what is so awesome about Sharketo- you get to eat amazing food! There is honestly no damn reason for me to keep doing this- anything I want, I can get a Sharketo friendly version of it…I honestly can’t explain it.

My only thoughts are that it’s more convenient and I honestly have a mental issue that I need to figure out. I was munching away on some cookies and it hit me and I told my wife “this is when I’m happiest” and it made me a bit sad. I grew up pretty poor and never had the ability to just walk into a store and literally buy anything I want and I seem to use that with food. It kills me to go somewhere and feel restricted on what I can buy- I’m the happiest when I walk in and tell myself- “you can have ANYTHING in this damn place!” So I buy candy, cookies, chips, etc because it’s almost like a power trip or something.

I told myself that I needed to be 100% honest in order for this to work and I want to tell you guys exactly what I go through to hopefully help someone in the same spot as I am- it’s something I have to work through. The reason it doesn’t make sense is, for example, candy- I can get sugar free candy and I honestly like the taste of it better but I still choose the stuff loaded with sugar/carbs, almost like to prove to myself that I can do what I want….it’s honestly fucked up. I don’t have to listen to myself, I can do whatever I want…screw myself. (See…..mental issues.)

It’s a form of self-sabotage and thankfully it hasn’t killed my entire progress…yet! I still managed to get a couple pounds down and be at my lowest so I have to get back up, get back on Sharketo and get the water weight that gained over the weekend back off and try to get some days/weeks/months of Sharketo in a row with NO CHEATS!

Hopefully we will get the final approval for house this week, having the closing early next week and then just focus the entire month of July on repairing, painting, cleaning and moving and stick with the plan.

I’ve had too much success to just give up at this point. I’ll punish myself tonight by eating an 80/20 hamburger with some bacon, mayo, sugar free ketchup and mustard…and some cheese! Yea, that should teach me a lesson….an amazing, delicious meal with about 2g of carbs.

See what I mean…no reason to NOT follow the Sharketo WOE.

Love, Peace and Sharkyness
~~~~~shArky~~~~~ 

01.01.2017 – 440
04.17.2017 – 425
06.17.2017 – 390

On Saturday, I hit the 50 lbs. lost mark for the year! It was also June 17th, which was my two months on Sharketo- I lost 15 lbs. during the first 4 months of the year and 35 lbs. during the last two months- so it’s clearly working.

The problem is- since we were going to Louisville on Saturday and our son was going places with his aunt, we actually had a day to ourselves so I took another cheat day to celebrate- that turned into a cheat day on Sunday and then yesterday I almost made it but had to finish off the Jalapeno Puffs we had left over from Saturday. I’m not proud but I was celebrating and I’m still pretty damn stressed over this house- the setting and just waiting is NOT what I’m good at!

So- with all of that said- I’m back on Sharketo starting today and looking to go another 2 months or longer without another cheat day. I’ve got about 10 days to lose the weight I gained from my days off so I can be at 50 lbs. lost in 6 months. My goal for the next 6 months is to drop 75 lbs.

If we get the house, we will be spending a couple of weeks cleaning, painting and moving which should cause some weight loss and then I’ll have my Sharketo Dojo and should be able to get into a workout routine.

I’ve been aggravated or about a week or so – just from the buying a house process to trying to figure out what is Sharketo friendly for lunch WITHOUT being a salad or lettuce wrap- I can only take so many of those!

I think we got it worked out and I’m 99% sure we will get the house- I’m just not a patient person and wish we could just move forward!

I am still highly motivated and need to get back into my Sith Code state of mind!

Love, Peace and Sharkyness
~~~~~shArky~~~~~