Given my full list of goals for the next few months, I have decided to once again cancel my subscription to World of Warcraft. I haven’t played in over a week, and I find that I do not miss it all that much. In the interim, I have gotten quite a lot accomplished around my apartment, plowed through a few books in my pile of library tomes, and gotten all of my workouts done. I am even on a normal sleep schedule again.

Clearly, time spent in WoW is inversely related to time spent on LIFE, so WoW will just have to go until I’ve accomplished the following goals:

1. Passed my NASM personal training course exam in October
2. Reached my goal of ~125-128 lbs and/or 15% body fat
3. Finished a fairy girl paper doll book project for Ellen Million Graphics
4. Reviewed, researched, and reallocated (if necessary) the funds in my retirement accounts.
5. Designed the data entry forms for my HanDbase workout modules for BFL, SGX, and P90X
6. Played through Jade Empire in it’s entirety with just one character
7. Completed the online tutorials for the Satori FilmFX software.
8. Completed the Freehand 10 tutorial book.
9. Completed the Modeling a Character in 3DS Max tutorial book.
10. Rifled through my current belongings and sell, trade off, or donate anything I no longer need or want.
11. Pared down expenses as much as possible to maximize the amount I’ll have available in my House/Condo Acquisition fund by the end of December 2005.

It’s pretty big list of items, most of which will take an entire week to complete, which is why I cannot afford to be addicted on a biweekly basis to a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game as time-consuming as WoW. It’s a good thing I am on the month to month subscription plan. It makes taking a temporary vacation from Azeroth a lot easier.

In work-related news, IGN.com is in the office today taking some film footage and talking to the Geist team. As I am now working with the DS development group, I didn’t have to talk to the IGN folks, which is just as well, because I look like an absolute mess today–”Karaoke Superstar” Paul Frank t-shirt, gray wooly professional looking pants, and totally frizzy hair thanks to the late wake up this morning that forced me to do 20 minutes of HIIT instead of the planned 45 minutes of LISS and dash to work fresh from the shower with my heartrate still elevated and sweat literally squeezing out of my pores as soon as I toweled off. Add that to the usual Orlando humidity, and voila! Haystack Hair from Hades!

I did a combination HIIT run today, alternating between a 4 minute block at lower speeds (4.5, 5.0, 5.5, and 6.0 mph) at 5.0% incline followed by a 4 minute block at slightly higher speeds (4.5, 6, 6.5, and 7.0 mph) with 0% incline. My low-fat brownie high from yesterday (bad me–couldn’t resist the brownie monster at work) had worn off by this morning, so I had to do what I could given the reduced energy level I have been subject to since going back on SGX and, of course, from the usual monthly drop in iron count from being an estrogen-laden potential baby incubator of childbearing age.

The happy news of the day is that my body fat % has dropped again according to the Omron AND the Tanita, and I am down to 134.2 lbs from a starting weight of 137.8 lbs last Monday. The mirror also tells me that my upper body is beginning to shed some fluff once more, which is the usual pattern of fat loss for me. I probably won’t see much change in my lower body until I hit the 17% bf range at around 130 lbs, but that’s okay. Given the rate of fat loss I am experiencing now on SGX, I don’t think that will be too far away.

I am mildly aggrieved today, however. I ran out of All The Whey chocolate protein powder at work yesterday, but totally forgot to refill my little cottage cheese container with more from my 25 lb stash at home this morning, so I am stuck trying to gag down one of the absolutely nasty EAS Myopro flavors I do have on hand at work: vanilla (YUCK), strawberry (BARFY), or banana (TOXIC). I still have half a canister of the EAS strawberry left, but it is completely unpalatable in anything outside of a homemade bar recipe. The vanilla and banana are just remnants stored in cottage cheese containers, thank goodness. Perhaps I should enter the official BFL challenge for real this time around while I still have some EAS products in my kitchen, because I don’t think I can ever go back to their whey powder after tasting ATW’s superior products. (I recently tried some of the BFL branded MRP bars, too, and um…the new formulas give me migraines just like the old ones did. As grateful as I am to EAS for developing the Body for Life program, I simply cannot support their food supplements.)

===========
Nutrition: SGX Training Day Menu
(Details omitted by request of trainer)

Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, 1 T. flaxseed oil or natural peanut butter, 1 t. GNC Creastack
Water: 16 cups minimum

===========
Workout:
9:00 AM HIIT cardio - Treadmill Run (4.5-8.0 mph / 0-5% incline / 20 minutes)
8:00 PM SGX Lower body workout
9:00 PM LISS cardio - Stationary Bike (60 minutes while reading)

===========
The Awful Truth:
1. Ate some low-fat brownies (baked with applesauce) yesterday.

===========
Brownie Points:
1. Got to bed early!
2. Switched Palm desktop and apps to my laptop as part of my “Desktop is for Art and Games, Laptop is for Daily Tasks and Finances” computer reorganization initiative.
3. Had a great upper body workout followed by some rowing for cardio at the gym thanks to carb surge from brownies.
4. Transplanted remaining pepper, soybean, and tomato seedlings to larger containers. Eggplants and strawberries still need a bit more time in the covered Bio-dome tray.
5. Accounted for brownie splurge in calorie count and ended the day with a deficit anyway.

===========
Short-term Goals:
1. Do towel load.
2. File papers on drafting table.
3. Finish reading The Millionaire Next Door. Take copious notes.
4. Pick up cheapo Danskin folding weight bench from local Wal-Mart.
5. Cook some veggies.