Sunday, February 5, 2012

Grades & Weigh-in

This first PM class has 2-3 homework assignments each week plus a project every other week (4 total). I received 100% on the first 2 projects. Woot! Tomorrow I'll print out the schedule from the last project and start on the next project, which is due on the 13th.

I did my weigh-in today - I didn't lose anymore weight since yesterday, so I'm 3 pounds down in one week. I was hoping for another half pound today, but I can't complain.

I created another chicken dish in the crockpot today. For this one I filled the pot about 3/4 full with kale, red chard, and collards, then added chicken breasts, bacon, smoked salt, pepper, and herbes de provence. It turned out pretty tasty. The bacon was a little weird because it looked raw but it was thoroughly cooked and fell apart when I tried to pick it up. It added a nice undertone to the chicken. I should have taken some photos but I didn't even think about it at the time.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

School ... again

After being out of school since 2004, I’m back again.

For those who don’t know, I received my A.A. from Orange Coast College in 2000, my B.A. in Russian Studies from UC Berkeley in 2003, and I did one year of grad school at University of Virginia before leaving and moving to Russia.

I’m currently enrolled in 2 separate programs: the Project Management certificate program through UC Berkeley, and the A.S. degree in Web Development program at College of the Canyons. The PM cert should be completed by December, and the WebDev degree about 6 months later. I was hoping to do all of the WebDev degree online and finish it in one year, but I was so far back in the registration line that I only got 1 of the 3 classes I wanted, and the class is on-campus instead of online (the online section filled up several days before my registration date).

The first PM class started January 9 and is an 8-week class. The second PM class starts 2 days after the first one ends and is also an 8-week class. The first WebDev class starts on Tuesday, Feb 7 and will run until May 31. I’m on the waitlist for the online PHP class that starts in April. I’m 6th on the list, so I’m hoping a bunch of people drop the class before it starts.

This all started in November when a friend asked me if I had a Project Management certificate. I hadn’t even known there was such a thing, but he said that it was pretty much mandatory for PM jobs. I didn’t think much about it until mid-December when I had a 4-hour ride home on the motorcycle to think about life. It was then that the PM cert popped back into my head. I thought about it for a few days (did I really want to start school again?), did a day of research to find good programs, and within 4 days of that bike ride I was enrolled in the program at Cal.

After a couple of weeks in the PM program, I looked at PM jobs and realized that most of them required some sort of specialization (PM with engineering, PM with IT, etc). I thought about what I like to do …. create web sites. I started creating web sites in 1998 and loved it. But I had my sites set on eventually getting a doctorate in History and teaching at a university, and I didn’t seriously think about pursuing web development as a career. I made the wrong decision back then, so now I’m following the path I should have 15 years ago. I took about a week and looked at all the programs that I could do online but were close enough that I could take classes on-campus if needed. College of the Canyons had the best program for my needs. I’ve been in an email conversation with one of the professors, and he’s been extremely helpful.

It’s going to be a busy year, and I won’t have much of a social life, but it’s going to be worth it.

Back to homework….

Leptin Reset

Last Sunday I began the Leptin Reset program by Dr. Jack Kruse, found at http://jackkruse.com/my-leptin-prescription/.


I've been eating a mostly low-carb, grain-free diet since 2008, and I lost a little over 70 pounds doing it. But my weight stagnated once I started my current job (Oct 2010), and I gained ten pounds over the holidays. It's a new year and time to take control again. Dr. Kruse's program works with the way I like to eat, the way I know makes me feel the best, and the way that has given me the best weight loss results.


As of this morning, I'm down 3 pounds. I'm guessing it's from losing the inflammation that was caused by both my holiday binging and the sugar in the protein shakes I've been drinking for lunch (Muscle Milk Naturals mixed with 10oz of Trader Joe's whole cream-top milk). Tomorrow is my actual weigh-in.


In his program Dr. Kruse states not to count calories in the beginning, just to concentrate on getting the right amount of protein and keeping the carbs low. But I still do so I can go back 6 months from now and see what worked and what didn't. Since 2008, on the advice of my doctor, I've kept a daily food diary. I document what I eat, how much of it, and the calories. I also keep track of my water intake and I weigh myself every day. Being on Dr. Kruse's plan, I added protein and carbs to my diary. His plan requires that you eat 50 grams of protein at each meal and stay under 25 total carbs for the day.