Goings On
So I haven't posted anything since May. Need to rectify that.
Here's what's going on in my life. I'm still kicking diabetes butt, and on top of that, I've managed to lose a good deal of unnecessary weight. As of now, I've become a skinny person. That's right! I lost all my belly fat, and I've managed to drop a few in the waistline as well! Officially, I went from being just under the 200 lbs. mark (I believe I was at 196 at the time) to now weighing about 142 lbs. That for me meant a change in my workout routine. I don't do much cardio these days as I don't really want to lose any more weight, but instead I've focused my attention to nothing but muscle building, as that would be healthy weight gain for me. In some sense, losing all that weight did mean I lose some bit of muscle, but since I'm still on my high protein, low carb diet, I've started to gain some of my muscles and strength back through weight training. Thankfully, Planet Fitness has excellent weight machines that I can target the specific muscles I want. Lately, I've been trying to get my arms, shoulders, and chest built back up, and I'm close to getting them back to where I want them to be. Once that's good, I plan on focusing on my torso and hips, eventually working down to my legs. I figure one step at a time when it comes to body building.
On another note, I never did post about this looking at my journal entries for this year, but I should update on my transportation situation. So back in January, I managed to get myself a vehicle to help me get around for a bit. A friend of mine's uncle was willing to sell me his project vehicle that he had been working on for a while. The vehicle was a '96 Geo Tracker. Wasn't in the best of shape, but I figured it would be adequate enough to just get me around for a while. He sold it to me for a mere $650, and the rest of history. So here's what the Emerald Vixen (also called by me "The Dune Buggy") looked like:
Not bad on the outside, but had a lot of issues on the inside. Over the five months I've had her in operation, I started having a crap ton of problems. The clutch ended up going out on me, the crankshaft position sensor was already out of whack, and it was in need of a major tune up because I was losing gas extremely quickly on each drive to the point where I had to fill her up every week. At one point, I literally ran out of gas and had to wait until my paycheck cleared my bank account so I can get some gas to put in her. And here's the worst part. Back in May, she finally broke down on me and died out. With my clutch being out, every time I came to a stop, the engine would stall, and I'd have to put it in gear and start her up again and take off right away to keep the engine going. Well, one day, on my way home getting off the highway, literally at the end of the off ramp, she bit the dust and wouldn't start again. I literally had to push her from the off ramp back to the house, but not without some help from some passerbys helping me out, thankfully. For a few weeks, I had to revert back to the bike and bus to get to work, then while on my lunch breaks at work, I was watching a number of commercials about the annual tent event held by a few of the South (St. Louis) County dealers. Every year, a few of the dealers put on this event to clear out their old inventory so they can make room for newer model vehicles. So one day after work, I decided to take myself to this event to just generally look around at what they had to offer. I wasn't expecting to get into anything, but right away I was picked up by one of the salespersons who generally assisted me in looking at cars. One car in particular had caught both our attention, and at that point we decided to see what could be done to get me in it. It took a long time, literally lasting into the night, but for the right price, I managed to get into a new(ish) car, and here it is:
So here I introduce the Titanium Fox mkII! It's a '15 Nissan Versa Note SV! That's right, I said 2015! That's the part that caught our attention. This bad boy was a certified car, meaning it was still under a good deal of manufacturer's and dealer's warranties! So I'm still covered under anything and everything! It was a great deal for me, and I was so glad that they were willing to do anything to get me in it. I also got some nice features on the car, too, such as a premium audio system (for this car, anyway) that came with a radio unit with a 5" display screen (not a touchscreen, though) that gave me a backup camera when I put it in reverse. The Sapphire Vixen had that feature, so I was glad to get that back. And, well, suffice it to say that because of my developed neuropathy in both of my feet, I had to get a car with an automatic instead of a manual. Well, in this case, Titan has Nissan's famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Xtronic CVT, or Continuously Variable Transmission. Surprisingly, I'm not complaining about it. I used to severely bash both Nissans and CVTs in the past, but I've gotten used to it in this car, and I rather like it. It's done a lot to get great fuel economy, and I'm currently beating the EPA's 35 MPG combined rating (I'm averaging 37.6 MPG in mixed driving according to my car's readings). I can see why Nissan puts CVTs in nearly all of their cars, and they've been doing CVTs for years making them the masters of them. So, honestly, I love my new car, CVT and all, and I've driven him quite a lot since I've had him the past month! I think, like the Steel Vixen, Titan will probably become my new travel companion as I plan on keeping him as long as I can because, honestly, I don't really need anything else at the moment. I have one of the most fuel efficient cars on the market (31 MPG City/40 MPG Highway/35 MPG Combined), and I planning on doing some traveling in the near future, especially now that I'm officially working full time at Walmart (year, that happened, too) and I'm going to be earning more money in my future with them!
So that's what's going on in my life right now. Some downs, but a lot of ups that I'm really proud of. I'm thankful for a lot of things in my life, really. My health, my family, my friends...I'm just so thankful, man. I just hope I can keep this momentum going for as long as I can, but I'm a fighter, and I'll always find a way to keep going! That's just how I roll!
Here's what's going on in my life. I'm still kicking diabetes butt, and on top of that, I've managed to lose a good deal of unnecessary weight. As of now, I've become a skinny person. That's right! I lost all my belly fat, and I've managed to drop a few in the waistline as well! Officially, I went from being just under the 200 lbs. mark (I believe I was at 196 at the time) to now weighing about 142 lbs. That for me meant a change in my workout routine. I don't do much cardio these days as I don't really want to lose any more weight, but instead I've focused my attention to nothing but muscle building, as that would be healthy weight gain for me. In some sense, losing all that weight did mean I lose some bit of muscle, but since I'm still on my high protein, low carb diet, I've started to gain some of my muscles and strength back through weight training. Thankfully, Planet Fitness has excellent weight machines that I can target the specific muscles I want. Lately, I've been trying to get my arms, shoulders, and chest built back up, and I'm close to getting them back to where I want them to be. Once that's good, I plan on focusing on my torso and hips, eventually working down to my legs. I figure one step at a time when it comes to body building.
On another note, I never did post about this looking at my journal entries for this year, but I should update on my transportation situation. So back in January, I managed to get myself a vehicle to help me get around for a bit. A friend of mine's uncle was willing to sell me his project vehicle that he had been working on for a while. The vehicle was a '96 Geo Tracker. Wasn't in the best of shape, but I figured it would be adequate enough to just get me around for a while. He sold it to me for a mere $650, and the rest of history. So here's what the Emerald Vixen (also called by me "The Dune Buggy") looked like:
Not bad on the outside, but had a lot of issues on the inside. Over the five months I've had her in operation, I started having a crap ton of problems. The clutch ended up going out on me, the crankshaft position sensor was already out of whack, and it was in need of a major tune up because I was losing gas extremely quickly on each drive to the point where I had to fill her up every week. At one point, I literally ran out of gas and had to wait until my paycheck cleared my bank account so I can get some gas to put in her. And here's the worst part. Back in May, she finally broke down on me and died out. With my clutch being out, every time I came to a stop, the engine would stall, and I'd have to put it in gear and start her up again and take off right away to keep the engine going. Well, one day, on my way home getting off the highway, literally at the end of the off ramp, she bit the dust and wouldn't start again. I literally had to push her from the off ramp back to the house, but not without some help from some passerbys helping me out, thankfully. For a few weeks, I had to revert back to the bike and bus to get to work, then while on my lunch breaks at work, I was watching a number of commercials about the annual tent event held by a few of the South (St. Louis) County dealers. Every year, a few of the dealers put on this event to clear out their old inventory so they can make room for newer model vehicles. So one day after work, I decided to take myself to this event to just generally look around at what they had to offer. I wasn't expecting to get into anything, but right away I was picked up by one of the salespersons who generally assisted me in looking at cars. One car in particular had caught both our attention, and at that point we decided to see what could be done to get me in it. It took a long time, literally lasting into the night, but for the right price, I managed to get into a new(ish) car, and here it is:
So here I introduce the Titanium Fox mkII! It's a '15 Nissan Versa Note SV! That's right, I said 2015! That's the part that caught our attention. This bad boy was a certified car, meaning it was still under a good deal of manufacturer's and dealer's warranties! So I'm still covered under anything and everything! It was a great deal for me, and I was so glad that they were willing to do anything to get me in it. I also got some nice features on the car, too, such as a premium audio system (for this car, anyway) that came with a radio unit with a 5" display screen (not a touchscreen, though) that gave me a backup camera when I put it in reverse. The Sapphire Vixen had that feature, so I was glad to get that back. And, well, suffice it to say that because of my developed neuropathy in both of my feet, I had to get a car with an automatic instead of a manual. Well, in this case, Titan has Nissan's famous (or infamous, depending on how you look at it) Xtronic CVT, or Continuously Variable Transmission. Surprisingly, I'm not complaining about it. I used to severely bash both Nissans and CVTs in the past, but I've gotten used to it in this car, and I rather like it. It's done a lot to get great fuel economy, and I'm currently beating the EPA's 35 MPG combined rating (I'm averaging 37.6 MPG in mixed driving according to my car's readings). I can see why Nissan puts CVTs in nearly all of their cars, and they've been doing CVTs for years making them the masters of them. So, honestly, I love my new car, CVT and all, and I've driven him quite a lot since I've had him the past month! I think, like the Steel Vixen, Titan will probably become my new travel companion as I plan on keeping him as long as I can because, honestly, I don't really need anything else at the moment. I have one of the most fuel efficient cars on the market (31 MPG City/40 MPG Highway/35 MPG Combined), and I planning on doing some traveling in the near future, especially now that I'm officially working full time at Walmart (year, that happened, too) and I'm going to be earning more money in my future with them!
So that's what's going on in my life right now. Some downs, but a lot of ups that I'm really proud of. I'm thankful for a lot of things in my life, really. My health, my family, my friends...I'm just so thankful, man. I just hope I can keep this momentum going for as long as I can, but I'm a fighter, and I'll always find a way to keep going! That's just how I roll!