New Discoveries

I have had my new macbook pro laptop since February of this year-very happy with it since I converted from a Windows computer. What a great difference in my stress level and I will not go in to details in lieu of the fact there are many window users out there and I am not a basher-this is from personal experience.

So on Friday of last week I upgraded my OS with the new version of Snow Leopard as it is called . Such a cool name for an OS version . I am having some irritation from some of my third party applications not being compatible with the new upgrade and some bugginess with some of the Apple apps but I do know they are working on getting fixes for those reported bugs and they will likely come out with the next update 10.6.1 soon ,so I am not so concerned. Even with the bugginess it is not as bad as it used to be.

Moving on.... I have found a way to get certified in Personal Training online within an educational institution that takes financial aid since I am not working at the moment. I am researching it more as we speak. I did receive a email from the institution and they summarized the application , financial aid and orientation process to get into the classes which start in January 2010 which works out fine for me since I am graduating this December from Capella University with a Master's in Information Technology-So that is my plan of action.

I have been trying to find an institution online that has just those qualifications.

Now the accreditation is another thing I am wondering about before I dive in. So I am going to post the name on Twitter and Facebook to see if I get any feedback about this college in terms of validity and how they do in career development and job placement in whatever concentration I decide to pursue. More than likely I am going to start in basics with wellness and fitness to refresh my knowledge and learn new information about the field from the new research that is out there on health and fitness .

So far my health is ok since my issues have been taken care for the moment which is a blissful since I am unemployed but have my veteran's health insurance to fall back on and they will take care of me until I die unless there are some major changes in my coverage.

I am still working on exercising more when I can and when I feel up to it. Here at home doesn't work well for me. So I know I need to get back in the gym. Forthcoming I know. Time will tell

In the meantime day by day is my motto. Pace myself , reduce my stress and living a simplistic existence always remain my goal. Lessons to be learned and my mind is open to more of it. Bring it on.

That is it for the moment. Thanks for reading

Until next time

Kirk

Short Update

Hello my friends

It has been a while since I posted-I have been very busy with school catching up on my homework.

I am still behind but have time to write something to let people know I am still around but busy.

I have been doing ok with managing my salt intake which was an issue when I went to the doctor-I have been using Mrs. Dash salt substitute for seasoning and I have been staying off the sweets and processed foods or cutting down on them.

I am still working on being consistent with the recording of my daily meals and exercise. Work to do but progressing.

I just bought the upgrade to my OS for Mac which is called Snow Leopard and I am testing it out. I have no major issues just irritating things that I know will be fixed in upcoming software updates along with finding compatible versions of my third party software ,plugins , etc.

I am in my 8th week of school and I will be done on September 18 Thank God this is a course that was hard to interpret based on the text book which is very technical but I am making do with the resources that I have.

Thank God as well that I dont use my Windows computer anymore for major work I will get back to it to see If I can continue to delete files off the disk . It is just very buggy and on a 8 year computer with ton of stuff on it that needed to be deleted .

Hmm I am about done with this post I dont have a lot to report as of right now maybe in a week I will have more for you

Until then

Kirk

Health and Fitness Update

I am working on getting my weight down for health purposes and yesterday I went to see a dietitian at the VA Hospital based on my health concerns which I will get into later. I am just happy that I am focusing on this part of my life - Beside if my health is not great then I wont be living a quality life which I think all of us need to concentrate on.

Based on my other blogs it has been a struggle and it may still be a struggle on some days to focus on my diet and exercise routines. So I am working on it but I have not regressed. I also picked up a weight scale to monitor my weight loss,gain and maintenance levels I am excited since I know basically what i need to do. Every one on Twitter and Face book that I follow or correspond with have provided me with vital info that I need to know for this journey on a physical , emotional and spiritual level. I will keep you updated on my progress and regression for feedback. Feel free to leave comments, suggestions or ideas based on your professional or personal experiences .

I also did recheck with my oncologist regarding the side effects that I am experiencing from my radiation treatments there is some blood traces of some significance in places there should not be blood that has caused me concern. So I was there at the VA Hospital to see the dietitian and at the same time got my glasses readjusted, picked up a weight scale and talked to my oncologist which was surprising since I did not expect to see him yesterday. So that was very reassuring that he saw me right away and told me that the side effects will pass with time. I will see him in January 2010 if not before . I am hoping that I wont have to see him until then.

Thanks for reading

Again feel free to comment

Until next time

Kirk

My Current health concern

Hello all

I am somewhat concerned about a side effect of my radiation treatment which took place in July -August of 2008 in reference to treating my prostate cancer. Last month I went and saw my oncologist at VA Hospital here in Cleveland. Based on the blood test results my PSA was not bad at all. I think it was below 00.5 which is good but was elevated from my last test in January. I am scheduled to see him every 6 months for an update on my health status. I did have traces of blood in my stool which I mentioned to him.

He told me not to worry about it since it was showing up infrequently and he asked me about my sexual activity and if I had any blood in my urine. No concerns there. Everything is in working order.

Now he did ask about my ejaculate and if there was any blood within the semen. At the time it was not a issue because it was not showing up from any sexual activity that I had. Soon after I saw him, I started observing trace amounts of blood in my semen which freaked me out. It showed up in more than a trace amount and then I got concerned . Although he told me that it may show up from the radiation treatments since their was inflammation to my bladder,rectum and prostate from the process-it still caused me concern. At this moment I am hesitant to continue my sexual activities until it heals. Hopefully it will subside with time.

My reproductive , urinary and lower digestive tract are in close proximity to one another which account for the inflammation that we discussed during our biannual visits. It is sort of inevitable to have that side effect from the treatment. It is logical but nonetheless disconcerting. He explained the dynamics of why and how radiation can affect those areas.

It is like a scar that constantly get aggravated by the constant movement of those organs during normal activity and it may show up in the stool and of course in the ejaculate after sexual activity. So it somewhat normal up to a point. I will be in contact according to his instructions and my gut feeling if it gets any worse.

I will see him again in December or January to recheck my PSA level and discuss if I need any more treatment. I am confident that I will be OK. I have read some very interesting research and some personal struggles involving this silent and potentially deadly disease. It explains why I am so passionate about this and diligent about communicating it to men of my age group.

Until next time

Kirk

My week in review

Good day all

I am little late on reporting on the journey that I am experiencing . I am starting my 3rd week in school and I am enjoying it so far - Hmm let me ponder-should I be feeling this way about school . I have not spoke much about my brother that I have developed a close and intimate relationship with . We as brothers never had much of a relationship as kids but after our mom passed in 2005 when have become closer. I speak to him almost every day-He says he is proud of my accomplishments as I am of his. We have been through a lot-Tragedy as we perceive it provided us with opportunities that are not of a tangible nature-We have had many blessings that we never knew about until after our mom died. She has paved a way for us to appreciate the little things in life. Believe me there is a lot of truth in realizing what is important in life.

On that note it seems that I am in the process of hooking back up with my high school classmates which bring up tremendous anxiety since it has been 30 years since I was in high school. My best friend that I knew in high school contacted me and I was elated to hear from him. He is married in living in California. We have a lot of catching up to do-a lot has happened since then. We will see how that goes.

I just watched an account from 9/11 "survivors" on Hulu.com called "7 days in September" Highly recommended. It is sad and heartbreaking. I was in New York before all this happened and even ate dinner in the Windows of the World restaurant and took a pic on a ferry with the Twin Towers in the background . Just to see and hear the accounts of what took placed during that attack and after from several people that experienced it was breathtaking. Another humbling moment. Another Divine intervention.

I am still struggling with my sense of identity but maybe it is there right in front of my face and I am not seeing it. Sometimes I get so analytical that it clouds my sense of logic. If you have read most of my blogs, I write about those accounts or events that explain my issues with my identity. So I wont bore you with those details.

Still working on getting my health back to optimal levels-watching my salt intake, exercising at home on somewhat a structured routine. Consistency is a challenge, but I am working on that as well since I plan on being back in the 8-5 world soon after school ends. I am preparing for that as we speak.

I think I will stop for the sake of my readers.

Again I apologize for the lengthy post. I will probably write one weekly instead of every three days since I think I will have more to report on.

Until next time

Kirk

The Day of my natural high

I am glad to say that I worked out today and loved it -I felt the endorphins racing through my body. Boy what a feeling it is like a morphine high. I have not felt that for a long time and I do miss it terribly, Today I did a intense set of 21's and some ab exercises with my ab wheel , push ups and shoulder exercises with my dumbbells -all this in a 1o minute period.

For those that know how much I struggled to regain my structure after several deaths in my family. I was and still am working on that factor that will give me some peace of mind. I did not know that it was going to be this hard. My own naivete showing its face.

There has been a proliferation of events that have been happening lately that further define the journey I am on. I have made contact with my high school alumni group online and have started finding some classmates that I know . One of them being my best friend that I grew up with -that was great to see a pic of him and he is married now. Never saw that coming based on the high school conversations we used have about that. Just kid talk . Based on the profile and pics on the site he seems to be OK.

So that brought up some nostalgic feelings of my childhood. A topic for my therapist since my childhood has been my focus lately. I cannot go into detail -too personal but it is very complex and somewhat mysterious.

Each day that I get older I feel I am becoming a wiser man -although I wish the younger generation could experience the emotions that I am feeling . It will humble the toughest man I think.to realize how blessed we are as human beings living in these times. But of course experience is the best teacher but our younger geerations are not living to experience the wisdom that comes with age. It is sad and scary scenario.

Enough said
I am also getting melancholy in my old age as well

I am in my first week of my class and need to finish my assignments for the week -going great, seems like a great class so far
I thought I should keep my schedule to write my blog every three days as was mentioned to my readers and a commitment to myself as well

Until next time

Kirk

Blogging during Power outage

My blog-07/16/09
Blogging during Power outage

Well, here I am sitting in the dark at my apartment on a Thursday morning. I am writing this blog on my Mac that is working on battery power until the lights come back on. There was a power surge in the building since my apartment building is the only one on the street that is completely without power. It is a weird scenario it seems like someone or something sapped the energy out of the building and it just working on reserves because the lights work but are very dim.-Never seen that before. Which gives me time to do this blog and work on my assignment for this week?
Anyhow that was the excitement for me just hope they come back on before my battery power runs out.

I am back in school starting this week. My class is System Development and Theory-it looks challenging but I know if I do my research and read the book I will understand the context better. There are many professionals in my class that can help me with the terminology since some of them work in the field of software engineering. That is always an advantage. At the moment I dont have the text but luckily I was able to go to Google Books and look a limited preview of the text online. So maybe I will be able to get by without the book.,like I did last term. Keeping my fingers crossed due tot the book being over 90.00 Yikes.

My unstructured training is starting to take shape but I need to focus on different days, different body part, for example chest and back, legs abs, biceps triceps, shoulders and maybe calves. I have been getting research online by scanning my twitter and face book followers and getting a little bit from each one to consolidate workouts
I have started doing very intense whole body routines that dont take more than 10 minutes which is great since I m not able to join a gym due to financial constraints which I am sure everyone is suffering from these days. So I am remembering the ones that worked the most body parts in a shorter time. Thanks for the informative videos,.inks and websites that I viewed and commented on from my followers and the one that I follow on Face book and Twitter.
My diet is now drastically changed since I went to the doctor and found out my blood pressure is on the borderline of being hypertensive. So all the fitness professionals out there know what the culprit is Salt and Fat, They both can be modified to healthy levels, so I am working on that and will be checked again in 4 months to see if it has changed.

My staple breakfast in the morning is green tea, oatmeal and maybe a banana or apple whichever one is available
I always have ground turkey as my main protein source but was eating more processed and convenience foods and based on my decreased level of activity. Unemployed and an online college student. Poses a challenge to my state of well being.
My goal is to go back to the gym and work on my cardiovascular system and continue to modify my diet close to what it was when I was preparing for bodybuilding shows. My last one was in 2002. Since then family and health issues (passing on mother and close family friend 2005 and 2003 respectively) moving in 2007, being diagnosed with prostate cancer on St. Patrick Day in 2008. It seems I hit a bump in the road. During that time I was working on my core identity (finding out who I was as a man)
Counseling and support from my immediate family and friends has helped me with those challenges and I am sure they will be there in my upcoming challenges

I hope this is not to long to read and if you get to this point thanks for reading and comment please I love the comments or suggestions

Until next time 

Kirk