Talking vs. Doing

So its been awhile since my last post. Sorry a-BOOT that. My wife and I went to Las Vegas for a week, and then I was back for a week before taking a marketing retreat at my job to the Lake of the Ozarks. So life has been busy.

By way of quick update - Vegas was great! We had a good time laying out in the sun by the lazy river at the MGM Grand and catching up with some old friends of mine. I was only slightly disappointed by the fact that the things I had planned for the trip turned out not to be as great as I was hoping. We had dinner at Delmonicos Steakhouse at the Venetian one night, for example, and it was good but not great. We then caught Phantom and it too was good, but not great. The next night we had dinner at Seablue and caught Ka at the MGM. You guessed it---good, but not great. Ka was actually pretty bad for a Cirque show. See Mystere instead.

Pregnancy is still going well and I am happy to report that the cyst found in our baby's head during the first ultrasound was gone by the second. So that was good. Erika and I also took some birthing/parenting classes for 2 Saturdays and had our eyes opened to what labor and life with baby will be like. I can sum up that experience in a comment I made to Erika on the second Saturday - "We are not having any more kids!" More on this later perhaps.

The purpose for this blog is to relay some thoughts I had while at the Lake. I was supposed to have friends come up to the condo my work owns Friday -Sunday, but unfortunately they all had to bail on me. As such, I spent most of the day Friday alone and reading and contemplating where I was in life and where I might want to go. I considered it a preview for what will likely be my goals for 2007. Considering, though, that the newborn will dramatically alter any sort of plans I think I have for next year, I figured maybe working on things from now - December is probably a good idea.

This morning, though, I am once again struck by the fact that talking about my goals and actively DOING SOMETHING about them are two different beasts. The first is easy enough. The second - well, not so much so. For example, I have been saddened this year by the fact that I have put on about 30-35 extra pounds. As a tall guy, I can get away with a few pounds extra, but not this many. My "one size bigger" pants are now starting to not fit, which is not good. Like most guys, I carry most of this extra weight in my torso. As such, one of my "goals" is to be able to take my shirt off and not be embarrassed by my fat gut and - GASP - the onset on man boobs.

What this means, of course, is that I need to diet and exercise. One day after writing this, though, I am stuffing my face with ice cream and still just thinking about going to the gym. I want to feel better about myself, and I don't even mind the annoyance of having to diet and exercise, but the battle is fought daily and hourly with me and I lose more battles then I win unfortunately.

In fact, as I look over the list of things I wrote (a good and noble list, by the way), I realize that my real life is nothing like this list, and that's got to change. I want to be wiser with my Faith, which means I need to set aside more time for scripture reading and prayer; I want to take up golf and learn to play it better, which means I need to find time to practice, and I need to buy equipment and maybe take lessons. Again, good ideas that are circle pegs in my square life right now.

Every journey begins with a first step I guess. Here's hoping I have the courage and strength to take it.