there is a reason why baby butt cream should not be placed next to the tooth paste.
I have not written a yearly summery in quite some time, two + years over due. mostly do to a bad 2015, over worked, burnt out and lack of sleep got me way down and way too big. 2016 however has been much better, working less, sleeping just the same, but definitely more time for other hobbies. i am trying to maximize me time, as much as possible with carry me and hold me.
its time to mark down achievements and everything else major that happens, a little pick me up for myself.
around august 15- the project i was leading for over 2.5 years was finally released... pressure off.
in about half a day I moved from having meetings half a day, testing another half a day and doing other stuff for another half day at work to having less than 1/2 work load. this abrupt transition was not good for me as i am a guy who likes to keep busy, being idle is my worst enemy, upset, i planned to switch jobs, decision to leave was good for me at the time since it took my mind of work and let me focus on other things.
i need a small project to get me going and i found one close to home, the idea was to take a photo of the trees in my back yard, one photo a day and make a video of the changes. photography has completed this week, it wasn't every day, but i still have tons of photos and soon this creation will hit a Facebook near you
my large stomach was a problem. January 2016 , i joined weight watchers again and in parallel is signed up for the biggest loser competition at the J, my weeks now had 2 work out sessions more than before and before you know it, i was 25 pounds lighter and i won the competition, hey i am the biggest loser ever in the history of the 2016 J competition. lucky i didn't stop there and lost 20 more in the next 5 months. i won a bunch of personal work out classes, and i was active again + weight watchers , I was back in control.
last year, i also had another role in Toastmasters, i was no longer club president, i was secretary that year, but i was an area director , area director supersizes several clubs. this role help keep me busy, arranging competitions, visiting other clubs, meeting people, speaking in new forums. i spoke in front of 100 people at one venue, urging them to join a new club i was forming. and in under 2 months it happens, I formed a special club in the area of career management.
to be distinguished in toastmaster, the club has to do certain things, members must complete their education works, leadership works , and also recruit members and other tasks. when i took over this role, the prior person in the role was named, Area director of the year, had big shoes to fill. how can i do better, by making the entire area president distinguished ( the highest level) this goal made mo work hard through the year, forming the new club was one of my goals. my own home club at work was also distinguished for the first time, i give kudos to myself for pushing a lot . and on the last day of the toastmaster year (june 30th) I reached the goal, my entire area was president distinguished. the only area out of 24 areas in north east oh to reach this high level, only a handful made it to the level below . awesome job.
last weekend we had the annual fall conference of toastmasters an i saw myself a candidate for area director toastmaster of the year, but i didn't get it. its all politics ... :)
in july my energy levels dropped. i no longer had a major role to occupy me, and work was definitely not filling my day.
i took on a new role, for the above mentioned conference i volunteered to lead a committee. do you know what they gave me? a decoration committee, ha! me and decoration , was this a joke? the good thing is that i didn't have to create decoration, just to get 20 clubs out of aprox 100 in north east ohio, to decorate a table at the conference and arrange a competition.
i started to drive the PR for this event. I like toastmasters, I can work on different things and try them out. I published a log of post on our Facebook page, i spoke in competitions, i prompted other people to promote as well, i reached the goal. yeh, and some of these decorations were incredible. very creative work, i will share photos.
my 2nd club (the one i formed) took 3rd place based on my idea, (though not my actual decoration) i called it flowers of success. basically people from the career management clu share their success stories. PR for the club for free.
why career management club, well as i have probably shared, i am in the wrong profession. being good at my job is not sufficient but what is the right job is something i still dont know.
travel writer is an option i am beginning to explore... definitely dream job. this week i saw an article about this girl who is breaking the travel record 196 countries in the least amount of time, i am jealous. she post her travels and get's paid to do so, and paid well. those jobs are like the lottery, but a partial success would be great, will fill my time and increase my excitement levels. the new club i formed, helps me focus on what i want and need, i see it as a huge success to allow me to get out of the career slump.
since i am no longer a director, i could compete in speech competitions.
i lost in the area speech competition, but i won the table topics competition (1-2 minutes to answer a random question), its a think on your feet skill event. i moved on to the division event which represents about 25 clubs and finished second, not bad, now i have 3 toast masters related trophies. counting all the trophies i ever got in my life the total is......4 . i did have 1 rugby award way way way long time ago, now you see why this is a winning year.
according to Tal i am dad of the year. every morning he wakes up, aba aba aba........ his favorite word, i think i must be doing a good job here.
hiking was also a major part of 2016 so far, I decided to complete the Akron section of the buck eye trail. a 55+ miles section , and since i usually hike just with kids, i do most of the way twice. currently i have 1 mile to go, which i will complete on Saturday!!! . i tried to complete the last section on Monday with Tal, but forgot the back pack, and he decided not to be carried and that sitting is a good activity in the forest at dusk... so one mile to go. after that i think i will start the Burton section (there are 26 sections, most are far away).
Orienteering was also a fun part of the year, i had mud just about everywhere and thorns, those are deadly, but i am not smart enough to buy the gear that will keep the thorns at bay....
regardless, in one of the events, i finally won. after 18 years of orienteering, and this was a bike orienteering event, yehhhhhhhhhh , the season is over now, cant way till march.
i did some running this year, i broke my 5k record at an event, not a score to write home about, it was 33:50 but still a personal best, i will try again next year. i also had 1 triathlon this year, very close to prior result on the same event. i think i will enroll next year to a few of these, they are a fun challenge, though i am disturbingly far away from winning, i don't see it happening...ever.
Travel is, was and will be a major part, last two, three years have seen costa rica , Iceland, Galapagos, Ecuador, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore and Cambodia. not a bad crop
I also saw two world cup semi finals and hiked in the alps
upcoming year will have at least.... 2 new exciting destinations, i am strongly trying to make it 3.
a good year for music- i watch the happy together tour, (Chuck Negron (formerly of Three Dog Night), Mark Lindsay (former lead singer Paul Revere & The Raiders), Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, The Cowsills and The Spencer Davis Group and the turtles, paul mccartny, ub40, aerosmith, red hot chilly pepper, styx with guest star pauline, cyndi lauper, herman hermits and a bunch of other bands.
what else we had lately
lots of diaper changing, hiking, a bit of biking, bird feeding , public speaking, water sliding, static charge zapping, headbutting (Tal has a brick head), swimming with sea lions, swimming with water iguanas, swimming with white spotted eagle ray, smiling with tortoises, playing words with friends, doing 1 puzzle, voting first time for president, voting first time for the losing candidate. watching the cavs lose live (that game was a slaughter..), taking a selfie with a beauty queen.,losing a chilly cook off, finishing 2nd in a pumpkin carving competition. dressing as a crocodile king, a zombie and last at as crocodile zombie.
lightening to audio books - i almost dont read any more- no time or patience. got re-certified as PMP (still didn't use it really). played volley ball, soccer, ping pong. i can't believe i have not played tennis in over a year, had a baby named after me ( give kisses to little Gili) played some DND, not a lot this year. seen lots of deer.
what else,, well i changed our home internet password and everyone including some neighborhood hackers were complaining.
knock wood, 2016 is so far injury free. i was sick quite often this summer, colds that would not go away, lots of coughing, tried different meds, partial success, i think the last one is beginning to work. weight since august has been o the rise, but i think the momentum has stopped. reason one, there will soon be a weight loss competition at work, i live for competitions, and soon the J will have the next bigger loser event, i want to use both to help me get thin, cant do it alone..
I also need to find activities , since the conference just ended and once again i have free time. free time is the enemy...
will see what the future holds, hope to resume regular yearly reports on march 16 as usual.
hope your year trumps mine
p.s Alla get a tooth brush for mattan, there is butt cream on it.
