Before I'm 60

A friend of mine would have a 60 before 60.. 60 things he wants to do before he turns 60. I'm just starting this for the first time.. don't know that I have 60 specific things I want to accomplish before I turn 60.. I'm starting this and will add to it a little at a time... in no particular order..

1. Key West and the southernmost incorporated place in the contiguous 48 states.
2. Alaska
3. Snowboard
4. Surf
5. Parachute
6. Bungee jump
7. Hike the Grand Canyon
8. Canada
9. Parasail
10.Learn to sail a boat
11.Get a sailboat
12.Get out of debt
13.Be able to wear my Aggie Ring again (without having it sized)
14.Lose 100 lbs and keep it off.
15.Learn to fly a plane
16.Work on a mission trip on foreign soil.
17.Yosemite National Park
18.Hawaii
19.Costa Rica Canopy Tour
20.Cycle the Pineywoods purgatory
21.Ride my bicycle from Lufkin to Austin (camping along the way at night)
22.Give Jinx a BoB ring
23.Perform a wedding
24.Snorkeling
25.Own a Mini Cooper
26.Get an iPad
27.Re-establish my daily discipline of scripture reading and prayer
28.See my friend Warren Bird again.
29.Find and visit with 5 old high school friends I haven't seen recently
30.Play golf again
31.Go to a baseball game at Wrigley Field
32.AmTrak to the west coast
33.Baseball game at Fenway
34.Drive a car through a giant redwood
35.Tell my wife I love her everyday
36.See my children complete their educations and become independent,functioning adults
37.See the fall foliage in New England
38.See Jerry Jeff Walker perform again
39.Dance at Gruene Hall at least once a year
40.See Gary P. Nunn perform again
41.Go overseas
42.Scuba dive
43.baseball game at Yankee stadium
44.Canoe the Guadalupe again
45.See Jimmy Buffett again...and again.
46.Publish a song
47.Record my (and my friends) songs and post them on fb or myspace
48.Write 30 more songs
49.Post music videos of some of my songs on youtube
50.Make my music room more soundproof for good recording
51.Every time I say goodbye to one of my family, tell them I love them
52.Do this with regularity.
53.Begin funding my 401K again
54.Visit the Shiner Brewery
55.Eat at the Angelina County airport
56.Visit Mike O
57.Memphis in May
58.Hike to the top of a mountain in Summit County Colorado with Shawn

59.aurora borealis
60.Farallon Islands Whale tour...there ya go...60 before 60.

50

Hi..this is me...I'm 50.. but that's not what this is about.. A lot of my friends are turning 50 right now.. old school mates even newer friends..but still that's not what this is about..

It is about 50 though..

Not 50 cents in pennies..

or 50 cents in quarters..
or fitty centI like the cross and the gun together.. I think it's very american..

and

It's not about 50 dollars for that matter..

It's not about guns..like the one 50 cent has in his pic..or guns like....

Like this 50 cal machine gun..

or the 50 cal shells that go in to it.

Now that's big!!

It's about 50 lbs

50 lbs looks like this...

50 lbs of dog food....

50 lbs of beans

50 lbs of walnuts

50 lbs of pork ribs.. that's a lot of pork ribs...

This is almost 50 lbs... it's 40 lbs.. they didn't have 50 lb dumbells...but it was heavy.

or 2 of these weigh 50 lbs..

or 10 of these..

This is Foxy.. she belongs to my friends Cory and Marlene.. Marlene says she weighs almost 50 lbs. She's kinda fat..

This kid lives in a neighborhood near one of my friends... he weighs about 50 lbs. Wow...

Imagine 400 boxes of these goldfish... that's 50 lbs.. LOL!


Do you see where I'm going with this yet????

This is what 50 lbs looks like on my belt (actually..off my belt).... I used to be on the last notch on the very end of the belt. Now there are 5 holes out there beyond my buckle.

On Jan 30th. I weighed 360 lbs.

Today I weighed 310 lbs. (actually 308.5) but I'm rounding up for impact... 51.5 is so much harder to get your head around...

I started off just eating these most of the time. I also just eat smaller portions. I'm satisfied, I still get to enjoy different kinds of food. I have ice cream every once in a while. I have a beer or a margarita every now and then. I have not felt denied.. and I feel great. Once I got a little lighter I started riding my bicycle regularly. I usually ride 3-4 days a week and I walk a couple of days a week.

I have been down this road before but I'm hoping I can continue this long term because I enjoy the food and I really don't feel too denied. I still have little snacks now and then and I just try to choose wisely. But sometimes I don't and that's ok. In fact..spring break was a week when I didn't choose wiesly the whole time.. too many adult beverages and too many Chic-fil-a shakes..but still I'm at 50 lost now.

I have plans to hike the grand canyon in summer 2011 and I am feeling like I'd like to go snow skiing again.. or maybe better yet snowboarding!! (hint hint nudge nudge Mike O) I want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane one day as well. When I get below 270.. the parachute thing becomes a real possibility.

I'm actually beginning to feel like I'd like to put together some kind of bucket list.. but not because I'll feel like my life is lacking if I don't complete them..just for some focus on some things that would be fun to do. I might put that together in a future blog but as for now.. I'm thankful to my God for giving me the desire to have a positive impact on my health... for giving me the avenue to get healthy in a not to painful way (bicycle)...and for my wife who is now walking daily and eating better too....what a great gift to have the support of a spouse in this. I also want to let you know there are a couple of people who have inspired me to make this happen too. Cory, Phil, Clay and Jessie. They really don't know it but it's true. Maybe they know now. Thanks.