A Collection of Thoughts

Feeling inspired at the moment, so I thought I would make a miniblog while I wait for this week's episode of Entourage. There's a bunch of stuff going through my head that I can't quite summarize with one topic so I thought I would toss it in point form while I still have it in my head:

1) Australia Trip: The countdown is on! 60 Days until I take off to Australia. The tickets aren't booked yet but the vacation time is. I'll be leaving Nov 4 until the 28th. It's been tough having a summer without any real vacation days, but I think it'll all be worth it soon enough!

2) Getting in shape: I've been sharing with a number of people that last month after my trip to Trail I tried a week or two of eating properly and working out regularly. In total I had lost 5 lbs in the span of 1 week which was pretty impressive. Surprisingly enough my workouts weren't completely cardio based and I was pushing a decent amount of weights while taking protein. This time I'm not sure how I want to tackle it. All I know is that I have 60 days until Australia and we all know that vacations are way better when you're in shape. What I've found that's worked for me is writing everything down in a little booklet. This lets me track my eating habits and my fitness habits and how it correlates with my weight. I've had a week of eating like crap and now I'm ready to get back on the horse. It'll all start tomorrow with a morning workout and if weather permits, a bike ride to work. During my last stint of working out, I definitely saw some visible gains. I was able to jump higher for basketball and didn't feel as gassed nearly as early. I think right now it's gonna be a mental battle. I know that I am pumped to do it now, but it's the long haul that matters. I am always inspired by weight loss stories and I'm very excited to see what kind of weight I can lose. I realize that I'm not crazily overweight and that I can't realistically expect the same results, but I would like to be around 180 lbs (16 lbs lighter) in 2 months.

3) 6 Months: I've been in Calgary for 6 months now. It really is hard to believe. I think what's even harder to believe is the amount of growth that I've experienced. I can honestly say that I've made some big strides in my self-identity and growth. What I've realized as well is how good friendship can transcend distance. It may  not be a big distance between Calgary and Edmonton, but it is definitely enough to give most friendships its challenges. Thankfully though I've known my friends for such a long time and we've gone through so many things together. As much as I say I want to discover a new city with new people and experiences, I know that I wouldn't be as happy as I am now if I didn't have my friends in Edmonton visiting or to hang out with back home.

4) Work: I'm also 6 months into my career in Calgary as well. When I first started I was really intimidated by the amount of learning that would be involved with a new HR position, but my boss has been the best when it comes to training and support. I feel like I've grown into the position within the 6 months and now that I'm more comfortable with what I know, it's time to kick it into high gear. I think every new job has the first 6 months of seeing if you'll sink or swim. During that time all you can do is try to catch onto as many things as you can, as quickly as you can to prove that you're not incompetent. But now that I know that I can stay afloat and have made a bit of a positive reputation with the Calgary office, I think it's time to put my best foot forward and make the job my own. Right now I do enough to justify my job and employment with the company, but I think I could do a lot more for the company. After all, I owe it to my company for giving the opportunity to have my first HR job. I also owe it to my boss who has been nothing but positive with me. And I owe it to myself to stretch this job and absorb as many things as I can while I'm in the environment where I can learn.