Amy has for some reason decided to challenge me to a biggest loser competition. I guess she doesn't think I'm doing well enough on my own, or maybe she just likes getting beat by me at things. After watching the last season of Biggest Losers, maybe she's been tricked into thinking that a female will always win. About the only way she'll win is if she pulls off the 45% or whatever it was that they did in the show.

So the rules are pretty easy. Highest precentage of weight loss in 6 weeks. No use of drugs or dietary supplements. No reason to mention exact weights, but I'm starting at 98 pounds more than her. Weigh ins are on Tuesdays, but really have no bearing until the final weigh in on June 3rd. Oh yeah and the prizes... The loser has to buy the winner a $50 gift of their choice in good taste obviously.

There are going to be a few tough distractions in that time, including our house warming party, a wedding for each of us and hopefullly some graduation parties. We are also hoping to run a 10k together during that time.

A couple possible distractions that would affect one of us more than the other, the release of Grand Theft Auto 4 vs the release of WiiFit. Hmmm, I wonder how much I'll have to catch up from my time spent on the couch to her time working out infront of the TV. Point Amy 1-0. The next one would be the fact that she has class on Mondays & Tuesdays until schools out. Point Nolan 1-1. I have food provided at work forcing me to eat well during the day, but she eats well during the day anyways and my accessibility to food isn't necesarily a good thing. Barely a Point to Amy 2-1. I have workout equipment provided at my work that's free and get time during the day to use it. Amy has to pay a small fee to use their gym and it's harder for her to get out of the office over lunch. Point Nolan 2-2. So I guess it's going to come down to the line. A 2-2 battle doesn't help me much, since I'll have to lose more weight. So I guess maybe that's to her favor, but I also have A LOT more weight to lose. It should be fun. I'll be sure to post the winner.

On my mind....
I'm not very good at keeping up to date with this blogging thing. I keep telling myself that I need to be more consistent. It's gotten to the point where there's so much on my mind that I felt I should write again. It seems like I use it as more of an escape then anything else. And since I'm sure that nobody reads it, I'm not sure why it helps me, but it does.

So I headed out to Omaha and I'm doing my thing out here now. Working at a job that I really enjoy and getting acquainted with a town that I think will be really good for me in the future. Right now I still haven't gotten away from that phase where i miss parts of what I left behind at times. I'm sure the worst of it will be when March comes around. Coaching soccer was one of my most favorite things. I'm really going to miss it when spring rolls around. The other toughest thing about leaving was my family. For the people that know me very well, they've realized that I'm very close to my family. I think I've already explained how I ruined my dad's knee by having him help me move out here. He ruptured his patella tendon helping me move. He had surgery and is working his way through physical therapy. Along with all the traveling to see them and spending less time with them, this holiday season I realized how lucky and thankful I am for what I have. Sometimes people don't realize how lucky they really are until it's too late or something happens to make them realize it. This year I got to spend thanksgiving with my family and then got the chance to have 4 Christmas's. 1 with my mom's and dad's families, then 1 with Amy's mom's and dad's. Things were great, I ate a ton, I got some really cool stuff, but the most important thing was I got to spend time with everybody. That was the first time this has happened for Amy and I in the 3+ years we'd been dating. In the past families celebrated on the same day or we went to Montana 1 year. So things were great, then on Christmas day I get the worst phone call I have ever received. My sister called, not even able to speak complete words let alone sentences and told me that my dad had a heart attack. Trust me, you'll never be ready for news like that. I was more in shock than anything, I didn't know what to do. My sister was with him at the time and then drove him to the hospital. So now I'm 170 miles away from home, without a car (since I didn't drive to Amy's Dad's Christmas) and no money (which is another story altogether) and worrying for my dad's life. So I flew back to Mercy Hospital, not literally flew, but pretty close. By the time I had gotten there, he had been life flighted to Des Moines and the operation had been completed and we were able to talk to him. It was so relieving to know that he was ok. I would've driving 1,000,000 miles to spend that 30 minutes with him and know that everything was ok, even though that 150 miles, seemed like forever. My dad has spent more time in the hospital in the past few months than the first 50+ years of his life. I can't help but feel a little blame since both incidents were related to him doing stuff for me.

He was shoveling the back drive way with my sister so that I could move my appliances out of the back garage easier. They had nearly finished shoveling and he went inside to get some salt. When he didn't return for a little while my sister went to check on him and he said that he felt like he had heart burn, but probably needed to go to the hospital. My sister frantically drove him there to shortly there after find out that he needed to be life flighted to Des Moines for an operation that had to be done within 90 minutes of his first pains. Due to my sister and mom's quick response and timely treatment at the hospital on Christmas day everything was taken care of with time to spare. I use that term loosely it sounds like the extra time really made us feel better, but you know what I mean. My dad's sisters were visiting each other in California for the holidays and my cousin was able to make it to the hospital to visit and inform everyone what had happen and that he was doing ok, so we could spend more time with him. While I'm thinking about it, thank you to everyone for your prayers and concerns for us during this time. My dad had a lot of people pulling for him. It was even more sad to see all the other families in the intensive care area of the hospital on Christmas and some of which probably weren't as fortunate as we were, if fortunate is the right word.

The things that go through your mind during a time like this are unexplainable, but really makes me thankful for everything that I have and everything that the Lord has done for me. I hope my dad and family realize how much they mean to me and how much different things would be if it weren't for their influence on my life.

So in the midst of this great holiday season and health problems with my family, the other highlight is I'm buying a house. In a month's time my girlfriend and I have decided we're looking for a house, looked at houses, picked out a great house, made an offer, are closing, & then moving in. Um, yes I said a month. Since it's our first time, we are learning very fast, why it is such a big step. Everything from insurance, to inspections, to the closing process, to moving plans, to getting everyones' family approval of our decisions, we can't wait to get this over with and move in. It's been "fun", but I can't wait till it's all finalized.

Among all this, I fought a cold (I never get sick), this next week is the last, last day for some of my Maytag friends. I'm excited to see them again and wish them a happy retirement. 1 of which worked at Maytag for a little over 38 years!

So in my Rev. Run closing thought, be greatful for everything you have and don't be afraid to let the people close to you know how thankful you are. Learn from life's troubles and tribulations and make the best of them. I heard this from a football player before and NFL game this weekend, God puts just enough on your plate at all times. There's never too much, always just enough, so fight through it and learn from the process.

So alot has changed for me since my last post in March. I'm unemployed going on 2 full months now. The quote above from a Pharrell song describes how I feel. For years I wished I had a 2 month vacation. I feel like I'm a junior in high school again, since that was the last summer where I didn't have anything to do. I'm not sure what I did back then without the internet and a PS3. So I've moved to a town called Omaha. I kinda followed my girlfriend. I always thought that nobody should ever do that in college, but I guess things change when your 27 & 11/12ths and unemployed. I should be glad I have somebody to follow, and I am. I couldn't have found somebody more supportive.

I'm not sure how my parents are handeling all this. I talked to my mom for the first time since Monday, yeah this Monday, 2 days ago, and she acts like she hadn't talked to me for months. She was telling me stories, that I just heard last week. Oh and my dad, not only is he taking this the hardest, he ruptured his patellar tendon moving me and has had to miss the most work he's missed in 10 years. Now he's scared to death that he'll have to go into surgery which would force him to miss the biggest golf tournament of his career. We are planning on golfing in a 4 person, best-ball, bucket tournament at Westwood on 10/7. Which is also his birthday. So it's been rough couple weeks for him. We got to the point where we were playing golf atleast once a week and now I haven't played for 3 or 4 weeks.

So back to how this all started. I moved to Omaha, I'm staying with Amy's mom, jobless, and frustrated out of my mind. I had to/chose to leave my coaching jobs, which was hardest of all, especially soccer. All of my college football buddies would and do make fun of me about it, but I loved getting to know all the girls and then to coach them and give them memories that hopefully will last the rest of their lives. I know I have high school soccer memories. But I have so many more from coaching. It's hard to believe that I "influenced" about 250 soccer players, I guess that's not counting retention of players from year to year, but still five years is a big chunk of our lives. And toughest thing is, no matter when you leave a program like that, there are atleast 3 years of players that were planning on playing for you as long as they played. And probably a few more that are glad I'm gone, but I don't like to think about that. So I'm dying to get back into coaching and being around sports and young people. Hopefully I can get back into it here, but it's not going to be the same, so it'll take some getting used to. I left a great group of girls, sorry if any of you ever read this.

This network of people that I have built of from growing up in Newton and have built in the DesMoines area has been massly depleted now that I'm in Omaha. (I'm not even sure if that's proper english.) The hundreds of people I have coached, worked with and associated with for years is down to about 10 people in the Omaha area and I couldn't agree more that getting a job is based on networking. Since I had about 4 on the table before I left not counting the additional 2 I left.

The positives are I can't wait to meet new people and I'm dying to show them how great of a person I am (or atleast I think I am). I can't wait to get a job and show everybody else why they should have hired me. Then to eventually start a family and finally grow up. Now I'm rambling, but my parents were married when they were 7 years younger than me and my dad was exactly my age when I was born.

So I've gone in so many different directions I don't know how to close, but I'll try. Stay close with your family, be adaptive to change, enjoy everything you have, but never be content. I love you Mom, Dad, Jessica and Amy. You mean the world to me. Though it's hard and I know it's true, I have to keep tellin myself I'm livin the goodlife.