So, this is the question everyone wants to know and I am going to find out; How fast can you lose 15 pounds? After being a total slacker with training for the last 7 months,  I have finally decided it is time to get back into a consistent training schedule and kicking butt. Lately, I find myself on a consistent basis playing with my fat rolls and being totally disgusted with myself. I no longer enjoy looking at myself in the mirror and my kids love to put thier finger in my belly button and watch it disappear. This madness has got to stop.

You might think I am joking but I am being totally serious. Since the Spudman Triathlon on July 25th, 2008  I have not ran more than 4 times a month. This is pretty sad … and dangerous considering the fact I raced in a half ironman, a  marathon and 2 sprint triathlons during those seven months. Not to mention being totally embarrassed considering my finishing times in each.

I now weigh 185 pounds, which is not bad considering it is my normal weight, but it  is 17 pounds heavier than I was on July 25th,2008. I want to get back down to 170 pounds as soon as possible for training purposes and I am going to find out how long it takes to lose all those extra pounds I picked up from Taco Bell, KFC, McDonald’s & Burger King. If I can lose the weight quickly I might just write a blog post every so often telling everybody what I am doing to lose the blubber. To lose the weight I will be training consistently and watching my diet,  sometimes. I will not be using any Super Duper weight loss pills or magical elixir formulas. 

So tell me what you guys think, how fast do you think I can lose the excess blubber hanging around my belly and butt?  Comment to this post and the person that comes the closest will win a FREE bakers dozen from Krispy Kreme Donuts! Seriously!

This article was written by Mark Cuban with which I agree on this issue. You can find the original article at http://blogmaverick.com/2008/11/11/homes-vs-stocks/

By Mark Cuban,
So whats the difference between being underwater on a mortgage and underwater on a stock ? Is it that “experts” will tell you to hold the stock in hopes of it going up in value and then explain that those with homes worth less than their mortgages shouldn’t feel bad about breaking their mortgages and defaulting ?

I think “Buy and Hold” for stocks is one of the all time great marketing scams.

“Buy and Hold” for your house is a mantra you should always live by. The difference ?

You can live in your house. You get utility from your house. You may get a deduction for interest paid on your tax bill. You can develop a positive emotional attachment to a house.

A share of stock….well you can…you can look up the price anytime you want if you think thats fun. There is no utility of a share of stock beyond its financial value. The value of a house is that its your home.

The fact that you may be underwater in your mortgage is of no relevance if you can make the payments.

If you can make the payments on your mortgage, it shouldnt matter if your house is worth 10pct of your mortgage. If you can make the payments, make them.

My last house, (Mark Cubans house), I remember being freaked out watching as my rate on my Adjustable Rate Mortgage went up and up as I watched the value of my house go down. For 2 years my rate went up, my house value went down. Fortunately, I liked living there. I wasnt building any equity, in fact, I was negative, but I was going to have to pay to live somewhere. On top of everything, my credit was bad enough, I didn’t want to make it any worse. In fact, I knew that if I didn’t make the payments on my house, my chances of ever owning a house again were none and none. So I kept paying the note every month. In spite of the financial pain.

Then a funny thing happened. Interest rates started to go down. I didnt even know it until I got my annual notice saying that my mortgage payment would go down. The value of my house wasnt going up, but for the next several years, my payments went down. It took years, but I actually built equity in the house.

Which is exactly the point. Buy and hold works when it comes to the HOME you LIVE IN. Turning in the keys because you have negative equity is a fool’s game.

Your home has far more value than its mark to market price because you can live in it . Do whatever you can to stick it out. It will pay off for you in the long run.

I took a spanish literature class at BYU and this was my favorite poem. If you like poems check out Pablo Neruda. He is outstanding.

Ode to the Onion – Pablo Neruda

Onion,
luminous flask,
your beauty formed
petal by petal,
crystal scales expanded you
and in the secrecy of the dark earth
your belly grew round with dew.
Under the earth
the miracle
happened
and when your clumsy
green stem appeared,
and your leaves were born
like swords
in the garden,
the earth heaped up her power
showing your naked transparency,
and as the remote sea
in lifting the breasts of Aphrodite
duplicating the magnolia,
so did the earth
make you,
onion
clear as a planet
and destined
to shine,
constant constellation,
round rose of water,
upon
the table
of the poor.

You make us cry without hurting us.
I have praised everything that exists,
but to me, onion, you are
more beautiful than a bird
of dazzling feathers,
heavenly globe, platinum goblet,
unmoving dance
of the snowy anemone

and the fragrance of the earth lives
in your crystalline nature.

Translated by Stephen Mitchell

Bennett Family

We took this picture a couple of weeks ago at Payson Lakes on the Nebo Loop. I love it.