First of all, the whole "Zero to Hero" program I’ve started for myself seems to be working out very well (did I once write that I would do weekly updates on that? Obviously, I meant "Never", not "Weekly"). Since March 17, I’ve lost twenty-five pounds, which is more than halfway towards my long-term weight loss goal. More importantly, though, are the lowered blood pressure, the increased lung capacity, the increased endurance, the decreased resting heart rate. On the other hand, there is a downside: apparently, some of the fat that I used to carry around on my body helped cushion my oddly-shaped shoulder bones (yes, they’re oddly-shaped; confirmed by an orthopedist I saw for the pain), so my right shoulder has developed an impingement… which means that it hurts. A lot. For no very good reason at all. Fortunately, physical therapy begins next week, and this will hopefully clear up in a couple of months.

Second, I’ve got very good reason to believe that my employment situation will be changing for the drastically better within the next two weeks. I won’t go into details here until I find out for sure, but suffice to say that the new job I believe I’ll be starting very soon will be well on the way to my long-term career goals, and with a significant pay increase, to boot. What’s so special about that? For me, it’s that this will be the first job that I did not "fall into". All of the jobs I’ve held in the past I’ve gotten simply because I wanted a job and took whatever decent offer came along; I’m convinced, in fact, that many of my peers operate the same way when it comes to job hunting. This is the first time that I’ve made a definite decision about where I want to go, career-wise, and actively pursued — and gotten — a job that was in line with that direction. I’m quite well on my way to becoming the web developer that I want to be, and I feel good about that.

Special mention should be made here, I think, to acknowledge my current job situation. No, it isn’t where I want to be. But I have gained an incredible amount respect for the manager that I work for, who has been willing to work with me to find me a better work situation. In a way, I will be sorry to leave my current position; after everything that’s gone on over the past few months, I’ve reached a point where I can appreciate how fortunate I am to have the boss that I have; but, honestly, I can’t remain in my position, since it isn’t the kind of work that I enjoy doing, so I won’t be happy doing it. But even if this current opportunity doesn’t pan out, I will still feel much better about my current position, and I have ideas for some great contributions I can make.

So there you go. Bragging rights.

On a completely different topic, I just want to mention that the engagement photos are in. Here is a (bad) scan of the picture; Jennifer’s the attractive one on the left. So the last thing that I have to brag about is that I get to marry this incredible woman, who is absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me. I want to say how proud I am of her, without sounding either condescending (as in, "Isn’t it great how Our Little Jennifer did that?") or self-aggrandizing (as in, "Yo! Check out this hot babe I just landed!"). I’m not sure I can, though; so I’ll simply say there that when Jennifer and I were simply friends, I was very proud to have her as a friend. Now that we’re engaged, that feeling has naturally multiplied a hundred-fold.

There is much more cause for a swelling of pride in our lives; but I’ll write more about that in my next journal entry, since this entry is about me, and the next one won’t be.

Finally, to you, Constant Reader: I know you’re out there. I know you lurk. I have a tracker installed, and I can recognize certain IP addresses. I know who you are and what kind of car you drive. So sign my guestbook, darn it!

Until next time…