Friday, October 15th, 2010 500th Post!

Namaste,

This is my 500th post on this blog! I am grateful to all of you who read it! Writing everyday, helps keep me accountable!

I knew Friday was going to be crazy. I dropped Trey off at school, and hit Starbucks. I needed to run to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things I had forgotten. I was walking through the store when a lady stopped me and ask, if I was the guy in the news paper last week? I told her yes, and she said she had that article in her locker in the back and she looks at it everyday to remind her to get her exercise! That is what the Quest is all about! Off to work. I had most of my stuff done, and just needed to get out and run a bunch of errands. I had to go to Starbucks, and pick up the coffee they were donating. I needed to go to the Zoo and pick up their banner, and meet the lady Dana, who runs Zoo Friends. Then I headed all the way to the other side of OKC to meet Sarah from the Stallions. She gave me their banner, and introduced me to some people. I headed home to make a sandwich, then checked in at work. Things were crazy so I went in to make some IV's. I was suppose to meet the reporter from channel 9 at 3:00. He called me and said he was going to be late. He was assigned a shooting at Penn Square he needed to cover, but would be at Louie's ASAP! We got there and started putting up banners, and tables! Tom Simpson from Mom's church came out to help with banners, and Thank the lord for him. At 5:00 Sherrie, Trey, and I went in for a bite to eat, and then people started showing up! I was ready to get started, but had to wait until 8:00pm. Dr. Walton, Dr. Broussard, and their families, my sister and her family, a bunch of my friends from work, and their families, Ricardo and Jenni Villrreal, and many, many people who read the story in the paper, or knew someone who read the story came out! The reporter showed up at 7:50 and we had to rush through the interview. Steve Raines from Heritage Baptist came to say a prayer over us, then at 8:00 we took off! The first lap there were 15 or so of us to start! People started falling off, and at the 1/2 way point, it was just Sherrie and I. We made the first loop in three hours. My lower back was already killing me, due to the pinched nerve, but it was way to early to start whining!

All my love!

Mat

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

Namaste,

Again no sleep! Just laid there thinking about how to take this Quest to the next level. I got up at 4:30 and made my coffee... I thought about running, but decided to relax, and work on organization. I laid it out, and now I just need to play it out. I dropped Trey off and hit Starbucks. It was very nice outside.... I should have walked, or ran, but was going to let my old body rest. I did all of my work fairly quickly, and even did some of the weekend prep. I made Jodi go to a Mexican restaurant at lunch... I wanted to get some chicken fajita meat,, so I did. It was OK..... We ran out to Jodi's house to pick up her bike. She wants to ride when she comes out on Saturday. Back to work. I had to remake 1/2 of my IV's..... I left just after 4:00 to come home and start working on things.... We had to go to the store and get fruit and some protein bars. When we got home I started working on bikes. I had to fix brakes, and replace a couple of tires. I loaded everything up, and came in to shower, and get my sleep on! I got a letter from Dr. Walton today... It thanked me for my participation in the Dance from Obesity ball! Who is he kidding??? Really! I owe that man my life! He is truly one of my hero's!

Love you all!

Mat

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Namaste,

I woke up at 4:30 and got my shower..... So much running through my head that it was useless to try to get back to sleep. I finished what I could on Misty's wedding pictures. I sent a few to my buddy Jeremy's wife to refinish for me. After I get those back, I will be done with them. I took Trey to school and then hit Starbucks. Starbucks is going to give me 10 pounds of coffee for the Challenge! My buddy Grant at my Starbucks (15th and Bryant) hooked me up! I got after it at work, and the ran by Vital Signs at noon, to pick up a Red Rock Landscape sign for Chad Dugan. Jodi and I stopped at Kang's and got some Sushi. Our waitress was really awkward. She had a big eyeball tattooed on her arm. I ask her about it and she said "It represents my spirituality on a linear consciousness!" WHAT? I looked at Jodi and she looked at me, and we had to bite our tongues to keep from busting out in laughter. We ran by Weight Wise after lunch and picked up the water, and their banner. Back to work.... It was a pretty slow afternoon so we bailed. I brought the trailer home, and when I got her I started loading it up with everything going to the Challenge, bikes, ice chests, T-post, sledge hammers... I loaded my bike up and headed up to the gym to get the 805 banner. Tyler ask me to roll two rounds with Timmy, so I did! I went to the Lake and did my laps. I downloaded a new application for my IPhone that tracks where you go. I did the first lap in 39:56. Three minutes slower than yesterday, but I had a hell of a headwind for about 5 miles. The GPS tracker told me it was exactly 9.51 miles around the lake. I came home and cleaned up then went to Academy and found some biking shorts. Then home for some Oyster Stew. I am really tired! A couple more random pictures!

Love you all!

Mat

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Namaste,

Sherrie had to be at work at 3:00am this morning, so when she got up, I had a hard time going back to sleep. I got up at 5:20 and worked on the challenge. I took Trey to school and then hit Starbucks. I am lucky that I am the mayor, because Sherrie took the Rover this morning and my wallet was in there. I would have had a bad day without my java! Work was OK.... Enough to keep me busy.... I came home at lunch to get my wallet, and really didn't want to go back, but I had to! I received several emails throughout the day... This continues to motivate me. We got slammed and I did not leave work until 6:00. I came home loaded up my bike changed clothes and headed to the lake. I did the first lap in 36:54. That is 9 minutes faster than last time. After 20 miles my Taint could not take anymore. I came home to a house full of women! Sherrie was having a jewelery showing, and there were 20 people here. Best part was they left me a cookie! I might add that on the north end of the Lake Hefner Dam.... There was no wind, and I ate 20 pounds of bugs! That is what I had for dinner! A couple random pictures!

Love you all!

Mat

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Namaste,

Well it was the beginning of what will be a very busy week. I edited pictures for an hour or so, and the took Trey to school. I hit Starbucks, then straight to work. I continued to get emails all day from the news paper article. I received some emails from people I have not seen in 20 years, high school friends, and old co-workers. It is really inspiring to read some of the comments..... Work was fairly busy in the morning.... Had all of the weekend clean-up to do. I had the lawn trailer with me, so at lunch I went to Home Depot and bought 25 bags or 50 cubic feet of pine mulch. I needed to weed and mulch all of the flower beds at the Midwest City building. The afternoon started to slow, so I left and picked up Brent. We started weeding, and mulching, and realized that we did not have close to enough mulch. We had to go to Home Depot and get 25 more bags of mulch. It really dresses up the place. I dropped Brent off and headed home. I ended up taking the trailer back to the Edmond building, where I have been storing it. It is nice to have all of my equipment stored in a large building and out of my way. I made a salad, had a shower, and then started working on the challenge. Sign in sheets, donation sheets, information sheets.... List of things to do..... I tried to watch a little football, but had heavy eyelids! A couple pictures of my smoking hot wife!

Love you all!

Mat

Sunday, October 10th, 2010

Namaste,

Man the rooster crowed early this morning! That is a country way of saying that it was a short night! I had a hard time sleeping due to the crazy crap that happened yesterday, but I will survive. I got up and had to really rush to pick up Trey and get to church on time. We had to go take care of Gaymarie's dogs after church, and her garage door opener would not work. We headed over to Academy to get some accessories for the new bike, and then home for brunch! On the way home I started getting calls about the article in the paper. So I had to stop and get one. Pretty cool article. I love the picture! Anyway.... I worked on the bikes, lawn mowers, and then Tyler, Kim and Gracelynn Griffen came over for a photo shoot! We had a good time with that! We had to be at the Giroux's new house at 5:00 for a house warming party then home to get my crap together for the week. I have been answering emails about the challenge, and exchanging emails from different reporters. Here is a link to the story in the paper. You will probably have to cut and paste it! Picture from today's shoot!

http://newsok.com/ken-2.0-edmond-man-is-a-perpetual-motion-machine/article/3503166?custom_click=lead_story_title

Love you all!

Mat

Saturday, October 9th, 2010

Namaste,

I woke up at 3:30 and did not go back to sleep. Sooooo I edited pictures for a couple of hours. I went to Ricardo's at 7:30 and really cleaned up his lawn. I went to check on a couple others but they did not need anything. I took the trailer to the hospital to store it, and then came home and cleaned up my lawn. Sherrie and I met Miriam at Louie's Lakeside at noon to get some organization done. We planned everything out, and then went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I talked them into selling me a returned hybrid bike fr $100. I have had my eye on it for months, but waiting on the opportunity to haggle them down. We came home and I napped for a bit.... While I was laying down, I got a disturbing voice mail from someone very close to me (At least I thought?) basically telling me to F-off! Wow! That was a big shock.... It really hurt, but I guess it reinforces the fact that people often disappoint us! I apologize for whatever I did... Don't worry, it won't happen again.... Funny thing that's the fourth person this week that I deleted off my phone! Anyway.... While I was resting Sherrie went and had her hair done, and then Jordan fixed it! I got dressed, wrote my speech, and then we left for the "Dance from Obesity Ball!" What a blast, they had photographers, and the food was amazing. I followed Bob Barry Jr, and spoke for 15 minutes or so, and I think it was OK.... Other WLS patients were ask to speak, and one lady stood up and said it was an honor to be in the same room with me. She read my story in the paper, and pinned it up in her closet, She uses it for motivation everyday. That makes all the hard work worth it! After the ball, Dr. Walton invited us back to his house, and the whole group from Weight Wise was there, and we had a blast. Crazy day emotionally! Pictures are from the ball!

Love you all!

Mat