I’m posting this just to help me keep track of the vertigo problem that started last year. I want to monitor when it comes and goes each year.
In other words, this is mainly for me, not you. Move along. 
2010: Vertigo hit around mid-June. Seems to be gone now, about 5-6 weeks later.
2009: Vertigo hit late May. Was gone about two months later.
Like, all the time. It’s the end of May, the temp was in the mid-60s today, and I’m bundled up in jeans and two shirts. I tried to wear shorts and a polo shirt around the house today, but no; had to put on warmer clothes.
Cari says it’s because of the weight loss. There’s less fat to keep me warm this year. (I’m currently at 33 pounds lost even though I stopped trying after reaching my 26-pound goal.)
She might be on to something. I’ve been cold for about two months now, and that’s how long it’s been since I reached my goal.
Still, weird. Don’t like. Ready for an 85-degree day, and the sooner, the better.
I woke up today, stood on the scale, and good news: I reached my weight loss goal!! Woo-hoo! I’ve lost 26 pounds since January 6 and now weigh what it says on my driver’s license.
Now, I’m no diet guru or health expert, and I’m really hesitant to write this post because it’ll look that way … but, a couple things:
So let’s throw caution to the wind, shall we? Here’s what I did…
Read the rest of this entry »
Is it okay to brag for a little bit? Hope so. I’ve been waiting to share some good news — and a tip — about the diet I’ve been on, and I decided I’d post something when my weight loss reached 20 pounds. Well, I woke up this morning and skipped right past that to 21 pounds. Wooo-hoooo!
It all started when I woke up on January 6th and weighed more than I ever have in my life. I’d always told myself I’d get in shape and lose weight someday when I had more time to exercise, but this was a tipping point. Figured I had to make time to exercise, and it was now or never.
My plan: No fancy diets, just eating right and getting more exercise. I mentioned last month that a new fitness club was opening up less than a mile away, so everything was perfect.
I have to say that I had a little extra help in the form of an awesome iPhone app called Lose It! This is a screenshot of the home page, but there’s so much more going on.
With Lose It, I set my weight loss goal at the start: 26 pounds over six months. Seemed attainable and not risky. Lose It then told me how many calories I could eat each day and still lose that weight — it gave me a food target, which was a huge help.
Every morning (or as often as I want), I input my daily weight and it charts how I’m doing. After every meal, I also input what I ate and it tells me how many calories I ate and how many I have left. It has a lot of foods in its database, but I also have to “create new food”(s) when I eat something that’s not in there, and that’s easy to do (and kinda fun, I dare say).
When I exercise, it tells me how many calories I burned and those get subtracted from what I ate — in other words, credited toward my daily calorie allowance. It has all kinds of exercises in its system, all the basics that I do when I workout at the gym, and it even has stuff like yard work, hedge clipping, lawn mowing, etc.
This app has been a huge help. Thank you, Lose it!
I haven’t quite reached my goal — five more pounds to lose for that. When I get there, I’ll actually be at the same weight that’s listed on my driver’s license.
So, enough bragging about weight loss. Just wanted to share and, in case anyone out there in Readerville is also trying to or thinking about losing weight, offer some advice and info about the Lose It app. I think you’ll love it.
Well, not really a new me, but some new business photos of me. And long overdue, too — the photo I’ve been using on my web sites and blogs (and as my social media avatar) is at least 5-6 years old now, and I just don’t look that young anymore. I haven’t seen all of the photos we took on Saturday, but of the ones I have seen, these are my favorites:
How’d I do?
Strange that both are serious poses. There are some good smiley shots, too, but I just like these more.
The photog is a guy I’ve known from the Tri-Cities group on Flickr. I posted a thread about wanting to get some new portraits done, and chose him from the people who replied. He’s not really even in business for himself yet, but has a little studio down in his basement at home, and all turned out well. Now Cari’s thinking about having him do new portraits for her, too.
If you do a search for Matt McGee on Google, you not only get lots of my blogs and web sites … but you now also get photos!
Google has clearly recognized my devilishly handsome looks and decided that the world needs to see more of me, too, without having to click the “Images” button. I agree.
Seriously, I have no idea why a vanity search on my name is suddenly showing images. And if you ask one of the Google Images engineers — which I did — you’ll get the regular “we can’t share the secret sauce” reply.
And yes, I regularly do vanity searches like this.
[Warning: Unusual amount of self-reflection and navel-gazing is about to follow. Feel free to click to the next blog in your feed reader.]
It’s been probably 20 years since I could say that I liked U2’s song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The version with the choir from Rattle and Hum was way overplayed, and I basically became apathetic toward the song at that time and have stayed that way ever since. Before seeing any of the shows on U2’s current tour, I was talking with a friend named Donna and we both agreed that “I Still Haven’t Found…” is a song we’d just as soon not hear again, even though we both knew that U2 has been playing it at every show.
I’ve now seen three shows on this tour, and guess what song has brought me to tears at each one?
Yep. That one.
Now, it’s not at all unusual for me to cry at a U2 show. I can count on one hand the number of shows that didn’t bring me to tears. (Look, I’ve got almost 30 years of my life invested in this band and these songs. I’ve been loyal to them since 1983 and no other band has even come close to having the same meaning for me. This is the soundtrack of my life.)
It is unusual for me to get hit hard by this song, though. It seems to happen at the same point each time: When Bono sings the line “Yes, I’m still running”:
I believe in the kingdom come
Then all the colors will bleed into one
Bleed into one
Well, yes, I’m still runningYou broke the bonds and you
Loosed the chains
Carried the cross
And my shame
All my shame
You know I believe it
For some reason, that line is packed with all kinds of emotion for this 41-year-old. I keep thinking about it, and I think that line says a lot about where I am right now: trying to be a great husband, trying to be a great dad, trying to be a great friend, trying to be a great Christian. Trying to set the right examples for my kids, my friends (the ones who need it), my sisters, relatives, peers, and so forth.
Realizing that your life is probably more than half over seems to refocus everything. I cherish the Good Things more than ever. I have less and less patience for pettiness, silliness, and stupidity.
Those lyrics remind me about how blessed I am. They remind me of the sacrifice of the cross. He did that for me. Me! (And you, too, by the way.) They remind me how great life is, especially the past four years. I get to work from home. I get to see my kids and my wife every day. I get to do what I love for a living. I get to run a U2 web site that reaches people on every populated continent and I get to do it with some of my best friends. Every so often I get to hear — face-to-face, fan to fan — how much that site means to other U2 fans, and it’s the most amazingly humbling thing imaginable. I got to hear that last weekend in Raleigh. I also got to hear those lyrics again, during one of the best U2 concerts I’ve ever been to — a night that was filled with unexpected blessings that no one deserves, certainly not me.
But those lyrics also remind me that, in the grand scheme of things, there’s still so much ahead. I’m going to send my son off to college in 7 years, and my daughter four years later. Then it’s me and Cari time again. We’ll work. Will we move? Will we travel? I hope. Will we be healthy? I really hope! The kids will get married. We’ll have grandkids, and then it all starts again … this time trying to be a great grandparent.
Yes, I’m still running. Probably always will be. You know I believe it.
Sometimes I feel like I lead two different lives. There’s my SEO/marketing life … and there’s my U2 life. The first life is the one that puts food on the table, and it’s a life I like. But this weekend reminded me that the second life is the one I love, and probably couldn’t live without.
For some reason, surrounding myself with fellow U2 fans that share the same deep passion and curiosity about this band renews me like nothing else. It happened in 2003 when @U2 co-presented an international U2 fan event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and it happened again this weekend at the first U2 academic conference. (lots of photos here)
It helped that I also saw one of the best U2 concerts of my life Saturday night in Raleigh, right in the middle of the conference … and that @U2 hosted a super-fun post-conference event Sunday night in which I got to host a Q&A chat for nearly an hour with my favorite journalist, Neil McCormick.
But ultimately, it’s being around the U2 fans that wins the day for me. Sure, there are a few bad eggs in every group. But the vast majority of U2 fans I’ve met are special people. They make my U2 life all the better. If any of them are reading this, thank you.
I’ll probably have some more U2 stuff to write about in the near future. Lots of stuff going through my mind and heart at the moment.
Well, sure, it’s pretty cool to see your name in the Wall Street Journal (even if it is only online and just one of their blogs, not the actual paper), but I’m not too sure I like being called a snarky techie. Would you?
Hmmmph. I much prefer the “Ruud Questions” interview that’s just been posted on Search Engine People. Ruud Hein asked me questions about U2, faith, SEO, blogging, and much more. Really fun Q&A with a lot of variety. Although I suspect U2 fans will recognize that I kinda-sorta borrowed the opening line from Bono a wee little bit. But it’s true, and that’s what matters.
We drafted tonight (Monday) for our SEO fantasy football league and I’m feeling a lot better about the Instant Breakfast this year than I did last season. Here’s my team:
If Tomlinson and Portis stay healthy, I think I’ll be in good shape. I drafted Santonio Holmes earlier than Julius Jones, but switched them for week one because I like Jones at home against the Rams more than I like the Steelers taking on Tennessee.
I haven’t compared my roster to the other teams in our league, but I’m thinking I’ll be right in the hunt at season’s end. And if all goes well, I’ll be winning my 3rd title in 4 years and living up to that Fantasy Football Legend sign that’s hanging on my office wall.
