A Million Miles you say?

I have finally decided to get off of my butt and start exercising. I want to start training for a half marathon and sprint triathlon. I have a goal to be able to do both by the end of summer. I did some research and discovered a website called "I Bike Fresno" and they are challenging local Fresno area people to ride a 1 million miles in the month of May. The "Million Mile Challenge".I have pledged that I will contribute at least 60 miles in the month of May. I figure 2 - 8 mile rides a week and it should be real easy. Then in June I can set a personal goal to run a marathon over the month, just over 26 miles. Then in July put it all together and do 74 on the bike and 26 on foot for an even 100 miles. This is my training goal till the end of July then I hope to have an event to set my goals on and go from there.

Insanity!

I'm at an age when the reality of life is facing me every day. It seems like every time I turn around a new person in my life is dealing with really hard times. From financial, to personal, to relationships. We are all in a very hard time in this country and I have come to realize that you grow in these times or you end up defeated. If you fail, learn and grow you have not been defeated.

Looking at my personal life I have had my share of financial issues from credit card debt, to home foreclosure. Those were some nasty punches but, instead of complaining and pointing the finger at somebody else I have taken responsibility for my actions and learned from them. I'm renting a home I can afford instead of buying a home I can not. I'm no longer in a job that makes me feel stuck because of how much I make. I make less than I did before but I love what I do. I'm still dealing with some CC debt but I'm paying it off and not adding to it.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

This is one of my favorite quotes and it is one to live your life by. Don't wait for the change in your life, be the change in your life.

My big night out!

This Friday night my 7 year old daughters school hosted a Father / Daughter school dance. I got her a new very nice dress, took her to dinner, then off to the dance we went. It was actually a very nice event that her school put on. I think we both had a really great time and it reminded me that I need to spend more individual time with my girls. Now I'm going to schedule a big night out with Mikayla.

It was the first event I can say I have gone to since moving to Fresno and I will tell you it was different. I have never entered a room at an event and not known at least a couple people. Last night I knew my daughter and that was it. I discovered that I need to start to make some friends here. I miss all of the friends I left in Arizona very much and wish I could move them all here. Since that is not likely I'm going to have to make some here. Being a person that lived in the same place his entire life I'm not sure I have ever had to make new friends.

How do you do it? Maybe I should ask my 7 year old. She had lots of new friends last night at the dance.

Life in Fresno!

I'm really starting to get settled in and comfortable with our new place. My new job is still going very well and I continue to grow my sales route every month. I continue to add customers to my route and improve sales of my existing customers.

All of my girls are adjusting well to the new place. Jenna is doing very well at her new school and we have our first father daughter dance this Friday night. Kristina and Mikayla have gone to the zoo a couple of times and go to the local library every week. We do miss everybody so much and it has been so strange having no major plans every weekend but it has also been kind of nice.

It has been a very wet winter so I'm looking forward to drying out this spring and summer. The rainy days are rainy, but the sunny days are amazing. We are walking distance to a outdoor mall and have walked over on some of our clear days. It is so close it is almost silly to drive to it. I have only been out on my bike once but look forward to going out on it much more often.

Less meat, week 1

This week I started a test to see if I could eat less meat and add more vegetables and other protein sources to my diet. I have always had 2 to 3 meals a day with meat in them. This week I only had 2 meals all week with meat in them. I'm not about to give up meat all together I like it too much. The more I learn about how meat gets to my table and the poor quality of meat available to us in fast food, and restaurants. The more I want to make sure the meat I eat is of the best quality. That is the point of this. If I'm only going to eat 2 - 3 meat meals a week instead of a day. I'm going to be very selective about the meat I eat. No fast food for me. Nothing but great tasting meats full of flavor and of the best quality. Not sure I'm willing to go an entire week with out meat yet but I might give it a try soon.

On a side note I'm not sure what it means, but being vegetarian gives a whole new meaning to "being regular." If you eat you will have a movement. I thought regular was once a day. Now it is around 3 times per day.

Less meat day 1

Today I'm starting my less meat plan. Today is the first day and my diet will consist of no meat. I can't remember a day in my life when I did not consume meat. I'm going to do my best to go the first 2 days without meat then have 1 meal with meat in it. My goal isn't to have no meat, because that would be crazy. My goal is to make sure the meat I'm going to be eating is of the best quality. Since I will only be having 2 - 4 meals a week with meat in it. No fast food or crappy cuts of meat will be in my diet. If it is not going to be awesome. I will not be interested. I'm going to be having quality meat instead of the quantity. I'm not sure where I will go with this for sure. It is just something I want to try.

Less meat?

I have always loved my meat and meat byproducts but have been considering backing off the meat a little and trying to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. I'm not going to go vegetarian because steak is just too good. I have decided that living in the central valley that it should be easy to find a lot of really good fresh fruits and vegetables. I need to do some more research before a make this change because a body that goes from 2 to 3 meat meals a day to 2 to 3 a week will need to make some adjustment. I want to make sure I'm still getting all that my body needs with just less meat.

I think this post alone and the fact that I'm even considering this change makes me a little more California than I ever thought possible.

This was something I have been thinking about doing but this article put it in my head to actually do it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=dm-mmavegetarians021711

An amazing weekend!!!

Thursday night I acted on a post that my wife had posted to FB saying "needs to see the ocean. and soon!" I talked her into letting me book Friday and Saturday nights at a hotel in Morro Bay. After some help from Yelp we chose an awesome hotel on the cheap. This weekend was full of awesome!!! We ate food and we could see where it had been caught, randomly went places and just stopped to enjoy the sun, beach, and amazing views. We walked piers, boardwalks, beaches, and grassy parks along the beach. We went to a farmers market and even drove out to Morro rock to watch the sun set Saturday night. Every time we tried to set a plan we ended up doing something even better. We didn't put much thought or planning into this weekend and I don't think it could of been any better. I think this will be a weekend my 3 valentines will never forget.

New years resolution time.

Now that Man Christmas (The Superbowl) is over it is time to look forward to summer and start to work on my bathing suit figure. I have put together an 18 week challenge for myself starting tomorrow. I would love to do another sprint triathlon this summer or fall but have a lot of training to do before that can happen. Wish me luck and follow along to see how I'm doing. If you would like to join me let me know and I will send you a copy of my spreadsheet. I plan to stay focused and watch my diet until August when I will once again put beer, pizza, and wings back into my diet:)

All most a month now!

I think that it is crazy that it is still January. I feel like we have been in our new place for a while now but it has been less than a month. I'm not sure what that means. Life has been just moving at a slower pace since we moved. I don't work as much and we have a lot more free time then we have in some time so maybe that is the reason. I'm not sure if this will keep up but I'm really enjoying all the free time. I found myself to be bored the other day and it was everything I thought it could be. Our place is starting to really come together and I thing we are starting to get a little more familiar with our surroundings. I have been living in California for almost 3 months and I have now been in Fresno with the family for almost one. Cheers to new beginnings and Friday nights!

In need of the Mitchell's?

Today we went and looked at some of the local hotels in the area for guests to stay at. They are all in a cluster and are less than a mile away. You are always welcome to our futon or air mattresses on the floor. With a 2 bedroom there is little privacy but plenty of floor space in our living room. I will put these in order of what I thought was the nicest from the lobby, reputation, and area.

1. Hampton Inn & Suites The Hampton suites is one of our favorite hotels to stay. It is very nice looking and I would highly recommended it at this point.
2. TownePlace Suites by Marriott These looked very nice and offer a lot if that is what you are looking for.
3. La Quinta Inns & Suites I have never stayed at a La Quinta but it looks very nice and they say it is a new location so I'm guessing the hotel was build recently.
4. Holiday Inn Express This is a very nice hotel and the only reason this is on the bottom of the list is because it is backed up to the 41 freeway. It looks very nice and possible new but if you cant get a room on the front of the building you will here freeway noise.

I'm looking into some close places to stay if you have a summer home on wheels and need a place to stay when you are visiting the Mitchell's.

Any questions please feel free to let me know. Looking forward to seeing you all.

Settling in.

We have been in our new place in Fresno for 3 weeks now and things are going great. Our place is starting to look like a home instead of a maze of boxes and we are getting more familiar with our location. I'm really liking my new job. I pretty much shoot the breeze with people all day long and make money doing it. It is an ideal job for me since I love to talk to people. It has been so long since I had a job that was not extremely high pressure. It has been a very nice change. Not to mention I work 35 - 40 hours a week instead of 50 - 60. Jenna is in School and finally starting to get the hang of it. She is really liking her new school and meeting new friends everyday. Mikayla will not be starting school until August. Kristina is still learning her way around and organizing our place and stuff. Moving from a 4 bedroom over 2,000 to a 2 bedroom 1,400 sq. ft. has been difficult but I think we are finally adjusting. Last weekend we purchased annual Zoo passes and this weekend we purchased an annual park parking pass. We live not very far from a very nice park and went and had a picnic lunch there today. Things are going very well and I'm extremely happy with the way things are going. I will try to post more often to keep you all updated on our California adventure. Love and miss you all very much. Hope you can all visit soon.

BG Sales Presentation (opening) (Comments Welcome)

Hello everybody. My name is Stephen Mitchell and I work for Elbert Distributing a BG Products wholesaler. I have been with the company for about 2 months now.

Before becoming a BG sales rep I was a Salesman for Budweiser in Phoenix, Arizona for 11 years. I had been looking for a change in my line of work and wanted to sale a product that was not only the best on the market but that I could also be very passionate about. It need to not only be a product I would want to use personally but that I would highly recommend it to my friends and family. After doing some research and meeting people in the automotive field I discovered BG had a product line that was just that. It took me about 2 years after learning about BG and there products to be able to go and work for them.

BG and I not only provide you, your shop, and your customers with the best products on the market, we also provide the best service in the market. I don't just use the BG products in all of my vehicles because I work for the company. I use them because I know how amazing they are and that they will dramatically increase the life of my vehicles. BG products are not designed to be fix it in a can. They will fix drive ability problems, but there main purpose is to keep you engine, clean, well lubricated, and running like the day you purchased it. BG also backs this up with there Lifetime Protection Plan. If you start using BG products at 100,000 miles we will not be able to restore your car back to like new performance, but I do predict that we will have it back to running better than you can remember.

Now I would like to do some demonstrations so that you don't have to take my word for it that I have the best products on the market. I'm willing to prove it to you.

- MOA friction test

- MOA oxidation protection test

Reality is almost here!

Tomorrow I will fly out to Phoenix gather all of my stuff, my family, and move it all to California. Just typing this is starting to make me freak out. So many things to do and so many things to get back to. I have not had to be a father or husband everyday for months. I'm guessing it is like riding a bike. I'm feeling a lot of pressure to succeed and I'm sure I will but it is all riding on me to be successful. I have made this leap because it felt right. Now I just want for things to be better for me and my family. There is going to be an adjustment to balance family and work again. I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to make this move work but I thing everything will be coming together in the coming months.

I already closed my eyes and jumped but now I'm pulling my family over the edge with me. Hope we all land safely because I'm leading the way.

What I need for Christmas

This holiday season has been the hardest for me ever. My family and I have decided to start a new adventure and move to California. We decided that I would go ahead and start November 1st and they would follow on January 1st. The last 2 months have been very hard on us not being together. So for this Christmas I have list like no other:

1. I want to wake up and see my beautiful wife laying next to me.
2. I want my 3 year old to wake me up at 6am to tell me she wants to eat.
3. I want my 7 year old to put her cold feet on me to warm them up.
4. I want to hear my daughters start to scream "daddy's home" on the other side of the door when they hear my key in it.
5. I want a little girl to crawl into my bed in the middle of the night because of a bad dream.
6. I want my home to smell like my wife when she is not even home.
7. I want all of the little things I took for granted before I left.

I don't want the newest and latest gadget or electronic. I don't want the materials I once thought made me happy. I want my family and there love everyday and I will be more than satisfied this Christmas. Can't wait to see them on Wednesday night and have them with me for good starting 1-1-11.

The first day of our new adventure together.

I know this sounds all lame and sad, but this is what is going on in Mitchell's Brain. This time of year is for giving what is inside of you instead of what you buy at a store.

Merry Christmas to all of my family and friends. I know I can't wait to get what I want for Christmas and I hope you get all of the love and happiness you deserve this holiday season.