It’s been a busy couple of months. August ended with the UHA (Utah R/C Heli Association) Fun-fly in Lehi. This year, I didn’t get mauled by mosquitos. I also didn’t crash, which is always a good thing. Though there were a few bone-chilling thuds as .90 sized machines smacked the pavement. I’ve also been working on learning how to paint the canopies for my Helicopters; the results of one such attempt is above. You can say I’m invested in it now - Iwata Custom Eclipse Airbrush, SprayCat Micro HVLP gun, and safety equipment for spraying Urethane Clear (Full Tyvek Bunny suit, hood, respirator, etc.) It’s actually surprisingly fun and rewarding - once you get past the general suckyness of sanding the gelcoat and primer.

We’ve finally moved into the “new” office at work, which is nice. It’s near a gym, so I’ve been taking advantage of the proximity - I’m enrolled in a diet & exercise program. They did the tests where they have you run on the treadmill with a mask on (presumably measuring oxygen levels in my breath), and measured my heart rate as well. Then I did the “resting” test where they computed the number of calories I’d burn per day. A nutritionist (not sure if it’s different than a dietician), will be working out a plan for what I should eat... it’ll be interesting. I’ve never enjoyed doing exercise; heck I have trouble spelling it. So my biggest challenge, I think, is just getting in to the gym regularly - the class should help with that, though. Still, it’s interesting to see just how bad a shape I really am in, and it’ll be similarly interesting to see how quickly I improve.

Hopefully, when it’s all done, I’ll be down to a more healthy BMI... and be on the road to better long-term health and physical fitness. I was getting sick of not being able to do anything when I went waterskiing with my family, getting winded walking between a couple of stores (over mostly level ground), etc. It was definitely time for a change.

In that vein, I’ve also had my first girlfriend in over a decade - Angela. She’s a wonderful girl, and what’s really surprising (pleasantly so) is the things she does, tastes in entertainment, hobbies, etc. all line up pretty well with mine. She’s told me she’s happy that she isn’t the only geek in the relationship with me (something I agree with wholeheartedly). It’s great to be with somebody who really does get me for a change.

And while I was changing things, I decided to drop my old cell carrier (Virgin Mobile - who uses the Sprint network), mainly because I get zero bars at work, and zero bars at home. Which sorta defeats some of the purpose. After zero shopping around, I decided to get an iPhone. (For me, there wasn’t really any other choice - I didn’t want anything else.) The bonus is that I get unlimited mobile-to-mobile calls to Angela, who is on the same network. Yay! It’s also nice to not have to worry about getting lost - the GPS & Google Maps functionality in it is great. It’ll also be a lot less common for me to be away from my beloved internet. Plus the neat apps that you can get with the iPhone - like Urbanspoon, where you shake your iPhone, and it’ll come up with a restaurant to eat at, and then you can use the other iPhone functions to get directions, reviews, etc.