I just got some real bad news.

Okay, lets start with a little back story...

As you may or may not know the country has been going through a bit of a recession and here in Peoria, Illinois where the whole city revolves around Caterpillar it's been pretty hard to miss. Last December I was working for a engineering outsourcing company that dealt primarily with Caterpillar. At that point Caterpillar and in turn the company I was working for began having waves of lay-offs. I remember going into the office everyday, stressed out, wondering if I would be the next one to go. Pretty much all my co-workers felt similarly and lets just say the atmosphere of the office was downright depressing...

Then in March everything changed for me.... One day I came into the office, stressed out, bags under my eyes from lack of sleep caused by anxiety, and I found out that I wouldn't need to come in to work anymore. It was fantastic!!! Not only did it free up about 40-50 hours a week for me to do whatever I wanted but all the stress of possibly getting laid off was lifted... On top of that, the government decided to pay me 10 dollars an hour not to work!

So I decided to start marathon training. Now normally they don't recommend you jumping from 6 miles a week to 40 miles a week in such a short time, but when all you have to do all day is run, stretch, ice, and recover it's actually possible. Over the next few months I improved my running tremendously. I also built a deck, ripped up the carpet in our house and refinished the old wood floors, and remodeled the kitchen. My wife also appreciated how the dishes are always done and the laundry is always clean, folded, and hung.

The marathon came and went so I needed a new way to spend my time. Enter the weight loss challenge. The last few weeks I've been spending about 4 hours a day at the gym doing weight work and cardio circuits and I've been burning upwards of 2000 calories a day just from exercise (not even including the weight lifting)...

Then today I got a call... turns out my dream life is coming to an end.

See a couple days ago my daily routine was rudely interrupted by this little annoyance called a "job interview"... and today I got a call with an offer for a job. I accepted the job immediately and am now dealing with the fact that come January 6 I'm going to have 40-50 less hours a week to exercise and otherwise screw around...

I know you all must feel real pity for me right now... try to be strong (as will I) and we can get through this little set back together.