Day 21

Here's what I learned this week: It makes no sense to set an "overall budget" for a week. It's just not going to happen - too many things could come up. I would have made it under $100 this week if my cell phone battery didn't die. I need to pitch in with house stuff, too - Robin got the groceries this week but what about next week? I think it makes more sense to monitor what you're spending and set more focused goals with real rewards.

For example, this week I'm limiting myself to $100 in entertainment money. Movies, bars, etc (not counting restaurants since I'd like to take Robin out to celebrate getting over the final big MBA push and there is a birthday this week as well). Why is that a practical goal and a good challenge? I'm out in Atlantic City this weekend. I'm not going there to gamble but I'd like to be able to play a couple of hands of blackjack, if possible. If I can make it to Saturday without spending any entertainment money, I'll have $100 to gamble with. Whatever I spend in bars, movies, etc gets taken out of that budget.

So that's a practical challenge with a real reward. And, who knows, maybe I won't even gamble in AC. It's not like I need to.

Finances
1 - Church: $5

I didn't have a ten on me...I'll give $15 next week.

2 - Library: $4.80

Late fees on three of my five books. There was a bit of a bottleneck; The Great Bridge was too long and I couldn't finish Epileptic but I kept trying anyway.

3 - Dremos: $19

Two pitchers of beer. They comped me the humus. Nice.

I spent $115.51 this week. Very close to my $100 goal for this week. I didn't my goal but, honestly, I'm happy with how good I did.

Food

Well, my goal was to stick to the diet with the exception of one night out. I had one crappy meal all week and drinks the past two night. Otherwise I was on target. I'm happy with how I did but I won't lie, I know I shouldn't have had two nights of heavy drinking.

1 - One piece of multi-grain bread, one tablespoon of peanut butter, and one cup of skim milk
2 - Eucharist and a bit of sacramental wine
3 - Two lightly-breaded chicken cutlets, a slice of provolone, and some honey mustard
4 - Brazil nuts and dried cranberries
5 - Pita and humus
6 - I'm not sure how much I drank, honestly. There were pitchers going around. But I think it'd be fair to say that I had two pitchers of Miller Light since that's what I bought.
6 - Medium-sized serving of chicken vindaloo and rice. A little bit of naan on the side.

Workout

My goal was to go to the gym five times this week. Mission accomplished, no caveats.

1 - Ten minutes on the bike.

I got a nasty cramp in my calf last night that stuck with me all day. Combined with a light cough I decided to stay away from a cardio-intensive warm up.

2 - Super-set: Bench-presses (3 sets of 8 with 95 lbs) and yoga-ball crunches (3 sets of 50)
3 - Super-set: Chin ups (3 sets of 7 with a 76 lb assist) and dips (3 sets of 10 with a 76 lb assist)

Big improvement from the 100lb assist on the 9th.

4 - Super-set: Potato-sack squats (3 sets of 12 with 30lbs) and double-plate presses (3 sets of 12 with 20 pounds)

I love the potato-sack squats, I'm going to push that up to 40 next time. With the double-plate press, thanks to the weight options in the gym my only option is to jump to 50 lbs - that's a big jump. I may try it next time, though.

Goals for next week. $100 total entertainment money, including a night in AC. Since I'm going out there for a night of work with my writing partner, it's probably better that I don't gamble at all. But, we'll see. Stick the diet every day except for one meal. Seven days of some sort of physical activity.