New Thing 353, New Thing Every Day: Register for Ancestry Genetic Testing

[Did it yesterday; posted today.]

Most of us probably started seeing ads about easy ancestry testing a year or two ago. I did not think much about it for quite a while, but it has really hit my radar over the last month or two, and now I have finally pulled the trigger. The company 23andMe seems to be the leading, simplest way to do this, so I have registered to get a kit.

Apparently, what will happen now is that I will get a container in the mail, I will spit in it and return it, and a week or so later I will get a report that explains my ancestry. It will be a little surprising if I am surprised by what I find, but that would be cool. Today, I think I am one of the whitest people on the planet, with the vast majority of my heritage coming from western Europe, mostly England and Ireland. But who knows? Soon, we will, and I will share what I learn.

New Thing 352, New Thing Every Day: Go to Columbia Book Store

Did you even know that Columbia Book Store exists? It is off of Old Highway 63, near the business loop, and it is a great used book store, mostly hard cover. They even have a room full of first editions. Very cool. Leigh picked up a couple of books for Clark and I bought one of business writer Malcolm Gladwell's best sellers. I highly recommend you check it out and support a local bookseller.

New Thing 351, New Thing Every Day: Listen to a Brass Band Play Christmas Music Outside My Window

[Happened yesterday; posted today.]

Really, can you imagine a nicer thing to have happen in the final hour before leaving work for the Christmas holiday? Kent's Floral, directly below my window at KOPN, hired a brass band to play Christmas standards. It really put me in the right mood to head into the weekend. Thanks, Kent's Floral!

New Thing 350, New Thing Every Day: Have Someone Close to Me Go to Jail for Being in the Wrong Place

[Happened Thursday; posted today.]

I really can't go into any details at all about this, and it is still ongoing, but it is an important learning situation for me. Most people who go to jail probably deserve it, but not all people.

New Thing 349, New Thing Every Day: Go Through Radio Production Training

[Did it Wednesday; posted today.]

One of the particularly fun things about being the new GM at KOPN is everything I am learning about the radio business. M first training took me through all of the technology in a few different rooms (and there is a lot!). Soon, I am going to start subbing for radio hosts who do not make it in for a shift, and I am totally looking forward to that.

New Thing 348, New Thing Every Day: Attend My First KOPN Board Meeting

[Completed Tuesday; posted today.]

Barely two weeks on the job, I had my first KOPN board meeting Tuesday. They are my bosses, but I love working with boards, so I was not concerned about it. I had not met several members, and it was a good opportunity to remedy that. Before the meeting, I said I would have dinner at Formosa -- across the hall from the KOPN offices -- and invited any of the board members who had time to join me. Five ended up being able to make it and we had a great time; very little was discussed about KOPN and it was just a nice opportunity to start getting to know each other.

The meeting itself went pretty long, almost two and a half hours, but productive and good. Things are going well for KOPN, so there were no real crises to address -- a few potential rough spots, but nothing that will not be resolved in the coming weeks. I think great things are on the horizon.

New Thing 347, New Thing Every Day: Lose 50 Pounds in One Year

My focus really is on overall health, but probably the most measurable outcome is weight loss so that is what I think about the most. By March/April, I should reach my life goal weight, and I have not yet decided what metrics I will use from that point, forward. For now, I am pretty excited about where I am, and the fact that there seems to be a clear path for moving forward.

Here is what I posted to Facebook:
The good news...

Reached my 2017 weight loss goal of 50 pounds.

Lost 3.6 lbs this week; total loss of 50.4 lbs; weight of 188.6 lbs.

Today, setting aside the MS, I continue to be in the best shape of my life -- related to weight (a little more than I weighed in 2001), fitness, and nutrition. My plan is to lose another 21.6 lbs over the next several months and get to what I weighed at some point in high school

This week got a big loss bump because I mostly (kind of accidentally) fasted on Saturday. That's okay, I'll take the weight loss.

At this point, while I certainly feel better and see health improvements, there has not really been any impact on my MS. I have always assumed that actual MS improvement is a long shot, and that I would still be happy with overall improvement, which I am seeing. We will see how it goes over the next year. Wish me luck!