New Jean FART

OK, so last week I told you about fitting into my first pair of jeans in 18 years.  Well, here is an update.  This morning I have the golf cart duty at our church - that means I drive out to the far parking lots to pick up people for about 4 hours.  It's a little nippy and windy today so I thought I would try on the old long johns with the new pair of jeans.  Not only did they fit, there was room to spare!!!! I'm going to have to tell the mrs. to shrink the jeans next time they go in the wash.  Never thought I would tell her to purposely shrink my clothes!!! Have a blessed week. Greg

FARTING in church, no less! Way to go! JP

Way to go, man!

Hey Greg and JP, I've got to get a move on, you guys are nipping at my heals with the weight loss. PLEASE write down and send me what you're doing. I had a head start and both of you are going to pass me up. I'm OK with that, I'm pulling over into the right lane as I type. Congrats to you both on the success.  About the jeans: My story is a little different. I never got to a point to where I couldn't wear jeans, BUT I've never worn jeans in the proper locale. Before surgery and even now, I wear my jeans under the dunlap. I grew up wearing them there and will continue to forever, I guess. My stomach was 52+ before surgery so had I worn my pants around my true waist, then I probably wouldn't have been able to buy them myself. Now my stomach is 40, it's 36 where I wear my pants though. I wear Levi's 560 size 36/32. I had been wearing 40s until my wife refused to let me anymore. She says they make me look ridiculous because they are so big. (I could take them off without even unbuttoning them, I loved it) To be honest, it feels good to be wearing pants that actually fit without a belt cinching them to me.  Personal question for you and JP: First, I've recently graduated from Southeastern Oklahoma State University with a BA in Communications, along with a BS in Occupational Safety. I'm having trouble finding a job, and am considering going back for a master's degree, probably in Safety.  Where did you guys go to school? What kind of degree? How long did it take you to find a job? Is that job what you were striving for when getting the degree?  I've read several of your posts and respect your opinion. I look forward to reading your responses. If any other guys have degrees, or an opinion, please feel free to chime in.  Later,

Hi Ronnie, thank you for the kind words.  On the Weight loss front it is a real struggle right now to lose in comparison to before.  Basically I am working out 6 days a week either swimming 30-40 minutes non-stop or 45-60 minutes on the elliptical and a few sets of weight lifting.  Without that I would be stalled completely.  Part of my issue is I am still on steroids that cause me to retain water and because of the risk of ulcers, carafate which really slows down the weight loss. I have been eating more - about 800-1,000 calories a day which isn't helping.  A lot of stress at work and I am realizing that my behavior hasn't transformed yet, and that is a little frustrating.  I am looking forward to being off the steroids and the carafate this week, hopefully. I wish I knew more about your field to advise you on the career front.  My concern about the Occupational Safety is that would appear to be somewhat manufacturing related.  With the continued shifting of manufacturing plants for most products to Mexico and China, I would think that is field that is shrinking, not increasing, and thus it would be harder to get a job.  But I have to admit, I don't know much about your field. What are your interests?  What would your ideal job be?  I'd be happy to talk with you offline about it and advise you to the level that I can. My background is sort of wierd.  I have a BS in Psychology from Ohio State and an MBA from Ohio State.  I didn't plan to get both from the same school, but I was fortunate (I think) to get a grad assistantship to pay for the MBA.  I say I think because the first 80lbs I put on happened while in grad school.  Actually, I don't think it would have mattered which school (since it was behavior related), but I have thought about it from time to time. When in grad school, NCR Corporations (make ATMs, Self-Checkout, POS) gave me an internship where they put me in the lab and told me to hack into the IBM system they had there.  When I figured out how to do that, they gave me a job in competitive analysis.  This forced me to learn everyone in our industry and was very fortunate looking at 18 years later.  I spent 5 years at NCR, then a company called Sensormatic gave me an offer I couldn't refused and I moved to Florida.  I was fortunate to work as the product manager for the deactivation products.  A product I launched that deactivates security tags happened to be picked up by Home Depot, Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Lowes, CVS.  They are still in use today if you shop those stores.  Long God story there.  Anyway, after workign on a $100million product program and realizing "what was next after that" I was planning to be a missionary.  (another long story).  Bottom line, I was scheduled to go to Liberia and when I was ready to go the country went into civil war and I couldn't go.  I didn't have a job, so I created the company we have now IHL Consulting Group (www.ihlservices.com).  That was 10 years ago. I was fortunate to have the internship and hack that systemand NCR gave me an offer that summer.   A masters degree can be very helpful, but I don't know enough about what a Masters in Safety would get you.  Before you do that, I would read the book "The World is Flat" if you have not so far.  Also, another one is called "48 Days to the Work You Love."  Both will be very helpful to you. Personally, I'm partial to the MBA because of the flexibiltiy it offers.  You can go into any industry, or just about any job and the degree helps break a ceiling in many companies.  A law degree does that too but you really want to have to be a lawyer to get the bang for the buck there.  the MBA teaches you how to think differently.  An undergrad degree focuses on a specific area.  A masters that is specific focuses even more in that area.  An MBA teaches you to be a CEO or COO.  In other words, a little understanding in every area, but more importantly...if you press in one area of the company, how does that affect the other.   It all comes down to what floats your boat.  What kind of job you are interested in doing.  Why did you go for the communications degree - what type of job were you interested in?  Part of our business is we have a ton of contacts in the retail, hospitality, and consumer package goods areas.  I would be happy to put together a mailing list for you to help.  Just give me an email off board and we can connect that way.   So that's my story. I don't know if it helps at all but I hope it does. All the best, Greg