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Top 10 Diet and Exercise Life Hacks for your 30's.

So you’re in your thirties. You’ve got your career somewhat figured out and it’s going. You’re making money and you’ve got some kids. You’re in the whirlwind of life of logistics, meetings, kid activities, and the occasional date night when you can fit it in. You realize you’ve had to buy new clothes because your old ones don’t fit anymore. Maybe someone cracked a joke about your weight or your dad bod or mom jeans and you hadn’t even really thought about it for the last few years because you’ve just been busy. (This also works for your 20’s, 40’s, 50’s, etc)

Long Overdue Update

So it’s been a while since I updated anything on here. Life gets busy. Here are the highlights of 2018.

• I sold my house in January and moved to Georgia for a 9 month Army school. (WOBC)
• I learned to track my eating and lifted weights for 7 months which resulted in me losing 20 lbs and getting stronger.
• I can bench 225lbs, squat 170lbs, and deadlift 325lbs on my best of best days.
• I graduated Honor grad (2nd in the class) from my WOBC course at the end of August.  I’m a fully qualified 255A and up for CW2 next May.
• I received a promotion at my civilian job to Information Security Manager.  Yes I’m that IT security nerd. But it’s fun stuff!
• We moved back to Overland Park, Kansas over Labor Day weekend.
• The kids are back in school and I’m back at work this week. We are getting settled into our new house and new routines quite nicely after a busy, busy 3 weeks.
• Amy and I joined the crossfit gym across the street from our house. It’s fun and challenging.
• I learned that property tax is done differently in KS vs MO.
• Moving is expensive, even when you save and plan for it. So many small things you have to buy.
• More updates to come later.  Follow me on twitter @derekcreason for semi more frequent updates and Amy’s instagram stories are probably the most up to date of our random day to day lives.  We are having a blast living life and embracing this new chapter of our lives including new job, new school, new church, new neighbors, new community, new gym, new friends, new drivers licenses, new car tags, and some of our favorites to include same friends, same chiefs fans, same awesome KC metro, same KC BBQ, and more! Be sure to say hi or come over and see the new place!

Until next time, Stay positive and embrace challenges. Or some other motivational quip….  :) Later, Derek

I have a Podcast!

That’s right. I have launched a podcast.

One more place to share my thoughts on whatever. From movies, TV, and music, to news, politics, faith, IT nerdery, and more. Listen in for fun and try to decipher my attempts to be creative, witty, funny, and engaging in an audio format.

Below are the links for iphones and androids or pc!

Itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/derek-creason/id1362333204

Pocketcasts: http://pca.st/nw95

Anchor.fm /derekcreason for computer browsers. https://anchor.fm/derekcreason

So go listen and subscribe and send me your feedback! I hope you enjoy it. Later, Derek

Nothing else matters but the Gospel

This weekend I had the privilege to attend a conference at church. It’s aim was to get men to focus on God. To stop being fence straddlers and live for Jesus. Part of me was dreading it earlier in the week, and another part of me was encouraged. It was exactly what I needed in this busy time of my life.

Time for a confession: I imagine some of you may be like me. You’ve come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, but you’ve gotten busy due to life and compartmentalized Jesus away. I’ll give Jesus this day or that relationship, but not my work friends. Or I’ll give Jesus this money, but that side income shouldn’t count for tithe because I want a new xyz.  I’ll work on developing this relationship because it’s easier than reaching out to new people. I can flirt with this sin because I can handle it unlike others. I can act one way with one group of friends but pretend God doesn’t exist with another group of friends. And on and on it goes. We rationalize it away in our mind.

Project Sunken Treasure

You probably didn’t notice or care. But this site has been down since August 22nd. That’s 8 weeks to the day.  That was a rough day as I woke up to 8 inches of water in my basement.

I learned a few lessons that day. Here are a few of them.

1. Don’t store your computer tower on the floor.
2. Don’t put your hard drive in the lowest bay in your computer tower.
3. Your backups of your computer files should not be on the computer next to your tower.  (I wasn’t quite at the 3 - 2 - 1 backup rule.)
4. You’d be surprised how much junk you store in your basement that you don’t need.
5. Throwing away your stuff is emotional. (It was my junk!)
6. Thank God for insurance.

So despite that major setback in life, things have been crazy busy and the world drives on.

Meet Benjamin Joshua!

On Friday January 27th, 2017 at 12:32am, My 4th child was born. Benjamin Joshua Creason. He is a pretty cool little kid and he is doing well. Both him and mom are back at home and settling  in nicely. Here are a few pics.

As many people know, I like to keep the names of my children a secret until they are born. This is usually for a few different reasons. Mostly its just fun and adds to the excitement.  For our 4th child, we chose to honor some soldiers with the naming  of our son. Here is the meaning behind his name.

Goals

So it’s a new year. Which means a new round of goals. No, not silly resolutions that you don’t take seriously. It’s time for you to sit down and spend a few minutes (if not hours or days) and think about what you want to achieve and what you actually can achieve.  Here are the guidelines I used for last year and this year.

• Your goals must be specific.
• Your goals must be measurable.
• Your goals must have a time limit.
• Your goals must be your own.
• Your goals must be in writing.

I used the following categories and tried not to put more than 5 or 6 goals in each category.

2016 Movies!

So we all love movies.

Here are my top 10 movies of 2016, my top movie awards, and a few honorable mentions.

Note: This is of all the movies that I saw in 2016. There are plenty I didn’t get to see yet that would probably make the list, but life is busy.

Top Ten Movies of 2016!

1.  Rouge One
2.  Free State of Jones
3.  Eye in the Sky
4.   13 Hours
5.  Hacksaw Ridge
6.  Captain America: Civil War
7.  Money Monster
8.  Nerve
9.  Deepwater Horizon
10. Zootopia

Derek’s Best awards! Best Action: 13 Hours Best Drama: Free State of Jones Best Comedy: Zoolander 2 Best Horror: Purge: Election Year Best Sci-fi: Rogue One Best Kids: Zootopia

Money

So after a few blogs on politics, let’s change gears. Let’s talk about money. Something everybody knows something about. Everyone has an opinion. Many people don’t want to deal with it or understand it. But just like knowing how to change a flat tire, or change your oil, if you have some basic knowledge you can be ready to deal with pop-up emergencies and keep your money working for you like a well-maintained engine. Ok. Enough car analogies.

Why I'm still #NeverTrump

I just re-read my blog post from back in July and it still rings true now more than ever in my opinion. I feel obliged to give one last written update on my feelings regarding the election before it’s finally all over and we can go back to normal life (if there is such a thing) in just a few short weeks. If only just to address some of the sad themes that keep recurring.