Reminders of the past.

As the summer falls upon us, I have many memories that haunt me and many that are really beautiful. However, I talked to an old friend today. Actually, she's more than a friend. My first love, I talked to her about her new baby boy. I have this warm, dark, sad, overjoyed feeling about myself. Stephanie and I were really close. We lived for each other. It was something I'd never fealt before her and am reluctant to do so after we went our seperate ways. What most people don't know is that Stephanie and I conceived a child. However, we didn't go through with the pregnancy. This is something that haunts me everytime I see a child or everytime I go shopping for gifts in the kids section. I see the little clothes and those cute faces and think to myself that I would have a near 5 year old kid right now. If you know me you know that I love kids and it really breaks my heart to think that I let that little life slip past me. When I was talking to her she asked if I wanted to see him. Of course I said yes, but when I saw the pictures, a tear came to my eye. It was such a beautiful baby. I could have had a beautiful baby with her. I'm kind of speechless right now.

Remember those you love, remember those you've lost and never let love slip away. The only thing that hurts more than being in love, is being without love in your life.

Sweet ass sweet!

Okay, so update on the Mike Program. Its all going well, dieting good.... smoking, less than half a pack left and measurements and pictures will be taken this weekend.

In exciting news, I ordered a ton of shit for my car tonight! I am pretty much as happy as can be. I ordered a full exhaust system, 2.5 inch duals all the way back and a pair of JBA shorty headers! I also ordered a prepainted full gt bodykit, kick ass! I think I'm going to pick up a tuner from a friend of mine for 185 bucks too... such a deal. Also, Im going to order the Underdrive pulley shortly, Im just so damn excited right now! Install pictures will be posted in a couple of weeks. STAY TUNED

Week One : The Deed

I dedicate week one of my human display to myself, cheers to you buddy. This week I will quit smoking, just as soon as my cigarettes run out. I have 26 left. I will also take my measurements this weekend. I will be going to the gym tonight. Next week we can expect notes on the difficulty of quitting and the anxt it brings also the effects on my cardiovascular system since the last time I ran, which would be the half marathon last year. I ran a time of 2:08:49. Thats about a nine minute mile for thirteen miles. I will approxiamate my one mile time to be around 7 minutes.

I have come up with a rough sketch of what my dieting will be like. This is an open diet as I will be on it for a year, but here are my general plans.

Brief Diet Description

My goal is to try and eat breakfast as often as possible. I will eat lunch and dinner guarunteed daily. I hope to start eating my meals slower as that is healthier for ones metabolism.

Breakfast will be light and consisting of some carbohydrates. I will limit my breakfast to cereals, breads, fruit, muffins, pancakes or things of that nature. The key goal in the breakfast idea is to kick the coffee and try and snag some energy for my days. I haven't eaten breakfast regularly in about 10 years, hopefully my little plan works.In general, my goal is to carb up for breakfast.

Lunch is going to be the biggest meal of the day. I like it this way for a couple of reasons. First, this meal is going to be the one providing me energy for my workouts in the evening. Also, lunch is the meal for which I am alotted the most time during my day. My nutrient breakdown for lunch is a lot of carbs and a lot of protein with focus on staying away from unhealthy foods, if possible. That if possible is necessary because I eat in a cafeteria five days a week and the selection is really unhealthy and limited. I will also be having a salad everyday with lunch. The salad is to have very little dressing, no more than a couple of tablespoons of prefferably olive oil and vinegar. I hope to find protein in the beans I will throw in the salad and from the meat that I will surely be eating this meal. Carbs will likely come from the small rolls they offer at every meal, one or two depending on hunger, hopefully two.

Dinner is to be the second largest, but by no means very large. This meal is more to hold me over until morning. I will have a bowl of salad as described above, one glass of whole milk and one piece of fruit. This is simple and offers enough calories until morning, which should help with the breakfast issue.

Side goals of "The Mike Diet"

*Limit the consumption of pop

*Limit the consumption of artificial sugars and additives

*Eat more vitamin and mineral rich foods

*Provide an adequate calorie intake for energy throughout the day

Tentative daily schedule Monday thru Friday

Wake up at 6:30

Ab workout

Class until lunch

Lunch

Class until dinner

Workout

Homework

Freetime

Sacked by 10:30

*this schedule will obviously have to be amended once classes are dismissed for the summer months. Ill cross that road in May.

Tentative weekend schedule

In bed around midnight on Friday

Wake up at 7:00 am

Ab workout

Breakfast

At the gym by 9:00am

Lunch

Afternoon's activities

Dinner

Go out, in bed around Midnight Saturdays/ 10:30 Sundays

*note: Daily schedule, I'm sure will have to be adjusted slightly here and there, but these are the general order of events.

To know thine self.

Category: Life

It has been said inside my head that one's life is a dynamic and of dynamics.

I realize many things in my mind and rarely share them. This is a whats to come and a sure happening of the next year of my life.

An admirable quality I find in a person is self awareness. With that said, I shall define myself.

I am Michael Thomas Knudson. I have many friends in good standing and poor just the same I love these people. I have a family for whom I care for greatly. I myself am defined through them and have grown the way I have because of them. I am caring and strange. I am 5'7" tall and have blonde hair and blue eyes. My build has grown to average after three years of college. I have nearly ceased physical activity and have most recently weighed in at 152 pounds. I have a love for life, a passion for music and the mind and its capabilities. I am an avid admirer of what we as humans are capable of. I feel what defines me are my actions, good or bad, they define you. I drink alcohol in excess and in control. I smoke cigarettes. I love the outdoors and have more random knowledge than most people care to discover. I am manipulative and I use that to my advantage. I have been described as a jack of most trades. That is a quality I care for very much. I can ride a unicycle, do a stand backflip. I can do a layout on the right groundings. I can rollerblade. I can, even in my poor physical condition, run a sub seven minute mile. I love to meet people and am extremely social, sometimes so much so that it affects other important areas of my life. I spend too much time on myspace and not enough time physically bettering myself. I mistreat women and treat them very well all at once. I am a sucker for a cute girl. I admire women who deny me a chance. I love a good challenge and though this is not all that defines me, I pose myself this challenge.

One year from now, I will accomplish this list of items through careful planning and execution.

1. Quit smoking cigarettes.

2. Do at least 15 minutes of cardiovascular excercise 3 times per week.

3 I will run the Chicago Half Marathon as a competitor, with nothing to prove to anyone other than myself. I will drink coffee for enjoyment instead of a way to wake up.

4. I will acquire adequate rest each night that it is possible.

5. I will sacrifice social experience for the better of myself in the future.

6. I will sculpt my body so much so that some people may consider me too lean or fit to the point that they find me physically unnattractive.

7. I will do more good for more people and be less selfish.

8. I will maintain an organized lifestyle by any means necessary.

9. I will not pursue a women who doesn't show significant interest in me first.

and finally,

10. I will record all of this from start to finish to document the amazing changes a person can make in their life without any outside influence. I will do all of this as a fact of science, that the mind can over power any physical distress and endure any amount of change so long as the participant is willing to partake in said changes.

This is an astounding amount of change. There is nothing small about the tasks I place before myself. This will take careful planning and here is what I'm going to have to do to prepare.

I have to assess my current diet and physical condition. I plan to take pictures for the before and take them once a month to show any changes that may take place. I will measure my body in various places to measure the gain or loss of inches in that particular region.

Diet assessment:

Foods consumed:

Alcohol consumed:

Current physical condition:

1 mile run:

3 mile run:

Squats lift repetition weight:

Leg press repetition weight:

Bench press repetition weight:

      Flat bench:

      Incline:

      Decline:

Seated row repetition weight:

Lat pulldown repetition weight:

Shoulder press repetition weight:

Bicep curl repetition weight:

Tricep pushdown repetition weight:

Amount of pullups:

Amount of pushups:

Physical appearance:

Neck measurement:

Shoulder measurement:

Chest measurement:

Torso measurement:

Waist measurment:

Upper arm measurement:

Lower arm measurement:

Upper leg measurement:

Lower leg measurement:

Weight:

I will also record the amount of time spent doing physical excercise each month.

This begins tomorrow.

The car

Its only fair that I blog about my car. It seems to be the only really stable love interest in my life... we work well together. Despite the lack of affection I'll take it for now.

Ellen has really been getting some love lately. I picked you a C&L intake about a month ago. She already has a GMS 70mm Throttle Body and a Hurst shifter. So long as you don't tell... I'm ordering the Shaker Hood assembly to be installed over spring break. Then as soon as the funds are available, Im going to order my Pypes true dual exhaust system and JBA shorties, followed by tunes and  a full GT makeover. Then Ill pick up her summer tires and my 18" Black deep dish bullitts.

From there I really dont know what I'll do... probably underdrive pulley, 3.73's, LSD, suspension build. I havent decided on any suspension setups yet. Thats really going to take some research on my part. But at the moment I think I'm going to go for a full BMR setup with a detroit t-loc. All of these upgrades should drop about 70 pounds from the weight and put me at a healthy 245hp and maybe 250ft/lb trq at the wheels, that would be sufficient. That coupled with the charcoal grey mettalic stripes Im gonna lay down. She'll be beautiful.