It's 7:30am and I have not yet gone to bed.  It is the "dark months" of late fall and winter so I work much later at night than in the summer months.  However, not usually THIS late.  I have stayed up later and later the last week or so, getting myself acclimated so that I can drive all night tonight and some of the day on Friday without sleeping so that I can go to sleep at the hotel in LA Friday night before boarding our annual family cruise Saturday morning.  Well, that and I am so excited I can hardly sleep, anyway.

It has been a long and obstacle-strewn year, to say the least.  I won't detail all of it because I have detailed it so many times that I sound like a victim of unfair circumstances.  In reality, we all deal with shit - obstacles of all kinds - so my story isn't any worse than anyone else's.  In fact, there are some of you reading this that have dealt with far more than I have this year.  Still, I really need this break and am looking forward to unplugging for 10 days.

Everything in my training world has been uneventful this week.  Great sessions, diet is on point and I am happy with my condition now after battling back from obscurity only about 6 weeks ago.  I am not "ripped" or "shredded" but in the Carnival Cruise world, I will be in great condition because I will be surrounded by every-day people that aren't in shape, anyway.  Me being in shape to go on this cruise was more for me than impressing overweight, pale-skinned people walking on the inside of their sandals.

I did struggle with motivation briefly this week simply because of having so much on my plate before we leave.  It made it worse when Mrs. Skip bowed out at the last minute and missed the last couple of training sessions to get things done at home and have everything in order before we leave.  However, it was easier to push through because everything has been going so well, lately, with workouts and my progress.  Momentum is a great motivator.  That is why I will find it quite easy to stay on my diet while driving to LA and on the cruise, as well.

As I stated in my last coach log, I will take this vacation to ponder how I want to approach 2018.  I am leaning towards competing but we also will likely be dealing with a possible move to Florida, too.  Mrs. Skip has a couple options that look very good for relocating with her company (or another company) and they seem like pretty good offers.  Hopefully, we hear something today before we leave and can take the vacation to consider the big decisions in that regard.  Oh, and break it to the kids, as well, though they have stated they would give up rural, small-town Colorado living for the beach and beautiful weather, anyway.  Kids are kids, though, and they change their mind like the weather changes in Colorado.

Look for pics on social media as I will be posting quite a bit as Mom and Dad will be the only ones with their phones.  I don't trust those bastards with their phones because maritime cell fees are horrendous and they lost that privilege the last time we cruised when they turned on their phones and ran up a 600 dollar bill in 3 days.  Those phones will be resting in the safe inside of our room.  🙂

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and I hope your Thanksgiving is as good as mine is going to be!