Biggest Loser

Today I started my second "Biggest Loser" competition of the year. I'm doing it through work, just my new company this time. Basically I have three months to lose 10% of my body weight. If I lose that much, I don't have to pay the $50 entry fee. If i don't, I have to pay the person who loses the highest percentage body weight the $50. On the other hand, if I lose the most, I get will make a lot of money, unless everyone loses 10% 0f their body weight.
By some miracle of the scale, I won the contest at Western Air Maps, even though we found out later that the scale added nine pounds to some arbitrary number. Apparently, my weight was under that number, so I won! I still feel guilty about that one...
Anyway, my plan is to cut out snacks, portion meals, drink lots of water and excersize at least 5 times a week. So far, it is working well. After three months though, we will see. I have a 3 mile running route which I am getting pretty good at and Matt just bought Wii Fit. Now, I don't think one can lose a significant amount of weight playing video games, but I do like that it really helps me work on balance and posture through yoga and other excersizes. Perhaps my favorite is the daily body test I'm supposed to take which tracks my weight and BMI and helps me get to my target weight. (I got to enter my own desired weight, so I entered a goal of 10% weight loss to help me through this competition.)
I also wanted to mention the DNC (Democratic National Convention.) It is a widely known fact that it is happening in Denver right now. At work, we got all these emails about traffic and security. It seemed like a big deal, and possibly a big headache with such a huge influx of people and activity in the city. So Matt and I got up a little earlier this morning in case traffic was bad. When I got to a major road close to my office, I thought I was breaking some law by being there because I saw NO ONE. Traffic was even BETTER than normal, probably because I left a little early. But still, i was amazed. (And no, I wasn't breaking any laws being on that street). Matt and I are lucky that neither of us work near downtown where the convention is taking place. They are diverting highway traffic from I-25, which is one of the worst highways traffic-wise already. I can't imagine what a pain it is to go that way!
My last rant for the evening is some trouble I am having with Commerce Bank. It's nothing serious, so don't get too worried. I am simply trying to change my name, and have been trying for 6 weeks. They have two copies of my driver's license and marriage license, proving my name change. Now they are telling me that they need the actual license from the state, with a stamp. It has taken them 6 weeks to tell me this, and I don't understand why all this is necessary when the duplicate license I have has signatures from the state of Kansas, plus our priest and ourselves. Also, in the time they have procrastinated, I have gotten a new license which they now claim to need.
The biggest problem with this is that there is only one branch of Commerce in Denver, so I can never get there during their regular lobby hours to talk to anyone and the lobby isn't open on Saturdays at all. The one time I did manage to get there, the lady I was supposed to talk to had already gone home. At this point, it just seems easier to either cancel my account and just use our joint one, or open up a new account at another bank. I am only hesitant because I have a pretty long history at Commerce and have no other complaints about them besides this.
I figure I should change this blog to Laura Millard in the Mountains. All I write about are the events in my life and I'm sure many of you would enjoy more about Matt. However, i really doubt I could convey Matt's thoughts, opinions and gripes as I can my own. It's sometimes difficult for me to get my own thoughts out of my head and on to this blog. Well anyway, I will continue to write as I have been, just hopefully a little more frequently.