Week 1: 18 Points

18? Are you kidding me?! That's 36%. Lousy. I failed in my very first week! This is going to be harder than I thought.

In all fairness, it was a strange week. I was traveling all week for interviews, so there were certain things like walking the dogs, cleaning a room at home, etc., that I just simply couldn't do. As for the rest? I don't know. I was close in several categories, but this game is an all-or-nothing deal. I'm not going to bore you with every score and every detail, but I'll mention a few with my summary.

Relationship: 4 points out of 5
Not too bad. The only thing I missed was the one point for taking Meredith on a romantic date. Like I said, I was gone all week, so that was expected. The one day I spent in town, we were catering a bridal shower, so that kept us from going out last night.

Home: 1/5
Pathetic. I helped around the house (cooking and hosting the shower, then coming home and doing laundry and dishes), but I didn't clean a room, walk the dogs, or update our budget. On a brighter note, however, I did the budget this morning, which means I WILL get that point this week!

Diet/Health: 6/17
Not very good here either. I was pretty close to getting 12, but things fell apart at the end. I failed in my attempts to drink 8 glasses of water a day, drinking all 8 on 4 days of the week and about 2 on the other 3. I also failed on fruits & veggies, salad (I ate it for lunch twice but never for dinner), red meat (three times), drinking (went out with law school friend Thursday night), sleep (47 hours total -- 2 short; consequence of going to bed at 4 Thursday night), and fast food (my wife brought home Sonic last night for dinner -- also contributing to the red meat issue). I'm trying to be better here already. I'm on my 3rd glass of water today, and I had a salad and apple for lunch today. I plan on going to sleep early tonight; we'll see.

Exercise: 0/7
What?!!?!?!? I only did my crunches one day. 0 points. I didn't run or swim at all. 0 points. I didn't stretch at all. 0 points. My formula for weight is 163 - n, where n is the month. So in January, I'm supposed to weigh no more than 162 pounds. Last night I was 165.4 -- 0 points. I'm getting on the treadmill as soon as I finish this post!

Self-Improvement: 5/9
Not horrible, especially compared to the other categories. I filled out the chart, my free point. I also complimented some strangers at the shower yesterday, received many compliments on my cooking abilities, mailed off all my thank you letters (for interviews) on time, and prayed everyday. I missed points for not standing up for myself, but that's okay because I wasn't really challenged in that area. Also, I lost points for taking shortcuts. I needed some guacamole for one of the dishes I served at the shower yesterday. Usually I would make it myself, because I make amazing guacamole, but I bought the little package from the store and just mixed it together last minute. I had forgotten that I needed some as a garnish/condiment for one of the dishes. My bad. No points.

Mind: 2/7
Not good. I read for an hour, but only twice. I learned many new things, so no problem there.I posted a blog last Monday. I only worked the crossword 6 out of 7 days. I did nothing to improve my manual dexterity. And I didn't pay much attention to the news. Bad Andrew.

Hopefully this week will be better. I'm off to a decent start, so keep your fingers crossed for me!