Brazil resident, healthy ambitions

For the first six months or so I've worked here, I had roughly, an hour and a half drive from where I was staying at near Speedway to The Times' office. However, that long drive is over as I have now settled into my apartment down here. I can finally sleep in when I want to, I can get on a good schedule of working out and eating right, and I can ultimately be a better employee and co-worker.

With my job, I get to talk to a lot of people who live around here such as, business owners, elected officials and other residents of this area, which now includes me, so hopefully living here will help me be more connected to the community.

Like I said above, the long drive made it hard for me to always eat right and exercise, when a lot of my free time was eaten up by the drive. But recently, I've signed up for a gym membership, and I'm working toward getting healthy(ier) again.

Not being able to work out these past few months made me realize how lucky I've been to have a good place to exercise. I had a nice weight room in high school when I was playing sports, and then I had places to work out and play basketball during my years at ISU. Actually, my last two years at ISU, I had a great place to work out -- the ISU Rec Center on campus.

In college, I wasn't always on a good routine, I took time off -- sometimes months at a time -- but it was nice to know I always had a place to blow off some steam or play basketball when I wanted to.

But now, I thought it might be fun -- and somewhat motivational for me -- if I occasionally tracked in my blogs where I am in my quest to get back into decent shape.

Of course, if anyone reading wants to join in and post achievements or tips in their own quest to get and stay healthy, that would be great ... good luck!