30 Day Challenge- Day 26

Well, I think I'm sort of failing this challenge. I don't think I really cleaned up my diet, which I think would have mad a difference in this challenge.  In fact, I'm drinking a hot chocolate with marshmallows right now.

I have worked out more, but probably not enough as I should to make a difference.  I need to figure out how to be more consistent with this. But it's easy to schedule other things around lunch.

I ran out of my NingXia supply and I think I feel a difference from that.  It made me feel better overall, better stool, etc. 

I've stayed up late the last few nights to catch up on some business emails and tasks.

I've had 2-3 drinks of wine more this week.  Had some Jack and OJ last night.

I don't know if I can ever get that workout motivation again.

I haven't been able to get back on my shots yet.  The insurance company hasn't synced up with the paperwork that my doctor says he sent in.  He did say that they've noticed that adults to stop taking shots sometimes show depressions symptoms.  I wonder if I'm getting that at times.  Not necessarily depression, but lack of an inner drive and motivation.   I'll see my doctor tomorrow, so I'll ask him.  Sometimes I wonder if that lack of drive is just because of me being so busy all the time.

Who knows I'll see if I can change my patterns.  Maybe I should try "Self Talk" and try to change my mindset by telling myself some motivating comments.

Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 19

I'm getting back on the horse.  I let myself go a little bit this last weekend. Didn't eat the best, McDonalds a few times, and had a few drinks each day.  It did feel weird not working out for a few days.

Yesterday I played Basketball for an hour. It felt good to get some physical activity again.  I did use a 5 hour energy last night. Only because I wanted to stay focused and busy so I could get some kicking business stuff done.

Otherwise I haven't felt the need for a 5 hour energy at all.  I think I should try to make drastic cuts to sweets over the final 11 days and see if I notice any differences.  I feel fat right now.

-Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 14

I didn't work out yesterday and I ended up eating McDonalds for lunch.  I let myself go this week unfortunately.  I need to pick it up again and really focus on healthy eating.  The one constant denominator was that I've had the NingXia daily and my body overall feels good.  I'm also getting pretty good consistent sleep where I'm at least going to bed by 10:30/11 PM.  I am getting interrupted sleep from Olivia and Parker though.

Yesterday I officially won the World Cup Tickets to Brazil.  I'm super pumped.  It's 8 months away.  I need to use this as a motivator to get a beach body ready.  I've tried to do that the last 3-4 years when I would go down to Brazil with Lu but never quite got motivated.

That's it for now.

-Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 13

I've sort of let myself go a little bit the last few days. I haven't worked out since Monday.  I've had a few drinks 3 times this week.  I am still getting good sleep which I'm happy about.

The adjustment is mainly to having 2 kids and the late night feedings and Olivia trying to crawl into bed with us.

I think I'm eating well.  I don't know what the 'calorie count' would be.  But I'm still snacking on candy, which I need to stop.

Hopefully I can get to the gym these next few days.

-Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 12

This morning I'm feeling great.  I went to bed for the 2nd day in a row at 8:30/9:00 pm when I put Olivia to bed.  But I'm feeling good.  We've also adjusted my time for bottle feeding to midnight instead of 3 AM.  That's made a big difference.  The initial feeling is that Lu can sleep during the day and take naps.

I worked out yesterday on the exercise bike for 30 minutes and did a few abs.  Yesterday I wasn't feeling like working out, so I'm glad I went and did something.

Talked to my doctor and he will be turning in the paperwork so I can get back on my shots too.   So hopefully that will help me with my overall feeling of good health.  I continued to drink that NingXia and I think it's helping.

I'm still around 204 pounds right now. I need to figure out how to break that plateau.   But overall my health is feeling good.

Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 11

Over the weekend I worked hard on trying to catch up on sleep.  I'm not sure if I really did, but tried.  I suppose I won't be getting caught up until Parker's milk and bottle feedings get spread out.  Last night I was able to switch times with Lu on feedings to handle the midnight feeding instead for the 3 AM feedings for a few weeks, or a week at least.

I didn't work out over the weekend, which I can notice now.  I think I'm only down 2-3 pounds.  I'm going to try to hit it hard this week in the gym and food wise.

I continued drinking NingXia and feel like my body is feeling pretty good.  Saturday morning, however, I felt sick to my stomach. I think it may have been a carry over with my cold and standing out in the cold for 5 hours for the Wayzata football game.  I had 2 mixed drinks the night before but I doubt 2 drinks would have made me sick.  

So nothing to great to report.  Going to try to take care of my body better moving forward.

Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 8

I missed a day in writing about my Challenge.  Yesterday I weighed 203 pounds, so down 3 points.  Hopefully I'm able to maintain that.  I worked out once in the 2 days.  I did a 30 minute eliptical and abs. It was a good workout.

I ate pretty well over the two days, but it also included a chipotle and candy.

I had forgotten to drink my NingXia yesterday.    I am still waking up tired because of the 3 AM feeding.  I guess I will have to get use to this for the next few months.   I did have a take an energy drink two nights ago.  Not because I was tired, but I wanted the energy to be able to get through the late night so I could complete a few projects on my computer.  But I'm starting to think that NingXia is helping me feel better overall.

But I am starting to look forward to working out every day, which is nice and a renewed focus to working out again.

I just need to get a little bit better on what I eat.

Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 6

I'm almost a full week into this 30 day challenge.  I figured I should reflect on how I'm feeling now.

I feel like I'm eating better, but should still cut back on the candy I'm eating at work.    I feel like my cold is getting better.  My body has adjusted to trying to get to bed around 11 PM, and I think it's be cause I know that it's pretty hard to get up around 3 AM for Parker's bottle feeding, and then it being hard to get up in the morning.

I've been able to arrive to work on time now every day as well workout almost every day.  I haven't been lifting alot of weight, but am giving myself a challenge.  I'm enjoying doing the elliptical cardio for 20-25 minutes although I know I need to push it for more time now.

I've been drinking the NingXia every day and one constant thing that I'm feeling is that I haven't had a need for coffee or drink any energy drinks since.  Not sure if that's the main factor, but something consistent that I've noticed.

I've noticed that at night if I've had a few drinks, mainly wine or beer, that even after 2-3 drinks it makes me tired and at times irritable, but for sure tired.  The last 2 nights we've had dinners with friends and then I've felt "out of commission" the rest of the night.  Not because I was really drunk or anything, but just tired.  I know that alcohol relaxes me.  Sometimes I've used that to help me still stay focused on various computer projects I've had to keep up with.

I will also say that something that's contributed to me getting lazy and tired at the end of the day is putting Olivia down to sleep around 8:30/9:00 PM.  I lay in bed next to her.  We read 1-2 books, say prayers and I tell her I'll lay next to her for 5 minutes and it often times turns into 10-15 minutes or me falling asleep.  That for sure doesn't help me.

I think I'm down 1 pound, but I quickly weighed myself this morning with some clothes on.

Tonight we finally have an evening open and I'll get a chance to work on some projects, so we'll see how I can do handling it.

-Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 5

Yesterday I made a pretty solid effort in my over all health and getting better.  Over lunch I did a P90X workout with my co-worker Derek.  I didn't push it in terms of heavy weight, but it was challenging none the less.  I ate pretty healthy and didn't "over eat" with too many extra food portions.

I'm been drinking that NingXia everyday. I can't tell if it's making me feel much better, but my recovering from my cold.  The cold isn't fully gone, but I just have a lingering cough.

I ate a moderate amount of candy and had 3 glasses of wine at a friend's house.  I can't wait until I get past

I did go to bed around 9:30 PM when I put Olivia down, but got up for an hour and went back to bed.  My energy level is pretty good right now.  I've arrived to work on time for 4 straight days, although it's been tough getting up in the morning.  I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting too much sleep or by body is exhausted from working out the day before.

I feel a little bit trimmer but I need to jump on a scale too.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll have a weight to report.

Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 4

I'm now at day 4 of this challenge.  This weekend I ate pretty good, but I probably could have cut back a little bit on the mix drinks I consumed.  I had 2 or so glasses of wine on Friday, a 4-5 drinks at a Halloween party and 3 drinks over the coarse of the day on Sunday.  I felt like I drank pretty healthy most of the time.

I was still battling this head cold which seemed like it was getting better.  With the exception of Saturday night, I went to bed at a relatively early time between 11 PM and midnight.  Today I feel pretty fresh.

I did not workout at all, so I'm looking forward to hitting the gym 3-5 times this week too.

I spent a lot of time playing with the kids which was fun.

I purchased a nice big shelf for the garage which allowed me more storage space and to condense into two smaller shelves. I'm pretty excited about how clean and organized my garage has gotten. We are trying to do this with storage room, which is almost complete.

But looking forward to hopefully a "Focused Week" of working out.  Just need to battle the candy demons that I will see for Halloween.  I'm sure I'll eat some candy, but I will try to get in control of the intake.  I didn't weigh myself today to see if I had any weight loss.

-Chris

30 Day Challenge- Day 1

I'm feeling pretty good after the first 24 hours.  Two nights ago, I was feeling sick, so I went to bed at 6:30 PM and pretty much got 10 hours of sleep.  Last night I went to bed at midnight, and my NyQuil helped me sleep better.  Not feeling as sick right now, but my voice is a little horse.

I was able to get through work without eating any candy.  There were some tempting times, but I fought the urge.   I worked out over lunch.  I did 15 minutes of the Eliptical and also 10 minutes of stationary bike, as well as 3 sets of abs.  I figured I should ease into it.

The biggest thing from yesterday that I could control better was that I ate 2 portions of my lunch and dinner.  The food, Beef Parmesan (Lunch) and Brazilian Beef Stroganoff (Dinner) were very good and healthy.  But if I want to trim down and lose weight, I need to have better portion control.  But with working out more I am hungrier.  I had my usual apple and banana today too.

I took 2 NingXia juice packets.  One in the morning and the other in the afternoon.  I'll try to get down to one a day.  But at the moment I feel pretty good.  I woke up this morning weighing 203.5 pounds.  But they say you weigh less in the morning.

So far I'm pretty happy with how I'm feeling after day 1.

Chris

My 30 Day Challenge

Today October 24, 2013 I am going to declare the first day of my very own 30 day challenge to myself to try to get healthier and try to change my life.


There were a number of factor that have pushed me to do this.  First, for about 3-4 years I got burned out from working out.  I had trained at such a high level for so long, (High School, College, NFL) that I just got tired of it.  Second, my weight was creeping up and my figure was letting go.  I had hit 206 pounds and wasn't liking the "tummy" that I was developing, and a thicker neck.  Third, my second child was born, Parker William Husby, on September 13, 2013 and part of me wanted to make sure I was a healthy dad for them again. 

Parker Born at 33 weeks gestation on September 13, 2013

A few weeks back I was also introduced to his natural supplement called NingXia from my coworker. It was suppose to be a juice created from this berry found in China that for hundreds of years that have kept them really healthy.  I tried a 5 day sample and liked that I felt pretty good by day 4.  I don't know if it was related to just that, or that I was getting more sleep, but I felt better.

Also I have also been off my Norditropin growth hormone shots that I used for my health, for probably 6-7 months now.  I lost a case where my insurance, Medica was trying to shift people off it, to a generic product that I previously didn't have great success with.  It was hard to tell if I was having the symptoms of being growth hormone deficient.  Symptoms like having less energy, less focus, not depression, but more not has high spirited.

Last Wednesday, 8 days ago, I decided to start trying to work out again.  I did about 20-25 minutes on the elliptical and 20 minutes on the stationary bike and felt good again.  Then the next day at the gym with my co-worker, a trainer at LA Fitness offered us a FREE 15-20 minute leg workout since his scheduled client didn't show.  Derek and I did it, and I could barely keep up.  I was so winded, and my legs were jello-ee that I had to stop a many times.  I was embarrassed that I wasn't in the athletic shaped I was in.

I have a bad sweet tooth for sugary candy.  I was finding myself getting candy at the gas station 2-3 times a week and drinking pop more to stay energized.   This week a few co-workers brought in Halloween candy and I swear I ate like 20-30 pieces a day for 2-3 days.  Not good.

I have also had issues getting to work on time.  Now I will say that it's been like this for the 8-9 years that I've worked at my company.  Some of the set back is that I'm in charge of getting Olivia to day care and sometimes she isn't easy to get going.  But I will admit to myself that sometimes I'm not the best at getting out of bed myself.  But I want to change all this.

So today, I'm vowing to stay focus for 30 days.  I want to try to get my life back in order.  I'm going to try this 30 day pack of NingXia and see if it helps.  I'm trying to recover from a head cold I got 2 days ago, so this will force me to try to go to bed earlier, hopefully 11 PM consistently.  I have a little bit of a renewed interest in working out, so I'm hoping that all these factor changes will help me see more energy.  I'm giving in and am going to start back up on my shots, and go with their generic brand to see if it will help me.  I will try to eat healthier as well.  Less sweets at least.  I don't think I will give up my 5 hour energies quite yet.  Maybe I'll realized I don't need them, but I will say that they do seem to help me stay focused.  I hopefully will write a journal entry every other day describing how I feel.  Here are some photos of me to help motivate me.


I'm 206 in weight, flabby in my stomach and neck, and am going to try to turn this around.

 

Chris Husby

First Senior Moment

I woke up thinking I was turning 31 today.  Turns out I'm 32.  My first "Senior moment."  Oh well. 

Olivia baked me cupcakes last night and she's calling herself the "Muffin Man."  So that made my day.

Happy Birthday to myself today.

Chris

Beer and Milk

A funny Olivia comment I needed to document.

While preparing for Dinner tonight, we asked Olivia:
Me: "Olivia, what should I drink for dinner?"
Olivia: "Beer"
Lucelia: "Olivia, what should I drink for dinner?"
Olivia: "Milk"

Fun Times

- Chris Husby

Don't Peak Into Cars

Last year, my coworker and I were taking what we call a "Fresh Air Break" at work.  It was our equivalent to a "Smoke Break" for non smokers.

We stepped out the back side of our office building to take a break and chat.  There was a pretty sweet looking car parked right next to where we were standing.

I decided to walk over to it and check it out, and peak in the windows to see if the inside looked as cool as the outside did.

In the back seat I happened to see a few papers stapled together and titled "Mom's Eulogy."

It was the last time I've ever peaked into a car, that's not at a car dealership or a friend of mine's car.

Lesson learned.

Chris

How to Save a Life

It's not easy for me to just bring this up as a "highlight" to my recent trip to Brazil, but an experience I learned from.

It was an experience that has reassured my feelings that EVERYONE needs to learn how to swim.    I took lessons my whole life and got to the highest level of swimming before taking actual lifeguard training. I even swam on a swim team in 8th grade just to give it a try.

While in Brazil, me and my wife's family vacationed to the ocean and rented a beach apartment in Sao Paulo for the weekend, the beach name is escaping me right now. 

Many of her family members don't really know how to swim and are a little timid to go in the water.  My wife doesn't like the water, and that stems from her seeing first hand, a guy drown in the ocean at her father's work function when she was younger.  Since she's been scared of swimming.  When we got married she braved the pool waters to start learning how to swim and take lessons.  Something I'm very proud of her for doing.   She's not quite to the point where she's confident in swimming, but she's progressing.

Back to the story.  While at the beach, me and my Sister-In-Law's boy friend Joao Carlos, decided to go for a swim in the ocean.  We were probably the only two that really knew how to swim in the family.  Our swimming really only was bobbing up and down in the waves but going out about 6 feet deep of water.  This weekend the waves were relatively high, which made it kind of fun, like the old 'wave pools' here in Minnesota.  We had some fun swimming and diving into the waves.  I should also preface this and say that I've been teaching myself Portuguese and feel like I'm about 50-60% fluent at the moment.  Enough to have "Street Portuguese" but am able to have a standard but more than basic conversation.

At some point while swimming Joao (John in English) called over to me, and he was trying to help a guy struggling to swim.  But Joao was also pretty small and was having trouble helping him too.  So I swam over to this guy and grabbed his wrist and Joao and I both tried to pull him in.  The under current was pretty strong that day, but this guy got in a little too deep for his comfort.  The water depth, however was only about 5'-9' (feet) at any given time because of the waves.  But once I had his hand/arm in my grip, we tried swimming back to shore. It was actually pretty tough, because of the current, and I actually thought about putting him in the standard lifeguard hold of securing my arm around his head and have him try to float in on his back while I swam him in.  Not sure why I didn't do it, but part of it was the language barrier I had and not being able to explain what I was going to do. Anyway, it probably took about 5 minutes to swim him back into a spot in the water where he could stand. His dad and another family member were probably in about 3 feet of water watching and waiting.  But it was a challenge for me to swim him back but we got back!

This guy and his dad thanked me for helping me, and I acknowledged.  To me, I just felt like it was my duty to do it and a natural reaction.  I didn't feel like I was a hero or anything, but looking back on it now, I suppose I did (could have) save his life. I will never know how it could have turned out, but I feel proud for helping him.  I've never done that before.


But it reassured my beliefs in that everyone needs to know how to swim to even at least a somewhat intermediate level.  We have my 2 1/2 year old daughter Olivia now in her 3rd round of swimming lessons. She loves swimming, and is picking up the basics.

It will be my strong belief moving forward that all my kids and family all have a pretty solid swimming foundation.  Especially since we live in the 'Land of 10,000 lakes.'

Thanks for reading.

Chris

Olivia saying the "Whys?" at 29 months

We are officially at the "Why?" stage with Olivia.  Here is her best quote for the day.

Olivia: Daddy, what's that?
Me: That's my softball bag
Olivia: Why?
Me: It's where I put all my softball stuff.
Olivia:  "Like for kicking?"  (as she makes the leg swing motion!!!). 

Unreal!!  I didn't know she knew so much!

-Chris Husby

Worst Start To A Vacation Ever

It's been about 2 weeks since our family vacation to Brazil.  It was a great trip but it didn't start out so well.  I feel like I can finally laugh at myself for this but this is the trip where about 15 things went wrong.

Every year my family and I go visit Brazil.  My wife is from there, so this is a chance and part of my promise to her dad that he'll see his daughter every year.  This was going to be my 5th or 6th time going, so nothing too new out of the ordinary, except now we were packing for the trip for me, my wife and daughter Olivia, who is 2 years old.

First off, our flight wasn't going to leave until about 3:30 PM on Friday, so Lucelia and I both worked from home.  I work at JobDig and Fridays are often our sales deadline days.  We had just gotten through a tough recession where our industry was hit pretty hard, in the fact that we make money by advertising the job openings that our clients have on JobDig's product lines.  Well today was a busier morning than normal and I was receiving more than the typical amount of orders for advertising to schedule. Not going to complain there, but being that it was the day of our trip, I was sort of hoping for a slower morning.  Needless to say I was busy up until noon which was when we were going to head out to the airport.  So I really didn't get the best chance to do a once over through our house and double check to see if there is anything else I needed.

Over the past few years, I have been able to park by my friend Joe's apartment to leave my car there since he lives about 3 miles away from the airport.  Joe usually then drops me off at the airport if he's available to do so.  So he was going to do that again this time.

We had gotten the tickets at a little bit of a discount $850 or so each using our Delta skymiles.  But in order to use them, we had to sign up for their Delta Credit Card.  We are trying to not use CCs but if this was going to save us money, we signed up.  Also another perk is that you always get 1 bag to check for free.  We also each got 2 free passes to the Delta Club.  I was pretty excited to try it out.  Free WiFi, Free snacks and drinks and comfortable surroundings.  Thought it would be a good chance for Olivia to get comfy before our flight, and I, get a few cocktails in before the flight so I could sleep better on the 10 hour flight we were about to have from Detroit to Sao Paulo.

So Lu, Olivia and I check in at the counter and decide to just check our 2 checked bags under me and Olivia's name.   Whenever we travel to Brazil, there is always a hang up with Lu's passport.  Her Brazilian passport has her maiden name on it and her Green Card has her married name on it.  So we can always count on about a 10-15 minute delay to get it cleared with our marriage certificate.  At check in we realized that we forgotten to grab Olivia's car seat out of the car when Joe dropped us off.  I had to call him to come back.  He had just gotten back into his apartment, when he had to turn around.  It also caused him to have to reschedule a work call, which I felt bad about.

Family picture at the Delta Club

We got our tickets and sped through the family security check line.  Once past security, I usually always head to the gate to confirm the plane is leaving the same gate that's posted on my ticket, but this time I didn't.  I saw that the gate was about 8 gates away from the Delta Club, so we went straight to the club.  Lu and I had the chance to catch up on a few more work emails, Olivia got some snacks and watched Elmos world on my cell and I got a few drinks which I was looking forward too.  It was a great 60-90 minute spot to rest.

Olivia enjoying her time at the Delta Club

We decided to head to the gate about 30-40 minutes before take off.  When we arrived people were in line to get on the plane.  Right when we got in line, they announced our names.  I walked up to the counter.  They said we've been looking for you for 30-40 minutes.  We need to recheck you and your passports and visas since you are traveling internationally.  That's when the day got worse. At that moment, I realized I forgot my Travel Visa.  It was in my old passport.  Earlier that week, I had looked at my old passport while packing and had this weird feeling about it, but still I didn't grab it.  I think I assumed my Travel Visa was in my new passport.  They said you can't get on the flight without it.  At that moment, my heart just sunk into my stomach.  I waived Lu and Olivia to come to the desk and told her what happened.  She was pretty upset.  A little upset at me, but more about the situation.  They said there is nothing I can do until I have that Travel Visa in hand.  I immediately contacted my friend Joe to see if he could pick me up to go get it.  While waiting to hear back from him, I remembered that my dad works from home and he might be there.  So I called him and told him about the situation and that he needed to grab my passport for me and bring it down.  Being the great father he is, he dropped everything and got it for me and drove down to the airport.

I wasn't going to make this flight the my dad wasn't going to arrive in time.  It was really disappointing that I had to leave Lu and Olivia on the plane themselves.  I hugged and kissed them both and said good bye.

I realized this story is getting long, so I'll speed it up.  The head of the delta 'wing' helped me search for more flights that I could get on that day in hopes I could still get down to Brazil near that time Lu and Olivia got down.  She was the best lady.  She was this short Asian lady and here name was like "Apple" or some food name.  I found out that she can't book me for another flight until I had proof that I had my Travel Visa.   So then I headed back to the entrance of the airport to meet my dad, get the passport with visa in it and go to the "Special Issues" desk.  I had been told there was a flight 3 hours later with United and I was hoping I could get on that flight.  I was in line and observing all the ticket ladies.  I was just praying I'd get a nice and sensitive lady and that I could get on the next flight without a problem.  And I for the most part did.  I got this new lady and told her the story and we started looking at flights.  She said if I wanted the United flight it was going cost $1800. They couldn't transfer my ticket to United for free because it was my error and not the airlines. I wasn't going to pay that much.  I was willing to pay $1000.  But then reality set it.  I was able to get on the exact same flight on Saturday.  So I'd arrive 24 hours later.  Luckily we were going on vacation to see family and not start touring Brazil.  I guess they also waived the ticket change fee for me too, when they would normally change me too.  All thanks to "Apple."

As we started processing the ticket, we noticed that my Travel Visa was going to expire in 3 days!!!  I felt like the biggest idiot.  I could have sworn that when I renewed my Travel Visa, that I was given the 10 year visa and not the 5 year visa. That is why it didn't even cross my mind.  So the new ticket lady had to call some "visa" place to see if I can still travel. We didn't know if it had to be valid upon my return or what.  Luckily I remembered that I should try calling the Immigration Law Office, Thal Visa, and see if they could help or knew any of these rules.  Thal Visa helped Lu and I with the first round of marriage paper work when she and I first got married.  I'm forever grateful to them and they are a place I refer all my friends with "immigration" issues to.  I couldn't get internet at the airport cause of their stupid wifi blockers.  So I texted Joe again to find the number for me.  He got me their number pretty quickly.  It was 5:05 PM on Friday.  I just prayed that someone was still in the office.  I called, the receptionist asked who I was, and I told her.  She said I'll have to schedule you an appointment unless you are a client.  I was like "is an emergency and yes I'm a client."  The only stretch was that we hadn't used them in 5 years.  Luckily Wendy, our legal contact, was there and she was gracious enough to search her Visa websites to find the rule on traveling with an expired visa.  Luckily, we found out, it only had to be valid while entering the country, and that you didn't need to show a visa when leaving.  I was cleared!  I owe Wendy big time!

I got my tickets rebooked and was ready to roll.  I kept in touch with Lu also. I told her to keep her phone on while flying and I'll text her updates.  So we sporadically were able to connect.    Think the story is done, not yet.

Heading to my parents house upset

So I was on the way home with my dad.  I was so embarrassed, I wasn't going to tell a soul.  I decided to stay at my parents house that night.  All I had was my backpack and a pair of boxers in my bag.  For the first time ever, I packed my house keys in our Carry On luggage that Lu took with her, instead of putting it in my pocket or backpack.  So technically I couldn't get into my house. Although my parents had keys too.   Lu and I were able to connect with Lu's sister Fran and our Brother In Law Takashi to tell them what happened and prep them.  Takashi speaks great English, so I called him on Skype to tell him what happened and for half of the call he was laughing under his breath.

The last part of the story happened the next day.  As you can image, I barely slept and I couldn't reach Lu in Detroit because her phone died.  The next morning, around 9 AM Brazil Time, and 6 AM US time, Lu landed and we connected on Skype through Takashi. She told me that 1 of our 3 checked bags made it down to Brazil.  She had to hand check our small carry on luggage because the over head bins were full. This was the bag that had my house keys in it too.  The 1 bag that arrived had my clothes in it and the two that didn't had Lu and Olivia's clothes in it.

 We didn't have all the baggage tracking numbers, so I had to call the airline to get some of them.  We were able to track that they were hung up in Detroit.  I asked how there were going to get to Brazil and they told me they had been booked on the next flights to get there.  But when I dug further into it, one of the bags, was flying back to Minnesota and was coincidentally going be on my flight with me on the way to Brazil and the other bag flew on a flight through Atlanta to Sao Paulo.  Bags were tracked at least and all suppose to arrive the next day when I was landing.

Last part I promise, Lu and I were going to buy an umbrella stroller to bring down there, and leave it with her family.  We didn't have time on Friday to buy it, so I went and got one Saturday morning.  At the airport I got through security really fast as I just had a backpack and a stroller (still boxed up).  Lets just say I got a lot of looks walking around the airport and on the airplane without having a baby.  Even the security x-ray person was like, "where is the baby?" "Ah, funny little story ma'am," I said....

The first flight to Detroit was rather quick.  I said next to a person that took up part of my seat, so lets just say it wasn't too comfortable., thank goodness it was quick.   Then was the 10 hour flight from Detroit to Sao Paulo.  Since I was rebooked on a new flight, I couldn't choose my seat.  I was put smack dab in the middle of two people in the middle section.  I had like 10 things I wanted to do on the plane in terms of reading books and sorting files on my lap top.  But after what I went through the day before, I just focused on sleeping.  The worst part is that feeling that you have to go to the bathroom and that you don't want to bother/wake up the people next to you to get up and go.  I only had 2 opportunities to get up.  I also didn't sleep worth a darn either.

I made it down to Brazil with out a problem and easily found all my missing luggage and found Takashi at the airport to bring me to Lu's parents house.

Looking back at it, it may have all be prevented if I would have just gone to the air plane gate right away to just confirm the flight, and maybe my Travel Visa would have been able to get to me before my flight.

The rest of the trip was rather fun! 
-Chris Husby

If you have any horrific travel stories, please share.

About This Blog

I've realized that over the course of my life, I've had a number of fun and unique adventures. I wanted a spot to keep some of my memories in one spot.  I've always had this fear that I will loose my memory when I get older, so in this blog I'll try to chronicle some stories of my life.  I'll try to be fairly candid in this blog and hopefully it's entertaining to you. Depending on what I write about, I may protect people's names with aliases. We'll see where this all goes as I start to put this together. If you follow these blog updates, I hope you will enjoy it.

 -Chris Husby