New Year's Resolutions Progress

The first full week of 2010 has come and gone so . . . how did I do in meeting the goals I set forth in my New Year's Resolutions? Not too poorly so far. Of my daily/weekly goals, I met all of them except for keeping my fat consumption below 25% of my overall calories. Instead I was up around 38%! This isn't a quantity issue (I averaged 2,781 calories in each day, far below my goal of 3,250!); it's about choices. With our trip to the farmer's market yesterday, I believe I'm better armed to make better choices this week.

It was a great week for Smart Office Energy Solutions too as we hit another major milestone. We finalized and sent out investment packages to our first few committed investors. They now have everything they need to send us money and receive shares in return--exciting! While I was skyping with one of my mentors (Recall that one of my 2010 goals is to engage at least one mentor each week.), we talked a bit about this new venture and he decided to invest himself! Any money is good at this early stage but it feels especially validating to receive the vote of confidence (someone literally putting his money where his mouth is) of someone whom I hold in such high esteem!

We have also fully outfitted our office's power sockets with our smart power management solution and the data is extremely compelling. Saturday, for example, our office power sockets consumed 6 kWh of electricity--and there wasn't even anyone in the office! That's three offices, a reception area, and a common kitchen/printer area just sucking power uselessly. By automatically shutting off power to these devices nights and weekends, we could save over 1,100 kWh per year with no adverse impact to our business. This coming week we will begin tracking the other two thirds of office energy consumption that comes from lighting and HVAC.

Personally it was a great week, culminating in a weekend of Indian fusion cuisine. Friday night Katie and I had a hot, spicy date night at The Bombay Pizza Company, which just opened in downtown Houston. Take something I already love, like pizza, and add something else I love, like Indian food, and BAM--winner! We started with veggie masala sliders with sweet potato fries, which were delicious. The piece de resistance, though, was the saag paneer pizza, which I have been waiting for my whole life. So, so, SO GOOD!

Saturday Nick arrived in town and we entertained his son all evening, including dinner. Nick was so enthralled by the idea of Indian-Italian-American fusion that we ordered a couple more pizzas from the Bombay Pizza Company--this time picking them up at the curb right in front of the restaurant and taking them back home. We tried the Munshi, which was full of fresh vegetables, and the Berry Bombay, which had a spicy strawberry sauce--totally unorthodox and totally delicious!

This morning Nick and I had our first lift of the new year. I won't go into details, but I will tell you that, by the time we were finished, both of us had a hard time walking and I could barely get my watch on, such was the extent of our muscular exhaustion. I love High-Intensity Training and it's never better than when I'm with my original lifting partner, my brother.

After such a session we clearly needed sustenance so we and Katie headed to Indika for even more Indian fusion. Their Sunday brunches are spectacular--all you can eat, which is a real challenge for someone who set portion control as one of his 2010 goals! The drinks and food were delicious, though, so we all overindulged a bit--ok, a lot. The upside is that I haven't been hungry all day since!

Pics of all meals are in my facebook album.

So, a great week indeed and I'm looking forward to building on its success in week 2. This has some natural highlights: date night at Antica Osteria and traveling to Austin with my mom next weekend! In the meantime there is much to do at work and only so many hours in the day--ah the sweet life of the entrepreneur!