So Lindsay prodded me by making fun out of me for hours and then emailing me today making fun of me to tell everyone about my new work chair. I have been trying to figure out how in the hell to get some exercise sitting in the office on a daily basis pounding away code (or powerpoint sadly) and I stumbled across some pretty fit folks that were using a exercise ball as their office chair and I said screw it I know what I am getting. So I picked up my exercise ball and tried it out as a chair for the first time yesterday and damnit it’s a hell of a lot more physical than I imagined. I can pretty much sit on it for about 2 hours before my abs and lower back start to burn. I was skeptical that it would actually do anything but you really do subconsciously put in a good deal of physical effort to keep yourself balanced on the ball and in a normal seating position.
I picked up a 75cm Weider one since I am 6′3″ pumped it up to the max and she was beautiful. I’d recommend anyone out there try it cause hell if what I read on multiple health websites is true and you can really burn up to 200-300 calories more per day just sitting on it thats an easy way to lose weight. 
That’s right guys I am not embarassed to say I sit on a ball at work instead of some ergonomic chair. 
General, Work and Geeky Stuff
Exercise Ball Chair, Fitness, Lindsay, Weight Loss
So shockingly enough I actually got someone emailed me and asked who I was. Now after having this up for all of two days I was shocked anyone outside of myself actually stumbled upon it so my odds on bet is telling me that it was just a spammer and I’ll be getting a bunch of Viagra emails over the next few days but ah well. So a little about me…not enough to bore you but enough to mildly know me.
My name’s John Joseph Stecher and I was born and raised in Iowa and currently live in the unbelievable cold state of Minnesota (yes I am writing this during the winter and why people like snowmobiling is beyond my small brains comprehension). I am married to probably the greatest person I have ever met in my entire life Lindsay (see picture) who despite her shopping and purse addictions still scores of the charts.
John and Lindsay Stecher in Vienna
No kids to speak of at this time but you’ll hear about them probably as they come over the years and yes they will be exploited on youtube like every other baby in existence today. I have an absolutely awesome dog Bella who I am pretty sure scientifically could be proven to be a human with as much as Lindsay and I baby her. At the same time check out the picture and tell me how you can’t?
Our little Bella
Career wise I currently work for IBM and have my own awesome little company Trackpedia with a few of my best friends and since this is my personal blog I will try to keep posts for cool technology stuff over on middlewareworld and keep all my Trackpedia and racing related stuff over on that blog cause god knows my fans…all 4 of you would have to sift through stuff.
Beyond that I am just a normal guy. I am a Chicago Bears fan (well hold on a sec that actually make me a above normal guy) and a Cubs fan, I absolutely love to race my cars, I do stupid stuff and make mistakes and I probably once and a while do some great stuff.
Lastly your probably asking why in the hell would you spend 5 minutes everyday writing an entry here. I figured writing this blog was a pretty sweet way for folks that I work with in the real world (both customers and in my company) to know who I am personally without having to ask deep probing uncomfortable questions and that someday eons from now when the internet is going the way of the Encyclopedia my kids can look back and actually see that at one time I was just like them.
Home Life
Austria, Bella, Lindsay, Travel
While I can’t say I don’t make them myself (and then subsequently break them) the one I find most humorous is the “I am going to get fit one”. Not because its not a great goal but because everyone starts at the same time in the first week of January and packs the gyms full. My wife and I had the joy of running into this early this morning first starting with having to park about a mile away from the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center which makes for a lovely walk in the lovely 4 degree weather up here. Once inside it wasn’t horrible but I can only imagine its going to get worse. Would make a lot more sense it would seem to outfox the other New Years resolutioners, who’s will if its anything like mine with resolutions only lasts about a month, and actually start in February thus having a nice peaceful and quiet gym all to yourself with a close parking spot.
General
Fitness, New Years, Weight Loss
I finally decided to actually consolidate all my different blogs into one single space. This baby will be my main personal one and then I’ll link from here to my racing and also new tech blog middlewareworld.com. It’s amazing how you can sit around for months swearing your going to do something like this but never actually do it and it was easy as hell.
More to come shortly…
General