Hello. Here’s how things are going in Cody’s World:

I’ve sort of been lying low since my brother Chris’ wedding a couple of weekends ago. There was a lot to work with, and I’ve been resting and feeling great that I had a house to present to other people. What do I mean by that? Since the wedding was in the lot next door to my house, my place had more guests in it than it ever has in the 8 years I’ve lived there. Living alone all of this time, with not a lot of guests having come over in my time, sometimes I kind of get lazy with my housekeeping. Now I’m hoping I can have some motivation to keep the neatness up.

WORK: If you don’t know by now, I now am the niche publications reporter for Sauk Valley Media, which means that I am not working directly in the news room or on the news and sports teams. This is a separate, unique position dedicated to content for the many niche magazines that we publish. Sometimes I feel like I have to constantly remind people of this because people are noticing that my byline is not in the print product as much as it has been. Some people probably think I’ve disappeared from the face of the Earth. Nope, I’m still with SVM. Just reassigned, but still writing and reporting.

Our current niche product is the second volume of “Tales of Valor,” a book which highlights veterans’ war stories and such. Yesterday was the first day of a nearly 3-week stretch where I’m working on just the book. I’ve got some veterans lined up for interviews already. After this stretch comes a three-magazine stretch with the December edition of Lake Lifestyle (for Lake Carroll), Sauk Valley Business Journal, and Small Town Living East (for rural Lee County) – that work should take me into mid-December.

I recently completed stories for the latest Sterling-Rock Falls and Dixon Living magazines, as well as the November Lake Lifestyle.

I’m very happy with my current position. The flexibility is something I have enjoyed, and I feel it can help me both professionally and personally.

SPORTS: People have approached me about whether I am, or will resume, coverage of local sports in this odd high school sports year. My occasional sports coverage duties, which included a weekly column, were halted when the pandemic began; and my sports news coverage was reassigned from me shortly before I took the niche position. Right now, I’m not being paid to cover sports, but I have written three sports-related features for the magazines.

As of this post, the IHSA may have an update about the winter sports season on Oct. 28. I am hopeful that the modified season (sans tournaments, short season, and postseason uncertainty) will begin on Dec. 1, but that all depends on Illinois’ virus positivity rate.

As of now, there are not any plans, at this time, for me to cover games during the winter sports season for SVM. That may change, but that won’t be my call. However, I am hopeful that I will return to the sports scene for the football season in the spring. I am also hopeful that I may be doing something, in some capacity, for the basketball season.

FOUNDATION: What do I mean by foundation? It’s a better way of labeling this topic other than “finance,” but this is mainly about finance. I recently concluded a week of vacation where I only went on one small road trip. I’ve been trying to spend less money on things other than food, and reduce my discretionary spending. I’ll admit that I do not have a strong financial foundation for a 34-year-old man, but I’m working on it.

With expenses rising and the occasional unfortunate episode, it’s caused me to realign finances and find ways to generate more income. The latest “unfortunate episode” was a problem with the gear shifter in my car.

Of course, everyone’s obvious solution to generating more income is to find a second job. However, the uneven schedule of work with appointments and writing time doesn’t allow me to maintain a set-schedule second job. I can’t even guarantee weekends without working on something. In addition, I am not where I want to be health-wise in order to give 110% to a second job. Over the last week, I sat at home and wondered how things were going to financially be better. What I wound up determining was that the only way I was going to generate more income was to put myself in a position where I CAN give 110% to a second job.

I have been putting some things for sale on the Facebook “spring cleaning” websites to try and make something.

HEALTH: What a written transition here. I’m still trying to fight my health demons. I’m being helped with a morning compliment of 1,000 mg of Metformin, 10 mg of Glipizide, and 40 mg of Atorvastatin; and an evening compliment of 1,000 mg of Metformin, 10 mg of Glipizide, and 10 mg of Lisinopril. All in all, 10 pills a day, 70 pills a week. The Metformin and Glipizide is for blood sugar, Atorvastatin is for cholesterol, and Lisinopril is for blood pressure. I’m working on trying to lower blood sugar, good/bad cholesterol, triglycerides, and A1C; those numbers are getting better. However, my weight still is not really going anywhere.

The cooler weather obviously is hurting my walking chances, but I’m hopeful to get back into a rhythm soon. One thing I did recently was buy a scale that has a higher maximum weight than most scales. I now can check my weight every day. Previously, I used to only know my weight during clinic visits. I’m hoping that checking my weight daily will help me with making better decisions. I just want that number to keep getting smaller. So with this development, I’m hopeful I can alter my health plan to have better results.

Every few weeks seems like a re-altering of life’s procedures. These re-alterings are going to keep happening, but I hope that each one is a better tweak than the one before.