Justin Hall's Blogurrito

One Small Run for Athletes....One Giant Run for Chubby Kind

Justin Hall — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:24:20 GMT

So it dawned on me the other day as I was glancing at my blog that I never left you all with any closure on the Chipotle Diet. I'm sure the first thing that ran through your mind was....."he probably gained it all back and is afraid to post anything else" or "he probably developed some poor health condition for eating the same thing for an entire year." Well nothing could be further from the truth. As you may recall....the last time I blogged, I was tired of "maintaining" so I wanted to shake things up. The option I chose to go with was working out. My motivation was this. If I could literally drive 45 mins round-trip out of my way to eat a burrito for an entire year, then why couldn't I start to work out on a regular basis! So that is how I approached it.

And the results? Let's just say that a couple of weeks ago marked the 6-month anniversary of me working out 5 days a week. That's right. 6 MONTHS of going to the gym. So now you probably think I'm this skinny, yet sexy stud. Well......you are partially correct. It seems that even after working out...I've still maintained. However, don't get me wrong, my body has changed. As it turns out, muscle weighs more than fat. So although my body has completely changed, I just haven't seen it on the scale. I also have to admit that I'm addicted to the gym. It has become my regular "Cheers" where everybody knows my name. Not to mention where everyone seems to memorize your work out routine.

So what about my last days on the Chipotle Diet? I have to say it was sad. Even the employees were shocked. They at least gave me one final FREE burrito and I have to say that it tasted as good as the first one. OH...and did I mention it was fully automated? I believe the final metrics went something like this....

5,460 miles driven to and from Chipotle
$1,638 spent in burritos
13 fully automated burritos
1 Chipotle Employee Stalker
65 TOTAL POUNDS LOST!!

Finally, the fine people from corporate were nice enough to give me one last piece of swag. A gift that I know you fellow geeks would drool over. A Chipotle laptop bag. Complete with enough compartments to fit one PC (or MAC) and 4 burritos. Not to mention a could of lids (upside down of course)! The Chipotle MBA keeps paying off as well. Last month I received the official 2008 coin and a NICE Chipotle soccer jersey. Burritoful!! But perhaps the biggest reward of all came yesterday.

After 6 months of working out, I was ready to show how far I've come. So I've enrolled myself in three 5K's (3.1 miles) over the next 6 weeks and my goal for the first one was to finish under 30 minutes. The pics below tell the story.

BEFORE

29 MINUTES AND 38 SECONDS AFTER

So, despite the stalker, I would have to say the Chipotle Diet was very successful. But in the words of LeVar Burton from "Reading Rainbow", "you don't have to take my word for it."

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Chipotle Diet Part 4 - Even Giant Burritos Have a Last Bite!!

Justin Hall — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:46:14 GMT

A lot of people have wondered if I have fallen off the face of the earth. Well I have. Damn that Columbus and all that 'world is round' talk. Actually, I just have been really busy between work, school, and two little girls. As it turns out, finding out the world is flat isn't the only discovery I have made. Somebody forgot to tell me that children are logarithmic. By that I mean, messes, crying, and toys to name a few, do not double, they increase exponentially. However, despite all the recent changes, a couple of things have remained constant in my life. The first is burritos. I haven't sacrificed anything on the Chipotle Diet. I still continue to enjoy my chicken fajita daily. Just ask my local store manager, Jeremy. The second thing unfortunately has been my weight. It has been two months since I have lost 60 pounds, and I still have lost 60 pounds. That's right, I have officially hit my plateau. The good news is that I haven't gained weight. I literally have fluctuated +/- 2 lbs the last 8 weeks. This has left me to contemplate my next move. Thus, I developed three options:

1) Put an end to burritos and the Chipotle Diet altogether. Go to lighter eating and start a new chapter.

2) Change my burrito to something smaller, perhaps a burrito bowl or tacos.

3) Start exercising.

Since day one, my diet has revolved around the giant burrito, thus I had to eliminate option 2. Plus Eric Foster is already doing that. Not original. I was now left me with options 1 or 3. That's right, start exercising or give up the Chipotle Diet altogether. I know eventually the diet will have to come to end, but I didn't know if I was quite ready for it to come so soon (8 months). So before I made my decision, I first had to answer the question of how long I wanted this diet to go on. A couple of weeks ago, my wife answered the question for me. We have officially planned our first family vacation; Destin, FL. The same Destin, FL that has no Chipotle for miles. This vacation would mark my first week ever where I couldn't commit to a minimum of 5 burritos. Not Cool. However, the vacation will be the first week in July. This gives me four more months of the Chipotle Diet. Therefore, I have chosen option 3 and will remain on the Chipotle Diet for 1 year, until July 1st. 1 uninterrupted year of giant burritos. I don't have a set weight goal in mind, but I have set an aggressive workout goal ahead of me to obtain the best results possible in the last 4 months. I joined a gym last week and I am working out 1 hour a day for 6 days a week. 3 days I am running, and the other 3 days I am lifting weights. My goal is to not scare my children when I take my shirt off at the beach. Let's see where this journey now takes me!!

Justin Hall - Master Burrito Ambassador

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Chipotle Diet Part 3 - Perks of the Diet

Justin Hall — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:30:05 GMT

Over 7 continuous months I have consumed my beloved chicken fajita with medium corn salsa, two scoops of the hot stuff, and cheese (aka ‘the Justin’) at a minimum rate of 5 times a week. Do the math people. 155 burritos. I just so happen to know that my burrito costs $6.30 after tax. That is $976.50. Almost $1000 spent on burritos. This is not including the gas expenses incurred on my 40-minute round trip drive from Chipotle and back. In summary: I’m a fan.

However, the giving hasn’t all been on my end. One of the many things I love about Chipotle is there ability to recognize us super fans in a fashion that keeps us spending more money. I dedicate this blog describing the very perks of the diet I have received thus far (minus losing 60 pounds).

First of all there are the fish bowl drawings. Basically, this is a bowl in which you drop your business card. Once a week the store manager draws a card out of the bowl; and if it is yours, you and your coworkers gets free burritos (max limit of 10 coworkers). I made it a point to drop my business card in the bowl everyday. Unfortunately, the store manager wasn’t very good at keeping up with weekly drawings. In fact, for 3 months he never drew any card and my business cards were starting to flow out of the top of the bowl. So, I reminded him of the drawing and I won 3 out of the next 4 drawings. After that, he quit doing the fish bowl drawings altogether. However, he didn’t take the fish bowl down, so I still keep tossing my card in everyday in hopes that one day he will continue the drawings again.

After that I went on a cold streak. It seemed like everyday I would read Eric Foster’s (the other Chipotle Diet guy) blog about how he got another free t-shirt or another free burrito coupon. However, I got nothing. I knew I could probably email the guys at corporate and out of pity they would send me some freebies, but I wanted to get freebies without having to beg. I wanted to get freebies, because they wanted to give me freebies (if that makes sense). So I ate burritos and kept corporate informed about my accomplishments along the way.

Then one day in October my hard work paid off. Corporate responded to my fully-automated burrito post in disbelief. They could not believe that I no longer have to order my burrito. They thought it was so amazing they forwarded my accomplishment throughout the entire business. One of those contacts happened to be Ben Neis, marketing coordinator for the Midwest region; my new best friend.

Ben and I continued to exchange emails for over a month on my progress. Then in November, I sent Ben and Corporate my cost savings analysis on the lids. Two days later Ben responded with an email saying that he would like to present me with a small gift on behalf of Chipotle as a token of their appreciation. I peed my pants.

OK I didn’t, but needless to say, I was excited. My excitement was delayed however as Ben told me that I would have to wait over a month for my gift to be made. Yeah that’s right. MADE!! What exactly did that mean? Am I getting a restaurant or something? I think anyone in my situation would have been curious if someone said they had to personally make your gift. I have to admit…my imagination got the best of me…I had hopes of a commercial contract, a year supply of free burritos card, and a giant billboard with my face on it dancing in my head. Needless to say, the gift wasn’t any of these things…but they give me something to shoot for in the future.

Xmas and New Years rolled around and still no word from Ben. However, around Xmas I had received a gift from Chipotle. Lip Guac; basically, Chap Stick in the color of guacamole green. The Chap Stick gift came with a free coupon for chips and guac and with a postcard with a little message at the bottom saying ‘a small token of our gratitude’. I couldn’t believe my gift was Chap Stick. Not quite what I needed to complement my diet. However, it was my first real freebie.

Kind of bummed out, I continued on the diet, because after all, the diet was about weight loss, not freebies (although freebies are cool). Then finally things started to look up for me. Two weeks ago Ben finally emailed me saying that my real gift had arrived and that there were two parts to the gift. He also told me that the Chap Stick wasn’t the real gift, but that he hoped I had enjoyed it.

I couldn’t believe the freebies weren’t done. This is awesome!! Ben’s email described the first of two gifts. Up to 50 free burritos for my coworkers. Can you believe it? 50 free burritos. Wow. I get to be like Santa Claus as I hand out burritos to all the coworkers who have been nice to me throughout the years. Too bad I couldn’t have planned it around evaluation time. On top of the free burritos, Ben was going to personally deliver them to my work and present me with my other gift. Unbelievable. Chipotle doesn’t even deliver in the K.C. area. Now I feel special.

Without further delay, today was the day of my free gift; or free gifts as it turned out to be. Ben and Chipotle showed up right on time with 50 free burritos in hand and I noticed Ben had a few items to present to me. The first few items he presented to me were a Chipotle beanie, a Chipotle CD containing world music from putamayo.com, a Chipotle backpack, 10 free burrito coupons in the form of a deck of cards, and two free burrito coupons in the form of silver coins. Very cool might I add. Then Ben unwrapped a framed certificate. I have been named as a Chipotle MBA. Master Burrito Ambassador. Kid you not. The certificate was signed by CEO Steve Ells and came with an elite Chipotle MBA T-Shirt. On top of that, Ben told me that this was the gift that keeps on giving. It turns out that if you are a Chipotle MBA, you get a free gift every quarter. Hence, the Chap Stick was the gift from last quarter. How cool is that?

After the presentation was done, Ben had one last item to present to me; a stack of my business cards (Over 100 of them to be exact). It turns out that my store manager had kept all my business cards I threw into the fish bowl. He had Ben hand them back to me today so I could reuse them. I still didn’t win the drawing :). Thank you Chipotle!!

Below is a pic of me in my new Chipotle gear along with some pics of the freebies I received today. Enjoy.

Justin

MBA – Master Burrito Ambassador

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Flip Thy Lidz!!

Justin Hall — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 17:13:20 GMT

No, your eyes are not deceiving you. That is a cup lid. So simple, yet such a vital part of the Chipotle Diet. Over 6 months I have been a user, and I didn’t realize I had become so dependent on such a product. It is second nature for me, but every time I visit the restaurant I require one of these for my water cup. And luckily for me, there are several in existence at each and every Chipotle, stacked up one on top of another as shown above.

That is where the problem started. Since I am an avid lid user, I started to notice a trend. My fat fingers (although becoming skinnier) tended to be selfish and couldn’t grab just one. Out of respect for other patrons, I couldn’t put the extra lid back on the pile. I touched it for crying out loud. So what would I do? I would throw it away in the trash. It turns out that I wasn’t the only one. I observed several other customers doing the same thing day after day. So like any good engineer, I developed a solution and tested it.

One day as I was grabbing my refill of water, one Chipotle employee happened to be refilling the lids. I asked her (very nicely of course) if she could stack them upside down. Without hesitation (probably since I’m her favorite customer), she did just that. The results were amazing. No wasted lids during a 30-minute observation period. In fact, the stack of lids was the first to disappear as customers subconsciously preferred to grab lids out of this pile rather than the pile of lids right next to it stacked the old way. Burritoful!!

After this breakthrough, I decided to let Chipotle Corporate know of my findings. And I didn’t just shoot them an email. My MBA background knew that a PowerPoint presentation consisting of a cost savings analysis would be best :). The analysis was as follows (I would be more than happy to email you my presentation upon request):

Chipotle is on pace to open 687 stores by the end of fiscal year 2007

Per Store Estimates:

Customers per Day: 300

Customers that require lids: 2/3 or 200

% of customers that waste lids: 25% or 50 lids/day

Estimated cost/lid: $0.005 (half a cent)

# days open/year: 360 days

Results:

$90/store a year in wasted lids

$61,830 wasted in 2007

Assuming 100 new stores a year for the next 5 years

$444,150 wasted by 2012

Apparently these numbers turned some heads. Because as of two weeks ago, I walked into my local Chipotle, and for the first time ever, the lids were upside down. I asked the manager about it, and he said that my analysis had been forwarded to all stores in the greater Kansas City area. WOW!!

This just goes to show that big companies can listen to the little people, and that the little people can make a difference. Who would of thought that one fan can make a change. I would be curious if other stores outside the KC area noticed a change in their lids?

To CEO Steve Ells: If you are reading this, I’m available for that spot on the board of directors at anytime. I would also take some free burritos as a consolation.

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Dogs I'm Pleased to Know - Part 1

Justin Hall — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 16:31:11 GMT

The wonderful employees at Chipotle have incorporated one of the greatest employee perks I could think of. Bring your dog to work. What better way to enjoy work than to have your best friend escort you on your way to the copy machine or lay by your feet as you type your latest memo (Check it out at http://www.chipotle.com)?

Similar to Chipotle, I also like to include my best dog in my everyday activities. That is why I decided to incorporate my right-hand dog, Bogey. As it turns out, before starting my diet, Bogey and I tended to have the same eating habits. So I thought, why not make him the control in my experiment? And that’s what I did. I started eating burritos and Bogey remained on his normal dog food/table scrap diet.

Tomorrow marks the six-month anniversary of the Chipotle Diet and the results are astonishing. I’ve lost 60 pounds while Bogey gained a few too many. So much in fact, that Bogey was recently labeled as ‘obese’ at his latest checkup. Therefore, Bogey is being put on a strict diet and is being removed from this experiment. I however, will continue to forge ahead. Possibly for another 6 months. Below are the latest before and after pics of Bogey and myself. I hope that future pics will not only include a skinner me, but a skinnier beagle.

Now if only Chipotle made dog food!!

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Another Burrito Fan Enters the World!!

Justin Hall — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 14:16:42 GMT

Yesterday around 4AM, my wife decided to wake me up to tell me that it was time to have our daughter. My first reaction was to throw her the car keys and tell her that I would meet her there after a few more hours of beauty sleep. However, I realized that this day marked the last day of a long stretch of emotional outbursts, spur of the moment crying during certain commercials, and massive stops for bathroom breaks anytime we went anywhere. We arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later.

Our first daughter had us in the hospital around the same time frame. She arrived in the world around 10AM. Since this was our second child, we were expecting this to be sooner. Boy were we wrong. Our doctor was in the office and was waiting for the call from the nurses telling him it was time for him to come in so Connie could give her last push. 10AM rolls around, followed by noon, then came 5 PM. 5PM just so happened to be when my doctor got off of his shift. Luckily for us, he decided to come to the hospital to see what the hold up was before he went home for the evening. He runs a check on the baby and thought that head was positioned above the pelvic bone instead of below. He then had my wife change postions to see if this would have the baby assume the proper birthing position. Upon moving to her side, the doctor decided to check again. 5 minutes later we were preparing for an emergency C-Section as he realized the baby was coming out butt first. Thankfully everything went smooth after that. However, Hannah did have some cuts on her bottom as her butt had rubbed up against the pelvic area for quite some time. My wife is doing great as well.

Around 6:10PM yesterday, I was pleased to announce the birth of Hannah Mae Hall.

7 Pounds, 14 Oz. (Little over 3 burritos). 20.5 inches long with a crazy full head of dark hair. I'm going to need to run a check on the mailman or perhaps the store manager of my local Chipotle. To think that I've lost 57 pounds now while most guys should be putting on their sympathy weight. Another testament to the Chipotle diet.

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Gain Weight Via Chipotle?

Justin Hall — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:10:46 GMT

Ryan R. Wood recently responded to my blog with

“I’m going to go on a Chipotle diet, except I’m going

for a different goal. I want to gain weight…”

Ever since I've been on this diet, I've been constantly told of better ways to lose weight. These tips usually come from fellow 'sticks' such as Ryan Wood. Don’t believe me? Check out the following blogs and their corresponding posts:

http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/10/26/lose_weight_eating_burritos.php

http://www.figurefriendlyclub.com/2007/10/29/the-burrito-diet-does-it-work/

However, Ryan actually wants to gain weight. Now I don’t like to toot my own horn (toot toot), but I feel like I’m a bit of an expert in this arena. Now, I finally get my chance to use my 'obese' expertise to give someone advice on how to gain weight. Follow this strict regiment Ryan and you will be successful; fat and happy if you will.

4 days a week go to Hardees or Carl's Jr (depending on your region). They have this new breakfast burrito that is almost 2000 calories. It is like bacon, eggs, sausage, hash browns, and biscuits and gravy wrapped into one. Sounds f’n delicious. For lunch and dinner have a Monster Burger (with fries of course). Don't forget to supersize it. Burger King’s double whopper and McDonald’s double quarter-pounder is a good alternative if you want to mix it up. For price conscious folks, the double-cheeseburgers on McDonald’s dollar menu are very fattening and cheap. The other three days you can eat a Chipotle burrito, but don't forget to get lots of sour cream and cheese. Also, you must follow it up with a big meal of spaghetti, pizza, or biscuits and gravy. Biscuits and gravy is good any time of the day. Finally, make sure you eat after 10PM. This is the best time of the day for your body. Wash down all food with soda, beer, or other spirits and eat until you feel full at all times. Make sure you bring candy bars and donuts with you to work so you have something to snack on during the day. Do not exercise. Do not use stairs. Breath sparingly.

So I’m curious about what other advice do fellow pleasantly plump people have to give for these troubled skinny people such as Ryan? I hope Ryan keeps us updated on his results and may he one day join the ever-increasing obese population.

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The Fully Automated Burrito

Justin Hall — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:28:39 GMT

Automated Burrito [aw-tuh-meyt-ed buh-ree-toh] – The ability to walk through the line at Chipotle without saying a word, from the start of the tortilla to checkout, and having your burrito made to your satisfaction.

Being an automated test engineer, you shoot for repeatability and reproducibility. I strive for nothing less in my personal life. When I started my diet, never was it my goal to be able to walk in and have my burrito be made without having to say a word. However, I noticed that by me ordering the same burrito 5 times a week, 18 weeks in a row, my order has started to become both repeatable and reproducible. In fact, it only took 91 burritos in order to accomplish such a task. 91^st time the charm.

So what does it mean to get a fully automated burrito? Well, there are three key aspects to receiving an automated burrito. First is the tortilla cooker. It is the job of the tortilla cooker to ask you if you would like a burrito, fajita, burrito bol, or tacos. The tortilla cooker also dishes out the meat. Over the 90 visits to Chipotle, I had successfully trained 4 tortilla ladies that when I walk in, I want only one thing; a Chicken Fajita.

The second and most important aspect of the automated burrito is the condiment person. This person is in charge of the 4 different salsas, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and guacamole. The combinations seem endless. This part of the automated burrito experience took a while to occur. However, over time I have two condiment ladies that know when I walk in, I want two scoops of red tomatillo salsa, 1 scoop of the medium (corn) salsa, and cheese. That’s it, nothing more or nothing less.

The checkout person is the final key. The checkout person is responsible for asking you if you would like water or soda to drink. Also, the checkout person must ask you if you would like to eat here or have your burrito to go. This one became pretty easy to automate as I now have 3 checkout ladies that know I would like to eat my burrito for here and with water to drink.

It turns out that it took about 12 weeks to establish a good set of tortilla, condiment, and checkout ladies who knew my order. The next step was getting them to work in the right spots. Some of you may know that the ladies don’t always work the same shifts. On top of that, the ladies don’t even work in the same spots. Some days my condiment ladies were cooking tortillas and others they were working the registers. Some days my ladies were working in the evening rather than lunch. It was just a matter of time before they were all in their correct positions at the correct time.

90 times I have walked in an out of Chipotle having consumed a delicious Chicken Fajita with hot sauce (2 scoops), corn, and cheese. The 91^st time was special. As I walked in, I noticed that all three ladies were in their respective positions. I knew this was going to be good. I walked up to the tortilla lady, and she started making my burrito without blinking an eye. The condiment lady was the same way. Finally, I got to the register lady. Two times before I have gotten this far and they have asked me whether I want to eat it here or to go. Not today however. She grabbed my water cup, placed my burrito in the tray, and swiped my gift card. I let out a sigh of relief as I have just achieved the fully automated burrito. Hopefully, many more automated burrito experiences are to come.

Therefore, if you are ever in the neighborhood of 40 and 291 Hwy in Independence, MO, make sure you ask for ‘The Justin’ and sit back and enjoy the automated burrito experience.

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Chipotle Diet - Part 2

Justin Hall — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:13:10 GMT

This morning was another milestone for the Chipotle Diet guys. Eric Foster (www.chipotless.com) today surpassed the 30-pound mark on his way to a 31-pound weight loss. Did I mention he did this by eating Chipotle burrito bols twice a day without exercise? Congrats to Eric for his achievement.

I on the other hand finally hit a 50-pound weight loss. This is fitting since last week marked the 90^th official burrito of the Chipotle diet. It has been a long 18-week journey, but the results speak for themselves. Over this period, I have received several questions; most of them similar. Therefore, I have put together a Chipotle Diet FAQ below along with my usual responses. Enjoy. Next stop. 60 Pounds!!!

Chipotle Diet FAQ

Common Question #1: So don't you get tired of eating the same thing everyday?

Answer: I've always been a picky eater. Unfortunately, my diet consisted of monster burgers, double quarter pounders, double whoppers, and my Thursday Chipotle burrito. I just cut out the burgers and fries.

Common Question #2: What does your wife think about this?

Answer: I'm in the best shape since we got married. She is making sure I stick to it.

Common Question #3: About how much a week do you lose?

Answer: I've lost anywhere between 1-6 lbs in a given week.

Common Question #4: So do you eat there everyday?

Answer: No, however, I do make sure I eat a burrito 5 times a week and I haven’t fell short of that goal yet. The other two days are reserved for home cooked meals. However, I seem to gain weight the other two days in the week.

Common Question #5: So how much does it cost?

Answer: $6.30 for a chicken fajita and water after taxes. However, every two weeks I buy a gift card for $70 and that gets me through until the next paycheck. Also, I prefer the gift card with the burrito on the integrated circuit chip.

Common Question #6: So do you eat by yourself?

Answer: Sometimes. Although you would be surprised that when people know you are going to Chipotle, it seems like they always decide to join you.

Common Question #7: When are you going to get your next burrito?

Answer: In approximately 1 hour.

Common Question #8: So you are on a Chipotle diet. Good luck with that. Let me know when you gain 15 pounds.

Response: Actually, I've lost <insert current weight loss number here> pounds.

Rebuttal: Seriously!! Maybe I should try it. <Then questions 1-7 follow>

Common Question #9: So do you need new clothes or anything like that?

Answer: Yes, I actually am down 5 notches on the belt, I am now wearing XL polo’s instead of XXL, my waist has shrunk from a 44 to a 40, and my wedding ring can now fit on my thumb. Therefore, I'm skinnier than when I got married.

Common Question #10: So why don’t you try to get Chipotle corporate to sponsor you?

Answer: You think I haven't tried? Like a billion times. They say that they do not want to follow the same marketing concepts put forth by Jared and Subway. Therefore, I need help differentiating myself in hopes that one day I can be paid to eat burritos.

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The Burrito Lifetime Achievement Award Goes To....

Justin Hall — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 23:22:33 GMT

So I came across the holy grail of Chipotle burritos the other day and boy was I jealous. First of all, who else thinks its ironic that some of the most fit athletes get access to unlimited burritos. Seriously, I bet this thing gets used 5 times. I did some research and found out that Chipotle sponsors a professional bicycle racing team called, Slipstream. I guess the perk to being sponsored is this annual membership to Chipotle. Needless to say...I want one!!!

This pass just happens to belong to Jason Donald. I don't know who he is, but I salute him. This pass alone would make me want to take up bike riding. That is if it wasn't for the actual bike riding portion of the sport. Once again however, the rich and famous get all the freebies. What about the poor and mediocre Chipotle? I've always been told that good things happen to good people. I'm good people. Not Cool. Not Cool.

Seriously though, some of you may know, Chipotle won't endorse my diet. However, there has got to be some way I can receive one of these for all my efforts. First of all, I go almost every day. On top of that, I rarely eat alone. This means that I bring in an extra customer almost daily. Do the math people (don't forget to carry the 9). You will see that I alone have made that stock price go up .00000001% in the last few months. I'm in fact expecting to end up in this year's annual report to help explain the recent price hike.

Needless to say, as I came across this the other day, I had to email the people up at Chipotle corporate showing them my finding and expressing my need of such an annual pass for the upcoming year of 2008. I'm now waiting patiently for my response and I'll keep you updated on the results.

Justin Hall - Professional Burrito Consumer

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Chipotle Diet - Part 1

Justin Hall — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:59:20 GMT

On June 18th, 2007 I set forth on a journey to no longer become the fat kid. My goal was to lose weight, minimize hunger pains, and minimize exercise. Sound to good to be true? Well it was a lot easier thanks to Chipotle.

Background Info: For over the past 2 years, every Thursday a group of 8-10 of my co-workers would make the 15 minute trek to our local Chipotle restaurant. It became creatively named 'Chipotle Thursday.' As any business people know, your first office job is comparable to your freshmen year at college when you gain the 'Freshmen 15'. My current place of employment was no different. Donuts, vending machines snacks, and baked goods from a co-workers wife was a constant part of my diet. So much that I had grown to 270 pounds. Well, two weeks in June little did I know my life would change. You see, we had a big July 1st deadline, so these very same 8-10 co-workers had started to put in very long hours at work. So many hours that we were also eating dinner together. Naturally, the preferred food of choice was a giant burrito from Chipotle.

Kent Shue: Kent Shue was the new guy in the office around this time. Kent quickly caught on to Chipotle Thursday and quickly gained the 'Freshmen 15' around the 1st of June. He put on the weight so fast that his wife actually banned him from our daily visits to Chipotle. Since we were so supportive of his wise decision, we did what any good group of friends would do. We made fun of him. Constantly!! Not only did we bring our burritos back in the office to eat in front of him, but we made sure he could smell the fresh fajita veggies before we even began eating. During this two-week period of eating Chipotle/making fun of Kent, we created a plan of how one could incorporate Chipotle into their diet and actually lose weight. Our hopes was to eventually convince Kent to eat Chipotle with us.

The Diet: Our main focus of the diet was the burrito. We knew we could lose weight by eating Chipotle's tacos or burrito bols (basically burrito in salad form). However, that had been proven before. Hence, Jared Fogle and Subway. Secondly, the diet must include no exercise. What would the diet prove if we had incorporated exercise along with it. Finally, one must eat the burrito the majority of the week. It's almost impossible to eat at Chipotle everyday. There is just times when you are out of town and a Chipotle doesn't exist and also holidays when all stores are closed. However, you can't eat Chipotle 3 times a week and claim to be on a Chipotle diet. For all we know, you could have eaten salad the other 4 days. Therefore, the burrito had to be the central focus of the diet.

The Plan: So Kent was smart enough to stop eating junk prior to getting out of hand in terms of weight gain. I unfortunately wasn't that smart. Like I said...270 pounds. However, a giant burrito and no exercise sounded like something I could stick to. So I took our diet and catered it to fit my needs. After a little help from some select co-workers, the diet was finalized. For 5 days a week, either lunch or dinner, I eat a Chipotle Chicken Fajita. Topped with whatever I want on it (this happens to be corn, extra hot sauce, and cheese). For breakfast I eat fruit and for the other meal I eat salad. Anytime I want a snack I eat more fruit or salad. Finally, I give up all liquids besides water. Also, no exercise. The diet was to start Monday, June 18th.

The Preparation: That weekend before the diet I ate every one of my favorite meals. Biscuits and gravy for breakfast, Hardees Monster Thick Burger for lunch, and a healthy 3 helpings of spaghetti for dinner. All followed the next day by a big BBQ. I then went out to Wal-Mart and bought myself my first scale. I had the wife take two before photos of me. One of the front and one photo of my profile. I even made sure to turn on some Right Said Fred 'I'm too Sexy' during the photo shoot. Sunday evening we went shopping for fruits and salads and I went to sleep with visions of happy pills dancing in my head. The next morning I did my first official Monday weigh-in. A tradition that has not stopped. I honestly thought 250s when I stepped on the scale and was very shocked when the scale said 270. I must have weighed myself 20 times that morning. Anyways, I set off to work with my fruit bowl in hand and money in my wallet for my first burrito.

The Results: LIke any good nerd who has taken the time to conduct Monday official weigh-ins, I've plotted my week to week weight loss. Eventually, I will post the results on here. The first week alone was astounding. 6 Pounds!! So naturally, the non Chipotle Thursday co-workers called it 'water weight'. But I continued on. Over the next 10+ weeks the least amount of weight I lost in one week was 2 pounds. So why blog about this now. Well, last week was a big milestone; as of last Monday I had lost 40 pounds. Don't believe me. Look at the links below to view the story that Fox 4 News in KC did on me. Also, I mentioned earlier that I started on June 18th. Well today is Sept. 18th which marks 3 successful months on the Chipotle diet. So what was my official weigh-in yesterday.....

Stay tuned for future info on the diet. Enjoy the news story below. Justin

Text: www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4362523&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.5.1

Video: http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=4363684&version=1&locale=EN-US

Technorati Tags: Justin Hall,Chipotle Diet,Chipotle

Hola Mundo from a First Time Blogger!!

Justin Hall — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:53:22 GMT

So a priest and a rabbi walk into a bar. OK, so I'm off to a bad start already. Well this is my first blog ever!! I've known about this site for quite some time now, but with a little arm twisting from friends, I decided to follow them by jumping off the bridge as well. With that said.....here is a little about me.

My name is Justin Hall and I am a 26 year-old (soon to be 27) automation test engineer. That's right all you coders out there, I get paid to break stuff. With the click of a button might I add. While my experience is limited in web application/gui testing, I do have experience in embedded system testing. The last two years in fact, I've become pretty close with our Test Executive, TestStand; an off the shelf product developed by National Instruments.

My educational background is in computer/electrical engineering where I earned degress from the University of Missouri-Rolla (soon to be Missouri Institute of Science and Technology). I'm also currently trying to obtain my MBA from the University of Kansas. It seems like 20+ years of school wasn't enough.

I also am a family man. Married for 3 successful years now and we have a wonderful 2 year old daughter together and another daughter on the way.

Finally, what I've become more recently known for is my successful scheme to lose weight. You see, I've decided to give Jared Fogle a run for his money. Frankly, I think I can take him. Why should he be the only guy to get paid to eat for a living?

Anyways, I plan to use my blog in two ways. First, I plan to use this blog as a way to transfer some of my knowledge about the world of automated testing in hopes to bridge the gap between coders and testers. Secondly, I plan to use my blog about something more fun and creative, and that is to talk about my successful dieting plan. Hope you all get to enjoy learning about me as I have some of you over the last couple of years.

Justin

Technorati Tags: Justin Hall,TestStand,Automation,MBA,University of Missouri-Rolla