Today I weighed in at 205.4 .. on the scale in my bathroom before my shower. So during my shower, I wondered how accurate the Wii Fit was ... so when I was done, it went into the workout studio and weighed on that ... and it was a little heavier -- by like a half of pound. I don't know if it matter, but my hair was wet then.
Anyway. I didn't pay much attention to what I ate today. I didn't snack much because I wasn't really hungry. I didn't even drink much water. I did drink a pot of coffee though .. decaff with creamer.
Anyway... then this afternoon, I caught our collie dog, Lucy standing in the middle of the road. Luckily there were no cars coming .. and I got her back in the yard quickly. I don't even know why she went out there .. because we have invisible fencing. She wasn't wearing her collar though. She hasn't worn it in months because my roommates thought she wouldn't cross the line ... but clearly she does ...or at least today, did. It made me sick to my stomach just thinking about what could have happened, because people drive like idiots on that road.
I didn't let her out of the house without her collar on after that. I could tell she was bummed about it and every time I put her out, I went with her and she stuck pretty close to me. I think she kinda knows that she scared me ... and in a small way I wonder if she did it to get attention. I don't know ... I can't read dog minds.
Just like I can't figure out what my sister's dog wants when she comes over and paws at my leg. At first I thought it was the "I really need to potty" sign. That's what it seemed like yesrerday ...but todayl, not so much. Then I thought it meant, I need some loving ..but meh, I don't think that was quite it. I guess my sister will tell me ... when she figures it out.
In any event .. in the week that I tried to stick to 1200 calories a day ... I never made it. But even though I went over, I lost weight. So maybe 1200 isn't for me. Because I'm much happier when I eat ....
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday, January 19, 2013
1200 Day 5
So, while you thought Day 4 was so unexcited ... I completely forgot to blog about day 5. I didn't even load it into My Fitness Pal .. and I'm not going to because I'm pretty sure that I ate like 2000 calories.
I drank my shake. Then when I got to work, it was someone's birthday and my friend Katie -- who makes the most delicious cupcakes in the world -- brought Better than Sex cupcakes and we all started eating them at 7:00. I only had one, thank god, because I could have easily ate like five without a thought.
So after that I ate some grapefruit and then was pretty good until about mid morning when I snacked on some things in my desk drawer. Then I ate some yogurt and then about 11:15, I had lunch which consisted of a bagel and some diet cream cheese.
I was fairly good in the afternoon ... I think... at least until I got home. Yeah that's when I tried to eat my way through the refridgerator.
Here's what I ate in pretty much the order I ate it:
So that was my day ... and you can see why I don't want to know exactly how calories I was over 1200. Today isn't starting much better either. My only saving grace today is that I didn't get outta bed until 10:30 ...
I drank my shake. Then when I got to work, it was someone's birthday and my friend Katie -- who makes the most delicious cupcakes in the world -- brought Better than Sex cupcakes and we all started eating them at 7:00. I only had one, thank god, because I could have easily ate like five without a thought.
So after that I ate some grapefruit and then was pretty good until about mid morning when I snacked on some things in my desk drawer. Then I ate some yogurt and then about 11:15, I had lunch which consisted of a bagel and some diet cream cheese.
I was fairly good in the afternoon ... I think... at least until I got home. Yeah that's when I tried to eat my way through the refridgerator.
Here's what I ate in pretty much the order I ate it:
- Had some good bakery bread that I wanted to enjoy .. but then I realized that someone (not me because I hadn't ate any of the bread since I brought it home from the bakery the other day) left it open, so it was getting a little "firm". This really ticked me off ..but, what are you going to do ... Anyway .. .So I toasted the bread and then sliced up some mozzarella cheese and melted it over the toasted bread and ate the stringy mess like that. The cheese was great. The bread not so much.
- Open a bottle of Blue Moon and drank less than a half of a half. Actually, I sort of forgot I opened it .. which later when I remembered kinda made me mad ... because after the week I had at work ... I needed that beer.
- Ate a chocolate chip cookie with a little peanut butter and marshmellow fluff on top. I'm not exactly sure why I did this ... but it tasted okay.
- Drank a Chocolate Smoothy that I made with this bag of stuff from Yoplait. The bag said that it was two servers ... so I drank the whole thing. Later when I thought about that, I realized it was 380 calories total. You would think that would have stopped my snack attack ... umm, nope.
- Ate another cookie, plain this time. And the later before I went to bed, I ate another slice of the stale bread with some peanut butter on it. It wasn't any better this way either.
So that was my day ... and you can see why I don't want to know exactly how calories I was over 1200. Today isn't starting much better either. My only saving grace today is that I didn't get outta bed until 10:30 ...
Thursday, January 17, 2013
1200 Day 4
Wow. It's day four? This was such an uneventful day, I didn't even log my food in MFP or take notes on my eating.
6:00: For my shake today, I did a orange dreamsicle. Half a packet of Lean Shake Vanilla bean, half a cup orange juice and the rest water. Hmmmmm.. that was yummo good. Repeating that tomorrow ... which makes me think that maybe I should just buy the vanilla shake mix in the future and just packets of chocolate ... cuz then I can mix things into it more easily.
8:00: Ate some cereal after my morning meeting .. about a half a cup. I was really fricken busy today and very very overwhelmed.
9:30ish: Ate my yogurt -- needed a mental health break.
11:00: Lunch, ate a bagel - plain, not toasted and some cinnamon flavored cream cheese. That was yummy. Then I went and got a bag of popcorn, which I only ate a 1/4 of because it was kinda burnt.
3:00: Made it all the way to the end of the day without eating anything else and I didn't even snack when I got home. I just took a nap.
6:30: Dinner. Lean Cuisine frozen dinner with some extra mozerilla cheese. And then I ate a skinny cow ice cream bar. Yum.
8:00: I ate a chocolate chip cookie, but not because I really wanted it. My sister was eating one and it looked good. Then after I ate it ... I wondered why I did. It wasn't even that exciting to me.
Calorie total for the day: 1200 on the dot ...
Oh, and some dude asked me if I had lost weight today ... he said I looked slim ... must have been the skirt.
6:00: For my shake today, I did a orange dreamsicle. Half a packet of Lean Shake Vanilla bean, half a cup orange juice and the rest water. Hmmmmm.. that was yummo good. Repeating that tomorrow ... which makes me think that maybe I should just buy the vanilla shake mix in the future and just packets of chocolate ... cuz then I can mix things into it more easily.
8:00: Ate some cereal after my morning meeting .. about a half a cup. I was really fricken busy today and very very overwhelmed.
9:30ish: Ate my yogurt -- needed a mental health break.
11:00: Lunch, ate a bagel - plain, not toasted and some cinnamon flavored cream cheese. That was yummy. Then I went and got a bag of popcorn, which I only ate a 1/4 of because it was kinda burnt.
3:00: Made it all the way to the end of the day without eating anything else and I didn't even snack when I got home. I just took a nap.
6:30: Dinner. Lean Cuisine frozen dinner with some extra mozerilla cheese. And then I ate a skinny cow ice cream bar. Yum.
8:00: I ate a chocolate chip cookie, but not because I really wanted it. My sister was eating one and it looked good. Then after I ate it ... I wondered why I did. It wasn't even that exciting to me.
Calorie total for the day: 1200 on the dot ...
Oh, and some dude asked me if I had lost weight today ... he said I looked slim ... must have been the skirt.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
1200 - Day 3
Okay, so here we are at day 3.
6:00: Had my shake again, but mixed it with 1% milk. So that was 300 calories gone before I even got to work.
6:30: I'm at work, but not hungry ... so the shake does have it's benefits. Good dose of vitamins and protein ... plus curbing the appetitie for awhile.
8:45: Snacking on yesterdays popcorn. It's not quite as stale as the stuff I ate on Monday. I'm still not really hungry .. but I feel like I need to have some carbs.
10:00: Thinking a little more intently about a snack. But it's 10 and if I can wait an hour, I can just eat lunch ... so surprisingly, I decide to weather it out. Chew some gum instead.
10:45: I just realized that I have some training meeting at 11 that's going to last an hour! Frak! I should have had the snack at 10. Instead, I run to the microwave with my lunch and eat way early. Lunch = Black Bean Burger, Tortilla and a thin slice of harvarti cheese, a cup of milk, 2 chocolate chip cookies and some misc chocolate candy. (not from my desk drawer though ... from my cubemates candy jar). Lunch total: 580 calories.
12:45: One of my co-workers walks by eating a cupcake from the sub shop across the street. Yumm, I want one. Thankfully I don't get one.
2:10: Still not snacking .. I've been too busy at work to think about junk food.
3:15: At the grocery store to buy some bagels, yogurt and other misc stuff that I really don't need. On the flip side .. pushing a cart loaded with groceries is a good work out.
4:15: Home and groceries unpacked. Made myself a half of fluffernutter sandwich and drank a cup of orange juice -- because I bought a new bottle and it wouldn't fit in the fridge unless I freed up some real estate. Snack time = 253 calories.
6:30: Went for dinner. The roommate made some tuna casserole, which looked good but I held back and ate a frozen dinner instead. Why? Because I need portion control for one. If I had the tuna casserole, I would have eaten enough for 3 people. And I needed to know exactly how many calories I was having, since at this point I only had 263 left for the day. So my TV dinner netted 250 calories.
7:15 34 minutes on the Wii .. bought me another 150 calories. So I ate a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich. For the record, I don't usually buy into the workout so you can eat more philosphy ... but crap! I bought the ice cream ... I can enjoy it if I want too. I'm not a diet prisioner!
Total for the day 1553. Okay, so here's a day where I feel like I didn't eat anything, yet I went over on my calories. I'm not even sad about it. So what if I had 2 glasses of milk today? I could have just as easily drank a couple of beers ... (which would have had less calories). Life is short ... you got to enjoy it while you can.
Of course, I say this now ... come Sunday I might be mad.
6:00: Had my shake again, but mixed it with 1% milk. So that was 300 calories gone before I even got to work.
6:30: I'm at work, but not hungry ... so the shake does have it's benefits. Good dose of vitamins and protein ... plus curbing the appetitie for awhile.
8:45: Snacking on yesterdays popcorn. It's not quite as stale as the stuff I ate on Monday. I'm still not really hungry .. but I feel like I need to have some carbs.
10:00: Thinking a little more intently about a snack. But it's 10 and if I can wait an hour, I can just eat lunch ... so surprisingly, I decide to weather it out. Chew some gum instead.
10:45: I just realized that I have some training meeting at 11 that's going to last an hour! Frak! I should have had the snack at 10. Instead, I run to the microwave with my lunch and eat way early. Lunch = Black Bean Burger, Tortilla and a thin slice of harvarti cheese, a cup of milk, 2 chocolate chip cookies and some misc chocolate candy. (not from my desk drawer though ... from my cubemates candy jar). Lunch total: 580 calories.
12:45: One of my co-workers walks by eating a cupcake from the sub shop across the street. Yumm, I want one. Thankfully I don't get one.
2:10: Still not snacking .. I've been too busy at work to think about junk food.
3:15: At the grocery store to buy some bagels, yogurt and other misc stuff that I really don't need. On the flip side .. pushing a cart loaded with groceries is a good work out.
4:15: Home and groceries unpacked. Made myself a half of fluffernutter sandwich and drank a cup of orange juice -- because I bought a new bottle and it wouldn't fit in the fridge unless I freed up some real estate. Snack time = 253 calories.
6:30: Went for dinner. The roommate made some tuna casserole, which looked good but I held back and ate a frozen dinner instead. Why? Because I need portion control for one. If I had the tuna casserole, I would have eaten enough for 3 people. And I needed to know exactly how many calories I was having, since at this point I only had 263 left for the day. So my TV dinner netted 250 calories.
7:15 34 minutes on the Wii .. bought me another 150 calories. So I ate a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich. For the record, I don't usually buy into the workout so you can eat more philosphy ... but crap! I bought the ice cream ... I can enjoy it if I want too. I'm not a diet prisioner!
Total for the day 1553. Okay, so here's a day where I feel like I didn't eat anything, yet I went over on my calories. I'm not even sad about it. So what if I had 2 glasses of milk today? I could have just as easily drank a couple of beers ... (which would have had less calories). Life is short ... you got to enjoy it while you can.
Of course, I say this now ... come Sunday I might be mad.
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
1200 -- Day Two
Day two:
I went back to drinking my morning shake today because I missed it. So I mixed it with the last of the coconut milk. Plus my usual coffee. Morning meal, 300 calories.
6:45. At work, just sitting at my desk reading the email. I don't even feel hungry. Instead I feel frumpy. I hate the sweater I have on. My hair feels greasy even though I just washed it on Sunday and I forgot to put on socks. UGH... that's it. My day has gone down the drain already.
8:00: I'm so sleepy. I could totally crawl under my desk and take a nap right now. I think I'll opt for a Diet Mt Dew instead... God love Google Wallet!!
8:20: First snack of the day. Special K pastry crisps which is a mini pop tart -- and they even give you two -- to make you feel grown up for all of 100 calories. And worth every one of them. I had the brown sugar cinnamon flavor. Hmm, yumm.
8:40: I'm into the chocolate in my desk drawer for some mindless eating. I eat 2 squares which is about 72 calories total.
9:11: Chewing a piece of gum to get my mind off food.
10:30: Haven't snacked for over an hour. Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that for the first time in weeks, I'm actually working. And it's not that I don't work when I'm at work .. I just haven't had a lot of "work" to do lately because of the holidays. Clearly today, the vacation is over. And just because I've been busy doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about food -- because I have -- I just don't have time to go get any.
11:30: Lunch. Ate a bowl of Smart Starts cereal and a half cup of milk. Finished my coffee finally and ate 2 more pieces of chocolate. Then I decided to go for a walk .. and really only just across the street to the parking garage to refill my parking card and to the sub shop to get some popcorn. (they had fresh peanut butter/chocolate cupcakes there ... but I resisted).
12:30: Munching on popcorn now.
2:00: My cubemate gave me some flavor stuff to put in my water .. which made it taste like blackcherry Koolaide. I drank the whole bottle in less than 10 minutes ... and it had been sitting open on my desk all morning. Yummo. I need to get some of that.
2:45: Winding down for the day. Wasn't so frantic about snacking today, but again, I was working .. so I didn't have time to dwell on it.
3:30: Stopped at Subway and got a veggie delite on flat bread for dinner.
5:00: After playing with the doggies for a few minutes afterwork, I ate my sandwich. The roommates stared at me like I was an alien or something. Maybe they thought I should have brought them one ... but um, this week is all about me. I buy them enough food that they throw away as it is. Then, for reasons that I can't explain, I ate 2 chocolate chip cookies. They tasted great. Maybe I'll pack them in my lunch tomorrow so I'm not eating random candy from my desk drawer.
7:30: After watching Biggest Loser on my laptop, I decided to get up and workout. Did the Wii Fit for 45 minutes. HRM says I burned 487 calories. And then Wii had to tell me that I gained weight and I was more obese then yesterday. Of course, this could be due to what I was wearing ... last night I had on yoga pants and a tshirt .. tonight I had on yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Whatever the case, I decided that I don't need to do the "body test" everyday on the damn thing. It will still register that I worked out whether I do the test of not. The end of the day is the worst time to weigh anyway and all it does is tick me off ... so no more.. I'm only going to be concerned with what the scale says on Sunday morning when I weigh.
End of day recap -- total calories: 1350. Over by 150. (that damn candy!)
I went back to drinking my morning shake today because I missed it. So I mixed it with the last of the coconut milk. Plus my usual coffee. Morning meal, 300 calories.
6:45. At work, just sitting at my desk reading the email. I don't even feel hungry. Instead I feel frumpy. I hate the sweater I have on. My hair feels greasy even though I just washed it on Sunday and I forgot to put on socks. UGH... that's it. My day has gone down the drain already.
8:00: I'm so sleepy. I could totally crawl under my desk and take a nap right now. I think I'll opt for a Diet Mt Dew instead... God love Google Wallet!!
8:20: First snack of the day. Special K pastry crisps which is a mini pop tart -- and they even give you two -- to make you feel grown up for all of 100 calories. And worth every one of them. I had the brown sugar cinnamon flavor. Hmm, yumm.
8:40: I'm into the chocolate in my desk drawer for some mindless eating. I eat 2 squares which is about 72 calories total.
9:11: Chewing a piece of gum to get my mind off food.
10:30: Haven't snacked for over an hour. Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that for the first time in weeks, I'm actually working. And it's not that I don't work when I'm at work .. I just haven't had a lot of "work" to do lately because of the holidays. Clearly today, the vacation is over. And just because I've been busy doesn't mean I haven't been thinking about food -- because I have -- I just don't have time to go get any.
11:30: Lunch. Ate a bowl of Smart Starts cereal and a half cup of milk. Finished my coffee finally and ate 2 more pieces of chocolate. Then I decided to go for a walk .. and really only just across the street to the parking garage to refill my parking card and to the sub shop to get some popcorn. (they had fresh peanut butter/chocolate cupcakes there ... but I resisted).
12:30: Munching on popcorn now.
2:00: My cubemate gave me some flavor stuff to put in my water .. which made it taste like blackcherry Koolaide. I drank the whole bottle in less than 10 minutes ... and it had been sitting open on my desk all morning. Yummo. I need to get some of that.
2:45: Winding down for the day. Wasn't so frantic about snacking today, but again, I was working .. so I didn't have time to dwell on it.
3:30: Stopped at Subway and got a veggie delite on flat bread for dinner.
5:00: After playing with the doggies for a few minutes afterwork, I ate my sandwich. The roommates stared at me like I was an alien or something. Maybe they thought I should have brought them one ... but um, this week is all about me. I buy them enough food that they throw away as it is. Then, for reasons that I can't explain, I ate 2 chocolate chip cookies. They tasted great. Maybe I'll pack them in my lunch tomorrow so I'm not eating random candy from my desk drawer.
7:30: After watching Biggest Loser on my laptop, I decided to get up and workout. Did the Wii Fit for 45 minutes. HRM says I burned 487 calories. And then Wii had to tell me that I gained weight and I was more obese then yesterday. Of course, this could be due to what I was wearing ... last night I had on yoga pants and a tshirt .. tonight I had on yoga pants and a sweatshirt. Whatever the case, I decided that I don't need to do the "body test" everyday on the damn thing. It will still register that I worked out whether I do the test of not. The end of the day is the worst time to weigh anyway and all it does is tick me off ... so no more.. I'm only going to be concerned with what the scale says on Sunday morning when I weigh.
End of day recap -- total calories: 1350. Over by 150. (that damn candy!)
Monday, January 14, 2013
1200 or bust -- Day One.
However long ago when I started this blog, I wanted to have some public accountability to my weight loss journey – at least that was my intent. Just for the record, in all this time, I haven't lost any weight. In fact, I gained weight. So this year ... my new year’s resolution is to just be healthy and work out more. And if I lose weight than that is an added bonus.
Okay, so that last for like a week... I worked out every day and ended up GAINING more weight. Seriously irritated me. So back to the dieting thing again. I reactivated the My Fitness Pal application on my phone and said I was going to stick to 1200 calories a day or die trying.
I think I'm going to die trying. 1200 calories isn't a lot when you think that one slice of cheese pizza is 350. Or a cup of milk is 100. Or a bowl of "good" cereal is 160. Geez ... I seriously could eat 1200 calories in one meal and still be hungry!
And this person, a friend of mine, was trying to motivate me by saying: People on the Biggest Loser can do it ... you can too. Okay... whatever. There is no comparison to the people on the Biggest Loser and me. They are all 80-250 pounds overweight. And they all eat 2000-4000 calories a day ... AND none of them are remotely active. Of course they lose a lot of weight when they go on that show ... They work out for hours every day and they are starving!! I'd lose weight too if I worked out for 8 hours a day and ate 1000 calories.
At best I'm maybe 60 pounds overweight ... if you go by one of those stupid charts at the doctor's office. My Wii Fit has no problem telling me every day that I'm obese ... because my BMI is in the 30's. I eat -- on a normal, non-dieting day -- about 1400 calories. And my BMR which is the amount of calories your body burns just pumping blood through it is 1600 something ... so already I'm that much better than the BL people. Plus I don't have high blood pressure or high cholesterol or any other "fat" people illnesses. I'm just fat ... and pretty damn happy.
And I do work out, although not with any consistency. But at least I make the attempt.
Okay, so last week, in a non-scientific study I noticed that I seem to "snack" alot at work on stuff that I'm not really hungry for and mainly because I'm bored. Maybe it's because I drink a shake for breakfast instead of something I have to chew... I don't know. But this week I decided to chronicle l my eating for the entire week ... and try to find a pattern of behavior that I could possibly modify.
So here it goes. Sunday was my weigh in day. Mr. Scale was nice to me. 206.6.
Day 1 -- Monday.
So the protein shake that I was drinking was about 300 calories when I made it with milk. I would drink it on my commute at 6 a.m. This week I'm going to eat cereal about 8 am to see if the delay makes a difference in the snacking department.
7:45: Ate a bowl of Smart Starts cereal with a half cup of sugar free coconut milk. And I drank my usual 12 oz coffee with peppermint mocha creamer. Total calories for breakfast: 300. I'm already ahead ... last week by this time I had already ate 400 calories.
8:30: Started to feel the urge to snack. Grabbed a piece of gum. Mint flavor.
8:45: My stomach is growling. And it doesn't help that someone nuked something in the kitchen. I attempted to employ the mind/over matter technique to make it to 9:15 before I busted into my snacks. And in a side bar note: I have "stuff" to eat in my desk drawer... which in my opinion is a good thing... Because if it wasn't there --I'd be eating M&M's out of the vending machine at 9 am.
8:55: I caved. Started to munch on a bag of stale popcorn that was in my desk drawer. It's from Friday. And ummm, it's stale. But really salty and good.
9:22 I decided to eat a clementine because by now I was craving something sweet. It was gone is two minutes and it made me wonder why I didn't pack 2. Seriously, these baby oranges are like an appetizer for the real snack.
9:50; Find myself wondering when I can eat again. The popcorn is still on my desk -- but I want some chocolate -- which I also have in my desk drawer -- but am pretending that I forgot about it.
10:15: Finished off the rest of the popcorn bag. I grab another piece of gum because I still want some chocolate.
11:05: Finally lunch time. Gawd, I'm starving. I have to wait in line at the microwave for 10 minutes. Lunch is yummm. I'm having veggie stew and cheesy polenta and a bottle of water. Total calories: 300. For desert, I have one piece of the chocolate mint candy that is in my drawer.
11:53: Another piece of gum ... to get that lunch taste out of my mouth.
12:30: Tossed the gum out. Thinking about a snack now... not that I need it or anything.
1:20: Almost made it an hour without thinking about food. But that's only because I was in a meeting where I had to think about work ... now that the meeting is over, I can't decide if I want a diet mountain dew or a cookie snack from my desk drawer. Or both.
1:30: I went to get the soda ... but pushed the wrong button and ended up with Sierra Mist instead of the Diet Mountain Dew. It’s 100 calories for an 8 oz serving. Hmm, not what I had intended because I definitely want the cookie now. And I noticed on the bottle the "best taste/drink by" date is today. This is a sign that I shouldn't drink it at all. But, does that stop me? No. I drink a little of the soda. AND I eat the cookie. It’s a Fiber One chocolate chip cookie. Doesn't taste like much of anything, but it's very soft. Definitely not worth 90 calories that's for sure.
1:45: Just loaded all my food into the My Fitness Pal app and if I'm "good" the rest of the day, I'll have 360 calories for dinner. With "if" being the operative word here.
2:20: Another piece of gum and not that I really want it ... but it seems to take my mind off eating something else.
2:50: Packing up to go home. I barely drank any of the soda because I thought it had a "funny" taste, although I might just be psycho about expiration date. I leave the building without feeling the need to eat anything else... until I get home.
3:30: I walk in the door and my mother is making from scratch chocolate chip cookies. Hmm, I try so very hard to resist ... but the dough is looking so perfectly prepared ... I ate two spoonful’s. OMG. Water aerobics cannot get here fast enough tonight!!!
5:30: Just got up from my nap .. and when I say nap ... at best I probably snoozed for like 10 minutes. Between Humphrey screaming in my ear and my trying to type this blog... there wasn't really any rest. I went downstairs to eat some dinner. Finish the polenta, which was good because I had been eating it for 4 days and I was getting a little sick of it. Then ate a bowl of Campbells "lite" soup. Total calories for dinner: 300. And that included a glass of milk. So including my chocolate chip cookie dough break-down ... I net 1275 calories for the day. Not too bad, only 75 calories over. Could have been a lot worse.
6:15: I decide that I'm not feeling water aerobics tonight. I don't know why. I don't have a reason other it's fricken cold outside. Instead I go to my work out studio and play on the XBOX for like 90 minutes. I had my heart rate monitor on and my heart rate stayed pretty steadily at 116 for the entire time. Then I switched over to do the Wii Fit for 30 minutes... and ugh, I’m so pissed. I was riding the bike around the island for 20 minutes ... but needed to pee, so I tried to save the fit credits ... and it didn't SAVE it .. so my total workout time according to the Wii was 2 minutes. UGH, so ticked off. And then to make matters worse, it said I gained 2 pounds since yesterday!! So the Wii is not my friend tonight.
The heart rate monitor is however. It said I burned 560 calories for the 2 hours ... Can't complain about that.
Day one is in the bag ... Tomorrow is another day.
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
The holidays
I had some time to think about this the past 3 days. While I was driving to work on Christmas
Eve. And the day after Christmas.
Christmas Eve is over-rated.
At least at my world it is … and maybe it’s because I don’t
have kids and I’m turning into “that” ole lady that just sees everything in a
different perspective. And not that I’m
bitter about it … but dang! What else do
we not get to look forward too in ole age?
As a kid, Christmas Eve had this kind of warm fuzzy glow
about it. I got to sleep in on what
would normally be a “school day”. And then,
for the rest of the day, I did nothing but slouch around the house, helping out
in the kitchen to bake cookies or prep for the “big” meal. Or, go outside and sleigh ride, in the
mountains of snow that my dad had built with his bobcat.
Then the presents were all there taunting me, under the tree
in their red and green wrapping paper … just begging me to rip them open. Quickly. And maybe if I was lucky my mother would let
me open one … but that was it, because Santa was coming and then I’d have a
whole lot of presents to open the next day.
That “warm, out of focus” Christmas Eve experience pretty
much ended when I started working. First
in public safety and then in retail -- all jobs that just go on no matter what
day of the year it is. And then I moved
outside of the acceptable limit for a one day car ride – 6 hours one way – and I
usually only had Christmas Day off, so it wasn’t worth my time to spend half my
day in the car for a few moments of bliss.
And maybe I just have a warped sense of what Christmas eve
was for me because for most of my childhood, my mother worked for the school
system and was off on Christmas Eve. So
she was home to do that baking and what-not on that day. And most of my friend’s mom’s didn’t work …
so they all had that same fuzzy wuzzy experience. But what about those people that did have to
work. Like my dad... who was usually out
with the snow plows on Christmas Eve … making sure the roads were clear for everyone
else to enjoy their holiday. Or my
sister-in-law who spent nearly Christmas Holiday working at the hospital...even
though she had lil ones at home?
So my view of what Christmas Eve is supposed to be is a
little tarnished. And now as an adult, I’m not really sure what it should be... because in the 28 years that I’ve been a
working class citizen, I’ve had to work on every Christmas Eve … with the
possible exception of one. So I don’t
know what I should be doing on that
day. Other than running around like a
freak trying to get everything done for Christmas day.
Like this year, I worked from 6:30 until noon when one of
the big bosses came by my desk and told me I could go home – just seconds
before I went to lunch. But before he
showed up … I actually had to work – a lot.
And I was starting to get a headache over it. Then after I got off work, I went to the
grocery store to get some items that my sister, (AKA resident chef)
needed. And that probably made my
headache worse … because people were acting like freaks. The parking lot was packed … and inside the
store, people were rushing around like the store wasn’t going to be open another
day. Ever. Even the cashier had a chip
on her shoulder that she had to be there … and that’s when it became clearly
obvious to me … hardly anyone says “happy holidays” anymore. Not
that I say it much either … but its Christmas... for crist sakes? Should everyone be happy about it?
Once I got home, I hung out with my sister for awhile as she
slaved away in the kitchen and then I took a nap for like 40 minutes. Then we ate dinner, opened presents, cleaned
up and then I went to
bed. Christmas day was a fun chaotic day
– where I ate too much, didn’t drink enough and ended up with aching feet. But in a good way.
For the most part I was happy about Christmas -- because to
me, Christmas is about giving to others.
I do like to receive too, but I get most joy out of making others happy. I bought all my girlfriends at work a 10
minute shoulder massage. I put a
couple of books and toys in the Toys for Tots collection bin. I bought two
presents for old ladies in the Santa for a Senior campaign. (one that tugged at my heart for days until I
went back and got the ornament and bought the present – a red winter jacket). I sent a huge package of shower gel/shampoo
to a women’s shelter in Dubuque
and I put probably $100 in the Salvation Army kettles.
Not to mention that I overspent on my family members. I tried to buy things that would leave a
lasting impression with my family. Like the quilt that I had made for my mom, or
the legion jacket I got for my dad – even though he’ll probably never wear it –
veteran stuff is really important to him right now. Or the print that my sister has been bugging
me about all year – that I spent way too much money getting framed and then had
buyer’s remorse up until the second the wrapping was torn away. Or the necklace for my too hard to buy for
niece with her initial on it. Or the
pictures of my parents and grandparents that I put together for
my nephew. These things they will have
for a lifetime ….
And of course, I’ll have my kitchenaide mixer that I’ve been
asking for, for 20 years and finally got
… (never mind the only reason I got it was because mom’s broke). But in 20 years when I’m still using
it... this Christmas will stand out in
my mind.
I guess in retrospect, the excitement of Christmas is really
about being a kid. I still want to believe in the mystery of Santa ... even at 46. One of my co-workers
told me this morning that her kids were up at 5:30 yesterday scoping out the
presents -- she had only gone to bed a few hours later -- because she was playing Santa for her kids. She said that her kids still believe that there really is a Santa -- because someone told them once that Santa is real in the hearts of millions of people I guess that's what Christmas is for me -- even if I don't know how to act. And quite honestly ...Christmas Eve must suck
for every working parent … because god knows they have 8 gazillion things to do
to get ready for that 30 minutes of wrapping paper ripping frenzy.
So here it is the day after Christmas and I’m again at
work. Half of my department is on
vacation and my account is closed until January 3rd. But I’m here … taking up my space. Writing my
blog. I haven’t had a new email come
across my screen in 4 hours. And just a
few minutes ago, when I was perusing the newspaper – I saw a notice about
Christmas Tree pick up. Ugh .. so
that’s it. It’s all over.
The day after Christmas sucks too.
And don’t get me started on how much un-fun News Years Eve
is getting to be.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
After a short hiatus .... here's my newest beef:
Okay ... so you all know that I am very health care sensitive after not having health care insurance for a year. It was a good experience because it has made me really conscious of doctors that just go through the motions and then charge you an arm and leg for their crappy service. And it has made me more likely to not go to the doctor for every little thing ... and when I do go, I get annoyed really quickly when I don't get good service.
So a few months ago, I went to the doctor about my shoulder. It had been bothering me for a couple of months. I don't know exactly what I did to it. I have some thoughts about it ... but nothing concrete. I thought it would get better on it's own ... which, of course, didn't happen. So I finally broke down and went to my regular doctor.
She poked around, got something to pop and caused me some pain and then said that she thought it would get better with a coritsone shot. Then she said she needed to see it on an x-ray. Okay .. fine. I get that ... I guess. But I had questions. Like for example, what was the x-ray going to tell her that poking around didn't? And why a coritsone shot instead of physical therapy? Why not physical therapy?
After she answered my questions sufficiently, she said she was going to refer me to an Orthropedic specialist to administer the shot because she had only done it once -- on a manniquinn. This I pondered a bit because ... she's in a clinic with at least 50 other doctors? Couldn't one of them do it instead? Why do I have to pay extra money to have an orthopedic specialist look at my shoulder and stick a needle in it? I never actually agreed to go see the specialist, but two days later, her nurse called me with an appointment time anyway.
So here is where I really really became annoyed about this whole process. My appointment was at like 10:45. I got to the office 15 minutes early because I figured there would be some paperwork I needed to fill out. Then I stood in line and waited for 20 minutes to check in. All the while I'm standing there, one of the receptionists was talking to another person in the office about her vacation!! Loudly, I might add. Finally after about 15 minutes of me being in line, she noticed that I was standing there and finally opened her window to see if I needed help.
At this particular Dr's office, the check in window is about chest height ... which is fine if you're over 5 feet tall and you're standing ... but there was a woman in line in front of me in a wheel chair. So when the receptionist asked if I needed help, I said, yes, but I'm not next in line ... she is. And I pointed at the woman in the wheel chair.
So what did the receptionist do? Rolled her eyes, stood up and yelled at the woman. (I guess being in a wheelchair means you're deaf) Maybe if their window was more "patient" friendly ... the receptionist's sitting on your ass time wouldn't have been interupted by a handicapped person.
When I finally got to check in .. sure enough I had a ton of paperwork to fill out. Which I did quickly. By the time I got it all turned back in, I was 15 minutes past my appointment time. While I was waiting to be called, wheelchair lady rolled up the counter again and had to yell at the receptionists several times before anyone acknowledged her. (I and two other people actually got up at the same time to help her ... because god knows the medical office staff wasn't going too).
Roughly 30 minutes later, I was finally called into the dr's. office. The nurse made me put on this stupid halter top thing which I swear was designed for a 10 year old. I couldn't even tie it because the strings were so short. And why I even needed it on is still lost to me. The doctor came waltzing in the office 15 minutes later and stayed all of FIVE minutes. He moved my arm around, just like my primary care doctor did and then said I could either do some stretches or get the shot. Then he said I should take 4 advil every 4 hours for the next three weeks whether I felt like I needed it or not. He told me to do that just seconds after I said that I'm not a fan of taking pills. Does he ask why? No. Does he offer an alternative? No. Does he tell me what my x-rays said? No. Does he say what's wrong with my shoulder? No.
He also, clearly, didn't read any of the forms that I fill out about my medical history and he didn't listen to anything I said. I try to ask a couple of questions and he gave me the brush off. I even baited him with partial information and he just skimmed over it. He asked me if I wanted the shot and I said no -- because no way in hell am I letting someone that doesn't even listen to me stick a needle into my shoulder. Are you nuts?
Then he said, "Ok, I think this can be managed with some stretches, so do the stretches and come back in 3 weeks if its not better." He gave me some really lame directions on how to do the stretches ... but did he give me instructions on paper - like every other doctor or physical therapist that I've ever seen in my life has done? NO.
I left the office not making the follow up appointment because there is no way in hell that I was every going back there.
After thinking about it for a couple of hours and feeling more and more crappy about that visit, I call the other clinic in town (the one that I hate because they are mean to people without health insurance) and talked to the Ortho department. They were able to get me in the following day to see a shoulder and hand specialist. I called my primary care doctor to get a copy of the x-ray and my doctor's nurse, after I tell her about my appointment experience, apologizes to me for him -- !!! She didn't need to do that ... not her fault. She doesn't even work in his office.
The next day, I went to the other doctor and had a much better experience. In fact, its probably one of the best visits I have had at that clinic -- considering that I hate the place. I told him that I saw the other specialists and that he told me to do some stretches. My new doctor asked what kind and when I told him ... he chuckled and said: don't do those, they'll make it worse. Oh great! That's nice. Then I asked the new doc all sorts of questions and he answered every single one of them and then some. I asked him if he thought I needed to get the shot and he said: "No, I think you need to go to physical therapy for a couple of times." The shot would be a last resort before surgery in his opinion. (which is what happened before I had back surgery too ... so I know the guy wasn't lying to me).
Okay, so that was one bad experience which in the end turned out pretty good, because I went to physical therapy for 4 visits and now my shoulder doesn't hurt at all. But today, I had another horrible bad crappy doctor's office experience.
I had to go to the eye doctor and normally I go to the Eye Clinic at the University of Iowa. -- and I love going there because they are always so nice. But I decided to go somewhere local because going to IC requires me to take vacation time and I'm not going waste any of my last 4 days on an eye doctor appointment. I should know better though ... last year about this time, I went to a local eye place to get some glasses and the doctor was a complete and total DICK and I could never see out of those glasses -- in fact they give me a headache every time I wear them. Thank god the insurance paid for them.
So to avoid another rotten appointment, I schedule my visit at this eye clinic here that I've been too before. So the last time I was there was probably about 1997 -- but I had been going there pretty such since the age of 5 ... so I'm no stranger.
My appointment was at 2. I got there about 5 minutes early. I checked in and waited about 15 minutes to be called, which put me 10 minutes behind the 8 ball -- and oh, by the way, I told my manager I would only be gone an hour. (because that's all it should have taken -- I've been to enough eyes doctors to know the procedure). So, I'm called in and a technician asks me a bunch of questions , then does some tests and then takes me to the exam room. By now, it's 2:30 or so.. and I haven't even seen the doctor yet. After another 10 minute wait, he shows up and does his eye doctor thing and then decides he wants to dilate my eyes.
So I stop him here ... because you only need to have this done once a year and I had it done in March. There is really no benefit to having it done ... eye doctors have enough gizmos in their office to refract your eyes without it. So I express my dissatification with his doing this because it's now 3:00 and umm... I've been gone from work an hour. The eye dude assures me that "it won't take much longer" so I relucantly agree and go sit in the hallway.
3:15. I'm still sitting in the hallway waiting. Another technician calls me in to do some bogus test on my eyes and then tells me to go back and sit in the hall. So I nicely ask, how much longer is this going to be -- and explain that I needed to get back to work since I told my boss I would only be gone an hour. She literally snapped at me that I should have allowed for a 2 hour appointment. Two fricken hours? Are you nuts? I didn't say that of course, but I thought it. It didn't even take two hours for me to see the eye specialist in Iowa City or have eye surgery ... freaks.
After that, she wasn't very nice to me and dumped me back in the exam room again. Then after I heard the eye doctor dude and a female have a muffled conversation in the hallway, I heard him go into the room next to mine and start a exam with another patient. I listen to this for about five minutes and look at my watch. It's 3:35 .. and as it is, I'm going to have to stay at work til 6 to make up all the time. So I fricken put my contacts back in and left.
I stopped at reception before I walked and told the girl I had to go and she acted like I was committing some deviant act. Yeah, well, too bad. Maybe you should tell people to allow for 2 hours of horse shit crappy service when they make an appointment in your clinic.
I cannot think of one time since I've been doctoring at IC eye clinic where my entire visit was over 90 minutes. And they see a ton more patients there. But.. clearly customer service is more important to them .... where here, they think you are their exam room prisoner because you have limited choices. Whatever ... I will not be forced to endure bad customer service or lamo doctors that just go through the motions.
So ... I still don't have eyeglasses. But maybe that's not meant to be.
So a few months ago, I went to the doctor about my shoulder. It had been bothering me for a couple of months. I don't know exactly what I did to it. I have some thoughts about it ... but nothing concrete. I thought it would get better on it's own ... which, of course, didn't happen. So I finally broke down and went to my regular doctor.
She poked around, got something to pop and caused me some pain and then said that she thought it would get better with a coritsone shot. Then she said she needed to see it on an x-ray. Okay .. fine. I get that ... I guess. But I had questions. Like for example, what was the x-ray going to tell her that poking around didn't? And why a coritsone shot instead of physical therapy? Why not physical therapy?
After she answered my questions sufficiently, she said she was going to refer me to an Orthropedic specialist to administer the shot because she had only done it once -- on a manniquinn. This I pondered a bit because ... she's in a clinic with at least 50 other doctors? Couldn't one of them do it instead? Why do I have to pay extra money to have an orthopedic specialist look at my shoulder and stick a needle in it? I never actually agreed to go see the specialist, but two days later, her nurse called me with an appointment time anyway.
So here is where I really really became annoyed about this whole process. My appointment was at like 10:45. I got to the office 15 minutes early because I figured there would be some paperwork I needed to fill out. Then I stood in line and waited for 20 minutes to check in. All the while I'm standing there, one of the receptionists was talking to another person in the office about her vacation!! Loudly, I might add. Finally after about 15 minutes of me being in line, she noticed that I was standing there and finally opened her window to see if I needed help.
At this particular Dr's office, the check in window is about chest height ... which is fine if you're over 5 feet tall and you're standing ... but there was a woman in line in front of me in a wheel chair. So when the receptionist asked if I needed help, I said, yes, but I'm not next in line ... she is. And I pointed at the woman in the wheel chair.
So what did the receptionist do? Rolled her eyes, stood up and yelled at the woman. (I guess being in a wheelchair means you're deaf) Maybe if their window was more "patient" friendly ... the receptionist's sitting on your ass time wouldn't have been interupted by a handicapped person.
When I finally got to check in .. sure enough I had a ton of paperwork to fill out. Which I did quickly. By the time I got it all turned back in, I was 15 minutes past my appointment time. While I was waiting to be called, wheelchair lady rolled up the counter again and had to yell at the receptionists several times before anyone acknowledged her. (I and two other people actually got up at the same time to help her ... because god knows the medical office staff wasn't going too).
Roughly 30 minutes later, I was finally called into the dr's. office. The nurse made me put on this stupid halter top thing which I swear was designed for a 10 year old. I couldn't even tie it because the strings were so short. And why I even needed it on is still lost to me. The doctor came waltzing in the office 15 minutes later and stayed all of FIVE minutes. He moved my arm around, just like my primary care doctor did and then said I could either do some stretches or get the shot. Then he said I should take 4 advil every 4 hours for the next three weeks whether I felt like I needed it or not. He told me to do that just seconds after I said that I'm not a fan of taking pills. Does he ask why? No. Does he offer an alternative? No. Does he tell me what my x-rays said? No. Does he say what's wrong with my shoulder? No.
He also, clearly, didn't read any of the forms that I fill out about my medical history and he didn't listen to anything I said. I try to ask a couple of questions and he gave me the brush off. I even baited him with partial information and he just skimmed over it. He asked me if I wanted the shot and I said no -- because no way in hell am I letting someone that doesn't even listen to me stick a needle into my shoulder. Are you nuts?
Then he said, "Ok, I think this can be managed with some stretches, so do the stretches and come back in 3 weeks if its not better." He gave me some really lame directions on how to do the stretches ... but did he give me instructions on paper - like every other doctor or physical therapist that I've ever seen in my life has done? NO.
I left the office not making the follow up appointment because there is no way in hell that I was every going back there.
After thinking about it for a couple of hours and feeling more and more crappy about that visit, I call the other clinic in town (the one that I hate because they are mean to people without health insurance) and talked to the Ortho department. They were able to get me in the following day to see a shoulder and hand specialist. I called my primary care doctor to get a copy of the x-ray and my doctor's nurse, after I tell her about my appointment experience, apologizes to me for him -- !!! She didn't need to do that ... not her fault. She doesn't even work in his office.
The next day, I went to the other doctor and had a much better experience. In fact, its probably one of the best visits I have had at that clinic -- considering that I hate the place. I told him that I saw the other specialists and that he told me to do some stretches. My new doctor asked what kind and when I told him ... he chuckled and said: don't do those, they'll make it worse. Oh great! That's nice. Then I asked the new doc all sorts of questions and he answered every single one of them and then some. I asked him if he thought I needed to get the shot and he said: "No, I think you need to go to physical therapy for a couple of times." The shot would be a last resort before surgery in his opinion. (which is what happened before I had back surgery too ... so I know the guy wasn't lying to me).
Okay, so that was one bad experience which in the end turned out pretty good, because I went to physical therapy for 4 visits and now my shoulder doesn't hurt at all. But today, I had another horrible bad crappy doctor's office experience.
I had to go to the eye doctor and normally I go to the Eye Clinic at the University of Iowa. -- and I love going there because they are always so nice. But I decided to go somewhere local because going to IC requires me to take vacation time and I'm not going waste any of my last 4 days on an eye doctor appointment. I should know better though ... last year about this time, I went to a local eye place to get some glasses and the doctor was a complete and total DICK and I could never see out of those glasses -- in fact they give me a headache every time I wear them. Thank god the insurance paid for them.
So to avoid another rotten appointment, I schedule my visit at this eye clinic here that I've been too before. So the last time I was there was probably about 1997 -- but I had been going there pretty such since the age of 5 ... so I'm no stranger.
My appointment was at 2. I got there about 5 minutes early. I checked in and waited about 15 minutes to be called, which put me 10 minutes behind the 8 ball -- and oh, by the way, I told my manager I would only be gone an hour. (because that's all it should have taken -- I've been to enough eyes doctors to know the procedure). So, I'm called in and a technician asks me a bunch of questions , then does some tests and then takes me to the exam room. By now, it's 2:30 or so.. and I haven't even seen the doctor yet. After another 10 minute wait, he shows up and does his eye doctor thing and then decides he wants to dilate my eyes.
So I stop him here ... because you only need to have this done once a year and I had it done in March. There is really no benefit to having it done ... eye doctors have enough gizmos in their office to refract your eyes without it. So I express my dissatification with his doing this because it's now 3:00 and umm... I've been gone from work an hour. The eye dude assures me that "it won't take much longer" so I relucantly agree and go sit in the hallway.
3:15. I'm still sitting in the hallway waiting. Another technician calls me in to do some bogus test on my eyes and then tells me to go back and sit in the hall. So I nicely ask, how much longer is this going to be -- and explain that I needed to get back to work since I told my boss I would only be gone an hour. She literally snapped at me that I should have allowed for a 2 hour appointment. Two fricken hours? Are you nuts? I didn't say that of course, but I thought it. It didn't even take two hours for me to see the eye specialist in Iowa City or have eye surgery ... freaks.
After that, she wasn't very nice to me and dumped me back in the exam room again. Then after I heard the eye doctor dude and a female have a muffled conversation in the hallway, I heard him go into the room next to mine and start a exam with another patient. I listen to this for about five minutes and look at my watch. It's 3:35 .. and as it is, I'm going to have to stay at work til 6 to make up all the time. So I fricken put my contacts back in and left.
I stopped at reception before I walked and told the girl I had to go and she acted like I was committing some deviant act. Yeah, well, too bad. Maybe you should tell people to allow for 2 hours of horse shit crappy service when they make an appointment in your clinic.
I cannot think of one time since I've been doctoring at IC eye clinic where my entire visit was over 90 minutes. And they see a ton more patients there. But.. clearly customer service is more important to them .... where here, they think you are their exam room prisoner because you have limited choices. Whatever ... I will not be forced to endure bad customer service or lamo doctors that just go through the motions.
So ... I still don't have eyeglasses. But maybe that's not meant to be.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
The secret is out
About a year ago, our local newspaper went from a free online site to a paid online. A revenue generator clearly ... because there is nothing in the paper that is really worth reading. The local rag costs 75 cents on weekdays for it's 5 page glory. A person would be better off reading the Chicago Tribune or New York Times to get the real news ... and the local news? Well the local paper reports that like a week after it really happened, so you're better off just watching it on TV.
That being said ... I still like to read the local paper -- not the paper version, rather the online version. There is a couple of reasons for this ....a. it's quick and clean. No ink on my hands or transferred to the table and it takes less than 5 minutes in most cases. b. I'm nosy. Occassionally they have "breaking news". c. I want to see who died -- I rarely know any of them ... but still. d. I don't have a valid reason -- even though I do support buying local. It's just the thing to do ... drink your morning coffee .. read the newspaper.
So in the beginning of the big switch over to a paid online subscription, my mother bought one and set up her account. Did she ask for my opinion before doing so? No, because if she had I would have told her to make her login name something anonymous -- something that clearly wouldn't identify who she was when she was attempting to make a comment about something. Yeah, she didn't ask for my opinion -- so her login name, the name that would display on every comment anyone wanted to post makes it pretty obvious who it is. So much for jumping on the forum boards ----- if the local paper allowed such of thing. (which they don't ... by the way ..... comments are disabled for pretty much every story because the paper and the powers to be don't want to hear the truth or our opinions for that matter.)
Anyway. After she set up the account, she gave me the password -- because a year subscription to the online version is $7.95 a month or 90 some dollars a year. It's actually a pretty good deal, considering the Monday - Saturday "paper" paper charge is like $5 a week. Sundays go for $1.50 (which is another rip-off ... because all the Sunday edition is, is a recap of what happened all week and then a bunch of stories that were picked off the AP wire about news in other places that happened ....er, days ago -- and then a few ad pages, nothing worth an extra 75 cents.)
Okay ... so life was good for a while with the password. I could login once and then everytime I went back to the page I would still be logged in. And this would happen whether I was checking on my smartphone or my laptop or on mom's desktop.
Then a couple of months ago, I started having problems with the login. I had to login every time I wanted to read the paper and then sometimes in the middle of my reading I'd have to login again. At first I thought it was something wrong with the website, so I called the paper to complain ... the IT guy I talked to said it wasn't anything to do with the paper ... it was because there was multiple logins with that login/password combo at that exact time. Like on the day that I called -- he checked it and said that there were 6 login attempts from different IP addresses within a 20 minute time span.
I freaked out. I thought that someone had hacked my mother's account. And not that "they" would be able to access any important information ... but still. So I came home from work and told my mother that she needed to change her password because of bla bla bla.
Then she dropped the bomb on me ... No one had hacked her account. She gave her "secret" password to EVERYONE in the family because she didn't want them to have to "pay" for a subscription. Okay ... everyone in my family is well over 20 people. So when I'm trying to login to get my morning news fix at 10:30 am ... it's very likely that at least 3 other people are trying to get theirs too. And when there are multiple login attempts from different locations -- they end up bumping each other out. Mid story I might add. It's like the virtual fight for the sports page over the dining room table. And she thought "that" was a good idea?
So, here was my attempt to read the paper today:
6:30 a.m.: I figured that most of the family is either still in bed or getting ready for work and not on their computer. I tried to read the early morning news. Tried. Never read it. Attempted three logins on my cell phone and all the phone did was take me right back to the login screen. Guess everybody is trying to read the paper!!! Frustrated I threw my cell phone back in the desk drawer.
10:00 a.m.: Tried again to read the paper. I'm on my break now and have all of 15 minutes to keep informed about the outside world. After 6 minutes of trying to login, I finally do so successfully -- only to get kicked out about 2 minutes later. Needless to say, I'm pissed.
11:30 a.m.: Lunch. I have 30 minutes. Make another attempt to login in. After being in and booted twice, I have to just settle for reading the headlines and the summary paragraphs of 2 stories I wanted to look at. (which is about the only thing you can do for free).
3:30 p.m. I'm home from work now and my mother isn't anywhere near her computer, so I think this is a "safe" time to read the paper. I login ... and I'm in for exactly nine minutes and then when I try to read an obituary, I get booted again. UGH!!!
6:30 pm: I try one more time to read the obituaries. I'm in less than 5 minutes and I'm booted out. So much for that.
I'm just finished reading all the interesting stuff in the Chicago Tribune, the two local tv stations sites and Yahoo.
Tomorrow? I'm buying my own subscription to the local rag and you can be damn sure I'm not sharing my password with anybody!!!
That being said ... I still like to read the local paper -- not the paper version, rather the online version. There is a couple of reasons for this ....a. it's quick and clean. No ink on my hands or transferred to the table and it takes less than 5 minutes in most cases. b. I'm nosy. Occassionally they have "breaking news". c. I want to see who died -- I rarely know any of them ... but still. d. I don't have a valid reason -- even though I do support buying local. It's just the thing to do ... drink your morning coffee .. read the newspaper.
So in the beginning of the big switch over to a paid online subscription, my mother bought one and set up her account. Did she ask for my opinion before doing so? No, because if she had I would have told her to make her login name something anonymous -- something that clearly wouldn't identify who she was when she was attempting to make a comment about something. Yeah, she didn't ask for my opinion -- so her login name, the name that would display on every comment anyone wanted to post makes it pretty obvious who it is. So much for jumping on the forum boards ----- if the local paper allowed such of thing. (which they don't ... by the way ..... comments are disabled for pretty much every story because the paper and the powers to be don't want to hear the truth or our opinions for that matter.)
Anyway. After she set up the account, she gave me the password -- because a year subscription to the online version is $7.95 a month or 90 some dollars a year. It's actually a pretty good deal, considering the Monday - Saturday "paper" paper charge is like $5 a week. Sundays go for $1.50 (which is another rip-off ... because all the Sunday edition is, is a recap of what happened all week and then a bunch of stories that were picked off the AP wire about news in other places that happened ....er, days ago -- and then a few ad pages, nothing worth an extra 75 cents.)
Okay ... so life was good for a while with the password. I could login once and then everytime I went back to the page I would still be logged in. And this would happen whether I was checking on my smartphone or my laptop or on mom's desktop.
Then a couple of months ago, I started having problems with the login. I had to login every time I wanted to read the paper and then sometimes in the middle of my reading I'd have to login again. At first I thought it was something wrong with the website, so I called the paper to complain ... the IT guy I talked to said it wasn't anything to do with the paper ... it was because there was multiple logins with that login/password combo at that exact time. Like on the day that I called -- he checked it and said that there were 6 login attempts from different IP addresses within a 20 minute time span.
I freaked out. I thought that someone had hacked my mother's account. And not that "they" would be able to access any important information ... but still. So I came home from work and told my mother that she needed to change her password because of bla bla bla.
Then she dropped the bomb on me ... No one had hacked her account. She gave her "secret" password to EVERYONE in the family because she didn't want them to have to "pay" for a subscription. Okay ... everyone in my family is well over 20 people. So when I'm trying to login to get my morning news fix at 10:30 am ... it's very likely that at least 3 other people are trying to get theirs too. And when there are multiple login attempts from different locations -- they end up bumping each other out. Mid story I might add. It's like the virtual fight for the sports page over the dining room table. And she thought "that" was a good idea?
So, here was my attempt to read the paper today:
6:30 a.m.: I figured that most of the family is either still in bed or getting ready for work and not on their computer. I tried to read the early morning news. Tried. Never read it. Attempted three logins on my cell phone and all the phone did was take me right back to the login screen. Guess everybody is trying to read the paper!!! Frustrated I threw my cell phone back in the desk drawer.
10:00 a.m.: Tried again to read the paper. I'm on my break now and have all of 15 minutes to keep informed about the outside world. After 6 minutes of trying to login, I finally do so successfully -- only to get kicked out about 2 minutes later. Needless to say, I'm pissed.
11:30 a.m.: Lunch. I have 30 minutes. Make another attempt to login in. After being in and booted twice, I have to just settle for reading the headlines and the summary paragraphs of 2 stories I wanted to look at. (which is about the only thing you can do for free).
3:30 p.m. I'm home from work now and my mother isn't anywhere near her computer, so I think this is a "safe" time to read the paper. I login ... and I'm in for exactly nine minutes and then when I try to read an obituary, I get booted again. UGH!!!
6:30 pm: I try one more time to read the obituaries. I'm in less than 5 minutes and I'm booted out. So much for that.
I'm just finished reading all the interesting stuff in the Chicago Tribune, the two local tv stations sites and Yahoo.
Tomorrow? I'm buying my own subscription to the local rag and you can be damn sure I'm not sharing my password with anybody!!!
Sunday, August 5, 2012
My vacation bucket list
So I've been on vacation for the past week and I've done absolutely nothing that I really wanted to do. In fact, I did nothing at all ... and it really kind of bugs me because when I go back to work people are going to ask me what I did ... and I'm going to tell them my lam-o story.
This is really nothing new for me. I pretty much don't do much of anything on my vacations because I'm single and feel like a dork going places by myself. I'm sure there are lots of people out there that travel alone ... but I'm not comfortable with that. As much as I don't like being around people ... I don't like going to places alone.
I can go to social events alone ... if I know I'm going to know someone when I get there. Or there are occasions where I'll go alone and not know anybody .. but that's within driving distance of my house ... not halfway across the country. I've even gone hiking and camping by myself. I've gone to NASCAR races alone because I couldn't find anyone to go with ... and I've done other things alone ... but bottom line ... it's more fun to travel when you are with someone.
So anyway ... I decided this week that next year when my vacation time resets -- I'm going to do something with my time off ... and enjoy myself ...even if I'm alone. I was thinking about taking out a personal ad for a traveling companion and for like 4 seconds I thought that would be a good idea.. but then I had flashbacks to a David Duchovny movie called Kalifornia -- where he picked up someone to share the ride with on his cross country trek - -and that dude (Brad Pitt) was a serial killer. Yeah, I have enough weirdos in my life without any of that drama going on ... so scratch that idea.
Here's my bucket list of places I want to go to before I'm dead: (in no particular order)
This is really nothing new for me. I pretty much don't do much of anything on my vacations because I'm single and feel like a dork going places by myself. I'm sure there are lots of people out there that travel alone ... but I'm not comfortable with that. As much as I don't like being around people ... I don't like going to places alone.
I can go to social events alone ... if I know I'm going to know someone when I get there. Or there are occasions where I'll go alone and not know anybody .. but that's within driving distance of my house ... not halfway across the country. I've even gone hiking and camping by myself. I've gone to NASCAR races alone because I couldn't find anyone to go with ... and I've done other things alone ... but bottom line ... it's more fun to travel when you are with someone.
So anyway ... I decided this week that next year when my vacation time resets -- I'm going to do something with my time off ... and enjoy myself ...even if I'm alone. I was thinking about taking out a personal ad for a traveling companion and for like 4 seconds I thought that would be a good idea.. but then I had flashbacks to a David Duchovny movie called Kalifornia -- where he picked up someone to share the ride with on his cross country trek - -and that dude (Brad Pitt) was a serial killer. Yeah, I have enough weirdos in my life without any of that drama going on ... so scratch that idea.
Here's my bucket list of places I want to go to before I'm dead: (in no particular order)
- Every NASCAR race track on the circuit.
- The Grand Canyon and the other national park out there. (Whatever its called)
- The Hoover Dam
- Hang out on the beach in San Diego CA.
- Key West Florida. (I don't know what I'd do there ... but what the hell)
- Gettysburg PA -- the war grounds.
- Philadelphia PA (even though I was there in HS -- I wanna go back as an adult where I can appreciate our history more)
- Washington DC
- Newport Rhode Island (I've been here too ... but I loved it, so I want to go back)
- New England
- New York City
- Niagara Falls
- Toronto Canada
- Vancouver British Columbia
- Alaska (This could be on a cruise though .. because I know from watching Alaska State Patrol that is gets damn cold up there)
- England (I want to see that cute little fishing village where they filmed Doc Martin and the Castle in Downton Abbey)
- Ireland -- (to see where my peeps come from)
- Germany -- (so I can drink some beer.)
- Skydiving (my friend Deb just did this ... seemed like fun).
- Spain
- New Orleans (sober this time)
- Cedar Point and all the other great roller coaster parks.
- Mall of America -- (which is dumb, I can drive there ... I just don't want to go alone okay)
Friday, August 3, 2012
Eighteen Bucks, a glass of lemonade and a barf bag
I went to the Dubuque County Fair again this year ... but not as a worker -- as a spectator. It was just as hot as last year .. but I wasn't cooped up inside a box at least.
The week before the DBQ County Fair, I took my niece, Abby, to see Blake Shelton at the Jones County Fair. She admitted to me when we got there that she had never been to a concert before. WOW! She's 22-ish! Weird. Okay, so that put some pressure on me to make sure she had a good concert experience.
So we drove to Monticello and parked at my friend Tina's and hung out there for a few moments ... and then walked over to the fairgrounds ... which was literally 3 blocks away, paid our $10 admission and then went inside to eat some fair food. We both had corn dogs and both agreed that they were gross. (Even though I ate the whole thing) Then after walking around looking at how long the lines were for the restrooms ... decided that we should head on down to the track.
Abby wanted to be right up front .. and well, frankly, I did not because there are a lot of shenanigans that go on up there .. but I didn't want her to get smashed ... so up we went. Here's how close we were to Blake -- Literally just a couple of rows from the stage. (excuse the bad photo -- a pro photographer I'm not)
Okay, so being that close has advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: You're so close to the talent that it feels like they are looking right at you when they are talking and singing. You can see everything ... like, for example, Miranda Lambert standing on the side of the stage during Blake taking pictures with her phone (which were later posted on Twitter). You're close so in the rare event that they throw something ... like a guitar pick, you can catch it. (not that I did ... I'm just saying that it could have happened)
Disadvantages: You and the 300 other people that are jammed up next to the stage are packed in there pretty tight, so there is no fresh air to breath ... and trust me, you smell everything. And because you're packed in there tight, people start to get stupid ... and fight. Abby witnessed one fight in front of us -- that I completely missed because I was drooling over Josh Thompson. And she completely missed the one behind us because she was drooling over Blake. It's a trade off, I guess. Other disadvantages are not being close to the porta-potties -- which technically were right next to us, but there was no way in hell I was leaving my "spot" to go anywhere ... including the beer truck.
So that was a fun night. I think that Abby had fun. (although I asked her if she wanted to go to Toby Keith the following night too -- and she ditched me to hang out with Carol) ... I didn't have tickets to Toby however, I was just going to sit in the free seats .. but no one wanted to go with me .. and that's no fun, so I stayed home.
Okay, fast forward to last Saturday, after a couple of days of practically begging ... I convinced my friends Dave and Lisa to go to the DBQ County Fair with me. Originally we were going to go on Friday night (and hence, could have heard Kelly Pickler) but then found a "deal" for ride bracelets for Saturday ... so that's when we went.
So Lisa had never been to a fair - ever and found the whole thing interesting. (even though she never went into the 4H building or other exhibits). Dave and Lizzy (their 5 year old) walked through the Dairy Barns ... and we looked at the rabbits -- that I thought were overheated. That took all of 5 minutes. The bulk of our day was spent on the midway making the most of our ride bracelets.
Okay, let me first just say ... you don't to the fair to ride on "safe rides". If you want safe rides, then go to Six Flags for your summer vacation. Seriously. I'm sure the fair rides are safe and have to pass some safety inspection by someone ... but it's the overwhelming sensation that they are "unsafe" that is the total thrill here.
Case in point. The Ferris Wheel. When I was sitting in the "gondola" waiting for the other gondola's be to unloaded and loaded ... I seriously felt like I was going to fall to my death - for a couple of reasons. First of all -- here's the only thing keeping a body inside the "car". There's no lock on that door ... it doesn't freeze in place when the ride is in motion. Nothing. It's you and that flimsy little door and a long ass drop to the ground.
Secondly, while they are unloading and loading.. the cars circle around in slow-motion .. and shake like an earthquake just hit ... giving you the feeling that the bolt holding it together is going to snap any second. And then, there's nothing to hold onto ... so you're left to cling to the plexiglass.
Here's a shot of Lisa demonstrating the plexiglass hold.
Ironically, once the ride was in motion, you completely forgot that any of that was a factor. It was very smooth going and gave a great view.
Here's the country side to the North-East.
And here's a great shot of the midway:
While we were up on the Ferris wheel I convinced my pal Lisa to go on this other ride called the Orbiter. It is just like the scrambler of days gone by. At first she said no way .. but I was insistent because it just looked like a lot of fun. I remember it being a lot of fun as a kid. So finally she agreed. So we got on. We were the oldest "kids" on the ride. So the thing started and it was really fun for about 90 seconds. I was screaming and laughing and having a good time. But then mysteriously it started to not be fun anymore ... I'd say at about 91 seconds in. I could feel my stomach and all the crap that I had just devoured sloshing around. Lisa said she couldn't hold her head up anymore. I could barely even keep my eyes open, let alone hold a conversation. Clearly everyone else on the ride felt the same way ... because the noise level went from screaming to dead silent. Thankfully the ride stopped before I barfed all over the place. I was sick for a long while after that too. I even had to go get a Sprite to calm my tummy.
So the other rides that we went on included the Himalayan ... which I forgot was one of those rides that squished the rider on the outside.
Here we are before the ride starts. Love the old-time lights and decor on this ride. And the "hidden" section behind the "duck blind. Such a throw back!! I truly tried not to smash Lisa but that was impossible.
My other all time favorite fair ride is the Tilt a Whirl. Love Love Love it. Lisa's husband said he had never been on this ride before ever ... so when we were getting into the car, I commented that I loved this ride because its all gravity. Well, he had to argue with me that there was no way gravity had anything to do with the spinning. He was convinced that it was motorized or something. So, the ride starts ... and after about 30 seconds or so of us spinning around really fast, Dave says .. wow, maybe it's not motorized. Ah ha ...
I think ... in my non-scientific assessment of this ride .. it's gravity and the pitch of the platform the car is sitting on and the track that the platform and car swirl around on. There's nothing mechanical about ... but a lot of weight in the car is a positive.
Then we went on the "tornado" a couple of times. This is a big mechanical swing with 4 seats -- and a steering wheel in the middle that, if so inclined, you could spin making your little quad swing spin around in addition to the actual ride spinning. We went on this a couple of times -- even after I went on the barf-mobile.
Other than than ... Dave and Lizzy went on the bumper cars, which after watching them for the 2 or 3 minutes the ride ran, I realized that bumpers cars are only fun if you know the other people riding them. Otherwise it's a bunch of nameless people driving around in and running into people they don't know .. or a bunch of kids getting stuck in the corner. Boring.
Lizzy, Dave and Lisa rode the kiddie roller coaster about 25 times. In fact, Lizzie was off the thing and back in line a couple of times before we were even aware of where she went .... and she did this despite us telling her to stop or someone would steal her. She didn't care.
Then we watched her play some games ... very badly I might add... but clearly the object for a 5 year old isn't winning ... it's just throwing the rings -- balls-- or mallets because it's fun. Who cares if you win anything. (although unfortunately for Lisa, she did win a couple of things -- which guess who had to carry).
So -- over the course of the 6 hours that we were there ... I ate another corn dog (and thank god I won't be eating another one of those til next year), a couple of glasses of lemonade, a chocolate ice cream cone, 2 1/2 cans of Coors Light, a Sprite and a slice of Papa Johns pizza. So that about did me in for this year.
Too bad they don't have go-carts at the fair.
The week before the DBQ County Fair, I took my niece, Abby, to see Blake Shelton at the Jones County Fair. She admitted to me when we got there that she had never been to a concert before. WOW! She's 22-ish! Weird. Okay, so that put some pressure on me to make sure she had a good concert experience.
So we drove to Monticello and parked at my friend Tina's and hung out there for a few moments ... and then walked over to the fairgrounds ... which was literally 3 blocks away, paid our $10 admission and then went inside to eat some fair food. We both had corn dogs and both agreed that they were gross. (Even though I ate the whole thing) Then after walking around looking at how long the lines were for the restrooms ... decided that we should head on down to the track.
Abby wanted to be right up front .. and well, frankly, I did not because there are a lot of shenanigans that go on up there .. but I didn't want her to get smashed ... so up we went. Here's how close we were to Blake -- Literally just a couple of rows from the stage. (excuse the bad photo -- a pro photographer I'm not)
Okay, so being that close has advantages and disadvantages. Advantages: You're so close to the talent that it feels like they are looking right at you when they are talking and singing. You can see everything ... like, for example, Miranda Lambert standing on the side of the stage during Blake taking pictures with her phone (which were later posted on Twitter). You're close so in the rare event that they throw something ... like a guitar pick, you can catch it. (not that I did ... I'm just saying that it could have happened)
Disadvantages: You and the 300 other people that are jammed up next to the stage are packed in there pretty tight, so there is no fresh air to breath ... and trust me, you smell everything. And because you're packed in there tight, people start to get stupid ... and fight. Abby witnessed one fight in front of us -- that I completely missed because I was drooling over Josh Thompson. And she completely missed the one behind us because she was drooling over Blake. It's a trade off, I guess. Other disadvantages are not being close to the porta-potties -- which technically were right next to us, but there was no way in hell I was leaving my "spot" to go anywhere ... including the beer truck.
So that was a fun night. I think that Abby had fun. (although I asked her if she wanted to go to Toby Keith the following night too -- and she ditched me to hang out with Carol) ... I didn't have tickets to Toby however, I was just going to sit in the free seats .. but no one wanted to go with me .. and that's no fun, so I stayed home.
Okay, fast forward to last Saturday, after a couple of days of practically begging ... I convinced my friends Dave and Lisa to go to the DBQ County Fair with me. Originally we were going to go on Friday night (and hence, could have heard Kelly Pickler) but then found a "deal" for ride bracelets for Saturday ... so that's when we went.
So Lisa had never been to a fair - ever and found the whole thing interesting. (even though she never went into the 4H building or other exhibits). Dave and Lizzy (their 5 year old) walked through the Dairy Barns ... and we looked at the rabbits -- that I thought were overheated. That took all of 5 minutes. The bulk of our day was spent on the midway making the most of our ride bracelets.
Okay, let me first just say ... you don't to the fair to ride on "safe rides". If you want safe rides, then go to Six Flags for your summer vacation. Seriously. I'm sure the fair rides are safe and have to pass some safety inspection by someone ... but it's the overwhelming sensation that they are "unsafe" that is the total thrill here.
Case in point. The Ferris Wheel. When I was sitting in the "gondola" waiting for the other gondola's be to unloaded and loaded ... I seriously felt like I was going to fall to my death - for a couple of reasons. First of all -- here's the only thing keeping a body inside the "car". There's no lock on that door ... it doesn't freeze in place when the ride is in motion. Nothing. It's you and that flimsy little door and a long ass drop to the ground.
Secondly, while they are unloading and loading.. the cars circle around in slow-motion .. and shake like an earthquake just hit ... giving you the feeling that the bolt holding it together is going to snap any second. And then, there's nothing to hold onto ... so you're left to cling to the plexiglass.
Here's a shot of Lisa demonstrating the plexiglass hold.
Ironically, once the ride was in motion, you completely forgot that any of that was a factor. It was very smooth going and gave a great view.
Here's the country side to the North-East.
And here's a great shot of the midway:
While we were up on the Ferris wheel I convinced my pal Lisa to go on this other ride called the Orbiter. It is just like the scrambler of days gone by. At first she said no way .. but I was insistent because it just looked like a lot of fun. I remember it being a lot of fun as a kid. So finally she agreed. So we got on. We were the oldest "kids" on the ride. So the thing started and it was really fun for about 90 seconds. I was screaming and laughing and having a good time. But then mysteriously it started to not be fun anymore ... I'd say at about 91 seconds in. I could feel my stomach and all the crap that I had just devoured sloshing around. Lisa said she couldn't hold her head up anymore. I could barely even keep my eyes open, let alone hold a conversation. Clearly everyone else on the ride felt the same way ... because the noise level went from screaming to dead silent. Thankfully the ride stopped before I barfed all over the place. I was sick for a long while after that too. I even had to go get a Sprite to calm my tummy.
 |
| The orbiter -- aka barf mobile. |
So the other rides that we went on included the Himalayan ... which I forgot was one of those rides that squished the rider on the outside.
Here we are before the ride starts. Love the old-time lights and decor on this ride. And the "hidden" section behind the "duck blind. Such a throw back!! I truly tried not to smash Lisa but that was impossible.
My other all time favorite fair ride is the Tilt a Whirl. Love Love Love it. Lisa's husband said he had never been on this ride before ever ... so when we were getting into the car, I commented that I loved this ride because its all gravity. Well, he had to argue with me that there was no way gravity had anything to do with the spinning. He was convinced that it was motorized or something. So, the ride starts ... and after about 30 seconds or so of us spinning around really fast, Dave says .. wow, maybe it's not motorized. Ah ha ...
Then we went on the "tornado" a couple of times. This is a big mechanical swing with 4 seats -- and a steering wheel in the middle that, if so inclined, you could spin making your little quad swing spin around in addition to the actual ride spinning. We went on this a couple of times -- even after I went on the barf-mobile.
Other than than ... Dave and Lizzy went on the bumper cars, which after watching them for the 2 or 3 minutes the ride ran, I realized that bumpers cars are only fun if you know the other people riding them. Otherwise it's a bunch of nameless people driving around in and running into people they don't know .. or a bunch of kids getting stuck in the corner. Boring.
Lizzy, Dave and Lisa rode the kiddie roller coaster about 25 times. In fact, Lizzie was off the thing and back in line a couple of times before we were even aware of where she went .... and she did this despite us telling her to stop or someone would steal her. She didn't care.
Then we watched her play some games ... very badly I might add... but clearly the object for a 5 year old isn't winning ... it's just throwing the rings -- balls-- or mallets because it's fun. Who cares if you win anything. (although unfortunately for Lisa, she did win a couple of things -- which guess who had to carry).
So -- over the course of the 6 hours that we were there ... I ate another corn dog (and thank god I won't be eating another one of those til next year), a couple of glasses of lemonade, a chocolate ice cream cone, 2 1/2 cans of Coors Light, a Sprite and a slice of Papa Johns pizza. So that about did me in for this year.
Too bad they don't have go-carts at the fair.
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