Be warned, I'm going to ramble about things....
Today started out early. The alarm went off at 4:40 am. I had told Eric last night that he needed to kick me out of bed when the alarm went off. I was very tempted to get back into bed and snuggle under the covers, but I did motivate myself to get dressed and out the door.
It was an oddly light, calm morning as I walked out to my vehicle. I almost felt like going for a run, the weather was just feeling just right for it, but I pressed on. I tried starting my heart rate monitor readout, but apparently it needs a new battery.
Yep, I was on the way to the Y to go to an early morning spinning class. The schedule I looked up on the computer said that it was at 5:10 am. But when I got there, it was actually starting at 5:30 am. So I ran 5 minutes on the treadmill to warm up, stretched, and got on the bike for the class.
I quite enjoyed the class, actually - it was an "endurance" day, so basically it was 60 minutes of medium-intensity, cardio work. And I sweated buckets. It was great. I find that morning workouts, when I get my ass in gear, are the best.
So this week, I have gone swimming and biking. I just need to get in a run, and we have a triatholon!
Coming home, I noticed a kid standing on the corner of our lawn, waiting for the bus. I was tempted to ask him if I could give him a jacket, since he was standing there in a t-shirt and long pants, and it was about 26 degrees outside. But I guess wearing a jacket would just not be "cool". Makes me wonder why his parents let him out of the house without a jacket. I know my mother never would have let me do that... plus the fact that I never would have done that - I like being warm!
You know a weird thing happend to me on Monday night, driving home. I had gotten off of the freeway, and was driving on a city street, when all of a sudden, something scampered out of the hood, looked at me through the windshield while hanging on to the wiper, then it scampered back under the hood. A mouse. I suppose it found the engine to be a warm place while it was parked in downtown, and I bet I just freaked it out by driving it to the suburbs. Oh, and now I am having flashbacks to one of my favorite childhood stories - about a city mouse that goes to the country to visit a cousin, or vice versa... anyone remember that one? Well, I got home, and Eric and I looked under the hood to see if we could find and remove it, so it would not eat any of the wiring. We didn't find it. I'm sure it was glad that it had escaped with it's life.
Tonight, we are probably going up to visit Eric's mother and his older sister (who is in town from California, she came for Thanksgiving) so I'm not sure what the food plans are... this is one of the reasons I went to the early morning class, since I don't know that I will get a chance to exercise tonight. I didn't exercise last night, because Eric was kind of whining about having to go to a meeting, and what was going to be for dinner... so I went home and we had brown rice (yum), baked tillapia, and veggies (leftover beans and artechoke hearts for me, corn for Eric). It was healthy, tasty and filling. The trifecta.
I just don't know what to expect with visiting Eric's sister. She called last night and was very civil to me on the phone. I just know last year she was telling everyone that I hated her. Oh well, what is life if you have no drama?
~a
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Thunderstorms in November?
In Minnesota? It makes me wish that I had a view of a window when I am at the office. It was really raining down this morning and into the afternoon. If it was that much moisture, but in the form of snow, nothing would be moving right now.
Well, I'm back from Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. I weighed in on Saturday before we left, and I was up 2 pounds. I was not real happy about that, but I figured since we went out for Chinese food the night before, and I had done a bit of exercise that week, that was what did it. Why do we feel so tied to the scale? And why do we let it affect our mood so much? Are we a better, nicer person if we are two pounds lighter? Yeah, not so much.
We had a nice time taking time off. I actually got quite a few miles in, but I think I might have over done it, since my left hip muscle is quite sore. I kept telling Eric that I felt old, because it hurt to walk, and to go up stairs. Not sure what is going on, but I hope I can work through it.
I also took the week off of journaling. I don't think I went nutso with bad food or anything, and made some pretty healthy (and some not so healthy) choices. I never stuffed myself to the point of being uncomfortable. And I exercised. I managed to run close to 5 miles on Monday, we went hiking at a state park for about an hour and 15 minutes on Tuesday, wandered around the Tulsa aquarium on Wednesday, and I ran a little over 6 miles on Thursday. If I calculated it correctly, I earned 11 AP's on Thursday. Friday, we got up early and did a bit of shopping. But nothing extravagant - we were at Target at about 7:30am. Still lots of people, still lots of stuff on the shelves, but not horrible, and no waiting in line to get in the door. I know Best Buy had a number of great deals, but really, nothing is worth standing in line overnight!
We drove home on Saturday (8am - 7pm in the car, basically). It was a long day.
Sunday, I ventured onto the scale to see what kind of damage had been done - and it said that I had lost about 3 pounds. Not sure how it happened, but I will take it!
I am taking today off of exercising - I am sore from swimming last night, I did laps in the pool for about 45 minutes, and my arms are telling me I did something unusual, and the darn hip muscle is sore again. I'm thinking I will run some errands, then soak in the tub for a bit.
Yep, I'm boring!
~a
Well, I'm back from Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. I weighed in on Saturday before we left, and I was up 2 pounds. I was not real happy about that, but I figured since we went out for Chinese food the night before, and I had done a bit of exercise that week, that was what did it. Why do we feel so tied to the scale? And why do we let it affect our mood so much? Are we a better, nicer person if we are two pounds lighter? Yeah, not so much.
We had a nice time taking time off. I actually got quite a few miles in, but I think I might have over done it, since my left hip muscle is quite sore. I kept telling Eric that I felt old, because it hurt to walk, and to go up stairs. Not sure what is going on, but I hope I can work through it.
I also took the week off of journaling. I don't think I went nutso with bad food or anything, and made some pretty healthy (and some not so healthy) choices. I never stuffed myself to the point of being uncomfortable. And I exercised. I managed to run close to 5 miles on Monday, we went hiking at a state park for about an hour and 15 minutes on Tuesday, wandered around the Tulsa aquarium on Wednesday, and I ran a little over 6 miles on Thursday. If I calculated it correctly, I earned 11 AP's on Thursday. Friday, we got up early and did a bit of shopping. But nothing extravagant - we were at Target at about 7:30am. Still lots of people, still lots of stuff on the shelves, but not horrible, and no waiting in line to get in the door. I know Best Buy had a number of great deals, but really, nothing is worth standing in line overnight!
We drove home on Saturday (8am - 7pm in the car, basically). It was a long day.
Sunday, I ventured onto the scale to see what kind of damage had been done - and it said that I had lost about 3 pounds. Not sure how it happened, but I will take it!
I am taking today off of exercising - I am sore from swimming last night, I did laps in the pool for about 45 minutes, and my arms are telling me I did something unusual, and the darn hip muscle is sore again. I'm thinking I will run some errands, then soak in the tub for a bit.
Yep, I'm boring!
~a
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Pleasantly sore
Yep, that's me.
It took a while to get there - to meet my friend to go running. There was a massive traffic jam on the freeway trying to get there, and I spent about 25 minutes in stop and go traffic, in a manual transmission vehicle. Yep, by the time I arrived (30 minutes later than what we had planned) my left leg was a bit sore. My friend actually did not get out of work on time, so as luck would have it, we got there at about the same time.
I'm glad we went, but it sure was dark at that time. Makes me remember why this is the time of year that I start heading back into the gym. That, and I am paying for the membership, I might as well get some use out of it...
It's nice having someone to run with. Keeps you feeling safer when it is dark. Helps to pass the time in gasping conversation.
We talked about a couple of things - Like the fact that I started running again four years ago the week of Thanksgiving. I think I had lost about 40 pounds at that point, and one of the reasons I wanted to lose weight is because I wanted to be able to exercise without feeling like I was going to keel over. I ran a lifetime ago when I was on the track team in Junior High. My event was the half mile. I consistantly came in last, but at least I was out there trying. I did that in 8th and 9th grades. When I got into 10th grade, I started doing synchronized swimming, and it conflicted with track, so the running went by the wayside. And thinking back on High School, it's hard to believe that I graduated weighing somewhere around 120 - 125. And I thought I was heavy through most of High School. Body image, isn't it grand?
I talked to my aunt tonight too, and said something about going running. She asked me "do you really like running?" To which my answer was "yes." She said that she is just one of those people that doesn't enjoy exercising. I told her that I needed to get myself motivated some days, but once I start, it's a great feeling. I guess I just need to concentrate on "that feeling" to get myself in gear once again.
And I will be doing it next week. I have the week off of work, and Eric and I are heading down to Oklahoma to stay with my sister for the week. I was kind of hoping to find some sort of Thanksgiving Day run to participate in, but it appears the only one on Active is in Oklahoma City, and we will be rather far away to do a silly race - she lives near Tulsa. I did, however, briefly contemplate registering for a race on the 19th in Tulsa. They are doing an inaugral marathon (route 66 marathon) in Tulsa, and there is a Half marathon along with it too. Like I said, I considered, but in reality, we won't be getting there in time without really killing ourselves, and yeah, if I am having issues running 3 miles at a decent pace (we did the 3 mile loop today in about 32 minutes, with two walk breaks for me) there is no way I could finish a half marathon.
In another unrelated topic - I came home to an "intersting" message on my answering machine: My mom calling, and saying that she and dad had gotten back, and went to the emergency room, and dad hadn't had a stroke, but he had something called Bell's palsy that was causing the muscles in his face to freeze up. Um, whaaaa? You were thinking that dad might have had a stroke???? Yeah, he started having the face paralysis when they were in Mexico on their cruise, and mom just forgot to tell me when I talked to her on Sunday. It was still a little unnerving to come home to that message. And again, they both hate the ER, still. And dad will be going to his own doctor, where the ER doc recommended that he have a Lymes test. Makes sense to me - hopefully it will be something like that.
Yep two posts in one day. What is the world coming to?
~a
It took a while to get there - to meet my friend to go running. There was a massive traffic jam on the freeway trying to get there, and I spent about 25 minutes in stop and go traffic, in a manual transmission vehicle. Yep, by the time I arrived (30 minutes later than what we had planned) my left leg was a bit sore. My friend actually did not get out of work on time, so as luck would have it, we got there at about the same time.
I'm glad we went, but it sure was dark at that time. Makes me remember why this is the time of year that I start heading back into the gym. That, and I am paying for the membership, I might as well get some use out of it...
It's nice having someone to run with. Keeps you feeling safer when it is dark. Helps to pass the time in gasping conversation.
We talked about a couple of things - Like the fact that I started running again four years ago the week of Thanksgiving. I think I had lost about 40 pounds at that point, and one of the reasons I wanted to lose weight is because I wanted to be able to exercise without feeling like I was going to keel over. I ran a lifetime ago when I was on the track team in Junior High. My event was the half mile. I consistantly came in last, but at least I was out there trying. I did that in 8th and 9th grades. When I got into 10th grade, I started doing synchronized swimming, and it conflicted with track, so the running went by the wayside. And thinking back on High School, it's hard to believe that I graduated weighing somewhere around 120 - 125. And I thought I was heavy through most of High School. Body image, isn't it grand?
I talked to my aunt tonight too, and said something about going running. She asked me "do you really like running?" To which my answer was "yes." She said that she is just one of those people that doesn't enjoy exercising. I told her that I needed to get myself motivated some days, but once I start, it's a great feeling. I guess I just need to concentrate on "that feeling" to get myself in gear once again.
And I will be doing it next week. I have the week off of work, and Eric and I are heading down to Oklahoma to stay with my sister for the week. I was kind of hoping to find some sort of Thanksgiving Day run to participate in, but it appears the only one on Active is in Oklahoma City, and we will be rather far away to do a silly race - she lives near Tulsa. I did, however, briefly contemplate registering for a race on the 19th in Tulsa. They are doing an inaugral marathon (route 66 marathon) in Tulsa, and there is a Half marathon along with it too. Like I said, I considered, but in reality, we won't be getting there in time without really killing ourselves, and yeah, if I am having issues running 3 miles at a decent pace (we did the 3 mile loop today in about 32 minutes, with two walk breaks for me) there is no way I could finish a half marathon.
In another unrelated topic - I came home to an "intersting" message on my answering machine: My mom calling, and saying that she and dad had gotten back, and went to the emergency room, and dad hadn't had a stroke, but he had something called Bell's palsy that was causing the muscles in his face to freeze up. Um, whaaaa? You were thinking that dad might have had a stroke???? Yeah, he started having the face paralysis when they were in Mexico on their cruise, and mom just forgot to tell me when I talked to her on Sunday. It was still a little unnerving to come home to that message. And again, they both hate the ER, still. And dad will be going to his own doctor, where the ER doc recommended that he have a Lymes test. Makes sense to me - hopefully it will be something like that.
Yep two posts in one day. What is the world coming to?
~a
Running again.
I went running on the treadmill yesterday. After a week of packing my gym bag, and telling myself I would , I finally did. I set it for 5mph, and 45 minutes. And I did it all. I love it when my body, after about 10 minutes, finally says "hey, this is not so bad" and after about 30 minutes when the endorphins kick in, and it feels soooooo good! All told, with the warm-down time, I got in 4 miles. It's a start.
It's also not too shabby, considering that I gave blood on Saturday, and that normally makes me pretty lethargic. I guess the extra iron I have been taking is doing me some good.
Speaking of Saturday, it was sure an experience! I got up in the morning, dressed and got ready to go... went and weighed in (down .4 for a total of 5 lost now), skipped the meeting, and went to meet my friend and her running group. Ran the 3-mile route, then went with them to Panerra, where I stuck to coffee, and the Kashi bar I had brought with me. Then I went to donate. After that, I went home, made a decadent desert (White Russian Tiramisu) from Cooking Light, then took a long bath. Eric and I went to a friend's house for dinner with a bunch of other folks - and I definately ate and drank too much. And the Tiramisu was absolutely divine.
Good news is, I exercised, and had some extra points from giving blood. And I tried to journal it all. It sure is shocking to see that I ate around 65 points in one day. Yikes.
The other good news, is that since I have not been making a habit of eating a lot, it has not shown up on the scale... two days of water, water, water, staying in my points, and the run yesterday, the scale this morning actually said I was down a little more.
Speaking of "yikes" and points, check this out. It is shocking to see that a Long Island Ice Tea (12 oz) is 16 points. That is 789 calories, folks.
I am also excited to say, that I am meeting my friend again to go running tonight, so I am outta here to go get ready.
~a
It's also not too shabby, considering that I gave blood on Saturday, and that normally makes me pretty lethargic. I guess the extra iron I have been taking is doing me some good.
Speaking of Saturday, it was sure an experience! I got up in the morning, dressed and got ready to go... went and weighed in (down .4 for a total of 5 lost now), skipped the meeting, and went to meet my friend and her running group. Ran the 3-mile route, then went with them to Panerra, where I stuck to coffee, and the Kashi bar I had brought with me. Then I went to donate. After that, I went home, made a decadent desert (White Russian Tiramisu) from Cooking Light, then took a long bath. Eric and I went to a friend's house for dinner with a bunch of other folks - and I definately ate and drank too much. And the Tiramisu was absolutely divine.
Good news is, I exercised, and had some extra points from giving blood. And I tried to journal it all. It sure is shocking to see that I ate around 65 points in one day. Yikes.
The other good news, is that since I have not been making a habit of eating a lot, it has not shown up on the scale... two days of water, water, water, staying in my points, and the run yesterday, the scale this morning actually said I was down a little more.
Speaking of "yikes" and points, check this out. It is shocking to see that a Long Island Ice Tea (12 oz) is 16 points. That is 789 calories, folks.
I am also excited to say, that I am meeting my friend again to go running tonight, so I am outta here to go get ready.
~a
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Update!
Yep, changed my layout. Now I have to play with it again to put back some stuff, but I am not stressed out about it.
The week had a lot of stuff...
Saturday, the 4th, was my parent's 39th wedding anniversary. They were in Florida, because they left on a cruise on Sunday. I did call them and wish them a happy anniversary...
Saturday, I also had a goal of getting stuff done around the house, but not much of that happened. I did get the boxes of stuff for work out of our attic, and the boxes that were in bad shape were repacked, then they were all loaded into my truck to bring them to work to have them shipped out. Some trinkets for a conference - they were left over from last year, and I offered to store them at my house, instead of my boss having to have them shipped to Calgary, then back to the US... and eliminating the need to go through customs twice. Eric, who said he would help me with some house work, then went out to the garage to putz with the boat, fishing gear, etc. I followed him out (nice day) and started going through some of the boxes in the garage, and he started hovering over my shoulder to make sure I did not throw out anything "important". Um, lets see, broken boxes, with broken glass in them, since they have been flung about for many moves, etc. You lose the luxury of keeping everything! I did also find, in a shoebox of crap, his old wedding band. He says - "I wanted to sell that at some time..." Um, you've been divorced for how long?
Anyway, after all of that, we went out that evening on a bar hop. I was one of the organizers of the event, so I drank diet soda and soda water for the evening. It was a lot of fun, but it really wiped me out with the cold I had been fighting.
Sunday, I slept in, and lazed around the house for a while, and Eric went fishing. I did rouse myself, and did a deep cleaning of the kitchen and both of the bathrooms. And some laundry. It makes me happy to have clean sinks, I tell you!
I also got a call from my brother-in-law on Sunday afternoon, asking me if I knew that my sister was in the hospital... now he has been known for trying to joke about stuff like that, but when he asked about getting a hold of my parents, if I knew where they were, I knew he was not joking. Evidently she had a racing heartbeat, and after a visit to the emergency room (in Boston, where she was for a work meeting) they couldn't figure out what it was, they admitted her to the hospital where she stayed for two nights while they ran tests - and found nothing conclusive. My BIL ended up flying there (from Oklahoma) on Tuesday, to fly back with her. They thought she might have a blood clot, so sis was glad for the company, but it was sure a long trip for her husband - he flew there and back all in one day. My sister has scheduled some appointments with her doctor to see if there is anything. It is also putting her over the fence about the decision to get a continuous glucose meter, to go along with her insulin pump. Hopefully this will get her to have fewer health issues and insulin reactions (in case you are wondering, yes, she is diabetic).
Monday was work, and a Jaycee board meeting.
Tuesday was work, again, and in the evening, for fun, after doing my civic duty and voting, I balanced the checkbook, and went to the grocery store. Good times.
Yesterday, I got out of my work meeting at about 2:30, so Eric got off of work early, and we went fishing. It was a absolutely calm, gorgeous night. I am guessing that it will be the last time I will be in the boat this year. Not many times you have 70+ degree days in November, so we took advantage of it. I casted for a bit, then just sat back in the boat, and enjoyed myself.
And I am still enjoying the WW e-tools. It's still my shiny new toy.
The next piece is exercise. Yep. I'm gonna get there, really! I have a running date set up with a friend of mine, to run with a club she has tried and enjoyed, on Saturday - so if nothing else, I will do that!
So that's life in the big city.
~a
The week had a lot of stuff...
Saturday, the 4th, was my parent's 39th wedding anniversary. They were in Florida, because they left on a cruise on Sunday. I did call them and wish them a happy anniversary...
Saturday, I also had a goal of getting stuff done around the house, but not much of that happened. I did get the boxes of stuff for work out of our attic, and the boxes that were in bad shape were repacked, then they were all loaded into my truck to bring them to work to have them shipped out. Some trinkets for a conference - they were left over from last year, and I offered to store them at my house, instead of my boss having to have them shipped to Calgary, then back to the US... and eliminating the need to go through customs twice. Eric, who said he would help me with some house work, then went out to the garage to putz with the boat, fishing gear, etc. I followed him out (nice day) and started going through some of the boxes in the garage, and he started hovering over my shoulder to make sure I did not throw out anything "important". Um, lets see, broken boxes, with broken glass in them, since they have been flung about for many moves, etc. You lose the luxury of keeping everything! I did also find, in a shoebox of crap, his old wedding band. He says - "I wanted to sell that at some time..." Um, you've been divorced for how long?
Anyway, after all of that, we went out that evening on a bar hop. I was one of the organizers of the event, so I drank diet soda and soda water for the evening. It was a lot of fun, but it really wiped me out with the cold I had been fighting.
Sunday, I slept in, and lazed around the house for a while, and Eric went fishing. I did rouse myself, and did a deep cleaning of the kitchen and both of the bathrooms. And some laundry. It makes me happy to have clean sinks, I tell you!
I also got a call from my brother-in-law on Sunday afternoon, asking me if I knew that my sister was in the hospital... now he has been known for trying to joke about stuff like that, but when he asked about getting a hold of my parents, if I knew where they were, I knew he was not joking. Evidently she had a racing heartbeat, and after a visit to the emergency room (in Boston, where she was for a work meeting) they couldn't figure out what it was, they admitted her to the hospital where she stayed for two nights while they ran tests - and found nothing conclusive. My BIL ended up flying there (from Oklahoma) on Tuesday, to fly back with her. They thought she might have a blood clot, so sis was glad for the company, but it was sure a long trip for her husband - he flew there and back all in one day. My sister has scheduled some appointments with her doctor to see if there is anything. It is also putting her over the fence about the decision to get a continuous glucose meter, to go along with her insulin pump. Hopefully this will get her to have fewer health issues and insulin reactions (in case you are wondering, yes, she is diabetic).
Monday was work, and a Jaycee board meeting.
Tuesday was work, again, and in the evening, for fun, after doing my civic duty and voting, I balanced the checkbook, and went to the grocery store. Good times.
Yesterday, I got out of my work meeting at about 2:30, so Eric got off of work early, and we went fishing. It was a absolutely calm, gorgeous night. I am guessing that it will be the last time I will be in the boat this year. Not many times you have 70+ degree days in November, so we took advantage of it. I casted for a bit, then just sat back in the boat, and enjoyed myself.
And I am still enjoying the WW e-tools. It's still my shiny new toy.
The next piece is exercise. Yep. I'm gonna get there, really! I have a running date set up with a friend of mine, to run with a club she has tried and enjoyed, on Saturday - so if nothing else, I will do that!
So that's life in the big city.
~a
Saturday, November 04, 2006
4.6
That's how much I lost this week, when I weighed in this morning.
Even after I managed to eat about a half a pound of cheese on Thursday. I knew I should not have started eating the cheese curds after I bought them - but my had just kept reaching in for another, and another, and another as I was driving home.
I had packed low and no point snacks, and ate some of those too, but the fresh squeaky cheese was just so completely tempting. At least I owned up to it, and measured, and jornaled the whole thing. Next time, they go in the back of the truck, and not in the seat next to me.
So... I took my test yesterday. The nice thing about taking the exam on a computer is that the test gets scored right away, and you know if you pass or not. I passed! Woo hoo! Eric took me out to dinner last night to celebrate, and I did really well. There were chips and salsa, but I told him to keep them on his side of the table, and he did. He had a margarita, which I had two sips, but otherwise I drank my club soda with lime. I really think that is my new favorite drink!
But, it's another night of stuff to do. Tonight we are going on a bar hop. It's a "Mystery Bus Tour", and only the planners of the event know where we are going (I happen to be one of the planners, and I am responsible for giving the bus driver directions to each place).
Off to the shower to get ready!
~a
Even after I managed to eat about a half a pound of cheese on Thursday. I knew I should not have started eating the cheese curds after I bought them - but my had just kept reaching in for another, and another, and another as I was driving home.
I had packed low and no point snacks, and ate some of those too, but the fresh squeaky cheese was just so completely tempting. At least I owned up to it, and measured, and jornaled the whole thing. Next time, they go in the back of the truck, and not in the seat next to me.
So... I took my test yesterday. The nice thing about taking the exam on a computer is that the test gets scored right away, and you know if you pass or not. I passed! Woo hoo! Eric took me out to dinner last night to celebrate, and I did really well. There were chips and salsa, but I told him to keep them on his side of the table, and he did. He had a margarita, which I had two sips, but otherwise I drank my club soda with lime. I really think that is my new favorite drink!
But, it's another night of stuff to do. Tonight we are going on a bar hop. It's a "Mystery Bus Tour", and only the planners of the event know where we are going (I happen to be one of the planners, and I am responsible for giving the bus driver directions to each place).
Off to the shower to get ready!
~a
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
stick a fork in me
I'm done...
I am pretty irritated at the moment.
Why do people ask me questions, and then not follow instructions, then tell me it's my job to straighten out the mess that ensues? Why the fuck don't they just do what they want to do in the first place, and leave me out of it? I want to know where in my job description does it say that I need to straighten out hotel reservations? Last time I checked, that was NOT MY JOB! I had lots of snarky e-mails that I started writing back to this manager after he told me that I needed to straighen out the billing, after he approved an employee's expenses without checking to make sure it was an appropriate expense. Finally, I just wrote: "I am done with this." and I will leave it at that. If the employee gets reimbursed for an expense he did not incur, it is a problem for that employee and his manager. Breathe. Accept that people can be incompetent boobs.
On another note... it is day 15 of journalling everything. Both on paper, and on line. Turns out WW does not support my particular model of Palm Pilot at the moment. I bought the thing 9 months ago, I wish they would keep up! I also stepped on the scale this morning, and as of right now, it looks like I am down a couple of pounds.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I had said something about my friend with the pottery shop in my previous post. Well, she is a small business owner. She has one part-time employee. MN OSHA is currently doing a project to eliminate silica exposures, and since she has a business that falls under one of their "target" categories, she got inspected, and was issued some citations with fines. I helped her draft the documents to contest the citations, then they scheduled an informal conference with her to negotiate a settlement. That was yesterday. The letter they sent her asked to let them know if she was bringing legal representation, and she left a message for them that she would be "represented." So they were there with their legal council... thinking I was her lawyer, when in fact, I was just a friend with knowledge of the safety regulations. Long and short of it, they offered a reduction in fines (40%) and an extension of some deadlines, if she agreed to go to a free one-day safety course for small business owners. I made some good arguments that they should lower the fines more, so they offered a 50% reduction, which was what we had pretty much asked for in the contestation letter. And since she is a retail business, and the holidays are coming up, she does not have to attend the course until after the first of the year. Never take their first offer!
Funny thing is, their lawyer told me at the end of the conference that I argued better, and made points better than a lot of the lawyers that come in to represent people. Made me feel good. I guess the debate competitions and negotiation training that I have had the opportunity to do through the Jaycees is paying off. I think my friend was happy with the outcome. It was probably better than what she would be able to do on her own. The OSHA guy also told her that she was quite lucky to have a friend like me to help her out. The sampling I did last Friday alone would have cost her more than what the OSHA fines were. It just makes me angry, because stuff like this is why small business owners have such a hard time making it. If you are a one-person show, how on earth can you know everything you need to to comply with all of the governmental regulations?
Anyway, I guess I have some stuff to wrap up before I need to get on the road. I get to travel to the exotic locale of Portage, WI tonight. A glamourous life, I do not lead!
~a
I am pretty irritated at the moment.
Why do people ask me questions, and then not follow instructions, then tell me it's my job to straighten out the mess that ensues? Why the fuck don't they just do what they want to do in the first place, and leave me out of it? I want to know where in my job description does it say that I need to straighten out hotel reservations? Last time I checked, that was NOT MY JOB! I had lots of snarky e-mails that I started writing back to this manager after he told me that I needed to straighen out the billing, after he approved an employee's expenses without checking to make sure it was an appropriate expense. Finally, I just wrote: "I am done with this." and I will leave it at that. If the employee gets reimbursed for an expense he did not incur, it is a problem for that employee and his manager. Breathe. Accept that people can be incompetent boobs.
On another note... it is day 15 of journalling everything. Both on paper, and on line. Turns out WW does not support my particular model of Palm Pilot at the moment. I bought the thing 9 months ago, I wish they would keep up! I also stepped on the scale this morning, and as of right now, it looks like I am down a couple of pounds.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I had said something about my friend with the pottery shop in my previous post. Well, she is a small business owner. She has one part-time employee. MN OSHA is currently doing a project to eliminate silica exposures, and since she has a business that falls under one of their "target" categories, she got inspected, and was issued some citations with fines. I helped her draft the documents to contest the citations, then they scheduled an informal conference with her to negotiate a settlement. That was yesterday. The letter they sent her asked to let them know if she was bringing legal representation, and she left a message for them that she would be "represented." So they were there with their legal council... thinking I was her lawyer, when in fact, I was just a friend with knowledge of the safety regulations. Long and short of it, they offered a reduction in fines (40%) and an extension of some deadlines, if she agreed to go to a free one-day safety course for small business owners. I made some good arguments that they should lower the fines more, so they offered a 50% reduction, which was what we had pretty much asked for in the contestation letter. And since she is a retail business, and the holidays are coming up, she does not have to attend the course until after the first of the year. Never take their first offer!
Funny thing is, their lawyer told me at the end of the conference that I argued better, and made points better than a lot of the lawyers that come in to represent people. Made me feel good. I guess the debate competitions and negotiation training that I have had the opportunity to do through the Jaycees is paying off. I think my friend was happy with the outcome. It was probably better than what she would be able to do on her own. The OSHA guy also told her that she was quite lucky to have a friend like me to help her out. The sampling I did last Friday alone would have cost her more than what the OSHA fines were. It just makes me angry, because stuff like this is why small business owners have such a hard time making it. If you are a one-person show, how on earth can you know everything you need to to comply with all of the governmental regulations?
Anyway, I guess I have some stuff to wrap up before I need to get on the road. I get to travel to the exotic locale of Portage, WI tonight. A glamourous life, I do not lead!
~a
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