If you’ve been reading my blog at any point in the last 2 years, you know that I am married now. In light of that, I’ve moved over to http://www.kendraramick.com and will be posting there from now on. Ideally, I’d like to move these posts over to that site as an archive, but it appears to take a lot of time and energy to do that. So if someone wants to volunteer, let me know!!! Otherwise, I’ll see you over on the Ramick side.
1. I must shop earlier next year. Visiting NorthPark Mall after December 1st is like an episode of Survivor. You play the human version of Frogger in the parking lot, followed by an elbow battle in front of the mall directory in order to find the store you are looking for. When you reach your retail destination, its usually a test of of your sensory system to find the item you want, since you are shouting a sales person over very loud music, trying to read their lips to get the answer you need, then using your sense of direction to try and locate the end of the very looong line to checkout.
2. I must take more time to enjoy the festivities next year. For some reason I felt very rushed this year. Thanksgiving to Christmas seemed to fly by. Then we spent Sunday - Wednesday visiting families and driving all over in order to get to those families. I felt like I was just checking off a to do list instead of actually enjoying the holiday.
3. I will budget more money for Christmas charity donations next year. This year I decided to donate to a small animal rescue organization in Dallas. Since then I have received emails of thanks as well as a newsletter about the efforts the organization makes to improve the lives of animals. I honestly think my small monetary gift has given me more reward than I deserve for the small amount I donated. Next year I’d like to triple the amount I donate to this organization - which is still not much, but I know the money will help some very deserving animals.
4. I will put up my Christmas decorations earlier next year. This year we were unable to put up any decorations until 4 days before Christmas. But as soon as those tree lights turned on, I found my Christmas spirit! I don’t know what it is about those decorations, but they change my whole attitude. I think putting them up earlier will help me to enjoy the season - instead of just rushing through it.
So Blake is currently “working” from home. Honestly, I don’t know what is going on with his job, but he’s been home for a couple of weeks. It’s nice to have a co-worker of sorts, but its also weird to have someone in the same room with you all day when you are used to just you and the puppies.
A few days ago, Blake learned about http://www.justin.tv He quickly powered up his webcam, and now broadcasts on occasion from his desk. http://www.justin.tv/bramick. I find this awkward for 2 reasons.
1 - If I want to go to the bathroom, I have to walk past the webcam and into the bathroom. Now everyone watching will know when I need to pee.
2 - If he has the sound on, he has an echo. Not only do I hear him typing, but then I hear the broadcast typing. And he says everything twice. It’s like living in a time warp.
That is all I have to say about that.
Here it is, a month later. After returning from St Thomas, I spent a week being sick with a variety of funk. After that I went back to working out. All of 2 times.
Steadily my crappy eating habits and lack of any daily workout have caused the pounds to creep up on me again. I’ve weighed a few options regarding what to do next - sign up for more boot camp, join a gym, or buy a treadmill. I ruled out boot camp as the 5:00 a.m. wake up call is not appealing during the winter months. Although buying a treadmill is an option I would prefer, I would have to find a place to put it in our house. Although it would probably fit into the office, I’m not sure that I want it taking up the space we have set aside as a sitting area, that will also one day have a sleeper sofa for any visitors.
So its back to joining a gym. In this particular area, there are 3 choices within a reasonable distance. Gold’s Gym, 24 Hour Fitness, and Bally Total Fitness. Gold’s Gym has little to no convenient parking, so that was ruled out immediately. I don’t want to waste time trying to park when I should be working out. My next choice is Bally’s. I have previously belonged to 24 Hour and wasn’t massively impressed. So I went online and read some reviews for Bally’s. Alrighty then, apparently there are a lot of people out there who are very unhappy with Bally Total Fitness. Lots of complaints of being roped or pressured into contracts, varying monthly prices for everyone, etc.
So I’m down to 24 Hour Fitness. I’m going with a friend tonight using her guest pass to check it out. Wish me luck. Otherwise when you come to visit, you might be sleeping on a treadmill.
I don’t get to say that very often. My family jokes that I either burn or reflect the sunlight on to every one around me. So now that I am tan and back from vacation, I plan to flaunt it in their pale white faces!!
Our trip to St Thomas was very relaxing. We spent the first two full days eating and laying on the beach. And drinking. And napping. Really there isn’t much to tell other than it was so nice to not have anything planned! We did take one day and went on a day sailing trip to the bays around St John. Another day we went and layed around on a different beach in Maegan’s Bay. And the last day it pretty much rained the whole day, so we napped, read books, and went into town for a nice Italian dinner.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our honeymoon. We would not have been able to go without your generosity. And I must say - our week in St Thomas was truly needed!
I don’t get to say that very often. My family jokes that I either burn or reflect the sunlight on to every one around me. So now that I am tan and back from vacation, I plan to flaunt it in their pale white faces!!
Our trip to St Thomas was very relaxing. We spent the first two full days eating and laying on the beach. And drinking. And napping. Really there isn’t much to tell other than it was so nice to not have anything planned! We did take one day and went on a day sailing trip to the bays around St John. Another day we went and layed around on a different beach in Maegan’s Bay. And the last day it pretty much rained the whole day, so we napped, read books, and went into town for a nice Italian dinner.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our honeymoon. We would not have been able to go without your generosity. And I must say - our week in St Thomas was truly needed!
So in just a few days I leave for vacation. We are finally taking our honeymoon and I’m ready to go. Now. Work is really stressful right now, things with the house seem to be looking worse every day, so I just want a freaking break from doing laundry and vaccuuming and dealing with electricians/plumbers/construction people and taking out the trash and grocery shopping and cooking and feeding the dogs and pooper-scoopering. A vacation is definitely in order.
So this morning I spent two and half hours on the phone working with a user who had an assortment of things she needed assistance with. Phone support is possibly the crappiest part of my job, and I do my best to avoid it. But in some cases, you just can’t. So after I hung up the phone, I uttered a few obscenities and took a few minutes to catch up on email. Then I remembered something that always brightens my day. The Chronicles of George. A few years ago when I was working for a telecom company that was on the verge of bankruptcy, my co-workers and I had lost all motivation to work (who wants to work when you aren’t sure you are getting your next paycheck?). So we found things online to pass the time, when we stumbled on the Chronicles of George. I’m not sure if anyone outside of IT can truly appreciate them, but it brightens my day knowing at least I don’t have to deal with George.
From the Chronicles of George website:
“George is, quite simply, the worst helpdesk technician ever.
His grasp on the written word is shakier than a canoe full of epileptics. His knowledge of computers is thinner than a Vegas dancer’s chiffon underpants. He is, by all standards of intelligence, a rock.”
So take a minute to peruse the tickets from the worst helpdesk technician ever. Hopefully you will get a good laugh out of it too.
This is nothing more than a post to call attention to my friends’ plight with Verizon. Please read the link for full details of all of the fun he is having.
http://benjaminwright.net/life/verizon-wont-let-you-leave-theyll-let-you-think-you-did
I promised a follow up regarding the installation process of the Elfa closet from the Container Store. Blake put up the shoe rack wall by himself one afternoon a few weeks ago. It took him under 2 hours including putting the shoes up on the rack. So last weekend we tackled completely removing the rest of the old shelving, painting the wall, and then adding the Elfa shelves.
The Elfa shelving is a snap to install. The directions at the store and in the provided brochure make complete sense, and once you have done one wall, the rest move very quickly. We started the shelf installation around 4:00 and were ready to load clothes back in by 9:00, including an hour and a half break for dinner. What took so long was that after we removed the old shelving, we had to buy spackle and repair the 4 inch wide “gap” left by how the old shelves were mounted. Then we had to sand that. Then we had to texture and paint it so it matched the rest of the wall. That whole process took around 5 hours from tear out to paint. Not including several trips to Lowe’s for more supplies. So if you are starting with a blank slate, you can easily install an average sized walk in closet in about 4 hours. However if you have some repair work to do, plan on trips to the home improvement store and a few extra hours of time. 
Below is a pic of Blake during the installation. Before and After pics can be found by clicking here.
Amanda and I have lost our minds and signed up for a second round of boot camp. The last day of the first 6 weeks was last Friday and our assessment went great. I completed the run 20 seconds faster than at the beginning of the 6 weeks, and my push up and sit up count improved as well. Both Amanda and I doubled our plank time to 1:30.
Feeling good about our accomplishments, we signed up for another 6 weeks hoping to continue the pattern. Then we both bailed out of class on Monday. After Novie and Vivek’s wedding, I was too sleepy to get out of bed and Amanda agreed. We did get up Tuesday morning and did some cardio at Amanda’s apartment complex just so we didn’t completely screw up at the assessment today.
Today’s assessment started out with push ups. Amanda and I agreed to do “manly” push ups on our toes, instead of our usual modified version (”girlie”, although we aren’t allowed to say that in front of our trainer). To my surprise, I was able to complete 25! If that isn’t a testament to how well boot camp is working for us, I don’t know what is. I upped my plank time to about 1:45, but my run and sit up were the same as last Friday. So I’m working to improve on those during this next 6 weeks. I will be missing 1 week of class while we go on our honeymoon, but I think I can still pull off some improvements.