Original plans for the evening: 1.) Eat dinner. 2.) Go to Toledo Area Genealogical Society meeting. 3.) Edit and post podcast.
Revised chronology for the evening: 1.) Eat dinner. 2.) Go to two-and-a-half hour Toledo Area Genealogical Society meeting. 3.) Talk to Mom on the phone for half an hour.
Don’t think the podcast is getting edited and posted tonight. Good thing I put tomorrow’s date on it when I recorded it this weekend.
Good news! I finally broke through my two-week plateau at 206.5 and 206lbs respectively, and have managed to stay below 205 for the last five days or so. My official week-end weight is 203.5, although I weighed in this morning back at 204. I’m fairly confident that I’ll stay below 205 now. w00t!
My major dip in weight happened the day after my resistance-training PUSH workout, and stayed there despite pizza and cheesecake on Friday, and two Pollyeyes stuffed breadsticks on Saturday. You would think that a weight dip after exercise would incite me to exercise more often… but no. I ended up not following up with my kickboxing cardio.
Even so, I still plan to order some clothes for myself this week. Maybe I’ll even treat myself to a trip to Levis Commons and take a turn around Lane Bryant.
This week, I plan to *really* do two days of exercise. One day of strength training, one day of cardio. I know, it’s way less than the nice PUSH people want me to do, but I’m easing myself back into it. Making habits. Losing the weight slowly, so I’ll keep it off.
As much as I’d like to hit my goal weight by Thanksgiving, the statistics are against me. Overall, I’m averaging a loss of just under one pound a week, although my consistency has improved over time. If I were to stick with this program, with these results, I’d hit my goal of 190 just before Christmas. I’m not giving up, though. We’ll see how it turns out.
When I was in middle school, I had the hardest time finding a deodorant that would keep me smelling fresh. Mom’s deodorant didn’t cut it for me, and it wasn’t until I saw an advertisement for a deodorant that was “So effective you could even skip a day™” that I finally found my brand. Over the years, my Lady Mitchum has served me well, though the products have changed from normal solid antiperspirant to a roll-on to a “hydrosolid” to a gel.
Recently, I got razorburn on my left armpit. Around the same time, I switched from my normal gel back to the “hydrosolid” that was on clearance. The hydrosolid ended up giving me a nasty rash where the razorburn was, so I had to forego the use of deodorant on my left pit for a few days, so it could heal. Eww.
Actually, it could have been worse. I put baby powder on my freshly-washed pit every morning, and it was fine until well after I got home in the evening. And, strangely enough, I enjoyed the feeling of letting my armpit breathe. That, plus a well-timed article in a health magazine, made me wonder if maybe I shouldn’t switch to a more natural deodorant.
Early this week, I received a shipment from Kiss My Face: natural deodorant, with no aluminum salts to clog the pores and possibly cause a host of medical problems. I’ve been using it all week, and it seems to work OK. Honestly, I’m not positive how much more effective this stuff is than the baby powder method, but it does smell nice. Like lavender. (I haven’t tried the patchouli yet, but it smells pretty strong. I’m gonna smell like a hippie.)
Right now, at almost midnight, my deodorant has long since worn off. That’s OK, though. I don’t mind the smell of me as much as I once did, especially since I’m all by my lonesome. I might reapply in the evenings if Aaron were here to smell my naturalness. 🙂
Again, as I said once before, mentioning that one has BO is probably not the best thing to do on one’s blog. But I’m feeling liberated from the evils of aluminum, and wanted to share. And the point of the natural deodorant is not to have BO in social situations, which I don’t.
It really does make you think about what our deodorant-deprived ancestors smelled like on a daily basis, or about people in other cultures or other countries — like the Mennonite I shared a Greyhound bus seat with, once upon a time. I don’t smell *that* strong, but it does make you wonder. Doesn’t it?
To Do Tonight:
Guess what’s getting done first?
Yeah. I’m gonna go kick some Incan butt.
Update, Post-Civ IV: Oh, yeah. I forgot I was going to do some kickboxing cardio to offset the two pieces of pizza and one piece of cheesecake I had for lunch. Oops.
Really don’t want to write my report or record my podcast, but I need to do both. Gonna go stall traipse around the house for a minute and collect my thoughts (and grab my iPod so it can charge), then come back down here and start on my Webmaster Report / Suggestions to the New Board of Directors.
The story thus far: James and I have been developing and administering Access databases for Loan Servicing for about six months now. Over a month ago, we had thought our “promotion” was finalized — a step up from Associate Operations II to Senior Operations Associate, with a very slim chance of a pay increase. Still nothing.
Tomorrow, Loan Corrections is having a pizza party / potluck for three members of our department who are moving to different jobs. After already having one person move to Cleveland and having one currently on maternity leave, this shorts our manpower by an insane amount. So, James and I have been instructed by management to take on normal Loan Corrections tasks effective Monday and continuing through September, until the department is fully staffed again. We’re literally in the middle of implementing one department’s database, and are having to leave it half-finished as we go back to completing loan changes and double-checking others’ work for four weeks.
We’re willing to Take One For The Team. We can’t say we’re happy about it, but we’ll do it.
We’ve made it clear to our new supervisor that we want to stay with Sky long-term, but that we currently feel as if management is coming close to taking undue advantage of our “value-added” to the department. I can appreciate management wanting to use the resources at their disposal (namely, James and myself), but there comes a point when using becomes USING. According to my online research, as a database admin — or even as an entry-level programmer — I should be making literally TWICE the amount I currently pull in. At least.
James needs the cash more than I do. I don’t really need the cash. We’re not hurting for money, although it can never hurt to save for future expenses (mainly kid-related… or travel-related). And I’m sure that, once we have kids, our expenses will skyrocket OMG.
I’m kind of torn about how I feel about getting slighted on this. I mean, I enjoy what I’m doing. I’m getting awesome experience. I’m using my brain. I’m applying my new coding knowledge to other aspects of my life, like the Lakeshoremen website. But…
I don’t know what it is that would make me satisfied. I’m getting to do what I want, for the most part. Now I want to get paid properly for what I do. Once I get paid more, am I going to think I deserve an actual office (shared with James, of course)? Our own department? A third database helper? And why will I never be satisfied with the fact that I managed to get a decent gig from just coasting along at my stupid bank job and crossing paths with an awesome opportunity, rather than seeking out an opportunity on my own? Is this a problem of self-worth and self-confidence, or just me continually bitching?
Sometimes I think I’m just wired for low self-esteem. I don’t understand why I can’t let myself be a kickass [insert hobby/job here], and just leave it at that.