March 31, 2006
Out of Town
Out of Town
The last few days have been pretty hectic. I got up at 8AM Tuesday morning and headed off to O'Hare airport in Chicago. Only to sit and wait because our Flight to Greensboro, NC kept getting delayed for weather reasons. Which I don't understand, because here wasn't any weather. I should feel lucky, as a couple of guys who went to fly out of the South Bend airport (which is the one I usually go to) got their flight cancelled. They ended up driving to Chicago (about 2 hours) and catching a flight, which was delayed for them too. They didn't get into Greensboro until after midnight. We got in about 6. Their flight that got cancelled was supposed to connect with ours.
The next two days were nothing but classes at our new Eden, NC assembly facility. Two 4-hour classes each day. Had to get up at 6AM Wednesday morning, and 5AM Thursday morning for them. They were good, but loooong. Tuesday night, after a company-supplied supper, a group of us went to a place called Southside Johnny's in Greensboro. We spent the rest of the night there. It was fun. The whole reason for this trip was to make it an inaugural session of our annual School of Better Heating utilizing our brand new world class training facilities. They sent about 40 people from the offices to this school for a dry run. They did a pretty good job. It was also fun seeing a lot of the salesmen and area office personnel that you don’t normally see.
After classes Thursday, we high-tailed it to the airport to try and get stand in on an earlier flight back to Chicago. 2 of the 5 of us made it. The same two who's flight was cancelled in South Bend. (but due to Chicago rush hour traffic, they only got home about a half hour before I did.)Our flight was scheduled at 7PM. It was 3:30 when we got to the airport. What really sucks is trying to find an electrical outlet at an airport. Most airports don't seem to have them to plug your laptops into. But they are more than willing to sell you Internet access time. Costs $6.95. I don't think so. I found an open one in another gate, and sat there and watched movies for like 3 hours.
I didn't end up getting home from Chi-Town until about 10PM last night. Then got up bright and early this morning and went to work. Ugh.
I am a bit tires, as I didn’t sleep well the first night I was there. Or hardly at all for that matter (read: my body hates to sleep at night). Wednesday night wasn't a problem getting to sleep, but we didn't get to the hotel until after 12:30. Last night I passed out about as soon as I got home.
March 27, 2006
New Entry
New Entry
I haven't written here in awhile. And I'll tell you why I think that is. I have no energy. I have no working brain power. I neeed sugar to survive on a daily basis. I have denied my body that sweet succulance for over two weeks now. My body is not taking it well.
I have noticed, and Christina too, that since we have been on the sugar diet, our energy and stamina levels have gone down exponentially. Like we go to Wal-Mart to go shopping. Yeah, that's all I can handle for half a day. Just that walking wears me out to the point I don't want to move. Chopping wood for the fireplace. I am lucky I can chop enough for a nights worth. And when I am done, I have to sit down for a good 30 minutes before I can do anything else.
Good Thing: The diet ends this Sunday right after breakfast.
Bad Thing: This Sunday, right after breakfast, is my neices 1st birthday party. With cake and ice cream. The next three days I will be on a business trip where all the meals are provided. Usually they don't serve a whole lot of healthy stuff at these things. I'll be lucky to eat anything at all. Did I mention company paid for drinking binges? Well, I can't partake in that either. SUCK.
This is the worst possible diet, in the world. I don't suggest anyone try it, ever.
Christina told me, that her friend told her, that after the second week, everyone on this diet would be feeling so good that they stay on the diet for an extended period of time. Bullshit. Complete Bullshit. I feel worse that I ever have. I have cravings for good food every 15 seconds or so. I can barely handle it.
Don't worry. We are going on Weight Watchers when this diet is done (like a day or two later). So we won't be jsut gorging ourselves with good food and returning back to the old weight of which we started at.
March 20, 2006
You know what I love?
You know what I love?
Back to the Future - the Trilogy! We watched about half of Part I on Wednesday, finished up the second half on Sat., and of course, I had to watch Parts II & III!! I love Back to the Future, it's one of my top three favorites.
In Heavier News
We've been on the "no sugar" diet for just over a week now. Last monday I had really bad cramps, and have had a few cramps throughout the week. I've been told that it is my body getting over the caffeine addiction. I can believe it. It is getting kind of old trying to come up with new meals that we can eat. Last night we made a made up version of Hungarian Goulash, only without the noodles. It turned out OK, for having no recipe. My Jr./Sr. High school lied to me. The recipes I found for Hungarian Goulash are completely different than what the school served. Anyways, tonight, we are trying Eggplant Tangine.
The problem is, I haven't lost any weight since Friday! It's upsets me, almost makes you want to give up. Two more weeks....although it feels like an eternity already!
March 17, 2006
Team Building Exercises
Team Building Exercises
This afternoon, us in the Marketing Department have a "Team Building Exercise." Todays exercise consists of a tri-athalon. Pool, Darts, and bowling. This all started when our department went out for a Christmas Lunch at a local bar/bowling alley. After lunch, we drew teams froma hat, and had a bowling contest. The winners were treated to lunch at a later date by the losers. This had been turned into a quarterly event. And a way to "get to know" your fellow employees. :)
March 15, 2006
Diets are Dangerous
Diets are Dangerous
I realized this last night after I attempted to slice the end of my thumb off while chopping up a head of lettuce for salad. Fortunately for me a I have a thumbnail that can stop a Cutco knife. Unfortunatley, it hurt, alot, and didn't stop bleeding for quite awhile. And it's deep. Christina had to take over the lettuce while I went and bleed all over the sink (She did get me a band-aid first, but I was bleeding too much).
March 14, 2006
Sloth
| Greed: | High | |
| Gluttony: | Medium | |
| Wrath: | Very Low | |
| Sloth: | High | |
| Envy: | Very Low | |
| Lust: | Medium | |
| Pride: | Very Low |
The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com
Indiana Weather
Weather
Friday: low 60's. Saturday: high 60's. Sunday: 40's. Monday: Mid 60's. Tuesday: 30's. Gotta love Indiana! And they are calling for a bit of snow this morning too, although i bet it's not alot, and we don't actually get any.
Diet
Sunday afternoon Christina and I started a "No Sugar" diet. Basically, we can't have sugar. Do you know what that leaves to eat? Nothing! Well, Ok, some meats and vegetables. Which will get old really quick. But apparently it's good to purge your system of sugar once in awhile.
If you want a copy of it, or are jsut curious to see what I am allowed to eat, CLICK HERE.
March 10, 2006
Weather
Monday:
Tuesday:
This weekend, we got a descent amount of snow. Only like 2-3 inches, but it was more than the weatherman said it would be. I was fairly happy. But by the end of tuesday, it was all gone. And now, we're reaching 60's. It was nice while it lasted, although I am disgusted at the small amount of snow we got this winter. Well, there's always next year!
March 09, 2006
Licenses
When I was younger, in order to get a drivers license, you had to pass a written and driving test. Apparently nowadays, all you need is a pulse. On my way to work, I watched one guy almost smash headfirst into a light pole. I actually had my cell phone out and dialed 9-1 because I didn't think there was any way he could have pulled out of it. Somehow, he managed. Barely. That was shortly after leaving my house. Throughout the next 30 minutes, there were a total of 4 people who paid no attention at the stop sign they pulled up to, and pulled out in front of me. Twice causing me to skid my truck to a near stop.
Then was the big one. Right up the road from work, Rt. 12, which is a 4-lane road, splits off to add a median as you come into town. The northbound lanes "jog over" an entire lane width. White and yellow lines mark it clearly. But apparently, people don't understand the concept of driving between the lines. I was on the inside lane, next to a semi truck on the outside lane. We got to the little jog in the road, and I started to jog. Well apparently Mr. Dipshit didn't think he had to jog, because he didn't move. He literally ran me right into the median. Fortunately it’s just concrete, had a sloped surface up to it, is only 4 inches tall and is about 2 feet wide, to account of the turn lane of the oncoming traffic. And also fortunately, there was no one in the oncoming lanes making a left hand turn. My truck and me would have been SOL. And as I am just sitting in this median, the trucker never even hesitated to try and stop, but he just kept on driving.
March 07, 2006
Traffic, Taxes, and Junk Mail
Traffic
There is about an 8-mile stretch of SR49 that I take to work everyday. For those that don't know, it's a 4-lane highway. Well mid last week I read in the newspaper that they were going to be doing construction on the road, and it happens to be the 8-mile stretch that I travel every day. Well the next day I go to work, and the 2 northbound lanes that I am traveling on have been merged into one. I came in from an off ramp. The nearest traffic light was 2 miles up the road. Traffic from that light was backed up at least a mile past the off ramp I was on. The people already on 49 would not let me get on! I had to literally cut someone off and damn near run them off the road because I had no more merging lane left! It took me almost 40 minutes longer than usual to get to work that day. So for the next year, I have an alternate route. It takes about 10 minutes longer than usual, and it’s all country bumpy roads. But it’s not dealing with that crap.
Taxes
Last year I went to Jackson-Hewitt to have my taxes done. Normally I do them myself using Turbo Tax, but last year was the first tax year where I was considered an independent contractor for my part-time job doing home appraising. Well turns out that the lady at Jackson-Hewitt had no clue as to what she was doing, and literally I knew more about the deductions that I could take than she did. So this year, I went to a Tax Attorney who was recommended through a friend of mine. We sat down and he looked at all of my stuff and we talked about the deductions and other things for a bit. He gave me a rough estimate, and it looks like I am going to owe about $4000 this year. I damn near fell off my chair. I don't have $4000! I don't even have enough credit to get a loan for $4000! I was banking on a tax return to pay off a lot of my credit card debt! I've never had a tax return where I didn't get at least $1500 back! I don't even know what to do at this point.
Junk Mail
I use Hotmail as my main email account. I have had this account since the first day I ever got on the Internet. Usually it does a pretty good job at blocking all the spam and junk mail. But lately, I have been getting a lot of obvious junk mail in my inbox. It's really starting to annoy me. My settings are still the same, so it’s something that Hotmail changed to allow more junk mail in I guess.
March 03, 2006
Gotta love Root Canals
Last night I went in for my third root canal ever. It was really no different than usual. As per usual, the dentist (Dr. Holm) informed me that teeth seem to be very difficult when it comes to root canals. Apparently my roots are very long, and hard to find the end of. It also seemed to me that he was surprised that this particular tooth had 4 roots. He also stripped out 4 drill bits while attempting to drill. He said that root canals usually take half as long as it does to do mine. Finally at one point he said: "Well the root canal portion is done. All we have to do is fill the cavity. And at the rate we're going, that'll take another 5 hours!" It didn't, it was more like 5 minute.
My dentist is very cool. He does good work, and I request him when setting up appointments. He's also very funny. Each one of the chairs in my dentists' office has a TV by it. So last night, I was watching Deal or No Deal while getting worked on. It had both the dentist's assistant and the dentist intrigued as well. Basically he had his assistant give a play by play while he was working on my tooth. At times we were all watching the TV saying "Take the money!!" OK, well I was more like "wake wa woweey" as I had a bunch of crap in my mouth, along with being numb from the anesthetic (thanks for the correct spelling Lindsey!) You know how when you go to the dentist you have to wear that plastic napkin thing, and they have it attached to a chain around your neck? Well my dentist informed me: "It’s so much easier doing dental work on guy, because I can just set the tools on your chest. You can't do that with women…."
Christina and I decided that we hope our future children don't inherit my teeth problems. I try to keep a clean mouth, but with to avail. I have decided to start brushing at night too, because morning brushes, rinses, and flossing is obviously not doing it for me.
Although there is ONE thing I do love about my body. Only one. It would seem that I have a high tolerance for pain in the tooth/gum region. I have had three root canals now, and two tooth extractions, and never have taken more than one pain medication for each. I always take one when I get home, just in case, then usually I got to bed. After that, I never need to take another one. I have like two full bottles of vicodin at home from previous root canals or extractions. And I told the dentists he didn’t need to prescribe me any because I have plenty at home if I need it (NO BRIAN!). And today is no different. Sure, I feel as if something was done to my tooth, yeah, but it's not painful. Not even really uncomfortable. It's just there.