Procrastination

I really didn't want to work this weekend.  I mean, I did mentally, but emotionally I was just not having any of it.  The whole marketing strategy I wanted to write up for work hardly even entered my mind.  Then there was my homework 3 chapters to re-read for a quiz, 2 assignments to write and submit, and a forum posting.  Oh joy.

Friday night, Sam was on-call overnight.  One would think that would have been a good time for me to buckle down and get after my school work.  Yes, yes it would have been.  Instead, Hunter and I watched Gladiator while I finished (finally) scrap-booking the second half of our epic Southeast Asia Vacation from May 2011.  It only took me a year to complete, but hey, at least it's done!  I didn't get to start on Sam's graduation photos because I ran out of rubber cement and I don't have any cute grad stickers to decorate the pages yet.

Saturday morning I meant to get up and hit the gym, then slept in until 10 AM istead.  Boy did that feel great.  I tried to talk myself into studying, but since Kevin was coming and possibly spending the night, I ended up cleaning the guest room so that it was ready for company after Ryan's stint as a 2 night a week roommate over the last month and a half.  Oops.  Then Hunter and I went to Puppy Class and rushed home to meet the Cable Guy... who was an hour late.  Luckily we did get to see Sam and Kevin while we waited for him to come and install our new cable.  And after that, we met up with some of Sam's fellow residents at a small BBQ- first time meeting them!  We came a little late to eat, and headed out to dinner after about an hour of socializing.  It was fun!

Today, I woke up at 8 and thought I should get a jump start on the homework I had put off.  Jackie was supposed to FaceTime me and catch me up on her wedding dress shopping adventures of Saturday.  Unfortunately, some mishaps occurred and she couldn't.  Really unfortunately, I got sucked into A Game of Thrones Season 2... there went 2 hours of my morning.  Then it was time to get to Hunter's private lesson with Kate, and when we were done I desperately needed to get my car washed- last weekend's crazy weather had made me postpone the chore, but it was LONG overdue and the rain only made things worse.  On our way home we had to stop at CVS and pick up a prescription, so what should have been an hour event (training) turned into a 3 hour journey.  Oops.  I was so happy to have TV that I turned on Harry Potter 7 as background entertainment while I read... except that I love that movie so much I kept getting distracted.  And then Kevin stopped by on his way out of town, and I ended up starting HP 8 to finish out the series.  By that point I had re-read the first two chapters and done one assignment and posted to the forum- yay!  I turned the channel to Ice Road Truckers, and managed to read the final chapter.  Woohoo!  Unfortunately the quiz was malfunctioning so I did my last assignment and decided to call it a night.   Please remind me not to procrastinate in the future- it really sucks.

Or so I thought.  I had been drinking iced tea (black chai) all afternoon to stay alert during my reading and now I am totally amped up.  Oops major.  I have done all of our laundry, reorganized Sam's t-shirt drawer which was overflowing until I hung up some of the shirts.  I decided to shower tonight rather than tomorrow morning, and I have now spent 25 minutes catching up on blogs I follow and writing this post.  Hunter has been dozing off and on since 8PM... he clearly wants to know what the heck we're doing up past 10 on a Sunday night.  Believe me, puppy, I am not happy about it either.

To make matters worse, it was REALLY hot in our bedroom and so I had to open the windows 100% and point the fan outside instead of letting it oscillate pointing inside.  The latter provides more white noise and (I am convinced) blocks out the sounds of the road and other dogs better, which helps Hunter sleep through the night.  Anyway, I better get off this thing and get to bed.

Last but not least: HAPPY 79th BIRTHDAY to PAPA SANTI!  I am incredibly blessed to have had two wonderful grandfathers, one of whom is still able to spoil me rotten.  Papa Santi is a wonderful man who would do anything to make his grandkids happy- Hunter and I made sure to give him a call and let him know we love him today.

Ortho Widow

Monday- Sam is on call overnight in the hospital and doesn't come home

Tuesday- Sam gets home around 5pm, walks Hunter, and is passed out in our easy chair the entire night except for a 20 minute stretch between 8:45 & 9:05

Wednesday- Sam misses out on Ryan's last evening staying with us and the dinner and ice cream Ryan treats me to as a thank you, instead Sam arrives home at 10:45

Thursday- Sam gets home at 9:10, we finally get to catch up a bit before he goes to bed

Friday- Sam is on call overnight in the hospital and doesn't come home

It's doubtful that I am the first to coin the phrase, but I certainly feel like an "Ortho Widow" these days.  I am very thankful I have my little furry companion to keep me company during Sam's crazy long days... and for the 50% discount on cable that Cox offered me.  It's getting turned on tomorrow afternoon & a week from tonight I will be watching the opening ceremonies with a LARGE beverage celebrating the completion of my first big event at work.

Sigh... if only life had a Fast Forward button.

Right on Time

YOUR JOURNEY HAS MOLDED

YOU FOR YOUR GREATER GOOD,

AND IT WAS EXACTLY WHAT IT NEEDED TO BE.

DON'T THINK THAT YOU'VE LOST TIME.

IT TOOK EACH AND EVERY

SITUATION YOU HAVE ENCOUNTERED

TO BRING YOU TO THE NOW.

AND NOW IS RIGHT ON TIME.

                                 -Asha Tyson

Perspective

Yesterday I got a text from my mom that a high school classmate of mine had lost both of her parents over the weekend as the result of a tragic plane crash.  Sitting at my desk, my stomach bottomed out.  They had been flying a small plane from San Francisco to their vacation home in Colorado and went missing on Saturday night.

I cannot imagine the horror of not knowing that night and the following morning.  I can only pray that I will never have to go through something like this. 

The Facebook posts ranged from several sentences to a single word.  All of them touched on the subject but most were respectful of the bereaved and did not go into detail with names until the below thread.  A girl I have known since middle school posted one word: Perspective.  Yes, Ashley, perspective.  A little too much perspective, I would argue. 

Today, I woke up thankful to be alive.  Appreciative that I still have two loving parents alive and well.  I am grateful for my friends. 

My heart goes out to Kathleen and her whole family. 

A Single Step

It's 5 AM, & Hunter and I are off.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu
Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC)

On Track

Hunter & I got up at 5 AM for our run this morning.  Boy does it feel good to work out in the morning again- I am definitely prefer it to the evenings when I'm home from work and want to relax.

I seriously thought about going to bed at 7:30 tonight.  Sam was on call last night at the hospital and he was exhausted when he got home today.  So, curled up with Sam and Hunter in our bed while we had a tropical rain storm outside, it was very tempting to give in and drift off.  However, I didn't think Hunter would sleep all night if we went to bed that early, or worse, he'd be up and destroy something while unattended.  Hunter and I took our evening walk, I washed my face (and applied some Biore strips), and now we're hanging out at the table blogging and intermittently playing fetch while trying to avoid waking Sam up.

Hunter loves fetch.  I almost wish I didn't teach him in the first place because he gets real pouty if you don't throw the ball back on his schedule.  And this poor kid is in for a rude reality check in about 12 minutes when I head to bed.  He would fetch all night if I let him!

Anyway, here's to Sam having this weekend off and me still having WAY too much homework to catch up on.  :-(  I hope by Sunday night I am in a much better place!

Class Update

So a funny thing happened tonight...

I was sitting on Skype waiting for my classmates and instructor to arrive online and 6:00 came and went.  Then 6:10.  Then 6:15.  Finally I called the instructor's cell phone.

She had completely forgotten our class meeting.

15 minutes later, we were all online and chatting.  Homework came up, and it came out that myself and the other girl did the math and turned it in after about a million hours of labor [okay it was really just 2 for 4 3-part questions].  Well, thanks to a big misunderstanding, our instructor did NOT mean for us to do the math by hand and didn't quite get that written online.  There is an online tool that we can punch the numbers into and just ANALYZE.

Wow, I feel like a noob.  First of all, I called the instructor and reminded her about the class tonight.  Then I find out I (and another girl) am doing WAY more work than was intended.  Awesome.

On the upside, I now have an intimate knowledge of Net Marketing Contribution and how to calculate it.  Also, I did feel pretty damn good about myself after I did all the math.

On Second Thought...

Thank God I have First-World problems... it could be a lot worse!

Obstacles

Grrrr.  I am annoyed.

 

I thought I'd check out the menu at Lucille's BBQ where I am meeting a girlfriend who I haven't seen in almost a year (I think) for Happy Hour tomorrow.  Ugh.  No nutritional information listed, and based on my internet digging, none of the options are going to be great.  I called the restaurant to inquire as to what the nutritional info on their BBQ Salad is, because it looks mighty delicious and doesn't come with tempting sides like the Half BBQ Chicken (which is looking like my best option so far).  The hostess offered to find out the info for me, but returned without an answer.  It seems they just don't have that information on file.  

REALLY?

How the heck am I supposed to keep making good choices when I get answers like that.  Now I'm debating if I try to be good with the BBQ Chicken Plate, test my luck with the BBQ Chicken, or get something completely boring and unoriginal like the Chicken Cesar Salad with dressing on the side (my go-to WW dinner out).  Honestly, my inclination is to suggest we meet somewhere else... but it's kind of embarassing to bring up. 

Why must losing weight be so difficult?!?

Good Decisions

This morning I was up at 4:20 for some ungodly reason.  As I was laying in bed and Sam was getting ready for work, he showed me an incredibly unflattering photo of me cuddling with Hunter the morning before.  (OMG, it was horrible!)  He told me that it was kind of sad to see me gain back so much weight when I had been doing so great last summer.  And, in that moment, I thought: 'Time to stop kidding yourself, this isn't getting out of hand; it's gotten out of hand already!'

Sam always says losing weight is about making good decisions, and when you come down to it, he's right.  I am an emotional eater- I celebrate with food and alcohol, and I drown my sorrows in them too.  I eat when I am stressed under the guise of being 'too overloaded to be bothered'.  I tell myself it's okay to have that second doughnut when they come into the office because 'I'm working really hard'.  I pass up the opportunity to go to the gym because 'I need to relax'.  I find excuses to enable myself and make bad decisions.

Today I made a couple of good decisions starting at 5:10 AM when Sam left the house:

1. I looked down at Hunter and told him it was time to get up because we were going for a walk
2. Upon heading out on the path, I decided to JOG instead of walk (kudos that I made it the whole 30 minutes without slowing down!)
3. I didn't snack while sitting at my desk
4. I tracked every. single. thing. on the weight watchers website (and stayed under my daily points)

And you know, I actually feel pretty good right now.  Like good enough that maybe I can do this again on Thursday.  And, at the risk of getting too far ahead of myself, maybe I can make it habit on Tuesdays & Thursdays.

Career Milestones

This morning I submitted my first-ever press release to a wire service for mass distribution.  Wow. 

Not only did we get picked up by a few online news channels- yes, we actually did get published- my contact information was listed as the person to direct questions to.  Wow. 

I feel like a big girl with a big girl job today.  Sometimes I really amaze myself.

Also, Sam received word that he officially is licensed by the state of California to practice medicine (or at least write prescriptions) yesterday.  I am very proud of both of us today... dare I say our careers are on the right track?

Independence Day

Last night Hunter & I were home alone because it was Sam's first overnight call of his 2nd year of residency.  As much as I used to hate being home along, having Hunter to spend my evenings with made it so much less lonely... even when Sam's on vacation I notice that I'm not as anxious, I sleep much better, and overall I'm a lot happier.  Looks like Dr. Galle was on to something when he suggested we get the puppy back in January...

Since Sam was overnight in the hospital, and the weather was overcast and misty, I kicked off the 4th of July by attending a spin class at the gym- it was so nice to be back in the saddle after 2 months off focusing on school and work.  I need to keep that up to help my stress level stay down.  

After the gym, I spent some time on my homework and touched base with my teacher and my classmates to clarify some questions I'd had.  Good news: she decided to cut WAY back on our assignments and make a lot of stuff optional, and basically everything else into group work.  Our class size has diminished to 4 so we're going to work as a group on ALL of our projects and the homework questions from the reading are our only individual assignments.  Yay!  I guess it pays off to talk to the instructors after all... and in her defense, she had planned for an 11 week class that was cut down to 8.  She told us she wants us to give her feedback and make sure that it's not an overwhelming about of work.  Awesome lady!

Sam got home around 2, and we hosted a bunch of the general surgery lady residents for a BBQ from 5-9.  We had originally thought we'd do a pool party but the weather wasn't cooperating and though the sun did finally come out, we stayed in the apartment.  It was really, really fun!  We had bratwurst, 1/2 of which we BBQ'ed and 1/2 of which I cooked in beer on the stove, and we also had Adele's special Jalapeno & cheese sausage- limited time offer at Costco.  Oh-so-good!  I also made a fruit salad, caramelized onions, and cooked bell peppers to go with our dogs.  Hunter was dressed for the party, and he was a BIG hit with the ladies (as always).  He was really, really well behaved and I was very proud of all of our hard work paying off.  I got a bunch of compliments on his shirt!


At about 9 everyone started filing out- they have M&M tomorrow morning (Morbidity & Mortality) where they have to talk about the patients that had complications to learn from the mistakes and situations.  Sam and I took Hunter for a short walk, and then headed to the balcony where we watched 2 sets of fireworks before crawling onto our bed.  Sam's got In the Army playing on his laptop, Hunter is chewing his bone, and I'm obviously blogging.  


I have to say, this 4th of July I am aware of how very lucky I am.  I am so thankful for Sam & how supportive he is of me despite his own busy schedule.  I am thankful that we have our little puppy, even if he is a LOT of work.  I am thankful for our supportive family made up of Santis, Galles, Burkharts, Hunters, & Celnikers.  I am so very, very thankful that I have a job I love and coworkers I enjoy spending time with.  And I am so thankful for my amazing friends.  This life keeps getting better and better, and I am looking forward to a very bright future!

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?

Ohmigod.  I started seriously tackling my homework over the weekend and I think I may have bitten off a helluvalot more than I can chew.  No joke. 

I read Chapter 1 on Sunday morning, answered the 3 assigned homework questions, and promptly passed out for an hour.  I didn't make it to Chapter 2 because Sam came home from work early and wanted to watch the Euro Cup Finals, then we were cleaning up the kitchen, took Hunter to the dog park, and had Nick & Amy over for dinner.  Oops.  So much for my massively productive Sunday.

I need to get back into the swing of having homework, because this is an 11 week course that's been squeezed into 8 weeks and the reality is I am already at max capacity without this class.  I should have just taken it Pass/No Pass and tried to learn everything I could but taken something easier to finish out my certificate.  No, that wouldn't work for me, I'm too obsessive compulsive. 

The nice part is that we're going to work in pairs and that will mean that I can hopefully get some support along the way.  My partner is a single-mom living in Carmel who is taking on 4 classes this summer... who am I kidding that she'll be able to shoulder her part of the courseload?  :-)  Here's to hoping! 

Anyway, I have a chapter of reading, 7 homework questions, and 2 powerpoint lectures to get through by the end of the week so that I can tackle our Matel project that is due on July 8th.  Seriously, what have I gotten myself into?

Cool 3D Picture