I'm just your average, everyday, divorced 38 year old girl -- overweight, tragically unhip,
and trying to make a life for myself. I live with two furry beasts, Dave and Abby, whose
feline mission in life is to choke me with their fur. Nothing special.
Friday night. Yes, that would be me! Man, my workout tonight just kicked my (still ample) booty. I guess that's good, right? Anyway...
This weekend is sure to be full of fun. For one thing, it's meant to rain until Tuesday. Yes, it rained last week. Yes, it rained the week before that. Yes, now that you mention it, I do believe it rained the week before that one, too. Now might be a good time to look into the whole Ark thing. In any case, that much rain means we've got a flash flood watch (not just warning) through Tuesday, and that means that more roads will be reverting back to the desert dirt they started out as, which means traffic delays. Ordinarily, I'd just combat that by staying home, but I've got my introductory meeting with the Junior League of San Diego tomorrow morning at 9am. I'm pretty excited because they do a lot of good work with children in need.
Oh, and I totally forgot to tell you guys my really big, exciting news: I met with my enrollment couselor today and I'm officially a student at the University of Phoenix, with my first class starting three weeks from Monday! I even have a complimentary UoP binder containing my first reading assignment for class. You know you've been out of school a long time when the thought of your first reading assignment gets you all excited - LOL. Anyway, I need to run out this weekend (or sometime soon) and get highlighters because I just can't read for school without highlighting the good stuff. Woohoo...I get to buy school supplies!
Tuesday evening. Seriously, if we don't have a day without rain soon, I don't think we'll have any roads left. We've had several roads just completely collapse because they've been eroded away from underneath by all of the rushing water. I know it's inconceivable to those who live in wintery parts of the country to think that a few weeks of solid rain could cause such havoc, but you have to realize that we do not have the infrastructure to deal with it. Potholes are everywhere at this point and they're not even going to try to fix them until we get a dry spell. Last time I heard, that's going to be Thursday. Of next week. (I know, Shannin, it's nothing compared to where you are now, but surely you remember what three solid weeks of rain does to SoCal?)
Work was, well, work. This is probably the toughest week of the year for us and the number of times I heard, "if we don't get this sign off, the world as we know it will end" today is very large. The team that I manage has an "in" with the Powers that Be for all of the products that we have components in, so we're being asked to intervene on behalf of other teams' projects in order to get them out on time. Basically, if they're not into verification testing by Friday, the company stands to lose a lot of money. Given that we all get profit sharing when the company is profitable, you can see that we might all be a little concerned about that possibility. Fortunately, there aren't too many products that are in dire straights and, of that group, only one is mine and I think I've got an inside line to getting it out of trouble and into testing just by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin. Did I mention I have a lovely degree in English and American Literature that I'm doing nothing with?
So, I noticed today that they've got a way to see how each category in the BoB awards is shaping up. No news to me that I'm getting clobbered by Skwigg and Skinny Daily Post - they both have nearly double the number of votes that I do. Oh, well, that's the way the (flavored with Splenda) cookie crumbles. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that I didn't misbehave or say stupid things about the other nominees in my category, which I understand has been happening in other categories. (For pity's sake, folks, it's just a website - get over it!) In any case, I really appreciate those who have, are still daily, or will at some point cast a vote for this site. I'm even more appreciative because I discovered Beckie, Tania, and J.T. through the BoB finalist listings, and now they are all treasured members of my blogroll. If that's not a good definition of "winning", I don't know what is!
Tuesday morning. I never posted my goals for this year, partly because they weren't really ready in my mind on the first, and partly because I wanted to some extra time to let things bubble around in my brain. I think, however, that we've finally settled on some winners, so here they are:
1. I will buy no more than one latte a week. Fear not, I'm not saying that I'm giving them up (perish the thought!), but I have an espresso machine at home that makes perfectly good lattes and will be a lot less expensive than buying them at Starbucks or the espresso cart at work. This will save me, on an annual basis, more than $1,100 or $93 a month, which can go toward the car payment on the new car that I so desperately need.
2. I will watch no more than two hours of television each day. It's been nearly 48 hours since the TV has been turned on in my house and I'm not shaking or anything. As Marla mentioned in her wonderful piece on the same subject a few days ago, nothing good can come of watching as much TV as I have been for several years now. It encourages a sedentary lifestyle, it exposes you to all of that lovely fast food/junk food advertising, and it's passive entertainment (your brain doesn't have to do anything while watching). I'd love to get more into reading again and Lord knows that I have enough books I've bought and never read sitting around, so let's see how long I can really go without watching any!
3. I will go back to school and start on a Bachelor's Degree in Business Management. I have a lovely degree. In English and American Literature. A wonderful degree for someone who wants to teach, not-so-wonderful for a project manager at a high-tech company. I've already enrolled at University of Phoenix, with my first class starting on January 31 and lasting five weeks. Instead of following in the steps of my last attempt at doing this, which was strictly online, this time I'll be going to actual classes, and I think that will make all the difference. I'll be using VLSCI's nifty tuition reimbursement program, which has a cap of $5,000 per year, so, unless I kick in some of my own money for a couple of classes a year, it will take me 4-1/2 years to finish. Yes, I think I'll be ponying up $2,500 a year and finishing in three instead!
4. I will start incorporating flexibility into my fitness routines. I'm going to give a once-a-week yoga class a try. I've been having trouble with my shins lately, as well as soreness all over about an hour after my workouts. I'm hoping that increasing my flexibility will help with the soreness and might even help relieve stress.
5. The next thing on my list isn't truly a goal, it's just what's going to happen: I will finish the weight loss portion of my journey to better health, and will enter maintenance. It is, of course, impossible to predict weight loss, but, with 62 pounds left to lose in order to reach the "not overweight" category and 52 weeks in the year, I only need to average 1.2 pounds a week in order to lose the rest of it in 2005. This seems do-able, so we shall see.
My final items (there are two) are both related and, at this point, known only to one other person, who has sworn a blood oath never to reveal them to anyone. The code name for this endeavor is Operation Secret Squirrel and that is how I will refer to it until I'm ready to unveil it (if that day ever comes).
OK, so that's it. Not a terribly long list, but, if I can manage to follow through on all of these items - or even most - my life will be better on December 31, 2005 than it is right now, which is pretty darned good!
Sunday evening. You know how there are sometimes moments when the world is so good, so perfect that it actually hurts to think about it? (I'm not the only one that happens to, am I???) Right now is one of those moments. I'm sore from my workout (hello hamstrings!) and not particularly anxious to go back to work tomorrow (hello frothing-at-the-mouth project managers!) but I'm filled with this unshakeable belief that my life is absolutely perfect right now. Right this very second. I don't know what will happen in the future, but right now is good. Right now is very good. I'm alive, in the very strongest sense of the word!
As I drove to work to use the gym today, there was the biggest rainbow I've ever seen. I mean, this thing literally stretched from one side of the county to the other and as far into the sky as my eye could see. And, as I gazed at it in wonder and thought about the whole "pot of gold" thing, I started to cry as I realized that I don't need rainbows anymore because I have already found my treasure and, like the characters in "The Wizard of Oz", it was here all along.
