Jun 29, 2009

A Frazzle Dazzle Day

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Do you ever feel frazzled for no apparent reason?  If so, then you know how I’ve been feeling for the last week.  I feel so frazzled that I turned down hanging out with my friends tomorrow night. I want to spend time with them, but it just seems impossible to do right now.

I don’t know why everything seems impossible either.  It’s not like I have a lot to do right now.  I work, I come home, I eat dinner, sometimes I clean, I ride my bike for about an hour after it cools off a bit, I spend time with Corey, I spend time on my computer, sometimes I read (not as often as I’d like to right now), and then I go to bed.  Sure, most of that time is spent sleeping or at work.  And, I have some pretty steep deadlines on the horizon, but I’m not needing to put in any overtime to accomplish them.  It’s not like my free time is affected.  What’s the big deal then?

I think I feel so frazzled because I’m spending way too much time on my computer doing something frivolous.  For the record, I don’t consider blogging, reading/sending e-mail, or talking with friends as frivolous or a waste of time.  But, I do consider aimlessly-playing-Solitaire-or-Mah-Jongg-for-hours-because-I-don’t-feel-motivated-to-do-anything-else as frivolous and a huge waste of time.

Also, I still feel like my routine isn’t back to normal from when I went to Las Vegas.  As I said in the Beware of the Groove post, I’ve seriously never had a business trip affect me as much as this trip has affected me.   The only time I had a near breakdown was when I was gone nine out of 14 weeks in 2004 with hardly any weekends or free time.  But, that was because of the umpteen million trips all at once not just one measly little trip to Vegas.

As some of you know, changes and I don’t mix very well unless I instigate them.  For example, I instigated the bike riding so I’m completely okay with it and I love it!  Whereas, my routine changed because of work-related stress and events so I’m kicking against the pricks as hard as I can!

What do I do now?  How do I get rid of this frazzled feeling?  I just need to either deal with the change in my routine or go back to my previous one.  I also need to put my computer down when I start playing Solitaire or Mah Jongg.  At that point, its usefulness has run out and it becomes a hindrance. And, most importantly, I need to calm down, take a breather, and just be okay with things.

Filed Under: Vents, Work · 3 Comments
Jun 16, 2009

“Beware of the Groove”

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I feel like my groove has been thrown off.  I’m so tired! All I want to do is sleep, but I’m sick of sleeping.  (I never thought I’d hear myself say that.)  And, I feel like I haven’t had a decent night of sleep since last Tuesday.  And, I feel like I’m getting sick because I’ve burned the candle at both ends for too long.

As I stated in the post My Take on Daylight Saving Time, time changes and I don’t mix very well.  However, I figured going to Las Vegas wasn’t going to be a problem since I was gaining an hour rather than losing one.  I also didn’t think I’d get used to Las Vegas time since I was only going to be there for five days.  If I’d been able to keep to my Utah sleep schedule, just on Las Vegas time like I did while I was in Kona, the time change wouldn’t have affected me.  But, I had no choice this time around because I was usually up around 6:00 am and didn’t get to sleep until after midnight because of all the setup and administering we had to do at the conference.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt this exhausted from a business trip before.  When I came home from Manhattan, I was tired, but that was because I had to be up at 1:00 am Utah time to catch my 4:00 am Utah time flight.  But, after I slept on the plane and took a nap when I got home, I was fine.  I’ve slept almost all morning each day since I’ve been home from Las Vegas and I still don’t feel rested.

I did go to work yesterday, but only for four hours and I only went because I had to turn in a project.  I couldn’t get up this morning so I decided to stay home from work today, especially since I have this horrible cough that isn’t helping me get a good night’s, or morning’s, rest.

I’ve been trying to do some things around the house today so I’m not being too lazy.  I’ve noticed that if I don’t get up and do something, I’ll just wallow in my laziness and not make myself be active.  No matter what, I’m going to work for the full day tomorrow because I need to get over this.  Maybe, that’s just what I need to do.  Just get up, even if I’m extremely tired and don’t want to.  We’ll see how it works out.

Filed Under: Travel, Vents, Work · 3 Comments
May 28, 2009

Driver’s License Woes

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As I stated in the post A Busy Day, my driver’s license expired this year so I needed to get a new one.  When you get a new driver’s license in Utah, you don’t actually get your driver’s license until a few weeks later.  You’re given a temporary until the new one is mailed to you.

After I got my temporary, I realized I had put the wrong zip code.  Provo has six zip codes and Corey and I lived in our old zip code for seven years so I wrote it down as part of my address.  I figured it wouldn’t make that big of a difference since Provo is mostly on the grid system and there’s no way for my address to be anywhere else in Provo.

I was correct and received my new license this past weekend.  However, as I was looking at my license and admiring my awesome picture, I realized not only had I messed up the zip code, I had also inverted the last two digits of our house number. It’s a miracle my license got to me!

For some reason, I’ve had the hardest time with our new address.  I can’t keep the zip code straight and I always mess up our house number by adding another block or inverting the last two digits.  Luckily, I remember our street address without problem.  Otherwise, I don’t think I would’ve ever got my license!

Anyway, at this point, I’m not sure if I have to get another license. Or, if I can just let the DMV know I inverted our house number and messed up the zip code so they can change it in their system.  One of these days, I’ll know my address without difficulty!

Filed Under: Vents · 3 Comments
Apr 21, 2009

What the Crap?

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I’m so frustrated today!  Last week, I didn’t post an update about my weight loss because I actually gained weight instead of losing weight.  It was only .6 pounds, but that’s beside the point.  The fact that it was up was the frustrating part.  Because it was only .6 pounds, I got over it quickly.

Today, however, I weighed myself and I’ve gained 1.5 pounds since last Tuesday.  That’s 2.1 pounds in two weeks.  I’m back to where I was four weeks ago! I’m so frustrated.  Even though I splurged a little for my birthday, my weekly average calorie intake was only 1532.71, which is still between my 1200-1700 calorie limit.  Technically, I shouldn’t have gained any weight last week or the week before.

I know weight loss isn’t an exact science and I know weight fluctuates.  I also know I may have gained weight because:

  • I may be retaining water from eating too much sodium
  • I was off my birth control pill for a week since I forgot to renew my prescription
  • I’m counting calories incorrectly
  • I’m losing inches rather than weight since muscle weighs more than fat
  • Even though I stayed within my calorie limit, I may have eaten foods with more fat content
  • Or, any number of other reasons

Ever since Daylight Saving Time started, my exercise/sleep schedule has been way off, which I know hasn’t helped. I also think I’ve kind of relaxed a bit on the goals I outlined in January (A New Plan).  I’m recommitting because I feel like I’m doing things half-assed again.  I’m also posting new goals, which are basically my old goals with a few tweaks:

  1. Each morning, I’m going to get up at 6:00 am, so I can exercise before I get in the shower and go to work.  Even if I don’t feel well or I’m too tired to get up, I’m still going to do it because I always feel better when I do and have more energy throughout the day.
  2. I’m going to go to bed at 9:45 pm each night so I can get close to a full eight hours of sleep.
  3. I’ll be on time (8:00 am) for work each day.  This is especially important because I have to answer the phones from 8:00 am to 10:15 am.
  4. I can only eat out once a week–no ifs, ands, or buts!
  5. I’m going to take measurements each week and go off the measurements rather than the scale.  I’ll still weigh myself once a week, but if my measurements are good, then I’ll know I’m still doing okay.

PS–I need to come up with a reward for when I reach my first major benchmark of losing 25 pounds.  I’m not sure what to do.  Any ideas?

Filed Under: Getting Healthy, Vents, Weight Loss · 7 Comments
Apr 20, 2009

Audiobook Folly

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I finished listening to the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban audiobook the other day.  I’m getting through each book fairly quickly and I’m very excited about it!

As I was listening to chapter 18 (“Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs”), I noticed that the chapter seemed to end rather abruptly.  In fact, once chapter 19 started, I felt like a huge piece of chapter 18 was missing.  I wasn’t completely positive, however.  I decided to get my book and check. The audio file was missing about half the chapter! For the time being, I decided just to read the rest of the chapter and then continue on with the audiobook.

Afterward, I checked the audiobook out from the library so I could get a complete recording of chapter 18.  It just so happens that chapter 18 starts at the end of disc 8 and ends in the same place the audio file I listened to did. I figured the rest of chapter 18 would be at the beginning of disc 9. To my surprise, however, disc 9 starts with Chapter 19. It seems the actual audiobook was processed incorrectly. (I wonder if the tapes have the same problem.)

I know this may not be a big deal to most people and may even be overlooked.  However, if no one complains, then it’ll never be fixed.  Also, Azakaban is my favorite book in the series and I want to be able to listen to all of it, especially during the climax of the story.  This morning, I decided to contact the publisher to find out if they know the audiobook is incomplete.  Hopefully, I’ll hear back from them soon and they’ll tell me a corrected version has already been released and let me know where I can purchase it.

Filed Under: Books, Harry Potter, Vents · 2 Comments
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