Why....

Why do I continue to run - when I continue to hurt myself??

I strained my left calf on Thursday during my run - which I didn't finish due to pain. I've been gimpy ever since and am now really concerned about getting back on the schedule since it's been hard to keep up with since the wacky work schedule commenced (which will hopefully only continue for another week or so... god willing). But really - there's no doing any stairs without wincing which means that running for a while is entirely out of the question.

Why can't I just do it - and not hurt? Why why why??

It's been a rough couple of days for me... I'm kind of an emotional wreck at the moment.

So - swine flu has been happening. I'm sure you've heard, and so I've been included as part of the response at work. This is the culmination of all the planning and work that I've been helping with for the past two years - and frankly things are going according to plan. Everything is happening the way it should be. We're on it. And it's great, but it's a lot of hours and stress. I'll probably be working some strange hours the next three weeks or so, so please forgive me if I write something wacky at 4am.

Meanwhile there was a shooting in Athens yesterday. While I didn't know anyone involved in the violence I have friends who do...and it's just hard to process how something that illogical can happen at 12:30 on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The shooter was a professor at my grad school and I know several people who took his class. I just can't seem to wrap my head around it all...

My cousin is in the hospital. She's 7 1/2 months pregnant and is in distress. they're going to take the baby by C-Section in about 20 minutes, because they're worried she might have a stroke. Just thinking about that whole situation brings to tears with worry...

and yet - there is NOTHING little old me can do to make any of these situations better...and I want so much to be able to help. I feel so powerless right now.

I just had to vent/share all the stupid things that went wrong yesterday.

- While drying my hair, I smelled burning – and then noticed smoke coming from my hair dryer. Fire next to my head is never a good thing.

- While walking into the office from the parking deck my umbrella was bent inside out by the huge gusts of wind. It’s my big golf umbrella too

- Arrived in the office to find that my tax returns were rejected by the IRS. Thankfully it was a small error and quickly remedied, but still.

- Forgot a T-shirt to work out in at the gym, so I just wore the same shirt I’d been wearing all day at the office (I got my ass into the gym – was going to be damned to have to leave)… and had the most craptacular workout ever. Plus felt disgusting being all sweaty in a shirt that was NOT designed for that kind of activity. Bleh

- Got home – passed out cold by 7:30pm but woke up by 9:30 at which point I couldn’t fall back to sleep. Awesome.

Today I am sore as hell… I am now working out at two different gyms, and I can tell a world of difference between the two treadmills I generally run on. The CDC gym’s treadmills are full of pain and fail whereas the “Big Gay Gym” that I also go to doesn’t make me all hurt-y.

Wore heels today - feel that was a poor fashion choice in light of my shin splints. Looking forward to this weekend and heading north for wedding festivities. Woo!

Okay

So admittedly I'm sure most of my friends at this point don't expect an update from me since it's literally been months since I've written anything at all. In the world of Facebook, and Twitter, my LiveJournal has just been too much to deal with, not to mention that sharing a workspace makes it harder to update in privacy during the workday.

Life is busy. Very busy. But really good.

There's lots of news. I'm hesitant to talk about much of it, for risk of jinxing anything but frankly I've decided that I don't believe in jinxing anymore...so here goes.

I officially in training for the Peachtree Road Race which will be my first 10K. I'm nervous, and excited - but incredibly motivated, plus I'll be running the Summerfest 5K in June. I've been dealing with some shin splint issues but hopefully I've got that dealt with at this point. In the matter of a few weeks I've challenged myself, and done a lot more than I ever thought I could - so GO ME!

I was hunting for a condo for some weeks, however due to the awesome (please note sarcasm) financial crisis, part of the down payment I was counting on disappeared and so it's not likely to happen this year unless I win the lottery. I was bitterly disappointed last week, but the world will not end if I don't become a home owner this year - and hopefully there will still be good deals, and rates available next year when I've got my ducks in a row.

The job front. Well - the contract I'm currently on ends in December, so at this point I'm in full fledged job hunting mode. I've got a line on some potential full time positions at CDC and another project at Lockheed - which may require some travel to AFRICA!!! I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about going to the third world, but it's kind of cool that I'm being considered for jobs that make me feel like a superhero. Seriously. I'd be working to help evaluate how we're doing assuaging the AIDS crisis in Africa... in my mind it doesn't get much cooler than that.

and there's a boy, still in the early stages yet - but I think at this point I'm officially a smitten kitten.

I am doing a presentation tomorrow in front of approximately 200 people at the CDC. Be thinking good awesome confident thoughts around 3pm tomorrow please :)

- I found out that one of my best friends from college is expecting! Hooray!

- I finished my presentation for the division conference with time to spare! Woo!

- I was contacted via Facebook from the girl I stayed with when I was in France at the age of 15. Facebook is awesome - I haven't talked to Laurence in 15 years!

- My friend Bekah got into Emory for her PhD!

Today was a pretty good day.

It's the recap edition of my blog again... I swear I need to make an effort to update this shiz more often, but it just gets past me.

Thursday night, well - I went home and did nothing and it was glorious. Friday night was Michael's birthday celebration so I met a bunch of folks out for dinner at Baraonda, and then we hit The Local and then we surprised Michael by taking him to the Clermont Lounge. I can honestly say that I've lived in this city for almost 15 years and had never been - and really I feel like I never have to go back. I saw a woman smash a beer can with her ass cheeks and I saw another one light her nipples on fire, and then light a cigarette from her flaming nipple. Entertaining, to be sure.

Saturday, I wound up going to see The Reader with Ari. I thought it was mneh and I certainly didn't think it was Kate Winslet's best performance. Overall I thought the film was really disjointed and slow. Milk was my favorite and I was really glad that Sean Penn won for Best Actor. After the movie, I hit the grocery store, and made spaghetti and meatballs and then Kate and O (who were in town for Michael's birthday), Ari, The Boss and Geoff and Kristen came over for food and Rock Band. It was a low key evening, but fun to be sure.

Sunday I tried to sleep in to no avail. When The Boss was moving things around in the fridge to make room for beer he put a two litre bottle of Pepsi on its side which then leaked all over the bottom of my fridge. I missed brunch with Kate, O and Tracy - BUT Kate and O then called and asked if I wanted to go to the Aquarium. Really, those whale sharks don't get old for me. I only got minimally freaked out once. I think my fear might be conquered!!! Additionally the place was PACKED - so I hate to say that I don't really feel like people aren't spending money right about now (since parking was $10 and a ticket is $27)... Kara came over around 4pm and we hung out and watched some Flight of the Conchords, and then the Oscars. Thankfully I didn't have to use a tiebreaker this year and birthday boy Michael won the contest!

Other than that - little to report. Going to hopefully do my taxes this week, trying Seasons 52 for the first time tomorrow night, date Thursday and a low-key weekend. Think I'm going to do some cooking, and some cleaning. Also, someone buy me tickets to see Stephen Lynch at the Tabernacle, because I like him - but I don't want to pay for tickets :)

Okay,

So it's been almost two months since I made my last post... so yeah - I've been busy, what can I say. I can't say that I've been terribly inspired to write anything as of late. When I read that Livejournal may be going under I considered moving to a competitor and I considered dumping the whole thing altogether - while journaling helps me, I'm not really sure if anyone cares about the minutiae of my life, and I'm not really sure I have the time or the energy to keep talking about it.

So what's been going on lately? Well, lots!!!

Probably the most significant to the readers of this journal is that Mr. Complicated, in a weirder twist of fate than usual has become my boss. Now before any of you freak the hell out - it was discussed at length, and our "relationship" has ended. For a variety of reasons. I wasn't getting what I wanted out of it anymore, not to mention the myriad ethical dilemmas involved had it continued. We are still working on trying to figure out that friend/superior at work thing...although we both don't want it to affect our friendship. It will be interesting goings in the next couple of weeks - but overall I think it was a good thing to happen and forced me to move on with my life.

In that vein, a lot of change has been happening at work - some for the better, but some not (in my opinion). Throughout this process, I've realized that a person I work closely with may have some severe emotional issues and/or a drug problem. Perhaps more to come on that if I feel so inclined.

I'm officially in the market for a condo...and hoping to purchase my first home by the summer. It is terribly exciting and scary at the same time - but the market is working in my favor, and I have plenty of opportunity to make a good deal! So hooray for me!

Dating - well - it's been happening. A lot. I'm currently seeing a few guys and have a few first dates in the works with some others. I will begin to give nicknames when appropriate - but none are nickname worthy yet. If nothing I've met a lot of interesting people. I'll be honest and say that I'm taking it slowly - I'm not really interested in a serious relationship right now - I'm just testing out the potential relationship waters again to see how it feels and so far, the water is fairly comfortable.

Now that I've covered the past two months - here's this weekend's scoop:

Went to dinner with Wendy and crew on Friday night at Pozole in the Highlands, and then went out to see Metalsome afterwards which was awesome. Didn't get home until quite late, but slept like the dead and woke up on Saturday feeling fantastic (which was nice since I had been fighting a cold for the past week). Spent most of the day just being lazy, and enjoying some down time and then Gray picked me up and we met Andrew and Vanessa at Flip for some boutique burgers. We waited TWO HOURS for a table and finished our meal in less than 30 minutes - however it was some serious food. Everything - in my opinion - was downright fantastic. I'm not sure I'd wait two hours again, but I would definitely go back.

We left there, and briefly stopped in to a house party to drop off Vanessa and then we headed over to The Earl to see Patton Oswalt - who killed with some really great new material. His closing bit had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. If you get a chance to check him out, I would highly recommend it. Sadly, Patton was suffering from the gigantic ick of 2009 (seriously EVERYONE I know is sick) so he didn't do an encore.

Woke up this morning - and have spent the last 40 minutes writing this blog post. I'll probably get up, shower and get some breakfast. Heading up to Mableton, GA this afternoon to babysit for little Jackson for several hours so his parents can get some out and about time for Valentine's day.

Also - I'll try to be better about posting y'all... Not promising anything though :)

So I think I have a plan...

I am going to the Apple Store at 11 when they open, and am buying a new phone. 2 things are likely

A) they're going to charge me out the ass for the new phone and
B) I'm going to cry BUT at least I'll be able to be contacted and won't be completely crippled.

Then - here's what can happen.

Scenario 1) Amex can reimburse me for the full price I paid for the original phone... and I sell the old one online to a refurbish company (initial estimate of what they'll pay me for it is about $80) I still lose $$ but WAY less than originally anticipated

Or

Scenario 2) Amex pays for the repair of the phone, which I still then sell to a refurbish company, thus losing more money - but I'm not necessarily out another $300.

Either way there's some legwork, and it's still a gigantic clusterfuck, but there is hope.

**UPDATE**
So - phone is completely destroyed according to Apple, and I have the paperwork to prove it for the insurance claim but they wouldn't sell me another phone at the promotional price and suggested I go directly to AT&T to argue for it. Off I go.

**RE-UPDATE**
AT&T didn't tell me what I wanted to hear - what they wanted to do, was to get me to add a line to my current service so I could buy the iPhone at $199 but yet costing me another $240 over two years. Needless to say that isn't kosher. I wound up having to buy a phone at full price. Now we're just hoping that Amex will reimburse me and then I can sell the old phone off for parts so this isn't a complete hemorrhaging of money.... oy.

Things that are good: Sitting around with friends at a party talking about your iPhones and discussing awesome new apps to download.


Things that suck beyond all imagining: Getting home from said party and forgetting the phone in your back pocket. Then having it fall into an (thankfully unused) toilet, thus drowning and destroying something that was VERY expensive that you've only had for three weeks also leaving you phone-less and helpless. FUCK! Also, this brings about emotions that are hardly expressed by common four letter expletives.

I filed an online claim with American Express last night, since I couldn't call anyone... the phone is within the 90 days of purchase window, and I get one item covered by the card insurance per calendar year... they may make me get an estimate on getting it repaired, but it might not be a total loss. Don't know what I'm going to do about a cell phone in the meantime. Going to the AT&T store today to get my old phone re-activated and then to the Apple Store. I'm most likely going to have to buy a new one, but I'm worried that they won't sell it to me at the same price, which I personally think would be criminal.


This is not helping me deal with an otherwise entirely sucky holiday season. Bah humbug. I hate everyone. FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCk.