Good bye 2008!

2008 is on it's way out, and 2009 is nearly here. What did the year bring?

I could go back through my posts here and on other forums, and give you the recap, but you likely read it all yourself.

Really, there are a few of major stand out things for me for 2008 -

We're pregnant! Dancer is going to be giving birth to our baby boy next April. Even though she spent some time on bed rest (and still is), things are going well and on track. It's going to be a roller coaster for sure.

Weight loss - I got into the local gyms "Biggest Loser" program weighing around 255lbs in January, and today I weight 201lbs, can run 4 - 5 miles and am fitter and healthier than I can ever remember being. January 2009 I will also be team captain for the *next* "Biggest Loser" event. I've spoken at seminar's at the gym, and run their Team page on a weight loss forum.

Photography - I finally got seriously into photography - took some classes, bough some equipment and started reading as much as I could get my hands on. I'm launching a small business (http://www.rt2photo.com) to pay off that equipment too :)

None of this will matter once our son is born in 2009 though - this will an awesome year!

26th Dec - Boxing day

26th Dec - Boxing day

Merry Christmas from our home to yours this year!

Refugees

We had a massive ice storm on Thursday. The weather had been weird. It wasn't cold enough to snow, but not warm enough to be pure rain, so it froze. We lost internet and cable first, but didn't really think much about it. However, around 2:30am on Friday we lost power. Ok again, not really a biggie. It will be back on soon, right?

So we get up on Friday morning and the whole side of the house (where the garages are) was a solid sheet of ice. The garage doors were frozen shut. Around 11:00 Geek was able to get them open and clear off the drive. We realized we'd lost cell phone service. Still no sign of power. He was able to make it to a friend's house who had been listening to the radio. They said no power til at least Sunday at the earliest. Our friend was taking his kids to his parents to hunker down. So now what do we do?

It was bad. They were setting up emergency shelters. The whole area (almost 350,000 people) were without power. The last place I wanted to go was to a shelter. No way.

We packed up the boys and make the trek to Salem to our friend Mike's. The boys are happy since they get to see their friend Reggie. It wasn't pleasant - the car ride was rough (tells me I'm still not entirely ready to come off bedrest yet. Bum) But we're here and warm.

We had to leave the bunny, so I'm worried about him being in the house with no heat, but hopefully he'll be ok. We gave him lots of hay and water, and added a blanket to his tunnel, so I'm hoping that will be enough. I'm worried about a couple of our friends who are having a time of it. One of our friends went to a house where the generator ran out of fuel and the cars were out of fuel. Another went to her dad's in NH (the part that did still have power) but her husband was at a funeral and didn't know what was happening. So I'm definitely thinking of them right now (both have small kids, so I really feel for them here.)

Looks like we're here through the weekend.

Christmas tree 2008

Christmas tree 2008

Christmas has arrived at the Jones home.

Presents haven't been bought, but Christmas is here - so that helps :)

Pregnancy update again

For those of you bored of this topic, feel free to skip. :)

I'm still on bedrest for this week and at least Tuesday next week. There's an ultrasound scheduled for Friday and a doctor's appointment for next Tuesday. With any luck things are moving as they should, up. I honestly don't know how other women cope with being laid up like this. It's driven me nuts!! I was able to sit up and direct my kitchen this weekend which helped a lot. I simplified the menu, so there wasn't a huge amount for Paul to cook. Even so, there's still a lot for one person to do. I over-did it a bit on Friday to try to help him out. It didn't seem like much (empty and reload dishwasher, trash out the fridge for new food arriving) but apparently it was, as I felt a bit off Saturday. However, that was nothing compared to Saturday evening.

I'm usually very careful about where I let the dogs sit on me. They need to stay off my stomach. Buddy was in a spot that I thought was ok, until Paul made a noise and he launched himself off me to go see. All his weight launched into my lower abdomen and then he launched himself off like it was a springboard. OUCH!! It started some of the worst cramps yet and I seriously thought it was time for the ER. I was also afraid the babi got hurt as there wasn't much movement that evening compared to the day before. However I decided that since there was no blood to wait and see how I felt. Sunday was still not the best but I still wanted to wait and see how things were going. The cramping wasn't as bad, still no blood and some movement. We also had folks coming for a photoshoot, and I didn't want to cancel.

The shoot went well, which made us all very happy, and things seemed to simmer down for me. After some chocolate cake, lots of movement and kicking was felt, so I'm not as concerned. The "cramping" that started last night was in fact pain from muscles not really wanting to stretch in my midsection. That I can live with. :)

To save what's left of my sanity I started working remotely last week. I'm quite happy about that, as at least I'm no longer chewing up sick time. Now the trick is to stay stress-free. Even with the bit of the job I'm doing it can be stressful. The good news is it's hard to be stresed out when there are warm pugs snoring happily in your lap. I will still need to sort out my time off and get the doctor to fax over documentation, but that should be relatively easy.

Not even born yet...

and this kid is already causing grief. :)

The ultrasound last week showed a very healthy little boy in there. While he's healthy, Mom's not so much.

Starting on Sunday I started cramping rather badly. I thought it might be due to the fact the office was 87 degrees (83 with the door wide open and fan blasting on high) so I thought maybe I was dehydrated (even though I was drinking tons). Nope. Not it. The cramping continued on Monday. It was pretty intense at work, but I was hoping it was a growth spurt or something, so didn't say anything about it. In the car the cramps were steady - almost 10-25 minutes apart. I made a deal with the Evil Overlord. I'd lay down in bed and behave if he'd stop the cramping. That worked until I tried to get up on Tuesday. It was still totally bad. I ended up staying home and flat out to keep the cramping at bay.

Today was the doctor appointment. I did have some good news, heart was strong, the tape measure came out for the first time, bloodwork from last week came back fine, the quad screen was negative and even the Down syndrome risk was really low.

The bad news is I have placenta previa. The bleeding started today. It's still light, so no one's really stressed, but this does mean I'm off work for at least a week. I can't work out at all, and have to stay horizontal and stress-free. I'll go for weekly ultrasounds for a bit and have an appointment next week. If anything gets worse, I need to call immediately. So not entirely happy but rest is about all I can do. The doc's reasonably convinced it's going to resolve itself, we just need to wait for things to grow enough to lift the placenta up. So what to do in the meantime. I wonder if I can play Oblivion and stay relaxed and not get stressed playing it.

Training

I haven't really said much about training in a while. If at all actually ...

Right now, I'm in the best shape of my life. Honestly. I can run 5 miles, I can do 50+ military style push ups in one go, I weigh 203lbs, and have 21% body fat.

It's all rather new to me - 2008 has been the year I went from 255lbs (more in 2007), 35% body fat index, and last January I managed a whole 7 push ups in a fitness test, when I did the "Biggest Loser" program at the gym (I came second place in the guys team). Summer of 2006 my doctor told me I was at risk of high blood pressure. At 27.

I have a personal trainer, Matt, and a work out buddy, Michelle. Matt hooked us up, and I don't think he knew what he was going to create when he did - we motivate each other, push each other and keep each other honest about our food and our exercise. We even have the same birthday.

Recently, Michelle and I talked at a weight loss seminar held at our gym, as a favor to Matt, and have motivated a bunch more people to push themselves beyond the limits they set in their head.

Next January, both Michelle and I will be doing the Biggest Loser program again, but not to loose weight ourselves - this year we will be captaining teams, and providing motivation - we both think it's important for the people in the program to see that *real* people with *real* weight problems can not only lose the weight, but become so passionate about keeping it off.

There are talks of doing a triathlon next year, but I'm not sure I'm strong enough in the swimming to train for that - I may just have to bite the bullet and try.

Yesterday, I donated 6 pairs of 38" wasted jeans. They were replaced with a pair of 34" waste jeans. I have XXL T Shirts that are sitting dusty, and now I have L shirts.

Before 2008, and even during the first quarter of 2008, I never would have thought I could write a post like this. I've got the bug to work out. I've got the bug to get, and stay, fit. Food will *always* be a struggle for me, for whatever reason, but with Dancers help, and good planning, I'm getting better. I still refuse to call my new eating habits a "diet" - I hate that word.

Go me.

Saving on heating

When we first moved into the house, the thermostats they installed were super cheap. We had two, one upstairs, one down. There was no programming options on them, beyond on or off.

But oil was cheap two years ago, and we never had a problem with the bills, and never thought about it much - very low on our priority list.

Then last year, our oil bills went up by over $300 a pop during winter, and became harder and harder to find the cash to pay - by the end of winter, I had invested the time and money into some programmable thermostats, and we have had them all year - but not had to fill the oil tank back up yet.

Now it's cold out. It's been down close to freezing at nights, and is 40 - 60f during the day. We have a feature on the thermostats that tells us how long they have been on to maintain the temperature we're programmed.

Today, so far, the downstairs thermostat has been on for 13 minutes. It's warm in here, we're both comfortable, the puppies are happy, the bunny is happy.

We didn't lock in the oil prices this year - we were quoted $4.29 when I did think about it. I'm damned glad I didn't, as today's full tank refill was only $2.79.

They have to be on more as it gets even colder, but it's nice to know that when we're not in, the house can be 62f, instead of a much more comfortable temperature for humans :)

Still a bit discouraged

but I now have a plan. It's been such a shock to the system having to eat so much. Telling an ex-anorexic to gain weight? Talk about a mental freakout. But I think I can work this so it's not quite so traumatic. I'm going to shoot for 2250 calories. Ok so it's not 2500 but it's closer than 1700-1800 I've been doing. If I do 3 meals of 500 calories and 3 snacks at 250 calories, that will do it. It seems like a much better plan than what I've been doing which has been either binging at the end of the day to meet my calories, or pigging out at breakfast so I have a hope of making the calories. So I need to plan out my meals and snacks a bit more carefully but I think this will do it. Wish me luck.

Had my Dr. Appt today

Not great news.

My sugar was high. :( They did a blood glucose check and it was also high (122). They suspect it's because my calories are so low. So I'm under orders to seriously bulk up my calories. As in a 50% increase.

Going to the grocery tonight I was so seriously depressed at the amount of crap in the trolley. I mean, I know I need it, but still. :/ I'm trying my best to get over the mental block of the scale going back up. I know I need to do this, but it's hard. I know the way I've been eating over the last year is hardly "normal" but it worked for me. It was healthy and good. Now I have to go back to more "normal" foods, higher fat meats, many more potatoes, etc.

If I can get up to 2500 (what the doc recommended) I might have the energy to exercise and dance. Right now I can barely work. In fact I've been off the last two days to try to sort this out. Wish me luck.

I'm supposed to perform tomorrow and I'm hoping I'll be able to. Right now I can't even practice. Here's hoping I can pull some energy from somewhere for tomorrow.

Pregnancy update

Things are still plugging along on that front. I'm not as tired or pukey as I was, which is a very good thing. I broke down and bought two pairs of maternity trousers. I don't really need them yet, but my "glutening" jeans look really bad on me. :) I'm still not gaining weight, which is a good thing at the mo. I'm sure I will do, but right now, all is still good. I've been trying to exercise still, and dance, and haven't really changed my diet all that much (still eating healthy as ever), but trying to add a few more calories in than usual. So yeah, it's just like our wedding, lots of hurry up and wait. :)

Photography

I've owned a nice camera for the last couple of years, when Dancer bought me a Rebel XTI - but I've never really taken it out of the automatic modes and learned how to use it.

So this last couple of months, I've really been trying. I signed up for a beginners course form the New York Institute of Photography, and taken my camera out and about taking portrait photos of Dancer dancing, going places with friends and taking scenic photos.





I've also been grabbing shots when people come over for drinks or food



and generally any time I go out



Tomorrow I get a 50mm prime lens, as fast as f1.8, and this weekend a friend and I will be heading to a belly dance night, hopefully to get some really nice portrait shots.

I've also found a local photography course or two being run this fall at the local college, I hope to sign up to those pretty soon.

It's an expensive hobby, but it's something useful when the baby is born!

Pregnancy test

Pregnancy test

Yes, it's true.

Due April 2009 - we're still in the early days yet.

Redecorating

new bookcases coming in, desk coming in. Tons of old books going out

Cool house!

Playing with color

IMG_2844.JPG

Since getting into Aperture a little more, and tonight playing with my new 22inch wide screen monitor, I've started creating images like this - black and white, with popping color.

Like?

Parents visiting

My Mum and Dad are here for a couple of weeks visiting - which is awesome - my weight loss seemed to suprise them when they got here, very nice.

Tomorrow is really the first day we've got to spend together, thanks to a very busy work week. We're going to head to Boston in the AM, do some walking and spending. Around 3pm I have to go and get my biometrics taken for my green card extension, which I'm going to be happy to get going, hopefully for a good length of time. After that we'll be getting a road trip to Salem to meet up with the Daves, Lizzie, Rita, Alex and Mara. It'll be a long day, but fun.

Meanwhile, Dancer will be dancing :) She has a performance Sat night, so she's going to be heading to Worcester for that.

We have a long weekend over the July 4th, lots of cooking, drinking, friends and fire. Visitors very welcome!

Outside temp is ...

More dental fun

A few years ago, shortly after moving here, I went to the dentist and got more than I bargained for. What was supposed to be a checkup ended up being a pretty nasty root canal.

So of course, I had to do it again.

I went in for a checkup a while ago, at a new dentist near here. She told me she wanted to redo all my fillings, and give me a deep clean.

I had my upper wisdom teeth pulled on the first visit. Then back again.

So I had three fillings done a couple of weeks ago, but due to them being very deep, it was a long process and I had to book back in for the rest - that was today.

She did the deep cleaning (which isn't much fun, actually), then started one of the new fillings. Very quickly she found it was decayed to the root - guess what - another root canal is needed.

So, I have to go to a specialist for the root canal (need to book that), then go for my lower wisdom teeth to be removed before going *back* for the capping on the rooted tooth.

All of that, and my dental deductable is at maximum already. Bitch and moan about the NHS, but financially it won't screw you.

Rewarding weekend

Saturday started with me getting up and getting Dancers car into the dealership for it's service. Almost two years and 23,000 miles on the clock!

When we got home, we buckled down and did all the food preparation for the next week. I cracked off this shot of the fruit salad we make weekly during that



After that we did a trip to Home Depot to buy some new shrubs and some gardening equipment. The shrubs they planted before we moved in have died off in the last year, so we decided to start again.

Today was the work day though. We dug some trenches to lay some edging, dug up the old shrubs and planted the new ones. Laid down some paper to smother the grass, then started mulching. We had 9 cubic feet held back for the job. Turned out we needed a bit more. We ended up dumping almost 21 cubic feet! It looks great now though.

Next job is to finish up the footing of the trees.

Geeks turn

I got poked that I haven't updated recently - so I will :)

Firstly, and of course in my world, most importantly - we bought a new grill. We had a two burner Charbroil, which is a cheap model. We bought it 2 or 3 years ago, and it was showing all of the hundred or so dollars we paid for it, by falling apart slowly. The handles got smashed over the winter too, making opening the grill lid up a bit of a challenge.

So after a ton of research, lots of umming and aaahing, reading websites, walking in and out of Home Depot repeatedly, we finally pulled out fingers out and bought a grill. It's a 3 burner Blue Ember - made by the Canadian company, Fiesta Grills. It's all steel, has great burners, a side burner, porcelin grates, which sear nicely. I'm actually very suprised by how much difference there is in the cooking, having never bought a good grill before.

The first thing I did was make some awesome home made burners and get some friends over :)

Next up on my list, I'm still dropping weight, but now I've moved out of weight loss mode and into muscle building mode, so the pounds are coming off slower, but I hurt more the next day. I'm down to 209lbs, from 255lbs on New Years day, and I see a personal training twice a week for a work out. Matt the trainer is awesome. More and more people at work are noticing a difference, which is nice to see, finally. It's been a long road!

Summer is here, so hopefully more time on the deck burning food on the grill and more time on the drive burning fuel in the firepit. My parents are coming out over Independance Day, which I'm very much looking forward too as well.

Where does the time go?

Things have been extremely busy on the homefront lately. The first is we bought a new grill, but as it's Geek's toy, I'll let him talk about it on here.

One of the biggest things here in recent weeks is it's time to go back for the Green Card. His was a conditional, so we have to go back and get that conditional status removed. We've spent time gathering up the assorted paperwork we need, and now it's in the hands of the lawyer. We'll keep everyone posted.

Another big thing is that I'm finally ready to let go of a bunch of dead weight from my past. And I mean that literally. I have a TON of old paperwork and general crap from my previous marriage that I really don't need. We kept everything, old statements, old bus passes, you name it. There were 3 large paper sacks and a crate with 4 trashbags and the rest just dropped in the crate. I didn't want to kill my shredder shredding all this, so I did the next best thing. I'm burning it. There's too much sensitive info that I didn't want to just dump the stuff in the garbage (I certainly don't want my identity stolen, and I'm going to assume he doesn't either). There was a couple of bits in there that are still relevant and didn't get destroyed, but I've made a fair dent in this. I've still got two bin bags from the crate and all the paperwork that was dumped in the crate to burn, but overall it's gone very well. Hopefully this weekend won't be so windy and we can light up the rest of it.

On the dance front it's been both good and bad. I've got some shows coming up (good), the classes I'm teaching seem to be going really well (good), and the class I'm taking is going pretty good (good, will get back to that one). The bad bit is that I had to drop out from the retreat this year. I was really bummed about it, but it would run me close to a grand again and I just can't justify it. We are really making a concerted effort to reign in some of the debt, and the money I would spend on the retreat could make a nice dent in the debt. So I really couldn't justify it. I'm sad though because I love seeing the people there, and last year I got so much out of it. I know I would've this year too. Oh well, now to save up for next year. :)

Tribal is going really well. I was taking the 2a class privately as I couldn't make Wednesdays. We were tested to see if we were ready for Tribal 3. I honestly didn't think my test went that well. I couldn't hear her call the moves. Partially because I'm still having ear problems and it's affecting my hearing and partially because when I dance I kinda lose myself in the movements and music, so having to listen for the next call was a bit challenging. But I must've done well enough as I passed. :) I don't believe she passed me out of kindness, but that all three of us did deserve to move on. There were two other ladies who tested and also passed. The did an excellent job. I'm really excited about Tribal 3 and learning combos and really dancing as more of a "troupe" than a class.

South Carolina rush

This week was an interesting one to say the least.

I've been working with a customer all week, nothing odd there, they had a new and particularly bad virus outbreak, and a combination of problems slowed cleanup down.

On Wednesday it was decided that I would go down to help them out.
On Thursday, I was getting on a plane, and flew down there for Friday. I got home at 2am last night.

The highlight of the trip was the hotel - they had one non smoking room left. When I booked in, they told me I had a suprise waiting for me.

I got upstairs, top floor, to find I had the key to an anonymous double door in the corner - when I went in, I had the presidential suite. Wow.

The bathroom was as big as my living room. Jacuzzi tub, double head showed unit, double sink, two toilets (two?!). The bedroom was bigger, with a really comfortable (much more so than normal Embassy Suite beds) king size. The living room was plush, there was a huge dining table and a little kitchennette.

I have no clue who normally stays in these rooms - it didn't look plush enough for a really posh presedential suite (they still had the normal hotel fixtures and fittings, for example - sample size toiletries etc), but it was considerably bigger than a normal room.

Unfortunately, I checked in late, and checked out really early. Not a lot of time to enjoy it.

The trip ended up being a success, for me and the customer.

Busy restaurant

A crammed mexican restaurant in north carolina airport

Portland

I'm here in Portland. The city is amazingly beautiful. So many evergreen trees, rolling hills, and the coolest thing. Flying from Vancouver you can see some of the mountains poking through the clouds at that altitude. That was an awesome experience. :D

The first trip on a prop plane wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, for the most part. The plane was a DHC8 400 series, which is suprisingly big! It could hold roughly 50 or so people. It was very funny though how they kept saying it's a load balancing plane so some people in the front needed to move to the back so we could take off. Apparently we were too front heavy.

The flight crew was awesome. It was such a short flight. They had no more served the drinks than it was time to collect the stuff. The only downside with that quick up and down is that now my ear is killing me and I have no hearing on my right side. I'm guessing it's just a serious air bubble trapped in there and it should clear by morning, but it's seriously annoying.

The hotel I'm in, though... I usually stay at Hiltons, but decided to give the Courtyard here a go. Big mistake. The hotel is nice enough, but seriously... I asked for a fridge in my room. This should not be a massive request, especially given the fact I asked for it over a week ago. Guess what. A bunch of little snot nosed brats were asking for them so they can keep their effing sodas cold. So no fridge for the person that asked a long time ago and really needs it. "Sorry, we can't help you, as it's first come, first serve basis". This is not my problem, given the fact I asked well in advance, but apparently it's first come at check in. They did give me a couple of vouchers to the bar/restaurant and they did put my stuff in the staff fridge/freezer. Now we hope it will be there in the morning. I'm not too stressed about cross-contamination as everything is sealed and in freezer bags, but for the love of Dog, WTF?? Seriously, they should have set one aside, espeically when I stipulated medical need. I don't care about these little f****ers and their coke.

Tomorrow isn't going to come soon enough. At least the folks who are hosting this conference seem to have their act together.

On the road, heading west

I'm sitting here in Vancouver this evening. The flights all things considered were pretty uneventful. The Manchester to Chicago leg was very smooth, from security to boarding. (The plane was a CRJ700, Mike). The plane was itty bitty but the flight attendant was hilarious. He actually got me to listen to the safety info because he was cracking jokes all through it.

The next leg was a bit weird. United forgot to give us a plane. Yep you heard right. There was a flight, a gate, just no plane. They ended up pulling one from the hanger. (A 319, another smallish plane). I'm so glad I paid for the upgrade to enconomy plus. I had the row right behind first class so TONNES of legroom. And there was still enough space to put a bag under the seat in front.

Stupidly I didn't pull money for the trip. I figured there would be a Travelex up here and I could simply card it. Nope. So I had a right bit of panic for a bit, but it was all sorted in the end and I had money to get to the airport.

I just got back from a late dinner (seared scallops with scallion puree and roasted sunchokes for appetiser and smoked black cod with aromatic veggies and mushrooms for dinner, topped off with a nice pot of green tea) and am full and much happier. My stomach has been really thrashed the last two days and I've literally no idea why. It's not gluten, but something has obviously decided not to agree with me. I have a sinking feeling it might be the bread (I tried making the last couple loaves with Lactaid milk). But I'll go without the bread tomorrow and see how I feel. It could potentially be the cheese, but I rather doubt it, as I've been eating an ounce a day for several weeks now (hard cheese with 0g lactose. :) And 50% reduced fat to boot).

In the meantime, I think I'm going to curl up in bed and read til I fall asleep.

First week of teaching

This was my first week of teaching two classes. The first class yesterday was really good. There was one new person in there so I tried to spend a bit of time with her. The other teacher was there and once again was having a blast. I like the other teacher. She is so passionate about bellydance and it's contagious. Tonight I was on my own with two new women and the three regulars. The newbies were so cute! They were so excited that I had hip scarves and veils for them to use. I also had enough candles for myself and the two new girls and one girl who forgot hers. The other regulars had theirs so we could play with some props. It was a huge amount of fun.

For the last few minutes I worked with the new girls and let the regulars have some free dance time. I didn't want the new folks to feel left out or lost. That feeling sucks. I've been there. They left very excited and they can't wait til next week. THAT really made me happy. :)

Unfortunately I'll be in Vancouver next week, so no teaching for two weeks. I hope to have some time to practice while up in CA and Portland. :)

It was a good night.

Upside down pug

Says hi!

Weight loss

About 3 years ago, my appendix ruptured, abscessed and I had to spend some time in the hospital to have bits of me removed. During this time my weight dropped to around 215lbs, which was about the lightest I'd been in any time I can remember.

As with most crash weight losses though, it crept back on. I was quite a bit more sensitive to it than I think anyone really understood.

New years 2008, I weighed myself at 255lbs, and started going back to the gym, something I'd had mixed luck with over the last year. They were running a "Biggest Loser" style program (I'd dropped out of it the previous year), and I joined up.

My first weigh in at the Biggest Loser was 245lbs, and it was a 12 week program.

In that time I've done cycling, circuit training, combat, weight lifting, aerobics, step, resistance training, more circuit training. The two trainers who worked with us, Matt and Marian have been amazing inspirations and motivators, who I truly couldn't have done this without.

I set myself a goal of getting back to the 215lbs, but this time the right way. Today, at our final weigh in, I did it. I've dropped 40lbs, or 15% of my body weight since New Years.

Now I've got to keep going - there is a circuit training class starting next week. We tried Kettle Bell tonight, which is too early to get too, but hopefully they will run a later class. I need to get back into cycling now it won't kill me.

Go me.

Owe an update?

So I guess I owe an update?

DC was fantastic. Better than. Photos are still on my camera though - so no fun for you.

We drove back with 3 stops - left at 9:30am, home at 5pm. Long, exhausting drive, but the only hairy parts are getting through NYC.

We had today off, which was essential, we slept like babies last night.

I'm going to pick the boys up from Mike tomorrow AM, it's oddly quiet without them here.

In DC

We're here in DC having arrived at about 3;30pm. We left our house at 7am for reference.

The car is in the expensive valet parking overnight to get rid of it quicker.

The hotel is only a block from the white house and very nice indeed.

Now I need a kip!

Still on the road

Entering delaware, a state I've never been in before

On the road

On the road and stopped for lunch in new jersey

Winter ending?

The last few days have been warmer - 50f yesterday, the warmest of 08 yet. I was almost ready to bring my christmas lights down from outside (we've not had a day without snow on the ground stopping me since I put them up.

Unfortunately, today, we woke up to 3 inches of snow on the floor.

Oh well, there goes the thought that winter may be ending soon!

Yum!

Lunch :)

Car dealership

'm sitting at the car dealership waiting on a 25k service on my Camry.

A guy has brought his two kids with him, they are climbing all over everything, screaming and yelling, and helping them selves to the coffee maching. That little girl can't be more than 6 and is on her third cup since they got here. The little boy is running around throwing papers everywhere.

The dad? Reading a paper and ignoring them entirely.

Kids. Who'd have em?

Hurry up and finish my car!

New XM install

I just installed a new XM radio in my car.

Big Deal right?

I already had one in my Toyota - it was one of these fugly things

http://shopdelphi.com/consumers/satradio/skyfi/skyfi2/



Which is not only ugly, but the cables I had to run to it were pretty bad too (antenna, power and auxillary).

So when I found out that the Terk adaptor for the Camry was on sale, along with the XM Direct interface - which means nothing to you other than completely integrated satellite radio. As in, direct into my factory radio, no more cables on display.

It's an installation that is normally done by the dealership, as it requires removing almost the entire dashboard.

But I did it, and I'm quite pleased.

I have had to leave the antenna on the trunk, people have luck installing theirs inside the car, but I can't figure out where, and will get a reception, so back on the trunk it goes.

Yay me :)

Snow snow snow

More snow

Will winter ever finish?

Yay!

Home

I got home after midnight last night. A couple of uneventful flights, a slow, snowy, icey drive home after I landed though.

I'm exhausted - I don't tend to sleep great in odd hotels, and after getting to bed around 1am, I had to get up today to hit the office, which I'm not far off going to do right now.

Pasteurized crab meat?

This is just wrong!

Whirlwind

The tour is going well so far. Only one flight has had a delay, and it wasn't so bad we missed our connecting flight, or my workmates checked bag go walkies.

Sunday night, I flew out of Boston, and into Indianapolis, where we stayed Sunday night. The customer visit on Monday went well, we took them out to a local microbrew house for lunch. This was an experience that had us all embaressed. While sitting around and chatting, one of the customers pointed out a vole that was running down the half wall seperating us and the kitchen. Ew. We still ate, of course, and let the manager know on our way out - she was horrified.

Monday night we flew down to Memphis, ate dinner at the hotel, went on site to another customer Tuesday, and took them out to Sushi for lunch - again, good visit, I had some potentially bad news to break to these guys, but they took it well.

We flew out of Memphis on Tuesday night to Atlanta, for a connecting flight to Savannah. The Memphis to Atlanta flight was delayed, giving us only about 30 minutes to get the connecting flight. Fortunately, both we, and the checked luggage made it all the way.

We get to our hotel at 10:30pm, after I broke my GPS cable (fixed now) to find our one mistake - the agents who booked our trip booked us in on the wrong nights, the hotel was full and there were no rooms. We got lucky, the hotel behind it did have rooms, and is pleasant enough. My workmate insisted we go to Waffle House, which was a new experience for me. Can't say I enjoyed the hash browns much, but the sausage, egg and cheese Texas Melt was pretty night. Good 11:30pm food!

I was in bed at midnight, up at 6am, and ready for the last customer visit tonight.

Then we have two flights to catch tonight, and back in Boston by 10pm. Ready for bed, I'll tell you! I have to be in work tomorrow, which is a bit sucky, but what can ya do.

Ok, off to a southern breakfast for me ...

Full moon

The night after a total eclipse

Bright and sunny before the storm

12f today. 6inches of snow coming tomorrow night. Enjoy the sun (If not the heat!) While we can!

First moblog

Back on the road

I have a mega trip next week.

I fly out from Boston on Sunday night to Indianapolis to visit "Large financial instituation".

I fly from there on Monday night to Memphis to visit "Large hotel chain" on Tuesday.

Tuesday night I fly to Atlanta, and transfer to a flight to Savannah, GA so that on Wednesday we visit "Large aerospace company".

Wednesday night I fly from Savannah GA to Charlotte NC, then back to Boston for 10pm.

I've got company, I have a portable DVD player, I'll take my GPS so we can find each damn place.

It's going to be a long trip!

Up and getting ready

It's a day off work (yay!) and we're up getting ready for the gym. We want to go to the early bodypump class, so we can cook today and then I have a nice dinner planned of a rack of lamb and some roast veggie. So far, lokking like it's gonna be a good day. :)

Long weekend

We're having a nice, fun, long weekend. The makings of a surf and turf are defrosting, we've done our shopping (but not the cooking). We've filed for our tax returns. The weather sucks and is really cold, with tons of iced over snow everywhere - I'm waiting for spring!

iMac

We had the iMac sitting on the counter over the beginning of this month, we just never got around to getting it back to the Mac store.

But we did, and today I picked it back up. New logic board, new power supply, and unfortunately, new OSX install too.

Fortunately, I had been using the handy dandy Backup utility to backup our extremely large iTunes library, and right now the iMac is going through the big job of restoring this library back onto the hard drive.

Treading water

I feel like I'm treading water. Not really going forward, not really falling back. I've been trying to lose weight for over a year, but yet I've not reached my goal. I can't explain it. All of the tools are here, yet I'm still not where I want to be. I wish I could really kick it in gear. I think part of me is still having a pity party for myself on some levels lately. A lot is still my diet with all it's allergy restrictions. I struggle to keep control of my food. It's tough when you are so restricted to restrict it even more when it comes to calories and fat. That's all that's in most gluten-free foods. I still hate hate HATE fruit, but trying so hard to eat it. I'm working on more veggies.

This brings me to my next tread - dancing. I have a great studio here at home that is not seeing much use. I guess I'm discouraged. There's just no fire there right now. I want to be able to perform, but there just isn't many chances lately. I shouldn't care. I really shouldn't. I LOVE dancing, I really do. The thing is I'm starting to get goal driven. Not with just dance, but everything in life. it's almost getting to not doing things for the sake of it, but it has to produce results to be worthwhile. So because the weight loss isn't happening as quickly as I would like, it seems to not be worth doing because there's no overt results. I know that's not true, and I'm not sure how to change this attitude. I guess I need to really strive to be more positive. Do things for the fun and the love of it and not stress about the results.

More snow to come

New England winters are never dull.

We fell less than an inch short of having a record amount of snow fall for the month of December. We had our longest commute home, topping 7 hours for Dancer thanks to 14 hours of snow falling in a matter of hours.

The beginning of January, we were getting temperatures around -2f in the mornings when I went to the gym.

Yet, at the beginning of last week, we went out for lunch one day, and it was 65f. Go figure.

So as the temperatures were high, the snow from December melted down, we had a slushy few days, but now it's nice, dry, and the temperatures are normal for December.

Except now we're getting more snow. 5 inches tonight, with 10 - 14 more forecast for tomorrow.

I used to think the weather in the UK was changable and odd, but this is, frankly, ridiculous. From T Shirts last week, to snow blowers tomorrow morning.

We've both emailed our respective bosses, I'll be working from home tomorrow, Dancer will be taking a personal day. Seems much more civilized.

Snowing again

IMG_2530.JPG

More snow.