Carolyn, you win.

But I digress, it was a red-letter day today. My beautiful new shower is pretty nice, but I’ve been having my troubles with it. The door is quite pretty, but it leaks. I can’t get them to fix it correctly. And the grout looked like it wasn’t sealed right and was crumbling. The contractor didn’t really believe me, but when the tile guy came back to look at it he knew right away that something was wrong. He’s going to let it dry out for three days, work on it for three days, and let it cure for three more days. So I can’t use my expensive new shower for nine days.

But that’s not so bad because I had tomorrow to look forward to. I actually was going out to dinner tomorrow with someone, well, age inappropriate, to a restaurant that everyone tells me is rather good. Tonight at 8:43PM, I got a text message, “… I am starting to see someone and I cant go on a date with you. I am REALLY sorry its so last minute.” I am disappointed, but I figured things would go awry and I immediately started thinking of backup plans. I called Il and asked him if he wanted to go, but he’s off meat because of stomach problems and the restaurant is eat-all-you-can carnivore food. I just ended up canceling my reservation.

So the bad news is that I am not going out on a date. I’ve been playing it down and telling people who knew about that I was just going out to dinner, it wasn’t a date. If you recall, everyone thought I was going out on a date last year but the woman who I was going with didn’t, and she started inviting all her friends to come along. The good news is that if you read the above text message carefully, you’ll notice I almost went out on a date! That’s as close as I’ve been since the last date I was on, three years ago.

In any case: Carolyn, you don’t have to eat your hat. I give up. I promise not to ask anyone else out for the rest of the year.

Oh, and surprise. I just opened up a form letter and I may have problems with my health insurance. I hope this day doesn’t get any better.

I went to see my massage guy today and he told me things I should already have known. I’m old and rickety and I should lay off going to the gym so much. I’m sure anyone who goes too often gets told that. Massage guys like you to go to yoga, not to the gym. It makes their work easier. But my guy deals with a whole lot of runners and knows all about neurotic over-exercisers and how little they listen to advice to “take it easy”. I’m listening to him a little more than I usually would: I’m going to take two days off, both leading up to dinner at an eat-all-you-can Brazilian meat restaurant, The Brazil Grill.

I’m hoping that I’ll have better luck at the Brazil Grill than the three dinners I’ve had this weekend. The Industrial Cafe overcooked part of my steak (but it was tasty), the Widmer Gasthaus (also known as the Asshaus to my sister) way overcooked the meat in my sauerbraten (but it was tasty), and the McTarnahan’s Taproom Grill overcooked my chicken (still edible). But then again, my buddy tells me I used to happily eat Boy Scout food so what do I know?

I’ve decided I’m reading too many mystery books as well. I figured out why Detective Reese is phoning in all her conversations on Life (the actress is pregnant) and I figured out that the room full of people at the restaurant were probably doctors. These aren’t any huge deductions, but are probably enough that I could write my own mystery if I had any stamina.

(The way I figured out that the people were doctors was because the first dozen or so came in with laser printed papers that looked like scientific articles and the next few came in with things that looked like medical journals. I assumed they were doctors, but I was thrown off because they didn’t look smart enough. As I was leaving I asked one of them what their specialty was and they turned out to be orthopedists having their journal club. This answered the questions on their looks. As the joke goes, “How do you hide a dollar bill from an orthopod? You hide it in a book.”)

Like I said, not nearly enough for any conclusive evidence, but enough to make up stories in my head.

It wouldn’t be too exciting to tell you I got up after a fairly poor night of sleep, went to the gym, hurt myself before the workout was over, came home, took a handful of Advil, and took a long nap. That wouldn’t be all that exciting. The exciting part is that I got up, finished a book, and then WENT TO SEARS to BUY A VACUUM CLEANER, CAME HOME, and VACUUMED. I also moved my bed into the new, not-quite-finished bedroom so I could try emptying out the one that’s full of crap. Unfortunately, there’s few places to store the crap and did I mention I hurt myself today? My back kind of hurts again.

It’s all part of my master plan to get my money’s worth out of my massage tomorrow. I’m not sure it all makes sense, but with an exciting life like mine (did I mention the brand new vacuum cleaner and the vacuuming?) you have to make some hard decisions.

I showed up at the gym today and the first thing I did was look in my wallet for $10. There’s a $10 fee for late cancelations. It’s all group classes, and the classes are usually pretty full, so there needs to be a penalty for taking up a spot. In any case, this is a sleepy week for me and I’m craving a nap about the time class is starting. As soon as he saw me, THMFIC handed me another book to read so I knew I couldn’t leave.

THMFIC agreed that I should probably have canceled due to fatigue and coming every day so far this week. I didn’t do all 5 rounds of push presses in the strength part of the workout, but I did fine on the workout of the day. 10 dumbbell hang snatches on each arm, 10 pushups, and 10 situps for 12 minutes to see how many rounds you can do. My initial lack of motivation, though, made me THREE SITUPS SHORT of one more round. We only count full rounds so that means 8 rounds instead of 9. 9 is as many as I saw anyone else do, and I was so close.

So another book to read from THMFIC meant that I couldn’t ditch class and I had to stay and mop, which is something I do anyway. I think it helps develop the abs, or at least that’s what I tell myself. It tires my shoulders as well. But the worst part about getting another book is that it delays my Kindle 2 purchase just that much longer. It’s not really that much of a negative, because I’ll read almost anything, which is the curse of the English major.

Maybe I need to stay in all weekend reading. And napping. That sounds pretty good.

I felt pretty tired this morning and had very little enthusiasm for anything. I didn’t even feel like leaving early because I couldn’t think of what I’d do at home. I wanted to skip the gym, but there’s a 12-hour cancellation policy and I’m too cheap to pay the $10 for violating it. But I didn’t just feel tired, THMFIC said I looked tired. That’s no surprise to me. In any case, I still worked hard enough that I was lying on the floor trying to catch my breath for a while, and just now while flossing my teeth I had a cramp in my hand. Hooray.

In any case, I think it’s springtime in some sense (even though it’s still in the 20’s°F at night) because all I want to do is sleep. At least hay fever season hasn’t kicked in quite yet.

I actually got a phone number from a woman on Friday night. She was age-inappropriate, but as my buddy who just had brain surgery at 25 told me, “Enjoy life while you can.” In any case, she didn’t answer her phone the times I called which I’ve decided is much nicer than being insulted, which is how I usually get turned down for dates. Not recently, mind you, I get insulted enough at work that I don’t need to go looking around for more. I’m guessing that, like THMFIC says, at our age we’re just invisible to young women. And I’d rather be ignored than insulted.

I also think I should also stop listening to the guys at work who keep telling me to ask out the single women there. It didn’t work out at all last time, and now they’re trying to get me to ask out someone from Human Resources. I can’t imagine anything that could turn out worse than that. Talking to some of our larger customers makes me feel like I’m poking a dangerous sleeping animal with a stick; messing with HR seems much worse.

In any case I’ve decided that, to cheer myself up, I’m buying the Kindle 2 eventually. If I would have gotten a date I was going to buy the Kindle 2 to celebrate, so it’s not really a deciding factor. If you’re wondering how I have so much money to spend on such a gadget, I can tell you I found my REI dividend check and it was for a whole thirty-one dollars and fourteen cents that I can’t use at Amazon. I did get a not insignificant tax refund that’s going straight to Jay the Contractor, but I can divert some of it, can’t I? I suppose I’m still reading from my stack of books so I’ll see how I feel about this tomorrow.

There’s something about today, the snow, the lack of sleep, the Mondayness of it all. I was tired at the gym and had a hard time pressing 35lbs, and also gave up lunging while holding 122 lbs. I stuck with 106lbs (2x24kg) for my lunges. Then during the workout I kind of felt like I was letting my partner down. I guess that’s life.

I got a book from THMFIC at the gym and so I’d bette finish Shinjuku Shark and start the one he gave me. This is still keeping me from buying a Kindle 2, which may be a good thing. My sister told me she bought four books in the first week she had hers and it surely doesn’t sound like she’s saving any money doing that.

But really, today was a blah day. I wanted to leave work but then I felt like I had nothing to do at home. I forgot about finishing the book, of course, and I was in the middle of watching You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. What a wonderfully stupid movie. Like I said, it’s Monday and I’m waiting for a phone call.

Day after day I post things because how else am I going to pretend that anyone cares what I do on a day-to-day basis? Heck, I even find it tedious and uninteresting for the most part. All I’ve figured out this weekend is that some of my socks say “R” and “L” and I can’t seem to put them on the right feet. I suppose there isn’t all that much more I’ve learned this weekend.

I did go to a friend’s housewarming party on Friday where I ended up drinking more than I should have, which is at all on a night before a Saturday morning workout at the gym. But instead of taking a nap that afternoon, I was busy moving things out of the old gym for fun. The old mats will now be heading for a barn to protect horses from the concrete floor and while we were always tracking dirt into the gym, the horses will be using the floor as a bathroom as well.

And even after being up all day, being tired from staying up late, and having daylight savings time take an an additional hour from my beauty sleep, I still didn’t sleep that well last night. And now I really should be in bed instead of watching movies on my computer, but it still feels early.

At least the phone isn’t ringing for the second time today. Nobody ever calls, but I got a collect call from the county jail this afternoon and I didn’t accept it because the person didn’t give a name. Even as I wasn’t answering, I thought it might be one of my friends needing some help so I immediately called everyone who has called my home phone in the past three months, at least everyone who isn’t a telemarketer. The list, sadly, is quite short and I only ended up calling five people who all laughed at me. None of them is at risk for getting into trouble with the police, of course, but sometimes you can have a bad day. So far it’s still a mystery who called. Maybe it was a telemarketer.

So as I’m headed to the gym today, it starts POURING. The rain is cascading down the street and I have to put my windshield wipers on high. It dies down on my 5 minute drive there and when I arrive, PEOPLE ARE RUNNING AROUND THE BLOCK. I guess it’s “Helen” day at the gym:

• 2 laps around the building
• 21 kettle bell swings
• 12 pullups

THREE TIMES THROUGH

I just wasn’t feeling it today. Our skills workout was one-arm kettlebell push presses x3 and I got up to 36kg, but I was breathing hard and feeling pretty tired every time I push pressed. I think all the leg work early in the week, all the core work yesterday, and something else this week to toast my shoulders made me zombie-like in demeanor. Seriously, I was wondering if I was going to see my lunch just from the push press.

But it was the workout, and so far this year I’ve just gone for it. If you just push through the workouts, you get steadily fitter. I now have some base fitness and I can make it through most of them with a good time and with good form. Not great, but good. And today, to my surprise, I was the first one through in our class. That’s even doing two extra pullups because I thought I miscounted on the first round and having a drippy runny nose from having to run out in the cold rain. That’s my excitement for the day.

I’m not sure what this is but I saw it on another blog and found it an amusing use of youtube videos.

I really hate rebates but they usually seem to pay them. I would have said they’ve always paid them until I bought something from Tiger Direct and they stiffed me. I think it was $50-100 or so, and I’m certainly not buying anything from them again. Looking at google, I’m probably lucky just to be out whatever I am out. The rebate I got is from Sandisk and it’s a VISA debit card. I’m not sure if I’ll have the same kind of trouble I’ve had in the past where I have to keep track of how much is on the card or merchants can’t use it.

Rebates are kind of silly for me. I’ll buy something that’s too expensive that I barely need, knowing I’m getting a rebate. Then when I get the rebate I’ll think of it as free money and spend it frivolously. I suppose that’s what the merchants are counting on. Also, I now have four 8G SD memory cards and I can probably only use one or two of them since I don’t take that many pictures. And looking at the manual I can hold 1580 pictures per card at the highest resolution.

Ah, well. Maybe I can use this card towards the frivolous purchase of a Kindle 2. I’m still not going to buy one until I finish the books I have stacked on my desk and I’ve been too busy to read them lately. Maybe I’ll buy some illuminated light switches or some other boring home improvement stuff.

Of course I’m really tired during the day, but I’m never tired when I should get to sleep. I suppose it has to do with going to the gym late in the day and then eating dinner even later. Oh, well. That’s just the way life goes, I suppose. And what would be the purpose of being wide awake at work anyway? I probably wouldn’t have an excuse for trying to drink my body weight in bad work coffee.

There have been a lot of pictures of me at the gym looking old and tired. As Megan points out, that’s because I’m old and tired. Perhaps instead of going to the gym, I should be getting more rest. This could be facilitated if I had THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS. I could buy a completely upholstered house and hire someone to de-lint it on a daily basis. I could sleep whereever I wanted. I could also have another house that has TEN THOUSAND square feet of floor space. I wouldn’t need furniture. I could just spread everything out all over the floor. I wouldn’t even worry about heating costs. I could hire someone to worry for me.

As you can see, there’s a good reason I’m just old and tired and whatever is controlling the universe has made sure I don’t get that THIRTY BILLION DOLLARS.

Hmmm. I guess I could stand to lose some winter weight. I’m looking pretty Asian there which is a good thing because Megan will tell you, I’m old, tired and Asian as well.

I was back at the gym today and I’ve now realized that I can’t judge the workouts by looking at them on the whiteboard. It was seven rounds of seven medball cleans, seven burpees, and seven ring rows. Why did I think it was going to be easy? I even started out wrong. I did ten burpees the first round and then made up for it by doing four the second round. Fortunately, someone else was counting the number of rounds for us or I would have been completely confused as to when to stop. We were supposed to take a leisurely 2 laps around the building to finish up but you know some of our definitions of leisurely weren’t quite right. Fried chicken for lunch might have been a mistake.

The floor to my old bedroom is now finished and the carpet is supposed to come in tomorrow. I’m not sure when the installer is supposed to be here, but it shouldn’t be too much longer. This weekend I may need to move my bedroom crap back upstairs and then I get to empty out my dad’s old room so we can work on that. That is if Jason the Contractor isn’t tired of all the work he’s done so far. I can only imagine how much more work there is to do on the house.