Change is not always a good thing....

One of the resolutions I made at the beginning of this year was to visit the NAT 2-3 times per week.

Resolution FAIL.  I have been there exactly twice so far this year - once right before my monthly membership ended on Jan 4.

Second time was today.

I have an excuse or two - seriously.

I got sick after the New Year - sick enough to keep me in bed the better part of a week. Being in bed is not conducive to exercise.  I take that back.  But you know what I mean.

And then...a new gym came to town.  And as my son said "You should check it out; it has everything you need, it is closer to your apartment, it opens earlier in the morning - you could go before work..."

So I checked - online.  It does have everything I want and it is 20 per month cheaper than the monthly non-resident NAT membership - after a $99 enrollment fee.  .

Yeah that enrollment fee is a big red flag for me. 

$99 + 29.99 per month with the $99 plus 2 x $29.99 down before I can start using the place. 

I had already decided I would subscribe to the NAT for a year which would bring my monthly rate down to under $38.  With the enrollment fee spread out over a year, I am looking at about the same cost at each gym for the first year.

So I decided to look on online reviews for the owning company.  Like most gyms with an enrollment fee, there were a lot of complaints. Not lying -  I did not see one good review. Spas and saunas are left dirty/non-working for days at a time.  The required two month notice to end your membership more often than not turns into at least 6 months of fees still being withdrawn from your account. There is not an option to pay for a year upfront and have the membership end after the year. 

And then there is the issue of  employer reimbursement.  I can file one voucher  per calendar year for gym fees (80% or $240 (whichever is less) of receipt totals, excluding enrollment fees.  So I would be eating that $99. And I would need to wait 10 months to have enough receipts to get the maximum reimbursement.

Needless to say, I decided to stick with my original goal and enroll for one-year NAT membership - which just happened to be $100 less than the advertised rate, because this is the first time I have obtained a full year membership. What a nice surprise! I will forward my receipt to my employer this week; and I should  reimbursement in one of February's checks. 

WIN - WIN!

I do love the NAT.

Electronic FAIL

I had a great two weeks away from the office over the Christmas holiday - my electronics not so much.

First, I managed to lose my MISFIT Shine Activity Tracker.   I searched high and low for a few days before  I decided it was really gone.

I even prayed to St. Anthony - out loud, at the office -  because 3 of my (more) religious (than me) coworkers promised he would help me find it.  I was assured that (after I prayed) I should just go about my business and my lost Shine would show up.

I went about my business - for three days.  No Shine.

Maybe you have to believe.

I told my youngest that I was depressed, not being able to count my steps without my Shine.  H thought I should pray to St. Anthony.  Just kidding; I am not sure he has even heard of that gobble-de-gook. And he is more religious than me. But he did get me a MISFIT Flash for Christmas.  Just like a Shine - only cheaper.

I like the MISFIT trackers because they are waterproof and they track my steps when I am water walking.  Or they should.  Three days into my Belizean vacation the damn thing stopped working.  I opened it up.  Apparently it is not as waterproof as advertised.   I dried it out and replaced the battery...nothing.  I made sure I brought it home because I remembered Gary had said he bought some kind of protection plan.

Three days after I got home I had no clue what  I had done with it. I went through everything  I thought I unpacked.  I finally found it in the last place I looked - yeah, I stopped looking after I found it.

And the I noticed that it was flashing me...really.  I tried a sync...and it worked.  Take that St. Anthony.

The Tracker was not the only thing to stop working in Belize.  My Kindle decided to quit charging.  I tried every cord I had with me; tried cleaning off the USB connection; tried a computer charge - nothing.

Once I got home, I tried all the reset tricks I google found for me - several times; nothing.

Unlike the Flash, Kindle is still not working.  It looks like this...

I do have a Kindle Fire, but the Kindle allowed me to read by the pool.  Needles to say, I did not get a lot of reading by the pool done in Belize.

I will replace the Kindle before summer, because I like to read - by the pool, in the bright sunlight, anywhere.  I will most likely replace it with a Kindle Paperwhite.  That way if my Kindle Fire decides to die (it is 2 years older than my Kindle), I can read daylight or nighttime. I will be ready next time I have an electronic fail!

I made some good resolutions at the beginning of the year...

I did not think I was being unreasonable with any of them.

The daily activity resolution and the 2 per week NAT visits were tough, but doable.

Doable, barring unforeseen circumstances....

I started out good JAN 1 - got my steps in AND visited the NAT.

Then came the unforeseen circumstances.

I got flu sick AND winter happened.

I have not left the house since last Saturday, with the exception of making one half-assed attempt to get to work Tuesday.

I am so behind on my step count that, well, if I walked 8 hours today I might catch up.

Resolutions were made to be postponed, right?

I am finally starting to feel human again and I hope to actually leave the house tomorrow - only because my car needs an oil change.

After the oil change, maybe I will hit the NAT.

After all that, I will probably be ready for my couch and kindle again.

I am looking forward to warmer weather and feeling better.

I hope you are braving the weather and staying healthy this new year.

Winter can be beautiful!

Have I told you lately how much I hate winter?

I do.  But allow me to  clarify.

I hate winter in Ohio.

With the snow and cold and wind and ice....Ugh!






But I am pretty sure I could handle winter in someplace warm, like say, Belize....

In fact I am sure I could.

In fact, I DID.

It WAS winter in Belize when I was there last week.

80 plus degrees and sunny winter weather....I can handle it.





See me and SandMan, handling winter,
at the beach!

                 See me and Margo, handling                        winter,  at  the pool bar!













See me and Larry, handling winter,
at Caye Caulker, after swimming with the sharks!












In the words of Eddie Money, "I wanna go back"

In the words of Arnold, "I'll be back!"

You Better Belize It....

I am feeling a little blue today.  

It is a cold, rainy, Ohio Saturday and too close to that return to the office Monday.

I have been away from the office for two weeks and out of Ohio for most of that time.

It was a couple of weeks of firsts for me.

For the first time:

• I was away from Ohio and my parents and my youngest son for Christmas.
• I travelled internationally (other than crossing the border by car to Tijuana and into Canada).
• I vacationed on a tropical island.
• I experienced snorkeling.
• I swam with some sharks; nurse sharks, but sharks, nonetheless.

Truthfully, I did not want to come home.  If it were not for my family here and my job, I would have found a way to stay on the island of Ambergris Caye, Belize.

I was looking so forward to this vacation for so many months that I thought it may not live up to my expectations.

I was wrong.

I had an awesome time.

I owe a big helping of thanks to my son and his girlfriend (and their dog) for being the perfect and most generous hosts.

I was going to post about all of my adventures in Belize in this post, but decided one post would not do.  So over the next few weeks, when I am feeling the post-holiday, winter blues, I will recall and share tales of sunny Belize and hopefully give myself a little pick-me-up. 

It is time to set some goals...

My 2015 resolutions:

1. Do not make resolutions that I have no chance of keeping.
2. Participate in at least two organized 5k events again this year.
3. Stay active. Average  12450 steps of activity per day in January and increment 50 steps per day each month to reach 13000 by December 2015. This is going to be tough, especially in the winter months.  
4. Get 25 NAT lap time down to 45 minutes. I had hoped to do this by December of 2014, but was feeling the pain of trying to run too much and decided to give my body a break.  
5. Walk/swim at the Nat at least 2 x per week; this is more of a social goal than an activity goal. My socially awkward self tends to sit on the couch with a book rather than accept invites to outings that I would feel better about if I had someone to go with.  I do not need anyone to go to the Nat with. Ok, so the grammar in this paragraph leaves a lot to be desired, but I understand the resolution.
6. Organize my spare room, including scanning and archiving bins of photos.
7. Hang the art/pictures/items that are waiting to be hung in my apartment. I am the worst about putting things on the wall; I may need to have a hanging party.
8. Foster healthy friendships while letting go of unhealthy relationships.   
9. Stay the course on my get-out-of-debt plan.
10. Don't worry...be happy. I tend to worry too much over things I have no control over. I am not quite sure how I am going to measure the results of this resolution yet, but it is a resolution none the less.

Yes, many of these are similar to last year's resolutions. I feel so much better about myself now than I did at this time last year that I feel it is ok to have repeats.

Do they stay or do they go?

To de-grey or not to de-grey...

That is the question for the day...

As I mentioned a few times in previous posts, I am getting old-er.

Not that you needed me to tell you that.

But for some, like myself, with age comes grey hair.

Apparently lots of grey hair.

For a few years I was pretty good about washing it away - or at least covering it up.  I am not sure why I felt the need to do that, but I did.

And then, about a year ago, I decided to quit worrying about trying to wash it away - right about the time it started taking more than one bottle of medium brown color to bring back that medium brown look.

I earned those grey hairs, right?

And they do not look too bad, right?

And then I see a pic of myself someone posted on FB and I think - "those grey hairs are getting way out of control"...

Do they stay or do the go?


PROs of keeping those natural grey hairs:

• Not having to bother washing them away every 6 weeks or less.....
  I realize a professional color job may last longer, but that also requires I actually make and keep an appointment at a salon every few weeks. My life is not ordered enough to make appointments for much of anything - health care, car maintenance, or beauty maintenance. When I cannot take the pain anymore, I visit the ER. When I need work done on my car, I bring it to a place that does not require appointments (shout out to Hamad Tire because a good mechanic is hard to find).  When I feel the need for a haircut/mani/pedi, or brow job,  I support the walk-in places, because if I had to make an appointment to sit in a chair and let someone mess with my hair or face, it would never happen.
• I look my age and do not need to worry about being carded when I am in a hurry at the checkout with that half-gallon bottle of bourbon I need for baking.
• Airport security/customs realizes I am too old to be any kind of threat and lets me through without too much hassle and leaves my checked luggage in tact, not wanting to paw through any old lady underwear... 

CONs of keeping those natural grey hairs:

• I look my age - which may not be such a bad thing in itself except for those times I feel like playing cougar or when I am competing with younger, more lively candidates for a job at the office.
• There is no chance of a feel good "we need to see your ID" when I am out on the town.
• Any action taken against them is only temporary.  They keep coming back. 

If I am going to do it, today is the day because supposedly you should not wash your hair a couple of days before - and the weekends are the only time I can get away with that.