automated answering services

Let me just start out by saying, I loathe automated answering services. I feel like we are put through so many of them these days that we (and by that I mean I) zone out the second they start talking, feeling the same sort of feeling when you are commuting home, like you already know the route and don't have to actually focus. It usually takes me a couple times of realizing "Crap! Just because all of these sound the same, doesn't mean the options are the same." Which, I mean, duh, of course the options aren't the same if you are calling health insurance people vs. cell phone providers vs. doctors' offices, etc. I feel like I've had to deal with an unusual amount of these in the past couple of months. I feel like ultimately phone processes would go much quicker if they just let you talk to a real person. I think this principle also applies to my current job hunt situation a little bit.

Let me explain. I have been applying to jobs off and on in the past couple of months, with little feedback from said hospitals. As a general rule, they do not contact you if you are rejected for a job, they only contact you if you are interested. They also rarely list a phone number online for any kind of HR person you can contact, and they NEVER list nurse managers or how to contact them. So, nurses looking for jobs are forced to just bombard the system, with no feedback on how to be effective. This is the second round of me essentially applying for jobs I am not eligible for. Now. If I had been able to track down the information I needed, not only would I have applied for the RIGHT jobs, but I would not have wasted hours and hours filling out other applications. So, that means that I had to do more work than I otherwise would have, and so did the HR people, because they still had to actually review and then discard my application. If they made themselves more available, I think that yes, initially they might feel a surge of extra phone calls and explaining things to applicants, but in the long run, it seems it would help because then instead of nurses applying to every job under the sun in hopes that they'll be lucky on one of them, they'll find out whether or not it is even worth it to apply, or whether or not they are eligible for said job. Grumble.

Anyway, that being said, huge shout out to Liz Williams for potentially getting me a nannying gig! I talked to the lady today, and she has a 2.5 year old and an 8 month old. She seems nice, and I'm going to meet her on Friday. I still aim to get back to nursing, but I'm determined to get something on a unit I want, which may take longer than I'd like, so at least this way I might not have to use anymore of my savings for a little while.

Notice I have yet to include anything about exercise. Sigh. That brings me to my next point. Cory and I have been on the hunt for an apartment, and we have hit as many snags there as I have trying to get a job. We were denied from the first place thanks to an issue from 2006 when Cory was blamed for stuff people who lived there after he moved out did, even though he signed a key release. So. At the next place, we let them know we were working on resolving the issue (which had been handed over to a collections agency). This required calling the apartment complex where the issue had happened, but they don't keep records past 5 years. So then we had to call the complex we'd been denied from, then call the people they get to do their background checks to get the name of the collection agency, then call them, and haggling with the woman on his case and offering something lower than what he owed, getting her manager to go for it, and then paying for it. The report could not be faxed until 4 days later, but in the meantime, the apartment complex we were/are currently trying to get into required me to bring in my social security card for verification purposes, after which point the "system" was still saying that my SS# had never been issued. Obviously there was some mistake because I've had no trouble with anything else: banking, health insurance, nursing licensure, etc. So my new best friend, Tracy (and by that I mean the complex manager who I have had a million and one emails back and forth with at this point), said she had to pass it on to her boss or something. Then yesterday I call our collections person (Lisa) to fax over the proof of payment report, and she says she'll do it in 10 minutes (this is like 9 am). At 3, after more emails, I get one from Tracy saying she has yet to see the fax. So one more call to Lisa, who says she's waiting on her manager's signature. One more email to Tracy to let her know that it hasn't been lost, just delayed. Today we call the complex and have to talk to Todd, who is not as competent or friendly as Tracy. He says the regional manager is reviewing the application. Cory called off and on all day, and apparently Tracy was stuck on a conference call for a while. Finally, I get an email saying, they just need verification of the proof of payment. I thought proof was proof but whatever. So when I last heard from Tracy she had a phone call out to the old complex where Cory had the issue, but that as long as they got that, we should be accepted. I did let her know the old complex didn't even seem to have record of his living there and talking to Lisa might be more helpful. This was around 5 pm, so I just pray I get some contact tomorrow. I would obviously prefer a "YES," but if another stick gets thrown in my path I'll deal.

So, you see Ladies and Gentleman, these are the gorillas I referred to in my most recent status quote:
‎"It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you are tired, you quit when the gorilla is tired." -Robert Strauss

But the exercise thing. I just feel like once I'm not driving all over the northeast suburbs, and living half out of a duffle bag getting a routine will at least be theoretically feasible. 

Thank you all for your patience with my long rant.

Genius

So it's been a hot minute since I posted but these last couple weeks have been crazy.  I had a ton of stuff due  the last two weeks of my first quarter at GMC so as much as it stunk I decided I had to prioritize school over running.  And boy did it pay off.  This is all I have to say:



My finals went like this College Algebra: 95, Lit: 100, Biology: 102.  I actually asked my Bio professor if she could grade it right then when I handed it in and she said she would.  She was totally cool about it, didn't seem bothered at all.  I was genuinely worried about it which is why I asked to grade it then. I haven't got my final grade in my Lit class yet and only one of the grades has been officially posted but I got all A's this quarter.  I told my friend Nicole that I hated to sound braggadocios but I am just way excited, kind of in shock and very proud of myself.

Anyway on to the exercise part of this deal.  I told myself I was going to run last night but ended up falling asleep.  So when I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep I decided to go running.  So I went to the track at like 5:30 this morning and it went really well.  I didn't try and push myself too much cause I had taken some time off but then like a crazy person I went for a run again tonight!  It went well too. It felt great to get back in the swing of things.

Lastly I'm going to be joining a gym the first of August.  My mom said she was going to get me a gym membership for my birthday and I have been kind of holding off and shopping around to get the best deal and still be at a decent gym.  I found one in Valdosta that is month to month and it's only $10 a month so I'm totally going with that.  My primary goal is to lost weight and train my body for running.  I'm going to work out my whole body obviously but I want to really focus on my legs and back, specifically the lower parts of both.  Those are what hurts the most after I run for a long time.

Anyway, whew! that was a long post.  Hope you guys are doing well!

HONK!

No Exercise July

That's what I'm calling this month.  No Exercise July.  Why?  I ended up not doing the Peachtree Road Race (a decision that I was really glad I made in the end), left for a week for Sawyerville Day Camp, just got back yesterday, and I'm leaving again on Saturday for our mission trip.  At some point I'll get some sleep in this week!

I can definitely say that I feel all icky and whatnot because of the no exercise.  It's sucked.  But I'm definitely looking forward to getting back on a normal schedule soon.  Well, in a couple of weeks actually hah.  (Once I return from our mission trip, I'm leaving again the week after for some much needed sleep and rejuvination...like going to the lake and staffing the Diocese of GA Happening hah.) 

Anyway, I just wanted to give a little update on how things have been and what the craziness of my life has looked like hah.  Here's to getting back on track soon! :)
HONK!

Dear Bandwagon,

I'd like to get back on, please.

I can't believe how bad I've been at this lately!! My apologies to blogs I've failed to comment on (I have at least read them all). Honestly, it was one of those crazy transition times where I nearly forgot my name, much less to exercise and/or blog. Plus having mono made it harder to get anything done. We had our end of year retreat that we had to half plan and run near the end of May, then we had to write speeches for our end of year dinner, then I started feeling ill two weeks before our house inspections and move out. I went to the CVS MinuteClinic twice in those two weeks (which was actually a really great experience all things considered, surprisingly). I ended up not giving my speech at the end of year dinner, because that was around the point if I could have elected to have my tonsils removed I would have, and they looked like they wouldn't have minded it either. Honestly, it was probably horrifying to anyone who isn't a nurse. To me it was fascinating, but I showed two of my housemates and I swear one of them almost gagged. I'll be honest, that part was pretty validating, and then I didn't get any grief from anyone about bailing on speaking. Ok, I'll be honest, public speaking might be in my top 5 least favorite things on the planet, and getting that one perk out of being sick for two and a half weeks straight seemed due. :)  But then the next morning I had to drive home. Which was honestly awful. I thought it was going to be fine, that I was just kinda tired with a sore throat, nothing that would impede driving. But about 20 minutes before I left Chapel Hill I got a stomachache, I hadn't eaten breakfast, my car was packed completely full, I also had my bike on the back that just seemed not quite stable. I stopped and got a gingerale and some mints and tried to at least get a little sugar in my system. I felt like it was a combo of taking advil on an empty stomach and having congestion from my head draining into my stomach because the swelling in my throat was FINALLY abating a little bit. I'm sure you all really wanted to hear all that. But anyway. The stomachache started to resolve after about 2 hours, and by the 4th hour I was able to eat some baked veggie chips, but by that point the bike situation was making me more and more nervous. In fact, by the last hour of the trip I was literally talking aloud to my bike, reassuring it that we only had X number of miles left, and telling my bike rack to hang on and that it was doing a good job. After a little over 6 hours, me, my bike, and all the rest of my stuff made it home.

And then I got my appetite back and went out and got the most delicious gnocchi on the planet.

Since then I have gone to two doctor appointments before my coverage ran out, tried to switch phone plans, looked at apartments, tried to clean out some of my stuff with little success, got some banking issues resolved, and managed to do a little cooking. All while going back and forth between Cory's place and mine since he has been on vacation this past week so we could hang out.

Tomorrow, I leave for the beach with my mom and my aunt! I am pretty excited, but feel a little bit distant from that feeling, like I SHOULD feel more excited than I do. Last year when I went to the beach, I still had not adjusted to a daytime schedule, and I spent a lot of time sleeping in the day, or trying to get up but being grumpy and out of sorts because of it. So this time should be an improvement. Mmmm, books and laying around and the sun and the ocean and eating out!

Speaking of books, anyone have any suggestions??

Alright. I'm done with my completely unrelated to anything about exercise post. But hopefully, I'll post at the beach after I get some good walks in! And if I'm really on my game, maybe they'll be another photo walking tour!

HONK!

Confession Time

I am not, nor have I ever been, a runner.

But I've always secretly wished that I were.

The most I've ever been able to run at one time was probably a half a mile, and I remember that even this was an achievement, that it took a while for me to build up to even that short distance.

More often than not, I walk. In troubling or uneasy times, I find myself longing for great big hunks of time so that I can walk for miles and miles. I learned this discipline from a former spiritual director of mine, an Episcopal nun who would walk 12 or 15 miles a day during the time that her marriage was falling apart (she became a nun after the divorce). There is something to the distance, I think. That, and the rhythmic footfalls -- slow and steady, nice and easy. Nothing wrong with being a tortoise, I say. Walking is contemplative. Walking is prayer.

Walking is an adventure with an 11-month-old Boston Terrier named Boo Radley.

For the last nine months, Boo has been the main reason I exercise. Before that, I was engaged in a serious yoga practice which took the form of daily (sometimes twice-a-day!) "hot" yoga at the studio near my house. I think it was work stress that drove me to it, but there I was, on the mat, every single day for six months solid. And then this little guy came on the scene. Life changes when you get a puppy.

I consider myself a fair writer, but I can't even come close to describing the magnitude of the guilt that welled up inside of me when, upon returning sweaty and stinky from yoga class, I looked down to see those enormous brown eyes looking up at me from inside that crate, nay, prison cell.

Yoga went out the window.

I miss yoga, but man, I love this dog. I'm blessed to live in downtown Savannah, a mere half of a block away from Forsyth Park. (This is a terrible, onerous, despicable life I lead.) Boo has become quite the celebrity in the park, and when he walks through it, it is as if he owns it. And frankly, he does. Inevitably, one or two people always laugh and smile when they see him, and then they recall a Boston from their childhood or talk about how much the miss their Boston back home. I feel like I can sort of relate to those parents who feel as though people only see and interact with their babies and not them.


As I said, Boo is the main reason I exercise, but Boo is also a major distraction and/or straight-up hindrance when it comes to aerobic exercise. If he isn't schmoozing with women and small children, Boo is smelling every leaf and peeing on every blade of grass, branch of shrubbery, and clump of fallen Spanish moss in all 30 acres of Forsyth Park. And just when I think, this dog could not possibly have one more nano-ounce (or whatever the hell they call micro amounts of liquid) of fluid left in his body, Boo Radley somehow, from some hidden bladder or reservoir deep inside his body, somehow, Boo manages to produce a tiny drop of urine with which to gingerly baptize said blade of grass, branch of shrubbery, and/or clump of fallen moss. Our pace is slow and deliberate.

What's more, Boston Terriers cannot tolerate extreme heat. Have you been to Savannah? Generally, we can only walk one mile at a time. Ideally, I would love to walk a mile in the morning, a mile at lunch, and a mile or two more in the evening. Mostly, I pull off one mile in the evening, and if the stars are aligned, sometimes two. Boo and I both could stand more exercise. We have been working on the "Leave it!!" command, and sometimes he actually does. Today, we accomplished one very humid, very sweaty, very pleasurable mile and will strive for the same tomorrow.

I am very grateful for this dog and for the ability to sweat, move, and breathe.

I have more to say about all this, and I'm sure I will, but for now, I'd like to say thank you for letting me blog here, and that I will see y'all soon. Good night.
 

To race or not to race.....

That is the question.

So. The Peachtree Road Race is on Wednesday morning.  I've been looking forward to this for a while, as y'all know, but just haven't prepared like I should have.  Let's be real - that's just how I operate sometimes.  Plus it's been a big struggle in general to get out there sometimes.  I've had this dread feeling about the race the past couple of weeks, which has been a new feeling.  I just haven't been looking forward to it as much lately.  And that could be for a few reasons - the quick travel and turnaround to get back to Huntsville, only to leave again on Friday for a week for a day camp in south AL, plus just getting back yesterday from a few days off at the lake (and a 6 hour drive back that came with it). 

BUT - this is the Peachtree Road Race!  It's fun and hot, just just an adventure all around.  And I get an awesome tshirt at the end! 

To recap, here are the downsides:

- Gas money to and from ATL
- Waking up super early to take MARTA to the race (since I can't stay with Blizz since she's doing an awesome internship at the Grand Canyon!!!:) )
- It's going to be stupid hot.
- Not as ready as I'd like to be....
- I don't like to quit, and this feels like quitting.

The bonuses:

- I've got a few friends running and volunteering that hopefully we'd get to meet up when we're all done.
- The tshirt!
- It's just a fun race. :)
- Have I mentioned that it's the PEACHTREE ROAD RACE?!

So yeah.  I need input.  Pronto. Oh, and it's not like I can't do it next year.

And I did run last week, which was nice.  I ran in the mornings, which worked out really well.  It just reinforces the fact that I need to make running in the morning my deal instead of waiting until the end of the day. 

Alright friends.  I need your help with this.  It's definitely not an easy decision, that's for sure.....ugh.

Honk.