I don't travel as much as a lot of people I know who travel for work. This said, I definitely travel more than most people I know who bankroll it themselves. Over the years, I have amassed a rather large number of frequent flyer miles. Since for some ungodly reason, airfares have been really out of control I chose to use some of them to travel home this weekend. A flight from MCI to DTW typically costs under $200. As of late, I'm lucky if I find anything under $350. For me and the hubs to fly out there, that's $700! Uh, this isn't exotic Cancun we're flying to, people...it's Detroit. Yes, home of economic ruin and lots of murders. Why on earth would anyone pay that much to go there? Lame.
My first attempt at buying our tickets for this weekend was a disaster. I logged into Delta's website so I could buy my ticket using SkyMiles. Then I went to buy the hub's ticket with my credit card. I certainly filled out his information correctly. However, when I got the receipt and itinerary emailed to me, I noticed that the passenger info on both tickets I bought was MY name. Uh, I don't need two tickets for myself. Is there no error checking mechanism on their website? WTF??! Anyway, I call them and they say it's a "bug" in their system. If I'm logged in and I try to buy a ticket, it overrides the passenger info with my stored passenger info. Great. I ask if they can switch the name. They tell me it's a non-transferrable ticket but they'll refund the ticket and I cacn go online, make sure i'm logged out, and buy it again. Despite my slight irritation that I have to now go do this whole thing AGAIN, even though it's their stupid faulty website's fault, I was polite and said fine. I go online again to buy the ticket. The fare had increased by $79 dollars for Sudhir to be on the same flight as me. HUH? It had been less than 10 minutes at this point? I refused to pay over 4 hundo to go to the D, so I chose to put Sudhir on an earlier flight. This was inconvenient, at best. Now my dad would have to make 3 separate trips to the airport to drop us all off.
Whatever. I dealt with it. I'm relatively patient...sometimes. The day we're scheduled to depart, I receive an email saying our flight info has changed. We were originally to depart at 1:45pm on Thursday. Our departure time had been moved to 2:45pm. Okay, no biggie. I can deal with the hour. Then, no less than an hour later, I get another email saying that our flight had changed again. This time, to 4:30pm. Okay, fine. Then yet ANOTHER email saying 5:30pm. Okay, so now we're going from arriving in Detroit at 4:30pm to arriving at 9pm. Gross.
Keep in mind that I spent $350 bucks + 35,000 frequent flyer miles to get on this damn flight. Not only is it late, but they won't give us seats. We didn't end up getting seats together so we had to switch. I try to get on Sudhir's earlier flight so both my dad and Sudhir won't have to make two trips to the airport. They said it would be a $150 dollar change fee to get on a flight that's only 3 hours before my booked flight. Apparently they don't "DO" standby anymore. Here's a hint, Delta. I had 35 friggin THOUSAND miles that I traded in. Clearly, I'm a decent customer. Maybe you should try to have an ounce of compassion and make up for being totally incompetent in website development. It's not MY problem you have a flippin BUG on your FLIPPIN WEBSITE. Eff you.
So I get on my 12:05pm flight. Again, they didn't give me a seat. I finally get my seat and it turns out it's the aisle seat in the dead LAST row of the plane. I think it should be against regulation to be that close to the restroom. Not like it's bad enough to be in the last row...they had to add insult to injury by not even having a WINDOW in the flipping aisle we were in.
I may never fly delta again once I use the crappy 50 dollar vouchers they gave me for my troubles. I would rather have layovers than deal with this nonsense.
OH...and don't even get me STARTED on the story about buying my friend Em a gift certificate to use on Delta. It's a nightmare. Let's just say that the representative on the phone said that Em had to go to an actual airport ticketing counter to use the gift card. When on earth was the last time a person physically went to the airport with no purpose other than buying a ticket? The 80's???!!!
I'm so peeved, I might actually write a letter and send it snail mail. That's intense.
6.09.2010
I'm a Medical Mystery.
I probably should have updated sooner that I do not have breast cancer. I do not. Yay me! Turns out the mass is just a ridge of scar tissue that I never noticed before because there was a ton of fat it was hiding under. With the weight loss (28 lbs in 8 weeks!) it became more noticable for me. I left the mammogram and ultrasound festivities with a clean bill of health and still uncertain as to whether or not I'd have to have said mass removed. As of now, I have an order to have a repeat ultrasound in 6 months.
In other medical news, I had an echocardiogram. While I was there, the tech said that I seemed to have PVC (pre-ventricular-contraction) which is just a fancy shmancy way of saying an irregular heartbeat. She said it was probably nothing. My primary care physician called me to tell me that my echocardiogram was completely normal. Thanks, that was helpful, lady.
In the meantime, I still feel like there's something wrong. I don't know what it is, or why it hurts to sleep on my left side or lay on my back. Not only that, but it's harder to breathe in general.
With the whole starvation diet thing...I just hope the cure isn't worse than the disease.
In other medical news, I had an echocardiogram. While I was there, the tech said that I seemed to have PVC (pre-ventricular-contraction) which is just a fancy shmancy way of saying an irregular heartbeat. She said it was probably nothing. My primary care physician called me to tell me that my echocardiogram was completely normal. Thanks, that was helpful, lady.
In the meantime, I still feel like there's something wrong. I don't know what it is, or why it hurts to sleep on my left side or lay on my back. Not only that, but it's harder to breathe in general.
With the whole starvation diet thing...I just hope the cure isn't worse than the disease.
6.03.2010
Jesus Christ, I'm Danny DeVito.
Fair warning: this is a pity party and you're invited. Please indulge me in a momentary lapse of "Why me??!!!" whiny-ness.
I hate to admit that I actually have seen the movie Twins enough to be able to relate to Danny DeVito's character...but alas, I have. Okay, so I may not be an orphan, midget, bald, hairy or a genetic experiment like the character of Vincent... BUT ... I can most definitely relate to something he said to Arnold Schwartzneggar's character.
"I'm the leftover crap? I'm genetic garbage??"
Those of you who know me are well aware of my penchant for being slightly dramatic...however, I gotta ask...why did I lose the genetic lottery? My immediate family is the picture of health. My brother is a vegetarian who dabbles in seafood and is in better shape now than he was in high school. My mom kicked breast cancer's ass and is stronger than ever. My dad, while he has some issues with cholesterol, has the heart of someone half his age.
Here I am, at the age of 31 years old (God, that kills me to say...) and I'm currently starving myself to have a chance at having a kid because my ovaries are ravaged by PCOS. As a result of said starvation, I started to feel like I had some weird feeling of pressure or tightness in my chest. I was told that this is something that needs to be paid close attention to because of the strain on my heart from consuming only 700 calories. I scheduled an appointment for an Echocardiogram (which I had this morning) and it turns out that my heartbeat is irregular. I haven't gotten much more detail than that but I assume my primary care physician will analyze the results and tell me if I should be worried or not. In the course of trying to explore whether applying pressure to different areas would relieve the discomfort, I found what I thought was a muscle knot on my left breast.
After seeing my OB, it turns out it's not a muscle knot. It's what we'd call an "Irregular mass". Adding to the marathon of doctor appointments, I now have one tomorrow for mammogram, ultrasound, and sonagram. This thing is coming out and we'll determine from that point on if it's nothing or if it's something. The doctor told me that it's 85% nothing, so that's good news. I'm mostly pissed that I can't catch a break. How many simultaneous health issues can a person deal with WHILE starving???
I'll tell you what: A giant slice of cake never sounded so good. What's keeping me motivated? 24.5 lbs down in 7 weeks.
5.26.2010
Eureka!
Last weekend was the 7th annual Girl's Weekend with a group of fantastic people I've met throughout the years. The basic premise is that a group of about 10 of us go somewhere we've never been. We keep it on the cheap. Previous destinations have included places like Minneapolis, Chicago and Memphis. This year, we chose to go to exotic Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It's a little tourist town of less than 3,000 people located about 4 hours South of Kansas City. To sum it up, it was AWESOME. We stayed in a "Cabin" that was a lot like one of the many Real World houses we've all seen. It was equipped with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a hot tub, and a fire pit. It was also located at the top of what felt like the steepest, winding, gravel driveway I've ever seen. The only real directions that were given to us was that it was exactly 1.4 miles south of the train station. That should give you an idea of how hidden this place was. I'm not even sure there was an address. I believe that the heart racing and sweating that happened from driving up this driveway is what led to the biggest weight loss I've had thus far. 5.1 pounds in 5 days. INSANO.
Okay, so back to the weekend: Obviously in 3.5 days of fun, there are a lot of stories and a lot to tell. I don't want to bore you with the details but here are some of the major highlights.
Thursday night:
We arrived at the cabin around 11:30pm and immediately ran around the giant cabin like kids in a candy store. This was followed by changing into our swimsuits and taking a trip in what will forever be referred to as "The Hot Tub Time-Machine". Good times.
Friday:
We got up leisurely, ate brunch, showered, and then headed into downtown Eureka Springs. We all sort of split up. Some people wanted to check out the stores, others wanted to partake in the best Bloody Mary bar in Eureka Springs. As you know, I can't really eat or drink so I just hung out with the people drinking because it always leads to funny conversation. Afterwards, we set out to have an old time photo taken. I've never been a huge fan of doing this, but for some reason, the girls I'm with think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. We dressed as pirates and wenches and took a photo aboard the "Sea Hag". I always complain about doing this, but honestly, the results are pretty friggin hilarious. Photo coming soon. After this, we searched for a place to have dinner. After that, we were walking by some voodoo place and SG declares "What the eff is an intuitive reading?" I had no idea, but for 30 bucks, I was about to find out. The proprieters of the voodoo store shut the store down for us. They let us bring in beer and sit around like storytime in kindergarten while the majority of us had readings. I went first. I thought the whole thing was kind of vague for me, but here's the gist: I'll be rich, I'm going through something difficult but I'll make it. Neat. Everyone else's reading was EERILY accurate. I mean, scary precise and accurate. We spent the better part of 3-4 hours there and then headed to a bar known for having the largest dancefloor in Eureka Springs, as well as a bevy of hats that you could wear and a hula hoop contest. Enter the debauchery. SG promptly gets a guy who looks like Larry the Cable Guy to help her do a noodle bong. Everyone else is dancing like maniacs. It was a really fantastic time. I didn't even mind the fact that I couldn't partake in any adult beverages because honestly, it was pretty entertaining anyways.
Saturday:
Some people didn't get a chance to have their intuitive readings so a handful of us went back. We rendezvoused back at the cabin so we could head to Beaver Dam Lake where we had rented a pontoon boat from 2-6. The road there was winding and hilly, causing not one, but two of our girls to yack from motion sickness (or being hungover...who knows) We spent the afternoon on the lake which was nice. However, the lake was 55 degrees so only a couple crazies jumped in. We got home and A and SG began to build a fire in the firepit. That was better than TV to watch. I hope I can get some pictures from KL to post eventually. SG sang Kumbayah while carrying wood to the pit. Hilarious.
Sunday:
We pretty much drove back as soon as we woke up.
Overall, it was pretty awesome. I can also cross Arkansas off the list of states I haven't been to. Bonus!
Okay, so back to the weekend: Obviously in 3.5 days of fun, there are a lot of stories and a lot to tell. I don't want to bore you with the details but here are some of the major highlights.
Thursday night:
We arrived at the cabin around 11:30pm and immediately ran around the giant cabin like kids in a candy store. This was followed by changing into our swimsuits and taking a trip in what will forever be referred to as "The Hot Tub Time-Machine". Good times.
Friday:
We got up leisurely, ate brunch, showered, and then headed into downtown Eureka Springs. We all sort of split up. Some people wanted to check out the stores, others wanted to partake in the best Bloody Mary bar in Eureka Springs. As you know, I can't really eat or drink so I just hung out with the people drinking because it always leads to funny conversation. Afterwards, we set out to have an old time photo taken. I've never been a huge fan of doing this, but for some reason, the girls I'm with think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. We dressed as pirates and wenches and took a photo aboard the "Sea Hag". I always complain about doing this, but honestly, the results are pretty friggin hilarious. Photo coming soon. After this, we searched for a place to have dinner. After that, we were walking by some voodoo place and SG declares "What the eff is an intuitive reading?" I had no idea, but for 30 bucks, I was about to find out. The proprieters of the voodoo store shut the store down for us. They let us bring in beer and sit around like storytime in kindergarten while the majority of us had readings. I went first. I thought the whole thing was kind of vague for me, but here's the gist: I'll be rich, I'm going through something difficult but I'll make it. Neat. Everyone else's reading was EERILY accurate. I mean, scary precise and accurate. We spent the better part of 3-4 hours there and then headed to a bar known for having the largest dancefloor in Eureka Springs, as well as a bevy of hats that you could wear and a hula hoop contest. Enter the debauchery. SG promptly gets a guy who looks like Larry the Cable Guy to help her do a noodle bong. Everyone else is dancing like maniacs. It was a really fantastic time. I didn't even mind the fact that I couldn't partake in any adult beverages because honestly, it was pretty entertaining anyways.
Saturday:
Some people didn't get a chance to have their intuitive readings so a handful of us went back. We rendezvoused back at the cabin so we could head to Beaver Dam Lake where we had rented a pontoon boat from 2-6. The road there was winding and hilly, causing not one, but two of our girls to yack from motion sickness (or being hungover...who knows) We spent the afternoon on the lake which was nice. However, the lake was 55 degrees so only a couple crazies jumped in. We got home and A and SG began to build a fire in the firepit. That was better than TV to watch. I hope I can get some pictures from KL to post eventually. SG sang Kumbayah while carrying wood to the pit. Hilarious.
Sunday:
We pretty much drove back as soon as we woke up.
Overall, it was pretty awesome. I can also cross Arkansas off the list of states I haven't been to. Bonus!
5.20.2010
Week 5.5
Today I had a round of fasting labs at the buttcrack of dawn. I usually have my appointment on Mondays after work, however, due to the fact they needed to be fasting labs, I had to move to Thursday. I know I shouldn't be disappointed, but I really am. I was sure that I had a big week. I've been trying not to weigh myself at home like a crazy person because, let's face it, it's probably unhealthy. When I heard that I had only lost 2.7 pounds in 10 days, I felt like crying.
Apparently, I simply am not eating the right way. I'm eating the right stuff and the right amount of calories, but just not at the right time. I'm not gonna lie, I've been eating 3 meals by the time I get home from work. I typically wake up at 6am. That means I'm eating around 300 calories in 11 hours. I then eat another 4 meals once I get home and before I go to bed. Essentially, I'm shoving 4 meals into a 5 hour period and stretching 3 meals across 11 hours. This weeks goal: Actually eat every 2-3 hours. The way it was explained to me, 700 calories a day is basically starving. The way you trick your body into thinking it's NOT starving (thereby boosting your metabolism) is by eating every few hours. Since I suck at doing that, I've been slowing down my weight loss.
So, I hereby state that I'm going to do my damndest to do what I'm supposed to. This is hard, and honestly, quite expensive...so I'd like to do it for as short a period of time as possible.
In other news, I plan an epic post about the impending Girl's Weekend of 2010 (Eureka Springs, Arkansas). We leave tonight and I've been looking forward to it for longer than I can remember!!!
YAY!!
Apparently, I simply am not eating the right way. I'm eating the right stuff and the right amount of calories, but just not at the right time. I'm not gonna lie, I've been eating 3 meals by the time I get home from work. I typically wake up at 6am. That means I'm eating around 300 calories in 11 hours. I then eat another 4 meals once I get home and before I go to bed. Essentially, I'm shoving 4 meals into a 5 hour period and stretching 3 meals across 11 hours. This weeks goal: Actually eat every 2-3 hours. The way it was explained to me, 700 calories a day is basically starving. The way you trick your body into thinking it's NOT starving (thereby boosting your metabolism) is by eating every few hours. Since I suck at doing that, I've been slowing down my weight loss.
So, I hereby state that I'm going to do my damndest to do what I'm supposed to. This is hard, and honestly, quite expensive...so I'd like to do it for as short a period of time as possible.
In other news, I plan an epic post about the impending Girl's Weekend of 2010 (Eureka Springs, Arkansas). We leave tonight and I've been looking forward to it for longer than I can remember!!!
YAY!!
5.16.2010
The cherry on top...
Post Authoring Note: This is long, and probably uninteresting, but I promise the end is worth the read.
I had extremely high hopes for Saturday. For weeks, I had been planning on walking in a 5K for the Humane Society with a few of my girls. Not only was this organized physical activity (which I typically avoid at all costs...but really...I'm trying to turn over a new leaf), but it was also for a good cause.
Enter: The rain on my parade (LITERALLY).
I woke up on Saturday morning around 6am. The weather guy said there was a 50% chance of rain. Since lately I've been trying to be a glass-half-full-kinda-gal, I held out hope that we'd avoid getting poured upon. No. Such. Luck.
It was cold. It was rainy. But still, I used all the caloric goodness (a whopping 70 calories) to summon up a positive attitude. We finished the walk and then I started to get very excited about "Super Secret Saturday".
For those of you who don't know this about me, one of my favorite activities is taking a space and redoing it. I've moved around enough that I get to do what I love often enough. In fact, I've been fortunate enough to have several people in my life trust me enough to let me get my hands on their spaces. I mentioned to SG that I felt like redoing something in my apartment and she said she would offer up their home office for me redesign.
Honestly, the shopping is usually my favorite part. However, keep in mind that it's cold, windy, and raining. The first thing SG and I did was frequent the Lotawana Garage Sale festivities. After scoring a desktop organizer for 2 dollars we were hopeful. However, have you ever noticed the kind of crap people put out at garage sales? No lady, I don't want to pay 7 dollars for the hamster habitat that you bought in 1987. Anyway, the moral of that story: Don't believe the hype. No matter how colorful or promising the "HUGE GARAGE SALE" sign is, chances are, you'll be disappointed.
We headed off to Office depot where we got what we thought was a stellar deal on a really cool office chair and a file organizer that matched the $20 desk we found on the classifieds. We hit up Lowe's to buy paint and supplies. Another note: Why is it that home improvement stores suck the life out of you? I mean, who are those places optimized for? Seriously. We got the paint, we were still excited. Then began the search for a sleeper chair. Earlier in the day, I mentioned that maybe we should go somewhere like Bob's Discount Furniture. At this point, SG says "Wait, that's a real place? They exist?" Ironically enough, that's the last place we stopped on our world tour of greater KC furniture stores. The search was unsuccessful. It was only 3pm at this point. It had already felt like the world's longest day. We got all our goods back to the house and took a break to get some calories in.
Truth be told, the actual painting and planning was really fun (at least for me). Where things took a turn for the worse is when we had to assemble the furniture we bought. Who the hell writes those instructions? Also, if you're going to reference parts using letters and numbers, PUT THE FRIGGIN LETTERS OR NUMBERS ON THE PARTS. After dealing with those instructions and all those parts, I am really passionate about how horrible instructions are. I would like to start a letter writing campaign to the government to regulate the quality of furniture assembling instructions. Okay, so perhaps that's a stretch, but I'm still peeved. Around 1am, we finished everything. The room looked awesome (in my opinion).
Here's where the cherry on top comes in. There are some things in this life that you do that are so embarrassing, so incredibly stupid or careless on your part, that you can't bear to have people find out you did them. This should probably be one of those things, but since I'm an open book, I'll share it with you guys anyway.
I had backed the Lexus into SG's driveway so we could unload the desk and then all our shopping goods. I was so incredibly tired and was so excited to crawl into bed when I got home. It's still cold and windy and raining. I remember clearly putting the seat warmer on, and turning the heat up. The rest is kind of a blur.
In order for this story to make sense, you have to understand some of the logistics involved. SG's house is on a hill. Her driveway is steep and curves a bit. At the end of the driveway, on either side, are concrete blocks (sorta the height of a parking block) that prevent you from going into what I like to call their moat. So I pull out of their driveway in Drive (since I'm backed into their driveway, I can pull out face first). I really thought I had cleared the blocks and the moat so I started to turn right out of their driveway. Clearly, I overestimated how far down the driveway I was. Instead of clearing the moat, my front tire (on the passenger side) went over the concrete block and I was dangling with that tire over the edge, touching nothing. The car was basically teetering on the concrete block. The car looked like it was going to tip right over into the moat. I jumped out of the car and then ran back up to SGs door to tell her I broke the car.
After calming down a bit, I called Lexus Roadside Assistance. They were so helpful and friendly. They sent out a tow truck at no cost to me to "winch" me out of the moat. They were there within the hour. The tow guy basically said that there was a good chance trying to get the car out would cause damage to the undercarriage because of the concrete block. I had to sign a waiver and then he began his work. Note: before he started working, he outright laughed at me and asked me if I was drunk. He then said that I shouldn't worry about him damaging his car because he's been doing this since he was 16 and he'd never damaged a car. The guy was 24.
The tow guy told SG she should call the Lotawana police since his truck was blocking the majority of the street. Now, this city probably doesn't see a whole lotta action. The one and only police officer on duty actually shows up. Now we have the blazing lights of a tow truck AND a police officer at 2am. People start trying to drive by. Each person's face was priceless as they gawked at my misfortune. If there was a thought cloud above their head, it would probably read something like "OMG. What kind of idiot can't pull out front first out of a driveway." Anyway, the police officer also was laughing at me and asked how this could possibly happen. He then asked for my name, at which point, I begged him not to publish this in the Lake Lotawana news. He promised he wouldn't, but how can I really be sure?
This has already been a really long story so I can't say "To make a long story short". It took about 30 minutes to get the car out and there was minimal damage. I can't say enough how lucky I am to have Sudhir. When I called him panicked, he very patiently told me that I should call roadside assistance. He then told me "I can tell that you're worrying like crazy...don't worry, it's just a car. You didn't get hurt, it's no big deal." I'm not sure how many women are lucky enough to have a man that would say that to them when they drove his dream car head first (completely sober) into a moat.
The end.
I had extremely high hopes for Saturday. For weeks, I had been planning on walking in a 5K for the Humane Society with a few of my girls. Not only was this organized physical activity (which I typically avoid at all costs...but really...I'm trying to turn over a new leaf), but it was also for a good cause.
Enter: The rain on my parade (LITERALLY).
I woke up on Saturday morning around 6am. The weather guy said there was a 50% chance of rain. Since lately I've been trying to be a glass-half-full-kinda-gal, I held out hope that we'd avoid getting poured upon. No. Such. Luck.
It was cold. It was rainy. But still, I used all the caloric goodness (a whopping 70 calories) to summon up a positive attitude. We finished the walk and then I started to get very excited about "Super Secret Saturday".
For those of you who don't know this about me, one of my favorite activities is taking a space and redoing it. I've moved around enough that I get to do what I love often enough. In fact, I've been fortunate enough to have several people in my life trust me enough to let me get my hands on their spaces. I mentioned to SG that I felt like redoing something in my apartment and she said she would offer up their home office for me redesign.
Honestly, the shopping is usually my favorite part. However, keep in mind that it's cold, windy, and raining. The first thing SG and I did was frequent the Lotawana Garage Sale festivities. After scoring a desktop organizer for 2 dollars we were hopeful. However, have you ever noticed the kind of crap people put out at garage sales? No lady, I don't want to pay 7 dollars for the hamster habitat that you bought in 1987. Anyway, the moral of that story: Don't believe the hype. No matter how colorful or promising the "HUGE GARAGE SALE" sign is, chances are, you'll be disappointed.
We headed off to Office depot where we got what we thought was a stellar deal on a really cool office chair and a file organizer that matched the $20 desk we found on the classifieds. We hit up Lowe's to buy paint and supplies. Another note: Why is it that home improvement stores suck the life out of you? I mean, who are those places optimized for? Seriously. We got the paint, we were still excited. Then began the search for a sleeper chair. Earlier in the day, I mentioned that maybe we should go somewhere like Bob's Discount Furniture. At this point, SG says "Wait, that's a real place? They exist?" Ironically enough, that's the last place we stopped on our world tour of greater KC furniture stores. The search was unsuccessful. It was only 3pm at this point. It had already felt like the world's longest day. We got all our goods back to the house and took a break to get some calories in.
Truth be told, the actual painting and planning was really fun (at least for me). Where things took a turn for the worse is when we had to assemble the furniture we bought. Who the hell writes those instructions? Also, if you're going to reference parts using letters and numbers, PUT THE FRIGGIN LETTERS OR NUMBERS ON THE PARTS. After dealing with those instructions and all those parts, I am really passionate about how horrible instructions are. I would like to start a letter writing campaign to the government to regulate the quality of furniture assembling instructions. Okay, so perhaps that's a stretch, but I'm still peeved. Around 1am, we finished everything. The room looked awesome (in my opinion).
Here's where the cherry on top comes in. There are some things in this life that you do that are so embarrassing, so incredibly stupid or careless on your part, that you can't bear to have people find out you did them. This should probably be one of those things, but since I'm an open book, I'll share it with you guys anyway.
I had backed the Lexus into SG's driveway so we could unload the desk and then all our shopping goods. I was so incredibly tired and was so excited to crawl into bed when I got home. It's still cold and windy and raining. I remember clearly putting the seat warmer on, and turning the heat up. The rest is kind of a blur.
In order for this story to make sense, you have to understand some of the logistics involved. SG's house is on a hill. Her driveway is steep and curves a bit. At the end of the driveway, on either side, are concrete blocks (sorta the height of a parking block) that prevent you from going into what I like to call their moat. So I pull out of their driveway in Drive (since I'm backed into their driveway, I can pull out face first). I really thought I had cleared the blocks and the moat so I started to turn right out of their driveway. Clearly, I overestimated how far down the driveway I was. Instead of clearing the moat, my front tire (on the passenger side) went over the concrete block and I was dangling with that tire over the edge, touching nothing. The car was basically teetering on the concrete block. The car looked like it was going to tip right over into the moat. I jumped out of the car and then ran back up to SGs door to tell her I broke the car.
After calming down a bit, I called Lexus Roadside Assistance. They were so helpful and friendly. They sent out a tow truck at no cost to me to "winch" me out of the moat. They were there within the hour. The tow guy basically said that there was a good chance trying to get the car out would cause damage to the undercarriage because of the concrete block. I had to sign a waiver and then he began his work. Note: before he started working, he outright laughed at me and asked me if I was drunk. He then said that I shouldn't worry about him damaging his car because he's been doing this since he was 16 and he'd never damaged a car. The guy was 24.
The tow guy told SG she should call the Lotawana police since his truck was blocking the majority of the street. Now, this city probably doesn't see a whole lotta action. The one and only police officer on duty actually shows up. Now we have the blazing lights of a tow truck AND a police officer at 2am. People start trying to drive by. Each person's face was priceless as they gawked at my misfortune. If there was a thought cloud above their head, it would probably read something like "OMG. What kind of idiot can't pull out front first out of a driveway." Anyway, the police officer also was laughing at me and asked how this could possibly happen. He then asked for my name, at which point, I begged him not to publish this in the Lake Lotawana news. He promised he wouldn't, but how can I really be sure?
This has already been a really long story so I can't say "To make a long story short". It took about 30 minutes to get the car out and there was minimal damage. I can't say enough how lucky I am to have Sudhir. When I called him panicked, he very patiently told me that I should call roadside assistance. He then told me "I can tell that you're worrying like crazy...don't worry, it's just a car. You didn't get hurt, it's no big deal." I'm not sure how many women are lucky enough to have a man that would say that to them when they drove his dream car head first (completely sober) into a moat.
The end.
5.11.2010
One Whole Month of Starvation.
And it wasn't even that bad, honestly. I mean, it's not the easiest thing I've ever done...but it definitely was easier than I thought it would be. I had my 4th weigh in last night. I was down another 2.6 pounds this past week. That brings the total to 16.5 pounds total...IN FOUR FRIGGIN WEEKS! I hate to keep bringing up how long it took me on Weight Watchers but it's pretty astounding. It took me a little over 6 months to lose that much before. It's a pretty sweet feeling to have lost it in a sixth of the time.
I also had my full body scan to make sure that I'm losing it the right way. They like to make sure that at least 75% of the weight you lost is from body fat, and not from muscle. The weight I lost was 88% body fat. I lost less than a pound and a half of muscle mass. They said all that is great news and much better than expected. Yay, me!
My clothes are starting to look to big for me, I can wear things that have an empire waist without worrying about whether or not people will think I'm pregnant...Overall, I feel good!
I also had my full body scan to make sure that I'm losing it the right way. They like to make sure that at least 75% of the weight you lost is from body fat, and not from muscle. The weight I lost was 88% body fat. I lost less than a pound and a half of muscle mass. They said all that is great news and much better than expected. Yay, me!
My clothes are starting to look to big for me, I can wear things that have an empire waist without worrying about whether or not people will think I'm pregnant...Overall, I feel good!
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