Friday, March 31, 2006

The Comedy of Daylight Savings

This Sunday for the first time in Indiana's history or at least for a very long time, Indiana will participate in Daylight Savings. We will be joining the East coast time, something I am very happy about. Never again will I have to remember if we are on the same time zone as my parents or my high school friends and in the fall it will be nice to have that extra hour of sleep. This whole transistion for me has been no big deal, but let me tell you something, for some people in this state who have never participated before, one would think that the end of the world is on its way. It is pretty comical if you ask me. There have been articles about how there will be more car accidents because people are going to be tired driving into work on Monday...never mind the fact that this time change occurs on Sunday morning, so if people go to bed at their usual time they won't actually lose any sleep. Oh, and the fact that the governor gave the taverns and bars an extension for this weekend to remain open until 4:00 am instead of the usual 3:00 am, so that they do not lose business because the NCAA Final Four is in town. I mean the governor gave an actual repreave over 1 hour, so the state doesn't lose an estimated quarter of a million dollars. This is not the end of the world people. It is simply ONE HOUR, just one measly hour. The rest of the country does it, except Hawaii and Arizona and look the world hasn't come to an end yet, so everyone just sit back relax and wait for fall when you get your hour back. Now I am not writing this to offend anyone and I understand that change is hard for some, but it really will be okay and life in a day or two after you lose that hour will go on as if it had never happened. So enjoy the extra daylight when you get home from work and do something nice for yourself!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Its No Wonder Americans Are Over Weight

Over the past couple of months I have slowly watched my scale creep up as my weight continues to climb. I must have been in denial as I bought larger jeans so that I could breath when I sit down and made all sorts of excuses up, like: "Its the holidays" or "well it is winter, I will lose it all come Spring." RIGHT, what have I been thinking, I should have nipped this problem in the bud several months ago, so the time has come now to do something about it. The sad thing is, I realized today as I was entering the foods I have eaten this week into an online food calculator just how difficult it is to eat healthy, even if you think you are eating healthy. I will get a salad from Arby's and say, "It is a salad...that is healthy" Well, a salad from Arby's has over 500 calories in it. Or say a naked burrito or burrito bol from Qdoba or Chipotle, with no meat or sour cream in it, well you know how many calories are in one of those puppies...if you get chicken the naked burrito is over 730 calories and even without the chicken and no beans, it is over 530 calories. I was shocked to see that I have been eating way over 2500 calories a day for the past couple of weeks, especially when I thought that I was eating healthy foods. After this realization I now can see why so many Americans are overweight or obess, you are led to believe you are doing something good for yourself, but in reality you aren't and the only truly way to eat yourself thin is to cook for yourself, a fact that I am going to have to quickly implement if I am to stay healthy. So for all you out there who eat out and think you are making healthy choices, think again and watch that nutrional information, you could very well be eating far more calories than you ever imagined!

Monday, March 20, 2006

It's Like Living With Rodents Or Some Other Supernatural!

Sometimes I am forced to wonder if our cats are truly cats or something super natural or even part rodent. This past weekend I walked into the laundry room to get something only to find the bag of cat food that was sitting on the floor open. It was a brand new bag so I turned around and asked Tom why he had opened it, since there was already a bag open that needed to be finished. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, "I didn't open it!" At that point I just starting laughing because we both realized that ChaChi had gone in there and chewed it open and had been eating straight out of the bag...it wasn't like he was unfed, his food bowl was sitting next to the bag completely full. I couldn't believe it, but it shouldn't have surprised me. This is the same cat who everyday moves the water tray and water feeder because he likes to drink from the right side, not the left and the very same cat, who has figured out how to open the desk drawer in Tom's office, was able to crawl into the back somehow and drag out an entire bag of rubberbands that he once saw Tom hide in the very back. The day I came home and saw the entire bag sitting in the middle of the living room, was certainly a shock, but I still had to laugh. These cats are certainly determined, when they want something they will find everyway possible to get it. I never would have thought that living with two cats, could be so interesting. I thought they would just lounge around, lay in the sun and take cat naps. I never thought we would have to cat proof our house, but it looks like we do. If nothing else, at least they give us a laugh every now and again!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

SIX DEGREES OF SEPERATION/SMALL WORLD

Well we are back from our short trip to the Bahamas. It was, shall we say fun, but not what I expected. For some reason I though of the Bahamas as a totally beautiful Island, everywhere, not just at the resort we stayed at, but that was not the case. Yes, I understand that they were hit by a huge hurrican a while back, but at the same time portions looked like a third world country, which was a little shocking. But it was fun to say the least, get some rays and just lay around reading, not having a care in the world for 4 days, it was fabulous.
What was surprising, however, was that there on the Beach on Grand Bahama Island, I ran into one of my sorority sister's who I had not seen since I graduated back in 2002. It was so bizarre, we both kind of looked at each other as the recognition dawned on us who we were starring at. It turns out that she works for the Ministry of Tourism for the Bahamas, and had actually hired the company that hired my husband to come to the island. You never want to believe that people really are seperated by only six people in the world, but as more and more time passes and the world becomes smaller, you can't help but wonder is it really true...are there really only six degrees of seperation?

Friday, March 03, 2006

Just Call Me Grace...

So today started out as a normal typical Friday. I got to sleep in a little because I was stopping at SAM's Club on my way into the office to get office stuff and rolled in around 9:15. One of my co-workers went down to help me unload and two full cases of pop came crashing out of the vehicle and starting bouncing around the parking lot. We both just stood there waiting for them to explode. After the dust settled and none exploded we proceeded into the building. Well upon getting off the elevator I pushed the little cart off the elevator and three more cases of pop fell onto the floor and all over, after a little more laughing we proceeded and everything seemed normal. At this point I am feeling a little clumsy for the day, but am thinking the worst is over, well you know me, I have NO good luck. So I pack the cart up and head to the elevator to go upstairs to drop some stuff off. I hear the elevator ding below so I know someone is on it, when the doors open I am expecting it to be a courier or something, but no it is none other than Peyton Manning, oh yes the Indianapolis COLT's quarterback Peyton Manning. Well, there I am standing with my mustard and Parmesan and my cart full of pop, not really knowing what to say since I am in shock. Well, we finally arrive to the third floor and I push the cart off the elevator only to have an entire case of pop fall off the cart unto the floor, yes in front of PEYTON MANNING. I was so embarrassed, but he was really nice and he helped me pick it up and then he asked where Earshot was and he headed in one direction and I in the other. I have never in my entire life been more embarrassed than I was at that moment and to think this was my first brush with fame. Tom asked me why I didn't get an autograph, but come on when you are as graceful as I am the only thing I could think of was, oh man I just dumped pop in front of the Colt's quarterback, where can I hide. So there you have my brush with fame for the week and yes, feel free to call me Grace.