Monkeys Monkeys Everywhere!

In Florida. Yesterday, Jason and I went to the Monkey Jungle. FYI, squirrel monkeys are crazy.



More later.

Unmotivated and It Feels So Good

Jason and I are going on vacation on Saturday and I cannot focus today. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing real work and will be more on the ball. Today I'm sort of taking notes and searching documents for my memo, but I'm also reading emails and message boards and making tentative plans in my head and imagining myself laying on the beach, which is MUCH more fun.

I was hoping to have the memo done before I left, but that's really not going to happen. I finished what I thought was going to be the main portion, but as I've started researching the other aspects of the case, I've realized that the rest of it is probably going to be just as substantial. There's no deadline, but to show the attorneys that I haven't been completely wasting my days away, I'm going to send them my 18-page draft with an email explaining what all I still plan to do.

Have I told you about this memo? Most of the other people doing memos have very discreet topics, but my topic covers the entire accounting policy department in the company. Which is basically everything the case is about. We have several research documents we've been using for reference, and I kind of just want my memo to say See _________ Reports. The end.

But, no, they actually want me to write. I have a feeling it will probably wind up being at least 40 pages, whereas everyone else's have ranged from 12-23 pages.

So anyway, back to the beach.

We're heading South to stay with some of my family for a week and wile away our days on the beach and do touristy stuff in the sun. I'm so excited and not feeling the whole work thing today.

Plus, has anyone else noticed how interminable March can be? I'm ok with February - it's supposed to still be cold. But March does this taunting thing where it's 65 one day and three days later there's a nor'easter and a foot of snow on the ground. How is that fair? I have been consistently underdressed for the past few days, stubbornly willing the temperature to be higher and the wind to blow less.

On the plus side, I'm treating myself to a manicure and pedicure this afternoon so I can wear my sandals proudly.

And on the doubleplus side, I lost 4.1 inches this week. How is that even possible?

My Arm...

...is working again. Hurrah!

I swam 80 laps last night doped up on a couple of Advil.* While my elbow was doing a little bit of a popping thing (which it's done before. Probably a precursor to its recent shenanigans), there was no pain.

I bought this nifty ice pack yesterday that just fits the contours of my elbow region and straps on with velcro. After my swim and shower, my arm was a little stiff so I iced it. I feel like an athlete with my sports injury. Hardcore. That's me.

Taking a break from the pool tonight, but I'l be back tomorrow. Awwww, yeah.


*Based on my personal prior consumption of Advil, I'm going to wager that if there was any major pain, 400 mg of Advil would not have cut it that much.

Happy Spring!

And the cardinal in the tree on the corner who was singing to me as I walked to work says, "Happy Spring!" too.

Soundtrack

Have you ever wondered if your life was a movie what the soundtrack would be like?

This is officially my new favorite game. Some of the songs are eerily appropriate, while Bodyrock by Moby for a funeral - probably not so much. Although I have always liked the idea of the New Orleans funeral with the jazz band playing some fun music, 'cause, you know, let's celebrate the person, and really funerals can be kind of fun as you get to see family you haven't seen in ages. Maybe Moby is the modern equivalent of that.

Or, if you want to be macabre: "We rock the body, rock the body."

I think it's safe to say that I like the Pixies.

Here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool.

Opening credits: Allison - Pixies (that gets my soundtrack off to a rockin' start)

Waking up: True Faith - New Order (meh)

First Day at School: Material Girl - Madonna (hee hee)

Falling in love: The Look - Roxette (And I go "La la la la la" She's got the look!)

Fight Song: Have You Got It In You - Imogen Heap

Breaking Up: Heart of Stone - Erasure (wow, it's like they know my ex)

Prom: Happy Jack - The Who

Life's OK: Daylight Robbery - Imogen Heap

Mental Breakdown: Overkill - Colin Hay (so true)

Driving: River Euphrates - Pixies (when I first learned to drive, the Pixies were in constant rotation)

Inner Smile: Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes (totally)

Flashback: Just A Little While - Janet Jackson (apparently it's a dirty flashback...)

Getting Back Together: Fighting for My Love - Nil Lara (I swear I am not making this up)

Wedding: Blue Orchid - The White Stripes

Birth of a Child: Gigantic - Pixies (... hahahahahaha)

Final Battle: Sky Fits Heaven - Madonna (I think my final battle would be more of an inner, personal struggle: Traveling down this road, watching the signs as I go. Think I'll follow the sun. Isn't everyone just traveling down their own road, watching the signs as they go? Think I'll follow my heart. It's a very good place to start)

Death Scene: The Navajo Knows - Pixies

Funeral : Bodyrock - Moby

Everyone should play this game right now.

We Can Talk About the Weather, Making Plans Together

So, like, there's a blizzard going on outside. And on the one hand I think it's perfectly fair since we haven't really had much of a winter at all and overall I like snow and I can be a trooper.

On the other hand, I'm a little bit in shock since it was 60 just a couple of days ago. I just went out to get lunch, fighting the wind and blowing snow the whole way, and I can attest to the fact that I am not the only shell-shocked Bostonian. I saw many other people, woefully underdressed, walking around with expressions of, "What the...?" I guess they didn't want to believe the weather people either.*

And way to mess up my Friday night plans, weather!


*Well, and who can blame them. The weather people have been really, REALLY wrong all winter long.

So Proud of Myself

I know it's dark, but I think you can plainly see that I am the Queen of the Parallel Parkers.

Bow down to your Queen.

Can You Figure Out What's Wrong With My Arm?

I'm double posting on this site and my weight loss blog because I'm hoping maybe someone will have an idea as to what is going on with my arm. Last Wednesday I went swimming, all primed to do my 90 laps, and about 3 laps in, my left arm started really hurting in the muscle right above my elbow. At first it was a stabbing pain starting when my stroke reached my hip and I pulled my arm out of the water to finish the stroke. I had to stop after the 4th lap because it went from a stabbing pain to feeling like the entire muscle was knotted up. I had been swimming Monday and Tuesday nights with no issues. On Wednesday, it only hurt as I was completing my stroke.

One of my roommates diagnosed a knot in my muscle and she massaged my arm a little bit to try to work it out. Thursday, my arm was a little sore from the workout the night before, but I had no pain for the rest of the weekend.

Last night I went to the pool again. A few laps in, I could feel the muscle starting to hurt again, but I kept going. Eventually, I think the endorphins took over because it seemed to get better, but I don't think it actually did because after my workout, the muscle hurt when I tried to lift something in the locker room. I did 90 laps last night (64 swimming, 26 kicking) and my arm is still sore today. I put some Tiger Balm on last night after my workout, and that seemed to help a bit. I was going to go swimming tonight, but now I'm thinking I should just walk home from work for exercise.

I've been doing research online this morning, and I can't figure out what's wrong. There are two distinct arm injuries common to swimmers, and I don't seem to have either of them. Swimmers Shoulder is caused by overuse and poor technique, as well as by breathing on one side exclusively. The pain is in the shoulder and radiates to the clavicle. While I do breathe exclusively on my right side (I need to work on that), the pain isn't in my shoulder. I've also been told I have good technique so I don't think my technique is straining my arm too much.

The other possibility is Swimmers Elbow (like tennis elbow), which is caused by overuse. However, from what I can tell on the sites, the pain of that is mostly in the lower arm and affects the ability to grip things. That isn't my problem either.

The pain I'm having is in the exterior muscle of the upper arm, down near my elbow. It only hurts when I swim, although it's sore today because of my workout last night.

I've never had this issue before and I've been swimming for years. When I started back several weeks ago, I progressed slowly through 40, then 50, 60, 70, 80 and now 90 laps per workout session. I used to swim 120 laps at times and was hoping to get back up to that. This is just really frustrating.

Mmmmm...

It's kind of like the people at Cadbury woke up one morning and asked each other, "How can we make Kelly's Easter the best EVER?"

I'm having a hard time finding anyone else who loves the Cadbury mini eggs as much as I do. They were always a staple in my Easter basket. I don't know what kind of sad and deprived childhoods you all had.

The fact that they're now in dark chocolate makes this A Very Special Easter.

Weight

So I have a whole blog dedicated to this weight loss thing, but I'm really excited about my results as of last night so I thought I would share. In the past 5 weeks I've lost 5.2 pounds, BUT the really magic number is the inches I've lost: 5.8. Almost 6 inches in 5 weeks! Actually the first couple of weeks are usually pretty slow, but just this last week I've lost 2.5 inches. Wow.

Could It Be...?

I saw a robin this morning. A plump, still ready for winter weather robin, but a robin nonetheless.

Spring is coming.