Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 27, 2017 9:17:52 GMT -5
I've been debating all morning and still can't decide. Help.
Backstory: I'm a realtor. My office gets funds every year for a Christmas party from our overarching brokerage. Last year we didn't use it all on Christmas so we're doing office team-building activities like bowling. Not going to these things really isn't an option - more than half of my office is attending and as a newer agent, I need to be there for the goodwill.
So, now we're going on a raft float trip, ending with a BBQ at an exec's home. What I'd typically wear for this is a swimsuit and shorts because I'd expect to get pretty wet - usually there's a little swimming, a little rope swing action, maybe some water guns, but this is for work - do I still wear that? Go with a rapid-dry golf skort and polo over my swimsuit? I'm not uncomfortable in a swimsuit in public (thank goodness) but it does feel a little weird to wear a swimsuit in the presence of people I could have to work with on million-dollar deals. However, it also feels weird to wear a "skirt" and polo to a raft trip. ETA addl detail: it is going to be 102 degrees and blindingly sunny today.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 24, 2017 14:57:44 GMT -5
One big bowl. I *hate* having to maneuver a pan or cookie sheet to get all the sides in my current double-equal scenario. Second choice would be double unequal.
I'd throw a brand new sink away before I'd willingly install another double-equal.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 24, 2017 14:49:57 GMT -5
Disclaimer: I'm a realtor.
Personally, I'd hire a realtor here. Not because you need marketing and photos and all that, but because realtors have E&O insurance and knowledge of the forms and such that are needed, as well as experience completing them and running interference. It would certainly protect you.
If I were doing this as a realtor - where there is a definite buyer, no need to market, and a dual-representation sort of thing, I'd be willing to cut my commission somewhat, which would save you money. If you have a realtor you would have used to sell, I'd ask them about the possibility of cutting their commission in this scenario.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 19, 2017 20:36:39 GMT -5
The statement says that it was completely resected, which is really quite a rarity, so most likely they knew what this was going in. I'm glad he's getting the best possible treatment and I wish him all the happiness in the world and the absolute maximum time he can get with his family.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 18, 2017 15:35:43 GMT -5
Our cat absolutely refused any of the "prescription" diet foods towards the end, so we switched him to Wysong Geriatrx, which is 34% protein and our vet was happy with that.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 18, 2017 11:32:00 GMT -5
Good morning! It's been a while since we've done one of these. What's up with you?
We're in the process of doing a refi on our home (to get rid of PMI among other reasons) and the appraisal is this week. I am panicking trying to get everything clean and ready for a stranger to take photos. (We have at least two rooms right now that look like a hoarder lives here).
We're also mid-process on landscaping. We've changed our landscape plans a bit to include the "grassy" area for the dog and I still can't figure out what to put there. Buffalo grass looks nice, but I really don't want to mow at all and it looks like it might require mowing as per our HOA requirements (hello, 5" lawn maximum). What I really want is a carpet-like plant like moss, but it's just not going to work for the location. Ugh.
And finally, because of the rain we had this winter, we are having a positive plague of black widows. And they're not like Francis (our "pet" BW that lived on our porch last year) in that these ladies are GINORMOUS. OMG, I've seen several where the body was bigger than my thumbnail, and I do not have small thumbnails. I hate to kill them b/c spiders are beneficial and all and I know they're not super aggressive, but I'm worried that when I take the dog out, she's going to get bitten because she brushes up against one or (hork) picks one up from a web somewhere. Also, they're kind of pretty in a scary sort of way, which makes it even harder to spray them (note: never ever squish a spider around here, she might be carrying a billion babies around).
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 18, 2017 10:32:30 GMT -5
They're very common around here and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one; however, I'd want to be sure that the stairs were a) built well and b) strong enough to support one of those stair chairs in the event of a life-changing event or just old age.
I'd also consider adding a dumbwaiter for groceries and stuff if I thought it was needed.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 13, 2017 0:50:53 GMT -5
IME, it depends on your goals for the house sale. If you're going for the best possible price (versus the fastest possible sale), I'd probably paint it. Do it right, with shellac primer first to seal the knots.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 11, 2017 20:22:15 GMT -5
We're *finally* getting around to re-landscaping our yard. So far, we've got holes dug for our fruit trees (although it's too hot to plant them right now) and mulch down. LOL Our original landscape plan didn't call for grass of any kind because we didn't have a dog and we were planning on being a low-water landscape (except the trees for the first few years). However, Missy has kind of changed all that, as she needs a place to potty. So now we're looking at low-maintenance, no-mow grasses or grass alternatives. Regular turf grass requires too much water and artificial grass is too hot for doggie paws and also *barf* at cleaning dog pee and poop off plastic.
SO, recommend your alternatives to turf grass? I'd prefer <4" tall, no-mow, low water, and resilient under regular dog-potty use.
ETA: My USDA Zone is 9b. My Sunset Zone is kind of right on the verge between 9 and 7, but I'm going to stick with 9.
I do the same thing by putting a bowl of vinegar and water (or lemon juice and water) in the microwave for 5 minutes. Carefully remove and wipe off the crud inside. Easy.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 9, 2017 14:01:03 GMT -5
I'm up. Finished a little work (yay!) and now I'm getting ready to shower and get my crap together, as I'm headed up to Tahoe to support a friend in her first Tahoe crossing. The boat is leaving at 1 or 2am because there's a small craft advisory out and so we need to get on the lake and most of the way across before the wind (and subsequently the chop) picks up around 10am. It's going to be a long night, but I'm so excited to be able to help her! (Not 100% excited for 6+ hours in a kayak in possible chop, but I'll make it work, lol)
That is poorly written. First, I take it as completing that entire series four times. So, 150, 50, 50 repeated four times. However, the later paragraph seems to indicate 150x4 on an interval, then two 50s.
As for the times, I think they just typoed on the timing. So, take your calculated 100 time from the last swim and round up to the nearest minute. If that was 2:40, then you are attempting your 150 in 3:00. This is silly. I'd just add a minute regardless. The 50s are on a minute with a minute rest.
This is what happens when non-swimmers write swim workouts.
What is your goal and how many weeks? I'll write you a training plan that is comprehensible.
Lol, I'm glad I'm not just stupid. If you are willing to help I'd be eternally grateful.
It's 6 weeks to a 1k (sprint tri) and then another 6 to the 1500 (oly) In a perfect world I'd be holding a 2:00 pace for each, but that feels like a stretch. Maybe. Do you need additional details?
Ok, so your current pace is a 2:00 100? Does that give you any rest at all or are you dead on at 2:00?
Do you have a time goal for these? How many days/week are you swimming? What is your weakness?
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 4, 2017 12:12:08 GMT -5
We had several on the front porch. They are alright and dried fast, but in a windstorm, they were all over the place and I was always afraid they'd completely blow away. If you do them and you live somewhere that gets wind often, be prepared for that.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jul 4, 2017 11:02:19 GMT -5
That is poorly written. First, I take it as completing that entire series four times. So, 150, 50, 50 repeated four times. However, the later paragraph seems to indicate 150x4 on an interval, then two 50s.
As for the times, I think they just typoed on the timing. So, take your calculated 100 time from the last swim and round up to the nearest minute. If that was 2:40, then you are attempting your 150 in 3:00. This is silly. I'd just add a minute regardless. The 50s are on a minute with a minute rest.
This is what happens when non-swimmers write swim workouts.
What is your goal and how many weeks? I'll write you a training plan that is comprehensible.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jun 30, 2017 15:18:40 GMT -5
Ok, so by now I've had time to process this whole thing and I guess I should write a post about it. First, let me just say that the experience was *stellar* and I will absolutely make the commitment now to do it again next year. Second, if you're not familiar with WS100, it's pretty much the Boston Marathon of ultras. Yes, there are some that are harder or longer or more elite, but there are none quite like the Western States. The runners tackle approximately 17k+ feet of ascending and 22k+ feet of descending overall, starting with a run basically straight up the side of a mountain out at Squaw Valley and finishing with 3/4 of a lap of our local high school track. Finally, keep in mind that this year was what our station captain called "outlying", in that these runners, who started running at o-dark-thirty, had to tackle snow, slush, mud, barely visible trails (through the snow), 100+ degree heat, and literally everything in between. So this was not an as-expected race.
I volunteered at the Rucky Chucky river crossing at mile 78. I was supposed to take the overnight shift - 11pm to 6am. But for whatever reason, I was ready and raring to go at 9:30, so I left to head out there. Rucky Chucky crossing is a point on the American River, way down in the canyon, where the western states trail crosses the river. Normally, it's what's called a cable crossing, meaning that the volunteers stand on the downriver side of the cable, holding it steady, while the life-jacketed runners and their pacers walk/shuffle/swim across the river, making use of the cable for stability. When I got out to Rucky Chucky, after a "most-likely-glad-it's-dark" drive down the side of a mountain on a dirt/gravel road, it was clear that this was a PAR-TAY of an aid station. Music blasting, generators running, multiple food tents, party-lights and floods everywhere. Basically, the runners could come in, find their crews, rest, eat, pee, whatever, take a quick cool-down dunk in the river, and then head out again. I found the aid station captain and was told to wander down to the river for my assignment. So I headed down there. It is basically down a set of rough-hewn granite "stairs" and down a sandy stretch of trail to the actual crossing. Since this was a high-water year (a rarity), the organizers had to hire a rafting company to safely transport runners across the river. There were four boats with experienced river-guide pilots on hand and it was a constant shuffle of boats across the water. I got assigned to the life-jacket removal station on the other side of the river, so it was on with a jacket, into a boat, quickly across the river, back OUT of the jacket, and then I was set.
This was *NOT* an easy thing for the runners, although they loved the boat ride, because the far shore of the crossing is essentially a steep sandy scramble back to the regular trail. So they'd cross, get their jacket taken off, then pull/crawl/shuffle their way up this crazy little sand "dune" and be gone. My job was just to stand in the middle of this crazy steep hill, stop the runners/pacers, take off their life jacket and glow necklace (to help us see them coming) and send them on their way with a few words of encouragement. And that's what I did, all night long, climbing up and down this hill, providing a cheerful "run happy!", a "you've got this", or a "rock on!" to every runner or pacer I came across.
The aid station *EXIT* cutoff at Rucky Chucky is 5am and, like I said, this year was a crazy hard outlyer of a race, so we were very busy from 3am until about 4:30am, when I think a number of the stragglers DNFed themselves. But about 2 minutes to 5am, we were getting ready to tear down when we could see, on the other side of the river, a pair of headlamps appear. They were moving along pretty quickly, so the aid station ramped back up again, cheering and whistling and cowbells and all variety of obnoxious noise - it's a good thing no one lives out there, they'd have wanted to shoot us, lol - and these two tore right through the aid station and kept going into the raft with approximately 6 seconds to spare from missing the cutoff. Full on power-sprint. Once they crossed the river, we caught them and I ended up with the runner. I stopped him to take off his jacket, and as was my habit for any runner since about 2:30 am, I asked how he was feeling while I unclipped it. He pretty much just nodded and flopped forward onto my shoulder. Like, just resting his forehead there - and sobbing. I was like, "are you sure you're ok?" and he nodded again, so I just let him stand there until he eventually stood back up. I said something like "you did this and you can do the next one. Get on it, you've got this" and he was off again with 40 minutes to go 1.8 miles to make the next aid station cutoff. I have no idea who he was or if he made it, but man, that was rough to see. It's stuck with me since and probably for a good long while. I hope he made it and I refuse to believe he didn't. Honestly, I've done a lot of volunteering in the last few years and this is the longest any athlete has stuck with me, mentally.
After that heartstring-tugging experience, that was it. We tore down the unload side of the camp, loaded everything one raft at a time back across the river (including a 10 foot ladder, which was an interesting experience) and then I drove back up the mountain and home to sleep.
Overall/tl;dr: This was an amazing experience. 10/10 will do again. I highly recommend it to anyone considering it. I highly recommend it to anyone NOT considering it. If you want to come visit me next year, we can do it together and I'll put you up at my house and even let you use my shower afterwards (and trust me, you'll need to ... I had sand/grit everywhere).
mrs.jacinthe , I want to hear about your experience at WS100! Did I miss a post about it somewhere??
Also, I need a cold brew in my life right now. Can I order a coldbrew carrying drone or something to make a delivery ASAP?
OH! No, I didn't write about it anywhere. It took me a day or so to really process everything and then it felt almost too late, somehow. I'll get on that now.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jun 30, 2017 14:28:56 GMT -5
We had overnight guests last night and I spent most of yesterday frantically cleaning the house so it would be ready for them to arrive at 6pm. Then they arrived at 2:30pm. I am glad these folks are accepting, because WHOA was I not ready. LOL. I mean, the bathrooms were clean and there were clean sheets on the guest bed, but there was kitty litter everywhere because I hadn't vacuumed yet and I ended up throwing about 60 loads of laundry onto our bed in a panic.
Also, at this exact moment, I'm sitting on the couch, still in my pjs, with a cat on my lap, a cat next to me, and the dog on the floor by my foot. All is right with the world, except that I *really* have to pee and I don't want to disturb this little scene. Sigh.
AND I'll get back in the pool tomorrow! So exciting!
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jun 30, 2017 12:40:45 GMT -5
We are currently HCOL (NorCal, not Bay area), and while I have no intentions of ever moving EVER, I'd probably consider the smaller cities in Colorado (Boulder, Colorado Springs, etc) if I wanted to move somewhere slightly cheaper. I'd also consider Albuquerque or Santa Fe in New Mexico. I would not move back anywhere on the east coast or the midwest for love nor money, because I do *not* do well in high humidity.
Ok, and now I have a legit issue/complaint. I just got off the phone with the hospital that did all my heart testing and diagnostics and stuff.
I owe them almost $6k - *after insurance*. SHIT. I don't have 6k sitting around right now, thanks to starting into real estate and tearing through my backup savings as a result. I'm going to have to get a part time job or something to pay for this crap. And what the HELL would I do if I didn't have insurance or the ability to absorb the payments for a payment plan? Shit shit shit.
On that note, anybody planning on buying or selling a house soon? I know a realtor who could use the commission.
Damn hon, I'm so sorry. I've been through this before with Mr Cupcake and its rage-inducing. Please let us know what we can do to help.
Thanks. It sucks - I may or may not have cried after I hung up the phone with them. Damn, I feel fortunate that I have the ability to buckle down and pay it eventually. I don't know what those less fortunate would do.
I will be ok, though. We sat down last night and came up with a plan to make things work. That said, if anyone is moving (literally anywhere in the world) and doesn't already have a realtor, let me know - I'd be happy to put you into my network as a referral, and it can go into my "Pay UCD my firstborn" fund.
Ok, and now I have a legit issue/complaint. I just got off the phone with the hospital that did all my heart testing and diagnostics and stuff.
I owe them almost $6k - *after insurance*. SHIT. I don't have 6k sitting around right now, thanks to starting into real estate and tearing through my backup savings as a result. I'm going to have to get a part time job or something to pay for this crap. And what the HELL would I do if I didn't have insurance or the ability to absorb the payments for a payment plan? Shit shit shit.
On that note, anybody planning on buying or selling a house soon? I know a realtor who could use the commission.
Health insurance is so ridiculous! Make sure you really look through the bills when you get them. They are notorious for billing errors. Charging for out of network costs even when you don't have the option for in network, etc. Also ask about discounts/payment plans/etc. sorry you have to deal with this!
Oh, I'm on it. I used to work in the medical industry. There wasn't anything there that wasn't billed correctly, but what WAS billed was excruciatingly high. My cardiac MRI *alone* was $10k before insurance.
I called the billing people and apparently they won't discount what you owe after the insurance has been billed, unless you fill out approximately 3.5 tons of paperwork. I have set up a payment plan, but it's really ridiculous. I shouldn't have to make payments on 4 doctor visits and an MRI.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jun 27, 2017 18:14:37 GMT -5
Ok, and now I have a legit issue/complaint. I just got off the phone with the hospital that did all my heart testing and diagnostics and stuff.
I owe them almost $6k - *after insurance*. SHIT. I don't have 6k sitting around right now, thanks to starting into real estate and tearing through my backup savings as a result. I'm going to have to get a part time job or something to pay for this crap. And what the HELL would I do if I didn't have insurance or the ability to absorb the payments for a payment plan? Shit shit shit.
On that note, anybody planning on buying or selling a house soon? I know a realtor who could use the commission.
Post by mrs.jacinthe on Jun 27, 2017 17:57:05 GMT -5
I'm so glad you were seen! Please take care of yourself and try not to google too much before you get the chance to be seen again.
ETA: It sounds like they found evidence on the EKG of a prior heart attack, not a currently active one. If you are concerned or experience any kind of chest tightness or pain, shortness of breath, jaw pain, arm/shoulder pain, back pain, nausea, or lightheadedness, please please please please call 911.