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By kilax, March 31, 2016 6:29 am

• Why is health insurance sometimes (too often!) such a back and forth nightmare? I call the doctor to ask what the hell I’m getting billed for, because I didn’t receive an explanation of benefits. They tell me what it’s for, and that insurance didn’t pay. I call my insurance – they didn’t pay because they never got a bill. I call the doctor and tell them to send the bill to my insurance. I had to do that TWICE this week – for my dentist, and my doctor. Grrr. Oh, no problem, I’ll wait ten minutes to talk to the billing department so I can tell them to do their job. Ugh. Wah wah wah.
• Let’s follow that complaint with some good news! I LOVED working with the person who trained me at my job back in 2009, but she quit after I was there for a couple of years to raise her family. Well, she is coming back! She won’t be on my team, BUT! Her first project is with me! I am so STOKED!
• And let’s follow THAT with a cute baby pic! Aww, my nephew James is adorable! The next time I will see him is end of May, yay!

• Some flowers showed up in our yard!

• I am not doing the Fools 5K race this year, but I follow them on Facebook and was surprised to see they moved race day from this Saturday to Sunday due to projected high winds! If I was doing it, I’d be stoked to race on a less windy day, but a few people already said in the comments that Sundays don’t work for them for races. Interesting! Updated to add: here (pdf here) is an article that says more about why they moved it.

• I was talking with a family when I was waiting to get off the train yesterday, and the conversation lead to how people think everyone from Zion is “bad.” And I didn’t even lead it there! At least people aren’t just saying it to me, ha. I’ve had more interesting conversations since I last posted about people’s reactions to me moving to Zion. One guy asked me (after I told him) “You didn’t move to the hood, did you?!” <— insert his face of panic. Um, no. I wonder if this perception will change over the years?

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 92 

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By kilax, March 30, 2016 5:41 am

I am a strong believer that the type of music we were raised listening to has a heavy influence on the type of music we like as adults (it’s been proven!). And I was raised on rock/classic rock! Which means…

… as a kid:

• When me and my siblings would spend the weekend with my mom’s parents and hang out with their friends, they’d tease us for not knowing the lyrics to the country songs they listened to. And I thought something was wrong with us for not knowing. Aww. Ha ha!
• In grade school, when we were supposed to pick a song about love and write it out nicely on piece of paper, I was surprised my classmates weren’t familiar with Van Halen’s “Why Can’t This Be Love.”
• I pretended to know the lyrics to TLC’s “Waterfalls” at middle school sleepovers, and to Beastie Boys songs in high school… but I definetely knew the lyrics to ZZ Top’s “Tube Snake Boogie”!
• We’d listen to a class rock station (in the car and at home), and my parents would call in and try to win prizes (they did win from time to time!). I remember my dad telling us to listen for Van Halen’s “Jump,” because that was the cue to call, and us asking him to play it so we’d know what to listen for… and him blasting it on the speakers at home! (I have lots of good memories of my Dad playing music at home.)

It wasn’t until I started driving that I began listening to current pop/hip hop music. But my rock roots stayed true! As an adult:

• I’ve gone to see Van Halen with my parents.
• I’ve seen Foreigner with Rachel.

• I text my dad anytime “Thunderstruck” comes on my headphones so I can tell him how I reacted to hearing the song, ha!

• I love listening to rock music and playing it in my classes!

But it’s not the only genre I like. I do still listen to pop (it doesn’t make me crazy yet) and love most 80s music, and am in to EDM (electronic dance music).

What music were you raised on?

Comments (8)

By kilax, March 29, 2016 6:12 am

October and April seem to be my most birthday and anniversary heavy months – every week has multiple friend or family member’s special days – and some of them fall on the same day!

This usually makes me feel overwhelmed, but somehow, I’ve managed to plan ahead for April and already have a lot of gifts at home, or, ordered (or reminders in my calendar to pick up, ha)! Woot woot!

I especially enjoy shopping for Luca (who turns five in April!)!

Although, all this planning ahead has made me realize that a few of the friends who have birthdays in April are people I talked to about doing something together for Christmas instead of exchanging gifts… and we still haven’t done anything. Or even planned it.

Blah. I suck.

Well… as long as we plan that special date and do it before next Christmas, it counts, right?

Ha.

I know that no one is holding it against me that I haven’t planned things. I’ve been trying to keep as much free time on my schedule as possible for house stuff, teaching, and (yeah…) running… and I feel bad booking my calendar up! But it’s probably okay to set up a few things here and there… right?!

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By kilax, March 28, 2016 12:47 pm

I wonder what’s going on in the movie theater industry. I was (pleasantly) surprised when Marcus Theaters started having $5 Tuesdays* – where you can see any movie for $5 and popcorn is free and snack prices are reduced. Steven and I appreciated it – we enjoy going to the movies but couldn’t justify the high cost of tickets. $5 sounds good to us!

Of course, then Tuesdays became a mad house at the theater (which is probably what they wanted), so we stopped going as much because the crowds stressed me out. Until Regal Cinemas started the same offer**… so we went there… until word got out about that theater and it was too crowded. Ha ha.

So we haven’t been going as much. If we do, we try to go after the movie we want to see has been out awhile, so it’s not as crowded. Or, go any day, and pay full price for something we really want to see, like Star Wars. That’s rare for us though.

Or, go when we have giftcards, which is what we did last night!

So we were waiting in line and heard the cashier tell the person in front of us to select the seats on the keypad. Steven asked me what theater that was for. “It must be for the new, big theater that they just renovated,” I said. “They must have added those nice seats!”

Nope, I was wrong. We were asked the same question. Apparently, they’ve renovated almost ALL the theaters to have the nice, plush, recliner seats.

Which was an awesome surprise!

But man, they must fit a third (or less?) of the amount of people they could fit in there before? So how is that going to increase revenue? Unless they plan to jack all ticket prices up, except on Tuesdays?

Me so confused.

But I was really comfy during the movie.

(Unfortunately, as you can imagine, nice seats don’t prevent people from playing on their phone during movies and making phone calls… sigh. But it does prevent them from kicking the back of your chair!)

*The theater had previously been doing select movies on Wednesdays and Thursdays for $5 admission.
**Plus some other deals, like cheaper drinks and snacks on other days, and so on.

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By kilax, March 27, 2016 2:18 pm

Highlight of the Week: Workouts with bloggers!

Monday | March 21, 2016: 5.2 m run (4.6 w/xaarlin) + teaching strength class
Loc: Lakefront Trail to Northerly Island, Temp: 28°, Time: 44:57, Pace: 8:39 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good… minus needing to use the bathroom!
Strength: one dumbbell and body strength circuit, Difficulty: easy (mostly observing), Felt: good
Tuesday | March 22, 2016: 10 m ride + 10 mins strength + 5 m run
Indoor Ride Time: 40:25, Pace: 14.9 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good to do something before catching the train
Loc: Chicago Lakefront Trail, Temp: 61°/61°, Time: 38:47, Pace: 7:45 avg, Difficulty: medium, Felt: good
Wednesday | March 23, 2016: teaching strength class
Strength: one dumbbell circuit and dice game, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Thursday | March 24, 2016: 15 m ride
Indoor Ride Time: 58:33, Pace: 15.4 mph avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Friday | March 25, 2016: teaching strength class + 6 m run (incl. 3x1m)
Strength: kettlebell + boxing, Difficulty: easy, Felt: decent, but rundown (sore throat)
Loc: hood, Temp: 32°/34°, Time: 50:22, Pace: 8:23, Difficulty: hard, Felt: decent, but challenged
Saturday | March 26, 2016: teaching fitness boxing + 2.5 m run (w/Anne & Emily)
Strength: boxing and body weight, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Loc: Grayslake, Temp: 43°/43°, Time: 32:16, Pace: 12:54 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good
Sunday | March 27, 2016: 11.5 m run (incl. 10×1:00)
Loc: DPRT/Kilbourne Loop, Temp: 46°/51°, Time: 1:43:14, Pace: 8:58 avg, Difficulty: easy, Felt: good, but congested lungs

Notes:

• Blah! A sore throat/cold sidelined me and I ended up with an unintentional cutback week. Eh, I am sure my legs will appreciate it! I’m feeling frustrated though – this is the third cold I’ve had this season. I usually have one or none. I wonder what’s up. It could be a few things – not taking care of myself, running on E, something in the house, being in the office more, or spending some days last week with someone who brought a strain of a cold from DC. Whatever caused it… I hope it goes away soon.
• I had a pretty social (for me) workout week! I taught four classes, I ran with xaarlin on Monday, and with Anne and Emily (who came up from the city to take my fitness boxing class) on Saturday! Fun!

Link to Training Week 335

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By kilax, March 26, 2016 6:08 am

When we were putting things away in the storage room, I came across my box of one, two and three size too big work pants and jeans and said “Forget it! I am getting rid of these!”

So I did!

And hopefully, I don’t regret it.

Especially with all those peanut butter cups in the house!

(I still need to go through packed up things that still fit and see if there’s anything else to get rid of – I imagine there will be. I think there may be another box or two of things that are too big, as well, that I can donate.)

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By kilax, March 25, 2016 4:17 am

What’s the general consensus on group texts (you know, the text you get that happens to include many other people – and sometimes phone numbers you don’t recognize – then blows up your phone as those many people respond)? Yay or nay?

Only acceptable when sharing cute human or fur children pictures?

Only acceptable when everyone in the group knows everyone else?

Only acceptable for emergencies (in which case a phone call would have been better but wasn’t possible)?

Only acceptable for forming plans with large groups?

Only acceptable for continuing inside jokes?

Acceptable all the time?!

Hmm.

I admit, sometimes I like them and sometimes I don’t. And I am MAJORLY guilty of using one for a long time now.

I mentioned in December that I was doing a bad job keeping people updated on house stuff. So I started a group text to update everyone anytime we had news.

“The septic was finally fixed!”

“We think we’ll close in two weeks!”

“Nevermind.”

Ha ha.

I updated everyone throughout the move then asked if anyone wanted to be dropped off the conversation or if they wanted to keep getting house updates – because there is still stuff going on every day (as you’ve seen here).

Everyone stayed on! Ha ha.

And I’ve found the group text is a nice place for me to find house photos on my phone. I upload photos (and delete them off my phone) most days, so I can’t access them in my photos folder. I have a folder on Google Drive for storing photos (which I can get to by my phone), but sometimes it’s easier to find one in the group text (if I don’t want to show my blog to someone). Anyway.

So I enjoy the group text… but I still feel like I’m being annoying!

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By kilax, March 24, 2016 6:23 am

• Storage room update! Someone worked very hard on putting in conduit, replacing the light, and adding outlets (not all shown below)! A lot of our boxes are in there, and now there is much more free space in the rest of the basement. We still need to adjust the shelf heights – and get the rest of our stuff from the warehouse. We’re getting there!

• I read a lot of blogs, and often read the comments, and usually, all the commenters agree with the author or encourage whatever the author is doing. It’s true that we’re more likely to read blogs we relate to and comment when we relate (I am not trying to encourage trolling!!!), but please, please, don’t always agree with the author or encourage them when it seems like they are doing something unhealthy or harmful to themselves. It’s okay to ask if they’ve considering something else or if they are sure that’s a good decision. I try to… until I give up and stop reading the blog because of the repetitive bad decision and then “why did this happen?” cycle. Horrible, I know. And of course, please leave those types of comments here.
• Two years ago I wrote about a Runner’s World article about uncertainty speed workouts – not knowing what your speedwork would be until you were doing it, and how that uncertainty helps you mentally train for the uncertainties of race day. I thought it was a good idea, and still do. From time to time, I just go out and do whatever speedwork comes to mind. Well, Runner’s World is repetitive if nothing else, and they had a similar article with fresh ideas a few issues ago. I was waiting forever for it to come online to share with you – here it finally is (pdf here)!
• Ahh, I miss these days, and knew I would when I wrote that post. We’ve been go go go since the move and I am T-I-R-E-D. Which I also knew I would be. I look forward to when contractors aren’t coming in and out of the house most days. And I am looking forward to some visits with family and friends that will slow things down. And someday, a nice long nap! (I am very grateful we can have work done on our house and that we live in this home, period, I am just tired and in need of a recharge).
• I was in work training the first three days of the week, and I got to take the class with one of the first coworkers I ever worked with! She moved on to a different division soon after I started but we really clicked, and sitting next to her, well, may not have been the best idea in class. Ha ha. But it made it fun. I love how she laughs at ALL my stupid jokes. I tell a lot of them, guys. They don’t all deserve to be laughed at. I am not even sure 50% do. But it sure feels good when I make people laugh.

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 91

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By kilax, March 23, 2016 6:49 am

The Brussels attacks yesterday made me go in to a state of numb shock. Seeing a heavy police force in the train station in the morning made my stomach turn. While people around me were discussing what happened, I couldn’t get my head past the state of “why?” Why, why, why?

We all react different to everything. Especially acts as horrific as these. And that’s okay.

But what is not okay with me? Treating news like this like gossip. I heavily remember this bothering me after the Boston Marathon bombing – the way people discussed the event, all excited, waiting for the next bit of information. It made me go in to isolation for a bit. I couldn’t deal with it.

Part of the problem is the way the news portrays things – everything is sensational*! They seem to want you to get all jacked up and emotional. I can see why people do!

But I wish people would think before they speak about these things. Consider their tone. Remember to have some respect for the situation, and especially, respect for the people there and the lives taken.

Maybe I am just being overly sensitive, as I feel overly helpless.

*I never saw the effect of this more clearly than when I was with a young kid and we happened to walk by a TV sharing a story about a loose snake in Florida and all of a sudden they were worried snakes were going to be outside. We walked by that TV for a few seconds!

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By kilax, March 22, 2016 6:12 am

Like when Target stops selling your favorite vegan peanut butter cups… you naturally buy 100 of them…

Because asking the store to start carrying them again would be much too difficult!

And hey, since I am paying for shipping, why not get these, too?!

Someone please check in with me in a few weeks and make sure I haven’t already eaten all of these!!!

(I have a piece of chocolate – either one of these or a Ghirardelli square – after lunch each day, and sometimes (often) after dinner. For a few months I didn’t have any of these peanut butter cups because Target seemed to stop carrying them, and I didn’t want to place the order until we moved to the new house and were a bit settled. Long story long, I was CRAVING these. I love plain dark chocolate, but I need my chocolate and peanut butter fix* from time to time (and peanuts and chocolate chips weren’t cutting it!).)

*This reminds me of the summer I lived in Rome and traveled to London to visit a friend doing a summer internship there. We were talking about the things we couldn’t wait to eat when we got back to the states, and I told him the first thing I wanted was a Reese’s peanut butter cup. Then asked him if he thought that sounded good… completely forgetting about his severe peanut allergy. Oops. Ha ha. That was not the thing he was looking forward to eating!