Snow, Biology and a Headache

Yesterday the weather was perfect - 55 degrees, sunny, and just the thing we needed in the middle of January! Unfortunately, the perfect day is now a distant memory. Today, the temperature is 40 degrees colder and the snow flies by on 25 mph winds. What a horrible change.
To top off the yucky day, I have 2 chapters of biology to read. BLECH. Too many terms, too many pages, too many pictures of atoms, molecules and proteins. But, in order to keep up with the rest of my class, I must keep plugging away!
To make this day even better, I woke up with a blinding headache. Usually sleep wards off headaches, but not this morning. I took my caffeine dose, my Advil dose and as soon as I type this, I'll take my nap dose. The day can only get better from here!

I Need Caffeine!

Coffee, iced tea, soda (specifically diet Cherry Coke), hot tea, Excedrin and chocolate. I have a problem: without caffeine, I am worthless. I try to function without it, but fail miserably. Take today for instance - I got over 8 hours of sleep last night and had a relaxing morning of showering, instant oatmeal and only 1 class but - this is the important part - no coffee. By 1:30 p.m. the headache tinglings began. Then the extreme fatigue set in - it is now 2:30 and I am using every ounce of strength to finish this post! I'm not sure what to do. I could go cold-turkey : no caffeine at all. I've done this before and have been mildly successful. It's not as hard as you think to find caffeine-free beverages that taste exactly the same as their caffeine packed counterparts. Here's my specific problem with being caffeine un-dependent: I live with mono consistently. Yes, mononucleosis - "the kissing disease." I've had mono so many times that the doctor diagnosed me with chronic fatigue syndrome. Without caffeine in my system, I have no energy. At least not after lunch. I can function for about six hours after sleeping for ten, but after that, I'm finished. Do I continue my dependence on the most used mood-enhancing drug on the planet so I can get through an entire day awake? Or, do I clean out my system and just make time for a siesta every afternoon so I can make it through till bedtime? (This will be problematic if I ever get a full time job!) These are not rhetorical questions! I need advice! Please comment with opinions, suggestions or convictions on the subject! And, in the spirit of full disclosure, I am heading off to nap for 1/2 hour - I'm not making this up people!

School Days

I need to write a news summary, but have decided to warm up with my blog first - you all won't make me triple check my grammar, right? :) School has begun and I am really excited to be back! (I'm baaaaack!) I am still looking for a job that is flexible enough to be done along with classes, assignments and home life. But, for now, I'm focusing completely on school and starting my new workout regimen. I have to be on campus an hour before my class starts in order to get a parking space (and I have 8 a.m. classes, folks!) So, I've decided to come a tad earlier still and work out at the Rec Center before class. This morning was the trial run. It had snowed 3-4 inches in the night and I had to brush the car off and drive carefully in the snow to school. (Sidenote: I found a great shortcut to school from home! It only takes 8 minutes!) Since I had never been past the office of the Rec Center, I had to wander a bit to get where I wanted to be - then after being all sweaty from the elliptical - had to wander some more to find the towel exchange area. All that wandering made me a little late for class, but the teacher was later than me - it all worked out! Thursdays are my crazy class day - Monday and Wednesdays I have class from 8 to 10:50 a.m. Tuesday's schedule contains one class from 8:30 - 10 a.m. and one class from 7 - 9:45 p.m. Then comes Thursday! Class 1: 8:30 - 10 a.m. / Class 2: 11 a.m. - 1:50 p.m. / Class 3: 4-5:30 p.m. / Class 4: 7 - 8:35 p.m. Whew! Talk about a long day! Then I get to catch my breath on Friday: only 1 class from 10 - 10:50 a.m. If I had it my way, I would take every day like Thursday - I seem to thrive on back-to-back appointments. Crazy, isn't it? If I had a job, then my life would be completely full, just the way I like it. Down time doesn't agree with me.
Eric's wallet situation is back under control - although no word on the thieves. I know the police have better things to do and murders to solve, but I want those people caught! Forgiveness would be best, but is hard for me in this situation. So, back to the books - hopefully my creative juices are flowing enough to write a wonderful news summary. Wish me luck!

Stop Thief!

Monday night, I went to Arby's. Eric had been laying under his Big Brown Ford for about 4 hours and was in desperate need of food. I, being tired and hungry myself, jumped in the car and headed 2 blocks away for Roast Beef and Mozz Sticks. But, funny thing, my debit card was declined. I should have been thinking. Oh - what I wouldn't give for my brain to have been turned on that night! Instead, I pulled out my cash, after saying to the cashier, "Hmmm...that's funny." I knew we had money in our account and hadn't gone over the magical "daily spending limit" but in my hunger-induced brain freeze, I didn't think about it again... that is, not until we couldn't find Eric's wallet Tuesday morning before work.
The statistics are that 1 in 12 people will have their identity compromised every year - let's put it this way - 11 of you are don't have to worry about stolen identity this year! Eric has made your chances much slimmer.
Debit Card Info: Every charge that thieves make on your debit card before you report it stolen still gets charged to your account. Then you have to dispute them all to VISA and may get your money back in 60-90 days. So, don't think that those charges will disappear just because you tell a customer service rep that they are fraudulent.
Those thieves spent $700 of our hard earned money at gas stations and grocery stores. How do you spend $120.00 at a gas station? You would have to fill 4 of your closest friends' gas tanks to spend that much money - or buy really expensive alcohol! These were professionals - they maxed out our daily limit on our debit card and then turned to Eric's work cards. What a pain! So, if you're reading this, do these 3 things:
1. Make copies (front and back) of EVERY card in your wallet. Store in a safe place.
2. If you have a little extra money and no extra time, sign up for an identity insurance plan - they take care of all the calling and fraud reporting.
3. Keep your wallet/purse with you at all times - don't let it sit anywhere out of your sight for even a minute!
I hope and pray this will never happen to ANY of you and that your identities are safe this whole year!

Christmas is Coming Down

I should actually clarify that the "Christmas Decorations" are going to be packed into large Rubbermaid containers and toted back to the basement for another year. My day is starting rather late today. You would think with the seventh night of my sickness, sleep would be getting easier, but no such luck. Yesterday was "Coughing Day" - dry, hacking coughs every 30 seconds - which inevitably led to into "Coughing Night." When I was still up coughing at 2am, action was taken. I threw on my jeans and drove six blocks to the 24-hour Walgreens down the street. Even though I was awake, I wasn't very coherent - it took me a few minutes to find the wonderful Nighttime Robutussin. I also picked up a nice new box of lotion tissues and some daytime cold pills. I downed my dose of medicine at 2:15am and was out by 2:30 (the last time I looked at the clock). When Eric left for work, I took another dose and slept till 11:00. I don't think I've slept that late since my mono days. And even then I usually got up, got dressed and went back to bed. This has been a very hard week! Since I finally got 8 hours of sleep in one night (thanks to the wonderful sleeping aid) I am motivated to start a project before 4pm. The Christmas tree is dry and shedding needles. The decorations are just starting to look cluttered - they looked so nice when I put them up. And there are used tissues in every trashcan that need to be taken away. Germs, germs go away! I think I'll actually open the windows for a few minutes - it's close to 30 degrees today - to freeze them and air out the house! Cold, fresh air sounds wonderful! I'll update the Christmas dismantling later.