It's almost Samhain, or for the rest of you ... Halloween!

So KoM has been after me for the last few days to post - he's taking this "I'm posting every week and so should everyone else" to new levels. But true, it is time for a posting to update the world. Where to begin?

Well the reason for the delay has been that I've booked myself in to see a personal trainer 3 days a week. I thought I needed the jumpstart to shed some dress size(s) before the inaugural trip to Honduras --- 7 weeks as of this FRIDAY!! --- and it seems to be working. Already down 1 dress size, striving for at least one more before I go. I would please me to buy a whole new wardrobe for the spring, although it would be better if I could con the money out of someone other than myself. Aside from a personal trainer 3 times a week, I'm also at the gym other days doing classes or simply cardio; I've decided to slow down this week, since I've gotten shoved to nights again while our most recent hire in appliances quits. More about that later.

Still on the workout level -- it's funny how you never realize how strong your body can be, until you push it into something. KoM, take my advice, you may not like the gym atmosphere, but if you can stick to it, I think you really might like the results. Actually, the results are starting to annoy me -- pants I just bought like, 2 weeks ago, are already starting to sag. Grrr, I have to buy MORE pants?? Damn. I'm guessing that if I'm shedding sizes this quickly just by the exercise, I could *really* shrink if I started following the precise nutritional plan issued by said personal trainer. The biggest issue I'm finding with that is that each meal takes soooo long to prepare - I get home from work, and the last thing I want to do is spend an hour and a half cooking something I don't even know will taste good. It's a gamble - some recipies from the book I've tried and they were ok (chicken marsala, for instance), and some were just... (the marsala part, I think the wine was funny). But since the plan's seems mostly designed for people who were eating pizza and nachos every night, I'm not too worried about it. Just by my normal eating habits, I've already been following it pretty well.



Oww, that's hot. And we're not talking Paris Hilton. Anyways, back to another facet ... I do have a slightly funny (well, it wasn't at the time) HD story to share. I had a customer who's bought over $5,000 in flooring installs come in on Saturday, to ask why the hardwood being installed on Monday wasn't in her house already. For those of you who don't know, hardwood flooring has to be in the house pretty well 4-5 days before it's installed -- it needs to acclimatize to the house's humidity, so it doesn't crack when it's installed. Her install is in 2 days, and she just happens to come in. As soon as I realize this, and I discover I can't reach the guy who's installing it to point out a few well chosen four-letter words, I'm quietly losing my mind. After about an hour, it ends up that we commandeer the truck of one of the associates, load up the 52 cases of hardwood flooring (frick, those were heavy!), and send him along with a Department supervisor and one of our Assistant Store Managers to deliver the hardwood to this lady's house. She's thrilled, we're exhausted, but it was my friday and she didn't leave screaming and yelling - a big point in my book. Turns out I go into work Monday to get a call from said installer --- yes, the hardwood was only being *delivered* Monday, and installed later on in the week. I managed to refrain from screaming, but only because there were customers around. All that stress and work could've been avoided, if said installer had just turned on his frickin' cell phone. But anyways ....

Oh yes, the appliance girl. Well, we must seem like a hard bunch of people to break into as a new associate, with us having gone through training and everything together, but we did (briefly) have a new girl working in Appliances. This, of course, thrilled me, because it meant I could stop working there and concentrate solely on Installs (rather necessary, since I'm in charge of all installations in Millwork [doors/windows/etc] and Decor [anything with window treatments]). But, I have just been informed that she's quitting for a better job in Red Deer, as of this Saturday. So, back kicking and screaming, go I to Appliances, every moment hoping they'll hire someone to replace her as soon as freakin' possible. I've decided that, if I can get away with it, I'm foisting the Kitchens associates into working Appliances, so I can be working in Installs -- if they need me, they can call me and I'll come out, but I won't be wandering uselessly on the floor for several hours. It has worked in the past.

Oh yeah, and I did some fun stuff to my room. No KoM, not fun stuff like cleaning - only you would call that fun. But I bought some of those wire cube things. You know, with a little cardboard support at the bottom, they make really nice bookshelves, and you can move them around/build them differently when the mood strikes you... as it did last weekend. I moved them around, and now I have room for a little desk with my couch. Sure makes it easier to write....

So it's time to wrap up. I hope you all read carefully, cause there may be a quiz next issue. Keep watching .... and someone tell me if "The Prestige" is worth seeing. I'd go just to see Jackman and Bale alone, but I'm hoping the story is decent as well. Going to see "The Illusionist" tonight - Woot!