Almost Doesn't Cut It

This shouldn't take long.  I started cleaning my living room(he furniture movie kind of cleaning).  I think it has been about 3 years since I last cleaned my living room.  There was so much dust that I started getting an allergic reaction....And I only got to 1/3 of the living room.  I had to wash down the baseboards.  I washed then waxed the 1/3 of the living room floor.  I used twisty ties to organize the various computer cords.   The layout of the living room will stay basically the same, but I did relocate the lights.  Hopefully I'll be in a cleaning mood tomorrow.  I will need to do the other half of the living room.  I also need to wash my blankets (yep, they are still out).  I've just been moving my blankets from room to room.   Once I finish with the living room, the hallway will be the last area to clean.  After I clean the bathtub, my apartment will be officially clean...for the moment.  If I follow through with the above plan, it will be the first time in years that my whole apartment will be clean at the same time.  I will also try to put my exercise bike together as well as unpack that printer I bought way back in April of 2008(and never opened).

I almost forgot.  I play the Mega Millions Lotto.  Below are two sets of numbers.  The one on top are the numbers I had, the numbers on the bottom were the winning numbers.  If the numbers I had were the correct numbers, I would have won $10,000.


My Numbers - 03, 14, 28, 44, 48...34
The Winnings- 04, 13, 29, 20, 48...36

I made it to the weekend

I made it to another weekend. Bone tired, but I'm happy. I'm still dealing with the stress of work, and most of the stress is of my own creation. I had a whole week off, but I wasted it sleeping it away. My goal was to get organized, but I didn't doing anything other than sleep. I think I went out only two or three times and it was only to go shopping. When I returned to school, I started off on the wrong foot. On Sunday, I stayed up until about 2AM watching the Oscars and shaving my head. I got about 4 hours of sleep per night almost every night (except Wednesday and Thursday night). By Friday, I was too tired to stay late in school. Actually, that turned out to be a good thing. Usually, I tell myself that I'm staying late on Friday to get organized, but I usually don't accomplish very much. Yesterday, I was out of the building at 5PM. It felt good to be home. It felt even better when I looked at the clock (about 8PM) and realized that any other Friday in the past, I would just be heading home.

Today (Saturday), I didn't get out of bed until about 11:30AM. I have to go to the post office to pick up my Amazon.com delivery. Then, I plan to return home. This weekend will be just relaxing and recovering. Hopefully, to be fresh and ready to break this crazy sleep cycle I've created for myself.

Next week, the students in New York State will be taking the Math Exams. I also want to make a change in my routines, but since I've been saying that for years (time really does seem to fly) I won't mention it here. Problem, the monthly faculty meeting is on Monday until 4PM. I will also need to get my classroom ready for the State Math Test (removing teaching information from the walls, sharpening pencils etc...). If I don't let stress (in one form or another) get to me, I will be out of the building at 4:30PM or 5PM (at the latest).


Post Date - Saturday, February 28, 2009 1:06 PM

Boxing Plans

Another lazy day. Not much to write about. However, I did receive a phone call from the gym in uptown Manhattan(the one I visited July 8th after day 2 of jury duty). It was the owner who had made the call. She wanted to know if I had found another gym. She also mentioned a few other things:

* She mentioned how there is no real competition, but wanted me to know that if I wasn't happy with my new choice, I could always come to her.
* She mentioned how her place isn't about prices (still won't tell me how much it would cost to take lessons).
* She mentioned about how her gym focuses on the needs of individual clients.
* She mentioned her boxing experiences, and physical fitness interests.
* She mentioned the senior program for adults over the age 55.

It was about a 10 minute call. Even though I did not get the information I wanted, I have to be honest, I did like her sales pitch.

I went to visit my foster father. And being a bit depressed that I had not done any thing productive these last few days, I ordered a take out dinner from the local soul food restaurant owned by Koreans (including a large piece of carrot cake with frosting).

When I got home, I was feeling a bit guilty for buying the greasy heart attack on a plate, so I decided to call another gym with a boxing program that I had Googled at the same time I found the uptown gym. At first, I wanted a gym that was close to home -- telling myself that I would be more likely to go if the gym was closer to home. But lately, I've been thinking that another reason is my "homebody" mentality. I mostly stay home, and I am a bit of a waiter. I have a bit of a habit of waiting for opportunities to (almost literally) knock on my door. If opportunity doesn't knock, then I will usually just stay home. I guess you probably figured that out from this blog. What have I been doing since my vacation started? Eating and sleeping it away. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked.

I decided to take a different approach. I thought about going to a gym that was not "on my way". I managed to find a gym that has boxing lessons downtown. The cost -- they actually posted their prices. The cost (per month) would be $230 for private lessons and $135 for group lessons. At first, I was thinking that there was no way I would be paying for private lessons, but now I'm not sure. Considering I wasted almost half of my summer doing nothing in the way of exercising. Now I'm thinking about using some of my tax refund to splurge on myself by signing up for a one month of private lessons to get me started, and then continue with group lessons after that. My tax refund (and fed stimulus check) are both still laying on my radio. A part of me knows that as soon as I deposit them, somehow or someway, they will evaporate. Sorry, sidetracked again.

Well, that is the plan now. As you regular blog readers know by now, I am Mr. Planner. I'm a good planner, but a poor follow througher. Hopefully, this time will be different. In a couple of months, I will be reaching the big 4-0. I would like a new me -- I'll even settle for an almost new me.

Well, it is late. I'll "keep you posted". Pun intended.

Post Date - Sunday, August 17, 2008 11:12AM
Completion Date - Friday, July 25, 2008 12:06PM

Slow start to the day, but I did make an attempt.

The Plan
To pay my rent and other bills. Go to buy my gym membership. Buy an air conditioner. And buy some towels and shower sandals for the gym.

My Day.
Breakfast (cold cereal). Chatting online. Shower and a nap. I finally got out about 1:30pm. I went to the rent office to drop off my rent check. I took the Metro-North to Yonkers. I debated (with myself) what type of Metro-North ticket to get (Monthly or weekly), I settled for a weekly. In Yonkers, I stopped at the bank, and discovered that I did not receive my salary at the end of June. Since I have direct deposit, I will be paid on the regular payment schedule (twice monthly). This last minute realization, put a bit of a crimp in my plans. I had just paid my rent, and sent off my other bills. I am now busted until next payday. I suppose I should be happy, that I did not get a lump sum payment. I went to the Y with the plan to get a monthly membership, but reading the fine print, signing up for a month by month payment required a 1 year commitment. With a credit card, the signing would have authorized the Y to collect the full year payment without written notification. I just told myself that I would wait until payday and pay the full amount. Since I bought my new computer on my credit card, I don't need anymore debit. After leaving the Y, I went shopping at the supermarket. I bought a gallon of milk, 2 half-gallons of orange juice, newspaper, chicken, ground turkey meat, etc... Since I was planning to buy an air conditioner, I had my luggage hand truck to wheel the aircon home. And, since I did not get the aircon, I had to carry my groceries and drag the hand truck with me.

My plan now is to use my rowing machine until the end of July, I will buy and start my gym membership in August. I will try doing a double workout this month. That means about 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the evening on my rowing machine. However, I will start off with 30 minute sessions, and gradually build to 45 minutes.

Oh, I almost forgot. I made a doctor's appointment today. The doctor was booked until August 17th. With the doctor's okay, I want to join the boxing program. I basically a marshmallow that wants to toughen up a bit.

For dinner, I had leftover spaghetti with gound turkey meat sauce. And I watched TV. Hopefully, I will be able to start rowing again tomorrow morning.

Oh, and I was thinking about going to the "BODIES" exhibition at the South Street Seaport. Also, I thinking about making Friday, my movie day, first up "Fantastic Four". We'll see.

Post Date - Thursday, July 5, 2007 11:02pm

Another lazy day. I did not do anything that I had plan to do for the last several days.

My day started with an online purchase of a new computer. I wanted a desktop. I got tired of typing over a hot laptop. Since I don't take my laptop with me, I did not see a reason to not have a desktop. I decided to buy the Dell Dimension C521 Desktop. I've seen the ad several times over the months in the Sunday paper, and I wanted to apply for the 10% teacher's discount. The desktop turned out to be harder to purchase than I thought it would be. Although the ad was for desktop PC, the order had each piece and part listed almost seperately. I had only a vague idea what those parts and pieces meant. In the end, the cost was about $738 without any extras like Microsoft Word. Dell wanted to charge $149 for Microsoft Office, but Amazon.com had it for about $112. I saved a few dollars for software, but since I did not get the 10% discount, I think it evened out in the end. My computer will either ship or arrive on July 12th. Hopefully, my computer will arrive before my computer class starts.

I also did some searching for local adventures that aren't too expensive....cheap! Some ideas that came up:

* Niagra Falls (Youth Hostel cost only about $20 per night)
* Canada
* Six Flags Great Adventure ($59 - not including a flash pass)
* Statue of Liberty
* Empire State Building
* Summer BlockBuster Movies like Spiderman (I like to go when there are not big crowds.)
The rest of the summer I plan to go to museums, zoos, and parks. If I go during the workweek, then I can avoid crowds. I'm not really a crowd person. I was also thinking about buying a Playstation 2, but I thought that I should be trying to get out of my apartment, not finding reasons to stay in.

And, I can't forget, I also have my "classes" to attend to, and (hopefully) a gym routine to start.

Also, I finally cut my hair. After the cut, I relaxed in the bath for about 2 hours. Now, I won't have any excuses for going out tomorrow. I've been putting off the haircut, but I know it needed to be done. I was just being lazy. The last time I had my "Y" photo taken, it looked like I fell out of bed...and I was stuck with the photo everytime I flashed the ID card to go to the gym. Now, that my hair is cut and I also shaved, I am as ready as I'll ever be for the gym photo.

Now, I am yawning, so it is time for me to end this entry.

Post Date - Tuesday, July, 3, 2007 1:03am