Calgary Pictures

Well here are a couple of Calgary pictures via my co worker Scott

Worksoft Team










Husky Building - Floor 30 - Where I work


Calgary Downtown View

 
Rookies


Banff

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Iron Girl Triathlon

Welp I think I may have talked myself into this...  I need to get back into shape.  It's not funny anymore.  I'm sick of what I see in the mirror every morning.  There is nothing really holding me back except that I'm LAZY!  So I think I'm going to do this.  I love biking, swimming, and not so much running.  I'm not looking to win but to say that I did it and completed it.  I also will love that I am getting back into shape.  I live in hotels every week.  They almost always have a pool and at least a bike... if anything I can always run outside.  So I'll keep you posted.  I would love to get one person to do it with me, really to just make me accoutable, besides my husband.  I have some friends on a message board that may do it too...  Wish me luck! 

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Poor Carl

Work has been crazy for him. He's dealing with a crazy woman at work and now a even crazier work client.... she filed a civil trespass report on him last week and now he just got served with 4th degree burglary. UGH! The police last week confess that it was bogus but had to file the report. I swear we can't catch a break lately.

Busy Month

Welp mom's surgery was a success... thank god! She is recovering nicely. She has to go back to the dr next week to have a balloon inserted so that she can start radiation. The lymph notes came back negative, which made her surgery much easier! YAY! I will go through the testing in a couple of months to see if I carry the BRAC gene. My great aunt had breast cancer and now with my mom having breast cancer, I should get tested. My mom is against this but she will have no choice.

Work has been insane. They are predicting it to slow down the first quarter, which is natural in our industry but with the economy we are feeling the pain with not getting contracts signed. I'm looking forward to being home more than a weekend, so we'll see. Calgery has been beautiful but it's a long flight to get there and to get home. Red-eye's have been helping but it's still long! 2hrs to toronto and then 4 hrs to calgary plus customs and possibility immigration if customs doesn't like ya... hopefully I'll get a cute guy again that I can flirt with, we'll see.

Elections are over... THANK GOD!  I'm so happy that all the crap is over... so let's see if the elected one can pull everything together.  I'm sure it will be better than what we have but only time will see.  I didn't vote this year.  I didn't like either of them and I was out of the country.  I can say that I don't like Obama the person but I like most of his policies.  I did like McCain but I didn't like most of his policies so it was hard to vote...  so I decided not too. 

Welp that's a cap of what's going on in my life...  I will make smaller blogs about other things I have opinions on.

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Twisty Tuesday

Random thoughts

• Ate at Macarena Tapas tonight for dinner. Most of it was yummy!! Not fond of black rice(ie - squid ink)... octopus wasn't too bad thou!
• "Race" is going to play a bigger part in the election than most people think
• My teeth are hurting.. I really shouldnt had the DQ blizzard but it was so good.
• Zaboodle is a lot of fun!
• I don't want to go to Calgary... I'm sick of long flights right now!
• I wish Gardinars would call and say my bedroom furniture was ready to be delivered!
• I'm thankful that Nancy is going to do the secret santa gift exchange this year on the board.
• I'm amazed how friendships have changed in the past year.
• I hope my random phone call tonight helps someone out... I feel that she can do the work but is just slow learning and has a lot more to learn.
• I have an alumni lax game this Saturday. I want to go and see everyone but at the sametime I have put on weight and haven't been running so I probably would get judged :(
• I'm starting to like facebook a lot more than myspace... I really like the new format better!
• I wish I knew something about cars and how to fix them... labor is insane these days.
• I think the ecomony is going to get worse before it get's better.
• I'm thankful that Carl took his new job & that he loves it and is great at it but I'm not happy with all the issues it has created lately.
• I need to find a hobby.
• I think the lady across the street is pregnant. She already has 3 kids under the age of 4... nothing wrong with it. That will probably be me in a few years.
• I parked(@ the airport parking lot) our huge pickup on Monday like a pro. (backing into a spot).... proud of myself!
• People's lives take crazy courses... ie - happy married couple.. get pregnant... before the baby is even born the husband gets addicted to "sex type" drugs, drinking, etc... babys born, he continues the bahavior, now he has a girlfriend, etc... it's like he had a hormone embalance or something. Only child and his parents think he's ok. Poor wife!
• I <3>
• I wish I knew how to decorate! :) Poor Carl!
• Vancouver was BEAUTIFUL! I think we are going to go on vacation there one day! SOOO pretty!

Thats all for now! :)

Hands

Well I'm bored sitting in a hotel room. It's only 10:30pm PST...

I was told once, probably when I was an Arbonne consultant, that the true age of a woman is shown on the top of her hands. You can improve your body with exercise, makeup, surgery, etc but you can never improve the top of your hands. They also get the most abuse... I always thought that was an interesting thought.

Ugh!

Damn I knew I should have changed my flight!!! Now I want to fly home and it's too much money!!! UGH! Instead I have to wait til 12:50pm tomorrow to fly home. I don't get in til 11pm! BOO!! I hate when I do this kind of thing. O'well off to dinner and working out!

Mom update

Welp some of you know and some of you don't know... My mom was diagnosed with breast cancer several weeks ago. In that same week she found out she would be losing her job as of Nov 21... so it's been a lot for her...

We found that it's stage 1... that it's very deep and rooted in her breast muscle. She has an MRI scheduled in the next week to make sure there is nothing in her lymph notes. She is scheduled for surgery on Nov 3 and a week of radiation 2 weeks later.... work's being great that I will probably be home for her surgery and then 1/2 of her radiation. She is staying strong.

Slacking

Well I always have a ton of things going on in mind so I guess I should start posting them.....

Kidney Stones SUCK!!!

Who know kidney stones could be so painful! I was in Vancouver. On Friday morning I woke up about 6:30am with sharp pains in my lower abdomen. I was suppose to fly at noon but in too much pain so I called down to the front desk. I had all symptoms for appendices. So the hotel called an ambulance and sent me to the ER. They did lots of tests only to find out it was kidney stones. So I flew home on a redeye. I was sick every 30-45 mins on the plane because of the pain. I couldn’t keep anything down. I finally get to Baltimore (3 flights later). I went to go fill the prescription and they couldn’t fill it because it was out of the country!!! UGH!! So I was suppose to leave for vacation that morning. Carl and my brother drove to myrtle beach while I slept.. Got to myrtle beach only to not be able to keep anything down again and still getting sick. So Sunday morning I made Carl take me back to the ER(poor guy, I woke him up at 8:30am). Went there for them to do the same exact tests but give me med’s so that I can stop getting sick and pain meds. Late Monday night I finally passed the stupid stone!! UGH! Never had one before and never want another one!!!

Book, Books, Books

Well I love to read but I always forget what I have read, just like movies... anyway I came across a wonderful site called goodreads.com It's awesome. I can list all the books I have read and also a list of all the books I want to read!! I think it's second best to paperbackswap.com.

Ugh I suck at this blogging thing

It's been extremely busy with work training (dallas) , traveling, etc then I went on vacation (orlando) then back to MI. So I haven't been online as much. I was super behind between blogging and my message boards, but I think I'm finally caught up. Ugh!

Dallas was nice. I trained a new company. Boy did they ask some crazy questions but I was glad that I was in the office so that I could get the answers right away!!! They are back in MI so it looks like my company will be in MI for another project starting August.

The week after training I went on vacation to Disney world. We took Carl's sister and brother's family. My parents, my brother, his gf and then my dad's sister's whole family.... so there were a ton of us down there. We were spread out between 3 places so it was nice. Florida was extremely hot and crowded. We normally go there during the off season but we were taking Carl's neices there for the first time and we needed to go after they got out of school. They had a blast. It was so much fun. Carl and I spent one day with them in Disney and then one day with them in a water park.. Lots of fun and also relaxing! Welp as soon as I got home, I had to pack and head back to MI the following day.

Last week was super busy with work but it always is!! I was offered a new position as a Full Time Trainer. I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I do all the trainings right now but it's not my favorite thing. I have a call tomorrow with my boss to get some more information.

4th of july weekend was nice... very relaxing. We stayed home most of the weekend to catch up on house things... The weather wasn't very nice so it worked out.

Meet Sparkie

Welp we got a new kitten on Saturday. We had been looking for one. We went to the new Pet Smart down in Abingdon. It was a little small but nice. We saw they had a lot of kittens so we asked to see them. They had about 5 so we played with them... they were all cute but we wanted one that was playful/active, that didn't hish at others, and didn't mind other cats. Well we found him. His name is Sparkie, he is 3.5 months old, and already neutered(a plus). He's had a sad life because 2 of his litter mates died. The name fits him to a "T". We stopped by Target to get him a scratching post, since I signed papers that I wouldn't get him declawed (we'll see), then picked up dinner and headed home.

Sugar and Booger weren't extremely excited at first. Booger was terrified of him and Sugar just hished and batted at him. As of last night Booger was jumping and playing with him while Sugar was tolerating him. I think I will have to take Sugar to the vent, as she is throwing up more than usual. I have to take Sparkie for his rabies shot anyway so I'll just do both at the same time.

Carl is having a blast with him. He wanted someone to play with, as sugar sleeps 24x7 and Booger hides all the time. Carl wanted a dog but since neither of us is home, we decided to wait another yr or two. I think it would be best to wait til we have our first kid and until Sugar is gone... I rescued her because she was afraid of the dog at her previous owners.

Meet Sparkie

Random Thoughts

• people chewing on their nails drives me nuts!
• people burping really loud and not saying excuse me is RUDE!
• Detroit has very long straight roads, def noticeable from an airplane.
• I wish I had girlfriends like SATC
• SATC movie was awesome!! I will def be buying it!
• Money is money... you make more, you spend more. It sucks!
• a new kitten will show you new tricks
• a "thank you", after the fact, goes a LONG way!
• drunks are a waste of space, esp after 2 DWI, no license and still drinking & driving!
• Disney will be super exciting with Brianna & Hannah! Can't wait to see their faces
• Disney trip will not be fun with drunk SIL!
• I secretly miss my condo!
• Def love my long hair better than my short!
• I miss my grandmother! I wish I could call and talk to her
• I HATE being overweight but love food!
• I SERIOUSLY need to lose weight!
• I want to be able to run again!
• Just because I don't have kids, doesn't mean a written invitation couldn't have been sent!

Life

Things have been super busy lately. I can't wait for late this weekend.... We are driving down to SC for the weekend to see my great uncle. I'm excited to spend time with him and his friend. He has driven up for every major event in my life, so it's time for me to come to him. We are leaving Sat night/Sun morning to drive home. I need to get some things done around the house before I have to fly back out on Tuesday (another 3 am day)...

House is good... flowers are planted... carl's started adding the new bathroom door. We added a new/used couch to the living room... carl built some steps going into the backyard... I will probably start painting the bedroom and kitchen, once I decide on colors. Def keeping us busy!

Work is good. We started a new project in Midland, MI. The company is really awesome. The other group of consultants has proved to be interesting but things are coming together. We are here for a total of 10 weeks. Time is flying, so that's a good thing. We just scored 2 new deals with other companies, so business is good.

Selfish?

Do you ever feel like you are being selfish? Lately I have. I feel like it's all about me and poor Carl doesn't have a chance. Like he would be happy for me to be home now and for us trying to get pregnant. Instead I love my job and the travel and don't want to get pregnant within the next 2 years. I really don't want to quit my job either. I would love to continue what I'm doing but I'm sure that will change once I have kids. The problem is that I'm getting older and the longer that I wait to have kids the more problems that can happen. I also want several kids so, ugh! It's just so hard to decide what to do and to wonder if it will make me happy.

I guess this all comes from... I found a job listed on craigslist that I could apply for... the salary is right, it's close to home and it's exactly what I would like for a job once I come off the road. BUT I am torn. Yes, a part of me would love to come home to have kids but the other part feels that I'm not ready and that I would love to have some more time with my husband and traveling... there are so many other things I want to do before having kids. I guess I just don't know where the line stops! I told Carl 2010. That's only 1.5 yrs away, I know that's not a big deal but I know that he's going to hold me to it. So the thoughts keep coming.

cutting the grass

yes, I know, funny title. I cut the grass for the first time in my life this weekend.... when I was a kid, I never had to do it because I was really allergic and my brother or dad did it... when to college, bought a condo, still didn't have to do it... well I was bored on saturday and Carl was busy framing up the new bathroom door so I asked what I could do.... he asked if I would cut the grass, no biggie, grabbed my ipod, Carl started it up, gave me the low-down on how it worked it off I went. Holy SHIT, our hills SUCK Donkey butt!!! It took me 2 hrs and lots of break because I kept getting it clogged since the grass was wet but it got done. Next was weed whacking... Carl again started it and off I went.... wow, that thing gets heavy very quickly!!! I gave up after the front yard... haha!! I do SUCK at cutting grass but I had fun so I'll probably do it again next weekend... I liked the exercise and peace. I'm WEIRD!! HAHA but I admit it.

Fun times in MI

Welp it's been a busy week.... We are in Michigan for the next 10 weeks. It's going to be a fun project and a lot of work but I'm looking forward to it. This week is project plans, etc... next week I get to train 20 ppl. I'm def adding training to my resume now that I have trained about 6 clients.

Carl's bday is tomorrow... I'm such a bad wife, that I haven't even gotten him anything! I keep asking but he's really not telling me what he wants :( I feel horrible! I will probably get him 2 tickets to a O's game and then some kind of tool. We are having a family bday party for him this Saturday at the house, should be fun.

I have joined ww. I started this past Saturday. I def need it. I have gained a lot of weight in the past 3 years. I have posted more about this in my other blog.

Welp that's it!

Interesting

Thanks Lori!! Grabbed this from her blog.


My Personality

Neuroticism	89
Extraversion	38
Openness to Experience	1
Agreeableness	1
Conscientiousness	24

High levels of stress can lead to you feeling panic or confusion, but usually you cope with day to day pressures, however you are sensitive about what others think of you. Your concern about rejection and ridicule cause you to feel shy and uncomfortable around others. You are easily embarrassed and often feel ashamed. Your fears that others will criticize or make fun of you are exaggerated and unrealistic, but your awkwardness and discomfort may make these fears a self-fulfilling prophecy. People generally perceive you as distant and reserved, and you do not usually reach out to others. You tend not to express your emotions openly and are sometimes not even aware of your own feelings. You feel superior to those around you and sometimes tend to be seen as arrogant by other people, however you believe that a certain amount of deception in social relationships is necessary. You are guarded in new relationships and less willing to openly reveal the whole truth about yourself. Your sense of duty and obligation is average and although you are mostly responsible you can sometimes be unreliable.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report.

Super Busy

Wow I'm so behind.... I've been super busy with work. I'm back on the road. The past 2 weeks I have been on the road in Dallas. The first week I was training City of Dallas, very interesting class. While I was there I got to meet up with Steph. We had dinner at Uncle Julios. Wonderful food and SUPER cute manager!! He gave us a free dessert, YUMMY! Steph is super cute, only 5 more weeks!! The next night I met up with Tawna. We have been friends FOREVER. We met at the first GTG for the board, the same time I met Miller and Silka. Anyway every time I'm in Dallas, I try to meet up with her. So she skipped her class and came to pick me up. We went to Cuba Libra. YUM! The drinks were yummy and so was the food. It was great to catch up. I can't believe she's almost done school, time flies! So much fun!

Thursday I found that I had to return to Dallas the following week for a Services GTG. So I booked everything. I got lucky with all the American Airlines problems that my flights didn't get canceled so I got home around 2am on Friday morning(late Thursday flight). I was up at 6am to meet Kate and Missy. We drove up to NYC for the day. Lots of walking and fun. Kate's MIL came... she had never been to NYC so we took her around. We spent most of our time in China town thou. Funny how things have changed there.... they hide all the designer purses... they are hidden in basements, subway doors, etc.... very interesting! Got home late Friday night... weekend was really uneventful. Just relaxed and got things done around the house.

Last week was interesting.... All the consultants (services) came into Dallas for the week to meet in the office. We had some cross-training session. I learned a couple of things Monday and Tuesday but by Wed we had ran out of things to go over... so it was a waste Wed-Thursday. I did find out that I'm heading back out in another week (I get to stay home this week).... I am going to Midland, Michigan. This is a huge project. They are projecting 8 weeks but I think it will be more like 10-12 weeks. I have never been to Michigan so I'm looking forward to it. I know Lori & Rebecca live there so I'm hoping to meet up with them sometime during those 8 to 10 to 12 weeks that I'm there.

Welp I'll try and update more often...

Back on the road

Work = Welp I'm back on the road this week. I'm in St Louis AGAIN (for the 3rd time). It's not too bad. This company should be interesting. I am to train them this week and then they only bought 100 hrs of consulting. So it will def be a quick project. There is suppose to be 9 deals in the sales pipe, so I'm looking forward to it. I think there is one in Toronto, St Louis, and Dallas.... not sure where the others are yet? Looking forward to getting back to work. I was going stir crazy at home.


Health - well last week was crazy. We got dropped from our old insurance company as of 1/31. We had no idea until I went to Target to fill a prescription. Well we found that since we moved across state lines that we were dropped. No problem, we re-enrolled. Well we got our new cards last week only to find out that its a completely different company and the plan contains none of our current doctors, which really SUCKS!! I was super unhappy, I have gotten over it now. I'm just glad that I'm not preggo or something like that. I had started seeing a new allergy dr for my food allergies... so I'm upset that I had to leave him. :( They said they would work for me but I would be paying a lot out of pocket, so I doubt I'll be going back. So it's off to find new drs. BOO!

Family - Well mom's still dealing. It's hard for her. She called me last night and asked if I would have Easter dinner this year.. I agreed. She's having a real problem with her bathroom too so I think that's also an issue. My cousin wife's mother died suddenly 2 weeks ago... it hit home for my cousins wife. She completely understood what my mother was going through and totally broke down. It was hard!!

Welp that's a quick post.... will update more later!!

Hi Ho Hi Ho it's off to work I go

taking from T's idea...

• heading back to St Louis on St. Patty's week for a new company
• I wish we had a good mgmt staff for Services
• I wish there was better communication in our company!!
  
• there are way too many freaking nail pops in this house
• blessed to have gotten this house at such a good price!
  
• carl needs to learn how to baby our new truck, he already broke it!! Ugh!
• need to find a good repair guy that won't jack us!
• so glad that I left Legg Mason!! Wow!
• carl said that we can get another kitten!!! yay!
• scared that with getting another kitten that Booger will freak out!
• I have baby fever!! No, we aren't starting to have kids til 2010. Want too many other things first
• Hate the saying "you don't have kids, so you don't know"
  
• going to Hawaii for 2 weeks next spring!
• not looking forward to our June "Family" vacation
• finally have condo rented but learned that it's considered income by IRS
  
• can't wait to have a beach home!
• Getting back into shape is hard!!
• Want to run a marathon before I die
• LOVE Amazon Prime!
  

New workout blog

Welp I started a new workout blog.... after weighting in at 184lbs last week at the dr's I knew 2 things... #1 -my scale in my bathroom was wrong (fixed that, bought a new one yesterday) and #2 that I had to start working out again... after the wedding, buying a house and working on the road since August... I really haven't exercised... so it's catching up!!

I have been lifting weights for the past two weeks... every other day... but need to add cardio.. was walking outside when it's nice but decided to buy a treadmill last night. So hopefully it gets delivered soon. Here it is - Treadmill

New Dr

Oh I forgot to add that I finally got the guts to call a new dr. Missy's boss has a intolerance to Soy and uses a dr in Towson. So I got the dr's number and called today and made a appt(yes it took me a week to call). I have a appt on Thursday afternoon. I'm excited because this dr takes insurance and stuff, which is cheaper than my last dr. So let's see what he can help me with. I think I have a intolerance to sugar... so I would like a new blood test done.

actually home for another week

Welp I'm home for another week, it's actually very nice esp since I got sick last week. I tried to stay away from Carl's family so I wouldn't get sick. Well last week I made dinner for Johnny and Shannon (Carl's cousins). Well I picked up a cold from one of the kids, o'well. So now I'm dealing with a runny nose, sore throat, and ear infections. BLAH! Hopefully it will go away quickly!

Well Missy and Meghan signed their lease today. I'm actually very glad that it's done. I was trying to prolong them moving in but then decided that I would rather someone in there instead of no one. I just told them to be careful of my hardwood floors. They want to paint and do some things before they move in. They aren't officially allowed to move in until 2/28. I don't come in til late on 2/27 from a work conference so I wanted to get them the keys and stuff instead of getting up early and helping them on 2/28.

I'm so excited. I found gluten/dairy free chocolate chip cookies. They are awesome tasting too, which is usually hard to do.

Do you ever wonder?

• How an old friend is doing?
• Chosen a different career?
• What other people think, if they haven't seen you since college?
• How your world would be different if you had lost one of your parents?
• What it would have been like to work at the ocean for the summer?
• Went aboard for school?
• If an ex-bf/gf thinks about you?
• Had a mentally challenged sibling?
• Had sibling that were multiple births?
• How religion came about?
• How languages came about?

hmm just thoughts..

Ranting/whining - Mostly House stuff

• Stupid mortgage company... well our mortgage got sold right away in December. We got notice in Dec that it happened. So I called both companies and verified the policy, which was that I would pay the original company and then they would forward the money to the new company. Well we got a letter in the mail today saying we owe the last months payment and this months payment. So Carl called to see what was going on... looks as if they never received payment from the original company... so Carl called that company. They are saying they never received payment from us. BULL SHIT!! I LOVE Bank of America billpay. I have the proof that it was paid and when, also when they withdrew the money. So Carl is going to call them tomorrow to settle it. What a PITA!! Hopefully that will settle everything.
• Stupid builder!!! Well we knew when we bought the house to get everything in writing... so we got 99.9% of it in writing, we know better. Anyway we were told when we were signing documents by the sales guy that they would "top off our propane tank". No big deal, we figured they would top it off and pay the bill. NOPE!! We are to pay the bill. $1200 bill. So I went crazy. I called the builder and left a ton of messages during christmas and new years but no one ever called me back. So Carl started calling last week. Well they called him back and said they weren't going to do anything. So Carl walked over to the Model home (which is across from our house) and said if you don't do anything we are going to put a sign in our front yard saying "Get it in Writing" And we could get it that night since Carl's dad is a sign man. Well they didn't like that and said they could probably pay 1/2 the bill. Well a couple days pass and we hear nothing. Well Carl called today because I wasn't going to wait any longer... They said that they would be paying us $300 (not to put the sign up), which would be cut next month since we missed the cut off last week (convient) and that the sales guy will be paying us the other $300 and that we would have to get it from him (yea, right, I doubt we will see that from him)... so we'll see what happens.
  
• Builder #2 Issue - We had used Carl's friend as a referral. He was suppose to get $1,000 from the Builder since we bought in the neighborhood. We closed on 11/19. So when Carl was talking to the builder last week, he asked what was going on... supposedly the check was cut 12/6 and was never given to Charlie (who was out of work most of nov and some of dec for back surgery... he could have used the money for christmas) As of last week Charlie had not gotten his check... I call bullshit!! So we are trying to figure out what's going on there.
• Builder/Production Super - Prod Super said before we moved in that he could put a door in our bathroom on the first floor and it would be no problem... Well he was suppose to come that week, never showed up... called made plans for the 1st week of december, never showed up.. made plans again for 12/15... never showed up.... made plans for new years week, never showed up... I'm DONE!! But I REALLY want the door put in... so I'm kinda stuck! Carl really doesn't want to do it and I don't really know anyone who could and I don't want to pay someone from Home Depot to do it... GRRRRRR!! I'm tempted to just do it myself... how hard is it to knock a hole in the wall, put a door in and then seal it?!? I don't think it's that hard, just a big mess!
• Stomach issues - I think I may have a problem with sugar... my body has really been hating me lately, esp when I have LOTS of sugar. I'm not sure what to do, I guess I should make a appt with my old dr, but it takes at least 4 months to get an appt.... but my stomach issue is a PITA! I've had it since our honeymoon, I'm wondering if I picked something up there???
• GYN - all clear... no dysplasia... THANK GOD!! It's just inflammation for right now... but I do have all the bad strands so she wants to keep watching me every 6 months, joyful!
• Family room paint - not sure I really like it?!? It's really more golden yellow then orange-ish-yellow. It reminds me of my elementary school colors... I may be changing it pretty soon. GRRR
• I REALLY need to start working out and watching what I eat but I have NO motivation to do it. I have gained A LOT of weight in the past 3 years and loss A LOT of muscle. I have a completely different body now. I'm not sure I like it either?!? I want my toned arms and skinner legs back! I want my fatty stomach to go away... but I need to the motivation to do it. UGH!