Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Gym Rudeness

Today is back to the normal work grind, which is a good thing because once again I have huge piles on my desk. The gym managed to open 20 minutes late today which messed with my workout (and this is becoming a constant problem for this gym). Oh, and I failed to mention on Monday the piece of rudeness which took my breath away. I take a morning spin class on Mon/Fri. The rule is that everyone puts their towel and water on the bike of their choice, and yes some of us have bikes we always pick. Then, most people go warm up on a treadmill or stretch until the class starts. I went on monday to warm up and came back to my bike to discover another person in the class removing my bike seat because the one on the bike next to it was broken. I was stunned, my bike had a towel on it and was clearly going to be used during the class and he simply took the seat anyway, when I showed up he refused to put the seat back and did not even apologize. Thus, I was forced to find another bike in the very small room. So, now the bike I always use is broken and unusuable. I am contemplating preemptively stealing his normal bike on Friday just to point out how rude he was on Monday. However, I do not think he will get the hint especially since my polite "excuse me what are you doing to my bike?" had no effect. I hate people like that, especially since there were multiple empty bikes in the room which he could have (a) moved to or (b) switched seats with and not mine. Sigh, I will never understand how people's brains work.

Monday, August 28, 2006

GUILTY!

Below is an edited version of the press release in this case, names have been altered to protect the unknowing and locations have been removed along with other identifying details. A Jury convicted Defendant D.L.P of 3 counts of First Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (As a First Degree Felony), 3 counts of Second Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (As a First Degree Felony), 3 counts of Third Degree Criminal Sexual Conduct (As a Second Degree Felony), Assault with Intent to Commit Criminal Sexual Conduct (As a Third Degree Felony), Aggravated Assault (As a 2nd Degree Felony) and Terrorizing (As a Third Degree Felony). Assistant Attorney Generals L.L and Assistant Attorney General Kat prosecuted the case for the People. They stated following the verdict that “This conviction was made possible by an unprecedented joint investigation involving the Office of the Attorney General, the Police Department, and the Naval Criminal Investigation Service. The superior investigative work of the dedicated members of these agencies went above and beyond the call of duty both before and during trial.” The victim in this case was discovered in the early morning hours of May 27, 2006 at the A. Beach Park. Evidence at trial showed that she had been brutally beaten and suffered among other injuries from internal bleeding and a fractured pelvis. At trial, the victim identified D.L.P. as her attacker in open court. In addition, the government presented DNA evidence which connected the victim and defendant including his semen and her DNA on a pair of boxer shorts found in a trash can on the U.S.S. Military Ship by NCIS personnel. The admittance of DNA evidence at trial followed a Daubert hearing establishing the validity of DNA testing and marked the first time in a number of years that such evidence had been admitted at trial. In addition, the government presented the testimony of Police Officer E. A. who had stopped the defendant in the immediate vicinity of the crime, approximately 1 hour before the victim was discovered at the scene. Officer A. was able to recognize the description of both the defendant and his vehicle which was provided by the victim and allow the Police to quickly locate a suspect and confiscate evidence. This along with the testimony of twenty-four witnesses was presented over the course of the two week trial. The Office of the Attorney General notes that this is a victory for the People in insuring the continued safety of its citizens and the swift prosecution of violent crimes.

3 Hours and still waiting

By the way, this will all be terribly embarassing if I lose this case. Anyway, the jury is still out, wants to hear some testimony replayed and who knows how long this will take to make a decision. I am, as a co-worker gently pointed out yesterday, very much a worrywort, I can worry about pretty much anything if given the opportunity. Everything from where I am going to park my car to what I am going to do with the rest of my life. This whole jury deliberation thing is not helping those tendencies. I do however promise that I will not throw myself into a vat of chocolate regardless of the results. I am just hoping to get the results today. It is remarkably like taking a test where you do not know the outcome and are uncertain that you presented the information in the best manner and just have to sit around until you find out. So, I wait and try to get back to my normal life. In the meantime I keep going to the gym and trying to be patient about this whole process.

Sunday, August 27, 2006

You may now resume your regularly scheduled programing

And I'm back. I feel rather like a bad radio announcer on a gameshow or something. Anyway, trial was completed on Friday and today the Jury begins deliberations, I am slightly freaked out about what the result will be, hopefully we will know by early afternoon. I can't say I have had good luck with jury trials, I'm 0-3 so far. Hopefully 4th time will be a charm. Anyway, still going to the gym, eating hasn't been great but it has been alright. I am once again going through my warddrobe and getting rid of all the beat up and worn out pieces of clothing in my closet. The less I have to ship at the end of September, the better. This week I am back to being really good and packing my lunch (roast chicken in case you were wondering). I am starting to lift weights at home again and have discovered that I have not lost any strength there which is an unexpected bonus. Anyway, I have to dash off to court, if we get a verdict later I will post and tell you what the case was about that consumed my life for the past month (I know you all care terribly).

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Clearly it is Monday

It is bad when you can tell by 5 am in the morning that it is going to be a bad monday. The people at my gym failed to open it up until 5:20 in the morning. This threw a big ugly monkey wrench into my morning workout since it meant I did not have time to get in my run before spin class or any time for an extra workout afterward. This was especially the case today since I have to go back in on my trial at 8:30 am and that does not leave a lot of leeway in my workout time. Frustrating in the extreme. Anyway, I don't have a lot of time so I am off to court.

Thursday, August 17, 2006

One week down

The first week back on plan is always the easiest for me. Well, I am always hungry because I am reducing my calories but I am usually sleeping better because I am not eating nearly as much refined sugar. Plus, I stop feeling guilty about what I am eating and so I am less stressed (well I am stressed about other thing because I am a worrywort but you know what I mean). I did make the executive decision this morning that I would take my workout a little easier today due to yesterday's hard workout. So, I just went to my spinning class and did a bunch of situps rather than adding in weights. I am terribly excited that it is the weekend because it means I get to sleep in tomorrow and clean my apartment. Also, I need to get ready to go back into trial on Monday but mostly I am focused on getting my junk out of the apartment so I am not living in a huge mess. Of course, weekends are usually a problem in terms of food because of all the free time, but maybe spending the day cleaning will prevent that issue.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

The number one reason I am leaving my job

Okay, I love what I do most days and I am really sad about leaving my co-workers. However, yesterday I was reminded of why I am leaving and leaving soon. The senior attorneys sent me home at 2:40 pm, so that the head of the office could not locate me. Not because I had done anything wrong but because I had done the right and ethical thing and we knew he would be irate about it. When you have to leave the office because you did your job properly, well it is time to leave the whole situation permanently. On the plus side, it did let me work out my calories better since I could make a smoothie at three p.m with honey and a banana and milk (which I don't usually manage at work). Then I took a nap because this cold is still messing with me. This morning I got dragged to a new class at the gym, basically a circuit training class where you do a round of weights, then step aerobic drills and another round of weights. It was actually a great class, and really made me sweat. I was surprised about how much I liked the class and the instructor (who I always thought was rather annoying). I usually use Thursdays as a rest morning but this was a good addition to my workouts. Of course, by rest I mean that I just do an hour on the eliptical machines.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Feel the love

Aww, I feel loved, it is awful nice to be back. I do feel like I am really back at this point, although completely worn out from job stress. I have six weeks left at this job and more and more I can’t wait to get out of here. Despite the fear of not knowing where I am going next, I am glad to leave this highly unstable environment. Plus I think in the long run it will be much more emotionally (and physically) healthy for me to not be here and to be in a more stable work environment. Plus, I will not have the little annoyance of living on this island. Yesterday, I ended up being at work late and rather than going to the gym I ended up running to the store to buy food. Really, I needed eggs for omelets, but when I got there I discovered that there were only two containers of eggs in the store (and both of them had cracked ones). This was at the largest grocery store on the island. So, after some serious hunting I settled for a container of egg beaters, some meat, and some bananas. It will get me through the week, but seriously people, what grocery store has no eggs? I suppose in fairness they had two container, but I can’t imagine most people buying containers of cracked eggs. This is why it is hard to cook healthy food on this island. Well, you can cook meat but that is about it. Last time I went back to the mainland U.S. I had sensory overload in the grocery store because there was so much food to chose from including all sorts of vegetables. That reminds me, I could not find lemons in the store this weekend, there were oranges and limes but no lemons. I find shopping here so strange sometimes and so difficult that I end up eating the same thing day after day because I can find the ingredients. I am once again going to try to make it to the gym again tonight, I had a good workout this morning but it could always be supplemented. I am still having some breathing issues from this chest cold which have been derailing me. So, if I go it will be very mellow and nothing hard. Especially after this morning where the aerobics room was very warm and the rest of the gym was freezing, I am not trying to make my cold worse. Still, I don’t feel so sickly that I am justified in slacking off on my workouts. Plus, I keep reminding myself to just take little baby steps and stay the course until the stress level dies down.

Monday, August 14, 2006

Still not dead

Well, yesterday went swimmingly (as most first days back do) and I managed to easily stick within my plan. Well, it did involve a lot of mental games with my head where I had to point out to myself that I wanted to fit in my clothing more than I wanted chocolate. Plus, by about 3 pm, the cold I am suffering from had really begun to slow me down and wear me out. Today, I felt better and went to the gym even though I still have this horrible hacking cough. I even brought extra gym clothes with me, the plan being to stop at the gym for 30 minutes after work (thus avoiding the worst part of rush hour which only last for 1 hr) and pick up an extra cardio workout. I am going to change at work and that way I can just dash in and out of the gym since it will be super crowded. Then I am going to head home and colapse. I figure that while I cannot always control my food, I can compensate by adding in extra workouts during the week. I used to get in about two hours of cardio everyday, I would like to get back to that if I can manage it.

Sunday, August 13, 2006

The Cosmic Why

Why on the day I finally get myself together and back on plan does tons of bad food appear in the office. Well, I am responsible for the carrot cake muffins, but those don't appeal. However, there are donuts around and chocolate covered macadamia nuts and a few other things. Sigh. However, I don't like how my clothes fit and the easiest way to fix that is to not eat crap and workout more. I am going to lift weights when I get home, and not snack today and just go from that perspective. Oh, and I am avoiding the chocolate covered macadamia nuts but pretending they are not there. So far, it is working.

Did you miss me?

Ahem, right then (carefully taps blog microphone) is this on? Yep, I'm back, and I have an actual explanation for my extended absence and concurrent falling off the wagon. On August 3rd, I began a very complicated felony rape and aggravated assault trial (which is still on going). Trials are tough, and extremely emotionally draining, you never eat or sleep well while you are in trial. Right now, due to scheduling issues we are taking a week break and will resume next Monday however I have worked everyday (except yesterday) since the 4th of August. I have still gone to the gym every morning but food has been crap. Today, I am getting back on track if it kills me, since I know I have been sabotaging my workouts which is silly. I have however come down with a nasty cough and cold which knocked me out yesterday. I went back to the gym this morning and packed my lunch today so that is a start. Anyway, I am back and hopefully won't get derailed this badly again.