What day is it?

labro

Are we done yet??? I'm done. SO. DONE.

I can't tell if it's allergies now or if I'm actually getting a cold. I didn't sleep well at all last night. Yesterday I was in lockdown meetings almost the entire day and then we had a dinner function so I didn't get home until 9:30. At least dinner was paid for...and I got to drink wine!

Today we have our team event. We're going to one of those "Escape the Room" things and I'm pretty certain we're going to fail. I've heard they are really hard?

I just can't wait to get home and have some pulled pork from the crockpot.

cu97tiger

It's great because I'm drinking some delicious coffee! 



(little inside joke for @labro)

I'm doing pretty well. I'm crazy sore from Ragnar + Filthy 50 (CF) + heavy squat cleans. Stairs are my nemesis right now. 

Tonight I have a mentoring meeting, tomorrow night the Clemson game is on TV, and then it's FRIDAY. YAY

labro

@cu97tiger I hope Clemson does well! Who are they playing?

jenjen047

Hello NEY!!! I am WFH today so I cruised over here to lurk but where has NEY gone?? It looks like the board are beyond quiet. What did I miss??

@labro - Long day are the worst. I opt out of as many after work events as possible.

@cu97tiger - Glad to see you are still kicking butt!!

I just finished my 3rd week on WW and have lost 7.4 pounds! My goal is 15 pounds so I am almost halfway to goal. Woo! I hope to hit goal before my girls trip to NC in 4 weeks. Except then I will eat and drink all the things and probably gain a pound or two back. Oh well!

I miss you all!

speakeasy14

@labro my boss asked me to look into planning one of those for our team.  You'll have to let me know how it works with larger groups.  I made pulled pork yesterday! The house smelled amazing when I got home. 

@cu97tiger no judgement if you crawl up the stairs today, and slide down. 


Last night was interesting; my bf and I decided to play a few rounds of Monopoly cards.  At one point we lost power, so we lit a bunch of candles. There was no reason for an outage, but our entire block except for the fire department were without power. My bf went to the pizza place across the street to see if they knew what was going on and said a building was on fire two blocks away. So he grabbed me and we went for a drive; nothing was on fire, no poles were down. So we went to Walmart and bought a bunch of stuff for the house.

Tonight I'm having drinks with a bunch of coworkers. 

KeptInStitches

@labro, feel better soon!

@jenjen047, awesome job!

---
I spent last night writing a homework assignment for my programming students, and I think I might have made it too hard. Or I solved the problem a stupid way. Either way, I think I ended up with 13 if() statements in my code.

Tonight is church - I think I'm reading, but I'm not sure anymore. I've got to pick out homework problems for my accounting-for-engineers students, and I still need to work on grading, but I am starting to "catch up."

H and I play each other in fantasy football in one of our leagues this weekend. We are a combined 1-7 and winless in this particular league. Either one of us will get a win or the universe won't know what to do with that much suck and it will disrupt the space-time continuum.

AlPacina

@labro - I hope you're able to have fun at your escape the room thing! I was supposed to do that with some coworkers for my birthday, because I LOVE room escape games on my phone, haha, but we only had 3 people total and I wanted more brain power around. Do you know how many of you are on a team?

@speakeasy14 - You're such a tease! Your story started off all epic, and then was like "But nothing exciting happened." Instead, you went to Walmart, which is sometimes worse than being on fire. Bummer. :P

@KeptInStitches - At least if the assignment is hard/weird it will be easier to catch copy cats. I think with that much suck comes some well deserved celebration this week when you kick your H's butt! Haha. Somehow I'm 2-0. No clue how. I have no idea who any of these people are.

-------------------

I'm working from home today so that I can't get sucked into a million meetings. It will be nice to get to eat lunch for once. Don't get me wrong, I love my new job, but it's impossible to do any "assignments" when I'm constantly in meetings.

BF might get sent to Alaska for work this week. I'm jealous. I want to go to Alaska again.

speakeasy14

@AlPacina hahaha I guess random would have been a better description?  Still have no idea what caused the power outage. I left out the part where I made my bf dance with me in the candlelight hahaha -- I still don't understand how they do not feed you.  I thought it was an unspoken rule that you must feed anyone you require to work through lunch. 

beachyone15

Good morning. I'm so tired today. Woke up and my eyes felt tired, like they still wanted to be closed! This has been one heck of a week. Really, the whole month of September has kept me busy at work. Plus, this weekend is our party/friends get-together so all week we've been cleaning the house, building H's games, and finishing our house to-do list. Last weekend H power-washed the concrete slab in our backyard and it looks so good now!
Tonight we need to go shopping for party food/booze/plasticware. H also found a recipe and wants to make homemade bourbon vanilla ice cream. Sounds a little intimidating but I'm sure it will be delicious!
Only 1 and 1/2 weeks until our vacation!

Oh yeah, and I'm getting a SF box today! The first one in months, so I hope it's good.

@labro - Mmm, bbq pulled pork?
@jenjen047 - Way to go!!!
@speakeasy14 - Aww, I was also hoping to hear a crazy story! Although you probably saw some interesting people at Walmart. Whenever I go there, I always feel like the best dressed person in my t-shirt and jeans, lol!
@AlPacina - I'd love to go to Alaska - I bet it's beautiful!

madamerwin

@labro @speakeasy14 I did an escape room team building thing with my coworkers a couple of weeks ago, and it was WAY more fun than I thought it would be! Since my department has, like, 30 people, we were split into groups of 6-10. Our group had 10 people, and we ALMOST solved it by the end. We had to get a few hints from the magician (the goal was to figure out who framed the magician for his assistant's murder), because some of them were really hard. I think we would have figured it out if we had 10 more minutes. 

Apparently one of the other groups didn't have such a good time - they barely made progress by the time the hour was up. So I guess it depends on the scenario and who you have in your group, but I would totally do it again.

Today kind of sucks. I have two meetings this morning, neither of which I am looking forward to. They will both be awful. But at least it's Wednesday and not Monday, right?

AlPacina

@madamerwin - Of course it's not Monday! How can you even joke about that?!?

@speakeasy14 - It's a billion different people from a billion different departments that just try and squeeze in a meeting during an hour when no one is busy. Unfortunately that's sometimes the second hour of lunch that you were praying would be left available. I really think it would help if all meetings were 45 minutes, and start on the hour. That way, no matter what, I'd have 15 minutes to grab a snack.

@beachyone15 - Vacation! I'm so excited for you! Hopefully the weather keeps up. It's been perfect lately.

speakeasy14

@beachyone15 & @alpacina -- there were only two memorable walmart characters; a couple with an aide dog.  The dog needed a bath desperately, as did the couple. 

speakeasy14

@AlPacina ah so you should start blocking out time on your calendar for lunch so no one can book a meeting at that time 

AlPacina

speakeasy14 said:

@AlPacina ah so you should start blocking out time on your calendar for lunch so no one can book a meeting at that time 

@speakeasy14 - Definitely already tried that. It's important that I come home and take Marv for a walk most days. Haven't done that for the majority of days since I started the new gig. I'll get better at declining meetings when I'm not in such a catch up/learning/make a good impression mode.

Like I say, it's mostly because they choose the time when "most" of the people they need are available. I'm not important, though.

500days

@labro I hope you have fun at the escape room tonight. I have heard that they are fun! I wanted to do one with my coworkers but they only allow 6 people in the room and I work with more teachers than that. 
@jenjen047 way to go on the weight loss! 
@speakeasy14 I hate when the cable/internet or power goes out for no reason. It happens here at my school sometimes.
@AlPacina I bet it's super cold in Alaska though......but yeah I'm with you- I'd go again!
@beachyone15 Can't wait to see you AW your SF box. I wish I could use SF! Nothing fits me

Hey guys! I am on my free period and I have been dying to check in here all week! So far the day has been flying because I have been in PD all morning. I have one more period to go and then I have a special ed meeting at the high school. Tonight's dinner is looking like stuffed peppers with sauce. My life is so exciting!!! Hahaha! I wish I had more going on to share with you all. I have to go to class, but I'll try and come back later!

beachyone15

@AlPacina - I hope it's nice too; and that it won't rain too much since most of what we are doing on our trip is outdoor activities. At least I'll be traveling to a place that has cooler temps and actually feels like fall - I'm excited about that!

@500days - Yeah, SF is hit or miss for me. None of their pants fit me right, but I've found some cute tops. I've seen a lot of people online asking for plus-size, petite, and maternity wear so maybe they'll expand their sizes soon! I'm sure that would help their business!

wink0erin

@labro I've wanted to do an escape room but there haven't been any near me! One just opened an hour from where I live, so I'm sure its only a matter of time before one pops up in my city. They look way fun. 
@jenjen047 Yay for weightloss! And yeah, it's been quiet here. 
@speakeasy14 I hate when the power randomly goes out! It had been doing that a lot in my area (luckily not my house, but nearby neighborhoods) for hours at a time, and my power would usually go out for one hour when the power company was doing the final repairs. 
@KeptinStitches I kind of giggled about the homework, it reminded me of something I had to do in college and after hours of work and talking to other classmates we all basically gave up. Next class the professor informed us there had been a major typo so the problem was basically unsolvable. 
@AlPacina The first months at a new job are always teh most suck! And lunch meetings are garbage. 


I'm glad its Wednesday but I wish it was Thursday! Last night I met up with one of my friends for happy hour. It had been a month or so since we last hung out, so it was nice to catch up! I didn't do much of anything once I got home. 

Work is slowwww this week, which isn't a bad thing, but it sure makes for long, boring days. No plans tonight, but tomorrow I am going to happy hour with another friend I haven't seen in a while. She just started dating a mutual friend around the time me and exBF broke up, so I'm sure we have a lot to catch up on.

PamBeesly524

@labro I did an escape room when I was visiting my friend in SC earlier this year! It was a locally owned one, so I'm not sure how similar it is to the chains out there but we had an absolute blast. We got out seconds before the end with zero hints - apparently we were only the second group to do so! It was so so challenging but really fun if you like puzzles.

@AlPacina I want to go to Alaska too please!

@beachyone15 I just sent back what I thought was my final SF box since it was a 0/0. My stylist gave me a pencil skirt and a tank top, even though I asked for a fall fix. She also gave me a bag in the exact same color as another bag I already kept. When i checked out this morning though I noticed that my styling fee is waived for my next box, so now I'm torn between sticking to my guns and not ordering another, or ordering one for the hell of it since it's free and seeing what comes.

Hope everyone is doing well! I'm back at work after a little mini vaca/work trip. My company's national meeting was in Orlando this year at a Universal hotel, so H and I went down a couple of days early. We left on Thurs and spent most of that day at the hotel pool. Friday we got up super early and checked out Universal Studios... The hotel we stayed at allowed us to get in an hour before the park opened, so we got to do a bunch of Harry Potter stuff before it got busy. We are both huge HP nerds so we had so much fun checking everything out. We did some fun rollercoasters and other rides too throughout the park. Sat. was a full pool day. He left early Sunday, so I stayed at the pool all day until my co workers arrived. We had a welcome dinner with new product samples on Sunday night, meetings Monday morning, and then they gave us afternoon passes so I got to go back to Universal.

Monday night they had a huge dinner for us and rented out a karaoke place. This place had a full band and backup singers that accompanied you! Needless to say, the company had an absolute blast with that and the open bar. My co worker and I got up and sang Total Eclipse of the Heart ( I used to always sing it at karaoke with all of my friends in college) and it was so. much. fun.

We had half a day of meetings yesterday and I flew back last night. Now I'm trying not to die at my desk.

speakeasy14

Does anyone have any remedies for breakouts for sensitive skin? Since I got the IUD I've had horrible breakouts and nothing is working.  I hate looking like I'm 13. 


*added*
@PamBeesly524 that sounds like an awesome work trip! Ours are nowhere near as fun! 

labro

@speakeasy14 Re: Breakouts...I'm no help. I'm like the model citizen for an IUD. I haven't had anything abnormal happen to me. Maybe go to Sephora and do a skin analysis and talk to them and see what products they recommend?

@AlPacina @beachyone14 @speakeasy14 @wink0erin @500days and anyone else I missed -

THE ESCAPE ROOM WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!! We didn't get out. Our's was a "diamond heist" room theme so it had a 2 part goal. 1, retrieve the diamond, 2, escape the room. We got the diamond but didn't have enough time leftover to figure out the room escape. We took advantage of the hints because this was everyone's first time doing one of these things and they were very helpful without giving stuff away. I think if we had had 15 more minutes we could've made it the entire way...but alas. It was still fun though! I kind of want to do this as an anniversary date with H next month. We had a group of 6 people and I think having 1 more person would've helped immensely because then we could've broken up our efforts a bit more.

@PamBeesly524 Sounds like a nice vacation! We went to Disney and Universal when I was 13 and I definitely thought Universal was far superior. I think it would be fun to go back and check out the different Harry Potter parks.

@beachyone15 I hate those mornings when you're so tired that your face feels tired. Hopefully you get a nice SF box to make up for everything!

beachyone15

@PamBeesly524- How fun! I heard they have butter beer there too! Did you get to try one?

@labro - That sounds awesome! Everyone who I know that has done an escape room says they are a lot of fun so I'll have to go see what all the hype is about now!
Also, I have these amazing soothing eye patches and I can't wait until 5pm when I can go home and stick them on my face!

labro

@beachyone15 I definitely didn't get the hype either but I had a genuinely good time. It was only an hour but it was fun!

PamBeesly524

@labro glad you had a good time! That sounds like a good one - I like how there were two objectives. I'm so torn because I really want to do one with H but I don't want to be put in a room with strangers, so we'all have to get a group together I think.

@beachyone15 I did have Butterbeer! That was one of those rare things that totally lived up to the hype. They have a soda kind and a frozen kind and H and I got one of each - they are basically just a butterscotch soda and a slurped but they put butterscotch flavored foam on top. I also had butterbeer ice cream the 2nd time I went and that was good too.

madamerwin

@PamBeesly524 The escape room place we went to lets you book the whole room - as in, you're never paired with strangers, but you still pay per person (not an outrageous fee). One of the groups from my work was in a room that was meant for 6 people max, so there are definitely some that could be appropriate for a couple of people.

wink0erin

@speakeasy14 I wish I had helpful info for breakouts, but I don't. When I have bad breakouts though I use this stuff I got at sephora that Clinique makes, it's a gel like substance in a tiny blue bottle and it works wonders. I ran out recently though and have literally just been dabbing on some rubbing alcohol when zits start popping up and it's weirdly effective. 

Anyone else here have an IUD? I want to get an IUD but I'm afraid it will mess me up really bad! I had bad side effects with low-hormone BC... the terrible breakouts, awful mood swings, no sex drive at all (so then it's like what's the point). I've considered the copper one instead but I've heard horror stories about cramps and bleeding from those. My lady doc appointment is next week so I'm going to ask about them, but if anyone else has an honest description of what it's like, hollllaaaa. 

labro

@wink0erin I have the copper IUD. I think you only hear about the horror stories because people tend to not share their good experiences. My gyno said I would be a good candidate for the copper based on my history of my cycle prior to being on the pill. My periods before the pill were fairly regular, usually lasted around 5 days, and weren't particularly heavy. I've had the Paragard IUD for something like just over 2 years now and I love it! It took a few months for my periods to regulate and I did have some heavy periods to begin with but since then my average cycle is 30 days, my periods tend to last 4-5 days with 1-2 heavy days and the rest medium/light. Since going off the pill I've noticed somewhat more PMSy feelings (sore boobs, mood swings) before my period...but nothing extreme and I don't have crazy breakouts anymore like I did when I was a teenager/in my early 20s.

So basically, I wouldn't recommend Paragard to someone who got on hormonal BC BECAUSE of heavy, irregular periods. I've heard that Mirena and Skyla are excellent options even if you've had bad reactions to the pill. The hormone is centralized to your ute and isn't all up in your blood stream messing with everything..and the dose is lower than anything you can find in an oral pill. My gyno gave me a pamphlet on all three and I decided from there.

For reference, Skyla is the smallest device of the 3 and is good for 3 years, but it's most recommended for women in our age range who haven't had children because the Mirena (being the largest) may not fit inside our ute. Paragard is in between the two sizewise, but lasts the longest (10 years I think).

wink0erin

@labro Thank you! You sound more like me, without BC my periods are regular and pretty light with very few side effects, so maybe copper is what I should look into.