Prudie Day!

charlotte989875

The weather is beautiful here today; low 70s with a breeze. I went for a run before my meetings (and before anyone would be looking for me!) this morning. J was up all night again; I think it’s partly being sick, part teething. Hoping it eases up soon! 

I’m doing compliance training for most of the morning. Please distract me with interesting Prudies! 

VarunaTT

My brain is hitting that "you've learned too much stuff, I'm not interested anymore" point, but I think I"m doing well.  My supervisor keeps telling me good questions and good job, so fingers crossed.

Nothing too much going on  Still have my eyelid taped down with no contact for one more day.  It's almost back to normal, just a bit swollen still, but I don't want to have to start the process over.  Making plans to have a big group visit with some friends in October that will be loads of fun.

Very ready for the weekend.

levioosa

Poor J. Little guy (and parents) need a break! 

I am back at work and four hours in all of the peaceful vacation was burned out of me. I am still pretty tired and I have a lot of shortness of breath. It's been hard because I was getting 13 hours a sleep every night and then taking a two hour nap during the day and now it's 6 hours of sleep and no nap. I'm not looking forward to the COVID-19 hair loss again either. I guess the silver lining is I was so sick on vacation I came back and my coworkers remarked I looked like I had lost weight, and yup, five pounds down. I miss vacation and it's only been two days. It did remind me that I do need to go and look more aggressively for a career that gives me more flexibility. Alaska was beautiful and I was just reminded of how much I like to travel and be outdoors (despite dying from COVID, lol). 

Otherwise, SSDD. It's hot here and next week is supposed to be over 100. Keeping our electric bill down in the summer is like an Olympic sport. 

ei34

Hope you begin to feel better @levioosa and on team more wonderful trips for you so I hope that a different job appears soon!
Feel better  J!

ExH did pull his usual shenanigans since it’s the twins’ birthday. Nothing like being cursed out and repeatedly called selfish on the ninth anniversary of delivering twins *eyeroll* I don’t think they expected to actually see him? DD definitely didn’t at least. I have some nice things panned for them for today though. 

And they had a ball at their friend party yesterday despite lots of rain. The pool grounds remain open even if the water closes- bc there was the occasional thunder the water kept closing but they had the whole area to themselves and bc they were in suits, all had fun running around in the rain.  But there were rain-protected canopy areas for the moms to hang. 

CharmedPam

levioosa said:

I miss vacation and it's only been two days. It did remind me that I do need to go and look more aggressively for a career that gives me more flexibility. Alaska was beautiful and I was just reminded of how much I like to travel and be outdoors (despite dying from COVID, lol). 

Yeeees! My last trip sparked a travel rabbit hole for me.  One of our shipmates loved Skagway so much she wanted to find a job and move up there.  I dunno, we went in June.  January is a different story.
Yesterday was a  bust.  I had someone come over to set up my hot tub but the industrial outlet wasn’t working.  I haven’t used it in 2 years. So my Dad has a friend who can test it out and take a look at it.  So no hot tub till late August I guess. I did go to trivia night after that mishap and it was a lot of fun and they have great burgers. Yaknow, I usually write reviews of places I don’t like (not always) and I need to write reviews of places I do! I’ll start with this place. 

Personal question; how long do you let… say a ham and turkey sandwich (and curly fries) in the fridge go before you shouldn’t eat it?

levioosa

@CharmedPamI also loved Skagway although I'm pretty sure I would be driven nuts eventually by the fact that everything is like 2-3 hours away. Also being so far from a major hospital would freak me out. I did do a summer job once where even Walmart was 2.5 hours away and it was wonderful but also a little too rural for me. And I did have a serious health emergency at that time and knowing that I could be internally hemorrhaging (an extremely large ovarian cyst burst) while driving two hours to a hospital was terrifying. I have to say, my Aunt and Uncle's place was great. It was in an Anchorage suburb so there were so many hiking trails, but we could also get good Indian food and go to Walgreens within 10-15 minutes. And the way their house was situated, it felt like you were secluded in the woods, but you did have neighbors close by. My aunt was trying to get me to move up there and it was tempting, but I am also sure I would hate the winter. I don't like the cold. I don't ski or snowboard or do other winter sports and you kind of have to do that to keep your sanity up there. 

EF: Words

CharmedPam

levioosa  I have to say, my Aunt and Uncle's place was great. It was in an Anchorage suburb so there were so many hiking trails, but we could also get good Indian food and go to Walgreens within 10-15 minutes. And the way their house was situated, it felt like you were secluded in the woods, but you did have neighbors close by. 

That sounds amazing. And i hear you.  I couldn’t move to a place where amazon 2-day prime was 4.  That would be my determining factor when talking to the real estate agent. “Is 2-day prime REALLY 2 day prime up here?”

VarunaTT

@CharmedPam in all seriousness, I probably have eaten things I shouldn't, especially as a single person.  I try not to go more than 4-5 days though since that's how long my batch cooking is supposed to last as well.  A lot will depend on how easy it is to warm up in the air fryer. 

short+sassy

@VarunaTT, I took Prime day as an opportunity to try the DIM supplement you were talking about the other day.  I did some research on it.  It sounds like it has the potential to help, but there's no telling until I try it.  The one I chose had 1,000s of positive reviews and was only $11 for 120 pills.  So I figured "what the heck!", it's such a small investment to see if it helps me with my energy and some of my perimenopausal symptoms. 

At the last minute, I also bought one of those mini stair steppers.  I'd been thinking about getting one for awhile, but was waiting for Prime.  And then almost totally forgot about it!  Of course, I hadn't done any research so now it's past my bedtime and I spent another hour doing that.

I was initially worried about how much of a workout it is and how many calories are burned, considering you're just standing in place moving your feet up and down.  But apparently it's a lot!  15 minutes is equivalent to 25-30 minutes of running.  And the way people talked about it, it's tough.  Especially when you first start.  I suspect I'll barely be able to do 5 minutes until I get my endurance up, lol.

I love that it's so small, for something that can supposedly give a good workout and burn a lot of calories. 

I also looked at those little elliptical machines that you can do sitting down.  I didn't buy one because they are over $100 and only burn about 150 calories/hour.  But now I'm kinda regretting that.  Sure, they don't burn that many calories/hour compared to most other exercises.  But they also aren't very physically taxing and I could cycle for hours while I'm watching tv or WFH.

It probably didn't help that most of the reviews were senior citizens talking about their medical ailments and how this device has helped them keep in shape, now that they can no longer do XYZ sports/exercises.  I'm not a 75-year-old woman with bad hips...yet, lol.

banana468

It's cooler here today thank goodness!  THe storms that blew through last night were loud and I saw how the Foo Fighters set was cut short last night.  We go tomorrow and the weather looks better so my fingers are crossed!

Works' been nuts and I'm covering for people who are out.  The weekend needs to come FAST! 

ei34

@charmedpam @levioosa not the same, there’s only one Alaska (which I’d like to visit someday), but whenever I’m at the New Hampshire house in the woods I picture myself moving there permanently. And then remember how far away things like hospitals are. And that you can’t walk to get basic groceries. And that teacher salaries start in the mid-30s at the school district in town 🫠 so NYC suburb it is, for now. But I’ve been extremely tempted!

VarunaTT

@short+sassy I think it took about a month to see results.  When I stoppd for that week (maybe about 10 days) the symptoms did creep back slowly.  When I started taking it again I think it took avout a week or a little more for things to get back to normal.  But not having night sweats is amazing and helps so much.  If that's all it would do, that'd be enough!

short+sassy

levioosa said:

@CharmedPamI also loved Skagway although I'm pretty sure I would be driven nuts eventually by the fact that everything is like 2-3 hours away. Also being so far from a major hospital would freak me out. I did do a summer job once where even Walmart was 2.5 hours away and it was wonderful but also a little too rural for me. And I did have a serious health emergency at that time and knowing that I could be internally hemorrhaging (an extremely large ovarian cyst burst) while driving two hours to a hospital was terrifying. I have to say, my Aunt and Uncle's place was great. It was in an Anchorage suburb so there were so many hiking trails, but we could also get good Indian food and go to Walgreens within 10-15 minutes. And the way their house was situated, it felt like you were secluded in the woods, but you did have neighbors close by. My aunt was trying to get me to move up there and it was tempting, but I am also sure I would hate the winter. I don't like the cold. I don't ski or snowboard or do other winter sports and you kind of have to do that to keep your sanity up there. 

EF: Words

I am still mourning they cancelled the Skagway port for my cruise.  That was the BIG stop!  We were going to be there for something like 12 hours.  I had two excursions planned, plus wanted to see the bordello museum in town.  One of the main things I was looking forward to on my trip was a helicopter ride to see glaciers.  But that was unfortunately at the Skagway port (sigh).

I'm with you.  I would never want to live in AK.  Too cold.  Too far from the rest of the world.  Some of the larger cities/towns would be fine for everyday convenience.  But I would never live anywhere that's a couple hours away from a hospital and Walmart-like stores.

I am way too much of a city girl.  I want the choice of more restaurants than I could ever possibly eat at.  An airport nearby.

Jen4948

Feel better J and @levioosa!

Today I was on the Bernina Express from Chur, Switzerland to Torino, Italy, and then on a bus around Lake Como to Lugano (back in Switzerland).

mrsconn23

I'm here.  Work is actually happening today and then I was in a meeting. 

We have a branded store for work full of logoed items from shirts/sweatshirts, to actually useful stuff.  I have two Brumates, a cooler bag, etc.  They came out with a Bogg-style bag this year that says "Hola Beaches" on it that I ordered.  It came today and it's so cute and really big.  I'm so excited to use it.  LOL  Also, glad I never ordered a Bogg bag when they were super viral.  

SSDD otherwise.  Prudie is coming. 

levioosa

@short+sassy Which ports did you visit? We went to Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Glacier National Park/Bay and College Fjord. I can honestly say that we didn't have a "bad port." I was expecting Ketchikan to be uber touristy and I kind of hate that. But honestly it was beautiful and walking around town was a lot of fun. I found out too late that there was a really cool hotel and bar overlooking the port but H and I had separated and he refused to walk up the (tbh, mountain, so I can't blame him) to get to it and we were running out of time in port. 

MyNameIsNot

@VarunaTT - I missed the rec before, can you share again? Night sweats can die a horrible death. 

Nothing much interesting for me. Camping tomorrow and I've done 0 to get ready. I should be spending my lunch break pulling stuff out to load up, but instead I'm disassociating on social media. We're supposed to get storms this weekend. I guess I'd rather camp in stormy weather than 100 degrees, so there's that. One of my friends isn't bring her kids, so we might jump in their camper if it gets too bad. 

charlotte989875

mrsconn23 said:

I'm here.  Work is actually happening today and then I was in a meeting. 

We have a branded store for work full of logoed items from shirts/sweatshirts, to actually useful stuff.  I have two Brumates, a cooler bag, etc.  They came out with a Bogg-style bag this year that says "Hola Beaches" on it that I ordered.  It came today and it's so cute and really big.  I'm so excited to use it.  LOL  Also, glad I never ordered a Bogg bag when they were super viral.  

SSDD otherwise.  Prudie is coming. 

Okay that’s great marketing and I’d totally buy that too. Our branded store just has boring polos and golf bags. 

VarunaTT

@MyNameIsNot It's supplement that is short handed to DIM, I can't remember what it stands for,  I got mine off of Amazon like S&S did and just chose the one that was best rated and priced well.

ETA: the bottle says estrogen balance supplement or something like that.

banana468

Also could not live in a place far from a hospital.  I have to say that right now it makes me uneasy when I think if taking a family trip to tropical destinations that are outside the US at the moment having DH with current IBS issues and my concerns with Chiquita.  We're in a good spot but I always have this lingering feeling we could  not be one day and I'd hate to be in an area where she needs to be tranfused again and we're just trying to leave the country.

I'm grateful I live where I do where yesterday there were 19 turkeys walking through my backyard but I'm 10 minutes from an ER to treat acute symptoms and 40 minutes from the hospital where we go for Chiquita's infusions. 

levioosa

@banana468 If it makes you feel better, there are plenty of tropical places with fantastic healthcare, despite what US propaganda tries to tell everyone. Honestly there were some countries I would have rather been in with some of my health issues because going to a small US rural community hospital is horrifying. Even working in a community hospital in a major city is horrifying half the time. I tell my H all the time, "I better be close to dead for you to take me to X,Y,Z local hospital. Take me to a major university center if we at all have a choice." 

short+sassy

levioosa said:

@short+sassy Which ports did you visit? We went to Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Glacier National Park/Bay and College Fjord. I can honestly say that we didn't have a "bad port." I was expecting Ketchikan to be uber touristy and I kind of hate that. But honestly it was beautiful and walking around town was a lot of fun. I found out too late that there was a really cool hotel and bar overlooking the port but H and I had separated and he refused to walk up the (tbh, mountain, so I can't blame him) to get to it and we were running out of time in port. 

It was the same ones as you, except College Fjord wasn't included.

We also had Victoria, BC on the last night.  Got to have that one international port so the cruise doesn't fall under US laws!  Especially labor laws.

I didn't even get off the ship.  It was really a shame because I have always wanted to see the famous gardens there.  But we were only there for 4 hours and it was at night.  The gardens are open and they do special lighting for night tours  I bet those night tours are mainly to harvest cruise ship passenger dollars, lol.  But it's over 30 minutes away from port.  You're only at the gardens for about 2.5 hours.  And the cost was something ridic. like $150/person.  It includes the shuttle bus, but still.

levioosa

short+sassy said:

levioosa said:

@short+sassy Which ports did you visit? We went to Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Glacier National Park/Bay and College Fjord. I can honestly say that we didn't have a "bad port." I was expecting Ketchikan to be uber touristy and I kind of hate that. But honestly it was beautiful and walking around town was a lot of fun. I found out too late that there was a really cool hotel and bar overlooking the port but H and I had separated and he refused to walk up the (tbh, mountain, so I can't blame him) to get to it and we were running out of time in port. 

It was the same ones as you, except College Fjord wasn't included.

We also had Victoria, BC on the last night.  Got to have that one international port so the cruise doesn't fall under US laws!  Especially labor laws.

I didn't even get off the ship.  It was really a shame because I have always wanted to see the famous gardens there.  But we were only there for 4 hours and it was at night.  The gardens are open and they do special lighting for night tours  I bet those night tours are mainly to harvest cruise ship passenger dollars, lol.  But it's over 30 minutes away from port.  You're only at the gardens for about 2.5 hours.  And the cost was something ridic. like $150/person.  It includes the shuttle bus, but still.

You'll go next time  

And yeah, some of the cruise excursions were obscene. Like I wanted to do a hike in Juneau originally, and there was an excursion which took you to the glacier and then did a 7 mile hike up a mountain. I was totally down for that, but then the cost was $150 PP! For a hike? Hell no. We ended up doing an excursion through the port for whale watching and while I was stressing out about times the whole time (truly, I am way too Type A to go on an excursion with a return time 10 minutes before we had to be back on the boat), it was absolutely wonderful, and it was like half the price of what the cruise wanted. I do have to say I felt much more at ease booking an offshore excursion in Alaska vs when we went in the Caribbean because I felt like the stakes for the vendors were higher to maintain timeliness and get us back to the cruise. The one we booked also said if they got us back late, they would pay for accommodations for the night and for transportation to the next port, which made me feel a lot better. That's an insane promise for like 25-30 people, so I knew they had incentive to get us back on time.

short+sassy

levioosa said:

short+sassy said:

levioosa said:

@short+sassy Which ports did you visit? We went to Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau, Glacier National Park/Bay and College Fjord. I can honestly say that we didn't have a "bad port." I was expecting Ketchikan to be uber touristy and I kind of hate that. But honestly it was beautiful and walking around town was a lot of fun. I found out too late that there was a really cool hotel and bar overlooking the port but H and I had separated and he refused to walk up the (tbh, mountain, so I can't blame him) to get to it and we were running out of time in port. 

It was the same ones as you, except College Fjord wasn't included.

We also had Victoria, BC on the last night.  Got to have that one international port so the cruise doesn't fall under US laws!  Especially labor laws.

I didn't even get off the ship.  It was really a shame because I have always wanted to see the famous gardens there.  But we were only there for 4 hours and it was at night.  The gardens are open and they do special lighting for night tours  I bet those night tours are mainly to harvest cruise ship passenger dollars, lol.  But it's over 30 minutes away from port.  You're only at the gardens for about 2.5 hours.  And the cost was something ridic. like $150/person.  It includes the shuttle bus, but still.

You'll go next time  

And yeah, some of the cruise excursions were obscene. Like I wanted to do a hike in Juneau originally, and there was an excursion which took you to the glacier and then did a 7 mile hike up a mountain. I was totally down for that, but then the cost was $150 PP! For a hike? Hell no. We ended up doing an excursion through the port for whale watching and while I was stressing out about times the whole time (truly, I am way too Type A to go on an excursion with a return time 10 minutes before we had to be back on the boat), it was absolutely wonderful, and it was like half the price of what the cruise wanted. I do have to say I felt much more at ease booking an offshore excursion in Alaska vs when we went in the Caribbean because I felt like the stakes for the vendors were higher to maintain timeliness and get us back to the cruise. The one we booked also said if they got us back late, they would pay for accommodations for the night and for transportation to the next port, which made me feel a lot better. That's an insane promise for like 25-30 people, so I knew they had incentive to get us back on time.

It's always the gamble!  Do you take the excursion through the ship?  Pay double for it, but then you have the guarantee the ship will wait for you or pay to get you to the next port.

I almost always go through the ship because I'm paranoid about that kind of thing.  My only exceptions are if whatever am doing is close enough to port that I can take a cab in a worst case scenario.  And have enough buffer time to do that.

I was just reading a news story on this subject on the Cruises subreddit.  A family of 9 had booked an excursion through Norwegian, in Ketchikan.  But there was a mix-up with the shuttle bus on the way back.  People who had not taken that excursion had gotten onto the bus, so now there wasn't enough room.  The tour operator told them another shuttle bus was coming.  But it didn't come in time and they missed the ship.

Norwegian had to cough up 5-figures for the extra travel expenses it cost to make it right.

A funny conversation that happened within the forum post.  The person who posted it had a link to the NYC newspaper with the article.  The headline said something about being "stranded in remote Alaska".

The top comment was something like, "Alaska has a lot of remote locations.  But Ketchikan isn't one of them.  There is an airport with multiple, daily non-stop flights to Seattle."

Someone replied and pointed out this is a NYC paper.  And that Staten Island is a remote location to them, lol.

CharmedPam

Ok so I asked about the food question because on Monday I brought my monte cristo sandwich in, and by Wed it was thrown out.  I’m a 4-5 dayer too and people in our office aren’t but we left things in the fridge WAY longer than that before.  So I was mad! But we ordered lunch today anyway.

Skagway was my favorite port. We panned for gold. I made $10! But I also paid $130 to pan for it…. Lol.  I’d go back and do the brothel tour! Oh what a time to be alive. Bordellos and gold!
our Victoria trip was also 4 hours at night. I felt the same way, I didn’t want to do a 3 or 3.5 hour tour then.  We did a 2 hr bus one which was nice.  Victoria is a beautiful island. I’d go for a vacation vacation.  Well, I’m on a cruise high right now, and everywhere I go, I’d like to go by ship!

levioosa

@short+sassy I am loling about Ketchikan's airport though. We passed it and it was hilariously small. Even Anchorage's airport was super tiny. We checked in and got through security in like ten minutes. Aunt and Uncle didn't have to fight for their lives to pull over and unload us, it was great. Meanwhile LAX is a hellscape that I'll do pretty much anything to avoid. I used to only do non-stop flights but now I'll take a layover if means leaving from the closer airport and avoiding LAX. 

@CharmedPam I would say I'm all about cruises but my aunt caught COVID on her cruise in April. We both got it on our cruise, and I had a coworker also get COVID on their cruise, so now I'm scarred. We did talk about how cool a European cruise would be though.

short+sassy

@levioosa:

Me:  "Mom!  I can get a $123 r/t ticket to LAX!"

Mom:  "I will pay whatever the difference is for you to fly into Orange County."  Lol.

banana468

levioosa said:

@banana468 If it makes you feel better, there are plenty of tropical places with fantastic healthcare, despite what US propaganda tries to tell everyone. Honestly there were some countries I would have rather been in with some of my health issues because going to a small US rural community hospital is horrifying. Even working in a community hospital in a major city is horrifying half the time. I tell my H all the time, "I better be close to dead for you to take me to X,Y,Z local hospital. Take me to a major university center if we at all have a choice." 

Yeah we had one near where I went to school with a PhD student in Public Health saying "If you have to choose between death or X Hospital choose death."