re BMI: I remember years ago reading an interview with a woman who was on "American Gladiators" (remember that?). Anyway, she was quite short and heavily muscled, with very little in the way of fat ... she's wanted to be a stewardess, but was too heavy for their height/weight chart.

tl:dr

Totally lost my cool (in a subdued way) with a coworker today (too obvious deep-calming-breaths).

She showed up thirty minutes before I was due to leave (and was in the middle of my creative zone) and wouldn't leave until she got answers, which would ideally mean that I could confer with my boss before we got back to her with a unified response, except she had him cornered too (and he's far more polite than me).

She sent the email requesting information on Monday. We were closed yesterday. I responded as best I could this morning and had sent an email to my boss when I realized we hadn't covered all the information and he had immediately taken off to deal with other work. And then when that was done, she proceeded to dump two other brand new topics on us that, again, we'd need to confer together about, but she wanted answers right then.

She's the kind of person that exhausts you to death with too much unnecessary information to set the scene, too much irrelevant background information, repetition, and refuses to understand "I don't know, can we get back to you?" She is circular to the point where even when you give her the answer and settle it, she begins to reiterate all the irrelevant information and gives more background information (that you already just heard, because you were a part of that conversation) that is now moot. ETA that she also talks so much and so fast that you have to be extremely rude and firm to interrupt her.

I fumed at my desk after she left for about five minutes, tried to resume what I'd been working on, then gave it up about twenty minutes past when I was supposed to clock out (I know, someone call the waaambulance) because I was so derailed.

I made the mistake of popping my head into her departments office to say goodnight to her and her boss, and she caught me again in reiterating what we'd discussed, realizing that I was stressed because our conversation, and said that she didn't want to make me stress and just wanted to get us all on the same page. I tried to explain that I felt ambushed, said yup, we're all on the same page now (she pulled a face), and I could tell that she was still aware that I was not happy and there really wasn't much more either of us could say without coming out with declarative things like "you really need to schedule a meeting time if you want to have a conversation that takes twenty minutes or more" and "your circularity sends my blood pressure skyrocketing" because as bad as she is when she's trying to be on top of her own shit, it deteriorates to pencil-breaking levels (on my part) when she knows you are angry with her because then she gets stressed. And she really is a sweet woman with a ton of integrity. And I wish I wasn't such a horrible person with a short temper. My boss made me feel ashamed with his genuine-sounding (not that I believe it actually is sincere, since he keeps pulling this shit where he reads an email, and then gives it no thought, and definitely no response, until Circular!Gal comes and ambushes us) "I apologize for not responding to you immediately" and "thank you for bringing this to my attention again". I can't even be good enough to sincerely apologize for being rude, or pretend to be sincere, because my apologies sound like "I'm sorry you piss me off".

And I'm not even the one stuck playing bumper cars with the rolling chairs with her in the world's tiniest office.

For more efficiency in the kitchen with less dread of leftovers, some of you might benefit from the "cook once, eat twice" school of thought. One day's meatloaf and baked potatoes can become another day's shepherd's pie with not a horrible amount of effort and a bit of oven time.

Oh yeah, that's how I was raised. I didn't get the whole "hating leftovers" thing until I realized we never had them! We might have roast chicken, then chicken pasta, then chicken soup, but not the same thing multiple nights. Of course, it turns out I don't really mind the same thing on multiple nights!

One of the main reasons (there were several) I stopped doing Weight Watchers was that my leader chided me for lifting weights because that would make me heavier.

Holy shit.

Even though muscle weighs more than fat? Do the leaders lose commissions if they have enough clients actually losing numbers rather than fat? Messed up.

When I came out of Basic Training, I weighed exactly the same as when I went in, even though I was skinnier and more fit.

Whew, it is good to have my phone back within arm's reach where it belongs.

Hey, Mrs. Conat, I just got an email about how I helped your room!

Did you write that?

Yeah, I think there was a push to get each center to show good numbers or some such. It's the only way they can document results unless they do a body fat percentage test on everyone, and I don't think that's feasible.

Anyhow, I also suspect that this particular center was unusually toxic in a number of ways. YWWMV.

In a new one for me, at the library tonight there is a homeless man who has, among his other belongings on the table in front of him, an air freshener. It's touching, but also not helping (I hate artificial smells).

(I hate artificial smells).

One of my neighbors uses a lotion that stinks of fake roses. I despise fake floral smells.

It looks like I've missed the window to get in on the health insurance discount thingy, anyway. The deadline to join up is February 28, but the deadline to get a voucher for a biometric screening if you work off-site was January 16. So unless they give me a special dispensation to use the information already collected a month ago by my doctor, I'm out for this year. Weird - I didn't want to do it, until I found out I probably couldn't, and now I want to! So contrary.

Yay offer letter, Jessica! Did I say yay to Plei, too? Yay, Plei!

Zen, Is any of the stuff you could craigslist or eBay?

Oh, absolutely. I am resisting doing that because it's a pain in the butt, basically. That's one of the many things I want to have done more than I want to do.

But I was shocked and appalled at the money I spent on weekly and monthly basies for essentially nothing, just to cheer a moment in my bleak workday, or keep me from buying an ouzi, instead.

This, exactly. I was spending a lot of money on useless stuff just for a momentary lift of my spirits. Generally by the time I got the item home, I'd already forgotten about it. Lots of shoes, lots of clothes, a shit-ton of books I'll never actually read. My MO now, when I think I want something, is to walk away from it and wait. If I forget about it, I didn't want it; if I remember it the next day and still want it, then I might buy it. Mostly, though, I forget. The Amazon wish list helps too; instead of buying a thing, I put it there and tell myself someone else can buy it for me.

Note, not sticking to the budget, that I'm not going to even try to do until after Iceland

I'm so excited for you all going to Iceland! My BF and I talked about going to see the eclipse, but we don't have the money this year, alas. I hope you take many photos and share them with us!

Food is definitely our biggest money waster -- we just eat out or get takeout much more often than is financially desirable.

This is supposed to be The Year I Learn to Cook For Real. We'll see. So far the progress I've made is in re-organizing my tiny tiny kitchen so it's actually useable as a space to cook, instead of just being counter-space to drop mail on and a microwave.

I will not stop Netflix, TiVo, or home internet unless I lose my job. Those 3 total $75 a month which still cheaper than cable.

I keep thinking I should cut cable, but I don't want to. I don't want to go hunting for the shows I want, I want them delivered to my DVR. The cable part of the bill is only about $68 anyway. Cutting home internet is right out, and I pay for the fastest speed Comcast (*spit*) provides because I need it for work. I should take that extra bit off my taxes, I guess.

When Hubby was young, his mother would put a pot of soup on the stove and say "We're eating this till it's gone." They diligently ate and ate, wondering when it would be gone. They were not pleased to discover her refilling the pot in the middle of the night. I believe the pot got thrown out into the yard.

That's a great story, though.

I am talky meat tonight. I think that means I'm feeling better.

She's the kind of person that exhausts you to death with too much unnecessary information to set the scene, too much irrelevant background information, repetition, and refuses to understand "I don't know, can we get back to you?" She is circular to the point where even when you give her the answer and settle it, she begins to reiterate all the irrelevant information and gives more background information (that you already just heard, because you were a part of that conversation) that is now moot. ETA that she also talks so much and so fast that you have to be extremely rude and firm to interrupt her.

Oh, so you've met my sister.