I started going to the gym last week (there's one downstairs in my building we can use for free, so I really ran out of excuses). I usually do 45-60 minutes but today after 20 mins on the elliptical I thought I was going to keel over and die so I called it a day. Weird.

I feel better/more energetic since I started going, but now like.. I'm breaking out all over the place? I've had bad skin my entire life, but it's finally under control, but the second I start working out, BOOM, face exploded? Not fair!

zuisa, I wonder if you are sweating out some stuff that has been deep inside your pores lying inert until disturbed or something. And then after all that gunk gets cleared away, you will have better fitness and better skin, perhaps.

I just spend an hour shoveling snow. If there was any doubt that I have lost a lot of upper body strength since I stopped working at the house with a lot of lifting, that is gone. What a weakling I am. On the other hand, potato chips and dip is a perfectly reasonable and nutritious breakfast after all that exertion.

WindSparrow, that is what I am hoping. And today I made sure to wash my face both right before and right after going, and ensuring I don't touch my face after touching gym equipment, even after wiping it down.

Chips and dip is ABSOLUTELY perfectly reasonable after shoveling snow. Shoveling snow is horrible and so much work.

~ma in abundance for your Mom, and you, Strix. I hope they figure things out quickly.

WTF? I've been getting phone calls from this same number nearly every day for weeks. They never leave a message, and when I do pick up, there's no one there. This time, I picked up, and there was someone there. He said they're from a medical collection agency, and were calling about a bill I hadn't paid. (They were right -- I'd put it in a stack and then forgotten about it.) He said I could pay it by telling them the numbers from my checking account. I said I wasn't comfortable giving that information over the phone, and I'd pay the bill by sending a check. He started giving me this whole spiel about how they already have all sorts of information about me, and they know my social security number and date of birth, and that's much more important information than my checking account number, and so there's no reason why I shouldn't tell them my account number.

That sounds like typical debt collector tactics to me. Ew.

The general consensus? Avoid giving your bank account information to a debt collector unless you've set up a separate account for this purpose.

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Yeah, I hung up, and I just went to my bank account website and paid the bill that way.

What is this snow you are talking about?

My sister is currently at a Field Trip Expo. Like, a whole big trade show type thing where you walk around and see all the different field trips you could take your class/program/campers on. That sounds so awesome.

I once had a collection agency calling me about an unpaid medical bill ... and when I told them I hadn't received the invoice, they slipped up and acknowledged that the invoice hadn't been sent. They did send a second invoice, which I paid promptly.

In stupid people news: I manage our weekly electronic newsletter; some of our members don't receive it in the general distribution, so I forward my copy to them individually. Yesterday we got a call from someone complaining that HIS copy arrived with MY name on it ... so now, I have to include a note with the forwarded issues explaining that they're receiving the forwarded copy because they weren't getting it otherwise. jeepers