Favorite Things

Grrrr. This is the THIRD TIME I HAVE STARTED THIS POST.

The whole point of this post was to talk about how much I love the new Butterfinger Crisp and how awesome it is. This was before I tried to visit the Butterfinger Site.

WELL. I hope no one whom I care about EVER visits the Butterfinger site EVER in their ENTIRE EXISTENCE. It crashed Firefox and Internet Explorer both, in some complicated way that I can't fix without restarting my computer! Something to do with cookies? And not the good ones, either--in Firefox, I had to close it, and now I can't open it again. It keeps saying my default profile is already in use! What? Several checks on Task Manager, both in Applications and Processes, have shown no use of Firefox. I'm confused. Then IE crashed when I tried to use it instead, and in signing onto Blogger, it told me I wasn't accepting cookies anymore! WTF?

It was extremely complicated, annoying, and suprising. So, eat Butterfinger Crisp as much as you can, but don't buy it--go straight to the factory nearest you and steal it in bags!

Also, more least favorite things: My coworker and Mentor (in name, at least) just walked in from an all-day meeting. He walked in, walked to the back of the row of cubes where his desk and my desk are (and it's a long way), poked his head in, said hi, and walked out again.

I sat in shock for a moment before it came to me: THAT MOTHERFUCKER CAME ALL THE WAY INTO WORK TO SEE IF I WAS STILL HERE!

ASSWIPE.

Also, I have updated the books in the sidebar to your right. They're all awesome.

I'm Evil with a Map, I'm Evil with a Map--or, the Axis of Evil.

You Are 48% Evil

You are evil, but you haven't yet mastered the dark side. Fear not though - you are on your way to world domination.

How Evil Are You?

I'm evil, and I'm okay with that.

Second:

Okay, I knew my EVIL commute of 60 miles round trip was bad for a) the environment, and b) my wallet. Which is why I'm moving. But I wasn't really aware of HOW bad. So when in the middle of my frantic online research/preparation for my impending move I came across this handy-dandy little calculator, I immediately entered my numbers, because I love calculators. Because I'm a nerd like that.

My dear IIF's, I am spending, roughly, $200 A MONTH in COMMUTING costs! And that's only gas! Not including wear and tear on the car!

Fuck THAT noise.

So, you wanna see how much closer I'll be? Huh? Huh?

Of course you do!



(Wondering why I have "my old apartment" on there? Read The Seattle Saga.)

Raise Up a Girl In the Way She Should Go II

Google didn't exist when I went to my first Expanding Your Horizons Conference, so they weren't a sponsor then. I was 12, my ears stuck out to Australia, I had big moon glasses, and I was wearing a dark teal sweatshirt, oversized, of course. It was 1993 and the Eighties were stubbornly holding on to our fashion psyche. (They might have left sooner and with less fuss if they'd known they'd be back 13 years later.) Local news anchors came in to cover it; we were at a local middle school.

I remember so much about that day: the lab we did our experiments in had black lab benches, I was wearing black jeans. Once when the camera was filming I looked straight into it. That was the day that led me down this path, this fascinating path of math and science and engineering and quantum physics and time travel. That was the day that started it. That day.

So I'm proud to see that my favorite company ever is now a proud sponsor. May millions of girls the world over be affected the way I was.

The Saga of Seattle. And Me.

Right, so I'm moving to Seattle!

Good Things: Shorter commute! Great bus system! Time to myself! Walking distance from clubs! EVERYTHING about Seattle will be good!

Bad Things: Um...this isn't the first time I've done this.
Really Bad Things: I failed miserably the first time.

Just eleven months ago, right before I started this blog, I was living in West Seattle--still technically Seattle proper but across Elliot Bay. It was beautiful and beachy, and I had a lovely apartment in a great location, but I was absolutely miserable. Why?

First, I learned to my great surprise (and WAAAAAAAY after I signed the lease) that you can't have dogs on the beaches in Seattle! There's a $500 fine! Yay!

Second, this was in the Dark Ages before Purl's Budget, so I had no idea that I couldn't really afford the apartment after all. According to my very rough (and very inaccurate) budget, I could totally afford it! And yet all my money was disappearing every month and I didn't know why! I thought maybe gnomes were taking it.

Third, I was driving to Tacoma to see TheBoy every weekend (not good for stress OR money, apparently) and not only was I not getting to know my new city or my new apartment, but Titan was missing me, barking, and driving the other apartment residents crazy. The assistant manager of the complex lived directly below me and he hated me. I was about to be evicted.

*Insert long weekend in which I ran away to Pittsburgh for CMU's Spring Carnival and crawled into a pitcher of Yuengling.*

After Carnival I sobered up, bucked up, came back to Seattle, and put my resourcefulness to good use. Two weeks later I was out of the lease, owing them nothing, footloose and fancy free. I moved in with my parents for the rest of May, then moved out at the start of June, and have lived in my current adorable little house ever since!

With me so far? Awesome.

Now: It's been ten months in the same house, gas prices are going up again, my Jeep is complaining that she never signed on to be a commuter vehicle, I feel bad driving 60 miles round trip each day on this small planet, and I have a ton of friends in Seattle. Solution? Move again! WOO! It's the answer to everything! When in doubt, move!

(Side note: while I was explaining this to R last night, he said, "Do you have gypsy blood in you or what?") (One summer in D.C. I moved seven times in thirteen weeks. You do the math.)

What's the apartment like? So glad you asked! Next post!

Why I Want to Drink at Work

I'm working as a site lead on a research team. The actual lead is in sunny Southern California. As much as I like my lead, his...leadership style, or lack thereof, is making my life...interesting. And by "interesting" I mean "fucking terrible".

So, Monday morning we had a big teleconference in which I'm supposed to give our customer our first draft. Let's not forget the fact that this is two weeks before the draft is actually due, and the customer already yelled at me for not having it ONE MONTH before the draft is due, so already I'm behind, under the gun, and in trouble. (WHY did you want the draft one month before due date? Surely that would obliterate the DUE DATE? Is that not the definition of a DUE DATE? But I digress.)

I made up a presentation outline (key word here is? Outline!) and sent it to my tech lead a week and a half ago, expecting to get feedback, so I could incorporate the feedback before the teleconference Monday morning. With me so far?

Monday morning, he calls: "Um...this isn't ready."
Me: "Um...I know. It's an outline. I sent it to you a week ago looking for feedback."
Him: "Well...it's not ready."
Me: thinking, no shit, Sherlock! "Well...okay.
Him: "I'm canceling the teleconference."
Me: "Okay, if that's what you want to do."
Him: "Well, it's not ready."
Me: "I hear you, it's not ready. That's why I sent it to you a week ago. So we could talk about it then."
Him: "Send out the cancel meeting notice. I'll call you later."
Me: thinking, SHIT. "Okay."

The customer who screamed at me three weeks ago for not having the draft responded to me: "No worries! Hope you feel better! Looking forward to the next meeting!"

Me:...WTF?

Later on that afternoon on the phone, I begin to take my tech lead through the presentation.

Him: "Most of the slides are blank."
Me: "It's an OUTLINE. The content of the slides should be summarized in the titles. The TITLES, Tech Lead."
Him: "Oh!"
Me: thinking, you've got to be kidding me.
*Moment of silence while my lead actually looks at the presentation for the first time.*
Him: "Oh, this isn't bad."
Me:...Oh, for fuck's sake!

I swear, it's like working with Schizophrenics.

Realization

You know it's a bad day when you think to yourself, in all seriousness, Man, I sure wish I could drink at work.

For the record, it's not quite noon.

Help me. Send tofu.

Tomorrow, I'm drinking jet fuel

So, let's say that you're me. And you're supposed to be in Kent at 7:30 in the morning. And you wake up at 8:00. (For reasons why this happened, see previous post.)

So you decide that, since the only reason you had to be in Kent was to go to a two-day systems engineering class, that they won't know or care if you're late and your manager certainly won't know, so you decide to take your time in the morning, showering and putting make up on and getting pretty, because you know you have a long day ahead of you. And you decide to open your work email and maybe answer some email because, in spite of your class, you still have a big project, the first draft of which is due on MONDAY, to do, and the other new hire working on it with you will be GONE FRIDAY AND MONDAY.

So you call the few people you know who work in Kent and they tell you a place to set up your computer, because your desk is really in South Seattle and yet you have to get things done in Kent and are planning to call suppliers, so you really need a phone.

AND THEN you drive to Kent, and on the way you talk to the Other New Hire you're working with, and you decide that, really, very few phone calls need to be made and you're going to email them (the suppliers) first anyway, so fuck that noise. You get lost while on the phone and curse, out loud, on a business phone call. You apologize and quickly find the nearest Starbucks, as it is now 10:15 in the morning and you have had no coffee.

You arrive in Kent and set up in the place your coworker told you about. You answer some emails, very quickly, and run to the systems engineering class.

You get there in time for some boring ethics talk and then you Break For Lunch. You and your friend decide to drive to Subway instead of eating in the cafeteria.

Subway takes forever. You and your friend scream back to the Engineering class. You arrive in time to pilfer the snacks and to take a personality test. You run out in order to meet Old White Guys who offered you a job, back in December, but you didn't take it because you got put on a really cool project. You meet Old White Guys. Apparently they didn't get the memo, the one about how you're on a really cool project now and can't leave it.

After about ten minutes, they try to call your manager and arrange the transfer of you down to them. You tell them you can't leave the project you're working on. They offer to take you half time, and again, they want to call your manager. It is a shock to realize that, even though they're doing high-tech electronics, it's not as high-tech as the stuff you're already working on. They offer you a chance to design your own projects. They take you on a tour of their labs. You agree to talk to you manager on Friday.

On drive home, talk to mother for forty-five minutes about weird turn that career has just taken. Talk to all boys on roster, set up dates, break dates. Talk to girls about plans for that night. Talk to T-Town Girl about apartment decorating. Eat something before you fall over.

Arrive home. Chatter nonstop at Roommate about nanotechnology vs. high-tech electronics until he reminds you, gently, that he has no idea what the fuck you're talking about. Retreat into room. Sit quietly for half an hour with wine and computer, picking nose, until it's time to go to Jazzbones to meet T-Town, Tacompton Tiffany, and a host of others.

Is it any wonder that I have trouble falling asleep at night?

I'M APPROVED!

(Like I wasn't going to be. But still.)

So, my dear IIF's, as of April first, I'll be a resident of Seattle!

The apartment management is very cool about some things. Not very flexible about move in dates, though--I have to wait to paint until I move in on the first. Too bad. I really want to go crazy with the painting! I want to paint windows and swags and all kinds of stuff! Never mind that I don't have an artistic bone in my body. I've been reading too many trompe l'oeil books and it looks easy to me now. Yes, y'all will get pictures of the terrible results, never fear.

It's probably better this way anyway--I get to put my furniture in now and see how it looks before painting. Although it's more work this way, I'm more likely to get a good result. So, c'est la vie.

Important questions for my listening (reading) audience: as I mentioned earlier, I recently got this duvet cover.

Only it's not as blue as it looks in the photo--more of a blue-gray. And because it's "all-terrain", it's nylon, like snowboarding pants. I really liked the idea, but once I got the box I'm not so sure. My (very small) bedroom in my new place has a nice big window and a ceiling fan, and I was thinking about making it an African safari-type-theme, with mosquito netting and such. The duvet cover might work well for that. Or I could go in more of a summer-harem-palace direction, with more pinks and reds and purples. And I could hang up my chaps and frame them like a symbol of power. The duvet cover would NOT go well in there!

Thoughts, suggestions?

The Impossibility of Getting Up On Time

Never mind all that dating crap. I just had to get it out.

On to bigger and better things! Like, for example, the impossibility of me getting up in the morning. At all. Under any circumstances. And to get a good picture of why it's impossible for me to get up, we'll have to start with:

A Typical Evening Schedule

9:00 pm (when the trouble starts): Home from any of the following: a) gym, b) errands, c) dropping by people's houses.

9:05 pm: Look into Roommate's room. If he's awake and watching TV, I'll join him for awhile. If not, skip directly to:

9:10 pm: Go through stuff on kitchen table that I have dropped at various earlier points in the day. Gather it up for beside reading material.

9:15 pm: Sit on bed with laptop and reading material. Plan to: read reading material, take notes on things I need for my apartment, write notes for the upcoming week/weekend, maybe write on my novel (progressing at the rate of one page per year)

9:30 pm: Hmmm, I'm falling asleep. Maybe I should stand up now and wash my face, brush my teeth, let the dogs out, put my pajamas on, and crawl underneath the covers.

10:00 pm: I'm too tired to do all that right now. I'll take a short nap, then get up and do all that, THEN go to bed for real. Set alarm for 15 minutes from now to make sure this happens.

10:15 pm: Alarm goes off for the first time.

10:24 pm: Alarm goes off for the second time.

10:33 pm: Alarm goes off for the third time.

10:42 pm: Alarm goes off for the fourth time.

(I could go on, but you get it, right?)

2:13 am: Wake up in a panic. Freezing. I am not under the covers, I am on TOP of the covers, and I'm so cold I'm shaking. I'm on the bed with all the lights on, face unwashed, birth control not taken, teeth not brushed, dogs not let out. I have breath like a small animal has curled up and died in my open mouth. My face is a sweaty, drooly, oil-slick. Titan has a wet spot under him in his bed because he's occasionally incontinent in his sleep when he hasn't been out recently. Lights all over the house are blazing away and I forgot to switch my laundry over.

2:40 am: Having taken care of all that, I crawl back into bed wide awake. I think: I could just get up. I have to get up in two hours anyway, right?

2:55 am: Toss and Turn. Set alarm for 4:30 am.

7:00 am: Wake up in a blind panic, already late for my meeting with my manager at 8:00 am. Call manager to say I will be late. Rush around the house doing everything. Leave at 8:30.

9:15 am: Roll into work almost three hours late. And the day only gets better from there!

My dear IIF's, I am not lying when I say I do this EVERY FREAKIN' NIGHT.

And in spite of all this, I got a raise! And I'm being promoted!

(Actually, the promotion is contingent on a Perfect Attendance Record. They're on to me.)

So, in the spirit of Doing Things Better, I Hereby Resolve to NOT DO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. Sit ANYWHERE on my bed without having done all night chores. (See above.)
2. EVER assume that "this time will be different."
3. Try to take a NAP at NIGHT!
4. Go to bed without washing my face!

I'll let y'all know how it goes.

Also, I need these tools:

1. An Alarm Clock for the Deaf. Shake me up, baby!
2. iPod Alarm Clock. Yes, I'm a sucker for commercials, and I want to start every day with AC/DC's Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. Because I, too, want to Just Do It!

What will I do with two alarm clocks? Wake the hell up, finally. Maybe.

SheWalks has said all that I want to say.

Click the title for the link to her post.

I do not have a boyfriend--in fact, I've worked hard to be single--but the same principle applies. Only More So. Because I don't have ONE boy in my life that can be offended; I have SEVERAL.

In fact, I've just offended one already. (Hi, J!)

The interesting thing is that only one of them, currently, has my blog address. Which seems sort of unfair, both to the other boys, and unfair especially for J. I wouldn't discuss my dating life with him verbally, but if I make the decision to talk about my dating life (and believe me, I haven't done much else lately) on the blog, then I might as well be talking about to him, right? He could choose to not read, and for his sake, I hope he does. (Full disclosure: he and I haven't talked about this.)

But forget him for the moment: what if I don't really want to talk about my dating life ANYWAY? It's private, right? Or entertainment for only myself and a few close friends? I really like the boys I know and don't want them to become objects of ridicule, because I'm worried that if this leaks out then the gravy train may stop, and that would suck because I'm having the time of my life!

Which is why I WANT to talk about it. My life is great, and the wonderful boys I know have made it so, and so I naturally want to share. Hi, boys! You've made my life better!

For example, I'm kept in fresh flowers daily by a lovely boy who, when I left my coffee mug at his house, returned it to me with a fresh daffodil living in it. And then the daffodil died, and he came over to my house in the middle of the night with a) a fresh rose to take the place of the daffodil, and b) a fifth of Jameson.
There's the sushi dinner. The leftovers of which made an excellent Sunday-morning-before-choir breakfast.

There's the leftovers I'm eating right now: sweet marinated ribs, twice-baked potatoes, and salad. Made for me by a boy whose home-cooked dinner I had to SKIP because my BOSS CALLED ME IN, and I got to take the leftovers home anyway!

There was the comedy club.

There was the time that I was having trouble getting comfortable on the couch with my wrecked knee in the stabilizer (keep in mind that I had a stabilizer on for ALL of the above) and the boy stretched me out so I could take full advantage of the couch and sat on the floor by my head instead, so we could talk. Adorable.

There was the hiking. Oh, God, the hiking. A perfect perfect perfect day.

So, yes, this is me. I am dating. I love men. I watch CSI, I buy Girl Scout Cookies, I have not been to the gym in almost two weeks. I hang with my dog. It's a good life.

VOTE FOR PEDRO

Okay, so I entered a photo contest, and I entered the tongue photo that I showed off just a few posts ago, and in order to win, I need votes! From YOU, my lovely IIFs! The title of the photo contest is Make Me Smile, and this photo makes me smile, so you must vote for it. You must. Or brain-eating worms will devour your personality.

Make Me Smile!

My Knee Makes My Dog Snore

Note: It's amazing what a wrecked knee will affect. I had to trade cars with my MOTHER and have been driving the SOCCER MOM VAN for a week. Not good for my love life. Nor are the Celine Dion CDs in the Mom Van. I couldn't walk my dog faster than a crawl, I couldn't drive my own (manual) CAR, I couldn't ski, I couldn't dance.

Okay, so I'm female. So yes, I naturally care about how I look. And yes, my weight plays a big part of that. And yes, I still care about my weight, but...

ALL I CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW IS BEING ABLE TO USE MY KNEE AGAIN.

For those of you who didn't read the Whistler post closely enough, I wrenched my knee skiing at Whistler on the first run of the first day. Of course, I skiied on it all weekend anyway, going off jumps and tearing it up on the dance floor and everything. And then I went to Florida. And THEN I got my knee checked out.

Well, the news is, there is no news. Bones and ligaments are fine. I'll have to get an MRI to see what's really wrong with it. The doctor gave me a knee stabilizer, which helped, as I have now worn it for slightly more than a week and felt well enough today to Go Hiking with Dog and A Boy and His Dog, which was awesome. We walked farther than we meant to, so by the end of the four-mile hike I was favoring my knee again, but I have the stabilizer on now and feel better. Titan is totally exhausted and snoring away.

The Point Of This Story: No matter what your weight or physical shape, if you suddenly break yourself and cannot be active for a week, you will want nothing more than for your legs to work again.

Today I hiked. And that is a beautiful thing.

Things I Need:

And I really, really need it.

In other news, I'M MOVING! On the FIRST! OF APRIL! So, so soon.

Gratuitous Tongue Shot

Happy Three-Month Belated Twenty-Fifth Birthday to Me!



Much love to my girl Bri for taking this shot.

This up-close-and-personal look at my teeth makes me sad I wasn't wearing my fangs. Also: long hair!

Raise Up a Girl in the Way She Should Go

Okay, so I didn't talk much about it on this blog. But for several months now, I've been involved with some other new hires from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and we've been trying to plan SWE's Shadow a Female Engineer Day, which happened two weeks ago, Wednesday, Feb. 22, during National Engineers Week.

After several Saturday morning meetings, in which I got up and fueled myself and drove to Seattle or Olympia to present or put together packets, not to mention several evenings spent coordinating travel options, the day finally happened, and we (the council that planned it) have gotten some thank you notes, etc, etc, and it was good.

So I was pleased to discover that Google celebrated Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day, and even blogged about it, because I TOTALLY sent some girls to Google for SWE's Event! If you read the blog post, and squint really hard, and sort of turn your head to the left, I'm mentioned!

No, not really. But they mention their site in Kirkland. And I sent girls to Kirkland for that event. And that is a wonderful thing.

The Wonderful World of Bargain Shopping

AA Advantage, MyPoints, and Company Discounts, oh my!

It is downright confusing, I tell you, trying to get the best deal. I am not a bargain shopper by nature. You'd think I would be, with a mother who's half Scottish and who supported our family of three on just her salary while my dad chased his dreams for the entire time I lived at home, but you'd be wrong. My mother's philosophy was: If you need it, buy it. If you don't need it, a coupon isn't going to help. It's still money you shouldn't spend.

And she's right, of course. That's not to say she doesn't try to get the best deal--she has charge cards at all her favorite stores because a) she has self-control, unlike me, and b) she saves money at them. She and Nordstrom, in particular, have had a long and loving relationship. (Possibly better than her marriage. Hi, mom!) But she never clipped coupons. She had a deep understanding of the fact that her hourly rate paid her more money than she could save while clipping coupons.

Enter: Me. Hi, guys! I'm a young woman on my own, now, and at 25, my attitudes about money and entitlement are all wrapped up in how my mama raised me and how much money I have and my mama's view of my FATHER'S relationship with money (none too good) and my Scottish background plus my attitude towards electronics and a sense of disdain over saving pennies and yet at the same time a basic OCD approach to life, which would suggest that really, I LOVE details about saving money and coupons and the like. Also throw in: a metalook at What's Important To Me In Life, as in, (hypothetically speaking) should I buy new sheets and a new duvet cover because I have a huge freakin' tear in mine and I'm a Successful Engineer, Dammit, or should I use my mama's hand-me-downs and save my money for not only Tickets to Ghana and Pittsburgh, but also Eurail passes and the like in the future?

(Full Disclosure: I bought the sheets.)

Because, if I can afford both Bedding AND Tickets right now (thank you, Bonus!) then maybe I SHOULD go ahead and buy sheets and a duvet cover and maybe an iPod converter for my car radio, right? Because I'm a Successful Engineer, Dammit, and why the hell should I at THIS point in my life sleep on hand-me-down sheets or listen to our crappy local music stations?

(Full disclosure: I'm still sleeping on a futon and I can't wake up in time to ever remember my iPod anyway.)

Do the right purchases lead to a better lifestyle (better sleep, more time in the morning, more time to enjoy my music)? Or do all purchases simply boost the economy and allow us to chase the dream while simultaneously making sure we never attain the dream?

It's like going to Trader Joe's and maybe, hypothetically, buying $110 worth of stuff so that I wouldn't Waste Money On Lunch at work. Have I, in point of fact, just wasted my money twice because all that will go to waste and I'll end up buying money because I can't wake up on time to make lunch because I'm still sleeping on a futon and will never listen to my iPod?

So since I KNOW that my purchases are really just a feeble attempt to Live the Dream while simultaneously trying to save money to Actually Travel, I might as well try to save money where I can, right?

And here we come around full circle to Bargain Shopping.

If I have a MyPoints account, and I buy things on there and get points back to redeem at other stores (like Starbucks, hooray!), is that better than buying everything through my American Airlines account and earning miles? Or what about buying things through the company discount site and just saving money that I can use at my disposal?

Welcome to my first forays into Bargain Shopping. With no map, no guidance, and a hunger for such stuff as dreams are made on, not to mention a need to quote Shakespeare, I go once more into the breach.

Things I Have Learned, So Far:

1. Most Corporate Discounts suck. My corporate discount at B&N, for example, is 5%. You could get more bang for the buck earning miles instead.

2. So far, my experience with MyPoints has not been great, but it's very little effort to click the links and it takes about three months to earn a $10 Starbucks gift card.

3. Note: It would be faster and better to just get a Starbucks Visa, except that I'm probably not allowed one with my credit.

4. It would be even better to buy stock in Starbucks and get dividends if I like them so much.

5. And if I buy other things through MyPoints in order to get points, then that just encourages me to spend MORE money on consumer stuff I really don't need!

6. Much better to earn miles!

7. So if I'm in MyPoints just for the Starbucks cards, I'm wasting my time.

8. Buy everything from AA Advantage in the future.

The End.

Extreme Sleep Deprivation

This "traveling" thing can really make you tired.

I'd list my schedule for the past few days, but that would be boring. Let's put it this way: I've gotten twelve hours of sleep in three nights. I'm so sleep-deprived that I'm beginning to see dead people.

Just last week I thought to myself, "Self, there's no point in keeping a blog if no one reads it." So I gave my blog address out to a ton of people all at once by putting it in my gmail signature. Yeah, that was a retarded idea. Let's just say that the address is now OFF my signature. (Note to people who got the address in this method and now read this blog: no, of COURSE I wasn't talking about you!)

Apparently money can't buy happiness if you don't have enough of it. (Either.) I really want to move to Seattle. And I'm getting nowhere. No one from Craigslist or anywhere is returning my emails or calls. I've never had such bad housing luck. It's driving me crazy, and maybe I don't want to move after all, okay? Sour grapes what?

Of course, since I rushed into the last two housing decisions I made and therefore my life was awfully rough for a few months, maybe taking my time is good.

Also, I can't go to the gym. My knee still won't bend. This is a problem for kickboxing. Yes, of COURSE I'm still going skiing on Saturday!