It all started last Saturday when I was determined to get the majority of my research presentation put together so I could get up to the mountains to snowboard Sunday. However, if you know me at all you would know that whenever I have a big task ahead of me, I have a hard time getting focused. So even though I started out on the right foot this day, it didn't last long...
I got up relatively early and went to the little shopping mall near my house with the intentions of going to the supermarket to price compare organic and conventional foods. When I got there though, instead of going to the supermarket I meandered over to the local thrift store to look for some fun and colorful dishes. And what do you know, I found some!! What made my finds even better was that they were all 50% off their already very low prices. So I stocked up on 3 plates, 2 bowls, and a vase. Extremely satisfied with my loot, I headed to my car to put it away, and then made my way into the market. And just my luck, the first thing I see when I walk in the store are bouquets of beautiful flowers! Of course I just had to get some for my new vase, not to mention it was a gorgeous day outside and I had Spring on the mind. Anyway, I finished up what I had to do at the market, as well as bought a few things that looked good and were on sale, (I was hungry! Never go to a grocery store hungry. You'll end up with a lot more than you need.), and then I headed home. Once I got there, I put away my groceries, washed my new dishes and put them away, and then started cleaning my apartment. I don't know if it was the warm weather and the thoughts of Spring, or maybe the fact that I didn't want to work on my research project, but whatever it was, I was like a mad woman! I was cleaning every nook and cranny, sorting through stacks of paper, hanging up pictures that had been sitting on my floor, and organizing everything I could get my hands on. Before I knew it 2.5 hours had gone by, at which time I also realized I still hadn't eaten. So I went to my fridge to grab a piece of fresh fruit, and when I opened the refrigerator door I was struck by what I saw. It was so colorful!! I think I had just about every color of the rainbow in my fridge in the form of fresh fruit. Of course when I saw this I decided I had to take some pictures of it, so I had a little photo shoot with my purchases of the day.
I really love flowers, especially yellow ones!
(This is my little taste of Italy at home. Everything but the plant came back from Italy with my parents.)By now it was about 5pm, and I decided it was finally time to sit down and get to work on my research. However, when I turned on my computer something prompted me to click the "updates ready to be installed" balloon that had been popping up for about the past 2 months. I think my reasoning was that I thought my computer's increasing lack of speed could be due to the fact that it needed updated, so I let it update. That turned out to be a REALLY bad idea. Something happened during my computer's attempt to update, and it forced me to do a "system recovery" which basically resulted in my computer going back to it's original 'fresh out-of-the box" state. I lost all my settings, all my programs, all my documents, all my pictures, all my music...you get the idea. Fortunately I knew where to recover my pictures and documents, and most of my music, but I had to completely reinstall my printer and every program. The problem was, I couldn't re-install my programs because the CDs needed to do so were at my parent's house in Illinois, who I should mention were in Wisconsin for the weekend (and I am in Colorado). So I was in QUITE the predicament. I now had no Power Point or Microsoft Word to work on my research, which I had already put off most of the day. Needless to say, I wasn't going to be going snowboarding the next day. Instead, I spent over 12 hours in a mostly deserted basement library, sitting in front of a computer. Did I mention this was also Super Bowl Sunday? Bad planning on my part! I missed the whole game; commercials, half time, and all. Hope it was a good one.
The next two days went relatively smoothly, even though I spent about 5 hours after work each evening back in that same depressing library. Then Wednesday came, and it was time to give my research presentation. I was set up, all ready to go, just waiting for my director to come with the projection machine. When she got there we immediately started setting that up and connecting it to the computer. Long story short, about 40 minutes later we were still trying to set it up! There was something wrong with the cable, and the machine couldn't detect the computer input. Technical difficulties!! This is why I don't work with computers on a daily basis (Actually, I guess I do, but not by choice; it's just that everything is electronic these days - including medical charts!). Computers just give me a headache and upset me more often then not. We finally gave up, including the tech guy, and I gave my presentation sans Power Point. It was a good thing I had my slides printed out as handouts. Otherwise I would have really been in a pickle. Besides the minor glitch in electronics, my presentation went really well, and I think the audience even enjoyed it. After that, it seems that all my unpleasant surprises went away. Why is that? Did it look like I didn't have enough stress in my life? Maybe God just wanted to throw a couple extra challenges in there for me to see how I would fare. I don't know, but either way I got through it relatively unscathed.
Since then, the only unexpected happenings in the past two days have been good and happy events that seem to have put my world back together. After days of struggling to get my anti-virus protection re-installed on my computer, I called Comcast, and they connected me to McAfee, who helped me resolve my problems. My kitchen sink, which has been clogged since early December, finally came unclogged tonight with a quick plunge of the drain. (My dad is so smart! I was forgetting to plug the second drain when I plunged the first. Whoops!) I got my plates and registration for my car switched over to Colorado today. (It's official! I'm a Colorado resident.) AND, I learned how to make truffles at work - time I thought would be spent droning through medical charts and sitting through boring discharge rounds. It actually turned out to be a pretty good week, despite a few set backs early on.
(Please don't mind the dirtiness of my car. I meant to wash it on Saturday along with everything else I did in an attempt to put off my research project, but then I forgot to stop on my way home from the market.)
Check out the new plate!
So dirty! Eek!On a completely different note, tonight I had a deliciously random dinner - a plate full of steamed vegetables, a peanut butter and banana sandwich (if you've never made one of these, I highly recommend you try it. It's especially good with a little drizzle of honey), and a glass of chocolate milk made with calcium enriched chocolate syrup (gotta be good to my bones).
It's so colorful! I love when a plate of food is this colorful! 
One thing that slightly concerns me about my meal though is the bread of my sandwich. I bought a loaf of reduced-calorie bread (45 kcals per slice - this is not natural people, and I have proof) a little less than 3 months ago, just before Thanksgiving. This is the same loaf of bread that I used tonight for my sandwich. 3 MONTHS!! It still hasn't molded and the only change I've noticed is a slight drying out and hardening around the edges. I mean seriously, what are they putting in this stuff that gives it a shelf life of 3 months?? It's bread! Whatever it is, I'm not sure I want it in my body, so that may be the last of my reduced-calorie bread purchases. I should also probably throw the rest away, and if something happens to me overnight, now you'll know why.
It's just been a full week of random and unexpected events, and I can't wait to see what's in store for me tomorrow! Hopefully it's something good!
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