What a start to my fundraising…got another $50 yesterday from Terry’s boss. Unbelievable! Today I am bringing the letters to the TNT office so they’ll get mailed. Hopefully I’ll start getting money in next week. I’m also getting a gift certificate to the Pelican Club, the restaurant George took me to for my birthday. Terry’s company (Where magazine) is donating it for the silent auction. Who knew? This is all terribly exciting.

Went to the Navy gym with Terry yesterday. Started off for a few minutes on the elliptical trainer because all of the treadmills were taken. But then some people finished on the treadmills and I did 30 minutes, 2.5 miles on the treadmill. With hills. I hope the real training starts soon. I would like to see what my training program is going to look like.

Update: Yay! I just got my first donation! $20 from a girl in the office, and I wasn’t even trying!

Worked out on elliptical trainer for thirty minutes yesterday with Terry. Then did some arm stuff. Blah, blah blah, nothing exciting to report. I’m waiting, waiting, waiting for the people from TNT to contact me again about mailing my letters. About our kickoff meeting. It’s really hard to get started when I have no information from them. Sigh. I have 75 letters ready to be mailed. Ready to start my fundraising. In two weeks, my article will be in the Algiers Point newspaper. I have a PO Box. I’m going to give out letters at the reunion this weekend. I am so ready! But I can’t afford the postage on 75 letters, and they’re supposed to send out the first hundred for us. I’ll email them. But I think I’ve already been annoying, so I’m not sure if I should. As it is, I’m going to go to the next meeting and they’re going to say, “Oh, so you’re Pam,” and I will be embarrassed because I can say things in an email that sound all authoritative and demanding, but in person, I get all shy and nonconfrontational.

Exciting news about reunion…we’re going on Friday after work instead of Saturday morning. Can’t wait to see everyone! I need to get film. Will have to take a ton of pictures.

Pretty relaxing weekend. Except for the first half of Saturday.

Worked out after work on Friday, 2.5 miles on the treadmill, and then arms. After that, went to party at George’s school. Good food, at least. Met some of the people he works with. Then we went to the pub for a birthday party. But the person who the party was for wasn’t there. He’s in California. Everyone had to dress like him – cowboy hat and suit. Well, it looks better on David than it sounds. I don’t have a (men’s) suit or cowboy hat, so I got a thrift store suit coat and a borrowed cowboy hat for the picture. I stayed for a little while, but then had to leave because I had to get up early on Saturday for a haircut in Baton Rouge. Some pictures from the party:

Saturday morning, got up too early for a Saturday and drove to Baton Rouge to get a haircut with Catherine. Asked her to donate something for the silent auction, she said okay. Yay! Then went back to New Orleans, ran some errands, then went to the gym in Metairie. Ran five miles (in a bit over an hour because I walked to warm up at the beginning and cooldown at the end, and, okay, a bit in the middle) on the treadmill and then did some weights. Went to Walmart. Went home. Crashed. Went to George’s, watched a movie, worked on the music for the reunion which is next weekend.

Sunday went and saw “Down with Love” alone. Liked it. Ewan, grrrrrrr! Yum. Didn’t do much else the rest of the day.

Can’t wait until next weekend!

Went to the gym yesterday after work. Did not-quite two miles on the treadmill in 25 minutes. Well, I ran the first mile, then walked the second, but on “hills” on the treadmill. Increased the incline by .5% every thirty seconds. Was quite difficult, really, at 4-5.5%. But DC isn’t flat, so I’m going to have to get my hills in somehow. Now I just have to try running them.

Today I’m planning on attempting five miles. No hills or anything. I know I can do five miles, it’s more like can I take the treadmill for that long? Especially since I don’t have a radio or anything. Just the closed-captioning on the TVs to keep me occupied. Maybe I need to get a magazine before I go. That might make it more bearable.

Am getting a haircut tomorrow morning in Baton Rouge. I can’t believe I’ll make a 150 mile round trip to get a haircut.

Didn’t work out yesterday, as planned. Went home, cooked dinner for George. Got very sweaty and dirty in the process, much like workiing out. I made steaks in the new cast iron skillet I got him. Which is why my house smelled like fried grease the other night. I had to bake the pan in the oven for an hour after covering it with Crisco. Lovely.

After dinner, we went to the pub, where Robert and Terry and a bunch of their friends were. Was fun, Polly and Colin were there, Lindsay was working, we had cake, it was chocolate, yummy yummy yummy.

I came to the realization today (okay, actually, I realized it a long time ago, but now I’m panicking a little) that I’m hopelessly addicted to sugar. This is not good. It’s no wonder my teeth have been rotting out of my head, and it must be at least part of the reason why I can’t seem to lose any more weight. I know I could do something like Sugarbusters, but honestly, I’d rather die. Of course, that is just the addiction talking. Ha ha! So here is how my day usually begins:

Bagel (sometimes whole wheat, sometimes plain – isn’t white flour the same as sugar?) with either jam (sugar!) or cinnamon-sugar (sugar!) and orange juice (sugar!) and coffee with sweetened creamer (sugar!) and sugar (sugar!)

Ack. And my addiction to chocolate (sugar!) is well-documented. The only things I can say in my defense are that a) I drink Diet Coke and b) I chew sugarfree gum. The answer to all of this is definitely not this sugarfree chocolate I see in the stores. Ew. That is a travesty, unless you’re a diabetic, in which case, hey, it’s better than nothing. Which brings up my foremost fear – that eating all this sugar is going to cause me to become diabetic. Is this an old-wive’s tale, or does it really happen? I don’t know.

Maybe I should start off by having non-sweet breakfasts. I think that might help. I just crave sweet when I wake up. Unless I’m in a Denny’s or IHOP, I rarely feel like having a savory breakfast. But maybe I should start forcing myself. Something easy. Even if it’s just toast with a bit of butter. It’s hard for me to not put the jam on it. And I will stop with the sweetened creamer (actually, already have) and will have to bite the bullet and start putting artificial sweeteners in my coffee. I can do this…I can do this…

Note: If anyone seriously suggests I do Sugarbusters, I will bite.

Two miles on the treadmill yesterday and some arm stuff afterwards. No workout today, it’s George’s birthday. I’m cooking for him. Aren’t I swell? Really, poor. But whatever, he doesn’t mind. Then we’re going to the pub. No so different, then, from a normal night.

Went to sleep last night with the smell of fried grease permeating my apartment. Lovely. Don’t ask.

Three miles yesterday on the treadmill at the Metairie gym. It took about 35 minutes, but I walked a bit in the beginning to warm up, and then a little later so I could turn the pages on the magazine I was reading (it was a big magazine!) Felt pretty good, but didn’t do any arm muscle exercises afterwards because I needed to get home. May do thirty minutes today plus arm exercises. Won’t be in such a rush today so will have time to do that.

Had a strange dream last night, that my mom and I were both doing the marathon and we were sitting around chatting (with someone else, can’t remember who it was) so long that we missed the beginning of the race. I was very very upset with her for making me miss it. Was strange. Wonder what it means. Dreams are weird. I have a recurring theme in lots of my dreams, about staircases. They’re always dangerous – wobbly or missing steps or made of rotten wood or something. Sometimes I’m going up, sometimes down, but I’m always cowering at the top/bottom and am frozen with fear. Hmmm. Dang stairs.

Oooh, I’m on the company website at last!

Workout? What workout? Okay, this weekend was laaaazy. But whatever. Actually, only from the point of view that I didn’t work out. When I got home from work on Friday, I didn’t feel like doing much, so I decided to get some Vietnamese takeout for dinner and a movie. I didn’t want to rent from Blockbuster, and I knew there was a Major Video somewhere on the west bank, so I picked up my food and drove around to where I thought it was. Ninety minutes later, I was at the Blockbuster by my house after all. Couldn’t find the stupid Major Video. And all of this was because they have rent-two-get-one-free. So I did this to save $4? And my food was cold when I got home. On the other hand, I found a nice new Wal-Mart and got some yarn on sale to make a scarf for the silent auction. Nice chunky pink yarn. Then I watched some girly movie and started “Catch Me If You Can” which I really liked. George went out without me, and came over briefly to say hi. He stayed out until four or so, which is why I had no pity for him on Saturday…

We had plans to go to flea markets and thrift stores so he could look for a vintage Apple computer (god, geeks!). It was hot. It was humid. He was hungover. The flea market is mostly in a huge unairconditioned building. While I was uncomfortable, George was dying. Little sympathy from me, though. (Well, some…I’m not that mean!) After our (mostly unsuccessful – except I got a bag of gorgeous pale green real wool yarn, about 5-6 skeins for $4!) shopping trip, George went home to sleep and I went home to read. Then I went over to Terry and Rob’s house, ate some delicious Mexican food and then to the pub for a bit. A nice relaxing evening.

Sunday I spent driving around again looking for George’s birthday present. Found some stuff. Then his parents, grandpa and uncle came to the pub, we ate pizza and cake, hung out for a few hours, then went home. Read some more.

So maybe I didn’t technically work out, but Saturday involved a lot of walking and sweating, so it’s practically the same thing. Okay, maybe not.

I am a little confused about TNT. Here I was, waiting all week for a package of more information, and I get a letter that says “don’t miss the meetings” but no mention of when the meetings would be. And no information about how to take care of the money we collect, and all that other important information. Maybe I should just be patient, but I really want to get started! Aside from the jar on my desk with Blo-Pops in it and a sign that says “Free with 25 cent donation.”

Yesterday’s workout was a bit of a bust. Terry and I were going to go to the Navy gym, but she asked if I’d rather go bike-riding since it was a pretty nice day. I said yes, and found that my bike’s tires were low on air, so I asked her to bring the pump. Turns out I need a new inner tube thingy for the front tire. I’ve never actually ridden the bike, it was Kristina’s and she left it for me when she moved to DC. I’m not much of a bike person, but we’re going to try again today. Dawn’s going to loan me her bike. So we’re going to ride over to the Navy base and then run around the outdoor track there. Hope it isn’t too hot!