^^^My workouts continue and, in fact, soon may even become habit. I'm beginning to get over the initial struggle to even decide to go, and accustoming myself to the whole thing emotionally. One of these days I might borrow (they lend various equipment out) some racquetball stuff and mess around doing that, just as a break from the routine of elliptical machines. Just something about swatting a little blue ball around, I guess. The real reason, actually, is to build my stamina in a setting that's not a continual workout, but something where I'm stopping and starting and having to keep my mind focused on something (in this case, smacking a rubber ball).

*****I keep intending to post up those Neva Dinova and Pushstart Wagon reviews. My hope was to add another review to the mix (I prefer doing most things in 3's and 4's) but that's not going to happen quite yet, so I'll probably just post the two reviews for now. That will happen if I can squirrel away any computer time after class tonight...Stacey tends to put up barbed wire between me and the computer on nights I get back from a night class, hehehe.

())()(()An entry for those who enjoy the workplace notes.Yesterday my boss gave me some of what I need to work on piecing together our budget proposal, informing me that it "needs done sooner than later," which means pretty much what it means. I went to work on it yesterday afternoon. At some point in the afternoon she comes up to my computer to mention something else to me and then says, "I hope you don't leave this budget stuff out on the desk and on your computer when people are around your desk. That's one of the confidential things you work on that needs to be kept out of everyone else's sight." For the 99% of you who haven't been to my workplace (Michial and Stacey are the only ones, I think), understand that my desk is at the front of one of the major student-related offices in the Student Center, and plenty of wide open spaces to one side of my desk and behind it make my desk viritually not only at the front, but a kiosk in the midst of a place where students and others are constantly coming and going, not to mention that people often linger at the side of my desk for a variety of reasons (very rarely to just talk with me, to make sure we're understood). Major parts of my work include confidential info and while I'm adept at clicking between screens when necessary, I sometimes have no choice but to work on things with people walking around me, making noise, etc., and if people want work done we must understand that it will be done within a certain context. It's not HER fault things are this way, it's the administration who decided how this would all be, I think, but even so...it's just a funny thought, that I'm able to completely shield everyone from whatever I'm working on when it needs done on a deadline. I'm still amazed at the absurdity of the situation...the person doing the Human Resources, Accounting and Budget stuff not only is the low person on the totem pole, pay and rank-wise, but is also supposed to do all that while also providing excellent Customer Service, surrounded by noice, and being constantly interrupted. My boss and I agreed long ago that this job and I just aren't meant for each other, and it's really frustrating at times, but I'm still glad I have it...and on top of that, finding another decent job to even apply for is proving difficult, so who knows how long I'll be here, even though we agreed I'd look (and I have). The important thing is that I'm in grad school and this is only temporary. I keep telling myself and Stacey that while I have to sacrifice certain things, it just has to be like that so I'm not a secretary or something along those lines for the rest of my life. Anyway, this went from a somewhat light-hearted "isn't this ridiculous?" to a drudging rant, for which I apologize.

&&&&This past week in Sunday School we talked about the real St. Valentine, who probably didn't do anything remarkedly "romantic"himself, but was martyred for his faith and lived a life of holiness, certainly making his "saint" status nothing to sneer at. When A. (young man who just turned 14) found out that's who we were talking about, he loudly and obnoxiously began exclaimed that it was all crap, just made up by Wal*Mart and card companies to sell stuff. I told him that as a Republican (as he's declared in the past -- his dad is an active Republican who helps campaigns, travels around during presidential elections, etc., but is an actual THINKING Republican and one of my favorite people ever to talk to) he shouldn't be bothered by such things. He didn't really get where I was going with that, but I told him I agree and we'd talk about it AFTER the lesson if he wished. The lesson, in fact, taught us that as a saint, St. Valentine has always had his own feast day (as all saints do) but the romantic element entered into things because it always seemed that around his feast day (Feb. 14, of course), the birds started choosing their mates. In fact, people began arranging betrothals during St. Valentinestide (a "tide" of a feast day lasts that day plus 7, as I recall, when applied) and then of course things really got rolling again due to consumerism, which Alex and I discussed a little bit afterwards. Anyway, thought a few of you might find that interesting.