Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tales

My mother told me that when you use movers, they always "lose" (steal) one box. I hadn't believed her at the time, but now I'm thinking that's actually right.

Before I moved, I bought a new container of cleaner. I was nearly out of the previous one, I'm 100% certain I bought a replacement.

Before I moved, I had two bottles of shampoo (one almost empty, and a new/full one to replace it).

Before I moved, I had FOUR extra/new tubes of new toothpaste.

All those things are missing, and they all would have been packed in the same box. (The cleaner could go with the other stuff, since it was new/sealed).

But how would the movers know which box to 'lose'? They have tape in their trucks, and they're alone with your boxes in the truck. They do add extra tape to boxes if they think it's not closed well enough, so they could easily open them, check what's inside, then reclose it and if needed, add more tape.

I had numbered my boxes, but things were so hectic, I didn't check them on the other end as I was unpacking.

It's possible, though unlikely, that I left them behind. I checked both apartments very carefully, multiple times, before turning in the keys.

I suppose I should be happy that's all that's gone, things that can be replaced. But still. I use an expensive/special toothpaste that's about $8 per tube, so altogether that's almost $60 worth of stuff. And that's only what I've noticed is gone. I'm sure the box had more than those three things in it.

It's been almost two months since I moved, so it'd be pretty pointless to contact the moving company. Plus I have no proof...

My back isn't broken yet, but I'd really appreciate it if the world would stop piling straw onto me.

[Rereading this post, I decided to add something positive to each point -- the other side of the coin. I'll add it in brackets.]

Weight: Two months ago I had hit my lowest number ever (200.2 SO CLOSE to being under 200!) and I never was able to get below it. I've gained seven pounds as of this morning (though this morning is unofficial, five pounds gained from official weighing date). It's just so amazingly frustrating as I'm not cheating, I'm not eating badly. [On the plus side, I'm off my high cholesterol medication, which means I'm down to one single prescription. As I used to be on four different diabetes meds and two other ones, that's a wonderful thing.]

Exercise: With my toe still not healed (seriously, I've had an open wound on my toe for months now, and I've been on antibiotics just as long) I can't do my usual exercises. There are still hand weights and pushups, but that's not the same as aerobic exercise. Which of course adds into the weight problem... [The good part is I'd be ready to do knee-high pushups if only I were willing to try. I worry that the position might put too much stress on my healing toe though. SOON! And then next will be doing pushups on the floor!]

Running: I decided there's no use waiting. Once my toe heals (if it ever does...) I'm going to try to start running. I wanted to use that "couch to 5K" app... but apparently my phone is too old to run it. An iPhone 4 is NOT that much older than an iPhone 6! It's utter BS that I cannot run what appears to be a simple app on my current phone! [All my life, I've wanted to be able to run. It was the one thing I felt like I was missing out on when I was heavier. I'm not sure if it will work for me, it might kill my knees, but I'm excited to try. SOON! As soon as my toe heals!]

Money: Adding into all that, money is still really rough. As in I'm living on my savings even though I have a full time job in the tech industry. This adds into the other issues, as in constant doctor bills for my toe ($250 per visit, weekly visits, even with insurance) and being unable to splurge and upgrade my apparently-ancient phone... [Hard to see a positive one on this point. At least I'm not homeless?]

Toe: I'm really so sick of dealing with it. My toenail was removed over a year ago, and it's never healed up since then. It reopened/re-got infected a couple months ago, and the infection is resistant to all antibiotics other than one. The pills cost $250 per pill, and I have to take them twice a day, and I'm on my third 10 day renewal of them, so the insurance company is being an ass about it. It's a constant fight with them to get my renewals, and they won't even cover a full renewal at once. I have to pick up 5 days, then the other 5 days on the day I run out of them, and the insurance has to approve it every time. It's nonstop calling, stress, and worry that I'll run out before the renewal is approved. [At least I do have insurance, so it's not all out of pocket?]

Vacation: I had the "good" idea to get a mileage credit card so I could fly home to visit my mother for free. I spent enough on it (and paid it off) to get the miles I need, but apparently it takes EIGHT WEEKS to credit the miles to you. Add to that the EXTREMELY limited number of seat options, and I doubt I'll be able to go home in June. (Seriously, a month ago, when I checked what was available in June, there were six seats for the whole month.) [Blah.]

Taxes: My mother's tax guy offered to look at my taxes and see if he could do better than the $1,000 TurboTax says I owe, but it's been about three weeks and I haven't heard back from him, even though I've emailed him multiple times since then. It's less than ten days until I have to file... [Well, I'm prepared for the worst. If he can't do any better, I was already mentally prepared to pay that $1,000...]

Life isn't supposed to be like this, you know? I work a full time "good" job. I have health insurance. I live about as far from an extravagant lifestyle as you can get. I have no children and no debt. [Hopefully things will get better soon... Money is unlikely, not until my lease is up and I can move to a smaller/cheaper place, but hopefully my toe will heal up soon and I can get back to exercising, which will help with the weight issue...]

This post was like talking to myself! :P

Somehow I forgot my breakfast this morning. Blah. I pack my breakfast and lunch the night before, but somehow I forgot to put my protein (cheese stick) into my bag, so all I had for breakfast was a half-dozen oyster crackers. (Tiny crackers about the size of a thumb nail.) The administrative assistant for our group left the company last week, so no one has refilled the snack containers (they're in a locked cabinet). Strike two on breakfast. Finally I went to the vending machine and the most harmless item was a 330 calorie packet of peanuts. Blah. It was one serving, but I only ate half of them. They didn't even taste good, so that's especially sucky.

Life was so disrupted last night, I'm surprised I remembered to pack any food at all. Remember how my heat didn't work for weeks? They're finally replacing the whole unit in my ceiling. The plus side is that supposedly it will save me money on my electric bill. The down side is it takes three 8 hour days of men in my bathroom to do it. Men in my bathroom = I can't use it, of course. Usually I work early hours, but I stayed three hours late at work, figuring I could be at home two hours without using it. (Of course that's the day my stomach picks to feel questionable and made me worry about no bathroom access.)

Unsurprisingly while they were working on it, no heat in my apartment, so it was damned cold as well.

Anyway, that's day one down. Today and tomorrow, then they'll be finished. After a day of questionable stomach, peanuts for breakfast were no help at all. Blah icky stomach.

In other news, I'm sad to report that the new book I just started, Chaos Station, is awful in all the ways a self-published book often is. There was a major typo in the very first paragraph, and typos on nearly every page. The writing's not good, the dialogue doesn't sound real at all, and thus far the story is uninteresting. I'd give up on it now, except I accepted it for review, so I'm going to try to get to at least the halfway point.

However, the fact that it sells for only $2.99 on Amazon means I don't feel as bad about not finishing a book I was given for free to review. It just depresses me what's out there for sale nowadays.

Shoot me now, please. I stopped counting calories to the exact number, just kept a rough running tally in my head, and I gained weight this week. It wasn't a one-time odd day or something, my midweek spot check confirmed the same thing.

I do not understand how it is physically possible to gain weight with what I'm eating. This is my daily diet:

Breakfast: Cheese stick (the snack-for-kids kind) and 10 matchstick pretzels. (Total calories: 105)
Lunch: 2 Laughing Cow cheese wedges, 2 Ritz crackers. (Total calories: 125)
Dinner: Lately it's been one slice of sandwich meat, one slice of cheese, rolled up and tossed in the frying pan to melt. 1-2 of them. (~250 calories for 1.5)
Snack: Slice of turkey or half of an apple. x2 (~100 calories for both)

That's nearly 600 calories on the nose. How on earth is it possible to gain weight while eating like that? (My period ended last week, so it can't be related to that.)

This process is so disheartening. This is my last resort, it's succeed at this or die of being fat. It's bad enough to go weeks without losing anything, but I thought it would be impossible to gain...

Edit: Reminder: 600 calories/day is the surgeon's plan and what everyone eats in the first year post-surgery. It's not some wacky thing I'm trying on my own.

I left my apartment to go to work this morning, and noticed the registration on my car had expired. (In California, you get stickers with the month/year that you have to put onto your license plate, so it's very easy for you (or the police) to see if it's expired.)

I know I paid for the registration (because I was happy at the thought of never again needing a smog test since my car is a hybrid), so why didn't I get new stickers?

While collecting information so I could talk to the DMV, I discovered my car insurance paper said my insurance expired back in 2013.

Sigh.

All this was caused because I moved and failed to update my address with these two groups. As I had to update my address in 32478234738341923401278 different places, I'm not kicking myself that I forgot two.

The insurance was easy to solve -- just log into the company's website and print a new ID card.

The car registration, not so easy.

Step one: Try to change my address on the DMV website. No-go. For some reason, it thinks my car isn't owned by me. (I paid for it in full when I got it, so there wasn't even a loan that could be causing that confusion.)
Step two: Call the DMV. They have a handy thing where you can leave your number and they'll hold your place in the queue and call you when it's your turn to talk to someone. Worked well!
Step three: I have to go in to the DMV office or supposedly I can get this done at AAA since I'm a member there.

I'm going to head to AAA after work and see if that works out. I'm so paranoid now, since the fact that it expired is right there on the back of my car for anyone (POLICE) to see.

Hopefully it will go fast and smoothly. This isn't how I had wanted to spend my Friday evening.

I see a nutritionist once a month. Not totally by choice, but I need to, so. One of the goals we set was me cooking twice a week. With my mother here (and cooking nightly) there was no chance or reason to, so this week is my first week of trying it. I had intended to cook last night, but I had leftover Chinese food so it got pushed off until tonight.

I poked around online for an easy recipe, perhaps one in the crock pot. I decided on:

Pork chops
Packet of ranch dressing
Can of cream of chicken soup
Stick in the crock pot on low for four hours or so.

In an effort to be healthier, I got "heart healthy" (low sodium) soup. The regular stuff has a whole day's worth of sodium in one can.

Once I was putting those things together I paused, wondering how in the world it was going to taste. Turned out it was pretty okay. It tasted neither like ranch nor like chicken/soup, it just tasted sort of okay. A tiny tiny bit tangy (which surprised me, the recipe was for 6 pork chops, I used 2, so I worried it would be too strong). I wouldn't make it again, but I ate it tonight and I'll eat the other one tomorrow night. (Edit: Must remember to remove all fat from pork chops before putting them into the crock pot.)

Must shop and find something to cook for the weekend. Also, must find things like side dishes or something (my dinner was a pork chop, period). Also, no more 'cream of...' things.

Toe/medical: I'm trying not to be too depressed or distressed, though I feel like jumping out a window. I have an infection in my toe (ingrown toenail), same side as my bad leg. I went to the doctor yesterday and got antibiotics, but she has no idea which one (if any) will work, since I had basically all of them in my system within the last month. (Isn't that a scary thought? I had every single antibiotic that exists in me, except one.)

The doctor wasn't worried, so I'm trying not to be, but all I can think about is it getting really bad and spreading up to my leg, causing that to flare up again. I swear to god, I cannot go back to the hospital. My leg has to finish getting better, not worse. It still looks like I have the plague, all the skin is in the process of replacing itself, it's really dark/grey/red blotchy. Even if I had the energy I couldn't go swimming -- rightfully people would not want me in the pool with them, I look contagious with some horrible thing.

I try to be chipper and happy, especially at work, but I just can't deal with more medical stuff. It's only been 24 hours of taking antibiotics (3 pills total). While the net has no exact figure on how long it takes antibiotics to work, every site I looked at listed something more than a day. I will not panic yet that it's not looking any better.

(I don't know why the doctor only gave me pills instead of cutting the nail like they had last time I had an infected ingrown one. I'm assuming because of the issues with my body and antibiotics, she didn't want to expose me to more potential infection than necessary.)

Using the rest of the chicken and a spoonful of last night's sauce, I tried to rescue my homemade version of chicken satay. No go.

Cooked up the chicken in a pan. It had been cut for stir fry, which I think translates into "bits and pieces we ended up with after making other cuts" in supermarket lingo... yet they charge more for it than whole pieces. Being lazy (and disliking touching raw chicken) I had bought it.

While it cooked, I made the sauce. Peanut butter, soy sauce, some brown sugar, and a spoonful of the original sauce from the jar. Sort of but not closely following this recipe.

When I tasted it, something was wrong with it (soy flavor was too strong?). I added another spoonful of sugar and that helped. Note that by this point the sauce had two tablespoons of brown sugar as well as peanut butter. That was a darned lot more carbs than I wanted.

The sauce ended up better with the sugar, but still not good. I had a couple bites of the chicken and tossed the rest out.

This morning driving to work there was a news story on NPR about how a third to a half of the food produced in the world is wasted/thrown out. Boy did I feel guilty. (It still kills me that I had to throw out a whole turkey breast. What a waste. It could have fed a hungry family for days.) Problem is, if I have any hope of eating healthy, I have to keep cooking.

For my next attempt, I'm going to find a recipe and follow it exactly. I own quite a few cookbooks, I just need to pick something from one.

Here's a free tip, Blizz: Copying S-E when it comes to MMO stuff might not be your best decision.

Among the many new things announced today: Pet Battle System

Hmmmm, that sounds familiar. (Yes, yes, I know FFXI didn't invent it, but adding it into a MMO?)

I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but all the information release thus far... I don't like any of it. Pandas as a playable race. Pandas. PANDAS. Level cap raised to 90 (not a surprise, but... whine).

Pandas. Seriously. Blizz said outright that that race would never appear outside of the RL money online pet store. Sigh.

Maybe their goal is to make Cata no longer the most hated expansion? :P Well fine. Just leave Northrend alone. I said it pre-Cata and I'll say it now: Do whatever you like to the rest of the world, worse comes to worst, I'll just hide in Northrend.

Pandas. Pandas. Grrr. PANDAS!

---

And since I'm already being a Negative Nancy, I might as well continue it and talk about Elizabeth Moon's Speed of the Dark, the book I mentioned previously, told from the first person viewpoint of an autistic man.

It wasn't until hitting the 50% mark of a 300 page book that the first hints of the plot showed up.

That wasn't even the worst part. The characters are so god-awful black and white. The boss is so evil, he doesn't even come off as a real person, I keep expect him to sprout horns and wave a pitchfork around.

It's also preachy. Autistic people are just like us, but a little special! If I hadn't known going in that the author had an autistic child, I would have highly suspected it from the way the book is written.

The autistic man's POV was interesting at first, but got old really, really fast. Picture 150 pages of:

For breakfast I have toast. I like toast. White toast. I have a new toaster. It toasts my bread perfectly. I like it when the toasting is even. Dark spots upset me. Light spots make me sick. I spread my toast with butter. The layer of butter had to be exactly right. Then I opened the jam. I bought the jam last week. Wednesday is my day to go grocery shopping. I bought the jam on Wednesday.

150 pages of that so far, only the most minor hints of the plot. The vast majority of the characters totally unbelievable. I really don't think I'm going to make it through the whole book. (And after I liked her last book, Remnant Population, so much!)