From narcoleptic to insomniac

For the 4th night in a row, I can't fall asleep before 2am.

I'm used to being an insomniac... I can remember laying in bed as early as grammar school, watching the sun rise without so much as a wink of sleep all night.

But, my surgical ICU schedule last month made it very easy to fall asleep. Working 30 hours virtually every other day, with half days of work in between... not to mention picking up the munchkin by 6pm during the other two days. No sleep issues then.

Once the adrenaline of that schedule wore off, I crashed even harder. I finished my bid 2 days before my birthday. Purposely avoiding anything requiring major planning, a quiet weekend in some random town in New Hampshire sounded wonderful. Too bad my weekend is a blur of naps, food poisoning, and more naps.

The nice gazebo overlooking the inn's garden? Admired it through the backs of my eyelids. The boat cruise along Portsmouth Harbor and the Isles of Shoales? Snoozed. Any beautiful, quiet, relaxing moment? NAP time! I couldn't fight those heavy lids to save my life. Hours of my life gone, with only periodic awakenings filled with guilt about sleeping my birthday weekend away.


Oh well. It was relaxing.

So, I must have used up all of my sleep hours for the rest of the year. Because, now I'm struggling.

Maybe I need a little more narcoleptic New Hampshire in my life.

My favorite pic from the weekend...
found on the side of a random back road with no humans in site:

In case you can't see, it says: "Lettuce $1.00"

I definitely need more New Hampshire in my life.


Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'

During my son's usual flips, jumps and turns around the living room last week, I heard a loud thump. I waited patiently for the cry, but only whimpers followed.

I yell: "Honey, what did you hurt?"

Him: "The wall."

He then walks into the kitchen rubbing his clearly injured elbow.


The moral of this story? Just as we feel like life is beating the crap out of us, maybe we're secretly kicking life right back. Sometimes it takes a 3-year-old to put that in perspective.

My hiatus? I've been working 30 hour shifts essentially every other day. There's just not that much energy in the world. But, it's over now... and I'm much like Timex.


Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

What I've had my nose in lately

Set a goal or else time escapes you.

In order to keep myself accountable to my reading goals for the year, I'm sharing them with you guys.

Prior to fall 2006 (when GAL was born), I only read nonfiction (political, psychological philosophical-type books) and textbooks until my GAL pal Nakia disapprovingly eyed my bookshelf, declared that I was boring (gasp), and prescribed more fiction for my ailment.

I started with The Heiress of Water and I've been hooked ever since. I used to read a ton of fiction as a kid, but somewhere I think I became too "serious" for that. Truly, letting yourself get taken away to some far away world is so relaxing.

So -- Stop making excuses! Even if you read ONE page, it's one page closer to finishing, and one additional page of fun.

2008 TALLY

READ SO FAR:
The Alchemist
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban
Being In Love by Osho


To be read before September 30:
Jesus Land: A Memoir
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire


To read by the end of the year:

The Memory Keeper's Daughter
On Writing by Stephen King
Just Too Good to Be True by E. Lynn Harris (comes out July 15th... pre-ordered a copy months ago)


Now that's I've posted this here, you all have to hold me to it. Feel free to share your reading tally for '08. For my GALs who spend a lot of time in the car...

How do you feel about fiction on audio CD?

I also noticed that when I consciously turn off my laptop, it's so much easier for me to read for leisure. Being on the computer zaps so much of my time! Try it tonight. Decide that you'll cut it off 2 hours earlier than usual. Let me know what happens.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
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Does customer service still exist?

The last thing I ever want to do with my last nugget of free time is fight with customer service. I feel like it's all I do nowadays between the new car, the car accident, and Sprint's auto debit snafu that resulted in multiple bank fees.

Yesterday, all I wanted was to pick up my license plates and ask a few questions -- that's it. This week alone, according to my call log, I called the dealership a total of 14 times. Most of those calls, I was directly transferred into someone's voice mail. They were nice enough to vary in whose voice mail boxes I landed. I kept calling back to possibly find someone with a pulse to answer my simple questions (of course, the operator is in a different building, so she doesn't know who's here or not.... please hold. click. ring. automated voice mail).

Now, I'm on a first-name basis with operators Karen and Cory (What's up guys? I miss you already), and it still got me nowhere. I missed one call from Mr. Salesman. Called right back. Left voice mail. Never heard a peep.

Clearly, I ignored my own rule #4 in "How Busy Women Can Stop Losing Money," and really should have just asked to speak to the manager. In my defense, I was trying not to be so mean and pushy, thinking if I could just reach lifeforms on the other end, the problem was really easy to solve.

Well, today, I got a manager -- the manager -- on the phone and he wasn't interested in my frustrating week in the least. In fact, he explained how terribly busy he was, and he'd call me back in 15 minutes. Fifteen turned into 45 and, fed up, I asked my mom to go in person and pick up the goods while I was at work. After he handed them over, she informed him that I still have not had my questions answered. He (again) said he didn't have time. He had customers. He'd call me in 15 minutes.


An hour later he called. He wasn't friendly. But, by then, I had already opened the Purchase and Delivery Satisfaction Survey email in my inbox (vengeance!) so my anger had decreased. I reiterated my frustrations on the phone, asked my questions (one of which he couldn't answer) and then he offered me free service on the first maintenance. Thanks, bud. Too bad, I never want to do business with you again.

Seriously, don't do me any favors. How about just doing your job?

I don't get it.

If you don't like animals, don't become a vet. If you don't like talking to people, fielding complaints, making people feel satisfied, then guess what? Don't pick a career where you have to talk to people, field complaints, and make them feel satisfied. Am I missing something?

Speaking of car buying, I found this really detailed site on Top 10 Car Dealer Scams. The author sounds even more pissed off than I was today. So, try to take the information in context.

My favorite part came before the scam info:

Funny one liners salespeople like to use on you. Did they take the same sales training course?

• "You're stealing food from my baby's mouth"
• "Everybody pays this fee"
• "We're losing our shirt on this deal"
• "The web sites you got the prices from are wrong."
• "This car won't be here tomorrow"
• "The bank requires you to buy the extended warranty to get loan approval"
• "Do you want the car? What will it take to make you sign today?"

I highlighted the ones attempted on me in red.

Not to mention --

Mr. Salesman: Just think about how you'll feel in that car...

Me: You don't have to sell me the car. I like the car already. I want you to get this monthly payment down. I wanna talk numbers.

Mr. Salesman: Well, I don't sell numbers, I sell cars.

Genius. Is there a way to buy a new car and never ever have to talk to car salesmen again in life... ever? Let me know.

Is there a such thing as customer service nowadays? No one from the dealership even called any time in the last three weeks to see if I was happy with such a large purchase (If they had, they would have found out about the brand new engine going out on me). Ugh.

The most disgusting part, is that we waste precious ME time talking to these knuckleheads, then we're too pissed off to do anything constructive.

Sigh - I think I feel a lil' bit better now.


Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com

Guilt from your significant other...

So, one of the topics we discussed at last night's GAL workshop was how relationships can sometimes get in our way of having a life. More specifically, how many busy women feel guilty and weighed down by their companions for being the busy women that they have always been (even when they met him!).

I know what you're thinking -- isn't the whole point of GAL to slow down all the busy-ness and focus on the relaxing parts of life, like hanging out with your significant other? Absolutely. But, it's hard to get there when your companion is making you feel bad for all the things you do and have always done. And the truth is, if you weren't the women that you are, he wouldn't have fallen for you in the first place.

At any rate, I wanted to share a few thoughts I had after the discussion was over... things that we can all try to do to make sure we're maintaining true balance across all fronts of our lives.

• If Mr. Companion/Hubby/Significant Other is complaining or acting weird about you running around all the time, figure out what the real reason is. Is it simply that you don't spend enough time with him? Is he unhappy with the fact that HE doesn't have a hobby? Does he hate work? Did he come home and wanna vent and you weren't there? Or, are you just not what he expected in a wife? I would hate to see you GALs start working from home or rearranging schedules only to find out that his problem was not really time.
  

• Make a dedicated time to spend with him. If you can schedule your mani-pedis, then you can give your man a dedicated period of time weekly or semiweekly. And stick to it. Even if you just watch TV all day, let that time be uninterrupted with him.

• Multi-task a bit. Invite him to run around with you some days in exchange for you cutting back on your schedule.

• Lastly, stop feeling guilty. If you want to change, then change. But feeling guilty will only breed resentment and you'll be even less willing to compromise with him or hear him out.

Good luck GALs. We live in an odd society that expects us to be all things to all people. Redefine your own roles... and stay tuned for my next post about the new millennium marriage!

Visit www.getalifecampaign.com for more tips and a copy of "The Get A Life Campaign!"