Knocking out my stress today...

When given the opportunity to leave work early today, I jumped at the chance to shake off my winter funk in a kickboxing gym class. An hour later, I'm a little stiff, a little achy and walking up the stairs requires a range of motion that my hips won't allow all of a sudden.

I'm happy I went though. It was so much fun. Whenever I'd start to kick a little lower and lower, she would vary the routine such that I was more focused on keeping up (kick, then punch, then jab, jab, uppercut, kick!) rather than the burning pain in my hips and thighs.

Ya know... I like to think my stair-walking helped me hang in there after not going to the gym for a few months. It has nothing on this class' intensity, but it held me at bay.

I'm sure the endorphins from the workout will help me feel a lot less stressed tomorrow... but imagining I was karate kicking a few people who get under my skin made me smile tonight.

Warning: Don't cross me this week -- I got my jab-jab, cross, uppercut, knee, side kick down pat!

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
Follow me on Twitter: @doctorty
Add our facebook fan page

Memories of Travel Woes...

As much as I love to travel, I always come back with travel stories. The recent "weekend" to Chicago was no exception. And while planning for my next trip in a few weeks, I'm forced to remember all the joys of our trip... including being delayed to O'Hare on Friday, canceled on the way back on Sunday, rerouting through Newark, having THAT flight delayed, only to hitch a ride back to CT, pick up my car from Hartford airport and finally get home 5 hours before my ER shift. Ah, the memories...

THUMBS DOWN to leaving freakishly warm CT weather (60 degrees) and arriving to Chicago's chilling 20.

THUMBS UP to Kammy for turning 30 fabulously and inviting us to my favorite city in the continental United States.

THUMBS DOWN for opening the paper to see how many murders Chicago has had since January 1, complete with a map.

THUMBS UP to my big cousin who took care of our hotel, our airport to hotel transportation and made it possible for me to never have to deal with the hotel staff or customer service (as if I need more bad customer service stories).

THUMBS DOWN to the Einstein Bros. cashier for telling me they no longer sell iced green tea, when a huge jug of it sat in eyesight in the corner.

THUMBS UP to Einstein Bros., however, for selling only turkey products (chili, sausage). Great for us non-beef, non-pork eaters.

THUMBS UP to that Thai restaurant downtown for having the equivalent of a "dollar menu" made especially in honor of our failing economy.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for canceling the 5:30pm and 7:30pm flights from O'Hare to Hartford. And rebooking us for the next night.

THUMBS UP to United agent Gustav who rebooked our flights to Newark so we could get back on Sunday - not late Monday night. For free.

THUMBS DOWN to United Airlines for letting the Newark flight take off 3 hours late.

THUMBS DOWN to the grey-haired lady in O'Hare who ran over my calf with her rollie and when I asked her to say excuse me, proceeded to tell me how she was in line first (HUH?), and topped it off with an exasperated "Just go," allowing me to walk in front of her. Hey lady: Even if I did cut you in line (which I didn't), does that really give you the right to injure me, without an apology? Goodness.

THUMBS UP to O'Hare's Wolfgang Puck to Go for hooking UP my chicken caesar salad with extra dressing and a smile. Good service finally!

THUMBS DOWN to United for making me check my carry-on duffel bag for $15... all to keep from tossing my huge $30 body scrub ("considered a gel") from H2O that I've been dreaming about since that gift basket in '07.

THUMBS DOWN to the United counter rep who decided to go on break as soon as we reached the front of the line. Love ya!

THUMBS DOWN to boarding almost 2 hours before takeoff and sitting in a hot metal tube with crying babies and obnoxious passengers until wheels up.

THUMBS UP to United for breaking out their emergency box and handing out a "crunchy bar" and water to each passenger after an hour of waiting on the jetway. I'm not kidding. I think the exact words over the loudspeaker were: "It's now time for us to break out our emergency kit."


THUMBS DOWN to the very considerate passenger directly behind me who slammed her tray so hard it shook my seat while yelling, "Oh great! And there's a BABY on our plane." She was definitely much more of an issue for me than the baby. Trust me.

THUMBS UP to brand new earplugs and a good book that made sitting inside that tube feel like a sunny day on Miami Beach.

THUMBS UP to the TSA Agents for doing such a thorough job:

Example 1 - To Chicago, the agent moved my juice-filled fruit cup out of the way to get to the Pepsi can I mistakenly left in the bag... but put the fruit cup back inside. Right in front of me. I mean really... shouldn't I get my Pepsi back? Isn't that like when your meal is free because the cashier fails to give you a receipt? Seriously.

Example 2 - From Chicago, my 700+ page Harry Potter book set off some sense of worry and they had to rescan my bag and do a hand search. Madam TSA Agent wouldn't look me in the eye afterward when I asked her what they saw. She just shooed me on. Geez. Yes, ladies and gents... publishers still make books that big. And people read them on va-ca. It's not a kilo. Or a... (dare I type the b-word?) Keep up the great work, though. Meanwhile, 3 unsuspecting grannies just snuck by with weapons up their skirts.

Hmmm. I think I might just stay local on this vacation.

Dr. Ty
From the GAL Blog
www.getalifecampaign.com
Follow me on Twitter: @doctorty
Add our facebook fan page

More things I don't have time for...

Why is it that when you have a "day off," you spend it with timesuckers (like various customer service agents just to fix one simple issue_?

My initial issue: My Sprint Treo 700p wouldn't charge without hanging the phone upside down or suspending the cord at just the right angle (aka "jimmying it").

The solution: Call Sprint. Not only have I paid monthly for that Sprint phone insurance for the last 10 years... the phone is within warranty.

What I did: Instead of calling the insurance as usual, I used the Sprint Self-service ONLINE replacement form (advertised as "save time").

What happened: The Treo 700p was out of stock, so a Palm Centro arrived. With no battery or charger.

What I did: Called Sprint to ask them if this was some sort of sick joke (nicely, of course).

What happened: A nice, clueless representative had no idea that this self-service option existed, and didn't know who sent me the phone. So she couldn't get them to get me a battery. She went away for some time, did some research and promised that she'd call me back after she ordered my new battery. She never called.

What came in the mail: Not one, not two, but THREE Sprint boxes!



What was inside said boxes: Yes, more phones WITHOUT batteries!


To make a long story short... after 7 hours of one-on-one quality time with various Sprint representatives, being transferred to literally every department within Sprint, coupled with many expressions of "I'm not sure how this happened," or "I don't know how to get you a battery," "I still can't figure out who sent you all these phones," or, "Of course ma'am, please hold..." followed by a click, hold music, and a new, unsuspecting person... I found two helpful people. Just two. Out of at least 25 people. Seriously.

The first conferenced me with accessory sales to purchase the battery and charger and immediately credited my account for it. HOWEVER, the order that arrived included:

TWO chargers, and ZERO batteries!
(See earlier comment about sick joke)

In case I lost you, here's the tally at this point: Nine days later... FOUR replacement phones, TWO chargers, ONE cover to fit the extended battery... wait... what battery? That's right: STILL, no battery.

More hours of wasted time later, after being deliberately hung up on by a very friendly associate, after having my pleads for a supervisor repeatedly ignored because EVERY associate thinks she or he can handle this (for some reason) complicated situation.... again, I find someone who has a brain inside his skull and figures out a way to send me the product I ordered. Thanks M.J.!

So today, for the first time since the order was first placed on July 22nd, I have a functional cell phone.

(For brevity, I left out that M.J. sent the new order to the wrong address, but in his defense, he had UPS redirect it to the right one 5 minutes after I called him. It arrived on Monday. But, Sprint was upgrading their system all day Monday, so I had to wait until Tuesday to activate it).

I'm convinced it's me. It has to be. This is the story of my life.

I am a walking customer service nightmare.


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

My new budgeting technique!

In the spirit of my newfound organization (and new workspace), I have been getting everything in order -- including the finances.

Now that I get paid every two weeks, the budgeting month to month wasn't working. Some months are two checks, others three checks. Sometimes I ran out of money before the month was up.

Instead, it made much more sense to budget paycheck to paycheck. So, basically, for each payday, I decide what bills fall from that date until the next payday.

Here's an example I made to show what I mean.


Paydays are at the top. My expenses are listed in order of due date. And the amounts for each are listed under the appropriate date. It helps me see how negative or positive I will be for each pay period.

I use google documents because I can check it from anywhere, anytime. It's working well so far.

What's your budgeting techniques? What works for you? Do you use Excel? A checkbook register? Quicken?



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

The Art of Color

It's a proven fact that bright or soothing colors in a room can brighten your mood -- well, today, my proposition is that COLORING brightens your mood.

Even if you are childless, get out your watercolors or crayons and get to work! After a while, it becomes mindless, and relaxing. I think it's akin to meditating in some ways. All of your other senses are turned off and it's just you and the decision between aquamarine and turquoise.

One of my closest girlfriends and I used to buy coloring books in college when we were stressed out. It seemed goofy at the time, but maybe we were on to something.

For Father's Day, the lil' man and I made a watercolor Picasso as a present, and I really did feel calmer... I'll be looking out for your Picassos soon!



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

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

How Making Assumptions Ruins Our Lives

I just finished "The Four Agreements" by don Miguel Ruiz. I can't say that I whole heartedly believe in every word in the book, but it raises some very necessary awareness about the destructive patterns that we (people) unconsciously subscribe to every day.


The piece that I want to pass on today has to do with how we are ruled (negatively) by our assumptions, and that it boils down with us not feeling worthy of really knowing the truth and asking questions:

"If others tell us something, we make assumptions to fulfill our need to know and to replace the need to communicate. Even if we hear something and we don't understand, we make assumptions about what it means and then believe the assumptions. We make all sorts of assumptions because we don't have the courage to ask questions.

These assumptions are made so fast and unconsciously most of the time because we have agreements to communicate this way. We have agreed that it is not safe to ask questions; we have agreed that if people love us, they should know what we want or how we feel. When we believe something, we assume we are right about it to the point that we will destroy relationships in order to defend our position.

We make the assumption that everyone sees life the way we do. We assume that others think the way we think, feel the way we feel, judge the way we judge, and abuse the way we abuse."

So today's take home message is to work on NOT letting negativity in any form (especially assumptions) from running your life to the point of unhappiness and wrecking your interpersonal relationships. As much as people dislike being confrontational, isn't it better to just put everything on the table and know the truth rather than walking around feeling hurt/angry/sad about something that you misinterpreted??

Today is NO ASSUMPTIONS DAY -- don't assume your interpretation is always the right one. There's always another side to the story.

Dr. Ty
www.getalifecampaign.com

Compact cars hurt young children...

...well, at least that's what I was told as my much-needed vacation started in Fort Lauderdale.

Finally! All this stress between work, family and responsibility and vacation is H-E-R-E! Our flight landed on time, with just minor turbulence. My son watched DVD's on my laptop during the ride and I actually got to take a nap. Lovely!
Alas, we arrive at the airport and his bag gets lost and I was determined not to let it damper my mood (it was found and shipped on the next flight out).

Then at the car rental spot... I reserved a compact car for the full 5 days, for $97 total (Those who know me personally know that I will usually drive an SUV at all costs, but gas is ridiculous lately). Anyway, the woman at the counter proceeds to tell me that they only have Geo Metros and said I probably want a safer car since I have the "baby" (aka the 2-year-old who looks 4). WHAT?
So, now that she has spoken it into existence, I feel pressured and JINXED and decide to upgrade to the next size at an extra $40 which was much higher than if I had gotten it online.

We go upstairs to pick out the midsize car and there are none. There aren't any compacts either. So I go into the desk upstairs and ask what kind of cars they have for compact and midsize rentals. She lists quite a few of them.... but leaves off the "Geo Metro" (gasp, no Geos??) So I repeat my earlier conversation and she says, no we have plenty of different cars, (including Saturns which are super-safe) and I feel hoodwinked.
At that point, I ask her to credit my account back to the $97 since I only switched for the "safety" and I'd much rather save the gas costs (the whole point right?). At that point, Madame Safety walks by and asks me, "Was something wrong?" So I repeat our conversation and then tell her that there are no Geo Metros and plenty of safe cars. She just says "OH" and walks on by (I'm making the neck-wringing motion with my hands in the air writing now.... aghhhH).

Bottom line -- the bill got credited, there were no compacts available so they gave everyone who was waiting the next size up. So I ended up with a midsize car at the price of a compact and now we all feel SAFE.

• Was it necessary for her to scare me in order to make a sale? Was it necessary to blatantly lie? Sigh...
  

When stress kills

Think your everyday stress isn't harming your body? Think you have it under control?

Yesterday's webmd.com article shows us exactly what we're doing to our hearts with each bout of stress we incur. Stress can be as little as running to late for work in the morning, or as big as the death of a loved one. It can cause acute damage like a heart attack, or slowly damage your heart over time.
Oh yea -- think you're safe because you're the quiet type who doesn't yell? SORRY... Here's what the article says about you:

People with type D personalities (characterized by pessimistic emotions and inability to share emotions with others) and type A personalities (characterized by anxiety directed outward as aggressive, irritable, or hostile behaviors) are more likely than others to suffer heart attacks.

So ladies (and the gentlemen who read this blog) -- the GAL creed already talked about managing your stress, now's the time to really get it under control. The kids are back in school, traffic has worsened, there's less sun shining on all of us. Don't let stress consume you. Go for walks, avoid negative people, make changes in your life, hey - try yoga (see earlier post)!

Whatever you do, protect your hearts.

I don't wanna see you in my hospital 20 years from now, can't walk upstairs or have fluid in your lungs because your heart has pooped out.

For more GAL blogging, check out http://www.getalifecampaign.com/blogger.html.

So I tried yoga for the first time...

...and liked it.

Recently, I've been feeling a little out of wack and unsettled toward everything. I'm snapping left and right, I have no control over my emotions, and just always have this anxious feeling like I forgot to do something, or something bad is about to happen. My worse came last week, when extended family issues got the better of me, and I wasn't even focused on my certification exam the next day. So, I decided to work on re-centering.
I'm sick of letting everyone else's drama (co-workers, patients, family, friends, random people on the street) suck me dry and ruin my life. That's my mantra this week.

I decided to fast along with Ramadan (no, I'm not Muslim) from a few hours before sunrise until sundown, in an effort to reach some spiritual calm (anyone who has ever fasted for a spiritual reason can attest that eventually it works).

It's funny, because the first day, I made it through (at work) just fine without having a hypoglycemic outburst. I broke fast at 7-ish, but only ate some of my really yummy food because I wanted to finish seeing patients. When I came back to eat though, my food had been thrown away (why, man? WHY?)! With how volatile I've been the last few weeks, I would have yelled at someone or even cried (lol), but I was surprisingly calm. I also had some moments of super-great luck that day, so I figured I'd continue.

Since I was out of town for yesterday's book signing, I brushed off my Bally's membership card and went to yoga today. I figured that if I just O.D. on spiritually calming stuff, SOMEthing has to work right?
It was really nice. Lights off, instrumental music, some stretching and strengthening... Having been a dancer in a previous life, I was concerned that it would be too basic for my body to feel an effect. I actually did leave feeling lighter and calmer. FINALLY!

So, during the 2-hour drive home, I turned my phone off and blasted my best feel-good albums (some from 5-10 years ago), singing as loudly as I could. And I still feel good.

Let's hope I can hang on to this once I actually speak to another human being :-).

Kudos for yoga, man.