One Reason to NOT Hate Walmart

Well, there are many reason to hate Walmart. For many people it has something to do with Big Bad Corporation taking over and destroying Small Town, USA. But when Big Bad Corporation screws over Big Bad Pharmaceutical Corporation, it makes it all okay. Because if there is anything I hate more than airport security or automotive insurance, its anything associated with American health care, particularly those bastards that charge U.S. customers 10 to 20 times the cost of what they charge for the same drugs in foreign countries. And they try to justify it by claiming that they must recoup the costs they input into research. And a more even, and fair distribution of cost worldwide is out of the question why?

Anyway, this rant does have a purpose. Today I went to the doctor and I got a prescription for Lamisil. My insurance company (also on my shite list) has rejected this prescription a couple of times, and I've never forked out the $800 for the 90 day supply because,...well, I don't believe any LEGAL drug should cost that much. But my doc said that he heard through the grapevine that Walmart is now selling a generic form of Lamisil, and I should just chance it. So...I did. And when I picked up my prescription this evening, guess how much I paid for Walmart's generic Lamisil. $800? Nope. $400? Not even close. Try dividing that by 100. Yep, that's right. $4.00 for a 30 day prescription. So, $12 total to get the full run.

Now I'm glad I didn't bite the bullet and pay out of pocket,...I might have been pissed enough to burn down a headquarters.

You Know It's a Monday...

...when you put your underwear on backwards and inside-out.

You know it's a rough Monday when you don't even realize your error until you head to bed at 11pm.

/sigh

Steps to Remotivation

I'm in a funk. Mental as well as physical funk. I have low energy levels, not to mention I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago and I can't seem to kick it back into happy mode. I haven't been to the gym since Friday. And for the more relaxed readers out there, that may seem like not such a long time ago, but for me that's forever. But I keep talking myself out of working out. This is not a good thing for me. I am a happier and more balanced person after a workout. So, I know it's for the best...so, why do I keep talking myself out of a visit to the gym every.single.day.?

So, here is the game plan:

1. Push my mental reset button. This has been achieved in the past by going for a long run or an hour or so of contemplative and meditative silence. I'll try the run first...easier on the knees.

2. Set gym visits into my daily schedule. Considering my low energy levels in the afternoons, I guess gym will have to be in the mornings.

3. Read lots of health and nutrition articles/blogs/etc. Just reading about being healthy motivates me.

4. Prioritize my tasks. I'm willing to admit that I've been feeling a little overwhelmed this semester (hey, what else is new?) So, maybe a little organization, and actually getting my work completed early, will relieve some of the mental exaustion. And leave me more time for physical activities.

5. Have a word with myself. Ya know, a little self-motivational conversation starring outer and inner self.

Well, that's a start. Now...to only find time to start the Remotivation Revolution.

Miscalculation

So, apparently all this time I thought I was traveling 10 miles to get from the house to campus ...well, I was mistaken. Its actually 12 miles. Steve entered the address of both into gmaps pedometer, and not only was I going two extra miles than I believed, but its almost all uphill (that part I sort of suspected), but its a very gradual incline except for a couple of big hills.

Anyway, go me!

Jen vs Sign

Yet another example of me testing the limits. There is a whole series of photographs of me defying warning signs. I think Reggie holds the majority of these pics, where I am inevitably on the wrong side of a "DANGER: DO NOT CROSS" sign. I should get them all together and do a blog post.

But really, they're just suggestions, right?

Perchance to Dream

The bike I lust after:



But much like the real Prince of Spain, way out of my league.

Yet, still, a girl can dream.

Some Possible Bike Routes

So, I've been toying with some possible bike routes for us to conquer the first good weekend this spring. Here are a few ideas, trying to keep the mileage about 20 to 30 miles. These are there-and-backs btw.

Ashland City to Briley Parkway


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Sango Walmart to Port Royal State Park


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Or, alternatively, we could do a weekend long bike ride following the nice, wide, plenty of room for cyclists, Highway 52 from Orlinda, TN to Celina, TN, using my parents place in Lafayette as a half-way point and end-of-day resting point.


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We could even bribe my mom to be support team :D

So my doctor said to me...

"I think you should just do more cardio."

So let me explain. I went to APSU health services a few days ago because I've been really really really exhausted lately. But more than that, my sensitivity to lack of food increased...I now officially class it as a hypersensitivity to lack of food. For example, its 12:32pm right now, roughly twenty minutes ago I ate a can of tuna fish and a V8. I am starting to feel a little dragged down, and I know if I don't eat something within the next half hour I will start to feel sick. This isn't a new thing for me, its something I've been dealing with for a few years now, but there are periods where it is more prevalent than others. Anyway, they drew some blood just to test for diabetes, anaemia, thyroid imbalances, etc etc. I've had all of these things tested before, and they always come back as shining beacons of my health. Unfortunately, the problem remains unsolved. Sometimes I even wish that they would find *something* just so I could at least identify the problem and solve it.

But,...I digress. The APSU doc said, as expected, that all my levels are fine and he came up with some possible reasons, but not stated with any degree of definitiveness, and which I pretty much refuse to believe are legitimate. 1. The facts of life about being a woman. 2. Waining and building levels of stress. 3. A recurring viral infection that lowers my immune system.

His solution to these *possible* causes of exhaustion/nausea: do more cardio exercise. This was after I told him I exercise on average, 3-4 days a week. Now I'm willing to admit that I do more strength training than cardiovascular training, so maybe he's right. But his logic was not "do this for overall health improvement" but "do this to flood your body with endorphins, and you won't be so tired." Hmmm...I should have mentioned this to him, but I am exhausted after workouts...but by this point the inner voice already came to the conclusion that this guy doesn't really care and he's just trying to appease me.

Anyway, Vanderbilt has a health analysis program for its faculty and staff and their significant others, so I may just fork out the $50 to see what a nutritionist has to say. But already, I'm thinking its going to be, "eat more vegetables and do more cardio."

Facelifts Can't Hide Inner Ugly

So I read an article on CNN about how Rush Limbaugh recently fired up a youthful crowd of republicans (shame to anyone who capitalizes that word) at the Conservative Political Action Conference. I had a sarcastic chuckle to myself at this quote by Limbaugh:

"We want every American to be the best he or she chooses to be. We recognize that we are all individuals. We love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble of the Constitution contains an inarguable truth, that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom -- and the pursuit of happiness."

Really?

I feel every sentence is missing the conservative caveats for which the republicans are infamous, at least in ideology if not in stated word. There is nothing in Limbaugh's statements that I would ever associate with republicans or conservatives unless it was followed up with, "as long as we approve." Is this not the same group of individuals that consistently muster their political might to deny gays the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts? How is that respecting the inalienable rights of all? Is the pursuit of happiness limited to only those that abide to conservative doctrines?

And Limbaugh's suggestion that Obama and the liberals are using fear-mongering tactics to create "big government." Seriously, which ass did Limbaugh's head call home for the last eight years?

Just more proof that it doesn't matter how pretty the packaging, a pile of horse manure is still a stinky pile of...