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Busy Bee

I’ve been a busy bee since AEP started Friday. I was so excited to get it started off with a bang, but Friday was completely terrible sales wise as was Saturday. This weekend we all worked both Saturday and Sunday, which is exhausting. Our hours yesterday were 8 to 6:00 pm, which made for a long day.

As soon as I finished working, the Mayor and I headed to the rink for his second game of the day. He played one earlier in the afternoon that I totally missed since the rink’s LiveBarn feed was down. Obviously, that was a total buzz kill. Nonetheless, I was happy that I would be able to make it to at least one of his games this weekend.

Last night they played the Lightning, who they played last week and beat handily. Unfortunately, the small mistakes cost us the game. To be fair, the Lightning goalie stole the game. He played absolutely incredible. The boys, of course, did make him look good. There more than a few times they had the goalie and defense beat, but they couldn’t finish. In the end, a shitty turnover late in the third cost them the tie. It was definitely a disappointing outcome given how well I know the boys can play.

Post game we headed to Brass Monkey. The Brass Monkey is an absolute dive bar that happens to have pretty good food at a really nice price. Goalielocks’ game got over first, so the Hubby and him headed to the restaurant to get a table for our massive group. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait one second for our group of twenty to be seated. The food and the company, as always, was fantastic. Yesterday I was definitely a busy bee.

Today I was up early again and back to work. I slept in, so I didn’t get my run in before starting my work day. Yesterday was abysmal and depressing on the phones, so I needed to mix it up. Since it was slow, I started watching Metallica music videos on YouTube. Once I finished S&M 2, I decided to watch Queen’s live performance at Live Aid in 1985. Freddie Mercury was an absolute beast, I would have loved to see him perform live. The music work and I had a much better day on the phones. Hopefully today’s success will carry over to tomorrow!

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When It Rains

When it rains, it pours. Or so the saying goes. Today marked the start of our busiest season at work. It also marked the start of twelve hour days for the next seven weeks. Admittedly, I was super excited for today because AEP presents me with a lot of opportunity to make some serious doughs. Unfortunately, technology was not on our side.

As I said, when it rains it pours, not only was technology a problem all day. The quality of the leads was abysmal at best. When you combine this with an impossible technology day, it makes for an extremely frustrating day. In fact, I was starting to think I was going to finish the day with one paltry sale. It took five minutes to pull up a file, update a file or status a file. After waiting for the file to update, it wouldn’t even update the file properly.

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Better Day

Today was a much better day on all fronts. From a productivity standpoint, I had the best sales day of the month today. The headache and stiff muscles that were a source of aggravation earlier in the week have completely abated. And thank god with AEP starting tomorrow, I need to be in tip top shape. After reviewing last year’s AEP results, I’m stoked to see what the next seven weeks will bring.

Of course, nothing makes for a better day than a phone call from Jake. He looked great, but sounded absolutely exhausted. We’re super grateful for technology that allows us to always stay connected. I am definitely missing my boy and would love to be back in Utah spending time with him. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to get back out there until next summer. Oh well, it’s something to look forward to.

I ran this evening and it was fabulous. Naturally, I had hoped it would get easier today. Alas, it did not. I was sucking wind after a half of a mile. Nonetheless, I persevered and ran the whole mile and a half. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be running in the morning before work. My AEP schedule has me working too late to realistically run after work. Monday I’ll be restarting Kayla Itsines HIIT program again. It’s the best exercise program I’ve found to date.

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It’s Hump Day

It’s hump day and I finally feel human again. I’ve been fighting off a migraine/tension headache since Saturday. Naturally, this is what happens when I don’t stretch and sleep wrong. Apparently at level 41, sleeping wrong wins you a stiff neck and a headache. Talk about winning. Needless to say I’m thrilled that the muscles have loosened up. I definitely have gone back to my morning stretch routine for my neck and shoulders. Hopefully, this will prevent it from happening again.

Nevertheless, it’s been a productive week. I finished building out our 2022 outreach project plan for PurpleStride. Honestly, I’m pretty excited about it as it centralizes all resources and makes the strategy crystal clear. Also, anyone can easily replicate it, which makes succession planning that much easier. This will be crucial over the next seven weeks since I’ll be deep in the throes of AEP.

One thing that I struggle with while working on the event is seeing the names of the recently diagnosed. My friend, and fellow volunteer, were talking about it today. It’s definitely a trigger for PTSD and grief. I hate seeing new team because this disease is so terrible. A new team means someone else got diagnosed. I hate the idea of another family having to fight this disease. But I also love seeing new teams because I know they’ve tapped into the great resources that PanCAN offers pancreatic cancer patients and their families.

I was finally able to run again after missing the last five days. Unfortunately, the tournament schedule was not conducive to running. Moreover, I was not going to run with a headache. Today’s run went well. It was much easier than my runs last week. Once it cools down a little bit more, I’m hoping to run with the puppies in the morning before work. I absolutely prefer running outside to running on the treadmill, however, the Florida heat and humidity make it impossible. Well, it’s hump day and I’m going to finish the evening with some NHL hockey.

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It’s Back

It’s back!!! The NHL regular season kicked off tonight as the Lightning take on the Penguins. I had signed up for Sling to watch the games on ESPN, but it’s still not working. To be honest, I’m less than impressed with Sling so far. It seems to have latency issues and is often very slow to load. Additionally, the orange circle in the middle of screen gets old quick.

My MN Wild and the Florida Panthers will stay their season Friday and Thursday respectively. Hopefully, the Sling debacle will be straightened out by then. Both teams should do well this year and should be fun to watch. The operative word here, of course, is should. Albeit, I learned this weekend that the difference between could and should is confusing for some people.

Friday is all the start of AEP season, which means I’ll be working a 14 hour shift Friday followed by eight mote days of consecutive work. But hey, at least I won’t be bored. Thankfully, it’s only seven weeks long and there’s ton of opportunity to make money. Nevertheless, I’m tired just thinking about it. Fortunately, my puppies will be there every step of the way to keep my company. Anyway, did I mention it’s back!!!

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Oh Anakin

Oh Anakin as if my Monday was not already Monday enough, you decided to puke on our white down comforter. Naturally, I watched horrified while I was on the phone with a client. Athena was also concerned and was trying to look up onto the bed to make sure you’re okay. Again I was watching you, so I saw when you grabbed my pajama pants with your mouth and used them to cover up your vomit.

Thankfully, I can’t smell. Otherwise, I’d probably have lost my cookies as well. Fortunately, my phone call was short, so I was able to strip the bedding off my bed and get it into the wash immediately. Sadly, some of the vomit bled through to our memory foam pad. Pro tip, the bissell portable carpet cleaner destroys memory foam pads. Whoops! Oh well, at least there’s no vomit on the pad.

Oh Anakin, you are such a silly puppy. I love working from home and having the dogs chill with me all day. Most days they are well behaved and I don’t have to clean anything up. Moreover, most days Anakin and Athena lay quietly near me. They only get loud when somebody comes to the door. Fortunately, I don’t plan on going to the office anytime soon, so the puppies will be my office mates for the foreseeable future.

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Ready To Rest

Well, the tournament is over and I’m ready to rest. Unfortunately, this comes just in time for Monday. Oh the joys of the dawn of a new work week. This Friday AEP starts, so it will be a mad dash for seven weeks. I’ll be working seven days a week for the next seven weeks. At least, I’ll be busy.

I had an interesting incident occur today. A couple of things, I find passive aggressive people annoying. If you have something to say, freaking say it. That being said, however, I find a lack of reading comprehension and critical thinking to be even more aggravating. If I may be so bold as to offer a piece of advice, you should avoid me if the aforementioned items describe you.

The boys had a great game this morning. They won decisively with an 8-0 final. Fortunately, the scoring came from all lines. It was fun to watch how well they can work together. Since they won the semi-final, they were off to the finals this evening. Tonight’s game was against the Flames, who beat the boys 7-2 last night.

Tonight’s game went better, but the boys came up short. They lost 3-0. Nonetheless, it was fun to see how much the team has progressed since the first tournament. The Flames team is now, but by the end of the season our Hawks team will beat them. Moreover, they’ll beat them when it really counts. And now I’m ready to rest.

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Mixed Bag

Today’s games brought a mixed bag of good and ugly. Typically, I’d say good and bad. However, tonight’s game was just plain ugly. This afternoon I thought the boys looked pretty good. Unfortunately, as good as they played this morning, they played the polar opposite tonight.

If I’m being honest, you can always tell my feelings on the game by the music I play. By the end of the game, it was all about Rammstein and Five Fingered Death Punch. So yeah, it went great. I did, however, work in a little Miley Cyrus for my bro and because why not. If they a complete gong show, why shouldn’t I join them in the party.

We have one more game tomorrow, so hopefully they play like they did last night and this morning. Let me tell you when this team is on, they’re on. They’re fun to watch and they’re having a blast playing together. To be fair, even in losing, they have fun and treat each other well. Tonight wasn’t their tonight, but tomorrow will be there day.

Hopefully, tomorrow its not a mixed bag at the rink. On the family front, it sounds like my Grandma will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow. She had surgery Thursday and had hoped to be home Friday. Despite still being in the hospital, she’s doing remarkably well considering her age.

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Tournament Time

One more day and it’s tournament time for this hockey family. The Mayor will be playing this weekend, while Goalielocks will be officiating all weekend. It’s been a minute since I’ve seen the Mayor’s team play. Unfortunately, we missed the last league games while we were in Utah. Fortunately, we still manage to get the Mayor plenty off ice time in Utah.

Today my Grandma underwent surgery in Minnesota, which was a little nerve wracking as she’s 91. Unsurprisingly, she came through the procedure like a champ. Currently, she’s relaxing in her private room feeling pretty good. I’m going to give her a call in a few just to check in.

Unfortunately, this year has brought a cancer diagnosis for Raquel and her husband. I can’t imagine the stress they must be feeling as they fight cancer on two fronts. While her parents fight cancer, Taylor has been diligently taking care of them both. Not only has this been an emotionally difficult time for them, but it’s been financially trying. Neither Raquel or her husband are currently able to work. Meanwhile, Taylor has missed a lot of work while taking care of her parents. If you can, please consider helping this wonderful family out. Here is their Gofundme.

Here in Florida, one of my favorite Zumba students had surgery today as well. Raquel and her daughter Taylor attended my Zumba classes for years. They’re amazing women and I’ve kept in touch with them even after I had to stop teaching Zumba. When Taylor first started coming to my class she was still in high school. Now she’s graduated college and in the work force.