"For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong." HL Mencken

So today did *not* start out well.

Got no sleep last night so was thoroughly grumpy when the alarm went off to begin w/... Bilbo had mistaken his waterbowl for his litter box so had to clean all that up. I forgot to put my water bottle back in the fridge last night so no cold water. Etc etc. Stupid little stuff all made worse by no sleep. Then of course getting stuck behind a truck for pretty well the entire drive. Get to the barn -- things get better at the barn right? Tack horse up, fight w/ ridiculously heavy arena door, get outside... Footing is sloppy but not horrendously so -- safe enough to ride in. All is well. Get on -- yeah, horse is lame. No riding for me. N worse, no lesson for me. N to top it off, when I call to cancel, coach tells me he has to cancel next week too. Booooo. So yeah, day just keeps getting suckier. By this point I was in *such* a foul mood I wasn't about to go to the office (and I still had time since they weren't expecting me for a while).

So I go home and dust off the wii fit. Now I don't know why, but I definitely discovered several years ago that when I'm in that kind of truly foul mood (esp if for no apparent reason) the fastest way to kick myself out of it is a serious workout. N it has to be cardio -- strength just doesn't cut it. Something to do w/ endorphines I expect -- but what I do know is it works. Lacking time and inclination for a serious workout, I settled for the wii fit... Which got huffy at me since I haven't been on since oh April *g* and it "forgot" my name. Sheesh. But really -- how can you stay huffy at the little wiis? They're cheery enough you might want to shoot them, but you can't really be mad at them. I knew better than to drag out the ddr cause when in that mood I wouldn't have the patience for the coordination that requires, but wii doesn't require any actual talent.

So ok I do the step as a quick w/u and then figure I'll play some balance games. But when I went from the aerobic game to the balance game it says to me "you've lost some weight since last calculation, do you want to continue?" ummm what? I'm sorry but that 'workout' of 5 mins of nxt-to-nothing is not going to burn *that* many calories! hahahha but then I realized -- I always carry weights when I do the aerobic components, but usually not for the balance ones. I must've been holding them when it took the first reading. hahaha classic. Evidently I've never made that mistake before cause I've certainly not seen that message before. Did sort of amuse me though.

Anyways the wii-workout did the trick and I was feeling human in time to get to work, so the world is good. Well other than my horse being mysteriously lame :( Just as well I didn't sign her up for Caledon. I have exactly one student there tomorrow -- easiest coaching day ever! AND she even has decent times. Imagine that :) Now if only the threatened rain could stay away I'd be set.

For lunch today I got a 711 slurpee :) Woohoo! Complete w/ bubble lid and (P you'd be impressed by this . . . ) a PURPLE spoon-straw. hahaha n yes I realize that nobody whose age is past single digits should be drinking slurpees, but then I don't drink adult drinks (think coffee, beer, wine...) so I figure that allows me to indulge in child drinks instead. We all have our weaknesses -- mine is that somewhere along the way I clearly forgot to grow up!

hahaha and along that line, had an interesting situation at work the other day. Have been emailing a supplier for the last day or so. Since he's been going out of his way to get us something we need on a very tight deadline, I've been fairly chatty and casual in my emails with lots of thank yous and ! and various other happy things. But at one point I asked him the ETA to which he replied that English wasn't his first language and he wasn't sure what that meant. Ok, fair enough, so I explained what it meant... Well then I got a fairly huffy answer that said if he went around asking his clients for an "estimated time of arrival" they'd up all the prices for being a pompous ass (ok so he didn't use *that* term precisely, but that's definitely the tone). N of course, having asked him for exactly that, that's directed at me. So I roll my eyes and set about to compose a very formal message explaining that the term is very casual or slang and is usually used as a friendlier version of "when are you going to get this to me?" Went on to discuss that the full phrase spelt out would indeed be excessive and how knowing how to use slang is one of the hardest things about mastering a new language (which of course I've never managed to do!) So the response I get to that is that this email was "much more sophisticated" than the other ones and he added 10 years to my age - even though he has no idea how old I am to begin with. hahaha just made me laugh. Seems that even online my age is a bit of a curiosity. Lesson learned though -- don't be casual unless you're absolutely certain the other person gets it! Oops. My more formal message got a really flattering reply which was good on the ego but really didn't undo the embarrassment over all the silliness over the first stupid message. Blah. Oh well -- live and learn eh?

It is a bit of a fine line though -- n I think I *usually* judge it right (albeit not so much in this case) -- but when I've never met *most* of the clients I deal with every day, I don't want to always be formal. It's *much* easier to build a good working relationship with some level of casualness than with strict business writing. And I've found when you have that, it's significantly easier to get things done -- and likewise, I'm more likely to get things done for those who have a more relaxed tone to their emails... hahaha but I guess when all else fails, revert to formal -- and then people complain it's not friendly enough. Gotta love modern communications.

Anyways work's mostly good. There's one person I wouldn't mind never seeing again, but there's always one in every group right? Makes me tense to the point that my shoulders and neck hurt. And then that makes me not ride well -- which is def not acceptable! hahaha pretty clear where my priorities are. Anybody know how to get rid of neck/shoulder stiffness? Teaching is all good -- well at least when my students stay *on* their horses >;-P No but seriously, I have all kewl students now which makes it even that much more fun. hahaha and am seriously impressed by those dedicated enough to have their lessons even when it's raining!

Ok gotta run. Later!