Mad Manatee Mentors 2013: CLOSED (exc/ Pop Tart bribes) (Page 126)

Originally posted by cdban66

TJ, do your "customers" have to take the furlough day as well?

Originally posted by melbo55

I don't think I have a Yanti nickname, so either Melanie or Mel will work, or whatever you want to call me.  I am a person of many nicknames, both the giver of and recipient of!

Originally posted by rrrunner

Not sure to which customers you refer, Chris.

Dept of Justice is not doing furloughs. They are dealing with the sequester differently.

The American Taxpayer just continues to complain that we get paid too much, don't have long enough office hours, yada yada yada

The criminals? No they continue to break the law while we try to stop them with, as Janyne pointed out, less time on the clock and less budget.

Originally posted by cdban66

I consider the criminals to be your customers. And they seem to work 24/7. I feel bad that ya'll aren't given all the tools that you need to do your job.

BTW, anyone who has to carry firearms should get a bit more pay than the average Joe. I say a prayer daily for you and all your co-workers.

Originally posted by brigby1

"Cooler by the Lake"? It's upper 70's out in the suburbs, or ~25. I'll be going for a run fairly soon, hoping for at least some clouds.

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

Haha!  Thanks for doing the conversion for me, now I know what you're talking about!  I guess that's the case, at least that's what the weather people always seem to say.  Enjoy your run and I hope you find those clouds you're looking for, from my vantage point in d/t Chi-town... there aren't any to hide under. 

(second confession:  I also have trouble with miles... the only way I can figure them out is using 5km ~ 3miles, 10km ~ 6miles... I know, I know it's 1.609km per mile - but that's just too hard for my brain)

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

Haha!  Thanks for doing the conversion for me, now I know what you're talking about!  I guess that's the case, at least that's what the weather people always seem to say.  Enjoy your run and I hope you find those clouds you're looking for, from my vantage point in d/t Chi-town... there aren't any to hide under. 

(second confession:  I also have trouble with miles... the only way I can figure them out is using 5km ~ 3miles, 10km ~ 6miles... I know, I know it's 1.609km per mile - but that's just too hard for my brain)

Originally posted by cdban66

I KNEW I liked you. I can't do the conversions without help and it seems that about half this group is not in the US. I like to think that I have other more pressing matters on my mind (although I know that may not be true either.)

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

I had to do the same thing when I was living in the UK... the conversion to your weight in stones was the hardest for my brain to comprehend!  I definitely don't have more pressing matters on my mind...  Besides, my brain can generally only deal with one thing at a time. 

Originally posted by rrrunner

I do the same thing! (except the opposite direction, I suppose)

Originally posted by JJ- Speaking of Pop-tarts.....My wife made homemade pop-tarts last night! OMG they were awesome!

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

*knock knock knock...* 

Fachmie, I've found the Manatees!!  

Deep breath... Yanti told me the passwords are Pop Tarts (I had already figured that one out) and DOOOOO EEEEEET.  I tried to bribe her with pop tarts (well, the virtual kind which I'm pretty sure just ended up with her swearing at me for NOT sending actual ones), but I was told that I was already a Manatee and to just come by and introduce myself as I've been lurking for quite some time, but just too shy to actually say anything. 

So... hi! 

Name:   blueyedbikergirl / Monica

Story:  I've been pretty athletic all my life from a very young age (my mom still likes to bring up my days in Tiny Tot Tumbling) - national/olympic level rhythmic gymnast, won provincials with my basketball team, then won provincials with my beach volleyball parter before pretty much giving it all up and being quite sedentary... and gained a lot of weight in that process.  I've broken my back twice, had my right knee reconstructed twice, and gone through a 10 year battle with cancer that left me with no reproductive parts since 2007, though thankfully all of my checkups since then have been clear *knocks on compressed particle board with a lovely wood-like veneer finish*  I went through a fairly nasty breakup with my then husband in 2009 and somehow decided to get active again - and even though I didn't have a bike and I hadn't been in the water to actually SWIM in years, I signed up for a triathlon.  It kicked.my.azz.  But I was absolutely hooked.  It's also the time that I found BT, and started chatting to a few folks on here.  Fast forward to June 2010 and I flew to Chicago to meet some BTers... one of whom ended up making quite the impression on me - so much so that I moved to the UK in February 2011 to be with him.  He got transferred back to Chicago in May of 2012, and so I followed in June... we got married last July, did IMAZ together in November last year, then went to Vegas to have a proper ceremony with friends, family, and a fat Elvis. 

Family Status: Married!  No kids, no pets... heck, it's sometimes a miracle that we're still alive.   

Current Training: Following the Be Iron Fit plan and in week... something.  I'll have to check on that.

This Year's Races:  Lake in the Hills, Pleasant Prairie, AG Nationals, maybe Rev3 Cedar Point HIM, B2B full distance

Body Composition:  My body still works, no matter how it's composed - I'm gonna try to keep it that way. 

That's about all... Pop Tarts!!   

Originally posted by TriAya

Oh Manatees.

I woulda posted here but was also in a chat room on another forum I'm on that was more apropos at the exact moment ... anyway there's a friend of mine that's in a terrible place (I've been there, I know many of you have) and really wanted to end it all. I so wish we had emergency services in Indonesia and of course she's in JAKARTA and I'm here in Bali.

I think we got through the worst of it. She'll be calling me back in half an hour (or I'll call her) and if there's no answer I will send someone to her house.

Running through my mind who to send now, just in case need be.

Believe me, I'm doing the best I can and if I were REALLY REALLY worried I'd have already sent someone to literally kidnap her and go toss her in a hospital in restraints. Last resort but it's a possibility. I just don't want to do that to her and I don't think at this point it's necessary.

Also, she really does want to live or she wouldn't have spent all that time talking to me. She'd just have done herself in. We'll figure something out tomorrow. In the meanwhile I'm giving her very simple things to do--make tea, drink it, breathe, read a paragraph out loud from a spiritual book I gave her--and then call me.

Once the sun comes up, it's another day. Also she has two boys that she'll be busy getting off to school.

As for me, this seriously necessitates another Pop Tart.

If anyone has any brilliant (or even sometimes the most incredibly stupid ones are) suggestions I'm all ears. She also has the URL of a 24-hour chat room that she can go to, just to get help, support, pass the time, whatever. I understand. I've been there and I know every minute can be agony.

Originally posted by bcraht True, true.  But, you're like, not totally Canadian.  Cause, you know, you say things like like.  And you haven't yet mastered the use of the 'eh'.

Originally posted by amd723 Just checking in. I made it to New York and onto the plane to Paris. Then we sat on the Tarmac for 2 hrs because the a/c is broken. They dithered over what to do before saying we have to go back to the gate. And now we've been trying to find an open gate for at least a half hour. So, I have no idea when I will be able to leave this hot, hot, hot, miserable plane. We should be 2.5 hrs into the 6 hour flight. Instead we are in no man's land with no idea what will happen next. I am not amused. I am, however, hungry.

Originally posted by amd723

New motivation - yay!  Are you training for a particular race?

ETA:  this was supposed to be a reply to Jo's post and not a statement that I've found new motivation.

Originally posted by blueyedbikergirl

*knock knock knock...* 

Fachmie, I've found the Manatees!!  

Deep breath... Yanti told me the passwords are Pop Tarts (I had already figured that one out) and DOOOOO EEEEEET.  I tried to bribe her with pop tarts (well, the virtual kind which I'm pretty sure just ended up with her swearing at me for NOT sending actual ones), but I was told that I was already a Manatee and to just come by and introduce myself as I've been lurking for quite some time, but just too shy to actually say anything. 

So... hi! 

Name:   blueyedbikergirl / Monica

Story:  I've been pretty athletic all my life from a very young age (my mom still likes to bring up my days in Tiny Tot Tumbling) - national/olympic level rhythmic gymnast, won provincials with my basketball team, then won provincials with my beach volleyball parter before pretty much giving it all up and being quite sedentary... and gained a lot of weight in that process.  I've broken my back twice, had my right knee reconstructed twice, and gone through a 10 year battle with cancer that left me with no reproductive parts since 2007, though thankfully all of my checkups since then have been clear *knocks on compressed particle board with a lovely wood-like veneer finish*  I went through a fairly nasty breakup with my then husband in 2009 and somehow decided to get active again - and even though I didn't have a bike and I hadn't been in the water to actually SWIM in years, I signed up for a triathlon.  It kicked.my.azz.  But I was absolutely hooked.  It's also the time that I found BT, and started chatting to a few folks on here.  Fast forward to June 2010 and I flew to Chicago to meet some BTers... one of whom ended up making quite the impression on me - so much so that I moved to the UK in February 2011 to be with him.  He got transferred back to Chicago in May of 2012, and so I followed in June... we got married last July, did IMAZ together in November last year, then went to Vegas to have a proper ceremony with friends, family, and a fat Elvis. 

Family Status: Married!  No kids, no pets... heck, it's sometimes a miracle that we're still alive.   

Current Training: Following the Be Iron Fit plan and in week... something.  I'll have to check on that.

This Year's Races:  Lake in the Hills, Pleasant Prairie, AG Nationals, maybe Rev3 Cedar Point HIM, B2B full distance

Body Composition:  My body still works, no matter how it's composed - I'm gonna try to keep it that way. 

That's about all... Pop Tarts!!   

Originally posted by TriAya

Currently, I'm stuffing my face with anything beginning with "p." Unfortunately, I think I shall have to put off my breakfast piglet (hm ... also starts with P) but I'm pretty sure he'll still hang in there for a lunch postponement. Too. Tired.

P.S. Piglet delivery also begins with P. Hm.

Originally posted by cdban66

Ouch, I'm so sorry it started this way, but hey, it can only get better, right?????