Are you pregnant?

Foreword: This is an angry rant.

Yesterday I went home sick. On my way out the door, I was asked by one of our patrons why I was leaving. I informed him, "I'm going home sick." His reply was that of congratulations, because he assumed that I must be pregnant...
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HUH?!?

When I corrected him, that uh, no, I am not pregnant, he then decided that I MUST be having MENSTRUAL issues....

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WTF?!? JACK ASS!!! (Side Note: don't yet have a diagnosis for my stomach issues, but have it narrowed down to a herniated esophagus, GERD, or IBS.)

I wish I could say that this is a unique occurrence - this thing where I say, "I don't feel well" and someone replies, "Are you pregnant?" but this actually happens with great frequency now that I am married. I know that I am married and female and of childbearing age, and many individuals in that category may choose to have children so some folks may jump to that conclusion if I complain about ::gasp:: nausea. However, my current status does not change the fact that my personal life choices are just that - personal. Personal as in NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS UNLESS I TELL YOU. Additionally, I find it inappropriate and disrespectful to brush aside a woman's illness based on a blatantly false presumption that was made with woefully few facts.

For those out there who do not understand why this is inappropriate, disrespectful, and downright thoughtlessly rude - let me explain.

When you respond to a woman's complaint of illness by asking if she is pregnant, you ASSume many things.

1st - YOU ASSume that the woman shares similar lifestyle choices as you and will be choosing to have children.

2nd - YOU ASSume that she is ABLE to have children. Have you ever taken one second to think about the men and women who are unable to conceive and how hurtful your comment could be to them??? NO. Because you ASSumed that they could have kids. Because you didn't think.

3rd - You are asking a woman a question in the workplace that you would NEVER ask a man. A question that could in fact endanger her career advancement prospects (no matter how forward thinking you may think your company is).

4th - You are presuming yourself to be someone who deserves details about this woman's personal life, when, guess what, you don't deserve to know jack-squat. If she doesn't want to tell you what "sick" means, then you don't get to know what "sick" means. Sick could mean a horrendous bout of diarrhea, or one nasty ooozing smelly yeast infection - would you like to have those details? huh?? Didn't think so.

5th - You are ignoring the fact that this woman is going home SICK. That means quite literally that she is sick. So she probably doesn't feel like getting interrogated or, just as bad, getting freaking "congratulated" when she is SICK.

6th - You make a woman think, "DO I FREAKING LOOK PREGNANT?!?"

Just some food for thought. Feel free to pass this along.

Sending Sunday

The weather in Collinsville today holds a high temp of 65 degrees and a zero percent chance of rain - absolutely perfect weather for climbing! In a little while I'm meeting up with a freshly minted climbing buddy to drive out to Sandrock Alabama for the day.

Goals for the day:
- get new kid leading stuff on the boyscout wall & knob wall
- lead kennel club free
- maaaaybe lead that 5.10 on holiday block to the left and down of kennel club

I say maaaaybe because holy crap that's a 5.10 - waaaay over my leading limit. However, it's a super soft ten and if I freak out while on trad lead, it is a bolted line so I can always switch over to sport... if I'm a pansy...

...and my sister is probably the only person who reads this blog who also will have any idea what i'm writing about here - LOL. sorry y'all.

I'm off to go climbing!!

Sleepy Sunrise

This morning was pretty much fabulous. My alarm went off at six o'clock, and I realized that I did not have to go to work today. The weather has cooled off, so I had the windows open to let in a cool breeze. After makings some coffee, I got cozy beneath my puffy comforter and simply enjoyed watching the morning arrive.

The sunlight played on the pine-needles of the tree by my window, and I watched outside as squirrels and birds chattered at each other while hunting up breakfast.

I re-did my to-do list to make it actually do-able. And I savored a morning of peacefulness - feeling the cool breeze on my face, smelling autumn in the air, sipping coffee, and being surrounded by the comfort of a warm, soft bed.

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Now it's eleven o'clock, and I'm sitting down to lunch. I've already checked many things off my to-do list including a 2 mile run, meeting up with a friend, doing some Christmas shopping ($20 got me the craft supplies to make presents for 3 people!), getting quarters for laundry, running the dishwasher, filling up the car with gas, and returning a movie.

I've got everything I need to be productive at home and avoid the home-game-day-insanity if I want to. And I have plenty of time to get house cleaning & school work done before going climbing tomorrow.

All in all, a pretty awesome start to the weekend... it's nice to take a moment just to breath before the start of a day.

Eat more chicken...

I'm giving up on this whole vegetarian thing... Well... At least for a while.

I've tried it more than once, and I've lasted longer this time than in the past - but it's time to call it quits again. This week every work-out has been harder and harder, even though it should have been easier and easier. I've done much better than in the past about keeping my iron levels up. But honestly, I'm just too damn tired all the time. And I've been eating crap I hate to get my protein levels up and it's just gross.

No more icky cottage cheese.

Cause - eew. Just eeew.

Once my 50K is done and once the climbing comp is over, I will probably try again. And I'm not going to go all out and eat a cow every night like every other typical American. But yeah... I'm gonna eat some chickens.

To Do Lists....

You know my drill. Here's what I've got a week to do... that I can remember...

Tonight:
- Run sprints/hill for 2.5 miles
- Core work-out & shoulder PT

Friday:
- pick up a car rental
- wave my love good bye as he leaves for a 2 week course in NC
- run 5 miles at a comfortable pace

Saturday:
- avoid game day stupids
- try not to get too mad because the library is closed from 5:00PM on Friday until Sunday afternoon for a Saturday home football game.
- run 10 miles at Lake Lurleen, because the gym will only be open for 3 hours or something stupid because of the stupid home football game.

Sunday:
- Climbing at Sandrock (all day event)

And somewhere during any of that:
- Finish the most insane library scavenger hunt ever
- Write an 8 page paper
- do a lot of reading
- apply for spring scholarships
- actually work on my research
- Get started on a 15 page paper
- dangit... I know I'm forgetting stuff...
- Schedule a physical