Aug 31 2010

New Blog: Sustainable GeekGirl

Category: Project GeekGirl, webstuff/blog — GeekGirl @ 8:09 pm

I’ve alluded to the fact that I’ve been busy working on a couple of projects. I’m finally ready to roll out one of them. Please check out my new blog:

Sustainable GeekGirl

snapshotSo, why would I start a new blog? I’ve always been interested in Environmental stuff and I’m constantly worried about sustainability. Not just in the environmental-sense, but also financially. I’m kind of at a cross roads right now and I’m trying to figure out which way my life is going to go. I want to live a nice healthy, earth-friendly sustainable life. That’s what this new blog is about. I don’t want to bog down this blog with that info.

Further, I’d like to hone my audience and writing skills. With that, I don’t want to be burdened with that here. I like that I can write whatever I want here. If it’s boring and week after week of just running talk oh well. If I just want to show pictures of Gio that’s ok, too. (Gio will appear on BOTH blogs. He’s that awesome!)

I will sometimes cross post, but for the most part this is the place to see how my runnings going and stuff like that. Will the blogs possibly combine one day? I’m not sure. I’m not even sure if the new blog will stick around but, I had an idea and decided to move on it. Done and done.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Aug 03 2010

Freedom and August Stuff

Category: Life, New York Marathon, Project GeekGirl, planet finance, running — GeekGirl @ 7:11 pm

I turned in my final paper Sunday evening. With that, I’m out of school for the next month. I also worked my last Saturday at the running store last week. I will have Saturday and Sunday off this week for the first time in around a year. Wow. All this extra time is mind-blowing for me. Of course I have a ton of stuff that I would like to get done over the next month. The number one thing is cleaning/organizing. I have so much clutter. Over the next month I’m going to get rid of as much as I can. I’m just sick of looking at it. Here are some of the things that I’d like to accomplish this month:

  • Clean out closets
  • Get a dresser/chest of drawers
  • Clean living room furniture (Might do this myself)
  • Get my bike fixed
  • List my books on Half.com
  • Clean out bathroom
  • Reorganize kitchen
  • Shred all extra papers and reorganize all my papers

I’ve got a lot to do, but I think it’ll make me feel a bit better to have a nice clean, organized home.  I also have a few financial things that I’d like to take care of this month:

  • Get my finances back in order. – I stopped using my budget a couple of months ago and hadn’t updated my Networth since April. Bleh. So not like me.
  • Pay off Hospital Bill #1 – I think it’s only $200. I have to call and check
  • Consolidate a few of my accounts. They’re getting entirely out of hand.
  • 10 No Spend Days – These are hard for me because I’m not organized and tend to go to the grocery store every day.  I waste a lot of money doing this.
  • Workout a plan to start tackling my student loan debt and Hospital Bill #2
  • Shop for flights to New York for the  marathon. I’ll be staying with my friend RTB so I just need to pay for the flight and make sure I have cash for miscellaneous fun stuff.
  • I also have a couple of super-secret income generating projects that I’ll be working on this month. More deets on those as soon as I figure them out.

Of course, the usual stuff is still in place. Hit all my runs. Stretch, ice, crosstrain. All that good stuff. I also want to relax and read at least 1 good book. I miss reading books for the heck of it.

What are you up to this month?

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Today’s Run: 5.5 miles | 57:34 | 10:28 pace
This run was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. When I stepped out this morning I thought it was semi-cooler. It might have been in  my head, though. Once I made it to the beach, the wind picked up and it started pouring. That in turn made the temperature drop and I had a great run. It’s nice to see that I can run faster that I have been. As long as I stay consistent this summer I should be fine when I get to New York.

Did you run today? How was it?

Jun 18 2010

Putting It Out There

Category: Life, Project GeekGirl, planet finance, this is what a feminist looks like — GeekGirl @ 8:17 pm

Every day I come home from work and rejoice if my neighbor is out. He never freaking leaves the house. If you recall, I live in a unique set up. It’s a 2 bedroom, but 1 bedroom has a private entrance. So that room is rented out to someone else and the door separating us is locked and my landlord has the key. It’s been this way for years. This was done as a temporary fix when my ex and I broke up and I was figuring out what I wanted to do.

I have no privacy. I can hear and smell everything he does and vice versa. Every burp, fart, piss, etc I hear. I honestly don’t think that’s the case for him (my neighbor) because my apartment is big. My bathroom is on the other side of the house and my bedroom is separated by his bathroom and closet. Plus, I’m hyper aware of this, so I make sure to be discreet.

I want to move. I’ve wanted to move for years. If you recall, in 2008 I tried desperately to buy a condo. Two contracts went out and both of them fell through. Last year, I just didn’t care and had lots of medical bills to pay. This year? I think I’m ready to move. I got a raise and can afford a bit of a nicer place. I love my neighborhood…hell. I love my apartment minus the fat guy living in my second bedroom. However, to get in a place this nice that is private it’s going to run me at least $1000 a month. When I told my dad about this he just sighed and said, “It’s time for you to buy a home.”

As he pointed out, in this area paying $1000 for a 1/1 is ridiculous. I can surely buy something for that or less.  I just need a little bit of patience and a lot of luck. My credit is good. I have no credit card debt. My hospital bills will be paid by the end off summer. I’ve got a bit of change in my pocket. My student loans are high, but in good standing/not up for repayment yet.  It might be time.

So…I want to be shopping for a place by September/October. If not a home of my own, a new rental. It’s time to go. I need a change and I’m tired of not having privacy. I want space. French doors. A washer/dryer of my own. I want to play my flute whenever the fuck I want. I want to play music during my early morning workouts and vacuum the floors at 8 am. Holy shit! I. Want. Freedom.

I’m stating it here. I want to move. Hopefully to a place of my own. This means the next few months need to be lean. I’d like to pay off the last of my hospital bill. I think I owe another $300. I have a doctor’s bill for about $900. I’d like to cut that in half. I’d also like to take another $2000 – 3000 with me when I’m ready to buy. That’s ambitious, but September/October I want to be shopping for a HOME.

It’s out there in the universe. Now it just needs to happen. (With my help, of course.)

Note: This works out well because I’m also watching what I eat and staying home for marathon training. The next few months might be intense, but I think they payoff on ALL fronts will be worth it. By the end of the year I’ll hopefully only have 2 classes left until my bachelor’s degree. I’ll have run New York and hopefully bought a freaking home. I’m so muthafucking ready for good stuff to happen. I feel like all I ever do is work and never see the benefits. Bring them on!

May 19 2010

Spring Cleaning (Late, Of Course!)

Category: Project GeekGirl, running — GeekGirl @ 8:49 pm

Though I generally keep my house…presentable, I haven’t truly cleaned it in ages. I’m talking deep down clean. A few things have made it quite apparent that my apartment needs a good deep “spring” cleaning.

The first of those events was changing the light bulb in my bedroom. I actually went without  light in there for about a week because I kept forgetting to go to the store. When I finally did change the light bulbs, I decided to put both of them in the socket. Prior, I just had one bulb because the other one had burned out. (Yes. I’m that lazy.) With the bedroom all nice and bright, I saw how terrible it looks. It needs some serious help and is just not a pretty inviting space. The second thing was my landlord and I trying to force my weird windows closed. Unfortunately we broke a few of the panels and had to replace them. While doing this, I had to lift the blinds and see the window sill. Holy shit! I don’t think I’ve cleaned that in the 3-4 years that I’ve been  here.

There are other things that have popped up and made it apparent that it’s time to do some deep cleaning.  When I mop my kitchen floors I smell “odors”. The tile needs to be bleached and scrubbed. Gio needs a bath and to go the groomers. There are a bunch of things that I need to take to the dump, donate, and organize. Things need to be shred, etc. So, yeah. It’s time to clean.

I found this really cool spring cleaning checklist. The hope is that I can bang out a couple of things a day and finish this up over the summer. I’ll also be cleaning my computers, blog. All of it! Yay for rebirth! Hopefully, I can get some before and after pics for some of the projects.

*****

Today’s Workout: 60 min Power Yoga DVD | Totally kicked my ass!
The cool thing is that I had no knee pain. I kind of wonder if it was just due to over work. I’m going to the gym tomorrow for some elliptical work and maybe 2-3 miles on the treadmill. I will not be pushing it. I promise

Also, if you look at the tab up top, I’ve uploaded my NYM training program. Lots more deets on that later!

Mar 31 2010

April Stuff

Category: Project GeekGirl, planet finance, running — GeekGirl @ 7:29 am

Woohoo….April is my birthday month, so I’m pretty darn excited about the upcoming month. Sure I’m not really one of those people that does the whole celebrating of the birthday or anything, but it still makes April super special to me.

March blew by really fast, but I managed to do some of the things I intended to. Mainly, I set up a couple of automatic deposits. One to my Roth IRA and another to my ShareBuilder account for investing. It’s really not much. About $50 a month, but I feel like I’m breathing some life into my retirement planning. That will hold me while I bang out many of these hospital bills. Budget wise, March was meh. No emergencies or anything like that, but I did spend too much hanging out with the Vegan. I’ll try to control that a bit better in April. Fitness wise, running was ok though I didn’t get in my long runs like I wanted too. I stopped Shredding though due to being super busy. So, we’ll work on that.

April is going to be a super busy month. Here are some of the things I’ll be working on:

  • Blogging more. I’m considering blogging through the month of April. It’s a great way to celebrate my big birthday! Under consideration tonight.
  • Take more pictures. I’d love to do a Wordless Wednesday or Photo Friday type of thing. I’m still trying to force myself to take more pics. Just…everything I do is so boring.
  • Work on paying off the accrued interest on my new student loan. (There is a whole long involved post coming in regard to the student loans. I just saw what my payment amount is going to be and almost had a heart attack.)
  • Get new glasses. (I got new contacts. My prescription changed quite a bit, though. No more astigmatism!)
  • Pay for registration for car.
  • Pay off gyno bill. (Long story, but Aetna DENIED coverage to find out if I have cancer. Thanks a lot assholes!)
  • Come up with a manageable debt repayment plan for the rest of the year.
  • Rework my budget so I can quit the running store.
  • Setup site so I can take on some freelance work. This would be to replace the money from the store.
  • Run 30-35 miles a week. I don’t care how it’s done. 1 long run, split runs. I don’t give a shit as long as I hit my mileage. :-) (I’m still doing 20-25…just skipping long runs. So, we’ll do away with them. As long as the mileage is the same who cares? Note:  This is due to the fact that I’m not training for anything in particular right now.)
  • Shred/resistance training at least twice a week.
  • Better time management. I am letting the Vegan occupy time that I don’t have. Even though it sucks, I need to set some boundaries or I am going to flunk out of school/not be marathon ready for fall.

I’ve got a lot on my plate this month. Particularly financially. I want to make some more headway on a few things, though. Wish me luck, y’all.

Mar 24 2010

New Skin Care Regimen

Category: Project GeekGirl, reviews — GeekGirl @ 6:42 am

C16354_smThis year I’m turning a certain age that I’m not too happy about. Sigh…I’m turning 35. There. I said it. Which makes me really sad. That seems to be the unofficial “Sell By” date for women. Men will run away from me, children will refer to me as the crazy cat woman, and I might as well just give up on being beautiful. Good job society for making women feel this way.

I’ve always been a simple and to the point kind of girl when it comes to beauty. I have super sensitive skin and have battled excema most of my life. Therefore, I’m pretty careful about what I put on my face. Currently, I’ve been using Cetaphil to wash and Neutrogena Sensitve Skin Moisturizer. Nothing spectacular and the results were acceptable. The other day, I noticed that my skin doesn’t really glow or anything like it used to and it’s kind of blotchy looking upon further inspection. This is most likely due to me excema flaring up. Since I’ve never really been happy with my skin care regimen, I decided that it was time to do a bit of research and find some more appropriate products.

Numerous days of researching lead me to Clinique’s Three Step Skin Care. I read that many other excema sufferers found some relief just by actually following this. It’s super simple and to the point. Wash, tone/exfoliate, moisturize. Twice a day. I’m pretty sure that I can handle that. I hurried my little ass over to Macy’s to buy the system. (Macy’s because I had about $15 on a gift card and I have a Macy’s credit card that I try to use once or twice a year to keep it from being closed.) The Clinique guy analyzed my skin and within 10 minutes I was ready to go. (Sidenote: I actually waited 4 days to buy it so I would get my free gift.)

I started using the products on Tuesday and just after 1 day, my skin looks clearer and the texture feels good. I’m going to give it 2 weeks to see how it does, but I might have solved some of my skin woes. At the age of 35. It only took me this long.  Whatever, I’m going to be a hot 35 year old, so I guess it doesn’t really matter.

I’ll report back in a couple of weeks to let you know if it’s still going well. (If not, the Clinique gay said we can try something else. He didn’t give me the mildest toner since I have oily skin and if anything is going to irritate me it’ll be the toner.) Up next, maybe…just maybe, a tinted moisturizer. Whoa.

Jan 21 2010

Growing To-Do List

Category: Project GeekGirl — GeekGirl @ 9:00 am

I’ve been out of school for well over a month. You would think that my apartment would be clean from top to bottom and everything nice and organized. You would be oh, so wrong. Due to the extreme cold that we had for a couple of weeks I got nothing done. It’s hard to run around doing stuff in your apartment when it’s below 50 in your house. You just want to curl up under a blankie to stay warm.

Due to this, school starts on Monday. Yikes! I really wanted to have a bunch of chores done before that. It doesn’t really look like that is going to happen, but we’ll see what I can do. Here are some of the “fun” things that I will be doing this weekend:

  1. Deep cleaning my furniture
  2. Taking Gio to the vet
  3. Cleaning and organizing my desk
  4. Cleaning out “the closet”. (This is in quotes because I’m seriously scared of what’s going to be found in this closet!)
  5. Do some cooking and freezing for the weeks to come.
  6. Readjust my budget. I need to make some HUGE headway on some debt.
  7. Mop and sweep all floors.
  8. Clean out and organize closet.
  9. Wash Gio
  10. Run 10 miles
  11. Go see the Rockwell exhibit.

I’m not sure if I’m going to get all of this done, but I’m going to try really hard. I have a few days and the first week of school isn’t too exhausting.

There is also a rather large list of things I need to buy and take care of. (Gio’s vet visit is included.) Sadly, I have no money. Thus the reason for some of the jugging of the budget this weekend. I need to drop a few things that I like, but it will only be temporary. I need every penny I can get right now. This is probably a post in and of itself. Maybe I’ll tackle that topic later. I’m off to the showers to get this day started.

Oct 25 2009

Back to Basics

Category: Life, Project GeekGirl, pulmonary embolism, running — GeekGirl @ 8:36 pm

I’ve been reviewing my training from a couple of years ago when I had my coach. She took me back to basics and though I was really upset at first, she was right. I needed to do some nice easy running and build up my base. I’m thinking that’s what I need now. I don’t react well to just tossing myself into a training program. I take a good strong base first.

What does this mean for the West Palm Half? It’s still under consideration. I might be able to run it just for the heck of it and to give me a baseline for my fitness. We’ll see. I picked up a version of Jack Daniels Running Formula. It’s what my coach based a lot of last years training off of. I’m studying what I did to get in shape and what he says. I’ll keep you posted as to what happens.

November will be the month that I get my food back in order, too. I’ve been so busy lately that I eat crap. Dunkin Donuts particularly. It shows in the 10 lbs I’ve put on. Am I overweight? No. Am I 10 lbs bigger than I was when I was running 3 minutes faster in the 5k? You better believe it.

I kind of gave up on my diet when I was sick. I’m not sick anymore. (At least I hope not. We’ll see what the oncologist says. I feel fine.) My tummy’s been a mess lately and I know it’s because of the crap I eat.

It looks like November will be a month of cleansing and just getting myself to feel good. Of couse, I’m waiting until AFTER my New York blowout. Then I’ll come back home, but on my big girl britches, call the doctor, and do the things I need to do to feel good and run well. It’s time.

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Oct 04 2009

October Goals

Category: Project GeekGirl, planet finance — GeekGirl @ 3:29 pm

I didn’t do goals the past couple of months out of pure laziness. I think I actually get a few things done when I make general goals, so we’ll continue with them. Here’s what I want to accomplish this month:

1.  $40 to charity. I forgot last month.
2. Follow my spending plan. This includes only using cash for groceries and misc purchases. (Not counting this weekend because I didn’t get cash yet.)
3. $100 to my IRA.
4. Pay off my Wamu credit card. $85
5. Put $200 on my other Chase card.
6.  Run 5 days a week.
7. Do 2 XT sessions a week. This can be stretching or swimming or whatever.
8.  Watch my food intake. Trying to eat cleaner.
9.  Take some new pics. I’d like to get out for at least one shoot.
10.  Stay on top of my classes.

Really nothing to stressful, but I like to put it in writing so I can hold myself accountable.

Jun 30 2009

July Challenges

Category: Life, Project GeekGirl, planet finance, running — GeekGirl @ 8:24 pm

Since I did pretty well last month, I’m going to tryt his again. Here’s what I’m working on for July:

  • Follow my spending plan. I find “budget” to restrictive. I’m starting the month kind of in the hole, but I’ll be all right if I just chill and don’t buy more food. I have TONS of food. I need to eat it.
  • Travel Fund – $76
  • IRA – $100 This will be ramping up to about $240 per month next month.
  • Escrow Account – $25
  • Sallie Mae – $50 (This is an old student loan from years ago. It’s in deferment. I want to bang it out now.
  • Chase – $150 I have a balance of $400. No biggie. I just want to make sure I don’t sit on it.
  • 10 No Spend Days – The 20 days last month was a bit to aggressive. This is something that is obtainable.
  • Watch my food intake. I’m doing ok, but I slip up here and there. I’m not dieting, I’m trying to make a dent in this eczema situation.
  • Run 4 days a week -This is easy.
  • Work on core and stretching.
  • Get on the bike at least once a week. (Blech!)
  • Take a weekly photo. – I have a new camera. I need to learn how to use it.
  • Continue decluttering.
  • No drinking unless out with friends. I do this every year at some point.

I think that’s it for now. I’ll report on these at the end of the month. (Considering doing it weekly so I don’t forget them. We’ll see.)

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