I want to get away from here...

I don't think I really belong here. I can't think of one thing I truly love about living here. Shouldn't you love the place you live in? I like it, I just don't love it. Perhaps I moved here for the wrong reasons. I wonder if it'll ever feel like home...

SPF 100?

So I'm on a mission to find the best sunblock out there. The reason being that I tan very easily. I learned this when I lived in Arizona and would tan regardless of how high my sunblock's SPF was. The highest I found back then was SPF 45 and no matter how much I would apply on myself I would still tan. Granted I walked to school so I spent a lot of time outdoors. I always thought that the sun was just stronger in AZ and that was why nothing seemed to work very well. That is until I moved here.

As I've said before I like to go running at night but with my schedule that is not always possible. I sometimes work evenings which means that I have no choice but to go running in the daytime. Unfortunately this usually results in me acquiring more tan lines than I already have despite the fact that I always apply sunblock before heading out.

Originally I was using an SPF 30 spray-on sunblock. It's great because it's a mist so it's easy to apply everywhere without having to get your hands all greasy and you can apply it evenly throghout. I thought SPF 30 would be sufficient especially since I wasn't planning on spending too much time out there. However, it hardly does anything for me, even on cloudy days. Every time I go running in the daytime I end up with new tanlines. I have a couple of different ones on my shoulders and back because I have 2 different style tanks that I'll wear. I'm starting to look freakish so I decided to try to find a better sunblock.

The other day I went to Target and found a Coppertone 50 SPF spray-on sunblock. I was really excited because that's the highest SPF I've ever used. Surely this had to work, at least better than the 30. So I tested it today. I covered myself in sunblock and went for a 6 mile run. I couldn't wait to get home to see the results! But guess what? I still managed to tan! So now not only am I disappointed but I'm tanner than I want to be. :( I guess it's back to the Target sunblock aisle. If I don't find one that works I might have no choice but to start wearing long sleeves and pants.

Happy Ending!

So I took my water damaged ipod to the Apple store on Monday to see if there was anything they could do to bring it back to life. I thought all I had do is stop in and have them take a look but apparently you have to set up an appointment to meet with a "Mac Genius" so I did. Fortunately it was worth the wait. Of course I didn't say anything about the fact that my ipod got soaked in the rain. I pretty much just told them that it wouldn't turn on or charge so they tried charging it and needless to say, it didn't work. Then they checked my warranty status and it was still under warranty so they were able to issue me a replacement at no charge because it was still under the first 6 months which made me super happy! :) While I was there I purchased a skin cover for it which I had been meaning to do anyway and would have prevented the whole ordeal. I learned this is the best thing to do because apparently if you have any kind of dents or scratches on your ipod they will not issue you a replacement even if it is still under warranty.

Anyway, getting my ipod back really made my week. Now I can once again enjoy my favorite music when I'm out on the track! :D

Blame it on the rain

So yesterday evening I went out running, as I usually do, and after two miles it started to pour. Of course I had my ipod with me and needless to say it got wet. I tried protecting it from the rain but there really wasn't much I could do. I still had a mile to go and I ran as fast as I could but it was inevitable. I never bought the protective skin for it so it was totally vulnerable. After I got home it kept turning on and off on it's own and then today it won't even turn on at all. :( I'm giving it another day to dry up but I'm starting to think that it's officially dead. :( I read some online posts about wetting your ipod and it seems like the chances are 50/50 that it'll be ok but so far it doesn't look good. This is worse than when I wet and killed my Morotola V600. It's so depressing I could cry. :(

Changes...

Moving to a completely different place can be exciting because it presents you with the opportunity to re-invent yourself if that is what you choose. I didn't really seek to do so but I have definitely changed since I left NJ and not necessarily for the better. I mean, some changes have been good; I've started running pretty consistently and I'm eating better (I want to lose 20 pounds). However, I've also been drinking more than before. I definietely drank quite a bit when I lived in NJ because I would go out with my friends but that was really the only time I ever would so it was maybe once or twice a week at the most. I never really kept much (if any) liquor in my home because drinking alone never really appealed to me. Living here though has provided me with plenty of alone time which I have turned into an opportunity to mix drinks. I must say I can now make some pretty good martinis but I should probably stop drinking so consistently. I generally do it out of boredom, to get over a tough day or to take my mind off things. I guess the problem is that I do it more than once or twice a week. Not that I'm an alcoholic because I don't depend on it and I know I could never get to that point. It's just something I do and I know I really shouldn't.

Most recently I've also been shopping more than I should, again partly out of boredom but also to make myself feel better about things. Buying myself something I can't afford makes me feel good temporarily but ultimately makes me feel worse because I know it's not a wise choice. I guess I justify it because if everything else is going crappy why not make myself feel good even if it's on Visa? To make matters worse, living around here you tend to come across people that are pretty well off and buy nice things like it's no big deal. It kind of increases your desire to have expensive things too. I haven't bought myself anything outrageous or anything but it bothers me that I have charged a couple of things and I know better than that yet did it anyway. I'm afraid one day I'll go all out and spend a ridiculous amount of money I don't have like I did when I was younger.

I think Miami is killing me. ;)

Who are you again?

So like I've said before, one of the things I've started doing since I moved to Florida is run around the 3 mile track around my neighborhood. It's a great way to stay in shape among other things. I generally like to go at night because it's cooler out and there are less people out there. I've never been much of a people person. I mean, I'm friendly once I get to know you but I'm not the kind of person that goes around smiling at people I don't know, so whenever I'm out running or walking I don't really make eye contact with anyone. I think part of the reason I am that way is because I grew up in Brooklyn where people are more standoffish because no one trusts anyone; anyone can be a threat. Not that I feel threatened here but I just don't really want to see anyone when I'm out running. Anyway, this morning I was out on the track (I decided to go early because I was up and felt like I needed to burn off some calories) and I ran into some girl that apparently knew me. She went out of her way to wave at me to get my attention (I was listening to my ipod and again, wasn't making eye contact with anyone) and said hi like she was happy to see me. I had no idea who she was but I just went along with it and said "hi, how are you?" as if I too was happy to see her. It's a good thing we were both running because otherwise that would have made things pretty awkward. I would've had to say something like "who are you again?" and that would not have been a good thing. I'm still wondering who she was. Maybe she got me confused with someone else. I don't know but this just proves to me that I'd much rather go running late at night. This never would have happened in the darkness. ;)

Publix: Perhaps not such bad grocery store after all...

One of the few (very few) things I miss about New Jersey is my local grocery store, Wegman's. Generally I despise grocery shopping (which you would think I would enjoy being that it's one of the few forms of shopping I can engage in as a recovering shopaholic) but Wegman's was such a great grocery store that I almost enjoyed it. Wegman's managed to turn the once dreaded necessary task into something I looked forward to. It was just a great atmosphere with great food and great prices. I never realized how much I would miss it when I moved to Florida. That's when Publix came into my life.

My first experience with Publix was during one of my vacations in Miami proir to moving here. David and I had to get something (don't remember what) so we went to the Publix on South Beach. It was a small chaotic grocery store with terrible merchandising. Nothing made sense and everything was so crammed together that you could barely walk by the aisles. It reminded me of C-Town (aka a crappy little local supermarket chain you find in NYC). At first I didn't think much of it, I mean surely Miami had several other supermarket options. Little did I know that South Florida has only 2 choices when it comes to supermarket chains; Publix or the more expensive Winn-Dixie (I know, Whole Foods is an option too but I refuse to give into the organic food craze). I found this strange because in NJ there were a lot of supermarket chains so if you didn't love Wegman's you could always go to Shop Rite or Pathmark or Genuardis or...you get the picture. Anyway, I went to two Pubix supermarkets on Biscayne and a one in Aventura but didn't really like any of them. The atmosphere just wasn't as nice as Wegman's and they didn't have a nice cafeteria or coffee bar. The task that I had grown to enjoy had once again become something I dreaded and this upset me. I even e-mailed Wegman's to see if they were looking to expand to the area but they said no. This meant that every other week I had to drag myself to Publix against my will. After visiting 4 locations I figured all Publix supermarkets were the same.

Tonight, however, I was in the Hollywood area so I decided to go to the Publix there. At first when I walked in it seemed the same but once I started walking through the aisles I realized that this Publix was actually pretty nice. It was clean and wel stocked. While shopping, an associate who I think was the manager asked me if I needed help finding anything which totally caught me off guard. I don't expect good customer service when I'm at the supermarket. Then when I was at the checkout counter the cashier was super friendly as well as the guy bagging my groceries. Everyone was just really nice and welcoming despite the fact that it was 10:30 pm and they were closing in less than an hour. On my way out I realized that maybe Publix isn't such a bad place after all. I think I'll go back to this one. Who knows, maybe I'll even start enjoying grocery shopping once again.