#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In April 28, 2017

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Occam’s razor does not apply to me. I need a shirt that says that. This will be a long venty post, so feel free to skip down to the pretty pictures. Once upon a time I had very bad allergies. Eventually they got bad enough that I went to an allergist. I spent several years on allergy shots and while my symptoms improved tremendously, they never quite went all the way away. When that allergist left, and I didn’t get transferred to someone else, I thought well…lets give it a try. It was better than it used to be, but several times a year I still had major problems and periodically I would break out into various rashes and hives. So I got a new referral. Turns out, I do not in fact have allergies anymore-who knows when the allergic response really stopped and I could have stopped giving myself those stupid shots. Working diagnosis: ideopathic uticaria (AKA-We have no clue why you get so itchy and hive like, but probably you won’t die), non-allergic contact dermatitis, and non-allergic rhinitis…to go along with my polyps….which is triggered by irritants…like pollen. Treatment is…allergy medicine…for these things that are not allergies. Also, Dymista feels like injecting straight fire into ones sinuses. And to make matters worse, I still have nasty itchy welts from the testing…not allergies (the allergen responses were not larger than the histmaine control), but my skin really does not like…anything

So now we are looking into alternate causes for my tendency to be sicker than the average person. I am waiting on lab work to assess my titers for pnuemonia, staph, and tetanus to check see if I have a functioning immune system. And also my IgE, IgG, and IgSomething else.

So, to try to keep my motivation up I have joined StepBet. As previously mentioned, I would fight a rabid badger over a nickle, so the prospect of losing $40 bucks should keep me on my toes so to speak. Even when I just want to curl up, roll over, and play dead. I guess I should be glad I don’t have allergies anymore (less risk of death and all), but that at least would have been a concrete answer with a set of clear cut solutions.

Also on the plus side, I finally got Sleep Stages on my FitBit, and it looks really interesting. Who knows how accurate it is, but I am trying to remember it is the little things that can make you happy.

Stats: Week April 22-28, 2017

 

#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In April 21, 2017

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Am I late posting this? Incredibly so. Am I back posting it? Yes, because I am neurotic like that. But no allergy meds are killing me, and I hate everything about everything right now. I am still not reading anything new, but I am doing a ton of rereading, so I should probably just go to talking about that. I keep hoping for a turning point, but I am starting to see that will not happen soon (if ever). Leap4Life is at least still slightly motivating me, because it is new. I am about 0.0093333333333333 towards a $100 giftcard, so assuming nothing changes I should be able to cash in somewhere around 2020. On Achievemint I am about 1/3 of the way to my second $10 payout. Fortunately, I would fight a rabid badger over a nickle, so this is not demotivating for me. Bounts is changing their rewards system so I have no clue what will be going on there, but I continue to rack up points. Higi too has changed their reward strategy, and now they are partnering with Dr. Oz of all inanities, so who knows where that will end up either.

Stats: April 15-21, 2017

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Bridesmaids meets Buffy with a dash of the seven deadly sins.

The age-old story of what happens when a foul-mouthed, romance impaired heroine with no edit button and a predilection for hot sex is faced with her worst nightmare–a purpose.

Ari Katz is intelligent, driven, and will make an excellent demon hunter once initiated into the Brotherhood of David. However, this book is about his twin Nava: a smart-ass, self-cultivated hot mess, who is thrilled her brother is stuck with all the chosen one crap.

When Nava half-drunkenly interrupts Ari’s induction ceremony, she expects to be chastised. What she doesn’t expect is to take her brother’s place among the–until now–all-male demon hunters. Even worse? Her infuriating leader is former rock star Rohan Mitra.

Too bad Rohan’s exactly what Nava’s always wanted: the perfect bad boy fling with no strings attached, because he may also be the one to bring down her carefully erected emotional shields. That’s as dangerous as all the evil fiends vying for the bragging rights of killing the only female ever chosen for Demon Club.

Odds of survival: eh.

Odds of having a very good time with Rohan before she bites it: much better.

I received an ARC of this book from the Publisher, via Netgalley, this does not affect my opinion of this book or the content of my review.

I would call this a Kate Daniels Buffy mashup with a train wreck and a side of new adult stupidity. So maybe more like Buffy than I would like to admit, the only thing is I was at A VERY different life phase when I was so enthralled with Buffy, and even then I sometimes got irked with the BS.

But this? This is a hot mess on so many levels, just like the dislikeable heroine. The premise was excellent; a secret society of Jewish demon slayers so blinded by their misogyny they missed their chosen one was the female twin? Sheer catnip. The writer’s voice which was clear and full of snark (excepting the sex scenes both solo and two player which were both just not great to me-particularly Nava’s name fer her vagina, bleck). Perfect.

The characters and what they do though? Stupid, and not often in a fun-loving way. You know how they say of young soldiers that they have to be young, dumb, and full of… to throw their lives away like that? Yeah, these kids (even though ones who are ostensibly full adults) struck me that way. Which just screwed with the plot for me, since I couldn’t get behind their motivations so much of it didn’t make sense. Don’t get me wrong there was some deep stuff going on, but for me it was overshadowed by exclamations of “damn it, are these @ssholes 20 or 12 for crying out loud.”

I don’t know though. It was like a freaking train-wreck that I COULD NOT look away from. I read it in one sitting, just devoured it, I had to know what would happen next. So that has to be worth something. And I remind myself the Kate Daniels series didn’t exactly set my world on fire that first book either. So I am going to give this a cautious 3 stars, see what happens next, and maybe suggest that this might be more of a hit among firm lovers of the New Adult paranormal genre.

#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In April 14, 2017

#FitReader

Yeah, basically…

On the plus side Leap4Life is working pretty well for me after a small hiccup of trying to hold myself back so future challenges have easier goals. I have joined a team and have successfully completed several individual (I even got third place in one event!) and team events. I am staying well hydrated, and my weight is holding reasonably steady. Basically, I am just pushing on. I’ll be going in for allergy testing and starting back on allergy shots this week hopefully. I don’t know if it will help the sleep thing, but it certainly can’t hurt. So that’s the update.

#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In April 7, 2017

April 2017 Finish Line

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I went ahead and got an immediate jump on April so I didn’t find myself in the same boat I was in the last couple of months. And it was nice, I knocked another minute off my 5K time. You forget just how…well not exactly easy, but, relatively effortless it is to improve your times when you are first starting out. It requires no special training or regimens. Those first few runs are just about proving that you can do something you were probably convinced you couldn’t do. Bodies are amazing things, Then once you do it, you realize you CAN do it. Those first few tries are so fantastic because they aren’t magical unicorn personal best times that will require extreme dedication to pull off again. You just have to pull on your shoes (or not as the case may be) and get out there. It is fantastic, heady stuff.

Stats: Week April 1-7, 2017

I met my goals, so that was good. And for the month of April I am going to try to do at least a dedicated running/wobbling mile each week, if not an outright 5 K. Just kind of took it easy and let this past week or so be a refeed as I was stressed. On the sleep front, Fitbit has been promising sleep stages, which I still haven’t got.

I have also started doing some other stuff to earn money with my FitBit.

Walgreens Balance Rewards-gets you store credit.

Achievemint.com which gets you points that you can send money to Paypal.

Bounts-Which doesn’t have a ton of things you can get with your points, but you can use the pints to enter challenges and chances to win things.

HIGI-Which you earn points for activity, and also checking in at Higi stations, and for joining Challenges where you may win prizes. They also have a “store” to spend your points, but that is mostly a few discount codes. But if I am ever to pull the trigger on a Withings Aura, it is nice to known I can get 20% off.

AARP Rewards for Good-not that great of redemption program, but still it is something.

Leap4Life-This one I am super new to, so I am not sure how it will go, but it is more social than the other programs, and I think you can redeem points for giftcards.

 

#FitReaders- Weekly Check-In March 31, 2017

#FitReaders

Whoohoo! I’ve knocked almost 5 minutes off my 5K time! And my actual running compared to my power walking is much more distinct. I mean it looks like actual running-like activity. Plus my heart rate was much more reasonable for what I was doing and I suspect I was at much less risk of giving myself a heart attack. It is absolutely amazing how much difference 16 pounds can make when you are trying to lug it around a track.

Stats: Week of March 25-31, 2017

Not too shabby for a presentation and traveling week.