Myself, assorted.

After a bunch of you mentioned on Monday that you only get two weeks of vacation per year, I thought I'd explain how I wound up with a job that gives me double that. I get four weeks of vacation because I work at a DC nonprofit. I got four weeks of vacation at the last one, too; my sister got five weeks of vacation in her previous job at a DC nonprofit and three weeks at her current job. It's the same reason that I also get occasional Fridays off; my company offers a "compressed workweek" wherein we work an extra hour for eight of the first nine days of the pay period, and then get the tenth day off.

The point here is that pretty much all DC nonprofits, or at least all of the ones that are well-established enough to have more than the bare minimum of employees, offer great vacation packages, flex time, and other good benefits in order to compete with the government for qualified employees. It's the same reason why I almost never have to work more than eight (or nine, if it's a compressed work week) hours in a day, and why I pay very little for my health insurance. DC nonprofits don't offer terribly high salaries, but they attempt to make up for it in benefits. The government is the same way.

Anyway, moving on: I have what is not exactly a resolution, but... well, I've made a decision. I'm going to start getting up early to go to the gym. I've been thinking for awhile that I should just bite the bullet and do it, and then I had to start on this new medication for hypothyroidism that has to be taken first thing in the morning, an hour before I can eat, so I've had to start getting up earlier anyway. So: I'm not going to spend a full hour in the gym, because I can't bring myself to sacrifice a full hour of sleep. But I'm going to start getting up at 7:00 instead of 7:45, and doing a half hour or so on the treadmill or the elliptical. I'm lucky that our apartment building has a gym so that I don't have to get up even earlier to allow for travel time. Because then I just wouldn't do it.

So! Tomorrow is the first day. Hold me to it, okay?

Lastly, both ttcmb and Pessimistic Redhead tagged me for the same meme. I'm supposed to share six unimportant things, habits, or quirks about myself. So, here I go:

1. I never dreamed of my wedding in any way, shape, or form until I got engaged. It's been remarkably easy for us to plan our wedding so far, possibly because of the lack of specific expectations on both of our parts. Or possibly because of good luck that I have now jinxed.
2. I used to be a lot more OCD until I met Torsten. For example, the dishwasher had to be loaded and unloaded in the exact same way. Every dish had its own place, both in the dishwasher and in the cabinets. Then Torsten moved in and the choice was do everything myself or relinquish some control over exactly where each dish goes. I chose the latter.
3. I'm addicted to lip balm. My favourite is French Vanilla Softlips, but I also have some Aveeno stuff that I keep on my dresser and apply before bed. It's thicker and it lasts longer, so I don't wake up with dry lips in the middle of the night.
4. I am extremely stubborn and will not let things go for convenience if I disagree with them on principle. This has cost me many, many hours on hold with various customer service departments, while I attempt to get refunds for trifling overcharges. But I am convinced that cable companies, among others, intentionally overcharge their customers by small amounts, knowing that most of them don't have the time or will to bother with the hassle of trying to get the mistake corrected.
5. I absolutely love polka dots. I just cannot get enough of them. Combine purple and polka dots and I'm in heaven. That's why I'm madly in love with our purple polka dotted wedding china.
6. My father has a hereditary heart condition that is minor because he has it under control. I just went to a cardiologist to be tested for the same condition. My heart is fine, but I was fascinated by the echo cardiogram. It's a sonogram of your heart, and you can see the heart beating and listen to the blood flowing. It was done in a quiet, dark room and it made me think about what it would be like to be having a sonogram because I was pregnant, with Torsten there. I look forward to that.