Don is just phenomenal! He's better than any genius I ever worked with!

(Maybe the text of this posting wont disappear like my Picklelicious posting did. I've been getting emails asking what the heck picklelicious is...lol!)

Anyway, to state again - "Don is just phenomenal - he's better than any genius I ever worked with" - those were the words I heard from someone today! Someone that I have now worked with for 12 years - he may drive me crazy most times - but I actually got a little jealous - of my husband - lol!!

Don has been helping this man once or twice a week, in the evenings, for a while now with his "system". He has always wanted a "system" - in computerspeak. Bless his heart - he thinks a computer can "do it all" and by gosh - Don is almost proving him right! Don has really gotten a thorough grasp on the MAC operating system and many of the applications and he has this man doing cartwheels - well not really - he did just turned 80 after all. However; for someone who is 80 - he is amazing in keeping up with technology and being crazy busy in real estate development.

Anyway, I've teased Don all day today - telling him how "phenomenal" he is! The genius comment was referring to the MAC geniuses at the Apple Store. You can pay $99 a year and get 1 hour a week with a MAC genius to personally have a training session. That is what he was referring to! This man is WELL KNOWN in The Apple Store at West Town Mall - he is there every week that he is in town for his genius bar appointment - but now he has gotten hooked on one-on-one training from my husband! How cool!!!

In a totally different topic line - we are probably about to embark on a difficult journey. We are going to attempt to break our contract with our gym. We renewed it for THREE years in late January after my surgery - that means our contract term lasts until January 2010!!!!

The cost of the membership more than tripled for us because Katie was at the age where she was considered a member and we got the membership that included TWO personal training sessions a month for both Don and I - additionally the cost went up because of the MAJOR renovations that were going to occur over the spring, summer and fall of 2007 - including a women's spa type area and an outdoor beach pool thingy like the one on Alcoa Highway. They haven't started the first thing with this construction project.

Well - a few things! Katie was suppose to be allowed to go into the 3-7 year old room because she felt more comfortable with the younger kids - some of the older boys were picking on her. All of a sudden - "that is a problem" and she can no longer go into the younger room - which is a problem because Don and I like to do resistance work outs together and we aren't going to put our daughter in an uncomfortable situation when we were told "at the contract signing" that we wouldn't have to.

Our few personal training sessions that we did - 15+ minutes was always spent with a VERY HARD upsell - trying to get us to purchase additional sessions with their personal trainers.

BUT, tonight was the straw that broke the camels back. Lisa and I got psyched on our trip this weekend to get "into a water aerobics routine" again! So tonight was the kick off to this venture.

When we got to the gym - we noticed that the hot tub looked a little yucky. We got started in the water and half way through - I started seeing band aids in the water! EWWWW!!! Then, we both noticed that we didn't smell the chlorine like we used to. THEN, in starting to become hypersensitive to our surroundings, we noticed mold and algae on the side of the pool and on the water weights.

We were then much more aware of how disgusting everything was when we got out of the pool. Rick, her husband said we should have bailed immediately and we should have!! Then we ran into our friends Sandra and Tina - one of Don's best friends, Brian, is married to Sandra. She said that Brian had been calling management about the hot tub for weeks! It was a blazing science experiment - I guarantee you it glows in the dark!

Well, we were pretty bold! We told the front desk staff - we also told them that we were taking pictures and that we were going to report how insanely filthy it was.

Needless to say, I didn't pass go, I didn't collect $200 - I came strait home and took a LONG shower, washed my hair three times and even washed out my bathing suit in the shower. YUCK!!!!

We may not have a legal leg to stand on but we are sure gonna try! I didn't go through all I've been through this year to get healthy(ier) to turn around and get some staph infection or worse at a nasty gym. It's just not been the same since it's had these new owners.
More later!
LA :)