Jodi and I signed up at Gold’s Gym over the weekend. They were running a special on the radio lately about a 2 for 1 deal, two people could sign up for $18/month each. Gold’s Gym has some advantages that our gym doesn’t have, so we decided to go check out the deal and see what we thought. We currently go to Xcel and they only have 3 locations, Gold’s has 15 in the area I believe with locations world wide. Gold’s also has pools at several of their locations and bigger facilities too.

We went to the Van Winkle location Saturday afternoon which is the biggest Gold’s Gym in the country. It is a pretty nice place, very open and spacious with a lot of machines. They have a pool, raquetball courts and even a theater room with exercise machines! Even with all of this we didn’t want to pay more to go there than we already are at Xcel, and we have a pretty good deal there. So we talked to one of the reps at Gold’s and he signed us up. We had to work the numbers around a bit, but we are pretty happy with how things turned out. They have 2 levels basically, standard and VIP. If you are a VIP you get free racquetball and free child care (I asked if we could bring other people’s kids in since we don’t have our own, he said no). We ended up paying for a 2 year contract in the first 6 months, this gave us an additional free year and a free upgrade to the VIP status. So basically we’re paying a little over $15/month for each of us to have a 3 year contract with VIP status. It was a deal we decided was much better than we currently had with Xcel. Gold’s is also planning to build 5 more gyms in the area over the next 3 years while Xcel has no expansion plans that we know of.

Another exciting thing that happened this weekend was that we finally got our Nintendo Wii! It has taken a long time but we finally got one. A friend of ours, Jason, pre-ordered one several months ago but bought one online so that he could get it quicker. We didn’t really want to do an online deal because they were mostly all bundles (buy the Wii and a bunch of games and other stuff) and online ones also charged for shipping. We wanted a Wii, but not really enough to drop several hundred dollars to get one. So we waited, and Jason sold us his extra one that he had pre-ordered when it finally came in. It is a lot of fun, now we just need to find some sweet games.

It’s been a long week and I’m so excited to sleep in tomorrow. Work has been busy this week. We’re getting ready for a trade show next week and I’m in the process of hiring a new employee. One thing I really could do without in my job in interviewing. It seems like I’m always doing it and it never seems to get any better. But turn over is the nature of Customer Service even though we are a small company with only four Customer Services reps.

School’s been busy as well. Going from 10 credit hours last semester to 15 this semester is a big difference. Online classes are always a little more challenging, especially for someone that consistently procrastinates! Plus all of my text books haven’t arrived yet. So I’ve been doing online research to try and complete my assignments. This is difficult when the questions are asking you to give examples from the text!

Bernd has been pretty sick this week. I’ve pretty much decided that I’m not cut out to be a mother. I can’t handle the pressure of being responsible for someone else’s well being. Plus, I don’t really think I paid enough attention when my Mom was taking care of me. Good thing we have WebMD! I just hope he gets feeling better soon so I can stop worrying.

Then this afternoon I found out that my Mom and brother have been at home sick for days with no food in the house. They didn’t eat for a couple of days. You know when you have that feeling that you should check in on someone. Well obviously I should have paid more attention earlier in the week. I feel horrible that I wasn’t there for them. I was two minutes away from them almost the whole time and didn’t do anything to help them. Well I guess I learned my lesson. I need to pay better attention to what’s going on around me.

I have been sick the last couple of days. It started off with a sore throat Monday evening, Tuesday when I was at school the rest of it started to creep up. When I woke up Tuesday I had a fever, headache, sore throat and a bit of an upset stomach. I didn’t make it to work that day. Jodi, being the great wife that she is, went to the store before she left for work and got me some 7-up and some Theraflu. With the help of medication I made it through the day fairly well at home. Wednesday night I didn’t sleep very much for whatever reason and woke up Thursday morning feeling worse. I didn’t make it to work again that day. As the day went on I relied on my medication again and got through the day. Thankfully I was able to eat fairly normal and didn’t have any problems there. Thursday night I took some nighttime Theraflu (which my wonderful wife bought me) and that helped me sleep through the night.

This morning I woke up feeling much better and made it to work. I still had some head congestion and a bit of a sore throat, but at least I felt almost normal. Dale (sales boss) told me to stay away from him and his sales team so that I wouldn’t get them sick. The day went pretty well but I still stayed a little medicated. Hopefully tomorrow I will wake up and be over everything!

Sadly because of my sickness we didn’t work too much on our triathlon training this week, hopefully we’ll have better luck from now on!

I think it was Jodi’s brother, Josh, that got me sick. He was chugging Tussin on Sunday. Jodi found out today that her mom and other brother, Jake, have also been sick this week! Now hopefully Jodi won’t get sick!

It might sound like a long time, but trust me 153 days really isn’t that long, especially when you’re talking about training days. B and I visited Salt Lake Running Company yesterday. After spending several hundred dollars we walked out of there with new running shoes. Salt Lake Running Company offers a great service to their customers. They put me on a treadmill and video taped me running. Then we watched the tape frame by frame and figured out what type of shoe will work best. I had a neutral foot. This basically meant that when my heal touched it was strait and lined up with my knee. However when I place my foot my arch falls (which is why I have trouble with my knees when I run). Then I tried on several different types of neutral shoes. After figuring out what shoe felt the best they fit me for inserts. I couldn’t believe the difference. And now it’s time to train!

There are 153 days left until Jodi and I do our triathlon in June. We are doing the Utah Summer Games triathlon down at the Sand Hollow State Park by St. George. This will be my first triathlon that I will be participating in. Jodi and I are doing it as a team, so right now our plan is for her to swim and I am going to bike (14 miles) and run (5K). Right now it looks like Jodi’s brothers are also going to be participating in this triathlon and we’re trying to recruit some other people as well.

Yesterday Jodi and I went to Salt Lake Running Company and bought some shoes and socks. I did not really have good running shoes and the ones I had were a few years old so I was in need of some new ones. At Salt Lake Running Company they put me on a treadmill and video taped my feet to determine what kind of shoes that I should wear. When my foot hits the ground it doesn’t hit quite flat so I need shoes with a little extra support on one side to help flatten me out. I have not actually used my new shoes yet, but I am planning to give them a good workout over the next 153 days.

Five months and 15 credits left and I’m am done with school! You know how people talk about seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Well, I finally know what they are talking about. Normally at the beginning of a new semester I just feel overwhelmed and tired. But this semester is different. When I realized last week that this was my last semester I couldn’t wipe the smile off of my face. Five low level online classes and I’m done. And when it’s all over Bernd and I are going to celebrate!

All is well at the Skiver home. Bernd and I just signed up for the Utah Summer Games today. This is the first triathlon I’m planning on doing this summer. I’m actually looking forward to training for this one. This will be Bernd’s first triathlon and I know he’s excited! I kind of tricked him into it but it will be good for him. Jake, Jess, Josh, Bina, Bernd and I are all going to participate. Mom and Dad won’t know where to point the camera!

Last night Jodi and I went to a play at the Hale Center Theatre with some of her family. The play was pretty good, it was funny. After the play we had to run to Wal-Mart to get a heating pad because Jodi’s back was hurting her and the weirdest people were there. There are usually some weird people at Wal-Mart all the time, but they all seem to come out after 10pm and go there! There were people with wacky hairdos, piercings all over, and lots of black clothing. A lot of them were kind of creepy. It amazed me how many families and people with carts full of groceries were there too with it being so late. I guess people go when they have time even if it is at 10pm. I just don’t remember Wal-Marts in Kansas being so busy at night or having as many “interesting” people. I don’t usually shop at Wal-Mart here, try to avoid it because it is just so busy all the time, they are all madhouses here.