What's on your Thursday Menu, RNYers?

Welcome to Friday-Eve! Ok, this meme is a good reason for me to get my **** together and stop gaining weight! If I am ever in public again, I want as much room between me and the next guy as possible!

We are in the middle of a really bad surge here. We reported over 220 deaths in MA, yesterday alone. The number of new cases a day continue to be between 1500 - 2000. They announced that Boston Schools are officially closed until the fall, but they have given us a few different answers on whether they will reopen our central office. On the same call yesterday, the superintendent said we won't be going back, but then the COO said we will probably go back in a few weeks with new rules around distancing in the office... Why bother having calls to tell us things if you don't know? SO frustrating.

I also had a call yesterday with a coworker who broke down crying, telling me the devastation that has affected her friends and family from the virus. The African American community has been hit very hard but this, and she said she wakes up every morning to learn of between 3 - 7 people that she is close to, who are newly diagnosed. Her, aunt, mother, and brother are all very very sick and on breathing support. Ugh, I wish there was anything I could do to help her. I think I am going to send her something that will make her smile, but I haven't figured out what, yet.

Accountability: I am grateful for all of the WW talk on the boards lately. It's helped me refocus on what I can do well right now with limited food choices in the pantry. No snacks, and I was also motivated to be a little more active--I did 2 super quick 10 minute pilates classes, and went for a cold, windy, walk at lunch. Not a lot, but more than I have been doing. I made a yummy casserole/quiche last night for dinner and I modified a recipe to fit the ingredients I had, and made it more WW friendly. It came out to 6 points, but I think I might be more like 4 points, since I was just guessing on how many servings.

QOTD: Do you remember a pre-op moment when you felt really unhealthy? When I was at my very heaviest, I was living in the city and had about a 10 minute walk from the house to the subway. My apartment was on a really steep hill, and I would huff and puff and stop along the way because I was so out of shape. One day I brought a friend home, and I was so embarrassed that I was not able to walk up the hill without stopping in front of him.

TOMORROW IS PHOTO FRIDAY! LET'S SEE SOME TRANSFORMATION**** US WITH YOUR BEFORE & AFTERS :)

Morning! I think your experience with your not knowing what the heck is going on is pretty much standard issue right now. My job has been the same. I've heard we'll go back at the end of May, then July, and then mid-August. I don't think anyone knows what the hell is going on. Every day there's new rules and guidance too. The most recent one is that I can't extend any of my student workers who have appointments that are running out. My group relies heavily on student help (as in, I have 9 FTE's and 40 students!) so that could be super fun if we actually go back next year! There's a lot of talk here about keeping classes remote for fall semester to continue to lower the population density for the inevitable 2nd wave.

QOTD: Not a specific instance, but I remember avoiding stairs at all costs. I would dread walking across campus with a co-worker because we'd have to go upstairs to get to the bridge that connects the buildings. I remember one time she pointed out to me how out of breath I was after the stairs and I was really embarrassed. I also remember that when I would lay down in bed my heart would pound for a few seconds and I would feel the need to adjust myself to relieve some of the weight on my chest from fully laying down. At the time I thought that was just a "normal" thing, but obviously it was not.

My Food:

• Coffee w/ Cream x2
• Eggs, Sausage
• Cottage Cheese, Cucumber, Turkey
• We'll be ordering take out (it's my birthday and also my 14 year old's birthday, but it will be her choice). She wants food from an Italian place so she can have spaghetti. I think I'll end up getting a Caprese salad that I love.

happy birthday, Erin!

Happy Birthday to you and your daughter!

Happy birthday! I hope you and your daughter have had a fantastic day!

Side note to your QOTD, but does anyone else feel super self-conscious using the elevator unless you feel you have literally no option or if you're going up many floors? There's 3 flights of stairs to my office and I think about how I'm grateful they are easy every morning (or I did before quarantine!). But, with my hip injury there have been days where it hurts to do stairs and I often will suffer through to avoid the elevator or feel scared someone is going to "catch" me taking it. Of course, no one here in NC even knew me when I was bigger so they probably don't think anything of it.

Yes...with one exception, though! For some reason, I have a real phobia of being locked in one of the emergency exit staircases. A lot of people use those in my office, but I refuse to use them unless I am with someone else. But in places like the subway, I always take the stairs instead of the escalator, just in case I am being secretly judged.

Oh, interesting! I think what you're talking about is the only kind of stairs we have (behind a crash bar door, etc). There's two sets on either end of the building but not "main stairwell".

Yeah, nope nope nope! I got locked in that type of stairwell when I was an intern at an office when I was in HS--you needed a badge to get in the doors, and I hadn't realized it. I was knocking for like an hour before anyone found me, and I just get frozen panic when I am in them by myself now, even though we have cell phones, now!

I come from a family of avid exercise enthusiasts and when we are all together, I try and go out of my way to compete (if they are taking the elevator and there are stairs, I'll try and run up the stairs now) to try and keep up with them. oh the joy of siblings! My fear is that I fall flat on my face... lol