“The credit offered is the support available through this program and doesn’t include covered shipping. If you’d prefer not to use it, no problem at all. There’s no obligation to accept.“
It began with my decision to participate in a Zwift group ride outside of the RIOT squad. It was a 75km ride, which would typically take me about 2 and a half hours to complete, thus boring myself to tears. Maybe a group ride would make it more interesting, I pondered. You can send short messages during these rides until your phone’s touchscreen gives up on registering your sweaty fingertips.
I joined the ride just as the ride leader announced that there would be prizes for the male and female with the most sprint points.
Things briefly became more interesting until I realized that out of the group of about 80 participants, there were only three other women. None of them attempted to get out of their saddles to challenge me during the sprints. The prize was undoubtedly mine early into the ride. I had no idea what it was; for all I knew, it could be a virtual badge. Zwift likes to give out those.
I submitted my email address to the ride leader to claim my prize, and three days later, a rep from The Feed got in touch, offering to add credit to my account, which did not exist. So, he explained how I need to create an account to claim my prize.
Hmm.
As hinted by this post’s opener, I straight-up asked the rep if it was a true prize or if I was still expected to pay for shipping. In case it was the latter, I asked if they had a promo code I could offer to someone else. That was when they responded, “There’s no obligation to accept.”
Oh, for the love of Amway…
Yes, there was one! Making me register for an account in order to accept the prize was an obligation. And don’t get me started on how they define “prize”, because I already have.
I ended up winning near-daily promotional emails from The Feed.
I WON SPAM. What did I expect for winning a bike race that happened in my living room? Now I’m disappointed about not receiving a virtual badge.
My week has been sprinkled with disappointment and a lot of rain. So much rain. The field on the other side of the school, behind my place, was flooded. The water was deep enough to fully submerge the wheels of some of the cars in the nearby parking lot.
As I couldn’t count on my clip-on fender to keep me dry, I took the bus to the clinic instead of riding there. I had an appointment to discuss the results of my blood work and to solve the mystery of the multiple, untimely changes happening in my body. All my symptoms point to perimenopause, which one could argue is always untimely. While I’m not too young for much anymore, I am definitely too young for this.
To alleviate the symptoms of perimenopause, I’ve been prescribed a box of stickers. They are transparent stickers, each about the size of a microSD card. In the early ’90s, I thought dill pickle-scented stickers were the pinnacle of sticker technology. Here I am, three decades later, with an estrogen-infused sticker placed above my butt cheek.
“Remember how we used to borrow stuff like video games and cute clothes from our friends?” the roomie wrote after seeing the blood pressure machine I’d left on the kitchen table. What he didn’t know was that I’d loaned the same friend a video game. We’ve achieved a yin and yang of shared items.
My first two morning blood pressure readings have been just below the line of concern. I’ve been soothing these oft-frayed nerves with meditative hobbies like crocheting and cross stitching.
I got my eyes in the mail last week.
I started to crowdsource opinions, but the amber cat eyes won me over quickly. Here is where I am in the project:
I know, it is already cute! Still, I have roving eyes when it comes to craft projects and have started a cross stitch piece. The hint is: “Get two. I’m not sharing with Kaitlin!”
While it took me two weeks to get through 1Q84, I finished Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone in four days. After wishing my longtime friend Kristen a happy birthday on the 5th, I included a request for book recommendations. Kristen is the biggest bookworm and told me her YTD tally, even without being asked: 56 books. I knew she must have discovered a few gems, and that Les Misérables wasn’t among the books she’d read this year.
I think it has reawakened my interest in the mystery genre. As a kid, I was engrossed in Encyclopedia Brown and The Bobbsey Twins books. I even had an entire shelf dedicated to Dad’s mildewy collection of The Hardy Boys hardcovers.
It was through an Encyclopedia Brown book that I learned that the placement of buttons on a shirt was gendered. Encyclopedia apparently solved a mystery based on this information. “The shirt couldn’t have belonged to the girl, the buttons are on the wrong side.” I remember checking my closet and discovering, in horror, that I owned a boy’s shirt.
I sincerely believe that was the last time I ever owned a buttoned shirt.
squaremeat.com 