Friday! (Whoop whoop! )
Despite my mouthful of pain yesterday, I managed to finally get out to the digital camera place I've been meaning to visit all week. I called them last week and they had the best deal on the camera that I want. It's a tiny place that only sells one brand and is really an office supply business. They didn't have the camera (drag), but they are getting one next week. I have dibs, nobody's allowed to buy it but me. Don't even think about it! He offered me a good deal on the next model up, but it's too pricey. If anyone's looking for a really nice $1000 camera for $850, let me know!
This weekend will hopefully be an organizing weekend with maybe a tiny bit of gardening. Of course I will be obsessing about the camera until get it......
Friday, May 31, 2002
Thursday, May 30, 2002
Toothless McGee, part two
My dentist saw me yesterday (which is nice considering he's kind of retired and only works on Thursdays) and after much novocaine and horrible yanking, he managed to extract the tooth. He was as gentle as he could have been, but the tooth just didn't want to leave without a fight. By the time it was out, I was sweating profusely and shaking like a leaf. Then the fun part of the dentist, we take apart the tooth and see what happened. I find this fascinating, and since I seem to be his only patient who enjoys this forensic portion of the visit, he looks forward to pulling stuff out of my mouth. He has had many occasions to do this. We sawed the tooth in half using his dental tools (it's basically a dremel) and he showed me the tiny split in the root that was allowing bacteria to come in and cause me all that pain. It was also neat to see the root canal. I stopped by the pharmacy for Boost and the video store for some movies, then went home, took some codeine, drank the Boost and watched movies on the couch with pillows and a blanket until I fell into a pain-free sleep. Today I am still sore and my face is swollen, but it's nothing compared to before and it will go away in a couple of days.
My dentist saw me yesterday (which is nice considering he's kind of retired and only works on Thursdays) and after much novocaine and horrible yanking, he managed to extract the tooth. He was as gentle as he could have been, but the tooth just didn't want to leave without a fight. By the time it was out, I was sweating profusely and shaking like a leaf. Then the fun part of the dentist, we take apart the tooth and see what happened. I find this fascinating, and since I seem to be his only patient who enjoys this forensic portion of the visit, he looks forward to pulling stuff out of my mouth. He has had many occasions to do this. We sawed the tooth in half using his dental tools (it's basically a dremel) and he showed me the tiny split in the root that was allowing bacteria to come in and cause me all that pain. It was also neat to see the root canal. I stopped by the pharmacy for Boost and the video store for some movies, then went home, took some codeine, drank the Boost and watched movies on the couch with pillows and a blanket until I fell into a pain-free sleep. Today I am still sore and my face is swollen, but it's nothing compared to before and it will go away in a couple of days.
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
Taste test
I bought some of those new Bacardi rum drinks at the SAQ this weekend. I thought they might taste like the Smirnoff ice. Well, they do, they're just lemonade-flavoured rum. They're not bad, but you can definitely taste the rum. They'd probably be yummy mixed with coke.
Toothless Mcgee
I'm heading over to Walmart again at lunch. I need painkillers for a massive toothache that started yesterday and woke me up last night. Too bad I don't have dental. The true pain is that it's a tooth that was root canelled and therefore, shouldn't hurt at all. My dentist thinks that it's a cracked root and if I want that fixed, it means a bridge. I don't have the money for a bridge, so that only leaves pulling it out and leaving a gap on the side of my mouth. It doesn't hurt all the time, it just decides to flare up for a few days every few months. I've been trying to ignore it until fixing it becomes an affordable option, but this time it's way more painful than before. I may have to get the dentist to extract it and live with a toothless look for a while.
I bought some of those new Bacardi rum drinks at the SAQ this weekend. I thought they might taste like the Smirnoff ice. Well, they do, they're just lemonade-flavoured rum. They're not bad, but you can definitely taste the rum. They'd probably be yummy mixed with coke.
Toothless Mcgee
I'm heading over to Walmart again at lunch. I need painkillers for a massive toothache that started yesterday and woke me up last night. Too bad I don't have dental. The true pain is that it's a tooth that was root canelled and therefore, shouldn't hurt at all. My dentist thinks that it's a cracked root and if I want that fixed, it means a bridge. I don't have the money for a bridge, so that only leaves pulling it out and leaving a gap on the side of my mouth. It doesn't hurt all the time, it just decides to flare up for a few days every few months. I've been trying to ignore it until fixing it becomes an affordable option, but this time it's way more painful than before. I may have to get the dentist to extract it and live with a toothless look for a while.
Monday, May 27, 2002
Hand me that allen key
It was a very nice weekend all around. First, we didn't have to go anywhere out of the city, which is nice after spending a couple of weekends away from home. Second, the weather was so nice compared to what we've had lately. I talked to two of my neighbours who were outside doing lawn work that I hardly saw all winter. Third, we finished the livingroom painting and put the livingroom and the diningroom back in order. Actually, Steve finished painting the trim while I followed him around picking up newspapers and removing tape, and then Steve put everything back together in the rooms while I went out and endured the grocery stores, I figured it's a fair trade. When I returned, two rooms had been transformed from absolute disaster areas to rooms you can walk into and use.
On Sunday we hopped in the car and went to Ikea to hunt for something to put the tv on. We found this, which is very nice. We also got a nightstand for Steve and got home and put everything together. I love putting together Ikea furniture. It's like a big Kinder egg. You drag the box home (thoughtfully engineered to fit in the trunk of a mid-size car), open the box, take out the picture of what it's supposed to look like and go crazy. Actually, I'm very impressed by the instructions Ikea has come up with lately - yay tech writers! It's definitely a challenge to come up with instructions that contain as little text as possible that are also useful. I'd also like to add that the new fasteners they are designing to keep the furniture together are a far cry from the stuff that we used to get from them when I was in CEGEP. That furniture would fall apart in seconds and the box never seemed to contain enough parts, or contained too many, making you wonder what the heck you did wrong and waiting for your diningroom set to collapse in a heap while you were having a romantic dinner with your new beau. My roommates and I kept all the extra pieces just in case they were needed for the next piece of furniture that came from the store. It was fun putting together beds and finding ways to Macgyver the structure so that it was almost sound. I remember one of my roommates did fall through her bed one night at about 2am. Perhaps it was the lawsuits that convinced Ikea to start making a more foolproof product?
It was a very nice weekend all around. First, we didn't have to go anywhere out of the city, which is nice after spending a couple of weekends away from home. Second, the weather was so nice compared to what we've had lately. I talked to two of my neighbours who were outside doing lawn work that I hardly saw all winter. Third, we finished the livingroom painting and put the livingroom and the diningroom back in order. Actually, Steve finished painting the trim while I followed him around picking up newspapers and removing tape, and then Steve put everything back together in the rooms while I went out and endured the grocery stores, I figured it's a fair trade. When I returned, two rooms had been transformed from absolute disaster areas to rooms you can walk into and use.
On Sunday we hopped in the car and went to Ikea to hunt for something to put the tv on. We found this, which is very nice. We also got a nightstand for Steve and got home and put everything together. I love putting together Ikea furniture. It's like a big Kinder egg. You drag the box home (thoughtfully engineered to fit in the trunk of a mid-size car), open the box, take out the picture of what it's supposed to look like and go crazy. Actually, I'm very impressed by the instructions Ikea has come up with lately - yay tech writers! It's definitely a challenge to come up with instructions that contain as little text as possible that are also useful. I'd also like to add that the new fasteners they are designing to keep the furniture together are a far cry from the stuff that we used to get from them when I was in CEGEP. That furniture would fall apart in seconds and the box never seemed to contain enough parts, or contained too many, making you wonder what the heck you did wrong and waiting for your diningroom set to collapse in a heap while you were having a romantic dinner with your new beau. My roommates and I kept all the extra pieces just in case they were needed for the next piece of furniture that came from the store. It was fun putting together beds and finding ways to Macgyver the structure so that it was almost sound. I remember one of my roommates did fall through her bed one night at about 2am. Perhaps it was the lawsuits that convinced Ikea to start making a more foolproof product?
Friday, May 24, 2002
Friday!
Wheee! A short week that felt pretty long is almost over. I needed more work this week, that's the crazy thing about this business, you can have almost nothing to do one week and be working like crazy the next. When I was contracting, I just went home. Now, I have to stay here and make work, which usually ends up being research or reading, who wants to do that on a Friday afternoon? Maybe I'll just run up and down the halls yelling "woo woo!" Oh wait, I think that's a reason for dismissal in the employee handbook.
On the way to work this morning I saw this huge, white cadillac eldorado, probably 72 or so, the ones that they made realllllly long. It was in mint condition and the driver had the top down. What a car!
Wheee! A short week that felt pretty long is almost over. I needed more work this week, that's the crazy thing about this business, you can have almost nothing to do one week and be working like crazy the next. When I was contracting, I just went home. Now, I have to stay here and make work, which usually ends up being research or reading, who wants to do that on a Friday afternoon? Maybe I'll just run up and down the halls yelling "woo woo!" Oh wait, I think that's a reason for dismissal in the employee handbook.
On the way to work this morning I saw this huge, white cadillac eldorado, probably 72 or so, the ones that they made realllllly long. It was in mint condition and the driver had the top down. What a car!
Did you hear that?
If you heard a funny whooshing sound coming from the South Shore, that was probably me heaving a big sigh of relief when I got paid by the e-comm place I worked at in April. The place laid off roughly half of its staff and I was left wondering whether I'd be paid. It was great fun to work there and the people were fantastic, but I think I'll stick to brick-and-mortar companies as my main gigs, at least for the next little while.
This weekend, it's a glittery, glammourific disco party at our place as Camille rings in her 9th birthday with 4 of her girlfriends. If you don't like Britney, S Club or Madonna, don't come anywhere near our place...
If you heard a funny whooshing sound coming from the South Shore, that was probably me heaving a big sigh of relief when I got paid by the e-comm place I worked at in April. The place laid off roughly half of its staff and I was left wondering whether I'd be paid. It was great fun to work there and the people were fantastic, but I think I'll stick to brick-and-mortar companies as my main gigs, at least for the next little while.
This weekend, it's a glittery, glammourific disco party at our place as Camille rings in her 9th birthday with 4 of her girlfriends. If you don't like Britney, S Club or Madonna, don't come anywhere near our place...
Thursday, May 23, 2002
I Want My CBC...
We're goin' back baby!! My union voted yesterday to accept the Corp's offer and go back to work. And I couldn't be happier.
So tune in next week for a return to stimulating discussion of the issues of the day, and other interesting tidbits too! Tell your friends; come one come all. Thanks for the support and and birthday wishes from everyone. Hope you're all enjoying this fabulous day.
We're goin' back baby!! My union voted yesterday to accept the Corp's offer and go back to work. And I couldn't be happier.
So tune in next week for a return to stimulating discussion of the issues of the day, and other interesting tidbits too! Tell your friends; come one come all. Thanks for the support and and birthday wishes from everyone. Hope you're all enjoying this fabulous day.
Sunny day!
We're experiencing our second sunny day in a row, everyone rejoice! Worked out last night and didn't fall off anything (hooray for klutz girl!) and bought some fiddleheads on my way home. I love fiddleheads. In case you don't know, they're the heads of certain ferns that are still curled up and they're really tasty. We used to pick them in the woods at my grandma's place, but now I have to settle for the ones at the market. They're only good fresh and they're only available at this time of the year when the ferns are growing. I'm sure that they're good for you too, but who cares? I'm walking over to Walmart to pick up wedding photos, maybe I'll scan a few for tomorrow. What's everyone else doing on this sunny day?
We're experiencing our second sunny day in a row, everyone rejoice! Worked out last night and didn't fall off anything (hooray for klutz girl!) and bought some fiddleheads on my way home. I love fiddleheads. In case you don't know, they're the heads of certain ferns that are still curled up and they're really tasty. We used to pick them in the woods at my grandma's place, but now I have to settle for the ones at the market. They're only good fresh and they're only available at this time of the year when the ferns are growing. I'm sure that they're good for you too, but who cares? I'm walking over to Walmart to pick up wedding photos, maybe I'll scan a few for tomorrow. What's everyone else doing on this sunny day?
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
I meant to do that
I was at the gym last night and was doing my stint on the ellyptical trainer. I love these things, smooth, gliding motions, none of that up and down jerky hurt-my-knees type motion. They do take some getting used to. The ones at my gym seem to have a shorter stride than the ones I used a couple of years ago. I stab at the buttons randomly because I have no idea what the settings mean and just start moving. Once I'm moving, I know how to make the slope steeper and increase the resistance (or not, as the case may be). I thought that I was getting pretty good at this machine, yeah, I'm way too cocky. I've watched some people using the machines while swinging their arms back and forth. This seemed more constructive than holding on to the bars, it didn't look that hard. Picture about twenty people turning to stare at the klutz woman falling backwards, flailing her arms and almost falling right off the machine. Maybe I'll go in tonight with a bag over my head.......
I was at the gym last night and was doing my stint on the ellyptical trainer. I love these things, smooth, gliding motions, none of that up and down jerky hurt-my-knees type motion. They do take some getting used to. The ones at my gym seem to have a shorter stride than the ones I used a couple of years ago. I stab at the buttons randomly because I have no idea what the settings mean and just start moving. Once I'm moving, I know how to make the slope steeper and increase the resistance (or not, as the case may be). I thought that I was getting pretty good at this machine, yeah, I'm way too cocky. I've watched some people using the machines while swinging their arms back and forth. This seemed more constructive than holding on to the bars, it didn't look that hard. Picture about twenty people turning to stare at the klutz woman falling backwards, flailing her arms and almost falling right off the machine. Maybe I'll go in tonight with a bag over my head.......
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
One wedding and some snowflakes
The weekend flew by and now I'm back at my desk wondering where the long weekend went. Friday night I went for a short workout and then spent some quality time at home with the hubby. Saturday morning Steve rolled out the last coat of red in the livingroom and I cleaned up the place so that Steve's friend Ramsay, who came over for playtime, wouldn't think that we live like slobs. While Steve and Ramsay played, I decided to go out and find something to wear to the wedding. I wandered off to the mall and found nothing. You wouldn't believe how uninspiring the stores are right now. I haven't been in a while and there was nothing that made me say "wow, that's nice". The colours all seemed drab and the cuts of the skirts and dresses were so plain. Damn the stores! Why is it that when I have money to spend there's never anything to buy? I came home and found something in the closet that looked decent. I made the friendship cake. It's very good (nyah, nyah). After that, we jumped downtown and saw Spiderman again. It was just as good the second time, but I missed the audience from the opening night. The first time we saw it there was tons of audience reaction and people were really into the movie, Saturday night was quiet (except for me of course). We got home late and fell fast asleep.
Sunday morning we got up and did the coffee thing and wrapped the present. I went out to get a nice bow and picked up some nail polish to match my blouse which looks very lovely on my toes. After the wrapping, painting, showering, buffy watching, and dressing, we drove out to the townies. We went up to the folks' house and hung out for about a half an hour and listened to my dad pick at me. I don't know why, but whenever we're going out somewhere, he looks me up and down and starts to notice things. My hair is curly, my eyes are blue, there's a mole on my cheek. It's like he's never noticed these things before. It's annoying.
We made it to the church without incident and the ceremony was lovely. They wrote their own vows, her dress was beautiful, the church was packed, and everyone looked marvelous. I sometimes wish that we could have written our own vows, but I never would have been able to get them out, I had trouble not blubbering through "I do". After the ceremony came picture time. Did I happen to mention that it was 7C and windy? It was freezing and those poor girls out there posing in front of the manse in sleeveless dresses and gauzy wraps. At one point there were a few snowflakes drifting down. Brrrrr! My grandmother nearly froze waiting around for the family photos.
Off we went to the reception at a ski hill in the States. Everyone got a white pompom, so it was easy for the customs guards to recognize us. The hill hasn't changed much since I worked up there, a few more condos.
I was really looking forward to catching up with Colleen, an old friend from highschool who just happens to be the bride's older sister. It's strange to think that we're kind of related. Anyway, I haven't seen Colleen since graduation (that's a looong time ago) and it was great to see her again and see how well she's doing and how happy she is.
On to the dreaded and interesting part of the evening, the relatives. My uncle from Calgary was there, he's a 'recovered' alcoholic and a first-class jerk. Not only was he drunk off his ass, he was loud and sitting next to me at the table. Next to him was another uncle, also drunk. Alone, they would have been easy to shut up, but together, they were an unstoppable, cackling, swaggering, rude heckling gallery of two. Add to that rather frosty relations between the bride and groom's families and a few incidents which will remain unpublished, and you have a wedding that will be fodder for years to come. We left at 11 and got home at 1, dog tired and ready for a coma-like sleep.
Monday rising came too early thanks to the cats. I was dazed most of the day. Another day off wouldn't have hurt :-)
Off to gym again tonight!
The weekend flew by and now I'm back at my desk wondering where the long weekend went. Friday night I went for a short workout and then spent some quality time at home with the hubby. Saturday morning Steve rolled out the last coat of red in the livingroom and I cleaned up the place so that Steve's friend Ramsay, who came over for playtime, wouldn't think that we live like slobs. While Steve and Ramsay played, I decided to go out and find something to wear to the wedding. I wandered off to the mall and found nothing. You wouldn't believe how uninspiring the stores are right now. I haven't been in a while and there was nothing that made me say "wow, that's nice". The colours all seemed drab and the cuts of the skirts and dresses were so plain. Damn the stores! Why is it that when I have money to spend there's never anything to buy? I came home and found something in the closet that looked decent. I made the friendship cake. It's very good (nyah, nyah). After that, we jumped downtown and saw Spiderman again. It was just as good the second time, but I missed the audience from the opening night. The first time we saw it there was tons of audience reaction and people were really into the movie, Saturday night was quiet (except for me of course). We got home late and fell fast asleep.
Sunday morning we got up and did the coffee thing and wrapped the present. I went out to get a nice bow and picked up some nail polish to match my blouse which looks very lovely on my toes. After the wrapping, painting, showering, buffy watching, and dressing, we drove out to the townies. We went up to the folks' house and hung out for about a half an hour and listened to my dad pick at me. I don't know why, but whenever we're going out somewhere, he looks me up and down and starts to notice things. My hair is curly, my eyes are blue, there's a mole on my cheek. It's like he's never noticed these things before. It's annoying.
We made it to the church without incident and the ceremony was lovely. They wrote their own vows, her dress was beautiful, the church was packed, and everyone looked marvelous. I sometimes wish that we could have written our own vows, but I never would have been able to get them out, I had trouble not blubbering through "I do". After the ceremony came picture time. Did I happen to mention that it was 7C and windy? It was freezing and those poor girls out there posing in front of the manse in sleeveless dresses and gauzy wraps. At one point there were a few snowflakes drifting down. Brrrrr! My grandmother nearly froze waiting around for the family photos.
Off we went to the reception at a ski hill in the States. Everyone got a white pompom, so it was easy for the customs guards to recognize us. The hill hasn't changed much since I worked up there, a few more condos.
I was really looking forward to catching up with Colleen, an old friend from highschool who just happens to be the bride's older sister. It's strange to think that we're kind of related. Anyway, I haven't seen Colleen since graduation (that's a looong time ago) and it was great to see her again and see how well she's doing and how happy she is.
On to the dreaded and interesting part of the evening, the relatives. My uncle from Calgary was there, he's a 'recovered' alcoholic and a first-class jerk. Not only was he drunk off his ass, he was loud and sitting next to me at the table. Next to him was another uncle, also drunk. Alone, they would have been easy to shut up, but together, they were an unstoppable, cackling, swaggering, rude heckling gallery of two. Add to that rather frosty relations between the bride and groom's families and a few incidents which will remain unpublished, and you have a wedding that will be fodder for years to come. We left at 11 and got home at 1, dog tired and ready for a coma-like sleep.
Monday rising came too early thanks to the cats. I was dazed most of the day. Another day off wouldn't have hurt :-)
Off to gym again tonight!
Friday, May 17, 2002
Going to a wedding
I still have to decide what I'm going to wear to my cousin's wedding on Sunday. I'm not sure why they're getting married on Sunday, but it gives me the day I need to ponder the closet and then go to the mall. Normally it would be a beautiful weekend, but this year we seem to have received the rump end of Mother Nature and we'll be lucky if it's more than 12C. Oh well, it's not an outdoor wedding so who cares? Should be a blast!
About to go into a two hour meeting. I hope someone got doughnuts........
I still have to decide what I'm going to wear to my cousin's wedding on Sunday. I'm not sure why they're getting married on Sunday, but it gives me the day I need to ponder the closet and then go to the mall. Normally it would be a beautiful weekend, but this year we seem to have received the rump end of Mother Nature and we'll be lucky if it's more than 12C. Oh well, it's not an outdoor wedding so who cares? Should be a blast!
About to go into a two hour meeting. I hope someone got doughnuts........
What's that smell?
It was a typical morning: got to work , got myself a cup of coffee, took the elevator upstairs, walked to my office, sat down and started the computer, etc. I scratched my nose. I smelled something different. Somewhere between the car and my desk I got men's cologne on two fingers on my right hand. How the heck did I do that? I've narrowed it down to the elevator button or a door handle. My next question is how much cologne do you have to be wearing in order to leave enough of it behind on a door handle or elevator button? Maybe they sprayed it on the elevator buttons? The cologne reminded me of someone, problem is I don't remember who. I've always found smell memories so baffling, mine tend to be very elusive. I recognize a smell, but sometimes I just can't put it together with the memory before the odor vanishes. I washed my hands, now they smell like institutional pink soap - blech!
Workout update - I went again last night. Today, I am acutely aware of which arm and shoulder muscles I use on a regular basis. Perhaps I will give the arms a day's rest.......
It was a typical morning: got to work , got myself a cup of coffee, took the elevator upstairs, walked to my office, sat down and started the computer, etc. I scratched my nose. I smelled something different. Somewhere between the car and my desk I got men's cologne on two fingers on my right hand. How the heck did I do that? I've narrowed it down to the elevator button or a door handle. My next question is how much cologne do you have to be wearing in order to leave enough of it behind on a door handle or elevator button? Maybe they sprayed it on the elevator buttons? The cologne reminded me of someone, problem is I don't remember who. I've always found smell memories so baffling, mine tend to be very elusive. I recognize a smell, but sometimes I just can't put it together with the memory before the odor vanishes. I washed my hands, now they smell like institutional pink soap - blech!
Workout update - I went again last night. Today, I am acutely aware of which arm and shoulder muscles I use on a regular basis. Perhaps I will give the arms a day's rest.......
Thursday, May 16, 2002
One small step...
I went and worked out last night, I'm depending on my sense of guilt to keep it going until I actually enjoy it. Any guilt that you can contribute would be greatly appreciated....... :-)
Another grey, May day, I'm getting a little tired of this. My office doesn't have a window, but I can see a window across the hall, so it's not so bad. Some people have inside offices that have no natural light. To compensate, they have these giant lights on one wall that I think are supposed to simulate sunshine. I'm not sure if I could work in a room without any natural light, seems a bit cruel, but on a day like today, maybe simulated sunshine is better than none at all. I added a link to a Monsters page (from tbit) that I think is wonderful. I'm hoping that she'll come out with a book. At least you can buy prints. Check out the link on the left somewhere.
I went and worked out last night, I'm depending on my sense of guilt to keep it going until I actually enjoy it. Any guilt that you can contribute would be greatly appreciated....... :-)
Another grey, May day, I'm getting a little tired of this. My office doesn't have a window, but I can see a window across the hall, so it's not so bad. Some people have inside offices that have no natural light. To compensate, they have these giant lights on one wall that I think are supposed to simulate sunshine. I'm not sure if I could work in a room without any natural light, seems a bit cruel, but on a day like today, maybe simulated sunshine is better than none at all. I added a link to a Monsters page (from tbit) that I think is wonderful. I'm hoping that she'll come out with a book. At least you can buy prints. Check out the link on the left somewhere.
Wednesday, May 15, 2002
Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Say Cheese!
Bill and I have been having a rousing email discussion about digital cameras (ok, the 'discussion' mainly consisted of us drooling and saying "I want"). There are many good sites out there to help you find a camera to suit your needs, we were looking at zdnet. We found a decent camera and then looked it the prices in Canada, would you believe that even with the exchange the cameras in the US are $120 cheaper? Ugh! Steve wanted to get me a digital camera for my b-day, but I told him that I wouldn't let him unless he let me pay for half, I think that's fair. If anyone out there knows an affordable place for digitals, let me know, I'll be out there shopping and haggling soon!
Bill and I have been having a rousing email discussion about digital cameras (ok, the 'discussion' mainly consisted of us drooling and saying "I want"). There are many good sites out there to help you find a camera to suit your needs, we were looking at zdnet. We found a decent camera and then looked it the prices in Canada, would you believe that even with the exchange the cameras in the US are $120 cheaper? Ugh! Steve wanted to get me a digital camera for my b-day, but I told him that I wouldn't let him unless he let me pay for half, I think that's fair. If anyone out there knows an affordable place for digitals, let me know, I'll be out there shopping and haggling soon!
Monday, May 13, 2002
Happy Mother's Day
To all of you moms out there, hope you had a good day yesterday!
Saturday, Steve and I put another coat of paint on the livingroom and Steve did the trim so there is nary a spot of pink left in the room. Saturday night we went over to Rhett and Debbie's for a BBQ get together. Everyone seems to be fine and we got to see Bill's new glasses and laugh at her trying to walk through a room with them on.
Sunday we drove out to the townies, visited with the folks, changed my tires and BBQ'd again. We gave my mom a Chinese tea set and some green tea. We got home yesterday and I was beat and this morning came too quickly.
I went to two places on Friday to get tea. The first place was a tea merchant in Westmount. I am definitely going back there, they had all kinds of tea. You could buy it in prepared metal containers or the lady at the store would scoop it out into bags from these really huge tins. She was very helpful. The tea's pretty expensive, but you can buy very small amounts. The second place I went to was the healthfood store across the street where I get the English Toffee tea that I have raved about. In addition to tea, I found this stuff called Badger Sleep Balm. I'm not an awful sleeper, but I do tend to wake up in the middle of the night. Since Friday night, I haven't woken up in the middle of the night and have fallen asleep very quickly. I like it!
To all of you moms out there, hope you had a good day yesterday!
Saturday, Steve and I put another coat of paint on the livingroom and Steve did the trim so there is nary a spot of pink left in the room. Saturday night we went over to Rhett and Debbie's for a BBQ get together. Everyone seems to be fine and we got to see Bill's new glasses and laugh at her trying to walk through a room with them on.
Sunday we drove out to the townies, visited with the folks, changed my tires and BBQ'd again. We gave my mom a Chinese tea set and some green tea. We got home yesterday and I was beat and this morning came too quickly.
I went to two places on Friday to get tea. The first place was a tea merchant in Westmount. I am definitely going back there, they had all kinds of tea. You could buy it in prepared metal containers or the lady at the store would scoop it out into bags from these really huge tins. She was very helpful. The tea's pretty expensive, but you can buy very small amounts. The second place I went to was the healthfood store across the street where I get the English Toffee tea that I have raved about. In addition to tea, I found this stuff called Badger Sleep Balm. I'm not an awful sleeper, but I do tend to wake up in the middle of the night. Since Friday night, I haven't woken up in the middle of the night and have fallen asleep very quickly. I like it!
Friday, May 10, 2002
Friday!
My folks stopped by last night. Normally, this would never happen because my folks live a two-hour drive away and they don't like driving in the city. They used to live here, but with age and country living comes an absolute fear of driving around other cars. They come into town maybe twice a year to drop something off or lend a hand with a project, the rest of the time we drive out there for the day to visit. My folks came into town to visit a relative who had a three-hour stop over at the airport. My folks had never been to the airport, so they called on Monday to find out if I could take the afternoon off and take them there (presumably from my place). I couldn't take the time off, so they were forced to make it there alone. Despite their misgivings, they got there just fine, had a nice visit, and made it to NDG without incident. They brought Diet Dr Pepper with Spiderman on the cans! We decided to take them out for Chinese food, which went over very well. We ordered things that the folks had never tried and they discovered that they really like green tea. We sent them home with the doggie bag (they're always loading us up with food, so this was our revenge). My Dad's fortune was "You will try something new today", which couldn't have been truer. Mine said "You have an unsual talent for success, use it properly". What do you think? Is that me?
We are going to try very hard to finish the livingroom walls on Saturday. Sunday we are off to the townies for Mom day, we're going to BBQ and change snow tires!
I just looked across the hall and saw my boss cleaning his phone. Do I look that obsessive-compulsive when I clean my phone? Nah, that can't be......
My folks stopped by last night. Normally, this would never happen because my folks live a two-hour drive away and they don't like driving in the city. They used to live here, but with age and country living comes an absolute fear of driving around other cars. They come into town maybe twice a year to drop something off or lend a hand with a project, the rest of the time we drive out there for the day to visit. My folks came into town to visit a relative who had a three-hour stop over at the airport. My folks had never been to the airport, so they called on Monday to find out if I could take the afternoon off and take them there (presumably from my place). I couldn't take the time off, so they were forced to make it there alone. Despite their misgivings, they got there just fine, had a nice visit, and made it to NDG without incident. They brought Diet Dr Pepper with Spiderman on the cans! We decided to take them out for Chinese food, which went over very well. We ordered things that the folks had never tried and they discovered that they really like green tea. We sent them home with the doggie bag (they're always loading us up with food, so this was our revenge). My Dad's fortune was "You will try something new today", which couldn't have been truer. Mine said "You have an unsual talent for success, use it properly". What do you think? Is that me?
We are going to try very hard to finish the livingroom walls on Saturday. Sunday we are off to the townies for Mom day, we're going to BBQ and change snow tires!
I just looked across the hall and saw my boss cleaning his phone. Do I look that obsessive-compulsive when I clean my phone? Nah, that can't be......
Thursday, May 09, 2002
Whew!
Well, that's done! Finally finished the NY work at 5:30 yesterday, went home, ate watched a little tv and went to bed by 9. Woke up early to get the car to the garage for 7am, I'm still tired, and I think I'm getting a chest cold. Oh well, I feel better than yesterday afternoon!
Apparently we aren't helping NY again until the end of June when we get to go down there for two weeks and rewrite everything. I'm hoping to visit Kuan and finally see her house while I'm down there. If you're reading this Kuan, I know I haven't told you about this, I'm waiting for confirmation, which should happen probably the day we go down.....
I got my Cuban boxset! It's a 3 volume compilation of Chano Pozo, one of the best conga drummers ever. It's a truly marvelous thing.
Well, that's done! Finally finished the NY work at 5:30 yesterday, went home, ate watched a little tv and went to bed by 9. Woke up early to get the car to the garage for 7am, I'm still tired, and I think I'm getting a chest cold. Oh well, I feel better than yesterday afternoon!
Apparently we aren't helping NY again until the end of June when we get to go down there for two weeks and rewrite everything. I'm hoping to visit Kuan and finally see her house while I'm down there. If you're reading this Kuan, I know I haven't told you about this, I'm waiting for confirmation, which should happen probably the day we go down.....
I got my Cuban boxset! It's a 3 volume compilation of Chano Pozo, one of the best conga drummers ever. It's a truly marvelous thing.
Wednesday, May 08, 2002
Am I ALIVE? Hmm...
Well, I almost never post, so I'm sure I haven't been missed, but here I am in all my glory.
In a nutshell, I'm still locked out of my job, which is much less awful now that the weather's good, but I still have no money to pay my brand-new mortgage. I am going to a dinner tonight put on by the English radio producers to feed their locked-out friends and colleagues. This whole thing has been very hard for them too. It should be fun, and I know the food will be good. I'm bringing my whole family with me. Meet the Freeloaders!!!
In case anyone's interested, I'll be singing with my choir in a concert this Saturday at Wesley United church in NDG. Admission is a good-will offering or non-perishable food, so come on down! It's actually gonna be good, I think. After the concert part (45 min.) there's a coffehouse with a jazz trio with food and drinks (non-alcoholic - BOO!). Come out and support the NDG food bank and your little songbird blogmate. Betcha didn't know I could sing, eh? Any way, it starts at 7:30. Hope to see you there!
Well, I almost never post, so I'm sure I haven't been missed, but here I am in all my glory.
In a nutshell, I'm still locked out of my job, which is much less awful now that the weather's good, but I still have no money to pay my brand-new mortgage. I am going to a dinner tonight put on by the English radio producers to feed their locked-out friends and colleagues. This whole thing has been very hard for them too. It should be fun, and I know the food will be good. I'm bringing my whole family with me. Meet the Freeloaders!!!
In case anyone's interested, I'll be singing with my choir in a concert this Saturday at Wesley United church in NDG. Admission is a good-will offering or non-perishable food, so come on down! It's actually gonna be good, I think. After the concert part (45 min.) there's a coffehouse with a jazz trio with food and drinks (non-alcoholic - BOO!). Come out and support the NDG food bank and your little songbird blogmate. Betcha didn't know I could sing, eh? Any way, it starts at 7:30. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday, May 07, 2002
My hair comes out so light and fluffy!
I went to Walmart (surprise!) and bought a hairdryer exactly like the one that broke. I bought the old one about two years ago, but this one is the spitting image, same colour, same size, shape, and power. The only difference was that my old one came with a diffuser and a straightening attachment, and this one came with something called a "volumizer", which looks like a spiky plastic torture device from the depths of hell. Still, my diffuser fits on it just like the old one, so I'm all set. This morning I tried it for the first time. You ever notice that when you're running on autopilot the least deviation from the normal routine can freak you right out? The hairdryer, the exact same hairdryer, makes a different sound. As soon as I turned it on, I jumped and stared at it (by the way, you really shouldn't look directly at a hairdryer nozzle that's turned on) and turned it off. I turned it on again. It's quieter, softer, wimpier. It doesn't roar like the old one, it's like the good twin of my old hairdryer. I miss the evil twin.......
We didn't paint last night, we were too tired. I stayed up and watched NottingHill on tv, what a waste of time. For some reason, they stretched it out to 3 hours. I should have gone to bed early. Tonight is the late night at work. We receive the files from our office in NY at 4pm so we can put them into something that resembles manuals.
Steve just told me that my Cuban boxset has arrived at HMV-yay!!! I may have something new to listen to tomorrow!
A colleague at work brought me an Amish friendship cake starter, it works like sourdough. It takes 10 days to make, then I will have two or three starters to give away, any takers?
I went to Walmart (surprise!) and bought a hairdryer exactly like the one that broke. I bought the old one about two years ago, but this one is the spitting image, same colour, same size, shape, and power. The only difference was that my old one came with a diffuser and a straightening attachment, and this one came with something called a "volumizer", which looks like a spiky plastic torture device from the depths of hell. Still, my diffuser fits on it just like the old one, so I'm all set. This morning I tried it for the first time. You ever notice that when you're running on autopilot the least deviation from the normal routine can freak you right out? The hairdryer, the exact same hairdryer, makes a different sound. As soon as I turned it on, I jumped and stared at it (by the way, you really shouldn't look directly at a hairdryer nozzle that's turned on) and turned it off. I turned it on again. It's quieter, softer, wimpier. It doesn't roar like the old one, it's like the good twin of my old hairdryer. I miss the evil twin.......
We didn't paint last night, we were too tired. I stayed up and watched NottingHill on tv, what a waste of time. For some reason, they stretched it out to 3 hours. I should have gone to bed early. Tonight is the late night at work. We receive the files from our office in NY at 4pm so we can put them into something that resembles manuals.
Steve just told me that my Cuban boxset has arrived at HMV-yay!!! I may have something new to listen to tomorrow!
A colleague at work brought me an Amish friendship cake starter, it works like sourdough. It takes 10 days to make, then I will have two or three starters to give away, any takers?
Monday, May 06, 2002
Spiderman rules!!
What a fantastic movie! Go see it NOW! The story was great and Toby's perfect for the part. I wanted to see the sequel right away. Tip: If you stay in your seat and watch the credits, you are rewarded with the original Spiderman theme (Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.....)
The rest of the weekend
While not as exciting as watching the Spiderman movie, it was slightly productive.
On Saturday, Steve went over the BBQs and gave the grills a soak, then we went to the comic book store and got free comics for Free Comics Day. After that, we bought paint and primer and BBQ stuff and went home and prepped the livingroom walls for painting and Steve did some more work on the BBQs. We tried to have pork burgers, but they fell apart, so we settled for veggie burgers, which weren't bad.
The vacuum had been giving us some trouble and I discovered that we had a bottlecap stuck in the hose. It was easy to find the obstruction because we also have a shop vac, so I just used the shop vac to suck out the bottlecap. I remember once, before Steve and his shop vac came along, I sucked up a sock and spent three hours trying to get it out of the hose using a coathanger. Tip: always have two vacuums.
Sunday we washed the walls and started to paint. Ok, so we started late in the afternoon, the morning was filled with relaxing and coffee and laundry. The livingroom is going to be a deep red, so I asked the paint store guy to tint the primer. Normally, this would mean that the primer was the same colour as the paint, but we needed high adhesive primer because of all the fresh plaster work, and that type of primer can't have much tint added to it. What we got was a primer the colour of Pepto-Bismol. When we finished priming the room it looked liked Barbie's dreamhouse-yuck! We toyed with the idea of leaving it like that and inviting some people over to ask what they thought of the colour, but we couldn't stand it. The first coat of red is always a resounding disappointment, blotchy and streaky, but it still looked nice compared to the pink. We also primed the molding that runs along the ceiling and that's still pink, it really doesn't work with the red.
After the painting we watched Amelie, which was very cute. The DVD that we rented only had French subtitles, which seems very odd for a DVD, but I was able to follow enough to get the story. I'm sure that I missed a lot of little jokes. We went to bed very late and this morning my hairdryer gave up the ghost, the cat puked all over the kitchen mat, and I spilled coffee all over my purse. Need more sleep!!
What a fantastic movie! Go see it NOW! The story was great and Toby's perfect for the part. I wanted to see the sequel right away. Tip: If you stay in your seat and watch the credits, you are rewarded with the original Spiderman theme (Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can.....)
The rest of the weekend
While not as exciting as watching the Spiderman movie, it was slightly productive.
On Saturday, Steve went over the BBQs and gave the grills a soak, then we went to the comic book store and got free comics for Free Comics Day. After that, we bought paint and primer and BBQ stuff and went home and prepped the livingroom walls for painting and Steve did some more work on the BBQs. We tried to have pork burgers, but they fell apart, so we settled for veggie burgers, which weren't bad.
The vacuum had been giving us some trouble and I discovered that we had a bottlecap stuck in the hose. It was easy to find the obstruction because we also have a shop vac, so I just used the shop vac to suck out the bottlecap. I remember once, before Steve and his shop vac came along, I sucked up a sock and spent three hours trying to get it out of the hose using a coathanger. Tip: always have two vacuums.
Sunday we washed the walls and started to paint. Ok, so we started late in the afternoon, the morning was filled with relaxing and coffee and laundry. The livingroom is going to be a deep red, so I asked the paint store guy to tint the primer. Normally, this would mean that the primer was the same colour as the paint, but we needed high adhesive primer because of all the fresh plaster work, and that type of primer can't have much tint added to it. What we got was a primer the colour of Pepto-Bismol. When we finished priming the room it looked liked Barbie's dreamhouse-yuck! We toyed with the idea of leaving it like that and inviting some people over to ask what they thought of the colour, but we couldn't stand it. The first coat of red is always a resounding disappointment, blotchy and streaky, but it still looked nice compared to the pink. We also primed the molding that runs along the ceiling and that's still pink, it really doesn't work with the red.
After the painting we watched Amelie, which was very cute. The DVD that we rented only had French subtitles, which seems very odd for a DVD, but I was able to follow enough to get the story. I'm sure that I missed a lot of little jokes. We went to bed very late and this morning my hairdryer gave up the ghost, the cat puked all over the kitchen mat, and I spilled coffee all over my purse. Need more sleep!!
Friday, May 03, 2002
If you are very brave, take a look out the window...but you must be very brave....
It is 8:50 a.m. Friday, May 3, 2002. I gaze out the window and behold, I wonder did I fastforward through summer and if so, what did I miss and do I have to get my Christmas shopping done? Is it a dream? No, it really is snow! Again!!!! Yikes, double yikes! !!
Now, how many of you succumbed and started to plant your gardens? Don't all raise your hands at once now! (Seriously, there were people on my street who started to get going with their gardens last Saturday.)
Never fear, it is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow. So here's my advice, ignore today, just get done what you need to get done and tomorrow, magically all of this will go away and you will have a glorious spring weekend to enjoy....But do yourselves a favour, don't plant your gardens yet (not until Victoria Day) and don't pull out your white shoes and purses until then either ; - )!
It is 8:50 a.m. Friday, May 3, 2002. I gaze out the window and behold, I wonder did I fastforward through summer and if so, what did I miss and do I have to get my Christmas shopping done? Is it a dream? No, it really is snow! Again!!!! Yikes, double yikes! !!
Now, how many of you succumbed and started to plant your gardens? Don't all raise your hands at once now! (Seriously, there were people on my street who started to get going with their gardens last Saturday.)
Never fear, it is supposed to be gorgeous tomorrow. So here's my advice, ignore today, just get done what you need to get done and tomorrow, magically all of this will go away and you will have a glorious spring weekend to enjoy....But do yourselves a favour, don't plant your gardens yet (not until Victoria Day) and don't pull out your white shoes and purses until then either ; - )!
Thursday, May 02, 2002
Life under the big top
Step right up folks! Lots of idiocy and feats of amazing underring do going on.
Let's start with the dangerously confused milk truck of the Decarie service road. This truck will barge in front of you in traffic, cut you off without noticing (as you slam on your brakes), and then veer off and cross three lanes of traffic to get to an exit amidst much honking and braking. Next, we'll move on to the meeting that says nothing. This meeting will take place in a room with insufficient seating, forcing it's hapless members to stand for great lengths of time and stay awake while pie charts and quarterly figures are discussed. In the end, no real answers are provided. Finally, watch as a writer tries in vain to finish her projects, only to be thwarted by newer documents and installation changes.
Plenty of tickets available, come on in!
Step right up folks! Lots of idiocy and feats of amazing underring do going on.
Let's start with the dangerously confused milk truck of the Decarie service road. This truck will barge in front of you in traffic, cut you off without noticing (as you slam on your brakes), and then veer off and cross three lanes of traffic to get to an exit amidst much honking and braking. Next, we'll move on to the meeting that says nothing. This meeting will take place in a room with insufficient seating, forcing it's hapless members to stand for great lengths of time and stay awake while pie charts and quarterly figures are discussed. In the end, no real answers are provided. Finally, watch as a writer tries in vain to finish her projects, only to be thwarted by newer documents and installation changes.
Plenty of tickets available, come on in!
Wednesday, May 01, 2002
Happy 8 months
Life is good......:-)
Ow, the brick wall hurts my head....
I found out yesterday that at least two documents that I have spent about two days trying to fix are being rewritten. The other writer decided not to work from the server and has been storing these new miracle docs (which I will have to fix - another 2 days of work) on her hard drive. Her boss knew that she was doing this, didn't tell me or my boss, and thought that I would just know that this was happening. This means that I have wasted two days that could have been spent reviewing the many other docs that I have to do. It's like a really awful clown act at a second-rate circus. I'm not laughing.
Life is good......:-)
Ow, the brick wall hurts my head....
I found out yesterday that at least two documents that I have spent about two days trying to fix are being rewritten. The other writer decided not to work from the server and has been storing these new miracle docs (which I will have to fix - another 2 days of work) on her hard drive. Her boss knew that she was doing this, didn't tell me or my boss, and thought that I would just know that this was happening. This means that I have wasted two days that could have been spent reviewing the many other docs that I have to do. It's like a really awful clown act at a second-rate circus. I'm not laughing.
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