Not Your Average Butcher

Very Few Have Hit the Mark

2007-03-29T14:31:00.000-04:00

It’s update time!

It’s funny, we’ve been so busy with all of this house stuff, but it doesn’t feel like anything new has happened lately… it also feels like we’ll never be done with all of these meetings we have to go to and all of these decisions we have to make. I can’t wait until it’s over! I just want to sit back and watch my house get built… and then move in of course!

So far we’ve gone to see the door and window specialist and the cabinet-makers. We still have to go see the people for the plumbing and the tiles and carpets and some others that I just can’t think of right now!

As for work, I’m happy to report that I’ll be starting another contract on April 1st, this one will be for 3 months. While working on 3 month contracts isn’t ideal, I also know that it’s an easy way of avoiding having to publicly post the job opening and possibly have someone else get my job! I just don’t know how this is going to work with insurance and benefits and stuff. I’ll have to wait and see.

Oh, we also went to the Youth Action Montreal conference “Less Talk, More Action” on March 22nd, where David Suzuki and Al Gore were keynote speakers. It really is something to see a bunch of young people banding together in such an important cause, it really is inspiring! David Suzuki is an amazing speaker and so interesting to listen to and so knowledgeable, it’s no wonder he’s so widely respected. Al Gore was also really impressive to see. He stuck rather close to his traditional slide presentation which had obviously been updated to relate to our situation here in Canada. He even acknowledged Quebec as a driving force for environmental action in Canada, which is something all of us Quebecers can be proud of! Al Gore was also presented with an honourary degree from Concordia University, which is also pretty neat!

Hey, I also saw Stephen Harper that day too; it made for a lot of celebrities in one day! I also attended the Americana conference earlier in the same day. Oddly enough, Stephen Harper was the honourary president of this environmental conference and gave an invitation-only speech on the last day of the conference. Not only did I not have an invitation to his talk, I didn’t even have a pass for the conference! My pass was good for the tradeshow but would not allow me into the conference itself. Well, it wasn’t supposed to, anyway! I simply snuck in along with a bunch of my old coworkers from Ottawa. Getting into the Stephen Harper talk was pretty easy after that, we just went into the room before security started taking invitations at the door. So we got there really early and sat right up front. Forty-five minutes later Harper was announcing new initiatives for the environment including national regulations and projects that are closer to home than paying large sums of money to foreign countries (am I hearing another dig against Kyoto??). Anyway, it’s funny how the Harper administration has suddenly become so environment-conscious. Goes to show that what the people want the people will get!

Shall we continue with the politics? Yeah I know it’s not something I get in to often, but all of a sudden I’m immersed in it, so there you have it! Anyway, good on the Liberals for just squeaking by in the provincial elections, and good on the PQ for their poor showing. I don’t want to hear anything about referendums and sovereignty, especially now that I’m now a property owner. I really don’t feel like having to deal with my property value dropping significantly just because the PQ comes into power again. No thanks!

Ok, enough.

Our Hell is a Good Life

2007-03-17T09:56:00.000-04:00

It's officially official! We bought a house! Actually, right now it's a $260,000 field of dirt because there's nothing there, yet! But someday it'll look a lot like the photo of the house I posted a couple entries ago.

We signed the mortgage agreement with National Bank yesterday evening and the groundbreaking for our brand new home in Vaudreuil should be in a couple of weeks. Our date of occupation is set for August 17th.

Anyway, I joined Facebook, which I'm really enjoying. What I love about it, is that you can post as many photos as you want, so I plan to take advantage of that. My plan is to take a photo of the house every time I go and visit and post it in an album on Facebook as a sort of time-line as the house progresses. I mean, we have to go out there every weekend anyway to supervise the construction and make sure nothing gets screwed up, so we might as well snap a few photos. And it's so much easier and quicker to upload photos to Facebook than it is to stick them here in the blog.

So we've already had one meeting with our real-estate agent representing the construction company to discuss some of the main construction options for the house. This included the heating system, where we want to knock down walls, deciding on whether or not we want air conditioning, central vacuum, deck, garage service door, etc. Anything that would have to actually be modified in the construction of the house itself. We have another meeting tomorrow to discuss other options (although I don't exactly know what those options are), a third meeting later on to decide on colours and patterns for floors, tiles, carpets, cabinets, bricks, roof tiles and soffits and fixtures such as handles, lighting and faucets. So much to decide!

It's Very Funny 'Cuz I've Got Your F***ing Money

2007-03-10T16:01:00.000-05:00

Alright alright alright. Shopping around for houses and going to appointmants with banks is a lot of work. I'm so glad it's almost over! Visiting houses isn't so bad, but the banks have really given us a run for our money, so to speak - har har har.

When Mike and I got our first pre-approval with CIBC, we were so excited because we managed to get such a fantastic rate (prime was 6.0% at the time and we managed to get an interest rate of 4.82% for 4 years). It was around that time we discovered a house from Construction Farand that we both absolutely love and no matter how many houses we visisted afterward, it was that model we kept going back to. Same house from the previous post, by the way. After talking to the real estate agent, we found out that we couldn't get financing through our bank of choice, because the construction company uses National and Royal Bank. So our fantastic rate was out the window; not worth a thing. That was a let-down, because all of the other banks were offering around 5.30%, which would have amounted in us paying an extra $2,250 during the term. What a waste!

So we went to Royal Bank. Our guy there was able to offer us a rate of 5.15% for 4 years. Better, but not close. We also had an appointment with National Bank, but since that bank is much smaller, we weren't expecting anything and decided to get pre-approved with Royal. It was only then we discovered that there was a limit of 120 days on the rate guarantee and there was no way out house could be ready by then.

Well, this was when we really started getting bummed out. It seemed like every time we made any progress, something would pop up to work against us and send us 3 steps backwards. And it's so stupid; we're model cleints with no debts, plenty of money for a down-payment and steady well-paying jobs. So why were the banks making it so difficult for us to finalize a mortgage rate? It didn't make any sense!

Seems we're finally making progress though. National Bank blew us away with a surprise offer for 5.04% over 7 years and $500 cash-back to put towards notarial fees... care to beat that Royal? We'll see who's got the best rate in the end. Pitting banks against each other is fun! We're so tired of running around and constantly negotiating: let someone else do the fighting now!

Bouscault 2 + 1

2007-02-19T09:03:00.000-05:00

The house hunting is ON! We've been going to open houses for model homes for the past 3 weeks and we figure we've visited about 20 - 25 different model homes... and we've found one that we really like! I tried to find a floor plan of the house on the internet, but I unfortunately I couldn't find one. But I found some photos!

And some photos of the interior:

Entranceway and living room

Living room

View onto the second floor (what you don't see here is that directly behind where this photo was taken is a large family room constructed above the garage)

Kitchen

Master bedroom

Bathroom

So this house has 3 bedrooms, bathroom, powder room, family room, living room, kitchen, dining room and an unfinished basement.

Thoughts?

I Can Watch a Sunset On My Own

2007-02-08T14:11:00.000-05:00

Yup, I'm still alive, not to worry. But wow, have a lot of things been happening! Actually, things have quieted down a lot since last weekend, which is good. And for the first time ever, I'm going to fake my way through this post and instead of actually writing everything down (again) I'm just going to copy and paste a couple of e-mails I sent out to some people in Ottawa. That way, I'll finally be done with regurgitating the same information over and over agagin!

January 30th:

Hi everybody!

I think it's about time I send out a general "all's well" from over here in Montreal. It really doesn't seem like just a week and a half ago that we said our last good-byes before I hauled my butt back to Montreal: so much has happened! I waved to all of you guys last night when I flew over Ottawa on my way back from Florida; see, I'm thinking about you!

Yup, last night I returned home from my very first cruise. It was... interesting. Mike and I went along with about 50 of his co-workers (and their husbands, wives, etc.) on a free 4 day cruise in the Bahamas. We spent a day in Nassau and it was rather nice; we took a tour through the city and visited Paradise Island. Next day we were supposed to visit Cococay for a day at the beach and some parasailing. As luck would have it, the weather was terrible and we weren't allowed on shore so we spent the whole day on the boat, inside where it wasn't horrifically windy. Big waste of a day. But we were there for free so we weren't complaining (much)! Despite the weather we still had fun but it was always incredibly busy with places to be, things to do and constantly running into Mike's coworkers. So next time, we'll definitely have to try a longer cruise, maybe it'll be more relaxing!

So now I'm back at work (regrettably without a tan) and I'm so glad it's a short week because I'm exhausted! The job is alright, it'll take some getting used to. Basically, I spend my days writing up this massive Phase II ESA for the Alert military base and Eureka on Ellesmere Island. 57 contaminated sites had previously been identified and I'm writing up little reports for each individual site to be integrated into the final report. I think it's going to get a little repetitive, but that's alright. The people here are pretty nice and I'm starting to get used to functioning in my second language. It's pretty relaxed here, I can come and go as I please, I can wear jeans and I share an office with my new coworker Josée. I was dreading the possibility of a stuffy fancy office environment where I would be stuck in a cubicle within a sea of cubicles. Not so. So I think I'm adjusting well!

Anyway, that's my news for now... I hope everything's going well for all of you! And now you have my new work address should you want to reach me.

Take care!

February 7th:

It's so nice to hear from you!

I can't make those lovely happy faces anymore, my computer at work is very old; only runs Windows 2000 and all of the Office programs are old versions too... seems the old version of Outlook isn't happy face friendly. Too bad! But I can do these ones :) it's something, right?!

By the way, did you get the update I sent everybody? Just wondering how much you already know (or don't know). Anyway, I've been so busy since I moved back to Montreal. I was very cranky for about 2 weeks because it was always go go go with no time to relax or even think. And just as I was getting really fed up I had to go on that cruise and I was cranky then too. Although I tried very hard to be happy, I was just to tired both physically and emotionally. But I'm better now, finally getting settled into my new situation...

The job is alright, it's not hugely exciting. I sit in my office all day writing my gigantic report and it can get pretty monotonous. I've made some aquaitances, but I wouldn't call them friends. It's hard to get to know people when you're locked up in an out of the way office all day. So I miss having people to talk to. But it hasn't even been 3 weeks, so I'll have to give it time.

As for the cruise, well it was kind of a bust; too much to do, a cancelled trip to Cococay, bad weather and the deck where our stateroom was smelled like dirty diapers, it was so gross. Somehow I managed to have fun though, we had some good laughs! The food and the service was excellent and we took a nice tour through Nassau. But it was stupid to come back from the Bahamas without a tan! Anyway, I figure I'll try the whole cruising thing again someday, but it will definitely have to be for a longer period of time. Three days is just not enough time to properly experience it, we had to pack in way too much during that time. And I'll try to be properly rested before I go!

Other than that, I've been driving around in my mom's car (woo hoo I can drive!) and Mike and I have started house hunting. We also have a bunch of appointments coming up soon with banks and mortgage brokers and all that fun stuff, because we're still not sure what we can afford.

Oh and next week I'll be going to Trenton to do some kind of training. I have no idea what it's for because nobody tells me anything! Oh well, it'll get me out of the office and into nice anglo Ontario for a couple of days!

You know, you popped into my head just yesterday! I had suddenly realized that I hadn't heard from you in a while (but I guess that's what happens when you're only working twice a week, huh?), so I was very happy to get your message this morning!

Okay, now I want to know what's new with you!

Ha ha this post took me all of 5 minutes to put together! You'd never guess just by looking at it!

Tonight Your Ghost Will Ask My Ghost

2007-01-18T12:05:00.000-05:00

Wow ok, so much has happened in such a short period of time! Where do I start? Alright, how about the most exciting news? Let's start with that!

Congratulations to Dave and Kim!!!

These two got engaged on January 13th and I couldn't be more excited for them!

Alright, what's next? Let's continue with the Kim theme. Last Thursday, on my second to last day of work Kim e-mailed me to let me know that someone she knew from her office was looking to hire someone... and she passed the message on to me. Many e-mails and phone calls later, I had an interview for last Saturday afternoon... and I got the job! Well, anyone that reads this blog probably already knew that, but I'm writing this for myself, ha ha!

Anyway, starting Monday I will be a Technical Officer working at the Biotechnology Research Institute of the National Research Council... how professional does that sound?! I'm starting off on a 2 month contract and if everything works out I should be extended. To start, I'll mostly be writing up environmental scientific reports and cooler stuff will come along as I get acquainted with the department. So I'm pretty excited about being able to keep my foot in the Public Service door because that is where I want to stay!

And lastly, least exciting of all to everyone else, but pretty damn exciting to me; I got my new glasses! I can see again! I ventured to my optometrist's office on Monday (I trudged through the snowstorm and almost got run over by a rampaging snowplow). I told her about how the losers at Lenscrafters wouldn't even consider fixing my glasses and she told me "Oh yeah, I used to work there, they were just trying to get you to buy a whole new pair." Stupid Lenscrafters; what ever happened to customer service?

Well, with all of this exciting stuff happening, it's really kept me distracted from the dreaded end of my fabulous job at AAFC and the impending move back to chez mom and pop. It's really nice to have things to look forward to! Oh yeah... cruise in 8 days too! The excitement just doesn't end!

Happy New Year - You're Blind!

2007-01-08T10:56:00.000-05:00

What a great way to start off the new year: fumbling around in a visual haze.

On January 2nd, my first day back at work, my glasses fell on the floor and broke. Just wonderful. I figure I had it coming, considering my bad habit of always putting my glasses on my head when they're not on my face. Mike said he was surprised it didn't happen earlier, since they often slipped off my head and fell to the floor whenever I wouls tilt my head up to give him a kiss. Okay so yeah, it was coming and perhaps I deserved it. But why on the first day back after the holidays?

Anyway, the logistics of getting my glasses replaced have become retardedly complicated. After the initial 'accident' I phoned my mom, who got in contact with my optometrist. Her office informed mom that my frames had been discontinued, so just replacing the frames wouldn't be possible. But they called back the next day to say that the designer's new model was the same as the old one, they just had new colours. Good enough for me, I thought; then I wouldn't have to pay for new lenses, just the new frames. So mom was nice enough to ship the 3 new frames to me in Ottawa. I chose some frames that I rather liked and kept them so I could bring them to Lenscrafters on the weekend (keep in mind I spent the whole week either without glasses, or with my glasses perched precariously on my nose - no moving, or else they'll fall off!). Anyway, I made my way to Lenscrafters (in the rain, of course) just to have them tell me that the new frames were, in fact, not the same shape as the old ones. Therefore, they wouldn't switch the lenses for me. Apparently this could be damaging for the eyes... but what do I know? All I knew was that I now had a useless set of frames that my mom kindly paid for, a useless pair of glasses that barely stay on my face, and two eyes that still can't see properly for at least another week. Wonderful. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper on Saturday.

Now, I have to get back in touch with my optometrist and see if they'll be willing to make my old lenses fit into the new frames. If not, I'll have to cough up $300 for a whole new pair of glasses. Because of course, I'm not insured.

For Your Entertainment

2007-01-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

Okay, here are a few photos from Christmastime. While Mike and I made sure to take lots of photos with our new camera, we unfortunately only bought it on Boxing Day, so everything all of the photos I have are post-Chistmas. Oh well!

The Assest Management department Christmas party

Girls night!

Testing the egg nog on New Year's Eve

Spreading the joy of Piddle Paddle

It's Peanut-Butter Jelly Time!

2007-01-02T21:43:00.000-05:00

Isn't amazing how quickly the holidays go by?? I was off for a week and a half and it felt like maybe... 4 days. And going back to work on January 2nd is tough stuff. I feel like I never even had a break! There was somewhere we had to be every single day of the holiday and we were perpetually busy. But you know what? I wouldn't have it any other way!

I guess Christmas this year was pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary happened. But that's good, because that means it was great! Theoretically, this was the last year my family will be all together on Christmas morning, so we made it a good one! This was, however, my biggest Boxing Day ever: Mike and I bought ourselves a new digital camera (8 mega pixels, baby!) and our very own Christmas tree for next year, the first Christmas in our house together! So it was pretty exciting, these were our first purcahses together, which has, in a way, made this whole home-buying thing all the more real to me. It seems like things are finally moving along!

The only disappointing part about the holidays was that I never got a chance to drive! Throughout the whole week and a half off, I was either out, the weather was terrible or the car wasn't available. Sucks. But I'll get my chance when I move back to Montreal.

My time here in Ottawa is wrapping up pretty quickly. After this week I only have one week left at work. And the week after that is moving time. And the part I hate the most about moving is that I'll be back at my parents' house. The loss of independence is going to be really, really unpleasant; I felt it enough throughout the holidays. It's funny how quickly one can get used to being alone.

Anyway, when I have more time I'll post some photos from the holidays... the photos taken with our new digital camera!

In the meantime:

Music Video:PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME (by Family Guy)

Music Video Code provided by Video Code Zone

If you were there, you'll understand.

I'll Be Home For Christmas

2006-12-22T17:18:00.000-05:00

And the journey back to Montreal really wasn't that bad! I was afraid the bus station would be a complete nut-house, and it kind of was, but I ended up catching a bus after a short 10 minute wait, which is awesome! Actually, we might have been able to leave a little earlier, had it not been for the news lady trying to tape her story at the bus station. Several people in front of me in line, there was the news lady doing take after take in which she would walk through our line, spread her arms out and say something like "If you're trying to get home for the holidays, this is what you're up against." And then scene. The cameraman was standing on a bench, panning around the bus station for shots of the crowd. Anyway, we were delayed getting on the bus because the news lady evidently needed us in the crowd to illustrate her point! Had we all gotten on the bus, well there wouldn't have been much of a crowd!

So now that I'm home, my first task will be to wrap all the Christmas gifts I bought... that'll be a big job! Maybe I'll wait until after dinner...!

Hear Those Magic Reindeer Click

2006-12-14T20:01:00.000-05:00

I think that today, it finally hit me that Christmas is coming. Despite the fact that I've already finished most of my Christmas shopping, I wasn't really feeling it yet. But all of a sudden, it hit me this afternoon while I was putting up decorations in the office. Why it didn't hit me while I was decorating the Christmas tree last weekend, I don't know! But anyway, to kick off the holidays, I'm putting in a Christmas survey that I filled in!

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate?
I love them both! I guess it depends on the time of day: Can't be having a rum-based drink in the morning, now can I? I'll stick with the hot chocolate in the a.m.!

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
I hate to be a spoil-sport, but last I heard, my parents did both.

3. Coloured lights on the tree/house or white?
I grew up with white lights on my tree and house, and as a result, I always found coloured lights kind of garish. But on the other hand, the new LED lights can be really nice.

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
I never have, maybe I should start!

5. When do you put your decorations up?
The first weekend of December.

6. What is your favourite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Turkey, I suppose. I don't know, we always have either turkey or spaghetti, and there's nothing really exciting about spaghetti.

7. Favourite holiday memory as a child:
I must have been around 8 years old: We spent one Christmas at my aunt and uncle's house in the Laurentians, along with our 3 cousins, all of whom are somewhat older than my brother and myself. My brother and I had to share a room in the basement and naturally we were too excited to sleep, especially since we had our stockings waiting for us at the ends of our beds. At about 5:00 a.m. we ran upstairs to wake up our cousins and decided as a group that we should all assemble in the bathroom. That way, we could all play together without waking up any of the parents and therefore not get in trouble. So we ended up spending about 3 hours the 5 of us playing in the bathroom, and we had a blast! Luckily it's a rather spacious bathroom. This story comes up every year when our two families get together... The eldest of the 3 cousins always complains "They woke us up at 5:00 a.m.!" But I know she had just as much fun as the rest of us!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
I had been fairly sure Santa didn't exist for a while, but it was confirmed to me one Christmas when I realized that Santa and my mom had the exact same handwriting on the labels of the gifts. Moreover, that same Christmas my brother got some skates from "Santa" and our cousin's name was written on the inside of each skate!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
Not usually. Only once. One year our parents woke us up at midnight (okay, so it was technically the 25th by then) and said "Come and see, Santa came!" So I got up to look at the tree, all the while thinking my parents were cruel for teasing us like that. So I glanced at the gifts, said "Wow!" and then turned around to go back to bed. I totally didn't realize they meant to have us open our gifts at midnight! Mom still makes fun of me to this day for going to sleep at present-opening time.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Putting up the tree is always my job, I'm the only one that likes to do it!Lights first, of course. Then the balls, the bows, and then each set of ornaments. I put up the single ornaments that don't come in a set after that. I fill in any remaining gaps with the largest ornaments. Then, up go the ribbons and tassels. There's a whole technique to it, you know.

11. Snow! Love it or dread it?
At Christmas, I love it. For the rest of the winter, I could take it or leave it.

12. Can you ice skate?
Mostly. I have a hard time turning left. And I discovered last year that it's a lot easier to keep your balance if your holding a hockey stick!

13. Do you remember your favourite gift?
I seem to remember being awfully excited about my first DVD player. I think they were expensive back then...

14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Seeing family and finding that perfect gift that you know someone you really care about will absolutely love.

15. What is your favourite holiday dessert?
It's not strictly a holiday dessert, but it's a family favourite that we always have a Christmas: John's pudding! That's not actually what it's called, but that's what I'll call it here, because I don't know it's actual name!

16. What is your favourite holiday tradition?
When I was really young, my parents made an advent calendar, and every first of December we put it up to count down the days 'til Christmas. For some reason, this calendar has really grown on me and has become a staple of our Christmas celebration. In the last several years, the question has become who will get the calendar when the kids move out? since my brother and I love this calendar so much. Consquently, for several years I've been looking for the pattern so we could make another one, that way we could both have one for our own homes. As luck would have it, I finally found one on e-Bay just a couple weeks ago. So I'll be helping mom put together the new one! This is what it looks like:

17. What tops your tree?
For the last several years it's been a dinky little angel. I don't like it.

18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving?
Well, getting presents is awfully nice! But I've never gotten that "heart in the throat" feeling opening presents that you get when you're giving someone a gift you're excited to give them because you know they'll love it so much.

19. What is your favourite Christmas song?
If you haven't already guessed from the title of this post, it's "All I Want for Christmas is You".

20. Candy canes! Yuck or yummy?
Candy canes are alright, but there are many other sweets that I'd pick before I have a candy cane.

21. Favourite Christmas movie?
Miracle on 34th Street (the original one, not the remake) and Holiday Inn.

22. What would you ask Santa for this year (and it has to be a material thing... none of this "world peace" or "happy family" stuff!)
This year I asked Santa for a yoga mat and a duvet.

Would You Believe...

2006-12-13T18:50:00.000-05:00

I updated my My Space page?! Check it out!

A Menace to Society

2006-12-13T12:36:00.000-05:00

That's my new title, according to Mike... I'm a menace to society! And he's probably right: I got my learner's permit on Friday (again), so hopefully next time I'm in town I'll be able to take a spin in some car or another. This will be the first time in about 6 years that I get behind the wheel. That's how long ago my old learner's permit expired!

Also of interest, my cousin has gone to India for a month and has set up a blog to record her adventures. There's nothing more interesting than reading about a foreign place through the innocent eyes of a victim of culture shock. If you'd like to read about my cousin's Indian adventures, you can check it out here. Good luck, Jo!

Closer All the Time

2006-11-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

New addiction number one:Dell Holiday Frenzy. Holy crap, I just can't stop!

New addiction number two: On the weekend I discovered the peppermint mocha at Starbucks. I had one today after lunch and gulped the whole thing down in a very short period of time. After quickly consuming the giant minty, mocha-y monstrosity, my heart started beating at an alarming rate, I got really warm and I was practically bouncing off the walls... it's no wonder I don't do any drugs! Just imagine how I would react, considering what just a little bit of caffeine did to me!

When I was purchasing the Coffee of Surefire and Terrifying Heart Palpitations, I commented to the girl making my beverage that it was unfortunate that the peppermint mocha is only available during the holiday season, considering it's so yummy. "Oh, it's available year-round" she told me, "it's just not advertised. Starbucks always has the mint. You just can't always get the sprinkles on the top." I was so excited when she shared this very interesting piece of information. But I think I'm in trouble... looks like I may be spending a lot more time dangling from the light-fixtures in a caffeine- induced high...

Loveguns

2006-11-17T20:21:00.000-05:00

I'm proud to say that I've had a rather interesting week! Usually, the days pass, I go to work, I go home, whatever. It's good, but it doesn't make for interesting posts!

Anyway, this week I was at the Real Property Institute of Canada workshop from Tuesday to Thursday. I was really lucky because I got to go for free (the three days costs $1200) because I was there volunteering. This consisted of sitting at the registration desk, working powerpoint presentations for speakers and other random tasks. When I wasn't busy, I could sit in on workshops. I also went to all the luncheons and the gala dinner for free! Only problem was, I had to be at the congress centre every morning for 7:00 am, which meant early mornings waking up at 5:30 (gross!)

So I encountered some really intersting people at the conference. At the gala dinner on Wednesday, the keynote speaker was Paul Rosen, a former NHL hopeful. What an amazing man: his leg broke in 14 places during a hockey game and after many surgeries, his leg was amputated. And yet he persevered and ended up playing for Team Canada's paralympic sledge hockey team, who placed first is Torino. He even waved his prosthetic leg in the air! He was truly inspiring, talking about the importance of following your dreams and never giving up. If you'd like to learn more about Rosie you can read his story here.

I also had the opportunity to meet another truly amazing man; Bob Gray. Some people know him as "Backward Bob" and he teaches people how to improve their recall, which helps to remember names, dates, just about anything you want to remember. Anyway, this man has some pretty unique talents: he talks backwards, writes upside down and backwards at the same time, can memorize a 30 digit number and recite it back to you and can name the capital, area and population of every country in the world. And he's an amazing speaker! I highly recommend you check out the videos on his web page . Anyway, I ended up being picked to sit at a little table after his presentation and sell copies of his book on improving rapid recall. Lucky me, he told me to keep a copy for myself and he even signed it for me... backwards, of course!

Not quite related to the conference, I had an interesting run-in with a cabbie. After the gala on Wednesday night, I grabbed a cab to take me home. The driver claimed to have second sight. This was apparently the result of being born in a leather bag (???). He tells me that sometimes in his country, the birthing mother may be placed in a leather bag and therefore he was born from a leather bag and this apparently results in a child with second sight. Sure. Okay, because that makes sense. So anyway, this man (who kept calling me Sweet Nancy) decided to tell me all about myself: I'm shy, I don't always tell people what I'm really feeling because I don't want to hurt their feelings. Well, he got that one right, I mean, how could I tell him that he's a complete nutjob?! And then he told me my future: I'm going to be happy and successful and live in a big house. Could you be any more vague? You know, I have second sight too: I predict he was looking for a big tip...!

Conflicted

2006-11-08T22:20:00.000-05:00

So I've been feeling a little melancholy lately. Nothing serious, though. I recently had to make a somewhat difficult decision. My supervisors at the office asked me if I'd want to extend my time at the office (again) and stay on past January. The last time they asked me that question, the answer was pretty easy, I couldn't say no to my first real job. So I stayed. But this time the answer didn't come so easily to me. After all, in staying, I'm not gaining any new experiences as I did the last time I agreed to stay. But it's such a great job, it's what I want to do as a career and the people here are so great. So when someone comes up and askes you to stay, the temptation to say yes is really strong. But what about the rest of my life, outside of work? My family, my friends, my home, Mike who I love and adore... basically my entire life... what am I supposed to do with that? Well, for sure I can't abandon all of that. Impossible.

So was there some way I could have both? You know it: I want it all! I discussed it with some of the people close to me. What if I stayed and commuted back and forth? That would be assuming I got myself a license rather quickly and I stayed in Ottawa for another 6 months until Mike and I bought our house, and then the commuting (more than 3 hours per day) would begin. Could I really deal with that? And for how long? I thought about buying a house in Hawkesbury, right between Montreal and Ottawa. Would I really want to live there? No way: we don't know anyone there, family and friends would be too far away. No need for a lonely existence far away from all the people that are important to us.

But what if Mike left his job and moved to Ottawa so I could pursue my career in the government? Are you kidding me? How selfish do you think I am? That is honestly one option I never took into consideration. After all, Mike is the one settled in a good job that pays well. Of the two of us, he's the one with the future that is certain and well-grounded. Why would I want to make his future uncertain for my job, that may or may not become permanent? If anyone should be moving, it's me. And no this is not what Mike told me, it's what I told him. Obviously, he agreed.

So in the end I had to decline their offer. It was difficult. And I feel kind of stupid declining such a nice offer but I also feel that the longer I stay in Ottawa the harder it will be to leave (I mean, look at the difficulties I'm experiencing now!) and the more I will be putting off actually settling down somewhere and starting a real career and start saving money and all of that important stuff.

I'm mostly just scared. I'm scared of going out into the real world and having to find a real job. I'm scared I won't find a job. I'm scared that I'll never be as happy as I am at my current job. But fear of the unknown is natural, I know that. But everyone else goes through it, so I can do it to.

I'll tell you one thing though, I'm really looking forward to being among friends and family again.

BOO!!!

2006-10-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

For the longest time I was on the lookout for a pumpkin carving set. Couldn't find one. If I was smart I would have looked at the grocery store but I have tapioca for brains and it never occured to me. Luckily, I have a really nice supervisor at work who found one at Loblaws and bought it for me. Sweet! So now I could give my perfect pumpkin - that Mike and I scoured for during our outing to Quinn's Farm - the proper artistic attention it deserved. Voilà my masterpiece the Kin of Pump!

This entry must be dedicted to Danny... after all I've managed to quote him twice in the short paragraph I wrote. What, do you think I came up with "Kin of Pump" on my own??

Come On Pretty Mama

2006-10-19T17:40:00.000-04:00

Oh did I neglect to mention that Mike and I are going on a cruise... for free?!

Yahoo, Mike's company had such a great year that their sending all of the employees and their significant others on a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas! We'll be leaving January 26th for Orlando, Florida and then sailing with Royal Caribbean Cruiselines from Port Canaveral. Then we'll go to Nassau and Cococay... so much fun!

I've never been on a cruise before, but several people have already told me that once you've been cruising, you'll get hooked. We'll have to see! Anyway, I'm already looking forward to escaping yucky winter for a few days to be waited on hand and foot in the beautiful Bahamas! For free! Oh, and while drinks and excursions are not included in the base offer, Mike's company is giving each person (person - not couple) $150 US to use for drinks, excursions, gifts and gratuities. A free trip and spending money!

A Subtle Reminder

2006-10-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

I went out for lunch last Friday with my usual crew. There's usually four of us, two of which are a couple. Anyway, the girlfriend asks the boyfriend if she can have a piece of his (extremely large) pizza (we were eating at the Prescott, which is famous for its square pizzas). "Sure" he says, and gives her the crummy corner piece that has no toppings on it and barely any cheese. My first thought? "Mike would never do that... he'd make sure to give me a nicer piece."

It's the little things that count, isn't it? Anyway, it's that type of thing that reminds me why Mike is such a wonderful guy and it's good to be reminded every so often.

A Lesson in Vocabulary

2006-09-20T18:58:00.000-04:00

I read this on the side of a bottle of "Clearly Canadian" today:

"Phraseology

Sport: n. Any game played on a frozen surface where a team of players on ice skates uses a bent wooden stick to steer a small polymer disc into their opponents' net. See also hockey, religion."

Hockey's coming, people!

YARRR Matey!!!

2006-09-19T13:20:00.000-04:00

Wish for Better Weather

2006-09-13T16:32:00.000-04:00

Hey; I'm no longer an intern! Now I'm an official public servant. At least, for the next four months or so.

So, a few exciting things coming up! This Saturday is Mike's company's annual golf tournament, which should be a lot of fun. We've been to driving ranges and golf courses for the past several weekends... hopefully all of that practise will pay off on Saturday! If not, there's always the steak dinner after the tournament to look forward to!

As for next weekend, I'm currently trying to decide whether or not I should go on a camping trip with some of my old buddies from school. I haven't seen them in a long time, and it would be fun to get together again for a weekend. So that could be awesome. There are issues though: it's at Lake Champlain and for someone without a license, let alone a car, it will be difficult to find transportation (oh yeah, and not to mention I'm in OTTAWA and not Montreal, like everyone else). Also, there's the issue of going two weeks without seeing any family or friends... but I think I can deal with that one. I think I'm getting rather used to being, for the most part, a loser loner!

Speaking of being a loser, I was forced into taking last Friday off, because I was required to have a one day break in service between the end of my internship and the beginning of my contract position. So what did I do on my off? Well, I stopped by the office, of course! And went out for lunch with some of my coworkers (we always go out on Fridays and have an extended lunch). I have to take every opportunity I can to interact with people!

And I Don't Feel the Same

2006-09-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

Holy crap, where did summer go?! It's really hard to believe that had I not been hired for a casual position, I would be coming home for good this weekend. And that is just the weirdest thought, because I feel so established here and I really can't see myself leaving at this point. Strange, that. Especially considering I miss everyone back home so much!

Anyway, somehow September has happened. Go figure. The last two weeks at the office were pretty quiet, what with most of everybody being on vacation and the rest having finished their summer terms and gone back to school or new jobs. Maybe I should take this opportunity to wish the very best to Ryan and Scott, two great guys who have both left the office in the past couple of weeks:

Good luck guys!

Well, I left my place this morning, and once again (and I thought this crap was all over) Ottawa threw me for a loop. All of sudden, the traffic on Ottawa's streets have doubled and it's impossible for me to cross the road to get to my bus stop. Then, since high school started today, the bus was jam-packed with teenagers. Pleasant. And then, my transfer bus that takes me to the office suddenly ceased to exist. So I walked the rest of the way to the office. So today I lay to rest the 99 bus route and tomorrow I'll say hello to the 101 and the 102. Whatever. As long as the new routes get me to the office on time. Unlike today where I actually had to walk/jog up the hill on Carling while the wind continuously whipped my skirt up around my waist. Aren't days like today supposed to be called Monday??

Eye to the Telescope

2006-08-18T19:48:00.000-04:00

It's theme song time! I haven't had a theme song in a while; this one's my new obsession

Miniature Disasters*

I don't want to be second best

Don't want to stand in line

Don't want to fall behind

Don't want to get caught out

Don't want to do without

And the lesson I must learn

Is that I've got to wait my turn

Looks like I got to be hot and cold

I got to be taught and told

Got to be good as gold

But perfectly honestly

I think it would be good for me

Cuz it's a hindrance to my health

If I'm a stranger to myself

Miniature disasters and minor catastrophes

Bring me to my knees

Well I must be my own master

Or a miniature disaster will be

It will be the death of me

I don't have to raise my voice

Don't have to be underhand

Just got to understand

That it's gonna be up and down

It's gonna be lost and found

And I can't take to the sky

Before I like it on the ground

And I need to patient

And I need to be brave

Need to discover how I

Need to behave

And I'll find out the answers

When I know what to ask

But I speak a different language

And everybody's talking too fast

Well I must be my own master

I've got to run a little faster

I'll need to know I'll last if a little

Miniature disaster hits me

It could be the death of me

*Written and performed by KT Tunstall

Stinky's Conclusion

2006-08-15T18:06:00.000-04:00

Hey, I never mentioned what happened to Stinky and posse, did I? Well, it seems they've left their den underneath our shed. My mom had been told that she should throw ammonia-soaked rags into the hole but she was too afraid to approach it so she came up with what I have to say was an ingenious little plan: she grabbed my dad's drill, went into the shed and drilled several holes in the floor right above the skunks' den. Then she stuck some tampons down the holes and stapled the strings to the floor of the shed so that the tampons would dangle from the ceiling of the den. Then she poured ammonia down the holes so that the tampons would soak it up and make the skunks den all stinky! Well, the skunks were gone within a week. Ironically, it seems they don't like bad smells!

It's a Hindrance to My Health if I'm a Stranger to Myself

2006-08-14T22:00:00.000-04:00

It's so funny how sometimes things just seem to fall in to place, even though I know it's not necessarily what happened. I've just been rereading some of my past entries, going back to May when I first moved to Ottawa. It's fun to look back and remember what it was like to move to a strange city, not knowing anyone, not knowing how to get around, not knowing anything! But now, over three months later, I can finally say that I'm really happy. I enjoy my job, the people here are awesome, even my landlord and landlady ("landpeople"??) are really nice (they invite me up for a glass of wine every once in a while!) It's nice to sit back and look at my situation and say "Yep, I've got it good"! Because we all know things change, so we have to hold on to what we've got! I spent a good month in this basement apartment feeling lonely and missing my home. Although I still miss being home with everyone (and missing out on outings and events) I'm dealing with it much better than I used to. And that's a good thing, because I recently agreed to extend my stay in Ottawa. In fact, my time here will double.

Once my internship officially finishes (September 8th) I will be starting a casual position, which is a 90 (working) day term, which will come to roughly 4 - 4 1/2 months. So not only am I guaranteed work for another 4 months, but it will be a real position, rather than an internship, which will look pretty good on my resumé. The more experience I can get while I'm here, the better. Anyway, I should be getting an letter of offer within the next week. Then it will be official!

Chaotic

2006-08-08T18:18:00.000-04:00

Okay, I've just encountered one interesting video... starring Britney Spears. Now, I know everyone loves to hate Britney Spears and this video will simply give you another reason... I don't really know whether I hope she's on drugs in this clip or not, but the sheer stupidity she displayes is utterly shocking...

Stinky and Family

2006-07-31T21:22:00.000-04:00

I went home to Montreal this weekend only to discover that we have new neighbours... 6 new neighbours! They're usually around at night, but they like to socialize for a couple of hours in the early afternoon. I was lucky enough to get a photo of one of my new neighbours:

Isn't he cute?? And there are six of them! It's really something to see them all together. And they're always together because five of them are just babies. It seems they've taken up residence underneath the shed in our back yard. They're cute to look at, but potentially a problem! Yesterday, my mom went and warned all of the real neighbours about the skunks: an especially good idea since there are many dogs and young children in the neighbourhood... you know, those types that don't know they're supposed to actually stay away from skunks! Anyway, now my parents are looking for a way to get rid of them...

Just Checkin' In

2006-07-21T19:22:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted, so I thought I'd just stop in and say "hello!" Not much has been happening lately, so there hasn't been all that much reason to write.

It was my birthday though, that's noteworthy. It just seems that the older I get, the more anticlimactic my birthday seems. Remember when you were young and your birthday was so special? Now it just seems to feel like any other day, excpet you get gifts. And that's exactly what it is, isn't it? Ha ha, now I sound ungracious! Actually, the celebrating part of my birthday was fun; a bunch of us went out for a really nice dinner last Saturday to PortoVino and everyone positively spoiled me! On Sunday, I had lunch with my family and Mike and I was spoiled once again! The only thing is, my birthday was actually on Monday, so all of the celebrating was preemptive. For the Monday, I had arranged to meet all of the people I know in Ottawa (all four of them) at a bar, because I knew I wouldn't feel like sitting in The Basement all alone. As luck would have it, it got cancelled and I ended up spending the evening in The Basement, despite my efforts. Heh, no wonder my birthday felt like just any other day... because it was! Actually, my supervisor at work took me out for lunch, which was nice. While it was kind of a pain that the air conditing wasn't working in the restaurant (and if you remember Monday it was 43 degrees that day), it ended up working out because the waitress took off $4.00 from everyone's bill; she felt bad for us!

Oh yeah, I'm a quater of a century old now... that sounds so old!

What I Love About Ottawa

2006-07-11T22:11:00.000-04:00

Sewers that look like fish!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Oh, and here's a picture of my office building:

Not what you were expecting, is it??

To the Disco!!!

2006-07-04T18:12:00.000-04:00

Okay, now to describe the Big Day…

Christine and Martin’s wedding was scheduled for 2:00 pm. I swear, that day was the hottest day of the entire week. We stood there at the wedding gazebo, sweat running down our backs, waiting for the bride and groom to appear. They appeared separately in a white horse-drawn carriage. The ceremony itself was very short, not even ten minutes. There was live music and champagne after the ceremony, and lots of photo ops! Afterwards, everyone made a beeline for the pool. We swam away the afternoon and then got ready for the reception. Dinner was at the International restaurant. While the set-up and the food was very nice, the only unfortunate part was that we had to share the restaurant with another wedding party. I think everyone was proud that we were the more rowdy party, making much more noise and therefore having much more fun! At one point, the DJ began to play “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Aerosmith, which turned out to be the other couple’s song. We all began to sing along until the bridesmaids from the other reception started to give us throat-cutting gestures. Apparently, our singing was not welcome. Later on, the toasts came. While Steven made a really nice toast to his sister, there were some other speeches that were not quite so moving… Anyway, after dinner we all assembled at the snack bar, where we had a DJ for 2 hours. At this point, a bunch of people proceeded to throw Martin into the pool. Those who didn’t remained behind to sip on mimosas, our drink of choice for celebrating!

The next day, Martin’s sister had somehow gotten a hold of some mint from some guy, somewhere. Apparently, it’s difficult to get real mint and she referred to it as “black-market mint”. Seems all of our supplies were illicit (which reminds me I didn’t describe the part where the boys bought cigars – that’ll be next!). Anyway, I was very excited, because then I would finally be able to try a mojito! The bartenders were happy to make us a bunch of mojitos using the mint we provided. And it was worth it, what a tasty refreshing drink!

Okay, so I forgot to talk about the market. I think we went on Tuesday. Anyway, we went to reception so that they would call us a cab (or three – we were 10 people). We waited an hour before anyone showed up. By this time, we were in the process of making arrangements with the calèche driver who would take 2 trips to get us all to the market. Anyway, we finally made it to the market, only to discover it was rather dumpy and small. But whatever, that’s all part of the adventure, isn’t it? Despite the disappointing market, I found it exciting enough to simply walk and shop among real locals. Including the homeless bum with the horrible teeth who would talk at you until you gave him some money. He was really good at it and eventually persuaded Mike to give him his spare change. Upon receiving the money he blessed him, his wife and his children! There were also two young guys that immediately pegged us as tourists (how could you not?!) and asked Dave and Mike if they wanted to buy cigars. When the guys said yes, the young Cuban guys told them to follow. I decided to go with the guys because I was already bored with the market. When the Cuban guys walked out of the market area, I realized that we hadn’t told the others where we were going. But I figured we weren’t going far. Boy, was I wrong! We walked for about ten minutes along a highway. I told Mike I wanted to turn back but he advised me not to. “What’s the worst that could happen?” I asked. “Pretty bad” he answered. So I continued on. Eventually, Dave and Mike were starting to get annoyed, having no idea where these other guys were taking us. They finally said that they didn’t want to go any further and forced one of the Cuban kids to go to his house and come back with the cigars. There was some back-and-forthing because the kids were afraid of carrying them around because they could get caught by the police. Anyway, Dave and Mike finally won out and we rested under a tree with the other guy and a rather skinny horse. Cuban kid #1 eventually came back with several boxes of cigars. The wheeling and dealing started and the Cuban kids wanted souvenirs, namely Dave’s watch. No go! Anyway, the guys managed to knock 10 pesos off of the original asking price, which was a pretty good deal. Once that was done, we walked through the heat back to the market, the guys’ pockets stuffed with illegal merchandise.

Hmm, I think that about sums up our Cuban adventures... I'll have to ponder a while and see if I forgot anything.

Ttuna and the Avoidance of Pancake Magee

2006-06-29T21:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I think it's about time I put a post up! I can't believe it's already been almost a week since we got back from Cuba! Anyway, it was a great time and a lot of fun!

Usually when I go on a trip I keep a journal but this time I didn't and I'm so mad at myself for being so lazy! It always seemed like there was something going on and I "didn't have the time". Or so I told myself. But how do you not have the time when you spend an entire week lounging around by the pool or on the beach? Yup, I was just lazy. So now I suppose I'll just have to try and describe my experiences as they currently exist in my memory before they fade away completely. I don't imagine I'll get everything down in one sitting, but let's see how far I can get this evening.

So the trip started out interestingly enough: Most of the close family associated with the wedding (ie. the bride, her parents and brother) met us at the resort's reception as soon as we got there. We rushed off to the dining room as soon as we checked in as we were all starving. That was when we met the cats. They're these atrociously skinny little beasts with protruding eyeballs that sit by your table meowing, begging for food. Naive as I was, I held out a piece of tuna to one particularly pathetic little animal. It swiped at me, leaving me with a cut on my thumb which would subsequently sting every time I went into the salty ocean (that went really nicely with the blisters I would get on my feet from the too-small shoes I wore to the wedding). Anyway, several drinks later I (naturally) felt some pressure on my bladder so we went in search of a washroom. Faced with a door with an 'S' and another with a 'C', I had no idea which one was the women's washroom. So I ended up in the 'C' room ("It stands for 'Chiquita'!" I was told). Upon entering I noticed a wall of urinals but at that point I had consumed just enough alcoholic beverages to not care! After that, I have a vague recollection of wandering around the resort, a group of us, looking for the pool. It was only the next day that we realized we had walked right by the pool without even seeing it. But we did find it eventually and enjoyed our evening swim by jumping off of the waterfall into the lower level of the pool, despite the extremely low water level...

The next day we found the beach... gorgeous white sand, tuquoise water, very picturesque. Unfortunately, large chunks of the shoreline were rocky so we had to walk further down the beach for the prime swimming areas. Not the end of the world! Anyway, we quickly settled into a deaily routine of swimming in the ocean, tanning on the beach and then going to the pool to rinse off the salt water and cool off.

On Monday we went to the Japanese a la carte restaurant for dinner, where we met out wonderful "Japanese" cook, Juan Carlos. At the Japanese restaurant your food is cooked right in front of you. And Juan Carlos would throw his cooking implements into the air and catch them again, sometimes behind his back. What a show! On Monday night we all ended up in Danny's room. That worked out fine since that was the one night it poured rain. While sitting out on the balcony, (we think) some kind of freaky bug bit Martin's foot, causing it to swell enormously in the next few days and turn a scary shade of dark menacing purple.

Tuesday was the day before the wedding. As such, Christine, the bride, would require a bachelorette party. We arranged for all of the girls to meet up at 9:30 pm. Kim immediately decided to take on the responsibility of organizing something for the party, and it's a good thing she did because it turned out to be quite the memorable evening! Kim's first requirement was to dress Christine up in a toilet paper wedding dress (with trails of beer cans dangling from her wrists to clatter along the ground). From there, we would have her do all sorts of embarrassing tasks around the resort while wearing her TP dress. So, we met up at 9:00 pm to formulate a list. Among other things, Christine ended up doing a crab-walk across the lobby, 15 people kissed a smiley-face beach ball with "Martin" written across its forehead in pen, she got a kiss from a stranger, she got another man to buy her a drink, she ran out in front of a group of dancers posing for pictures in front of an audience and she sang "Relax" in karaoke despite not really knowing the song. And never again will we sing that song, now that we know just how dirty it actually is! While in the karaoke bar, there was a very friendly man from Scotland there with his wife. He got very excited and gave Christine kisses and stuffed a convertible peso down the front of her shirt. Funny how some people can pull off such a stunt. From anybody else that would have been utterly creepy and disgusting but somehow from this man, it just seemed funny and nothing else! What's also funny is that the Scottish couple ended up having reservations at the same retaurant and the same time that we would be there for the reception so Christine was able to go and say hi to them the next evening.

Hmm, I think that's enough for tonight! I'll pick up with the wedding itself next time!

Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola, Mojito!

2006-06-17T10:59:00.000-04:00

Here I am back at home in the good old West-Island... but not for long!

In half an hour we'll be going to pick up Mike and Danny.
In 1 hour we'll be checking in at the airport.
In 4 1/2 hours we'll be getting on the plane.
In 8 hours we'll be in Cuba!

See you in a week!!!

Never Stopping With Her Head Against the Wind

2006-06-13T21:14:00.000-04:00

It's official: I am terribly out of shape! But that's alright, it won't be that way for much longer!

I've been feeling pretty listless lately, falling into the bad habit of coming home from work, making dinner, and plopping down in front of the TV. I've finally smartened up (and gotten really bored) and joined a gym. I went for the first time this evening and attended a hip-hop type aerobics class. It was a lot of fun, and it wiped me out. I can't believe I used to do this three days a week (and 5 days during the summer)! Although I'm now exhausted, oddly enough I also feel pretty revved up, if that's at all possible! All in all, the activity has made me feel really good!

On a completely different note, imagine my surprise today when I ran into someone I know from school! I only realized it afterwards that that's another thing I miss about home: I miss running into people on the streets, or the bus or metro, or whatever. It's kinda lonely always being by yourself and knowing no one is going to randomly appear to have a quick chat with. So you can imagine my delight and surprise when I had such an encounter today! Anyway, there are three of us from the DEIA program that are working in Ottawa this summer. Now that we've touched bases, hopefully we'll all be able to hang out once in while... I can see it now... Nancy regains some semblance of a social life... WOO HOO!!!

Just When You Think You've Got It All Figured Out...

2006-06-11T22:34:00.000-04:00

At first the whole deal with knowing nothing about the city I moved to was fun, because I was constantly making new discoveries, exploring places, etc., etc. It was grand! But now, honestly, I'm getting quite tired of getting lost, getting mixed up, not knowing exactly what's going on. Seems we take a lot of things for granted when we're too comfortable and familiar with things. Like garbage. And recycling...

I was so proud of myself when I managed to figure out Ottawa's recycling program. You see, garabage and recycling day is Friday, so I'd always leave my little bag of garbage at the corner of the driveway and my landlord would take my recyclables, for some reason I haven't figured out. But two weeks ago, he wasn't in sight so I dropped them myself into the black plastic bin at the end of the driveway. I came back from work that afternoon to find most of my recycleables looking quite sad and rejected, sitting at the corner of the driveway. Mortified, I ran my juice jug and three metal cans back into my apartment. What had I done wrong, why were MY things rejected when everything else was taken? Anyway, I checked it out on the internet to discover that black bins are for cardboard and paper, and blue bins are for glass and plastic. Ah-ha! So let me tell you, I was so proud to prepare my recycleables on Friday, and put them into the right boxes and do it properly! So there I was, marching down the driveway, arms brimming with a bag of garbage, squashed cardboard boxes and de-labelled jugs and cans, when I made a horrible discovery: not one house on the entire street had any garbage out. I went back into the house where the landlords were eating breakfast. "I'm confused!" I said to them, "Is today garbage day?" A cardboard box fell from underneath my arm where it had been pinned to my side. "Oh, we got a notice, garbage day was switched to Wednesday!" One said said to me, and added sheepishly; "I guess we should have told you!"

Anyway, I've just returned to Ottawa from a nice weekend back home in Montreal. I know I've spoken of my misadventures with the city buses before and once again, I had to take a cab home. This time, it was because the first bus had to take a detour because of construction. So I missed the connecting bus that comes only once an hour.

Oh yeah, and on Saturdaymy mom and I went shopping together and I bought myself a really nice vase to put up on my brand new shelves in my place. About 20 minutes later, while still in the mall, I dropped it on the tiled floor and it shattered into a gazillion pieces. Of course, the store didn't have another one like it, but my mom, angel that she is, bought me a similar one to replace it. It's not the same, but I still like the replacement.

I'm hoping this week will be a better week!

An Olfactory Extravaganza!

2006-06-02T18:06:00.000-04:00

Today my office smells like farts. It’s really quite unpleasant. There’s some construction work going on behind our building and I suspect the odour is coming from there. Anyway, I’m not about to close my window because then it would be too hot.

My nose was assaulted yesterday as well when my landlord decided to mow the lawn. Living in the basement, my one window is at ground level, so when he passed by with the lawn mower, the stench of gasoline instantly filled my entire place!

Speaking of smells, I can’t believe the debate that is going on now in Ottawa. Apparently, some people are trying to form a campaign to ban perfume and scented deodorant! I mean, come ON, aren’t there more important issues to consider than the way people smell? Honestly, I’m much more bothered by the people who don’t wear deodorant and perfume and reek of BO. Now that’s what ought to be banned! I just can’t believe that there’s a group out there that’s trying to take away my right to smell nice! Sure not everyone is going to like my perfume as much as I do, but I don’t bathe in it so it can’t be offensive. Hmm, maybe I will bathe in perfume in protest of this stupid movement.

They’re saying that “sensitive people” and asthmatics can’t cope with the wafting smells. Well you know what? Some people can’t cope with peanuts and they’re not banned. In fact, peanut allergies are often deadly. “Perfume allergies” are not. Sorry folks.

So while we’re banning perfume, I would also like to ban farts and lawn mowers. Because they smell bad, too.

I've Heard It All Before

2006-06-01T20:24:00.000-04:00

Interesting things I saw today:

A man wandering up and down the street in front of my office yelling "F**k the french! F**k the french everywhere!"
Two seeing eye dogs on the bus at the same time. What are the chances?
Two old men in wheelchairs having drinks on the side of the road.

And lastly: Today I noticed a little handicapped/wheelchair symbol underneath the validation area for putting comments on my blog. Apparently, you can have the sequnce of letters read to you aloud and you type them in as they are orated. What is that for?? Is it for blind people? Because I'd really like to know how many blind people are reading my blog!

Travelling Without Moving

2006-05-31T17:38:00.000-04:00

I guess it’s been a while since I’ve been able to devote myself to just sitting down and taking the time to blog. I suppose you could amount it to a combination of laziness and housework. Not only do I work all day, but I arrive back to my Basement at the end of the day and then make dinner. After that’s all done, usually, all I want to do is be lazy and do nothing!

Anyway, I gave myself a kick in the butt to get some stuff written.

First off: today is the first day of the smoking ban! Although many people have criticized the new law, I’m very excited by it… no longer will I avoid going to bars because of the smoky air. Now even I can enjoy going out once in a while! Now all I need is someone to go to a bar with…! That shouldn’t be too hard. Mike is coming to visit this weekend and I’m sure he won’t object to having a pint at the local “Monkey Joe’s”. The only reason I want to go to this bar is because of its name… kind of reminiscent of “Shoeless Joe’s”, isn’t it?

One thing I’ve been meaning to talk about is the transportation systems around Ottawa. Since my arrival in Ottawa, I’ve experienced buses, taxis and the occasional trip in a car. Each of these has been an experience (or two). First of all, I have to say I’m really glad that the right on red rule was never implemented in Montreal. By my experience, this rule is a real pain in urban centers. With people always turning right, the intersections are always blocked and during rush hour, you may have to wait three or four light cycles before you can pass through the intersection.

The buses can be totally unpredictable… don’t be fooled by the sheer volume of city buses you see passing all the time! The one you are waiting for is not there! And just because it took one route to get you to a destination, doesn’t mean it will take that same route to take you back. There have been a couple cases where I had to wander around for a while before I found the bus that would take me back to the suburbs… hw was I supposed to know that the #3 heads downtown on Queen and returns on Albert?! Well, taking the city bus at rush hours is usually a pretty safe bet. There are lots of buses. But if you want to grab a bus after 9:00 pm, chances are you’ll be waiting an hour between buses. And when you don’t know your way around very well, it’s hard to know what your other options are. I have yet to complete a successful city bus trip from the Greyhound bus station. The first time I arrived back in Ottawa, I discovered that the bus I wanted to take didn’t run after 6:30 pm on Sundays. The second time, I had figured out an alternate route but I missed my transfer bus by about 20 seconds. The next one did not come for another hour. Anyway, both times I ended up taking a cab home.

Speaking of cabs, I can’t figure them out, either. In Montreal, it’s so easy to see whether a cab is available or not. Just look at the sign on it. If it’s lit, it’s available. If it’s dark, it’s taken. In Ottawa, the lights are off during the day, and on at night. So if you see a cab coming, you won’t know if it’s available or not until it passes you and you’ve been able to look into the back seat and see if someone’s sitting there or not. Of course by that time, the taxi’s gone past and you’ve missed your ride. For catching a cab, your best bet is to find a location where the cabs line up, waiting for passengers to come to them. And good luck doing that when you don’t know exactly where you are! Oh yeah, and there was one cabbie that wanted to buy me coffee!

So: my evaluation of public transportation in Ottawa: treacherous!

It Cancels Out My Misery

2006-05-18T20:08:00.000-04:00

Had a meeting with my boss today. She tells me that so far I've been doing very well and she likes the work I do. Hurray! While work is going well, I just wish everything else was going as smoothly! Pay day was on Wednesday and unfortunately, it seems as though I have not been added to payroll yet so... no cheque for me. This becomes problematic as I have about $70 to my name right now. This has to last me until May 31st. Theoretically, I'll get my first cheque on the 31st. Of course, it takes three days for a cheque to clear so that means I will not have the funds to pay rent and get a bus pass for June on the 1st. I also have to buy groceries and buy a bus ticket to Montreal for next weekend. I don't think my $70 will get me very far... Luckily, I'm surrounded by people who care about me and are willing to lend me (more) money. I just hate having to borrow money, I feel like so a mooch! I just have to keep reminding myself that this period of serious monetary shortage is only temporary, as long as it may seem.

On top of my current money problems, it seems as though everything around me is breaking! What a time for everything to break! Anyway, yesterday a drawer in my kitchen broke and now it is out of commission. Next, I noticed that my alarm clock was being retarded: it seems to take one second for every minute to pass! So it looks more like a microwave timer than a clock. No matter, it still seems to be keeping time. Although the display is going 60 times faster than it should, the alarm still somehow went off at 7:00 this morning. Oh yeah, and maybe I should mention here that I'm not STUPID I tried the unplug and replug technique... that simply set the high-speed counting back to zero!

What else? My computer at work wasn't working properly this morning (I couldn't get on the internet) and the headphones for my MP3 player decided to start making annoying scratchy sounds. All that to say, some day when I have some money, I will be able to fix up all of my stuff that broke just yesterday!

Why does all of this stuff have to happen at the same time?!

I remain cheerful... my boss says I'm doing well!

She Had Things to Do, I do Too

2006-05-13T15:22:00.000-04:00

Week one of my Ontario existence has passed... and I have to say, it was a pretty good one! I've finally gotten to know some of the people around the office, which is a huge plus. We bonded over "frisbee golf"... Essentially, when working in an office (actually, a large heritage home - my office is in the attic!) surrounded by fields and green space, you have to take advantage of it! One guy in the office plays competitive ultimate frisbee and he taught us how to play frisbee golf, which is just like regular golf except your trying to hit a taget with a frisbee rather than shooting a little ball into a hole. So one person picks a target and decides on a par. And you go from there. Anyway, we played twice this week and it's been a lot of fun! However my right arm is quite sore now from launching frisbees!

This week has also been pretty funny for encountering people I haven't seen or heard from in a long time. You would never belive my astonishment when I found a comment from Erica on my last post. What a surprise! Erica and I were very close friends in high school and we fell out of touch a long time ago, some time during the Michael and Melissa era. Hoo boy, that was a while ago! Anyway, it was really exciting to hear from her! Hey Erica, if you're still reading, I'd love to hear what you've been up to!

The funny thing about Erica's writing to me is that apparently my blog was linked to some alumni newsletter from our high school. Now how did that happen?! I'd really love to know who found me and stuck me in a newsletter. Wow, the wonder of the internet will never cease to amaze me!

Continuing on with meeting up with people, I was also very surprised to encounter an old friend from right around the time Erica and I fell out of touch. I ran into this old buddy (who is a friend of an ex-boyfriend's) yesterday at the Greyhound bus station in Ottawa. Anyway, it turned out we were taking the same bus so we kept each other company on the ride back to Montreal.

Oh, did I not mention that I'm in Montreal right now? Surprise! I have to go back to Ottawa Sunday evening, though. But for the time being, it' s great to be back around the people I care about!

An Ottawa Citizen

2006-05-08T19:07:00.000-04:00

Well, here I am in Ottawa!

My parents and Mike helped me move yesterday... that was a pretty adventurous day... I dare you to try and find an iron in a city you don't know! Anyway, everyone was incredibely helpful in helping me get installed and with my initial grocery shopping. When everyone left, I have to admit, I felt pretty sad. And when I was chatting with my brother on Messenger, I shed a few tears. I feel kind of isolated here, where I don't know anyone and there's no chnace of anyone coming home or wanting to stop by. I'm just not used to being all by myself. It'll just take some getting used to. I'm already feeling better about my situation and I've begun to realize how many chores you have to do when you're all alone! So I've been keeping busy in my tiny little home away from home. Speaking of which:

This is my kitchen! And if you walk through the little doorway there on the left:

You get to my bedroom!

Yeah the chairs are hideous! And my next project is to get something up on those boring white walls! It's a work in progress...

So anyway, today was also my first day of work. Fairly uneventful; I did a lot of reading. My boss is really nice though and I think I'll enjoy working with her. Check it out, this is my title: "Environmental Assessment Officer". I'm an officer! Anyway, I got a tour of the office and I was introduced to everyone, but I spent the whole day in the office I share with my boss so I didn't really get to know anyone. Maybe tomorrow!

Move It on Over

2006-05-01T17:21:00.000-04:00

Yesterday made for a fun little road-trip! I consider myself very lucky that it was so easy for me to find a place to live in Ottawa for the summer. So, next weekend I'll be relocating to my (tiny) new basement apartment for the summer. It's in a private home just south of downtown Ottawa and it's great because it's self-contained: it has a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom and laundry and internet is included in the rent, so it's perfect! Not much room for entertaining, though! Oh well! Anyway, I made a down-payment on the place yesterday and I already have my keys so I'll be ready to move in on the weekend.

And today was my last day of work at the Geography department. I'll be honest and say that it was pretty anti-climactic, even when it was time to go home. My boss patted me on the shoulder and said "Well, thanks for everything and good luck in Ottawa" and then that was it. And my other co-worker who's been saying for a while that she's going to miss me so much once I'm gone just kind of smiled and left with my boss. On one hand I'm kind of disappointed that it was so abrupt and almost thoughtless, but on the other hand, goodbyes are difficult and sad and nobody really likes to deal with them, so I was spared the emotional stuff. It's almost as if I'll be back again tomorrow...

Anyway, I'm still at school simply because I don't think properly when I get excited: I went to "Urban Outfitters" today to buy some moving-out stuff. My main purchase was a small mattress that you can roll up. That's for when anyone wants to stay overnight at my little place. Rolled up, it's still a rather large bundle and I didn't really think about the part where I have to bring it home on the bus... during rush-hour. I know for a fact that if I bring that thing on a crowded bus, I will be hated by everyone on that bus for the entire 40-minute ride home. So I'm just sitting here killing as much time as I can before I dare hop on a bus with my mattress! I just have to get home fairly soon because mom's taking me to Ikea to buy me a small desk that will fit in my new place: that way my computer will have a spot to stay!

Yup, I think everything's coming together...

Drumroll Please...

2006-04-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

It's official, I'm moving to Ottawa for the summer!

I've actually known since Thursday afternoon, but I'm only getting around to posting now, sorry! I actually received an e-mail on Thursday afternoon saying that they wanted to let me know as soon as possible that they wanted to hire me and that they were in the process of working with human resources to make me an official offer of employment!

So for the rest of Thursday and all of Friday I worked madly to finish my two last projects for school (yay, now I'm officially done!) and told my boss at the Geography department about my new job. "When does my job here end?" I asked her, "Whenever you want" she answered (sweet!). So she told me I should take this coming Friday off so I can "gather my thoughts" before I move, because I'll probably have to move next weekend. So my last day at the Geography department will be on Monday. So sad...

So yeah, moving next weekend, I know that's really fast! On Friday when I got home from work I started making some phone calls for rooms to rent. So far I've set up three appointments and Mike and I will be driving over to Ottawa on Sunday to check them out.

Phew! It's been a busy couple of days! My task next week will be to go shopping and buy some appropriate office clothing and shoes. I'm not complaining, I'm going shopping!

Carousels Make Laps Each Night

2006-04-27T14:36:00.000-04:00

I'm done my interview! I think it went pretty well. Seems to me the interview was backwards, though. But how should I know, I haven't had to do an interview in years! It was backwards because they started out by describing the position and then asking me what questions I had. Don't they ususally do that at the end? Well anyway, I asked several questions, and they told me I had good questions, so that's nice! After that, they just asked questions about my CV. And 20 minutes later, it was done. They told me that they'd get back to me by Monday afternoon.

On another note, I'm also incredibely relieved because I got my mark for my class that caused me so much stress and grief this past semester. I got an A! So it was worth it, and it was not all for nothing! It was great because I found out my mark just before my interview, so it gave me that extra little boost of confidence!

And now I sit back and wait...

Try This Trick and Spin It

2006-04-27T11:26:00.000-04:00

Alrighty, my interview is this afternoon. Must remain confident! I'm as ready as I'll ever be, so I guess I'm good to go!

Here's something slightly disturbing: the funeral home in Longeuil that I (we) went to last week was on the news last night. Apparently, last July, someone broke in and decapitated a cadaver and stole the head. That's awful! Why would someone do something like that?! Anyway, the investigation is still going on and last night they announced a $10,000 reward for anyone providing information on the location of this poor woman's head. The family is understandably pretty upset.

Another interesting thing about the news: the weather guy went to my highschool! That was on Global News at 11:00 pm. I'd never seen him there before because I ususally watch the news on CTV because Raymond Filion from Global bothers me; he talks like an actor in a soap opera. But now that I've seen Anthony Farnell doing the weather, I'm torn! Global or CTV? CTV or Global?

HUGE!!!

2006-04-24T18:11:00.000-04:00

The moment I've been waiting so long for has arrived! I've finally gotten a job interview for a possible internship!

It'll be on Thursday afternoon... Wish me luck!

I Choose to Celebrate the First

2006-04-24T09:44:00.001-04:00

OK. So. It's been a busy few days! Let's recount, shall we?

Friday was good fun, even work was fun! On Friday afternoon I had the opportunity to go and see the greenhouses on the 13th floor of the Hall building. They're currently being remodelled. At the moment, the woman who runs the greenhouses is growing all kinds of vegetables up there, including summer squash and cherry tomatoes! The intention is to eventually provide fresh vegetables to the People's Potato (you know, the service at Concordia that provides free vegan food to students), so that's pretty cool! Anyway, she's also growing some strawberry spinach and she told me that when the plants get big enough she'll give me a sprout! Yay, my very own strawberry spinach plant! It seems that this plant is like a spinach plant, but it also grows a fruit that looks like a raspberry but apparently tastes like a strawberry. Go figure! But it sounds neat! Anyway, this stuff can't be given to the People's Potato because it's not organic. Obviously there's been some genetic engineering involved! But what's the big deal with organic food anyway? I mean, spinach = good. Stawberries = good. Therefore, spinach + strawberries = all of the vitamins and minerals I could possibly ever need in one single plant where there is no waste because you can eat the whole thing. Cool!

Next: Friday night was the baby shower for the two ladies I go to school with. They're both expecting little girls at the end of June. It's so exciting! Anyway, the shower was a really good time. Who thought "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" could be so much fun?!

Saturday was less fun. Went to a wake and then a funeral. No one close to me, though, so I'm fine. It was a weird sort of funeral though: there were a bunch of people in jeans and leather jackets. Oh, and they were drinking in the parking lot. Weird. Tacky. And there funeral service itself seemed more like a classroom lecture, where the priest asked people to read from the Bible and asked questions where people would subsequently shout out answers. Strange. But interactive, I suppose.

Saturday evening was Mike's buddy Derek's going-away party. He's moving to Norway for the next 15 months for work. So how did we celebrate? Lots of BBQed hamburgers, fries... and NHL Playoffs! The highlight of the game was when the Habs got a goal (don't remember which one, there were so many!) and Koivu, in his excitement, crashed into a 'Cane and went flying through the air, ha ha! Anyway, that was a good game, let's hope they can keep it up! Especially Huet, because he was awesome!

How I Got Revenge!

2006-04-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

I realize its a bit late, but I have to talk about Mike's birthday. As I had hinted a while back, I had something up my sleeve... and hooooo boy did I have a good time!

As a way to make him work for his birthday gifts, I organized a treasure hunt, where each clue would lead him to a gift and another clue. The catch was that the locations were pretty spread out... he was forced to drive to his best friends house, his brother's house, a car rental agency and his own house. Of course, I was nice enough to get him Esso gift certificates so he wouldn't have to pay for all of the wasted gas while driving around.

Anyway, it was a successful venture! I was a little nervous about it because there was one part where someone from my family had to steal his car keys to put a gift in the trunk of Mike's car while he was looking for a gift in my basement. But it worked! Anyway, I had fun!

Anyway, thanks to the following people for their help and cooperation!: Dan, Dave, Kim, Danny and Joe!

You Fool... You STUPID FOOL!

2006-04-17T12:18:00.000-04:00

So here I am sitting in the computer lab at school. It's really quite strange being here on a holiday. On days like today the buidling locked up excpet for one door that leads you straight to the security desk. Once you get there you have to show your ID card and sign in (and then sign out when you leave). Only faculty and grad students are allowed in on days like today. So anyway, I just went down to the 7th floor cafeteria to heat up my lunch in the microwave. It was really weird to wander around the cafeteria in the middle of the day when it was completely abandoned. How disconcerting! Never before had I thought I would manage to roam an empty Hall building; I'm just so used to it being absolutely bursting with people and noise!

It felt like a scene straight out of a movie! That movie being The Langoliers of course! The Langoliers is based on my very favourite Stephen King novel(la). It's about a group of people who go through a time rip while on an airplane and find themselves stuck 15 minutes in the past. However, this is not your normal, everyday time travel. What happens here is that they end up in a world that is 15 minutes past due and everything has moved on. This world they end up in is completely abandoned; there are no people, sounds don't travel properly, scents disppear, matches don't light and soda doesn't even fizz. Not only is this world boring, but it is the job of the Langoliers to clean up (or eat up) all of the expired worlds. So naturally, these people have to escape this expired world before the Langoliers destroy it, and them. And inevitably there is the guy that goes crazy and tries to kill everyone.

Anyway; great book. Very different. All in all, being in the empty cafeteria today reminded me of that story. And I have a vivid imagination.

School's Out Forever... I Hope!

2006-04-12T09:51:00.000-04:00

School's out!

If all goes according to plan, I will never have to set foot in another classroom ever again!

That is, if all goes according to plan. The end of school seems to have been very anti-climactic for me. Mostly because I find myself in this sort of limbo where I don't know what's going to happen to me in the next month or so! Ack! I'm still looking for an internship for the summer; as yet, I haben't heard anything. If I don't find an internship soon, I'm going to have to go back to school and take two more classes to finish my diploma. Crappy. I'm just really hoping to find an internship and get this thing done so I can graduate, establish a career and begin my life already!

I just hope I get some call-backs soon. At this point, just getting an interview would really boost my confidence.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

2006-04-09T21:38:00.000-04:00

Back from Toronto!

What a fun trip! It was nice to just relax for a couple days and not have to think about anything related to real life! I got to sit in our rented Ford Explorer, sleep in two hotels, swim in two hotel pools, lounge in two hotel hot tubs, go shopping, attend a wedding shower and eat a lot of food! And all for the low, low cost of $98! Oh yeah, and add another $15 because I was stupid enough to forget my dressy shoes at home and had to buy some in Scarborough (you can't expect me to wear my skater shoes with my wedding shower outfit!)

Here are some highlights from our weekend away:

The helicopter elevator
Shoeless Joe's (any calls for Moosehead related prizes yet??)
Our pimpin' ride
Pear flavoured Bacardi Breezers
Uncle Butt-Crack (I don't know if this really qualifies as a "highlight"!)
The impromptu mashed potato picture (it gets bigger every time!)
The blue rose
The Movator

Grey Skies Are Gonna Clear Up

2006-04-05T12:22:00.000-04:00

I'm very happy to say that the worst part of this nightmare semester is almost over! And with that, I can finally start to think about all of the cool, fun stuff that's coming up in the next week and a half!

This weekend a bunch of us are taking off to Toronto for the weddding shower (remember Christine and Martin who will be getting married in Cuba in June?)
Next Thursday us DEIA students are having a double baby shower! Two of the students are expecting in June and naturally, these ladies and their bundles of joy, being a part of the extended DEIA family, must be celebrated! So that's dinner out on the 13th.
April 14th is Mike's 24th birthday. And let me tell you, have I got PLANS for HIM! This is revenge time for when he made me wait half an hour between each present at my last birthday AND for making me answer trivia questions for each gift at Christmas!
Oh yeah, how could I forget, it's also going to be Easter!

Yay for fun stuff that I can look forward to!

Sometimes You Just Gotta Vent

2006-03-30T18:20:00.000-05:00

The song lyrics I'm posting here pretty much sum up how I've been feeling lately. The lyrics say it so much better than I ever could. Before you start reading into it too deeply though, please realize that this is not meant to be any sort of comment on my personal social relationships. This song is actually about a romantic relationship, but... whatever. This is school I'm talking about here, and some of the people I have to deal with there, which has become an on-going source of super-stress and frustration for me...

"Don't Cry"*

This is anything but fair

Don't say that it's not 'cuz

You get what you want

And I

Well I don't want this situation

Don't tell anyone that

This is

This

This is

What I've found

I'm surrounded

Don't tell anyone that

This is

This

This is

Where I'm found

I'm so surrounded

And I

Oh I believe

It's never to late

To be what you might have been

And I think we

We are meant to be

I've been here somewhere before

Covered in frustration

But still I've lost me somewhere

And I don't want this situation

Can't fight the situation, losing your inspiration

There's no way home, you're all alone

Can't fight the situation, feeling your desperation

No more time to give, it's your time to live

Thereby hangs a tail, but that's another story

Men are a bundle of relations, a knot of roots

The heart feeling on, the heart sinking within one

The bubble has burst and the game's up

* Performed by "Jakalope", written by Dave Ogilvie, Katie B, Anthony Valcic, Jamey Koch

And We Winked at One Another

2006-03-17T16:20:00.000-05:00

Irish Coffee a la Nancy's boss:

1 oz. Jameson whiskey
1 oz. Bailey's Irish Cream
2 oz. coffee
2 oz. whipped cream
1 tsp. green sprinkles

1) pour Jameson whiskey and Bailey's into a mug, add in coffee and stir.
2) add whipped cream on top and garnish with sprinkles
3) drink up in the department kitchen and then persuade the staff to finish off the bottom of the whiskey bottle
4) send the staff and faculty back to their offices with rosier cheeks, goofier smiles and fuzzier brain functions

**Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!**

When You're Done Whining and Taking Things Back

2006-03-10T12:44:00.000-05:00

When our department moved to the Hall building in October, there was a general hubbub concerning the poor state of the Seminar Room's new whiteborads: once they were written on, the markings on the board would not erase. People tried different brands of markers, different products to clean the boards... nothing worked. Eventually, the boards became full of illegible markings of various colours. Complaints accumulated and the factulty and staff exchanged over 100 e-mails about the whiteboards.

So today I was sitting at my desk (where I have a nice window looking out into the hallway) and I saw these two guys carrying a big whiteboard to the Seminar Room. Wow, finally! I thought, They're replacing the whiteboards! At this point, it was about noon and my coworker (who's in charge right now because our boss in on vacation) was just leaving for lunch. About ten minutes later, the guy that was installing the whiteboards came to my desk.
"I am looking for the administrator." he said.
"I'm sorry, she's gone for lunch," I answered. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Sure. I'm here to replace the whiteboards, and we're an honest company, so I want to show you something." He gestured to the Seminar Room. "Would you mind following me?" So I left my office and follwed him down the hallway. As we entered the Seminar Room he said "I can show you why the boards weren't working." And he proceded to rip the protective plastic coasting off the the board.

Mary Jane and my Wallet

2006-03-09T17:23:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I decided it was finally time for me to bite the bullet and buy myself a new wallet (of course, I only decided this when I found a really cute wallet that I decided I had to have). Actually, my old one was starting to have some issues: the zipper on the change purse wouldn't always close so I'd end up with all of my change at the bottome of my bag, and the stitching was starting to come undone. So: time for a new wallet. When I was paying for my wallet the girl that was ringing up my purchases gestured to the wallet and asked me, "Did you smell it?" Not sure what she was getting at I laughed and said "No!... should I?" She continued "It smells like pot!" She handed me my new wallet, I opened it up and took a whiff. Sure enough, it had a pungent, rotten plant kind of smell. "Smells kinda funky!" I said, and she started to laugh.

Let's just pretend that I don't know what marijuana smells like. But I went to high school, so how could I not know what it smells like?

Anyway, today when I opened my wallet to pay for something, there was an unmistakable pot-like smell emanatinhg from my wallet. Uh-oh! I thought Can everyone around me smell that too? How embarrassing! So I decided to air the thing out: I opened it up at my workstation to hopefully get rid of some of the smell. It was an okay idea until I left the lab without it. But that's another stupid story for another stupid day. No worries though, I got it back!

The Wonders of Technology

2006-03-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I downloaded Skype, a free program that has many resemblances to MSN Messenger. It's a program you can use to make phone calls through your computer. You can pay extra to make calls to real telephones, but you can speak to people on your member list from computer to computer for free. I originally downloaded the program so my project group from school could have conference telephone calls from the comfort of our own homes. That's the cool thing about Skype: conference calling! Anyway, turns out that half of my group can't use it because they don't have microphones or headsets, so I was left with Skype on my desktop and no one to talk to... or so I thought! Out of pure chance Kim told me she was talking to an overseas friend with Skype and I got all excited: someone to talk to! So we chatted for a few minutes. I have to say, it was a pretty weird experience, talking to my computer. Can't say I'd ever done it before and it was made a little stranger that Kim's microphone wasn't working and she was typing everything out on Messenger. So then I really felt like I was talking to myself! Was kinda fun that Kim has a webcam, though.

Kim, you really gotta learn that sign language! Or get a working mic, whatever!

Anyway, if anyone else wants to join us on Skype, you can add me to your list by typing in my user name: it's the same as my Hotmail address, or the same as my Yahoo! address, minus the 2000.

Sidebar

2006-03-06T12:30:00.000-05:00

Oops!

It just occured to me that maybe I should put in here that my Mom got home safely from the Rockies!

It was fun to keep everyone wondering for a couple of days, but yeah, the helicopter came in and brought her safely back to civilization! She arrived back home on Thursday. Bearing gifts. Yay!

Other than that, there's not much to tell!

There Ain't Nothing on the Roll

2006-03-01T10:55:00.000-05:00

Last night I got news that my Mom is stranded in the Rockies. She went on a skiing trip with some people from her office and I'm told that on the day they were supposed to come back home they got 1 meter of snow in 24 hours! I figure the helicopter that's supposed to come and pick them up couldn't get in. And the airport was probably closed too, come to think of it. Anyway, she's stuck in the mountains.

Give me my Mom back!

I've Lost Me Somewhere

2006-02-26T17:05:00.000-05:00

Recently I came upon a CD where the title was actually an anagram of the singer's name. For anyone that cares, I'm referring to Mike Doughty's most recent album "Haughty Melodic" (get it; if you rearrange the letters in the name 'Michael Doughty' it becomes 'Haughty Melodic'). This got me wondering if my name could be rearranged to spell something clever like that... My quest brought me to www.anagramsite.com. All you have to do is type in your name and it does all of the work for you! When I typped in my full name (and I mean my real first name), I came up with the following:

Centenary of nil
Fiercely not Nan
Latency inferno
One crafty Lenin (ha ha, that's a funny one!)
Felony in nectar

So what's your anagram name???

Clocks Like Ticking Bombs With Hairpin Triggers Somewhat Lately

2006-02-21T12:11:00.000-05:00

So it's reading week for the Concordians. Can't honestly say I've been looking forward to reading week. I promised myself that this week would be the week I devote myself to looking for an internship. And that I would do it properly. That means researching companies I'd like to work for, reworking my CV, writing up cover letters and calling the companies I'm interested in to see if they are taking on interns. Job hunting is such an intimidating process and I'm just so used to having jobs practically fall into my lap. I've never really had to do this before at this scale, so I'm a little nervous! I'm not actually nervous about speaking to these people, I'm more worried that they're simply going to tell me "no" and then where would I be? I get my hopes up for working at a few different companies that I've selected so I'm afraid of the very possible disappointment they they may not want an intern. So I don't want to call. But I have to call, because I don't want to just e-mail in my CV and then sit there waiting and wondering for weeks on end. I need closure! Anyway, that's what I'm up to this week.

I would also like to credit the band Kamikaze Baby with the lyric I put in as the title of this post. It's from their song called "Time's A Wasting". Its such a great line! Kinda makes me realize how much time I'm wasting writing in this blog as I procrastinate! Anyway, we saw this band at Clyde's last Thursday. They were quite impressive and now I'm the proud owner of their latest album "Identity Crisis". I'd recommend checking them out; they've got a style that you don't often get when it comes to west island bands. They seem to have some Radiohead/Muse influences, and the lyrics are actually meaningful. Very neat.

The One Where I Talk About Mike

2006-02-13T21:55:00.000-05:00

This year, since St. Valentine's Day is on a Tuesday, and I'm at school 'til late on Tuesdays, Mike and I decided to celebrate a little early. That's right folks, Valentine's Day is over! Well, it is for us, anyway! It was nice though; we went out for dinner on Saturday and I got to pick the restaurant! So I chose "Di Sera" because we both liked it last time we went, and it's Bring Your Own Wine so it's also cheaper!

I spent most of Saturday working on papers for school and other such things. I was all alone at home so I had peace and quiet... until the doorbell rang at about 2:00. Who could that be? I thought to myself. No one ever comes to the door, and even then, it's never for me... But no one else is home, so who could it be? I pondered for a second, trying to decide whether or not to answer the door. That's when I realized I was still in my pajamas and my hair was a mess. That decided it for me: I wouldn't answer the door. But my curiosity got the best of me, so I lifted the blinds and looked out the window. Parked across the street was Mike's car. So that was when I ran to the door, feeling bad that I had left him standing on the front step out there in the cold! When I opened the door, there he was a big bouquet of flowers! Yay, what a nice surprise! He could have waited until dinner to give them to me, but no... he wanted to surprise me and give them to me when I least expected it. I love that!

Celebrating continued on Sunday with the beginning of the festivities for my Dad's 50th birthday. His birthday is actually on Wednesday, but we went out for dinner with his side of the family on Sunday evening. I brought Mike along, which proved to be good fun! You see, my Dad's family has known Mike for a little over a year now, although they've only met him three times. Regardless, some of them can't remember his name. Which is pretty weak. But I can't say I'm entirely surprised, because I wouldn't be so shocked if they didn't know mine. It's not because they're dumb, it's because they simply don't care. I hate to say it, but it's true. Anyway, we were kiss-kissing everyone hello. My Dad's brother came up to Mike, said hello, and it became quite obvious that he couldn't remember Mike's name, so he said it for my uncle. So then my unlce asks, "So what's my name?" without any hesitation, Mike says it. Sensing a challenge, my uncle's wife comes up. "And what's my name?" she asks. Mike gets her name right away as well. They were obviously impressed and chagrined and I was thrilled. He sure showed them! I just think it's pretty stupid that several members of my extended family can't even bother to remember one person's name, when Mike has succeeded in memorizing 7 people's names after having met them only 3 times in over a year. That's not fair!

Lookin' Like a True Survivor, Feelin' Like a Little Kid

2006-02-07T21:18:00.000-05:00

Dear Bloggy,

Happy birthday! How does it feel to be one year old?! I bet it feels pretty good! I honestly can't relate, because I don't remember what it was like to be one year old... Anyway. I'm pretty proud of myself, that I've been able to maintain you, Oh Bloggy, for a year now. I've tried on many occasions to keep diaries and for some reason, it never worked for very long. Maybe I was too lazy or maybe my life was just too boring, who knows? But I'm so glad I'm keeping a log of everything I experience and do, because I know that these coming years are going to be the most important, exciting and scariest years of my life. So isn't it the best time to keep track of my experiences? In retrospect, diaries aren't ideal because they get old, tattered, faded and ultimately thrown out or lost. Since I have my faithful Bloggy on the internet, I can rest assured that at any time, I can pluck you out of cyberspace and reminisce. I sincerely hope and plan that you'll be with me when I finish Grad school, when I start my career, when Mike and I buy our house, etc. See what I mean by "the most important, exciting and scariest years of my life"?! Oh by the way, this puts things into perspective for me: the invitations for Christine and Martin's wedding came in the mail the other day. It's all happening!

Well Bloggy, I hope you're ready for another year of excitement... it's gonna be a big one. Because I have no idea where I will be one year from today!

Love from,

Nancy

Oh yeah, how could I forget: and a happy birthday to Ashton Kutcher! He was, after all, an oddly indirect inspiration for starting this blog in the first place. Have I had any more psychic dreams since then? Hard to say...

I Come for the Wuggas, But I Stay For the Jigga Juggas

2006-02-05T12:35:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago, I came upon an amusing music video that I found on the internet. Everyone I've showed it to so far has found it pretty amusing, so I'm linking to it here for your own watching and viewing pleasure!

Click to watch "A Family Story" , the story of how a man became his own grandfather. Composed by Ray Stephens.

Let Them be Broken

2006-02-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

This morning I learned that my cousin bashed his face in while skiing. Somehow, he took a bad fall and ended up with his ski in his mouth (???). He broke his nose and a few teeth. When he was at the dentist getting his teeth fixed on Wednesday, at one point the dentist commented: "Oh, your skis are purple!" Ack! Anyway, he's gonna be okay.

So let's get this straight: my cousin went skiing and broke his face. My brother went skiing and got a concussion. You know, as someone who's just learning how to ski, this is NOT stuff I want to be hearing! On the other hand, my cousin is a daredevil on skis and does some crazy stuff. And my brother was actually snowboarding, and snowboards are dangerous!

I won't be discouraged! I will go back!

Hell Yeah, I Remember

2006-02-01T11:36:00.000-05:00

Wonder of Wonders; I saw Aurora yesterday!

Actually, she saw me... at Guy Concordia metro station. We were only able to chat for a couple minutes, but essentially, she's doing well and not staying out of trouble (insert gleeful little smile here).

We're gonna go out for coffee next week!

Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes

2006-01-29T13:01:00.000-05:00

Last night was Mike's company's Christmas party, believe it or not! It was a lot of fun. It was held at the Chateau Vaudreuil and the really nice part was that all of the employees were offered a room at the hotel for the night at a very reduced price. So we got to stay at the gorgeous Chateau Vaudreuil last night, which was awesome! I had heard it was nice there, but I didn't expect this:

Nice huh? We had a cute little suite with a separate sitting room! I felt like a queen!

Anyway, the cocktails and dinner were very nice, too, and there was a live band for the dance that came afterwards. They played all kinds of fun stuff! Mike also has some really nice and interesting coworkers; one of them spent most of the dinner with a breadstick behind his ear!

Here we are, all dolled up for the party:

Unfortunately, we had to check out of the hotel this morning. I would have happily stayed for another day!

In the meantime, I'm babysitting my 22-year old brother today. He went skiing yesterday with my Dad and his friend and he disappeared for almost two hours. He reappeared eventually and then blacked out for over 3 hours. He woke up this morning with a bad headache and no memory of what had happened to him when he had disappeared. He also couldn't remember stopping at Pizza Hut on the way home from the ski hill, most of the car ride home and putting away all of his skiing equipment. My parents seem to think he probably took a bad fall, bumped his head and got a concussion. So now I'm looking after him to make sure he doesn't start doing anything weird while my parents are out. I told him he's not allowed to fall asleep on my watch!

Trying

2006-01-26T21:18:00.000-05:00

As some of you already know, I've been having a hard time with some of my classes this semester, and I've been rather stressed out. That's not to say I'm giving up. Not at all! In fact, I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that the remainder of the semester will be a huge challenge and I'm getting ready to face it. In the meantime, I've been listening to my "Zen Song". It calms me down and motivates me. Music has always been a huge inspiration to me, mostly when I can identify with what the song is about. I've been listening to this song over and over, and since it's been an inspiration to me, I thought I'd put the lyrics down. And give Fiona Apple some credit where credit is due.

Waltz (Better Than Fine)

If you don't have a song to sing

You're ok

You know how to get along humming

If you don't have a date

Celebrate

Go out and sit on the lawn

And do nothing

-'Cause it's just what you must do and

Nobody does it anymore

No I don't believe in the wasting of time

But I don't believe that I'm wasting mine

If you don't have a point to make

Don't sweat it

You'll make a sharp one being so kind

(And I'd sure appreciate it)

Everyone else's goal's

To get big-headed

Why should I follow that beat,

Being that I'm

Better than fine

As the title suggests, the song is a waltz, which I personally find to be one of the more captivating and enchanting melodic forms. Anyway, it gives the song much of it's character and uplifting appeal.

And it makes me feel good. You don't have to like it, but I do. That's what's important.

Smile!

2006-01-23T14:41:00.000-05:00

Some British mathemetician came up with a formula several years back that calculates the most depressing day of the year. He used variables such as how long it's been since Christmas, the relative amount people pay in bills at this time of year, including credit card debts from Christmas, the amount of sunlight we recive per day and all kinds of other factors. All that to say, it's been established that today is the most depressing day of the year 2006. Doesn't that make you all warm and fuzzy inside??

Today is Election day and I don't like any of our Prime Ministerial candidates. I think THAT's pretty depressing. Nevertheless, voting is one of our most fundamental rights... don't forget to go out and vote!

Soon the Shoulder Falls

2006-01-20T12:53:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling pretty stressed out lately. I'm taking these classes that are completely consuming and take up all of my time... and sanity. For the first time since my old CEGEP calculus classes, I find myself sitting there during the lectures having no idea what is going on. It's a really disconcerting and uncomfortable feeling. I hate it. At the very least, I'm not alone. I think the class is experiencing a form of mass panic attack and everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to figure things out and get stuff done, while not really understanding what needs to be figured out and what needs to be done. Although the whole situation sucks, I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

Meanwhile, I've just accepted a TAship. I suppose I'll sign my contract on Tuesday. Anyway, now I'll be getting paid to correct tests and stuff, which is kind of neat. Was it a smart move, or an extremely dumb move, considering the amount I already have on my plate? I don't know. Call me greedy, I was attracted by the extra $430 I'll have in my pocket just for correcting some tests. That, and it'll look good on my CV!

Poignant... Maybe?

2006-01-17T22:24:00.000-05:00

This is how I feel today:

Who came up with such a stupid name for bottled water, anyway?

Oh, I found that advertisement on the front door of a dépanneur on Duluth.

Children Waiting for the Day They Feel Good

2006-01-15T11:59:00.000-05:00

Last night we celebrated Kim's 24th birthday! It got off to a slow start; we waited outside the restaurant, L'Académie, in the cold for almost an hour, waiting for tardy guests and a table. The was a snarky hostess that expected us to feel sorry for her because she occasionally had to go outside and get info from people waiting in line. As far as we were concerned, she was being paid to do it and it was part of her job. We were actually paying customers that were not even allowed to wait inside the restaurant and instead we were relegated to the sidewalk to hang out with the homeless guy in front of the SAQ. Great. Anyway, when we finally got in, we had a great meal, so I suppose it was worth the wait!

Afterward, we wandered up and down St. Laurent for a bar and finally settled on Belmont. I was surprised upon entering the bar that I had already been there once before. At first, the music was positively awful, but then we hit the magical 1:00 am mark and suddenly the DJ was spinning all kinds of retro tunes and we danced to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This", Sir Paul McCartney's "I Saw Her Standing There" and other jems. When Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" began to play, we all gathered into a big circle, arms around shoulders, and belted out the lyrics... what a classic!

Just before 3:00 am, we decided to leave so we could avoid the line-up at the coat-check. Mike got his coat first and waited at the front door. There were two guys in front of me and as I was waiting for my coat, one guy looked at me and asked "So, did you have a good time tonight?" Uh-oh! I thought, Desperate last-minute pick-up attempt! Dumb Guy didn't even consider looking at who I was with. All I said was "Yes, thank-you." I looked at Danny, who was standing behind me, to see if he had noticed this little exchange. He gave me an amused look saying he had seen it. Dumb Guy noticed. "Oh, is this guy your boyfriend?" he asked. Danny, being the nice guy that he is, tried to come to me rescue. "Yes." he said, just as I said "No." I think that usually I would have gone along with that little ploy, but my real boyfriend was only 10 feet away and I wanted to give Dumb Guy a nice little scare! I mean, why pretend a 6-foot guy is your boyfriend, when the real one is almost 6'5"?? So I said, "That's my boyfriend, over there!" Mike noticed me pointing at him and he did the best thing: he put on his serious/menacing face and took two steps toward us... Uh oh, scary tall boyfriend spots short Dumb Guy talking to girlfriend! Dumb Guy affirms the reputation I have already given him by saying, "Oh, he's a big guy!" As I walked over to Mike, Dumb Guy also came over and had the nerve to actually pat Mike on the chest and say "Don't worry about it"! And then he made some excuses about the effects of vodka and he said something about a lawyer. It actually looked like he was going to try and pick a fight with Mike... pretty stupid. But amusing.

Mike, Danny and I got Kim some sushi sets for her birthday. I mention that here because I thought yesterday's (January 14 - Kim's birthday) Toothpaste for Dinner comic was oddly coincidental:

Ha ha! What are the chances??

Birthday Wishes

2006-01-14T11:02:00.000-05:00

** Happy Birthday, Kim! **

Live It Off the Wall

2006-01-13T17:20:00.000-05:00

Oooooo it's Friday the 13th! Are you scared? No? Okay, how about this: tonight is a full moon! Now you must be terrified! Actually, don't even bother, the full moon is actually tomorrow night. So while we're out partying downtown for Kim's birthday, we'll have to watch out for werewolves. You never know. Especially downtown.

Here are some quotes I've been hearing around school and the office; just proof that geographers are not linguists:

"Retchard" (instead of Richard)
"He's revolting!" (in reference to a prof. that was having a mini-tantrum)
"... so as to avoid any incontinence and overlap with your other colleagues." (received in an e-mail. Emaphasis added)
"I have to go get my butt" (instead of bottes)

Okay, I'll admit, that last one was me. But in my defense, bottes and butt sound a lot alike! I guess my crazy bilingual talk doesn't always work!

No Cosmetitian

2006-01-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went to a Mary Kay party... not one of the first places you'd find me, but it ended up being a fun activity with the ladies. Now I can honestly say that my hands are ridiculously soft after having applied numerous cleansers, scrubbers and moisturizers! That was part one of the "beauty party". Then we had to do the same thing with our faces... cleanse, scrub, moisturize. So many products, I can't believe that women use so much stuff for their faces! Five different applications later, we were ready to start putting make-up on! So I put on some foundation... didn't like that much, I never wear the stuff because it makes me feel like my face is all clogged up and oily. But it was alright. Then we put on eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, lip gloss and mascara. I'm now officially terrified of eyeshadow! Again, it's something I never wear. Used to wear it for dance shows and my high school grad photos... but Mom always did the all-important make-up application so I never figured out how to do it myself! And to make matters worse, we were given three different colours to apply on three different parts of the eyelid. How big is an eyelid? How many different colours can you fit onto such a small surface?! It's crazy! Anyhow, I tried to follow the little diagram instructing where to apply each colour (and the colours were scary too - gold, bronze and charcoal) but I couldn't quite figure out how to look at what I was doing with my eyes closed. Needless to say, I ended up looking like a street walker or an alien or something equally scary. Of course, it wasn't scary on only me: the bronze shade made Mom's eyebrows all but disappear so she looked a little off as well. Anyway, after the Mary Kay lady fixed my horrendous application job, I didn't look so scary any more. I just looked like an Ancient Egyptian wannabe. A little bit of extremely dark lipstick later, I looked completely different. And felt really odd with my face ful of products.

But it was all in good fun, and it was completely free. We were under no obligation to buy anything, but naturally, we all felt compelled to support the nice lady and purchased her over-priced products. But it's all good. All of the stuff she had us try was very nice in quality, so I feel like I'll be happy with my purchases. And it's for a good cause. Some of the profits go toward cancer patients, so that's nice!

Guffaw

2006-01-06T17:50:00.000-05:00

I decided that I HAVE to post this joke. A friend from school e-mailed it to me. Any environmentalists out there will have a field day. This is my training, guys... at least I can laugh at myself!

NOAH in 2005

In the year 2005, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and overpopulated and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save two of every living thing along with a few good humans." He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have six months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights".

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard..... but no ark. "Noah," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah. "But things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I argued that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls. But no go! When I started gathering the animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. As well, they argued the accommodation was too restrictive and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Also, the trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least ten years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean, You're not going to destroy the world?".

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2006-01-06T16:52:00.000-05:00

Hello! Hi! I'm here! Happy New Year!

Yup, I know, it's been a while. The whole Christmas/New Year's thing was hiatus time, I think. The holidays are when everyday life just PAUSES... and craziness ensues. Hence, no blogging. But now I have UNPAUSED and gone back to plain old everyday life. Which is okay, I guess. We can't be in holiday forever (they call that RETIREMENT)!

So yeah, the holidays were fun. A little too fun, I think. I believe there were just a few too many late nights and parties and too many chocolates and mussels eaten. I got sick for a couple of days but apart from that, it was a great time. I got spoiled at Christmas (again) and I'm happy to say that Mike and I managed to put a good dent into our "Moving Out" list. We got so many nice kitchen supplies! And that's really great because that's all stuff you don't really feel like buying yourself, so it's awesome to receive that kind of stuff as gifts! Oh, and Dave and Kim had an awesome party, Christmas Eve: it turned into a dance party, so we ate tons of food and grooved all night long!

Also, I am very proud to say that I have finally begun to learn how to ski! I've been saying for years that I want to learn how, so I finally tried it out over the break. What fun! Painful though... especially when I crashed into Danny and my legs went inside-out. Don't ask me how that's done, I haven't managed to figure it out myself, yet. Anyway, I really lucked out because Kim sold me her old skis for a good price and I managed to get everything else I need for skiing for free, so I'm ready to try it again! The hills still scare me, though...! All in all, it was a painful, exhausting, but fun experience. I had the flu while we were there, but despite that, I think I was a pretty good sport!

Still had the flu on New Year's Eve, so we had to forego the Big Crazy Party. Actually, let me rephrase that. I had to forego the Big Crazy Party. Mike was nice enough to forego it with me, and we spent a much quieter evening at Dave and Kim's. So we had a nice, leisurely fondue, played some games and watched some absolutely HILARIOUS music videos from the 1980's. I think the unanimous favourite was "Obsession" by Animotion . It's your typical '80's video: bad clothes, bad hair, corny video yet singers taking themselves WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

Enjoy the video clip: we sure did!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane It's... Geographers!

2005-12-21T14:17:00.000-05:00

Hurray for obscure pagan rituals! Today we celebrated the winter solstice. In my six years here at Concordia, this is the first time I ever hear of the Geography department's winter solstice party. This time, I was invited! Every year, the staff and faculty ride up to the tenth floor of the Library building, go through the boiler room and up onto the roof of the building. From there, one by one, everyone climbs up a ladder to the topmost part of the building. Don't go too close to the edge, there's no railing! At the very top of the building, Dr. David Frost put up a weather station and for the past ten years, the good people of the Geography department have toasted to the return of longer days by this weather station. Traditionally, Dr. Frost would bring up some chardonnay disguised in a 2 L bottle of gingerale. However, Dr. Frost passed away in May and this year's party was also a bit of a memorial. We all poured ourselves a small glass of "Magic Gingerale" and toasted to the sun at exactly 12:00 pm. We were all gathered around the weather station, huddled in our big coats, hats and mitts.

Surprisingly, it was not very cold up on the roof. The sun was shining brightly, there was not a cloud in the sky and there was almost no wind. And the view was incredible. From 13 stories up, Montreal is such a beautiful city and it looked so peaceful. What a view!

Anyway, after a while it did get cold and we took our turns descending the ladder to the lower roof. The lower roof is great too because there's a huge vent that blasts out warm air so it was very warm waiting there for everyone else! We returned to the Geography department to enjoy refreshments, such as fougasse, hummus, cheese, fruit, cookies and eggnog heavily laced with brandy. Yum, how can you go wrong?!

A Stitch in Time Saves... A Lot of Searching

2005-12-20T15:18:00.000-05:00

Seeing as Christmas is coming, I once again started my own annual crusade to find the impossible. I have been conducting this search for a few years now and so far... nothing. You see, we have an advent calendar at home that my parents made when I was very, very young. It's made entirely of felt and it's essentially a wall-hanging. It features a big Chrsitmas tree with two kids, a boy and a girl, hanging decorations on the tree. There are also a few animals hanging out around the bottom of the tree, too. There are 25 little velcro pieces on the tree and for each day in December you put up a decoration; again, made of felt and painstakingly handcrafted by Mom and Dad. Anyway, I put this calendar up every year and it's been our little tradition for as long as I can remeber. My brother always lets me put up the snowman ornament and he always puts up the gingerbread man. On Christmas morning, one of us will put the star on the top of the tree. Amazingly, my brother and I would remember from year to year who had put the star up and we would take turns. Essentially, this calendar is an integral part of our Christmas tradiations. I love that calendar. Unfortunately, so does my brother. Now that we're getting older, the debate has been who will get the calendar when we move out of the parental digs? My argument is that obviously, I got it first, I'm older, so it's mine! Probably not a totally valid argument, but it's all of got! In all honesty, I think I'm more attached to the thing than he is... I am just way too sentimental!

Okay, I've sidetracked a lot. Back to the point: I've been searching for the pattern for this thing. Mom said that she would happily make a second advent calendar, if only she had the pattern. She knows it was made by Vogue. I've searched e-Bay year after year and I've never found it there. This year, I was smart enough to go to Vogue's homepage and I sent an e-mail to their discontinued patterns department. But... to no avail. They e-mailed me back today to tell me they don't have it. If the Vogue people don't have it, who does? I'm disappointed. I really wanted to find that pattern. Maybe next year?

Now It's Hardly Simple, It's Just Simply Hard

2005-12-18T13:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I think I'm finally starting to understand this dumb Image Cave program for image hosting. It seems as though any changes you make to your settings take about a day to take effect. So at the moment, some of my photo albums are not viewable because they are "protected". I changed that setting, so I figure that in about a day or so, people will be able to look at my photos! I think, in anticipation of this "exciting" event, I'll add a link to my photo albums on my page!

Last night Mike and I went to the Geography, Planning & Environment's Christmas party. We got a little misplaced looking for the building, because MapQuest gave us the wrong location. Okay, I have only used MapQuest twice in my life, and both times it screwed us up and got us lost. Anyway, MapQuest told us to turn right on Dr. Penfield when we should have turned left. But we finally found the Samuel Bronfman building. Turns out it's Concordia's Jewish pavilion. Ironic, no? Can't say I'd ever gone to a Christmas party in a Jewish building before! Anyway, we had some fun (how could you not with free food and drinks?). We didn't win the raffle, but I ended up winning the door prize; a nice box of truffles. I won because my coat was in the right place at the coat check. So it's actually a good thing that we were late or my coat would not have been the winner! So getting lost was not all bad...!

It Must be Because of the Seasons

2005-12-16T13:33:00.000-05:00

The amount of snow we've gotten so far today is RIDICULOUS! Oh well, I don't have to go anywhere until 8:00 tonight, so in the meantime, I can just watch the snow falling outside my window and laugh at all of the people struggling through the drifts! Just kidding. I actually consider myself lucky that I don't have to deal with that today. I hear the driving is pretty bad. Be careful all of you driving people!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! It's been a pretty busy week with all of the holiday stuff starting up, and I love it! Steph, Kim, Chrissy and I had our gift exchange at Baton Rouge on Tuesday evening, and last night a bunch of us from the DEIA got together for dinner and that was a lot of fun, too! For the past two days I've been wrapping Christmas presents, which I thoroughly enjoy as well! And the pre-Christmas activities are not over! There's still the Geography department's party tomorrow night! That makes a party every second day this week... maybe at some point I'll even be abke to start my biology paper, which is due the first day back at school.

Here's something fun: I posted some photos on an image hosting site so anyone reading can go and see some of my pictures here. I'm not too excited about the site, though. I can only put in 10 MB of photos for free, so size is very limited. If I want to put in more photos I'm going to have to start deleting other photos to make room, which is really pretty annoying. Anyway, at the moment there are photos from Cuba, Quinn's farm, and an in-progress Christmas 2005 album. Oh yeah, and I posted photos from the last Beaconsfield Golf Club staff party but for some reason the album doesn't show up on the main page. So if you want to look at those, you'll have to click here instead. I've been trying to fix it, but it doesn't seem to be working. Anyway, take a tip from me: don't use Image Cave for photo hosting.

Photo Time!

2005-12-08T17:21:00.000-05:00

I've finally motivated myself to put up some photos! I've been procrastinating for way too long! Here we go:

Mike and I put up my Christmas tree last Saturday. Isn't she pretty? You gotta love the stockings on the fireplace, too!

And then, I decorated my bed! How festive! That's an old Christmas "banner" that my Mom made when I was really little. We used to hang it over the fireplace. Until now!

Okay, I'll admit that this photo is two years old... but it's my favourite New Years pic, and I thought I'd post it, just for old-times sake. Are you feeling nostalgic, Kimbo?

Okay, okay, this last one is a testament to my procastinatory habits. I've been meaning to post this pic for 6 weeks now! Would you believe we actually bought all those pumpkins?? I have no idea who's pumpkin I'm holding in that photo, but Mike's holding mine. Oh, and I think that's my most favourite pic of Dave ever!

The Guilt Complex Makes me Write

2005-12-07T15:52:00.000-05:00

Don't worry, I'm still here... I'm still alive. It's just that right now, the world of Nancy is DULL! Nothing exciting or new to report. Class IS over though, which is nice. And I wrote my one and only exam this morning, and it went well, so that's nice, too!

But is this news blog-worthy? I'm not so sure!

Anyway, I've been meaning to post some photos of my Christmas tree. Mike and I put it up on Saturday. Maybe I'll get around to that at some point. And that's been the most exciting event from the last 2 weeks!

I gotta have me some adventures!

Rich Gentlemen Have it Boys: Indigestion!

2005-11-23T15:25:00.000-05:00

I've finally got my own computer at work! How exciting! Actually, I share it with my coworker, but I get my own profile on Windows XP, so it's like it's my own! I've been restraining myself from searching the internet for wallpaper. That's just to show how much of a geek I am!

I also have a boss that keeps pawning off her food on me. Am I really that skinny?! Yesterday she wasn't hungry so she gave me her chicken soup. This morning, she gave me a 650g container of yogurt because she had bought it by mistake and no one in her household liked it. So she gave it to me. Yay for me! Free food for the starving student!

**Later**

I ate about 2/3 of that container of yogurt today. I think I'm going to have a tummy-ache tonight!

FOX Has Made a "Huge Mistake"

2005-11-16T00:14:00.000-05:00

I went to the dentist again last Friday to fill in my last two cavities. And now today, 5 days later, there's a little spot on my chin that is still frozen. Help! I can't find my chin!

As if that's not enough, Fox is cancelling my favourite all-time TV show Arrested Development. Why is it that they're cancelling the most clever television show ever created (in my humble opinion)? This is an OUTRAGE!

As atribute to "Arrested Development", I've added a "Random Arrested Development Quotes" box just below my links. I got this awesome feature from www.bluthfamily.com. I hope anyone that enjoys the show as much as I do gets a kick out of these, too!

Tell the Police I Ain't Home Tonight

2005-11-15T17:38:00.000-05:00

Here's my stupid action of the day:

I was working at the office and someone asked me to send a fax for them. So I went over to the fax machine to do my thing. First, I pushed '9' to get an outside line. Then, I pushed '1' for long distance. Then my finger slipped and I pushed '1' again by mistake. Then, a prerecorded voice started blaring out of the fax machine. So I picked up and replaced the receiver. What was that? I thought to myself. Then I looked down at the screen and saw that I had dialled '911'. "Oh no!" I exclaimed, "I just called 911!" The office administrator laughed at me. Anyway, 5 minutes later I was doing some filing in my boss's office. She walked in and said, "You're not feeling sick, are you?" with a smile on her face. "No," I answered,"Why?" "Because you called 911 and security came upstairs to check it out!" "Oh no!" I said (again). "Don't worry about it," she said, "we told them it was a mistake." I stuck my head out of the office and sure enough, there at the edsk was a security guard filling out a report! So I went back to hide in the office. "He has to fill out a report?" I asked. "Yeah, they have to do it for every 911 call." she said. I felt kinda bad about wasting his time. He was a pretty old guy. I hope he didn't have to run up all those stairs!

A $20,000 Story

2005-11-02T13:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting in the front office at school and as I type this, Arahova Souvlaki on Crescent street is burning. That's the cool part about being on the 12th floor: we can clearly see the firemen running around on the roof of the smoking building. The street seems to be blocked off and there are plenty of fire trucks and police cars. How dramatic!

Speaking of dramatic, the Geography department, since its move about a month ago, has already been ripped off of 2 laptop computers and a projector. The second laptop and the projector disapppeared two nights ago. And then this morning, the Political Science department, which is just down the hall from us, discovered that their new grad lounge had been doused in soapy water, all over the new carpets and couches.

What's going on, here?!

Well, it seems like there's always an adventure in the Geography department!

Four Times Stronger than Morphine!

2005-11-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

I don't know what it is, but it seems that lately, everyone's been going to the dentist to get cavities filled. I just had a couple filled and I have no idea why all of a sudden, I seem to be getting cavities when I never got them as a kid. Anyway, it was a bit of an adventure when I went for my fillings on Friday.

My dentist tells me that perhaps the nerve structure in my chin is different than most people's. And that's why he had to freeze me four times before my mouth actually froze! I had one tooth filled on the top right and that went well. Then he went to do a tooth on the bottom right and it hurt! So he froze me again. But then it still hurt. So he froze me again. And then it STILL hurt and the dentist could not believe it so he decided to give me something different that he only uses for extreme cases. This stuff was supposed to take effect right away and only lasts for 15 minutes. Right after he froze my mouth for the fifth time with this special stuff, he asked me; "Do you feel your heart racing?" And all of a sudden my heart DID start racing! I'd never felt it go that fast! And I couldn't breathe properly and I got really, really hot. The dentist said, "Don't worry, it's normal." I have no idea what he gave me, but it was kinda scary! Anyway, it took my mouth about 4 1/2 hours to unfreeze, rather than the usual hour. It made that wine and cheese I went to after my appointment a little awkward!

On a completely different note, we went to the Habs game on Saturday night. Although the Canadiens had a terrible game, it was still a lot of fun! Hockey is so much more exciting in person than it is on TV. Actually, I think that's true of most things. Anyway, the game was awesome and we ate so much food! But that was only because Mike sprong for tickets in the Club Desjardins section, where all of the food id included. Between the two of us we had 4 hotdogs, 2 smoked meat sandwiches, 2 fries, 2 pieces of pizza, 2 ice cream cones and 5 drinks. So we made those tickets worth our while! And then I went home and brushed my teeth, ha ha!

As for Hallowe'en, well, I didn't really do anything. I was supposed to go to a party on Friday night, but I decided to stay home. That was the day I had my dentist appointment, and somehow it really tired my out. We did watch the movie "13 Ghosts"last night, though. What a terrible movie. Everyone said it was so scary, but really, it wasn't.

A Little Good News Goes a Long Way

2005-10-27T17:57:00.000-04:00

Right in the middle of my most stressful time at school, I received a really nice letter from Concordia University. In short, it congratulated me for a successful 2004-2005 academic year and advised me that due to my high annual GPA (apparently I earned a 3.88) from the last year I had earned myself a spot on the Dean's List! HOORAY!

So everyone look for my name in the Montreal Gazette next Saturday, November5th!

Ah, what a morale booster! It just helped me to reaffirm why I'm so difficult on myself when it comes to my school work. In the end, hard work really pays off, because I'm feeling pretty good right about now! Maybe it'll help me get through the 7 assignments I have to do for next week...!

Don't You Know He is Some Kind of Wonderful

2005-10-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

Ah, what a classic song! I'll never tire of it! But I digress...

Today is our two year anniversary (mine and Mike's)! Yay us! And even after two years, I can still say he's "Some kind of wonderful"!

So we've got a nice dinner planned for tonight. And next Saturday we're off to a Habs game at the Bell Centre! We'll be in the Desjardins section eating all of the free food included with our tickets. Yummy!

I'm so excited!

What are the Chances?

2005-10-23T20:34:00.000-04:00

Most of you probably already know that I regularly read Wil Wheaton's Blog . A few days ago he posted a link for a quiz that helps you identify which sci-fi/fantasy character you are. My result, oddly enough:

I'm Wesley Crusher! Hee hee!

Look Up, Way Up, and I'll Call Rusty

2005-10-23T20:11:00.000-04:00

Another week gone and I feel like I'm clinging on for dear life! Time goes by so quickly, I haven't yet figured out how I've been managing to keep up. But, so far so good, I haven't screwed up yet and I hope to keep it that way. Oh wait, I was talking about school... did you catch on to that?

Well, the new department is shaping up. We've finally got room numbers up by the doors. It looks so much nicer without the big pieces of paper taped up on all of the doors. It's nice up on the 12th floor, but it's not perfect. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks some of these problems will be ironed out:

The elevators are always packed full of people so it takes forever to either get to the 12th floor or to leave it. Oh, and then there are all the people who are too lazy to take the escalators to the 5th and 6th floors... come on!
There is still an alarming lack of garbage cans throughout the department.
There is still construction everywhere so it's noisy in the hallways and sometimes it smells like burning.
The Political Science department just moved up here with us. They're taking up the second half of the floor and I spend my days sitting at the desk in reception redirecting Poli-Sci students that are incapable of reading directional signs.
The lights in all of the rooms are controlled by motion-sensors. Hence, the lights always go out in the middle of class and someone always has to get up and either run around the class or wave their arms in a ridiculous fashion.

So what's good about the new department?

It's huge.
There is much more space set aside for students and there are three rooms reserved for grad students. And I even got my own locker!
It's modern and aesthetically pleasing... and there's a great view of Montreal!
We now have six labs instead of two. One of them was just renamed in memory of Dr. Frost, a memorable and well-respected professor who passed away very suddenly in May. Good on the department!

Okay, it looks like the cons outweigh the pros, but they really don't. Most of the cons are just temporary. Overall, I'm enjoying the 12th floor!

Props to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit! Peace out!

2005-10-17T13:14:00.000-04:00

Here's an anecdotal story that I've been meaning to write about. I just haven't gotten around to until now.

A while back I went downtown to a bar with Mike and his younger brother. On our bus ride home that night, there was a young-ish guy sitting next to us that did the sign of the cross. At the time we just assumed the guy thought we were evil and we thought nothing else of it. Of course, I don't know why he would think we were evil, I believe the three of us had the lowest level of degeneracy of all of the people on that entire middle-of-the-night bus. Anyway, said event was forgotton. Until a few days later when I saw a young skater guy do the sign of the cross while I was riding on the bus. Different guy, though. Anyway, he did the sign of the cross, made a prayer and topped it off with another criss-cross (Christ Cross??).

So what's the deal? Why have I been seeing these young skater guys praying on the bus? Is this a new trend? Is religion cool again, all of a sudden? Anyway, seems to me you've got nothing to lose if you start praying. It can't hurt, after all. Maybe it's good for these young people to have faith in something.

I'm So Out of Practice, I Can't Even Come Up With a Title!

2005-10-12T09:35:00.000-04:00

Guess who's back?! Uh, it's me if you haven't already guessed.

It's not for lack of exciting events that I haven't written in so long. It's just that I haven't had the time! Things have been crazy busy what with school, work and all of the other things in between. Anyway, let's see if I can come up with a sort-of concise run-down of what I've been up to since the tail-end of September.

The assignments have been piling up and I've been continually preparing for class presentations, mid-terms, project proposals and whatnot.
Started working for the Geography, Planning and Environment department. The whole department moved to another building acros the street so my whole first week on the job was spent unpacking boxes and moving stuff from one place to another. Oh yeah, and we tested out the department's new "rolly-chairs" and raced them down our new super-wide hallways!
Went to a funeral last week. Although it was not someone from my own family that passed away, it was still really difficult. Funerals are never easy. My heart goes out to the grieving family and I send them my best wishes.
Thanksgiving was fun: had three thanksgiving dinners! And just to stick with tradition, I got sick. Or, not so much sick as just really nauseous. I always get sick at Turkey Time!

So that's my super-quick update. I'm gonna try to be more timely with my posts. Now that I'm back at a job where I'm sitting in front of a computer, maybe that'll make things easier!

I Am So Smart: SMRT

2005-09-27T17:26:00.000-04:00

Yeah, um... I'm boring!

It's not that I've forgotten about my blog, or grown tired of it, it's just my utter lack of interesting things to say! Am doing the school thing, still working at the BGC and spending the rest of my time just relaxing and trying to forget about school and work!

Anyway, for the first time in my three long years at the golf club, I have finally (although indirectly) made it on the Wall of Shame. Hey, can I help it that I'm not in the habit of saying or doing really dumb things while I'm at work??? Anyway, I was (trying to) train one of the new waitresses and I asked her to prepare some tea for me. Apparently, this woman had never made tea before, because she didn't know to take the tea bag out of the envelope before she poured boiling water over it. I told that little anecdote to one person and suddenly everyone knew and it was put on the Wall of Shame. Anyway, she's no longer with us because she was FIRED. I put 'fired' in caps because that is the first time I ever hear of a waitress getting fired at the BGC. Actually, they've let two waitresses go this fall. I just don't understand it, because it's such an easy job! Well, it's easy if you can understand english and/or french... which is more than I can say for some...

On a completely unrelated note, I got to ride in a Toyota Prius yesterday! I'm telling you, those hybrid cars are pretty cool, it was like being in a spaceship! And the woman that owns it was telling me that she fills up on gas only half of the amount she used to. Now that's smart. So why are there still so many people purchasing SUVs? , what with the ridiculous gas prices? And think of the environment, people! Parenthetically: sorry for the mini-rant. I have to be ecological now that I'm a tree-hugging environMENTAL scientist!

Oh yeah, and I start my new job at school this coming Monday!

FORE!

2005-09-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

The golf tournament that we were all looking forward to for so long is already finished! How sad! In any case, no matter how much practise I had put in, there was nothing that could have prepared me for the rotten weather we got. Although it was supposed to pour rain, it didn't really start until after we finished playing, but it drizzled off and on all afternoon. And the course had become a lake. So we were not allowed to drive the carts off of the paths and we ended up trudging through endless puddles and we all ended up with soaking feet. And us girls, we ended up with pants wet almost up to the knees! Anyhow, we discovered pretty quickly that the ball does not go far when it's been raining! In the rough, it's hard to hit it properly because it sinks into the heavy, wet grass. And you have to get it off the ground because you can't count on the ball to roll. It won't roll in wet grass! However, it was still fun and we all had a good time!

Mike, Nancy, Kim and Dave: At the first tee, before we got soaked!

Nothing's more fun than driving a golf cart!

After drying off and warming up, it was time for dinner! We had some really good steaks cooked on the grill with baked potatoes, veggies, sour cream and pepper sauce. So yummy! There were also door prizes for all of the employees and Mike ended up with two because his coworker didn't want his! Finally, the night ended with a raffle, where there were a bunch of really nice prizes. I was the only lucky one at our table to win a prize, though. I was the third-to-last person to be drawn so there were slim-pickings by the time I got up there. But I did end up with a $50 gift card for Golf Town! Yay me! I think it'll go toward a new driver...

Wine and Roses - But Not in the Least Romantic

2005-09-13T22:12:00.000-04:00

Before I go into my ramble, I just wanted to advise all you faithful readers that I have enabled word verification for my comments. Now, if ever you want to leave a comment, you'll have to retype a set of letters shown on the screen, just to verify that you are a real person and not a computer program leaving spam. I hope you don't mind this minor inconvenience and continue to leave fun and insightful comments here. And to anyone reading that has a blog, I'd recommend you do the same thing.

Last night, while working at a banquet at the BGC, I managed to make a dining room with over 100 people in it stop talking and stare at me. How'd I do it? Simple really, I just dropped a metal tray with 8 plastic lids on it on the ground! I wasn't very embarrased, it could have been much worse: there could have been food on that tray! Anyway, all in all, the evening was rather successful, the organizers gave each of the waitresses a bottle of chardonnay and a bottle of cabernet sauvignon as a thank-you! Boy, would I love to receive a bottle of wine for every tray I drop!

I just got home from the movie theatre, Mike and I went to see The Exorcism of Emily Rose. They say it's based on a true story, but you know how 'true event' movies are; they're so sensationalized ("sensationalized" was Mike's word. Such a good descriptive word, I decided to use it) that there's likely to be very little resemblance to the actual event(s). But don't let that discourage you from seeing the movie! It was very well done; pretty jumpy, very creepy music and it was quite disturbing. For anyone who enjoys a good thriller, this is a good one. And as a testament to the movie, once it had finished and the credits started rolling, the theatre was completely silent. No one spoke as they got out of their seats and started shuffling toward the door. People only started talking as they neared the exit! So strange...

All I Need is Time

2005-09-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

My first week of school is done. And oh, what a week it was! As of now, I'm preparing myself to be stressed out for the next 8 months or so. It's gonna be a lot of work. Am already working on assignment #1 and beginning research for an upcoming presentation.

A bit of good news is that I got a new job! It just kinda fell in my lap... the department administrator sent out an e-mail to all of the grad students saying she was looking for a new assistant and anyone interested should e-mail her back. So I did (what harm could it do?). Ten minutes later she e-mailed me back saying the job was mine (never has it been so simple!), I just had to get authorized by Financial Aid and Awards since it's part of the work study program at Concordia. I was a little worried that I might not get authorized since priority is given to non-dependents and/or low-income students. But in the end, I worried for nothing and I got authorized! I still don't know much about the job, though, I'm still waiting to get more details about it. It'll be nice to be able to work and go to school all in the same place, though. It'll save me a lot of running around!

A Big Night for Parties

2005-09-04T12:37:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Stuart and Adalia... They Got Engaged!!!

I stopped by the surprise engagement party for a bit last night, just long enough to give the future man-and-wife-to-be congratulatory hugs and to snap a few pics. Best wishes to the two of them!

The rest of the evening was spent at Mike's end-of-season soccer BBQ... good food, good drinks, good fun!

HELLO My Name is Pineapple Coconut

2005-09-01T11:15:00.000-04:00

It's back to work at the BGC. On my first day back I witnessed three waitresses about ready to kill someone and another waitress in tears. Can't say I was shocked, though. When my reaction should have been "Oh no, what happened?!", it was actually more along the lines of "Not again." I think it's utterly ridiculous that bawling waitresses is a regular occurence. Some of the people we have to serve are just that bad. The worst part is that a lot of the rest of the staff think the waitresses are just a bunch of wimpy little girls who burst into tears if someone frowns in our general direction. Truth is, you have to be pretty tough to deal with some of these people and we take a lot of crap. Anyway, there were a bunch of excited waitresses the other day when Chef went outside and gave the people a load of trouble for making a waitress cry... Chef can be a pretty cool guy when he wants to be!

Well, I haven't had any trouble since I've returned. But it's only been 2 days, hopefully I can remain trouble-free!

On a completely different note, yesterday's rain was ridiculous. Suppose I shouldn't complain, though, Montreal isn't currently 2m deep in Gulf water. The butt end of Katrina wasn't too hard on us. Anyway, by the time I got to work yesterday morning, I was soaked up to the thighs from the rain. Guess I should have brought more than just an umbrella! Well, that's why good to wear a uniform for work, I was able to change out of my soaking clothes and stick them in the dryer. Going home I was relatively dry with the exception of my still-sopping shoes!