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Sunday, December 30, 2007

NYC

Holy cow... spent the day in NYC. I'm so fucking exhausted, I can't even type. I've seen a week's worth of sightseeing in half a day. Jesus H. Christ.

I wish I didn't have to fly home tomorrow EARLY morning. Fuck. I'm gonna die.

More on another day.... zzzzzzzzzzzzz............

Saturday, December 29, 2007

I love Victoria's Secret

Current Victoria's Secret sale - Buy one bra, get the second at 50%. Also, 10 pairs of select style underwear for $25. Sweeeeeeeeet. I bought two bras for myself and ten pairs of underwear for Jules (who has never owned any VS stuff). I love the IPEX bras... no under wires and great support.

I also bought a 5 year diary. It's really cool. I'm going to use it with Jules to note significant (and maybe some less significant) events in our relationship so we can flip through it and look at it and remember on occasion. I think she'll like it a lot. :)

Shopping is exhausting... I think I'm definitely done for this trip. Tomorrow Jen and are are probably going up to NYC for a few hours because I've never been. I'm sure that'll be equally exhausting but hopefully a lot of fun as well!

Friday, December 28, 2007

More shopping in Philly

Find of the day - Sketchers shoes and Bath & BodyWorks stuff. My mom's birthday is in January and she's rabid for the B&BW stuff... I, on the other hand, LOVE Sketchers. I also picked up a really nice pair of blue jeans at Old Navy and a graphic tee shirt.

I can't imagine going back to work in a few days. Ugh. I've been really good with not looking at work stuff this week. It can only hold off for another couple of days and then begins Stress Fest 2008. :(

Today I'm grateful for:

* Dexter season two on TeVo
* The Dexter actress who thankfully must have taken acting lessons between seasons
* Vacation
* A girlfriend who misses me and whom I miss
* My two swell doctor friends

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Another day of vacation...

I was pretty lazy today for the most part. Jen and I went to bed pretty late last night (2 am, late by our standards) so I ended up sleeping until 8:30 am when Wendi called so I could let her in to the building (I had her set of keys for my shopping adventure yesterday) and then went back to sleep until 12:30 pm when I finally decided I should get up and shower because I had to do *something* touristy. I ended up finally leaving the apartment at 2:30 pm and went to the Mütter Museum where I learned a lot about Benjamin Franklin and how smart he was when it came to medicine and, well, everything. I also saw a lot of interesting and disgusting things that were gathered and preserved over many, many years. I left there at 5 pm, exhausted as if my brain just couldn't take any more weirdness, and walked back to the apartment.

Lovely dinner tonight at FARMiCiA where we stuffed ourselves with good food. Jen and Wendi were finally able to open their Christmas presents from me tonight - thankfully the two cute mugs I brought did not break in my mishandled bag. I also gave them some tea, the movie Hairspray and Margaret Cho's Assassin.

Oh yeah, I received flowers from Jules today. I am not too happy about that though - it's fucking expensive to send flowers and she has such a small budget to work with. She knows how I feel about her going over budget for things that aren't necessary... sigh... I didn't give her shit though (I'm attempting to be less critical), I just thanked her.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Return to flyer

Well, I went shopping at the ghetto mall today for some clothes and toiletries. Before I left, I checked with US Airways to see if those morons knew where my bag was. It was still lost at that point. When I stumbled back to Jen and Wendi's place, exhausted and spent (literally as well as figuratively), I checked the US Airways website and saw that they both found and delivered my bag while I was shopping. I KNEW that would happen. Oh well... now I have some clothes that are so-so (by the time I got to the mall, everything was picked over because of the Boxing Day sales... I was barely able to get ANYTHING close to my size) and the stuff I came with.

I swear, I am never going shopping again on Boxing Day. Fucking craziness!!! I couldn't even step foot into Bath & Bodyworks because it was so packed with people. Old Navy was a disaster. The food court was insane. Just an overall nightmare. I have blisters on my feet from walking around so much... ouch.

Oh well, at least I have my stuff back.

Wendi is working through a 27 hr shift today so Jen and I ordered pizza and played Boggle for the better part of the evening. I think I'm going to have to look for my Boggle game when I get home. The damn thing is addictive.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Christmas how I like it

When I awoke this morning, I was hoping that Santa had left my missing bag under Jen and Wendi's Christmas tree, but no such luck. There were, however, many great presents to unwrap. One of which was a gift Wendi gave Jen - Boggle Deluxe. Jen and her family are huge Boggle fans and so she's very, very good at playing it. We ended up playing it for several hours today. Let me tell you, I have now learned several words I never knew existed. Lots of fun and in Wendi's case, lots of giggling, although that may have been brought on by her cough syrup.

Wendi made us a fantastic breakfast of scrambled eggs and banana and pecan pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup. Mmmm... we Boggled through lunch and ended up noshing on junk food before settling down to watch Love Actually. Next up will be dinner that we picked up from the only place we could find open this afternoon.

Still no fucking bag from US Airways. This morning they told me that it arrived in Philly at midnight and that United Airlines had it and they were requesting a transfer so they could deliver it to me this evening, but I called back this evening and now they have no idea where it is. Fuck! I'm calling United Airlines next. If I don't get it by tomorrow morning, I have to go shopping for clothes because wearing my travel clothes for three days straight is not something I want to do.

Today I'm grateful for:

* My family taking care of my girlfriend while I'm away
* Jen and Wendi for sharing a third Christmas with me :)
* Wine
* Kitties who sort of, kinda remember this strange person who visits sometimes
* New places to visit
* Friends who call me on my cell phone to leave me a 'Merry Christmas' message

Monday, December 24, 2007

Baggage Claim

Traveled all day. Tired as hell. US Airways lost my bag. Fantastic start to my Philadelphia adventure! Ah well, at least tomorrow's Christmas. :)

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Saturday (with no work... how strange)

I wonder if it's weird that my girlfriend will be spending Christmas with my family while I spend Christmas away with friends...

My family adores Jules. I joke that they adore her more than they like me. They love that she's spending Christmas with them... in fact, it was my family who insisted. I hope it all goes okay on Christmas eve and day...

We're currently watching What A Girl Wants, which was a cheap impulse buy at Zellers this evening. It's semi-British which appeals to Jules and it has Amanda Bynes and Colin Firth in it which appeals to me. So far it's not bad. : )

I'm also drinking Guinness, a guilty pleasure that I picked up last year in Minneapolis. I spent a week trying it out in the Irish pub at the hotel I was staying at during my first business trip to GMI HQ with a colleague from a plant in Ontario. We would finish our grueling day at work and then go back to the hotel and have dinner and several pints of Guinness in the pub. The plant in Ontario was shut down at the end of November of this year - a move that shocked our plant in Edmonton, but business is business. Now, when I have Guinness, I think of Kathleen and feel a little sad about everyone who worked at that plant who are now either unemployed or working at new jobs. :\

Friday, December 21, 2007

Done!

Me = Officially on vacation now. Wooooooooooohooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! I got off of work at 8:30 pm and I've promised myself the evening to do nothing. Tomorrow begins the chaos of getting ready for Philly bright and early on Monday morning (4 am, ick). Tomorrow Jules and I are also viewing apartments. Yeah... somehow I got myself into that...

Candy Cane Lane = A long stretch of a residential street where almost every house is decorated for Christmas really well. Normally it's really worth going (also a great place to give to the Food Bank), but this year absolutely sucked.

Bright Lights - Several businesses sponsor light displays in one of the largest city parks. Absolutely amazing and definitely worth the $10/car. It takes a long time to drive the loop though... the park is huge and the cars go slow because people are taking a ton of pictures.

Today I'm grateful for:

* The end of a very hard year
* Vacation!!!!
* A wonderful girlfriend
* Great friends who send me Christmas cards

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Pics from the weekend


Camera phone pic of Jules and I on Candy Cane Lane on Sunday night. I was bundled up because it was freezing outside...


The snowman that Chantel, my sister, made. It's short and funny-looking. She said the snow was too hard to do a bigger one.


Me on Candy Cane Lane freezing my arse off...

And this is why I love Canadians in sport...



Canadians always know how to have a good time when they play sports. This is from a week ago but I love this picture so much... it says a lot about Canadian athletes. The one pouring is Britt Janyk who won the downhill ski race that day. Kelly Vanderbeek is the one drinking and she placed sixth. Canadians will celebrate if they come in 65th... it doesn't matter. It's like they're just happy to be there (paying their own way because our funding sucks).

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Back on the horse... so to speak

I went to another hockey game last night. This time the Dallas Stars were in town. We ended up losing in a shoot out. Being there again was not that bad, despite being able to see where I had been sitting the last time from the seats we were in this time. At one point the puck flipped into the crowd and my blood ran cold, but it hit the ground instead of a person, so that was good.

Work is hellacious right now. I can't freakin' wait to be on vacation, although who am I kidding... I'm still going to have to monitor some stuff while I'm gone.

I totally did not get around to sending Christmas cards to *anyone* this year. Not even people I see every day where I could just HAND them one. I've been so damn busy it's not even funny.

Tonight I finished work at 8 pm and decided to go to Wal-mart to pick up something for Jules. Holy Christ was that a mistake. I guess there's a reason it's open 24 hours because you HAVE to go in the middle of the night just to be able to walk down an aisle way without being crushed by the crowd.

Tomorrow the office people are doing a gift exchange thing (that I totally did not want to participate in)... we draw numbers and the first person opens a present... second person can pick that one or open one... etc., etc... with the last person getting to pick from everything. Anyway, I decided to be practical and hopefully a little original... I bought a car seat warmer/massager. It's at least a gift I wouldn't mind ending up with. Currently I'm using my sister's seat warmer (she let me use it the night I broke my nose and I just haven't taken it out of my car yet...heh).

Well, it's time for bed. I'm beyond exhausted...

Today I'm grateful for:

* My upcoming vacation
* Tomorrow being pay day
* My girlfriend
* My American twin for updating her blog so I know she's alive

Monday, December 17, 2007

Surgery

Doctor determined I need surgery to repair the inside of my nose. I'm now booked for January 23rd. It's a day surgery procedure that'll take about four days to recover from.

One thing I know for sure... having a camera shoved up my nose is NOT fun.

Four more days of work/hell until vacation. Yay....

Wendi's birthday today... wow... I've known Wendi for seven years now... where does time go??

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Hm... well, Shannon over on Other-Motherhood tagged everyone for this, so here goes:

Write the first sentence from the first post of every month, and the last sentence from the last post of every month.

(I am taking the last line before my gratitude part of the posts)

January - N/A

February - People use that phrase, "More [blank] than I know what to do with." quite often. Tim Hortons coffee.

March - I realized, as I pulled away from the drive-thru window at Tim Horton's this morning, that people do not say 'thank you' or exchange praise nearly enough as they should. Boy, have I been punished.

April - This weekend sucked for the most part. In all honesty though, I would gladly re-live last August when I had strep throat for almost the entire month if it meant fixing what's happening now. (Gee... can you tell I was starting to go through relationship hell?)

May - I'm feeling a little better today, although I think I've blown my nose about 200 times. I'm just so upset...

June - Well, I had an hour-long phone conversation with her this morning. I have a tee time to face at 7:30 in the morning.

July - Golfing went pretty well this morning, considering I haven't golfed since September 29 th of last year. I love being happy and productive. (Starting to perk up here now...)

August - My uncle passed away this morning. I don't get it...

September - My god, I'm getting terrible with this updating thing... damn vortex of first stage-ness! So yeah, no more relaxed mood...

October - Well, for four days this week, I worked from 7 am to 7 or 8 pm. Not sure why that is.

November - Well, I think winter has begun. I wish I could win the lottery...

December - I received a hockey jersey from the Edmonton Oilers today.

Craziness

Work is so crazy that I can't seem to focus on anything else. My laundry is piled up, the movies I rented a while ago are still sitting on my desk, I haven't given my trip much of a thought yet (aside from saying 'thank god I have a trip coming up'), I haven't sent any Christmas cards, I haven't really done much Christmas shopping... I'm just a disorganized mess.

I'm seeing a ENT specialist on Monday for my nose. I need my left nostril looked at because it seems to be partially blocked and I need to be cleared for flying. I still get several headaches and periods of dizziness which sucks, especially when I'm at work.

Today we had the warmest weather we've had in weeks (+2C) but then in the afternoon came a huge blizzard with heavy wet snow and it was almost impossible to drive home after work. It wasn't so much driving as it was sliding home...

Today I'm grateful for:

* My family
* My girlfriend
* Not getting into an accident
* My upcoming trip
* Finally finishing one of my new books after months of sitting on the shelf

Friday, December 7, 2007

Brrrrrrrr...... it's frrrreeeeeeeeezing here...

It is so damn cold here lately. This whole past week has been very frigid... like, -20C and below with snow almost every day. Tonight, on the way home from work, I saw three big accidents during my 15 minute commute. How sad is that... the roads are very slippery despite some of them looking clear. At one point, I hit my brakes and I just kept on going because the road was like glass. It's amazing, the things we do to get around without having to brave the elements. Huge, heavy, fuel filled vehicles on ice... yeah, totally stupid.

I've resumed working long hours again now that my nose isn't bothering me as much. This month has been insane already and it's only the 7th. I'm really looking forward to my vacation at the end of the month...

On Monday I brought my cat, Molly, over to my place for a visit. She was freaked out for the first day but then did pretty well after that. It was nice having her here but I definitely value my sleep now that she's gone again (my grandparents came and picked her up yesterday). She's so adorable in the middle of the night, walking all over me, meowing and rubbing herself against everything. Annoying but adorable.

I finished watching season one of Dexter on DVD and I'm craving more. Jules bought me one of the books to tide me over and it's great because the show is obviously written closely to the style of the books.

I've also finally started watching the third and final season of Veronica Mars. I bought it when it came out on DVD but I was putting it off because I don't want to finish it and have nothing to look forward to. So far it's pretty good but it's all bittersweet of course... sigh.

Well, off to take a warm bath because I'm freezing my ass off...

Today I'm grateful for:

- A warm house to live in (except it's cold right now for some reason...)
- My girlfriend and all of the wonderful things she does for me
- Not getting into an accident on the super slippery roads
- My upcoming vacation
- Good books to read

Monday, December 3, 2007

Jersey

I received a hockey jersey from the Edmonton Oilers today. It's signed by Ales Hemsky, my current favourite player. :)

Ugh... work sucks. I can't wait for Christmas break!