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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Scams and crashes

Here's a strange co-incidence for you... I made my last payment on my Dell laptop this week (yes, I was very stupid by paying for it over three years... I've learned many lessons in finance since then) and then suddenly the day before yesterday, I received one of those blue screens with a kernal error or whatever... I've seen the screen before a few times at work, but never on my laptop. I had one hell of a time re-starting after that. That night I forgot to shut it down because I wasn't feeling well and pretty much left everything on as it was. Then yesterday, the fan went into crazy overdrive and scared the hell out of Julie who was home during the day. She did not know that she could just hold the power button down until it turned off so she propped my laptop up on coasters to get more air flow under it. I came home to it sounding like it was going to lift off the desk and fly away. I had a hell of a time shutting it off - it had some sort of Microsoft error and I ended up having to hold the power button down to get it to shut down. I didn't touch it for the rest of the night.

This morning I turned on my laptop to check if I had been paid today. It took a million years to boot up and then was sooooo sluggish once I tried doing anything. I managed to finally open a web browser and check my bank account - what do I find? My credit card has three charges on it from the past week that I never made. I also had a charge from a company once a month since August that I somehow never picked up on. Needless to say, I was late for work this morning. Julie called the number of the company that was charging my credit card and they immediately apologized and said they would stop charging - they asked no questions about why or anything. The other charges, we looked up and saw they were scams. I called the credit card company from work and put in a fraud claim. They've put a hold on my card and will be issuing me a new one. Apparently the investigation takes about six weeks at which time I should see the money back on my account on the next statement.

I also logged onto my online banking at work and changed my password and security questions for good measure.

So... my computer is still a little sluggish but Norton 360 can't seem to find anything wrong. I'm not sure if my computer has just decided to show it's age on the week I've finally paid it off (the fan is on again, not as loud though), or if I've been hacked or have a virus or worm or something.

Happy freakin' New Year's Eve to me...

Monday, December 29, 2008

Blimey, pip pip, slice of cake, hello me ole teabag, 'ow ya doin'

Jenn has asked me to write on the blog.  I believe this may be because I am staring into space and just thinking random me, alone, by-meself thoughts.  Funny how when someone asks what one was thinking, it can't really be answered.  I had actually been thinking how relaxing I find the TV listings channel.  And ironing...and then why I find those things relaxing...

This then lead to wondering why I can't actually dive into any one of the three books I'm reading (one re. the history of cleaning, a book about fast food/obesity and a novel, Queen Camilla by Sue Townsend...which is terribly funny and wrong on many levels).  So after staring into real space I logged on to stare at cyber-space, surfed a bit, hummed an Earth (RIP) Kitt song . . . checked to see if I am missing something huge and important.  

Nothing huge and important about Samantha Ronson being the 2008 worst dressed, or Ricki Martin as the 2008 worst closet case ever to have sashayed the lavender trail . . . nothing huge and revealing about Hollywood romantics make up and break ups of 2008.  Not a fan of the lists....I want the now, the new, the current.  I want tomorrow and I want it today. 2008....lovely, let's move on people, let's move on.

New Year was never really my thing...too much pressure of old and new when  really it is all such a terribly over rated social construct that it can never live up to whatever it is supposed to.  I'm not cynical I assure...when things truly change or there is a renewal and resurgence of hope and dreams, I am right up there with Oprah bayyybeeee...but the notion of it being collective and almost enforced...I understand it from a socio-psycho viewpoint (we would be in chaos without societal routines and so called shared traditions)...but it does get a little tiresome.  And besides, no one wants to see their step-Uncle crying in his beer and trying to kiss ya Mam at the New Year party cos he has suddenly remembered who he forgot during the singing of Auld Lang wotsit...

Regarding New Year, I was given a week off which I do not even need...I know it is lovely that employers do this but I would rather the option.  Thankfully I took some work home...all my good friends went away for Christmas because they are twenty somethings in university with these things called families. I've a few left here so I will do the rounds Tuesday me thinks.  Drop in on people who are working, take them a coffee, chat, sigh a lot and think about the TV listings channel.  In other news, I have also spent much time considering the fire place channel that is, until I realised it was not live (THAT is how much time I spent watching it see).  I felt cheated after that, clearly highlighting some narcissistic tendencies in that I thought they were setting the tele alight just for me year after year.

Jenn is playing some sort of poker on the Wii.  I think I shall go and read about the collapse of America under too much food.  It's very good so far.  Maybe I will cook me a pizza, some pasta and round it off with several scoops of ice cream.  Aha.  I've bought over twenty books in the last couple of weeks so I should be reading rather than writing me thinks.  

Carry on.  

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Finally

Finally, the busy season at work is over. I'm now off for five days in a row... I can't believe it. It feels strange to have actual time to relax - hopefully I remember how. Obviously it hasn't hit me yet because I've spent the evening doing laundry and cleaning around the apartment. Hopefully getting it out of the way now will allow total relaxation tomorrow (well, for most of the day anyway...)

Tomorrow I'll be picking Jules up at work and heading out to my parents' place. We're going to go to the Christmas Eve service at the church my sister goes to and then we'll spend the night at my parents' place so we don't have to drive there Christmas morning.

Well, before I drain all of my energy for the day, I think I'm going to make a trip to Wal-mart tonight. How bad can it be, right? ;-)

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Craziness and shopping... possibly the same thing

I haven't posted in a while because I've been feeling kind of blah again. Well, "blah" isn't really the best descriptive for it, something like "all over the houses" or however that expression Julie sometimes uses goes. I've been sad, then angry, then out-right depressed, then cranky and basically hard to live with. Change of weather? Missed a couple doses of happy pills? Cabin fever? Stress at work? Lack of days off? Poor diet? Probably a measure of all of them. Thankfully, there are four more days left in my 'busy season' at work at which time I feel the need for that gavel they have on Wall Street - I'd like the bang the hell out of some counter or desk and declare 2008 dunzo.

On the weekend, I got up early on my one day off (that being Saturday) and drove to West Edmonton Mall. You can clearly tell at this point that I am out of my freakin' mind. Going to the, what is it now, second largest mall in the world? Third? How many have the Oil Tycoons in India and/or Japan built now, I've lost track. Anyway, going there on a Saturday in December. The second last Saturday before Christmas. AND, I went to the busiest store in the whole freaking mall - Bath & Bodyworks. Holy hell, now this location is the only one in Alberta, mind you, so it's packed at 9 am on a Tuesday no matter what time of year, but on a Saturday at 10 am, it's absolutely sick. Three lines to the cashiers started at the front of the store. Like, the FRONT of the store where those blue bags are hung for poor saps to pick up and hurl random lotions and soaps in while they wistfully look around hoping there'll miraculously be one Cucumber Melon body wash left but seeing they're at the mid to back of the store realizing they need to suddenly draw up a plan with their friend/partner/husband/child like a high school football coach would in the fourth quarter of a state high school championship game.

I'm not making this up... I actually heard this...

"Okay, you stand in line, I'm going to try to reach the hand soaps."
"Alright, but I wouldn't go that way... maybe cut through line two, go down past those candles and then zip back through line one over by that woman over there."
"Hm... yeah, that seems like that'll work. Okay, I promise I'll be back by the time you reach the front of the line. If I'm not, just grab what you can as you pass it and we'll make do."

I end up grabbing some body wash (the cucumber melon shelf was bare, dammit...), one hand soap, a lotion my sister really likes (Julie and I picked her name for Christmas presents this year) and a little tube of a really nice hand 'treatment' for a friend of mine. I wanted to pick up some of the candles like the one Jen and Wendi bought me for Christmas last year but they didn't have any. I was very disappointed because I LOVED that candle. :(

After escaping Bath & Bodyworks, I stopped at HMV to pick up my sister's other present, the first season of Flight Of The Conchords or something... all I know is it was freakin' expensive because they had it packaged up with a cd as well. I looked wistfully at season five of Law & Order SVU which I want sooooooooooo bad but seeing how the cheapest I've seen it is $60, that just isn't going to happen for the next five or six months while I work on fully recovering from our two month financial crisis. Unfortunately, re-building a savings account for emergency funds and re-paying off my credit card is more important than my crush on Casey Novak and Olivia Benson... darn it.

Later that day, Julie and I went to London Drugs (hm... the Canadian equivalent to Sav-On in the States, I guess) and picked up my parents and sisters and the gay boys downstairs a little gift. We were initially not buying anyone but my sister a gift, not even each other, but to cheer me up, Julie suggested we buy for my family & the boys. She called it my gift from her, to which I'm thrilled with and very grateful. They've all helped us out quite a bit this year and it's nice to be able to give them a small token of thanks. Of course Julie's parents have helped us out too and it would be nice to send them a little something, but I have to ask Julie about that to see what she'd like to do. Now that it's already the middle of December, there's no chance anything will even get there before January, but it's still worth asking.

Anyway, this post is getting too rambly for my liking... sheesh. Last night, Julie and I went to see the movie, 'Valkyrie' on a free pass she picked up at a bookstore the other day. It's that movie about Hitler's Germany and an almost but obviously not quite successful attempt to kill Hitler and take over Berlin by some of Hitler's Generals, etc. It was better than I expected and it actually builds suspense to where you get to thinking they might actually pull it off until you suddenly bring yourself back to reality to remember that, no, obviously this doesn't work. I think it was well done, though I'm not sure why they feel Christmas Day is a good opening day for such a movie.
On Thursday, we're going to see some Adam Sandler movie that's also opening on Christmas Day. Yay free movie passes! :)

Well, I should get off the computer and get ready to head to work. It's technically my day off but I've had to work at least half the day for probably two months now so that didn't really work out in the end. Oh well, last week! I'm dropping my car off at the dealership this morning as well - the engine light is on for no reason at all. When I called about it yesterday they told me it's happening a lot due to the cold weather - the cars have so many sensors nowadays and one of them probably got frost bite (that's my terminology, not the experts). This weekend we sat at -27 C for three days so I guess that'll do it!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Would the parents of the sons commanding Oh Canada please teach them a bit of discipline??

I voted for the first time this year.  

So blame me.  What political rucus there be - blame me.  What a load of fuss and nonsense it all is.  

I had a very brief thought of terror concerning there being a Canadian civil war.  I know this to be unfounded by the way people have since reacted when I've mentioned, "A Canadian civil war". People (Canadians) give me this half shaky head and frown combination and put their hands out as if to say, "It's not Bosnia ya loopy Limey".  That, or just state emphatically as if one sentence of conviction will do it, "This is Canada".  Or, my favourite, the sarcastically seasoned...."Er...this is Canada?".  It's quite comforting to know that when the CBC say sweeping overstatements such as, "The nation is DIVIDED"...it's completely untrue.  It would be better to say (again with the same conviction), "Parliament is crumbling.  And the nation don't care.  Now, over Claire with the weather . . .".

I don't think I personally set the nonsense in motion with parliament but what a year to get ones voting rights.  You realise in the States this would be made "historic" (already) by the likes of CNN et al.  It would be a national disaster in the U.S. (much like their current one) . . . it would be a, "Where were YOU when McCain and Obama became King and Queen of America"...in Canada, the only time this sort of news matters is when they interupt one of the many fabulous formulaic crime-drama shows the fabulously panic'd States feed us nightly, to bring the so called 'news' to us.  Who cares???? I was just learning about how the fibre-optic molecule of a dense shagpile carpet fibre from 1984 might just save this man from the death sentence....neeeeext....

In other news (real, important news), I now have a fantastic job working with a wonderful mental health organization - back in non-profit and working long, long days because I have a huge office with my name already on the door, a great big desk and a view of the city to die for.   Think non-profit Melanie Griffith in Working Girl if you will.  For I DO see hope in the morning light people.

My former work is declaring bankruptcy...this is no wonder...they would expense lap dances,sex trade workers, snort coke at their desks, buy me very expensive underwear....this is the filthy rich you see....they are utterly filthy.  I am on a lot less money but working twice as hard and loving it 100% more.   I've no disgusting men to deal with or women who are so gender divided it belies belief - now it's just the loveliest of men and women who have beliefs, hope and an agenda that is not based soley around themselves...

Well, that's all for now.....over to Claire for the weather. 

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I'm watching the tv listings channel right now, trying to find out when Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (or as I like to call it, Law and Order: Super Hot Mariska Hargitay) is on tonight and this diet pill ad keeps playing at the top of the screen... apparently you take a dose before bed and you lose a ridiculous amount of weight in weeks. I think that's hilarious. I wonder how many people have run out to Wal-mart to buy it and then were disappointed when they didn't lose 10 lbs in a week.

Julie is out with one of the gay boys downstairs at a charity event for children. She's his straight date for the evening. :) I saw a bit of the event on the evening news and it looked pretty fun so she is probably having a really good time. I'm really glad for that, she deserves to have a nice night out.

I had dinner at my parents' place this evening and while I was there, my mom showed me these really cool balls that she got online for the dog. They're really hard rubber and if you press really hard in a certain spot, they light up really bright. Now when they take Maxwell for a walk in the evening, they can still take a ball for him to run after and fetch. What a neat idea... totally great for this time of year when it's dark at 5 pm. :)

Time for SVU... I see Clea DuVall is on it. I've never seen her look this good. :)

Monday, November 24, 2008

Because I'm bored...

Well, since I have time to waste before bed, I thought I'd copy over the Christmas Meme that Stacey had on her blog...


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I used to be all about the wrapping paper, but now I mostly use gift bags. When Christmas is over, my family collects all the gift bags and stores them until the next year when we can use them again. We do that with the boxes for clothes. We're still using some that have 'Eatons' and 'Woodward's' printed on 'em. ;)

2. Real tree or Artificial? My family always had an artificial tree but for the past two years, they've gotten a real one. As for the tree Julie and I have, it's a two ft high artificial tree with little white lights that I bought from Canadian Tire last year for $5.00.

3. When do you put up the tree? Normally sometime in early to mid December, but this year, I decided I wanted the tree out about a week ago. We marked the night by watching a Christmas movie (that Chevy Chase one... um... Christmas Vacation or something...)

4. When do you take the tree down? Around the first week of January.

5. Do you like eggnog? No, I've never understood why people enjoy it so much.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Lego.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My grandfather.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Either one of my sisters.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? I don't but my parents used to. I think it was lost in a move one year though...

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail of course!

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? The first thing that comes to mind is the electric shaver my great-grandmother gave me when I was six years old. I didn't even know what it was. My mom took it away from me and hid it in my parents' bathroom. My mom told me a few years later that my great-grandmother was kind of... um... not all there sometimes. The other gift that comes to mind is a long sleeved denim shirt with little barn yard animals embroidered around the metal snap buttons down the front and a bard yard fence embroidered around the collar. I think I was about 12 years old when I received that from an aunt. That shirt never left my closet until the day it made it's way into a bag of clothes sent to Goodwill.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? That Chevy Chase one we watched and A Christmas Story.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? When I find something perfect for someone. This year, I brought home a bottle of mackintosh and maple wine from Ontario for my grandparents. It's really sweet and is good for sipping or for drizzling over desserts. They love sipping brandy and liquors around Christmas so I think they'll really like it.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I hadn't until the year before last. My co-worker gave me a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream which I absolutely cannot stand. I wrapped it up and gave it to my grandmother. :)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Aside from Christmas dinner... the little oranges that are easy to peel that only seem to come out around this time of year.

16. Lights on the tree? Oh yes. I love having all the other lights off and just sitting with the Christmas tree lights softly lighting the room.

17. Favorite Christmas song? All I Want For Christmas Is You sung by Mariah Carey (love that album)

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel. I've loved the Christmases spent away from home (three of them with Jen and Wendi and one with Sandra and her family waaaaaaaay back in '98.)

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer's? Yep.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? I looked over at our tree to see what's on top and... I can't believe I didn't notice this before now, but Julie has attached a little cow to the top of the tree. LOL...

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Crowded stores. It's frustrating to go in for something non-Christmasy and have to wait five hours in line.

23. Favorite ornament theme or color? I like all sorts of mis-matched ornaments. Right now all we have are cute little tiny Pillsbury dough boys holding random things (obviously a gift from work... can't get away from the freakin' dough boy) so we're hoping to find some other little ornaments at the dollar store this week.

24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? My grandmother's cabbage rolls.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Four lovely days off and time to spend with my wonderful girlfriend and our family. Although this is technically our second Christmas together, this will be the first one we'll be spending in the same country. :)

First day on the job for Jules

According to Julie, her first day at her new job went well. She says she's super busy and there is a lot to remember but she likes it. She has her own office with a nice view of city centre and really nice co-workers who checked up on her and made sure she was settling in okay on her first day. :)

The weather today was pretty mild, which seems very strange for the 24th of November. It's snowed once or twice in the past couple of weeks but nothing that lasted more than a day. I'm really enjoying the fact that we haven't had enough snow to have the downtown snow plows out. In this city, the snow is only plowed from the busiest streets and most bus routes. Living downtown, that means every damn street near us gets plowed between 1 and 5 am whenever there is any kind of remotely substantial snowfall. It never fails to wake us up - if it's not the building-rattling scraping of the road, it's the frickin' back-up warning alarm that they have... "Beeeeeeep....beeeeeeeeeep.....beeeeeeeep....beeeeeeeep....beeeeeeep...." FUCK OFF!!!!! THERE IS NO ONE OUTSIDE TO GET RUN OVER!!!! They are all trying to SLEEP for the love of God!!! And because we live on a super busy through way through downtown, it gets plowed simultaneously by three plows, so it feels like there's an earthquake happening and then they start to back up to get the tiny bit of snow they missed the first 40 times they went by and... well, you get the picture. I'm totally glad that hasn't started yet. :)

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Keifer Sutherland looks pretty good these days... and other ramblings

I'm currently watching some show about really special children. Right now they're telling the story of this 13 year old blind teenager who is autistic and a musical genius. He can hear a song played once or sung once and parrot it back perfectly. Amazing...

Anyway, I wanted to post about how wonderful my girlfriend is. I worked from 6 - 4 today (I haven't had two days off in a row in three months...sigh...) and when I walked in the door this evening, Julie had a candlelight dinner waiting for me. Steak and baby potatoes, steamed broccoli and grilled mushrooms. Mmmmm.... I'll have to tell my mom that we did well by her groceries. :) Very romantic and sweet and totally unexpected.

This damn rash or hives or whatever from that damn cream is still the same... annoying as hell. I sure hope it goes away soon because eventually I do want to wear normal clothes (i.e. my Victoria Secret bras, collared shirts) again.

Julie is chillin' on the couch watching the tv listings channel. In fact, she just announced, "Y'know... sometimes I just like to watch this channel." Okay... whatever makes her happy, I guess. :) I think I'll leave her to watch the tv listings... oh wait, she's decided on 24 now (hence the title of this entry... he really is looking better than he did back in the early 90's)... and I'm going to head to bed. I can't wait until I can enjoy an actual weekend to rest. Unfortunately, that won't be until around Dec 21st. Damn busy season...

I need to catch up on all the blogs I haunt. I miss all the cute kid stories and such. :)

Friday, November 21, 2008

Generosity of others

Sorry there haven't been any updates in the past couple of weeks. Both of us have been depressed and stressed out. Julie never received pay for the last four weeks she worked at her job. She's in the process of filing an official complaint with the Employment Standards of Alberta because of that.

In better news, she has been hired as an executive assistant to the Director of the Canadian Mental Health Association. She'll be super busy but I think she'll do awesome at it. It doesn't pay as much as her old job (about a $9,000 pay cut) because it's non-profit, but she'll be in a lower tax bracket, so she could possibly end up bringing home close to what she used to!

To help us cover December's rent, Julie's parents surprised us with an incredible gift of $450. We are so grateful - that plus all the overtime I've been working to make up the rest will get us squeaking by with just enough for the time being. My mother also surprised the hell out of us by showing up the other night with three bags of groceries and a pack of paper towels and a pack of toilet paper (the big ones from Costco). We had tears in our eyes, we were so happy. All Julie could manage was to stand in the middle of the kitchen and just stare in awe as I unpacked the groceries.

"Look Julie... cheese!"
"Oh my god... we haven't had cheese in..."
"Yeah, I can't remember the last time either."

"Look Julie... chicken breasts!"
"Oh my god..."

"Look Julie... vegetables! Holy cow, I don't remember the last time we had fresh vegetables!"
"..."

And the same dialogue happened for the oranges, the bread, the tuna, the juice, the crackers...

Needless to say, we've been living off of Kraft Dinner (Safeway had a 'buy one case, get one free' sale a few weeks back) and soup for the past... oh, I don't know, two months? And now we have a cupboard and fridge full of healthy stuff that we haven't had the luxury of buying. I have to say, for being poor at the moment, I don't think I've ever felt so rich.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the gay boys downstairs slipped a card with a $50 Swiss Chalet gift card under the door. Wow... the generosity of friends and family while in a crisis so amazing. I get teary-eyed just thinking about this past week and the help we've received. It's definitely pulled us out of our depression, that's for sure. We can and will survive this speed bump in our lives. December will be ridiculously tight and nobody is getting any Christmas presents from us, but we'll get by. : ) It's so powerful to go through something so hard and come out okay on the other side. I shouldn't say that quite yet because goodness knows something horrible could happen, but I'll chance it anyway. ; )

In other news, I'm finally getting used to wearing contact lenses. I do miss wearing glasses though... too bad mine got stepped on by accident (they fell from the coffee table...) and the frame bent too much. I looked for a few months to see if I could find some frames that would sit okay on my crooked nose (by the way, yesterday marked a year since I was hit in the face by the puck at a hockey game! *shudder*) but I was unsuccessful. Perhaps one month/year I'll find a good pair... in the meantime, I can wear the contacts and avoid red, strained eyes and monster headaches. : )

And lastly, I'm almost afraid to mention this as it seems that all I do is talk about what ails me, but for some reason all of sudden the anti-inflammatory cream the doctor prescribed me to put on my shoulder has caused me to break out in a rash. I've been using the cream for nearly a month now and have had no issues until today. Now, right where it was rubbed on, I have all these small red bumps that are itchy and annoying. I put some aloe vera on it and took an allergy pill and hopefully that will reduce it and/or make it go away. I guess I won't be using that cream anymore!!

That's it for tonight... oh wait, I'll mention that I made Julie pull out our little Christmas tree and watch Christmas Vacation the other night. Heh... I just felt in the mood for Christmas... who cares if it's over a month away. : )

Monday, November 3, 2008

Another Update

Julie has had a few interviews in the past couple of weeks and two really good ones coming up this week. One is for a position at the provincial museum and the other is a position at the Canadian mental health board (or something like that). She's been preparing for days - I read her notes and points she made and after the first page I was ready to hire her for something.

My shoulder pain has lessened somewhat - it still hurts like hell to sit at the computer and type but it's not unbearable. I am sleeping better at night although I still cannot sleep on either side. It's hard falling asleep on my back but I'm getting used to it. My doctor gave me some topical anti-inflammatory cream to put on it which helps a little although it's really freakin' messy and impossible to not get all over my shirt because it doesn't really rub in. Oh well... some relief is worth doing more laundry, I suppose.

I had an appointment with a plastic surgeon this afternoon about this pain in my left index finger that I've had for the past 17 years. It was originally thought to be nerve damage because whenever something brushes against the nail bed and surrounding area I have unbelievably acute pain that usually causes my entire hand to go numb for a few minutes. I've been to a neurologist, several doctors and now finally a plastic surgeon has diagnosed a glomus tumor as the cause. I was so damn happy, I nearly cried. FINALLY I know what's causing it and more importantly, I know it can be fixed. I'll go in for surgery and they'll remove the tumor and hopefully get it all (sometimes they can't get it all and in 10-15 years the pain comes back). The surgeon said that it will be instant relief and that my nail will grow in normally. I honestly cannot even imagine the relief at this point - to be able to actually use my finger for simple things again. As it is, I hold my index finger away when I tie my shoes or button up clothing or open anything or grab anything. My second finger has taken over the job of my index finger so it'll be very strange to be able to use it after nearly twenty years. Wow.

Julie needed a hair cut and since we're living very frugally right now, I cut it. She asked me to do it and although I told her I've never cut hair before, she insisted. Well, I tried doing what I've seen my hairdresser do to me and it seems to have turned out semi-alright. With utility scissors no less. She hasn't really 'done' her hair yet so I can't tell if it's a disaster or not. She just let it dry naturally and it looks okay. She's happy with it, so I guess that's all that matters. :)

I am soooooo obsessed with Law and Order SVU these days. Well... more specifically Detective Olivia Benson and Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak. I've spent many an evening propped up with pillows on the couch with my laptop on my lap reading fic about them. There's not a whole hell of a lot considering people seem to like the Olivia/Alex pairing more (the ADA before Casey), but it's enough to feed the addiction. I was crushed when the actress who played Casey left the show after last season... the new ADA is alright but not nearly as amusing as Casey was. :(

Okay, enough typing for one day...

Today I'm grateful for:

* A diagnosis FINALLY!!!!
* My girlfriend... *cough* excuse me, common-law partner (she keeps reminding me of that)
* My family
* My job
* Fan Fiction - God bless the Internet

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Update

Well, let's see... I have screwed up my shoulder so bad a few weeks ago, I can barely function normally. I'm in agony 24/7 and can barely sleep. I'm waiting for my doctor appointment on the 15th...

Oh yes, and Julie lost her job yesterday.

Fun times.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

My day off

Finally, a day off....

My day off has so far consisted of waking up at 7 am without the aid of an alarm clock (figures... can't sleep in even when I want to), witnessing Julie's morning routine, drinking three cups of coffee while I debate getting dressed... getting dressed and then going to The Mall (as in the one all the tourists go to) because there's only one Sketchers store in the city and unfortunately it's there. Luckily, it's located right across from the brand new Bath & Bodyworks that opened last Monday, so I checked that out as well. I didn't buy anything from there though because even on a Tuesday morning, the line up was practically to the door. I didn't buy anything at the Sketchers store either because this year, apparently the fashion is to wear a ballerina slipper for shoes. Every damn pair looks minimalist in some way and takes after a ugly ballerina slipper. WTF?! Where the hell are the normal shoes?! They're on the guys side of the store. Hell, I would have taken a fancier shoe if it looked normal... I LOVE Sketchers shoes, but not this year. This year all of their women's shoe styles SUCK. I wandered around the mall for another half hour, saw some awesome looking (but outrageously expensive) shirts and blouses in Eddie Bauer that I wish I had hundreds of dollars to afford, flipped through pregnancy books at Chapters and then looked at my watch to see what time it was and saw my battery had died. Amazingly enough (well, not really, considering where I was) there was a watch store directly across from the Chapters entrance when I was leaving. I handed over my watch to get a new battery and tried on some sunglasses while I waited. I've gone about two months without sunglasses because I left my old ones on my dash on a boiling hot day in August and they warped and peeled. I can't just get any kind of sunglasses because of my crooked and still-tender nose so it takes a while to find a plastic pair (can't have nose pieces, they hurt too much) that are light enough and wide enough in the nose area to not hurt or look crooked. Luckily I found such a pair today at the watch place.

My next stop was the Rogers Wireless store because I want to lower my 'wireless essentials' package to a cheaper one. When I was dating my ex-girlfriend, we text messaged daily so I had to bump up my package to include 2500 text messages a month. Since we broke up last year, I maybe text message 10 times a month, so the bottom level essentials package would more than cover my needs. Anyway, I went into the store and asked to lower it. They told me they are not allowed to lower packages in-store, only up them. WTF?! So, I have to call them to get it done. What a frickin' scam. They're hoping I forget to call or am too lazy (which lets face it, I probably am).

After that I left the mall, went to three shoe stores in vain and then gave up and went to London drugs where I picked up my prescription and bought some gel insoles for my shoes. If I can't replace them, I guess new insoles are going to have to do. Now I'm at home back in my pyjamas, sipping decaf coffee and waiting for my girl to come home from work.

We have a new evening routine these days, or I should say a new television watching schedule. I'm not one for watching television regularly but somehow we've gotten into the habit of watching FANatical and then Law & Order SVU each night. We also watch Criminal Minds and Flashpoint which are both really good. I can never remember which night they're on but Julie mans the TV Guide so she keeps track. Last night we watched the two hour season premiere of Heroes last night. A co-worker of mine gave me season one and two to watch about a month ago and we blew through season one in a weekend but season two we've only managed one episode because we've been busy doing other things. We were able to follow along well enough last night but I'll definitely be watching season two to catch up.

Friday, September 19, 2008

Just another day

I'm tired. I'm feeling the strain of working too much this month. I'm working 20 hrs this weekend but am definitely going to take Tuesday off. And then the Saturday as well. I can't wait to get some extra sleep. I've had a hard time sleeping lately because my left shoulder is buggered up somehow causing shooting pain down my arm when I move it a certain way. It's feeling a little better this week with chiropractor and massage therapy and some icing and heat. I'm getting about five hours of quality sleep this week but am still tired because of the lack of it last weekend.

Work is really dragging me down lately. I've resorted to reading dozens of Dilbert cartoons daily as I now find they parallel my day-to-day office experiences. Some of them make me laugh out loud - those I share with a few select co-workers so they can laugh too. Julie has been sending strips via e-mail as well to cheer me up and today I signed up at the website for daily e-mail featuring either a daily comic or a 'favourite'. The other night we went to a used book store to trade in some of Julie's books and she bought me a Dilbert book which I've already read through. I think I'll keep my eye out for another used book. It's amazing how a comic making fun of an office setting can act as therapy... good therapy at that!


Today I'm grateful for:

* My wonderful girlfriend
* Our four year plan
* My car
* Therapy in all it's forms
* My friends
* My grandmother's homemade pickles
* "Badness" as Julie calls our junk food binges
* Finding new shows to get into
* Some co-workers finally getting it, so to speak

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Oh my goodness...

So, yesterday, we're at a used book store and suddenly Julie comes up to me in a hushed panic:

"Jen!"

"What?"

"Look down! Look down!"

"Wha-?"

"At my feet!"

"HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Julie had one dark coloured flat shoe on and one light coloured much higher heeled shoe on. BAHAHAHAHAHA...... when asked how walking out of the apartment in shoes of two different heights (never mind colours) could have possibly happened, she said, "Well, I thought that it was just something wrong with my leg." BAHAHAHAHA.... god, I love this woman.

Friday, September 12, 2008

What Would Larua Ingalls Wilder Do?

I can not believe my bff (best FOE forever???) and gf would post such a terrible picture of me (see below), but then, her true love as we now all know, is her Toyota. I could have a beard in that picture and Missy Car-Owner wouldn't notice ;). We shall forgive her. I am wearing no make up and look as though I have swallowed a small calf. Heaven knows how this got passed the censor....

My forgiveness decreed, Missy Car-Owner has not forgiven me, for negating the posting of Poor Person's Soup on the blog. I did, in my defence, send it to Stacey who asked for it...however, I shall whip through it here for no one at all, to be good with with the Goddess of New Cars:

Cup or three of lentils, cup or three of water
Big can of diced tomatoes
Big can of chick peas
Big can of mushrooms (less poor use REAL mushrooms....IMAGINE THAT?!?)
Big can of erm...oh yes, baked beans (or just any ole beans)
Onions (I cut em and freeze em and then throw in a handful)
Garlic (powdered for poor, the real deal if cah-chinging)
Herbs (Italian bits like basil and stuff)

errrr.....oh maybe tomato paste....and then loads of frozen veg (or the real 'just grew it meself' varieties for those with gardens or nice relatives that always send them away with summat fresh)

Potatoes all diced nicely and thrown in for good measure . . .

...throw it all together - stir it for the rest of your life (the lentils stick to the bottom and burn if not)...add water when it gets dead thick....keep stirring but keep it thick - cos it's nice...

blah blah blah. Poor Person's Soup. The End. Freeze it and it keeps forever. Costs next to nothing and lasts for over a week. Now it is THE END. The soup makes you say things like, "Oooh a lovely winter soup"...whereby you have that image of yourself at the Little House on the Prairie table with the wood burner flaming away in the background, looking at your siblings whom you share a bed with (all 15 of them)...it's a warm, hearty family feeling with a storm beating down outside and Michael Landon just being Bonanza and fatherly and protecting....the reality? The reality is you, by yourself in a fluorescent lighted kitchen, having not made it to the dining table you bought for way too much but have NEVER used, eating out of your chipped Ikea bowl while you opening bills and absent minded ya half watching a dog being rescued on the local news, all the while mentally prepping a Safeway shopping list...(because, Jeeeeeus, who the feck used all the milk???) . . . Ms. Ingalls Wilder in the Millennium -it ain't what it used to be Miss Laura, it ain't what it used to be.

Hopefully I am now all squared up with the person upstairs (and on the lap top next to me)....posting afore listed soup was my act of contrition...hopefully she will now remove that gawd awful picture....my publicist usually censors such things but was clearly drunk that day. I will give them a pink slip in the morning.

Lady of the Car thinks I should post summat enlightening about the differences between England and Canada. I shall.

To be continued . . .

X-Files and lesbian stuff

Julie and I started watching season 9 of The X-Files and now I'm hopelessly addicted once again to X-Files fic online. This time around though it isn't Mulder/Scully fic that I'm reading... it's Scully/Reyes. I heart Special Agent Monica Reyes.

Today I worked my 12th day in a row and was glad when 4 pm rolled around. I drove home and picked up Julie and we went to Ikea for dinner and then to pick up two bookcases. It took us forever to get there and I told Julie that we are NEVER going shopping during rush hour ever again.

After Ikea, we went to Old Navy where I picked up a few pairs of pants because 99% of my pants are tight due to weight gain... or rather inch gain. My damn middle section is now gaining inches. :( We went to another couple of stores and picked up a few shirts - I got one and Julie got four. There's our spending for the rest of the month!

Now we've settled in and we're watching the series finale of The X-Files. God, Chris Carter really screwed this show up royally. If only he could write a story arc like Joss Whedon...

Friday, September 5, 2008

Everybody's working for the weekend...

Well, I am anyway...

I'm on day 5/12 days straight... next weekend I have off so I can attend the Elton John concert on the 13th. The busy season at work has now gotten underway so stress is sky high in my department. The other departments haven't felt it yet, but they will soon.

I finally registered my new car today as well as changed the address on my driver's license (from two moves ago). I feel very accomplished. The first loan payment came out today also, so the fact that it's really mine has also sunk in now. ;)

I stopped off at the liquor store on my way home from work and picked up a 1/2 case of beer. After the week I've already had, I feel like I just want to chill tonight and relax in that drowsy way alcohol allows. Julie is making dinner of broiled fish and potatoes and salad...mmmmm... I love my girlfriend.

Tonight we're going to watch some British comedy show that one of our lovely gay boys downstairs bought Julie as a thank you gift for finding him a summer job. It's called Sensitive Skin and all I know is that it has Anthony Stewart Head in it (Giles from Buffy).

Monday, September 1, 2008

Mozilla Firefox

I've had it with Internet Explorer lately. Just when I'm in the middle of something it decides it has an error needs to shut down. Grrrr... The hell with it, I'm not using it anymore. I downloaded the Mozilla Firefox browser and so far I really like it. Let's hope I keep liking it...

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Pics

I tried taking some decent pics of the car this afternoon but the light was so damn bright it was hard not to get a lot of glare (surprising considering the car is covered in dust and dirt from all the construction in the city). Here are two shots of the car:
















Julie modeling:

















I have to say, it looks much more awesome in person.

Cars, music and food

So, of course the second I buy a car with air conditioning in it, the hot weather disappears and rain and cool overcast weather replaces it. Still, I have still found the odd moment where I've needed the air conditioning and it's been blissful. No more open windows and hair whipping around my head while I perspire my way home each day.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to take any pictures of the car yet - I appear to have misplaced my camera. The darn thing is always around when I don't have anything to take a picture of but the moment I actually want to use it - gone. I actually blame Julie for this... she likes to re-arrange all the drawers constantly so I'm forever asking her where something is. She'll deny this upon reading but it's true...

Last night, we went for the car's first highway trip (the car hadn't been over 80 km/h yet) and tried out the iPod hook-up and sound system. I think Julie was in heaven once the likes of Madonna, Kylie, and The Pussycat Dolls pounded out of the speakers. In her younger years, Julie was quite the clubber... dancing the nights away in London and then in Fredericton when she came over to Canada. To this day, when she hears a good beat she starts dancing around - it's cute as hell. Definitely a departure from all of my other girlfriends in the past - none of them liked to dance at all.

In other news, I've managed to lose 7 lbs some how. I stepped on the scale this morning and did a double take. Not sure how that happened but I'll take it! Usually when you don't weigh yourself for a while, when you finally do step on it's an increase. At least that's what usually happens to me anyway.

Julie has started selling dvds and books that she doesn't want anymore on amazon.ca. She's sold about six dvds so far but no books. I went through my dvds and gave her a bunch to put on there to sell as well - might as well try to get rid of some of the ones I know I'm never going to watch again. The profit isn't much after shipping them but it's better than nothing I suppose.

Today we're off to find our friend Ryan a zombie-themed birthday present. He's a huge zombie fan and there is a store mid-town that has some zombie-type things. I think Julie's also going to go spend the $25 La Senza gift card I gave her earlier this week. She's been muttering for weeks about how she needs to be fitted for a new bra so hopefully we'll get that done today as well. After that I think Julie's going to make another batch of her lentil soup. I've asked her to blog her recipe for it as well.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

New Car Smell

I have a new car!!!!!!

I drove home my 2009 Toyota Corolla Sport this evening. It's gorgeous... I told Julie I'm in love with it almost as much as I am with her. I've wanted this car since I was in high school... finally I have it.

Pictures to follow when it's not pitch dark outside. :)

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

The House Bunny & 21

We went and saw The House Bunny the other day. It was sort of like Sydney White meets Legally Blonde, I think. It had a rough start, writing-wise... some of the lines are cringe-worthy but then it picks up and was quite enjoyable. We went to see it as a pick-me-up, so it did it's job in the end.

We also rented 21 which was a movie we had wanted to see for quite a while now. Julie enjoyed it a lot but I was disappointed. The movie was fine and all but I get annoyed by those kinds of stories where people win or have lots of money and then do stupid things with it. I guess that's because I have none and would love to do smart things with the money they have.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Weekend

We've finished watching the first season of Heroes and look forward to watching the short second season. My co-worker lent me a disc with the second season on avi files to watch but I don't have anything on my computer that will play avi files and my dvd player won't play them either.

We've been doing pretty well with eating better lately. Julie makes this fantastic lentil soup that we've been eating a LOT of. I guess I just haven't gotten sick of eating it yet... we've been eating it nearly every evening.

It's been sooooooo hot here this month. The majority of the days have been above 30 Celsius, except of course the one day last Thursday when I went to the Edmonton/Saskatchewan football game and froze my ass off because it had somehow dropped to about 10 C with windchill for one freakin' day. It was okay though - free tickets from a co-worker and we won the game over the Grey Cup champions. I took my little sister to the game and spent some time with her... she's recovering from meth again and looks great. She's filled out a bit and looks really healthy. I haven't seen her like this in about three years. I hope she's able to keep off the meth!!

Yesterday I went into work and helped out in another department. I came home after 8 hours and collapsed on the couch and didn't wake up for four hours. I think I'm still exhausted. Today might include a bit of grocery shopping and some movie watching... I don't think I'm up for anything else.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Blah

I haven't really felt like doing anything this week. I've been really depressed but unsure of what was actually causing it. Julie's been wonderful, trying to cheer me up with various things (food, movies, love, etc.) but I just can't shake it.

On Tuesday, our anniversary, Julie made me a candlelight dinner with wine and everything. She made me a mixed cd with pretty much everything that marks a moment in time during the past year as well as a card. I, in turn, bought a shower corner rack from Home Depot. I'm practical that way... I think Julie thought I was kidding when I showed it to her.

On Wednesday I got my hair cut. I ended up having to get about 3 inches taken off because it was so dry from all the sun I got last month (this month I've barely been outside at all because it's almost always 30+ Celsius) so now my hair is shorter than I like it. I guess that serves me right for waiting so long to get a trim.

I went to the bank yesterday to apply for a consolidation loan. When I applied for financing at the Toyota dealership, they didn't do it properly (meaning they didn't ask for what I really wanted), so although I'm approved for the car, I wasn't able to get my current loan wrapped into it - only 2/3 of it. So... I went to the bank to get them to do it. I'll probably get a better rate this way (if they approve it) and the best part will be that the Toyota finance guys won't get it which serves them right for half-assing it. (Yeah, I'm sure this will really break them... ha ha...)

Not sure what's on the agenda for the weekend aside from vegging... it's 30 degrees outside again so staying inside will probably beat out going out and doing something.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Good Book Recommendation

I just finished Hide by Lisa Gardner and loved it. I couldn't put it down once I got into it.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

One Year!

Jenn and I have known each other a year and we choose the day we met face to face as our 'official' lessiversary.

EXACTLY this time last year, I trundled off for a coffee with a friend and then, at 2.30pm, at a Second Cup, along came Jenn with my friend now gone. Jenn's hair was slightly wet due to the fact that one hour hence, she had had no idea I had wished to meet her, so she literally had jumped straight from the shower to the car when she had read my email titled, "Feeling Spontaneous?".

She walked up to my table where I was reading the Globe and Mail. I said something about Julie Andrews, and then Jenn demanded to know where her Russian mail order bride was . . . and I think at this point, we knew this was not going to be a disappointing date.

I want to post this at 2.30 for Jennifer. Ordinarily I would have had this declared a national holiday and ensured a moment of silence at this time, however laws take a lot longer than a year to pass.

J e n n
I love you, angel mine.


jules
x

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Weekend Update

This week Julie and I are house sitting for my parents as they take their first vacation in years. I'll be driving my mom's car to work and Julie will drive mine into the city for work (she'll get to experience my daily commute although hers will be a little longer due to the time and flow of traffic). It'll be nice to stay in an air conditioned house while it's so damn hot here - it's been in the 30's all week.

This morning we found out that Margaret Cho had a date in Edmonton on her stand-up tour but when I went to get tickets saw that it's been postponed due to scheduling conflicts. Damn... I really hope they actually re-schedule it and not cancel it. Driving down to Calgary on a Sunday evening for a show won't happen (Julie said no, that it would be silly). I really really want to see her live... I love her material.

I see the Olympics have started. Big deal. I used to watch them on CBC but the games this year don't interest me. It doesn't seem like a true Olympics this year... seems more like a production or a farce. Maybe they've always been like that and it's just this year that the media is reporting on all the insane things that happen or are forced upon the locals. In either case, I'm not interested. I'll play Wii Fit instead.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Aches & Pains

Oww.... my legs are aching a bit from my Wii Fit adventures...

We are entering a heat wave for the next six days... all over 30 C. Yuck! So glad we have the little air conditioner in the apartment now but wishing, as always, that I had air conditioning in the car. Sigh...

We need a new mattress and pillows on our bed. I just toss and turn all night and wake up with stiff shoulders and neck. Not sure when that will happen... maybe Christmas.

I still can't believe that guy on the Greyhound bus who just decided to start stabbing the guy next to him then cutting his head and various other parts off while eating some. Jesus Christ...

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Olympic Hopeful Rejected by Nintendo Abuse of Calorific Food Substances Scandal

We meet our heroine, our nearly nude heroine, as she embarks on yet another round of 'Wii Fit'. Our heroine, not to be named and shamed by the Wii Fit, decided to call Heroine's GF to the board. Upon which the demon did pronounce (I speak of the board as a demon and not our heroine), "You have porked out British woman....5lbs...1 lb more and I will confirm you are overweight...but worry not, you are 36 and so is your Wii Fit age".

Humiliated (as I think may have been the idea - my fitness contribution to the beast was to unpack it while eating cheesecake)...I trundled out here (saddened and apparently heavier) to my bar stool and table while the nearly nude flexes and bends on the board.

In my defense, when Jenn went away I was 119 lbs. Somehow I picked up 11lbs after that - 5 in the last week. So really, what one gains, one can lose. I am resolved to go running but this has not happened since...gosh...let me see....this has not happened since I was 7, so it is not likely to start in the morning. Although, right now, in my head, I am getting up at 5.30 a.m. to do precisely that.

On Friday, proud of our heroine for getting oh-so-fit and everything (I think her Wii Fit age is like 15) - I went to a store and perused the sports section for an ideal Wii-Fit-Out-Fit . . . NOT that I oppose to her current birthday suit - just that the neighbours might....I spent - and I do not fib reader - 90 minutes...NINETY MINUTES....with a T-Shirt and two pairs of pants...I could not decide which would fit her....so I went around measuring them against sizes of clothes I KNEW she had...although, really no comparison could be made unless she was there. I had arranged for her to meet me at the shopping complex and after I had decided this WAS the size she was...I proudly bought the gear and left the store. Whereby, I ran into her...presenting my wares to her as a gift of love....she pronounced....at the exact same time that I realised...."Is this so we BOTH can wear the same pair at the same time baby...?". Indeed, my time had been in vain....the trousers were so large...so, so, SO large that the gift was more of an insult than not...the exact phrase was, "Is this how big you think I am???". I smiled sheepish and we laughed (me a long time before she did mind). I laughed quite a bit and eventually we were both scaring the people around us.

Bless her cotton socks, she wore them all night...the crotch down to the knees, having a good point and giggle at various moments. Rather reminding me of when Janine bought me maternity pants one Christmas and we realised that "Special Moments" must have referred to the maternity section. I went a step ahead there though....Janine was a runner and had stopped running for a while...lamenting, "I am so big these days"...I piped up MEANING to be helpful but mixing my words badly..."You know, you are a lot bigger than you think you are, babe". As she stood crestfallen saying "Whhhh - what??" I kept repeating it until she realised I meant...well, you know what I meant. "You aren't as big as you think are"...

Anyway, Jenn is now marching in front of the tele but not on the Wii Fit board. Should I tell her she is not on the board....mmm, maybe not. Never come between a woman and her weight in any way shape or form. And JESUSUSUSUSUS never ask her to get on the We Fat , sorry Wii Fit, to make yaself feel better....QED, it is me now crestfallen and I'm about to grab another glass of red wine. The diet and the Fitting can wait a day.

Our heroine is now doing yoga...I think Lemon cake might go ever so nice with this red wine. No matter how big I am today, at least I get to watch a gorgeous woman bending and shaping this evening ;)

Monday, July 28, 2008

Expensive Things

Yesterday afternoon I went to the Toyota dealership near my work to look around and apply for financing. Of course the car I want is really popular so they have none available - If I get approved for financing I'll have to wait 4-8 weeks for it. Julie and my dad can't figure out why I'm not excited about the possibility of a new car. I am, it's just not the exciting part yet... finance limbo and waiting for a car to be built and shipped from Toyotaland is not exciting to me. Picking up a brand new car would be the exciting part.

In other news... groceries cost way too much money. Holy cow. I bought half a cart full of stuff and it came out to $70. I didn't even buy any meat this time either. Sigh... it's the fresh vegetables and frozen fruit that hike the bill up. Oh well, could be worse... we could live in Zimbabwe where inflation is now at something like 12.5 million percent right now. You can't even buy a loaf of bread for a billion dollars or something. Here's an article on it:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/27/AR2008072701594.html

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Wii Are What Wii Are

I have taken to putting every living moment on my facebook page, so therefore, feel free to add me as your friend (... just look through Jenn's page). Heaven knows it takes a technology degree for me to upload pictures upon this site.

Enjoyed immensely the Yes Man trailer...six degrees of separation...I now know Jim Carey. Thank you Riley - xo :). Speaking of celebrities, Jennifer is now the proud owner of a Wii Fit. I have rather enjoyed her playing the Wiinter (get it..wiiin....n'em mind...) games....when Jenn was ski-ing down the mountain in just her lower-portions underwear, I truly was the happiest woman in the world, reader.

Ms J is looking at buying a new car. But first we must get through her monthly nightmare that is, 'the cramps'. I have always had girlfriends who are rendered unconscious each month by the monstrous affliction. I suffer, it is true, but never as much as I have seen the suffering. Because she is afflicted, I am watching Hairspray for the umpteenth time...the baby LOVES The Hairspray. Me not so much (I rather liked the movie where they blew up Baltimore actually...what was that - oh yes, Sum of All Fears..hee). Still it makes her very giddy and happy so hopefully cramps will subside and there will be a car in the lot by the end of the day.

In other news...I am having a tooth replaced for a MERE $3500...and am wondering why teeth are considered aesthetics when without teeth ones mouth would cave in. It would look bad, yes but I think there would be other health consequences....

Well, off out to a party this evening representing herself and myself - cramps do rather encroach onto one's social diary...so tonight I am partying for two. I would rather be in with Jenn but she has a point that we keep doing that lesbian-shut-in thing so one of us has to make an effort occasionally. Sigh. I'm so hard done by ;).

Friday, July 25, 2008

PS

Oh sweet, sweet girlf' o' mine...when one stares half the night at another woman, would one be so kind to provide the link....

Divine Bovine

After waiting weeks and procuring it through ill gotten ways, the Wii Fit, finally arrived. It sits in pieces around the living room as Jenn has insomnia. It was unpacked while we were eating cheesecake.

Yesterday I decided that enough was enough...I left university four years ago and still my student line of credit was open. This concerned the bank lady greatly as it was rather unheard of. So I shall be paying that off forthwith I imagine. Post-separating with my wife, I also did a thing of much wrongness and got a loan from people one should think twice about (Citi...). At the lovely interest rate of 31.99% (the lovely bank lady refered to them as the Mafia for much of the meeting)...it was rather dubious as to whether the mere $5000 would ever be paid...so lovely bank lady sorted me out there too. As we were waiting for lovely bank lady, Jenn coined a new phrase...after revealing the % she gasped the phrase, "Holy cow" about twenty times. Then there was a pause and under her breath she let out the classic...."Divine Bovine". I am now patenting this (much as I have acquired Riley as my "movie star friend that I know" story).

Jenn has insomnia. I have the opposite of. I may be stealing her sleep. The ridiculos thing is that we both still need to sleep the moment we 'get up'. I blame the cheesecakes. Jenn blames my thrashing around at night and my constant stream of night-time chatter while in slumber.

Too tired to scribe now....

Insomnia

This not being able to sleep more than a couple hours at a time is really starting to drain me. Even when I do sleep, I'm constantly tossing and turning. :(

I've been up since 1:30 am... it's now 4:36 am. There's only so much a person can do in the quiet of the night. I suppose I could have set up the Wii Fit game but my goal isn't to wake up, it's to go back to sleep. I've done a few Sudoku puzzles, registered the Wii Fit game online, read the balance board manual, the game manual, etc. I've caught up on the online news, stared at a really hot picture of Gillian Anderson at the premiere of the new X-Files movie... I'm about out of ideas now. Speaking of cute girls... Danica Patrick is in town for the Indy race they're having about twenty blocks from the apartment. I'm still debating whether or not to go... I really enjoyed the Vancouver Indy (and not just because I sat across from Ashley Judd the entire afternoon)...

Tonight I'm going with my sister to Capital Ex, which is the annual exposition here in town. I think we may do some rides and some games and of course mini donuts. I don't know how it's physically possible to walk by all the mini donut stands and not buy at least one bag. Impossible I tell ya!

On Saturday, Julie and I may go to the Toyota dealership near my work and look at new cars. My car needs a tune-up badly right now, not to mention new tires and a thermostat by winter. It's 15 years old... still a reliable car but goddamn it, I want air conditioning!!!

Okay, off to try for one hour of sleep...

Thursday, July 24, 2008

I know what I'm doing this weekend...

:)

Our Wii Fit has arrived! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Yay, weekend

Let's see... Thursday, we had the apartment photographed by the landlord people because I think they needed better looking pictures to put in the rental magazines and online. They told Jules that we had the nicest looking apartment in the building (although the gay boys downstairs also had their apartment photographed - but they have a two bedroom so I think they needed one of each). How funny that they like the gay apartments the best. Then again, the boys downstairs have a beautifully decorated apartment as well... the boys and us girls are Ikea fans and we're (okay, the boys and Julie) are really really neat and tidy.

Yesterday, I had two of my co-workers over (the two I'm out to) to see the apartment for the first time. They seemed to really like it as well. :) We played Trivial Pursuit: Greatest Hits (80's, 90's and Pop Culture) which is a pretty fun game but it takes FOREVER to finish (which we never do because who have 16 hours to play one game?).

Needless to say, I woke up with a hangover from the bottle of wine Julie and I shared.

Today, Julie is at work waiting for the carpet cleaner to finish. I'm going to play some Sudoku or maybe go back to bed for a while. Later on I need to go pick up my golf clubs in my parents' garage because I'll need them tomorrow for the round of golf I'm playing with work people. When do I need to get to the golf course, you ask? 7 freakin' am!!! What the hell?!?! I'm going to die...

Friday, July 18, 2008

Sudoku Madness

Hello, my name is Jennifer and I am now a Sudoku addict.

I first became interested in it while in Ontario. My cousin is obsessed with it and can sit down and two minutes later have a puzzle completed. I was thinking, 'Well, if she can do it... I can do it.' - I had tried once or twice in the past but could never finish one. I forgot about trying again until I saw a puzzle in the newspaper this past Monday. One of the guys I was on break with does them, so I asked him for a couple logic tips past the obvious. Ten minutes later I had completed my first puzzle. On Tuesday, I completed the puzzle in the newspaper and then printed off some from online to do on my second break. That evening I brought a dollar store book home. On Wednesday, I think I did about ten of them. Yesterday we went to Chapters and Julie treated me to 'Extreme Sudoku for Dummies' (ONLY because it was the only book with logic strategy... the Mensa guide was sold out :P ), a three pack of mini sudoku pads so I can keep one at work and in my purse (as it says, you'll never be bored in a meeting again... ha ha... yeah, like I can not pay attention to a meeting long enough to play), and level one of the Mensa insane sudoku (never say never...). Julie may regret buying me all that... she may never receive attention again...

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Lapsed Catholic

Just read the headline, "Pope criticizes pop culture". His actual words were, "Our world has grown weary of greed, exploitation and division, of the tedium of false idols and piecemeal responses, and the pain of false promises,"

See my post below.....who KNEW that the Pope was there on my first date with Jenn?? Who knew that he too thought that the Golden Girls poster in the restaurant was infact the Dixie Chicks? False promises indeed. Amen.

Divinely,

Jules.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Love in the First Degree (Novel in the second)

I have been with your former moderator for almost one year. One year since we met up on the spur of the moment and supped coffee while I lamented on the sadness of Julie Andrews losing her voice. In my defence, I was reading an article on this subject when Jennifer approached. I believe the first thing I said to her face to face is, "Julie Andrews has lost her voice...there may never be the sound of music ever again". Most women would have looked at me and said something to the effect of, "Sorry...I'm looking for my husband, he's . . .". But not Jennifer. We wandered awhile to a park. We had dinner at a place postered with pop-culture and I mistook the over sized Dixie Chicks picture for a rather fetching picture of the Golden Girls. "You mean that's not Blanche? Blimey". And still, she stayed.

Something I have never told her....

We were getting on extremely well. It was easy and she was astute, cute and knew exactly when to say the right thing, the funny thing, the sensitive thing . . . and so I said I had to leave because, "I have to do some things this evening..I should go". Truth be, I had nothing to do whatsoever. I just needed to control what might be happening.

It was my first date in well....I have never dated. I've only ever stumbled into relationships with people I have known as close friends for a very long time. The concept of going out to meet a person with the sole purpose of finding a love/sex relationship with them is completely foreign to me.

That evening I rang my wife who was (and is) in a relationship with my former girlfriend in NB and I got their advice, their thoughts, their general support (note they were my best friends first and remained so after all our switch-a-roo nonsense). That night I wrote to my parents and told them I had had this date . . . truth be, much like Jenn, I wasn't sure. It was scary. Yet I was excited and flattered and relieved and curious....when later that week Jenn casually rang to ask me to go to see an art exhibit, I did not hesitate...on the advice of everyone...'just do it' seemed to be the order of the day. And so I did. It was the best date I have ever had and that was the evening that hooked me. I was in. I had the passport and visa ready...I was going back to Lesbainia and this time I might just be staying....

Something about Jennifer draws me in over and over. On paper and sometimes in everyday life we aren't something an e-harmony ad' would come up with....but it flows and comes back to its centre every time. I know she has been hurt so deeply that she thought she would never be here again. So everyday I do my best to make sure she knows her heart is now in a safe place. I'll do lots of things to have her know that (the latest being that damn Wii Fit she wants so badly...I think I'll be arrested once it arrives...it seems very shady this deal I've done to procure one!)...aside from material things (my weakness when it comes to her), I also want her to know HOME the moment she walks through our door. Needless to say we have a beautiful home ;).

Sometimes at a loss, you can not express the love enough so you channel it in the ways above. But those are not the things that truly count. It is the look that does it. It is the silence. Because the silence is before everything. With Jenn it is her watching me, acknowledging what she has, what I have and what we have...a fleeting look in a crowded room that feels as though it is going on forever. That moment stays long after the cushions are straightened or a gift has been given that I know she would adore...for those things I know she could do without. The look says that I could have nothing material to give and still, she would look at me that way. That is the most brilliant and beautiful thing a lover can give.

So here we are almost at a year. I am sleeping on the sofa tonight as she has had the worst insomnia and I am fairly sure that me getting up 50 times a night does not help...me being out here has nothing (ahem...) to do with Nancy Grace going almost off her rocker this week (the woman is stark raving MAD I tell you..HOW, HOW does she have a TV show...it belies belief but it is the best comedy on television...it's a parody of..well, itself, in so many ways)....I am excited as I never get to watch it...and this is why Jenn and I work so well...we can do this without it being any issue whatsoever. She gets to sleep and I get me Nancy. Win-win ;).

Okay...nothing else to declare. Except the bloody Wii Fit....is anyone else a little SICK of this marketing hell yet?? Stores STILL do not have Wiis for goodness sakes...people still want them...so call me a little behind but does it not stand to reason that Wii Fits would be available for those who actually HAVE the Wii??? Stores get 20 at a time...does that even seem right? And they are gone within the hour!? Clearly it is driving up the black market . . . yes Nintendo benefit from the people who bought 20 at one time but now these people are now selling them for double the Nintendo price...I dunno...it's working yes, but I think people will get sick of the Wii and Wii Fit being in such short supply....right now it's clever....people are STILL clamouring...I mean I love me Jenn, so off I went for a Wii on her birthday...and over one year on I actually had to line up for a Wii and was the last person to get one that day! I thought people behind me were going to need medical attention they were so upset...not angry (as they should be - at Nintendo) but literally, people were looking as if their soul had been trampled upon. And no one in that line wanted it for themselves...that was the thing! I might research this marketing ploy a bit more and get back to you on this.

Okay - Nancy DisGrace is on, settling in for the night - bugger off everyone - let the entertainment begin!

Jules

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Dead battery

Stupid Dell laptop... the battery suddenly died on Sunday night. I've had the computer for just over two years now. I looked online and read that Dell batteries go dead all the time, sometimes after less than a year from purchase. A brand new battery from Dell is at least $140 before tax and shipping and the reviews on them are terrible. I decided to buy one from another company for $90 total... that includes tax and insured next day shipping. I figure, what the hell, if it's going to die every two years, I might as well go with a cheaper one!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Drained

Soooooooooo nice to be home again. I'm not sure why the hell I'm still so tired though. I had to leave work at 1 pm today because I felt so tired and dizzy. I've had plenty of sleep in the past week so I'm not sure why I would feel that way. I hope it's just a bit of time/altitude/jet lag or something. I've also been experiencing episodes of depression this week - it's awful. The stupidest thing makes me sad or makes me cry. WTF?

Today Julie and I went looking at a condo that is for rent come August. It was very nice looking but was in the basement. What a waste of time that was... the fact that it's in the basement should have been mentioned in the ad.

When we returned home, we decided that we're fine in our apartment here.

Tonight we're going to watch Zodiac and drink some fantastic wine I picked up at a winery in Ontario.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

"Celebrate good times...come on"

HAPPY CANADA DAY

from a proud, 2008 graduate of Canadian School!



For, I am a baby-Canadian.



Eh-eh-eh.



No more 'pip pip pip' for this ex-Brit, thank you very much.



Enjoy your day of festivity and marvel, my auspicious people of the New World.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday Monday

Today I've been in a whirling dervish putting together an air conditioner. It began after rising at 1 pm, as the heat had kept me awake and turning all through the night. It was, somewhat of an impulse buy. I must say, so far, I feel nothing of great note from this expensive monster in my window. Unless I stand in front of it...I realise at this moment, I could open the fridge door and it would have the same effect.

The other purchase today was an air pump as it took Heather two hours to pump up the air mattress the other night with "the built in foot pump". Pah to that. Camping starts Friday night and will speed away the weekend until my beloved returns. I can not wait! I have her on a frenzy about us moving to a better part of town for her commute, so watch this space.

The day is 30 degrees and this body is fit to drop. Off now, to sleep in the fridge. A chest freezer would come in really handy right now . . .

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Internet Dependant

This will probably be either my last or second last post until I get back home. I'm 99% sure that my aunt does not have internet access or a computer for that matter. How strange that I'll be going that long without it... it's kind of embarrassing to think about how dependant I and a lot of people in the world are of the internet. There's the blogging I do, the posting boards I visit, the games (Pogo addict, I have to admit), banking (LOVE online banking), e-mail of course, shopping and best of all, INFORMATION. Looking up a restaurant for the menu, looking up a company for what they sell, looking up directions to some one's house... imdb.com for just who that blond was in that movie with the guy, etc. What the heck did we do before to get all this information? Lots of books... books that ended up outdated within a year. I remember getting that Leonard Matlin (at least I think that's his name... I'd have to go look it up online to see if I have the spelling right... see?) Movie book he'd put out every year that had the brief description of what all the movies were and who the top two or three people starring in 'em were. Wow. And encyclopedias... people would sell them door to door and kids would receive them as gifts from their parents. It was a huge investment! Now a days? I don't know anyone who owns a set of encyclopedias... even the school libraries have outdated sets. Do they even make them anymore? Or does the information change so fast that they can't keep up? Anyway... my point is that without the internet, I wouldn't know anything anymore. Hell, I don't even own a dictionary... that's what spellcheck and dictionary.com is for!

So yeah, now I remember what I was saying... not having a computer or the internet for the next week will be a little hard, even if I'm supposed to be on vacation and relaxing. Ah well... I did it before I owned one (15 years ago), I'm sure I can do it again.

Saturday, June 28, 2008

You Don't Have To Be Mad To Work Here But...

In the Salvation Army, one of the workers who looked like Lily Tomlin, maybe about 45 or so was getting a kick out of H' and I. I was making H' sit in this chair she eventually bought, and I went around the store finding wee tables, a TV, a lamp, gaudy ornaments etc, a bad Danielle Steele novel...and made a make-shift living room all around her and the chair, so she could, 'get a feel for the chair'.

WORKER: Ah look at you! Are you from Glasgow? That's the neatest Scottish accent you have!

I did the usual, "No it's a hybrid of accents" thing. But Glasgow I was from and she would not budge. In the end I was saying, "Glasgow IS amazing, yup" (I have never been and know nothing of it).

Then she gets real excited as I look at a CD tower, I ask, "How much?". However, she hones in on the old school HiFi beside them..."Yes, let me see, how much..oooh, no price, mmm, you are lovely dear....this would be perfect for you, ...oooh, that accent...yes let me see, where-where...oh look here, it has VHS here for your music..(she demonstrates the music cassette buttons as if it's advanced technology)..look now at this round bit...you get things from around the world...what is that dial...oh of course, the citizen band..." No HINT of humour, she was genuine as the day is long. So I look at the 'citizen band dial' and then I look at her....and I just smile from ear to ear, "Yup, that citizen band is pretty cool, huh". This woman, she is seven shades of oddness, but wow, she is great.

When we went back later, she gushed all over me again. It was this beautiful, quirky interaction both times...and I just thought, how much joy do people miss by dismissing people like this as "nuts" or "whacked"?? Why not meet people where they are at when you sense something in that so called realm?

Funny though, as I left, I just knew in ten years or so, that would likely be me. Ah, shucks, now there's something to look forward to Jenny-kins (What do you mean you are extending your stay???????? Smile)

Tired

I had such a good sleep last night... nine hours of peaceful slumber, uninterrupted by cramps or flights to catch or work to go to. Unfortunately, I'm still in a major sleep deficit... I only got about four hours of sleep on Wednesday and then a couple of hours on the plane on Thursday, after which I managed a nap of almost two hours later in the morning. Thursday night I only got about four total when the cramps hit... so no wonder I feel like a zombie!

Today is overcast and rainy (was earlier and probably will be in the afternoon) for the Dyke March. That's about all I have to report... oh, I finally found my camera in my suitcase. I haven't taken a single picture though and am not sure when I will. I should have brought my British photographer with me... :/