Saturday, April 29

i almost forgot

i almost forgot. i was at the gym last night and had just run my 5K on the treadmill. i went to get a papertowel to wipe down the machine and read a poster on the wall. it was for the new learn-to-run club at the gym.

the poster first described the club and then listed off the reasons to join. it went something like this:
"perfect for people who want to:
- make new friends
- lose weight
- suffer an injury
- get outside"

i promptly ripped the posted off the wall and brought it down to the front desk with me. i didn't think the club would want to be advertising this way: perfect for people who want to suffer an injury!

i think i know why it was there, but it still didn't sound right. umm, no thanks, i don't need any injuries. how badly are your personal trainers paid anyways?

apparently

so apparently i got sick. i went to bed last night thinking my allergies were finally kicking in, but really i was coming down with something. i could hardly swallow when i woke up and after drowning myself in orange juice i can definitely say that i am feeling better but that i am for sure sick.

some blog news: i got the comments working and got the navigation bar back along the top of the page, which i again removed because of the aesthetic. i've never used that word, but it really was perfect for what i was trying to say. oh yeah, tell me what you think about the little home link above the posts. i still don't know what i think about it, except it's kind of useful after you've left a comment to get back to the blog. but i don't know.

hey! now that i'm blogging from home i can post a picture. hmmmm. how about:


this is a great picture of the cats. they're finally getting along well enough to all be on the perch at the same time. we've decided that s NEEDS a perch when she moves out. she also might just need a little kitten to keep hers entertained.

anyways, the sens are playing so i'm going to go lie on the couch with some kitties and a blanket and some orange juice. i'm lovely.

Thursday, April 27

i'm playing around

i'm just playing around with the template a little. i was sick of the black already. i still have lots of work to do, but you get the idea.

comments are now the little number that appears beside the title of the post.

what do you think about the little home and post links under the top bar? comments? i'm not sure if i like them.

tee minus one month until race day

it's exactly one month until my 10K race. i have not been training as i should have for various reasons, but last night i kicked my ass into top gear. we went to the gym and i ran. oh how i ran. i got on that treadmill and went for 5K in just over 30 minutes.

that said, here are my goals for this year's race:
1) finish the race - a pretty general and hopefully easy goal, nice for goal #1;
2) run the whole 10K - you know, no having to stop to walk;
3) finish in under 60 minutes - now we're getting into my more loftier goals; and,
4) raise $200 in pledges for the Canadian Athletes NOW Fund - their goal was to have 2008 participants each raise $2008 (for the olympics in 2008.. get it?) and perhaps i will get that much, but my goal remains modest.

if you would like to sponsor me please visit my page (here). i appreciate any and all support, but please do not feel obligated.

Wednesday, April 26

national volunteer week

this week is national volunteer week, which is great, but let me tell you my beef about volunteering.

i'll start this off by saying that i do volunteer. i was brought up canvassing for a different charity every month, with parents coaching our sports teams and sitting on boards at the local sports centre, and helping out with local politics. and now that i'm older i still volunteer, though in different capacities, but that is to be expected.

my beef with volunteering is that so often it costs you not only your time but your money AND so often they turn people away for lack of skills or knowledge. while i understand volunteering and charities are entities in themselves and need funding and the support of many many people, this just doesn't seem right. has it always been this way?

i suppose you could argue that the people who donate to causes are volunteering some of their money when they can't afford to volunteer their time. but the fact is that to volunteer often requires some money from the volunteer. you have to pay money in order to miss work and take a cut on your paycheque (unless you are fortunate enough to work for an organization who will allow you one day a year to volunteer) in order to volunteer your services.

let's go back to those employees who are allowed a full day every year for volunteering. i wonder how many of those people actually volunteer that day. i'm sure most take the day as a day off. their employer is NOT allowed to ask.

they say that people take a lot away from volunteering experiences, at least that's what the email i received today at work told me.

"Volunteers share their dedication, energy and skills, and, in return, they benefit from shared cultural and social experiences. Many volunteers gain important interpersonal, communication and employment-related skills from their volunteer experience, as well as personal reward from making a difference in the lives of fellow citizens."

in conclusion, i will continue to volunteer in ways that are tangible for me and don't cost too much money. i hope you too can find something that you can do to help someone else, but if you have to stick to holding doors open for people and picking up the random piece of litter GOOD ON YOU. every little bit helps.

Tuesday, April 25

the car: she runs

after more than three hours with 6 guys helping, the car finally runs. that's 18 man-hours. but i'll let you in on a little secret: those guys do more standing around than any group of people i have ever known. great guys, don't get me wrong, but lots of standing around. lots of talking about cars. lots of telling of dirty jokes.

this is a picture of j after the car would start and not stall when the gas pedal was pushed:



so he gets in the house after everyone leaves, lies down on the couch, and tells us he's tired. he's spent. this has been weighing heavy on his head for over 2 weeks. i'm guessing he will sleep well tonight. that's my call at least.

obviously. i'm not stupid.

you want more details. i can give you some.

the house we want is in a community 10-15 minutes south of downtown. it's a relatively new community and a brand new development. the house is what they call a "supertown", which really means a semi-detached. but only attached at the garage so we wouldn't share a wall with our direct neighbour. it's right on a corner so the lot is much bigger than the rest of the street and backs onto a road so we wouldn't have any back neighbours.

now for timing. timing is key. we were going to wait for the next phase of development. they do a little chunk of land at a time. the next phase will be a couple of streets over/across from the current phase. as soon as they are done selling the current phase they open up the new one. then they start builing, starting with the model homes and working their way up the street. because we want a supertown, which is located on the corners, it would be a while before one became available, and even longer before they got to building it. while we could theoretically purchase it in the fall - more likely late fall/early winter - chances of them having it built when we need to move out - this time next year - are slim to none. we would need to figure out temporary accomodations = huge hassle.

timing on this phase: we buy now and they delay the construction of the home as long as they can and we move in late december, early january at the latest. which puts us a couple of months earlier than planned. not the end of the world. and actually much better than trying to figure out some temporary accomodation if we bought and couldn't move in until months after we get kicked out of our house now. make sense?

and money: the cost for the house will be higher in the next phase. how much higher? no one knows. is this significant? possibly, but possibly not. but add that on to the timing and the choice seems easy.

the house is exactly what we want. we fell in love with it the minute we walked in. and we've been back and still love it. we've made some large purchases together (the most obvious and biggest being the car) and it was the same thing. we test drove tons of cars but as soon as we got in the 3 we knew it was the car for us. well this is the house for us. you just know. and if you don't just know, you don't just know. and if you just know, you just know what i mean. you just know.

monday we meet with the mortgage guy.

Monday, April 24

the little weekend that sucked

last weekend and last week we had it all: nice weather, tons of time off, good times... and then the little weekend that sucked came along. the weather was horrible, there wasn't much to do and even less energy to do it. yuck. yuck.

i did accomplish some things this weekend. i looked for brake pads. j stole mine and i want to start biking to work next week. no more bussing for me! this is a sweet thought after having to wait over 30 minutes for my bus this morning. at least there is a bus shelter at my stop.

i got one page done in my 2006 scrapbook and i finished the title page. that's something. julie and i were not in the right mood friday night. we were so not inspired. so we didn't last long.

s finished her skinny gray scarf and ploughed through a fatter red scarf. she's is now a knitting master. and then i taught her how to purl. again with the crying! so, once she gets through more purling and is more comfortable, we'll put the two together and she will be unstoppable.

on my own needles, i sped through 4 more pink squares. no two squares are alike, which is fun and keeps me entertained. some are a little bigger than the required 5"x5", but i'm hoping that doesn't make or break the deal. i'm packing them all up tonight and sending them off tomorrow. i will continue to make and send squares - i have no other use for the pink cotton wool and love that i'm helping in some way, admittedly tiny though.

and the biggest news from the weekend is.... (drumroll please.....).... well, let me tell you the whole story. it won't take long. promise. remember that baby blanket i made about a month ago? we went and saw landon and sheri and brand new baby boy, kalev, on saturday. he is SO tiny. i'm not very seasoned when it comes to babies, i even turned down my chance to hold him, but this was one cute little baby. he slept the whole time we were there. amazing. it gives me hope.

so anyways, we went and had a good time and gave them the baby blanket. on our way home, figuring since we were in the neighbourhood, we would stop by the sales center for the house we like. we talked to the woman there and were almost 100% talked into buying a house. now. yes, probably within the next two weeks.

there are many reasons and factors and contingencies and intricacies and delicacies but i won't get into all that here and now. basically, it works out that it might be best if we bought now instead of waiting until september or october like we previously thought. so sunday, we went back and went through the model again and managed to see an actual house of another of j's coworkers. and we talked and talked and talked some more.

and now that it's monday, j is calling around to mortgage people. hopefully we will meet with one or two this week and figure out which bank/institution to go with and get'er done! this is a little fast, but almost definitely the right move. i will keep you updated.

Friday, April 21

i'm ready i'm ready

last night was s&b. it was great. i brought s and taught her how to knit (no purling yet) and she's about a foot and a half of the way through a skinny scarf. she's a knitting machine! m, your salsa is great. thanks again for the jar.

there were lots of people there last night, which is nice, but i feel like i hardly got to talk with anyone. i got my second pink square finished though so that's good. i thought we had just over a month and a week to send them in for the contest, but really we have just over a week. so i'm going to try and whip up another square (the more squares, the more entries for the contest) before i send off my 2 and sylvia's 2. sylvia - you need to get me a postcard!

i left work early yesterday because i couldn't concentrate. my maxie, my parent's dog, was really sick and my mom was super upset and i felt helpless (one of the worst feelings in the world). she wasn't eating or drinking and wasn't her usual self (she usually follows my mom around all day and is fun and playful and happy) so my mom took her to the vet and had a bunch of tests done. turns out she has a severe, but treatable, bladder infection. she has antibiotics and is already eating and drinking again. poor puppy.

tonight should be fun. we're going out for dinner with the car guys and then it's the first official meet of the year and then i'm scrapbooking with julie. man, i don't do a single thing for nights and nights and then i cram it all into one friday night. odd.

Thursday, April 20

i cannot believe it!

i was talking in my last post about the race i'm running in may (national capital race weekend). i registered with the Canadian Athletes Now Fund, the charitable partner, and have already raised $50! you can see my progress here. i am so impressed with everyone so far. maybe my $100 goal wasn't lofty enough. wow and thank you.

thursday stuff

i finished my first pink square for warming grace (click link or click the button on the right). i've started my second one. it's a different pattern and i think that's part of the fun. when you're making a bunch of little things that don't require anything but knitting a square, you can play with the pattern and not tax yourself so you can still pay attention to the tv. perfect.

i'm excited for knitting tonight. i missed the last two weeks (maybe even the last three) and s is coming. i'm going to teach her how to knit.

i am also setting up a scrapbooking date with julie for friday night. i haven't done anything on my scrapbook for weeks. i am really getting the urge to finish goliath, just get it done. i have a total of four blank pages and a couple more here and there that need something. i want to eventually have the cover and spine detailed, but it costs money (presents for batman??? <-- excessive use of question marks. i'm looking at you, j. *hint*hint*)

friday night is also the first ottawa mazda club meet. it will be nice to meet these people in person even though we won't be able to bring our carcar there. it still isn't running, though it will start now. it just stalls if you hit the gas. not driveable, but not completely fubared either.

i'm getting geared up for biking to work. i'm not going to get a may bus pass so i have just over a week left of bussing - less if i get my ass in gear sooner. i have to get new brake pads (j stole mine) and possibly a new lock (i think j stole that too). i already figured out where to park my bike and where the showers are in the building. hopefully this weekend i will bike out here and check out possible routes. i've been trying to scope them out from the bus on my way to and from work, but you can only do so much like that. i think it's about 16-20 kms, but probably less with bike paths and such.

i also found out yesterday that there is a running club here that meets every monday at lunch so hopefully i will be doing that as well. i really need to start training for my race, which is in just over a month. eeek! i might die. sponsor me!

last night, s and i checked out this huge jean-and-other-stuff sale. we both got shirts. i'm excited for them. if you're in ottawa, you should check it out. might as well. stuff on the cheap. just beware of the tons and tons of people, all with screaming kids and nasty b.o. they will be there.

Wednesday, April 19

smiley faces

let me tell you what i think about smiley faces. i'm against them. i think they're pretty dumb. especially when they are not accompanied by words. but, that said, there have been three occasions - and yes, only three - when i have wanted to use a smiley face. i won't do it. i can't do it.

i'm the same way about internet-speak. you know, all the lol's and rofl's and a/s/l's and iai's - i just made that one up. it stands for "i'm an idiot". i don't think it'll catch on.

and don't even get me started on the how r u's that make me want to run, screaming, from my computer, while ripping out all my hair, to a vat full of rotting grossness and jump in. head first.

i'm not normally a confrontational person. in fact, i do not usually voice my opinions because i don't care enough to maybe offend even one person. but here it is. i'm putting my feelings out there. don't be offended. it's me not you.

if you're trying to communicate with me using the interweb, don't hesitate to use smiley faces and acronyms and other internet speak. i won't hate you. promise. i might cringe and die a little inside, but i won't hate you.

Tuesday, April 18

i'm drowning

my skin is dry and i asked a pharmacist about it. she recommended some cream and said to drink lots of water. so that's what i'm doing. i've had two and a half of my nalgenes today already. it's an odd day if i go through a whole bottle at work usually. i've already peed a huge number of times. yuck. i don't feel like i'm hydrating myself: i feel like i'm flushing liquid through my body.

i want an apple.

Monday, April 17

easter? no. turbo weekend

this weekend was one of the longest long weekends i can ever remember. it felt like it went on and on and i loved it! thursday night we went to vik's place for dinner. yes, i've already mentioned it. friday night was dinner with my parents. it was your typical easter feast of lasagna. screw traditions. it was good. keeping with the food theme, we had turkey dinner with j's grandparents saturday night. we had fun making telus ads with our chocolate bunnies and our cell phones:



and that rounds off our easter dinners.

like you can see in the title of this post, this weekend was turbo weekend. earlier this year we bought a turbo for the mazda and this weekend was perfect for the install. i remember waking up to j getting ready to go outside. it was 8am and he said that it was like christmas morning. yeah, i guess it was. so he spent all day (11 hours to be exact) out in the driveway. a bunch of his car friends came by to help. i helped by getting pizza for lunch, looking pretty, and making dinner. i'm such a girl.



one of the highlights from the day was when gas sprayed into paul's mouth and dave and jeremy's eyes. it wasn't funny at the time, but they'll definitely laugh about it over beers later.

bad news, the car still doesn't start. something's not quite right, but it's okay because it'll get towed to a shop and they'll look at it this week.

today was a pretty relaxing day. we went shopping and i got a shirt for work and j got some shoes - the girl was so great and she even knocked $20 off the price - and we got some house stuff from zellers. i managed to find some 100% cotton pink wool so i'll be taking part in warming grace (see button on the right). now we're just hanging out until michael scoffield and jack bauer come on tv.

back to work tomorrow. not sure how i feel about that, but it is a short week and without work i wouldn't appreciate a huge fat long weekend like this one.

Friday, April 14

*knockknock* cleaning lady!

that's me. i just cleaned like it's my job. it's not my job, but sometimes i just have to clean. i never imagined that having one extra person and one extra cat in the house would make such a big difference, but we run out of dishes and utensils weekly and the hosue gets messy sooner.

last night we had easter dinner #1 at vik's parent's house. they have a new place in barrhaven. it's really really nice. basically a bungalow with one room on the second level. it had 9 foot ceilings and a huge 20 foot ceiling over the family room. very nice.

anyways, more stuff to do on day off #1 - yay long weekends! i'll leave you with this picture. that's m, j, s, a and b from m's surprise party last saturday night:

Thursday, April 13

i've been doin stuff - i'm interesting, finally!

these titles don't lie - they're like shakira's hips you know. for real.

i've been busy. and this time i don't mean i'm dying at work and coming home, filling my grumbling belly and passing out. monday we went back to the gym - it had been a while - and then we watched prison break and 24. both shows are super good and definitely worth watching if you aren't already. but you should wait until you can catch up before jumping right in. i like how some shows have gone to that format. they're basically like super long movies stretched over a whole season. you really get into it and feel like you know (or want to know.. mmmm, michael scoffield!) the characters. come to think of it, i know some of the characters better than i know some of my own friends.

that's sad.

tuesday night the three of us went out to dinner and then trekked to amc in kanata to see ice age 2 on the cheap. what a smashing idea. the movie was funny and good and dramatic. my only complaint is that it was approximately minus thirty in the theatre. what the eff, people?? it's not summer yet!

last night was the gym again and then dinner and two for the money. another good movie, but much much different from ice age. firstly, it isn't animated. second, it was about gambling and money and making people gamble more with their money and then taking their money. and maybe now's a good time to point out that over there on the right, i have a link to batman's library. that's a site, primarily for me, but feel free to check it out, where i post about every movie i see and every book i read. so if you're mega bored at work, feel free to look, but i make no promises that you will be entertained. like i said, it's more for me than for you.

and now it's today, and because of the fantastic long weekend, today might as well be friday. i have tons and tons of things to do today, but nothing like last week so i'm laughing. plus, today is susan's last day. remember susan (link to post)? well she's leaving and i couldn't be happier. she's super annoying to work with. i wish i had two pillows to squeeze against my head every day that she's here.

oh, quick update on the cats: they are doing well. s's cat, monkey, is out of her room except at night, and is slowly getting used to the house and to having people and other cats around. soon, all three cats will be sleeping together and playing and eventually, monkey will show me some love because everyone knows i need it!

Tuesday, April 11

to work or not to work

so last week was intense at work. intense. this week, with everyone back in the office, and the crunch week past, isn't so intense. in fact, i've been here for two hours and i haven't done a lick of work. not one lick! and it feels great!

last night we went to the gym again. for the first time in forever. it felt good, but i feel dumb for not going more often in the past month (or two months even). i don't know what's going on.. it's the same thing for dinner. we've been really crappy at cooking dinner for ourselves and so never have leftovers for lunches. that's bad. we're bad. we're going to get better.

last night s cooked us dinner while we were at the gym. and tonight i think i'm going to cook up a big bunch of this chicken pasta we like so we can have lunches. tonight we're also going to see the travel agent to talk about australia - yes, we are really going - and also head out to kanata to see ice age 2.

i forgot to mention this, but s and i watched walk the line friday night. it was a really good movie. really good. i also finished my book and it was really good. i'm in a transition reading stage because i don't have any more books (novels) to read presently so i'm reading the third darwin awards. they're funny, but it's not the same as reading a story.

Monday, April 10

dun like dinner

happy birthday goes out to alan! he's 25. he's catching up to the rest of us. we went out friday night for his birthday and i think he managed to choke down half a half-pint and one shot. someone else did all the drinking for him.

i got to sleep in both saturday and sunday and let me tell you i was SO happy. i'm still tired today, but that's because i couldn't fall asleep last night.

we had the first cats-on-cat encounter and i'm happy to say that it wasn't half as bad as we thought it would be. s's cat is all talk and our two don't seem to really care about her cat. there's been more growling and hissing than we've ever had, but i think they're all coming around.

okay, enough about cats. friday night we went to honest lawyer for alan's birthday. like i said, he didn't get pass-out drunk, but that's just not his style. good job sylvia for organizing. it was a little bit of highschool flashback but that happens and isn't always a bad thing.

saturday night was m's surprise party and she was hella surprised. it was great. we all had margaritas and spaghetti (rob must have called me about 25 million times about a meat sauce) and enough swedish berries to make me feel gross. i was supposed to go out to a bar that night, but stayed late at m's and didn't make it out.

yesterday we had a baseball meeting. it was very productive and made me excited for the season to start. our next fundraiser is a play-off hockey pool so consider this your heads up for me contacting you about spending money and supporting my team. then we had dinner with j's grandparents. it was much more stressful than usual and left me worn out.

this is a short work-week because of the long weekend coming up. sweet! and then we have another short week. double sweeet! i'm guessing my brother will be coming home for the weekend, but i'm really not sure. we will see.

Thursday, April 6

wow, what a crazy week

warning: if you don't want to read about my crappy week, skip this post!

this week has been absolutely crazy. the government's year end was last friday and we have approximately 200 contracts ending on that date. now we're dealing with all the paperwork that's coming in. tens and tens of claim forms and invoices are coming in every day.

let me say too that the woman who normally handles all this isn't in this week. the other woman in charge was out sick monday and tuesday. that leaves me. and i have to take care of all this on top of my other work.

i'm exhausted. it's really wearing me right out.

on a much lighter note: happy birthday to both m and kristina yesterday! you're getting old like me! i hope you both had wonderful birthdays. are we partying this weekend?

Tuesday, April 4

snow? now?

it snowed this morning. and yesterday i could have sworn it was october or november the way it was cold and gray out and all sorts of leaves were being blown all around. i'm not ready for winter. but really, i don't have to be. it's april! c'mon weather! it's almost baseball season! smarten up!

the wedding show went pretty much the same on sunday. my feet were killing me, but the day passed. and now i'm just fighting off the cold/flu/whatever_bug everyone seems to have. j and sarah are both at home sick today. i took yesterday off, but am back at work today.

i have to go out tonight and get some interview-worthy clothes. you would think i would have something, but i don't. ug. my fingers are crossed for a ride home. that would be excellent.

Saturday, April 1

me



i like this picture of me. and i think i know why. it doesn't show any of my features that i don't like so much. everyone has something (usually more than one thing) that they don't like about themselves.

today went well. we completely messed up the music for the first fashion show but after much meeting and discussing, we figured it out and had a better show the second time. we had to kick out one woman for soliciting so that was kinda exciting, but other than that it was a pretty typical wedding show day.

i thought a bit today about what to wear to my interview wednesday. i had some ideas floating around and decided to look around tonight. why do stores close at 6 on saturdays? aren't they open until 9 on weekdays? i don't get it. don't people stay up later on weekends? or is it that people have lives and go out on weekends.. hmm, maybe that's my problem. ah well, i'm going to get back to my tv. nothing beats lying on the couch watching mindless crap with two warm bodies. oh wait, j could be here.