Tuesday, September 25

isn't it nice

isn't it nice, when you're having a so-so day, to get some unexpected but super good news? i got a flickrmail telling me that one of my pictures has been shortlisted to appear in the niagara falls version of schmap. i'm going to talk to j before i confirm that i want it to be considered because i think he acutally took it. and then i have to think about how i want the picture credited. it links back to my flickr page so i'm thinking i'll use that screen name. so much to think about!

it's this picture, by the way:
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i can't wait to tell j.

today is a so-so day because i got to sleep in (+) but i have to work longer than usual (-) because j is on training and since we carpool, he drops me off and still has to drive for 20-25 minutes to get to his training. that means 40-45 minutes extra work for me (-). but then i heard about the picture (+) and that it's a friend's birthday tonight and that means dinner out (+). i think the positives are outweighing the negatives today.

it's only tuesday but we're starting to organize our weekend. seems like it's going to be a busy one. i won't bother you with the details now because you know i'll be catching you up on everything monday morning. in general, there will be parties and photoshoots and friends and food - sounds amazing.

Monday, September 24

hungry chicken

i'm hungry. it's almost lunch time. i was going to go for a run at lunch but i'm quickly convincing myself not to. i'm bad like that. maybe i'll convince j to run with me tonight.

friday

oh man, the weekend is starting to blend into one long day. i think we went over to a friends house for a going-away-cause-he-got-a-great-new-job party but it was cancelled. we ended up just hanging out with him for an hour or so before heading back to our end of town and forcing ourselves on kw. j played guitar hero for about three hours. three hours! we got donuts on the way home cause that's how we roll.

saturday

i slept in while j went off to a little town outside the city with a friend to pick up his truck. judd needs the truck this week because he's having his car painted. we needed the truck to pick up our tree. the city has a program in place hoping to plant 100,000 trees. all you do is sign up online and you get a free tree. we showed up at the city nursery not far from our house and got a list of about 10 trees that we could pick from. it was between an oak and a hackberry - we chose the hackberry. it was too windy saturday to plant it so it's still in it's pot beside the house for now.

sunday

we had an incredibly lazy day sunday. we slept in and hung around the house until after 3pm. we went to chapters and bought the lonely planet guide for cuba. it's making me want to not stay in a resort for a week but to travel around the country. that's trouble. back to sunday: we went and had some mcdonalds before heading to j's parent's house for j's birthday dinner. i swear his birthday just keeps going. he got a really nice running shirt and a board and quiver windsurfing bag.

also, a cake:

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the only other news i have is that i got an email for another competition i'm in. the exam is in a month. and that's that.

Thursday, September 20

september

september is the month for new tv shows and that makes me happy. i've been watching re-runs most of the summer so when a new episode comes on it's nice. very nice.

last night i watched the season premiers of prison break, criminal minds and america's next top model. all three were good. still looking forward to some other shows to start.

do you remember when episodes were stand alone? you could watch whatever show whenever and not be lost. the shows these days are most like soap operas in their continuity, which i like and i don't like. i like it because i have a pvr and never miss an episode (i might watch it the next day or the next week but i'll watch it sometime) but i don't like it because you have to invest a lot of time in every show you like. i think the good outweighs the bad in this case, especially with the pvr.

i also had hockey last night and managed to not get hurt again. we're not on the ice for the next two weeks until the season starts. this will give me a chance to rest my body and to run the 5K run-for-the-cure race on september 30th. besides, playing hockey when it's still hot out is just weird.

Wednesday, September 19

hump day and payday = heaven

apparently heaven happens every two weeks around here....

yesterday was a busy day. j didn't work so he had the car and picked me up from work. we went and walked around some stores. we found a plastic bag holder which will be useful in getting our pantry cleaned up and it goes on with double-sided tape - even i can install this sucker! we also got the ceiling mount for the projector. it needs something more than double-sided tape so it wasn't installed.

we only went to the stores because the 3 would be ready an hour after i got off work so there was no point in going home just to go right out again. we picked up the 3 at 4 and marvelled at the new bumper. they do good work at maaco. it was super nice to pick up the car and not have to pay for it... not that i'm recommending getting rear-ended or anything.

then we headed home in separate cars and got ready for my parents who came over to give j his birthday present. having just received back his staple gun, my dad decided j needed one of his own. it's a fancy thing that can take 6 different staple sizes. i don't know anything about staple guns, but that sounds pretty fancy to me. my parents didn't stay long but the cats sure put on a show for them - screaming and racing around.

j's parents called to tell us that we should go over to j's grandparents house because his uncle was in town and we had to drop off their car anyways. so we had dinner almost right after my parents left and then hopped in separate cars again and headed out. we dropped the smart car off at their house and then headed over to his grandparents house. we weren't even in the door when mg called and reminded us that we were going to see a movie.

after about 15 minutes, we raced off to see super bad. didn't realize that mg was on a date. the movie was funny, though it would have been much better about 5 years ago.

since this post has taken me forever and a day to post, i'll leave off here.

Tuesday, September 18

one fish two fish, old stick new stick

there's a dr. seuss book called one fish two fish, red fish blue fish that i really liked growing up. it's the inspiration for the title to the post today.

like i said last post, i broke my stick. and now i have the pictures to prove it:

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i went out on sunday and bought two new sticks for $40, taxes in. thank you, back-to-school/hockey sales. i still need to make them shorter and tape them up and i have practice again tomorrow night so i need to do it soon.

backing up, i spent the weekend going solo since j was in montreal for vik's bachelor party. he was picked up around 7pm friday night and got back early sunday afternoon. he had a good weekend from the sounds of it. i spent a lot of my weekend sleeping. i bought some things for the house and went to see my parents. i gave my mom an atlas for her birthday. she seemed to like it.

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i showed her my brother's pictures on facebook and she asked me to sign her up. i made her an account and added my brother and myself. who knows if she'll ever use it.

this saturday was j's birthday and it was the first time since we met that we didn't see each other on his birthday. so i gave him two presents before he left and one when he got home. i didn't make cake though. maybe i will.

sunday night i went over to t's new condo for the first craft night of the year. it was a mash of activities but it was fun and t's place is very nice. i started knitting christmas dishcloths but i just found a really neat pattern called the swiss cheese scarf and i'm more inspired.

new knitting and new shows on tv.. what more could i ask for? maybe a trip to cuba. still working on that.

Friday, September 14

decisions decisions

i had until last night to decide to play city hockey or not. and i had until after the practice to decide. i took until the absolute last minute to make my decision. i decided to play.

i played about 7 games with the other city team last year and really didn't like it. the level of play was high, possibly a little faster that i should be playing even, but the girls were bad. and by bad i mean bitchy. there was one point where one of the really good players actually screamed at another player on the ice. during the play. honestly.

i almost walked off the bench along with the screamed-at player. i couldn't believe what i was seeing and hearing. that was the most vocal thing that happened with that team, that i saw at least, but there was always this tension. girls didn't get along with each other. that doesn't make for a good time.

so this year when i got asked to play for this other team, i was a little hesitant because they play at the same level and when you play at a high level you get the hot-headed players who will do things like yell at their own teammates on the ice during the game.

so i held off on making a decision and was able to practice first, which i really appreciate. the girls all seemed really nice. i've played with a bunch of them before (in my intramural league last winter and spring or growing up) and decided that i can handle games once a week from now until april. it's what i did all growing up. i'm looking forward to it.

i'm also looking forward to getting a new stick because i broke my stick last night. it was a $30 stick i got 8 years ago. it doesn't owe me anything. i'll miss the heavy hunk of wood, but the big back-to-hockey sales are on now so i should be able to find something half decent for cheap. and if not, i'll just scream and yell at the people at the store because that's what you do to get your way.

Thursday, September 13

time flies slowly

it's thursday already. i missed posting yesterday because i was in meetings for about two thirds of my work day, which is about 100% more than usual. this week has been a weird one thanks to having to work all weekend at the wedding show. every day has felt like it should have been friday but then all of a sudden it's thursday. odd.

i've been dreaming about work. you know it's time for a vacation when....

last week i was really good about not napping and limiting the time i spent reading at night (and therefore getting to sleep earlier than usual). this week has been killer. monday, i went for a run at lunch time (to exercise and to get away from my desk for a while - though my 1.5K didn't take all that long) and was able to not nap after work. tuesday i was a complete zombie and convinced j to take his free afternoon off so we could go home and "rest". we slept from 2-6pm. obviously we were both tired.

the napping hasn't stopped. we got home from work yesterday and i konked out for over 3 hours. i was mega proud that i was able to fall asleep before 1am after that.

but the problem is still there: i dream about work. i should bill my employer for overtime. it's ridiculous and obviously work is getting to me and i should be able to deal with it better than i am. i spend enough time here to then go to sleep and be right back at my desk. my submissions are haunting me.

ergo i need a vacation. that is the first time i've used that word on this blog. welcome to a first of mine!

i talked to a travel agent at the show on sunday and asked about last minute deals to somewhere hot. she recommended cuba and so has everyone i've talked to since. i need to do more research on the country and resorts and do more convincing of j if i have any hope of going. i joked that i was going to book us a trip for his birthday (which is saturday by the way) and that way he couldn't say no. i'll keep you posted.

Tuesday, September 11

it's all about the timing

about 10 minutes after posting the last post, i heard about the car. the man who rear-ended us is setting up payment at one of the body shops who will order our new bumper. we should be able to take it in to be fixed late this week or next week. sweet!

as for the rx-7, the $900 guy is now saying $500. i'm not too sure what's going on there. i do know that j finally talked to the garage where the car is and found out that we owe almost $500 for towing! ridiculous. j has a call into the towing company to find out exactly what's going on. that's an insane amount and probably jacked up because insurance normally covers it. that's our take on it anyways.

lesson learned: always have collision insurance on your car, no matter what kind of car it is. learn from our mistakes.

this weekend was long. the wedding show went well and my feet aren't as sore as they normally are, but i'm exhausted. there's something about working through the time you're supposed to have off. we have weekends for a reason.

normally i would take the monday off to sleep in and do laundry and maybe get groceries, but i couldn't this week because of commitments at work. i don't think i'll last all week - i'm going to need to sleep in soon - so i'm zombie-like. worse things have happened.

i have the house to myself this weekend and i'm trying to figure out how best to use this time. being a zombie makes me less creative so i haven't thought of anything yet. maybe ice cream and cookies in front of the tv dressed in my comfy clothes. mmmm ice cream and cookies.

Friday, September 7

car troubles

you all know that we got rear ended in the mazda 3 a few weeks ago and that j smashed the rx-7 into a light post. those are our car troubles. hopefully both will be resolved soon.

the 3

the brockville man who hit us asked that we not go through insurance so we got two estimates and mailed them to him (he doesn't have email and his fax machine is broken.) the estimates were both a little under $1000.

we called him after a reasonable-enough time for mail to get to brockville. his response: i'll give you $500 and we'll call it even.

ummm, NO! YOU hit US! we're not paying for YOU to be an idiot and rear ending US. does this make sense to anybody else? so j told him, politely, that he will pay for 100% of the repairs or we'll go through insurance. he said that $1000 was too much and that he was going to take the estimates to a mechanic in brockville. okay, but we aren't driving to brockville to get our car fixed.

it just never ends.

the rx-7

of the interest j got from posting the rx-7 for sale, none were sure things. a guy wanted to part the car out and leave us the shell. one wanted to car but had to find a towing company that would tow it to toronto. j was getting discouraged and called car heaven, a place that buys junk cars. he got even more discouraged when they offered him $100 for it.

but then last night, he got a serious offer for $900. i told him to jump on it. the body shop where the car is currently, has been calling about us paying for the cost of the tow and getting our sorry-ass car out of there. hopefully this $900-man is true to his word and takes the car soon.

single-car family

september 13th, i have to decide whether i'm playing hockey this winter for a city team. this team travels and i don't like the idea of leaving j without a car from 7:30-10:30 friday nights or 2:30-5:30 saturday afternoons, plus at least one night every week for a couple hours. so we've been looking at getting another car. casually looking for now because we told ourselves that we would wait until one of us got a raise. i got my yearly cost-of-living raise, but you hardly notice an extra $20 a month.

we tried to look at a yaris but the dealership only had a sedan. no thank you. we want something small but still useful (ie. not a smart car) and super good on gas. it's going to be our go-everywhere-within-the-city car and the 3 will be the family-we-need-groceries car. we're still in the baby stages of looking at this so it'll probably be a while before we really know what we want and who knows about the promotions....

Thursday, September 6

soft spot

i have a soft spot for a good sunrise or sunset. there's something so beautiful about the sky and the light and the clouds. since i'm not much of a morning person, i don't get to see the sun rise very often, but starting work at 7am - and actually getting to work on time - helps with the sunrise-spotting.

tuesday morning the sunrise was spectacular. the sky was full of white and gray clouds and the light was beaming through in a circular way. the whole drive into work (which takes all of 15 minutes) i couldn't wait until we got to the parking lot so i could take some pictures.

finally we arrived. i took this one in the lot:

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and this one from my coworker's cubicle:

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it isn't very often we get a sunrise like that. beautiful.

Wednesday, September 5

update: RX-7

we found out how much it will cost to fix the rx-7. any guesses? no? okay, i'll tell you. $7500. that's 150% what we paid for the car in the first place. needless to say, we're not getting it fixed. it is living, temporarily, at the shop.

we got the call from the shop friday after work. i was relieved that it was such a big amount so that there was no maybes about getting it fixed. it was a flat-out NO.

now we have to figure out what to do with it. the engine is still in great shape and has very low mileage so i asked j if he could post on some of the forums he visits to see if anyone would be interested in a) the whole car, or b) parting out the car. he said that a) we needed pictures before we could post anything, and b) he didn't want to do it yet because didn't-i-think-for-one-second-that-he-might-be-a-little-upset-about-losing-the-car? oops.

i left him alone to sulk (aka play online computer games).

when we next talked, he had posted and already had some interest.

the light at the end of the tunnel is that while we won't have the car to drive anymore, we may get some money for it.

and j's okay.

Tuesday, September 4

oh man, what a weekend

i feel like i used my weekend. i got everything out of it that i had hoped. let me sum it up for you - awesome!

friday we went and met with some car guys and then downtown with a bunch of friends.

saturday night i went to see m. we ate cupcakes and talked and talked. it was nice.

sunday i tanned on the beach while j windsurfed. we had people over to watch a movie at night.

monday was a stay-at-home day since all the stores were closed. i did laundry and vacuumed and read. we also finally planted the bushes we bought back in july.

but now, saturday day. saturday was the big day this weekend. we went to the abandoned mine near buckingham, quebec with s&l. it's actually called the wallingford-back mine and was in operation from 1924-1972 mining primarily feldspar and quartz. i found out about it through a group on flickr. once i saw the pictures, i knew i had to go.

we navigated the country roads and only went past the turnoff once. we walked up to the entrance and were a little sad to see that you couldn't just walk in because it was all water:

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so we started walking up an atv road in hopes of finding another way in. we did:

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you could feel the air temperature drop and you knew there had to be an opening nearby. there was a hole in the chainlink fence that you just walked through. it was cold and dark, but incredible. it wasn't the typical closed-space cave, it was enormous! you could see light coming in from various openings and the water below.

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we were able to get right down to the water. it was a little slippy, but definitely doable. we sat for a long time, taking pictures at different angles and exploring the area slowly. here you can see j off to the left after he explored that side of the cave:

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it gives you an idea of how big this place really was. after leaving through the entrance we came in, we decided to see if there were other areas around the top. in fact, you could walk all around the huge opening on a bridge-like rock formation:

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you can see me and l if you look closely. we made our way along this bridge and back out through another opening in the fence. back at the entrance, we decide to walk into the water to get some pictures from the far side. the water was only up to knee-deep but was FREEZING! i couldn't handle the pain and only made it about 10 feet in. and this is my favourite picture of the day, me and l chilling on the edge of the ice-water:

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no day would be complete though without a horatio (from csi miami) shot from j:

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the whole set is on my flickr page. we took tons of pictures, but need to really learn how to take shots of dark things when it's bright outside. it was challenging.

and now to find more day-trips good for fun and for taking pictures. i've already read about another mine just outside perth....