grape

i would like to introduce you to the newest member of our technology-family, grape:



she's a purple iPod shuffle that i received for christmas (thanks c&s!) i took her running for the first time last friday and was so impressed. i can't tell you how nice it is to have music but to not have to hold my iPod mini in my hand. you just clip grape onto your clothes and away you go! brilliant!

two pictures of grape with j's green oliver.





cute, eh?

not so resolute

i'm not big on new year's resolutions. i really believe that you should be what you want to be all the time and not need the coming of a new year, which really is just the next day in the continuum of time, to make change. new year's resolutions just aren't for me.

i am however a big fan of lists. back in january 2004, the 7th specifically, i made a big list. it's called 101 things to do in 1001 days. if you're a math whiz you might know that the 1001st day passed recently. not that i noticed on the day of. but still, it happened. 1000 and 1 days passed and i accomplished nowhere near the 101 things on my list. in fact, i accomplished 41.5 of them.

now that i've done this once, i know how to make a better list. i need to be more specific in my tasks. so i've made a new 101 things to do in 1001 days. the first day was december 26 and i'm not even done making my list yet. it's not easy coming up with 101 things, believe me.

my first list didn't have some pretty big things i DID accomplish on it, like buying a house. i obviously wasn't thinking about a house all that much back then. it's about thinking long-ish term, 1001 days in the future specifically. that's not an easy thing to do, though i think it gets a little easier the more stable your life becomes. back in january 2004, i was still in school, engaged, and had a temp house. now i'm married, have a permanent job and my own house. my life is obviously different and so too are my "things to do".

my challenge to you is this: make a new year's resolution to NOT make any resolutions. make small changes that better your life that you can live with and sustain. small things really make a difference. and try something more long term, like the 101 things to do in 1001 days and report back at the end of it. you might find out something about yourself. i would rather learn what i really want to do instead of learning to make resolutions and then break them. look at any gym in january and look at the same gym a couple of months from now. the gyms are laughing.

be the change you want to see in the world.

project365

just over a year ago, i read about a fun little project where you take one picture a day for a year. project365 sounded intriguing so i jumped in. most people wait until the beginning of the new year - not me, i started on december 28th.

i started taking the camera with me everywhere. it became an extension of me. i learned to always have it ready because a random shot of something out in the world was often more fun that a last-minute shot of something in my house. i learned that taking a picture every day made the days go by slow but that after a while the effect was amazing.

the project wasn't always easy and i sure didn't take 365 masterpieces, but looking over the set as a slideshow puts a smile on my face. i get to see just how much i did over the past year. you get to see our house go from an empty shell to what it is now. you get to see the places we visited and the people we saw. you get to see random tidbits of our lives.

now the 365 days is done and i can't imagine myself without my camera near-by, especially now that i have a new one. i don't think i will stop taking a picture a day - or as close to it as i can - for a while. taking pictures has become part of my life.

so here you have my project365, from december 28, 2006 to december 27, 2007. what a year!

december 26 - cativersary

boxing day three years ago is the day we brought our cats home. poor sandy didn't handle the move well and promptly lost all of her fur.



they were troopers but especially liked spending time with each other.



it didn't take them long to warm up to us though.



sandy eventually got her fur back and we were surprised to see how orange she was!



j and i are very happy to have cats, these two especially. they're fun to have around. they are very talkative and playful. they love water and seeing us when we come home. our house would be much different without them around.

more pictures and story telling

i got a chance to see sylvia before she left for home. i went out with a&s and s&l and had pho near where they live. because of the snow and the crazy traffic it took my well over an hour to get there from work. j didn't come with me because he had to work late. later on, alan showed us how to rock out using a fake version of guitar hero and his computer keyboard.



(alan: you must have known your picture would make it onto my blog!)

i finally got my christmas cards done and sent out. i know i missed some of you this year - some i don't have your new address, others, it was too late to catch you at home. sorry about that.



i played hockey last friday night with a bunch of guys from work. this is the fourth game but only the second that i've played. the first time i played i got knocked around. this time was much better. after the game all i wanted was a quarter pounder with cheese. i stopped at the first mcd's on the way home and, after waiting in the drivethru line for a while, got to the window to learn that the only accept cash. i had no cash. of course. and, of course, this was the kind of drivethru with a concrete wall stopping you from leaving. i had to wait in the damn line for 10 minutes. i know that's not a long time in the grand scheme of things but i really wanted that sandwich. i finally did get my sandwich but i went to another mcdonalds.



the sign should say "drive thru open 24 hours but only if you pay with cash".

that was friday night. saturday night we went to the annual christmas party at richard's house. it was fun but i have no pictures because my camera battery was dead. i'm still not used to only having one battery.

sunday night was my family's christmas party. we ate lots of food, had a $5 gift exchange where both me and j came out with awesome loot. i got a huge mug with a plush reindeer guy and j got the babeh spiderman that he bought.



guitar hero was a big hit with almost everyone taking a turn.

we had to work christmas eve, but not a lot of work got done. everyone was so cheery and chatty. we left before 12 noon and did some family stuff, including some last minute shopping.

this was our first christmas in our new house so we opened our stockings and our presents for each other by ourselves. it was nice. i guess i complained enough about my point-and-shoot camera so j got me the newest model and i love it!



the cats also loved their feathered toy.



we went and did the christmas thing with j's family next. he got a ladder from his parents.



and we both got iPod shuffles - good for running. mine is purple and j's is green.



after that we went to see my parents. they seemed to like the little camera we got for them. they're off to cuba in a couple of weeks and only had an old camera that they didn't know really how to work. we found them the simplest camera out there.

boxing day they stopped by and demonstrated that they were both able to take pictures and show pictures. they hadn't tried putting the pictures on the computer yet though.

we did some more family stuff yesterday and even braved the stores. it was nice to finally be home, just the two of us again and then we remembered that it was exactly three years to the day that we've had our cats. our crazy little cats.

pictoral follow-a-long - things i've done lately

went to see beowulf. wore the goofy glasses. left about 20 minutes in. went shopping instead.



found out unsuccessful at work competition for own job. drank rum and used little ladies from cuba.



went a different way home from work. saw a spectacular sunset.



was granted permission to sign off on certain forms at work. last competency at higher level. same level of unsuccessful competition. what gives?



annual work christmas luncheon. danced like no one was watching when everyone was watching.



crazy party with j's coworkers. learned about the mystery basement toilet.



watched as huge amounts of snow turn two-car-wide driveway into narrow lane. shoveled.




shoveled again.



shoveled some more.



pigged out at work potluck lunch.



now we're here.

remarkably unremarkable week

a week has passed and i have very little to say about it. unfortunately.

- i played hockey and didn't get a penalty or get injured. this is good.
- it has already been a long month at work. though i did take a couple hours off wednesday and spent all of thursday on the couch playing guitar hero.
- i managed to get a 490 note streak by myself and over 1000 notes with j.
- j stayed home too and thought for a while that he had shingles again, but now he thinks he was just sick.
- i went to a lesbian party... i mean a hockey party. let's just say that i was in the minority.
- where do babies come from?
- i'm feeling like it's time to get organized. can you believe that we still have stuff in boxes almost a year after moving? is this normal?
- i have hockey tonight and next sunday night. but then i think we're done until the new year.
- christmas parties will pick up where hockey leaves off.
- thankfully i am almost done my christmas shopping.

random random.

me, not the boss

when did life get so busy that i can't find time to update this blog?

let's go in chronological order, because i am me.

tuesday - the broken picture frame, c/o rolo:



wednesday - i had training (day 3 of 4) at work and a hockey game at night. training was fine. i partially avoided the annoying guy and still managed to get some work done on my breaks. hockey was good. it had been 3 weeks since i'd been on my skates. it felt nice to zoom around the ice. but i should tell you that 15 seconds into the game i had scored... myself a penalty. oops. i went out with the team afterwards. the new heart and crown is nice but they should really serve some cheap bar food instead of overprices hoity-toity food.

thursday - training, day 4 of 4 at work. and then i was supposed to see my parents but the snow, oh the snow. the driving was horrific and after an hour in the car for the 12km drive from work to home, i said that i would see them later and spent the night with my cats instead. i had been neglecting them so they were appreciative of the warm lap.

friday - friday was meet the big boss and tell her my decision about whether i wanted to be the little boss for the month of december or january. i chose january and she agreed. january it is, with the possiblity of spill-over into february. i left work late, knowing that i was probably headed straight to the airport to pick up j, and that's exactly what i did. i read the paper and watched the people. then i talked j's ear off on the drive home about all the boss and coworker crap that's been going on this week. poor guy. at least the cats were excited to see him.

saturday - and then he was called into work from 1-6am saturday morning. i slept. he slept for a bit and then was called in again so we went, he worked while i read in the car. that night was chris and silvia's wedding reception party thing at their apartment downtown. it was the strangest thing. their apartment is half the third floor of an old house. it reminded me of kingston houses. and seeing lots of drunk people dancing to hey ya brought me right back to university. it was fun though. congratulations to chris and silvia.

sunday - most of the afternoon i spent baking cookies for the cookie exchange. we took a break to greet j's sister at the airport, back from a 6-month rotation in afghanistan, civilian-style. it was obvious she was super tired after 24 hours of travel. too bad that we couldn't go to dinner, but we had to get back before people came over. there were 9 or us for the cookie party. the cookies were tasty and the night was fun. i have about 6 million cookies if anyone wants any.

today - there is tons of snow. we woke up early and shoveled and we'll have to shovel again when we get home. welcome to winter in canada. at least the drive in wasn't bad. i think a lot of people stayed home. i was looking forward to coming to work today to see how my coworker who is the boss this month would be, but it didn't go down the way i thought it would. i thought the big boss would pull my coworker into her office but instead my coworker was told she was expected at a meeting NOW and was told after the fact. then she came to me asking why i didn't warn her. she's all smug, which is better than the sarcastic b*tch she was before, but still no fun. it's going to be a long december.