Abandoned Mine - Winter Edition

Back in September we went to the Wallingford-Back mine near Buckingham, QC. Here's the post from that trip. I had seen pictures of the mine in the winter and knew I had to see it. About a month ago, we planned for 6 of us to go but by the time Saturday came, only 3 could make it. Myself, J and Alan jumped in A's parent's van and hit the road. It was snowy, not the best driving conditions, so it took a while to get there.

Now, I want you to picture a camel. A three-humped camel. Got it? Good.

We finally reached Chemin de la mine and knew we were close. We're going along this cottage-like road and are climbing a pretty steep hill (like we're driving up the camel's neck) when we come to a stop. Alan says he thinks the road is pure ice. Sure enough we start rolling backwards. Then we start picking up speed. I'm in the middle seats and can see Alan hitting the breaks - nothing - we keep picking up speed and are careening down the camel's neck backwards. Alan is swearing up a storm and yelling at J to clear the back windshield. The brakes aren't working and we're all thinking we're going to hit something, crash and die. Not to be melodramatic or anything.

After what feels like 20 minutes, the van starts to slow. We're heading up the camel's first hump and are slowing down. Relief washes over me until Alan says that he thinks we're going over. We hit the top of the hill, still no brakes, and go over, again picking up speed. Thankfully there's a second hump. We slow down just to hear from Alan that we're going over again. We pick up even more speed. No idea how Alan has kept the van on the road this whole time. We start to slow again. The third hump was our savior. We come to a stop on it.

Then we realize that the van stalled when it started rolling backwards while in drive at the camel's head way back when. Alan starts up the van and tests the brakes. They work. We go up and over the camel's second and first hump and park at the bottom of the neck, after slip-sliding around for a while. We get out and you can feel the relief in the air. We were all gushing about how scary our little backwards trip was and how we easily could have hit something and crashed the van. Alan did a great job keeping that thing on the road and not panicking too much when the brakes didn't work.

We weren't sure how far the mine was but decided that even if it turned out to be too far to walk there, that we had had an awesome adventure and that the day was not wasted.

This picture was taken from the camel's head. You can see the tracks where the van started rolling backwards.



Turns out the mine was a 15 minute walk away and by the time we made it our hearts had stopped racing and the fact that we almost died was pushed back in our minds. It was incredible seeing the mine and being able to walk on the ice.



But it had its scary parts. We each had our own camera and so we separated almost immediately. J was almost at the back entrance and Alan was still near the main entrance, I was in the middle, standing on the ice, when it popped. The sound was really loud and freaked me out. I jumped straight up in the air and ran across the mine to where I could stand on rocks. It sounded like the back of a dump truck slamming shut, it resonated. It was freaky.

I did get a really nice picture from there before the ice popped.



The big chunk of ice is actually a piece of a huge icicle that had fallen. The icicles hung from the ceiling and were huge. You could tell where they were from the bumps they left on the ice from when the dripped. We avoided the bumps and therefore avoided the icicles. I'm sure you wouldn't survive having one of those falling on your head.



Thankfully the ice was at least a foot deep - we could tell because where it had cracked it was white. Everywhere else it was clear.




Right near the top were some really neat ice formations.



And a close-up:





The clear ice was creepy, especially in the little back part (the dark part in the top left of the picture above), a part we couldn't get near in September, because it was too steep. This is J peering down and getting creeped out:



It was really hard to take a picture that showed the ice and the rocks beneath the water. We have some video that shows it really well. This shot shows some tree branches and some neat bubbles:



And just in case you couldn't tell that this mine is enormous, check out the little Js in these pictures:





This last one is dark, but I promise there's a J hiding in there, somewhere.



The whole trip was an adventure. I learned that Alan swears under high stress situations and that he can drive really well backwards, downhill, without brakes. I learned that I can pee outside when I really have to. I learned that drinking a whole lot of alcohol after such a crazy day feels good. I learned that trips like these make memories.



(For the full set of pictures, check out my Flickr page.)

Classy Cat

My Dad recently celebrated a birthday and, one week later, we celebrated with him. My parents made an awesome lasagna and we brought a cake. I ate too much lasagna and didn't have any cake, but I'm told it was good.

We got my dad an electric frying pan and he was really happy with it. Just look at his face.



And then Hyper, my parent's black and orange cat, brought home a little mouse. She's classy that way.



She was very confused after my dad grabbed the little guy and threw him outside. She's not very bright but she is cuddly.

Broken Boss

Do you know how hard I work? I'll tell you: I work SO hard that I broke my computer. I give you the Blue Screen of Death:



I should have known the clicking from yesterday was the hard drive dying and should have maybe saved some things on the common drive. Hindsight is always 20/20, I know.

In other work news, the coworker that I don't like so much is leaving. I found out last Wednesday and am so happy. Every time I think about her leaving I smile. My workload will increase significantly but I don't care. My work life will be better. SO much better.

And then yesterday I got an email saying that I got into the "developmental program" meaning I get a raise. It's a neat internal program to promote development, learning, career opportunities and all that jazz. Neat in theory, but they've been saying since I started that the program would open. In practice, the program takes forever so we'll see when I actually get any extra money out of the deal. Either way, I get bumped up a level and am happy.

Also, I should find out this week whether I will be the acting boss again for March. Leaving coworker was next in line, but she won't be here to do the job so it should fall to me. My boss is very fair so unless we get a permanent mini-boss, it should be me. That's even more money.

Other than the increased workload and the sometimes eye-twitch, work life is good. Especially with a brand new computer.

Tremblant 2008

We spent last weekend in Tremblant. It was beautiful there and a lot of fun on the hill. First, let me tell you about last week. I spent all week feeling like I was getting sick so I stayed home Tuesday and Thursday. Monday was a regular day at work and Wednesday was a full day of training. So there wasn't much working but there was a lot of lying on the couch. And then came the skiing.

Like I said, Tremblant was beautiful.



My purple snowpants were hella warm.



We started out, me skiing and J snowboarding, on the "bunny hill". I was able to remember how to ski pretty quickly and after a couple runs we were on the chairlift and heading up the mountain. The chairlift went half the way up, and the green run took about 20 minutes to get down. Then we took the gondola. The gondola went right up to the top of the mountain, almost a kilometer up. That run took longer.

It was a rush, but it was freezing. I could hardly have my eyes open, especially once I got going fast. I think I got windburn on my face.

After skiing Friday afternoon, we went back to the chalet. It was a 10 minute walk from the bottom of the mountain. Our friends showed up not too long after that. There were 8 of us all together. Here's a picture of the view from our room:



We spent Friday night walking around the village and finally eating and drinking lots of beer at one of the bars.

Saturday was the big day. We spent all day on the mountain. LS took the opportunity to propose to his girlfriend, SM, and thankfully she said yes.



Saturday night you might imagine that we were all super tired, so after a huge dinner and some hot tub-ing, we crashed pretty hard. Sunday was hometime and recover time. My shins and calves are killing me so shuffling is the most comfortable way of walking.

All in all, an awesome weekend. And here's a group shot of Tremblant 2008:

Picture Ketchup

It's been a while since I've posted any pictures and I intend to rectify that.

We got Rock Band a while ago and I've learned that I'm actually decent as a singer. If you know me you probably know that I am terrible with lyrics and don't have a great voice. Rock Band doesn't care! In fact, I rock at rocking!



I call my alter ego Pixie. Pixie sings good.

J and his friends tackled the endless set list. On Rock Band, you sit and play all 58-ish songs in one sitting. This takes longer than 6 hours. But they did it and they survived. This picture was taken before the end of the first hour, when I left them.



I left because I had a party to attend. It was a girl I went to high school with, A, who invited everyone and their dog to her house. I went and saw people I hadn't seen in a long time, including JH. I used to play hockey and trumpet with JH back in the day. It was nice seeing her and everyone else.



I have to admit, I was feeling blah. Very blah, but my friends really helped. I received lots of emails and got out of the house lots over the past two weeks. There are also things coming up, like a skiing/snowboarding trip to Tremblant this weekend and a trip to the Abandoned Mine (my post from the last time we went) the weekend after.

And I should mention that, in honour of our upcoming skiing/snowboarding trip, and because of the fact that J lost my old pair, I got a new pair of snow pants. Two pairs, actually. The first are gray and really nice and expensive. But I felt better, more prepared, once we had purchased them. But when we went to another store yesterday, I found a nice pair for less than one third of the price of the other ones. And get this - they're purple! J says I'm going to be the envy of all the girls at Tremblant. I don't know about that but I do know that I smile just thinking about them. Who has purple snow pants?

Longer Days

It makes me happy that I can sleep in, not get into work until 9, and it's still sunny when I leave work at 5. I get to sleep in and see the sun for almost an hour after work. Perfect!

I had training Monday and Tuesday so today I was back to my regular day-to-day and I got lots done. That always feels good. Now I just have to get back to the gym.

J went snowboarding last night so I went and saw 27 Dresses with his sister. It was better than I was expecting, which is nice. Tonight he's working late so I'm home with the cats. I don't know what to do with myself, especially not what to make for dinner. It's hopeless!

And that's that. Pretty exciting stuff.

February - The Most Depressing Month

My apologies if your birthday is in February. I took exception to January 24th being called the most depressing day of the year but that's because it's my birthday and so I have something to brighten it up. For me, February is the hard time. It's gray and cold outside and there are no holidays in sight.

I had a particularly rough day at work yesterday for reasons I don't want to discuss. People took one look at me and knew something was bothering me. I didn't realize I was so transparent. My reasons weren't for their ears either so I made up some story about it being a long week - it being Friday, people accepted that. And it was a long week.

But January was a long month and now that January's done I was able to take a day off. Thank goodness for paid sick days. Tuesday I took off as a mental health day and I slept in. For me, sleeping in is incredible. I also had some retail therapy and hardly spent any money so it was perfect. Highs from shopping last only so long though and yesterday was a low day.

I was sitting at my desk, feeling sorry for myself, and I decided that I needed to get out. Get some exercise I mean. I kept true to myself and went for a run after work. I ran outside in the cold and the gray and the snow, but it felt great. I didn't go far or for a long time, but it was exactly what I needed.

Now if only I could take all of my frustrations out on my body (in an exercise way, not in a cutting myself way) I would be set. I think I can do that, but I think I need a little motivation. I'm thinking of signing up for the race in May again to give myself that extra push. I wonder if I could do the half marathon and not hurt myself like last year. Time will tell.

For now, I will get through every day the way I always do and hope that my SAD-like days don't last long. At least February is a short month and who knows what March will bring.

Playing Hooky

If you read about the eye-twitch then you won't be surprised that I took the day off today. It was a mental-health day that was much needed. I feel better already.

And I took care of some business - I went shopping. I had a gift card that was burning a hole in my wallet so I bought some work pants. Then I swapped a Christmas sweater for a light green button-up shirt, again good for work.

Did I mention that last Monday I was called into a meeting with the public and I was wearing jeans? It wasn't awkward but it made me realize that I should be taking my work (or myself at work) more seriously if I want to move up. So no more jeans except on Fridays for this girl. That means I have to build up my work-appropriate wardrobe, hence the purchases today.

So other than that I've been watching a lot of tv and knitting. J will eventually have a new scarf and my brain will turn to mush. Happy mush.

Bosses, Friends and Alcohol

Thanks to my good friends, I had a good time Saturday night.



It was Alan and Sylvia's engagement party and it was a lot of fun.

But the best feeling ever was leaving work on Friday. It has been an extremely long month of acting as the boss while keeping up with my own workload. I had to deal with a lot of work issues and people issues. I realized it was all getting to me when my left eye has been twitching for the past three weeks. I'm more stressed than I thought possible.

Even so, January was a good month. I'm just happy it's over. So when I finally got to leave work after an extremely busy day, I walked to the parking lot slowly, in the incredibly thick snow, with a huge smile on my face. I felt relieved.

The alcohol on Saturday night didn't hurt either.

Riverside South Esthetics

Our neighbour, Amy, has started her own business - Riverside South Esthetics - out of her home and I wanted to post the link to her site and tell you that she is very nice and you should check her out.

Her grand opening was this afternoon so she's open and ready for business.

Riverside South Esthetics

One Year House-iversary

One year ago today we excitedly drove to the lawyer's office to pick up the keys to our very first house.



We drove to the same place we'd been vising for the past 8 months but this time was different. This time we held the keys to our future. The first time we put the key in the lock was magical.



We were on such a high. We'd worked hard to save up enough money to buy a house and were lucky getting the lot we wanted and the closing date pushed back so far. Everything came together and we were finally homeowners.



We've been through a lot in the past year. We got grass and a driveway, trees and a fence, more interior things than I can mention. And it's all ours.



And then the snow came and now we wonder why we thought a two-car-wide driveway with a teeny-tiny patch of lawn was a good idea. Oops!



Either way we're super mega happy with our house. We're loving being homeowners. Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner.

(Come to think about it, do they have different stickers for same-sex couples and singles? Hmm....)

My Ouch is Colourful

At my hockey game January 15th I was pushed and fell onto a girl's stick. I knew my leg was going to bruise because of the pain. I could hardly put any weight on my leg at first. This happened my first shift.

I played the rest of the game and I'm glad I did. I didn't give the muscles a chance to tighten up. The 45 minutes drive home was another story.

The next day, this is what it looked like:



And then a week and a half later:



It's healing and I played hockey again last week. My leg felt fine while I was skating but not immediately after and definitely not that night or the next day. I had to take painkillers when I got home. I haven't played again since but have another game this Thursday. We'll see how it feels tomorrow and the next day.

Pretty impressive though, eh? I'm impressive!

Successful Birthday Season

Birthday season has sadly come to a close for another year. It was a lot of fun, thought I didn't have the big going out dancing night I wanted. Maybe soon.

I cleaned up with the presents. Did I ever! The big ticket item was definitely from J who got me Lola. Lola is a bright red Dell laptop computer. Fancy fancy.



We had a laptop back when J was still in school and miss having one. I guess I mentioned it often enough that J figured my birthday was a good time. He even hooked up the wireless router so I'm currently lounging on the couch in front of the fire writing this post. Ah luxury. I'm spoiled.

Lola is not spoiled however. She's only been in my possession for a few days and I've already sat on her. Did I mention that I'm clumsy? Thankfully nothing bad happened, her case protected her pretty well. It's great being able to check immediately on imdb some trivial matter that comes up when watching tv. Because that's what laptops are good for. Believe me.

27 has gotten off to a good start and there are already some big plans for the year. Stay tuned.

Thank You

Today is not the most depressing day of the year, no matter what they say. It's my birthday and it was a great day. First of all, J let us sleep in, which is always nice. Work wasn't horrifically busy and everyone was smiley and happy-birthday-ey. We saw more birds than ever on the drive home. We went out for a great dinner with S&L and A (Sylvia was sick) then went back to our place and ate chocolatey cake and played RockBand until our muscles were sore.

It's getting late and I have to work tomorrow (someone is going snowboarding instead of working) so I haven't had a chance to upload my pictures. I will spend some time this weekend with the computer getting caught up on my life, and maybe some time dancing, but we'll see.

Exclamations Mandatory!

I was just reading my last post so I know where I left off, something I always do. Anyways, the point is that I noticed my last three posts have all had an exclamation point in the title. That's not exactly my style, but obviously I have things to be excited about. I guess that's a good thing.

Yesterday, in one of the free daily papers, I read that January 24th is the most depressing day of the year. Something to do with the winter blues/blahs, the fact that you get your credit card bill in the mail with all your Christmas purchases on it, and other things. Poo! It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to, but I will disagree with anyone who says that it's the most depressing day of the year.

I'm also, for the most part, an optimist, so I would be able to look on the bright side of things. And yes, I do have credit card debt this time of year, and yes, I am getting mighty sick of all the gray I see outside BUT I have a good life so I'm happy. Plus, January 24th is the first day of the three quarters of the year that I am a year older than J. He loves that.

We watched neat show about hearing and music. There are people who do not hear music. Music to them sounds like pounding. I can't remember exactly how the person they interviewed described it but it sounded unpleasant. I read earlier that people can become addicted to music, even mega loud music, even if it physically hurts them to listen to it. I think I'm addicted to music, but not loud music. It's weird for our house to be silent - there is usually at least one radio on. We have music in the car and I always have my iPod with me.

The way my job is going these days, I don't use my iPod at work. People are constantly stopping by my cubicle so I never have five minutes to myself. You know what I do? I sing. Not loudly, but out loud usually. I work better when there's music playing. I fall asleep to music. It's everywhere.

But then there are people who never have music playing. Friends of mine, their house is absolutely silent, even though I know they are musical people. I notice when I'm over there and I wonder if they notice the sound when they come to my house.

I wonder if music-addicts are attracted to people like themselves or to silence-addicts. I wonder if that even factors into the whole courting thing. Is it an introvert/extrovert thing? That's something the show never once mentioned. I'm always curious about the introvert/extrovert thing because I don't know which I am. For me it really depends on the situation, but in a course I took recently I learned that it has to do with where you "get your energy" which I don't get, and your internal stimulus level (whether you have lots going on in your head or if you need your environment to be highly stimulating). Interesting stuff, but I can't apply it to myself. At least not now.

So whatever kind of 'vert I am, I'm one that needs music. Music and my depressing birthday I guess.

Euro-Trip!

Last night we booked our trip to Europe. I think I'm addicted to traveling because it felt like we hadn't booked anything or gone anywhere in a long time. That's not true at all. Two months ago we were in Cuba, and two month plus a couple of days we booked it.

This trip will be different. We've done the backpacking thing (Costa Rica), we've done the visit family thing (Victoria), and we've done the all-inclusive resort thing (Cuba). Europe will be with friends and for a purpose: our friend Chris is having a huge wedding reception there to make up for the shotgun wedding he had here in November. There will be four of us traveling together and 4 we'll meet in Turin.



We're flying in and out of Frankfurt, Germany because it's the cheapest. We have the wedding in Turin and that's it. We have to figure out everything we want to see, the places we want to visit between now and then.

You know what I'm most looking forward to? The anticipation. That's definitely what was missing from our last trip. We haven't had anything like this to look forward to since booking our Costa Rica trip. We have three months to think about it. Fun.

Yay EuroTrip!

Yay!

Awesome news: Alan and Sylvia are engaged!! I couldn't wait to break the news, but wanted the okay from the happy couple first. Sylvia doesn't update her blog hardly enough and I knew I couldn't wait forever so I finally broke down and asked. They have a really cute story too, but that I will let Sylvia tell you that one.

I went looking through my pictures and realized that I only have one picture of the two of them. Apparently I don't think much of taking pictures of couples. Who knew.

Anyways, congratulations to the two of you. I'm really happy for you guys and can't wait for the wedding. (I'm invited, right?)

It's Official - Birthday Season is Here!

It's 10 days until my birthday so that means that birthday season has officially begun! Birthday season is the time immediately before and after your birthday where you get to celebrate getting one year older. It's wonderful.

I still haven't figured out exactly what I want to do for my birthday yet, but stay tuned. I will come up with something. Something spectacular.

Wooo!

That Was a Long Week

Now that it's the weekend it seems like the week passed quickly, but during the week it felt excruciatingly long. Just like that word.

It could be because that was the first five-day week in a while. It's getting brighter out and with the warmer temperatures, a lot of the snow has melted so goodbye winter blahs. Until next snow fall I guess.

I'm not even sure what to tell you about the week. Work was typical and therefore boring. Hockey went well even though we lost our game. I have three new bruises. I have to get used to being banged around again.

Nothing else is new with the house. Our spring cleaning / rearranging has slowed. The house is still a disaster from half-finished organizing jobs. It'll get better.

We've been thinking a lot lately about our next trip. Hopefully it'll be Italy in May. I've never been off the continent so it should be interesting. I know a lot of people who have been to Italy so I might be picking your brains in the next 4 months. I hardly know anything about the country and where to go / what to do. I'm still waiting for the Lonely Planet book that I ordered to get here so I can start reading up on things.

Speaking of ordering things, J ordered GH 3 and it showed up last night. I spent a couple hours hammering away on the guitar and hurting my wrist in the process. But now I've finished the game on easy with the guitar. That makes me a two-time guitar Hero. Heroine perhaps.

I need to go make some plans for the night or my weekend won't be hardly as spectacular as last. Too bad all I want to do is put on my comfy clothes and watch tv. Hmph.

The Corpse Bride

On the way home today we checked the mail. I was excited to see an envelope from the province - either my new driver's license or my health card. My excitement was replaced with disgust upon opening the envelope and seeing my picture. I think J's comment describes the picture best: I look like a corpse bride.

Laugh away:



Wow. I'm stuck with this thing for the next five years. I'm just hoping my license picture turns out better.

Deja Vu

December 28, 2007



January 7, 2008



And, for good measure, September 28, 2007



Apparently I really like this tree.

Very Good Weekend

It feels so good to have full weekends where you get lots done and you see people and you forget for a couple of days that you have to go back to work on Monday. That was the kind of weekend I just had.

We slept in a little Friday so we could go to dinner right from work. We had dinner with J's parents and sister and his cousin, G, and his fiance, JW. They're a cute couple.



We hadn't made any plans for yesterday or today, but managed to throw together a nature hike with S&L and A Saturday afternoon. We remembered to bring birdseed and were able to feed the chickadees and took lots of really good pictures of them.



The funniest part was when S went off the trail and was hip-deep in snow. We were all laughing and taking pictures.. poor guy.



We went for pho afterwards and then decided that we'd have dinner together too. We went home and got ready (including napping and showering and cleaning - oh, the cleaning! Our house was so messy, but this forced us to tidy. Perfect!) We had fajitas and then played Guitar Hero for hours. A nice Saturday.



I woke up today wanting to organize stuff. I had my eye on the computer / craft room so we got to it. We emptied the whole room, vacuumed and dusted, then put some things back in. The computer desk is all nicely set up along with the craft table. We need to get some drawer thingy for all the office-y-type stuff and hang something on the walls, but it made a big big difference and it feels good. There's still tons of stuff in the hallway and in the spare bedroom and our bedroom so the job's not done. Either we figure out a spot in the room or we throw it out.



In the middle of the big organizing day, J's parents and sister stopped by for a bit. We kicked them out after not to long because I had a hockey game and J wanted to shovel the snow off the roof. We won our hockey game and J didn't fall off the roof. Everyone wins!

After my game, while I was waiting for my dinner to cook, I went through our change pot and separated out all the pennies. We're going to take them to a bank. I also took all of our foreign money and put it in my Afghan-box, fitting I think.

The last thing is the duvet clips. We clipped the duvet cover to the duvet using these little clips so hopefully the duvet won't slide down inside the cover. Bonus points if you know what I'm talking about.

Now that was a FULL weekend. That's exactly what I needed to get through the whole 5 days of work coming up.

And I'll leave you with a picture of Sandy. It's one of my favourites.

my exciting life

i don't normally have more than one thing to say in a day. i mostly do the same things every day and that's not all that exciting: woke up, went to work, went home, ate food, watched tv / played guitar hero, went to bed. repeat. but it seems these days i have more to say. and it's only half because i'm going out more.

the going out more portion of my exciting life took me to the annual sharks christmas party last night. i know christmas has already come and gone but last night was the best night for most of the team. i wasn't sure i wanted to go because it's been really hard getting enough sleep with the erratic holiday / work non-schedule the past couple of weeks, but i'm so glad i did. the gift exchange was a highlight for me. on my way to the party, i stopped at the little mall near our old house and picked out a necklace and some earrings (i know, so NOT me but that made it more fun in a way). em ended up with them and i think she liked them. i got four fancy mango wood tray/bowl serving/decorative thingys.



they're soft to the touch and very light and just look at the colour - i'm gushing. i really like them. thanks tina!

and here's the group shot that jessp's dave so gracefully took for me (along with pictures on four other cameras):



when i got home from the festivities, j was so proud of himself - he had successfully set up our new universal super remote. it does everything and totally took over duties from five other remotes. now if it will only do the laundry. here it is after beating up on the other, lesser remotes. what a bully!



after work today (which i'm happy to say went well for my second day in charge) i found out that a picture of mine was used in a youtube video thingy. check it out for yourself: the flickr calendar 2007. compelling design put it together using pictures from the project365 group that i'm a part of. i don't particularly like the picture of mine they chose but it fits in with the overall theme (theme - listen to me!) of the video and they credited me properly so i'm happy. plus, i think it kinda fulfills one of my 101 things by getting a picture published. what do you think?

everything's coming up batman.

i have to end with a picture. i just have to.

nothing essploded and the beginning of a new year

nothing essploded

i'm all done my first day as the boss and nothing went wrong. i wasn't expecting anything to go wrong, but you never know. my big boss isn't around and neither are half of the people in the building, including the person i like least who i also happen to sit very close to. it's nice not having her around.

plus, i recently set up google reader so i can now check out all my normal sites inconspicuously. perfect.

i have a thing to go to tonight where i need to bring a $20-30 gift and some food for the potluck. i don't have either. and it's cold out and i'm tired. this isn't looking good. i'm trying to motivate myself so we'll see what happens.

the beginning of a new year

we went to a typical new years party: lots of people, lots of alcohol and noise makers and hijinks. i'll leave you with some pictures.