crazy week, kinda

it feels like last week was a crazy week but it wasn't really. we had lots of plans but a lot of them feel through or we just didn't go.

i started going to the gym across the street from work and managed to go three times last week. i biked and did weights and ran. the gym is small and so not-goodlife but it's cheap and it's convenient. two things that matter to me.

i played hockey all the way in arnprior tuesday night. before the game i walked across some concrete and dulled my skates so i had to get them sharpened. we did that friday night.

my parents were supposed to come over wednesday - that didn't happen - and then on saturday - that didn't happen either. my grandfather is gone back to holland now and my parents have a two-day stay at a resort-y place.

there were three halloween parties we were invited to this weekend and we didn't go to a single one. there's something about halloween parties that i don't like.

thankfully, with a brand new xbox 360 j didn't mind staying home either. we played guitar hero II on cooperative mode for hours.

we had dinner with j's parents saturday night and with his parents and grandparents last night. the food was amazing and not having to cook is pretty nice too.

we ran the 5K rattle me bones race yesterday morning. i looked up as i was crossing the finish line and saw a time of 39 minutes. i knew i didn't run as fast as i could have, but 39 minutes was a little demoralizing. turns out that time was for the 10K race that started well before the 5K and i most likely finished under 30 minutes. i'm not sure i'll do that race again - it was mega disorganized. now i'm being talked into doing the resolution run on december 31st. brrrrr!

work has been mega busy and friday, i was asked if i wanted the opportunity to act as section head of my group for a month (at some point over the next 4 months) along with three of my coworkers. it's almost unheard of for someone at my level to get an opportunity like this so i'm taking it. i tell them today.

i read about the polar bears in churchill last night and realized going there would probably be more fun than going to cuba so i looked into it. it would be WAY more expensive than going to cuba and we would have had to book this time last year. shoot. cuba it is.

and that's about it. i'm avoiding the real halloween by having a hockey game this wednesday night. other than that it's just the same old same old around here.

when reading isn't good

reading isn't good when you've got about 150 pages left in a really good book and you stay up until 2am finishing said book and you have to get up at 7am. i think that the lack of sleep sunday night is why i'm feeling like i'm getting sick again. my throat is killing me.

i was able to catch up on sleep a little yesterday (small nap) and last night (8 straight hours of sleep) but my throat still hurts. i'm hoping it will pass.

i played hockey last night. the game was out in arnprior and i barely made it in time... and then i still had to get dressed. i missed the first few minutes and when i was walking to the bench, i walked for a bit on concrete after the padded okay-for-skate-blades flooring ran out. oops! i fell a lot and now desperately need to get my skates sharpened. i'm out of clear tape too.

j and i went and got groceries after work monday and got more vegetables than ever. we had momentum so we cut everything up and have been eating well this week. my hope is that we can keep it up. it really amazes me when couples or families can eat so well when they work all day. i just don't get where people find the time to do it all.

tonight my parents and my grandfather are coming over. my grandfather is moving back to holland and stopped in town on his way. it's also his birthday today. so we'll make him tea and show him our house and send him on his way. i have some tv from last night to catch up on and i'm looking forward to putting on my comfy pants and hunkering down on the couch with a cat or two. and maybe tonight i'll be good like last night and not start another book and get lots of sleep. one can hope.

weekend

saturday night we went to "thong roast 2007" hosted by j&s. it was absolute hilarity. we had a nice sit down dinner, drank wine and played wii.. all while wearing thongs outside our pants. here j gets a wedgie:



sunday, j and went to mud lake to take some pictures. it was absolutely beautiful outside. i can't believe it's almost halloween.







and now we're back to work. we did groceries today and got more vegetables than normal. i'm positive we're going to start eating more fruits and veggies. well, start eating healthier in general.

i went to the gym for the first time today. about two weeks ago i signed up for the gym across the street from work but then i got sick. today i went and biked and did some weight work. you'd think i'd never been to a gym before - i felt lost and didn't remember any exercises. i have to work on that.

hockey tomorrow night. i've been off for two weeks so we'll see how i feel after the game. and then it's halloween and parties galore. we have to start thinking what we'll carve our pumpkin into this year. i can't even remember if we had a pumpkin last year. ah well.

bad week

the first bit of the week i was still sick. the middle of the week i was trying hard not to be sick and failing. the last bit of the week was horrible. and now it's friday and i'm (cautiously) feeling okay.

i had a written exam yesterday afternoon for a level higher than i am now, but for positions at my work. it was incredibly hard and i'm feeling pretty discouraged about it. but i can't spend my time thinking about it when i have to catch up on all the work i haven't been doing for the past week.

a rock and a hard place that's for sure. i hope everyone else is doing/feeling better than i am. if i drank wine, this is where i would ask you to pass me the bottle.

i'm alive!

i'm not dead - just super sick and not up to sitting at the computer much. i left work early last thursday and spent that day, friday, the whole weekend, and all of yesterday on the couch. i only left the house for a couple of hours saturday night for dinner. i'm gross sick, but i still have my appetite so it's not the flu, just a bad bad cold.

i went to work today because i was a little worried about my manager asking for a doctor's note and now that i don't really have a doctor that would be a problem. (i actually currently have two doctors: my real doctor is closing his practice; my potential new doctor i haven't met yet. but still.) my manager doesn't care about a note and wants me to only come in when i feel better. perfect. kiss away mornings for now. mornings are awful. they're awful because sleeping is hard and not restful and mornings are early.

whine whine whine.

i was at work today for about three hours. that was enough. i went through all my voicemails and emails and got rid of one of my files (in my job, i get lots of files but hardly ever get rid of any so this was nice) and left.

i think the cats missed me. except j was home all day because he's now sick (sorry j!) it's definitely going around and i'm sorry if i made you sick.

i just wanted to check in. i will be updating my flickr soon enough and will have posts of pictures for you in a couple days (famous last words or for real... who knows) unless the sick somehow gets worse.

here's hoping it doesn't.

thanksgiving

this was an insanely busy weekend. friday night we went out of town for a pre-wedding party for vik and karen. it was buffet dinner and open bar. needless to say it got a little rowdy.



at least no one puked in our car on the way home.

saturday, we were supposed to go to the aerial park but it was raining so we cancelled that. j is looking for the best version of the xbox 360 so we went to lots of stores looking for one. didn't find one (i keep telling him that christmas is coming up and he should not buy anything but he won't listen). it was his family's thanksgiving dinner that night. the food was really good. then we headed downtown for the bar for vik's last night as a single man. we didn't stay long.

sunday was the big day. the ceremony was early afternoon and was beautiful.



my new black shoes didn't agree with my feet so i'm left with huge blisters on my ankles, but i looked good.



we spent some time with j's family after the ceremony since we had some time to kill before the rest of the wedding. we went back for cocktails and dinner and finally dancing. the whole night was a lot of fun. congratulations to vik and karen!

thankfully monday was a day off. we slept in and didn't leave the house all day. my parents came over for tea in the afternoon but that's it. a much needed break from our hectic week.

sens vs. leafs

at the last minute, we got tickets to the sens vs. leafs game. we went with j's cousin and his girlfriend. we were all clever and remembered that s&l live right near the palladium and asked to park at their place. about an hour drive and then a 15 minute walk, we were there for the beginning of the game.

the sens took an early 2-0 lead but lost it and only scored the third goal late in the game, but held on for the win. it was a good time.

hockey all stars

my hockey team had its first game last night. if it weren't for the first three minutes where we were scored on three times, we would have probably won. the first period, especially those first few minutes, were bad, but then we picked it up. i don't feel like i played my best game, but i like the speed and i will get better.

afterwards, we went to the prescott and as i was looking around for my teammates, a guy at the bar tried this pick-up line on me: look's like you're looking for somebody. no sh*t! i said i was and then he asked me if i had a name. i told him i had three names and walked away. what a winner.

my teammates finally showed up and we ate and drank and watched a period of the sens/leafs game. i like the new jerseys.

i got home relatively early and was in bed well before midnight but i'm still exhausted today. i'm looking forward to sleeping in on monday. our weekend is packed with wedding stuff and family stuff so i'm not sure if i'll be able to sleep in. at least i can count on monday.

picture intensive

here you go: pictures. finally.

teaser from my shopping outing monday night:


before the run for the cure 5K race:


during the race:


at the end of the race:


vik's party:




teaser from meech lake ruins:


first hockey game of the season tonight. i'm looking forward to it.

shopgirl

i went shopping last night. for 4 hours. if you know me at all this should shock you. but what's more is that i bought stuff. expensive stuff. girlie stuff.

when we were scrambling to get ready for the party last sunday night, i was appalled at my wardrobe (i don't even know if that word has an e after the r). i have very limited clothing and hardly anything dressy at all. so i made it my mission to get something dressy for the wedding. i wanted the typical little black dress that every girl is supposed to have. i wanted a pair of nice-ish black shoes (nice-ish because i will not wear heals). i wanted some nice shirts in case i couldn't find a dress. mission accomplished.

i started out looking for dresses because i was pretty sure i would find something. i did, but the one that fit the best was so close to my skin colour that it looked awful. in that same strip mall, i found a really nice shirt. then i went to a big indoor mall where i knew tons of shoes stores lived and found a cute little pair of black shoes. i don't normally associate cute with the things that i wear, especially not on my feet, but these are cute. and my orthotics fit in them. and they were less than half the price i was willing to pay. i found another nice shirt and decided i had to focus on finding a dress. and i did. it's classy and fun and fits well and wasn't too much money. spend a little less on shoes and pay a little more for a dress... works for me.

i get home feeling like a prostar and give j a fashion show. he was just as impressed with me as i was: super mega impressed. plus i brought him food. that always helps. i took a little teaser picture and will post that soon. i'm hoping i don't chicken out and do wear the dress to the wedding. apparently the girl in me is slowly coming out. hold on tight to your wallet - this girl is learning to shop!

promises

i promised you a full weekend of stuff and that's exactly what we had. friday night we went to j&d's house warming party. they bought a little townhouse not too far from our old place. turns out it has four good sized bedrooms. it was deceptively big and so colourful compared to our new-house-off-white walls. there weren't many people there but that was nice because we actually got to talk to her friends. and one of them had this cute little dog that i fell in love with. it was about the size of sandy but with a much bigger head. it was so cute.

saturday we went to meech lake with a&s, s&l and t. we hiked to the ruins of a fertilizer plant which was right beside a waterfall. it was beautiful and the weather was so nice... too cold for nudists though. one of the sites about meech lake warns about the nudists that tan right near the ruins and waterfall but there were none. we climbed around there for a couple of hours. a&s had to leave for a party and we dropped t off at his house. j and i went with s&l to their place for dinner. i had steak for the first time in i don't even know how long but i'm thinking 3 or 4 years. i've been building back up to it slowly by eating hotdogs and regular bacon and then hamburgers this summer. i was a little worried about it, but my body was fine. we had a great dinner and then watched a slideshow of all the pictures we had taken that day and at the abandoned mine a couple of weeks ago. the slideshow was over 30 minutes long - a lot of pictures!

sunday was run for the cure. i hadn't signed up and was waiting - i shouldn't have waited because i would have trained if i had signed up earlier - but after all the hiking and the steak-eating, i decided it would be best if i didn't attempt to run. so i was the official family photographer instead. it was early and cold and there were tons of people. j, who registered online, didn't get a numbered bib so i took one of the "i'm running for..." tags and wrote "the best number" on it. he wore that. j and his parents all finished the 5K with good times and i got some good pictures of them running and of the cheerleaders. for j.

in the early afternoon sunday, i met l at the women's show. we were in and out pretty quickly but saw everything there was to see and got the bag of goodies. there was no stripper pole this time but i do have some feedback for the wedding show people.

back at j's parent's house, j saw that our car had been hit, probably in the parking lot at the women's show. there's an indent, paint transfer and scraping along the driver's side, both the back door and the driver's door. we just got the rear bumper fixed and haven't even totally put the car back together (they didn't put the panel on the inside of the trunk back on properly) and then this happens. unbelievable.

we leisurely drove home from j's parent's house only to find out that the party we had that night was actually a formal thing. j and i are not the formal-type people and had to scramble to figure out what to wear. we put ourselves together and were only 15 minutes late. it was the indian portion of v&k's wedding, which is this coming sunday. there were tons of people there, an open bar and buffet dinner, lots and lots of singing and dancing and chanting and praying and craziness. v's mom was continuously pulling us up to dance and dancing with everyone. j was drinking (drunk) and fell in love with indian music. he was having the time of his life dancing with everyone there. there was one point when v's mom gathered all the women and made us march onto the dance floor and one by one put a scarf-covered bowl on our heads while everyone danced around clapping. it was insane!

we got home relatively early, 11pm. poor cats could hardly remember what we looked like after us being out practically all weekend. we took all the pictures off the cameras and eventually they will make their way onto flickr and then i will be able to pictorally show you this weekend. promise.

this week and coming weekend are going to be mega busy too with the wedding and hockey and thanksgiving and family stuff all going on but i will try and update my blog more often than last week.

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:


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.

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:



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.

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.

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.

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:



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.



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.

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.

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.

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.

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....