Whew...what a day

Well, yesterday was a bit of an adventure...we returned home from seeing Avatar again (so good) to find a number of messages about my Mum being airlifted to the hospital here in town from the smaller city one she was at near the cabin. I was quite worried at first, but I am overjoyed now that she is here. Because her heart beats weakly and rather erratically, her lungs and ankles have slowly filled up with fluid over the past week or so, and until they can get her heart stronger they can't give her too many water pill meds to reduce the fluid as it would lower her blood pressure too much. So that is why they flew her here where the experts are so they can figure out what to do...and I am so glad.
The doctors here in the hospital where I work are indeed the best in the province...and I am being selfish in that I can now go visit her and see her. Last night after the messages, a call to my brother relaxed me a bit, as he had been in to see her and said that while she was not well, she is not critical yet. J and I went down to see here in emergency for a bit.
Today a cardiologist who I know and trust will be seeing her today and getting her set straight, and working to get her heart stronger. They are moving her out of emerg once a bed is free and will begin to remove the fluid from her lungs and legs. Once *that* is looked after they can focus on her heart meds more...for some reason the doctor she saw a few weeks ago had decided to reduce her water medication...and this is the result of it all. That particular doc is on holidays now, so we don't even know why he chose to do that and they are basically starting over from scratch to fix all of that...grrr. I'm sure he had reasons, but all I know is I sure am glad Mum is here under the care of someone I trust.

Last night she was in relatively good spirits, despite not being able to keep much food down or breathe very well, but she was cracking smiles and the people looking after her are doing a great job. My dad is here in town at my brother's now as well, having packed up the lake, so he can visit and be here. I'm hoping to see him this afternoon for a bit and will be off to visit mum again this afternoon. I'm hoping the cardiologist has been able to start helping her out and that they've moved her to somewhere a bit more quiet so she can get some rest. It's been a tough few days for her. For such a tiny lady she's very very strong. I wish her heart could keep up with her...
I for one was just glad to see her with my own eyes...I know she's far from being OK, but she's under good care and we are all together. For now that is enough.

Christmas is in the house

Christmas day in our house was nice and mellow this year...what a pleasant way to spend the day.
There were a few top things for the day:
For J - the Ghostbuster's car...
For me - GIANT DOMO!!!

I'm glad that another Christmas is done.
This Christmas was quite nice, as it was a lot slower and relaxed.

J and I just spent a relaxing day together, and then had family dinner on Boxing Day. Then Magnus and I attempted authentic coq au van yesterday. Not too shabby. Never had a capon before...I don't know as I'd do it again soon as it was a LOT of work, but combined with the oven roast potatoes, asparagus and cheddar beer bread (thanks robot) it was pretty tasty...quite enough tasty food for a while though I think. Back to regular old foods...

Craftwise it all went well. I made 3 kinds of napkins for the sister in law:

And then bunnyhugs/jackets and hats for my 3 nieces.

I'm particularly happy with the one I made for my oldest neice- the ribboned fleece just looks so nice.

And now today I plan on sewing for myself...I have had fabric and a pattern for a bellydance choli for a while, so I' going to get started on that to keep busy.
My Dad just called and my Mum is back in the hospital again...so I'm trying not to worry while they readjust her water pills and try and get her feeling better, so she's not retaining fluids and can breathe easier. Their plans for new years at the lake are done...Dad is heading back to close up things and hopefully they will let her go home soon. Poor Dad is so worried...I'm trying to keep busy on my week off and do pleasant things to pass the time, as there's not much else I can do.

Hope you all are having a relaxing holiday...

Jingle Bells

Merry Christmas Everyone :)

Holiday Tunes

Given that my husband is a bit of a humbug, I tend to listen to Christmas music at work as I can't get enough of the stuff. Happily on Christmas day it's fair game for any and all tunes at home...but until then, my favourite online radio station SOMA FM has a holiday channel, full of classic Christmas tunes. I love it...they also have Christmas In Frisko - a much more irreverent random mix of holiday music. Not always SFW, but nice and weird...

It's a cool change from the usual Groove Salad, Sonic Universe or Secret Agent channels from SOMA I listen to here at work. They've got all genres, and Big Earl the cumputer helps the good people there play great mixes of music...
Check them out...they make my day fly by :)

Ho Ho Ho my good peeps...

Christmas rant to my coworkers

Hi everybody!

You're all cool, so I feel I can say this: for the love of Pete (hi Pete), PLEASE stop trying to make me eat crap food with you.
I am eating healthy. I work out. It's the way I am now.
Yes I'm thin.
Guess why?
Yes! It's cuz I don't shove every available piece of baked good, chocolate or junk food in my piehole just because it is there anymore. Just because it's Christmas I don't need to "treat" myself any more than any other time of the year. Thing is, I'm an all or nothing gal. I can't have "just one" - I'm not wired that way. And, yes, I do still indulge in food that isn't good for me...but it's what *I* want. And I thoroughly enjoy it.

PLEASE - Stop getting big pieces of sugary or fat-filled foods that I don't like and have already politely refused and breaking it in half, eating "your half" ("oh, it's only "half" of it so it's not so bad for you-there there dear...") and pushing the other half at me and trying to force me to eat it. Stop saying "Go on! You're thin! Eat it!" It's' wierd. It keeps happening. You can save it for later. Or throw it out. I don't want it - if I did I would have eaten it. If you want it just eat it. Don't foist your guilt on me. It's all yours baby.

I am human. Rest assured this holiday season I plan on cozying up to some shortbread and Mum's nuts and bolts topped off with mulled wine and rummy eggnog and having at them like any respectable holiday goon.

But they're my indulgences on my terms.
Capiche?

Thanks..

Avatar

I have to say - I was quite blown away by Avatar.

I think James Cameron is a great director and most of what he's done in the past has been solid action with cinematic innovation and brilliant effects. Usually I enjoy his films. Past favourites are Aliens and The Abyss...and Terminator 2.

Avatar is no less than brilliant. Even if you choose to overlook the stunning 3D aspects of the film, it is so *full* of imagination. The world that this film takes place on is beautiful, and Cameron has created unique and fascinating cultures and characters. And really - a huge plus? Well, the scientists in the film...they too are *real*. So often scientists (and the science) in films aren't "right"-too nerdy or mundane. In avatar, they were akin to my colleagues...real enough that I could picture myself there in the lab working with them. (man what a job *that* would be :)

This whole film is stunning. If I had to quibble, I could say that the dialog wasn't always perfect...but it was *real* -usually what actual people would say and do. And in the end it worked for me. Seeing the jarhead marine who lost the use of his legs begin to live in his avatar, learning the culture of the planet to try and negotiate with the people there...amazing. The bioluminescent world, and the culture of the tribal people who live there? Beautiful...and fascinating. It was like a great fantasy novel blurred into futuristic reality. With some action thrown in too. It's been a while since I walked from the theater happily excited with a mind full of new ideas.

Bwaha.

I anticipate seeing this a few more times over the holiday season...

But first, tonight is ebelskivers and a play and tomorrow is my last day of work before 10 days off work. It snowed about 4 inches overnight...everything is coated in the fluffy white stuff just in time. It really feels like Christmas. I'm all set with eggnog. Bring it on!

I hear those sleigh bells jingling, ring ting tingling too...

"These aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along. Move along..."

I may end up looking like a bit of an ass to all of you by writing about this, and maybe I should just keep my mouth shut all together,but I'm hoping that spewing it out will help me figure out what to do...or that at least if I'm way off base you all can set me straight. Nothing major...just an oddity.
I'm a little off mentally, as we ran into someone I knew many years ago after seeing Avatar last night. (Avatar is AMAZING. Go see it. Right now. Go on...off with you you can read this later...) At the theatre we ran into a casual acquaintance through school we hadn't seen for years...and didn't really want to. Now I must clarify that this person isn't a bad person...I don't strongly dislike them or anything...I'm more ambivalent to them. I have a small amount of gratitude to him, as if I hadn't found him to be so annoying many years ago, I wouldn't have dragged the man I happily ended up marrying along with us when he asked me out for coffee and I didn't want to give him the wrong idea. In a way, I owe him big time. :)
Thing is, we know he and his wife live in town. If we'd wanted to reconnect we would have. I've politely brushed off Facebook contacts, as this person had tended to be clingy and I don't have a lot of free time and I choose how I spend it and who I spend it with. Regurgitated TV humour and casual discussion wears thin really quickly. I just don't have much in common with them.

I'm past the point where I feel bad about myself and just hang out with people for the sole merit of the fact that they will talk to me. I know I have value. I'm OK with myself, by myself. I have taken time as I've grown in confidence and years to choose friends I care deeply for and...well, for a lack of another way to put it, this person was not chosen to be one of them. I'm hoping they don't just start"dropping by" or calling. I don't want to be rude and give them the firm brush off...I just don't have any desire whatsoever to reconnect on anything other than a very casual level. This guy was the sort of person that would just be around as he knows you'll be too nice to tell him to go away...so you end up spending time with him. I don't want him just randomly stopping by my house...somehow (I assume through mutual old friends) they know where we live (?creepy?). Meh. If I'd wanted to reconnect I would have. It's too bad, as I actually find his wife to be nice...but I can't take one without the other.

I resent feeling like a bad person over this. I don't think I would avoid them if I ran into them or if they wanted to go out for coffee once in a blue moon, but I dislike them wanting to insert themselves into my life. They weren't there before. If I'd wanted them there I would have reconnected years ago.
How does one politely banish someone to the ether from whenst they came? It's all just oddly disconcerting...

In the week before Christmas my Geo sewed for me...

28 dinner napkins
2 bunny hugs
and a fuzzy toque of fleece, Mee hee... :)

I'm in the home stretch.
We've gotten the gifts we've had to buy (is it just me or are the stores particularly crowded with particularly grumpy people this year??) and I'm nearly done making the rest.
So. Much. Fun. I love making gifts.

I've serged up 3 sets of nice dinner napkins for my sis-in-law and two of the 3 bunny hugs are done for my 3 little nieces. Grandma has her bath salts...and I can see the end of it all. One little jacket to go! Victory photos when I'm done...I promise.

I had a nice visit with Mom & Dad. We worked out the grand scheme for renos when they are here in January. Mom is tired, but doing OK. They're safely home again.
Add to that a family dinner today with Mennonite cabbage rolls, deer sausage and tonnes of turkey and I must say:
Ho Ho Ho!

I am not a number! I am free man!

Just got my student number...
This shit's for real.



...Yo?

Talking the Talk

Today I had my first MSc committee meeting. My talk went well...and am I ever glad to be done official things until January. I'm in!
My parents arrived for a visit to day and it will be nice to see them for a few days. My Mum has slowed down...a lot. It's odd...seeing her puts me at ease...mostly. She's better and worse in ways than I had imagined.
I'm just going to enjoy visiting.
And sleeping.
Oh yes... Precious little of that lately.
Gnight...

The Richest Man In Babylon -Thievery Corporation

Goooood morning!
I've had this groovy little song in my head all morning.
Hope you enjoy having it in yours...a little reggae groove thing for your morning.

As for me today, now that I've survived the frozen wasteland to get to work, I'm playing real life tetris in the lab. We have a 6 foot long biosafety cabinet we want to move to the other side of the lab so our very pregnant tech can use it, but there are protruding benches and gear in the way. We've turned and spuna dn moved it all over...and now are trying some moving guys to help us see if we can fit it in. It's soooooo close to fitting. Fun fun...we shall see if we or the room wins.

$10 buck on we... :)

I am working honest

Another thing that made me laugh out loud today...thanks Natalie Dee

Star Trek as The A-Team

I just had to post this.
It cracks me up..if you're a Trek geek (or married to one *ahem*) have a giggle...

Boodiggity!

I've been sitting on this for a while, but I can finally explode and tell you all:

I am officially a graduate student! They can't get rid of me now...(just take all my $$ and time!)
My first MSc committee meeting is next week. I start my research in January. Working full time and graduate studies...ah! The stuff of legends.
I'm working on a project to improve testing and quality of testing for some aspects of breast cancer diagnosis. A real practical project in a field I love...that may help people.
I. am. so. excited.

Let the madness begin!!

But Baby it's cold inside

I sit bundled in the fuzziest of pajamas under a duvet in a house with many little space heaters going to keep it about 14 degrees. I can finally relax and get some sleep.
Why?
Well the motor has gone on my furnace, and it would seem that it went off just after we both left this morning...and seeing as I just got home around ten, it's gotten quite chilly in here. I called around and having someone come in would add about $200 to the price of things for tonight, as J managed to borrow a bunch of space heaters that we have running about the place to keep it at at least this temperature. The guy can come at 7AM tomorrow to replace the motor. Joy. It'll cost a bit less, but what can ya do? Can't live without a furnace in winter in these parts...

Moral of the story - if your furnace fan motor starts making weird intermittent squeaky noises in -35 weather, don't just go "huh that's an odd sound". Call someone about it before it cacks out all together the next day...

13 degrees is cold for inside :)

Distractions and a whole lot of polka dotted fleece

If any of you are of the praying, happy thought wishing or a magician sort, please send my mum some happy healthy thoughts today. She's still in the hospital, as they haven't been able to find a medication yet to help her poor tired heart out. They're trying something else today and hopefully by Friday we'll know if it's working...we'll see. Mom was hoping to be out of the hospital and up here by Monday, but life is what it is. Luckily her doctor is amazing and is doing all he can to figure things out. Having her in the hospital to observe while they change her medications around is perfect - she's properly cared for and they can monitor her very closely, as she is quite a bit more tired than normal.
Mum is getting quite bored. I helped Dad type up the Christmas letters and she's spent a few days addressing envelopes and all that, but now she's done that, so hopefully she has some crocheting to do. I wish I lived closer so I could swing by with some of the Danielle Steele fluff novels she likes to read...or to just hang out and visit. My Mum's not much of a visitor, but I think by now she'd like a visit or two.
It's a catch 22 really. You have a poorly functioning heart valve and a heart flutter, so you take medications for most of your life to thin your blood and help your heart beat stronger to compensate...and then eventually your heart just gets tired from all that extra work for years and years. That's essentially what stage Mum is at now. Hopefully they can find something to help her heart keep up....she may just be a low energy lady now though. It's hard to think about that, and I hope it doesn't come to that, as she's already slowed down a fair bit, but maybe that is the way it will be. We'll see. When you're 76 things don't bounce back like they used to :).
Thankfully my Dad is keeping himself well and sounds in reasonably good spirits. He's right in that there's not a lot of good worrying can do for my Mum, so I'm trying to send her happy thoughts instead as I'm too far away to visit. I think I'll have some flowers delivered today too. She'll like that. Hopefully she'll be able to come home soon and they can come and visit. Screw the renos...I just want to see them. The rest will happen when it happens.

I compensate for worrying by keeping busy...last night I cut out all the patterns I'll be sewing for my 3 little nieces for Christmas so I can sew at them as I have time. 3 different styles of bunnyhug/jackets with a matching hat. If I make 1 a week until the holidays I'll be done just on time. I have tonnes of fabric left over as the patterns had me buy a bout 1/3 more fabric than I needed (they're always that way it seems), so if anyone needs some blue, green, pink polka dot or pink swirly flannel and fleece, I'm your gal. I am thinking of finding some ridiculous hat patterns and making some of the gaudiest winter hats around...not sure what else to do with it. There's just not quite enough of any of them to make anything for me...any ideas?? Heh...anyone want a gaudy hat? :)

Billie Holiday - Speak Love (Bent Remix)

I love this song...and this chill remix of it is a beautiful chilled float of a song, with the glorious voice of the one and only Billy Holiday. Keeps me warm on this -34 morning :)

Enjoy!

Tee hee...you said titmouse

My friend Chris was talking about how he was giggling like a titmouse.
After sniggering like a 5 year old I got to wondering:
What exactly is a titmouse (other than a word to make all people under the age of 40 giggle at)?

So I looked it up...it gets wierder - it's not a rodent at all. It's a bird. Sort of like a miniature bluebird. AND...wait for it...there is even a tufted titmouse...which made me giggle even harder.

Why call a bird a mouse?
(How is a door ajar? bwaha ha ha...)

Do birds giggle? And how do they sound when they giggle?

I'm not sure, but I bet it's AWESOME...

GAH!

An open letter to Whirlpool and JennAirr:

Dear Sirs,
Let's play a game. OK? OK.
Guess what?
No, go on...guess.

The stove panels I've been waiting for for my new stove from you for months (since bloody June) just arrived...and they are damaged! Again!

AWHAH?

Do they hire idiots for your warehouse? Do you routinely beat the shipments with cannons prior to shipping out....
And, is this thing cursed?
Seriously...I'm scared to hook it up in case it blows up at this point.

So now I wait AGAIN, as they are ordered AGAIN.
It's 2 weeks until the thing is going in my kitchen - a mere 6 months after it arrived.

Hear me loud and clear.
There is no mistaking this: I WANT MY PANELS!

If you weren't going to give me the entire appliance, you should have let me know outright...what does it take to get an entire appliance in this country?

Sincerely, Geo

Fucksticks...

Beat Poet

Taco Cat
He knows where. It's. At.
Palindrome
Wandering far...from...home...

Scoodeley wa wa wah wahhh!

What? Me? Worry?

I was talking to my folks last night and my Mum is going into the hospital for a few days starting today so she can undergo observation for her heart. She was having some coughing and weak spells the past few weeks and they want to observe her heart and make sure she's getting what she needs, medication and treatment wise, and that nothing new has developed. My Mum has initial congestive heart failure and has had a heart flutter for many years. She has a valve that doesn't entierly function, so she's been on blood thinners for that too. The last few years she has had to take much greater care of her medication and herself as her heart has really weakened a lot.
I admit I'm a bit freaked. I can't help it. I don't want to equate this to how her Mum (my grandma) started down this slope a few years before she passed away of heart failure from the same kind of thing. I can't stop wondering if Mum's heart is just starting to wear out like Grandma's did towards the end. Stupid, I know. But, my Mum is 75. I forget sometimes. It all probably means she needs her medication adjusted and was doing too much again. My mum doesn't really know the meaning of "slow down" so I can see her fidgeting her way to exhaustion. She just can't do as much as she used to and I know it frustrates her. It took her a while to learn to keep a slower pace. She has a very good doctor, so I know she is in good hands. If they weren't 3 hours away I'd stop in and visit her...
My Dad didn't sound overly worried, so I'm trying not to be. I know he would have said something if he felt it was serious. He's good that way. At any rate, they are still both coming up after to visit before Christmas. Dad will help me with the kitchen (Mum said she will "supervise"!) so that will be delayed by about a week. No biggie. My Mom was actually apologising for putting off the visit from this! Silly woman. I told her to let the doctors take care of her and I'd see her in a week.

I heart my Mum.

Everything's not lost

....Don't you let it drag you down
Cause if you ever feel neglected
If you think that all is lost
I'll be counting up my demons,
Hoping everythings' not lost.
Aaaaah yeah.
You know that everythings not lost...
Come on. You know that everythings not lost.


This song always cheers me up...I can't sing along to it without developing a huge grin on my face by the end.
It's a great day...friday. Finally. I'm looking forward to a nice weekend full of naps, and going to see the pro group of my tribal school perform tonight at the festival of trees. I think it will finally get me into the holiday swing. That and some eggnog pancakes tomorrow will do nicely.
Yea...that will do nicely.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone :)

If you give it away...

So here's a neurotic and odd question for you:
In the midst of relocating the majority our books upstairs, I have come to discover that we have an inordinate amount of copies of the bible for 2 people...they were gifts, keepsakes, etc. I can see keeping one that is a family heirloom... as sentimental. But here is the thing: would any of you find it creepy or wrong to give away a bunch of bibles? I'm not about to throw them out or anything (I could not bring myself to throw out ANY book quite honestly), and I'm definitely not on an evangelism quest....but so help me I feel guilty at putting them in the box of "to go" books.
I mean really...how many can a person need? Even if I were in a mood to want to sit down and read it...you only would need one. Some would argue that that would be one too many.
Would it be proper to give them to a church? Why am I even feeling guilty about this in the first place?
It's just an odd situation to be in. I'm just trying to purge books while I move them about the house. Admittedly I haven't had the heart to toss much more than a small box of books, made up mostly of misguided gifts and used store grabs from over the years. Both J and I are horrid at purging. It's harder than I thought....the extra things will likely go to the Salvation Army thrift shop...which kind of makes the whole bible giveaway thing a bit more fitting. Or not...it's just odd. Giving away books is tough. And, really, it's just a book.

So, um...Free bible anyone? I've got a few cookbooks, a Danielle Steele novel and some outdated software training manuals I could throw in to sweeten the deal...?

The fact that this even bothers me bothers me.
It's just all around wierd...

Back into that groove...

This morning was day 2 of get my butt out of bed and work out in the mornings. It's been long enough and I am well (months...heh...*cough*) healed from my knee injury in the summer so I have no excuse not to, other than that my bed is really comfy and I like to sleep :). These things are still true, but I need this. With winter comes the stuck inside never see the sun blahs and workouts go a long way to help fight this. I also have a bit of a sneaky thing...I'm trying to organise the part of the basement where the elliptical is (we started moving it upstairs ages ago and then stopped...it's chaos). I can't ignore it if I'm down there all the time. I've already attacked it a bit last night and it looks a lot better...
Plus, I'm trying to organise my time schedules as next year will be far more busy, and I want to make sure I've got my exercise put in my daily schedule as a part of that. I'm even looking at trying to do meal planning to cut the stress. I too quickly put myself aside when I get busy. This is one way to make sure I put my needs up there with the rest of things in life. I know I deal with stress better when I workout too, so this can only be a good thing.
I can't really say getting up at 5:15 is a good thing, but the way I feel afterwards definitely is.I've got the odd random muscle aches that show me I've pushed myself a bit yesterday,and today I got howled at by t a cat on the bookshelf as I worked out on the elliptical. I'm even eating breakfast.
I know. Crazy.
I've been trying to find kick-ass music I haven't heard in ages to get me motivated while I workout. This morning was Ganga Giri - an electronic group that uses digitally modified didgeridoo. I saw them live last summer at Shambhala...and their music is great. It's my workout track of the week. I couldn't find a video, but because the Internet is so great, here's a clip from that actual show.


Hope you all have a fantastic day. I have another nail biting adrenaline pumped day full of data entry ahead of me.
Woo.

I'm sorry, I don't follow sportsball

I swear...if one more person asks me if I watched the game yesterday I will kill them. :)
There is something in Saskatchewan about *having* to like the provincial football team, the Roughriders, with a crazy sort of love. People wear watermelons on their heads. It's a crazy level of pride for a team that, more often than not, loses spectacularly most years. This year has been a good year and yesterday, apparently, we won the western championships which means we will be in the Grey Cup. And that the province has permission to go nutbar over football for the next week until the Grey Cup is over on sunday.
*sigh*
Here's to a week of green and white stuff everywhere and rider flags hanging from every visible free surface. God forbid we win the cup!
Don't get me wrong - I don't hate football or our team, it's just the insane and manic insistence from everyone I meet that I must love them or I am somehow mentally deficient that gets to me after a while. I just don't care one way or the other...perhaps I should. By the end of the week I may be sucked into it. We'll see.
It's more contageous than swine flu...:)

Green is the colour...football is the game...

Geo 1 Leaves 0

I'm finally done the damn leaves.
I am truly amazed that the neighborhood was not treated to random outbursts of me screaming obscenities like a pirate as I did the front yard. I was doing OK until my iPod ran out of juice about an hour in...then I was rather...um...cranky :)
Ever tried to rake a yard full of gravel and vines? The vines are randomly sprayed all over in a big thick mesh...the only way to get leaves is to lift them, shake them so the leaves fall through and then shove the rake under and try and collect them as best you can, hoisting the vines in the air and raking around to drag them to the edge without totally wrenching your back to bits. Yeah, you can imagine how much fun I had. I dread it every year. The back yard is a picnic in comparison. It took 4 hours to do the front and I'm delirious to be done. That makes a grand total of 17 bags of leaves. Whew.
Luckily, as it was such a nice day, I was distracted from pirate lunacy by the occasional neighbor out for a walk or wandering dog/cat or flock of geese overhead. The best distraction was about half way through when some girl guides came down the road with a parent on a bottle drive. I chatted with the Dad a bit while the girls hit up the neighbors and he made me laugh right when I needed to. I ran in and gave them a whole bag full of cans and bottles (I don't have to go to the smelly recycle place - woo!) and while I was inside gathering them up the nice kids put all the leaves I had raked so far into bags. How nice is that?
SO yeah - I still have a whole day ahead of me. I am not sure if I want to head for the pool for public swim to soak my aching back in the hot pool or just go get a gift for my niece's 1st birthday. The pool is right near the mall, so I think I'll grab a bag and walk over and see what I feel like when I get there. I feel rather frivolous spending $8 just to soak in the hot tub for a half an hour...but still...I could soak in a hot tub for a half an hour...
Hmmmm....
Gotta go before my back seizes up.
Later taters.

Under a pile of leaves

I'm just putting off the leaves really.
It's just after 9AM on saturday...last night I did the back yard (8 giant bags of leaves) and today, since it might rain I really need t get to the rest of the yard.
Thing is, I really and truly hate raking the leaves. BUT if I don't, in the spring I'll be a sick little asthmatic wheezer from leafy mold and they will be even harder to pick up, as they'll turn to dust...I suppose I'm blessed to still be able to do this on November 21. Usually by now we're in a winter wonderland, but our initial snow came and went and it's been unseasonably warm...ish. It's about +5. Very strange.
In my hunt for interesting (and avoid leaves) I've come across this: an Iranian protest poster, here, at the ever lovely Annie Atkin's Tumbler. I love the colours and the image inspires me, even tho I don't quite know what it's about...The thought of 8 or 9 more bags of leaves interspersed with vines that I'll have to fight and lift and pull all round to get at the leafy bits is keeping me hare all warm in my PJs with a cup of coffee and a cat. BUT I should get to it. We have lots of trees...and lots of leaves. Nothing for it really...
Somehow J has always managed to get out of the leaves part of the yard. Sneaky...
AFTER that I have lots else to do inside. Whenever J goes away for the weekend I usually go crazy catching up on chores. I've still got a whole lot to do, but if I'm good, it's a belated birthday dinner and santa claus parade tomorrow. I didn't go with him as I have lots to do...and really - 4 weekends in a row away is just too much. I need my bed and my home and my cats...ans there's a month worth of chores to catch up on!
It will be odd having a christmas parade with no snow. Warmer, yes, but odd. I'll be going with my J's sis and their little one. I'm not sure if their girl Zoe (who is 1) will know what's up yet, but she and I will enjoy the parade for her...sis-in-law has said having a child is wonderful as you get to do all the childish things you love with no guilt, and watch your child enjoy them for the first time, just as much as you do. Sounds great to me. I just act like a child whenever I please. I suppose that makes me eccentric...:)
If I can get my act together I may wander and find Zo-Zo her birthday gift...AFTER the leaves.
*sigh*
Anyone want to rake my front yard?

Daily Squee

Hee hee.
Daily dose of cuteness, without the bad grammar.

Oh how I like!

Mash it up. ooh ooh...mash it up.

I stumbled up on this lovely website, where Ray Dunlavey has made a number of mash ups of comics and films. My favourite of the lot:
I love the mashups, mostly because there is even a Bloom County Mashup...and Peanuts + XMen. I love Bloom County...expecially Opus.
Tee hee.

This headache is brought to you by the letters G and R and R and R...

The only thing more fun than writing a rushed project proposal (17 pages with references. Ahem.) is having to redit and spellcheck it because Word crashed. Again.
Woo.
I can't help but be excited though. If it all goes well I have some exciting news to share very soon. Hold onto your bowlers my peeps. It's cool, x factor 5.

Now that my screaming and gnashing of teeth (and editing) are complete I'm off to lalaland. Me and my pillow, we're going places...:)

Chemical Brothers ft Richard Ashcroft - The Test

Not much to say today...this song has been in my head all morning. It's an old favourite of mine.
Listened to this CD driving home late on the highway on sunday...and I felt quite nearly perfect :) Great way to end a great weekend. Driving fast down the highway listening to great music...makes the drive go by in a blink of an eye. Great weekend - good friends, Star Wars party and all the goodness that goes with it.

Have a great day!

Be Seeing You

The Prisoner was a 17 episode British television show that aired in the late 60's. It starred Patrick McGoohan and was set in "the Village".

A man with no name (you never do learn his identity-he is only referred to as #6) resigns from the secret service, and as he prepares to leave his home is gassed, waking up later in The Village. As Number 6 tries to learn where he is, why he is being held captive and escape the Village, those in charge there try many methods to break his mind and learn why he resigned and what he knows. Many others are trapped in the Village...some broken and some still resisting. All cannot leave. It is a place where"Questions are a burden to others. Answers are a burden to one's self."
Set in the strange town Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales, using the Hotel Portmeirion for a lot of it's set...well this show is quite strange. There is a great amount of social commentary and it's always been a favourite of mine. I pop the DVDs in every once in a while and get lost in strange spy science fiction. I love it.

I am quite curious, as this weekend the first episode of a miniseries remake of The Prisoner is airing on sunday. We shall see just how they manage to improve on a classic science fiction program. They'll have to reach very high to impress me...Patrick McGoohan passed away a few years ago and this show really was his creation...without him around to keep the project in line I really wonder just what the new show will be like. I'm excited...can't help myself.

Apparently it has been changed somewhat - which in my mind is good. If you're going to directly remake a show you fail right off the bat in my mind - what's the point? If you can take the main idea and spirit of a show and make something incredible out of it - well I'm all in. It worked for the remake of Battlestar Galactica- soyou just never know. Good Sci-fi really is rare and we need mroe of it. Apparently a few huge differences will include the fact that the villagers (including the Prisoner) have been made to forget about the world outside. Add in a different location, and lack of the strange village costumes and it will be a different animal. There will be 6 episodes in the new miniseries, all based on the better episodes of the original show. Originally they'd thrown around the idea of Christopher Eccleston for the role of #6 which quite honestly got me so excited I could have peed, but the person they finally chose is somewhat unknown to me, so that may also be a good thing...we shall see. Ian McKellan as #2 certainly can't hurt...

I'll be setting the machine to record it and it had better not fail...or you will be able to hear me howling from miles away when I settle down later in the evening to watch it (I refuse to reschedule my life around TV) if it failed to record for some reason. I'm quite excited. I do so hope it does not tank. If you see it, or you're a fan of the original, let me know what you thought of it!

Have a great weekend :)

Dulce et Decorum Est

Remembrance day is a time to remember those, like J's grandpa, who went to war and ended up giving their lives for our freedom. J's grandpa was gassed in WW2...he came home sick and never recovered. Many others never got the gift of being able to see their families again after leaving to fight for freedom. In our modern age people fight wars for their family's freedom...others for things like oil and greed, and I wonder if we here in Canada forget what it was like to live in a time when we gathered to fight for our freedom as a people. I wonder if we truly have a concept of what this means anymore...As the veterans fade from our lives we will not have memories of that time to draw on. Phrases like "Never Again" are easily said but hard to live and mean less and less as time goes on if we do not take the time to remember. Christmas marketeers cannot even have the ounce of respect to leave the stores uncluttered between Halloween and November 11...the respect deserved is fading.
J is currently at work, working with the TV crew to put the local Remembrance Day program on the air so that those of us who cannot make it down there can have the chance to offer respect and memory on this day. I am at home where I can watch it. Watch his small gift of remembrance. Last year I was able to attend and it was a very moving thing...to see adults and children remembering family and friends and unknown people who served to keep us safe both then and now...very moving.

I have been thinking about poetry from the time of World War One. I love In Flander's Fields - I had memorised it in high school. I got to wondering what other well known poems were written around that time...what other thoughts came out of World War 1 in particular. They can't all be pretty inspiring words...and I came across this poem. It is very striking and I wanted to share it with you, because it's different. It speaks a lot of how senseless I feel war can be...

DULCE ET DECORUM EST

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of tired, outstripped Five-Nines that dropped behind.

Gas! Gas! Quick, boys! – An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling,
And flound’ring like a man in fire or lime . . .
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light,
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.
In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil’s sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie; "Dulce et Decorum est
Pro patria mori".

Wilfred Owen, written between 8 October 1917 – March, 1918

DULCE ET DECORUM EST are the first words of a Latin saying from an ode by Horace. The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean “It is sweet and right.” The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori – it is sweet and right to die for your country.

Poem and other things taken kindly from here.

I think that's all I have to say on that for now.
Take the time to Remember my friends...

Wait till Otis sees us! He loves us!

I've had this great old song in my head since I woke up this morning.
Otis Day and the Knights...a classic. This whole soundtrack has some great songs on it...Twisting the night away...Hey Paula...Wonderful world(still one of my all time favourite songs)...Tossin and Turnin - great classic stuff. I keep pulling this CD out every year or so and swooshing around the room to it with a big grin on my face. Not particularly attached to the film...more the music :) I'm going to pull it up on my iPod right now and have a listen in the lab. Good stuff...

Have a great day!

Doomy doomy doom

Ah.
I have just gotten back from a quick and lovely weekend away visiting friends and helping set up Doomfest....just a dance party put on my my good friends. We helped set up and then danced the night away in ridiculous costumes. JJ played his first DJ set completely from scratch - no songs the music was all built by him, live on the fly...I'm so proud of him. It went very well. I forgot to take pictures most of the night, so I confess I have no excitement to show you. My costume was great though...not the most sexy outfit I've ever worn, but a lot of fun. It's fun wearing an obscure costume, because about 1 in 20 people get who it is and they giggle and love it...and I must say, tutus really are fantastically absurd to wear.
It was so nice to have the chance to visit this weekend with a bunch of people we haven't really seen in ages. As a bonus, I was really glad that I finally got to sit down and talk with an old friend who has gone through a lot in the past little while. He is doing so much better and I'm so glad. After set up all just relaxed and had a great night...and then cleaned it all up afterwards. Doomfest was a rousing success.
After a night of fun our friend David had us all over for french toast at his house and sent us on our way home with a bottle of cloudberry wine from his trip to Newfoundland. Apparently cloudberries are little tart apples that grown in the town where he was staying. I can't wait to try it :)
And now somehow I blinked an I'm back home and here sitting at my work desk on lunch break.
Poof!
How did that happen?

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Tutus and hotdogs

I've been working on my Robot Parent Mom costume and just finished it for the Doomfest this weekend. I now have overalls, purple tank top, yellow gloves and a bright red ridiculous tutu. I can be Invader Zim's robot Mom. Yup...tutus are fun to make, even with 2 cats helping...
Yes we specialize in the obscure here at Geo's Costume Emporium.
Geek likes the tutu. I cannot keep him out of it now that it's finished. I've wrapped about 7 m of red toulle in 4 inch strips around a ribbon to ties around my waist. Pooftastic. It is utterly ridiculous. Perfect.
Me? I like the Natalie Dee shirt my brother got for my birthday. It just arrived!
I, and it, are both equally awesome.
That is all...

Virus of another kind...

Ah. It's nice to be back on my computer again.
My PC got a virus the other day. It self installed some software and then repeatedly took me to pornography, while alternately trying to sell me a program that would stop the program that kept trying to sell me pornography. Sure my computer *technically* worked...it just kept flashing boobies at me every 5 minutes.
I do believe boobies are not appropriate for work :)

They took it away and managed to isolate it and clean it off without having to wipe my PC clean.
The scary thing is I didn't go anywhere new. I just looked up an address at 411.ca to mail something. Something hacked ME and self installed. Weird...in the past I've been able to catch things like this and uninstall it myself. This baby actually got past my virus shield program and disabled it and then got all boobie happy on me and embedded itself in my startup software, and then disabled it. Nasty piece of junk....

Thankfully my PC is now 100% boobie free. Back to work...


PS - hello everyone who came here from googling boobies

Mmmm...sugar

I have a bunch of sour candies and Fizz candies left over. Mee hee. This year I got candy I liked so I can nibble at it for ages...yum. I'm not a huge sugar fiend so it'll last for a long time...

And (sniff) as a final farewell to my beloved Halloween, check out this song about Halloween Candy.

Now, I am pleased to put the pumpkins and zombies away and happily point out that it's very nearly blinky lights season. I had a nice Halloween despite the sickies. I carved pumpkins with my brother and Yukiho - her pumpkin had heart eyes and a huge cartoon grin. She has a Hello Kitty costume to wear...it's rediculously cute :) She is loving Halloween...back in Japan they take ghosts and things so much more seriously, that she likes the fun part of Halloween. She thinks it made her less scared of spooky things than she was in the past. I'm sure the candy doesn't hurt either!

I'm just settling into the comforting idea very soon I will have free reign to begin putting blinky lights all over the house...Bwahaah!
Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.....

Spooky Nootchies

Happy Halloween everybody!

I'm feeling 2 zillion percent better, and had a nice birthday, despite my plague. I went out and had a little bonfire...J got me some more Tank Girl comics...and today is Halloween. I love halloween...

Hope you all have a spooky day!
I'm waiting for little goblins to come to my door so I can pump them full of sugar and send them on their way :)

overly optimistic

Yeah, um, I thought I was on the mend, but yesterday was full on fever, chills and aches and sneezes. Not the most fun.

I must say though, I feel miles better today-back and arm aches are nearly gone for the first time all week, no more fever and I have some energy. J is doing much better too...he can look after me now. He went back to work today.

It's not what I had in mind for my birthday, but hopefully by tonight I'll feel a bit better. Being in bed is boring. When your goal for your birthday is to get fully dressed and have a beer in your house I think that's doable...I'm glad to see the light at the end of the tunnel. There are only so many James Bond movies you can watch on the couch before you get stir crazy...I'm still of the opinion that Golden Eye and Casino Royale are my favourites....

Here's to getting better. Cheers!

Mmmm...oatmeal bread.

Mmmmm. last night to cheer up my achy ass I made a loaf of bread in my new breadmaker. OK I put the stuff in it and then came back 4 hours later to scrummy bread...he heh. I love this little robot!

My Mum had one and I helped her figure out how to use it, and ended up making delicious bread and buns with her. Her friend had the same model she never used and sold it to me for cheapedy cheep. I figured it was worth a shot. Since getting home with it I've made the best kaiser buns ever and last night my first loaf of bread.

I got all ambitious and it still turned out. My grandma always made oatmeal bread and I was craving some. So I found a recipe from an old Black & Decker bread machine book and used it -lots of whole wheat flour and oats and some molasses and walnuts. YUM. Nice and soft and delicious. Not heavy at all - turned out quite nice actually. The top fell a bit so it doesn't *look* perfect but I had some last night with honey on it and it was divine. Today at lunch I scarfed some more with the last of the beet borscht my Mum-in-law made me.

Mmm...having a bread machine is a good thing! I just have to not eat bread all the time! Now I just need a good bread machine recipe book for lots of kinds of breads. Anyone got any ideas? You get very few with the machine and I want to make any and all breads! Next loaf will be potato bread I think.

Yummers.

And yes, I'm feeling better now. Still a bit achy and the odd cough but not nearly as dire as I'd worried about this morning. I think I will survive after all! :)

My butt aches. That is really wierd...

Wow...I think I've come down with a bit of what J has. Last night my arms were so sore...and all my muscles started to ache. They're better this morning, definitely, but man. Even my butt ached and my arms were rediculous, where the shots were administered were all sore. I'm starting to cough (boo) so after an important meeting I have at 10ish I believe I may just go home and try and sleep this off. I have nothing really critical the rest of today, and I'm thinking getting 2 immunizations sort of sidetracked my immune system and has made me weak enough to get a bit of whatever he has...hopefully just a bit.
J is very sick - I haven't seen him this sick in a long long time, poor guy...he sounded better this morning when I left, but the poor guy has been downing cough syrup and water and sleeping all day. I think I might do that before I get that bad...sort of cut it off at the pass so to speak. Here's hoping...

Boourns.

Both my arms are kind of sore

Yes - I have used the health care system to get both flu shots this morning. I am immunized now against the regular flu and H1N1. Yup, 1 in each arm. You see, I have asthma and flu is BAD for me. I get very ill. This was good for me.
Even though the H1N1 vaccine is not thoroughly enough tested (in my opinion) the risks of it do not outweigh me getting the flu...then pneumonia and bronchitis as I always do, thanks to my crappy lungs. I've never reacted to vaccinations before (other than a sore arm) so when I heard that I could get both vaccinations because I work in a hospital lab, I got in line stupidly early and got both my shots. And now I'm good to go.

Given that my husband is coming down with something suspiciously flu like I'm hoping I made it in on time :)

Thinking of getting the H1N1 vaccine? Here's a link to the product information from the company that makes it. Read up. Make an informed decision. The last 4 pages are patient info you'd get when you asked about it at your doctor. The other are all the possible info available to doctors....

Later day update: So very tired :) I'm not sure if it's being up a lot of the night listening to J cough or if it's from the vaccines. They normally make me tired. I'm looking forward to going home to bread and chili and a nap...

Creepy

Twiggy scares me....

Leaping Lemurs

I have a confession - I want a pet lemur.

This weekend J and I had a little mini getaway. It was fantastic. We had tickets to see Moby in Edmonton so we made a little romantic getaway out of it. Moby and his band were performing in the Edmonton Event Centre which is attached to West Ed Mall, so we decided to stay in a themed Polynesian room and have a fun weekend. And we did.

Fantastic! The concert was fantastic. Really. Mehee. I got to hear Moby say "thank you thank you thank you thank you" after a song. Squeee. He was very nice guy, performing with his band and two women with the most amazing voices singing lead vocals to most of his songs. Phenomenal pipes on these women. He played a bit of everything - even his old techno stuff! Meep! I got to hear Go live and jump around like a fool. They played a lot of my favourite songs....lots of energy and a real personal cozy feeling to it all. Fantastic show...Loved it. The Ed Event Centre is a great place to see a show - no matter where you are you can see the stage. I was about 5 feet from the stage and could see Moby and his band all very well. Not even the large drunken troll who took up residence near me in the crowd could dampen the show for me - it was great! His opening act, who was also one of his lead vocalists, was Kelli Scarr. She has a few of her tracks to download or free on her website - check her out. Her voice is amazing...

Then it was still a full weekend in a cool theme room with a ginormous hot tub shaped like a rock pool, a nice romantic dinner out, bangers and mash for breakfast (mmmm) and even Where the Wild Things Are in Imax. That movie is so full of imagination...by someone who had an imagination filled childhood. I have never read the book, but J has many times. We both enjoyed it.

West Ed mall is huge with lots of stuff to do and see. They even have lemurs there. You can watch them. Tee hee. Half monkey, half cat critters. Cute and hoppy and furry...and I want one please. Please?

Yes my friends...it was a wonderful weekend. :)
Hope you all had a great weekend too. I'm off to the lab. Things are afoot! :)

Dulldrum

Yesterday I got to hang out with my friend Heather all evening and yak and drink lime Coke and raid tombs. It was great...stayed up way too late and got caught up on life. I don't get to see her enough...
Today is gray and misty and boring...perhaps something interesting will happen soon.

Here's to that!
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Tiptoe through the painttray

Heh...the cats were apparently very curious about all the painting I did on the weekend. I ended up having to clip the paw fur of Gavin...he's wandered all around the painted stuff after I was done and managed to get it all over his paws. I figured it was fingerprints in the paint. Nope...Gavin prints.

The snow melted over the weekend and we're back to our regularly scheduled fall...kind of. There are still some leaves left on the trees and it's my favourite season, so I'm glad to get a little of it. I am pumped...it's fuzzy everything season. Fuzzy socks. Fuzzy hats. I broke out the micro-fleece sheets last night. They are so warm and cozy - like a giant fuzzy cocoon. :)

As a random odd link, here's a good one for you. In planning for emergency awareness and response, the University of Florida has included zombie awareness in their plans. Go here to see their written plans to respond to (*snort*) "zombie behavior spectrum disorder" or ZBSD as they so quaintly describe it. Good to know film scifi trends are trickling over into regular life. Now all we need are response plans for the coming apocalyptic robot hordes and we'll be all set.
Erm...I'll make sure I have my chainsaw ready and renew my zombie squad membership...just in case...
image source

My right hand is cold...

Once again I am the proud owner of one left hand glove.

I have an ingenious knack of losing 1 glove...always the right one...at least 20 times per winter.

10 days ago I bought a nice fuzzy pair of black gloves...and this morning I left one of them on the bus, for what will not be the first time this fall/winter. I take the right one off on the bus to fiddle with my iPod, open my coffee or what have you...and put it somewhere where I "for sure won't forget it"...and then usually every few weeks I do.

In the past I've resorted to buying lots of pairs of those stretchy micro gloves...they aren't all that warm, but if you lose one, they are uni-hand, so just grab another one and you are good to go...until you're down to just one again. Then you get some more. I splurged last time on a nice pair.

I should know better :)

Sometime this week it's back to a small collection of mini gloves. I have to stock up on them. My good warm winter knitted fleece lined gloves have an idiot string on them that goes thru my sleeves of my coat so I can't lose them. I am mocked mercilessly about this, but I haven't lost any of them yet! Heaven help me if the string breaks!

This weekend was a very busy and smoochfilled one.

Yes, let me just say that kissing a smooth faced man is really the way to go :) J has no mustache or beard and it's wonderful. I had...um...a lot of catching up to do. Heh.

And we got a lot done around the house. We both got up early both days and got to a list of chores we've had for ages: we reinstalled a pane of glass in the bedroom window that I broke painting, I cleaned the windows, we painted a box for J's light kit that Dad built and primed and painted the bookshelf Dad & J built at the lake last weekend. I hemmed 3 pairs of J's pants (which I've had ready to hem for only 6 months...heh), and I made homemade pizza dough and buns with the new breadmaker. Soooooooo gooooooood. Even if I never make a loaf of bread with it it was worth it just to make 15 of the most delicious big kaiser buns I've ever had. Yummers.

I made a serious dent in setting my craft room and I helped J install track lighting in the computer room and in our upstairs hallway and stairs. And half of it even works!

*sigh*

I'm not sure what is up with the one in the bedroom, but at least the one in the hallway works and you have NO IDEA how cool this is. 4 and a half years ago the fixture up there started acting up and then quit working. We didn't replace it, as we meant to put up track lighting when I painted...which (cough) we did over a year ago...and then after having the track lighting for a mere 6 months we have actually installed it sunday. Our hall is a zig zag so there was lots of cutting and drilling and crazy ladder hanging to install it but it all works except for a little endy bit, which I'm sure we can just swap out. I keep just going to the hall and turning the light on and looking at it and grinning like a nutter. I cannot reiterate how utterly cool it is to have a light in the hall. I'm a scaredy cat, and a tripper so having light on the hall and stairs is a good thing. It's frustrating that the light in the computer room isn't working, but we'll fiddle with it next time we have some time...I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually...

Sunday afternoon was fun too - I got together with my sis-in-laws and niece cutestuff and we made Halloween hfoamy mansion houses and crafted them up with paint and sparkles and fake blood and ghosts...lots of fun and a great reward for a busy weekend. Then J's Mum made us all manicotti for supper. Couldn't ask for a better day really.

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Happy monday :)

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It's been a long wait

J shaves off his mustache today.

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

It's been over a year since he's had no beard and two weeks he's looked like Tom Selleck/Mario/"soup in a bag guy" from the sketch 35 degrees in Tampa.

Smoocherooonie :)

Still snowing

Helloooooooooooo....
Anyone out there??????

Buried in snow?
Feeling a little cold...honk if you're there, K? I'm a bit adrift and disconnected in the snow myself. I need more fall...

Bellydance class was cancelled last week due to snow (yeah I know...silly) but tonight I'm again excited that (barring a flash blizzard) it's on. I've got all my kit and I'm ready...again :) It's been a hectic week and I need to dance off some stress and take in some energy. There's a freedom I get from movement I can't quite explain...
I've had the Jesus Jones song Motion in my had all morning and it captures the edgy, twitchy feeling I've had since snow has come and the mornings have gotten dark:

"I've got to have motion, I get relief in motion
When I move I'll be fine.
Have to find the right speed to shake off what I don't need,
And leave it all behind.
Motion takes me...."

Scruffy headed nerfherders rejoice

Tee hee...
Wookiepedia

:)

It's a wawwy

I love my home town. I like living where people still speak up and have opinions...and act on them.

For some reason George Bush is booked to come here and speak next week at a lotsa $$ per seat banquet, and lotsa people here are angry about it. I'm not impressed...the man, in my opinion, did little to further America and a lot wrong with Iraq (including starting a war for greed and business and turning a blind eye to war crimes)... to top it all off, he is not someone I would call a good public speaker. This is the guy who can't pronounce nuclear. Who continued to read children's books when the twin towers collapsed...why would you pay $$ to hear him speak? I just don't get the appeal.
I suspect it will be a gathering of uber conservative rich business types who will pat each other's backs and applaud loudly...after all, if Bush can make it to the presidency, why can't they be great public figures too? In my mind all I can forsee the event as is a big business networking shmoozefest. Ech.

There is a rally against him on Wed, Oct 21 when he is scheduled to speak. Turns out a lot of people (myself included) don't like the fact that he is coming to speak here. They want him to be held accountable for what happened during his presidency. The night before his arrival and speeches in town there is a showing of "Taxi to the Dark Side" at the local library (a film that touches on America's attitude towards war crimes and torture). The day of, there will be a rally...I'm stuck at work so I can't be there, but I do hope there is a strong non-crazy showing of people to express what needs to be said. Maybe if enough level headed, average people speak up against corruption and bad leadership something will change.

Ya think?

Thankfulness

Sometimes you don't realise what you have until it's spread out before you.
This weekend I got to be with my family in one of my favourite places on earth. I got to walk in the snow with my handsome (mustached) husband, and relish in in our being together...still. I got to bake in the kitchen with my Mum. I got to watch J and Dad build a shelf for our house. I had supper with family and friends and visited with good food, good wine and fantastic conversation.
What struck me most of all was seeing how life can turn the tables on you and bring back joy. This weekend I got to witness joy and love...My Dad's friend Gavin, who lost his wife Shirley to cancer a few years ago, was at supper...and he was happy. He was laughing and smiling...and holding the hand of another old family friend. She lost her husband to cancer about 10 years ago...and over the past year she's helped him deal with his grief, because she could understand it...and oddly enough, they are now together. There is joy in their lives again. It makes me so grateful to see how life brings things together, and offers us things to be thankful for. To know that things go on, and life still happens and joy returns: Yes. I am thankful. :)

A beautiful rant...

"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it. "

A quote from this amusing article...

Turkey for me Turkey for you...

Love to eat turkey 'cause it's good
Love to eat turkey like a good boy should...

Turkey lurkey doo and turkey lurkey dap
I eat that turkey then I take a nap...

Gobble goo and gobble gobble gickel
I wish turkey only cost a nickel...



Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Strut your stuff on the floor

Tonight I learn basic floorwork and knee work at my tribal class. I have my new kneepads. I have my harem pants. And my hipscarf. And my sword.

Squeee.

siren song

I'm trying hard not to eat my muffins. I made gluten free muffins for my celiac sis-in-law (it's her birthday and I'll be seeing them for supper) and...well...they're staring at me.

The cranberries and walnuts are calling my name. It would be rude to eat someone else's gift muffins...so I'm going to have to go to the other lab and do a CHiP assay so I can't hear them.

Fingers in my ears!
*lalalalalalala*

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S'ok

Good...it was a misunderstanding.
I was hoping that a friend of mine wasn't able to be such a giant jerk...and turns out he isn't after all.
Good.
Ah. Better now...
This blog is where I go to vent so I don't stick my foot in my mouth before calming down...after a little tirade I could just call up my friend and suss it all out. Sorry you all end up reading my rants...but you have no idea the therapy bills you're saving me :)

No fair.

I'm a little pissed. OK more than a little.
Every year on my birthday for years now we have had a bonfire...birthday and halloween and bonfire and awesome. In my favourite firepit across the lake. Last year J and the crew taped their halloween episode there too. This year my birthday is actually on a friday - even better! I was going to start inviting people and begin planning it next week. I checked with the crew and some friends and they were all in for coming...I was starting to plan it all out.
Yeah...on facebook I just got an invite to the halloween birthday bonfire...but it's not mine. But yet it is mine. I was invited to this year's crew and host halloween birthday party there for them and 2 people on their show, on that day...and apparently I'm invited. How nice of them to invite me to my own bonfire, pretty much take it over and not mention my birthday at all (but 2 other people's, including the inviter) in the invite.
I know it's just an oversight and it'll be fun having the people there (I had invited them all anyways) but fuck me if I'm not slightly bitter about having my birthday thing taken over by someone else...
I feel like a 4 year old, but bah humbug and fucksticks galore.

Remembering Wicket

I'm a little mopey. I found out my friend's cat died yesterday.
Wicket was a incredibly fluffy cream coloured tub ball of a cat. He could shed more than any cat I have ever known...he was scared of the strangest things, and I will miss his little fur face when I visit. I used to keep an eye on him when Heather was gone for her weekly shifts at the mine lab, and I'd get to hang out and play "catch the thing" with him and let him shed all over me. He'd "help" us play Wii by sitting on the controllers and loved to sit in our laps when we watched movies and try and lick the potato chips when we weren't looking.
Wicket got diabetes a few months ago, and wasn't eating well, and was going to start needing insulin shots daily if his appetite didn't pick up. Because she wasn't home all the time from work and she didn't want to burden me to go out and check on him and maybe give him shots, she brought him out to her parents farm tohave her mom keep an eye on him...he seemed to perk up well and really liked the farm. He spent his time running around the farm and making buddies with the other mousers there...and still came up for daily skritches and laptime. Unfortunately, after initial improvement, he didn't get better...and so he's buried under the tree he liked to curl up under in the sun. It's nice to have somewhere to go to remember his plumpness...but sad to see him go.

Bye furball. We'll miss you :(

Ahhhh...I had the luck getting in to see Gogol Bordello last night at a steamy sold out show.
Gypsy punk insanity. It was a great show....crazy energy. Seeing these guys live is a great time.
And now back to regular everyday life. Pledge drive? Done. 15 hour day helping J shoot a Halloween episode at Camp Crystal Lake (jay jay jay jay son son son son)? Done.

5Km Breast Cancer Walk for the Cure? Done. So inspiring.

All finished off by the gypsy punk insanity that is Gogol Bordello. Jumping up and down to Start Wearing Purple was a great way to end off 2 insanely busy weeks... Plus J shaved his beard off for the pledge drive...the masses chose his new "look" and now I find myself married to Tom Selleck for 2 weeks.
Bizarre, amusing and slightly unsettling :)
(yes...photos to come)

Ahhhh :)

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Kids should play

Here's a recent fitness rant of mine...what do yo uthink?

Drooling ahoy!

I get to go to a staff appreciation lunch right away.
The catch is my mouth is still nearly completely frozen from dental work I had done this morning. Eep.
I just hope I don't drool all over myself.

Classy me...

Good grief

Just a wee bit busy around here...sorry to ignore you all.

I've been volunteering at the CFCR pledge drive every evening after work (and on weekends) and as a result I have no free time (except for exciting dentist appointments). When I am home really don't feel like posting, even tho I've had loads of ideas for posts...lots has gone on! Seriously...there's just no time. Sleep and a few minutes with J are what I can squish in in the odd free moments...cuz we have company right now too, so there's so little time for just us.

Yeah. It's like that.

Only a few days and life can resume a semblance of normality. I've actually been getting up 20 minutes early this last while for oatmeal and tea with the cats just to have a few minutes to myself. I think it's gonna stay around...it's really helped me de-stress. I have to start factoring in workouts too, but all in good time my dears. All in good time.

I can't wait for the end of the pledge drive. Then it's just the Breast Cancer Run and I can relax.

Yeesh...

Weighty Ghost

I have had this song in my head for days...it suits rainy fall days.
Have a listen and a warm cup of tea...

My nose is still numb...

While ignoring the dentist's drill and listening to the Discovery channel this AM I learned something rather interesting:
Recent brain studies have shown multiple functions for the amygdala - the weird nut shaped tweedles inside both lobes of the back part of your brain. It's been linked to the emotion of fear for a long time now...it's what allows you to (or not to) react to/deal with/feel afraid or control your fear of something. In a favourite show Firefly, the character River Tam had been forced to undergo repeated surgeries to strip her amygdala, so that she felt all her fears all the time and couldn't suppress them, gaining a lot of mental problems as a result...he heh...they weren't just making up mumbo jumbo for good TV - I was impressed that they actually looked that up for the show! It was what kept me on the channel in the first place...to see if they were making all that up or not.
Anyways...back to the matter at hand.
Now they've found the function of the amygdala it is also linked to the concept of personal space...it can greatly affect how you deal with crowds and how much personal space you need to feel comfortable. It can allow you to turn other people around you into objects in order to deal with crowds and not get freaked out by lack of personal space. Odd huh? Seeing as agoraphobia really is a fear of crowds and inability to deal with lack of personal space that ties in very neatly with the whole aspect of dealing with fear. I'm interested to read further work on this. Apparently people with damage or lack of function in this area have too little inhibition - they get right up into people's faces without realising they're intruding on personal space and don't really have healthy fears of things that would keep the usual person a bit safer...it also is involved in long term memory development...perhaps in developing deep fears from childhood?? It can also, when damaged, be involved in agoraphobia. The good news is that it is involved in positive reinforcement/ learning of new things...so perhaps you can deal with fears over time with positive reinforcement.
Interesting...

Almost made it worth sitting through the 2 fillings this morning.

Almost.

Word of the Day

Say it with me:

SPORK!

Tee hee...