Feel the love?

J's friends and coworkers stopped by today while I was out picketing in the cold. They brought us a little christmas package...all the things for an amazing christmas meal and some hot chocolate and peppermints.
And later in the day I got a letter from one of my bosses containing some money to help with bills and groceries.

I'm so touched. I don't even know how to thank them.
I'm the sort who never asks for anything, and always wants to help out and give when I can...I've never been on the recieving end of it before. I feel like my heart has grown 5 times today...

I'm a little more even now that I've had a bit of time, and I won't have to go out in the cold for a few days, so I'm feeling better.
It's been a lot of bad without muchgood this week and it feels like the tides may be turning a bit.

And this kindness out of the blue? Makes me all warm inside.

These people are amazing.

And *you* guys too.

You remind me about the important things in life and that it will all be OK.
Thanks.

sigh

So I just got estimates on fixing the car.
A mere $1600.00 of damage was done...I'm hoping insurance will cover part of it but I won't know for a week or so.
Seeing as I'm not earning any money, all my bills are due and it's christmas time that repair cost should just be no problem at all eh?

I ask you oh great pulsating brain at the center of the world....what the flying fuck?
Enough already.

Does not compute

So far I've typed in nearly 180 data sets.
Only 1300 odd more to go...for the first project. There may be more.
That's a lot of data.
I'm ectremely grateful to have work to do at home...10 hours in and I think I've got the hang of it.
It looks I should be able to help keep it together...and with any luck this strike won't go on for too much longer.

Must be off for my frozen wanderings... but first *this*: Stolen from Diddums...done as a break from all that data...

Pieces of Eight meme

8 Things I Am Passionate About
1. cheese
2. individual rights and respect of others
3. learning about other cultures (they all seem so much more interesting than mine...)
4. Making things
5. J
6. Bringing more goodness and joy to the world
7. Being warm
8. Animal rights

8 Things I Say Often
1. Awhaaaaaht?
2. Dammit cat! (usually at geek)
3. sigh
4. are you going to eat that?
5. I love you (to J)
6. huzzah!
7. Um...don't take this personally, but you are a robot aren't you?
8. GAH!

8 Books I’ve Read Recently
1. Spin (just won a Hugo award....some of the best original scifi I've read in ages)
2. Guide to Homebrewing 3rd Ed.
3. Classics (Bloom County collection...what? there's words in the captions!)
4. Imzadi
5. Harry Potter and the last book in the series
6. 50 Great Gifts you can make (gearing up for cheap gift ideas)
7. Planet of the Gawfs
8. What Einstein told his cook (vol. 2)

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
1. beautiful - Moby
2. Warning Shots - Thievery Corporation
3. Smoked Glass and Chrome - Ott
4. No Heaven - Champion
5. Fragile - Sting
6. Surfing on a Rocket - Air
7. Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay
8. His Majesty King Raam - Lemon Jelly

Thre's more...but that'll do for now...bye!

Ew

1,887,480How Many Germs Live On Your Keyboard?

Trip in the spruce goose anyone?

Cold and slightly dull

Ah...nothing like 5 and a half hours in -20 (-30 with windchill) to make you tired and thirsty. But I'm fed and tead up now and feel better and much warmer. I have to make up some hours so I'm putting in a bit extra for the rest of the week...and it's only an extra hour but it seems to go on and on forever. I hope this is done soon...I don't know how safe it'll be to picket on some of the truly awful cold days that haven't arrived yet.
Tomorrow, to amuse ourselves, our picket team is making soup over the fire barrel. Someone has a big pot and we're all bringing some veggies spices and meat, and it'll go an cook for a few hours and then we'll have some tasty beef veggie soup about 2 oclock. Seemed like a good idea at the time...hot soup on a day that looks like it'll be -25 plus wind seemed like a good idea.
My cat really loves me at the moment...it's hard to type with all th epurry ruuubiness. Very cute...
Other than that...meh. J is on nights. I miss him.
BUT I must get to that data....the faster I'm done the faster I can get paid!
Later guys...

Woo - take THAT!

The votes count is in...and we voted 85% no against the lame offer made to us.
The union now has our strong support to get back to negotiations and settle this.
We will not be bullied and intimidated...
let's end this.

All Yingy and Yangy with wobbly spurts in the middle

This weekend was both utterly amazing and totally annoying.
There was a dance party- a Star Wars themed one, and the music was amazing. My mellinium falcon was a tiny part of the decorations and the music was fabulous. The whole building was decorated up with rooms for Endor, The jedi palace, Mon Calamari and other themed rooms with comfy furniture. 4 different rooms of music all night...very good.
On the downside...still on strike, broke as hell now weekend and some prick put 2 dents in our car that must be fixed (and I can't really afford to but can't not do it)...and a friend's dog ate one of JJ's favorite shoes. I know money shouldn't be a problem, but it is getting to be...I don't even want to know the cost of car repairs.

So yeah...ying and yang all in a few days.
We did get to see Beowulf in 3D IMAX (really fantastic) and the weekend was an overall good one...we tried to be "normal" for a few days. It's just that being back here in "real life" and picketing in -20ish with snow and wind is daunting...but it can't go on forever. We had our vote today on our crappy offer form the University. I hope it was voted down "no" very strongly and we can end this soon in negottiations. We'll know by the evening.

I will try my best to be optimistic...we'll see how it goes. And I'll post some photos from the Star Wars shindig in a little while...I didn't make a big costume this year...no $$ or time, but I did dress up like Luke on Dagobah and have a lightsaber on my belt and my yoda on my back. It really was a great time all in all...one of the DJs kept playing all my favorite songs in his set...and there were performing bellydancers that were amazing - one girl danced with 2 swords balanced on her head. Wow.
But now, I must go do some data entry. I picked up a bit of work I can do at home for some $$ and should get at it so we can pay some bills...I am trying to avoid going to retail...we'll see.
Later tater...

New fangled technology...

So...anyone recording the BSG Razor movie this weekend on Space?
My DVD recorder/HD recorder is acting up and trying to start a TV Guide program in itself that doesn't work in Canada. I think it's set up to record, but if it screws itself up and doesn't record it all...well...I'll be very very sad, as I won't be at home when it is taping. It's developing a mind of it's own...and I wish it would pick another weekend to do it.
Anyone?
Can you help ease my mind??
I'd love to come home and watch in instead of ranting and raving an an inanimate object...

Aesop

On the upside...this video is nifty...
I'd embed it...but it's that kind of day and the code won't go in right.
Do check it out tho...

Tired. of. it. thank. you. very. much.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

OK...we've been off work 20 days now.
20 Freaking days.
Our negotiators finally convinced our employer to meet with us....and after 2 days, there is no change in anything and we were actually given the same offer as before that we went out on strike on...it actually has a few things *less* in it.
And...AND the union offered to the university to go to arbitration to settle it all...and to go back to work WHILE this was being done. The university said "no, let the union members vote on the offer first". So basically after being off work 20 days our employer is hoping we'll be broke enough and tired enough we'll just accept the same offer we wouldn't before. They haven't budged...but I say we shouldn't give in? Why should we vote yes on something we already refused?

I say to my employer - How stupid do you think we are? Don't you want us back helping the students?
YES I'd like to go back to work.
YES I want this all over with....but I'll be damned if I just froze my ass off for a principle over 3 weeks to give in, go home and have done it all for nothing with an entire month of debt hanging over my head.
Bring on the arbitrators. Whatever they say I'll take...it's the only way out and I'm tired of beurocrats playing parlor games with my life.

All I know is it'll be at least another week before we get our vote over with and (I hope) the arbitrator called in to hammer out a deal for both of us to take...meanwhile the students are being royally screwed over...and so are we. If the university really cared about the students and wanted it over they'd just go to arbitration...but them being unwilling to do so just...well...it stinks. It shows why we're out here in the first place.
I have to say...I love my job, but right now I am just plain tired of it all.

I am tired of having people yell at me from cars while I picket, give me the finger and tell me to go back to work (altho today a group of students said we should all go home and have sex so we'd be happier and strike a deal...that was the most reasonable thing I'd heard all morning...). I'm tired of being broke. I'm tired of having to tell people why I'm off work and can't afford to go out and why the students are suffering from this. I'm tired of having to resort to this in order for the university to treat us fairly. I'm tired of walking about on eggshells hoping nothing else goes wrong.
ENOUGH already.
End this.

*sigh*
Can't we all just get along???

PS - I'd like to add that this post is in no way inspired by assembling a tricky, half missassembled model and inhaling fumes from entire tubes of crazy glue and super glue. Nope...none whatsoever. I'm almost done in fact. Had to break form the fumes.

Day 20 (sigh)

It's -10 with snow today.
I can only hope this strike is over soon.
I'm tired of it.
I've dug out the ski pants and all the winter gear...we've no way of knowing how talks are going, but I can only hope they're going well. They brought in a good provincial conciliator to help, but the university and union seem to be butting heads...when most of us just want to go back to work. I can't even think how screwed up it is for the students. They're caught in the middle...it's so unfair. You would think that alone would make both sides lock themselves ina room until things were concluded. But we just walk and wait (and freeze...). I almost wish the government would just force an arbitration. Thinkgs need to be concluded soon.
*sigh*
I ordered all these cool things for projects in the lab and I want to get back and play wih them....and I'd like to have a Christmas thank you very much. I don't are if I have gifts or not, but I'd like to at least have enoug gas to get to the family's place for the holiday! If this lasts much longer it'll be a miserable December.

Ah don't mind me - I'm in a mumbly mood. I'd better go start putting on my winter kit...