Decompression begins..........now.

I'm excited and happy.
I just dropped off all my pledges for the Breast Cancer Run. I managed to raise just shy of $400! AND it turns out we got our team shirts made up after all...AND they aren't pink. Woot!
We run tomorrow at 10AM...and then J is taking me out for a victory breakfast...there will be taters involved. I likes me taters.

So today I am preparing with a vigourous regimen of vegging out, drinking coffee and Kahlua and starting on mapping out the plans for my Dad's stained glass window. Best of all - I 'm NOT at the radio station.
YEAH!
It was good to volunteer...they needed our help and we raised just over $50,000 over the 2 weeks, which was good enough to keep them on the air yet again, but man - I am *done* with 2 jobs. That was enough for me I think. Both J and I were on the raggedy edge by the end.

And tonight I actually ahve time to cook something elaborate and tasty (maybe tofu parmesean) and listen to some CDs I picked up over the pledge drive as prizes, like the new Delerium CD and a CD of remixed Billy Holiday tunes - looking forward to that a lot.

Ah! I'm relaxing already.
Cheers!

Friday Favourites Vol. 3

Not much time today but I had to pop in quick to do a favourites...my most favouritist album of all I think.
The Orb: Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld


It is hard to believe that this album came out in 1994...I didn't discover it until about 8 years ago. Despite it's age it is still an incredible CD. In fact, this CD actually just had a 15 anniversary rerelease, remastered with an extra CD of remixes (which are all very good...one in fact which I prefer to the original mix). This CD is amazing...someone ambient, mostly electronic and still, after many years, my most favourite CD. The music starts out in Arizona...and moves out into space, past the moon, our universe and finally into the Ultraworld, where the Giant Pulsating Brain at the centre of the universe lives. There's dub with sounds samples and great music. 2 CDs of great listening...
Please listen to it. I can't even try to do it justice in words.
Have a great weekend all :)

Shuffling off this mortal coil

If you want to know the "actual" age you'll die, based on how you live and other factors in yor life, go here and check it out. It's rather neat.

Although my regular age of death should be about 74, I'm a healthy little girl and it turns out I'll live to be 85.6.
Pretty good if you ask me...

Anyone free for a walker potato sack race in about 50 odd years?
I'll save you a spot at the picnic...but I won't go easy on you.

Yup...still here

So....long day. Starting late means finishing late.
But it's important research to be presented next week.
AND (hopefully won't jinx it) my newly repaired machine is working beautifully.
Only another hour or so and I can go grab some takeout and hang out with my friend Heather...maybe rent amovie. Who knows.
Ahhh...I can see the end.
Good stuff.

Whoops...he heh heh

So...um..yeah.
Alarm didn't go off this morning. i know I set it, but I have no idea what happened after that. I slept in a bit too as I was tired from the weekend and staying up to watch Doctor Who.
I feel like a turd when I sleep in. That's never happened to me at my current job, and hopefully no one noticed...working in the lab alone does have it's advantages at times...
Needless to say I woke up this AM to brilliant sunshine and thought "ah what a beautiful day"...which then immediately twigged my brain and I shot up in bed as I realised "wait a minute - the sun shouldn't *be* up yet!". After a lot of running about and arm waving and the odd choice words, I got to the bus and to work about 2 and a half hours late. Not a huge deal, as I'm a good worker, but it does screw up my day. I have a 9 hour experiment to run, which means I am here at work until almost 8 PM finish the experimental run I had to do today.
A hearty boo to that.
So..my friend (whom I was going to spend the evening hanging out with on a day "off" from the pledge drive) is picking me up to hang out at 8ish instead of 5...but now that I'm in the midst of the day and calmed down it's all OK. At least I get to spend some of the evening together with her. I've been looking forward to it for a long while, as she is away a lot for work and I don't see her enough lately.
And so, good people, I must be off to the lab and get back to things.

And..um...tomorrow I will set no less than 2 alarm clocks!

Back from the wilderness

Well, nothing like a weekend away in some natural settings with good people and some music. Turns out it was a bit of a collective workshop weekend, with a lot of hippyish workshops so I could relax in the sun or go learn a thing or two when I wanted. Over the weekend I learned a bit about ayurveda, how to make (and use) my very own hula hoop (it's yellow and orange...hee), more about lucid dreaming (something that has always intrigued me), and met a lot of very happy people, many of which I haven't seen in a while. Some bits bordered on being fruity, what with it being a solstice celebration, but it really was a nice relaxing time with plenty of great music in the evenings to dance to. There was even a steam tent...I didn't go in, but it looked really neat, as they kept heating up rocks in the fire and then making a steam sauna with them...And J's set went well...anlthough his audio project ended up not happening due to technical difficulties (and a lack of interested performers...) Never fear...I'm not going all fruity. It was just a nice weekend away with nice people.

It got chilly at night, but the whole event was on the grounds of a progressive school fro gifted kids set on an acreage/mansion...kind of like Xavier's school, only slightly more hippyish and less rich. The kids were there for the weekend as well. I didn't see them use any secret powers, but I'm sure they were just being polite as they didn't want to alarm us.

I got the change to relax and sleep and I feel a lot more recharged, enough to make it thru this week I think. Must get to work...lots to do. Hope youi all had a good weekend.
Please amuse yourselves with a look at what the interweb feels would be my ultimate lair...(I'm particularly fond of the rooms with caffeinated beverages and places for griffons - and a kitchen full of Keebler elves is my kinda place. Don't even get me started about the whole Xwing thing...:) )

Your home is a Wizard's Stronghold Your kitchen is manned by a team of Keebler Drow Elves. There's a pantry with emergency backup caffeinated beverages. You also have some breakfast cereals in there, but you haven't had breakfast since last Spring. Your master bedroom is decorated to look like the treetop village of the Galadhrim. Your study has every fantasy novel ever written, including multiple editions of the Silmarillion and advance copies of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. One of your garages contains a life-sized X-Wing fighter, and KITT. (KITT was a gift from a well-meaning uncle.) Your home also includes a roost for griffons. You've never actually seen a griffon, but you keep the roost ready anyway. Your guests enjoy your home theater with hi-def plasma screen TV, and the thrones you watch it from. Outside is the moat that protects your home from goblin invaders and extended family. And, you have a pet -- a unicorn named "Shadowhooves". Below is a snippet of the blueprints:

Find YOUR Dream Home!

Happy Dance

It's friday.
I'm off to dance my ass off. Ta!

Burning

I'm tired. I believe the phrase "burnt out" would apply.
Why? Well the work all day work all night thing is getting a bit much. It's odd as work has been so stressing what with machine breaking and all that I've actually looked forward to the pledg edrive volunteer shift - WAY less pressure.
And in the midst of all that I've had to try to get all our stuff ready to go away for the weekend and get all my work done so I can leave at noon.
We're off for the weekend to a festival in Edmonton and it's all I can do to get all our stuff together to be off and arrive there before midnight and set up our gear.
I hope Jay's set goes OK. He's really worried about it. I just want him to be happy.
Perhaps some music will do me good.
And some sleep.
Cya all later...

Hold still. Don't move a muscle.

I believe I've found the physical limit for myself.
Working two jobs on top of running 6 Km and 1 hour of bellydancing all in one day is indeed the limit.

I'm not stiff or sore so much as just used up. Everything today shall be slow, steady and ever so calm, as I feel there are elastic bands connected to my knees that are very tightly drawn and to push to much might be very odd indeed. And not in a "ooh look at that, how interesting" sort of way.

I'll actually be glad to be off to Symmetry this weekend where I can sit and listen to music. J is playing a set (I'm going so I can hear him) and then working on an audio project there recording artists all weekend and mixing a track out of it. It's a great idea, but he'll be off in sound techy land the whole time so I'll be on my own, but there'll be lots of friendly peoples, many of whom I've met before, so i can occupy myself (I think). I believe I'll be in sit on my ass and listen to music land, which is very appealing at themoment. I should be able to get in some dancing too, but at the moment the thought of dancing about to anything makes my legs wince and mutter "no thanks...not right now, sit down".

Off to the lab to shuffle about slowly and manually do 1/4 of a broken machine's job (...which, turns out, won't be fixed until next week. *sigh* Such is life).
Ta!

And then, release....

I just had to pop in and say, it is so nice to have a physical stress release.
Not what you might think - my morning run (well OK that other thing too, to be truthful, and that and this would make an absolutely perfect combo...though not physically possible at the same time...and...oh never mind...sorry, back on topic...).

I got up this morning before work and ran very hard and very fast this morning for about 6 Km and it did me a world of good. I vented out my stress through my legs and ranted and raved and probably looked like a nutter, but there was noone else dumb enough to be up at that hour.
As a result, when I got in to work today I could focus and get things done...and I'm a lot more cheerful.

Coping Mechanisms

An open letter to the giant brain that pulsates at the centre of the universe

OK.
I don't know what sort of lesson you want to teach me. Is it patience?
Humility?
How to not freak out at your workplace over cosmic intervention?
To prioritize extremely expensive samples and chemicals in order of expendability?
How to be utterly useless ina a room full of equipment and resource?

I now have all the reagents I need to do a sh*tload of work in 3 days on a timed schedule and find that, lo and behold, I am totally screwed timewise as the actual instrument I use to do this work has suddenly died with no warning in a way that requires a repairman to come and fix it - with me already having prepared the slides and reagents...and no time for overtime (due to the pledge shifts), yet needing to get the work done, but not having the ability to do so physically without the machine. And I can't let this stuff go to waste.
*sigh* What's a labrat to do?

Was I too harsh with the courier prople? Am I getting too good at my job?
WHAT?
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME?

I'm finally doing research that *matters* - that could actually positively impact patient's lives and help fight cancer and all I can do is stare at all the stuff I have, put it in a big pile and do nothing but sit on my hands, see things spoil while I wait for a guy to (hopefully) fix my machine tomorrow. Maybe. And then I'm hopelessly behind...

If anyone out there has a cushy job petting puppies or smelling flowers can I at least trade with them for a while? I need a break...

*cough*
Um...Hope I didn't offend you Mr. Brain sir. I've just had enough of all this and don't know what else to say.

Gibberingly yours with great humility,
Geo.

PS - Fucksticks

Open letter to Fedex

In the future, when planning elaborate and complicated labwork that all depends on a single perishable and very valuable item being delivered to me by you, I will no longer rely on you to deliver something to me as promised on time. I will not take your delivery dates as accurate, but will know them for what they are: random guesses based on the ways of the entrails of mice and the rolling of bones. I will also not expect you to apologise or in any way expidite my express package, or even offer any explanation as to why you and the customs brokerage team seem to be trapped in a dark room together playing Marco Polo while trying to clear my package at the border.

In the future I will fend for myself, and survive in my wilderness by my own skills, borrowing from my kind neighbors to make ends meet and still succeed despite you. Were it not for a huge horseshoe I keep tucked safely up my bottom for such occasions, and the generosity of other researchers who just happen to have the same obscure product that I need I would be royally and utterly screwed.

You nearly f*cked up my entire week's work, you wankers.

I hope you drop your ice cream on the sidewalk in the sun.

Most sincerely,
Geo

Journey to the Ultraworld.

Had a lovely time friday night.
My most excellent birthday present (and christmas too..) for J finally came and we sat down to enjoy it on friday night. It was a Galaxy light. It essentially shines a blue sky with green laser stars and an adjustable moving milky way cloud. This all projects on the ceiling. It is, without a doubt, the coolest thing I have ever seen, light wise. Photos do not do it justice.

So we sat and relaxed under the stars, sipping white wine and nibbling on cheese ans raspberries and talking and just enjoying being together, while listening to The Orb's "Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld" double CD in it's entirety. It seemed fitting to listen to the music that starts in earth and slowly moves through lunar orbit, out of the galaxy and to ultraworld, where the huge pulsating brain at the centre of the universe is. (If you haven't heard this CD before - do. It is my all time favorite CD). We nicknamed a few of the stars in the projection: The centre is Ultraworld, and I picked out a few moving constellations Catteus Loafus and Caseus.

The rest of the weekend was more busy, business what with misc. house stuff to be done and then volunteering fro the pledge drive in the evenings and all, but it was so nice to just sit and relax and be together...it's been a while since we've been able to do that. On saturday night we just happened to run into a friend on the way home from the pledge drive and he invited us out to a local party he was at to celebrate Mexican Independence day. So we wandered by and helped celebrate the victory back in 1710 over Spain, sat by a fire, drank some tequila in a toast to goodness and freedom(actually found a tequila I liked), met some new people and danced to some Mexican music. Had a nice detour of a time before heading home.

And now - it's crazy time. I am volunteering every evening all evening after working all day on a new very tricky project that must work the first time...and we're leaving this weekend to go to Edmonton, where J will be playing a set of music and doing some music work with a friend. What I'll do I'm not sure, but I bet after this week, just sitting outside doing nothing will be a treat...


PS - I haven't forgotten the tag Pacian...I just might not be able to get to it for a bit. But I will, I promise.

Friday Music - Vol. 2

It's tricky to try and select "favourites". I like a lot of different music for a lot of reasons and whenever I listen to something I enjoy it can really twig memories, or inspire a mood in me. I don't know if it's cheating to pick a compilation, but as I do listen to this album often and in its entirety, so I'm wedging it in.

The compilation CD "@ Home @Sunrise", is a fantastic collection of ambient "chill out" (god I hate that term) music. It's DJ mixed for continuous listening, and is full of a great collection of mellow songs by a lot of my now favourite artists: DJ Food, Moby, Goldfrapp, Electric Skychurch and Mandalay. There's a more upbeat partner CD to this (@ Home @ Sunset) which is also quite good, but this is a CD full of ambient stuff....but it isn't so slow or dull that it bores you. It has a mellow groove to it that bears up to repeated listening.

I cannot count the rainy days and romantic evenings I've spent listening to this CD. It's full of great music that makes me happy and fills up my soul whenever I hear it if I'm feelin less than level. It's not cheesy or new agey or anything of the sort...just a great collection of ambient electronic and remixed songs. It was actually recommended to me in an A&B sound years back, and the guy who did so had such a joyous look on his face when he described it to me I took a risk and picked it up without blinking. I figured any music that made the guy who ran the ambient electronic section in A&B was worth a listen...and it was.

If you're looking for mellow music to listen to on a rainy day I'd recommend it.
Think I'll go put it on the iPod right now and get busy in the lab...

Our Lady of Shovels

I've been mucking with a Shambhala photo in photoshop...I could do this for hours...

What I did on my summer vacation...

It's really hard ot write a post with a cat biting your wrists...apparently he's more important than this post.

*later*

OK...cat loved. Onto other things...

Like Shambhala.

For those of you who don't know, the Shambhala music festival has been going on for 10 years now. It's a private event put on in a private ranch in BC, where for 4 days about 12,000 people gather to get wierd and listen to music...some of the best music form around the world: all kinds, at 5 stages. Every year the stages get better, and the vibe is really unlike anything I've ever experienced before or since. Everyone is there to have a good time and enjoy the music, and there's an alchohol restriction so no drunken buffoons. And the security and first aid were top notch. A girl in our camp had an allergy to a bee sting and they were there to help her out in minutes.



This year we had the opportunity to come in early, as I volunteered with the harm reduction tent, and they paid me back for my ticket too...bonus, but not the reason I did it. Last year I saw the good stuff they were doing an wanted to help out - it's part of what makes Shambhala such a good thing - the attitude and positive sense of fun and community. It was great to contribute back to it. I had 4 shifts giving out information, condoms, we had drug testing for pills, first aid and someone to talk to if they needed it. It was a very fulfilling (for lack of a less cheesy word) and eye opening thing. There is a LOT of misinformation out there...and also a lot of great people. It was great to just talk with people, help them learn and be safe and have a great time. I used my geeky skills for good, helping out with information and pill testing.

JJ and I set up our stuff, and were hoping to run into a lot of friends we were hoping to meet up with there. We were concerned we wouldn't find them, what with the odd 10000 or so people to search in, but we did run into everyone in the end. We ended up camping with our friends Troy and Peter. Although our friend Troy had to leave early (we missed you!) we ended up camped with a bunch of people we'd never met - and had a fabulous time! They were all great and friendly: a florist, some painters, some students, a landscaper (with an uncanny ability to predict the weather) and even a software engineer for Apple. It was like camping with a bunch of old friends - unexpected but wonderful...they nicknamed the place "Camp Love". Cheesy I know, but a lot of fun. They even made me hashbrowns and tea for breakfast...I loved those people :) They were all interesting and unique people and it all added to the experience. The head of Good News Bear marked our camp. It was dusty, but mighty fine. And Friday night all the stages opened up...and it was gooooooooooooodness and light.


The music...sooogoooooooood! DJs form all over the globe spinning all styles. Over the weekend I heard funk, soul, rock, psytrance, hip hop and global fusion. There was a beach stage, the Fractal Forest, The Portal Stage, The Village (ewoks!!) the Main Stage, The Rock Pit and the Seed of Life Tent. Over the weekend I heard Fort Knox Five, and Adam Shake, and so many other great DJs. They played tunes by Ott, Bjork, Beck, Shpongle, Thievery Corportation, and too many others to list...I even heard some Beastie Boys on the last morning. For us, the first night was techno, the second Funky and the last full of (as James Katalyst would say) full on psytrance. I missed DJ Tipper, Adam Freeland, and Bassnectar...could only be in one place at a time...there was even a classy burlesque show one night. My friend Shamik, a beatboxer, did a live 20 minute set and blew everyone away...the man is magic. I don't know how he makes all those sounds.... Other friends Ken and Pat played sets at the Seed of Life tent. I think my favorite moment of the weekend was on the last night at the end of the Adam Shake set...his final track was a sort of whirling dervish Jewish crazy dance that started off slowly and built faster and faster until we were all laughing and dancing and spinnign madly in circles to the music...so much fun...so much joy!


During the day, there was a great river to swim in, a beach to lie on, even puppet shows. The paths were decorated with lights, art and messages...there was something to see verywhere. And even a vendor villag to get unique things in...and homemade cardamum iced cream with fruit. I got a very nice necklace, a rainstick and a soapstone insence burner. I also got JJ a shakey egg - you know those woody eggs with things inside for percussion? He's wanted one forever...

And costumes were fun as always...One night I was (as Robyn put it) "sexy rave police lady" - I had police pants and a cropped top altered with yellow detailing. One night I was Sarah Silverman with my Cookie Party TShirt, and on the last night, as you saw...Tank Girl. Fun. I stayed up all night most nights and took it all in... I did have to take off the missiles after a while though...I kept whacking people with them (oddly enough I was not used to them!). My favorite comment on the costume was "are those offensive or defensive?" (my response was "oh, definitely offensive!") As for others, over the weekend I saw Chewbacca, Leia, sandpeople (very cool - he even had the Bantha stick), The almighty tallest (Red), Vader, Mario brothers, a mirror ball head guy, Batman and Robin, cowboys, a naked guy with shiny mirror bits all over him (looked really cool actually), acrobats, firedancers, pirates, ninjas, and even a few smurfs. Add to that a whole lot of crazy dance wear, a lot of which was UV reactive. The stages were so large, that with the exception of a few times, there was always space. And there was always the walkways in the village to watch the people from below...and the sound qualiy was world class...crystal clear.

I wish I had more photos, but until the last day, I was sure that my camera was broken. It turns out we were just dumb and had hit a button that froze the screen and settings to save power...heh heh. (Yes I'm a scientist! Feel free to mock me).
Things I've learned from Shambhala - people smile when you give them muffins, I have themost beautiful ass in the world (I kid you not...I was told that), I love live funk, I have some great old and new friends, and it was a great place to spend our anniversary. I didn't get JJ anything as cool as last year (no butterfly) but it was a fine evening together, dancing and enjoying ourselves with a few thousand of our closest friends.

I can't really do it justice to try and describe it all...it was a great time -unlike anything else I've been to, and different but just as good as last year. I'm getting all nostalgic thinking about it...and thinking back about the great summer we had.

It was a great time. Met many great people and danced with joy in the woods...AND came home with a bunch of tasty peaches.

Mee hee. Life is good.

Bloody cold...and boring too

It's obscenely cold today - about 3 degrees with rain and wind. Maybe even snow.
Boo. I really have nothing interesting to write about. The lessons last night were fun and I have lots to practice - I didn't count on needing to be *coordinated* to belly dance, so I'll have to practice the moves I learned a lot.

Because I have lots to do, and yet want to feel like I'm a good little blogger, here's my September meme:

Current clothes: Happy shirt, blue jeans, shelltoe runners, black specs.

Current mood: Tired but happy.

Current music: Lemon Jelly - ky.

Current annoyance: I'm annoyed that fall, my favorite season, seems to be skipped this year. I want to see the coloured leaves a bit before they plop off and winter comes.

Current thing: Trying to get things done around the house that need to be done before winter. Seeing as I'm volunteering for the community radio station's pledge drive for the next 2 weeks, I only have a day or so to finish up, and honestly, it's so cold and rainy I just want to curl up with some tea and read.

Current desktop picture: J and I in costume on the pirate ship at Shambhala.

Current book: Chuck Klosterman IV.

Current song in head: For some reason, the "meats of evil" song off the invader Zim episode where Zim and Dib turn into sausages. Why? No clue. I haven't even watched it in ages...I was just cooking bacon this morning for BLT's for my lunch and the tune got in my head and despite my best efforts, it's still there.

Current DVD in player: Disc 1 of Season 3 of Babylon 5. We've really been plugging away at these, watching a few episodes a week. The seasons all went on sale a while back so we've been watching them here and there. It really had it's moments.

Current refreshment: Nothing. I have already had 2 giant mugs of coffee today so I'm quite jittery and need to get to work.

Current worry: That the student loan bastards will find some way to f*ck with my life yet again. I yearn for the day when I can tell them where to get off...

Current thought: I wonder if I can practice my new belly dancing moves while doing labwork...I think I'll try it out.

Jiggle Jiggle

Tonight's my first belly dancing lesson.


I'm very excited - I've always wanted to know how...and for the next couple months I get to learn how.
Now instead of dancing around the basement by myself pretending to belly dance and trying to look like I know what I'm doing, I soon may actually know how...


*and* it's an excuse to have a reason to finally buy some finger cymbols.

Ching Ching.

image by Lisa Romerein

Jiggery pokery

Cool. He is my favorite...although I did like the 7th a great deal until this guy. He's probably the most *like* me...well as alike me as an alien man canm be.
It doesn't hurt that David Tennant is so watchable, and a very good actor...I've said it before and I'll say it again: *Phoar*.

Your Score: The Tenth Doctor

You scored 25% intelligence, 66% compassion, 31% sense of humor, and 8% weirdness!

You're a charming, friendly, easy-going sort -- the type who looks just as comfortable in a suit and tie as in a bathrobe. Nothing fazes you...until someone starts picking on somebody you love. Then you get all intense and pull a face not unlike an angry bullpup. Yeah, it's hard to take you seriously sometimes, but you're nobody's fool. Your turn-ons include pinstripes, Douglas Adams, incoherent mumbling, Elvis, Scots accents, and Kylie Minogue, apparently. Your turn-offs include Christmas angst, long-distance relationships, jealousy, and other people's stubborn parents.

Link: The Which Doctor Who Are You? Test

Putting all my eggs in one basket

I'd just like to say that there are too many things going on at once.
There needs to be more time. And more cheese.
Oh, and a beer.
Yeah yeah...and a basket to put all my eggs in.

Oh crap. Where are my eggs.
And I lost that basket...

My beautiful eggs...*sniff*

Edit my painting post - the Grey Fox has landed

I bought paint to match a paint chip from the front of the house to paint the bits I'm fixing, but as I primed the places I fixed yesterday I realised the paint had faded into a myriad shades of gray...so I think I may have to paint all the grey parts of the front of the house so they're all the same.
This is getting to be more complicated than it's worth. I'm kind of hoping the bits I paint won't look absurd and I an leave it until spring, but I'm not holding my breath...I s'pose I should just shut up and do it, huh?

LATER:

OK...so I'm a whiner. I just battled the forces of sunlight after I got home to put the first coat of paint on before sunset. I *just* finished in time, like those fantasy tales. I felt like Marty McFly, slowly fading away, almost running out of time. I barely finished the touschups before the sun set over the horizon.
Whew.
...and, turns out it matches not too badly, after all, and it actually looks really nice. "Grey Fox" it's called, or so says the paint label. It's not too dark, so I'll just do the front trim around the windowy bits I've already redone, and leave the high up laddery parts until J is home...or MAYBE it'll do until spring when we can do more...(*cough*)

Yeah. That's it.

Course I was admiring my handiwork in the dark...

Sticky! sticky! sticky! STICKY!

I'm recaulking our front windows before the winter. They're in rough shape and leak and if we don't do something it'll cost us a lot more than a tube of caulk and some paint. I've left it all summer and now I must do them this weekend before it gets too cold. It's tedious and rough on your hands...but the main issue I have with it is you get caulking on your fingers sealing the gap and then on your HANDS AND ON THE TOOLS AND THEN THE WINDOW AND THEN IT'S STICKY AND YOU DO MORE WORK AND YOU'RE STILL STICKY AND YOU WIPE YOUR HANDS AND THEN THE PAPER TOWEL IS STICKY AND THEN IT IS STUCK TO YOU AND ...well you get the idea. It's a messy job when you have no idea what you're doing.
Normally I can ignore things as a necessary evil, even profoundly sticky ones, but in this case, I actually had to disctract myself by making up and singing a song about how sticky I was so I could finish the work up and not run around gibbering shaking my oh so sticky hands...
Perhaps if I was better at this I wouldn't get so covered in caulking, but I'm glad the sticky part (at least for now) is over and I can paint the window today...but maybe the windows will be warmer this winter...who knows?

Some things just need to be done, regardless of how sticky they are. (how's *that* for an odd piece of advice...)

Friday Music - Vol. 1

One of the things that makes the bus ride to work enjoyable, or at least not annoying, is having picked up an iPod a few years back. Having 40GB to stash every album you own in to have with you at all times is a lifesaver. No matter what mood I'm in, there's something for me (and often I can't decide and put it on random and see what pops up). I'll admit a lot of the time I stick to current or new albums, or favorites, but lately, I've been trying to dust off old albums I used to love quite a lot on fridays and listen to them. And so, I thought "Hey? Why not a regular post on friday of favorite music? And they both start with f...it's got to happen!" So here's a blurb about music, artists & albums I love, tacky or no, current or old, and why they mean something to me. Here we go: Volume 1.

It was hard to pick the first one, so I'll just pick the old favorite album I listened to this morning:

Zooropa, by U2.

I've liked U2 for a long time off and on- my favorite albums were when I was in university - Achtung Baby, Pop and Zooropa. They went through a huge range of styles and have mellowed a bit for my taste now, but in their prime, they were fantastic. J and I went to see the Popmart tour - the giant lemon ball was a thing of tacky beauty...Zooropa is, I think, just slightly ahead as my favorite U2 album. ..and one of my all favorite albums actually. I like U2 for the lyrics, singalongability (is that a real word?) and the Edge's ability to play the guitar like a hopped up, electric angel.
Zooropa is a great album for a rainy day...a happy day...hell, any day. I find I need to listen to it in it's entirety...there isn't one song on it that I don't like, and it really plays well as a complete album. Some say it's a moody album, but that's why I like it. I have many memories attached to it, and all of them good: long relaxing afternoons with J when we first met, walking in the rain in university with my discman, singing the squeaky part of Lemon along with my brother and J one afternoon in the sunshine, and even sitting and watching the snowfall on an early morning on New Year's day in the mountains, as my friend Peter put this album on after the KLF Chill Out album to relax to as the grand New Year's party of 2006 wound down in the snowy mountains of BC. I catch myself singing along to it unawares when I listen to it, and on more than one occasion have been smiled at while walking or on the bus as I sang outloud to it. Songs like Daddy's Gonna Pay For Your Crashed Car and Lemon are great cranking loud in the car tunes. "The First Time" has lyrics that have profound meaning to me... it all ends off with a haunting track "The Wanderer", sung by the Man in Black himself, singing about a post-apocylyptic man who loses and finds himself...almost.
I love it. If you haven't heard it, please do. It's not your typical U2 album, and a lot of people didn't care for it...me? 'Tis a grand thing.

Are you ready to catflex?

I was pointed to this book about using your cat to help you work out via a commentor at Cranky Fitness. It was so odd, I had to look into it...

Although I torment my cats to keep them away from me when I work out and stretch (well try to), my attempts at annoying Geek away by using him for arm curls this morning met with a furry wiggly resistance.
Apparently he doesn't think it's a good idea.
Oddly enough, looking at the photos on the back cover of the book, the cat on your back and shoulders while doing push ups and lunges HAS occurred in my house, but only because the little buggers won't leave me alone. I usually torment them to try and drive them off, or let them sit on my back while I do pushups, as it's just simpler that way.

This is just a really odd book - the fact that someone has actually published an illustrated guide to working out with your cat is...well...hats off to the crazy cat ladies is all I have to say.

Fake pies and pastry fraud

My grandma was a sneaky old bird.
I just used her recipe for "fake" apple pie to use up the zucchini someone gave me.
And it really does taste like yummy apple pie.
Little do my unsuspecting coworkers know there isn't an apple in it.
I'm off to nibble on some.
Yum.

It's coming from INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Herm.
Not to whine, but I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by my home as of late.

With summer holidays and being busy and not home most weekends and a lot of evenings, all the chorey things have piled up and the house, although not a disaster, needs serious organization before I can go hide out and finish organizing and using my room in the basement. And there’s still the camping stuff to wash and store for the winter so it isn’t all skunky when we pull it out next year…*sigh*
Trouble is, all I want to do is futz about in my new room and make things. My Mum and Dad want me to build them a window and I’ve drawn out the plans and want to get at it…but can’t let myself until the house is under control. I’m one of those people who gets grumpy from extreme clutter, and everywhere I look (now that I have time to look) there seems to be something in the house to look after. I know if I try and tackle the whole house it will take me all weekend and by the end I’ll be so tired and cranky I won’t want to do anymore. And honestly, it won’t really be organized – just where I can’t see it…then when I need something I’ll have to tear the place apart to find it and I’ll be back at the start. I keep having the grand idea of going thru one room at a time, thoroughly…maybe I should get on that.

It’s odd - I see pictures of people’s homes where things all have places and there’s minimal clutter and I want to ask you all – how the heck do you DO it? Did you spend a fortune on shelves and cupboards? Do you actually LIVE there or are you hiding in the basement? ...OR do I just have to much crap? I’m just not sure…

Since we got home, for my sanity, I’ve been trying and do a bit a day, organizing here and there in 15 minute spurts and I really am slowly making a dent in it. It’s hard to not just go nuts and burn out…and then there’s things like making your bed…it’ll just get messed up again eventually and noone sees it but us and we really don’t care, so why bother?

I think I need to make some lists or something. And then not lose them and follow them!
GAH!
Any tips for not spending ALL of my spare time organizing my home?
I’d like to have a life…and not turn into my mother. I just don't care enough to go all anal about it. I just want to try and keep it together, albiet loosely, for a while and see what it's like to be in a calm, uncluttered home.
It's my *home*…and I want to *live* here…not tidy it all the time.

Our fancy dress party was neither fancy nor dressy. Discuss...

I know, I know. I haven't had time for a proper Shambhala summary post...
And I still don't...
*BUT* I finally got the pictures uploaded- sooooo, I thought I'd share how well the Tank Girl Costume went, with J as my partner AKA "the Colonel".





The long underwear adds an extra touch of class, don't you think?
hee heee...don't run away. We're nice people :)

geeks a poppin'

I am officially a Nerd Queen.
All hail to me.

Full on life

So I'm back at work and there are all these students everywhere...
*sigh*
Lineups and clutter everywhere! Legwarmers and endless cell phone ringtones in the hallways...
Sheesh!
Don't the students know it would be sooo much easier running the campus if they just stayed home?
The nerve of some people...!

Why don't you write about it in your blag?

I now know why I don't visit my family more often.
If I do, I would explode from the sheer amount of food I would be exposed to...and eat.
J and I spent the weekend at the lake visiting my parents and had a great time, and honestly, I don't think i've ever eaten so much in my life...and it was all fantastic food. My family likes to celebrate with food, and well...all I have to say is, Whoooooo!

Although, due to a spectacular exploding tyre on our car which made it about 1/4 longer to get home on a teeny tiny spare, for the rest of it, it was a great weekend. J and I got to go fishing again with Dad and my brother, went for a 2 hour walk in the rain, played lots of cards, read a lot of old National Geographics and drank lots of hot chocolate. Also, it was J's birthday on saturday, so I made him a Bailey's cheesecake. (Happy birthday love). I also got to go for a long run on sunday through the woods - THAT was great.
AND when J and I woke up early this morning the lake was like glass, so we got up squeakily early and took out the canoe for a few hours on the lake. We went across the lake and back around home, stopping at a little sandy spot on the other side of the lake to relax and talk and check out critter tracks, watch some beavers and a few loons and then slowly paddle back to a great breakfast with everyone before the long slow and slightly dangerous drive home. I must say... J is a great canoe partner - some people can't bear to be in the front and not try to steer, but he is great that way (I believe I was told the word "magnificent" applied...:) ). I've been in a canoe since I was a pouchling and canoing is second nature to me. He's relatively new to it, what with being unable to swim until recently, but he trusts me enough to let me steer us about the lake and (unlike experiences with other people) canoing with him is a very relaxing, enjoyable thing. We even did a skill testing steering test for me, weaving through the buoys at the beach and I made it through them all, back and forth, so - perfect score! Can't think of that many better ways to spend a morning...

And an odd occurrance - on friday night, when out for a walk with J at about 11 or so, because of the clouds or something (or so we keep telling ourselves) there was a star just to the right of the big dipper that kept looking like it was moving a bit about... like a brownian motion, only slower, and more precise. Thing is, it never *really* was away from where it should be, yet looked like it was going in twitchy circles...and sometimes wavering back and forth. And in case you think I'm crazy, J saw it too (honest!)...but when we looked on other nights there were no moving or swaying to be found. It was fascinating, as we'd both see the movement and after a while had to keep walking, as it was genuinely odd...I know they aren't supposed to move around like that! Think of the speed and distance it would have to cover to do that...

Also, I was out asking for pledges for the breast cancer run to old family friends and family that were up there this weekend and a close family friend from up there is just recovering from breast cancer treatment, so she really inspired me to do more. I have someone to run for...

And now, as I type this, my cat Geek has just brought me 3 toys in succession and is looking at me all cute like, so I must be off to play with some critters, before I settle back into the big wide world again.
Just thought I'd say: "hello and how are you?"

Ain't life grand?