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...

Fun with crazy glue

I'm currently building a 16 inch model of the Mellenium Falcon.
It must be done by friday...should be no problem I think. It doesn't have more than 100 or so pieces by the look of it.
What's making it fun is it's an old original one from Return of the Jedi in the 80s and it was already partly done by someone else (rather badly too!)
AND there may be pieces missing...
This is fun...if I don't glue myself *to* the model...!

Game On.

anatomy study session

On the weekend I had a good solid workout - the first in a week. 45 minutes on the c rosstrainer with some other stuff after. It felt great at the time.
And I totally overdid it and buggered up my left lower leg.
Either the outer femoric tendon on my knee was aggrivated rubbing on the knee or a swollen soleus muscle or the tibealis exterior is strained...either way I am buggerigly stiff and sore.
Maybe walking 4 hours in the cold is enough and I shouldn't work out...or it was too much after a week off. I don't know. The machine in our basement uses different muscles than running...I suppose I just overdid it.
Nevertheless...it hurts.
And I feel like a whiney little girl who'd rather sit at home and drink hot cocoa than walk for 4 hours in the snow. Oh it's better today than yesterday, but how am I supposed to stay in shape if I gibble myself at every turn?

*sniff*
I miss my toasty lab...

Tee hee and a few bits and bobs

My brother just got a new Mac.
We spent the day bumming about and we had fun playing with the camera and software...

Oy! Don't run away!
Hey, where are you off to? Please stay - I made lemon loaf. You can have some...I'll mail it to you & everything. Well maybe just the recipe would be better. Or not. It *is* good tho.
Really. I'm eating a piece right now.

I had a lovely day. Went to the gallery with my brother, had lunch in an old diner, went to a craft show where my sis-in-law had a table selling some of her jewellry and scored some hand knit (fleece lined) mittens for little made by a cute little mennonite lady. Once I idiot string them they'll be inseparable form me this winter. So soft...sooo warm...sooo ppprrrreessssscioussssssss.

Oh...and I've decided I really like the word capricious.
I plan on using it as much as possible...in the most capricious of ways.

Um........SCIENCE!
*whooosh!*

Queen of the jungle...and of all I survey

With J away I've been delegated to watering our jungle of plants.
And I've decided there are too many.
We have acquired many from people whom we plant sitted for as they moved, or were away for long holidays and they've never returned home. Our house gets a lot of sun, for most of the day so plants love it here. Both our christmas cacti are blooming at the moment - purple and red - very pretty. When we moved in we had very little, so plants were our primary furnishings....but after an official plant count I do believe there are too many to be declared normal.

How many is too many?
Well you decide...

In the kitchen there are 2
In the bathroom there are 2
In the toilet downstairs there are 3
and (tadah)
...in the living room there are no less than 29, four of which are large plants (rubber plant, palm, a tropical palmyish thing and a big tree of some sort that desperately needs a trim back) as well as a few different types of cacti, 3 hoyas, a small ming tree, a cayenne pepper tree, a number of smaller vines, some I can't identify as well as tropical plants, rubber plants and vines we're looking after "for a while" (some for over a year now...)

If I were the owner of 36 cats or stuffed animals or well anything really, people would shake their heads, call me in to the authorities or at least make the odd comment, but with plants, the more the merrier it seems. They really are beautiful and our home is very soothing and green - It's a big sunny room so it's not opressive or anything...I just started counting them after watering took me an inordinate amount of time and was quite surprised at the total. I mean, how many plants do YOU all have? Am I way off?
Hmmm...Perhaps as long as I don't have to water them very often I should just slowly relocate the 8 or 9 that aren't actually ours back home and keep the rest. And J *does* like to look after them. No wonder he was muttering a while back that the family should take their plants back.

And yet with all of them here, I still want a jade plant in the bedroom some day...

Why I don't watch much TV anymore

This is an actual quote from a news breif on the TV just now:

"Unfortunately hundreds of Air Canada passengers were delayed at airport today. But on the upside, we've got an exclusive interview with Celene Dion."

*sigh*
Oh my giddy aunt...

I'm pathetic

It's silly.
J left this morning to visit a friend for the weekend and I miss him already.
The past few weeks have been almost a mushy teen novel. With all this extra time "off", I've had oh so many snuggly naps and evenings spent with him talking and laughing, and the long weekend was oh so very romantic and lovely.
And now he's gone for 2 whole days.
*sigh*

Yes...I'm pathetic.

A friend might come over later to hang out but for now...I'm lonely and altho I've got lots to do and I'm not *bored*, I just...well...I miss him.
Sad isn't it?
Oh well. S'pose I should go watch Torchwood and try not to miss him so much...

Wella wella well

I just learned that both sides in my striking adventure are meeting to talk soon.
Maybe this but freezing will be over soon.
Oh please oh please.
I was beginning to think it was turning into a pissing match. The university hired a union buster as head of HR a few years ago and this is the culmination of her eroding away at our benefits and such over the past 6 or 7 years. I like to think she is still willing to meet and help us find a comprimise and not let us twist in the wind...cuz it's been very windy. And I'm running out of moneys.

I'm off to do the happy dance for a few hours...this can only be a good thing.

All composite phemonena are impermenant

I feel I should post but feel rather lousy...so here's a cheater. A Meme:

Current clothes: Pyjamas and fuzzy Gir slippers. Yes I'm being lazy...

Current mood: A bit moogy. I didn't feel well last night and I'm still not altogther well..headachy and such. I'm hoping my breakfast will change that.

Current music: Blumenkraft by Ott. I can't get enough of this Dub/electronic ambient album. A few years ago I heard Smoked Glass and Chrome from this album at Shambhala and it was quite literally stuck in my head for months...it's still one of my top 10 favourite songs. The whole album is really nice...reminiscent of Orb, but more of a reggae and ambient feel. And the last track? Bliss... He has another album out recently. Once this damn strike is over I intend to order it.

Current annoyance: This damn strike. After 2 weeks out, either side of the bargaining table still hasn't met to talk, while we workers are freezing our butts off. The city seems to be forming sides and a local small business association recently told the University to stand it's ground against us greedy, selfish, unskilled and uneducated union workers. It's getting wierd. And honestly, all we butt freezers want is to end our time out on Mars and go back work. And I keep wanting to shout "I have 2 degrees dammit I'm not unskilled or uneducated!"...but it's pointless. People, unfortunately, will think what they want to and the propeganda robot wheels are spinning...

Current thing: Looking for new ways to keep warm. You have a different respect for the elements when you're out in them for 4 hour stretches. I'd like to invest in thermal insoles and those hot pocket things that give off heat when you snap them so I can have warm hands and toes.

Current desktop picture: Me and J in costume on a pirate ship

Current book: The Joy of Home Brewing Vol. 3. My brother and I just brewed up a batch of ale over the weekend and now I'm itching to make another batch from scratch...so I'm reading up on things.

Current song in head: the song on the CD player - track 2 on Blumenkraft. It's like a reggae/dub song I'd listen to when I was on a starliner heading to the outer rim...and I know that sounds mad, but it's honestly what I thought of hte first time I heard it.

Current DVD in player: Empire Stikes Back. J and I have been grabbing sound clips from the 3 movies. Fun stuff. And I loves them so...

Current refreshment: Coffee with tonnes of cream and some sugar. Here's hoping it makes my headache go away.

Current worry: If this strike goes on any longer can I learn to eat snow? And how pathetic will christmas be...sigh.

Current thought: Oooh...the sun is coming up. Pretty. BRB. OK there. Now you can see it too.


Have a good day all. I'm off into the world. Hope it's a nice day.

Oh Captain my Captain

Where I work (well used to) is a huge campus, and our strike teams are at every entrance into campus to make sure our presence is noted.
The past 13 days have been a real school in human nature. At this point I'm quite pleased and amused at how everyone is banding together and I have met so many people from all over and had a lot of interesting conversations with people who work in fields I normally wouldn't run into.
And a cool thing is, we've sort of adopted our picket homes...and some have developed nicknames. The one near the Med school is Club Med (not too original) and Hawaii (it's the sunny corner). Out where I am on the edge of campus by the research fields, synchrotron and satellite array, the wind whistles thru with a vengeance and the furthest stations are now known as Siberia and Mars.
And I am so very happy to say I am a Captain on Mars. And I'm even more please that I had nothing to do with the naming of it...it just happened.
We're talking of making our own flag for morale, and I'm trying to think of some sort of Mars cake for friday for all on my team for putting in 2 weeks out here in the Mars wasteland. I may even get a "I spent ** days on Mars and all I got was this Tshirt" printed up on iron on logos for our teams when this is all over...
I must say - I'm glad to know these people. When things started there was a lot of uncertainty and whining and I was less than impressed, but we've all banded together and we're stronger now for a common cause. We're cheering each other up and on days like yesterday with snow and gusting wind warnings from winds over 105 Km an hour you need friends to keep you smiling. So it's my duty as captain to try and keep them happy.
*grin*
Happy Captain on Mars...gotta love it.

Tadah!

Well I finally got round to sprucing the place up a bit.
I did cheat and use a premade skin...my lame attempts at my own skins couldn't match up with this one...and I like it.

So I present to you The Supposed Golden Path 2.0

I know...the excitement is too much for you isn't it?
If it's hard to read or you have any change suggestions let me know...this is rather fun. Tweaking has been even more fun...

Never forget

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place;
And in the sky,
the larks still bravely singing fly,
scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead
Short days ago we lived,
felt dawn, saw sunsets glow
Loved and were loved
but now we lie in Flander's Field.

Take up our quarrel with the foe.
To you with failing hands we throw the torch-
Be yours to hold it high
If you break faith with those who die,
we shall not sleep,
tho poppies blow in flanders fields

~John McCrae

Everywhere I've looked today for some reason this poem has been in my head. It was a favorite of mine...I memorized it as a child. We live in a different world than when this was written. So many people don't know what war is...and far too many do.
It takes away those we love...those we know and doesn't ask. Doesn't think. I never met J's Grandfather...he was gassed during the war and died after he was shipped home. I've just heard stories and seen pictures. I've even been to the field in Letcome Regis where he worked on a sheep farm as a boy. Wish I had known him - cuz for some reason I've been thinking about him all day...

So it begins...

Ah ha ha HA!
I was at the grocers today and what did I find?
Nothing less than seasonal nectar of the gods....egg nog.
Yum.
And so I have begun my seasonal holiday breakfast indulgence....eggnog pancakes.

Oh yeah. Sooooo good...

I was so happy with breakfast I must pass on the secret formula (with years of tweaking by yours truly) so you all could have some too...

SWEET NOGGIN' CAKES

1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 T melted butter
2 T sugar
1 egg blended
1 1/2 c eggnog
dash nutmeg

Mix dry together and mix wet together...then mix them BOTH together...but don't overmix. Use ~ 1/3 c batter and fry in a bit of oil on med/low heat, flipping when golden brown and bubbled. Serve with bacon and syrup.
These are guaranteed to get you a kiss or two of gratitude.
Seriously...works for me every time.

But now...I must dash. We've spent a great day out walking in the woods and have been to the Mendel gallery to check out the display of automitons and animated exhibits (cool...) and we're off to a charity shindig to hear a good breaks DJ from calgary Peter Wilde spin a bit. I plan on shaking my posterier faster than the speed of light -for charity no less. It will be nice to leave my troubles far behind for a while. Great end to a great day.

Let the monkeydancing begin!

SNOW!

It finally snowed last night!
I've been waiting...there's something about it being cold and windy that is OK when there's snow out but downright crankifying when it's not. If it looks like a regular day it just seems wrong somehow...and that much colder.
I wish it were the fluffy stuff in piles, but I'm sure I'll be whinging about it all soon enough...it'll be fun leaving footprints all day on the line-I hope it sticks around and doesn't melt right away. It makes it seem more like winter's here. I was helping J decorate a 12 foot christmas tree with his work team for a local charity event and it seemed wierd to do that and then walk out to green grass.
This is much better.
I think I'll dig out my fur lined aviator hat just out of principle.

Plus...I now know that Gavin didn't destroy our camera when he knocked it onto the wooden floor...it works!
Squeeeee!

Well...that was unexpected.

The results are in.
The Sask Party won...
I'm very nervous about our future.They have some good ideas, but any party that get's fundraising from a neighbouring province concerns me. They are very probusiness. Ina province with fewer people, and a large native population we have a unique challenge here...and there are no easy answers.
There's a huge push for our province to grow by the business community, and we're small. I don't want to end up a gluttonous overcrowded place where business comes first over people (ie. Calgary). I've beena bit jaded with the strike as of late, and I do hope that it is not a glimmer of the future here. I am one of many average people who have chosen to live here because we love it and like the life we are able to have here. We want things to improve - don't get me wrong. I think it is OK to grow slowly and to use your strengths to prosper...money isn't everything. Grow too fast and you have serious problems and people become numbers.
I just hope we don't drown...there's a concern about labour relations to the Sask Party...and being on strike at the moment makes me nervous. They've talked of selling off the Crown corporations int he past. That's never gone well in any other province where it has been done.
We'll have to wait and see.
It's obvious people really wanted a change.

Hmmm...and I thought things were pretty good the way they were...but I'm just a pseudohippy striking scientist.

Join the darkside and get a free cookie

I'm making cookies right now - oatmeal chocolate chip.
They're making the whole house smell awesome...bwa ha.
I'm trying not to eat all the cookie dough as they're for my picket team tomorrow...

Rocking hard with disco lighting

Heh...sometimes words decribing athought just pop out. Nobody else like that? I am. Being awesome to the point that you have the accompaniment of fabulous lighting seems to be a great compliment to me...but then I like crazy lighting. Suppose it won't be the next catch phrase or anything, but I'll keep using it I think. Well...unless I get mocked too much.
And I really do like the sound of it...tho it's a bit wierd.
But then so am I.

Yesterday was great. It was cold, but we decided to boost morale with lots of walking and chanting and waving and trying to get cars to honk and read our picket signs. Lots of faculty and staff and students were out to support us. It felt good...hope today goes as well. The employer hasn't even tried to meet with us yet...*sigh*

I've had a lot to think about lately what with 4 hours a day in the bracing cold...lately my focus has been politics, as today is our provincial election day. All you people in Saskatchewan - remember to vote. It's going to be a close call this time, and we all need to speak to be sure our future governement is one we chose. As always, for voter etiquitte - you cannot eat your ballot (I checked - honest, it's illegal - it says so right on the FAQ of the election site), and polls are open all day. Let's make sure the government that takes us forward for the next 4 years is one we've chosen carefully. We've got to diametrically opposed main parties - NDP (prounion/labour) VS the Sask Party (ie. conservative party - probusiness). We must choose wisely as I really think the direction of the province is at stake. I, for one, love my home - I want it to be unique and grow at it's own pace. I've looked around and I like what I see and disagree with the other parties other than NDP myself...they seem to have the best interest of us all in mind - but that's just my opinion. Our province is right down the middle between those 2 parties with Liberal and Green Party making up the remnants. I am so very curious to see how it swings. I don't want my home to be forced to grow out of scale to try and keep up with larger centres...we're just not there yet. Right now we're small, but thriving. We have crown corporations run by our province that give us our power and gas and phone that keep our rates realistic for a province of few people. I really think our future is something still unfolding - We should be what we are and be proud of it...whatever that develops into.
We shall see what the future holds.
My immediate future? Chilly and windy with excessive dancing and picket waving coming in in the afternoon, with toasty drinks and Babylon 5 sweeping in in the evening.
Yes...it is my goal today to rock hard with disco lighting.
Not bad really.

Warning - rant ahead...

I just have a few things to say to very few people:

When picketing in a province where the cold can freeze your limbs off - WEAR A F*CKING HAT AND GLOVES! I am not your mother with a bag full of warm wrappings to keep you toasty. Yes it's cold - you may notice my winter boots, long johns and thermal hat and gloves - why? Cuz it's damn cold and windy and we'll be here for 4 hours at a time! It's only -6 and it's only gonna get colder. No I can't guarantee if there will be hot coffee for you. No there isn't a tent for shelter and no you can't have an hour off your 4 hour picket shift to have freaking lunch. No you can't bring a lawnchair and blanket and hang out for 4 hours just drinking coffee. Whining is not cool OK?

GAH!

We are here picketing to protest people. Yes it sucks and yes you must put in 20 hours a week to get paid a very small sum, but I am in this to help it all go smoothly, and because I strongly believe in what we're doing. If you don't want to be here then DON'T. It's a work stoppage, not a lounge session! Noone is making you picket. I know this isn't easy...but we have to band together if this is going to work.

(deep breath)
*ahem*

There. Ah. Better. Sorry about that. I've had a few days of a few winey people really bringing down morale.
Things are slowly coming together and most of the people on the picket line rock hard with disco lighting...but we're gonna be lame protesters if we don't get our act together - whining doesn't inspire respect.
It only takes a few whiners to bring down morale.
We just started people!
Lets get together and shout and yell and make some noise until they hear us and we get a fair comprimise of a deal.

We are the people of the People's University - we deserve some respect.
Rock on.

Monday monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

It was a nice bonfire on saturday night...just J, me and our friend Heather. We toasted marshmallows and relaxed by the fire - it was great. Sunday was more vegging - I feel positively refilled with energy and ready for the week.

I'm excited - I'm going to make some Christmas beer with my brother this week...hopefully it'll be done by the holidays. Our last batch was a bit yeasty as we didn't really know what we were doing, but this time I'm sure it'll be poifect.

I wish I had brilliant words of wisdom to spread, but I'm just very mellow, listening to Maybe Smith and drinking some Coffee. And, I just have to take minute to make a little plug for Maybe Smith. If you want some great Canadian music - Maybe Smith is somethig to check out. Maybe Smith is a local guy, Colin...I know him through his volunteer show down at CFCR. His music is all by him, and every album he's gotten better. I've liked a few songs of his here and there, but I must say I really like his latest album Animals and Architects. The music is mature and full, with lots of nice little odd noises here and there. He's put together a band for touring this album and I wish him well. He's a great guy and deserves some luck with it - I predict very soon he'll be more than a local favourite.

Well, I'm just putting off the inevitable. I'm off to bundle up for another chilly day of picketing.
Cao.

Same bat time, same bat channel

So I've had a sleep in and some french toast and a good snuggle and I'm feeling much better about it all. It was all a bit much for a bit. A shock to the system. As strike captain I've been busy the past few days and the weekend has been a pleasant break.
And tonight I can distract myself a bit.

We're having a bit of a belated birthday bonfire across the lake. It was so much fun last year, we thought we'd do it agin...tho on much shorter notice (heh...like 5 or 6 hours...). Hopefully a few friends, some pumpkin cookies (made today by yours truly), hot chocolate and marshmallows and maybe a bat or two. I might make a tissue paper candle lanterns to take along too.
For the lame directions that I left last year that actually got our friend Lisa lost and wandering around by the psychiatric prison go
here:

But don't let that stop you.
We're nice people really.
And Lisa is fine too.
Really.

I'm looking forward to it. There's something soothing about staring at the fire...this year it'll be made from firewood actually cut down and split by my loving J. It'll burn brighter and better I'm sure for that and many reasons.
If anyone wants to come, we're heading over around 7:30ish and will be there till the embers fade and we get cold enough to head back. Dress warm and come have a sit by the fire...it'll be groovy.
And I mean that in the coolest sense possible.

Look for the union label

Well...here we go.
I'm off to picket...how sad.

And yet, for some reason, all I can think of is Bloom County and when the comc strip characters went on strike...somehow the image of Opus and the groundhog carrying the guy in the wheelchair over the hill singing "look for the union label" has cheered me up immensely...

Countdown

We're right on the line...picket teams are set and ready to go and we could go out on strike at any time.
I just can't believe it's come to this...why won't people just negotiate fairly with their workers?
Why are we forced to do this?
I and many others can't afford this...and yet we can't just give in to blatant infringement on our basic rights and earned wages and benefits. I'm not even very prounion and I can understand what is driving us to this.

This sucks.
I'm gonna go mope in the lab...