Let them eat cake...pumpkin cake

No this isn't my pumpkin...I wish.

I had a great birthday - cake at work, cake at my brother's place (popped over for a bit of my gluten free pumpkin spice cake with cream cheese frosting...which was fantastic) and watched my brother carve up some pumpkins for a bit...I was going to bring one and make a pumpkin like the one above, but when I got home from work, I'd found that J had set up the living room as a giant birthday theatre...one night only viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas on the entire wall - Complete with giant beanbag chair, Chinese takeaway and a few bottles of chilled Innis & Gunn. So yeah...visited my brother a bit, but returned home, full of cake, for the film. It's the film J and I saw together at the artsy theatre by the library years and years ago on my birthday, back before we were a we...and were at more of a great friends eyeing up each other's bottoms stage. Love the film, and it is very sentimental for me...so to watch it last night was great. The digitally remastered DVD is really clear...even on a huge wall. Gotta love it.

Plus, I've got a now got a Prisoner graphic novel to read. It takes off when the series ends. The Prisoner is an old favourite of mine...it looks very cool.

I was going to dress up for work today, but I slept in. I have a viking costume, but my flu shot that I got yesterday (happy birthday to me) has made me a bit tired, so I cheated and didn't. Plus wearing a brown corset and knee high boots with a viking helmet to work seemed a bit...well too much for the lab, y'know? And I can't see through the bear head well enough to do any work...so I wimped out on that too. And the mirror ball helmet was tucked away...I know pathetic excuses, but I was jsut too tired to dress up this morning. I may go across to the student commons at lunch tho to see just what costumes are out there. (altho Halloween seems to be the time for women to be allowed to dress skanky for no good reason...but that's n yearly rant for some other time).
My viking apparel is still ready for if we go out with friends tonight, but after yesterday I feel perfectly content to not do a thing tonight other than hand out some candy to the odd little person who comes to our door and relax.

Happy Halloween everyone.
I'm gonna try and get some work done and not eat any more cake today...

Getting old dammit

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday dear meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Happy Birthday to me!

I'm going to go enjoy some apple spice cake derbies with cream cheese filling I made for the crew here at work. It's my birthday, so I can eat whatever I want.

Yummers

Inquiring minds want to know

This question came up in conversation last night (don't ask)...and I thought I'd put it out to all of you:

If you had to relax in a hot tub full of the soup of your choice, what kind of soup would it be? And, would you actually do it?

To clarify, no you wouldn't have to eat it - Neither would anyone else...just curious what smells you'd not mind being surrounded by or find soothing and what you'd be OK soaking in, given the task. And no bubbles...cuz that would just be wierd :)
Image Source: Chronicle Books Blog

Me? Well, clam chowder and mushroom are definitely out - no way I'd get in that. Ever. I think chicken noodle or wonton would be my choice. Smell great, and wouldn't be too slimey or hard to clean later.

Do tell...

"Snow Day"

I had grand plans for the weekend.
I really did.

All this raking and trimming and hammering in the yard. The sun goes down so early now that it's hard to get anything done on a weekday. Soooo, I was going to prep the yard for winter this weekend...and then the wind came. Yes - Sakatoon is called the "windy city" for very good reason. All freaking weekend it was so windy you couldn't really go outside. We tried. We got a block out and were cold, grumbly and saw large objects flying by sideways. Not safe. Not fun. If it was winter, it'd be a roaring blizzard.

My solution?

Turn off the phones, stock up on snackables and snuggle up with each other to read, relax and spend a lovely weekend together. If anyone in the real world tried to reach us - I do apologise. It was the equivalent of a blizzardy day just a bit early. It's been ages since J has been off for a weekend with no work, so we just stayed inside, napping in the sun and just enjoying the time together. We baked tasty things and drank Hobgoblin ale. We read entire novels at one go. We put our Stikfas together (my Master Assassin kicks ass). We played with the cats. The house was a toasty warm bubble...and it was glorious.

The wind conveniently died sometime during the night last night, so it's back to the real world again. I'm hopeful it's *not* blowey next weekend as I really do actually have a lot of yardwork to do and it's going to snow soon...I was glad for the "snow day" though.

It was lovely.

I'm cold and tired and there are wolves after me

My friend Pete sent this site to me. It looks at bizarre things...like the post I linked to, with 10 truly bizarre old ads.

My favorite is the one above...altho, the one with the pig slicing itself up as lunch and the smoking Santa are, truly, whackjob.

Little bit of evil, tiny bit of evil...

Want to know how much evil you've got in you? Go here.

SCIENCE!!!

Today I got to use an HPLC to do lactic acid analysis of serum, analyze genetic sequences for mutations, and program and run a giant autoanalyser.

Some days I feel like quite the scientist.
These kind of days make me feel like Queen of the Labrats.
They make it all worthwhile.

I shall begin feeling smug starting...........now.

SCIENCE!!

WANT!!

R2D2 Pepper Mill.

NMEEP! I *need* this...like caffeine...like pie...

*ahem*

May I mention my birthday is coming soon?

Anyone?

Anyone?

Beuller?

Note to self...Geek likes curry

Lesson of yesterday: Do not leave the extra homemade curried lamb burger out to cool...the cat likes them.
J will not eat a burger that has already been nommed on by the Geek. I'm not too sure I could cut off the nibbled on bits and eat it either...would you?? (They're damn good, and I hate to waste them...but y'know, cat drool and all that)

In other news, yesterday I got to go up on the roof. Yup! I've always wanted to. Generally I've stayed off the roof given my ability to injure myself and lose my balance at the drop of a hat, but yesterday was get the roof ready for winter day. Dad wasn't able to do it all before they left, but he left me with simple instructions of what to do, so, after J got back from editing, he and I went up on the roof (!!!!!) . He cleared the gutters while I nailed down and put a sh*tload of cocking (tee hee) compound around the roof vents on the house...one of them has started to leak when it rains. Now (as long as I did it right) they should be hunky dory for a while. I used a whole freaking tube of Mono up there (I figured since I was up there I might as well go to town on anything that looked suspicious and some of the gaps were rather large - no wonder they leaked off and on). I hope there will be no more leaks, and Casa Geo is tucked in for the winter.

I have to say - the view from the roof is spectacular. And I found a set of christmas lights up there (??) along with a bit of the corner of the roof that I need to nail up so the soffat doesn't come off once I get the proper nails. I feel so handy...I think I need my own toolbelt or something...

Casa Geo - for all your vegging needs...

Here at Casa Geo, we strive to give that comfortable, relaxed feel of home. We strive to be the place to lounge about and drink champagne and nibble caviar, er, I mean sip beer and coffee and eat muffins, and feel as though it is our place to call home...

We've been up to a lot as of late...with a strange interlude, and I was going to wait for my reno update until all was back in place. I'm now coming to realize that knowing us and our insane lives it will probably be a while until it is all together...so I decided to give you a little pictoral report on the updating of Casa Geo.

First...the summer project of over a week of solid painting (and an unfortunate injury to a blind saleswoman) that turned this into this:
Spiffed up living room/front entrance
Again...ze living room...
And dining area...with a new light fixture. I'm almost more excited about it than anything else about that room reno :)
Here's a close up. Why? It rocks! Here at Casa Geo we will never speak of the old ugly brass glass thing that hung there ever again...

Not too bad eh? The painting turned out well, and the blinds are great...they match the beam perfectly. And then, thanks to my amazing Dad...there are some new friends in the house:
The Dishpig:

And The Twins:


Yes...Geo saw it, and it was good. So, to try and earn my above rewards, today I have done laundry, taken in the recycling, gotten a sexy new haircut, and am now waiting for J to be done work (boo saturday sports mobiles). I've made some experimental cookies (not bad actually), and tonight I am making some homemade pizza with some tasty sauce sent to be by none other than the lovely Baglady. Yes...I opened my front door the other day to find a parcel from Her Bagness (I do mean that in the kindest possible way :) ) In it were some tasty looking home canned goodies. A little gift box of goodies, all for guessing her photo quiz. Lucky me :)
Thanks a million! (Note to all - if you answer a trivia contest for the Baglady, she is DEFINITELY good for it !)

So there you have it.
What I've been up to when sanity allows.
I'm off for some pizza and coffee...bye! :)

Hokus Pokus Jiggety Jig

Well, there's a big gap in my counter where my old piece o' crap dishwasher used to be. My Dad had a go at replacing it last night with the new one, and like all things with our house, it got complicated. You see, the pipe to it had no shut off valve (??) so we had to shut off water to the whole house...and it would have to remain off until the new one was in...or a valve was installed. It didn't help that the breaker panel is still largely a mystery, so it took a bit to figure out which breaker to flip so as not to electrocute my dear old Dad. Luckily, Dad is a man of many talents, so we turned off the right breaker, the water and removed the old one to discover the wonders therein, and then went on a trek to the hardware store for some stuff needed to install the new one. Just to make it fun, it seems the floor drain on the old one is in the wrong spot and was totally a made up solution, and the water intake had to be redone, so Dad has to make the hole in the floor bigger and get creative about running the drain to the drain in the basement. I hope he's not too pissed off by the end of it all.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Please don't skimp on home renos people. I am amazed at the little cheap things left out by people just trying to save time or money...nickling and diming things to absurdity. Honestly, you save very little and the people after you who just want to make things right or install something new end up cursing you and spending hours in home reno stores trying to figure out just what sort of product will fix your ginormous renovation cockup to get to what you wanted in the first place.

To his credit, Dad put in a shut off valve last night (what a guy) so we had water this morning. Yay. And he said he can do the rest, and has all the bits and bobs to do it, so I'll leave him be.

I left him with a cup of coffee and the installation manual this morning and altho he was making a few odd faces reading through it I am very hopeful that when I get home today there will be a spanky new black dishwasher installed in the counter. If I'm lucky it will even work...oh to dream.

If it does, we're all going out for supper (well OK we are anyways), and Dad gets a dram or 2 of the finest scotch in the place on me.
We shall see...:)

I dare ya

OK...so tell me my neice isn't cute enough to make your head asplode...

Didn't we just *do* this a few months ago??

Well, today in Canada we go to the polls, to essentially vote in what we have right now. Another minority government. The thing is, noone is content with how things are right now. Me, I dislike the conservative party and their leader.
Problem is, we have no strong alternative...the Liberals have a great green platform, but aren't explaining themselves well. And their party leader, Dion, is waffley. He was given a chance to stand up for his statements and he waffled...leaving people question his ability to rule. The NDP? Well, they have a lot going for them, but not enough support to do a lot of good. The Green Party? Same.
So essentially, we've got most of Canada not really wanting a conservative government, but the vote is split against them just enough, that they'll likely get a minority government again...which is just what we don't need. A government supported by only ~30% of the country. A government with no effective governing power in what is starting to become a time of financial crisis for the world.
It feels very strange to vote knowing it is likely things will be as they were. Being in a very strong conservative riding, with our current MP being someone I vehemently oppose but know I will be unable to vote out due to his overwhelming rural support, it makes voting seem pointless.

Still, I will vote. Because I can.
It is my right to do so, and many do not have this right. I will act upon it and do my civic duty. Plus I figure if I don't vote I can't complain about who is in power, as I didn't vote...saying the electoral process is a sham or inaccurate is a cop out. It is what it is and we get to choose. If we don't, we only contribute to the decline of the whole process. This time, I will say, I do wish there was a "none of the above" option on the ballot. It would be interesting to see just how many people would choose that in this particular election. I want to know just how many people are disillusioned with the whole procedure this time around.
I do hope that whomever is elected to go to office will do their best for their constituents regardless of their party. A good friend of our family was a conservative MP and he isn't running this year...which is a bit of a shame. Altho I didn't agree with him in a lot of things, at least I know he was a good man who did his best to try to represent the needs of his riding in parliament. It's my fervent hope that we elect people who will do that and not just tow the party line when it comes to major decisions for our country.
Naive I know, but ya gotta start somewhere.

And remember...you can't eat your ballot. It's illegal. They'll know...:) Yeah. I checked...

Friday Favourites: The Aliens

I love these guys...their song about being a robot man

and about being happy

They make me happy.
And so for a friday favourite, check out the Aliens...their album Astronomy for Dogs is guaranteed to make you smile and tap your feet a bit. They even do a slower loungy version of Robot Man on the album which is also very good...

The Aliens are a Scottish band consisting of former Beta Band members Gordon Anderson, John Maclean and Robin Jones. They formed in 2005 after Beta Band was shut down over their lead singer having some personal problems.

J ran into their album through CFCR. I say this: I like. Solid happy rock with the odd wierd noise in it...gotta love it. There is a new album that they've just put out...I haven't been able to run into it yet. Hopefully it it is just as good. If you like off the beaten path happy rock, seemigly twiddled with a Super Furry Animals-ish sort of feel, check them out. I never was too much of a Beta Band fan other than their song Miles and Miles of Squares and Eclipse...a bit too droney. But The Aliens? They finally got it right for me.

So, my good peeps, enjoy the tunes, and have a happy Thanksgiving weekend.
I'm off to help my Mum bake obscene amounts of tasty things and toast marshmallows and play cards and drink hot chocolate for a few days...Yum.

Getting ahead means falling behind

After discussions with someone being screwed over by their job, I have to ask:
Explain to me why people I know who work hard and kick ass at what they do are often screwed over and given shitty work and hours, as they are the responsible ones who will always show up and do them well, regardless. It's like the slackers of the earth are rewarded and the hard workers given the splintery pokey end of the stick, when they deserve a lollypop or at least a frigging scotch mint. How about some mixed nuts?
Case example: Why yes, the responsible staff would like to work shitty 5 Am-9AM shifts, with occasional additional crap duties randomly scheduled...and the occasional crappy evening tacked on split shift bits, as well as most weekends, with hours often right in the middle of the days so they can essentially do nothing with their families or spare time...and then all the stuff they like to do that they used to do can be given to others to "free them up" to do all the shit. In essence, leaving the responsible boring crappy bits to the responsible one, with all the fun, interesting work to the slackers and new people, after the hard worker has gone out of their way to work hard and prove themselves as good people.
How is that fair?
What kind of a rewards system is that?
Should you not get a say in how/if your job is being rearranged if you are doing a damn good job at it?
You shouldn't have to threaten to quit a job you like to prove a point. A good worker should get to choose the some of the good bits and let the crap workers do some of the crap.

Way to reward hard work corporate Canada.

You wankers.

My name is little Bongo

My name is little Bongo
I sing my little song-go
I see you staring at my head.
I admit my ear is long-go

My name is little Bongo
I sing my little song-go
Rhyms are hard to think of.
Except for words like flong-go

My name is little Bongo
I sing my little song-go
If there was one place I would live
Well, that would be the Congo



Heh heh...I found a Life in Hell compilation book at a used bookstore a little while ago.
I haven't read it in years...since high school. It is what Matt Greoning did *before* that whole Simpsons thing.
I now have enough Bongo for weeks :)

Geeks Ahoy!

Over at Cranky Fitness, on a rant about medical terminology, they posted a link to the Idiotic Table.
I love it.
The Idiotic Table lists all the *real* components of matter...like:

Allergens : The Allergens, sometimes called the Flowergens, are emitted by flowers, and react readily with the human nasal system, in both pleasing and unpleasing ways.

Active Cheeses: The elements of the Active Cheeses are known for their property of readily bonding with other substances, such as Hamburger, Broccoli, Pizza.

Filler Materials: Substances which don't appear to conform to any given pattern are classified as Filler and stuffed in the middle of the table or shoved to the side. Their uses and properties are largely unknown: for example, nobody is entirely sure what Minnesota is for...

Alcohols: The Alcohols are known to cause increased levels of ambient Assium, and have been known to cause increases in Dissinum.

Innate Abilities: These elements are emitted by the brain during the use of psychic powers. Innate Abilities sometimes manifest in the presence of Tempertantrum and Hissifittium.

Fetishides: The Fetishides are inert, mainly because the other elements will not interact with them directly. However, Fetishides have been known to manifest in the presence of members of the Alcohols family.

"In 2003, many speculated upon the Element of Surprise, but it proved impossible to detect as just about everyone was already talking about it."

*snort*

Altho I liked the elements of weaselpudgium, nutellium, geranium, hardon and delyrium, my favourite element...due to the sciencey wiencyness of it all was the molecule with atomic weight 999...Unobtanium.

*giggle*
Ah...geek humour is so hard to find. I'm still snickering...:)

Tick Tock

I now have all this time looming over me.
Free evenings. Weekends for planning and using.

Seriously...I can't use it all up and I have no desire to waste it anymore. After a few days of vegging out, the tides will turn and I will want to do things. Not watching films or videos...but *doing* things. This weekend is thanksgiving, and next weekend my parents are coming to visit...but in between and after? So much time!
What to do?

I want to set up the living room for *real* (not just set things along the walls), trim back the plants and put things (eep) back on the walls.

I want to paint the spare room so I can move the computer and the new/old desk I now have for it up there so J can set up his gear in a proper permenant way (The desk was made by my grandfather!).

I want to have a bonfire with friends to say good bye to fall, celebrate my birthday and get ready for winter

I want to sew J the coat I've been promising him for over a year now

I want to build my Mum the window she wants for the cabin door. I'd like to finish it fro Christmas...She turns 74 this year and I keep wondering how long I'll have her with me and I want her to be able to look at it every day, and think of me and how much I care...

I want to repaint my bedroom...to restart a new time for myself, in relaxing shades of burnt red.
Soothing...a new start.

I want...I want...
Too many things...and finally some time. Not enough for all...but perhaps some.
I think I'll put all the things on a piece of paper and put them in my empty plant vase. You know, the one with all the lizards all over it, full of glow in the dark stars...and pick one and do that one...and then go on and on from there. I keep getting told I have too many ideas and too little time.
WELL, maybe I have time enough for one thing at a time?

Hmmm...

Relaxation

The tree people came and trimmed all our dead branches and trees on friday...I had no idea how bad it was until they were all gone - now we have happy healthier trees and probably twice the light in our yard we used to. There were some dead branches taken down before they could fall down and now the yard looks rather spiffy. They had all the cool cherry pickertrucks and tools to do it right - and they took all the trimmed stuff away after. If only we didn't have to pay them...ah well. I love living in an older neighborhood with grand old trees...I want to keep the ones we have around as long as possible. It's actually gotten me excited about doing stuff to the outside of the house next year...it is time. We've only lived here 6 odd years...can't ignore the yard forever...
Saturday was relaxing...went for a long walk in the woods and watched the leaves fall and went home to make yummy food and read books and nap in the sunshine. Even watched a movie or two. A fitting day off after 2 weeks of insanity.
On sunday it was the Cancer Run . Again this year we had a team from work, but there were 18 of us this time. Some of the girls couldn't run so we all walked together...it was a really good time. Our team raised $4000 for cancer research- not too shabby. It poured rain the whole time, but it wasn't a cold day, so we all just got wet and had fun anyways.
On sunday after I warmed and dried up I made an experimental pie: Apple gjetost. It rocked.
Check out my food blog if you want to know more (I even remembered to take pictures this time...) I'm trying to put all my recipes in one place. (Cuz I'm a scientist and I feel the need to classify and organise...and I *do* make good food, if I may be so bold).
Hope you all had a good weekend. I did.
Now it's back to it...

This is the end...beautiful friend

Checking the internet on a laptop with a cat around is utterly impossible.
Perhaps I'll get up and go do something useful on my day off. I feel very lazy and am so very glad that tonight is the last night of the pledge drive.
As my Dad would say Hot Damn and Hallelujah

Eeez a meeeleycool

This morning, I left for work in a sad, frustrated state, having spent 20 minutes hurriedly looking for my work keys...they're a big bunch of keys for all the labs and rooms I supervise all on a lanyard. I finally had to give up and walk to work.
The whole way I thought variations of "Did I drop them? I don't remember hearing them...I took the bus home last night...are they at the lost and found? Will I get in trouble? How do I replace them? Where did I leave them? Crap!"...and so on and so forth.
At work, I unpacked my lunch in the lunch room and made some coffee. When I sat down, coffee and toast in hand, talking to a coworker I unzipped my bunny hug...and there they were-around my neck.
The thing is - they are a big ass ring of keys. 13 of them. I can feel them there. They make noise when I walk and bounce on my abdomen when I walk fast (like, oh, say, when I walk to work) and I can feel them.
I don't remember putting them there.
I obviously didn't sleep with them around my neck...and I swear they weren't there when I left the house or when I walked to work.
So how'd they get there??
Either it's a miracle or I'm a loonie.
Neither one of those makes me particularly comfortable at the moment...

Mmmmm...soup

Only 3 long days left.
Then the pledge drive is OVER!

La lah la la lah laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.
I'm counting the hours.

On the upside, my favourite vietnamese restaurant is only 2 blocks from the station...and now that it's payday I will be paying them a visit for some deluxe wonton goodness this evening.
THAT will make the night better for sure...