Catching Up

I guess I’ve been meaning to make an entry for some time.  I just didn’t know what I wanted to write about.  I’ve seen other blogs that were focused mostly on one subject or another.  I find that my blog tends to run the gamut of topics ranging from the most personal to food to travel to just plain mundane.  I suppose to could just continue like that, maybe with less very personal stuff.

So what’s been happening since my last entry more than a year ago?  Well, I’m still gainfully employed, so that’s a big plus!  I was made national lead for one of our activities for one of the customers at work.  I managed to find my way to San Diego Comic Con this year!  And it looks like I may have found myself a relationship.

I’ve lost a furry family member in late January (Blue Sh*t), but gained a new one (Daisy) in March.  Cleo is still running amok in the house while Daisy is still wary of her.  They haven’t become BFFs yet, but I think their relationship has improved in the past few months.  Heck!  Even Daisy is showing some affection towards me!  I was quite pleased and surprised when I was able to elicit some purring from her!  And she likes to get brushed!

With the holidays just around the corner, I am heading off to visit family tomorrow for a week.  As usual there will be a certain amount of eating, sleeping and shopping.  However, this time, I do hope to make use of the treadmill in the basement to keep up a certain amount of activity each day.

So far the weather this winter has been on the mild side.  The temps today were a bit cooler (~-8C) but it’s suppose to get warmer again tomorrow and maybe rain.  I hope the weather doesn’t delay the flights tomorrow.  I hate when that happens.

Speaking of flying, I’m trying out Porter for the first time.  I got fed up with the ridiculous airfares from Air Canada that I checked out the alternatives.  Even though it will take me almost as long as it does to get to Boston by car, I’ll be saving at least $200.  So we’ll see how this works out.

In general, I think things have been getting better.  Feeling down less frequently is a good thing.  Let’s see what the 2012 brings.

 

 

Canadian Thanksgiving – 2010 Edition

Canadian Thanksgiving, I find, is a little bit different than Thanksgiving in the US.  How is it different?  Well, other than it being celebrated on different dates, I just find that the attitude towards the holiday is a bit different.

In the US, there seems to be this mad rush to travel home to celebrate the holiday with family and friends.  Here, it doesn’t seem as harried.  Maybe it’s because most people have family within a few hours driving distance.  Or, perhaps, maybe it’s because I am in Quebec, it’s not as big of a holiday as it is in the US.  That’s just my observation and perception.

There are folks here who do the turkey for Thanksgiving thing.  As for myself, as I don’t have family within convenient driving distance, I opt to celebrate the holiday with some good friends.  Since it’s inception about 4 years ago, I have been hosting a Thanksgiving potluck dinner.  Usually, it’s friends who don’t have any major family commitments who come.  It’s a great chance to catch up with friends and to share some good eats.

Oh! And what do I make for Thanksgiving?  Dry-rub baby back ribs, slow cooked in the oven.  Yum!!  I am also making some  pommes dauphinoise.  I’ll try to take some pics of the foodstuff before it all gets decimated/devoured.

 

Protected:

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

 

Well, I’m thoroughly depressed.  I made the mistake of scoping out who my competition are on one of the dating sites. *sigh*  Yup, I think I am destined for lifelong spinsterhood.

I’ll go hide under a rock now.

 

It’s Wednesday and I haven’t a Clue!

Yes, it’s that time of the week again.  Halfway through another work week.  It’s just 2 more days before the weekend begins.

Today there is a group activity today and I didn’t go.  The group here at work went up north to go tubing.  I  really don’t feel like going tubing today.  As a result, I am sitting here at work watching the snow fall outside.  I think it’s been snowing pretty much all day.  The ground has been rather warm so there hasn’t been that much in the way of accumulation so far.

Yeah, it hasn’t been the most exciting day, but I did have a couple of things to work on.  I wasn’t the only one who stayed behind, so it was all good.

Tonight I want to work some more on my Java course.  I also want to install Quicktax on my machine and get an estimate of what I might be owing this year.  I really hope I don’t owe that much.  Maybe if I’m very lucky I’ll actually get something back?   Naaah!  Fat chance!

One of the guys at work just got back from a project in Egypt.  He had a hankering for sushi and wanted to see who wanted to go for sushi tonight.  I was tempted until I thought about all the stuff I wanted to work on tonight.  So I had to pass on it.  However the idea of having sushi is still there.  So maybe I will call in an order for take out from the sushi place close to where I live.  Yeah, I think I’ll do that.  =P

 

Late evening musings, thoughts, ponderings

A few times I have said to myself that when I have an interesting thought or musing that I should write it down so I would not forget to enter it in my blog.  Well, guess what?  I usually forget to write it down.  By the time I do find time to write it down or even enter it here, the thought is gone.  That gets a little frustrating at some point.

Yesterday I had some friends over to enjoy some wine and nibble.  We were all women, so you can only imagine some of the things we talked about.  During the course of the evening, R talked about her divorce and coming to the realization that she can’t deal with routine which is what happens in most marriages at some point.  She found it interesting that during the divorce process when her soon-to-be ex-husband was trying to get her back, that it turned her on.  Anyway, what I’m getting at is that this evening, as random thoughts came in and out of my mind, I came to a realization that I may be attracted to guys who are different and who, to me anyway, stand out.

I had a date on Friday.  I found S on craigslist. I know, I know, am I desperate or what?  No, I’m not desperate.  If anything, I go through that site more out of curiosity than anything.  Considering some of the respondents I had when I placed my ad last June,  I probably would not want to respond to some of the ads placed in the M4W section.  Anyway, the date went well.  He seemed like a nice enough guy.  But, as I was walking back to my car when the evening was over, I realized that he just did not excite me like T did.   I mean, I guess there were enough common interests between S and me, but there’s just not that spark.  And now I am at a bit of a quandary what to do next.  S emailed me yesteday morning but I haven’t had a chane to write back yet.  At the same time, I want to send T an email as well.

I had last sent T an email last weekend.  I really did not expect a reply back and there was none.  I suspect that he’s still dealing with his stuff.  I also think that during this time, he’d rather put some distance between himself and other people.  I would imagine it not easy to deal with what he’s going through more or less on his own.  I’m sure his sister who lives here is around to give him a hand.  I don’t know what close friends he has, but I’m sure they visit him.  Then again, he did say that he hates the look in their eyes when they see him in such a state.  One reason I haven’t written him yet is that I would so much like to write something to help boost his moral, but what to say?  I’m sure he’s already heard enough times that he can beat it.  I don’t want to say what’s probably been said to him so many times.  I want to say something to him that would at least put a smile on his face, that there’s a glimmer of hope, that there’s something to look forward to, even if it’s the most simple of things in life.

This is when I wonder about my ability to write.  Oftentimes, I feel that I lack imagination and creativity.  I don’t think I have any problems writing what comes to mind.  I think I’m just not good at conjuring up some sort of imagery using words.  This is why I wonder about taking a course on creative writing.  As if I didn’t already have enough to do right now.

I decided a couple of weeks ago to enroll in another online course.  This time, I signed up for a certificate in Java Programming.  I want to get that programming monkey off my back.  I want to overcome this issue I have with not being able to really learn to program.  I feel that since this is done at my own pace and at my own time that I would be better able to learn.  From the other courses I have taken through O’Reilly, the exercises and tests given in each lesson are pretty good in getting me to think and figure things out.  It’s only the first of 4 courses that I am working on now, so it’s mainly the beginner basics.  Can’t wait to see what the later lessons and courses bring.

I guess I should head off to bed soon.  I somehow ended up napping most of the evening.  I think I crashed around 8PM and woke up close to 10:30PM.  So yeah, I’m kind of wide awake still.  It’s a bad habit to fall asleep on the couch like that, but I did not take an afternoon nap that I am prone to do most weekends.  I did go for a walk earlier in the afternoon to the pharmacy to pick up a few things.  The weather was not bad.  It was sunny but a bit brisk.

I guess I really should write more.

 

Not quite as planned, but close!

So last night, I got home, had some dinner and took Boo to the vet for his fluids.  After getting home, I got some laundry together.  After I put the laundry in, I took a look at the hot water tank which was next to it.  I noticed that the floor around the tank was damp.  I also saw that the valve at the bottom was dripping. Not a good sign.

I had already started to look into the options for replacing the hot water heater.  At this point, I don’t think it was feasible to buy a new one and then pay more for the installation.  The budget and worry-free option would be to rent a tank.  So I ended up calling HydroSolutions, which used to be associated with Hydro-Quebec but are now an independent company.

I called HydroSolutions a little after 8PM.  They took my information and since there was a leak it was considered an emergency.  Fifteen minutes later, someone called back to say they had a crew in the area and would be there in about 20 minutes as they were finishing up another job.  And whaddya know?  Twenty minutes later they were ringing at my door.  They had to move my waasher in order to be able to get access the tank.  After it was drained, it was disconnected and removed.  Then in came the new one.  When all was said and done, these guys were done removing and installing the water heater in about an hour!   So this morning, I had a nice hot shower without fear of it getting cold.

 

Science Valentine

 

Tasks for today

Outside of work, some stuff I want to get done today:

• – Upload photos from both cameras
• – Laundry
• – Read Lightning Thief

 

Long overdue update – plus some random thoughts

All I can say is that I have been less than motivated about making any blog entries.  That’s not to say I didn’t have anything to write about. On the contrary, I’ve had much going on in my mind for the past few months.  I think I would need to look back on my last few entries to see when I last wrote anything of significance.

Okay, I looked and the last time I wrote anything with meat to it was back in November when I was in Dominican for work.  So what the heck has been happening since then?  Well, let’s see.  Where shall I start?  It’s not that there’s been a whole lot happening, it’s a question of what aspect of my life should I talk about?

Work has, since that entry, slowly been building up into a maelstrom of chaos.  When our entire Core department had its year end meeting, some things were mentioned that alluded to changes in the new year.  The new year came and some of the changes took place.  These changes did not involve me.  Then, with a new CEO taking the reigns, there’s been even more announcements and changes.  This latest change was announced right after we had our big unit meeting that discussed what’s been happening in our little world.  Throw in the CEO’s latest news and our world has been thrown a curve ball.  The VP for our unit had a short meeting with us after that announcement to further elaborate (at least as much as was known at the time) and to field any questions.  Of course, the question about the additional 200 head count for one of the departments was raised.  The VP answered it the best he can, that the work was still there and the manpower is still needed.  Now the question remains: Will this manpower be hired here or somewhere else?

Friday evening as I was getting ready to head home after a very long afternoon, a few of my colleagues were still hanging about.  Of course, the big topic of discussion was the week’s announcement from the CEO and what it means for us.  Already there’s been some talk about any hiring/transfers being put on hold.  That is to be expected until we know what’s what.  I had also heard that our VP was planning to head down to Dallas this week for a meeting.  I hope he comes back with some good news.

Aside from work, my personal life has been somewhat less than exciting.  I hadn’t heard from that “special” guy until sometime ago.  I guess all hell has broken loose for him.  It seems that he has to go in for further chemo treatment.   Aside from that, he may not be very communicative for a while.  In his words, “All I feel like doing is hiding until it’s over.”  I feel for him.  I wish he were more receptive to some sort of moral support while he goes through this.  Sadly, it seems that he is willing to let me go for the time being.  I guess he does not find it fair to have me waiting around.  It won’t be terribly easy for me as he seems to occupy a small piece of my heart.  I can’t say for sure if the L word is a factor or not.  It’s such a tricky thing to say whether you are truly in love with someone or just in heavy like with the person.  Anyway…

So to add to the building chaos, during a time after he had last written and before I finally wrote back a reply, I had gone back to perusing the sites.  Not that I really wanted to, but I guess I was trying to find a distraction.  Well, last week, an ad on craigslist did catch my eye and I wrote a response to it.  The guy wrote back with a picture.  Not a bad looking fellow.  When I read his response, something he wrote caught my attention.  He mentioned a favorite band.  It sounded familiar.  I went to my craigslist email account and whaddya know?  He had responded to my ad back in June!  But, I think by the time he had replied, I was already dealing with a bunch of other responses.  Craigslist seems to be a rather small world.

Well, after exchanging a few emails and one phone call later, we had plans to meet up Friday evening.  However, my heart got in the way of things when on Thursday I had finally gotten around to writing back to the other guy.  He almost immediately wrote back.  That’s when I found out he was undergoing treatment for his cancer.  I felt a bit saddened that he had to go that way.  I was also feeling sad because I missed him and he expressed that he wished he could have met up with me somehow, but I guess it just didn’t work out for him.  Anyway, with my head and heart in a bit of turmoil, I called the other guy to cancel the evening.  I said I was working late, which was kinda true, and that maybe we could meet up for a movie or something the following week.  He seemed okay with that.  He did wish me a happy Valentine’s Day, at least.

So that, more or less, brings us to this weekend.  Yesterday, I dragged by sorry out-of-shape ass to cardio in the morning.  Managed to survive that.  Then after lunch and a shower, I went over to the pet shop to buy some food and to check out the cat adoption clinic.  Thankfully, I did not walk out with a cat.  Not that I could afford one at the moment since their adoption fees were $150, but after having just gotten Cleo in September, I think I’d like to at least have a stable and somewhat peaceful household for a little while.

Today is Valentine’s Day as well as Chinese New Year.  So Happy Chinese Valentine’s Day New Year!  Okay, that sounded a bit weird.