Wednesday, February 20, 2008

February...

Well, the bruise is almost gone from my left knee, and the coral mark on my right knee isn't but is at least settling down to being just a mark. And I'm almost done peeling - which really wasn't so much peeling as flaking, I've been topping up the world's supply of dust *grin*

So yeah, settling back in. Finishing my Extermaknit Dalek (just have the base left!), watching new Torchwood (sooo much better than last season) and Lost (ditto).

So what else is new? Um, darts has been good, in fact I won my singles 401 lastnight, which was very cool! Joined the Flickr 365 Days pool, so let's see if I can keep this up.

Valentine's Day was nice, we stayed in and watched Down With Love and ate lasagna and chocolate lava cakes, mmm...

Oh, last Friday T and I went to see In Bruges, which was pretty cool - better than I was expecting actually.

Oh oh, two weeks ago I went to see my finance guy - I have a number of things to do now.
  • Top up my RRSP contribution before the end of the month
  • Reactivate my line of credit (which is annoying, as it means I have to go up to the Queen & Yonge branch during their work hours of 2:15 and 2:30 - okay, slight exaggeration, but still, I have a job, you know?)
  • Pay off my M/C with my line of credit
  • Set up automatic payments into my line of credit
  • Keep track of my purchases - every little penny
  • Switch from Sympatico to Rogers - maybe I can get a deal?
  • Cancel my home phone - Bell has made enough money off me, thank you
  • Put all of my change in a jar
I've started actually, I set up an excel file and I'm watching every penny - but I'm not changing my habits yet, if I want to be honest with myself I have to watch it properly. It's amazing how much money has gone into bills over the past two weeks...

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Mexico - a week away

Okay, I've decided I'm just going to give you a quick precis of the trip, rather than post forever and ever.

J*'s luggage got held back by Mexican customs, and arrived about 36 hours later - it had been opened, and clothing, toiletries and her straightening iron were missing! The thieves (yes, they were thieves, doesn't matter that they were thieving in their jobs) thought a hoochie-mama shirt and tacky bag would be a good trade though and provided those. Lesson: never put anything you'd cry if you lost in your suitcase! Luckily she hadn't, but it was still irritating.

Main lobbyThe resort was just vast, really huge - we didn't see the whole thing while we were there. The architecture was really sleek and modern (heard someone complaining that it was 'cold' but really it was really stunning). The rooms were great - don't splash out on the ultra huge suite, the regular ones are like half an apartment as they are. Bathrooms in the suites are amazing - my dream bathroom would be modelled after them I think, with the addition of a linen closet, really. Double jacuzzi, mmm...

Mayan sentry postThe beach was a bit rockier than other places I've been, there's a lot of coral there, so I was glad I got swim shoes for L and I before we went down. Didn't stop me from bashing my knee on a rock and cutting my ankle though, but it wasn't bad - the snorkeling was pretty cool and the waterproof camera case worked really well (check out the pix on my flickr Mexico set).

Lessee, how did we fill our week? Well, on Sunday J* and I went for a 'tour' of the Lapis Jewelry Company to see how it's made - this consisted of a couple of people behind glass looking downwards and then a huge showroom of overpriced, mostly gaudy crap. Not only did I not see anything being made, I also didn't see anything I'd want. Luckily we hadn't paid anything except a $2 tip to our driver. To be honest, there was a Lapis store right at the resort with nicer stuff (still overpriced) and another one within the complex our resort was in (I got a silver ring with a huge red Cubic Zirconia stone in it for $30, I'm happy with that).

Ball court ringL and I spent Monday on a day-long bus trip that took us to the Ik-Kil GeoArchaeological Park and Blue Cenote and then on to Chichen Itza. This was a really cool trip, and I'm glad I took it - I wish I'd used the washroom on the bus before getting to the cenote though, there wasn't enough time to swim in it! And you're not allowed to climb the castillo anymore at Chichen Itza, only the observatory. Ah well, next time I'll go to Coba. I bought a t-shirt for my Dad there, a tour/photo book of the site and an oddly-framed collection of Mayan designs, no idea how I'm going to display it.

Church in PlayaOn Tuesday evening J* & P & I went into Playa del Carmen to do some shopping (yup, it's all about the shopping with us - L stayed on the resort and lounged). Two things have I discovered. a) Playa has lots of cool shops that all play great music, and 2) I need to lose weight. Anyway, I got a ring for my Mum and one for myself (both with twilight topaz, mine in white gold with diamonds and hers in silver) and some gifty things. Playa's beautiful at night, we could see the cruise ships off in the distance.

On Wednesday J* & P & I spend the daylight hours at Xel-Ha (poor L doesn't snorkel so he stayed behind again - either I've got to get him snorkeling or someone else has to join with us next time!). What a great place! Iguanas everywhere, stingrays and conches and macaws, oh my! Just beautiful. Nice hiking too, L would have liked that part I think. Finally found a t-shirt for myself I liked (Huh - guardian of the earth).

Care for a mouse?Thursday and Friday I didn't venture off the resort, although we got an interesting surprise on Thursday - mice! Yep, a pregnant mouse decided the blanket on one of our beds would make a good nest and chewed a huge hole in it - left a couple of baby mice behind too. Freaked me out just a bit - but they came and cleaned everything up really well so we didn't try to get another room.

Other highlights of the trip:
  • bacon, hashbrowns and pains au chocolate every morning
  • the adventures of the Dude clan
  • swimming with squid
  • lazy river tubing
  • crocheting an octopus
  • watching Torchwood with Spanish subtitles (the commercials for it were fun too)
  • new friends from Alberta and Ottawa
  • the margaritas in the main bar
  • updating 'the list'
Caribbean Reef Squid...but I'm glad to be back!