Sunday, November 30, 2008

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights

So I had the day off work on Friday (and for the next two Fridays - that’s what happens when you don’t take your vacation time through the year), and I thought this would be a great weekend to do a major purge of the spare room, which has turned into a large storage room, which is a shame.

So anyway, Friday I treated myself nicely - slept in a bit, had a nice long shower, watched a little TV, a bit of surfing, some cereal... then around noon I decided it was time to start cleaning up.

And I was making good progress too, damnit, I got eight shopping bags full of clothes and stuff for the Amity box, and a huge garbage bag of, well, garbage. But around 2pm (no, two hours wasn’t nearly enough) I started to feel achey. By 3pm I had a fever and by 4pm I was ill. So guess what, this weekend hasn’t really gone to plan. Ah well, better to get sick now than to wait until I get the annual Christmas Sick.

Christmas Sick? What’s that, you ask?

Have patience and we’ll see what happens...

A random Facebook post

‘I can’t get any work done,’ she said.

Rules followed (thanks PD):
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 56.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall.
* Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Those pesky wish lists

Believe me, I’m not hinting. It’s just that several people (including family) have asked what I want, and I can never think on the spot like that - so here are two lists I use to keep track of things for myself...

Wishlist.com

Amazon.ca

If you need it, use it for an idea of things I like...

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Happy 45th anniversary, Doctor Who!

Dr Who Darts!That’s right, 45 years ago today, BBC aired An Unearthly Child and started the longest running sci-fi TV show in history, introducing the world to Daleks, Cybermen and hiding behind the sofa. It made it past Mary Whitehouse’s campaigns, over-enthusiastic spring cleaners at BBC, and even Michael Grade’s cancellation in 1989 wasn’t permanent.

Anyway, to celebrate we had a special Tavern yesterday, complete with darts and trivia. More than 30 people showed up (that’s quite a number for us) and caroused for the better part of the afternoon and into the evening.

Oh, and in other news, I can finally wear my new bright white winter coat - I scotchgarded it!

Friday, November 21, 2008

ABC: the new FOX

It’s official - ABC won’t be picking up Pushing Daisies after the 13 from this season are done. And it’s going to end on a huge cliffhanger. Why? Low numbers. They’re avoiding using the C word because they don’t want to lose advertisers.

Do you think that maybe, oh, I don’t know, ADVERTISING THE DAMNED SHOW might have helped with that?? I only knew when it was coming back by scouring the online lists and keeping a schedule written down (yes, I’m a geek) - most people didn’t even know it came back, let alone when it would be airing!

What are they keeping? Looks like AFV, Wife Swap, Dancing With The Stars and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The dumbing down of the average viewer continues.

And I’d stop watching ABC altogether, if it weren’t for Grey’s Anatomy (which is suddenly good again) and Lost. Oh, and Fringe, damn.

Bastards.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Diamonds and rain and Mars bars, oh my!

The boysWell the weather on the weekend was crap, it rained all weekend! So of course J*&P&A came in and we all (L&T included) went to the ROM to see the diamonds - there was one as big as a baseball (no, it wasn’t The Baseball Diamond, it was just huge) - and then to Flo’s for dinner, yay for malted milkshakes!

Robin and the Xmas screensBut Monday was good, after work I went to meet Mashibinbin for dinner - he was in visiting from across the pond so a couple of us met him at Pauper’s, and then we walked TOO FAR in the ccccold and had a deep fried Mars bar at the Duke of Glocester, mmm...

We had lunch today as well, nice little visit, sad I didn’t get out to visit earlier, aw...

Friday, November 14, 2008

*squidge*

A friend of mine told me she’s going to have surgery next month, it’s elective but will be good for her in many ways. I’m worried but also excited for her. That is all, just wanted to put another virtual hug for her online somewhere...

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Back in black

Went to the bank today and got my replacement card, which was no fuss.

Just wanted to announce that my line of credit is finally paid in full, as is my credit card. I’m solvent! Of course, this doesn’t mean I have any money just lying around, but it does make me feel good... look Ma, I’m an adult!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Remembrance Day

So much for remembering - today I did something stupid. I left my bank card in the machine. And you know, when I walked away from the machine I had a vague feeling of unease, like I’d forgotten something - funny that. Old age is coming up fast...

Anyway, the weekend was good, L and I went to visit his Gran in Stoney Creek and then went to a birthday party in Oakville, which was really nice, just hanging out with the birthday boy and his family - and then it took us about 90 minutes to get back to Toronto on the QEW because the whole eastbound lane, and the collectors (seven lanes total) went down to one lane because of construction, and people went MAD, driving in the wrong direction, driving across the grassy divide between the sections, it was insane!

Had friends over in Markham on Sunday too, which was all good, we ate pizza and watched Dr Who. Nice day.

Thought about Harrison, my Dad’s Dad, today. He fought with the North Shore Regiment during WWII, he went ashore on D-Day and took St-Aubin. He made it back and lived a long life, but when he died the government wouldn’t even give him a marker - my Dad had to have a whip ’round his friends to pay for a stone. Sad.

Oh, and darts tonight - I didn’t suck completely, I infact had some pretty good games - too bad I was playing someone even better *grin* but still enjoyable!

Friday, November 07, 2008

Dear (Anonymous) Pub

We’ve been coming to your establishment for about nine years now. Once a month, every month. We, in fact, have a standing reservation.

Why, then, do you always break in your new waiters on us? It seems like every month we have someone different. Why do you do this without giving them even the most basic of instructions - ‘they come and go over the course of the evening so separate bills is a good idea’, ‘if you visit them often they drink way more’, etc. How hard is that, really? And, in fact, have you lied to your staff and told them that running individual bills instead of one massive one will crash the register? Is that why they insist on doing it, even when we tell them the evening will run smoother if they do separate bills? Do they also not realize the chances of them getting stuck with extraneous charges on the bill that no one will admit to rises exponentially as the number of customers on that bill increases?

Come on guys - I realize we’re the ‘bad group’, the ones no one wants to serve because we tip badly, but why do you think that is? The service for our group is really terrible almost every month. And really, the tipping badly thing only happens when there’s one huge bill and bad service - when they’re broken up, and we have good service, the tips get better...

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Indecision ’08

We all skipped darts tonight to stay home and watch the US elections. I don’t have much to say about them, except that I got the results from The Daily Show. Go Barack!

Oh, and S sent me the link to this baby, the Kaossilator Touchpad Synthesizer - am I crazy to want this?

Monday, November 03, 2008

What spending spree?

Okay, so I spent the whole week going around to every Winners in the area, trying to find the same coat in something other than white, and I’ve had absolutely no luck. But this past weekend I was up in KW for Hallowe’en and a birthday party, so I thought perhaps J* and I could visit the massive Winners there, you know, just quickly pop in and see if they had an alternate. I should have known better.

We got there on Saturday afternoon and their coat selection was really minimal. So instead of just turning around an leaving, we browsed a wee bit through the pants. And shirts. And shoes. And when we left, I had a BCBG dress, grey jeans, patterned dress pants, black & white top, amazing Emma Peel boots and fake nails. Plus the white coat.

I had brought a really nice outfit up with me to wear to the birthday celebration on Saturday evening, but what I had just bought was so fabulous I ended up wearing that (including a great pashmina J* got for me in NY) and looking hot to boot. Yay!

Oh, but wait, it doesn’t end there! Next day, we went out to a different Winners, where I once again didn’t find a replacement coat - but did find two more blouses and some Xmas cards. Oh, and we stopped at Sunrise as well and L and I spent bought a bunch of Dr Who figures. Sheesh.

So anyway, Hallowe’en itself was good, my godson looked adorable dressed as a monkey. The birthday party was also good, got to see lots of friends I hadn’t seen in a little while and the birthday girl looked completely lovely. I knitted a hat for her! And my parents’ 45th wedding anniversary was Sunday, go them. How much do you want to bet they went to Swiss Chalet again?