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Thursday, February 21st, 2002
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2:16 pm
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11:33 am - Last night's exciting adventure ...
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Last night, I got home from a very busy day at work with a plan to drop off my bag, pick up some other material, and head out for a date I'd made earlier that week. When I got in the door, I heard some weird buzzing noise from the kitchen, so I went to investigate.
Big mistake.
The freezer door was open and everything was on the floor, thawed.
Apparently, when  neschek had fetched us breakfast yogurt yesterday, the freezer had popped open, as it often does, when he closed the refrigerator door.
I spent four hours cooking 20 pounds of food. What a nightmare. The rest of it I refrigerated and I'll have to use it this week or throw it away. And you all know I never throw anything away ...
So, I'm sure I'll be looking for dozens of recipes for pork, chicken, and beef. (Keep in mind that we've been mostly vegetarian lately, which is why this was in the freezer to begin with!) Bah.
Fortunately, blessed and virtuous doctorpepper gave me some good ideas for a few things that I was unable to come up with, myself. I heart you, Dr P.
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| Wednesday, February 20th, 2002
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11:46 am
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Today, I am working on millions of things that should have been done over the weekend. I put some lavender essence on my forearms to stimulate my nose, but, alas, I think I overdid it. I smell nice, but too nice... I keep wiping my forearms on my shirt and my pants.
I took some kleenexes out of the supply closet here at work and they are actually quite soft. I mean, anything will beat the paper towels I've been using from the bathroom, but these are nice.
My little sister was diagnosed with thyroid cancer last week, so I printed out a ton of info on the subject for her, so I can mail it to her. Fortunately, I am adopted so I am not necessarily likely to get thyroid cancer or any of the weird maladies from which my family suffer. Instead, I can get entirely new and unsuspected ones!
Man, this is a great city. I love it here. I miss snow. I miss fall. I miss so much about Canada and the east and even the midwest, but I can travel there and soak up those things. There's just something so wonderful about this city, this state, this whole region ... *swoon*
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11:15 am - Okay, I couldn't help myself ...
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| Tuesday, February 19th, 2002
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2:29 pm - More work fun!
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Dombo has decided to put me in a special redesign group to reorganize our current db with some postgres d00dz. I'm okay with that. I bought my airfare for the Texas convention earlier today. Since last week, the price has gone up from $270 to over $400 I figured I'd buy it now.
I have wet socks and wet shoes from walking to work in the rain this morning. I peeled both off upon arriving at work and walked around, sockless, in another pair of gym shoes I keep here at work. I feel earthy now.
However, I'm about to leave work early for the day, so I stuck my drippy socks back on and am about to go home to coddle myself from the ravages of this debilitating headcold.
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| Wednesday, February 13th, 2002
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9:28 am
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Work is falling apart. Currently. All around me. The entire department.
Nothing can be done about it, no one can be fired, and it can only get worse.
Why do I care so much?
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| Tuesday, February 12th, 2002
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11:38 am
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I am getting a headache. I'm supposed to have my job reclassified and they have not yet done so. Everyone has agreed to this, but I have yet to see any paperwork verification. I have absolutely no patience for my job or my coworkers or especially SAB today. He will tell me Dombo is the cause for the reclassification lag. Perhaps they're afraid to reclassify me because they think I'll leave as soon as they do. I wish I could assure them that their sluggish procrastination makes me resent them even more.
I am not enjoying today, and it's not even half over.
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| Friday, February 8th, 2002
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11:12 am - Great things from work ...
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Well, work found out that the contract they wanted me to sign to stay for at least a year was not in any way legally binding. SAB says Dombo was livid. I think it's really SAB who was livid. To compensate for the fact that they couldn't make me stay for at least a year, they wanted me to pay half of the expenses. Keep in mind that they want me to go to this conference to put "Institution of Satan", here, "on the map". Further, they want me to prepare a paper on how I've automated all of these processes thus far, that, when I was hired, took up the majority of my day. They are now finished before I arrive in the morning. Even further, they want me to lead a lecture and discussion group on my paper, effectively teaching everyone how to do what I did. At the same time, they want me to attribute everything to SatanU, which is somewhat legit, because I did write these programs while at work since they are for work.
I refused to pay even for a bag of Skittles that I buy while I'm there, let alone my airfare and half my room expenses. I laughed at the suggestion almost as hard as I laughed at the prospect of this legally-binding contract to fetter me to this institution for another year. Ha!
So, they are paying for it, but I'm sure they still want me to deliver the paper and administer the discussion group. Fine, I can do that.
Still, they don't want me to network while I'm there, and yet they want me to meet people in my position who do what I do and can help us in times of crisis. What's that, if not networking?
This just makes me want to compose the epitaph for this job. Any suggestions?
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| Thursday, February 7th, 2002
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2:51 pm - If you could be anyone from Jem and the Holograms, who would you be?
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I always wanted to be one of the Misfits, like Stormer, Jetta, or Clash. They were hot chicks. Not fuzzy and bimbo-esque like those Holograms, no way. They wouldn't have worn leg-warmers and owned entire wardrobes in pink and gray.
I was perusing this site earlier today, taking a lengthy break from work, that went on about 80s fashions and trends, and I don't remember half of this stuff that I supposedly wore during that developing decade ...
Like, what's "puff paint?"
I'm just glad that decade is over.
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| Monday, February 4th, 2002
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9:40 am
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| Friday, February 1st, 2002
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2:03 pm
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I am teaching myself PHP today. You can probably tell how successful I am by the amount of journal entries over the next few weeks. If there are few, then I am probably doing very well at it and am fully submerged in the subject-matter. If I am, instead, typing about what I ate today and what I'll do on the weekends, then you can tell I'm procrastinating and not wanting to put more energy in it for the day. I have no idea what to expect. The reason I am doing this is because I need to train a bunch of luddite staff how to write scripts to automate the millions of review files and statistics and stuff with which they fill their days. Since most of these review files are the same, I think it would be best if I could develop some dorky web-based interface with questions for them to answer and / or skip where appropriate, essentially coming up with the best way to search the db for their needed info.
I started learning PHP a couple of years ago, before I left my last university job, but I have forgotten everything I might have learned. I'm starting over again. Wish me luck.
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| Tuesday, January 29th, 2002
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4:11 pm - This will make you laugh ...
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Okay, so work wants to fly me to this conference in Houston, TX, in April. I have no problem with going; in fact, I think it's a good idea. However, in order for work to invest the money in me, they want me to agree to contribute a paper and host a lecture on that paper, which is ridiculous, but SAB's Dombo wants our campus to get recognized. So, okay. I can do that. The second agreement is beyond ridiculous and wholly illegal, but it made me laugh so hard I almost peed the chair in front of SAB's desk. Even SAB rolled his eyes before this presentation, but Dombo said she would agree to send me if her authoritarian lapdog could prepare a legally-binding document for me to sign that essentially assures I will not quit or leave this place in the next year. There is no way to make that document legal, but I'm tempted to sign it anyway.
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| Monday, January 28th, 2002
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2:19 pm - Adulthood strikes me late ...
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Today, I opened my first retirement plan. neschek and I both did. We're starting out with small contributions until I can figure out the maximum amount that can be transferred. I feel much older than I did only yesterday. I feel like an adult.
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| Saturday, January 26th, 2002
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3:49 pm
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I think I'm going to have a steaming hot bath, softened by a homemade bath salt, start cooking a spicy chicken vindaloo, and leave it in a crock pot for the afternoon while I clean and then go meet neschek at the kitty commune.
I am finished my bath and now it's time to get dressed. I dropped a book in the bathtub, alas. A book on medieval cooking. It only got a tiny corner submerged, but it will take aeons to dry. Buh.
Okay. Now I start the vindaloo.
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2:36 pm
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I am trying to listen to CBC Radio via realplayer. Not the best medium, but it will have to do.
Anyway, WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME THAT PETER GZOWSKI DIED?!?!?!?!?
This was not mentioned on any of the twelve billion Canadian-related lists I'm subscribed to, but nooooo .... No one even knows Gzowski died yesterday, apparently, because, if they did, they'd MENTION IT.
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| Friday, January 25th, 2002
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4:50 pm - To satisfy the beloved doctorpepper ...
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2:02 pm - Lucky me ...
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12:28 pm
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I am about to mail off my request to start the search for my birth mother. Have I mentioned this already? It feels quite odd. I have copied everything, filled everything out, sealed and addressed the envelope I'd placed it in, and I just have to place the postage on it and drop it in the mail. Weird. It feels so strange. I'm trying so very hard not to expect or anticipate anything, but it's hard to stifle my curiosity.
I plan to mail it this afternoon. And then I hope to forget about it ... at least for now.
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| Thursday, January 24th, 2002
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9:03 am - Special thanks to iamcdn ...
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I've seen this before, but it pretty much sums us up.
How You Can Tell You're Canadian:
1. You're not offended by the term "HOMO MILK"
2. You understand the phrase "Could you pass me a serviette, I just spilled my poutine."
3. You eat chocolate bars not candy bars.
4. You drink POP not SODA
5. You know that a mickey and 2-4's mean "party at the camp, eh!!!"
6. You don't care about the fuss with Cuba, its a cheap place to travel with good cigars and no Americans
7. Pike is a type of fish, not part of a highway
8. You drive on a highway, not a freeway
9. You have Canadian Tire money in your kitchen drawers
10. You know that Casey and Finnigan are not part of a Celtic Musical Group.
11. You are excited whenever an American television show mentions Canada.
12 You know what a touque is.
13. You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
14. You live in a house with no front step but yet the door is one meter from the ground.
15. Your local paper covers the national news on 2 pages but requires 6 pages for hockey.
16. You know four seasons: winter, still winter, almost winter and construction.
17. You understand the Labatt Blue commercials.
18. You perk up when you hear the theme from Hockey Night in Canada.
19. You are in grade 12 not the 12th grade.
20. "EH" is a very important part of your vocabulary.
21. You actually get these jokes and forward them to all of your Canadian friends!
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| Wednesday, January 23rd, 2002
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4:39 pm - Still at work ....
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I have not been able to escape early, unfortunately. Monkey had me doing all these gymnastic tasks because he has a bad back. So, I spent the morning and afternoon wrestling with hardware and untangling cables and wires for other machines. I have an actual headache in addition to all the other migraine-related symptoms I am currently suffering. SAB had me install seven different bookmarks on his machine. Yes, a moron could do this, but these were somewhat tricky bookmarks. The URL you supposedly hit immediately pops up another page with a different URL (which he then bookmarks, uselessly), so I had to switch the URL and rename the bookmarks so he knows what to look for. Then, he thought this was so great, he had me do it for the rest of the department. I did. And performed a million other monkey tasks today.
I am leaving in a half-hour. Really.
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