MONDAY...
— Quiet day at home. It’s Easter Monday. Some TV... movies and hockey. And some exercise. Little nap too.
TUESDAY...
— Work is work. Kiyomi and I do lunch together... which is good. I go to Walmart after work for some shaving stuff... which is bad. Walmart is evil. But not the good, charming evil... EVIL evil.
— Some of the left over stir fry juice dumps out in my bag of stuff going home. The MP3 player likely doesn’t appreciate that.
WEDNESDAY...
— Awake early. I wake just before 4:00 and really don’t get back to sleep. Work is okay. Take extra time at lunch to watch the end of the Guitar Hero Tournament. And get many birthday wishes.
— When I get home, my new DVD of The Sweater is finally here. I got the VHS version of it on my birthday some six or seven years ago... and now the DVD comes on my birthday too.
THURSDAY...
— Birthday... part 2. I get a card from the team at work. We go for breakfast in the morning. And plans are made for some Friday after work drinks.
— Get home to another card... this one in the mail... good for a chuckle.
FRIDAY...
— Alright day at work. And then off to a pub with Nick, Louis, Linda, Sheila, and Dave Henderson for a few drinks and some food. And I end up paying for none of it thanks to Louis, Dave and Sheila wanting to do me some birthday favours. A fun time.
— Snooze much of the evening while sort of watching some TV.
SATURDAY...
— Quiet and lazy house day. Until supper time. Go to get Karl and get another free, birthday supper a the pub. Then we watch No Country For Old Men at the Mayfair. And I do like it as I thought I would.
Changing Seasons
Part 1
Spring is coming but it may already be too late. I feel shell shocked these days. Winter wears you down. The bundling up against the cold. The dry air in the buildings. The static shocks from touching things within your own house. It’s all too much.
The immune system takes a beating with colds and flu bugs everywhere you go.
Muscles tense and stiffen making you feel like a side of beef in a meat cutter’s freezer.
And the sanctity of ones own home becomes a lair of electrical booby traps, waiting to strike out at you when you drop your guard.
Used vacation time means you have no choice but to push through the winter. Drag yourself in to work. Fight through the snow and slush. Push past other irritable drivers until you get into the office where you’re crammed together with others again and again, day after day.
People in small spaces are a funny thing. It brings you together... or drives you crazy. There are some who do me better the more I see them. If I knew I’d be working next to them each day for months on end, work would be a better place for it. And then there are others who’s every little move drives you up the wall.
My small team at work has one of each type of person. So a conversation with one helps push me through the days... and listening to the other suck each last drop out of their juice box makes me want to get violent. There’s little middle ground... and winter is to blame.
When summer comes there is distance available. More people take time away. Breaks and lunches can be eaten inside or out. Muscles and joints are loosened with the feel of a sauna, rather than that of a meat locker. Massaged by warmth and a more comfortable dress code... and with moisture ending the torture of touching a light switch in your own home... the world becomes a better place.
But right now, it’s the ending part of that harsh time. Snow remains on the ground and in the forecast. Another cold feels like it’s coming on in my head and joints. And that co-worker still has that juice box ready to slurp on some six feet away from me.
Part 2
There are things to look forward to. Baseball is coming back with a game on TV tonight. Hockey playoffs are about to begin... when the shoot out disappears for a few months of real hockey. Snow is melting... the jail will soon be swinging the gates of freedom open and a walk will be available that goes further than the front door to the parking lot.
My birthday has come and gone. For me, my day is a sign of the end of winter. This year’s birthday has been an unusual one. My first birthday without a cake involved. I did get several meals given to me free of charge. A breakfast on my team (juice box slurper and all). Lunch by way of Melissa. And two suppers, one from Sheila and another from Karl. Four days of feasting have seemed to replace the cake.
Cards have come, in the mail and delivered by hand. Easter Creme Eggs (I spelt it wrong last week... it is in fact “creme” and not “cream”) came from Kiyomi while Scratch and Win tickets arrived from Laura.
Still more is on it’s way. Mom and dad’s card remains in the hands of the postal service. Edena’s gift is making it’s way from the States. And so the celebrations are set to go on.
It’s a time of tiredness... where every little thing begins to pick away at a piece of the brain. But a glimmer on the horizon promises better times are ahead. Can we make it?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Making It Up As I Go Along #312
MONDAY...
— Tired at work. Didn’t sleep tonnes last night so I’m not surprised. Work is okay though. Learning some of the team leader stuff for when I become a 2nd in charge in a month or so.
TUESDAY...
— Work takes for ever. It’s a long day and I’d be better off not being around people... one of those hibernation days. But I get through and the last hour or two went okay.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is a bit annoying. It’s largely to do with the fact that Quality Control is my least favourite place to work... and guess where I’m working this week. Too social... it’s distracting.
— Get an exercise ball and door bar for working out some at home. Do this after work and take a few hours between blowing up the ball and setting up the bar. But I’ll be ready to work it tomorrow.
THURSDAY...
— Work’s okay. I do a few different things and we do a good lasagna lunch at the caf (Melissa, Megan, Carole, Jonathan and myself).
— I leave an hour early... just to start the long weekend off well.
— Supper and a DVD with Melissa and Nick. Pulp Fiction is a classic.
— Watch Survivor on the internet since it came on yesterday due to basketball.
FRIDAY...
— Quiet day around the house for the holiday Friday.
— Get Janice for supper at Grace O’Malley’s (a restaurant, not someone I know). We meet Laura, Atlas, Sheila and Karen there for some drinks and some catch up with Laura. It’s the first time I actually see her since November, and it’s great to catch up.
SATURDAY...
— Lazy house day. Some hockey, some movies, some exercising... and a nap.
Where Have All the Eggs Gone?
Easter is a special time of year. There’s that whole religious type thing with the crucifixion being followed by the resurrection. And, of course, that means that news reporters feel like they’re on the cutting edge by interviewing an actor who happens to play Jesus around this time of year. The actor I saw today gets whipped. I mean he really gets it. He wants to be beat and whipped so he can show the people what it was Christ went through. I forgot to mention that this whole play is acted out while walking down the street in Toronto. It’s a crucifixion parade if you will. And the audience are mostly elderly people who’ve come out to huddle in parkas along the sidewalks while fake Jesus hobbles by, occasionally dropping to his knees... right on top of the street car tracks. I hope God is protecting him, otherwise post Easter will likely bring a bit of workman’s comp. Fake Jesus, is also bald. But he throws on a hippy wig over top of a bandana just before hitting the streets. Good ol’ fake Jesus.
Seriously, even though this is an important holiday for billions across the world, I’m not writing today in order to have any real thought on the religious aspect of Easter. Today I write wondering where another important aspect of the holiday has gone. I saw it once, a month ago... and partook in it’s righteous goodness at that time. But there has been no sign since.
Indeed, I speak today of... the Cadbury Easter Cream Eggs.
Growing up I had much Easter chocolate to ravage. Giant hollow bunnies with crunchy candy eyes that you’d save til last to eat. And other giant bunnies, these not being hollow... that would last a child for months. It would often be the first bite that told you which bunny you had. Would teeth mash through causing a cascade of chocolate bits to drop into the rug (for as a child, I always took my first bite of chocolate on the bedroom floor). Or would the bite take extra effort to snap off a solid piece of chocolate gold?
Over the years, the bunnies, both solid and hollow, were joined by other chocolate creations. Chicks, chickens, and... today... you can chow down on a chocolate Homer Simpson. Mmmm, Homer... arrrrgghhhhh (it’s rather hard to write Homer’s gargling sound).
But in our household, the predominant treasure was the chocolate eggs. Some would be caramel filled, others with peanut butter. And still another group may be just hollow. But the best of the lot and the one that outnumbered the others... was the Cadbury Easter Cream Egg. Probably half of my entire stash would be the cream eggs. So my desert for a week or so after Easter would be one of the other eggs (one day a caramel one, the next a hollow) followed by the cream yolk goodness.
Each year at work, the cream eggs would appear. One day you’d walk into the kitchen to check for a snack of some sort, and you’d look up to see a pile of the red and blue foiled eggs. Greedily would you snatch them... and you’d scurry back to AFIS like a dog running off with a treasured bone... wanting to get to safety before a bigger co-worker steals your chocolately goodness.
There are several ways to eat an Easter Cream Egg. Some put them in the freezer, to harden the sweet nectar inside. Some chop off half the egg so that they can lick and suck out the goo before finishing the other half of chocolate egg.
My style has not changed for many years. The freezer is left out of the equation. I want liquidy ‘yolk’. And I’ll start at the pointy end of the egg, taking a bite of the upper third of the egg. I’ll then examine the candy yolk inside as I chew that first morsel. Some eggs harden on the shelf, and the yolk is beyond the liquid state. These eggs are a disappointment.
But it’s when you look down into that lower two thirds of egg and see a fine blending of white syrup, with that yellow yolk inside, that you know it’ll be an extra enjoyable cream egg experience.
I’ll then take a single lick of the syrupy section. Just to get a taste without the chocolate shell. And then, due to a fear of an overly messy second bite, I deposit the remaining two thirds (minus a lick) into my mouth... all at once.
Yellow candy yolk, creamy white candy yolk, and chocolate shell... all mashed together with each bite. It’s a most gratifying thirty seconds of one’s life.
So this year, about a month ago, I saw the eggs. I had one then and there in the office... and even bought one for a friend. And I looked forward to the remaining weeks of egg eating.
But a funny thing happened. After that first day... the Easter Cream Eggs... were gone.
Even while getting groceries, I’d glance through the Easter section (where chocolate Homer sits)... but no eggs. At the checkout, among the tabloids and chocolate bars... no eggs there either. I once saw a bag of the minis. They’re just like the Easter Cream Egg only... well... as given away by the name... they’re mini.
The minis are not as good as the original however. You get more of these that have the dreaded hardened syrup inside. And the smallness of the eggs makes the one third bite... like... two third chop technic almost an impossibility.
So on this Easter of 2008. I’m left like some of those chocolate bunnies of years gone by... hollow. What happened to my Easter Cream Eggs? Will Easter ever be the same again?
— Tired at work. Didn’t sleep tonnes last night so I’m not surprised. Work is okay though. Learning some of the team leader stuff for when I become a 2nd in charge in a month or so.
TUESDAY...
— Work takes for ever. It’s a long day and I’d be better off not being around people... one of those hibernation days. But I get through and the last hour or two went okay.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is a bit annoying. It’s largely to do with the fact that Quality Control is my least favourite place to work... and guess where I’m working this week. Too social... it’s distracting.
— Get an exercise ball and door bar for working out some at home. Do this after work and take a few hours between blowing up the ball and setting up the bar. But I’ll be ready to work it tomorrow.
THURSDAY...
— Work’s okay. I do a few different things and we do a good lasagna lunch at the caf (Melissa, Megan, Carole, Jonathan and myself).
— I leave an hour early... just to start the long weekend off well.
— Supper and a DVD with Melissa and Nick. Pulp Fiction is a classic.
— Watch Survivor on the internet since it came on yesterday due to basketball.
FRIDAY...
— Quiet day around the house for the holiday Friday.
— Get Janice for supper at Grace O’Malley’s (a restaurant, not someone I know). We meet Laura, Atlas, Sheila and Karen there for some drinks and some catch up with Laura. It’s the first time I actually see her since November, and it’s great to catch up.
SATURDAY...
— Lazy house day. Some hockey, some movies, some exercising... and a nap.
Where Have All the Eggs Gone?
Easter is a special time of year. There’s that whole religious type thing with the crucifixion being followed by the resurrection. And, of course, that means that news reporters feel like they’re on the cutting edge by interviewing an actor who happens to play Jesus around this time of year. The actor I saw today gets whipped. I mean he really gets it. He wants to be beat and whipped so he can show the people what it was Christ went through. I forgot to mention that this whole play is acted out while walking down the street in Toronto. It’s a crucifixion parade if you will. And the audience are mostly elderly people who’ve come out to huddle in parkas along the sidewalks while fake Jesus hobbles by, occasionally dropping to his knees... right on top of the street car tracks. I hope God is protecting him, otherwise post Easter will likely bring a bit of workman’s comp. Fake Jesus, is also bald. But he throws on a hippy wig over top of a bandana just before hitting the streets. Good ol’ fake Jesus.
Seriously, even though this is an important holiday for billions across the world, I’m not writing today in order to have any real thought on the religious aspect of Easter. Today I write wondering where another important aspect of the holiday has gone. I saw it once, a month ago... and partook in it’s righteous goodness at that time. But there has been no sign since.
Indeed, I speak today of... the Cadbury Easter Cream Eggs.
Growing up I had much Easter chocolate to ravage. Giant hollow bunnies with crunchy candy eyes that you’d save til last to eat. And other giant bunnies, these not being hollow... that would last a child for months. It would often be the first bite that told you which bunny you had. Would teeth mash through causing a cascade of chocolate bits to drop into the rug (for as a child, I always took my first bite of chocolate on the bedroom floor). Or would the bite take extra effort to snap off a solid piece of chocolate gold?
Over the years, the bunnies, both solid and hollow, were joined by other chocolate creations. Chicks, chickens, and... today... you can chow down on a chocolate Homer Simpson. Mmmm, Homer... arrrrgghhhhh (it’s rather hard to write Homer’s gargling sound).
But in our household, the predominant treasure was the chocolate eggs. Some would be caramel filled, others with peanut butter. And still another group may be just hollow. But the best of the lot and the one that outnumbered the others... was the Cadbury Easter Cream Egg. Probably half of my entire stash would be the cream eggs. So my desert for a week or so after Easter would be one of the other eggs (one day a caramel one, the next a hollow) followed by the cream yolk goodness.
Each year at work, the cream eggs would appear. One day you’d walk into the kitchen to check for a snack of some sort, and you’d look up to see a pile of the red and blue foiled eggs. Greedily would you snatch them... and you’d scurry back to AFIS like a dog running off with a treasured bone... wanting to get to safety before a bigger co-worker steals your chocolately goodness.
There are several ways to eat an Easter Cream Egg. Some put them in the freezer, to harden the sweet nectar inside. Some chop off half the egg so that they can lick and suck out the goo before finishing the other half of chocolate egg.
My style has not changed for many years. The freezer is left out of the equation. I want liquidy ‘yolk’. And I’ll start at the pointy end of the egg, taking a bite of the upper third of the egg. I’ll then examine the candy yolk inside as I chew that first morsel. Some eggs harden on the shelf, and the yolk is beyond the liquid state. These eggs are a disappointment.
But it’s when you look down into that lower two thirds of egg and see a fine blending of white syrup, with that yellow yolk inside, that you know it’ll be an extra enjoyable cream egg experience.
I’ll then take a single lick of the syrupy section. Just to get a taste without the chocolate shell. And then, due to a fear of an overly messy second bite, I deposit the remaining two thirds (minus a lick) into my mouth... all at once.
Yellow candy yolk, creamy white candy yolk, and chocolate shell... all mashed together with each bite. It’s a most gratifying thirty seconds of one’s life.
So this year, about a month ago, I saw the eggs. I had one then and there in the office... and even bought one for a friend. And I looked forward to the remaining weeks of egg eating.
But a funny thing happened. After that first day... the Easter Cream Eggs... were gone.
Even while getting groceries, I’d glance through the Easter section (where chocolate Homer sits)... but no eggs. At the checkout, among the tabloids and chocolate bars... no eggs there either. I once saw a bag of the minis. They’re just like the Easter Cream Egg only... well... as given away by the name... they’re mini.
The minis are not as good as the original however. You get more of these that have the dreaded hardened syrup inside. And the smallness of the eggs makes the one third bite... like... two third chop technic almost an impossibility.
So on this Easter of 2008. I’m left like some of those chocolate bunnies of years gone by... hollow. What happened to my Easter Cream Eggs? Will Easter ever be the same again?
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Making It Up As I Go Along #311
MONDAY...
— Work is pretty normal. And a relaxing morning before it. Nice to have evening shift back again.
— It’s sunny and nice out today... with all the snow around, it’s kind of a winter wonder land.
TUESDAY...
— There’s a big mound of snow just beyond the parking lot. It keeps getting built up in order for more snow to be trucked away from the streets. Today I notice that it is a three story high mound. From my bedroom window, I’m looking straight across at it. Wow.
— Work is good. It’s my best statistical shift... ever. By a lot. I guess I’m zoned in tonight.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is okay. Stats are still good... don’t know what’s going on with me. Get Chinese food for supper and leave the left overs in the office fridge by accident. I’ll go in with no supper tomorrow but I fear someone will steal the food during the day.
— Watch the series finale of Extras in the morning. Good stuff.
THURSDAY...
— Work is alright. Although I’m feeling a little off part of the night... like my lunch didn’t sit right or something. And my “weather knee” is acting up by the end of shift. “Storm’s a comin’” Actually, it’s likely temperature change that’s comin’.
— Still, even with feeling a bit off, I go to the gym with Jon after work. My first time in a gym in 15 years. And it shows... but still it’s pretty fun and feels good to push myself. So maybe it’s the start of something.
FRIDAY...
— Working the evening shift on a Friday. Jon and I are the only two going until 10:00. The rest came in early and are leaving at 7:30. So it’s a nice enough night with not a load of people around.
— Groceries after work complete the loser like ways when it comes to Friday party times.
— Fall asleep on the sofa before heading to bed.
— Happy birthday dad!
SATURDAY...
— Quiet day around the house. I’m tired and a bit under the weather, so the rest is a good thing.
Things on the Go.
Spring is coming... or so they say. It doesn’t much look like it out there and we’re now about 35 cm away from Ottawa’s all-time snowfall record. I’ve already lived through the St. John’s record in 2001... and then I was moved away from there two years later. So... logic dictates that if Ottawa gets those 35 cms, I’ll be moving to another city within two years... and then watch out come winter time, the snow will be coming!
Baseball is coming... I’ve watched a few innings of a few games from down south already. I come from the land of hockey but there are a few reasons to love baseball more... (1) better movies... Field of Dreams versus the Mighty Ducks? Bull Durham versus Slapshot... come on! (2) no gimmicks. The home run derby has yet to decide the outcome of a ball game... hear that hockey shootout? (3) wooden bats. Amateurs use aluminum but the pros use the real things. Hockey needs to follow suit and bring back the wooden sticks. (4) beer and a dog... baseball has it’s own food. It just doesn’t feel right to go to a hockey game and ask the vendor for a beer and a dog.
Dad’s birthday has come. If I’m living my life in forty years the way my dad is now... I’ll be quite the lucky one.
Call display may have to come. I don’t get a load of phone calls. I didn’t get call display because I always thought that any missed call worth returning will have left a message anyway. But my telephone has become an extra e-mail address when it comes to junk. When my e-mail notification sounds now, I expect it to be spam mail. It has gotten the same with my phone... when it rings, I now expect it to be telemarketers. I am picking up telephones expecting to hang them up to dead air before the click over to some operator who’ll ask for Mr or Mrs Brown (never a good sign when they don’t know). It has made me less civil to my fellow man. A few years ago, I’d never have dreamed of cutting off another person, telling them I don’t want to hear what it is they’re saying, and then hang up on them while they’re in mid sentence. The National Economy and the Free Market have forced me to go against my natural instincts and become a jerk. At least if I get call display, I won’t have to even bother to hang up that which I’ll never pick up.
The gym is here. It only took four and a half years after starting my job, but I finally took advantage of the free gym at work. Some sore muscles linger and the soreness feels good.
Evening shift just isn’t long enough. I do one week of evenings now for every two week of days. And each week of days feels like it takes two weeks to end while that one week of evenings feels like it flies by in two days. Bedtime, collared shirts, ties, and shoes all make me want to ask for another three months of straight evenings. But I don’t think I can do it this time... and the thought of a 5:15 AM burst of music leaves me feeling a little low.
The HD TV wrestling match. I’d like to get one. I expect I will have one before this year is out. But there’s something tough in justifying giving the cable company more, not less, of my money. And the thought that the cables I’d need to buy for the TV will be more expensive than the TV I currently own just makes you feel like you’re ripping yourself off. I mean cables? Hundreds of dollars for cables? I need a raise!
— Work is pretty normal. And a relaxing morning before it. Nice to have evening shift back again.
— It’s sunny and nice out today... with all the snow around, it’s kind of a winter wonder land.
TUESDAY...
— There’s a big mound of snow just beyond the parking lot. It keeps getting built up in order for more snow to be trucked away from the streets. Today I notice that it is a three story high mound. From my bedroom window, I’m looking straight across at it. Wow.
— Work is good. It’s my best statistical shift... ever. By a lot. I guess I’m zoned in tonight.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is okay. Stats are still good... don’t know what’s going on with me. Get Chinese food for supper and leave the left overs in the office fridge by accident. I’ll go in with no supper tomorrow but I fear someone will steal the food during the day.
— Watch the series finale of Extras in the morning. Good stuff.
THURSDAY...
— Work is alright. Although I’m feeling a little off part of the night... like my lunch didn’t sit right or something. And my “weather knee” is acting up by the end of shift. “Storm’s a comin’” Actually, it’s likely temperature change that’s comin’.
— Still, even with feeling a bit off, I go to the gym with Jon after work. My first time in a gym in 15 years. And it shows... but still it’s pretty fun and feels good to push myself. So maybe it’s the start of something.
FRIDAY...
— Working the evening shift on a Friday. Jon and I are the only two going until 10:00. The rest came in early and are leaving at 7:30. So it’s a nice enough night with not a load of people around.
— Groceries after work complete the loser like ways when it comes to Friday party times.
— Fall asleep on the sofa before heading to bed.
— Happy birthday dad!
SATURDAY...
— Quiet day around the house. I’m tired and a bit under the weather, so the rest is a good thing.
Things on the Go.
Spring is coming... or so they say. It doesn’t much look like it out there and we’re now about 35 cm away from Ottawa’s all-time snowfall record. I’ve already lived through the St. John’s record in 2001... and then I was moved away from there two years later. So... logic dictates that if Ottawa gets those 35 cms, I’ll be moving to another city within two years... and then watch out come winter time, the snow will be coming!
Baseball is coming... I’ve watched a few innings of a few games from down south already. I come from the land of hockey but there are a few reasons to love baseball more... (1) better movies... Field of Dreams versus the Mighty Ducks? Bull Durham versus Slapshot... come on! (2) no gimmicks. The home run derby has yet to decide the outcome of a ball game... hear that hockey shootout? (3) wooden bats. Amateurs use aluminum but the pros use the real things. Hockey needs to follow suit and bring back the wooden sticks. (4) beer and a dog... baseball has it’s own food. It just doesn’t feel right to go to a hockey game and ask the vendor for a beer and a dog.
Dad’s birthday has come. If I’m living my life in forty years the way my dad is now... I’ll be quite the lucky one.
Call display may have to come. I don’t get a load of phone calls. I didn’t get call display because I always thought that any missed call worth returning will have left a message anyway. But my telephone has become an extra e-mail address when it comes to junk. When my e-mail notification sounds now, I expect it to be spam mail. It has gotten the same with my phone... when it rings, I now expect it to be telemarketers. I am picking up telephones expecting to hang them up to dead air before the click over to some operator who’ll ask for Mr or Mrs Brown (never a good sign when they don’t know). It has made me less civil to my fellow man. A few years ago, I’d never have dreamed of cutting off another person, telling them I don’t want to hear what it is they’re saying, and then hang up on them while they’re in mid sentence. The National Economy and the Free Market have forced me to go against my natural instincts and become a jerk. At least if I get call display, I won’t have to even bother to hang up that which I’ll never pick up.
The gym is here. It only took four and a half years after starting my job, but I finally took advantage of the free gym at work. Some sore muscles linger and the soreness feels good.
Evening shift just isn’t long enough. I do one week of evenings now for every two week of days. And each week of days feels like it takes two weeks to end while that one week of evenings feels like it flies by in two days. Bedtime, collared shirts, ties, and shoes all make me want to ask for another three months of straight evenings. But I don’t think I can do it this time... and the thought of a 5:15 AM burst of music leaves me feeling a little low.
The HD TV wrestling match. I’d like to get one. I expect I will have one before this year is out. But there’s something tough in justifying giving the cable company more, not less, of my money. And the thought that the cables I’d need to buy for the TV will be more expensive than the TV I currently own just makes you feel like you’re ripping yourself off. I mean cables? Hundreds of dollars for cables? I need a raise!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Making It Up As I Go Along #310
MONDAY...
— Long day due to the weather again. Between traffic and me having to scrape ice off the car, I’m twenty minutes late getting in to the office.
— Work itself is alright and by day’s end, it’s above freezing and clear out.
TUESDAY...
— Sort of tired at work but get through it anyway. I cancel out on movie night. The weather tomorrow is supposed to stink and being tired today with tomorrow supposed to be trying, I thought stay home and rest up and we’ll do the movie Thursday instead.
WEDNESDAY...
— Loads of snow. The drive in and home isn’t as bad as it could be though... probably cause most cars are staying off the road. Probably close to 40 cm fell.
THURSDAY...
— Well yesterday was 28 cm of snow... not 40. But still lots on the ground.
— I stay home today. Just feel beat up and run down and sore. Sleep quite a bit today... I think 4 naps.
FRIDAY...
— Work is okay... snowy in the afternoon though and it keeps going all evening.
— To Melissa’s for supper and a movie. Nick and Isaac are also there and I have my first try of Guitar Hero. Not too good at it but it’s kind of fun.
SATURDAY...
— Home all day with the snow. Starts at 11:30 after we had another 15 to 20 cm yesterday... and it snows all day.
— There are several questionable things when it comes to what gets covered within sports. (1) how is a spelling competition among children worthy of broadcast on an all sports network? (2) dog shows? (3) poker? A fun game but a sport? (4) Why is it that fat guys who take off their clothes and paint their bodies at sports events are necessary for the fan at home to see? For Pete’s sake, these guys make the plays of the week all jiggling around.
— Ends up being about 50 cm of snow from Saturday morning to Sunday morning.
Landscapes
Summer landscapes and winter landscapes... how they differ.
In the summer, the land is lush and wispy.
Life crawls, flies and jumps about.
Molded fields roll gently.
Even a hill attempts to be flat.
In the winter, the land is frozen and bare.
Life remains hidden beneath.
Mouse and vol trails will appear in the melt.
Hills become hillier, interspersed with dug trenches.
Shoveled hills separate asphalt.
Neighbours in trench warfare with each other.
Lobbing white mortar over the mound
Shovels and blowers as weapons protecting auto prizes.
Summer neighbours wave and chat.
It’s peace time as they trickle water on flowers.
Children cross the lines as if they were never there.
Playing young, gardening adults, living in harmony.
Summer winds blow soft and warm.
A friend that shoos away mosquitoes.
The land whispers as plant life dances
rustling to go with local chirping, buzzing, croaking, and twitering.
Winter winds blow harshly and cold.
It whips speckled ice into faces.
Tenses muscles in defense against cold invasion.
It distantly howls through lifeless wood, cracking ice bound branches.
How many mosquitoes would you endure
in order to feel the warmth once more.
— Long day due to the weather again. Between traffic and me having to scrape ice off the car, I’m twenty minutes late getting in to the office.
— Work itself is alright and by day’s end, it’s above freezing and clear out.
TUESDAY...
— Sort of tired at work but get through it anyway. I cancel out on movie night. The weather tomorrow is supposed to stink and being tired today with tomorrow supposed to be trying, I thought stay home and rest up and we’ll do the movie Thursday instead.
WEDNESDAY...
— Loads of snow. The drive in and home isn’t as bad as it could be though... probably cause most cars are staying off the road. Probably close to 40 cm fell.
THURSDAY...
— Well yesterday was 28 cm of snow... not 40. But still lots on the ground.
— I stay home today. Just feel beat up and run down and sore. Sleep quite a bit today... I think 4 naps.
FRIDAY...
— Work is okay... snowy in the afternoon though and it keeps going all evening.
— To Melissa’s for supper and a movie. Nick and Isaac are also there and I have my first try of Guitar Hero. Not too good at it but it’s kind of fun.
SATURDAY...
— Home all day with the snow. Starts at 11:30 after we had another 15 to 20 cm yesterday... and it snows all day.
— There are several questionable things when it comes to what gets covered within sports. (1) how is a spelling competition among children worthy of broadcast on an all sports network? (2) dog shows? (3) poker? A fun game but a sport? (4) Why is it that fat guys who take off their clothes and paint their bodies at sports events are necessary for the fan at home to see? For Pete’s sake, these guys make the plays of the week all jiggling around.
— Ends up being about 50 cm of snow from Saturday morning to Sunday morning.
Landscapes
Summer landscapes and winter landscapes... how they differ.
In the summer, the land is lush and wispy.
Life crawls, flies and jumps about.
Molded fields roll gently.
Even a hill attempts to be flat.
In the winter, the land is frozen and bare.
Life remains hidden beneath.
Mouse and vol trails will appear in the melt.
Hills become hillier, interspersed with dug trenches.
Shoveled hills separate asphalt.
Neighbours in trench warfare with each other.
Lobbing white mortar over the mound
Shovels and blowers as weapons protecting auto prizes.
Summer neighbours wave and chat.
It’s peace time as they trickle water on flowers.
Children cross the lines as if they were never there.
Playing young, gardening adults, living in harmony.
Summer winds blow soft and warm.
A friend that shoos away mosquitoes.
The land whispers as plant life dances
rustling to go with local chirping, buzzing, croaking, and twitering.
Winter winds blow harshly and cold.
It whips speckled ice into faces.
Tenses muscles in defense against cold invasion.
It distantly howls through lifeless wood, cracking ice bound branches.
How many mosquitoes would you endure
in order to feel the warmth once more.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Making It Up As I Go Along #309
MONDAY...
— Work is okay. I’m busy in QC doing all sorts of different tasks. Makes the day go by pretty quick that way.
— Forsberg coming back to the NHL... I hope he does well in Colorado... I’ve always liked that guy.
TUESDAY...
— NHL trade deadline and Montreal sells rather than buys. It’s frustrating seeing how well that team has done this year.
— Atlas comes over to check my old computer. It appears that the hard drive is dead. Now it’s a matter of seeing if I can get any of the stuff saved off of there. At least the most important files are on my laptop, but it’s still a pain.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is slightly annoying. I find I don’t much like weeks in QC... I much prefer AFIS.
— Some playing around on the computer in the evening. And forcing myself not to nap in order to get a good night’s sleep.
THURSDAY...
— Work is alright... go to a pub for a drink and bite to eat afterwards. Home for the evening where I watch some TV and fall asleep during the Simpson’s before bed. I wake up a good half hour after I mean to go to bed... oops.
FRIDAY...
— Work is okay. Go to HQ for lunch with Janice and meet Kiyomi and Jason, among others, there.
— Groceries after work and a quiet evening around the house... with hockey, a movie and a nap.
SATURDAY...
— Quiet house day. Some movies, e-mails, hockey on TV and I count five years with of pennies and roll them. It probably takes an hour and a half to be done with the pennies and I get $7 worth rolled. Is there anything more useless than a penny?
The Sweater
Presents. We all give each other presents. Some give more than others and some ask for more than others. Some presents mean more to us and some don’t hold as much of our heart.
I have given and received some duds. And I have given and received some amazing ones. I also remember being there for moments when loved ones have gotten monumental presents. Some monumental for the happiness they created... others for the bizarreness in the reaction.
A bizarre moment that stands out to me is one Christmas many years ago. My mother opens a gift from my uncle and is obviously perplexed by the moment...
“Oh... its... an owl...”
You see, she has just finished unwrapping a foot high bronze statue of, quite obviously, an owl. She turns it over in her hands seeing if there is something more to it. Does the bird open up? Is there a switch to turn on some hidden light inside? No... it’s just a statue of an owl.
We all laugh at the moment. It’s a nice enough statue. I believe it remains somewhere within my parent’s home. But it was about as far from an expectation that any of us had. At the beginning of that Christmas day, we’d have been there for many an hour guessing if you’d expect any of us to come up with an owl as a gift to be opened.
I’ve given gifts that I didn’t think would cause as much of a stir as they did. I recently sent a stain glass wall hanging for my mother. My visiting cousin brought it with her and soon afterwards, I got a phone call of shocked surprise from mom. She didn’t seem to think I remembered her favourite flowers... and seeing them sitting there in the glass was, like the owl, unexpected.
Other presents have shocked family members and caused emotional reactions best not shared here. Although I remember a gift I did not receive some years ago, and emotions got the best of me.
The year our last dog died, I had asked for a collage picture to remember her by. I feared one day forgetting the animal that was one of my best friends for the past dozen years. I had looked through old photos and seen so many memories of her... I wanted to save some of these and be able to see them framed on a wall rather than tucked away in a box.
But that Christmas, I still felt the scar of the loss, and as I opened presents, I became ever more fearful of the possibility of the collage picture. Something I wanted but, on that day, no longer felt ready to see.
Opening my final present, I found something unrelated to our little dog. I think it was a hockey jersey... one I’d still have to this day and was happy to get. But still I broke down with tears of sorrow and of relief. I missed our dog, who for more than a decade previously would be poking through wrapping paper and looking up at us with a wagging tail. And I was glad I didn’t get the picture I had asked for.
Looking back, I still would love to get such a collage. She really was a sweet little dog.
A Christmas Story tells the tale of a little boy getting his greatest Christmas gift... a Red Rider Carbon Action B.B. Gun.
I believe I have previously written of my version of such a present. One I still have... although a worn out bulb means it no longer works... a portable arcade game called “Fire Away.” It’s basically a simplified version of Space Invaders and I picked that present out of the Sears Wish Book, eyeing it as the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts. My desire for that game went on over several months and my disappointment began to grow as with each gift I opened, I’d eye the remaining presents to see if they were the proper size and shape to possibly be my game.
And with the last gift opened, the game remained unaccounted for.
Just as in the Christmas Story movie, I seemed to have another gift left over in a corner. My father got it for me and I feverishly tore the wrapping off to find my Fire Away. It stands out as, from a child’s point of view, the greatest gift I ever received.
Other gifts hit you by surprise. An unexpected and previously unasked for desire that a loved one either guessed right or had superior intuition about. I’ve received several such gifts.
My mother once returned from a conference she was at and brought me back a Star Wars action figure. Little did she know at the time that the one she brought back was the very one I had been searching for on my weekly walks to the local K-Mart store. The figure was never there however and it almost took on a mythical air for me. The action figure of the robot bounty hunter, IG88, became my very own Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. Until that day when mom casually pulled it out of her bag and handed it to me. My excitement, at that moment, knew no bounds.
Another gift I received that left me delighted with surprise is a VHS tape which I got one birthday. As a child, watching cartoons on CBC, there were few happier moments as those times when an old short would come on. It was never scheduled in the TV guide but, every now and then the 1980 short called “The Sweater” would come on. This is the telling of the tale when a French boy in small town Quebec needed a new hockey sweater... and, to his horror, Eaton’s sends him not the number nine, Maurice Richard Canadiens sweater... but a blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs one instead.
Well on a birthday of mine, back in my mid twenties, I open a gift and find this tape of the Sweater. I hadn’t expected it... didn’t ask for it... and actually largely forgot about it. But seeing this tape sitting in my hands, I was rushed back to childhood days.
The Sweater is actually the reason why I’m writing this piece today. For I’ve often looked at the tape, sitting on one of my shelves, and thought I’d like to get the DVD of it someday. I’d often check the Amazon website and it would never be available. But today it dawned on me... go where my mother had gone so many years before... so I checked the National Film Board website and sure enough, there is the DVD version of The Sweater just waiting to be ordered. Needless to say, I’ll be checking the mail with added vigor over the next week or two. My childhood luck with the TV, that turned to my happy reintroduction via VHS will soon make it to modern times by way of DVD.
Yes gifts are an amazing part of our interactions. Sometimes the biggest, most grand present is met with a sigh and the slightest little gesture is a moment that stays with us for a lifetime.
— Work is okay. I’m busy in QC doing all sorts of different tasks. Makes the day go by pretty quick that way.
— Forsberg coming back to the NHL... I hope he does well in Colorado... I’ve always liked that guy.
TUESDAY...
— NHL trade deadline and Montreal sells rather than buys. It’s frustrating seeing how well that team has done this year.
— Atlas comes over to check my old computer. It appears that the hard drive is dead. Now it’s a matter of seeing if I can get any of the stuff saved off of there. At least the most important files are on my laptop, but it’s still a pain.
WEDNESDAY...
— Work is slightly annoying. I find I don’t much like weeks in QC... I much prefer AFIS.
— Some playing around on the computer in the evening. And forcing myself not to nap in order to get a good night’s sleep.
THURSDAY...
— Work is alright... go to a pub for a drink and bite to eat afterwards. Home for the evening where I watch some TV and fall asleep during the Simpson’s before bed. I wake up a good half hour after I mean to go to bed... oops.
FRIDAY...
— Work is okay. Go to HQ for lunch with Janice and meet Kiyomi and Jason, among others, there.
— Groceries after work and a quiet evening around the house... with hockey, a movie and a nap.
SATURDAY...
— Quiet house day. Some movies, e-mails, hockey on TV and I count five years with of pennies and roll them. It probably takes an hour and a half to be done with the pennies and I get $7 worth rolled. Is there anything more useless than a penny?
The Sweater
Presents. We all give each other presents. Some give more than others and some ask for more than others. Some presents mean more to us and some don’t hold as much of our heart.
I have given and received some duds. And I have given and received some amazing ones. I also remember being there for moments when loved ones have gotten monumental presents. Some monumental for the happiness they created... others for the bizarreness in the reaction.
A bizarre moment that stands out to me is one Christmas many years ago. My mother opens a gift from my uncle and is obviously perplexed by the moment...
“Oh... its... an owl...”
You see, she has just finished unwrapping a foot high bronze statue of, quite obviously, an owl. She turns it over in her hands seeing if there is something more to it. Does the bird open up? Is there a switch to turn on some hidden light inside? No... it’s just a statue of an owl.
We all laugh at the moment. It’s a nice enough statue. I believe it remains somewhere within my parent’s home. But it was about as far from an expectation that any of us had. At the beginning of that Christmas day, we’d have been there for many an hour guessing if you’d expect any of us to come up with an owl as a gift to be opened.
I’ve given gifts that I didn’t think would cause as much of a stir as they did. I recently sent a stain glass wall hanging for my mother. My visiting cousin brought it with her and soon afterwards, I got a phone call of shocked surprise from mom. She didn’t seem to think I remembered her favourite flowers... and seeing them sitting there in the glass was, like the owl, unexpected.
Other presents have shocked family members and caused emotional reactions best not shared here. Although I remember a gift I did not receive some years ago, and emotions got the best of me.
The year our last dog died, I had asked for a collage picture to remember her by. I feared one day forgetting the animal that was one of my best friends for the past dozen years. I had looked through old photos and seen so many memories of her... I wanted to save some of these and be able to see them framed on a wall rather than tucked away in a box.
But that Christmas, I still felt the scar of the loss, and as I opened presents, I became ever more fearful of the possibility of the collage picture. Something I wanted but, on that day, no longer felt ready to see.
Opening my final present, I found something unrelated to our little dog. I think it was a hockey jersey... one I’d still have to this day and was happy to get. But still I broke down with tears of sorrow and of relief. I missed our dog, who for more than a decade previously would be poking through wrapping paper and looking up at us with a wagging tail. And I was glad I didn’t get the picture I had asked for.
Looking back, I still would love to get such a collage. She really was a sweet little dog.
A Christmas Story tells the tale of a little boy getting his greatest Christmas gift... a Red Rider Carbon Action B.B. Gun.
I believe I have previously written of my version of such a present. One I still have... although a worn out bulb means it no longer works... a portable arcade game called “Fire Away.” It’s basically a simplified version of Space Invaders and I picked that present out of the Sears Wish Book, eyeing it as the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts. My desire for that game went on over several months and my disappointment began to grow as with each gift I opened, I’d eye the remaining presents to see if they were the proper size and shape to possibly be my game.
And with the last gift opened, the game remained unaccounted for.
Just as in the Christmas Story movie, I seemed to have another gift left over in a corner. My father got it for me and I feverishly tore the wrapping off to find my Fire Away. It stands out as, from a child’s point of view, the greatest gift I ever received.
Other gifts hit you by surprise. An unexpected and previously unasked for desire that a loved one either guessed right or had superior intuition about. I’ve received several such gifts.
My mother once returned from a conference she was at and brought me back a Star Wars action figure. Little did she know at the time that the one she brought back was the very one I had been searching for on my weekly walks to the local K-Mart store. The figure was never there however and it almost took on a mythical air for me. The action figure of the robot bounty hunter, IG88, became my very own Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. Until that day when mom casually pulled it out of her bag and handed it to me. My excitement, at that moment, knew no bounds.
Another gift I received that left me delighted with surprise is a VHS tape which I got one birthday. As a child, watching cartoons on CBC, there were few happier moments as those times when an old short would come on. It was never scheduled in the TV guide but, every now and then the 1980 short called “The Sweater” would come on. This is the telling of the tale when a French boy in small town Quebec needed a new hockey sweater... and, to his horror, Eaton’s sends him not the number nine, Maurice Richard Canadiens sweater... but a blue and white Toronto Maple Leafs one instead.
Well on a birthday of mine, back in my mid twenties, I open a gift and find this tape of the Sweater. I hadn’t expected it... didn’t ask for it... and actually largely forgot about it. But seeing this tape sitting in my hands, I was rushed back to childhood days.
The Sweater is actually the reason why I’m writing this piece today. For I’ve often looked at the tape, sitting on one of my shelves, and thought I’d like to get the DVD of it someday. I’d often check the Amazon website and it would never be available. But today it dawned on me... go where my mother had gone so many years before... so I checked the National Film Board website and sure enough, there is the DVD version of The Sweater just waiting to be ordered. Needless to say, I’ll be checking the mail with added vigor over the next week or two. My childhood luck with the TV, that turned to my happy reintroduction via VHS will soon make it to modern times by way of DVD.
Yes gifts are an amazing part of our interactions. Sometimes the biggest, most grand present is met with a sigh and the slightest little gesture is a moment that stays with us for a lifetime.
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