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!