Sunday, May 31, 2009

Not that I ever work exceptionally hard....

Last night I had an overnight shift. I got home after 7am and slept til four. I had actually planned to wake up at one just so that I might actually have some semblance of a regular sleeping pattern for the rest of the week. That didn't happen. When I did wake up, I spent much of my time on the couch watching a few episodes of Buffy or reading. I did phone my sister in Saskatchewan and talked to my niece as well. I got to listen to "Jillian Jiggs" along with Bella so that was cool. I only really left the couch for about an hour and a half to go to mass. After mass, I plopped down on the couch and read until the automatic lamp in the living room went out. I enjoy Sundays where I can just sit and relax. Hopefully I will get more stuff done the rest of the week, but it was nice for today. So today's favourite thing is Lazy Sundays.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

On a quest

Earlier this week, I found out that a chain of bookstores was having a sale for their club members. Basically, instead of just saving 10% by showing your member card, you saved 20%. Pretty sweet for someone who does tend to buy a lot of books. I usually just buy books by authors I have enjoyed in the past. I like to buy them because occasionally waiting for them to come into the library seems to take forever. If they are part of a popular series, it takes even longer because a ginormous a number of people have holds on them and you end up being number 462 on the hold list. Anyway, I had two books that I wanted to get. At the first location, only one of the books was in so I decided to the location that had the second book and buy them both there. Only I forgot to make sure the place that had the second book also had the first. It didn't. I was annoyed. But I did buy the second book just because I didn't want to take my chances on a third store. In the end, I have both books that I wanted for less then I would have paid on any other weeked (gas, on the other hand............). Anyway, today's favourite thing is book sales.

Friday, May 29, 2009

" I laugh in the face of danger. Then I run and hide til it goes away"

So, I guess I've been doing this blog for six months. It really doesn't seem like I've been doing it for that long. I don't have anything exciting to report for my 6 month anniversary. Same old, same old. Now, for the actual subject of today's post.

So, earlier this week, it was announced that a new Buffy movie was in the works without its creator, Joss Whedon. There was a total and complete rebellion on the part of loyal Whedonites. They took to the internets like the world was about to end. It was rather amazing actually. While I am not exactly thrilled about this development, it did stir an interest in watching the TV show again.

Yesterday, I started watching Season 1 and so far I have watched the first four episodes. While the episodes weren't perfect, they were quite enjoyable and enjoyed watching them again. We'll see how far I get -I may not make it past season 5 but for now it's a way to pass the time over the summer, while my shows are in reruns. I am not sure if I'll get to rewatching "Angel" but Buffy will do for now. Anyway, today's favourite thing is the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". That's quite the turn around considering I have seen maybe one episode in my life before March last year.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Tra-la-la

Today, I got to work for my shift at 2 but they asked if I could start at 3 instead. I said I would and than walked over to the drug store to kill some time. I only needed one thing but I saw some CD's in one of those cases where you can sample them. Anyway, one of them was of New Flamenco. I couldn't resist. New Flamenco is much easier to listen to than real Flamenco. Real Flamenco, while it is authentic and what Flamenco dancers dance to, is a bit harsher. I enjoy the authentic music as well, but I have to concentrate more on it because I am focused on finding the compas or rhythm. New Flamenco is basically only guitar and I don't think it follows the compas quite as rigidly - which does not make it good for flamenco dancing but it is excellent if you like listening to Spanish Guitar music.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

That's what I call customer service...

Today I decided that for the first time in the 5ish years I have had one of my credit cards, I would sign up for online banking for it. I have online banking for all my other accounts but hadn't gotten to it for that particular card yet. Unfortunately, I was having a difficult time signing up for it online on my own, so I decided to call the customer service line. I was doubtful that I would get it fixed tonight because I was calling after 11pm but I actually got throught. They fixed the problem and I am now able to look at my statements online which is awesome. So today's favourite things is customer service call centres that are open late.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

It's glowing....

Today. I accompanied my sister's Spark group mini-golfing, it was quite fun. It wasn't competitive at all and the group I was with didn't even keep score. It was interesting watching some of the kids make their shots because they didn't really care about do it properly - all they wanted to do was get it in the hole. The course we went to was glow-in-the-dark. The course also had trivia questions along the way - many of them were about Harry Potter so I felt quite knowledgeable. Of course, those were the kids questions. The adult questions, on the other hand, I had absolutely no clue about. Anyway, today's favourite thing is a non-competitive game of mini-golf.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Maybe it's just me, but huh?

Today at work, there was a sign posted on one of the bathroom doors advertising a crew gathering coming up in July. It was a rather ordinary sign until it got to the line about who this get together involved. It read as follows:
"WHO: Crew members, managers and a guess".
First of all, do we have to guess who that third group of people is? If so, do we have only guess and if we get it wrong, they won't come? It's all rather mysterious. Secondly, and I am assuming that "guess" is a mistyped "guest", is only one guest allowed? If so, who gets to invite this mysterious person? The sign quite amused me, even if no one else quite understood why it amused me so much.
So today's favourite thing is random typos in posted signs. For more sign craziness, click here.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Communication

After an incident earlier this month involving a missed dentist appointment, my sister decided to buy a white board to put in the kitchen so that we can easily get messages to each other. Because apparently text messages, IM and email weren't enough. Those only work if you use them and are near some form of technological device. The whiteboard has already proven handy: My sister used it to tell me it was a whiteboard. I was shocked. I even proved that I was shocked by drawing a picture. Anyway this morning I used it for two purposes. The first was to tell her I would be working until ten tonight. The second was to let her know that there were random bird parts on the lawn (Not sight you ever really want to see, especially after working all night). Anyway, today's favourite thing is communicating via whiteboard.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Sorry we're out...

In a previous job, we always ran out of various items and telling the customers we were out of that thing got old fast. the new job hasn't been too bad but we do occasionally run out of various essentials. Like meat. Or various types of pop. Last night, when I got to work, we were out of a bunch of things or so close to being out that it was only a matter of time. Today, when I got to work, we had received the order for the week so we actually had every thing. It was great. So today's favourite thing is working right after after a supply shipment comes. I say right after because who knows how long the supplies will last.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Wrecked....

The other night, I clicked on a link from someone's twitter. That link brought me to a pretty cool blog which in turn pointed to another cool blog. That final blog linked me to a blog called "Cake Wrecks". While the other two blogs are quite funny, "Cake Wrecks" had me howling with laughter (I am pretty sure that wasn't even an exaggeration. I can only imagine what the people that were working on our house the last couple days must have been thinking, what with the crazy wolf lady in the basement). For those who don't plan to access my handy dandy links, "Cake Wrecks" is a blog that showcases hilarious blunders by professional cake decorators. Professional in the sense that the decorators were paid for the cakes.
Two of the wrecks come to mind when I try to think of the ones I laughed at the most. The first one was a cake that was supposed to say "Happy Fatherhood". Somehow, cake cake ended up saying "Happy Falker Satherhood." There is a video of the people that ordered the cake going to the bakery to see if they could figure out what the decorator was thinking. The first two minutes amused me.
The second one is difficult to explain. The funniest part about it is the backstory on how it came to be. It is basically a cake that says "Good Luck in China" with an unfortunate picture of a fireman on it. I highly recommend that you read that post or at least see the picture.
There is plenty more on that sight that amused me, and will hopefully amuse you, but I will let you find it on your own. I am just so happy that I found that blog.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I win!

Today was the crew meeting for my work. It seems to have moved around quite a bit. It was supposed to be yesterday and I was planning to go but then it moved to today. I was supposed to work. Yesterday, one of the managers called to say that the meeting moved and that she had covered my shift for me. Okay...so I went. It lasted an hour. I would have worked eight. I got paid for the meeting but that is still a seven hour difference. I kinda would have rather worked but I did win a prize. It is a clock radio with an IPOD docking station. I don't actually have an iPOD and already have a clock radio but I rarely win stuff so winning the clock radio was pretty cool.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Monkey see

A few months ago, my sister introduced me to a blog by sending me a link to this post. Since then, I occasionally go back and check out the posts. It does tend to get me laughing. It's pretty much a pop culture blog. I especially like the abundance of lists. To honour the blog, I am going to make a list of links to some of my favourite posts.

Mind you, these posts only came after the first post I read and I am sure there were probably ones before that that I would have enjoyed, but these posts definitely amused me. There are other posts that were good as well, but these ones, to be honest, are easily and quickly readable, for the most part. Many of them contain the afore-mentioned lists.

Anyway, today's favourite thing is NPR's Monkey See blog.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

"I'm fine! My nose was just overflowing with awesome and I had to get some of it out".

I apologize for the title quote. Today, I had an Allergy test. I had never had one done before. I have had problems with allergies all my life but didn't know the specifics of what I was allergic to. I knew I had hayfever and really reacted to horses but other than that it was kind of a revelation. On the other hand I was rather surprised by how many different things I'm allergic to. Off the top of my head, I am allergic to dust, mites, cockroaches, cats, horses, rabbits, mice, a type of mould, pollen from three different trees, and a bunch of different weeds. The doctor told me about some desensitization treatments that I can use to try to beat the allergies which I am considering. I am glad to know that there is something I can do about it. It will have to wait until I get coverage from work and it takes three years, but I am seriously considering it. The days of my nose constantly overflowing with awesome may soon be numbered!!

Monday, May 18, 2009

All I want to do-oo-oo-oo-oo

A few weeks ago, my sister bought a Sugarland CD. It's the special version so there are a few extra songs on it. We've been listening to it pretty consistently in the car and songs that I previously had no idea existed are repeaters for me. The songs are quite catchy and easy to sing along with (which makes it a good car CD). So today's favourite thing is the special edition of "Love on the Inside" by Sugarland. In case you're wondering, the songs I especially like are: 'All I Wanna Do', 'It Happens', 'What I'd Give', 'Fall into You', and the covers of 'Life in a Northern Town' and 'Come on Get Higher' (I never heard the original of 'Come on Get Higher' until I heard the Sugarland verson. Now I hear it all the time at work. It's by Matt Nathanson).

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Seems rather early....

This morning, my sister and I went to see "Monsters vs Aliens" at the theatre. I thought it was rather cool that they had movies playing before noon. I quite enjoyed the movie but I kept trying to figure out who was doing the voices. I knew for sure who some of them were but some of the other ones I had absolutely no clue about. Of course, I had to look it up on the IMDB when I got home because otherwise it would drive me absolutely crazy. So, I guess today's favourite thing is trying to figure out who does the voices in animated movies.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

"A life lived in fear is a life half lived"

If you know where the title quote comes from, you already know the topic of today's post. A couple of weeks ago, with new paycheque in the bank, I bought some of the things I had been wanting but couldn't afford seeing as how I was basically an unemployed bum. One of the things I bought was Baz Luhrman's Red Curtain trilogy. It contains the movies "Strictly Ballroom", "Romeo and Juliet", and "Moulin Rouge". Tonight I watched "Strictly Ballroom" for probably the 7th or 15th time and my sister partially watched it for the first time (she doesn't pay attention so good). I love that movie. It can been overly dramatic and melodramatic and cheesy at time but it is also very entertaining. I think it is where I got my first glimpse of flamenco before I knew what flamenco was. I hadn't seen the movie in a few years so it was nice to watch it again.

Here's one of my favourite scenes from the movie:

Friday, May 15, 2009

I'd love to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was a bit of a slow day at work. Because of that, they kept sending people home early. I was hoping to be one of the lucky few and I was in fact lucky. When they asked me if I wanted to go home at 6 instead of 7, I replied quite enthusiastically that I would love to and then basically skipped (skipped!!!) through the last 10 minutes (it would have been fifteen but they let me go at 5 to 6, so bonus yay!). So today's favourite thing is going home early. Now I just have to be able to wake up at 4:30 am so I can get to work for 6. Fun fun fun..........(blech!)

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Another day, another dollar

Today, I had to work. I appointed myself in charge of fries because I needed to not deal with people. Over supper, we tend to have one person who makes and packages the fries because we go through so many and it is just faster that way. It's not that doing fries is my favouritest thing ever but sometimes it's good to take a break from what you've been doing for what seems like forever. That 's also why I like going to the back to get stuff or hand out stuff at the drive through. So today's favourite thing is being able to do something different from what you had been doing for a long time.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

"Those mines won't sweep themselves..."

I spend a lot of time on the computer, much of which is not doing anything productive. When it was my prime source of entertainment, I tended to always have game of Minesweeper going on in the background. Minesweeper is rather difficult on a laptop because it lacks an actual mouse and all you have is the touch pad so you really have to coordinate your fingers. After a few tries, I eventually got the hang of it. I always play the advanced level because otherwise it's to easy. I don't tend to do especially well. Usually have times between 130 to 200 seconds and a 2% success rate but that doesn't stop me.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Somehow, I am not disappointed....

Today, I went to BodyPump for the first time ever on a Tuesday night. It was quite the experience, but not because it was Tuesday. For some reason, the instructor for that particular class didn't actually show up, so the instructor for the class right before it had to find someone else. Luckily, there was someone there that was a BodyPump instructor that could actually teach it. While the new intructor got herself together, the other instructor (who normally teaches BodyStep) did a BodyStep warmup with us. When the BodyPump instructor was ready, we started at the beginning of the workout.
In a typical BodyPump class, you do the exercises in the following order: Warm up, Squats, Chest, Clean and Press, Triceps, Biceps, Lunges, Shoulders, Abs, and Cool down. Today, because it took a while for everything to sort itself out, we had to cut out some of the exercise. We ended up cutting out the Lunge and Tricep tracks. We also only did one minute of Abs. I cannot say I was disappointed about that turn of events because Lunges and Triceps are two of my least favourite tracks. So today's favourite thing was a BodyPump class with no Lunges or Tricep exercises.

Monday, May 11, 2009

You look horribly familiar...

I have mentioned this many a time before but I really like Monday night television. It has 4 of the shows I like the most ("Big Bang Theory", "How I Met Your Mother", "Castle", and "Chuck" - all of which contain at least one person that has worked on something with Mr Joss Whedon). Tonight was the season finale for Big Bang Theory and Castle. They were both quite enjoyable. I only really started watching "Castle" because of Mr. Nathan Fillion who I loved in so many things ("Firefly"/"Serenity", "Waitress", "SLiTHER" and "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog" to name a few) and I really started enjoying it. Nathan Fillion plays arrogantly charming quite well. He also plays charmingly loathsome quite well, as shown by his character, Captain Hammer, in "Dr. Horrible".
In addition to the fact that it was "Castle" night, it was also "How I Met Your Mother" night which contains another of my favourites - Mr. Neil Patrick Harris, who is hysterically shameless as Barney Stinson.
So the combination of Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris both having TV shows on the same night, plus the fact that I decided to re-watch "Dr. Horrible",which stars them both (and also co- stars Simon Helberg (aka Wolowitz) from "Big Bang Theory"), made it quite the awesome night for TV.
I continue to urge people to check out "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog"; the trailer for which is available below:

So today's favourite thing is a night of TV that contains a whole lot of both Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. Adam Baldwin would be in there too if a) "Chuck"'s season hadn't ended two weeks ago and b) he had also been in "Dr. Horrible."

PS. There are rumours going around about a sequel to "Dr. Horrible" so look out for it on a computer near you. I will no doubt post something on my blog when it is known for sure.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Yay!

So tonight was the season finale of "The Amazing Race". It was quite surprising how it turned out but I was quite happy with who won. It was the team I was actually cheering for. I was kind of worried for a while but they pulled through. The other two teams totally annoyed me. So today's favourite thing is having the team you are rooting for win.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Happy feet....

It is odd to be at relatively the beginning of my day but here I go. Today was a pretty busy day (for my sister more than me) but we did manage to make time to go for pedicures. It is one of the only things I do for self-pampering. They are very relaxing. The place we usually go to get them has really nice massage chairs for extra relaxation. It was a good day. Hopefully the goodness of the day keeps up until 6am. I have an overnight shift tonight. Fun, fun.....

Friday, May 8, 2009

Book worm

I love to read. I don't tend to read anything that's especially deep. It's ususally just a nice way to pass the time. There are a few specific authors I go back to again and again, especially if they have a series of connected books I am especially into. About a year and a half ago, I got into one particular series thanks to one of my sisters and I get so excited when a new book for it comes out. I bought the latest one in the series a couple days ago and finished it this morning. It was quite satisfying and yet on some levels I was thinking "What just happened?" Hopefully the next one comes out sooner rather than later. I am really interested to see what happens next. So today's favourite thing is the enjoyment of the latest book in a series.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Insert uncomfortable pause here.

Today, I had a rather unenjoyable day at work. It left me grumpy and annoyed and just in a bad mood. It was rather difficult trying to find something good that happened. So I watched tonights episode of "The Office" before coming down to do stuff I normally do before I go to bed. It was nice to sit down and watch a show that's so familiar and just unwind. They seem to be making Michael a bit less obtuse and I am able to watch without cringing for more than a few minutes at a time. I don't talk about it much but it continues to be one of my favourite shows.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Not as bad as I thought...

Apologies to all the "Bones" fans who watch it on FOX. Minor spoiler alert. Generally, when 'Global' has its act together, we get 'Bones' episodes a day early (when they don't, occasionally we don't get them). So I saw this weeks episode (that airs tomorrow on FOX) already. It was an enjoyable episode and that is all that I am going to say without getting into heavier spoiler territory. I was worried when I read the premise but it turned out better than I thought it would. That being said, today's favourite thing is getting TV shows a day early.
I apologize if that was still too spoilery, I really tried to say something without saying anything (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

it's greek to me...

Tonight was my night to make supper. I made chicken with feta. Basically, you put chicken breasts on a pan -you may choose to season them or not. Then you mix together feta cheese, tomato, mushrooms, possibly other vegetables, garlic (which I forgot tonight) and some spices. You then put the feta et al on top of the chicken and cook at 350 degress for 45 minutes (or until chicken is cooked thoroughly. I love chicken and feta. I didn't think I was going to like it but I ordered it at a local restaurant in Regina 3 or 4 years ago and absolutely loved it. It was made a bit differently but it was still quite good. Then my sisters started making it at home and it continues to be quite enjoyable.

Monday, May 4, 2009

A healthy choice for a change.....

Once again, I have to mention that my sister is awesome. She bought kohlrabi and cut it up so I could take it with me to work (as I may have mentioned previously, I like reaping the benefit without doing the work). I love kohlrabi. I am not entirely sure why. My mom always grew it in her garden and I always loved eating it. It's like a turnip but not as bitter. It is one of my favourite vegetables. Homegrown kohlrabi don't seem to get as big but they are homegrown so thatmeans they are pretty awesome in their own right.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Secret, secret, I got a secret!

Alas, this is yet another "Chuck"-related post. It tends to be the bright spot in my weeks and thus, has an almost unavoidable presence on my blog. I wrote about the season finale on Monday (well, I mentioned that it was awesome and that I wanted to save the show, but the post was about something else). Since Monday, I have been watching one particular sequence from the finale numerous times, because it was pretty awesome. It is related to the video I posted a couple weeks ago in that in contains the band JEFFSTER. In the sequence, JEFFSTER is performing "Domo Arigato, Mr.Roboto" whilst other events are transpiring.

Anyway, today when I woke up at 2:30pm (I worked an overnight shift last night), I went upstairs to find that my sister had also been rewatching that sequence - a few times, even. So I was quite relieve to find that I'm not the only one to repeatedly watch favourite scenes in TV shows. We watched the sequence a couple more times after that. I think we have had our fill for the time being, but who knows. My fingers are crossed for another season of "Chuck".

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Cool treats

Today, my sister and I went to Dairy Queen. We were going to go on yesterday in celebration of her birthday (Happy Birthday, Colette!), but after supper we were just too full and we wanted to actually be able to enjoy the DQ We both tried the new Midnight Truffle Blizzard which was quite good. It has three of the things I like the most in the world: chocolate, more chocolate and ice cream. I usually get the Chocolate Extreme blizzard when I go to Dairy Queen, but decided to try the new one this time. Today's favourite things is Blizzards from Dairy Queen.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Thanks for the help..

Last weekend, my sister found a flyer for a series of job hunting seminars that were being held at the library. It was lucky that she found the flyer when she did because it turns out the seminars were being held all last week. I even managed to wake up in time to catch all three (Monday, Thursday, and today - Friday). I found the seminars to be very helpful. Even though I knew much of the information, it was nice for that information to be reinforced. I also found out some useful information that I didn't know before. I kind of wish that they had had things like that in the fall, but now is a good time as well. So today's favourite thing is job hunting seminars.