oh, yeah..

new template tomorrow or the next day. Promise.

better late than never

well I just couldn't let the year turn over without one last post. Just about 5 hours left here on the Eastern seabord, and I have to say, I don't really care. When I was little, or even just slightly younger than I am now, New Year's was a big deal. It was a hell of an excuse for a party, at the very least. Now...I just don't see what the big deal is. Am I too cynical? Whatev, Grant and I are just chillin', having a nice chicken supper and perhaps getting drunk together. Wooh!

Christmas was nice, I never went through the stage where I didn't want to hang out with my parents, and I don't think it's going to come along at this point. I got to spend some time with my Grannie before my parents and sister arrived, which was pretty cool. I don't go visit near as much as I should. I think I forget that she's 75, because she doesn't really act it at all. She has a better social life than I do, goes on trips and has bridge nights and whatnot. Pretty happenin' chick. Anyway, presents were great all around, I got a bunch of stuff and some money from santa, which is always appreciated. I'm going to stick most of the money in my savings, but I'll take some to do some holiday shopping this weekend for a treat. I got 2 glass balls, a nice (non ice cream bucket) holder for kitchen utensils, a new set of utensils, a stand mixer, a pair of Levis, new flanner pjs, Sheryl Crow's new cd, and some very nice books. I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but I don't have my loot in front of me, so forgive me! I splurged a bit on my shopping, but I just kept finding things that I thought people on my list needed, so what can you do. I still need to have Christmas with Jenn who has some pretty exciting news of her own, and I picked up a little something for Calleen and made a (very, I promise) little something for Tiresa, so whenever I see them I'll deliver those.

The chicken is smelling done, and there are potatoes to mash and a half full Mike's Hard Limonade to drink, so I'm off.
Happy New Year to all! Just because *I* don't really care, doesn't mean you all shouldn't have fun! I promise I'll be back more in the new year, I'm back on highspeed, so all is well.

it's beginning to look...nothing like Christmas

well, not outside anyway. I'm in Halifax, and there's hardly any snow, just some small piles where there used to be banks I guess. Not like Moncton!

Grannie and I decorated the tree last night, I put the lights on because this has somehow become my job, but I like it. It was sort of fun going through all the ornaments, because most of them have a story behind them. I suppose I should start a collection of my own, I'm thinking next year I'll get a tree for sure, I find it really makes it seem more Christmassy.

Thanks for the well wishes! I feel all warm and fuzzy. I sort of want to keep the Christmas layout all year, but I have a feeling I'd get tired of it eventually. Any requests or recommendations for the new year? I should really do a total overhaul, but I think I like this general style with the pictures. I should do something a la D and have random images, but I'm sure that involves some sort of code that I don't know, so we'll see. I'm holding out for www.goatsarebest.com, that way I'll be able to host my own comments and stuff, and upload obscene amounts of pictures!

I really probably won't be back tomorrow, because my parents and sister will be here, so best wishes to you and yours!

holidays!

I know, it's not nice to brag, but DAMN am I glad to be on vacation right now. I'm heading to my Grannie's house this afternoon, and will spend about a week there. My parents and I think my sister arrive tomorrow, and apparently we all get to go shopping Wednesday. Barf! I do have a couple more things to pick up though, so it'll be an adventure. The kitties are off to Grant's house for the holiday, so I've got their stuff all packed up, and the fish are going to be on a bit of a diet over the holidays, but supposedly they only need to eat every other day anyway, so they'll be fine, Jenn is going to come and feed them one day and Grant another, then I'll be home. I cleaned the tank this morning, I think they're happier now. Hard to say with fish. My one new guy is still kissing/cleaning my giant algae eater...I always assumed the big guy is a guy...and the new one is a girl (on some fish, I can tell if they're boys or girls!) ...what's Cletus's girlfriend's name on the Simpsons...Brandine or something? that will be this fish's name.

I watched Olive, the Other Reindeer with my students on Friday, it's such a cute movie. Sort of strange, but funny. Then the other night there was a funny funny show on called Robbie the Reindeer. There are 2 episodes, and again with the celebrity voices - Ben and Jerry Stiller, Hugh Grant...funny. Britney Spears too, but don't let that spoil it for you.

anyway, I'll be confined to ye olde dial-uppe for the next week, so updates won't be daily for sure. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, whatever your celebration of choice may be, from Christmas to just being glad to have some time off work/school. Enjoy!

100 things update..

sort of. I haven't actually updated mine, a la Jenn, but I was re-reading it, and my #7 thing is "I want desperately a job, a home that isn't in somebody's basement, a dog, and babies. Probably in that order.". That's sort of exciting, I have 2 things! They didn't go in that order though, I moved out of 'somebody's basement' before I had a job, but I really didn't feel safe living where I was by myself, so it was sort of a necessity. Then I got my job, and while it's not my ideal, it's definitely a step in the right direction, and will hopefully get me where I want to go. Then I can get a dog. And, at some point in the future, babies. ha!

That's my happy thought for today.

snow day: the final chapter

I hope. It's tricky, because I'm not going to school tomorrow morning; I have a dentist appointment. The thing is, I've left my classroom in a bit of a state, because I assumed I would be in before tomorrow to straighten up and prepare for my supply. No such luck. He's going to have to straighten up for me, but my prep is first period so it should be fine. I was going to have them do textbook work, but since we've missed 2 days, I want them to work on their projects instead.

I had one of the worst sleeps ever last night. I woke up about 74 times, and one of those times just happened to be at 6:02, so I turned on the radio just in time to hear the cancellations for today. I could hear the wind all crazy during my awake times last night, so I had a feeling school would be cancelled again. Other than the lack of sleep, I enjoyed my new blue room very much.

Today the only productive things I did were to go pick up my new glasses and some wrapping paper and kitty litter. I'm a fan of my new glasses, I'm just wearing them now to make sure they're comfy. They're similar to my old glasses, but a bit smaller and olive coloured, so not as harsh as the black. My perscription has changed a bit as well, so these are nice and clear. I didn't choose my '2nd pair free' yet, because I have a year to do it, so I figured I might as well take my time. What I usually end up doing is getting a 2nd pair that is decent, but that I don't like near as much as my 1st pair, so I never wear them. I think I'll get a pair of sunglasses, but they don't have actual sunglasses, only clip-ons, and it's hard to tell what the regular glasses will look like tinted, so we'll see.

heavens, Jenn just sent me this link. Poor Willy!

That's about the extent of the excitement in my day, I'm going to go make use of the kitty litter and wrapping paper...though not exactly at the same time. ew.

snow day, part deux

So another lovely day. I had my alarm set for 6 to catch the cancellations, and sure enough, no school due to the impending storm that's to bring us 45cm this time around. I had a look out the window, and there was not a flake in sight. I went back to bed, and woke up again at 10, to lots of snow. I was a bit worried I'd get stuck here again for a couple of days (it's supposed to freezing rain tonight and then more snow), so I went out and picked up a few things...a couple of presents, butter for cookies, eggnog and chocolate milk for fun, magnets, and foam brushes and wide masking tape to get my bedroom painted. Despite my very ambitious plans for today, I only managed to get the painting done. It looks terrific though, "pale cadet" blue. I can hardly move my arms though, there will be no shovelling for me tonight. Painting is hard! I've done all I can by myself, I'll definitely need help doing the main apartment area, it's quite big.

Anyway, in my excitement about blogging, I've just missed the forecast for tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'll be stuck here or not. I'm covered in tiny blops of blue paint, and I haven't showered or eaten anything proper today. Can't say as I see the point in showering, but I should probably get on the sustenence issue. Do any of you have fun snowday stories?

Just in case you were wondering about the guy...

MSNBC - Saddam's legacy of violence and war. Poorly written, I have to say, but it does give some good info. Oh, and in case you haven't heard..., they caught him.

now what? I wouldn't have even heard about any of this if not for Tiresa. I turned on my computer and tv this morning, but had been watching TLC last night before bed. I then switched to Bravo to watch Urban Cowboy, so didn't catch any news.

Train lyrics

I was listening to my Train cd because I forgot my Christmassy ones at home when I went shopping today. They have some nice lyrics, clever and or nice. I'm going to share them with you. Each bunch is from a different song, you'll have to go buy the cd, or at least go to the website to find out what they are. hehe.

Maybe I’m not but you’re all I got left to believe in
Don’t give up on me
I’m about to come alive
And I know that it’s been hard
And it’s been a long time coming
Don’t give up on me
I’m about to come alive



Hey baby, I don’t wanna be your Superman
I just wanna be your man and I’ll be super, baby
.........
I know you don’t see me like a movie star
And it can’t help much that I don’t have no car
But you’re my favorite thing, by far
That’s gotta count for something



I don’t spend my time with anyone
Who doesn’t think I’m wonderful
Or somewhat cash refundable at times

housework

I just spent an hour and a half doing dishes. now, yes, this is mainly my fault, since I haven't done dishes for about a week and a half. My further plans for today include trying to finish up my Christmas shopping. I don't have anything even remotely interesting to say. hmm.

Tiresa sent me this link, to a quiz that ranges from pretty easy to (in my opinion) quite hard, depending on the questions they randomly choose. I only got 10/20 the first time, but got 15/20 on the 2nd bunch, and entered the wrong answer on one accidentally. Anyway, give it a try. If you're a fountain of useless iformation, this is perfect for you. I...am not. ha.

I'm tentatively planning a Fantasia party for the weekend of the 7/8 of February, or the afternoon of the 14th. Clear your calendars, ladies! I'll keep you posted as to whether it's going to work out, or if I'll have to reschedule.

I have to get dressed and eat something. I'll let you know how the shopping goes. I have my dad done, mom mostly, sister done, Grant...not close but I know what I'm getting, and nothing for my friends yet. Wish me luck.

BBC NEWS | Nursery rhymes put kids 'at risk'

too funny.
from my sister. I'd link to her, but alas, she has no website.

I (heart) Will Ferrell

so I've been trying very hard to find and download the version of "Baby it's Cold Outside" from Elf, where Will Ferrell and Zooey whatsername sang in the ladies' room. I can't. It's sad, because their version was really cool, but doesn't seem to exist outside the movie. If anyone knows where I can find it, make my day and let me know!

While searching for this gem, I stumbled across something which is at least *as* good. The Will Ferrell Apple Switch ad. Good lord, that man is funny. And this does nothing to lessen my desire for an iBook, nothing at all. Anyway, go, watch it, save it to your hard drives, whatever. I did. I'm going to watch it again, right now. Then I'm going to bed.

The plow guy came too, so I was able to get out, and I got out while he was still here, so he cleared out the drifts where my car was parked too. I went out to start it and warm it up while I was clearing a path around it, and the snow was drifted up to the roof on the driver's side, packed up against another giant snowbank. Fun eh? It didn't take too long though, and the plow guy tried to help as best he could with his giant scooper bucket, which I appreciated. So I went out and did a bit of shopping, picked up my mom's main present, and some little things for Grant and Erin (and the Love, Actually soundtrack for myself, DAMMIT, why does that always happen!?). Still have a fair bit to do, but now that I'm free to come and go, it doesn't seem as urgent.

That's all my news. bed now.

the Return of the King

a friend of mine, Mitch, is in Hong Kong, and has a website going. He's also hosting the escapades of a friend of his, Pete, who's travelling through Australia and New Zealand. anyway, Pete was at the LOTR premiere parade thing, and got some pretty neat pictures, so I thought I would share with you all.

trapped: day 2

ok, this is just stupid. I can see that maybe it would have taken the plow guy until last night to get back here, but it's been 48 hours now that I haven't been able to leave my apartment by car. The streets are clear, there's no problem there, just the THOUSAND FOOT SNOW MOUNTAIN surrounding the parking lot. There's a slightly smaller snow mountain out the back that's easier to climb over, but there's a fence there so there's no driving over it either. It's too big anyway. I called my landlord yesterday afternoon to let him know what was going on, and he suggested I shovel my way out. He had not seen the snowbanks. So I said fine, I'll wait. As of this morning, no way out. I thought, surely, there would be a path by the time I got home today; I live above the landlord's store, which he couldn't open yesterday because of the weather. I sort of assumed he would want to open today, but apparently not. So I'm just sort of pissed, I have things to do, none of which I can do on foot. I can't do much Christmas shopping if I take the bus, and I'd sort of like to drive my car every couple of days anyway when it's cold out, to keep it happy. Anyway, I've called him again but there was no answer, and since it's his home number I didn't leave a nasty message, just emphasized that I've been unable to leave for 2 days, I need to be able to get out, I have to go to work etc. It's my week to drive, but I swapped a couple of days with one of my carpool buddies. I understand that it's not entirely my landlord's fault, but it is his responsibility to make sure stuff like this gets done.

I think that's all for now. I almost had to murder most of my period 3 class, they were just ass-ish and disrespectful, very tiring. My other grade 10s were great though, as usual. It's nice to have some sort of balance, and for the love of crap, we're more than half done 2nd term anyway. 8 more school days til vaca. sweetass.

Average Joe

I don't even watch this show, but I started watching tonight, and it's the season finale, and I find myself really wanting to know what happens. I really want her to pick the average joe guy, not the 'mid-season replacement' hot guy, Jason. The hot guy just doesn't seem as cool as the other guy. And, turns out, the average guy, Adam, who is pretty cute anyway, is also .... a millionaire. Yeah. So this Jason guy had better reveal some serious winning qualities, other than hotness.

wanted: new homepage

So, I've had my homepage set to msn, just because it has some useful and not so useful time-wasting stuff on it. The problem lies in when I want to go somewhere else right away, if I try to type in a new address, it keeps moving my cursor to the beginning of the line, so I get useful things like ger.cwww.blog, when all I really want to do is go to blogger. Or any other site. I don't know how it does it, but it's highly irritating. I had finally had enough of this foolishness today, so I changed my homepage to google. However, google puts the cursor automatically in the little search box, also stealing it away from where I want it to be.

Do any of you have any ideas on a good homepage that doesn't have any of these irritating qualities? I like to have some news, nothing too heavy, entertainment, interest pieces, that sort of thing. Is that too much to ask?

trapped!

So I decided to brave the storm, such as it is now, and do a little holiday shopping on my day off / snow day. Wrong. Although it looks like my driveway was plowed this morning, the asshole street plower guy has totally blocked me in. There is a 4x6' wall all around me. I'm not shovelling that crap, it would take me a year and a half. Supposedly the plow guy for here will come back, but who knows when that will be.

I have to do a little rant now.

This same thing happened at my apartment last winter. The only difference being that the plow guy just never came there. This angered my landlord to no end, but his rage didn't do much to clear the driveway, until he ended up just firing that guy and getting a snowblower, and the guy upstairs would do it. I don't understand these plowing contractors; they take on too many customers. Money hungry bastards. Yeah, maybe with this many you can handle it when we get 3" of snow. The thing is, I don't need you to plow when there are only 3" of snow on the ground. I need to you plow, in a reasonable amount of time, when there are TWO FEET of snow on the ground. Like today. If I had had to go to work this morning, I would have been screwed. One of the few joys of living in an apartment is that you get shit like this done for you. I'm not happy. I'm stuck. I thought I could at least go pick out new glasses today, but even that is a bit of a hike, so I'm just stuck. yarg.

On a much happier, and cooler note, Jenn was on the Sunday Night Sex Show last night! Very exciting!

I made myself a giant steak for lunch; this has brought me some joy on this otherwise sort of cruddy day. Snow days aren't much fun if you're completely trapped in your house. I lived in Alberta for a year and a half, 2 winters baby. We never had a snow day, but we did have 'cold days', where the temp was below -40*. That's cold. And that, my friend, is a NO-FUN day off. This is better than that, but only slightly. If it were earlier in the season, and / or we were spending Christmas at my parents' house, I could do some online shopping. I did that a couple of years ago, I sent everything to my folks' place; it was terrific. Zero hassle. I wasn't quite that on-the-ball this year though. I do have a good list now of what to buy people, so it's just a matter of getting out to shop now.

Poetic Voices December topic: Winter

In honour of it being officially winter, with all the snow, and in honour of the Poetic Voices topic, I'm posting a poem I wrote. enjoy!


smell of snow

Thick woolen hands pushed deep into pockets
seeking comfort in their seam-strained depths.
Grey twilight falls heavy and cold
swaddling all that it touches.
Winter fills my lungs like frozen cotton
and ghosts itself into the coming night.
Huddled down in a mound of fleece and flannel
I make my way into the speckled darkness.
There is nothing but the smell of snow
and the unmistakable sound underfoot.

phewf!

blogger wasn't working! all is right with the world again. Oh, and hey, it was snowing like hell here today! I took a picture out my window, after I got back from my adventure trek to Superstore. I had to go out, because otherwise I would have lost my mind. And I wanted to get masking tape so I could paint my bedroom. So I did, and I also got some other things, including 2 shovels. They're both plastic, and one is small with a telescoping handle, to keep in the car. Anyway, I made it there with little trouble, other than the lack of sidewalks. But the walk back, holy crap, I wasn't sure I was going to make it. It's normally about a 4 minute walk to Superstore, and I had to take several breaks on this walk back to catch my breath and turn my face out of the driving snow. It was crazy, mostly everything was closed, visibility was actually about 0.4KM, but felt like about 3 inches. I survived, but my pants were so snowy I left them at the bottom of the stairs in my apartment. The joys of living alone.

I spent the rest of the day making chili and doing basically nothing. The chili was good, especially considering I've never made it before. I have lots, so that's my lunch for this week. I had a nice day cuddling with the kitties, and got some very exciting news from my friend Calleen; she got engaged! Apparently it was all very romantic, tears were shed, so send her your happy thoughts. In other good news, Tiresa got a new kitty, and named her Lily. I don't have anything really exciting going on, so I'll just pass along for everyone else!

In completely unrelated news...one of my new fish is like, cleaning my algae eater. I think. He's either kissing or trying to eat him, I can't really be sure. Cletus, my algae eater, doesn't really seem to like it much. He's much bigger than this other fish though, so I won't worry. See what I mean about excitement in my life?

Francois

As I mentioned, I went to see Timeline with Jenn and 2 teacher friends from school the other night. Good story, cute boys, fair acting. Ethan Embry is in it, he's very cute, but doesn't have a big role, and I'm pretty sure his character is gay. Anyway, there is another character, Francois, who is cute in a very sweet, you want to pet him on the head sort of way. His character is, shall we say, unlucky, so I was sad. But then, I was watching ER, and he's on that! One of the new doctors. So I'm happy that this guy's acting career wasn't limited to 15 minutes, even though he's not a major character on ER.

That's about all my news. I went to Value Village tonight and bought a crapwhack of stuff to put together a still-life in my classroom. I got some really nice little glasses, vases, a teapot, and a few of those things you cook french onion soup in. The most fun find by far though, is a beer stein with "Kevin, you're an OK guy, love Jen" engraved on it. Can we pause here, to appreciate that? Hot damn. I laughed right out loud. I also got some cheap-ass fabric too, to set everything up on. Very exciting.

Nothing is new tonight, except ER. Why is that? Tomorrow is Friday, which is of course, a good thing.

best pork chops ever

I made the damn tastiest pork chops the other day. I have to share the recipe, even though I didn't make it up. I found it on allrecipes.com. I had bought a giant pork tenderloin on sale, and froze it for a rainy day. Said day came on the weekend, so I thawed the badboy out. I cut it into chops, because that way I could grill it and it was a little more manageable. Anyway, it made like 10 chops, I cooked 5. You might want to add more stuff to marinate if you're making dinner for like, an army.

Juice of 2 limes (juice 'em good, with a juicer or a fork), about 1/4 C of olive oil, 2tsp oregano, sliced garlic (I only used 3 cloves because I was cooking for Grant and he's not a *huge* garlic fan like me), and salt and pepper. I didn't plan on marinating, so I only had time to do them for about an hour, but that was enough because the flavours are so strong, and the meat was already really tender...being a tenderloin.

That's all, it was good so I thought I should share.

I did laundry tonight, it was pretty GD exciting. Or not. It is, in that now I have clean undies, and in that I got to read some more of Bill Bryson. I learned this evening that Jean Picard was a real astronomer, and presumably the inspiration for our beloved Jean-Luc's name. Interesting, no? The book is fascinating, so far just because it's making me realize how incredible it is that we're here at all. It also points out though, that there's a very good chance that there are other advanced civilizations out there. Cool. Go have a look around, I've enjoyed all the books I've read so far. I'm always surprised when I see him, I think of him very much looking like the man I did my student teaching with, because they have a very similar sense of humour. However, they don't look anything alike, of course.

Ok, off I go again. T-12 days until Grant comes home for good. T-12 school days until vay-cay. wooh!

you asked for it

well, one of you did anyway. hehe. I teach art, can you tell? I'm so freaking talented. LOOK at those pictures up there! I did those all by myself! in PAINT! lol. I did think about downloading nice ones off Google, but this is so much more fun.

Don't go see Timeline. Good story, poor acting. Cute boys though, so maybe do go, but definitely not on expensive night.

I have to go to bed now.

I'll stop soon

I know, for *not* making a big deal out of the list, I'm talking about it a lot. But I just had the brilliant idea to make it a blog, thus facilitating easy updates. Then I made it festive. I know not everyone loves the season as much as I do, but what can I say. I do. Go see!

You're lucky I don't do the same colour scheme for this page....hehe

What an interesting friend you have Marge. Let's hope something runs over her.

Jacques: Hello, ah, Homer.
Marge: No, no. That's the name of the ball.

Well, the good news is that I figured out why my online banking site wasn't letting me in, and it was an easy fix. Not as easy as deleting all my cookies and telling IE to allow all cookies, but fairly easy.
The bad news is that I had to talk to a guy who sounded EXACTLY like Jacques from the Simpsons where Homer gave Marge a bowling ball for her birthday. He was big on the pauses and accentuating unnecessary words in his sentences. I had to try very hard not to laugh, but it was also annoying because it was like, "ok.....now......click on tools .....beside..... favourites......do you see it?" And I'm like, "yep, ok....?" Then he would wait about 10 seconds and continue, "ok....... now .....down at the bottom......it says ....... 'internet options'.......click on that please......do you see it?" Since I'm not a total computer illiterate, it was a little frustrating. He could have just said, 'you have to allow session cookies'. That would have worked.

Anyway, it was good for a laugh.