WestJet Sucks

Wow, whatever WestJet is doing is really bad. With the changes they are making they have deleted all old web profiles and yet the new system is really difficult for logging in. there is no way I'm going to remember an 8 digit login. I don't understand why it's not an email address. Weird and not impressive. Then when I tried to leave comments it wouldn't actually let you leave them (either that or I left them a couple of dozen times because I kept clicking on OK and nothing was happening).

Olympic Tickets Arrived

My Olympic tickets arrived this morning and they look so great. I have my gold medal women's hockey tickets in hand and can't wait. We have some amazing seats. Just waiting for J and J to receive their tickets and then we are really ready to go.

We still need to figure out which events we can actually get to (we have some conflicts) and decide if we can afford to hit up Whistler for at least one night (I hope so).

Plus, I'm so excited about getting to visit my brother and family for two whole weeks! Now, I know I'll be busy during those two weeks, but I'm sure we will find time for games!

Rachel Getting Married

So, I just finished watching Rachel Getting Married. I remember going to the Toronto Film Festival went this came out and everyone talking about how great Anne Hathaway is in it. And she is really good, but I'm not sure about the movie as a whole. I just found it very odd. I think it was all the musicians everywhere. I don't know why this kept taking me out of the story, but it did. I found it very distracting.

Music Memories

'I Will Follow Him' just showed up on my ipod. Wow, I'm back to sitting on the dining room floor in Goderich with my mom and dad's record collection. How I loved their record collection - the album covers, the songs, the smell of the records, dancing around the dining room - all of it. I still have them all and every so often I pull them out and I'm right back to my childhood.

Stupid Canadian Government

So, I needed to send some receipts back to revenue canada. Unfortunately, when I tried to get a copy of my receipts the company never sent them to me. So, that wasted time. Once I had them I mailed them off. Then I received a letter a month later saying I never responded! WTH? Stupid Canada Post screws me again. Then I called and the nice woman there gave me a number and fax to call. Well, the number was busy for over an hour so I gave up. I tried to fax, the fax machine tried for who knows how long and it was busy. So, I figured I mail the receipts again (getting a signature this time), no there is no address ANYWHERE! What does it say on their website? It says use the address label we gave you. I DID on the first one, it didn't get there. So, now I have no way to get my receipts to them and they say I owe money. Stupid fraking crappy Canadian government.

Battle of the Blades live

Last week I went to a taping of battle of the blades with my cousin Michelle, her husband Andrew and my friend Julia. It was so cool to be back at Maple Leaf Gardens (surprised by how many seats are still there). The show was actually live for the east coast. I think the judges were watching different routines than we were. Domi hardly skated, it was so boring; Lemieux was rarely in time with his partner. But Stephane was awesome and Craig and Jamie are far and away the best couple. We actually stuck around after to get their autographs.

It was such a fun night, except for when I got hit in the face. Yes, I went to a figure skating competition and ended up with a fat lip. Someone was flinging their hands around and smacked me in the face. It took about 4 days for my lip to heal.

Tickets are really cheap and they have a rush line as well. Go if you get the chance. It was so much fun!!

Stupid App

Once again I'm having problems with my iphone. I have an app that "allows" me to blog from my phone. I think it worked once. I have a couple of blogs but here's the message I get when I try to post "seems your network is not ready for posting". Very annoying.

Battle of the Blades

I wasn't sure about this show, but I must say I've been pleasantly surprised. It's been great. And tonight watching Kurt Browning perform in hockey skates was phenomenal! I'm really excited that my friends and I have tickets for a show in a couple of weeks. I don't want to see anyone leave!

iPhone Sucks

I hate my iphone again. All I wanted was a Buffy ringtone. I would have thought that was simple, but no. Apparently not. I've been trying for over an hour. Supposedly I should be able to create my own (I don't understand why I can't just buy one). But, when I attempt all of the iphone 'help' options I can't even create one. It's not option (even though all the help screens say it should be). I'm getting so frustrated. I hate when documentation is incorrect! And I can't email for iphone support. I can supposedly set up a call, but that was taking over 20 minutes to figure out, so I gave up. Customer service my ass!

SYTYCD tour 2009

I'm hanging out at the ACC for the 2009 tour. I have floor seats, only 10 rows from the stage (the seats you can get when you are by yourself).

Walking into the platinum section I walked past the Canadian top 10. saw Vincent first, then, unfortunately, Emmanuel sandu.

Not as excited as I have been in years past. But looking forward to seeing Ade and Melissa dance Tyce's breast cancer routine. Also interested to see if what's her name is more impressive in person (geez I can't even remember her name she was so blah).


-- Post From My iPhone

Timmy and Beelzebub

I headed to Goderich this weekend for a day of scrapbooking with my friends Sharon and Shannon. After scrapbooking Sharon, her daughter and myself broke out my Beatles Rockband. I took up the guitar this time since it's the hardest instrument in rockband and boy was i frustrated! I could not figure it out. After awhile we switched it up for a couple of songs, then I went back to the guitar and was so much better. Now, I'm still bad, but I was finally figuring it out.

After Sharon's daughter headed to bed, we switched to regular Rockband. Sharon took over the vocals and I picked up the drumsticks. We had sooooo much fun! We unlocked the rest of the songs that were left in the game to get to the end. Then we saw that we had only finished 50 of 63 songs. This didn't make any sense to us since we hadn't finished all the acts, but these were the 'bonus' songs. Bonus normally implies something good. These were anything but! I say that, but we had so much fun with those songs. Sharon was making up words and making me laugh so hard that I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to be doing on the drums. But, the best was the last song. It was something like Timmy Lord of the Underworld. I thought for sure Sharon was making up the words, but she wasn't. It was the most hilarious thing I'd ever heard. Now, it may have seemed so hilarious because it was 2am!

SYTYCD Canada Season 2 again

I'm still not enjoying SYTYCD Canada very much. The dancers make quite a few mistakes and the judges still say they are awesome. I don't think there have been any routines yet that are memorable, which is too bad. That's what really makes this show so good - the routines that you can't forget. I'm watching tonight's show and I know there was a routine I liked, but I can't even remember what it was or who danced it. The dancers aren't really all that memorable yet. (And the Hustle was horrible!)

Too Much Planning

So, I think I planned the baby thing a little too much. Last year I went for all my tests and everything was fine. I then waited to actually start the DI process until I figured out when would be good for me. I was worried about money and making sure the timing worked. Well, I may have waited too long. I went in this week after picking the donor and my blood work came back indicating a problem. I'm hoping it is an anomaly and that next month everything will be fine. The clinic wants me to go back to see my doctor since it's been a year since my last tests. Of course, this meant that I went to worse case scenario. I'm rather worried that this now means I won't be able to have kids. I'm hoping I get much better news later this week.

Now, part of the problem is that the clinic is not very good at providing information (this seems to be the consensus in my support group). But, it is probably mostly because I waited too long. Fingers crossed that everything will be okay.

SYTYCD Canada Season 2 - part 2

I was so hoping for a good performance from Vincent tonight. But, I did not like his partner. She really didn't do as well as I thought. Once again I'm just not impressed with the Canadian show. I may have to give up on it again this year.

SYTYCD Canada Season 2

What is with Tre? 'This is the best top 20 we've ever had.' It's only season 2! What a ridiculous comment. I can't believe how much better the American version is.

But, I am watching this season because I love Vincent. He's damn sexy and I can't wait for him to dance.

Another Season Done - SYTYCD

This week marked the end of another season of So You Think You Can Dance. SYTYCD is one of my favourite shows, but this season left me a little cold. There wasn't a standout for me (until the finale). Normally, I have a favourite by week 1 or 2, and sometimes during the auditions.

I never saw season 1 so I can't comment on anyone from that season (I really wish MuchMusic would replay that season - they over play everything else).

Season 2 was AMAZING! So many dancers to choose from. During the season I (like everyone else) loved Benji, but in the rewatching (I kept all of the seasons since season 1) I found that Travis really was the most amazing dancer that season. Either way, though, it was an amazing season with amazing dancers (with great personality) making it to the finale.

Season 3, not as good as season 2 (IMO) but it did have Neil. I loved Neil and was very happy he made it to the finale. Season 3 was the first time I went to see the tour (I tried for season 2, but it sold out in 15 mins).

Season 4 was all about TWITCH! I was also a big Katee fan. The "Mercy" routine with the door is probably my all time favourite dance from the show (and I was very happy to see them perform it again in season 5). Once again I was able to get tickets to the tour.

Then came SYTYCD Canada. Hmmm. I think it would have been great, if only they didn't have the most annoying host in the history of television. I LOVE dance, and I love dance programs. But, I had to stop watching because she was so horrible (and, please, a glitter microphone?, really?). I did try to watch from the PVR, but I found that even fast-forwarding and seeing her face annoyed me. I did end up watching the finale and wish I could have handled watching the season because there were some great dancers that season (and I loved that a ballerina made it to the final 2).

Now, Season 5. No stand outs at all, as I've said. Not one. Well, there was one. Kayla - in that she annoyed me to no end from day one. My friend I think she must be way better in person because everyone I know did not think she was all that. Yet, the judges went on and on about how awesome she was. Sorry, I just didn't see it. She had no personality on stage. I would not pay money to see her dance (and I quite often pay money to see dancers). I found most of the season that I stopped watching when she was on stage because I was bored. Now, it could be that I'm danced out. Between this and Dancing with the Stars, maybe I've had enough for awhile (which isn't good since season 6 is going to start in a few weeks).

Once again I planned to go to the tour, even though no one stood out. No one wanted to join me this year for that very fact. So, I bought a ticket and I'm glad I did because in the last couple of weeks there have been some amazing routines and some stand-outs. It just took a long time.

Melissa was amazing this season - I really hope they do the Romeo and Juliet routine on the tour. It was phenomenal to see classical ballet on the show (and danced so beautifully). I still think Ade and Janette should have been in the finale instead of Evan and Kayla. I can't believe Janette left the show so early, she was amazing. I really liked Evan, but I don't think he grew as a dancer as much as the others did. Plus, I would have loved to have seen that Nasty Boys routine with Ade and Brandon.

Then there was Jeanine. All of a sudden she became my favourite. I can't remember when it happened (but it was definitely after Janette left). And she just exploded on the stage in the finale! Her solo was so amazing. When my friend, Julia, and I were watching the finale we were screaming we were so excited when she won (but, I think we screamed louder when they announced that Kayla was leaving first). I don't know what it was about Kayla that just rubbed us all the wrong way (I really suspect it was because the judges wouldn't shut up about how great she was and yet we couldn't see it at all - that girl needs to get some personality on stage).

Favourite dances this season: the breast cancer (makes me cry each time I watch it) and addiction routines (Kupono's evil smile sends chills) from the duet's. I really hope they do the asian-inspired group routine, the black, red and white of that was so stunning! I think the group routines were actually better than many of the partner dances this season so I'm really looking forward to those.

Beautitul Post

I'm, obviously, a child of the 70's, and a very sentimental one at that. This week with the passing of John Hughes I was taken back to my teenage years and all of his wonderful movies. (As my friends from that time can attest I was obsessed with Ferris / Matthew.)

This morning I read a really moving blog post (and an excellent follow-up post). From all the comments the writer has received I know I was not the only one that was moved by what she wrote. For those of you out there that were also fans of his movies, I highly recommend popping over to her site.

Original post: http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-john-hughes.html

Follow up post: http://wellknowwhenwegetthere.blogspot.com/2009/08/sincerely-alison-byrne-fields.html

Books and Movies and Stuff

The current book I'm listening to on CD is once again quite annoying. Holy product placement, Batman! Whenever the author describes anything it is with a brand name. Plus, once again it's a woman who doesn't stand up for herself. I really wish I could pick a book with a strong woman as a central character.

I just finished watching Triviatown. It's a great documentary on the world's largest trivia contest. Now, I probably really liked the movie since I play trivia every week, but I found it really interesting. I would love to go and play in their contest. Unfortunately, based on the questions I heard I would not do well at all! Those are some tough questions.

Last week was our trivia finals (my team just made it in). Three teams make it into the finals every season. We lost but there were some good rounds. The team Clueless did an awesome job this season with the questions.

iPhone issues already

Well I've only had my phone about a week and already I'm finding flaws. I'm waiting for my computer to install a bunch of updates (taking way tooooo long) so I'm playing with the phone. The gps thinks I'm quite a bit west of where I actually am. I keep trying to get it to reorient but it keeps thinking I'm at shoppers world in Brampton. I'm definitely not there!

-- Post From My iPhone

iPhone blog

My first post from my iPhone. I totally inderstand how everyone gets addicted to these things. I also understand how people fall into sewers! This could be very dangerous.

-- Post From My iPhone

First Book Club

I've joined my first book club (thanks Charlotte for inviting me) and last night was my first meeting (I didn't join until after the first meeting). I think there are about ten women in the club and I knew four of them prior to going into the meeting.

The first book (for me) was Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. It was an excellent book and I would highly recommend reading it. I think we probably gave it an 8 out of 10. A couple of us felt that it lost a bit of momentum (and believability) just over half way through. But, even with that the story is well told and extremely interesting (and was very well researched - that part was very interesting to me).

I had a great time at the meeting. We had some really great discussions (and not just about the book).

Our next book: The Ten Year Nap.

Twilight Fun

Okay, I keep meaning to blog about my obsession with Twilight, but that will have to wait.

This blog I found is awesome! Check it out: I may need to get the Buffy action figure and the Edward Cullen doll to go with my Angel puppet.

http://jezebel.com/5298281/whatever-edward-cull+ken--youre-not-the-sparkliest-doll-on-the-block

(I love the quip from Buffy in the comments: "Oh, yay. It's a disco-vamp.")

But, the best part? The clip on this page. It's phenomenal. I miss Buffy!

http://jezebel.com/5298683/buffy-shuts-down-edward-cullen-in-the-best-clip-ever (I may need to check out other Rebellious Pixels work).

Awesome Birthday

This past weekend was my birthday and I had the most amazing time! On Friday four of my friends took me out for dinner. The food was great and the company was excellent (Sue refused to be in the picture).
On Saturday a group of us travelled to Niagara Falls to really celebrate my birthday. I always like to do something crazy and fun for my birthday. This year it was a trip to the casino for some gambling. I used to work there, but wasn't able to check out the casino so I was excited to check it out.

Originally we were going to check out the Maid of the Mist as a touristy thing to do before the casino (since I've never really done anything touristy at the falls - on my grade 8 trip to the falls we went shopping). But, Sharon's friend Nick recommended that we head over to the American side and check out Goat Island and go to the Cave of Winds (http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/Activities_CaveOfTheWinds.aspx). It was the best suggestion. Cave of the Winds takes you into the Bridal Veil Falls (in between the Horseshoe and American falls). We were able to stand pretty much directly under the falls. It was wicked! I loved it. I highly recommend checking out if you are ever in the area. It was only $11 and worth every penny. We were soaking wet by the end. I could have stayed for hours (above: the group before and below, the group during).
After getting soaked, we walked around the falls area and it was pretty cool. It was an overcast, rainy day. It would be nice to go and check it out again when it's nice.

We then headed back to Canada and got cleaned up at the hotel. Off to find a place to eat. We ended up eating at the Shoeless Joe's at Fallsview. The food was quite good (surprisingly so) and the beer was nice and cold! Tim had worn jeans to the falls and they had to be dried out at the hotel, then at the end of dinner he spilled an entire glass of water on his jeans. Poor Tim.

The plan was to play craps at Fallsview, but the tables were a little out of our price range. So, we decided to head over to Casino Niagara. I had such a good time. Julia kicked some butt at throwing the nice; I once again learned that I should not touch the dice at a craps table. After a few hours of me losing money we decided to head out for some dancing (to me it's an awesome birthday if I get to dance).

After the bar we went back to the casino and ended up playing craps until they closed the table. Then I decided it would be a good idea to try some poker (at 4am). Not a good idea. But, I had an awesome time regardless of how much I lost at the casino (but, I only lost what I could afford to).

It was a phenomenal birthday and I am so thankful for all my awesome friends that made it so memorable!

Horrible Female Character

So, I'm once again listening to a book on CD in my car. The problem with this one: the main character. She's SOOO annoying. I'm listening to a book called Ladykiller. The main character is a female lawyer but she has no backbone whatsoever. Now, I don't know a lot of lawyers, but I've always been under the impression that they kind of know what the hell they are doing. This character lets everyone walk all over her and doesn't stand up for herself at all. Now, I suppose there could be lawyers like that, but I find it very unbelievable. I find myself yelling at her constantly. Come on people if you are going to write a female character could you not make her more strong-willed? I think the book would have been more interesting (as it would not have affected the story) if she had have shown some bit of a backbone.

Finished Knitting Project

A friend asked me to knit something for her baby and so I decided to try a pattern from my new book. This pattern had a number of different things going on. I'm really happy with how it turned out. It isn't perfect, but I learned a number of new techniques. I hope Aiden likes it!

Olympic Uniforms

I can't believe our government voted to include seal products in the Canadian Olympic uniforms. They don't have better things to do? If they want to do something about seals then maybe they should vote to end the seal hunt. That seems like a much better use of voting time. Normally I love Canada - right now I'm not happy with it at all.

I hope the Olympic committee decides that this is a bad idea and I hope that our government finally ends the seal hunt.

Books on CD

I almost always have a book on CD playing in my car. Back when I was driving to Niagara Falls everyday I found that this really helped with the long drive. I still find it helpful for the short drives to work - there are even times when I don't want to get out of the car because I want to know what happens next.

The book I'm listening to right now is really throwing me. I think the voice actor read another book I've listened to - where she was reading as a sixteen year old. In the current book she's supposed to be a thirty year old woman, but she sounds exactly the same. So, when she's talking about having sex with the hot neighbour it really throws me. Maybe she just sounds really young.

Last week I finished listening to the latest Janet Evanovich book and I already miss Stephanie Plum. Lorelai King (sp?) is such a great voice actor. I can't wait for the next installment.

Dollhouse

This last episode of Whedon's Dollhouse was sooo good. Even though the spoiler was out on the net months ago it still threw me.

There are still parts of the show I'm not too keen on, but for the most part I am really enjoying this show. I really hope it gets picked up for another season.

-spoilers-
So, the rumour on the net way back at the beginning of the season was that Wash from Firefly was Alpha (the rogue doll). I forgot all about the rumour because there hadn't been much talk of Alpha since then. Part way through Friday's episode there was Wash, not acting at all like what I expected Alpha to be like so I actually thought the rumours were wrong and that Alan Tudyk was just in the show. The scenes with him and Helo (he'll always be Helo from BSG to me - Tahmoh Penikett) were awesome. I was laughing my ass off. And then.... he totally turns into Alpha. Awesome!
- end spoilers-

The episode before that was great as well. Topher being all nerdy and having fun was really good.

Eve of Destruction

Last week I downloaded a song from itunes that I hadn't heard in ages. I don't know when / why it disappeared from my ipod, but I realized that 'Eve of Destruction' by Barry McGuire was missing and went ahead and purchased it.

I love this song. It's definitely one of my all-time favourites and that goes back to probably when I was five years old. Now, when I was 5 I had no idea what the song was about, but I'm sure it was one of the ones I played over and over again - and that continues to be the case. There is just something about this song.

I loved my father's record collection. Well, I also loved my mother's but they were very different. My dad's collection consisted of all these cool albums with crazy artwork that just mesmerized me (the album for The Who's Tommy had me enthralled). I wanted to understand the stories behind the covers and would make up my own stories about what they meant. My mom's collection was mostly 45's. No artwork there - just fun songs for me to dance around the living to.

I think I may go and check out the albums tonight and take myself back to all those days I spent on the floor of the dining room (that's where the stereo was) sifting through the covers and replaying songs over and over again.

Driving Range

Last night I hit the driving range for the first time this season. I'm playing tomorrow morning with some of the guys from work and figured I better get some practice in first so I don't make a complete fool of myself.

I'm definitely getting better. I didn't curse near as much as normal :)

I tried out most of my clubs and found that one of the clubs I don't normally use was my favourite last night. So, we'll see if that transfers to the golf course.

If I play more than normal this season I may consider upgrading more of my clubs. Over the past couple of years my dad has been giving me money for my birthday to buy a new club. I have my step-mother's old set and they have served me very well.

The County

This weekend I headed to Goderich (Huron County) for the weekend. I was talking to a friend on my way up to Goderich and mentioned that it's my happy place. Which is funny considering how hard I fought to get out of there, but I always feel so at peace there.

I had a great day hanging out with my friend Sharon and we had a good bitch session :)

Saturday morning was amazingly hot and then in the afternoon it just poured rain. After the rain the trees looked amazing on my ride home today. I already miss it and can't wait to head home again.

Lars and the Real Girl

This week I've actually been watching the movies that I picked up from the library. Last night it was 'Lars and the Real Girl'.

This was a movie that I really wanted to see last year. I love Ryan Gosling and am always impressed with his choices. This movie was no exception. I cried and laughed a lot during this movie. I read some comments on IMDB.com afterwards (which I normally do after I watch a movie). One of the threads started out very negative. They seemed to feel that a community would never rally around someone like this. The more I think about it, the more I appreciate growing up in Goderich. I have many issues with growing up in such a small town (and in no way will I say that Goderich is tolerant), but I do believe that small towns can be very accepting and loving. I know that sounds like I've contradicted myself. Without getting into specifics Goderich has shown me its intolerance and its acceptance.

But, back to the movie. Check this out, let me know what you think. I thought it was great and once again it is a movie that makes me think. It wasn't just Ryan that was so great in this film, it was everyone.

Daffodils

Have you bought your daffodils from the Cancer society this spring? I bought mine today. They always make me think of my mom. From what I can remember, when I was young our house was always full of daffodils at this time of year. I don't think she bought all of those daffodils, I think she actually was a volunteer for the Cancer society (hopefully my aunt will be reading this and let me know if I'm right on this one).

Either way the spring daffodils make me very happy and I love seeing them on my counter.

Boy A

I just finished watching 'Boy A'. My trainer recommended this movie and I am definitely going to recommend it as well. It is definitely a movie that makes you think, and I believe I'll be thinking about this one for awhile.

I think it's a better movie if you don't have any knowledge or expectations going into it. Go check it out.

Amazing Race

Today on the Amazing Race the teams are in Thailand. Unfortunately, they had a road block (or whichever type it was) that was really upsetting. They had to pose with a tiger that was being poked to snarl for the camera. That was horrible to watch. But, not near as bad as watching the elephants. The poor elephants have been trained to squat over people. Those poor animals. I'm very disappointed in the amazing race for choosing a challenge like this.

Wii Fit - Finally

Last year I purchased a Wii. The reason - Wii Fit. I had read a great blog about how good this game was and I was intrigued. I asked a few people and heard that this would probably be a great gaming system for me. I've never been a big fan of video games but I was really intrigued. So, I bought the system and then tried to find Wii Fit. Well, it took a year and I finally found one. In the last year of having my Wii I've had fun with the games I do have. Star Wars Lego has been pretty frustrating - my dad laughed at me a lot when he watched me trying to figure it out. But, I now have it figured out and love it!

The Wii Fit kind of started out the same way. My friend Julia had warned me that it would probably frustrate me (as those of you who know me realize - I do not have that thing called patience). I hooked it up Friday night and listened to the game tell me how overweight I was (like I really needed a game to tell me that). But, it also told me how balanced I am. I actually keep 50.2% of my weight on my left and 49.8% on my right (pretty darn balanced considering I have a bum right knee). I decided to start with the hula hoop game and I LOVE it. Now, I love the hula hoop part, but starting out I could not figure out how to catch the hula hoops being thrown at me.

I moved on to some other games and realized that I really didn't like the soccer ball game. I kept getting hit in the head with flying shoes. Then I tried one of the strength exercises and it kept telling me to raise my left leg, which I was doing. Finally I tried my right and it worked. I got really frustrated and thought Julia was right! This game is annoying.

I voiced my frustrations to some friends and they suggested that I turn the board around as it may be backwards. I had assumed that since it was working it was pointing the right way (not realizing it would work both ways). But, that was the issue. Boy did I feel stupid.

Today was my second day on the Wii Fit and I really love the hula hoop games. I am doing great at those and now that the board is facing the right way I'm doing even better. I tried more of the yoga games today. My brother has always told me that I should try yoga, but I have always felt that I don't have the patience for it. Apparently my brother knows me very well. I am kicking butt on the yoga poses so far. I have almost perfect balance on poses I've never done before.

I'm liking my Wii Fit and hoping that I stick with it. It also tells me when I've missed a day (it asks where I was), so I hope that guilts me into doing a workout every day.

BSG - The Finale

Spoilers Ahead!

Last night was the finale of Battlestar Gallactica. I headed over to Julia's for the pre-game show and the 2 hour finale. This last season has left me a little cold. I didn't watch every week when the episode was on because it just didn't hold my interest like other seasons had.

The first hour / hour and a half was really good, but the last half hour sucked (well, other than Helo being alive). It was just a really big let down. They should have ended when they jumped to Earth. That would have been an excellent ending, the ships with Earth in the background? Way better than the ending they did do. Now, I'm sure it doesn't help that I'm not an Odama / Laura fan. I just don't see the chemistry there so I didn't believe their relationship at all, and if I don't see the chemistry it just annoys me. I also really hate Lee's hair at the end and found it really distracting. I SO like the military look and hated his puffy hair.

But, overall the series was excellent and I can't wait to watch it again from start to finish on DVD.

The Heat Saga - Part 3 - Bob The Plumber to the Rescue

My dad is awesome! After all the crap of the week (and let's just say depression reared its ugly head and last night was not so good) I was starting to worry that it would never get resolved.

Last night Direct Energy were supposed to come by and take another look, of course, they didn't show up. My dad had stopped in on Friday and he thought there really wasn't a major issue, but they didn't show up. My dad did show up and probably within an hour of him being here I got a call to let me know I had hot water.... here's the kicker, they had left the PART! My dad didn't even have to go to the store, they never even attempted to install / fix the part that turned out to be the problem.

I can't believe how crazy this week was.

The Heat Saga - Part 2

Tonight there is some good news: my insurance company is awesome. They aren't paying for a new heating unit, but they are putting me up in a hotel. My friends have been awesome (thanks C&M) but I feel bad for just showing up at someone's house and sleeping there. The hotel will be close to home so that I can make sure the kitties are okay.

My dad is hopeful that he will be able to put in a unit that I own and I won't have to pay anymore money to DE. They have not been calling me back at all and I'm so sick of them.

I was also able to get my charges with DE separated off of my gas bill.

The house is warm today - the space heaters actually work (but not looking forward to my energy bill this coming month). The lowest it got to was 47 degrees.

The Heat Saga

This past weekend I went away on a work retreat. The company I now work for goes on two retreats a year. The owner has a piece of property up near my dad's place and invites the company up for a weekend of poker, food and snowmobiling or snowboarding.

After a fun weekend up north (where I was the chip leader for most of the night - but more on that in another blog), I came home to rest.

It was kind of chilly in my condo, but I was so tired I really didn't think about it too much and had a nap. When I woke up it was even colder. So, I called my dear old dad to find out what I should be looking for. Well, there was no heat or hot water and we could not get it to turn on.

Since I rent the hot water tank (which to make a long explanation short also handles the furnace / heat - it's a dual unit), I called Direct Energy. I stayed up until after midnight waiting for them to come and check it out or to call me back. Of course, neither happened. Enbridge who supplies the gas - hey, they showed! But, it wasn't a gas problem. I ended up having to take the day off on Monday to wait for the direct energy guy to show up. He did, he misdiagnosed the problem and I had to wait for a part that I actually didn't need (great). So, the next guy did some further checking. The unit is done and has to be replaced. Okay, let's get that done because now it is 51 degrees in my house. Well, they need to schedule and get a variance, blah, blah, blah. This is at 3pm. But, of course nothing happens for the rest of the day. So, today they sent out another guy who checked to see if I had attic access. Of course, none of the three guys that have been here before checked for that. NO, of course not. Because now I'm on day 3 of no heat (when it's -20 out there) we wouldn't want to speed things along. So, it turns out I don't have attic access so now we are waiting for the condo complex to get them into the neighbour's condo. After that maybe they will schedule the replacement that is going to cost me over $1000 (yet, it's a RENTAL). Plus, my rental costs will double.

Thanks to a friend's suggestion I have now called my insurance company and they are sending out a contractor to look to see if I'm covered under my house policy.

My dad is also looking into some other options and maybe he will be able to do the work and then I will own the unit and won't have to pay direct energy another penny.

I highly recommend that if you pay them any of your money now that you get out from under them. They are horrible and their customer service is non-existent.

Now I'm on the phone with them again and of course they haven't kept track of my previous calls so I am now on my 6th case number (in 3 DAYS)!

Horrible Book - Sorry Michelle

I just finished reading Inkheart. It took forever and I couldn't wait for it to end. My cousin recommended and lent the book to me, so I expected something that I would really enjoy. Unfortunately, I thought it was extremely badly written. Excellent premise, but not well executed (pretty much how I felt back in the day when I attempted to read Anne Rice). There were a number of times when I did not believe the choices the characters made; it took over half the book to get to the premise. I recommend staying far, far away from this book and series.

Bath Mat

I just finished weaving in the ends on my new bath mat. This project was knit with three strands of cotton. It was weird working with more than one strand at a time, the yarn kept getting twisted and drove me crazy.

But, the mat is super soft! I'm using it next to my bed for now (due to the cold mornings), until I complete the rug I'm going to start next.

Here's the finished project (there is one end that went a little wonky):

Baby Kimono

For my friend Christi's baby I wanted to knit something different. I found a pattern for a baby kimono. The picture showed it in white, but I actually had a patterned yarn that I decided to try. I'm really happy with how it turned out and Christi actually brought Aiden over last week and he was wearing it (no pictures of him though).

Knitting Pictures - Finally

I've been knitting a lot more and am actually working on four projects right now with ideas for a number of others.

My beautiful niece was born last September and I had been knitting a blanket for her since February when I found out Megan was pregnant.

I worked on the blanket on the plane twice, in a number of bars, quite a few nights of trivia and, of course, at my Grandma's. I didn't finish the blanket until the flight out to meet Fiona, but I was so happy with how it turned out. Here are pics of the finished project:

I love how the border turned out (which is what was completed on the plane).

Below is my brother with Fiona out in the crazy snow in Vancouver with her blanket:

Golden Globes

Last night was the Golden Globes which I watch for the fashions and to see who will get crazy drunk and make a crazy speech. I loved Ricky Gervais' speech (and the fact that he came out with a pint of beer).

My favourite fashion of the evening was Kyra Sedgwick http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/01/live_the_red-carpet_looks_from.html#photo=55. I love the red dress!

Least favourite for sure was Renee Zellweger http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/01/live_the_red-carpet_looks_from.html#photo=53. There is definitely something wrong with the top of the dress.

And was it just me or was Demi Moore's dress see-through when she was on stage?

Buffy Revisited

It seems that I have a tradition every time I'm between contracts. I'll throw on the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have all seven seasons of Buffy and all five seasons of Angel on DVD and a five-disc DVD player. The DVD player makes it a little too easy to watch a season of a tv show on DVD. Most tv shows are about 6 discs long, so I can put almost the entire season in the player and not have to get off the couch for like 15 hours of TV viewing. It's crazy.

My latest contract ended about a month ago and after a nice trip to the Caribbean, I fell right back into my pattern of watching Buffy. This is probably the fourth time I've done this, but I haven't always gotten through all seven seasons. Last night I finished the last episode of the seventh season and I don't think I've watched season seven more than twice. There was a lot I seemed to have missed.

The second season remains my favourite: the season where we first see Angelus and contains my favourite episode "I Only Have Eyes For You".

I didn't dislike Buffy with Riley near as much as I have in the past and really wanted Buffy and Spike together (but, of course, for her to end up with Angel - I guess I should start reading the comic books to see if that has happened). But, I realized that everytime Angel was back for an episode the show was much better. It was just so much better when he was in the show.

While watching the seventh season I was once again reminded of how annoying the 'potentials' (the slayer wannabe's) were. It was so annoying, it had been bad enough to have two seasons of Dawn being annoying. Of course, the seventh season had Nathan Fillion and he is so great!

But, even with the annoying bits, it was still an excellent show and I miss it. The special features included an interview with Joss Whedon going over his favourite episodes and moments. Joss is amazing and now I feel the need to rewatch Firefly (and of course, Serenity) and Angel (all five seasons).

Unfortunately, I've been sick for the past week so the last three seasons of Buffy were kind of watched in a haze.