Ride to Work

I decided to ride the motorcycle to work today. It's a beautiful day out and I plan to take the bike up to Goderich for the weekend, so it seemed like a good idea.

About 20 mins from work there was a sign on the QEW that the QEW was closed. Not 'closed at night' or 'one laned closed', but 'the QEW is closed'. So, all of the traffic on the QEW to Niagara at 9am this morning was routed through Hwy 406 which is a one lane turnoff where they were still doing construction work. It turns out there was a fatal accident on the QEW in St. Catharines. Okay, close the QEW, but stop doing construction on the turnoff that we all have to use. Does that not make sense?

It took me another hour to get to work from that point. I hate working in Niagara.

Photos, At Least

I haven't had a chance to write up the blog portion, but pictures are at least uploaded.

Check them out at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/12289259@N06/sets/72157601707174828/

Back

Okay, I'm back. No pictues (yet) due to plane malfunctions and getting home much later than expected.

I'm having a very crappy day and do not want to discuss the trip.

Wedding

Just a very quick blog. I'm leaving in a couple of minutes for Nunavut.

I have a number of blogs in draft mode (Jerry's stag and doe, etc). I will write more with pics of my brother's wedding. It was an absolutely beautiful day.

Potter, again

My friend Rod is back from vacation and we finally had a chance to discuss the final Harry Potter (he loved it by the way). We discussed the stupid storyline flaw. It turns out it wasn't a flaw just an expectation that I remembered something that happened back in book 2 (this is book 7). Considering she spent 400 pages talking about crap, she couldn't have made a quick reminder of this plot point? Really?

Which reminds me, Jason has recommended that I read 'The Golden Compass'. I have wanted to read the series for a while now. I am going to attempt (if I can ever find time) to pick up a copy at Chapters before my trip to Nunavut. Which means I need to go shopping tomorrow. Luckily, I pass a chapters on my way home from the falls.

There really are not enough hours in the day.

SNL Fav List

TV Stevie (from Rogers) just posted an article on his favourite cast members of SNL. Just remembering some of these skits has me in hysterics. How I remember hanging out at Leasa Collinson's watching Eddie Murphy the night that Buckwheat was shot. Still one of my all-time favourite SNL episodes.

http://yahoo.rogers.com/yahoo/spotlight/tv_stevie.jsp?id=20070808

Note: I am attempting to add my blog about my crazy evening in Goderich, but it requires pictures that are home in Mississauga and I'm stuck here in Niagara Falls working crazy hours until I go on vacation. I have 3 more training sessions to give this evening (which means I'm missing So You Think You Can Dance :(

Another Crazy Night in Goderich

On Friday I was at work thinking about how I would see my brother later that evening (he was flying in to TO with Megan at midnight). I knew I would spend most of Saturday with him and then I was looking forward to getting some much needed wedding stuff done (music, etc) on Saturday night and Sunday. Ah, the best laid plans.

Somehow (damn facebook) I was convinced to travel up to Goderich for the evening for Jerry's stag and doe. Originally when I heard about the stag and doe I did want to go but it was the week before my brother's wedding and I would already be going to Goderich for that (I'm not a big fan of going to Godrock more than necessary). Then Sharon asked if I was going to the party and I was reading Shane's comments on how good the party was going to be and decided that I should support Jerry (come on we did go to the prom together, even though he made out with Colin's date the whole time :).


Friday night I met up with Christi for dinner when I got home from the falls and we had an okay Thai dinner. I think the Thai place in Mississauga is good for take out once in awhile, but I have to agree with Christi, there isn't a lot of substance, just a lot of sauce. Toronto definitely has the better Thai food (Mississauga can not be beat when it comes to Indian, though). We then toured around trying to locate a Dairy Queen. After Christi dropped me off I desperately needed to clean my house before Jason and Megan showed up. Unfortunately I was unable to get to the couch (the cats have really made a mess of the couch), but the rest of the condo was relatively clean (this living in two places is really messing with me).


At 11:40 I headed over to the airport. I figured that their flight got in at 11:58 and that gave me lots of time to get there and get parked. Jason calls me at 11:45 to say they are there. That confused me and so I didn't park and ended up circling at the loading area (which I will never do again). Due to luggage delays I ended up parking the car. Got to see Jay and Megan shortly thereafter and we headed back to my place. Stayed up until about 2:30 am chatting. Up early Saturday as there was much to do. We headed out to get the car (I haven't been back to Enterprise since December and was sort of hoping that Moh would be there - I haven't seen him since we were dating back in February - he wasn't, though). Then off to see Nolan (Megan's brother) and drop Megan off with him for her day in Hamilton. Jason and I stopped to get breakfast and then off to Canadian Tire to get me a drill so we could fix my bed.


The bed. I love my bed. It is a metal frame that my parents bought at CNE furniture in Goderich 33 years ago for $13. When they first had it, it wasn't painted so the iron showed, then it was painted white. I ended up with the bed after mom died. The bed still had the same mattress and box spring that mom and dad were given as a wedding present. The mattress finally gave up the fight and was replaced by the mattress my mom had since she moved out of Goderich when I was 18. Over the years I became very angry with the box spring and frame. For some reason the frame doesn't actually hold the box spring. The box spring just sits on top of the metal frame. Which I guess if you don't move the box spring that would be fine. Unfortunately, the box spring does move around (get your minds out of the gutter people) when I make the bed. When it moves it actually falls off of the frame. Luckily it has not killed either of the cats, yet. I almost broke my finger a couple of weeks ago, though, when I tried to put the box spring back on top of the frame and didn't get my hand out of the way in time (it was dented for a couple of days). I ended up talking to Jay just after the mishap and he came up with some ideas of how to fix it.


I was super happy when he said he would help fix the bed issue while in town. We went to Canadian Tire and picked out a drill (dad kept promising me his old one, but he has way too much going on). I was super excited about the new drill (I can be very girlie and also very tomboyish). We drilled some screws into the box spring and now it can't move off of the frame at all. It's awesome! Yes, this is what makes me happy a bed that doesn't fall off the frame.


After that we jumped in the pool and enjoyed the wonderful weather. Ah how I do love the pool! Can't wait for Grandma's this weekend and relaxing in the pool with a beer.


When we got out of the pool we attempted to find Rene. Jason was heading up to St. Catharines to meet up with Megan, Q and Martha. But, Rene was supposed to meet at my place for the ride up. After many phone calls, messages, text messages, cursing, etc. Jason left around 4:30 (he was hoping to leave at 3). About 15 mins later Q called to say that Rene no longer needed a ride. I can only imagine the cursing once Jason got to Q's place.


I was hoping to get to Goderich around 5pm, but that didn't happen :) I finally hopped on the motorcycle (once again I absolutely love my new leather jacket and chaps) and headed home. Beautiful ride, perfect weather! Arrived to find out that I had been locked out. This is the third time I've been locked out of the house (you would think I would get myself a set of keys made since this is where I stay when I go home). The worst had to be at Christmas when I arrived around 2am and found the house locked up. Luckily Jason's second family were willing to take me :) This time I gave my aunt a call and grabbed the keys, hopped in the shower and then over to Sharon's for some pre-party drinking. We got ourselves all gussied up and called ourselves a cab (there was no way I was getting on the bike after the beer and wine - but I had to promise Sharon that when I'm back in town for the labour day weekend I will bring an extra helmet).


We got to the arena and I was so excited to see Jerry's dad, Ray. I haven't seen him in forever and I spent many a night / day sitting at the kitchen table trying to convince Ray to let Jerry come out and party with me. My puppy dog eyes normally worked ;) Many faces that I hadn't seen in a long time: Rob Pollock, Jay Austin, Tim Harrison (was he always that tall?), Chris Muggridge (it has been so long since I saw him, we reminisced about the party in the upstairs of my garage watching Rocky Horror - which reminded me of my ex,Rob, as the party was due to him coming to town from Mississauga), Shane Davenport, Rob McGraw, Dan Mabee. Much reminiscing. I must finally be over my high school insecurities as I had an awesome time and talked to so many people. But, the best part (as always) was getting to dance. I don't know what it is about dancing in Goderich, but it is by far my favourite place to dance (maybe because I normally have the dance floor all to myself - and I do love being the exhibitionist; it could also have to do with the fact that they don't normally play that much AC/DC in the city). There were a couple of worrisome moments when my heels slipped out from under me on the arena floor, I thought for sure I was going to fall or end up doing the splits. The unfortunate part was that I could not locate any water and normally I need a lot of water when I dance, so I had to settle for beer. That might explain why I felt so crappy the next morning :)


After the arena, Sharon, Paul (her ex) and I went over to my grandma's for a beer before heading over to Jerry's for the after party. My feet were killing me by this point. I love my heels but they are not meant for walking around Goderich (the dancing probably didn't help either). I switched back to my doc's (which I was really happy about later when I could not get a cab to save my life, probably because I was too drunk to figure out my phone). Off to Jerry's where I had many memories flood back: like the shoe fight in the tent with Jerry, Cara and Shane where I ended up with a bloody lip that got ripped open later on a sleeping bag zipper. There were way too many times that I ended up hurt when partying with these guys (luckily the incident with the spaghetti-o's in the fire was not one where I got hurt, sorry Shane).


I wish I had of gotten more pics (sorry - I looked at them and they will not be posted) of the destruction of the TV. Only in Goderich would the defining moment of the evening be when everyone threw rocks at a television set in the driveway (yes, this is where I'm from). Sharon and I also teased Shawn mercilessly (well, he probably didn't think it was so bad since I believe we were discussing how we were going to molest him later in the evening - but when I came back outside they were gone, I believe Shawn answered the phone when I called, but I'm really not sure since I was pretty drunk by this point). I left not too long after that (I think, but really who knows). According to my phone I attempted to call Sharon and a cab around 4am. No cab to be had (from what I can remember) so I walked over to Sharon's to get my motorcycle and go back to my Grandma's. I suspect I got home around 5am and was not happy that I had to get back to Toronto to finish shopping for my trip to Nunavut. Riding the motorcycle hung over was not the most fun thing I've ever done.


During my shopping trip at MEC (to get the rest of the stuff needed - including a down jacket for the 4C weather) I was supposed to buy two more fuel canisters. I could not find them. MEC is renovating and I found it difficult to find what I was looking for (plus, they don't seem to have the selection that they used to). After attempting to find them I asked customer service. I did not expect the answer I received. Apparently, the Canadian gvt has recalled the fuel canisters as the lid is not child safe. We leave in less than a week and we don't have enough cansisters for the fuel we are going to need (apparently Jason has two of these, but they, of course, are back in BC). They recommended that I go across the street to Europe Outfitters (or whatever they are called). I hate that store. I always think something is going to fall on me and I can never find anything I'm looking for. They directed me to the back of the store and of coure the fuel canisters were on the top shelf. But, they weren't the right kind. Liz is now in charge of locating two more cansisters as I failed at the one task I was given :(


Only a couple more days until I head to Goderich for a very whirlwind weekend. I was in at work yesterday (civic Monday) until 10pm trying to get everyone trained. So another crazy week of me training the different shifts (I really hate 7-7 shifts). I'm still at work waiting for the next shift to get in so I can train them. Then I have a full day of training again tomorrow. I'm so tired. Luckily, this time I have a place to crash in Niagara (well, last time they put me up in the Hilton, I like Gord's place, but it's not the Hilton).

Gotta love Jack

I normally don't go to youtube, but it had to do with Jack Bauer so I had to check it out. I love the beginning interview with Keifer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxzovLECtGc

So You Think You Can Dance

I love this show. I got Gord watching last week and he asked me if I thought I could dance and I told him 'I know I can dance'. But, I also know that I am nowhere near the level of the dancers on this show.


Last night I was surprised that Lacy let me down. During the auditions I thought she was very full of herself and I was quite surprised that I really enjoyed her dancing and she ended up being one of my favourites. But, last night I thought she looked the same (in the latin jazz routine, not the contemporary) as she had in other routines. Same facial expressions, same hand gestures and body movements. Neil, as always, was awesome. Hello, he can keep dancing without his shirt every week! Even better than Demetri without his shirt (at least in my opinion). I did love their contemporary routine, but that was mostly because of the sentiment behind it. I, like most of the audience, was crying for the next ten minutes. I hope Neil sticks around.


Sabra is definitely one of my new favourites, but I don't know if I agree with all the gushing. I do love her hair and attitude, though.


For the guys, I hope Neil and Danny stick around to the end (I like Pasha, but these guys seem to grab more attentions - since I keep forgetting Pasha is left in the competition). For the girls, I love Lauren (even though her dancing did not impress me in the beginning - maybe it's because she is so damn sexy and I can't keep my eyes off of her when she's on stage). I think it is a great female competition this season. Sabra is amazing. I love Sara, I think she is definitely the surprising one out of the group considering she is a b-girl and has done great learning so many different styles and doing them very well. Lacy, unfortunately, I think is starting to show her limitations. At the beginning she blew me away, but I'm not so sure anymore. Plus I hate the socks she wears :)


While watching the show last night I was also putting together song lists for Jason's wedding. All that great dancing and great music had me up and dancing around the house (neither Gord nor George were home, obviously). I forgot how much I love to just dance around. It was awesome, I danced around the house for about two hours and then it was definitely time for bed. I could not get up this morning. I'm not sure if it was the dancing, the lack of drugs, the crazy dreams, or what. But, the clock was snoozed multiple times throughout the hour it took me to get out of bed.

Another crazy side effect of the lack of drugs this week: giggles. Most of the guys I work with have commented on it. I am giggling uncontrollably. I'm dizzy and I'm giggly. It's very odd. It actually feels like I'm on a different kind of drug. Weird.

The dreams from last night were also very involved and weird. Lisa and I were travelling to Pittsburgh (?) and had to meet up with a bunch of other people, but they could not get the same flight as us and one group even had to fly through the Caribbean to meet up with us. While there we had to stake out hotels (because we hadn't done that before) and we did this by walking around the city. I ended up losing everyone one night and was stuck in a weird grocery / liquor store where they thought I had stolen a bottle of alcohol. But, since I couldn't find my friends I ended up sticking around the store and dancing around the aisles. Later on I ended up back at the hotel to realize that I had left my child in the hotel room (other friends had also left their children in the hotel room) and housekeeping was taking care of the kids (sort of). Later on in my dream there was a whole hockey thing going on where (surprise, surprise) I was infatuated with a hockey player. I somehow ended up stealing his shoes (that were actually owned by his favourite hockey player and were a surprise present from his sister). I promptly lost this present and spent most of the rest of the dream trying to relocate these shoes (someone in a biker gang / pickpocket ring had stolen them from me). My brother and my dad were both on another hockey team and had matching 'Woodall Plumbing' hockey bags that were pink (yes, my least favourite colour) and I wanted one (I didn't get one because I kept being unable to locate my hockey equipment or my father whenever he came to pick me up at the arena). I finally convinced the hockey player I was infatuated with to give me a chance, but it turned out he was a smoker and I had to tell him that I was no longer interested. There were a lot of other elements to my crazy dream (like the restaurant we went to for breakfast, but were given free fries and onion rings that Jason covered in ketchup and we all decided to go for a run / hike after breakfast). I do have the oddest, most vivid dreams.

Work, etc.

Well, the dizziness has kicked in from the lack of anti-depressants. Boy it's fun to walk around in heels when you feel like you could fall down at any minute ;)

Work is actually pretty good this week. It looks like we will be getting rid of the crappy software and I can start putting together a project plan again for the next phase of my job. YEAH!!!

My brother is getting married in just over a week. I can't believe it is so soon (yes, I am aware of my last post on this subject, sue me, I'm off my drugs and my moods are all over the place). He and Megan fly in on Friday night and are crashing at my place after their very late flight and then they will have a whirlwind week of trying to get the wedding together (I expect).

This also means that I leave for my vacation in less than a week. I had another conversation this week with someone asking how we could not be taking a gun with us. What is with all the gun happy Canadians lately? Okay, I realize this sounds more in keeping with Canadian tradition of owning guns, since it involves wildlife... but not really. This is not about hunting for food, this is about protection, which sounds way more like American ideas about owning guns and I am not keen on that at all. Now, Gord's ideas on a 'bear bang' sounded a bit better because it was just about making a large enough noise to scare off the bear. Since the Nunavut handbook and Polar Bear warning guide did not mention this as an option, it doesn't sound too promising to me. I think they might know what they are talking about (I hope).

Finished Harry Potter

I finished the final Harry Potter today. My cousin was right, about 400 pages of 'what are we going to do', 'we're going to die', blah, blah, blah and then about 100 pages that were well written and very interesting. Except for one major mistake. I can't really say anything about it on here since a bunch of my friends haven't read the book yet. I'll have to go chat with them to see if they caught it as well.

I'm glad it is over. I have not been that impressed with the writing for the past few books. The problem is that the end is always really good and makes you want to read the next. If only the first part of the books was as good as the rest.

Family and Weddings

It's funny how messed up families can get around weddings and funerals. My mom's funeral was a huge mess and afterwards I rarely spoke to my mother's family (that was ten years ago). Now, my brother is getting married and the same issues appear to apply. People upset that they don't know what's going on and somehow I feel like I'm in the middle, again. I'm well aware that I do that to myself (and when I don't realize it, Lisa is there to remind me).

Unfortunately, my brother is a guy and therefore not always forthcoming with details, or whatever. So, the family comes to me with their questions. Jason and I are not on the best of terms so I really don't know anything about his wedding and what is happening (the fact that I didn't even get an invitation does not help how I feel, even though I do believe it was my crappy mailman to blame for that one). So, it hurts when everyone asks me details because they expect that I will know and probably a year ago I would have. But, I don't. I don't know where people are supposed to stay, I don't know when stuff is happening. All I know is that I will be leaving Saturday night for my vacation with my friends and I can't wait. I wish I was more excited about this wedding. For years I couldn't wait until my brother got married, but now I can't wait until I get on that plane. I know I will regret that I am not more excited and I'm certainly sad that I'm not more involved (especially since most of you know how much I love weddings and helping in the planning), next to my own wedding (someday, I hope) this was the one that I was most excited about.

Anti - Depressants

So, my perscription ran out for my anti-depressants today and my doctor won't renew them unless I go in and see him. Well, I don't have time to go in and see him since I work in Niagara Falls now. I know in the past when I've forgotten to take my drugs I break out in a weird hive like rash and I become extremely dizzy (side effects of the drug that do not go well with an iron deficiency). I was hoping to go off of the drugs, but they say to do it gradually. So, this should be super interesting. I may end up hurting someone at work tomorrow or becoming extremely emotional and crying all day. I'll keep you posted on what happens. Doctors are fun!

Catching up with Friends

This weekend I was supposed to do nothing except clean my apartment and put together music for my brother's wedding (only 2 more weeks). My apt is definitely cleaner :) No music, though.

Instead I pampered myself. I went and had a massage, mani and pedi. It was very nice and relaxing after the two weeks of not being at all happy at work. My boss is back today and hopefully we will get a chance to chat today to determine if I will still be employed until December.

On Saturday night, though, I headed downtown to meet up with my friend Rob. I haven't seen him since sometime in University. We were both at home in Goderich for the summer and used to go for walks all the time. We went to an Irish pub and he found out that a friend's band was actually playing there that night. I do love celtic music. We were just planning on having a drink and catching up, and instead we ended up drinking quite a bit and sticking around to listen to the band. I must say I prefer 'The Kitchen Party' (the band that plays every st. paddy's day at Failte, but they were good).

When I left Rob was talking to some very cute girl and I went home and crashed on my couch. Facebook is evil :) I seem to drink too much when catching up with friends from Goderich. But, boy, is it nice to see everyone.

Wicked - Finished At Last

My reading has really taken a downturn this past year. Since I hardly ever walk anymore I don't read as much (for those of you not aware, I read and walk at the same time). Today I actually walked to work (5.5 km) and started reading the new Harry Potter. Boy did that feel good! This means that I finally finished reading Wicked. Last December a group of us went to see the play and it was amazing. I decided that I wanted to read the book. Well, it took a while to get into the story. I finally did and it was definitely a good book, but it was a tad long. I am extremely impressed with how they took the book and turned it into a play. I really liked the ideas in the book. Very political and definitely makes you think about only hearing one side of the story.

Rehearsal Camping

Only three more weeks until the trip to Nunavut. Which means we needed to have a 'rehearsal'. Liz gave me a call last week to see if I was free to camp this past weekend. Unfortunately, I did have plans on Saturday that I ended up cancelling (missing a BBQ at my cousin Darlene's and my friend Dorie's 35th Bday party).


After a couple of different choices for where to go hiking, Liz decided on Bon Echo provincial park (east of Peterborough). We headed out on Friday night and stopped at Ferris provincial park for a night of car camping. Really nice spot, out of the way, nice sized campsites and well spaced out.


The first test was of my new sleeping pad, Big Agnes. Hopes were high that this would be a great sleeping pad. It is so compact when uninflated and super think when inflated. Unfortunately, it was not for me. It was really slippery and my new sleeping bag doesn't have a strap to go around the sleeping pad so most of the night I was sliding all over the place. Also, I found it to be really uncomfortable. I had such a pain in my lower back the next morning. First off, very happy for the rehearsal camping as it would not have been good to find that out on the first night in Nunavut. The Big Agnes is going back to MEC and I will find myself a perfectly good thermarest.


At 5:00 am we got up and packed up our gear and hit the road for Bon Echo. I think we were on the trail by 9am, but I can't remember.

The trail was very nice, very green (I love my new eyes). We were making good time and actually enjoyed a couple of breaks along the water. The pack wasn't too bad (of course, it didn't have all the food and clothes that I'll be carrying in Nunavut). We saw a beaver swimming in the lake, boy they can move. We were scared by a partridge (sounded like a chainsaw starting up) and Liz came across a number of garter snakes. So, not alot for the wildlife journal. We did spend a good hour or so on some rocks (after getting to our campsite) watching the fish watching the tadpoles. We all fell asleep in the sun on the rocks. It was so nice.

Up again at 5:30, we took our time getting the gear packed away and had an awesome breakfast of egg burritos. We were back on the trail at 7:45 and out of the trail at around 10am. On our way we passed the other campsites. At one, the campers had hoisted their food directly over their tent. We kind of hoped a bear would try to get at their food and fall out of the tree landing on them. Then we came across the poacher. There was a tent on the trail that was not a designated campsite. We only saw the guy in the tent for a second as he scurried back in when he saw us. His clothes were strewn all over the rocks along with a 40 of rum and some pepsi. We were mighty tempted to stomp on his clothes.

Overall, though, the hike and camping was good and I can't wait for Nunavut. I have some more shopping to do at MEC this weekend and then I should be ready to go. Our hike this weekend was 17.1 kms and we didn't do too badly for time.

The Police at the ACC

Last night Julia, Christine, Jana and I went to the ACC for the first Police concert in 25 years in Toronto (they are playing again tonight and in September). I highly recommended catching this tour if you get a chance.


We were all a little nervous that we would be disappointed in the show. You never know how a band that was so good will be after so many years (as my father and I found out when we saw The Guess Who a couple of years ago). But, there was not reason to be worried. They kicked ass. Definitely going into my top 5 concerts of all time (up there with Green Day, AC/DC at Sarstock, Bryan Adams at Molson Park, The Rolling Stones (not at Sarstock)). I was never a huge Police fan. I liked their music but I never actually owned any of their albums. That will probably change this week.


The four of us were meeting up at Union Station at 8pm. Unfortunately, Yanna didn't get the full message of where so we were getting a little worried when it was 8:20 and still no sign of her. Julia finally found her and we got into the ACC bought our beer and were just locating our seats as the lights went down and The Police took to the stage for 'Message in a Bottle'. Perfect timing!




We had rear view seats (behind the stage). We were really close to the stage and had a view of Sting's butt for the whole night. None of us were complaining about that. That man has a nice looking butt! They were also great seats because we were able to see Stewart Copeland's drum set perfectly. I think he may be my new favourite drummer. For a couple of the songs he had a second set of drums come up. Very cool.


Sting was amazing. He looked and sounded amazing (we had a huge screen in front of our seats and it pretty much showed Sting the entire time). The interesting part of the show, for me, was the interaction between the band mates. Sting looked quite happy to be there and very much into the show. Andy Summers looked annoyed with Sting most of the night. I think he finally started to smile around the middle of the show. Stewart appeared to smile once, that I remember. I thought he looked like he wanted Sting to pay attention to him more. I hope they can keep getting along because that was awesome.

Highlight for me was 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' as this is one of my favourite Police songs. Christine and I were discussing how we wanted to be standing close to him and would have liked to have had him for a teacher. I always thought he had been a math teacher, but it appears that he was an English teacher. I wonder who the math teacher I read about was?

So, in closing go see this band! They played for about 110 mins and I didn't sit down once. I screamed, I danced, I sang. It was great.

Rowling and Potter

Now, I am a fan (for the most part) of the Harry Potter series of books. But, I believe it has gotten out of hand and Rowling is really annoying me. (If there weren't only one more book in the series - that I have already ordered - I would boycott the books just because of her.)

She's now annoyed with the New York Times for writing a review of the book a day before the book comes out. The reasoning is that the review may contain spoilers. I don't know how many children are reading the New York Times, but if they are, I suspect that they are smart enough to not read a review. I know most adults can make that decision for themselves as well. I personally don't care if someone tells me what happens in the books. I'll just be happy when it is done and all this craziness can (I hope) end.

I think she has a great story, but I am not a huge fan of her writing. The first chapters are always crap and The Order of the Phoenix was so bad. The book really only needed to be about 150 pages, yet it was over 700. It was like reading one of Stephen King's books when they stopped editing him. I love Stephen, don't get me wrong. But, I am not a fan of his books that are not edited like they should be. I am well aware that the book publishers love it when a book is longer because they can charge more. But, they can only do this for those authors that seem to have proven themselves. Which isn't good because then they wreck that authors legacy of good books.

Now I'm on a rant about King's books. This was supposed to be a rant about Rowling. I heard the movie for 'Order of the Phoenix' was really good. I totally believe that because whenever a book can actually be pared down to about a 150 pages, makes for a great movie (or at least in the right hands it should).

I'm still reading Wicked. I am now really enjoying it, but it does take effort to get through. I won't be home when Potter is delivered. I'll be off camping. I should finish Wicked tonight and then I will read some trash murder mystery on the camping trip. Probably start Potter next week to get it over with. Is it wrong of me to hope that Harry dies so that there can't be another book?

Hating the Job

I need to find a new line of work, I think. Either that, or I have to find a company where they challenge me.

I was so ready to quit today. I am so frustrated with the lack of communication. There is a possibility of a contract in Guelph. They were looking for someone immediately, but now it looks like they won't be hiring until September. By then I should know if I will feel comfortable with ending my contract early. December just seems so very far away.

My New Vision Status

I had my first optometrist appt since my surgery (well, really it was the second, but the day after the surgery they just checked to make sure it was okay and that I was okay to drive and it wasn't with my optometrist).

When my dr found out who did my surgery he was in awe! I had heard the my surgeon was one of the first in Canada and had been performing laser eye for about ten years. I didn't realize that he was one of the people to start TLC. Very cool.

My doctor said it was one of the best surgeries he had ever seen and that I should be very happy! which of course, I am. Currently I have 20/15 (better than 20/20) eyesight. They really over-corrected my left eye (apparently I kept really focusing in the testing beforehand with that eye). But, that is normal and it should recorrect itself back to 20/20 over the next while.

I thought my eyes were pretty good, but to have the doctor confirm those findings was super great. Definitely worth all the money I spent!