I giggled a lot so I'm sharing.



Darth Tater

This week hasn't been the most wonderful. Work went south very quickly. My staff are so amazing though. After being told of the situation, one of them even volunteered to take on some of the work. I cried. They're so great. I wouldn't love my job as much without them.

There was some annoying stuff with this loan that I got. Stupid folks had my wrong home phone number and so they kept calling me at work after I repeatedly told them not to. AND they couldn't call me by my middle name no matter how many times I told them that either. Well, the first person I talked to was great, but the others have been annoyingly oblivious of the meaning of good customer service. The guy didn't show up for our meeting and then showed up later to find the nasty note I left him on my door. We finally got the deal done, but I was pretty frustrated before it got that way. And to make this meeting that the guy didn't show up for, I had to leave an important board meeting for the charity I volunteer for because the number he'd given me to reach him had been out of order all day.

Then a meeting was cancelled, but no one bothered to phone me, just an email to my home account which I didn't have access to during the day. So I showed up because I have to go there straight from work to make it on time. No meeting.

Tonight, I went to MacNally Robinson to look around and get a present for a friend. Cheruby and I spent some time looking around before heading back to my house... to a broken garage door. Some jack@ss ran his/her car into my garage making it inoperable. My garage door is dented and broken. And the one wall is 3 to 4 inches displaced from its usual home. The police were nice enough to drop by and take a look and give me a file no. They're not going to investigate any further, but they were nice about it.

And then there's all the other stuff that didn't go right this week.

Good stuff:
- People ordered Tupperware from my party last week even though only one other person besides my mom came. And I get free stuff.
- Got that loan I wanted.
- Got to meet my boss.
- Another week with Cheruby making me smile.
- Ordered a beautiful blue shawl.
- Mom and dad are coming up next week and for Thanksgiving.
- Got to see lots of friends recently that I haven't seen in much too long.
- Went into work and actually got to socialize with my coworkers rather than just be connected to the phone in my little corner of the office.
- Made plans to visit more friends in a week and a half.
- Booked some vacation days to help me relax.

See? Lots more good than bad.

How is it that I know that I have a good reputation at work, I have a good relationship with my boss and I still am nervous about meeting him in person? I got all caffeinated at work today just so that I could be talkative at dinner tonight with him.

He's so short. One of my coworkers actually said that I was bigger than him. And yes, I am, and not just around. He's quite vertically challenged. How wrong would it be to mock him as I so dearly want to? Heh.

So here I sit - tired and too caffeinated to sleep.

Ril and I were girly girls last night. Makeovers and learning how to put makeup on. Fun stuff. So much so that Rilla wanted to do it again, but go through a whole colour analysis. So we are in a couple of weeks. Such girly girls.

Of course, getting that stuff off my face was a little more than I bargained for. Wait, it was all free, nevermind. Heh.

And I got a very pretty wedding invitation in the mail. I love weddings.

Fresh warm plums just off the tree are really, really good. Sometimes, they're small enough to just pop right in your mouth and explode when you bite into them. Warm plum goodness fills your senses. It was a really great walk around the yard with my Auntie Cool. She's very awesome and made me have a nap after having plums.

Caffeine can keep one awake even on a lonely drive between Edmonton and Saskatoon after a day at the office and one episode of Six Feet Under with a friend. A friend who can supply much of said caffeine. Oh, and there was sugar.

Being there for an employee's first day makes a difference into how welcome that new team member feels. I was very happy to be able to be there for that.

Seeing a loved one after being away for a while is a joyous occasion. Five days is nothing compared to an entire summer, but it's still enough to make me very thankful to be home. Cuddling with kittenses who missed me is also very good for the soul. With that much love, it is pretty much impossible to stay stressed.

Being on a budget and a diet while travelling is really, really hard. Good thing I have understanding and supportive friends.

I really, really dislike seafood (excluding fish). The reason for that is not because of the taste as I love the taste. It has to do with the squish-pop factor involved in cooked seafood. In my experience with salting eggs and turning them to rubber, I believe that the salt water also creates the squish-pop factor in cooked seafood.

squish-pop - the inability of one's teeth to immediately tear the flesh of cooked seafood. Pressure must be applied before the cooked flesh gives way and breaks apart. The first bite is usually the worst for the squish-pop effect, but all subsequent chews also have lesser squish-pop effects as they rend more cooked flesh.

Because I have been accused of being safe when ordering and eating food, I make myself try things now and again that I used to dislike just in case I like it this time because so many other people enjoy it. Lasagna used to be in the dislike category. Obviously, I was very very wrong in that opinion. This trend lead me to attempt calamari again this evening.

And wow! It was truly awesome. I have had almost good seafood once before at Genesis in Saskatoon and it was scallops. MMmmmm.... scallops. Of course, they too had a slight squish-pop factor so I only ate two before getting all squidgey-like. I've also had mussels that were almost great as well. That was in Halifax this summer at the Five Fisherman. Tonight, I had truly wonderful calamari. It took me three tries to actually put the first piece in my mouth, but DANG! So amazingly yummy and non-squishy-poppy. YAY! It was at a Mexican restaurant in the Comfort Inn downtown Edmonton called El Toro.

How is it that I can't seem to keep the house clean lately and can't keep with my friends' blogs for two months, but I can find time to play a new online game?

Having too much fun, I guess. [grin] I think that a certain Cheruby has been occupying much of my time. It was a mere 4 months ago we met. Seems like so much more time than that has passed - in a good way. Scratch that, in a fantabulous way.

Tonight I should get a little more caught up on things as I prepare for a trip to Edmonton to visit Bne and all my new Edmonton friends. And my old Edmonton friends too. And family. Did I mention that I took Tuesday off work so that I would have time to visit all my friends and family?

It was a toss up at the end and I had a tie breaker question. Am I more female or in touch with my instincts? I had to say more female for biological reasons. I can quantify being female, but not being in touch with my instincts. Besides, I really am a girly girl sometimes.

That's right, pirating. While we only plundered the other raft, it was still awesome. Pirate shirts and bandanas galore, one Jolly Roger to be claimed back and forth and one captain's tricorn hat makes for a glorious day. That all lasted about half the trip down the river. The other half was laying back and soaking up the sun while the river took us wherever we needed to go, mostly.

We lost most of the oars at one point as the other team had five of the six. We had to compensate somehow so we trailed our feet in the water and kicked. This only worked for a little while before certain folks were sucked under the boat as we got into a deeper, swifter part of the river. And when I say, deeper and swifter, we're talking about 4 feet of water here and while it was difficult, it wasn't impossible to just stand. They floated ahead of us for a while until we caught up so they could get back in the boat. I was also out of the boat for a while there and the only challenge with me getting back in was that I was laughing too hard.

For those expecting me back in Saskatoon today, I am spending another night in Calgary so that I can stay awake for the entire drive. I'm very tired. Good night.

I decided to take it easy on the drive to Calgary this evening which means I wasn't even doing 100 km/hr at times. It was a nice drive. The lightning around Drumheller was spectacular as usual.

I listened to my iPod play such classics as Tentacles and Saturday Night. Saturday Night came on at a crucial point in the drive about 25 kilometres out of Hanna. I don't remember the last time I had to pee that badly. I was almost crying. I usually stop at the Husky or Esso actually in Hanna, but the Shell station won this time by being so much sooner on the road.

Clark got many boxes of stuff this evening and we've just finished unloading the car. Hopefully, whatever was scratching from within one of the boxes for the entire drive has gone back to sleep.

My dad likes to talk. A lot. I love him very much and on a long drive, he's great.

Yesterday, I was talking to him about my uncle. And then he started telling about this friend of my great aunt's. He was going on and on. Finally, I had to interrupt him to ask him if he had a point. To which he replied, "Well, she died." I started laughing so hard. There was absolutely no connection between the topics of conversation. NOTHING! And then he just ignored my laughter and started in on something new! LOL

Tonight, I phoned mom just to find out if they were going to come visit me this weekend because she had told me earlier that they were. It was a short conversation and we were done. But then dad had picked up the other line and was wanting to talk to me. I just started giggling because of the conversation last night. He knew why I was laughing so he asked me what I was going to do when I had to take care of him. It's obvious - stick him in a room full of cats to talk to all day. He hates all the cat hair everywhere so I told him I'd vacuum often. How was I going to vacuum without having to talk to him? Sedation in the food I put under the door, of course! It was at that point he finally called me bad. Heh. My dad talking to a room full of cats. It'd either be a hit comedy or something the likes of About Schmidt.

This note was from my Director of HR Operations. He said some nice stuff and then he wrote, "People like you make me love my job!"

That's been making my day every time I come into the office for over a week now.

He's the only consistent male in the Halifax 2006 pictures finally linked on the right. All the other males are ones we picked up at our restaurants.

I had a very relaxing weekend. I spent Friday night through Sunday afternoon with Cheruby. We went to see Creeping Zombie Insanity at the Fringe, took a walk along the railroad tracks at Clavet, watched some Battlestar Galactica (for which I saw an episode preview on Space and know part of the future - grrrr...), played City of Heroes, napped, went to Buttery B's going away party, and went for lunch at Cheruby's mom's.

I got to have supper with my parents tonight too which was very nice. It was good to have some time with them. My mom was telling me that my niece said she liked Cheruby well enough, but that she didn't think he was right for me. She's a very intuitive girl about people. She picks up on a lot of things that most people don't notice at all. She's more intuitive than I am and I like to think that I'm pretty intuitive. Of course, I also can be pretty intimidating so people wouldn't be likely to tell me I'm wrong.

I had such a great weekend and I'm very happy.

Instead of Traeger's, we went to Grainfield's as Traeger's was closed. Heh. Can I tell you that it makes me happy? I don't care for Traeger's. I know that will make some gasp in horror, but I don't. Grainfield's didn't treat us very well though. It took over a half hour to get our food and made me late for D&D.

However, D&D was fantastic today. We beat up orcs and a manticore and let a family die because we were too scared to go on and saved a town from an orc invasion. And we sang more Golden Girls theme music. D&D with mostly girls gets weird in a different way sometimes.

Then I got home to find out that mom and dad and my niece weren't coming to Saskatoon tonight because The Maze isn't happening this year. I was very disappointed and so was my niece. It didn't make sense that they arrive here late and don't get to spend any time with me. So I'm making them lunch tomorrow. Chili and buns. Should make the rest of their drive to Calgary fun. Heh.

So I played City of Heroes all night. It was a nice break before heading back to work tomorrow. And on that note, I need to sleep.

I took Cheruby on the tour of Nipawin after supper at my parents' on Wednesday. It took less than an hour. Heh. Dad mentioned that part. And Cheruby loved the old bridge as much as I do.

The next day we went on a fabulous boat tour on the Saskatchewan river which turns into Tobin Lake on the north side of the new Nipawin bridge. We saw loads of pelicans at the dam and some eagles, bald and golden, while touring the river. The golden eagle was being harried by a smaller bird and just looked annoyed more than anything else. We went on shore at one point so the dog could do his business. Cheruby found a fabulous walking stick.

Cheruby and I took off back to Saskatoon shortly after that. We took a scenic route which took us through Melfort and Prince Albert. It also took us on a river ferry after we had visited LaColle Falls. It was VERY dusty and my car is still awful.

Friday was fantastic as it was the first day to myself in weeks. We played some games at Neuba's house as there were some folks coming in from Calgary. We then went to eat at BPs when the storm hit and the power went out. Romantic meal in the dark. Heh. We played Earthdawn and then had a games night with hottubbing on Saturday.

Sunday had me playing some City of Heroes finally, Fringing with MM, supper Ril and Clark at her new cute house and then some much needed kaiser playing. MM was a kaiser virgin, but no more. Heh. The girls ruled!

The last day is today. Hanging out in my backyard with MM as I write. We're going to Traegar's for brunch, then I'm off to D&D and then mom, dad and my niece are coming through Saskatoon and we hope to do The Maze and visit the Strawberry Ranch tonight if they are still open.

I have to get back into work tonight when I create the agenda for the meeting I'm chairing first thing in the morning, but that isn't now. Now, I am still on vacation.

Well, after our first day of fun which she told you about, we had lots more. We did rent some movies, but hardly got through any of them as there were many distractions to be had.

Let's see, Monday a friend and her two little girls, 8 and 3, came over and played. We just painted and coloured and watched very little of a movie, but that was in the evening. Earlier in the day, we took all my bottles back, rented movies, did a little shopping, and sorted her bead collection into better containers. We maybe should have had some luggage specifically for her stuff, but that didn't happen so there are a lot of trips to the car to pack.

Tuesday was Princess Diaries. It's such a good show. I really should own that someday. I really do love the movie because I'm such an incredible sap. It's all good though. We went rollerblading on the sidewalk and my niece did really well. She only held onto the fence for the first time down the sidewalk and back and the rest was mostly hands-free. She fell a couple times, but then so did I. Good thing we got her new pads that fit her. The wrists guards from the new set really didn't fit as they were too small but everything else fit well. So I'm hoping her wrists guards will last a long time and she can grow from her current pads to the old big ones and keep on blading. And yes, I got some rollerblades and they're a lot of fun. The sales guy was poopy though. He didn't even repack the box for me after I'd tried them on. They're still good blades. We went for ice cream at the double decker bus that night with my friends and her kids again as they got along really well. We went for a walk along the river and went on some rides at Kinsmen Park. I had to have a nap because I was getting so tired. My niece was really great about it and watched TV in bed with me for about a half hour while I rested. We set up the table to do some painting, but never got around to it because our evening activities. Cheruby came over to watch Lemony Snickett's Series of Unfortunate Events with us, but my niece didn't make it through 10 minutes before sleeping so I carried her upstairs as she was a limp noodle (although much, much heavier). Cheruby and I then watched some Battlestar Galactica before sleeping.

The next day was full of fun and some interesting conversations between my niece and I. We picked apples at an old roommates house in the morning. It was really good to see him and his girlfriend. It was raining a little so we took the fabulous orange umbrella I got in Halifax. She doesn't know what it says so it was all good. Then we got home to find Cheruby home from work as he wasn't feeling well so we went for food at BP's and then over to swim for a bit at Cheruby's moms. Cheruby just slept in a comfy recliner on the deck while my niece and I swam. She really tested the deep end a few times and freaked me out, but I kept my patience and just had myself at the ready to bring her to safety. We had pool noodles so she mostly held onto those. She did freak herself out once, but I was right beside her to bring her a flotation device (pool noodle). After that, we spent some time in the shallow end at her request. We wrestled pool noodles (thanks, Ril), had contests about who could shoot water further, had back kick contests across the pool, and did other various watery things. After that, we drove straight to Nipawin where we had supper with my parents.

Everytime I go to Calgary, I run myself ragged trying to see everyone I miss so much. Of course, this only gets worse when I work every day that I'm there now. I'll start taking a day off in there so that I can enjoy myself and maybe get enough sleep. Just a thought.

I had a great time though. I always do. I did miss Bne as he was gallavanting on another continent, but that's his loss really. I got to see quite a bit of Clark and E&MM which was awesome. We picked up a barbecue that his company gave him and even though I wanted to take it home with me, it stayed in Calgary. I also got to see W&H&E which is always a good time even though it's usually on a weeknight when we all have to work in the morning so it's a short visit.

One of the best things about the trip was a chat with one of my coworkers in the Calgary office. I used to work with her very closely and had no idea what was going on when I first started on her team. So her behaviour which was induced by significant stress levels left me feeling as thought I was incompetent in some way. Of course, she wasn't in any kind of headspace to try to make better for herself let alone anyone because of the pressures of the business. I've grown up a lot since then and can take responsibility for my own actions and perceptions of the time in question which were very wrong. It was a really good chat and I did learn a lot from her, but for the most part, I just wanted out at the time. I almost quit and was blaming her. Now, I see it wasn't really her fault. There were circumstances that I knew nothing about and she had been so stressed for so long, she had become a different person than who she thought she was. I get that now. And I feel bad for putting all the blame on her, but I'm truly not stressed about it anymore. I'm glad to have had the opportunity to have that talk with her. I've wanted to for a very long time and it opened my eyes a lot.

I spent Friday night and Saturday with the family and drove home with my niece late on Saturday night. She only slept for a half hour and we finally got to Saskatoon at 3:30 or so in the morning safe and sound.

There was a house full of people when we got here, but I was expecting that. It was great to see everyone from Edmonton before they went home on Sunday.

Written by my niece and edited for spelling by Auntie:

Yesterday I went for breakfast with Auntie's friends from Edmonton. When we had breakfast the chef forgot my breakfast but that is OK. Auntie's pretty friend with red hair got them to bring my breakfast. And I had hash browns, bacon, and toast, but I didn't like the hash browns and bacon, but I loved the toast.

We went to Pike Lake and I went down the water slide by myself but the scariest part was going on the water slide backwards but then I turned around quickly. We went on a paddle boat last, but it was boring and hard and Auntie scared me by splashing the water and I thought it was a fish. And then Auntie and Cheruby were going to throw me in the water and then I got so freaked out. And I also saw three fish. They were only babies. And then we went in the pool another time.

We watched Hellboy before bed and ate kettle corn. Before that, we had cherries and grapes.

I must have been sleep-walking last night because Auntie told me I came downstairs and went right back up again.

Bye all.

Since I got to Calgary, I've been nursing my sunburn and whining about it a lot. I like to sleep on my tummy, you see. And it hurts so much that I can't so I'm waking myself just before I drift off because I roll onto my belly. [sigh] It's a hard life. [Visions of third world countries from those commercials going through my head.] My left breast also really started hurting today. Apparently, I was paying too much attention to my belly burn and neglecting my boob burn. Really hard life. [More flies crawling allover small stick like children with their distended bellies.]

So today, I got riled up at work. Someone from our client tech support center called a client at the request of one of my staff and told the client that my staff member's instructions were completely wrong, thus, discrediting her. Am I wrong to be this bothered by that? Because I am. I know she's not the easiest person to deal with when she upset and she's very much used to getting her way, but how rude is that?!?! In front of a client!! I'm going to have a very good, rational discussion about it on Friday and we'll get it all sorted out, but right now, I'm still too riled. Gggrrrrr...

On the plus side, it's great to get riled up again. I have two more days until I have no more theme song. [grin]

Yes, I'm crispy. But just on my left arm, neck, and breast. I was driving in my sports bra because it was hot. But I forgot to bring any sunscreen. Ooops. I did spend about 2 hours of the trip with my t-shirt draped over my left arm and it definitely helped, but I'm definitely still crispy.

Ferlak treated me to a fantastic supper when I got here. He's gone all healthy on us, folks! AND he's playing Katamari right now so I must go... I'm so torn though. Double XP weekend in CoH or Katamari? Is there an angel and devil in this situation or are they both devils? [grin]