Today it was cold enough to get out the hand-knit socks. They make me so happy just thinking about them. They are on my feet right now. [GRIN]

... since my last post.

My mom called me on Sunday desparate for an update on my life. Heh. She had to call.

Work has kept me on my toes, that's for sure. I have to admit that I absolutely love visiting my team members. I can't wait to meet the rest of them. I don't know when that'll be, but I'm really looking forward to it. Hell, I really love my team. I'm so proud of what they do every day and how well they do it. I feel very lucky to have them. I feel so naive as a manager when I say that, but it's truly how I feel. I'm sure it's only going to get better too.

I had a doctor's appointment today. Everything is good. I was freakin' a bit because they called me after I had bloodwork done. I hate that. It means I have to go visit them and be all in suspense about what's wrong this time. Well, duh, of course I have Hepatitis A antibody, I was immunized over a year ago. Freak me out for nothing. Sheesh! Anyway, so all is well and I'm 5 pounds lighter this year than I was last. That made me feel good too.

Training for the rest of the week at work. Learning HR portion of one of payroll programs. It'll be good. I have to duck out for a bit to do an interview or two on Thursday. Looking forward to the new experience of interviewing external candidates. I have to redo the interview questions as they are more geared toward an internal applicant. It'll be fun though.

Learned a lot about Winnipeg last week because I got to drive there. I love driving. I almost missed my plane, but I love driving. It's so exhilarating, especially driving in a new place, getting lost and finding my way again because I'm that good. Heh.

And I found the drink that I've been missing most of all last week - Crown Royal and Coke. Sooo sweet. Sooo yummy. Sooo goofy - I was positively goofy. My companion while I drank it (no, my companion wasn't the drink) felt the need to protect his drink more and more as my gesticulating while I talked got bigger and bigger. [giggle] I like being goofy, not tipsy, just goofy. Maybe tipsy and goofy. It was a good evening.

And tonight - Gilmore Girls!!! Oh, what an exciting life.

So I was really looking forward to staying at the majestic-looking Fort Garry Hotel in Winnipeg. I just wrote a really long post about the whole experience. And then it got lost, for some reason, didn't want to publish and went the York Hotel website. Bizarre and I'm totally unruffled.

There was lots of bad stuff at the Fort Garry. I hated almost every bit of it. The bed was fabulous, the walk-in closet had a motion-sensor light, and the towel were huge. And that's honestly the only good things I can say. All of them. The rest was very bad and I left right after I showered. I made reservations at the York (previously called the Sheraton) and was outta the Fort Garry for good. I checked into the York after work and oh happy day!! It's not perfect, but it's more what I'm looking for - a dresser, in-room wired high-speed internet, a digital alarm clock, no ice machine across the hall, no spotlight on the window, a TV that isn't older than me, and cards on the beds that means that they won't change the linens unless I want them too. Not too much to ask, really.

The rest of the day was great. I got to see some staff, solve some problems, and was in control of my happiness.

Oh yeah, and I played City of Villains for the first time in FOREVER! The new costuming bits were so much fun. And I really, really enjoyed just playing. Even though the training server was at medium load, there wasn't too much lag which was awesome too. I made a Dominator. Lots of joyous defeating of longbows and snakes.

So, here's how the weekend is playing out.

Thursday night was awesome. Friends came over to play Earthdawn and we all got sleepy around 10 which seems to be normal for us. What that really meant though is that I got 8 or more hours of sleep for 5 nights in a row. Wow! What a difference in my disposition, ambition to accomplish things, and all that jazz. Fantastic.

So Friday night, mom and I went to get fabric for my nieces housecoat. Then we all sat around the living room for a while and snacked on things while watching TV. And to bed early.

Saturday included errands all morning with mom and I *finally* got the bloodwork done that I've been meaning to get done for four or five weeks now. And guess what, they don't do one of tests on weekends. [sigh] Of course, it wasn't a really important test so I think I'll skip it this quarter.

EB Games, Toys R Us, Michael's (orange and black sprinkles), farmer's market, Sobeys, Kernels and Husky (for coffee). I was pooped after that and had a nap. Mmmmm... naps. Supper was fantastic too - we had deer tenderloin. Mouth-watering good. Sooo tender and yummy.

Then I was asleep by 11 p.m. We watched The Jewel of the Nile last night, and I wasn't sure I'd make it through, but I did!

Today, I'm excited that my friends are coming over for Thanksgiving dinner with my folks. I tried to invite the ones that probably weren't going to have some family to share Thanksgiving with.

We're making mashed potatoes, gravy, turkey, cauliflower and cheese sauce, lime cottage cheese jello salad, apple cabbage salad, corn, stuffing, and my friend is bringing buns and mom said to ask if she has any pluma mousse left because she started to drool when I mentioned it. I still have to do that. And pumpkin pie and whipped cream. Mmmmm... I need something for my drool now.

Thanks to my awesome friend, I went back and figured this out. Okay, I have more than one awesome friend, but this is one of those.

1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.

So here it goes. I thought this one might be kind of fun. At first, I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but lo and behold the verbosity that I've managed...

"So apparently, I was brilliant in part two of the interview."

Heh.

I have the blahs.

Heh. I did it. I know EXACTLY how my house is heated because I am now, the goddess of thermostats! And maybe just my thermostat hookup, but dang, I learned a lot.

While on Friday, I couldn't turn off my furnace (something about hooking up the wires in the wrong places so they were always touching) and yesterday, 14 degrees Celsius seemed a little cool so I went to work trying to figure out the system. After much time on the phone with my dad again, I had bridged a connection at the furnace to make it fire up. Yay! I pulled on wires running into the walls and figured out which were the live two wires that I needed to touch together to make the furnace come on. There are three in the wall, but one isn't connected at either end so I made sure to mark the dead one upstairs. I determined through many trips up and down the basement stairs (many, many trips) that the new programmable thermostat was a dud. Completely broken. Stupid electronics. Of course, I got it in Nipawin so I have to wait to send it back to my parents so they can return it.

I now have the old one back on the wall and working properly.

And I could hook up a new thermostat in less than the estimated installation time and be able to check to make sure it's working properly too.

I still want a programmable thermostat.