Seismic Twitch

We’ve had a spate of very interesting weather up here lately. We’ve had some wonderful, nature-smashing storms with thunder, lightning, hail, driving rain, wild wind and tornadoes. Yesterday we lost power for 8 hours because of branches blown down from trees. And it wasn’t just our house/neighbourhood. It was all over the city. Anywhere there were large, mature trees, there were blown down branches and downed power lines. There were also damaged cars and buildings. Tornadoes were sighted north and west of the city so we were on a tornado watch for most of yesterday.

I’m doing cross stitch. I’ve made a present for a co-worker who is pregnant and due in October. I have to find three little frames for the a,b,c I stitched up for her nursery. I’m now working on the horoscope signs of Bran, Boy and myself to frame up and put up in our living room.

Work is going well. I’ve been allowed access to the CSC information site. This means that I can access information about the men and women referred to the Reporting Centre. We have to have that information because if an offender is going to spend time in the Centre we have to know what we might have to watch out for. This also gives me access to a secure email system so I can easily communicate with parole officers. On Tuesday I’ll be inputting the month end reports for our residents.

I’ve become very attached to You Tube. I’ve been watching all kinds of true crime shows. Many of the shows I’d never seen before. One channel that is featured prominently in this genre is Investigation Discovery. I don’t know where that channel originates. I’d like to think that if I got cable again that I could get it from the USA. What makes me doubt that is that is that the announcers always have an English accent. That’s not the norm on American networks. Right now, as I type, I’m watching “World’s Wildest Police Videos” hosted by former Sheriff John Binnel (sp).

I got a haircut a couple of weeks ago. It had grown out to the point of nearly being able to be tied back. In order to keep it out of my face I had to wear a headband. I liked it, but it was hard to keep off the nape of my neck. This meant that the coming summer was going to be a whole lot warmer then I like. So I got it all cut off…well, not all, but it’s darned short.

Bran’s truck cost us a whole shit pile of money. We thought he was having transmission issues (which would have been okay because that’s covered on a 3 year warranty from our purchase last year). The repair guys said that it was probably the tires and alignment. The said tires were dangerously worn. So we replaced them. If you buy a vehicle, I recommend a car or small SUV that takes regular tires. They’re a whole lot less expensive. I’m not sure, but I think the issues we thought were the transmission have been resolved…at least for now.

That’s about it for now. I have to start looking for clothes for work.

I got one of those neato keen Luxeed Programmable Colour Keyboards keyboards that light up with coloured LED lights. I can customize the colour of each key to one of 7 colours. There is red, yellow, green cyan, blue, magenta, and white. I can save up to 4 different patterns. The one I’m using right now has no white in it. The only red are the delete and backspace keys. This helps me find them when they’re needed. I can also make it so that the keyboard is plain, but when I hit a key they key will light up. While that’s a novelty, I don’t use that. The action of the keyboard is nice, too.

The keyboard comes with a thin silicone (I think it’s silicone) template that you lay over the keyboard and mark up a pattern you want. I’m not marking mine up. I’m leaving it as something that will protect my keyboard from crumbs. It clings nicely to the keyboard. It’s thin enough that I can feel the markers for the home keys and it doesn’t interfere with typing. It also comes with a microfibre cloth.

I’ve added a small (10) port USB hub to my list of high tech devices I now own. It’s going to be eventually attached to the back of my computer table. I don’t really need ten ports, but it was inexpensive, had a low profile and would be easily accessible for anything I might need to plug into it.

Last weekend I did something I’ve never done before. I took Boy out for supper without Bran. We went to Nagoya Restaurant and had sushi. It was quite nice. Poor Bran wasn’t feeling up to par. I was craving something fierce because of not feeling well for two days prior (I get wicked strong craving when my stomach is upset, go figure). This meant that the first free non-sick day I had to settle the most significant craving…for sushi. This is an all-you-can-eat place. I know that it’s not recommended you eat at such a place but they have a high turnover of product (which increases the chance of it being fresh) and it’s great value for the money. The only bad thing is they don’t use real crab. But that’s minor. We had some great food. They would have gotten more money from me as I was going to order a few maki rolls ala carte, but our server disappeared. Maybe it’s their way of making sure they don’t get eaten out of business. So instead I took Boy to get some ice cream from Dairy Queen and then went and washed the car. We worried Bran because neither of us answered our phones (I didn’t have the bluetooth thing in my ear so I didn’t hear it ring. Boy’s was still on silent from work on Friday. All was happily resolved when we showed up at home.

I’m finding I very much enjoy having a car. I like driving and love having my music playing. I wish we lived a bit farther from work so that I’d have more time to listen to it. As it is I sometimes leave a little early so that I can go through the Tim’s drive through for coffee (especially on the day shifts) so I can extend the drive with a bit of legitimacy.

I worked yesterday. I know that for my American friends that won’t be much of a thing, but Good Friday is a statutory holiday in Canada so that means I not only get paid for the day, I get paid for working as well. Three cheers for money! Hip! Hip! Ka-ching!

Life here is ok. You can tell it’s spring now. The city has swept up the winter’s supply of gravel, sand and dust from many of the major streets so it’s not quite so dusty. That’s a relief to my allergic body. The spring irises and tulips have begun poking themselves up above ground and will soon be blooming. I’m quite looking forward to the first rainfall. We’ve had some rain, but mostly it sprinkled snow. The rain will clean off the lawns and such. Right now, despite the city going around with their cleaners, the city is still a dusty brown.

Nothing new on the house hunting front. I’ll let you know when we actually start hunting. For now it’s on hold.

I’ve begun some practice beading on some canvas. I had to stop though. I’ll be cutting a new piece of canvas and starting the pattern over again. The one I was using is stretched out. I want to have a technique nailed down before I start working on the deer hide. The last thing I want to do is need to take things apart. I’m also waiting on some beads I ordered on-line. Sixty hanks of beads, each a different colour, are expected at my house sometime in the next few weeks. I can wait though. I have month end reports all this week so I won’t have any work time to play.

I went to the dollar store yesterday and got some stuff…hair elastics, because the ones I have are nearly all worn out, some car wipes for both Bran and I, and a few other things. I also got a tool belt and tool holder thing for work. No, I’m not starting manual labour. It’s going to be very handy for carrying around the portable phone and my keys and not have them in my pockets. A long time complaint I’ve had is that when I have the cordless phone in my pocket I can’t bend over and pick anything up. It gets pressed on and buttons get pushed. In the tool belt that doesn’t happen (tested it yesterday at work). I can also put the keys in it. That way I can sit down and not have a wad of keys poking into the tender skin of my groin. We have one already at work but it doesn’t fit me. This one does. I also got a new eye glass container that zips shut. The one I was using came with my bi-focals. The hinge broke ages ago. The new case will keep my glasses safe and will probably hold up better. It’s actually for sunglasses (it’s really domed) but it fits my glasses fine and will protect them until I replace them sometime in the future.

I’ve been looking around for containers to put the new beads in. I found something that will work at Dollarama but until I know how much space 4000 size 11/0 beads take I’m not going to buy containers. I suspect they’ll take up the same amount as the 1 lb of size 15/0 beads. If they do I have the perfect containers. They’ll only be $1 each.

I found a new hair product I really like. Well, two actually. They’re both made by Marc Anthony in the Strictly Curls line. One is a cream called “Curl Envy” that you put on when your hair is still wet/damp. It makes some nice ringlets for me. Of course, it doesn’t stop the matting at the base of my neck where my shirt meets my hairline, but I don’t think anything short of shaving my hair off would work on that. The other is Oil of Morocco. This stuff you put in your hair at night and/or in the morning. It’s supposed to help repair and strengthen hair. It has a flowery/sweet smell to it. I don’t think it does to my hair what it’s supposed to (at least not what the pictures say will happen) but it does appear to help smooth my hair and make brushing easier. If you have curly hair give them a try. I got mine at Shoppers Drug Mart so I imagine that most other drug store chains would carry it. The containers and labels are sunshine/canary yellow.

The reason why today is special isn’t just because of my zoomy new keyboard (though that definitely adds to the specialness). No, today is special because I voted in our federal election at the advance polls. Not only did I vote but so did Bran. And to make the day even more extra special, Boy voted for the very first time! Yes, my son exercised his right of franchise and cast his ballot to the candidate of his choice. I’m so proud. I would’ve take pictures if that was allowed, but it’s not. Well, it’s not permitted past the election pollsters.

Another special thing is that I uninstalled Firefox and deleted the profile that it was attached to. I then installed the newest version of Firefox (it looks a whole lot like Chrome). I got the addons that I wanted and needed for security and tried a new theme because Scribblies Brite isn’t yet compatible with this version. I’ve since dumped the new theme and am sticking with the default for now.

I don’t know if I told the saga of my problems with Firefox so here it goes. A few weeks ago (I’m not sure how many) I was having some problems with Firefox. It wouldn’t bookmark certain pages and then the bookmarks sidebar was different from the bookmarks (by several months of bookmark changes). I tried downloading my foxmarks but that didn’t change anything. This was particularly frustrating since I tend to use the sidebar for bookmarks a lot. I like having the list continually open, especially when I’m doing something like reading comics or blogs because I have many folders filled with bookmarks that I open into tabs. If Firefox isn’t adding or deleting bookmarks as I need it to then things are troubling.

So I reluctantly stopped using Firefox and started using Chrome. I chose Chrome because it was the alternative that sucked the least. The problem with Chrome is that it’s a very basic browser. Some might like that but I prefer a few bells and whistles that Firefox has. For instance, I really like Flashblock. This feature prevents Flash from playing automatically. Flash is a real pain in the ass if it’s for an advertisement. I had to have my system sounds off most of the time to prevent it from bothering Boy and Bran. Another thing was that I really like having the function that opens closed tabs. When I read blogs and comics I open several tabs at once. I also set it so I could close the tab quickly when I finish reading it. If my keyboard closed the tab I couldn’t just press a button to have it reopen the tab. I’d have to go to bookmarks, figure out which of the folders that page was in and then open it in a new tab. That’s only two of the things about Firefox I missed.

Today I finally got my spit together and downloaded the most current version of Firefox. Then I deleted the profile and uninstalled the older version of Firefox. Then I installed the new version and went hunting for the addons I wanted. I don’t install a great many, just the ones that increase my security and the functionality of the browser. I’ll keep looking for a theme that I like (until Scribblies Brite is made compatible).

Last week I ordered some rockin’ t-shirts: hedgehogs, chinchillin’, irrelephant, outside the box, thesaurus and epic. Two are mine for sure, Boy and Bran will get at least one each and the fifth I haven’t decided on yet. Maybe we’ll make it a family shirt. Maybe we won’t. We’ll see.

That’s about it from here.

The inheritance came through last week. This means that we are able to afford certain things that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Bran and I now each have our own vehicles. In total we spent more than we probably should have, but each auto is only 3 years old, they’re both covered by 2 year warranty that covers nearly everything that could bork out, such as the electricals, drive train, motor, and nearly everything else mechanical. Being used cars that is a good thing. Bran got a red truck.

I got a silver SUV (gets reasonably good gas mileage – better than the Volvo did). It was taken back into the shop to get a bit of body work done, detailed and have a sun glasses visor replaced. It was taken in on Tuesday for the work and I got it back today. I’m pleased as punch with it. It’s easy to drive, quite manoeuvrable. I like how I fit in the driver seat. The signal lights turn off automatically. It’s an automatic so no more shifting gears (though for the first couple of days I was automatically trying to find that nasty clutch – hit the emergency brake once or twice because of that). It has tilt steering so I can get in and out comfortably and have the wheel set at where it’s comfortable. I also don’t have to duck down to get into it, it’s just a slide across from a standing position. It’s a scary thing as previous to my first ever all-my-own vehicle is that I’m enjoying driving. That took Boy and Bran by surprise. Me too, when it comes to that.

Boy doesn’t like driving at all. He didn’t want an auto of his own. We are requiring him to get his driver’s license. He has his learner’s right now. Instead of a car he chose to get a very zoomy, very fast computer. He’s extremely happy with it. It’s a desk top beast that sits on his end table in the living room. They keyboard mouse and flat panel monitor sit on a table in front of his chair. Boy also got a new DS so I got his old one. This one has a hinge that actually works. Gotta love hand-me-overs.

I got a cheapo purse too. It was only $20. I desperately needed something to replace my old purse that was falling apart. The new one is made entirely of vinyl so it gets mighty crispy and stiff in the cold. It’ll get replaced when I find a leather one I like enough. I’ll hang onto this one as a spare. It also doesn’t have long enough shoulder straps.

My shifts at work are still all over the place. Last week was the first time I had a steady week of regular shifts. This week I was supposed to work evenings on Monday, Wednesday and Friday then days on Tuesday and Thursday. That didn’t work out as planned. Our night shift person is sick so I worked most of my evening shift last night and then did the graveyard shift right after. I worked until nearly 7 and then walked home to spend a bit of time relaxing. Then I walked back to work again so that I could be there to relieve the counsellor who needed to go home at 9. By the time the shift was over my knees were seriously aching and I was ready to collapse into a coma of fatigue. I got a call this afternoon and she’s still sick so instead of relaxing and spending a leisurely night at home and having a short shift tomorrow evening, I’m covering her shift again from midnight to 8 am tomorrow. Happily I have my baby back so I don’t have to walk to work again. It’ also means that I get some nice overtime.

I reserved the hotel rooms we’ll need in May when we got to Edmonton for the Rammstein concert. It’s boy’s 19th birthday present. He and a friend are being treated to the concert and two nights in a hotel (they get their own room) as well as all meals paid for. Of course I’ll be paying for any incidentals that Boy will want in terms of shopping. I should have Bran make sure he takes cash to the concert (yes, he’s going too – with ear plugs to protect his hearing) for t-shirts and such that Boy is bound to want as memorabilia. While they’re at the concert I’m going to be relaxing at the hotel. The next day we’re hitting the West Edmonton Mall for shopping. I want to hit up Cotton Ginny as they don’t have one in Saskatchewan anymore at all. It’s a great place for fat women to get good quality, natural fibre clothes. I’ll probably get another purse, if I can find one I like.

As some of you may know, I’ve been making a stole for Bran to wear when he does hand fastings (pagan type weddings). It’s nearly done. The beading is complete, I’ve got most of it attached to a very long piece of canvas (9’5″ long to be more accurate). I put black ribbon around the whole thing except one end. I’ll be finishing that up this weekend. Then I will sew on wide black ribbon for the back to hide the threads and knots that tie the beads to the canvas and finish by the final sewing of the side ribbon to hide all ravelling edges. I’ll take a picture of it when I’m done. After that I’m making him moccasins to wear. They’ll have sheep skin insoles and be made of either cow or deer leather. One of the residents is willing to teach me how to make them and they’d be ideal for Bran’s feet. I might have to get a rubber sole put on them to ensure they last and to further protect his diabetic feet.

I start paying student loans back really soon. I may be able to arrange to have my loan frozen (where they don’t charge interest on it) so that everything I pay on it goes straight to the principle of the loan rather than the interest for 14 years. If that’s the case I can apply every 6 months to continue that for 5 years. That’ll mean I can pay a significant portion of the loan without being screwed by interest charges.

I’m watching Dog the Bounty Hunter. Seriously, what’s with the hair? Dog has a mullet with a Great white Shark Alfalfa thing happening in front and on top. Then two of his sons (or one of them) with that long rat tail thing. Beth’s hair is relatively normal though an unnatural shade of blonde. Her boobs! My Goddess, her bodacious tatas defy gravity! She also has shoes that can kill ants in the corners of room. If they curled up she’d have genie shoes.

It’s still winter here. I’m seriously tired of the snow. I’m not sick of the cold. I like the cold, but I’m seriously tired of the temperatures the thermostats have to be set at in the building at work to make sure that none of the pipes freeze and flood the building. I mean, if it’s a choice between the two I’ll take the tropical rain forest temperatures. I mean, I’ve already had to deal with two cold weather related floods (one a regular plumbing pipe, the other a frozen heating pipe) and I don’t want to have a repeat of those adventures. But speaking as a middle-aged, fat woman whose body temperature runs higher than most other human beings, those tropical rain forest temperatures suck donkey balls.

We will soon be looking to buy a house. We’re thinking of working with a mortgage broker as they do the work that we’d have to do by going to banks, comparing interest rates and mortgage amounts, etc. We’re trying to figure out if that would be worth the extra cost. It’s hard for the two of us to coordinate our off-work time together right now. Then it’ll be finding a real estate agent to organize house viewing and make an offer and buy a house. I want to do this while it’s still wintery outside as house prices tend to be lower in winter. Then we can give notice to our passive-aggressive landlord and get out of renting. Of course we’re getting an insured mortgage that would be automatically paid in the case of either Bran’s or my death. We’re too old to not go for that option. It’s a way of making sure that the other spouse (or Boy) will be sure to have a home after the other income is gone.

This week we heard of the death of Brian Jacques , the writer of our favourite books. He wrote the Redwall series that we’ve been reading since Boy was 3 years old. Our interest in the books began with the television with the animated production of Redwall. After watching and being charmed by the series we began purchasing the books. I used to read for an hour a night (this usually got one chapter read) each night between 7 and 8, just before Boy’s bedtime. We started the tradition with The Long Patrol and progressed through the series. I also read the Harry Potter series this way. We now own all the published works to date. Sadly there won’t be any more Redwall books. I heartily recommend the books to anyone, young and old, who likes adventure, engaging characters and a general good read. Like the Harry Potter series, these books have been read repeatedly by all of us through the years.

I have 4 new bras. They’re Wonder Bra 18 hour types. They’re very comfortable. I will be getting more at Cotton Ginny in Edmonton. Sure, this might be more than you wanted to know about me, but bras have become important in my life. I like being supported and having the appearance of being “perky”. I’ve never been “perky” so it’s a novel look.

That’s about it from here.

Summer is over. I know that according to the calendar it’s still technically summer, but the leaves are turning colour and falling from trees. Our neighbour’s vine (the one climbing up their large elm tree) is turning bright red. The nights are crispy and getting darned close to freezing. The rains of fall are now causing havoc to the few farmers around who had fields that weren’t underwater long after planting time.

Three weeks ago on this day Bran had a heart attack. At this time on that night I was sitting next to him at St. Paul’s Hospital waiting to find out what was happening and hoping that he would be ok and not die. It ranks high on the nightmare nights that include the one, when Boy was 3 months old, I spent in the paediatric ward at Royal University Hospital before the head CT of Boy the next day. Happily it turned out to be nothing in the case of Boy. It wasn’t so simple with Bran. He’s recovering well and making changes that will ensure he will be with me a while yet.

I’ve gotten fairly good at driving the manual transmission station wagon we own. I don’t like the manual very much, but I’m getting used to it. My one worry is that my foot is going to slip off the clutch and I’m going to lurch and stall. The worry became more tangible today with the rain. You see, the rubber thing that is supposed to be on the pedal came off some time ago so my foot is placed onto the metal of the pedal. That’s kind of slippery. Happily nothing of the sort has happened yet despite the rain, my fears and the slipperiness of the sole of my shoes.

Work is going ok. One of my co-workers is doing her minor practicum for her social work degree at a children’s residence. The kids there have the typical problems one would expect with troubled kids…Fetal Alcohol Spectrum, ADHD, etc. The people there treated her like she was a clueless newby when she arrived but they’ve learned to stop that. Not only has she already worked with troubled youth at a girl’s home but also done practicums at a shelter for street kids and now works with adult offenders on day and full parole. A 15 year old kid having a temper tantrum is a snap for her to handle considering some of the big guys she’s had to deal with by herself during her shifts (there are 4 adults for 9 kids and they consider themselves overworked – we have as many as 25 men and women and work alone). Yeah. She’s looking forward to being done there. I hope her major practicum is better for her.

I’ve been giving thought to getting a social work degree. It’s an applicable degree that would allow me a wide variety of places and areas to work within the corrections field. I won’t be doing it for a while though. I’m not ready to get back into the demands of school and I need to be full time for a while.

Speaking of school. I have to get my withdrawal thing into my supervisor (who’s also the Chair for Grad Studies of the Sociology department). Sometime this weekend I’m going to get my two remaining library books back into the library. With that done the formalities of me no longer being a student will be complete. I still haven’t heard back from my supervisor since I sent her the email saying I was going to withdraw from the program. Anyway, getting it all done will mean that I’ll have that load off my back…until it comes time to start paying back my student loans. Hopefully by then Bran will be recovered enough to have a job and life will be somewhat easier for us all.

Is it me or did summer pass by far too quickly? It’s not like we had much of a summer this year with cool temperatures and rain nearly every day, but still, people are talking about snow already. Even for cold loving me that’s a bit too soon for me. I was having enough trouble adjusting to my son being an adult and then summer disappeared. Time passes far too quickly the older you get.

I rescheduled the physical I was supposed to have yesterday. I have it on the 20th now instead. The concept of a physical is still quite disturbing. Try as I might the idea of someone I don’t know touching me anywhere (not to mention the more intimate places) is more than a little intimidating. Hopefully by then I’ll have myself psyched up enough to be able to go through with the process.

Did I mention that I had to send back the entire order of wire back to Rings and Things (Google them, I don’t feel like having a link of my blog to them right now, I’m put out with them at the moment)? I did. They sent me 1/2 round wire. Then I sent an email to their sales department telling them that I was sending the order back at their cost and wanted the mistake corrected. Have I heard from them at all? No, I haven’t. Not a peep. That doesn’t bode well for customer service, now does it? When I write to Panda Hall I get a response within 24 hours attempting to address my concerns. Fire Mountain Gems is also very good at responding quickly. So after I get my wire (if I get my wire) I’ll be looking for a new place to order from.

That’s about it. I still look forward to winning the lottery (or a nice subsidiary prize). Then again, don’t we all…or at least all those people who buy tickets.

Don’t blame me for the title. I couldn’t think of anything for a title and there’s this turtle sticker in an electrical panel here at work and….never mind.

Here’s what I’ve been up to the past few days.

First, I thought that my computer has 1/2 the harddrive that was advertised on the machine. It turns out they did a partition to have a D drive as well. Go figure. I wonder if my old computer had that too. Hmmm… Anyway, now I have to decide if having the outlet to an alternate video is important enough to me to return the machine. At least I’m not returning it and then finding out about the D drive. Thank goodness for presleep mind wanderings. That saved my self esteem.

I was supposed to go to a housewarming of a friend on Saturday. It turns out I didn’t feel up to going out at all. So I stayed home instead, though Bran and I went out for a late night drive.

On Sunday Bran and I went to the Co-Op to pick up a toilet seat, screws, legs for the end of the bed and some lumber. We got the first three but Bran’s brain stopped working in trying to figure out the lumber calculations he needed so we went home. We have to return the toilet seat because it’s too large (we got an oval one to fit the oval bowl) and we’ll pick up the lumber with his new calculations on Thursday.

Tomorrow is the day I go in and get my student loans processed. Yay! Then in a week to 10 days the federal money will come in. Then I can get the food processor that is for sale at CostCo (with a mini-chopper) and a set of sheets…and a new car because SGI is probalby going to write off the Volvo because of the parking lot incident in May. With the money from the Volvo and some of student loan we should get a decent mobile. We’re hoping for another Jeep, but we’ll get what is best and fits in our budget. (but I hope it’s a Jeep)

I had the whole log weekend off. Monday was “Saskatchewan Day” and was a province wide stat. Because I’m scheduled to work on Reporting Centre (which is what I was hired to work at but only do twice a week instead of 4 shifts a week – but that’s a whole other story that I won’t get into here because it’s work) I don’t work stat holidays. I only work stats if they’re mid-week or if they fall on a weekend that I’m scheduled. So all I get is regular stat pay that everyone gets, only less of it.

Boy has an MRI scheduled for September 1 at 10 pm. Yes, you read that right, “PM”. They’re keeping wait lists down by doing more shifts of MRIs. At least with it being that late he can snooze while the machine bangs away.

I’ve been doing more bead weaving. I made a couple of belt loops (Bran calls them “keepers”) for his man-purses to hold the end of the shoulder strap down. I’ll get a pictures of them posted eventually.

I’m redoing one of the bands that will eventually be part of a ceremonial robe for Bran. I decided I wanted them all equal lengths. On Thursday, when we go out to get lumber and a new toilet seat that fits, I’m going to get some yellow beads (and probably other pretty colours) to make the 4th band (south=red, west=blue, north=green, and yellow=east). Then I’ll be putting a tube of red, black and white beads around the red rope he uses to tie around his waist (white=maiden, red=mother, black=crone) for the three facets of the Goddess.

That’s about it. I want to read blogs and then start a Midsommer Murders movie and bead. I don’t have a whole lot to do otherwise.

…but it was a computer.

I’ve been silent these past days because my computer has been in the shop. The fan has been making a terrible racket for the past couple of months, but because I needed my computer I tolerated the noise. Since I’d finished classes and my exams last week we took my computer in for the techies at the store we bought it from (they actually know what they’re doing) to see if they could do anything about it. They thought maybe they could give the fan a quick lube and avoid having to send it to the manufacturer for repairs, but alas, whatever’s wrong with this thing is something that the manufacturer has to fix lest the warranty be voided. Damn. So now we’re setting things up on Bran’s computer for me to use, I’ll be printing out all the user codes for the programs i’ve purchased online so I can re-get them and doing back ups of my data to ensure that I lose as little as possible from this pain in the ass nonsense.

I’ve passed one class so far. I got 78% in theory. I knew I wouldn’t do spectacularly because I’d not done spectacularly before, however since my mark went up that must mean I did fairly well on my final. Yay! The marks for the other two classes haven’t come back yet.

I’ve been knitting of late. I’ve got one and 1/4 socks made. One of my classmate’s mother knits and makes socks a lot. She has a really good pattern for heels that I want to use so she (the daughter) is going to get her mom to give me the pattern.

I started a book today that I’ve very nearly finished. Keeper ‘n Me by Richard Wagamese is a wonderful book that everyone should read. It’s gut splitting hilarious, poignant, maddening, sweet and cool. It’s a really good read. It’s written as colloquial so you have to hear what you read, if that makes sense. I highly recommend it to everyone. After this one I have a few Thomson Highway books I want to read. Both Richard and Thomson are award winning Canadian Aboriginal writers.

As well, I’ve been doing crosswords and watching television and the odd movie. I know that’s nothing new, but being able to do that without the obligation of studying is totally and wonderfully liberating. Of course, sometime next week I start reading books as my theory references for my research proposal but that’s next week. Even then, it’s going to be interesting reading.

The car is now in running condition. We’re going out to Manatou on Thursday. That’s a hot springs mineral spa that is, I think, east of town. We’re going to enjoy the pools and possibly a massage. I’m quite looking forward to that. I’m going to be looking like a blue potato.

That’s about it from here. I’ll be keeping in touch with my computer life through Bran’s computer and the computers at school. I try to avoid doing much from work. Though my boss says he doesn’t have a key logger on the machine there, they’ve said a lot of things that turned out to be less than truthful, you know, like me working 32 hours a week at my own job. So I’ll avoid that issue.

Ta-Ra

I’ve been working reasonably hard and I’ve nearly completed Gender Trouble. Tonight I have to read more as well as do a review of a questionnaire that a classmate created and I agreed to help out on.

I got the assignment due tomorrow done this afternoon in a couple of hours. I’ve concluded that the Nvivo program for analyzing qualitative data completely sucks. Really, it does. I couldn’t open up saved analysis of my own work. The program collapsed and crashed after I’d done most of my analysis and that’s how I discovered it wouldn’t open my saved work. Then I couldn’t get the program to print up a couple of things. All I can think right now is that I hope the program is vastly improved or there is a different and better program if or when I ever do my PhD.

The car got a tune-up today (I wrote “update” – duh!). I paid with my credit card. It was then I realized that we could have gotten a few groceries to get us through the week and charged it then paid it off when I got paid (tomorrow). I guess it’s a good thing that I didn’t think of using it though. It’s always better to not have that be the first thought…use the card. So now we have a bit of a balance to pay off. Then we’re going to get the bearings packed, have the intake stuff cleaned up, and the brakes done (not all at once, we’d go broke if we did that).

School was ok today. We had a bit of a ditz from Corrections Service of Canada come by for a talk, but it was very informative. I learnt a lot of about programming. Despite being a bit of a flake, he had enormous passion and enthusiasm for his work. I’m glad of that. I might try to work within the system for a short while, working at Okima Ochi Healing Lodge (the Aboriginal minimum security facility) would be a very educational.

That’s about it. Nothing to exciting is going on.

Ta-Ra

…and I’m not talking about me. I’m talking about the weather, which happens to be the topic of conversation for many people right now…

An excerpt from Cnews

A fierce blast of snow and cold was making its way east into Manitoba on Sunday after triggering record low wind chills of -50 C and colder in neighbouring Saskatchewan overnight.

Wind chill warnings were in effect in both provinces throughout the day, prompting warnings from Environment Canada that exposed skin would freeze in less than 10 minutes.

Residents of Saskatoon woke up to the coldest temperatures since 1966, with a wind chill of -45 C, leaving the city shrouded in ice fog.

The actual temperature in Saskatoon at mid-morning was -39 C and Environment Canada lists the record low temperature on Jan. 4 as -40 C in 1966. The Saskatchewan Encyclopedia says temperatures in the -50 C range are the lowest ever recorded in the province.

Then from Star Kloenix the local rag…

The temperature in Saskatoon bottomed out at -41.1 C early Sunday. That’s the coldest Jan. 4 in the 114 years of recorded temperatures for the city. It broke the old record of -40.0 set in 1966.

“It sure was wicked, just frigid. That’s square tire territory,” said Environment Canada meteorologist Mindy Brugman. With winds of 15 km/h, it felt like -55.

It all makes having to use paper towels to protect my face worth while.

No word on what the car is going to cost us. Two certain things are fixing the electrical problem and tightening the hand brake.

It was back to school today for Boy and I. We rode the bus and happily for us, the temperature was a balmy -27 or so when we left the house. It was nice to not feel like the skin on my face was crisping up. Of course, as soon as I turned my back to the wind my glasses would fog up. However, I scored a seat on the bus and it took me all the way to the university.

I passed my mid-term with 73. I could’ve gotten more but he wanted more analysis. At least I passed. Still no word from my Aboriginal Women and Law class. That’s the only single semester class I had.

I came home early from school. I was going to pick up the new text for my methods class, but the lineup for the book store was all the way down the long ramp and I didn’t want to stand in line that long. I’ll try again tomorrow when I get to school in the morning.

I laid down after getting home, my legs were stiff and my knee sore and I was somewhat grumpy and out of sorts. I didn’t sleep but it was nice to have some quiet time just to rest. I didn’t remember to take any ibuprofen until after I woke up.

That’s about it. I’d type more, but there’s a kitty on me and she wants more stability and less me typing.

Ta-Ra

My assignment has been handed in, at least I think it has been. A late email was sent to people about handing in assignments to her or sliding them under her door, but I’d already taken it and had it put in her mailbox. In fact, I did that a couple of hours before she sent out the email. If she complains, I can say that the last thing I’d heard was about handing it in to her mailbox (stated at the end of the last class) and that if she wanted to be certain that assignments were handed in to her or slid under her door, it would have been more helpful to have sent out the email the night before. I should probably have done more proof reading of it, but I’d had enough of that pointless exercise in frustration.

The holiday dinner was at work tonight. Bran, Boy and I went and had turkey with all the trimmings. Bran loaded up with some broccoli salad, but I forgot to tell him that it’s a sweet salad, with orange bits, cranberries and a sweet dressing. Because of that he couldn’t eat it He made up for it after with having seconds of other veg and turkey with gravy. I was gifted with some Lindt chocolate truffles but forgot them at work. Oh, well.

I shall be going into school again tomorrow. I don’t have to be there, but Boy is going in for the morning (and skipping the afternoon entailing a Christmas assembly) and one of my classmates hasn’t seen A Muppet Christmas Carol yet. I was scandalized. I thought that kids of that era would have seen that movie ad nauseum Since he hasn’t and so I’m filling in the gap. I also found out that he and my other classmate haven’t seen The Big Sleep or the Maltese Falcon, not to mention all those Neil Simon movies like Murder by Death. Why do I know this? Because I took in The Cheap Detective.

All this reminds me that I need a pair of speakers to have at school for things like movies. I have a significant job of educating children to the classics of movies.

Bran is out to McNally Robinson to pick up a book he requested they put on hold for him. Yesterday the three Dominic Deegan, Oracle for Hire books that I’d ordered for him earlier in the month. I was a bit concerned that they wouldn’t arrive before Yule, but they did. Yay! I got all three for a very good price. I figured that since he directed me to the online comic he should have the books. We’re very big on books, even if they’re comics. We now have most of the Dykes to Watch Out For including Alison Bechdel’s comic biography and the Essential Dykes to Watch Out For and the Bruno collection which contains all the online archives. I’d order piles more if I could afford to. In fact, I’d order them and send them to friends as gifts. If it supports the artists that create my favourite comics, then I’m all for it.

We got some floor mats for the Volvo. The ones in there were stock and frankly, sucked. I found that rather surprising considering the quality that Volvo tends to put into their cars. We also have an issue of a weird loud griding noise coming from the back rear wheel area. That doesn’t sound very good. I’m hoping it won’t be a huge expense and I wish it’d made itself present when Bran did the test drive. Obviously the previous owner was less than candid about issues the car has. Sadly, going through private purchases means we don’t have any real recourse…at least none that I know of. Anyway, Bran made an appointment at the mechanic for a general look over as well as looking at what might be causing that grinding noise as well as tightening up the parking brake.

I think that’s about it for the day. Such excitement.

Ta-Ra

I’ve been putting off making this update for no other reason than laziness.

The insurance people are writing off our Jeep. To replace it, Bran’s been shopping around. Most of what he’s looked at were other Jeeps. Sadly, most of the Jeeps that were within our price range had flaws that would have cost a fair bit of money to repair. Tonight Bran settled on a Volvo wagon. It has a standard transmission (manual for all you youngsters out there) so that means that Boy and I have a learning curve coming up. It’s not as comfortable for Bran to drive in, but it’s on good shape, the price is right and we’ll have an auto after we turn the Jeep over to SGI.