Seismic Twitch

It’s official. You know why? Because I heard thunder today! Loud, rumbling thunder!

but I can’t muster the energy necessary, so I thought I’d do what others do and waste time talking to you.

The weekend was pretty uneventful. I worked Friday night (despite it being a statutory holiday) because there was no one else available to fill the hours that another person couldn’t work the full shift. That’s ok. I get paid for the holiday and I get paid for the time I work. It all works out. But because I worked those measly four hours it doesn’t feel like I had a long weekend at all.

Let’s see, I didn’t tell you about my trip to Michael’s. A co-worker (the fabulous cook) does scrapbooking as a hobby and she’s always game for a trip to the hobby store. She wasn’t sure she would be because of how tired she might be after the work of putting on the big feast the night before. However, come 12:30 we were wending our way through Good Friday traffic (surprisingly there was a lot) towards Michael’s with our 50% off coupons in our bags. I didn’t get much though. I got a small bead tray for when I get my beads in the mail and some origami paper they didn’t have before. It’s just the plain stuff. One package that has the colour only on one side and a smaller package (but equal price) of the paper that has a colour on each side of the paper. I spent my work shift folding pretty birds in between building checks and fills (this is when I fill up things like sugar packets, creamer packets, coffee filters, etc. necessary to keep the place going for the residents – oh, and toilet paper, which helps them in their going). So far I’ve made a swan, two flying song birds, and a peacock. I’m still working on the penguin and chick.

Rignt now I’m supposed to be working on month end reports. I have actually done four. With the two that my supervisor/co-worker did, it totals six completed month end reports. There are 24 left to do. We have anther 2 days to do them. If I get more done tonight that might mean that I can do my month end when I have an extra staff here to cover while I work on it. Because I feel so pressured to complete the month end I also cleaned out the chinchilla cage. They’re happier again. I think that this weekend or the weekend after I’ll bring in a large container and use it to do a thorough washing of each of the levels of the cage as well as the bottom. I have to get them more treats. They do love their treats and will take them from your fingers.

On Saunday night a couple knocked on our door (and the door of our upstairs neighbour) wanting to come in and see the suite. Despite being told by our neighbour to contact the realtor they knocked on our door as well only to be told the same thing by an annoyed Bran who had to chase the cat because she bolted out of the door. Then he checked his email and saw that we got notice that the realtor wanted to bring a prospective buyer through the house on Monday around 1:00. So we had to spend some time tidying the place. Fortunately we didn’t mess it up too badly so it didn’t take an extraordinary effort. I got the kitchen mostly done except for two countertops. I vacuumed the floor which took care of most of the toast crumbs. Bran wiped off the two coutnertops I didn’t have the back power to finish and put the finishing touches on the rest of the house.

Today Bran kindly took the pressure off of me (about having strangers in my house) and I took Boy to work (he works at 1:00) and then I went to the vampires to have my blood taken to see what my thyroid levels are. I should have done it a few weeks ago but always forgot. This gave me an excuse to extend my absence from home. Even so, when I got home the realtor and the potential purchaser were outside the house chatting when I got home. Bummer. I’d hoped to avoid the whole thing.

I guess I should get back to work and do at least one more report done tonight, mabye two. It’s thrilling work. Blah!

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.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

I just had to delete 58 spam comments that the spam catcher got. i guess my whine about my cold was informative to a certain segment of the population because they all said that it was not only informative, but they were going to bookmark it. Isn’t that amazing?

We’ve made a lot of purchases because of having money again. Of all the ones we’ve made the latest one was the most timely. We bought two 4 place setting sets of dishes tonight. This is just in the nick of time since the old Corelle dinnerware we bought in 2001 are now shattering when they fall to the floor. Keep in mind all of our floors are hardwood. The only things other than the plates that have broken like that were thin glass bowls. Everything else survives, including some rather brittle plastic. Corelle’s selling point is that it’s hard to break. I guess with age that selling point is moot. We’ve had two shatter (not just break, the pieces were quite wide spread) in the past two weeks. So instead of giving away the remaining plates and bowls, we’re going to throw them out. We don’t want to inflict their fragility on other people. It’s too bad too, they were good plates.

I have a new purse. Yes, I know I got a new purse a little while ago, but that purse wasn’t totally what I wanted. Sure it had pockets galore (which I love) but it had short straps and was vinyl, so it got very crisp when the weather got really cold. My new purse is leather with a cloth interior. The cloth appears to be more heavy duty than most of the bags I looked at. It has enough pockets for things and has a really nice long shoulder strap. It can not only hang from my shoulder but be put over my head and hang like a courier bag. Yay!

Boy found a copy of Bejeweled Twist for DS in the sale bin at London Drugs last night. Yeah. I hate him. I love him, but I hate him. You get three guesses what I was doing during my down time at work today. The first two don’t count. It was weird going back to playing the ordinary game on my computer while I waited for tabs to load. Did I tell you I got a “new” DS? Boy got a new version (it has more bells and whistles or something) and gave me his older one. My old DS (also previously Boy’s) had a broken hinge so I had to play it flat. This one doesn’t have a broken hinge so I can have it propped open. My games are Pokemon Pearl, Brain Age 1 and 2, Animal Crossing and now Bejewled Twist. I’m so l33t.

We got pink t-shirts today. They’re to wear on April 13 as part of the anti-bullying campaign. You can read more about it at Avenue Community Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity. It’s an awesome campaign. Wear pink on that day to show that you’re against bullying of children, teens and adults on the basis of perceived (or real) sexual identity. So rock on and wear your pink shirt!

I want to get back to reading blogs. I wanted to make sure I blogged about the plates. If you have the Corelle clear plates you might want to get rid of them if they’re over a certain age. Like I said, we’ve owned ours for a little under 10 years (and who knows how long they were warehoused before being shipped to the store) and they’re not doing to well in the break department. They lasted a good long time though.

Well shit. There are no boxes to click on to choose categories.