30 Oct 2007  | Up, down, up, down, up... you get the picture Up: Stuart's parents stayed with us this weekend, and since they are breakfast toast people, we swung by Cobb's on Thursday to get bread. If you're not lucky enough to experience Cobb's, let me say that in this unique case "franchise" and "super yummy, high quality" are not mutually exclusive. Unbeknownst to us, we arrived about 3 minutes before closing, when they'd already counted their tills, so we walked away with a loaf of bread, several pastries and a bag of croissants TOTALLY FREE!
Down: We took the parental units to game night with us on Friday and had a super dinner and conversation. However, it turned out after I'd eaten some, that the lovely, homemade marinated carrots were done in walnut oil. Have I mentioned that I'm allergic to nuts? I didn't eat many and I took a BIG dose of antihistamines as soon as I realized it, but I did have a swollen, itchy throat/sinuses/eustachian tubes for most of the weekend.
Down: We'd had such a good meal at the Blue Dog that we decided to take Stuart's parents there for dinner. I called on Friday and made a reservation for Sunday at 6:30. When we arrived, there was a big sign on the door saying "Closed Sunday and Monday for Renovations". What!?!?!?
Up: We knocked on the window and spoke to the owner, who is going to send us a gift certificate to make up for the craziness.
Up: Instead, we went to Prairie Smoke, which turned out to be quite good and offering a nightly special of Osso Bucco. One of my absolute favorite ways to have lamb - no doggie bag tonight!
Up: About two weeks ago, I yawned and felt my right massiter muscle sort of twinge. Over the next while, it got progressively tighter and more painful, until I couldn't open my mouth more than enough to fit one finger in. (Kinesiology tests consider three fingers to be "normal" motility.) So I left work a bit early yesterday and went to the local acupuncture school for a treatment. About 10 minutes and 12 needles later, I was experiencing a lot of relief.
Down: Last night I had a bizarre response to the treatment. At about 3:30am, I woke up suddenly, boiling hot, covered in sweat and the world was spinning around. I mean that literally too: when I opened my eyes, they tracked rapidly from left to right, over and over again trying to focus on objects that were whirring past. It was weird and very nauseating, so I closed my eyes again. It took about half an hour for things to settle down and when I tried to go back to sleep, I discovered that if I layed on my right side (how I prefer to fall asleep) the symptoms started up again. I eventually got back to sleep, but all day I've been tired and just a bit disoriented.
Up: (just to end on a nice note!) Today was the University's annual Fire Warden appreciation event. We got drinks, cookies, pens, skating passes and combination key chain/flashlight/whistle thingies. I also finally got my "official" wardens vest, which is a charming shade of emergency orange and positively vibrates with reflective tape. They also did draws and I got a black UofC golf shirt. Hmmm... maybe it'll fit Stuart.
Ciao!
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| 26 Oct 2007 | Another goal reached I have now read every, single PVP strip posted online in the archive! Wa-hoo!
...
Now what am I gonna do at work?
Ciao!
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| 15 Oct 2007 | One of these weekends, I’m just going to sleep! Stuart picked me up from work on Friday and we headed straight for Cochrane and a little restaurant called "The Blue Dog Cafe." We'd never been, but it got a good review from my dad. It turned out to be very, very tasty, if a bit disappointing in the dessert menu (it SAID creme brulee, but they don't offer it any more.) Our waitress wasn't the brightest light in the sky, but we got our food, so you can't complain too much. If you want to try the place, by all means, but call for a reservation - no one got in while we were there without one.
From there it was over to the Cochrane Ranche House, it time for the first song of the opening act's set. That Michelle Blush has some pipes on her! Suzie was sitting just inside the door, so I stopped to say "hi" quickly before we found seats. Stuart had come home from work after about two hours that day because he wasn't feeling well. He'd improved with a lot of naps, but he still wasn't on top of the world, so I got lots of snuggles as we sat in the back and took in the show.
Suzie Vinnick and her sometimes musical partner Rick Fines put on a tremendous performance. I haven't seen Rick before - he's a great guitar player and has a gravelly Tom Waits/Leonard Coehen sort of voice, although not quite so deep. It made for a strange but kind of cool juxtiposition with Suzie's sweeter more melodic tone. They did some solo tunes, they did a bunch of joint stuff and it was all great! We picked up their collaborative album for ourselves (and got it signed!) and his lastest solo album for Dad's birthday. By the time it was all over, we were definitely over-due for home and bed.
Saturday was a slow day for puttering, taking out the recycling, making soup stock, etc. We also started a game of "Descent", which will be fun, once I get used to having to keep so much running info in my head. Yikes!
On Sunday, we headed over to Ikea, for what was hopefully that last big purchase for the apartment. A second wardrobe for minis, a replacement stalk for the one bamboo that died, some magazine boxes, etc. I spent the afternoon making ham soup and white chocolate cookies, while Stuart assembled the wardrobe and organized more stuff. Collectively, we managed to clear out more than a half dozen more boxes and bins - we even hung some artwork!
During dinner, the phone rang and it was my father. They'd had grandma over for dinner and she wasn't feeling well. She'd been having sharp pains in her shoulder, hyperventilating, etc. since last night and Dad wanted my opinion. I said, "You should be taking her to emergency" - so Mom did. They were there until about 6am this morning apparently; they did 3 ECGs, bloodwork, etc. and couldn't find any problems with her heart. Since it didn't appear to be acute, they released her and Mom was trying to get an appointment with her GP this morning.
I'm glad it's turned out ok, so far, but I was half waiting for the phone to ring all night, so I didn't sleep very well. And today, it's back to work...
Ciao!
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| 12 Oct 2007 | Painful piggies Who decided that we need so many darn nerves in our toes anyway? I stubbed my toe this morning and spent the requisite several minutes hopping around, cursing, yelling and crying. When I'd finally caught my breath, I was a bit scared to look down. What if it was pointing off in an unnatural direction? Or turning black and rapidly swelling to three time normal size? Or *gasp* gushing liters of blood and I was about to exsanguinate? Maybe I'd better look...
The stupid thing was fine. Barely pinker than normal. How could it possibly hurt that much and not be irrevocably maimed? I've had major surgery, broken limbs, all sorts of injury, but I swear nothing is as painfully as a glancing blow to the toes or the elbow. And it's not like there's any evolutionary advantage that I can think of. Sheesh!
Ciao.
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| 11 Oct 2007 | Things that make you go hmmmm... You know the imbecilic trend for wearing sweats with words written across the back? I saw a girl with a pair on that said, "rebuttal". It gave me a chortle at first, but the more I think about it, the less sense it makes. Rebuttal to what? Juicy? Roots? Now it's just irritating me...
I had the psycho bus driver this morning. He was running late as usual and then he just blew past an entire stop. When the people waiting tried to flag him over, he just waved back as we sailed passed. And to top it off, when I got off at my stop, it was to discover that the next bus on the same route, was right behind us. Excellent, even more confirmation that it's not me - calgary transit is just a mess.
A piece of trivia for you: there are 90 steps from the ground floor of my building to my office on 2A. That's 180 steps already today, so when is my butt gonna get smaller?!?!?!
And finally, one of my PIs is embroiled in a totally childish (well, it's not quite a fight, but it's getting there) with another PI - fortunately not one I work for! The details don't matter, but they stood on either side of my desk this morning, while they had it out. I'm not sure exactly what his problem is, because he basically called both of us liars, wanted to call in his secretary and then got upset because she was embarrassing him. Between Ki-Young and Toni, it's like working in an episode of "Dallas" - yuck.
Ciao.
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| 10 Oct 2007 | Turkey, smoke and late nights I kept getting distracted yesterday from posting my Thanksgiving blog, with the result that today's effort will be even more action packed! But let's start with the weekend...
Stuart picked me up from work on Friday and we headed straight out of the city for Edmonton. The traffic wasn't as bad as I'd feared it would be; sure there were lots of cars, but they were all moving. Stuart may complain, but I'll take it! We got to his parents' place in time for a chat before bed time. (I was vaguely worried about that, but we got a room together and nothing about it was said. Phew.)
They were out of the house early to work at the advance polls and Stuart had a hair cut at 9:30, so I had a nice, quiet Saturday morning. Just me, breakfast and a book in my pj's - it was great. Once Stuart was back, we headed west to have lunch with my parents and then it was my turn to see the Hair Goddess. We had dinner at my parents' house and it was really nice - just the four of us and enough food for the whole family.
After dinner, Stuart and I indulged our pyromaniac sides. He'd finally had a chance to go through his boxes of old receipts, bills, etc. and we had a big pile of paper to dispose of. Shredding is ok, I guess, but sitting in front of Dad's chiminea (sp?) and taking turns tossing in paper was great. We especially loved the TD stuff that made the flames green and the little windowed envelopes that had death spasms as they died.
Sunday morning, we all feasted on goodies from Cobb's before Stuart's parents headed off for church. (I'd been very good the night before: Stuart's mom asked if we were coming with them and I just held my tongue and let Stuart field it. Points to me!  ) We picked up Mom around 12:30 and headed to the Citadel to see "Noises Off". I've seen the movie with Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve and John Ritter, but I'd never seen it done live. It was amazing and we all laughed hysterically. Well, except for the little old lady next to Stuart, who objected to the "gratuitous use of the word 'fuck'" and the girl in her undies. She sat through the whole performance like a rock, just scowling. I think Stuart may have found that even funnier than the play!
We got back to the house to find Stuart's sister already in attendance and we had another Thanksgiving dinner, this time with turkey and all the trimmings. We played a couple of rounds of Uno after dinner and then it was definitely time for bed! Monday was spent sorting and packing up all the odds and ends from both houses and we ended up taking back more stuff than we'd brought to get rid of. Sigh.
Nobody wanted to go back to work yesterday, but what can you do? I had my usual thrill-a-minute day until 3:50, when the fire alarm went off. (And may I just say that it's ridiculously annoying - even if you were convinced it was a drill, there's no way you could work through it.) So I did my fire wardenly duties and we all milled around at the muster point until about 4:10 - at which point they still hadn't given the all "all-clear", so we went home.
Stuart, on the other hand, didn't escape from work until 9pm last night. (Just to remind you - his shift starts at 6am!) A busy day, compounded by being understaffed and some stupid mistakes. Personally, when they are working with large amounts of dangerous compounds, I think they don't gain anything but an exponentially increasing potential for accidents when they keep them that long... but then again, I don't think surgeons should work 48 hour days either. Call me crazy!
So neither of us got enough sleep last night and for me today, it will be compounded by the fact that they seem to be painting the labs. That horrible paint smell goods right up my nose and I predict a headache before lunch. Ugh.
I think that's enough excitement for now,
Ciao!
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| 05 Oct 2007 | Snow!?!?! Alright - who ordered this stuff?? The clouds rolled in all day yesterday, until Calgary was socked in by about 6 and the water started falling. At first it was rain, then slush and sometime in the night, parts of the area got snow. Yup, the cold white stuff has officially arrived. Sigh. It won't last long though - at least not here, where they are calling for a Chinook this weekend.
And the roads are awful, which is lovely timing, since Stuart is picking me up from work for our drive to Edmonton for Thanksgiving. Guess we should have got the winter tires a little earlier, huh?
We have to drive carefully though, since I just bought tickets to see Stuart MacLean & the Vinyl Cafe Christmas show with Danny Michel as the musical guest. I'm gonna be psyched about that for ages!
Ciao!
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| 03 Oct 2007 | Fire! That was Stuart's favorite word last night as he successfully cooked our first meal on the new bbq. We had mixed veggies (grilled in foil) and spicy sausages that were crisped to perfection. But there was a moment of worry... On Saturday, when he was carrying the tank upstairs from the car, he was excited because he thought someone had filled up the tank. (Not bloody likely, it had been stored at MY parents'!) Then last night, he seemed to think it might be empty. Huh? Pick one buddy. LOL
I don't know how much was actually in the tank, but it was at least enough to cook dinner last night. Thank goodness.
Today was a big event to try and get into the Guinnes Book of World Records by having the most people worldwide walking simultaneously. As a result, I discovered that in addition to weird floor labelling, this building is apparently in a different time zone. I left my office at 10:20, to be there is good time for the 10:30 kick off - I swear it's maybe a 2 minute walk to the meeting point and when I got there, they'd already left. So I don't get to be anonymously in the big book, but I did get to have my daily Rod Serling moment!
It's been another thrilling day at work, but I did get my Christmas wishlist compiled, so anyone who just doesn't know what to get me, drop me a line and I'll send you a copy.
Ciao! | |
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