Dinosaurs and ... ducks?

Today I went to a Christmas pot-luck in November. (It is possible I have been to a Christmas party in November before, but I certainly do not remember doing so.)

While I was there, I played dinosaurs and ducks. It is a very odd game that I believe was made up by the 3-year-old and the 4-year-old I was playing with. It`s pretty simple - they were dinosaurs and I was a duck, so I had to run away. Then I was a dinosaur and they were ducks and they had to run away.

Deli-cious

Today was a very busy day. I had a million errands to do, plus it is my sister's birthday, so there was cake to eat.

One of my errands was to visit the Warsaw Polish Deli. I bought pierogies. This included some meat pierogies, which I have never had before. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

They also had strawberry pierogies, which sounded interesting. I may have to try them in the future.

Rorschach

Today is definitely a "stand on the toilet and yodel" day. Anyway, when I finally got home, I decided to learn about Rorschach inkblot tests. I read the wikipedia entry, and then I clicked to a couple of web sites that had some of the inkblots.

I hadn't realized that some of them were in colour before. It was interesting, but I can see why there is doubt about how the results are interpreted.

Persimmon

Over the last 11 months, I've become the kind of person who sees something in the grocery store and thinks "I have no idea what that is. I should buy it.". It's kind of odd.

Last weekend I bought a persimmon. It prompted a discussion with the clerk, who also had no idea what it was. It has been sitting on my counter all week.

Today I ate a persimmon. It was good - pretty mild tasting, with a melon-like texture.

Vegan

Today I pretended I was vegan. The hardest part was when I got home from the gym and had to wait until the food was cooked before I could eat - I couldn't just thoughtlessly grab a snack. It requires far more thought than I'm willing to put into everyday life. (A lot of things have milk products in them - I usually eat a granola bar on the way to the gym, but today I had to substitute almonds instead.)

(The food is oatmeal, homemade vegetable soup, and vegetarian chilli.)

Today I also broke my cable box. Luckily, I was able to fix* it.

* I unplugged it for an hour. Worked like magic.

Chatting

A long time ago (January? I'm too lazy to look it up.) I had a chat session over skype. Today for the first time I had a phone call over skype. It was more complicated than necessary since I don't have a headset. I had to borrow one from my colleague. However, in the end it worked out remarkably well considering that I was talking to a colleague in Botswana, and the internet there is usually quite slow.

Flat

Today I downloaded and used Google Earth. It was interesting - especially seeing the globe turn as it moved from one location to another - but there was not enough detail for the locations I looked at to make it really interesting.

Scrubbing

A couple of weeks ago I was in a kitchen store. I saw a scrubber that could be used on vegetables or pots. I decided to get one and try it on vegetables. Today I used the scrubber on vegetables. It did not work terribly well - it was not stiff enough. I might have to move it back to pot-scrubbing status

Strike!

Today I went 10-pin bowling. It took a while to adjust to - if you can make out my scores in the picture to the left (middle row), you can see that I got a total of 3 points for the first 4 frames ... and then a strike in the final frame. It helped once I realized that the 8-pound ball worked best for me. (I did better in the second game - 3 strikes - but that picture is too blurry to be useful.)

Anyway, it was a good time, and I would definitely be open to doing it again someday.

Not the brightest day

If you look through my twitter updates, you will have some idea of the kind of day I've had.

I started by going to the gym. After that, the plan was to replace my burnt out headlight, then head to Montreal.

I went to the new Canadian Tire on Carling to buy the bulb. This is an odd building - the store is actually on the second floor. Most of the first level is parking. Anyway, the bulb was purchased and I got it replaced. After I had struggled through replacing it, I realized that the reason the headlight was out was that the connector for the bulb had obviously melted and the wires were exposed. That meant I had to find a place that could replace the connector without taking all day - so the Montreal trip was off.

Luckily, the headlight was fixed by 1, so it was off to Montreal.

Traffic in Montreal was crazier than usual (due to construction and accidents), so we ended up downtown around 4. By this time I was getting tired. (It has been a busy couple of weeks.)

This lead to a parking issue. Basically, through my own fault, my parking ticket got cancelled soon after I arrived. This meant that I could not pay for parking when I left, so I got the manager to let me out without paying. They have my phone number, so we will have to see if they call to eventually get their payment.

Anyway, we were there for about 3 hours. It was a good trip, but it would have been better if I was not so tired. (I had lots of energy when we left, but that died down too quickly.)

In the dark

I just got home from work. (It is 11:44 p.m.). It was a long and frustrating day. Of course, I had to do something new.

I tried (during some down time) to fill an online shopping cart with $100,000 worth of stuff. However, I failed - I only made it to $88,000 before I had to go back to work. It was hard - I had furniture, appliances, power tools, bedding, towels, jewellery.

Luckily (?) on the way home I got stopped by the police. Shockingly, it was not for speeding - I had a headlight out. I just got a warning - but now I have to get my headlight replaced.

I do not recommend eating off the floor

Today I scrubbed the bathroom floor with a toothbrush. I stole the idea from someone (Sydney, I think). I was going to take a picture, but sadly my camera batteries are dead.

I thought the hardest thing about doing this would be that my bathroom floor is considerably larger than a toothbrush. That was not the case. (Well, the floor is larger than the toothbrush, but that wasn't the hardest part.) The hardest part was that the toothbrush bristles were too soft - which is good on your gums, but bad on a floor.

And the winner is ...

Today I played myself in Scrabble. The me on the right won with 234 points. The me on the left was a close runner up with 231 points.

It was hard - I am pretty sure one of the mes went twice in a row a couple of times. Also, since my inclination is to make words around 4 letters long, it got difficult to place letters near the end.

I can see your ... hand

Today I tried reading palms. First I read my palm, then I dragged my sister over & read her palm. Interestingly, neither of us has a noticable fate line.

It seems like an easy thing to do, but it's actually quite difficult. How do I know whether a line is unusually wavy?

Campfire

A few weeks ago my sister was talking about how she didn't go camping this year, and she missed having bannock over the fire. We talked about a couple of options for having a fire, until eventually I realized that I have a wood fireplace.

Today I cooked food in my fireplace.

Another busy day

Today was busy. I had a training for Sparks in the morning, then worked for a couple of hours in the afternoon. However, I did find time to go for dinner at Rockwells. This is another one of those restaurants that is really close to where I live, but yet I had never actually been there.

It is not a fancy place, but the food was good.

Sleepy

Today was a brutal day at work. I got in early (around 8:15 a.m.) and I left at 9:30 p.m.

Luckily, there was a break in the middle of the day because I went and got a haircut in the middle of the day. Technically, it was my lunch time, and it worked out well because things didn't get really crazy until 3:30 or so.

A lot of typing

Tonight I will be live blogging The Office. Technically, it played an hour ago, but I am watching it for the first time now.

Here we go.
'
We start with Michael talking about customs in different countries. Somehow, he thinks that washing your hands after going to the bathroom is polite ... in Italy. Remind me not to shake hands with him.

Oh dear. Now he is covering Meredith's face with a jacket. Oh dear.

After the opening, we see Jim starting his day. Apparently it is 6.5 days until ... something - oh, Pam is coming back. And apparently everyone is acting weird about it.

David Wallace is sending Micahel to Winnipeg as a reward ... and because no one else wants to go.

Michael is bringing 3 suitcases - 2 are empty for souvenirs. Apparently Andy is going as well. And Oscar. And Dwight is being, um, helpful. Michael is in business class, and the other two are not.

Michael insults Oscar's egg salad sandwiches, and then finds out there are no meals on the plane.
He then demonstrates how to use a blindfold - slash - facemask - and promptly gets hit by the drink cart.

Back in the office, Ryan is checking out his desk when Pam gets back, which is beside Kelly. Kelly talking heads about how she is over Ryan, and in the next shot they are mauling each other on the desk.

Back in Winnipeg, Michael, Andy, and Oscar are at the hotel. Andy goes over to the conceirge, who gives them directions to a sushi place. Michael is thrilled with her recommendations - possibly because he clearly has no idea what he is - he's confusing it with a geisha.

In New York, Pam has talked to her advisor, and she is failing a class. She has to stay to re-take the class - which will take 12 weeks. I thought her whole course was 12 weeks? Anyway, she and Jim are clearly both upset about it.

In Winnipeg, Michael, Andy, and Oscar are going into a restaurant - conveniently the one the conceirge is at. Michael goes up and re-introduces himself. He starts talking oddly, because she‘s “foreign“.

Andy starts checking out guys for Oscar. It‘s very creepy. But it‘s Andy, so what do you expect?

Michael continues interupting concierge Marie‘s evening, asking her test questions about where to get drycleaning done Christmas eve at midnight.

Oscar then asks Andy how anyone could be with Angela. Andy talks about how wonderful Angela is. Andy admits that he hasn‘t had sex with Angela.

Meanwhile, Michael goes home with Marie.

Oscar then convinces Andy to call Angela to find out what‘s wrong with her, but Dwight is there with Angela. Luckily? Andy is too drunk to catch on.

Michael gets kicked out of Marie‘s room. We don‘t know exactly why - but it‘s Michael, so really no additional information is required.

Back in the office, everyone knows that Pam failed art school. Dwight isn‘t surprised, and starts criticizing Pam‘s painting of the building.

Andy and Oscar are chatting. Oscar can‘t believe that they called Angela last night. Andy didn‘t realize that it was real - he thought it was a dream.

Ryan is trying to convince Kelly to break up with Darryl.

I have no idea why she wants to get back together with him. Anyway, Darryl says it‘s cool. Ryan is puzzled as to why Darryl isn‘t upset.

At Michael‘s business meeting, the client has talked to a competitor who can offer them a better price. Michael starts selling based on service.

Andy is back to first base with Angela - which means he can kiss her forehead. There‘s an Air Canada plane in the background, which is a nice touch.

David calls to congratulate Michael on making the sale. Michael is really depressed, and says the trip sucked. He starts asking why David sent Holly away - and then he hangs up before getting the answer. He then starts wondering why he has stayed at Dunder Mifflin so long (and he uses the phrase “you tell him off to his face over the phone“.

Pam is back. She doesn‘t like graphic design, and she isn‘t coming back because of Jim (except, of course, she kind of is). Dwight arrives, and asks here to make 5 copies of something. Pam points out that she isn‘t going inside, so Dwight agrees he can wait until morning.

And the tag: Ryan and Kelly are back together.

In summary: Michael is still Michael. Ryan and Kelly are annoying. And Jim and Pam are still sweet. So nothing is new.

It's time to start the music, it's time to light the lights.

Today I made a muppet version of myself. What can I say, it was a long and annoying day. (Also, I stole this idea from someone, but I don't remember who. I might look it up tomorrow.)

In other news, I got a call from a very nice woman at Bell today. She wasn't able to help me, but she got someone else (who, in theory, could) to call me. He tried 3 times today. (She was clever enough to call the cell phone number that I had the issue with. He was not.) However, he didn't actually help me in any way.

Now for a dilemma - do I leave it alone, or just change my home phone to Rogers? I'm open to suggestions.

Annoyances

Every once in a while (OK, quite often) when I'm bored at work I'll read http://www.consumerist.com/. It is a consumer site, and provides lots of information about how to get issues with companies resolved.

I've mentioned before that I got a new cell phone in September. Unfortunately, I've been having billing issues with it that I've been working to get resolved for the last few weeks. That hasn't helped, so today I followed some tips from the Consumerist and sent an e-mail to an executive asking them to help me get my issue resolved. Hopefully this will help.

Furniture

I bought some furniture when I moved in to the house. Ever since then, I get invitations to special events at the furniture store. Tonight I went to a special event at the store. It wasn't actually very interesting - there wasn't much staff, and there was nothing much going on. I did get to look at tables as part of my ongoing quest to replace my table & chairs.

Picture frames

Today I made quilted picture frames. I used a wood base with a quilted placemat from the dollar store to cover it. Ribbons are used to hold the pictures. Staples hold the whole thing together.

Groceries

Today I was out doing the normal Saturday errands, and I stopped at Food Basics to buy groceries. It is a discount grocery store.

I was impressed with the produce selection in particular. However, the dairy section was not so impressive. The milk expired on November 11, which meant I had to stop at another grocery store. That means that despite the fact that prices are a bit lower, I ended up spending more in total.

Bad timing

Today I went to my 6 p.m. class at the gym ... and it had been moved to 6:30. As a result, I waited at the gym for a re-scheduled class, and used a mystery machine while I waited. It was quite odd, actually ... not quite an elliptical trainer, but kind of the same idea. It was possibly something like this.

More toothbrush tricks

Today I used a battery-operated toothbrush.

It was an odd experience - more because of the sound than the actual feeling. Usually brushing my teeth is quite quiet.

Undoing evolution

I did a body pump (weight lifting) class tonight. I've been doing this class for a year and a half, but lately I've been finding the chest presses harder, because when my hands are at the top, I'm doing something weird (possibly twisting them) which means that the piece of my hand between my thumb and my first finger gets tired.

Anyway, at my instructors suggestion, today I did chest presses with my thumb going the same way as my fingers over the bar.

So basically, I was lying on my back holding a bar with 10 kilograms of weight just using my fingers (and no opposable thumb). Luckily, it did not end in tragedy, although I'm not sure if I'll continue doing this -it made it harder to keep my wrists straight.

And ... that's what I did for the rest of the day

Today I added (and played) hangman on igoogle. It is very addictive. I was surprised that the longer words were easier, but it actually makes sense (because you have a better chance of guessing correctly, so you have fewer letters to waste).

I also whined about the time change, but that's not new. I find it easier to adjust to 5 or 6 hours than to one hour. Maybe I should spend the next time change in Europe.

Joining the cult

Today I stole an idea from Kathy and signed up for NaBloPoMo. It basically involves posting one blog entry per day for the month of November. That's something I'm already planning to do, so why not?

More about bread

I've had a bread machine for a couple of years. I enjoy it, and often use it on the timer so that I wake up to fresh bread.

Today, however, I did not plan ahead, so I made bread on the rapid bake setting. I actually hadn't realized you could do that with normal yeast -I thought the fast rise yeast was required.

Manoucher bread

This is turning into a lazy weekend. I usually try to do things that involve leaving the house on the weekend, but the last few weeks that hasn't happened.

That means I have to find new things I can do while still being lazy. Today I tried manoucher bread. It is a Persian flatbread. It came in a large rectangle - the long side was wider than the grocery card. It was good, and did not last long. (Probably healthier than the massive amount of Halloween candy I also ate today.)