That was where?

I took the car in to get its new bumper today. I dropped it off a little after 8. The estimate had been that it would take 1.5 days - yet somehow they finished it today, so I got to pick it up today. That will make tomorrow much easier.

I also continued cleaning the furnace room - specifically the workbench where I keep my tools. I found:
- recipes for ice cream (odd, but that can kind of be explained by the fact that they were from camping, and my camping equipment is in that room)
- a drill bit randomly sitting on the bench
- a board with a screw through it
- the deed for my house (I have no idea why/how it was there)
- fun foam ears from an old sheep Halloween costume
- the owner's manual for my 8 year-old BBQ (for which the automatic ignition never worked, possibly because I didn't put it together properly - will I ever fix it? No.)

Seeing Red

So today is Wanda's birthday.

I started the day by washing all of my sheets and my duvet cover. I then put them all in the dryer (with a few pieces of clothing) and ... it turned into a giant ball of clothes inside my duvet cover. It was funny, but it took a long time to detangle. I split it into two loads and dried them that way.

Our cousin Daniel came over for supper and to watch the game.

Well, let me back up.

I come from Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan has a football team - the Roughriders. Rider football is a very, very big deal in Saskatchewan. Rider fans are probably the most rabid fans in the Canadian Football League.

The CFL final (the Grey Cup) was tonight ... and last week the Riders won the western final, so they were playing in the Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes. This year, the game was in Calgary, which is an 8 hour drive from Regina. The stadium was packed with Riders fans. It was essentially like playing at home.

In fact, I heard rumours that a grocery store in Calgary ran out of watermelons and had to special order more. (Riders fans hollow them out and wear them as hats. No, wearing a watermelon as a hat in Calgary in November doesn't seem like a good idea to me either.)

The Alouettes were heavily favoured by everyone other than the fans, but the Riders took an early lead. By halftime, they were up by 2 touchdowns.

Starting the second half, the Alouettes started to catch up. The last few minutes, they were two points down. With five seconds left, they tried for a field goal and missed.

Zero seconds left on the clock.

And ... a penalty was called because the Riders had too many men on the field. The Alouettes went for the field goal again and they got it. The Riders lost by one point ... after leading for the entire game.

This is why I don't usually watch football.

Montreal

As I mentioned yesterday, Wanda's birthday is tomorrow. She took the weekend off of work (so that she'd be awake during the day, since she normally works nights), and she decided that she wanted to spend today in Montreal.

It's about a 2 hour drive, so we left around 9:45. We got a little misplaced, so we didn't park until 12:30.

The thing about Montreal is that when you get downtown, you can go into the underground city - shops below various buildings that are all linked underground. That's what we did.

We spent the afternoon walking around the various shops. Wanda bought some jeans and we both bought some Christmas gifts. By the time we headed back to the car (around 5), my legs were getting pretty tired.

Does everyone remember last year?

That's right, when I tried to leave the parking garage (a different one than last year), I had trouble paying. I put the ticket in, and it said to put in a credit card. I did, and nothing happened. I tried again. I changed the way I was inserting the ticket ... and the credit card. I tried a second credit card.

Finally, I pressed the intercom button and the security guard told me to park again, come inside and pay there. I was about to do that, but Wanda got out and managed to make it work. I still don't know what I did wrong, but at least I'm not still stuck in a parking garage.

We left Montreal, then stopped for supper. After that, it was time to head home.

You know, walking for 5 hours, then sitting for supper and the car ride home makes me walk like my legs are unfamiliar with the concept.

Anyway, I got home and did something that has been bugging me for a while - I organized the drawer that has all of my plastic containers. It only took a couple of minutes, and it's much less cluttered now.

Finish something? Whatever do you mean?

Today was a busy day. I met up with some former co-workers for lunch, so I started the day by going to the gym. (I usually go at lunch on Friday.)

I also had to run a bunch of errands, because I'm going to Montreal tomorrow, Wanda's birthday is Sunday, and then I lose the use of the car for 2 days.

Of course, there's also the usual job hunting stuff.

Somehow, I managed to get it all done.

I also made it to boxing. (Yay!) This week was the dreaded boxathon. Basically, a typical class consists of a warm up, 12 stations, a couple of punch outs, and maybe a cool down. A boxathon consists of 24 stations. Each station is 2 minutes long with 30 seconds between each station. It was great. (At the end, I felt like I could do another 12 stations. Should I be worried about that? Probably, right?)

After that, I came home and, when I came into the house, I brought all of the CDs from the car in. You see, I have a visor CD holder. I believe it holds 10 CDs. I also had probably 15 CDs in their cases in the car and another multiple CD holder. It was ridiculous.

I've gone through them and am only putting back the 10 CD holder (which now contains 8 CDs). I'm sure that will get us through 4 hours of driving tomorrow.

Pantry

My kitchen has a cupboard intended for use as a pantry. It starts at about waist height and is almost as deep as my refrigerator. Immediately underneath it are two cutting boards, mostly used to put stuff on when moving stuff around in the pantry.

The above picture is how it was earlier today.

Today I cleaned it out and organized it. Now, instead of having pasta all over the place, it's all in one spot. The after picture is below.

Now all that remains is keeping stuff where it's supposed to go.

(The shelves are straight, by the way. It's the camera angle that is crooked.)

Ready to fly

My lego arrived today.

I mean, my niece's lego arrived today.

I had ordered a set plus some extra pieces - only the set arrived today. They were shipped separately, so that's not a huge shock.

I also booked my flight for Christmas. Back in September, I was considering heading back to Regina for a few days, but I didn't have enough aeroplan points. Today I checked to see how many I would need to go back for Christmas - and I did have enough for that.

In other news, the great "put pictures into photo album" project continued today. I've actually got the pictures from my first trip to Botswana into an album.

This video is made of awesome

So the car is going in to be fixed on Monday.

I also put more pictures in albums today.

None of that is terribly interesting though. You know what is? This:

Things I don't understand

There are many things I don't understand.

1. News reports say there is no seasonal flu in Ottawa, so if you get the flu, it is H1N1. They also say that the only people getting tested to find out the specific type of flu they have are people admitted to hospital. My question: how do they know there is no seasonal flu in Ottawa if they aren't testing to see what kinds of flu people are getting?

2. A young child died at Pearson International Airport in Toronto yesterday. It was a horrible accident. What puzzles me is the following line in the story: "A makeshift memorial was set up Monday morning near the area where the baby fell."

Why do people set up these memorials? I don't get it. I doubt it's the family - I'm sure they have many more important things to deal with right now. I'm assuming it was strangers -but why? Do they feel they're doing something to help?

3. If you were an insurance agent, why would you not return a call from a client? Are you unaware how easy it is to change insurance companies?

4. Why is OC Transpo (the Ottawa bus company) still not calling out the next stop. I've ridden the bus 4 times in the last month, and I've heard maybe two stops get announced - and I was on the transitway where stops have official names (not just "street x at street y"). They've lost a court case saying they have to call them out.

5. What will it take to get city council working again? Can I get elected dictator? City council is beyond pathetic. (Sadly, I live in a ward with a councilor who mostly is competent, so I won't be running. But I'd take the dictator job.)

(Small project today. I'm not done with the pictures that need to be put in albums, but I moved the full ones.)

Busy, busy, busy

Remember how yesterday I made a lot of perogies? Well, today I did it again.

You see, we made two types of perogies yesterday - cottage cheese and cheddar cheese. We used up all of the cheddar cheese filling, but there was still cottage cheese filling left, so today I made another batch of dough, more potatoes (for more cheddar cheese filling) and I made another three cookie sheets of perogies.

As if that weren't enough, I then made one of my favourite types of Christmas cookies, schnecken.

Here's the recipe.

Mix 4 cups flour & 1 1/2 cups butter.
Add 3 egg yolks, slightly beaten, 1 cup sour cream, and 1 tsp vanilla.

Mix well and chill.

Beat fluffy 3 egg whites. Add 3 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp vanilla.

Divide dough into 8 parts. Roll each part into a circle on board dusted with icing sugar. Cut into 8 or 12 wedges.

Brush rolled dough with egg mixture and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll each wedge loosely, starting with the wide end. Brush with egg whites and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Place on greased cookie sheet, bake at 400 F for 10-12 minutes.


So, yes, I made 8 dozen cookies today. Eight dozen small cookies, I would like to add. These are awesome cookies, though - all cinnamon-y and moist.

In other words, it was a productive day.

I even took the time to do a small anti-procrastination project. You see, when this house was built, the stairs to the basement were off of the kitchen. In the early 90s, the owners decided to expand the dining room and build a porch outside of where the back door had been. The stairs were moved out to the porch. I would have designed the porch differently (so that, for example, it contained a closet), but such is life. Basically, there is a small landing, then stairs to the basement. Along the stairs is a ledge.

Somehow, that ledge has become a holding place for anything I used outside but was too lazy to take downstairs. Today I started cleaning off that ledge. I decided to leave everyday gardening things there (gloves, weed pullers, etc.) because it's not realistic to think that I'll walk downstairs to get them - I'm not a big fan of gardening, there's no point in making it harder. However, the more infrequently used things (seeds, a bike bag, edging) are now downstairs.

Picture this

Today was a busy day.

A friend came over for a perogy-making extravaganza. That took much of the afternoon (and resulted in lots of perogies). I then drove her home - and got rear-ended on the way home. The bumper will need to be replaced, but no one was hurt.

This evening was a Chuck marathon. (Apparently it comes back January 10, for those who are interested.) While I was watching TV, I started putting pictures in albums. I started with a bunch of really old pictures. There's still more to do, but it's a start.

Two days today

I started feeling better yesterday. Not 100%, so I still skipped boxing tonight (even though I really wanted to go), but I have energy and food doesn't repulse me, so that's something.

Remember how I was cleaning off one bookshelf so that I could move stuff over there from the desk? Yesterday I started moving stuff over. The next things to go will be photo albums, but before I do that, I need to put pictures in the photo albums. Specifically, I haven't put any pictures from my two trips to Botswana in albums - and I haven't even gotten prints from my trip this year. (Yes, I have them all on the computer, but it's a bit more convenient to show people actual prints sometimes.)

Today I did some more filing. I haven't cleaned out the filing cabinet, but that's on the list. I also did some more shredding - that pile is getting a lot smaller.

I'm not spending much time each day doing these things - maybe 10 minutes on an average day - but it really does add up.

Getting hot

It's kind of weird being perfectly healthy except for having had a fever for a week. It is good if your goal is to take afternoon naps, though.

This morning when I got up, I looked at my microwave.

Well, let me back up.

My kitchen is a decently sized room, but it has three doors as well as the first three steps to the basement, so there's not a lot of usable space. When I moved it, the counters were U-shaped. It was horrible - there was absolutely no room to have more than one person in the kitchen at a time.

Let's see if I can find a picture:

Note the microwave stand (which sat where the fridge was supposed to go but didn't because it was too tall).

There was room for a small table and chairs, but at the cost of storage space. I had the kitchen renovated four years ago.

Here's a picture from the same angle:

When I did, I got rid of my microwave and replaced it with an over the stove microwave/fan.

(Yes, the outlets are covered now.)

This morning, I decided to clean the filter for the microwave vent. I pulled it off and washed it, then I washed the part of the microwave that it was covering. I let it dry all morning, then I put it back on. (It probably didn't need to dry all morning, but it didn't hurt.)

Lego

So ... I was overly optimistic when I said my fever was gone. It is back - but on and off. Very odd.

The staffing firm I was working with called this morning. They have another possibility for me. I have applied at that company before, but the guy I work with at the staffing company is going to check and see if he can still present me as a candidate.

It's nice to have other people looking for jobs for me.

Anyway, today's anti-procrastination project was continuing to clean/organize my bookshelf. Nothing too exciting there, just a bunch of old papers I should have gotten rid of years ago.

Let's talk about something more interesting, OK?

A month or two ago, my niece called me. She wanted to ask if I would help her build a Lego house when I go for Christmas. Apparently she was trying to build one and she was having problems.

I said I would and pointed out that she's only five - it's OK if she doesn't know how to do everything.

Since she wants to build a really big house, I decided to buy her more Lego for Christmas.

I looked in stores around here, but most of them sell specific kits. I just wanted an assortment of blocks.

It seems like the kind of thing the internet would know about, so today I checked it out. It turns out that Lego sells basic kits. They also sell individual pieces.

I bought a pile of roof pieces and a basic kit. Hopefully, we'll have a good time playing this Christmas.

Green bins

Today I was far more consistently sick than I have been. I had a fever most of the day. This evening I started coughing - and the fever seems to be gone. I'm hoping I'm past the feverish/tired stage of this thing. (Don't worry, by tomorrow I will annoyed at the coughing.)

I did some filing today (as my anti-procrastination project) since I could do that sitting down.

As I was sitting on the couch today, I noticed more noise than usual outside. (OK, fine, I was playing Sims 2 Castaway again.) I was a little puzzled about what could be making that noise.

Eventually, it reached my end of the street. (Well, it didn't take that long, it's a short street.)

It was the city of Ottawa delivering our green bins.

For those of you outside of Ottawa, green bins are used for biodegradable items - veggies, fruit, meat, etc. I have a backyard composter, so I'm not sure whether I'll use this one or not.

The bins are pretty heavy, which is probably good from a "keeping the wildlife out" perspective. The latch I found a little difficult to operate, but that will only be an issue if I start using it.

The weekend

I had all kinds of plans for this weekend, but ended up canceling them all. I'm feeling OK most of the time. Yesterday, for example, I felt fine until about 4:30 - then I felt awful for a couple of hours, then I was fine again.

I did get some more cleaning/organizing done on the bookshelf. Today, following my "don't finish anything completely" plan, I moved back to the furnace room and did some more organizing there.

Since I didn't do much this weekend, I don't have much to talk about. Today, for example, I spent hours (literally) playing Sims 2 Castaway on the Wii. (Wanda rented it on Friday.)

Feed a cold, starve a fever?

I'm pretty sure I have some variant of the flu, but it's very odd.

First of all, sometimes I have a fever, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I feel fine, sometimes I feel awful. This afternoon, the nerves in my legs spent their time reminding me that I was wearing pants. Not painful, but unnecessary - I knew I was wearing pants. That stopped for a while, but has now started again. I also am unable to reliably stand up for any length of time. Sadly, that meant I skipped boxing.

Also, I've eaten about four hundred things today. (This might have something to do with why I had a stomach ache this afternoon.) I'm not sure if this is related to the fever coming and going or whether my brain has just gone haywire.

However, I started feeling better this evening, so I started cleaning out the bookshelf in one of the bedrooms. This is necessary because I need to move some stuff from the desk into that shelf.

Like I said, this thing comes and goes, so I expect it to be back tomorrow.

How cheap will you work?

I woke up coughing this morning. I've had a fever and a headache most of the day - not really incapacitating, but not fun nonetheless. I did carry out a small anti-procrastination project - I bagged up the garbage I had created by cleaning out my desk and took it to the curb for garbage day tomorrow.

I also checked the job listings as usual. There's one job that sounds interesting and I'm 95% qualified for, but it has an odd requirement - they want applicants to put their salary expectations in the subject line of the e-mail.

Keep in mind that they don't share details on their web page about benefits, vacation, business hours, or sick time.

It strikes me as a way to eliminate people without bothering to open the e-mail and read the cover letter or resume.

I haven't decided if I'm going to bother to apply. Do I really want to work somewhere where the primary hiring criteria is how much they have to pay you? Do I want to put the effort into composing a cover letter & adapting my resume if I'm going to be screened out without anyone reading either?

Remembering

Remembrance Day is not a statutory holiday here in Ontario, so I usually have to work. Not this year, however, so I decided to head downtown to take part in the national ceremony.

I got there around 9:15. People were starting to accumulate, but it was not terribly busy yet. Note the lack of people by the Parliament Buildings.

I ended up right by the barricade on the east side of the cenotaph.

It was a beautiful, sunny day. I chatted with the people on either side of me.

There was some discussion about the Canadian flag with the blue stripes on it. (I googled it after I got home.)


As time went on, people started to gather behind us, as well as on the lawn at the Parliament Buildings.


Around 10:30, the dignitaries started to arrive. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was the first to arrive (or at least the first to be announced). Shortly after that, the Silver Cross Mother arrived. (The Silver Cross Mother is the mother of a soldier killed in action.)

After that, there was a looonnng wait. Finally, the Governor General arrived, followed shortly by Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla. I was standing right where I could see the cars go by. I was a little confused by the Governor General - I wasn't expecting her to be wearing a military uniform. Prince Charles was the easiest to spot in the cars - in part because he had the window open.



Just before 11, the ceremony started with O Canada. There was 2 minutes of silence, as well as prayers, songs, poems, a 21-gun salute, and the laying of dozens of wreaths.

This picture is looking back from where I was standing at the barricade towards a giant TV screen showing what was going on in front of the cenotaph.
Around 12, the veterans started to parade out, followed by current members of the military, cadets, and RCMP officers. (They immediately followed by paramedics, but that wasn't part of the official list.)


As the parade ended, someone behind me in the crowd collapsed. The people immediately around him (including some current members of the military) started first aid, and I asked the cop on the other side of the barricade to get the paramedics. A couple of other police officers came over and managed to get the fence open while someone located the paramedics.

By that time, everything was over so I escaped through the opening in the fence to give them more room to work. (I was pretty cold, and my feet were getting numb.)

This is the cenotaph from the front.

Walking back to the bus, I took a few more pictures. Ottawa is really a beautiful ciy.
From the Mackenzie King Bridge, looking back towards the cenotaph. If you look closely, you can see the people still crowded around.

I was still cold when I got home, so I took a bubble bath. I did warm up but it took a while.

(On the anti-procrastination front, I did some more desk organizing.)

Miscellanea

I'm definitely starting to get a cold (or something). I'm getting a cough, and I felt like I had a fever today. When I took my temperature tonight, it was 98.5. Yesterday it was 96.3. I think I need a new thermometer.

Anyway, I'm not feeling really sick yet. I don't know whether to hope that I get really sick so that I get better or whether I should hope that I don't get really sick at all. This in-between stage is annoying.

I did some more organizing of my desk today. I keep the oddest things. Seriously, do I need my bus pass from grade 9? My union card from a job in 1990? A piece of styrofoam? Three random batteries (not matching)? Anyway, my quest to get the desk cleaned out is not yet over.

Transportation

Every spring, I get a full-service car wash. They clean the floor mats, vacuum the car, wash the dash and the inside of the windows, and wash the outside of the car.

This spring, I didn't quite get there. In fact, I finally made it there today. (In case you're as confused as I am about what month it is, I'd like to point out that it's November.)

Anyway, the car is clean now.

I also got a slightly-overdue oil change.

After my car-related errands, I went to Zumba. I left halfway through the class because my foot was hurting. Wanda was still in the class, so I used one of the recumbent exercise bikes. It was a good choice - my foot didn't bother me at all while I was on it. The only minor flaw was that I timed it poorly - I was expecting it to make me do a cool down, and it didn't, so I had to wait for Wanda a little longer than I would have liked.

Letters from the past

Today I was able to walk around the house without wearing shoes. It has been about a month since I've been able to do that, so I'm quite excited about it. My right foot is still turned out mysteriously, but it doesn't hurt, so that's fine.

I also continued cleaning out my desk today. I found a bunch of cards and letters. Let me share a letter from my sister Wanda soon after I moved to Ottawa:

Dear Colette,
Hi, my Darling, Sweet, Generous sister who is going to send me money. (In case you didn't guess, I was sucking up.) Did you watch Lois and Clark on Sunday? How are things in Ottawa? Did you get fired yet? If you didn't I am very proud of you. So are we better then [sic] those Ottawa Pathfinders? Well the play is doing O.K. but we can't seem to dance and sing at the same time. My mind is wandering around in fear because Kathleen got her Lisence [sic] and Ted is going for his sometime today. Am I asking too many questions? I probably am, huh? Hum de dum. (Is that how you spell hum de dum.)
From your Darling sister,
Wanda
P.S. Write back soon.

The Kitchen's so Bright, I Have to Wear Shades

Compared to last Saturday, toady was a very relaxing day. I got my hair done. (It looks awesome.) I did a few errands.

I even did some anti-procrastination projects. First of all, I continued working to clean out my desk. I found a bunch of pictures that need to go in albums (and a bunch of albums, most of which have pictures in them). I found a bunch of pages from an old page-a-day calendar. (I'm not clear on why I kept them.)

I also changed a light bulb in the kitchen.

My kitchen light consists of four halogen bulbs. They can swivel in any direction. When they're all lit, the kitchen is very bright. When one of them is burnt out, some part of the kitchen is shadowy and dark.

However, the kitchen light is on a lot. And there are four bulbs. And they are tricky to change. Usually, one of them burns out, I change it, then the next one burns out, etc. The last time I changed a bulb, I made a note that we were out of bulbs. I bought them about a week later. A day after that, another bulb burnt out.

I didn't bother changing it.

That was several weeks ago. Today I finally managed to change the light bulb.

I continue to be amazed at how bright the kitchen is.

Ready for the song and dance?

Today's anti-procrastination projects are things that just happened today. They are things I could (and usually would) procrastinate about, though, so I've decided they count.

Let's start with the second one.

Remember how a couple of weeks ago, I bought new runners? Well, tonight at boxing I noticed that one edge was catching on the floor when I pivoted. That's right, the sole was coming off the shoes.

When I got home, I immediately boxed them back up and took them back to the store. (Well, not that immediately, I took a shower first.) The cashiers were really good about it - they had to get the manager's permission to exchange the shoes because they were obviously worn, but they were victorious. Then, they looked for a replacement. There was some minor panic when they didn't have another identical pair, but it turned out they had the same shoe in a different colour. I'll miss my silver alien shoes, but I'll survive with my white and red shoes.

Incidentally, this makes the third year in a row that it has taken me two pairs of shoes before getting one that works. (The last two times it was a fit problem. This is the first defective pair I've had.)

When I got home, I dealt with the first potential procrastination item of the day. When I got the mail, there was a cheque address to some business I'd never heard of at my address. I was puzzled, but I planned to write "not at this address" and toss it back in the mailbox tomorrow.

However, on my way to boxing, I remembered a conversation with one of my neighbours about a business he was starting. I was pretty sure that this was meant for him.

I called him, and yes, it was his cheque, so I ran over and dropped it off.

I'm glad I eventually clued in.

So ... I don't know what was going on last night, but I feel fine today.

This afternoon, I went clothes shopping - I have one set of interview-suitable clothing, but almost everywhere seems to be doing at least two interviews, so I wanted to pick up something else in case I ever get a second interview.

My anti-procrastination project for the day was cleaning out the fridge freezer. Even I was surprised at how many bread bags containing only one piece of crust were in the freezer.

Also, pierogies - I think I found 3 bags.

In completely unrelated news, my niece talked to me on the phone today. (It has been a while.) She told me that she's invisible, so when I go there I won't be able to see her, but she'll still be there. She also told me about her dog, Kasey, who had an operation this week to remove the parts that make babies. She got distracted, so I hung up - and she called me back to tell me that she's not really invisible. That's good to know.

If you think I've been lazy so far

For the last week, I've been feeling a little off.

This morning, I woke up feeling OK. I went to the gym at noon, and everything was fine.

This afternoon, I'm definitely feeling worse. So in other words, if you think my anti-procrastination projects haven't required much effort so far, just wait and see where they go from here.

Anyway, today I lost all patience with my heating system's cold air intake. It has been a while since I cleaned the metal grid that covered it, so I pulled the grid off and washed the dust off of it. It looks much better now.

I also went through my over-the-counter and prescription medicines from my trips to Africa and took them in to the pharmacy for disposal. The boxes, naturally, are still sitting on the bathroom counter.

My mind is broken

I had Sparks tonight. The girls were completely crazy. I suspect it's a combination of Halloween candy and being more tired than usual due to the time change.

This afternoon, I continued working on cleaning out the desk. I got rid of a bunch of travel stuff (maps and tour books) that I'm unlikely to need again. I also found Lemon Aid car buying books from when I bought my car ... nine years ago. There's no reason to keep those anymore.

Two days today

For the month of November, bloggers everywhere vow to update every day.

I, on the other hand, started the month by totally forgetting to update. I'm lucky I didn't sign up.

Yesterday I put all of the Halloween decorations away, except for a giant spider that is mysteriously sitting on the rug in the front hall.

I also (finally) turned off the air conditioning. I didn't realize that I hadn't covered up the air conditioner or turned it off until I went to set the Halloween black light on top of it. I covered it up on Saturday, but I didn't turn it off for reasons I don't really remember. I assume laziness is near the top of the list, though.

Today I had another interview. I think it went well - it's a small company, so I interviewed with the company president, then I met with the HR person. I think we were philosophically on the same page. It's an interesting business, and it sounds like a good place to work. We'll see how it goes.

When I got home, I continued on my quest to clean out my desk. Things I found today included:
- 3 books of music for the trumpet
- my high school yearbooks
- a binder full of orientation material from my job at the big company (the one I got laid off from in 2007). It's a nice binder that I had no idea even existed.