Shaking

I have a middle-of-the-day doctor's appointment coming up. I work towards downtown, my doctor works in Kanata, and I live in the middle, so I decided I should get set up to work from home so that I don't spend an hour driving each way.

Tuesday, I applied for access to work from home. (Since I am a contractor, I didn't think I got access automatically.)

Yesterday morning I found out that I did have access already, and I started installing the VPN software. It needed a restart, though, so I decided that I would let it install at the end of the day and take my laptop home on the weekend to try it out.

By now I'm sure that everyone has heard that Ottawa got hit with a minor earthquake yesterday afternoon.

It's not the first one - I remember feeling at least two others in the last 10 years, and I know there were more that I just didn't notice.

Yesterday's, though, was the first one that happened while I was at work. It's also the first one that happened while I was around other people, actually.

I was at my desk on the 9th floor of the building with two coworkers when it started shaking.

It turns out that an earthquake is almost as good as a power outage in making everyone stop what they're doing.

After it ended, everyone milled around and then we got the word to evacuate. By this time, it looked like it was pretty much over.

I work in a group of three towers, but they're pretty much the only tall buildings in that immediate area, so being outside wasn't the worst idea - and pretty much everyone in my department decided to work from home the rest of the day, so we all grabbed our laptops and headed outside.. I hadn't driven to work, so I got a ride with my neighbour.

When I got home, I saved everything I was doing and rebooted my computer. It finished installing the software, and I connected.

It's not the way I planned to test working from home, but it worked.

Accomplishments

Things I accomplished this weekend:

1. Buying a new washing machine
2. Buying mulch & distributing it around the yard
3. Cleaning off the table and the end table. (OK, they're not 100% clean, but they're better than they were.)
4. Dropping off some Sparks-related stuff
5. Fixing the napkin holder I broke at Thanksgiving
6. Cooking two meals today (lunch for the week & chicken salad for the evenings).
7. Cleaning off the lid to my hamper. (The lid sits behind the hamper 'cause I'm lazy, and it gets dusty).
   
8. Getting the oil changed in the car.
   
9. Cleaning out the shower drain. (Gross, yet satisfying.)
10. Made ice tea. OK, I do this often - I pretty much live on it in the summer - but my previous box of lemon tea was empty, so I opened my new box of Lemon Thriller tea. Man, I love that tea. I don't know why it is so much better than other lemon tea, but it is.
11. Pulled the cushions off the chair in the living room and vacuumed the chair.

Things I did not accomplish:

1. Pulling weeds out of the flower gardens.
2. Writing a post using sentences and paragraphs.
   

Belly dancing

I'm on the late shift this week, but yesterday I switched with a co-worker so that I could attend Wanda's belly dance performance. (I even skipped my last boxing class to attend.)

It was at the University of Ottawa. I drive through the campus every week on the way to boxing, but I've only been there once before, so I was a little concerned that I'd get lost (especially since I only got off work 1/2 an hour before the performance started).

It wasn't too bad, actually. I found parking and walked in the door just on time. Luckily, it was a belly dance show, so they started late.

Wanda's costume (which she started making on Sunday, which was far too late) looked good and I enjoyed her dance.

This show had performances by a lot of the local teachers and their students, so there were varying degrees of skill. Most of them were fun to watch (although there were a couple of soloists who were ... interesting at best).

After about an hour, there was an intermission. Afterward, Wanda and one of her classmates came to sit with me.

My major complaint about the evening was that the part after the intermission was longer than the part before the intermission. That's just wrong - but that's how the last belly dance show I was at was organized as well. By the end, I had had more than enough.

Four things

Ways I have injured myself in the last month:
1) Walking into a fire hydrant.
Result: bruise on my thigh the size of an apple.
2) Skipping at boxing.
Result: Not able to skip (or wear shoes without arch supports) for 3 weeks.
3) Unknown. (Probably running into the weight rack at the gym.)
Result: Bruise on my arm the size of a grape.
4) Burning my arm on the oven door.
Result: 3-inch long burn

Things I have need to have fixed/replaced in the last month:
1) Laptop computer ('cause I dropped a glass on the screen)
2) Desktop computer (destroyed by Windows update & a marginal hard drive)
3) Washing machine
4) The border around the flower garden

Good things from the last month:
1) Summer (!)
2) Job interview
3) The fact that I can have things fixed/replaced without having to worry too much about paying the bills
4) The tiny baby bunny that hangs out in my yard

Wringing out

I'm back from camp.

It was a lot of fun. We arrived at the Papanack Zoo a little before 11 and set up camp. There was a little rain while we were setting up, but it wasn't bad. After that, we had lunch, then we started our tour of the zoo.

Because we were doing a group camp, we had a guided tour of the zoo. We saw the tigers, donkeys, bison, goats, peacocks, a panther, baboons, swans, boars, foxes, and a bunch more animals I don't remember. Most of the afternoon was hot and sunny, but there was a sudden downpour that resulted in some of us getting wet, so we went back to camp to change and rest.

After supper, everyone got a cone of food to feed the more domesticated animals. We also had a campfire, then we got to watch them feed the lions.

It was an interesting day, and the girls had a wonderful time.

This morning we had to get up at 7. I woke up at 5 and thought "Yay, it's not raining."

The rain started at about 6:30.

We struck camp in the rain.

(Yes, I do have 2 tents drying in my basement.)

We were supposed to leave at noon, but it was cold enough and wet enough that everyone was gone a little after 11. (Since this was a mother-daughter camp, we had the luxury of ending early.)

It was a good experience. Maybe we'll go back in a couple of years.

Too busy for words

Well, I made it to the interview - which turned out to be next door to the place I used to work. You'd think I would have noticed the sign in the 2 years I worked there.

I'm not sure how it went - I think I might have been a little too comfortable. I know I was talking really fast - and yet I still managed to be there for 70 minutes.

After that, it was off to boxing. It was an easy week, but I started skipping again (I had passed on the skipping the last couple of weeks because I hurt my foot again), so it was still a good workout.

After class, I had a long discussion with of my classmates about her roller derby team. (Verdict: if I wasn't so afraid of hurting myself, I'd love to try it.) By the time I got home, I was hungry and exhausted.

The rest of this week has been busy getting ready for Spark camp. We leave tomorrow morning. It's going to be fun.

Let's hope it doesn't rain all weekend.

Hmm...

I got home today to find an e-mail asking if I was interested in a job interview - for a job I applied for last August.

I was not expecting that.

They wanted to interview me this week, but my schedule is pretty crazy this week - I work 8-4:30, and it's Spark camp this weekend. Next week I'm on the mid-shift, so I asked if they could interview me then.

I guess I'll see what they say.

This company is located on the same street as my previous job in Kanata. I like the location, but it's quite the hike from my current job.

I do like my current job - although I'd like more of a challenge - but my contract is over half over, so I need to be open to other possibilities.

[Edited to add: The interview is tomorrow at 5:30. ]