On blogging

The thing I like about blogs is that it lets you really understand what it's like to live someone else's life.

If you want to know what it's like to be a nurse or raise 5 children in New York City or work in an inner city school, then change careers, there's a blog that can show you.

Of course, there are also blogs with a more specific theme - like job hunting/career advice, human resources, or genealogy.

There are dozens of personal finance blogs.

Need help figuring out how much money you need to buy a house?The internet has you covered.

There are pop culture blogs and fashion mockery blogs,

Some are professionally written, some are not, but they all open up the world a bit more.

The ides of June?

Boxing was great this week. It was week 8 - last week of the session -and we did a ridiculous class of 8 stations followed by 8 punch outs. I was hitting hard, and I left feeling fantastic.

Before I went to sleep, I turned off my laptop. I don't do that every day - usually it's once or twice a week - but it seemed like time.

Little did I know that things would take a turn for the worse on Thursday.

I woke up and went to read my e-mail, and ... my laptop was installing update 15 of 19. That's right, it hadn't finished turning itself off.

I left it alone and went to work. It was annoying, but I could deal with a computer problem since I was in such a good mood from boxing.

I went to leave work and discovered that it hurt when I separated two of the fingers on my right hand.

As I often do when I discover I've hurt myself, I went to the gym. It didn't make it worse, but it didn't make it better.

I got home, and my laptop had turned itself off. I turned it on, and discovered it would no longer connect to the internet. I fiddled around with it a while and then gave up. (That's right, I went an entire day without Facebook or Twitter.)

When I woke up this morning, I had forgotten all about my hand hurting. I got in the car to drive to work and discovered it hadn't gone away. (Apparently, I like to drive with 2 fingers on top of the steering wheel and two fingers curled underneath.)

I got to work, and it hurt to use the mouse, so I moved it to the left side. I called my doctor - it turns off she was off today.

All day I debated whether to go to Emergency at the hospital or to a walk-in clinic. I decided to go to Emergency. I got to the Queensway-Carleton at 5:15. I checked in with the desk and sat down to wait. After 5 or 10 minutes, the triage nurse called me up and did her thing.

I sat down to wait again.

After another 5 minutes or so, I got called up to registration.

The Queensway-Carleton has a FastTrack program. I don't know the official details, but it seems to be a program for people who need (or might need) x-rays. I ended up in that program and was sent down to that waiting room.

Again, I sat around for 10 minutes or so, then they sent me to get an x-ray.

By now, I'm sure you know the drill - 5 or 10 minutes of waiting, then the three x-rays. After that, it was back to the FastTrack waiting room.

There were several other people making the same journey through the hospital, and we chatted about the experience (all of us agreeing that it's a great program). This time, I think I had to wait 15 minutes. The doctor did a physical exam of my arm, checked my x-rays (which didn't show a fracture), and I was on my way. I was out of the hospital at 7.

When I turned on my cell phone again, I got a text from Wanda telling me she had managed to get on the internet on my laptop.

My problem with e-mail

Lately, I have a problem with e-mail.

Specifically, I'm good at reading e-mail. I'm just really, really bad at replying to e-mail. I'll read an e-mail, hit reply, and let it sit there for five or six days before I actually hit send.

Sometimes, I'll even mark the message unread so that I don't forget to reply to it, which means that I have unread e-mail in my inbox for days on end.

Browser windows are the same way - I'll open up a tab that requires action on my part (for example, a job I want to apply for) and ... it'll sit there for a week.

Maybe I need to start the anti-procrastination project up again.

I am completely exhausted. I suspect part of it is because of the time change.

What's that? The time change was weeks ago?

I wish someone had told my alarm clock that. You see, I bought my alarm clock years ago. It changes time automatically - but unfortunately, the dates on which the time changes were shifted a couple of years ago. This means my alarm clock is wrong four times a year - including this morning. Yup, it woke me up an hour early.

Other contributing factors include me being too foolish to go to bed at a reasonable hour, excessive food preparation (for no good reason - it's not like I had people over today), and the fact that I worked Friday, which made Thursday evening exhausting.

This coming week I work from 10 - 6:30. My plan is to get up and go to the gym in the morning. That should (in theory) give me a reasonable amount of time in the evening.

Also, remember the online book club I'm participating in? Our first book was Twilight. Our second book is Moby-Dick.

I need to read 10 chapters by Thursday. So far, I have read one. I'm finding it interesting, but it's harder to read than, say, a book that doesn't mention a spleen in the first paragraph. I think I'll take it to work to read during lunch. The weather has been beautiful lately, so hopefully I'll be able to sit outside in the sun and read. Wish me luck.

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:

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.

What's my name again?

This is another stolen idea - I think it was Kathy who did this months ago. Anyway, I spelled "Colette2008" with Spell with flickr



It's really easy to change the selected picture - but not easy to change back.


As an added bonus, here's my answers to a meme from Crystal. It's not my personal list, and it's heavy on places in the U.S. and Europe, but still interesting.


Things I've done in my life (in bold):
1. Started my own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty - it was closed when I was there
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France - I've been to France, but did not see the Mona Lisa
20. Slept on an overnight train - Nope, but I've slept on planes and ferries.
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Technically no, but I've felt sick and miraculously gotten better once I called in.
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice - I've seen them, but was too cheap to ride in one.
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run - Clearly the person who created this has never seen me play softball/baseball
32. Been on a cruise - Mediterranean cruise, 2005. I'd highly recommend it
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors - Ireland 2004, Germany 2008
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person - Yup. It is surrounded by buildings, which was a surprise.
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa - Three times - twice to Botswana, once to Tunisia (for 4 hours - see #32)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person - Yup. It's not really impressive because by the time you get there, you've spent 2 hours going through the museums, which are incredible
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris - Yup. I have pictures taken from the top where you can see the shadow
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies - Girl Guide cookies, actually
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma - only twice, and I fainted the first time
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - I don't remember having a specific favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - I've been laid off, but not fired
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone - my arm when I was 11 or 12 - and probably a toe & a kneecap as an adult, but I didn't bother going to the doctor (although if I'd realized I'd hurt my knee as badly as I did, I probably would have)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper - possibly when I was a kid?
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee - I've been stung by a wasp, but not a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Feeding via pressing a button

(Edited to correct the number of days left. For some reason, I thought it was Dec. 14 all day yesterday. It was not. )

You'd think that since I have only 15 days left, I'd be doing big things these days. However, today was not that kind of day. Instead, I borrowed an idea from Jen S. and donated a meal via Cascade Feeds America.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Fail!

Today I went to http://failblog.org/. Some of the failures were funny, but it's not really my thing.

Do not call

Canada recently got a Do Not Call list implimented. Today I registered my phone number with the registry. I must admit that I question its effectiveness.

First of all, you register by typing in your phone number and then typing in a confirmation code. I assume deregistering is a similar process, so what's to stop someone else from deregistering you?

Also, there are exemptions - charities, polling organizations, and businesses with which you have an established business relationship can still call you. That's ... almost everyone. I don't get it.

Voting

Today is a federal election in Canada. I'm familiar with the voting process & the political parties, but today I learned more about the history of elections in Canada. I knew that voting was not always secret, but I did not know that women were able to vote before 1849. It is possible that I was supposed to know that after my Canadian History class in university, but unfortunately my brain does not remember history very effectively.

More reasons to get sucked into Google's web

Today I used Google Documents for the first time. It was really useful - I was able to edit the document at the same time as someone else.

I would definitely recommend it if you are working on a document with someone else.

Survey

Today I did a survey about having a blog. It was interesting - the questions are very repetitive and seem to be trying to find out if people who have blogs are social misfits.

It's apparently a survey for a doctoral student from Georgia State University.

(If you are over 18 and have a blog, you are welcome to complete the survey as well - they're looking for 500 people. If you do, you can check out the questions yourself.)