Zelia Talk

Something new to try

2012-01-31T01:45:00.001-05:00

Ok so here's a test to see if this will help me keep things going. I've put a blogging app on my phone to see if this will promote some blogging mojo for me. So far so good :-). I've also started a seperate blog for all my crafting hyjinks, called Zelia Knits (zeliaknits.blogspot.com). I haven't put any entries there yet, but I'm also hoping it'll help me to get my butt in gear and get some things made up to sell. Only time will tell I suppose...

Hello Change!

2012-01-19T02:33:00.000-05:00

Ok, so... when last we left our Zelia, she was pregnant out to here *stretches arms out wide* and waiting for a due date that had come and gone...

Now for the update...

It's been 5 months (exactly) since the little one arrived!! I can't even come close to describing how it's changed my life (our lives!!). My beautiful baby girl has been absolutely wonderful! She's gone from a wee 7 lbs 5 oz

to a wonderful 15 lbs 9 oz in just 5 months!

It's incredible how much she's changed. Going through clothes like crazy, and going through food like crazy! I still nurse her, but she's into solids now and has been for the last 2 months or so. Avocado, rice and oat cereals, pears, peas, sweet potato... she just scarfs all of it down :) It's unbelievable how much goes on in her little life and how much we struggle to keep up with it all as new parents.

More pics and updates to follow... (going to try and make this part of the regular routine)

Due date come and gone

2011-08-14T14:29:00.001-04:00

Well...due date was Aug 11 and nothing has happened :s Actually, I'm getting to the point where I just want this kid out!! LOL

I've gotten through the little lace top that I was working on that I'm planning on having her wear home from the hospital. It turned our very well (will post completed photos soon) and I need to block it still. I'm working on another top for her (size 3 to 6 mos) that she can wear later. I'm also crocheting a little sling that I can carry her around in. I think I've started and completed more projects since I got pregnant than I have any other time...ahh motivation LOL. Here's hoping that I can get what I need done before she actually arrives, but I'll be happy whenever she decides to show up :)

The heat is on!

2011-07-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, another wonderful day of 30+ degrees and me without my air conditioner :s I can now sympathize with anyone who has had to be pregnant over the summer months...not a fun thing at all! Despite all the sweaty yuckiness, I have managed to get more of my little wrap around top done for the babe.

Finished the body of the top and now I'm working on the sleeves. Despite the warm weather, I'm making the sleeves long instead of short. I won't have bottoms for her, I'm thinking I'll take her home in a onesie, this top and the mittens, booties and hat that I finished a little while ago and posted in my last entry here.

With any luck, I'll have finished knitting and blocking this top before she decides to show up :) I guess that's totally up to her though ;)

Blogging is good for the soul?

2011-07-29T17:12:00.001-04:00

Ok, so I thought that I would give this a try again. I really like having a blog to get things down and talk about knitting etc, but I just find that things pop up and I don't post like I should. So, now that I'm expecting a little one to arrive any day now, I figure this is one thing that I can do while I'm attached to this little person :) It'll also give me a chance to talk about all the cute things that she does (since she's my first and I've no idea what I'm in for).

I'm currently trying to get her little wrap around top done. I found that the clothes that I have for her are all probably too big for her to wear home from the hospital. So, I'm knitting her a little preemie size top to wear. I already finished her hat and booties and mittens in the same preemie size. I'm very excited :D I've been knitting up a storm since I found out I was pregnant almost 9 months ago. I like that this has given me a reason to get knitting :)

In the Game again

2007-05-07T16:32:00.000-04:00

wow, it felt SO good to do some gaming again!! I think it's been several months (possibly even over a year) since I've participated in any gaming whatsoever. This passed Sunday, we had some friends over and did some gaming. Well, we didn't actually game or anything ;) but we did get a chance to make characters for a Lord of the Rings campaign that Deathstroke will be running. I'm really looking forward to it! It'll be a different system than I've played before but I can wrap my head around pretty much anything ;)

I've also been playing around with my own Forgotten Realms campaign and I'm hoping to run that after the LOTR campaign is finished. I still have some storyline to iron out and I have to get all the characters on paper, but I'm pretty sure I've got the bare bones of the deal figured out. I REALLY can't wait to start that campaign ;) I was also introduced to Role Playing Online by some of the guys that were over on Sunday. I'm not the greatest for being able to post everyday, but I think the prospect of doing some more gaming might spur me into action!

I'm hoping that I can take what free time I have to incorporate a good amount of gaming. I really missed it and I think it gave me the mental break that I really needed. I'm looking forward to the relaxation and fun again :)

Busy Year?

2007-04-30T12:23:00.000-04:00

Wow...it has actually been a year since my last post. I can't believe it. I didn't think I was that lazy :D Yes, it must be because I'm lazy. I'm sure in a year I could've found a few minutes to post something :D

Anyway, there's not much to update on. The wedding date has changed to Aug 30, 2008, so we have lots of time to plan etc. It was easy to move all of the vendors over to that date, so there's no problems there. I had a phone interview today for a job at a company called Sandvine. They're actually just around the corner from where I work now. The nice thing is that I may get over $10000/year more than what I earn now and I'll get to do more programming and work with Linux (All HUGE bonuses). I really like my job here at Equitrac, but I want more money. So, I'm going to go get it ;)

That's about it for updates. Nothing sticks out in my mind that I have seen or heard that I should post on here. Now that I've finally been able to convert my account (part of the reason why I hadn't posted - a small part, but a part just the same), I'll be able to access my account with more ease and post with more ease. Actually, I have a few blogs but I don't think anybody really reads them. I just like them so that I can write stuff down :) I was really hoping to use more of the collage feature that is on LJ. It's pretty cool - I'd like to see if I can create something like that ;)

Anyway, I have a few meetings today and stuff to do (a little more busy than usual). I'll post again soon ;)

In the movies

2006-03-13T10:39:00.000-05:00

Deathstroke and I recently saw the movie "16 Blocks". Now, there are movies that you go out and see becuase they're action movies and you really wanted to go see an action movie and it was what you were looking for. There are movies that you walk away from and say "yeah, that was a good movie". There are only a few that you walk away from thinking "now that was a great movie". There are very few movies that are just great for every reason. Cinematography, character devlopment, plot, etc. "16 Blocks" was one of those GREAT movies. Bruce Willis did a VERY good job in this movie. Mos Def was also very good. He was funny without being rediculous. You get very attached to the characters in this movie. The story was just fantastic and the ending was not quite what I had expected. Some of the shots in the movie were amazing. The kind of shot where you think something is going to happen and the shot makes it look like either what you though was going to happen happened, or the complete opposite! It was really cool.

"16 Blocks" is a movie that I would go to see in the theatres again. If you haven't seen "16 Blocks" I highly recommend that you go and see it. I think it was just an out and out fantastic movie and I'm so buying it when it comes out on dvd.

Keeping up-to-date

2006-03-01T10:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, I've probably missed a lot of things since I posted last but I don't think I'm going to be able to cover everything, so I'm just going to start from scratch ;)

Now, I'm not much of a Family Guy fan but a friend of mine suggested that I take a look at this one Stewie clip. I kind of like Stewie and his sense of humour. I figured I'd give it a try and see what she was talking about. She said the clip was hillarious. Well, I took a look at it and I had a good chuckle :) Here's the link for the clip: http://media.putfile.com/Family-Guy---Stewie-vs-Eminem-and-50-cen64
I would probably rip apart lyrics like that if I bothered to listen to 50 cent :). I don't mind some of Eminem though. I haven't seen that movie 8 mile but I think I would like to rent it sometime.

Anyway, that's about the only tidbit of entertainment that has crossed my laptop in the last few days. Hope you enjoy the clip ;)

Christmas Baking

2005-12-12T11:20:00.000-05:00

I recently went over to my mom's place (twice) to do some Christmas baking. The first time was for her baking (mostley) and the second time was for my baking. We have a recipe in our family that's very picky. It seems that the ability to make these cookies skips a generation. My grandma made butter cookies every year for the longest time and then she decided that she was getting too old to do any of the baking. My mom tried the recipe a few times and she couldn't get it right. She couldn't figure out what she was doing wrong because she was following the recipe exactly as it was laid out. Then it was my turn to try. I made them last year and the year before and they turned out well. I seem to get better at it every year :). So, with that being said, that's why my mom wanted me to come over for some baking - so I could do the butter cookies.

Not only did I do the butter cookies, but I did everything else that mom wanted baked! Actually, it was kind of funny. I did all the baking and mom helped a little bit and drank a little bit more :). We wound up getting everything done, so it worked out well.

The second time that I went over to do some baking was for stuff that I was going to bring to each family get-together this year. I decided that I was going to make 2 cakes for 2 of the get-togethers and some tarts and cookies for the other get-together. Kevin found this recipe for "Cinnamon Snails". Really good recipe, very tasty, but the work involved in getting these things shaped like snails! Oh my gosh. It took my mom and I more than 3 hours to do one recipe of these cookies! In the end, we just gave up and made the rest of the recipe into flat cookies instead of snails :).

I think it would be really nice to have the time to devot to baking and cooking and actually putting a really nice presentation together about it. If I had that kind of time, I would certainly put more effort into my meals and baking. Since I don't have that kind of time, I'm glad that I only have to put the effort in about once a year. It's nice to do it every once in a while, but it would get really frustrating after a while when you notice that you just don't have the time.

Here are the recipes that I did for my own baking this year:

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake

Prep: 20 min
Ready In: 50 min
Serves: 14

Ingredients
1 pkg. (2-layer size) yellow cake mix
1 can (14 fl oz/398 mL) pumpkin puree, divided
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, divided
1 pkg. (250g) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
1-1/4 cups icing sugar, divided
1 tub (1 L) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed
1/2 cup caramel topping
1/2 cup toasted pecans

Directions
1 PREHEAT oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 (9-inch) round cake pans. Beat cake mix, 1 cup of the pumpkin, milk, oil, eggs and 1 tsp. of the pumpkin pie spice in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Pour evenly into prepared pans.
2 BAKE 28 to 30 min. or until toothpick inserted in centres comes out clean. Cool completely on wire racks. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese in small bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add 1 cup of the icing sugar, remaining pumpkin and remaining 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice; mix well. Stir in whipped topping.
3 REMOVE cake layers from pans; cut each layer horizontally in half with a serrated knife. Stack the layers on a serving plate, spreading the cream cheese mixture between the layers. Do not frost the top layer. Sprinkle lightly with remaining 1/4 cup icing sugar. Store in refrigerator.

Healthy Living
This is an indulgent dessert for special occasions. Watch serving size.

Special Extra
Drizzle with 1/2 cup caramel topping and 1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans.

Nutritional Info
Serving Size = 1/14 recipe

Calories 456
Total fat 24.5 g
Saturated fat 8.9 g
Cholesterol 71 mg
Sodium 388 mg
Carbohydrate 54.9 g
Dietary fibre 1.7 g
Protein 6.6 g
Vitamin A 67 %RDI
Vitamin C 2 %RDI
Calcium 9 %RDI
Iron 9 %RDI

Almond Crescents (Cookie Mix)

Yields: 60 servings
"A melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookie that's coated with powdered sugar and is made with a cookie mix. Check it out!"

INGREDIENTS:
1 (1 pound 1.5 ounce) pouch
Betty Crocker® sugar cookie
mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine,
melted
1 egg
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup ground blanched
almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup powdered sugar
Blue edible glitter, if desired

DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg, cornstarch, ground almonds and almond extract until soft dough forms.
2. For each cookie; shape rounded teaspoon dough into 2 1/2-inch strip. Taper ends and form crescent shape on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie to wire rack. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar. Sprinkle with edible glitter.

Maple Syrup Tarts

Yields: 12 servings
"Walnuts, maple syrup, brown sugar, an egg, and a smidgen of lemon juice and butter are stirred together and spooned into twelve prepared tart shells. Bake and serve topped with dollops of whipped cream."

INGREDIENTS:
12 (3 inch) unbaked tart shells
1 egg
1 cup real maple syrup
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Beat the egg gently with a fork, and then mix with maple syrup, melted butter, brown sugar, lemon juice, and nuts. Fill tarts 2/3 full.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cinnamon Snails

Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes Ready In: 40 Minutes
Yields: 48 servings
"This recipe is a family tradition for holidays or just for fun! These cinnamon snails taste delicious and are fun to make!!"

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter or margarine,
softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 egg white, beaten
3 tablespoons mini chocolate
chips

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter or margarine and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, baking powder, egg, and vanilla. Stir in flour by hand using a wooden spoon, as the dough will be stiff.
3. Roll out tablespoon sized pieces of dough into 6 inch long ropes. Curl up one end slightly to make the head, then curl the rest of the rope towards the head in a spiral shape to make the snail shell. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Brush cookies with egg white. Mix together the remaining cinnamon and superfine sugar in a small cup. Sprinkle this over the snails. Use chocolate chips to make eyes on the heads.
4. Bake cookies for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Roll with the numbers

2005-11-10T13:40:00.000-05:00

About mid-September I booked a Pampered Chef party right from a party that a friend of mine held. I really enjoyed it and I thought it would be a really good idea to hold one and invite all my friends and family (that were in the area anyway). So, I started inviting people that day and by about mid October I had invited over 50 people. Out of those over 50 people, over 30 gave me a confirmation that they would be there. A few others gave me a tentative confirmation but I was starting to prepare to have 30 people in Deathstroke's and my apartment. Now, the party is scheduled for this coming Saturday at 1pm. Here's where I get astounded by the numbers... By the beginning of this week, over 25 of the people who told me that they were attending my party cancelled and said that they couldn't make it. So, here I am with an apartment that was cleaned and organized to house about 30 people, and recipes and ingredients chosen to feed more than 30 people, and I now have only 4 people coming to my party... Just in case anyone wants to know, this is a very good way of making me extremely disappointed.

Fortunately, I've been able to invite a few other people and I think there will be about 7 people at the party. I'm still going to have to get in touch with the consultant who's doing the party just to make any changes to the menu that are needed and get more ingredients if need be. As I'm writing this, I'm wondering if I'd forgotten to invite anyone... Garnigal, I did give you an invite, did I not? If not, are you and D doing anything this Saturday? ;)

What astounds me is the number of people who will commit to something and then just back out at the last minute. Call me old fashioned, but when I commit to something, there's very little that would make me cancel that appointment. Being sick, family emergency...it would have to be pretty important for me to cancel. If I forget about it (which is very rare), you can bet that I'll be doing my best to make it there if I can once I've remembered. People do forget sometimes - totally understandable, but 25 out of 30 people? That's getting to the point of rediculousness. I guess that kind of response is just not something that I'm used to seeing, nor should it be something that anyone gets used to seeing.

At least it's still going on and I have a few people attending. We'll have fun I'm sure :)

Oscar Updates!!

2005-09-15T15:06:00.000-04:00

Well, here are some more recent pictures of Oscar. We took him to the vet for his tests and he doesn't have feline leukemia (HORAY!!). In fact, the vet said that he's in very good health!. He's also gone in for his little snip snip and he's so much calmer than he was before :D He still keeps us busy and we still have tonnes of scars because he's just decided that he feels like biting or scratching, but he's still my little man so I'm happy :)

He likes to snuggle and get petted in the morning after Kevin has left for work. In fact, he waits until I move and then tries to give me kisses or get me to pet him so that I can wake up and feed him. It's really cute, but it really cuts into my sleep (not that I mind at all ;) ).

I've recently disovered that cats can make the most horrible sound I've ever heard. Oscar was playing by one of the doors and I went to close it when I heard this blood-curdling scream! I had no idea that that kind of sound could come out of a cat. It scared the crap out of me and I thought I'd really hurt him. Turns out that he was still well enough to try and scratch me :) I've also found out that Oscar really doesn't like getting his claws clipped. He makes the worst meowing sounds. The last time we clipped his claws, our other two cats were right there standing at attention because of the sounds he was making. Whether it was to tell him to shut up because we weren't hurting him or to stick up for him and get us to stop what we were doing, I have no idea.

So now, our family is fully integrated and is working very well :)

Mary Kay

2005-08-30T11:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I took a leap and bacame a Mary Kay Independent Consultant! I'm actually really excited about it. I've used the products before and I think they're very good. I was hesitant, at first, only because I thought the whole Mary Kay thing was way too girly girly for me. I came to realize that I don't have to be that way to sell the product. I really wanted the job because it meant extra money and it was something that I could fit into my schedule without having to change things around a whole lot.

Since I've only just started, I haven't had any classes yet, but I'm really gearing up for it. I'll hopefully be able to get my inventory soon and then I can just go right to town with it. Once I get my website, I can let everyone know and you can order product from me at your liesure. I'll have to give everyone an update once I get more into the job and start doing stuff. It's going to be so much fun!

If anyone's interested in hosting classes and getting free product, just let me know :) I'll be more than happy to help you out.

Oscar the Kitten!!

2005-07-19T09:43:00.000-04:00

For those of you who I haven't told in person already, we got ourselves a new kitten :) His name is Oscar and he's going on 8 weeks old now. He's an orange tabby and he's just the most adorable thing I've ever seen.

He's got quite the personality. He wants to be picked up every time we come home from work or when we wake up in the morning. He really likes to stalk our fingers or our toes when he's in a playful mood.

Apparently, Oscar was found in a box in someones shed. He and his brothers and sisters had been there for a while and he was the only one who survived. We've already taken him to the vet to start his shots and the vet says that he appears to be a very healthy little guy.

I think he'll make a wonderful addition to our little family :)

Everything seems better after a good vacation

2005-06-21T10:08:00.000-04:00

Well, Deathstroke and I just got back from a wonderful vacation in Ottawa. Mostly, we went museum hopping.

The Museum of Nature, which was undergoing renovations, was quite fun but we weren't able to see some of the cooler exhibits. We'll have to go back in a few years to see them when the renovations are done.

The Currancy Museum was also very neat! Everything from old coins and bills to furs to large metal plates to giant stones. I can't believe some of the stuff that used to be used as currancy! We came out of there with a few coin replicas, though I wouldn't mind getting my hands on the real thing. I love to collect things :)

We also went to the Museum of Civilization. That was in Hull, Quebec. The building itself was really neatly shaped. Someone at work told me that it's supposed to resemble the shape of an Inuit carved whale of dolphin. I didn't see it, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't there :). We went to that museum specifically for the Pompei exhibit. It was really cool. They had been able to make casts of some people to show exactly where they were and what they were doing when they died. Creepy stuff. A lot of jewelery survived and the frescos were in surprisingly good condition. I got lots of nice pictures of that stuff.

In our package that we got from Ottawa Tourism, we have tickets to go on a Haunted tour of the Ottawa Jail. It's a jail with one of the only still working gallows in Canada. It wasn't like the gallows you usually see that's built seperate from the prison. This one was build right into the prison. It was really neat to see. Apparently, there were only 3 official hangings at that jail before it was closed. They've turned it into a hostel now, and we were told many ghost stories about that place. It was really cool.

We also got some coupons to go shopping at the Redeau Centre. That was a nice mall. I was trying to zero in on the shops that we don't have here, so we visited the Godiva Chocolatier and a place called Mrs. Tiggy Winkles. The latter was a store that sold games and kids toys. The shopping was really nice and we came away with a bunch of neat stuff :)

On the last day we were there, we went to Casino Lac Leamy in Hull. Our package gave us a voucher for a buffet dinner for 2 and $10 spending money each at the casino. That was lots of fun!! The buffet was splendid. They even had a chocolate fountain and you could dip fresh fruit in the chocolate. It was a very posh place. I really enjoyed it. After dinner, we decided to go gambling. I like the slots because it doesn't seem like you're spending as much money. At least the money lasts a little bit longer than if you're playing at the tables and the minimum bet is $20. Both Deathstroke and I had a really good time at the casino. It was my first actual gambling experience and I would really enjoy going again when we have some extra money.

Originally, when we decided on when to go on vacation, we picked this week because that's when most of the festivals were going on in Ottawa. We never went to one festival when we were there. There was absolutely no indication at all that anything was going on. No signs for festivals, no spots where they were being held, nothing. I was incredibly disappointed at how poor the signs were there. You had to know exactly where you were going because the only signs that indicated that you were getting close to your destination were posted almost immediately beside where you wanted to go.

We also wanted to go to a bar called Zaphods. We both like The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Zaphod is a character in that story. Apparently, you can even get the Pangalactic Gargleblaster there! I can't believe we forgot to find this place and check it out. We'll certainly have to take a look the next time we're there.

All in all, it was a great vacation. I really needed to get away and, now that I'm back, everything seems just that less stressful. I'm glad that we both had the chance to relax and now we can get back to our daily bump and grind and not go crazy....at least not right away ;)

It's my Birthday!! (or was anyway)

2005-06-01T09:10:00.000-04:00

Yes, I turned 26 yesterday. It was a good birthday, but I should start with birthday dinner that was the weekend before.

Last Sunday, my parents took Deathstroke and I out for dinner. We went to Samura in Cambridge to try a new kind of meal called Teppanyaki (I think that's how you spell it). WOW, it was SO good. It's an entire meal that's cooked in front of you that includes the meat course, a vegetable dish and a rice dish. The meal comes with soup, salad and ice cream for dessert. They cook everything right there in front of you! It was so amazing, I really enjoyed it.

Yesterday, on my actual birthday, I dressed up and went to work. There's a little tradition at work where you bring in treats for everyone on your birthday. I brought home-made cookies (well, I baked them anyway). It also happened that work decided to get rid of all their old computer hardware. I was in hardware heaven!! I scrambled for stuff. I walked out of there with 3 partial computers (including cases, power supplies and motherboards), 3 extra motherboards, 3 extra cpus (nothing above a 166) and 4 sticks of RAM (64MB each I think). I was quite in my element. I left work early and took all that stuff home. Deathstroke helped me bring all the stuff up to the apartment. I didn't get the chance to put anything together or play with anything because we had book club. We went out and picked up some cheese puff hors d'ovre type things and some chocolate mousse cake. It was really really good :)

When we got home from book club, I had some birthday messages waiting for me. My Grandma called and my older brother and neice called. My neice, Juliet, is only about 2 or 3 and she was singing Happy Birthday to me with Paul (my brother) and she had a mouth full of cereal :) It was so very cute. I can't believe that the last time I saw her, she was turning 1. She couldn't really walk or talk at that time, and now she's singing happy birthday. I always miss seeing my brother and his family, but it doesn't really get hard until I actually talk to them or hear about what's going on over there. Even though the message was very cute, it made me sad anyway. I miss them.

Deathstroke and I are planning on going on vacation the 2nd week of June. It's coming up pretty soon and I realized that we hadn't even booked a hotel or knew what we were going to do. We found some neat little package offers that I think we're going to take. Much to my disappointment, I realized today that we don't really have any money. The bank account is almost empty, the next paycheque isn't until this friday, all our credit cards are full or getting damned close to it. It's quite the depressing feeling when you know you're in the hole and, as much as you try to get out, it just doesn't work. I keep telling myself I need a vacation from all this crap that goes on, but I can't afford one so I keep going deeper and deeper into this rut that is forming in my brain. Yet another depressing thought to realize that you're stuck and you can't get out no matter how you try.

Maybe it's just that I'm inpatient. I've never really been comfortable or happy with my life. It's always one struggle to the next and it's getting very tiring. The longer I'm in this cycle, the less patience I have for getting out of it. Damn vicious cycles! There are so many things I want to do with my life and there doesn't seem to be enough time to do it all, especially if I'm spending all my time trying to catch up to all the bills and crap that goes on. Such is the joy of my life. I'm 26 and I'm not married yet. We don't have a house yet. When are we going to be able to have kids? This stuff goes through my head on a daily basis, non-stop.

Wish I could get a break...

Who's House? Greg's House.

2005-05-18T08:55:00.000-04:00

I've recently been introduced to a show called "House". It's a really interesting story about a Dr. who works in Diagnostic Medicine to try and solve medical mysteries (a very broad definition). He walks with a cane due to surgury he had on his leg. Right off the bat, I'm sure this doesn't sound all that unique or interesting. The highlight of the show is the character development. Dr. Gregory House is a surly but brilliant physician who will use unconventional means to diagnose and treat his patients' aliments. He's the type of character who can take as much as he dishes out. He's often described himself as a Jerk (which is quite true at times). It's a very refreshing change to see someone who's not afraid to let someone know what they think about you and lay it out all on the table with no pretense.

Kevin's comment when he first started watching it with me was that he didn't like the character because he was an ass. He said that it was the same reason he didn't like CSI, because Grissom has the same sort of attitude that House does. I find that this is what I like about the characters.

The group of people that House works with are interesting characters. They all have their own unique fields of study and use their expertise to assist House. His team includes a neurologist, an immunologist and an intelligent young doctor. Other characters he frequently interacts with are an oncology specialist and the hospital administrator (with whom he constantly butts heads). It's quite the flavourful cast of characters.

This is the kind of show that also gets you interested in solving the mystery (like CSI). The different tid-bits of information that you glean from the show to solve the mystery make the show all that much more interesting.

If you haven't already gotten into this show, I would recommend watching at least one episode. If you like CSI, there's a really good chance that you'll love House.

Things that make you go "hmmm..."

2005-05-11T12:05:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm sure everyone has been told by their employers "we didn't make our quota so, unfortunately, we can't give you a raise". Whether this be in department meetings or in a personal review with your immediate supervisor. Now, normally, this would evoke some irritation on my part but nothing totally out of the ordinary. However, when I'm given this news that no one can receive a raise because the company doesn't have any money, and then the company goes and sends all supervisors on a 2-day leadership/training course at a hotel like the Walpur Terrace, I get a little frustrated! I think it would be only slightly more polite to say to my face "we don't think you're important enough to spend money on or give a raise, so we're just not going to do it".

Another thing I'm sure we've all experienced is our employers wanting to do more "team-building" activities because they're under the deluded assumption that this will make everything better. Now, team-building activities I can deal with. Something relatively short that provides a break from the everyday grind of work. My question is: who the hell is going to attend a team-building activity that takes place from 2:30pm to 5:30pm on a Friday afternoon?? Who in their right mind would schedule something like that and expect that everyone is showing up? Then, they attach the word "manditory" to it so you're stuck either way.

Some of the things that these people come up with just make me want to start scratching my brain with steel wool. The shortage of common sense in people today is just staggering.

Writing in the family

2005-05-05T12:43:00.000-04:00

Well, I've recently discovered that my Great Aunt Pat has been published. She's written 3 historical romance novels and one of them has gotten an award. I haven't seen any of the book in the book stores, but I know that she has a website where you can purchase the books in paperback or electronic format.

I'm going to suggest one of these books for our book club. I think it would be really neat to read one of my aunts books. This is one particular type of book that I don't think we've touched yet. It'll be interesting to see what people think :)

I've written almost 2 chapters in my own novel. It actually started out as an OAC english project. Basically, we were supposed to read a book by a particular author and then write something that implemented the different writing tools and styles that that author used in his/her work. The book that I read was "Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R Tolkien. There were a lot of literary devices that I had to keep track of in that book. He has such an intersting writing style. I wasn't sure if I could capture enough to actually write something like that myself. I wound up writing the first chapter for the project and submitting it a few days late (it took me so long to write and edit it). My final mark on it was something above 70% (and that was including the penalties for being late). Afterwards, my english teacher asked me when he could expect to see it on the shelves. If only I had the time to write and get published... I'm hoping to finish it someday and get published. Even if I only do the one book, it would still be something that I can say I've done and be proud of it.

I don't know how much room I have for posting on here, but it would be nice to post my story once again and get people opinions of it. I'll have to see what I can figure out :)

Trying a new template

2005-05-05T09:27:00.000-04:00

Ok, I really liked the template that I was using before, but I decided to try this nice nature-oriented one. The other reason I wanted to try it is because this template gives me a place to put links and the other one didn't (no idea why)

Anyway, we'll see how this one turns out :)

When is it worth the effort?

2005-05-04T15:40:00.000-04:00

I've been working on a personal delema. I used to take Tae Kwon Do before I realized that I had a thyroid condition. Basically, I have problems losing weight (in fact it's near impossible) because of a particular hormone imbalance (this, of course isn't the only thing that this hormone imbalance does, but it's the one thing I'm concentrating on for this post). I had started taking tkd (tae kwon do) with the idea that I would be learning to defend myself while doing something that would help me lose weight. I took classes and made it up to orange belt before I had found out that I had this condition and that's why I hadn't managed to lose any weight. Since then I've taken a semester off so that my doctor can balance the amount of hormone I need. It's since been balanced and I'm going to start classes again.

I'm a little nervous about it and this is why: Anyone who's ever taken martial arts classes knows how much work it is and how much of a workout. I expected to learn how to defend myself and I expected to lose weight. I got half of what I expected. In my opinion, the amount of work I put into it was not worth what I got out of it. There's only so far I can go before my weight becomes an issue and I'm physically incapable of going any further. So, knowing this, do I get back into classes and chance that I still won't lose weight? Do I spend another few semesters of busting my ass with very little payback only to have to drop it anyway because I can't get passed a certain belt level? Where do you draw the line in terms of how much effort you put in in the hopes of things getting better?

I know that the chances are good that I will lose weight and I'll be able to continue. It's just frustrating to try and do something that you know how to do properly and you know why it's done that way, but your body is physically incapable of doing it correctly. I'm planning on going to class tonight, so we'll see how hard it will be on me. There are a lot of times in classes where I feel that I just have to stop for a minute before I fall down. The workout is quite intense. I'm hoping that I'll be able to handle it long enough to get some results. I guess I'll have to wait and see...

Job Satisfaction

2005-05-04T14:47:00.000-04:00

So, what is job satisfaction? Does anyone think that this is actually possible or is this just a myth that motivates us to keep striving to get that perfect job?

Our company has just gone through a survey done through an outside HR company and it looks like our company has done rather poorly (in the bottom 1/3 of a select group of IT companies). A group of us had a session where we got to comment on reasons why we thought certain scores were as low or as high as they were. Lots of discussion here. A lot of comments were made and we pretty much all agreed on the same things. Do I think that this is going to make a difference in the long run? I don't really know. On one hand, if people weren't surprised about the results, then why wasn't something done sooner? On the other hand, all the points that were brought up I don't think have ever been brought up to the people who could actually effect change. The other side to that is, if it was brought up, would anyone in upper management care?

Isn't this pretty much the delema in all companies? I haven't had the experience of working at more than 2 companies in the technical industry, but so far, 2 out of 2 companies having the same problems doesn't really bode well for my search for a better company to work for. Don't get me wrong, I really do like to know that everyone in the same department has the same opinion about how things are done here and what things need to be improved. Why is it that an entire department of people who have the same opinion can't band together to effect some kind of change? I think it's because everyone thinks that we're these lowly people and we've developed a complex. None of us think that our opnions matter at all, so why bother even trying?

I guess I'm being a little pessimistic here. I would love nothing more than to believe that things will get better. I guess the fact that this company has even tried this survey is some indication of the fact that they want things to improve. I just question whether or not it's going to make a difference to me or to anyone else who's currently working in the department.

One thing that I think would make things better is to have more activities with everyone in our department. We used to go out for lunch every friday. We don't do that anymore. It would be nice just to get to know everybody and have a good time. It would help for all of us working together.

Well, this is just me rambling...I guess this is based a lot on personal opinion. I'm sure that my point of view on all this is different than those people who are in upper management or in other administrative positions throughout the company. I guess it's the kind of thing that will always retain some measure of disappointment to those people in non-administrative positions.

Jumping on the bandwagon

2005-05-03T11:24:00.000-04:00

Ok, I hadn't really intended to start something like this, but I had some time from work and I decided to start reading Deathstroke's Ramblings. As I started reading it I realized that I really wanted to start a blog of my own. I've had the idea for a while now, but I was going to set one up on my own network once I got my new computer and got things set up. As it stands, I won't be able to get that set up for another few months at least. In the meantime though, this works very well :)

One really neat thing I've noticed about this site is that you can actually host the blog somewhere other than on this site. That's quite the neat feature. I think I'll have to give that a try once I get things set up at the apartment. The other neat thing is the templates that you can use. I really like the template that I'm using now. I'm sure there are others that are really nice and I might have to give those a try at some point, but I like this one with it's nice old paper look and script type font.

When I got everything set up at the apartment, I was going to use MoveableType as a blog. It's got some really nice organization to it. I signed up as a developer and got a free download for it. It works pretty well. I originally set it up to keep track of my schedule at work. Maybe what I'll do is set this up on my network at home anyway just to keep track of work and then use this blog for personal stuff :) Ah, the possiblities...