Here's The Thing

I may have said this before but I do very much love when life imitates music.  I was driving home over the weekend and as I pulled up to a yield, which I have no recollection of ever having to yield at before, there were cars turning from the other direction and I came to a complete stop.  And just as I did stop the chorus for the Mumford song on the radio came on, "I will wait, I will wait for you."  And that just made me laugh.

So after all of my life threatening home repair attempts, I still require a repairman.  The AC does not budge a tick below 77.  And that was only accomplished by leaving the screen door open.  Which honestly is not a great alternative because of how loud Hwy 10 is.  It sounds like every car is right beside my face.  I went out and bought some self drilling screw anchors, so I could properly hang my new thermostat and not look like a total boob.  They worked so beautifully, I just don't have any words.  They screwed right into the wall, and felt as if they had been cemented in.  I took yesterday off, and I'm taking today off as well.  The AC repairman was supposed to come yesterday but he had to cancel.  He rebooked for this morning bright and early.  Kind of a good thing I had both days off, or I would have been rather pissed off.  I'm not overly pleased as it is.  I want to do some shopping today, and I need to know how much of my income is disposable.  Dean was giving me a bit of a lesson at work about home repairs.  About asking how much a replacement would be, and if the repair is a certain percentage of the replacement I should consider doing it.  I get taken care of both Dean and Ross in different ways.  Ross' wife runs their household so he wouldn't be able to give the same advice as Dean.  But Dean would never get his hands dirty and help me change a bulb in my car.  Between the two of them I'm covered.

Ross went on a bit of a tirade the other day.  He had his transmission rebuilt less than 2 years ago and it has broken down.  He took it to a friend's friend's shop by his friend's recommendation, when he knows his own trans mechanics.  So he takes it back to that shop after it dies in the middle of traffic.  They basically took no responsibility for the trans failing after just 50,000km and were going to charge him almost the same amount as the full rebuild last time, but just to fix it.  The madder he gets, the more he loses his words.  He already has a wicked bad habit of replacing full parts of a sentence with "thing", but with his rage it only got worse.  And I had to write this one down just to make sure I didn't forget it, because it's a beaut.

"He's very thing.  You'll get along as long as you don't get into thing."

Ross has this really hardcore towing package deal.  I think it cost him something like $4000 for maybe 10 years.  And he can call his tow guy and have any car picked up and towed any distance for free.  No questions asked.  Doesn't have to be his car.  I don't think he even has to be there.  At first I thought he was crazy, but after hearing all the times he or his wife have needed a tow this year alone, it has been worth it.  And for example, he mentioned that someone like CAA might tow you to a shop, but they would never come and pick you up from a shop to take you to a different shop, for free.  Maybe that's true, maybe it's not true.  I would guess that's a true statement.  It's expiring this year, so he better get some coin saved up if he wants to renew.

Time to get ready for my visitor.  Hopefully after this I can go do a bit of shopping.  And then maybe nap under a blanket with cold air blowing over me.

Good Idea Bad Idea

Good Idea:  Avoid costly service calls, and attempt to replace the thermostat yourself.
Bad Idea:  Have little to no home improvement experience and end up with a thermostat that looks like this...

It's really going to stay like that until I can learn how to properly sink the screws.  The wall behind seems really flimsy.  But hey, I'm actually feeling cool for the first time in two weeks, having operated with a fan only.  And I did light wiring and didn't kill myself.  When I plugged in it was at 85F (really??).  Now it's down to 77F.  Once I need to use a blanket I will know it is a complete success.  Also, Ross replaced my headlight today that I picked up at Canadian Tire last week.

Go team.

**EDIT** - after all that, it's still not blowing cold air.  Something else must be wrong.  Wahn.

Asplozion

This Pepsi can exploded in my passenger seat while I was at a stop light on the way home.  Oh what fun.

I rec'd two texts from Nikki in relation to this incident before and after I provided photographic evidence:

1)  "Pictures or it didn't happen"
2)  "Ok.  It happened."

Happy Birthday, Canada

This year I would like to give a name to our celebration of the birth of this wonderful country.  It's called, "Ow.  Ow, it hurts everywhere.  Please make it stop.  Thanks."  I forgot my camera at home, so the only shots I can share are of the unbearable pain I'm experiencing right now.

Anything that looks embossed is my skin telling me to eff off and use more sunscreen next time.

You can actually see the blisters in this one.  So much pain.

I want to pick that yellow scab thing off so badly but I that would just make things worse.

Other than all that nonsense, I had a wiiiicked time.  By the last morning I was in too much pain to put on my swimsuit so I just went down and jumped in wearing a tank top and shorts.  They had a solid solid dock.  Apparently it's so deep that if you drop anything it's gone for good.  I guess the rock face just drops right off or something wild like that.  At one point a group of us were wearing life jackets like diapers and chilling having some drinks.  I went to take an in-water backwards dive to flip out of the leg holes and when I came up my prescription sunglasses were not on my face.  I reached down to my side JUST in time to catch them as they were about to sink into oblivion.  That would have been an unpleasant moment.  And Phil has some really awesome friends, so I hope to get invited back up next time.

Also at the moment I think my AC might be broken.  I like keeping it at bitterly cold levels during the summer and it's just not happening anymore.  It may or may not only be using the fan.  Which I guess I will have to pay to have someone inspect.  Either that or I might might MIGHT attempt to change the thermostat and see if the problem still persists.  MAYBE.  I have a two day vacation coming up where I could call in a repair person.  I like life when these problems don't happen.

That's all for now.  You keep it classy, Canada.

A Shade Shy Of True Wickedness

I think I can judge how much of a life I've had each month on my internet usage meter.  Ever since TekSavvy started metering usage I check on a regular basis.  If I have a netflix heavy month it could take me over my limit.  I could pay $5 a month and probably not have to worry about it ever, but I'll use a bit of restraint and keep that $60 a year. But time to get to le boeuf of the matter.  Much has been happening in the past little while.  I probably saw Adam more in the past two weeks than I have over the past year.  Which is amazing but may also make this new distance harder to transition into.  Of course as I write this he sits less than 5km away, yet to depart.  But his departure is imminent.  I met up with him one day after work to pick out some new glasses.  I laughed as he tried to text photos to his lady in Montreal.  The lack of detail in the photos on the iPhone rendered all the photos practically identical.  The last four contenders were all great, but I think he made the right choice in the end.  I don't think the salespeople were on commission, but the customer service at the Sq1 LensC is ridiculous, and not in a good way.  When I walked in there were 3 people surrounding Adam trying to offer advise and suggestions.  It was overwhelming.  I turned my back to them and said "Lets try on some glasses."  They hovered for a few more minutes before finally dispersing.  They didn't stay away long, but at least going fwd from there it was one at a time.  I think we had 5 different people tending to Adam, be it bringing over new choices or clearing away the rejects.  An old coworker from the 'Ridge came in to get some sunglasses.  I went over for a very awkward hello.  It was a lose-lose scenario for me.  I would have regretted had I not said anything, but I knew it wouldn't go over very well.  It started with me walking up to him exactly as he was entering his pin number and it went downhill from there lol.  At any rate.  As we waited for the lenses to be created I got a few text messages from Dean:

● I'm trying to vote but Rob Ford isn't on the ballot

● Do I just write his name in "other"

● Ok I'll just put his name down and check the box, thanks

I was a bit late responding but got back to him with, Lol I kill you tomorrow.  I went home and quickly voted as the polls were wrapping up within the hour.  I'm not committed to a certain party, at least not fully committed.  And if I ever feel there is a second adequate candidate I will have some pondering to do.  I may also next time delve a little bit further into the actual platforms.  Might still end up casting the same vote, but it will be a slightly more educated vote.

So what else.  I saw Sim and Spence for one night.  I was really bushwhacked though, as I am most nights.  Hosted a bowling night for Adam for the 'Sauga crew.  Bowling for Adambine....too soon?  Sushi with an old coworker.  A weekend up North, which was relatively uneventful but very peaceful.  I'm scheduled to go back up this weekend, but I will let the weather make that decision for me.  I'm also going away next weekend and have to watch my gas usage.  I have to watch my spending in general this month.

 I did splurge slightly on myself this weekend.  I've been wanting to have some more greenery in my life for a while so I told Nikki I wanted to go to Sheridan Nurseries at some point if she would be kind enough to accompany me.  She gave me the nod for last Sunday morning.  She also wanted to pick up some flowers to plant at her dad's grave.  I wish I'd had a chance to really meet her dad before he got sick.  We don't talk about it much.  She does let small tidbits slip from time to time.  Last time we took a trip out Hamilton way we ended up listening to Patricia the Stripper two or three times in a row.  She said she used to dance around her living room with her dad and sisters as that played in the background.  It's a nice memory.  Well at any rate, I picked out a fern and threw it into a planter that someone who shall not be named bought me.  She thought buying me a planter and a nice new shower mat from Winners would make my 400sqf crack-den in Calgary all better.  Have you guessed yet?  And 10 years later, I'm finally using it for its true purpose instead of storing random bits.  It does look pretty badass if I do say so myself.  Once I got it into my place it suddenly felt a whole lot bigger than it did at the store, but I'll find a way to make it blend in.

On the way home today, I was half-witness to a hit-and-run.  All I could think was thank goodness it wasn't me.  I was at a red light across the street from my condo and I heard a loud screech and the unmistakeable sound of car hitting car.  I looked back and all I could see was the 2nd guy back was kind of close to the guy behind me.  The passenger looked to be opening their door so I thought maybe it was just a loud car door slam.  As I'm trying to not miss my green and get honked at, I see the driver of that car get out, and the car behind him do the fastest 3-point turn I've seen in a long time.  Unfortunately there was enough room behind him for him to back up, flip it around, and peace out.  He squealed his wheels as he sped away in the opposite direction, and left the driver standing outside of his car dumbfounded.  The light turned green so I drove through and parked outside the condo on the street, just in case the driver saw me and wanted to stop to see if I could corroborate his story.  I had seen what looked like a platinum VW performing a highly illegal U-turn just before the green light made me drive off.  That's not much I know.  The hit car drove past me and I could see what appeared to be major bumper damage.  I don't know if it was fully cracked or just dented.  Probably a combination of both.  And bumpers aint cheap.  Just the thought of that happening to me is enough to incite desires to commit hari kari.

That's all.  I leave you with this thought provoking haiku:


Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator

Awaiting Your News, I Remain

I'm only going to briefly mention how heartbroken I am right now.  I gave 100% to my job while we were experiencing an unusual number of special projects, and an unpredictable period of being short-staffed.  And instead of being thanked I was lambasted during a company meeting.  A meeting that left me in tears in my office wondering what the fuck all of my efforts were for.  There were undeniable truths in what I was being told, but I was treated like less than shit, and over a week later I'm still reeling inside.

MOVING ON.

I went out last Saturday for a fantastic pub crawl.  Stan at my last job set up a crawl and I transited downtown to join in.  Stan started at 2pm, but I didn't make it down until about 4:30pm.  We met at the Beverly Hotel rooftop pub.  I never would have found it, ever ever ever.  You have to walk up 4 flights in an unmarked stairwell and emerge at the top to a patio that limits at about 30 people tops.  We all had a drink, and then it was on to the Black Bull, The Horseshoe, Tortilla Flats, Cameron House, and finally Tequila Bookworm.  That was at least two new pubs for me, and a few new brews.  It was at about T-Flats that it was becoming apparent it was a boy's night.  The server was this cute girl with an Italian accent and they all became slobbering fools.  I mean it was like hanging out with a bunch of teenagers.  And then in the C-House we managed to get six seats right up front by the stage.  Three guys got up to get the drinks, and a group of again good looking girls walks in.  And what happened next just shocked me.  One girl asked, "Are these seats taken?"  And I looked at Stan as he gazed seemingly dumbstruck back at this stranger, "No."  No?  No?  You mean the three guys at the bar aren't worth saving seats for?  What....what.....I can't even put into words.  The live music did make up for it.  I was very interested in seeing the headliners but more than that I just wanted to get out and move on to the next place which we did.  At 11:30 I hopped back on the streetcar and transited home.  Overall, it was really great to get out and explore and have fun.  But maybe next time I'll let boys be boys, without me.

Adam's leaving in the next few weeks.  I'm going to miss my coffee buddy. Mon irremplaçable amuse-bouche.  I will miss him severely.  The times have been very very good.  And I'm hoping to get a few more times before he vacates TO and the 'Saug.  I went downtown last week for a going away party.  Met some interesting new people, and had a really interesting chat with an older friend of his I hadn't seen in a long time.

If anyone is interested in my herb garden, the killing process has begun.  I'm hoping I can turn it around.  It was so lively and beautiful when it arrived onto my balcony but now not so much.

That's about all.  I'm rather emotionally drained.  I'm hoping that things can turn around this summer.  And then I can fire the missiles.

Not Like This...Not Like This

This is the first long weekend Saturday I have spent at home, not away, not half in the bag, alone.  Although I booked our time up at the cottage long in advance, a situation with the septic tank has kept us away.  And although we could have roughed it, it's not a great weekend for doing that.

I took my car into the shop after work on Friday.  I had a terribly experience driving into work that morning.  My car was revving upwards of 3000rpm and would only settle down at 2000rpm after switching.  I wasn't prepared to be dealing with transmission problems.  Boo-urns.  The mechanic looked at me and said, "Were you in the wrong gear?" to which I replied, "But it's an automatic."  To which he said, "Yeah, D2."  To which I said...."Fuck me."  I really do need to watch my tongue in public.  There's that problem fixed.  I had been given a recommendation to get the trans fluid swapped so I asked them to check that.  With my engine light scare I asked for a tune-up, and I said if the oil looks like it needs it go ahead and changed it.  Oh, and my brakes are doing this awful kicking like ABS at every stop.  He said to give him some time and come back.  I sat around for a good 3 hours and then I got a call, "Everything is just fine but you need new brake pads."  And that is why I love having a mechanic that I know and trust.  I can give him free reign and get an honest review. Though it's often years in between visits, the owner often asks after my parents each time.  Well, I can brake properly again, and have peace of mind over my spark plugs and transmission.  I'm feeling pretty good about that.

I had a rather funny exchange at the grocery store this morning.  When soda goes on sale I tend to stock up.  Stoooock up.  There I am pushing a cart with 3x 24 of Pepsi when this gentlemen pushing a flat bed comments to me, "You have the wrong drinks."  Not quite understanding I must have given him the look of a question mark.  So he repeated, "You have the wrong drinks."  Still puzzled he pushed the side of vest aside to reveal the Coca Cola logo.  We both laughed, but I didn't know what to say!  "You both own each other, it's all the same."  Different entities, different entities.  I found myself sporting a grin for the rest of my shopping.  A nice way to start the day.

Maybe I can get out tomorrow and do something interesting.  I have been thinking about getting a fern for my home.  Spruce it up, add a touch of green, inject a certain amount of oxygen into the place.  I'm so tight with my budgeting sometimes I think I'm sucking all the life out of....life.

Oh and lastly, I have a lovely addition to my balcony.  My mom bought me a mini herb planter, and a lovely little stand for it to go on.  I'm actually going to go check on it right now.  I've been told they need to be harvested regularly to allow for continued growth.  I'm excited for this.

Insomniacs Of The World Good Morning

I woke up at 3:30am this morning.  I was kind of thirsty so I had a bit of grapefruit juice.  I think in the future I should refrain from any activity outside of shuffling to the washroom and back again.  I can't risk being woken up just enough so that I can't get back to sleep.  No I'm just waiting for 6am and I'll have a shower and head into work early.

Work remains tense.  Last week we were finally back to full employment and then over the weekend one of the guys blew his knee out and was off Mon-Tues.  He'll be back in today but restricted to a scooter.  And he might need surgery??  The original owner of the company was scooter bound so we've brought that down out of storage and charged it up.  The guys used to have their desks in a T formation, but with the recent acquisition of new U-desks they are in a big square with an entrance at the front.  Good luck scooting in and out of that one with grace.

My mom is coming to visit this afternoon.  I have to make her dinner, so I need to think what to do.  I'll need to pick something up after work.  At some point I need to try to replicate the most awesome soup a neighbour fed me over the weekend.  Mauritian Fishball soup.  She left out the chilis.  I think I'm so pale looking people mistake that for an aversion to spice.  Last time I went out for Roti the guy looked at me and goes "No spice, right?"  There is a slight bit of truth, I'm not a chili-chaser.  Tabasco is not a word I often use.  I also ordered Jerk Chicken for the first time.  I tucked it away for dinner the next night.  And the guy goes, "This one is always spicy....ok?"  Of course it was ok, but I did learn the next day that I should have rationed the coleslaw.  I think if the mood is just right I might be able to convince Dean to have a Roti day tomorrow.  And by tomorrow, I mean today.  Anyways, the fish soup was awesome, and although I'm not a 100% fan of all traditional fish, I did enjoy the fishballs.  I'll have to stop into T&T at some point and get some.

I almost had a fit shopping last weekend.  SuperStore is my normal shop.  Metro is across the street but they're just too bloody expensive.  Technically I shop the flyers and choose between SS and No Frills.  And if I just need one lemon, or on the off-chance Metro's sale price beats others' standard price I will give them a shot.  I'm also on PC Plus which gives me a bit of a thrill.  When something is on sale and there's a bonus PC Plus points I lose my shit.  This week chicken is on sale, and every $20 gets you 5,000 pts.  Which becomes equivalent to $5.  I decide that I'm going to stock up and put down $40 and get my 25% back.  I like to use the self check-out, especially if the lines are busy.  It didn't ask me to swipe my PC card to start which I found unusual but I continued anyways figuring they have changed the process.  Then at the end it didn't ask me.  I asked the clerk that manages the check-outs and she says the system is down and sorry.  I was like, what about my points??  She says you'll get points on your next purchase.  I was like, "I JUST BOUGHT $40 WORTH OF CHICKEN JUST TO GET POINTS."  I also bought it so I could eat it, but that seemed irrelevant to my situation.  I also didn't scream, but imagine the caps representing my frustration level.  As I'm walking away she calls me over and takes my receipt and circles a little number of Financial Points I could have won which is 1190.  And instructed me to go to Customer Service next time and they would fix it.  First of all that number is wrong, and second of all GAAAAHHH.  Unnecessarily long story short, I emailed PC Plus and they said if I could provide the receipt number they would rectify.    And once these numbers come through I'll be above 20,000 and ready to redeeeeeem.

Well, it's hammer time, so I should probably stop.  And I may or may not need to break it down.

Julie Vs. The Machine

What an exhausting month.  It has all been compounded by the fact that I have not been sleeping well.  There have been a few nights this week alone I've gotten as little as 3hrs of sleep, including last night.  One night I went to bed at 9pm, woke up at midnight, and couldn't sleep again until 5am.  Ridiculous.  Of course I then slept until 715 which created a whole other nightmare of getting to work on time.  Our big tri-annual (read: once every three years) training event came to a close last Friday.  I still have some minor work to do to ensure we have a final count on who wrote completed the training, etc.  I think I need to go into work early tomorrow to try to knock that out.  There aren't enough hours anymore.

So last night I go to bed a bit later than usual.  I go to set my alarm and notice the clock is dead.  Wtf.  I turn on the lamp from the same socket, dead.....wtf?  I take the alarm to another socket across the room....dead.  Out to the kitchen, alive!  Ok, so my room breaker must be switched.  I open the panel and low and behold there is a breaker in limbo.  I reset it back to off and on again but it's soft, it won't reset.  What could I possibly be doing wrong??  I lost my patience and went to bed.  Tossing for about 2hrs I finally reemerged into my living room to google my problem, and I did eventually come across a relevant posting.  "Are you sure every object on the breaker is unplugged or switched off??"  Then the lightbulb hit me, my bedroom overhead light was on while I was messing with the panel.  How the light could be still functional while the breaker was switched, I don't know, won't ask, moving on.  I turned the light off, and presto the switch reset.  I moved my alarm back into my bedroom, reset it again and off I went into a perpetual state of tossing and turning.  I finally woke up and turned on some Netflix, in hopes that I would fall asleep with the tv.  NOPE.  Finally went back to bed around 330am and managed to sleep.  My phone alarm went off at 630 as usual.  And my body so craving any last moment of REM it could inflict upon me, I told myself I'll snooze and let my bedside alarm awake me at 645, which is the last ditch you're not going to have time for a shower if you don't get out of bed now alarm.  In a moment of fleeting consciousness I noticed that the alarm clock was....once again dead.  Now what exactly does this mean.  For my entire bedroom breaker I have one overhead light, a bedside lamp, and an alarm clock.  Hardly enough voltage/amperage/plug-in stuff to short the fuse.  This time when I opened the panel the switch was on.....WHAAAAAAT.  I flipped it off and on again, nothing.  Then I turned to use the bathroom, lights won't turn on.  I felt like Cleveland in a falling bathtub, "No no no no no no no no no...."  I tried to reset the bathroom breaker from on to off and back on again, nothing.  Then I popped my head into the living room.  A room that in the dark is normally filled with a dozen little red lights, empty.  Now I'm really started to get upset.  What the heck did I do?  First of all, my place is so messy I cannot invite and expose a tradesman to this terror zone.  Second of all, I don't know any electricians!  Third of all, omg I don't want to spend any money.  Fourth, maybe I can scam a day off work for this, hmmmm.  Fifth, how much money exactly is this going to cost me?  Sixth, what did I do!   I used my free toilet flush, got dressed and peaced out.  I ran into a neighbour at the elevator.  Last time the power went out the elevators were out too, so I thought perhaps that was a bad sign.  The good news was, my neighbour lost her power too.  I didn't break my panel.  No electrician need be consulted.  And our building's elevators run on back-up power when they're not being destroyed by flash floods.  Dead street lights at Ten and Burny confirmed it was a more widespread problem.  Which was fine by me because it would warrant a faster reaction time.

I think my lack of sleep has finally caught up with me.  My processing time today was violently slow.  I would forget what I was saying mid-sentence.  At one point I opened a browser to search for something.  But I got side tracked and when I looked back at the empty google search page on my screen I couldn't for the life of me remember what for.  If this keeps going, in less than 3 weeks I'm going to start waking up with bruises and missing teeth.  And the first rule is, I'm not allowed to talk about it.

But back to our work event.  We had a big reception on the third day of training.  I was invited to go to the hotel where we were hosting and meet a handful of our distributors.  When I first arrived no one from our office was there and I stood like a lost little lamb until I finally locked eyes with a local customer and I went to talk with him and another for a while.  The team showed up shortly after and the kid in the back hung around with me and the two locals.  It was painful listening to the way he was talking with those customers.  At one point he brought up something I consider to be a big-time no no.  I almost choked it was so embarrassing.  We work in a no holds barred office, and today after work I unheld that barred, or unbarred that hold and let one of the guys know what had been said.  I hope there are consequences for his actions.  That's all I'm going to say about that.

I just got the bat signal for coffee.  Ie) a text from Adam.  And since I don't get to see him much anymore, it's on.  Decaf, and then sleep.  Maybe a biscuit on the side as well.  Mmmm biscuit......mmmmmmm sleep.

Anal-fa-what?

Analphabetic.  The dirtiest word that has the least dirty meaning.  I mean seriously, it sounds like someone who is afraid of getting diabetes in their rear area.  Not even close.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/analphabetic

To Tell Or Not To Tell

I had a dilemma at work last week.  When left alone with a coworker I was witness to one of the most extreme rage-outs I have ever seen in my life.  A coworker was full on screaming over the phone to his family over an issue that was not life-threatening, and hardly deserving of such a lashing.  It's irrelevant but the issue was that the guy's kid wore himself out with after school activities the same night he had two hockey games to participate in.  The kid is like 11 and he was being torn multiple new ones.  This yelling fit went on for a good 5-10 minutes.  It happened in the front office, and migrated to the back where I could still hear the yelling up in my office.  It might have even been 15 mins.  I wasn't scared but it was rather upsetting, and I don't think I should have had to witness such behaviour.  My first instinct was to tell Dean.  In fact, to text him right after work.  He's kind of the boss when the owners are away, and I really thought he should be aware of what happened.  But I also didn't want Ross to think I ran crying over nothing.  I asked two friends and 2-for-2 got a "drop it" response.

I decided to heed that advice.  I usually sit down with and talk with Dean about everything so it was difficult to not walk in and start with "You would not believe what happened last night..."  Ross was even on the road that next morning and it was just the two of us up front, I had the perfect opportunity to spill.  But, I refrained.  At some point Dean migrated to the warehouse to take care of some business.  A phone call came in for him, so I threw them on hold and paged him - "Dean, line 1".  The radio that normally plays through the phone stays silent while the call remains on hold and eventually after 30 seconds it beeps as a reminder.  I page him again - "Dean, seriously, line 1."   Dean ran up front and took the call and then came into my office and dropped the phone from the kitchen on my desk.  "Ummmm, this phone was working yesterday and now it's broken."  And at that point the need to share became overwhelming and I blurted it all out.  "I wasn't going to say anything, but Ross lost his shit last night...lost...his....shit."  I told him why, and what happened, and that was that.  He told me he immediately knew there was only one person in the office that would have done that sort of property damage and that he has witnessed Ross' rage on several other occasions.  Maybe a minute passed and then Dean piped up.

"Where did it happen?"
"Here, out back, kitchen."
*Then maybe another 10 seconds later*
"What did you do while it was happening?
"Sat in my office and shut up."

When Ross got in he actually fibbed and said he didn't know what happened to the phone.  I was shocked.  He later admitted he was probably responsible but didn't really elaborate on the level of rage required during a hang-up to break the screen and bust the hook.  I admit I feel better having said something rather than not.  I plan on working with these two guys for several more years, and it was really an unacceptable event.  And when it happens again Dean will know, and he'll know it wasn't the first time.  If I think about it and place myself in any of my other work environments if the same thing happened I would have spoken up then too.

Last week was another brutal week too.  Dean took ill and was off for two days.  I was up at 5:30 Tues-Thurs to get into work for 6:25.  On Tues Dean wasn't in until 6:45.  On Wed Ross wasn't in until 6:45 and then the network was down and we had to reboot the system.  Well, the network seemed okay, but internet was down and wtf do I know about fixing that.  There I am sitting in the network room waiting for the server to reboot, waiting waiting waiting like a total asshole.  I finally freaked out and started pressing the power button on the tower, but to no avail.  I went to my office to get my boss' cell phone number only to realize I had to log into windows to open outlook contacts, and I couldn't do that without the server being up.  And then I walked out to find out Ross' computer still logged in.  I guess "Please log completely out of Windows" somehow translated into "Don't log out at all, no worries."  When I logged him out the reboot unstalled, and my attempt to manually shut down worked.  I booted it back up and then a call from the back came in;

"Computer back here isn't working."
"What do you mean it's not working, was it logged in?"...
"Yes."
 
OMG PEOPLE....omg.  I went into the warehouse in a huff and rebooted that station (yes, all I know how to do is reboot).  It worked, but as that was happening the warehouse guy asked how I was doing. "I'm pissed, I'm f######g pissed.  I came in early and I don't have time to deal with this stupid shit."  And then he comes over to me and says "It's my job to turn the terminal off, but sometimes the guys tell me to leave it on so they can use it after I leave."  I couldn't believe it, I'm having a melt down because I just lost 45 minutes of my life and he's trying to justify why he's not wrong (he's never wrong by the way).   He actually told Ross he booted up first thing when he got in.  And he subsequently told me it was left on by someone else.  So he lied to both of us.  Useless.

Tomorrow is dinner out for an old coworker, Friday is dinner in Cobourg and I'm probably going to stay over.  My mom is still using the first blackberry ever made which was is only slightly less archaic than my old motorola.  All she needs is a new SIM to use my dad's old Torch, which I unlocked for her six months ago.  And she has to decide if she wants a new local # or if she's going to keep her old number.  For someone who doesn't much use her phone she's rather connected to the number.  But I cringe every time I think of her going to send a text message and having to select "Create SMS."  It's time for an upgrade.  She's always been on my dad's work plan, since cell phones went mainstream.  Now she has to decide to stay with her provider or switch it up, and she has become totally overwhelmed and wants me with her in the store in Cobourg. I think I have written her 5 completely in-depth emails describing how she should go about reviewing her options.  And she still looks at me like a beauty pageant contestant answering a question about physics when I ask her what she wants.  So we need to get that taken care of.

I've committed myself to a new biking regiment, to celebrate the success of my replacement adapter.  20 mins a day.  If I'm feeling ambitious I may eventually try to wake up early and bike each day.  But evenings are working fine for now.   I'm on day THREE.  Which is nothing to write home about, but it's better than the big old goose egg I was sitting on three days ago.

That's about all.  Thaaaat's about all.

You're Not Asking Me The Right Question

I am very much in love with this video.  I'm tempted to move to Toronto for a month just to vote against Ford.

Julonius, Julainous...Julanous

I was up bright and early this morning.  6:30 or so, and I couldn't be bothered to go back to bed.  That's a bit of a lie.  I washed my sheets last night but forgot to dry them until it was too late.  So last night I slept on a blanket, using another blanket for a cover.  I find the thought of sleeping on an bed without sheets to be repulsive.  I guess I repulsed myself into an early rise.  That was two hours ago and so far all I have accomplished is a whole lot of nothing, and taking the recycling downstairs.  And now this.

I went to Princess Auto yesterday and FINALLY picked up an ac adapter I felt very confident would charge and not destroy my recumbent bike.  Success!  It's a multi-purpose adapter, which is nice.  And it provides what I discovered to be the ideal setting for an exercise bike.  6V 2Amp.    And to top it all off, of all the items I looked into buying this was by far and wide the cheapest.  Win-win-win.  I will tell you one thing though, Princess Auto is just about the scariest place I've ever had to drive and park and visit in my life.  The parking lot is ram-jammed full of people and it's very small and not well kept.  Some a-hole did a pull-through exit as I was setting up to back into a spot.  Absolute loserdom.  And then I got into the store and it was like completely overwhelming.  The place is huge and it's all just parts & tools.   I did end up finding the right section, and two nice guys helped me track down the actual piece.  I really do hope I never in my life have to return to that store.  Yet I signed up for their e-flyer at the check-out, so who knows.

I still need to do a major spring cleaning all up in here.  Big time.  Bonus important.  I'll just throw some House up on Netflix and get down to business.