Employer Loyalty

Sorry... this entry has been blown away during attempt to upload (stupid blogger editor... if the upload fails it should at least keep the draft *grumble*)

I'll try to write it all up again later. Sucks, though... it was a good post. I was on a roll with my prose. The second attempt will likely be far less impressive *sigh*

Testing a new editor

So... I finally went and added a blog editor to my browser so I can post to whichever blog without having to go there, log in, type it all up and post. Now I can just type it up in the editor and upload to whichever of the blogs is appropriate. So... this is the test.

ScribeFire... let's see how you do! :)

Easter-y stuff

So... Easter is over for another year.

The Easter Bunny was very good to D this year... brought him a half-dozen dark chocolate Lindt Easter Eggs. He ignored me, though, which is probably for the best *laugh*. My SGF (Secret Girl Friend) from the weddingbells forums was very, very good to us for Easter, though... lots of goodies to munch on and some very cute extra items :)

And... for the first time in the 6 years we've been together, we actually did a 'festive dinner' ourselves! Since the in-laws were out of town and only arriving back yesterday and my mother's been a bit stressed out with dad being sick (lung infection of some sort, I think), we cancelled the big Easter festivities with both families. No big Easter Dinner with my folks... no big Easter Brunch out in Kitchener with D's whole family. I got up yesterday and made us a nice big Easter Breakfast (maple sausages & scrambled eggs with cheese)... we chilled for most of the day... and then I cooked us a nice big dinner... stuffed turkey breast (got bless you, Butterball!), glazed carrots, peas, biscuits, gravy... and cheesecake for dessert (I can't claim credit for that... the cheesecake was thanks to SaraLee *laugh*). Yum! And we've got leftovers (of course, 'cuz the turkey serves "6 to 8" and there's only 2 of us)

The cats got an Easter treat, too... busted out the Fancy Feast that they love so much (but shouldn't have because of Grimm's history of UT crystals and Chloe's history of liver issues). Much purring ;)

And then we woke up this morning to... snow. Snow? Snow! Yup... 5th day of spring and we've got snow. And apparently it's in the forecast for every day this week. So we might hit that all-time record this year after all. Kind of sad, though, 'cuz we could finally see some grass in our yard (not a lot, just around the edges) and the birds have been back and singing up a storm lately and now they'll be huddle shivering somewhere wondering what the hell they were thinking. Ah well... the month is almost over... it definitely came in like a lion... looks like its planning on going out like one, too.

Wiarton Willie... in the now sadly immortal words of Donald Trump... You're fired! ;)

Way Cool!

Ok... I'm a Toronto gal. And I get up early for work. So... I kind of got hooked on Breakfast Television... and from that developed a mild addiction to the BT blog. I'm also occasionally inclined to write to complete strangers (in case the blogging didn't give that away) to tell them what I think about something they've said or done.

So.

Last week Tracy Moore, one of the BT gang whose Mat Leave is imminent, announced in the BT blog that she's getting her own little corner of the City blogosphere for a blog about all things baby-related (blogging the first year+, if you will). She posted in the blog entry asking for viewer suggestions on what to call the blog.

Now, I know that I don't really get to see BT much any more (since we leave the house shortly after it hits the air in the morning), but I sent an email anyway with a few suggestions... and today discovered that one of my suggestions has been picked... and I'll get a 'prize' of currently indeterminate nature. How cool is that?! Very :)

On the less cool side... I'm on book 5 of a 7 volume boxed set D got me as a gift and have discovered a printing error meaning some 50 pages are missing, and the next 50 pages are duplicated. Poop. So I contacted the publisher (I've had this happen before with a different publisher and they mailed me a new copy of the book... obviously I didn't expect that in this situation because it was part of a 7 volume set)... who said to bring the book in question back to the store where it was purchased and have them exchange it. Great. Awesome. Tiny little potential problem... it was purchased online, so the brick & mortar store might not accept it for exchange... Tiny little potential problem #2... it has an alternate cover and I'm not sure they sold that cover as individual books or if it was just the boxed set.

So... my plan is to finish reading the darn book (Yes, I've missed stuff in those 50 pages, but I think I've got the general gist of what I missed), and THEN worry about trying to bring it back to a brick & mortar store for exchange... and hope for the best. Otherwise, I get to email the publisher again and say "they wouldn't exchange it.. help!" and see what's what.

But I get to look forward to a 'prize'! :)

Doctors... it's nothing personal, but I hate you.

So... just got back to my desk after a trip to see my GP. Unfortunately, he's my GP by default because after years of searching and finally finding a GP I didn't despise on an instinctive level, he went an took a year's sabbatical and never came back. Don't get me started on that one.

Anyway... went to see my GP. Why? Because in an effort to bilk OHIP for as much money as possible, he refuses to give me refils on any of my prescriptions. His thinking is that he's giving me a 3 month supply and I should be happy with that. My thinking is that (for example, today's visit) I've been on this asthma controller for 2+ years, it works well, if it stopped working I'd seek an alternative, it's a pain in my ass and a very obvious money grab by him to force me to come back to his office every 3 months for a refil. I have another medication that I've been on for 2+ years... I will be on it for the rest of my life... however, since it's something that may occasionally need to be adjusted, I can see having me come in for that... but it'll only get checked ever 6 months, so why bring me back every 3????

But that's beside the point... not actually the reason for my rant, other than having been the impetus that brought me to the doctor's office.

My appointmet was set for 11:15... I left work at about 10:45 to allow lots of time to navigate and get lost in the P.A.T.H. (if you're not from TOronto... google "P.A.T.H. Toronto" to find out about the huge, labyrinthine underground mall). I arrived at the doc's office at 10:50 (aproximately). I reported to the receptionist, presented my health card, she pulled up the appointment grid on the computer and sent me to sit down. And that's where I stayed from 10:50 until noon while my doctor saw 2 patients, went for coffee, and wandered aimlessly around the clinic. Why? Because the stupid-ass receptionist checked me in, but didn't pull my damn chart. And apparently the doctor doesn't get a list of when he's got appointments booked for the day.

Anyway... got called in at 12:00, and 12:05 I was handing my prescription to the pharmacist across the hall, and at 12:15 was on my way back to work. Now if only that sort of efficiency hadn't been kocked so firmly off the rails by one stupid bint forgetting the most important step in her job. *grumble* (ok... I'm willing to admit, I don't know that much about her job, but C'mon... patient shows up... patient checks in... PULL PATIENT CHART and place in doctor's call box... it's a pretty freakin' important step in the process!!!!!!)

Spring? Are you out there?

So... over the weekend we got pummelled with yet another large deposit of cold white stuff. I shouldn't complain, we got less than the folks in Ottawa... but the snow banks at home hide our cars completely from even right next door... and they'd be even worse if we didn't take advantage of the house next door being vacant to put half our snow on their front yard (I know... we're horrible people.. but since the 'new' owners razed the entire front yard before turning the place into a grow-op, I don't feel all that bad).

So... imagine 5 - 6 ' piles of snow everywhere in suburbia. Imagine these piles of snow takeing up the space roughly 3' out from the curb. Imagine these piles of snow covering every single storm drain.

Got that picture?

Good... now imagine the temperatures for the next 3 days being +3, +5, +7... and imagine rain. Should be fun, no?

Got THAT picture? Excellent...

Now imagine the high for the day after that being -2.

I see the need to dig out the ice skates in my near future.....

I know Spring is out there somewhere. I can 'smell' it... the trees are starting to sprout (resulting in my mother calling them idiots... seriously! ;) ). Next week is the Spring Equinox. One would hope that we'll be able to send the winter coats to the cleaners soon.... but I fully expect at least one more significant snowfall. On the plus side (if it's a plus side)... we're only about 15 cm shy of setting a new snowfall record for T.O.... breaking the one from 1929 or something like that.

In comparison, and proving that I REALLY don't have anything to complain about... Ottawa has currently recorded over 400 cm of the fluffy stuff and is not that far from breaking their own record of 444.1 cm. Yes... that's right... they've already had over 4m of snow this winter... that's a bit more than the average building storey, I think.

So... the groundhog said "early spring"... mostly because we had a storm rolling in on Feb. 2nd (you have to wonder about that logic... if it's a sunny day, we get a long winter... if it's snowing, it's a short one?)... but I think our little albino friend in Wiarton needs to think about looking for a new job ;)

Confusion, irritation, and humour

So on my way home yesterday I did something. I didn't think much about it before I did it. I didn't think much about it while I was doing it. It was an impulse. A simple action. But through it I confused, and possibly irritated a driver... and confused and definitely amused a police officer.

What did I do? I took something off a windshield.

Ok... so there's more to it than that, I suppose.

On my daily trek from work to Union Station I pass the exit from the Convention Centre's parking garage. This exit is directly opposite another street and is controlled by traffic lights. Inevitably, traffic at this intersection is a mess from about 3:30 onwards, so there's usually a cop on duty to assist in traffic control. This is especially the case if there's an event happening downtown (as yesterday... I think there was a hockey game? That's what the scalpers seemed to be implying, anyway ;) ).

Anyway... As I was waiting for the signal to cross the exit from the parking garage, I saw the driver of the car that was stopped there was trying to get a flyer of some sort off his windshield. Flipped the wipers. Tried to grab. Couldn't reach. So when the light turned in my favour, I took 3 steps out of my way to grab it off his windshield for him and asked "did you want this?" He took it, and I moved on.

The cop started to laugh and as I passed he said "He thanks you... really".

Now, when I said "Did you want this" I actually meant it... if he didn't want it, I would have taken it and put it in the garbage somewhere in my travels. But the cop's comment made me think... if I hadn't handed it to him, would he have just let it blow off and fall to the street? Probably. I find that annoying. So I'm ok if I annoyed him a little bit.

I KNOW I confused him *laugh*

Maybe I should think more before I do things? ;)