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What a waste of so much!

2007-01-31T16:59:00.000-05:00

Well, I attended jury selection on Monday, and found it to be a waste of time, effort, and an enormous waste of tax-payers' money. I sat around for hours before the judge and lawyers and such finally came out and started the process of selecting people. There were well over 100 people in attendance, and they drew names out of a box for their jury of 6. About 10 names in, they had their choice of 6 people and told the rest of us to go home. On a positive note, though, I did get paid for the day by Cogeco.

Cam has been enjoying his guitar lessons (he has had 2 lessons so far), and he is being really good with practicing every day. He only had what little knowledge he had gained from music class in school, and his lessons are teaching him how to read music, play, and the general knowledge he needs. A guitar rental came with the lessons, but he is having a hard time stretching his arms out long enough to play properly, so I am now on the look-out for a decent kid-size guitar. Hopefully something will turn up before his rental period is over.

As for me, I have been helping the SCA (second-level support) with calls lately, and am scheduled to help over there for the next month. I am finding that the days go by really quickly because there's so much to do, and I almost look forward to going to work for the first time in a long time. The only frustrating part of the job is that we have reps call and ask retarded questions, and then they get snobby when we give them an answer they don't like. I don't even know why they call if they don't want to know the answer to their question! Aargh....

I think that's all for now ...

What!?!?!!!

2007-01-18T02:31:00.000-05:00

I received a phone call today from a woman saying she was from the Ontario Provincial Courthouse. I thought it was about the ticket I got for my accident at first, until she told me that my jury duty date had been changed. I hadn't even gotten a letter! I was shocked to say the least, and asked what happens when I haven't received any notice. She said "I'll put a note on your file that you didn't receive a letter, but you're still expected to be there.". Very caring, eh? If I had known a few weeks ago, I would have been able to book a vacation day, but right now I won't even get paid for the day unless I can find someone to switch the shift with me. And switching shifts means that I will have to work the weekend! That means I'll be working 3 out of 4 weekends this month! Aaaargh!

On a more positive note, I was able to fix my hair - it's no longer fluorescent orange! LOL

I don't know if I mentioned this already or not, but my sister Kim bought Cam guitar lessons for Christmas....his first lesson is tomorrow evening - should be fun! I'll post more about how much he likes it after he's done. :)

Whooo! That's bright!

2007-01-14T01:00:00.000-05:00

I was in Shoppers the other day to find hairdye (can't keep my hair the same colour for TOO long! LOL).... and I found the coolest red colour! I got it home, and dyed my hair; just to find out that only my roots changed colour! So I had brown hair with bright red roots! I was a little angry, to say the least. So today I had to go back to buy lightener (to take out the brown dye I had used a while back), and the same dye again - and spent half the day bleaching and re-dying my hair. I think I should have waited a few days before dying my hair, because the colour that I ended up with is much MUCH brighter than I expected! Imagine the orange colour that you see on construction workers' vests....but a bit more yellow! LOL I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do now, considering I have put my hair thru SO much in the past couple days, and I don't want to try it again just to have the same thing happen. I think I'm going to leave it for now, let it wash out a bit, and try one last time. So feel free to laugh at me when you see me. I've already received a few "Whoah!"s from people at work. LOL
I have to admit that in all, it's a little entertaining, and even though I bought 3 times the amount of dye I wanted, it still ended up cheaper than a salon (the one that cuts my hair charges $80!).
The funniest part of all of it was that I've let Cam dye his hair a few times with wash-out hair dye (which doesn't wash out very well), and I bought him some at the same time - which was an orangey-red. I went into the bathroom today & saw that the dye was missing so I questioned Cam. He had hidden the dye because he didn't want his hair the same bright orange! LOL Poor kid, he must think I'm trying to teach him a lesson for dying his hair. :D
I think that's all for now....I better get back to work! :)

The Untitled Title

2007-01-06T09:04:00.000-05:00

I feel like I've had tonnes to do, but haven't done anything since my last post. My time has been occupied, and yet I still have tonnes of things to do. Frustrating, but I guess that's life! :)
I finally (FINALLY!) finished doing up the new website for the Vineland Freecycle page, and although I was working on a page for a very long time, I decided to trash the whole thing and start with a whole new layout. The funny thing is that because I had done all of the research, typing, word formatting etc. I was able to get the new site done in a matter of hours. Crazy! If you're at all interested in knowing how much I suck at webpage design, feel free to check the site out here.
I also wanted to mention that you should also check out this "Will It Blend?" website. Funny, entertaining, and I want one! LOL
Hmmm....other than that, I can't really think of much else to say right now - I got home from work a short while ago & I think my brain is fried from lack of sleep! After I get some sleep, I'm sure I'll think of more to complain about! LOL

Yuck!

2006-12-30T12:08:00.000-05:00

Troy and I have been slowly getting over the stomach flu which is going around at work. We have literally wanted to do nothing other than sleep and puke since Boxing Day....and it really sucks! Surprisingly enough, Cam wasn't at all affected, so between me working (which was interesting, having to run to the bathroom constantly - but if I don't go to work, I get punished) Troy and I have been taking turns napping on the couch, so someone would be able to keep an eye on Cam. I have never been so thankful for the playstation, and am actually happy that Cam has wanted to play for hours on it! LOL
I am expecting to be a walking zombie for the next 3 weeks or so....for some reason they have managed to schedule me to work midnights right up until Jan 19th! I'm looking forward to the simplicity of those shifts, but not overly looking forward to the lack of sleep. I usually get only a couple hours of sleep daily when I work midnights, as I have a hard time sleeping during the day. I will have to invest in some really thick curtains to black out all the light, I think. :)

I took some pictures of some great Christmas lights with my phone...and included one of the crazy fog a while ago (taken at night....really cool!). Enjoy!

Done and done!

2006-12-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

Well, Christmas is over (finally!) and we are enjoying all the gifts we received for Christmas.
We have a living room full of toys, boxes, and pine needles because I kept forgetting to water the tree and it's shedding like crazy. I'm not even going to talk about the chaos that was Christmas Day yesterday, and my Dad's attempt at ruining Christmas for the entire family.
My aunt decided that instead of having a Christmas dinner, everyone would get together for Medieval Times on Boxing Day, and my parents bought Cam's ticket...but Troy & I aren't going because I waited too long to get the tickets. I'm not a huge fan of that side of my family anyway! So you can see that I'm very disappointed about missing the dinner tonight. :)
I'm hoping to use the time without Cam to take the tree down and get some stuff around here organized and put away. I'm also hoping to find toys that Cam doesn't use and give them away when he's not here, which will be more than replaced by the new ones he just received.

I'm trying this new thing where I actually update my blog on a regular basis - I know, it's strange, but I'll try anyway! LOL I thought it would be good to try to get in the habit before the new year starts!

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that I've found another website where you can play online games against other people....there's a game called Quiz Queen, where you answer questions that range anywhere from "Rottweiler, schnauzer, and spitz are breeds of which type of animal?" to "Where do Rio Branco Rugby club play their rugby?"....and points are rewarded for correct answers as well as how quickly you chose the right answer. You can find the game here.

I think that's all for now....you know where to find me if you need anything, or just want to harass me! :D

In the spirit of Christmas.....

2006-12-24T21:55:00.000-05:00

I found this really cute site where it translates your name into what your name would be if you were one of Santa's helpers....I entered mine (which is below.....yeah, I know it's weird) and I would love for you to send me an email with your name! It's silly, but fun!

Christmas Elf Name

My Christmas Elf Name is

Get your Christmas Elf Name at JokesUnlimited.com

Whooeee!

2006-11-29T13:41:00.000-05:00

Wow, I guess it really HAS been a long time since I updated my blog! I'm trying to think back a couple of months and remember what we've done...where does the time go? Halloween was pretty fun, Cam dressed up as Darth Maul from Star Wars, and his best friend at school dressed up as Darth Vader (I thought it was really cute!). I've attached some pics below - please ignore the patched walls...I'm in the process of filling all the nail holes, dents, etc. so I can repaint. Cam ended up getting 1/2 a pillowcase of candy & chips - and consumed it really quickly (ok, we helped a bit...)! I even got Troy to dress up as a witch to hand out candy (it was the only costume we had around here big enough to fit him in) In the picture, you might want to notice how unimpressed he is! LOL

Since Halloween, we've been working, sleeping, working, and trying to get all of our Christmas gifts purchased. Not only has my family decided to have Christmas early this year (on Dec.17th), but Troy's mom has decided to have Christmas REALLY early this year on Dec.3rd. Yeah, that's right - I have to buy all of our xmas gifts within 2 weeks! I'm going nuts trying to figure out what to get for everyone....as my cousins are getting older they're more difficult to buy for. Troy's cousin is the worst - he always asks for wish lists from us (which I have a really hard time compiling) and yet he never gives us any idea of what he wants. The only person I know what to buy for, which is Cam, is one of the last people I have to buy for. So frustrating, to say the least! On the upside, I have all of our lights up and we got our tree last weekend...it smells SO good! I love coming home from work and smelling the pine - it is one of the few good things about Christmas this year.

If you remember in one or 2 of my other posts, I was talking about a friend from work and how her boys are the same age as Cam, so we have gotten together to have the boys play laser tag, go to the fair, etc. on the weekends we aren't working. She is finishing up her high school diploma through correspondence, and I've been helping her with essays she needs to write as well. She's a nice person, but extremely clingy. It is starting to drive me crazy now, because she just won't leave me alone. I will get text messages from her 5 minutes after finishing work, and on my days off, I get at least 10 emails from her per day, not to mention that she sends TONNES of messages on msn. I have recently blocked her in my msn because it's driving me so crazy! The worst part is that I work with her so I can't really say what I'm thinking, and Cam is always bugging me to play with her kids. How do I tell her that I don't want her harassing me, without offending her? Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that she just emailed me today (I've had yesterday and today off) to tell me that she had a fight with her husband and needs somewhere to take her kids. I can't believe that she expects me to let her in here, when we only have one small extra bedroom! I just don't know what to do anymore, because ignoring her messages just doesn't work - she just sends even more messages asking if I got the first ones. And if I respond that I'm busy, she keeps bugging me, asking if I'm done yet. She's worse than a child sometimes! Aaaaaaaaah!

On a more positive note, I've taken some pics with my cell phone on my drive home - the weather lately has made for some really cool pictures! I have a few pics of the crazy fog as well - but I'm having a hard time getting them loaded onto the computer, so I'll probably post those ones later.

Good ole Lincoln County Fair

2006-09-13T16:52:00.000-04:00

We went to the fair this past sunday and of course saw the demolition derby! :) We went with friends and their kids as well as Danika, so almost everyone had all-you-can-ride wristbands, and they were definitely used! The older kids' favourite ride seemed to be HangGlider (where you lay on your stomach and are spun around in circles, but at strange angles), but Troy hated it ... which probably had to do with the fact that it made him puke! LOL!! The weather was decent, but the wind made it pretty cold to sit through the derby.
Have I mentioned that I hate it when Cameron is in school? Not only do I worry that he isn't behaving himself (he found himself in scuffles last year when kids were making fun of his friend), but I have to follow his stupid schedule now. When he gets home from school he has SO much homework to do - he started today as soon as he got in the door (at 3:30) and he's still finishing it! Yes, it's now 5:00!! I don't know what they're thinking - I don't think I had 1 1/2 hours of homework nightly until I was in high school! (Or maybe that's because I just never did my homework! LOL) Anyhow, I have to go and check his homework over now.....f*%$ do I ever hate school!

Oh, here are some pics.....yeah, that one at the end is the one that Troy puked on! Shhhh....don't tell him I told you! LOL

Too short....

2006-09-01T16:16:00.000-04:00

We went camping at Turkey Point for a week with Doug & Tina...and it was alot of fun! The weather wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but could have been a little better. We were able to go to the beach at Long Point, played miniput and went to the arcade, played alot of cards, and had alot of campfires. If anything, the week away was very relaxing - I read alot (so did Troy and Tina). And the vacation was nowhere near long enough...I would have loved to go for 3 weeks or more! Cameron kept getting incredibly dirty, thank goodness for the showers! LOL We didn't take the dogs with us this time since Cogeco paid for us to visit African Lion Safari on the sunday before we went camping. (Thanks again, Danika, for watching the zoo for us!) So we took all of our junk with us and left from there. I have a few pictures that I took with my phone, see below.

The saturday before we left was Cameron's soccer finals - and they won the gold! Fortunately, Cam's team seemed to be rather stacked this year, with kids that could dribble the ball around anyone. I took a few pictures of him and his team, in case you wanted to see (even if you don't want to see, you have to anyway! LOL).... Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it was pouring rain for the entire game! Hence, the soaked hair/uniform....

And the only other news that I have is that I have been out of commission for almost a week with a splitting headache and ear infection (the doctor said they weren't related). So I have been filling my ear with the disgusting drops, and popping pills like crazy just to take the edge off. I have to go back to work tonight (I'm working midnights this weekend), and apparently I am going back to work to a new supervisor! Yes, that's right!! Dimitri was fired!! (I heard it through the grapevine, via email anyway, I still have to confirm for sure - which I will do before I start work tonight.) But this is very exciting news, and it should be much more pleasant going to work from now on!

Things are back to normal...

2006-08-15T16:01:00.000-04:00

When I picked Cameron up from camp, he couldn't stop raving about how great the camp was, and how he wanted to go back. I'm really glad that he had a good time - now I just have to figure out how we're going to afford to send him back next year :) They went rock-climbing and swimming, and he now wants to take rock-climbing lessons! Does anyone know of any places around here that we can go?

He took some pictures, but I'm waiting for them to be developed, I'm not sure what I'll find on there....but I'll post anything that's usable.

I just finished my night shifts, and I have worked out an agreement with a woman on nights to alternate - 3 weeks on nights, 3 weeks on days - throughout the rest of the year. I'm looking forward to breaking up the monotony of the same old crabby customers (the ones who call in the middle of the night either want to order a porn, are having technical problems, or are calling to make payment arrangements on their bills). :)

Troy's sister Shelley (from Alberta) decided to come out for a surprise visit (sans kids), for their Mom's birthday. So we had a get-together with some of Troy's family (it was before I picked Cam up from camp, so there weren't any kids - it was really quiet!), and the meal was excellent. I couldn't really drink and had to cut my visit short because I had to work that night, but in all, it was fun. I can't believe how active his sister is - she was always doing something, or dragging their Mom from one place to another....I wonder where that trait went in Troy - he has never been like that - in fact, he's the most inactive person I know!
Last week, I went through some really tough times before my birthday - I'm still not completely over it, but I was pretty upset that I'm almost 30, and not happy with where I am at this point in my life. Just some things for me to work out with me, myself and I - I'm sure I'll be over it soon enough. :)

On Sunday, I agreed to babysit 2 kids of a friend at work ... and I'm never doing that again! As much as I love kids, I will never agree to watch hers again! I already knew that they were a bit spoiled, as we had been to the waterpark with them before, but Sunday was just ridiculous! One was 8, so I thought he should have known better, and the other was 2, turning 3 (I expected SOME trouble, but not this much!). The 8-year old got along with Cam really well, but was always playing violent games like sword-fighting, etc. When he was doing something I didn't agree with, he would completely ignore me when I asked him to stop! I had to pull Cam away from him and get Cam doing something else before Josh would follow. And the 2-year old was even worse...I literally had to walk a foot behind him wherever he went (and he wouldn't stop anywhere for more than 2 minutes), because he refused to listen at all. It was as if they were completely deaf; which I know was not the case, because when their mom came to pick them up, she bribed them to get in the car, and they listened immediately. I can't imagine having to bribe Cam to do regular things he should be doing anyway! Oh, and the part that I will remember best....their mom asked me to take them to Tim Hortons "for breakfast" and said they usually get sprinkle donuts (pretty healthy,eh?), so I did, at her request. When she came to pick the kids up, she noticed that the older one was drinking a can of diet pop - and she told me that the kids don't drink pop because it's too unhealthy! I was left speechless, to say the least. :)

I have been cleaning out the house, which I started when Cam left for camp (and still have yet to finish), and getting rid of it on FreeCycle - I figure that I should at least post it there for all the things that we have received in return. Since the bunny, I have received 2 filing cabinets and one of those car-top carriers (usually worth $150 or more!) which was brand new! If you haven't joined the site yet, I highly recommend it...even if it's just to get rid of stuff, since most people will come and pick up whatever you no longer want. Look to the right.....!!

I guess that's all for now...I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but that's what the "Post" button is for! LOL

Fun with my new phone....

2006-08-06T13:41:00.000-04:00

Oh, almost forgot to post the pics I've taken with my new cell - the pics don't have the best resolution, but the features are pretty fun!

That was taken at the splash pad in Burlington - it was really fun for the kids and it is really cheap!
And now for some from up north and just playing around with my camera :)

I don't know what to do with myself!

2006-08-06T13:01:00.000-04:00

So Cam is gone to camp at Canterbury Hills in Ancaster this week - and it's SO quiet around here! I missed him really bad the day after I dropped him off, but I'm doing okay now. It's just really, really quiet around here - and I miss him hugging me whenever I get home. St. Alban's church sponsored him for camp - if I had paid for him to go, it would have been $800! That was definitely an opportunity we didn't want to pass up! I hope he's having fun, he was really excited about going...I won't know how he's doing until Wednesday when I pick him up (parents aren't allowed to have any contact with the kids while they're there, other than through mail). I sent him with a few disposable cameras, so I'll post some pictures here if there's anything I can use (he's known to take pictures of strange things, or just for the sake of taking pictures).

I'm starting another week of midnight shifts this week and I'm pretty excited about not seeing my supervisor for a while - he's still pulling the same crap. He constantly says how great my stats are, and yet when I ask for him to sign a reference letter for another position within the company, he declines. He always says it's due to my attendance, and yet the only absences I've had in a long while are those 2 days that Cam had chicken pox (and the guy only seems to show up for half of his own shifts - how can he say anything to me about my attendance?). So it will be nice not having to see him for a week.

We went up north a couple weeks ago to my parents' new house in Olefant - the closing was July 1st for their "retirement home". So now my parents have their house in Vineland, one in Olefant, and their 100 acre property, also in Olefant. My Dad's complaining that he can't pay all of the bills, and yet he won't sell any property - but anyone who's reading this will know how weird my dad is. LOL Anyway, we stayed at the house for a week by ourselves, and it was SO relaxing! The house is really nice, very private, and yet close enough to civilization that you don't feel like you're detached from everything. I came back with a bit of a tan and tonnes of freckles - the tan has faded but my freckles are still there :( I'm really looking forward to my next week of vacation starting Aug 20th - we are going camping with Doug & Tina at Turkey Point - should be fun! Oh, and I should probably mention that when we came home from that week up north, we found that our fridge died - and all the food in it had gone bad...that was really frustrating (and expensive!) having to replace the fridge and everything in it. Thank you soooo much to Doug & Tina for helping us bring our new fridge home!

I watched Blake & Alicia last Sat. for Kristel - we took the kids to the drive-in to see Cars - and both kids were asleep halfway through the movie! It was a really cute (and quite funny) movie, so if you haven't seen it, I recommend it! The second feature was Pirates 2 - it was very much like the first - it had alot of funny parts, but it wasn't quite as good as the original. The computer animation for some of the characters was really well done - it is a movie worth seeing, but I'd recommend waiting for the DVD to come out, rather than shelling out the money to see it in theatres (unless you have a drive-in nearby!).

Jen (nee) posted a link to FreeCycle in her blog (see link on right) where you can get rid of stuff you don't want, and get tonnes of stuff for free - after seeing her reaction to it, I thought I'd give it a try. It's unbelievable what people are getting rid of - and don't want a penny for it! I have seen tonnes of stuff on there that I thought would be handy, but I've been trying to restrain myself from filling my house with junk. Since Cam's gerbil was attacked by Patty (through the cage!) I told Cam that it would be okay for him to get another pet - but we haven't really been looking yet. On freecycle there was a woman giving away her Angora lop-eared bunny - and we got it! The bunny is incredibly cute, but the fur was really matted (Danika and I spent hours trimming out all the matted fur and brushing her) but she's really cute and sweet. She had been named Paris, but I don't like the name (she doesn't respond to it anyway) - so I'd like to name her something else - can you think of anything? All the names I can think of would be suitable for a male rabbit.....

I've updated the links on the right with new sites/games I like - I have been playing backgammon alot lately! The Play65 website won't let you play in a browser window - you have to download the program, but I didn't find any spyware etc. in the files, so download it, and play me! (Of course my nick on there is Tammyoh....what else would it be? LOL) I also love playing Sudoku - the Shockwave link to the right has a new puzzle every day.

Since I can't think of much else to put here, I'll end this now (since you've already spent hours reading what I've typed so far! LOL) Thanks for playing, peace out! :)

My blog is so boring....LOL

2006-07-15T11:45:00.000-04:00

Well, I just realized that my blog is pretty boring considering I never update it and I don't have much to say. LOL
Since my last post, I have been working, sleeping, and playing backgammon. I am addicted! I've been playing with the free download program found here. Oh, and I also forgot to mention that Kevin Smith has been posting tonnes of "making of" videos on youtube here. I can't wait to see that movie! Only 6 more sleeps...LOL
Cam & I spent last weekend at Sarah's house, and I brought Blake and Alicia along, too. Blake was amazingly good, but Alicia cried as soon as we put her down - I think it turned Sarah off of having any kids - ever! :) At Turkey Point we went to the beach and let the kids play on the playground there - I'm amazed at how big and up-to-date the playground was. There was a spinning "egg-cup" shaped chair that kids would get into, and due to the angle it was on, if their feet didnt touch the ground, it kept spinning faster and faster when they tried to get out. Sarah and I were sitting on a bench nearby, and watching some of the kids on the chair had me in stitches...at one point I was actually crying from laughing so hard. I know, I know, I'm terrible. LOL
My vacation officially started yesterday at 6:30, and I don't know what to do with my time. I'll be taking Cam to a splashpad in Burlington today, since it's really freakin' hot out, and the new pool in Beamsville won't let him swim alone (and I don't like to be seen in a bathing suit in public). We will be leaving to go up north to my parents property in Olefant (just outside of Wiarton) tomorrow, and I am hoping to stay at least until Thursday, depending on weather and Cameron's behaviour. I should go for now, as we're meeting people at the splashpad shortly....I'll take some pics with my new cell phone (yay! I finally got it!!!) and post them here in a while....ok, maybe in another month or so when I get my act together again. :)

Wow....mortality hits home....

2006-06-20T14:54:00.000-04:00

This will apply the most to posse members, as they will know who I'm talking about. I just found out that Rob Grebe was killed in a car accident on the weekend.....he was only 31! I don't know details as to who was at fault for the accident, etc. but I do know that he was a close friend of my sister Kristel and her husband, Rodney. Being a realtor, he helped out my parents and my sister Sarah with looking at listings, and was paramount in helping Kristel & Rodney find their house. He was on the Campden fire department with Rodney, so he attended their wedding at which he entertained everyone with his strange sense of humour, and terrible dancing. :D I didn't know him personally, but it really hits home that someone so close to our age could die in such a terrible way, and so unexpectedly. I'll definitely be a bit more careful driving from now on - you never know what's going to happen.

Nothing to show for it....

2006-06-20T07:35:00.000-04:00

Looking at the date of my last post, it is just a few days shy of a month since my last update - oops! Time has been flying, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. What have we been doing since I last wrote? A whole lot of working. Ok, I guess that's not all - we've been mowing the lawn like crazy...I honestly can't wait until the grass dies for the summer. It might look bad, but at least we won't have to mow it every 2-3 days to keep it looking decent (I should probably mention that I usually don't mind mowing the lawn, but last year I thought I'd get a reel-mower...and with the back lawn as thick as it is, you have to go over the same spot at least 3 times just to get most of the blades). Quite a time-consuming chore it has become.
A few weeks ago we went to Sarah & Richard's open house...I can't believe what a big difference a paint job and some new handles made in their kitchen! They also had painted the living room in a light mossy green colour - I really like how it looks, but Sarah said she wanted it darker. I think it makes the room look bigger and brighter, and I wouldn't change it. I still need to buy material to make curtains for them .... I keep forgetting when I'm shopping to stop and look for it. We played bocce ball while we were there - and Cam has been raving about it since. I'll have to get a set sometime.
We went camping this past weekend for the first time this summer! We just went up north to Olefant (my parents property) and it was really nice to relax with some fantastic weather....we sat around most of Friday while Cameron played in the pond, catching a miriad of weird bugs/plants/crayfish/minnows/etc. while I sat in the sun building up a somewhat painful sunburn, despite the sunscreen - it still hurts today, though not as much as on Saturday. We went swimming in the lake on Saturday, and I'm sure that didn't help with keeping my sunscreen on. Since the water level is so low, the water was incredibly warm! We are all covered in mosquito bites - Saturday night was really nasty for being bitten...we all coated ourselves in repellant, and the bugs were still swarming our heads, faces and backs. I read Angels & Demons by Dan Brown this weekend - I still haven't seen DaVinci Code and I really wanted to read a bit of background before I watched the movie - I've heard from a bunch of people that it would make more sense if I already understood what was going on. The book was quite good, but I found the ending drawn-out.
I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday when I got home from work! It looked like Cameron's mosquito bites were multiplying! Then I realized that Kristel warned me about 2 weeks ago that Blake broke out in chicken pox right after Cameron was playing with him. I went out and bought a bunch of things to relieve his itching, going by what I found on the internet....and, strangely enough, the most effective thing we've used so far is toothpaste! Cameron almost completely forgot about the chicken pox last night while we watched a couple of movies....and the only thing he found uncomfortable about the toothpaste was that it would tug a bit on his hairs when it dried. I just hope that I don't get chicken pox now - I still haven't had them, and it wasn't for lack of trying when I was younger. LOL
Well....I think that's about all for now....

What have I been doing?

2006-05-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Well, it seems it's been quite some time since I updated this blog....and I really can't account for much of the time. I don't know if I mentioned that Kim finally settled for an apartment (and it wasn't one of the apartments I looked at with her) and helped her move in - that was about a month ago. Sarah & Richard bought a house in Booth's Harbour (near St.Williams) which overlooks Lake Erie - and I helped them move in a couple of weeks ago...although the house is stuck in the 70's with its fixtures, the layout, size and location are great. Cameron started his soccer season and has had one practice and one game so far - they won their game, and Cam really seems to be getting into soccer. Each year they are given a ball along with their uniform, and he's been running around the house with it on a daily basis - annoying, but cute. :D

I've been working, sleeping, and working. I worked nights this past week, and time has flown by - it's hard to determine what day of the week it is when you're on nights...the only way I could tell that it was Saturday was because I knew I didn't have to pick Cam up from school. It's a really strange feeling, and I felt like I lost touch with the world, but I would work nights again in a heartbeat - I love not having any contact with my supervisor. I'm doing everything possible to get off of his team, but he keeps making up excuses as to why I shouldn't or can't apply for other positions. He's driving me nuts! One good thing about Cogeco is that they'll have VOIP phone service in our area soon, and for $10/month (yeah, that's the employee rate) I will soon be getting unlimited calling to north america, and all the features I can't live without - I'm really looking forward to it!

Anything else to say for now? I don't think so...but I'll try to keep up with the blog better than I have been....

Oops!

2006-04-18T17:40:00.000-04:00

I just realized it's been over two weeks since I updated this thing. Oops! I guess I should probably explain what I've been up to....
I helped Kim move into her apartment, then spent the next few days helping her unpack, which was a very time-consuming job, as every dish she owns needed to be washed (almost everything was either really old or brand new). I helped patch some nail holes in the walls, and started painting with some paint that was left....until I realized that it didn't match at all! I then had to paint all the walls that colour. Damn.
Easter was extremely uneventful, my parents didn't have easter, since my aunt and uncle are on vacation. At my Grandma's easter, I had such a bad headache that I slept through most of it, and missed dinner. Cam loved his birthday presents (his birthday was Sunday), and had alot of fun looking for his easter stuff. We will be having his birthday party this Saturday at Great Canadian Midway...and the deal I got is pretty good for $17/kid, they get all-you-can eat pizza, pop and ice cream, and get a bunch of tokens for the games, 2 movie passes for the motion theatre, and a ride on Ghost Blasters (a glow-in-the-dark ride where they get to pretend they're shooting ghosts with lazers). Sounds like fun...except for the fact I gave out the invites almost 2 weeks ago, and have yet to receive one RSVP. In fact, a week after Cam gave invitations to his friends, one of the kids he invited gave Cam an invitation for his own birthday party. His parents decided to put his birthday party on the same day! WTF??!!?? Don't they know that almost all the same kids are invited to Cam's? I think it's really, really rude....don't they realize that either their son, or Cameron will be losing out on having their friends there? What a mean thing to do to a child for his birthday party. :(
I guess I'm done venting for now...I might write more later if the mood suits....

YouTube rocks!

2006-03-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

Even though it may take a while before finding a good video, some of the ones they have on there are hilarious! I've been playing with some of the photos in Photoshop, and when I saw some of the videos on YouTube, of course I had to join in. So far, I have made two - one with the photos you've already seen on here, and another "music video" where Cam decided on the music. I bought a cheap cam for the computer, and Cameron had fun seeing himself being goofy. I put this all together with Windows Movie Maker (I really need to get better software for compiling stuff like this) and voila! I now have a page on YouTube, and I hope to make more videos soon....you can find my page here. Enjoy! :D I tried putting them into this page, but it didn't work out very well (YouTube won't let me change the parameters of the player/backdrop and it doesn't come close to fitting) :(

Wow...I'm really starting to slack off...

2006-03-26T23:28:00.000-05:00

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted in almost a week~! I've been busy working, and now helping Kim find an apartment....Yes! That means that my parents were finally smart enough to kick her out. LOL
She's been terrible...we saw a few nice ones, then she wanted to see more to make herself "feel better about getting one", and now she wants to see more! The frustrating thing is that she's asking me to do all of the calling, saying she doesn't know what to ask. Understandable for the first 10 calls or so, but after she's heard me ten times, you'd think she'd catch on. LOL
She decided to invite Chris along too...and we get the weirdest looks sometimes, with people trying to figure out how we all know each other. There was a nice apartment near St. Joe's Hospital in Hamilton, for $690 all inclusive (it also includes parking and all the laundry she wants to do-the washer and dryer are included!) but she says it's "too expensive" when the other apartments are only $100 cheaper, and she will have to pay extra for parking, hydro and laundry. The best part about the apartment is that it has 10-foot ceilings with crown moulding, and a full finished basement (almost like a 2nd living room - it's huge!), and the landlord clearly stated that if she needed/wanted anything done with the apartment he would be happy to accomodate. But she still wants to look more....would someone smack her for me, until she makes up her mind? :D
I guess I'll quit complaining for now...I should head to bed soon as I have to be up at 7 for work tomorrow :(

Blah, blah, blah....

2006-03-21T20:30:00.000-05:00

Well, I figured I should update this since I haven't for a few days...but I don't have much to say. So I'll go Blah Blah Blah for a bit.... LOL

I am really loving how great my car runs now...it definitely has more power, and the "vortex" thing is working wonders for my gas consumption. I am guestimating that I am getting about 20-25% more km per litre now....and the thing only cost me $40 on ebay! It's going to pay for itself in no time....
(Want to check it out? Visit Precision Power Parts on eBay.

I decided to go for the interview at Revenue Canada, since Cogeco seems to be dicking me around on hours ... they keep saying that they'll give us more hours, but it hasn't happened yet, and our schedules are generated 3 weeks in advance! I know that I'll hate listening to people complain about not having received their tax refunds, but at least it will be a bit of a change, and the pay will be better. They expect me to give them a 10-year history of every address I have lived, and every job I have had - if I can finish this list, my interview will be a breeze! LOL

Poor Cam's march break sucked for him - since he was sick the whole time, we ended up taking him to see The Pink Panther at the drive-in (yeah, it's open already!) so he didn't infect the whole theatre. It was pretty funny, however, a few of the jokes got old when they used them numerous times - but Cam loved it.

Ecstatic!!!

2006-03-17T01:45:00.000-05:00

Although work sucked, I had a great day!
Cameron is feeling much better, eating and drinking normally, just has a bit of a stuffy nose.
I was asked on Thursday if I would like to move my shift later today, so I did in hopes I would get some more sleep (as I was up alot with Cam during the night). I was woken by my phone ringing - and I was angry. It ended up being the guy fixing my car telling me that it would be ready for pick up in less than an hour - they were washing it for me! I went to pick my car up a few hours later - and it's immaculate! The guy not only did an amazing job fixing everything it needed, but it runs great, has more power with the "vortex" thing he put in it, and he fixed the small rust spot near the back window (you can't even tell that it was there at all) and he clear-coated the whole car, so it looks new! I am really, really happy with the job he did, and I would recommend him to anyone needing their car fixed. I have never had a great experience with a mechanic before, but this guy is amazing. He even ArmorAll-ed my tires and spare tire cover - the car looks fantastic! And I got to sleep that extra few hours - so I am feeling well-rested...finally.
You remember how I always complain that my sup is useless? Well today at work I was supposed to have "coaching" (basically you listen to calls w/ your sup and go over stats once per week in a coaching session) today, but it was cancelled. I couldn't find my sup to see why, so I asked another one to have him come see me. When he arrived, I laid into him about not having the letter to sign off on for attendance (he gave me a letter giving me job restrictions until my attendance was better from the summer - it's only supposed to be for 3 months, and he has dragged it out for more than 6!). He made some excuse about his manager not getting back to him, so I told him I would continue to bug him 3 times a day until I get to sign off. He left, and a few mins later came back and asked me to join him in the coaching room. I was a little scared that I pushed it too far, since there were a bunch of people around who heard our conversation. In the room, he kissed my ass, apologized, and thanked me for being up-front about it - apparently he has had alot of trouble with people on my team going behind his back to get stuff done. (No wonder - he never gets ANYTHING done!) I couldn't believe that I could tell my sup off, and have him thank me for it! LOL

Ahhh...what a great day....makes me wonder how terrible tomorrow is going to be - what goes up must come down.......

I scanned a few more pics....enjoy!

Miraculous recovery!

2006-03-14T00:52:00.000-05:00

I was up with Cam most of the night last night - when I went to check on him before I went to bed, he woke up and asked if he could go outside to play (it was 1:30am!). LOL I let him come downstairs while I tried to sleep on the couch. He ordered Polar Express, which I hadn't seen before, so of course I had to stay awake and watch it. Just after we got downstairs, Cam ran to the bathroom to throw up. It happened a few more times last night, and I was really worried that he would start to get dehydrated. He refused to eat yesterday (very unusual for him!) and would only take a drink when he asked him to. Miraculously, he was still awake when I left for work today (yeah, I had to work with no sleep) and when I got home, he was up and running around, playing, and eating as usual. The only evidence that he was sick is his cough, which is quickly disappearing! Since he was alot better, I agreed to still let him go to Troy's mom's house - she's keeping him overnight tonight, then taking him to a movie at the library tomorrow. Should be fun for him - and it's amazingly quiet without him here. It's weird not having to worry about him.....

I got a call today from the guy fixing my car - the hood FINALLY came in today! That's over 2 1/2 weeks, and it was only in Alberta! So fortunately, he can get it finished pretty quickly now - should be painted and done on Wednesday. Yay! This sharing a car crap sucks! :D

Poor Cam is sick...

2006-03-11T20:26:00.000-05:00

After returning from the first show for the Carnival today, I found that Cam had a fever - his cheeks were red earlier, but I assumed that he was just hot because he had so many clothes on. Between shows, he napped (which is very unusual for him) and when he left for the 2nd show, he was pretty groggy. The good news is that the Carnival was really cute! Our pics didn't turn out very well, but Sarah & my mom went, so I'm hoping they have some better pics that they can send me.
My three-day weekend so far is extremely uneventful, but very relaxing....ahhhhh.
Here are those pics...

Woo hoo!

2006-03-09T19:37:00.000-05:00

Now that my 3-day weekend has started, I don't know what to do with myself! I am playing around with burning dvd's today, but not much luck with the few dvd's I want to burn (they're the most popular movies around here, so there are scratches on the discs, making it impossible for the computer to read). A shame, too, because the new computer has lightscribe and I've been dying to try it out. :(

Talked to the guy fixing my car (yet again!) and the hood STILL isn't in! WTF???!!! I'm getting more than pissed off ....I don't know whether to scream or cry! The good news is that he will be installing the "Vortex" type insert into the air intake, and will be fixing a small rust spot on the car for me free of charge. The vortex thing is supposed to spiral the air into the engine, making it burn cleaner, producing more power and reducing gas usage. It was pretty cheap on eBay, so even if it doesn't work, I won't be too concerned.

Tomorrow I have to buy groceries, and take Cam to his "dress rehearsal" for the skating carnival. Saturday, I have been told that I have to help with the carnival, which wouldn't be all that bad, except for the fact that I will be solely responsible for Cam's whole Star Wars group. I am expected to entertain & organize them throughout half of the show! Should be interesting...
We received the "program" for the carnival on Tuesday, and apparently they are charging $6/person for entry! What a money grab! Those bastards! I thought we were here for the kids! I know it does take some money to make the costumes, and of course it costs dough for the ice rental, but they already charged each kid $175 for the season - only 45 minutes per week of lessons~! Someone definitely has some deep pockets.....

Two days to go...

2006-03-07T19:17:00.000-05:00

I stopped by to talk to the guy fixing my car yesterday - f'n Kia still hasn't delivered the hood yet! I can't believe that it's taking this long....everything else is there, but since he is busy with other cars too, he has put off working on mine until he has all the parts. (And I can't say I blame him - he works by himself most of the time.)
I only have 2 more days of work until my long weekend this weekend - woo hoo! My paycheque is going to suck, but I am not complaining about my three day weekend. :)
Since I don't have much to write about today, I took a few pics of Cam ... and yes, that huge bowl is an entire bag of popcorn. And yes, he WILL eat it all himself - the kid never stops eating! LOL
And of course, he couldn't resist hamming it up....

I love WalMart!

2006-03-05T21:34:00.000-05:00

Yeah, I know, WalMart is known for selling cheap crappy stuff....but since I'm cheap, I'm not ashamed to admit that I like the store. :)
I took Danika shopping (my mom wasn't home when I called over there), and she chose to go to Wally World. I set the limit at $50, and I was amazed at what she was able to buy for that much! She got a skirt, a pair of dress pants, 2 button-up shirts, a sweater, a box of hair dye and some lip stuff! All of their end-of-season clothes were only $7.00! So when we got back, I dyed and cut her hair - I'm just concerned that she won't do anything with her hair after today. And I just know that my dad will get mad at me for dying it - he doesn't care if she dyes it herself, but if I do it, I'm being a bad influence....go figure.

Unpredictable is right..

2006-03-05T12:39:00.000-05:00

We drove around for over an hour yesterday trying to find a spot that Cam and Blake could go tobogganing - but couldn't find anywhere there was enough snow (or few enough trees!). Cam was definitely disappointed, but came home and played in what little we had in the yard (only the parts that were shaded still had snow). The snow barely lasted 36 hours....I wish that winter would just decide what it wants to do, and stay that way. LOL

I'm taking Danika shopping shortly, so I should get going ....

It's friday....

2006-03-03T21:15:00.000-05:00

I received a voicemail message today (and a letter) from Revenue Canada saying that I passed that stressful test, and they want me in for an interview...I guess it's good, but I'm not sure I want to work two jobs right now. I'm at a loss as to what to do - if I go for the interview and they eventually end up offering me a job, what if I don't want it? If I don't go for the interview, will they still take me into consideration for a position a year down the road? I'm very frustrated with this decision....any suggestions?

I get to take Cam tobogganing tomorrow, Kristel said she would bring Blake too - should be fun! Hopefully it'll stay cold enough tonight to keep the little snow we have! Cam received an ice-rink kit for Christmas...it's a sealed plastic form that you fill with the hose, and when it's frozen, you just peel the top plastic back - we haven't had a chance to use it yet because the weather has been so unpredictable. :(

I wish I had more money...

2006-03-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

As I said before, I went shopping today...it was quite a frustrating experience, as all the stores seemed to have something I wanted/needed on sale, but I have to be cheap so I can finish paying for my car. :(
I did manage to get a few plants for the aquarium, some feeder shrimp for Pinchy to eat, and a computer desk for our second computer. I get to go shopping again with my Mom and Danika this weekend so they can buy whatever they want for their birthdays...that way I know they'll get something they really want.
I found a place who would look into fighting both my and Troy's tickets...he seemed really nice and pretty knowledgeable, but I don't have a price yet. I know they can be expensive, but the way we see it, even if we have to pay $500 a pop, it'll be worth it knowing that our insurance rates aren't going to skyrocket again (or lose insurance altogether).
I am uploading those pics of Cam I was talking about...I know some of them are really old, but some of them are really funny.

Good week!

2006-03-02T02:09:00.000-05:00

I just finished my 5-day stretch for this work week, I have tomorrow off, but will be back to work on Friday. It has been extremely peaceful at work, as my sup has been on vacation. :)
I get to spend tomorrow calling around to Pointts, X-copper, etc. to see who will be cheapest when I fight the ticket I got from the accident, and the rest of my time will be spent shopping .... I LOVE shopping, can't wait!
I fell asleep on the couch watching Cam play Lego Star Wars on Playstation today (Thanks, Scott - he's obsessed with it now! LOL) and I woke up to find he had brought me a blanket and was covering me up. I know it doesn't sound really important to you guys, but I thought it was really sweet! I wish Troy was that thoughtful....
I know that some of you have seen it already, but I'm not even sure if I mentioned the piercing I got for my birthday last year... I received a few comments from people today about it, which made me think to write about it. If you don't like it when you see me, don't look at it! :P
LOL

I have been scanning a few pics of Cam that I really like, I'm getting tired, though, so I'll upload them next time.

Things are starting to look up...

2006-03-01T00:55:00.000-05:00

I guess I shouldn't have titled it in this way - I know as soon as I get my hopes up that something else will go wrong. I heard back about my car today, it will be done in less than a week! :)
Work was alright today, it wasn't too busy, but they put me in a sales queue, so I ended spending way more time on the phone than I was supposed to. That's gonna get me in trouble with my ever-so-loved and oh-so-special-to-my-heart supervisor. (Yes, that WAS sarcasm!) LOL
My mom was nice enough to take Cam to skating for us, since I had the car at work, thanks, Mom!
If anyone is interested, he will be having his end-of-year carnival on March 11th, at Jordan Arena, at 2 and 7pm...it might be a bit crowded, but it will be SO cute! :)
My last thought before I head off for bed....sleep is good.

Another down, two more to go!

2006-02-28T02:50:00.000-05:00

Well, I don't have much to say today, but I thought I should write anyway, to stay in the habit of keeping this up to date. I slept in late, went to work, came home and read some more poetry. I am really becoming obsessed with that site (link on the right)!! I have written a few poems and added them to the site - my nick is Tammyoh (imagine that - I'm SO creative!) LOL
I took a picture of Pinchy today, so I'll try uploading it to the page. He's much more interesting than he seems in the picture! :)
I can't wait for Cameron's cookie dough order to arrive to school....I'm craving white chocolate macadamia cookies...mmmmm. I pick those up on Thursday, which happens to be my day off this week - can't wait!
Sharing our one working car is really becoming a hassle. I had to work until 11 tonight, so I had to figure out how to get Troy to work and who would watch Cam in the interim. Fortunately, my sisters took him to their hockey game, and dropped Troy off on the way. So on my way home from work, I met them at our house to get Cam, put him in my car, drove to Troy's work so he could drive us home, so he could take the car back to work. What a pain! It was better than having to get up before 7 to pick him up, though - the car was already warm....a definite bonus considering how freakin' cold it is out there!
Hopefully I'll get an update tomorrow on how my Sportage is coming along....I can't wait to get it back.
Heading off for bed, and until next time, stay out of trouble! :)

Just another day...

2006-02-26T01:37:00.000-05:00

I don't have much to write about today (and for me, no news is good news!)....slept in late, went to work, came home and I will be going to bed soon. Blah, blah, blah....LOL
I thought that this page was funny, so I'll share it with you...Free Patents Online.
It really makes me wonder what drugs these people were on when they created this stuff! :)

Amend the amendment!

2006-02-24T21:58:00.000-05:00

I went in to give some money to the guy fixing my car today, and although he had first told me that the 4 grand was just to get my car on the road, upon further inspection, he decided that it will actually pay for everything! I am SO relieved! I also gave the cash to the woman at the school, and she was so ecstatic that I actually showed up that she signed the paper releasing me from any further obligation without even looking at it! All in all, a good day (having today off work helped with that, too).

A friend of mine who writes poetry gave me a link to review her (and others') poetry, and I was amazed with what I found on the site! I have put a link in the sidebar to the site, if you want to check it out. I've written one myself, but seeing as I'm not the most creative person, I was amazed that the reviews were good. (Thanks, Tina!) And to think I didn't really like high school english. lol
Every time I buy groceries now, I have to buy all the ingredients to make home-made salsa as requested by Cam. He gets SO excited about making it, and even moreso about eating it. LOL The last time I made a huge bowl of it, he had consumed it in 2 days! Man, the kid loves his vegetables....

Amendment....

2006-02-24T12:06:00.000-05:00

I found out today that the $4140 was to just get the car back on the road - it covers paint because I need a new hood, but it doesnt cover any other body work like the bumper, grill, etc. This is going to take me longer than expected. :(
I typed up a "contract" for the other woman to sign, saying that by taking my cheque, she won't be looking for any more money....hopefully this is the end of it. As nice as she has been, I can't help but wonder if this will bite me in the ass later if she decides that she was "hurt" or wants further money for a rental car, etc. It is very difficult to trust a complete stranger, but I have to believe that she wants to settle outside of an insurance company as much as myself.
Well, I guess I should go drop off that cheque, I'll see what happens.........

I should become a charity.....

2006-02-23T19:31:00.000-05:00

Well, I found out how much it will cost me to fix both my car and the other woman's car. I have to admit that I was expecting hers to be worse - I will be giving her a certified cheque tomorrow for just over $1700 (considering I was told it would be well over 2 grand, I'm okay with this amount). My car will be much more expensive, though - a grand total of $4140. Ouch. I think we need to stop driving. LOL
Cam has been bringing home perfect spelling test after perfect test....he is doing WAY better than other years. He's reading short novels now, too - very shocking considering he would refuse to even pick up a book last year! He's reading Goosebumps right now, and he really loves it. Math hasn't been difficult at all for him, but we are working on making his writing neater (he must get that from Troy). In his skating lessons they will be having a "carnival" where all the kids dress up and skate (NO, it is NOT figure skating!). His group is dressed as jedi's and will be skating to star wars music. He requested that he plays soccer again this summer, so we will be signing him up for it this weekend. He has been alot of fun lately - he seems to love all the movies/games that I loved as a kid more than the new ones coming out. I have had the opportunity to watch Hook and Goonies several times with him, both of which I really like. Whenever he hears of something new, he always asks now "Did you have that when you were a kid?" - I don't know why it's a fascination with him, but he really enjoys everything we did when we were younger.
At work a few weeks ago, I saw a posting that they were looking for people interested in signing up for DAT (in a nutshell, they activate digital receivers, provision modems and activate voip service). When I asked my supervisor (which I hate because he's useless, in case you didn't know) to sign me up, he told me that he would submit my name, but he was sure that attendance would be an issue. (Back in the summer, I had pains in my appendix area, and took a good number of days off for tests, doctors appointments, etc.) Seeing that he was on vacation this week (or so the schedule said) I asked the DAT supervisor if he had even submitted my name because I had heard nothing back. She said that a few others from my team had been put on the training list, but mine had not. What a lazy lying bastard! (And some people wonder why I hate the guy.) In the 3 days I have been at work this week, I have listened to DAT calls to get a feel for the job, and received some formal training. I am pretty excited about moving over there so I can get out of the monotony of my job, and I will then be guaranteed full-time hours (since Cogeco is cutting back customer service hours). The supervisor for the DAT team is fantastic, always friendly, extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. I saw my supervisor walk past me today while I was training, and he had a shocked look on his face, looked down and kept walking - he didn't even say "Hi". I think he knows I caught him in the lie. LOL! I can't wait to ditch Dimitri.

Well, I should go, Survivor is coming on in a couple of minutes (yes, I am one of those reality-show freaks).
If there's anything you want to know, or you just want to comment, feel free to post anytime!

Newbie!

2006-02-22T00:02:00.000-05:00

I figured since I spend so much time in front of the computer, I would create a blog, to keep people up to date in what's going on. (It also might have had something to do with talking to Jen(nee) who thought I should start one! I would have no idea what was going on in others' lives if I didn't get to read about it.)
:)

I guess since this is my first entry, I should probably go back to January to start the year off right....

Ummm.....before I delve deeper into this, I should probably mention that we live very boring lives. LOL

January was not an exciting month, but a few things did happen. Since Troy wrecked my car late in December, I replaced my car with a Sportage. Learning to drive standard again was very interesting....after a few stalls, I thought I had it under control. It was a very different (but empowering) feeling being so high up in the vehicle, being able to see everything.
We also celebrated Troy's 32nd birthday....he's getting so old! (Hee, hee...I'm just glad I'm not 30 yet, sorry, Troy.) What else happened in January? Work, sleep, Cam's school & skating lessons, living without a computer ('cuz it crashed).
I have been working away at acquiring plants and fish for the aquarium I got for Christmas, and I added an "electric blue lobster" to the mix. Although it's really a crayfish with a mutation (that's why it's blue) it's really cool, but such a pain in the ass. I really should have researched it before throwing it in the tank with the rest of the fish. I had to buy a bunch of extra chemicals/additives for the aquarium to keep it healthy, and a bunch of fish have ended up as crayfish food. His name is Pinchy, in case you were wondering. Now that I know how to take care of him, it's alot of fun watching him putter around the tank and climb the plants trying to find a way to escape.
I volunteered to work 2 weeks of night shifts (midnight to 8am) in January, which was very enjoyable. Very few calls, and the few people that work the shift regularly are incredibly nice.

February, however, is proving itself to be more exciting and/or eventful. Since the old computer finally crapped out, I broke down and bought a cheap tower from Future Shop. Not the greatest, but it works. Then I found out about the employee computer purchase program at work, where Cogeco cuts me a cheque to pay for a computer...nice! I found the perfect computer, got my quote, and asked for the cheque. When I went into the store, however, I realized that I would now need to network the computers to have internet access on both. So I spent the money on a slightly less-appealing computer, and wireless router & pci cards. The cool thing about this computer is that it came with a printer, which I desperately needed, as the old one crapped out on me a long time ago. I came home, set up the new computer, rearranged the spare bedroom as a 2nd living room (we ran cable into there for the internet & cable) and I was laughing. It took me a total of an hour to get the computer going, pci cards installed and network up and running. Sitting and playing away, I get a pop-up that says "New wireless network found".... and I think "Hmmm...that's weird, maybe I didn't install it right after-all.". I look, and my computer is picking up the neighbour's computer as well! So I start setting up the security feature (which wasn't originally a high priority) to block him from messing around with my files. After about 10 calls to technical support (which is full of people who speak English as a second language and are very difficult to understand), I am advised that there is something wrong with the firmware on the router, and I need to exchange it for a new one. I finally brought myself around to going to Future Shop today to do so. I'm now wireless, secure, and happy with the computer situation. Yay!
I was also finally called back about the application I sent to Revenue Canada for their call centre. Since my hours have been cut back at Cogeco, it was perfect timing to be making $22/hr! I was asked to go in and take the Wonderlic Personnel test.....a series of 50 questions, progressing in difficulty, with only 12 minutes to answer as many questions as possible. I was a nervous wreck, but I managed to answer 33 questions, all of which I am reasonably positive I answered correctly. Then when the test was over, the woman advised all of us that it will probably be 6 months before our names are even put on a list to be considered for a job, if there is anything even available at that time! Good thing I don't need anything right this second.....
On a more negative note, shortly after bringing the new router home and setting everything up today, I had to take Cam to his skating lesson. About 5 blocks away, I notice the car in front of me slam on its brakes. Seeing as I'm still getting used to the idea of pushing the clutch whenever I brake, I was caught off-guard. I missed the clutch with my foot, so the gears made a terrible grinding noise and scared me. I honestly don't know how I could have hit the car in front of me so hard, as I'm sure I had the brake on, but maybe it was the gas....who knows? It all happened so fast, and I hit my head on the front of the car just above the windshield - ouch! Fortunately, the woman driving the other car mentioned that she did not want to use her insurance company, and I am more than happy to pay for her damages out-of-pocket. Seeing as our rates just went up $3000/year (double!) because of the December accident, I was advised that if anything else happened, we would lose our insurance coverage. The stupid cop that showed up called a tow-truck for the woman's Pathfinder even though I told him I could get a tow for both, and I was stuck paying over $200 for her tow right up-front! I also got a careless driving ticket, which I will be fighting in court...hopefuly they will reduce it in points and/or amount I have to pay. Now it's a waiting game....the woman will be calling me with an estimate so I can send her the money, and I have no idea what will happen to my car. It was leaking coolant and had the headlight demolished, so it will probably be a while before I can pay to have my car fixed (I'll get the quote tomorrow).
I should probably end this now, seeing as I should have been in bed already, but I am hopeful that I will continue with writing in here, and keeping it updated semi-regularly (as long as I have something to say).