Moved

I finally decided and made the switch. I've moved to Wordpress.com.

Email me for the link if I haven't already sent it you.

That is all. Have a good night!

An evening on the couch

I guess I won't be meeting up with friends this evening. A headache has reared its ugly head this afternoon. I suspect it's related to lack of sleep and other "scheduled" things. I don't have any Tylenol or Advil handy in the office, so I guess I will have to suffer the rest of the afternoon with it. It's not a heavily throbbing type of headache. It's more of a "Hi! I'm here to annoy you because you're not getting the rest you need" type of headache. I guess I had better submit to its whims if I expect to be in shape to entertain my guests tomorrow evening.

Anyway, I have a few things left to finish up with at work. I'm *hoping* to get out of here around 4PM. I need to get some orange juice on the way as I'm low. Once I get home (and feed the demanding Blue one), I'll probably heat up some soup, pop a movie in, and crash on the couch. I think it will be an early night.

My Apologies

My apologies for not making an entry here in over a week. It's been a while since I lapsed like this. At the very least, I could have made a small entry of some trivial bit of information. But alas, I didn't. I guess it's been a combination of laziness, procrastination and other things swirling around in my life that has kept me from making an entry.

I'm still dealing with what I think are minor bouts of anxiety which I think I will need to bring up with my doc when I see him next. I think I will be seeing him towards to end of the month to go over some blood tests I'm having done next week. *sigh* We'll see what happens with that.

To some degree I've been thinking about the holidays. I plan on going down to Boston to visit the folks this year. However, the question is: how do I get there? Right now, airfare is pretty high. I'm looking at over $700 round trip for a direct flight. The alternative would be to drive. But I have never driven that distance on my own. I'm sure I could do it. Anyway, the holidays are more than a month away. I think I've still got time to figure this out.

This weekend, I will be having some friends over for hot pot. The weather is getting cooler and this is a great way to have friends over, have some good food and conversation and not really cook for them. :) Essentially, everyone will be doing the cooking themselves. It's usually fun. Hopefully, I will be able to crack open a couple of bottles of wine.

I'm hoping to go to my cardio class tomorrow morning. It's been a couple of weeks since I last went, so I feel like quite the slacker. And I really need to get the blood flowing and burn some calories. At the same time I really need to keep an eye on my heart rate. I think my instructor is being more conscious since that one girl went down at the beginning of this session. I believe it was because of high blood pressure. I think I should be fine as long as I am taking my meds (which I have been lax about on occasion) and pace myself. And I really need to make sure I pace myself because it's very easy to overdo it and not realize it until it's too late.

Anyway, gotta get some stuff done today. I'm planning on meeting up with some friends downtown for a pint and some food.

Dawn of a New Morning

Click to play

Big Day Tomorrow!

It's a big day tomorrow in the United States. Tomorrow is Election Day. Tomorrow is the day that the citizens to the south exercise their right and duty as a citizen and cast their votes in this presidential election. As for me, I have already sent in my absentee ballot early last week.



This past weekend was a fun weekend. There was Mandy's wedding on Friday. It was a Halloween Wedding. I had never been to one before so I figure it would be fun. And it was. :)



The only downer to the whole thing was the fact that the banquet hall started to kick us out before the bar closed at 1AM. The staff was starting to pick up and put away chairs. We were starting to take down some of the decorations and stuff a little after midnight. I'm not all that familiar with the liquor laws in Ontario, but I can understand when an establishment has to close the bar by 1AM, but that doesn't necessarily mean that everyone needs to be kicked out by that time too! Anyway, we cleared everything out by about 1:30AM.

The next day I went to visit a friend out in Grimsby. It's about 45 minutes from Oakville in the Niagara wine region. That afternoon we went out to check out some of the wineries in that area. I think we visited 5 wineries. I did tastings at all of the wineries. I think I sampled close to the equivalent of a bottle of wine! :-p Oy. That would explain the headache I had after we got back from visiting the wineries.


Needless to say, I ended up buying a bottle at each of the wineries. Getting the goods home was a feat in itself, but I did managed to transport in my ONE checked luggaged all 5 bottles of wine plus the small bottle of wine from the wedding (a wedding favor). There was also my costume which took up quite a bit of room. I still wonder how I managed it. *touch wood*

Anyway... I was greeted with some flowers when I got home yesterday. It caught me by surprise and I thought it was very sweet! I can't remember the last time anyone gave me flowers. I don't recall my ex giving me any flowers. So yeah, it has been a very long time since anyone got me flowers. It was quite nice. :)

Halloween Weekend

Well, I am off to Oakville today. My friend Mandy will be getting married this evening. It will be costumed event, so it should be both fun and entertaining. :)

I managed to get some sleep Thursday night. After I got home from picking up my costume and having dinner, I figure I'd pop a DVD in and fall asleep to that. At first I started to watch The Science of Sleep. But, since I hadn't seen that movie yet, I was more alert and paying attention to it. Nope, that wasn't going to work. So I popped in the ol standby, Amelie. I think about 15 minutes in I passed out. I remember opening my eyes a couple of times, but for the most part I was out until the end credits started to roll. Ahh! I love that movie. I suppose there's a certain element of comfort in that movie.

Yesterday became a bit hectic at work as I was hoping to get a lot done before leaving for the day. Unfortunately, there were still some things not working, so I only managed to get so much done. Since today is the day of the group outing at work, I don't think much progress will be made anyway by my colleague. So I guess everything will have to wait until Monday. :-p

It's almost 7. I suppose I should shower and get ready my stuff together for the airport.

Sleep Elusive

For some reason, I just had a horrible time of getting to sleep last night. I suspect that one reason might have been that I got a thought in my head and itjust preoccupied my mind to the point where it took me quite a long while to fall asleep. Even after I did finally fall asleep, I didn't sleep for very long. I think I woke up around 1AM (went to bed at 11PM). I couldn't get myself to fall back asleep right away so I got on the computer and just surfed the web a bit. Once my head seemed to have cleared itself (I think it was about 2AM by then), I went back to bed. I figure I'd distract my thoughts a bit while trying to fall asleep and popped a DVD in. For sure I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the movie. I guess it was better that then just lying there wide awake. In any case, I really did not sleep too well last night.

Thinking about it, having that shot of espresso yesterday around 3PM probably didn't help either! :-p

In the meantime, I woke up this morning to a layer of wet snow on the ground (mostly the grassy areas). Yay? I think most of it will melt away during the day. However, it's rather windy and whatnot.

Friday, I will be headed towards GTA. Mandy will be getting married. It's a Halloween wedding! All guests are expected to attend in costume. I'm going to try to take as many pics as possible. And yes, I will try to get a picture taken of me in the dress. :-p

Weekend Wrap

Okay, so I really didn't end up doing much on Saturday. I kinda fell back asleep at some point until A called. I think it was nearly noon, so I think it was a good thing he called. The rest of Saturday was a blur off TV and general dorking around. Uhm, yeah, so Saturday was kind of a blur.

I did end up watching "Pride & Prejudice" Saturday night. I had been meaning to try to catch up on some movie watching. Tonight it's Dexter (still working on Season 1).

Today was the day to keep up with some housework. Vacuum, mop, laundry. The usual stuff. Come to think of it, I was actually productive! I actually planned out my grocery list. I wanted to make the soba noodles in peanut sauce for lunch. Then for supper tonight, I wanted to make some lentil stew. Then for tomorrow, I wanted to make some slow cooker chili. Yum! I also decided to splurge on getting the Swiffer Wetjet to take care of the uncarpeted areas of the house. After mopping the small amount of bare floor I have last week the old way, I decided it was easier this way. It seems to work well.

It's nearly the end of the month and the temperatures are starting to drop. I decided it was time to "winterize" my bed. This meant getting out the other half of the down duvet and velcro'ing it to the other one. It's a 4-season down duvet that I bought at Ikea a while back. I don't think they sell the 4-season down duvet anymore. It's quite cozy and comfortable. While I was at it, it was time to change the bed linens too. Ahh! Love slipping in fresh, clean sheets! But it won't be long before it's covered in cat hair. :p

Not sure what to expect this week. I need to remember to let my manager and team leaders know I'm taking Friday off for M's wedding. I think I still have to finish up something I've been working on. I think there's another project on the horizon. Anyway, whatever. I guess I'll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, time for bed. I need to get up early to prepare the chili for the slow cooker.

Wassup For the Times

Weekend at last

It's finally the weekend. I really have no idea how this past week went. Maybe because I was mostly busy going through data and stuff at work that the whole week became a bit of a blur.

Thursday was the David Usher show at the Metropolis. It was really an awesome show.

It's amazing to watch him perform. He really puts out a lot of energy and heart into his show.


The weather is suppose to be pretty crappy this weekend. I haven't quite decided if I will go to cardio this morning or not. If I don't I really should try to make it up somehow. :-p

One Reason to Vote November 4th

I <3 Keith Olbermann!

Tuesday Musings (or not)

It's rainy. I hate rainy days. I find that cloudy, dreary days, especially if they're cool, are a bit of a downer for me. Well, I suppose it shouldn't matter since I am in a windowless office these days. In any case, I just find this kind of weather depressing.

That aside, just what color is this?


When I first took the photo the flower looked more blue than purple. After I uploaded the photos at home the flowers still looked a bit blue, but not as blue as it showed on the camera's LCD. Now, at work, the monitor here seems to give it more purple. So just what the heck is the true color of this flower now? O_o

Yes, yesterday was definitely one of those days when my imagination and thinking gets the better of me. I have really got to stop over-thinking things at times. It will just give me trouble in the end. If something seems to be going well I should leave it well enough alone and just go with it.

Happy Tuesday.

Mondays

Maybe because it's Monday. Maybe because I'm breathing in fumes coming in from work being done on a nearby roof. Or maybe it's because I have not been listening to my tunes today. For whatever reason I feel kinda "meh" today.

Of course, I also feel like such a 'tard. Without going into too many details, I just feel like maybe I should have done something and I hope that signals did not get crossed or misinterpreted this past weekend. As a result, I think I am starting to think too much about it. And you know how thinking too much can be bad for you...

Anyway, I guess I'll have to wait and see. But in the meantime, I just feel like banging my head on my desk. But that could be painful... :-p

Fresh Air and Sunshine

It's been a somewhat busy weekend.

Saturday, I went to my outdoor cardio class. I tried very hard not to overdo it. I didn't need to have my heart rate up too high. After getting home and relaxing a bit, I went out to the Botanical gardens to shoot some pictures and to check out the annual Chinese Lantern display there. We decided to get there a little bit early as I had heard it will probably get pretty busy and crowded as it got dark.






Today was a Hash day. I was not entirely sure if I wanted to go or not. In the end I did go. More fresh air and exercise. I think I did alright. I have a slight headache right now, but that might be due to other things or a combination of things. If it doesn't go away before I go to bed I might take some Tylenol for it.

In general, I think I had a pretty good weekend. This coming week I have the David Usher concert to look forward to.

ToTM

Warning: This might be TMI for any male readers. And I know of at least one guy who reads this blog! ;-)

If there's one thing I hate and that's that time of the month. :p For me, the symptoms are never the same thing twice. Some months I might be perfectly fine. Other times, I could be a total bitch about stuff. For sure, I very rarely get cramps. Bloating? Well, I think that happens when I least want it to. Cravings... Yes, sometimes I do feel like eating more. I usually have a headache on of the days. One thing for sure is that I want to sleep more. That's one things that's fairly consistent each time.

Anyway...

So I went yesterday with Melissa to look for a Medieval outfit for a friend's wedding on Halloween. After Googling and checking out the websites of a couple of places, I decided to visit one costume shop located near the Old Port. The place has 3 floors of stuff! The main floor had accessories, wigs, masks and some costumes for sale. The 2nd and 3rd floor were all costumes they had for rent.

After poking around a bit, we found the rack where the Medieval outfits for women were. One of the first dresses I pulled out was a light blue dress made of some polyester material. The style was more or less what I was looking for. Poking around some more, I found a nice burgundy colored dress of similar style. But this was of a more velvety material. There was some gold colored threading in the trim. I tried on both. The blue one would need some altering, but the color and the material really did not look all that flattering on me. :-p The burgundy one fit very nicely, however. There did not seem to be a need to make any alterations at all. The dress came right down almost to the floor.

I guess the dress is styled similar to this but the sleeves are not as flared and the pattern in the fabric is not as plain. When I tried it on, it was definitely more flattering than the light blue one.

For accessories, we found a pearled tiara type thing. Rental of the outfit cost about $100. I would pick it up the Wednesday before Halloween and I'd have to return it the Monday after. This worked out perfectly as I will be flying to TO Friday and returning Sunday.

After that was done and we had grabbed some dinner in Chinatown, I decided that I needed shoes. I really don't have any dress shoes that I could wear with the dress. And I wanted to find something with a slight heel since the dress came down to the floor. So the quest for shoes began.

We headed towards downtown. We first checked out an Aldo, but they didn't have anything I liked with heels that wouldn't kill me. Next was the Bay. Nope. Nothing there either. Then we checked out some of the shoe places at Eaton Centre. Bingo! Found a pair of Clark's that were comfy and not too high in the heel. So the shoes were found and bought.

The one thing that depressed me about shopping is whenever I wanted to shop for clothes. I can never prescribe to the latest trends. We had stopped by an H&M to look at what they had. Melissa found a cute, cropped argyle sweater. She wanted me to try that with a white shirt. So I did. Went to the dressing room to try it on. I came out of there very depressed. *sigh* Well, so much for me wanting to try something on stylish. :p

Let's face it. I have some tummy bulge issues to deal with. At my age, it won't be easy. Short of starving myself, it will take some effort to lose it. Diet-wise, I think I have been pretty good about not eating too much junk food or high fat foods. However, I think portion size is still an issue. At the same time, I have been working out a bit more. I have been working on toning and strengthening some muscles, so it's possible some of the weight is muscle weight. In any case, I need to make more of an effort to lose the love handles (I don't know what's to love in them). :-p

I think I should go back to sleep. The cat thinks it's time to be fed.

Change

Change can be a scary thing. It can also be a necessary thing. There are days when I wonder change is needed. Change is sometimes a difficult decision to make.

For some time now, I have been contemplating change. I think that I have made a few major changes in my life. I upgraded from a condo to a townhouse this year. That was a huge change. But it's a change I probably would have done eventually.

Career-wise, I am wondering about change. I've been working at the same company for almost 14 years now. For the past couple of years I've been thinking of looking for something different. I feel that I'm not able to really learn any transferable skills except for what is usable in this company. Also, there have been changes in how things work here that bother me. Things have gotten to a point here where you sometimes need to ask around for stuff to work on. It's crazy, but I do not understand why I would have to ask anyone for work. Some of the folks here complain about having so many projects. Well, hey! I'm here! Why not offer me some of that? I'd like the opportunity to build up my competence so I can be a useful resource!

However, I think alot of this also stems from the fact that for the better part of 2007, I was without a manager. Without a manager, there was not a whole lot of guidance. Sure there were team leaders, but they were busy trying to find resources to work on some of the projects. However, it just seemed like they didn't feel like they had the authority to allow those with less experience to work on some of the projects at the time. Thus, it becomes that evil Catch-22: How can one gain the knowledge and competence to work on something if they are not given the opportunity to work on something to gain that knowledge and competence? And from this my frustration is borne.

So, what am I doing? I decided to pull the trigger last night and let loose my CV for a position at a company where a friend works. It's a large financial institution. Yeah, I know. There's a certain amount of volatility. But this place recently received some backing from another large financial institution. I think it was some sort of partnership or something. Anyway, this bolster helped to nearly double the value of their stocks. So, it can't be all that bad, could it?

Happy Birthday, Dad!

It's hard to believe that Dad is almost 70. I guess that since I've been living away from home for just over 15 years now to me Dad hasn't really aged in my mind.

The pic was taken almost a year ago when we went to Hong Kong. He hadn't been back there in many, many years. This was his first big trip back to Asia. I think he and Mom would like to go again next year.

Happy birthday, Dad!

Up Too Early

Ugh!!!

My mobile started to buzz around 4:50AM. I answer. The caller was asking for Paul. I told him he's got the wrong number. He said he called the main number at work and it gave him an extension. I told him he probably accidentally dialled my extension (a difference of one digit). Ooops.

So NOW that I am up, I figure I'd write a bit. About what I haven't any idea, but I figure I'd write. Sometimes it helps me clear my head. Sometimes it's to release some verbal diarrhea.

Last night I had some friends over for a Thanksgiving pot luck dinner. I made baby back ribs slow cooked in a dry rub. Melissa and Dan came over early to prepare some mussels and a couple of ducks. Another friend came over with a lasagna that needed some reheating. Someone brought over a nice Lebanese rice dish and some stuffed grape leaves that his mother prepared. There was some focaccia, herbed potato salad, an assortment of cheeses and plenty of drink. For dessert there was some canoli, a yummy pumpkin pie and an orange babka. Cleanup afterward wasn't too bad. Everyone lent a hand. Much of the dishes made it into the dishwasher. Some items which I could not clean immediately but did not want the cats to get into were put into the oven. This morning, I managed to wash all of the wine glasses before relenting to the demands of the cats.

I think I should go back to bed now... :-p

It's nice to get out

I got to get out this afternoon to take some shots at some autumn color.

It was a gorgeous day. It was warm. There were only a few passing clouds.

I met up with a couple of people out by Vaudreuil-Dorion. From there we headed out towards Rigaud. We stopped by a sugar shack place and took some shots. Not as much color as we hoped for there. Afterwards, we headed over to Rigaud ski hill. After taking a few shots from the hill we made our way down to the river and took some shots there.

Something I came to the conclusion about now after having some suspicions about. I really should not try to manually focus. I think that with my poor eyesight, I might not necessarily be focusing correctly. I've noticed that some of my shots were just slightly out of sharp focus at times. This can be frustrating at times. I guess I will have to try to rely on the autofocus feature of my camera. :-p

Do your part

I'm already registered to vote in Tuesday election here. I also have the right to vote south of the border. However, until now, I have not exercised that right. This time I am making an effort to get an absentee ballot.

Long weekend

Well, it's the start of the long weekend. I thought it'd never get here. This week has been long enough as it is. If anything the week ended in a rather downer of a note. I was hoping that something at work would come through so that I'd have something to start on next week. However, it seems that it was decided that this work would go else where. This means that I'd have to hunt around for some other project to work on. This is what has been frustrating me as of late. It's frustrating me to the point where the stress levels are at an all time high. It's to the point where I think it's affecting me physically. I'm hoping that this weekend I can find enough distraction to keep my mind off of work.

As for possible distractions, I am hosting a pot luck dinner Sunday for a bunch of friend both from work and outside of work. I plan on making some dry-rub ribs. I also picked up some herbed potato salad as a side. While I was at the butcher they also happened to have a babka in the small baked goods section. I should mention that this place, Salamico, is a European butcher/deli sort of place. It's not far from my place, so it's quite convenient if you want to pick up a nice piece of meat to throw on the grill after work. I noticed that they started to carry organic chicken. I'll have to check that out another time.

Tomorrow, I hope to get some cleaning done in the morning as I might go out in the afternoon to do some photography. I think it's been ages since I went out anywhere with the specific goal of taking some photos. Being that it's fall it's possible that there might be some colorful foliage and landscape worth taking photos of. I guess we'll see about that.

Anyway, I ought to get to bed and get some sleep. I'm pretty exhausted now.

Weirdness

I haven't written much here as of late. In fact, I really don't know what I want to write some times. I find that I might have an idea in my head while I am walking or driving somewhere, but I never get around to writing it down. As a result, these thoughts get lost.

Lately, I have been feeling a bit off. I'm not entirely sure in what way, but I think it could be a combination of things. I think to some degree there's a certain amount of stress involved. I won't go into details here where the source of some of my stress is coming from. There is also a certain amount of anxiety thrown into the fray. On top of all this, I think anemia might have a hand in all this too.

The other week I had my follow-up with my doc for my annual physical. My test results came back normal for the most part. The only thing that was of concern were signs of what could be anemia. I have an appointment next month for another blood test. In the meantime, I am trying to get back onto a more healthy diet. I'm trying to consume more leafy green matter. It's not always easy especially when you're cooking for just one. I can only handle so many leftovers. Given that I like to cook when the mood strikes, this could potentially lead to a lot of leftovers. :-p

Elsewhere... I finally got around to sending in a request for an absentee ballot. For the first time, I will (hopefully) be casting a vote in the U.S. Presidential election this year. I had missed out in at least the past 3 or 4 elections. The first time I was able to vote in a presidential election, I didn't. And I still can't remember why. After that, I did not vote in subsequent elections because I was just too lazy to look into getting an absentee ballot. Well, not this year. I do hope I get that absentee ballot.

\'Smoot\' measurement reaches new heights at MIT - Boston.com

'Smoot' measurement reaches new heights at MIT - Boston.com

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Perchance to Sleep

Last night I went to bed thinking that for once I will get a full night's sleep since the cats were both at the vet. Nope. It wasn't going to happen. For whatever reason I woke up at 3:30AM. I'm not entirely sure what caused me to wake up like that. I didn't have any coffee in the late afternoon. In any case, I tried to fall back asleep. I think I did, eventually.

Lately I've been wondering what's causing me so little sleep. I suppose that going to bed late and getting up early doesn't help. I could try to change that. Sometimes I wonder if it isn't the little stresses in my life starting to add up. I won't go into too much detail here but I think I have not had too many good night's sleep in over 2 years.

If anything, I really don't want to turn towards various sleep aids to make myself sleep. For now, if I am ready to sleep, I will just sleep. Of course, it's hard to do that while you're at work. But at home, I will stop letting myself get distracted and go to bed when I am tired and my eyes want to close.

Let's see how that works.

Zzzzz's

I just want to sleep. Uninterrupted. Unhindered.

I don't know what's going on in my head lately, or if it's something else. I just feel absolutely exhausted today. I still ache a bit from working in the garden on Sunday.

Tomorrow I take the kids to the vet. They both need to be on intravenous IV fluids for at least 24 hours before they have their dental cleaning procedure on Thursday. Jum's blood test results came back with indications that there are issues with her kidneys, ergo the IV fluids. BS will need to have the thyroid test done. He's been showing an increase in appetite which is one of the indications of hyperthyroidism. *sigh*

Work has been a bit slow this week. I have the hours to cover it at least. I've mainly got some documentation to write up. Oops! I forgot to send the test report. I guess I'll send that out in the morning.

Tonight, J will be coming over to watch the last 2 episodes of BSG I burned onto DVD. Going to order some pizza. I've still got some beer in the fridge. It's all good. I guess we'll discuss a quandary I've had. If he hadn't forgotten.

Stalking Myself

Every once in a while I will do a search on one of my userids. It's one that I've had for a while. It's interesting to see what Google comes up with.

Not too surprisingly, it found links to my Flickr, Twitter and digg accounts. There was at least 2 links to this blog. Something I found interesting were at least 2 or 3 references to my photo of vegetarian chili on what looks to be blogs written in Greek. Cool. :-) At least they attributed my photo.

Sunday. Another weekend has come and gone. At least it's been productive. Well, maybe not so much yesterday afternoon which I napped through most of. Today, the garden was planted in. I will need to remember to cut back the hostas in a few weeks. I will also need to remember to water regularly to make sure these plants get established.

*sigh* Another work week awaits.

Spore

It's probably a very good thing I can afford to buy Spore. Now do I really need to have and play Spore? That's another story.

Social Networking Links

Okay. I know some of you already have me as a friend in Facebook. However, how about twitter or plurk? In any case, here I am:

Plurk
Twitter
Facebook

Note that if you want to try to add me as a friend in Facebook you might have a hard time finding me. If that's the case, leave me a comment here. :)

Untitled

Again, there are days when I just don't feel like coming up with something witty for the title of my blog entry. Nothing new there.

So my weekend came and went.  It wasn't all bad really.  I went out for dinner and a movie with a rather nice fellow on Saturday.  We went to see Burn After Reading.  It was funny in a Coen Brothers kinda of way.  I really hadn't seen too many of their movies.  I think I've only seen Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski.  Anyway, I think we had a nice time.

Sunday was a rather lazy day.  Given the rainy start, I decided not to go do my grocery shopping. I did manage to get some cleaning and tidying up done.  I've really got to get back into the habit of keeping things neat and tidy.  If I don't it will accumulate pretty quickly!  I think it's time to vacuum the main floor again.  I tend to vacuum one floor at a time.  The vacuum attachments are now in the top level loft.  At least it's easier to bring down than up!  I think I need to declutter a bit too.  *sigh*  Cleaning is a neverending task it seems. :-p

So A called me last night.  We chatted a bit.  I told him a bit about what was up for Saturday.  I think what might happen is that he drive here, we drive to my work place, park and then take the metro down.  I think that should work.  Hmmm.  I think that means I have to tidy up the basement a bit.  Anyway, we talked about different things.  We talked a little bit about photography, family and about other things.  It was quite pleasant.  Then he brought up about maybe getting together some time before Saturday.  I said Friday is open.  So I guess we'll be getting together Friday. :)

I guess that's more or less been my weekend plus Monday.  The rest of the week I need to get some testing done.  I start my outdoor cardio tomorrow evening.  I still need to find one of my workout shirts.  I have no idea where it went.  I need to bring the car in Thursday to have a few things checked out.  I also need to call my mechanic to get the part to fix the hazards.  Oh! Which reminds me... My car stalled Friday afternoon on the way home.  I called CAA.  They came.  Car started fine.  It seems that the really humid and damp weather might have caused the car to stall.  In any case, I'm going to have that looked into as well as my brakes.  The brakes have been feeling a bit soft.  So this will easily be over $100 worth of work. :-p  Oil and tire change in another month or so.

Anyway... Happy Tuesday.

Thursday Randomness

I have discovered that I need to brush up on my grilling skills.  I usually left it to the guy on hand to man the grill.  This evening I decided to grill a contre-filet steak for dinner.  I think I let it cook a tad too long.  Then again, it might not have been the best cut to grill.

I happen to peruse the entertainment section of the paper today and noticed that Ani DiFranco will be playing here in November!  Tickets are supposed to go on sale tomorrow at noon.  I went to her website and saw that there was a pre-sale code.  *click* *click* Yay!  I ordered 2 tickets for her show.

I think my cold is kinda going away.  I've been hitting it hard with a barrage of stuff.  I'm not as stuffed up as I was this morning.  Well, actually, the stuffiness seems to come and go.  Bottom line is that I am just glad that I can breathe.

The cats will be costing me a few bucks in the near future.  Both will need to have some dental cleaning done on them soon.  I've booked an appointment to have Jum examined.  From there, I will schedule to have both her and Boo done at the same time.  I suspect that Boo will have to go in earlier because the vet wants to put him on IV fluids 24-48 hours before the procedure due to his condition.  *sigh*

It looks like it will be a rainy weekend.  Since today the weather was still reasonably nice, I went ahead and mowed the lawn.  It was rather over due as it hadn't been mowed in about 2 weeks.  I know.  I'm such a neglectful homeowner. :-p  I noticed a small crack in the brick near the faucet outside.  I think I will need to look for something to seal it up before winter. Actually, I should make a list of things I need to do before winter arrives.

So many things to do and so little time!

Home sick

I decided it was best to stay home today and do whatever work is needed from home.  I really didn't have a whole lot other than some emails and a couple of phone calls.  So overall, it was a quiet day.  I managed to get some nap time in during the afternoon.  

I feel a bit congested but not totally blocked up.  Not yet anyways,  but I'm sure it's coming up next on the cold menu.

I've been throwing everything I've got at this thing to make it go away faster.  I've been taking ColdFX, emergen-C and Tylenol for the headache.  I would say that the cold is making its way through at a more accelerated rate which has me believe that it should be gone by the end of the week.

In any case, let's see where this cold decides to go next.

And thanks for all the get well wishes. :)

*Sniffle*

I hate colds.  I especially hate the ones that sneak up on you.

*sniff*  *ah-CHOO!*

Did I mention that I hate colds?

Almost the weekend

So I finally got a call from the vet late yesterday about Boo's blood test and exam. His figures are about the same as it was last time, so he's basically stable. No change in meds and diet. However, his mouth needs help. Cleaning, extraction, etc. I know he's got some vicious cat breath happening. I'll probably look into booking an appointment to have this done in the near future.

I feel FAT! :-p After nearly 3 months of travel, diet on the road takes a toll. In any case, I'm trying to rectify the situation by getting back onto a more healthy diet. I've already signed up for the outdoor cardio classes. I am also going to sign up for a yoga class. I need to get back into shape.

Photography. Now that I have my D80 back (well, a new one anyway), I need to get back into taking pictures. I just haven't lately. I need to rehone what skills I had after I had taken that Camera Basics course over a year ago. I'll probably review a few things and techniques. After I feel more comfortable with that, I might look at possible getting a new lens, like a wide angle. I know it won't be cheap, but I don't think I'd get one this year.

I think there's a bunch of things I'd like to do. It's just a matter of getting myself organized now that I'm home again (and hopefully for a while at least). I'd like to organize some of the pictures I have using Aperture. I had bought a book on using Aperture a while ago but hadn't gotten around to actually reading it. I'd like to learn a bit more Japanese. It's an interesting language. I have the books to refresh myself and maybe advance a bit.

Baking. I haven't baked in a while. I might look into making some cookies or something in the near future. Again, this requires some planning and time. :-p

Cooking. I'm trying to get back into the habit of cooking dinner and not relying on any convenience foods or delivery. I still have 3 slices of Domino's pizza, which I might finish off tonight. Last night, I made a soup with noodles, shiitake mushrooms and fried fish balls. Okay, so the broth came from a box, but it works.

Anyway, gotta get back to finishing this report for the last project. Yay...

Random thoughts

It's about 4AM.  I went to be a little bit early tonight.  I guess I'm just getting used to sleeping in my own bed after being away for 3 weeks.  I guess having been gone for most of the summer it kind of added up.

The cats are home again.   I'm a little worried about Boo's blood test results.  The vet will call me with the results and recommendations.

I witnessed the dissolution of something that had been there for some time but had been disintegrating for a time now.  I guess things were just coming to a head.

I should go to Pushap for lunch today.  It's been almost a month since I went out for lunch with some friends at work.  The weather should be nice again today.  Warm.

Dunno what to expect in life any more.  I'll just keep going and see what happens.  Not totally floating along.  I still wonder if I will ever love again, or be loved.  But I guess that might be getting too deep here.  I'm not one to get too sentimental here.  Or rather, I don't like to get like this.  But hey, I'm human, right?  I guess I have gotten rather cynical.  Almost to the point of indifference.  Can someone save me?

Pics are up

Some of the photos I took in Buffalo and Niagara are up.  I wasn't right up front by the stage, so the lighting was a bit tricky.  I hate using high ISO settings as it can get a bit grainy.  I played around with it and finally settled on 800.  Still some graininess but not all that bad. 

Enjoy!

Buffalo and Niagara

Just a taste of what we saw Friday and Saturday...

Champions of Nothing (partial)

Sound check at Jackson-Triggs

Back on Home Soil

I finally got home a few hours ago after a long 7 hr drive from the Niagara region.  I actually left San Salvador Thursday morning.  I arrived in Buffalo that evening.  I went to see Matthew Good Friday night.  I spent Saturday in the Niagara region.  I tasted a lot of wine and probably bought as many bottles of it. :-)

It's nice to be home.  I need to reacquaint myself with my home.  I watered the tomato plants earlier this evening.  I picked a few that were ripe.  I threw in a load of laundry to wash.

I guess I'll do a bit of tidying up tomorrow.  Weekend is nearly over and it will be back to work Tuesday.

I'll try to post some pics on my Flickr by tomorrow.  Just too tired at the moment to really think much about it.

Last weekend in San Salvador

Okay. I've been very bad about posting anything for the last several days. I guess it's because I'm pretty beat after coming back from the customer site. Well, that and not really having anything too significant to say.

That said, I really didn't do much this weekend other than to relax and take it easy. One of the reasons is due to, well, certain things that happen on a regular basis. And I will leave it at that. :p

In a few more days, I will be able to get away from here. But I won't be heading home just yet. I'll be flying to Buffalo first. There, I will meet up with Melissa and JC. We're going to go see Matthew Good (yes, again) at Club Infinity. After that, we're going to swing by Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake and spend the night there before we trek back to Montreal. It should be fun. I have not been to Niagara in quite a long while.

Hmmm. I wonder how the batteries in my camera are doing....

Driving...

The roads. They snake around the city in some random way. They sometimes run high and steep up a hill. They sometimes wind their way back down.

Wary pedestrians trying to cross these roads. Never knowing if something will be coming around the bend.

Speeding along these roads. Passing storefronts. Storefronts with armed guards. Remember not to shoplift!

Passing by rough-hewn structures that pass for homes. Getting an occasional peek into a room lit by a flourescent light or a lone hanging bulb.

Stopped at a light. A man entertains by blowing flames from his mouth. Flames flying a few meters into the air. He wants no applause, just some monetary recognition.

Sweets for sale! Flowers for sale! Look! Laptop cases for sale! How about your windshield washed?

Pizza Hut. McDonald's. Mister Donut. Fast food corporate America has made its mark here. Cheap eats! Empty calories. Heart disease and obesity, here we come!

Welcome to Central America.

Daytime Fireworks?

Now, I know that I am in El Salvador. I know that El Salvador is probably not the safest places in the world. However, despite whatever statistics are thrown at me, it doesn't seem to bother me when I hear what sounded like fireworks throughout the day today. I mean, it wasn't constant or anything but every once in a while you'd hear a few here and then a few there. I think it started some time late in the morning. I kept hearing them sporadically throughout the day.

In any case, are they fireworks or gunshots or what are they? O_o

Weather in San Salvador

Okay. To give you an idea, this is what I have to deal with each day. However, most weekdays, I will be sitting in a windowless, super air-conditioned environment for a minimum of 8 hours. And depending on where I am situated in that room, I will most likely need to put on my fleece jacket, complete with company logo (yay, for free company swag!). But think of the stress placed on the body when going from a cold environment and out into a hot and steamy environment. Yeah, not so good. And I will be doing this for another 2 weeks.

So why am I writing this? I guess it was prompted by a post Matthew Good made today about the heat exhaustion he's been experiencing and the fact that the building he lives in is poorly designed when it comes to hot weather. I guess there's a certain amount of perspective to be taken when it comes to dealing with hot weather. I suppose that one could argue that the weather in Vancouver is fairly temperate and that there's no need to be able to open the windows more than a few inches. I just think that's rather silly. I'm sure some people would like to open their windows up just to get some fresh air in. I doubt the 4 inches Matt is able to open is barely enough to even give that on a nice day.

Tagged by Jess - Answering under duress

Six Quirks
(tagged by Jess)

1. I have a tendency of changing the subject. Usually something totally unrelated to what was being discussed.
2. My bed linens need to be in order. Even when I'm in bed!
3. I don't move much at all when I sleep.
4. I'm fairly neat and tidy when staying in a hotel room but my own room is very cluttered.
5. Can fall asleep during any meeting.
6. I think I can babble on and on about almost anything.

There! Happy now, Jess? ;-)

Where has the summer gone????

Needless to say, with the amount of traveling I have been doing for work this summer, I really haven't seen or experienced much of summer back home. Then again, according to some, I really haven't missed much of a summer in Montreal as it's been rather rainy this year. Oh well.

It's now mid-August. Today, I received in my inbox an email from Mountain Equipment Coop introducing their new products for Fall. "FALL?!?!?!" Ack! Summer is not even over yet (although it might as well be in Montreal) and they've already started to market Fall (and Winter) gear! Oy.

Before I left for this trip, I tried to do a little shopping. You'd figure that with summer more than half over there'd be plenty of summer sales. There were, but I think it's also a matter of timing. When I try to find these summer bargains I am left with sizes that are either too big or too small. It's always been like that. I guess that's why sometimes, if there is something I need, I don't really try to wait for sales. If I need something and the shop has it in stock and in my size then I would most likely purchase it. If it's a bit too expensive, then I might shop around for a more reasonably priced equivalent. I'm not *that* fussy about brands. Maybe that's why I like shopping at MEC sometimes. Their house brand stuff is pretty decent and reasonably priced.

Anyway.. I'm not sure what I will be doing the rest of the weekend. Our junior colleague (all of 23 years old) just got back from a night out with some of the local guys from the office. At 9:30AM! I was just starting to have some breakfast. Oh well.

I decided this morning that I would at least try to get some exercise. The gym here seems to be decently equipped. I used to treadmill for about a half hour. With my knees being the way they are, I only did a brisk walk and maybe a short jog in those 30 minutes. I guess because I hadn't had anything to eat yet, I felt a little woozy after getting off the treadmill. I will have to remember to have a little snack or something before I do that again. I might try the elliptical trainer they have next time.

Yeah, so like, it's been that exciting here. :-p At least it's sunny today as well. I might head out and lounge by the pool later.

It's about 10:45AM and the temp is already 28C.

San Salvador - Friday, 8:15AM and it's 21C (Humidex of 29C)

That's what I woke up to this morning. Although, this morning was a more sunny one. Most mornings here have started out being a bit cloudy and possibly rainy. However, today was nice and sunny.

It's been almost a week since I've arrived here in San Salvador. This first week seemed to have flown by rather quickly. I was eager to get the ball rolling for this project. On the last trip, we weren't able to really start our testing the first week we were there. I was determined to get as far ahead into the game as possible.

So far, we've managed to execute most of the test cases of two interfaces. There are a few other that need to be done, but we have to wait until next for that. That's alright. All of the test cases that we managed to do this week was pretty darn good progress.

Work aside, I haven't really done much else here yet. It's pretty much been get up, go to the office, head to the customer site, come back to the hotel and write up the daily report. By then I'm pretty wiped.

The hotel we're staying at is not bad. It's actually an older building (or not yet remodeled) that's managed by Radisson. We get to use the Radisson facilities, like the pool and gym. Breakfast is in the Radisson hotel restaurant. Overall, it's not bad. I kinda have a view of this big mountain/volcano here in San Salvador. I also have a wonderful lview of the parking lot back here. At least it's somewhat quiet. I can't complain too much. I've been in worse places.

Yeah, I know. This blog entry is kinda boring. I just don't feel too inspired at the moment to write anything more interesting than "Hey! I'm here in El Salvador and it doesn't feel any different than if I were at home". Except, I don't need to do much cleaning. :D

Meanwhile, my dear friend Melissa has written something much more meaningful than me. I'd give her a read if I were you. She's a great artist and a wonderful person. And I miss hanging out with her. In fact, I miss a lot of stuff when I'm on the road. There are some things you take for granted that you don't realize you'd miss until you've been away for a while.

Anyway... :-)

And Away We Go! (Again)

I'm off to San Salvador tomorrow morning. I'm almost done packing. I might be packing just a few more pieces of clothing than before. I realized at some point that I was getting tired of rotating through the same set of shirts for 3 weeks straight. I'm trying to make sure that I pack an appropriate amount of entertainment. This includes: a magazine, some DVDs, a book or two and the Nintendo DS. Gotta have some portable gaming some times.

After this is done, I am heading straight to Buffalo. I'm going to meet up with a few people there for a Matthew Good show. :) It should be good.

I'm just chillin' now before deciding to either finish packing up the odds and ends or just head off to bed.

Some of you do need help...

Step One:


Step Two:


Step Three:

Tuesday

Another day has come and gone. The skies are starting to get dark. The clouds are moving in. It looks like they are forecasting crappy weather for tomorrow. I and a few friends will be standing in wind-driven rain tomorrow evening at the Radiohead concert. I think it would suck if it got cancelled if the weather got really bad. But I guess we shall see.

The day went by pretty quickly. I went to get a chocolate-raspberry cake for someone's birthday in the office. It was quite good! I really needed that little sugar push in the afternoon. I was struggling to stay awake after lunch. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I was mainly reviewing a document before the next trip. I'm leaving Sunday for El Salvador.

In any case, Tuesdays were never all that exciting.

Might have a coffee date Friday. I think. Dunno. I haven't said much about it here. I think I will leave it that way for now.

Monday

You know you're tired when you pack some fruit and yogurt into a bag and forget to bring with you to work. :p

No. I did not party all weekend. I didn't get pissed drunk Friday night even though my friends tried their best to get me totally trashed. At best, I had a bit of a headache and just wanted to lie down and sleep. I think that if I had finished that last pint of lime and lager I'd be one with the porcelain throne. I kinda know my limits. And if I feel I just can't drink anymore, then that's it. Otherwise, I had a nice time with some good friends celebrating my birthday. :)

Saturday, I had to go get my car which I left parked at work Friday. I then went to MEC where I missed a passing thunderstorm and torrential downpour. I think the rain washed my car some. I bought a few things then headed home. I was going to head over to Melissa's because we wanted to shop for a few things. But she was pretty tired and wanted to take it easy. I was pretty tired too and agreed we'd get together Sunday. I did, however, go over to my manageer's place for dinner. His wife had called earlier in the day to invite me over.

Sunday was alright. My ex's mom came over to pick up some mail her Mum sent. We chatted a bit. We hope to do some digging in the backyard in the early fall to plant some hostas that she got. It'd be nice to have something out back other than just grass. Afterwards, I managed to get a load of wash done before heading over to Melissa's. We walked over to LL Lozeau to shop for a replacement DSLR. In the process, she got herself a Canon 40D. I also picked up a new, bright red suitcase. I needed one that was slightly bigger than what I had for these trips I've been making. Afterwards, we went over to my place to have dinner and play with our cameras. It's nice to have a DSLR in my hands again. It's strange, but I like handling that kind of camera.

Today, I am a bit knackered. For some reason, I woke up a little after 3AM and had a hard time falling back asleep. I ended up feeding BS around 4 and tried to get back to sleep. I think I managed to sleep for another hour or so. I will need to pick up a few things after work and maybe call it an early night tonight.

August 1, 1968

On this date many moons ago, my mom brought me into this world. It's an awfully big world. I'm still trying to discover as much of it as I can.

Cheers! :-)

Hello Goodbye

Well, I am home again, at least for a little while.

I flew home this past Monday and arrive a little after midnight. The flights themselves weren't bad. However, in Miami, it seemed like there was a game of Musical Gates going on. It's amazing the chain reaction that results when one or more flights are delayed. The gate the flight back to Montreal was originally set for was D33. While sitting there, I noticed that the current flight has been delayed and that the new departure time was 8:30PM. That's around the time our flight was suppose to leave. I ask the gate agent what the story was. She said that our flight was moved to Gate D36. Okay, so we made our way over there. We hung out there for a few before it was somehow announced that our flight has again been moved to another gate, D49. O_o

Anyway, after that, the gate did not change. However, after we all boarded we had to wait because one passenger had not shown up. As a result, that passenger's bags had to be removed and we finally took off a little after 9PM. After landing in Montreal, clearing immigration and getting my luggage, I went straight to the taxi stand. I think I got the surliest taxi driver ever! He literally tossed my bags into the trunk. When I suggested the route to take he said that he thought another route would be faster but it's up to me. Anyway, at least he got me home. :p

What's next? El Salvador! I'll be heading out again next weekend to San Salvador. Three fun-filled weeks in San Salvador. Si, I need to learn some more Spanish. :-p

Living vicariously

through others....



Sometimes I like to watch this from time to time...

Christian Missionaries in Central America

I originally posted this on a forum somewhere but I figure I'd post it here as well.

Something I've observed in my time here are the Christian Missionaries that traipse through this hotel. More notably, this huge group that checked in a few days ago.

Now, I have nothing against religious organizations that are out to help/improve the lives of the less fortunate. What I have a problem with is what they're actually doing or not doing.

I did a Google on Christian Missionaries. After taking a look at a random few, it seems that for the most part they are raising money to either help a small village or help a child get an education that they otherwise would not be able to. In such cases, I find that commendable.

Now back to this group...

I'd say that this group numbered somewhere close to 50. I didn't bother to actually count how many there were, but they did take up most of the seats in the hotel restaurant.

I wonder what their purpose was in Honduras. Most of them wore matching t-shirts that have slogans such as "Leaving a Legacy" or "God loves you". From the looks of some of the participants, I don't think they're out to build churches, schools or wells. It didn't look like they brought with them needed supplies or clothing. They did, however, bring a guitar (or two) and colored chalk!

It makes me wonder what they're really doing here. Are they visiting different villages? Are they singing and playing with the kids? What sort of legacy are they really leaving behind? At the end of the day, they come back to the comforts of this big hotel. They don't look at all too weary, wearing their shorts, t-shirts and flip flops. They sport a rustic wooden cross around their necks while at the same time don their diamond rings or nice watches.

Bottom line is that I see this group as being a bunch of hypocrites. Just how are they helping the people of Honduras? A colleague commented that this is a "feel good" trip. And I agree. They're not really on a mission. They're really on a vacation under the premise that they're doing something good. They come back from making a child laugh and smile for one day to a comfortable hotel with air conditioning and an all-you-can-eat dinner buffet.

Anyway.. I guess this is a bit of rant, but it does bother me.

Dreams

I had a bizarre but somewhat vivid dream last night. Usually, my dreams are just fleeting images of some scene. This time it was as if some time was passing, that it was more than a few seconds.

I dreamt that my ex had returned to me. The surroundings were not familiar, however, I felt that I was somewhere else other than home and that it was like a hotel or something. In any case, it was not home.

As in most dreams I don't remember all the details. I just remember some of the people I saw in the dream. He was definitely there. I recall him telling me that something I should know is that he had been drinking a lot. Somewhere along the way he said he hadn't touched a drop in nine days. Some of the other people who appeared in the dream were people I knew from work and play. Another thing I remember in the dream was the 2 of us hugging each other very tightly, as if we never wanted to let go.

Alas, this was but a dream.

I want to believe....

Countdown.

5 more days before flying back to Montreal on Monday. 3 more days at the customer site. Saturday and Sunday to do something or nothing. Early morning departure from Tegucigalpa back to Montreal via San Salvador and Miami. It will be a long day.

After that it will be another 4 days before my birthday.

ACK!

9 days from now it will be my birthday. Not sure what to do about it really. It's considered a milestone birthday by some. For others, it's just another day. I thought about a big bash, but with the traveling I've been doing, who's had time?

Anyway... I just want the next few days to go by quickly.

Live! From Tegucigalpa! It's Friday Night!

Yes, folks! It's Friday night here in wonderful Tegucigalpa. It's overcast and rainy.

I just came back from having dinner with a couple of my colleagues. We had earlier in the day booked a tour to Comayagua. However, one of the guys said that the weather was not going to be very nice. So taking his word for it, we went to reception after dinner to have them help call the tour company to cancel our tour. *sigh* I suppose it would have been a bit disappointing if we got there and it was too rainy to really enjoy the sites and scenery out there. From what pictures I found on the web, it seems like a really quaint colonial town. Oh well. Who knows, it might not be the last time I visit this part of the world.

That said, I guess I will be sleeping in tomorrow morning. Of course, this means I will probably stay up late doing goodness knows what! Okay, maybe I will watch a DVD or something. Or maybe finally getting around to read a couple of magazines I brought with me. In any case, I don't plan on turning on the TV. Even though they have a cable here, I just don't feel inspired to watch much of anything on TV these days.

Anyway, happy end of another week!

Almost the weekend

Well, the end of week two is nearly there.

To some degree the trip moves along more quickly when you get into a routine. In this case, the daily routine is to get up, get some breakfast, go to the customer site, work for about 9 hours, head back to the hotel and have some dinner. I suppose that working in a closed, windowless environment distracts you from the distraction of staring out of a window. On the flip side, I get to listen to the constant and monotonous hum of fans and machines around me all day long. The only reprieve I get is when we head out for lunch.

Even lunch has become more or less a routine. We have the driver pick us up at about 1PM. He drops us off at the nearby mall. We go to the food court where we have our pick of some of America's finest. We eat and then take a walk around the mall to digest, then we go back to the drop-off/pick-up area. Then, it's back to the site for another 4 hours of sheer fun!

This weekend, maybe we'll look into booking some sort of tour for Saturday. It seems that this task has fallen on yours truly. It seems that with the smattering of Spanish I do know or have picked up along the way, I am the lead communicator of this little quartet. *sigh*

I think it helps in any foreign country that it's beneficial to at least try to pick up a few key words and phrases of the local language. The locals will definitely be more obliging if they see that you are trying to make an effort to speak their language. I really don't know that much Spanish, but the others think I do. I just use the principle of association to learn what some words are what they mean. It's rather simple if you think about it. And since I do know some French, that helps a bit too.

Anyway, aside from possibly taking a tour this weekend, we might have to spend a few hours Sunday night doing some work. It's when there is the least amount of traffic so that we might be able to execute some test cases.

Hmm.. Maybe I should go to bed soon... *yawn*

Not quite halfway

It hasn't been halfway through this trip and I am already looking forward to going home. Even though I like to travel, traveling for work is a whole other ball game. It starts to get a bit monotonous and depressing when every weekday you come back from work to the same hotel room. After being cooped up in an enclosed environment for approximately 8-9 hours breathing air-conditioned air and listening to the monotonous hum of the fans and machines around you, you tend to feel rather exhausted by the end of the day.

Another thing I don't like about this kind of travel is the diet. The hotel breakfast is fine, but there's an easy tendency to overeat if you're not careful. After more than a week of having eggs and hash browns for breakfast I am going to in a way cut back and just have a bowl of cereal and fruit. I have been having fruit all along, but I think the eggs and hash browns kinda cancel that out. At lunch, we've been going to the nearby mall where there is a food court full of your American standards like Sbarro, Subway, Pizza Hut and Quiznos. It will be more of a challenge here to find something more healthy. I think I will just keep an eye on portion sizes. Dinner might be more tricky as we rarely go out for dinner. The tendency has been to grab either a beer and a light meal in the bar or go to the restaurant where there is your choice of buffet or something from their menu. Again, I just need to choose wisely.

All in all, it's the little things I miss. I miss having the cats around, if you can believe that. I miss the simple task of walking out to the mailbox to get my mail. I miss staring at my front yard wondering what to do with the weed infested grass. I know I will miss the blooming of some flowers in the front yard. I will basically miss most of summer in Montreal. I've already missed most of the Jazz Festival and the Fantasia Film Festival.

I also miss hanging out with friends. I miss talking about things to do. There's a couple of things I want to do in August. I am going to try to make sure I get to do them with my friends. I miss my friends. I miss discussing with Melissa what to do with my house as far as painting goes. It will get done one day! Maybe I should just let her do what she wants with the loft space. Surprise me! :-) But I am already asking a lot of her.

Anyway... Yeah, I'm mildly bummed about being away from home this long. I was barely home a week before flying down here to Honduras. And now they want us to go to El Salvador almost as soon as we get back. Sheesh! Give me a chance to breathe!

Sunday - Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Yeah, the titles for my posts could be a bit more exciting but I seem to lack some imagination in that area. I need some sort of inspiration!

Thursday night we were treated to Happy Hour in the hotel bar. All of us staying here for the company got coupons for a drink and nachos. There was also some sort of party launching this new concept in the hotel restaurant. Apparently they plan on having a buffet based on a particular country. Friday night, for example, was Mexican night. It was interesting and there was a sampling of foods of the different cuisines they're going to offer.

Saturday was spent at the customer site. We actually managed to get a bunch of test cases done. We'll probably finish this batch before the other 2 guys get here Tuesday night. Then we'll put them to work on the other test cases. Mwahahaha! In any case, I want to finish all of this in the next two weeks.

Today was a lazy Sunday. Got up, had a huge breakfast and went back to the room to chill. I think I grabbed a nap somewhere along the way. Will probably head down for some dinner soon.

It's funny, but even though I am all the way down here in Honduras, it's so easy to keep in touch with family and friends. We have free wireless internet in the hotel because of the corporate deal our company has with the hotel. The speed is a bit better than what we had in Paraguay.

Anyway, tomorrow is another work day. Yay.

In the meantime, Radiohead will be playing Montreal on August 6th. I think I will go see them with a few friends. I need to get out and do something when I get back home!

Alive and Kicking!

Well, kinda sorta. :-D I'm still here in Honduras. Arrived late Monday night. The flight out of Miami was slightly late in departing. Landed in San Pedro Sula about a half hour late.

In San Pedro Sula, we had to go through Customs and Immigration. I think we were the one big flight that arrived that evening. There was just one officer on duty when we all got there and started to line up. Then 2 more officials came out to start processing us. After finally getting through that, we went to get our luggage, which had to be scanned again before we can actually leave. After that, we had to figure out how to check-in to our connecting flight. Thankfully there was a woman on our flight who was able to ask some official-looking guy where we should go. He opened one of the sliding doors which was "off" for some reason and pointed us towards the counters and that the departure level was upstairs.

We headed over in that general direction and went to one of the ticket counters. The whole place seemed very empty. The check-in counters seem pretty closed and unmanned except for this one guy. We went straight to him and tried to tell him that we needed to check-in for a flight to Tegucigalpa. I think at this point we already knew or heard that the flight was delayed anyway, but we still needed to check-in. Eventually, we went over and waited at the TACA counter. Finally, this guy came out and asked if we just got off of the AA flight. He processed the guy who was also waiting in front of us, then he checked us in. Then we made our way over to pay the airport tax (all of 2 bucks since it's a domestic flight) and then up to the departure level. There, we found a couple of TACA reps and asked which gate. They told us gate 7 (which was the last gate, btw) and said that boarding would be around 9:30PM. Anyway, I think it was nearly 10PM when we boarded. It was ATR turboprop.

So away we go finally to Tegucigalpa. It's roughly a half hour flight from San Pedro Sula. Now, given what I've read so far about the airport, I was not too apprehensive about landing there. The ATR is a much smaller plane than a Boeing 737. The skies were not too cloudy, so I think visibility was decent. As we made the approach to the airport, I don't think the ATR had to make any funky manoeuvers on it's approach to the airport. When we did land, it was nice and quick. I read afterwards that ATRs were made to land and take off on short runways. So these guys were perfect for this particular airport. At the airport, it was pretty dead and quiet. I think we were probably one of the last incoming flights that evening. We went to get our bags. We almost had to go through customs again until the official was told we just arrived from San Pedro Sula. Then we got our bags, had them scanned and exited. The driver from the local office was already there to take us to the hotel. Since it was night, it was kinda difficult to have a good look at the airport and the surroundings. But I'm sure the video I posted last time gives you a good idea of the terrain around here.

I think it was about 11PM when we finally got to the hotel. I managed to communicate to the driver to pick us up at 9:30 the next morning to take us to the local office. After checking into our rooms, I quickly logged in to check on some email and stuff. I think I finally crashed around 1AM.

Yesterday was not too eventful. We spent most of the day at the local office and had a meeting with some of the local people about the project. We grabbed lunch at the food court of the nearby mall. It's amazing that just about all the eateries there were some American chain like Pizza Hut, Quiznos, etc. Anyway, later that afternoon, we went to the customer site for a quick meeting. After that, it was back to the hotel for a beer and a quick bite.

Today, we were hoping to get a few things, but alas, we were stuck. And on top of that, internet access from the customer site was heavily restricted. We could not use VPN to access our network at work. We could not access any sites that were email, chat or forum related. However, one of the guys there showed me a work around. It allowed me to access gmail. With gmail, I was able to get in touch with a few people back home and at the home office. I was also able to communicate with the local guys too about what we needed and stuff. We did get connection info to the nodes at the customer site. But with no test phones, we still can't do much.

Anyway, the highlight of the day might have been on the way back from lunch. We got the driver to take us to the mall. He decided to just park and wait for us since we would only be gone about 45 minutes. When we came out, it was kinda raining lightly. We scanned the parking lot for the car. We saw it but weren't sure if the driver was there. A few minutes later he flashed his lights, so we made our way over there. He had the SIM cards we asked for so that we can use in our phones. Then we made our way back to the customer site. On the way there, I noticed a whole bunch of taxis parked along the street. Apparently, there was some sort of protest going on over fuel costs and such. When we got to an intersection close to the site, it was blocked by police. Apparently, there was no way they were going to let us through, so we had to head back, which meant passing by the local office. Just before we got there, the driver got a call and it seems that a couple other guys who needed to go to the customer site were stuck because the other driver could not get the car out due to the protest. Luckily we were just in front of the office and picked up the other 2 guys. To get to the customer site, we basically had to go all the way arond the hill and get to it from the other direction. Oy! So yeah, that was the excitement for the day. The rest of the afternoon was kinda boring.

Maybe tomorrow will be more interesting?

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

So it looks like I'll be heading off to Honduras next. Now, admittedly, i don't know a while lot about Honduras other than it's located in Central America. I'm not sure what the political situation there other than that it's somewhat stable at the moment. Safety-wise, I think one would have to take the usual precautions as in any other Latin American country, although I did find Asuncion, Paraguay relatively safe.

In any case, I started to Google some info about Honduras and Tegucigalpa, which is the city I think I'll be heading to. I came across this little gem:



Can we say "HOLY CRAP!!". Uhm yeah. That might explain this little article I found. Oy! Well, at least the president there is taking some sort of action. I guess?

I think Honduras is also home to some Mayan ruins. I'll have to look into this some more as it might be an interesting thing to check out on a weekend if the sites are not too far.

Anyway, I don't have a confirmed departure date yet but I suspect that it might be next week.

Oh! And with the time frame for this project I think I will be spending my birthday in Honduras. O.o

Theme

If I were to have a theme song, what would it be?

P.S.
Yes, I made it home, safe and sound. Some things have happened but I will fill you all in later. Meanwhile, I'm up late because it's a Holiday! Wooooo!

What type of man turns me on?

Hehehe! Okay, so I was bored. :)

Your result for The What type of MAN turns you on Test...

Exotic Boy

You scored 50% masculine, 47% athletic, 55% exotic, and 75% refined!

You are not into huge muscles and tough guy looks. You like the mysterious, exotic type that you could still bring home to mama since he takes good care of himself. You may want to try munching on someone like.......Michael Copon. But let's face it, the whole point of this was to look at a bunch of hot guys. If you liked what you saw, please rate my test!

Take The What type of MAN turns you on Test at HelloQuizzy

Food and Travel

Since I've been in Paraguay, I have been dependent on what is available at the nearby eateries for breakfast and lunch. Dinner is a toss up at times.

What I have noticed is that a lot of food tend to be rather salty. At the place where we go for lunch, it's next to impossible to find something that was laden with a lot of salt! On top of that, soft drinks are relatively cheap here. I found that I had been drinking Coke practically every day. This is not good. I think I found myself with minor heart palpatations from the day's intake of salt and caffeine! So today, I figure I'd at least cut out the Coke and drink water instead. As for the food, unless I were able to prepare it myself, I am still at the mercy of the eatery. I'd just have to somehow offset it.

I think I will need to rebalance my diet when I get home.

New Discovery

While poking around on the net for various things, I acme across this blog. I think it's pretty cool, especially with this big push and campaign to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. It's something I would certainly like to try as long as it doesn't strain the pocketbook too much.

After reading an article over the weekend in The Gazette about living more eco-friendly, I poked around the net in search of sources for things like organic bedding or bath towels. One of the places I found seems environmentally friendly enough, but GEEZ! the pricing of some of the stuff! I had to take a deep breath before I could continue perusing the site. How can an ordinary Joe or Jane be more ethically or eco friendly when it seems so cost-prohibitive?

Anyway, I will probably look into this some more when I have time.

A statement

Sometimes I'm just plain pathetic.

When you're bored...

You might end up doing something like this.

(Credit to AK for the photo edit.) :D

Things I miss

It's one thing to go on vacation for a few weeks. It's another when you have to go away for work for a few weeks. I don't know how some of the other guys in the department do it, but after a few weeks, I'm looking forward to going home.

I miss rooting around my kitchen trying to figure out what to make for dinner. I miss chasing my cat to give him his pill. I miss my yard (albeit small, but it's my yard!). I miss my own bed (as I'm sure most people do when they've been away). I miss checking the mailbox to see if anything interesting has arrived. I miss having the cats (just 2) walking all over me at bedtime because they want to get under the covers with me.

The one thing I don't miss is coming home or arriving at the airport with no one there to greet you (the cats do no count). Yeah, I know it sounds depressing, but for me it's a bit sad at times. But anyway, such is life. It's one thing, but it won't bring me down.

Friday Thoughts

All I want is:

• To find true love
• To find a job I really enjoy doing
• To live happily ever after

Is that too much to ask for? Sometimes I wonder.

Annoyances...

Recently captured on a dating site.

From: GO HABSSS GO hi
To: GO HABSSS GO hello
From: GO HABSSS GO hey
From: GO HABSSS GO wow ur hot
From: GO HABSSS GO u looking for fun?
To: GO HABSSS GO fun?
To: GO HABSSS GO as in a fling? no
From: GO HABSSS GO sex
To: GO HABSSS GO everyone looks for sex
From: GO HABSSS GO lol
From: GO HABSSS GO especially with hotties like u
To: GO HABSSS GO oh?
From: GO HABSSS GO ya
From: GO HABSSS GO ur hot!
To: GO HABSSS GO hot how?
From: GO HABSSS GO u turne me on lol
From: GO HABSSS GO id sleep with u lol
To: GO HABSSS GO oh, ok..
From: GO HABSSS GO u horny?
To: GO HABSSS GO I bet you say that to all the girls
To: GO HABSSS GO No, not particularly, but I bet you are
From: GO HABSSS GO a little lol
From: GO HABSSS GO what are u weairng
To: GO HABSSS GO whatever you think I'm wearing
From: GO HABSSS GO lol
From: GO HABSSS GO dont u like beeing pleasures
To: GO HABSSS GO as much as the next person
From: GO HABSSS GO i bet its wet for me right now?
To: GO HABSSS GO how could I be wet for someone I barely know, nevermind seen?
From: GO HABSSS GO lol
From: GO HABSSS GO here
From: GO HABSSS GO so what are u wering
To: GO HABSSS GO clothes
From: GO HABSSS GO skirrt?
From: GO HABSSS GO stockings? heels? thong?
To: GO HABSSS GO and why would I be wearing stockings and heels around the house?
From: GO HABSSS GO lol i dunno
From: GO HABSSS GO it turns me on thought lol
To: GO HABSSS GO wouldn't it be easier for you to watch a blue movie or something?
From: GO HABSSS GO lol
From: GO HABSSS GO id rather pleasure u
To: GO HABSSS GO why
From: GO HABSSS GO cuz ur hot
To: GO HABSSS GO you've got to come up with a better line than that
From: GO HABSSS GO lol .. let me pleasure u??
To: GO HABSSS GO even if I said yes, I'd like to see you travel a few thousand miles to do it
From: GO HABSSS GO lol...
From: GO HABSSS GO what do u mean?
To: GO HABSSS GO on I'm currently out of town

My last reply apparently shut him up.

How Stupid Can They Get?

Stuff like this makes me wish Bush & Co. are voted out of office sooner!

Paraguay

Yup! It's confirmed. I have my visa. My e-ticket is in the works. I am going to Paraguay. Unfortunately, I will have to depart tomorrow evening. :-| This means there will be an awful lot of running around for me.

The cats. I've confirmed with the vet tech that she will be able to come take care of them as well as give BS his fluids. She'll come by tomorrow morning so I can show her were everything is in the new place.

The house. I plan to leave a set of keys to the place with my ex's parents so they can help pick up the mail and maybe check up on things as well.

Bro. Bro has another copy of the key so that he and his buddy can come back to the house for Sunday night.

Other things I need to do. This time, I am trying to put together a list of things I need to take care of before I leave tomorrow. I need to pick up a prescription today after work before the clinic closes at 5PM. I need to head downtown and get a Father's Day card. I will probably see if there are any decent guides on Paraguay. Maybe I will pick up a small Spanish phrase book. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with bro and his buddy for a beer or something somewhere. Being that it's F1 weekend, finding a place that's not too pack will be a bit of a challenge.

Packing! I think I will need to throw in a load of wash tomorrow morning. I need to get together all my toiletries. I need to decide what to pack clothing-wise and hardware-wise. I will need to keep myself entertained for 4 weeks, so I will have to decide what DVDs and/or books to bring. I think this is a good opportunity to catch up on some reading.

Gaaah! So much to get done!

I think that once I get there I will start to update the travel blog instead (see right hand side for link).

Some thoughts....

Sometimes I wonder if I have ever in my past came across the person destined to be the one I will spend the rest of my life with. I guess you could say a soul mate of sorts. I suppose you could say it would be along the lines of two ships passing in the night. One not fully aware of the other. I wonder if something like that has happened and it's just a matter of time before we knowingly cross paths again.

I guess you could say it's the romantic in me that brings about such thoughts and ideas. It could be that I read too much when I was growing up about romance and such. I don't know. I just read what I found interesting. Sometimes it was just plain fiction. Sometimes it was science fiction or fantasy. Occasionally it was paperback romances (yes, I was not immune to those Harlequin romances back in the day). Over time, what I wanted to read changed. Once in a while I will go through periods when I would read voraciously. Other times, like now, I would hit a dry spell and not be able to pick p a book and read more than a few pages. I really don't know why is that sometimes. Maybe I just don't feel as inspired to read as I have in the past.

Meanwhile....

"How would you like to go to Paraguay??"

"Huh??"

That's how my Monday morning started. It seems that the guy who was supposed to go has not received his visa yet. It might have something to do with the fact that he has a Chinese passport and not a Canadian passport. Since I have a Canadian passport, I should be able to get my visa more quickly. As they need someone down there ASAP, I have been designated as backup if he doesn't get his visa by Friday. On the other hand, this is a very good opportunity for me to gain some more practical hands on experience. So I will know for sure by Friday if I will be flying to Paraguay on Sunday.

Talk about whirlwind travel plans!

Matthew Good @ Club Soda Friday Night

Friday had finally arrived. I had bounced back and forth the idea of whether I should take the car into town or not. Someone at work had said that it would be crazy because it was Friday night and finding parking would be a pain, not to mention the traffic. I finally decided to not take the car. Good choice because as I walked towards the metro from work I saw bumper to bumper traffic on Decarie.

I got to Club Soda a little before 6PM. I had thought about grabbing a bite to eat, but I figure I'd see what the others were up to first. M and A were already there. They made friends with A and K who were there since 2:30PM. During that time they came across an unusual cast of characters who were probably not so unusual for that part of the neighborhood.


Anyway, we got in and went straight for the stage. It wasn't too packed at first, but the place filled up as it got closer to 9PM. At 9, The Spades took to the stage. This trio put on a pretty good show! They showed a lot of energy in their music. I think their style is kinda indie rock. I kinda liked them.

After their set, Lance and crew got to work in getting the stage set for Matt and Co. Needless to say, Matt did not disappoint. For more photos from that night, you can check my Flickr set.

For lack of anything better...

.. to post today, I have for your viewing pleasure..

Happy Friday!

Let's rock it out!

I am from BAH-Ston!!!!!!

Taped up and nowhere to go...

Well... Okay, so the title might be a smidgen misleading.

I went to see my PT this morning about my knee. She did the usual evaluation. She had me stand, walk, bend and sit. After further manipulating that leg, it's been determined I have some inflammation under the knee cap. Yay. :p

She ended up taping up my knee in two places: one over the knee cap and one just under the knee cap. Then she had me do some things to see how much pain I was getting with the tape. She showed me a few exercises to do to help strengthen the muscle around the knee cap and to get it to pull the knee cap in another direction.

Anyway, I need to pick up some of that tape. The tape she put on today is good for a few days, according to her. Maybe I will get my brother to help re-tape on Sunday. My next appointment is on Monday.