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.