I should just disconect internet when studying

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Garage sale gone horribly wrong

I went up to Natasha's yesterday to try and hock my junk at her garage sale. There was a parade of garage sales in the Mackenzie Town/Copperfield area, but Natasha's was the only one on her block. Now from having some of my own garage sale-ing experience, I know that people do not tend to bother with streets that only have one sale during such parades... not worth their while. So needless to say, or traffic was slow.

I sold a DVD player and some plastic Disney glasses and an old car amplifier. And I managed to raise $20 for MS through the cookies Natasha and I baked Friday night... but all in all, I did not manage to make enough money to cover Peter's and my spending att he Children's Miracle Network fundraiser that we went to for dinner. We ended up walking away from that with 4 new cookbooks (all with healthy new ideas to try) and a jersey signed by all the Calgary Flames (is that cool, or what?).

So, I made $43 at the garage sale (excluding the MS money) and spent $420 on bringing more stuff into our house... but it’s for a good cause right?

If you would like to sponsor me in my Walk for MS next Saturday, please do so here:
https://msors.mssociety.ca/walk2007/Sponsor.aspx?L=2&PID=938481

Emo, I admit it, I love it!

I ended up in the front row on the floor at the My Chemical Romance concert last night... and Wow! They put on a great show.

We were about the oldest people there other than the parents who brought their children, but that was okay, Natasha and I fully embraced it. Derek seemed to enjoy it, and Peter endured it. It was a fluke that we ended up with the seats we did. I had looked at tickets some time ago, and nothing too close was available. Then yesterday, the day of the concert, these tickets just magically appeared. It was all meant to be!

The opening band was something to be desired (though Peter actually seemed to) I didn't bother getting their name, but I think it was something like "The Blood". I didn't got here to see/hear death metal, and with the PA system right in front of us, had to leave for most of their performance.

My Chemical Romance had so much energy and they had great theatrics. Gerard came out in a hospital gurney and looked all dead. I think they also give a really good message to the youth of today. They seem to want to get through to the outcast/loner kids. If these kids can hear this message, maybe there will be less Columbine/Virginia Tech type incidents.

I can see... kinda

My laser eye surgery was last Thursday, and I can see quite well now. On Monday I had an appointment, where they measured my vision, and it came out at 20/25 vision (compared to the "normal" person who can see at 20/20... who is this "normal" person anyway?) But they said it will continue to get better, so there is still hope that I will end up with the eagle-eye vision that I set out to achieve. But they tested my vision in a dark room with white glowing letters. In the real world with so much backlighting, I have such a hard time focusing. That is getting better every day, and I hope to be able to comfortably be able to look at the computer or read my text books by tomorrow.

The Secret: it works. maybe....

Yesterday Dave came to town and the 3 of us went climbing at the gym. Peter and I were planning to go anyway, but it was nice to have Dave because he really helped me push myself. It's great to see someone who can do so much. It makes me want to spend every waking moment climbing walls. Tomorrow we plan on going out to Canmore to a "real" mountain. It should be fun since I now have the proper equipment I can get off the ground without fear of falling.

So after climbing, we drove past the theatre and discussed the new Spiderman 3 movie that opened that day. We decided we would play it by fate and if it happened to be starting when we got out from diner, we would go see it, but only if there wasn't a stupid long line up. Dave and I talked about The Secret and the power of positive thinking. We took our time at dinner, and basically forgot all about Spiderman.

After diner, we drove past the theatre again, got a parking spot RIGHT in front, and walked right in. The lobby was empty and the sign said Spiderman started at 11:00. It was 11:05. There was no problem getting tickets, and in the theatre, there were only about 10 people... on OPENING night!

Anyway, I think I would have been disappointed if I had stood in line. There wasn't enough action. If I go see a movie like that, I don't care about the cheesy love story bit. Sure I respect its necessity, but less of it and more of the superhero bit would be welcome. The 'evil' Superman could have been done so much better!

The power of positive thinking did not work on Second Cup still being open before we went into the movie, however!

Good-by beloved contacts, hello adventure

If all goes well, today is my last day of wesring contact lenses. I can't believe the day has finally came. I've worn them about half my life, but I don't think I will miss them.

If all goes well, today is my last day of wearing contact lenses. I can't believe the day has finally came. I've worn them about half my life, but I don't think I will miss them.

On another note, I realized today that I think I am having some sort of early mid life crisis. 27 has always seemed like such an important age to me, that I think I just feel like I have to get out there and do everything. That is probably what is behind the idea of trekking through China.

I also have started rock climbing. Well, climbing walls in the gym that have plastic hand-holds screwed on. A couple weekends ago we went out to White Buda in Kananaskis, but didn't have a rope, so only did a bit of bouldering. Yesterday I went to the climbing gym and really badly want to go again (but my arms hurt a bit, so I will wait a day or two). It's very exhilarating to climb up so high and yet be relatively secure (importance of trust in your belayer).

So all in all, who cares if I am having a mini breakdown, at least I am having some fun and putting a little adventure in my life. Must get the adventure in before I become a full fledged accountant... because everyone knows accountants aren't allowed to have fun :)

AST - May 10 wow!

AST - Advanced Surface Treatment is somewhere in between Lasik and PRK treatments. They mechanically lift a thin epithelial flap and discard it. A 'bandage lens' is placed over the freshly lasered eye ball to protect the eye from blinking and is removed 3-5 days later. So it is supposed to be better than lasik in that there is no risk of 'flap' complications, less risk of 'dry-eye' and superior long term vision and contrast.

Plus the cost qualifies as medical expenses for income tax and is exempt from GST. $3000 and I will have perfect eye sight in less than 1 month from now.

1 more down!

I wrote my OM1 exam (Operations Management). It was not too hard, but really there was not enough time, so I scrambled through it. There was 1 question that I really don't remember even learning about, and a couple that I didn't have the time to think through thoroughly. Anyway, today I got an email that said the exam I wrote was intended for a 4 hour sitting, not a 3 hour sitting, so they will take the 8 best marks on the 11 questions... yay is me!

6 more courses, 1 internship and 1 designation exam to go! Is that all???

Even bowling is better than studying

Once again, I have an exam to study for. Operations Management, the first of the 4 courses I need to finish my degree. And I am procrastinating studying in my usual manner. I just can't get into this course. It's not that it's hard, it's actually only a second year course, and after the last couple CGA courses I have done, it is a nice break, but it's just really not very interesting. The group work was an interesting part of this course. Being part of a group where no one lives in the same city is a pretty cool use of this wonderful internet thingy... will brick and mortar universities have any need of existence in the future when I can sit at home at 2 AM on a Saturday night to add my 2 cents to the group discussion in my pajamas. Don't worry, I do realize that not only is it bad to mix merlot and email, it is also bad to mix beer and term projects.

So instead of studying yesterday, I went out with the work social club (which I really should think of rejoining, so I don't feel like such a party crasher) to bowl, drink and eat pizza. It was actually much more entertaining than I had expected, and I got the 2nd best scores of our team (all 3 games over 100 points). Plus, how can one not have fun while wearing those shoes???

Today I will have to suck it up and do some studying though. And it upsets me that the time change was this morning and I lost an hour, as if I don't have too little time as it is!

Shredding the Gnar

Went snowboarding yesterday. It was fun. I think it was the first time that I actually didn't completely wish I was skiing the whole time... progress! I stayed on 1 blue run most of the time that I was comfortable with. The problem with Sunshine is that there are a lot of green runs with lots of flat spots and a lot of black runs, and not a lot in between. It would probably be a great mountain on skis. I am sure that there are lots of good runs, but I find it hard to explore on the snowboard, so I stick to the runs that I know. I will have to explore it on skis one day soon!

It was a bit cold and windy, but what do you expect in the middle of the Rockies in February? At least it wasn't very busy!

Trips

Well the tickets are booked for China. There is also some possibility that I might go to Africa in May. That would be great. I was hoping to go to China in May, but everyone's schedules didn't work out that way. So if I could go to Africa, that would be great. it would only be 10 days, but that is all I need. Plus, I would need to take the time off unpaid, because even the 3 weeks to China will require 1 week unpaid (unless I can bank some serious overtime... which is unlikely). But regardless, 10 days in Africa to go and help build an orphanage would be such a great experience. Does it seem weird though that I would be running away from here where a baby is supposed to be born in May to go build an orphanage?

I love babies, and even this one I wish all the best. But nonetheless, it is hard, and I am not sure how I will deal with May no matter where in the world I happen to be. I hope it is Africa; cross your fingers for me!

3 hurrays for Costco

Today I finally got a new desk. I bought it from Costco and here is a picture of it. The picture is actually off the manufacture's website, mine is already strewn with text books. I am happy to finally have a desk that looks like it belongs to a grown-up. My old one will go to my friends' 9 year old daughter. We played 80's Trivial Pursuit with them last night. I think I was at a disadvantage because I was only 10 by the end of the 80's and spent the vast majority of the decade in the remote back-woods, but it was fun either way. With girls against guys, we managed to win anyway, but my only contribution to the team was my uncanny ability to roll the dice the exact right number to keep landing on the spots that give you pie.

I also bought a 20" flat screen monitor to replace my old 17" tube. I hope all this makes studying more fun!

It was worth a try

Well, it was worth applying for, because otherwise I would have always wondered what I was missing. I went to the interview today, and I think tomorrow I will let him know that I am not interested in the job. The job is more administrative than it is accounting. It would be supervising 12-15 people, and without any supervisory experience I don't know if I would get it anyway. But the point is that it is not accounting and I need more upper level accounting experience to get my designation. So I will stay where I am at. Which is good, I like where I am at. I just would have also liked the substantial wage increase... but it's not all about money... is it?

Job interview

Tomorrow is my interview for that job I applied for. On Friday I spent 2-1/2 hours in the mall looking for a suit. All my blazers from the past are super big on me since I lost some weight last year. I guess that is a good thing. But every store has massive clearance sales on right now. Which is also a good thing, because it meant that I wouldn't have to spend a tonne of money, however, I could not find any matching suits in the right size. Either the blazer would be a size 4 and the skirt/pant would be a size 14 or the other way around.

I went to another mall Saturday and finally found a blazer & pant that (almost) match in the same size. Actually fits me aeally well and was less than $60 after tax. They don't match exact, but is similar enough that they look good together anyway.

I also found a really cute spring jacket for $15. How could I turn away?

We Lost Another

What a weekend this has been.

Friday night was the most bizarre. I went out to Dixon's with a group of people from work to celebrate (is that the right word?) the quitter leaving us. It's sad I will miss him... but he now belongs to the "other side".... if I didn't disslike Star Wars so much I would call it the "dark side". Oh well.

So the first weird this is that I saw my old production manager from my old job, which I left in 2004. Then later in the night I saw that he was sitting with one of the salesmen that used to visit us there. I couldn't remember the salesman's name, so I didn't go to see him, but before he showed up I talked to the other guy a while. He looks much less stressed than when I worked with him (I know I am a much happier person).

So when I got home, Peter was still out (he came home around 11:30 which sure shows up my 9:00), but it turns out that him and a couple friends were in the same pub. How does a husband and a wife end up in the same bar as each other and not notice each other... it's a mystery that will never be solved! Okay... maybe it could be solved, but I trust it won't be!

Yesterday, I think I must have been on Kryptonite or something. I did laundry, I baked cookies, I made chili (awesome chicken chili from Best of Bridge - I highly recommend), I worked out, I watched 1 and a half hockey games (yay the flames won! I'll even allow Vancouver to win when that happens.), and I did my homework. Technically the homework was done this morning, and the rest of my group is likely to think that I am on glue because I posted to the message board at 1.13 AM. But I felt like I was dropping the ball a bit this week in the group discussion.

So now I think I can take a fairly relaxing Sunday to finish off the weekend.

New job to apply for

So tomorrow I am going to apply for a new job.

This is a job for a different division of my same company, and it looks like I am pretty well qualified for it. It's kind of neat, it would involve a lot of travel to Northern Alberta (unfortunately no LA or London). But travel is something that doesn't seem to be that common in accounting positions, so I think that it might be fun.

I am now taking a operations management course. It is part of a Batchelor of Commerce degree, but offered through partnership with CGA, so it is only CGA students in my class. In our discussion we have been talking about our jobs, and it seems that I am one of the few at this level who is not in a supervisory role. I guess realization started me looking, and the timing of this posting couldn't be better.

So I have no idea if I will get the job or not, I try not to get my hopes up too much, but you never know unless you try. Wish me luck!

Today, according to my horoscope, I have an opportunity to grow. Cool, I've always wanted to be taller.

Last night I watched Little Miss Sunshine. It was really hilarious. I wish I was that comfortable with myself when I was a kid. Come to think about it, and made obvious by my first sentence, I wish I was that comfortable with myself now.

The holidays past

So I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and the beginnings of a happy New Year!

It seemed I was busy - busy - busy! Today I went back to work and it took my half an hour to figure out what month and what year I was working in. First I tried Jan 2006, and then I tried Dec 2005... then I figured it out that Jan 2007 is now (weird hey), but what I was looking for was Dec 2006. You know you have been away from real life too long when you can't even figure that out. That was after I showed up to work half an hour late. Needless to say I am behind in my Year end duties.

Anyway, my Christmas holidays involved driving to Kelowna and then to Grand Forks the next day. Grand Forks was wonderfully relaxing. There was so much snow, and the deer seem to just hang out in my mom's yard. My sister didn't even freak out from the proximity to the wild animals (I think she felt safe being inside the house). Then we drove back to Kelowna on the 26th, and spent some time with my grandma and a couple mutual friends of Peter's and mine where we had a couple late nights of Clue and Skip-Bo. Then we came back to Calgary on the 29th. So it didn't end up being very long in either K-town or GF, but it was nice to see the family.

So what's in store for 2007? More homework, a trip to China... who knows what else. 2006 was sure an eye-opener!

I'm back!!!

I got my blog address back!

Yay - happy New Year to me!