Rainy day distractions

I had great intentions of doing work-related type stuff yesterday, but then I got distracted. This is the result. (You should be able to click to enlarge them Mom - most of them look better like that ;)

Only one with flash that sort of worked

Panoramic-esque

Sploosh!

Waterworks!

Slightly off kilter

This would look so awesome frozen!

Slightly b'jubbled

Crop option 1

Crop option 2 (shhh but I think I like this one better)

Kaplooey!

Don't mind me, just living the fantasy

A friend of mine sent me this from some shop down near LA

Now I know everyone loves Canadians (how could you not ;) but I didn't realize there was such a need to *be* Canadian.

If being Canadian is one of your fantasies, we have a set of instructions you can follow.

Hockey night in Canada

I was listening to the Vancouver - Avalanche game which I suppose ended awhile ago now... and I've just realized that it rolled in to a loop of what sounds like practice ice...

It's relatively quiet, although there are voices in the background. Everything echos a little bit, belying the size of the arena they're in. The slap of shots and the *donk* sounds of the puck off the bar or the deeper hollow sound as it hits the boards... sticks *klacking* and my favorite the *skshhhhhht* of skates making shaved ice.

It's strangely soothing. 

If I close my eyes I can almost imagine watching my friend play. Sitting on a flat, well worn bench in the stands... hot Tim's in hand. Its almost cold enough to see your breath, but the game is exciting enough you don't feel it between cheering them on.

There's more to it, than just using the right words

While messages such as this one (which I correctly received) in my inbox make me smile... and for the most part convey the correct message.

(Click to enlarge)

I am simultaneously appalled at our use of the English language.

By "our" I mean society as a whole.  I say this because whether I like it or not, I have found that my own usage is influenced and affected by those around me. Some of it is local colloquialisms... but sometimes it's just bad grammar.

For future reference

Here's a way to sort drop down lists, the way you should be able to in FileMaker...

http://www.soliantconsulting.com/blog/2012/09/extending-filemaker-pro%E2%80%99s-value-list-sort-capabilities-using-char-function

Look out for those little green leprechauns!

So my friend the music teacher had the kindergarten class today, and apparently they were a little riled up, what with it being St. Patrick's Day and all...

Her: I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with dime, and starts with an "L"

...at which point half the kids in the class yelled out "Leprechaun!!!"

Her: Hmm... No, leprechaun doesn't rhyme with dime.

I think what probably put them over the edge... was coming in to their classroom to find that a leprechaun had come and "trashed" the place in the middle of the night, leaving green sparkles and destruction everywhere he went. 

If everyone did things, just because they could...

Last night I was coming out of Home Depot, walking across the parking lot when I saw a lady  balancing a large unwieldy item, she paused... and I called out to ask if she needed a hand with it (it really looked a little awkward).  She told me she had it, as she stuffed it into the back seat of a laden down 4-door car.

Then she stopped.

She looked up, and said "Thank you. I don't usually meet such nice people when I'm shopping. You just made my evening."

I walked away wishing her a nice evening too... and realized on the way home that I was so shocked by what she'd said, that I'd forgotten to tell her I'm Canadian.

It breaks my little heart, that when people see someone struggling with something they don't stop and offer to help. If she had accepted my offer, it would have taken less than five minutes out of my evening... but even as it was, we both left the parking lot smiling.

Nutritional benefit -1

I'm not sure what my dysfunction is, but I have had no luck getting celery that lasts any length of time down here... 

Ok, well technically it has lasted. But the crunchy aspect leaves more than a little to be desired... I certainly don't eat it for it's nutritional benefits.

I ask you

How is it that the last three minutes struggling through a run, feels longer than five minutes of drinking coffee in the sunshine?

Beware the dark side!

Dark in there it is, take one of these you should...

Brush your teeth you must, or lose them all you will. 

So you had a bad day

There's nothing in this world quite like a bad day... especially the kind where you exhale until there's a vacuum in your chest, and you feel surely that at any moment you'll disappear into the negative space only spoken about in hushed whispers of calculus discussions...

and then an eternity in a second...

before the tears explode.

Breathe.

One of the benefits of getting older, is knowing that this too shall pass...

That whatever it is that isn't okay in my little world, will sort itself out one way or another, and be okay again.

Besides, someone once told me...

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end yet!"

"Terrible" has never been so refreshing

Yesterday I was graced with the honest opinion of a disgruntled employee.

After sitting on hold for at least 20 minutes, waiting for dispatch to tell me my shuttle number I walked out into the rain washed air.  It was cool and fresh, and still raining a little - I grew up on the "Wet coast"... so to everyone else at the airport it was raining a lot.

I climbed into the van, and asked the driver how his night was going. "Terrible!" he responded, and then fully explained it when I asked why.

It was very refreshing.

It wasn't the usual, in fact he told me about his frustrations with dispatch... that as a van service he had made three single runs that evening, and that any time he called he had also been on hold upwards of 20 minutes. Which is "unacceptable!" he exclaimed.

I happen to agree.

He was frazzled, and brusque, but despite all of that he was still patient and polite. I could tell that he was trying his best, and each passenger he contacted, he gave directions to find the pick up area.

I felt bad for him, his level of customer service is higher than the company he's working for and it was bothering him that things weren't what they should be... and yet there didn't seem to be a whole lot he could do about it. I respect that he hasn't adopted an air of indifference, blaming everything on dispatch. In a sense he is still blaming them... but somehow it seems more like they deserve it.

2 hours later I got home.

While I appreciate the reminder not to always just smile and give the rote answer that everything is "fine" it would have been nice to get home sooner.

DMV Question...

I'm practicing for the DMV written exam in California, which seems to be pretty much the same as BC. I was going through the sample questions when this little gem came up...

That's the correct answer indicated.

 Now I ask you, how do you know it's a crosswalk if it's unmarked?!?! *scratches head*

So much for using the bike lane, apparently it's also for parking.

Cooking with reckless abandon

Bought this roast forgetting that I had no roasting pan to speak of...

Tinfoil to the rescue!

In case anyone was wondering, it worked like a charm.

--
The story of my life http://scubajunk.blogspot.com
http://about.me/samantha.vincent

Look up!

I noticed this, and got totally distracted by how cool it looked!! I really need to learn how to take better night shots... still... *sigh*

Reminiscing about an operating system

Dear OS'ssss

Having recently been indoctrinated? into the Mac universe, using it during the day at work and my PC at home at night I've had plenty of time to compare the two.

Is one "better" than the other? Not really as far as I'm concerned. They're just different. I can do my job, or whatever it is I'm trying to do using both.

I've found that they each have their merits, different short cuts that are more intuitive or easier than the other, but that goes both ways there isn't a clear "winner".

But today it hit me!

One of the things I realized for the umpteenth time, is that although I haven't used a *nix machine in at least 9 years I *still* miss having the active window be the one your mouse is hovering over... so you don't have to click before you type.

It just makes sense.

Now please excuse me, I have to go Google it, someone probably has a work around.

Awesome is...

Streaming the Olympic hockey game live while working in the US and listening to Canada score *Cheshire cat grin*

GO TEAM CANADA!!!

Yes, spelling *is* important

Mom pointed this out last night in an extremely on-the-ball witty kind of way, and it made me laugh so hard, so I of course embellished it a little further for your viewing pleasure:

It has recently come to light that the American "Right to bear arms" may have been a misrepresentation due to a transcription error... and that in fact the original intent was that every citizen have the "Right to bare arms"

Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

And elsewhere due to a translation error...

New meaning to "spring snow"

I literally did a double take on the way to get my mail the other day. My body knows what season it is... pretty much everywhere else in North America seems to know what season it is... Cupertino California?

Completely oblivious.

Yeap, even the weather is a little blond down here...

Tales of teaching kindergarten

Now anywhere the class, or a speaking student is indicated... you need to imagine it in a high pitched Cindy-Lou voice, from the original Grinch.

Teacher: Do you guys know Frosty the snow man?

Class: Yeah!!!

Teacher: Yeah? Okay let's sing it together!

Class: "Frosty the snow man... la... la.. humphumpa... hmm.. somethin'... la"

Hmm.

Teacher: Okay, how about we learn the actions that go along with it, to help you learn, and to remember the words.

... "with a corncob pipe" *mimes holding a pipe*

student: what's a pipe?

... "he was made of snow" *mimes packing a snowball*

*pause*

Teacher: You guys know what snow is right?

Class: yeaaahhh..?..

Teacher: Hold up your hands if you've *actually* seen snow.

... righhhht, we're in California, only the Korean kids have seen snow... 

*siigggghhhh*

This isn't usually a problem I have

Well I finally did it, I got all of the ingredients for dinner ready at approximately the same time.

Until I drained the spaghetti...

The look on the little ninja's face said it all "This looks great, but uh... what're you gonna have?"

Yep, that's right... for the first time in the history of making spaghetti noodles, I did not make enough.

A time for every matter under Heaven...

How do you say goodbye to someone who has been a part of your life for longer than you've been alive? I don't think you do... I don't think you're supposed to.

Even as the realization tingles in every fiber of your being with the acute pain of something missing, and the hole that's been left in your heart threatens to cave your chest in and disintegrate everything that gives your body structure... you mustn't let it.

Stop for a moment... Take a deep, if ragged breath, and then take another one.

And know this. This is the moment... the moment in which everything changes. In fact it is from this *very* moment forward, that you must draw from all the good memories you've put away.

Every single one of those memories that are floating around inside the dusty recesses of your mind, that are now tugging gently at your skirt or coattail... don't brush them off, stop for a moment and look at each of them, turn them around, dust them off and remember how they got there.

Don't try to look at them in the darkness of the light that no longer burns, but pause and let your eyes adjust... and you will see that they shine with a light of their own.

 Once you've looked them all over tuck them away, safe in the hole in your heart... and hopefully you'll find that the hole isn't nearly as large as you thought it was.

This is what you save up good memories for.

There are so many things I want to tell you about my Granny. So many things that you would have to know in order to have an understanding of who she was and what she meant to me. But the thing is, I'm not story teller she was... and I'm not sure I can weave this tale together in any sort of pattern right now.

Well to start with, I can tell you that Granny told me with some disdain that she didn't want to make it to a hundred. "Those people are old, and all they do is sit there. I don't want to be like that!" ...and here we are, she would have turned 100 at the end of May.

"I've lived a good life" she always used to tell me. "I have wonderful children who all found good partners, and they're all still together... and they have wonderful children, and I have grand-children and great-great-grandchildren" and then she'd look back into memories that nobody else could see and smile.

She had a beautiful smile.  Her whole face wrinkled up when she smiled, and her eyes twinkled but all the wrinkles knew which way to go. I want to be old like this. Loving, and warm with an air of ancient wisdom. One part pioneer, two parts awesome and one part regally classy like the Queen Mother... when appropriate.

Whenever we spoke on the phone, she could make ten minutes feel like an hour, catch you up on all the important things going on in the family and still make you feel like you were the most important person in the world. No matter what kind of trouble I was getting into Granny would listen carefully and say "As long as you're happy that's the main thing."

She was a wonderful story teller, she was always talking, she loved to talk - got into more trouble that way. She had a way of saying things that no matter how soft or quiet her voice was, it made you stop whatever you were doing and listen. Even if you had already heard that story a hundred times before, or you were no relation whatsoever... time would slow down and you would hang on every word of that story.

She had stories about everything, good and bad... things that just don't happen anymore. But I loved how she delighted in the telling. Her entire body would change when she was telling a story, like she was somehow lighter. I liked that sometimes she told the sad ones too, with a respectful "that's just how it is sometimes".

One of the stories we have about Granny, that makes me ever so proud to be her grand-daughter was when she went down the *big* water-slide at West Ed.

Another one of my favorite Granny moments, was when her and my Aunt were leaving a restaurant up Island and Granny pointed at a motorcycle in the foyer and said to my Aunt "*That's* a Harley-Davidson!"

Well it turned out that the proud owner of that lovingly restored Harley was right behind them, and when he asked Granny if she'd like to sit on it she said "Oh yes please!", and just like that this big hulking 6 foot-something of a man picked Granny up and set her in the saddle.  In the picture of that moment, Granny is grinning to split her face, but the best part of that was after when she recounted the tale of it her eyes would twinkle and she'd end up grinning again.

When my Grandpa passed away, I composed a list of things I remembered about him that nobody else knew... well, these are some of the things about Granny... things I remember from when I was little;

I remember her turning around to me sitting on the dining-room table and saying in a stern voice "Tables are for glasses, not for children's asses" and it shocked me so much that she'd said *whispers*asses*whispers*, that I very nearly fell off!

I remember sleep-overs on weekends, and pushing the couch up against the end of her bed for me to sleep on, singing Robbin-a-Bobbin, and reciting this prayer before bedtime each night...

"Now I lay me down to sleep
I give the Lord my soul to keep
If I die before I wake
I give the Lord my soul to take" 

I remember waking up at 5, and watching cartoons until Granny got up at 8 and made me breakfast... and then let me eat and watch in front of the TV (yes Granny let watch TV for *hours* and it was amazing!)

I remember a round black dog named Binny, because once Granny talked to a vet who unwittingly gave her the advice that if it wasn't going to be a show-dog to "feed it whatever you like" and from that day forward every dog in her life was spoiled with a sampling of the table scraps... or whatever happened to be left over.

I remember walks to the park, even when it was raining... and puddle jumping, she'd call me "Puddle duck" and that it never really mattered what the weather was like, or how wet and dirty I got, we always had fun.

I remember Granny babysitting us as kids, and when Daniel was crabby she opened up the drawer and let him play with all the pots and a wooden spoon.  It was almost as loud as him screaming, but he was happy...

I learned a lot of things from Granny, and I have so many favorite moments that I will probably be writing about them as I remember for the next 30 years... but one of the morsels of wisdom that she passed on came at a perfect time in my life. It was the story about a visit to Northern Ontario with her Mom, Dad and I'm thinking he must have been her fiance at the time, my future Grandfather.

She related the tale with an impish twinkle in her eye... they'd snuck and gone to the Olympic pool, and the two of them had dared each other to dive off. Granny told me that she climbed up and up and up and up, and by the time she was up there, there was no way she was admitting to being chicken and climbing back down so she jumped. The impact of hitting the water stretched her swim cap down over her eyes and face, but she did it!

The next morning, her parent suggested they go check out the Olympic pool... since they were in the area... Granny said when they got there they looked waaaaaay up at the high diving board they'd jumped off of the night before. "You know" she said, "if I'd been able to see that's how high it was I  wouldn't have jumped!" 

That's when she said to me "There are *some* things I never told my parents, and there are some things my children have never told me... *nodding* and I'm alright with that."

Thanks Granny, that's good to know... I'll keep that in mind ;)

I don't want to grow up, but this is how I want to grow old...

When my Granny was 80 she went down the big water-slide at West Ed "The Sky Screamer" which is located 83 feet above the rest of the water park (it's the red one down there, on the left). 

I've mentioned this before, but it's lost in my other ramblings. It really deserves to be told on it's own, so here's the whole story.

She looked up at it and said "I think I want to do *that* one" I'm sure my Aunt looked at her like she was crazy, but said "Okay Mom, I'll be waiting for you at the bottom" and as Granny started up, my Aunt grabbed the nearest lifeguard and muttered "You're coming with me..."

Granny took her time and hiked up the stairs, and waited patiently in line at the top.  While she was up there she watched to see how "everybody else" was doing the big waterslide, and of course modeled herself after the 30-something hunk who crossed his legs, lay down flat and tucked his arms in.

Little did Granny know at the time, that this is the position you assume when you're trying to model a human torpedo... and accordingly torpedoed out the bottom of the Screamer!

My Aunt rushed in, to check her pulse and when the lifeguard asked how Granny was doing, she muttered "better than I am..." *grins* that's *my* Granny.

Later when anyone asked her about the big waterslide and how she liked it she would say "Oh it was fine!" and grin like a school-girl.

Why I love gmail...

For anyone who cares to look, there are little morsels of the human element behind the machine scattered amongst the detritus of automated feedback... things like this that make me smile, because someone just like me put them there.

Apparently it's spring in Cupertino!

I can't believe that after two weeks of decidedly cold weather (not just cold for the area) it's spring at the end of January.

My internal clock is still on Canadian time, and I keep trying to leave the house with my winter jacket on only to take it off as I walk around the corner.

--
The story of my life http://scubajunk.blogspot.com
http://about.me/samantha.vincent

Lesson with my 3rd grade trumpet student today...

Me: This next song is a duet.  What's a duet?

Student: It's when two people doooo it

Machine screw this!

My first successful dremel mod *grins*

Home Despot didn't have a long enough round headed general purpose screw (the kind shaped like a mushroom)... *sigh* because this post wasn't suggestive enough *ahem* aneeeways, so instead I got a longer countersunk one (the kind shaped like it would fit in a funnel) and "fixed" the pot handle instead.

Thanks Dad!!

Good things come in white boxes

Thanks auto phone rotate... whatever, you get the picture.

Happy Birthday, Mac

There are some perks to being a contractor  here ;)

Multi-tasking mishap

Eating carrots, drinking tea and programming.

All very ninja-esque... until you reach into your tea cup for the next carrot.

Pah, puny human!

Every once in a while karma reminds me that I'm only human. In the way, that only karma can.

This generally happens any time I start to think that my superior immune system renders me impervious to the plights of weaker ones.

That's about the time I'm reduced to a pathetic, achy, congested, sneezing, snivelling mess of a human being. Unfit to walk to the corner store. One that is about as far as possible, from the supposed peak of evolutionary development we like to consider ourselves to be...

But this cold has got me thinking (for the briefest of moments anyways)... That seriously? This runny snotty mess is the most efficient way we've come up over the last six million years to get rid of internal disease and pestilence?

I'm not impressed.

I would ponder this further, but my congestion has backed up into my cerebral cortex and everything is grinding to a halt.

No match for even the tiniest of virus and bacterium.

Absolutely pathetic.

*That* friend

Everybody needs that friend who trips you up short...

 just before you descend into your spiralling whirlpool of hypothetical chaos.

That friend who says 

"Dude, stop worrying about things that haven't happened yet. You have enough to contend with."

The one, who will, if absolutely necessary say "Remove head from ass, and use it for once!"

Then reaches down a hand to pull you out of your own Wile E. Coyote body indent.

The one who reminds you to stop, and breath for a moment.

I really appreciate that friend right now.

Thank you, friend.

Dear future self

When you are working with SVN and trying to svn:ignore a file...

Stop.

And remember, that as this lovely gentleman clarifies it so nicely:

You don’t svn:ignore a file.

You put an svn:ignore property on the directory to ignore that filename pattern!

Thank you kind sir, the time and frustration you saved me have been reallocated to more important matters. 

It's so SHINY!!!

I don't think there is anything quite as awesome as a brand new slinky, (except maybe you) thanks Dan!

Joke for the day

What do you call a fast moving chihuahua?

... a floor-pedo!

How do you like your coffee?

I like my coffee crisp ;)

The miles between strangers, from different worlds and times

You are intrigued, you think I might be interesting... and yet what a disappointment, how boring I must seem. A veritable chasm exists between us, although we appear at first glance to inhabit the same nerdy high-tech world... 

There are experiences I take for granted, that have left their mark on this skin that I wear, and helped shape me into who I am... and yet, here you are, arriving at the same time and place having travelled a completely different path.

It makes me a little bit sad, that you are so far removed from the natural beauty that surrounds you.

How you have no idea what it feels like to fall through fresh powder, or to get tumbled end over end through a wave with your surf board your lungs screaming for air, feeling like you're on the verge of inhaling water... only to break the surface and swim back out to try it again because you were *so* close to riding that last wave...

You've never ridden a bike in any manner that used any muscles other than the ones in your legs, nor have you had it try to throw you into a tree (which to tell you the truth, isn't a bad thing)... Nor have you been soaked to the skin, covered with mud and slush and chilled your face to an unnatural hue... But that also means you've never felt the thrill of accomplishment that comes with navigating a particularly hard section of trail, or just how wonderfully alive your entire body feels when you get off your bike in the parking lot... standing there panting, body steaming, warm muscles twitching as if sounding off that they are still alive and counted for.

Maybe you've woken up sore, a day or two after a particularly hard workout... but I wonder if you feel like you earned it, or if it's just something that you put up with, to maintain your "girlish" figure?

I am trying not to judge you, just as I hope you are doing the same.  This first hurdle is the hardest, getting to know someone when you have completely different perspectives, and it seems no common point of reference. 

When you look at someone surfing, or skiing you see crazy danger... but I see something beautiful and amazing. For a brief second I am caught up in what it feels like and long to do it again.

How do you explain that, to someone who has never done it before?  Describe how doing something feels (which sounds awful to them), but also convey the *entire body* sense of well being that comes after? I haven't found out yet. I will be sure to let you know if I do though.

In any case, I think we could probably learn a lot from each other. I know from experiences past we will find something, and then laugh and wonder why it took so long... but until then bear with me friend, I've come a long way... but I still have a long way yet to go.

Delta Airlines, into the burlap sack with you.

Last weekend, I was leaving somewhere it gets harder to leave every time I go...

We were out for dinner, and I got an automated voicemail and email informing me that my flight had been delayed by half an hour. I figured at very least it would make getting stuck in traffic on the way to the airport less stressful. However upon arrival at the airport I was unable to print off my boarding pass... not awesome, so I talked to some guy at customer service who informed me that my flight had only been delayed 4 minutes and unless I had my own printout, or the mobile boarding pass I couldn't go through security - even though I had checked in the previous evening.

He then waved me in the direction of "Special Services" however I ended up at the automated check in kiosk, waiting for an attendant and scrolling through the flight options while calling my friend to say "You might not be rid of me yet..."

The first option I was looking at was an hour later that evening and had the ambiguous option of "No standby available" and then a "Standby only" button. WTF does that mean?!?!  ...and when the attendant was able to assist me, she looked at me like *I* was the crazy one, as if somehow I had magically gone to some screen she'd never seen in her life.

*raises eyebrows* are you kidding me? What do you mean you don't know?!?

In any case she pointed me in the exact direction of "Special Services" where I got a very helpful lady, who listened carefully, pulled up my details and reacted.  She called the gate, explained that she needed to print me a boarding pass, got off the phone and said "They aren't going to hold the plane for you, but if you can make it through security in time, they'll let you board." as she handed me my boarding pass she said tell them that you need to be expedited at security.

And with that I was running to security.

Somehow, there was a gap in the flow of people... magically they opened a second security line as I was standing there and almost everyone moved into that line, as I was waiting to go through the body scanner the security guard pulled me around through the metal detector effectively bypassing that line... and my things were just coming out the other end of the x-ray vision machine.

All I could think of while I was trying to jam things into my backpack was that I never would have survived the fire in the first story of the hunger games.  My movements were awkward and it took way too long to get my laptop back into my bag...

I ran out of security frantically searching for 51A, and saw 51B... 52... 53? Where the hell did they put 51A?!?! Over the loudspeaker I hear "...this is the final boarding call for passengers VINCENT and SOMEOTHERGUY with service to San Jose" *grrrrr* I spun around back towards security, and there tucked around the corner, nestled in there far enough to be easily overlooked is gate 51A.

I hustle over, hand the lady my boarding pass which she scans disregarding my id completely... and I board the plane.

I don't even mind that I'm sitting next to a slightly inebriated 21 year old.  I'm on the flight I'm supposed to be on. I'm not going to have to call and change my shuttle again.

As the flow of information... sights and sounds slowly returns to normal no longer tightly focused to getting on this plane, I realize that I'm not the last person on this flight, and that we aren't quite leaving yet.

*sigh*

We did finally end up leaving somewhere after the time I had been automatically informed my flight had been delayed to, but I am still less than impressed.

First of all, don't bother informing me of a delay unless it is actually delayed... Secondly as your customer I should not have a "delay time of half an hour" when everyone else who looked at it on their terminal has a delay time of four minutes. Thirdly, for how cool I thought it was that you were keeping me in the loop... I have now lost all confidence that your notifications are correct, making them completely useless. Also, being next to a guy at Special Services who actually missed his flight due to your faulty notifications makes me even less impressed.

To mitigate this, you should have sent another update when the flight was changed to back on schedule.  Thanks for trying, but you have a long way to go before I'll put any stock in your notifications again.

If I were illiterate...

This would look more like instructions to me *squints and strokes chin* 

"When you light a fire on the stairs, run away from it going down!"

These boots were made for walkin'...

But apparently these socks weren't :(

Only five dollah? Sold!

Well, in an effort to find something cheaper than Walmart... I did!

Now I thought it might be a little big for our needs in the store, but it's only $5... *shrugs* ...yeah, upon closer scientistical measurements (and by this I mean using the cup markers on my Rubbermaid tupperwares) it would appear that I am now the proud new owner of a kettle capable of boiling a US gallon.

So, if you are running low on hot water while you're camping next weekend... come find us.

This conversation actually happened.

Yes Virginia, in America we protect against germs tranferred by toilet seats.  Welcome to the 21st century.

Me: "Okay, so I get that you pull up and then down to get the toilet tissue out of the little box thingee... but how do people rip the middle part out, and flip it in the right direction and get it on so fast!? I mean what if you gotta pee really bad?!"

Her: "Um wow."
        "Oh Canadian." *shakes head* (I'm sure that's what happened)
         "Well, I don't know about most people... but I just kind of just put it down..."

Me: *incredulous* "With..out ripping the middle bit out? But..." *tilts head*

Her: "Well, yeah I put it down and sit on it... and the weight of the pee just magically goes through it somehow"
        *heh* "I dunno, I never really thought about it"

Me: "Hm."
       "I don't think I like that."

Me: "How are you supposed to know this stuff anyways?! I feel like Stallone's character in Demolition man and the three shells in the bathroom thing"

Her: *giggles* "I dunno! I mean, it's not like anyone ever sat *me* down and said 'this is how you do this' I just kind of figured it out I guess"

It's fresh out... but not *that* cold

So while I was walking to work in a nice (albeit short sleeved) shirt... there was a lady in front of me in a down *p*arka - yes I want you to emphasize the "p" in Parka.

WITH THE HOOD UP! 

I think I understand where "crazy Canadian" comes from... but for the record, I think you guys are all nuts too ;)

I'm the luckiest girl ever!

Thank you so much for sending me flowers on my birthday. They were such a wonderful surprise considering I had just moved to the new country, and nobody really knew where I was yet.  It never even occurred to me that you could send them to my hotel room...

Between the love and well wishes and texts and phone calls I never really felt that alone, its amazing how you can be hundreds of miles away from everyone and still feel so loved!

Thank you soooo much, they make me smile every single day now :)

Moving 101 rant

Okay, *every* single place I have ever moved out of, I've left a full roll of toilet paper for the next person moving in. You are *always* going to need it, and there is nothing worse than having to tear through and unpack everything you own *just* so you can go pee...

Now all of that being said, I have yet to move into a place with toilet paper... like ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

Luckily I have packed around emergency pee paper since I can't even remember when, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with camping with my Dad combined with adventures with Mrs. Batman with an 'e'.

*exhales*

I would therefor like it noted *ahem* My Kim that while I have no idea how long I've been carrying this little zippy bag around for, it finally came in handy, and it was totally worth every second ;)

You light up my kitchen with your smile

To the Cheerios employee who thought of this... it's true, and having just moved into a new place I really appreciated the reminder.

Thank you

Do not park here...

You may never see your car again!

Sent... While running around ;)

w00t W00t! IT God status...

Achievement unlocked!

Found out what I will be working on today, and as usual I have 4 weeks to complete it... some things never change ;)

But I *have* successfully BMamputated my Mac using macports effectively getting Apache, PHP and MySQL running and playing nicely with each other thanks to this amazing tutorial - Thanks Jerry!

http://muddledramblings.com/rumblings-from-the-secret-labs/lamp-server-from-scratch-with-macports/

This feeling is sooooo weird

I feel like a dog shaking the water off... dust would be more appropriate, but I just rediscovered a couple commands for vim, a text editor I last used in University at least 8 years ago :p

Crows...

There we were... stuck in traffic, watching the crows fly haphazardly around the trees and other aerial obstacles like kids on bikes, when something about this comment struck a chord and made me laugh, shake my head and smile in agreement... 

 Crows, they're like the hooligans of the sky! Lookit them flying around like they own the place...  ~Little ninja

I don't think you understand the Gravity of the situation...

GRAVITY

"It's a movie with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.
In space.
And something happens to them! 

Don't you want to know how it ends?!?" 
                                                                   ~Hooker

What's not to be excited about?!?  All in all, it was a pretty good movie I liked it, even if is all green-screened and they don't always obey the laws of physics. If nothing else it has some wicked awesome space footage that you should definitely see on the big screen!

Disclaimer: I also liked all kinds of horrible movies... so Adam, you probably don't want to see this one ;)

It goes both ways ;)

We overheard this on the radio the other morning on our way into school, and it made me laugh so hard...

"Try as we might, we can't seem to keep Canadian culture from invading ours... Tonight, the Ducks play the Kings in a preseason game in the Honda center!"

Bet you didn't know... that Canadians don't even stand like Americans!?!

Last week, when I was introduced as being Canadian to one of the teachers at the little ninja's school... She said that she had seen me and thought that I didn't look American, that maybe I was European!

I held back the inappropriate response of "only in the bathroom" ;)

See, the joke is this: "If you're Canadian when you go into the bathroom, and American when you come out... what are you while you're in there?"

...

Are you ready? *grins* ... "You're-a-pee'n!"

Buahahahahaha!

Upon further reflection though, she wasn't really that far off, I am part British and part Czech... but totally Canadian ;)

 

Wave west. No, not that kind of wave... the other one!

Note from the Captain:
I'm plugging north, pushing the boat a bit - it certainly pounds going to windward and I've done a lot of that. Currently 640 nm north of Hawaii, close hauled all the way.  Finally making a bit of easting but looking at the gribs it'll be a week or more before I can start the serious turn east.  Pushing hard so it's less than comfortable but this is serious sailing - winds have been solid 10 to 30 from the NE and seem to be moving a bit east.

Your time 14:00 16 Sept, please face due west, ideally with an unobstructed view and wave - I'll be passing LA at that time and I'll wave back!  Unfortunately the earth is round so we'll each be seriously below the horizon relative to each other.

The Captain's approx. location Sept 14th at 11am(ish)

...

Here I am Dad!  Can you see me?!? *smiles*

*wavies*

Sage advice

"Don't frown at your food. If you're done, just be done."

From the Captain

Never gout round to telling you about my pet fish.

It's about a 5 lb Tuna that has taken up residence under the boat and has been with me at least 10 days now.  Apparently this is not uncommon, but he scoots along by the keel, or especially in the evening, right at the surface at the transom, about half under the boat and half exposed, top fin and tail breaking surface.

Anyway, he managed to stay with the boat when I was doing 8+k, getting totally twisted around by wind shifts and motoring at 5 k.  Wonder where he gets the energy / food to keep this up?

Anyway - I do have company out here, and no, I can't get a picture of him, least not yet.

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I'm all thumbs

Damn you autocorrect, mocking my sleep and caffeine deprived thumbs...

The thought of peace is the seed

It's our job to nurture it and help it grow, so that those around us can see how beautiful it is.

Last night Mom and I attended a peaceful gathering, in order to remember what happened at Hiroshima... there was singing, and dancing and a couple of speeches. The main event of the night however was the highlight for me, and renewed my faith in our ability to work together... in small groups ;)

45+ individuals from the crowd... young and old alike, moving together carried 45 floating lanterns down to the lagoon and back.

I think for me that was even more incredible than how magical they looked.

I can't work today...

This was not what I had in mind for this morning, it was not even remotely part of my game plan for today... stupid wasp...

In the early morning pre-coffee confusion that seems to start every day, I looked up to see a wasp wandering across my monitor. I watched it with morbid fascination as my brain tried to dredge up the appropriate response, and concern... 

Everything snapped back to reality along with the gravity of the situation when the damn thing started flying *directly* towards me in a slow drunken hover...

Gah! I leapt from my chair and performed evasive maneuvers... and hid behind my rolly chair :p

The wasp aborted and settled for examining my keyboard... See! I *can't* program today, there's a bug I'm not sure how to fix yet...

Until... he settled on my coffee cup... *evil grin* Hah! I'm not the only one who likes three scoops of sugar in this sweet sweet nectar ;)

And just like that, he was trapped between my cup and Ben's work orders... and we threw him outside by the seat of his britches, and ran away like little girls ;)

And all of this happened before I'd finished my first cup of coffee. Completely unacceptable!

Start at the beginning

Sometimes when you're programming... and what you're doing isn't working, and hypothetically it *should* be working... it's best to delete everything and start over.

I'm having one of those days, things are now working and looking up.

Driving me crazy to vindictive satisfaction in the blink of an eye

Booyah! I just hit a fly out of mid-air :)

#likeaninja