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!