Musings on a Small Life

I've been pretty much MIA from this blog for about a week. That's okay, no one has missed anything that I can relate in a public forum. (But the story from the bus driver who used to work for Ottawa public transit, involving a "bj" -- not his, another driver's -- a young woman who had a seizure in the middle of it, charges, firing and divorce is quite the tale. Couldn't make stuff like that up. Sheesh.) I have nothing like that to recount from my own life! Work carries on, I'm in the middle of another super-tedious annual project. So tedious it brings new depth to the word. I was off Monday (vacation day), was very productive in the morning. What did I do in the afternoon? I wrote the numbers 1 through 49 in nice black marker on paper, cut them all out into individual squares, then tossed them onto the living room floor. The idea was to have both Nicki and Derry pick three numbers each, and combined they would be the winning lottery numbers. H...

Dad forwarded me this photo: It's our old house in Sunnybank, in Gaspé, being raised because of flooding in 2010. I don't know who took the pic, though see it was from early October this year. The house originally was built by Coleman Patterson early in the 20th century, burned down at one point and was rebuilt long before we ever lived there. I didn't even recognize it! When we owned the place, it was white with green shutters, had a very leaky roof and generally was falling to pieces, no one doing much in the way of repairs. You have to look in the background below, I couldn't find any scanned pics of just the house, though I'm sure I must have old prints somewhere. It took me a while to realize that the yellow house was the same one, as it was snapped from Elmer's field, which is off to the right when you're looking at the second pic. (And that's Polly, my first horse soulmate, Elmer's work horse.) Same glorious old maple tree, thou...

Something woke us last night, not late, and I heard Derry growl beside me, then jump off the bed. Nicki joined him and they went to the hall, on alert. I lay in bed, straining to hear something, but couldn't, and finally got up to peek outside. Saw the mom and kids piling out of the grey truck next door. So my guess is that they were in Toronto for a few days, for whatever reason. Alas, things will return to "normal" now. I guess I ought to wish everyone a happy Halloween. I'm indifferent to it, frankly, and will be one of "those" people hiding in their house, lights off. Used to give out candy, but don't bother anymore. I'll be sure to remove Toby's house and food dishes from the front step, though, store them away for the night. I don't trust some of the sh*t kids in our area to leave them intact and undamaged. Oh, one of the bus drivers was in costume this morning: Dressed all in black from head to toe, complete with black wig...

In spite of dire warnings, so far Hurricane Sandy has been a non-event for us, at least in this little part of Ontario. High winds, yes, but nothing unprecedented, and almost no rain at all. I realize this hasn't been the case for others in the province, and of course not for millions of Beings along the U.S. east coast.  My thoughts and "prayers" are with everyone affected. There's something odd going on next door...or not going on. It's quiet . Abnormally (for them) quiet. I haven't heard the kids since late last week, or the mother for that matter. A different truck is in the driveway, not the husband's usual work truck, though I know they have three vehicles, so it could be his third one (work truck, car, and maybe this). Sunday evening I heard a muffled male voice speaking to someone, but that's been it. I can't imagine those kids being quiet if they were home--unless they and the mother have been drugged into submission. They do have...

To the young woman on route #7 at 11AM, heading home today: Get yourself a pocket pack of Kleenex (facial tissue) and blow your damned nose. I get that you have a cold, but your snorting sounds just like a pig rooting for food in a feed trough, and no one else wants to listen to that. Thank you.

Just goes to show how sugar impacts my body: A few days of cutting back to more reasonable levels (still too high) meant I had an awesome session on the rower when I got home (early) from work this afternoon. Broke my 20 minutes/100 calories record, so the new bar is set to 20 minutes/105 calories (total 25 minutes/130 calories). I know it's not much for those of you who are in shape/are athletes, but for me, well, trust me, it's noteworthy for this 30-pound overweight, flabby, cellulite-covered body.  :-) And while some parts of our country are getting their first snow of the upcoming winter season, we've been enjoying record-setting warm temps. Alas, the good weather ends tomorrow, as we settle into a week of chilly, rainy days. I predict long johns in my not-too-distant future. But I made it through the work week, though the five days felt like ten and I wished I had a mountain of chocolate to eat. Hair cut tomorrow, though I like how the back is coming ...

I'm falling asleep around 8PM these days, can't even keep my eyes open to keep reading in bed, something I love to do. And trying to get out of bed between 3:30AM and 4AM is sheer torture. I really have been slogging this week and last. Presumably partly because I've been eating way too much sugar, even for me, and my body just feels "blah," and partly, I think , because it's pitch dark out now, with sunrise not until after 7:30AM, well after I'm settled at my cubicle desk at the office. Trust me, it's hard to find the motivation to leave the house at 6AM, when your instincts are to go back to bed! Even my rowing has been hard, in spite of Monday's intense, but laborious session. Last evening I was as slow and easy as when I first started doing it back in mid-September. I got into a really awesome rhythm, mind you, but I wasn't exactly burning many calories. Anyone else having difficulty getting up and going these days? Hav...

It's hard slogging this week at work, and it's only Tuesday. And it's hard slogging on the rower, too, or was yesterday after work. Wanted to give up after 5 minutes, but managed to do my usual time and even match my best workout so far. Have no idea how I did that, because it really was laborious.  It's 1:16PM EDT and all I can think is that I want to go home and be with the boys. Who will drive me crazy when I am home. LOL. Anyway, I have a bunch of (technical term) miscellaneous snapshots, just for something to post, the first set being in the cemetery, on Thanksgiving weekend. The morning light and shadows were problematic, and I had only the little Elph with me.  Hard to make out all the headstones, but an entire clan seems to be interred here. I have no idea who's buried here, I just liked the ivy growing on the fence. A few snaps from yesterday on campus, while standing on our building's steps.  Beats me how to get ...

So I found out today why the McDonald's in WalMart charges me 93 cents for a small cup of coffee, whereas the downtown McDonald's I sometimes stop in before work charges me $1.25 for the same. They're giving me the senior's discount. Seriously. This morning... Me, to the clerk behind the counter: "How come I pay only $0.93 here and I pay $1.25 downtown?" The young girl replies that she doesn't want to say, because she doesn't want to insult me. Then she tells me anyway, that she's giving me the senior's discount. She says I look like I'm in my 40s, and trails off.... I admit to her that I'm in my late 40s. "What age qualifies for a senior's discount?" I ask, stunned that I qualify (sort of) for a senior's discount of any kind. Just how old do I look, anyway?! "Fifty," she says. Well, that means I must look like I'm in my fifties then, if she's giving me the freaking discount . By the...

Why, oh why does everything at work fall onto one's desk at once? Any "one." It's the same for us all. There's some unwritten universal law about this, feast or famine. I actually had to email the director of a government agency yesterday, about an annual data project we do (mostly me, because it goes up on our web site), and tell her that for the first time ever , I didn't think I could make her November deadline. (Keep in mind I'm just the flunky research/admin assistant, pretty low on the food chain.) There's just so much happening right now. I told her I was freaking out over the thought of a missed deadline, but that I just couldn't guarantee getting the project completed. (I've never missed a deadline that I can recall, am always early for appointments and meetings, etc.) As it turns out, another university can't meet that short deadline either, so she's going to extend it by a couple of weeks. That will help, at least a bit....

Don't eat rice over your (work) keyboard. That's it. Profound, isn't it?

I wonder if our ability to adapt to almost any circumstance in our lives always is such a good thing. I'm thinking not of anything in my life at this time, but of the neighbours, of course. They were here over the Thanksgiving weekend, sadly. It wasn't so much the boy this past weekend, though, but more the mother and father. No need to go into details, but I cringe at the thought of being called as a witness for the prosecution at some point in the future. Anyway, that made me think about how whatever we live, on a daily basis, becomes our "normal." We just adapt. But in abusive and/or toxic situations, whether they be marital, work, whatever, adapting and creating a new "normal" isn't a good thing, IMO. But we don't see that until we somehow have a life-changing "aha" moment and/or are out of the situation and past it. We're all living "la vida loca," aren't we? (I know my work week, even with the holi...

Since this is our Thanksgiving Monday, a holiday, I took a walk in my  usual spot, the cemetery, because it's close by and so pretty to wander through. And instead of staying on my usual route, I wandered around other paths, came across a few graves off by themselves and up on a small rise. From the top looking down The dominant grave stone on the hill is this one:  And was intrigued by the simple text, wondered who this might be. I just Googled his name, and found this: George Whalley was a scholar, poet, naval officer and secret intelligence agent during World War II, CBC broadcaster, musician, biographer, and translator. He was a leading expert on the writings of the poet and critic Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He served in the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve 1940-56 and was on active duty in the Royal Navy 1940-45. During World War II, he served on warships, participated in the pursuit of the German battleship Bismarck , saved a life at sea (fo...

Gees, about an hour ago I looked out into the back to check on the boys, and there was Nicki on the step, eyes barely open, drool coming out of his mouth. My first split-second panicked thought, as I stepped outside, was seizure , my second poison . He wouldn't let me approach, rushed off into the garden. You know that feeling of fear/panic/dread/and did I mention panic that washes over you? I rushed back into the house, thoughts going a mile a minute. It's 3PM, call the vet, there's construction down the street, get the carrier, get Nicki, I'm going to have to ask them if I can pay them later, after I transfer $ over to the credit card from the line of credit, get a syringe and get some water into him....You know the drill. And in the minute or so that it took me to plug my laptop back in (I had been curled up on the couch with it), get a syringe and some water, and then get back out, Nicki was fine. I looked at him, and he was as calm as he usually is (ta...

I survived the 1.5 days of training, Monday and Tuesday. This was on the very cool new survey tool system our University has chosen.  Good news for me: The ITS person has removed my name and email from their survey web page and just listed our department and generic email address instead. Sure, it'll come to me anyway, but at least my name's not plastered all over their web page. * Our long Thanksgiving weekend is coming up, with Monday being the holiday. Yippee! I'll give quadruple thanks if the next door family packs up and goes to Toronto for the weekend, but I won't hold my breath. * Last night it was the mother who flipped out and had a screaming fit at the husband. I thought I heard her shouting at him not to threaten her--I've heard him threaten, quite calmly, to leave a few times before. I can guess it was something similar this time. Those two are going to implode one day. Or maybe explode. Or one of each. I hope they're long gone from our n...

Dear Lady and Lord, Please grant me the magical power to render the boy next door...nay, the entire family, mute. Thank you and Amen.

I popped into one of our PetValu stores this morning, just as they opened, for one of the brands of food for the boys. But every "maternal" instinct went on alert when I heard tiny, baby, precious, irresistible mews: I dropped all my shopping bags in front of the cash desk and made a bee-line for the back of the store. Did they have food? Were they sick? In distress for some reason? Desperate for love? I got to the cage....Purr, purr, purr, little paws begging me to love them. I just about melted into a gooey puddle on the floor. And discovered, from one of the staff members, that these sweet babies had just been put back in the cage and were desperate all right-- desperate to get out again .  :-p I'm sure these two little ones will sucker someone pretty quickly--they got me in two seconds, flat. I only hope they both find great forever homes.

Yes, I made it to Friday; hallelujah! And it's our monthly payday too, which is a bonus. But guess what I discovered yesterday, at a meeting with some ITS folks re: the new campus-wide survey tool being implemented next week? MY name is plastered all over the ITS "survey tool" page as the contact person for questions, problems, account setup, etc.  Yippee! Oh, I knew account requests would come to me via on-line form , but somehow I didn't connect the dots and realize my actual name would be listed everywhere.  (We recently switched to a new survey company that will provide on-line, cloud-based, very slick survey design, implementation, and analyses for faculty/staff/grad students.) Three of us from this office, and a few from ITS, have all-day training on the new survey tool on Monday. Training for everyone else is being offered on Tuesday and later in the month. And gee, I also had no idea there would be general training, campus-wide, until yes...

I was fine, being back at work, Monday and Tuesday. Today? Not so much. Too much piled up, a massive headache on the way, sharp and bruising pain on the sole of my foot from the brand new orthotics I picked up yesterday, the ongoing head cold, general back aches and pains and PMS week. Meetings tomorrow, all-day training on Monday. I'm not a happy camper today, can you tell? LOL. Oh, and I'd like this stupid air conditioner above my desk to stop blowing cold air on me. How's that for a rant? It's only 10:30AM too. Well, at least I get to leave early, to go back down to physio re: the orthotics. Discomfort is expected, but the "padding" for the Morton's Neuroma shouldn't be bruising the sole of my foot, below the ball, and causing me to limp along and roll onto the outside of my foot to try to escape the pain. I've had orthotics before, years ago, and didn't have pain like this. Good thing I have my old sneaker insoles with me. ...

The form for eligibility for jury duty. I hope my little stickers put a smile on the mail clerk's face, but s/he probably has so many to open every day that the stickers won't even be noticed. I ought to have bought the little skull and crossbones stickers, though. The flag could mean I'm eager. The cats...I was tempted to plaster the entire back of the envelope with cat stickers, but refrained. Who knew Canada had a "Sheriff's Office?" And who knew it was in Oshawa? (At least the one for Ontario.) When they get around to calling me for jury selection, I'm taking my chair cushion and electric heating pad. A box of facial tissue, cough drops and anything else I can think of to make myself seem unappealing/distracting as a juror. (Apologies to those of you who actually would be interested in serving on a jury. Feel free to take my place, citizenship notwithstanding.)   I saw cuter cats yesterday, on the way home from work, in my neigh...