Musings on a Small Life

It's absurd. Send a signed document to NYC, that's all I have to do. But it's been over a year since I've had to courier anything and hey, guess what? UPS CampusShip tells me I don't exist anymore. Doesn't recognize my login ID (or password), doesn't even recognize my email address, the one they sent info to back in 2011. (I haven't couriered anything since March 2013.) Call #1 to the administrator at our Procurement department. Then a check on the Procurement site indicates that for international shipping I have to use FedEx. I (our department) don't have a FedEx account. Call #2 to the administrator at our Procurement department. So I wait. Then I think, well, I'll go to the FedEx site and take a look anyway and I discover you can do a quick send using a credit card. Great! We have an department credit card, I'll use that. But hang on, I need a phone number for the person who'll be receiving the pack...

Monday has been like...Monday. Crazy. Hair-pulling. Frazzled. More often than not, Mondays are calm and Fridays are nuts, but not today. There's nothing like being caught in the middle of a sticky issue when all you've done is send an email on behalf of your boss, per his request...but it opens a can of worms for at least one person. (My "old" boss, is on vacation this week, will have to deal with it when he gets back. Well, that's what he's paid the big bucks for. Ha.) Anyway, a few pics from yesterday. Comments off. I hope everyone's day hasn't been as silly as mine.  ::Whew:: Down at Portsmouth Olympic Harbour           My favourite part of the walk, though the "bridge" needs repair now.   Looking toward the now-closed maximum security penitentiary.     More another time. Peace.

I went down to a marina this morning, and a lakefront park. Haven't been since last summer or perhaps the fall with Dad. Took lots of pics, will post through the week, or whenever. Here's a 30-second snip of the waves, though -- it's been a blustery day. The neighbour kids aren't back yet as of 5:30PM, as I type this, and I can't possibly express how blissful it's been to have the peace and quiet all week. Last summer I spent almost every moment at home on pins and needles, wondering when the screaming would start again, and I squandered the time. This year I'm trying to be a bit more in the "now" and just enjoy the quiet while I can. I'm also trying to disconnect more at home for the summer, not always be at my laptop. Being online not only all day at work but also in my spare time is burning me out, is robbing me of time with the cats in my garden, time to read, heck, even just time to nap! Happily, I've been able to do all o...

I so rarely open all the Amazon.ca "deals of the day/week/weekend" emails, but for some reason I clicked on yesterday's. And scored a Hoover carpet cleaner for half-price, on sale for $150, regularly $300. $170 with taxes, no shipping charges of course. Image from Amazon.ca I had seen this one a couple of weeks ago, while online comparison shopping for a desperately-needed carpet cleaner, though I think Amazon was offering it for about $260 or $270. (Or maybe that was the air purifier I was looking at!) This machine was very well reviewed, so I have my fingers crossed it will turn out to be a good investment. All four rooms upstairs still are carpeted, and while I vacuum multiple times a week and spot clean as needed, I can well imagine the filth embedded in the fibres, particularly in the two high-use rooms, my bedroom and the adjacent spare room with the litter box. If this works well, it probably will pay for itself in one use, compared with hiring a p...

It was a plastic salt grinder that opened and spilled. Don't buy them from a dollar store. LOL. Good thing it wasn't anything liquid, though I've done that too, and ruined keyboards over the years. *** I've been meaning to post a couple of pics of another cat I saw a few weeks ago, in our greater neighbourhood. I've not seen him/her before:   And here's that young black cat again (I recently  posted a couple of pics of him/her jumping off his back step): The house is at the end of a main street in our greater neighbourhood, where it intersects with two major city thoroughfares. I wish this little one wasn't allowed out like this. And I spent a few minutes with Oscar on the way home yesterday. He always has a lot to say!       Fortunately, he was scared of the passing cars, so I don't think he'd be tempted to hang out in the street. Anyway, happy Friday to all, happy weekend to those who are into Saturday already, an...

...and for those of us who need one:         And not that I ever would do this: I hope the day is or has been a fun one, folks.  :-P

Nothing untoward in my corner of the world today...that I'm aware of! Back at work after the Canada Day holiday. No further news from my vacationing coworker re: the tortie, Gloria, but I'm sure if there was something amiss she'd let me know. Meanwhile, it's nice to have the peace and quiet here in cube land. So, two little bits of inspiration today: the first, one of the articles on TinyBuddha.com this morning, "Why We Don't Need to Try So Hard to Be Happy", a good reminder for me, at least. "Is it even designed to be a constant state of being? Who really walks around all day with a huge grin plastered on their face without the aid of narcotic substances or a seriously deranged mindset?" http://tinybuddha.com/blog/dont-need-try-hard-to-be-happy/ The second also is related to happiness, and from SimpleReminders.com:   I need to remember this too! Have a great day, everyone. Comments are off for a change.  :-)

Home yesterday, no next door neighbours. Up at 3AM, a peek out the window, no neighbour truck. Woohoo, high-five to Derry, who's sleeping on the bed with me. Up for good at 4:45AM (yes, I lingered), still no neighbour truck. Happy dance! Coffee outside at 5AM, being serenaded by the birds, happy knowing I have the place to myself for the day, if not the entire weekend. (Hence most of the reason today's a good day.) Paycheque in the bank in advance of Monday's payday (standard for my bank, but not others). Yippee! Lots of shopping for cat food, groceries, litter, etc. Sale on a cute new activity centre for the cats (pics below). Except that 15% off does not mean $15 off, Kim. Wake up and do basic math! However, I've already saved half the purchase price with $10 off my groceries (Air Miles) and coming in under budget on the litter for July. I can cover the rest of the cost by skipping two purchased coffees a week for the upcoming month, not a hardship. ...

I don't have anymore pics of "Gloria" the tortie. She's still with my co-worker, though now her hubby is suggesting that they take care of her themselves, as the shelter environment won't be good for her. (They do have the funds to do this, including the vet care.) So I don't know what's happening with that yet. My coworker is on vacation next week, but I've mentioned time and again that a few bloggers would like to donate to the shelter for her care, if that's where Gloria ends up. As soon as I have an update, I'll post it. In the meantime, she's playing with catnip toys, enjoying window whiffies, eating well and doing her business normally now.  :-) Have a lovely weekend, everyone. And to anyone in Canada who is taking Monday June 30th off (I'm not), enjoy your extra-long weekend. And happy Canada Day (July 1st).

If you don't know that my coworker rescued an emaciated tortie this AM, on her morning jog in the campus neighbourhood (maybe 1.5 kms away), scroll down to the earlier post, as details are there. Here are some of the pics I snapped through the day, but be warned, she will break your heart. Starving and eating grilled Fancy Feast. She got fed small bits throughout the day, and she kept it all down, drank lots of water too.     She had been lying on the desk (my coworker on the right, cropped out), but she got up and came to the door when I tried to sneak up and take a pic. The container and litter my old boss brought in. She had peed in it (good girl!), but I used the clone tool to take that out, since no one needs to see a pee clump. No straining or visible blood in it, though.       Through the glass--she was out like a light, finally with a full tummy and obviously exhausted. Anytime someone would pass by (except when she fin...

My coworker rescued an extremely emaciated tortie girl this AM while out jogging. (She comes in early, jogs then showers here.) A kind stranger saw her with the cat in her arms and gave her a lift to the office, with the cat wrapped up in a towel (that the stranger had), as my coworker was some distance away. I've taken pics of the cat but can't download them till I'm home. She'll try to take the cat to the Gananoque shelter (no kill), but if they can't take her, I'm not sure what she'll do, as she can't keep her, for a variety of reasons. (She's fostered before, also rescued a lot of cats in her area, as she lives in a wooded rural area near a campground.) This cat is beautiful, or will be if she makes it. Doesn't seem to have fleas or mites, fur is BADLY matted, sounds like a Siamese (and is very talkative), purrs up a storm, no biting at all, not lactating. Well-socialized with humans, extremely friendly, but has been on the streets for some ...

In a word: Exhausting. The plus being that most of this huge thing we're doing right now (which was supposed to be later this summer, but one of the upper mucky-mucks wants to take vacation) is almost done. One more detail to take care of either on Monday or Tuesday and that will be all for me, at least for some time. There are two more big projects looming, though. I had another annual project I had to wrangle over (more so than usual, it seemed), but I finished that off and sent it to the appropriate sub-division of the Ministry on Thursday, with a note in my email that I was sending it "on a wing and prayer." I'm sure she'll have a multitude of questions for me when she reviews the file, though I added in cell notes all over the place. And the third project that was due from all the departments/teaching units on Friday is mostly done (my part, I mean). I think only two departments didn't submit their data, but after one initial send out of the ...

It's because I'm over-tired, of course, but I jokingly say the real cause is the stress at work right now.  May through October/November typically always has been my busy time of year, but this June has to be the craziest, busiest in the 14 Junes I've been here. If I fall off the cyber grid altogether, you'll know why. I found these via quick Google search:     I like the second one best. Though I'm not on anything right now. Don't need one of those at the moment, but do need about three or four (healthy) consecutive weeks off. Which isn't possible. But if I actually make it through this week and next, maybe I'll ask if I can take an extra day around the Canada Day holiday (July 1st). I just don't want to be home if the neighbour kids are staying here all summer (last year they spent the summer at their grandmother's, I think.) Anyway, my one de-stressor: Snapping pics of flowers on the way to and from work, of course. (T...