New chairs! New chairs!!

It is like the best week ever! All sorts of good things keep happening. Today it was topped off with a new chair! We have had these black leather board room chairs (cheap ones) since I started. They are impossible to sit with proper posture in and they don't fit under my desk so I have to basically be leaning forward to type. But our office did so well last year that we hit up the bosses for new chairs. They are nice and have lumbar support and do lots of tilty things. I am totally thrilled.

There is not enough room to type all the other good things but trust me. Life is good. I mean I even got new book ends. And I found a new band I like. Yeah, I must stop or I won't get any work done.

Have a lovely weekend all.

My superpowers have been discovered

I stave off rain! It is true. It was supposed to rain in Victoria the whole time I was there. And it didn't. Then as I approached the ferry to leave for the mainland, it started to rain because it could sense that I was departing. When I arrived in Vancouver it was raining, but by the time I reached the hotel it had stopped. It was supposed to rain for the next two days but the sun decided to hog the sky instead. So now I shall be invited to every single wedding, slow pitch tournament and camping trip ever. Hoorah!

Victoria was a holiday but in Vancouver I got down to work. It was a business trip after all. I mean sure, I had a nice good long visit with my uncle and had dinners with friends, walked around at English Bay, hung out in the hotel hot tub and got very little sleep because I was having too much fun. But the rest of the time I was definately working hard. Definately. The head office of the company I work for is located in the Vancouver area and I got to meet a whole bunch of people that I am always talking to on the phone or emailing reports back and forth with. They were very nice to me and I enjoyed my time there. The only thing that I did not enjoy was that the reputed hottie of the BC office left a little to be desired. Perhaps it was the cigarette practically dripping from his mouth upon my first viewing of him that ruined it. My fellow Saskatchewan office mates (the female ones anyway) were quite disappointed to hear it.

So now I am back home from a very exciting and slightly surreal voyage to the west coast and back. I find out tomorrow whether I go to Calgary for a month to train some people. Evenings and weekend work for an entire month. Yuck to the thought of it. I'll keep you posted.

Victoria grants wishes

It was supposed to rain the whole time I was here but as Chris puts it, "Victoria likes me" and decided to grant my wish for perfect weather. In about one half hour I will need to begin to pack up and then head out from Maryanne and Chris's where I have enjoyed excellent hospitality and amusement. And Chris has also helped me add some stuff to my blog, or should I rather say, Chris added some stuff to my blog while Maryanne and I were having girl time.

Highlights of the trip included:

The wildlife of Beacon Hill park (consisting of blue herons, squirrels, ducks and baby goats)

Trekking up Mt. Finlaynson (so many huge trees and tons of ferns and moss - I loved it)

Walking along Willow Beach and Cattle Point (tip: if walking at Cattle Point at night, be prepared to see not only the ocean but also some other "interesting sights" in the parking lot)

Attending a surprise birthday party for a lady named Marilyn

A quick hike up Mt. Doug where there is an excellent view of the city

A visit to some beach (I forget the name) where there are sand dunes and many young friendly hooligans having bonfires and doing back flips

I highly recommend a journey to Victoria. Especially if you have excellent travel guides in Chris, Maryanne and Tim as I did. J'aime ca.

Shall we see next what Vancouver has in store?

Off to meet spring!

Goodbye winter, hello Victoria! Please be sunny. See you in 4 hours.

What I need?

A friend told me to google my name + needs and see what comes up. Perhaps google knows me too well. Here is the first thing that came up:

"SHANNON NEEDS HELP SHE CANT CONTROL HERSELF AND SHE NEEDS TO STOP"

Google also thinks I need some other stuff too:

"Shannon needs to be constantly highlighted"

"Shannon needs a father for her baby"

"Shannon needs financial help"

"Shannon needs to be more vigorously investigated by the Irish Government" (Yes, by a very attractive Irish agent too...)

"Sayid needs Shannon and she needs him"

"Shannon needs to be loved" (by Sayid?)

"Shannon needs information on responsible sexual behavior"

"Shannon needs prosthetic eye"

"Shannon needs a shower" (the title of this one was "1001 reasons why Shannon shouldn't be killed" - apparently stinking is good)

"Shannon needs to account for the economic costs of all the idiot children bred by less than capable parents..."

"Shannon needs to know everything asap too"

"Shannon needs to get over Scotty and find someone else" (Sayid! Sayid! Google votes for Sayid!)

You should all check out what google thinks you need.

Things I think are cool: driver's side floor mat

Today there were puddles on the road for the first time in awhile (it has been very chilly and frozen this week). Egad! There was also a puddle in my car! The build up of snow and ice from the winter melted and I heard the squishing sound as I stepped into the vehicle. "I certainly do not want mould or mildew to start forming in my nice new car as the weather warms," I thought, so upon returning home I planned to remove the floor mat and get some towels and try to soak up any moisture left in the car as soon as I could before it started to freeze again. But when I picked up my floor mat, the rubber bottom had stopped all the water from soaking through. It's inside the house drying out now and then I will be back in business in the moistureless department. And I think that makes my floor mat cool.

"The Miracle Phone"

I experienced a miracle of sorts today (technically yesterday - I didn't realise that it was already almost 1 am. Yikes). Anyway, yesterday (Wednesday) at work I noticed that I didn't have my cell phone. It is not that unusual for me to drop it in my car so I figured it was under my seat or something. I took our cordless out there this morning (Thursday) and phoned my phone. Sure enough, I heard ringing. It was cold so I decided to drive to work and look for it there after my car had warmed up. Except, horror of horrors, when I used my co-worker's cell phone to call my phone, I heard nothing. Meaning - my cell phone must have been outside. I started pleading for it to be on the side of the driveway rather than in the middle where it may have already been driven over. When I raced home at lunch I found my phone underneath the middle of my roomate's car inches away from the tire. I shall now forever more refer to the phone as "The Miracle Phone." We must have backed in and out at least 5 times between the 2 of us and missed it everytime. Amazing.

Also, my laptop arrived today in the mail. What a relief! I can finally go to any website I want without my computer shutting down. I think this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Oh and I found a new band. Stabilo. So far I like what I hear. "Flawed Design" is the song that caught my ear.

Now to bed.

The stupidest thing I heard at work today...

... was:

when a business contact from Toronto asked if Saskatchewan was in the United States.

Honestly. I am sorry that people like that give Ontario-ers a bad name, but they do. How can you not know that Saskatchewan is in your own country. Did you never look at a map people!!

Really.

(I hope I used the elipses properly so as to not get punched in the throat by my roomate, who is quite anal about her elipses.)

I am smarter than the average 7 year old computer

So my computer decided today not to let me onto blogspot.com. I could look at other people's blogs but as for updating my own - it just kept shutting down everytime I tried (hooray for new laptop in the mail! It will be here soon!). But I've had many years to get used to this computer's wiley ways and I outsmarted it. I went to someone else's blog, commented (which required me to sign in), then returned to mine and viewed my profile, then said I wanted to update it (which was a lie but it will never know) and then clicked the "return to dashboard" button. And here I am. Hah!

Here's what I did today that I am excited about:
- I purchased my plane ticket to Victoria next week;
- I found out how to get from the ferry to my hotel (for less than
$100. Woohoo!)
- I made an appointment with my new realator. Yup. Very
preliminarly thinking about purchasing some sort of real estate.
- Sang a suprisingly large portion of "Hit me Baby one more time"
with Ky.
- Wore my newly replaced glasses. I was so sad when I thought I'd
have to buy new ones but apparently there is a warranty on
glasses. Excellent.

Here's what I think is ridiculous. I have quite a few points saved up on my lovely VISA Avion credit card so they sent me a rewards catologue. A trip to New Zealand (or something like that) is my goal, although I am already just short of enough points to go to Europe. Even though I know I want to use the points for an airline ticket, I looked through the catologue just for fun. Hilariously enough, the same amount of points as required for a trip to Calgary can also get you an iron. Even better, I could fly to Europe, or get an electric mixer. And the funniest, either fly anywhere in Canada/USA or get a garbage can. The best bang for your points is definately to use them as air points folks. Honestly, who would want to save up for a garbage can? (Sorry if I have offended any garbage can lovers.)

Rising sun over fallen snow

I wish you all could see out my living room window right now. We have had so much snow in the past couple of weeks that our world here in the city is very much still a winter wonderland. Today the hor-frost is thick and covering everything. The sun is just coming over the east side of the city and so a bit of pink and purple is backlighting the two huge trees you can see from the window. All the other frosty trees frame the river which has a light mist rising from it. Honestly, the only thing that could make it better would be to actually be outside in the middle of it. I may even take a little walk before leaving for work just to enjoy it.

The thing that makes it even better is that I had a nice massage last night and I'm all relaxed and stuff. One of the perks about having a full time job is that you get benefits. And mine includes a lot of money towards massage therapy.

So here I sit enjoying the now golden orange backlit frost covered trees and wishing that moments like these could go on and on instead of ending and sending me out in the business of the city. But end they must. So here I go to find out what is in store for me today.

"So I hear we're going to be going out soon. That should be fun."

Have you ever been in a situation where you would really rather not blush but of course you did and when you realised you were blushing you blushed even more and then thought, "Now he's going to think I'm interested because I'm blushing," and blushed even more. Well I did yesterday.

I had a quiz meet this weekend. 350 energetic teenagers in a relatively confined space always equals a good time. And since the quizmeet was in the city where I reside, I offerred to let 4 of the 350 said teenagers, stay at my house to "sleep". I have known these girls for a long time. In fact, when I lived in Regina, I used to be their quiz coach. So they have a fondness for me that makes me feel really good and happy and I like to be around them. Plus they are hilarious. But they were also the indirect source of my blushing yesterday.

One of the girls has an older brother who drove them here who just happens to be 25 and just happens to be single. I caught on right away when they introduced me that they were trying to be little matchmakers but I was not going to play along. On the ride back to my place they were dropping all kinds of hints like "John is soooo nice" and "John is a scholar" and "John is really funny" and "John is such a great guy." I finally could not let it go any longer when his sister said "I am sooo glad that John is my brother." So they fessed up that they thought it would be fun to set us up since I am the only single 25 year old they know at the quiz meet (Thanks girls. Thanks.) but that they weren't really trying to set us up and if they were they would be much more subtle about it. And of course that they had told him all about me on the drive up. "Poor guy," I thought, "he seemed really shy."

Well apparently they should have added to their list that "John comes across as shy but actually is very bold." Because when he came to pick up his sister early Sunday morning we were standing at the door to my house waiting for her to get her stuff together and he says, "So I hear we're going to be going out soon. That should be fun." So, yeah. I totally was not expecting him to say that. I was a little shocked about how matter-of-fact he was about it too. So the blushing began and I fumbled over my words and looked like an idiot. I mean that was the most hilarious and up front way to deal with the situatuion and actually would probably be a good way for him to ask me out if he was interested, but I sure felt dumb about the blushing. I hope they had a good laugh on the way home.

If music be the food of love, play on

What is wrong with me today? I feel groggy and my head feels heavy. Yesterday was sort of a bummer of a day for me with all the rain wrecking the snow. But you would think that the light snow we had last night would somewhat appease my mood and bring me back to a semblance of cheerfullness. But nothing.

I am sitting at work waiting for a report to get reviewed and sent back to me so I send it to the client. That is pretty much all I have to do today. With how busy I have been in the last year, it is not such a bad thing to have some free time and I am trying to make the best of it by organising my files and taking out the recycling, etc. But I wish the reviewer would send that stupid report so I could go home already.

I am going to buy a computer today or tomorrow. I am forcing myself to do it. Last year I said I was going to do it with my bonus money and I have been dragging my heels about it ever since. I am also going to buy an iPod at the same time. Otherwise I will drag my heels about that too. And I am also going to buy a digital camera - but my poor indecisive self may be too overcome will all the other decisions it is being forced to make so I might let the digital camera go for a couple of months. The thing about the iPod that I am really excited about is that if you order it from the apple website you get to have it engraved for free. It is the same price as it is in the store and shipping is free so why not. Here are some of my engraving choices. If you feel so inclined, please weigh in with your choice or give me a favourite of your own. It can at maximum be 2 lines of 23 characters (including spaces) each. The first two are my favourites. (And yes, I know I am a nerd for caring more about what is going on my iPod than what kind of computer I get, but to be honest, I have asked so many people about the computer and I'm now more undecided than ever).

music is the language of the soul
if music be the food of love, play on
where words fail, music speaks
music is love in search of a word
in music the passions enjoy themselves

Hrmff

Rain rain, go away. Come again some springtime day.

3 feet of snow one week, then rain. Suckiness to the extreme.

I was in the mood for a quiz.

Still waiting for my friend to call to go skiing.

You Have a Sanguine Temperament

You are an optimistic person who is easily content. You enjoy casual, light tasks - never wanting to delve too deep into anything. A bit fickle, it's easy for you to change plans or paths when presented with something better. You enjoy all of the great things life has to offer - food, friends, and fun. A great talker, you can keep the conversation going for hours. You are optimistic and sure of your success. If you fail, you don't worry about it too much. At your worst, you are vain. You are obsessed with your own attractiveness. A horrible flirt, you tend to jump into love affairs and relationship drama easily. You're very jealous - which just magnifies the craziness around you.

What Temperment Are You?

Perhaps I am not quite so optimistic as they have given me credit for. I mean sometimes about somethings I am - but I'm pretty pessimisstic about myself and my success. The rest might be pretty close though.

snow banks as tall as my head

I am finally back at home. After two weeks of holidays, some out of town (but within the provice) work and a week covering some staff shortages in Calgary, it is good to be back. I got to sleep in my own bed now 2 nights in a row! Don't get me wrong, it was nice to get a change of scenery and meet the people I talk to on the phone all the time but I really like my bed too. Especially my down-filled duvet. And would you believe it but I returned to like 2 feet of snow and it snowed another foot or so the day I got home! We even got second place in the Weather Network's quiz "Who got the most snow in Canada?" Prince Albert won - but good for them. 2nd ain't that bad. My grandpa phoned me tonight and was saying stuff about how too bad it was that we got so much snow. I was thrilled though. I mean, I did not like driving or getting stuck in it, but I totally love lots of snow. It's beautiful out there. Some drifts and snow banks are up to my head. Excellent.

To make use of said snow, I might go cross country skiing in about 10 minutes too so I should go and put on my snow pants. I am kind of sad because my old snow pants were too big for me so I gave them away and bought new ones. And I do not like my new ones as much. Sigh. But maybe that is because I just have not made friends with them yet. Only time and lots of snow will tell.