phew

Moving, complete. Cleaning of old place and rest of unpacking will have to wait. 3 day business trip starting tomorrow.

Later.

It is time

Moving day has arrived. Here I go!!!!

no time to get nervous

About 4 years ago my dentist recommended that I get my wisdom teeth out. But since they do not give me any problems, I hate the thought of being in surgery, and I very much don't like how much it costs, I have not followed their advice. However, recently I have been again strongly urged to get them removed so I begrudginly decided to put myself on the waiting list. It takes about a year in my city to get an appointment. I figured that gave me a year to mentally prepare, save up the cash and if my circumstances, or cowardness, changed I could always cancel. A co-worker got hers out a couple months ago. She had been in pain for months beforehand and kept trying to get in on a cancellation. I think she only had to wait 8 months - which is considered really fast.

Imagine my surprise today when I got a phone call only 3 days after putting myself on the waiting list. Apparently there are two cancellations in the next 3 weeks. I don't know if I'm lucky or doomed. But by lunch time on Saturday June 10, 2006 I will no longer have any wisdom teeth. The receptionist asked me if I wanted to be sedated. Heck yes! I responded. I don't care if it costs more. I'm a wimp. Some poeple get lucky in love or in cards. I, my friends, get lucky in having pain approach me at lightning speed.

I was planning to go to Calgary that weekend and do some IKEA shopping for my new place but I guess that's out. Oh well, I'd rather get this over with.

Back to packing!!! I can't believe I move tomorrow. Too late to run away now - the money's all been sent to the lawyer. Yikers!

kitchens, cosmetics and rapists

Moving day approaches fast! It is still a little bit scary. Today's goal - to go for a bike ride and to pack up my bedroom. I should add packing up the kitchen to that but with having to work during the day - I don't think it's gonna happen. I know myself and my non-motivated-after-work ways too well. So yes, clothes and cosmetics and bike ride. That is a very attainable goal.

In other news, there is a "repeat rapist" on the loose in my city. The paper was very clear to state that they, as in the authorities, aren't calling him a "serial rapist" because he's only raped 2 girls and attempted a third. I'm not sure how many women have to be violated before he becomes a "serial" rapist, but God forbid the public get in a panic (which they implied would happen if they used the term "serial") or that women feel unsafe (again implied). I don't know about anyone else, but the fact that a dude is walking around trying to rape women he doesn't know (and just for a fun fact, the first rape was near my current area of residence and the attempted one wasn't too terribly far from my new area of residence) doesn't make me feel super safe - whatever the label. Not to mention that a woman was attacked running by the river last weekend and knocked unconcious (they said it was an unrelated attack).

Boy am I glad I took that self defense class.

A new show for me to watch

Due to the Queen's constant posting about Battlestar Galactica (just so you know Maryanne, I searched your blog and you have 12 posts mentioning BSG), my roomate Ky and I rented the first two DVD's of the first season to watch this week while packing. We got through the first DVD. Thoughts: Interesting show. Definately has the right type of characters and potential love triangles to get you hooked. Raunchy sex scene within the first 20 minutes though - could have done without that. I believe the words out of our mouths were an exclimatory "Maryanne and Chris!!" As if we were blaming them for the presence of a sex scene. But that was pretty much it for raunchiness (and let's be honest folks for me anything on television, or in public for that matter, beyond kissing is raunchy. I just don't need to see it!). I predicted a few things, was surprised by a few. And there's a super cute boy on it. All in all it was a fairly enjoyable 3 hours. And I got a bunch of stuff organized and packed too.

I think tonight the queen's cousin is coming over to hang out while we pack. We might intro her to the show too.

Happy packing day to me, happy packing day to me...

Rating of G

So, packing continues. Thankfully I actually got some accomplished over the weekend. Today, I might tackle the storage room. It's a scary place. I might put it off because there's lots of other stuff to do. We'll see how I feel as the afternoon continues.

And because poor Ariann was so appalled at my last joke, here's a couple extremely G-rated ones for her.

Why was Cinderella such a bad hockey player?
Becasue she had a pumpkin for a coach.

Why was Humpty Dumpty so happy in the winter?
Because he had such a great fall.

Back to the packing!!!!

Things I think are cool: Grown men in crush shirts with moves

This made me laugh. Especially when he got to the 90's - because I remember watching (and attempting) some of these.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have felt kind of bogged down the last few days. I think it is because I've been frustrated with work. I find when I do not enjoy my day, I have absolutely no motivation to do anything all evening. I haven't even been able to gather the ambition to floss before bed this week. Which is a shame seeing as I have a dentist appointment next week (I've had 3 consecutive cavity free appointments - is my luck about to change?)

But today, I feel different. Maybe because it is Friday and I don't have to work this weekend. Maybe because the pressure is now on and I basically have to get packed and ready to move this weekend. Or maybe it's just one of those days - but whatever it is, I feel better than I have the past few mornings. I hope it is a good sign.

So in the hopes that I will be so productive this weekend that I won't have time to blog, I will leave you with a silly little joke. I love silly little jokes and all of my friends have heard my favourites multiple times - but this is a new one. So I hope at least one of you out there enjoys it.

Mama Mole, Papa Mole, and Baby Mole all live in a little hole. One morning Papa Mole sticks his head out of the hole, sniffs the air, and says, "Yum! I smell maple syrup!"

Then Mama Mole sticks her head out of the hole, sniffs the air, and says, "Yum! I smell strawberry jam!"

Then Baby Mole tries to stick his head out of the hole to sniff the air, but he can't because Mama and Papa Mole are both in the way. He whines, "Jeez, all I can smell is molasses!"

Have a lovely weekend!

Should I stay or should I go?

So, I've a load of cash in my bank account right now. More than I have ever seen (or probably will ever see) in my whole life. I have to put the rest of the down payment on my house next week so a fairly big chunk of my RRSP money has been transferred to my account and is now accessible (in Canada first-time home owners can withdraw it for a downpayment without getting taxed as long as they pay it back within 15 years). I also have all the rest of the money I scrounged up for the down payment and for the repairs that need to be done in short order and all my savings from the past 2 years. It's become quite the little stash of cash. And it will be mostly gone after next week. Then the rest of it will disappear as I put in the new furnace, have the electrical repairs done, and attempt to perform all the other necessary minor repairs (I say attempt because I am not very confident in my own ability to do things like put in new taps and punch the holes in the soffits - but I am going to try!).

The thing is, I have enough air points on my credit card that I could fly somewhere exotic and remote for free. I figure if I sold my car for cash as quick as possible, took all the money from my accounts and used the free flight to somewhere good to hide, I would be able to skip out on my now-legal obligation to buy the house and live on the run from the law for quite some time. It'd have to be somewhere cheap like Thialand or something because it's not that much money (so sadly Grand Cayman, which is where I really want to go, is out). Now if you know me at all, you know I would never do such a thing. But the last few days at work have been kind of frustrating and I've been daydreaming about it constantly. And it's looking mighty tempting.

So if I should happen to disappear in the next few days, please know that I am likely well and do not try to contact me. Eventually, you will get an unsigned postcard from somewhere that looks relaxing and hot. And that one will be from me.

Uncle John is in the mood for love

So I bought an Uncle John's bathroom reader 365 day calendar shortly after Christmas (although I keep it in the living room by my computer - not in the bathroom). If you don't know what that is, Wikipedia can tell you.

Anyway, everyday I am regaled with trivial facts about random things. Apparently today Uncle John was in the mood for romance. Two of the seemingly pointless facts I learned are:

"Mating soapberry bugs remain locked in embrace for up to 11 days, which exceeds the life span of many other insects."

"You burn 26 calories with a one-minute kiss."

Since it has been forever since I've seen Chris and I know this is something he would enjoy, I have decided to figure out how many calories I would burn if I kissed someone for 11 days. Math-minded friends, I will even show you my work. Please correct me if I am wrong. (And please let me clarify, I meant that Chris would enjoy helping me solve the mathematical problem, not the 11 days of kissing.)

So to start it's 26 calories/1 min
60 min/hr x 24 hr/day = 1440 min/day
1440 min/day x 11 days = 15,840 minutes in 11 days
15,840 min/11 day x 26 cal/min = (drumroll please)

411,840 CALORIES IN ELEVEN DAYS!!

Now, for the sake of arguement, let's say you need to sleep for 8 hours a day and let's take another hour off for quick food and bathroom breaks. If my calculations are correct you would still burn 257,400 calories during those 11 days. Using an nice guesstimate of how many calories a girl like me could burn while running (approximately 472 per hour), it would take me over 545 hours of running to burn the same amount of calories. THAT'S LONGER!! That's like 36 days if you include the same breaks! And between you and me, running for 15 hours a day does not sound all that appealing.

So I guess the moral of the story is twofold. First, the next time you want to loose a few pounds, just find someone who really likes to kiss. And second, the soapberry bug must be incredibly fit.

Slightly productive

List of things I planned to do this evening:

Mow lawn;
Pull weeds;
Put away dishes (before I went home for the weekend I washed a crapload of them);
Make and eat supper (tacos - mmmmm);
Put away freshly laundered clothes (our washing machine has been broken for about a month now and I took pretty much all the clothes I own home for the weekend);
Start packing for the big move;
Phone my friends Robyne and Erica; and
Go to bed early.

List of things I actually did this evening (if on the first list, I have bolded it!):

Mow lawn;
Pull weeds;
Put away dishes;
Make and eat supper (the tacos were yummy);
Put away some of my freshly laundered clothes;
Watched celebrity poker showdown and caught up on some blog reading;
Phoned friend Jessica (but not Robyne or Erica); and
Stayed up late.

Could have been worse.

Spouting of beliefs in public

I am back. I guess I took a bit of a blog break.

So I said in my last post that I was going to talk about the conference I was at. There was something that struck me during one of the presenters. The conference was about environmentalish stuff, was very well put on, and was filled with professional people. It was a fairly formal event. And one of the presenters kept talking about God in her presentation. While telling a story about how her mom had almost died when she was young, this lady kept saying things like, "I'm so thankful that God found it appropriate to save her," and stuff like that. And would you believe that I kept cringing everytime she said it. It's not like I was offended - I mean, I totally believe the same things as she was saying - but it seemed so out of place. And everyone kind of looked around at each other like they were embarassed for her while she was talking. Or maybe that is just how I percieved it.

I remember hearing or reading somewhere how in the States people, especially sports starts and celebrities, are always thanking God at award ceremonies or after something big has occurred - it's quite acceptable. But that it rarely happens in Canada and feels awkward when it does. Perhaps that is very true. I had to admit, I was shocked at how I reacted to that lady's presentation. It made me kind of sad almost.

Now, with that said, I do think it can be inappropriate to start going on about the things of Lord in certain situations but shouldn't one pretty much at any time be able to mention in passing what they believe? And I am also not trying to say that the sports stars and rap dudes in the States holding up a cross and thanking Jesus are necessarily sincere and doing the right thing. But I guess I am just thinking out loud and kind of wondering how concerned I should be that I would cringe in a presentation out of discomfort for a person who is brave enough to include her beliefs in her presentation.

I hope you all had a nice weekend - I went to my wee little hometown to visit my parents and had a very lovely time. Dad and I went for a wicked bike ride yesterday. The weather was perfect, the bugs weren't really out yet, and I am not even sore - it was just what I needed.

four random thoughts

Right now I am trying to fit 350 people into 71 dorm rooms. Ahhhhh! I am doing the billeting for the final quiz meet. I love quizzing but I will be glad when this weekend is over. I am ready to not have to worry about it for a few months.

A good friend of mine from university phoned me last night to tell me him and his wife are expecting. I'm so happy for him!

I hate being sick.

I was at a conference this week and I really enjoyed it. There was a fantastic seminar on grounding and bonding static electricity (so you don't blow yourself up when dealing with a derailed train car or overturned tanker truck - it was an environmentalish conference). I have never understood electricity so well. He compared it to water. More on the conference later.

Anyway, back to the squeeshing of people into rooms. T'will be a late night.

Fun meme, stolen from someone I don't know

Apparently taking a sick day makes me want to blog. Must...close...laptop...and...sleep...

But in the meantime, put your music player on shuffle. Press forward for each question. Use the song title as the answer to the question. Post on your blog. Comment back if you post it on your site.

Will I get far in life?
Can't take it in - Imogen Heap

How do my friends see me?
Neon - John Mayer

Where will I get married?
Sunset Soon Forgotten - Iron and Wine

What is my best friend’s theme song?
Ageless Beauty - Stars

What is the story of my life?
Forever - Vertical Horizon

What was high school like?
In the Waiting Line - Zero Seven

How can I get ahead in life?
Explode - Nelly Furtado

What is the best thing about me?
Behind these Hazel Eyes - Kelly Clarkson

How is today going to be?
Ashes - Embrace

What is in store for this weekend?
Try too Hard - Teddy Geiger

What song describes my parents?
Wonderful Maker - Matt Redman

My grandparents?
Arrival - Pale 3 (featuring Beth Hirsch)

How is my life going?
Strange and Beautiful (I'll Put a Spell on you) - Aqualung

What song will they play at my funeral?
Spin Spin Sugar - Sneaker Pimps

How does the world see me?
This Fire - Franz Ferdinand

Will I have a happy life?
Out of Time - Hooverphonic

What do my friends really think of me?
Grave Digger - Dave Matthews Band

Do people secretly lust after me?
I Miss you Love - Silverchair

How can I make myself happy?
I was walking with a Ghost - Teegan and Sarah

What should I do with my life?
Walk on the Wild Side - Lou Reed

Will I ever have children?
Writing to Reach You - Travis

What is some good advice?
Stronger - Delerious

What is my signature dancing song?
Beautiful Madness - Stabillo

What do I think my current theme song is?
The Frog - Sergio Mendes (featuring The Q-Tip and Will)

What does everyone else think my current theme song is?
Barnowl - Caribou

What type of men/women do I like?
Psychobabble - Frou Frou

where have all the good people gone?

I keep forgetting to ask, does anyone know where the avatars have disappeared to? Or is it just me on my computer that can't see them?

boredom passes and often leads to creativity

I want to be creative!!!

I found this on another blog and I am sad that I missed TV Turn-Off Week. I would have totally participated. I checked out some of the stuff the organization that sets it up had to say on their website and I like it. I know it is more zoned toward children and families, but I think maybe I will have my own little TV Turn-Off month anyway in the hopes of getting my house packed up and ready to move. I've gone without watching TV for long periods of time in the past and it can be a good thing. I'm not saying I'm going to throw away my TV or anything (partly because it is my roomate's) and I am not even saying that I am not going to watch my favourtie shows, but I am saying that I think I agree with what these people have to say and this would be a good 3 weeks for me to try some of their suggestions.

They had a couple quotes on their website that I wish to share.

The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely. -T.S. Eliot

We have reconstructed the Tower of Babel, and it is a television antenna: a thousand voices producing a daily parody of democracy, in which everyone's opinion is afforded equal weight regardless of substance or merit. -Ted Koppel