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.)