Not Fair!

It's simply not fair at all. Why am I sick NOW??? Four days before Christmas and I can barely drag myself out of bed. I suppose the good thing is that hopefully I will be mostly over it by the weekend, but it still sucks. Another good thing is that we have no engineer bosses at work for the rest of the week, and one of the other bosses took one look at me and said "Why are you here?" Because I have a stupid meeting at 9am, that's why. "So you're going home at 9:30 right?" That sounds like a very good idea. I think I'll skip out on tomorrow too. Sigh... I hate being sick..... At least I can play Katamari now. Yes, that's right! Nathan and I bought a Playstation2 with the gift card we got from my work for our wedding. Yea for Katamari!

Sniffles and snorts, Sheila

Fixed! ... mostly

Okay, now Amazon is sending out the items that they have ready (still missing one) and have removed any shipping charges from my order. Whew! So it's only Vanessa who might be missing a present on Christmas Eve. Sorry Ness! I'll mail it up to you if it doesn't come in time.

I can stop panicking now...

Why, oh why

Why is my Amazon order now not going to make it in time for Christmas? I ordered everything on November 18th. They sent me an email TODAY that one item was delayed 4 to 6 weeks, but that the rest should arrive before Christmas. I went in and deleted the delayed item, and now the rest of my shipment won't arrive until AFTER Christmas! How does that work! I upgraded my shipping to the fastest possible, but it's still not for sure. I hope it works out though, otherwise I'm kind of screwed for a lot of presents. Grumble, grumble....

Questions for the universe

Why do people on the bus in the morning have to be so darn chipper and loud? There are these 3 women on my bus that giggle and talk really loud for the entire ride. It's very irritating. I mean, I'm a morning person, but they're so bad that it even gets to me.

Why do authors take such a long time to come out with the next book in their series? Some are really good and churn one out about every year, which is reasonable to me. Others take 3, 4 or 5 years between books and then I'm so lost I have to read the entire series over again. Not that that's especially bad.... I mean, if they're going to take that long, don't write a series!!

Why do I really, REALLY want to play Katamari?

Why do people insist that Christmas is first and foremost a "religious" holiday, while at the same time going all out with super expensive presents from Santa? This makes no sense to me....

Why do interior designers put sinks where it is absolutely impossible for me to drain them? Why do they get all huffy when I tell them it won't work?

Is it holiday time yet?

Good To Be Home

Ahhh.... Good old Canada. I can feel the serenity now....

Well, I got back into town early this morning (4:30am) and promptly passed out until 1pm this afternoon. I was completely unaware of anything going on around me. Nathan showering, Nathan leaving, phone calls, I missed it all.

So the Vegas business trip was good. The conference was awesome, despite some small hiccups. Tuesday I was completely overwhelmed by the 7500 other people, courses that weren't the best (but I knew that would be the case before hand), a headache, bitchy people, couldn't find the shuttle bus, etc. that I just sat down in my hotel room and had a good cry.

The Venetian Shops area.... Nice ceiling

The rest of the week was really good though. I had some really good seminars that gave me a lot of good ideas about how to organize the CAD stuff at ESA and I picked up some good tricks for all of the other drafters in the office. I think it was definitely worth the money, though I would much prefer to be a the hotel where the conference is taking place next time. The shuttle bus was convenient, but it was still one more thing to worry about.
I met a lot of neat people and will keep in touch with some of them I'm sure. Some were completely arrogant and rude, and others were really great. I suppose you get all kinds.
I feel completely naked without my name tag now. I feel like I should be checking my schedule or something...

The Strip

As for Vegas itself, I have NEVER EVER been to such a commercial place. The entire place is centred around getting you to spend money. All of the hotels that I was in, you had to go through the casino to get anywhere. Back to the lobby, the elevators, the conference centre, the shops, it didn't matter. Somehow you had to go through the middle of the casino to get there. I'm not entirely sure HOW they accomplish it, but there it is. Slot machines in the airport, sensored minibar items (if you pick it up, you bought it), shops full of junk, and so on. At the beginning of the week, it was all very impressive, but by the end I was sick of the commercialism, the noisy gambling machines, the guys trying to hand out stripper ads on the streets, the priests who were definitely not priests trying to collect money for the "poor", the guys with their sandwich boards spouting off about the end of the world and redemption... It was a bit too much for me, I'll admit. I like nice little Canada, calm little Calgary. I guess I'm a "country" girl at heart. =D

My hotel, Mandalay Bay.

Very swank... Felt I should dress up to use the bathroom

Has My Brain Exploded?

Hmmm, I'm a half day into the AU conference, I've had one class and I think I'm on overload already.

Observations so far:

Good to be a female. No line ups for the bathroom.
Good food
Weird town, Vegas is. Completely off the wall. I saw people cheering and crying in the casinos. Poor pitiful gamblers. Also, saw an ad for "Strippers Direct to You". Hmm....

I will try and keep my brain contained.

Out in Deep Water....

Well, the Vegas conference (for those who don't know, Autodesk University) is fast approaching and I'm starting to feel a little out of my league. I'm going to an elite conference with 7000+ people from around the world. I am going to mingle. I am going to be asked for my opinion on multi-million dollar software. I am going to be grilled by people just starting out on Autodesk Building Systems (fancy 3D CAD for engineers). I am I sure this is right?

I can't help but feel a little like there's been some mistake or something. These people that are emailing me, setting up times to meet and chat AutoCAD, don't really want to pick MY brain. After all, if you count SAIT, I've only been doing AutoCAD for 3 1/2 years. Do I know as much as I think I do? Will I be succinct and not embarrass myself? Can I manage to speak to people that I perceive as my elders without turning beet red? Will I learn enough that my bosses won't regret sending me? Did I pack enough business cards for all the door prizes?

Suddenly, I feel very adult. I have a house, a husband, and I'm going on a business trip (all expenses paid of course) to attend a conference. Somehow this doesn't quite seem real. But, I must be doing something right, since my yearly performance review was glowing and the bosses had no complaints. They couldn't even suggest that I tidy up my desk! So, with a second wonderful review and another healthy Christmas bonus under my belt, I will attempt to act the part next week. Wish me luck.

Grating, really....

Ha ha. I had to put in the pun.

I was making pizza for dinner yesterday and (I'm sure you can all see where this is going) I decided to grate the cheese by hand instead of using my Moulinex. Well. That was just a bad idea. I neatly grated into my thumb and cut a nice, deep 'v' shaped cut in the tip, and grated straight through the middle of my nail about a 1/3 of the way down. There were some choice words said. Don't worry, no bits of Sheila made it into the pizza! Now it just hurts and is at that weird stage where it's not bleeding, but it catches on pretty much everything which hurts like the dickens. Ick.

Anyway,

I'm getting pretty excited about going to Vegas next week for Autodesk University. There was a live webcast this afternoon for newbies, which was very helpful and made me even more excited! Whee!!! It'll be weird to travel by myself again though. I haven't done it since Australia which was 8 years ago.

Crazyness anyone?

I got a letter in the mail yesterday from the sales person at Cedarglen. She just wanted to write a quick note to let us know that they are releasing the final phase of our houses (semi-detatched) and if we wanted to refer anyone to them, etc.

The thing that got me though was the starting price: $320,000.

I was completely floored. I had to go to Cedarglen's website this morning to see if they had changed the size or if it was gold plated or something. Nope. Exactly the same floorplan and size.

So in about a year and a half, Nathan and I have made about $135,000 on our house. Which doesn't do us much good unless we want to move out of Calgary. But it's a comforting thought nonetheless.

So I must give thanks to the Impatience Fairies for making me push to get a house last summer. If we had waited until this year, I'm pretty sure we would have been screwed.

New Blog Look

Well, I decided to switch over to Blogger in Beta. I think it looks pretty good so far, but I'm really looking forward to being able to edit the look of the blog without having to deal with html. Yea! We'll see how it works. If it doesn't, I can always slog through the html edit page. Maybe one of these weekends I'll actually have time to sit and play with it!

Poem to think on

When I was in Australia I went to the Irish shop in one of the malls and they had this little basket of tiny rolled up scrolls. On each of them there was a quotation. The one that I picked was:

I am the Master of my Fate:
I am the Captian of my Soul.
- William Ernest Henley

I just recently found out that this is actually the end of one of Henley's poems (didn't know he was a poet at the time), Invictus. These 2 little lines gave me much strength during those hard months in Australia, and now I find that the poem is even more inspiring. I thought I would share it with you all.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.

~William Ernest Henley

???

And for something completely different.... Where the heck did my post about feminism go??? Grumble, grumble....

Shopping in Airdrie

Last weekend Nathan and I decided to boycott Market Mall and went shopping in Airdrie instead. It was great. It may be a city, but it's still got that small town feel to it. We got everything that we went for, plus a free Tuborg beer tray! Yea for Tuborg! Maybe the idea of a supermall in Balzac isn't so crazy after all.... I think I will definately go there instead of Market Mall, once it's built. It took us all of 15 minutes to get to Airdrie, so Balzac will be shorter than that. For all of you that don't know about the Balzac supermall, check it out here. Our office in Toronto is doing the mechanical.

In other news, I've been feeling the pressure of living in a big city, the looming Christmas rush, and the feeling of being stuck in a rut. In an effort to combat such morose thoughts, I've decided to think about one beautiful and amazing thing a day. The thought for yesterday was: Hoar Frost. It's so pretty and I just love it. It gives everything a wonderful "wintery" look. Contemplate the wonders of hoar frost if you get a minute. Isn't it just incredible?

The Best F***ing Movie Ever!

Can you guess from the expletive which movie Nathan and I went to see?? If you guessed Trailer Park Boys, you would be right!

It was a great movie, though I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen at least a little bit of the TV show. I think you would be too confused and would miss a lot of the innuendos. But it was great. I laughed and laughed. I think there was even some cheering at some points.

For those of you who are looking at me like my head is screwed on backwards, I actually like watching TPB. Nathan introduced me to it. It's just so absolutely ridiculous. It makes no pretention to being semi-serious or even believable, which is what makes it funny. That and it's a Canadian show, so it's always fun to watch for the stereotypical Canadian things. I find this type of comedy much more entertaining than the types that are so popular now. I don't think there's anything funny about all those Jack Black movies, or the large former comedians making movies about how pathetic they are, etc. That type may make you laugh, but it's a "stupid" kind of funny and the writing is substandard.

Anyway, if you want a good laugh and are open to new things and to supporting Canadian movies, go and see it. It will entertain you. Watch for the cameo by Gord Downie at the beginning.

And for those of you who know what I'm talking about..... Julian puts down his rum and coke. I was so shocked!

Why do they make people work on Friday afternoon?

It's even worse on the Friday of a long weekend, but I always seem to have trouble concentrating long enough to accomplish something on a Friday afternoon. At least today the bosses are away, so most of us are being a little bit slack.

Mark and Kevin are assembling Sherry's new desk. They decided that opening all the boxes first was best. I left when they figured out that each box was a separate piece of furniture and they were trying to sort out which pieces came from which box. Poor Sherry....

Jari sent me a fun game, 'cause he doesn't feel like working either. But from where I'm sitting it looks like work on his screen. Maybe he has more motivation than me? Anyway, here's the game if you want to try it. It insults you when you do badly.

Luckily today was the day Gillian posted all her fun links on her blog. Thanks Gillian! We all enjoyed the bunny movies!

Hmmm.... now it's 1:30. Time for work... maybe.

Evil Gel Nails

So I finally got my gel nails off on Saturday. They were bugging me to no end. Mostly because they are definately not a good thing to have when you've got contact lenses. That and they were so thick that my nails were practically useless for peeling stickers, getting batteries out, etc.

On Friday night one of my nails started separating at the base, so I had to pry it off. That hurt more that polite words can convey!!! Finally I got it off and my finger was so sore and my nail so ripped up and mangled.

Saturday I went to a salon, expecting them to soak them off or something. But no! All of those darn nails were pried off my fingers!! Ouch, ouch, ouch. Now they are so thin and weak and rough, that I have a hard time undoing the clasp on my necklace!

So, the final verdict on Gel Nails:

Looks really good, but the pain and state of your nails afterwards is not worth it.

Just my own humble opinion..... =D

Back to Reality

Well, here I am back at home after a very interesting honeymoon and a wonderful wedding. I don't think I could have asked for a nicer day. It was just perfect. I don't think I can really say much more.

As for the honeymoon, I'm sure everyone will be pleased to know that Nathan and I both did some things we've never done before. After you all stop laughing and get your minds out of the gutter I will continue.

So... things we've never done before. Like break down on the side of a mountain.... Ride in a tow truck.... Rent a car.....

Really there were only 2 things that went wrong on our honeymoon. First, we both got sick. From Vanessa and Gillian's blogs it looks like we started a plague... Sorry! So, that was pretty bad in itself. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time being affectionate and romantic when I feel like crap.

AND THEN....

The second day, I was feeling pretty rotten. We toodled around in Kelowna for the morning and then we got ourselves organized and headed out of town in the early afternoon. Nathan was driving the rather hilly highway, when I happened to look in the side mirror and see smoke billowing out the back of the truck. So we decided to pull over. Just as we did the rpms went through the roof and we caught a whiff of the terrible smell of burning metal. So we're on the side of the mountain, no cell phone reception and a truck that's smoking. We decided we'd try and inch our way along a little bit, until we found some cell phone reception. Got back in the truck, stated it, cringed at the terrible noise it was making and then attempted to put it in gear. We just rolled backwards. Ick. So, out we get again and start walking up the highway to find some reception. Luckily, we didn't have to go very far. So we called the CAA and they told us it would be about an hour for a tow truck.

We got to sit in the ditch for an hour while traffic whizzed past, and I tried desperately hard not to burst into tears at the unfairness of it all. Here it is, our honeymoon, and we're sick AND are stuck on the side of a mountain. I did fairly well and only had a couple of crying bouts. I was very proud of myself for being so philosophical about the whole thing, rather than having a raving temper tantrum at the world.

So when the tow truck came, back we went to Kelowna to the transmission shop, where they were incredibly helpful and knowledgable. The called Budget, who came to pick us up with rental and then a mere 3 hours after we had started out, we were on our way to Vancouver again, this time in a rented Buick Rendevous.

The rest of the trip was great. I really liked the Buick. It was a good SUV to drive. The Whistler Mountaineer train ride was wonderful (except for the phone call I got about the cost to repair the truck...) and our stay at Painter's Lodge was great.

Anyway, 10 days, a lot of kilometers, a new transmission and some souveniers later, we're back in Calgary for one day of grocery shopping, recycling, etc. before both Nathan and I have to go to work tomorrow. I have to admit, we're both feeling a little lost without a big event to plan.... I feel like I'm being lazy or something. Oh well. It will be nice to get back to normal.

Thanks to everyone for making our wedding so wonderful and not complaining about the weather!

Tick tock

I'm such a bad blogger! No new post in more than a month. I suppose I could defend myself with the typical "I've been really busy" line. And in fact, I have! I can't believe it's a week till the wedding. I can't believe how much work we've gotten done on the back yard. I can't believe I cleaned the house today. It certainly seems like I haven't had 2 minutes to myself for the past couple of months, but at least I've been productive. =D I'm starting to get excited about the wedding, but I think deep down what I'm really looking forward to is the time off work! Such a terrible thing to say, I know! The wedding will be wonderful, but the vacation will be bliss. It will be so nice just to be able to spend some time with Nathan and not have to plan anything!! I think I shall avoid planning all winter, in order to be recovered for The Yard, Part II. Anyway, off to bed, so I can be nice and refreshed for the wedding rehersal tomorrow.

Tim Hortons Tragedy

You know you live in Canada when....

This morning on the bus to work, we stopped and picked a guy up from the stop by Tim Hortons. He had a box full of muffins which he was struggling with, along with his bag and his bus tickets. Just as it looked like he had sorted himself out successfully and was making his way down the aisle, the box kind of sagged at one corner. There was a sharp intake of breath from the other passengers, then a collective moan as one lone chocolate muffin rolled out of the box and onto the floor. I swear the entire bus was crushed by this tragedy! Someone picked up the muffin for him and then the lady sitting next to me offered the guy her seat. Who would have thought that people that don't give a second look to a pregnant lady or elderly person, would be so moved by the tragic loss of a Tim Hortons muffin as to give up their seat? The world is a weird place.....

Praying Mantis Man

There's this guy on my bus that looks like a praying mantis. No joke! It took me a couple of months to figure out what exactly he reminded me of, but now I know. He's kind of like the Manny the praying mantis in A Bug's Life. He moves very slowly and deliberately. He's freakishly tall and skinny with a really tiny head. His eyes are normal, but the glasses he wears make them look way too big for his face. He also has very thin elongated hands and fingers which he sometimes holds close to his chest with a bent wrist. The whole thing screams "praying mantis"!!! Maybe I should suggest it as a Halloween costume....