No Snow

Bummer... no snow for me. :( I'm rather disappointed that the weathermen would get our hopes up like this, and then not deliver with the weather promised. *sigh* ;)

Well, even though I spent the first part of yesterday sleeping, I eventually did make some pretty decent progress. I didn't finish everything I wanted to do, but I accomplished a lot more than I usually do on the weekend. In addition to baking pita bread, I also made stew (mmmmm) and washed dishes. I started riding my exercise bike, but it was making more noise than usual... I guess it's time to finally call in to schedule a repair. I tried before Christmas, but was unable to schedule anything before I left. The bike also drops black crud underneath it... I suspect something is chewing up the drive belt. But, most significantly, I typed up a pattern! Woo-hoo! I've only listed it as 99% done in my progress bar... after all, it hasn't been tested. That last 1% I assigned testing is really 100% of another project... but if I'm lucky, someone else will test it for me. ;)

It looks like I may have a six week roommate soon... there's a French student visiting on an internship, and one of the professors e-mailed me about the possibility of sharing. I told her that it would be cramped, and there are conditions because of my allergies, but I'm willing to give it a go. Less loneliness!

My back could definitely use a massage... it's been nagging me for quite a while to go see a chiropractor (which I can't really afford... at least not enough to do any good), and frisbee made it wake up and complain about all that unusual muscle use. Anyone know how to give yourself a back massage? My massage swap partner graduated, and I haven't been able to find a replacement. (Most of the people around here think massage has to have some sort of sexual connotations.) My back was keeping me awake last night, so I got up and took a couple aspirin. That did the trick, and I slept quite well.

Another difference between Canada and the US: in Canada, "aspirin" is a brand name, whereas the US doesn't respect the trademark (or whatever it's called) that was registered in Germany, so "aspirin" is considered a generic term down here. Colloquially, it's used as a generic in Canada too, like kleenex is for facial tissue, but the only company allowed to use "aspirin" on the label is Bayer. The true generic name is acetylsalicylic acid, or ASA for short. I just thought I'd pass on that little tidbit to jumpstart your Monday morning.