All Better

This is what I didn't want to blog about earlier, but can now that it has been fixed:


Looks like some eedjit tried to force the front door to the building last night, and bent the latch. According to the caretaker, initially the landlord wasn't planning on coming to fix it until tomorrow, which meant that the building would be unsecured overnight. (The only way to get the latch to extend was to push it from behind with a screwdriver, which only worked when the mechanism was disassembled.) I sent him an e-mail with photos, and explained my concerns. The lock is now fixed, and I am happy. :) (Not happy that someone tried to force the door, but happy that all is now fixed.)

Yay!

Happy, happy, joy, joy! Mr Landlord is on his way to Home Depot, so the problem will be fixed before nightfall!

Apartment Grumbles

Grrr... I have some apartment grumbles to post, but will not be posting them until at *least* tomorrow, for reasons that will become *very* apparent. I am *so* looking forward to owning my own place, when I can do repairs on *my* schedule. (Even if they are inconvenient... but the stores are open for another hour and a half, and so this *could* be done without incurring overtime hours of a specialist. Heck, get me the dang part, and I'll do it myself!)

*sigh* ...Dreaming of a nice little house in a well-treed area.

Sushi

I had some great sushi tonight (now last night)... with an adorable little carrot butterfly:

I just had to share. :)

Annoying

In addition to the political robo-calls last week, I seem to be getting more prank calls. Including something right now. (1:45 am.) I wonder if the prank calls are Halloween related? (Or students who are annoyed with me?)

Private numbers are now blocked. If you have your number blocked, and are actually someone I want to hear from, send me an e-mail with a time that you would like to call, and I'll temporarily unblock it. (Or you can unblock your number.)

Weather

Winnipeg came down with a case of the white fluffies last night, but it seems to be fully recovered now.

All these pressure changes are killing my head, though. :P

"Breakfast of Champions" This is NOT.

"Dinner of the Dedicated"

High protein, high carbs, high sodium... being stuck on campus late means convenience store food. (Unless it's even later, in which case it's vending machine junk.)

Ow.

Ugh... could someone please shut off the fireworks that are going off in my head? I think I'm going to be sick.

And while you're at it, you can give the knee arthritis back to whatever granny it belongs to. I really don't need it.

(I think my body is giving a commentary on the weather. This morning they were referring to it as a "weather bomb" on the radio.)

Contest Alert!

Oooo! Click over for a chance to win a cute handmade hippo softie!

Vote

*sigh*... Smarmy Sam won again. :(

Now to wait and hear who my city councilor is... this is the first time in my memory that it wasn't the same person. I hope the person I vote for gets in.

Nooooo! I just checked the live results, and the Conservative is in the lead with 97.7% of the polls reporting!!! Dang Rod G, for splitting the left! Well, perhaps Smarmy Sam won't hate our riding so much with a councilor on his side. :( (It's still pretty tight, though... perhaps she'll still pull through...)

Hint

Suggestion to non-stick cookware makers: if your frying pan keeps sliding off the burner... it might be a touch *too* non-stick.

Ugh-blarg-grumble

How to feel rotten about yourself: create a resume that makes you think "wow, I *am* good, I'd hire myself!"... then show it to your mother. (Yes mom, I know that's not what you meant, it's just how I feel after cutting it down.)

Also not mood-lifting: lack of sleep. *whine* And crummy weather. (Although it's not nearly as bad as the radio is making it sound... at least, not here, not yet.)

Dear radio: Please tell me happy, uplifting things in the morning.

Things That Could Be Better

My router doesn't want to renew it's DHCP lease, and so I'm tethered to a wire. I called my provider when the internet was flaky (I couldn't connect via wired either), got put on hold, and then was *finally* given the option to have a call back. Two *hours* later when they did call back, I could connect when wired, but was busy with other stuff and so didn't play with it enough to figure out that wireless still wasn't working. Perhaps I'll have time to play with it this weekend.

I'm tired... but I need to finish stuff before I can sleep.

Fall rain is gloomy. (Hmmm... I think this calls for hot chocolate.)

Miscellany

I feel like I might be coming down with something... after dinner I snoozed on the couch for a bit, and then went straight to bed. Not counting brief wake-ups, I slept for 17 hours. Hopefully that will bolster my immune system.

I find robo-calls exceedingly annoying. Politicians who have annoyed me thus:
• smarmy Sam Katz (incumbent mayor, I *don't* like him to begin with)
• Thomas Steen (also someone I'm not voting for anyway)
• Judy Wasylycia-Leis (boo... I had such high hopes for you!)
Politicians on whose behalf I had a human call me:
• Shaneen Robinson (bonus points to you!)

Big pile of things to do this weekend. :(

Purple

I managed to find purple to wear October 20th.

More Retreat Stuff

Raffle Prize #1:

I put lots of tickets in this one, because I think the necklace will look nice with my suit jacket.

I love the necklace. I tinkle when I wear it. (I must be giving lots of fairies their wings... oh, wait... that's angels.) The Siglarr "nourishing facial cream" appears to be something I'm not allergic to, from a test application to my forearm. Ingredients:

I should probably see if I can track down the maker to find out if the vitamin E oil contains sesame. (The things I learn from my soap-making book...)

Raffle Prize #2:

This actually started out with an electronic game instead of the stocking kit, but I asked another raffle prize winner if she wanted to trade... I live alone, and it was a game that people in my family likely wouldn't be good at. (I think you had to sing songs from popular shows, or something like that.) I entered for the alpaca-silk fibre. :)

Yes, both prizes came with the facial cream, but, since I had two, I gave one to my roommate for the weekend, who wasn't as lucky about winning raffle prizes. (She didn't win any.) I cheated for the photos, and used the same jar in both. ;)

Stuff from the goody bag:

(I actually got a second one of these reusable bags with my second raffle prize.)
Not shown: fibre plus needle-felting needle (shown below) and bag made from wool sweater (also shown below).

One of the workshops I signed up for was felted bead making:

I cut the tip to take a peak, but I'm not going to cut the rest until I've felted the whole thing firmer. Fun! (We did needle felting, but this style bead would work better if wet felted.)

Yarn purchases:

Last week was so crazy, I didn't manage to find time to pack until I got home on Friday, and then it was a scramble to cram stuff I might need in bags, so that I could leave for the retreat. I managed to remember everything *except* the recommended flashlight (my dad happened to have one in his truck) and the supplies for my workshops. I happened to have yarn that would work for the Tunisian crochet workshop, but didn't have anything for the broomstick crochet class. I bought this yarn for that class... I knew I wanted to use the fun green yarn, but also bought the plain yarn in case the green yarn didn't work well. (The green yarn worked okay, but it wanted a bigger crochet hook and bigger "broomstick"... I've since restarted.) The beige marl I'll use to make some of the sock monkeys from the sock monkey booklet I bought a while back.

Current state of the needle felting on the wool bag-from-sweater:

I still need to add more swirls on the left to balance things out.

Tunisian crochet dishcloth:

I invented the pattern. It's not perfect, but then I was learning as I went along. (I didn't know about the different cast-off method until I was half-way done the third quarter.) I think it'll make a great dishcloth. :)

And finally, the brainless knitting I was able to manage while not taking classes or working on retreat projects (or sleeping):

Yep, another dishcloth. :) Note: Bernat Stripes with three colours per sequence end up with two wedges of the same colour beside each other.

Fail

In class today:
• The wireless mic went dead.
• The overhead projector bulb burned out. The spare was dead too. The second projector was chained to the cart in such a way that I couldn't use the screen I wanted to (I need to place it on the podium to use the screen I normally do), but it at least let me continue writing stuff on the overhead using the side screen.
• My text switched to Arabic. (Luckily I didn't care *what* I was typing... and eventually a student mentioned how to get back into English. I didn't want to waste class time searching for whatever setting needed fixing... I figured that could wait until after class.)

Oh... and Word was doing stupid things again, and when I went to demonstrate the alternate method, I couldn't remember where to find it. *sigh*

Knitting Retreat

I barely had my camera out... basically only late Friday night when people said "I want a photo of this!" The rest of the time I was either knitting (or some other form of crafting), having too much fun, or sleeping (last week was nuts... still is... but things should ease up a bit by Wednesday).

Anyway, here's what I have photographic evidence of:


Feeding frenzy at "Yarns on Stage". (Note: there were more attendees than what you'll see here, but many had gone to bed by midnight when my camera finally came out.)


Pretty greens! Mine's the one on the left. I've done more needle-felting since this photo was taken, but still have more to do.


A gorgeous art quilt that was one of the raffle prizes... aren't the stone beads neat?

I didn't win this, but I won two other nifty prizes! (Yes, I'll take a photo of my prizes and my bag plus other stuff later... but probably not tonight, unless I need a break from dishes.)


(Ladies in front of) Yarns on Stage.


I arrived home around 4 pm... now I'm doing laundry (loads in both washer and dryer, two more waiting to start) and catching up on work forums & e-mails (done). Still to do today:
• dishes,
• make hummus & other lunch stuff,
• make & eat dinner,
• prep for class tomorrow,
• prep for Art Talks tomorrow,
• send thank-you e-mails to people I spoke to on Thursday (I really should have done that sooner, but I haven't had a chance yet),
• create resume, and
• water plants (sad, droopy things!).
I think that may be everything. At any rate, it's more than I'll have time to do tonight. :(

Pocket Withdrawal

Tomorrow I have a "meet & greet" with potential employers. I have purchased clothing approved by my friend and two store clerks. This clothing has no pockets. (Not even pockets that are just sewn shut... the things that look like pockets have no fabric backing them up!)

I don't even have a tiny pocket to tuck a key and personal cards into. I think I'm in trouble. There is a very good chance that I'll end up locked out of my office tomorrow, without even my bus pass to get home. :(

Jokingly, I mentioned to my friend & clerks that I had a white purse. I was told in no uncertain terms that a white purse is not appropriate. Until I get something fully approved, the following will have to do:

(I think it's okay, but the clerks wanted something that incorporated both brown & black, to tie my suit and shoes together: my current dress shoes are black. At worst, it was only $2 at a yard sale I happened to pass while biking last weekend.)

Priorities

Got so much to do, you feel like you'll go crazy?

Apply chocolate. (The effort required for this one is pretty minimal.) Granny's Chocolate Cobbler.

(I still need to make hummus for this week's lunches... but a woman's got to have priorities.)

Yay Bike Ride!

Another awesome bike ride! I did the Wolseley route again, stopping for ice cream on the way back.

Note to the lady staffing the Neon Cone booth at the Forks: I realize you're probably paid minimum wage, and don't really care if anyone buys ice cream... but when you've gone to the next booth to chat with a friend, could you at least stand so that you can see if someone is at the outdoor window? If someone hadn't been able to watch my bike while I went in to get you, your company would have lost a sale, and I would be sad because I had no ice cream. Thank you!

Now... if only this weekend were several days *longer*, so I had more time to get stuff done! (And go on more awesome bike rides!!!)

Kitchen Sink

There is something beautiful about a kitchen sink freshly scrubbed with Comet.

Dishcloths

Latest dishcloth:

Either the stripes on this one were slightly longer, or my gauge was slightly tighter... the stripes don't *quite* line up with the wedges. It's close enough though, and very happy. :) (Yesterday I used my happy yellow one for dishes.)

I think I forgot to mention (I know I forgot to photograph it), but I also did one in Denim Twist at the lake. (I gave it away to a friend, so no photos will be forthcoming.)

Yay Bike Ride!

Today I biked down Wolseley and back, via The Forks. I decided on this route for two reasons:
1. I could stop at The Forks for ice cream (triple chocolate brownie in a waffle cone, yum!), and
2. Wolseley has awesome yard sales.

I'm thinking of trying to make a bag out of old suit jackets, like I've seen on Flickr and Etsy. (I looked for the bags I remember on Etsy. I'm not sure if I've found the same shop, or a different one, but the bags aren't *quite* what I'm looking for.) Don't worry, R, I'll get approval before using it as an interview bag. ;)

Well, it appears it's a bit late in the season for yard sales, but I did find one with a *really* awesome painting by Wallace Meekis:

(It desperately needs re-framing.) I wasn't sure how much I was willing to pay (the price wasn't marked), and I also wasn't sure how I'd get it home (art doesn't bundle the same way as old suit jackets), so I biked the length of Wolseley and back while thinking.

The painting was still there when I got back, so I asked the fellow how much he wanted for it. "For you, $10." (WOW!!!) I didn't haggle. All that was left was figuring out how to get it home. The guy let me have a bunch of plastic bags, and this is what I came up with:


Note: This is not a method I'd normally recommend for fine art... especially if you want to keep the frame. (It wasn't in good condition when I bought it, but it was in considerably worse condition when I got home.) Surprisingly (especially since I hit a post navigating a tight turn) I didn't break the glass, so I will get to reuse that.

Awesome bike ride, awesome art score. Hopefully it doesn't rain tomorrow (30% POP), so that I can get another bike ride in this weekend. :)

Ridiculous

Ridiculous the first: I have the A/C on in the kitchen, to make it cool enough in there to wash dishes. In *October*. Last year at Thanksgiving we had snow. It didn't last... but still. The high today was 24 C, and it was 25 C in my kitchen.

Ridiculous the second: While running the water to fill the sink to wash dishes, suddenly there was no water pressure. At first I thought perhaps the caretaker was working on the plumbing (the building has a recent history of plumbing problems), or that the people below me were using a *ton* of water. Once it occurred to me that something was clogging the aerator, I got out my vice grips and went to work. There was a chunk of *wood* in there! How the *F* did a chunk of *wood* get into the water pipes?!? Once removed, water pressure went back up to normal.

Another annoying thing: I think Mrs C is Ukrainian or Polish or something... in preparation for Thanksgiving (this coming Monday here in Canada), she's making something involving cooked cabbage. My guess would be holopchi. All day the hallway has smelled of cooking cabbage. (Not one of my favourite smells.)

Yay Bike Ride!

I had a lovely bike ride this morning. We've been having an unusually warm, late Indian summer. Although I have a crazy-lot of stuff to do this weekend, I decided to go bike riding each morning to enjoy this weather while it lasts. My uncle's not in town, so I biked on my own. I got to go fast! :) I went the CPT route, plus a few detours. I really enjoyed stretching my legs. :)

Well, it's time to go down and flip the laundry. *sigh*

Straight, And Rainbow Friendly

I once had a roommate who had been disowned by her Catholic parents when they found out she was gay. Bigots suck. In a way, I kind of feel sorry for people who can't see how wonderful their children are, just because of their orientation.

If you are currently surrounded by bigots, remember that it will get better. There are places with fewer bigots and more friendly people. Hang in there.

I Have No Vim

I had some, but ran out while cleaning the tub. I did have enough to make the sink and tub much better before I ran out, though. (Not perfect... the caulking really needs replacing... but better.)

Luckily I'm going grocery shopping, and can get some more Vim while I'm there. :) (I must admit that I thought the title had a funny double-meaning.)