This weekend was AMAZING. It's so nice to have warm weather, and sun. Very event filled weekend as well, because it's next to impossible to just sit on the couch doing nothing when the outdoors is begging to be enjoyed!
Friday night we hit up the first patio of the season. After a long quest for outdoor sitting, we ended up a the Black Thorn in the market. It's a nice little place, and it had an open patio table. After it started to cool down, we came back to Laura's to watch Click. Not a bad movie, not great either. One of those comedies with a moral. I wouldn't watch it again, but it was entertaining.
Mike and I spent the majority of Saturday at the Claridge sales centre. We've picked out everything but the kitchen cabinets. All of the colours are done. We just need to make a trip to the Brick to check out appliances, confirm that we're actually getting a roman tub, and check out the standard faucets at the show homes. Well...and decide whether we are getting wooden or white cabinets. I guess we have a week to duke it out and make a decision.
Sunday, after Mike cleaned the apartment, we ended up at Strathcona to enjoy the sun. A little bit of frisbee until it was determined to be too windy, followed by tossing a football around. It was great to be out in the sun, and I even picked up a bit of colour (which has since faded back to pale). After dinner at Genevieve's, Mike and I hit up Radiant City at the Bytowne. Not what we expected, but it spawned conversation which is always good. I wouldn't recommend it, because some of it was just stupid. It had a few moments though.
So, the weekend is over now. I get to be late going into work this morning, however it's because I have to get my passport for work. It's obnoxious...since all I'm getting is paid time off to get it. Apparently a 'list' was made, and I was on it. Sounds like they just wanted to force me to get it. Anyway, hopefully it won't be in before the May trip...because I hate travelling for work. They expect way too much.
Anyway, that's it. Hope you enjoyed the update!
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| Date: | 2007-04-05 12:17 |
| Subject: | Free time... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  excited |
Holy cow. After the busiest three weeks at work that I have ever suffered through, it's finally time for a vacation! Well, a small vacation anyway. Mike and I are heading to my parents for Easter, which will mark the first time that Mike has been at my parents for Easter dinner. I'm really excited about it, as I love spending time with Mike and my family.
One small glitch in the plans though, we may have to come back to Ottawa to sign for our house! No worries though, signing for the house is totally worth the drive! I'm freaking excited! Even if we don't get to move for almost a year, the fact that we have a brand new house to look forward too really improves my outlook.
Also, we have party to attend tonight, which is going to be awesomely fun. What an exciting weekend! Wuhaw!
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Mercer hooked me up with Facebook, and I'm freaking addicted. I definitely recommend it to anyone who ever wonders what happened to all those people you knew in elementary school, high school, and college/university. It's amazing the people you come across. My personal addiction is linking from friend list to friend list to friend list. I tend to find more people my little brother's age, but there is an occasional gem.
Also, to whom may be interested, our cat is officially the softest kitty in the entire world. Normally he's really soft, but yesterday we gave him a bath and now he's just about the cuddliest thing I can think of! Well, cuddly when he's not trying to bite. Still, amazingly soft...so if he doesn't stop biting, he'll make one hell of a hat! ;)
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Last weekend Mike and I went to H&R Block to finish our 2005 taxes (yes, we're a full year behind). While there, Mike and I become officially common law. So, I guess in the eyes of the Canadian Government...I'm officially spoused up.
Lisa, Mike and I joined Wednesday night badminton. I thought I would suck, given my less-than-stellar hand-eye coordination skills, however I'm actually pretty good. We're all pretty good. I'm looking forward to this weeks game already.
I joined facebook just for Mercer, but I was half excited to find that my high school has a group. Unfortunately it's all kids my brothers age. Ah well.
They hired a replacement for me at work, so I should be able to move away from business and back to development! That's super grand good news. This business stuff is way too stressful. A little more bright side, I did very well on my performance review. I'm practically running the place! ;)
Mike and I are going to get a house. We're hoping by the summer. I'm super excited to have an actual home, and the idea of having a bedroom with no computer in it makes me giddy!
My spots are slowly fading. My stomach still looks pretty scary, but everything else is getting back to normal. I only go in to itching related rages about twice a week now! ;)
Our DDR game and pads were delivered this week, and so we've been getting our groove on. It's ridiculously fun. I recommend it to everyone!
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It's Sunday. I'm supposed to be working. I have way too much to do, and too little time to do it. In addition to this, tomorrow morning is my performance review. I shouldn't be worried. In typical Shannon fashion, I'm about to vomit from the anxiety I'm feeling right now. I can't concentrate on work...at all.
To distract myself, I tried browsing through a few blogs. I didn't cheer me up because 1) Lisa and Van broke up and 2)Mike's tag cloud shows me coming in a chilly seventh place after general, work, family, geeky, random and health.
What a weekend...
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Lisa tagged me to come up with 5 things that people wouldn't know about me. Here goes nothing:
1. I hate doctors. I hate seeing them. I hate listening to them. I would rather see a nurse even if I was sure I was about to die. At least they aren't too full of themselves to admit there could be other options.
2. I'm desperately afraid of going blind. I would love to have laser eye surgery, but I can't bring myself to get a consultation because I'm convinced it might cause blindness.
3. I've gotten stitches twice, and both of them were on my head. Once in the back when my sister tossed me into the kitchen counter, and once on my forehead when I ran face first into a china cabinet. Both times the doctor told me I wouldn't be able to feel them putting the stitches in. Both times it hurt like hell.
4. I'd rather spend a night in with a couple close friends or just Mike, then go out drinking and dancing. Playing 'Sorry' with Marc, Laura, and Mike was extremely fun. I'd definitely pass up a loud drunken party to do it again.
5. My cousin and I used to pretend we were characters from Rainbow Brite. I'd always be Red Butler, and I'd always have to save her from some tragedy or another. She changed characters constantly, but not me.
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I've decided this year that polka dots should be very in still. In fact, I'm so bent on bringing back the dots that I've gone ahead and made my own skin spotted. HOT. And very itchy. Come to think of it, I'd really rather not be covered in spots, which I really am. I have no idea what's causing them (it can't be allergies, because I've done nothing different) and neither did the doctor at the clinic. Regardless, whether they have a name or not, I'm covered. From fingers to toes. Wu-haw.
Anyway, Christmas and New Years were great. I spent Christmas at home with my family, after having a big dinner with just Mike and I. Next year, Mike and I will do Christmas morning together...I swear to it. I'm sick of waking up Christmas morning and having to phone him to say 'Merry Christmas'. New Year's was celebrated a day early, leaving Mike and I both lethargic and lazy on the night of the actual event. We skipped out on the party, but it was still fun. The down side though would be that I made a dish to take to the party...and ended up eating it all by myself. Bleh.
PS. Nuriko is down to three top fangs...which is still too many. I guess we'll give him a little more time to drop it naturally before we schedule him a vet appointment.
PSS. I know I was tagged, I promise it will be the topic of my next entry!
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My beautiful kitty is a freak. He's so intent on biting us, that he actually grew a spare set of fangs. Yup, four top fangs instead of two. Well, actually he just failed to get rid of his kitten teeth...still very freaky. It also means that he still has two razor sharp kitten teeth to bite with.
Mike and I attempted to take pictures of this freaky occurrence...but you can imagine how happy Nuriko was to sit still while having his teeth displayed.
My poor kitty.
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I loved Vancouver! I should be living there. I think I could spend half my life just sitting in Stanley Park. The trees are huge! And I seen my very first bald eagle. It's December, yet the grass there is still growing...in fact most of the plants in the area are still very alive. The weather is amazing, the air smells delicious, and even though we didn't do very much...I loved every second of being there.
The flying was pretty cool too. I enjoy the feeling of leaving the ground, or changing altitudes, even the turbulence. There wasn't much of a view though, due to the heavy cloud cover. I didn't have a window seat either, until the trip between Toronto and Ottawa. We flew along the Lake Ontario shore, and I'm 99.9% sure that I seen Presqu'ile from the sky. I probably flew almost directly over my parents house.
Slightly off topic, they played Little Miss Sunshine on the trip to Vancouver. I'd recommend it to everyone. I'm embarrassed to say that several times I laughed out loud and woke up my travelling companions...and I had to choke back tears at some parts. I'm such a sap.
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I'm so behind on work that I had to spend about 4 hours today trying to finish up mockups. I'm still not finished, and they're due tomorrow. Oh, why do I have such ridiculous deadlines?! The stress is making me panic and freak out.
Tomorrow, after about 5 hours of meetings, I'll be flying to Vancouver. It should be exciting, but I'm so nervous and anxious about the whole trip that I feel like my throat is swelling shut. Why can't I just be a freaking developer again?! Some days I seriously wish that English was not my first language. I'm pretty sure if my communication skills were lacking, I'd still be a mild mannered developer.
On a lighter side...Nuriko likes to climb on my monitor and sift through the piles of paper on my desk. It's quite entertaining.
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I've been crazy-nuts busy. Crazy-nuts! Here's the details:
Last Friday (Nov. 25) Mike, Lisa and I went to see Delirium. It was crazy awesome amazing! I could see it one hundred more times and be just as enthusiastic about it as I was the first time. The rhythms and beats were amazing, and I'm such a sucker for an excited crowd. Hot, buff men in minimal clothing was a pretty big attraction too. Overall, I would recommend seeing it to anyone and everyone. It was utterly breath-taking.
Tuesday (Nov 28) was Ferda's last day at the office...that I was present for. Kutos to her for moving on to something better. It's gonna be pretty dull around the office without her. I'll have to split my time bothering Neal and Tatjana now I suppose. ;)
Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 29-30) I spent a few days in Detroit. It was my first flight on a commercial airplane. Exciting, or it would have been if I didn't have to get up at 3:45 am to make it to the airport on time. And a stop in Philadelphia to get to Detroit? Pretty long flight, but fun none the less. It's exciting to be above the clouds and see the sun rising. Pretty dull boring stuff in Detroit though, as it was work related and no one young came to keep me entertained. I'm not knocking Mohammad for trying though, because he did his best. I just would have preferred not to spend the night in a different city stuck in my hotel room because my coworkers want to get work done.
Anyway, the flight home was another trip through Philly. This time we had over three hours to kill, but I must say the airport had a whole bunch of shopping selections. Most of the night was spent chatting with coworkers though, and laughing at CNN. It was kind of nice to get to know the people I work with...as often I spend more time with them then friends. On the flight home the weather cleared just enough for us to view Manhattan from the sky. At night, that city is outstanding. A million lights, or more...because I certainly couldn't see where they ended.
Saturday (December 2) was Ferda's birthday party. I decided to bus out, well more I had to bus out and she lives in Barrhaven (aka The Middle of Nowhere). I asked the bus driver to tell me when we got to a specific crossroad, but he told me to get off too early...and I got lost in suburbia. Luckily, my trusty RAZR was there to save me...oh and of course a big thanks to James for finding my lost butt and bringing me to the party.
I played my first game of Wii tennis as well, which was amazingly fun. It's funny to watch as well. Too bad we just picked up that 360, because I totally would have went out to by a Wii the following morning otherwise.
Monday (today!!) was supposed to be day one of my two day shopping spree. I did get a few gifts covered today, but not everything. And of course, work called because I didn't get finished and now I have to go in tomorrow. So much for my shopping extravaganza. I'm supposed to get the afternoon off tomorrow, but since a client is coming in I have to be there in the morning at least. As much as I like that I'm moving up in position, I hate being in this position where nothing can get done without me. December is always stressful enough without having a whole office of people waiting on me to get work done.
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Since winning an XBox wasn't working out so well, Mike went out last night and bought one. Something about a great deal, oh and his coworkers constant urging. The graphics are pretty amazing, although I can see this leading to us having to get a high def TV.
He picked up Viva Pinata for me, which is pretty cute...but my stupid plants keep dying. And when I'm not looking, bigger pinata's eat my poor mice. Poor Mickey and Minnie...and their baby! Stupid pinatas...
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Holy cow, time flies. I have about 3 million things to write about, but there's no way I could write them all here. I'm sure most of the highlights (front row Sens tickets!!) have been written in Mike's blog anyway. Plus, I'm getting better at replying to email so if you want details, ya know where to go.
I'll update with the biggest news though...my job. I've been unofficially moved to the business side of the company. It's both exciting and new, and horrendously stressful. I suspect that my desire to not work with people (by people I mean not coworkers, but the general public) is my greatest source of stress...because being on the business side means dealing with clients. On the bright side of this, I will be travelling a bit in the next few weeks...which is a good perk of being more than a code monkey. I'm scheduled to be in Detroit by the end of November, and in Vancouver at the beginning of December. Weehaw!
Oh, and since I've been crazy busy at the office I managed to convince them that I desperately need a little lackey. I even convinced them to hire a coop student, because being a former coop student I know how hard finding a decent job can be. The office told me I would be included in this process...but I was surprised mid-week to find they'd selected 4 people for interviews. This is where everything becomes very twilight zone...of the 4 only one was qualified...and it was Mike's ex. That's right, take a moment to figure out those odds.
Figured them out yet? I'm still boggling 3 days later...
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After months of debating whether or not getting a kitten (or a pair of kittens even) was a good idea or not...the debate was ended by the a pair of blue eyes. Last night, Mike and I bought a siamese kitten and we picked him up tonight! I'm very excited!!
Our new little kitty's name is Nuriko, probably Niko for short. Everyone is invited to see him after he settles into the surroundings.
Hurray for kitties!!
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So, I survived my 25th birthday. Honestly, I don't feel any different. I guess I'm over all the hype. Mike took me out for dinner, which is all I asked for. I love just spending the night with Mike. We also baked a cake together, which was a lot of fun. I guess I'm a home-body, but I honestly couldn't think of a better way to spend the weekend.
Today, Mike and I went to see Snakes on a Plane. OMG. Hilariously awesome. I recommend it to everyone.
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Time seems to fly whether you are having fun or not. Everyday I'm astonished at how long my day at work feels, but then by the end of the week I feel as if I've lost a huge chunk of time. All of those weeks added up, and somehow it's almost fall. It's all very sad, because I didn't get anything done. I didn't see my family enough, I didn't hang out with friends enough, I didn't do anything nearly enough. I guess it's always the same though, just the end of summer blues perhaps.
Anyway, I'm just about prepared for the last event of the summer, interior camping at Charleston. Should be a bunch of fun, and a good way to end the summer. All that's left is to pack the perishable food (namely the steaks!!) into the cooler. After that, I'll just be waiting for Mike to arrive with the car. It's almost bittersweet, because the closer we get to being at the campsite, the closer we are to completing our very last summer outing of the year.
Let the countdown begin...
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I just finished watching an episode of Mantracker on OLN. Seriously, it looks like so much fun. Basically, you and a friend get a map and a compass and have 36 hours to reach a location on foot. Meanwhile, you are being tracked by two men on horses. You have to get to the location before they get you. Hilarity ensues. For some reason, I can totally picture doing this with Laura. We wouldn't stand a chance, but boy would it be fun to do anyway!
Also, I seen my new baby nephew on Sunday. He's super cute. It was good to get home and see the entire family. Again, I always wish I had of spent more time with just my Mom, or my grandparents, or my sister, brother and Dad. There's never enough time. I miss the luxury of having them around at all times. I think maybe I'll have to plan an extended trip this winter. Really get to hang out with them all, and not leave with any forgetting to say something.
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| Date: | 2006-07-29 12:52 |
| Subject: | A few notes... |
| Security: | Public |
| Mood: |  meh |
I mentioned a long while back that a trio of crows were nesting in the tree outside my cubical window. Well, before any thing could come of that, all three crows abandoned the nest. I guess maybe it was two competing males, and the male building outside my window just wasn't the architect she was looking for. Either way, no little baby birds for me to watch. But now, a young little black squirrel has taken up residence in the nest. He hangs out on the branches (literally, he dangles all his legs off the branch with his stomach on the branch) and keeps me entertained when I have time to look up from my work. I've been trying to think of a name for him. I just can't think of anything appropriate yet.
And speaking of youngsters, I finally have been able to set a date to go home and see my new nephew. A client from work made a desperate attempt to ruin my home trip plans just 24 hours after I made them, but I quickly put the kibosh to that. I'll be going home no matter what happens! This makes my plan for the day to go out and get a present for the shower. It has to be big, because I have to be cooler than Shelley.
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This weekend was a whirlwind adventure, full of ups and downs that will have the population talking for months to come. It's been a long time since I've had so much fun, or felt so totally abused. It was all worth it, no matter what the ending may be. It was so much fun to step out of my own skin and just go nuts for a few days. With all the loud personalities and conflicting interests, I don't believe that anything could have gone better and so I've decided to be happy with it all.
Today I returned to my role of mild mannered developer. It felt comfortable and cozy. I've fallen into a pleasantly busy schedule and I think I'll be happy with it for the next few weeks.
For now, life is good.
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I feel so relieved not to have to work today. Last night when I left work I was so stressed about taking days off with so much to do that I was almost ill. I didn't get to leave work until 6:30 and after a 10 hour day I still felt I could have gotten more done before leaving...
But slowly, as I realized I'm gonna have so much fun not at work, I began to get excited about the weekend. Super excited. I'm really looking forward to me time! Wuhaw! And there's going to be so much to do this weekend! Parties, and tourist things, and concerts...holy cow!
Also, my baby nephew has arrived! That's right, my brother had a giant baby boy! His name is Ethan Allan James Skinkle, born Tuesday, July 11, 2006 at Belleville Hospital. He was a whopping 10 pounds, 1 ounce. Both baby and mother are doing well. I've seen a couple pictures, and he's perfect! I'm very disappointed that I may not be able to see him until August, but I did send flowers and I really hope they know I'm sending all kinds of good wishes.
Okay, as exciting as the weekend is going to be...I need to clean before Jim arrives. So, 3 hours of cleaning and then FOUR DAYS of fun. This I can handle!
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