Completely random

Would you like the last peanut M&M?

a) Mmm peanut M&M, yes!!

b) What colour is it?

c) Nah, I just had two chocolate bars for lunch.

d) I just had two chocolate bars for lunch... but sure!

 

Sometimes when life gives you a free M&M cookie... you get three free M&M cookies.

 

When I was at sleep country I tested out the 5 'S' brand of beds.  The only one I instantly disliked was the Simmons.  What have I been sleeping on for the past 3 ish years?  Simmons.

 

I found it oddly disturbing that I find it fascinating to look through all the dirt and gunk that my new wonderful purple Dyson picks up.  I hope the novelty of that wears off.  Dirt is gross.

 

I have been highly amused with Sun Life's advertising campaign "Life's brighter under the sun".  I was volunteered to help organize the Corporate Holiday Contest which is to make our own version of a new set of commercials, so the amusement continues.  I can't tell you about our creative commercial just yet. It's very hush hush, confidential, top secret stuff right now.  Maybe after the contest I will write about it.  Or just tell you to assume it was entertaining and awesome.

 

What's the point of an "extra" stat holiday if it means my company just takes away one of my floater days.  Not only will it eliminate the choice of when I take my extra vacation day, but I will also be pressured to spend it with my family!!!  *grumble*

 

2 + 2 = chair.

 

The end.

Quick Poll

What did Jen do this weekend?

a) Found a new roommate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

b) Rented a car for the first time and did not buy insurance.

c) Went to Liz's wedding and had an amazing time drinking, eating, and dancing.

d) Won the beautiful lily flower centre piece and brought some of the flowers to work.

e) All of the above and more.

 

On "The Source", Sun Life's intranet, the welcome page always has a quiz that's actually a learning ploy. I fall for it every time.

 

a) Congrats Holly on your new job!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited for you, and very excited to be getting such an amazing person/friend as my roommate. I can't wait to make the apartment feel like ours... and stealing more of your cooking ideas =)

 

b) Driving went very smoothly. Okay, I had some parking/backing out issues, but that doesn't really count. Oh, and problems finding the hertz parking lot. Just because I drove out of the parking lot, doesn't mean I had a clue where I was at the time. Thanks for answering your phone and helping me out Matt. I did discover they had a map of where it was on the hertz door but I found that later, when I went to drop off my keys... only to discover the express box was in the parking lot. Arghhhh.

 

c) The wedding went perfectly. Liz looked gorgeous and so incredibly happy. I knew hardly anyone there but enough that it was lots of fun.

 

d) My flowers are a little crushed from all the travelling but they still make me smile.

 

e) I can't write about all my stories from this weekend. I am supposed to be working you know.

what an idiot

Studying is poo.  I decide to make cookies.  It calls for parchment paper, which I recently bought so I was looking forward to trying it.  Ummmm, but no.  Apparently I had wax paper and that is flammable.  *Luckily* I noticed the TONS of smoke pouring out of the oven before there was any fire.  I did a search and read about the difference.  At least I wasn't the only one who discovered this the hard way.

I am such an idiot.  Thankfully Rob is away and I didn't set off the smoke detector =) Haha ohhh goodness. 

But eughhh.  Why does the package have baked cookies on wax paper? Why does it say ideal for baking???  Why no warning to only use in the oven if it's completely covered or else IT WILL CATCH ON FIRE?

I blame no name.  And now what am I going to do with 200' - 3' of wax paper?????

OMG

I met an actuary that smokes!! WTF??!!!!!

- Jen, ASA

Back in the Boonies

So far I'm loving being back in Kincardine. It's been so long it's nice to come home. The bus ride was long but not painful. I do hate buses though. Mostly because waiting in line at the bus station sucks. It's sooo loud and the fumes are nasty. You have to move a crap load of times so you don't get run over by buses. Eugh.

Hehe my kitty just came in and meowed at me. I think he wants me to go to bed so he can curl up. Awww I love having a cat around. So cute.

Kincardine now has a Chinatown!!! Okay... There's one store that sells asian stuff that I have to check out. I wonder if there will be asian people in the asian store. Kincardine is sooo white. I'm excited to see what it's like.

Tonight I went to the pipe-band parade with my mom. Now that I can't go to them every Saturday in the summer I don't mind going. They actually amuse me now. This one was definetly interesting! Just as they were starting a storm came in and it just POURED. There was some thunder too. Poor pipers got drenched. My mom and I managed to stay dry though. Before it rained we went and got gelato. Kincardine now has gelato. This also amused me. They don't make it on site like in Toronto though ;)

My mom bought me a coffee maker for my birthday. I can now have Cora's coffee at home!!!!!!

My last day at work was sad. I'm going to miss my first work family. Then I think of all the work I'm leaving behind and I'M SO HAPPY!!!! Sun Life, here I come!!!!

3 New Airports - 4 Days

We have an intern in Armonk in our department!! I get to give him work!!!! It's so amusing. He's just a baby, I love it. He also added me on facebook after talking on the phone briefly. Who could not like him after that? hahaha.

Anyway, I'm ready to talk about my business trip to Indiana.

It got off to a shaky start. Ang and I left in plenty of time to get to the airport but there was tons of traffic at the border! ack!! We were stressed and freaking out the whole way. I got the airport about 30 minutes before my plane was supposed to leave. I thought that would be enough time, but the line was long. So I talked to employees there, probably sounding very panicky and I got to go to the first class check-in where there was no lineup. Phew. Or so I thought. When I scanned my passport the computer told me it was too close to departure and I couldn't check in. Oh no!!! So I asked the girl what I was supposed to do, I had to get to Fort Wayne. There was a flight at 7 tonight and I said that was fine. Little did I know I didn't actually have a seat on the plane. I was just put on some sort of waiting list? People who fly more would be able to tell me what this is exactly. I'm still a little clueless.

So it's noon. I have a while to wait for my plane. Thankfully I had procrastinated reading my Module 8 readings and had planned on going through them at the hotel. Rather than the hotel it was the airport. No biggie. I read, listened to my ipod, watched people. It wasn't so bad. Ang felt soooo bad which made me feel soooo bad. It wasn't her fault. We just should have left earlier. Hindsight.

I liked the Detroit airport a lot. The tunnel to get to my terminal was a little creepy. Lots of changy colour lights. Once I got used to it, it wasn't scary and it amused me. The terminal was nice and roomy so I was happy.

With how my day was going, it wasn't surprising that our plane arrived late. And then we had to wait for our crew to arrive. I got to the front and the girl was all pissy. Telling me I had to stand to the side and how I should have told her right away I was waiting for a seat. Well that was news to me. The girl who put me on the 7 o'clock could have TOLD me this. argh. Thankfully I got a seat!!! and the plane didn't leave too late.

Me being completely paranoid I got into Fort Wayne worrying the girl put me on a plane to a different Fort Wayne and I wasn't actually in Indiana. Yes, I'm a little crazy. Once I checked into my hotel I confirmed i was in the right place hehe.

Anyway, I get to Fort Wayne and what happens? There's a sweet elderly lady handing out cookies (in a plastic wrapper that says FWA) saying welcome to Fort Wayne! How welcoming hehe. Good ole small airports. Gotta love them. Then in baggage we all know my amusement of the flying elephant. I felt a little ridiculous taking a picture but a flying elephant?? I want to know why more people weren't!!

After I collect my bag (at least that works out for me!!) I go and look for a cab. I found it a little confusing. A girl asked if I wanted a taxi and I said yes. She said this van could take me. But there was somebody in the van. But I guess they all work together. She got out and helped with bags then I was in the van with a guy driver. I said I was going to the Hilton. We sat there for a while, then said "I'm not going to do that to you". He pointed to this white van that was going to the Hilton and said I should take the shuttle. Well, that was nice of him. So I hop on the shuttle and we head to the hotel. The only problem is, I didn't actually want to go to the Hilton. I wanted to go to the Hilton Garden Inn... When I got there they were nice about it and the shuttle guy drove me to the proper hotel. Ohh jeez I felt retarded. Oh well. I made it to my hotel thankfully!! *relief*

Tuesday I had treaty training and it was actually interesting. They discussed issues clients have with parts of our reinsurance contracts. For supper that night we went to a steak and seafood place. I got a fruity martini because I had to milk this trip!! After it my head was just slightly light headed which probably made the meal even more enjoyable. The filet mignon was beautifully cooked and tasted amazing. The mashed potatoes had bits of cheese and bacon in it so that was great. And rather than the crappy in season veggies I saw on other people's plates, I requested the grilled asparagus. A perfect meal, if not perfect company. Haha. When I got back to the hotel I had missed the first half hour of the Veronica Mars finale so I watched something on tv but mostly just slept. I was tired =)

Wednesday was work as usual. Too many meetings. I did enjoy my alone time in my big empty office they stuck me in. I was tempted to hide in the little cubby of the wooden desk when I heard my boss ;)

That night I was planning on ordering room service. The one girl I work with felt bad but I was alll for it. I had been social long enough hehe. I got home, grabbed the guest services, and looked for food. All I found was an applebees menu, and a list of restaurants and how to drive there. Ack!!! So not helpful. The area I was in was pretty much a highway so I couldn't walk anywhere safely. If I could I would have gotten pizza hut or something but that wasn't an option. There was a mexican place across from the hotel that I could go to but I wasn't in the mood.

So I decided to call room service and find out what was up. I press the button, and ask "Is there food to be brought up"? The girl said "What?". I asked again, "Is there food to be brought up"?. The girl said "What?". Okay, this is already getting old. So I asked if this was room service. She responded by asking if I was at the Hilton. I was indeed. And it turns out the phone number on my phone was wrong and I had called this random girl's house. How about that? So messed up.

I decide to head downstairs and talk to the guy at the front cause if there's no food I'll try to get takeout from the mexican place. I went to talk to him and asked if there was food to be brought up. He explained that you call applebee's, tell them you're at the Hilton, they call them, they go and pick it up and bring it to your room. I hadn't heard of that before but it was pretty cool. I told him about the girl and I guess she had called about it. She has the old number of a restaurant they used to use for room service. so silly. I gave him my room number since they didn't know which phones still had the wrong number. Couldn't they just reprogram everyone's phone??? Whatever.

So I ordered this yummy sounding chicken and lava cake with ice cream. The chicken was pretty good, but the lava cake was amazing! Yum yum!! Mine is still better but this was damn good. I was happy. When they brought my meal up it came on a plate with cutlery and a fancy napkin and a mini ketchup and mustard bottle. Loved it. Took those! hehe.

Thursday I got to work at 7, since I didn't want to bother with a cab and girl at work said it was on her way and wouldn't mind picking me up. Eugh, early. (The other days I went with a co-worker who was staying at the hotel too. She rented a car, I did not.) So I worked for a few hours, then took off to the airport. Who was my taxi driver? The same girl who I saw at the airport coming in, and the same girl I saw that morning who was dropping somebody off at the hotel as I was leaving to catch my ride. How many freakin taxi drivers are there in Fort Wayne??!! It is a city. I did see a bit of it when I went to the wrong hotel. Why couldn't the office be down there? It was much better than the outskirts. Ah well....

I liked the Fort Wayne airport a lot. It was small, but big enough that it was spacious. They had a little airport museum which amused me. I also donated a loonie to help support it, but mostly cause it amused me to throw in some canadian money with the american haha. They had FREE wireless internet there so I amused myself by going on facebook and emailing people.

Once again my plane arrived late, then they had to do stuff before we could board. Not knowing how long it will take them before we can board, and knowing I have a connecting flight, had me again worried. So much worrying!!!! Argh. It ended up being 30 minutes late so I still had enough time in Chicago.

The flight to Chicago was GREAT!!!!! They had those big fluffy white cotton ball clouds!! I've never got to see them while flying before and I loved it. Sooo pretty. I saw Shrek while I was up there. And a dog. And the thumbs up. And Shrek again haha. I must have had Shrek on my mind. Landing in Chicago freaked me out a little. We turned around over the water but I didn't realize that's what we were doing so it was just lots of heading down towards the water. It amused me though.

They gave us connecting flight info and a pilot (? or some sort of airport employee) who was sitting beside me saw I was looking at a map of the airport and explained how to get to area K where my gate was =) Nice guy!

So I got off my plane, looked at the board, and saw the gate was in H, not K. Oh well. And the flight was already late. But only by 5 minutes so no biggie! So I tread over to H. It was packed and crowded and hard to get around. Plus my laptop bag was heavy. Not very fun. I get to my gate but it says another city... So I look at the board again and see It's actually in K. Argh! How did I mess that up? Oh well. So I go over to K. Hmmm it doesn't say my city still, but the boards do confirm it's my gate so I sit down. They make an announcement how Atlanta is now boarding at another gate and lots of people leave. Why were Atlanta people at my gate? Am I at the right gate???!

So I look around and decide to ask an older (40s?) man if he was also going to Toronto. He was!! I felt relieved. He told me that a plane got cancelled and it's causing lots of problems and delays and gate scrambling. I was glad to know I wasn't crazy by going to H!!! hehe. I decide I'd check the boards again since I wasn't confident this was the proper gate still. It wasn't! And the plane was more delayed. Boo. So we head over to the new gate and chatted about stuff. I made an airport buddy!!

The plane ended up being 45(?) minutes late which isn't horrible but it could have been better. I thought about going to see the dinosaur while I waited, but it was in a different terminal and with all the gate confusion and the crowdiness of the airport I decided it wasn't a good idea. Maybe next time, if I ever fly to Chicago again. I wasn't a huge fan of the airport.

So I finally arrive in beautiful wonderful Toronto and I'm happy to be at home. It was fun, there was a guy walking super fast so I got to keep up with him. It wasn't fair, he didn't have a big heavy backpack like me! I kept up though hehe. I beat him through customs!! Point for me. Customs was funny. They didn't seem to believe me that I didn't buy anything. No, not even a "souvenir for friends or family" haha. It's Fort Wayne!! and I was there for work. Then I grabbed my bag and was off to get a taxi. Fast walker got his bags first... Point for him.

The timing was bad so there was traffic on the highway. It was frustrating since I was already late getting home but I listened to my iPod and relaxed. I got home and felt worked up and annoyed from 4 hours of work and 8 hours of travelling. But I calmed down and did some cleaning in preparation of writing the FAP Final Assessment!!! Boy I'm glad that's over with. 96 hours of *fun*. I'm still waiting for results. I don't like the waiting game.

So that's my very long detailed story about my trip to Fort Wayne. I love you all who read it all hehe.

Kraft Macaroni & Cheese

States KD is icky. Why is it different? I don't understand. Spongebob Squarepants Kraft Macaroni & Cheese was still amusing though.



Back to my exam. Less than 65 hours to go.

Blue Smarties

I'm sitting here, working on my asset liability matching task for my exam, eating smarties (I am still trying to save some for the next time you're over Reena!) and the mini box had 0 blue smarties! It made me happy. I don't like blue smarties. They turn your mouth blue. My mom doesn't like them either. It reminds me of the Halloween my mom and i emptied every smarties box and sorted them by colour. We then fed the boxes filled with blue smarties to George hahaha. If I remember correctly, the colours were fairly well uniformly distributed ;)

FWA

I got in to work today at 7. worked for 4 hours. then spent 8 hours travelling. Not in the mood to write about my trip. But I will leave you with the one picture I took of Fort Wayne.



All i have to say is: hahhahahahahah wtf???!

Windsor = shopping and drinking

So Tuesday I had to be in Fort Wayne for treaty training. Since there's no direct flight to fort wayne international from Toronto (where's the international part then?), it made for a long trip, and it meant it ruined my long weekend. To make up for it I took the train to Windsor on Friday and got to visit Angela!!!

We had a great weekend. When I got there we went for supper with a couple of her friends and the food was yummy. Saturday we went to Detroit for some shopping!!! I *heart* cheap shoes! And they're sooo pretty. I bought 3 at Ang's fav outlet store. Then we went to Target!! I've never been so it was so exciting. I bought another pair of shoes as well as spongebob square pants KD =) They had a bunch of nascar stuff too! Yay states for being obsessed.

After that we went to..... wait for it.... the olive garden!!! omg i was so excited. I keep seeing commercials and drooling. I decided to go for the pasta that i kept seeing on commercials and damn it was GOOD! After that we went to a mall closeby and did a bit more shopping.

We were pretty tired by the time we got home but they didn't stop us from having one or two (okay four) pina coladas! Mmmmm soooo good! Then it was off to the loop for gooood times. Got to meet some of Ang's friends and dance the night away.

Sunday was mostly napping, a bit of shopping, olive garden leftovers and tv! It was an awesome weekend. Need to visit again.

I leave for Toronto tomorrow afternoon and when I get home I'll post about the highs and lows of my trip to Indiana.

who knew?

On my Tony Stewart Daily Calendar today, I learned that the Nascar Nextel Cup Series has more women fans than any other sport. I found this surprising. I googled it and found an article that claims 40% of nascar fans are female.

stay interesting

Last week I went on my very first business trip. I spent a couple days in our Armonk office. Flying is fun so the trip there was great. I flew into La Guardia which amused me since I could see the NYC skyline as well as almost landing on water. I had a driver (with a sign!) waiting for me at baggage. Then he took me to my hotel and I showered since my boss wanted to leave the hotel at 7:15 the next morning. Argh, so early. He admitted sometimes he gets in really early some days and thinks why did i come in this early? He suggested meeting beforehand to grab some breakfast, but i graciously decline. EW breakfast before 7 with my boss? That's too early to deal with.

The Armonk office was nice. It's pretty much in the middle of nowhere, so definitely a change of scenery. It was pretty though. Lots of trees and a river. Accomplished a lot of work and had supper at the hotel with my boss (since it would have been at least a 15 minute drive to a restaurant haha). The hotel reminded me of REV a little. Maybe I'll post a picture later. Oh, I stole two pens (which say stay interesting), some Q-tips to bring to work to clean my keyboard with, and lemongrass soap. I would have taken the shampoo and conditioner but my plastic baggie for liquids I was allowed to bring as carry on was already full.

The flight home wasn't as fun as the flight there. I flew out of Westchester county airport and it was small and crowded and loud. They were horrible at updating the status of my flight so when it was over an hour later leaving it felt like a lot longer. The plane sat no more than 20 people and had propellers. Smallest plane I ever flew on before. It was fine once we got above the clouds. It was amusing since you could see into the cock pit area during the flight. When we got to Toronto we had to drive more than 10 minutes to where we could unload, then there was a shuttle to take us to the Terminal since we were in some weird small plane area. Very irritating. Thankfully I caught a cab quickly and didn't fret over the price since I got to expense it.

I had a pretty quiet Easter Weekend. Went for lunch with my dad and he bought me Entourage Season 3 Part 1. What a great daddy.

In other good news, I managed to somehow pass the most retarded exam I ever wrote! Yay!

Last night we went to Da Gianni and Maria Trattoria that we were supposed to go to a couple weeks ago but happend to be closed for a couple of days. It's a family run Italian restaurant where the husband does the cooking and the wife does the serving. The gnocchi was amazing and so was the tiramisu!

To end, I'll just say: I like shoes.

*yawn*

I know my pens. It happens when you have somewhat of a stationary fetish. I'm getting people addicted to my favourite pen. I helped a girl at work find it in the Basics catalogue cause it rocks so much. More and more will realize the greatness of the fine blue Zebra Jimnie Stick Pen. Beware, the medium sucks!!!!

Early morning meetings suck for obvious reasons. But they also suck since nobody is around to email me to keep me amused when I'm waiting/hoping for the caffeine to kick in. Maybe I should find new friends that start work earlier in the mornings. Too bad Holly can't access email at work. I'd get angry at her employer but I think bad things would happen if the word got out. Hahahaha. Ohh that amuses me way too much. Silly mornings.

This weekend I went to see Holly for a girls weekend. There was lots of chocolate, but also yummy food Holly made. Like guacamole with baked tostitos! Mmmm. I bought avocados yesterday so I can make some soon. Baked chips suck, but baked tostitos are yummy. I was surprised and impressed. I forgot to check the difference in nutrition value when I was buying some yesterday. Oh well. I got Holly addicted to Entourage. Since not only am i a pen pusher, i'm a tv pusher too. Holly showed me the sights of Hamilton, and since Denningers was one of them, I was hooked. I'd go back to Hamilton to go there. So much fun food.

Sunday I got home in time to watch the last 7 laps of the Nascar race, to see 2 of my drivers finish 1 & 2!! Happy day.

I forget what else I've been up to. I got to see my brother which was cool. I went up to the skypod at the CN tower. That was fun. I should get my dad to send me pics from that soon. I've realized I have something to look forward to each day this week. Tonight is *wing* night at this amazing sounding italian place. I can't wait for gnocchi!! Tomorrow is Daffodil day, Thursday is bonus day, and Friday is Friday. Hopefully that helps move my week along.

The coffee still hasn't helped my sleepiness but I do have to pee. That's something I guess? I've also realized I said "suck[s]" a lot in this post. Wait, only 4 times. That's not all that much. Hopefully my morning rambling amuses somebody other than me.

Life needs TV

Tomorrow my weekly 8 o'clock meeting gets pushed to 9 since Zurich hasn't changed their clocks yet. So far this is the only reason I'm happy about the new daylight savings timeframe. Too bad I only get two 9 o'clock meetings out of it.

On a sad note, today I discovered girl guide cookies still have trans. I had to walk away from the open box at work that was just begging me to help eat. *sigh*

I've started watching Veronica Mars. I read an article about how more people watch GG but Veronica Mars has been a better show compared to the past couple seasons of GG and I felt left out. So far i've watched the first 6 episodes and I'm enjoying it. Is it better than GG? No. Is it better than GG Season 7? Yes. Too bad it's on the same time as House. Oh well, I have lots to catch up on still =)

Creme eggs in the Morning

It's my study day and I'll eat my creme egg whenever I want. Which is right after I finish warming it up. Creme eggs are most enjoyable when the chocolate is soft, but not melty. I prefer a little too melty over not soft enough though. It's also important to eat half the chocolate shell, then eat alll of the sugary goodness, then the rest of the shell. And if you're wondering, yes, i do eat other chocolate bars in a particular way as well. Only a few though. I'm not crazy or anything.

I remember that glorious year in high school when I ate over 30 creme eggs that easter season. The no name ones came in a package of 4, rather than Cadbury's 3, for the same price. Ohhhhh goooood times.

Creme eggs are on sale at Pharma Plus this week. Holly, you know you want one!!! =)

Nascar Sunday

I'm just sitting here, drinking a beer, reading about financial security systems. Yes, a beer. Sleeman Cream Ale. The only beer I don't mind drinking.

This weekend I've been studying like crazy, reviewing as much as possible before my Exam on Wednesday. It sounds like a stupid exam that no matter how much I study it'll still be easy and hard at the same time. I'd rather just a hard exam. Oh well. After I spend two hours on wednesday I have the afternoon off to do whatever I like so that is totally worth it.

I think studying too much makes me go a little crazy. Hence the beer, and the fact I've decided it would be a great idea to give a gift I deemed to be too young for an 8-year old to my friend as a house warming present. I don't know why, it just seems soooo amusing. And no, it's not the beer talking. I haven't finished half of it yet.

Current Pet Peeve

is the way Americans say finance/financial. *shudder*

 

Am I weird for sorting my trail mix into little rows for each item?  I don't think I am.  I think I'd be weird if I had an order I liked the rows to be in.  Which I don't.  Well, not yet anyway.  Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned this.. hmm...

 

And yes, this was the most interesting part of my day, thank you.

Walking in a Winter Wonder Thunderstorm

I think I've been deprived of snow this year. It was snowing like crazy this morning and I loved every minute walking to work. I think I enjoyed it because it wasn't very cold, and the snow hadn't turned to slush yet. I could have walked inside part way but i didn't want to. The snow was too much fun. I made a huge mess at my desk though. Sooo much snow was stuck to me that the carpet is pretty wet. oops =)

Right when I was leaving my building I saw a flash of light. I was confused, I couldn't figure out where the light came from. Then I heard thunder! I can't remember that happening before. There was one more on the way to work as well. Very amusing.

On the weekend was Rob's Birthday, Happy Birthday Rob! Lots of people showed up for his party on Saturday and it was very amusing. Some of the highlights were cake, rob's slutty cousin, and one of the girls taking home some of our toliet paper.

Sunday was DAYTONA 500!!!!!! Ohh how I've missed nascar and the hilarious nascar commercials. Holly and Matt watched with me which was awesome. I made tuna casserole to make the time spent watching worth it for them hehe. It was a crazy race with the majority of the big names getting involved in a crash. It was the second time I saw a car cross the finish line upside down, but the first time it happened while the car was on fire. eep!

Tonight is the final episode of The O.C. evar. It better not suck like last week's.

Americone Dream

On my way home from work yesterday I went to a couple drug stores to buy some cheap valentine's day candy. Instead, I ended up buying easter candy. Oops. I can't help it easter candy is soooo much better than valentine's day chocolate. My favourite shape is the star, not heart. The only thing I regret is not buying the family size bag of mini eggs. What I really should do is get to costco and buy a gigantic bag. Wait.. no.. I'm trying to be healthy.

I came across the Stephen Colbert Ice cream the other day which i find very amusing, and OMG it sounds so good. While I was browsing Rabba's today, I was checking out the Haggen daz ice cream because they had a sale on. I came across a very similar flavour. It has the chocolate covered waffle cones with caramel, but it also has almonds in it. Well, I had to try it. I've been craving this Stephen Colbert ice cream since I heard of it and who knows if it'll come to Canada. It won't be quite the same though, since I don't get to look at Stephen Colbert while I'm eating it, but I'll take what I can get. Now I'm off to the gym in preparation of eating ice cream for supper. Like I said, gotta stay healthy.

V-Day

I have to say, this Valentine's Day has been going pretty well so far. 

First, it brought the first real snow fall!!  Snow in general is a pain and cold and icky, but the first snow fall rocks.  It was so fun trudging through the fresh white snow drifts on the way to work and back.  My coworker said it felt like Christmas cause of the snow.  How can a day that feels like Christmas not be awesome?  I was even wearing a Christmas sock so I obviously had the Christmas spirit too.

Also, I got 5, count em five Valentine's day gifts this year.  I have to admit I use the term gift quite loosely.  A couple *gifts* I received are a Valentine's Day card from my Grandma, and a chocolate heart from building management at work. 

And tonight, is the finale of Beauty and the Geek.  Throw in working out at the gym, some crappy season 7 gilmore girls, the prospective of buying cheap chocolate tomorrow, and I have myself a successful Valentine's day.

Chopin

Last night for *wing* night we decided to go to Rob's Polish place for supper.  It was pretty far west, but thankfully the streetcar went right past it.  Well, it was supposed to anyway.  The streetcar we got on decided to randomly stop at Roncesvalles which left us 6 blocks more to go in the cold snowy weather.  Thankfully Patrick asked the driver about it and we all got transfers and hopped on the streetcar which conveniently just behind ours.  So that turned out alright.

Rob was watching out the window to figure out when our stop is, and when he requested a stop we gathered and watched out the window looking for the restaurant with him.  We saw it.. and the closed sign as we drove by.  Closed???!!  We spent half an hour on a street car and the place was closed? Oh noes!  So we got out and went to look at the sign.  It was closed from sometime in January to February 15th.  Two days early.  What bad luck. 

We followed Rob into the Sobey's a couple doors down, where he asked the cashier if she knew of any other good polish restaurants.  He knew there were a few good ones close by but didn't know of them.  The cashier was useless.  Thankfully a couple people paying were helpful.  One suggested Chopin because his friends go there a lot and one is polish so it must be good.  The other pointed us in the right direction.  Matt had heard on Chowhound that it was one of the best polish restaurants so off we went.  It was a nice little place.  And the food was yummy!!  Another wing night success =)

Bears vs. Colts

The superbowl was pretty exciting to me.  My colts made it, as well as my brother's bears.  My brother has been a fan of the bears since he was a little kid.  He stuck by them even when they were playing horribly and was embarrassed by them.  That's a true fan.  Me, I just randomly decided to like the colts a few years ago.  Because of this, I decided I would cheer for the bears last Sunday.

Yeah... that didn't work out so well.  After the first kick off when the bears out maneuvered the colts and went all the way for a touchdown I was like "noooo!!!" then I realized wait, I want the bears to win, so I should be happy. It was too strange and conflicting and weird to not cheer for the colts.  I decided I would cheer for the colts but in the end i hoped bears would win.  Sucks they didn't, but on the other hand, wohooo!  They really deserved it last year and it sucked they got knocked out so quickly, so I'm very happy they won.  Maybe it'll be the bears turn next year.

I made chilli for the big game, and Matt came over and brought fresh bread from thuet.  Mmmmm bread.  Wilson came too and brought homemade dumplings!  Those were super yummy.  Rob watched too (while playing DS) and he contributed melon bread from j-town.  Overall, there was a silly rainy game of football in pretty HD, friends, and lots of great food.  I call this a superbowl success!!

17 Days

Since my secret shame of liking Nascar is simply just a fact now, i guess it's no surprise I have a Tony Stewart daily calendar at my desk.  My Dad saw it at Walmart and thought of me.  Each day has lots of orange, the number 20, his autograph, a monthly calendar, date, and a little nascar/stewart fact.  Today had to be the *best* fact I've read so far: "Tony Stewart drives the No. 20 Chevrolet for Joe Gibbs Racing".  It's a Tony Stewart daily calendar for goodness sakes.  If you're going to state the obvious, at least mention one of his championships. At least that way it'll bring happy memories, rather than disgust of the writer's stupidity.

 

I remember a girl at work asked me once, "Is that your boyfriend"? referring to the picture of Tony on my mouse pad.  Eugh. If I have to have a nascar boyfriend, it would be less embarrassing if he was hot.  Easier to justify anyway.

Music galore

One thing I hate about winter is if I leave work even a tad bit late, it's dark out.  It's so depressing.  The other day I wasn't looking forward to going home cause it was dark.  When I got outside I realized how wrong I was.  The city looks so pretty!  There are even some lights up on some trees still.  I love it! 

The other night on my way home, I faintly heard music.  I had no idea where it was coming from.  As it got louder I only grew more curious.  I discovered the music was coming from the little park I like to cross through on my way home.  I was extremely surprised to discover there was a marching band, battle of the bands!  They had girls spinning flags in the air, and fun marching band music.  Sooo amusing.  They were in town for the football game the following day.  I could even hear them when I opened up my window that next morning. 

On Wednesday I got to see my high school friend play in a concert at the Four Seasons Centre of Performing Arts.  It was sooo amazing.  It was a drumming ensemble that combined traditional Japanese rhythms with Western influences.  I loved it.  The movements were very dramatic and as important as the actual drumming. It was as fun to watch as it was to listen to.

Next week I'm going to the Symphony to hear some Mozart.  I've never been so I'm very excited.

I miss playing music some days.  Like today.