The Week of Not Much

Well, as you may have guessed, not a whole heck of a lot has happened in the last week. It's really been pretty dull, actually - which, while refreshing at times, doesn't make for particularly interesting blogging. The remainder of the Cold Lake trip was uneventful, so much so that despite a total of 8 hours spent standing on frozen lakes in wind chills of -30 degrees, I caught exactly no fish. The trip home was quiet, with no repeats of my previous highway antics as there was a great deal of blowing snow. Pics of The Biggest Mushroom in the World are forthcoming, and as an added bonus I also stopped in Glendon and snapped one of the Giant Pyrogy. But I really didn't do much over the weekend; hung out with the Ninja and watched The Imposters, which was teh awesome, and then hung out with one of my best and oldest friends, Paul, and played Need for Speed on his ginormous television. Spent Sunday night back at the Ninja's place, watching Arrested Development with him and Jago, and then had the least productive Monday on record, lending my brother (who, for assorted legal and beaurocratic reasons, is unable to drive a car for the time being) a hand with his errands, an act for which I was rewarded by being invited to partake of dinner and a CSI marathon.

Today was a little bit more special, since it wa the first day back to classes. I had somehow gotten it lodged in my head that my midterm this week was on Thursday - I am eternally grateful that most of my morning classmates are also in my evening class, as they were able to relieve me of that misunderstanding and inform me that the test was, in fact, TODAY. So that's what I did this evening: wrote an exam with literally almost NO PREPARATION WHATSOEVER. I haven't done that since the second year of my first degree. Still, the course is *gag* an introductory computing course, also known as Microsoft Office for Dummies. It's pretty lame, so I don't think it was all that detrimental for me to have written that exam without having actually studied. Or read the notes. Or the textbook. Or attended the bulk of the lectures. Hmmm. Maybe I should brush up on my scholastic habits for the final.

But for now, my Ninja boyfriend has invited me out for post-exam mussels at one of his favourite haunts, so I'll bid my adoring fans a good evening.

Oh, the highway...

The lovely highway....

I'm here, and I'm safe. Where's here? Cold Lake, Alberta. I'm visiting my mom for that most hallowed of all post-secondary traditions: Reading Week. It was a pretty good drive, although surprisingly not as uneventful as one might think for a drive 250km north-east of Edmonton on a Tuesday morning might be. I had to pull over at Vilna (the home of the world's largest mushroom... and no, I'm not joking - I think I'll pick up a disposable camera while I'm here and get a picture for you) in order to get some more windshield washer fluid, because the snow, while not enough to actually implair the driving conditions, was nonetheless adequate to make washing my windshield a necessity every kilometer or two. So I pulled over into Vilna, and stopped at the store (the only one in town) which is a charming little family-owned grocery. As I was pulling back out onto the highway, I came upon a pilot car pulled over into the wrong lane (as in, MINE) facing me. So I pulled up to him and stopped, which allowed him to explain to me that I'd be waiting for about 10 minutes or so while they brought an oversized load through (it's not a divided highway up here). And I mean oversized - they were moving a GRAIN SILO. I kind of wish that I'd had a camera at the time.... although, the guy waiting right behind me did. He was taking pictures like a madman. I thought it was pretty funny.
After it was past us, and I could start moving again, I got up to about 120 km/h, and sort of thought I might stay at that speed for a while because there were probably still cops in the area from having to do traffic control for that thing. But the guy behind me was right on my tail. Now, I know that in driving school, they say you should never speed up just because the guy behind you is tailgating you, but the thing is, 120 is NOT my usual cruising speed (as anyone who has driven with me on a regular basis can probably guess. I'm not a speed demon, and I don't drive recklessly or overdrive the conditions, and I DEFINITELY don't speed at night if I'm out in the country and the visibility/light is poor. But on a straight highway with no potholes, next-to-no moisture, in midmorning? Come on.).
So anyways, I accelerated up to my usual cruising speed (which I won't divulge online) thinking that this guy would realize that he wasn't going to pass me, and also assuming that he wasn't going to particularly want to keep pace with me. But he surprised me, and we drove the rest of the way to Bonnyville together. It was actually kind of neat - I never actually met him, or anything, but we still had a great time together.

In other news, I also had a really great time this past weekend. Spent pretty much all of it with the Ninja which will be unsurprising to any of you who read his blog - we've been hanging out a lot for the last couple of weeks, and decided to throw caution to the wind and actually declare ourselves a "couple". I did work all weekend, which is pretty much par for the course, but we went out on Friday night to see Curious George, and on Saturday night for Jago's Birthday Karaoke Bash, and had dinner with some of my siblings and their respective SO's on Sunday, and then went back to Karaoke for another birthday bash with another of Ninja's friends (all of whom that I've met so far have been FANTASTIC people! I love meeting new people. And old people. And all the ones in between). Then we hung out in bed being lazy till noon or so on Monday (a blessed - and rare - day off for me). Had breakfast, hung out some more, and then I drove him home for what was ostensibly a Kow rehearsal, but ended up being cancelled - but I had to take care of some things before I could come out here for my vacation (HA! A vacation! Spent with my mom! Right!).
But, all in all, a great weekend.

Horror Stories from my Coffee Shop - Ch. 1

Well, this one's not so much a horror story, although it got me pretty upset. A guy came in to my work yesterday with his son, who was about 12 or 13. This in and of itself has been happening with increasing frequency ever since the no-smoking law got passed and we were able to start allowing minors in here again. I think it's kind of cool; we've got a few regulars with kids, and it really brightens the whole place up to have them in. But I digress.

Anyways, this guy and his son come in; guy orders coffee, kid orders a mochaccino (which he doesn't really like, and only ordered to try and be cool; it was really kind of cute). And then the guy starts asking me about the rates and stuff for the computers (oh yeah, we're kind of a cybercafe too). So he goes and sits down at a computer, leaving the kid alone at their table for 45 MINUTES. About 10 or 15 minutes into this, I'm doing my rounds, picking up dishes from the tables, and I give the kid a smile, since he's sitting there looking pretty forlorn. He just looks up at me, and with a half-grin, says "I feel like I've been stood up". It just about broke my heart. So I got him the colour comics out of the journal, and a pen so he could do the puzzles, and extra whipped cream for his coffee, and a glass of chocolate milk, and really I just waited on him insofar as I was able without completely ignoring my other customers, and when the guy came back up to get a refill on his coffee (because the first cup, which he hadn't even touched on account of being so wrapped up in the computer, had gone ice cold). I asked him if he was through on the computer, and he asked me how long he'd been on for. I told him I'd only charge him for 35 minutes, even though he'd been on for 45 already - a fact which I informed him of in a rather cold voice, while looking pointedly over his shoulder at his son. He got the hint, and went and sat down, but I definitely felt like it was too little too late.

As for what else I have to say to that guy, it can pretty much be summed up in one statement: Buddy, there is a very good reason why you only get to see your kid every second Saturday.

Yes, I am a geek. And I like it.

Picked this up from the Ninja... thought it was pretty cool.




You scored as Deep Space Nine (Star Trek). You have entered the dark side of the Star Trek universe. The paradise of Earth is far from you and you must survive despite having enemies on all fronts. But you wouldnâ??t have it any other way because you thrive in conflict and will know what needs to be done to take care of those around you. Now if only the Founders would quit trying to take over the galaxy.

Deep Space Nine (Star Trek)

81%

Babylon 5 (Babylon 5)

75%

Enterprise D (Star Trek)

63%

Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda)

63%

Bebop (Cowboy Bebop)

63%

Millennium Falcon (Star Wars)

63%

Serenity (Firefly)

63%

Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix)

63%

Moya (Farscape)

50%

SG-1 (Stargate)

38%

FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files)

19%
Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics)
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Landmark #1

In celebration of having acheived my first fitness landmark (I broke 200 lbs), I took my stepsister on a shopping spree. And I mean spree. But I got some much needed new clothes, that actually fit, so it was on the whole a worthwhile endeavour.

Also, I'm definitely enjoying my newfound (or re-found, as the case actually is) social life. For those who don't know me, which is the vast majority of everyone, I had fallen off the face of the planet for two years, as attested to by my good friend Ninja Stan. But he's been doing his best (which is pretty darned good) to get me back out, so I can see more of my friends and less of my textbooks/classmates/students/customers. Not that I disliked spending time with any of the aforementioned, but it's been phenomenally refreshing to go out to things like the Edmonton Rush games, for which I am eternally grateful to the Ninja.

In other news, I'm actually procrastinating doing anything like schoolwork right now, so I should probably get back to that.

Wonder what my trusty ballpoint would go for....

Ok, I'm taking time out from work to post about this, because it's so freaking weird. You would not believe how far one red paper clip will get you these days.

I mean, hey, why stop at a house? Why not go for full-on world domination?

Bandwagon-y Me!!

So, now that I've finally gotten out of my house for once (actually, THRICE in ONE WEEK!) I thought it appropriate to jump on the ol' blogger bandwagon so I could ... ummm... let everyone know how I'm doing without actually leaving my house. Right. *cough*

Anyways, hello out there!