Minions R Us

So judging from the pile o'work still on my desk that I get to play with tomorrow for a half day, I haven't really recovered from my vacation yet. But really, do I need to recover from meeting Tori Amos???? Nah...I'm just trying to get back into my life again. Back to being burried in work orders, being pulled into five thousand different directions and working more than I really should be.

After Christmas I'm putting a proposal into the high executive mucky mucks to get me a minion. Any takers? Pay is low, but guaranteed you will have this to look forward to:
1. Having coloured paperclips chucked at you
2. Drowning in a sea of blue paper
3. Laughing at the inepte"dude" - aka he who shall not be named
4. Covering reception more than you really want to
5. Cursing at enabling a certain program that keeps tossing you off(eeeww)each time you update it.
6. More filing than a human can do in four years
7. Cracking the whip
8. Being the office manager's "bitch"
9. Learning how to swear in sign language
9. More cakes than you can eat
11. The 25 lbs you will gain from eating said cakes.

Resume's will be accepted from now until mid January. E-mail to minionsrus@gophergirl.com (the publisher of this post takes no responsibility for those who try to e-mail me at this bogus address) :)

Tori is amazing

To carry on my obsession with Tori Amos, here is my picture of her and I at the meet and greet. I will have to purchase Photoshop to correct the colour as my little expensive camera doesn't seem to like dark lighting and I'm not an expert at adjusting it yet. Oh, well. You can make us both out, so I don't really care too much that the picture is not as perfect as I like (insert my slight obsessive perfectionism here). She was lovely, and gracious and spent at least five minutes with each of us. I couldn't have asked for a better experience.

Trip Eve

Bags packed..check
Kermie's tank cleaned - check
Mikey fed - check
Copy of Tori Amos's new CD American Doll Posse for her to sign...check
Hugs and squishes for Quincy to last him for ten days...check

VIP concert ticket to see Tori Amos live...priceless!

One month to go!

I'm making final arrangements for my trip to Vancouver to see Tori Amos. I finally got off my butt and booked a flight home after I go and see my dad and step mother. It will be good to get away from work for awhile, so long as I conveniently lose my cell phone or not answer it when it compells me to. I plan to be invisible for two weeks. The rush is now to train others to do my job while I'm gone.

I need to go get some pants tailored today or else I'll arrive rather naked from the waist down for our Christmas party next weekend..yes, Christmas, and I'm still stuffing my face full of Halloween candy!!

Once I come back, I plan to play with Quincy in the new fallen snow.

P.S. Note to Vogel Stitcher, I hope it wasn't me you were referring to. You are still my Tori date!

Happy Birthday Roger & Pretty Good Friday

Happy Birthday Roger! You are now as old as me! I miss you, but I hope you are enjoying your first touches of BC in your new home!

Friday was a pretty good day in Nomieworld. I was voted Employee Of The Month! That was a neat suprise! And, I also got a promotion. I am now Senior Contracts Administrator, which is funny because I'm the only one who does my job, I answer only to me and I HAVE NO MINIONS! Where can I get me some minons??

Friday was also great because I didn't have to work the second job so I got to snuggle with Quincy, whom I'm sure enjoyed that as much as I did.

I did work today though..broke two computers, was yelled at by three rude customers, and tried to explain where seats were to a very dense/thick headed/rude woman, but I didn't care. I got afirmation on Friday that I'm an ok person from my peers which made me feel really good about myself so my Murphy's Law day rolled off my shoulders.

I took Monday and Tuesday off this week to decompress from the previous weeks of hell and took Quincy for a long walk through the Bowmont Natural Park and Bowness Park. I'll post these shortly. But for now, here's my little man, in his puffy glory after having a bit of an allergic reaction. He still looks happy.

Update Goodness

I feel a bit guilty as my Jewish heritage serves me well on. I rarely update this blog anymore as my new addiction lately has been Facebook..Yes, it really should be re-named Crackbook. Sorry faithful reader/s, it's taken up most of my time.

That's the bad news. The good news about Facebook is that I've found a few old high school buddies whom I lost touch with, and I can keep in touch with friends who have left my sight, if only for location.

Here's a new pic of my shaggy Superdog! He's been good, although he had a small seizure on Sunday. If you didn't know already, he does have Epilepsy, but it isn't so bad that he needs medication. He's ok and recovered within ten minutes. I think seeing his best friends Cola and Pepper helped as well.



Tomorrow I'm attempting to colour my hair dark blonde. Garnier has some pretty cheesy names for their hair colour. This attempt is called "Honeydip". I'll let you all know how that turned out.

I'm also planning our trip to see Tori in Vancouver in December. I'm so excited!!
Well, off to the Crackbook!

Tori Tori Tori!!!!!!!!

I'm going to bust!!!! Confirmation of Tori's onsale for Vancouver is here! Pre-sales begin on Thursday. VIP Packages are available too, but they are a little pricey. However, if I can snag one of these, you get a goodie bag, meet and greet and watch part of the soundcheck. Hmmmmm...something to think about.

I'm still going. Man I love her!

Rest in peace little Joy-Poodle

To my wonderful friend Shelley at The Vogel Stitcher, her mom and Billy, my condolences on the loss of one of their Superdogs, Joy-Poodle.





When I lost Carrie three months shy of her 16th birthday in 1997 (above at in order from top to bottom..at 1 year with her favorite squeaky toy TOTO, age 4 months in bed snuggling with a young me, and age 4 years in the leaves), I thought my heart would never heal again. And even though everyone tells you that pain will go away, let me tell you that all of it never really does. It does get easier and the overwhelming sorrow does lessen though. I still get teary-eyed looking at pictures of my "Pook", but remembering all the silly things she used to do and how much laughter she brought me makes me know that my life was made better with her in it.

Pets should live forever. Rest in peace Joy-Poodle. You were loved.

Everything melts

Chocolate, Ice Cream, Butter, Wax and Nomies.

Just so you know, I cannot STAND this heat. Sure Summer can be fun, but constant temperatures between 29-34 degrees celsius with 75-80 percent humidity (which is BIZZARE for Calgary) is making me exceptionally cranky.

What's the best so far? Um, nothing..have the flu to end all flus, voice is gone (which is a good think I think for my neighbours who won't hear me singing in the shower anytime soon), and I'm hacking up a lung. So much fun the second day of this when outside it was 34 degrees, and inside my body was 39.4 (otherwise known as a temp of 103). Needless to say, I spent the day at home inside my bathtub.

Quincy's not finding this heat too much fun either. He's a mean apricot panting machine who sleeps in the bathroom at night. Even with the windows open at night..I'm sitting here at 10:45pm and it's still 23 degrees with 73 percent humidity. That makes it feel like 29.

Is there an end in sight? Friday it's supposed to be only 24 - the coolest day until next Tuesday, but with this weirdass humidity, it feels about 6 degrees warmer. 24 +6=30. Whaaaaaa!!!!

I want Fall dammit!

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a fantastic day! Thanks so everyone who came to my birthday shindig. I had a blast! What a lucky person I am to have so many friends who wanted to celebrate with me.

So I'm forty now, and I don't feel a day over 25, which is a very good thing.

Happy Canada Day!

Ok, so I haven't written in this thing for a very long time, and I apologize to the one person I know who reads this. Here's the update!

I took Quincy to the Calgary SPCA Dog Jog on Sunday last week. He had a blast and we came away with a prize (a dog spa/pic/coupon pkg worth over $200!) and a whole bunch of goodies! Here's my happy guy at the dog jog. It was a 5k walk, but because we got lost in this huge expanse of a park for over an hour and a half, we didn't actually do the walk. I figured Quincy had already walked well OVER 5k just getting to the venue and I didn't want to tire him out. With the help of friends and co-workers, we raised $357.50 for the Calgary SPCA, a cause near and dear to our hearts.

I didn't realize that Fish Creek Park was so huge! I saw a crane, and a couple of red-winged black birds. I may have to go there again, but the bus ride from my house to there takes over an hour and a half!

My eyes are getting better, but I was told that if my right eye doesn't improve by October that I would need to have it tweaked. No big deal so long as it doesn't give me Shingles again...

I'm having a Lordy Lordy Nomie's Turning...never mind party on Monday July 9th at 5pm til whenever. Shelley, call me on Tuesday and I'll give you the details on where! I would love it if you came! I'm rather excited because a bunch of people from work as well as some friends are coming..I never realized that I was that popular. It's a little weird still, knowing that so many people want to celebrate this monumental b-day with me. I feel really loved!

Today, I'm enjoying Canada Day with Quincy and being lazy. I had to work yesterday so the long weekend for me is just like a normal weekend for everyone else. The good news is that I'm taking July 6th off and I get my birthday on the 9th off so it will be a FOUR DAY WEEKEND! The thing that sucks is that I was told I wasn't allowed to take Tuesday July 10th off due to the fact it's our office's Spaghetti Western. I intend to get tipsyish on Monday, so if I show up to work hung over Tuesday so be it.

As you can see from the pictures above, I spoiled myself and bought a little digital camera! It's PINK! My old semi-automatic camera is feeling left out, but because I know it still takes incredible pictures, I have no intentions of not using it anymore. The little digital is flashy and gives me instant gratification, but there is something to be said for not knowing exactly what you are going to get. The element of suprise is exciting!

Suddenly I see...

KT Tunstall was right..."This is where I want to be.."

HOLY CRAP PEOPLE!!! I CAN SEE WITHOUT GLASSES!!! This is fantastic, bizzare, huge, monumental, crazy, all rolled up into one.

I can see across the street and read license plates, street signs etc.! Just for fun, I tried on my glasses this morning...was I ever blind, because I can't see out of those suckers anymore!

I'm looking forward to games of "Squish Quincy" shortly. He's over at his Grramma's right now until Sunday morning so I can recover.

Saving Face

Joined Facebook yesterday kids! Step right up and look at my profile, be my friend? Fordman said it was addicting and with a "you should join" from both him and Cayly, I figured why the hell not? Today I did most of the updating. It's pretty cool.. I found my niece Toby (been a couple of years since I've spoken with her too), and Jenny, the girl who helped me get Quincy that wonderful May evening.


Say, did you know that 7 years ago on May 11th I brought this ball of fluff home with me? Thirteen days later, he understood that pee on the carpet was not as acceptable as pee on the grass outside. Smart little guy...well, the bribery of cookies may have helped.

Darkness, Light, Edmonton and Pitching

Darkness.
My favorite co-worker announced his departure this month. Pretty much all of us here are devestated. This guy would give you the shirt off his back if he felt you needed it. Goofy and hilarious with his snapping ankle, weird vocal outbursts like WOW, and BAHLOH (whatever the hell that is..) and sauntering down the hallways whistling the Harlem Globetrotters theme song (did you know it's really about a hooker?). I remember when he first started here, and my former co-worker Geri and I used to inappropriately harrassed him and he figured that if we conducted interviews to hire new staff members that one of the questions should be "does sexual harrasment in the workplace bother you?" It never seemed to bother him until he would retreat redfaced and laughing back down the hall to his office. Those were classic moments. Han summed it up best, simply commenting to me "Your best friend is leaving". Han was right. When Shell left, I didn't feel as bad because I'm great friends with her and I KNEW for sure that I would see her again, but this one has seriously rattled me (but it could be also the fact that I'm seriously pms-y right now too). I've made some spectacular friends working here which sometimes has been the only reason why I keep going back to the high stress, low paying invisibility. So, soon he will go off to pursue his new career more up his alley with his family's company. I wish him all the best and hope that we can keep in touch. I need to subject him and his girlfriend to my American Turkey Day Extravaganza. I can only hope that we do, since mostly when a co-worker leaves, you stay in touch for a month or so and then they fall off the face of the map in regards to your personal circles. I'll miss you Fordman.

Light.
So to temper my rattled bones in regards to the above,(more bones to follow), I bought the new Tori Amos CD yesterday. I take back my previous rant...this one is REALLY good. Made me very happy on a sad day. More along the lines of Choirgirl actually. I need to give it a louder listen to since I was listening to it at work. Tori's a bit of an accquired taste, so subjecting my co-workers to her may not necessarily be a good thing. I didn't get any complaints so that was encouraging.

Edmonton.
Went to John Mayer with C. Took Stu. (Stu=STEW, what we do to men who wrong us...) Who's Stu? Our 6'2 hard foam skeleton. We dressed him up in a cowboy hat and Detroit Red Wings jersey and propped him up in the back seat. He was bobbing to the tunes and we got several weird looks from other drivers on the highway. Pictures to come shortly. John Mayer is sooo good live it hurts! Boy can that boy play guitar! One of my "Holy Grail" concerts. Seeing Tori would be my last holy grail and then I can die a happy woman. The BEST weekend this year so far!

Pitching.
Second game of the softball season with the "geoBALLAZ" was tonight..well last night since I'm posting this after midnight. First game played second and third base which was ok. Second game...pitcher. Yup, you read correctly..pitcher!!! And, as a testament to my new-found ability the other team won, though not by much. So they can hit what I tossed at them! I'm no longer a pitch-virgin. After the first few nervous tosses, I settled in and was having the time of my life. And to think, I was wildly protesting, saying I couldn't do it. Boy was I a dummy! I think I found my true calling, position wise...wow, that just sounded really inuendo-y didn't it. Heeheee...

New Tori Countdown

T minus 10 days to the new Tori Amos cd American Doll Posse! I just previewed the new song "Big Wheel" in its entirety, and I really like the song...until she goes off on her expected if not bizzare tirade on being a MILF...nice. This is supposed to be the first single, and with a reference like that I'm sure that the radio censors will be scrambling with their pants around their ankles to try to get around this one.

Also previewed the video, and the comment I left on the site I saw it on (hereinmyhead.com) is this:

Love love love Tori, love the song, hate the video. I wanted a little movie..now I admit that I’m whining here, but come on sweetie, were you sleeping when you thought the concept of this video was innovative?

A bunch of still pictures put to music. I have a really cool Windows program that you can do that too. I'm hurt that she didn't ask me to help her out here. My computer is full of Tori pictures. I could have come up with something much better than this. If you are a Tori fan, which one of the only people who really reads this site is (winks to Shelley), you can watch this drek in all its glory.

I do love Tori, and I've heard clips of the whole album, but I'm not so sure about the concept of this album. I wish she would just bag all these weird-ass themes from her last few cds and just release an album of really good piano based songs already. I did really love Scarlet's Walk though, so I suppose I can't count this one as being a weird-ass theme cd. I just didn't quite "get" the idea behind Strange Little Girls or The Beekeeper.

Note: I may change my mind once I get my grubby little hands on this cd anyway, so don't read too much into my rant here. But I'm a girl, I'm allowed to change my mind...frequently.

Superdogless

Quincy's Grrraaamma wanted him to visit at her house for a two night sleepover because I was working late. I've been superdogless since Thursday night and I'm going into serious withdrawl. I keep looking over at the spot he generally occupies on the couch while I'm on the computer, and I can't hear him snoring. Sleeping was hard last night too, my extra blanket and exposed tummy waiting to be rubbed was not there.

Man, this is bad. Q-man is a drug for me. A happy pill to take each morning with my orange juice. For two days, I haven't used his silly nicknames, I haven't played "Squish Quincy", I haven't had to take him outside in my Pajamas at midnight, I haven't told him I love him. It's dumb because I know he's ok and having fun and lots of C.O.O.K.I.E.S's at her house..I just miss him.

I get him back on Saturday afternoon. Sigh of relief. He can keep me company while I attempt to get my taxes in order.

Change is good?

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm an obsessive Tori Amos fan (insert excitement of the new album coming out in one month!!!), thus brings me to the "Change is good?" caption sort of.

Her song "Take To The Sky", one of the B-side songs off her first album has a line in it.."I dyed my hair red today, I'm just looking for some passion, to hold me in the dark, I know I've got some magic buried deep in my heart."

Cryptic much? Sure, but keep in mind, I've been a faker red-head for some time now (and I loved it), and on a whim last week, I bought a different colour..to "spice" things up so to speak. Wait for the magic of chemically goodness and in 1/2 an hour, you too can change your life!

Did I dye my hair red today? Nope, I went "Butternut", a stupidly named colour evoking images of squash...lovely. Hmmm...I'm getting hungry and spaghetti squash sounds really good right now, maybe even soup?...sorry, I'm digressing...what was I saying? Right...please read on.

None of these companies give their damned haircolours normal names like Blonde, Auburn, Black or Brown anymore (that's so 2006!), no, they all have to be named after food! Berry, Licorice, Pomegranate, Sugar Cane, Chocolate Caramel..pretty pretentious if you ask me. Well, this colour looked blonde on the package, even said so underneath the food name (medium natural blonde, yeah thanks for clarifying that). Turned out more or less what it said, only I still have a bit of red, so that showed through and now Quincy and I match almost exactly. I did this as two people in my life (Marilyn and Roger) have been nagging me to go back to blonde now for as long as I've been faking my Scully tresses. Don't get me wrong, I didn't do this for them, but the satisfaction knowing they will stop pestering me for a little while makes me happy.

A drastic change for me sure, I noticed...nobody else did. Grumble grumble.

Countdown of things to come!

As of today:

62
days and counting until my laser eye surgery. It will be so nice to be able to see without glasses.

49
days and counting until the new TORI AMOS cd, American Doll Posse comes out!

113
days until I hit the big 4-0. Apparently forty is the new thirty and I intend to lie about my age gracefully.

Happy Birthday To You Quincy!!

Yesterday was my Quincy's 7th birthday. He still acts like a puppy and is still a giant spaz! Gosh I love this little being, all fuzzyness and waggly tailed. We had cake (he got a little too), hot dogs (but only a bite, because some of you know what happened at last years BBQ at Bowness Park) and birthday tummy rubs. Then he had a big nap. Here are the pictures. Yes, I got a cake. I don't have children, so I put this all on my dog. And this is his 7th cake!
I really want my birthday to be like this.

Eye see U!

Big decision day! I made an appointment to get a consultation to get laser eye surgery. I've told this story to a chosen few, and I apologize for repeating myself.

The catalyst was this. Coming home from a late shift at my second job, I walked into a tree branch (keep in mind it was very very dark) whipping my glasses clean off my head. It was dark, (very very dark), and there was no traffic. So here I am, standing helpless in the dark like a nob unable to see enough to find my glasses. Keep in mind, it snowed for days here and once the Chinook came, all the snow was melty and slushy. I stood there, like an idiot waiting for a car to come to shine some light on the sidewalk so I could have a few seconds to find them on the ground. Took an agonizing 10 minutes, but I found them in a small puddle. Now you guys all know how little I can see without them. That was it, that's what finally drove me to this. I'll keep you posted, the appointment is next week.

I'm dreaming of the day I can blow raspberries on Quincy's tummy without having to take my glasses off first. And the game of "squish Quincy" will be so much more fun!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my friend who knows who she is (to protect the innocent and not so innocent)! Had a great evening over at her house watching a movie, eating guac and visiting. Her apartment is so cool and Ikea, it's inspiring me to really do something about my cluttered place.

Hanging out with Quincy today. He's not so interested in going outside today, even though it's mild enough outside for a long walk. He just wants to snuggle..so I'm going back to that right now. Okay Quincy, I'm coming!

Onward and upward does my DVD collection grow. I'm so excited to own a brand new copy of Beauty and the Beast. No kids, not the Disney version (although that one is good too), the 1987 TV series season 1! Many a countless weeknight my mother and I would spend watching the first two seasons of this show. It was released last week, so I had to have it! This really goes to show you how much TV I actually watched and still watch to this day.

I'm trying to cut down on my TV watching, but Quincy seems pretty much okay with it. He usually just curls up in my lap and falls asleep.

You know, I'm really loving the invention of the DVD. I can now I start my new year's resolution of cleaning my apartment by tossing my old recorded off the TV TV shows!

This being one of them. The owners of the company I work for gave all of us a little after Christmas Christmas bonus. It wasn't that much, but enough that I am now the proud owner of almost the entire X-Files collection on DVD! (still need seasons 8 &9 but I'm still debating. I didn't really enjoy the last two seasons, so I may go the second hand route again). Needless to say, I bought two seasons second hand and two new. Now my Jewish guilt comes back to haunt me...here's why:

I probably should have spent the money in a more practical manner...

1. Pay Bills...no wait, they're all paid up to date..and my line of credit will be gone by August at the rate I'm going. I owe nothing on my Visa!

2. Buy new clothes. I'm a weird in-between size so shopping is generally no fun for me. It's either way way to big, or my cookie induced hips make it impossible to do things up. Scratch that for now.

3. Music, I haven't bought a new cd for two months now. I must be slipping. (ok, so this isn't really practical, but I digress).

4. Buy the Superdog some tasty yummies. No, wait...I ALWAYS buy him tasty yummies, it's in the budget!

So forgive me oh great guilt gods for purchasing the DVD's of the one show I connected so much with. I remember when it was on Friday nights, I stayed at home. Sunday nights too when they moved it. I had no life, but I lived for Scully and Mulder. And now, as I visit the two of them again, I'm reminded that even though I was a non-social misfit during those 9 seasons, I was so very happy.

New Year's Resolutions

Purge Closet of clothes not seen the light of day since 1997

Reduce Chotchkes (for those who do not know, chotchkes are dust collectors, and no, I will not be reducing my Breyer collection.)

Learn how to vacuum (I have fuzz bunnies on the covering that I think used to be carpet that could feasibly take over the world.)

Learn how to dust - (I know this is a stretch for me, but I need to promise to do this!)

Make my apartment look like an Ikea showroom and not like a frat girl lives here.

Spend less time with Mr. Computer and more time with Mr. Quincy (he'll appreciate that.)

Find a Dean Cain look-alike to do my personal bidding whilst doing his duties as my pool boy (speedo optional)...okay, this one's a stretch, but a girl's gotta dream right?

Part 2 to follow.......