stained

The events of yesterday have left a bad taste in my mouth with regards to work. Normally, I love, love, love what I do but I just couldn't get my heart in it today. The anger that was spewed is like a nasty film resting over everything. I hope it washes off!

Tomorrow I have most of the rest of the presentations for the week so I expect things to get better after that. Things are already a bit better as I have time to write and to read again. It has been such a long time thanks to the extra work from the Registrar and the Physics essay course that I'm marking. My weakness would be taking on too much.

James has lost his voice. Not a happy camper - but a quiet one!

Anyway a bit of my reading today covered an article from the Star about a guy who was a hero. He was on the run from the law but took the time to rescue a suicidal teen as well as a police officer who stepped in to help her. This act of goodness led to him being arrested. But his conscience is clear. He saw the opportunity to do good and he could not turn away. He can never forget that.

The other article I read was by Rachel Held Evans. It reminded me of Rustle Church. She talks about when the cool and uncool mix and how sometimes that can be awkward and messy, but if the underlying structure of it all is love, it really can work.

My mother commented after the last post to me that she wouldn't have guessed that I would like a black sweater dress. But really, this particular dress is so comfortable, it's really nice to wear. I wore it with grey leggings so the effect wasn't too black!

I need to sleep now as I'll be up in the morning for the presentations at 8:30am. I need to be at Stirling (Hi Melissa!) at 8:15 to get things set up and I have to stop by the Registrar on the way. I was at the Registrar helping out during my lunch today. I ran some reports for them and helped fix stuff online. Bill was there and he told me sadly as he sat with empty clips awaiting exams that it wasn't like this when I was there. That I was always one step ahead. But it will all work out in the end. They'll be just in time, which is second best to one step ahead.

speechless

I've had so many titles for today's post that I finally ended with "speechless" because I am.
I am really surprised at how a small problem has snowballed. A couple of days ago at work I got an email with a tone that was accusational but I though it was resolved, as I noted in the previous post. But it apparently was not resolved! Despite all our hard work to resolve it, apparently we misunderstood what it was that they wanted. I'm still not completely clear as to what is needed. HOWEVER, it is unacceptable to send someone over to YELL at us. Is that really professional? Are we grown adults who can talk out a problem? Wow. I am completely speechless over the uncalled for incident. I had an inkling something was going wrong. My boss had a meeting until 2:30 and I had a meeting that was to start at 2:30. I saw my boss walk by the room I was in so I darted out to warn him of the impending problem, but I was too late. There was yelling and swearing. Not acceptable to do this to another human being. For any reason. Especially the rather minor (in my opinion) that it was about.
There is way too much anger in the world, I think. And all for what really?

The coat my parents bought me for my birthday arrived today. It is long and warm so going to be great for the winter. I also got James another NHL sheet set as they were on sale. And a couple of weeks ago I got a charcoal colour sweater dress that I LOVE because it is so comfortable- today I got the black colour version of it as it was half price too. I love online shopping when the shipping is free! (Sears has free shipping until the 21st of Dec!)

This morning I went early to the old house before work and cleaned the bathroom, so I've sorted that out- much easier to sort out than work problems. James has gone to bed early as he is fighting a cold. I'll do some laundry and dishes and then I will head to bed too!

When things don't make sense

A very long day at work today. Lots of presentations. 1 small internal sort of dispute had me spending some time at the registrar in the time in between student presentations. But I think it's all sorted now, so that is good.

As I mentioned yesterday, there was a showing that left a mess (I assume accidental) in the bathroom of the old house. So I told the real estate agent and said I would take care of it but being so busy at work today I would not be able to get to it until Tuesday. Well, of COURSE they had a showing today. I didn't read the email until AFTER the showing and then they emailed me that it was a good showing and they wanted to see it again first thing in the morning. So bizarre! I guess they weren't looking closely at the bathroom? Now I can't decide if I should clean it or not as things seem to go better with a dirty bathroom. lol.

James had first first BBQ chip today. He hated it! His face was quite funny. "What was THAT?" was his comment.

out of the ashes

The first day of advent.
I had to pick up a few things from Loblaws around 9am- it was already very busy.

Walking home I was passing by an apartment building when I heard a bang and I could see one of the windows vibrate. It must have been a door slamming very hard. A few seconds later Mr. Angry-Pants exited the building. He was carrying a backpack that was still open so he was obviously leaving in a hurry. He put the back pack in his truck, got in and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving lots of his tire behind on the ground. I'm glad I was not driving on the road with Mr. Angry-Pants today.

Then I headed over to the old house and did some trimming of the rose bushes. I went inside and found that the last viewing had left quite a mess in the bathroom. I didn't have time to clean it up before I left for Rustle. Ewww.

At Rustle, Al introduced Advent as the season of reflection. Apparently, he raided the mirror factory to do this.

I stopped at Shoppers on the way home and found a Phineas and Ferb DS game that James did not have on sale so I snapped that up!

Today I thought about 2 friends of mine who have just come through some very bad and difficult times and are now in much better places than they were even a few months ago. I see them as having risen out of the ashes and am so glad. Hoping they enjoy the phoenix flight!

This evening my email exploded as we have presentations starting tomorrow at 8:30am and of course all manner of things need dealing with. A lot of the instruction team has been online too. That's what is great about the course- everyone is very committed! I have a couple more essays (for yet another course) to review and then I will head to bed. Up at 5:30am to get in early to prepare for the presentations tomorrow!

spiders

While this video LOOKS like an educational video on spiders, the foul language at the end tells you that is it not.

James' team played well at the Napanee tournament but they were playing against guys a level up and so they lost a lot. But the couch thought that developmentally the tournament was very good for them.

James has a big project to work on tomorrow- I think he is building the rocky mountains.

Zombie

Created by Oatmeal

This week has been very busy as we prepare for final presentations next week. I booked a vacation day tomorrow but I have a bunch of meetings and will spend some time at the registrar sorting out some issues there.

James has a big hockey tournament tomorrow in Napanee- we are still trying to sort out a ride to get him there! It is only 8pm but I am sooo ready for bed. I hope we get the ride sorted out soon!

Bands

Well, James liked the parts of the parade he saw, but he only stayed about 20 minutes before he wanted to go home. He's not much of a parade guy. His favorite part of the parade was the sheep being herded by the sheepdogs. He could have watched that all day!

I took Friday off from App Sci and worked at the registrar instead. I think the bulk of the reporting work that I am doing for them now is done. Just a bit more next weekend- then the new exam administrator starts Nov 28!

The Queen's Bands made the news on Friday as they managed to get banned by the administration for distributing 'degrading' material. As I haven't seen the material, I can't assess whether the punishment is correct or not. It seems pretty hard core! But odd that noone was checking in and noone listened to their lyrics for how long? They will have to politically- correct themselves quickly!
They put such a lot of work into the technical aspect that is, I guess washed down the tubes.
Interesting too that they made the front cover of the recent Alumni review in a positive light. Ironic?

Santa Claus parade

For the first time in his young life, James is eager to attend the Santa Claus parade. He believes his friend Duncan will be on the Santa Claus float! We'll see about that. Nice that this year it will be so close to our house- not far to go!

All fall down

The essays are all marked and back to the students. Nothing left but the griping :)

The house deal fell apart today so it is back to square one. Come Dec 4 the options are to take it off the market or to rent it.

Very tired from all the marking and busy work. Need to sleep now!

A-M

I have marked A-M in the essays. That's 88/143. I am missing 7 class members from my list as the system says I have 150 in the class. Where are they? Is it another system trick?
I need to postpone my birthday until I have more time!

James has taken up dancing (or air guitar) to Phineas and Ferb songs. He doesn't like to be watched. I don't watch him but think it's quite sweet :)

Delays

My schedule for tomorrow is packed from 10am to 8:30pm with meetings.

The print deadlines for the registrar are out so I have until the 14th until I am next needed there. I have lots of essays to mark so the time is good.

The conditions on buying the house have been extended to Nov 17th as a piece of paper from the govt is needed for the buyer's bank to be happy. The new proposed closing date is Nov 25.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my parents!

James was wired for sound tonight doing his homework. So after we were done I told him he had to stay in his room (it was almost bedtime). He played his DS for a bit and then he spent time reading his Phineas and Ferb book. Yes, READING!!! I let him stay up late as I was so pleased!

Purchase

Decided on a car- Hyundai Accent (again) but newer model. In bronze. Have to wait for it though.

I ordered James' school pictures- normally in these pictures, his expression is a bit funny, but this year it turned out quite well. Hopefully it looks as good in the 'real' pictures.

Did everyone remember to set the clocks back? Kim and I talked about it yesterday and I made the switch but somewhere inbetween here and her new home in Harrowsmith she forgot. She called me early this morning from her Church parking lot as she had arrived an hour early. I laughed at her, as any good friend should.

Today was very long but very productive. I woke up at 4, got up at 6. James went to hockey. I went to work. Got the surname splits done. Then I went to the old house and packed up as much as I could and moved it to the driveway. Then Kim showed up and we loaded it all in her truck and unloaded it at the new house. That should be the last load! Finally. The neighbour across the road was making fun of how long it took me to move. Still a couple of days before we know if the deal has gone through.

Now I need to sleep- my eyes and my body are so tired!

lot going on

I have 2 really big jobs to finish (only big because I haven't much time for them.

It looks like our house sold today with a closing date of Nov 15 so I have to get the rest of what remains there moved soon. It's still conditional until Tuesday.

Looking at buying a car. Not having an easy time with the decision.

I found these funny writings though:

He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.