Black

Well, it appears that students have found my blog. I'm sure they won't stay as it is very, very boring. If they do stay I'll have to start telling stories about them to make it more exciting.

Yesterday I started to come down with a cold so I made sure I had lunch today- Potato and leek soup from the tea room. It was very good but rather cold by the end because people kept coming to talk to me while I was eating it. Good though!

At the 11th hour on black weekend (11pm on Sunday)- I made some purchases- half price boots and a dress. My current boots I noticed there was a hole near the toe on Sunday when I was out walking with Kim and Rachel. Today the hole is twice as big and the sole is starting to pull away from the rest of the boot, so I think the new boot can't get here quick enough!

Yesterday when I was walking James to school we had this conversation:
James: I want Monopoly millionaire for Christmas.
Me: do you still want all the other stuff as well- skylander giants, the aircraft carrier, the castle, the army guys?
James: Yes all of it!
Me: (joking) Santa's sleigh won't make it off the ground! He'll have to hire more reindeer
James: I am a Reindeer Employment Opportunity!

moonlight

Kim, Rachel and I went for a walk on the K&P trail. Rachel is due to deliver her baby Dec 7th. However, she's hoping to stretch it out to Dec 12th so the baby can be born on 12/12/12. Good luck Rachel! Anyway, she was still up for an hour long or so walk. We walked about 1/2 hour and then decided to turn back. K&P in this area at least is a straight trail, not a loop so we had to turn back at some point. At the point that we turned around we realized that the darkness was closing in quickly. We hadn't gone far at all on the way back when we were in darkness. It was a bit surreal as we hiked back with the moonlight shining. We seemed to be the only ones on the K&P trail. While you would think we might feel alone, we certainly didn't as the 401 runs pretty close beside. So we were in the black in nature with the moon and the 401.

Kim and I see eye to eye on a lot of things but today we found a situation that we disagreed on. As she was driving in to the city on 38 she happened upon a car accident. She was one of the first people on the scene, though she didn't see the accident itself, she saw the result and kept a far distance back. She pulled over to the side of the road and watched for a couple of minutes and then figured she wasn't going to get past so she turned around and took a side road across to Sydenham. From what she thinks she saw- the car was upside down- there was someone lying on the ground trying to extricate someone from the car- the emergency services had not arrived. So you have a civilian trying to extricate someone from the car- someone obviously trapped in the car- no EMS and she was just annoyed that they wouldn't let her get past. My position was that it was too dangerous to allow people to pass when there was a critical situation- it just makes it worse. Her position was if she passed on the shoulder it wouldn't bother anyone. We agreed to disagree:)

Lax

Well, after waking up so early I did get back to sleep for a bit.
Then tried to take a bit of a chillax day.
Lots of dishes and laundry. Watched an episode of 48 hours and some silly things online.
This is a catchy video to keep you safe around trains!
This is an interesting video from an engineering perspective.
AJ came over to play in the afternoon and was supposed to go with his parents to the "Snow Ball" but decided he wanted to stay here instead. I tried to feed him dinner (just pasta and cheese) but he didn't like it. He rarely likes my dinners. I'm happy that I have a groove with James and he pretty much eats whatever I give him now. Though I don't try anything too odd but I have a stock rotation of meals he will eat, which is a good groove for now.
I'm planning a party for next week- this probably means I shouldn't have been chillaxing today but hopefully I will get the house in some shape this week.
Probably not tomorrow as I have some errands and Church and hanging out with Kim and Rachel in the evening.

live on a farm

Woke up at 4:30am and wondered if I live on a farm. Why do I need to wake up so early?
If I was more functional at 4:30am I could be more efficient!

end of exams

Today at least had less technological problems than the rest. And the exams are done which is a huge weight off my shoulders. I did treat myself to Darbar - now I need to sleep as James has an early hockey game!

Sanity left the building but it is coming back

So, the week had been pretty insane with the exams on top of everything else that is going on. My email is through the roof. A community sponsor dropped one of my projects for next term so I am scrambling to help put together another one. Kingston utilities apparently forgot to call before they dig. (I guess it is hard to call yourself?) and they hit something on their street renovation work. They took out the power to 2 buildings and something funny happened with the network. Luckily they were kind enough to only do this as my exam was ending and everything was ok. The class after us was a mess.
Tomorrow is more exams and the hunt for Red November (otherwise known as getting faculty sponsors for our projects)
Getting through me email is just a dream at this point.
James has a game in Coburg tomorrow so I'm thinking a Darbar treat may be well deserved after this week!

James watched this in class today and liked it so much he had me find it on youtube. His teacher apparently showed it to them to encourage them to speak french on the playground.

Crossword

James and I were working on a crossword in his new English book- the clue was "Say thank you to be ______" and James' answer was "Canadian". (I believe they were looking for "polite" but that's pretty close right?)

I made pasta for dinner and wasn't planning on having anything after but Shari came by with a red velvet creamcheese icing cake which happens to be my absolute favorite at this current time. (I brought the cupcake version of this to by birthday TA meeting) So my good intentions were scrapped and I nommed on some cake!

Tomorrow and Tuesday are just packed in my schedule but after that everything gets better. Right? I hope anyway!

James helps with the ironing...or not

accomplished

I had a good sleep last night and so (I think a direct consequence) I got a lot accomplished today.
In the morning I had my Jillian time, prayer time, shower, did a couple of sets of dishes, cleaned both bathrooms, organized the recycling and swept the kitchen. Then I had my lovely Darbar leftovers for lunch and went in to work. Got lots of my grades loaded as well as trying to work out some partner issues.

Today was the Santa Claus parade. It's in the evening which I always find a bit odd.
Apparently it gets the university students excited as I heard lots of parties as I walked home from work.

This is a terrible story about children killed by a train. So awful.

punching the invisible dude

I picked up my yummy Darbar. Had to pass a dude punching an invisible foe. At least he was winning.
My bro doesn't feel quite as jealous anymore. Food was good though.

I worked from 9am-7pm. Accomplished a lot but not everything I hoped!

So much to clean here at home - hard to decide where to start!

jam

Today I had a really long meeting about engineering outreach. It was pretty good considering James had engineering outreach in his class today and then Marlene posted about Goldie Blox in FB. There is outreach in the air! However, the downside was that my email is sooo backlogged.

Tomorrow my day is jam packed with things to do and meetings. Seriously, my schedule is even alarming for me! I'm planning on rewarding myself with Darbar at the end of the day. Assuming I make it through alive :)

self absorbed

It is always interesting to watch on reality tv how self absorbed people are. It's just more extreme to see it on your tv even though you probably see it every day in your life.
Whit was an interesting piece of work. She could easily deflect criticism of herself onto other people. She did the obligatory cry. Did she soften the audience? I don't think so. Did she win? I think so.

I realized this evening that I have a huge meeting tomorrow from 8:30-1 which will handicap my ability to say- get through my email?

Dr. Who

Jayson posted this on FB- I thought my dad and brother would enjoy :)

I took a nap this afternoon so that I will stay awake during my tv watching night!

cake

I am still dealing with the fallout of the weekend in my email. I am almost back on track in my email, but not quite.

The Annual report came out today and I was surprised that my picture was in it. It's not a great picture- I can tell that I am really tired in it, but it's in the annual report! I took a scan of it that I can forward if you are interested.

I also attended a pretty high highfalutin meeting this afternoon that gave a lot of background but we didn't really accomplish anything. If I'm going to go to a highfalutin meeting I want to make some highfalutin decisions!

There was chocolate cake at work today to celebrate my birthday. I picked up Chinese on my way home so I didn't have to cook. I made James try the lemon chicken but he didn't like it at all. At least he tried though. But he happily ate the chicken fried rice. And the fortune cookies.

James opened the package from my parents- a really cool dress! I'll have to get a picture.

I woke up at 4am this morning I think because I was hungry. I didn't eat too much yesterday. Who wakes up at 4am on their birthday? I am going to take a relaxing bath and go to bed now!

2:30am consternation

James woke up at 2:30am saying his butt hurt.
I sent him to the bathroom but he didn't manage to produce anything. Who wakes up at 2:30am for constipation?
Anyway, he asked for new pajama pants. When I brought them in I noticed the floor by the toilet was wet. I asked him if the toilet was leaking. No, he said, I was pretty tired and missed and cleaned it up with my pajama pants. Awww. How sweet that he tried to clean it up.
Reminder to self- wash bathroom floor.

Then he has to get up at 5:30am for hockey (his butt was no longer bothering him! so I really don't know what that was about)

But overall, I'm pretty shattered. He seems fine though :)

Kim is coming over shortly so I need to get the dishes and laundry done.

I'm making homemade pizza!

did it!

Completed 3 hours of presentations. Check. The 2 regularly scheduled ones were to a packed house. One extra for those who couldn't fit in.

I think it went pretty well.

Yesterday I watched the Bach that I was too tired to watch on Wed.
It's a lot different in terms of emotional commitment than the US versions. Maybe this one is going too fast.
Kara didn't seem at all upset to go. She was smiling and all. You don't generally see that in the final 3 exit.
They showed a clip from next week's Women Tell All. And Whitney will be there. Shades of Courtney? That's what they did for her when she won to try to make her more of a sympathetic character. So I'm going with Whitney for the win.
Also they are playing up Whitney's doubts- again looking like Whitney for the win.

radiant

The new furnace is in and working well. They didn't finish the AC- they'll do that in the spring.

Today was quite exhausting- I planned to spend half the day on Module 1 and half on Module 3. Instead I spent most of the day on Module 1. I have to try to carve more module 3 time in somehow. Lots of little issues make for a busy day. The module 1 big project is due on the weekend so I expect my email will click away!

Tomorrow is the big event with our open house at work. Hopefully it goes well!

new furnace

I certainly spend a lot of money on my day off!
I got a hair cut and did some minor shopping at SDM.
When I came home I called to make a maintenance appt. for the furnace. I generally have one this time of year and the furnace was making some odd sounds. Still heating fine but not sounding as good as last year.
Generally I have to wait a month or 2 for the appt but they had a cancellation and he came today. He was down working on it for about 5 minutes when he came to get me.
He showed me that there was leaking going on (which isn't generally good near all the electronics. The part would cost 700.
The system is pretty ancient and I had been thinking of replacing it next summer, but I just moved that up as I didn't want to put a new part on an old system that something else was likely to go wrong in soon.
So they are going to put in a new furnace.
And as my condition is listed as "no heat" (even though it is working) the furnace is going in tomorrow!
I am quite pleased really- it will be peace of mind hopefully to have a new furnace in.

I was too tired to watch the Bach with its gazillion commercials so I'll watch it tomorrow instead. (James is some kind of DVR master- I don't understand it at all but he is amazing with it!)

After James got up this morning he was dancing to a funny tune.
Me: Where did that come from?
James: From the SOUL!

static

I am having some issues with static in my clothes. It must have turned dry. Normally I hang dry my dresses and so they don't get the destatic sheets that go in the dryer. Melissa sensibly suggested the fabric softener thing that goes in the washer. I haven't ever tried it in the new washer (that I got last year) but it sounds like a good plan. My static is pretty ridiculous!

I am taking most of the day off tomorrow! I am going to get my hair cut. Feeling some pressure to look relatively decent for the presentation on Saturday!

flashback

to the 80's.

I found that movie I loved as a kid in its entirety on youtube- it's hilarious and oh so 80's
Pirate movie
I just had to watch it again!

regrade

I finished up the last of my essays- just 2 that I couldn't open on this computer and will get done at work.

I have a midterm spreadsheet of results to get done for Monday.

And there was an error in one of our quizes- luckily the computer can regrade them. That certainly was an interesting experiment. Still have to tell the students that I did it :)

I made a lovely dinner of chicken, mini potatoes, peppers and kiwis. AJ was over for supper and they made a bit of a fuss about having to eat the potatoes but they ate them ok. Maybe even liked them though they won't admit it!

I think I did 3 loads of dishes and laundry today and got some vacuuming done. Things are getting back on track after the crazy week of essays!

ability

Yesterday was another busy day at work. I did get the pdf essays marked and uploaded back. (I got the doc ones back Thursday evening- it took about 4 hours to check and upload them all) I still have the late ones to mark and one wpd that I haven't been able to open yet.

I had one student object to his grade of 80 as he thought he deserved a 95. He said his friends in previous years had received 95s. Unfortunately that doesn't automatically give you one! He thought he should get a higher grade because he worked really hard and that was the extent of his ability. I think there is a flaw in that reasoning somewhere. If I work as hard as a CEO I don't get the pay of a CEO. That's just the way it is!

I have a bunch of grades to upload for my other class that I should get to and midterm marks to compile.

But next week looks better for me as I don't need to attend studios as they are just work sessions and I don't need to be there. I'm thinking of taking some days off when I've got the midterm marks loaded. I have to work Sat as it is a fall preview day. I'm the speaker for the Engineering session- 216 people, not bad.

This morning I went to Loblaws and saw the Christmas cookies and candy cane cheesecake! On to the next holiday! There was still some Holloween candy that was cheap but not much and some only marked down .50 cents. That's not really an after halloween sale in my mind!

I'm working on laundry and dishes before I tackle some more essays!

where there is smoke

there is a funny smell in the air telling you the radiator is about to explode.

Last night I had a class - it was also a good excuse to be out of the house while James was out with his hockey buddies gathering loot. When I came out of the classroom on the second floor to go to my office to do some work, I smelled something a bit funny. I looked over the balcony but I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. There's a shop and a tea room so I figured one of them had a minor problem.

I worked in my office for a good hour before the fire alarm went off. I grabbed all my outdoor stuff and keys and went to the building beside mine (they are attached) where the fire alarm was not ringing. You could still hear it though. But I figured I was in a safe building. So I moved on to the next building. There is was quiet. I put my coat on and went outside to see the fire trucks arrive. There were about 4 of them. 3 of them left really quickly. One stayed. Then the fire alarm went off in all the surrounding buildings. I think from my time in the exam office that they are on a delay. This means they will go off if no override is hit to say that it is a false alarm. It wasn't a false alarm so off they went. Not that any of the people from surrounding buildings were in any danger. Nor really were the ones from ours. It was just they were being super safe. The heater in the front entry way must have had an electrical fault or something as it was smoking and smelling pretty badly.

James as he was going to bed was dancing around singing
"Jamesie Jamesie kung fu James"
And I said
"Go to bed"
And he said (while still singing and dancing
"Kung fo James doesn't know what bed is"
And I was all like
"You don't need to know what it is just go to it!"
He was pretty funny!