I'm slowly coming to the realization that being on the road is more the norm than the exception in my life now. Yes, I disappeared for a week, thanks to yet another whirlwind week of activities. Work is really cramping my blogging style, lemme tell ya.

Last week when I coloured my hair (it looks lovely, thank you for asking) I had someone from out of town stay with me for several days, and then that friend left only to have another friend and her dad come into town for the day. After that I was busy working my ass off including working at 7am on Saturday morning (*choke*). And that brings me to now.... 2:30am on a Monday morning and doing paperwork before I hit the road again tomorrow for an overnight trip out of town. Then I'm back Wednesday and back up north on Thursday through Saturday. Mm-mm! Driving, driving, driving! You'd think with all this traveling I'd have some stories to share, wouldn't ya? I'll have to work on that this week...

Speaking of up north.... likin' that picture there? That would be at my grandma's place. Sweet lake, no? Makes it all worth it when I get to stop there for a time out during my crazy travels. For a few more awesome pics go to my photoblog.

See ya in a few days! (with a more exciting post, I promise!)

 
As I am sitting here I have hair colour brewing in my hair. Yes, I decided it was time and that I have had enough of my grey hair. Actually, that's not entirely true... my grey hairs weren't really bothering me but after a talk with my hair dresser yesterday some decisions were made. I had told him that I would keep my hair super short for the summer but come autumn I wanted to start growing it out and I wanted his help to keep me from hating the process and crying when my hair gets ugly. Let's face it, growing hair out is never a pretty sight. During the course of the conversation I told him how much I hate my dry curly hair and how it felt like hay and he gently explained that the grey had a lot to do with it (*ouch!*). He also said that if I grow my hair out I'm really going to want to hide those greys because although it looks kinda funky with my short hair it won't look so funky with long hair. I will look older than I am. Ugh, I had to agree.

So here I am with dye in my hair this morning. I figure I might as well get the hang of it now and I just wasn't willing to pay $50 to have so little hair done at the salon. The final clincher for deciding to do it was when my hair dresser said that dyeing hair often softens up the greys. *sigh* Fine, I'll dye my damn hair. "Oh, and go darker, so your grey is covered.... too light and it will look nasty when the greys fade first." *gulp* Now I remember why I had resisted this for so long. What a pain in the ass!

I had dyed my hair once before.... a looooong time ago.... and I had learned my lesson then. (or so I thought!) Back in the day I decided that my hair should be black. I always felt that black was the colour I *should* have been born with since my dad has black hair. So one day I enlisted the help of a friend and black it was. Did I mention that I had long thick hair back then? Long story short... I went berserk when the roots started coming in all medium brown in colour with black hair everywhere else. It looked horrible, but I didn't want to dye it black again. I was in the black trap. Eventually all my other girlfriends took mercy on me and chipped in the funds for me to go to a salon to have it "taken care of". $300 later and endless hours in the chair I came out with something sort of resembling my own hair colour (not before it was an orange colour after stripping the black out. I cried). It was horrible and my hair was so ruined by the stripping process that it eventually lead to me cutting all my hair off.

So why on earth am I doing it again?! Wow, even I'm wondering after reading that! Well, I figure in a worse case scenario I can cut it all out in a month.... my hair is short and grows super fast. This time if I don't like it I just have to wait a few weeks and cut it out and make like it never happened. But who knows.... I might actually really like it! I guess in about 15 mins I'll find out....

Have a great weekend everyone! Shabat Shalom!

 
I had to rub my eyes when I read this article, as I could not BELIEVE what I was reading....

"the "National Uniform Law" authorized by the Iranian parliament a few days ago.... includes a clause obligating Iranian Jews to wear a yellow ribbon. Members of the country’s Christian minority will be forces to wear a red ribbon, while those practicing the ancient Persian religion will be obligated to place a blue ribbon on their clothes... The new law is expected to go into effect within the next few months"

Why am I so surprised?? Yet I am! Have we forgotten what happened the last time Jews were told to wear badges?? And good luck to those Christians and Persians too, because Iran has a new king of the hill, and he has big plans....

UPDATE: seems the report was false....... or was it? I'm not so sure.

 

Let me tell you a little about the tiny town of Brockville, Ontario..... it's a damn strange place. I can't quite place my finger on what it is, but there were points in which I was convinced I had stepped into the Twilight Zone. Very odd....

Anyway, I was home for a few hours overnight and now I am heading back out the door. I am so damn sleepy that it's not funny but I know there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow..... dinner at Grandma's. All week long! Sweet!!!

So I am back on the road working and hanging on for the long weekend. Yeeha! FOUR days off, baby!! Have a great week everyone!

P.S. on Wednesday it's my other birthday. Yay for me!

 
Well, I am off again..... hitting the road for the next week or so. I will be home briefly on Sunday (come on, it's Mother's Day!) and then back on the road again Monday until Friday. Then it's the loooong weekend here I am taking FOUR days off. Oh yes I am, and richly deserved if I do say so myself. I've been workin' my butt off and I'm feeling quite burnt out for my efforts. I need the break and I need to not be driving somewhere for a few days.

On this trip I will be hitting such exciting locales as Kingston, Brockville, North Bay and Sudbury! Perhaps if you are good I will share pictures of my adventures. My grandmother reported to me last night that the blackflies are out already so that should add another dimension of fun to the trip up north next week. I love the feeling of being eaten alive.
Anyway, what I am sayin' here is that I am once again going to slip off the radar for a bit. No need to panic.

Before I go can I poll my readers for some help? I need to find me a P2P program that actually still works. I have been using Limewire Pro (thanks Tech Wench!) and was happy with it until the past couple of months when it's now become a nightmare trying to get it to download the smallest of songs. What gives?? Anyone have an alternatives that don't have spyware that will bung up my computer later?

 
I'm having a stroke at the moment.
I just looked at my online bill for my cell phone.... it's over $800. Gah. *choke*

I called my cell phone provider in the hopes that there was some kind of mistake.. apparently there isn't. *chokechoke* The lesson here? If you're going to date someone, date someone who lives in your own area code. Ok? Or watch your minutes, but really who does that? Not me, obviously.

Anyway! I am still heavily embroiled in work and worked much of the day on Saturday. By Saturday afternoon I was feeling severely burnt out, the likes of which I haven't felt since I started this job and we were working 16 hour days. In this case it's not so much that the days are long as much as they are never ending. One day off a week when doing evenings and weekends is clearly not enough for me. I was pretty crusty by the time I left the store I was working in on Saturday after a marathon training session in which I repeated my 2 hour shtick THREE times to different staff that rotated into the training session. I was ready to snap and was sick and tired of saying the same thing over and over. Can't wait to do it again this week! I head out of town later this week for 3 or 4 days.... coz the only thing better than working a million days in a row is doing it away from home! hahaha.. ha..... ha. *sigh*

Sunday was my day off and I was determined to play as hard as I worked (a philosophy I learned from watching my big brother). Early Sunday morning I met up with all geek friends and headed to the big toy show for a bit of frivolous shopping. Some may recall that last year at this show I finally got my IDF soldier I was looking for and was all kinds of happy. This year I picked up his buddy, the paratrooper, and now I'm happy all over again. Nothing like a girl and her (super hunky Israeli) dolls!

After the toy show my friends and I did our usual trip to Swiss Chalet for some chicken goodness and replay of the events of the day (often involving a discussion of the high level of stink many of the geeks at these shows exude, and which one was stinkiest). As near as we can figure these nerds only leave their mama's basements a few times a year to come out to shows and don't feel that showering is a requirement. *gag*

Post toy show and meal I had me a little nap to get ready for another outing last night with an old friend of mine to a show being put on in Toronto called Neutrino. It's this crazy improvisational show in which they film a movie while you watch it; they entertain you for 10 minutes while the cast takes an audience idea and runs off into the streets of Toronto to make a movie about it. Then after ten minutes the first parts of the footage and rushed in, edited and played for you while they continue on filming. So just as you finish the first chunk they filmed they already have the second one loaded and running right after it! It becomes a seamless movie as they continue to bring in new footage as you are watching. It's amazing and really fun. It's also been run in various other cities (New York, Chicago, Seattle, Detroit, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C) so if you happen to hear about it playing in your town I suggest you check it out for a really different experience.

Well.... that's about it for me for now. Before I go I do want to mention that my battle with the Big Mac rages on. I have managed to overcome two more seriously bad cravings and have diverted my attention with submarine sandwiches instead (290 calories is much better than 560).
celestial blue = 3 Big Mac = 0
Why do I want a nasty Big Mac so bad!!?? Ick!! I will not let the Big Mac ruin my efforts to eat well, damnit!!

Have a good week everyone!

 
Not that anyone cares, but I made a really good dinner for myself last night. This is particularly noteworthy because I have been historically very lazy about bothering to make myself a decent meal while alone. I love cooking if there is someone else to share it with, but when it's just me.. I lack the enthusiasm. I need to be more like my grandma. She makes herself some of the most amazing meals and takes the time to sit down and truly enjoy it. She'll make a little roast beef just for herself, and even have all the fixin's and salad and everything. Often a little dessert too. That woman knows how to take care of herself.

This meal was also a victory for me as I had been deeply struggling with my recent love affair with the Big Mac. I know, disgusting right? 560 calories!! I can't explain it, but as of late I can't help but crave a nasty greasy Big Mac. That special sauce.... it calls to me. I am reviled by my own lust for such a repulsive food but I am driven to eat them nonetheless. I am normally very anti-McDonald's and will avoid eating there at all costs but like a moth to a flame I am urged to eat them against my better judgment. And believe me, having worked at McDee's when I was 14 I have a healthy understanding of just how gross these things are. In fact, I had never even eaten a Big Mac until I was in my mid 20's because I had cooked them when I was younger. Yet here I am struggling with a Mac addiction.

My point is that my super delicious dinner last night was a victory over this super-bizarro need for a Big Mac. This victory was made especially sweet by the fact that I had been talking with someone about eating a Big Mac for an extended period of time while driving home from work, and it was nearly a done deal that I'd be picking one up on the way home. I was literally drooling as I told this person about how bad I wanted one. But! I snatched victory from the jaws of defeat and made up a healthy meal of sole, brussels sprouts, brown basmati rice and asparagus. And it was DAMN good if I do say so myself. I practically licked my plate clean.
celestial blue = 1 Big Mac = 0

In other news I got some amusing mail yesterday. First, I got the census form in the mail from our trusty government. What amused me was the dichotomy on the envelope; in an effort to make it seem fun to join in on this census the government has come up with a catchy marketing line: "Count yourself in!" Sounds fun, right? And what a clever play on words. But then below it, it says: "Complete your questionnaire - it is the law". Yikes! Vaguely threatening, wasn't it? To make it seem even more threatening they didn't use the contraction of "it's the law", they used "it is the law". Just to make sure you understood this wasn't a friendly exchange of info... you are required to do it. Period. Makes me want to lie, to be perfectly honest. Makes me want to admit to holing up 4 illegal immigrants in my apartment, just to see how long it would take them to show up on my doorstep. What could possibly go wrong with that joke??

I also got my new benefits package in the mail. I got a shiny little card along with it that I am not entirely sure what to do with. Do I present this when I buy my medication or pay bills? I have no clue and I doubt my American company has the first clue about our healthcare system up here to even help me out. However, I have been enjoying reading the short novel of a benefit book that came along with my package. My favourite chapter is the one in which they put a pricetag on body parts.

There is a table that outlines what percentage of coverage you get based on what happens to you. Loss of life? 100%. Whew. Loss of one arm or leg? 75%. Loss of four fingers on the same hand? 33 1/3% (I guess if you lose 3 fingers it's not a big deal. You can still pinch). Toes are less important; four toes on one foot only gets you 25% coverage. Now, if you lose the use of BOTH arms or legs you're up to 100% again (same as being dead. says something, doesn't it?). But wait... here's where you can really hit the potluck: quadriplegia, paraplegia, hemiplegia..... 200%!!! Kind of depressing, no?

In another chapter it discusses what is NOT covered. "Self inflicted injuries by firearm or otherwise". So if you're an idiot and shoot yourself in the foot you are SOL. They don't pay out for stupidity. Here's one that made me cock my head: "attempted suicide or suicide while sane or insane". Um... I'm just going to go out on a limb here and suggest that if you are contemplating or attempting suicide you aren't altogether sane. Yes, there are dire circumstances in which one might, but it still takes a moment of insanity to overcome your instinct for self preservation.

Moving along, we also have some interesting ones involving flying; you are not covered while "flying in, descending from or being exposed to any hazard related to an aircraft while receiving flying lessons". Rough! Pilots in training are also out of luck. Oh, it also says that you are not covered while "being flown for a parachute jump". Does that mean you are covered for the jump itself? Maybe I'll call and ask.

And finally, I am not covered for "the hostile action of any armed forces, insurrection or participation in a riot or civil commotion". Good thing I don't live in Sudan, isn't it?

Today's lesson: count your blessings and never stop being grateful for all your fingers and toes and where you live. And if the government tells you to count yourself in you probably should. Lying is up to you. *wink*

 
Having a job like mine is such a double edged sword, I tells ya. On one hand I love the fact that I work out of my home and that I don't have an office to report to everyday. It's nice not being chained to a desk and on these beautiful sunny days it's great to be out driving around in it and enjoying it. On the other hand, driving as a mainstay of your job can get to you after awhile, ya know? By the end of the weekend I had had about enough of driving as I had totalled over 10 hours in the car over 2.5 days. That and I am working a lot of evenings and weekends so having only one day off a week right now is tiring. In the end, I managed to sweet talk my boss though.... I am making the upcoming long weekend into an extra long one. Four day weekend for me! Gives me something to look forward to...

While up north visiting my grandma and setting up a new store I had an opportunity to see an old childhood friend of mine. We've known each other for somewhere around 21 years. She is getting married this November and has tapped me to be a bridesmaid, a first for me. I told her I must love her a LOT if I am willing to get into a dress for her. haha... We spent some time together catching up and yes, shopping for a dress. Not my element, so I look like a fish out of water in these shops. Very amusing to an outsider, I'm sure.

After my trip up north I was back home Sunday and finally got a day off (if you don't include the 3 hours of paperwork I did. *groan*). The boss called me early Monday morning (who calls before 8am??) and asked if I was feeling burnt out yet. Uh.... YEAH! Says I. hahaha...
Anyway, I'm just holding on until the end of the month.... things will hopefully settle by then. Hey, a girl can dream can't she?

In other news Israel is having it's Memorial Day today... they honour those who have fallen to ensure her existence today. Sirens blare and the entire country comes to a standstill to stop and remember (yes, people pull their cars over to get out and stand in respect). It's a somber day of reflection.... which is then placed back to back with one of Israel's greatest celebrations; Independence Day! Israel turns 58 tomorrow.... and celebrates with barbeques and parties all over the country. I love the dichotomy of the two days! What a great way to show respect and joy for what you have....