Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Announcement

Well, I did it. It's official now. I gave my 2 weeks notice today at work. Let them know that I am heading to teacher's college this fall - Nipissing in North Bay to be exact.

I can't believe how hard it was to do that. My stomach was in knots leading up to the meeting with my boss, and I still feel kinda weird. I hate disappointment, and I know I've disappointed a few people. I guess it's a relief to have it over and done with, but now I get to spend the next 2 weeks doing meaningless stuff since I'm pretty certain they're not gonna want to start me on any "high-priority" projects...

I suck at making decisions - even the littlest ones like what colour of underwear to wear on any given day - so I hope this was the right one (career decision that is, not what colour of underwear I chose today). Oh well... I've come this far, I have to give it a try. If my gut is really only right about one thing in life, I think this has got to be it. I'm simply not cut out for the corporate world. I'm excited about the opportunities this new journey will bring... :)

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

More comedy at work

I don't know why I find some things at work so comical, but I do. Some of the weirdest, quirkiest things can make me laugh -- a lot -- while I'm at work. Today my coworker, Jason, sent the following email to the whole office:

Excuse the interruption.

I have a pair of Nike shoes that are blue and white and are kept under the bench in the men's changeroom. I went to put those shoes on just now and noticed that someone had removed one of my shoelaces. This was done either last night or today.

I'm not sure why someone would do this, but if anyone has this lace or knows anything about this, please let me know.

Thanx


I'm not really sure why I found this so funny, but I did. I mean... who on EARTH would steal ONE shoelace from someone's shoe??? This is especially ironic given my shoe "incident" a few months back...

It's amazing the entertainment one can receive while working a day in the office...
Retainer Update

Well, I survived the first night of wearing my retainer for the first time in about, umm.... probably 4 years. I made it until about 5:30am and decided to take it out then since I was awake and lying in bed thinking about it. I even tried for a second night and made it to about 1:30am but took it out when I got up to get a drink. The pain actually isn't that bad - it's more iritating than anything. It really doesn't fit the shape of my mouth anymore (gee... I can't understand why?? ;) and as a result, presses on the roof of my mouth in weird spots and makes the skin all weird and irritated. The crazy part is, I am already starting to notice a slight improvement in my teeth. Now, if only my damn orthodontist had given me a retainer for my bottom teeth!!

Monday, August 08, 2005

London Bombings and Understanding Muslim "Mis-Understandings"

I got an email from a coworker the other day. It was a pretty powerful one:

It’s with grief and dismay that a couple of weeks ago we received the sad news of the London terrorist attacks that took the lives of more than 50 innocent people and injured more than 700 others. The other sad news is that the perpetrators of these attacks were British Muslims; some of them were as young as 18 years old, and who according to their families and loved ones seemed to have normal lives.

The question that begs itself is “what drove these ordinary young boys to become merciless killers?”

Despite what’s going on in Iraq and elsewhere in the Muslim world nothing justifies killing innocent people, Islam forbids it full stop.

Going back to my question above, one sure thing that drove these boys to turn into murderers is the Islamic education they received; they got it from the wrong sources.

I’m appealing to all to help prevent kids and young Muslims living in Canada from falling into the same trap by helping the Muslim Association of Canada, a charity organization recognized by the Canadian government, build an Islamic Education Center in Kitchener to make sure that our children get the proper Islamic education.

So if you would like to make a donation please come and see me.

Thanks
Mohamed


It's people like Mohammed that will make a difference by speaking up and bringing understanding to situations like these...

It's amazing how much I still have yet to understand about the problems in our world. I learned something from this email, and hope that others may too.
My retainer

Ouch! Ok... so I decided that I'd put my retainer in for a night, just to see how it fits these days. I was inspired (read: reminded) the other day when my boss at Running Room got braces for the first time and we got in a discussion about teeth slipping after the fact and how I should really be wearing my retainer.

Wow... I didn't realize how much my teeth had slipped. This is sorta painful. We'll see if I make it the whole night through...

Sunday, August 07, 2005

A weekend reunion

This weekend my friend Amanda came for a visit. It had been a long time since we’d last seen one another as she has been traveling abroad for the past year. It was a great union and it was so good to catch up.

Friday night we played in my brother’s soccer league as two extra, desperately needed, females. Amanda twisted her ankle pretty good and I got my big toe stomped on, so I’d say we came out with some pretty good battle wounds! After the game we attended the housewarming party at my house and I introduced Amanda to some new coolers that she missed the release of last year. Mmmmmm… yum! Smirnoff twisted!

On Saturday we had planned to do a day-hike at Hilton Falls but the balloon-sized swelling around Amanda’s ankle that morning told us we should probably find a plan B. We ended up spending the afternoon at Elora Conservation Area enjoying the beautiful weather. We finished the evening and our weekend together watching Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason. It was a hilarious movie with some great girlie laughs. I especially loved the prison scene featuring “Like a virgin” by Madonna! LOL :)

It’s funny how people can come in and out of our lives for various reasons at varying times. Although Amanda and I really only knew each other through a co-op term and some drunken nights at Bomber Wednesdays, we have so much in common and pretty much picked up where we left off. An experience like that is pretty cool.
More adventure than I signed up for!

A couple of weekends ago, I competed in an adventure race in Huntsville. I found some girls in Waterloo that were interested in giving an all-girls team a try (for one girl it was her first introduction to AR), and decided to go for it. Although we didn't have much time to train together, we managed to get a practice canoe session in the week before, and had some time to figure out the race logistics.

The race itself was a blast, and I will elaborate more on that shortly, but I can honestly say that the weekend brought WAY more "adventure" than I was expecting. Here is the sequence of events that led up to our departure that Friday afternoon:

- Thursday night: drove to Kacy's, picked up her bike, and drove home with it on my brand new rack
- Friday morning: drove to work with Kacy's and my bike on my rack
- Friday at lunch: packed BJ's stuff in my car but decided to wait and put her bike on later…thank goodness! (see below)
- Friday afternoon: drove home and napped cause I wasn't feeling well
- Friday at 4pm: left my house, got on the highway to go back to work, and my bike fell off my rack!

YES... that is right. My bike fell off my rack in the middle of Highway 85, right by the King Street exit! In total shock, I pulled over to the side of the road, and backed up to the spot my bike had landed. I got out of my car and stood at the edge of the highway (with my hands on my forehead in total disbelief at what had just happened) waiting for the cars to slow down as they were swerving around my bike so I could go pick it up off the road. There was a nice guy that happened to pull over at the same time I did to assist, but he wasn't able to do much for me. We just put my bike back on the rack, used an extra bungee cord that he had to secure it, and I drove (much slower) to the Northfield exit where I continued my way to work.

BJ was sitting outside waiting for me and it took all my strength to hold in the tears that I was ready to unload. I think a few dripped out, but I had to pull myself together and figure out what to do with the situation:

First thing: call Kacy and let her know I was gonna be "late"
Top priority: find a new bike for the race cause mine was *definitely* not going to be rideable
2nd priority: call Yakima to find out what the hell just happened

The bike replacement was easy. A few emails and phone calls and I was set! Andrea B's bike was my saving grace! (even better - it was still at Trina's place from our trip to Cobourg which meant I didn't have to drive downtown TO that afternoon to get it).

After speaking with Yakima, it was clear that they didn't see it as an issue and blamed it on "user error" and recommended I tighten the straps tighter. Realizing that it wasn't worth my time at that moment, I told them I would call them back to discuss more on Monday.

BJ and I then went back out to my car to examine the situation. We put her bike on the back of my rack (actually, a $2000 bike she had borrowed from another coworker of ours - thank goodness I decided to wait to load it on the rack!), and then loaded Kacy's on the front. We tightened all the straps very carefully, and reenacted how I had loaded my bike that morning. All seemed good. Could not understand how I could have screwed up the "tightness" of the straps. Since I was still concerned about the whole situation, I drove to Adventure Guide and asked for someone to come out and take a look at my rack. I was concerned about the amount of "play" in the hitch (where the tongue on the rack connected to it) but the guy said he had a similar feel with his Thule rack. We decided to add some security by tying some climbing rope around the bikes and securing them to my rack that way. Thank goodness!

After picking up Kacy at her place I got on the 401. About 10 minutes later I was driving about 120 (average 401 speed I might add) and noticed Kacy's bike suspended in the air, secured only by the safety rope we had used. I pulled over to the edge of the highway, we got out and investigated (saw nothing wrong), re-strapped the bikes, retied the rope, and set out again. 5 minutes later, the same thing! This time it was very clear that we would not be making it to Huntsville with our bikes if we were depending on my rack. We considered our vehicle options which were limited. It felt like signs were telling us to give up then. And feeling the brunt of the day (and the crappy week at work that I had had) I was ready to throw in the towel. But after taking a vote, the girls wanted to continue and with that positive feedback, I decided that I would too. We managed to convince Sandra (my wonderful sister-in-law :) to meet us in Guelph where we switched vehicles. We drove her Acura MDX the rest of the way with all 3 bikes safely inside the car.

For departing close to 3 hours later than expected, we made some great time (missing the Friday afternoon traffic rush isn't a bad thing at all!). We headed straight to our B&B (since we missed the early registration), unloaded, organized gear, and got right into bed. The next morning I was all gitters cause I knew there was lots I still had to do:
- get our bikes put together
- install my peddles on Andrea's bike
- reprogram my bike computer for Andrea's tires
- install my bike computer on Andrea's bike
- review the whole "navigation" thing
- map our route
- pull myself together enough to do a good race

I forced as much food down as I could cause I knew how disastrous the race would be on an empty stomach. Registration was smooth and it was nice to see so many familiar faces. We got some help with some bike issues, I got BJ to help with the bike computer, and we were ready just in time for the race briefing. We only got a few minutes to map the route, but I think I did ok. And after nearly an hour bus ride to the start line, we found ourselves lined up with 50 some-odd other teams on the water for a canoe start.

The paddling section was close to 2 hours. We came into the TA 2nd or 3rd last (not last though!) which I was very happy with given
A) I was steering
B) We were an all-girls team
C) We were one of very few teams using canoe paddles rather than kayak paddles

Oh yeah... we got a really random rainstorm in the middle of our paddle while we were in the middle of a fairly large lake. It was highly entertaining as we fought our way across this lake with an incredibly strong headwind, freezing cold rain pelting on our faces, and thunder and lightning around us (ok... that kind of freaked me out a bit). By the time we cleared the lake, the rain had settled down but I was so cold that I shivered the rest of the way down the river.

It was nice to switch gears (mind the pun) and get onto our bikes. It was really confusing starting off cause there were lots of roads funneling out of the TA area and it was hard to decipher which way to go. After a few minutes, we figured it out and set off in our mini peleton. I quickly realized that I was slowing us down and asked that we slow down enough so that I could draft and keep up. I think that worked well. The navigation went well and we continued along the way to the next checkpoint. From then on in, we were on fairly technical trails that alternated between hard-packed dirt, thick puddles of muck, and gravel. There were a lot of hills. The uphills were tough, but the downhills were fun! By this point, I wasn't the slowest one anymore since I was more comfortable on my mountain bike than BJ who is primarily a road cyclist. The bike was very long and took us close to 4 hours I think. By the end, I just kept encouraging our team to keep on moving cause peddling slowly was better than completely stopping to rest.

We finally reached the CP and had less than 2 hours to finish the race. I think I knew by that point that we weren't gonna finish on time, but we still hurried through the TA and set off on the trekking section. The trek started off ok as I set off on my bearing of 220. Managed to get around a dried up marsh and cut through the bush. When we came out of the bush, we stepped right into a wide open field of thick, tall grass. Since we were looking for a checkpoint on the edge of a small pond (and had been advised earlier that some wet spots had dried up) I wrongly assumed that we had found the "pond". After circumventing the dried up "pond" and hacking our legs to pieces as we walked through the razor-like grass, we ended up getting stuck in a swamp and it took us half an hour to get out.

By this point, things started getting ugly. My teammates started acting noticeably annoyed and aggravated that we were walking (and sometimes swimming) through the green, foul smelling water, and they really started to slow down. I tried to stay as positive as I could and hang back close enough so I wouldn't get out of site, encouraging them to do what they could to catch up. However painfully slow the swamp situation was, I had plenty enough time to figure out the maps and discover my mistake and knew exactly where we were and where we needed to go. Even though race cut-off was minutes away, I wanted to persevere and prove to myself (and my team) that I could find the next CP. But by this point, we had slowed to a crawl and time was not on our side. Since the race had started an hour late, darkness was looming sooner than it should have. Given our options of getting lost in the woods again or turning back, we decided to turn back and retrace our steps to the last CP.

The last half-hour was the worst because my team started to show signs of frustration and annoyance and kept hanging back behind me. I continued along anyways, trying to make the most light of the situation that I could, but when I jokingly asked for their ranking on a scale of 1 to 10 of how bad things felt, BJ responded with "Well, in all of the races I've done, we've never been this lost before” followed by “I think this is gonna be my last adventure race".

As we were nearing the CP we had left several hours prior, we had to cut back through the bush. But retracing one's steps through the bush is not an easy task. And by this point, my compass decided to stop working. I thought it was waterlogged or damaged from being banged around on the bike section, but as I learned later, it can actually be affected by the iron levels in the earth beneath you. Even though I knew approximately where we were, I just wanted to verify that we were heading in a straight path so we didn't end up going in circles. Desperation started to set in as I realized how close it was to getting dark and I told my teammates that I was upset and needed their help. I think that was a very smart move cause their attitudes started to change… After a brief discussion with God (no joke, he answered my call!) we heard the sound of a vehicle nearby and called out to it. They heard us, and honked back. We quickly emerged out of the woods into "safety" and got a ride back to the finish line. Disappointing, but a good way to end since we rode back with another team, "A for Effort" and heard about their adventures that day.

I could go on for paragraphs more, but I will leave it at that. I should also mention that things did get better and the mood lightened as we drove home and had time to debrief. We reflected on the race and how we heard from others about how incredibly long it was, and started to feel much better about our efforts. I think they are both gonna give it another try next year which is super awesome. Maybe not as Team Sassypants again, but you never know...

When I got home, the first thing my siblings told me was that I was famous - famous since I had made the Friday afternoon traffic report! LOL

Lessons learned:
- never again will I do an AR with canoe paddles!
- similar team goals are so important in Adventure Races (we had this one covered very well for the most part)
- I am a much better and more confident mountain biker than I thought!
- Andrea's bike is WAY better than mine (a few extra hundred dollars really does make a difference!)
- navigating is challenging but I can see how you can get better with time (I will definitely learn from my mistakes)
- I am impressed with my ability to handle stressful situations – although I'm sure there is lots of room to improve, I have to pat myself on the back for dealing with all my “unexpected” adventures so well...

Thursday, July 21, 2005

My bike rack

Last night was the end of a very long and painful process: the process of getting a bike rack for my car.

Over a month ago I decided that I wanted a bike rack. After only a couple of occasions where I had to throw my bike in my trunk, I decided it would be best for the paint on the back of my car (as well as my sanity) if I got myself a rack.

Although deciding on which type to get was a difficult decision to make (there are so many options!), I finally opted for the trailer-hitch style since it met my needs and financial situation best. I picked out the Yakama King-Pin 4 and was all set. Only problem was, I needed a trailer hitch.

My siblings decided to buy me a hitch for my birthday, but when my father went to install it, he discovered that it was the wrong size. After over 3 weeks back-and-forth with Canadian Tire and Reese (the trailer hitch manufacturer) the *right* one finally arrived.

My brother Mark spent a large portion of last night picking up the new hitch, and installing it on my car - thank goodness - this one fit! Once installed, I started setting up my bike rack to give it a try and it was then that we discovered that it didn't fit. For some reason my hitch had a little notch punched into it which was blocking the rack from sliding directly inside. After some discussion on the best way to deal with it, we decided to drill a section of my bike rack out and make it fit like a puzzle. An hour later we were all done, the pin slid through, and my rack was ready to go!

I'm so excited! And I'm not even too upset about the dent in my bank account since I figure this rack will last me a good number of years. Although it was a week late arriving (would have been extremely convenient for last weekend's trip - but we made do... right Trina? :) it is just in time for my SAC race up north this weekend.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Biking Adventure to Trina's Cottage

Last weekend I completed a 100km bike ride with Trina. We started off at her aunt's place in Pickering on Friday and finished up at her cottage in Cobourg. Total travel time was probably just over 6 hours. Total journey time was closer to 12 :)

We left her aunt's place around 8:30am and took our first break about an hour into the trip after riding just over 20kms. Not bad to start. Stopped at Timmy's for a bathroom and sunscreen break, and then continued along.

Next stop was shortly down the road to fill up our tires at a gas station. Man... what a difference! (side-comment: I can not believe that they are now starting to charge 25 cents to use an air pump these days!)

When we reached Oshawa we stopped on someone's front lawn for a quick bite to eat in the shade, and once again take the opportunity to reapply some sunscreen.

When we reached the Darlington conservation authority we were a wee bit lost so we had to ask for some directions. Desperately hungry for lunch by this point, we had no choice but to keep going another 11kms until we arrived in Darlington where we could grab some food.

On our way to lunch we encountered a cool German guy on a bike trip from New York -> Buffalo -> Toronto -> Montreal. He was pretty funny looking with his ghetto bike loaded down with a tonne of paniers. From a distance as we were nearing closer to him we wondered what he was. At first we thought he was a motorcyle, but realized that he was moving far too slow for that to be the case. Then we wondered if it was maybe someone out in the country on a scooter because the load was so wide. Boy did we have a laugh when we figured it out. The guy was so interesting though, and the fact that he set out on such a long and adventurous journey without all the "gear" (or rather too MUCH gear!) makes his story that much more admirable.

Lunch was spent in the air-conditioning at Wendy's. Mmm.... yummmy... I ate a jr. bacon cheeseburger and the BLT salad. Almost finished it all too! After an hour and a half break though, we decided we better keep going.

The next 10km went pretty quickly but we stopped in Newcastle on some woman's front lawn to take a break in some shade and rest while Trina worked off a stomach cramp. The owner of the house came out to greet us shortly after we had sprawled out on her lawn. After she insisted that we come inside her air-conditioned home for a rest, we learned some interesting stories about her life, cooled off a bit, and then were back on our way.

Somewhere along Hwy#2 we met another cyclist named Ryan Dong. He is from Guelph and just so happened to be doing the Ontario portion of his Cross-Canada biking trip. He started on Vancouver Island at the end of May and has been going ever since.

The rest of the trip was painful for me as we had biked over 70kms by that point and I was "done". I kept going though and really appreciated the fact that Trina was patient enough to wait for me while I struggled up the hills at sub-10kms per hour. I was totally exhausted by the time we hit the Cobourg beach, but so psyched that I had made it.

We ran into Ryan again on the beach (since we had recommended it to him many kms back). We ate dinner together and then biked a few kms to Trina's cottage to complete the journey. I totally took advantage of the draft behind the paniers on Ryan's bike!

The rest of the weekend was really nice. I love Trina's cottage. It's fantastic!

Now that I know what it feels like to bike 100km, I'm gonna have to try to do it again. Maybe next year I'll see about doing a bit more training and try to improve my time ;)

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Looking for a wedding date

No... I'm not getting married, but my friend Kelly is! And as of now I'm going to her wedding solo. Anyone feel like joining me? It's sure to be a blast! A night out with my dancing friends is ALWAYS a good time! :)

Applications are being accepted here. All eligible applicants will be considered ;)

Note: This is not a joke... Ok... well, maybe it is. But going to a wedding by yourself is nooooo fun.

Monday, July 11, 2005

Personalized M&Ms

My coworker, Gavin, sent me this link today. I think it's pretty neat. Now that I'm in the whole weding mentality with 2 weddings looming within 2 weeks of each other next year, everything is screaming "wedding material" these days. I think these would make the cutest wedding favours ever!

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Moving

Laura and Mike got posession of their new house on Monday. By 11pm, we had already moved several loads with the aid of both my parent's and Mark's mini vans, and our cars. So far we have moved the essentials like our beds, some kitchen and bathroom stuff, and clothes. We are painting this weekend and then the "big" move happens on the 16th when we use the U-Haul combined with our "volunteer" bodies to move the rest of the heavy stuff. I seem to have maneouvered myself out of this second move date, however, by planning a biking trip to Trina's cottage. Smart thinking if I don't say so myself!

Although I absolutely HATE packing and moving, this move has turned out to be surprisingly not-so-painful (so far). Since we are literally moving 4kms away, I have taken the "minimal packing" approach. I simply throw a bunch of stuff from my room into some plastic bins, stuff as much as I can into my car, drive to the new house, unload, and drive back to my house with the empty bins to repeat the process. I'm already more than half done and I've barely noticed the pain of moving!

Thursday, June 30, 2005

I got a promotion! Too bad it didn't include a pay raise...

The following email was sent by HR to my company today:

I am pleased to announce that Heather has accepted the position of Technical Marketing Specialist within the Market Development Team. Heather joined our company in September, 2004 and has made an outstanding contribution in her role as Technical Support Analyst. We look forward to working with Heather in her new role.

This should be good... It's pretty much my dream job. Too bad it didn't come many months sooner. Ah well...

My question is: "Isn't it standard for a promotion to come hand in hand with a pay raise?" I'm new to this whole thing and am trying to become familiar with industry "standards"...
Ah... A day in the life of Tech Support

An email I received from my coworker, Jason. Haha... his email made MY day!

It's rare that an email from a customer makes my day but this one did. This is what a sys admin should be. He read the FAQs, got the info he needed and then sent us exactly the info we need to help him.

Beautiful. Now if only the rest of the jerks we deal with would learn....

Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The results

Well, the manager from E&C called me today at work, promptly at 8:30 as I said I would be there. As it turns out, I am a total dork and realized ON THE PHONE with him that I had somehow lost my ability to add and instead subtracted my tip from my bill... hence the confusion. The waitress actually did the right thing and adjusted correctly. Ooops! That's ok though cause I don't have a problem admitting when I'm wrong and apologizing as necessary.

The manager was so much more concerned about the fact that I had also complained about the shitty service that I received, that he wanted to do anything to make it up to me. I got out of it:

  • $5 cash to accomodate for the overcharge on my virgin daquiri

  • Gift certifcates to E&C

  • His business card to be sent with the gift certificates so I can personally call him the next time I'm in Ottawa to get reservations (no matter how busy the night), and the best service I've ever experienced in a restaurant!


  • It's amazing what a little "stink raising" can do. I actually feel badly about how this came about (ie. my stupidity and inability to add), but wow, it's cool to think about what I got out of it! :)

    Tuesday, June 28, 2005

    Random Pics

    Some very random pictures posted here. Be sure to read the disclaimer first - don't say I didn't warn you!
    Credit Card Warning

    Word of warning: always check your credit card statements and compare the receipt with the list amount on the statement.

    Today, while catching up on some financial records, I came across another discrepancy on my credit card - the third one I've caught in the past couple of years since I've started checking my statements.

    The discrepancy comes from a transaction at the Elephant Castle in Ottawa. While visiting a friend the weekend of the marathon, we went out for some drinks. Although we had totally shitty service, we were in such a rush to get out that I simply tipped a buck (grudgingly), and signed the receipt without even looking at the bill. Turned out that she had charged me full price for 2 margaritas (even though mine was virgin that time), but I was willing to forfeit the few dollars since it obviously wasn't worth challenging by the time I realized it.

    However, after reviewing my statement today, I discovered that the final tally had been upped a couple of bucks and she raised my $1 tip to $3. Since this is TOTALLY unacceptable, I decided to fight this one and called the restaurant to complain. Ended up speaking with the evening manager, so I have to wait til tomorrow to see what happens.

    I had a very similar situation with a restaurant in Toronto a couple of years ago, although at the time, it seemed like an innocent mistake. I guess in these situations you never know. But regardless, it really does reflect badly on the restaurant. If it was intentional, it boils down to fraud (read: illegal activity). If it wasn't intentional, it's pure carelessness. Either one, not so good.

    Be careful out there!

    Sunday, June 26, 2005

    Speaking of new words...

    I've been having some of the weirdest sleeps lately with the heat we've been experiencing. I am still managing to fall asleep each night (even though my room is a hot stuffy box with no air circulation) with the aid of my fan and my ability to sleep with no sheets on me (I used to have problems with that in the past).

    A couple of weeks ago, I woke up several times in the night for reasons unknown. One of those times I got up, and stood staring out my window. I'm not really sure why... maybe I thought I heard a noise outside, or maybe I wanted to see if I could get some fresh air. But in my sleepy state, I couldn't help but notice a strange movement in the townhouse window across the street from me. After refocussing my eyes and taking a second glance, I realized that I was seeing my neighbours "in the act" in their living room with the curtains wide open. It's weird though cause it's all such a blur now, that I wondered if it was something I could have been dreaming. The only thing that I really remember clearly was the blinds coming down shortly after I noticed the movement. They were Venesian blinds and were in two separate pieces covering the whole window...

    The next morning when I remembered what had happened, I looked across the street and realized that my neighbours didn't have venesian blinds. Totally confused, I thought for sure I must have dreamt that scenario. It wasn't until the next day when I noticed the blinds in the window of my next door neighbour that fit the exact description. Somehow, I must have seen their reflection in the window across the street. So so soo weird...

    Anywho... after all that, I was telling a friend this strange story and his response was "So... you're into Voyeurism, eh? ;)"

    Haha... although I really don't think it's true, I did learn a new word out of it all...

    Friday, June 24, 2005

    North Bay

    Here's a long shot... anyone got any connections in North Bay? Literally, all I'm looking for is the name of someone who currently lives there... Give me a ping if you can help out!

    Thursday, June 23, 2005

    Hypothetically...

    [snip]