New Desk Chair

I'm in the market for a new desk chair... One that is ergonomic and comfortable to sit in for long periods of time... Does anyone have any recommendations?

Lion Cut

Got this email from my friend Lindsay the other day... oh man did it ever make me laugh!

These are some of the funniest pictures I've ever seen. Brief story to explain them:

A guy Dave works with has a really fluffy cat. The cat tends to get a rash on it belly in the summer so every year he takes the cat to the beauty parlour to get a "line cut". This year he took the cat in as usual and asked for a standard "line" cut. The person working at the salon heard "lion cut". The cat does not look impressed!

South Park Fun!

If you're looking for some fun, here's an entertaining link. Become that South Park character that you've always wanted to be!

Survivorman Mike

Good luck to my friend Mike S as he begins his month-long journey of winter camping in North Bay! If you are interested in learning more about this crazy adventure, you can read about it here. It's amazing what people will do for the sake of saving a few dollars... :)

The most random things

I got this link from Herman, a friend of mine at teacher's college.

http://www.weddingcrashersmovie.com/crashthistrailer/index.htm?id=261671

Apparently you can do this fun project at the Wedding Crasher movie website... I can't get over how much something as silly and stupid as this movie can make me laugh so uncontrollably. fun times!

Grey's Anatomy

Wow... I just watched tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy and I'm still drying up after that grand finale. Wow... I'm really quite speechless. That was by far one of the best episodes I have ever seen. I don't even really have anything inspiring to say about it, other than, WOW. Talk about acts of bravery and really really putting one's existence in perspective. I love my TV shows for the inspiration they offer. I guess this is how I vicariously bring excitement into my own life! Looking forward to see what comes next!

Windows Messenger Live Beta

So for some reason or another, I got an invitation from Microsoft to participate in their beta program for Windows Messenger 8, with the tag line "Live Messenger". I decided to go for it since I felt so honoured to receive the invitation. So far it's been alright. The interface is definitely tricky to get used to simply because it's new, but I'm starting to get used to it. I have to start doing some exploring though, since there are several new features that I need to try out.

365 Day Project Has Been Relocated

After further consideration, I've decided to use blogger to post my photo-a-day project from now on. Thanks for the suggestion, Cormie. You can now find it here:
http://365dayproject.blogspot.com

Election Day Madness!

Wow! What an experience that was... I think that was by far, one of the craziest management situations I've ever experienced. Here's the scenario:

- I was working at a polling center that had 6 different polling stations at it
- I was working poll #51 and had a total of 167 voters the entire day
- Most other polls (49, 50, 52, 53) at that center had similar voter turnouts
- There was one poll, however (#48 to be exact), that as I found out later in the day, had 3 polling stations combined into the one
- As it turns out, that was a VERY VERY bad idea since it caused a majorly huge lineup during the busy hours of the day
- To add to this overflow, this particular poll also happened to have the largest percentage of student voters at it, which meant that a whole whack of them needed to register first (registering is not a 30 second process either)
- As a result, there ended up being a huge lineup (out the door) for students to register for the vote
- And once registered, these same people then had to stand in another lineup that stretched out the door due to the number of people having to vote at poll 48

As the day moved along, I watched the lineup grow larger and larger, and noticed the chaos and confusion that was brewing in the hallway outside. I tried to think of something I could do to help, but felt limited in my abilities since I was supposed to stay at my station and there was a poll supervisor that was supposed to taking charge. I felt trapped -- in a situation where I knew a leader needed to step forward and do something to alleviate the chaos, but I felt trapped and uncertain about where my authority lay. It was a classic case, really, of poor management and leadership, and seeing how others (including myself) reacted in the situation.

I ended up playing my small part in solving this process, and as the day progressed the chaos eventually faded, and the day finally came to an end. I actually had a great day for the most part, hanging out with my poll clerk, Line, and the Liberal scruitineer, Jane. All the while, knitting the day away (my scarf if almost done!).

Although my fears really did come true with the announcement of the final result, I'm taking a deep breath and have no choice but to wait this new federal government out and see how things go. Wonder how long til our next federal election?....

My Latest Addiction

My roomie, Ange, just got the boxed DVD set of Lost (season one) for Christmas. I had heard that it was a good show so I decided to start watching it when I got back to NB after the holidays. Well... I'm hooked now. I actually think I could be classified as being addicted to this show! Rather than working on my homework assignments in my evenings, I instead choose to spend my time fitting in another episode or two of Lost. Last night I was just going to watch one episode and was left in such suspense at the end of it, that I was forced to stay up til 1am watching the next one too! Oooops!

The thing that is most cool about the show is the never ending mystery of the storyline that unfolds and grows more complex as the episodes progress. I've heard through friends (that are also addicts of the show) that the writers say that there are always answers to everything that happens, we just may have to wait to find them out. Although it has a bit of a science-fiction feel to it, I'm beginning to wonder if it's more a spiritual underlining instead.

I look forward to watching more episodes and learning more about the characters that I'm already starting to love. Here's to hoping I actually do enough homework to earn my teaching certificate when all is said and done! :P

Gotta love the roomies!

Last night I was experiencing a severe attention span problem and spent the entire evening avoiding anything remotely related to the tonnes of homework that I have due in the next few weeks. In my restlessness I conquered that I need more excitement in my life and changed my MSN name to reflect that thought.

Today my roomie, Krystal, MSNd me in response to my name, "what could be more exciting than living with me?! but if you feel you need more i'll be naked whe you get home." I quickly changed my name to "Hmmm... Krystal is offering to wait naked at home for me... woot woot!" A few minutes later, I check again and her name simply stated "Naked, waiting for Heather." LOL

Gotta love those random MSN conversations (and super hilarious roomies like the two I ended up with)!! If only that helped to alleviate my problem related to my lack of motivation... Alas... somehow I'll find some excitement in my life!

List-Crazy!

I realized that I am the "Queen of Lists" yesterday when I re-wrote my grocery list in order of the aisles I was going to walk down in the store... Does that mean that I need psychological help?

New Project: Photo A Day

So I've been inspired to start a new project. I got this idea from both Ming and my new boss at the Running Room (her article is at the bottom of the pdf file) who each completed their own version of this project. The long and short of it is that I have decided to take a unique photograph each and every day for the next year of my life. I haven't yet decided what sort of things I will focus on, or what restrictions I will impose on my photographs. Regardless, I think this will be a fun and interesting project... we'll see how it goes :)

Another Chapter

2006 has arrived! And hence, so have my new years resolutions!

1. Surpass my 2 hour time goal for half marathon!
2. Learn to be more patient with my parents
3. Become more knowledgeable about the facts within the bible
4. Learn to play guitar
5. Start planning my meals ahead of time for better grocery shopping/eating habits

Funny funnies!

Ok... so a tonne of people on my MSN list for the past week or so have been highlighting random statements about Chuck Norris. I thought it started with a personal joke between some of my section-mates at Teacher's College but I quickly discovered that it wasn't just my TC friends that were talking about him... After asking around, I FINALLY got a straight answer as to what the buzz was about...

http://www.4q.cc/chuck/index.php?topthirty

And for more funnies, check these links out...

http://www.4q.cc/vin/index.php?topthirty

http://www.4q.cc/t/index.php?topthirty

My biggest question: is it lame that I find the math/science ones the most funny?

Oil Changes

Are you supposed to tip the oil change boys when you go to a 10-minute place like Jiffy Lube? I got my oil changed today and afterwards was asked if I wanted my cabin filter checked (I didn't even know that thing existed!). After the guy spent close to 5 minutes taking the thing apart and putting it back together, I kind of felt like I owed him a tip... But... not knowing the "ettiquette" of the situation, I opted not to tip. My reasons:

a) there were three other guys that worked on my car and I have no idea how they would divvy it up
b) if it wasn't normal to tip the dude, I didn't want him to think I was hitting on him or anything like that...

Underground Parking Stupidity

On Saturday night I went downtown with Amanda to do some shopping at MEC, visit with a friend, and stop at Lone Star for some yummy yummy fajitas! Upon finishing our dinner, we made our way back down to the parking garage where we had left my car. AFter finally locating my parking spot, I realized that I had no idea where my parking ticket was. Luckily I was able to dig through my pockets and find it which helped to avoid an $18.00 fine.

As we neared the exit, I realized that we were in a pretty high-tech parking garage in which we were supposed to park our cars at the side, walk up to a machine, insert the parking ticket, and then pay the required amount. The machine, however, did not accept my ticket... I think the crease in the middle of the magnetic information strip probably had something to do with that ;)

After several attempts to make the machine read it, I decided to press the button for assistance. Shortly thereafter, a security dude came down to take our money manually. When Amanda pulled out her $5 bill, it somehow ripped right down the middle. I laughed and said "that's ok, a little tape can fix that problem" but the security dude very quickly responded with "I'm not taking your ripped $5 bill". Thinking he was joking, I laughed and joked back with him, but he repeated himself firmly and said "No... I'm not kidding... I'm not taking your ripped $5 bill." I responded with "you can't be serious" and tried to tell him that I worked at a gas station for several years and very often had to tape money together for my customers. But this man would not budge. He actually made us give him a *non-ripped* bill, and since we only had a $10, he had to walk back to his office to get us change before we could leave the garage...

Why do people act like such idiots? I mean... really... could he not have taped that bill together for us?

Sheesh...

Talk about a "retro" table

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/14/table_made_from_anci.html

Racing at the OU champs

This weekend I travelled to Kingston with my xcountry team to participate in the Ontario University Xcountry Championships. Although I placed an embarassing 96th out of 101 racers, I am still pleased with how I raced. I am brand new to the xcountry thing this year and was competing against the best of the best in terms of Ontario University xcountry runners. I joined the team at Nipissing this year with an open mind -- to challenge myself and experience what it's like to be on a Varsity team. And I think I accomplished both well.

My training this year was somewhat disrupted by the ups and downs associated with my current situation. Moving back to Waterloo for my teaching placement where I had to establish a brand new schedule and routine was a bit tricky to adjust to, only to have it all screwed around again when I came back to North Bay for a few more weeks of school. Although I didn't train as much as I had *hoped* to, I think I still noticed a bit of an improvement from the beginning of the season. Even if a lot of the improvement came from me just getting a bit more experience with "racing" itself.

One thing I learned (rather, reinforced) this year is that I do not like competing. Xcountry races are incredibly intense and start off extremely fast. And since each race is only about 4 or 5km, the intensity is maintained the entire way through. By the end of the race, I am only just beginning to feel like I'm starting to feel good. And by then, well, it's too late. However, that being said, I have come to appreciate more about pushing myself harder and thinking about the finish line as incentive.

Although I don't think I will keep up the short-distance competitions for much longer, I am glad I experienced this all. I still have my passion for running and am certain that this season will have an affect on my training for next year's half-marathon. Additionally, I have a better understanding of xcountry running now and can't wait to be able to put that to use as a teacher where I totally plan to help out with the xcountry team at whatever school I end up at!

All in all, my finish time of 23:30 for this past weekend's 5km race is something I am proud of. I now have a benchmark for my 5km PB and plan to work on improving that one with time. Even if I don't do a whole lot of races, it's still good to have something to push myself towards.

Huge thanks to Tim for taking me on the team and putting up with my "rookie" status... It's been a great experience to train and race with the Nipissing Varsity XCountry running team!

Blogger stuff

Does anyone know why my blog site is doing wonky things? Why is it that with my 3rd last post, I all of a sudden started to get a huge amount of "white space" at the top of this page? I tried republishing and removing any extra hard returns that I could see, but to no avail...