Shout Out

My friend M. from back east has quit smoking this year, and I am super proud of her, so here is a SHOUT OUT for my friend M. Keep it up girl, and remember, only one patch at a time...I'm rootin for ya! And so is my friend here...

Snow - Ugh.

Yes, we have snow here. It snows every time the temperature rises above -15C. We don't get a ton, but when the temp never goes above 0C, we keep accumulating it. See that mountain on top of my bbq behind the kitty? I actually had to go out and shovel snow tonight. I am thoroughly disgusted. That is the second time this year. I'm going to have to move farther north to escape the snow. Or I could just move south and escape both cold and snow. Not that I haven't been considering it for my next step. Here's the latest hairbrained scheme...when my mountainous student loans are paid off, I might trade my car in for a camper and head to Guatemala to live for a couple of years...how does that sound? Crazy, I know...but very doable...the photo below is of the sunset in my back yard. It is a "screen" shot, literally because I could not open the door. Too much fucking snow behind it.

The Evolution of Washing Woes

Washing my clothes is one of those necessary evils. And with each move in my life, the evil often becomes more difficult to tackle. Growing up as a child, I remember little difficulty. We always had a washer and drier and running water. Then I left home, and what I took for granted was soon to become somewhat of a nuisance. My first apartment had a laundry room in the basement. It was a nicer apartment building, so had a gym room, an mini golf, a tennis court, a pool, and so on. So I would often go swimming or work out while I was doing laundry. Not too bad, but it was lonesome. I don't know where everyone else was but they weren't in the basement.

Then I moved into a townhouse and we had a washer and dryer...sweet. There were 8 of us, but 4 of them were men, and one girl was never home (at her boyfriend's). After that I moved back home again, easy going. That was a short stay and I moved on to Grand Bruit with my soon to be husband (now ex). An old fashioned dual washer, with a place for washing on the left and spinning on the right. It got your clothes clean enough but was a tedious chore to stand there and feed clothes in, then pull them out and put them into the spinner, moving the hose here and there. One basically had to stand in front of it most of the time to do the laundry. The first winter I was there, our waterline froze up and we had to carry our water, for more than three months. I was pregnant, so was exempt from dragging it from the brook, but still had to handle it in the house. We didn't have a dryer either, so all the clothes had to go out on the line or hang about the house. Ugh. I love hanging laundry out in the summer, but wintertime sucks ass. Freeze your damn hands off, turning purple and cracking open as you hang clothes out. Then it comes back in, frozen, and often still not dry. So then you have laundry hanging all about the house, steaming up your windows. After our daughter was born, we bought a dryer. Babies go through A LOT of clothes, and I couldn't always depend on having disposable diapers on hand, and used homemade cloth ones when I was out. I made them out of old Hudson's Bay flannel sheets. You know the ones, with the stripes on them, heavy weight, and often used in hospitals.

When we built our new house, we bought an automatic washer and I was back in order again. A washer and dryer, AND a nice new clothesline. I hung clothes out only when I felt like it (which was a good bit of the year) or when the dryer was broken down. Years went by in this manner until I moved away to Ontario to attend university in Waterloo. Back to laundry rooms in the apartment building. This time everyone was in the laundry room, as I was living on campus in married student housing, and there were TONS of kids, making clothes dirty...Upon completion of my degree, I moved to another townhouse, and it was off to the laundromat this time. Ugh. Dreadful holes with sports on television, 5 year old magazines, and often a small child with sticky fingers who wants to be friends. I even got into an arguement with some lady over the use of dryers...I never went back after that, and bought a second hand washer and dryer. The damn dryer broke not long after I bought it, so was without for a while until I realized it was under warranty for 90 days and got it fixed. The washer never really worked well and often didn't clean our clothes, so that was a pain in the ass, as we often had to wash things twice. And no clotheline so when the dryer was broken, we were back to hanging things about the house. Sigh...

Then I moved to Cape Breton and stayed in my great uncle's house. No washer or dryer, and it was back to the laundromat again until we moved into our duplex, and I bought a brand new washer and dryer, and there was a clothesline in the back yard. Laundry life was good again. I moved again, taking the washer and dryer with me, into a home with a clothesline, and laundry was still getting done easily.

When I moved to the Yukon, I found myself falling in love with a cabin there, and it didn't have a dryer. Despite past inconveniences, I chose the cabin and went without a dryer for a year, hanging clothes out in summer months only, and about the house the rest of the year. The rare time I would drag it off to the laundromat to dry, but that happened more when my daughter was living with me, and uniforms had to be cleaned so often.

Here in the trailer, there is a washer and dryer, but the cold intake was down to a fast drip, and took forever to fill. I knew it was just probably dirt in the screen, but didn't think I had a wrench big enough to get the hoses off to clean. So instead I lugged water in from the kitchen or bathroom to the washing machine to fill it up quicker...for well over a month. Today I finally got into my toolbox and tried a pair of slip joint pliers and we were off. There was about a teaspoon full of crap jammed into the screen, so once I cleared it out, we were good to go. I don't know if there is a clothesline here. I haven't really been all around the house or in the back yard, such as it is. There is deep snow and I'm saving it for a spring surprise...

New Blog For A New Adventure

No, relax, not changing this one again! But I have created a new blog for my African adventure this fall, and you can check it out here: The Year I Went To Africa. I'll be posting occasionally about my planning and preparation, however the bulk of the posting will be in the fall, once I begin the journey. I'm excited.

Hmmm....Interesting

Tonight I decided to check out when The Amazing Race and Survivor were starting up again with their new season, as both are beginning in February, with Survivor starting up February 8th, and The Amazing Race gets out of the gate on February 18th. And after visiting both websites I noticed something. At first I thought I was mistaken, but if you look at the 19 contestants for Survivor, there isn't one Caucasian woman on the show. They are all African American, Asian, or Latina. And then check out The Amazing Race. Nine of the 22 contestants are Caucasian women. What's up CBS? Is this mere coincidence or a concerted effort? And if so, to do what?

It's all very interesting...

Water Bottle Junkie

I never thought it would happen to me. But it did. I am now a water bottle toting junkie. I have to have water with me everywhere. Partly because of the climate I live in is so very dry in the winter, due to the deep freeze temps we get for many months. I'm also trying to cut down on sugary drinks. I swapped out coke for ginger ale years ago, but now I'm on the water...and I don't believe in buying a ton of those small water bottles, such a waste of energy and plastic. So I have several plastic Nalgene water bottles, with the lid attached to the mouth of it...one at work, one in the bathroom (for taking meds), one in on the coffee table, and one for the car when I travel. And I think I am not alone...fess up...my water comes from the Great Slave Lake. How many of you can say that? Hmmmm...

hangin' with the animals...

My friend S. was telling me about her son's hamster that escaped a while ago...she managed to corner it again, after discovering him tapping on the door in the bedroom, eating his way through the leftover Halloween candy. When she firsts saw him, he had a tootsie pop in his mouth...

Why Grandma Should NOT Wear A Thong

Um...ewwww.

Thought You Oughta Know

Thought you should know this, just in case...the American Medical Association researchers have made a remarkable discovery. It seems that some patients needing blood transfusions may
benefit from receiving chicken blood rather than human blood. It tends to make the men cocky and the women lay better. Just thought you'd like to know.

heh heh...

Why Call Centres Get My Wrath

Yesterday I decided it was time to phone all of my student loan folks and up my payments along with giving them my new address. I've been here long enough to be able to balance my budget and see just how much I can give those fucking bastards them each month. It should have been an easy task...apparently with one company, nothing is easy.

• I got shuffled around like Grandma's Christmas turkey.
• I had to call back a number of times because people would put me on hold, and I would end up dumped to a dial tone
• I was sent to someone who speaks only French (despite my choosing ENGLISH)
• I was sent to someone who had no idea why I was sent there
• I was sent to someone who couldn't find me in their system
• I was sent to 95 voicemail menus, often repeatedly into the same one
• I was put on hold for up to 20 minutes at a time, only to find out they could not help me
• I was passed on to immigrant after immigrant who couldn't speak English clear enough for me to understand what the fuck they were saying and they couldn't understand me. In the words of Stewie Griffin "could I speak to somebody who didn't arrive here on a floating door?" I'm all for immigration, but dammit, why do they always have to end up at call centres where English is expected???
• I was sent to someone who wanted my Social Security Number...and when I attempted to explain to her that we do not have those in Canada, she didn't understand what I meant and kept asking for it again. I finally hung up on her.

And that was just one company...I was too pissed after wasting an hour and a half on the phone to call the rest of them. I saved that for today. Today was less painful, but there is a relatively new annoyance out there in the world of call centres...voice recognition systems...you have to speak your option and unfortunately, it didn't understand my command "get me a fucking person to speak to!"....darnit. I finally got the bypass code from the CSR I finally got to speak to and it's *7 for anyone wishing to call RBC. It gets you back to touch tone automation...like that is any better, but at least from there you can dial "0" to get a CSR (customer service rep).

Sigh...and they wonder why people get frustrated in paying back student loans. I'd like to tell them all to take a flying leap off a dam into a pit of vipers, but that won't clear my account...

Vyoo Viko Wapi

Of course, you're wondering WTF? I am simply asking "Where are the toilets" in Swahili. Now you know. And if you didn't already know...I am planning a trip to Africa this fall. My friend K. may also be accompanying me, and we are headed for East Africa, namely Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. I don't know that I will get to all four, but the first two are my targets. And today I got my guidebook and Swahili phrase book in the mail from Lonely Planet, so I have to go.

I've taken a quick peek through the first part of the book, where they write about safaris, and what I love about Lonely Planet, is they don't cover the exorbantly priced tourist stuff. They know that not everyone has buckets of money to go "on safari". And so far I am interested in three kinds of safari...and I thought there was only one. I want to go on a regular Land Rover camping safari to see the lions and such, but then I want to do the canoe/kayak safari in Tanzania where the Nile begins and see the water mammals, and bird life. THEN I want to do a camel safari, simply to ride a camel and spend a few days like the locals do. And they seem to price at about a hundred bucks a day for each, so we shall see what I end up doing. I know it is going to be the trip of a lifetime, so want to do as much as I can while there, and will spend what I can to do it, and safari is not somewhere I really want to skimp too much. Can't be breaking downn on the Serengeti in a crappy truck because the more reliable vehicles came for 20bucks more a day...

I think there will have to be a whole other blog for that trip too...photos, stories, you name it. I have them for myother trips, but this will hopefully have video, if I can figure out how to post it.

Of course I shall be shopping too..and bringing an extra bag to put it all in. It's funny...now that I have finally bought the guides, I feel like its okay to get excited about going. and Lonely planet has the best travel guides, IMO. I own several of them. (although have not actually travelled to all the places they cover...someday...). The shopping is what I think I am looking forward to the most, after safari of course.

If anyone has every been...feel free to offer any recommendations.

Usiku mwema (good night)

Hum Drum

I haven't posted in a few days, and now I am left without inspiration...what to write, what to write...randome tidbits I reckon for today...

• Stormy had a nocturnal night last night...playing at 4am did not impress me...
• the next door neighbor seems to have an endless supply of gas...anytime I look next door, the truck is in the driveway, running. And on Sundays, he likes to run his skidoo for an hour or so. Today he had trouble with it, so there was a lot of starts before it began running.
• the puzzle I started over Christmas is still sitting on the table, partially done...actually, that makes it sound like I have been working on it. I did the outside edge, and a little in the corner, and the sky...now I'm bored and frustrated with it...too much of the same colors. ugh. I have a funny feeling it will be going back into the box...
• I was sewing for the first time in my "sewing room" yesterday. Made a pair of pillowcases. Try as I might, I could not find king size pillowcases in Yellowknife, not without buying king size sheets. Which I don't need. I have big pillows, but a double bed, and the standard/queen pillowcases barely cover the pillow, with the ends not folding over at all, so was forced to make my own. Now I'm almost inspired to get back into sewing again...there are certainly enough unfinished projects in there...
• I'm taking a break from knitting...my hands won't cooperate so it has become time to put it away for a while. I think I might get out my cross-stitch to work on while watching telly...I gotta have something to keep the snacking down...I just hope I can hold the fabric and needle. My hands go numb or tingly, or I just can't grip things...so will see how that works out.
• I think today will be spent much like yesterday...watching television and playing cards online. It's frosty out, about -23C and I have nothing calling me out of the house, other than perhaps a short afternoon walk. Brrrrr.

See Where Laziness Gets You

I had a visit from my ISP today (small town, she knows where I live) to let me know that a 14 year old young gal a few doors down from me was camping out on my network...little snot. Yes, I had left my network unsecured, figuring I would get there eventually, and I had met most of the neighbors and didn't figure them for laptop users...what I didn't know is that this little miss got a computer for Christmas, and apparently has been downloading like crazy. I also got an email from my ISP main office telling me I am over my usage for the month...WTF??? I have hardly downloaded anything, a few songs, that's it. Then I put that together with the little miss who has a new computer and blingo...apparently she told her mother she didn't need to get internet now because she could get it for free...nothing comes free you little brat.

So then, in what should have been a short effort...I set about securing my network. It should have been easy. It wasn't. Turns out I WAS a complete retard and couldn't see the setting for it when I logged in. What I wasn't putting together was the fact that the card I was reading instructions from didn't say you access the settings from the internet account...I though it was on my computer somewhere...duh. Once I got that sorted out, only 2 hours later...I even renamed my network from Netgear (the brand name of the router) to FREEFORME. Take that ya cheapo putz...

Of course, I was never above camping out on someone else's net once in a while...but this affected ME, so of course was more important...heh heh. However, purchasing extra bandwith is expensive ($30/gig) so I must put up with slower connection until the 15th when I am unrestricted again. And now my ISP has a new customer...