Account Department...yeah, right...

So some I got this email in my box today...lol...only a complete idiot would fall for this. It's like writing a letter to your teacher and signing it, Tom's Dad...it was so bad, I had to post it, with annotations...

Dear account holder, (ok, it's not in capital letters, for one...)

We are constantly working to ensure security by regularly screening the accounts in our system. (and randomly emailing people we don't know) We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service. Until we can collect this information, your access to sensitive account features (like WHAT?) will be limited. We would like to restore your access as soon as possible, and we apologize for the inconvenience.
How can I restore my account access?
Please visit the Resolution Center (who knows where this would take you - I deleted the link) and complete the "Steps to Remove Limitations."
Completing all of the checklist items will automatically restore your account access.

Sincerely,
Account Department. (not only is there a period, which doesn't belong there, it is capitalized...but account holder isn't. What a bunch of friggin idiots.)

Dueling Remotes

So I was beginning to thing my remote was possessed...then I quickly came to the realization that someone in my building must have the same remote control. At random moments, the on-screen guide would come up and it would look as though someone was going through the guide, and then sometimes the channel would change. When I was watching a movie on playback (I have a PVR) it would stop the movie and go somewhere else. This morning it was particularly annoying, so I called Bell Expressvu and asked them WTF? Apparently the remotes have addresses, and someone must have bought one/moved in with one with the same address, as there are only 200 possible addresses. I told the voice on the other end of the line that I initially thought my remote was possessed, and laughed accordingly at the idea. Then he told me he gets calls all the time from people who think their remote is possessed. Seriously. One girl was in tears he said, near hysterical. What an idiot...hahah...so we changed my remote address and here's to hoping the problem has been successfully dealt with.

Henry is Such a Chameleon

Henry. What a riot. He was supreme little bastard a few months ago, the devil in a fur coat and now he has mellowed into such a wonderful cat. At times he is as good as any loyal dog who comes running when I call him, and flops at my feet, ready to be adored. He runs around with his toys in his mouth, and appears slighty retarded stunned. Maybe he is FASD...after all, I did adopt him from an alcoholic...he is still very much a cat, and loves to groom himself, and chase his mice. The fake fur mice are he and Stormy's favorite toys, though Henry tends to eat most of them...Stormy figured out early on they were fake, and stuffed with acrylic, not the good stuff. Henry still hasn't...or he enjoys eating acrylic. Mostly it's the fur he's after, I'm sure. Then there are the mice he chases off the balcony. More fake mice. I find them, bellies swollen in the rain, among the weeds on the grown below. I saved one today, the other was hopeless. He is also a scaredy cat...wicked coward. He will run to the bedroom in fear, looking for a bed to hide under. Only the bed is now on the floor(because he won't stay out of the boxspring)...so he just cowers in the dark on the desk under the lamp.

He is sleeping quite well now and I rarely hear from him in the night or early morning. He may scratch a second at the corner of the bed, but one GIT, and he's stops and goes about his merry way, usually flopping on the desk beside me, or climbs up on the windowsill of the bedroom window. Of course, I can't put the blinds down, or he would rattle them to get behind them to see out the window. Anyone who has a cat in the house, knows you cannot keep a cat from seeing out the window. They WILL see out, either with a razor slice through your silk curtains, or chewing and mauling your blinds. So I compromise by keeping the blinds halfway up, and keeping the curtains closed. In the summer there's a blanket over the window anyhow to keep out the midnight sun, so it doesn't really matter if the blind is up or down.

He gets along well with Stormy. They chase each other around and around the apartment, surely sounding like a herd of elephants to the neighbors below. They don't do it in the middle of the night (that I know of) so I don't worry too much about it. After all, they are just CATS, not 12 year old boys, or 150 pound dogs...Stormy and Henry still groom one another, though the whole suckling thing has taken a backseat...thankfully...and Stormy's nipple has finally healed.

He doesn't enjoy being up for long. He doesn't mind being picked up and is actually very snuggling at first...but then something catches his attention and he is GONE...off and running.

So I'm glad I didn't give him away now. I would have missed out on a really nice cat. And isn't he so very photogenic? What a chameleon...or is he a comedian? He sure makes me laugh, and has certainly changed over the course of the past few months.

Efforts of the Day

The fabric came from a former roommate, C. She lives in BC now. She was travelling through Indonesia a some years ago and brought a piece of hand painted fabric back. It was just a scrap, not even a half a metre. She gave it to me when we were roomies in Cape Breton. I've dragged it from one end of the country to the other, and now up here, not really sure what I wanted to do with it. I wanted to pick the right project. I'd been planning the purse for some time, and hadn't done anything about it. Last night I marched off to Wal-Mart, fabric in hand for a contrasting color, and stronger than this fabric, to add to wear and tearability of my purse. $4.29 later, I had a metre of lime green drapery fabric. This morning I set about making the purse. With a few breaks in between to stop at Tim Horton's and a second run to Wal-Mart for a zipper, stopping by to see a few friends along the way. Now I have moved into the new purse. Just big enough to carry everything I like to have with me, and not too bulky that it needs it's own postal code. The strap is long enough to wear the purse cross-ways, so I don't have to keep pushing the strap back up my arm to my shoulder. For some reason, I do not appear to have any shoulders to hang a purse on. It probably has something to do with the fact that my big head that sits on my big neck takes up most of the space on top of my shoulders. The giant head/no neck issue is genetic, thanks to my dad's clan...

Moving on...the purse turned out pretty good, and I can't wait to head out with it. Who would have thought I would write a whole post on a purse...

A Judgement Call

Well, last night I was going to have a calzone for supper, one I had bought at the grocery store. It was outdated by about 3 days, but I thought, what the hell, heat it up anyway, it looked fine from the outside. So I did. Then I cut into it, and a foul stench arose. The processed meat inside was two-toned...I made a judgement call and threw it in the garbage. I know some may have eaten it, bragging they have a cast iron stomach, however that is not me. The last time I did something like that, eating something with a little "kick", my stomach revolted in several ways. I was given strict orders from my stomach not to let that happen again...

Yoga...and Cats

Well, I began yoga today, at home. I had purchased a yoga mat and DVD nearly a year ago, and had not even viewed the DVD, or unrolled the mat other than to inspect it when first purchased. Shameful, I know. But today is the beginning of a new path. Or at least the attempt at a new path. Balance.

It began with gathering what I would need - a yoga mat, a blanket, a chair, and a belt/scarf. I also needed to reposition the telly a bit so I could see what the heck Leann was doing. The cats were rather interested in what I was up to. I spread the yoga mat on the floor, and they immediately moved in - "mat? for me? how nice of you! Let me go spread myself and my fur all over it". I shooed them away by flicking a couple of toy mice in another direction.

Forget it, what I was doing was clearly more interesting. "What is she doing on the floor? I should go walk over her so she knows that I am here. Let me begin with stepping over her face, lingering every so slightly so she can smell my belly."

We began with breathing exercises. It was hard to concentrate on breathing in and out, being mindful of the path my breaths were taking...when I'm shoving cats out of my face, kicking at Henry to stop clawing at my yoga mat, and trying to hear what Leann is telling me. They finally relent and opt to observe from just off the yoga mat. Fine. Improvement.

I found the pose for the breathing exercise to be somewhat excruciating, due to my lower back pain. I'll have to find a way to resolve that...and playing hookey from physio probably wasn't a good idea.

Then we were into cat/dog pose, child pose, mountain pose, and sunrise pose. Yoga may look like a lot of standing and sitting around, but I was sweating by the time we were done. Leann assures me that I will get better at it with time and practice. I'm sure she is right...but my body is disagreeing with Leann at the moment.

Yoga, day one, complete.

Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert

Anyone who knows me, knows my views on God, prayer, relgion, etc. So when my good friend M. suggested I read this book, I was of course, skeptical. However, wishing to stretch my mind, and see what it was all about, I borrowed the book from her. She is part of a book club that meets regularly, and so knowing she has been doing some serious reading, I took her suggestion to heart. I didn't begin the book right away, as I had another one on the go, but I was still on vacation, so knew I would soon run out. I began the book as I began my journey back to the north.

I friggin' loved it. Absolutely, without a doubt, an awesome book. It might not be for everyone, and I can certainly see why, but for me, at this moment in time, it was the perfect book. It is about a woman who took a year off from her regular life, and travelled to three countries. Italy, where she learned Italian and discovered some of the best Italian cooking (Eat). She then went to stay at an ashram in India to learn how to meditate, pray, and improve her yoga (Pray). Her last stop was Indonesia, where she fell in love, and learned about balance in her life (Love).

The book was humorous, touching, and inspiring. Thanks M. for suggesting this book. And for a little taste of my favorite quotes from the book..."mosquitoes big enough to rape a chicken"; "time to trade that wishbone in for a backbone".

I highly recommend this book.