Thursday, May 31, 2012

Yes Dad, That Must Be It

On the barfing Eamon has been experiencing lately:  "maybe he's eating dog food at the daycare.  They have a dog, right?"

*  *  *

Officially off-call now as I'm no longer on-call.  I have a bit more of a bounce to my step!  No more stress of worrying if that pager is going to go off.  At least not until next year...

*  *  *

Tires23 ftw!  Great company with competitive rates (i.e. cheap!) and superfast service.  Got the rims on today and (I think) it makes the Fit all the more nicer.  It also has a wider stance and feels more on the road; more responsive.  At least, that's what I'm going with.

That was part one of dressing up the new car.  Part two and three is coming up in a few weeks.

I should prolly concentrate on selling the Vitz now I guess

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  two straight weeks of on-call means some o/t monies.  Yee-uh!

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Two Hours Of Sleep

I think that's what I got last night.  Got called to a fire first thing in the morning.  Yet another reason I would never be able to own a restaurant:   you have to trust the staff doesn't screw things up.  Like, you know, burn down the kitchen.

Either way, should be good o/t if the powers that be give me the cash.

Which will promptly be used on new tires for my rims.  But of course


*  *  *


Accomplishment: a load of laundry what

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

One More Night Till I'm Off-Call

Just came from delivering vaccine.  I was like 4 minutes away from playing basketball...wasn't to be today.  I be doing some cray-cray otay

*  *  *

Gonna get my rims put on tomorrow...ricer what!

*  *  *

My poor Eamon.  Went all barfy at daycare today (near the end of the day).  He actually barfed on one of the caregivers.  D'oh!

Thus is daycare side effects.

(He's doing better now, thankfully and doesn't have the diarrheas)

*  *  *

Sending all my positive vibes and encouragement.  Never stopped, never will

Monday, May 28, 2012

Union Tactics

There's an ongoing strike occurring at work.  They are a sad, pathetic, whiney bunch.  I feel sorry for the workers who actually want to go back to work.  For those that don't, well...I'm glad they are missing their paycheques and ultimately suffering.

I know I'm not supposed to wish harm on anyone else, but nowhere does it say that I don't have to wish harm on a bunch of anyone elses, right?

I have to learn patience and realize it's just a little inconvenience, instead of letting my blood boil.  But still...I hate their tactics and it reminds me of nothing more than entitled, lazy pieces of trash.  I'm almost looking for a confrontation, even though who am I kidding?  I'd prolly not say anything if really approached

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  after a week of consistent watering and babying of the sod, it looks like it is sticking and not drying out/dying

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Few More Days On-Calling...

...then I will be done for the year.  I mean, I'm logging some good O/T, but I'm feeling fatigued.  It's not only the going out and doing calls, it's also the worry of when the pager will go off.  Mind you, I'm a lot better handling it now then I was years ago, but there is still a little of that anxiety.

(needless to say, I went out today for a few hours to deal with a faulty spa.  Poor kiddos who sat in 200ppm of chlorine.  That would be 20x the normal amount.  No wonder they had skin issues.)

I think I'm also feeling tired because of Eamon being sick this past weekend.  Unfortunately, he's like his father in that he's inconsolable and all "end-of-the-world" when he gets sick.  Looks like he's on the up-and-up and getting better...I missed his smile and laugh all of yesterday.

Mind you, the real reason I've been tired is because I haven't been sleeping early.  Yeah.  Total New Years Resolution Fail

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Oh My Barfy Boy

So for the first time ever, Eamon has been projectile vomiting.  And running a fever (despite what the pediatrician says...the boy is burning up).  And inconsolable.

Now is the "test" of being a parent...when the child is sick and miserable.

I hope it's just one of those 24 hrs. bugs.  My baby boy, who is otherwise always smiling, looks especially sad when he's sick

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  whole lotta gardening still being done

Friday, May 25, 2012

On-Call But Need Rest

Was out pretty late last night again and had to deal with an irate owner.  Oh well.  I just have to concentrate on the whole "money" thing I guess and ignore the tiredness

*  *  *

Hot weather again...forgot the whole "sheen of sweat" look I'm going to be garnering

*  *  *

Bonus of new position:  new, comfortable, quality (aka "expensive"), free boots!  Two purrs!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Good Thing I Didn't Go To Sleep

Because then I would've had to have woken up soon after.

I'm on-call and had received a call about a water main shut-off.  So I had to go to south Mississauga to deal with it.

I'm kind of tired now.  I'm gonna go to sleep now...hopefully I don't get called again tonight

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Scholar

Well not really.  But I am somewhat surprised that I actually passed those two exams I was stressing out about a few weeks ago.  First time doing exams in countless years.  I guess all that cramming paid off!  (some things never change)

Glad that's over with...now I just have another learning curve ahead of me in this program.  Last day in the office tomorrow before I switch over to the Copper Road location.  I'm excited!  Provided that the Public Works guys don't strike June 2 (I wouldn't be surprised if they did).  Dammit.  Picket lines again

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  got some exercise in after playing ball

Monday, May 21, 2012

Oh Sod Off

I now know why that's considered a softer expletive term after working with, well, sod.  I surely said it a lot to the sod.

After three days of gardening, sodding, watering, planting, debranching...yeah.

As an aside, I think that farmers should get paid a lot with the amount of physical work that they do.  And no wonder farmer's are built like tanks with the amount of heavy lifting they do (and really, the amount of lifting I did I don't think compares to what they do).

Anywho, the garden looks 10x better.  The darkness of my skin also looks 10x darker.  And the amount of sweat I sweated was 10x more than I would usually sweat.  I am happy that the weather was 10x better than I thought it would be.  When was the last time a May 2-4 weekend had weather this beautiful?

I got to pretend I was a logger, climbing ladders and sawing off large, dead branches (a bit nervewracking at times).  One of the downsides of logging at home, though, is cutting the branches into smaller pieces in order to fit into the brown bags.  It's quite time-intensive.  But the tree looks a lot better now.

I got injured, but it was a stupid way to get injured.  My fourth toe stubbed that corner of the ladder when I was wearing flipflops.  And then it happened again.  On the same damn toe on the same damn ladder.  Lots of stinging and blood and wrapping up the toe with bandages and tissue.  I hope it doesn't get infected or anything (I doubt it, I'm just being dramatic).

I also found that I am now getting the heebeejeebees like crazy when I see an ant colony (which I did encounter).  I'm hoping my ghetto homemade pesticide of vinegar and baking soda worked on eradicating the colony, and not just make a volcano of it.

Can't believe I shoveled out 5 yards of soil and 2 yards of mulch from the driveway.  I guess with the lack of snow shoveling this past winter I had to make up for it somehow.  Good squat workouts (when I remembered to shovel it up properly with my knees and not my back).

Lots of neighbours I haven't seen before walking by gave lots of encouraging remarks.  Also all the houses around us had their owners out doing gardening as well.  Good neighbourhood vibe going on.

And just to round out this non-sequitur kind of post but all related to the same thing:  I hope I don't have heat stroke or anything

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  as above

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Now This Is Fair Weather

Such a beautiful weekend thus far.  I gotta work on the garden, but I need a bit of a break (more so my body than anything).  Hoping that it cools down a bit (or I get the motivation).

*  *  *

Kiraly and Trannifer and kids came by for lunch.  Jen said "remember before we had kids and we went out to restaurants?"

Nope.  I hardly remember now before we had kids

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Garden State Of Mind

So maybe we underestimated exactly how much work has to be done into the garden.  That or the fact we keep adding in different projects within the larger project.

For instance, noticing the sparsity of grass that borders the new mulch border, we had the bright idea of laying down fresh sod.  Only trouble is, putting down new sod means having to remove the old one.  Which is a lot of work.

So I only got to do half of what I wanted to do.  But I'm pleased to say that it is looking much, much better.  We're even getting compliments from random neighbours we've never talked to before.

Another good (suburban?) sign within our neighbourhood is the fact that almost all neighbours are doing their gardens in one form or another.  Although maybe they have always been doing their lawns/gardens, but I just never saw them before because this is the first time we've been doing our lawn/garden.  But whatever...community pride is good.  Rising values of our house is great too!  Not that I'm going to move or anything

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  handled a call this morning which made us late for Eamon's swim class, bit I still dealt with it promptly that at least got us to the pool ("emergeny" be damned

Friday, May 18, 2012

Beautiful, Sunny, Warm Day...

...so I bought winter tires?  Well, it was another case of being lucky again.

Today I had a day off and was set to get new orthotics with Jools (check) and spend the day gardening (check-ish).  

In a conglomeration of coincidences:  
-the X-Ice's had a special going on where you can get a rebate of $70 if you got a set by tomorrow.  I was set to buy winter tires special order from Crappy Tire because once my rims are on I'd take off the all-seasons, sell those, then pop on the winters onto the steelies
-when I went to go play bball on Tuesday, I was talking to Don who told me to try Tires23, a company I never heard of
-Sharon didn't order enough soil to do the entire garden as planned due to Van Dongen's Nursery screwing up the measurements so I had to stop working in the garden in the afternoon as I waited for the new shipment of soil
-I checked Tires23 website and was hesitating to call them to ask the price (everywhere I looked it was actually more expensive than CT).  I called them anyway
-got a hold of the manager (!), who gave me a "special price"
-during the break in gardening, went to Tires23 (thank Gawd for cheap Chinese companies!), met with an employee. Gave him the price I was quoted and he didn't believe it.  He checked with the manager and sure enough, it was the cheaper price.  Good thing when I called I got through to the manager
-in addition, they let me pay with Mastercard (I thought it would have to be a "cash deal"), gave me an invoice so I could claim the rebate, and they had the tires in stock (last set, which is prolly why I got a good deal)

So in the end, I happened to have saved about $100 all because time and time again, I got lucky.  Bring on the snow!

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  gardened (meaning lugging and shoveling around triple-mix) and got the winter tires and ordered the new orthotics/knee braces.  Feeling good about the productivity today what

What Is That Noise?

*beep*

Oh right, I'm on-call for the next two weeks.  And I already get a call, the first hour let alone day.  Luckily it was a simple call...here's hoping it's not going to be too bad the next few evenings

*  *  *

The other morning Eamon said what I swear I heard him say:  "hey Daddy".

Today when I got home, he had a huge smile and said the same thing.  I swear he said it and he knows what he is saying.

Honestly, one of the best moments of my life 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Let Him Cast The Stone Because He Lives In A Glasshouse

So funny thing after playing ball last night (which wasn't bad and I got a good sweat on):  Don forgot his keys and was locked out of his house.  Sarah was asleep with Noah and all the phone calls, pinging and doorbell ringing wasn't waking them up.  It reminded me of the time when I was locked out of the house for forgetting my house keys after the trip to Philly.

Desperate and after waiting outside for about 2 hours, we had the bright idea of throwing stones on their bedroom window.  Well, I wasn't going to cast any stones.  I live in a glasshouse.  Or something like that.  I just didn't want to break his house.

The sight of Don throwing stones was prolly hilarious to on-lookers as he threw the stone, it got lost in the darkness, went onto the grass, and we would be looking for it on the grass.  Anywho, it actually worked, and now I don't know if he got in "trouble".

So yeah, even when I try to go to bed early...(I'll always blame someone else, never my fault or anything...right...)

*  *  *

My boy speaks gibberish.  Not surprising considering his age, but every once in a while he'll string a couple of words that makes it sound like he actually knows what he is saying.

For example, I just went into this room to pick him up out of his crib and change him and get him ready for the day.  When I walked in, he said what I heard as "hey Daddy".

Needless to say, it made me unnecessarily happy and gave me a great way to start my day

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

I Hope I Don't Take A BFall

First time playing fullcourt basketball in a while...should be interesting.  Especially since I'm feeling quite fatigued

*  *  *

Crap.  A week or so left to go before I start on my new team, but the duties/responsibilities I still have right now keep pulling me back.

Went to one of my places and it seems that they like to be bad.  So...yet another ticket or two that is going to go to them.

There are gonna be some upset people in the next few days...

(I try really hard not to give that many tickets, but I can't help it.  I need to make sure that my conscience feels okay with the work that I do.  In other words, I'm just doing my job)

Monday, May 14, 2012

In Which I Think The Lack Of Sleep Is Catching Up With Me

Just feeling lethargic and apathetic.  I think maybe sleep would do me good?  Perhaps.  But as I always say there is enough time to sleep when I die.

Too much NBA Playoffs to watch amongst other things

*  *  *

Started a Fuelly account today as I filled up my new car for the very first time.  So far the fuel mileage is in and around what I figured it would be (7.2L/100km).

I also tried to get the rims installed and found out that I have get some hub rings to make it fit.  But of course...it's never that easy whenever I do things for my car

*  *  *

Officially put the Vitz on sale on the internal website at work.  Someone already asking questions about it...hopefully I have a motivated buyer

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  cleaned the washrooms

Gotta Wake Up Sometime And...

...gogogogogogogo...let's do this

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Whole(y That's Still Bad For You) Foods

Went to Whole Foods this morning for breakfast with the in-laws for Madda's De.  $8 gets you a crazy selection of stuff.  Needless to say, I kind of went nuts.

Just because Whole Foods has a perception of being "good for you", I did what I could and was successful in proving it wrong.  Less I be pretentious and all going there (which is what I always thought of that place).

It was an organic experience (to borrow the line from Herbal Essence), and there's a chance we'll be going there again in the future.

We then went to my parents house and Eamon had a grand ol' time with the cousin's.  Antonio is getting much bigger now and I really, really love the fact that he's quite the smiley baby (second borns stick together).

Then went home and continued my productivity, with dropping off the in-laws to the airport in-between.  Crazy!

I'm really loving this Honda Fit...all four wheels fit in the hatch.  Unfathomable thought with the Vitz.

Don't get me wrong though, I still like the Vitz.  I spent a lot of time today cleaning and prepping it for sale.  Sigh...I foresee it being tough to sell it at the price I want.  But whateves...it must be done

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  was productive two days in a row (!)

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Workin' Out(side)

Beautiful weather today (and no studying to do...at least right now and if I didn't fail...lol).

So after swimming this morning, we decided to do some work in the garden.  Specifically, we had to dig out about 8" of dirt in the horrible, plant-less, full-of-old-roots garden beds and transport it to the backyard to make way for the new triple-mix soil we'll be getting next week (along with the plants).

Dirt is heavy.  Yeah.

Along with trying to take care of a teething, grumpy, wailing child, it took us a while to do.  But it got done.

Lawn being mowed also got done.

As well, I got my Vitz ready for sale by changing the wheels (I'm grateful the car didn't fall on me...lol).

So it was a busy, sweaty day, but the feeling afterwards is always craved

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  first productive day in a while

Friday, May 11, 2012

Yeah I Really Don't Know

That was a pretty tricky exam.

For the first one, a maximum of one hour was allotted; I took half an hour.  Maybe I should've taken the whole hour because I checked the answers afterwards and I seemed to have gotten some wrong.  Oops.

For the second one, a max of 1.5 hours was allotted; I took the entire time.  And I still had to guess 3 questions.  Yikes.

I am only allowed 12 wrong for each exam (yes, I started counting how much wrong I'm allowed).

Can't do anything but wait for the results now.

Rolando is here...time for a massage...yee-uh!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Unsurprisingly, I'm Not Confident And Unsure

Got exams tomorrow.  I can at least say I finished reading all the material, but I never actually "studied".

But then again, how exactly do I study?  I'll never really change, I don't think.  It's always going to be "procrastinate, freak out, don't sleep, cram, freak out, hope and wish for the best".  It usually turns out barely okay (not outstanding or as good as I want it to be), but it's been such a long time since I've done an exam that I'm honestly not sure how I'm going to do tomorrow.

I always tell people, "hey, if you fail, you just do it again...don't be too hard on yourself".  Why can't I listen to myself?  lol

*  *  *

I have this rage/fury towards the union at work that is on strike.  They haven't done anything to me personally, but their tactics are disruptive.  If I was to be one of the people stuck in the parking lot for an hour after work I may have...well done nothing.  But I would've been even more madder than I am already.  I'm a tough guy.  Yeah

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  finished reading all the materials

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

It's Time To Get Serious...Seriously

Two days left until the test.  Lots and lots of reading/studying to do.

Time to do the patented procrastination cramming...gogogogogogo (I really hope I don't fall asleep)

*  *  *

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Holding Court

So I did something today at work that I hadn't done before in my career:  I went to court.  More specifically, I went to trial.

It was a good experience, and I actually won the case (and had him pay more than the original fine).  It helped that the guy I was charging was a "Homer Simpson".

I hope I don't have to go on the stand ever again (lol), but it's good to know that I have at least one victory in my pocket


*  *  *

Happy 36th Wedding Anniversary to my parents.  We all celebrated at Wasabi and of course...I overate.

I'm hoping tomorrow I start again with "healthy eating".  Right.

Speaking of my parents, I haven't mentioned a funny thing they had said/done lately.  Here's one from not too long back:  my Dad was lamenting about a car an old neighbour (Kirk) was buying (Chevy Orlando).  He was buying it because he was having his third kid and needed more room.

But my Dad said to me, "I saw the trunk, and it was so small.  You could hardly fit two bags of Chinese groceries in it."  Yeah, what?  Kirk is not Chinese.  For that matter, would "Canadian" groceries fit in it?

*  *  *

Accomplishment: won a court case!

Monday, May 07, 2012

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Sore The Day After

Yup.

Only thing surprising is that I'm not as sore as I thought I would be.  Positive thought!

*  *  *

Met up with the Noah's and Grace's this morning for brunch.  Because after eating KFC last night what I needed was a heavy breakfast.  Needless to say, I took a groggy nap in the PM and it wasn't a good look

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  watered the grass this morning

Saturday, May 05, 2012

Will This Be The Kick In The Butt I Need?

So Argay, Ian and I did the Mississauga Marathon 10k Race today.  They both had blistering sub-50 minute times.  I did it in 51:14.  Needless to say, I'm not surprised and of course a little disappointed in myself.

Perhaps this will be the wake-up call I need to get back into exercising a lot more.  I'm hoping this summer when I get into a routine with WNV that I'll be able to exercise more/workout (again).

Being sub-50 is nothing but a dream again.  But I have never been anything but a dreamer, so this is not necessarily a bad thing.  Just got to make the dream a reality*.

Oh, and it's officially not a competition anymore...Argay seems to be on track and it will take me too long to catch up to him again.  Mind you, the competitive nature never really goes away...



*if only it were that simple

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  ran a 10km race!

Friday, May 04, 2012

I Hate Unions

Maybe because I've never worked in a unionized environment, I'll always say I'll never want to work in a unionized environment.  The people could be ridiculous, have a sense of entitlement and think they are more powerful than they really are.

All this because I was inconvenienced and had to wait more than a few minutes to get in and out of the parking lot because a union in the building is on strike.

But really, some of the rhetoric these strikers are saying is ridiculous.  Comparing their "plight" at worker as if they are abused wives, while some of their clients are actual abused wives themselves?  How does that make sense?

I think I have too much pent-up anger over trivial things...lol

*  *  *

Wait, what?  I have a 10km race tomorrow?  I remember when I used to do them years ago it was a big goal and I would have a countdown.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this tradition.  I'm just hoping I won't be too sore on Sunday or the days after that

*  *  *

Accomplishment:  sourced out where I'll get my custom car mats

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Today Was Like Any Other Day...

...except, you know, I got a new car.  Crazy.  It was not planned (per se) to be this way, but hey, we're here now and we're not there anymore.

It's a nice car and the technology on it is more than my beloved Vitz.

I'm gonna like it, and gonna like trying to "accessorize" it.

First accessory?  A baby seat.  Took me forever to install

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Sloth Is Visiting Me Again

Argh.

I gotta snap out of this procrastination/let whatever comes-comes attitude that has been creeping up on me.  Gotta fight it

*  *  *

New car tomorrow!

Time to plan the "making the car look Jason-ish"

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Of Course I'm Doing This...

...looking for ways to accessorize my new car (ex. vinyl wrap for roof, tinting, etc.).

I haven't even gotten it yet.

I'm thinking it's also a bad time to get it because I'm supposed to be studying and concentrating on other things (work-related) right now, but I can't.  Sigh