Happy Thanksgiving

My weekend was pretty awesome. My parents came up to visit for two days. We went for walks. ate lots of food, watched T.V., and played Bananagrams and Zombies. I'm always spoiled with the Thanksgiving meals because my mom usually makes them with help from my sisters if they are present.
My life at the moment is in limbo as CarbonMan and I wait patiently for better job opportunities that would take us to new places. There are some jobs waiting in the wind and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to leave this place we call home.

10 Years

This year is my ten year high school reunion. I always thought I would be attending the "big event". But I've decided that I'm not going. One of the reasons is that it's down in the Lower Mainland and I'm not taking time off work to go- I'd rather go and do other things with my time off. The other reason is that I really don't care what other people have done or are up to these days. If people really wanted to talk to me, they would have found me somehow. My parents haven't moved or changed their phone number and I do stay in contact with a few people from high school. If it weren't for facebook then I wouldn't have even found out when and where the reunion was taking place. Honestly, I didn't enjoy high school all that much and I don't care to real live most of those memories.

On a brighter side of things, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the mothers out there!

What Happened to the Lights?

Today I got to home from work early. No, I wasn't sick or injured. The simple explanation was the power went out. It didn't just go out where I work but all of the city went black. It's a good thing that it was still daylight. As I was just finished helping my one and only customer and creating a receipt for her, the lights flickered. The computer rebooted so I decided to finish creating the receipt only to experience that the computer I switched to froze. I was a bit dumbfounded as what to do because we lost our network connection. I ended up writing out a receipt for my customer. After I finished with my customer, the lights went out. My co-workers and I closed up shop because we couldn't and didn't want to help anymore customers. So needless to say, we went home around 3pm. It was a glorious day considering CarbonMan and I were up at 4am (even though I went back to bed and slept until 7am when Gary started meowing outside the bedroom door) so that he could catch his flight for his business trip.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

As it is tradition in my family to send out Christmas cards and Birthday cards late, I am keeping up with that tradition and wishing everyone a happy Christmas and New Year. My Christmas was quite enjoyable this year. CarbonMan and I went to my parents' house and the whole family was there. We had the usual Christmas traditions- opening presents Christmas Eve and stocking Christmas Day, oxtail soup (mmm good) for Christmas Eve dinner, eating yummy cookies (although there were no Spritz cookies), etc. I did ask my Dad to make pancakes and he graciously took up the offer. They were sooo yummy. The Christmas Day dinner was marvellous also.
I didn't ask for much this Christmas as I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted which was great because I didn't have any expectations. I got (from my family) a cookie press (for Spritz cookies), Rosette Tools (similar to these), money for kitchen curtains, a Casablanca poster (rented the movie this weekend because I've never seen it and I love classic movies), Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate Mix, Chapter's gift certificate, homemade pyjama pants (thanks Mom), a couple of CDs, and a t-shirt. I can't think of the rest at this moment. I also got some gifts from my in-law family: cross country skis, a Transformers t-shirt and a Zombies board game. CarbonMan and I got each other tickets to Mexico for an all-inclusive resort in a little town which its name is hard to pronounce. I'm looking forward to the trip because most of my trips have been throughout the States. I've been to Mexico once before and that was to Tijuana (El Florido to be exact) to help build a school.
My new year started off with a bang. I got my finger stuck in a car door on New Year's Day. That was fun. I screamed so loudly that I thought I was going to wake up the neighbours as it was around 10:30pm. I was taken to emergency to get it checked out because there was blood oozing from it. The doctor said that I may or may not loose my fingernail. It looks pretty nasty. At least I didn't break my finger.

Update: Gary is no longer nicknamed Radar. We took her cone off today and she was very happy. She spent a good while catching up on some dearly missed licking.

Pay Raise

I'm finally moving up in the ranks at work. I've become Assistant Manager. I'm not really sure what the position is really about. My duties haven't changed all that much but I do get to boss co-workers around a little easier. I did get a pay raise and I don't have to work weekends anymore although I did pick up a Saturday shift the first weekend in January. I guess my griping about working weekends really did pay off.

One thing that I don't like about being Assistant Manager is that I feel like some people I work with look at me differently now. Before we were all pretty much equals doing our jobs and having our own responsibilities. Now that I've become AM, it feels like there is tension between me and a co-worker. She's become a little bit snottier and growlier to me. Maybe she thinks that she should have gotten the job. I have been there longer and I have been doing more of the managerial type duties than she. I almost dread going to work on the days we work together.

On a good side note, CarbonMan and I are going to my parents' place for Christmas. I haven't been there for Christmas in two years. I'm looking forward to the family time (my whole family will be there) and the yummy food (mainly Christmas dinner, oxtail soup and cookies). Maybe my Dad will make his delicious pancakes for us one morning. So if my family reads this, drop some hints, k?

Happy Halloween and All Saints Day

CarbonMan and I had a wonderful weekend together. I had a busy work day on Friday and then we spent the rest of the night shopping for our Halloween costumes, eating pizza and playing Lego Star Wars II for the GameCube. We almost have that game wrapped up. I enjoy the game very much especially because the controls are nice and easy. When Saturday rolled around, we had to pick up some odds and ends for our costumes and then we finished making them. We drove to Quesnel for a party hosted by Alanna and Lazerslug. It was a fantastic party. The food and games were terrific. But the dry ice topped the cake for amusement even more so with dish soap. We watched Jeepers Creepers which isn't a very good movie. I still can't believe it got 40 something percent on Rotten Tomatoes. At least I don't have to watch that movie ever again. CarbonMan and I stayed the night in Quesnel. We are grateful for the hospitality that Alanna's family gave to us. We spent most of Sunday in Quesnel going to church, hanging, shopping and playing video games. Check out CarbonMan's blog for pictures of our costumes.

Stop That Man!!!

Today was the first time ever that I have ever encountered a crime and it was right here in PG! I find that very odd because I've lived in the Lower Mainland most of my life. So here is how the whole thing went down (well really after it occurred because I didn't actually see the crime). Mr CarbonMan and I just walked out of Save-On Food and were walking towards our car when we hear the older lady yell, "Stop that man." My first thought was, "Yeah whatever it's just some old lady joking around with some guy." Not even a minute went by when she yells again, "He stole my purse. Stop him." I came back to reality to notice a Native man trying to get his balance on his bike with a lady's purse in his hand. He wasn't very far from so I could have stepped in his way but I was paralyzed from all the commotion and I thought someone else, even Mr. CarbonMan was going to help her but we all just stood there dumbfounded. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. One guy about our age started to run after the Native but didn't make it very far. Even a minivan drove after the robber. I don't think the van caught up to him because he went down the wrong way on a one-way entrance which led into the shopping centre. The poor old lady, while this whole thing was going down, kept yelling for her husband, Gary. I think he was pretty far away or deaf because she had to run to their vehicle before he figured out what was going on. There were other people getting out of their cars all wondering what about the commotion. I just couldn't believe that I saw that here in PG and never saw anything like this in Vancouver, Surrey, or even on the SkyTrain. All of which are known for purse snatching and other various crimes.

I just feel really bad for the old lady because I could have stopped the criminal but didn't. Well I hope I've learned to react to situations like this one before it's too late.