KOOKY: Life and Death

What are two things that person have in common? We were all born into this world, and we will all leave this world through death.

You with think that being in IT, I would not get a chance to talk about these topics often, despite the fact that I work in the Faculty of Medicine. Well, you're wrong.

Life

Right next door to our office is the Midwifery department and classrooms. Now before I proceed, I have nothing against midwives in general; in fact, I'll probably look into booking one when my time comes to pop the ankle-biter.

The classroom has about two or three of these birthing simulators. The door to the classroom is usually opened, with these truncated simulators just lying around for all to see. Namely myself and my other four male co-workers.

It's weird seeing a lower torso of a female body, with her amputated legs spread eagle. The female models, although at a glance you know is not real, is disturbing enough. But what makes it really freaky is the baby that's partly out of the vagina. Lying on the table. Coming out of a torso with no legs, upper body or head. Pretty creepy. Reminds me a lot of CSI.

And if I find this disturbing, just think about what my male co-workers must go through! But I suppose the apprentice midwives must learn on something.

Death

During our operations meeting today, one of my fellow colleagues spoke of a database that they use in their department to track body donations. He went on and on about the process of body donation, something that I didn't even know there was even a process for. That's right, once you die, you can donate your body to science, to help the researchers find cures and to hopefully save mankind. It's the gift that keeps on giving. You'd be surprised how many calls our receptionist get regarding this.

****************************************************************************

I am by no means mocking either the midwives or the researchers, nor am I putting down those who choose to donate their body for scientific purposes. What they are doing is honourable. I am merely surprised that the entrance and exit of a human person was juxtaposed so uniquely in my day, so I had to share.

Ah, higher learning, you gotta love it.

KOOKY: A day in the life of...

For the past month, I've been actively gathering requirements and testing changes for an application that I normally support. Needless to say, it's been very tedious and a lot of back and forth between two groups of people; I really am the middle gal.

So today, after a bit more follow-up (read: nagging for information) on my part, I really felt that I wanted to run a sharp object through my eye.

Instead, I went to the Shopper's on campus for some balm for the soul: chocolate. What I've discovered is that there is more variety and at a cheaper price than at the vending machines, so I may be going there more often.

Anyways, right next door to the Shopper's, they are building a new Irish Pub. There was a guy out front who was canvassing all passerbyers for server jobs at the new pub that's going to open this July. (As an aside, hopefully the food there will be good and at a decent price. Campus food just bites after a while).

So I got it in my head that maybe I could work there as a barmaid. But they wouldn't hire me, I don't have the obligatory perky big boobs, I've got small saggy ones.

I had that thought for all of about three seconds before reality kicked in. I continued on to Shoppers and got my chocolate. Going back to my office, I walked by my bosses office, vented to him, and felt a bit better after that and a bite of chocolate.

Okay, I will admit that I'm a tad worried that we won't make the deadline due to some circumstances, but hey, it'll come together in the end.

Right?

Jane Austen, In Action

I need to me one of these. After all, I have a Captain Janeway/Locutus action figures wedding cake topper (that I made) and a cheap toy model of the Enterprise-D hanging over my desk at work.

Why not expand my collection of collectibles to my other love, Jane Austen, and what would be better than with a Jane Austen action figure?

My new toy

I got a new toy today, a Nokia 6682. Review forthcoming, once I figure out a few more functions on the phone and actually have a chance to give it a good go at playing with it.

I did have a bit of a headache getting the phone. First, I wanted to switch to an corporate Employee plan. In the mall that I went to, there are three Rogers dealership. After doing a quick check, I found out that one was selling the phone cheaper than the other two. I'd always wondered why, but I was too excited to getting this phone to care. Plus said store had an extra $50 credit for some Mother's day promotion.

Well, I discovered that resellers don't have the permission to transfer existing Roger accounts to a Employee Corporate plan, but regular Roger dealers do. What a pain. (I also ran into a similar scenario with another Employee Plan that I was considering. Bah.)

So I eventually got the hardware and plan upgrade. I'm already suspecting that I'll need to purchase a special proprietary Nokia memory card, but that's a rant for another day. However, the phone is a smartphone, and it can run Java applications, so maybe one day when I have some time to fool around, I may actually develop an application and see if it'll work on my phone...

Yes, I'm a geek.

You don't get what you pay for

A few days ago, hubby and I left our house early in the morning to go to work. We got into my car, I started the engine, and went to put the car in reverse gear.

The gear would not go into reverse.

So hubby suggested that I put it in first gear to see if there was something wrong with the gearbox.

It wouldn't go into first gear.

I had a problem on my hands: an undriveable car. Anyways, we were late, so we hopped into the other car to get to work, figuring out that we'd tend to said problem later.

So yesterday, our friend "E" comes by to see what may be the problem, and get it working enough so I could bring it to the dealership for repair. Before "E" came over, I had called the dealership and asked when I was able to bring in the car. After briefly explaining my problem, they warned me that the clutch might replacing and that would cost $800! Needless to say, I had a mild heart attack.

So "E" takes a look at my clutch fluid, and the cylinder was completely empty. That meant one of two things: 1) there is a leak somewhere, but after a bit of looking around, he could really see a leak or 2) no one was checking the clutch fluid. "E" thinks that this was the more likely case as he didn't see signs of people trying to check the fluid levels (eg fingerprint in surrounding dirt).

I will keep an eye on the fluid level for a leak, but the evidence is pointing at the bozos at the car dealership who didn't check my fluid levels. Bah.

Big Brother is watching you

After about two months of waiting, I finally got an invitation to use the Google Analytics service. I will get to see, for example, where my visitors are from and how many people are viewing my blog each day.

Now I realize that this tool has waaaayyy more functionality than I require, but it gives me the information that I'm looking for via some snazzy-looking reports, plus it's free.

The Googlebots have been doing a very good job indexing my site. I was surprised the other day when one of the owners of Vera's Burger Shack commented on my blog posting. Actually, he commented on hubby's comment.

Curious to see how he managed to find the posting so quickly, I Googled in "Vera's Burger Shack comments" (minus the quotes of course) and lo and behold, my blog post was on the first page.

Even though it may only seem that a select number of people read my blog, I know logically that the entire Internet land has access to my blog, and if they look hard enough they will eventually find it. It was weird to see that someone that I didn't know, not only find my blog post, but comment on it as well. So, it should be interesting to see where my actual audience is and how they got here. Only time will tell...

Hubby Does Marathon! - Pictoral Narrative

Instead of making the other post even longer, here's some pictures from the day. Dave's the guy in the dark blue long sleeved shirt with the dark cap...

The start of the race




































You can read his story here.

Hubby does a Marathon! - The (real) story

Hubby felt that my narrative of his half-marathon run wasn't good enough, so he decided to write one of his own. Okay, I wasn't there, but I thought I did a pretty bang up job telling the story.

I guess not.

So without further ado, the real story, all in hubby's own words...
(ETA: pictures can be found here)

---

Monkey off my back:

*** 2005:

• training for half marathon (Vancouver International in May), feeling good, a few knee issues
• did the Sun Run 2 weeks before the event for fun and ended up injuring my knee (Patella Femoral Syndrome) and can't walk properly, let alone run
• tried two weeks of physio, several different modalities, but no go
• swallowed the very big pill, but from the sidelines, watched my friend run the event herself (she did awesome, spot-on with her training!)
• went through a more structured rehab program into the summer
• started running and training in the Fall, and ran a couple of 10K races with a PB (personal best) in the second event
• feeling confident and planning to run the First Half event in February 2006, discover I have to bail on my colleagues because I won't be in town (father's birthday)...am I ever gonna run a half marathon???

*** 2006:

• training for Vancouver International instead
• missed a couple of weeks of running due to travel and illness, and did 14k with run group

KNEE PAIN!

• got assessed and went through program of strength/flexibility training and Trigenics-based rehab under guidance of chiropractor (my body mechanic), using all kinds of balls, foam rollers and rubber bands
• knee pain gone!
• did some more intense speed and hill training

ACHILLES TENDONITIS!

• with a bulge the diameter of a quarter
• more physio, more Trigenics, better warmup habits
• started to do more cycling to cross-train and work on other muscle groups

STRAINED GLUTES!

• deep massage and stretching
• 2 weeks before the race, skipped the Sun Run to be safe
• 1.5 weeks before the race, in taper mode for over a week, playing head games, thinking I need to test the body again, so decide to do more speedwork

IRRITATION IN ACHILLES AGAIN

• caught soon enough, and irritation went away
• got calves stripped to soften the tissue
• feeling good until...

VIRAL GASTROENTERITIS

• Wednesday before the race...couldn't eat properly for a few days and worried it may be flu. Am I gonna have to bail yet AGAIN ???
• finally able to eat plain pasta meal Saturday evening before the race.
• updated the emergency info on the back of the race bib to let people know about the GI issues in case I puke on Sunday

*** RACE DAY:

• piss pouring rain, windy and cold
• first 3 miles spent weaving past the walkers and slower runners [SLOWER RUNNERS SIDEBAR] who didn't pay attention to the pace bunnies when queueing up at the start line, and trying to avoid getting tangled up in the garbage bags that people were wearing and then discarding without any consideration of who behind them might slip on or get tangled in them
• feeling good until mile 5, felt tightness in IT Band...stopped for quick stretch. Didn't help much...felt some discomfort in the knee ("uh, oh, should I stop?") ran through the discomfort for a while and pain went away, but suspected I may regret it
• 2 miles before Prospect Point hill, sucked back a gel pack for some energy and approached the next water station - no water! [NO WATER! SIDEBAR]
• Prospect Point hill is coming up. Ok, shorten up the strides up this hill...don't need any achilles problems now or it’s game over...just make it up the hill safely...man, this hill was long.
• we conquer the hill feeling pretty parched. Next water station - no water! [NO WATER! SIDEBAR]
• my running partner and I just had a half a cup of Ultima sports drink and a gel pack during the whole race
• feeling effects of dehydration, hamstring starts to cramp up. Stop and stretch, then lengthen the stride to open up the hams a bit and catch up with my running partner
• leaving Stanley Park, we notice that it stopped raining...lots of spectators cheering...what an energy boost!
• left my running partner at end of mile 12 and tried to finish strong
• saw a colleague (an avid marathon runner and Boston qualifier, who had sprained her ankle Tuesday and could not run the full Marathon, but came out to cheer everyone on instead...imagine the disappointment after all that training!) at about the last 500 meter mark or so, came out onto the road and gave by far the most energizing cheer and words of encouragement as an extra energy boost!
• approaching the finishing gate, I hear my chiropractor, yelling in my ear as well as I run past her towards the finish line
• apparently, a friend who works for the City of Vancouver was at the finish line working the event, but he didn’t see me because he was chowing down on a big muffin when I finished…clown

CHIP TIME: 1:52:31

• other than being wet and cold, felt really good for about an hour and a half...left BC Place, and

KNEE STARTS HURTING AGAIN!

• here we go again. Monkey's not completely off my back.
• will enjoy a nice sports massage at the Spa and some hydro-therapy (like 1000 jets or something like that). Maybe some more trips to physio or my body mechanic.

SLOWER RUNNERS:

My running partner's sister was also doing the Half. She had apparently been going through a bitter relationship breakup and trained up to 12km max. We decided not to run with her because she would be “too slow” (estimated time: 2:30). After we finished, we were trying to figure out if we should get our bags, change and then go to the finish line to cheer her on. As we were looking at our watches, we see her walking up to us with her finisher’s medal on already, and barely out of breath! First word that came out of her mouth was a victorious "A$$-hole!!")

NO WATER!:

Apparently, there was an incident with the water truck, and Canadian Springs could not access the park to deliver the water to two of the water stations in Stanley Park. The Vancouver International Marathon Society apologizes for this and for not having a backup plan. Being Canada's largest marathon event, that was a MAJOR SCREWUP, and we were actually lucky the weather was so miserably cold and wet or there could have been a lot of medical problems!

Nocturnal Leg Cramp

Tonight, I had a Nocturnal Leg Cramp. Normally you would have them at night while sleeping. I didn't. Instead, I had it during my Pilates class. Oh what fun.

For anyone whose had these leg cramps before, they can tell you how painful they are. They are insanely painful. Having had them since I was a teenager, I was able to see the signs of one coming on right away. Normally they are isolated to one part of my calf, and I tend to tough it out and massage as best I could. Tonight, however, was the worst one I've ever had in my life.

My Pilates instructor and the lady beside me (who was a nurse thank goodness!) watched my leg muscles cramp up in into a huge knot. My whole right calf was on fire, and there was definitely pain shooting up my leg, something that never happened before. It took a while for my leg to calm down.

No one knows how or why this happens to people, and it seems that different things trigger it for different people. I remember in my 3rd year Physiology class, we were discussing how muscles worked. One of my classmates asked about the leg cramps. My prof at the time never heard of it, but he did turn to the class and asked how many people experienced it. Out of a class of 200+ people, about a third of us raised our hands.

Anyways, tonight after class, people were throwing out all sorts of theories as to why it happened to me. Lack of calcium, lack of potassium, dehydration, more Vitamin D, blah, blah, blah. I think it was a lack of calcium, because I had recently cut back a bit on my calcium due to my iron deficiency. I guess I have to increase the suppliment taking again. Bah.

It was a little dicey driving home, but I didn't live too far from the studio. I managed to get home in one piece while driving like a little old lady, and frantically praying that I wouldn't get another attack (This has also happened to me once when I was driving, but I managed to massage it out before it got too bad).

Some other info that I found:
http://www.digitalnaturopath.com/cond/C466089.html
http://alternative-medicine-and-health.com/conditions/legcramp.htm

KOOKY: I've been mugged!

Today, a bunch of students were running some mock exam. I have no idea what sort of exam they were practicing for, except that they have a bunch of timed segments. Because these people were spread out between several small classrooms, the most efficient way to mark each time segment was by blowing a whistle.

Our office is right next to these classrooms mentioned above. Now I don't really mind the noise, except it was happening every five minutes. Through the whole day. Needless to say I was ready to yank that whistle out of the person's mouth and shove it down his/her throat by the middle of the day.

To prevent myself from doing someone bodily harm, I decided to take a walk to the Bookstore to get my UBC Employee Card. I have to say that my picture didn't turn out so bad. I'm willing to show it to you if you ask me nicely. The girl behind the counter was impressed that I actually had my employee number memorized. Am I that geeky?

I also had to get a Personal Response System (a.k.a. "The Clicker") for hubby as he's starting a Biology course tomorrow. In all my years in undergrad, I've never seen this device. It looks like a remote control. I have no idea what it's for, and neither does hubby. Only time will tell if it's actually worth the $27+ that I'd paid for it.

I'm also impressed/horrified (not sure which) that there is actually an entry in Wikipedia.

Hubby does a Marathon!

Okay, he actually did a Half-Marathon, but it's still a first for him. His time: 1 hour 52 mins 31 seconds (or thereabouts).

I actually was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to run today, or that he would puke and collapse on the ground. The last few days before the race, he was battling a bit of a GI infection. Today, his guts are happy, but the rest of the body is not.

I, being the supportive wife, was in bed. When I woke up at 8 am this morning, my first thought was, "Dave should be about half-way done by now". Then while lying in bed trying to wake up, I heard it raining. Very hard. Yikes. So today was not a good day for running. But like typical Vancouver weather, it cleared up later in the morning and it was actually hot!

One complaint that he had was that the water stations in the second half of the race had no water! So he and his run-mates were a little dehydrated by the end of it. However, he got to eat free food and bring home little samples of Vector cereal. And he came home happy (and in pain).

Someone please save us!

As reported earlier, there is a Star Trek XI in the works, target release date, 2008. And the rumors are already flying.

Like this one: Who is rumored to be up to play young Captain James T. Kirk? Yes, it's the guy in the mugshot. [Source]

Now, as I had stated before, I'm a little iffy on the premise for the plotline, but I'm willing to watch the movie with an open mind. Apparently I'm not that open-mined.

In other Star Trek-related news, J.J. Abrams has been chosen as the producer and co-writer for the up-and-coming Star Trek movie. He's done Lost, Alias, Felicity and co-wrote Missions Impossible: III, so here's hoping that he may do a bang up job to save the franchise.

However, Abrams and company will have a huge uphill battle. The die-hard fans only want to see William Shatner, Patrick Stewart et al. It will be a hard job trying to sell the movie to the die-hard fans as well as those who are not fans of the show. The non-fans will want to see a good movie, and hopefully Abrams can deliver.

But please, no Ben.

PSA: i.e. versus e.g.

Okay, this is bugging me enough to post.

I have seen so many people use "i.e." to mean "for example", when they should actually be using "e.g.".

Here is what the good folks at Wikipedia have to say:

Exempli gratia (e.g.) and id est (i.e.) are commonly confused and misused in colloquial English. The former, exempli gratia, means "for example", and is used before giving examples of something ("I have lots of favorite colors, e.g., blue, green, and hot pink"). The latter, id est, means "that is", and is used before clarifying the meaning of something, when elaborating, specifying, or explaining rather than when giving examples ("I have lots of favorite colors, i.e., I can't decide on just one"). Both "e.g." and "i.e." should generally be followed by a comma, just as "for example" and "that is" would be.

I always translate "i.e." as "in other words" -- that is i.e., In other words

You can also think of e.g. and Example both start with the letter "e".

People, use colloquial English properly!! Especially in formal documentation!

A Challenge For You...

This is my grandma. My friends call her my cute grandma. You can see why.

My uncle Keith is working on this project (which I think is kinda cool). He emailed the link to my mom so that she can explain to my 93-year-old grandmother what he does. In Chinese. The most technology my grandmother encounters on a regular basis is to turn on the TV or pick up the phone. She might have tried a computer at one point.

So my challenge to you is: Can you dumb-down the gist of the article to the point where my 93-year-old Chinese grandmother can understand what Uncle Keith does? Grandma depends on your help!

Go fly a kite

Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height!
Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

~ From the movie Mary Poppins, partial lyrics to Let's Go Fly A Kite ~

If you ask most anyone else what sort of day it is today, they will say it's:

• Windy
• Sunny
• Clear blue skies, very few clouds (if any)
• Warm(-ish)

Well, it's all these things today. However, I don't like to call it just a warm, sunny, windy day with no clouds. That's too boring. And typical.

Around this time of the year, Lotusland experiences these sort of days. It's sunny and warm. It's very windy (I was almost knocked over sideways a couple of times when I was walking outside).

Today, my friends, is a good day to go fly a kite. What other way of describing a day like today. You want to be at the park or the beach with the lovely sunshine. It's windy enough to do something fun and whimsical, like flying a kite. It a day where you want to sit back, relax and be carefree. Or play hooky from the office/school.

This is a phrase that I've always used growing up whenever we had a perfect kite flying day. This phrase embodies all the various descriptions in a few simple words.

Yes, today is a great day to go fly a kite.

Today is a good day

It's SUNNY!












I got my bonus money!













It's Yellow Lunch Day!










I'm getting a facial today!

Stephen Harper a Trekkie?

Wha?!?? EW!!!!!

(Picture found here. Thanks IT Plumber/Janitor!)

KOOKY: How Many?

One thing about working in a large, disjointed organization like a
university is that you don't know how you should count the number of
employees that actually work at your organization. It's not so much a
problem that there is constantly a great number of employees influxing
and outfluxing; that does happen. The logistic nightmare occurs when you
try to categorize who you belong to.

As I surf around on the Internet, I occasionally run into a survey that
someone wants me to fill out in order for me to get to the information.
One of the questions they ask is: "How many employees work at your
organization?" Normally, this should be a simple question. But it's
anything but simple when you consider the nature of the university.

For instance, I'm a separate group that's a part of the Dean's Office,
and they in turn are a part of the Faculty of Medicine, and the Faculty
is a part of the university. However, our group is seen as a distinct
unit from the Dean's Office, with its own budget. So is the Dean's
office, and in turn, the Faculty. So in terms of the word
"organization", what do you mean? Please clarify.

Then you get the people who work for these units. There are some people
who, although they work for one unit, actually gets paid by another
unit. Are counted as part of your unit then? Or what about those people
who are shared by different units? We actually have quite a number
people who are partially funded by the Faculty, and partially funded by
a party; some of these parties are even outside of the university. Do we
only count them as 50% of an employee? 74.52% of an employee?

So back to the question: "How many employees work at your organization?"
If this response exists, I choose: "I don't know". It's a pity I can't
answer: "You have got to be kidding me, right?"

FLIB-ur-tee-jib-it (n.) is Spammed!

I received my first piece of spam today: Click here and scroll down to the comments section at the bottom.

I have the option of deleting any of my comments if I so choose. I suppose that it's also partially my fault that this has happened as I left my comments section wide open for anyone to post. I'm just glad it's not porno. It's such a novelty that I think I'll leave it up.

IT Plumber/Janitor thinks it's probably a bot that did this. I have to concur with his thinking. (For those of you who don't know what a bot is, check out the definition on Wikipedia).

So now that has me thinking, if I put a lot of "XXX" and other porno-like phrases in my posts, will a porno bot spam my blog next? Well, anything is possible in Internet-land.

SQL Server trivia

I’m doing something really mind-numbing right now: Checking that my database lookup table data is correct and up to date. Correction: checking that the scripts to create my database lookup table data are up to date. Like I said, fun.

So here’s my trivia question:
In SQL Server what’s the difference between TRUNCATE TABLE [tablename] and DELETE TABLE [tablename]

Answer:
TRUNCATE TABLE doesn’t write each record being deleted in the log files, like DELETE TABLE does. It only records that the table data is being deleted, and that’s it.

Not much in terms of end result, but if you want to do a restore, you’re hooped. However, if you really want to be geeky about it, it does speed up the performance of the SQL quite significantly, especially if you have a large table to delete.

Of course, any good Database Administrator would tell you NEVER to delete any data, it’s just bad practice.

Real Estate, Lotusland Style

Yesterday, my friend M was lamenting the fact that it's so hard to find affordable housing in Lotusland, particularly for a first-time home buyer. M is a first-time homebuyer. To further complicate his financial situation, he's a first-time home buyer who already has one kid, and they are planning for more, so buying a 500sf closet is out of the question.

I look all around me, and they are still building new condos, townhouses and houses like mad. And most of these places get snapped up really fast. Even the housing that is not new gets sold within hours, if the price is right.

Why is the market so crazy? A small percentage is actually local first-time home buyers. There are many who already own a home and they have some leverage to buy something more expensive. I'm certain there are those who are at the point of over-extending themselves (the "Keeping-Up-With-The-Jonses" phenomenon), but these aren't the main group of people who are the ones buying.

Many people are house flippers. Those are people who buy new developments, in particular condos, before they even have dug a hole in the ground, and almost right way, turn around and sell it for a hefty profit. The unit may even change hands a few more times before someone actually takes possession of the unit when it's actually built.

I understand that Toronto had a similar problem a while ago, but they had put a stop to it by not allowing a re-sale until the units were taken in possession for at least a year. I'd really hoped that they would do something similar here, if only to slow down the sheer craziness. But my friends speculate that this won't happen because the local government doesn't want to appear unfriendly to foreign investors, particularly with the Olympics coming in 2010. Sigh.

Ah, the foreign investors, another big player. In BC, they had added an additional fee for home buyers who either aren't BC residents or haven't been BC residents for more than a year. This, I've been told, was introduced to slow down the housing price insanity we've seen over the past five years. Frankly, this hasn't deterred them one iota. If you're a foreign investor, chances are if you can afford the $1 million plus dollar price tag that comes with the house, a few thousand more isn't going to faze you one bit.

If you look at the graph at the top, although it's a graph for condo prices in a very small (but very trendy and sought-after) area, it's a pretty good reflection of the craziness that has hit Lotusland over the last couple of years. This report from TD Bank certainly doesn't think that it'll slow down any time soon. (Oh, look, housing prices went up by 22% from last year, the highest in the country. And I thought that honour went to Calgary). The BC economy is good, unemployment is low, and interest rates are low. All good indicators that more people will want to buy houses.

Another friend, who's in the real estate business made a comment that about the same time the Dot-Net bubble burst in 2001 and stock prices crashed, the housing prices started to rise dramatically. Those with money to burn turned from investing in stocks to investing in property. After all, even with housing prices crashing (and it will happen, it's just a matter of when), property always generally goes up over time. But the craze has hit everyone. Heretofore, everyone was speculating on what the next big stock would be. Now we have a new breed of real estate "experts".

The same friend also mentioned that many analysts are saying that we may have to wait for the interest rates to go up a couple more percentage points before people can't afford housing any longer and are forced to foreclose, if it happens. Many point to what happened in the 80s, but I think there is a vast deal of difference between interest rates rising to 7% and interest rates rising to 21%.

And finally, to play the MLS game a bit, just looking at comparable units in my own neighbourhood, if we decided to sell now, we could probably list our house $80-100K more than what it was worth when we bought it Summer 2004. Like I said, insanity.

Pride And Prejudice: A movie review

I had some doubts the first time I heard that they were doing a Pride and Prejudice movie. I didn’t think that they could do the book justice in 2-3 hours worth of film. My doubts further increased when I heard Keira Knightley was cast in the main role. Even though hubby thinks she’s cute *** ROLLING EYES ***, her acting ability I think, leaves a lot to be desired. I’ve seen her in Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean, and thought her acting abilities to be mediocre at best.

The first time I saw the movie, I saw it with 18th century eyes, and much of the movie fell short. It certainly fell short of the novel. Then, because I felt that I was being unfair, I watched the movie in the theatre again. This time, I sat back and tried to enjoy the movie as it was presented to me, and I found that I quite enjoyed the movie.

Now, after several viewings of the movie (of course I had to go and buy the DVD), here is my (not-so-short) summary.

What I liked about this Pride and Prejudice:

• The cinematography and music were very well done, to the point of making the film a bit too artsy for my tastes, but I can still appreciate it, artsiness and all;
• I liked the fact that the actresses (except the one who played Lydia) who played the Bennet sisters were actually close in age to the Bennet sisters in the novel. Past adaptations had older actresses. I particularly liked the actresses who played Kitty and Mary, I thought that they were atypical Kitty and Mary castings;
• The people didn’t look perfect. They had messy hair and wrinkled clothing, just like we do today.

What I didn’t like but was willing to overlook, because this film was, after all, an adaptation (read “someone’s interpretation”) of the novel. Plus, they had to modernize it somewhat to allow for a wider audience who didn’t know about 18th century etiquette, propriety, language and sensibilities. And they had to cut some major character/plot development out to accommodate the film’s short length:

• Lizzy and Mr. Bennet’s father-daughter relationship. It just wasn’t there, despite their attempts at trying;
• Lizzy’s relationship with Aunt and Uncle Gardiner also wasn’t well developed, and Aunt Gardiner’s part was greatly reduced;
• Mr. and Mrs. Bennet’s relationship. It wasn’t apparent to me that Mr. Bennet really didn’t think very highly of his wife and made fun of her when he could. Vulgarity is actually a big theme in the novel; apparently, vulgarity is a norm these days if I couldn’t notice it in the movie;
• For some reason, Mr. Wickham didn’t appear as evil as he is made out in the book, and every time I watch this version, I just don’t feel that he’s evil. Just whiny. It may be because they didn’t have enough time to develop his character sufficiently;
• People walking around half naked or in their PJs. It just wasn’t done then;
• Jane and Lizzy going on their respective holidays unescorted. The ladies’ reputations would have been ruined in real life;
• The Bennet Family shabby-chic look. The Bennet Family are not poor, they never were. They lived from paycheque-to-paycheque, so to speak, and didn’t have much saved up for the daughters. (And I still don’t understand the pig).

Characters that I liked in this movie:

• Mr. Darcy: When I first heard that Matthew Macfadyen was cast in this role, I was quite skeptical that he could pull it off. I’ve only seen Mr. Macfadyen in MI:5 and only thought that his acting was okay. But what I like about this Mr. Darcy is that he shows more emotion and feeling, and is not some stiff, walking robot (As much as many people loved Colin Firth’s performance, I never liked it, and have always felt that it fell short of what I imagined Mr. Darcy to be like).
• Mr. Collins: previous adaptations had the actors portray him as being an uncouth, pompous ass without any sense. Tom Hollander decided to take a different angle, and I have to say that I really liked his interpretation of Mr. Collins;
• Mrs. Bennet: not so screechy as her predecessors, but still very flighty;
• Jane Bennet: I actually didn’t think that Rosamund Pike would do a very good job. She was okay in her role as a Bond girl, but in this film, I feel that she really gave Jane a depth that was lacking in the other adaptations, and she seemed more real than the others;
• Mr. Wickham: this is the best looking one out of all the adaptations, but I was a little disappointed in the character development;
• Lady Catherine: It’s Judi Dench. She practically stole the scenes that she was in. She is my favourite Lady Catherine.

Things I didn’t like (and not too certain if I can forgive) aka The Joe Wright Gripe Section:

• They changed Mr. Bingley’s character. Whatever Mr. Bingley is, he is not some putz with a donkey’s bray. The guy has a brain, yet they decided to lobotomize him and make him look silly. The worst line in the whole move was the “Unmitigated and comprehensive ass” part. Okay, I know you need to modernize the dialogue, but there has to be a better way of saying this. I blame Joe Wright for allowing this piece of dialogue. I could have accepted this version of Bingley if it weren’t for this line.
• Joe Wright’s comments about bonnets being a “Jane Austen cliché”. What the heck kind of film did you think you were making? I suspected he didn’t like them because they blocked out some of the actress’s face and made it harder to film.
• Joe Wright’s constant griping about letters in the novel. I’m sorry, but this is how people communicated with each other back in the 18th century. It may be difficult thing for you to try to incorporate in the film, but that’s how things were done, given they hadn’t invented the telephone or email at this point.
• Joe Wright, I felt (especially after listening to his commentary on DVD), decided to pick the 18th century items he liked and ignore the rest, especially for the sake of being artsy, in my opinion. Pretty jarring in my mind. Hey, call me a purist, but this is how I see it;
  
• I still don't know how Lizzy managed to fall in love with Mr. Darcy. That's just weak plot development, any way you look at it.
  
• The last kissy scene. I have one word for it: Barf!

And finally, why I think Keira Knightly makes a not-so-great Lizzy Bennet:

• She slouches. Seriously, this girl makes millions of dollars, but has no one had the gumption to tell her that she would look a million times better if she didn’t slouch? She reminded me of a goose the whole time, and I thought she would topple over if you pushed her hard enough;
• She mumbles. This girl has had no theatrical training, and I felt at times that I had to really strain to listen to what she was saying, so garbled was her speech. Enunciate. Please.
  
• Now, I know that not many can shine brighter than Judi Dench, but the scene where Lady Catherine confronts Lizzy with a rumor that she is to marry Mr. Darcy, that really stands out in my mind as some really weak acting on her part. Judi was excellent; Keira was sleepwalking and reciting lines. She didn’t seemed pissed off that someone was standing there insulting her and her family.

To be fair to Keira, she did a good enough job, just not a very good job.

So my final verdict: 7.5 out of 10.

And my favourite Lizzy? Elizabeth Garvie from the 1980 adaptation.

I'm having way too much fun...

Dressing Darcy and Lizzy.

Yes I'm a geek. Or just sad.

Another Star Trek film?

There have been rumors for years that there would be another Star Trek film. Many didn't think so after the last film Star Trek: Nemesis, bomb in the theatres.

(As an aside, I loved the last movie. I've even met the actor, Tom Hardy, who played the baddie and got a personalized autograph from him. Yes, I'm a geek. My sister said that I was positively flirting with him. I was not; I was gushing.)

Anyways, this report says that they are actually working on another film, to be released in 2008. I'm not sure if I'm really hot on the plot. And really, it's the actors who will be drawing in the the diehard fans, not so much the plotline. I'm certain that the diehard fans will be slagging the plotline no matter how great it is. We have to wait and see, I suppose.

A Chink in the Armour

IT Plumber/Janitor posted up an interesting video.

My hubby has actually read Banana Boys.

KOOKY: Vera's Burger Shack

So I decided to go get a burger for lunch today. I went to Vera’s Burger Shack. As you can see on their website, they’ve been voted as Vancouver’s best burger. I had the BBQ burger. Here are my comments.

Provolone: I was having a brain fart today because I thought that provolone was some type of bacon. It’s cheese. Never mind that calcium in general inhibits iron absorption, but baked or melted cheese tends to upset my stomach. So the burger’s now sitting in my stomach, feeling like a rock. Or maybe it’s the grease. Nevertheless, my tummy is unhappy, and that just takes away from the whole eating experience.

Price: it’s a good burger, but very pricy. For the amount of nutritional value that I’m getting from the burger, onion rings and Coke, I might as well gone to McDonalds. Okay, their burgers are not as good, but they are half the price.

Hubby refuses to go back there, after the couple of times he was served by “male airheads” (I believe those were his words.) I'm not certain if I want to go back there myself. The food expereience was okay at best, and the service tends to be very slow. Bah.

The upshot is that they gave me some free packets of ketchup for my condiment stash. This is a big commodity in around these parts as the hospital cafeteria only allows you 2 small packets of ketchup with your meal, any more you have to pay. Hey, 2 small packets of ketchup doesn't stretch very far.

On The Road: The Big Dig

If anyone has been to Boston in the last decade, you would have heard about the “Big Dig”. What this is essentially is the city removing the big knot of overhead highway that runs through part of their city and putting it underground. As you can imagine, a very big task for all involved, and a big inconvenience for all others.

Lotusland is involved in it’s own “Big Dig”, namely the Canada Line project. If you look at this map, everything in red is underground. They are aiming on having this done before the Olympics in 2010. Frankly, I don’t think they’ll be able to get it done on time. I briefly had talked to someone recently who has the inside scoop on this project, and asked him if it was doable. He response went something like this: Well, they had done something similar in Hong Kong recently. Dig, put in tunnel and cover. They had managed to get it done in time and under budget.

I beg to differ. People in Hong Kong don’t have to deal with the same problems as we do here. There is no minimum wage in Hong Kong, and people tend to work weekends and holidays. Here, we have unionized workers who earn way above the minimum wage (and probably get paid more than I do), and don’t work certain hours and days.

Why do I care? Because this hole that they are digging is adding about 10 minutes to my commute each way. (I cross the area marked as “3” during my commute). I’ve had to make huge circles to get around the stupid construction. Since they have started in November 2005, they’ve managed to dig a hole that spans five blocks! Six months to do five blocks! At this rate it’ll take them until 2017 to finish. According to the website, the construction won’t be done on my stretch of the road until May 2008! That’s two more years of driving around in big circles to get to work.

(I’ve been wanting to post this for a while, but I’ve been waiting for the whole construction thing to piss me off before I did. Well, I finally got pissed off this morning. Bah.)

"Anne, your hair!"

I can't sleep, so I'd decided to blog about something that's been rattling around my brain for a while.

I've been recently reading Anne of Green Gables and am really loving the stories all over again. I've been considering buying the DVDs, but have hesitated, partly because of cost (each one is $40+, and there are three movies), but mostly because of something else: hair.

Or more specifically, 80s hair.

Mind you, the original Anne of Green Gables (the one with Megan Follows), was filmed in the 80s, and I didn't notice it too much then; I was too absorbed in the story. But now, looking at the pictures of actors in costume, the 80s hair really stands out. Perhaps the hair and make-up people were historically correct with the hairstyles, but big curly teased up hair screams, well, 1980s.

For example:

Mrs. Allen










Prissy Andrews








And the most shocking one of all, Gilbert Blythe








There is more, but I couldn't find good pictures on the Internet.

Now as much as I loved the 1985 version and its sequel, I'm convinced that we should have another re-make of AofGG. And rid ourselves of the horrid hair!

And just because I had to add my favourite scene in:

"The Ultimate-Ultimate"

When we were younger, we would often go over to a cousin's house to hang out. One of the cousins would always pull my sister aside into her room and made her listen to "The Ultimate-Ultimate" song du jour (in other words, what her favourite song was at the moment). My poor sister had to listen to the song not once, not twice, not three times, but over and over and over and over...

Well, I'm one of those people who listen to the same song over and over and over... On my iTunes playlist, there are maybe 10 songs that I will really listen to, I tend to skip over the rest, depending on what sort of mood I'm in. I never like one artist or group, it's the song itself that get me jiving.

Like today, I played the same song on repeat, for about 3 hours straight at work. With all volume controls turn on HIGH. (Hey, I have a very loud talker on my right and a very loud clicky keyboard behind me, that gets extremely distracting). I will eventually get sick the song and never want to listen to it again, but I'm loving it right now.

"The Ultimate-Ultimate" song? Far Away by Nickleback.

Surprising if you know me. I'm a self-proclaimed non-romantic, so choosing a love ballad would be one of the last things you may expect from me. Maybe I'm more of a romantic than I let on...

But being the geek I am, I was trying to pick out the bass rifts during each successive repeat and thinking how easy it would be for me to figure out on my bass guitar. And I was figuring ways to harmonize with the lyrics. Anything is better than Evil Homework, which is what I'm avoid doing right now. Sigh.

KOOKY: And you think you have it tough...

The one thing that very few people who have never worked in IT don’t understand is that those people who work in IT are the end of the line. If there is a problem with your computer, you go to an IT Guy to get it fixed. If IT Guy has a problem he can't figure out, he essentially has no one to turn to for answers. Not one person.

Well, that’s not completely true. If there are others that IT Guy works with, then he can benefit from another co-worker’s experience (assuming they’ve had experience with it). And there is always the internet. However, as handy as the other IT Guy and the internet is, neither is perfect. It may be that IT Guy will need to figure out the answer yourself. There will be times when IT Guy will be staring at a Black Hole, and yes, sometimes it may staring at the Black Hole for months, nary a solution in sight. All the while he needs to make certain that everything else is running smoothly.

So please have some pity and understanding for the IT Guy. Yes he knows that you are without a computer, and yes, he knows that you are not able to work without a computer. IT Guy also has about 1,453 different other problems that he needs to deal with at the same time, all deemed high priority by some higher power, and probably have just as many people breathing down his neck, demading that he get their thing done. Now. Unfortunately, your high priority item is number 267 on his list of things to do. That plus he needs to to his regular job.

Now why the rant? I’ve just right now had to stare the said Black Hole. I just had a huge heart attack, mostly because I didn't have a clue as to how to fix it. But I managed to fix it thanks to the a frantic search on the internet. Thank goodness my Black Hole moment only lasted for a couple of days. Hopefully no one noticed.

KOOKY: Retirement

I had decided to attend a "Know Your Pension Plan Benefits" workshop today. Even if I wasn't sleep deprived (which I am), I couldn't even tell you how everything works. The guy kept on throwing out formulas and example with calculations, and I just sat there thinking, "Can you talk about it in non-number terms?"

Here's what I did learn:
- I should always check my paystub to ensure that the right amount was taken out for my pension
- Only my spouse can waive the right to not be my beneficiary on the pension, regardless of who I name as beneficiary. Well, this is according to the BC Pensions Act.
- UBC has a pretty kick-ass pension plan
- It's highly recommended that I leave the money with UBC, regardless of what happens to me pre-retirement.

Of course, after this money talk, the next question that begs to be asked is: How much money do you really need to retire on?

I personally think it's more than most people think. So every little bit helps, like having a pension. But that will be a post for another day.

Food is confusing. Sigh

So after ranting about my blood condition, and almost fainting from the lack of iron in my diet one day, I've decided to do a bit of research regarding which high-in-iron foods and are more easily absorbed by the body. (I already have a pretty good idea what foods are high-in-iron).

There are two types of food-iron: heme and non-heme. Basically, heme iron comes from animal sources. Non-heme iron is the non-animal sources (ie, fruits, vegetables, nuts, etc). The body can absorb heme iron much better than non-heme iron. So, for instance, my body can absorb iron from a steak much more readily than iron from a spinach salad.

To help with the iron absorption, especially when eating non-heme sources, they recommend taking Vitamin C with your meal. So after I've pretty much stopped drinking juice because it has sugar in it (even though it's natural, hey, I don't want to gain more weight), I'm forced to start drinking more orange juice and other juices that have loads of Vitamin C. I can take Vitamin C supplements, but I don't always have them with me, so I must resort to juice or fruit.

Things like dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt), coffee and black teas can inhibit the absorption of iron. Well, I don't drink coffee, and tea I never drink except in Chinese restaurants, and even then, it's rare.

However, I like milk, cheese, yogurt, and ice cream. While I'm not allergic to these things, this now means that I have to time when I eat this stuff, either an hour before I eat my regular meal, or two hours afterwards. It's really sucky when the dairy item comes as part of your meal. Bah.

To further complicate things, my stomach doesn't do well with greasy foods, eg baked cheese, cream sauces. This further reduces my food choices.

To sum my dilemma: I must eat high iron foods regularly, and avoid eating these food items with other food items, but it's okay to eat other food items with these food items.

Did any of this make sense?

"We are Borg"

Last night, my friends and I had yet another Star Trek Marathon. This time, they asked for a Borg-theme evening.

Here's what we watched, all from the Voyager series:
- Scorpion Part I & II (Seasons 3/4)
- The Gift (Season 4)
- Fury (Season 6)
- Unimatrix Zero Part I & II (Seasons 6/7)

Okay, there were a couple of Kes-centric episode. I was watching with a few Voyager-uninitiated, so they were curious about her.

Things that I've re-discovered yesterday:
- Voyager is still my favourite Star Trek series;
- Kes still annoys me greatly;
- The Borg have the same excuse for everything (eg "Why do you do XXX?" "We are Borg." "Why do you think individuality is such a bad thing?" "We are Borg." Okay, these guys are just not great conversationalist, but we still found it frickin' hilarious!);
- Captain Janeway has big hairy balls. Well, she certainly has more gumption in her than in five men combined;
- The Borg Queen rocks;
- Species 8472 are still cool.

All in all, a fun evening. Next time, the guys want a 7 of 9 theme. Le Sigh.

Microsoft is Evil

I'm currently uninstalling a Beta version of Visual Studio 2005, so I can install the real thing on my laptop. Apparently the Beta and Production versions don't jive.

So far, I've identified and uninstalled about 10 different items, according to my Add/Remove Programs window. Why there are so many things installed in the first place, I don't know.

I'm not one to install Beta versions, simply because the software may still be buggy and in my mind, incomplete. Now, I'm certain that my dear friend IT Plumber/Janitor will point out that all software will always be somewhat buggy, and it being Microsoft software, is synonymous with buggy. Or a big living virus on your PC.

I will learn Linux when I my Big Evil School Project is done and over with, I promise. In the meantime, I'll be installing my free (and legitimate) version of Visual Studio 2005 so I can start with some development projects coming down the pipe.

(How did I get free and legitimate copy of a Microsoft Product that normally costs about $1000 USD? I subjected myself to a day of Microsoft Marketing Propaganda. Trust me, it wasn't pretty.)

ETA: Setup crashed. I am so not impressed.

KOOKY: So...

Not only do I get a signing bonus from the government, so does the hubby.

Bonuses will now become a rarity for me now, so I should enjoy it while I have the money, whenever that's coming.

I still don't know how the pay raise is going to increase my pay. I still don't know if I'll be getting additional raises on top of that.

And apparently, we're being underpaid. If the grievance that we filed against the university actually goes through, I may see more money. I think. But I won't even know until at least December or early next year. Or maybe sooner if the moderator is free.

It's all so confusing....

Pain free! (-ish)

I've been having upper-back, shoulder and neck pains for the better part of two years. It got to the point where I was ready to cry, it was so painful; but each time, I would suck it up and continue onwards. My neck would crack three times in succession if I turned it a certain way. It was so loud that once my sister-in-law heard it, and we were in a super noisy restaurant, one where you had to shout to be heard. Not only did I have knots in my neck and shoulder, but I had knots down my shoulder blades and down my spine. No amount of massage therapy helped.

So someone had finally made the brilliant suggestion of going to see a chiropractor. I didn't think that having my spine out of alignment would make a big difference, but apparently it did; after all, it was my muscles giving me grief. So I had my spine adjusted a few times. I diligently did my stretches. More importantly, I lowered my keyboard at work by a good 6-7 inches.

After a week, I could already feel the difference: my flexibility increased, and my pain decreased. No longer was I going to sleep in pain, and waking up in pain. Pain is now a fairweather friend instead of a constant companion. No longer did I feel I had to distract myself from crying because it was so painful. I have been liberated!

I'm not 100% pain free, but it's now a manageable level. As long as I keep sitting in front of a computer for a good part of my day, I will always have some muscle tightness (according to my chiropractor anyways).

But now that my problems are at a manageable level, I'm absolutely flabbergasted as to how much pain I was enduring for over two year! Yikes!

KOOKY: Food Fare

What can I say, I love macaroni and cheese.

About every three weeks or so, the hospital cafeteria puts mac & cheese on their menu. And with glee, I tell all my co-workers that it's mac & cheese day. They smile, nod, and continue politely on with what they are doing.

It's gotten to the point where it's become a running joke with my co-workers. If you look at the picture, the mac & cheese is served with corn (and peas and carrots, but let's ignore those for a while). My co-worker "C" started calling it "Yellow Lunch", because, well, it's mostly yellow.

So now when I see on the hospital cafeteria menu that they are serving mac & cheese for lunch, I tell all my co-workers that its Yellow Lunch day. My co-workers smile, nod and continue working, oblivious to my joy.

(Boy, I tell ya, working with a bunch of male computer geeks is sometimes really, really dull).

Genetics are out to get me!

I have a genetic blood condition called Thalassemia. According to my doctor and from several sources that I've read, I shouldn't be taking iron supplements, so I must get my iron from food.

After almost keeling over from sleepiness today, I've tried to figure out why I was so tired. I exercised my butt off yesterday, so that wasn't it. I got plenty of sleep, so that was it. I'm not terribly stressed out right now. That left diet.

While I do eat enough, I don't think I'm getting enough iron in my diet. So now to search for food stuffs for me to eat.

I know that beef is one food stuff that is very high in iron and the iron from beef is very easily absorbed by the body, more so than most other foods. Hubby on the other hand (and here comes more genetic fun!) is susceptible to gout as a couple of his family members have it. And beef is known to aggravate gout symptoms. Needless to say, we have very interesting problems in our household. I want more beef, he wants less. Ha!

To complicate matters, I was also born with a weak-ish digestive system, so I have to watch what I eat or tummy will be unhappy. This, I'm also noticing, is probably genetic as well, as my mom and my uncle have weak digestive systems. Oh, and I got my Thalassemia from dear old mom. Thanks mom!

Movie Review: V for Vendetta

First, I will say that all the actors did an excellent job in their roles, especially Hugo Weaving (aka Elrond the elf aka Mr. Smith). I think it's not an easy task for any actor to endure you to the character he is portraying if you cannot see any facial expression. We weren't even able to see his eyes. Mr. Weaving had to rely on his voice and his other body language to make the character "V" come alive. Kudos to him for doing a bang up job.

Natalie Portman, well, she's a not too bad of an actress. Her London accent was a tad off, but overall a pretty good performance. I mentioned that I saw V for Vendetta to my friend N., and his first words before I could pontificate on her acting abilities is that "she's hot". Sigh. Nuff said about that.

One other actor I would like to commend is Tim Pigott-Smith who played the bad guy Creedy. I saw him as Richard Hale in North and South, and I'm continued to be amazed at how well actors can really get into their characters and make them really believable. (Richard Hale and Creedy are polar opposites in terms of characterization, so it's a real treat to see some great acting from the same actor).

The gripes I have about the movie are mainly the storyline. Dave fell asleep for the first 15-20 mins of the movie. I don't exactly blame him. Some of the dialogue was unnecessarily, like V's "V soliloquy". Another part that I didn't exactly get nor did I think was all that useful in the script was the whole interrogation scene with Natalie Portman. Sure, it explained a few more things about V and it propelled Evey (NP's character) to a certain realization, but I didn't think it was necessary. That was a good 15 mins, I think. Rather, I would have spent the time explaining how Stephen Rea's character (the chief inspector) figured out where V's hideaway was. "It's just a feeling" just doesn't cut it for me.

Rotten Tomatoes gives this move a 75% rating (ie 7.5 out of 10). I will have to say that I agree with the assessment.

Birthday odds and ends...

Okay, after my last post, which I know was pretty depressing reading, I thought I'd post something a little more cheery. Here's how I spent my birthday.

Friday: Facial

Saturday: Birthday!

• I had my yearly birthday hair colour
• Dave bought me a new pair of cross-trainers
• Went out for my grandmother's birthday dinner (her birthday is on the 29th, but most of the family is in town right now)
• Went to go see V for Vendetta (review forthcoming)

Sunday: Birthday dinner at Saffron for my birthday dinner.

Birthday Shoes!














Hair before:










Birthday hair (complete with birthday goofy poses)!

It's my birthday. Wooppee.

So today is another birthday. Yay. Today, I'llbeturningthirtyfour. I mean, today, I'll be 27. Again.

I hate birthdays. Not so much that it's the anniversary of my birth insomuch as it marks another year of still-getting-older-ness

I've always hated getting older. Ever since I was young and was cognizant of the fact that getting older meant that your whole body aged. Getting older meant more responsibility. Getting older meant having less fun.

Since this year started, I've actually found myself becoming more reflective of my life. I'm taking more responsibility for my thoughts and my actions. I'm planning for the future. In short, I'm turning into the a-dolt (note this is not a misspelling) that I've dreaded all these years of becoming.

People say that they rather enjoy their years after their early 20s. Why? I loved being in my early 20s, and I miss those years greatly.

One thing I hear over and over again is that people want to go through their early 20s, but with the wisdom and experience that they have now. I differ on that opinion. Think about it. If you went through your early 20s with the experience you had now, would you be the same person that you are today? Would you had made the same choices that you did back then. Somehow I doubt it. That's what life experience is about people. Not knowing (or always heeding) the consequences of your choices and actions, you embark on a path that is life, and through your adventures and misadventures, you gain experience and wisdom.

One thing that I yearn for is youthful innocence. The whole world was opened to you then. There was none of this "I can't do this because of XYZ". Exuberance wasn't tempered by caution. In fact, caution was thrown in the wind. You were invincible. The world was yours. I don't think any one of us can really get that feeling back, even if we tried. We're too weighed down by common sense and hindsight.

When I was young, I looked at people in their 30s and thought that they were old looking, knowing full well that I'd be like them one day. That day has been here for quite a while. Every day I look in the mirror and see an aging self. I look around those who are in their early 20s and see how young they look. People say I still look like I'm in my 20s. I beg to differ. If I stood next to one that was in their early 20s, you would be able to pick out the aging body in a heartbeat.

I miss being able to eat anything I want and not gain weight. I miss the youthful glow. I miss the perky boobs and bum. I miss being able to stay up until late in the night and not feel the consequences the next morning.

Now for those of you who say "Well, your 30s are something to enjoy!" Popycock I say. I like the clothing that the early 20s wear. I would look ridiculous in the same clothing when I'm in my 30s. When flipping through my InStyle magazines, they show you a clothing trend, and show you how you can incorporate those trends using "age appropriate clothing". If that's not a sign of aging, I don't know what is. I look at clothing in Jacob and Banana Republic, and I find that those styles to be "too old looking" for my tastes (I'm not slagging other people's styles, this is just my own personal preference). I want to be able to wear that Paul Frank t-shirt or mini-skirts 20 years from now and not look like I'm too old to wear it. I don't want to "dress my age". Bleh.

And what about those who are starting to think about wrinkle or anti-aging creams? Those products are there to help you stay looking young. My thinking is, is that if you're using these products, you're not embracing your middle life, you're desperately trying to grasp at what is quickly slipping away through your fingers. If one is to embrace aging gracefully, one should reject any attempts at fighting the aging process, correct? Otherwise, won't you be labeled as a contrarian?

Birthdays. Bah.

Just testing...

My co-worker, R (aka IT Plumber/Janitor), showed me today that I can type an email message and email it to my blog, and voilà, it will magically appear. And even published, should I so desire.

If you read R's blog, very little of it makes sense unless you know the context. He's an IT guy, and has to deal with very silly people. So do I, but his situation's worse. Yes, it's his own version of hell on earth.

Let's see if this works...

ETA: Whoot! It worked! Only I couldn't do the link in the email, so I have to edit the post. I wonder how it would handle attachments? Embedded photos or video clips? Hmmmm.....

KOOKY: The Hospital Badge

I am quickly discovering that half of the Faculty of Medicine (if not more) are actually located in the hospitals. Thus, I go to the hospitals at least once or twice a month for meeting with other people in the Faculty. I figured since I'm there often enough, that I should get a hospital badge for security reasons, and to get cheaper parking at the parking lot.

So today, I got my badge. Included with the badge is a list of emergency codes that they use in the hospital. Most people are familiar with the term "Code Blue", even if they don't know what it means. (It means cardiac arrest). It's a term that I've heard many times while watching shows like ER.

But the other codes are equally as fascinating. Here are some of my favourites:

• Code Brown: Hazardous Spill
  
• Code Black: Bomb Threat
• Code Orange: Mass Casualties - Internal or External Disaster
• Code Grey: Air Exclusion - External Toxic/Hazardous Substance Leak

It's nice to know that hospital employees need to deal with the above. And it's nice that the hospital gives you a handy dandy card with your identity badge so that you don't forget what each code is for. (Can you hear the sarcasm dripping here? Yikes!)

And for your edification, the rest of the list:

• Code Yellow: Missing Patient
• Code Green: Evacuation
• Code Red: Fire
• Code White: Aggression
  

KOOKY: Confused...

Okay, so I'm still trying to get my head around this whole "we-must-sign-a-contract-with-the-university-and-with-the-government" deal. Why do we need to do this? I don't get it.

(For those of you who don't know, the BC government is trying to get all unions and associations to sign a five year contract with them. The purpose is two-fold: they want to have labour peace so that all the work that needs to be done for the Olympics can get done in time and 2) they don't want any more labour strife before the next election in 2009. The groups have to have an agreement in place before March 31, and of course, the government is dangling the biggest carrot of all: money. It's pretty big news around these parts.)

The Association is what we are a member of, and they represent our group when we need to negotiate with our employer, UBC. They have been acting on our behalf, trying to get the best deal for us within a certain time frame. We were asked by them what action they should take, and we (the members) voted 70%+ in favour of our Association getting the best deal for us before the March 31 deadline.

Well, the Association did their job and after several rounds with UBC, they got a deal that that they felt was fair and they are recommending that we accept it.

Apparently, it's not good enough for some people. A lot of bitterness and frustration have hit my Inbox. Today and last Friday, I've probably received about 100 emails, complaining that the deal's not good enough, along with some other gripes. (If nothing else, I've been getting an education on how the system works. Why it works this way is still a big mystery.)

This is such a foreign concept to me. In the private sector, if you work hard and perform well, you get rewarded individually. In the public sector, we, as a collective, need to agree on what our benefits and wages are set at. Perhaps because we are public, we need to be accountable to the taxpayer, hence the group representation.

I see all the benefits that we as UBC employees have, and there are people still turning their noses down at it. I didn't have a pension for five years of my adult work life; that's my last two jobs. I now get a pretty kick-ass pension. Also, as a new UBC employee, I get four weeks of vacation my first year. That's unheard of in most companies; you have to work about 10 years to get four weeks in many places.

Salary is a big thing. While all workers do get an increase every year in their salary, the salary grid has not changed over the past three years. With this new deal we will be getting increases with the salary grid. (Does that make sense?)

I certainly see that there is a lot of frustration and bitterness. But we can't strike, we can't do much of anything to defend our rights. Which is why we have a group looking out for us. Seriously, I can go to these people if I truly have grievances against my immediate bosses (my bosses rock by the way, so no problems there). It's nice knowing that there's someone looking out for me. I never got that working in the private sector; it's every dog for himself there.

Perhaps some people have worked in this environment most of their working career, or for a good long time that they tend to lose perspective. The real world doesn't give them a lot of what they already take for granted. I don't know. Everyone has acknowledged that it's not the best proposal for us, but it's the best that they can do within a short time frame. All I know is that my Inbox will be flooded again tomorrow because people don't agree, and I'm left more in the dark.

KOOKY: "Beware the Ides of March"

Ever since I learnt about Julius Caesar being betrayed by his friend Brutus on the Ides of March, I've always been a little leary of what may befall me on this day.

Well, nothing much really. Nothing bad anyways.

Instead, I had a pretty good day:
- Today is payday
- We got our new water cooler with the hot water tap (well, I was excited about it!)
- I got to meet my friend A. for lunch
- I will soon be getting a $3,000-ish bonus as the Association that I belong to at work is going to lock us in a four-year contract with the provincial government. It also guarantees that we will be getting a set pay increase over the next four years and some extra money for medical expenses that our benefits don't cover. (I'm still trying to wrap my head around this whole being-a-public-servant-thing and terms like grievances, negotiations and ratification are still foreign concepts to me. But if you really think about it, it is my money to begin with. University pays Irene salary<-- Government gives university money<-- Irene pays Government taxes. See, it's a vicious cycle).

Whoo! Maybe I shouldn't have to worry so much about the Ides of March any longer.

I did have to (once again) try to configure an application that I know very little about, and have had almost no training using. It's pretty frustrating that I need to go through this each and every time, but somehow I manage to muddle through it with help from others. Hey, I'm in IT, and it's part of IT's nature to be difficult. Sucky, but it doesn't go away, so you learn to live with it.

If Julius had it so good...

KOOKY: Nature calls

This post is dedicated to my good friend L and her hubby T, whom I found out tonight that they are avid readers of FLIB-ur-tee-jib-it (n.) =D

When I was in second year of university, the university's support staff (the janitors and the like) went on strike for about 2-3 weeks. That meant that you had to get creative and look for the less frequently used washrooms, as no one was cleaning them, and the toilet paper quickly disappeared. I think I snuck into the guys washroom a couple of times. Those were fun times. Today certainly brought back some fond memories.

In the building I work in, there are students. Lots of them. Normally I don't notice them as I'm generally stuck in my windowless dungeon (aka basement).

Today I noticed.

You see, in the dungeon, there are 1.5 washroom for me to use. The 0.5 is a handicap washroom, and will play a small part in my narrative.

Yes, nature calls, as it does for every living being on this planet, and it was no different for me. Only something's got in my way: students.

I'd managed to catch either a break or end of class because the washrooms are usually not busy unless a lot of students need to use them. So instead of queuing up, I headed for the 0.5 bathroom, on the other side of the dungeon. I see another student in front me, headed towards the same direction.

Don't-go-in-don't-go-in-don't-go-in-don't-go-in-don't-go-in-don't-go-in-don't-go-in---

He goes into the 0.5 washroom. Bah.

Next option: the women's washroom on the Ground floor.

Remember now, there are still students abound. Lots of them.

Yup, the ground floor washroom is pretty full too. There were a few empty stalls, but students are notoriously messy, so I rejected those.

Next option: the women's washroom two floors up.

Now for anyone who has ever been in my building and had to move around to the different levels in the building, knows about the very slow elevator, so most of the time people take the stairs. I am forced to take the stairs. Anyone who has taken the stairs know that it's a bit of an exercise. Even if you are fit, after going up several flights of stairs, you're winded. It's just one of those mysteries of life.

After a winded climb up a few flights of stairs, I finally find an empty (and fairly clean) washroom where I can do my business.

This got me thinking. In my building, there are six lecture halls, about 15 classrooms, a very large library, lots of offices and conference rooms, and places for people to sit and lounge. At full capacity, you're looking at about 500+ people. And not enough toilets for the masses. Woefully under-resourced in that area.

The one comfort that I have is that even the Dean of Medicine (the guy in the photo at the top), as important as he is, does not have his own personal washroom, and he therefore must go through the same agony that I go through. He's the head of the whole Faculty, the grand poo-bah, a renown surgeon (so don't piss this guy off, you may need his services one day). He has his own parking space, but not his own bathroom. He has to share with the students. He's human, and nature calls to him as well.

Positive Thinking

I was in a bad mood this week. But I have tried to put it into perspective by thinking positively.

For instance:

1. I am not mad at my RMT for being fully booked and then taking off on vacation for three weeks. After all she only works part-time, and of course she would be fully booked just before she goes on vacation. And I shouldn't have ignored the burning pain that my neck, shoulders and upper back has been experiencing for the past month. Nor should I have ignored the fact that my neck started popping three times in a row whenever I turned my head a certain way. I did book an appointment with my esthetician for a massage, so my agony will temporarily end tomorrow at 4pm. I won't be able to claim this massage under my benefits, but hey, good masseuses are hard to find. Plus, I get to hear all her online dating stories. It doesn't get much better than that.

2. I am not upset at Chapters for sending me a corrupt DVD of Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightly version), whereby it started skipping at an interesting part (at the first proposal scene) and (after testing it on three different players), forcing me to have to return it and order a new one. I've only been waiting for months for it to come out, so I can over analyze once again what I don't like about it and hear Joe Wright's excuses, er, justifications for some of his (in my opinion) really poor creative decisions with one of my favourite books. So, instead of wasting four-plus hours of my time (once to watch the movie, and another time to listen to the commentary while the movie is playing), I managed to clean the house (with the help of my awesome hubby), do some laundry, and get about five hours of productive homework time in. (Okay, the movie wasn't that bad, but I still have plenty to rant about, once I get my replacement DVD, whenever that is. Stay tuned...)

3. I have made a resolution to stop calling my project "Evil Homework". I've been feeling a lot of frustration since before my project started, partly at BCIT, partly towards my client, and now, partly towards my code. So instead of getting into a big knot about it and exacerbating my stress problems even more (see point #1), I've decided to start taking steps towards thinking about the whole school thing in a more positive light. So far this has helped me find a bug that has been eluding me for a few days, and actually go forward with my code. This also made me realize how far behind I still am. And of course, exacerbated point #1 again.

4. I got to see some of my Hitched buddies again today. I'm non-committal as I have no opinion about this. Ha. (Sorry, in-joke). Really, it was great seeing some of my Hitched buddies again, and meeting ariesgal (Sarah). And even though we had to switched restaurants (somebody slap me the next time I suggest Cactus Club), wait another 20 mins to get seated, then waited another 45 mins to get the food, we had a great time.

See, positive thinking does work.

On the road again: Pumping Gas

Do you do this?

When pumping gas, and the pump stops, instead of taking the nozzle thingie out of your gas tank hole, you let the little bit that is left over drip into your gas tank? You try to shake and twist the pump around so you can get those last few drops into your gas tank instead of having them fall useless (and paid for) on the ground?

I do. I drive a Honda Civic. I paid 95.9 cents per litre. It cost $27.01 to fill my tank, and dammit, I'm getter every drop that I paid for!

Sigh.

Chocolate

Since trying to take control of my diet, I've so far given up pop and anything with artificial sweetener. I'm not trying to lose weight (well, I am a little), but I'm trying to make wiser food choices.

Next thing to go: chocolate.

In particular, chocolate bars. I'm not going to avoid them completely, that would be foolish; I'm just trying not to make them my first (or second or third) choice.

What's making this quite difficult is that 1) I tend to have a sweet tooth (especially when I'm PMS-ing and/or stressed out, I really crave sugar) and, 2) I love chocolate.

If you talk to my coworkers, they will tell you that I am a chocolate fiend. That's not true. Only when I'm PMS-ing and/or stressed out do I crave the stuff. The rest of the time, I can do without it. Mostly.

The problem is that I've been finding that since trying to cut out certain foods, I've been still making not-so-wise food choices. Since I can't have pop, I go for candy, that sort of stuff. Here's hoping that I will try to find something that will adequately (and is healthy) substitute for chocolate, because when I get cravings, I get them bad!