Tuesday, July 31, 2007
On a more positive note...
Hello! I am back. Well, not that I went anywhere, really. I have just been doing so many things lately, that it’s hard to know where to start with everything. There are a few things that people have requested I blog about.
First off, I have quit my job. Yay for me!! Unemployment rules! Well, technically, I was only unemployed for about a week, or not really at all, when you really think about it, because I kind of started my own business here. Yes, no more workin’ for the man. Either that, or I am the man. I could be still workin’ for the man, just that it’s me. Any way you slice it, I’m working out of my home office, and that took some doing, because the home office was stuffed full of junk. It took considerable re-organizing, but it’s now to the point where I can sit in here throughout the day and actually get stuff done. It’s kind of nice. Two of the dogs sleep at my feet throughout the day, and Fearsome sleeps right in the doorway. The other two dogs (the bad ones, of course) like to be out in the living room or on the bed, where I can’t see them get into mischief. Of course, I can still hear them, so periodically, I have to put people on hold and go and take away whatever it is they have that they shouldn’t.
It’s nice to be working from home. I’m starting to relax a bit more than usual, which is a change for me. I’m used to being pretty tensed-up, and I’m not that tensed-up these days. Oh, sure, I still get hungry and tired from time to time, which makes me irritable, which tenses poor Rob up, but for the most part? I have to say I’m adjusting to working from home pretty well. At first it was kind of hard to focus, because the little office wasn’t cleaned out, so I was working in the kitchen. Man, that was distracting. Phone ringing all the time, dogs barking all the time, dishes needing to be done, house needing cleaning, all the little things that you’d do if you were at home, but at the same time, I felt a strange feeling like I wasn’t getting anything done. Being in the office here is different because it forces me to focus on the work part of life. Plus, it’s taken me about a month to teach the dogs not to go insane at every little noise or person who walks by outside. I’d be all on the phone, chatting away about something interesting, and Beau or Millie would see something outside, and man, it’d be on. Barking to beat the band. And did I say that the dogs started howling at sirens? And we live right near a fire station? Yeah – that was cool… every damn time a damn siren went by, the dogs would start to howl. It was like living in a tin drum. But it’s been a month since I’ve been home and they are getting MUCH better. Beau has to go to bed if he barks too much, so he is a lot better, and Millie won’t bark much if she doesn’t have someone to bark with, and the Noodledog and Cooter mostly just sleep in the office with me. So life is good here.
I should also note that the wedding plans are proceeding extremely nicely. I have the caterer all set and the tent rental people all lined up. We are building our fence (don’t get me started – we were supposed to have guys build it for us, but they seem to have bailed right out on that) and the new sod is down in our back yard, so we actually have quite a nice setup going these days. My dress is being altered appropriately, I kind of have some good shoes (old shoes from my closet, but they will do), the nieces are outfitted with good dresses for the day as flower girls, Rob has a new suit – sort of, he hasn’t picked it up yet – and we have a very cool wedding cake on order. On the to-do list still: the liquor arrangements, wedding bands and marriage license. Dog clothing is kind of ordered. Hair appointments are set up. I think we are going to be OK.
We haven’t registered anywhere. Mostly because I can’t think of a thing in the world we need. Truthfully, I mostly can’t think of a thing we could use or need or where to put more things in our house. We must be the luckiest people alive, because we don’t need a single damn thing more. Oh, except a boat. We don’t have a boat. Not that I really want a boat? But it’s the only thing we don’t have. We have everything else. We have our dogs and cats. We have all the vehicles we can use. We have a fantastic house and a great yard and a garage full of tools and cool stuff. We have all the furniture we need (and then some – the house is full of furniture). We have all the kitchen stuff we need. We have a good set of dishes (and we don’t have anywhere to put a fancy set of china) and cutlery. We have lamps and area rugs. We have coffee tables and end tables. We are well and truly set. So yeah, it probably sounds kind of arrogant, but really that’s not the way it’s intended – we are just so lucky that I can’t think of a single thing we need.
This, of course, is causing my mother some anxiety. She doesn’t know what to give us as a wedding gift. She has already given us money, so in my books, we’re square. But she has friends who are asking where we are registered or what they can get us, I guess, because she keeps asking and bringing it up. I would be perfectly happy if people would make donations to animal-related charities on our behalf as a wedding present, but apparently that’s not done as much. I have no idea how this is going to play itself out, but we will see in about a month.
So whereas last month, I was a bit worried about things for the wedding, this month, I feel fine. Funny how it all goes.
I did have kind of a funny story to tell that I was thinking about last night. This all came down about a year ago or so, and I’m not sure if you’ve all heard, but there are two movies with “28 days” in the title. One is “28 Days” and the other is “28 Days Later”. You can see how they could become confused, right? One is a movie with Sandra Bullock in it. I must admit, I’m totally charmed by Sandra Bullock. I think she’s great. She has a certain way about her – she is cool, and funny, and unassuming. She can bring good life to a movie, something even as bad as, oh, say, “Speed”, where in spite of Keanu’s best efforts to pound the life out of it with his woodenness, and terrible fifth-grade writers and Dennis Hopper’s over-the-top insanity of the World’s Worst Villain bent on world domination, it’s kind of watchable because of Sandra Bullock. Like you kind of care what happens to her, the poor working girl who is just so cute… Yeah. I dunno, she is just great. There is a whole litany of films she’s in, my favourite being “Miss Congeniality”, which, every single time it is on, I am compelled to watch.
Anyway, this isn’t all about Sandra Bullock, but you get the idea that I’m kind of a fan. She’s in one of the movies and it’s kind of about her drying out from being a drug addict, I think, and sure, it’s not funny like her usual stuff, but I kind of had always wanted to see it. I knew it wouldn’t be amazing stuff, which is why I didn’t go and see it in the theatre. I was waiting for it to come on TV one day.
The other movie, “28 Days Later”, is a horror film. I’m sure most of you probably already know this, and knew about it from day one, and I’m sure I was kind of vaguely aware it was out there, but I am not a horror film fan. I find them quite disturbing and painful to actually watch. Hey – I scream at Jaws. I watched “Deep Blue Sea” and screamed the whole way through it, and that was just cartoon sharks, OK? Anyway, “28 Days Later” is about fucking zombies. And the reason I know this is that I accidentally watched it when I was trying to watch the one with Sandra Bullock.
I kind of thought it was odd when it was set in England, and it seemed to mostly be about this guy, but at the back of my mind, I kind of thought that might be some sort of opening dream sequence or something, you know, like what a drug addict might have been thinking about, waiting for a new fix or whatever. Then it went on, and the guy was all alone in the world, and his parents were dead and there were fucking zombies all over the place, and he ran into some interesting folks who seemed a bit of alright, and it seemed like they might have a shot at getting out of the city alive…
And no, I’m not totally stupid, after checking the guide a few times, about an hour into the movie, I figured out that Sandra Bullock wasn’t in the stupid thing, but by then, it was too late and I was already watching the fucking zombies. Fucking zombies. Fucking zombies. I can’t say it enough. Fuckers.
Anyway, by the time I was horrified enough to try and get out of watching it, who should show up but David, from “Shallow Grave”, playing an army guy. Sure, he was a total prick, but there he was, and he is a great actor. So I continued watching it, even after the little girl’s father dies from that infected blood falling in his eye, and he hadn't even done anything wrong, and it kind of looked like civilization was going to be obliterated by the fucking zombies and everyone was going to be infected. I watched it right to the end. And it haunts me to this day, about a year later. Fucking zombies. I hate zombies. I mean, there’s no reasoning with them. They are just there to destroy. Kind of like people, I guess, but on a more basic scale, but still? They freak me out a lot. At least with vampires and werewolves and stuff, there’s a bit of animal nobility to them and you think that they might be partially civilized or something… maybe it’s because their legends came out of the Victorian age or fairy tales. I don’t know. They seem a lot better than fucking zombies, anyway. I’d far rather be killed by a vampire or werewolf, or even a shark, than a zombie.
And I never have seen “28 Days” yet. Oh, sure, “28 Days Later” comes on TV periodically, and strangely, I feel compelled to check to make sure Sandra Bullock isn’t there somewhere, and then I get sucked into watching parts of it. But “28 Days” is still out there, waiting for me to happen across it.
So anyway, that’s the story these days. If you know of any properties that need property management in the Calgary area, send them my way.
First off, I have quit my job. Yay for me!! Unemployment rules! Well, technically, I was only unemployed for about a week, or not really at all, when you really think about it, because I kind of started my own business here. Yes, no more workin’ for the man. Either that, or I am the man. I could be still workin’ for the man, just that it’s me. Any way you slice it, I’m working out of my home office, and that took some doing, because the home office was stuffed full of junk. It took considerable re-organizing, but it’s now to the point where I can sit in here throughout the day and actually get stuff done. It’s kind of nice. Two of the dogs sleep at my feet throughout the day, and Fearsome sleeps right in the doorway. The other two dogs (the bad ones, of course) like to be out in the living room or on the bed, where I can’t see them get into mischief. Of course, I can still hear them, so periodically, I have to put people on hold and go and take away whatever it is they have that they shouldn’t.
It’s nice to be working from home. I’m starting to relax a bit more than usual, which is a change for me. I’m used to being pretty tensed-up, and I’m not that tensed-up these days. Oh, sure, I still get hungry and tired from time to time, which makes me irritable, which tenses poor Rob up, but for the most part? I have to say I’m adjusting to working from home pretty well. At first it was kind of hard to focus, because the little office wasn’t cleaned out, so I was working in the kitchen. Man, that was distracting. Phone ringing all the time, dogs barking all the time, dishes needing to be done, house needing cleaning, all the little things that you’d do if you were at home, but at the same time, I felt a strange feeling like I wasn’t getting anything done. Being in the office here is different because it forces me to focus on the work part of life. Plus, it’s taken me about a month to teach the dogs not to go insane at every little noise or person who walks by outside. I’d be all on the phone, chatting away about something interesting, and Beau or Millie would see something outside, and man, it’d be on. Barking to beat the band. And did I say that the dogs started howling at sirens? And we live right near a fire station? Yeah – that was cool… every damn time a damn siren went by, the dogs would start to howl. It was like living in a tin drum. But it’s been a month since I’ve been home and they are getting MUCH better. Beau has to go to bed if he barks too much, so he is a lot better, and Millie won’t bark much if she doesn’t have someone to bark with, and the Noodledog and Cooter mostly just sleep in the office with me. So life is good here.
I should also note that the wedding plans are proceeding extremely nicely. I have the caterer all set and the tent rental people all lined up. We are building our fence (don’t get me started – we were supposed to have guys build it for us, but they seem to have bailed right out on that) and the new sod is down in our back yard, so we actually have quite a nice setup going these days. My dress is being altered appropriately, I kind of have some good shoes (old shoes from my closet, but they will do), the nieces are outfitted with good dresses for the day as flower girls, Rob has a new suit – sort of, he hasn’t picked it up yet – and we have a very cool wedding cake on order. On the to-do list still: the liquor arrangements, wedding bands and marriage license. Dog clothing is kind of ordered. Hair appointments are set up. I think we are going to be OK.
We haven’t registered anywhere. Mostly because I can’t think of a thing in the world we need. Truthfully, I mostly can’t think of a thing we could use or need or where to put more things in our house. We must be the luckiest people alive, because we don’t need a single damn thing more. Oh, except a boat. We don’t have a boat. Not that I really want a boat? But it’s the only thing we don’t have. We have everything else. We have our dogs and cats. We have all the vehicles we can use. We have a fantastic house and a great yard and a garage full of tools and cool stuff. We have all the furniture we need (and then some – the house is full of furniture). We have all the kitchen stuff we need. We have a good set of dishes (and we don’t have anywhere to put a fancy set of china) and cutlery. We have lamps and area rugs. We have coffee tables and end tables. We are well and truly set. So yeah, it probably sounds kind of arrogant, but really that’s not the way it’s intended – we are just so lucky that I can’t think of a single thing we need.
This, of course, is causing my mother some anxiety. She doesn’t know what to give us as a wedding gift. She has already given us money, so in my books, we’re square. But she has friends who are asking where we are registered or what they can get us, I guess, because she keeps asking and bringing it up. I would be perfectly happy if people would make donations to animal-related charities on our behalf as a wedding present, but apparently that’s not done as much. I have no idea how this is going to play itself out, but we will see in about a month.
So whereas last month, I was a bit worried about things for the wedding, this month, I feel fine. Funny how it all goes.
I did have kind of a funny story to tell that I was thinking about last night. This all came down about a year ago or so, and I’m not sure if you’ve all heard, but there are two movies with “28 days” in the title. One is “28 Days” and the other is “28 Days Later”. You can see how they could become confused, right? One is a movie with Sandra Bullock in it. I must admit, I’m totally charmed by Sandra Bullock. I think she’s great. She has a certain way about her – she is cool, and funny, and unassuming. She can bring good life to a movie, something even as bad as, oh, say, “Speed”, where in spite of Keanu’s best efforts to pound the life out of it with his woodenness, and terrible fifth-grade writers and Dennis Hopper’s over-the-top insanity of the World’s Worst Villain bent on world domination, it’s kind of watchable because of Sandra Bullock. Like you kind of care what happens to her, the poor working girl who is just so cute… Yeah. I dunno, she is just great. There is a whole litany of films she’s in, my favourite being “Miss Congeniality”, which, every single time it is on, I am compelled to watch.
Anyway, this isn’t all about Sandra Bullock, but you get the idea that I’m kind of a fan. She’s in one of the movies and it’s kind of about her drying out from being a drug addict, I think, and sure, it’s not funny like her usual stuff, but I kind of had always wanted to see it. I knew it wouldn’t be amazing stuff, which is why I didn’t go and see it in the theatre. I was waiting for it to come on TV one day.
The other movie, “28 Days Later”, is a horror film. I’m sure most of you probably already know this, and knew about it from day one, and I’m sure I was kind of vaguely aware it was out there, but I am not a horror film fan. I find them quite disturbing and painful to actually watch. Hey – I scream at Jaws. I watched “Deep Blue Sea” and screamed the whole way through it, and that was just cartoon sharks, OK? Anyway, “28 Days Later” is about fucking zombies. And the reason I know this is that I accidentally watched it when I was trying to watch the one with Sandra Bullock.
I kind of thought it was odd when it was set in England, and it seemed to mostly be about this guy, but at the back of my mind, I kind of thought that might be some sort of opening dream sequence or something, you know, like what a drug addict might have been thinking about, waiting for a new fix or whatever. Then it went on, and the guy was all alone in the world, and his parents were dead and there were fucking zombies all over the place, and he ran into some interesting folks who seemed a bit of alright, and it seemed like they might have a shot at getting out of the city alive…
And no, I’m not totally stupid, after checking the guide a few times, about an hour into the movie, I figured out that Sandra Bullock wasn’t in the stupid thing, but by then, it was too late and I was already watching the fucking zombies. Fucking zombies. Fucking zombies. I can’t say it enough. Fuckers.
Anyway, by the time I was horrified enough to try and get out of watching it, who should show up but David, from “Shallow Grave”, playing an army guy. Sure, he was a total prick, but there he was, and he is a great actor. So I continued watching it, even after the little girl’s father dies from that infected blood falling in his eye, and he hadn't even done anything wrong, and it kind of looked like civilization was going to be obliterated by the fucking zombies and everyone was going to be infected. I watched it right to the end. And it haunts me to this day, about a year later. Fucking zombies. I hate zombies. I mean, there’s no reasoning with them. They are just there to destroy. Kind of like people, I guess, but on a more basic scale, but still? They freak me out a lot. At least with vampires and werewolves and stuff, there’s a bit of animal nobility to them and you think that they might be partially civilized or something… maybe it’s because their legends came out of the Victorian age or fairy tales. I don’t know. They seem a lot better than fucking zombies, anyway. I’d far rather be killed by a vampire or werewolf, or even a shark, than a zombie.
And I never have seen “28 Days” yet. Oh, sure, “28 Days Later” comes on TV periodically, and strangely, I feel compelled to check to make sure Sandra Bullock isn’t there somewhere, and then I get sucked into watching parts of it. But “28 Days” is still out there, waiting for me to happen across it.
So anyway, that’s the story these days. If you know of any properties that need property management in the Calgary area, send them my way.
