Self Promotion

I'm ok with it.

Though I promise this won't become a blog all about "badbunny".
For now though... I did successfully move the domain name over to a new host, and it's fantastic to work with.

It still needs a lot of work- the biggest thing being the photos, they need to tie together better- the lighting and boarders on each one are different... I find that visually offensive... I'm sure others will too.

Anyway, here she is! Stay tuned for more changes after Christmas... assuming we survive the end of the world tomorrow.

Last time it was the end of the world I survived.

New year's day 2000. January 1st.
Something like 6:20am
When everyone was asleep after partying because it was 1999 the night before...

The windows started to shake... the cat ran under my bed and I sat bolt upright as my bed started to rock...

My only thought? "What a great joke! God really IS coming back today!"
So I sat laughing on my bed till it stopped.

Turns out there was an earthquake in Thunderbay that could be felt as far away as Peterborough (where I was living at the time). 

22 sleeps?

the garden is growing...

Just a few short sleeps till the festival.
In some ways, I'm SO ready.

in other ways, I keep hoping someone will come up to me, put their arms around my shoulders and say "it's ok, I'm here to take it over".

We've had three workshops fall apart this week- it's not the end of the world, I'd aimed really high for our numbers- I'd wanted to run programming in all the villages the entire day (one workshop each hour per village) That would put us at double the workshops from previous years... with the newly fallen programming, and the others that didn't pan out- I think we're short 2 in each village... um.. except in Wellness, I think we're close to target there.. weird.

I've fallen into that strange "non-work" pattern that I always fall into when the stress gets high- I sit. and little gets done.
It's frustrating.
then there are all the things I want to do, and it's like they're paralyzing me from the other things. my brain wants me to do just one thing each day... not practical at this point in the game.
sheesh.

rain rain come again

I left my plants outside again last night... but they are still happy.
Almost as happy as me!
Why am I happy?
Because it RAINED!

Why does the rain make me happy?
Because I get to wear THESE!



This week at work we've been taking some of the guys from the vocational skills program out to rake leaves (and make a little money for them)....
I may or may not have stopped to have a photo session with my boots.

Because really... a bright spring morning, fresh from the rain, and a wheelbarrow CRY for a photo sesh!

a trail of shimmering, night of two moons

Living lakeside means no end to the opportunities for photo sessions. I need to get back in the habit of carrying my camera with me...
Tonight is a full(ish?) moon... I rounded the corner into the harbour and was greeted by this giant yellow red moon, just hovering on the water. Immediately I regretted leaving my camera at home. And like a good facebooker should, I updated my status via cell to alert all I know to my blunder.
I stood and watched for a few minutes, the geese floating on the water, chasing shadows.
People were starting to look at me funny, standing in the middle of the road and all, so I kept walking, past the harbour and onto the beach.

Now, one of the best sights ever on a clam night, is that trail of shimmering that leads from the edge of the beach to the bottom of the moon. A golden path rippled with tiny waves, maybe the silhouette of the lifeguard's chair breaking the light.
Tonight did not disappoint.
I walked out of the entrance way, onto the boardwalk to see.... two moons.
Two moons connected by that shimmering trail.
The second moon a reflection of the first... but only feet away.
The beach is flooded!
I couldn't look away! I jumped down off the walk into the mushy sand to check it out up close. Not 15 feet from the boardwalk the water starts... now, it's more like a giant puddle, it's not attached to the lake, there's a rise in the sand that's keeping them separate... but, instead of 200+ plus feet of prime suntanning, there's 200+ feet of prime puddle jumping!
I may have to borrow roomie's niece tomorrow for an excuse to run around in my pretty boots in the water.

I figure it's run off water... it's been around 20 degrees the past two days, everything is melting in overdrive, at this rate, the ground frost will be gone by Wednesday.

true that

in response to yesterday's post... yes, It's not quite protecting one's identity if you then go ahead and tag them in a note on facebook... BUT since these posts don't originate in Facebook, but in my one true love: the annon-sorta blogger, the king of "Badum dum ching" is safe and secure in his anonymity.

now.. to the point- and yes I do have a problem staying on task this month- Jmack pointed out that perhaps the most memorable part of the trip was NOT in fact his body flailing display of armless bear chow- but perhaps some other such event.

True.. Niagara Falls is beautiful.. the honeymoon capital of the world, and true one of my favorite parts was the power plant- in nerdly fashion- I learned more about power generation in one 30 min tour and video than I ever have before.... But perhaps the entire trip's memory could have been eclipsed by one single feature of this trip....

Sue the bus driver.


more on her later.. I have some SHELTER VALLEY work to do... (hee hee.. none too subtle eh? It's SVFF time again...

take a TRIP to the FALLS (holds out a foot for you to trip)

budum dum ching!
(that's right, wave your hands in the air, hit that air drum set)
err.. Dale D***s (name protected... but you know who I mean)
on a tangent before I've even gotten started.

no more are there to be "badum dum chings" after the often stupid things I say.. no no no... no more! instead in it's place... with a dumbfounded look, one is to utter "Dale D***s" in it's place.
After having dear Dale perform the real live drum kit hit after another of my profound statements.. I decided that the real thing was the only way to go... for days after, people would be "badum dum chinging" and then look at each other and say "too bad Dale isn't here for the real thing" or "where's Dale D***s when you need him?" After some time, this became shortened to "Badum dum ching... Dale D***s!" So in the effort to cut down our impact on the environment... or.. whatever... I've decided that the Badum dum ching is no longer necessary.

right right right.. this is a serious thing this here blogging world.
Down to business. The whole point of blogging today.

Most memorable moment yesterday at Niagara Falls....

When JMack stuck his arms straight out behind his back and tried to do his impression of a man being attacked by a bear... with his arms ripped off.... trying to blow a whistle on his back back

post 600

ok, I had some time while I was waiting to pick someone up, cell phones can be a wondrous thing.

Our Cobourg Sunoco's number is 905-373-8317, when I asked for the manager, the man (Mike) on the phone asked how he could help. I explained that I really liked the car wash that I'd gotten the day before, that the machine did a great job, better than I could and with a lot less water (I always end up soaked and start writing on the street with the hose....) I also said I appreciated the fact that there was a sign referring to the fact that it might take a little longer to get in, because it was about quality not speed... blah blah, chit chat... I then mentioned the 9:3 ratio of cars with their engines running for more than 20 minutes at a time, and asked him if he would consider placing a no-idling sign. His response was that it was a good idea, but he wasn't just going to "slap any old make-shift sign" up, and that I should contact the Sunoco customer relations department.
I called them, related my story again, and was told it was a good idea, she would email the manager and tell him, and would pass the message along to the org as a whole.
Here's the customer relations number for you too 888-858-7242
And Mike at our local shop 905-373-8317

took me a total of 5 minutes including dialing 411 for the local number.

my footprint

Ok, so I briefly mentioned that everyone needed to go and rent "an inconvenient truth" the other day.

Let me say it again... go rent it, watch it with a few people, eat food together, discuss.

With the topic of climate change and environmental issues as a whole being front and centre this "non-winter" (meh, I guess it's winter now) I totally recommend it, if only to bring people up to speed on what we've been ignoring or, just passively watching for a number of years. If by chance you decide to do something after watching it.... even better. There are so many small things that we can be doing that as a whole, are going to help to make a difference. There's a bunch of really neat ones listed in the credits, and there is a copy of the 10 easy steps you can take on the site.... ooooOOOoohhh... there's also a quiz to figure out your "carbon footprint" (what your personal impact is) which I found really interesting... sadly, they don't have it set up for Canada, but if you choose California as your State, they are pretty much the closest to us in terms of emissions... as far as I can figure out... Anyone know better?

yesterday I got a car wash. After chipping away at some ice stuck to my car... and discovering it wasn't ice, it was salt, I figured for the life-sake of my little Morgan (yeah, his name) I should get that off before he melted to a pile of rust before my eyes.
I drove to Sunoco, the new place out by the Hospital, on my way out of town. I'd heard they were pretty good there and decided to give it a try. As I was waiting in the line, I read a sign that said something to the effect of "good quality because we take our time". I took that as a hint I was going to be in that line up for awhile (with 8 cars ahead of me) and shut my engine off and read a few chapters of my book. Once in a while, I turned the car on and crept forward, where there was enough hill, I took off the brake and coasted. Back to my book... I got a good chunk read... more on the book later.
In total I waited 30 minutes to get my car washed... in horror I sat and looked at the cars around me... in front, two huge SUVs, behind me, a late 70's early 80's gas guzzling-beaster car... all with their engines running.

of the 12 total cars in line with me only 3 turned off their engines during their half hour wait.

Tonight after work, I'm going to head over to the Sunoco and ask them to place a "no idling" sign in their line up, hopefully I'll have their phone number by tomorrow or tonight, I'll post it, please, take the 2 minutes needed and ask them to put one up, if enough of us are asking, maybe it'll help.

(hee hee... random info... the spell checker wants me to change the word "Sunoco" to "smog")