ONE, One Sesame Street Personality Test, Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

Got this from the divine Divinity. The link to the test itself is at the bottom.

Am I a Grinch?

Over the weekend, a number of neighbours put of Christmas lights and decorations. That’s great – take advantage of the good weather while we have it. But then, they left the lights on. I freaked – it’s too early to have your lights on!

Yesterday at around 8:45 a.m., K-Rock played Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again”. I freaked, and switched the station (which was risky, considering the car radio is wonky and you aren’t assured to get another station in or back once you change it). I am of the “old school” belief that Christmas songs should not be played on the radio until December 1, unless it’s the day of the Santa Claus Parade.

Last night, around 5 p.m., they played John Lennon’s “So This is Christmas”. Again, I freaked, but this time B was there to mock me. Apparently I’m over-reacting to this, and it’s okay to start playing to Christmas songs and be festive.

I brought this up at C-Core earlier this morning, and to my surprise I stood alone. People are listening to Christmas songs, putting up their decorations and embracing the coming of the season. I have done a lot of my shopping, and figured out some logistics that come when you are accomodating two families. I’ve even gone as far as to not skip the Christmas songs that come up when I put iTunes on “shuffle”.

The problem with starting the Christmas season so early, IMO, is that you build it up for a long time, you plan, you buy, you wrap, you decorate, you get excited… and then it’s over. People are back to work, talking about how great Christmas dinner was, before the dishes are even done. To me, that’s really disappointing. So until the beginning of December, I’ll just stick to my freaking routine.

I Am the Grasshopper

There’s a thin layer of snow outside and I’m not ready for that. It’s only recently admitted that summer was over, a summer I feel I missed a lot of for whatever reason (school, mostly). I don’t have anything really ready for Christmas. The garden needs to be cleaned up and put to bed (did start some raking today, thanks Mom and Dad for helping out). I have so much left to do when it comes to school (a Masters in which I want to complete by January) and my IEEE position (which ends in December). I wanted to do more around the house this fall, start a fitness and diet regime, spend more time with my family, with Brian, with the puppies, all before winter came. I wanted to finish the scuba course before winter came… that’s not gonna happen for a few weeks.

I feel unprepared for winter. Hopefully there’s an ant out there who can help me.

Attack of the Zombies….

… but not the Halloween kind. More the everyday sleep-deprived kind. Yet another study shows we are sleep deprived, that it’s affecting our lives, and we struggle to stay awake. Anyone who has ever watched a video with me can attest to that.

Canadians Sleep-Starved

But there’s so much to do in a day, even for the people who don’t have much by way of extra-curricular activities (I’m kinda above-average on the busy scale)! Is it society or the norm that’s straining us to stay up later and complete more? I really wonder sometimes if the people conducting the sleep studies are they themselves getting the right amount of sleep.

Anyway, enjoy your extra hour this weekend in whichever way you choose. ;)

Skillet Sensations Sensationally Suck

I have a love-hate relationship with Lean Cuisine. I love the convenience of buying a low-fat, low-calorie meal that just pops in the microwave for a few minutes and voila! Hot lunch for less than $5! And I do love some of the flavours (DO try Chicken Carbonara). But I’ve some experiences in the past that have been, well, disgusting. One I remember in particular involves an Alfredo sauce-based dinner that leaves me gagging to this day.

But Lean Cuisine makes, in addition to its zappable products, a line of quick-cooking stove-top dishes, Skillet Sensations. We picked up one a while ago and thought, “Why not?”. The package lists it as being two servings of lean meat and crisp veggies. Sounds good, especially when we are trying to eat healthier and save money. Hubby Brian cooked it last night for supper…. but we didn’t eat it for supper. The reason for this was the fact that the “two servings” contained within would only fill two people if those two people happened to be 5-year olds… with the stomach flu and thus no appetite. Really, really small portions. Not even Lean Cuisine micro-meal sized. How disappointing.

So we scrounged some other stuff together for lunch, and I volunteered to take the Skillet leftovers for lunch today, (hey, waste not want not, right?) and packaged them all up in a 1.5-cup-sized Ziplock container. Heated it up at lunchtime today, and proceeded to eat a bite. Hmmm… not great. Meat a little on the bland side. Veggies kinda mushy. I was not enjoying this. And then…. CRUNCH. Not the crunch of a crisp veggie I was promised. No, this was the crunch of a mystery meat piece.

Well, that killed my SKillet Sensation experience. Now, I’m sipping my soup and eating the sandwich I bought at the cafe. There goes my attempt to save money… grrr.

Monday is Worse than Usual

So, this time last week I was saying my good-byes to the new and old friends I met in Tampa at IEEE Sections Congress (check out the Photo Gallery for pics!). To some I was saying, “See you next week in Cancun!”, where we would all be for the Region 9 Student Congress. My personal plans were to fly down there on the 23rd (i.e. yesterday) for some beaching and snorkelling. I recall sitting in the Starbucks in the hotel (yes, I *am* pretentious) and watching CNN where they’re discussing Tropical Storm Wilma, thinking, “I hope it doesn’t get too bad.”

Well, today, instead of sitting on a beach planning a presentation for the Central and South American IEEE students, I am sitting at my desk, as Wilma leaves much destruction behind in Cancun as she hits the beaches of Florida. In a way, I feel rather shallow writing this – I mean, I thank God that there were only a few deaths and that many are safe, but there are some people who will take months to recover in terms of their houses, jobs, etc. and I’m complaining that my beach time was taken away? – but I’m also a little disappointed. The Congress will be rescheduled but I really have to finish off my research and might not beable to go. And my term as Student Rep is coming to an end, and I might not see some of these awesome people again.

So here’s to you, as I sip my Tim Horton’s and not a cafe con leche. Have a great week, and good luck to those who are trying to recover, and to those who are planning for the new RRR.

They’re Boobs, Get Over It

I don’t understand it. Half the world have breasts (well, more than half the world, men have nipples too and some do have “man breasts”). Yes, they can be a sexual symbol. But they’re also life-giving to the smallest of infants – a mother’s milk provides nutrients and nourishment and breast-feeding creates a special bond. What’s wrong with that? Why do people still have issues when it comes to talking or showing breast-feeding in public?
In New Brunswick, the Irvings feel it’s not right to publicly show it. They pulled an issue of their “Here” magazine because of the cover shot, of a young baby breast-feeding. They replaced it with a stylized cartoon of a mother holding a baby in a blaket. The shot isn’t crude, it’s natural… it’s what happens all the time and, as noted in the article, needs to be encouraged more, as NB has the lowest rate of breast-feeding in the country. The original cover grabs attention… the new one could be any magazine covering any baby-related article.

CBC article: Irvings fire editor over breastfeeding cover

Can I Ask a Dumb Question?

I’m reading a CNN story on the DARPA-sponsored autonomous vehice/robot race across the Mojave desert over the weekend…. a contest which I believe is ultra-cool (but that’s just the geek in me). But there’s a line in the story that say…

“The vehicles, guided by sophisticated software, gave scientists hope that robots could one day wage battles without endangering soldiers.”

… and it got me thinking: if someone is waging a battle with their robot army against another nation/side with a robot army, then what’s the point? To see who’s robots are the best? I’m certainly not condoning war, but I always assumed one of the “points” was to hurt the other side, and to me the biggest hurt would be to lose the lives of soldiers or civilians. How is bringing down their robots really going to hurt them? Or is what they are really saying is, “We can hurt their humans (be they soldier or civilian) and not be hurt ourselves.”

Such a curious beast it is.

A Man Flying After my Own Heart…

… but man, I hope he doesn’t get DVT or something.

Frequently flying the friendly skies in a quest for one million points

I Chose Not To Choose

It was a hard choice to make. Normally I make a point to exercise my democratic right to vote. This is the first election I will miss. I am not voting in today’s municipal election on principal.

It’s not out of laziness. It’s not because I’m busy today – I could have made time. It’s because I see no point in voting for or against a group of people that will really make no noticeable difference to me. The ones that are trying to return have done nothing to impress me (they all mentioned a call center that’s coming and general “we did good” stuff, but nothing that specifically says, “Here’s what I did for you”). Worse still, none even promise to do more than last time – apparently the status quo is a-okay. There are still sports in the city, and bix box land came, so all is right with the world.

And none of the new candidates promise much either, just that they’ll do the best job… at what? Really, what exactly does the job entail? Sitting on committees… siting in meetings… approving the same budgets and recreation plans, with the occasional project to bolster municipal spirit. There was no one even willing to run against our mayor for God’s sake!

You may ask, “Then why not run yourself?”. I can’t right now, but haven’t ruled it out. But the world isn’t changed in the boardroom, it’s changed at the lower levels… I’d rather be there.

EDIT: My non-voting had its expected consequences… none. There’s one new person on council and one old councillor with some extra time on her hands.