As a friend of mine would say - I'm a Slacker!

HOLY COW - It's been over a week since I did a blog post! Sorry readers... I've been extremely tired and making decisions.

Well, trying to make decisions.  I haven't completely made up my mind  yet - but I am going to have to do it soon. *sigh* I really really don't want to....*insert tantrum here*  I am not the best with change being forced upon me.  If it's up to me and in my own time - then I can handle it no problem.  But if it's "you have to or bad things will happen" type of change, then I get ornery....-er... than usual.  No, I won't say what it is yet. Once the decision is made, then I'll spill it. 

As for the tired - I'm starting to think something is really wrong with me.   I can't do anything without being exhausted. I was asleep before midnight last night, didn't crawl out of bed until 11 and by 12:30 I was tired and dizzy.  Just enough time to make coffee and breakfast. Which was very good.   And the pain - it's getting so bad that I can't sit for more than an hour or two without my hips killing me.  and it's the back of my hips, not the sides.  I thought it was my gluteus maximus that hurt - but it's not. I looked it up. LOL

Hopefully the doctor can figure out what's going on soon, so we can make it stop.  I don't want to end up on disability waiting for it to get better.  and what if it doesn't get better - what am I going to do then???

Guess I'm feeling whiny today - oh, well.  You guys can deal with it.   Maybe the next post will be better.

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Change is inevitable - how you deal with it defines you

My first impression of Little Big Planet 2

Cooperative Video games....Good in theory - in practice.... not so much.

The Husband picked up Little Big Planet 2 the other day as the other half of his Christmas present. (I gave him a gift card.) Having fun with the Sack Thing in public!  HA! I can say that and it's not dirty....LOL

I had a totally different line in there, but apparently it was too close to the title of the Husbands blog post about fun and sacks, so he made me change it.  (okay, it was close.. but still...)
http://ramblingsfromthegreatwhitenorth.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/the-most-fun-you-can-have-with-your-sackboy/

The first one was fun - I remember trying to find it everywhere!  It was one of the hardest games to find at that time.  I managed to find it at The Source.  I was quite shocked when I saw it there.  I didn't think they even had video games, but so far I've managed to find two hard to find games there.  That's my first stop now if I can't find a game.

Anyway - the first one was great, and this one looks to be too. If we survive the multi-player part.
The Boy is a gamer, so he just goes zipping through.  Then there's the Husband - gotta get the stuff first!!!  And finally - there's me... take my time and figure it out.  When all three of us play at the same time... it gets interesting.  You've heard the curse "May you live in interesting times?" yeah... well.....

It's a smash of "hey, let go... come back.. fine, let me die then... LET GO...Stop DOING THAT... HEY! That was mine....you missed one... I thought we were getting the stuff?? COME BACK!!.  where are you going??? STOP GRABBING ME  who pushed me off the cliff??... LET GO OF ME!" etc etc.  It's almost a race to see who gets mad and quits first. *sigh*  I just wish we could all play nice together, but I don't know if it's ever going to happen. 

I'm also a vocal player - I yap and talk.  The other two - not so much.  So, to them I've been "whining" for the entire time. Not really.  It's just a running commentary  - but they don't quite get that. Ah, well. It'll be fun until someone starts crying....loses their mind... or their temper.... or the cops show up cause one of us made the other eat the controller.

So in a nutshell - Little Big Planet 2 looks to be a lot of fun... and some of you might even like playing the Multi-Player!
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To Explore strange, new worlds...

You'd think it was winter!

It always amazes me how cold it can get in the Canadian prairies.   A few hundred kilometres to the west and -5C is sub-arctic.  A few hundred kilometers to the east, and -15C gets a cold weather warning.

Where I'm at, we're at -24C and supposed to hit close to -40 in the wind tonight.  Brrrr.  My computer is in the basement too.  While it is insulated, somewhat, it's still freaking cold down here sometimes.  Maybe one of these years we'll get around to putting up walls and making some rooms, instead of a big open space.

It also gets warm in the summer in the prairies, which allows the tomatoes and potatoes to grow nice and big, so it's all good.

The main complaint I have about the winter is not the cold - it's the extreme changes.  It's -24 right now, yesterday it was -10ish, and in two days it'll be -10ish again.  My head does not like this dramatic change, and I get migraine headaches.  Maybe that's what's wrong with me - just plain old migraines.  We'll see.

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Polar Bear club members are insane!

And lazy... and whiny. :)

I just slept for over 12 hours, and I could go for a nap right about now.  Of course, the migraine might have something to do with that.  I got up around 9am and couldn't really see  - but since I know the layout of the house, I was able to find the painkillers.  Downed some and back to bed until after noon.  Guess I need to talk to the Dr. about maybe upping my migraine preventative med - it's not really working.  It did for a little while, but now - not so much.  Add that to the vertigo and vision issues, and I'm a mess.

But, I got some good news yesterday - HRB's mom is out of the hospital, and is home.  YAY! I hope she continues to improve and feel better.  It's nice to hear HRB happy.  Things seem to be going her way again.  I'm sooo happy for her! :)

Now, can they go my way for a little while???   we need just a little bit of good fortune, and I'll be content.

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Luck, be a Lady tonight....

I'm Crabby - not Two-faced.

Let me preface my rant with this:

I AM NOT AN ASTROLOGER
I DO KNOW THAT SOME OF WHAT I SAY MAY BE IN ERROR.


Ahem... on with the rant:

I'm talking, of course, about the buzz about a "new" zodiac sign.  I've been a Cancer all my life - just because some astronomer says that I should be a Gemini doesn't mean I will change.  Gemini does not fit me one little bit.

Astrology is about balance, and harmony - not when the stars are in the sky.  If you read the Wiki article about it, you'll see that it hasn't mattered for a very long time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology

From what I understand - he's been there all along, and the early astronomers knew about him.   But, 13 is not balanced - therefore the Serpent Bearer (Ophiuchus) is not used. And who wants to be a serpent bearer anyway???  That does not sound like it fits into the Zodiac. 

I'm sure there are more than  13 constellations that could be astrological signs up there - you could have one for each week if you wanted too.  How about Orion?  Why not have that as an astrological sign?  Why not Ursa Major, Hurcules, or Canis Minor? You could have so many different things, why bother messing with the signs of the Zodiac.
Does this astronomer think that Astrologers have not taken into account the drift of the stars?  That they don't know darn well that the constellation of Capricorn has drifted a little bit?

The new dates don't make any sense either - Scorpio is 6 days in the new chart.  Uh - no.  That's not how it works, folks. If they really really want to be picky - leave it as is, but put a foot note that Scorpio also has Ohiuchus rising or some such thing. 

The New Dates:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18 - May 13
Taurus: May 13 - June 21
Gemini: June 21 - July 20
Cancer: July 20 - Aug. 10Leo: Aug. 10 - Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16 - Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30 - Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23 - Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29 - Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17 - Jan. 20

I think the person who brought this up just wanted to stir things up and get their 15 minutes, or in this case days, of fame.  Or, maybe they're crazy enough to think that people will just accept this change "oh, okay. If you say so - I'll suddenly change my sign".  These days - it could be either one. 

No matter how you slice it, I'm a crab. LOL


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Space, the Final Frontier...

The Husband thinks he's funny....

http://ramblingsfromthegreatwhitenorth.wordpress.com/2011/01/11/shooooot/

Har har har, he's so funny.  Ho ho ho - it is to laugh. 

I'm just lucky he didn't get into the football rant he's got going.  He'll probably wait until the CFL season starts for that one. 

What he doesn't like to acknowledge is that most of it is just to drive him crazy.  It is so much fun seeing the look on his face when I make the sillier comments.   I know darn well they're not going to shoot - there's a guy in the way, etc - but he makes such a funny face and then the smarty pants comments start.  It's just hysterical!

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Awww... The Denver Broncos.....

But I don't have your mail - Honest!

The past few weeks I've been getting phone calls on my cell phone, with the person on the other end hanging up when my voice mail cuts in.  No biggie - obviously a wrong number.  Meh, delete callerID and on my merry way, right?

WRONG!

More calls happen.  I called back once, and I got to talk to a very nice older lady who didn't speak English very well.  To be honest, she sounded like a Ukrainian baba. 
Apparently she wanted Canada Post.  I very politely let her know that I'm not with Canada Post, that she has the wrong number.  Thank you, she said.   Again... all done. right? Right?

Nope.

I just got a voice mail today from the same lady- "I talked to someone two weeks ago.  I'm still not getting my mail. Please call me back." No name, no phone number left.   This time, I tried to be nice and call Canada Post, to let them know that someone is trying to contact them.

What an exercise in frustration that was.  I tried the website first - looking for a "general" feedback form.  Nothing doing!  You have to pick a specific form, and then have a postal code. Since I didn't have that, time to phone them.
dial dial dial - impersonal computer telling me to choose English or French,  residential or commercial, Earth or Mars, are you still here? you haven't hung up yet?   Finally, could it be... a a a a person...NO! A recording!!!  -  "Thank you for calling Canada Post. We're experiencing high volumes of calls.  Please go to our website or call back later "  *click* WWHHHA?????  Are you freaking kidding me?  

So, I tried later.  yeah, that worked.  Didn't even get the choose 1 for English, just   "Thank you for calling. We're closed.  Go to our website" andscream in frustration.  

Alrighty then. Time to use my brains.  In other words -  I cheated.  I went to a website feedback form and told them that they need a better way for oddball requests, and that this lady needs some help.  Since I have caller ID, at least I had a phone number to give them.

I know that she won't get help - no one ever actually reads those forms.  But, at least I tried.  And next time my phone rings at work, I'll try to answer it so I can tell her that I'm very sorry, but I'm not Canada Post, and I don't know why you aren't getting your mail.


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Transfer complete - enter when ready.

Cheesy goodness and choices

That's what was in breakfast today!  Mmm... ham, cheese and mushroom omelette's for breakfast along with some of the best coffee I've ever had. 
It's not from a chain, either. I brew it myself.   It took me a long time to be able to brew decent coffee.  I've also discovered that it wasn't always just me - it was also the coffee.  Those giant cans of coffee *shudder* make terrible pots of coffee.  If I can't get the mountain blend I like, I then buy whole beans and grind them myself.   Yes, I'm a coffee snob. 


as you can tell, I'm not quite as melancholy today.  I'm still very concerned about the world - but I also know that I can only change me, and try to influence others.   I know that violence does not solve anything, and I can tell others that.  However, others may still choose to do violence.
And it all comes down to that - choice.  I hear people say "I didn't have a choice". Well, you did have a choice - but the other choice was unconscionable/inconceivable to you.  I see it on TV shows "Do it or I'll shoot you" - they have the choice to die. However, that is so far out there, it is not given any consideration.   

Or I'll hear "well, you didn't give me any choice" "you left me no choice" ... You had the choice not to do what you did.  It may not be a good choice, or one that you like, but you had the choice. You just had to get what you wanted.
The only time you don't have a choice is when something happens that you don't have time to react too.  For example: You're walking across the street on a green light and a car runs the red and hits you.  You didn't have the choice of being hit by the car or not because you didn't know it was happening.

However, you did have a choice to not to be there when the event happened.  But that gets a little crazy if you go that far - you'd never leave the house for fear of something happening.

Ha - can you tell this is a pet peeve of mine?

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Roads? where we're going we don't need roads!

Craziness

And not mine!

I have to wonder what is wrong with this world.  It's supposed to be getting more tolerant and more peaceful.  People are supposed to be getting along, aren't they?

Well, based on the stuff in the news these days - it's not happening.  People are blowing themselves and others up in the middle east.  Others are chanting that the US President is not a citizen while the house is in session.  And now a judge is dead, and a senator is shot in the head - and last I heard she is fighting for her life.

What is wrong with people?  Do they really think that killing someone is the answer?  It won't stop the ideas - if anything, it will get the ideas out there even more, because now we're all going to read about her ideas. 
They shot JFK, Martin Luther King and John Lennon.  Those ideas did not stop either. 

*sigh*  If I had one wish - it would not be for world peace.  It would be for World understanding - where you can have an opinion and not get shot for it.  And money would not influence whether you got what you need or not - like health care, shelter, food. Ah, I'm melancholy tonight.  I just want there to be less selfishness in the world - less fear mongering and more truth.

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The truth is out there.

well.... that was interesting

I am the first to admit that I don't know much about hockey - but even I know giving up 3 goals in 5 minutes is not good.    I remember saying to the Husband, just before the 3rd goal - Canada has stopped checking/hitting.  What's going on?

And it was down hill from there.  If I didn't know better - I'd almost think the Russians were playing possum.  They didn't do much until the third period - and then it was like a whole different team was playing!   Of course - I do know better.  The Russians were pumped full of steroids during the second intermission. :P 
Oh, man - I'm going to get into trouble with that, I know it. 

I do feel bad for the Canadian team though - they  looked stunned when the third goal went in. And absolutely poleaxed when the fourth one went in.  It was almost like they couldn't believe they were being outplayed.  And in the third period - they were.  Russia spanked them badly - and you could see they knew it.   

The only consolation that I can find in this - the loss was not to the USA.  I don't think I could have stood that two years in a row.

Since I'm female - I can say with a shrug

" There's always next year. "

 The men are going to spend the next year analyzing, over-thinking and trying to figure out what happened. It's simple.  Canada was up 3-0 and took the pressure off.  Who knows what happens if they don't?

Eyebrow on Stun, Mr. Spock

I have created another monster and an obscure endphrase

Today I received a "wall" post from HRB that she's got a blog now too.  I think the blog bug is catching - that's the fourth blog that's started since December when J suggested it to me.  Now I think HE needs a blog but I don't know that he'll do one.

I read her blog and I was laughing a bit and I realized - the other three must take a long time with their posts and think about them.  Me - I just type, proofread and off they go.  I'm not funny or witty, really.  Perhaps one of these days people will get a chuckle from my blog.

Speaking of proofreading - where oh where did that go?  Just about every book I read these days has a glaring grammar or spelling mistake.  "he couldn't catch his breathe"   Or the heroine's lovely blue eyes turn green for three pages, and then back to blue.
Don't get me started on the seemingly random name changes that happen.  It's quite disconcerting when Sara - who's supposed to be in France - suddenly appears in another scene in Australia.  Then you realize - that's not Sara!  That's Jenny - when the name changes in the next paragraph. 
I'd be willing to proofread almost for free - I get to read the book, and fix the errors.  Works for me! :)

I'm a big bookworm and was reading one of my old book series and decided to see if there were any new books. I was pleasantly surprised to see that there are more coming... that will be a good read. 
My favorite paranormal romance author is Maggie Shayne www.maggieshayne.com   She started writing vampire romance many years ago, and she wrote about her own version of the vampire.  And I'm not referring to the sparkly ones that are popular right now.  I've read both sets that start with "Twilight" - so I do know what I'm talking about.  The sparkly set had a chance - but there is SO much angst and whiny teenage stuff in there that I had a lot of trouble with it.  (I'm old and cranky!)  Luckily - I have a good imagination and filled in what was missing in the books in my head.

One of these days I'll write the book that's been rattling around in my head.  First - I have to get the time to do it.  Second - I have to have the energy to do it. *sigh*  Looks like it'll take a lottery win for me to be able to write it.  I might start the outline soon.  It's been popping up in my dreams more often lately - so I guess it's just about time.   I've learned in my life, that for things like this, they take their own time.  If I try to force it, it won't work right. 

I've also noticed that many people have an "endphrase" on their blog.  I haven't been able to think of one - so I'm going to use something I read in a book.  Perhaps I'll use random stuff.  You never know.

Mindwalk if you will.

Canada vs. USA

I'm a bit of a hockey fan, and just finished watching the World Junior semi-final in Buffalo NY.  You wouldn't know they were in the US by the crowd though - it was probably 75% Canadians.  It amazes me how little interest the USA has in hockey - and yet, they have more of the teams. Ah, well. 

Tomorrow night - Canada vs Russia for the gold medal.  I hope we win - it would take the sting out of the loss last year. :)  Although - the win tonight was pretty sweet, I can tell you.  When Canada scored in the first three minutes of the first period - I was pretty confident of a win!  

Of course, I'm a bit of a pessimist too - and waited until there was 5 minutes left in the third period and Canada was up 4 to 1 before I declared a win.  Mainly because there was the phantom high sticking penalty that Canada took - on replay, it was the USA player that whacked the USA goaltender.  No home ice advantage from the refs there!   

At least one of my teams will win tonight. I'm watching the Calgary Flames fail tonight.  They're already down 4-1 in the middle of the second period.  I won't be able to watch the entire game - I have to go back to work tomorrow. (WAAAAHHH! I DON'T WANT TOOO! can you see the temper tantrum through the screen?) Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised tomorrow - but I doubt it. 

Calgary has been kinda sucky this year.  I don't think they'll make the playoffs again - and who knows what they'll do to shake things up.  There's a lot of talk about trading Jerome Iginla - but I don't know if they will.  It might take the heart right out of the team if they do.  When you hear Calgary Flames you think Jerome Iginla.  but, since it's not my decision to make - I'll just wait and see.

01/01/11 - Happy New Year

And so the New Year begins.  Infinite possibilities and challenges await. 

May it be full of life and love and happiness, and may all your wishes and dreams for the new year come true.