Just thinking

Work has been totally nutty the last couple of days. Its Registration Week and we're the people who make photo ids for the students. Thankfully we've finally got some useful handouts so I don't have to give each student a 3 minute spiel about how the card works. When I went home yesterday, I actually still felt like talking and was completely parched; it was amazing! Today I'm in the library (rather than the gym) and am actually kinda bored. Some how it just seems wrong.

later...

Well, I'm not bored anymore. 'The place where I work' is opening a new residence this Fall. The library is putting door hangers with attached dry erase markers for leaving messages on each of the rooms. I'm sticking the pens to the cardboard with velcro. Thankfully, one side of the velcro has already been stuck to the pen and I just have to peel the back off and stick it to the door hanger. Maybe "not bored" isn't quite what I'm feeling...

I'm a student... again

About a week ago, I decided I wanted to take English 101 at the place where I work. I can take classes at a reduced cost because I'm an employee. I hadn't take advantage of it yet and really wanted too.

Anyway, I've jumped through all the hoops and was able to register for the class yesterday. It will be Tuesday evenings from September through April.

I'm excited about it.

A Mouse Update

I realize that many of my readers will have heard most of this already but I'm recording it for posterity and really, there's not much else going on in my life.

My mice have been dropping like flies over the last 6 months. It comes from them being about the same age and that age being on the upper end of a mouse's lifespan. The most resent deaths have been on opposite ends of the Tragedy/Comedy scale.

George was one of the new mice we bought when there were only 2 old ones left. She was a white with tan spots and was very active. She loved to climb; she was the only mouse we've had who could successfully crawl upside down on the top of the cage. Climbing it would seem would be her downfall. She must have been climbing on the outside of the wheel because when we found her, she had fallen through one of the holes and strangled herself on the frame that holds the wheel to the cage. It was tragic and disturbing. I actually cried. None of the other mouse deaths have affected me very much but George was different. She was young and it was an accident. The others had lived long, happy lives.

Ginger was one of the older mice. She was the one baby we kept when Sable gave birth (see the Archives Mar10/04, if you're wondering). She grew up to be so fat she was spherical. Even when she was walking, she was round with a little head, feet and tail sticking out. As she got older she didn't fit through the tubes very well and tended to stay in one cage or the other, only moving if we put the food in the other cage. She died while we were in Calgary, fittingly enough in the food dish. When I buried her, I just took the dish and dumped her and the food that was left in the grave. It just seemed right.

We have since gotten 3 new mice (bringing the colony back up to 4). They are Peaches, Cream and Brazen. Peaches is white with tan spots and has very black eyes. Cream is (you guessed it) white with red eyes. Brazen is kind of strawberry blonde. She is a satin, which basically means she has long hair. Peaches appears to be the dominant mouse and spends her time building nests, kicking shavings out of the cage and bossing everyone else around.

Cuz we all need a lame meme now and then...

1. WHAT COLOR ARE YOUR KITCHEN PLATES? beige with little fences and birds, cream with peach flowers, and ecru with brightly coloured fruit. Matched dishes are for whimps.
2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
3.WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Don't have one because they're too cheap to buy me one.
4. FAVORITE BOARD GAME? Settlers of Catan. Or Scrabble
5. LEAST FAVORITE SMELLS? The Cross Cancer Institute
6. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING? Where are my glasses
7. FAVORITE COLOR: orange, red purple; can't decide
8. LEAST FAVORITE COLOR: chartreuse (I can never remember whether its green or pink)
9. HOW MANY RINGS until YOU ANSWER THE PHONE? depends how far away I am
10. FUTURE CHILD'S NAME? Edana
11. CHOCOLATE OR VANILLA? . Both
12. DO YOU LIKE TO DRIVE FAST? Do ducks quack?
13. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL? Louisa, my purple bunny
14. DO YOU LIKE THUNDERSTORMS? Yes.
15. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR? 1986 Pontiac Acadian, 4 door, 98 cc motor, blue and grey. I hated that car.
16. WHAT IS YOUR SIGN? Life is one fool thing after another. Love is two fool things after eachother.
17. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS OF BROCCOLI? Yes.
18. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY JOB WHAT WOULD IT BE? Mine, but with more cataloguing.
19. IF YOU COULD HAVE ANY COLOR HAIR, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Red
20. IS THE GLASS HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? half full, with rubber duckies floating in it.
21. FAVORITE MOVIE? Stage Beauty, Ever After
22. DO YOU TYPE WITH YOUR FINGERS ON THE RIGHT KEYS? It usually helps.
23. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED? My rotary cutting mat.
24. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 01/23
25. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? Dumpster diving
26. YOUR SINGLE BIGGEST INTENSE PAIN? There's been so many...
27. KETCHUP OR MUSTARD? Mustard
28. HAMBURGER OR HOT DOG? Both
29. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? Autumn
30. THE BEST PLACE YOU HAVE EVER BEEN? Pender Island or my parents', its a toss up.
31. WHAT SCREEN SAVER IS ON YOUR COMPUTER RIGHT NOW? 3D Flowerbox
32. FAVORITE FAST FOOD? Arbys
33. WHAT IS YOUR BIRTH NAME? Myrna Gayle Dean
34. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC? Country (really, is there any question)
35. FAVORITE REALITY SHOW? My Neighbourhood Kids Causing Mischief

Redneck Goodness

On Sunday, Davyd and I went to Lone Pine for a picnic at the lake with my family. It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too hot, breezy but not cold. Mostly we just sat around, ate and chatted. I had a good time catching up with people. I really don't get to see my family enough; we only live 2 hours away and I haven't seem most of them since Christmas. I even saw one of the guys I went to school with; he really doesn't seem to have changed much.

D and I went out in the canoe for a while. Mom and Dad's canoe is only a little 8' plastic Coleman and Davyd and I just about are too much for it. We only had about 4" of freeboard at the most. I must remember not to go out in it when its windy. Schumann Lake is really a bit small to canoe in (you can go all around the shore in less than half an hour) but its a nice easy paddle.

We also went for a walk with Mom and Femke. There's an old road that goes from the campsite through the bush to one of my cousin's property. We saw lots of mushrooms (this year has actually been wet enough for them to grow) and LOTS of little frogs (from about 1/2 an inch to 3 inches in length). I like frogs.

I'm going to try and get out to Mom and Dad's for day trips more often. Wanna come?

Mini-break - Part II

On Sunday, Davyd and I went to the Glenbow Museum. They have an extraordinary collection of weapons and armor from all over the world, from the Europe to the South Pacific, to Japan, to Africa. I really like the Samurai armor, its very intricate but in some ways it's really creep. They display it in a sitting position and because it covers the whole body, it looks like there could really be a person in it except of the empty eye sockets. The rope armor from the South Pacific is also really neat. It looks like a macrame project gone very wrong. Basically its a jumpsuit made out of closely knotted rope (it looks itchy). I also really enjoyed their Pioneer exhibit. It had the same sort of items that all that sort of exhibit has but they told stories about the people who owned the objects. Like the knitting machine that a woman and her family packed in pieces from Riga, Latvia to southern Alberta where she used it to support her family. The stories brought to mind that these were real people who were bringing these few precious things with them to their new homes in Canada, in hopes of a better life.

In the afternoon, we had a picnic in the park. It was romantic. We ate and chatted and watched the sailboats on the reservoir.

On Monday, we drove home.