One Part Inspiration...

All right already. I'm a little steamed. I got a notice from my employer saying I have to get a Criminal Record Check. It will be my expense and will come off my paycheque . No reimbursement. Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, I phone the contact man up and ask if I can submit the Criminal Record Check I had done last year when I started my other job. He said no. When I questioned him further, he said that the information on this one was different than the one I had done last year. So I pressed further and asked what information they would be looking for. He said "This one will have information about working with children under nineteen, and frail adults." I told him that is the same type of check I had done last year, and he said "Well, there's other information as well." So I asked him what other information would be required that would be different. Well, he couldn't tell me, but he was sure it was different. R.e.a.l.l.y.? I was stunned at...

I've been spending a lot of time on the phone - getting information from, and relaying information to parties who are connected, but don't want to talk to each other. Each has their own bureaucracy and set of rules. Neither will budge for the other. And I am caught in the middle. At one point today, I wanted to get each of them on separate phones and hold up the two receivers so they could talk to each other. Enough of this 'he said' - 'she said' stuff! Perhaps I will send them each this video. They can choose which they want to be. They will likely both want to be the "North -going Zax". Then I will be back at square one.

" Would you like a medium or large with your order?" "Would you like butter on your popcorn?" "Would you like to make it a Mocha?" "Would you like to apply for this job?" "Would you like your child to attend the dance?" All of these are questions I have been asked recently. My first response has been " Sure! I'm extra thirsty. Give me the large ". " Butter? Absolutely. Yum ." " Chicken would go great on my salad ". " Job?!! Sign me up! " " Of course I want to let my child enjoy every bit of his grad experience. Let him dance like nobody's watching ." Then the truth is revealed. None of these are inclusive. The large drink? It costs extra. The butter on the popcorn? That will be another 75 cents. Choose the mocha option, and add 25 cents to the bill (before taxes). The job requires a police check (my cost), along with several other items too tedious to mention. ...

I am told that if you press "Shift" + Control + Right Arrow Key, and then the Delete Key it will Highlight ...delete....delete....delete.... a ll you shouldn't say . . For the purposes of this post, I'll just call it the Highlight ...delete....delete....delete . .. .button. This happens to be my most favorite computer trick of all. It saves time. It saves face. It goes like this: typing, typing typing, asdjflkas;dfjask;ldjk ..... oh man, that's not right........... Highlight ...delete....delete....delete.... typing, typing typing, asdjflkas;dfjask;ldjk...no that's not good either ......... Highlight ...delete....delete....delete.... try, try again. What would be even better is if I could use this in conversations that go bad. How much nicer would life be if this button was available when" AWKward " conversations happen. I could just think: "Wow. That went badly. Highlight ...delete....delete....delete.... ". and the...

When I was little, I loved flying. I thought it was ever so exciting. Getting on a plane. Taking off. Sitting as far back in my seat as I could, in anticipation of the plane lifting off. Watching the wheels tuck up underneath the plane. I loved flying through the clouds. I used to imagine I was close to heaven. Perhaps my excitement about flying had something to do with the stewards and stewardesses. They always seemed to have an extra space in their hearts for little kids who were cooped up for hours on a plane. I remember being enthralled with the crayons and the books of puzzles I got, as well as the kitsch from the airlines. I treasured the little plastic airplanes with the logos on them; I kept the napkins and the stir stix as long as I could. As much fun as it was to fly, it was boring to wait for the flights. On one particular trip back to Canada, we landed in Germany. We were there a very LONNG time. My brother, my sister and I took to riding the escalators backwards - up t...

Warning: This post contains graphi c illustrations. Viewer discretion is advised. There you are. The mom. All calm-like. Then BAM. MeLTdown! Why in the world does this happen so quickly? Where does it start? You can wake up in the morning and everything is going well, until you see that the garbage which was SUPPOSED TO BE EMPTIED LAST NIGHT, has seeped out of it's bag, all over the cupboard floor. You look a little closer, and now you see that the onions under there SOMEONE WAS ASKED TO put in a dry spot, are now smelling like they need more help than Dr. Phil can give. On top of that, the seepage has gone down through the cupboard into a sloppy mess on the floor which you just washed (and now you have stepped in it). And there you are. In a full scale MelTDOwn. You reach 0 - 60, in 2.5 seconds flat. Sometimes, you can sense a MEltDOWNN coming and try to head it off at the pass. Certain things have been building inside - things like seeing gobs of used toothpaste on the sink, or g...

Sometimes, trying to sleep in this house, is an exercise in futility. We live on the corner of a thoroughfare of traffic either trying to get to the freeway, or trying to get away from the freeway. No matter which way you slice the traffic pie, there's little discretion on the drivers' part as they fly down the hill towards our place, or away from our place. It matters little to them how fast they approach the intersection, or scream away from it. To top it off, two sides of the corner have a big dip in the road, so we get to be privy to crunching underbellies, as they race towards or away from the stop sign. The stop sign might as well be a suggestion. No one stops for it. They just slow down, check to see who else with whom they can play "Thread the needle", and sail on through. Then there are the emergency vehicles, which enjoy exercising their sirens on their way to and from various emergencies. Fire trucks, ambulance, police. Sometimes all in a matte...

The only thing wrong with doing nothing is you never know when you’re finished. This quote by "Anonymous" caught my eye today. I don't know about you, but with me, doing "Nothing" merges into the "Since- I'm -here-I -might- as -wells", and the "Maybe-I-wills" . I consider this a luxury. I also find it satisfying to my soul. "Nothing" can turn into finishing little projects that I haven't quite got to yet, or little bits of re-organizing. I might catch up on emails, play a game, or chat on the phone. Other times, I enjoy spending time at the piano - playing songs that I know, ones that I don't, and throwing in a couple of improvisations. I guess all this proves that you really never do know when you are finished doing "Nothing". But more than that, I know that there's never enough time to do "Nothing". This brings me to vacations. Why is it that when one mentions that they are going to be on vacati...