Thursday 30 August 2012

SC - TexMex Salad

I took a risk and decided to make-up a salad recipe. I am a terrible cook and have no concept about how flavors work together but I figured if I made something TexMex then I could just put together things often seen in Mexican dishes and it should taste alright. 

Chris' Corn TexMex Salad
Can be eaten as a salad or used as a dip with scooped shaped tortilla chips.
-  Shredded Chedder and Motzerella (Served on the side for Kristen)
One can of Red Kidney Beans (washed)
- One can of Lentils (washed)
- Can of Corn Niblets (Drained)
- A large bunch of Spring Onions, Finely chopped
- Green Pepper (Cut to a size smaller than the Kidney Beans)
- Avocado (Cut to a size smaller than the Kidney Beans)
- Minced Garlic
- Lime Juice
- Salsa (I used Tostitos Roasted Garlic Salsa)

Wednesday 29 August 2012

Solid Cheese

Work is busy, as usual. The past two days, while administering our TTC program, I have been working on scheduling deliveries and organizing about 50 businesses who are participating in a promotion my office is preparing. All day today I have been muddling my days and messing up what day of the week it was. Luckily this didn't happened when dealing directly with a client but often I would find my self looking at various calenders and charts I was working on confused as to where we were in the week.

All day, I have been thinking that it was Thursday. -- It isn't, it is Wednesday.-- It doesn't even make any sense that my mind would skip ahead a day since I wasn't even at work on Monday. However, it felt like Thursday. Not even in a wishing it was later in the week so that it would be over sooner type of way - just genuinely my body/internal/natural clock seemed to make today Thursday.

I couldn't figure it out. Then I realised that I had made plans a couple of days ago with the guy I am dating to spend the night together, meet up after work and have dinner at The Ex - on Thursday night. Now, I was fully aware that this was happening tomorrow. However, I have been so excited about seeing him again that I am looking forward to it like it is a weekend, making it feel like it is happening on a Friday night. Hence making today feel like Thursday.

I think the phrase behind this sentiment, while quite cheesy, is also poetically beautiful while at the same time romantic in a way that is urban and modern and real.

You are my weekend.

As a side note, yes, I am seeing someone - who for the time being does not have a 'blog name' because his initial has been used in the past and I can't think of a good alternative. We met on eHarmony and even though we have stuck to weekdays, he is the first person  in a long while that I would consider worth having a date with on a weekend. I really do enjoy him, as, especially in the summer, weekends are golden times that I had yet to feel a guy was worthy of.

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Internet!!!

I have switched between Bell and Rogers. Bell is at Rrunuv Bayit now setting up phone, internet, and tv. The GTA (Greater Toronto Area) and some parts of Quebec now have Fiber Optic cable available through Bell, so I am having that installed. They have to run new lines and set everything up. The two technicians have been here for 3 and a half hours already. Thus far the phone and, obviously, the internet have been completed. However, the tube tv that my parents gave me is posing a problem - they can get the sound to work but not the video. (We are listening to the Republican National Convention.) Happy to have the internet though.

Wednesday 22 August 2012

"Three Things I Want In A Guy"

------- from Twitter (A Craigslist Ad)
 

Click on the image to enlarge and read the text.
(I laughed so hard at this!! Totally want this car.)

Tuesday 21 August 2012

You Cannot Multitask

As I have said before - I love visual representations of data! The Perils of Multitasking is a well done infographic (not always the case - sometimes these trendy infographic things are not done well or contain little/incorrect data or bad sources.) Highlights include: "Studies show that while working, being distracted by incoming calls or emails lowers a person's IQ by 10 points. The equivalent of missing a night of sleep. And twice the effect of smoking marijuana."

Thursday 16 August 2012

Lessons From NYC - Brooklyn Bridge Is Busy

Looking Up To Avoid Getting Tourists In The Brooklyn Bridge Photo
Photo by me with my cell phone

Teri and I walked across from Manhattan to Brooklyn on the Manhattan Bridge and then returned by walking across the Brooklyn bridge. While the later is much more iconic, it was very very busy - packed with tourists. The walk towards the island has a nicer view, but it would be enjoyed more in the peace and quiet of the Manhattan Bridge.

Tuesday 14 August 2012

Cat Yoga

Amusing and cute! (Also, features 2D-Kitten, which Two used to do all the time but I haven't really seen in a while. The movie calls it 'Warrior I' and the cat also does it in front of the mirror.)

2D-Kitten: when a cat arches into a Halloween version of itself, with a puffy tail and hops backwards: the cat appears to flatten, all four legs and paws seem to lie on the same plane aka. the cat is two-dimensional

Sunday 12 August 2012

No Night Bus

I stare at the computer screen. Sober. With the knowledge that for the last 4 years writing has only come after drinking. But I want to tell the story of The Night Bus.

Or should I say - The No Night Bus

----

1:25am and the streetcar arrives as I check my phone for its schedule

A paper sign on a station pole details the final route before the switch to night blue. Municipal taxes for computer paper and a depressing 1:34am when my cell reads 1:39

I say that there is a 24 hour night bus and the others say that it picks up on the street a couple of blocks away so I walk towards home enjoying the cool night air and soon find the strip of metal with 24hr on top and a strip of blue on the bottom

Pull down the sleeves of my thin shirt

Look for a ledge to lean but find a wall

Sharp pains in my stomach that I can't figure out

Stand while moving digital images with my fingers to make other digital images in the hopes of getting another digital image. (I play a game on my cell.)

Watch cars and lights and cabs

Listen to conversations from open windows

Walk to the edge to look into the distance

An exit from the cell phone game shows 2:09am and that the battery is dying.

It has become a case of wills. Too much time. Pride and the need to triumph. Watching others give in to taxis or turn swiftly and start walking away - fun to see at first but now upsets me - I will not give up. There is no snow. The weather is perfect for waiting. (I try to pull my sleeves down further and stuff my hands into my pockets. Goosebumps formed ages ago.) This is a city of transit and I grew up in a town with none.

-Slowly lower body down the wall
-Sit in a clear patch of concrete
-Bend legs in front

Find my book in my purse and read.
Time stops for a while.

When the 312 pulls up it is full. The door is not opening, though there is movement inside leading to the hope of space. The number of people gathered at my corner has grown considerably and even if the doors open I am now standing behind them all.

Two more turn on their heel and walk away.

I watch the bus leave and wait to cross the street
The walk is nicer then the waiting.
Clothes on mannequins. Chairs on top of tables.

For a brief moment as I pass, I see a man lean over to peer into a mirror inside a darkened barber shop.
-- I move to the curb
-- Raise my hand
-- And hail a cab

Spending my last $10 at 2:59am

Thursday 9 August 2012

Do I O U 2?

I really really need a laptop. My parent's want their netbook back, and I find it challenging to use. I got it in my head that I would buy a very cheap laptop - for $200. I scrounged together $200 and started looking; well, it turns out that laptops are sightly more than that. So instead I am going to start paying back the people I owe money too, which includes, but I don't think is limited to:
- Teri (for hotels/hostels during our trip)
- Steph (for a train ticket to her wedding)
- Dad (for the bridesmaids' dresses he put on his Sears card)
Let's just not talk about the credit cards...

Wednesday 8 August 2012

Two Cute

Two In The Window Of The WOTS Office
By Cailin C.

Tuesday 7 August 2012

Burnt Belly

Last week I read at my doctor's office that skin cancer is the both the most prevalent and most preventable cancer. (I would argue that the cancers related to smoking are more preventable though.) Anyway, only a few days after that I get my first sun burn IN YEARS! It is pretty mild, just slightly uncomfortable. However, I am such an intense advocate for sunscreen use that I'm very disappointed in myself. At the cottage, I was, of course, wearing sunscreen but I wasn't diligent enough with reapplying after swimming. Also, I am now using this sport-spray kind that I feel needs more applications than the normal cream stuff. Well, now I know - learnt the hard way.

Thursday 2 August 2012

Healing Is Hot

I fell yesterday - randomly. I was walking outside, in new shoes that I can't even call heels, and I think my ankle just collapsed. Which isn't really that strange, it was the weak one that I sprained years ago and I affectionately call 'my hoof'. Because I was holding things, I landed on my elbow, forearm, and right knee. It didn't hut and thankfully didn't wreak my jeans. However, when I got home I found out I scrapped it up pretty good and it was bleeding (but it didn't go through my pants so I don't really get how that happens.) Anyway, y knee got a little swollen over night and is sore now when I bend it. Hopefully it will turn into a really impressive bruise! The strangest thing though is that the whole knee area, around the scabby part, is very very warm. I know that is how you tell a injury, but it is really strange to feel the difference in temperature between my two knee caps. I can't remember really experiencing that before.