Happy Halloween

Check out
my favourite
Halloween cartoon gag!

Convocation & Other Bits

Well, it is official. I received my Master of Business Administration degree yesterday at the convocation ceremony.

I never did go to my undergrad cermony. I figured I should put in the time and actually go to one convocation ceremony in my lifetime. This one being the last opportunity.

I did the walk, in my gown, shook the chancellor's hand and Peter McKinnions, and got my degree. It was a lot more fulfilling than I thought it would be. I am glad I went.

I guess it is time to do something with my degrees. Jeez....somebody call me, I need a job. Ok, I should probably stop complaining.

Let's hope I can snag a interview or a job during my upcoming trip to Vancouver.

My day has been overly anti-productive. The scratchiness in my throat, that I thought had come and gone, has turned into a cold. So far, not a head cold. I have only been plagued with the sniffles, running nose, sneezing, and laziness. I am hoping it will subside within a couple of days.

As for my new design, I hope everyone likes it. I have been unable to get the comments to appear below the post after clicking on the '# of comments' link. However, if you click on 'Post a comment', it will send open up bloggers comment window where you can view the comments that have been made. So, it's not like you can't view them at all, it is just more round about than I would like. However, it will work.

Some changes

It has come to my attention over the past number of weeks that I am not really 'on the go' anymore. My life is pretty much one long coffee break.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that my blog needed an update. I still like my old template, but figured it needed a change; a change that suited my current situation. I found this design at NonSoloTemplate. I have lurked here before, but didn't spend too much time as it is in Spanish (I think) and I haven't been able to translate some of the add-ons I wanted to use. However, this template has been fairly easy to copy over.

I have been spending a couple of weeks working on the template, and have been having some difficulty getting the comment scripting to function normally. I also was having a difficult time getting my recent and archive posts to appear on the new template. Alas, all I had to do was hit the refresh button. So keep that in mind when you are checking out my new site. Refresh! Other than bloggers comment function not working at the moment the only problem I have with the new look is the ability to view old comments. I am hoping that can be resolved within the next couple of days.

For all of you who read this, drop by and check out the new look, and join me for a little (or long) coffee break.

LMAO

Fun filled weekend

For part of the weekend we were in Regina. We haven't been down for awhile, so we took Tav's birthday as an opportunity to getting some family & friend time in.

Friday night we headed to my uncles and had a great visit. My uncle and I have always gotten along real well, and so it was a nice visit.

Saturday we took Jeff's gramma out for lunch, and then headed to Tav's birthday. We arrived near the end, but we still managed to get some cake and see all the kids have a good time. We stayed for supper and spent some quality time with our friends.

Since I quit my job 14 months ago I don't get down to Regina as often. For me it is important to make the time to continue relationships with friends & family. So although it was a short trip, there was quality time spent.

Sunday involved halloween decorating, errands and supper. I was having MFJ & Ril over for supper & a game of Runebound. MFJ unnecessarily purchased Jeff & I a copy of Runebound 2nd Ed., so the least I could do was have him over supper. And, just making sure that Ril doesn't get to lonely. Yes, she is fine, but you get still get lonely when you are ok. Plus she is great company.

I topped off the weekend by watching What Dreams May Come. Such a great movie.

Bummed out

As you may have guessed, from the lack of posting any new and exciting news, I still don't have a job. I still applying for jobs fairly aggressively, putting out approximately 5 per day. There seems to be a fair amount of jobs to apply for within Sask, Alberta, and BC, however no one seems to be calling my number.

So, today I went out with lunch with my school friends. It was great to see them and visit. The handful of us that were unemployed at the end of school are pretty much still looking for working, however the ball seems to have finally got rolling for a few of them, with interviews and job offers. Something that I have yet to see. Well, I suppose you can count the UofC interview, but that was way back in August when I was still in school.

Since I have returned from holidays (mid-Sept), I have put out 63 applications to specific job postings. And nothing! But, I guess I can't get a call for everything. Pauly thinks I am averaging pretty much the same as him, as he has had 5 job interviews for 150 applications/resumes sent out.

Everyone I talk to keeps saying that it will 'just hit', and I am hoping it will. It is just frustrating to see your friends luck begin to turn around while I am still sitting here jobless.

My 'mother-daughter caring thoughts calender' seemed to bring back the optimisim in me, for a moment anyways. Todays thought:

When you get into a tight place and it seems you can't go on, hold on, for that's just the place and the time that the tide will turn.
*Harriet Beecher Stowe*

Mommies are great

My mom was in the city today and stopped by for a visit...and out for lunch...and out shopping.

I was just remarking the other day to her about how great mommies are when they come to visit. They tend to spoil you, whether it is with gifts, lunches, or just cleaning your house.

My mom and I don't get to spend a lot of time together be it that she lives out of town, was still working up to 4 months ago, and has 3 grandchildren that live in the same town as her. So today was nice and special. We got to visit quietly, just the two of us. We had lunch at one of my favourite quaint cafes in town, Prairie Ink, and snooped around for some kids books for the grandkids.

By the way, McNally Robinson has some great home decor items, like serving trays, bowls, candles, etc. They also had a wicked collection of scarves, purses and wallets. I wanted to buy everything.

After lunch we headed to Broadway. We stopped at Pumpkins & Monkeys and some consignment stores. Mom picked up some gifts for the kids, and even treated me to a sweater.

Like I said, Mommies are great!

The job search continues...

After an exciting 5 days in Calgary and a fabulous wedding, I am back to the grind (if you can really call it that) of searching for employment.

I spent the first to days of this week volunteering for bio-logical futures III. I didn't get much of a chance to network with anyone who was attending, as they were pretty busy networking with other national and international organizations. However, I did meet some great people from Ag-West Bio.

It was a nice change of scenery. It actually felt like I was employed. I got up early, dressed myself in some nice professional clothes, and returned home after a long, tiring day. Kinda funny how I miss that.

I am really hoping that something turns up soon. If nothing has surfaced by November I have decided to make a few temporary moves. Andrea in Edmonton has offered her place, and I am sure Jen wouldn't mind me staying with her in Calgary for awhile. But I would rather not bother the newly-weds. I might even make my way to BC and crash with the West-Coaster.

Right now, I pretty much will take anything. It isn't so much the money as it is the boredom.

Weddings Rock!

This weekend was a blast. My friends wedding went off without a hitch. I can safely say that it was PERFECT! The ceremony was beautiful, short, and sweet. The flowers and dresses were outstanding. The pictures were super fun, and turned out great. The speeches were poetic and heartwarming. I don't think I have ever cried that much at a wedding before. Of course, tears of joy. I was reaquainted with many of Jen's family, and partied it up with many other friends and family. I think I drank just a little too much, but it was worth it.

The wedding was at the Palliser hotel in downtown Calgary. The staff did an amazing job of getting the day organized. The meal was fabulous, especially the beef tenderloin and chocolate lava cake with mint ice cream.

Although it was shitty, cold, rainy, and snowy all the way home today, yesterday was beautiful. I am glad the winter weather held back for one more day.

Weekend Wedding

Although I haven't spoke much about it, I am in my best friends wedding this weekend. In fact, I fly out in about 2 hours. I am looking quite forward to it. I think it is going to be a blast.

It is going to be a huge wedding, so unlike Jenny-Poo, but beautiful none-the-less. I am honoured with Maitron of Honour, and will stand along side the Maid of Honour (her sister), and 2 other bridesmaid.

I have got a couple days grace in Calgary before the wedding. It will be a nice way to break up the monotony of my life.

I said goodbye today to a good friend today. Even with the excitment of the upcoming wedding, I am a little glum and sad today. It seems as though all of my friends keep moving away. I am really gonna miss him.

On the a more exciting note, while in Calgary I will be staying with Furlak. It should be a good time. We tend to get along quite well and haven't had many opportunities to hang out. Hopefully my time won't all be consumed by the wedding.

Thanksgiving Weekend

I managed to keep busy all weekend, but left plenty of room for laziness.

Friday evening we headed out to Biggar for a quick visit with my family. We spent some quality time with our neice and nephews, ate lots, and visited with family. I even got to see an old friend from school. We have known it each other for years; before kindergarten I think. I have always liked the reference he uses to describe us, 'sandbox buddies.'

Sunday morning started off great with a trip to the new Galaxy Theatre to see The Big Dirty, it was so good I want to see again already. Bubbles and his nunchucks..Ricky as his court swearing...it was SUPER MEGA AWESOME COOL!!!

Sunday night also brought supper with Jeff's family. His brother is home from California for the weekend, so we spend part of the day visiting and eating lots, again.

Today provided us with a lot more laziness. We tidied up the house a bit, and got the patio furniture put away. This chore provided us with a little more entertainment than normal. Our new neighbours have themselves a wee little weiner dog, who managed to dig herself a path underneath the fence. As we were about to put away the table we noticed a little brown dog. Although I hadn't ever seen her before, I remember our neighbours remarking about their dog about a month ago during our initial introductions. Of course, the cats were out and about. Once the dog noticed them, he began to whimper and wag his tail. It was quite cute. As for the cats, they pretty much stared strangely at it the whole time. Jeff figured there would be a fight, but I wasn't worried, Jake & Smokey were both bigger than her, and all she wanted to do was play. Eventually I took her home, but it was an entertaining event none the less.

The remainder of the day was spent baking buns/cinnamon buns, playing a little WoW, and seeing a horrible movie with my soon to be ex-bum buddy. I guess it is time for me to get a job.

Hope everyone else had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Finding something to write about

I have begun to notice that I don't really have a lot to say these days. I have started to realize how much people do identify or describe themselves by their work.

For the last year, my 'work' was being a student, and I had a lot of things to say about it. Before that, my job in training & development provided me with endless things to talk about. There was always something interesting to say about a participant or a class or new place I had visited.

Since school ended, I haven't had a lot to say, and it is beginning to worry me. I keep thinking that there should be something interesting rolling around in this head of mine...interesting enough to right about, and there just hasn't been. Or perhaps, I have just become unintersting or lazy.

However, there has been something that has been bothering me since I read about it. This issue struck a nerve with me the first moment I heard about it. This is pretty much the gist of it:

Some doctors and residents in the Humboldt region are upset the hospital will no longer allow tubal ligations to be performed because the procedure contravenes Roman Catholic teachings on sterilization.

I have a couple of issues with deciding to ban tubal ligations from being performed at the Humboldt hospital. First, the reasoning is based on religion. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with religion. However, I do believe that religion and worship is a very personal choice, and I am not an advocate of individuals pushing their beliefs onto others. For a hospital to decide for the masses (masses of Humbodlt and surrounding area, I guess) that a surgery will not be performed because it goes against the teachings of the Catholic church, is doing just that, pushing their beliefs onto others. Perhaps there is a woman who is not Catholic, who wants a tubal ligation and lives in Humboldt, she has essentially been denied a PUBLIC SERVICE.

This bring me to my second, yet related point. The decision is essentially a form of discrimination. If you are Catholic, and practise the Catholic faith, this decision really doesn't affect you and you are good to go. But if you worship another religion, I guess you are shit out of luck if you want to receive the surgery. Too bad you didn't live somewhere else.

I can understand individuals making personal medical choices based on their religion. For example, when a blood transfusion is denied due to relgious beliefs. But when groups of people and boards are making decisions that effect the general public, and those decisions are based off religion, that is wrong.

It will be intersting to see how this situation plays out.

Coming to a theatre near you

Trailer Park Boys - The Movie.

Opening October 6th, 2006.

Unfortunately, I happen to be heading home for Thanksgiving and will miss out on the opening night. However, I am hoping they have a late night premiere showing on Thursday night. Kinda like they did for Snakes on a Plane. If not, I hope that my 'bum buddy' will wait so that we can go together on Saturday night or Sunday afternoon.

Squee! I am so excited.