Harry Potter

Sorry - the thing that has been keeping me busy these past few days is the fact that the new Harry Potter books comes out on the 21st.

I am trying to re-read the first 6 books before reading the 7th - I found that I had forgotten a lot when I read the 6th significantly later than the 5th.

I am enjoying the books immensely - they never get old!

And, for those of you who think watching the movies is as good as reading the books, be warned that you miss out of the delightful words themselves - Rowling is an amazing writer!

quick hellp

Not much to report.

I thought, however, that I'd recommend the anonymous lawyer blog as good summer reading...

http://anonymouslawyer.blogspot.com/

It is quite funny - and only somewhat more outrageous than the reality of working in a large firm...

Enjoy!

another Toronto anecdote...

2) I had been seeing someone for a couple of weeks prior to Valentine’s Day. On the 14th, I actually got out of work early. I called the guy up – excited to spend my first Valentine’s Day with a ‘boyfriend’. BUT, he was sick and didn’t want to do anything and didn’t even want me to bring him soup or anything to his place (suffice it to say we broke up a few days later…)

Anyway, that isn’t the story.

I took the subway to my stop – Yonge and Eglinton. BUT when I got above ground I found my street and a few other streets cordoned off with police tape and police cars. Apparently someone had left a suitcase outside the Hooters right across from my condo building (yes I lived across the street from a Hooters). Anyway, the bomb squad was there to check things out. I wasn’t allowed near my building and the cops couldn’t tell me when they’d be gone…

So, I went to the movie theatre down the street. It was me and a bunch of pre-teenage girls watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 days…we were the only ones in the theatre. They were laughing at me (for being so pathetic as to be watching a romance on Valentine’s Day alone). Meanwhile I was pissing myself laughing at the movie – between me, and two of my close friends, we had committed every one of the ‘bad’ things in the previous few weeks…I couldn’t also help but smirk at the girls, who just didn’t get the movie AT ALL, that they’d understand in a few years why I was laughing…

It was actually the best Valentine’s Day ever for me!

Mish mash...

Hey there all.

Sorry for not being more attentive to my blogging duties – I have been enjoying the summer like we all should – outside and in the pool.

I don’t really feel inspired to write about anything in particular today, but thought that at the very least I should post something to let you know that I haven’t forgotten about you…

Someone asked me about my time in Toronto, so here’re a few anecdotes:

1) The hours at my firm were intense – but the firm was very supportive and attentive to our needs (we got free lunches and dinners every day, free cab rides home if we were there late, they paid for our gym memberships and we could use those even during the day during the week if we found a couple of hours of downtime…).

I do remember one weekend though that sticks in my mind. I was supposed to join a friend of mine at some formal dinner or other on a Friday night (it was a big deal that she chose me to join her). Just as I was about to shut down my computer for the weekend – it was going to be a rare weekend that I could take off completely – I got a phone call. I should have known better than to have made plans.

One of the main lawyers for whom I worked had an emergency assignment for me that needed to be done by Monday at 8:30 a.m. It would require me to work literally 24-7 for at least two days to complete. I had to call my friend and cancel on her, again (which actually cost me my friendship with her, literally).

Anyway, at 6:45 p.m., I got another phone call from the same lawyer. She had an ever more time sensitive emergency. I had to do the research and get her the answer for Sunday morning. AND then at that point start work on the first emergency. I also couldn’t pass off either file to someone else because I was the junior on both and was so familiar with the matters that it would take more time to bring someone else up to snuff than to just do the work myself (besides no one else would have had time anyways…) BUT both files were really interesting and the issues were really THAT important (which was cool that I was the one doing the research…)

Suffice it to say, I didn’t get much, if any sleep, that weekend…There were many calls home at like 2 or 3 a.m. to my mom for encouragement and SEVERAL cans of coca cola consumed…

Anyway, back to the present. My current job does not require me to put in very much ‘overtime’ at all – and that is one of the main reasons why I love it!

This weekend I get to see a friend and her two young children – they are visiting from Toronto. I am also going to look at a few more houses…we are still looking. It is crazy – one of the houses that is now on the market has been on the market three other times in the past two years – I have never gone inside so now I am curious to know what the issue is that causes people to flip it so soon after taking possession…

What are you guys up to for the weekend???

Believe it or not, I like my job…

This is the first time that I can ever say, after so many months of working at the same place, that I like my job.

I loved aspects of my job in Toronto. The excitement of working on files that eventually appeared in newspapers, the dollar amounts of the transactions, the immediacy and importance of the work, and the people – all were great (as was the money!) What wasn’t so great were the hours – pretty much 24/7. When I wasn’t at the office, I had to check my messages and e-mail frequently (these were the days pre-blackberry, believe it or not…)

I could never make definite plans with anyone. I actually lost a few close friendships over the year because my friends just didn’t understand, or respect, that I had to cancel at the last minute – ALL the time!

My stomach used to turn in knots every Friday afternoon – because I knew that at 6 p.m., right when I was leaving – the phone would ring and I would be stuck at work all weekend. And, even if I got to go home, I would stress every Sunday night about what the upcoming work week would hold for me.

Going back to my current job, the hours are fantastic…usually 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The nights that I do have to work late (few and far between), I can predict well in advance and plan my social life accordingly. I also don’t usually ever have to work weekends.

And, lately, my work is very enjoyable. While I do have a boss, the stuff I do is usually my own (i.e. I get to decide how to do things / plan things…). I am kept quite busy during the day, which makes time fly – and nothing is so pressing that I need to stay later than 5 p.m. (unless, of course, it is one of those predicted late nights…) And, also lately, I am getting more and more work from higher ups – which is also quite fun and flattering.

Furthermore, a new co-worker started a few months ago and she is fantastic. We get along really well – and we both help each other out when we are super busy. Plus, most importantly, she likes the same music as I do. You see, due to space constraints we share an office. And, unlike my old co-worker who used to tell me to turn my music off because she didn’t like it, if anything my new co-worker asks me to turn the volume up.

Anyway, I never thought that I would see the day where I actually liked going to work. That day has finally arrived – and I am truly grateful!

The blogger beast hates me!

I freaking HATE the new google blogger version!!!!

Part of the reason why I haven’t posted more often of late is that I actually do write postings, but when I go to copy them into Word to double check my spelling etc. the post is deleted – seriously – I highlight all of the post and for some reason out of nowhere the words disappear. And, of course, there is no undo function.

Usually, I write the post in Word (which is what I am doing now) and then copy and paste the posting into blogger – having learned from experience about the blogger beast and its love for eating my words…but sometimes (and yes I never learn) I think that I am only going to write a quick blurb and so I just try to type it directly into blogger.

The blogger must have been really hungry this morning because it just freaking did it again – I am so frustrated!!!!!!!

This time though I think that it must have sensed that I was ranting about how much I hate the new blogger version (for a different reason to be described below) and didn’t want my rants to be posted…it probably hoped that I would just give up like I have done in the past and not bother to re-type things. Well, this time I am not giving in! (Though clearly, I am going crazy if I am personifying a crappy program.)

Anyway, my original rant was about how difficult it has become to even log in to blogger – the difficulty arising ever since the new blogger version became mandatory.

I try to log in but it usually doesn’t work. And, no, I am not an idiot who just can’t type my login or password accurately – I type the same freaking thing like a million times before I am finally granted access to my own account. ARGH!!!!!

Things became all the more frustrating, though, two days ago.

You see, I am a regular reader of Rebecca Eckler’s blog: ninepounddictator.blogspot.com. For the first time, the other day, I decided to post a comment about one of her postings. I wrote it out directly into the comment window (yes – I really will never learn!) and then tried to log in so that the comment would come from me, icecoldcranberry, rather than merely as an anonymous poster. AND, as usual, the system just wouldn’t let me in.

Because I had been so ‘excited’ to finally post a comment to her blog, I tried several times in a row to log in – to no success. At some point, the system told me to try logging into google a different way – and when I clicked the link to do so, instead of opening in a new window, the page opened in the current one (the one with my posting). So, of course, I lost my posting in the process. At that point, I gave up for the night.

But, then yesterday, I decided that I wasn’t going to let the blogger beast get the best of me. SO, I retyped the posting (changed slightly, of course, because I couldn’t remember my exact original wording…) and tried, yet again, to post my comment. This time it only took four tries until I was logged in as icecoldcranberry.

Last night before falling asleep, I had a horrible thought…what if, every time I tried to post my comment, it actually was in fact e-mailed to Rebecca Eckler even though the system didn’t actually tell me that the comment was being sent???? Ms Eckler would think I was the biggest psycho freak ever for sending my comment like a million times to her!

As of this morning, she had yet to accept my comment for posting…so I guess I will just wait and see.

In the meantime, I will just have to laugh!

p.s. Do any of you have problems posting a comment / logging into your own blogger accounts???

Memory lane...

Now that my younger niece is almost a year old I was reminiscing about just after she was born.

My sister-in-law had a scheduled c-section (her first birth ended up being an emergency c-section, and her insurance company insisted that for her second child she had to have another section). The baby developed respiratory problems almost immediately after she was born (recognised complication of a c-section delivery). Anyways, both my sister-in-law and my baby niece ended up having to stay in the hospital an extra few days.

My older niece who was 3 years old at the time began to really miss my sister-in-law. So, my brother, in his infinite wisdom, thought that it would be a great soother to show my older niece the video of her parents’ wedding (i.e, my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding 8 years earlier) so that she could ‘see’ her mommy.

After watching the video for a few minutes, my older niece began to cry hysterically!!!! It took my brother forever to calm her down to the point where she could even speak. At that point, when my brother asked her what was wrong – she whimpered “How come I wasn’t at your wedding? How come you didn’t let me go? What did I do wrong Daddy? Everyone else was there! Gramma, Papa, Grampa, Baba, my aunties, my uncle….where was I? And if everyone was there, who was looking after me???!!!!! Did you leave me alone?!!!! Didn’t you love me? Didn’t you want me there??!!!!” (almost verbatim - my family are talkers!) And then she started crying again! She was devastated!

If I didn’t feel my heart break on my niece’s behalf, I would have laughed hysterically…

Out of the mouths of babes!

question...

And let me start by stating "NO I AM NOT PREGNANT"...

But, I was thinking about this issue anyway so I thought I would throw it out there to see what you guys think.

Assuming a young couple did just have a child. Along comes Mother's Day.

Does the young mother get to spend the day sans her mother-in-law / mother or is she obligated to share the day with them as well?

Afterall, there is a Grandparents' Day at some other point in the year...

But, is it just rude to want to spend, at least, her first Mother's Day with her immediate 'new' family only - i.e. her husband and child?

Realtors...

What's with my agent???!!!!

So - I have been e-mailing him for weeks to find out the prices of properties sold on a particular street in the past year. He (and his sister - the other agent) have both promised on numerous occasions to forward the info to me but they never do.

Then - I e-mailed him three days ago asking 4 questions: 1) How much a specific property sold for; 2) The above-noted question; 3) Whether a particular listing is having an open house; and 4) If not, whether they can set up a showing for us.

I had to resend the message before hearing from him. AND then the agent only responded to 1) and reiterated for the umpteenth time that a different property (that we are not interested in) is still for sale...

Can he not read????!!!!!

ARGH!!!!!!!!!

(oh - and according to spellchecker in Word - umpteenth is a real word!)

couple of things...

1) Is Yahoo down or did they change the formatting (or is my computer messed up) - the page is all screwed up!

2) I love that the weather has finally become nice enough that I can go for long walks outside - there's nothing more relaxing!

3) Sorry that I haven't written that often - I just don't have much to say, believe it or not...

4) I know that the fire in LA is huge and all but this is the last episode of Gilmore Girls EVER - Put it back on!!!! (preempting it is bad enough, but it's made much worse since the commentators suck!)