Category: Life and Times

I Had An Adventure

My computer has been making this weird buzzing sound pretty much since I got it but I’d been putting off doing anything about it, after the mess that resulted whenever I tried to get Dell to fix anything.

Turns out that was silly and I could have fixed this in November with no problems. I called Apple last Thursday and was only on the phone with them for 5 minutes (as opposed to the hour+ that happened with Dell every time) and they believed what I said and thought that it was my screen inverter being the problem.

I found out all I had to do was bring my computer in to any of the places around that sell them and they could fix it there. Sweet! At first I was going to bring it to UW since that’s closest but their tech guy isn’t around as much as the one at Carbon Computing is. So I dropped it off there.

After taking a look at it Dale (the really nice repair guy) called me and said that he can’t get it to make the stupid noise, but that half of the backlights on my screen were dead. I didn’t realize there was something that major wrong with the screen, but it explained a lot. My screen had always looked kinda dark since I got it, but I thought that was normal since people had said these screens had a tendency to be unevenly lit. Whoops.

So not only did they replace my screen, but the cables and inverter and anything else that might have been messing with my screen. Since I picked up the computer yesterday there’s been no more weird noises and the screen just looks so much BETTER. It’s scary how bad it was in comparison. Dell had taught me to accept crap as the usual way of things. *sigh*

This week I also bought one of those orange iPod Shuffle’s from the Apple Store. It’s so cute and works wonderfully. I had to go pick it up today since it was originally sent to the depot in Guelph and the Purolator guy has tried to deliver it since Wednesday with no luck.

I don’t know what’s up with that. For some reason he couldn’t figure out how to buzz up here or something, since he said he was here on Wednesday and didn’t know the number. It’s the same as the apartment number and they are clearly labelled! They apparently called here at 7am yesterday and woke Katie up, and she told them that the buzzer is the same.

That didn’t help, since the guy tried again and said he couldn’t figure it out. So I called Purolator myself and explained (while trying not to sound angry at the apparently simple people that work there). Instead of trying again today they gave up and dropped it off last night at the Purolator place by Conestoga Mall.

The whole thing just seemed so stupid. I honestly don’t think the guy actually found this place, since he claims to have buzzed but I have the tracking to know around what time and people were here. Hell, three of the four of us were here both times he claims he buzzed. I don’t know what to think. I’m just glad my iPod didn’t end up lost as a result of this.


Sleep is Good.

I’ve been having trouble sleeping lately. I’ll either end up going to bed really late or getting up early and not being able to get back to sleep. Yesterday was the worst. I woke up at 4am and couldn’t get back to sleep. When Dean left for work at 6am I tried again, and had just fallen asleep after 7am when my sister called. I might have been able to sleep after that but she was on the phone until almost 10am and I had to be at the library after that. *sigh*


So This Is What Growing Up Feels Like

I’m doing all kinds of responsible things today. Like working on my grad school application some more, getting information on which transcripts are required, and….

APPLYING TO GRADUATE!

I knew the deadline was in February. What I didn’t know was that the applications were already online. I discovered that bit of fun while looking up whether I could get transcripts now or if I had to wait until my marks were in from this term.

I also went through and calculated my mark over the last 14 completed courses, since they use the percentage from the last 20 but I’m doing six of them this year. Even with my bad experiences in business classes I’m doing okay.

It’s a 76% despite a D+ and a couple of Cs in there. Considering I’ve got 90s in everything this term (God alone knows how) I might actually get the marks up enough to get scholarships. That I never expected.

Highschool spoiled me and got me used to having As all the time. I never thought that bad marks could be in there and I could still get money for doing well.

I’m getting pretty excited about this term now. I hope it keeps on as it has been.


A Typical Phone Call

My parents called me today, bored as usual. Their phone calls usually last for 90 minutes or more, and this was no exception. My mom lost her invitation to her brother’s wedding and made me read mine out to her so she’d know when and where it was. Sheesh.

Then she put my sister on. That was weird. My sister had a joke:

This guy in a wheelchair has cold feet so her asks his friend to go upstairs and get his slippers for him. The friend goes up there and tells the guys wife that he was told to sleep with her. She says he’s a liar and the friend says he was told to sleep with both her and the daughter. He yells downstairs, “Both of them?” and the guy says, “What’s the point of fucking one of them?!”

My response to that mess was a big, huge, “What?!”

She gave the phone back to my mom, who said she had to go to work and gave the phone to my dad.

He talked about the boats and cars as usual. They bought a winch and rigged it so they can use it to put the pontoons on the boat up and down. It’s been tested in the yard and works great, but so has all the “inventions” before this and they didn’t stand up so hot to real-world conditions. With any luck, this one will work and we won’t have to manually crank those things.

The crankshaft on my sister’s car broke while she was at McDonalds in the Drive-Thru. She was right in front of the box so they had her calling in all the other people’s orders until a tow truck could get her out of there. When one finally did come for some reason they only moved her car out of the way and she had to call another one to bring the car home.

My uncle is still pretending to hunt for a job and spending all his unemployment on booze. He’s still using the excuse that he goes to the Legion for the wings, but none of us are stupid enough to fall for that crap.

My other uncle and aunt (siblings, not married) have moved about a block away from him so he’s got lots of drinking buddies now. Oh joy. It’s their stupid encouragement and dependence on him that has him in this situation in the first place.

The man has made $18 an hour for 20 years and is completely broke because his siblings mooch so much off him. It’s sad that he’s ended up an alcoholic to deal. You think he’d know better after their childhood. Oh well. I can’t let that bother me anymore. It’s his own fault for so many reasons and it won’t change until he helps himself.

Read More


Waiting sucks

It is possible to go nuts from waiting for something for too long? I haven’t gotten anything useful done all day. I’ve been checking the tracking on my computer non-stop, and its been in some sorting facility in Mississauga since Saturday. *grumble*

The estimated shipping time is tomorrow by 6pm, but most people said that FedEx usually ships a day earlier than they estimate. Not in this case. I’m really hoping it comes early tomorrow because otherwise I’ll have yet another hugely unproductive day.

I feel like doing my logic assignment, but I’m also having trouble concentrating. Boo. I guess I’ll just plod ahead with it and then check it over a couple times when I get the computer and get it installed.


"If I could go to the Harrow Fair"

The visit home this time was the best one that I’ve had in a while. We drove down this time, and it made all the difference. We could acutally do stuff this time. It was pouring like crazy during the drive down. The wipers acted up a couple times and we had to adjust them, but we made good time despite the rain. On Tuesday we drove to Devonshire Mall so we could get Arrested Development season three from HMV. It’s been a long time since I was in that mall. It’s feels completely different every time I’m in there.

Wednesday we went with my brother to Colisanti’s, wandered around looking at everything, and played mini golf. Then we went to Leamington to Canadian Tire to get new wipers for the car, and wandered around in Wal-Mart for the hell of it.

The rest of the week was spent periodically at the Fair. That’s the benefit of the weekend passes. Thursday we got in free at first since everything wasn’t quite set up and no one was manning the gates. It was very frustrating. I’ve never went on the Thursday before, and having to wait for all the stuff to be judged was making me impatient. I don’t really know what to say about the Fair, since I’ve been going as long as I can remember. There’s lots of animals and food and events. I saw a lot of people I knew, but ignored most of them. I was only concerned with finding my friends. I learned a long time ago that I don’t care for the majority of people in town. They are nosy and worry too much about what I’m up to, when that doesn’t really concern them.

The other benefit for having the car was that we could pick up Leya and Chaz and bring them to the Fair with us on Friday. I helped Chaz get the new books sorted out at the bookstore so they could be entered into the system faster. He had to stay a couple hours later and get picked up after though since his mom was sick. It was a little annoying because she was at work anyway, nagging at him the whole time, but she made him stay and enter stuff anyway even when she knew we were all waiting. I’ve met Chaz’s mom before though, she’s usually really awesome. She’s forgiven because she was sick.

I got to see Meggie and Corinna and Robbie, which was awesome and a lot of fun. Though I feel stupid because I keep losing Meg’s cell number.

My mom is making a surprise wedding present for my uncle. I spent most of my spare time all week making her a pattern for that, and getting it started so she can finish it on time. I hope he likes it.

Overall the week was great. Dean didn’t like having to drive all the way there though. Next time I guess we’ll take the train.


A Brief Respite

School is done for the summer and I’m really glad. I’ve got two of my marks back already, one of which I’m kinda disappointed with. The religion class was an A as expected, so nothing to worry about there. Now I’m just waiting on accounting. That could go either way. Yes, I used to have everything memorized and could crank out journal entries and financial statements like nobody’s business, but it’s been three years and I did not put nearly enough work into it this summer. Ah well, it’s done.

I need to be working on my grad application this month, because I want to have it sent out before class starts. It’s freaking me out big-time. I have no clue what to put into a statement of intent. I’ve got lots of advice for what NOT to put in, but that’s not very helpful. Methinks it’s time to start making appointments with the advisors and getting some good advice for a change. I need to get transcripts from the registrar’s office this week, and see if the people that have offered letters of recommendation still want to give them to me. Lots to do.

My computer got sent in again so they could replace the touchpad. I’m glad it wasn’t the motherboard for a change, but I’m also a little paranoid since the warranty runs out on Tuesday and if it comes back with anything broke I’m stuck with it. Something encouraging: One more month until I get the new laptop!

I’m spending today sitting around the house playing with the cat and working on cross-stitch. It seems lazy considering I have important school stuff to do, but I can’t do any of that until Monday anyway so I may as well enjoy one non-school weekend this year.

I know a secret and its really cool. I’d tell but there is a slim chance that my sister will read this and tell my mom and spoil it. So it has to wait until the word is out.

Now that I’ve got your attention, I’m off to find the Futurama DVDs so I have something to watch while working on the Peacock.


"That's too much, Bob!"

My first two exams are on Saturday, and as usual I’d rather be procrastinating than studying. Surprisingly I did study today for a good three-four hours on campus. The couches in the Concourse started putting my ass to sleep though so I gave up. The good news is I set everything up so I can easily finish my notes for the religion course tomorrow, then have Thursday and Friday to prepare the answers to the essay questions on the philosophy exam.

Then I have all of next week to re-learn basic accounting. For something that I loved, it’s not really all that appealing anymore. I’ve changed.

Considering I am so bloody sick of school right now, I’m surprised that I haven’t quite given up on it. It’s close though. I don’t feel into it anymore. I kinda wish that I could risk applying for September for grad school, so that for once I can have a summer to myself without having to worry about school. I should feel better after having a month off. It’s just been non-stop school for the last 10 months and it’s getting to be too much.

What do people do to de-stress and get school out of their system?