My Life is A Drama Free Zone

We got hammered good with a freezing rain storm on Monday. We got absolutely dumped by snow on Wednesday. Upwards of 30 CM in town, here. And we're expecting a crapload more over the next day or so.

Thank god I don't have to shovel the crap, but still. Methinks someone really, really hates me…

February 28, 2008

I think winter's getting to someone...

A few months back, they started making it mandatory in Ottawa that the bus drivers call out the stops as they come to them. Most of them do so, and the others probably won't be working there for very long. The driver I was stuck with this morning though, oh my. There's calling out the bus stops, and there's having way too much freakin' fun with a microphone. He was doing entirely the latter. I think, now that I actually have time to think about it, I might have seen him on YouTube…

February 15, 2008

Satan invented winter. Only explanation.

I made the stupid mistake back in December of showing up to work when I had plenty of warning about a "significant" snow storm that later turned out to be hell, blanketed in white crap. This morning, Environment Canada has released a statement about two potential major storms, one from Alberta and one from Texas, that will quite probably merge and become yet another "significant" snow storm. Now, I don't have a problem with winter–in fact, I rather enjoy it for the most part. Just… not on days when I have to work, and not on a Sunday when it's already gonna be pushing the limits of an hour and a half getting to work. I'm rather tempted, in fact… very tempted, to just schedule Sunday and Monday off. Mother nature, you tend to give me a rather nifty headache…

February 11, 2008

Winter, we need to talk.

I've let this little conversation of ours go unhad for way too long, and it shows. Not only are we being hit with snow on average of every second day, but now you go and throw at us temperatures upwards of -18, *before* wind chill, on top of that? And a wapping -29 after? What ever I did to piss you off, you've just given me reason to do it twice over. Oh, yeah, and go ahead and drown us in snow tomorrow. I have the day off. I can freely bitch you out from the comfort of my own, very heated apartment. Ha and such.

February 10, 2008

I left work nearly 12 hours ago.

I'm back at work now. I'm off at 7:00 tonight, barring another 10.5 hour day. Uh, crap on a cracker? The hours I'm billing Dell for are gonna be bloody well insane…

Ladies and gentlemen. When I left work yesterday, it was snowing like hell. There is more snow in Ottawa's forecast for today. Somebody up there is intent on pissing me off. And it's thinking about working.

The computer they have me working on at the office has developed a habbit of randomly and inexplicably restarting without warning. No error message, no blue screen, no notta. Just I'm in the middle of typing/reading/whatever, and then kerpoof. I bitched a little about that last night. And I'm still thinking about taking the bitching to our I/T folks and flat out giving them the option. Give me access to something as uber basic/simple/non-retarded as MSConfig and let me tell you what the hell's wrong with this thing. That way all you need to do is replace the faulty component I know exists, and then get out of my hair. I wish I could work in I/T…

It has been decided. OC Transpo isn't *all* evil. I only took an hour and 15 minutes or so to get here today. An improvement, really, over a week ago. I'm… not quite to the point of irritated. Yet.

February 1, 2008

So yesterday was apparently senior citizens' day?

So this week's work routine started off as per usual at 7:00 or so on Wednesday. And… got very different after that. A guy I work with got shown the door due to cost cutting measures, or so that's what the rumor mill says anyway. So as of that afternoon, I'm back making regular use of Ottawa's ever so very lovely transit system. So yesterday, I get on in the morning as I suspect I'll be doing for the foreseeable future, and the bus I take to actually get me to work just so happens to be driven by one of the older gentlemen on staff. Which, okay, I'm all for that. I mean, hell, I like the idea in Ontario that you can actually keep right on working 'til you damn well don't wanna. But in certain cases, like yesterday morning… he really should have not wanted to. Harsh-ish? Yeah quite probably. But true. So I catch his bus at 6:00 yesterday morning. It's a pretty straight forward route–through the busy part of Kanata, down a couple back roads, loop around and come back up pretty much up the street from where I work. So my plan was to get off at the corner and just walk from there to work. It wasn't *too* freezing cold yesterday, so I could get away with it. Well, if the moron didn't flat out miss my stop. So rather than be half an hour early for work, I ended up being rather half an hour late. And that's not one of those buses where you can just get off at some random stop and catch one going the opposite direction in 5-10 minutes. There's one bus an hour, it goes one direction, and if you miss where you have to get off, you get to go around again. So I got to go around again. And because it was his last run on that route, I got to go back to the original stop where he picked me up from, call my boss to tell him I'd be late, and hop *another* bus to work. Pretty pretty. But not really. And then coming home after work, I had the pleasure of being driven home by another senior citizen. Who also missed my stop going back. That one, at least, decided it'd be better if he just dropped me off at the halfway point so I wouldn't have as long to wait to catch the second one I need. So I still didn't get home too insanely late last night, all things considered. Pissed me right off though, for sure. And of course this morning, senior citizen number 1 was behind the wheel again when I caught that bus, so to say the least, I wasn't exactly bursting with confidence. But, um, I'm here. And I was here on time this morning. And I didn't kill anyone. But I'm not all that thrilled about the prospect of the return trip. And people might die on that one.

January 23, 2008

And this is why I won't say no to a ride to work.

Ottawa city bus kills 3. They say alcohol was a fctor. I say it still would have been a long night for anyone involved. Not pretty when one has to work the next day. In fact, not pretty… in general. As if OC Transpo doesn't have quite the brilliant reputation already. I'm so glad I'm getting a ride home tonight. Unless he leaves sick…

December 27, 2007

December roughly translated is holy crap it's busy?

Between work, Christmas shopping, and the general insanity that is my life around about this time every year, not surprisingly I've managed a grand total of like 2.5 attempts at entries on this here blog in this here month. I finished my shopping for Christmas about a week or so before, so the only thing I had to really worry about was resisting the urge to take overtime–part of me wonders if that would have been less stressful. Aside from that, they had me doing some testing for work so I can see how much I don't qualify for a bump up in pay grade. But the topper was over christmas. There are actually people in my family who were fooled into believing my sister-in-law had changed. Her clothes, maybe, but that's about it.

Speaking of Christmas, though… people have got to stop hanging out inside my head. It's unhealthy. For everyone. My parents bought me, in no particular order, a new TV, a couple cordless phones, Garth Brooks's newest CD, a new sweater, and things I'm leaving out because i'm too lazy, don't remember, don't want to think, or some weird and wonderful combination of all of the above. It bordered on awesome. So I came back home yesterday, hooked up the new TV, watched part of the game (writeup on that one if I remember when I get home), and then stuck Short Circuit (another christmas gift) into the only thing we could get to play a DVD last night–my ever so kick ass computer system. Ironicly enough it was during that that I decided next year, I'm staying the hell in Ottawa. And it was before that that I decided, with a tiny bit of encouragement from Trish, that I don't plan to be sober come new years night. Oh darn. And All I can really say is I hope 2008 is half as eventful. I couldn't handle 2007's equal in that department. *flops over tiredly*

December 16, 2007

This is where I check out.

I have no idea why I think of about 3/4 of the things I do. But apparently some random part of me finds it amusing. I will seak help immediately.

Conrad Black officially makes less than me. According to this storry (thank you, CTV), he'll be making 12 cents an hour in prison. See, I'd complain, but what expenses has he got there? His food and housing's paid for. Besides, he made enough money breaking the law, he can afford to lose some following it.

If anyone ever has to know why it is I absolutely despise vista, just try and set up file/printer sharing. You will pull your hair out. I nearly wanted to… thank god today's my Friday. Oh. My. Lord. Good thing I'm not easy to piss off.

Another spyware call. Another bloody mac user/windows newbie. Wonder how long I can drag this call out before people start pointing fingers at me. Anyone taking bets?

And lastly, mother nature, please and thank you kindly, stop it with the freakin' white stuff. It's bad enough I get to freeze my ass off on the way to work. Again, bleh. Nature sucks.

December 8, 2007

I have officially lived in Ottawa for a year.

Well, actually, over that now. Over that by… about a week. Which means I've almost had internet access from Ottawa for a year. I wasn't sure whether or not I'd keep my relatively little sanity when I shoved my almost life into boxes and got the hell out of Pembroke. Trish and I were actually talking about this Thursday night, and it kinda made me realize. I don't see me going back to Pembroke any time soon, for anything more than the occasional shortened visit. By shortened, I mean… maybe an evening, hopefully an hour. I'm a different person now, I think, than I was when I moved out. I've learned a lot, and actually gotten some motivation to do something. Oh, I'm still lazy as hell, and would still rather stay home and get paid than go to work, but I like my job, and since I have to do it anyway, I'm kinda glad going to work means going to this office. I overslept yesterday and it pissed me right the hell off. But eh, it happens. Tonight, there be hockey (I'm ordering pizza). I still have 4 games–no, 4 victories–to post about when I get home tonight. And then I'm ordering pizza. Possibly. And I can only say… oh, hell, yes. Okay. I'm gonna just stop here. This entry's becoming a whole lot more random than I'd intended. Note to self: do not blog while half awake, or before coffee.

November 22, 2007

'Crunch'? My parking lot does not 'crunch'.

At least, it sure didn't yesterday. But apparently, someone thought they'd be funny and dump a whole crapload of white stuff on it this morning. And in my half-asleep-ness as I usually am, the fact that it was late November didn't immediately register–so I was, understandably, a tiny bit confused when normally solid ground went crunch. Of course, when I was finally 3/4 awake–thank you, colder than hell snow that still has yet to let up–I just had to wonder if, perhaps, we hadn't already had this discussion at least once. Of course, then the trusty archive of my various random ramblings and rantings that is my blog reasures me that, indeed, we have. At which point, of course, I shall now point out yet again, my parking lot should not go crunch. At least not until December. Or until I find some vacation time. Both applies and either would be awesome!

November 18, 2007

The 2007 Ottawa Santa Clause parade...

Well, I do have to say–regardless to what I actually thought about last night's parade, it was still significantly better than last year's Pembroke equivalent. That, of course, in the sense that the child we're forced to affectionately call my brother's fiance was, in fact, not present at this one. Always makes for a perfect evening, if you ask me. More floats than you could shake a stick at, and only one actual band worth noting, but I think I'd of still gone to that one before a return to Pembroke. Plus we got coffee out of it–can't go wrong there, I think. Or if you can, please don't try to. We did kind of come to the conclusion that it'd be nice to probably end up at the Toronto equivalent parade at some point in the near future. It's odd, I spent 3 years living an hour away from TO and never bothered going there for the Christmas parade. Small oversight that was never corrected. Added to the list of things to do when I get around to it. Either way, I rather enjoyed myself. And of course, staying up 'til 4:00 in the morning yacking someone's ear off for no real reason than because we could wasn't too bad either. Yeah I know I had to work the next day, but I'm here. I had caffeine. I have more caffeine in my lunch. If it becomes an issue, it won't be for long. Anyway, back to parade talk. Not all that great overall, I wouldn't say it's something worth videotaping, but it still beat the hell out of Pembroke. Which was all I was really aiming for.

November 16, 2007

So this morning. Hella freezing. Why?

That pretty much summarizes it. Yesterday, it was bordering on springlike weather. At least to the point where I thought about taking 5 minutes before the bus came and throwing my jacket back inside. This morning? Freaking, cold. I walk out my back door and across the parking lot to where they've stashed my bus stop, and I wanna turn around and grab a coffee. It royally, and painfully, sucked! And it's not about to suck any less, if the weather netework's got anything to say about it. That's it, I'm calling in sick tomorrow. And every day until it goes above freezing. Winter should be illegal. The cold doesn't bother me usually, except when I have to stand in it for upwards of 20 minutes between buses. *Then* it bothers me just a bit. And *then* I get bitchy. Or maybe it's just that then I have a reason to. Same difference.

November 13, 2007

I wouldn't mind seeing that proof.

Apparently, according to a recently published study anyway, this here federal government of ours is adicted to temps. Which, also according to this here study, hurts… just about everyone else's chances of getting their foot in the door. Of course, to this I have only to say–uh, no, not really. Work experience in general hurts that. I should know, I thought about applying for a government job… that's part of the reason why I'm working at Dell. So, while their efforts to do what they're good at and overstate the obvious are appreciated, in my honest opinion they're just the slightest bit off the mark. Besides, Trish rather enjoys temping. Like I'd vote to take that away from her.

November 11, 2007

And sometimes, you just have to be amused.

As much grief as I tend to give the OC Transpo folks, occasionally, I'll come across something that almost makes me wish I ended up getting that particular bus driver more often. Of course, if this actually did happen on one of the routes I take on a nearly daily basis, there's a very good chance I have–the only bus driver on that route I ever heard singing, though, was some foreign dood who has the unfortunate predicament of being a Montreal Canadians fan. But, it's a distiinct possibility. Just one minor gripe, though–he does not have the voice for the song he chose to sing. Either that, or I'm just biased against that song after hearing the original. That's a possibility, too. Worth investigating. Later.

November 10, 2007

Wherein my opinion of relying on other people gets more confirmation it doesn't need.

So remember when I was looking forward to the day shift because I could catch the decent buses going to and from work? Well apparently, they neglected to make that the case on Saturdays. Now, Sundays is understandable–bus service sucks on a good day then anyway. But I distinctly recall seeing that there was a bus running this morning, at the usual 5:20 or 5:21 time slot, just as it did on a normal day. So, silly little me goes out and freezes his ass off waiting for said bus to show up. 5:45 gets here, and… yup, still no bus. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't particularly care–just go to the next stop and catch another bus that's heading in the same general direction, and I'll meet up with my transfer on the other end. Except the only other bus running that early? One that leaves at… you guessed it, 5:46 in the morning. And that particular bus stop is a 20 minute walk from my house, and from the stop I was currently standing at-. 25 if I decided I couldn't be bothered to cut through my building to get there–it's freezing cold. Yeah freaking right. So thanks to OC Transpo misinforming me, my shift was a writeoff before I got out the door. The end result? A phone call in sick, an explanation to my manager of all of 4 days that I did not, in fact, decide to take a Saturday off whether I had one or not, and… I get to enjoy an unplanned Saturday off. Which, okay, can't complain about that. But it would have been nice to have actually planned that unplanned Saturday off, rather than OC Transpo deciding that I didn't want to go to work anyway. Well, I guess on the bright side, I can get some housework done around here. Eventually. Meaning… just as soon as I figure out whether or not I want to go grab a couple more hours' sleep. It's not like I don't have the option now.

October 5, 2007

I promised you a rant, and here it be.

Warning: this could get very, very long-winded. Possibly requiring it not be posted until the end of my shift–taking one look at how busy we are right now (35 people currently on hold, just for the record) with about 20 minutes before I have to actually start, it might take me that long. So anyvay. I get on the bus yesterday, same old routine I've been doing since, oh… about the first day I started here. Except this time, there happens to be a Senators game. In Ottawa. No big deal, there'll just be a tiny bit of a delay. Except that tiny bit of a delay turned out to be 20 minutes. Which, for those of us keeping score, chalks up one more reason for me to not rely on other people–I recall saying as much at least once on this here blog. Although being at work, I'm not about to take the time to find exactly where. so, I've pretty much missed the bus I normally catch. Which… again, no big deal. I'd just show up 45 minutes to an hour early for work anyway. except the next bus drops me off right smack at 8:00. Which means by the time I haull ass from the bus stop to the office–for the record, they call the cubicle I'm currently sitting in an office–it's kissinig 20 after. And I still have to fire up all the crapola I need to refer to during the process of taking calls. By the time it comes around to actually start working, I have 10 seconds to breathe. Then I go head first into a pile of anywhere from 23 to 31 calls waiting, and don't really come up to breathe again until my break.

sidenote: I'm so not complaining about the job–I love it. It's the other people interfering with the getting to the job that I'm not entirely a huge fan of. The bus driver and I today actually reached a sort of agreement, something I really think they should make law. Every time the Senators win, they should give us a day off to be used when the Senators next play at home. that way, those of us who're sick enough to actually like that particular team can go watch them, and those of us who hate the team (toronto fan over here) and the sudden massive influx of trafic their games provoke can stay home, watch *our* team, or do… anything else that doesn't involve fighting through that mess to get to work. That's it, I've decided. I'm gonna have a look at the Senators' schedule after about January or so, and every game they play at home, I'm booking vacation time for. Before they make me late. Chew on that, mr. Murphy!

September 13, 2007

because 2 weeks is long enough.

Of course, when you do as much in 2 weeks as I've somehow managed to do in *this* 2 weeks, yeah… it's long enough with no updates. Let's see… where best to start. Vell, I could always start with the usual, easy routine of what had me so busy that I couldn't post to the thing. but… well, that'd take up all of about a sentence. 'Cuz, well, when the highlight of your little bit of time away is getting absolutely soked beyond all repair at the ex, there's not that much of an essay to be written about it. Not that it wasn't still fun–anything that results in making Trish's poor husband nearly lose it is entertainment for me. I'm sorry, was that… um, too mean? Ah well, whatcha gonna do? I'm gonna… well, I guess I'm gonna sit here at my desk and wait for a call. That's what I'm gonna do. And… curse the people for whom I work for stiffing me on a computer. Y'see, I took one of these, customised the absolute hell out of it, threw in a few fancy toys just so I have something to do when I'm bored, and had it shipped to my apartment. Where it promptly wouldn't turn on. I figured it'd be the mobo or power supply, but… eh, I got the max on warranty, so I was gonna use it to the fullest. fortunately mister probably outsourced technician from India agreed with me, so it got set up for a return real fast. And will be returned in… about… um… oh, 5-10 days. Not that it bothers me all that much; everything else works. It's currently sitting in my room right now, hooked up to my ever faithful but still slowly dying laptop. Which makes it sound a whole hell of a lot meaner than it actually is. Not that it wasn't mean when I got it… but… eh, that was like 3-4 years ago. It's a kitten now, in comparison to the potential monsterness of some fo today's systems. and the monsterness of the one currently, um, not working. Stupid computers. If it wasn't for the fact their breaking keeps me employed… okay, I'm over it. And now back to our regularly scheduled taking of calls. Which… just for the record, I haven't actually done since I got off lunch. Granted that was 10 minutes ago. But still. When I get home, and if I don't forget, I have politically motivated pictures to display. And a picture that should have been a bit more threatening than it actually is. Not that I'd know anything about picture quality–I'm going by the opinion of the girl holding the camera. Surprisingly, I'll trust her opinion on a lot of things before most people's. Setting myself up for difficulties? We shall see. Granted she *is* family, but so far… she and I are proving to be exceptions to the family rule. In just about every category. They hate it. I love it. It's all good. And… that's why they hardly call me. But, y'know, you don't hear me complaining about that one. If you ever do, please shoot me.

August 22, 2007

God, I hope I get a raise.

Performance reviews are coming up at work. And the timing rocks. I just checked my mail this afternoon, and apparently, my land lord just got approval to jack up the rent by about 2% by April of next year. For those of you who haven't quite caught on yet, yeah, that all kinds of sucks. I like having money–not giving away money. I'll be keeping an eye on the rental demands over the next bit… something tells me, though, I may be looking for a new hole to crawl into when my lease ends. Stupid land lord. Stupid rent. Stupid money I don't have. Stupid me for not having it. I want a raise.

August 2, 2007

It should be legal to show up to work naked.

According to certain forecasts, it's upwards of 33 degrees C outside right now. Which, ordinarily, wouldn't be unexpected. Except it's 6:00 PM for crying out loud. And by the time I get off work tomorrow morning, it's supposed to still feel like 30 degrees out there. And to that, all I can say is… oh. Crap. Take your clothes off and the first 2 layers of skin and tell me if you still feel warm. On the bright side, there's at least a breeze out there. This bit of optimism is dampened slightly, though, by the fact that said breeze is not exactly what I'd call cool. If anyone wants to convert this to that stupid system the US uses, go nuts. Just don't tell me if you do–33 degrees C almost makes me wanna cry as it is. I don't need to hear a higher number.

August 1, 2007

Now that's a reason to buy me a scanner.

I'm on a couple scanning related mailing lists–police scanning, for those of you wondering, and as soon as the southern Ontario runaway was spotted near the Renfrew area, both mailing lists I"m on went absolutely nuts. Which is probably an understatement for the amount of radio trafic they were listening to. They eventually arrested the guy when he came out of an unoccupied home in the area. You may see it on the news–and, possibly, you may have seen something about it if you watch America's Most Wanted. He's heading to London to stand trial for 3 murders, apparently. Including the murders of the elderly couple who's truck he stole to get up here. Now you know what you can buy me for Christmas.

here's a clip of the radio trafic that resulted from the arrest last night. Thanks to one of the guys on said scanner lists for providing this clip. People living north of the border, consider this your advanced headline news notification. With the typical James twist–I wish Canada still had the death penalty.

July 1, 2007

Happy Canadia day!

Yes, I've been busy as hell. Such is the norm when it gets to be, well… any time between about mid-April to about mid-September. Perhaps mid-October if I have a reason to watch the world series. But the reason I've been off the blog wagon lately? I spent the week in Pembroke. Yes, I've lost my mind. It actually wasn't that bad, though–got some niftyness things for my birthday, took mom out for her birthday, discovered a new baseball sim which I currently find myself surprisingly adicted to already (I have 5 teams at the moment), and… just generally had all manner of good times. And when good times are had, good things happen. In this case, the good thing is I didn't shoot my sister-in-law. Wanted to. Really, seriously thought about it. Wished I owned a gun. But didn't. I'm proud of me. And then–back home for me. Where I proceeded to spend all night dinking around on the afore mentioned baseball game, and set up my own league–I was bored and didn't wanna sleep. Sue me. It's really gonna hurt when it's all said and done. But damn, I'll have fun doing it.

And speaking of fun… oh, the plans that are being had for today. Put it this way–I'm leaving here in about an hour at the earliest, and I don't expect to see this place for more than an hour until after tonight's fireworks. And oh, there will be fireworks. There will be loads of fireworks. Which… is actually why I came back. Nothing against Pembroke's display or anything, but–enough's enough already. It doesn't get any better. Time for a different location… a little closer to home. Parliament buildings with cousins it is. If I post again today, it'll be in tomorrow morning's wee hours. But it'll be awesomely fun, and such. And… I've been rambling somewhat pointlessly now for about 10 minutes. Time to go do stuff.

June 12, 2007

The things you learn when you don't feel like sleeping.

Things like… 5:00 in the morning is the perfect time if you plan to take a walk in Ottawa. The only thing I could hear this morning besides the sound of my own breathing and the birds was… well… more birds. And the occasional car. But nothing like what it'll be at around about midday. Or what it's starting to be right now. Granted, it was only maybe 15 minutes each way, but still. Unless you're walking down Baseline, which on a good day is still insane, it's just… damn peaceful. If there was a park or something along the route I was walking, I could probably kill half the morning there. That is, if I didn't already have plans. But… can of coke gone, blogs hopped, I now go sleep. Who knows? Maybe I'll do it again this afternoon. Or… maybe I'll get some cleaning done. Or maybe I won't. We shall see.

May 31, 2007

You know when you're from ottawa when...

It's only funny because 90% of it is true. Except I used to be on the wrong end of number 2.

May 10, 2007

Respecting my elders gets difficult when they're idiots.

The teenagers complaining about the bus not being here now, now, now take a back seat suddenly when compared with my latest discovery on my way to work tonight–the grandpa who actually calls the control station for the city buses to complain because one of the doors to the shelter at the stop we both just happen to be waiting at is locked. His reason? "We shouldn't have to walk around to the other door. clearly you can't see, so you must understand that." Uh, let's see… I'm lazy. That's the only reason I was inclined to agree with him in the first place. But, of course… it ain't gonna happen. Why? Because as lazy as I am, I'll walk around the freaking shelter–which, by the way, isn't that big to begin with–before I pick up a phone to bitch about one door being locked. I pointed out to the fool, rather politely I'll add, that in about 10 minutes when the bus showed up it wasn't going to make a difference to him. His response? "The way I see it, I'm doing a service to the public." And the way I see it, you've just wasted brain cells. And some poor soul at the control station's time. Gotta love it. Except… now, you just made yourself look stupid. Which… I guess is what he was aiming at. Figures.

May 5, 2007

Yep, it had to be Friday.

So I'm standing at the bus stop on my way to work tonight, and sure enough, I think those same people were there tonight who were a couple weeks back. I kinda recognised the voices, anyway… at least a couple of 'em. And again, they were complaining because the bus just so happened not to be there when *they* wanted it to be. They had to be not much younger than me, but seriously, I've seen more patient/grown-up 6-year-olds. Quarter to 8 in the evening is not the time to start complaining because the bus isn't here when it shows up at 5 *after* 8 in the evening, oh people of much brilliance (read: morons of the year 2007). Bah. I never thought I'd look forward to getting off the bus and coming to work… but guess what? I was. Thanks a lot, brats. Here's the wambulance's phone number.

April 8, 2007

Hey look, an update!

There's a whole hell of a lot to update yall on, and I have no idea when my next call's coming in, so let's see how much I can cram into a small piece of downtime.

I never noticed teenagers were quite that whiny when I was one. And, well, I know for a fact I wasn't the slightest–I was too busy not really caring. I bused to work last week, like I almost always do, and wouldn't you know, some chick decided to pick that particular night to complain about the bus schedule, and how the bus was taking too long to get here. Keeping in mind it was about 20 minutes at most. Now, just for comparison, had it been, say, sunday–or, say, good friday (rant on that one to come later)–there'd of been an hour, count it, an hour, between buses going where she needed to be. And I, personally, did *not* want to listen to her cry about it for any longer than I absolutely under any circumstance had to. It was bad enough the bus she was taking just so happened to be the bus I was taking. First thing that came to mind: call a wambulance. I run that route daily–get over it. I did.

Okay, next up. Parents who want to name their daughter 'Metallica' (link to come when I get back to the computer that has it)? What. The. Fuck.?!?! I'm sorry, but um, ignoring the fact that's almost off the wall as naming your kid 'Legacy' (I've seen it), their excuse for doing it is pretty flimsy. "The name suits her" and "There's already someone with that for a middle name" wouldn't fly with me. It doesn't make sense… it's like me saying I should be allowed to let my 6-year-old drive because people do it in Texas. And your point, exactly, would be… what? One jumps off a bridge, they all jump off? News flash, folks. "Because they're doing it" is what gets kids to smoke. I almost question their parenting skills at this point.

Why, oh why, dear lord, do you insist on surrounding me with idiots? It's just not fair. People in Ottawa have got to learn what "I'm blind, not an invalid" means. No, fellow passengers who apparently don't know better, "I know where I'm going" does not mean "Please, grab me by the arm and attempt to drag me off the bus". My trip home on Friday morning velry nearly resulted in someone losing their arm because, put plainly and simply, they didn't listen. I don't like people who don't listen. They make my head do hurty things. Hurty things are bad for me.

It's April. It's baseball season. It should not be raining on Tuesday, snowing on friday, and freezing most the week. Spring has sprung, for crying out loud. Winter's on vacation. Extended. Preferably permanently. People get all uptight about global warming, I say bring it on. No freezing while waiting for buses. Suh. Weet. How can anyone be upset with that? You're all on crack, you are. All of you. I know none of you. None. Environmental issues be damned. I'm sick of freezing. MWA!

Disclaimer: If you buy any of this crapola, you belong in the category of moron. I will personally make sure you get there. And send a public farewell with you.

March 22, 2007

I definitely should have done this ages ago.

I always thought the walk from my place to work and back was actually kinda nice. Even when it was upwards of -25 degrees and I'd spend 15 minutes after getting here bitching to no end about the cold. But it actually *is* rather enjoyable, in spite of that. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about working here. I'm all for just randomly going for a walk wherever… I mean, it beats the hell out of sitting at home watching TV, and it's apparently doing me some good. But until this week or so, I've always been tossing around the idea of cabbing it instead. Of course, taking the bus and the resulting necessary walk to the office wins out always anyway, both for the cost and… well, because I'm doing something. Today, though, I actually enjoyed my walk home this morning. At least, I think I did–by the time I got home I was probably too whiped to really care. I know for sure, though, it was relaxing making the trip to work tonight. Not for any one particular reason… except that it's actually above freezing, and I'm not spending longer putting layers of clothing on than actually getting out the door. It probably hellps that for the second time this year I was able to open every window in the place. Summer's fast approaching, and that means lots of baseball, pizza, caffinated cold beverages, and leaving that apartment as wide open as I possibly can without making it a security risk. How can you possibly go wrong with a plan like that? Too bad it's only for a couple months out of the year. But, what're ya gonna do? I'm sure not complaining.

March 21, 2007

I feel so devalued right now.

Apparently, by 2010 I could be making about as much as that moron at Tim Horton's who, after taking your coffee order for the fifth time, still gives you the wrong one–I live in Ottawa. There are a *lot* of those. That's the plan, anyway, according to our oh so generous provincial government. It's somewhat… depressing to think in a couple years, what I'm doing is gonna be worth just slightly more than burger flipping. I've been living in the wrong province for all these years, that's it.

Explanation:

March 15, 2007

And from the "You're just realizing that now?" department...

The shocking discovery that people pay way too freaking much for rent in Ontario. I mean, I probably don't have much room to complain–I can still aford the not quite modest amount I pay on a monthly basis to the folks who keep a roof over my head. But still. Without getting into specifics, I make per month more than enough to get me by on a day-to-day basis. But that having been said, nearly half what I make per month is sucked up within 2 weeks when the rent's due. Again, I'm not complaining, but if I didn't have a job that pays as well as it is, I'd still be living in Pembroke. Why? Because rent anywhere else is freaking insane. Hell, rent in Pembroke borders on insane some places. If you're lucky, in Ottawa, you can probably get a room for $300/week (I've seen it). Per *week*. That's less per month than I pay and considerably more than any sane person should pay. You almost have to hook up with a real money maker just to get your foot in the door if you can't land a job that isn't in fast food or retail. Not that I want some 18-year-old with a Mcdonald's paycheck and a partygoer personality like I've never seen, but hey, I've been there. I thought about moving out a couple years ago, except… yep, you guessed it. On what I was making, rent per month would kill me. But that's a whole other rent I might get into on a day off when I can devote the whole day to writing said rant. Suffice it to say, though, if they want people to actually be independant, and be contributing members of society, they really should make it a bit easier for people to do so. But then, I never claimed to be able to understand the government. I just pick certain aspects of it and tear into them. Frequently.

March 9, 2007

Now we're bordering on the ridiculous.

It makes sense to ban the use of things like cell phones and MP3 players inside the classroom, and anyone who tells me differently is on crack. But if you've got a couple minutes between classes, when the most you're doing is probably either hanging out at your locker/at the nearest vending machine/wherever the hell it is highschool kids hang out these days when they're trying to delay actually having to go to their next class, how is it things like that can disrupt the learning process? That's one of the reasons behind a local highschool's decision to ban the use of cell phones, iPods, and other crapola of that nature, *outside* the classroom as well. So basicly, if you get to school 15 minutes to half an hour early like I used to do (I took the bus, sue me), you can't throw on some tunes and kill that 15 minutes to half an hour before your first class. Well, gee. Now you've gone and given them one more thing to do behind teachers' backs. Or off school property a ways where they can't get in shit for it, thus possibly making them late for class. And for what? Because one or two students decide to videotape a teacher in the hall and post said video on youtube. As much as the reasons against the ban given by the students they interviewed irritate me, they do in some ways make sense. If I needed to call a cab to get home, or if something came up, I had a choice… stand in line at a pay phone for anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour depending on how talkative the person(s) in front of me were, or call on my cell on my way out the door. And, because I hate relying/waiting on other people when not absolutely necessary, guess which option I picked. Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say they were wrong to do anything about what happened, but IMHO, they did the wrong thing. Even one of the parents who supposedly support what the school did say they didn't particularly have a problem. Well, now they do. The person(s) who posted the video pretty much got away with it, and everyone who actually bothered to be responsible–they do exist… I should know, I used to be one when I was going–pretty much gets told "Yes, we know you didn't do it. But you're still being punished.". I dunno, maybe I'm a bit more on the defensive side than I should be, simply because I've been on that side of a policy change thanks to the jackassery of one or two morons. But I still say they went just a little tiny bit overboard. If I had children, I'd be ashamed to send them to that highschool. It's a catholic school, though, so that wouldn't even be an issue. Although… if I had children, I'd be very, very worried. Father material I am most definitely not.

February 23, 2007

Insanity: my life summarized.

A whole shitload's happened since I last had time to breathe, let alone post here, so I'll try to squeeze it all into the half hour I have to write before my shift starts. Lessee… where to start.

February 12, 2007

Something unfair about this shift change...

I've been here since 9:30 or so. I start at 11. 'Nuff said? I think so. Don't get me wrong, I love the play time… but, um… that's way too early for my liking. Particularly since I leave at 8:30 to get here, give or take walk time. Um, eww. I want 2-11 back, dammit to hell… Or, at least, a bus that doesn't give me the choice between here way too early and here just barely on time. *shakes fist*

January 17, 2007

Oh my freaking cold...

-21 degrees out there right now, according to the weather network. I tend not to question the weather network all that much when it gets to be that extreme. Even if they're off by a couple degrees… freaking cold is still freaking cold. And I have to walk in that! Fortunately I get to spend an hour or so on the bus… but I have to walk in that! It's cold! It's inhuman! I want my mommy! Okay I'm over it now. Now to finish getting ready for work.

January 2, 2007

Different year, same routine.

I've said it before, and probably on here, but it deserves being said again. It's a *really* good thing it's just me living here–I couldn't come up with the time to clean up after anyone else. I got home again today at about quarter to 6, or there about, which is pretty much the usual for me now. That gives me just over 3 hours to go through a to do list of varying lengths depending on the day and what I didn't get done the day before, and then it's time for bed, and we do it all over again the next day. Don't get me wrong, I like what I'm doing–at least I'm never bored, but if I had roommates, knowing my luck they'd be lazier than I ever used to be, and well, like I said I just don't have time for that. My day starts between 3:30 and 4 usually, except for this morning but we'll just ignore that because well, I was dead tired coming on noon. And unless it's a weekend, my day ends at about 9. I dunno when it'll end on the weekend, because I haven't actually had a weekend to myself since I moved up here, what with Christmas related things having gone on.

Ottawa's bus system's apparently running some kind of new schedule, so I'm left to figure out a whole new set of drivers. And I was just getting used to the newbie with the accent, too. Ah well, these ones at least give the appearance of being fairly decent, so we'll see. I'm usually an extreme critic of people in general, so I give it maybe 24 hours and I'll have an entry brewing about how brainless at least one of them is. But for now, they seem fairly decent. One even borders on cool… impressive for a bus driver in this city. He will never actually *be* cool, though, until he can magicly remove the need to wake up insanely early to get to a less insanely early but still insanely early shift.

I probably shouldn't complain too much about the shift I've been stuck with for training–I mean, yeah it's early, okay… fucking early, but then again, I get home between 5 and 6 too. If I had a typical 8-5 shift, I wouldn't get through the door 'til about 7-ish, give or take… maybe closer to 8. Suddenly, a quarter to 7 shift isn't so horrible. But I still don't wanna wake up at 3:30 to get there. As I've said often, I love the job, I hate the shift. But I should probably clarify… I like the shift, I hate needing to take a bus to that shift. But, I bus, so I shall now move my lazy self to bed, so the wake-up call doesn't kill me. And… hey, I actually managed not to jump all over the spectrum of thought in this entry, as opposed to the one at dark o'clock this morning. Go me.

December 19, 2006

It's amazing what 5 minutes in trafic can do to your time table.

Usually, which translates to like… 2 or 3 days so far, I manage to actually catch my connecting bus to get me the rest of the way home from work at 5:00 or so. I think I mentioned it takes me 2 buses to get me there and back. Ah well, if I didn't, I have now. Today, though, thanks largely to Ottawa's rush hour trafic, I missed that bus by about 2 minutes. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't give a rip–the next bus pulls up in 15 minutes–but, *that* bus is apparently the one driven by our apparent newbie. This time, though, he actually didn't miss the stop I need… but only because it was pointed out to him rather blatantly by another passenger as we were coming up to it. I still say this guy is either new or stupid, or both, but I'm again digressing. That aside, though, this time I actually didn't have to drive an extra 40 minutes, meaning I actually got through the door before 6 tonight. Just barely, but can't have everything. I suspect that's going to be an every Tuesday thing, what with the trafic and all… God I hope not, though. I really don't want to have to curse out the transit system again. And to jump the track a little, I may only be 1 person, but after working a 9 hour shift, I still *really* don't want to come home and do dishes. Nor do I want to watch my team get their ass kicked, but the game's on, so I may as well go and do that.

December 12, 2006

Oh how I sometimes despise thee.

I should have taken this morning as an indication. First, as I said last night one of the buses I need for my insanely early shift doesn't run as early as I need it to, so I've had to improvize my way through figuring that out. Needless to say it worked, I'm still alive, and all is well. But it still should have been an indication. And then, when the bus driver apparently couldn't find my stop near the office (it's that hard to miss?), I should have been paranoid. Even if he *did* end up just making it easier on me and dropping me off at the corner instead. But no, I continued to be unsuspecting. Now, here's where I get the good old fashion disclaimer out. I don't mind foreign people in the slightest. In fact, conversationally, I have absolutely no problem with them. Professionally, as well, so long as I'm not the poor soul who has to deal with it on a daily basis. Well, I get on the bus to come home, I must have told him the stop I need to get off at about 5 or 6 times. This guy has an accent, presumeably Indian or so but I'm a poor judge of accents, but that doesn't even raise the usual red flags with me. The telling him 5 or 6 times was a little irritating, but I was willing to just let it go since the bus *was* fairly crowded. He may not have heard me. But apparently he did, all 5 or 6 times. And when we've gone a ways past it, he finally admitted he couldn't see the stop. *That* irritated me to no end. My first thought was he was new to the route, or to the job, even, but someone else quickly disproved that theory by signalling in advance they wanted to get off at the next stop we were passing. And wouldn't you know, he just about missed that one, too. I was gonna say something, but the guy who's stop almost got missed beat me to the punch, so I figured I'd be nice. This time. All told, I ended up about 20 minutes out of my way, waiting for the bus that goes in the other direction so I could actually get back to my stop. Now, again, I have all kinds of respect for the foreign folk. Really, I do. But it's stupid fucking morons like that that really make me reflexively cringe when I hear an accent that almost resembles the Quicky Mart guy off the sympsons. I may not be able to see, but assuming, just for the sake of argument, he actually *was* new, did it really not occur to him to ask? I know which side of the road the street it's nearest to is on, I know how far past that street the stop is, *and* I know how long it takes me to get from said stop to my apartment, roughly. Not counting a couple minutes here and there if I get turned around. I really like living in Ottawa, and I do like their transit system, but sometimes, I really, really despise their transit system.

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My Life is A Drama Free Zone: Ottawa

March 8, 2008

I didn't want to see spring until August anyway.