time flies

On Saturday we celebrated Chris' 30th birthday. I can't believe how fast time has flown by. It seemed like just yesterday that we were all gathered in Chris' basement and playing video games. Duh...wait...that was yesterday! :-) Well - some things haven't changed much. I'm happy to have been able to celebrate many of the big milestones in his life. Looking forward to celebrating your big 4-0!

Chris has been sweet enough to organize the pictures into one central location. Check them out here.

http://www.pbase.com/cindyandchrislee - PASSWORD: elsa

high 5s

I was watching the Oprah show today with KA. It's one talk show that I don't mind as the content is not full of crap and most of the stories are inspiring. In the Oprah mode - I went to her website to see what else she offers. I found this - might be good for you gals to read.

High Fives!

• 5 books everyone should read at least once
• 5 things you can do for your relationship
• 5 friends every woman should have
• 5 ways to get a life
• 5 quotes to open your heart
  

to the next level

Good news - I got the Analyst level 2 position. I'm pretty happy with the promotion. More work with a minimal increase in pay. Whooppee!! Just kidding - it's all good. The work has not changed and realistically I haven't felt a difference in what I did last week as a level 1 analyst to this week as a level 2. I do notice more requests for reports though - blah. :-) As long as I'm moving up the corporate ladder is all that counts.

word of the day

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed but I've changed my side bar again on this blog. It's one part of the blog structure that consistently changes. This year's focus is on "learning". I recognize that I have a vocabulary of a child and realistically can't converse at the adult level. It also doesn't help that I speak in acronyms at work and write in point form. So what better way to educate myself (and those that care to look to the right of this post) then present a new word daily? The good thing is that I don't have to generate these words. They come off of my Google webpage. Yes- I've customized Google so that it has all kinds of silly things on my home page. From intellectual stuff like Word of The Day to silly stuff like my horoscope. So look over once in awhile because you can learn a thing or 2!

how smart are you?

Just because Frank mentioned how sporatic the topics of my blogs are and in turn how entertaining they can be (depending on what's on my mind that day). Everyone elses blog seem to have a central theme (relationships, family, kids, food, work, news, etc). I'm still working on what my central theme is to this blog. :-) For now you'll just have to deal with the random thoughts.

I'll throw this in for those of you who enjoy a challenge (or like to boast that you're smarter than the rest of us).

How smart are you? Well - click here to find out.

photography class

Tonight was my first night of photography class. I had a great time and learned many things. I'm taking night classes at Centennial Highschool in Coquitlam. I didn't know where the school was and had not given myself extra time for detours. When I finally found it - it was 7pm and I still had to figure out parking. I haven't been in a highschool in so long and felt lost. I was lost! Luckily I stumbled across a reception desk and the guy there pointed me in the right direction - to the "main" reception desk! Duh! After a few more wrong turns I walked into the classroom.

My class consists of 5 other students and the instructor. All of us have digital cameras. This other guy and myself have the same camera but in different colors. There were 2 extended zoom cameras and a couple that shared an Olympus SLR. The skill level really varied. The lady with the Canon A630 (extended zoom) was delighted to have learned that she can twist her view finder (I think she's the least skilled in the class). While my camera twin was busy switching lenses - he had 3 different ones (most skilled). The guy with the S3 had a memory card problem so I lent him the one from my little camera (sad to say but I carry 3 SD cards in my bag). The class took note of my little camera and commented on it. I told them that my Canon SD500 is my "every day" camera and the SLR is for "special" occasions.

You can find out what I learned in my class in my photo blog. :-) Usually people who read this blog (versus my other one) aren't really interested in the gory details of that class. Don't worry - I won't bore you.

Ponchos

On Tuesday night I met up with Chicky for dinner at Ponchos. It's a little Mexican restaurant on Denman. My coworker had recommended that I try it.

Getting downtown was a hassle (one of the reasons why Chicky and I don't see each other during the week - traffic). I'm not fond of Lions Gate Bridge in general and try not to cross it if necessary. When I got to the other side - I discovered to my dismay that the traffic lights were out service. It was a grid lock around Chicky's place. I finally got to his apartment and waited for him to get home. I'm off work pretty early (at least a couple of hours before Chicky) so I had stopped by the gym before heading downtown. So you can imagine what being tired and hungry did for my road rage. After 1/2 hour, Chicky's car pulls up to the building and I follow him in.

We decided to drive over to Denman because it was raining and I didn't feel like walking in the cold. Normally I would insist on walking anywhere in the downtown core from Chicky's place as it's so close to the main streets. Chicky's not so fond of walking and grumbles when I make him do it.

Ponchos is a quaint little restaurant. Full of Mexican flare. We decided to order the "dinner for 2" and keep things simple. While we waited for our meal, we got spicy salsa and taco chips...yummy! The meal that came out was alright. There was a lot of cheese on everything. I don't know if real mexicans eat that much cheese. I don't seem to remember cheese being melted on our quesadillas when we were in Puerto Vallarta. Oh well - it was good food. The meat was a bit chewy for my liking but everything else was good. I wouldn't mind going there again.

So in my mexican mode - I made mango salsa tonight! I haven't had a chance to eat it yet but will do so tomorrow. Nothing like mango salsa with ("hint of lime") tortilla chips.

your road sense

Last week was focused on education. I attended 4 courses at work.

1. Listening in a Hectic World
2. Speaking to Influence Others
3. Principles of Insurance
4. Driver Licensing

I had a great time in these courses and learned many tidbits about myself and the company. I've been with the company for almost 8 years now (wow - time sure flies!!) and have worked in various departments. There are still parts of the business that I'm unfamiliar with. Here was an opportunity to get an general overview of some of the other departments.

1. The listening class. I discovered that I have very high "filters" and tend not to listen in great detail about anything in particular. Therefore the best way to relay info to me is visually! I took this other test to see what kind of information I listen to. I scored really low (0) on the "listening to build relationships" category. Duh! But scored high under "listening to authority" and "listening to task related items". :-) I guess I develop select listening when it comes to friends talking! The instructor was quite surprised by my results as she knows I'm highly involved in 2 social clubs and figured that I must care about people and therefore want to listen to their concerns. She was wrong! Muahhaaa...it's all about me me me!!!

2. In the speaking class I continued my rebelish ways and didn't listen to most the instructions - not on purpose though. I was absorbed with recruiting new social club members and missed out on what the instructor said. Duh...didn't learn anything from the listening class! Lol - in my own silly self confidence I found myself sitting and speaking to the class (instead of exerting confidence and standing while speaking). Tip: when speaking to an audience of peers - stand up as they will listen to you if you're visually bigger than them. When the observation was made later I said it was because I had the loudest voice in the room and figured people could hear me fine from where I sat (plus I was already comfortable in my chair and was too lazy to stand up). I use to have fear of public speaking but now it's alright for me. No more of that paper-shaking-in-hands syndrome. Some of you may not believe it but there was a time when Kimmi would turn bright red and studder if someone called her name out in class and she had to answer. Nowadays it's a matter of other people trying to get a word in edgewise.

3. The insurance class was interesting. We learned about general insurance and contracts, etc. All contracts have the same 4 principles. There's a loop hole in the contractual system. Start screaming "Contra proferentem" and you'll be free from those annoying gym contracts. Also learned about other types of insurance and reinsurance (insurance for insurance companies). There's a big market for reinsurance. There's huge job market for actuarians. :-) Looking for a career change? That is the road to go down!

4. Licensing was a fun class. We learned about the Graduated Licensing Program. The changes that were made to it and future changes down the road. It's getting tougher and tougher for kids to drive these days. But on a off topic note...here are a few facts that you probably didn't know.

• Anyone can be called in for a driving reexamination (not just old foggies). All it takes is for a neighbor/relative to snitch to us about your bad driving habits. The kicker is that if you fail - you have to go through the GLP (graduated licensing program) again!
• The only time your eyes are tested is when you first get your license - after that we just assume you have perfect vision for the rest of your driving life. What kind of system is that?!
• If you come from Japan or South Korea - you can hand over your license and we'll give you a BC one (without testing). But if your from Mexico - you can forget about that...off to the testing room you go! We let American swap licenses but if you want to swap licenses in California - you have to get tested first!
• We require that you have an "L" for 24 months (and be restricted to driving with someone 25+ years old) before getting your "N". But there's a loop hole in the system. You can get your class 6 (motorcycle) license within 30 days and be free to ride on your own. You can exit the GLP on the class 6 license (meaning a shorter waiting period).
  

Do you have Road Sense? Do you think you could pass the Learners test if you had to write it again? Test out your knowledge here. This is only a practice test. I wrote the "real" one last year (was "fixing" one of the testing stations and had to run a test) and FAILED! Thank god it wasn't recorded.

Lol - I got my license in Saskatoon. I ran over a curb during the driving test. If a pedestrian was on the curb they would have been dead and I wouldn't even realize it till the hard thud sound f the wheels rolling over them. :-) I'm morbid. The driver examiner told me that I needed more practice but he'd pass me anyhow. Yippee!!! And I didn't even have to pay him - ahem...Dragon Driving School. I don't think any of my school mates failed their driving tests. One of them even crashed into a fence and was cleared for a license. Lol...license-to-kill maybe...But then again - in those days we did driving as part of our highschool curriculum. So many fond memories of hours spent in the simulators behind a washing-machine-type-of-box watching "the street" on a screen at the front of the room and pretending to drive. A very (embarrassingly) LOW tech simulator. Lol - only Tanya will grin and know what I'm talking about.

shower of love

Sunday afternoon Mary and I attended Michelle's baby shower. We had just had dim sum with the girls and rushed over to get some little cakes to bring to the party. We thought that we'd be late but it turned out that we were early. I helped Yen with packaging the goody bags. Then Sue asked me to blow up some balloons. My hot air was being put to use for once! I took some pictures of the girls preparing the place. Sue and Yen hosted the party. They are very creative and gave me some good tips. Michelle's cousins came over and we all chit chatted for a few hours. I can't believe how big Chicky's family is. Lol - it was nice to see everyone though. I totally sucked at the party games. Obviously I can't recognize Mary as a baby and can't decipher Andy's name on a word scramble! I think I was in a constant state of eating on Sunday. The food at Michelle's party was too good to pass up. :-)

dim sum

On Sunday we had our monthly girls dim sum get together. This month we ate at Sun Sui Wah in Vancouver. Anticipating a super long wait - Mary and I went there an hour early to line up. There was no one in the restaurant. We sat at a table for10 and drank tea. Other patrons in the restaurant kept looking over at us. I think the waitresses were wondering if we were there to drink (free) tea the whole time or if we were actually going to order. Luckily the girls came later and joined us. We were spared from having to defend our table against seisure by the hungry mob at the front door. It didn't help that our table was near the door - not only were the hostesses looking over, the crowd were eyeing us suspiciously too! Must have looked funny - 2 girls sitting at such a big table, sipping on tea for an hour!

It was great to see everyone. Mary and Cindy are doing well with their pregnancies. Cindy had a bit of a scare last week but all is well now. She's off from work and intends on spending time making cookies. Katarina came and entertained us all. I had to take a picture with her - I totally adore her! I forgot to take pictures of the rest of the girls. Oopps! Tracey has a new digital camera and is putting it to use. Shannon has a new haircut. It's really stylish though she misses her long hair dearly. Jenny announced that she's getting married this summer. This was wonderful news - her honey is moving so fast! Lol - just to prove that you don't need long engagements (a couple of months will do). Charlene is in a flux with her wedding plans - all is going on schedule though. Josie joked about getting pregnant this summer. We think it'll for sure happen though. I hoping that we can continue with this tradition as it helps brings the girls (and myself) closer. Though we all admit that we read each others blogs frequently and are some-what up to date on what's going on with everyone. Some day Tracey will have her blog ready for us to peruse through *hint hint*. :-)

craft corner

This week I've been a bit obsessed with card making. I go through phases when it comes to crafts. I think it's KA's influence as she's been working on her wedding invitations and it made me get the I-want-to-make-something itch. So I went out and bought some supplies and sat down tonight to see if I could get inspired. Here are a few of the cards I made. Nothing spectacular but it's been a learning experience. Glue stick is STICKY!! Gets all over the table and then things get stuck to it. :-) It's fun going to Micheals Craft store and Staples. I LOVE stationary. There are days when I even wish we could go back to snail-mail, just so that I can buy cute stationary! But then again I'm tech-dependant and can't live without email either. Tomorrow I'm going to try out "embossing". I picked up some rubber stamps in my shopping spree. I have to say though...wired ribbon is the BEST. Totally makes things look better.

email jail

I went to a meeting this afternoon on Email. Here's where you ask yourself "how can someone talk about email tips for 3 hours?!" As techs (I use this term loosely) - we're scheduled to attend meetings on all kinds of topics. Some are relevant - others are a waste of time. Which reminds - I'm scheduled to present next week on a new digital camera that our estimators got this year. Think...think...how to make it interesting.... The awesome thing is that so far (knock on wood), I've only had to do presentations on hardware (cameras, PDAs and cellphones) - which gives me an opportunity to take the stuff home and play with it first!

At work, email is of great concern. Everything from length, size, quantity and quality. I get an average of 100 work-related items cycling through my Inbox per day (this is not counting the personal emails that I send out to you guys!). We use MS Outlook - which I love and adore as I use it a home too. My coworkers and I use all the tricks of the trade to manage the volume of information. From intricate rules that forward messages to subfolders (or sub-sub-folders), filtered views and color coding. Just by sheer volume, I can't keep up with what's being sent to me and most times end up doing the ALT-A --> Delete at the end of each month. Through all of this I've learned that the subject line is the KEY between getting your message dumped and having someone read it.

Here are some interesting things from the meeting: (stats from Email Labs)

• 43.3% of emails are 20-79KB
• most popular day to:
• send emails = tuesday (26.7%)
• send time = 9am (19.1%)
  
• open emails = wednesday (22.8%)
• open time = 11am (7.3%)
• only 4% of the US population personalizes their emails (with a "signature")
• of those that personalize - 76% use 5 points or less (name, job title, phone number, etc)
• when and where online users check their emails
• when
• first thing in the morning (41%)
• in the middle of the night (40%)
• where
• in bed (23%)

So just by looking at those stats...I fall right into the cultural "norm". :-)

going googley

Just when you thought blogging was the end of it. I've discovered the amazing world of Google Calendar. Yes - Google is starting to rule my life the way MS Outlook does. I've posted my life online now for all of you to view. :-) The great feature about Google Calendar is that I can import my MS Outlook calendar into it. Saves me so much time! Just click on the Calendar button below or under the See More section of my blog. :-)

let the celebrations begin

Saturday was Hanif's birthday. His birthday party is the first of the parties that we'll be attending for 2007. Betty was sweet enough to cook us dinner. After working all day, she came home and whipped up a tons of food (Betty style) for us. When I got to her house (at 8pm) she was still slaving away in the kitchen. I grined as it was quite the sight. Big belly and a bit too short to see what's inside all the pots she had going on the stove - she was on her tippy-toes trying to figure out if the curry was done. She made curry and pasta. She was trying to appease those that liked asian food (Minh) and those that like western food (Hanif).

It was nice to just have the kids hang out. We talked and caught up on what's going on with the baby. Hanif is excited and wanted Betty to give birth on his birthday. Betty's due in 2 weeks. Wow - how time flies! She's ready for the baby to come out though. I think she's tired of being pregnant. She says the baby is already 8lbs and we joked about her having a 10lb baby (naturally!). I insisted on taking some pictures of her - took much persuasion from the my sisters though as Betty has not been into taking pictures during her pregnancy. I told her that she would regret it years down the road - when her kid is all grown up. She didn't think so. Lol - I didn't care, I took some anyways! That's the great thing about being "family" - we don't really care what you think because we'll just continue to do what we want to do without hesitation.

After dinner the group had a few rounds of poker. I lost all my chips in the first hand! Boohoo.... Those guys and their over betting pre-flop!!! It was like almost ALL IN for the 3 of us (who were adamant about calling each other's bluffs) before the flop even happened. So having been eliminated in the first 5 minutes - I went to the kitchen with Angelina to see if we could make dessert. Betty was exhausted from cooking and playing hostess. The girls didn't last too long in the game - just a few hours. Soon most of the girls just went to bed. Betty joined Angelina in bed after giving up on the boys. KA and I crashed on the couches. By 5am the boys finally drew their game to a close and we all got up to go home. Thanks for dinner and many hours of entertainment Betty/Hanif!

green basil

Tonight I went out for dinner with Tanya, Tracey and Shannon. It was a bit of a last minute thing and after much confusion we managed to gather our thoughts and come up with a plan. Due to traffic and coming from various locations - we ended up meeting at Metrotown. Tanya was already there doing a bit of shopping.

Tanya's coworker recommended a new Thai restaurant across the street from Superstore at Metrotown. The name of the place is Green Basil. We all left our cars in the safety of the mall and jay-walked across the street. The weather was nippy and we were hungry. It was nearly 8:45pm when we got to the restaurant.

We sat down and looked at the menu. All the food sounded yummy! I see the waiter walk over and I'm puzzled for a second as he looks so familiar. I'm horrible at remembering people's names! He sees me and grins. Now I know that he knows me! So he walks up and says "cashew chicken?" to me. Then it hits me. Thai House - North Vancouver! Across from work is a Thai House. I go there at least once a week and always have the same dish - special #19 (cashew chicken). I burst out laughing at the relization that Eric (the waiter) has ended up here. There was a change in management at the Thai House and they let go of all the waiters. Which really sucked as part of the reason why we liked going there was that Rav (my coworker) was good friends with all the waiters and they'd give us "perks" (usually in the form of icecream). Being my nutty self - I wanted Eric to take a picture with us so that I could show my coworkers that I ran into him. Lol...that amused some of the other waiters. Then another guy came up to us and I recognize him as well (another ex-thai-house-waiter). I can't remember his name and can't cheat as he's not wearing a name tag here. I know he's the shy one though and doesn't talk often. Anyhow it was fun to see them as it just shows what a small world is it. Plus we got big scoops of icecream at the end of our meal because of Eric. Bonus!

It was nice to get out with the girls and chit chat about girl stuff. There was a lot of candid moments and giggles around the table. Good food and good friends - the best combination! I'm looking foward to doing more of this with the rest of the girls this year.

new blog look

I've finally been granted access to the new blog look. It's so much nicer. Things publish faster, it's much more user friendly. The interface is better as well. Only inconvenience was having to create a Google account in order to make the switch. I'm not use to the labels section yet. Don't know what to put into that field..

dark times

On Tuesday we lost power to the house. I'm not sure if it's our location but we've lost power about 4 times in the last month. I've learned that I can't sit still and furthermore suffer from technology withdraw when there's no electricity.

I came home to a house/street/neighbourhood lit with candles. The irredescant glow was mesmerizing, almost to the point of being eary. I found myself wrestless as my family was plague with indecisions. No power = no cooking = no food. So the debate was whether to venture out to a restaurant or order in. I gave up on them and went to play with the laptop. It only had an hour worth of battery life on it. I couldn't blog - no power to modem = no internet.

When the power died on the laptop, I picked up my camera and started shooting random pictures. Soon the camera battery indicator was flashing. Mental note to self - keep all electronic toys charged! The flash on the SLR works wonderful - lights up the room. But it must of have looked weird to the neighbors as it's so dark and all of a sudden you would see these flashes coming from inside our house. Plus there was one point where I was taking pictures of our street from the safety of my living room. Now that must have looked strange from outside.

Eventually we made our way to Westwood Cafe. It was packed - I guess there were other people who had the same idea. Westwood Cafe has become my parents favorite eating spot. The food is good there and the prices aren't bad. Hopefully the power will be reliable for the rest of the week! If not then it's more opportunities to eat out!

snacking

I was just looking at some of the food-centered blogs out there and began thinking that I should cook more. Many of you are great cooks and are having lots of fun experimenting with recipes. I haven't done much cooking since moving back home. Realistically - I barely cook as there's always food in the fridge (between my mom and my sister cooking). I use to go to these cooking-get-togethers and "learn" how to cook different things. It use to be over at Michelle's house or at one of the other girls. Tracey and Frank tried to start up a little cooking club but I haven't seen a recent meeting from them. Maybe I should should spice up the dim sum routine with the girls and have some cooking nights. Of course I loved things that are themed - therefore we'll have cooking themes! Don't quite know how to work it around everyone's schedules though but we can figure that out later. Here's a good dip recipe I got from my coworker.

Recipe for Mango Salsa

Ingredients:
6 Mangos (not too ripe) (peeled and stone removed)
2 Red Peppers
2 Green Peppers
1 Red Onion
1 Bundle of Cilantro
4 Limes
Jalapenos (I just use the jar ones)
2 tbsp honey (or more...)
**************************************************************************
1. Chop mangos, peppers, onion into a bite size pieces.
2. Combine the chopped ingredients.
3. Chop cilantro into fine pieces and add to the above ingredients.
4. Drain and chop jalapenos into fine pieces also and mix into the mango mixture.
5. Squeeze the limes into the mango mixture and add honey and blend it into the mixture. Try the salsa...might have to add more honey and or some more lime juice....

**Serve with Taco Chips**

2007 toys

I'm estatic!!! Chicky bought the Canon Rebel XTi for me yesterday! He's so sweet! Everyone knew I wanted a dSLR camera and for the past 2 weeks we've been debating between the Canon Rebel and the Canon S3. One justification for the camera was that I wanted better pictures from vacationing. Now I'm looking forward taking some photography courses and going out with some of my photo enthusiast friends to learn more.


He got the lens kit and an extra telephoto lens for the camera. I couldn't wait to come home and test it out. We went to the mall to get a bag for the gear. Initially I wanted a backpack. But after holding it - I realized that it's WAY too big to carry around on our trip. So we continued the search. Our journey ended at Kerrisdale Cameras. I picked up a Lowepro runner pack. It was the most compact bag that I found that allowed for easy access to the equipment. :-) Plus I can wear it like a purse! Because it's a runner's pack - it has a waist belt. Chicky insists I carry my own camera when traveling. We ordered a compact flash card but it won't be delivered till next week. Chicky picked up a CF card at FutureShop but it's over price when compared to the web one. But can I return the CF card when all I want to do is shoot pictures?!

Chicky proclaimed that he believed in fate yesterday. When he went to buy my camera at Futureshop and low and behold there was a PS3 staring back at him. It was the only one in the whole store. So he saw it as a sign and bought it. It's so shiny! Of course there's no games for it so he went out and bought a game. Poor Chicky sat on my livingroom floor for 2 hours wondering if it was a good choice to purchase the PS3. He stared at it for a long time before finally cracking the seal. :-) Now we'll both have things to play with on the weekend!

stage 3

Stage 3 - the interview. Today I had my interview for the Analyst 2 postion. This was the final stage in the hiring process. The journey has been long but I feel confident that it went well. When they scheduled the interview for 1.5 hours - I was astonished. What in the world could I say or do to fill up that time?! So anxiety set in. Luckily they only gave us 2 days notice for the interview - not enough time to get really paranoid. I expected it to be the standard panel interview consisting of behavioural based questions ("give us an example of when...."). I walked into the room after having a filling lunch. Shook hands with the panel, straigtened my suit, smiled and sat down to begin the grilling. I was happy that it was only 13 questions. Lucky number 13! From past experience with panel interviews, I was not at all nervous or surprised with the methodology. I got into my comfort zone and ended up talking for more than 1.5 hours. :-) Ooops...I can go on a tangent if someone doesn't keep me in check.

I know many of us have gone though many interviews. I've been working since I was 15 years old. The majority of my teenage working life consisted of 2 jobs at a time therefore I have an array of interview experiences. Here are some of the more interesting interview scenerios I've gone though - just for laughs.

• Canadian Airlines - 5 stage interview
• stage 1 - reaching for a box up high without shoes. There's a height requirement for all airline attendants. Yah - finally something that I am good at...being tall! Imagine hundreds of pretty girls lined up with high heeled shoes on having thier dreams of flying around the world shattered when told that they can't do the test with shoes on! Good bye mile high club!
  
• stage 3 - panel interview - this was my first experience with a real panel interview where 8 other contestants were present. We lined up in a row and the 6 judges asked each of us the same questions. Really sucked if you were first or last as your answer had to be "unique" so that it didn't appear that you just said the same thing as the person before you. It was more intimidating as the recorders were walking around the room taking notes on what we said.
• Banquet waitress - balance test
• unlike regular waitresses, banquet waitressing requires you to serve 30+ people food at once. Which means you have to be able to stack an absurd number of plates down your arm. Amazingly I had the ability to do that and even survived it when the plates were COOKED to provide maximum heat for the customers. That's when you layer your left arm with cloth napkins and pray to god that the 4 dinner plates you have stacked on that arm don't burn through!
  
• Behavioral therapist - video taped interview
• I was invited over to interact with the child - basically try to engage him in "play". They forgot to mention that they would video tape the whole thing so that they could review it later. :-) After I worked more with austic kids I realized how important it is to select the right therapist as that person plays an integral part of your child's development.
  
• ICBC - mail services
• part of the selection process involved a physical test. It was like highschool gym all over again! I did a reach test, lifted a 50lb weight and carried it a metre.
• ICBC - help desk
• voice test - yes...it's not just what I know about computers...it's also how sexy I can sound while instructing you to reboot! Just kidding - my line of work is all about how you convey information...not about what is actually said.
  

tickle me

Last Friday Robyn brought in her Xmas gift. She got the new Tickle Me Elmo. For a 21 year old - I thought that was a strange gift. :-) But then again...it's Robyn...anything goes with her. She brought it into work just for me as I had mentioned that I saw it at Toys R Us during the Xmas season and didn't know what the big deal was. So she cleared my desk and we demonstrated the product for the rest of the work crew. Well - let me tell you...that thing is so COOL! He laughs, spins around, waves, screeches "again again", falls down, slaps the ground and stands back up (not necessarily in that order). I was remarkably impressed with the way he did extended dog (to stand back up). :-) We tried out all 3 modes. As each mode progresses, the Elmo gets more demonically possessed. It was hilarious. I giggled and tickled him each time he prompted me too. This toy is definately fun to play with but the potential for it to be annoying is high.

I took a verbal survey of robotic toys that intrigued us techies. Top contenders were:

• Sony dog - it has voice recognition
• Raptor - it has AI
  
• Elmo - for small children
• Honda robot - for those who wanted to really SPLURGE on a toy

Though I would KILL for that Teddy Bear in the movie AI!! He'd be the ulitimate gift for me!

all skin

I think this is a pretty good deal. I picked up 3 IPOD video silicone skins (red, black and white) at XS Cargo (Westwood mall) today. All for the price of $14.95. :-) They come with a pretty good screen protector (durable plastic). I still have the original plastic that it came with still stuck on - more for reassurance than for practicality. I've wrapped my baby in white (my favorite color). :-) I like the ridges on the sides - makes gripping the device much easier.

resolving to

New Year's wouldn't be complete without a list of New Year Resolutions! I don't know about the rest of you but my list tends to be short and detailed. It's the factual-type of personality that I possess. Like everyone else, I get really GUNG HO (key phrase here) into the resolutions at the beginning of the year but all hope of adhering to them diminishes as the weeks pass by. So here goes...for 2007 I resolve to:

• drink more water (1L a day)
• excerise (3x a week - get back into hot yoga)
• take 1 "fun" course to save my sanity (photography or sewing)
• adhere to a budget (spend less on dining out and entertainment)
• "read" 3 books for pleasure (not audiobooks)
  

In the past I focused on being happy and the ways in which I could attain that. This year I'll refocus on being healthy. Happiness has been subjective and inconsistent. I can not measure whether or not I'm more happy today then I was yesterday. Unlike health - I can measure my weight and say "nope...I weigh more today then I did yesterday!"

Happy New Year

2007 is upon us! This year is the Year of the Pig.

I rang in the new year at home. We had a quiet night at my house. Chicky and I had dinner with my parents at Westwood Cafe. The 4 of us ate a lot of seafood. After that we went home. I worked on some computer stuff and he surfed the web. We ran upstairs to count down with the TV and said our Happy New Years to each other. A quick kiss then it was back downstairs to our beloved computers. I think both of us are a bit too obsessed with them.

As the years pass by - the number of fancy Christmas and New Year's Eve parties lessens. For us it wasn't a matter of not having somewhere nice to go - it was a matter of how much moolah we wanted to spend. We're trying to budget more this year. Both of us suffer from impulsive buying disorder. There's no cure for us. In the interim we have to just remind each other that instant gratification is not the way out and that good things come to those who wait. Enough with the cliches though. I hope everyone else rang in the new year with family, friends or both. Wishing everyone a healthy and happy 2007!