There are supply cabinets scattered around the office in various locations. I sit near-ish to one of them.

A couple of co-workers just walked past me, toward it to grab something, and I overheard a snippet of their conversation:

Co-Worker#1: …I’ve never had to send one before, so I didn’t bother knowing where the envelopes were.
CW#2: No problem, right around the corner… here they are.
(pause)
CW#1: *laugs*
CW#2: Did you like my spin? I totally got it down, harsh Vanna White style.

These are the people in my neighbourhood. Sigh.

I predict that Canada will lose very, very badly at the upcoming World Championships.

It makes me wonder how much the current NHL players really play for the love of “Canada’s Game” (55-60% of NHL players are Canadian), and how many have been blinded by their multi-million dollar salaries. We keep hearing heartwrenching sound bites about how the mean ol’ league is ruining Canadian hockey (insert patriotic tear here), yet when these athletes are offered an opportunity to play at home representing their game & their country, many have declined.

Vincent Lecavalier and Jose Theodore are the latest two players to pass on playing for Team Canada.

They both cite injury, but managed to fulfil their duties playing for European teams. Steve Yzerman has also declined to play, however he’s been off hockey since the end of last season with an eye injury. That I can understand. The rest of the guys though? I’m disappointed.

I understand that Canadian athletes aren’t exactly well-compensated for their endeavors and efforts, but have our hockey players become such spoiled brats that they can’t be bothered to play if the compensation isn’t high enough? So much for “the love of the game.”

If that’s the case, then they can drop the patriotic good ol’ boy bullshit, and just be honest about being happy being nothing more than another group of millionaire athletes. They should just take a lesson from the pages of the book of Lebron James, and turn up the pimp juice another notch. At least they’d be keepin’ it real.

How can you tell I have a paper due? My house is getting more Martha-Clean than it usually is (I washed and IRONED the shower curtain), and I’ve been baking up a storm.

Of course, I spent a few hours baking 5 dozen cranberry-bran muffins last night, then forgot to bring any to work to actually eat today. D’oh!

Tonight’s project: Tiny Cheesecakes, round two… and maybe bang out a few paragraphs.

Ya’ll really want to hear why I figure dating is so damn difficult. I’m totally copping out and ripping this entry off from someone else, but at least I’ll give credit where credit is due. And besides which, Anna Broadway of Sexless in the City has just found supporting evidence for something I’ve been struggling with for a long, long time.

From the New York Times:

Too many options may drive consumers away. [… P]eople who chose one chocolate from a selection of 30 expressed more regret and uncertainty about their decision than those who chose among six kinds. That’s because with 29 other options, there is a bigger chance of losing out on something better.

[…] The key is whether people understand their choices, said Richard H. Thaler, an economist at the University of Chicago. “People have to know what their preferences are and they have to know how the options they have map onto their preferences,” he said.

This might be easy when choosing between chocolate and vanilla ice cream. But it gets progressively more difficult as the number of flavors increases. When the risks are high and the decisions complex — as when choosing between medical procedures or investment portfolios — consumers may become easily flummoxed.

The same could be said for being a “consumer of men” (woah oh here she comes….). Living in a multicultural city like Vancouver means there is a huge variety of people from different social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Each of which have their distinct advantages, and drawbacks. And I really like a little bit of everything and every one. I’m assuming things would be much different, and my choice much easier, if I lived in a small whitebread “Anywhere USA” kind of place where the residents and the scope of people I’d encounter on any given day were much more homogeneous.

As it stands now, everyone I’ve dated in the past months has embodied many of the qualities that I’ve been exposed to and admire in a partner. Unfortunately, nobody has come close to having all of them. And I’m starting to seriously doubt that anyone ever will. And that bothers me. I know there’s definitely an aspect of opportunity-cost when making any decision. But no matter where I turn, I feel like there’s a sacrifice to be made. I feel like I have no choice but to “settle.”

Go. Now.

I went to Cru for dinner last night with a foodie friend (which is the best kind of friend to try out a new restaurant with), and wow. What a gem.

The front of the house is scarcely bigger than a hallway, but the high ceiling, mirrored upper-wall and light decor left it feeling airy and open.

They offer a 3 course prix fixe menu (which we dined from) as well as a selection of small plates. The menus are also colour coded with their well-appointed wine list, to give pairing suggestions. My only complaint about anything was the selection of wines by the glass. There were between 2-5 selections for each family of wine, but they duplicated some wine types, so while there were two pinot noirs to choose from, there was no Cabernet or Cab blend. My recommendation - stay away from the Petit Syrah, it’s very small indeed and couldn’t stand up to the flavourful main course I chose. So while there’s an opportunity to pair wines with courses, if you really want the opportunity to sample from the entire list, go with a party of four to six where you’ll share a few bottles to enjoy a wider selection.

But I’m more of a food snob than a wine snob, and the food was FANTASTIC.

I started with the Cellar Door Caesar, a nice twist on the conventional caesar salad with a grilled (and un-sliced, eliminating the “tossed” look) heart of romaine, drizzled with dressing, and topped with asiago, rather than the traditional parmesan cheese. For the carb-lovers, it was accompanied by some large, semi-soft garlic-butter croutons.

Upon recommendation of my dining companion I had the Beef Tenderloin and added Fois Gras. The tenderloin, while not my favourite cut of beef, was lovely and perfectly done (medium rare). The cabernet mushroom demiglaze was a perfect accompaniment, adding another flavour dimension without being too overpowering. The accompanying bleu cheese souffle was also excellent, and the chef did a wonderful job of tempering the usually sharp flavour of the cheese, though not so much so that it couldn’t stand up to its platemate. The fois gras was almost indescribable, perfectly charred on the outside, and absolutely melted in my mouth. A garnish of some crisp grilled seasonal veggies completed this fine, fine dish.

At this point I was perfectly pleased with the dining experience so far. Then dessert came, which bumped my experience from good, to great. If nothing else on the menu excites you, go simply for an espresso or some port and the Bitter Chocolate Torte. It was absolutely phenomenal and totally beyond words. I believe my eyes actually rolled back into my head more than once. The rhubarb, uncomplicated and un-sullied with other fruits or flavours and the creme fraiche went so well with the moist, rich, dark chocolate. As rich as the dish was, the texture was still fairly light (so many times I find tortes to be nearly as dense as a brownie!), so I was able to savour the entire dish without too much trouble, much to the amusement of my dining partner, who refused to help me out and instead insisted the entire dessert could contribute to the widening of my hindquarters.

The service was prompt and attentive, the staff knowledgeable, and the food delightful. I’ll be back for sure.

There have been a few things rattling around in my brain the past little while. I have no idea where to start, so I figure I’d ask the readership what they’d like to see next.

Take a moment to choose what you’d like to see on the poll, and expect an entry in a couple days.

rubber duckie

Originally uploaded by peechie.

Yes, I’m still here. Just busy. I’ll be back soon. In the meantime, enjoy my rubber duckie - he makes bathtime fun!

Many of the people I work with (considering most of them are barely computer literate women) just loooooove to send around those chain letter emails. Since I was bored the other day, I decided to go through the motions of one of them (the “Tibetan Personality Test”), though I did not send it on - so consider me doomed.

Anyway, one part of the test asks you to assign a descriptive word to each of the following: Dog, Cat, Rat, Sea, Coffee.

I’ll insert a bit of background here, and state that when you drink nearly a litre of coffee every day there are certain effects is has on your system. Namely, it messes with your regularity. I received this test after day 3 of being so sick I could not drink coffee. What can I say, it was on my mind.

Ok, back to the story…

I assigned the following descriptions to each of the words: Dog/Loyal, Cat/Smelly, Rat/Diseased, Sea/Blue, Coffee/Laxative (I told you it was on my mind!).

Check after the jump to see what that says about my personality…

(more…)

That’s it - I’m firing bloglines as my feed reader. I hope the rest of my readers will follow suit, at least until the bloglines people fix whatever is buggering up their service. Of course, by the time any bloglines subscribers actually get this post of mine, it’ll likely be 2012 and blogs will be so 2005 and it won’t matter anymore. Bloglines hasn’t grabbed my feed since 10:51 last night. I posted at around 11:30 this morning. I think nearly 5 hours is MORE than enough time to acknowledge an updated feed.

And it’s not just my feed. Most of the sites I read take the better part of an hour (and it’s only been getting worse!) before they show as updated on bloglines. There are also feeds it refuses to acknowledge, even though they’re perfectly valid in other readers (my.yahoo.com for example).

So I’m currently taking recommendations for other free, web-based feed readers. Does anyone have any suggestions? Because bloglines isn’t cutting it for me anymore. I may as well just go back to gasp plain old Blogrolling!

(edit: just FYI this was posted at 4:26pm. about 2.25 hours before it registered as being updated on bloglines, and another hour+ before any readers found it and bothered to comment)

It’s a special season in Canada. Winter’s finally drawing to a close (it’s long gone in BC, I hope the rest of my compatriots are faring well, though I hear it’s snowing in Edmonton…) and Tim Horton’s Roll Up the Rim to Win contest is in full swing.

Darren Barefoot and others have posted their own personal statistical experiences and analyses regarding how often they’re rolling up the rim and winning, rather than seeing the disappointing “please play again” black text on blue background.

I have my own special and totally unscientific theory about the odds of winning in the Roll-Up game. A win is the universe’s way of balancing out the suck. The only times I’ve ever won anything on my coffee cup is when I’m having an excruciatingly bad day. Huge fight with the boyfriend? Cookie. Company I’m working for goes bankrupt? Donut.

My ex didn’t believe me, until he won his own prize on the day he came over to pick up something the other week, and I was curt and short with him. He figured I was pissed off with him for something, it put him in a foul mood… instant cookie! He even tried picking a fight with me just to see if his odds would improve (currently 1 for 20-something). I didn’t relent to the fight picking, and also I think it has to be something beyond your control that makes your day terrible in order to be graced by the Timmy Ho’s instant karma.

For the record, I’m currently 0/1. And if those odds never improve, well, I figure I probably have nothing to complain about.

Apparently when they say “don’t overheat the magic bag” they aren’t kidding. I tossed mine in the microwave for about 6 minutes (instructions recommend 2 minutes max) figuring it’d just be really hot when it came out.

Apparently if you do that, they will burn. It didn’t start on fire, but now the entire apartment smells like burnt something. Not quite toast, not quite popcorn.

At least I know it’s the magic bag, and I’m not having a stroke. And on the upside, my doctor was able to see me this afternoon, and I’m feeling much, much better.

It’s come to my attention that I have about eleventy-trillion emails sitting in my inbox. I’m sorry. I’ve been all preoccupied with this being on death’s door crap.

If I’m supposed to be getting back to you, I will, I promise. Just give me a few more days (oh lord please don’t let me feel like this any longer than a few more days….)

I’ve officially abandoned the patch. The nausea was getting worse and worse, meaning I was getting weaker and weaker, finally culminating with today, a Sunday where I haven’t showered, not because I’m lazy, but because I have no faith in my ability to stay vertical or conscious long enough to get the job done.

I have removed the patch, and will not be replacing it. For once, I’m grateful that I’ve recently found myself in a state of “not gettin’ any” for the foreseeable future, just because I can’t handle the hormonal contraception right now.

I’ve asked a few people who are supposed to be “in the know” about these things, and will be making an appointment with my doctor next week, but all indications point to an estrogen reaction. Side effects should not be this severe for the average user. However, having taken Depo Provera for the past 6-ish years, my body’s been lacking any estrogen for most of that time (which is what contributes to the osteoporosis risk), and dumping a bunch of it in at once makes the body very unhappy.

Literature suggests that it’ll take about 3 months to adjust to the change. I’m hoping my body will take care of that process on its own in a much less volatile manner.

I’m hoping I’ll be back up to snuff in a couple of days. In the meantime, enjoy the new design thanks to my dear, dear Kyndra. It’s almost as gorgeous and divine as she is.

Have you ever wondered why I’ve called this series “Ridiculously High Standards” instead of something less foreboding? It’s because breaching one of these without a strong backup of coolness factor can very likely put the nail into the relationship coffin as far as I’m concerned. As I’ve said already, I’m totally willing and usually more than able to overlook small transgressions - as long as I’m already fairly smitten. But in the beginning stages, as soon as I’m unimpressed by something, I flee. Quickly.

And the scenario has just played itself out again.

Example: I’ve gone on a couple dates with Mr. Travelsalot. I was pretty ok with things as they were, until he sent me an email asking when a good time to call was while he’s been away this past week. I said Monday I was in class, and I’d be off doing my taxes on Tuesday, but any evening the rest of the week would be fine. He replied “Expect a call on Tuesday, hope I don’t take too much time away from your taxes.”

STRIKE ONE! Which part of my email signified that I wasn’t ALREADY BUSY on Tuesday? (RHS#5 - respect the other person’s schedule.)

That was all I needed to start the ball rolling. Things I had previously shrugged off and overlooked all came bubbling to the surface. Examples:

-He referrs to Lasik surgery as “getting your eyes cut.” Cut? that sounds like someone is adjusting your corneas with a steak knife.

-He told me I don’t ask enough questions of him. Sorry if I’m not into 20 questions. I’m from the “actions speak louder than words” camp, and figure spending time with a person is the best way to get to know him. Along the same lines, I wasn’t spared the constant barrage of queries.

-He routinely stopped, mouth agape, in the middle of conversations, then said “sorry, your eyes (lips, etc.) are distractingly gorgeous. Now every girl likes a compliment, but nobody likes a caveman. Control yourself. Along those lines (again) he regularly reminded me that I’m “earning brownie points” with him. I’m fabulous, I get it already. Move on.

-He thought it was remarkable and “too weird” that we both took the citrus wedges off our soft drinks, and made a little shield with one hand while squeezing the juice into the drink with the other. I don’t think that’s so much coincidence as courtesy, and safety. Nobody likes lemon juice in the eye. Ninety percent of the people I know make the little hand shield. Perhaps his friends and family are uncouth with the beverages?

-He talked during the movie (albeit a wee, tiny bit - but talking’s talking).

-I happened upon some hockey tickets for tomorrow night’s Vancouver Giants game, and since we were supposed to be going out that night anyway, I asked if he wanted to accompany me. He said “Sure, sounds like fun! I just hope my brother doesn’t show up.” Why’s that? Do you not get along with your family? (strike!) Do you not want me to ever meet your family, even by accident? (Strike!) Are you that socially awkward that in a city this small you couldn’t handle running into someone you know while on a date, and just introduce that date as a friend? (STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT!)

-And while I’m on a roll, he’s not my physical type, which isn’t something I usually put a whole lot of stock into, but after all these other downfalls, being a hottie was really the last thing he could’ve had going for him.

So there you have it. I emailed him as soon as I got home from work (which was our primary form of communication thus far) and cancelled our date. No point in postponing the inevitable.

Except now I have an extra (free) hockey ticket for tomorrow night (Saturday March 19th). Comment if you’d like to go. Puck drops at 7:00pm.

As we near the end of week one of the patch, I’ve got a few more observations to share.

It’s still stuck in place, but it does have a nasty ring of sticky crud around it. The manufacturers claim I should be able to gently rub that off with some baby oil after I put a new patch on somewhere else next week (never put the patch on the exact same spot two weeks in a row). It’s not something I’m really worrying about right now, because I have no desire to flash my hot, hot ass around. However if I did, the patch would suck. So a special note to Porn Stars, Strippers and other Adult Entertainers: avoid the patch.

Of much greater concern to me right now though - the side effects. The patient information insert claims that common side effects include nausea and headache, which should fade with time (how much time, they do not say). Well it took a few days for them to show up, but for the past 48 hours I’ve been living on advil and diet gingerale. I feel absolutely disgusting. Compounding the situation is my caffeine addiction, meaning I need to consume coffee on my nasty upset stomach - or risk the headache turning into a migraine.

My uterus is also not co-operating with the situation, twinging and offering up nearly continuous mild cramps (back and front) for the past couple days as well. Also, though it’s fairly mild, I do have IBS and any upset in the delicate balance of my bottom system throws the whole thing grossly out of whack. So while not everyone’s side-effect experience may not be this unpleasant, it’s safe to say I feel like absolute ass on a stick these days.

I’m willing to put up with this crud for exactly 3 weeks (and really, after 2 days it already feels like too long) - if my body won’t adjust after one cycle, forget this patch crap. I’ll be looking for something else.