everyday is d. day

when the planets don't align

sometimes it all just goes for shit.

i forgot my travel mug and my shopping bags. it was not an auspicious start to an average day. glorious, but average. i had errands to run and all that.

the morning was to begin with coffee with a friend, but we got our wires crossed and he had meant another day (even though he had been clear as mud when we were communicating back and forth about it). first, a visit to the bell flagship store to hopefully get some answers to my blackberry's "illness". it had been recommended as my best option, that store supposedly being staffed with the bell braintrust. not so much. and it didn't pay off. actually, i left with a sour taste in my mouth. to get bell to do anything costs the customers who are already paying, and apparently the customer service will depend on which rep you talk to on any given day. my rep, although, very friendly (and attractive), was no more knowledgeable than the people at my local kiosk here in new westminster. next up was to kill two birds with one stone; return and pick up a library book. unfortunately, i had requested said book be sent to a different branch. denied again.

and so i made my way home, slightly defeated. but on the bright side, i did manage to do all of this inside of the 1 hour 30 minutes allowed on my bus pass so hooray for me and expediency.

when you're hot you're hot really really hot

i decided that nature's stifling hot would be better than toughing it out in the stifling, stuffy air of the foursquare. i put on my short shorts (bedamned!) my hat and head out. the brute force of the heat was almost enough to push me back in but i push back and down the street. i try 7eleven first but there they've had the unfortunate circumstance to lose their air conditioning during this spell, but the foresight to rent "portable cooling devices" and placed them throughout the store.  one near the back blasts forth a particularly comforting torrent of cool. so i linger awhile.  reluctantly i leave. the little grocery mart welcomes me with chilly fingers of cool, but i can't even feign shopping, i'm so limp.

i return home; arriving to our apt up to our street to the front door. our apartment management, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to fix a problematic lock by taking the lock out completely, and making the door "emergency exit" only. whatever. i'm not going on a pilgrimage to take out the garbage and recycling. it's only a matter of time before the other back door  and the front door locks go completely. wonder if they'll employ the same level of ingenuity to fix those problems as well. believe me, i wouldn't be surprised if they did.  i walk deliberately through the weak gurglings and spitting of the small waterpark. it works. til the flitting bugs get to me.

s. insists that no windows be open during the day. he says that it will confuse the air molecules, but i am not so sure. two days of sitting in the dark with fans pathetically batting around uncirculated old air hasn't netted desirable results.  i think a change in tack is in order.  when i open the door i step into air that is oppressive, dense and stale. i can predict this much.  i won't be catching up with sandman until very very late.

once twice three times a blog post....

i finally decided to sit down and write something about my time in San Francisco-- which was fantastic by the by--only to discover i couldn't find the notes that i had made. probably in a fit of fastidiousness or a recycling blunder, i managed to somehow discard them. i've well documented the trip down. some might say too well. it is one of the longest posts i've tossed up on my blog, but it's my blog, so.......

i sat in the park and composed what i thought was a fairly clever summation of the week's events on my blackberry only to find out later on that the device had some sort of glitch episode and now those notes are no more as well. the software doesn't work anymore from what i can tell, and that and another post made around the same time is no more either. i felt so accomplished when i'd finally actually done them and now i have to create them again. or not. it is my blog, afterall.

loading....loading....loading

i am suffering now from snail slow internet.i think it could be my router. there is a light not lit that should be. my status is dead in the water. my lightning fast internet is not as shaw promises it to be. never has been but at the moment i am surfing on the good graces of someone else who doesn't have the good sense to password protect their network. thank god for them. even with this alternative i watch my mac's little daisy spin round and round without the hint as to what the progress might be, if any. i am reminded of the bad old days of dial up, when i could go and attend to tasks around the house while my computer hooked itself to the www. i don't have much of a fondness for those days then and even less now that i am a somewhat less patient person. my expectations are higher. no amount of deep breathing will help me rationalize it away. i gotta have my internet and i gotta have it now.

....done a little test. hooked the ethernet cord right into the computer. this simple test has determined that the router is screwed. i can't even remember when i bought it so it is probably about time it was updated. in terms of what is available at the lowest end of the spectrum these days, it is a complete relic, but i didn't feel the need to do anything about it until the inevitable occurred. and now it has.

no pain no gain

this past week i picked up my ea sports active. i tell ya,  i got it in the nick of time. seriously i don't know entirely what happened to my body, but i have a pretty good idea, and i have to remedy it. i've been working out religiously following my "trainer" who encourages me and somehow between the nunchuk and the controller the system keeps tabs on my form. i found myself beaking off at the trainer, when it told me to do things again or hold position, just like i might protest with a real person. it's brilliant. i've only just scratched the surface with it and i can see it has loads to offer. it even incorporates the wii fit into some of the routines.

now the wii, i had tucked it away under the sofa and pretty much forgotten about it. i wasn't impressed with the graphics or how the exercises were set up to be "locked" in no particular rhyme or reason until one spent a certain amount of time on the thing to unlock them. for instance, in the strengthen portion some really difficult exercises were the ones you had to spend all the time on to gain access to more exercises, which i thought was ridiculous. afterall, how many sideways pushup planks would i need to do to get at the crunches. silly business. i only really liked the hula hoop which was part of the balance exercises, that and the slalom skiing, which just simply drove me crazy and i was determined to get down the bloody hill without knocking down every gate. i spent an inordinate amount of time at it and this just meant that i got more weird balance exercises unlocked but not the yoga or strength exercises.

this morning i didn't have access to the wii system with the man about so i did some yoga in the bedroom. i was never a yoga star, but i am beginning to see how far i fell and how much ground i need to cover before i get back to some modicum of where i was, which is disheartening in itself, but i remain undeterred. i do not want to arrive at my next birthday the in the shape i was for this one.

it's all about moderation. i know, duh, but aside from not exercising i wasn't paying attention and it doesn't take long for pounds to start piling themselves up on one's unsuspecting frame. having crested the big four-oh, however, with lazy metabolism and hormones working against me, the job is doubly difficult now. i am feeling most of my muscle groups today and i know i will for some time.

so up the steep hill i go.

if it isn't one thing it's another

a little snag with the move. we're expected to move out the 31st and we don't get possession of our new place til the first. this is a bit of a departure for the way it has always been in all the rentals i have formerly lived in, but this company does it this way.  i've called h.o. to make an entreaty for a little rule bending, and now we wait and hope. the movers are booked for the 1st and aren't available the 31st even if we could get in earlier.

apartment hunting reprise

so we are looking for a new place to live and again we are faced with that stupid, f*@%!-ing bs no cats, no pets policy. it is rampant; the prevailing attitude. what next? better not grow your hair too long, stay up too late or intend to have a few friends over either. i once had a landlord come into my home when i wasn't there. that's how intrusive this "regulation" seems to be. i know it is their properties and they can do what they see fit, but they are passing on a lot of decent people by doing this.

plenty of responsible people own well-behaved and trained pets. look, if the cat was scratching up my furniture or attending to her toilette anywhere but in her roomy litterbox, her tenancy in my life would be in serious jeopardy. that's just the way it is. i love the little petite quad coloured feline, but i'm matter of fact that way. however, most landlords seem to think that because we have a cat, we are slobs who don't set this high standard for our own manner of living. believe you me, there is nothing more repugnant to me than the smell of old, lingering cat urine. i've been in places like that. but i've also been in places managed by landlords that don't take care of the property; places looking like it was a frat house in its previous incarnation; "gorgeous" apartments that look like someone vomited on the walls, floors shabby and splinter prone, out of date and old appliances, questionable wiring, stained, shitty carpeting, poor security, bad lighting, etc, but are still avaricious enough to charge an inflated rent. 

there is the option of the pet deposit, which we paid to up front at this place, but most landlords still don't go this route. however, i think that this new strange policy is a ridiculous, but a fairer way to deal with the prospect of the possibility of any pet damage. you just have to make sure the landlord is fair enough not to try to rip you off and claim damages against this deposit. curious thing though, is that most of the higher end condos being rented are open and negotiable or don't set this restriction, but the mid to low range all seem to have embraced the no pets policy.

i have a "home wanted" ad up on craigslist hoping i might get a line on something, have spruced up bijou's resume, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best. this search is almost as stressful as the job hunt with the same worries--will it be good? what will it cost? will they like me?