This is my 3rd week employed at CasinoNB.  I’m really liking it.  I’m a “count attendant”, meaning I’m locked in a room counting money.  I’m surprised at how physically demanding the job is. I thought I’d just be standing there, at a table, counting money.  There’s lots of other things involved, which is great, cause I need the workout. hehe  I am having some issues with my footwear though. I have to wear steel-toed shoes, and the first pair I bought made my feet hurt so bad that by the time I’d get home at night, I couldn’t move.  I took those back and got another pair, which I’ve been wearing for 2 days.  They seem ok so far, except they’re rubbing the inside of my foot, just above my toe.    Hopefully I’ll get used to them, because chasing all over town trying to find good shoes is a pain in the arse!

OMG, totally the best thing ever!  I was SO excited to find a Moncton roller derby group on FB a few weeks ago. We’re just starting up (we’ve only had 2 practices), but there’s lots of girls signed up, and so much enthusiasm!  I ordered my roller skates, and got them last Wednesday I think it was.  I’m totally wobbly on them, haha.  But, we have some really excellent coaches that work us HARD in practice (I swear on Sunday, my first practice, I thought I was going to die LOL). But, I love skating, and have been going out and skating almost every day.

We have a web site too! MuddyRiverRollers.com

The rest of the derby girls are super awesome! They’re all so sweet. It’ll suck when we have to start bouting and smashing each other up, hahaha.

Check out my pic. Badassed eh? hehehe

Found this handy web page today, with a list of public parking lots in Moncton, including a breakdown of what they’re going to cost you monthly, daily, or hourly.  Very handy to have since the city started booting people’s cars!  Speaking of parking, there is also a rumor that SMS parking is coming to Moncton. That would be sweet! Just pay for parking with a text message.

I create, and just “do”.  But, I am also intrigued with the technical aspects of things.  I love when art and science collide.  Such is the case with this amazing Digital Graffiti Wall (be sure to watch the vids!), created by Vancouver based design company Tangible Interaction.  They make all kinds of interesting and mind blowing techie toys.  The Graffiti Wall was at the Olympics, and will be at the Maker Fare this weekend in California’s San Mateo County. If you live in the area, GO! Maker Faire is a festival of arts, technology, music, indie crafts, etc, etc, etc.  If I was on the west coast, I’d be there.

I got the call this morning that I got the job at CasinoNB!  Woo hoo!  I’m so excited.  I had applied for a few different departments, but the sorting room was the one I wanted most, and that’s the one I got!  That’s friggin awesome!  I don’t start for a couple of weeks, because I have to get my gaming license first.  That’s all good, I’ve been enjoying my time off. hehe

I also went to the first Muddy River Rollers roller derby practice last night. It was awesome!  A lot of girls, including me, didn’t have our skates yet, so we watched, but it was still fun.  My skates are on the way, and as of this morning are at the sorting facility in Dieppe. So, I will get them tomorrow then.  And all I can say is that it better not be raining tomorrow.  I’ve got all my other gear, except for elbow and knee pads. Gonna go pick those up today. My helmet is SO cool! I’ll post pics when I get my skates and get geared up.

Dad and Rob put in our new front window this weekend. Dad had bought it for us the Christmas before last (awesome Xmas pressie!), and it’s been sitting in my garage for over a year.  It’s nice to finally have it in. The old window was just one huge pane of glass, where this one has a big pane in the middle, then 2 smaller windows on either side that slide up (for L&A of course).  We’ve just gotta get trim for it, and a sill. Once we install and stain those, then I will just need to touch up the paint around the window.  Rob want’s to get new curtains (I know! The BEST husband ever, right? LOL), so maybe we’ll go to Wicker Emporium today to have a peek.

Thursday Rob and I went to Rothesay and Saint John.  We went to a beautiful restaurant called Suwanna.  I found them on a restaurant app on my BB, searching for Thai food (we were in the mood for it).  So, we went there, and it was in a gorgeous big old house.  We walk in, and the first thing they say is “Do you have reservations?” hehe  We lucked out and got a table right away because there was a no-show.  The waitress was so fantastic!  We were totally under-dressed, in t-shirts and jeans, but she treated us like any of the other diners. Kudos to her!  We started with Sour Coconut Soup, which was awesome! I’m going to attempt to make my own, found a recipe on allrecipes!  I had Cashew Chicken, and Rob had Green Bean Stirfry (mine was way yummier).  We also had chocolate cheesecake for dessert, and it was SO rich. It compared to the Eggnog Cheesecake at St Jame’s Gate here in Moncton. And trust me, I know my cheesecakes.

So, this afternoon Rob and I are oot and aboot.  We need to get a new mailbox, as ours was destroyed in the window installation. LOL.  I’ve gotta pick up knee and elbow pads, and go to Costco and get my new glasses adjusted.  I’ve been wearing them a week, and they’re not fitting quite right.  A few other things too, so busy busy afternoon!

I’ve been happily unemployed for one week as of today.  Goodbye Asurion!  My God, what a relief.  I’d just had enough.  3 1/2 years at a call center is pretty good.  Statistically I outlasted a lot of people, haha.  I did try to switch departments, to get off the phones, but that means the QA department, and they just “downsized” and sent a bunch of their reps back onto the phones.  So, I quit.  My job wasn’t bad, I was 3rd level support, make my own authoritative decisions (not to mention a company credit card – ask me if I almost didn’t come home from NYC last time I was there, HAHA).  But, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I’m burnt out.

News didn’t travel as fast as I thought it would. LOL  Usually gossip travels through a call center at about the speed of light.  I think it’ s because I’ve been working form home for the past year and a half, so no one sees me anyways, so how would they know if I’m not there.  It took ym QA rep 5 days to realize I was gone (of course they didn’t tell him I left, lol).

I wasn’t too surprised when I was told to return my computer, although a month ago there were a bunch of changes to the Asurion @home program, and all at home reps were told they could keep their computers, that they were ours to do what we wanted with.  I didn’t argue it, because it wasn’t worth the time and stress, and frankly the computer was pretty crappy. My home pc and laptop are much better machines.  And, I really don’t want yet more computer parts kicking around my basement! *shudder*

So, now I’m not sure what I want to do. I’ve been applying at places, had a couple of interviews, but no offers yet.  I’m not in a panic about it, we’re financially secure, but I do need to get a job eventually if we want to keep our vacation plans for the fall.  For now though, I’m enjoying the nice weather, and weekends off. And I’m getting into a better sleeping pattern.  It gets depressing going to bed when the sun is getting up.  I’m so much more productive if I go to bed early and get up early!  I’m going to take advantage of my time off and do some spring cleaning. There’s so much crap in the kitchen alone that I can think of off the top of my head.  Gotta get on that!

Today we at the Maritime Geocaching Association held a BBQ event at Centennial park in Moncton, NB to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of geocaching!  We had a fantastic turnout, approximately 75 people in total, and the weather was fabulous!  Thank you to all who attended, and especially to those who brought food (very much appreciated).

So, being 3am, Rob and I of course are wide awake. I had muscle spasms bad again today, so I’m also feeling pretty good, in a percocet kind of way. So, we decided to try out Chat Roulette for the first time ever.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH

I have never seen so many naughty bits in my life. And some kid called me a MILF. I know the camera adds 10 pounds, but it must add 10 years too, cause I don’t look like no MILF. LOL I can’t stop laughing about that one.

The novelty of chat roulette wore off pretty fast. Good for some laughs, and that’s about it.

I feel like this post is too empty. LOL Could just be the pain killers talking though.

Hello, my name is Jenn. Nice to meet you. There, you can now say you have met the only woman in the world who’s excited about getting gray hair. Haha  A few years ago, when I was between dye jobs, I saw some whites in my roots.  Now I’ve let my natural color grow out completely, (I haven’t been natural since I was 16, LOL), there’s plenty more gray.  Well, you say gray, bu they appear to be stark white.  I’m hoping I’ll be completely white before I’m 40 like m Grandfather was. White is the only color I haven’t been. Manic Panic does have a white dye, and it looks like it works pretty good, but they don’t sell that color here, and I just never ordered it online.  I did want to visit manic Panic the last time I was in NYC, but didn’t get a chance to.  Anyways, I think white hair would be cool.  And, it would dye wonderfully!

Speaking of hair dying, I did warn my Grandmother last night that I may dye my hair again very soon.  Gotta wait til after I go get my passport photo taken though. LOL  Made that mistake on my driver’s license, not going to do that again.

I’m sick. I was feeling crappy earlier in the week, but then I felt fine for a couple of days. Well, now it’s hitting full force.  I feel like I got hit by a truck. I went to bed early last night, with a couple of NyQuil, and slept a good 12 hours. I’ve gotten up long enough to make it to the couch. Glad Rob left his laptop on the coffee table so I have something to do without having to force myself to sit at my pc.  I’m not sure why this is called a laptop though.  It’s huge, and it weighs a ton.  Maybe I’ll have to get one of those tiny cheap laptops just for times like these.

So, I’m resting up for tonight, when I’m going with Rox to the Capitol Theatre to see a comedy show.  Can’t wait, it should be awesome.  I’ll pop some DayQuil and hope for the best.

I’m so sick I didn’t even get up to celebrate April Fool’s. Totally the best holiday ever.  I’m achy and no matter how I sit or lay, I can’t get comfortable.  I wish I had the energy to do something.  And, I love Ricola.

Anyone been reading anything good?  I buy up random novels at yard sales and second hand stores, and I gotta say, I haven’t come across a good one yet. I guess there’s a lot of crap out there.  You’d think that after a dozen crappy books, I’d hit on an awesome one. But nooooo.  The ratio of good books to bad books is a lot lower than I thought it would be.  I did read AJ Jacob’s The Guinea Pig Diaries, which was hilarious. I’ve got his other books on my list of “must reads”.  I did break down and took a shot in the dark and bought a random book at Chapters – I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Diana Joseph. I always hesitate doing that, because what if I pay $20 for a book, and it sucks. Which is exactly what happened.  This book sounded so promising, but it was like a crappy movie – you know, the ones where the only good parts are shown in the trailer, and the rest of the movie is crap?  Well, the only funny thing in this book was shown on the back of the book.  The book is a collection of essays by the author, documenting different things in her life.  Her job, her marriages, her parents, siblings, her son.  I think they are meant to be funny, but they’re not.  Which is saying something, because I find everything funny.  Honestly, by the end of the book, I felt bad for her son, her husband, her pets.  She’s neurotic, and not in the funny way.  She needs medication. She’s selfish, and childish.  I understand that really truly funny things are always at someone else’s expense, but her stuff just isn’t funny.  What a boring book.  Booourns.

Well, Roxanne just called and said she’d be here in an hour to pick me up.  Suppose I should go get ready.  I imagine a hot shower will make me feel a little better anyways.  I’d better feel better for turkey dinner tomorrow!  I live for turkey!  I could eat turkey dinner every day.  Mmmmmm, turkey.

So, yesterday afternoon Rob and I met my Mom at the mall.  it was her birthday, so we wanted to get her something.  First thing we did was went to David’sTea and we all got teas.  Then we went to Second cup, and got mom a brownie cupcake (as her birthday cake!), as well as a cutesy cookie.  Mom and I went to sit down, while Rob finished paying for the food.  He joined us, and put Second Cup sleeves on our teas to be polite and hide the David’sTea logos.  He also had a bag with another cookie in it, and he gives it to me.  I thank him for getting me a cookie, he said he thought I bought it.  So, we determine it was given to us in error, so, being the right thing to do, he takes it back.  In the meantime, Mom’s  got her crumbly brownie cupcake out of its wrapper, and all over a plate.  She’s eating away with a fork, it was that messy.  So, just as Rob gets back to the table, one of the employees from Second Cup came over and told us that we couldn’t sit there because we had drinks from somewhere else.   We pointed out that we bought food from them, and she said it didn’t matter, we had to leave.  Right then and there.  My mom couldn’t even finish her cupcake.  I think that was very rude and uncalled for.  We bought their product as well, but because we also had something else with us, it vetoed their product?  When we go to the mall for coffee and Rob goes to Second Cup and then meets me at StarBucks to have a seat, Starbucks never tells him to get lost.  AND, we had even covered our cups with THEIR sleeves.

Needless to say, we will NEVER shop at SecondCup again.  Too bad for them, because Rob was going there when he’d do a “coffee run” for work, which was at least a few times a week.  And, the only product I really liked from there was the cupcakes (StarBucks makes way better coffee), but I can get those from the sourse, the Cake Box.

I was thrilled to visit David’sTea, which opened this past week in Champlain Place.  They have stores in Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton, and Toronto as well.   It’s very chic, a nice spacey store, very modern.  When you go in, in one corner there’s shelving with lots of tea related items, like teapots, infusers, organic honey, mugs, etc.  But, the real WOW is behind the counter, the wall of tea!  Row after row of stainless steel canisters, all containing a different loose teas.  There’s green teas, white teas, chai teas, black teas, etc etc etc, all of which have a whole slew of different flavors.  They have these darling little shot glasses you can get a sample of their “tea of the day” in, and you can smell any canister you wish. I am in love!  I bought loose Fruite mate (citrusy with papaya and pineapple!), and Coco Chai Rooibos.  Princes range from $4ish to $20-something for the really rare exotic teas, for a 50g  bag (which makes about 25 cups of tea).  If you’re a tea drinker, or even a novice, go in for a peek.  The staff are all super helpful, and they’ll even recommend what types of tea you may like based on your tastes.  Before you commit to buying a bag of loose tea, you can also buy it fresh brewed “to go” to try it out.  I had Tiramisu (yum!), and Strawberry White, which I let cool off, tossed in a little sugar and ice, and made a heavenly iced tea.  It’s nice that they also have pamphlets in the store, educating you on which kinds of teas have which health benefits.

I’m already a big fan. I can’t wait to try other teas from them.  They change some teas with the seasons, right now they’re almost done their “Winter Collection” apparently.  So if you want to get in on the Glitter & Gold, After Midnight, Tiramisu, Toasted Walnut, Lemon Bombshell, Mulled Chai, and Orange Julep goodness, I suggest you hurry in!  

I had a horrible sleep last night, and the night before that. Last night I think it was because I drank so much tea, so I was hopped up on caffeine. The night before, Arty kept me up. I don’t know what was up with him, but he just tore around the house bgin bad all night, all the while howling for Luna to go play with him. I’m working on a Caramel Macchiato, so hopefully that gets me through the night. I work a 10 hour shift, so it’s going to be such a loooooong night.

I’m really not feeling Christmas this year.  Actually, I’m pretty well skipping Christmas this year.  Being a crafter (and interior decorator), this should be one of the funnest times of the year for me, but alas, I just can’t get into the Christmas spirit.  I’m feeling really stressed out and run down the past little while.  And it’s not even because of Christmas; it’s just in general.  And, as I learned a couple of years ago, when you get really run down and have a lot of stress and anxiety, your immune system weakens, so you become more susceptible to becoming ill.  I had a viral infection (as far as I could tell, it’s just the flu without the aches), and now this head cold seems to be getting the better of me.  The sinus pressure is persisting, and now my ears are bugging me.  I can’t sleep, and when I do my sinuses wake me up.  I just feel so exhausted.  If anyone wants to send me away to somewhere sunny for Christmas, I’d be forever grateful.

So, I haven’t put a tree up, an I don’t think I will.  No lights, no ornaments, all my totes of Christmas stuff are still in the basement.  For anyone who received a goodie basket of sweets last year, sorry, I haven’t done any baking this year, and I doubt I will.  I don’t know ho long my stove will hold up anyways.

On to that.

Did you know, if you have a ceramic stove top, and something sweet boils over, if you don’t wipe up the spill immediately, it can EAT into the surface of your cook top.  Heed my warning!  I had some honey garlic sauce boil over, and, being the procrastinator I am, I left it overnight.  Well, by the next day, the sugary sauce had done quite a bit of damage.  Now there are pockmarks, or chips, in my stove top.  It literally ate the surface.   I bought this stove in Sept 2008, when I bought the matching fridge and dishwasher.  A beautiful new set for my kitchen.  Just got it all paid for this Sept too.  Now, sit down (I assume you probably were already, I mean, who really stands up to use their computer?  But, just wanted to warn you).  You can’t repair a cook top.  There’s no magical putty you can smooth in there, no resin you can pour in.  It needs to be replaced.  The cost for the “part”.  Over $5oo.  That’s before taxes and instillation, after which puts you up above the $600.  The repair guy actually told me over the phone to sit down before he gave me the quote.  Good thing.  So, since the damage didn’t eat all the way though the glass (yes, it apparently could have been worse), he said I should be able to use it, but there’s no telling how long it will last.  It’s very much like a car windshield.  Once you get a chip, you can leave it, but eventually, the changing temperatures, from hot to cold, will crack it.  I was relieved to find out that (again, like a windshield….why do I know more about cars than ovens??  haha) when it does crack or shatter, it’s tempered, so it will all hold together, not have a dramatic blowing-up.  That’s good, because then I wouldn’t chance using it if it was going to suddenly explode all over my kitchen.  It does make me sad, because I love my oven so. It’s so awesome.  It’s black and stainless.  It’s HUGE (big enough for a 28 pound turkey!), and so beautiful.  I’m a loser, I know.  Everyone else is all “oh, look at my awesome sports car, or designer handbag.  Me, it’s all about my oven.  I’ll take an appliance over a Louis Vuitton any day).  So, for now we’re just going to use it until it goes.  Or until we catch a good sale (which could make buying a new one cheaper than repairing this one.)  We haven’t decided if we will get the same stove, or maybe one with raised burners.  I wish I would have known about the whole sugar eating the glass thing when I bought it.  I would have been more careful, or maybe have avoided the flat top all together.  I guess you really should read the whole instruction manual for everything you buy, even if you think “Ok, it’s a stove. Here are the buttons, there’s the door, got it!”.  Lesson learned – sometimes a stove isn’t just a stove.

I tried to get a good pic of the damage, and this was the best I could do.  This pic best shows the depth of the chipping, albeit a bit blurry.  Isn’t that crazy?  It is also, of course, the expandable burner – my most used one. 

Manhattan restaurant Paradou’s owner Vadim Ponorovsky has a serious lack of work ethics.  He sent the following email to his employees, after he had told them to gather customers’ email addresses:

To All,

Please read this email carefully. This is the last time we will be discussing this.

This weekend, saturday and sunday we had 451 customers. Guess how many emails we collected? 60? 80? 40? No. None of those. We, or more acurately you, collected 2 emails. Thats less than half of one percent. 2 fucking emails.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU ASSHOLES?!?!?! How many times do we have to tell you how important it is that you collect emails. Everytime we have a slow night and you make no money and you sit there bitching about how you make no money, remember its because youre fucking lazy motherfuckers. YOU SHOULD ALL BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY!!!!! ALL OF YOU, INCLUDING THE HOSTS!!!!

Let me guess, youre probably sitting there saying “Vadim is such a fucking asshole. How dare he speak to me like this. I dont need this.” Youre right, you dont, so why dont you get the fuck out. Any and all of you.

Youre probably sitting there saying “How dare he speak to me like this. How dare he not have respect for me”. Youre right there also. I have absolutely no respect for any of you. Why? Because every fucking day, all of you continue to show that you have absolutely no respect for me or Alex. So if you dont respect us enough to do the little that we ask you to do, then GET THE FUCK OUT YOU FUCKING LAZY DISRESPECTFUL ASSHOLES!!!!!

Effective immediately, any server or host who fails to collect at least 20 emails per week, will be fined $100. Anyone failing to collect at least 20 emails for two weeks in a month will be fired immediately. No matter what. No matter who you are.

You dont want to do your job, you dont want to do what we ask, you dont belong at Paradou. Go find another place to work.

How dare you disrespect Alex and me this way. How dare you completely ignore what we ask of you time after time after time.

I am sick of all this shit, you bunch of fucking children. This is what I have to deal with at 6AM?!?!? I wouldnt tolerate this from my 13 year old, and Im sure as shit not going to tolerate it from any of you assholes.

You give no respect, you get 10 times back.

When questioned about the email by Grub Street New York, he didn’t try to back paddle or sugar coat anything, saying  “Out of the whole e-mail, the only term I regret is the ‘lazy mothertfuckers’ term.”

I’m almost speechless.  Yes, I believe in blatant honesty, but I also believe in respecting other people, especially when those people work for you.  I can tell you where I’m NOT going to eat next time I’m in the City.