They said it couldn't be done
Mood:  spacey
Topic: Stephen Says
I changed the guestbook questions at long last. Sorry about that, I know it's been a few weeks.

What's going on?!
Mood:  irritated
Now Playing: The bloody laundry machine
Topic: Stephen Says
First the blog was on the fritz, now I can't access my Hotmail account and the UK Job Center web site is down so I can't look for work! Is it my computer? I doubt it - I've got no problem going to sites I don't care about, but the 3 I want to, no need to go to, arg, I'm gonna start cursing. I'm gonna go put another load of laundry in and go read my book (Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami).

Whatever
Topic: Stephen Says
Okay, well the technical problems seem to be over. Angelfire's sent me an e-mail saying that what ever it was is fixed, though comments are still missing and don't look like they're coming back. I've looked into moving the blog to another company but, unless Angelfire keeps screwing up, it's just too much work to shift evrything over. Plus, we've still got tonnes of space to fill up here, so blah blah blah...

Um... I don't have anything to say. Elisabeth said she'd take care of this last night while was out, but didn't. So I'm doing it now.

Here's our vacation itinary for the 1st half of this year:
Next week: South of England.
February: Paris for a long weekend
April: Elisabeth's in Hong Kong/China for 9 days
May/June: We'll fly to T-dot, drive to Mtl, then back to T-dot to fly back with an attempt to get to Newfoundland.

Here's a kick-arse (Look at me, I'm British!) Sandwich:
1 baguette with 1 1/2 tsp olive oil on each half.
Add tomoatoes, another tsp of oil, salt, pepper.
Add smelly-foot cheese, sliced green peppers, black olives & fresh basil.
wrap tightly in plastic then catch the to train to London and eat it in Trafalgar Square at the foot of the National Gallery.
Interrupt only to take some pictures of Americans.

Technical Problems
As in, this site is having them.
Stay tuned.

3rd blog of the day!
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: The BBC bobble heads discussing the extent to which Bush is screwed with regard to his foreign policy.
This is part of a real-life e-mail I got a few minutes ago from my darling wife. I'll let it speak for itself:

Hey-

Guess where I was this morning: LONDON! I got on the wrong train and had to plead with the ticket office at Waterloo not to fine me #15.00. I ended up having to pay for a 1-way to Woking from London, #7.70 and arrived at work at 10:30. Can you please the insanity! I am such a boggle brain!

So I wouldn't mind a tipple of vino tonight!!!

No blogging for a week and then 2 entries in 1 day
Mood:  silly
Now Playing: Public Enemy - Muse-Sick in Hour Mess-Age
Ok, ok, I'm going to try something...

...you see last year, I bought Elisabeth this little Zen sand garden in a box for her desk so that it would help her zone, I mean chill out at work when things got stressful. Unfortunately the sand would sort of get everywhere and, as they say in Kabuki-land, it was "not a very useful present."

...so in the spirit of not learning from my mistakes, I bought her a banzaii in a box this year. Grow a banzaii from a seed, etc.

...in the spirit of learning from her mistakes, she hasn't taken it to work and I'm going to grow it myself. I started yesterday and am soaking the seeds, I've got to cold-stratify them for a week and, should they not have disintegrated in the mean time, will be sowing the seeds in a little over a weeks time.

SO!

...in the spirit of silly contests that we rarely fulfil our half of the bargain in, here's my contest: The winner gets a small jar (very small) of swanky marmalade. Why have I named my soon-to-be-tree Buckaroo? Post your answers on the message board and you could have some tasty marmalade!

Where did all the blogging go?
Mood:  lazy
The way of the dodo, I think. It has been super-duper quiet over here. Elisabeth's eased into her job and the nice thing is that she's not working the insane hours that she once was. I've eased into this job searching thingy.

I had a good interview yesterday and the job's mine if I want it, I just don't know if I do. It's a trainee position with a small, established company that's got a very good record of having it's employees stick around for years and years and years. The downside is that I'll be doing repetitive work that's disturbingly like tele-marketing for the first few months until I get moved over and even then, I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I'll like what I'm doing, even though the people there seem really nice (There are only 4 others in the company). Especially considering that I've sent off applications for jobs that I'd much rather have but won't hear from them for a while. Arg, the conflict! Advice, anyone? I've got to let them know by tomorrow, I suppose. Monday at the maximum, maximum latest.

The weather's been all rainy & drizley over here. A damp chill that buggers up my bad wrist but makes everything a shocking neon-green that you just don't see in Canada. When I go out to pick up a job paper, I'll rub some of the neon moss on it & see what happens.

It's Georgie-boy's coronation today and I hope that you all join is with the screaming today.

Getting Away from the Land Where the Sun Never Rises
Mood:  celebratory
Caloo Calay! Baloo Balay! (Stephen has already harshly made fun of me for using those "words") Today my friends, is a great day. Stephen has given me the best Christmas gift (albeit late) that I could wish for: A Weekend in Paris (11-13th-just before that dreaded Val-tine day). It's offical and confirmed...we will fly outta this country on the 11th, and spend 2 days in La Belle Ville (sorry MTL). We will be staying in a 4 star hotel across from the Louvre, oooo la la...I've already cleaned and pressed my French Maid's outfit...boy am I kidding!

And just so you can begin to understand why I am so happy to be getting outta here, see pictures below in what I call: What Goes Around, Comes Around

Oh Yeah and tomorrow is my half birthday.

e

Unemployment Ranting
Mood:  caffeinated
Now Playing: Turtletoes - Jackersville
Weird happenings in the job-front:

1)One place that sent me an application pack (Which I mailed back to them on Monday) has sent me another one. WTF? I don't know if other places have this ridiculous application pack thing. ... not only is it an employment form and equal opportunities form, it's about 20 pages of information about the job, employer, pamphlets, job policy statements, a historical perspective of the employer, backgound information and, usually, a "with compliments" cover page.

It's a waste of paper and, usually, a waste of time. I've been trying to figre out why they send them out; I suppose that it's so that you're sure that you actually want the job, but to me that just encourages people to haphazardly request job applications and create most waste. Perhaps it's to test peoples levels of stupidity - at the interview when they ask "Do you have any questions?" you're supposed to answer "No, I read all the information in the application pack." Arg!

Applying for jobs at our oh-so-wonderful council is even more disturbing - their packs are professionally bound, contain folders & laminated covers with multi-coloured pages. Our council tax pounds at work.

2) What's up with the insanely low wages? I had to turn down a job that I really wanted because the most they would offer me is 13,000 pounds and no prospects of advancement. This particular company has been advertizing for months and no wonder they can't fill a post - their offer is at least 3,000 pa to little to support one person living on their own.

And then I find out that the wretched jewelry store I almost worked at pays 5.50 an hour. I mean damn, that's less than to bookstore pays Christmas temps like me. No wonder they're still looking for people.

With salaries this low, a half assed life of crime seems a sensible alternative. I'd only have to rob people one night a week. And the sad thing is that I've got a sure fire way to do it. ... The carelessness and outright stupidity that people have when it comes to keeping thir pin number safe would make it a breeze.

But that's another rant for another day...

PS- Breaking news: They're looking at replacing referees at football games with video cameras. There; that's got to be the dumbest thing I've heard all day.

They call me MISTER Dole Scum
Mood:  chillin'
Now Playing: Andrew W.K. - I Get Wet
What better music to listen to when you're about to go on the dole? It took 22 minutes on hold, but I've begun the proceedings to start collecting govenment money that I neither earned NOR deserve. Personally, I blame the way job searching goes on over here. Back home, you see an ad, respond to it, they give you a call, an interview a day or two later and you're hired and start next Monday. This is how it works over here:

You get the application and send it off. ... Time passs until the application deadline passes (Usually 2 weeks after the ad first went out) ... Time passes and you're called about an interview - next week. You go to the interview and ... Time passes until you hear from them and then you get to start a few weeks to a month later. Even the lady at the Job Center agreed that it takes too long!

In retrospect, it was a stroke of luck that Elisabeth's company wasn't like that - at the time she did the whole interview thing, we were very close to being in some serious financial trouble. Had they have decided to hire her the Britsh Way, we'd have been living inside royal Holloways library.

Mind you, getting the dole also takes a million years. The person who advised me to go on it, didn't get her money until after she started working, 3 weeks later. I get to take an extensive phone interview Thursday to finalize things. Yikes!

PS - Andrew W.K.'s "Ready to Die" is probably the best rock'n roll song EVER. Silly Elisabeth thought he was an 80's rocker and didn't beleive me when I said he was a contemporary >ahem< rocker. Although, I do understand her confusion; he looks disturbingly like Cro-Magnon Man.