Haircut!

So after years of long hair, it's time to say goodbye. Out of nowhere, I just thought it was time for another drastic change. Another reason I got it done now was because I'll be on vacation in less than two weeks. Just wanted something easy to maintain. I also thought a short hair cut might make me look more grown up (if you haven't noticed, a lot of moms have short hair...) and therefore, I would stop getting mistaken as a student at work. Unfortunately, my new full bangs make me look like a 12 year old! Sigh. I will never win.

I don't know what happened, but my chin has never been this pointy...

Crazie Adventure

This year's Alberta's summer weather is a little crazie, and my drive back to Edmonton from Calgary joined in the craziness! Just past Red Deer, it began to hail like there's no tomorrow. Thank goodness the hail was not the size of golf balls, like the ones in Calgary. A lot of cars pulled to the side to wait for it to pass. There were at least 10 cars, blocking all three lanes, right under the overpass. I was not one of those cars... poor Luigi. After 10 minutes of being pelted by hail, it was just heavy rain and the drive continued. Further north, there were major lightning happening to the right of me. Since I LOVE watching Mother Nature's zaps, I thought I will do some of my own filming with my 'awesome' phone camera. So holding the wheel with my right hand, and my camera with my left hand against the side window, I hope I was able to film some good zaps. All of a sudden, I saw this bright bolt right beside my side mirror, and shortly afterwards a loud buzz against my car. It took me a few seconds to register... I think I got struck by lightning... or at least my car did! Maybe I didn't get directly hit, but it was definitely very close to me. Enough for me to actually see the bolt and hear some loud buzz noise against/on/from my car. Seriously... I definitely need to buy a lottery ticket!

Crazy People

Today I made a last minute decision and drove home (Calgary) for the weekend. Since I haven't really had a chat with my mom for a bit, it's great to catch up on some gossip - especially about crazy people.

There are a lot of crazy people out there with the oddest mentality. I personally know two who think I'm a major bad person because my manners don't have a score of 100%. Even without contact or doing anything to or with them, they think I am a horrible person and that I am out to get them.

Then with my mom's updated gossip, she knew someone who could interpret harmless words into something totally offensive and wanted to sue the person! I have no idea what this person could sue for, since s/he did not lose anything (i.e. money, property, reputation, etc.). It will probably end up a waste of court time and lawyer fees.

The funny thing is I can actually see some similarity between the crazy people I know and this person my mom knows:

1. Both are mid-age/pre-seniors having way too much time with their brains. Maybe they should do some daily sudoku instead. Thinking way too much about silly stuff can hurt yourself and your relationships with people (which happened).
2. Lack of drama in their lives. Children had grown up and moved away, and all the fun had disappeared. If you want drama, then make drama by yourself and not include other people. It's almost like that explosion in Edmonton. If you want to kill yourself after murdering your girlfriend, swallow a bullet! Not blowing up your house and affecting the rest of your neighbourhood!

Am I sounding mean? Maybe. But yes, when I hear things like these, especially with mid-age/pre-seniors, it just really bothers me. There's already not a lot of time left. Enjoy it while it lasts. Why piss yourself off and screwing up other people's lives?

Boom!!!

What a month! Edmonton's house explosion had been keeping me busy! We had to inspect 18 out of the 20-something impacted houses! I've been pumping out one report a day! OMG. I have never written so much in my life! It's almost over! After it's all done, celebration time!!!!

The house that exploded

Working hard. See the foot? It's holding the ladder!

A Complaint to Rogers

I would like to say that Rogers need to hire more professional people at their stores. What I witnessed today was not acceptable!

Today I went to two Rogers Wireless stores looking for a wall charger for my old phone, a Sony w810. I have already prepped myself to get a new phone since I had doubts that I can find a charger since this phone was pretty much obsolete. So the first store I went into, this young college girl tried to help me. Picked up this charger with an adaptor end, which was even obvious to me, wouldn't fit my phone. And of course, it didn't fit. Instead of offering me to consider getting a new phone, she sent me to Future Shop! So I did, but they also did not have a charger available for my phone. So I went to a mall with a Rogers store, and saw two young girls chatting away behind the counter. I helped myself to a charger that looked right, and brought it up to the counter. One girl leaning back in her chair with her feet on the counter and the other girl answered me lazily. I asked if I could try out the charger before I buy it. She said yes. Asked the 'counter feet' girl to pass her the scissors to open the package, the answer was no because she was too busy leaning in her chair. Then the phone rang. The girl who was helping me pass the phone to 'counter feet' girl by sliding it down the counter (because you know, 'counter feet' girl was too busy leaning in her chair). At the end, the charger worked and I got it.

The customer support I got was I got what I wanted and left. Good impression, definitely not. I was planning to upgrade to a smartphone with a data plan. I was also on the fence to stay with Rogers or switch back to Telus. I gave two chances to Rogers tonight, and all I got were sent to Future Shop and a lazy girl with her feet on the counter!

The reasons I switched to Rogers three years ago were 1. the plans are awesome, 2. I could make oversea calls when I'm on vacation 3. they have a good network, and 4. fairly good customer service. Now, Telus plans are on par and I could also make oversea calls. Just the last week, my calls had been cut a few times (that had never happened to be when I was with Telus) - I don't think those Rogers' commercials are true. And what I witnessed tonight, there were no basic manners from Rogers employees (i.e. feet on the counter). Maybe because I'm an engineer and used to being around fairly professional people. I expect the same from everyone... even from young college girls who were hired to just sit through their evening shifts. Maybe I am asking too much...

This is too bad. I enjoyed and am still enjoying my current plan with Rogers. However, when I really can no longer use my phone, which I believe will be soon, I will really have to review my options whether or not to stay with Rogers.

Flash

When I first laid my eyes on this, I knew B will love it! It's suppose to be a surprise, but I suck at waiting to give away presents. I just want to see the excited reaction right away. So once I got this in the mail, I modelled it and sent the picture showing the surprise. Isn't it awesome?! Haha. It's a little big in the body (or maybe I just lost weight... yes, that must be it) even for B, but I guessed that already when I ordered the large. But the sizing chart for the medium seemed a bit small, and the sleeves on this large was just slightly longer than my arms. Well, worse comes to worse, stick it in the dryer and try to shrink it a bit (hopefully not too much in the sleeves).

And yes... B loved it (based on the picture). Can't wait to see it on him on Friday.

Sweet Bean Soup

I was never a big fan of this Chinese dessert, but mom says red bean is good for blood. Good blood = healthy me. Since it's not like some horrible bitter Chinese remedy, I can definitely deal with some sweet dessert for good health! For this soup, I added coconut milk. My yellow rock sugar pieces were WAY too big. I almost screwed up my can opener (don't ask) and I didn't have a hammer. So to add a little more sweetness, I used my favourite natural sweetness, honey. And damn, this was one of the better red bean dessert I have ever tasted! Kudos to me!

Shepherd's Pie

Today I made my first shepherd's pie, and darn it, I didn't mash my potatoes enough. Yeah, I could have bought those packaged powder potatoes, but they are not the same as the real stuff! So next time, I'll boil them longer and mash them some more. The beef was good though! Beeeeeef.

Flippin'

Today we had an interesting event at work: Pancake Olympics! So pretty much, we had a fry pan in hand with a piece of pancake inside, ran down a hallway, around two pylons, and ran around a few cubicles, and back to the start point. Additionally, at the pylons, we had to flip the pancakes at least 2 feet high! This whole run was timed. I was so lucky that my pancake split in half in the middle of the air. Sigh. This therefore slowed down my time and I ended second last! Oh well. I had fun anyways! Some good lunchtime fun!

It's been a while...

... since I last posted. I've just been really lazy, but working hard. Christmas holidays were great. Got to be away from work and Edmonton for almost two weeks. I miss Calgary.

Today was the Superbowl. I thought while B watches it, I'll scrap or make cards (it didn't happen, I took a nap instead...). So I decided to make dinner at noon using a new recipe that I got - "Colleen's Slow Cooker Jambalaya". Damn, it's good! It's a little runny and soupy (I already cut down on the tomato juice), but it's still good. Next time, I'll cut down on more juice. Although it's a slow cooker recipe, meaning it's suppose to be easy, but there's a lot of chopping.

Still inside the crock pot

In my bowl on top of rice; ready to be inside my tummy