Survivor Finale
blah blah blah, extra tribal council and a final two instead of a final three... blah blah blah, Cirie dropped the ball, blah blah blah Amanda cried and the jury rolled their eyes and Amanda got rid of Cirie.
Yes kids, I now have a 50% chance of winning the office Survivor pool. Never having gotten this close before, I forget if there's actually any money involved (but I think there might be $60 in it for me if I'm lucky).
Funnily enough, if I remember correctly, I'm currently stacked up against one of my employees. This woman had Alexis and Amanda in the pool (which was randomly drawn from two mugs - one favourites, one fans), so she literally was the power player in this game until two weeks ago. I had Joel, who went home depressingly early. The pool organizer (and rampant fant of cheater sites, thus his reason for winning so many pools), told me Parvati was going home at the merge.
Or not. Way to go, Parv!
While I wait for the blah blah blah RESULTS! part of the show, did any of you notice how unbelievably beautiful Alexis' hair is? (Please note my lack of a follow-up "s" in that plural - I stand by my decision to not stick one there, grammar geeks!) She's seriously hot, and even in her flashbacks she always had great hair. Wench.
Okay... interesting question from Nat - is she indicating with her question to Parv that she was interested in a hookup? Man... the way this tribal is going, I might be winning this pool. Interesting. And then there's Ozzy, who might just have been the Parvati-killer. Man, you gotta hope he's still with Amanda at the reunion, don't you? Otherwise his little declaration of feelings is going to go down in awkward history.
And the winner is? (Man, do I ever dislike seeing these people with all their makeup on. It's just weird!)
Holy... this is a tight vote. And Parvati won!
And YES! I WON!!!! I did! I won!! HOOOOOOOOOOOOOAH people! I finally won a freaking pool for something. And of course, it was a totally random draw (no skill involved at all!).
And now, I must go to bed. (Did I read that right? Is Parv's last name "shallow"? Is that ironic?)
Labels: Survivor
Reality check: Hillary
Dear Hillary,
You know I really wanted you to win the Democratic nomination. I had a lot of faith in you to be the first woman to win a major party's nomination (
Victoria Woodhull didn't run with a party). I really thought it was time for a woman to come up trumps over a black man since the suffragists gave up their right to vote in order to give true
citizenship to black men, back in the 1860s.
I totally see how you got gypped by Michigan and Florida running their primaries too early to be counted by the party. I see how you were so very close. But you know, your party is not going to count those votes, no matter how long you wait this out.
Today I read a blurb that you were considering loaning your campaign more money if you need it to keep going. I have to ask: why? Why would you do that? It's over, Hillary. Even a big fan like me can admit that it's over. Hanging on now doesn't make you more likely to be a winner - it just positions you as a sore loser.
Women have fought for generations to be equal to men without being referred to as bitches when they're assertive. I see how you're trying to be assertive, but you're veering into pathetic. It's over. Move on. Get behind Barack Obama and help your party win.
I know I'm terribly disappointed by this turn of events, and I can't imagine how hard it would be for you. But you have done a great thing. You've shown the world that a woman can be taken seriously at the highest levels in the United States. You've done your job. It's time to move on.
Good luck to you.
Labels: politics, US Election
Land Speed Record
I know, you think this is a movie review for Speed Racer. Listen, even I can't make myself go and see a movie that looks that bad.
What's the land speed record for? My house is sold. Yeah, the house that went on the market today. That house.
I bow to the power of staging. Enough said.
Labels: House stuff
Staged!
Yeah, there's no fooling on this front. It took a lot of work to get my
house to look this empty. And I already miss my stuff. But, it looks so good that I'd consider buying it!
Don't you think?
Labels: House stuff
Grey's Anatomy May 08, 2008
Alright, am I alone here in wondering why on earth Christina Yang would have to declare a past sexual relationship with Burke when they're not together and haven't been for months? I guess I don't get that whole disclosure thing they had going on in tonight's ep.
You know what I really did like? I really like Yang's speech about being the unseen hand of Burke's brilliance. Seriously, that was a great 90 seconds of TV. She really has been handling this situation with Hahn with a lot of grace and style, don't you think? And it took some balls to say what she did in front of the Chief, and with hardly any chick reaction, yanno? How many of us would have been able to hold it together like that? Not I, that's for sure.
On a totally unrelated note, does it give you a sick thrill to see Meredith's sparkle pager hanging off her scrubs like it does me? It's so darned incongruous, don't you think?
So many parts of this episode were difficult for me. The military guy kissing his dead partner. The look on Mark Sloan's face when Bailey called him a whore in front of all the nurses. The confession by Derek that he thought about Meredith when he slept with Rose. The body language on Meredith when she asked her shrink if she was calling her a coward. And then... the end.
I know there are only two new episodes left, and I know that Mer and Der are going to end up together. I'm not sure how they're going to do that though, and still wrap up any of the other bajillion current storylines But yanno what? I can't wait to see them try!
Labels: Grey's Anatomy
No Penticton for me!
I feel like such a guy! I have a cold. Yup. A cold. A cold with a fever (low grade, of course), a cough, runny nose, and headache. It's a sinus cold, I'm pretty sure. However, I feel like hell. I'm not going to lie, I wish I was at home in bed right now.
I'm not in bed, nor am I at an airport (or, more technically, on the plane I'm scheduled to be on right now). I ditched my trip this morning because I got maybe four hours of sleep last night. I showered and came to work (it took me an insanely long time to figure out what to wear), but didn't blow dry my hair (why bother?) because I knew I was going to keep my door closed all day to prevent infection from spreading to my team.
Why go to the office at all? The damn painters are all over my freaking house. My sainted father is currently supervising them (and doing some tree pruning and smoke detector installing) and he thinks they'll be done and the furniture put back by 4PM. I think I'm going to leave here at 2PM, infect some people over at the OHIP office where I need to get my photo taken (on a very curly hair day! good times!) and my card renewed. And then I'll go home, crawl into my warm and cozy bed, and get up in time to see a little Grey's tonight before cashing out for a long long overnighter (please God, I know I deserve this long long sleep, so can you help me out here?).
No Penticton for me, for now. It's too bad - the workshop I did yesterday was really great and I would have liked to pitch my colleagues out west on doing one there. C'est la vie! Lots of stress in my life right now and clearly my body is saying "hold on!".
And now I will go on about my merry business as I wait for my tylenol sinus and my tylenol cough to kick in. Yes, I"m just that sexy.
Labels: Personal stuff
On Retirements
I went to a retirement party today.
Are you of an age or in the type of industry where you've started to go to these things? I went to the first one of someone I really cared about last year at this time. Denis was a truly inspirational guy to work for (and with) - he had such great chemistry with his boss, he was always able to insert an appropriate joke at a very stressful time, and he was French French in the type of way that made it seem totally right that he kissed you on both cheeks at every major (and most minor) occasions.
Today I went to the retirement party of Jean, my boss's boss. I've worked for Jean for six years. My first year working for him I asked him about once a month if I was going to get fired (it was a pretty stressful year). Since then, I've managed to bring it down to about twice a year, and, funnily enough, he never once took the opportunity to say "yes". I think he missed out on that, but it was awfully nice of him not to mess with me.
Over the years, Jean has been a mentor, a coach, and a great role model. He has frustrated the living bejesus out of me, he has made me laugh, and he has made me cry (not in a bad way - he was giving me an award). He has counseled patience, he has encouraged action, and he has said so many times "this isn't chickenshit" and "no money, no candy", that I will never be able to think of those expressions again without thinking of him.
Two months ago I was replacing my boss at a meeting with regional colleagues. Jean and I were both speaking, along with another colleague. Jean had a lovely tabbed binder with all of the presentations in it (in colour, no less), plus his itinerary and some speaking notes. I had a black and white stapled version of just my deck with two slides on each page, printed double-sided. I leaned over to him just before we started and said "see your binder? That's the reason why I can't wait to be a DG" (two pay levels up, which comes with its own admin assistant). He leaned over and wrote on my pathetic version of my deck "it's good to be king" and gave me an unholy laugh. I still laugh when I think about it.
I found out today that I'm not the only person with a version of that story. Apparently it's one of his all time favourite non-corporate-speak lines. Along with his funnel approach to telling a story (start out broad, move down to the details) which I shockingly drew on one of my employees' comm plans just this morning, he had a panoply of most excellent phrases. And a wicked ability to swear like a stevedore when provoked, which I have a healthy respect for as I do it myself. Over the years I think we got to know a little about each other personally, and learned to trust each other a lot. He didn't even blink an eye when I kicked him out of his office two weeks ago and trooped in their with my whole team and closed the door (we were taking a picture of us hijacking his computer).
I didn't stick around after the speeches today to say goodbye to him in person because I didn't want to cry. I'm not super good with public displays of emotion. And I wasn't really sure what to say to a man who has fundamentally changed my attitude towards public service.
How did he do that? Jean stayed in his job for seven years. He had the opportunity to leave, but he chose to stay in the position he retired from and innovate from within. So often in the public service we executives move around after two or three years. You learn the job, you work a full cycle (two budget years) and you start looking for the next thing. Jean didn't do that - he built a new branch, he did some painful restructuring (twice, once his idea, and once due to a change in government), he weathered some communications crises (one from outside, one from within), and he always innovated.
He embraced new technologies and dragged his colleagues along, some kicking and screaming. He always encouraged employees to follow their passions. He was there for anyone who wanted or needed to talk to him, from someone freaking out about a file to people needing advice on their lives. He forced very disparate communications professions to work together and provide a much better integrated service for our clients (again, kicking and screaming happened). He never stopped learning, be it about iPods and streaming video or new techniques in print-to-mail.
Jean is also an intensely loyal man. He lives and breathes the values and ethics you like to think that all public servants have, but some don't. Jean had a lot of faith in his colleagues, and even more faith in his team. He never forgot to thank us for working really hard, and he never hesitated to say "job well done". He isn't the guy who takes credit for the good things and shares blame for the crap. He never hesitates to write notes for the big boss that points out the right teams and the right people who did the good work.
In short, Jean is pretty much the kind of senior executive I'd like to be someday. And I think that's about the coolest thing you can say about someone, isn't it? I'd like to be like him when I grow up.
I just want to say thank you, Jean. Thank you for being a great guy, a great boss, and a great person to emulate. I'm sorry I couldn't figure out a way to say it in person, but you mean a lot to me, and I'm going to miss you. I'll be talking about you for years, and you will live on in the public service as long as I'm around. Thank you.
Labels: Personal stuff
Blogging will be sporadic
I'm off to meet the peeps for the next few days. What, you say, could you possibly have worse timing when it comes to your travel plans? Hey, I didn't exactly plan to buy a house last week, so cut me some slack. I have to say that I'm blessed to have a mother currently in China, thus freeing up my beloved and saintly father to help me out with some of the key elements of buying a house, including supervising the home inspection of the new digs and the painting of the current ones.
All said, I thought my real estate lawyer was going to choke today when I told him I'd be away for the month of June. Yes, I said, I'm fully aware that I'm moving 18 days after I get back. Sure, that's not much time to pack. No, I don't actually have that much stuff. Yeah, it'd be great if someone handled the transfer of my cable and phone. Yeah, I'm pretty sure my current house will sell this month, before I go away.
And then we talked money. There was a little bit of feeling like I was going to choke. But I'm not going to freak out. Someone's going to buy my house quick. I'm feeling pretty positive about it all.
Still, I'm off to Toronto tomorrow for the day, then I'm back to pack for Penticton. Thursday I have the flights from hell - technically, I have the layover from hell in Vancouver airport on Thursday My colleagues are picking me up from the Penticton airport and we're going straight to a winery tour. I'm sensing there will be a lot of diet coke in my life on Thursday. Still, it's a great opportunity to meet my regional colleagues and participate in their strategic planning initiatives. I like meeting the peeps, even if I have to travel for 11 hours to get to them. Seriously though, I've made it to the middle east in less time than that, and that's all I'm saying. I feel like I should have a passport or something.
I'm not bringing my laptop, so blogging will likely be sporadic if at all. I'm hoping to watch me a little Grey's while I'm in BC, but I'm not holding my breath. For the love of all that's good and holy, do NOT tell me what happens by email or in a comment here. It's going on the PVR and I'll watch it when I get home. I'm not kidding, people. No spoilers.
Labels: blogging, random
Iron Man: A Movie Review
In short: I loved this movie so much, I think I'll go see it again next weekend.
Longer version: Robert Downey Jr plays Tony Stark in the movie Iron Man, which opened this weekend and earned a near record-breaking $100M. A cast of other excellent actors is also in this film, including Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Stark's personal assistant, Jeff Bridges as the evil guy Obediah (so very FLDS sounding), and Terrence Howard as the Air Force's liaison to Stark Industries, the world's greatest weapons manufacturer.
Tony goes to Afghanistan to do a weapons demonstration of a new missile system called "Jericho". I could get all technical on you here since I have a master's degree in blowing shit up, but let's just suffice to say that it wreaks destruction that is unheard of from a land based missile system. While in Afghanistan, he gets kidnapped by some evil doers and the ensuing incident changes his attitude about weapon making.
I can't reveal anything else without plopping down some major spoilers and I don't think that's right (though, most of you seem to have seen the movie this weekend, judging by the box office numbers). I will say this: my movie theatre was 2/3 full (the biggest theatre in the cineplex), and you could hear a pin drop except for the father and maybe 10 year old son sitting four seats down from me who I had to ask to stop talking four times. They've never heard of "indoor voices", evidently.
Last time I was in a packed cinema that quiet was for the last Batman movie. Speaking of which, oh does the preview for this year's movie look smoking hot. OH! Saw that one at the movie today, as well as the preview for the new Incredible Hulk movie (oh, Ed Norton is looking goooooooood!). All in all, a very satisfying 2 hours at the movies.
I know, you're wondering what the mofo I was thinking going to the movies when I'm staging my house for sale. I'm almost done. Really! And I was so freaking burnt from moving more furniture than you can shake a stick at that I just wanted to chill. And so, I movied. So good! SO GOOD!
Go see this flicks. Shit blows up and it's funny. Robert Downey Jr is awesome (I think he might be playing himself, that's how effortless it all is) and Gwyneth (whose name is really hard to spell, by the way) is a smoking hot redhead. I can't wait for the sequel!
Labels: Iron Man, movie reviews, movie trailers
so.... tired....
Got up this morning to start "Operation: Stage This House". Since then, I've:
- denuded three closets
- cleaned the bathroom
- cleaned the inside window ledges of three windows and a french door
- moved some lighter furniture
- took down my personal photos and stuff and wrapped them and replaced them with less personal stuff
- cleaned my kitchen
- set up a bed in a room that doesn't normally have one
- folded a crapload of winter clothes
- tidied up the basement and swept oh, a year's worth of accumulated lint off the floor
- moved my inside recycling bins down to the basement
- restructured the stuff in my kitchen so there's nothing left on the counters
- met the real estate agent to sign off on the listing agreement.
Tonight, after dinner with my folks, I'm going to pack some boxes of stuff that are currently on my bookshelves and put them in the basement. Tomorrow, I'm going to utilize the presence of my brother to move the heavier furniture around (put my dining room table in, yanno, the dining room, move an armchair and two bookshelves to the basement - stuff like that), and then finish my laundry, move some lighting around, vacuum, and collapse.
Unfortunately, I'm out of town Wednesday through Saturday next week. My beloved father is going to have to manage the painters and do the final staging for the photo guy who's coming on Friday and hope like hell that no one wants to see the house before I get back so that I can sweep and dust and clean the loo one more time.
I'm so tired right now I could weep. I foolishly didn't stock the house with diet coke, so I was praying for death earlier this afternoon. I've "refueled" and am just finishing watching last night's ep of Battlestar Galactica, and then I'm going to start packing some books. Yay. Happy fricking day!
Oh, d day for house listing? Saturday, May 10th. I'll post some photos of the staged house soon.
Labels: Selling the House
Spoke too soon!
Remember
this post? You guys were right.
Found the dream house. Looked at it yesterday. Bought it today. Moving July 18th. Hoping beyond hope that my painter who just came over to give me an estimate actually decides to buy it, since he's quite interested and that'd be nice and quick. It's in Westboro, and it's the dream personified. It even has a nanny suite.
Did I mention how much I love my real estate agent? Shane Clark, Coldwell Banker. He truly rocks as a real estate agent. Super positive, I tell you. Super positive. Love love love him. He even made this process relatively painless, despite my having a filling done in the middle of it (a filling where the freezing didn't really take. And no, I'm sadly not kidding about that.)
So... does anyone want to buy my house? It's a lovely 3 bedroom townhouse condo near excellent transit and a block from a Loblaws, Chapters, and (most importantly) a movie theatre. It has hardwood and ceramic floors on the main floor and a new kitchen. It has a small backyard and no one looking into the back of the house. I'm even painting the bright bedrooms a nice neutral colour! I know, you can hardly stand it. All this for $225K. In Ottawa. Yes, in the actual city of Ottawa - the original one!
Anyone? Anyone? Email's at the bottom of the page if you're interested. It's going on the market in a little under 2 weeks.
Very exciting!
Labels: Personal stuff
