'Tis the Season

I am forcing myself to go Christmas shopping today. I hate xmas shopping and especially at the Rideau Centre which is always packed! How I miss the dead mall (Place D'Orleans) *sigh* luckily this is the last yr i'll be shopping around here!

Thursday night as I was getting into bed, I heard a loud bang. I peeled back my bedroom window blind only to find that one of my windows had shattered into a thousand pieces!!! Luckily it was still intact, just all shattered. I'm also very lucky that the windows are double pane ones! Otherwise I'd be freezing and have to find someplace else to sleep! I called the super the next day and they said it would take about a week to order another window. Keep your fingers crossed the second one doesn't shatter!! They think that the window was faulty to begin with. Isn't that awful?? Check out the photos:

APARTMENT FOR RENT!!!

Well, here is it. My apartment has been officially advertized! Please pass on to anyone who you think may be interested!

- Brand New Loft-style apartment in the Byward Market (George Street).

- This unit has 1 Bedr. and 1 Bathr.

- It is located on the 12th floor faces north and has a balcony with views of Gatineau Hills, Parliament, gorgeous sunsets and fireworks on Canada Day!

- Exposed concrete 9 foot tall ceilings, floor to ceiling windows, hardwood & carpet in bedroom, 6 new appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, fridge & range microwave).

- Industrial window blinds included.

- Underground heated parking can be rented at additional $150/month comes with garage door opener

- Internet and cable ready.

- Only unit with a pantry. A large pantry!

- Freshly painted.

- Closet organizer set up in bedroom.

- Very large party room with kitchen area, foosball, pool table, chairs & couches accessible through the 2^nd floor open 24/7.

- Large patio connected to the party room with reflective pool, lounge chairs & gas bbqs.

- Gym facility on the 2^nd floor open 24/7.

- Doorman on-site Monday – Friday 8-4pm

- $1350/month includes all utilities (heat, electricity, water and central A/C) and locker.

- 24 hour LOEB across the street.

- Available March 1, 2007 (or earlier – negotiable).

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/613flavah/1210179GeorgeStreet

Please contact me for more information and/or viewing:

Global Warming?

I can't believe it's currently 16 degrees celcius outside. WTF! Not that I'm complaining or anything it's great! If it stays like this for the next couple of days I'm going to go back to wearing skirts!! Maybe we'll get a nice green christmas for once. Though I'm sure that won't be the case, it's gotta be global warming. The United States and Canada are two of the largest global emitters of the greenhouse gases that contribute to a warming climate which can make our summers disgustingly hot and our winters pretty mild. But do most of us even really know what Global Warming really is? I did a search online and came across an interested CBC article online which gave me all the background info I needed.

1 week post op

I just got back from my 1 week post-op check up. I'm doing pretty good according to the doctor. I see 20/25 in my right eye and 20/40 in my left. Which explains the trouble I'm having reading the text on my computer screen and in books b/c the difference is so huge between them. He gave me more drops some steroid drops to put in my left eye in hopes of speeding it up to match up with my right eye. I told him I had suuuper dry eyes when I would wake up in the morning and now I have to put this thick paste around my bottom of my eyes before going to bed, sounds so attractive I know.

I'm going back in 2 weeks.

One week later

I'm seeing better and better each day. Though recovery for reading both books and on the computer screen are still delayed in healing. I'm still having problems. Everything else seems fine. I go on Tuesday afternoon to find out what my vision is at. I think I'm around 20/30 or a bit better, I hope!!

I did barely anything this weekend. Rented the entire first season of Six Feet Under. I'm going to have to now get the other seasons. My friend also lent me Grey's Anatomy season 1 & 2 so I've basically been watching that all weekend.

I was supposed to start my xmas shopping today but I didn't even bother changing out of my jammies. I'm going to be in Orleans the next 2 weekends so I think I'll just do it then. I have to do it at least sometime next weekend!

Details, details and more details (part 2)

I've already posted details about the surgery day, now I'm going to post details about the few days in recovery.

Day of Surgery - Friday Nov 17, 2006

Once I arrived at my parents place, I was hoping to pass out for a few hours but instead, I was wired awake, probably from all the adrenaline and since I had to keep my eyes closed as much as possible, I had nothing to do. My mom decided to take the rest of the afternoon off and sat on the bed with me and we gossiped until my stepdad came home. My parents were going out so my brother and his gf offered to "babysit" me. They cooked me dinner and brought it up to the bedroom where I ate in low light. My eyes even with the sunglasses provided, were extremely sensitive to any source of light. I watched CSI with them with my eyes closed and went to bed around 10:30pm.

4:30am - I awoke with excrutiation pain in my eyes and my general sinus area. It was soo painful to open my eyes and they were still swollen as well from the surgery. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what was going on since the entire afternoon after surgery I wasn't in pain at all. I finally caved in and woke my mom up at 530am when I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Turns out, that I was supposed to take the oral painkillers (2 of them) every 6 hours and when I was due to take them (at around 1230am) my mom felt bad waking me up so she hoped I'd sleep through it. WRONG! Regardless, she brought me my painkillers, I put my numbing drops in my eyes and put a cold compress on my face and within 20 mins I was sound asleep with all pain recollection long gone.

24 Hour Checkup - Saturday Nov 18, 2006

Saturday wasn't a bad day, I was still scared to open my eyes for long periods of time and plus it stung quite a bit. Kind of like you had been chopping onions for many many hours. That's exactly what it felt like. My vision wasn't clear especially with the protective contact lenses in place. I went in for my 24 hour check up and the optometrist said I had to have my contact lens replaced b/c it was full of protein buildup. I was freaked out that he'd be touching my eye but frankly you don't feel it at all! He put sooooo much lubricating drops in my eyes and then made me close my eyes and told me to look up, down, left and right three times. Then I opened my eyes and he put more drops. He asked me to look towards my nose and he gently pulled the contact away from my pupil and pulled it out. I didn't feel nothing! He did the same process to stick a new one back in. My vision was tested at 20/30!!

48 Hour Checkup - Sunday Nov 19, 2006

Everyday seemed to get better and better. My eyes were still stinging which the doctor said was completely normal. I was taking 2 painkillers orally every 6 hours and 3 different types of drops throughout the day. The cold compress every few hours also helped with the swelling of my eyes and my humidifier helped as well! I highly suggest a humidifier cos your eyes get suuuuper dry! At my check-up, my eyes had worsened 20/60 but the doc said this was completely normal while my cornea was healing, it would go up and down in vision. Only pain I felt this day was again the onion cutting sensation. Was able to watch some tv but not a heck of a lot as focusing for long periods of time gave me headaches. Still wore sunglasses all the time. Even for my showers.

72 Hour Checkup - Monday Nov 20, 2006

I was able to walk around my parents place without my sunglasses without any problems. It was only whenever I went outside that the light bothered me and I had to whip out the glasses. At my check-up, my vision was 20/40. TV watching wasn't a problem at all, though reading a book or anything on a computer screen still was a bit bothersome.

I went back to work on the Tuesday. I've had minimal problems at work. I've stopped using the sunglasses except when out in direct sunlight. I still can't see properly on the screen and I'm hoping within a week I should have that stabilized b/c it's bothering me long term for my line of work to not see super well up close for now. Though I've heard some ppl can take up to a month to stabilize so here's to hoping I won't! I'm down to just 1 type of eye drop 4 times a week. I can now drink alcohol and I"m glad now that it's the weekend.

It's true what everyone says, it is one of the best decisions you could have made. Yes it totally sucks going through the 3-4 days of pain but in the end, when you realize how long you'll have perfect vision for, it's sooooo worth it! I highly recommend it!

Kitties!

They are growing soo quickly! I can barely remember how small they were when I first brought them home. What sucks is that my slave hdd died and so I've lost most of the photos I took of them when I first got them. I'll have to check my old blog entries for the photos *sniff sniff*

They turned 5 months old on Nov 21!! Next month they will be at the right age for me to get them fixed but Jimmy and I have decided to wait to get them fixed until after our trip to Peru so that's going to be one of the first things I get done upon my return.

I still can't believe I'll be in Peru 2 months from now woohoo! I need to start getting tanning sessions cos I'm as white as a ghost and well, I really don't want to show up that white there b/c that will just be invitation to get burnt in the first few days at the beach. Jimmy finally received his first ever passport in the mail on Tuesday. I'm soo happy now he can officially go anywhere in the world!

My eyes are improving day by day. The only downfall is that I work on a computer all day so I have to continously stare at the screen and well, my vision hasn't completely improved for reading or viewing on a computer screen. Each eye right now sees completely different, though they aren't far apart in vision I can tell the difference whenever I cover one eye with my hand. My left is slightly lagging behind my right in getting 20/20 vision. It makes for working pretty difficult and tiring. The medicated eye drops I have to use until next Tuesday are pretty gooey. I have to put them in 4 times a day and the last time (at bedtime) makes my eyes sticky in the morning. I have to get up a few mins earlier to clear my eyelashes of the gook. Luckily (hopefully) it's just for until Tuesday when I pressume they will tell me to stop taking all meds though we'll see!

Details, details and more details

A few of you have asked for an in-depth explanation of what went on for me the day of the surgery and the days following the procedure.

SURGERY DAY

I was scheduled to be there between 12:30pm & 12:45pm. I went into a room with my mom and a nurse and she administered the Valium. We chitchatted for about 15-20mins before she led us both to a "waiting" area.

Believe it or not, the surgery room (if you'll call it that) is performed in a room encased in glass. So anyone walking by or sitting outside the room can see the procedure being done. It's pretty neat. I watched the girl before me get done (which actually she told me after it was her second procedure cos her eyes regressed over time). Within minutes, she came out walking and talking, which also reassured me and then wished me luck. I went into the room with my mom and I quickly blurted out to the 2 assisting nurses that I have anxiety and I get nervous very easily. They led me to a chair that is identical to the dentist's chair, they told me they would talk me through the entire process and that it would be over before I knew it. They began to put drops in my eyes. This continued for the next 5 minutes to the point where my eyes were naturally "crying" from the amount of liquid they kept putting in. It was all to numb my eye.

The chair began to go back slowly and the nurse told me that a pillow behind my head would slowly begin to inflate to accomodate me better. Once that was done more eye drops were used. The nurses began to tell jokes to my mom and myself in hopes of relaxing me when the surgeon finally came into the room my anxiety kicked in. I started hyperventilating and trying to talk myself into breathing slowly and more controlled through my mouth. The surgeon told me he would be putting a clamp on my eye to open up my eye some more and that I would not feel anything at all, all I could think about was CLOCKWORK ORANGE

Lucky for me, it's nothing in comparison! You don't even see the clamp coming towards you. He was very gentle and came in through the side so I wouldn't freak out and he opened up both my top and bottom eyelids very slowly and I didn't feel any pressure or pain in the least.

Once my eye was forced open, the surgeon (Dr Edminson) told me that I may smell something burning for a few seconds and to not be alarmed that it was just him scraping off the top layer of my cornea (NOT BE ALARMED!!!!) I once again started breathing very quickly and requested that my mom hold my hand. I was breathing through my mouth so I barely smelt anything at all THANK GOD. But the few seconds I did catch a whiff, it smelt like burnt flesh meets burnt toast. It's kind of hard to explain but seriously, it's only for a few seconds.

A large machine was placed over my head (not touching) and a small red light covered my vision. The surgeon told me to stare continously at the blinking red light, that that was the laser and to try to not move but if I did move my body or my eyes, the laser was so good it would follow my movements or stop completely if I had to cough or sneeze. It's that safe. So that reassured me. The nurses started counting down with me and before I knew it, 30 seconds had passed and they were completely done one eye. The same steps followed for the second eye except this one only took 20 seconds.

AFter they pulled away the big machine, they moved my chair back in the sitting position and told me to close my eyes as they cleaned the leftover tears from the drops from around my general eye area. Then they told me to open my eyes and take a look around. I slowly opened my eyes and couldn't believe how awesome my vision was! I could actually read the time on the clock across the room!! I was then told it was all over and they gave me a glass of water with 2 pills (painkillers) and to go home and rest for the next few days.

I stood up and almost fainted from all the emotions and adrenaline rushing through my system. They gave me "stylish" sunglasses to keep my eyes protected since they would be extremely sensitive to all light sources for the next few days. I then went home and rested.

LOL of the day

I got this from Wesa's blog hilarious! Thanks Wesa!

On Thursday morning approximately 50 customers were lined up outside the Wal-Mart in West Bend. The customers were waiting to purchase Sony Playstation 3 game consoles.
At 7 a.m. an assistant manager of Wal-Mart announced to the waiting customers that the store anticipated getting only 10 of the game consoles. The game consoles are first available for sale at 12:01 a.m. this Friday.

The assistant manager explained he was going to put 10 chairs out, and the first 10 customers to get to the chairs would be eligible to purchase the game consoles when they go on sale.

The assistant manager then lined up the 10 chairs outside the store and directed the waiting customers to another area outside. He then gave a signal for the customers to run to the chairs.

As the customers ran to the chairs a 19-year-old male ran into a pole and struck his head injuring himself. The 19-year old was conveyed to an area hospital where he is being treated.

The big day

Today is my laser eye surgery appointment. I AM FREAKING OUT!!

It's 11am and by 1230pm I'll already be at the clinic, swallowing my valium in hopes of it really calming me down. I've already had a few instances where I've wanted to bail out. Picking up the phone and trying to dial the clinic. But I know that deep down inside, this is the best decision I've had to amke and from what everyone has told me, you don't feel a thing and it's over before you know it's begun and you will be thankful you went through with it. Everyone I know who had it done says they would do it all again in a heartbeat.

So, wish me luck and once I'm able to go onthe comp again, I'll update you guys on how it went.


This is a photo of the difference between PRK & LASIK surgery.

The cat is out of the bag!

I just sent out a mass email to everyone I know giving them a heads up that I'm going to be posting my apartment for rent mid Dec and hoping to score someone for March 1st or even mid Feb if possible. Keep your fingers crossed that I find someone.

I'm still not sure on prices since the places for rent in my building fluctuate from prices I want to make sure I get enough at least to cover my mortgage so we'll see....


Tomorrow is also the big surgery day. I'm soo nervous!

AWESOME

I just met a girl in my building waiting for the elevator who is moving into my building one floor above mine in about 2 weeks time. You will never believe how much she'll be paying for rent...$1400/month!!!!!!!! I acted really cool but I couldn't get over how much the owners are going to be bagging a month through her! I know what the model looks like, it's much smaller than mine and it doesn't have as nice a view as I do (it faces rideau street). If the owner was able to get such a high price for a small unit, it's making me wonder once again, how much I should charge for my unit. The price includes utilities but I don't know if they have a parking spot and/or a storage room.

Seriously, if any of you in Ottawa know of someone looking for a kick ass pad in the heart of the market please let me know@ I'll be drafting up my apartment blurb early next month and the more interest I get the better for me.

In other news, my kitties are getting so big!! They will be 5 months old in less than 2 weeks and then in Dec, I'll have to start thinking about timeslots to book for them to get fixed and declawed. Today I kinda freaked because Simba started meowing weirdly and rubbing up against everything and all I could think about was, shit what if he's starting to get horny? LOL. I have no idea what the symptoms are! I should really start looking...

Focus Eye Centre II

I went in to get my mapping of my eyes this morning. I still can't believe that by this time next week, I'll be glasses/contacts lens free!! It seems like a total dream. I'm extremely nervous about the procedure still but looking fwd to not using any aids to see :D

Today is municipal elections in Ottawa, so fellow Ottawans, please don't forget to take a moment out of your busy schedules to vote!!!

We also have the board of directors voting for my condo. I had nominated myself as a candidate but as we got closer to the voting day, I removed myself from the candidate list. I was up against 16 other ppl, some included school board members and even doctors. I just lost all confidence, what do I have to offer? :( Plus, I'm planning on moving out hopefully in March into Jimmy's house and renting out my place, so if I'm not here 24/7 what's the point of being a member of the board of directors?

Sooo if you know someone who may be interested in living in the market let me know! :)

Blast from the past III

I just got an email from another girlfriend I went to school with while I was still living in Peru!!
Funny part is, her name is Ximena Gonzalez, just like me LOL except her name is with an "x" which is pronounced the same as an "h" sound. I can't wait to see her as well! She looks the same she sent me photos!

I'm really getting pumped for this trip back to Peru!!!

Links of the day

• Real life Borat. From what I heard, he's suing Baron Cohen for stealing his material
  
• Baby Ejected in Hit-Run Crash Later Found -- Under a House!
  
• Two police officers sued Burger King Corp., claiming they were served hamburgers that had been sprinkled with marijuana.
  
• A New Jersey woman who fell off a wet bar and injured herself while dancing in a "Shake-
  It-Like-Shakira" contest is suing the Manhattan bar that sponsored the shake-off. Gimme a break!
  
• Awesome photos!
  
• Hahhaa Faith Hill gets owned at the CMAs
  
• The next thing in science... human-cow embryos... WHAAT?
  
• Tanja from Big Brother Croatia falls off a slippery table while trying to dance on it. hahaha

New bed

Jimmy and I are going shopping on Wed night for a king size bed woohoo!!! My queen is falling apart thanks to my cats and his queen is under 2 yrs old. Since I'll be moving in there next spring, we decided we'd opt in for a king size bed since he's so large and the master bedroom has enough room for one. So he's going to lend me his queen size until I move in there and my old queen is going back to my parents not sure what they'll do with it. His queen will be in one of the spare rooms when I move in there.

I can't wait to have a new queen!

Just For Laughs Comedy Show II

I got Jimmy and I tickets once again to another JFL Comedy Tour. Though this time I think the extent of the audience participating will be with the comics making fun of certain ppl in the crowd. Regardless, it will be fun!

Talk about odd, my brother bought tickets to the same show and even though he bought his tickets a different day than me, we're actually sitting next to each other haha what are the chances?? So I invited him and his gf over for dinner so that we can all walk over to the show after since it's walking distance from here, that way, we don't have to pay for parking in there.

:: winter ::

Winter is fast approaching and that means I go back to hibernating!! God I hate winter!! It's so cold and depressing outside. I normally try to avoid going out to events and only enjoy going from point A to point B via car and nowhere else. I think this weekend just proved it.

The wine and food show is this weekend and I really wanted to go and I didn't find out when it was until a few days ago and by then it was too late :( I have noone to go with and plus it's going to be packed oh well!! Next time it comes to town, I won't be living in the market so I probably won't even bother.

So I just found out that my friend across the hall from me is moving in with her bf on Dec 1st and her apartment has been rented out to my neighbour!!! cool for him easy move and to top it off, she's leaving it furnished for him! he's really happy cos he won't have to buy any furiture, just a TV. I hope it's that's easy for me to find someone to rent mine out next year!!

:(

I think my desktop PC is dead. I went to turn it on 2 days ago and I got a black screen with the words "Press any key to reboot", I'd reboot and get the same screen. I shut her off. When I turned her back on later that day, I would get the boot screen then it would revert to the screen where you choose how to load up windows, either in safe mode or regular mode. I tried both options and they both just would load up the boot screen then revert back to this original screen.

I think my CPU is donzo. *sigh* It's about time, I haven't upgraded my CPU, MOBO nor HDD since 2004. It's lasted me 2 yrs of ups and downs. Jimmy is coming over tonight to try to fix it. If we can't, I'm going shopping this weekend for new parts. How sad.

Blast from the past II

I recently got an email from a childhood friend I haven't seen/talked to in 20 years! Can you believe that? All thanks to this cheesy website called "Where Are You Now?". It's actually a pretty cheesy website and since I hadn't been on it in years, I logged on to remove my account when I noticed I had messages in my inbox. I clicked and discovered a private message from a girl I used to be best friends with when I lived in Peru!!! We went to preschool, kindergarten and grade 1 together until my dad's job sent us over to Europe and I lost contact with her.

I CAN'T BELIEVE SHE FOUND ME THROUGH THE SITE!!

I'm still in complete shock. So is she. She seems to be doing really well for herself. She's married and is a lawyer, living in a house overloaking the ocean! We're planning on meeting up when I go back to Lima in Jan. I cannot wait. I've tried to reconnect with a few of the girls I hung out with when I was still living in Lima but it's been close to impossible to find them. It's fate that Augusta (that's her name) found me. All I need now, is to find my best friend in Belgium named Astrid. I can't even remember her last name. She was also the child of a diplomat but with the Norwegian embassy and left with her parents to go back to Norway.. wonder what she's up to these days....