LTNT!

It's been a while since I posted. Mostly cos when I would remember to post, I wasn't anywhere near internet. :(

Luckily, now that I've moved in with Jimmy, we have finally set up the internet and I just have to get back into the groove of things.

My apartment is almost totally bare!! We're moving everything out on Sunday evening and next week I'm going in to finish painting over my wall holes and clean the apartment for the new tenant who moves on the 24th!

Things at the house have been good, his roommate just came back from being gone for work to Germany for the last month and half so she's got some packing to do before she moves out this coming weekend.

The cats are getting on Jimmy's nerves. I am still pretty concerned that something major will happen and he'll make me give them up :( They've been living at his place fulltime since February and we've already had 3 major incidents with them wrekking things.

1. They figured out how to jump on top of his side speakers, then jump on top of the big screen TV and then walk across the TV knocking over the centre speaker which for now, sits on top of the TV. The centre speaker fell backwards and created 2 holes in the wall. Luckily the speaker was fine.
   
2. We came back from grocery shopping one evening to find that the front entry vase which sits on top of a coffee table had been knocked over. This is a huge vase with luckily, no water in it since it houses fake flowers but there were pebbles in the vase and some of the pebbles chipped the hardwood flooring. He wasn't impressed at all.
   
3. Just last weekend, they climbed on top of the centre speaker and knocked it over once again, created 2 new holes, so now we have 4 holes in the wall we have to fix.
   

He said that was it for chances, one more and he's giving them away. :( So to try to minimize the issues, I'm locking them in the laundry room while we're not home. I hate doing it but I would be devestated if he gave them away. I can't honestly blame him though, they've already broken my computer printer by pulling on the cord, I had to buy a new one cos it was completely busted and cost more to fix than to buy a new one. Jimmy bought me roses a few months back and I put them in a vase and left them as a centrepiece on our dinette table, well the cats completely destroyed it, there were petals everywhere. Cats will be cats, I guess, I just really do not want anything else bad to happen!

2 weeks!

My move is coming along nicely. I've got most of my clothes and bathroom stuff moved over to Jimmy's. This weekend Jimmy is going to Montreal so I'm staying at my place to pack up all my kitchen stuff and my night stand table. Next week I'll be removing everything from the walls and packing up as much as I can week by week! I've only got about 4 weeks to get all my stuff out of there and paint the place before my tenant moves in the last week of March.

I'm still addited to facebook.com I've found sooo many ppl I highly encourage you to join if you haven't yet!

I'll try to remember to take photos of the new car this weekend as well.

Addicted

I'm officially addicted to facebook.com !

GOOGLE In Ontario!

I just finished reading an article in the Ottawa Citizen on how Google has opened an office in Waterloo! There are some photos and the place looks awesome!

They were comparing why the company chose Waterloo over Ottawa. If you have a chance, check it out, it was in yesterday's paper the techweekly section.

Organized

I've officially changed all the necessary addresses on all my mail. At least I hope. I did this 2 months in advance to keep a close eye on what mail I will still receive end of this month that I missed and must change addresses right away. I've already moved half my summer clothes over to Jimmy's and this weekend I'm putting the remainder of my summer clothes plus fancy dresses and summer shoes in his car. Next week I'll begin moving everything out of my storage room up to my apartment to bring over as well. I really don't want to have too much to move out by end of March. Especially since we have to paint over all the holes I put on the walls before April 1.

Rogers is cancelling my internet and PVR services on March 7. So the day before, I'm disconnecting everything and lugging it into Jimmy's car and setting it up at his place cos the eve of the 7th, Rogers is coming to reconnect me at his place.

OMG News Flash! Anna Nicole Smith is found dead!

You know you're from Ottawa when...

I found this funny article on facebook.com Ottawa group

YOU KNOW YOU'RE FROM OTTAWA WHEN...

You HATE having to dial “613” first before having to call people now in Ottawa

You talk to people from other cities about shawarma and are mystified when they have no clue what the hell you're talking about

There was a point in time (or it is that point in time right now) when you wished you were 18 so you could drive, cab or bus to hull to get alcohol

You've waited 30 minutes for the OC transpo only to realize it came early?

You remember when the Scotiabank Place was still the Corel Centre, or better, Palladium

You've partied on Parliament Hill on Canada Day

You remember going on field trips to the museum of science and tech. every year of elementary school

You've travelled and waited for over half an hour just to get into Zak's Diner in the Byward Market

A winter without going skating on the Rideau Canal just doesn't seem right

You're bilingual... or at least you can parler Franglais

You've swam in Mooney's Bay and had to shower for 2 hours afterwards to get that filthy, filthy water off of you

You don't flinch when asked if you want to eat a beavertail

You've been at the top of the peace tower and thought you were amazingly high just because nothing else is allowed to be taller than it

You've cheered for and a year later, booed Alexei Yashin

You remember the Roughriders, and wish the Renegades would come back

You've watched for yourself on Speaker's Corner on CHRO/The NewRO/A-Channel/Channel 6

You've seriously considered swimming in the Rideau Canal on one of those 30+ degree summer days

You remember a time when Patrick Lalime was kinda good

Everyone you know has some sort of story about how Alanis Morissette babysat their cousin's best friend's dog's original owner's son-in-law

You realize that MPs are you local celebrities

You've taken the O-Train and wondered exactly why they ever built it

You wonder why Bluesfest is even called Bluesfest. Who knew the Black Eyed Peas could sing the blues?

You remember that Tom Green used to be funny

During grade school, you were warned about "The man in the white van." (Or if you grew up in Orleans “the white van”)

The word Vanier strikes fear into your heart, in fact you duck and cover any time you hear it

The dreaded Ice Storm combined with the teachers' strike made 1998 the best school year ever

You listened to ENERGY 1200 AM and remember when 93.9 KOOL FM was still new

You remember RJ's Boom Boom Saloon turning into the Liquor Dome, whose days of serving alcohol to minors ended when it turned into Capital City music hall, which after a few David Usher and Massari shows turned into... well, condos.

You remember the amazing breakfast at the Golden Griddle before it turned into a Hooters and now some pub or something

The Sens earned you some free pizza

You've been cut off in traffic by a car only to realize they had a Quebec plate.

You've gone to Herongate Mall only to realize you need to kill more than 8 minutes.

Head gear!

Poor Zazu, he has to wear that stupid neck thing for 7 days so he doesn't lick his paws otherwise he'll get an infection!

YAY!

So I think it's safe to tell you guys that I've rented my apartment! After going through a few applications, I've made up my mind and the new tenant is coming over on Thursday to sign his lease. We've made a deal, I lowered my price a bit in exchange for him to sign a 2 year lease. He is looking for April 1, 2007. Which gives me an extra month to move out! Well, actually I'd prefer to be completely moved out or mostly moved out by mid march. I've already switched all the addresses on my bills the only one remainding is my rogers one which i'm going to try to make sure I don't get that penalty charge cos i'm getting out of the contract early by adding my name to Jimmy's account and adding features to that other account. Keep your fingers crossed that my bargaining skills succeed! hehe

My kitties were neutered and declawed early last week. They were kept at the vet's overnight for 2 nights to make sure everything was healing alright.

Zazu was licking his paws a lot and started developing a small infection so the vet put one of those hilarious v-shaped collars on him for a week. Poor thing keeps running into walls and has a bit of trouble eating so I hand feed the fella. I'm counting down the days when I can remove his collar and he can go back to normal. He keeps wanting to cuddle but the collar makes it so impossible for me to hold him close to me.

I recently got convinced by a girlfriend to join facebook.com and now i'm totally addicted! If any of you are on it please let me know or look for me to add to each others friends list LOL

Peeling

OMG I'm peeling everywhere wtf!

So one week later, I finally got a hold of all the photos I need to print. I'm going to be printing a combo of my dad's digi photos , my bro's photos and mine. I can't wait!

Oh and I created an online gallery of a lot of our photos combined. It's not all of them but a heck of a lot.

http://picasaweb.google.com/613flavah/Lima2007

bbbbrrrr

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate winter?? *sigh* well I do. Especially cold days like today. -25 celcius! I had to walk to work in that my kneecaps were frozen! Awful! I'm going to dress way warmer tomorrow.

So I had 3 ppl come to look at my apartment today. 2 were really interested. I'm stuck on who to decide. Jimmy says I should base it on who will be more responsible on paying rent, one is a student from Ottawa U who can afford this place (not sure how?) and the other is a guy who works at Parliament Hill. I'm going to base it on both of their background checks. Whomever makes more and has more stability will get it. They both offered to sign on for 2 yrs which is a bonus for me.

Decisions decisions!!

Oops!! I forgot to update my blog! Well, I´m still in Peru so here is the link to my travelogue where I will be posting updates on my trip (which concludes on Wed)

tootles!

http://www.travelpod.com/cgi-bin/guest_login.pl?tweb_tripID=peru2007&tweb_UID=613flavah&tweb_PID=tpod

Last day of waiting !

Wooohoo!

This is my last blog entry until I get a chance to post a small one when I'm in Lima. Today has been a hectic day, what with my focus eye centre appointment (yaya 20/20 in my right eye has been achieved!) and since I had my mom's car, I just paid to park at work. Then I had my first italian course, then I have 10,000 things to finalize before I take off tomorrow, what with wrapping up projects and training my replacement. EEk!

Jimmy had an interview today and he thinks he got the job, he finds out today. I really hope he gets it, it will be a nice pay raise for him and no more stress with his current workplace which he hates. So keep your fingers crossed!

I gotta go pick up some last minute groceries tonight to make sure I leave the apartment fully stocked for my friend who is staying there. Then double check everything is a go in my suitcase and I'm off to spend my last night at Jimmy's before our trip!

Oh and I'm most likely moving on March 1. Jimmy's roommate got an apartment and she moves between March 1-15. So as soon as she's moved all her stuff out, I'm moving in there. Upon my return from Peru I'll have to start changing addresses for everything and cancelling my services as well.

T minus 3 days!

It still hasn't really hit me that I'm leaving on vacation in 3 days! I'm one of those ppl who doesn't realize it until the night before and then I don't end up sleeping at all and regret it the next day on the flight.

This time I'm prepared. I bought one of those neck pillows, I bought a huge book and have loaded my iPod with all the best tunes to keep me busy. I shouldn't have any problems. It's an 8 hour flight from Toronto alone so here's to hoping!

New Year, New Changes?

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm thinking it's going to be a great one too. What better way to kick in the new year than with a raise?! I'm soo happy! Crappy thing is, I'm almost at the end of my pay scale, if I want to make more money, I'll have to apply to a higher level job and to do that, I have to get more experience under my belt, so guess who's going back to school part time this fall? I'm not sure what I'll be taking yet so we'll have to see, but I"m def staying in the techie world.

I leave for Peru in 6 days :D I'll be documenting as much as I can of my trip as possible on my travelpod.com website and on my blog so if any of you would like to be kept up to date on my travel adventures, please email me so I may add your email to my travelpod.com update list.

I've also had a few leads on my apartment. Some guy from Mexico who is coming to finish his PhD at Ottawa U. this spring is coming in feb to check out my pad. So keep your fingers crossed peeps! Once I return from Peru, I'm most likely going to lower my price a bit if it doesn't work out with the Mexican.

Jimmy's roommate looks like she found an apartment and possibly moving for March 1. Which is perfect cos that's when I wanted to move in with Jimmy. So here's to hoping everything goes as planned!

I've also talked to my good friend Jason who is doing his masters in Ultrecht, Netherlands that I'll be going to visit him for 2 weeks sometime in Aug. He's graduating so after that we're planning on travelling through Ultrecht, visiting my sister in Herentals, Belgium and then heading off to either: Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco or Spain & Portugal!! I can't wait!

My kitties are getting so big! I'm going to miss them while I'm in Peru but luckily I found a good friend who will be staying at my apartment while I'm gone taking care of them. It works out for the both of us since she works in the west end and currently lives at her parents in orelans, this will be a nice break for her from them and will be closer to work and will work out if she wants to go out at night she's right in the market!

I signed up for beginner Italian classes and beginner Japanese courses at work LOL we'll see how well I do. Plus I'm doing advanced writing in French as well. yikes I hope I can balance all three language courses heeh.

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas Holiday! I know I did, though I feel like it went by too quickly. Why do the weekends and holidays always zip by but the workdays are slow as hell??

Santa was great to me. I received:

• New luggage (suitcase & matching carry-on bag) perfect for my trip to Peru
• "Say Anything" with John Cusack, Cube & Season 3 of Degreassi Jr. High
• Gift certificates for Place D'Orleans
• Clothes
• Socks
• Slippers
• Dessert fondue & main meal fondue set
• PADERNO 40-set pots & pans (well Jimmy got it from his parents but I'll be the one mostly using it)
• Cooking books

I can't wait to leave for Peru in less than 2 weeks. It's starting to get pretty cold here in Ottawa and I'm starting to get depressed by it. It's supposed to only be -6 celcius right now but it's soo damp/humid outside it feels soo much colder. The cold really goes right to your bones :(

My cats have finally figured out that they are able to climb on our kitchen counters. Jimmy and I are not very amused. They have been punished today and are locked in the laundry room until we get home from work. I'm going to invest in some professional deterrent this weekend but in the meantime, I've been told to try putting tin foil on the counters, supposedly cats don't like the feel of tin foil on their paws nor the sound. I'm going to test it out with a small piece when I get home before putting tinfoil on our counter tops.

Does anyone know what they are doing for NYE?? It's Jimmy's turn to pick something and he's leaving it until the last minute I hate that!! We don't have plans yet oh well :(

Ho Ho Ho

3 days until Christmas Eve. Awesome. I'm all done my gift shopping, everything is wrapped! As Elastica once said "I'm done, I'm ready to go..."

I'm staying at Jimmy's over the xmas holidays but it won't really be much of holidays that's for sure! Jimmy works with the army tonight and so I'm going to take the time to go get us some tanning sessions to get some colour before Peru, pick up some last minute things for the dinner prep for xmas eve & day and mop the hardwood floors in the house. I'm hoping we get out of work early on Friday. I can go home and wash out the kitty litterbox, then JImmy and I are going tanning and I'll head to the gym then we're going to his friend's xmas party. Sat my family from Toronto is up so I'll go spend some time with them before heading to Kemptville to Jimmy's sister's house where his parents are up from Halifax. The 24th I'm going to visit a friend who's in from out of town, go tanning, do the gym thing then head to xmas eve dinner at my parents. the 25th we head to kemptville again and the 26 is Jimmy's bday! I go back to work on the 27th :(

One month!

It's been a month and a day since I had my laser eye surgery!!!

I can't believe how much time has already passed. My eyes are doing so well I really can't complain. The last time I went in for a check-up, they told me that by mid-january I'd be done my daily drops. I'm looking at my calendar and on Wednesday I reduce my right eye drops from 4 times a day to 3 times. I'm still really glad I had this surgery and I tell anyone I have a chance to, to seriously consider it!

My apartment's been up for rent for a week and some and I've had 2 ppl email me interested but after a few email correspondences, they never got back to me :( One guy called and I returned his call and he never got back either. Then on Friday a girl called me and told me to either call her back or email her, so I emailed her and I haven't heard from her yet either. If I don't hear from her by today after work, I'm just going to call her to find out if she wants to come see the place or not.

I found someone to take care of my kitties while Jimmy and I are away in Peru. My high school friend Emily is going to be staying at my apartment for the 2 weeks we're gone. It's good for me that she'll be at my pad taking care of them instead of having someone come in a few times a day to watch over them. Plus, it's closer to her work as well. She gets a parking spot, food, internet and satellite tv :) I'm really happy. She's coming over this week to pick up her pampered chef stuff and I'm going to remind her to make sure she's still interested in taking care of them!

I finished my christmas shopping on Sunday!!! yay! ALl I have left to do is wrap everything :)

Bad Luck

Both elevators in my building have died!!!!!! I just went up 12 flights of stairs! HOLY SHIT! I was with a guy who lives on the 20th floor so I feel bad for him haha.

What sucks is I need to go to Chapters tonight to pick up some Christmas gifts and tonight they are having a special 20% off for irewards members on top of your regular 10% off!!! EEK! I'm contemplating being tough and going for it. Hoping that upon my return the elevators will be fixed though for some reason I don't think that will be the case. What sucks even more is that Jimmy is still at work and he's sleeping over and the poor guy will park 2 levels below ground level and then have to walk up basically 14 flights of stairs! I'm praying they will be fixed by then, at least one!!

'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: