Sick as a WOOF WOOF

For the record, I've been sick since Victoria Day 2017.  To date, that would be 2 days shy of 6 weeks.  First it was strep throat, which I stubbornly did not see a doctor for until day 5.  Add 10 days of Amoxil on top of that would see my first round of suffering end for all of 4 days.  Round 2 of strep had me almost fainting at my hair appointment that I suffered for 2 days too many because the doctor couldn't believe I had strep back to back.  Before the second round of Amoxil even ended, I started coughing out my lungs.  Two hours waiting for my third doctor's visit saw me out with two puffers, Hycodan and a nasal spray.  F.M.L.

Just now, I almost puked from coughing.  This really sucks.

I hate being sick.

Project Itchy Butt ver. 2.0

Haha, geeky but it works!

HDTV antenna - ver. 2.0

It took longer to watch the YouTube video than to make this thing.  Four bunny clips, two large paperclips, one 75/300 ohm transformer.  Done.  Free TV once again.

That was easy.

Kickoff to Summer

Three years ago, I first heard of Kamado-style grills from RFD where a whole bunch of crazy guys were running around town trying to get a BGE from Costco on clearance.  I was curious to find out more about this thing that people were going bonkers over when they're "on sale" for $900.  I mean, who pays this much for a bbq?  Especially when it looks like this:

The BIG. GREEN. EGG.

That's... one... ugly... thing.  Then I found out that it retails for something like $1,500 and "Eggheads" around the world swear by them.  Never going back to gas.  It's a hardcore community of followers and diehard fans out there.  What irks me even more is that this Egg comes with absolutely no accessories, meaning you can't even use it out of the box.  To make it remotely useable, you'd have to spend a couple hundred more on it and yet people still go crazy.  There must be something I'm missing here...

But it got me interested.  I haven't bbq'd in ages and I was in a condo but I wanted one.  Eventually.  Like when I'm no longer in a condo.  So I started researching Kamado grills and found the one I wanted:

Kamado Joe - just as good as the BGE but with all the bells and whistles.  For less money!

So I juggled the idea of getting a Kamado Joe when I moved but didn't realize (until recently) that they are still $1,300!!  When I first started my research, they were around the $1,000 mark but mind you, that's when the Canadian Dollar was less pathetic.  Trying to get 文生 to agree to a $1,300 bbq would probably mean it'll never happen so I just kept the thought on the back burner and hoped for a sale.

Thanks (or no thanks) to the RFD community, I found out that Can Tire was clearing out their Vision brand of Kamados.  Online reviews seem to be quite positive and the more important part, it was less than half price of the Joe!

Vision Kamado Pro C

The first step was to get 文生 to agree to the new addition.  Check.  Kinda.  Then it was trying to find one.  Check-ish.  Well, apparently Vision ended their agreement with Can Tire so hence the clearance, meaning the entire GTA was pretty much out.  Stores were showing phantom stock or only have heavily damaged floor models left.  I really wanted to have a Miss Vicky Day bbq this year so the Friday before the long weekend, I decided to look further away from the center of the universe and found a brand new in box one in... get ready... Peterborough!  Okay, Peterborough is far, but not unreachable right?  So I called the store, told them I'm driving two hours to get there so please have the bbq on hold for me because I don't want to show up to find out it's not there.  Great, all set.

I proceed to borrow a van because yes, this thing is a monster and weighs 200lbs (240lbs with the box) and there was no way it'd fit in my buggy (right?).  Fast forward to Saturday morning, when I woke up both 文生 and CLM at 6am to begin our long scenic drive into cottage country, all was fine and dandy until we got to the Peterborough Can Tire and... they... sold... my... bbq.  OMG#@^*@!#(*&#$(&@@!!!!!  Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper.  The attitude at the store just did not help the situation either.  We were told there was only one more in the area so fine, we'll go to yet another store.  Apparently "in the area" meant BANCROFT, an hour away from OTTAWA.  I was not only livid at this point, but in much disbelief that the Bancroft store, which showed only 1 in stock (usually that meant floor model or non-existent), actually have it brand new in box as well.  文生 was actually the one to make the executive decision to go to Bancroft so another hour and a half later, they were lugging the big box into the van.  *Side note:  I thought people in the 'burbs are generally more pleasant and it was true up to the point when they see you in person and realize you're not white...

Took us what seemed like forever to get back into town and I really didn't feel like assembling the bbq so I waited until Sunday to finally put it together.  Thanks to YouTube, where this guy basically did a complete unboxing of the same Kamado, I was able to set up the grill with Tinlop in a relatively short period of time.  We did a test run the same night and grilled peppers, zucchini, wings, pork chops and stuff.  Boy it was yummy!  There is absolutely no comparison to gas/propane grills.

On Miss Vicky Day, I fired it up again and made steak, pineapple, more wings and chops, zucchini, asparagus, potatoes, roasted garlic... it was good!  I'd say it's well worth the money for the grill, even when we had to drive to Bancroft.

Twenty Fourteen Just Couldn't Go By Faster

Wow, I just realized that my blog was pretty pathetic for 2014.  Have I been lazy?  Were there a lack of life to document?  Did I get more and more bitter about life so I don't want to remind myself of the bitterness?  Oh, oh, oh....does this all have anything to do with... get ready... 犯太歲?

I've never been a superstitious person, at least I don't think I am, but honestly 2014 couldn't just go by any faster.   太歲年 = 事幹多.  I was told several years ago that 犯太歲 doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad thing.  It just means lots of things will happen, whether good or bad.  Well, 2014 was certainly eventful.  Unfortunately, it wasn't for the better I'm afraid.

Reflecting upon the last few new years posts, I realized that I've become quite bitter in 2014.  I can tell from the lack of bubbly flair while writing this post compared to those from a few years ago.  If I need to choose One Little Word for 2015, it'll probably be FREE.  I'd like to free myself from the bitterness that I'm currently feeling; freely pick up my hobbies again; free up my soul from all negative fields and bring my life back to something more mentally manageable.  How's that for a New Year's Resolution?

One thing I'm proud of achieving in the past year, is the ability to get myself into bed around midnight.  Compared to that of a few years ago, when I was going to bed at 2am every night, it's a drastic change.  For the better.  Now if only I can haul my ass into work at the decent hour, that would be just dandy.

Time flies not only when you're having fun, but believe it or not, it also flies by when you're having a shitty year.  It's now 6.5 months since I've left Harding and 2 weeks until I move again.  Brings back fond memories of all the stress I went through to settle into the condo back in 2010.  Only now in tri-fold or so it seems.  I really should be excited to finally move into the townhouse, but I guess until all the deficiencies are rectified and we settle in, I don't expect to feel the excitement.  Heck, I haven't even started packing yet! 

Twenty Fifteen:  Please be nice to me.  Please.

Wut?!? November Already?

Dear Blog,

I have neglected you.  I'm sorry.

Love,

me

PS, I'll be back soon, but I just can't believe it's already November...

唱出心聲

Yup, that pretty much sums it up... 要反省下...

Recent Accomplishment

I can proudly say that I have marked another accomplishment (albeit mini, but accomplishment nonetheless) off the 小芬's "handyman-ess" list (if you can even classify that as a word) aka "邊個話要靠男人" list.   I have successfully changed the brake lights on my buggy!  Okay, fine, retarded as it sounds and yes, it was extremely easy, but I did pay $12-15 to my mechanic each time I needed it changed for the last xx years, so for five bucks and ten minutes of my time, I saved $25 (bulbs come in two's).

For the record, this cost me $4.97 at Walmart

Hey, what can I say?  Between finding a place to temporarily stay for the next half year to fussing with the finishes for the townhome to dealing with idiotic morons at work, my life's been crazy to say the least.  So a 10-minute achievement was enough to set a smile on my face and make my evening.

I'm not really looking forward to moving since I'm really missing my condo already but I know the two weeks will just fly right by.  Sigh...  Time to pack soon, but for now I really should sleep, haha.

Homeless

Looking back at a post from January 2010, I can't help but chuckle a bit.  Can't believe four years have past and I'm moving again.  This time:

1 full week of cleaning and preparation
2 days on the market
3 offers to purchase

4 showings (only)

SOLD! for full asking price (THANKS AGAIN KAREN!!!)

However, I can't help but feel a little bittersweet.  I thought I would miss Northtown a lot but I only miss it a little, that being my first ever condo.  But here, I poured over blueprints, plans, did all the pricing and marketing, sales opening, office closing, assigned all the parking/lockers, chose all the finishes, watch the building get built, fussed over the problems, deficiencies and finally settled into the home I "put together" from start to finish.  I love everything about this condo: view, size, bathrooms, ALL my finishes (my backsplash!!), appliances... but in another month, I'm going to leave this baby of mine.  :'(

What I DON'T particularly like about this place is everything that happens outside of my four walls - how the building is run and basically, the people living here.  

I know I must move on and constantly tell myself I can't stay here any longer.  From an investment point of view it's leave now or leave never.  Too many developments are under construction in this corridor and all the new stuff will make this building look like it was built in the 90's.  Time to leave 小芬, time to leave...

Come July 7th, I will officially be homeless until the new TH is done.  I thought I would luck out and rent the boss's son's unit short term but that's a no go.  Now I have to quickly find a place (stress), finalize my damn colour chart for the TH (freaking stress ^ 27635162 as it already took 2 months and it's still not done), move twice (stress x2), then settle in finally and then go through the entire process again in a year (stress ^27635162 x2).  WTH did I get myself into??

Dammit, I'm going to miss this place ...

Sneak Peek

Just a little sneak peek at what I've been up to in the last week...

Ah..... so clean!!!!!!!

又一個月喇！

Wow.  Based on my bucket list that I made almost a month ago, I've accomplished all of ...

zero items.

I'm such a retard.  This month has slowed down work-wise; the only major thing was a tedious 2.5 day conference that I had to work a few weeks ago and otherwise, just normal daily happenings.  Hmm... so besides taking life one day at a time, nothing has really happened.  Literally.  LOL~

Then I started cleaning, then de-cluttering, then touch up painting, then cleaning some more, then income taxes -_-", and then guess what?  More cleaning!!  Now I can truly say:  I - HATE - CLEANING!!!!!!  I've cleaned so much that all my muscles hurt.  Damnit!  Honestly, I absolutely ADORE a clean and minimalist lifestyle.  I get so happy walking into a clean and tidy home.  Which means I really need to get rid of crap that I don't need.  Like around 15 years of Food and Drink magazine??  They are so freaking heavy.

**********

CLM's been a funny guy lately.  He's been very particular on certain things depending on his mood, which can change so quickly you won't know what hit you.  Some popular quotes:

• Cur Cur B 唔坐過0的唔俾0的位婆婆坐！
• Cur Cur B 唔同媽媽 "hihi" 唔錫淡媽媽！
• Cur Cur B 唔睬爹爹，睬婆婆！
• Cur Cur B 唔影相，第日冇相相睇！(and while he knows that, he still won't let me take photos of him)

While it's cute that he has his opinions and determination, it gets a little annoying when I'm trying to sit down and have dinner and he won't let me sit; trying to take pics of him and he gets upset; I leave for work and want my goodbye kiss and he won't come...

The cuteness continues to just before bedtime, when we do his nightly ritual:

Me:  Cur Cur B 今晚想聽咩歌呀？
Cur:   聽“牙牙歌”  (刷牙歌)
Me:  跟住呢？
Cur:  跟住我0地聽“牙牙歌”， 之後覺覺豬，之後刷牙牙，之後換 penpen (diaper), 之後奶奶 ja!!!

The order is obviously mixed up but CLM is very particular to have to listen to his “牙牙歌”, “打開蚊帳” and “大笨象會跳舞” while brushing his teeth, then he kisses my teddy bear good night and afterwards he gets his 奶奶 ja. What a little bugger, lol~~

**********

On another note, I think I've found my dream pair of shoes!  I've been looking to replace my crummy, worn out, 14 year old pair of Nike Shox for the longest time but haven't been able to find anything that I liked.  Mui sent me a link to Nike's custom Shox page and I custom-built the pair that I really want to have!!  Totally didn't expect to be able to do something like this.  Now I just have to order it.

My dream pair of Shox:  Black Leather, purple accents.  LOOOOOVE!

Wow, just realized it's 4am.  I think I'm going to sleep now ... more blogging later.  Hopefully it's not 4 weeks later, lol~

I'm So Upset!

Haven't blogged in so long.  Every time I come to my blog I'm feeling pissed, angry, upset, tired, a combination of the above or worst yet, all of the above.  I figure, why document life when I'm upset?  So I can remember the times I was angry?  Well, I've come to realize that if I don't start somewhere, my blog will permanently be neglected.  Now, where do I start...

**********
(post started March 12, 2014)

Sometimes I really wonder if I'm going to die of a heart attack or stroke.  I'm always so uptight with so many things that send my blood pressure through the roof.  Lately, there's been too many things that got on my nerves... so many, that it deserves an entire blog post devoted to it.

In no particular order:

Retail Stupidity
People who know me well know how much I hate dealing with half-brained people.  I just can't tolerate stupidity, especially when said doorknobs are snobby/snooty.  話説 some idiot merchandiser at Target misprinted a few price labels (for two consecutive weeks, mind you.  Tells you what kind of doorknobs Target hires) and someone took photos and posted them on RFD.  Said labels gave people the opportunity to price match and effectively save $55 off the premier version of TurboTax, making it a whopping $15 only.  Every year, I wait until SIG sells the standard version of TurboTax for $10 before buying it so for an extra $5, I decided it was worth my while to try PM-ing.  After all, there were numerous success stories reported so what have I to lose?

Well.

Let me begin by saying I have never... ever... spent 2.5 hours doing a price match.  EVER.  Needless to say, I was pissed.

To make the really long story short, the rep at Best Buy was nice enough to try and score me the PM, while protecting his job at the same time (aka, doing his job properly) so he spent a good 15 minutes or so searching the retarded and crippled Target website for pricing info.  That didn't work, since Target's website is retarded and crippled.  I mentioned that already.

Phone Call 1 - Hillcrest Target
On hold for at least 45 minutes
Once someone picked up, he exclaimed that not a single Target in Canada carries the premier version of TurboTax (so they do in the US?  It's Canadian tax software, duh?).  Both the BB rep and I told him we have a picture of a Target price tag showing the product and price.  Target guy says the label must belong to another store, not his.  We ask what store it's for, he said Cloverdale.  At this point, 1.5hrs.

Phone Call 2 - Cloverdale Target
On hold for 10 minutes (does anyone work at Target??)
BB rep asks for someone in electronics... on hold again (WTF)
Asks to confirm price and was told his store doesn't carry software.  Period.  Both the BB rep and I were doubtful.  BB rep asks that he checks his system and magically, they carry it, but must be out of stock and cannot confirm price.  Both BB rep and I are now very frustrated (more so me since it's way past dinnertime now).  We ask that Target rep confirm price on tag and offered to fax him copy for reference.  He declined.  Asked him why he can't confirm price of a tag from his store.  Here's the kicker: it's not his store.  I just about fainted.  Puts me on hold to check store number and comes back saying the store is in Ottawa.  He's positive because he even called the store to confirm.  Fine.  2hr mark.

I am royally pissed.  BB rep needs to get to the bottom of this stupidity so he can use it in the store's future training.  He feels sorry for me.

I feel sorry for me.

At this point, we've all determined that whoever printed the label put the wrong item description on with a price and barcode that belonged to the standard version.  All the BB rep was looking for was an answer from a Target employee to say they'd honour the price so that he could proceed with giving me the discount.

Phone Call 3 - Ottawa Target
Doorknob 3 was the worst.  He got into an argument with me.  After the same schpeel for the third time in trying to establish the product in question, I asked whether they would honour their own error.

Me:  If your store priced a product incorrectly, will you honour the price?
DK3:  No.
Me:  WHAT?!?  What is your store policy?
DK3:  No, we can't give you the price for something we don't carry.
Me:  That's not what I'm asking.  Let's say you priced a carton of milk incorrectly someone goes to pay and it scans differently.  Are you going to honour that price?
DK3:  No.  Now you're being unreasonable and comparing apples to oranges.
.
.
.
After some further unnecessary exchange, doorknob 3 asked that the BB rep REPHRASE his question so that he can answer it so that he's "comparing apples to apples".  I passed the phone over and the BB rep looked at me with a WTF expression, rephrased his question and finally got the answer I've been waiting for after 2.5 hours.

BB rep:  Now how many copies of this do you want?  You sure you don't need like 5 after all we've been through?

I lost 2.5 hours of my life that I'm never going to recover, just to pay for a program to effectively give more money to the government.  Something doesn't even sound right.  *shake my head

If I wasn't so busy at work (and exhausted) around the time of the incident I would have totally caused a stink with Target head office.  Especially since the idiots at that store made the same mistake the following week and printed the same shelf tag.

目無法紀
I even get upset with things that do not directly relate to me.  How am I going to survive the inevitable?  There are inconsiderate people everywhere and I'm aware of that.  I know I can't change the world either.  Which makes me wonder why I get so worked up over other peoples' stupidity and inconsideration.

Purchaser called to complain he couldn't take his things out of a locker that's owned by someone else.  Wut?  So you used someone's locker without consent and you have the nerve to complain?  Then he went ahead and cut off the lock to take his stuff back.  Erm, can we say trespassing?  I have no respect for these people.  IDIOT.

Anti-Opinion-ers (aka Askholes)
I really hate it when time after time, I'm approached for an opinion in which I spend x amount of time to research an answer and the person does the exact opposite.  I'm not naming names but this infamous person does it ALL THE TIME!  文生 asks me why I bother giving advice when I know the outcome is going to be the contrary.  Sometimes I ask myself the same thing.  Gotta stop being so 熱心.  Always comes back to bite me in the ass.

Liars
Then there are the liars that call me periodically to complain and when I call out their lies they turn around and tell me I'm not high enough in the company to make decisions so I should let them talk to someone else.  Then why freaking call me in the first place?

**********
I so need to vent.  Unfortunately, it's 3am and I'm just rambling on and on.  Might as well get this over with.  That, or I stab myself with a fork again, LOL.  Gotta release my frustrations somehow.  Sigh.

March was just bad.  I worked 3 openings, 3 weeks straight; 文生 has been sick for a month; he got CLM sick and he was throwing up, having fevers, coughing up cur jam everywhere, and didn't eat for 9 days; got mom sick; got me sick; got CLM sick again; and guess what?  文生's still sick.  It's April 8th.  FML.

There's so much I want/need to do but I just can't get my mind around to doing it, especially with a household full of sick people.  My Roomba is not going to fix itself anytime soon, ya know... and when people say 禍不單行?  They're right.  The day I decide to roll down my window, happens to be a freaking cold one, and it decides not to roll back up.  Same day, 文生's brilliant mom drives his car 20km... with... a... flat... tire.  Six hundred dollars worth of repairs later...

Over a bottle of wine (or two), I'm going to have to eventually go down my bucket list and check some things off:

• Service my poor roomba
• Catch up with CLM's pic-a-day as I'm a full month behind :(
• Finish my jumping clay terracotta warrior
• Start and catch up with P365-2014 (don't think this will ever happen)
• Finish blogging HK/TW 2013 - down to the last 3 days
• Bake something, anything
• Go on vacation 
• Catch up with blogging - so many things I should be writing about, yet I chose to complain :(
• Take my poor buggy in for a long overdue oil change

I should really go to sleep now.

/rant

MIA Again?!?

Yes!  I'm MIA again...

December was a whirlwind of cold weather, storms, lost power, parties, food, baking marathons, CLM milestones, Jumping Clay and general Christmassy things that I need to catch up documenting.

January went just as quickly as it came with more cold weather, post holiday syndrome, UV2 office moving, CNY celebrations and promos that lapsed into February.  CLM turned TWO!  and OMG, he's now a "pre-schooler" and no longer a "toddler".  Where the heck did the time go?!?  Made myself a "new year resolution" of going to sleep before midnight.

February is half over with more work related busies, UV2 catered radio remotes, working seven days a week, three new sites opening up before the end of the month, 太上文生's visit, and more CLM funnies.

Once again, I find myself falling behind on P365.  Of course, sleeping earlier means less time to scrap.  I told myself I'm only doing two layouts per month but guess what?  I'm three layouts behind (ie, I haven't started).  Sigh........

Up ahead:  tax season, more non-stop working, finish Jumping Clay project that I started a month ago, SCRAP SCRAP SCRAP, service the Roomba (again), maybe a DIY project if I feel like it, stick to my new year resolution...

Off to bed.  Now.

凍凍凍!

What a great way to start the new year:

... not.

I've been having dire trouble falling asleep because my feet are so cold.  The thermostat's turned to 26C (never gets there) and it's still freezing.  CLM has 4 layers on plus a sleep sack and another blanket so he's fine and toasty.  I have my duckie duvet, another blanket AND a human beside me and I can't seem to get warm.

Winter sucks.

Rant over.

Sanity and Laziness

Lazy, lazy, lazy.

I come to my blog each day to tell myself I'm long overdue for a new post.  I have so much to write about but too lazy to type.  I think mostly because blog posts are boring unless accompanied by photos and I'm just too lazy to find nice photos to share.

For the last two months I've been thinking of documenting a "CLM then and now" type of post and although I run the points through my head almost daily, I haven't really gotten around to doing so.  Meanwhile, work's been a little crazy, CLM's been a little handful (and then some) and I've still got myself wondering why I don't get to sleep decent nights.  STILL.

Abandoning P365 this year after Hong Kong was probably the biggest "mistake" (or relief, whichever way you look at it).  Not having to document every single day means I have no excuse to blog.  No "me time" to get away from things, which doesn't necessarily translate into more time to sleep.  Looking back at my P365 posts and pages for last year always give me a sense of accomplishment and I'm glad I got to document CLM's first year (and life as a mom).  Although I freed up a lot of time by dropping the idea, I do regret not continuing with it this year.  As CLM grows every day, talks more, learns new things, it's a pity that I won't have anything to look back on.  At least I kept up with his "picture a day" so I can still track his facial changes even if I won't remember what happened that particular day.  I can't believe CLM's 22 months already and will be two soon!  They grow up so quickly!

Lately, I've been thinking about baking a lot.  I think I just need something to do so I can claim it as "me time" and a source for keeping my sanity.  Not that my sanity is jeopardized/compromised in any way *shifts eyes*, not at all...

文生's been working crazily for the entire month of November and finally got a weekend off so we opted to go downtown, have ramen and then hang out at Meishan's for a bit.  Ronna and Meishan picked up some Jumping Clay at the Ex this year and have been inviting me to join them to make things for a while now.  Finding out the clay smells like jasmine did it for me!  LOL~~  It's so much fun!  It doesn't stick, isn't messy, smells great, doesn't require baking, is lightweight and you can basically make whatever you want from it.

This little guy measures about 2" tall

CLM was really cooperative while I made my cutie little penguin.  All was well and I was about to make another one and then CLM fell down two steps of stairs and hit his head.  The remainder of the night was spent at Sick Kids but at least he has no fractures and seem to be himself again today.  做阿媽真係大責任.  I wasn't really freaked out until he started vomiting.  Ew...  Once again, I am grateful for great friends as Meishan, Ronna, Tinlop and Jeffrey all came to the hospital to calm our nerves and just to be with us.   Thank God CLM is fine.  I just wish I reacted a split second earlier... sigh...

On another note, the 16" x 20" stretched canvas 2014 calendar that I printed arrived and it looks great!!  Originally I was going to do a poster print and then frame it but I found a coupon code for a canvas print that was too good to pass up on so I opted for that instead.  I'm so glad I did because it's lightweight and it looks more professional!  I got them just in time before the coupon expired so I ordered a few more.  I'm pretty sure they will be well received gifts this Christmas!

Now I think I will procrastinate some more and yet again leave CLM's "then and now" post for another night...

I Need To Bake!

I have the sudden urge to bake.  Maybe because I just saw an awesome sale on a professional series KitchenAid mixer that I happen to have resisted to buy.  Again.

Or maybe it's the two egg whites sitting in the fridge that's calling to be used.  (Ahem, macarons?)

Well, I settled with making apple pies.  At 1am.  On a weeknight.  Shaped like fish.

I need sleep.  lol.

Christmas Presents Are Ready! (Almost)

Insomnia from the last week or so prompted me to have a bit of "me" time again so going down my bucket list of things to do, I decided to start on the Christmas presents (plus I don't think I'll ever get to bake that damn cake).  At first I was going to do a desktop or a monthly wall photo calendar for the grandmas but after getting some inspiration in the blogosphere, I decided to do a 16x20 framed, poster-type calendar instead.

I spent 2 full insomniac nights putting it together and I'm happy to say I'm pretty thrilled with the resulting product.  Although manually typing in each and every day from scratch wasn't exactly my idea of relaxing, seeing the poster come together nicely really gave me a sense of accomplishment.  I can't wait to have them printed and then framed and then I can be proud to say I've got my Christmas shopping started!

Just a few finishing touches, final proofreading to make sure I didn't give September 31 days (oops, lol) and off to the printers it'll go.  Can't wait to see the framed product!

I Did It!

小芬 is a little techy, a little geeky and a little handy, even if I say so myself.  Recently, I've taken apart my Roomba to service the clunking sound the brush assembly was making; I fixed a flashlight in which I removed a couple of corroded, exploded, stuck batteries; I installed two light fixtures and two dimmer switches in Tinlop's new condo; and my newest accomplishment: fix the scroll wheel of all three of my malfunctioning MS mice.

Following the powers of the interwebs, I found some pretty detailed instructions on how to tweak and fix the issues and now I have a whooping four functioning Arc mice (including the new red one).  Stupid MS just had to make things difficult by using one torx screw (out of 7, in which the other 6 were all Phillips) so I had to make a special trip out to Home Depot to pick up the right screwdriver.  So much work!  LOL~  The fix was actually really easy once the screw is out, took all of 3 minutes per mouse.

All fixed, yay!

On another note, I haven't worked a crazy opening in years nor have a worked a project where we sold out entirely in 20 hours.  Despite not having a complete APS (I had to make the schedules), no disclosure docs, faulty internet connection, computers that couldn't connect to our server, photocopier that stopped working, we still pulled off selling them all.  The paisans started lining up at 3am (yes, I was still at work) and it was funny to hear them exaggerate about being there since 2am.  Typical paisans.

Reception area of the sales office

Dining area

Kitchen - I love this kitchen

Living area - with a $15,000 upgraded fireplace built-in

Spacious 20ft wide, so atypical of a townhouse

The mob of people, angry that they didn't get a chance to even come in, let alone buy one

Time I left work on Friday - yes, I'm dedicated

Nick got us each a bottle of Veuve Clicquot for all our hard work!  We all deserved it!

Condo townhomes, 2,100sq.ft., $700,000... a little hard to swallow but people inhaled all 69 of them nonetheless.  Wish I had that kind of money to burn.

Me Time

Work continues to be crazy as we prepare for the Urban Towns at Bayview & Briggs opening and the phone calls just keep on coming in for UV1.  Occupancy issues, sigh... this is Richmond/Rosewood all over again!

For the last few days, I've been having trouble falling asleep before 4am and that's sans caffeine.  Which probably means I'm just really wired from the day's work and can't doze off despite being exhausted.  Me, the adrenaline junkie, aiya~  So I told myself I'm going to unwind tonight and do something for myself after CLM goes off to bed.  In no particular order, I wanted to do up a long overdue scrapbook page; start making a photo calendar for the grandmas for Christmas; try to fix my three MS mice; bake a cheesecake (I was going to do that when CLM was 7 months.  AND... he is now 20 months...poo).  Well, since CLM didn't head off to bed until midnight, I just managed to look up how to fix the mice (yay, the internet) and did one whole page!  Hoot!  Feels good to get something accomplished.  I can't believe a simple page like this took almost 3 hours to do.  Must be getting rusty!

Doot 嘴-ing with Cur Cur B

Knock on wood, CLM has now FINALLY started sleeping through the night.  He has been consistently going to bed around 11pm and waking up around 6:45am to 7:30am.  I can finally say "it got better".  He currently has six teeth and I can see the next ones coming in so I guess I should cherish these 7-hour stretches of sleep while they last but of course I have to be wired and can't sleep.  FML.

The little bibibak continues to test my patience daily with his new-found interest of lugging out all my bottles of Tide and lining them up nicely along the window sill.  Where he gets the energy I have no idea.  Well, to prove he is no match for mammie, I hid all the bottles.  I'm so mean, lol.  Will do an update on his recent development when I have more energy/time.  Since it's now after 3:30am and I have officially screwed myself over sleep-wise for the third night in a row.

Off to bed, my dear.  Now.  Please.

I'm Impressed

My MS mice have been driving me bonkers for a while now and I've been wanting to see if they're still within warranty for replacement.  I have three (3) Arc mice and all of them are doing the same thing: while scrolling down, the page will go down a few lines and then go up.  Now, can you imagine how frustrating it is when you physically take two steps forward and three steps back?!?  Now why I keep buying the same mouse over and over again is another story but I've been putting off calling Microsoft for the last few weeks partly because I've been swamped at work preparing for the occupancies at Upper Village and running the South Asian Expo (aka Code fork).  Swamped is probably an understatement since I worked until at least 10pm most of last week.

I finally decided to take a few minutes to call Microsoft just now, the entire time keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get the doorknob that I dealt with last time (hate to say it but that was also Code fork).  That was a freaking long, tedious, facepalm kind of experience.  To my great surprise tonight though, an English-speaking, local Torontonian answered my call after 2 minutes of MS pre-recorded switchboard, dealt with my concern, took down serial numbers to check their warranties AND recorded my info to send me a new mouse (only one was still under warranty), all within a 13-minute phone call.  Did I mention he was local?  and spoke perfect English?  Win!

Now can anyone fix this scrolling issue?  If so, then I'll have a few mice to spare because they didn't ask me to send the defective ones back again.

I hope the new one is problem-free... or is that wishful thinking?

Update: the new mouse arrived on Monday, September 23!  and in red!!!  That was faaaasssst!

New Computer aka New Toy

Unlike most ladies out there, I don't get a high from shopping for clothes, shoes, bags or makeup.  BUT!  I do get excited and happy very easily when I score a deal somewhere, especially if it's for something uber techie.  Looking back, I've documented many "new toys" on this blog from phones, more phones, monitors, gadgets, tablets, and more tablets, to other computer stuff and this week, I got yet another new toy (yes! another present!  This time from 文生, as my belated birthday gift - for this year... yup, my gift last year is still at the store).

My last computer was actually from February 2009 so getting a new one after 4.5 years is not that bad.  Opposed to last time when my previous computer died on me, I just couldn't pass up this deal when I saw it on RFD:  HP i5-3330, 8GB, 1TB, 1GB Radeon, WIN8, 23” LED IPS monitor, all for $550.  Since I hear the monitor goes for about $150 effectively making this desktop $400, I was all over it in a jiffy.

The difference a few years of technology can bring!  I remember installing Photoshop on my last computer took 3 tedious hours of my life that I won't ever get back but this time, the entire CS3 suite installed in about 30 minutes!  Three little things with this machine that semi bothers me is that it's huge compared to my little HTPC, doesn't have a blu ray drive and doesn't have enough USB ports (only two 3.0 and four 2.0, when I have nine on my last).  When CLM is not too busy pressing each and every button that he sees (aka when he's asleep), maybe I can try and swap out my old bd drive with the dvd-rw that this comes with.  Okay, one more thing: I can't use my MS natural keyboard anymore (no PS2 port) and the keyboard that came with the computer SUCKS.  So now I guess that's an excuse to buy the neato wireless keyboard that I got for work last year.  Only, it costs $90... doh...

On another note, I've asked for a new computer at work and it's supposedly coming next week.  Dell i7, 12GB I hear...  I can't wait!!!