Carpal tunnel or bust

I am going crazy, after 13ish hours at work I find myself on my computer at home. What is my f-ing problem?

Anyways, here's some pics from the last bit of the Tourist Challenge!

Vancouver Lookout

BC Hydro Powerhouse (or at least, just outside it!)

Hell's Gate

Yep, a fridge!

Some sculptures just outside of Fort Langley.

Up to

I am exhausted and it's only mid-May. How can I possibly make it till August? Alcohol is the key. Or at least one of the keys. But, enough about my pain. I have been busy, in the few hours I am not working or volunteering, with Battlestar, Buffy, and Touristy stuff. We are on Season 2.5 of Battlestar - and WOW! It's awesome. I am on Season 5 of Buffy, and the Joyce episode made me ball my eyes out again. Joss Whedon is a genius. I have also been getting my stamps for the Tourism Challenge. Last Sunday I took my friends' son to the Aquarium - it was kind of funny because I forgot about the Sun Run and took Main up to the viaduct and got stuck in traffic through downtown for over 45 minutes. By the time we got to the Aquarium it was noon and super busy. The poor boy was so nervous. He really liked the huge aquarium with all the big fish, but I was afraid of losing him in the crowd so I asked him to hold my hand. We walked around a bit and then rode the elevator a few times. He refused to go through the eating area and insisted he wasn't hungry. After a few attempts he had a bit of a tantrum so I had to have a talk with him - the main problem was that he saw another kid climb this rock by the Belugas that clearly has a 'do not climb' sign on it and he wanted to climb on there to and go through the employee gate. I explained he was not allowed to do that and he had to hold my hand and not go near it. He agreed and I took him through another way, far from the eating area, back into inside the main area. I had to try to find a jelly fish species for the questionnaire, but after a bit more walking he had had enough and would not go anywhere else. Luckily the cashier lady was kind enough to give me my stamp anyways. The boy just wanted to go home but finally admitted to being hungry so he ate some pretzels. I offered to take him for ice cream and he agreed, but then passed out on the drive. We stopped for ice cream when we were almost back home and he ate a huge bowl of that (who knew $2.50 would get you that much ice cream, not me!) outside on the bench. He kept saying how far away from home he was. On the ride back he admitted he did not like holding hands so I thanked him for doing it anyways. He also said he missed his Mom. I felt like a bit of a jerk, but hopefully the next day all he remembered was seeing the fish and the dolphins and belugas. Taking a 4 year old out for a fun adventure isn't always fun-filled, it's too bad it takes so long to get there. I think it would have been easier if we hadn't gotten stuck in traffic. I can only hope that he wasn't traumatized and is willing to go out again! This pretty much sums up our day:

Afterwards I went to Minter Gardens by myself before I went home. It was a beautiful walk - I really love it there. I took a crapload of tulip pics for my Mom, since I couldn't spend Mother's Day with her. Here are some nice photos from the walk:

Today I am heading to Steveston and maybe Fort Langley on the way. I have only 2 more weekends to get all 15 stamps so I have to be diligent! At least next weekend I have 2 days to do stuff.

Oh, and yesterday at the Zoo I painted Poison Dart Frog faces - that was a new thing. But, it actually turned out okay. Though the yellow one looked similar to my Cheetah...

An office moment to remember

The most hilarious thing happened at work today. One of the toilets on the second floor overflowed and there was so much water that it ended up leaking through the ceiling. Now I'm not so mean that I thought that this was funny in & of itself. What made it funny was my co-workers reactions. Two people realized the toilet was overflowing so asked who they should tell so I got the receptionist to make a sign for the door and left a message on another co-worker's phone, because they are the one who handles the plumbing issues. But, in the mean time the water had gone through the ceiling and had started dripping onto the floor below. As people started to realize they jumped up and dragged the garbage can below to catch the drops. Everyone got up from their desks and stood around peering up at it, others jumped up and started yelling (or at least speaking LOUDLY) as they realized water was dripping next to them. Others ran upstairs to try to turn off the water to the toilet. Nobody was actually working except for me. My policy is to avoid doing anything other people flock to, like babies & demos as Zellers, and now water damage. So, I was working away and let everyone else deal with it. It was really funny watching from a distance (and avoiding the clean-up), and reminded me of The Office. It would make a really good episode. Moral of the story? Well, use a damn plunger when you plug up.

Another week down

It's Saturday again and I am now on Season 2 of Buffy. I thought I would treat myself to some soothing vampire/slayer hijinks as my busy time at work begins. It's been great. I have also started watching Battlestar Gallactica with my friend Warren. We are now on episode 6 I think. It's been pretty exciting so far. I knew I would like it, and I can't wait to see what happens. I had watched a few episodes when it was still on T.V. but it's the kind of show you really need to watch in sequence. I have also started watching period pieces with my co-worker. We started this Thursday with Wives & Daughters. Next week will be the second half. Then we'll watch Bleak House, a Dickens story.

On top of all that I also saw Kick Ass last weekend and Hot Tub Time Machine the weekend before. Kick Ass was AWESOME!!!!!!! I might even buy it. The little girl in the movie was fantastic, and even Nicholas Cage didn't irritate me. Hot Tub Time Machine wasn't as stupid as I thought, and I laughed alot. I would recommend it if you grew up in the 80's, and especially if you were into the hair bands at all.

I need to do my damn taxes a.s.a.p. so I hope I will be productive in the next few days. But, it's so hard to get crap done, and much easier to just watch and relax. I did restock my coffee though so maybe tomorrow I'll be super keen. Or maybe not so much.

Survival

I have made it through another week. And, I am relatively okay. Work is...busy. Anyways, I don't want to talk about me. I want to talk about people who let their children run around like maniacs on the road. My street is full of children every day when I come home from work. It is making me crazy. When I was a kid my parents would have flipped out if they caught me playing on the street. I feared their wrath. Granted, I did occasionally play on the street but it was always brief and I was always scared of getting run over. The kids on my street drive their bikes across the street from one driveway to another as I am driving towards them. They draw on the street with chalk as I am driving towards them. They run across the street from one side to the other as I drive towards them. And, what makes me really crazy is when they run, play, or ride their bike in circles on the road. They literally go in circles over a 2 - 3 house radius over and over. Then, the cheekier ones actually wave when I drive by and it makes me want to scream! The hilarious thing is they all wear helmets. So, their parents must watch enough T.V. to care about helmet safety. But, what about teaching your kids not to play on the damn road? That's what I want to know.

yep

Today I opened my door to leave for work and saw 2 inches of hail/snow all over the ground. As I walked to my car I got hail/snow down my neck, stuck in my hair. Little Car was covered. And, we were going ~ 50 km/hr on the highway through Abby. Then, on the last stretch to work it's all warm and lovely out. WTF! I would like to point out that it's April 8, and we had no snow at all through the Olympics. No snow AT ALL. WTF x 20. Grrr Argh!

The drive home however was bright and sunny, if a bit crisp out still. I knew we would pay for the unseasonably warm weather this winter!

LONG WEEKEND!!!

I have 3 days off!!! In a row!!! Woot woot!!!

My boss let me off early today but I have wasted the past couple of hours playing Age of Empires 3...and the Aztecs ended up kicking my a$$ anyways. Now I'm going to read some more Harry Potter - I am on Half-blood Prince now. It's like a warm cuddly blanket, but the literary version.