As of today, I have not had a coffee in two weeks! And it's been a rough road along the way. Week one brought on a dull ache behind my eyes that could easily have been banished in five minutes with a walk over to the coffee pot. Now there are certain parts of the day where I find it difficult to stay focused (like that 2:30 - 3:00 time where you start to regret all the carbs you ate at lunch). And it seems like people around me are drinking more coffee than ever. And they have to make it worse by saying things like, "Rue, aren't you going to have some of this coffee?" Then, "there's lots left; you should have some, or it'll go to waste!" At work, the coffee has been free and about fifteen steps from my desk. If it wasn't such bad coffee, I don't know how I'd cope.
But soon I'll be moving back to head office where the coffee is just as bad, not free, and about 800 steps from my new cubicle (which is actually a small shoebox - no wait, I'm in a seat in the corner of a small shoebox shared with about fifteen other people). Grumblecakes.
Anyway, I decided to give it up for the summer until things start to get really busy again in September and sleep becomes a luxury that is above my pay scale. Not that I'm really idle now. How has this week gone...? Up early for a recording Saturday, up early for choir Sunday, recording until late Monday, Alpha downtown just now on Tuesday night, choir will be Wednesday night, catching up with a friend and celebrating her birthday Thursday. Who incidentally reminded me that my birthday is coming up as well, which will be pretty anti-climactic given that I thought I was a year older than I was for the past six months or so anyway.
See all the random blather I'm spouting? It just drives my point home: I can't focus without my good friend coffee!
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
On being irked
I reckon I sent someone to prison. I'm so mean.
The thing that was irking me before feels like the latest installment of random weekly ordeals. On the day I saw my monthly bank statement for one of my accounts, I also received a phone message from the bank. It wasn't too hard to narrow what they wanted down to a few possibilities based on the statement because,
1 - There was no money in the account and
2 - The person who removed it all from my account happened not to be me.
That's right, all of it. Which left me wondering how someone could make cash withdrawals on a card that I'd never used and for which I honestly couldn't even remember the PIN myself, let alone give it to someone.
Naturally I gave the bank a call first thing in the morning. Turns out they wanted to inform me that I was in overdraft and that I should deposit more money. Cheeky from where I was sitting. This prompted an interesting line of questions.
Rue: Are you sure you didn't rather want to ask me about why it is I'm in overdraft?
Banker: What do you mean?
Rue: Have you looked at my transaction record.
Banker: Uh hang on let me pull it up... uh yes, I did see that you made eleven five hundred dollar cash withdrawals at an ATM one week.
Rue: Was there some point at which you thought that might be a bit... suspicious?
Banker: (replying airily) No I just figured you needed the money!
Rue: What kind of operation are you guys running over there?
Banker: Are you saying you didn't make these withdrawals?
Rue: Yes I am.
Banker: Well, don't you check your balance more often?
Rue: Pardon me? Are you implying that it's my fault for not checking daily?
I had a pretty good idea how it happened and in the end it turned out that I was correct. Some banker observed that there had been no activity on the account for a long time and I suppose figured I was dead or out of the country. This guy took my card info, created a card, and I presume self-authorized a reset of PIN and went to town. You would think that someone who works in a bank would know that it would leave a paper trail and that there are cameras on bank machines. But it turns out he was smart enough to cheat and dumb enough to get caught.
So I got my money back and he's going to be prosecuted. Sorry, but I had to report it buddy.
I wonder if I'd have noticed if it had been only a bit at a time... You can fleece a sheep many times but slaughter it only once.
It's a good thing I didn't pay my taxes from that account. That could have become a sordid affair.
Lesson learned: if you have any accounts or credit cards that are not being used, close them before someone closes them for you.
Also: it's sometimes a good idea not to put all your eggs in one bank.
The thing that was irking me before feels like the latest installment of random weekly ordeals. On the day I saw my monthly bank statement for one of my accounts, I also received a phone message from the bank. It wasn't too hard to narrow what they wanted down to a few possibilities based on the statement because,
1 - There was no money in the account and
2 - The person who removed it all from my account happened not to be me.
That's right, all of it. Which left me wondering how someone could make cash withdrawals on a card that I'd never used and for which I honestly couldn't even remember the PIN myself, let alone give it to someone.
Naturally I gave the bank a call first thing in the morning. Turns out they wanted to inform me that I was in overdraft and that I should deposit more money. Cheeky from where I was sitting. This prompted an interesting line of questions.
Rue: Are you sure you didn't rather want to ask me about why it is I'm in overdraft?
Banker: What do you mean?
Rue: Have you looked at my transaction record.
Banker: Uh hang on let me pull it up... uh yes, I did see that you made eleven five hundred dollar cash withdrawals at an ATM one week.
Rue: Was there some point at which you thought that might be a bit... suspicious?
Banker: (replying airily) No I just figured you needed the money!
Rue: What kind of operation are you guys running over there?
Banker: Are you saying you didn't make these withdrawals?
Rue: Yes I am.
Banker: Well, don't you check your balance more often?
Rue: Pardon me? Are you implying that it's my fault for not checking daily?
I had a pretty good idea how it happened and in the end it turned out that I was correct. Some banker observed that there had been no activity on the account for a long time and I suppose figured I was dead or out of the country. This guy took my card info, created a card, and I presume self-authorized a reset of PIN and went to town. You would think that someone who works in a bank would know that it would leave a paper trail and that there are cameras on bank machines. But it turns out he was smart enough to cheat and dumb enough to get caught.
So I got my money back and he's going to be prosecuted. Sorry, but I had to report it buddy.
I wonder if I'd have noticed if it had been only a bit at a time... You can fleece a sheep many times but slaughter it only once.
It's a good thing I didn't pay my taxes from that account. That could have become a sordid affair.
Lesson learned: if you have any accounts or credit cards that are not being used, close them before someone closes them for you.
Also: it's sometimes a good idea not to put all your eggs in one bank.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Why can't a woman...
Today was a bit jittery for some reason. I dropped my music all over the place right when the cameras were on me and then I kept getting the wrong words while trying not to laugh. There must have been some girl out there watching me.
They do that to me I realized at some point. I don't even have to like them and their presence turns me into a complete idiot. Like yesterday when I almost drove through a stop sign because there was a girl in the car. There wasn't anyone else around and it was an oddly placed sign, but still.
Professor Higgins knows solution to this problem - why can't a woman be more like a man?
They do that to me I realized at some point. I don't even have to like them and their presence turns me into a complete idiot. Like yesterday when I almost drove through a stop sign because there was a girl in the car. There wasn't anyone else around and it was an oddly placed sign, but still.
Professor Higgins knows solution to this problem - why can't a woman be more like a man?
Monday, May 7, 2007
Good news?
How about some good news? I think it's about time I shared some.
There's been some pretty crazy stuff going on in the family and I have been reluctant to share it publicly for various reasons. But it's already been made public now, so I feel at liberty to share it on a public forum.
The first day of spring brought with it some frightening possibilities, and by mid April, we knew it for certain. My 29 year old sister was diagnosed with grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma. Apparently the most aggressive form of breast cancer. And most prone to spread. It doesn't make sense that someone so young who had nursed four children recently could have developed this.
I was confused. I'm a guy, so I couldn't understand what all this was about. And concerned for my family and for hers - a mortgage, four young ones being home-schooled...
Great news so far, right?
Well compared to some other horror stories out there, things have gone very smoothly thus far. Family, church, old friends and community have come together to provide child care, food, and most importantly, prayer! She managed to get a relatively prompt appointment for surgery which ended up getting bumped up in April to a "can you come in tomorrow?"
Recovery from the surgery was painful and will leave nerve damage for about a year. The children had to be shipped out for a week and she had to spend a lot of time resting and worrying. Or maybe my brother in law was doing all of that for her. She still cannot pick up any of the kids.
The tests came in this week and it looks like a good clean margin on the surgery - good news! Also the tests have come back and have shown that there is no trace of cancer having spread to any of the lymph nodes - amazing news!
Regardless of the good results, chemo and maybe radiation will have to be performed. That will be a pretty tough six months.
I have been very unreachable lately what with trying to be everywhere at once, and I think this is me now feeling pretty tired. For those who knew, thanks for your continued prayers and support. They have been felt. God is good, though I don't deserve His goodness. For those who didn't know - well now you do.
I suppose we're going to get used to all this sooner or later. My oldest brother was my age when he survived brain cancer. So I guess you can say we're pretty fortunate in our misfortune.
There's been some pretty crazy stuff going on in the family and I have been reluctant to share it publicly for various reasons. But it's already been made public now, so I feel at liberty to share it on a public forum.
The first day of spring brought with it some frightening possibilities, and by mid April, we knew it for certain. My 29 year old sister was diagnosed with grade 3 invasive ductal carcinoma. Apparently the most aggressive form of breast cancer. And most prone to spread. It doesn't make sense that someone so young who had nursed four children recently could have developed this.
I was confused. I'm a guy, so I couldn't understand what all this was about. And concerned for my family and for hers - a mortgage, four young ones being home-schooled...
Great news so far, right?
Well compared to some other horror stories out there, things have gone very smoothly thus far. Family, church, old friends and community have come together to provide child care, food, and most importantly, prayer! She managed to get a relatively prompt appointment for surgery which ended up getting bumped up in April to a "can you come in tomorrow?"
Recovery from the surgery was painful and will leave nerve damage for about a year. The children had to be shipped out for a week and she had to spend a lot of time resting and worrying. Or maybe my brother in law was doing all of that for her. She still cannot pick up any of the kids.
The tests came in this week and it looks like a good clean margin on the surgery - good news! Also the tests have come back and have shown that there is no trace of cancer having spread to any of the lymph nodes - amazing news!
Regardless of the good results, chemo and maybe radiation will have to be performed. That will be a pretty tough six months.
I have been very unreachable lately what with trying to be everywhere at once, and I think this is me now feeling pretty tired. For those who knew, thanks for your continued prayers and support. They have been felt. God is good, though I don't deserve His goodness. For those who didn't know - well now you do.
I suppose we're going to get used to all this sooner or later. My oldest brother was my age when he survived brain cancer. So I guess you can say we're pretty fortunate in our misfortune.
Un/believable
I'm really irked right now. Seriously. It's always something around here. I suppose if I didn't have the perspective that I do, I would probably be classified as murderous right now.
Perspective or no, I feel totally defiled and shafted. I'm already expecting that I'll be leaving work early tomorrow to try and cool down following what I imagine could end up an explosive telephone conversation. I can't give details since it hasn't been closed yet, but I can say I'm pretty annoyed right now. But I guess I already mentioned that.
I'm a pretty easy-going kind of guy - I think - but this is unacceptable. Is there anyone honest out there? I'd sure like to meet you.
Perspective or no, I feel totally defiled and shafted. I'm already expecting that I'll be leaving work early tomorrow to try and cool down following what I imagine could end up an explosive telephone conversation. I can't give details since it hasn't been closed yet, but I can say I'm pretty annoyed right now. But I guess I already mentioned that.
I'm a pretty easy-going kind of guy - I think - but this is unacceptable. Is there anyone honest out there? I'd sure like to meet you.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
About a girl
This post is dedicated to a very special girl. An adorable girl who I can't help but love. Hannah is one year old and the only niece I have. In fact, the way things are going, the only niece I'll ever have.
A special girl with a special name. Not only is Hannah's name a palindrome which is totally cool, but it's also special because it rhymes with banana. Hannah Banana is such a fitting name because she is such an adorable little monkey. Always getting into mischief but nothing too bad yet. Yet. Probably next year, I'll have to look back at this to remember how much of a joy she had been.
I can't get over how thick her skin is. You can discipline her and she'll cry for ten seconds, and then that smile is right back. She can fall off the furniture - because she's not as good of a monkey as she seems to think - and she'll howl for a moment, then get right back up there. She makes her older bothers look like a bunch of wimps. In fact, she already beats on her two year old brother. I'm afraid she's going to make some poor boy very VERY sorry one day for the rest of his life. Already I can see features of my sister coming through. She's going to be a bossy one :P
She also gives the best hugs ever. Real hugs, nestling her head against you without squirming and fidgeting with everything within arms reach. And not clinging on for dear life. So trusting. You can almost drop her and she wouldn't be concerned. You can toss her around and she'd think that's the greatest thing.
In those moments I sometimes pause in regret that I will probably never know the joy of watching a child of my own grow up and develop her own personality. But then I look at the four rascals (aged 5, 4, 2, and 1) when they are all together and I renew my appreciation for the peace I have at my home.
A special girl with a special name. Not only is Hannah's name a palindrome which is totally cool, but it's also special because it rhymes with banana. Hannah Banana is such a fitting name because she is such an adorable little monkey. Always getting into mischief but nothing too bad yet. Yet. Probably next year, I'll have to look back at this to remember how much of a joy she had been.
I can't get over how thick her skin is. You can discipline her and she'll cry for ten seconds, and then that smile is right back. She can fall off the furniture - because she's not as good of a monkey as she seems to think - and she'll howl for a moment, then get right back up there. She makes her older bothers look like a bunch of wimps. In fact, she already beats on her two year old brother. I'm afraid she's going to make some poor boy very VERY sorry one day for the rest of his life. Already I can see features of my sister coming through. She's going to be a bossy one :P
She also gives the best hugs ever. Real hugs, nestling her head against you without squirming and fidgeting with everything within arms reach. And not clinging on for dear life. So trusting. You can almost drop her and she wouldn't be concerned. You can toss her around and she'd think that's the greatest thing.
In those moments I sometimes pause in regret that I will probably never know the joy of watching a child of my own grow up and develop her own personality. But then I look at the four rascals (aged 5, 4, 2, and 1) when they are all together and I renew my appreciation for the peace I have at my home.
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