Warmer and grey.

It snowed last night and I’m not looking forward to shoveling duty. At least it’s not too bad or crazy cold outside today. Hopefully it stays that way so I can get the walkway cleared in the afternoon/evening. I suspect we won’t be seeing clear skys at all today.

The Best Canadian Blog category is open on the Bloggies [2008 weblog awards].  I’ve already voted but it was a hard choice. I read three of the nominees frequently – Dust My Broom [home of MOT & Friday night blues and beer], The Torch [home of the Canadian Heroes blogroll], and Redneck Mommy [home of a hilarious and heartwarming woman].

I can’t tell you who to vote for but if it wasn’t one of these three, may terrify’n space monkeys attack you and all your loved ones.  For safety reasons I’m not divulging where my vote went.  I highly recommend you click the pretty link and go vote!

Now, outside of the Cdn blogger category I have no problems telling you who to vote for –

• Best Celebrity blogger is hands down Wil Wheaton.  His blog is at times hilarious, heartwarming, and always a good source of geekery.  Read. Follow.  Now.
• Best Comic Strip = xkcd but only because the magnificent home of the Fancy Bastards, HijiNKS Ensue wasn’t on the final list of nominees.
• Since The Torch didn’t make it as a finalist in this category, the Best Military blog award should go to Blackfive. Michael Yon deserves an honourable mention for his coverage of his time in Afghanistan. I’m uncertain if he really fits in this category because his writing covers so much more than just military matters.

There are a tonne of other categories to explore and vote in. I have no opinion on most of them because either 1) the blogs I read in those categories weren’t on the list to vote for (i.e. Education), 2) I don’t read blogs in those categories, or 3) I couldn’t make up my mind (i.e. Technology).

Polls close Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), which is 5:00 p.m. (EST) and 2:00 p.m. (PST).

It’s a few days into the new year and I’m already suffering from blogging gaps. This is why I’d never be as crazy dedicated as Dawn was and sign up for the 365 days of blogging. Just wouldn’t happen in this household. Although since I started blogging part-time from my iPhone I have noticed that I’m blogging more frequently.

On Friday I was back at mcpyper’s place for another screening of Breakout of the Masala Kid. This, of course, was required because someone who shall remain nameless Loxley didn’t appear on Thursday night for the original screening. We traipsed to Montana’s for dinner and embarrassed the teenager (mcpyper’s son) for the duration. Poor schmuck was under the delusion that four adults would act maturely in public!

Saturday saw me drive half-way across the city in order to see my “niece” and “nephew” from Winnipeg.  They were up visiting their dad in Calgary and were in Edmonton to catch the train back home. Once again I was out for dinner. I’m seeing a trend here.  If I’m not being fed by my friends and neighbours, strangers are cooking my meals. Perhaps I should start eating something other than soup and sandwhiches when Drew’s gone and I’m at home. I just don’t see the point in cooking for one. Then again, I did have soup and salad for dinner last night. Even at restaurants I’m apparently stuck in a mini-rut.  After dinner I took some video of the kids and their messages for Drew. Today I’ll convert them so he can watch them on his laptop and burn them to disk with my horrific home movie/messages.

This morning I met the kid’s dad and step-mom for breakfast before heading out grocery shopping. I needed some more soup and luncheon meat you see. And gas. And I finally broke down and filled my prescription for my epi-pen. Since I’m allergic to peanuts and my previous epi-pen is expired I had to buy a new one. It’s my least favourite prescription to fill.  They’ve risen another 10$ in price this year and aren’t covered by my health insurance.  It’s not the cost that bothers me so much as the waste. I’ve been lucky and haven’t needed to use one in years. However, since the epi-pens expire after a year, the old ones have to be thrown out and replaced by a new one.  We’ve probably trashed (well, returned to the pharmacy) hundreds of $$ over the years. Of course, the minute I don’t have one on me will be the day I end up accidentally injesting something peanut related. As I twittered earlier today, I’d hate to see the day when my life depends on whether or not I can afford to pay for the epi-pen. I suspect I’ll be going hungry for a while if that ever happens.

Drew is calling this evening.  Yippee!  I’m trying to contain my glee by making bad home movies to send to him in the next package. When I’m tired of that I’ll go back to finishing my pre-reading for the Psych class that starts Monday. I was hoping to get through at least half of the readings during my time off, but only managed to get through 1/8th of them. Not good.  I spent too much time away from the house this holiday season. I have a horrible feeling that I might fall behind if I can’t finish at least two more chapters this evening. Perhaps it’s not too late to put in for some vacation.

As much as I want to see my co-workers again, I’m dreading going back to work tomorrow. The dogs will likely tear the house apart while I’m gone and I’m not looking forward to coming home to a mess every day until they settle back down into the “mom’s gotta work” routine. Usually they’re pretty decent on work days and only act out on weekends but after this much time at home, I’m sure they’ll misbehave for a day or two.

Mr Orange Toque has been in Afghanistan for a few weeks now and has been hard at work since he hit the ground.

His day typically starts long before the sun rises with an early morning trip to Timmies (4:30 am on this particular day).

Sentry duty is a shared responsibility.

After a hard days work, MOT finally manages to head to his rack and get some sleep.  After the long days (and nights) on sentry duty, he often passes out from sheer exhaustion.

Cp at Dust My Broom

Thankfully I do not have a broken knuckle or damage to other bones in my hand. According the the doctor who poked and prodded my hand while I grimaced and screeched like a bean sidhe, I have a soft tissue injury. This appears to be doctor speak for “we have no clue what’s wrong but you’re obviously in a lot of pain and there’s a large amount of unexplained swelling in the affected area.”

I should be fine in a few days with the help of an anti-inflammatory medication. I was warned that if the swollen area turns bright red, throws off heat, and swells more that I’ll need to get my butt back to see the doctor as it’s possible I have some sort of infection. The doctor didn’t think this was likely though.

I’m just happy to know that it’s not a repetitive strain injury from typing. My iPhone has been ruled out as the source of the problem. *whew*

While holding the doctor captive I also got an adjustment made to my sleeping pills. I really don’t like the ones I was originally prescribed. They knock me on my ass for a long period of time and I don’t like how they make me feel. They do work but I find they work far too well. I need a good 24 hour period to ensure the drug is out of my system so I can drive (or think) again. I dislike the way they make me feel so much that I tend to suffer through long bouts of insomnia rather than take the pills. The new drug is supposed to be much milder and non-habit forming. Hopefully I’ll have better reactions to them and won’t be so afraid to take them.

Double bonus – no ear infection. Hey, if I’m going to make the trek to a medicentre I’m going to get my tax dollars worth and ask all my medical questions in one sitting.

mcpyper played an important role in today’s trip to the medicentre. Shortly after I figured out how to dress myself she arrived at my doorstep to play chauffeur. She kept me company throughout the wait to see a doctor before kidnapping me and bringing me home for dinner and to watch a local short Bollywood style film – Breakout of the Masala kid. Her husband helped with some of the prop work in the film’s production and the family got to watch the filming. While not up to Mumbai standards of film making it’s a cute and upbeat little story and we laughed quite a bit while watching it.

2009 started out filled with pain but is morphing into a much better time. Here’s to constant improvement throughout the year.