the screaming pages

In the past few years, I’ve spent a number of Turkey days in foreign countries.  US. India. Philippines.  None of them celebrate Canadian Turkey day.  I did eat a chicken dinner when I spent Turkey day in Tucson, AZ years back.  No idea what I ate in any of the other cities.  Although, when it comes to Memphis, Bangalore and Manila, I can guess.  I was often eating the same thing…

Usually, when we’re both at home, Drew and I have a small Thanksgiving meal and save everything for the “morning after” leftover feast. Since Drew is away and I’d never cook a turkey for one, tonight I’m heading across the alley for a community Thanksgiving dinner.  J and S have been slaving over hot turkeys all day.  The rest of us had out own assignments.  Buns.  Veggies.  Salads.  Wine.  Pie.

Families.  Singles.  Adults.  Kids.  And me.  I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful evening together.

Hope your Turkey day is just as special as mine is about to be.  Have a wonderful evening everyone.

I know.  I was supposed to be home, locked in the basement, studying today. I promise to study tomorrow.  I don’t have much choice since my weekly assignment is due early Monday morning.  Procrastination can only carry me so far before the guilt kicks in and I buckle down.

In my defence, my awesome neighbours don’t have a vehicle of their very own.  They do most of their shopping in small increments to ensure they can always carry it home by hand.  Sometimes they need access to a vehicle.  Especially when trying to bring larger items home. They do so much awesome stuff for us that I always check and see if they need a chauffeur whenever I’m heading out on non work related activities.

This afternoon I noted a distinct lack of edible items in my fridge and did my neighbourly duty.  I called J to determine if she needed to go shopping and wanted to join me while I went out to gather fruits, vegetables and beer.  As luck would have it she needed an escape route from her afternoon with L and some groceries. Off to Costco we went.

Millions of dollars and side trips to Walmart (my fault, I needed new jeans) and the beer store later we were homeward bound.  I don’t really enjoy shopping.  If I have to go out I want to get everything at once.  On the bright side my fridge and cupboards are loaded with foodstuffs, I have new jeans and a few new blouses, and there’s a case of beer in the fridge and a CD full of blues in my iPod.  I have the first season of Chuck ready to load into my DVD player and copies of Greg Mortenson’s Three cups of Tea and the latest novel by Ian Rankin my bedside.  Yes.  Like any good child of Scottish immigrants I too am addicted to Inspector Rebus’ antics.

I’ve done my part for the Canadian economy today.  Now I’m off to study.  Yeah.  That’s it.  Study.

Have a great evening everyone.

Instead of heading to my neighbours to borrow their BBQ on Friday I ended up catching up on some much needed sleep.  Good intentions and all that.  It was early when I wrote my post and no one was home yet.  So I decided to take a nice little nap while I was waiting.  I ended up sleeping until Saturday morning with a small interruption to tell Loxley that I would not be attending karaoke – too busy sleeping!

Why is this sleeping commentary important?  Because I didn’t manage to let my neighbour know about the over-sized garbage can complaint I’d received in the mail.  When I woke up on Saturday I crossed over to L and J’s for a visit and noticed that R’s gigantic garbage can on wheels was gone and in it’s place was one the same size as what we use.  I figured someone in the neighbourhood must have read my blog and passed on the message.  When I commented on the new can to R, he noted that during the night someone had “stolen” his brand new garbage can and replaced it with this little one.  Since the city package I was provided indicated a sticker was supposed to be placed on a can for replacement – and R definitely hadn’t placed a sticker on his can – he has no idea who made of with his garbage can.  Or why.  I suspect an overzealous garbage collector.  I could be wrong.

However, someone else making off with a garbage can is likely to leave a brand new can as a replacement.

R was semi annoyed about his loss of garbage can.  He had just recently purchased it with the  intend to use it in the backyard as a place to gather his cans and bottles.  A giant tan coloured blue bin if you will.  Someone, either his wife or son, accidentally put the can and it’s collection of recyclables out for garbage collection on Friday.

While makes us all wonder about the content of the written complaint.  It specified that the oversize can was too heavy to lift.  But if the garbage can was filled with beer cans the contents would not have been heavy.

Obviously, we don’t have enough excitement in the back alley of late.  I haven’t been mistaken for a fleeing suspect – despite the cops having watched me walk DOWN the alley in their direction and Drew hasn’t tackled a knife-wielding teen lately.  Suspected theft of garbage can is all we’re left with…

This I know despite not putting out the trash.  And how do I know this?  Well, I got a nice little notice in the mail informing me that my (a) garbage can is too big, (b) the contents weighed too much, (c) I was in violation of bylaw number something or other and (d) I could get a new smaller can from the city for free if I stuck a sticker on the can when I put it out next garbage day.

Here again I remind you that I, organized woman that I am, completely forgot that it was garbage day today and didn’t put the trash out last night.  The cans are in exactly the same location and state as they were when I dropped Drew off at the airport on Monday.  What can I say?  When you’re eating sandwiches and all the leftovers in your fridge you don’t accumulate much in the way of garbage.

Guess I need to trott over to the neighbours house to let him know he needs to lighten his load – or expand to using two small cans instead of one gianormous one.  He often puts his cans beside ours because the garbage collectors often don’t see his cans when he places them on his side of the fence.  They tend to come a-collecting an hour or so before he and his crew leave for work and his cans are hidden behind his work truck.  It was bound to happen.  His can dwarfs ours.

Something will need to be done or I’ll likely get yet another reminder in the mail.  After XX number of reminders, the news claims the collectors won’t take the garbage away anymore.  Not good.  Granted, when I called the city hot-line, they didn’t know what the magical XX of warnings was before your house is put on the naughty list.  Never a good sign when the bureaucrats don’t know what they’re doing.

Joy –

It seems like we’ve been getting calls from every telemarketer on the planet for the past few months and I, for one, am thrilled that Canada finally has it’s own DNC list.  I’m tired of calls from people trying to sell me something at 9 and 10 o’clock at night.  I’m tired of the calls that start at 8am and don’t end until late in the evening.  No, I don’t want a new credit card.  No, I don’t want my non-existent carpets cleaned. No. No. No.

Despite their earlier success nearly overwhelming the registration site, I’m happy to report that our numbers are now registered with the Do Not Call list.  Sure we still have to wait the 31 days for it to kick in and deal with the exempted businesses but I can live with that.  Light at the end of the tunnel.

Pain –

Brunswick News is reprinting Dad’s memoriam tomorrow. Better late than never I guess…

Sunshine –

I’m on track for finishing my Psych paper by Friday and have managed to connect with a tonne of old friends this week.  Who are these old friends you ask?  Long ago when the earth was green I used to haven.  Think IRC on a geekier scale.  Many of us traveled throughout the continent (and across the pond) to meet face to face.  We had weddings, conventions, late night parties, Denny’s runs, and trips to the Waffle House.  As sometimes happens when you grow up and move through life I lost track of a large number of fellow haveners over the past decade. Through the magic of Facebook (laying it on thick, I know), I’d landed back in touch with a few haven buddies last year.  After a wild evening of tagging and commenting on old party pictures late last week, I succumbed to the evil whispering of others (Munchie) and created a Facebook group for Haveners.  We’re 80+ strong and the story swapping has been a hoot.  Catching up with old friends and reconnecting with acquaintences has made for a fun few days tripping down memory lane.

Our social director is working on a meet and greet on the west coast.  Havens are becoming populated again and I’m tweeting like crazy since I bowed to the pressure (Diva Zaf!) and registered for an account.

Not to be outdone, this morning Darcey announced Buddy Guy’s upcoming concert over at the Broom.  If you’re a broomer you can get your tickets early.  I’ve got 3rd row seats.  Darcey managed to scrounge seats in the first row.  Yes.  That is jealousy you’re reading.

Rain –

Twitter and havening make procrastination far too easy.  I really need to focus to ensure I continue to stay on track in all my courses.