Below are the 4 most recent journal entries recorded in fionamm's InsaneJournal:

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008
2:19 pm	Double double I won't bore anyone (myself included) with the details, but I got on to this Wikipedia page today that described Canadian spelling. That lead me to a page on Canadian English, which also had a section on "Canadianisms" -- one of which is apparently a "double double". Tim Hortons (the Canadian doughnut chain) has long had these 'heartwarming' and 'down to earth' commericials on tv showing people engaging in all sorts of typically Canadian activities like playing hockey or curling and stuff like that. When I'm in the right mood, I don't mind them, but oftentimes they are way too schmalty and definitely worthy of a good eyeroll. Anyway, these commercials often depict a scenario in which someone orders a "double-double." I have long wondered what the hell a double double was. I has even come up a time or two with friends. One night I was out for a birthday dinner with a group of friends and somehow or other we ended up talking about "Timmies" as many eastern Canadians affectionately refer to TH and we were grumbling about it in the way we typically express our feelings of being politcally and culturally alienated out here in the west. We don't bash Tim Hortons or anything. They are great places when one is on a road trip as they always have very clean bathrooms and there is often one close to a highway. We may not bash them, but as Vancouverites, we just don't "get" Tim Hortons. In the last few years THs have been popping up all over the place in the Lower Mainland, but I think they were late getting here and with Seattle being so close we sort of got taken over by Starbucks more so than Tim Hortons. Anyway, that night at dinner we all sat around the table scratching our heads and trying to work out what the hell this "double double" is that keeps getting featured in the commercials. Mystery solved!!! According to Wikipedia...a "double double" is a coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars. See...I guess that makes sense. TH is one of the only places I know that serves coffee where there's no "self serve" cream and sugar stand. But here's the thing--can the "double double" really be a Canadianism if a group of 6 Canadians couldn't figure out what the hell it was? (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 6th, 2008
5:02 pm	Doggy sitting and blather (x posted). Doggy sitting is going fairly well. I've mostly settled into this place now and Kallie the canine and I are getting along fine. It's a little weird having to be aware of another animal's waste evacuation habits, but I'm learning to deal. The wireless router here is starting to drive me a bit batty. Although I'm really not that far from the router, I often have to move down the hall before I can get enough of a signal to even check email or quickly send something. Oh well, it'll make me appreciate my good wireless access at home all the more. ( Read more... ) The only thing that is driving me a little batty is the number of clocks at this place. They are everywhere! There's even a radio alarm clock on the back of the stove console. There must be a watch in a drawer somewhere that beeps on the hour and there are several ticking clocks that tick out of sync. I think I'm going to have to take the batteries out of a couple and then just remember to put them back before Kallie's parents get home. They tend to keep all the blinds closed in this place. I've taken to opening them but the view is simply of someone else's windows. I don't really care that much about the view, but the light levels are important to me. I ended up taking a very long and drawn out tour through Costco yesterday. My friend Winona phoned from the Skytrain and since this place is only a couple of stops past her stop and a couple of blocks away from the station, she decided to pop over and see the dog and then somehow we decided to pack up the dog and go out and then somehow we ended up at Costco. Win no longer has a membership and she's been hinting for a while that she wanted a trip. We went up and down every single aisle I think, and I'm pretty sure we looked at almost every item that was for sale. Well, except for the hockey sticks, car tires, and hot tubs. We both ended buying too much including a bottle each of what are supposed fat burning green tea gel caps. We'll see. Can't hurt. Melanie and I had made plans via our Facebook walls to get together, and since Win was with me she joined us. We made greek salad, chicken strips, and oven fries here at the puppie's house and watched some fun episodes of Stargate SG1. I got Mel hooked first and then managed to get Win hooked as well. I'm now getting into Battlestar Galactica. I'd seen the odd episode here and there over the seasons, but I could never get invested. With the impending strike and the prospect of no tv for a while I've borrowed season 1 and season 2 and I mowed my way through about 8 episodes in 3 days between Christmas and New Year. I still like Stargate better--probably because it's lighter fare--but I am definitely enjoying Battlestar. I think The 4400 will be next. Again, I've seen a few episodes here and there, but appointment tv and have issues. I much prefer watching when it suits me. I've been checking out gyms in the area of late. I used to have a Fitness World membership and loved using the gym nearest to my old apartment. One of the reasons I bought the condo I did was because there was a Fitness World nearby. Only this one sucks. It's situated badly where it's easy to get into, but a nightmare to get out of. What's worse, the women's only weights section is tiny, cramped, and you often have to walk through an aerobics class to get to it. I went about 3 times to that location and then stopped. After paying for a membership for a couple of years without using it, I gave it up entirely. It was the right decision. I wasn't going to go to that location, but it kind of bugs me that I had just managed to work my way down to only paying $15/month. But lately I've been craving the weight training. I hate doing cardio in the gym. Fiona and treadmills are simply not a good combination--when I'm not turning small objects like water bottles and disc players into projectile missiles by dropping them on rotating surface, I occasionally inexplicably stop moving while the treadmill is still going and send myself shooting out the back. I'm better on stair machines and those other ones that simulate cross country skiing, but I'd much rather get my cardio out of doors (even in the rain). But I really need to lose weight and the way I do that best is when I get my metabolism cranked up and I build up lots of nice lean muscle. I have several times now seen the ads for the "total gym" with Chuck Norris and friends. If I could actually figure out how much the damned thing would be, I might consider it. All the commercial and website say is that it's $39 to try it for one month. Uh huh, and how much after that? Oh well. I think I need another trip home yet before I will...crap! I have library books due tomorrow! Hmm. Must figure that out. I wish everyone a good start to their week. Current Mood: okay Current Music: The tick tock of many clocks. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, January 4th, 2008
1:48 am	Yum! I fell asleep fully clothed, face down, on top of my bed. One minute it was 10pm and I was petting the cat and the next it was 1:30, the cat was no where to be seen and I was freezing cold. Now I'm wide awake! So I thought I would quickly post about the absolutely SCRUPTOUS dinner I had tonight. My friend Seanna and I have been trying to make plans to get together for weeks now. We finally decided to just get together and go out for dinner. We picked this new place called the Pear Tree. We didn't know exactly how expensive the place was, and we had a moment at the door where we looked at one another and thought about high tailing it out of there. The hostess was a little haughty and sort of treated us like we were in the wrong place at first. She made us peruse the menu before she would seat us (I'm sure it was so that we could see what the prices were). Apparently our jeans and nylon jackets didn't quite scream "we can afford shishi food". I was fine with going some place else, but Seanna thought we should stay just to prove that appearances can be deceiving. I'm glad we did. We decided since we were there, we might as well go whole hog...drinks, salads, entrees, and dessert. It's one of those places where everything is delicately and artfully placed on the plate. I had a thoroughly wonderful time and left feeling sated and happy. Every bite was wonderful. Well, actually, the dessert wasn't amazing, but the rest of the meal was so damned tasty that I'd still give the whole dinner an A+. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008
3:20 pm	Going journal crazy (X posted) Whew! Okay. So like some people I know I now have an LJ, a GJ, and now a spanky new IJ. And I'm not quite sure why exactly, because I don't seem post all that much anymore. I think maybe I feel something akin to a resolution coming on. Yup. Feels kinda feels that way. Here goes...I'm going to attempt to A) keep in better contact with my friends--both near and far. B) post more often in my journal(s). I seem to remember that blogging was rather cathartic and also helped me to organize my thoughts and so forth. My pals on LJ may also notice that my username has changed! I didn't feel like a whole new Fiona. So...I'm happier with Fionamm. I don't know why, but I somehow fee strangely accomplished. I was supposed to be sourcing artifacts for a socials 11 curriculum project this afternoon, but instead I found myself journal tampering. Oh well. I'm not officially back to work until next week. Although, being sick and then sicker and then so sick I needed two antibiotic prescriptions and a whack of painkillers has really put me so far behind. I'm down to 2 official jobs right now. But I still owe hours to one prof from about a year ago. Ever wish life had a reset button? I really wish that when the calendar clicked over to a new year that it meant a clean slate. It really doesn't. I know it's a case of just needing to keep plugging away until the monumental pile is down to a miniscule pile, but that sounds so much easier than it really is! OK. My nylon & fleece jacket may be in the dryer, but it's not raining and I have another resolution to try to adhere to...walking every day. So...since I have accomplished almost nothing, I figure I might as well at least go out and (Comment on this)