I Love Irony

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - A heavy foot on the gas pedal has cost B.C.'s Solicitor General his driver's license. John van Dongen has stepped away from his responsibilities for ICBC and the Superintendent of Motor Vehicles, after being advised his license has been suspended due to a large number of speeding tickets... Read the rest here.

Picky, Picky, Picky

The regular hockey season is behind us and so is my work's regular season hockey pool. I unfortunately was unable to defend my title. I was first at the mid-season point, but ended up in third overall; meaning I walked away with $50 instead of $200. But I shouldn't be too disappointed - my co-workers are definitely impressed with my top 3 finish two years in a row.

At the mid-way point we were allowed to change up our players. So I switched Avery for Burrows - good move; and Eric Staal for Getzlaf - good move at the time, but didn't pan out so well overall. Also, a late season injury to Kaberle didn't help much either.

But now we are into the post-season, and a whole new pool has begun and I have never been in a playoff pool before. On Tuesday night Colin and I went out for late-night all you can eat sushi and a little post-season strategizing.

First, you have to pick one winner from each playoff group. Some we were a no-brainer: Boston over Montreal. Some were really, really tough decisions: Carolina over New Jersey. And some where based on a very strong feeling: Anaheim over San Jose. The rest of my picks are: Detroit, Vancouver, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Washington.

After choosing your winners, you assign a number to each bracket based on your confidence in their winning. You can only use each number once. So I assigned a really high number to Boston, a really low number to Carolina, and I won't bore you with the rest.

Wish me luck.

And Go Canucks Go!

House Hunting Headaches

Colin and I went to see some open houses last weekend. Now before you get all excited, we aren't quite ready to buy yet. Probably later this year, or early next year, but we want to see what's out there.

I can tell you that by the end of the day I was feeling discouraged and stressed. The first couple of homes we went into I felt awkward, but that feeling disappeared as the day progressed and we attended more open houses. The other thing that put me off were the Real Estate agents. Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a low tolerance level for sales people. If you want to tell the me the roof is new, or the hot water heater is new, that's fine, but don't tell me the bathroom or kitchen was just redone. I'm not blind. And I didn't see anything that really stood out, that said this is 'our' home.

Once I spent some time thinking about what we saw, however, I started to feel a bit better. We now know it is not worth seeing homes below a certain square footage, or that we don't need something newly renovated, but we are also not prepared to put money into fixing up a dump either. So those were some good lessons learned. Hopefully next time won't be so overwhelming.

There's Always a Story

I came home from work yesterday hoping to find the kitchen faucet fixed. When I first glanced into the kitchen it looked like nothing had been done at all. No dishes had been moved; the blue bucket was sitting where I left it; and the tap hadn't been changed.

I assumed someone had been in the apartment though, because Welly was curled up on the chair and didn't get up to greet me. He can be a lazy bugger at the best of times, but he usually says hello when I come home.

I then went into the bathroom to find a roll of paper towels that didn't belong to us, and everything removed from the sink. Are you kidding me!? Did those hose heads get it wrong!? And even if they did think it was the bathroom sink, wouldn't they have realised there was nothing wrong with it?

So I called Colin and told him they 'fixed' the wrong damn faucet. But I decided to go into the kitchen for a closer inspection. I then noticed the small, white bucket that had been catching the drips, was now inside the big, blue bucket. And the dishcloth wrapped around the faucet had been removed. They didn't change the faucet, but they did fix it... and I still have a pile of dishes to do.

Later that evening, I blacked out...

I came home from dance class, and bent down to take off my shoes and put down my bags. Next thing I know, I was standing up, all dizzy, and fell forward and hit my head on a cabinet in the front hall. I don't remember standing up.

Colin thinks I probably stood up to fast, and that's why I felt dizzy and lost my balance. And the memory loss? Hitting your head can cause temporary amnesia. The cure: lie down on the couch, watch one crazy ass hockey game, and get the husband to wait on you hand and foot.

I still felt a little out of sorts this morning. And then my worst case scenario personality kicked in, and I started thinking about Natasha Richardson; but then I started to think about all the hockey players who have walloped their heads, and felt a bit better. As long as I don't end up like Eric Lindros...

Leaky Faucets

Our kitchen sink is leaking. Again. We just had the tap replaced about a month ago. At least I think it was about a month ago. I seem to be having a problem with time perception lately.

It got to the point where I could no longer do dishes. The towel and bucket under the sink weren't cutting it anymore. It's Colin's job to deal with our landlord and fix-it things. He told her the kitchen tap was leaking, but failed to tell her how urgent a matter it was. She didn't realize this till I was talking with her yesterday - so hopefully some one is in today to fix the leaky tap.

I couldn't handle all the dirty dishes anymore though, so I started doing them again last night. I was down to my last plate, last glass, and last straw. Doing them was worth the risk of flooding the kitchen, which didn't happen, thank God.

It's a great apartment, but after nearly six years, is starting to wear thin. The slide in the real estate market has come at a good time...