Review: Wrestlemania XXVI

Went to see it at WEM with D.  It was $30/ticket!  Sheesh, if we had cable, we coulda ordered it, and it'd be about the same. But at least the crowd was pretty good.  Not too many marks in our section.  Had sushi as usual, but my guts were acting up.  Didn't have to do an emergency run to the washroom, thankfully.  The WWE site doesn't list the matches in order, but here goes from memory:

Battle Royale
This was before the broadcast started.  It's great that Yoshi won, so his star should be rising.  They showed a clip, and it looked kinda interesting.  Findley, Regal and some people from ECW were there.  But Hornswoggle was there too, so it wasn't entirely serious.

Singer for their anthem really butchered it.  Ouch.  Was cool to have the jets do a fly by though.  They used the open roofed stadium well.  And the set design was pretty cool too, especially the circular screen in the middle that went up and down. 


Show Miz vs. Morrison and R-Truth

It's kinda sad how low the tag titles have gone.  They used to be a big deal, but now it's the warm-up match.  And it was only about 10 minutes.  Waaay too short for 4 guys, but it was still pretty good.  R-Truth really costed them the match.

Orton vs. Rhodes vs. Dibiase
As expected, Rhodes and Dibiase started fighting against each other once it came down on who would pin Orton.  But it was hilarious when they were pummelling each other and then noticed that Orton was getting up.  Excellent example of 2 younglings getting trampled by the veteran.  Great match wrestled all around, with clear storytelling.


The run-up to the Divas match with Jillian singing, then turning into Mae Young, Mean Gene Okerlund and Melina, was a great promo.


Money in the Bank
10 guys are waaaay too many to have in the ring at the same time.  The guys had a lot of breaks outside the ring (so there'd be room to maneuver inside), but they earned it.  Some awesome moves from Bourne (as expected), Christian, Kofi, Shelton, and Matt.  Kane did pretty well too.  Dolph, Drew and Jack were much more tentative, and didn't use the ladders too much.  Kinda hilariously annoying when Jack had problems getting the clasp open.  Just really sucked that there was no one trying to climb in to stop him and all.  Wish Shelton would win, but it's obvious that they consider him a B/C-lister.  Extremely talented, but not enough charisma to carry a title.  Thought Christian might win.

Hall of Fame Inductees
Wish I coulda seen the ceremony, it looked pretty fun.  Looking at the WWE website, they have some clips, so I'll try and check those out when I have time.  Cool to see the Hart family there.  Mad Dog Vachon was so funny.  Glad to hear a good pop for Antonio Inoki.

HHH vs. Sheamus
A pretty good match, didn't see HHH carrying Sheamus too much.  Nice back and forth.  I mean, we all knew that HHH was going to win, but Sheamus did pretty well for the big stage.

Divas Match
Vickie's lost quite a bit of weight.  Wasn't spectacular wrestling-wise.  However it was pretty funny.  Amazing how Vickie's changed from the pitied widow to the vilified Cougar.  But really, there's a lotta talent there, and so under-utilized.  I loved that Kelly Kelly was pinned by Vickie, and then was rolled up too far so the count was broken.

Hart vs. McMahon
Ah, the ultimate screwjob.  Buying off the family.  Except making the classic mistake of paying upfront. It was satisfying to see Bret beat him up, although he used the crowbar a little too long, and it got a tad tedious.  Liked how he took a timeout in the middle.  Not sure what the implications for the Hart Dynasty are, but it was good to see everyone get their licks in.


Mysterio vs. CM Punk
Really, paying homage to Avatar?!  Why?  Anyways, a good match as well.  There were brief moments when I thought Mysterio might lose, but not too many.  I liked how CM Punk's trunk were a homage to GI Joe though.  Heh heh.  Go Cobra!


Jericho vs. Edge
Such a good match.  So many great moments when you thought either was going to win.  I hope Jericho's okay after that last spear.  Looked like both of them were broken, but Edge walked away.


Cena vs. Batista
The Marine rifle presentation was soooo cool. So nice to hear "can't wrestle" chants in the theatre.  Of course, they could've been directed to both of them.  However Batista did try to wrestle a bit.  Good match, with back and forth.  Quite a bit of anti-Cena crowd too, and it was hilarious when Cena won and posed with the "I hate Cena" T-shirt wearing fans in the front row.  Gotta like his sense of humour.

Undertaker vs. HBK
Very cool entrance by Taker.  Saw when Taker helped HBK by putting his leg on the bottom rope for HBK to stomp on.  I thought it was awfully early for Taker to walk the ropes, but when you see them in the corner, you know it was planned.  Did add a lovely tension to the match... if you didn't notice the planning.  The moonsault did look especially painful on Taker though, but HBK landed on his legs, and Taker had his left leg propped up...since he was expecting HBK to land on his torso.  So there might've been a legit injury there.  I did notice a lot of Taker's hands up when HBK super-kicked him. But it's all good.  And when HBK smacked Taker, similar to when HBK retired Flair, ahhh so good.

So there wren't any particularly weak matches.  They were all solid, some a little too short, but still very entertaining.  Had a lot of fun with screaming, and gasping.  And clapping and cheering.  Yeah, it was a great Wrestlemania.

Quiz: Are you a potato?

FullMetal Alchemist!

FMA rules, suckas!! XD
http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16310055/are-you-a-potato 

Oh, the perfect quiz to end the night.  It makes no sense, and is absurdly funny.  And NO spelling errors!

I've got to get these contacts out and go to bed.

Quiz: The Rules of Capitalization

AMAZING!!! You really payed attention. If you have a test coming up, you are bound to ace it.

You scored 100.00% of the possible points for this test.

http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/tests/16311013/the-rules-of-capitalization 

You know what would be even better?  If they'd spelled "payed"[sic]  correctly.  I've been up for over 18 hrs, and I can still spell "paid".  JFC. I took the quiz b/c it was different from the usual "How much do you know about -insert name of newest teeny bopper idol-?" quiz, but this is sadly funny.

Quiz: What kind of herb/spice are you?

You are lovely cinnamon!

Ahh, cinnamon. Probably the most popular and favored spice of people aged from four to forty! Cinnamon has a sweet and warm flavor that matches you perfectly! You must have lots of friends, and if you don't, go make some! Everyone will love you!

http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16186308/what-kind-of-herbspice-are-you

 Is this true?  Well I do like cinnamon in moderation, although most stuff on the market isn't really cinnamon, but instead it's cousin Cassia. (Thank you Good Eats!)  Anyways, I don't have that many friends, but I like to believe that I can get along w/ most people reasonably well.  At least for 5 minutes.

Quizzes

Just a note here.   Will people learn to use a dictionary!?  Or spellcheck?!!  Seriously?!  You can't spell brutally?  (they had broutaly[sic]).  I can tell that most quizzes on Quizilla are written by 12 yr olds, but JFC!!  Gawd, if there's a spelling mistake in a quiz, I can tell it's going to suck.  I have to read most of the quizzes out loud b/c there are so many homonyms and/or misspelled homonym attempts that I have no clue what the sentence (and that's putting it lightly) means.  I wanted to do another quiz, but it's hard to find a decent one.  And don't trust the ratings.  It's probably just them and their little friends jacking it up.

They've also changed how to post your results, and their Share It to Blogger doesn't seem to be working for me.  But their FAQ doesn't say anything on why or what settings I should have. Anyways, looks like I'll just have to copy and paste.

Quiz: What do your eyes say about you?

You are sweet!

If someone needs a favor or a helping hand, they can count on you to be there. Sure, you won't let people use you and walk all over you, but you are always glad to help people when you can. You have a very kind heart:)


http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/16310998/what-do-your-eyes-say-about-you 

Awwww, thanks!  I do tend to agree to helping people, and unfortunately have problems pushing stuff back.  I'll grumble where they can't hear, but still do it.  Waaaait, isn't that getting walked over?!

Friends vs. ...interesting work?

Last week, my old work place called me up and said that they were shorthanded and wondered if I'd like to come back to help them out. Well, considering that for over a year, I'd been having various degrees of wanting to go back or at least get the heck outta the workplace I was at, you'd think I'd jump at the chance. But I was at the crux where we'd just gotten in a new system that I was the Power User for. And considering that one of my work goals was to get more into systems, this meant a big dilemma.

I'd made one of those foot-in-mouth declarations when I was initally hired at the current job that I'd deploy back to the old one (this was when I was telling them about the new job), but being possessed with some ethics, I decided to try out the new/current job first. Since I thought it'd be really rude to immediately leave them when they'd gone thru the effort of offering me a job. So for the first 2 months, it wasn't so bad. But then I started to notice the stupidty and lack of basic ethics. I've discussed the extra lengthy breaks with managers and other advisors, and the basic advice is they can't/don't want to police it, and to ignore it if it doesn't affect my work. Except it does b/c I have to cover for them (literally when they go on those extra long lunches), or delay my work b/c they're not around to review it. Also I had nothing in common with the other people, and they couldn't understand any of my interests (they really had no ability to conceive of anything more imaginative than Jersey Shore). So it got to the point where I would get # marks whenever I saw them not-working...which was often. And, when I went to a conference that my old workmates were at also, I'd spent my entire time hanging out with them. But I knew they were fully staffed, and therefore there wasn't a chance for me to go back.

Since I'm basically unambitious unless I have to do something, I decided to make the best that I could of my situation. I tried to get involved with things that would get me in contact with people from other branches. And honestly, the work that I was doing was interesting. I'd seen animals at work, there were lunch hour learning sessions, and I dealt with science or enforcement people. Most of the clients really appreciated the effort and speedy turnaround that I put on their requests. And we'd just gotten a new system, so I was doing a fair bit of troubleshooting, and getting into a bit of a groove. Also since my current job had invested a fair bit in me, it felt a bit traitorous to just up and go.

So for almost 2 weeks, I'd been weighing everything and trying to find options. My director wasn't willing to let me go there temporarily, but might consider it if I was part-time at both places. However they wanted me full-time and didn't want to hire my friend for temporary help. So after a talk with an unbiased friend, who advised me that it's really the people who will make or break a job (which I suspected), I decided to go back. But for some strange reason, when I told my director, Compensation person, and supervisor, I got all weepy. I'm not really sure why (or why just recalling the incidents is getting me choked up), but I just did. But I did get a lot of advice from people during my wah-wah fits, such as while it's true that they invested in me, I'd also worked for them and produced really good results so it's even. And that change is always scary and difficult.

Anyways, the rest of the people don't know just yet, so I have to figure out how to announce it. I'm not good with being the center of attention, so I'm thinking that email would probably be best, although my director and supervisor has offered to announce it at our team meeting. Probably b/c they know I'm not good at these things, and it would be soooo embarrasing if I started bawling.

While I was still thinking about what to do, I'd had dreams of me working back there again, and it was a pleasant, happy dream. And like they say, it's usually in dreams where you resolve things. But I'm still uneasy. Yeah, it's just such a wierd feeling b/c I'm still having doubts and regrets. When I'd left my previous work places (there were 2 other times), I didn't have any regrets. Well, w/ Stupidstore it was that I wouldn't be able to play with the plush or see the new toys anymore. And actually w/ Conf*gys, it was that I wouldn't see some of my friends daily anymore. But it wasn't like I still wouldn't ever be able to play with plush or see new toys ever again. And I stay in touch w/ my friends thru FB. I think with this, it's b/c there really aren't any other depts that have animals in the workplace, or the proliferation of scientists, enforcement and relevancy to my interests (although working at the Space Agency would be cool). Being able to attend scientific presentations was fun, and kept my brain working. But at the old place, it's a lot more formal, hierarchial, and dressy. Won't be calling up a director and asking if he'd like me to bring up the letters for him to sign, or if he wants to come down to do it. It'll be all thru his admin assistant. *sigh* Yeah, I think I've finally figured out or codified what's really making me question this decision so much. Of course, the benefits would be that I'd have less commute, be able to shop on my breaks (instead of sitting in the lunchroom w/ a snack and watching TV, although I'll miss the cable), see my other friends (who also work downtown but in other depts), and it'll probably be a lot closer to where I live if I ever move out. However I think b/c there have been a lot of personnel changes over there, it might not be the same as when I initially worked there, so that's probably adding to my doubts. On top of that, when the person I'm going to be working directly under (and who's also my friend) makes mistakes on what's required for my deployment, it really makes me worry. I'm certain that a -university- degree (which I'd sent him) globally supercedes any high school diploma, but he still asked me to provide the HS degree. I might agree if the university degree was from another country, but it's from the same city we're living in. Like WTF?! I'm trying really really hard to chalk it up to him being overworked and stressed, but O-M-G. I'm scared.

Kettle calling the Silverware black

So this week we had training on PeopleSoft 8.9, an entirely new system for the dept, but I had previous exposure to 8.0. Interface changed a fair bit, the basic concepts were still the same. So I obligatorily followed along on the help instructions, until it was time for us to do it on our own, and then didn't touch the help system except to doublecheck 1 or 2 things. Not surprisingly, I was always finished first (even after creating most of the X-Men as applicants). So if I wasn't exhausted (I had to get up an hour earlier than normal, and even when I get up at the normal time, I don't get enough rest so I'm doubly tired.), I'd help out. However since the last seat that was available was near the instructor, all I could hear was bad advice being passed out by the G and S since they were closer to the hapless people. It`s a little difficult to be polite at when you`re non-verbally saying "don't help if you have no clue what you're doing, you stupid git". Anyways, if the instructor said that people who were done early could go for a break, you can bet I was outta there. There's only so much dusty air being blown by a computer fan into my face, cramped room, being with people and uncomfortable chairs and table that I can take. So anyways, my supervisor gave me a talk today that people thought that I was skipping work early and not doing my 7.5 hrs. Whatta load of crock. I showed up at work 20 min before the class started, and did my regular stuff during that time and on my breaks (b/c we only had 15 min breaks, which is barely enough time to have a snack), and worked on anything urgent after class. Unlike other people, I planned well enough that I had things prepared ahead of time for this. Not to mention, I don't regularly go on 40-50 minute breaks + the same for my lunch (unlike my accusers). So I was plenty steamed.

Anyways, on the 2nd issue, wearing casual and jeans on Monday and Tuesday (guess no one noticed the cargo pants on Wed) when we're supposed to be in business casual b/c we're still in the office, which was my bad. But I did ask if I could wear pjs at the bi-weekly meeting, and no one specified biz-casual. And no one specified on any invitation that we couldn't. Anyways, I just said that all the other trainings I went to, it was casual. So I got 2 warnings today. *snort*

Anyways, before she gave me that, I was already telling people that I was going home b/c my stomach hurted. Which it did. Since last night. I think it's b/c I ate a bagful of organic chestnuts. Well, the instructions on them said "after opening, refrigerate and consume in 1 day". So I ate it in one sitting, while I was watching Daily Show and Colbert Report online. Had a little upchuck to the back of the throat about an hour later (which I thought was just a burp with substance), but then it started to hurt more. I had to make a little tent for my stomach last night, and this morning, I thought it was my stomach muscles that were sore from being cramped up. Anyways, at work, I had to go to the washroom every hour b/c I was uncomfortable (doing just usual No. 1 stuff in there though). So, the main point, is that I don't think she'll be able to link me going home to being mad at the warnings. However, my stomach still hurts, and I upchucked in my mouth this evening, so I probably won't go tomorrow. Not that I have anything urgent to do anyways. It's good to be ahead. And it's not like I'm really motivated anyways. Unlike my previous 2 jobs, there's no one I'd miss.

Review: Royal Rumble 2010

So I went to see it with D, who picked me up an hour late b/c he couldn't remember what time to pick me up even though he chose that time. Wonder why he doesn't have a job still? Anyways, this meant that I couldn't look at what was at the 75% sale at Bath & Bodyworks. Technically I probably don't need any of the stuff (except to give away as gifts) but I just can't resist trying their new scents. And since we had to pick up food at T&T, and stand in line, we only got in 30 min before the show started. Good thing that David went out to pick up earplugs though. It was really loud.

Christian v. Ezekial Jackson
Good match, with Christian being the underdog (despite being champ). Nice back-forth, storytelling. a very good match. I don't get to see ECW anymore (local station doesn't seem to carry it anymore), but I think it still might be on the WWE website. But honestly, I didn't watch it too much since I would fall asleep (not always a commentary on the action, it was after being up 18 hours), and the only people to watch were Christian, Shelton Benjamin and Yoshi Tatsu.

I can't believe Teddy Long called the ECW manager "baby girl". That's pretty disgusting. Anyways, he made a "surprise" match of Miz vs. MVP. Which was ... okay. Not quite convinced that MVP's improved that much. He did for a while, but seems to be coasting now. Miz seems to be in semi-coast mode too.

Randy Orton v. Sheamus
Quite surprised that Sheamus is still champion. He's not too bad...in the limited amount of moves he does. Not too clunky. But he's so new, doesn't seem to have quite earned his stripes to become champion, but maybe that's the point they're making. Anyways, nice little tete-a-tete between Cody, Teddy and Randy in the back. Pretty good match, and loved when Randy "slithered" backwards. Can't wait to see the fallout to Randy's fight w/ Legacy on RAW. It used to be that the RAW title was higher-standing than Smackdown, but Sheamus is just getting onto the B-list, so I was semi-surprised to see it that early.

Mickie James v. Michelle McCool
Nice to see Michelle get her comeuppance. Uh, not much more to say since it was a short match. Like 3 moves?

Undertaker v. Rey Mysterio
Really good match. Was kinda funny to see Undertaker with a bloody nose b/c all the blood over his mouth and nose, kinda looked like a clown. Errr, maybe not that funny since I hate clowns. Anyways, good storytelling. I thought Mysterio had been champ more than once. I did want Rey to win while I was watching the match, but I'm a Taker fan.

Royal Rumble
That so sucks that Evan Bourne is just a jobber now. Ugh. And what the hell w/ eliminating people in under a minute after they come in the ring?! Matt, Yoshi, and so many others didn't even get to do anything. While it's great that they had Beth in the ring, it was pretty lame in the way they had her eliminate Khali. They're basically saying that's all a woman can do. At least Chyna got to get some people out the traditional way (kicking their butts over the top). And so sucked that Punk just threw her out. At least she got to throw a clothesline. Quite the shocker when HBK super-kicked HHH out so quick. I think after that, a lot of people didn't have too much sympathy for him when he was eliminated by Batista. But best thing of the night, the return of Edge!!! Sure, it was similar to Cena's return 2 years ago, and Edge didn't look quite ready. Still a little pudgy and sporting the Grizzly Adams look. But it was sweet. I thought after Batista was out, Cena would win, but thankfully not. Wished they had Kofi more. He was good.

So it was a good Royal Rumble. Worth the $16.75. And I'd chosen seats that weren't near kids so it was a good crowd around.

Review: WWE TLC PPV

I don't usually see the monthly ppv's, mostly b/c they tend to suck, but with the prospect of Christian and Shelton Benjamin in a ladder match, I couldn't resist. Christian said he wanted to make it the best match of the night, and it was great. They did some wicked moves, and it was fast-paced. And then it started going downhill.

John Morrison vs. the Scottish guy endorsed by Vinnie Mac. Does that guy have another submission move? Matt Striker was trying his hardest to sell it, but really. It wasn't all too bad, was kinda exciting when Morrison got to get going. But really, this guy doesn't seem to have put in his on-screen dues to get the IC title.

Mickie James vs. Michelle McCool. Still going with that Piggie James schtick. Mickie looks like a healthy girl w/ meat on her bones. Anyways match was so-so. Nothing that couldn't be seen on regular TV.

Cena vs. Sheamus. Boring. Yawning thru the entire match. Obviously, neither of them have good ring sense b/c they could only have 1 table out at a time. Everything was so awkward. Loved how Matt Striker put it into perspective, and he's so right. It's sad how tame Jerry Lawler's become. I wish the fans started chanting "loser" when Cena was walking out.

Undertaker vs. Batista. Not so boring but was still yawning. Batista really needs to learn how to wrestle. Like honestly, would it kill you to learn a suplex or submission hold? Undertaker tried, but there's only so much he can do to sell Batista, and he's getting up there so his stamina's not so high. Happy Taker kept his title.

Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton. Woke me up. Good to see Kofi and Randy let it out. Randy hasn't had very technically challenging foes lately (*cough* Cena). Some very good moves and back-and-forth action. I'm sad Kofi lost, but they had a good match.

DX vs. Jerishow. Good match to cap the night. Exciting, very back and forth, which displays the guys' experience on crafting a match. When they were wrestling separately at the beginning, it just didn't work. I was too busy wondering what the other pair was doing. But once they got back in the ring, it was cool. I wonder if the ladder was supposed to rip in half like that. I hope Jericho's okay. That fall he took looked really nasty. You could see him try to push off the ropes, but he didn't have the traction. It was cute when Jericho was on Show's shoulders.

I went with A to see it b/c D had to work. A doesn't watch much wrestling, but it still wasn't too bad. Almost didn't make it b/c his car mysteriously died while parked in my driveway for 5 minutes. When we were about to push it back up the driveway to plug it in, it started again. So wierd. While we were wandering HMV, he decided that he just needed to pick up the Farscape boxset. I pointed out that he could wait for Boxing Day or check the prices online or at other stores, but nope, he just had to get it right then. Which completely explains how he committed the 4 of us to a trip package for SDCC, which'll cost us $1600 each. Went from sending an email out about a website that "showed" the package (I didn't have time to look at it since I was busy at work, but apparently there's not much on there anyways.) in the morning to saying that he put the deposit down on the same afternoon. Like WTF?!

Work/Play trip - Day 7

9:00
Aaaaaahhh!!!  I don't know why I'm so slow getting dressed and stuff.  Went down to breakfast at 8:30, which was supposed to be the time I was supposed to be finished eating so I could finish packing.  So I asked for a doggie bag, but they don't have any plastic utensils, so I grabbed 4 muffins, 2 French toast and 3 sausages.  Figured I'd use the coffee stirrers as chopsticks.  And I fogot my water and fruit cups.  Crap!!!  So hungry.  Greyhound stations looks as dingy as the one at home. Murasaki's down to 1 bar.  Crap, can't even listen to it while waiting to board.

13:00
Found the hotel, except the clerk tells me that there was a problem with the room so it's not ready and they booked me at another one. In another hotel!  Oh, and it's just a 15 minute walk away.  So after I finally get her to print a map and not rattle off some general directions, it's a block from the Greyhound station.  Which means I have to walk all the way back the way I came.  Great.  But apparently I'll have a "good room".  But she doesn't even know the name of this good hotel.  So I finally find it, and it's still under reservations.  And my room's up 2 flights of narrow stairs.  And the first room still had a faint smell of paint, so I ask for a different room which is bigger and has a sitting area.  But I should've looked at the bathroom size b/c it's tiny.  The shower is directly behind the door, and that's pretty much the size of it.  I can't have both elbows out w/o smashing them. And when I went to meet H, I forgot my camera, and I have to ring to be let back in, which takes 15 minutes for someone to answer the door.  I think I can guess that no one else's staying there.

23:00
We spent the day walking up the Chinatown, down to Old Port and back.  Found a ton of yaoi, so my backpack was heavy all day.  I bought so much that I filled out the membership card, but totally forgot to give it to H so she can pick me up a free book when something comes in.  D'oh!!!! ( Oct 3/10: now H doesn't live there anymore and I don't know when I'll ever get back to Montreal.  Double D'oh!!).  H has no money so we can't go into anything with admission.  Other than hockey stuff, doesn't seem to be much Montreal-specific souvenirs.  Ate at Frites Alors! which had a TinTin theme.  Wonder if they had gotten the copyright for using them. Food was pretty good, but H pointed out that I acted like an American with the waitress when she brought me a Pepsi. (I hate Pepsi).  So I tipped her really well and paid for H's meal. Saw the National Film Board cinema and it was pretty cool.  B/c it was after 17:00, we got a free hour, and got to select from 10,000 films in their catalog.  Great cheap entertainment, got to sit down in comfy chairs and lots of amazing films.  Brainwasters was disturbing, but I have to see the full poem of the "Erl-king" by Goethe.  The short was amazingly done.
After we went back to my hotel to chat.   And make plans for tomorrow.  There's no hairdryer and no floor mat in the bathroom.  No cup for brushing teeth either.  Missing a lot of stuff actually, and of course I only notice this when I'm in my pjs, so there's no way I'm opening the door for possibly non-existant night service that may or may not have toiletries.  Considering their shampoo/conditioner was in packettes, eh no. Guessing there's no amenities. And as predicted, I kept hitting the temperature control with my elbow when I was washing my hair, and there wasn't really any shelf for me to put the shampoo, conditioner, body wash I brought.  Gaahh!  And someone started smoking, so I opened the window and kept the heat up.  So tired, but we're meeting at 9:30 for breakky.

Work/Play trip - Day 6

Midnight
Woke up to find my Murasaki only @ 1/2 battery.  Guess putting it on speaker full blast didn't help. At least the room is cooled from leaving the window open all night.  And that weird smell is gone too.  I now look at the jet tub with suspicion. Seems like we haven't covered all the stuff that they wanted, w/ people starting to leave @ 11:30 a.m.  Staffing is not sinking in for me.  I'll have to play with it more, but it seems illogical w/ how you attach someone.  Well at least the Intelligence manager is now a FSWEP student.  Ha ha ha.

13:00

Went to lunch with Jane.  She seemed lonely b/c her flight doesn't leave until 19:00 and she already checked out.  Ate at the Pho restaurant again b/c it's next to the hotel.  Also could drop off all the course material and newspapers.  The drive to the Science and Technology Museum was long, and I was probably bouncing in my seat.  Good thing I got a museum map b/c it's kinda confusing, like IKEA w/o the arrows. Totally skipped past the canoes, and then went back when I was waiting for an old man to finish reading about the Titanic.  Didn't know there were so many ways to join together a canoe. Anyways, a lot of the displays were geared to kids, but it was still good. They had entire trains in there, and I tried to take a shot of one, but it involved 5 shots, and w/o a tripod or a marking line, when I tried to merge the shots together, it just looked wierd.

Actually a lot of the pics I tried to merge looked wierd.   I feel so sad I had to stand on the little kid step stool to see out the space shuttle's windows.  Took a bunch of pics of different devices and Lego display.  Spent a lot of time in the space exhibit.  I tried getting onto one of those old time bikes.  It was pretty-hard, seat-wise and agility-wise.  Took a lot of random shots, which I'm  really wishing I'd included a pic of their description plate of.  Just stuff that looked neat. Ran out of time as expected since I didn't leave the hotel until about 13:45.  Bought more gifts.  Nothing for me though.  The cool T-shirts were all in youth size.  Riding back to the hotel, I passed by a building that was for the Conference Board of Canada.  Why?!  Seems so Dilbertish.

21:00
Ate at Totoya for their all-u-can-eat sushi.  It's a bit different in that you don't order the sushi you want, but the waitress brings the trays of rolls by and you pick how many you want.  Then after you look at them all, you can request specifics for seconds/thirds etc.  So stuffed but you gotta get your $20.95 worth.  Waddled my way to the bank.  Had to get thru a bunch of people waiting for the bus.  So disgusting with people spitting on the sidewalk, dealing dope and not getting out of the way.  Thought I was going to get pickpocketted trying to get through the crowd.  Caught a cab as I walked out of the bank, so that was cool.  Finally got onto the Internet but it didn't have a USB port in the front and I forgot to charge in class. Crap.  Well, charging my phone in the room though.  Wish there was some adapter for Murasaki so I don't always have to plug it into a computer.

Work/Play trip - Day 5

13:00
Breakfast was the same stuff.  Tried the chocolate danish this time.  Not really sure what the point of getting there 15 min early.  Went into the Compensation unit, and you'd think Marilyn would stop w/ the dumb questions.  Hell no!  And then when William made a joke that a function that'd auto-calculate leave wasn't working, she picks up -my- pencil case and chucks it at him.  Highlighters fly out and Kim has to dodge out of the way.  So I hiss "Don't throw my stuff!"  Will picks up the stuff and goes to give it to Marilyn, but when he learned it was mine, he had an apologetic face.  Anyways, I'm will be so freaking glad not to sit next to her anymore.  Also disappointed that the Security field won't be used.  Like WTF?

What is this series called?

So Cecile said her niece was going to take her to the Museum of Civilization, so I asked to tag along.  But her niece doesn't get out until 17:00 and we were out by 16:00, so I was debating whether to just take the taxi to there, but I figure we could eat in the 1/2 hr.  Well the cab didn't come for 30 min, so we just took the Envirobus, then we walked to the hotel.  By now, it was almost 17:00 so I ate my bananas (as I'd finished my raisin bread at work & had some fruit sauce.  But the niece hadn't shown up by 17:40, and it turned out the niece went to the wrong hotel.  So Cecile said that she was going to meet her niece in Ottawa, and they weren't going to the museum.
Well, I call a taxi and away I went. It was free admission today (Yeah!) and the ran thru most of the permanent exhibitions.  Took a bunch of pictures of indigenous masks to use on Animal Crossing.  Yup. And took pictures of interesting clothes.  They didn't allow cameras in the special exhibits: Afghanistan, Royal Stamps (history of Canadian stamps), Northwest Company.  Which really sucks for the Afghanistan b/c it's all jewelry, pottery, carvings.  Maybe they wanted to sell their book?  But was amazing and so sad that a region w/ such a  long and beautiful history is wracked by war & the Taliban who smashed thousands of artwork.  I'm not a stamp-lover, but it was still interesting on how people developed stamps & people immediately started trying to forge or re-use them, and the govt's attempt to stop it. I just read the main text, but all the stamp examples had a clerk's handwriting that documented the attempts of creators. Spedwalked thru the NWC b/c I think I did that in history. Canada Post has a permanent exhibit. Trotted thru that one.  With 10 minutes to go, I sped thru Canadian history, got a little lost, and some looked familiar from when I went in Jr. High. Helps when you've a History degree.  With 2 minutes to go, looked up at the Canadian faces exhibit and went "Naw".  Probably would've spent only 15 minutes anyways if I had plenty of time.  Zipped thru the Boutique.  They must've thought I was crazy b/c I was whipping my head around evaluating all the merchandise w/ a glance.  They had Afghanistan jewelry, so I go Patty a wall hanging thing.  Think it's supposed to ward off the evil eye. No jewelry for me b/c didn't see any earrings.  It was a beautiful night, and if the cab wasn't coming right away, I would've check out their "Zen garden".  Didn't really see anything resembling it though.  Ate supper @ the Pho Bo Ga 777 restaurant.  I had noodle soup.  It was good.  I was the last person there, even though they close at 22:00 and it was 21:00.  Walked over to the Casino to take pictures of their Xmas decos.


22:00
Sitting in the tub w/ the bubblejet going.  My dawgs are tired.

Work/Play trip - Day 4

6:45
Didn't have a good sleep.  So tired.  Got to breakkie @ 7:30 and Becky was later than me.  But she only had toast, and I had eggs, cheese, cereal, muffin, danish, cold beef thing, tomatoes...Got everything down except for last bit of cereal by 8:02.

12:00
Such a headache, and so sleepy.  I closed my eyes thru the day.  Mostly when I finished the exercises, although also when we were navigating.  Still not thrilled w/ the recruitment module.  So much extra crap to go thru just to make a job requisition.  Oops, sorry...job opening.  Some very strange terminology. Honestly.  It feels like they're trying to make it "easier" to prevent errors but create more confusion instead.

Anyways, was trying to keep myself awake, so I opened my work email.  Aahh, so much stuff!  And then Marilyn started asking me about it, so I'm trying to explain that it's not really Outlook, but the IE creating an Outlook-like interface.  Which she didn't understand.  (Big surprise.  She asks the dumbest Qs in class).  But since she's so freaking loud, Will.i.am was waiting for us to finish. She's so annoying.  Anyways, as usual, found more L & R stuff, and my advisor confusing managers or leaving stuff behind and I'll have to clean stuff up when I get back. We finished w/ another exercise, but I just blew thru it b/c I was so annoyed w/ the email.

18:40
I took a cab to Currency museum b/c I was out by 15:40. I was going to walk to the hotel but it was raining, so I asked for a cab and swear I didn't pay in the morning. Finished it by 16:45.  Then I got turned around and went West instead of East.  I walked Sparks mall for a bit.  Popped into Zellers for Pokemon but they didn't have much except for Regigigas mini plush.  By now, I really had to use the loo so I popped into Chapters.  And yes, I got a book.  Wandered to Byward Market b/c I was hungry by now, and finally found a map post.  But still didn't make it to where I expected and one of the restaurants online wasn't on the map.  Weird.  Anyways, found that Totoyama is offering all-you-can-eat sushi on Friday for $20.  Guess where I'm going.  So I'm writing this @ Wontonmama and the lemon chicken was good.  But weird that I had to ask for rice.  Geez, it's quite Westernized in service.  And they charged me $2 for it.  *sigh*  Tom Yum Soup was good too.

20:00
Erm, why is there no CTV?  And how am I going to watch Criminal Minds?  At least I can finally see TNA.

Work/Play trip - Day 3

6:45
So do not want to wake up.  Didn't get much sleep...again.  Too warm b/c the A/C didn't work.  The others were at the restaurant at 7:00, I'm sure.  I brought raisin break, tomatoes and fruit pudding for lunch, but I still went w/ the others to the "nearby" mall.  Never would've thought of using soy sauce as salad dressing.
14:00
Moving into Staffing stuff.  It's so different from 8.0.  I don't even recognize it.  The trainer, William, went really fast too.  And then after I found a couple of mistakes on the material.  Ugh.
16:00

Went to Byward Market w/ Bhumika.  Dragged her around a bit looking for presents.  Ended up going to the National Gallery Boutique b/c the Gallery itself was closing by the time we got there.   Had dinner @ Fat Tuesdays. We weren't sure about the quality after our cutlery was dirty.  But it was delicious.  I had jambalaya.  The chicken was moist, shrimp perfectly cooked, dirty rice was yummy.
18:40
Back at the hotel.  So weird to be back so early but I'd actually gone out.  Ottawa-Gatineau is a daytime town.

Work/Play trip - Day 2

23:00
Some idiot above me started stomping around at 6:00.  And the alarm didn't really go off, so I was supposed to meet Debbie et al @ 7:15 for breakfast, but I woke up at 7:00.  Anyways still got to the course on time.

I miss People Soft, it was like it almost never left.  Seemed really straightforward, more or less.  Except there's an option to view just the record you're looking at or to see that there are more records associated with that position.  Why?!!  Just be able to see all the records instead of messing people up.
There are no eating places nearby either.  So ended up hiking with Janice to a restaurant 10+ minutes away and was late getting back b/c can't powerwalk anymore.  Well, more like keep up with her.  There's probably a reason why she was in Corporate Challenge.  So after the course, we all went to Super C to get groceries for lunch. But since I have no fridge, it ended being fruits, fruit cups and raisin bread.  The tap water here tastes like our spring run-off water.  And even the cooler water was yuck.  Had dinner with the other people who were staying at the same hotel.  Watched a lot of TV but there was no Score so no RAW.  :(

Work/Play trip - Day 1

1:30
Ugh, woke up after going to bed @ 23:00. Still thinking I haven't checked everything and I'm not sure what happened to my other pair of rechargeable AA batteries. I have 2 sets of 4 and I took a pair out of my CD player, but I don't know why since only my camera uses AA. Anyways, I got up and looked up restaurants in Byward market. I hope I can make it there. I still haven't decided which museum to go to since I'll probably only have an hour or 2 to look around. Back to bed at 2:00.

4:33
Ugh, didn't really sleep. Just closed my eyes it seems. Set my alarm for 4:45...oops, didn't turn it on though. Good thing I looked.

4:54
Oops, CD player's louder than the radio. Sooooo tired.

15:00
Got to airport on time and no problem w/ security. My seatmate turned out to work at the same building but in a different branch. He's going to Montreal for his conference. Nearly lost my Darsh. Pouch hoodies aren't secure b/c it slipped out when I was shifting in my seat. Got no sleep, but my neck is hurting from tilting to the right. Took some pics of P-chan @ Ottawa airport. It's a pretty nice airport. I had the cabbie take the scenic route, so I saw the Rideau Canal, Parliament and Byward Market. It looked farther apart on the map, but it's very walkable. There's a lot of old buildings in Ottawa but not so much in Gatineau. I went a bit crazy on the tip though b/c I was thinking of how much I gave the Edmonton cabbie so I gave him more. But my Edmonton trip was 2x longer, so yeah, it was about 40% tip. Check-in took some time since they had some issues w/ their reservation system. But apparently I go ta better suite b/c my pre-assigned one wasn't ready yet. Dumped my stuff and went to get a cab. Gaw, too tired to figure out how much change to get. And as I waited for the taxi, I wandered outside. The hotel's in a corner and kinda wierd to get into. Can't quite see where the bus stop is, although I see some come from the Lac-Leamy Casino. And I had to have the cabbie turn around b/c I forgot my camera. Went to Currency Museum b/c it's free and close to the Parliament and Byward. But the cabbie is francophone and also didn't know where it was. So I just got out and found it. It was just the next building actually. It was really interesting, and did I mention free? The exhibits were really nice and there were so many examples. Great for history geeks like me, since the history of a country is reflected in its currency. Some interesting facts: China was the first to make paper money and coins (which were based on cowrie shells & farm implements). Playing cards were used as emergeny $$ by writing values on them (fairly common occurrence actually). New France coins were rejected b/c it couldn't be used as legal tender in Old France. In 1853-1857, Canada chose to go /w the US decimal currency instead of the UK £. Armies/rebels/merchants would issue their own currency (therefore those arcade tokens are just a natural fallout), and HBC issued tokens until 1946. Newfoundland had their own curency until they joined Confederation. The whole point of issuing paper notes was to make money b/c it was likely that it wouldn't be redeemed for goods until later therefore, making it an interest-free loan. Canada started issuing coloured money in 1897, and until 1920, notes were signed by hand. Some questions that I came away with were: How do you turn beaver fur into felt? I had 2 hours and I still wans't finished reading everything, and I wasn't even examining all the coins and paper currency, or went into the Collection room. It was so dark by 5, and I walked to Parliament. There were a lot of poeple taking pictures too. The bulding look really dirty and that it had been thru a fire too. There were parts that were under scaffolding. Did more walking and there are statues and plaques everywhere. Could use some lighting in some areas. What I thought was te entrance to the subway or a bomb shelter was just a pedestrian underpass. Very pedestrian friendly.

By the time I got to Byward Market, the stalls were closing up, so I went to a restaurant instead. Found the Fish Market, and I swear when I saw their menu online, I was going to get the fish & chips. But their "Choose your meal" had an awesome appetizer and dessert for $15 more. Yes, I took pictures. The escargot was sooooo good. I thnk the basil bun was for soaking up the garlic butter and wine. The mushrooms were a bit burnt(no it really broke off as charcoal) but it still tasted so good after it soaked in the sauce for a bit. The fish was lovely. I'm not sure how gweilo eat whole fish, but I ate it the way I'm used to. Didn't take a picture of the bumbleberry pie b/c the top crust broke. But it was a delicious mix of sweet & tart. A bunch of francophones sat next to me and gave the waitress some attitude b/c she didn't know much French, so I gave her a 20% tip. Wandered some more after. But by 7, the area was dead. I thought it'd be like Whyte, but no way. Tons of restaurants. I didn't know we had a monument to peacekeepers. The bells were ringing when I took a pic of the Notre Dame Basilica. I hope more things are open on the weekdays.

20:17
Back at the hotel after finding a taxi stop. So tired, but I feel like I should be doing more stuff like going online downstairs. Just realized I forgot to bring the DS Browser. D'oh! Oh, Mythbusters!

21:39
Debbie called. We're meeting at 7:15 for breakfast and then to the building. The jet tub/shower is quite different. Not quite the time of the month to be trying it out though.

22:00
It's so freaking hot after the shower, and I can't get the A/C to work. So I'm down to my panties and using ice to cool off. I love Mythbusters, it's another episode I haven't seen! Just writing while I'm watching Discovery Channel. I heart Discovery Channel.

00:00
Gotta stop flipping channels. Criminal Minds is on, and the one where Derek's abused past is revealed. Mmmm, Shemar Moore.

Quiz: Is your Brain more Left-sided or Right-sided?

Left Sided

Your left side of the brain is more dominant than your right side. Usually, you tend to be logical and more of a thinking type. Left sided people are really reliable, and well organized. You are probably really good in school, and are probably really good at math, and/or science. You go by a routine, and dont like to have it spontaneously interrupted, unless you really need a break. You get things done, and you dont just forget about it and leave it unfinished. You'd rather be told how to do something other than someone demonstrate it. You tend to look at the whole picture, rather than details, because it needs to look good as a whole, not just in seperate parts.

10209 other people got this result! That's 17%

http://www.quizilla.teenninck.com/quizzes/15482009/is-your-brain-more-left-sided-or-right-sided

Cleaning Desk and Mind

So I've finally updated my blog on my LA trip (July 2008). It's just been sitting for a while. It was part of cleaning up my desk on the weekend. I recently bought an MP3 player, mostly b/c it's super-hard to find decently CD/MP3 players, and the 2 that I have are pretty dead. I'm back to using my older one (which had the issue of skipping, randomly stopping) for travel, and left the newer one for sleeping to b/c it had the issue of randomly repeating the same note 60x/sec until you pulled out the battery. Which was underneath the CD. So yeah, it kinda sucked. Hilariously enough, my MP3 player is from Sony who were the makers of those CD/MP3 players. Anyways, it was a result of getting a $25 coupon at their VIP event, + $20 off the MP3 player, and thinking I should enter 2001 finally. So I have the purple NWZ-S545, and have uploaded all the MP3s on my computer. Which left over 9 GB. Unfortunately Windows Media Player 11 sucks and can't play (let alone convert) any of my anime or most of my videoclips. Even though if they're .avi or .wmv. WTF?! VLC Player rules. Anyhoo, back to what I was supposed to be talking about. The store didn't have any leather cases for it, and who the hell wants to use a silicone case that'll turn my beautiful purple player into some puked-up looking thing? So I had been reusing the screen label to prevent scratches. But I lost it somewhere on my desk. Hence, the clean up.

I do have Radioshack screen protectors now, but I did boo-boo and there's dust underneath. The Radioshack/Source dealer said they eventually come off, I guess we'll see how long they last. Due to the fact that my $25 coupon only lasted that day, I had 0 research on the player. So it sat in the box for a couple of days, while I Googled. It's not bad, I did play with it a bit, and it's playing right now. I'm using it instead of Sonique b/c lots of my music are in folders, which Sonique has problems w/. The speakers aren't bad, not as good as my computer speakers, but that's expected. I'm not too thrilled w/ the fact that if you have it on music, and then switch it to pictures, you can't get back to music. Really annoying when it's on shuffle. Pretty annoyed that you can't have alarm and sleep timer on at the same time. If you set it to alarm, it immediately turns off. I've looked at some possible cases, and I'm thinking of crochetting it. The headphones will stick out of it anyways (unless it's a mega-case, in which case, how's it going to fit in a pocket?), so it just needs to be protected from scratches (a big issue apparently) and bumps. My cell's done pretty good after 3+ years.

Speaking of cell (and to think that my wrist has been hurting all day. Yesterday it was my right that would get sharp pains if I bent it a certain way. Now it's the left), I just renewed my contract. They called me for "customer satisfaction survey", which of course was the sales dept to see what they could offer. I said a new phn would be nice, but I don't like anything they had. So he was like, well I can offer you a $5CR each month. And since I'd recently looked at my plan (I'm going to be travelling soon, so wanted to know what the roaming chrg and plans were), I knew that I wasn't using that many minutes and could save so much more money if I switched. So I was like, "well how about you drop the system access fee?" (It's $6.95/month) which would give me the price of the other plan, but I'd have 150 more daytime minutes but still ppu for SMS (which I don't use much anyways). So he's like, well I can check if my mgr can authorize $10CR for 2 yr contract. So my bill's going to be lower for the next 2 yrs. I wonder if the system will forget to remove the CR once the contract's over.

*sigh* So down to the nitty-gritty. Today, one of my co-workers (someone I'd considered to have good sense and consideration) asked me if I could cover the office everyday at lunch so that everyone in their group can go at the same time. B/c it's just far too much of a hardship to not eat with your cronies every 3rd week. OMG! Get some perspective! Someone dies every 6 seconds due to hunger. Oh boo-hoo, you don't get to eat with your friends! Waah waah!

They (I'm sure it's not just her) thought that it was fair since I eat at 12:30 and they go at noon. When I pointed out that I may not eat at 12:30 all the time, due to work or such, they said that they could arrange something at that point. To which, I pointed out that we currently have a schedule where every Assistant takes turns covering the office during lunch, which helps people plan when their breaks will be. And when we're not scheduled, we can go whenever the he11 we want. I also pointed out that our Director told us that we should have an Assistant and Advisor in the office during lunch due to the fact that the RDG walked in to find an empty office. I didn't point out that the Clique never takes 30 min lunch breaks, so I'd be eating at 12:45 instead (since she's usually pretty good with coming back in the 30 minutes). But yeah, after being told that I'm the office donkey, I was so ready to leave. Even if I'm going to get training as a Superuser. It's a major tug-of-war btwn my ethics of being grateful for the opportunities I've gotten in the Dept (thus incurring a degree of loyalty) vs. the growing detest at majority of the office. Honestly, they remind me of Convergys HR. If I'd encountered them first instead of my friends at the other dept, I'd never have stayed in HR. There are good HR people, they're just not in this office!

Work: blah, Home: 3+ pellets!

I had a course yesterday about Time Management, so I missed my work friend's going-away "party". I put party in quotes because it really wasn't about her. The week before, I was going around the office, asking if anyone was doing something for her. Not that I've worked in a lot of departments, but I believe the standard going-away gift is at least a card, and some kind of gift. Since no one had circulated a card or envelope for gift donation, it made me suspect that no one was doing anything. So I talked to the "Social Committee" who was apparently not in charge of that, and then one of her advisors who said "Yeah, I guess we should do something." I was quite floored that there was so much reluctance to acknowledge someone who'd worked in the department for 7 years. Well, another advisor sent out an email saying that the "party" was going to be at a local restaurant, but my friend never got to pick the restaurant or the date. And still by Thursday, I hadn't seen any card circulation. So I bought her a gift, and made her a card. She also recieved a present from another friend. And that was it. I'd heard from our friend that at the luncheon, all they did was pay for her meal. Which was under $10. That was the amount of respect that they had for someone who wasn't in their "clique". (They'd made a big luncheon for someone's birthday and his $15 meal was paid for)

That makes me so pissed. They can't even do a simple courtesy to a fellow employee. Which is not to say that all the people who work there are like that, it's just seems like a vast majority. Technically the clique is just under half of the people in the office, but it's sickening how they've taken over. And on the large part, they are quite useless. Which I'm finding is probably one of my major peeves. I really do use "Useless!" as a major insult. Anyways, this feeling carried over into our bi-weekly meeting. Which I was late for because I forgot (I need to set my reminder so it'll go off before I leave for lunch). But it's not like I missed anything. No one (that I could see) made any notes. For the -entire- meeting. There was some stuff that they reviewed, but it was more like a reading exercise b/c there wasn't discussion on it. And I'd read it already, so even though I didn't have a copy, I knew what they were talking about. So I doodled. And made my To Do List. And prioritized them. And when they brought up the question of who'd be a super-user for a system we're getting, I really didn't care anymore. Which is hilarious b/c it's a system that'd I'd been raving about forever. But I didn't care.

B/c I don't really want to do any work for them anymore. If it weren't for my ethics and that I like the clients, I wouldn't bother putting in any effort. I've saved my advisor's butt numerous times, by doing her job and reminding her of things. (Yes, she's part of the clique) I've had my work delayed and wasted b/c I'm waiting for them to return from daily extended breaks, socializing and pointless chit-chatting. And since they spend all their time on that, I have clients asking me about the status of things, and/or directly asking me for help and advice. I had real respect for my advisor when she first started, but it's quickly dwindling to just professional respect.

So anyways back to the meeting, they were discussing the super-user, and asked who would like to do it. The manager looked at me, and I was like "Huh, wha? Oh, yeah sure I could do it since I've used it before." But it was really like, whatever. You guys really suck, and I don't want to help you. My time's been completely wasted in this 1.5 hr meeting that has no point. And of course the other assistant, who's already going to be the super-user for another system, says that he wants to do it too. Well, ya know, whatever. He can show everyone what a useless person he is as nothing gets fixed. I really need to update my resume. It's really pathetic how they've managed to turn me from someone who is dedicated, hardworking, willing to put in the extra effort to get things done...into someone who doesn't give a crap because all that effort and high ethics gets nothing. But more work dumped on me. Whereas the slackers get promoted b/c they can talk a good talk. I'm feeling the same way as I did w/ Convergys, but it's a different cause this time. B/c my hard work is rewarded...by more work. Well, at least my clients are happy. Honestly, if an interviewer asks me why I'm applying at their dept, I'd say "The clients were great, the work was interesting, but I can't stand working w/ people who don't share the same values and ethics, such as actually working and not ripping off the taxpayers by going on extended breaks and lunches."

So my little fish, which I still have not named, is eating 3+ pellets at each feeding. Actually it seems like he'll keep going for them as long as I keep feeding him. I've fed him 4 in an hour. But I have to refill my food basket a lot more, which is kinda nice. Although he won't eat the big brown ones that I got at Wal-Mart. I guess they smell too much or are too big. I dunno. I don't think I'd eat them either if I was a fish. Unfortunately that means I have a canister of food being unused. Which was precisely why I wanted to have 2 fish. See if one would eat that food. Anyways, he's getting quite knowledgable that when I'm around, I'll feed him. So he'll swim excitedly when I'm near. I've even started putting the pellet on my finger, and he'll dart at it. It's cool. He also built a bubblenest in the jar, but after the water change, it went bye-bye. I've also switched him to the larger jar. He was quite nervous in it, since I also changed the plants, but he's settled down and hence is eating again. But no bubblenest yet.

So it would seem that the other fish (the deceased one) might've had some mental problems. That fish kept flaring at himself when he was in the large jar. Ah well, maybe it's because I chose it for his tail, and didn't observe him very long. Anyways, before he died (or maybe I captured his moment of death) I took a picture of him. It was only about 4 hours after this next picture when I noticed the discolouration on his fins and tail. Apparently fish usually don't deteriorate that quickly. Anyways, I believe water quality may have been an issue. Lately the water's been smelling like it does in the spring. The fish manager at PJ's told me to double the water conditioner dosage. She also mentioned that I could get some medicine for future illnesses, but again, usually fish don't die that quickly so I shouldn't need something on hand. I also might look into gettting a theometre for the tank. The heating pad's worked pretty well, but I usually end up leaving it on low for 6 hours, so the pad might burn out. I hope not, it's about $30. And definitely hope it doesn't start an electrical fire. That would really suck.