Royalty Tax Smoyalty Tax

So I work in the Oil and Gas industry.

And today, I was told by the owner of the company that I work for, that if this (don't worry, I don't expect you to read all 105 pages!) goes through and is executed as is written in the report, the chances of me having a job in two months, is slim.

Oh by the way. Did I mention that I just bought a house and am carrying a pretty hefty mortgage?

Happy Day.

Oh. My. God.

We took our computer in to get fixed. It was slow. Deadly slow. Like molasses on ice slow. So we thought something was wrong with it.

HB took it in on the weekend explaining that we just wanted it to be "Not Slow" anymore. I understand that the guy may have mistaken us for computer geniuses. He may have read the "Electronic Einstein" tattoos we have placed on our foreheads.

HB picked up the computer today. And everything ... is gone. Gone. No more. Zilch. Nothing.

All the pictures we had over our past 2.5 year relationship? Gone. (Thankfully most of them were backed up to CD format, however, not the past couple of months had been. Which means all the pictures of us moving into our very first house?? Yeah. Gone!)
All the music I had downloaded/uploaded over the past 2.5 years? Gone.
All of the websites I had marked as favourites over the past 2.5 years? Gone.

WTF??

I am so mad right now that I don't even know what to do. The first thing I did was re-bookmark all of the blogs listed on this site. But I will admit it ... I have been lazy. I haven't necessarily linked all of the sites I read to my site. So there are lots and lots of stories that I'm following that I may never read the endings to. Aaargh!

If someone knows of where they might have hid all of this stuff on my now "Not Slow" computer and can give me a bit of insight - I'd greatly appreciate it.

And if you're reading this right now because I've commented on your site in the past, but haven't necessarily linked you ... could you let me know so that I can not only link you, but bookmark you again?

Thanks.

Stupid computers.

A Thought

Should a nice person and a good person be one in the same?

Because sometimes, the "good" people really aren't so nice.

I'm Taking The Challenge

You've probably seen the commercials. You know the one where the two girls are going to the gym and are running a little late because they're doing "the challenge"? Granted, I haven't seen the commercial in awhile so my memory could be a little hazy on the details. There's another one, though, where a family is sitting around the kitchen table talking about probiotic cultures and how they're supposed to be good for you.

Well I've caved and am on day five of the 14 day Activia challenge. Apparently, after 14 continuous days of eating Activia yogurt, your digestive system is supposed to be regulated. It's also supposed to help with "intestinal transit".

Here's why I decided to take it: I have a major problem with bloating and intestinal gas.

How do you like me now?

But seriously, over the past few years, the bloating and "passing of wind" has become a serious problem for me and highly embarassing. I tried switching up my diet, I tried taking a different variety of vitamins and organic pills, I tried switching up my exercise routine. Nothing worked. I was still bloated and still full of gas. Mid-afternoons and early evenings were the worse. I would literally have to leave my office to go to the bathroom just to pass the gas. I was continually mortified that people would discover my problem because I was unable to hold it in. No matter how hard I squeezed, I couldn't hold them in. And no matter how much of it I passed, I was always bloated. My mom, the "almost" nurse, told me it could be a sludgy pancreas that might need looking at. I still need to talk to my doctor about that one.

But after day four of the Activia challenge, it dawned on me. Around 2pm, I realized that I wasn't feeling bloated AND I hadn't passed any gas that whole entire morning. That is RARE people.

Could it be a mental thing? Possibly but I doubt it.

Could it be that the 14 day challenge might actually be helping me with this problem? Possibly and I'm hopeful.

So if you share the same embarassing problem as I do, I would recommend you trying this challenge as well.

And by the way, it's probably the tastiest yogurt I've ever had.

Post-"Snip" Conversation

Me - "So did the doctor's office call back? Have they tested your stuff?"

HB - "Yeah. They said I have left over debris."

Me - "What the hell does that mean?"

HB - "I guess there's still some little guys swimming around. Some are missing tails, some are missing heads, but they're still trying to stay alive."

Me - "So I need to stay on birth control again this month?"

HB - "Yeah, unless you want to get pregnant and have a kid who is missing a head or tail".

Why I Think My Brother Sold Me A Lemon

My brother used to be a car salesman before he got a job as a journalist. That's an odd sentence. It's not like the two jobs are even remotely the same or interchangeable. But it is what it is. The car salesman job pretty much paid his way through college. So being the good sister I am, when I was in need of a new car, I bought one off of my brother.

Thinking back, I am the only family member who bought a car from him. Maybe that should have foreshawdowed my current relationship with my car?

Since I bought my (slightly used) car in July 2004, here's what's happened to it:

1. Completely died right after leaving an oil change shop. Like - DIED. No warning. No noise. No power. Nothing. Ironically, it died right in front of a competitor's dealership. I don't think I need to tell you how many times I heard "Well if you had bought one of our cars, you wouldn't be in this situation". Just call AMA for me you weasel and shut up about it already.

2. Someone was polite enough to key the entire length of the passenger side. Yup - right from the front bumper all the way down to the rear wheel cover. And they put a lot of muscle effort into it because it's good and deep. Not just a surface wound people, it goes right through the paint.

3. It wouldn't power up in the parking lot of our city's busiest mall during the season I prefer to refer to as "He*l on Earth" - Christmas Shopping Season. I had a large amount of bags with me, it was cold, I was grumpy, there were a lineup of cars waiting to see who could snag my spot first - and it wouldn't do anything when I turned the key over. So the cars who were waiting to kill each other for my spot all start honking. Had to call AMA to have them come and jump my battery.

4. A construction vehicle backed into my rear bumper, denting and warping it. The only reason he left a note with his name and number is because a city bylaw officer was right there when he did it.

5. One day (ONE DAY!) after receiving a new shiny rear bumper - it got smoked in the Costco parking lot - this time no bylaw officer was present, so no note was left. Hit and run! Bumper is currently dented and warped again - and the paint is peeling.

6. The car apparently thinks it's funny when I put it in reverse - and it does nothing. Nothing. It says it's in reverse, I hit the gas and it may as well be in neutral. I put it to park. I put it back into reverse. Nothing. Repeat two times before it wakes up and moves backwards. I realize I'm waking my car up earlier now because of my commute to work, but c'mon, let's go backwards already!

7. The logo of the brand of the car (Chevy) has gone missing from the hood of the car. Yup. There's probably some punk ass 15 year kid thinking he's the bomb now because he's got a red plastic Chevy logo hanging around his neck. Are you kidding me? There was a BMW parked right next to me and you rip off my Chevy logo from the front hood??

8. The exhaust pipes have broken loose from their "clip" and now make a pleasant clanking sound when we travel over a bump, hill, gravel etc. Kind of like church bells ... but not really.

All of that over the course of three summers. I'm scared to see what happens next.

Ode to The Code and Clocking It

When I was preparing for our big move, I had finally forced myself to go through boxes that had remained closed for a number of years. You see, after high school, I spent the following four years of my life going to University on the complete opposite side of the country from where I had been living. Obviously, I was unable to take my whole life up to that point with me, so I had to pack it away in boxes with the hopes of re-opening them when I returned home.

When I returned home for good, I was well educated, but flat broke. So the 18 years of my life that was sorted away in boxes, remained that way for quite some time. I moved from place to place with a variety of friends, tried living on my own, lived with my brother and his girlfriend. Not one of those places however, was quite ample enough for me to unload all of my boxes.

So as mentioned before, a lot of those boxes ended up in storage and were never opened or sorted until three weeks ago. After almost nine years of being sealed, they were dusted off and re-opened and was I ever thrilled with some of the stuff I had found.

Because of the whole Facebook craze right now, I have been able to get in touch with many friends of old days. We moved around a lot when I was young so I never really went to the same school for more than three years, until I reached high school. So it's been fun for me joining all of my old school's Facebook groups and laughing at the pictures some people have posted and being made reminded of events that had completely left my memory.

So when I found my old high school yearbooks in those storage boxes, it was like discovering gold. Especially when I found my grade eleven yearbook. Because there on the very last page, was a description of memories written by a good girlfriend of mine who has since died.

When I saw her handwriting and realized that she had written on the entire page herself, I really think my heart stood still. I held my breath for a few seconds, and all I could do was utter her name.

She died about nine years ago in the most tragic of accidents that only show themselves in movies or soap operas. Her death wasn't a result of a vehicle accident but in all honesty, I don't want to tell the story of how she died because it would take away from the story of how she lived.

She was funny. She was loud. She was gorgeous. Her nails always long and painted, usually red. Her hair always perfectly done. I was always jealous of how her make up always looked so "grown up" unlike mine that always looked like a result of a practice session. Her laugh was contagious. A small little giggle would lead into a big opened mouth laugh with no sound coming out, but forcing tears to fall from her eyes. She talked to boys easily, in fact, most of the guys considered her one of them and I often found myself wishing they'd see me like a friend as much as they did her. She loved U2, Aerosmith and chocolate. She was one of my best friends for three years of my life.

When I read what she had written in my yearbook, she reminded me of thing I had long forgotten: The Code, Clockin' It, FFPs, Kevin and Winney, parties at her then boyfriend's parents house, belts dragging in car doors and so much more. A lot of code talk that only a small group of us would understand. I cried and laughed when I read it. I couldn't stop reading it. I must have read it 10 times. Picking out every word, admiring her fancy curvy long handed writing. Saying her name to myself over and over again.

Then I sat ... and I cried.

That moment in time was a gift not often received. Facebook is great, but what a gift it was to receive a moment of memories from someone who is no longer physically here. I truly believe she was with me at that moment. I could hear her laughing. I could see her eyes sparkling. I could see her longer fingers moving the way they did when she would tell the Clockin' It Story.

Thank you for that moment AMR. I will cherish that page in my yearbook forever.