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| Wednesday, May 9th, 2012 | | 6:14 pm |
Work Accident
So I went and cut my thumb on the bandsaw today. Now before you freak out, it's just a flesh wound. But I thought I would post about it. I've been doing cabinetmaking for over a decade now, so it was bound to happen eventually. I'm always VERY careful, but shit happens. I was cutting a small (tricky) piece, and I slipped as the cut finished, and the end of my thumb bounced quickly in the blade. Lucky for me, the band saw uses a small, narrow blade, because saws (saw blades in general) cut really jagged cuts (in skin). The cut is not very deep, and only about 1/2" long. It just sucks because of the throbbing "heartbeat" type pain that goes with this kind of injury. It happened around 4:30pm and it's already feeling not too bad (6pm). If I'm lucky, it won't even scar. | | Saturday, February 18th, 2012 | | 12:45 am |
Update
Today felt like kind of a waste. I kind of have mixed feelings about the whole day in general. I had today off, since we're waiting for materials (so no work to do, really), and Monday is a holiday, so woohoo 4 day weekend. But yeah. I did pretty much nothing today. I sat in front of the computer and got caught-up on most of my YouTube videos, and TV shows, and that's pretty much it. I did do a tiny bit of priming (just a few spots), and I took-up some of the baseboards in the office, but in total, I'd say I did 1/2 hour's work. Pretty pathetic. But I say I have mixed feelings, because I really didn't FEEL like being productive today. In more chipper news, we have a new co-op student at work. He's adorable, but he's still in high school. But he'll be something nice to look at, I suppose. He seems quite bright, sociable, and genuinely interested in woodworking. The scum has his own joiner! I don't even have one! He also has a planer (dunno what size), and I have to assume he's also got a table saw of some sort. His name is Brandon (or is it Brendan?) I'm not 100% sure. I didn't even know we were getting a new co-op student. He started on Thursday (when I first met him). I also got an impromptu visit from Chris (from Ottawa) last weekend. He was in town visiting family and spent a few hours with me. Otherwise, not much else to update you guys on. I'm still single, employed, and working on the house. | | Tuesday, January 17th, 2012 | | 9:01 pm |
LOST WALLET!
Ok so that royally sucked. I got dropped off after work near Eastcourt Mall (East end of town). I went to Zellers, the Dollarama, and to Tim Horton's. Then I missed the bus by just about a minute, so I decided to walk home (since it's 20 minutes, vs waiting 30 mins for the next bus). When I got HOME, I realized I lost my wallet. I did the usual checking, re-checking, and re-checking of all my pockets, and kinda freaked out a bit. Then I decided to leave, and retrace my exact steps all the way back to Eastcourt Mall. No wallet. I even asked at the Tim's and Dollarama if they had found a wallet, and no luck. Depressed, and still kinda freaking out, I took a bus and got back home. When I got home, I had a message on my phone (no one ever calls on a Tuesday evening, and there was no message when I was home earlier). As a very lucky break, the call was from a lady asking to call her back urgently. Turns out that there's a lady (a resident of a local retirement manor) that stepped on my wallet in the Eastcourt parking lot, and they found a card with my number in the wallet). Even luckier, the manor in question is only on 9th (I'm on 5th) so I was able to walk there (in the freezing rain, though), and get it. I gave her 20$ as a reward. THANK GOD. What a total nightmare. Mainly because my address and info on my license has my PREVIOUS address on it. There only happens to be ONE card with my name and phone number on it that's for a game/movie rental place that I don't even go to anymore. This will surely give me the boot in the ass I need to get my address changed on my license. So yeah, it's now NINE PM and I'm having supper. I'm all wet, and grumpy, but also extremely happy at the same time. | | Sunday, December 18th, 2011 | | 7:05 pm |
I'm having one of those really nice perfect moments and I thought I'd write it down. Nothing all that spectacular, but it's the great feeling of happiness that goes with it. I'm eating a wonderful bacon and mozzarella quiche, listening to Sufjan Stevens (pronounced Soo-fee-an), and reading recent posts on Old House Web. I just recently caved and bought almost all of Sufjan's CDs (he's quite the prolific musician at something like 14 CDs in 10 years). I still have 3-4 from him I want to buy after Christmas since I'm enjoying them so much. Later tonight we're going to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie. I'M SO FREKIN' EXCITED OMG OMG OMG!!! Current Mood:  cheerful | | Sunday, December 11th, 2011 | | 9:02 pm |
Christmas / Coffee
I really hope some of my readers are following my house blog at: http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.com/Because these days that's the only place I'm posting semi regularly. I just posted some photos of my Christmas decorations today. Here's a preview:  I also briefly went over some of my Christmas traditions, so be sure to check that out. The relevant post is here: http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-at-foursquare.htmlYou can also read about my most recent "old house woes" regarding squirrels. Fun fun fun. In other news, I was delighted to find a Christmas card in the mail from my aunt! I've hardly heard a peep from her or my uncle, except when she made a surprise appearance at my house party in April. I should call her back and see what she's planning for the holidays. I also ran into my grandmother twice on the bus coming home from work. She mentioned to me that dad injured his leg or ankle falling down the stairs recently. I never heard anything from dad (phone or e-mail), so I really should call him too. Lastly, a bit of a gripe about coffee. For the past several months, I've been happily enjoying Farm Boy's "Fair Trade Organic Coffee" in their "East Timor Maubise flavour/variety, and just recently they stopped carrying it. This is kind of upsetting me because it took me forever to find a coffee that I really liked. I have tried dozens of varieties, even dark roasts, and I had finally settled on that one. So now I guess I'm back at square one. I did pick up a "Van Houtte" Costa Rica coffee today to try, and it's not too bad, so at least there's that. Cheers! Current Mood: happy | | Saturday, November 5th, 2011 | | 1:11 pm |
Well, I did manage to get more sleep. I went back to bed around 7am, and just woke up about 1/2 hour ago (12:30). I forgot to mention that to add to the misery, I also have TWO canker sores. I've been pretty "canker-sore-free" for the better part of 2 years or so, I definitely want to do another cleanse. That's what got rid of them the last time (lasted 2+ years, which is awesome since they suck). | | 6:21 am |
| | 2:32 am |
Ugh
Ummm for those who don't know (which is all of you), I'm sick. I seem to have a fever. It started on Thursday. I was extremely tired so I went to bed early (9:30ish), and now I'm wide awake and headache-ee at 2:20am. Fun. So I decided to bundle up in front of the PC for a bit. I might watch the new Bones or Glee episode. And, just in case my aunt Rachel reads this at some point, she had asked me a while back (maybe a year ago, near the end of Season 1) who my favourite character/singer was on Glee. I didn't really know at the time, and I think I had said Mr. Shu, but now I've grown really fond of Santana. Her version of "Back to Black" was amazing, so was "Valerie", and I find that she's got a really strong/powerful voice. | | Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 | | 6:06 pm |
So far (in the transportation to work saga) I've been a bit lucky. Yesterday and today, Stef was able to drive me into town since he had to go to the bank, and this, Don happened to catch me at the corner of Glen Rd (thus saving me about a 25 minute walk). I still need a better solution because it's November and the snow is coming. | | Monday, October 31st, 2011 | | 7:19 pm |
This is Impossible.
Well, I just got home (I finished at 5:00). What a fucking nightmare. There's no way on Earth I can keep this up. I'm aching and completely exhausted. To get home from work took a 1:05 walk plus a 20 minute wait for the bus, and another 40-ish minutes before I got home, so basically two hours: a grueling one hour walk and an hour for the bus. This morning wasn't much better either. I didn't think that it was THAT far, but to walk from Prince Foods (as far as I can go by bus) to work took 43 minutes. This isn't doable. Not in the winter. Most of the roads I need to take have no sidewalks, and are traveled by heavy trucks and transports. In the winter when they're poorly plowed I'll either get hit by a truck or get severe frost bite. Not to mention my aching hips/legs. Unless I can come up with something else, I'm going to have no choice but to quit. ;_; | | Saturday, October 29th, 2011 | | 7:15 pm |
| | Monday, October 24th, 2011 | | 7:21 pm |
>:(
What a shit day. First, I was late to work by an hour, and I had to pay for a taxi. I don't exactly live close to work, so it cost me 22$. The reason I didn't get up this morning was because when I did some electrical work in the Office (also my temporary bedroom), I reset my alarm(s) wrong. I set both alarms for PM instead of AM by accident. So yeah, add the fact that I also have to pay Don for coming to get me this morning for nothing, plus the hour's pay I lost, and this fuck-up cost me 40$. I was not happy. But then my day got even better (sarcasm). Don let me know that since his babysitter is quitting, his new one is now in St. Andrews (about 15 minutes north of Cornwall), and that he's also starting a side job to pay the bills, that he won't be able to drive me into work anymore, STARTING NEXT WEEK. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck! Here's the breakdown: I have no car, and I can't really afford one. I have no license. I can't ride a bike (though I have one in the garage I could use). And it wouldn't be safe in the winter anyways. There's no bus service near where I work - which is technically out of town. I can't ask my other co-worker for a ride since he lives in the opposite direction. I can't ask my boss (since he lives on the property and would literally be going WAY out of the way to drive me around), and I also can't ask my boss' son since he lives only a block away from work too. I can't ask my mom since she works nights and needs the sleep in the morning. It's way too far to walk. Taxi is so expensive that if I took 2 rides a day, I'd be working half the day to pay for transportation. My only option, really, is to take the bus part of the way here, and walk about a half-hour the rest of the way. This is going to suck balls in the winter when it's -40C or when it's raining. The only pitfall to taking the bus is that the bus would only work in the morning, since the schedule only has afternoon buses going back into town around 3:00-4:00pm, and I finish at 5:00pm-ish. The next bus is at midnight. Option 2, which I don't even really want to consider, would be to quit my job - which I actually LIKE, and get some shitty-ass job that's nearby. I'm going to need to get myself a car, but I obviously can't do this in a week. So yeah, life is shit right now. | | 7:09 am |
| | Saturday, October 22nd, 2011 | | 12:08 am |
Halloween Music
Hey, long time no post! Every major holiday (mainly Xmas and Halloween), I tend to look up music, and we all know there's an assload of Christmas music (religious and not), but not nearly as much for Halloween. If I asked you to name just 10, you'd likely say Monster Mash and Thriller, and then have to really think about it. I also find that a lot of the "Top 10" or even "Top 50" lists aren't that great, and they have songs that aren't even that "Halloweenish". So that said, I've compiled the following list of my favourites, with a few songs that aren't even on many of the lists I looked at. The list is not necessarily in any specific order. Bobby (Boris) Pickett - The Monster Mash (1962) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkKKzTYIe3QMichael Jackson - Thriller http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOnqjkJTMaA&ob=av3nBette Midler - I Put a Spell On You (Hocus Pocus) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDidHzwYu3EBeetlejuice Cartoon Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PimZ66nqzIDanny Elfman - Beetlejuice Movie Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlGxcekfshoHarry Belafonte - Day-O (The Banana Boat Song) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQXVHITd1N4Nightmare Before Christmas - This is Halloween http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hqotjvlvhd8or if you prefer, the Marilyn Manson version is also good. Phantom of the Opera Overture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhttZz9lmpkThe Adams Family Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVRX_5tGOlo(The version I have is different and runs at 1:29. I can't find the same version, but we all know how it goes) Are You Afraid of The Dark Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jitg-3xbmKURay Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVgMc8hkS8kBram Stoker's Dracula - Vampire Hunters http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk7sjUfwGd8Danny Elfman - Prelude (Psycho) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeuzthYGhYITales From The Crypt Keeper (Cartoon) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W006PFOLRnoDanny Elfman - Tales From The Crypt Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tSTgUSU8hgGlee Cast - Thriller - Heads Will Roll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcxWnBryoJQ&ob=av2eGoosebumps Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhm8uX78jy8Time Warp - The Rocky Horror Picture Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_7u3nhANa4And that's what I've gathered so far. I'm really surprised that so few lists have Phantom of the Opera on it. I also really wanted the "Wicked Witch of the West" theme from The Wizard of Oz, but I wasn't able to find it anywhere. I also didn't pick which of the available songs from "The Ring" would be the most appropriate. Most of the music from that movie is all based off 2 songs (Samara's creepy lullaby/song, and the main theme music). The main one that I like works fine, but it's like 6 minutes long or something, and I found it too long. PLEASE submit any of your favourites in the comments. A lot of the lists have other songs that I'm not really familiar with or that I don't like all that much. EDIT: I also want to add the Simpson's Halloween Special Theme http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNAAp7odfHo | | Tuesday, September 6th, 2011 | | 11:38 pm |
Angry Birds~
YESSSS! Finally!  The hardest level(s) for me were 2-12, followed by 3-4, and 3-21, as well as a few others, but 2-12 for me was the hardest to get 3 stars on. | | Sunday, September 4th, 2011 | | 2:28 pm |
Caves~
Alright, so I've wanted to go visit some caves for quite a while now. I finally had the chance to do this yesterday and I had a blast! I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, yet the whole experience was far different than what I had imagined. Myself, Lynne, Sharon, and Anthony went to see the caves and do Zip-lining at "Aventure Laflèche" which is not far north of Ottawa. I am terrified of heights, so I only did the cave tour, then I went on several hiking trails.  The caves were our first stop at around 11:30am. The tour was an hour, and we'd eat lunch after it. For the tour, we had to wear hardhats (which were essential since I banged my head on solid rock at least 3 times), and each hat also had a bright head lamp.   Our tour guide was great. You could tell he was a better French-speaker, but he had an awesome cheerful attitude, and cracked a few jokes along the way. We entered the cave by the lower level. Traditionally, back when the cave opened in (I believe) the 70's, they'd have people come in by the upper "natural" entrance, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't make much difference. As we entered the first few feet of the tunnel (which was blasted in the 60's (I think), you could already feel a dramatic shift in temperature. The temperature outside yesterday was in the high 20's (over 30 with the humidity), but walking into the tunnel, it dropped down to what I'd describe as "general air-conditioned" temp (so around 20?). The tunnel was kept closed by a steel door, so once we passed the door, it got even cooler. I was actually very surprised how cool it was inside the cave. At that point, I'd say it felt "heavily air-conditioned", like walking into a fridge. We had sweaters on, and I was wearing jeans, so I was just comfortable. Steel entry door:     At the end of the man-made entrance tunnel, we reached the area that he described as the chimney, which was a large vertical shaft in the rock. This part was fitted with a metal ladder, which snaked upwards into the stone walls of the cave. We were then led down a narrow steel ladder, maybe 6-7 feet, passed a railing, overlooking a large opening below, filled with water. Beyond this, we walked up to a fairly rounded cavern. This space had a few very small tunnels leading off in a few directions. Overhead, you could see that the walls climbed vertically quite high, and that water/moisture trickled down the walls. From this room, we were led down in small groups of 3-4 to see "Sump 3" which is a tunnel that is always filled with water. He explained that they had divers go down on several occasions to see if they could find the other opening to this passage, but they couldn't find it. It was here that I also made a big goof, and went a bit too far, and put my whole right foot into the water. I wasn't paying enough attention, and since the water was very still, I had a hard time seeing where it started. But in hind-sight, the ripples from my foot made for better photos, so meh. This was the small tunnel going down to the water. We were the second group to go down, and I have a photo with a guy from the first group to show the scale.   Water!   Once everyone had a look, the guide explained the room, and the sump, etc. and we were led back to the main chimney section of the lower cave. Here, he explained more about the cave. At some point here, some lady dropped her camera into the large gaping hole/water below. This came up shortly after, and the guide said that one of the diver ladies might be able to get it back to her. Here you can see that my hand is on the railing, and that the hole goes down quite far to the water.  I should quickly mention that the entire cave/area is made-up of crystalline marble. This is a particularly nice shot of it, on part of a wall. Many areas in the forest also had exposed rock that was the same marble.  The climb up the ladders was next. And what a climb it was! The ladders were icy cold and moist. They were also very close to a vertical climb, with a few platforms and turns. At the top of the ladders, we entered another small cavern opening with a low ceiling, and we all took a seat on some stones laid around the edge of the room. More explanations followed, then we snaked our way through a tight opening (half crouched walk, which I did half on one knee).   Sharon, just behind me.  Lynne in one of the smaller tunnels:  The next room we saw was called the "dream gallery" which is where explorers/scouts sleep during special trips. The room is a long slender corridor. In this space, we got all of us to click-off our lamps. It was the darkest space I've ever been in. Pure pitch blackness line nothing I've ever seen before. Not a single sound (other than those talking). It was awesome.  After this spot, we crawled out into the main, large cavern, which was massive. In here was probably the most beautiful portion of the caves, which was the beautiful sparkling ceiling. It was hard to capture this on camera, but I think I managed it fairly well. There was some kind of mineral on the ceiling of the cave that sparkled intensely against the light of the head lamps, and it was gorgeous! I took several photos of it at different angles.  Gorgeous!    Here you can see some of the walkway that led down into the main cavern. You can also see some large hollowed-out impressions in the stone, where large rocks must have fallen out.  These were water droplets:  More explanations followed, and then we were led out from the cave by the natural entrance at the top of the hill. The entrance was huge, and as soon as we got out, you instantly felt the summer heat, and everything fogged-up from the temperature shift.  The opening to the cave had beautiful moss around it.    Some couple was still there in this shot, but you get an idea of the size.   I *really* want to go back. Apparently by next year, they will be expanding the tours to include a 3 1/2 hour tour, which will involve more sections of the cave, and they'll provide gloves and knee-pads to crawl through tighter areas of the cave. All 4 of us really want to come back for this. Heading back down the hill.  After lunch, Lynne, Sharon and Anthony got ready to go zip-lining, and I went and got a map for the hiking trails. I made the stupid mistake and decided to start with the ADVANCED "Altitude" trail, which was also one of the longest at 45 mins. The beginning half of the trail was brutal, and involved a lot of steep up-hill climbing/steps. But once the trail started to go down hill it wasn't too bad. My thinking was that the higher trail might have more interesting sights, but it was the most boring of the 3 trails I took. Go figure. The second trail was the "main" trail, and it had some much better offerings. It had neater plants to look at, some lookout points, and I found a huge patch of ripe blackberries, which of course, I pigged-out on.  Pretty sure these weren't edible, but they were pretty!     This is a type of wild raspberries with large, pretty flowers:  I was also thrilled to find some wintergreen! I remembered this little plant from a VERY long-ago camping field trip. Our tour guide at the time had called it a tea plant (which is technically accurate, since it's also known as teaberry), but he had said that to ID it, you had to look for tiny black spots under the leaves. I popped a leaf in my mouth, chewed it, and was amazed by the awesome wintergreen taste! It was like an all-natural gum. I piked a few and I'm planning to try a tea with it. Wintergreen:  There were a lot of interesting mushrooms. These were nearly neon-orange.  Overall, a fantastic day trip. Also, these are just a FEW of the photos. There are over 100 in the album. Check them out here: (and start at page 7, going in reverse order). http://s1018.photobucket.com/albums/af308/clockmaker15/Aventure%20Lafleche%20-%20September%203rd%202011/ | | Saturday, August 13th, 2011 | | 4:39 pm |
House Blog
I'm whoring-out my new blog. This is a blog that I started to post all the updates and info related to my house. I'd love it if you guys checked it out. I've made quite a few updates there already. http://my1923foursquare.blogspot.com/ | | Monday, July 18th, 2011 | | 11:49 am |
OMG TEEN WOLF! So many hotties in this show. The main character is ok, the other wolf guy is SO hot, and then there's the best friend, and the jock. Mmmm... And it's really good so far. I'm only on episode 1 and I'm already hooked. From the title it sounds like it would be geared towards a young crowd, but I'd put it in the same kind of category as Supernatural. Here's the one I'm crushing over the most: | | Saturday, July 16th, 2011 | | 9:54 pm |
Today was a rather productive day, considering what a (sorta kinda) screwed up day it was. First off, since I'm on holidays, I went to be super late last night (3am). Mom had called earlier, and she wasn't sure if she was going to go to yard sales (we didn't go last week). It really didn't sound like she'd go, so I stayed up. Then she calls me at 6am. Ugh. So I got dressed and ate, and we went. The only things I picked up was a KING (brand) Biscuit Joiner for 40$ (it looks nearly new), and a few chisels (old beat up ones, but really good ones made in Sweden). I got back home around 11-ish, had a lunch, checked e-mails and whatnot, and then I crashed on the bed and slept until around 3:30. I then decided to do more work on the house again. I installed some more of my nice door trim in the kitchen, then I finished patching around the floor/walls of the upstairs main staircase. I also cut and installed a new jamb in that opening. I'll need to do a bit of drywall work around the bottom corners before I can install my casings, but it's coming along well. Now I'm gonna be hanging out with Chris (Ottawa friend) for a little while. Dunno what we're doing yet. Friends in town are gone to Lift-Off (live concert) but I didn't feel like going. It's Kim Mitchell playing tonight, and I'm not even sure who he is, so yeah. Can't wait to see the last Harry Potter soon. I'm not sure when we're gonna go. | | Wednesday, July 13th, 2011 | | 5:25 pm |
Woohoo! I get an extended holiday! And paid, too (with my own spare hours, but still awesome). Apparently I have enough banked hours to pay for next week off, plus pay for most of the shop materials I've used up (and not paid yet - roughly 300$+ worth). We had a scheduled holiday coming up from July 22 to Aug 1, but now I'm getting from the 16th to the 1st! 17 days off! I'm thinking of going up to Ottawa for a bit to visit a few people, but nothing is planned just yet (need to ask around). I also want to take some time to work on the house. I'd like to do the bathroom vent in the roof, get the glass to fix the front window, MAYBE get all the door crown mouldings done and install the bulk of them, order the window for the back stairs, finish patching the floor, etc. We'll see. |
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