I love summer, I just wish it loved me back

On withdrawal/being a glutton for punishment.

I'm getting sick of the crazy mood swings, constant narcolepsy/simultaneous jitters brought on by my allergy meds, so I'm on a self-imposed week-long detox but it's already off to a rocky strat.

The dull ache started in my jaw, and it's moving its way up to my temples. I'm not nauseous yet, but it's only a matter of time.

In other news, I'm still tooling around with the Zune. Beyond my first and second impressions, I've decided that I really like the player, but I'm still not used to the interface.

I've owned an iPod for ~7 years, so it's pretty ingrained that the button on top of the wheel takes me back to the menu, not the case with the Zune, instead it ups the volume - not cool.

+ the video quality is amazing. I've watched a total of one video on my 5th gen iPod, it's just not really practical for how I use my iPod. I've watched the preloaded clips on my Zune at least once a day, they're that striking. Right now, I'm actually ripping a couple of skate dvds to watch tomorrow on my commute to a staff meeting on the south side.

- no clock. Yeah, I've got a cell phone, and a watch, and my iPod is usually in my bag too, but I'd like to be able to see what time it is with a cursory glance at the screen. Not cool Microsoft.

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A Zune Update

It's Day 2 of actually using my Zune and I'm just getting around to uploading more music on it. I initially set it up to be used with my work computer, just as a test to see how quickly the installer would run, and I was impressed that it took less than 10 minutes.

- I wish the software was just included in the box, yeah it makes they packaging a bit bigger but it's kind of a downer. I guess if it's trying to compete with the iPod, that's not really necessary since Apple stopped including iTunes on a disc years ago, but it would be nice.

- Pretty snappy slow syncing/painfully slow Zune software, I transferred about 3 gigs of music from the Mac partition on my hard drive (I'm using Parallels to update my zune since I'm a Mac user) and it was pretty seamless. Don't let the fact that you own a Mac keep you from checking out the Zune; it's doable with a little bit of legwork.

- The earbuds (that come standard with the Zune) are huge and might not fit in your ears very well. It felt like I was attempting to shove a giant tampon in my ear - uncomfortable to say the least.

+ Mac compatible, sort of. You need ot run a third-party app like Parallels or Boot Camp to run it but it's not that hard to set up.

+ Tells you how far along the syncing is on the screen of the device (right now I'm sitting at around 35%)

+ I'm still amazed at how small this thing is, but the video is really clear and crisp

+ Price, compared to Apple's 8GB iPod Nano ($209), the Zune is ~$30 cheaper (at least it is on Amazon.ca)

I made a smart playlist on iTunes of my top rated tracks since my music library is too large for this 8GB Zune.

I'm updating my Zune at 5 am because I have insomnia that's compounded by really bad heartburn.

If you have any additional questions about the Zune, feel free to contact me (my email address is located on my profile page).

The way this program works is that they (Matchstick, et. al) need feedback on exactly how the word of mouth is being spread. If you could do me a favour and fill out a quick survey on Chat Threads, the aggregator that handles all the back end statistical stuff, it would be greatly appreciated.

Log in to ChatThreads and enter your conversation ID: 102 986 0299

Tell them about the conversation and you can either choose to have them donate $5 on your behalf to charity or enter to win a $500 in gift certificates from Amazon.ca.

If you find yourself talking to someone else about the Zune, tell them about this blog post and have them fill out the survey as well, as the goal is to track how the conversation spreads.

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What's in my bag? OB Kit

What's in my bag? OB Kit
Originally uploaded by aloha nico.

My ob kit, courtesy of Matchstick.

Really stoked on the hot water bottle, as they're impossible to find these days. I've been a pretty big fan of OB tampons for a while now. I got over the initial 'Ew, that's gross!' part after about 10 seconds.

The first time I used ob, I didn't really have a choice, I wasn't prepared and had to grab tampons from someone I worked with. I had been a fan of one of the many applicator brands but when I went through my environmentalist/vegetarian years I quickly realised that ob was the logical choice.

No applicator means 55% 58% less waste than applicator-based tampons (applicators can also take years to biodegrade, if they do at all, particularly plastic ones).

I know ob isn't for everyone, like I said, I was kind of squeamish at first, but it's really not nearly as creepy as it sounds.

There's a little survey that can be filled out after you read the post. If you live in Canada, I can set you up with some samples of ob tampons, just send me an email or leave a comment.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=t6s0VBP5ykLflceIV_2bbwgQ_3d_3d

Meet Chocolate (and Vanilla)

The trade show weekend came and went with nary a chance to catch my breath let alone sleep what with the mandatory attendance rules in effect for the party (but I skipped out early - I'm a badass, what can I say?) and the Sunday night wrap up dinner (Indian, very nice) on top of working both Saturday and Sunday and defending my essay on Friday I felt overextended.


I don't know why, but I just wasn't in the mood to party come Saturday night. It was one of those nights where I just felt like I was wasting alcohol, and had no intentions to get stupid wasted or anything - and I like to go hard or go home. Strike one.

The bar was pretty dead considering how fashionably late we cruised in. Strike 2.

I was bored. Strike 3.

I excused myself because I didn't really want to be a Debbie Downer and totally harsh on anyone else's buzz, so I left, only to have to ride the bus home next to some creepy black dude who kept eye-fucking me and spitting. On the bus! Ew.


We were all so bagged at work on Sunday that it felt like the day would never end. Maybe it was the time change, maybe it was the alcohol, but it was pure hell. The Pansy and I both hoped that dinner plans were cancelled since neither of us had heard any further details about it. Don't ask, don't tell works for me. Customers annoyed me more than usual, but I got myself through it knowing that in 9 hours I'd be back at home, lying in bed again, except that not 20 minutes after I dragged my tired ass home, my phone rang: it was The Pansy, informing me that my presence was indeed required at dinner and that it started in half an hour, so could I be ready?

Uh, sure I guess, but what the hell am I going to wear. My first problem being that everything nice that I own (that's even remotely appropriate for dinner) is dirty from wearing it to the bar/the afterparty leaving me no choice but to wear my Nikita top (aka. I'm getting some tonight) but I paired it with a tank so it wasn't totally slutty.

The dinner itself was amazing, Indian food as far as the eye could see, and good company, although the three reps who sat at our table were a little on the boring side, but beggars can't be choosers. Our boss hugged us when we got there and again once we got our drinks from the cash bar and introduced us to some of the arriving guests while we were out having a smoke.

Curiously enough, he felt the need to introduce us to his brother (who has met us on countless occasions) as his partners in crime and to one of the reps as Vanilla and Chocolate - his partners in crime. Then he skipped off, literally, to go meet his lady friend from Ontario (he's got two, we met the other one the night before).

We ate, socialized a little, but left pretty early, still reeling from a really long weekend.

It was a good ending to one of the longest week's of my life.


An Unrelated Side Note: I've also actually (or finally, depending on your perspective) put an end to things with The Engineer - it sounded like a line but I really do need to just focus on me right now, so I'm back on the singles scene. Because I'm a classy lady party, I waited until after I received my birthday/V-day gift to do this. I simply prefer solitude over the company of others as of late, but not in a sad 'I'm depressed' way, I've just always been like that.

Freebies

I love getting stuff for free mostly because I'm a recovering packrat (my mom secretly throws out my stuff when I'm not at home) and, you know, getting stuff for free rocks.

Today, I got free Thai food from my roommate who's a leftover snob - Chase refuses to eat food once it has cooled down from its original temperature, and 3 free M.A.C. eyeshadows from one of my co-workers who no longer wears makeup.

...and I just got an email from one of the promo companies that currently employs your truly, and they're looking for people to work an Apple promo which would entitle me to a free nano, yay!

I was already expecting to get a free nano this summer because I'm planning to buy a new mac soon and Apple currently has a College/University promo going that if you buy a new Mac before September 16, 2006, you qualify for a free nano, so by the end of the summer I might very well be the owner of 2 nanos which I'd probably sell to get a new regular iPod because I really want Apple Care if I get a new iPod.

This has been a pretty rough year for me, technologically speaking, and I've managed to take advantage of every warranty purchased in the last little while, so now I'm a warranty convert and actually see the value in them, for the most part. That and new iPods aren't nearly as hardy as the old ones - my first gen one (from back when they were still Apple-only) is still ticking, I just want a slimmer model.

...And I have to wish my (sorority) sister and good friend Jess a very Happy 21st Birthday today, sorry we couldn't make it out to Olds, but if you play your cards right, I might drunk dial you from the backyard!

Sometimes the internet knows me better than I know myself

Half-Cocked
Random Brutal Sex Dreamer (RBSDf)


Fiery. Hungry. Blatant. Sexual. Christ. You are Half-Cocked.

There's a lot of wild lust inside you, banging around, that much is obvious. There's also a lot of untamed emotion. When either escapes, look out. One minute you're completely together, the next you're a howling gale of hormones and opinions.

Outside relationships, your intense, mercurial personality makes you a charmer. You can be fiercely devoted, and it's likely that many of your friends will be friends-for-life. Of course, your enemies are likewise certain and zealous, especially your exes and their therapists.

Your exact opposite:
The Maid of Honor

Deliberate Gentle Love Master
You will find the right person. In the short term, he's someone virile who won't sweat your imperfections. In the long term, he will be someone mature and caring who will grow to love them.


ALWAYS AVOID: The Slow Dancer

CONSIDER: The Playboy, The Billy Goat

The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

posted by team latte at 1:19 PM 0 comments links to this post
Friday, March 17, 2006
Wine & Cheese

Today is St. Patrick's Day but it was also our big brothers' annual Founder's Day Wine & Cheese event, complete with the requisite boxed wine (both red and white), cheese (marble), and chee-tos (both puffy and crunchy). I was a long day so I only stayed for an hour and a half, but in that short span of time I managed to down three punch cups filled to the brim with wine.



In the past 24 hrs I've worked 16, so I'll try to keep this short so that I have plenty of time to cry myself to sleep before I have to work again tomorrow night.



When I'm bored at work, I usually resort to reading the 6 or so free magazines we have. There's a certain non-binding order that I read them in...

* The Gateway (the university's newspaper)
* See (a free newspaper)
* Vue Weekly (see above)
* Exclaim! (a monthly music magazine)
* Outlooks (a gay mothly arts & entertainment magazine)
* City Palate (a monthly cooking magazine)

...and I had already exercised all of my other options so today was Outlooks/City Palate day. When I say read, I mean cover to cover here. Since we can't serve alcohol until 10:30am (because of our liquor license) it was pretty slow until around 11:30am.


Back to the point of the story. I was reading Vue (or maybe it was See - they're pretty much interchangeable) and this little orange flyer falls out. I'm intrigued because I love fraternity/sorority history stuff. The only thing that interests me more is secret society stuff. So when I see this flyer for the Order of the Serpentine, my curiosity is definitely piqued.

That is, until I actually read the flyer, and realize that it's just an advertisement for Axe. For those of you not familiar with the deodorant/cologne combo that is Axe - you apparently don't fraternize with enough Hollister-wearing frat boys. Axe smells like ass, and pretty much guarantees you won't be getting any play despite what the commercials would have you believe. Axe-bombing (the act of puncturing a can of Axe and throwing it into an unsuspecting victim's room, preferably to stifle any chance of them hooking up) has turned into a veritable sport in dorms/frat houses across campus.

Technology Update:

My phone sucks because the buttons have stopped responding! I can't even check my voicemail or do telephone banking because my phone can't tell when I'm pressing the buttons.

My camera sucks because for some reason the imaging software that comes with it, has switched to being in Japanese, boo!

You are cordially invited to a classy lady party

I think we (Pancake, Waffle, and perhaps Crumpet) need to get back in the habit of Wednesday Night Socials (aka. $0.75 draft night). It's been far too long, and I'm pretty sure our server at our just off-campus watering hole misses us.

Of course, we could just stay in and drink because our campus beer rep dropped off a 24 of a certain Labatt lager this afternoon.

I'll bring the pennies and a loonie.

I'm out so that I can watch Project Runway

Crapulous is the new hangover

Word of the Day for Saturday March 11, 2006


crapulous
\KRAP-yuh-lus\, adjective:


1. Suffering the effects of, or derived from, or suggestive of gross intemperance, especially in drinking; as, a crapulous stomach.


[Ed. Wow. Gingerbread and I are more alike then i dreamed possible. I originally posted this without reading an updated version of our blog, and it turns out Gingerbread had already posted the exact same dictionary quote of the day! this is a little weird to say the least.
Gingerbread, are you stalking me???]


Yeah, so I'm glad that I decided to expand my knowledge; trying to make myself a better person and whatnot by signing up for a Word of the Day email list! Because then I get to use words like THIS, that obviously may come into context more often than not :)


However, I've decided not to induce any 'crapulousness' for the next while.. not until Formal Season.. I have too much shit to get done. I am so obviously very important!


I've started collecting Kokanee drink stubs at work! I work in an irish pub, and our receipts that we print out only say 'local bottle' or 'local draft' and not the brand name. so I've just been stealing the chits that print up for the servers to hand to the bartenders... we have a contest every Frat Nite at our university oncampus watering hole, and Kokanee sponsors it. they end up using every receipt handed in as an entry form to win prizes. I already used up my Earls gift certificate I won this month... so I've been pushing Kokanee products on everyone that comes in, because no one ever really buys the stuff in an irish pub. I'd definitely say that kokanee consumption is up 5fold since I've started, so I definitely wouldn't consider it cheating that I'm using bar receipts because I'm the one that's convincing people to buy it! my goal is the SuperLargePrizeOfTheYear that usually is given away the last BarNite of the year. which is next month. WE'LL WIN!! surround sound speakers and big screen tv's for everyone!!!! woop woop!


k, off to studying!

team latte

Shop 'till you drop...or something

Another wicked quote from Kat (we were talking about drunk hookups/the morning after:


Kat: You don't do that to a lady

Gingerbread: What?

Kat: Kiss her [when you are] sober

Kat: ...You wait until she's drunk!


So I was reading this rant about American Apparel and their unsavoury founder/CEO and as much as I wanted to be incensed (this info wasn't all that new to me or anything) all I could think of is how I really wanted a couple more of these in Mint, Asphalt and Kelly Green.


I have been on a shopping bender for the last little while, I just bought 3 pairs of shoes (bringing the grand total for the school year up to 7 so far) and I know I'm going to buy at least one more pair in the next little while (most likely for formal). I finally got my purple and white checkered vans slip ons in the mail yesterday, whooop! I had to break them in so I wore them to work, and it didn't end in tears surprisingly. I also ended up with a case of mardi gras beads, apparently they came free with bottles of SoCo, so I liberated them from work.

Are you mocking me?

Just what I need: a daily reminder of my lacklustre sex life!


The gifts keep rolling in, I guess my family hasn't forgotten about me. I always kind of wonder if being 3 provinces away means out of sight, out of mind. Oh well. So I got a package with 5 books (there's supposed to be another one coming but it's on backorder) today, and I was so excited thinking that it could be my new phone that when I saw it was a birthday gift I didn't really care to open it.


This kind of annoyed Pancake so I told her that I was just going to wait until the second she left to open it, but I rethought that as she waved her fist menacingly. I open the box and the first book I see is Daily Sex: 365 Positions and Activities for a Year of Great Sex! I'm initially pretty creeped out because sex is just something that we don't talk about in my family. The 'big talk' that I got in 8th grade amounted to my dad knocking on my door, making some awkward small talk, and then quietly asking 'you talk about intercourse and that stuff at school right?' I nodded and then he said 'great' and closed the door.


The 'talk' with my mom consisted of her yelling at me when I wanted my health card in grade 11. She jumped to conclusions and quite logically assumed that I was pregnant and was getting an abortion, when in fact I only needed proof of address to renew my library card. Since I was only 14 at the time, I didn't have a driver's license. I was an obnoxious kid, so of course I never told her the real reason for needing it.


Why would either of my parents ever send me something like this?


Then I actually looked at the packing slip and I read that my cool aunt Sylvia and her daughter Sarah had sent it to me.


The rest of the books were pretty standard. I love the photography in cookbooks so I got Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, Lisa P. Young's the Portion Teller (kind of counterintuitive considering the first book), Myla Goldberg's Bee Season, and Lauren Weisberger's Everyone Worth Knowing. The book that is on backorder is some cookbook from Rachel Ray.