Mostly harmless

Thursday, January 7

2010-01-08T03:00:34Z

~ me, just finished looking a series of cam shots exploring the vastness of my bald spot.
~ fun man... fun. :)

So yeah... DING.
My alarm went off at 6:00 this morning.
From waking kids, getting them downstairs, fed, making lunches... and out the door,
taking care of me, food, shower, dress, pack, coffee... did I mention coffee?...
To work... totally non-stop day... with a warm heart moment and a great gym workout...
Groceries on the way home... packing 'em away, cleaning up kitchen, making dinner,
Cleaning kitchen again... and then DING.
Literally the first time all day when I felt like I had stopped...
Just... stopped.
sigh.
I've got another coffee now.
My world is at peace.

wearing
~ oh man... pj pants... black tee. big warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around me on the sofa as I laptop away...
~ today was more jeans... and I'm pretty sure I pulled off "untucked" as a "shirt under the sweater" look.
~ significant... I've never managed that before. Always felt like a dishevelled dip stick... but I think it worked today.
~ lol.
planning
~ fuck'en eh... just go go go go till your head falls off... pick it up, and find a seat. sigh.
wishing
~ militantmomma was saving me some mini banana bread loaves!! :D
~ that anfractuousity and her main squeeze... get to carving their own path someday soon...
~ for my adorable nerdular... to advance to the next stage soon. :)
~ to send a random smile to uawildcatgrl ... because she's sugar.

Birthday moments...
A very happy birthday to spankynotes. Just back from a big explore, and facing a new year of BEING AWESOME. :D (sorry, but after meeting you and hearing about the amazing things you have going on in your life, you've been shoved up on the lj friend hero pedestle. :D) I hope you had a wonderful day on your special day and that the year ahead rewards you for putting so much effort into living. :D

///
Nigeria is pissed off about them darn 'mericans making all kinds of rules about flying.
So many delays and ... security.
Gosh.
I'm guessing they're not asking the customs officials if they want to help launder five million dollors from the princes private holdings...
But seriously...
Dear Nigeria:
You seriously expect anybody to give a shit if you don't like line ups?
You are a country with a life expectancy for your citizens of FOURTY SIX. (Ok, fourty nine for women)
You are a world leader in crime, corruption, money laundering, and exist to serve as a global narcotics redirection zone thanks to your pathetic government and legal system.
Please shut the fuck up about line-ups at american airports.
Your's truly, EEOTP.
(Everyone Else On The Planet)
PS. Can you help me move five million dollars into your bank account, so I can sneak it out of my country. I'll let you keep half.

//
Did you read that LJ News post today?
Honestly, I had no clue LJ was doing so many cool things. :) lol... I'll likely not use any of it, but still...
cool beans.

/
Love recklessly.
Love with every ounce of your being.
Love your friends so hard your heart feels likely to burst
Love with great passion...
Love without it.
Just don't miss out on a chance.
There will surely come a time when you can't.

Yeah... k, time to go. :)
ps. I love you.

corto @ 2010-01-07T19:47:00

2010-01-08T00:47:16Z

Ding!

~ more on that later.

Just marking a moment. :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Wedensday, January 6

2010-01-07T04:23:12Z

So yeah... media pc, hooked up to theater gear... so cool.
Dear self: Please win lots and lots of money someday soon so you can buy a truly digital switching and scaling theater receiver... la la la... :)

Oh and surprise surprise... it snowed.

wearing
~ I pulled on jeans, smiled, added argyle and presto... it's a wednesday.
planning
~ of course, it being wednesday... solid day of work... blink and it's 5.
~ although I paused in the whole "blink" thing to go to the gym.
wishing
~ a happy christmas eve to balljar ... :D
~ that suburbiadaze is worrying for nothing and that all is well.
~ for some razzberee flavoured good luck...
~ and that I could do something to make zaxwrit smile...

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday whine_country. :) May the year ahead remind you that your not boring. :)

Today I shed a quiet tear with the memory of sugar-tea (teasdale) on her birthday.

///
f'king rotator cuff muscles are still kicking my ass.
Sure I have a vastly improved range of motion and shit loads of strength back from the near-dead-arm zone this started in...
but that was September.
My wonderful private sector health insurance only covers a "portion" of the first 20 physio therapy sessions...
That's long since used up... oh and that's 20 per family... and Geo's gonna need plenty.
So it's all about following the specific exercise and movement routines that the physio dude worked out with me.
But... I sure miss the way it would feel after he "worked on it".
sigh.
Dear Shoulder muscles: please get better soon. You are sucking of late, and it needs to stop.
Thanks.

//
Tangerine Jelly Belly jelly beans ...
Lemon in a pinch.
But the tangerine 'specially...
Just Make My Mouth Go Mental.
I could take a FIST full and just cram them in my mouth and destroy my jaw trying to chew...
So I never expose myself to serving sizes of Tangerine Jelly Belly jelly beans of sufficient proportion to destroy my jaw.
Smart huh! :D

/
You can't solve - or properly put behind you - your little problems when you bury them under the big ones.
In fact... all you end up having done is made the big problems more robust.
Way to go.
If you've got problems and you think you need to deal with 'em...
Compartmentalize.

Ok... I have to git. :D
See you soon.

Tuesday, January 5

2010-01-06T04:59:59Z

~ ok... now... looking at this picture.... I'm thinkin serial killer again. Or perhaps just cerial killer... we have sugar pops in the pantry!!

So it's been snowing for a week now.
Pretty much constant.
I've abandoned all hope of wearing sneakers ...

wearing
~ pj pants, ancient strong bad (hi kym).
~ although I was in my tuesday best for work. I really like the light purple shirt.
planning
~ work is - not surprisingly - filled with ... work! gah!
~ still... on the busiest days... it still kinda feels like play. :)
~ gym... I'm like... "I'm going to the gym every freaking day before the surgery!!!" (and today was awesome)
~ peanut chicken, pasta, green beans... dinner was yum.
~ play with computer, tv and a giant long hdmi cable.
wishing
~ sending some of that brotherly love to rudma... always.
~ that bardiva knows how to burp...
~ for irishgypsie to catch a break...
~ and pasticcio knows where her windex is...

Birthday moments...
A very happy birthday to kimmellee... may there be solutions and opportunity this year... for both of you. :)

///
People complaining about full body scans at airports... LOL. wow!
Governments thinking full body scans will stop terrorists in airports... LOL. double wow.

//
Ok, so a lot of things I write start with "life is all about..."
But see... nobody ever said life's aboutedness had any specific alegorical literary limitiations.
So...
Life is all about choices.
No wait... life is all about being happy.
Or... life is all about choosing to be happy.
Yeah... that's it.
I mean, seriously... wtf is with choosing to not be happy?
Sure, things can suck...
But embrace your inner psycho... and smile.
Worst case... you scare away the vacant folks.

/
when something is right...
you just know it.
~ and it's a good feeling.

:)
Night.

Monday, January 4

2010-01-05T02:14:14Z

~ yeah... back to work... kinda turns you inside out!

yeah, today was grand. :D
how great is it that I get to enjoy going to work.
I'm feeling fortunate again. :)

wearing
~ Totally a Monday. :)
~ back to work... beige monday. Excellent tie. :)
planning
~ catching up... setting priorities... and catching up with friends at work.
~ freely admits... that last bit... was the best part of my day.
~ gym at lunch... totally rocked.
~ meet a consultant at our house at 6:30 to review what it would take to install a tankless waterheater. Result: we will not be installing a tankless water heater.
~ now it's now... i's getting late and time to read with ed is quickly approaching.
wishing
~ I get a chance to tell pasticcio about the stuff she... uh... missed. :)
~ to send some very quiet little squishy vibes to sirenity...just 'cuz.
~ and to send an even quieter smile to nerdular

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday cerulean_me... If I could, I'd give you that massage myself. (I happen to think highly of my skills. :D). May this day bring you many simple rewards.
Happy birthday ventusfelina... I hope you have been able to celebrate your day... and that the year ahead finds you reaching your goals and taking the control you desire most.
and krzy... I know you're out there. :D Happy birthday sugar.

//
Oh the joy that is htpc cables purchased through amazon-dot-com.
Yup yup... my 25 foot hdmi cable arrived today. All 25$ worth of it.
This bodes well for my htpc plans... :D

Dear Moster Cable Co.:
Suck it.

/
I love moments at work (and there have been several over the last DECADE) when I find myself absorbing information from young geek god coworkers about home theater stuff.
Today's lesson htpc, upscaling, IR remotes and Wii hacking.
sigh.

~ life is on one of those mad upswings of happy.
I shall endeavour to sustain it's awesome power. :)

See ya soon.

Sunday, January 3

2010-01-04T05:06:29Z

Hi... from my front hall. :)

It's been a long last-couple-of-days...
Yesterday was all about a headache and making the most of the day... despite the advil fog.
Today ... was just a totally lazy ass day.
Pizza for dinner levels of lazy.

And it's only 11:40 something...
and I feel dead.
So bed is calling me.

wearing
~ one of four pairs of pj pants... I have more pj pants than regular pants...
planning
~ job jar cleaning... relaxing...
~ getting my head around the idea that I'm going back to work tomorrow.
wishing
~ I had posted this 6 minutes ago. (lol...)

Birthday moments...
Happy day-late birthday brak55... I hope you're having fun... that you were able to celebrate your day... and that the year ahead is a peaceful one. :)
A very happy birthday (today) to dawna... may the year ahead bring you really great reasons to smile... and thank you for always being ready to help.

///
So... Geo and two of his friends decide to go to see Avitar in 3d on Friday night.
7:00 pm showing. We drop him off at 6:30... we had bought the tickets earlier in the day...
Then we go get coffees and head to see Sherlock Holmes with Edward.
As our movie is in "coming attractions"... Geo texts... He and his friends... booted from the theater.
Their crime? Only single seats left, so they were sitting in the aisle - no can do... fire regs, etc.
So they kicked 'em out. Gave them passes... but a) It was not a nice "kick out". Kids don't treat other kids well in these situations. b) they didn't refund the EXTRA they had to pay to see the 3d version... and c) one of the friends couldn't find his stub... no pass for him.
I met them in the lobby... they decided to go to invictis (invictus?) ... they'd already seen sherlock. Other friend had to pay again. (no pass).
Alrighti... I'm good with them getting kicked out for sitting in the aisle... but the rest of it sucked.
So I popped in to the AMC on my Saturday grocery trip... to talk to whatever passes for a manager or crew chief.
Left with four passes and 10 "drink or popcorn" coupons. :D
I like free stuff.

//
I am looking forward to getting back to the office.
:)

/
I do not understand the "mini pops".
You know... the little 10 year olds, dressed like bitches and pimps, karioki singing pop songs.
You turn on the tv... you're watching some normal show...
And on comes a cute little 10 year old girl singing about how if I liked it... I should'a put a ring on it.... and I'm like... "Liked what?... what are you implying?"
And little girls do not have ROCK MOVES... even if they think they're chanelling Pink.
I find the whole "mini pop" thing disturbing.

~ k... ni ni. :)

geek karma time...

2010-01-03T06:01:04Z

So... i know several of my friends here bask in the glory of geekdom.

Any Ubuntu smartypants's out there?
Somebody needs you.

[ :: Click this to go a public post :: ] in bramey's journal.

She needs a bit of advice about getting a keyboard to respond in a netbook running ubuntu.

Friday, January 1, 2010!!! :D

2010-01-01T17:15:27Z

~ ok... I admit it... I was ET's finger-double.

So it's Twenty-Ten.
And you may ask yourself...
Is that corto person still here?
Is he still doing this?
Maybe he'll change that rediculous format ...
I mean, it's just something he copied from a long ago post by steph-the-punquin-cam-girl.
Or maybe he'll stop the mad vanity thing with the pictures.
And then you could answer yourself...
Yes, Yes, Nope, Tough, and don't be silly.
:)
~ another year awaits.

Oh... and it snowed, like.. all day yesterday, all night and it's still snowing. Not blizzard snow... just... snowing.
Very bright outside. :D

We had fun last night.
District 9 was quite good. Very trippy...
We - the four of us - sat on the giant theater room sofa and collectively broke our faces laughing and screaming while playing Super Mario Wii.
That, a big fondu and a tiny little 200 ml bottle of sparkling wine was our new years eve.
It was great. :)

wearing
~ skinny jeans
~ threadless... (love threadless... support and sustain the awesomeness that is threadless...
planning
~ taking down the tree... and packing christmas into three very large red and green tupperware-type chests.
~ dinner at my folks house...
wishing
~ y'all don't vanish.

//
So I go to the gym and start with a 16 minute cardo thing (cascades, my weight, level 14, climbs every few weeks... it's a bitch... love it...)
I use my iphone to watch a tv show while I zoom along on the cardio highway.
I watch various shows... but I admit that I have primarily... watched the collected episodes of gossip girl.
yes... I know.
Never-the-less... It works for me.
This being said...
Let me say this (and I'm only up to the lady gaga epi):
This show needs to develop any single one of the female roles towards someone you can feel something besides loathing for.
Capish?
Sheesh... Serena is such an unbelievable hoe and what is she? thirty five?
Blair? Please... you'd feel like a pedo doing this nutjob-stuck-as-a-nine-year-old... but they insist on reminding us that she is bouncing on Bass.
Jenny could not possibly be a stupider little twat, and Vanessa should just drop the veil and show everyone her penis.
In fact... their super vilan, Georgina, is the only actually attractive one and they keep making her nuttier than the last time they let us see her.
And... AND.. Lily is a real live actual rich slut groupy that didn't die of an overdose... phew... what a role model.
The guys are not much better...
But at least there's Chuck. He's never pretended to be anything but his creepy self.
Pretty much the rest of them are pathetic. Erik? Erik is in grade two...why is he here?
Dan? Everytime I see him in my brain... the image gets overlaid by that guy from Napolian Dynomite...saying "idiot".
Rufus ... must have a hard life holding his head up without an actual spine,
And yeah, sure, Nate's a nice guy... so why do they make him look like Christian Bale about to axe someone to bits?
Phew...
Ok... glad I got that off my chest.
Please move along... and pay no attention to the crazy man.
:)

/
Dear Garnier:
Please go get in a shower and TRY TO OPEN
one of your bottles of Fructis shampoo.
Now hurry back to the drawing board and try that again.
Geez.

:)
~ see ya...

Thursday, December 31.

2009-12-31T22:03:16Z

NYE... and we are being total homebodies tonight. :)
Watching a movie... having a family fondu... playing some games and *gasp* we might even open one of those half size bottles of brutt or whatever it is... it sparkles... weee...
I'll have my annual sip.

And that will be how we kiss the decade of saying "thousand" goodbye. You know... we will say "twenty..." whatever, for the rest of the century.
Good riddance. It's way cooler to say "twenty..." :)

wearing
~ another skinny jeans day.
planning
~ you know... having 'service people' scheduled kinda ruins the whole "holiday" vibe.
~ had the Direct Energy guy in by 8:20 this morning.
~ culligan was here at noon. Our waters fine... but man... what a pain. (I need to re-find my like's-well-water vibe...)
~ gym... immediately following the service zone... ahhhhhh... sigh. all my parts are happy with me again.
~ about to start getting the fondu set... make some shrimp things... saucy and wrapped in phylo pastry.
wishing
~ A safe and happy new years eve celebration - what ever it looks like in your world - to my treasured lj friends.

Birthday moments...
A day late, but as heartfelt a birthday wish as ever... happy birthday rini. May the year ahead bring a smile to your days and nights... and good surprises.
And for the suckers that have their birthday on December 31st...
May I start my wish with an apology from the universe...
I'm sure this was fun at some point but seriously... lol, sucks to be you.
All kinds of birthday love to danicia... Happy birthday super-game-sugar (sgs for short). I hope you have a wonderful day today and enjoy a year of good fortune. ;0
And to aunticrist, happy birthday... May the year start off with great news and just roll with that all year long. :)
Happy birthday bulvai... May the year ahead reward patience with vigor.

///
Gotta say... it's very disappointing to see another group of canadian soldiers die and get dismembered, let alone the loss of a canadian civilian reporter in a war that makes no sense at all.
Dear Afghanistan... please fuck off already.

//
As the "thousands" end and the "Twenty's" step up to the plate,
I wanted to take a moment to make my peace with 2009.
This last year has been a "giver" of grand proportions.
A year I will forever remember and appreciate.
We made unparalleled family memories...
We embraced a healthier lifestyle, and we pushed ourselves to greater physical challenges...
Heck, we faced all kinds of little challenges... and we've overcome all of them.
And as wonderful as all that is...
It's the friendships... that are making me a two thousand and nine super-fan.
Life is long, complicated and pretty much one monster obstacle course...
It a damn shame to face it without having the odd shoulder to cry on,
Without the chance to share a laugh, or the chance to show your love.
Simple friendships... have made the difference for me this year.
A year that makes the words "thank you" seem wanting...

/
what the heck... Thank you. :)

~ k... gotta go. See ya.

Tuesday, December 29

2009-12-30T04:55:21Z

seriously cold day.
So cold... you come inside... get your winter stuff off... wash your hands, pour a coffee, sit on the sofa, watch half a half-hour sit-com... AND YOUR LEGS ARE STILL COLD.
Like... cold to the touch cold.
Fricking cold.

~ but besides that cold stuff... it's been a good day. :)
Woke up feeling fine... and stayed that way.

Spent from 10 - 2 waiting for the Direct Energy service dude who was to show up "sometime between 10 and 2"... which really means... "He'll be there at 1:58."
Our hot water has a definate orange hue to it and that spells rusty-water-heater.
The problem turns out to be that the "anode" thing in the heater that the minerals attack instead of rusting the metal lining (the anode has a charge and ultimately prevents rust)... anyways... the anode thing is supposed to last 15 years... and after three... it's been eaten away to nothing.
So our wonderful Culligan Water Softening system... can suck my ... er... salt.
Tomorrow begins a process of finding independant water testers, and hauling Culligan to task on meeting our needs or leaving the party.
Grrr... Direct Energy just told us "Hey, we're fixing this... no problem... but you're going on the hard-water-plan." (this will cost us more... Again... Grrrrr!)

wearing
~ skinny jeans... enjoi shirt... warm hoodies.
planning
~ wait for service dude...
~ make corto's amazatron whole wheat almond bread in the bread-maker...
~ go to gym... sigh... god how I love going to the flipp'en gym.
~ cost-co to get milk, chicken, fish, cream and sox. :)
~ dinner at SILs (brought the bread) and exchange kid zone christmas prezzies...
~ leave there... go to my folks house... short visit and giving more prezzies...
~ then home...
~ now it's now... and I'm tired. :)
wishing
~ for pixiecup to enjoy the good moments...
~ that skyedragon66 finds a way to calm the anxiety-storm that's brewing...
~ to welcome spankynotes home from her travels south... (dude... I cannot imagine what the airports were like??? let alone coming from warm... TO THIS!!!). :D
~ that myclevername wins!. (because it is a battle, no matter how you look at it...)
~ and for barefoot_dyke to enjoy the ... serenity... :D

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday make-up girl... (sunnlight). I hope all is well and that business is great. :D
And to sillz, a very happy birthday Sarah. May there be prosperity, health, and buckets of happiness in your home this year and I hope you are surrounded by the ones you love on your special day. :D

//
I got new - beautiful - leather gloves (that actually fit!) for christmas.
Handily the most affordable way there is to make your car go faster,
and to make your rack and peanut steering more responsive. :)

/
You are more beautiful than sunshine.
The promise of dawn.

~ k... mario calls. :)

corto @ 2009-12-29T01:40:00

2009-12-29T06:40:52Z

It is sucking more kinds of cock outside right now than you'd find at Clay Aikins' birthday buffet.

After two days of laying a half inch of ice on everything...
The temps drop a bit... and it snows all day....
Then the temps plummet and the wind starts.
Big wind.
Stuff is breaking off ... and blowing around.

Chunks of stuff from the forest of ice around us are slamming* into the house.
The wind is literally howling outside the windows... (and these are new - well sealed - windows! :D)

* ok "slamming" sounds pretty dramatic. It's less dramatic but enough to make you jump out of your seat or worry a window will break. :(

Anyways... it's late'ish... and I'm thinking the bed is whispering my name.

:)

ni ni...

Monday, December 28

2009-12-29T01:07:46Z

~ all day, it seems, I have neglected to actually look at my hair. I know I've been in front of a mirror dozens of times...
Alas (earwax) ... I have had post shower, towel, mini-balding-mohawk all day. :)

It's Monday eh... not to put too fine a point on it...
but I'm off all week, and this totally is great!!!! :D

Suz is off tomorrow, but working wed and half of thursday...
So really... it's "family plays games at home and makes nice meals" vacation time.
:)

wearing
~ See, when we went on our cross-border-shopping-extraveganza, I bought several shirts.
~ This one, and one other... are what I'm calling "my nice tee shirts"... so I'm trying to take care of 'em.
~ They have never been in the dryer. Only "hung to dry"... AND DUDE... the fabric feels like brand spanking new.
~ wwwwway nicer than the other shirts, bought at the same time... that get a dryer cycle.
planning
~ nuthing. not one thing.
~ I didn't go to the gym...
~ I didn't bake...
~ I didn't even tackle a job-jar cleaning jag.
~ There was coffee... a great club sammich... and lots of goofing around. :)
wishing
~ that innerly has a good time at the island...
~ for razzberee to get a whole lot better...
~ for cloverbee to lose her flu...
~ heck... the list goes on... a big wish for a return to health!!!!
~ and that nosneros_h can stand the suspense... lol. :)

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday to my sweet and distant friend, uniclycommon. May the days and weeks ahead, lead your heart to a place of comfort and warmth.

///
Dude tries to blow up a US passanger plane... around christmas.
al-qaeda again.
Can you imagine a more selfish, thoughtless and pathetic organization?
Save the proportionally miniscule group of islamic freakazoids that want to suck the bugs out of an al-qaeda leaders beard,
All these guys ever accomplish is the "making life harder" for muslims the world over.
And now? They've just made things harder still.
Way to represent al-qaeda losers.

//
So yeah, with a little help from my friends, I've been tackeling windows7 license requirements.
The process continues.
It's something behind the seal of a "Friends only post", so let me generally share the two important links.
The deal is only good until Jan 3, 2010 (I think)... so do as you wish.
The idea is that someone with a valid college or university student email address
Can buy a windows7 home premium or professional license key (and download, if you need it) for 29$US or 39$CAN.
Sweet deal, considering the actual retail price of this stuff.
[ :: LINK to the US web site :: ]
[ :: LINK to the Canadian web site :: ]

/
I spent an hour curled up on my sofa with Rachael today.
...
..
I want a punch line here but honestly... I got nothing.
The only non-geeky magazine I dig is "everyday with rachael ray".
sigh.
Seriously, though... I get a handful of good cooking ideas from every edition of the magazine.
It's a lot of fluff... but the good stuff is there to be had and I can haz it. :D

~ k... time to go play Mario. :D

Sunday, December 27

2009-12-28T02:17:11Z

~ cheers. :)
(with coffee, of course)

Geo is s'posed to be doing "moon observations" for science.
So, of course, it's been cloudy for days and days. :)

Geo is doing great... if not a bit irritated by the whole thing.
Ed is still riding the lego adreneline highway... mainlining lego like a bankrolled tube station junkie. (read: all good man... all good)
Suz and I are enjoying time off... an electric blanket... and not stressing about... anything. :)

wearing
~ life in skinny jeans... and a turtleneck.
planning
~ well, didn't have plans...
~ but as it all turned out...
~ up early ... a few hours before the rest of the crew...
~ off the gym with suz after everyone was up and fed... :D
~ holy screaming leg muscles... wicked...
~ go to neighbors for a christmas drop in... half the hood was there... fun.
~ zoom to futureshop before they close... the get 40 bucks back on my mastercard 'cuz their boxing week flyer is advertising something I bought last week for ... 40 dollars less. (score).
~ nice dinner... made a nice creamed cucumber / light cheese sauce for the chicken.
~ now we're angling to settle in for a DrWho Orama. :D (End of Time, pt 1)
wishing
~ for evangelinaarion to have fun chasing the ink...
~ to say that kitiara makes a lovely shark...
~ for pasticcio to soak it all in...
~ and that the stars sometime soon align for chiropteraclan... and produce a real live vacation. :)

///
See, ok, so I scroll scroll scroll through Facebook.
A VAST MAJORITY of what slips by is either stuff about some farming game
or some kind of meme generated post with grayed out text scraped from a linked something.
From time to time ... a post slides past from someone that says something... worth reading.
From rare time to rare time... I forget myself and am moved to make a comment on one of these actual posts.
..
...
....
and then for the rest of the day I get emails with every other comment anybody makes on that post.
I waffle back and forth between feeling like a snoop and feeling like I want to hit facebook with a can of alpo.
..
Yeah... facebook.
weeee.....

//
This song...
~ total guilty pleasure. shhhh. :D

/
I will get what I want.
Any other conclusion ... would be admitting defeat.

~ oh look... the admiral.
dude... :)

corto @ 2009-12-26T23:33:00

2009-12-27T04:33:56Z

Super Mario Wii is some family entertainment !! :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Saturday, December 26

2009-12-27T01:23:51Z

Dude... The weather.
It's just horrible.
We woke up ... well, i woke up, (everybody else woke up much later. :D)...
I woke up to a layer of ice on the front of the house... all the windows mullioned and obscured.
It has freezing rained all day. It's snowing now...
The world outside my door ... has a layer of ice on it.
just standing on the front porch... all you can hear is the complaints of every tiny tree branch in the big world. Icy crackles and snaps.
Is cool!!
But I totally didn't get anywhere near a boxing-day sale. :(

We watched Julie and Julia today.
I enjoyed it muchly... it covered blogging, publishing, cooking, political history, more cooking... romance... cuteness... and Streep was fun. :D
We have District 9 to watch later this week.

wearing
~ jeans... tees... hoody...
planning
~ well, one look outside and it's "all plans cancelled... we stay home" today.
~ so I baked more kifli... cleaned things... played Mario Wii... (awesome game!!)
~ outstanding trout dinner.
~ now it's now... watching Phinias and Ferb christmas special. :D
wishing
~ that all ya'all are having some fun... somehow... someway.

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday thetech... I hope the rest of the marks make you as happy and that the year ahead rewards you for the hard work. :D
And happy birthday Mr. evil ... :D May this year keep you swimming in good reasons to relax... and better reasons to smile. :)

/
We had a really nice christmas. :)
My fokls and sis came over for christmas eve...
We played around with gifts, baking, and kids ...
Ed put himself to bed at 10:30... (this is early for him) because he couldn't stand waiting...
Geo was out before midnight...
~ so we were up till 2:00+ putting things together, etc. :D
The morning was classic... I had my annual bowl of Captain Crunch cerial, made big breakfasts for everyone and we ripped through all the wrapping paper. :)
We went to my MILs for a christmas dinner with suz's family and a gang of neices and a nephew...
They've all grown up before my eyes... it's touching to spend time with them and see who they are becoming. :D

We came home from that and spent the next many hours recovering from a big dinner, playing games and watching the office.
A very family-all-together day... lots of play and lots of smiles.

When Ed opened his "big gift"... He sat there doing this total siezure thing,
He is hard core mad for star wars lego stuff...

~ and later we will have to log on and fill out the "missing pieces lego" form at lego.com...
(You would think, at the price they charge, they would have actual quality control for getting all the pieces into the box... sigh)

Late night christmas eve shinanigans...
Making two of these...

Into two of these... (for the kids computer desks):D

k... now it's time to make a cake with Geo. (He want's cake. :D)

Thursday, December 24

2009-12-25T03:08:59Z

Today has been brought to you by the letter H, and the numbers 6 and 4

It was made from freshly poured lovely
and, in retrospect, has been a day worthy of the smile I've been wearing all day.
heck the weather even eased up and got melty sunny for a little while. :D

wearing
~ skinny jeans...
~ white tee...
~ teal tee... double tee. :)
planning
~ another excellent day. planned and executed. :D
~ up to make zebra some coffee before she went to work (half day for her)
~ get myself sorted out... wake the kids up early (need to manipulate their sleepyness if I want to even imagine Ed going to sleep tonight... :D)
~ make a grocery list... put list down... forget list... sigh.
~ go grocery shopping... wish I had my list...
~ go get a coffee... see co-worker girl and her adoable little boys... 6 and 4! (I remember well what geo and ed were like at six and four. :D :D) It was nice to meet her guys... nice to see a friend... Today's picture... I'm in starbucks... busy being happy, basking in my good fortune.
~ hit Canadian Tire for a last-minute thing...
~ rent movies...
~ home ... make food for boys... :)
~ invite my folks and sister over for dinner... and started cooking.
~ fresh kifli... chicken kiev, pepper squash, cauliflower, rice and a big ceaser salad. :)
~ now it's now... and we're all off to our corners to take care of christmas eve business. That means kids playing on the computers while suz and I get sorted... i have severl tool-required assemblies to get busy with... ar ar ar... :D
wishing
~ to send a little chrismtas squeeze out to jenlovefl2003...
~ to thank inspectorjury for stopping in...
~ for militantmomma... to find some great reasons to smile...
~ and to say 'hey' to kimmellee... :D

/
It's Christmas Eve.
It's easy to think of christmas in terms of the cliches...
Gifts... random nice-o-matic... family... soft focus living room scenes with snowy windows... blah blah blah blah...
But really, all the folks for whom these cliches work so well can pretty much have them all year long... if they wanted.
They have choices and they make a bunch... then presto... christmas.
Then there's the rest.
Single parents who have to struggle just to rub up against any of the cliches...
The remarkable and brave parents that whisper "everything is going to be ok..."
A parent that has to wave to the kids as they head off to chirstmas with ... the ex.
Friends, neighbors, coworkers, passing acquaintences... who are just barly holding it together.
My wish ... my christmas wish is for you guys.

May there always be a place in your heart to hold the reward you earn with every breath you take.
And may this years christmas miracle be a moment from any quarter... that warms that place in your heart.
You are in mine.

Merry Christmas.

Hey it's christmas eve day... :)

2009-12-24T13:27:05Z

12 Days of Christmas - corto style...
The Annual Christmas Retelling...
::

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the First day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a pure evil, pure white cat - I called it Satan. Then she left me.

On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... two grams of pot! She felt awful about the 'leaving' thing and wants me to take her back. So she showed up with a little baggie and brandishing a big ol'hickey I know nothing about! hmmmm... Oh, and Satan, the dam cat, basically lives under my big comfy chair.

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... three tabs of E! and said "lets go dancing." Geez! I said "No, my ankles are bleeding and swollen!" I chucked the E. It turned out that the pot from last night was cat-nip! Satan got into it big-time and now the dam cat lunges out from under the comfy chair to claw and bite at the ankles of who ever's sitting.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me... Four turtle doves! No, seriously. She thought it was all poetic and from that song… you know about the Days of Christmas. Well she got that wrong - it was "four calling birds". Did you know that 'turtle doves' are basically pigeons! She came in the door and released (RELEASED!) the fucking pigeons in to the apartment. When she saw that I really wasn't into the 'poetry' of the whole thing… and after I corrected her about the 'calling birds' thing, she stormed out. So Satan - who is stoned all the time now - is hunting the little shit machines all over the place. I can't even find two of them. This blows.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a night on the town. She came back this morning (another hickey) and when she saw the state I was in - searching for now completely un-locatable birds - she told me to get dressed and dragged me out for dinner and a movie. I gotta say this pumped me up a bit. Then we came home... holy Christ! Satan has managed to catch something besides my ankles. The cat spread the entrails of one totally off'ed pigeon across my apartment like it thinks it's maybe Charles Manson or something. I knew I was gonna loose it when I saw the pigeon poop all over the furniture but dam, the cat has managed to take the concept of vivisection'ism to all new heights. I politely asked her to go home and take the hickeys with her, closed the door and vowed to rid my life of unnecessary wild life.

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me... a subpoena. Seems the SPCA has a problem with the way things went last night. Of course, hickey girl has to sick them on me. I mean she brought me the cat and the stupid birds, how fair is this? You see I opened the door to the balcony... and was balling up little pieces of tin foil from my pack of smokes hoping the stupid ass birds would take the hint and exit. One flies into the room and perches. I start tossing little ball of tin foil at it to get it's attention. This works, so I start tossing them closer to the door... trying to get the thing to take a hint. I toss a ball of tin foil right out of the apt, and over the balcony. Well, guess who notices this and tries to catch the stupid ball of tin foil? Did I mention that I'm like, on the 14th floor? So now I've got three turtle doves living and pooping here and a lawsuit hanging over me because hickey girl thinks I tossed Satan off the balcony.

On the seventh day of Christmas my ex-love gave to me... Seven hundred dollars in fines! For what, an accident with the cat? And if she had kept her mouth shut... Well that is officially it. I'm done. She can come begging at my door and it just is not going to happen! Seven hundred dollars basically sucks Christmas out the window... hehe, to join Satan on the roof of that car!! Oh, and one of the idiot birds flew out the window this morning... So I'm down to two freaking turtle doves. Did you see that Hitchcock movie... "the birds"... just try waking up at 4:00am to the sound of a dove warble that seems to be coming from right beside your head!

On the eighth day of Christmas my ex-love gave to me... Eight reasons to take her back! She comes over and I make her stand outside the door to talk to me. So through the chain on the door she tells me that I should take her back because (1) she loves me and not Bill (Bill? wtf, I don't know a Bill?), (2) She's sorry about the cat, the pigeons and the fine, (3) I need her to help clean the bird bombs from the apartment (4) tons of oral sex *SLAM* *CLINK* I unlock the door and tell her that "that's enough" and I don't need to hear the rest.

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love - I know, I know - gave to me... Nine auto-spray cans of roach cloud. We're going out for the day and when we get back... those birds will be late! - no question. And yes I took lil'miss hickey back. I refer you to day eight.

On the tenth day of Christmas my dysfunctional love gave to me… The complete and total brush off. Wow. Use your most vivid imaginative energies to summon up a mental picture of the condition my one bedroom apartment was in after having nine jumbo cans of fogging cockroach killer unleashed with the windows closed. What in the name of fricking god was I thinking… what have I done to my stuff? We walked in, started gaging on the smell, took a look around and she pushed back with a head shake. She split say'en "you got trouble … not me." Bitch. Upside: Two completely dead, never to poop again, turtle doves turned up in the shower stall!

On the eleventh day of Christmas my fickle, turncoat, remarkably lackluster love gave to me… Eleven screaming phone calls. She had to scream to be heard. You see I decided to get poetic myself… except I know the proper order for the 'Days of Christmas' song. And today is "eleven pipers piping!!" When I finally finished cleaning up in my apartment to consider it livable, I was tired and rather put-off about the brush-off from last night. So, I blew a bundle of cash and contracted the St. Georges Bag Pipe troop. They are, as we speak, earning every penny right outside her friend's house.

On the twelfth day of Christmas the only true love in my life gave to me… Wonderful advice, warm hearted words, memories of great love, and peace in my sole.
My mom phoned.
Merry Christmas.

Eleven screaming phone calls.
The complete and total brush off.
Nine auto-spray cans of roach cloud.
Eight reasons to take her back!
Seven hundred dollars in fines!
A subpoena.
A night on the town.
Four turtle doves!
Three tabs of E!
Two grams of pot!
And a pure evil, pure white cat - I called it Satan

Wednesday, December 23 TWENTY THREE!!!!! GAH! :D

2009-12-24T02:01:02Z

Today was my nic-into-work-for-a-half-day day.
Just making sure things are sorted out for the holidays at work.

~ so today was most excellent. :D

The events of my day conspired,
in a most agreeable way,
to leave me in the very best of spirits.
!

D'ya realize that tomorrow is christmas eve day?
I have a full morning planned... groceries, gym, shopping and smiling.
Lots of smiling.

wearing
~ had my nice bright white shirt... my christmas tie...
~ dark trousers and ... it's wednesday... so argyle. :)
~ and then I got home and changed... :D, so, skinny jeans and long sleeve warm stuff.
planning
~ up early ... suz and I both take off to work.
~ I had a nominal but never-the-less-important regular wednesday morning meeting...
~ then a team meeting that ended with a goofy gift exchange thing that the boss set up... gifts and all. It was sweet. :)
~ I clearned my in-basket... and signed off again, heading for the gym. :D
~ very good gym time... moments that totally remind me what it is I am most thankful for this year... :D
~ some shopping ... then home to do some job-jar'esque cleaning, make more kifli dough, and get dinner going.
~ tra la la... :)
wishing
~ for andysocial to catch some slack...
~ that minarets gets to hold on to her good vibe...
~ that all is well in the land of dawna
~ and for kaleidoscopeeye to have fun with the cookies tomorrow. Ed want's to make those ice-cream-cone cup-cakes again... :D

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday to a long-lost Renee (herlifedotorg)... I hope all is well.
And to an almost equally lost blushingblaze... I hope you've found a schedule that works for you. :)

///
A friend pointed me to Kiva. [ :: Loans that Change Lives :: ]
A truly interesting and seemingly worthwhile endeavour.

//
I'm looking forward to the "This Decade In Review" stuff...

/
I have relegated my digital camera to the "try to remember it for special events" status,
Favouring, in the main, to just shoot pictures with my iPhone.
I'm glad I didn't spend a small fortune on my digital camera. :D

:)
K... time to go.
See ya soon.

Tuesday, December 22

2009-12-23T02:58:15Z

Hola. :)

It was bright and cold today.
And I watch the news about all the people getting lashed with angry mother nature moments and I feel lucky.

I'm going into work tomorrow morning to make sure my office doesn't go mental over the break...
and then the gym... and a couple of quick last minute shopping things...
but not today.
Staying home today... just relax'en. :D

wearing
~ er... skinny jeans, red tee and a warm sweater.
planning
~ to not go anywhere... :)
~ lots of job jar stuff and getting my pre-christmas freak on. :D
wishing
~ to calmy point out that cloverbee ... is the cats pyjamas.
~ that galebird enjoys the little kicks...
~ and for anfractuousity to find some fun in the house hunting game.

Birthday moments...
A very happy birthday to little lynners... (lynspin). I hope the year ahead marches you towards brand new solutions and big reasons to smile.
Happy birthday burntflowers... I know you're out there and making a wonderful life and home.
And happy birthday little lost Rhonda. :D (dorkgirl). I hope you're smile'en.

//
Having fun playing with windows7 pro on my "media centre PC".
It kinda boggles my mind that I can toss a terabyte of hard disk into a box for like... 70$ Just boggles. :)
I'm waiting for a 25 foot HDMI cable to arrive.
I ordered it off Amazon... it cost 25$.
Or... I could go to Future Shop and buy a 25 foot HDMI cable... for about $300.
Again... boggles!!!
The HDMI connects to the big TV in the theater room, so like... when you click to play a movie in media centre or iTunes or whatever... it plays on the tv.
~ i need to google up the idea of finding a USB connected IR sensor, so I can use a remote control to control the PC. :)
(still completely love my logitec harmony 880 remote !!!!)

/
So from time to time... and I'm talking maybe each year, say at christmas...
I walk out of wally-land with two multi-packs of new ftls.
And when I get home... I chuck all my existing ftls.
If you're a guy... you should do this.
If you're a married guy...
There is no end to how good an idea this is.
Trust me on this.

~ ok... time to go. :)
see ya.

Kifli ... 2009

2009-12-22T06:52:54Z

Bin'bak'en. :)

Kifli season is upon us...

A post from ... FOREVER AGO (December 23, 2001)
[ :: includes the recipe link and pictures :: ]

[ :: And the YouTube video :: ]

~ yes... I'm really into this ... :D

Monday, December 21

2009-12-22T01:56:38Z

~ ahh... the awesome power of the turtleneck sweater. :D

We put our christmast tree up on the weekend. :D

Nice day... sunny... cold-as-hell, and not at work... so who cares... :D :D

wearing
~ hmm skinny jeans... pretty much all the time when I'm not working... that, or pj pants. :D
~ brown turtleneck! :D
planning
~ go to gym... :D Shoulder's been sore... gym helps.
~ drive around pretending to shop with Suz... It's the first I've been able to "go with" on the xmas shopping zone... so ... I'm there. :D
~ pizza for dinner and relaxing lazy people all night.
~ suz is on a compressed training week... with a session... M, T and W!!! sigh. She'll be a freaking sore zombee by Thursday night. (The BFL thing is going great... :D)
wishing
~ to send big goofy smiles to evangelinaarion... mostly because she's so flipp'en adorable... but also because i like her hat. :D
~ for innerly to enjoy the movie with her little sugar-rina...
~ and for smeeeko ... to get over the cold. :)

Birthday moments...
Happy birthday mellusions... May there be much yarn in your future... and I hope the year ahead brings you much to smile about...
And a very happy birthday to indianasweetie... likely gone to facebook. :) May you see yourself this year as others do. Even just a little.

///
Geo update...
He's great. He must (doc orders) not move his arm away from his chest - rotating out. But he can lift and lower his forarm and work his fingers and wrist.
He's opted to pull way back on the pain meds... (this is very good) and we're all settling into a christmas vibe.
Poor guy gets a bit sad from time to time... having some regrets and making unfillable wishes.
Alas... (earwax)
He will be all better in six weeks...
Or so the doc says.

//
I go in for a hernia operation on Jan 19. This will give me enough recovery time for the cruise in March.
Sigh.

/
So Suz and I are speeding through Wally-Land... checking out lego availability and prices - comparing to stuff we have already bought. If the price came down... I'd get the dif from Wally.
Anyways... we wander around in kind of single/over-the-shoulder file... and we are constantly making goofy comments to one another.
We were on our way to the cash... time to leave... zoom.
We pass the "poster area" and - of course - there are two diff Twilight related posters prominant.
I look down at Taylor Lautner as I walk past and begin an off-hand comment over my shoulder to Suz...
"I should tell people I was Taylor Lautner's butt double..."
And of course Suz stopped to look at something on a shelf AGES AGO.
So I sorta do a double take at the two women walking beside me... that have both stopped dead in their tracks looking at me...
Sigh.
I clearly have to pay more attention. :)

:D

Survivor: watching Russel almost cry because he didn't win...
Was absolutely all the payback I could have asked for.
That's called Karma little Mr. Bad Buddha.
LOL.

Friday, December 18

2009-12-19T02:50:43Z

So... not a word of a lie... yesterday... today... fricking brilliant sunshine.

wearing
~ faker friday... jeans and a faker sweater. :)
planning
~ half day at work, home to let suz take off for stuff...
~ busy at work... but off for the next two weeks (save for a short half day next Wednesday... to clean up some things). :D
~ settling into the idea that it's a friday.
wishing
~ to thank you. You make a difference. Really... thank you. :D

///
This curious feeling...
Is hard to put into words.
There is so much happiness
In a heart that gets to love...
... and feels love in return.
Even if ... maybe especially if,
It's a quiet and gentle love
Given to a friend.

//
Geo Update
So he had the operation... they fixed up the bone, and put a screw (?2?) in it...
Took a while... so they must have spent a while on the bone movement.
Suz stayed at the hospital overnight and I headed home.
Most of the rooms have a parent crashed out on the fold out chair...
It only takes a minute to have what-ever-is-wrong-with-you put in perspective when you visit CHEO.
So many hard hard hard things happen to little kids... I would be afraid of my heart breaking to work there.
... He came home yesterday, mid-day. We have a "go back to the see the big kahoona Docs" on Jan 8.
I worked yesterday... cleared up what ever I could... (I totally bailed on work this week... family first... always, no debate.)
Geo seems very much like he's doing well.
Tylonal 3's are required... but that should change in another couple of days.
He has no cast on... just a sling and while he has certain "exercises" he is supposed to do...
Our challenge is to keep him from "doing anything" with his arm after it starts feeling better.

Before I left to go home... leaving him at the hospital with Suz,
I leaned over his bed, kissed his forehead... and whispered to him
that I was sooo sorry he had to go through all this.
His reply...
"It's ok... It's an experience. At least, now... I know what all this is like." (Operations, hospitals, ... morphine, etc...)
... the force is stong in this one.
:)

/
Edward and I did some baking. :D

Here... click the "continue" to see a photo-essay
on the story of these SUPER delicious cupcakes...
(a very nice young woman that sits across from me at work
brought these into the bake sale today. :D... they were a hit. )

So yeah... just regular ol'cake mix... and icecream cones...

~ fill 'em mostly... and bake'em.

~ made that fluffy marshmellow'ish icing (corn syrop, sugar, eggwhites, cream of tartar, double boiler, beat!!)

~ then dip'em. :D

Ta da! :D

(Thank you Dayna. :D)

Screw...

2009-12-17T01:56:10Z

2 hours...

"wire" thing is out...
They had to put in screws... That means cutting. :(
I'm heading home to collect Ed.
Suz is tucking in to spend the night with Geo.
Kinda waiting for the debrief from bone-man-Doc.

Thanks for all the love :)

Talk to you tomorrow

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Wednesday. December 16

2009-12-16T23:39:50Z

It's 6:00... and the just rolled Geo in to the OR. :)

This is good.
Of course, the weather is still evil. It has been bad weather sconce he was hurt... it'll be lovely tomorrow. :)

wearing
~ it's Wednesday... d'uh.
planning
~ quick show at work...
~ drive to CHEO
~ drive to hernia doc for a 2:45 apt.
~ back to CHEO
~ stay.
wishing
~ like u have to be told.... lol

/
~ I'll let u know how he is later :)

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Geo update

2009-12-16T18:53:39Z

Started today getting Ed off to school, and me off to work. My "regular" Wednesday meeting was at 9 and I had a presentation to give at 10:30.

Today could long...

Posted via LiveJournal.app.