Work, car, travel, and jet lag

Work is crazy crazy. I am handling far too much work. We have a new intern that I have been training, which as been the highlight of my week so far.

My guy is in South Africa. I haven't heard from him, which basically means that he is trying to shake off his jet lag. I miss him.

The good news is that each time I eat a bagel, it reminds me of how sweet he was to pick up lots of bagels for me when he was in Montreal. He is the best, as are the bagels!

I decided to test drive a few cars on Saturday. I am picking up my new car later today. I will provide more details once I have spent some time cruising around in it.

Sweet, meaningful kisses and bagels

My guy drove back home on Friday from Montreal. He called me a few times during his road trip:

• Once at 17:20. I was still in a meeting at work. It was nice that I got interrupted to answer his call. I said that his call was better than my calling my own cell phone to end the monotony and tragic situation of having such a late meeting on a Friday afternoon.
• He called me two hours later to let me know that he was half an hour away from our meeting place in Scarborough. I responded by saying yay, which made him chuckle.
• His last call was in the parking lot. I told him that I was parked in front of the bank. It was funny that we were still talking to each other as we were parked next to each other's car, looking and smiling at each other.

We got out of our respective cars and hugged. It was nice hugging him tightly. He liked that, too. We held hands.

We met briefly. My guy bought me a batch (four dozen) of Montreal-style bagels. They smelled wonderful. I thanked him by kissing him and telling him that I appreciated his kind gesture. The way that I was holding the two plastic bags made me think that I had a boob job. My guy laughed.

My guy kissed me. He's sweet.

He couldn't stay long, as he had to head home and get ready for a month-long business trip to South Africa. His flight was on early Saturday afternoon.

I am glad that we both got to see each other.

Snow, David Bowie, and an afternoon date at Starbucks

It seems like ages since I last wrote. Between dealing with snow at long last and the sad passing of David Bowie, I have neglected blogging for a bit.

I was fortunate to see David Bowie once in Winnipeg. It was an amazing show at the old Winnipeg Arena. It must have been back in 2004. He was an amazing artist and musician. He also loved to read and had a wonderful sense of humour. He will be missed.

My guy is in Montreal for work. He's away for a good two weeks. He promised to buy me bagels. He's such a sweet guy.

We met up on Sunday at Starbucks. He calls it Stealbucks because he finds the prices inflated. However, he ordered a coffee that day, which kept him awake for his entire road trip to Montreal. So, his regard for the store is changing.

He actually arrived at Starbucks before I did. It was different. Normally, I am waiting for him. Anyway, I called him and said that I saw him in the parking lot. We got out of our cars. He walked over to me. We then walked over to the cafe.

He gave me a side hug. He also gave me several lovetaps on my left buttocks I loved that.

He ordered a coffee and a croissant. I had a mint tea with a cinnamon swirl coffee cake. We sat at a table in a quaint little corner of the cafe, laughed, chatted, ate, drank, and held hands. It was nice. He looked good in his new wool coat.

"Can we cuddle for fifteen or twenty minutes?" my guy asked me.
"I'd love to, but you're on a tight driving schedule," I replied.
"It's okay. I have time," he said.

We held hands walking out of Starbucks. It was a nice little date that we went on.

We're s-h-o-p-p-i-n-g... we're shopping!

My guy and I are shoppers. Finding out that he loves to shop was refreshing when we first started dating. It still is.

While my guy was in Seattle a few months ago, he was trying to find some power converters that would work in Cairo. I offered to help find him some, eventually getting eight of these power converters for $5 each. We were both pleased with my find. My guy was particularly proud of me, as he felt the satisfaction of benefiting from such a great deal.

I asked my guy to buy me some bagels in Montreal a week or so ago. He didn't hesitate to get me some. I asked him to buy two dozen. He did even better and got me three bags, each of which had nine. I was thankful.

"I am back in Montreal in December," my guy stated. "I can buy you more bagels."
"That would be great," I told him.
"I know how much you like bagels. How many can you store in your freezer?"
"I don't want you to load up your car full of bagels such that you can't fit your stuff in it" I replied.
"They don't take up space at all. Besides, I love it when you have favourite foods that you love eating. I don't mind getting them for you. Whenever you eat a bagel, you can think of me," he said, being his sweet self.
"I can easily fit four of those bags in my freezer," I replied.
"Perfect. I will buy you that many the next time I'm there."

I am a lucky guy to have a handsome, sweet shopaholic getting me yummy bagels in his travels.

We also spent another evening on Skype, shopping online for laser-cut floor mats for his new car. We learned a lot about them together. He likes the fact that my eyes don't glaze over car talk. It's mainly because my dad was a mechanic, who is now retired. I grew up with seeing car parts and such. Car accessories are more interesting, though.

My guy purchased a set of floor mats. I can't wait to see what he thinks of them. I may order a set for my car.

P.S. This blog post's title is a lyric from "Shopping" by Pet Shop Boys.

The bagel drop and new car pick-up day

My blog posts are not in chronological order these days. I can only blame it on my Mac mini's issue after upgrading to El Capitan. Although I can use my Mac mini again, syncing photos between it and my iPhone is unpredictable.

Anyway, this post follows the one about my guy driving home from Montreal a couple of Fridays ago. He called me about thirty minutes before he reached the Starbucks in Scarborough. It was good of him to do that. I was at another mall shopping. I told him that I'd meet him soon.

I got to the Starbucks parking lot about ten minutes before he did. I saw him pull into the parking lot. I got out of my car and headed over to his car. My cell phone rang.

"Hey, I'm walking over to your car," I said to him.
"Okay," he replied. "Good timing!"

My guy opened the door. I said hi to him. He reciprocated and noted that it was a bit colder outside. He got out and put on his jacket. He looked good and happy to see me.

We hugged. He smelled good.

"Missed you," I whispered in his ear. He hugged me tighter, which was his quieter version of feeling the same way about me.

We chatted for a bit. He handed me a bag full of sesame bagels. I took a whiff and nearly melted. My guy smiled. He knows how much I love bagels. I thanked him for getting me them.

My guy couldn't stay long. He was heading to Oakville to pick up his new pre-owned car. I asked him whether he had a friend who could drive his other car. He did. He was staying over at that friend's house, as he had an early flight out to Newark the following morning.

He looked down and commented on my Converse sneakers that I was wearing. He remembered my dyeing them purple, as the original purple colour had faded a lot after being in the sun for a long period. He likes them. I do, too.

We hugged once again. I wished him a safe drive and flight. He nodded and told me that he'd call me soon.

It's not easy being with a travelling guy. On this trip, it was nice that he was able to sneak in a couple of quick visits along the way. He told me that he loved seeing me, even if it was for ten minutes this night. The feeling was certainly mutual.

Fixing issues after my operating system woes and talking to my directionally challenged guy

My guy and I work in the information technology sector. He often tells me that he hates technology. However, he is good at practically everything he works with. His skill set constantly amazes me.

He only has one downfall -- he is directionally challenged. He is heavily reliant upon his GPS, so I know that he never forgets to have it with him.

On the other hand, I sort of make up for his couple of weaknesses. I tend to remember where he has parked his car whenever we are out. I am a geek when it comes to technology. We have mutual respect and admiration for each other's strengths.

So, this post will probably be my last one about my Mac mini issues. Here is the latest since a representative at my local Apple store's Genius Bar wiped out my hard drive and reinstalled the seemingly problematic El Capitan operating system.

The unfortunate part was that none of my external devices were not syncing properly after El Capitan was successfully installed. I am hoping that the next operating system release doesn't cause so many problems!

I am putting together this list of issues and what I did to fix each of them, in case I need to reference what I had done in a year's time:

• Photos library does not appear in iTunes
  It turns out that you need to make your Photos library a system Photos library in the Photos application. The change has to be done in the Photos > Preferences dialog. After you make this change, other applications, like iTunes, can find your Photos library.
• iPhone does not sync properly in iTunes
  It applies to most Apple devices that sync with iTunes. The existing content was a part of my old configuration on my Mac mini. That old configuration no longer exists on my Mac mini. As a result, in the case of my iPhone, it needed to be restored. I could then fully restore the phone using the last backup.
• Even after the first two changes, my photos and music still don't sync with my iPod or iPhone in iTunes
  There are a lot of i-products. Apple seems to be moving away from all that recently, with Apple Photos and Music, as examples. There are more steps to make sure that the Mac mini and the device sync up:

1. Completely exit both Photos and iTunes. Proceed to shut down the Mac mini.
2. My music is on an external hard drive. It needs to be powered down. I also unplugged its USB cable from the drive.
3. Leave all devices turned off for a minute. Power on the drive first, and then the Mac mini.
4. When the Mac mini is fully booted up, connect your iPod or iPhone to the computer.
5. Ensure that you have selected some music and photos to sync. They should sync up fine.

I was able to successfully sync my music and photos on my iPhone again. Currently, I am working on my iPod classic to sync all my music and photos. The latter will take a while. I have over 20,000 songs, which is my entire digital collection.

On Friday, my guy drove back from Montreal. He called me at around 17:00. I had missed his call, probably because I was walking to my car and didn't hear my phone ring. I called him back.

"Hey, did you call me?" I asked him.
"Yes, I did," he said cheerfully. "I thought that you may have been in a meeting."
"I was till 16:45, but I am in my car now," I explained. "I take it that you're driving back right now?"
"I am. I am a third of the way there," he said, with a tinge of being disappointed that he didn't leave earlier.
"It's okay," I replied. "Are you at least over the border into Ontario?" I asked him.
"I'm in Brockville. Where is that?" he asked me, which confirmed that he is still directionally challenged.
"Yes, you are in Ontario. Welcome back!" I exclaimed with glee.
"Thanks. I don't see any French signs anymore, so I am in Ontario."

He's cute. We agreed to meet in Scarborough, close to highway 401. My guy had bagels to deliver to me. We also wanted to see each other as soon as possible.

My Mac mini update and more

I thought that I would check in and say hi. So, hi!

The good news is that the technician at my local Apple store's Genius Bar got my Mac mini up and running on Wednesday. I am blogging again using it.

Unfortunately, the fix required wiping out my Mac mini's hard drive contents and reinstalling the new El Capitan operating system. Of course, things are never smooth after such a restoration. Now, my photos do not sync with my iPhone. Ah, the joys of technology!

It has been a rough week at work. My manager suffered an eye injury. He has lost vision in his left eye. I don't know at this stage whether the vision loss is temporary or permanent, but I am hoping that it is the former. Our team at work is pooling our money for a get-better-soon gift for him. We had thought of flowers, but his particular hospital wing does not allow them. So, I will probably need to resort to chocolates and a get-well balloon when I place the order on behalf of the team. It's the thought that counts the most.

I hope to place the order tomorrow and go see him on the weekend. It makes you appreciate people you work with under such conditions. I hope that he is on the mend.

My guy is currently in Montreal. I had hoped to join him, but we have an intern who started with the company on Monday. I have been training her. She's a good person. Needless to say, this week has been both draining and challenging.

My guy decided to drive to Montreal for his business trip, similar to what I had done back in April. I asked him if he could buy some bagels for me, as they are simply yummy. He didn't hesitate. He told me that they would be my souvenir. He's sweet, as usual.

So, my posts still won't be all that regular until I troubleshoot some minor issues. Wish me luck!