Lunar new year and more snow coming

I enjoyed having a day off on lunar new year. I went out to fetch some bubble tea, a bite to eat, and groceries.

We are going to be hit with yet another snowstorm for the next couple of days, starting later on today. We are expecting at least 20 cm of snow. Oh, joy!

Right now, it's raining. Just when the snow from our last snowstorm is starting to melt, we get more snow.

Snow update and bubble tea

The good news is that my street has been plowed. The bad news is that it's currently snowing again.

The temperature is expected to rise, so there should be a gradual melt happening. Perhaps I will head out later today. We'll see.

I was supposed to pick up free bubble tea with a friend yesterday. We both decided to postpone meeting up. We got so much snow that it didn't feel safe meeting up.

I'm glad that I went grocery shopping on the weekend. I technically don't need to get anything at the store for days. I would love to get some fresh air, though.

My manager has been away sick for the last two days. As much as I hope that he feels better soon, I like that my inbox has been nice and quiet.

Rare Monday night outing

On Monday night, I went out to get a free meal at a cool Mexican-Latin-America eatery. The food was amazing. I'll definitely need to return for more.

The place is owned by a husband-and-wife team. They were so warm and welcoming.

It was raining all night. It felt soothing driving through the rain heading over there and then home.

I did stop to get some bubble tea after eating dinner. It was the perfect way to end my outing.

Soda drinks at a bubble tea place

I found a bubble tea place that does soda drinks with fresh fruit. I love this place so much.

I used to go to a local place that had soda drinks with fresh fruit. Since the second lockdown here, it has permanently shuttered its doors, which is sad.

The new place that I have found has been around for a few years. As usual, I am not trendy... haha!

Meeting up with my colleague for cheese tarts and bubble tea

I had a food perk to pick up on Saturday afternoon. I then met up with my former intern who is now my colleague.

We have been trying to get an application to work on his laptop. Our IT group sucks. We told them right off the bat that it was a profile issue. Well, they finally got around to resetting his profile. Everything works. Finally! We were both elated on Friday, but also annoyed at how incompetent this IT group is.

Anyway, he treated me to bubble tea. It was so thoughtful of him. He placed the order and I went to fetch it, as it was on my way from the food perk place and I didn't mind fetching the order. I wanted to split my food perk with him (I got four Japanese cheese tarts) because they are so good.

He loved the two tarts that I had given him. He loved them so much that he devoured them without taking a photo. Luckily, he saw me take a photo of all four before I handed two to him that I simply texted him my photo.

The bubble tea was amazing. I'm so glad that he recommended this place. I got this blue Curacao soda with small bits of pineapple. It was so refreshing and delicious.

We hadn't seen each other since last August. We see each other on a weekly meeting through video, but it's really not the same. It was great seeing and talking to him briefly yesterday afternoon.

Weekend reflections

Blink and just like that, the weekend is over.

I got two free bubble tea drinks on Saturday. I cooked and baked on Sunday. I also trimmed my bangs and can see again. It was been nice, relaxing weekend.

The spot on my arm where I got my vaccine injection is a tad sore. It's not horrible. I can sleep on it just fine. I only notice it now and again.

My friend and colleague checked up on me after I got my shot. She's sweet that way.

Have a great week, everyone!

Being a panelist and on vacation

I had a fun evening being a panelist in a Zoom meeting. I am normally an attendee. It was different being on the opposite side. I had a good time and enjoyed being with cool people.

My vacation is going well. I slept in till 9:30 am. That's late for me.

I went out briefly to pick up an order that I had placed over the weekend. I also got some bubble tea.

It has been relaxing. I love it.

My intern's farewell lunch

My intern's original work term was for eight months. Luckily, it got extended and we had him for an additional four months.

My role changed just after his extension had been set. He ended up with another team lead. However, our work still crossed paths and we still managed to communicate with each other regularly.

Back in April, when we thought that it was the end of his work term, I said that we'd have a proper farewell lunch for him when it was safe to do it. We were 1.5 months into the pandemic.

Well, his final day was Friday. I wanted a farewell lunch for him. So did our manager. I talked with our boss. He was good having just the three of us have lunch together. It would be safer with a small number of people there.

I had suggested a restaurant and my intern was game. He was delighted to get a free lunch, paid by our manager, to honour his efforts and accomplishments during his stay with us.

On Friday, I picked up my intern at his home and drove us over to the restaurant. It felt like old times, except that he was in the backseat of my car as I drove. Our manager met us there, as he had to pick up the gift that the company had for my intern.

At his home, I gave my intern a box of gourmet cookies. We love them. The store happens to be in my neighbourhood. He was thrilled.

We sat out in the patio for nearly 2.5 hours. The food was yummy and amazing. We had a lot of laughs while we chatted about a ton of topics.

Afterwards, we walked over to Baskin Robbins to get some ice cream. I was too full from my lunch to have some, but the other two got some.

When we were all done, my intern and I decided to get bubble tea. I treated him to whatever drink he wanted. We sat for a bit to chat before I took him home.

It was a lovely day. I know that I'll see him again, as we have plenty of eateries to discover. I let him know that whenever he was free, to let me know. He confirmed that he would take me up on my offer. He has one last year of undergraduate studies, which start in just over a week.

It's my birthday!

Today's my birthday. I am going out with a friend later on today for lunch and perhaps some bubble tea.

It's weird that I am single on my birthday. It has been a while. It's an observation more than anything.

For the last seven years or so, I have always been away on vacation to celebrate my birthday. I love this ritual. I hope that I can do it for many years more.

Spoke too soon and had another horrible night of sleep

I have figured out why I haven't slept well recently. I consumed strawberry black tea just before I had muscle spasm issues in my right foot and ended up having a couple of sleepless nights this week.

On Thursday night, I went out to redeem a couple of coupons for a free movie and popcorn at the local movie theatre. On my way home, I stopped by my favourite bubble tea store to get a strawberry black tea.

My guess is that the black tea had so much caffeine that it kept me up longer than it typically does. I normally am okay consuming it before 11 pm. However, for the past couple of nights, I finished the drink well past midnight.

I got through my day on Friday pretty sleepy. I went out for dinner with a couple of friends, came home, and slept for an hour in front of the TV. Ah, good times!