Concert was fabulous!

The concert last night was wonderful. I saw Boy George and Culture Club for the first time in my life. I'm so glad that I decided to try my hand at getting a ticket.

The drive to get to the venue is roughly 1.5 hours from where I live. I got a t-shirt. Yay

I'm taking it easy today. I will need to briefly head out in a few hours, but it's a quieter day this long Labour Day weekend.

Clearing out my belongings from my car and looking forward to the long weekend

I have been slowly cleaning out my car. What remains are items in the trunk that I need to remove. It won't take too long.

At this rate, I don't think that my new car will arrive this week. I am somewhat relieved, mainly because it's not payday for me this week. Next week would be better. I'm also going into the Labour Day long weekend and don't necessarily want to feel poor before it by putting down my down payment!

I will miss my current car. It has been great. I always feel sad when I trade my current car in, but the sadness doesn't last.

I am more looking forward to having a longer weekend to relax.

Long weekend and loan payments are over

Last week, I got great news. I had finished paying off my personal loan five months early. I felt great.

I have been making payments every two weeks for just over the last three years. I like freeing up those payments to put towards my other debt.

It's the long Victoria Day weekend here. I have been catching up on a few things while trying to relax. It has been nice so far. 

Extended weekend, and shoulder and neck pain are over

My five-day extended weekend is over. I feel rested. My neck and shoulder pain are gone. All is good.

Shorter workweeks tend to be busy for me. I am hoping that this week is an exception.

Long weekend, with a stiff neck and truck protests

It is a long weekend here, with Family Day on Monday. Due to putting in a ridiculous number of extra hours recently, I decided to take this past Thursday and Friday off from work.

I have enjoyed this extended long weekend, except that I tweaked my neck, so it feels stiff and also affects my left shoulder. All this weirdness happened on Friday. The stiffness and pain has subsided a bit, so things are mending

On Saturday, I was supposed to pick up an order of food downtown. The problem was that the police decided to put blockades up to limit the truck protests. Due to these blockades, I couldn't get to this eatery to pick up my food. I spent a good 1.5 hours in traffic and decided to give up. I let the eatery know and the woman was nice to credit my account for a future food purchase. How nice!

I had bought crispy pork belly and vegan coconut jelly desserts. I am a bit bummed about not having them, but I hope to order them again when they are back on the menu.

Delay in a software release is to my advantage

This major software release continues to have hiccups. It means that many people are working on the weekend.

It's good news for me. I have one page of updates left. It is sadly the longest update to make, though.

This page lists a number of products that are used in our software itself. The original list had seven products. It is now closer to 1500. It means that I need to add all these products in, including their versions.

It's a pain. I am down to roughly 700 products left to add. It's doable getting this task done by Sunday.

I can't wait to get this task over with.

Happy weekend!

Cancelled and rescheduled flights

On my last full day in the States, I received a notification on my phone driving back to the hotel that my flight heading home the following day was cancelled. My heart sank.

I pulled over to check my inbox. I'm glad that I did. The airline managed to book me on an alternative set of flights home. It involved going into the opposite direction. I essentially flew from Minneapolis to Denver, and then to Toronto.

It was roughly an extra three hours. It made for a long day, but I was grateful to get home on the same day and wasn't left stranded somewhere.

I was originally upgraded to business class. With these two flight segments, only my second one was in business class. It was fine, as it was the longer segment.

In business class, I sat next to a nice, older man. He figured that I was heading home to Toronto, probably because I was my usual polite self. He was heading to Dubai after landing in Toronto. He had a two-hour layover.

By the way, the flight out of Denver was delayed by two hours. It isn't unusual these days with staff being sick.

When the plane touched down in Toronto, he said, "Welcome home!" He made a comment that it's always a good feeling returning home. He was right.

I have been fortunate to have struck up conversations with folks during my travels. I enjoy them. He was so nice by getting my backpack and jacket from the overhead bin.

Thanksgiving weekend

It's Thanksgiving weekend coming up. I got the vegetable part of my shopping list done on Wednesday. I have the turkey and stuffing to get on the weekend, and I'm all set to go.

I am looking forward to the longer weekend. I like making Thanksgiving dinner. I also love leftovers.

Happy Friday! I'm so glad that there's one more workday to go.

Long weekend catching up with friends

This long weekend has been great. I met up with three different friends on three different days. I spent Labour Day at home, resting!

It was great catching up with them. I hadn't seen one of my friends for two years. It was long overdue. It was like no time had elapsed when we chatted.

Thank goodness it's a shorter workweek.

Accidental photo

Hello, everyone! If you have Labour Day off today, enjoy it!

I haven't been writing much this long weekend. I have been catching up with friends and being more outgoing.

I am sharing an accidental photo that I took yesterday. I was attempting to hold my phone and pull up my shorts. I ended up with this photo, which I like. 

It makes me happy.

Cooking, baking, and the long weekend ahead

I spent Sunday cooking and baking. I made cornbread muffins, and brussels sprouts with maple syrup and parmesan.

It's the last workweek before Labour Day weekend. I don't have any travel plans, but hope to get together with a friend and pick up a couple of orders.

Here's to a good week ahead!

New loaded tea place

I found a place roughly ten minutes away by car that has loaded iced teas. They are loaded with vitamins and flavour, and don't have any sugar. Yay!

I had one called the mermaid, which is like an orange blue candy in liquid form. It was so good and huge. It took me the entire day out and about to consume the whole thing.

The weekend has started on a great note.

Long weekend coming up and asleep during an online meeting

I found out that this weekend is a longer one. Yay! I am thinking about extending it by taking a vacation day next Tuesday.

I didn't sleep all that well last night. I had foot pain thanks to doing more driving than I had anticipated on the weekend. I actually fell asleep during an online meeting on Monday morning and I'm pretty sure that no one noticed!

My foot is much better now. I should be able to sleep better tonight.

Making chili from scratch, but with a kit

On Sunday, I made chili that came in a small kit. It included raw beans that required soaking overnight.

I see why I like buying canned beans to make chili. I don't have to deal with soaking them, simmering them, and then getting to the actual chili-making phase. I went through the whole process and my chili turned out well.

Frankly, I like making my own chili. I can control the sodium in it. I used a chili flavour pack that came with this kit and it had more salt than I was used to.

The chili tasted a lot better a few hours later. I imagine that it will be fabulous later on today. I made a lot and it's so filling. I may change things up and make nachos with some of it.

I have two more weeks before there's a long weekend. I am enjoying not doing as many online Zoom calls. It's so much better to use see the world as safely as possible. 

The weekend and an appointment change

My weekend is coming to a close. I often wonder why weekends end up blowing by so quickly and the workweek tends to not do the same thing.

I am contemplating changing my in-person doctor's appointment to having it over the phone like I have been since this pandemic started. The woman at the lab made it in-person. I don't trust her judgment. Half a year ago, she insisted that I get my health card updated even though expired ones are considered valid during this pandemic.

We'll see what happens. I dread waiting because it's horrendous and I could be doing better things with my time.

Victoria Day long weekend!

It's the Victoria Day long weekend here in Canada. We have Monday off. I have also taken Tuesday off as a vacation day, so I've extended it.

So far, it has been great. On Saturday, I slept in till 10:00 am. I haven't done that for a while.

It's hot and humid these days. Summer has arrived early with temperatures reaching 29°C. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Stuffed peppers and the weekend

I have never made stuffed peppers in my life. I saw some red and orange bell peppers when I was at the grocery store and decided get some. I hope to make this recipe on the weekend. I won't be adding rice in it, which makes it non-traditional.

This workweek feels long. I am ready for the weekend.

So long, long weekend

My four-day long weekend is coming to a close. I start my day with a four-hour meeting that starts at 7 am.

I slept so well last night. I slept in till 10 am. I can't remember when I last did that.

Monday was great. I went out to do some shopping. I needed to get some low-carb bread. I also got a pair of double-walled glass mugs that were 45% off. I have wanted them for ages.

I am looking forward the weekend already!

Happy Easter long weekend!

My extended long weekend has officially started. I am drinking a beer and just finished watching a hockey game. It's heaven!

Have a safe and happy weekend, everyone!

Shorter workweek

I like a shorter workweek. It makes me look forward to a longer weekend. I am extending it by taking next Monday off.

My busiest workday is Friday. Yay to not having to deal with it this week!