Expired licence plate

I got a letter in the mail saying that my licence plate on my car had expired. I typically get a letter from the Ontario government that I need to renew it months before it expires. I got nothing.

The process changed this year. You typically pay an exorbitant amount every two years to renew your licence plate. The Ontario government scrapped it, meaning that you don't need to pay and put a sticker on your licence plate every two years.

The confusion is that you still need to renew your licence plate for free. The government is no longer sending paper reminders, so it explains why I didn't know.

I've renewed online. I have a receipt. I don't know whether I get something official in the mail or if my receipt is proof.

Change is confusing in this case. I have been driving with an expired licence plate for nearly a month without knowing until now.

You can get reminders through e-mail or text, or both. I've signed up for both, just to be safe.

Being in the same online meeting with the ex and hearing his voice

This morning, I had a knowledge session at work. We all connect online. 

The ex-guy was apparently chatting with a presenter whom I work closely with when I joined the session. I heard his voice. He said a single word that I couldn't make out. I have a feeling that he saw my name and reacted by saying some word before he stopped talking.

I hadn't heard his voice since June 2019. It was weird.

I was okay. I am okay. As long as we don't interact, I'm fine. 

We still work for the same employer. It helps that we aren't in the office and we are in different departments. Otherwise, it would be awkward.

A favourite store is closing, but will still be online

I found out on the weekend that one of my favourite stores is closing its physical store. The owner has opted to do business online instead. It makes sense to cut down on costs.

The sad thing is that I always found it magical to enter her store. I have been a regular customer since the start of this pandemic. I have done curbside pickup to reduce shipping costs. Now that it is operating online, I will have no choice but to shell out for shipping.

I'm thrilled that this store is still going strong. It closes on Sunday. We'll see if I can get down there for one last visit.

New panties

The other day, I got two pairs of panties from a local vendor. Years ago, I got a pair of bamboo briefs for the ex. I never got anything for me.

Recently, this store had an online sale, so I had to take advantage of it.

I got a pair of seamless penguin panties:

Here's the back:

These are the bamboo panties with a roller skates pattern:

Here's the back:

I'm currently wearing the roller skates one. They are comfortable and don't ride up. They stay put, which is awesome!

It's a long weekend here. I took an extra day off, so it's a four-day weekend for me. Enjoy your weekend!

Installing my new licence plate sticker

On Friday, I received my licence plate sticker in the mail. Mine has been expired for a year, but it's considered valid during the pandemic. I finally decided to renew it online.

I didn't do it last year because a colleague of mine had ordered it online in June 2020 and received it in the mail a few months later. I got mine within a week, so things have definitely improved.

On Sunday, I installed the sticker on my car's licence plate. I had to unscrew the protective plastic cover on top of the licence plate, remove the outdated sticker, place the new one on, clean the licence plate, and then screw it and the protective cover back on my car. It was nice, relaxing work for a Sunday.

I'm now waiting for my driver's licence to come in the mail. It will make me feel better to flash a piece of ID that isn't expired, although it is also valid during the pandemic. 

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.

My spider plant and an online concert

On Sunday, I went out. It was a rare outing, but I hit a farmers' market to pick up a free plant.

I enjoyed hitting the market. I ended up buying some cool items, such as lemon shortbread and blackcurrant kombucha.

My new plant is a spider plant. I feel like naming it Spike. I have never owned a spider plant in my life until now.

I'm watching a concert online. It's still going and it's nearly 1 am. Thank goodness I'm a night owl.

Renewing one out of three expired items

Last July, my driver's licence, driver's licence plate sticker, and health card all expired. It was the expiration trifecta!

Due to the pandemic, the government of Ontario said that these expired items were still valid until further notice. I decided not to renew online. I thought that, for sure, I needed a new photo for my driver's licence, but wasn't sure about my health card.

The situation is the same a year later. However, the government estimates that there will be huge lineups once these ServiceOntario places reopen to everyone that it recommends that folks renew online.

I just did my renewal for my driver's licence plate sticker online. It felt normal. Part of me didn't do it last year because a colleague did and got his sticker several months later. I believe that our mail system is doing much better these days that it shouldn't take that long.

Maybe when I get paid next, I will see if I can renew the other two items online. It doesn't hurt to try.

Weekend and errands

The weekend is here. Next week is my last workweek before I go on vacation.

It's nice that I have a backup to train a new colleague. In the past, I'd have to work my vacation around training. The fact that I take my vacation during the first week of July made this decision easier to have my friend and colleague back me up.

It'll be a fun, busy day today. I'm running a bunch of errands. It's also the second full weekend where we are easing out of lockdown in Ontario. I haven't visited a ton of non-essential businesses. I still do grocery stores, bakeries, drugstores, and takeout from eateries.

I suppose that online shopping has helped during this pandemic. I still like hitting stores, but I don't have that spark right now.

A productive Sunday

I had a productive Sunday. I tend to cook in the morning. I made a batch of French toast to enjoy throughout the week. The bread has no sugar, which is great.

I also made mini turkey quiches. I'm still using up my leftover turkey, and added spinach and cheese to the egg mixture. They turned out better than I had expected.

My dad needed me to help book a doctor's appointment for him. Everything is done online and he isn't there. He's booked for a phone appointment later on today.

I also finished filing tax returns for my parents. He gave me all tax receipts on Easter Monday and wondered why I hadn't done them on Thursday. I have to work. I do my best tax work on the weekend when I'm not pressured. It was odd. Our tax deadline is always at the end of April, so I didn't understand why he felt like rushing things.

Sadly, the weekend is over. Here's to a new workweek!

Flu shot, dentist, and Somebody Feed Phil

On Saturday, I'm getting my flu shot at my local drugstore. During this pandemic, you must book an appointment online for your flu shot. In the past, you could just walk in.

In a couple of weeks, I have a dental appointment. I haven't been there for a year. I was supposed to have my appointment in June, but it was rescheduled, as it needed to prepare its safety protocols. We'll see what happens.

It's the weekend. I am currently watching new episodes of Somebody Feed Phil. I enjoy it.

Credit cards - a decade ago versus now

I just placed an online order with a store that I have not shopped with for a decade. My account still works, which is great.

The funny thing? Almost all credit cards on file have not been active for years. To me, it was nice to see. I have worked so hard to reduce the number of credit cards that I had. I'm down to two personal credit cards. One of them is an American Express that stays at home.

It's supposed to feel like summer this weekend. I need to haul out my summer clothes. I'm not ready for a heatwave!

New love - pacing it

I have been chatting with a guy online for three weeks. It has been great getting to know each other.

He told me that he is falling in love with me. That's sweet. It's nice to feel loved again. The feeling is mutual.

We are taking things slow. We are similar in that we got our hearts broken. It's a question of trusting that we can love and find love again. So far, we are doing great.

Fizzled chat

I think that my recent chat with a potential dating interest has fizzled. I'm oddly not upset by it.

On Friday, he said that I am always busy with work. I pointed out that it could be a potential problem. He took an early retirement. Already, his remark made me feel guilty for not being available for him.

I need to work. There are bills to pay. I am not at the stage for early retirement. Deal with it.

He apologized. I text him while I break at work. It doesn't seem like it's enough.

We have not chatted since I sent him messages on Saturday morning. He has seen my messages. He never responded to any of them.

It's better that we stop now, rather than getting serious and realizing that our career phases are out of sync.

Dating and chatting online

I have been chatting online with a man who took the first step to communicate with me. It has been good on the whole. He is one of a handful of folks who saw my profile picture change. Social media is interesting.

The downside? It would be a long-distance relationship with this man. He lives in the States. I'm here in Canada. I'm not sure if I am ready to go through that again. My ex-hubby and I had spent three years living apart before we got married. It does work, but it requires effort, hard work, and communication.

This man seems nice and grounded. We are in chatting mode these days. Our schedules don't sync that well, but we do manage to exchange messages throughout the day.

It's different. It's weird being back into the dating scene. I kind of miss verbally talking to people, though!

My guy misses me

My work laptop is annoying. On Tuesday morning, I had to reboot it four times before I successfully connected to the company's virtual private network (VPN).

My guy and I were both working from home on Tuesday. We were both online. He sent me a message on our instant messaging app and we started to chat:

"How are you doing?" he asked me.
"Good, but busy with work changes. How about you?" I asked him.
"I miss a certain sweet girl with full lips and a cute butt," he replied.

I am wondering what the IT folks make of such work conversations. He's sweet, as usual.

Going with an airport shuttle instead of a taxi

I decided to go with a airport shuttle service for next Sunday. I see this shuttle bus every day in front of my hotel.

My experience dealing with two different taxi companies when I got to Shanghai was not enjoyable. It was way too stressful than I had anticipated.

After doing a bit of research and using a different Web browser (it works fine in Firefox, but not Chrome), I completed booking my ticket online. Here's hoping that it comes to fetch me on time!

A disturbance in the workforce where change is constant

I do not know why important meetings tend to be held on Friday afternoons. Most of my team had to attend a three-hour meeting last Friday.

The way that we are working is changing. For a while, I have been doing the workload of roughly two people. My contractor tells me that I should be cloned. I am not sure how most would feel about that option. Perhaps my guy would like to be pleasured often and vice-versa!

I'd say about two years ago, I was reviewing the work of other writers on the team to improve the quality of our team's deliverables. It helped and made our documentation more consistent. However, when a defensive writer decided to resign, I not only handled her workload, but continued mine until I had to drop reviewing everyone's work.

My manager hinted last month that he wants to have me give review work another go, among other tasks. I told him that I need my workload reduced. He agreed. So, writing about new software features on two different teams is off my plate. These tasks go to the contractor that I have been working with for two months. Some of my other tasks will go to the co-op students.

Although I shouldn't have been working on Sunday, I did for an hour. I am training a new co-op student tomorrow. Another one is supposed to also start at the same time, but there is some uncertainty as to whether I'll see her tomorrow.

Anyway, I don't have time to spend reviewing the contractor's work on Monday. So, I decided to review her work on Sunday. She had two tasks to do. Both require rework.

The problem with her is that she is quiet and I have to ask her how she is doing. She doesn't share what she is doing unless she is prompted. It will be interesting to see how she does with the two teams that she has now inherited. I get to break the news to her tomorrow.

So, I will continue to ease her the work on her two teams, as there is a transition period that needs to take place. I am still going to be her team lead, but for one of her teams.

There is a winter storm that starts dumping snow in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. I had contemplated getting a hotel room close to work for a night. I then thought that using my hard-earned points should not be devoted towards a work-related goal. Sure, I'd like to be at work to continue training at least one co-op. If the commute is bad, I will simply do what I would normally do -- work from home.

The difference is that I will hold my training session online. It may be a challenge, but it would be better than conducting no training at all.

Change is always present. I am actually looking forward to not directly documenting new software features. I will still be writing, but I like the change. It is much needed. I don't know whether my workload will truly be reduced, as it takes time to train folks to have them become independent and confident.

Busy at work for both of us

My guy and I seem to be in sync even apart. I saw him online and asked why he was up so late.

He had to put together an unplanned presentation tomorrow for clients in Stockholm. As for me, I worked over thirteen hours at the office on yet another software release.

The good news is that my boss approved dinner for my colleague and me. We ended up walking over to a new East Indian restaurant. It was decent food.

Needless to say, my guy and I couldn't chat. We know how work can get hectic, whether in the office on away from the base.

We get to talk on Friday. We see each other on Saturday, so it's not a bad thing.

E-reader sale and wooden cheeseboards

I decided to leave work before 17:00 on Friday. I ended up having a nice dinner at my favourite deli. The server there is always nice and recognizes me as a regular. It feels like home.

After that, I visited Chapters, which primarily sells books, but also tea, home decorations, and stationery. The Kobo brand of e-readers are there. Oddly, I bought my Kobo Mini reader that I currently own from an online shopping network.

Anyway, I was looking at the newer, larger ones. The Kobo Aura is on sale. Part of me wants to get it, because I love a sale and I'm just a technology geek. I don't need one. It's definitely a want.

The sad thing was that I couldn't find anyone to help me get one in the store. I suppose that's why I tend to shop online for electronics. At least I got to try the one that I want. I can simply buy it online.

The crazy thing is that when I do buy almost anything online on Chapters's Web site using a Visa card, I get 20% off. I guess that the store want to discourage folks from talking to read people and buying merchandise in-store?

Chapters in an interesting place. The wooden cheeseboards remind me of decent spanking paddles. In Stockholm, there was a souvenir one. My guy playfully used it on me in the store.

I should ask for this wooden cheeseboard for my birthday. My guy would enjoy using it on me.