Shorter workweek and travel plans

It's a short workweek. I thought that yesterday was Monday, so I'm already messed up!

I am planning to travel at the end of November. I am contemplating making it a work-from-across-the-border trip. I'll take a couple of days off to be a tourist and I'll also have the weekend to continue exploring. It'll be a decent mix as I ease into travel, but not going crazy like I used to.

I see more of my friends travelling these days. I feel more comfortable planning travel myself.

Deleting large files is painful on an old Mac mini

I have an old Mac mini. It took nearly a day to move my 2.12 GB photo library to trash. I am now emptying this file from the trash. It is taking a long time. I suspect that it'll take another day.

On a good note, I got rid of roughly 3 GB of old files. I expect my Mac mini's performance to be a bit better.

It's nice that I can find activities to do while I am staying at home. One of these days, I hope to get a new Mac mini, but we'll see if I can make my current one stretch a bit.

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.

Dating and falling in love

Getting to know someone through texts is going surprisingly well right now. It requires some effort, but it has been pretty enjoyable getting to know each other.

He told me that he is starting to fall in love with me. We have been texting daily for nearly two weeks now. It's nice that we have feelings for each other. He's a decent person and we are taking it slow.

I like not being under any pressure. I like that our conversations evolve naturally. We think of each other often.

It's all about taking it at a comfortable pace. It's good.

Dating again and observations

I'm so rusty with the dating scene. I haven't done it since 2011. I am taking it slow. It has been a learning experience.

The guy that I have been chatting with as of late takes some coaxing to open up. I realize that I am such a natural conversationalist in comparison.

So far, things are clicking. One day at a time. I remind myself and have told him that I'm not in a rush to do anything or to get to some major stage. He respects that. I'm pleased.

Mac mini woes

My Mac mini is acting up again. I can't get to boot up. Ugh!

I suppose that it's a sign. My Mac mini is a decade old. Perhaps it's time to retire it.

Rush hour traffic is horrible, especially when the weather is poor

I left work on Thursday at 17:00. It's considered early for me.

I had an event to attend in my neck of the woods. I allowed two hours to get there. I got there with 13 minutes to spare.

Traffic is horrible in the greater Toronto area. I was actually on a toll highway, which should have taken me half that time, at most, on a good day. This highway was slow, thanks to all the rain coming down, some sort of accident along the way, and just plain slowness during rush hour.

The event that I attended was both indoors and outdoors. Luckily, it wasn't a windy day. It was pretty mild. I was happy with my umbrella. It ended up being a great night.

Sharp pain from walking fast

On Friday night, I was walking around in a mall and had a sharp pain happen in my left buttock and hip that I haven't felt in a while. The last time I had this pain was the start of sciatic pain decades ago.

I have decided to take it easy all weekend. On Saturday, I felt good until I walked faster while at the drug store and the pain came back. Taking ibuprofen helped. I also slowed down my walking pace. I have been good all weekend ever since.

Here's hoping that it was a fluke and that the issue has gone away. Getting full-blown sciatica isn't fun. It is extremely painful and takes months for the pain to subside.

Shopping and decluttering thoughts

I like that my guy and I have been in the same shopping frame of mind for a while. We don't crave shopping at stores like we used to. We are content with what we have. We go shopping for things that we need.

He likes that I tend to buy practical items. I do like pretty things, too. It's okay to splurge now and again. It's a deathtrap when you do it daily and end up amassing a ton of stuff that you truly don't need or use.

I was in the groove decluttering last month. It has stopped since I went on and returned from vacation. However, it came back the other day when I looked at purchases that I had made in 2013 and wondered why I needed all these items.

My decluttering kick is slowly coming back. I'm glad.

Thoughts about how a newbie learns

It has been nearly two weeks that my students and I have been training the new employee. It has been a challenge for all of us.

I am still trying to figure out how this new employee learns. It's difficult to narrow down, but here are my notes:

• She is an extremely slow learner. She requires tons of repetition doing the same task before she begins to understand it.
• She is not good at recognizing patterns. If there is a clear example on the page, she does not know how to apply that example to solve her current problem.
• She does not read well. It doesn't matter whether she has a checklist or a procedure on how to do a task, she does not read details carefully. She also does not read e-mails well.
• Her comprehension is dismal. She constantly relies on my PowerPoint slides and treats them as the gospel. When she has a checklist to go through, she is still dependent on her slides and doesn't realize that the checklist takes precedence. When I quiz her on how to do something, she goes to her printed slide notes and doesn't get it. So, it's another explanation, but from a different angle. 
• She says thanks too often. Sure, we are all Canadian. However, saying thanks after every other sentence that we say does not register knowledge that we have passed on to her. It is also overkill.
• She is afraid to try anything on her own. When she had a question on how to edit a page the other day, I asked her to give it a try. She gave me a firm, "No!" Um, okay. Odd.

She does have a cartoon character voice. It's squeaky. One of my colleagues called it cute. I find it annoying the more she talks, which is pretty often.

My manager was impressed by how much information and research she did for her second interview. I didn't feel the same way. I realize now that it was all memorization. The comprehension is nonexistent. 

The red flag that I had during her second interview was that she admitted that she was a slow learner. I pointed that out to my boss. He said that the extra work that she does after hours will get her learning faster. I didn't think that it was the case then. I certainly don't see it now.

It is still frustrating dealing with someone who does not get what she is doing. I have even seen my students get frustrated.

Here's hoping that things get better, although things look bleak right now.

First major snowstorm of the season

Ah, snow. Just when I am planning a road trip, our first major snowstorm hit late afternoon.

The timing couldn't have been better. It started just before rush hour. It took me 2.5 hours to get home.

The snow is supposed to subside in the early afternoon. I will assess and see if it's a decent time to head stateside.

The good news is that my vacation starts now. Fortunately, my schedule is pretty flexible. I just need to be somewhere on Saturday night.

Wish - reusable drinking straws

I have been shopping on Wish for roughly two years. I like that you can find cool items for cheap. The downside is that these items come mostly from China and it takes a month for them to arrive.

I am a patient person. However, I don't recall what I had ordered until I see something in my mailbox.

For a while, I have wanted to get reusable drinking straws. I often go out to Starbucks to get an iced drink or someplace else for a fountain drink. I seem to use a straw every other day, which is not helping our planet.

I got a five-pack of purple glass drinking straws. They also come with two straw cleaners. I am extremely pleased with my purchase. It was also carefully wrapped in massive bubble wrap. I was impressed.

The downside is that I do not have some sort of travelling case for my straws. I guess that I need to look on Wish for it... haha!