Happy 2026! Thoughts and dry eye

Happy 2026! I hope that your year has started off well.

Where I am, we had a record snowstorm on Sunday. Toronto Pearson International Airport got 46 cm of snow. Those closest to Lake Ontario got 60 cm, including my old neighbourhood of the Beaches.

I live in the suburbs. I got a lot of snow. I don't think it was 60 cm. It was a lot.

Last year wasn't the best. I ended up with a stomach ulcer, which required some medication, yogurt, probiotics, and Gravol. The medication made me gag, which explains the Gravol. Since then, I do feel like I gag more when I see something that triggers that feeling.

Weird.

I keep on saying that I have a lot to say. I truly do. I have a lot to post about my mom's recovery from her broken arm and my difficult relationship with my dad.

I will start off with December and work my way backwards in 2025.

I get my eyes examined every two years in December. Earlier in the year, I noticed that my eyes were getting dry wearing contacts. My eyes felt gritty and I'd often take my contact lenses out.

For most of 2025, I wore my glasses instead. My eyeballs felt better. I'd be putting in eye drops whenever I needed them.

My eye doctor said that my eyes were in great shape and that my prescription hadn't changed. She did notice that the pores were clogged under my eyelids by natural oils. It explains my dry eye.

She recommended putting warm compresses over my eyelids to melt the oils. I did that by heating up a mask in the microwave. It felt great over my eyelids, but the heat would die down after ten minutes.

I bought a plug-in eye mask instead for more consistent heat. I use it every day over my eyelids for twenty minutes. It's me time. I like how relaxing the heat is.

I feel that this eye mask procedure has helped. I wore contacts lenses for the first time in months last week. I had them on for three hours. They were comfortable. I didn't feel any grit. 

I haven't tried wearing them to work. Baby steps. I'll probably wear them this Saturday when I run errands for a few hours and see how I feel.

I still use eye drops. I lubricate my eyeballs twice a day. It has been easy. I have eye drops in the washroom. I remember applying them after washing my face in the morning.

Just before bed, I apply eye drops before I fall asleep.

Time to use my eye mask. I'll try writing another post before January is over. I need to ease into writing more regularly again.

Early meeting and snow

I have an early morning meeting in several hours. I'm trying to wind down. 

The good news is that I'll end my day at 3:30 pm. It's supposed to snow on Wednesday, so I'll run my errands after work today.

It's snowing right now, but it's not heavy.

Okay, I should get some sleep or I'll be sleeping through my meeting!

Snow doesn't seem as much as predicted

The snowfall so far hasn't been huge. We had our first wave last night. The second wave is happening now.

I just realized that I have a drive-thru event later on this evening. Here's hoping that the snowfall isn't that bad as what's being predicted.

I went out briefly yesterday to fetch something from my car. It was a mix of ice and snow on my windshield.

More snow!

It's snowing. It's so peaceful looking at the snow falling.

It's supposed to be a two-day snow event. Here's hoping that all is great.

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.

Broke out of the house

Yesterday, I went out at long last. It was a warmer day for a brief period, reaching a high of 3°C.

There is a lot of snow here. A bit of it melted. The problem now is that it's refreezing. I expect lots of potholes.

 

Right now, it's windy and the temperature is tanking. Fun.

Here's a carved path near where I live:

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.

Huge snow accumulations and frustration working with a software developer

On Monday, my area got a blizzard warning and a lot of snow. 

Snowfall estimates were bumped up to between 40 to 60 centimetres. Toronto got 47 cm. Oshawa got 55 cm. Where I live is midway between the two. I'll take the median and say that we got 51 cm. It was a lot!

I don't think that my street has been plowed yet. It's so quiet. One neighbour tried to drive on the road and was highly unsuccessful.

I got annoyed with a software developer yesterday for a few reasons:

• He sent me a Word document that was on his personal SharePoint site. I couldn't access it because he didn't share it with me. I told him to send the file to me as an attachment.
• The details in his document were vague. I had to ask him about specific parameter names. Some had global as a prefix. Others did not. Highly inconsistent. He said to follow what the old parameter names were as a guideline. Um, no. That's not how it works. If you give me a list of new parameters, I assume that they apply to all hyperlinks that you have mentioned in the same section.
• I asked which software releases these changes were for. He guessed at it. I asked him to confirm.

As patient as I am, I got more annoyed with the number of questions that I needed to pose because he took shortcuts to give me in the information. Horrible! If I have so many questions because the content provided is unclear to me, how is a customer going to understand the information that I am writing about?

I let him know that details need to be more explicit in future. Telling me that he can have a call to explain stuff was ridiculous. Just give me the correct details right off the bat and save us both time and frustration.

Here's hoping that I'm not snowed in on Tuesday.

Snowday

It's snowing. We are expecting anywhere between 25 to 35 cm of snow today. 

It's definitely pretty to look at from indoors. Here's to a snowy Monday!

Quiet day thanks to snow

It snowed for most of the day on Tuesday. I went out briefly before lunch to fetch some food and buy a few items when the snow took a brief break. As I drove back to the hotel, it started to snow again.

It was nice spending some quiet time in my room. I watched a lot of TV, took a nap, ate and drank, and had me time.

I love being on vacation. It's getting cold here, so staying indoors isn't a bad thing.

It's snowing post-Christmas

We didn't get snow on Christmas. Instead, the snow came late on Boxing Day. It's snowing overnight.

I'm not sure whether I'll be going out in the morning later on today. I kind of like that housekeeping doesn't come once a day during this pandemic. It means that I can stay in my room later, watch TV, eat breakfast at a leisurely pace, write, and relax.

My first week of vacation has flown by. I love waking up without an alarm clock going off. I still get up relatively early at around 8 am. I feel that it's the excitement of exploring the Twin Cities that makes me so enthusiastic to wake up early and get on with my day.

Sunday thoughts and snow tires

I spent Sunday cooking and relaxing. I savour weekends a lot these days.

Later on today, I get my snow tires installed on my car. It's currently snowing lightly. Perfect timing!

Heat warning this weekend

We've got a heat warning this weekend. We've got temperatures over 30°C, accompanied by humidity. Lovely!

I have a few pickups to do later on today. I'm excited, but will also need to stay cool and hydrated.

It's weird how a week ago, it snowed. It now feels like the middle of summer.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Talking at 7 am for work

My manager wants me to give a talk about our team's processes to two colleagues in India. I'm talking in a few hours at 7 am.

There are times when I feel like he complicates my work life because he can't do this task. He doesn't have the hands-on expertise and he isn't great at speaking.

Hopefully, I'm coherent and functioning by then.

On a good note, I do like an earlier start. It means that I can end my workday early. The downside is that we are getting more snow, so it's not like I'll be out and about afterwards. At least I can admire the clean, white snow in a warm home.

Shoulder pain and lounging

I woke up on Tuesday with a pain in my shoulder. I have a feeling it's due to posture. Doing shoulder rolls and relaxing my arm has helped reduce the pain throughout the day. It's down to a dull ache that occurs occasionally.

I took a sick day to rest up. It was nice to lounge around once the pain had subsided.

We've got snow. I didn't bother shovelling it due to my shoulder. I will ease into it later on today.

Snow

My long weekend is over. Sad, but it's true.

We were supposed to get two waves of snow. The one on Monday morning didn't materialize, so I went out to fetch some lunch.

The second wave is here. We are expecting between 15 to 20 cm of snow. Fun!

Snow, errands, and recipes

It's snowing. I was hoping to run an errand later on today, but I think that I'll just stay at home and try on Sunday instead.

This business has curbside pickup from Wednesday through Friday, and Sunday. I am typically running errands on Saturday. So, I have either Friday or Sunday to drop by the store and pick up a couple of orders.

It used to be open on Saturdays. However, with this second pandemic lockdown, it has revised its hours. 

At least I get to stay home all warm and cozy. I am currently going through a new cookbook, dreaming about which recipe to try first.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! For those celebrating, I hope that you have a safe and joyous one with family and friends in your bubble.

Happy holidays! It's snowing, so it feels like Christmas.

Groceries and a white Christmas

On Wednesday, I went out to fetch groceries. I needed to get my Christmas dinner ingredients in order.

I actually visited two grocery stores. The first one tends to sell main staples, such as celery, onions, and bananas, at cheap prices. The quality is excellent. The other place had the whole turkey that I needed.

I feel accomplished. I really didn't want to hit the grocery store on Christmas Eve. It'll be crazy and we are also expecting snow. It will be a white Christmas here.

Relaxed thanks to a day off from work

I had a good day off. It was much needed.

My car has snow tires. This morning, it was 17C. The temperature dropped throughout the day. It's now 6C. My timing is spot as far as getting them installed.

Two more workdays are left before the weekend. I can't wait.