Sleep, work, and ignore Instagram

Short workweek. As predicted, it has been super busy for me.

Extra, unanticipated work came my way on Wednesday. I was so exhausted that I slept until I heard my alarm go off yesterday morning. I have rarely done that since I've been working from home.

I took a break from Instagram yesterday. It helped that I was busy. 

I've mentioned this detail in a past post. I get tired of men liking posts of me. I don't have too many, thankfully. It's sad that they can't type their alleged real name correctly in their handle. That's my first turnoff. Second, saying one word to me does make me want to write back. I like when someone writes something meaningful, creative, fun, thoughtful, funny, ... you get the drift. I get none of that. Third, I don't like when they demand (not ask) me to reply. It makes me completely ignore them.

Ever since I changed my profile photo on Instagram, I have had this surge of men saying hi. It's weird. Perhaps I should make my account private.

Shorter workweek

It's a shorter workweek. It throws me off. 

Tuesday is really Monday. A shorter workweek seems to mean less work. At my workplace, it tends to be busy because everyone wants to cram five days of productivity into four.

To top it off, I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist this Friday. If you looked at my work calendar, I barely have time for lunch!

Happy week ahead, everyone!

Foot pain and magnesium

My foot pain returned last night. I still can't pinpoint what triggers it. However, eating a banana does the trick in getting rid of the pain.

Last Friday, I had a phone call appointment with my doctor. I asked what would be an better alternative to eating a banana for this foot pain. She recommended anything green and leafy. She thinks it's the magnesium that is helping me out.

Interesting. It makes sense why I have supplemented potassium and my foot pain occurred regularly. Eating a banana a day has helped reduce the occurrence to once every 1.5 to 2 months.

I do drink a green smoothie daily, except that it's mainly avocado, celery, protein powder, and cucumbers. Last week, I had spinach in it. Perhaps I should keep that up.

I will need to look at magnesium and see if that helps. I love eating bananas, but they get sugary when they get ripe. She says that eating a banana a day is okay and that maybe breaking it up so that I eat half in the morning and half in the afternoon will help.

Happy Labour Day!

 It's Labour Day. If you have the day off, I hope that you enjoy it!

I'm taking it easy. All is well. Just focused on relaxing and things that I enjoy doing.

Friends

I spent Saturday afternoon with a friend, who is also a colleague. In our department, I used to be the farthest from the office. However, she moved further west this summer and now she is. 

We met at a central location and ordered Thai takeout. We then went down to the beach to eat and chat. It was a great outing and it was wonderful seeing her again.

We both talked about having friends who are battling cancer. I talked about my friend and how I don't want to bug her during her chemo, but have let her know that I'm thinking about her. Tonight, I got an e-mail from her. Her first round of chemo was promising. The second round set her back to square one. It was almost as if she had heard my conversation.

She is currently going through a trial in Houston that targets the chromosome that is causing her cancer. I hope that the trial is effective and that she continues to fight.

The ex who isn't swift

The guy that I dated briefly for two months earlier this year decided to write a brief e-mail to me the other day. I have since deleted it.

He said that he can't stop thinking about me and that I should come visit him.

Um, no.

First, he doesn't get that I want nothing to do with him. He proved that he doesn't and didn't respect me as a person. Second, the border between Canada and the United States is closed. If I were able to travel to the States, I wouldn't be visiting this guy.

He has reinforced why things didn't work out between us. He's not the sharpest tool in anyone's shed.

Nested boxes for a scooter

Yesterday, I picked up my scooter with the kickstand. I love it. I will enjoy scooting around on it this long weekend.

The scooter came in its own cardboard box. Amazon decided to put it in a box roughly three times its size. Why?! It's such a waste of cardboard.

I get protecting an item, but in an oversized box without any padding is ridiculous!

Anyway, I need a helmet next... haha!

Scooter with a kickstand is mine for free!

At work, we have a fitness program. When you hit a certain number of points based on your exercise and wellness progress, you get $75 each quarter to spend on whatever. I tend to get a gift card from Amazon.

We also have a recognition program. The more points you receive from others who recognize you and your accomplishments at work, you can also redeem points towards goods.

I have saved enough through these programs to get a kickstand scooter. I have wanted one for years. When the Razor scooter was popular, I tried it out stateside at Sam's Club. I rode it up and down an aisle and loved it.

Perhaps down the road, I will consider an electric version. For now, I'm pleased with the manual version. I figure that I can get more exercise out of it and it weighs less.

I get to pick it up later today. I am so excited!

Change and missing it

Monday wasn't my finer workdays. I found out that a feature that I had written about before I went on vacation was checked in properly. However, the powers that be moved the feature to a different release version while I was away.

Someone had apparently mentioned this tidbit of information in a mass e-mail. I missed it.

Part of me felt bad. I generally don't miss that sort of thing. Part of me doesn't. Communication isn't stellar at work. I get tons of e-mails. Folks can't make a decision.

Luckily, things have been fixed before this software release. I'd feel bad if the software release went out and someone noticed this issue after the fact!

I may take a longer long weekend. I haven't taken a longer Labour Day weekend in ages. I am typically training a new intern in September. It won't be the case this year.

This weekend and the upcoming long weekend

This weekend has been good. I feel relaxed and content.

This Saturday, I have made plans to see a friend. I haven't seen her since early March. I'm looking forward to seeing her again.

It's a long weekend coming up. Yay!

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.

Sharing my thoughts about my intern

Today was my intern's last workday. I'll write about today tomorrow.

Yesterday, our team was asked to say a few words about him in our virtual meeting. I liked what I said to him. It was heartfelt and he appreciated it.

I said that it was a pleasure training and working with him. I told him that from his first two weeks to the growth that I have seen in him to become the writer that he currently is has made me so proud of him. 

I thanked him for being my wingman when going out to grab a bite to eat. I also liked that we bonded over the university that we chose to do our undergraduate degree. I looked forward to his joining me as an alum soon.

Over the course of his twelve-month term, I have been good in letting him know how he was doing. I'm glad that I did. I will miss working with him.

Receiving money by accident

Yesterday, I got an Interac e-transfer. Someone had sent me $175. I believe it was in error. I don't know the person at all.

At first, I thought it was a phishing scam. Nah, it was legitimate. The woman simply sent her money to the wrong e-mail address.

Wouldn't it be great to get money like that all the time? A girl can dream.

Interns and coincidence

For the past year, I have trained and worked with my intern. He has three days left before his work term is over.

During this same period, we have also worked with another intern. This one is a software developer.

Yesterday, I had a call over our lovely chat tool to talk about what could be his final contribution in his work term. Like my intern, this one is equally as bright and hard-working.

I took the time to say that I have enjoyed working with him. He appreciated it. He said that my intern has always spoken highly of me. It was nice of him to say.

I liked his story about how he was driving his girlfriend home one evening. He found out that his girlfriend and my intern live on the same street. Small world!

Sleep and rain

I took a bit of a break. I didn't sleep well on Saturday night, so I decided to take half a sick day on Monday. I did sleep like a rock on Sunday. I needed the rest.

It's raining right now. I love how it sounds. It's so calming. It has been so hot outside that it's nice that there's a bit of relief.

Reducing sugar in my diet

I'm back to reducing the amount of sugar in my diet. I find that I'm more sluggish when I have sugar in my system. 

Don't worry. I'm still eating bananas. Natural sugar is fine. 

I have found Lily's dark chocolate peanut butter cups. They are yummy! It uses stevia as the sweetener. I'm a fan!

Kyle Lowry delivers quite the post-game slap

The Toronto Raptors are in round one of the playoffs. The team is doing well so far.

After game 2, Kyle Lowry was so pumped that, while heading to the change room, he gave quite the butt slap to a lucky staff member.

Ah, how I'd love to be on that receiving end!

Poor sleep, but a nap in the day helped!

Last night, I didn't sleep well. It was a combination of staying up late, waking up to a bit of foot pain, and hearing loud noises in the neighbourhood.

Luckily, I had completed the bulk of my work and only had to do some minor updates on Thursday. One of the benefits of working from home is napping when sleepy. It's exactly what I did.

Here's hoping that it'll be quieter and smoother tonight.

I finally got a call from my doctor

The doctor drama continues. I called the clinic at around 10:30 am and spoke to the receptionist on why I didn't get a call on Tuesday. She apologized and said that things were busy. She said that the doctor would  call me back on Wednesday.

Guess what time I got that phone call? At nearly 17:00. I was in a work call. I had it running on mute while I talked with my doctor.

She didn't apologize. She said that she was busy. I said that it was understandable. However, for a patient who is waiting to have a call at a specific time, it wasn't acceptable.

Anyway, I have an appointment for bloodwork. Fun!

I am considering doing the virtual doctor thing over video. My company health plan covers it. It may avoid this phone call nonsense.

No doctor call, but I had a nice chat with a colleague about his English skills

As expected, I didn't get a call from my doctor. I left a voice message, letting folks there know that they missed the boat and to call me back later on today. I'll be calling them, too. I don't trust their reliability, which is sad.

I will ask for my appointment to be over the phone. I don't see the need to come into the clinic.

On a happier note, I worked with a software developer on a new feature. After we were done, he confided that he likes writing documentation. He said that if I have any feedback on his written work (he's from Brazil), he'd be happy to get some from me. 

It was nice to hear. I wish that more developers would work on improving their English, if English is their second language. Heck, there are some folks whose first language is English and aren't great at it!

I let him know that I'd be happy to provide feedback. I do it anyway within my team, so it's a natural extension.

A call with my doctor and items in the mail 1.5 months later

Yesterday, I called my doctor's office to inquire about whether I could talk over the phone with her or see her at the clinic. Three months ago, consultations were strictly over the phone.

I got an odd setup where my doctor will call me later on today and determine whether I need to come in to see her. I'm not liking that screening process. Sadly, I have to live with it.

I'm pretty punctual when it comes to appointments. I have a feeling that either the call will come to me late or I won't get one. I'm trying to be optimistic, but I don't have that vibe.

On an interesting note as I change the subject, I had ordered a couple of items from the United States in early July. The packaged arrived today. Thank goodness they weren't crucial items. I'm glad that I have them at long last.

Time and my intern

I blink and the weekend is over.

I got everything that I had wanted to accomplish this weekend. I met up with friends. I did some cleaning up around the house. I even did some sewing.

This year is blowing by fast, even though the pandemic has put a damper on the year. My intern has two more weeks left before his work term is over.

My manager has asked whether I'd be interested in doing a farewell lunch or dinner with my intern -- just the three of us. I'm game. It's a small group and we can hit a patio at an eatery. My manager has to meet with the intern to collect his laptop and other items. I'd likely drop by a bit later.

It'll be good to see my intern again and send him off as best as we can.

Meeting up with friends and experiencing foot pain after quite an absence

On Saturday, I met up with a couple of friends for a late lunch. It felt like we hadn't skipped a beat. We hadn't seen one another since December 2018. It was a great time chatting over food and drinks. We then went shopping for a bit.

I woke up just past 4 am with foot pain. I haven't had it in quite some time. I ate a banana and took some Ibuprofen with root beer that I had made with my Sodastream.

I have been eating bananas daily, which has helped reduce how often I experience foot pain. My thinking with Ibuprofen with root beer is that the carbonation speeds up how quickly the pain relief happens.

Nearly an hour later, my pain was gone and I slept well.

Hello, weekend!

I'm meeting up with two friends on Saturday. One is a former colleague. The other is my former intern. Both friends were on my team a couple of years ago.

I'm driving out to see them. It should take over an hour by car. I like a good day trip.

Happy weekend, everyone!

Night guard to help with grinding my teeth in my sleep

I grind my teeth at night while I sleep. As of late, I wake up with a sore jaw. It's likely due to stress and not working out as much as I should.

I decided to haul out my night guard. I got it from my dentist over a year ago. It still fits! I wore it last night and noticed a huge difference. My jaw wasn't all that sore when I woke up.

Luckily, the weekend is within reach. Yay!

It's payday!

I get paid by my employer every two weeks. Technically, I get paid every other Thursday.

I do love my bank. It deposits my pay electronically by 22:10 on Wednesday night. I spend a bit of time paying various bills based on my bill payment schedule. It's an Excel spreadsheet. I have had a number of variations over the years, but the current one has guided me out of my darkest debt stage.

It makes me so happy paying bills and seeing results. I also like that I can put money away towards my retirement and emergency fund. It was challenging doing it a year ago.

Things are looking up and good with my finances. It takes a lot of effort and planning to get out of debt. I'm so pleased that budgeting has paid off (pun intended)!

Wednesdays

My manager has been taking more time off this summer. I look forward to when he goes on vacation. My inbox gets a rest and I can focus on my work with fewer interruptions.

As of late, he has been taking Wednesdays off. I like it. I tend to make a smoothie in the morning and ease into my day without answering what he feels are important, urgent e-mails.

I like Wednesdays a lot more these days.

Car maintenance that cost me nothing

On Monday, I finally bit the bullet and took my car in for servicing. I have put off getting my car's winter tires off due to the pandemic. When my oil change light lit up on the dashboard, I knew that I had to bring my car in. Thank goodness we are in stage 3 of businesses reopening.

I normally drop off my car and get a shuttle ride home. With the pandemic happening, shuttle service is unavailable. Instead, I had to sit there with a mask on and wait for my car.

The work done on my car took two hours. I will say that sitting under air conditioning with a comfortable cotton mask on was great. I used three hours of paid time off from work that I was supposed to take in early July, but was on vacation. I loved sitting there, relaxing, and vegging.

How much did I pay for the car maintenance. Nothing. Crazy, huh?

My car service was under warranty. Getting my all-season tires on was free, thanks to the tire rotation part of the servicing being done. I had paid for two seasons of tire storage at the place, so I didn't need to pay for more.

To top things off, I had a great service advisor. He was kind. It was nice chatting with him about everything from running out of printer paper, to pointing me in the right direction to get my free messenger bag. Yes, I got a free bag that's pretty nice.

It was a good day.

Throwing out the past and finding an NHL team to cheer in the playoffs

 I spent Sunday getting rid of things at home. This task will take a while, but I have made some decent progress. 

Many were either reminders of my ex-guy, such as a fake flower in a vase that he got, along with my manager at the time and an intern when I went into the hospital for surgery. It was back in 2011, shortly after we had started dating.

Looking at this item doesn't bring me joy anymore. It occupies space on my dresser and I needed to get rid of it.

As for hockey, the Winnipeg Jets, Minnesota Wild, and Toronto Maple Leafs have ended their playoff season. I don't know which team I should cheer on now.

New panties

A few months ago, I joined a panties subscription service. I love it. I get a pair every other month.

Yesterday, I got this one in the mail. The mesh is surprisingly comfortable. It's playful and sexy. 

 

 This one will be fun to wear during a self-spanking session.

Hockey games late at night

I am watching a late night hockey game. Here's hoping that the Minnesota Wild win it. If the team loses this game, its playoff run is over.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are still alive. Yay!

Last night, the Winnipeg Jets ended its playoff hopes. Sad.

I am so happy that the weekend is here. It makes staying up late to watch hockey games more enjoyable. I can also sleep in!

It's Friday at long last and a fix to creating new Blogger tags

 It's Friday. I have one more workday to go. I am relieved.

We've got a bit of a break from the heatwave. It's nice to give the air conditioning some rest.

I have a few errands to run on Saturday. I'll be heading down to Toronto for a bit. I hope to hit my old neighbourhood when I have a chance.

Hey, I can finally create new Blogger tags with the new interface while writing a new post. Hooray for logical usability! I disliked publishing my post and then adding a new tag from the Posts section. Creating each new tag from there was a pain.

Ball Sort

Recently, I decided to download Ball Sort. No, get your mind out of the gutter! It's like Tetris, except that you are putting like-coloured balls together in beakers or tubes.

I'm on level 209 right now. So addictive!

Hockey in the summer and games at odd hours

It's strange watching hockey in the summertime. Games are shown during odd hours of the day.

Games in my timezone happen in the afternoon. I can't exactly tune into them because I am working. On Tuesday, I was on a call for two hours. Before that, my manager was late for our meeting, so it got extended to nearly an hour. Ugh!

I'm watching a game right now. There are two hub cities for hockey: Toronto and Edmonton. The latter is two hours behind my timezone. It's a good thing that I am a night owl and can work from home. Still, it's just a strange schedule.

Ah, priorities!

Sodastream machine and my beverage centre

On Saturday, I picked up my new Sodastream Fizzi One Touch machine that I had already paid for online.

I love it. I have made root beer and raspberry mint beverages so far.

The instructions that you get from Sodastream on using your machine are like those from IKEA. They are all diagrams. One reason for pictures is that companies save on translation.

Well, I still needed to go online to watch a Sodastream video on how to use it. I'm good now!

I have decided to create a beverage centre on the top floor of my home. It occupied a small corner of my den. I spend a lot of time working from home on this floor. It makes sense that I house my Keurig (I need to dust it off, as I can't remember when I last used it!) and Sodastream machines. I also bought a stand for my K-cups years ago that can come out of its box.

I have a small kitchen, so having these machines on the counter takes up way too much space. I typically bring my iced tea and beverages upstairs anyway, so having these machines up there makes sense to me.

My long weekend is coming to a close. It was nice taking it easy and relaxing.

Comments on my blog - part 3

Here's hoping that I don't create an ongoing series of updates pertaining to my blog and its comments settings. I never thought that I needed to clamp down on spam. It was my first time doing so. I've had this blog for fifteen years, which is crazy!

To make a long story shorter, I changed my blog's comment permission setting from everyone to those who are followers of my blog. My understanding was that if you are deemed a Blogger follower of my blog, you could continue to comment on posts.

Well, so much for how things should be. I was touched when I saw Can't Comment on Cutiebootie's Blog and Message to Toronto as blog post titles. It was touching that they reached out to let me know that they couldn't add comments. I appreciate you!

When tons of spam messages flooded my blog, I initially changed the setting to allow only readers with a Google account to leave comments. I suppose that Blogger wasn't fast enough to clamp down. Two days after I had made the change, I was still getting spam messages. I decided to change it to only followers who could comment. The spam finally ceased.

On Sunday, I decided to change my blog setting back to comments accepted when you log in with your Google account. I left it that way for seven hours. No spam. Yay!

I then let Fondles and Michael know about my change. I'm happy that comments work for one of them. Here's hoping that it works for the other and everyone who has a Google account.

I will keep it on this setting for a bit. If it's still quiet on the spam front, I will consider giving everyone access to commenting.

It has been such a relaxing long weekend that I have decided to defer my self-spanking to this upcoming weekend.

August, hockey, and birthday reward

It's August. It's weird watching hockey on TV in the middle of summer. I'm not complaining. I have missed it and I'm glad that it's back, with safety measures in place.

I ran a bunch of errands on Saturday. I had to hit a store at a mall to use my birthday reward. It would have expired today.

The woman cashing me out wished me a happy birthday twice. It reminded me that I need to give myself a self-spanking.

I was exhausted after my errands and being out in the sun. I'll strive for later on today. My right knee is fine, so I am all set.

Update on my debt reduction and fizzy drinks

Being in a pandemic for months has been unnerving and uncertain. One positive that I have mentioned in the past is that I'm not shopping all that much, other than for essentials (groceries and medication), and the odd need (computer eyeglasses).

Because I haven't been commuting to work, I have saved time, money, and aggravation. With money, I have saved so much that I have been putting that money towards my emergency fund and retirement savings (it's called a Registered Retirement Savings Plan or RRSP in Canada), and paying off my debt.

For a few years now, I didn't have an emergency fund. Either my paycheque was that fund or I'd have to dip into my RRSP. I was not proud of doing the latter, but it did help. I am so pleased that I have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses at long last. I hope that I don't have to dip into my RRSP again.

I have been building up my RRSP. I have regular monthly payments that I contribute to my own plan. I also have a certain amount put into my RRSP plan with my employer. I have contributing a bit more, which makes me feel good.

I have also been paying my credit cards in larger amounts. I'm extremely happy. Progress is good.

Even though I haven't been shopping that often, I decided to treat myself by buying a Sodastream machine. It basically makes tap water fizzy.

Why? Well, I drink tea and diet pop. With the latter, it's time to reduce the number of cans and bottles that contain pop. Instead, I can make my own carbonated drinks and reuse bottles.

I pick up my Sodastream machine later on today. I am looking forward to figuring out my new hobby!

Yoga, a sore knee, and self-spanking

The other day, I did a relaxing yoga session online. I had tightness on the left side of my neck going in, but the session eliminated it.

Last night, I ended up with soreness in my right knee. I can't tell whether it was due to doing yoga or if I overexerted it in some fashion after that. It was uncomfortable trying to sleep and walking first thing in the morning was tough.

My knee is much better now. Perhaps walking out the pain and joint throughout the day has helped.

I am looking forward to the a long weekend. I got a wonderful suggestion to self-spank this weekend. I like this idea.

Anti-blue light-blocking computer glasses

I ordered a pair of blue light-blocking computer eyeglasses. They are non-prescription ones. I am wearing them right now. They are comfortable! We'll see whether they reduce my eye strain.

This week, I have been taking more breaks away from my laptop, which has helped a lot. Luckily, I have two more workdays before a long weekend, so that should help me recover.

Since I have changed my blog's comments access to members-only, the spam messages have ceased. I will keep it on for a bit before I test out going back to the original setting. Exciting!

An update on getting spam as comments

Currently, if you are a follower of my blog, you can leave comments. Even if you have a Blogger account, you must be following my blog to post comments on here. I just did a test and can confirm.

I am sorry about this change. My intent since I started my blog was to have anyone who doesn't have anything offensive to say comment on my posts. Since these spam messages are numerous, I had no choice but to change my settings. Otherwise, I would have removed the comments section altogether, which would have made me miserable.

So, if you have a Blogger account and want to post messages here, please follow my blog. The Follow button is at the bottom right of my page.

Ever since I made this change, the spamming is gone. It's nice that things are quiet again.

Down the road, I'll give changing my settings back and see how things go.

Comments for followers

Hello,

I am receiving a flood of spam comments on my blog. My comments are open to everyone, including anonymous people who do not have a Blogger or Google account. Sadly, spambots are abusing this inclusivity.

If you can please become a follower of my account, you will be able to submit comments. I will change my settings to allow comments from Blogger followers. I reckon that if you're a Blogger member, you should be fine leaving comments, too. I wish that I didn't have to change my settings, but the spamming is excessive.

I'll see if I can get a comments plugin that may be more flexible and lock out spamming programs.

Thanks!

Taking it easy and looking forward to a long weekend

I spent Monday taking it easy. I needed a break from work.

I watched touching videos about Regis Philbin and reminisced about how much I loved watching him on television. He was a sweet, decent man. I am sad about his passing.

This weekend is a long one, with Civic Holiday on Monday. I look forward to taking a break. I would normally do a road trip and stay at a hotel somewhere, but I don't feel right about doing one during a pandemic. Instead, I will continue going out to visit a new business or restaurant, and keep things local and low key.

Telling the ex that he's an insensitive jerk

Last night, I had a texting conversation with my ex-guy. He is indeed an insensitive jerk.

He wanted to know how I was doing. I said that he didn't need to check up on me. He said okay and wished me goodnight.

That's when I called him an insensitive jerk. He never asked me how I was doing after he had dumped me. He told me to take a pill when I was experiencing anxiety after he broke the news. Why is he so concerned now? It's a facade that he cares. It's a joke.

To make a long story short, he wants our friendship to continue. He doesn't want a relationship. He does want fun and sex. I told him no back in April. It's still no now. If he wants sex without a relationship, perhaps he needs a prostitute. I know that he wouldn't because he's too cheap to pay for this service.

What nerve!

I told him that I hated him. Hate is a strong word, but I do for the pain, anxiety, and sadness that he has caused. I also said that he confirmed last night that he is an insensitive person who only cares about his hard cock, which is where his brain is.

It felt good to say that it was his loss for dumping me -- that he didn't know how good he had it. I also gave him advice to read books on relationships and friendships. He needs all the help he can get. He can post reviews on his YouTube channel and refer back to them, because he sucks at friendships and relationships.

I basically said that I didn't want what little was left of our friendship and told him not to contact me again.

I slept well. It's quite the change from April where I was so upset. I know that I deserve better. It's just sad that I dated a jerk.

I have removed him as a contact on Skype. It felt good getting rid of baggage.

Regis Philbin

I learned yesterday evening that Regis Philbin had passed away. He was 88 years old, roughly a month shy of being 89 years of age.

May he rest in peace.

Photo courtesy of gettyimages

I grew up watching Regis on Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee. I must have been in either grade 10 or 11. I loved them. It was to the point where I recorded their one-hour morning show on my VCR and watched it after school.

I watched the show when Kathie Lee left and it was Live! with Regis for a bit. Then, it became Live! with Regis and Kelly. I also watched him on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire while I lived in the States. It was great. Is that your final answer? Yes!

I continued to watch it until Regis retired. It was nice seeing him occasionally on Rachael Ray's show as a guest.

Regis was a wonderful storyteller. I loved his sense of humour. He was the best.

The insensitive jerk called, but didn't leave a lasting impression

The insensitive jerk, also known as my ex-guy, called me just after 21:00 last night. I looked at the number displayed on my phone and let it ring.

As expected, it went to voicemail. He didn't leave a message.

I didn't call him back. I was getting reacquainted with my old mini laptop that has Windows 7 loaded. I haven't booted it up in years. Yes, this old laptop took precedence.

I figure that he has second thoughts about his decision last year to end our relationship. The problem is that he thinks that we can pick up from where we left off. We can't. I can't.

Working with colleagues who annoy me

At work, I seem to work with people who have interesting personalities, issues and, quirks. I wish that I didn't have to collaborate with them. Luckily, I don't that often with most of them.

Well, there's Diva. She enjoys texting me on our messaging app. I, on the other hand, cringe when she contacts me. We spent forty minutes texting. Why? First, she types slowly. I end up moving onto other work and getting back to her messages. She should consider writing an e-mail instead, as her issues are never urgent. Second, she isn't clear about what she is conveying in her texts. They are confusing for me because she doesn't consider whether her audience will get what she is saying. Third, the reason why I didn't understand her was because she messed up performing a procedure, which caused my work to appear somewhere it shouldn't have been. It was nice pointing that mistake out to her again.

As mentioned a while back, she and another colleague have taken on roughly half my old workload. I always felt that they took what I did for granted. I did and still continue to do a lot. She, in particular, is paying the price for being sloppy.

There is a software tester that I worked with several years ago. He moved on to another position within the company, which was great. I didn't like working with him. Sadly, he's back. He hasn't changed a bit. He has bugged me unnecessarily three times. I finally had it, even after giving him an example of asking a software developer technical questions instead of me. I had to explicitly tell him to copy that developer and me together. Ugh! He, too, enjoys texting. It's not my preferred method. Nothing is that urgent.

Finally, I have been working with a female software developer in a focus group. She was nominated to lead it. Sadly, she talks a ton. She does not let people speak. She seems to thoroughly enjoy hearing herself speak in circles. She talks up such a storm that I just tune out. A meeting that she had set up for thirty minutes yesterday with a group of twenty people got extended to an hour because she took up 37 minutes of it with her gibberish.

Thank goodness it's Friday. Here's hoping that it's a quiet day without dealing with these characters.

Dakota Johnson's beautiful backside

I have watched all three Fifty Shades movies. I liked them a lot. Dakota Johnson played Ana.

She has a lovely backside. The photo on the right is Dakota modelling a long-sleeved thong bodysuit by Kit Undergarments. This photo was released yesterday.

I remember seeing the photo on the left, but I don't know the back (ha!) story.

Photo: elegantdakotaj on Instagram

This photo made my day.

My manager on vacation gives my inbox a rest

My manager is on vacation for three days. He took three days smack in the middle of the week. He didn't bother making his vacation a longer weekend for some reason.

For me and my e-mail inbox, we feel like it's a vacation, too. I don't get as many e-mails when he isn't around.

I am also more productive without a ton of interruptions. It's nice.

My ex and his YouTube channel

I feel that I need to get rid of my ex-guy as a connection on LinkedIn. It's good that he was never interested in social media, so distancing myself from him on those platforms after he broke my heart has been easy.

He isn't on LinkedIn much. Neither am I. I go on there once every month or two. Well, in my feed wiht twenty notifications was a post from him. He invited people to look at his YouTube channel where he does book reviews.

My eyes rolled. They rolled hard. I checked one video out. I stopped after a minute.

He isn't the guy I fell in love with. All I see is an insensitive jerk who only contacts me these days when he's horny. He looks sincere in the video. I know better. It's a facade.

It took him a year to post these videos. He actually posted these videos in August 2019. I don't know why it took him a year to promote his channel.

I'm glad that he has a hobby. I simply don't want to hear about it.

Watermelon juice and a Vitamix

Another weekend is over. Weekends fly by too quickly.

We are still experiencing a heatwave. I have been into making watermelon juice at home. It's pretty simple and is refreshing on a hot summer day. It's just a question of cutting it into cubes and blending it in my Vitamix. Done!

I got my Vitamix a few years ago. My first blender lasted 19 years before I replaced it with my Vitamix. I am fortunate that my small appliances last longer than I anticipate.

I'm off to bed. Have a great week ahead!

Wear a mask! An older couple were amazing enforcers

As of Friday, July 17, it's a bylaw where I live to wear a mask in public indoor areas. I realize that it's tough switching over, but it depends on the store and whether wearing a mask is being reinforced.

At Shoppers Drug Mart, a man asked me if I was in the lineup for the self-checkout. Nope, I was in the human checkout instead.

He had no mask. I wanted to say something. Obviously, everyone else was masked. He didn't get the hint. Shoppers Drug Mart wasn't spending time enforcing the bylaw.

An older woman behind me said loudly, "Isn't it a bylaw to wear a mask?" I turned around and said yes. She thanked me for answering back. Her husband joined her in the lineup and they both went on about it.

Another man came in and clearly was not wear a mask. These two folks gave him quite the talk that he went out to his truck, got his mask, wore it, and came back into the store.

I loved this couple. Great job!

Computer eyeglasses - do they work?

I am contemplating getting computer eyeglasses to reduce eye strain. I've noticed it more since I came back from vacation and have been back to the grind.

Do these computer eyeglasses help? Is it better to get something similar, but as a screen protector for a computer monitor or laptop screen?

I need to do some research. I haven't got a clue. I do know that I'm much happier not looking at a computer screen for hours.

Speaking to a crowd and not being as petrified as I was in grade 7

Yesterday, I did a presentation online with an audience of twenty people who are my peers, including my manager's boss. I originally thought of creating a PowerPoint set of slides. One member on our team of four just said to present my points that I had summarized as my meeting minutes last week.

Well, I did. He decided to create a PowerPoint for his other group that he was leading. Geez, thanks!

On a good note, my presentation went so well that I have been asked to present it to my entire department. Yes, I will need to create PowerPoint slides. My minimalistic approach wasn't bad at all.

When I was in grade 7 and throughout most of my academic life, I was extremely nervous talking in front of roughly thirty people. I would rehearse a ton before doing any presentation. It helped.

I supposed that my work and life experiences talking within my team, training others, and hanging out with friends pre-pandemic have made me comfortable speaking in public. For yesterday's presentation, I didn't do much rehearsing or preparation work.

It's interesting how things change as you get older.

Debt reduction is going well

I like the idea of providing a monthly update on reducing my debt. It is going extremely well.

July is a good month this year. I get paid three times, so I feel that I can pay off more debt.

I paid off my line of credit last month. It felt good. Luckily, the limit isn't huge. However, it took me a year to pay it off.

I still have two credit cards that are mine. I have one corporate card that sits there.

I use a MasterCard for daily purchases, such as groceries and takeout. I typically do debit, which has been helpful in reducing my debt and credit card usage. The other is an American Express card that I detest using. There is a backstory associated with my disgust for this company. The reason why I still have it is that I've been a customer since 2005 and it helps my credit rating.

As of late, I don't like these automated e-mails from American Express, stating in the subject line, "Future transactions may be declined." I am trying to figure out when this automated message disappears. It feels like Amex is being so kind to approve a transaction when my credit card isn't maxed out or close to its credit limit.

My credit score has increased by 16 points from the last score back in May. I am pleased. It has been hard work improving my credit score. I hope that it gets to a satisfactory level in twelve months. At this rate, I have a decent shot at it.

I am working from home for the rest of the year. I will continue to save more money, thanks to not commuting and fuelling my car with gas as often.

Pillow talk

I bought two new king pillows. They have gel in them. It felt good putting my head on one of them.

The problem is that I don't have king pillowcases! I currently have a standard cover on it, which works, except for the part of the pillow that juts out.

I have a reason to get pillowcases now. Fun!

I have had my old pillow for probably five years. It's time for a change, as it takes me longer to fall asleep these days.

A break in the heatwave and a decision to not attend a work picnic

We've been in a heatwave for a while. We finally got a break on Monday.

It was nice to turn off the air conditioning, open the windows, and invite the cool breeze in. The humidity went away. It was great.

It's only for a brief period, though. It's supposed to heat up again later this week.

In Ontario, roughly 24 regions will go into phase 3 of reopening businesses during this pandemic. It means that 99% of the economy will be up and running.

Since my area went into phase 2 later than these regions, but ahead of Toronto by a week, we'll stay in this phase for a bit. I'm okay with it.

The other week, my manager wanted to have a picnic with our team We would be a group of eight people. I declined. I don't feel like driving an hour to see a few people in this group that I truly want to see. I also don't think it's exciting to get my own food, sit there, and eat it two metres away from everyone. It doesn't sound thrilling.

I am also not comfortable to congregate with a group. It's too soon. Frankly, I'd rather do it with close friends first before trying it out with colleagues.

Changing my profile photo on Instagram and attracting an interesting demographic

I have probably mentioned this detail in the past, but it is related to what I am about to write.

Back in late December, I changed my profile photo on Instagram. I was on vacation in Minnesota and decided to take a rare selfie, which turned out nicely. 

Well, ever since I changed my profile photo, more men tend to send me direct messages (DMs) on that platform. Sadly, 90% of them started with them saying hi. That was it. There wasn't any mention of why they were contacting me or anything else.

The guy that I was virtually dating for nearly two months was different. He said that he liked my profile and wanted to get to know me. It was a good start, which sparked a conversation. Sadly, this guy didn't take no for an answer and was bad news. I have blocked him on Instagram and on my phone apps.

The other day, I decided to reply to another guy. What intrigued me was his profile. He had both Canadian and American flags as emoji.

He wasn't a good conversationalist. I already knew that I needed to ask him probing, intelligent questions to make him open up.

I don't necessarily enjoy when folks need to say that they are intelligent and handsome right off the bat. Some would say that it's confidence. I actually think it's has the opposite effect. I never mention those qualities when I introduce myself to others. I know that my qualities will shine through and others will see me for who I am. I feel that folks needed to state such qualities aren't as confident as they truly are.

What turned me off was his unnecessary capitalization of words and run-on sentences. He had one huge paragraph about what he wanted in a woman. My eyes glazed over. He needed to break his paragraph down to four smaller ones. I am a writer by trade. I can't see myself being with someone who claims to be educated, but writes like he's in grade 8. To me, it's a huge turnoff.

So, I told him all of these details in a nicer fashion, said that it was me and that and it won't work. I wished him all the best. He proceeded to ask me to answer his questions, to get to know me better. Um, no. What part of "it won't work" isn't clear? I stated that I wouldn't respond to his questions, that it won't work between us, and said goodbye. I then blocked him.

The qualities of these men who have been sending me DMs are as follows:

• The man is either divorced, separated, or a widow, has a child, and is seeking a partner to both be with and raise said child together
• He serves the US in some capacity (army, navy, and so on), in construction, or an offshore engineer
• If not in these fields, he is a medical doctor of some sort
• The man is American and hasn't looked at my profile to figure out that I'm not

I'm not interested. I would rather have an honest man who can communicate and start a decent conversation. I would like an intelligent, fun, optimistic, loving person in my life. If he would like to spank me, it would be a nice bonus.

Masks

In Toronto, it is mandatory to wear a mask in indoor public areas, such as grocery stores. In my area, this bylaw takes in effect next Friday.

I have eased into wearing a mask, even when we didn't have a bylaw. I find that when I'm in a store that has one-way arrows on the floor to let you know in which direction you should be walking, most folks don't follow them. I'd rather have a mask on in such circumstances.

I own a total of four masks. Three have the same pattern. All four are cotton and have small flowers. I definitely stand out in a crowd. Everyone either has solid black cloth or the blue disposable ones.

For some reason, I can't see myself getting disposable ones. I am good washing my mask and reusing it after every use.

Thunderstorms mark the start of this weekend

A thunderstorm rolled in last hour. It's ongoing.

It has been a scorcher of a heatwave for over a week. The rain is much needed.

It's supposed to rain for most of Saturday. I will still go out and run my errands. I just hope that there isn't a ton of flooding.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Shopping and seeing a pool noodle used as a playful spanking tool

On Wednesday, after work, I went grocery shopping. It's what I do on Wednesdays ever since this pandemic occurred.

I bought everything I needed, paid for my items, and carried my groceries in bags out the door. 

There was a couple ahead of me. The female was walking ahead of the male. The guy had a swimming pool noodle. He used it to playfully spank the female. She had hot red yoga capri pants on and a short t-shirt.

They both didn't seem to mind what was going on. I liked watching. I had a nice view, as did the guy. 

They were one cute, happy couple who made my shopping experience much more enjoyable!

Work laptop issues - ugh!

I have had a couple of issues with my laptop since returning to work. Tuesday consisted of my laptop screen going completely dark. I have a feeling that looking at that screen for a bit caused my eye strain, which I haven't felt in years.

Yesterday, I spent half the day with the IT helpdesk to get me connected to the corporate network. I had a Windows update, which screwed up the corporate connection.

It's enjoyable to be back at work. I need to go back on vacation, where I didn't spend a ton of time looking at a screen and dealing with technology issues. Ah, memories!

Back at work and being with oddballs

My first day back at work was busy, but it went well. I got the work that I needed to catch up on completed. I helped troubleshoot an issue that resulted in having three happy people being able to access a site.

It's not a revelation, but the day made me realize how my colleagues in my department are not exactly leaders:

• The oldest guy on our team talks a lot. He spent twenty minutes talking about an office chair. He also can't figure out how to add a software application on his laptop if his life depended on it.
• The diva injures herself often. She fell on the weekend and has tore a thigh muscle. She has been away on sick leave for the last two days.
• My friend can't read for beans. She sent me a screenshot saying that she has the application installed. The message had the exact application name mentioned three times, which wasn't what she had.

More than half the team does not have this application installed. Had I not stepped in, everyone wouldn't have properly ordered this application. I sometimes wonder why I care so much when my colleague seem indifferent. It's because that's who I am. They need a ton of guidance.

Because my intern has moved over to being under the direct supervision of diva, he is now doing all her work while she recovers. I feel for him. However, I have trained him well that I know that he can doing this work with flying colours.

It's such an odd setup on our team. On the plus side, some people are now realizing how much value and skills I bring to this team when I am either away or don't handle these tasks that I once did.

End of my vacation and a Starbucks birthday memory

In a few hours, I head back to work. I am working from home till the end of this year.

This staycation has been nice. I have enjoyed being stress-free for over a week. I am relaxed. I am sad to see my vacation end, but it eventually had to.

I will share a nice memory of this vacation. At Starbucks, if you are a part of the rewards program, you get a free beverage or food item on your birthday.

I visit my local Starbucks often, which is roughly twice a week during this pandemic. I am and have been a regular customer for several years.

On my birthday, when I went to pick up my beverage, the barista over the drive-thru speaker wished me a happy birthday. I returned the following day and two baristas wished me a belated birthday.

It was such a sweet gesture. They made me feel special. 

Soreness, forgiveness, and Hamilton

The soreness from my self-spanking is nearly gone. I'm so pleased with my work!

On my birthday, I treated myself to Hamilton, the musical that was released that day, by signing up forf an account on Disney+. I finally watched it and loved it.

I am not great at forgiveness. It's part of how I cope. If you have hurt me, I don't want anything to do with you.

It's currently the situation with the ex-guy. I don't want anything to do with him, so I can't forgive him for breaking my heart. I don't think I could ever be forgiving, like Eliza was to Alexander Hamilton by taking him back.

If you like musical and historical stories, go stream Hamilton. It's excellent.

Content girl with sore butt

I have always liked when a good, hard spanking leaves me sore for at least a day. I am at that stage right now.

When I'm driving, I can feel the soreness, especially when I go over speed bumps. When I go to sleep, I wake up on my side because it hurts to sleep on my back, with my butt pressed against the mattress.

I do miss being spanked by someone. However, I'm pleased about last night's birthday self-spanking. I look forward to doing it again when I am horny and my current soreness subsides.

My birthday self-spanking

My birthday self-spanking was great. I'm sore sitting here, writing this post. I did a great job!

I had a number of different methods to get to a specific number of smacks to give myself. I have a love for numbers and my undergraduate minor was in math. It explains one reason why I like planning a birthday spanking.

In the past, when I was way younger, I liked the summation of years that I have been on this planet. The downside is that this number gets huge as you age. Although I am not horribly old, I am also not in my thirties. I may try this summation method when I am more adventurous, with a need for a lengthy self-spanking.

My calculation for my self-spanking started off by taking my age and adding a 0 to the end of it. I then divided by 2, which would be the number of smacks on each buttock. Since this number was divisible by three, I had three different implements that I wanted to use:

• A wooden paddle, which I used the last time I spanked myself and it was effective
• A silicone paddle that has a smooth side and a slightly bumpy side
• My bare hand

I started off with my hand warming my butt over my panties. On each buttock, I gave myself my age in smacks plus one to grow on.

I pulled my pink panties down around mid-thigh. I gave myself the same number of smacks on each buttock, plus one to grow on. I started getting aroused.

I went with the wooden paddle first. I administered a number of smacks on each buttock, increasing how hard I was paddling myself as I got into it. I wouldn't say that they were super hard smacks. They were in the medium range to build up some warmth on my buttocks.

I have forgotten how much I love my silicone paddle. I smacked each buttock hard with the smooth side of the paddle. I loved the sound that it made with each smack. I was on my one hand and knees as I smacked one buttock, and then changed hands to smack the other.

Something that I haven't experienced is reaching orgasm in this position while paddling myself hard. I came and it was so pleasurable. I was extremely wet and happy. I stretched out for a bit to enjoy the moment.

I decided that I loved this silicone paddle so much that I used it instead of my bare hand for the third part of my spanking. I flipped the paddle over and used the bumpy side. I loved how it felt and sounded across my bare butt. I felt the sting. I liked feeling like a birthday girl deprived of a good spanking for a long time, and delivered one that I wanted and deserved.

After all that was over, I gave myself my birthday spanking with my hand. It ended almost the same way as it had started. Each buttock got my age in smacks, plus one to grow on. The difference was that they were all across my reddish bare bottom.

So, how many smacks did I give myself? If I have calculated everything correctly, I gave myself 774 smacks.

I also pinched myself four times, just to figure out how sore I was. I used to love getting pinches. I haven't for a while and wasn't into it that much.

This self-spanking was much needed. I need to give myself a self-spanking more regularly. I feel so relaxed now. I'm sore, but happy.

I had a great birthday. I have the soreness to prove it.

Happy birthday to me!

I made it! I'm a year older and am still grateful to be alive in this odd time.

This birthday girl will be administering her own birthday spanking. It would be nice to have a spanking machine or an extra hand (haha!) in the matter. I'll supply more details once the festivities are over.

Grocery shopping on a holiday and fireworks going off at this hour

I typically go grocery shopping on Wednesdays. Canada Day landed on a Wednesday this year. I don't recall doing grocery shopping a ton of times in my life on Canada Day, but I did this year.

It was surprisingly busy. Perhaps folks didn't know what to do with themselves. Most festivities were either cancelled or done virtually.

As I write this post, some neighbours are setting off fireworks in their backyard. I am fortunate to be on vacation this week, so I don't mind. I do feel bad for others who need to head back to work tomorrow. Setting them off at 12:30 am isn't exactly being respectful to others.

On a good note, I get paid every other Thursday. My bank tends to deposit my pay Wednesday night at around 10:10 pm. Because Wednesday was a holiday, my pay got deposited on Tuesday night instead. It feels good to have an early payday.

Happy Canada Day!

It's Canada's birthday! Last year, I was in the nation's capital celebrating. This year, it will be virtually.

Although celebrations are a tad different this year, I am so proud to be Canadian, which hasn't changed one bit.

Staycation and plans for a birthday spanking

Last year, I was in Ottawa on vacation, celebrating Canada Day. It's incredible how different this year looks and feels.

While on vacation last year, I didn't give myself a birthday spanking. Being out and about as a tourist didn't make me even think about it.

I'm thinking about it now. It does get me aroused and excited.

I have a few plans. It's a question of figuring out which one I want the most and how long I want to spank myself for.

In the meantime, I came across this birthday spanking video. I like the idea of taking someone else's birthday swats.

Planning ahead and relaxing

I'm meeting up with a friend on a patio on Tuesday. We are both celebrating our birthdays while finally seeing each other since December of last year.

I am a decent planner. I don't need to hit a store to get a gift for her. I did all this shopping before the pandemic hit. I don't even need to get her a greeting card. I've taken care of that, too.

It's different doing a staycation this year. I'm more focused on me. I have been going at full speed at work for a few months. It's nice to take it easy.

A haircut and a horny ex

I finally got my hair cut on Saturday. It has been six months since I last had it cut.

My theory holds true. For the last three months that I have been working from home, I have had my hair tied back in a ponytail. Both my hair's length and the fact that I had it tied back caused a lot of hair loss. Throw in some stress and it got worse.

Tonight, with my much shorter hair, I washed it. My hair loss is significantly less thus far. Yay!

After I wrote my post last night, I got a series of texts from the ex-guy. He was horny.

I haven't responded to him. I have nothing to say other than it was his loss for letting me go.

Happy weekend!

The weekend is here and so is the start of my vacation!

I'm exhausted. I don't have much to say right now, other than to enjoy your weekend and stay safe!

Last workday before going on my vacation

Today is my last workday before I take some much needed time off. I'm ready to take a break.

This vacation will be interesting. For years, I didn't have a backup. Well, we instituted a backup plan at work this year.

My backup is on vacation. My second backup is the diva. What goes around, comes around.

For years, she has had the tendency to take vacation during the height of craziness at work. She once took two weeks off and left our team to pick up the slack before a major software release. She can no longer do that. She has taken over many of my duties and I feel that she finally appreciates just how much work I did and do.

My manager is also taking the same week off. I usually back him up. Instead, it's diva who will.

I'm glad that I don't have to witness how things will go with diva handling all this extra work. We'll see.

For my regular work, I'm good and don't need her to take over. I just want her to back me up for pressing issues. Here's hoping that it's quiet for everyone's sake.

Masters and mistresses during a pandemic

I recently received a wonderful suggestion about seeing a mistress for some disciplinary fun. Although tempting, it made me realize that such businesses are likely suffering from the effects of everyone self-isolating during a pandemic.

Now that businesses are slowly and cautiously reopening, how are masters and mistresses doing these days? I would think that some would be hesitant to take on new clients. Others may do some pre-screening.

Right now, I'm extremely cautious. I'd wait a bit before considering being spanked by a mistress. It is intriguing, though.

Leukemia

I learned on Tuesday that my good friend, whom I last saw in Minnesota back in March, has leukemia.

I knew that she was going through something. She went in for a medical appointment after we had had lunch together. I wasn't expecting cancer.

She is currently getting chemotherapy and is on a pill. This treatment combination has a pretty high success rate, which is helpful and reassuring. 

She will need a bone marrow transplant once her cancer is in remission.

It's scary. I have known her for twenty years. I can't visit her, but I am definitely there for her when she has the need to talk and whatever support that I can provide to ease her mind.

I am thankful that she's getting treatment. I can only hope that she gets through this first hurdle of many.

Reopening Toronto and Peel region, and planning what to do

On Wednesday, Toronto and Peel regions go into phase 2 of reopening businesses. The former is my hometown. The latter is where I work.

I am excited that restaurant patios are opening up. I'd like to visit one and see how it goes. I hope to try it out next week. 

When I'm on vacation next week, I want to get my hair cut. It's time. I haven't had my hair cut in six months, which is normal for me. I cut my bangs almost monthly.

As far as my panic attacks go, I figure that my not being involved in leading a software release caused it. It's weird. I am thankful that I wasn't in charge of it, as it has not gone smoothly.

My panic attack symptoms are mild now. I have a feeling that once I am on vacation, they will be gone.

Four more workdays to go. Yay!

Working from home for the rest of 2020

Last week, my employer announced that we are all working from home for the rest of 2020. On the whole, I am pleased with this decision.

A few weeks ago, my manager asked us whether we'd be interested in going back to the office. I felt that it was premature to pose such a question. When the office building and company roll out safety measures for employees, they would help me to decide whether I'm comfortable returning. Right now, I'm not because there haven't been any safety measures communicated to us. 

I do miss seeing colleagues that I like. However, I am happy to not commute to the office. It's 50 km for me in a single direction. I do like not fighting congestion, and saving time and money. I also like working quietly from home, with fewer distractions.

This week is my last before I go on vacation. I need a break badly.

Don't touch my car!

I tend to go grocery shopping on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Every other Saturday, I head to a supermarket in Toronto where I can get popsicles with a banana base in them. It's the closest supermarket that sells them. They are yummy!

To make a long story short, when I backed into a parking spot in front of this store, there were cars on either side of me that were roughly the same size as mine. When I was done shopping and headed to my car, there was a pickup truck to the left of the driver's side. A man was loading groceries in the backseat of his truck. The door was pretty close to my driver's side.

I was putting my groceries in my trunk when I heard someone talking to me. It was the guy who was loading the truck. I couldn't hear him when he was standing practically at the front of my car.

"Pardon me?" I asked, as he walked from between his vehicle and mine over to the passenger side of my car.

"I pushed your side mirror in so I wouldn't hit it and fixed it. Hope that's okay" he said.

I put my hands up in the air. What?!

"I guess so," I said

"I think it's better than my door hitting it," he said.

"Not really. I have to wipe down my mirror now," I replied.

I was not impressed. I didn't articulate how annoyed I was. On a normal day, I'd be okay. Things aren't normal these days for these reasons:

• We're in a pandemic. He came up to me to talk to me without a mask and far from being six feet apart. Jerk.
• How is it okay to touch someone's property because you can't park for beans? Your germs are now on my car. Even though you appear okay health-wise, you may not be. Now, I have your grubby fingerprints on my car and need to sanitize that part of my car. Geez, thanks.
• Why couldn't you have loaded your groceries from the other door? How about finding a parking spot where you can swing your doors open freely to load your groceries because you know that you won't be using your trunk?

I seriously dislike when folks adjust my car's side mirrors when I take my car in for servicing. It takes me forever to get them back to the way that best work for me. The fact that I had a complete stranger do it unexpectedly irks me.

It may seem like nothing to this guy, but it's not okay to me. He drives a huge truck, but it doesn't mean that he has every right to adjust other people's property to suit his lack of consideration for other people's property.

Weekend and countdown to vacation

I'm glad that the weekend is here. 

If I'm not mistaken, my vacation is coming up. It is weird that I'm not travelling somewhere and staying at a hotel for a week. Instead, I'm doing a staycation and will do day trips.

Friday was the first day of patios and businesses opening up. There are strict guidelines going into phase 2. I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm happy that businesses can serve customers in a patio setting. Although some of my favourite retail stores have reopened, I don't have any desire to shop there. I'm good with hitting the grocery store, restaurants for takeout, and the drug store.

I'm content with what I have. What I need are essentials.

I am also optimistic about my debt situation, too. I'm paying more of it off thanks to staying and working from home. It's such a great feeling.

My anxiety has died down. It's not completely gone, but I barely noticed it on Friday. It's a great sign.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Hair loss

Years ago, when I was stressed over my mom's stroke, I lost a significant amount of hair on my head. It was scary. Most of my hair grew back, thankfully.

These days, I am losing more hair than I usually do. I am stressed and anxious. I have a feeling that the latter is a vicious cycle. I'm anxious about my hair loss, which has continued because I'm stressed out.

Well, I have concluded that my hair loss isn't due to my anxiety or stress. It's likely a combination of my hair's regular growth cycle and the fact that I have been trying my hair back every day.

When I used to head to the office, I wore my hair down. Since I've been working from home for over three months, I only have my hair down after washing it and when I am asleep.

Lately, I have been letting my hair breathe by wearing it down more. Sure enough, my hair loss has lessened.

A small detail like letting my hair down makes such a huge difference.

Music and spilled drinks

This morning, my music transferred successfully from Google Music to YouTube Music. The downside is that my Mac mini had such a workout that it's not booting up. It's currently taking a break.

Yesterday wasn't a great day for beverages. I spilled both my green iced tea and black cherry pop. I mean at least half of it poured into two different carpets. Ugh!

Transfering music from Google Music to YouTube Music

Plans for Google Music to become YouTube music have been in the works for at least a year. I have been a fan of the former for a while and have a subscription. I like that I can upload my entire iTunes library to Google Music and storage is free.

Yesterday, I got word to transfer my music from Google Music over to YouTube Music. I have a lot of music. It has been transferring for over six hours. It's down to the last task, which is to transfer uploads and purchases. This final task also happens to be the largest.

I started this task on my work laptop. I stopped it and it's now running on my Mac mini. I'll have it run overnight and see how it's doing when I wake up.

My Tuesday started early. I had a conference call at 7 am that lasted four hours. It was nice calling it a day just past 3:30 pm.

The downside is that I'm ready for bed now.

York region is in phase 2

York region, where I live, is now in phase 2 of reopening stores and such. It means that hairdressers can open up shop, groups of ten people can mingle while adhering to physical distancing, and more.

It's a good sign. Sadly, Toronto, which is south of where I live, is still in phase 1, along with two other regions in Ontario.

I am due for a haircut at the end of the month. I hope that my regular hairdressers are back by then. I will be tipping whomever cuts my hair well. They have been away from work for over three months. It's the least that I can do.

Rescheduled dental appointment and relaxing

I was supposed to have my bi-annual dental appointment next week. My dentist's office is still closed. Instead, my appointment has been rescheduled to sometime in November.

I am relieved. My electric toothbrush that I've had for the past three months has been doing a great job.

On Sunday, I spent the day cooking and relaxing. It was great.

I'm relaxing now before I head to bed. I got a bit tense last hour. I'm still trying to figure out what is making me anxious. I'm now thinking that it's not work-related.

Self-cleaning vagina

The vagina is a fascinating organ. Although I miss having sex with a loving partner, self-pleasure is pretty good these days.

Like my menstrual cycle, the vagina also self-cleans monthly. When it happens, it's almost as if I am wet all the time. When I'm aroused while my vagina is self-cleaning, it's like Niagara Falls.

It's not a complain. I'm simply impressed.

I find that focusing on pleasuring myself helps with my anxiety these days. I still can't narrow down the cause of it, but my symptoms go away when I'm not in deep thought.

Somebody Feed Phil

Ever since season three of Somebody Feed Phil came out, I am on Netflix more often. I'm actually rewatching the last two seasons.

I laughed so hard when Phil Rosenthal went on a roller coaster in Copenhagen and looked like he had died afterwards.

Currently, I'm watching the Cape Town episode. I miss travelling these days, but feel like I am rewatching these episodes.

Deep breaths help

It's Friday. I am exhausted from the workweek.

I've been practising taking deep breaths while my eyes are closed, which helps me unwind. It calms me. The problem these days is that I am working at such a pace that I tense up, which seems to trigger panic attack symptoms.

I need to take some time to break. I'm horrible at it.

Thursday was much better, except when two people pinged me on our work instant messaging app. The disruptions and their inability to read annoyed me. It triggered my stress for a brief period. I did more deep breaths and I was fine afterwards.

As for working from home, my workplace has extended this period till the first week of July. I am taking a week of vacation then. It's much needed. I had planned to vacation somewhere. Instead, my plans have changed and I'll be doing a staycation instead.

I do need a break from this hectic pace at work, which I am looking forward to enjoying.

Panic attack - take 2

I thought that my panic attack would go away after fixing various problems that diva lady had introduced at work on Tuesday. After I fixed a few of them, I still felt tense.

My panic attack has eased a bit, but it's something else that is causing it. I dislike trying to do detective work to figure it out. Sometimes, it's not all that obvious to me.

I'm thinking now that it's the uncertainty that I had volunteered to pitch in and help diva woman with her activities, because her pace is slow to complete them and my manager doesn't have complete faith in her.

Panic is setting in because I am expecting a wave of work next week. It happens to coincide with our software release work. I have let my boss know. He said that diva would roll out a plan either last Friday or this past Monday. I haven't heard a thing.

It's the silliness of uncertainty that is causing my panic attack. Considering that I have experienced worse in the past, I feel that not knowing what diva is up to is causing my anxiety. She has no plan.

So, I just need to work with what I do know. I have work to do and I'll take things a day at a time.

Panic attack

It has been a while since I have experienced a panic attack. The last time was over a year ago when my ex-guy broke up with me.

My panic attack symptoms are straightforward. My feel like my breathe is short. My chest gets a bit tight. It's not a great feeling.

I used to get these symptoms often when I was in grade 7. I disliked doing presentations in front of the class. These days, I talk so much in front of people that it's not an issue.

My symptoms started happening on Sunday night. It briefly happened after work on Monday. It became full-blown after work on Tuesday.

It took me a while to figure out why. It's the dread that diva woman was taking over a task of mine blindly -- without truly knowing what she needed to do It was the dread of her messing up and the consequences that was and is causing this anxiety.

She drafted up a checklist at 2:30 am on Tuesday for me to review and decided to do this task 6.5 hours later. She had the software release number wrong right off the bat.

Yep, my dread was correct.

This task would take me just under five hours to do. By the time I was done with my workday on Tuesday, she hadn't finished. I realize that it was her first time doing the actual work, but taking eight hours is slow.

I have also realized that she messed up a sequence of changes. Ugh!

Right now, my panic attack symptoms are minimal. It's the case because I am writing about them here and the onus is on her when things aren't right.

I never expected getting a panic attack over this change. Weird. I'm sure that it'll disappear once her work is over.

Businesses come and go

I feel for businesses during this pandemic. I do takeout twice a week to support them. I hope that they remain open by the time this pandemic is over.

The sad news is that I have seen many of my favourite businesses close for good. A cupcake place that had four locations in the greater Toronto area is down to one. A ramen place that opened a year ago is now gone for good.

I am fortunate to be able to work from home and continue to earn an income. Not everyone has that option or has it as good.

There is the odd resurrection happening, though. That ramen place that shut down after a year? It is now a Hong Kong-style eatery. It just opened for business.

I hope to visit it this week, to say goodbye to the ramen place that once stood there and to say hello to a new eatery that I hope will stick around for a bit.

Upgrades

My Mac mini is currently getting its operating system upgraded. I find that it doesn't clear the memory properly afterward this sort of upgrade, which causes me to unplug my Mac mini for at least a day.

I change my mind between whether to get a new Mac mini or keep it for a longer period. I'm in that scenario with my iPad, too. Both are roughly a decade old. I find that they aren't major necessities. After all, I'm still blogging!

Weekends are far too short. This upgrade feels like it's longer than my weekend!

New panties!

My bi-monthly panties came in. They are cute. It's a throwback to simplicity.

I like the two small peacock blue buttons. They look good and match nicely with the elastic trim.

The cut isn't what I normally wear, but they feel and look comfortable. The back looks like the following:

I do love this service. It's fun and I enjoy looking forward to a new addition to my panties collection.

Just went I thought I was out, I'm back in

It's funny how my previous post described two people who have taken over a portion of my workload. We'll, I'm returning to that world to help them out for the next two weeks.

The woman, who took half my duties, cannot handle the next three software releases. When she first started out with the company, I nicknamed her the diva because she has that vibe. I see it again. So, I will be pulled in for a bit, along with the incompetent woman.

I dislike bailing people out because they are incompetent. Ugh!

Frankly, my manager is worried that these two people can't pull off our major release. I have been told that I won't be there 50% of the time. I pointed out to my manager that I have regular development work that I can't let slide. He understood.

On Friday, my manager confided during our weekly chat that he doesn't feel comfortable giving a specific task to the other person who is taking over my duties. He feels that I am the best candidate. Although it was a nice compliment, I can't handle everything. It explains why I used to always be exhausted after a major software release.

I don't want to be cloned, but it sounds like a fun idea to explore in this scenario.

Appreciation and respect at work

For years, I successfully handled completed every software release containing documentation. As of a few months ago, this main task was handed off to two of my counterparts.

During this entire period, I felt that folks on my team took my work for granted. I wasn't losing my mind. They did.

The woman who has been doing half my role finally realized that I do a lot of work. I had invited her to a meeting on what to do after a release is over. She decided to waltz into this meeting 1.5 hours later.

It just shows that when folks aren't responsible for a task, they don't care. When they are, it matters and they panic when they don't have the answers.

It's happening now.

With my manager,  he makes me the representative for everything. I had a good talk about this issue again this past Tuesday. It needs to be spread around the team. If I'm not available, the knowledge is likely lost when I do not have a backup.

Folks are listening. In a team meeting on Thursday, this woman thanked me for always being there for her when she has questions and I quickly reply. She called me a "data bank," which is a fun nickname.

My manager decided to nominate someone else to represent our team for development work. He said that normally, it would go to me, but he said that I am pretty busy. You think?

My manager also said that for the last seven years, I have been handling all these release activities "quietly and flawlessly." I complete my work. I communicate well. I don't complain, other than when things are completely stressing me out and I need help, or when someone is holding up the process.

Progress is good. It's important to vocalize how you feel. It is also noticeable how valuable you are as an employee when you no longer do a specific task and your manager worries about the folks (yep, plural) who are taking it over.

Drugstore to get clarifying shampoo

I go out on Wednesdays after work to get groceries and takeout. For a while, I have passed by a fairly new drug store. I have meant to drop by and finally did after I got groceries last night.

It's nice. There were a grand total of two customers in there. The two employees were happy to see me. One of them was great in telling me where the shampoo aisle was.

My hair has been falling out more than it usually does. I have a feeling that it's a combination of its regular hair cycle and the stress that I have endured at work for the past couple of weeks.

I needed a clarifying shampoo. The ones that I am currently using cause my scalp to itch. I finally got some at this drug store. I was thrilled that it was on sale, too.

I loved how friendly staff were. I liked the selection. I'm glad that I finally stopped by.

Here's hoping that the clarifying shampoo works.

Debt reduction update

I haven't written about my debt reduction progress for a bit, other than continuing to save money staying at home. Commuting to the office is gone. I don't fill up my car with gas all that often. I go out twice a week for groceries, essentials, and takeout to help my favourite restaurants out.

As a result, I have more disposable income. It has been great contributing to my retirement saving and regular savings accounts. I had to dip into the former when my debt situation wasn't great. I didn't have an emergency fund. My regular savings account is that emergency fund that I have wanted and needed.

I get paid this week. It's a huge turning point. I will be paying off my line of credit completely. I am thrilled.

I do recommend having a budget and sticking to it, no matter how great or grave your debt situation is. I have been using an Google Sheets spreadsheet for a while and it does wonders. It's a question of being disciplined sticking to your budget, which is the toughest part.

Taking a break from social media and news

Watching coverage of protests, looting, outrage over racism, and more on television and social media is a double-edged sword. 

On the one hand, it's good that we are discussing how wrong racism is. It's not cool for a police officer to kneel on a black man's neck for nearly nine minutes and ignoring his request to breathe like a human being. On the other hand, the coverage of windows being broken and idiots stealing merchandise and more is way too much for my liking.

I've decided to take a break from tuning into the news or reading my social feeds. It's way too much sensory information to absorb.

I spent some time reorganizing things at home. I stopped briefly due to the craziness happening at work for the last two weeks. It was nice to unwind by getting rid of items that I had kept for a while.

Minneapolis

It has been roughly three months since I was last in Minneapolis. The tragic death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer is horrible and heartbreaking.

I felt safe when I was there practically monthly before the pandemic. I see looting, stores up in smoke, and clashing between outraged protestors and police on television. It makes me sad. I don't feel safe returning.

I believe in speaking up and protesting. It's frustrating to see people looting while taking advantage of the situation for their own agenda. It's not cool to steal goods from businesses.

I feel for everyone.