Saturday outing

On Saturday, I had a good outing. I went to a part of the city that I frequented fairly often as an undergraduate student, but haven't returned for years.

I ended up getting vegan soft-serve ice cream made of bananas. This store was in a food court. I also went to the stall next door to get oxtail, with peas and rice, and a side of coleslaw for lunch. 

Oh, and I get a dozen beef patties. They should last me the entire week, at least.

Eye update

It's my third try posting this entry. Blogger is so frustrating right now!

I'm actually posting from my cell phone instead of my Mac mini. So far, so good. 

I visited my opthalmologist on Friday. The good news is that I don't need to get injections. Instead, I'm in monitoring mode.

There is a chance that my blood vessel in my eye will burst again. I have been able to keep my blood pressure and stress levels down for the past three years. 

I go back in two months. I'm a bit sad that I'm going back more frequently, but like how cautious my ophthalmologist is.

I am fortunate that I have made a decent recovery and that my eyesight is practically what it used to be. I'm so thankful.

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.