Sometimes, a girl's gotta wonder

I had an extremely odd email conversation the other day, with a friend who is also involved in my special project:

Me: So you want to divide our total price by 1.05, which would give the net amount, if we were charging GST. Since we're not, the gross price and the net price are the same. The ticket people should be able to make that adjustment. I can talk to them directly if you want.

Him: ... I breathe easier with you in the pilot's seat. You're sort of like a decongestant - if you get the metaphor. It was coined with much love.

Me: Geez, I've never been compared favourably a nasal spray before. You really know how to sweet-talk a girl.

Him: No - not a nasal spray - decongestant - someone who decongests, cuts through the bullshit, eliminates red tape, slays dragons that get in the way, that sort of thing - real, live, hero-type stuff! See, now if I had said "antihistamine", that would be different. Or, God forbid, laxative. Although a laxative does make things go smoother.....

Me: Yes, a laxative is not quite the same compliment, but I've frequently been told I'm a pain in the ass. In my profession, it's a necessary trait.

Him: If the shoe fits...

A current favourite

This is one of my favourite songs right now:

Feast, by Quinzy



Yes, I like a Christmas song. Sue me.

Also, these boys are local. If I was as hip as I used to be, I would totally make a play for any one of them (we will not mention how they are way, way too young for me).

Victorious!

Does anyone else remember that Duran Duran song? Probably not. It was past their hey-day (though John Taylor hasn't aged so well, I will love him until the day I die). They've never been the same since Andy left.

Anyway, today was the day. My internal auditing exam marks were released. You may recall, I struggled with this course. I blogged about it here, here, here and here.

In all honesty, I'd forgotten about it, until I got the email saying "Pay your bill so you can see your mark!"

So, at 8:30 this morning, I keyed in my credit card number to pay the damn $20, and then clicked on "statement of marks."

70%. I passed. I will never, ever have to deal with writing an audit report again. Thank Dog.

You can keep your $54.

I've been more than a little obsessed, the last couple days, about the budget. Passing the budget means that we don't have an election.

I'm tired of elections.

I'm also tired of a Prime Minister who acts more like a dictator, doesn't want to listen to anyone else, who has such a stranglehold on his party that no one dare oppose him on the record, who hasn't let his party groom anyone to replace him, in the event that he resigns.

Now, I was very excited about the possibility of a coalition, and I recognize that lots of people were unhappy with that. My fondest hope is to see the NDP become the Official Opposition. A coalition moved that dream closer to reality. Not gonna happen now, and that's OK. I'll put on my big girl panties and deal with it.

So, in the interest of being open-minded, I took at look at that 350+ page document and did some quick math.

Given the reduction in the tax rate, and the fact that I don't intend to spend more than $1,000 on home renovations (unless my toilet falls through the floor), it means that I will save approximately $56.

Hmmm. $87 billion deficit and $56 comes to me.

Mr. Prime Minister? You can keep your lousy $56. I don't think you've done the math.

Meh.

I mentioned to Bossman today that I hoped to work on my multiple choice questions while listening the budget coverage.

He asked me how my course was going.

I told him that I was finding it difficult to be engaged in the material.

The discussion group people are nice, the material isn't that difficult. It kind of sucks that our questions are case studies, something that I always struggle with.... the problem was that I'm not angry about something! There's no issue that I violently disagree with! The lecturer hasn't pissed me off (probably because I haven't gone to a lecture, I've been streaming online instead). I don't have a study buddy to argue with.

I have no negative emotional attachment to this course, and therefore, I don't care. Get me good and steaming mad, though, and I'll read every paper, parse every post, write a position paper on the issue I believe in.

Sucks. I wish this course were more like politics. Then I'd be engaged, that's for sure.

Why didn't anyone tell me?

A friend graciously drove me to Costco tonight. I had exactly three things on my list (cucumbers, bell peppers and wine-kits, if you are that interested).

But, you know how Costco is. You have to go up and down every aisle, just to see what is out there. You know, loud Hawaiian shirts, TaiBo dvds (6 for $18.99!) and all the other awesomely low-priced crap that you would never look at in any other store.

You know where this is going, right? My friend pointed out some yoga pants that she had purchased and found comfortable. So, I tossed a package into the cart.

Well. I'm wearing them right now, and I can say, without exaggeration, these are the most comfortable pants I've ever worn in my life.

In fact, they are so comfortable that I dragged out my yoga stuff. I wonder how long this inspiration will last?

I'll get going on that, right after I do this week's assignment.

I never thought I would ever have to say this:

Please help me open this jar.

That's right, super strong, always capable, she'd-rather-hire-it-out-than-ask-for-help-Misstea cannot open a jar of pickled asparagus.

I've run hot water over the lid, banged it with a butter knife, done all the things we are supposed to do.

I'm one week away from taking it to the pub and letting the boys have a go at it. I'm that desperate. I really would like to enjoy a Caesar with pickled asparagus. Far superior to celery.