March 17, 2013

  • Report # 982

    It’s finally sunny here today…. this has to be the first day I’ve seen the sun in over a week. It’s been around 10 C (50 F) most days, but it’s just been sopping wet all week, so it’s nice to have a dry and bright day. I’ve been running to Tim Hortons everyday, but I want to start running a lot longer, especially if I have plans to beat my time from the Sun Run last year, so I think starting tomorrow I’m going to do my old run around the block everyday like I used to. It wouldn’t be 10 kilometers like I was running in Fundidora Park, but there is a steep hill to climb, so that sort of compensates for the shorter run.

    On Friday my grandmother came over and we ordered Greek food for dinner. I had chicken souvlaki with rice and potatoes, ceasar salad and pita bread. I only ate about half of it and I still have the rest to finish, so I’ll have that today or tomorrow. I started watching a new telenovela, Cachito del Cielo (Cachito (persons nickname), from heaven/sky) It started off so silly ! It was about a soccer player who was engaged to his girlfriend and after one of the games he gets struck by a bolt of lightning while he’s on the soccer field and he basically dies.

    He goes to a place that seems to be like heaven and he has to get a number and wait his turn to talk to some guys. They find out that he wasn’t supposed to die, but someone else with a very similar name, so a mistake was made. He was told that since he couldn’t get back his own body, the best they could do was to send him back as another person, so he is sent back as a priest, even though he knows absolutely nothing about being a priest. And it’s interesting because his ex-fiancee goes to that church and he’s already been to her family’s house for dinner.

    And of course it’s odd because he still says things as if he knows the family, even though they just think of him as the new priest. And the second episode ended with him entering the room of his ex-fiancee and seeing her looking at a photo of him and her while they were together and saying she still loves him, and then he says he will always love her too. And of course she gives a weird look since she thinks he’s just the new priest ! So while it’s an incredibly weird show, it should keep me entertained for the next four months…. though I really just watch these shows to get a good dose of Spanish everyday !

    I haven’t really looked up any job opportunities yet, but tomorrow I’m definitely going to spend a lot of time and seeing what is out there. Even if it’s just something super temporary or something they just need people on weekends, that would be good enough…. I just want to find something small. And of course there is still no news on my visa authorization as I just checked yesterday, but hopefully one week soon there will be something. I did get my taxes mailed off, so it will be nice to get around 800 dollars back like my mom has estimated.

    My first full week back here has been pretty good and already I’m used to everything. I’ve made a few observations since I’ve returned. One of our cats, Shelby, is on a diet so she’s only supposed to eat the diet food, and she’s only supposed to eat it a few times a day. She meows a lot trying to convince me to put the food down, but I have to be sure not to give her too much. It will be better for her in another month when it will be a few degrees warmer and less rainy as I think she’ll be going outside.

    We have three cats, though technically we have 3.5 as there is a black cat who comes from the barn across the street who comes looking for food regularly. My mom actually bought him his own cat bed which he uses sometimes. I tried petting him about a year ago and he swiped at me, so I have no plans of trying that again, though I think my mom is able to pet him anyways. She just calls him Smudge so he’s cat number 3.5 here and he always gets the cat food he wants here, so he is pretty happy.

    Speaking of food, I think someone should be feeding the waitress I saw at Boston Pizza last week when I was with my grandmother. She had to be one of the thinnest people I had ever seen in my life, and I would even say she seems anorexic. I know some people have extremely high metabolisms, but I can’t imagine it’s healthy to be that skinny. She was seriously as thin as a pancake, and I certainly think it would be a lot better if she ate more food and got some curves ! Hopefully someone in her family or her friends realizes this girl is way too thin and actually tells her about it, because she definitely needs to put on some weight.

    While my grandmother was waiting in the line-up at London Drugs, an employee was asking if anyone wanted to come use the self checkout. My grandmother was trying to say that she had no idea how to use them, but the employee said she would help her… though I know how to use those things as well. I remember I was in California in 2005 when I saw those self check out machines for the first time. I remember thinking what amazing technology it was, and shortly after I started seeing them in stores here too.

    The truth is that I don’t think the stores have installed all of those machines for convenience, but to cut down on costs. Most of these companies would rather pay a machine wages than an employee…. oh wait it’s a  machine, it doesn’t make any money, so the stores are reaping in the savings ! I have mixed feelings about these machines as it’s cool they are there and really are super convenient to use, but exiting that London Drugs and seeing all of those machines and only one employee working cash showed me the much larger picture that a lot of people who would have been working in that store in a previous time no longer have that option to work there.

    So while everyone wants to save money and come up with ways to be more efficient,if these machines are just adding to the unemployment numbers, I think their harm is much greater than their benefit, and that’s something that all stores should be looking at. Is it really worth having a few extra dollars in the pocket of a corporation or making a city prosperous and doing what is possible to keep the unemployment levels lower than Justin Bieber’s level of musical talent ?

    The other day I was waiting for my order at Tim Horton’s and I saw it arrive at the counter, but a young looking sporty woman just took my bag and left. I thought maybe she had ordered the same thing, as unlikely as that could have been, but it turns out she just stole my order. One could think that it was an accident, but there was a breakfast sandwich sitting on the counter unclaimed for ten minutes. And if all she ordered was a breakfast sandwich, I don’t know why she would have grabbed a bag full of three items.

    I heard two of the employees talking and one suggested the number system, and she said they tried that when that Tim Hortons first opened, and that it didn’t work. One of the employees made the point though if someone wants to steal they will steal, and it’s tough to prevent that. For me it was no big deal as of course they prepared my order again, but it’s these sort of things that make restaurants have to raise their prices, so I won’t be forgetting the image of that young sporty yoga woman running off with my order… she can be the new face of the corrupt customer !

    I’ve never really enjoyed the healthy cereals as they taste more boring than a curling championship on TV, so I’ve enjoyed sugary cereals such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch. There was a large box of that cereal on top of our fridge in the kitchen, though it was bought right before I left for Mexico in August. It said it had expired a few weeks ago in February, but I figured since it was never opened it would not be a big deal. So I opened the cereal up and tasted it and while it was as crispy tasting as it should have been, it tasted like soap !

    My brother tried it too and he also said it tasted like soap, though my mom did not think so. She thinks maybe my taste buds changed. Nonetheless, a new box was bought and the old one was sent out to the trash or compost, or wherever on earth it went, faster than a baseball slugger goes for the steroids. I suppose it wasn’t that fast though, it was sitting on top of the fridge for at least seven months. I will try the new Cinnamon Toast Crunch very soon, and if it still tastes like soap, than my tongue is really screwed up !

    Anyways that’s about all of my observations for my first full week back at home. For the next question:

    What sort of interesting things have you seen, dealt with, experienced in the past week of your life ?

    I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Wednesday, bye for now.

Comments (7)

  • adopt the black cat :)

  • I envy you. I wish my own grandmother is here with some yummy treats. I haven’t eat Greek food for some time now.

    Hey, thanks for dropping by my site. Haha.. I guess I went over the top celebrating St Pat’s Day.

  • Well, I went to Branson, MO and have completely fallen back in love with my state! I can’t find a state as beautiful as my Bama! We did a lot of traveling. But I have to say I am totally wiped out today!

  • Last weekend, it was sunny, in the high 50′s. Now, there is 3 inches of snow on the ground here!

    Runs to and from Tim Hortons must be nice; You get your food and exercise all at once.

    Those shows definitely sound interesting. Enjoyable and you’ll keep up with your Spanish. Two in one again.

    My best friend in high school was a stick; I’m sure people thought she was anorexic… She was not, at all. She ate enough for 3 yet never gained any weight. She was very self conscious, but she couldn’t do anything.

    I thought self checkouts were so cool. They were first put in a few years ago at the busy busy walmart. They still had employees checking people out. I never realized your point. I guess at our walmart, because it is so big, it’s convenient and I don’t think put so many people out of work.

    Glad your first week back home is well! Just hope no one steals your Tim Hortons again this week.

  • you know, that woman may not be stealing at all. for all we know, she could be so spaced out at the time, she didn’t take the time to check and just grabbed a bag that she thought could be her order. again, it’s easy to make assumptions. what’s best is tim horton makes a rule of NOT leaving orders at the counter and checks every single order to match the receipt before handing over the order to a person.

  • One of my best friends from high school has always been crazy skinny. She insists she eats a lot, but those of us who really know her know she’s a wizard at making food disappear into napkins or onto other people’s plates and what doesn’t find a toilet shortly later. It’s sad because there have been confrontations and even interventions and she just gets mad and defensive and can’t accept any of it.

  • Hi… I am glad you are enjoying your new telenovela even if Dulce Maria is no in it. Cachito, actually refers to a small piece of something ;) . So the title is like a Little piece of heaven…(I’m gonna get some for that comment I know). Last week was a busy week, I got to travel to Guadalajara and back for an interview and got a job on the same day, so while I wait to enter my new job I am still hoping to hear from the people in Guadalajara since it is a better opportunity for me. I also took a road-trip with a friend for the long weekend and Skyped with ….someone very special from a restaurant for the first time..which was super fun.

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