Level 59!

Everyone you must check this out because you will get addicted!
Riddles

There are 60 levels as you'll see and I finally got to level 59 after 3 days. Dex took only 2 days to complete, but some of these are tough. Some of them are just plain dumb. It's not even common sense! I lost sleep over this...i can't believe it!

Call me Flyer Girl

On my precious day off, I try to jam pack it with soo many activities that we ended up being late to several of them and didn't even end up going to the last activity. As usual I had dragon boat practice in the morning and tried to get myself all ripped up. Then when I was putting stuff in my truck to apply my antibacterial lotion (there's fecal colloform in the water -- sounds gross and not good for you), and then shutting my truck, I locked my keys in the car!! Damn! And I had to go to the "Heartbeat" at the Center at 2pm! It was already 12:30!! Jeff graciously offered me a ride to my dad's to get the house key (I locked those in the car too) and then back to my house to get my spare keys. Amazingly enough, I brought everything I needed out of the trunk except my keys and my extra clothes...my wallet, antibacterial lotion (yes, it's essential), cell phone.

Luckily I got a hold of Dex midway through getting home, so he was coming to get me to go to the show before picking up my car. We were late anyway because his meetings ran late and I had to pick up my work pass from my locked car. We were about 1 hour late and just in time for intermission! Needless to say, my day did not go right at all.

To top it off, I spent the night flyering at the Richmond night market. My top 3 observations of cars:

1) Lots of people have those "noddy" head happy face statues on their dash boards (sheesh asians)

2) Super nice cars don't necessary have clean windshield wipers -- they are actually super dirty and stick to the windshield. Don't manual car washes lift the wiper up??

3) People like to sit in their cars in the dark for extended periods of time and embarrass people flyering their cars.

....I hate Richmond!

pics with my sis

one of the last pics with my sis before her HK trip

Our sushi fest at E-Bei...look at the lobster sushi in front of us!

Cherishing

In the last week or so, I've come to the fact that we have to cherish every waking moment we have. Just in this week, I've heard of two deaths close to my family and friend. Although I was not close to either of these two, the fact that I know them is pretty shattering. Yes I will now go into my psycho babble on how they lived a long life and did cherish every moment they were alive....maybe I won't. It's been done. But you hear of people just vegging (I do that too) and simply doing nothing all day long, and this brings them peace and happiness. It would too if I had experienced all I wanted to experience already. With this dispute going on, I have had 1-day weekends. That's 24 hours before I have to go back to work again. How sad!! I try to make the most of every minute by spending it outside where I can't go during the week. If I ever get that 2 day weekend again, I don't think I'll be home staring at the ceiling. Go go go!!

My trip to Scabland

Yesterday I took a little field trip with a couple coworkers to the Hemlock Central Office kitty-corner to my office. A central office in telco terms is where the cables from the homes and streets would all come together for a region of the city. These cables will give you Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and/or ADSL. It's pretty wacky in there with soo many cables running around on racks. If I were trained on this job I would probably be really fit because I would need to jump cables up to the ceiling by ladder and crawl down on the ground to reach some low lying racks. Don't get the wrong idea, I don't even want to start working there! It's just something new that I learned today and wanted to share my knowledge. I went to the CO long time ago before but not to the same depth that I learned today. Today was more practical in that we went through a real order that we assigned, and followed what was on paper to the cables that should be connected physically. It's not really that hard. If you know how to count, then you can do this job...really!!

So now to my subject. Prior to going to the CO, we had to exit the building, wait to cross the street, cross it, and wait to be let in the CO. A guy followed us when we left the main office and kept mouthing at us "Scabs", "stop taking jobs away from our kids", "go back to your real jobs" etc. We ignored him while we waited for the light. Did they think that they had "fake" jobs?? When we went to the door of the CO, another guy followed us around the back where we tried to get. The crowd there was definitely more mellow and we didn't have any nasty things said to us. We went in with no problems. When we came back out, our tour guide apparently knew everyone who was picketing (I wonder how long he has been in the company) and all the guy (who previously yelled at us) said was "so young"! I guess he saw me, another girl my age and Juanita walk by.

I noticed on the sidewalk, they had chalked in "Bonny Taxi is scabby" or something like that. I guess they're thinking that since they drop off managers at work, that the taxi company is against the union too.

Makes me so mad!

I'm so mad about this guy who called into the queue and was simply being very difficult. He asked me to activate something. very simple so I got off the phone and went to activate. He was impatient and called the queue again asking for me to see if i was done. Of course I wasn't because I would have called if I was done right??! My activations guy was working on it and running into problems. I asked if he could pinpoint the actual problem (which part of the path?) but he said he was a fields guy, not a central office guy. He doesn't know if it's connected at the CO. And he wouldn't bother to learn how. I found out he was a contractor so understandably he could be more hostile...no ties to the company whatsoever (or loyalty for that matter).

I gave him the equipment numbers but he refused to look it up. I gave him a number to call so he could LEARN how to look them up. NO, he said he wouldn't bother calling. He was mouthing off about the lack of support he was getting for this escalations job. ARGH!!! If you don't understand this, it's because I'm talking Telco language, ask someone who could explain what that means...i'm too tired of talking and hearing people who "lack support"!

Mmm Chambar and Theatre

On my day off (yes I only get one a week now) Saturday, I went to Chambar with one of my best friends Julia and her fiance. I haven't been to Chambar since Dine Out Vancouver in February. in any case, I had the moules frites vin blanc and Dex had the duck breast. The waiter gave me the thumbs up because I apparently "instructed" Dex on what to order (I prefer to call it mere suggestion). I don't boss around! The food was yummy! We sat at the back in those red vinyl booths where the big window face the condo view of Tinseltown area. We skipped dessert because we were in a rush to the play. We did however take some pics outside for Julia and Calvin because I wanted to put them on the wedding website I'm making them. Watch for it!

We then went to see "Sex in Vancouver: Intimate Secrets" at the Roundhouse. It was put on by the Vancouver Asian Comedy Theatre society and it was their third installment of this series. I couldn't wait to see it because it's a hilarious play about typical (okay maybe not so typical) asian young adults living in Vancouver. They explore and poke fun at asian stereotypes, myths and even dating rules! There are some subtle sexual connotations because they are based on the Sex in the City series! There were a couple of lesbian and gay asian characters there too. As for the asian idiosyncracies, what types of people would you know that wrap their living room furniture in clear plastic wrap permanently?! And use a piano chair as a coffee table?! And having parents forbid their kids from dating interracially. However, there were 3 caucasian guys in the play. In any case, the show's over and the next episode is playing in February. I can't wait!

Food Galore

I finally had a 2 day weekend (I know that sounds normal but I haven't had 2 days in a while) and I tried to cherish every minute of it! On Friday, I skipped out work for a bit to see my sis off to HK for exchange. It's sad, I don't usually talk to my sis that much but I find that I talked to her more and more as it got closer to her departure date. I mean I'm talking to her on MSN right now! Apparently it's muggy and pouring rain in HK. Haha, I had to laugh cuz she left sunny Vancouver for that?! But I'll miss her, she just laughs at all my stupid jokes. I won't miss her celebrity fetish though!

Friday night I went to this cheap hot pot place. 2 for 1 meat plate. It was good! I think I'll be coming more often. I also went to see the meteor showers, or at least attempt to! First we went to QE Park but the city lights were waay too bright, we couldn't see the showers. We then went to the 41st UBC highway. There I saw about 3 meteor showers. It was my first time and it was definitely beautiful but I guess I was expecting more.

On Saturday I went to 2 BBQ's back to back, boy was I full! But I had my fill of Korean bbq ribs and fish balls, salad, and hamburgers. The last BBQ was for my friend's bday and we had mondo's gelato cake! I guess it was extra special because she got engaged prior to this party so it almost seemed like a bridal shower when she was opening her gifts. Ahh weddings, I can rant off forever about them.

Finally on Sunday, I went to Point Roberts. It's this tiny penninsula below the 49th parallel jutting from Delta. Littel did I know that it was so tiny, with no attraction except for the lighthouse park. There was a rocky beach and a rocky path to the trailer park. The lighthouse itself was pathetic too! We went in Dex's car which had no A/C so it was extra hot and muggy. Well it was an experience. We went to the other side of the penninsula and the water view was better with quaint little houses. It was funny when we were driving just beside the border. The fence was really high with apartments soo close to it but that side was technically Delta, not US.

Gotta love work!

This is so hilarious because this is sometimes how I feel! When you've been there for 12 hours a day and you can't get something to work, I feel just like this guy.

My coworker was getting a trouble ticket for Matt LeBlanc (Joey from Friends) today in Victoria. Apparently he is making a movie there and needs to be there for a while. I guess celebrities get treated just like normal customers! Boo to celebrities.

News:
TORONTO (CP) - Destiny's Child took a step closer to their own farewell Wednesday as the three artists bid adieu to fans in Toronto in one of their last concerts as a group.

Apparently Vancouver will be their last concert...Maybe I will go now that they aren't going to go on tour anymore! Just gotta find someone to go with, my guy wouldn't spend money to see Destiny's Child.

busy busy

It's been an uneventful but busy day. I've been on the phones all day long and finally it has slowed down. Amazingly enough I didn't need more water than usual. I'm just left with a headache because it's frustrating being on the phone while trying to think on your feet. You have to sound all cheery and perky so you don't upset the installers, but at the same time you're trying to think through their problem. I guess I'm just not talented enough to multitask. Yikes!

I've been told many times to stop talking and start listening carefully before saying anything. I'm not very good at that. That is the subject of most fights! I'll try to be cognizant of that starting now. But I say that every time! But it can be so frustrating when I can't seem to get my point across. I'm probably not making a whole lot of sense but I just need to get that out of my system. See, in my family I'm not heard very much so I would like to be heard elsewhere! So I tend to take it out on other people. I'm not friendly that way....oops. Sorry for the babble!

criminals have priority

Apparently criminals come first in line when it comes to getting a phone service! I answered a call today where a customer rep was trying to get a phone line to a recently released criminal. He needed to be electronically monitored and needed a place with a phone service hooked up already so the parole officers to keep track of him. Interesting eh? When you need service fast, just make sure you're crippled, on life support, or committed a crime! I never would have thought!

I'm off to have some italian potluck. I can't wait as the food served here is getting old. Sometimes chocolate chip cookies can't even entice me! It was "Pasta Extravaganza". No matter how catchy they call it, they can't mask how much this food is NOT like home cooked food!

the good, the bad, and ugly

the good: our CEO came and handed out ice cream and $75 gift certificates to all management today. wasn't that so sweet of him? Of course it was my first time meeting him and I had to be wearing my flip flops, 3/4 pants and sweatshirt. Not to mention i had 3 huge mosquito bites that were bulging out and beet red. He was taller than I expected and definitely got that movie star air about him (just as I was warned). He's very engaging, so much so that you can't take your eyes off him. I graciously took my haagen daaz and left.

the bad and ugly: found out my friend got punched in the face by a union. Poor guy. The pics didn't look good. He was getting in his car and the guy got too close and punched him out of sheer madness. Knowing my friend, he must have reacted and hit him back but instead, he followed the guy back to his house and copied his address down. He reported it to RCMP who then promptly arrested the offender. I bet that guy is fired from the company too!

last minute

Yes I am naturally slow and last minute. I really don't know what I do in all that time. It still makes me slow! I find myself always at least a minute late getting to my desk at work. I am now counting the clock till the time I get off, one minute left! =)

This strike is taking a toll on me now, I zonked out at 3:30pm today and needed a java chip frapp to wake me up!! It's interesting, there's a chalk sign on the concrete that says "scabs cross picket here". I crossed.