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I just got back from a 4 day trip to my hometown, Sarnia. I was only planning on being there for three days, however the weather was just too nice yesterday, and I had to stay an extra day. I’m so glad I did! We had great weather both Thursday and Friday, so I spent the afternoon with Chet & Vera beside their pool; well, Chet was outside with us in the fabulous Tiki Hut while Vera & I baked ourselves pool-side. It’s too bad the weather didn’t cooperate on Wednesday, as that’s Vera’s “Wednesday afternoon pool day” with her friends, so only Denise showed up (it was cloudy & it actually rained for about 30 minutes.)

It was very nice to relax and recharge before starting the new job on Monday. Although I thought it was funny that I had to email my new boss to ask him what time I should show up on Monday.

And now I’m back home, just got back from running a couple of errands, and I’m all set to watch some more Olympics tonight!

So this week I am enjoying some time off, where I’m sleeping in, doing a lot of knitting, and watching a ton of Olympic coverage. And that’s good, because next week I start my new job! Yes, yet again, I am changing jobs. I always hate leaving my colleagues, as everyone there is great, but it was time to move on. I managed to find myself a job that’s much better, AND is in another city! I’ve been trying to find a job outside of Toronto for the last couple of years, and while I would have preferred Vancouver, Waterloo is good too. It’s small enough that I can relax and enjoy the small town life, yet still close enough to Toronto that if Melanie or Jana get really wicked concert tickets I can still pop into town to see the show with them.

The new job is an official step up into Senior Technical Writer land, although I have already done the position at a previous company, this one’s official and everything. I’m excited because there’s an actual tech writing team, an actual tech writing manager (who’s also a writer), plus tons, and TONS of work! The fact that they’re paying me a bunch more money than I’m making now is also a bonus, but not entirely the main draw of the job. There will be lots of mentoring and editing of younger writer’s work, which is always fun. (Yes, I’m being serious here.) So all in all the move’s a good one for me.

Of course this means I’ll be commuting the 100kms each way to Waterloo till the spring time. I want to wait through the probationary period before making any decisions, because who knows, I might not like them, and they may not like me! Okay, that’s highly unlikely, that they don’t like me, but whatever. And after having already moved this past winter, I don’t want to do it again. So I’ll be waiting till the spring time to move. This means I’ll be putting a ton of kilometers on my beloved new Mazda 3, but that’s okay, since I’ll be keeping the vehicle after the lease is over. By the time the car turns one next spring, I will have put on twice the amount of kms that I’m officially “allowed”. *gulp* But since I’ll be keeping the car anyways, that’s not a problemo. If I were to give it back, then I’d be in some serious trouble, as they tend to charge more for that.

So there you have it! New beginnings for me in the workplace.

Yes, it’s true! I have started knitting again. Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ve been knitting like a mad fiend on the log cabin blanket for my cousin’s son since about March, but I’ve been trying to find a new project to start knitting, and was uninspired for the longest time. Until my sister reminded me last week that I should check out my queue on Ravelry.com, and when I did, I remembered the Everlasting Bagstopper! So I pulled out some crafter’s cotton and cast on last weekend. The casting on was funny, as I was engaging in some drunken knitting with my sister & one of her Internet knitting buddies (but we were actually all in the same place here in Toronto.) Those two ladies do all sorts of funky and advanced things like purses, sweaters n’ such. So I sat there staring at my yarn as my maple latte cooled in front of me, and I was thinking “how in the hell do I cast on?” I couldn’t remember, for the life of me. But then Carol & Ramona reminded me, and I was on my way.

I ended up doing the bottom piece “wrong”, in that the pattern called for garter stitch, but I had written down “garter stitch (knit/purl)”, which is of course stockinette, not garter. But that’s okay, cuz I actually like having a “flat” bit on the bottom. So I’ve been busy knitting away on the sides, enjoying myself tremendously. Look, here are some photos!

And another:

Of course with all this knitting I have started to develop some new callouses on my fingers, as this one requires some more manoeuvering to get all the yarn overs and k2tog done. But I’m enjoying myself immensely.

And it’s serving to distract me from the fact that the last log I knit on the log cabin blanket was actually backwards AND on the wrong end of the blanket! *sigh* So I had to frog the log off, turn the blanket around, and flip it over, and now I’m trying to knit that one as fast as I can since I’m really sick of the green yarn. But it’s coming along nicely. I’m wondering if I’ll finish off the cones of yarn before Labour Day or not…guess only time will tell.

Yes, yes everyone, I have not gone into hibernation or anything. I am still here. I just haven’t had anything new and exciting to talk about. The summer has been rather up and down, with lots of rain and such. The weather men say that we’re to have a good stretch of good weather, which I will believe when I see, of course. That’s it, that’s all.

Ah yes, with the end of the shortened television season, I have begun to delve into my cache of tv shows on DVDs. Some of these are part of my collection, while others I have borrowed from friends. Right now I’m watching 24. I started watching the show midway thru season 3, so I needed to catch up. I watched Season 1 a few weeks ago, and just finished off Season 2 tonight. And I must say, I am totally obsessed! Everyone should have a Jack Bauer to call upon whenever life gets rough for them. If you’re looking for some fun and games with Jack, cruise on over to the Random Jack Bauer Fact Generator. It’s absolutely high-larious. Keep refreshing the page to see silly facts about Jack. They’re guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

Seeing how this last season got good again, I’m also going to catch up on Lost this summer. I stopped watching midway through Season 2 because the show got, well, boring. The writers would parse out information so bloody slowly and subtly that I tended to watch the show while reading a novel, so I figured I should just stop watching altogether. But then JJ and company decided to make the show interesting again, but at that point I was a bit ‘lost’ on the plot, so I didn’t watch at all. So a friend is lending me seasons 2 and 3, so that I can catch up and be ready in time for season 5 this fall. Of course I’ll have to wait till season 4 comes out on DVD as well so I can be fully caught up, but that’s all right….that’s what PVRs are for.

I’ve also become a big fan of How I Met Your Mother, and the wonderfully zany Neil Patrick Harris. The show is hilarious, but Harris’ Barney is legend - wait for it - ary. If you haven’t caught the show at all, you absolutely must do so. Again, the show’s on season 3, or maybe even 4, so I’ve got some catching up to do. If no one I know has the first few seasons, I’ll be hitting up the library first to see what they’ve got, and then if they don’t have it, I’ll start scouring the video stores.

So there you have it folks, when I’m not at work, when I’m not knitting, when I’m not out jogging or playing tennis, I’ll be home watching lots of tv. Let me know if you want to join me, you’re more than welcome.