Hi all, I realize I’ve been severely remiss at posting on my blog lately. Work has been quite busy lately, plus I’ve been battling the usual weather witch-related stuff, so I haven’t been that keen on posting. In addition, I recently switched home phone & internet providers, only to discover today that I’ve been hoodwinked! The new provider actually didn’t disclose all the charges, even though I asked, and then, the kicker, I find out today that they didn’t actually set me up with the service I ordered! Frakkers. I am quite peeved. And then my internet access would go out whenever it rains. This is absolutely ridiculous. So I called up the old provider to ask some questions and they confirmed my fears, AND THEN they offered me a kick-ass deal so that I’m essentially getting free phone & internet for the next 4 months, which is fine by me.

But beware of those “deals” out there, as they might not actually be “deals”.

Hi kiddies, my apologies for not posting anything all week, but life around the Jb household has been rather busy. I’ve been out and about finishing the preparations for my trip to Italy next week, so it’s been hectic. I was finishing off the relatives present list, although it turns out we may be a gift or two short (Lee Valley only had 2 of the 3 space pens we’d ordered, and we actually wanted 4, so it’s off to the store tomorrow to buy something else.) Oh, and my aunt asked if we could bring over some “American” coffee, as apparently my uncle has developed a taste for it. We’re not sure if he’s going to brew it in the little Italian coffee machine on the stove, or if he’s bought a North American-style coffee drip machine, but either way, he’s getting a tin of Tim Horton’s coffee, so he can see what has addicted so many Canadians (and a few Americans too, as I see that Timmy’s has expanded a bit into the US.)

Work has also been incredibly busy, as I finish off my usual tasks, plus get everything set up for my 2 weeks off. And tonight a friend and I are off on our first run together, which should be fun. I typically go running alone, so it’ll be interesting to see how it’ll be with someone else. We’re both at the beginning of our training, so we should be able to keep up with each other. I’ve been doing 3 and 1’s sporadically over the last few weeks, and while my friend hasn’t been running, she’s been working out regularly since December, so we should be good to go.

Today the gods have finally blessed us with some sun (a treasure in and of itself since we haven’t seen much of it over the last few weeks), and, AND, it’s supposed to get up to 21 this afternoon. 21 degrees, ABOVE ZERO! Absolutely tremendous. After having a late winter that has just dragged on and on, it’ll be nice to see some actual spring-like weather…just in time for me to leave for Italy (of course). But that’s okay because it’s T-minus 5 days till we’re off. Na na na na boo boo. Or, as my sister & I like to say: Dancing Kokopelli, dancing kokopelli!

Okay, I’ll auto-tag myself after reading my sister’s blog, so here goes:

Seven Things to Do before I Die
1. Learn to play the cello
2. See an opera live at La Scala in Milan
3. Retire.
4. Travel to Australia.
5. Travel back over the International Dateline to get back the day I lost in 1993.
6. Live in Italy.
7. Write the Great Canadian Novel.

Seven Things I cannot Do
1. Be quiet.
2. Speak German.
3. Juggle.
4. Hit a good drop shot in tennis.
5. Knit a sweater.
6. Eat fish.
7. Eat gorgonzola cheese.

Seven Things that attract me to… Toronto
1. My friends.
2. Walking along the lake shore boardwalk.
3. Eating Italian food for lunch, having a pint in an English or Irish pub at tea time, then having dinner at an amazing Thai restaurant, all in the same day.
4. I can go see an NHL hockey game during the season if I have more than $200 in my wallet.
5. The zaniness that is Yonge Street.
6. The fact that it’s only 90 minutes from wonderful cottage country.
7. High Park.

Seven Things I say
1. Exactly.
2. Sh!t (yes, that’s one of my favourite curse words).
3. Frak (a replacement curse word for a much nastier one I can’t say at work).
4. Whoa!
5. Na na na na boo boo!
6. Whoa, doctor!
7. Morons!

Seven good books
1. Dune by Frank Herbert.
2. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.
3. Anita Blake Vampire Hunter by Laurell K Hamilton.
4. Any smutty novel by Jude Deveraux (for those moments when I don’t want to think too hard).
5. Thinner by Stephen King.
6. Any novel by Italo Calvino.
7. Hamlet by Shakespeare (okay, I don’t know if this is really a book, but whatever, I liked it, it’s good.)

Seven Good Movies
1. The Princess Bride.
2. Dangerous Liaisons.
3. Romeo + Juliet.
4. The Hunt for Red October.
5. Trainspotting.
6. The Empire Strikes Back.
7. Any James Bond with Sean Connery in it.

Seven Blogs to Tag
I don’t think I know of 7 people with blogs to tag, so anyone who reads this and wants to be tagged, just do up the list & let me know.

Okay, last Wordpress update for now. While I still can’t do a few things like delete posts, pages or links (that’s a bug that the powers that be assure us will be fixed in version 2.2), I can do many other things that are neat-o. I may still tweak the sidebar, but not tonight. I’m tired after suffering through a nasty headache today (had to stay home from work and everything), and have had quite enough of playing around with this blog. In fact, this tweaking tonight has done nothing for my headache, so I’m going to go to bed. I’ve got to prepare for a day of drinking, eating, laughing, singing and dancing tomorrow for St. Patrick’s Day! If you’re going out, have fun, be safe, and don’t drink & drive. Yes, that’s a bit of a public service announcement from me, but it’s such a simple thing to do (or not, as the case may be).

So good night everyone!

I think I’ve finally sorted this out. I had to roll back my WP installation to the 2.0 version, and now I can do all that I need to do. I had tried last night using v.2.0.5, however that too was giving me problems. So I figured to go back a little further. Sadly, I don’t recall which version I was using prior to all the problems arising, but let’s keep our fingers crossed that this one is a-okay.