Odd news

Well there's a new kind of silly American southern, the kind that tries to shoot a dragonfly with a rifle. Read on...


Man misses dragonfly, shoots friend
Tuesday, August 25, 2009


A man who says he was using his rifle to shoot at dragonflies accidently shot his friend in the head. Police said when they arrived the friend was bleeding heavily.

But he was conscious enough to be able to tell paramedics that the whole thing had been an accident.

According to Georgetown Times, in South Carolina, in the US, the friend and a 38-year-old Johnsonville man were in the woods in a nearby hunting club practicing with a rifle.

The man said he was trying to shoot some dragonflies when his friend walked in front of him and was shot in the head.

It has been ruled an accident by investigators, police said.

Two local schools was closed down for a time as police investigated the shooting.

"Not knowing where the victim may be or where the shooter was, I advised the administration of Carvers Bay School to lock down the campus for student safety," Deputy Ryan Owens wrote in his report, the newspaper reported.

"Carvers Bay Middle was locked down as well."

The friend was flown to a Charleston hospital for treatement.

[Article found on Metro.co.uk]

This definitely goes under the heading of WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?! Oh and the spelling mistakes in the article belong to the author. Correct me I'm wrong but I believe they have spell-check in Britain too.

Best Twitter Posts

Ok so this has to be the best Twitterer...Twit...Twitter feed...whatever that I've ever read!

Old people say some funny stuff, check it out: shitmydadsays

Thanks Herrington for the link...nobody tells it like an ornery 73 year-old man.

The weeks ahead

I can't believe that it is almost that time again....my classes start next Monday. The next three weeks are going to be tiring.

This week I have to finish up editing the video podcasts and get them posted to the website. I have to begin/finish writing up the minutes from the Annual General Meeting. Trying to discern decisions from a meeting where all the delegates are yelling over one another for two and a half hours just SCREAMS fun, don't you think? And as if transcribing the minutes weren't enough I've also got to find time to begin laying out the profiles from our sponsors for the Corporate Directory. Fun times.

And the good times just keep coming. Next week I have my first class on Monday night (7pm - 10pm) and I have to wrap up whatever I didn't get done this week plus do all the updates in our database. Then when Friday rolls around I'll definitely be taking a nap after work before heading out for Ms G.'s birthday at Absolute. Saturday I'll be getting another early start as I have to drive down to TO for my nephew's birthday party which is at 3pm. Saturday will be a mix of making nice with the in-laws, screaming children running around covered in cake, my nephew opening presents but being most entertained my the paper and me wishing that I had bought stock in Tylenol because head will be splitting.

Come Sunday I may be comatose out of exhaustion and sugar overload. But I will still need to figure out when I'm driving back to Ottawa, thankfully Monday is a holiday (thank you Labour Day) so I've got time to figure that out.

The week after that: not nearly as bad. Classes Monday and Tuesday nights. I have no idea at this point what the work week has in store for me but on the weekend I've got to play nice with the boys. (Get your mind out of the gutter!) Three guys that I went to high school with are trekking it up to Ottawa to go see some wrestling thing at Scotia Bank Place, as for the reasoning behind it I haven't the foggiest. Anyway, we're going to go back to the aerial park for some trapeze-like adventures and some zip lining. After that I think the plan is to camp in Quebec somewhere but the prospect of being out at some desolate camp site with those three guys does not sound very appealing. Oh well, I'll cross that hurdle when I come to it. I just hope that it doesn't rain otherwise I'm the lucky girl who gets to end up with three houseguests who are as graceful as rhinos. The things we do for people...geez!

Friday bliss...

It has definitely been "one of those weeks" so when I came across this picture on my computer I decided that I just had to share it.

I'm not sure why but I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I see it. The word that comes to mind in fact is "hope" but I can't pin-point why. Something to do with long brilliant summer days, sweet butterflies in the tummy, racing hearts, everything is going to be OK, the day will start again tomorrow...HOPE.


I'm not 100% on how it is that I found this picture. I'm sure that it had something to do with Google or Bing. [Flikr source]

Newest News Find

I've just discovered a new site for news/research that I never knew I wanted to know about. The New Scientist (Online News) is filled to the brim with new research to the questions that I never realized I needed the answer to. Such as:

1. How can my cellphone tell me who my friends are? → Answer
2. What does sex during an MRI look like? → Answer (video)
3. Where does white skin come from? → Answer
4. Why do geeks make for more attractive mates? → Answer
5. How can the three little pigs help to identify time of death? → Answer

I ♥love♥ that researchers are finding new and interesting ways of sharing and exchanging these ideas so that they become more appealing to the everyday person. Personally I enjoy reading about new ventures in science and research (what can I say I'm a geek at heart) but it doesn't really seem like the type of thing that would draw in the young-ever-connected-tech-savvy masses especially in this age of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Well I know how I'll be spending my next few lunch hours....

Getting the hang of it

This weekend I tested my hand at cooking and it.... well.... hurt. I literally ended up searing my hand on Friday night, not fun. Needless to say I won't be making stir fry again any time soon.

Sunday I made another attempt and I did not let the hyper-sensitivity in my hand dissuade me from my task. (Did you know that when you burn yourself that even your mere proximity to a heat source can commence the agonizing throbbing again?)

Soldiering through, I successfully made a delicious pot of spicy chicken and tomato stew, yummy zucchini potato pancakes and little broccoli/cheese fritatas. I'm so proud of me.

Aside from burning the crap out of my hand on Friday and having to resort to a peanut butter and banana sandwich for dinner (because while I ran around like a nutter trying to stop the pain and find the polysporin I forgot to turn off the stove and scorched my dinner), I'm slowly figuring out the whole cooking thing and can now add the above items to the growing list of things I can make. Which includes:

Three cheese baked ziti
Shepard's Pie
Baked Creamy Mushroom Chicken & Rice
Pork Tenderloin
Ribs
Turkey Joe's (sloppy joe's with turkey; very hard to mess this up)
Parma Rosa pasta with sausages
Quiche

I'm glad that the repetoire of meals I can make is growing but I am much more of a baker than anything else. I wish that it was acceptable to live on desserts, muffins, cookies, breads and cakes alone...I would be such a happy camper. GINORMOUS but happy!

Anniversary = Aneurysm?

Today is my three-year anniversary at my current job and sometimes I really wonder about how I ended up doing the work that I do.

Today I have spent almost the entire day editing video podcasts ... and using QuickTime of all things! Editing the videos from the conference would not take so long if:

1. I didn't have to use QuickTime....there's got to be a better program.
2. I didn't have to manually enter all the chapter timestamps one by one.
3. I didn't have a million other things coming across my desk that are all equally "URGENT". (My boss thinks that everything is urgent and I'm then left to decipher the degree of urgency based on what/how much is bold, in italics or bright red, to name a few.)

Mon Dieu, c'est frustrant!

I have a degree in Sociological/Anthropological Science. I love research, statistics, books and archives. Yet I spend my day editing videos, updating/maintaining/redesigning the website?!? WTF!? How did I end up here?

I suppose that with the economy in the state that it's in, I should be happy to have a job at all but I just wish that I had I job that had some semblance of relativity to my studies because this learning as you go is killing me. Everything takes so much longer and if I'm going to be completely honest my brain really doesn't know what to do with all the techie-type information.

In fact my brain is starting to hurt and I think that I'm actually losing other information because I am trying to cram so much in there at the moment. Between figuring out the video editing, the web design code, my graphic design classes (that work is sending me to) and my own classes to finish my Public Relations & Media Communications program, I'm going to start losing some crucial information! I just hope that it doesn't happen at an inopportune moment. Like forgetting how to drive while I'm on the highway or forgetting how my feet work when I'm at the top of a stairwell.

Thank goodness it's Friday and I don't actually have to do anything on the weekend but if you don't hear from me it's because I've probably forgotten what a computer is and am cowering behind the sofa because my MSN/Facebook/Gmail has come to life on its own with emoticons and instant messages.

*sigh* Fingers crossed that I'm still here Monday.

A comeback for Pee-Wee Herman?!

Paul Reubens will be taking his show to the stage in Los Angeles! Apparently iconic '80s kid show character Pee-Wee Herman thinks that it's time he ventured into the world of entertainment once again (read as: has-been actor/social deviant running out of money and career options).

This is definitely something that I would be interested in seeing firsthand, having grown up watching Pee-Wee Herman as part of my Saturday morning but since the trek from Canada's National Capital to the City of Angels is a little far (and pricey) it's not a trip that I will be making any time soon.

Wonder how far Santa Barbara is from LA....maybe I can get the Steger boys to go and tell me all about it. Oh well I will be there in spirit.

Wanna play?

Ever wondered if you had enough grey matter to tell the difference between an adult film star and a tasty spud, well now you can test yourself with the game Pornstar or Potato?

www.pornstarorpotato.com

Sometimes I wonder about how my friends find these things and moreover why they send them to me.

Have fun!

Colour Quiz Personality Profile....?

Not exactly scientific but interesting nonetheless.

Miss JL took the free ColorQuiz.com personality test! ""Looking to make a good impression and be recogniz..." Click here to read the rest of the results.

Thinking of colours, time to change template. I wish that there were more to choose from....I wonder how I do about using one I find elsewhere on this wonderful little interweb?

When I fail to blog...

It's nice to know that in the days/months/years that I have failed to keep up with my blogging it's nice to know that I flip to friends' blogs and find those missing days.

Reminiscing about days gone by is a nice distraction.

And reading a friend's blog is helpful when filling in the missing memory. There was one or two from 2006/2007 that I didn't remember seeing as I. and myself may have gotten a little carried away at the Irish Village but thanks to L. that evening has been logged!

Good times....great girls.

I'm not ready for it to be over...

So after two glorious weeks off it's back to work. And upon my return to the office yesterday it took me a little over 2.5 hours to get through the July emails and onto August. (I'd feel pretty popular if they hadn't been work related requests/questions.)

I had a fairly low-key vacation but that's just how I like it. No set plans, trying to run around and get things done; just taking each day as it comes. Ahhh...that sounds good right about now as I sit looking at the TWO stacks of filing I have yet to attempt. Apparently my coworkers took my absence as an opportunity to clear off their desks into the filing bin. Lucky me.

Most of my vacation was spent with my best and my nephews. We went to the zoo, to the lake, played in the rain, played in the pool and even managed a shopping expedition which isn't the easiest thing with a one- and three-year old. We also had a bonfire and introduced the three-year old to s'mores....he was not impressed.

I also took my time off to reconnect with some friends I haven't seen in years and to mend a bridge that had been blown to smitherines. K and I collected the splinters, shared a couple beers, traded stories from the years past and made nice again. That time apart definitely made a big difference. I love how people become more amenable to things after a beer or two.

Now that I am back in my own city and at work I miss my nephews more than I thought I would. I've talked to my best everyday since I've come home and every time Little B and I have the same conversation.

Little B: Are you coming to my house Auntie J?

Me: No sweetie, I'm at my house.

Little B: Why?

Me: Because it's where I live.

Little B: And you drive for a whole long day.

Me: Yep a whole long day.

Little B: Oh......Love you Auntie J!

Now who wouldn't miss that sweetness? Living 4 hours away was probably not my best decision but at the time I didn't have any nephews to spoil. Thank goodness the Labour Day long weekend is in a couple weeks, I'll get to go back and visit and celebrate Little B's birthday!

This having to work thing is a real pain, I wish everyday could be vacation. What a happy thought.

In other news, I've decided that before the summer is over I want to go bungee jumping (at the Great Canadian Bungee in Wakefield, Quebec). But I have to somehow convince someone to go with me because I doubt that I will have as much fun if I go by myself.

Bungee jumping is the second step in my summer adventures. The first was the aeiral park and ziplining. Gradually my adventures are taking me higher and higher because after bungee is..... yep Skydiving!

Anyone willing to do that with me?? C'mon!