Shamrock Ninja

Who wants to get me this little guy for my desk??

Shamrock Ninja from Lilley's Etsy Shop

Exciting xmas blog post!

Hello all. (and for those that care--I know there are some of you--Happy Christmas!)

My day was fairly uneventful... just another day off, except I put on a Santa hat and plugged in Christmas lights. But there's still snow outside (now there's at least a 18 inches on my balcony) and the fire is still on. I cleaned, did laundry, video chatted with my family (including Mom, Dad, Jack and the Michiganders (Celeste, Barbara and Tuko) who had just arrived into Lubbock!) and basically bummed around. The oven is still broken and I still have very little food (and am still feeling too lazy to go out).

Since I have no tv, and therefore can't sit around watching mindless shows, I've had to find other things to do to occupy my time at home. Aside from reading, the computer is generally my first choice (I don't have a lot of hobbies and growing bonsai really isn't that time consuming) but there are only so many things I can do on my favorite sites. And since I'm also not one to sit around and watch YouTube videos or Facebook stalk all day, I've had to search for more things.

So, I've been downloading random games to play. I've downloaded/purchased quite a few in the past... this past summer I really enjoyed Plant Tycoon for a couple of weeks, and of course games like Oregon Trail, Zeus and the various Nancy Drews always make for great entertainment. So of the 10-15 or so I've downloaded, most I've given up on because they're so bad, others I beat rather quickly and then there are a very select few which have not only kept me entertained, but I will probably continue to play for awhile... at least until I beat them.

The first is BigFish Games' My Tribe.... its a real time game sort of like the Sims (only a MUCH more basic version). You have people, you tell them to fish, farm, gather wood, harvest stone, build, research, etc etc and they will continue to do so, whether the game is running or not. Babies grow up without you having to watch their every step and their lives go on. This will run while I'm doing other things, and I can come back, make some adjustments and let it go! I love it.

The second is Sandlot Games' Westward III: Gold Rush.... Kind of like Zeus or Civilization... except you're one person who goes on various side quests and follows a story line, while growing a town and providing resources for the citizens.

Next I really enjoy is BigFish Games' Home Sweet Home: Christmas Edition... I love games where you get to design and get points for doing what the customer wants, this one has the added twist of having to build the redesigned room as well. I'm over halfway through the levels, but its enjoyable and when I'm finished I will definitely go back and play the last 2 editions.

Finally, IWin and BigFish Games' Fashion Star... fun for the same reasons as the last game, you have an objective, you design a photo shoot to match those objectives, get points and continue up the levels! I will be done with this one pretty soon, but still fun nonetheless.

This games are great, since I don't have much of an attention span and like the games to be over with fairly quickly (I won't play ANY game for hundrends or thousands of hours) these are perfect. I've downloaded and couple more and hopefully they will provide some entertainment as well.

I guess I could have a more exciting life and more exciting things to blog about than computer games. But alas, no craziness here.

Holiday snowstorm

Winter rolls in coast to coast with blustering snow, high winds, severe cold

The Great White North is living up to its name.

Winter debuted Sunday with boisterous displays of heavy snow, powerful winds and numbing cold across the country. Forecasters are predicting Christmas will look much the same.

"I would dare say if you're in a satellite looking down on Canada, it would be white from coast to coast to coast and it would be frozen," said David Phillips, senior climatologist with Environment Canada.

"There's no area that can say that winter hasn't really arrived."

(. . .)

In Vancouver, snow began falling Saturday night and continued into Sunday, with up to 20 cm of snow expected in some areas by day's end.

(. . .)

Those dreaming of a white Christmas will get their wish - mostly.

While Yuletide will likely be a rare postcard perfect in Vancouver - with more snow expected on top of what is already on the ground - forecasters said it was possible that parts of Ontario and the East Coast may get an influx of slightly milder temperatures and even rain.

(story from the Canadian Press, photo from the Vancouver Sun)

6 inches of snow??  This is crazy!  It does NOT do this in BC.  Add on top of that the fact that I have to be at work at 5:30 am tomorrow (as I did today) and am not looking forward to that at all!  Today was rough enough, but tomorrow will only be worse... luckily I am off on Tuesday and close on Wednesday... hopefully the buses will be running by then, and have Christmas day off.  I really am not a fan of this snowstorm.  Hopefully it will come to an end soon.

We have a tree!

Fa la la la la

While the Christmas season officially started on Friday in the States post-Thanksgiving... by that standard the holiday season should been in full swing here in the Great White North since Canadian Thanksgiving on Oct 13.  Yes, that's OCTOBER.

Fortunately, those living north of the 49th parallel tend to wait awhile and "Christmas" officially started yesterday.  I am not excited.

What I am excited about, however, is the new Christmas blend we got in at the coffee shop yesterday.  It is definitely my new favorite coffee and I can't wait to take home my first lb. next week!  Since I forsee a lot of alone time the last two weeks of December, a nice cup of Christmas blend should keep my company.  Maybe a good book or two as well?

I wish I had some photos to share of the holiday season gearing up here in the Lower Mainland, but alas, I do not.  However, since Mom will be arriving in about 23 hrs (!) I will be breakng out the camera and shooting some photos.  My dad gave me a tutorial via Skype tonight on camera settings, so hopefully that will help me take some nicer photos than I have been taking in the past!  If I can take nice photos with the point and shoot, I will definitely feel more vindicated in wanting (and eventually obtaining) that digital SLR I've been coveting.

On another note, the work Christmas party is in two weeks on Granville Island!  Went dress shopping Saturday post-poutine (best in Vancouver!) and got great deals at Barefoot Contessa  on Commercial.  I bought a cute, lace on black strapless cocktail dress after trying on at least a dozen!  I had a difficult time picking between it (called the "Natalie Portman" dress) and another, slightly sexier satin sheath dress which had gorgeous details!  I absoultely adored the shop and plan to return again soon next time I need some clothing!

Happy November!

Here I am at 7 am the morning after Halloween awake and blogging because I can't sleep... I only got about 3 or 4 hours because I just couldn't sleep, so weird.

Last night was Halloween (obviously) and despite my early efforts to altogether avoid the holiday, I ended up getting in the spirit and dressing up.  I also carved a pumpkin!  One of my co-workers decided to have a contest for the employees, so I had to make one after all.  I had plans to carve it last night with one of the other boys from work, but instead I ended up closing so I carved mine while he baked pumpkin seeds and served soup.  I did Oogie Boogie from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and he did end up quite frightening.  Originally I was going to do Boo from Mario Bros., but I didn't have a good enough knife or saw for the detail work... so Oogie Boogie it was.  

Last night after I finally put my costume together (having a roommate that works in a lab definitely has it perks!), I ran by the coffee shop to grab a drink and see other's costumes.  We had a doctor, a vampire and a German boy (although he's always German, only this time he was in full costume).  I was, as you can see from the photo to the left, a mad scientist.  It was fun getting ready, teasing my hair to craziness and putting an "explosion" on my face.  The drink in the beaker was a lot of fun... definitely had everyone interested in what was in it.

Right now the sun is finally coming up... its 7:40.  Sadly, the nights are still going to be getting longer for at least another month and a half.  Its amazing how little daylight there is... I can't imagine going farter north to where there is extremely little.  But I do want to go to Alaska.  So bad.

On another note, I am really enjoying working at the coffee shop.  I have met some really interesting and fun people and am looking forward to the next several months with them... although it won't be all of them.  Some are moving on and supposedly there are some "big changes" happening in the next few weeks, but there is still so much to look forward to!