New Beginnings...
Friday, March 31, 2006
Two couples close to us have just broken up. Each had been together for over three years and both were at our wedding.
Andrew chalks it up to being spring and maybe they both just needed a new beginnings.
posted by aforward @ 9:17 AM,
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Daylight Savings Time
Thursday, March 30, 2006
I just heard we set the clocks forward this weekend...usually it is closer to Easter.
posted by aforward @ 4:51 PM,
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14 Quirky Things About Me...
I always say elevator when I mean to say escalator...
I have little vision out of my left eye...
I never liked Seinfeld...
I have never seen an episode of Lost...
I don't think there is anything attractive about Ben Affleck...
I got very lucky (re: the life partner I ended up with)...
I won't go on a roller coaster...
I can't read in a car...
I still do not type correctly (I use all my fingers but still look at the keyboard)...
When I write I often confuse "w" and "h"...
I claim to be semi-vegetarian but I recently ate a breakfast sausage...
I don't mind being in line and I am very rarely in a rush
I don't know how to make coffe (or spell it)
If I like you I will play with your ears, if i love you I will try to eat them
posted by aforward @ 3:56 PM,
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Pandora Personal Radio...
Saw this site won an award so I thought I would check it out.
I keep playing the same songs over and over and I think it is starting to irritate Andrew so this might be a nice alternative to I-Tunes (most popular).
Anyways a nice slick, stylish user interface combined with a useful service and it is free...I'll explore it some more but two thumbs up so far.
Will add my stations to my blog side bar in the upcoming days.
posted by aforward @ 12:29 PM,
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Dolphins to Open NFL Season vs Steelers
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Yeah! the Dolphins will be featured in the first game of the NFL season.
posted by aforward @ 2:09 PM,
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When Your Office Discovers Skype...
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
I didn't think this would be so amusing but my boss (very non-techie) has this headset on and is playing around with a skype account. So far she's only been calling Sherry (who is two offices away from her).
Anyways she got her first call from someone who is not in our office. (You kind of have to be here but trust me it's funny :)
posted by aforward @ 2:41 PM,
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CFP Exam Pass Rates
What did I get myself into?
First Time Writers: 60% pass rate
First Time and Repeat Writers: 52% pass rate
Apparently if you have a CA Accounting Designation you can challenge to write the exam without taking the courses. The pass rate of challenge exam writers is embarrissingly low (under 10%).
I'm sensing 100 multiple choice questions about which answer is "most" correct...(the bane of all multiple choice questions.)
I guess we'll see next June.
posted by aforward @ 2:19 PM,
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What Does This Sign Mean To You?
I was in line at the Loblaws by Algonquin College last night and this sign was posted at all the cash registers:
"No Returns Accepted on All Passover Products".
Unless there is a possibility that Passover might be cancelled this year... the sign is a little offensive.
I mean this is probably more offensive (and probably wouldn't fit on a sign): "if you are Jewish we know you are cheap and like to return things so just don't bother this year." but (to me) the message is the same.
Either way it is rude and tactless.
But who knows maybe Loblaws experiences severe losses at this time of year due to product returns to warrant such a miserable sign.
posted by aforward @ 11:21 AM,
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Field Hockey
Photo by Yan Huckendubler
This was a recent photo of one of the players on our men's team at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. I love this image as it personifies a sport that is actually a wonderful game that Canadians know very little about.
1. Men Do play Field Hockey (and not in skirts)
2. A Lot of Athleticism is Involved in Field Hockey
3. The BioMechanics of The Game are the most graceful of any sport I have seen
posted by aforward @ 11:20 AM,
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Hertz's New USP
Saw a Hertz Rent-A-Car ad on TV this weekend and I think they have a a great new USP (Unique Selling Proposition). It is nice to see some creativity in an industry where differentiation isn't normally a major focus.
Anyway the point is you can now rent your dream car as if it were just a regular weekend rental. They call it the Hertz Fun Collection. From Hummers to Mustang Convertibles.
I am personally looking forward to the Nissan 350Z (coming soon!)
posted by aforward @ 9:36 AM,
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Tiger Woods on 60 Minutes
Monday, March 27, 2006
Tiger was featured on 60 minutes last night, I notice they have been doing a lot of athletes recently (MJ, Romo, Jose etc).
Anyways he comes across to me like some kind of fembot. But since he is a boy we'll call him a himbot. I was expecting him to light up when Ed mentioned his wife...but he was more like... "well I found a partner".
And all that stuff about the kids seemed a little forced too.
I guess modesty in an athlete goes a long way for me (take Roger Federer). Tiger is a little bit obsessed with himself and far from modest.
It's incredible what he has done for golf and I admire Tiger in many ways but I just wish he was a teaspoonful less arrogant.
posted by aforward @ 2:55 PM,
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Hey Spring...
Friday, March 24, 2006
Hey Spring..it's your birfday...
It's finally getting warmer in our Nation's Capital.
posted by aforward @ 3:35 PM,
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The Inherent Value of People Watching
I was able to spend part of my day people watching... which is always a fun task. I always wonder what people are doing at the mall in the middle of the afternoon and not at work? (I was there because I had the day off and needed a new pair of jeans.)
So today was mostly watching teenagers and "overhearing" what's cool nowadays. Apparently it is quite normal for girls to kiss other girls without their boyfriends minding. At least they were eating healthy (Subway) and not something deep-fried like me.
posted by aforward @ 3:29 PM,
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Tim Horton's IPO
Tim Horton's stock went on sale to the public this morning and has already risen 40% in the first day of trading.
Andrew and I were thinking of picking up some shares but I didn't like what some analysts had to say nor is bandwagonning part of my portfolio strategy...not that we would have been successful anyway as only 14% of the shares were sold to retail Canadian buyers.
Most shares were scooped up by the big pension funds and some went over to Wall Street. It will be intereseting to see what price the share levels off at after the hype dies down.
posted by aforward @ 3:24 PM,
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A Loooong Weekend...
Thursday, March 23, 2006
I have today and tomorrow off so I'm hoping to have a productive long weekend.
Today I was hoping to get a lot done on some side projects but had a travel call in the morning and spent a lot of time on that.
Tomorrow I'm getting my hair did and maybe a new purse : )
Saturday I'll have access to my technical manager so hopefully can get a few things done with him ; )
Signed up for a Cafe Press store today. Now will just have to find some things to put in there.
posted by aforward @ 3:50 PM,
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Panasonic SL-J910
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
This just looks cool.
Imagine a portable cd player that is square and not a round.
I want one!
posted by aforward @ 2:45 PM,
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Learning RSS and CSS
These are the next two things I want to get really good at. I think RSS is one of the best ways to get one way backlinks to your site. There are so many directories that can pick up your feed and google and yahoo love that. I thought it my be useful for the travel website as we can post our monthly newsletters as RSS. We do it every month anyway might as well use it for SEO. We are #1 in Yahoo.ca and MSN for "Ottawa Travel Agent" but only 81 in Google so we'll see if this helps.
Today I decided to learn how to set up an RSS feed for a web site (not a blog).
It was actually pretty easy thanks to Danny Sullivan's article: How to make an rss feed.
I'm sure one of Andrew's friends could have taught me but it is nice to learn some things on my own.
We are also trying to clean up our code with css instead of tables. I think the search engines prefer CSS (but I have heard the opposite too). I think css makes the code cleaner (more content vs tags> and can allow for more content to be placed at the beginning of our text.
posted by aforward @ 11:40 AM,
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Twisty 24
After taking away our beloved Tony without so much of a silent clock tickdown. (Edgar got one).
24 sends its viewers on a loop. Could the possible mole be Jack's love? Is she being set up? Did she go to the dark side after she thought Jack was killed? How far will Jack go to get the information out of her?
Through all the death and depression of this season... 24 finally comes back with the style that got us addicted in the first place. The unexpected twist...with unlimited reprocutions.
posted by aforward @ 9:40 AM,
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Throw It Down...
Monday, March 20, 2006
Source: AP
6' 4" Candace Parker became the first women to dunk in an NCCA tournament game. And she decided to throw it down twice for good measure.
posted by aforward @ 9:48 AM,
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Post-It Note Organizer
Sunday, March 19, 2006
My desk is littered with these little yellow post-it thingies. Some have important information like the phone number I just erased from my voice mail. Some are complete garbage.
I would love someone to invent a little rolodex to organize these little suckers.
I'd call it Post-It Central or Post-It command centre.
posted by aforward @ 11:00 AM,
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Blog Back Up
Friday, March 17, 2006
I think blogger was doing some maintentance and my blog was down for a bit. But looks like we are back up and ready to post.
posted by aforward @ 3:07 PM,
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Culpepper to Miami
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Finally the Dolphins have a real-live, actual quaterback.
I still think I would of preferred Brees... but I like Culpepper's size.
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/5411538
posted by aforward @ 2:56 PM,
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My MSN Financial Horoscope
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Virgo-August 24th – September 22nd
Virgo, you’re ruled by Mercury, and you’re so systematic and analytical your sign barely believes in horoscopes. In fact, you’re probably not even paying attention right now. That’s too bad, really, because you’re about to come into several million dollars if you follow the stars. Okay, just kidding, you’re not. But if you use your analytical skills to review your mortgage options, you may find that you can lower your mortgage interest rate and reduce the total cost of your home. That’s a brilliant Virgo move, and it’s one you ought to make.
Hmmm...they may be on to something. RBC offers a Homeline plan similiar to our beloved Manulife One...except with a better interest rate and no fees. Andrew and I were approved today. I wouldn't mind the part about the million dollars coming true either : )
posted by aforward @ 2:33 PM,
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Jack's Worst Day?
Wow this season of 24 really sucks (well not for me...but for the characters in the show). I'm beginning to think this may be Jack's worst day of all 5 so far. Again there is too much happening to stop and take time to grieve.
posted by aforward @ 11:18 AM,
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Maria Full of Grace
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Good films invoke feelings in us that we don't normally feel. This movie made me sick to my stomach... but not in a bad way (never felt that before).
Maria Full of Grace is an excellent film about the drug trade more specifically mules. I especially like the way it was filmed. I mean we hear about people swallowing drugs to smuggle them...but to actually see someone practice for and then swallow 20-30 giant grape sized pellets, knowing that if one breaks you are so dead and then sitting on a plane with those things just sitting there is quite incredible.
The film's title is also briliant. Grace could refer to the baby, as a oxymoron in reference to the drugs, how she handles herself when she is about to get caught, the free spirtedness she shows throughout the movie, dumping the boyfriend, telling off her sister, and then at the end.
I just learned she was nominated for the Oscar(last year)in this role...cool.
posted by aforward @ 11:18 AM,
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That Natalie Portman Rap Thingy
This is actually very amusing:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/42822/
posted by aforward @ 10:09 AM,
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David Copperfield
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
We had tickets to see David Copperfield last night at the NAC. It was Andrew's family's Christmas present from us and we took everyone to the Keg for Dinner and then the show.
Good fun, quality family time and a great show!
He is quite magical that Copperfield...reading minds, making people dissapear, and making cars appear. I couldn't even begin to think of how he pulled off some of that stuff. Andrew's sister is like "oh it's all sleight of hand"....yeah actually making a car appear out of nowhere is a little more advanced than sleight of hand.
posted by aforward @ 2:02 PM,
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A Winning Weekend...
Monday, March 06, 2006
1. Ayana wins raffle ticket at Travel Only training and then proceeds to pick Andrew's name out as the next raffle winner. (One insulated travel mug and 1 insulated lunch bag.)
2. Georges St. Pierre defeats BJ Penn at UFC 58.
3. Andrew's Keg family hosts an Oscar pool and Andrew proceeds to win the 1st place grand prize of $200. Ayana places a close second splitting a prize of $100 and dinner and a movie. The pair also took home a raffle prize from this event (a Bytowne movie night.)
We had a bit of help with the Oscar pool becase my brother is a producer in Toronto. I must win at all costs even if it means bringing in a ringer.
We spent the weekend replacing our golf/ski equipment that was stolen so I guess karma kind of helped us out a bit this weekend.
posted by aforward @ 11:45 AM,
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24 For PS2 is Here
Friday, March 03, 2006
Andrew: Hi Honey what'd you do today?
Ayana: Oh nothing...just interrogated a few hostiles while saving my daughter from another kidnapping.
posted by aforward @ 12:08 PM,
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Being Lactose Intolereant Once Every 3 Years
I have a bout with lactose intolerance about once every three years. Last night was my latest episdoe. Sudden crippling stomach pains and not really knowing what it is. (because it only happens once every three years I tend to forget sometimes what it "might" be.)
Being the paranoid diagnostic I am... I wondered what I had eaten in case it was food poisoning.I did have salmon at lunch but food poisoning usually shows systoms within two hours. Then I thought hey it's that lactose intolerenace problem I sometimes have. Then I thought wait I didn't have any milk products so it can't be that...then I remembered I did have a bowl of cereal when I got home, so two and two makes lactose intolerence.
So the problem is that I have lactaid but the pills are like 4 years passed the expiry date (which happens when you only need to take one every three years). I took them anyway and problem solved. Lactaid is the only thing that can fix it..it's the weirdest thing but what a relief.
posted by aforward @ 11:55 AM,
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The Beginning of a New Month
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
New beginnings are always fun:
*Time to get a new bus pass
*Time to turn the calendar(s) over
*Time to set the date on my watch forward
Things I like About March:
*On our pay cycle we get three pay checks this month instead of two.
*Looks like we are getting a big tax refund.
*January was our busiest travel month so we'll get a big check this week.
*We are going to the NAC twice next week (David Copperfield and Savion Glover)
*3 Lieu days to use up before April 1st
Things about March I could do without:
The pesky windchill factor
Little kids get a week off and I don't
posted by aforward @ 10:07 AM,
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