Author Archives: Heather

you want ’em, you got ’em. if they’re not spoken for by friday, they go to the sally-ann.
Computer Programming Logic Using Flowcharts by Joyce Farrell
1995 ISBN 0-87709-923-6
IBM PC Assembly Language and Programming 4th Ed. by Peter Abel
1995 ISBN 0-13-756610-7 – snagged by mark in maryland!
C for Dummies Volumes 1 & 2 by Dan Gookin
1997 ISBN 1: 1-878058-78-9, 2: 1-56884-945-X
The Object-Oriented Approach 2nd Ed. by John Satzinger & Tore Ørvik
2001 ISBN 0-619-03390-3
C Primer Plus 4th Ed. by Stephen Prata
2002 ISBN 0-672-32222-6 – snagged by chris
The C Programming Language (ANSI C) 2nd Ed. by Brian Kernighan & Dennis Ritchie
1988 ISBN 0-13-110362-8 – snagged by chris
Core Java 2 Volume 1 – Fundamentals by Cay Horstmann & Gary Cornell
2005 ISBN 0-13-148202-5 – snagged by chris
C++ How to Program 4th Ed. by H.M.Deitel & P.J.Deitel
2003 ISBN 0-13-038474-7 – snagged by chris

so, you know that all feeling weird and gross on tuesday? well, i went home from work that night, ate some cleanse-approved food and then went to bed. for eighteen hours. i got up exactly twice: once, to put eye gunk in and second, to phone my boss to tell him i wasn’t coming into work. since then i’ve been at home, in my robe, drinking tea and lying down a lot. i’m back at work today, not because i feel 100%, but because i was imagining the great gobs of crap all over my desk and i couldn’t bring myself to face three days worth on a monday morning.
i’m starting to get a little sleepy right now, but that’s probably because i’d just be getting out of bed if i’d stayed home. man, why the hell did i come in today? *snore*
the cleanse itself is still going. the sleeping helped with not being so worried about food, but i had a couple small cheats while i was home (stupid chips). i’m totally forgiving myself, though. for the most part, it’s been pretty easy. except for the distinct lack of caffeine and sugar (and the dreams about bread), it’s not too far off my normal eating, if i’m not going out a lot or on a junk food binge. i even made turkey meatloaf. mm, yummy loaf of meat!
hm… yeah. other than that, i’m kind of boring. my pre-ordered copy of Wii Play was delivered yesterday, so when christopher came over, i totally kicked his ass at fishing and the weird cow-racing game. he spent the rest of the night (and probably today, we’ll see) calling me “cheater”. he’s a really bad loser. heck, he’s also a really bad winner. it’s probably a good thing he’s so cute.
gah! today, i’ve got on the underwear which refuse to stay up. how annoying.

so, this is the detox part, huh?
around one p.m. yesterday, my caffeine withdrawal headache began. then, it got worse. luckily, the eye doctor visit was actually a little fun and the optician i chatted with while i ordered my new lenses was nice. it wasn’t until i got home that i realized i was deep in the throws of the DTs. i ate some roasted yam & butternut squash for dinner, i did the dishes from sunday, drank two pots of roobois surprise tea, then laid on the couch and listened to two episodes of battlestar galactica (they were playing on the computer) while i contemplated the merits of going to bed at 7pm.
today, i feel entirely spacey. i can’t concentrate on anything and my head feels HUGE. i succumbed to the pain and took an ibuprofen with my morning tea, but that doesn’t seem to have done much of anything.
whoa… i just caught myself staring, slack-jawed, into the depth of my monitor while i focused on the sensation of my pulse beating within my bottom lip. trippy.

breakfast:
green tea with mint & stevia
celery sticks & ‘just peanuts’ peanut butter
hello, monday! the cleanse begins! don’t worry, detailed accounts of my food intake will not become a regular thing. unless, of course, there’s an uproarious clamour for them. i do wish to oblige you, my lovely, loyal readers, whenever possible, you know.
my amazing race party was… fun. when i put the sushi order in last week, i was expecting twice as many people as eventually showed up. of course, that just meant there was more (really yummy) sushi for the rest of us, so it’s really hard to get upset about the no-shows. of course, i now have a cupboard full of chips, crackers and other verboten foods i have to somehow ignore or pawn off on people before i hit a day three mania for wheat and sugar. anyone want to come over to eat chips & crackers tonight?
oh, my amazing race team in the office pool was the first team eliminated. this is after my survivor pool contestant got voted off the island on thursday. how much does that suck? i shouldn’t complain, though. i won a pool once and usually have teams go all the way to at least fourth place. someone’s got to go first. le sigh.
i have an appointment with the ophthalmologist this afternoon. when i called to book it last week, i was just going to go in for a follow up and to say “hey, i’ve been putting the gunk in my eye like you told me to for five weeks now and nothing’s really changed”. of course, two days after i made that appointment, my eye decided to go all apeshit crazy again. last night, as i did everything i could to avoid noticing the visual distortions, i thought “well, i guess it’s good i’m going to the doctor tomorrow”. when i woke this morning, everything was back to new-normal (as opposed to old-normal, which is what i’d really like it to be), but not crazy like the last few days. this whole thing is starting to piss me off. anyone know where i can get a new pair of peepers?
i’m really looking forward to this cleanse. i seem to have this idea that it’s going to do wonders for me – physically, mentally. i hope i’m right. i hope my strength of will is up to the task. i hope i don’t drive everyone crazy while i’m doing it. hell, i hope *i* don’t go crazy doing it!

hey raelene! is that you visiting from whitehorse?

as declared yesterday, i went home, washed dishes, watched tv and then went to bed. i slept for just over 10 hours last night, dreaming of a european cruise, ikea bedroom accessories and chatting with my good friend norm grohmann. knowing that, can you please tell me how it is that i’m still so tired (and unexplainedly sore) today?
there may be sun shining in the window, but i’m feeling kind of gloomy. i know i should get out! do stuff! enjoy life! but… i wish i could turn off my brain for a week. well, at least for the next two days.
sunday should be a good day, except my party planning will mean i don’t have time to go to the chinese new year parade which is kind of disappointing. then, surprising as it may seem, i’m actually looking forward to abolishing wheat, dairy, sugar and caffeine from my life come monday. part of me feels that forcing such restrictions on life will be good for my character. we’ll see how i feel about that when it happens.

considering how badly the gin and late night on tuesday left me yesterday, it was a day filled with goodness, the least said about which the better. some things just don’t need to be blogged about.
tonight, i’m going home, cleaning house and then passing out. nothing and no-one are going to stop me, so don’t you even try!

so, i’d totally be lying if the ultimate fantasy for the day wasn’t christopher showing up at my office with a huge bouquet of amazing flowers, whisking me off to a fabulous, romantic dinner at the salmon house on the hill, retiring to a suite at the hotel vancouver where we partake of the jacuzzi tub, get his & her massages and then make love until we pass out from an overload of pleasure.
but, honestly, i’d be perfectly happy with a pizza & dvd. just so long as we’re together.
happy (anti-)valentine’s to you! *mwah*

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1. sushi birthday lunch.
2. tribute dinner for ex-politicians.
3. enjoy freshly cleaned apartment.

unlike Of Montreal’s last show in Vancouver, where the crowd at the Plaza Club was not only warmed up by the opening band, Panurge, but lit on *fire*, the headliner’s appearance and first few songs were received with tepid enthusiasm by the sold-out crowd. doors opened at 8:15 and the audience was subjected to two and a half hours of DJ Trevor Risk’s 80’s soundtrack with bass & drum transitions — although, the songs coordinated well with the wardrobe of half the hipsters in attendance, i must say. by the time 10:30 rolled around with no band on the small Richard’s stage, my friends and i were either willing to ask for our money back and leave or triple-team the DJ, forcing and end to the torture.
luckily, Of Montreal can’t seem to disappoint even if they were to try. once they made us forget about the near three hours of our lives we wasted waiting on them, it only got better. by the end of the night, we three were bouncing and singing along (so much so, my throat still feels raw this morning) and so happy the band came out and performed a four-song encore before heading back to their Double D Coach with the Georgia license plates.
only two things could have made the evening better:
1. showing up at 10:30pm to avoid the shitty DJ.
2. sitting in a spot NOT directly underneath the air conditioning outflow. brr.

i’m pretty sure there were a bunch of other things i wanted to write about yesterday, but i got caught up in the blow-by-blow and, well, why would i want to detract from that beautiful photo of my boyfriend’s back with pesky words? of course, now that i have time and inclination i can’t for the life of me remember what it was i wanted to mention.
oh, that’s not true: christopher brought me flowers on saturday. pink tulips. i love flowers. i especially love flowers from my boyfriend.
i’m such a schmuck.
actually, i’m a thirsty schmuck. i’m going to get a dr pepper.

mel‘s doin’ it. col‘s doin’ it. jen‘s done it. julie‘s done it. soon, i’ll be doin’ it, too.
what’s that? a detox/cleanse.
god knows i need to cut crap out of my diet and get some weight off, and eliminating wheat, sugar and dairy for twelve days can’t hurt. who knows, maybe i’ll even feel better by the end of it and learn to live without such things in my body.
so, i’ve got the food list and instructions (i’m not plunking down $30 for the pills and drops — this time). i was looking at the calendar for a good day to start and it’s not until the 19th! i don’t know…. i’m all gung ho to start and would totally begin tomorrow, but i have a tribute dinner to attend next friday where i’ll have nothing to eat but rubber chicken and soggy vegetables. okay, what about starting the next day? well, that would put my amazing race party right at the end of that stretch, and i refuse to be hosting a gathering at which i can’t eat what i’m preparing and, more importantly, can’t drink beer.
so, the day after the party it is. hopefully, by then, i’ll have started getting delivery from spud (i’ve made that decision — it’s just whether or not i can get a spare key from my building manager now) so i’ll have lots and lots of fresh, organic veggies & meats to eat. although, i’m not sure how wise it is to start a cleanse on a monday morning considering i don’t know if i can bring myself to drink coffee black. wheat, sugar, dairy AND coffee withdrawal all at the same time? wow, i’m going to be cranky.
but, the upside is i can eat sushi. mm, sushi.

sushi is good.
sushi with good company is even better.
sushi and making a new friend is the absolute best.
i got all three last night. yay.
p.s. rabbit, white rabbit.

there’s been a lot of chatter online about flickr in recent days. with their new 3,000 contact limit, 75 tag maximum and the mandatory merging of your yahoo! id with your flickr account. as with most change, i’ve yet to hear anything positive about these upcoming developments. just today, i read a blog post by Kara at Colors…Pretty which really summed up the whole flickr user experience for me. a quote:

i’d like to add a little something to that definition:

don’t get me wrong, i love flickr. it’s introduced me to so many things: new friends, new (old) cameras, new techniques, new talent. but, i’m neither a flickr fangirl nor a staunch anti-change protestor. i don’t really care if i have to merge my yahoo! id or people could put santa hats on my photos over christmas. i appreciate the site and community around it for what it is: a place to pimp my photos and get my ego stroked by random strangers.
all i do have to complain about is the lack of an archive/download feature. if my hard drive crashes, at the very least, i want to be able to reinstate the photos i’ve uploaded over the past two years.
love it or loathe it, flickr is good. it’s fun and it works 99% of the time. that’s a more than you can say for a lot of online services. including this blog.

i’m feeling completely over-whelmed and over-extended and everything in me is screaming to run home, lock the door, turn off the phone and hide under my covers for a week.

i just ate the sweetest baby carrots i ever have. yum! sorry, just wanted to record that for posterity. they were that good.
weekend summary:
– ate yummy chinese food
– had my dad over for coffee
– saw a fantastic play
– played zelda
– went to the art gallery
– sat not five feet from fred herzog
– ate not-from-a-package ramen
– visited jen at work (twice!)
it was a good weekend, just not enough time to get stuff accomplished, which always bugs me. it’s the work/home/life balance i struggle with these days. i want to have time to relax, but i can’t relax when my house is a mess or i haven’t done the laundry. and how can i play zelda, watch a dvd with christopher and go hang out with friends at the same time? oh, and sleep. can’t forget the sleeping.
the next few weeks are chock-full of social obligations. i’ve had to decline almost as many as i’ve agreed to! it’s going to be a very spendy february, it seems.
if i can get an extra key from my building manager, i’m going to sign up for spud.ca. i think that having groceries delivered will be a huge load off my mind and time. they have a ‘harvest box’ of produce which, for $40 every other week, looks like it will have far more food in it that i could manage to eat. they also sell meat, bread and dairy products. conceivably, if it all works out, i could only ever have to shop for beer and junk food (which i’m trying to avoid by having more healthful, organic food delivered). i’ll keep you posted on how it all turns out.