Bartending Major

From the May 9, 2013 The Daily Show episode:
Interview between Aasif Mandvi and Career Adviser Marty Nemko

Nemko: For many more people than in decades past, collage is the wrong choice. Those who were average students in high school who went into collage ended up doing jobs that they could have done right out of high school. like selling extended warranties or they are bartenders.
Mandvi: Oh, I always assumed they had a Bartending Major?
Nemko: That's called English Literature.

Office Cat Not Kitten

Got to bring Two into the office today to keep me company. She settled onto the top of the back of my chair for most of the afternoon. I can't believe how big she is now, it feels like I just got her and that she should still be a kitten!

Office Chair Cat

Photo taken by me with my cell phone

You Will For Sure Die

This is very funny. (Thank you to Nicola for sending it to me):

Sad Cat Diary

"I would like to receive two rubs exactly, a third one and I will bite the shit out of them, as per protocol" Unfortunately with Two, this desired number/protocol changes constantly so we never know how much she would like and, well, then she bites us.

Reading

I am nearing the end of Dan Brown's Angels & Demons. Like all his books, each chapter (and there are 137 of them) ends with a cliffhanger - it is so addictive. Needless to say, I spent most of my free time today reading: both ways on my commute, during my lunch hour, before and after dinner while lying in bed. I love reading a book that I am into and for my birthday I got a lot of really cool books that I can't wait to start!

My Friends and I Reading at The Cottage

Photo by Carol Sweeton

Bike To Work 2013

Rode my bike to work today for Bike To Work Day 2013!

By The Numbers
Amount of bikable trips (less than 5km) taken in GTHA: 40%
People who bike to work in the City of Toronto: 2%
Fine for a car who is illegally blocking a bike lane: $60
May 2012 bike count on Dupont St. bike lane: Over 700 Daily
2012 Bike To Work Day Toronto Participants: Over 5,000

My Commute

2013 Bike To Work Date: Monday May 27, 2013
Temperature: 13.6 °C
Distance: 6.91 km
Time: 41 min
Elevation: Down 65 m

Birthday Time

Today is my birthday! (As usual I am working, since even though I am born on May 24th and that is a Canadian holiday - it is always held on the Monday before the 24th meaning that my birthday rarely falls on it.) I tend to celebrate on the long weekend, this year, as I mentioned before, I went to the cottage. It was a very fun, very relaxing time. My mom did a great post about the weekend on her blog, read it HERE.

I have also now permanently added Vicarious Travelling, my mom's blog, to My Links featured on the left.

Almost My Birthday

Today is the last day that I will be 28. I am going to enjoy the last couple of hours of it sleeping - which is one of my favourite activities!

A Humid Toronto Day

Humid Day In Toronto

My hair is getting frizzy frizzy

Heat makes me a little dizzy.

Look all across this big big city

Haze stopping it from being pretty.

Oh no, oh no, the rain is coming

Tree branches start their humming.

Hurry, check check the internet

Thunderstorms will make me upset.

But lightning's coming much much later

This afternoon, the likelihood's greater.

I just want to be all safe safe inside

I'll wait until this day has dried.

-- CS 2013

"Iz Vil Get You"

Had a great birthday weekend at the cottage! (Brought the cat who was a huge hit with everyone, even though she is evil.)

Here are some pictures of Two stalking a friend of mine from the top bunk above her. (Note the paw coming through the crack in the one shot.)

This Cat Is Obsessed With Me!

By Jenn C

The Birthday/Summer Cold

It is 5:20am on a Saturday morning. I am up. The cold medicine I took last night allowed for just over 4 hours of sleep. That respite took what was a sore throat and slight cough and compounded it. During my small amount of sleep, the green and yellow phlegm demons inside of me gathered and in their forced repression - increased. I awoke to a deeper, harsher cough and a runny nose. Now, as I lie on my back trying to will my stiff and sore mind and body back to sleep, everything gathers into a twisting ball of mush in my throat - it tastes disgusting. So I am awake, and not happy about it, and definitely dealing with a 'start of the summer cold' that arrived in time for the first long weekend.

Privileged Cats

19 Cats Who Need To Check Their Privilege

Social justice isn’t just for humans.

Check it out on BuzzFeed

Kristen turned me onto BuzzFeed when she was having a slow week at work. It has now taken over my life, some of their lists are amazing (and you know how much I love lists.)

Here is a taste from above:

11. This cat doesn’t realize that paper towels are a privilege: 

It is true, we are all privileged, even our cats. This photo reminds me of when Two was just a little thing trying to help Kristen and I clean.

Jason Gets Professionally Published

I am so happy for him and it makes me so proud; Jason just had a large article professionally published, which means that it was put up on the IBM website. He has had a lot of positive feed back from various people at IBM around the world who found it helpful. It has been viewed more than 1,300 times. (Oh, and it is 43 pages long.)

DB2 pureScale Feature

Workload balancing, automatic client reroute, and client affinities concepts and administration 

By Frankie Sun, Jason Woods, and Jo-Ann Woods 

He is not related to the co-worker who shares his last name, that is just coincidence. The article describes the IBM DB2 pureScale Feature. It offers clustering technology that helps reduce the risk and cost of business growth, with application cluster transparency, scalability, and continuous availability. Organizations that run online transaction processing (OLTP) applications on distributed systems can use DB2 pureScale Feature to scale a database solution. It also provides resiliency through workload balancing and automatic client reroute as driven by an IBM Data Server driver or client. And, I have no idea what that means - but you can read about it HERE.

Spring In Toronto

- Robin in the yard
- Hair goes wild beyond control
- AC in the Subway
- Corona billboards
- Teenagers in shorts that are smaller than underwear
- Parents back from 'the south'
- Flowers start blooming in our front yard
- Upper lip sweat
- Cherry blossom craze at High Park
- Teri and her friends become obsessed with patios
- Windows open in the streetcar
- People eating lunch outside
- Tourist buses downtown
- Hot Dog cart around the corner from work

This list was inspired by a couple of posts on Vicarious Travelling, my mom's blog:
- Long Point - Signs of Spring
- Long Point - Definitely Spring
Photos and text by Carol Sweeton

Us

Jason, "Stare directly at the camera."

Jason and I

Self-Portrait Online 

By Christine Sweeton

Happy Monday - Cottage Weekend

Having my birthday at the beach this year! Going to be heading down next weekend, which is the Victoria Day Long Weekend. I had been thinking of it as 'my usual birthday thing' but I was glancing back at my blog and it doesn't really look like I have been consistently doing it at all. I guess I just head down at various times with various groups of people that I forget which weekends happen and with who.

Leafs Game Texts

I watched the game with my roommate at her friend's house - Jason was at his best friend's apartment - Kristen and Noah caught tonight's game at their place; as a result there were some interesting texts being sent throughout the game:
--
Me: I love Kadri!
Kristen: lol! I love Macarthur. Have you ever heard him speak? He has the ultimate canadian accent
Me: Haha - really? He is so under appreciated
Kristen: I know! I got his back
--
Noah: Go Kadri!
Me: (I love him!)
Noah: Does Jason know?
--
Me: KADRI!
Jason: Planetary!
Jason: Planetary!
Jason: Phaneuf!
Jason: Damn it autocorrect
---
I can't believe we are going to get seven games of Leafs playoff hockey! (Maybe even more...)

Life Skills

I am unable to do some really basic everyday things. It isn't a big deal, I have survived thus far without mastering these simple skills. However, I am really jealous of the family and friends who have. I won't make a big deal about it but I am truely impressed with anyone I know who can:

- Cut in a straight line
- Prepare a meal so all the food finishes at the same time
- Text with both thumbs
- Remember peoples names and/or birthdays
- Braid your own hair
- Chug a beer
- Use lip liner well
- Know when someone is 'off side' in hockey or soccer 
- Fold a fitted sheet
- Have more than one book 'on the go' at once
- Light a barbeque
- Fall asleep during a movie
- Understand football
- Drink soda water, ginger ale, or sparkling water
- Pull an 'all nighter'

If any of the above apply to you, please know that I am really envious!

Random Thought Of The Day

I really like the insult asshat it makes me laugh. Who calls someone that? (It was in the book I am reading.) I have only ever heard it used in 'real life' a couple of times and each time was awesome.

Not An Eye Test

----- from Facebook 

As you can see, this is titled as An Eye Test, which is confusing because really it is not. I doubt it tests anything - I would like to think what you see reflects you mood or personality or something but I sort of doubt even that.

Please take note of the first word you see in the image below and share it as a comment:

See the comments to find out what I saw.

Money Challenge - Week 5 - Update 2

FAILED MY CHALLENGE 
Time Frame: Two weeks. Monday April 22 to Sunday May 5, 2013
*Transportation: No cabs, Autoshare, ZipCar, or Car2Go for a week.*
Update: So the first week went well and then all my success came crashing down during the last couple of days of the second week. Jason and I have not discussed the punishment of failing a Money Challenge since this is the first time one of us hasn't been able to complete theirs. I feel badly, since he worked really hard on his last week, which was to take lunch everyday.

To Nice To Write

I can't think of anything to write and that is because it is so gorgeous outside. Actually, I can think of lots of things to write about but when I sit down to do it they don't flow well and I just want to be out in the sunshine. The weather in Toronto has been amazing this past week and I have been enjoying it. Walking around, taking a short bike ride, leaving the office to have lunch outside.

Life Is Better With A Cat

----- from Facebook

My Face In Cartoon

(Hard to figure out which face shape would make it look the most like me. Also, they didn't give me enough lip colour choices.) Created on pickaface.net