toilet training

You can add to my handyman resume that I fixed a toilet today too. The flushing chain broke, so I went out and got a new one... though it's not installed the way it should be, it still works wonderfully. Happy times.

And the neighbours for some reason like using our driveway better than their own... I'm considering purchasing a boulder to place between the drives which would be wonderful to the bottom of their car when they meet in a gracious conglomeration of metal and rock.

tim the handyman

I have just completed my second accomplishment as a handyman. First was the shelf in my room. Today was the replacement of two doorknobs in the lower level of our house because they didn't open properly anymore. I experienced what it is like to be locked in the bathroom due to fautly doorknobs a few weeks ago... I've experienced the locking in the bathroom due to mean brother before, and this was almost as humiliating.

So I don't know what I'm aiming to do next, but I know it'll be something fun and end up looking cool. Or something like that.

T.

frustration galore

So firstly, even though it made my evening last night seeing Arzt blow himself up on Lost (seen that part 3 times now... always worth it), the ending of the show left me frustrated beyond all measure. You'd think that a season finale would tie up all loose ends and such, but no. We're left with more things to ponder than we had to begin with. Hopefully it's like the Simpson's who shot Mr Burns and everything is figured out the first episode of the next season. Gah.

Secondly, I received my call from Nordia today, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear. Training's been moved back a week, starting on the 6th of June rather than May 30th. That means anything extra I wanted to do this summer is pretty much lost all hope now due to the lack of money. So maybe I'll get a better job before then and I could do all the extra stuff, but argh. I'll survive, I think.

I drove to Kitchener yesterday and home this morning and after about an hour in the car my back started to get really sore. Hopefully it was only temporal. I'll start slouching less in case that's part of the cause. I only saw one OPP cruiser with radar on, and that was 30 km from home on the way back. But no worries. I wasn't going too fast.

Tomorrow I may apply for more jobs in hopes that I can cure my boredom dilemma, which needs to be cured soon. Like now would be nice. But we'll see.

T.

in spirit and in truth

So I had a dream last night... normally I don't take much from my dreams because as those who have heard what my dreams are sometimes know, there isn't much to take from them because they're so whacked out. But anyways, I was out in the Grove visiting a friend (in the dream), and on my way home, I decided to stop by Mark Mclimont's house, (seeing as it's right on my way home from the Grove), but he was at church, so I went. It was an Anglican church, which I do believe is the correct church for the moment, and I went in and found him and his family and sat down with them (other people I knew were with me, but don't ask me who they were...)

But then I started to bash the liturgy. Then comes the line. Tim, you need to worship in Spirit and in Truth, no matter the style. Then I woke up.

So I looked up John 4:20-24 where Jesus is talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and he says that a time is coming where we will not worship on the mountain or in Jerusalem, but we will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. So for all of those who are in worship wars out there because you started them... Doesn't matter the style. Just worship.

ugh

so I've spent most of another weekend indoors watching tv and playing Super Mario 3... I've made it to World 3 (water) before dieing off repeatedly. I've only been able to finish world 3 level 2 (flying fish, moving platforms) once out of the 30-40 tries, and I clouded over world 3 level 3 (big fish, sinking ground) to make it to the castle, which I couldn't quite figure out... but I think I have now. go in a door, and then do it again in order to make it beyond... maybe. Let me know. I'm not sure. Maybe I'll go play super mario 1 now. I can do better at that one... maybe.

T.

lengthy update

I know people are wondering what has tim been up to... well, that's being optomistic of me, anyways...

I am currently, and have been for the past 4 weeks now: bored out of my mind. I need a job soon. Well, I have one that starts on the 30th, but that's not coming soon enough. I've seen much TLC and HGTV over the past few weeks. I want to go and become a worker for Mike Holmes just so I can tear apart some crummy workmanship... I'm not sure if I'll be able to put it back together well, but I can try and learn. Speaking of building things: I put up a bookshelf on the wall in my room, anchors into the wall and everything. I'm very pleased with myself. I also installed new blinds on the window. I'm not as mechanically disinclined as I thought I was with tools. So maybe it took me a while and I wanted to throw things across the room much, but it's finished and looks somewhat nice now. At least better than it did.

I've applied for gazillions of jobs through the Employment Centre, but I can't follow up on any of them due to the way that the application process works. It's all kept confidential. I wish it was done a better way, because then I could know what I'm trying to showcase of my skills and abilities instead of trying to grab a rabbit out of a hat. But I haven't heard from any of them to date. I'm hoping and praying that something different than sitting at a call centre for 12-37.5 hours a week comes along, but I can survive if that's what I end up doing.

How have I kept sane?

I have three close friends in the area that keep me somewhat unbored. I got food poisoning while out with one for breakfast the other morning (not from her, from the undercooked French Toast. Today's the first time I haven't felt bad since Sunday). I'm waiting at another one's apartment tomorrow for 4 hours for the Bell repair guy to show up while he's at work, and I'm going golfing with the other one tomorrow afternoon in the Grove. (Bright's Grove).

I've also played some classic games of Sid Meier's: Civilization 2 and Colonization. Colonization keeps freezing on me, so Civ2 is the most played of the two. I almost want to find an NES with Super Mario 3, and I'm tempted to try and borrow one. I'd like to return to the classic Civilization I, but I haven't been able to find it. The other game that I'd most like to play is the one, the only Curse of Monkey Island. The only place that seems to have it in great abundance on E-bay is the UK, and I don't think it'd be worth the shipping fees. Sigh. Maybe IF I end up going to Iona in the fall, I can take a look around at the stores in Scotland and see what they have to offer me. It'd be fun... I think.

I've watched both seasons of "The Office" the UK version. It's more crass than the American Version was. It had some good points... but it also had some very low points. But, to make up for it, I watched the first season of "Corner Gas"... good ol' Canadian shows. There's a lot of good that can come out of shows from Canada when they're not trying to copy their American counterpart cough Canadian Idol cough... Pamela Wallin on Millionaire cough...

The other night I also went to the theatre for the first time in over a year to see Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I think it was pretty good. Next up in theatres is Episode 3. On Tuesday night, there was a guy that I knew from high school waiting as the first person in line to see Star Wars. He'd been there since Tuesday morning at 10. That was 38 hours before the movie was released. That was a long wait. He was there for 14 hours by himself waiting, and then more people showed up to wait. Hardcore, I tell you.

I've been getting lots of sleep, which I guess is good. Making up for the huge amount that I lost at school due to my inability to get to sleep with noise. Even my computer fan is too loud for me. But I don't like the fact that I'm making habit out of getting up at 10 or later every morning. Tomorrow will be a bit different. 0630 is when I'm getting up. Hopefully I can keep that trend going for as long as I need to because my parents are being pained with the task of going on a Mediterranian Cruise and spending a few nights in Rome on one side and a night in one of the best cities I've been to, Barcelona, on the other night... It pains me to no end that they're going through that torture... sigh. Anyways, I wont have a wakeup call coming from the voice of Mom, which I've found very useful over the past... almost 20 years... TIM! THE BUS IS COMING!!! (1.5 minutes from waking up to getting on the bus is my record, which I'm very proud of... change of clothes and packed backpack in that time too.)

I'm hopefully taking my bike into the shop in the next week to get it fixed. the Gears are schwacked... I wish Rockstar Rob was nearby. It would cost me less that way... maybe.

I've come to some conclusions due to experiences in the past few weeks:
1. It's really easy to get insulted while in a church. From anyone, who says anything to you. While it's good to ponder some things that are said, don't take anyone's comments towards you or your likes seriously. Lots of hurt can come from it.
2. When bored, watch renovation shows on TV or leave the house. Simple enough.
3. Don't skip church for breakfast. You'll get food poisoning.
4. Exercise is fun. You need lots of it. I need more than I've gotten.
5. My computer hates me.
6. 99% of the job market IS against me, no matter what I do.
7. As much as people annoy the heck out of me, I need to be around them for the majority of my year or else I get bored. Easily.
8. I don't need a girlfriend as much as I tell myself that I do and should find one now. They're overrated... but at the same time, so worth it. Good points about both singleness and couplehood.
9. It's hard to keep my room clean when there's two rooms worth of stuff in it.
10. It's a lot easier to avoid the bad shows on TV when I've gotten hooked on watching HGTV, Discovery, and TLC.
11. Enjoy life.

payable on debt

I received my bill for residence this fall in order thatn I may get the nice 45% off discount for being a 3rd year residence student. I like that idea. If only we got that off the food as well, but I guess the price of food can't be compromised... we're already losing out on weekend meals, and we all know how disgusting the kitchen in Lehman gets after 2 minutes of being used... so my weekend meals will have to be figured out. The only issue I have is the storage of food space on campus will be limited because everyone will have food to put somewhere. Wideman's got it ok because of their individual fridges if they so choose, as do those who have their own fridges. But for those of us who don't have the 200 bucks to purchase a fridge or rent one in Wideman, we're stuck with the communal fridge for 12-16 people in which space gets taken up by one person who thinks they own the space. You know who you are.

Sigh. Ah well. At least it's cheaper than living in an apartment. I should learn how to make more than grilled cheese and kraft dinner this summer. That's a task for me to do.

addictingshows.com

I don't know if that's a website, but it is in my books. I've enjoyed watching a few shows this year: Survivor 9 and 10; Amazing Race 5,6, and 7; Scrubs; Joan of Arcadia, and most recently, Lost. Now, it's coming to the time of year when the shows end for the summer... and it's nice, meaning that I have 4.5 hours less per week that I'll be spending in front of the tele. Survivor, Amazing Race, and Scrubs are over. Joan of Arcadia has one more week and Lost has two more weeks. The question now sits as to whether or not I will continue watching the tele after these are done... perhaps... but unless I get some sort of job under my belt in the near future, this is highly unlikely.

If only I had a GPS... I'd go Geocaching or if I had a laptop with wireless capability, I'd go for a little wireless network hunt around the neighbourhood. Not like I'll use them, but it's fun to see how many people don't secure their networks... University Ave in Waterloo had about 4-6 per block that were visible, and about half of those were unsecured. We were going too fast to connect to any of them, but it was still an interesting find.

I've been commissioned to help with a website for the CACSD's annual conference 2006. Originally, it was supposed to be for 2005, so I stole a frame and filled it in, but it wasn't to be... so now I have to figure out something for next year within the next week or so... I have a bit of help from a guy from school in Elmira and the President of the CACSD's husband out in wherever Trinity Western is, BC. We'll see how this goes, seeing as my html is limited by a lot, and that's pretty much the only language I can work with right now... hopefully I can get something done... maybe. I don't want to disappoint.

Ah well... off to the races.

For anyone interested, I'm most likely coming to KW for a day or two next week 25th and 26th perhaps to get a few things done that need to be done. If you read this and would like to visit, let me know.

T.

arg

I'm normally not one to complain, but the MPAA has decided to sue those who are allowing tv show downloads, according to this bulletin off their site.

So, this just leaves it to those who may use one of those sites to go out and get 2-3 PVR's from satellite dealers, and then record tv, and re-watch it just by fastforwarding through the commercials, which is the only perk of getting them from the Internet.

So now, when the networks decide to offer two major shows simultaneously - like Scrubs and The Amazing Race and the only available network (CTV) chooses Amazing Race over Scrubs and doesn't replace Scrubs elsewhere, that leaves us missing a good show because the network was stupid. So how are people supposed to keep up with their shows when the networks don't care? By downloading them, or waiting 15 years for them to come out on DVD and then spend much money on those, even though you could just get a cheap tv from a garage sale with rabbit ears and then pay 15 bucks for whatever you get... Arg.

MPAA = Stupid.

connected

So I've been having issues with connectivity to my dad's router over the past few weeks, where it junks out on me a lot and I'm only connected at 1 mbps if that. So I purchased a D-link Wireless B router the other week on www.tigerdirect.ca for 10 bucks plus shipping and tax, and decided it was going to be useful when I get back to school this fall. That way I can either pawn off the Internet to people or mooch it off of someone else.

But today was the last straw. I was sick of losing my connection about once every 15 minutes or so, so I hubbed up to the modem, which split to the two routers (mine is a floor closer than my dads is, and it's MAC filtered, which means I am the only one who can use my router... Awww, isn't that nice. I'm finally connected at "Very Good" again and 11mbps (max for wireless b). It's the small things that make me happy.

Also, there's a new job posting through the student employment centre that looks really really cool. It's a homeless outreach worker, which I think I would really enjoy doing. I shall be making a visit on Monday to the Bayside Mall... I remember putting like 25-30 suggestions for a name for that mall into the box daily back in grade 9. Sigh. They should rename it the Zach Attack for good times. I'd go there all the time.

On a sad note, I thought I'd found the perfect blinds today at Covers in the Lambton Mall, but alas, when I get home, they're missing the wall attachments and the opening rod... Way to get my hopes up. Yarg.

Now onto more or less important things.

T.

"there's a moose in the washing machine!"

That's what I thought I heard. It made no sense at the time... But it turned out to be a mouse, just a small one. So I went in for the grab - with gloves that were way too small for my hands on... But I learned from the case of Dawn vs. the Groundhog that animals bite when they're scared. And bite this mouse did. It was so small it didn't make it through the glove, so I don't need rabies shots, thankfully. I chucked it outside when I was done with it.

That's my story. So when you think that there is a moose in the washing machine... be prepared for a lot of mouse.

wha..?

I woke up this morning and had a pair of pj's on overtop of the pair I put on last night. I must have had some wierd dreams....

homes...

I've been watching a lot of Holmes on Homes recently. I like it. It's a guy doing a good deed for those who have been screwed over by bad contractors. I think the best part about the whole contracting thing is ripping out stuff and the finished product. I think I would enjoy doing something like that just for the thrill you get when you're done. But anyways, if you get HGTV, watch Holmes on Homes. It's good.

weekended

I am still starting at Nordia in 3 weeks from today. I'm still somewhat scared that I may end up doing that for the summer, but still, it's work and it pays well. I'll survive, I hope. It's only 14 weeks also... which is a plus.

I went away this weekend and saw various family and friends throughout our voyage to Burketon, Mississagua, Acton, and Kitchener (no, I didn't get to stop by the school, but I wasn't driving and we were hardly there for an extended period of time) On that note, I finally got my phone bill today. It was thrilling. I can rest assured knowing that I wont get charged any late fees from Bell because I moved. I'm still not sure if I'm going with Bell and Sympatico in the fall or not. It's a decision that can wait until closer to the date.

Gord, Katie, and I went to the Pinery today. It was only for a few hours, but it was still good times. We made it back from there in just under an hour, which is good time seeing as it's quite a ways away.

I got quite a bit of sun this weekend as it was absolutely gorgeous outside all the time. I wish every day was like that... ah well. It's not summer yet, can't be too choosy. There'll be more days of cool weather before the heat returns to stay.

Anyways, I'm out.

T.

ambitions

I think I might be going a bit far with my attempts to find employment that will satisfy me this summer. I mean, I was pretty much handed a job within a week that I interviewed for last year with no questions asked. And after last year's experience, I should be overjoyed to know that I'll have some sort of routine to go to...

But.

I don't think I really am satisfied with what I've been given. It'll be sitting in front of a computer all day talking into a headset and searching for information for the callers. Sure, it helps someone, but will it help me other than financially? Probably not. I don't even think that I'd be satisfied with any of the jobs that I've applied for through the employment centre. The whole process is a little bit vague. I think it's because the descriptions of the positions are really vague. They just have a job title, essential skills, and how old you need to be. That doesn't seem to be enough to know whether or not I'll be good working for them. All employers are kept confidential, so I can't even follow up to see if they've looked at my resume and have any sort of longing to discuss the opportunity with me more.

I'm not set on the Bible College thing detracting from my resume this year. That was last year's worry. This year... I don't know. I don't really have any marketable skills that can be honed in on from a 5 word job description. I'm a bit frustrated to say the least.

So am I being a bit too ambitious looking for something a bit more stable for the next few months? I'd like monday to friday, but how realistic is that for a student summer job unless you're working in an office or in one of the plants around here? I'd like 40 hours a week... which isn't too much to ask. I'd like over 8.50/hr, which doesn't seem too high. I'd like a job that I can feel like I've gone somewhere and done something at the end of the day, rather than one that I've just ended up sitting in the same spot doing the same task every 22 seconds for 8 hours. And I have the tendancy to mumble and stutter while speaking, which probably wont help much.

I think I'd rather be in school mode where I don't need to think about anything other than getting the next assignment done and being at the next meeting on time. I got an e-mail today from the CACSD advertising a Resident Director position in BC. I think I could do well at something like that when I'm done at EBC next year. It's something to try... most positions like that are only 8-10 month contracts, so I have the right to try it out, and I'm not losing anything if I don't like it as much as I thought I would.

Maybe I just need to get outside of the bubble that we call Narnia and explore other facets of life in a different area of the province... but I need a job first to pay for the bills that will inevitably come with living elsewhere.

Jobs... Arg.

virused

I was stupid and opened an attachment on my tim.grace@cogeco.ca account. I'm not quite sure what it did, but I keep getting error messages returned to me saying that a message has a virus. I'm not sure if that's what it does or what... but anyways, if you get a message from that account with an attachment, don't open it.

T.

beefy

I have a slight beef as of 30 seconds ago. Well, it's worked its way through the centuries and just come to a head. You know how when there's a page loading in IE the little windows flag in the top corner (or globe) is supposed to be moving to tell you that it's loading? Well.. this flag doesn't move over half the time when it is loading. That's the last straw. I'm going to not complain about this anymore.

I applied for 8 jobs through teh Student Employment Centre this morning and 4 yesterday. I doubt I'll hear from any of them... but that's being pessimistic. In case someone actually likes what I've written on the forms (12 times the exact same things pretty much.... 60 minutes of writing... Ugh!), I went ahead and ran a phone cord from my parents room into mine today. So now I have my own phone in my room for the first time in life. I think I did a good job at keeping the wire out of the way too. Across 2 doorways was the fun part.

And now I go to get something to eat. I'm hungry.

T.

currently

I spent the day helping Gord out with his new apartment. Kinda makes me wonder what it would be like to live out on my own. But I don't need to worry about that for at least another 11 months. Tomorrow I help him move and maybe apply for a few jobs through the student employment centre, which opens tomorrow. There's a job I'm interested in here so I know that I will be applying for that one. I'll also sign up for the odd job squad. I got my 3 weeks of work from there last summer, so they might give me a week or so before Nordia starts if I can't get anything else.

Anyways, I'm out to do something. Not sure yet, but I'll get there.

T.

ebay

so I almost had a Speedstream 5100 DSL modem tonight, but then someone outbid me in the last minute of the auction. I was ticked off... except for relieved at the same time. It would have cost about $35 to get it here, and me trying to save up for school and Scotland (not sure if I'm going yet, but I know that the plane's selling out quickly, so I need to know soon) have to try and conserve my cash.

And so that leaves me with the hope that I do get outbid on every item I bid on this year because I don't want to spend the money on something I don't need. I already have a lot of stuff I don't need. Why add to the pile?

Ah well... I'll survive without that modem, though it would be nice to get a non-usb external dsl modem so I don't have to pay for rental charges from hereon in through my high speed internet experiences.

Out.

T.