So my work is raising money for United Way this month, and one of the fundraisers is the classic "pay $2 and wear jeans to work", complete with the sticker proclaiming the statement above.

I guess the whole idea of this is to encourage people to donate money, with the reward being able to wear something comfortable to work. Now, there have been plenty of articles discussing what is and is not appropriate for "casual Fridays", but based on observation, wearing jeans in an office (or at least our office) usually means wearing nice jeans, nice top and nice shoes. Now, for women, nice shoes usually mean heels. In fact, for some strange reason, the more casual the pants (i.e., jeans), the more extravagant the heels.

Normally when I go to work, I wear nice pants and dress shoes that aren't really heels. So really, wearing nice jeans with actual heels is probably less comfortable than what I usually wear.

My (one other female) coworker and I were having a discussion about this, and I was glad I wasn't the only one who saw the irony in this. Either that, or I should grow up and start wearing proper heels more often.

Still, donating money is good.

Just for the record, I competed in the World Rock Paper Scissors Championships last night. I went last year as a spectator, and enjoyed it thoroughly, and decided to sign up as a competitor this year.
I really did not want to get eliminated in the first round, and I didn't.

( For those of you interested in the details )

Anyway, I had fun and will definitely try to go again next year. Next year, there will be something resembling a team/costume, and I will be setting a more ambitious goal for myself :)

Carol had another multi-twitter..able..(?) day.

... got a haircut and the hairdresser commented that I have "a lot" of white hair =\
... saw a woman in a motorized wheelchair, holding a girl in her lap, with a boy perched on the back of her wheelchair. How safe is this??
... had a good time at volunteering tutoring chemistry tonight :)
... major life changes, still up ahead.

On that note, I'm going to give this whole twitter thing another shot. Username: carolt08.

I always thought it was ridiculous that the Christmas season starts after Halloween. But I think that's because every other year, I've been in school, with exams still seeming like an eternity away, with tons of midterms and assignments in between. Kind of hard to start thinking about Christmas. Even last year I was preoccupied cramming away for that exam. This year? I find myself actively looking out for Christmas decorations. I went to Canadian Tire to look for a tree for my apartment today (didn't buy one, yet, but I will). Haven't started listening to Christmas carols yet or buying egg nog, so that still puts me ahead of some people :P

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One perk of working at a bank is getting Remembrance Day off. It's kind of weird. It's one of those "holidays" where I feel like I shouldn't be enjoying myself, because it's a solemn occasion. Kind of like Good Friday I suppose. Except everything is closed on Good Friday, and everything (except banks and government offices) are open tomorrow, so it'll be a good day to get errands done.

In my random googling this evening, I discovered that once upon a time, I was a member on an actuary forum, and that I actually made 7 posts.

Funny how I have no recollection of that whatsoever. Not the existence of that forum, not reading that forum, not joining that forum, let alone posting on it. Yet the internet remembers all.

I had a bunch of facebook status updates/twitter posts (if I actually used twitter) go through my head today. I guess that's what a blog is for. Among them:

...thinks that October should not be this cold.

...has a Miley Cyrus song stuck in her head. ARGH.

...needs to sleep earlier.

...USD/CAD near parity. Now what to buy?


...major life changes up ahead.

[wrote this last week when livejournal was down and forgot to post it until now]

Germany had a general election last weekend.

Now before you start thinking I such an election geek I follow elections in Germany, I wasn't even aware of it until last Friday, when I stumbled on an article profiling Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany who was re-elected last weekend for another term.

Prior to reading this article, I had never given German politics a second thought. I was vaguely aware that Angela Merkel was the Chancellor of Germany, partly because she stands out in photo-ops as one of the only female leaders in G-n summits (where n belongs to a large set of positive integers that I can't keep track of).

Reading the article, I discovered that she has a PhD in Physics. While it's just another fact, this impresses me on several levels. First, women with PhDs in Physics are pretty rare (though maybe not as much in Eastern Europe?) Second, politicians with PhDs in Physics are pretty rare (last I checked). Finally, female leaders of countries also tend to be rare. Put that all together, and I find that pretty awesome.

More on the politicians with scientific backgrounds. The article describes Merkel's style as

one with roots in both her childhood and her scientific background: “In policy, she uses her capacity to hide away, her ability to be discreet and deal with problems like an experiment in a laboratory – you take different ingredients … and you test the result. It's not ideological and not technocratic but pragmatic and political.”

Being a fairly logical person, it seems like an attractive method. But does it work? It seems to have. According to the article, if I understand, her right wing party had moreorless formed a coalition with the left-wing party, implemented some traditionally left-wing policies (these are recessionary times...) and basically edged out the left-wing party, making themselves a

“natural governing party” – centrist brokerage politics of a sort that Canadians will recognize from both Liberal and Progressive Conservative periods of dominance.

So. Coalition and minority governments work there. Why not here? Well I guess that's sorta what has been happening the last 10 months. Other parties threaten the government, government compromises and does something to placate them. In fact, minority governments keep things in check, and good things can come out of them, if you ignore the threats to topple the government every few weeks. Or they could be entirely dysfuntional if you have 20 parties and not just 4 (can't remember where that is now...)

The final thing I picked up that made me think of politics back here:

all these years no one has really gotten to the bottom of Ms. Merkel's personality. She has not adopted the personal-dialogue speaking style of Bill Clinton or Tony Blair; in fact, her rallies feel like earnestly conducted policy seminars.

A leader who is not particularly media-friendly and more comfortable with policy than getting personal? Sounds familiar. Sounds like something a sweater-vest would fix.

To end with a disclaimer, and I reiterate, everything I kinow about politics in Germany, and what I've written in this post comes from a single article, and, for all I know, that article may very well be biased and not an accurate overview. That is all.

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I had a moment the other night where I felt more optimistic than I have been in a very long time. Here's to more of that.

I never thought I'd see the day where I agree with Jack Layton or Gilles Duceppe but they're right: Canada does not need another election right now. And this is coming from someone who loves elections, but 4 elections in 5 and a half years would be a tad much. There are better things for politicians to do than drag the country through another election that will likely result in the same outcome. Like, perhaps, running a country.

As for my love of elections, I'm still not sure if it's for any good reason. Perhaps it's fluff stories like forestgate that amuse me so. Whatever gets young people interested in voting, right?

This article indirectly reminded me that I wanted to write about my trip. Namely the bus portions of it.

Prior to this trip, my only experience with Greyhound was between Kitchener and Toronto, and it was limited at that. During my trip, I took the bus from Saskatoon to Edmonton, and then from Edmonton to Calgary. I have decided that if time is not an issue, buses are not a bad way to travel at all. I was lucky enough to get 2 seats to myself, so space wasn't an issue (and I'm short). I was able to relax and enjoy the scenery. The scenery never varied much from constant grasslands and blue skies, but I kept taking pictures. I think I need to get out of the city more. There were even rest stops every couple of hours, making it more comfortable than a plane ride (albeit longer). Plus no getting to an airport x hours early for all sorts of security checks.

The bus terminals in all 3 cities I visited are far superior to those in Kitchener and Toronto in terms of layout and logistics. (Passengers should not be forced to line up in the bus bay, blocking buses that come and go). I was also able to witness the Greyhound Courier service in action. In Saskatoon, the bus was loaded with all sorts of packages. Throughout the trip, at each small town stop, the driver would unload some packages into a waiting van, and pick up some more packages. The vans would then rush off to presumably smaller towns off the main artery. It was kinda neat.

My Saskatoon-Edmonton bus ride was uneventful. I had bought my ticket a day early and got to the terminal with plenty of time to spare. With this experience, and thinking that Edmonton-Calgary is a shorter trip, I didn't bother to buy my ticket early. I showed up at 8:30 for the 9am bus, only to discover that it was sold out and that they weren't sending another bus. So I got a ticket for the 12pm bus, and spent the morning wandering downtown Edmonton. When I was in line to board the bus, I was surprised to see that they were actually doing security checks. They didn't have any equipment, so someone was going along the line manually rifling and searching any carry-on bags. They actually found the small pseudo-sharp object I have on my keychain and made me put it in my suitcase ("we're not afraid that you'll use it, we just want me make sure no one else gets their hands on it...")

I was reading on the bus, but about an hour in, I noticed that we were stopped in the middle of the highway. It turned out that a disabled man had locked himself in the bathroom and couldn't get out. His helper tried to coach him out to no avail. Next stop: gas station for a screwdriver to take the door down. Apparently, doors aren't designed for this and it failed. Finally, the driver managed to open a small window from the outside of the bus into the bathroom and they were able to get him out.

Final observation: sitting on a bus, gazing at the scenery for hours on end made me truly appreciate how big Canada is, and how much of it is made up of farmland. I feel like I've really seen the prairies. I'm glad I did it.

Last night I had a dream in which I was writing an exam.

Except that the table I was sitting at kept bouncing up and down and I couldn't concentrate or write. (I suspect that this may have do with the bouncy air mattress that I am sleeping on at my cousin's place).

I wonder if I will ever stop having these exam dreams.

According to my parents, the answer is no.

I'm on vacation and I'm posting more than ever because I have things to say and time to do it.

Well, sort of things to say. What I've enjoyed the most about Saskatoon, besides hanging out with the brother, is that I don't feel compelled to do anything. When I'm at home, there are chores to be done, errands to be run, etc. etc. When I travel to a big exciting city, there are sites to see and things not to be missed. Here, I've just happily whiled the time away reading and relaxing. I guess this is why people have cottages.

Back to Saturday night. It turned out that I read the schedule wrong and Anthony and Cleopatra was being performed that night and not Midsummer's Night dream as I have previously posted. Overall, it was good. I don't know much about theatre, but the acting was strong. The voices were at times echo-ey -- not sure if there was microphones being used, or if the sound was simply echoing off the tent. There were also several scenes where the actors had their back to us, which was kind of annoying, but I guess unavoidable with a semi-circular stage and the audience all the way around it. As for the play, I went in without any idea what it was about. Some of it felt drawn out (how long can it possibly take for someone to die?) but one can hardly criticize Shakespeare. The venue was nice, except it was really cold. There were people in the audience with blankets and mittens. I didn't think I'd need my mittens in August, but what do I know.

Sunday morning I went to cheer my brother on at the 5km Riven Run race he was running and juggling (joggling) in. It was cold and wet. In the afternoon, I borrowed the car and went to the Ukranian Museum of Canada. Toyota Yaris are so easy to drive and park :D

Today the sun finally came out and this afternoon I wandered along Broadway (equivalent of Queen West, I suppose), took some pictures, and had Saskatoon Berry Frozen Yogurt while reading by the river. Twas awesome. Except Saskatoon Berries are apparently kind of sour, and a bit too sour for frozen yogurt it would seem.

My vacation has begun and I am currently sitting in my brother's kitchen in Saskatoon.
The most amusing moment of the trip thus far was my brother showing up at the airport to pick me up wearing exactly the same tshirt I was wearing, purchased during the same Threadless sale couple months ago. Fortunately, I had a jacket to put on.
The downside of the trip so far is that it is 12 degrees celcius here, and pouring rain, for the first time in weeks apparently. And this is the first nice weekend in Toronto in how long?

After I got here, my brother took me to the farmer's market, followed by lunch at a diner-type place (a la Mel's in Waterloo). We picked up some groceries on the way home.

On the plane this morning, I sat next to a talkative gentleman, who turns out to be the CEO of a company that is launching their own line of laptops/desktops next month, with some sort of security chip and provides higher protection against viruses than antivirus software. Didn't understand the details, but I think that's the gist of it, interesting stuff. It's been awhile since I've flown alone (last time was returning from my exchange in 2005) and even longer since I've flown on a domestic flight within Canada (Shad 2000 is coming to mind).

Will probably just spend the afternoon relaxing, maybe do some reading. I wonder if there is any tea around here. Going to see Midsummer's Night Dream tonight, part of the Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan series. It's outdoors, but the website says something about a tent, so hopefully it won't be affected by the weather.

This morning, I went down to McDonalds to buy a coffee, but the lineup was too long, so I decided to wander over to The Tamarind Kitchen next to it.

The Tamarind Kitchen is a new(ish) place that opened in the Brookfield Place food court a few months ago. I tried it when it first opened. The food seemed of mediocre quality, quantity on the small side, and it was overpriced to boot. I've meant to try it again to see if they've gotten any better with time, but I hadn't yet.

The Tamarind Kitchen also serves breakfast. They have a limited-time offer of $1 breakfast specials. None of it looks particularly appetizing, so I never tried it, but since the McDonalds line was too long, why not.

I ordered the "Samosa Wrap". What is that? Well it starts with a wrap, then they take a samosa and rip it apart into little pieces and put it in the wrap, top it with some lettuce (romaine even!), finish it with some sauces, then wrap it up.

Verdict? Given how unappealing that description sounds, it was surprisingly tasty. The sauces complemented the spicy flavour of the samosa nicely. The lettuce was crisp, providing some variance in the texture, and also made me feel like I was eating more than carbs (potatoes) stuffed in more carbs (fried dough) wrapped in even more carbs (wrap). Probably somewhat unhealthy, but possibly still fewer calories than the muffins I usually buy from Richtree. The 99 cent coffee was also pleasant enough. I may very well go back there.

1 in 3 chances and I still didn't win anything in the Heart and Stroke lottery. Ah well. It's for charity :)

The main point of this post is that I've made at least 1 post every month since August 2003 and today is the last day of July and I realized I haven't posted yet this month. Not sure what the point of this so called journal/blog is anymore. Maybe there will be a longer post next month.

In the meantime, in point form, and in no particular order, this month started with sushi and board games, I went to a wedding, played in a rec soccer league, bought a bike (after much shopping around), rode in a critical mass, went to the African Lion Safari with work, went to a Chinese church in North York one Sunday, pondered about life (which is pretty high on my to do list these days), and maybe some other random stuff. August should be fun.

Further to the list of things I want to do that I posted last night, I need to cut back on caffeine and reset my circadian rhythm to something consistent with the timezone I live in.

McDonalds recently sent out a bunch of coupons, and the one for their new meal-sized salads expires tomorrow, so I decided to try the mighty ceasar with grilled chicken for lunch today.
At first glance, it looked like your typical fast food salad. Bunch of lettuce in a plastic container, plastic pouch of dressing on the side.
As I ate it though, I was pleasantly surprised. There was a decent sized portion of grilled chicken, warm and tender, on the crisp lettuce. There were flakes of sharp tasting cheddar (that's right, flakes, not your standard yellow and orange tasteless shredded cheese), and small pieces of crisp bacon (that's right, bits of bacon, not synthetic bacon bits). It was all kind of shocking.
The only downside? With the 50% off coupon, I paid $3.50, which means the regular price of this salad is $7. If I'm going to spend $7 on lunch, I'd probably go somewhere other than McDonalds.
Which got me thinking, is McDonalds trying to break into a new demographic here? There are plenty of people willing to spend $7 for a salad for lunch, but are they likely to go to McDonalds? Granted, they are doing a bang-up job of breaking into the coffee market. Maybe they'll break into the salad market too.

So I'm attempting to study, which means I procrastinate doing random things, like googling my name. In doing so, I came across www.isthisyour.name. Not sure who came up with it, or why, but really, everything exists on the internet these days.

Input: enter your first name and last name.
Output: random "stats" on your name, such as: percentage of vowels, your name in ascii binary, your name backwards, and your name in pig latin. Further namely enlightenment include: Origin (fair enough), numerology number, and your personal power animal (can we say random generator?).

The only interesting thing I found on there was the frequency stats.

According to the US Census Bureau°, 0.571% of US residents have the first name 'Carol' and 0.005% have the surname [my last name]. The US has around 300 million residents, so we guesstimate there are 86 Americans who go by the name [my full name].

That sounds kinda low. Not sure how to prove it, but maybe i will if i'm ever looking to procrastinate. Like now. Offhand, I count ~40 total on Facebook (all locations) and 4 Americans on LinkedIn. Do 4/86 = 4.65% of Americans use LinkedIn? Sounds a bit high... In fact, this article tells me that traffic in February of this year was 6.9 million (presumably worldwide), well under even 3% of the American population.

This is why I don't get enough sleep at night =(

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As for why the site exists, a visit to the About section tells me it is the result of "What do you get when you cross a bunch of firstname and surname lists with two cases of Red Bull and a month of evenings and weekends?".

Oh, and here is my personal power animal :P



Bedtime. Really.

Today I bought a ticket for the Heart and Stroke lottery. Because they were downstairs selling them, and I've been meaning to donate more to charity. The advertised odds are 1 in 3 and I thought to myself "oh crap, the chance of me winning a prize and passing the CFA are almost the same". A visit to the CFA website actually reassured me that the pass rate for level 2 is higher than level 1. yay?

Then because I was at work and had excel in front of me, I decided to calculate the expected winnings for this lottery. Results? Expected winnings are about $50 less $100 ticket equals an expected loss of $50. Not that bad as far as lotteries go. Plus, it's for charity. An oh, the actual probability of winning is 28% which is approximately 33% I guess. Some rounding.

Link for future perusal, perhaps some of you may be interested as well.

Knitting for Nerds

I seem to spend more time reading knitting patterns than I do actually trying to make them.

Just realized the link is from 2004, probably better stuff out there now.

Last week, I was walking home from work, waiting at an intersection for the lights to change. Three guys came up to me and asked me where the closest grocery store was. I pointed up the street and said there should be a small grocery store in a couple of blocks. They thanked me then I retreated back into my shell and continued to wait for the light to change.

I was heading in the same direction, and they walked faster than me, so I sorta trailed behind them. They had a bit of an accent and were obviously visitors. A more friendly person would have offered to show them where the grocery store was, especially if it was on the way, and probably carry on a nice conversation. I chastised myself for not being more outgoing and my inability to talk to strangers, or to carry on conversations in general.

They reached the grocery store and turned around, finding me there, and asked if this was the grocery store I mentioned. I said yes, and they asked if there was a bigger grocery store. I remembered there was a fairly big Metro nearby and offered to walk them there, if only because it's underground and I wouldn't have been able to give them directions to find it.

I made small attempts at small talk. Turned out they were from France, and had just arrived the day before. They were going to spend 3 months in Canada, and leaving the next day on a biking/camping trip, up north, maybe to Sudbury and into Quebec. We commented on how nice the weather was. Then I ran out of small talk. Fortunately, we reached grocery store a few minutes later.

Yay for small steps? You can have interesting conversations with interesting people, if you step outside your shell once in awhile. Too bad I was too shy to try my French on them.

When I was home this weekend, I borrowed my brother's copy of How to Talk to Anyone (again. Maybe I'll finish reading it this time).

Rereading this, I'm well aware that talking to strangers is dangerous, but it was broad daylight and on a busy street, so it's kind of a moot point. I'm also aware that overly friendly people can be overbearing, especially if the recipient wants to be left alone, but sometimes, it's just a matter of being polite, or friendly. Canadians are supposed to be friendly people, right?