Sick of being sick…

I’m at my wits end.  I am so sick of being sick, its… sickening.  Since my first day on the new job I have been coughing, and it has been getting better, but as it improves, I am still coughing and now other things are starting to hurt.  I’m ok with the on again, off again sore throat and I survive the day of coughing where my chest was killing me, but as of yesterday afternoon, every time I cough, my head hurts all over like it’s being squeezed in a vice.  I’m so done with this.  I may yet end up at a doctor this week, and may, as I suspect, wind up on anti-biotics.  It’s not ideal, but at least I could go into the office and not appear close to death.  That would be novel.

On a good note, I harvested about 20 tomatos today.  Finally a haul.  Time fo frost, eh?

I’m still getting comments from my original blog – people sending me notes on facebook, and on that blog wishing me well and wondering where I’ve gone.  This made me realize 2 things; Firstly, that there are some people that are really nice and you want them to read your blog because you respect anything they may have to say, and secondly, it made me realize that I had a lot of blogs in my blogroll for people whose blogs I never go to, or have never come to mine but I included them because they are in the same city as me… Well, no more!  I’m removing the blogs from that blogroll of people who I have notified of this blog and they appear in my blogroll at the bottom of this blog.  The rest… They can stay there.

I was THAT guy…

I’m ashamed to say it, but today at the office, I was “That” guy.  I am the guy who sits in the managers desk in the corner who, since joining the company, has been hacking out his brains and looks really sleepy, but today was different.  Today I was the guy who peed in the early afternoon but didn’t zip his zipper up for almost 3 hours later.  Yup.  And what is worse is the fact that I was walking around, having conversations with my staff. and other managers and, well, being social.  With my fly open.  GAWD.  All I can be thankful for is the fact that I am now day 9 into feeling like shit and that my headache, sore throat and nagging cough means I don’t give a fuck…  At least I wasn’t wearing light underwear, eh?

 

Urban Mummy know this guy.  He spends a LOT of time sitting at our local Starbucks doing nothing, but when you come near him, or dare say hi, he fires back with a comment about how “busy” he is, or how “great” he is doing.  As far as I can tell, he goes there to avoid listening to his folks telling him to get a job, he brings his laptop and bangs away at it, but does sweet fuck all.  He’s funny… and annoying.  But, the more we expect to see him there, we more joy we get from seeing him there.  Which is exactly why we have taken his last name and started using it in reference to someone who goes to S’bux, laptop in hand, to basically do SWA and tell people how great you are / doing.  I had second thoughts about posting this, I mean what if the poor guy really is doing great and makes a trillion dollars, but I doubt it, so from here on in, I encourage UM to get out of the House and do the “Guterman”. 

I’m thinking of doing the Guterman at some point soon.

So should you!

It’s been one week…

… Since I began working at my new job and I love it.  I know.  It sounds weird to say it, and it’s weird to even think it.  After so many years of hating what I did, and quite frankly at times being embarrassed with it, I feel a little reluctant to tell the whole world about my new gig because I really should have done this years ago and, well, bragging makes me uncomfortable.

I have employees, I have challenges, responsibilities and right now I’m working less hours than I did in my former place of employment.  The people that report to me are educated, motivated and really know their stuff.  It’s refreshing! 

So here I am at night trying to re-cap another exciting day – my 5th day of work there and all of them I was sick!  First there was the annoying little cough, then the runny nose / watery eyes, more than annoying cough, and today – after almost throwing up at 5am – I went to the office with a very runny nose, going between chills and being hot, and with a sore throat and wicked cough.  Now, at 8:30pm I am eying my bed, with a terrible headache, a cold cup of tea and a pile of paperwork to sort through. 

This cold began with UrbanMummy – probably from being the kids taxi for a week – then she gave it to the kids.  All three of them gave it to me, and now, the kids nanny.  So how odd is it that UrbanMummy is the healthy one today who sent the nanny back to her bed to sleep for most of the day so she could go back to Mom’s taxi, while I dragged my dying carcass into the office.

All that being said… We had an interesting weekend this past weekend with 2 little boys who are not eating that well, but have been sleeping more than expected.  Well, maybe not sleeping but napping for sure.  Stewie, for example is good for a 2 hour nap if tired, but Linus, who according to UM “doesn’t nap”, napped for almost 2 hours a day over the weekend and still had a good nights’ sleep each night.  Of course, he was horrible during the day – not eating, throwing his toys and antagonizing his brother.  He went to bed last night and tonight without any toys in his room because he was throwing them and hitting his mother.  

Any suggestions to keep him from hitting?

Stewie – having his own issues – spent time in his crib having a “I’m almost 2-years old” meltdown, which UM videotaped.  It was funny.  He was in control but out of control.  He was more upset about her videotaping him and was caught on tape yelling, “NO PICTURES”.  Priceless. 

It’s been fun.

 

And on a great note; I am going to shamelessly plug Urban Mummy’s jewelry store.  Her Etsy store.  Her URL is embellisheddesigns.etsy.com.  She made it all herself… All of it.

The secret’s out…

I’m here.  Not over there.  For now, this is where I need to be so that I can write what I really want to and not feel censored.  I really wanted to talk the last month about my sudden departure from my employer of over 10 years and my new beginning doing something I have been longing to do for years – and no, I’m not pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.  I am the Tax Manager for a company in the private sector, instead of working downtown, I’m stuck up in the boonies way north of the city, but I’ve been there for a week and have SO much to learn. 

You see, I have been told by my old employer for years that I could not manage.  I was too new, too old, too white, too unqualified, too tall, too smart, too dumb, I got everything, except for that opportunity.  So I went out and worked really have to get my MBA and threw that back in the face of management and again got nothing but it gave me an opportunity to speak to all my managers and my director about my dilemma – couldn’t get a meeting with the assistant directors, surprise, surprise – and was overjoyed to hear him tell me that I need to look in the private sector.  Little did they know that over a 6-month period I had been sending out over 400 resumes.  I liked when he suggested that I accept a demotion to go to the audit department – uhhh, yeah, sure.  I asked for a transfer but suddenly they stalled.  Fuckers!  

 So boy was I surprised when I was called by a HR rep on a Thursday for a position that I had never applied for in a company that I had never heard of.  I took the rest of the day off and never went back.

One week turned into 2, 3 then 4.  I had accepted the job and was asking for leave.  If anyone wanted to be a shithead – and why would I not think anyone would not – they could alert management and my leave would be denied and I would be forced to resign.  Not that big a deal, but a lot of work.  Thus far I love my new job, new responsibilities and challenging work.  Everyday is a new day.   It’s good.  Very good.

So I thought I should stop posting on my blogger site where some of my colleagues lurk and use that information to gossip about me to their loser friends and start anew here, where I can be free to talk about whatever I want.  If you are here it is because of a random choice or because I invited you here.  Thank you.  No need to comment.  Read.  Enjoy.

I did it!

I finally managed to break the hour mark tonight from my run. I really need to find a way to keep all that sweat out of my eyes and off my face.

Now, if I could only stop eating so much and finally start losing some weight… It’s getting so bad that my children’s caregiver told her friend that I was “fat” because I “never stop eating”… Nice!

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen News Stories that have captured the attention of this UrbanDaddy…

1. Body Dumped From Car on 401 – Toronto police are questioning a woman after a bizarre attack where the body of a man who had been shot was dumped from a speeding car on Highway 401 yesterday afternoon, creating traffic mayhem. Now, news is slowly trickling out that it may not be a woman, and that the man may have been getting out as he was shot. Whatever happened, it worries a lot of people and gives a lot of wingdings some crazy ideas.

2. GM to auction off Hummer line of cars – Bout fuckin’ time.

3. Kim Jong, Part 2. So some stories out of North Korea stated that their wack-job leader may have had a stroke and was in ill-health. What that means for the communist country, no one knows, but then I hear reports that this guy may have died 3 years ago and they are using body doubles that look like him to come out and wave, and they have old recordings of him they play to make it seem like he is still alive. I have but one question… Why?!? Is there no one in that whole country that can replace him? I mean if he’s dead, that stiff from “Weekend at Bernie’s” could do the job, no? Is this country really better with him, or the a pretend him in power? I don’t know. I guess as Canadians, we kind of had that with Jean Cretien as our PM. He was there, but not really there…

4. North Korea has a massive missle launcher. So with, or without, a leader, some images from satellite’s have turned up a massive missle launching base in North Korea which could be launched 4 times a year and could reach North America, I believe. I got an idea… North Korea, Iraq, Iran, the Taliban, Neo Nazi’s, those chicken suicide bombers who cover their faces, and all the stupid street gangs can all go party in the mountines of Afghanistan – where Bin Laden is calling home, and all the good countries can blow the shit out of them… Make the world a better place, no?

5. The NDP lured attendees to a rally for their leader Jack Layton by misleading them into thinking that they were attending a presentation on their pensions. Nice. So the place was full there was a lot of noise and the NDP appear, on TV, that they have a ton of support. Well, forget it Jack, you will never be the PM, even if you try to make up shit about your family to impress the province of Quebec…

6. Conservatives agree to cut gas taxes. Yay. Not that I need a reason to vote conservative… Look at the options… Or lack thereof.

7. Liberal leader Dion… errr, yeah. I would vote green first. He talks and talks and talks and half the time I can’t tell if he is speaking French or English. That being said, most of what he says never makes sense anyways. I would NEVER vote for him.

8. Jack Layton tells a news conference in Quebec that his Dad and brother created the first hybrid car in the 70′s, in Quebec. Ummm, sure Jack… And you’ll be the next PM too. See above note about never voting for a leader…

9. Credit Card companies “Sticking it to Canadians” with high fees. I’m shocked. Have they met the scumbags who set gas prices?
How can they sleep at night?!?

10. Theo Tams wins Canadian Idol… Yeah, and… I’m supposed to care? IKE is coming…

11. 9/11 – Sad, so very sad, still 7 years later.

12. A nine-year old boy was hit at a cross walk, while another 9 year old and a crossing guard with a bright orange jacket and 2 stop signs managed to just get out of the way. Why does this not strike me as being a driver who was distracted, maybe talking on their cellphone? Those are the same people who are too distracted to stop at stop signs, notice other cars around, can’t change lanes properly because they can’t signal… I hate these people and I want the use of hand-held cell phones in cars banned and drivers fined. Now.

13. Gas prices go up 13 cents overnight because… because why? Hurricane Ike is heading towards Texas, not there yet, done no damage yet, but on the way, so on speculation the gas companies all agree to raise prices…Fuckers! 13 cents?!? These assholes are the same ones who decided to cut production of barrels of oil because the price was dropping at the pumps, thereby driving up prices again. I really wish there was a way to stop using oil/gas for like a week all over the world to force these guys to compete with each other and lower prices drastically.

Again, I ran…

This time I tried something a little different, I slowed down my pace, took a longer route and viola, 50 minutes later I was back at the house, having a drink from my metal water bottle, walking around the block to cool down before stretching.

I’ve been running for 30 minutes at least twice a week, but I found that I was running at a very fast pace and coming home completely spent. Tonight, however, I came home and was not that tired, so I am wondering if I am getting in better shape or my “run” tonight was just a glorified 50 minute walk/job.

In other news, we went down to the Ol’ Spaghetti Factory tonight for dinner – the place opened August 1971, 6 months after I was born, and it doesn’t look like it has changed one bit. The food was… good. The place was great for kids, and the parking wasn’t even that bad. We walked around after but it was getting chilly and the neighbourhood a little less friendly so we came home.

This morning I took Stewie to his first Sportball session – Dad and Tot – which meant a lot of Dads and no one talking. I said hello to several Dads and some didn’t even look at me, let alone reply. I have previously been to three Sportball sessions with Linus, yet all with Moms, and enjoyed that much more.

While Stewie and I were @ Sportball, UrbanMummy and Linus were trying out Karate today. Not sure he liked it. Besides the fact that when asked, he never likes anything, he thinks he is going to learn to kick and punch there. Just what we need. This morning he took UM’s belt from he bath robe – he likes tying it to everything – tied it into a kind of noose, then proceeded to wrap that around his brother’s neck. Joy. He was VERY unhappy when I took the belt away – not because I took it away, but because I didn’t say please. OY.

Well so much for being in bed before mid-night. I have the unveiling of my Uncle’s headstone tomorrow morning and ball-hockey Monday and Tuesday. Can’t wait for the kids to start school on Monday. So exciting.

Go to bed!

That was me to both boys last night after they combined to wake up 5 times for a total of 4 1/2 hours resulting in me getting a whopping 3 hours sleep. Yet… I’m still up at 11pm. Why?!? Because I’m trying to find a catch title for this post. I found that some of my titles attract more traffic to my site than others so I’m thinking of making all my titles from this day on, pornographic, like “hot sex”, “free porn movies” or “hot girls”, then I can post about me and annoy all the perverts and get tons of hate comments. Sweet.

But really… I played ball hockey last night and had quite the game. IT was hot in the arena, we were short-handed and this team needs me to eat up a lot of minutes and expects me to join the rush on each play. Doing that, last night, I was able to set up our first goal by planting my ass in front of the next and providing the screen. Oh, I’m playing defense at the time. Oops. I also got floor time at those important times, like the last minute of the game while down two men. We held them off the board and got the tie, and I blocked a screamer in the upper thigh right near… You know, and have this wicked bruise. As soon as that ball hit me I felt my toes go numb. Seriously. I’ll try to post a picture as the purples role in.

So for some reason, tonight, I thought I could run, bruise and all. I ran for 30 minutes and the last 5-10 were super-tough as the spot where I blocked the shot began to tighten up. I made it home – soaking wet – showered and trudged my ass down to the kitchen where I type this blog post, half-asleep, unable to move.

At least I’m still on vacation!

Tomorrow brings more household errands, like washing windows, cars, and possibly painting… Joy. At least I have not driven UM completely around the bend… yet.

Nite all.