So, I went to give blood yesterday... a little worried that I wouldn't pass the iron test because I've had little/no meat in the last few months. Little did I know, that would be the least of my worries!
So I get there and check in and the nurse pricks my finger. As usual, my cold fingers don't bleed easily so she's got to work really hard to get enough blood to drop in the blue stuff. Finally she gets enough, drops it in and lo and behold it begins to sink (something that RARELY happens, even when I do pass!). Unfortunately one blob rose to the top so she had to put it in the machine. I'm standing there all nervous as I wait for the machine. It finally finishes and she says, "It's actually really good: 14.4". I'm SUPER excited that I made it through!
so I fill out questions 1-13 and then wait to see the nurse for the "high risk" questions. She sits me down, checks my arms (all good) and then takes my blood pressure and temperature. The blood pressure finishes first and the nurse says "Uhhh... your pulse is only 44, are you really active?" I assure her that my pulse is always pretty low... 45-50 range. Then the thermometer finishes and she tells me that I'm too cold to donate (I was 35.6 and you need to be 36.7)!! TOO COLD!! She tells me to put my coat on and she'd check it again after she asked the questions. Low and behold, a few minutes of wearing my fleece and I squeak in at 36.7. SUPER! Now all that's left is the blood giving...
So I get to the chair and the nurse says "Well you certainly don't have bulging veins!" She looks around and finanlly finds a vein, puts the needle in but no blood comes out. POOP! The nurse had missed. She asked if I'd mind if another nurse tried the other arm. I say absolutely not! I'd made it this far and wasn't going home yet! So after the head nurse tells the junior nurse who missed on my left arm that all she can find in my right arm is a small vein on top of a tendon (whatever that means), I start to lose hope. But she tries and finds one! YAY! She's a little worried that the blood is flowing too slowly, but she's happy to let it keep going. 17 minutes later, I was headed for cookies! The girl next to me, who arrived in the chair about 2 minutes after me took 17 minutes too... which was kinda nice! The nurses kept coming over and saying things like "Wow! You girls certainly aren't speedy!". Anyways, the cookies were tasty... and there's now an extra pint of blood in Canada's blood supply... and I have 2 war wounds to show! Good times!
Friday, December 5, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Karen's Spontaneous Adventure
So I'm writing this from Vancouver, where I've been since Saturday night, in order to attend a meeting and a conference Sunday-Tuesday. Why, you might ask, is attending a conference a spontaneous adventure? That's because I didn't know until 4 pm on Friday that I'd be coming. I'm here replacing one of the directors from my Centre at work. He had a family emergency and was adament that PHAC have a rep here... somehow I got the call! Perhaps because I'm young and unattached... but regardless, I got the call and after MUCH debate and anxiety, decided to cancel my Saturday and Sunday night plans (and/or just not attend them... despite the fact that one of them was a dinner party at my house)...
So far the conference has been good, and I've had a chance to see all the super cool people I know in Vancouver!! Simon was a super host... introducing me to Ramen noodles on Monday, and showing me his digs (and some of the super sushi in his 'hood) on Tuesday! Sunday night I did Japanese tapas... I never remember what it's called, but I had it last time I came. Who knew wrapping a hard boiled egg in pumpkin could be so tasty!
Anyways, I fly home today... the end of my adventure and a return to the craziness of the office! EEPS!!
p.s. YAY ALIWU!!!
So far the conference has been good, and I've had a chance to see all the super cool people I know in Vancouver!! Simon was a super host... introducing me to Ramen noodles on Monday, and showing me his digs (and some of the super sushi in his 'hood) on Tuesday! Sunday night I did Japanese tapas... I never remember what it's called, but I had it last time I came. Who knew wrapping a hard boiled egg in pumpkin could be so tasty!
Anyways, I fly home today... the end of my adventure and a return to the craziness of the office! EEPS!!
p.s. YAY ALIWU!!!
Friday, October 31, 2008
GHOSTBUSTERS!!!
After much searching, Sean and I found out what the people our age do for fun! It's not go to Prince Edward County... or go to 'the Buzz' on Bank street... or go to Canada's Wonderland... or go to one of the many other places we've ended up, only to discover we were some of the only people in the 25-30 age bracket! Attendence at the screening of the original, 1984 Ghostbusters movie at the Bytowne last night was DEFINITELY the place to be! SUCH a good time too! The fact that the film broke (i.e. the physical piece of film snapped in 2 on the reel) and they had to piece it back together in the middle just made it that much better! ...as did all the people who showed up in costume! Who knew there was so much Ghostbusters parafenalia still floating around! (Sara, it kinda reminded me of that last Expos game...). Anyways, I'll be humming the theme song all day... good times!!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Adieu!
Today I parted with an old friend. After 36 years with the family, the old orange couch is no longer with us. Today, a lovely, young, student couple came to pick-up the much loved orange couch, to give it a new home. The couch, which was purchased in 1972 by my mother when she moved to her first apartment in Ottawa (just a few short blocks from where I now live) has had several homes, in Ottawa, Nepean and even a 2 year stay in a Westmount apartment. Re-apolstered only once, sometime in the early 1980s when orange was all the rage, the couch was of impecable quality.
Goodbye couch!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
cereal overload
One month, two posts... could it be? Oh yah baby!
So Friday was another one of my days off (hooray for the Federal government and the variable work week!). I accompanied Sean to court to watch him do his lawyer 'thang'. He was doing a trial in a small town between Ottawa and Montreal. It was good times! If you're ever in court be sure you don't a) wear a hat or sunglasses, b) eat or drink, c) chew gum, d) use a cell phone, e) read the newspaper. Fortunately I a) left my sunglasses in the car, b) had not food to eat or water to drink, c) spat out my gum, d) turned off my cell phone early and e) had enough time to finish my newspaper in the waiting area before the court room opened! Verdict: court is kinda interesting to watch... lots of formality... lots of men in pinstripe suits (all 6 lawyers were wearing them... in fact, Sean and the guy on for the crown were pretty much wearing the identical outfit... kinda amusing for me!). In the end the fine for Sean's client was smack dab between the amount proposed by Sean and the amount proposed by the crown. I am told that nobody being happy/satisfied is the sign of a good decision. After court (around 11 am) we headed home, stopping in Vankleek hill for a tour of the Beau's brewery (http://www.beaus.ca/index.html). Sean's firm has Beau's on tap, so the samples weren't exactly a novelty! It's definitely good stuff though!
Alas, ultimate season is over! We went out with a bang in Saturday afternoon, winning our last 2 games with commanding leads! It was brutally hot, but good times! Our after game BBQ was equally as enjoyable...
Sara (and Dave): I made nanaimo bars to take to my end-of-season bbq, after racking my brain to think of what I could make that wouldn't necessitate me turning on the oven. I remembered you and Dave making them in France because you HAD no oven to make desserts with even if you wanted to!
Apparently there was a gay pride parade on my street today... apparently it wasn't sufficiently rowdy for me to be drawn away from my random chores!
Karen's appliance of the day: hand blender. So useful!
Pet peeve: when the closing ceremonies start like an hour AFTER they say they will!!
Cereal count: 13 boxes... Karen needs to stop stocking up and start eating!
And on that note... Snack time!
So Friday was another one of my days off (hooray for the Federal government and the variable work week!). I accompanied Sean to court to watch him do his lawyer 'thang'. He was doing a trial in a small town between Ottawa and Montreal. It was good times! If you're ever in court be sure you don't a) wear a hat or sunglasses, b) eat or drink, c) chew gum, d) use a cell phone, e) read the newspaper. Fortunately I a) left my sunglasses in the car, b) had not food to eat or water to drink, c) spat out my gum, d) turned off my cell phone early and e) had enough time to finish my newspaper in the waiting area before the court room opened! Verdict: court is kinda interesting to watch... lots of formality... lots of men in pinstripe suits (all 6 lawyers were wearing them... in fact, Sean and the guy on for the crown were pretty much wearing the identical outfit... kinda amusing for me!). In the end the fine for Sean's client was smack dab between the amount proposed by Sean and the amount proposed by the crown. I am told that nobody being happy/satisfied is the sign of a good decision. After court (around 11 am) we headed home, stopping in Vankleek hill for a tour of the Beau's brewery (http://www.beaus.ca/index.html). Sean's firm has Beau's on tap, so the samples weren't exactly a novelty! It's definitely good stuff though!
Alas, ultimate season is over! We went out with a bang in Saturday afternoon, winning our last 2 games with commanding leads! It was brutally hot, but good times! Our after game BBQ was equally as enjoyable...
Sara (and Dave): I made nanaimo bars to take to my end-of-season bbq, after racking my brain to think of what I could make that wouldn't necessitate me turning on the oven. I remembered you and Dave making them in France because you HAD no oven to make desserts with even if you wanted to!
Apparently there was a gay pride parade on my street today... apparently it wasn't sufficiently rowdy for me to be drawn away from my random chores!
Karen's appliance of the day: hand blender. So useful!
Pet peeve: when the closing ceremonies start like an hour AFTER they say they will!!
Cereal count: 13 boxes... Karen needs to stop stocking up and start eating!
And on that note... Snack time!
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
...and then it was August.
We were supposed to post once a month right? Here's my August post... my life over the past month in no particular order... in brief...
-Ultimate is SUPER! I'm working on catching with one hand. I suck at it!
-Sean and I went to the cottage for the long weekend! It was quite relaxing! Lots of scrabble was played... and I almost finished reading the Wealthy Barber. We also discovered that the Kawartha Dairy has FANTASTIC ice cream!! It's not quite as cheap as Reid's... but the portions are more than ample and it tastes better!
-Part of my birthday gift from Sean was a bike maintenance course. I'm a lean, mean, tube changing machine!! I also discovered that I get WAY too much satisfaction from cleaning my bike. It's all pretty and the cogs are super clean! *proud grin*
-We had a weekend in Toronto and environs... including visits with my brother/sis-in-law/nephew/chubby niece, sean's friends, some of you folks reading this (that was SUPER indian food!!!) and Sean's parents.
-This past Thursday we went out to hear the opening of the Rideau Canal Festival (yes, another festival in Ottawa!). There were a couple bagpipe and drum bands playing. One was a local group... they were good... the other group was in town from BC for the Glengarry Highland Games... they were PHENOMENAL!! I had no idea how good bagpipes and drums could sound... but honestly, it was freaking awesome!!!
-This weekend is the MS bike tour... here's the hoping the weather is nice!!
Hmmmm... ok... that's my life in a nutshell! Does anybody know how to get rid of "XP Antivirus"... the damn virus thing jumped onto my computer last night... *curses*
A bientot!!
-k
-Ultimate is SUPER! I'm working on catching with one hand. I suck at it!
-Sean and I went to the cottage for the long weekend! It was quite relaxing! Lots of scrabble was played... and I almost finished reading the Wealthy Barber. We also discovered that the Kawartha Dairy has FANTASTIC ice cream!! It's not quite as cheap as Reid's... but the portions are more than ample and it tastes better!
-Part of my birthday gift from Sean was a bike maintenance course. I'm a lean, mean, tube changing machine!! I also discovered that I get WAY too much satisfaction from cleaning my bike. It's all pretty and the cogs are super clean! *proud grin*
-We had a weekend in Toronto and environs... including visits with my brother/sis-in-law/nephew/chubby niece, sean's friends, some of you folks reading this (that was SUPER indian food!!!) and Sean's parents.
-This past Thursday we went out to hear the opening of the Rideau Canal Festival (yes, another festival in Ottawa!). There were a couple bagpipe and drum bands playing. One was a local group... they were good... the other group was in town from BC for the Glengarry Highland Games... they were PHENOMENAL!! I had no idea how good bagpipes and drums could sound... but honestly, it was freaking awesome!!!
-This weekend is the MS bike tour... here's the hoping the weather is nice!!
Hmmmm... ok... that's my life in a nutshell! Does anybody know how to get rid of "XP Antivirus"... the damn virus thing jumped onto my computer last night... *curses*
A bientot!!
-k
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Welcome to July!
It's funny how a new month can just sneak up on you sometimes!!
Canada Day: I momentarily forgot why I never really liked Canada Day downtown, but 15 minutes of fighting crowds and standing in hot sun made me remember what i disliked! We did, however, venture back up to the Supreme Court to watch the fireworks! It was me and my 5 lawyer friends... so the location was very fitting! CRAZY!!
Good food: So in the past week I've had some pretty fantastic food, that I feel the need to tell everyone about... 1. If you're looking for good pizza, La Favorita on Preston has pizza and a beer for $10 at lunch times! 2. Truffle Treasures in the Glebe makes the most FANTASTIC gelato. Their Chili Chocolate makes the stuff from the other places pale in comparison! PLUS they give you a waffle cone... and it's not quite as pricey! 3. Baker's Street breakfast: I'm still drooling after almost a week... SO GOOD! Take a cinnamon bun, slice it in two, turn it into french toast, then throw a tonne of fruit on top. Add a whole carafe of coffee to the table and you've got a little piece of heaven! If you're ever in Westboro, DEFINITELY go... I'm pretty sure they serve it all day...
Mouse dirt: If anybody is having trouble with mice, I learned this weekend that mice like to eat soap. It was opening weekend at the Roberts-Whitfield cottage... much mouse dirt had to be cleaned up! After a meticulous fall clean-out of all things food from the cottage, we thought we'd be greeted by a mouse-dirt free environment. Unfortunately, we forgot to put away the bars of soap next to the sinks. They were nicely chewed! Fortunately, the cupboards were clean, but the countertops were disgusting!!
July 11-13: Does anybody want to meet up with me in Toronto??? Sean and I are thinking of coming down for the weekend. I will be spending some time with my brother and family (they move into their new home in the Beaches tomorrow), and I will be hanging out with Sean's friends for a bit... but would love to see whomever is there!
Sweaters: My teeth feel like they're wearing sweaters... time to brush them and head to bed!
Gnight!
Canada Day: I momentarily forgot why I never really liked Canada Day downtown, but 15 minutes of fighting crowds and standing in hot sun made me remember what i disliked! We did, however, venture back up to the Supreme Court to watch the fireworks! It was me and my 5 lawyer friends... so the location was very fitting! CRAZY!!
Good food: So in the past week I've had some pretty fantastic food, that I feel the need to tell everyone about... 1. If you're looking for good pizza, La Favorita on Preston has pizza and a beer for $10 at lunch times! 2. Truffle Treasures in the Glebe makes the most FANTASTIC gelato. Their Chili Chocolate makes the stuff from the other places pale in comparison! PLUS they give you a waffle cone... and it's not quite as pricey! 3. Baker's Street breakfast: I'm still drooling after almost a week... SO GOOD! Take a cinnamon bun, slice it in two, turn it into french toast, then throw a tonne of fruit on top. Add a whole carafe of coffee to the table and you've got a little piece of heaven! If you're ever in Westboro, DEFINITELY go... I'm pretty sure they serve it all day...
Mouse dirt: If anybody is having trouble with mice, I learned this weekend that mice like to eat soap. It was opening weekend at the Roberts-Whitfield cottage... much mouse dirt had to be cleaned up! After a meticulous fall clean-out of all things food from the cottage, we thought we'd be greeted by a mouse-dirt free environment. Unfortunately, we forgot to put away the bars of soap next to the sinks. They were nicely chewed! Fortunately, the cupboards were clean, but the countertops were disgusting!!
July 11-13: Does anybody want to meet up with me in Toronto??? Sean and I are thinking of coming down for the weekend. I will be spending some time with my brother and family (they move into their new home in the Beaches tomorrow), and I will be hanging out with Sean's friends for a bit... but would love to see whomever is there!
Sweaters: My teeth feel like they're wearing sweaters... time to brush them and head to bed!
Gnight!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
45 degree change
So the furniture in my living has all been rotated by 45 degrees so that all furniture now has its back at 45 degrees to a wall, rather than flat against it. I myself, did not undertake this endeavour, but rather, I went to the grocery store to buy apples and bananas and returned home to find my lawyer of a boyfriend (see paragraph 2 of this post for details) gone, but having fully shifted my living room! Apparently he has a knack for interior decorating... including such things as arranging plants at varying levels so that your eye is drawn upwards, making the room look bigger. I appear to have identified an new trait to enjoy! Anyways, it makes the room look bigger... all I need now (or so Sean tells me) is a carpet!
Paragraph 2: This past Friday was Sean's "call to the bar"... he is now officially a lawyer! He even has new business cards to prove it! One thing that makes me a little sad about his tremendous success, is that I might be ineligible for jury duty. But yes... the sentiment of the weekend has been "Yay Sean! " *proud smile*
Paragraph 3: It's raining. Correction: it's POURING!!!!! And it's thundering... and lightninginig... and I really shouldn't be using my laptop. I'll finish quickly...
Paragraph 4: This week I am keeping busy with dragon boating and ultimate frisbee. I am doing one of the two, Monday-Thursday. Last week I went out to buy shirts of the appropriate colour for each of my ultimate teams. I discovered that shopping by colour is incredibly easy! I walked in, surveyed the scene, and headed straight for the racks containing either red or green tops, of which there were not many! Bushtukah's phenomenal sales came through, and I saved a minimum of 65% on all purchases! SUPER!
Ok... c'est tout pour maintenant! Does anybody know what apple butter is?? I had a cookie made with it today, but I'm not quite sure what it is. The cookie didn't have the same crunch that I usually enjoy in cookies, and I'm pretty certain that this was due to the lack of butter (cow butter?) or margarine, that is a staple in most cookies.
End scene.
Paragraph 2: This past Friday was Sean's "call to the bar"... he is now officially a lawyer! He even has new business cards to prove it! One thing that makes me a little sad about his tremendous success, is that I might be ineligible for jury duty. But yes... the sentiment of the weekend has been "Yay Sean! " *proud smile*
Paragraph 3: It's raining. Correction: it's POURING!!!!! And it's thundering... and lightninginig... and I really shouldn't be using my laptop. I'll finish quickly...
Paragraph 4: This week I am keeping busy with dragon boating and ultimate frisbee. I am doing one of the two, Monday-Thursday. Last week I went out to buy shirts of the appropriate colour for each of my ultimate teams. I discovered that shopping by colour is incredibly easy! I walked in, surveyed the scene, and headed straight for the racks containing either red or green tops, of which there were not many! Bushtukah's phenomenal sales came through, and I saved a minimum of 65% on all purchases! SUPER!
Ok... c'est tout pour maintenant! Does anybody know what apple butter is?? I had a cookie made with it today, but I'm not quite sure what it is. The cookie didn't have the same crunch that I usually enjoy in cookies, and I'm pretty certain that this was due to the lack of butter (cow butter?) or margarine, that is a staple in most cookies.
End scene.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
randomness
welcome to my blog. post 1 will be a random assortment of facts, tidbits and anecdotes from my week...
sunday night i returned the jar of "just peanuts" peanut butter that i got at loblaws, because i opened it up and it looked funny. it was all congeled, but not the way all natural peanut butter normally congeles... it was weird! the lovely teenagers at customer service were so disgusted at the thought of what might be inside the jar, that they didn't even look and just handed me a new one! several spoonfuls in and all appears well in jar #2.
i'm playing on 2 ultimate teams this summer: "the mad cows" and "gang green." the mad cows are far more competitive than gang green... but both SHOULD be a good time!
dragon boat season has begun! i have recruited my mother onto the team. what better sport to pick up when you're 60 than dragon boating right? the benefit of having your mother on your dragon boat team is that she takes you to baskin robbins afterwards!! mmmmmmmm perils of praline!
ok... here's an interesting link to read if you're bored... http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/postal-ca.html
ummm... what else have i learned this week... QP note stands for "question period note"... and when you get a request for one, you gotta work fast!
ok. enough randomness for post number 1. perhaps next week i'll follow simon's advice and aim to put something on about cooking... this week all i cooked was "chicken and rice and everything spice"... but i made it with pork and chickpeas instead of chicken... yes.
later!
sunday night i returned the jar of "just peanuts" peanut butter that i got at loblaws, because i opened it up and it looked funny. it was all congeled, but not the way all natural peanut butter normally congeles... it was weird! the lovely teenagers at customer service were so disgusted at the thought of what might be inside the jar, that they didn't even look and just handed me a new one! several spoonfuls in and all appears well in jar #2.
i'm playing on 2 ultimate teams this summer: "the mad cows" and "gang green." the mad cows are far more competitive than gang green... but both SHOULD be a good time!
dragon boat season has begun! i have recruited my mother onto the team. what better sport to pick up when you're 60 than dragon boating right? the benefit of having your mother on your dragon boat team is that she takes you to baskin robbins afterwards!! mmmmmmmm perils of praline!
ok... here's an interesting link to read if you're bored... http://www.columbia.edu/kermit/postal-ca.html
ummm... what else have i learned this week... QP note stands for "question period note"... and when you get a request for one, you gotta work fast!
ok. enough randomness for post number 1. perhaps next week i'll follow simon's advice and aim to put something on about cooking... this week all i cooked was "chicken and rice and everything spice"... but i made it with pork and chickpeas instead of chicken... yes.
later!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)