Not much to report - nothing much has changed - been busy running around 'shopping' as if I had money - which I did do as I got paid on Thursday and my vacation pay was added to the cheque - which of course meant the government took their share - wish we had the option of holding the vacation pay and asking for it - would ask for it once I was no longer working - then I would receive more of it - oh well - such is life. Went to WalMart bright and early Friday morning because they had 32GB iPod touch on sale for $298. Now I am debating whether or not I will keep it - or return it and bite the bullet and get an iPhone - which I can use in Canada and Egypt - need to do some research - talked with Miles about it last night - and he had some good insight - so will have to do some checking - may take the iPod touch back and end up with and iPhone - will see how I feel after I talk with some sales people. Only thing is that I would likely want to wait until September before getting the iPhone and I seem to have misplaced my cell phone - SIGH - not a good week - not sure where my head has been - but I seem to have been misplacing things quite regularly. Hope I can get my head back in the game soon.
Marian headed to Edmonton on Thursday night - so I am left in charge of three cats and one teenager - the teenager is a royal pain in the hiney. And of course my hands are tied as he is not mine - so not much I can do about it. So very grateful that my teenager - while not perfect - was nowhere near as obnoxious as this one is - if he had been I would been in jail for murder - not really - because mine was not allowed to be so obnoxious - I was a very MEAN mom - but it certainly paid off - because Miles has grown in to a very responsible adult.
Weather here is still not bad - yesterday was a very cloudy day - we had hopes that it would rain - but no such luck and today the sky is blue with a few clouds - so not much chance of having rain in the near future. And we really do need it - the forest fires are still going like crazy - just hope and pray that the fire does not come closer to the town site.
Have had no further news on Ayman - will likely be talking with my sister in law tomorrow - but I am not holding out much hope that the status will change. I am worried about him - but I am also really pissed off with him - he should have left Libya before he was incarcerated - but oh no he had to stay to protect his 'assets' - not doing him or his family any good now - are they - GRRRR - all of this could have been avoided if he had not been so greedy and short sighted - he was convinced that the protests would be short lived and the people would 'cave' - when we talked about it I was always urging him to leave - but he was sure it would amount to nothing - hmmm.
Has been a quiet day - have spent most of the day reading - had a short little snooze - felt good - and I think I will continue reading - it is just that kind of day.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Today is the second day of being 'locked out' at work. Monday all temporary employees were sent home - at the behest of Canada Post - not the union. This means that mail is not being delivered all over Canada because Canada Post is playing 'games' - shame on them. Yesterday spent the day grocery shopping - buying loads of cherries, grapes, pineapple, satsuma oranges, strawberries, lettuce, broccoli - do love this time of year when there is so much produce available - yummmm. Then I realized I had 'misplaced' my driver's license - ARGH - went through all my 'purses' - one purse and my backpack plus the bag I carry to work - could not find it - drove myself nearly off the deep end - did not take a lot - stress levels are a tad on the high side right now - was having my shower prior to heading to bed and trying to recollect the last time I knew for sure that I had had the thing - remembered that I had shown it to a woman at work on my birthday - because she did not believe it was my birthday - it was one of our supervisor's birthday as well and they had bought her a birthday cake - said it was also my birthday - and this woman did not believe me - HARUMPH - despite what some people believed my birthday is June 2, not June 12 (dig at my favourite cuzzy) - so after my shower I went to my room and checked all my work shirt pockets and VOILA there it was - meant I was driving on Friday and Monday without my license on my person - good thing I did not get pulled over - and thank God that I found it. WHEW!!!!!!! Big sigh of relief.
Talked with Suzanne (my sister in law in Egypt) and the news about Ayman is less than stellar. They had word that he was incarcerated in a jail in Tajura - which is a suburb of Tripoli - had been moved all around the place prior to this place - heard this from someone who was incarcerated with him but had been released - but the authorities are denying they have any Egyptians in jail - and my brother in law - Hatem - who lives in Tripoli went to the jail and was told they had no Egyptians - so it is anybody's guess as to where Ayman is and how he is. He may well have been 'fine' the last time someone saw him - but that can change in an instant as he is being held by Ghadaffi's goons - who are not known for their kind caring spirits - they are better known for being torturers and murderers - so many people have 'disappeared'. Ayman was picked up with a group of Egyptians and jailed because he is Egyptian - nothing more than that. Ghadaffi had decided that the Egyptians were to blame for the Libyan people revolting against his 'benevolent' regime - guy really lives in la la land.
So, this week has not been great - started with not so great news about Ayman (which translates into lousy sleep for me) - locked out of work - and I am so grateful that my living situation is what it is - my living expenses are minimal - do not HAVE to pay rent or a mortgage - do not HAVE to pay for utilities - I do pay a minimal amount for 'rent' and contribute groceries by paying for them - but nothing major. Will be interesting to see how many temporary employees are still around after this 'strike' - most of them rely on their income to live - so they will likely be looking for other work - not looking forward to getting back - as the work will be piled high - I had just been given an indefinite route - the woman is off on maternity leave - so I was to cover it until they found a permanent employee to take it - would have to be out for bid - have a feeling when things resolve themselves - I will be on it for a fairly long time - as no permanent employees want it - you start at 8:30 a.m. - not 7:30 a.m. and you do not finish until 4:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at THE earliest - with upwards to a 2.5 hour break from 11:30 to 2 - depending on how quickly the first part of the run is done. It is not my favourite route - but it is all right - but the permanent people want to be done by 1:30 or so - which is when most of the walks are done by. So I will be 'stuck' doing this - at least I know what I am doing for the foreseeable future - once we get back to work. And then misplacing my driver's license - at least I found the thing so that is one less worry.
Still lots of smoke around here - the sunrise and sunset are spectacular - the sun is SO red from the smoke. Guess we have the 'honour' of having the largest fire in 50 years - 415,000 hectares have burned so far - and it is still out of control - and awfully close to Fort McMurray - if the winds pick up and blow the 'wrong' way we may have to evacuate - and of course we have had NO rain to speak of - had a few showers the other day - along with thunder and lightning - which meant of course that more fires were sparked - thank goodness they got them put out in a hurry. Last week the weather was VERY warm - in the high 20's - just about melted - driving around all day in a 'step van' - an oven on wheels - and of course no air conditioning - and then on Friday the high was set at 8 - we got to 4 - it was freak'n freezing - although I would rather have that than the heat - at least I can wear a sweater to keep warm and when I have to do the walk portion of the route I am not dripping all over the mail.
Not much else to report - my body is not really thrilled with this job - but then it never has been. The new route I am on requires me to do a lot of heavy lifting - not a lot of walking - so my upper body is not happy - lots of lifting and twisting - have to be very careful so as not to injure my back or my knees.
And on that note I will sign off - keep thinking I should post pictures - but of what???
Talked with Suzanne (my sister in law in Egypt) and the news about Ayman is less than stellar. They had word that he was incarcerated in a jail in Tajura - which is a suburb of Tripoli - had been moved all around the place prior to this place - heard this from someone who was incarcerated with him but had been released - but the authorities are denying they have any Egyptians in jail - and my brother in law - Hatem - who lives in Tripoli went to the jail and was told they had no Egyptians - so it is anybody's guess as to where Ayman is and how he is. He may well have been 'fine' the last time someone saw him - but that can change in an instant as he is being held by Ghadaffi's goons - who are not known for their kind caring spirits - they are better known for being torturers and murderers - so many people have 'disappeared'. Ayman was picked up with a group of Egyptians and jailed because he is Egyptian - nothing more than that. Ghadaffi had decided that the Egyptians were to blame for the Libyan people revolting against his 'benevolent' regime - guy really lives in la la land.
So, this week has not been great - started with not so great news about Ayman (which translates into lousy sleep for me) - locked out of work - and I am so grateful that my living situation is what it is - my living expenses are minimal - do not HAVE to pay rent or a mortgage - do not HAVE to pay for utilities - I do pay a minimal amount for 'rent' and contribute groceries by paying for them - but nothing major. Will be interesting to see how many temporary employees are still around after this 'strike' - most of them rely on their income to live - so they will likely be looking for other work - not looking forward to getting back - as the work will be piled high - I had just been given an indefinite route - the woman is off on maternity leave - so I was to cover it until they found a permanent employee to take it - would have to be out for bid - have a feeling when things resolve themselves - I will be on it for a fairly long time - as no permanent employees want it - you start at 8:30 a.m. - not 7:30 a.m. and you do not finish until 4:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at THE earliest - with upwards to a 2.5 hour break from 11:30 to 2 - depending on how quickly the first part of the run is done. It is not my favourite route - but it is all right - but the permanent people want to be done by 1:30 or so - which is when most of the walks are done by. So I will be 'stuck' doing this - at least I know what I am doing for the foreseeable future - once we get back to work. And then misplacing my driver's license - at least I found the thing so that is one less worry.
Still lots of smoke around here - the sunrise and sunset are spectacular - the sun is SO red from the smoke. Guess we have the 'honour' of having the largest fire in 50 years - 415,000 hectares have burned so far - and it is still out of control - and awfully close to Fort McMurray - if the winds pick up and blow the 'wrong' way we may have to evacuate - and of course we have had NO rain to speak of - had a few showers the other day - along with thunder and lightning - which meant of course that more fires were sparked - thank goodness they got them put out in a hurry. Last week the weather was VERY warm - in the high 20's - just about melted - driving around all day in a 'step van' - an oven on wheels - and of course no air conditioning - and then on Friday the high was set at 8 - we got to 4 - it was freak'n freezing - although I would rather have that than the heat - at least I can wear a sweater to keep warm and when I have to do the walk portion of the route I am not dripping all over the mail.
Not much else to report - my body is not really thrilled with this job - but then it never has been. The new route I am on requires me to do a lot of heavy lifting - not a lot of walking - so my upper body is not happy - lots of lifting and twisting - have to be very careful so as not to injure my back or my knees.
And on that note I will sign off - keep thinking I should post pictures - but of what???
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)