#94. Cry Often

It all started with




And went downhill from there. Animals are my weak spot. Most people watch baby food & diaper commercials and go ‘oohhh’ and ‘ahhh’ at the babies, where I’m that way for kibbles & bits or those white kitten toilet paper commercials – they get me every time. Or, how about those adorable polar bear and penguin coke commercials for winter?

How could you have possibly watched the Nissan commercial and not went ‘awwwwww’?!

Recently I’ve had some spare time on my hands with unused vacation days being taken every Friday this month so I’m catching tv I wouldn’t normally watch on Friday nights as I tend to stay in the city after work until the wee hours of the morning.

Anyway, flicking through channels I come across a show on CMT (Country Music Television?) called ‘ER Vets: 24/7 Animal Trauma Centre’. It’s narrated by Jann Arden, and if you’ve ever heard her sing ‘Insensitive’ her voice just rips your heart from your chest, tosses it over the Grand Canyon and then steam rolls the remains. My eyes didn’t just water, or possibly shed a single tear, I all out ugly cried for a sold half hour THROUGH commercial breaks. I should probably not ever watch this show again for my emotional wellbeing, but you know what? I set the PVR, and even recorded the show before it called ‘Pet Heroes’ as if I want the torture!

When T used to travel, I’d drive him to the local airport, help him get his bags from the trunk, give him a hug and kiss and then cry until I was about 5km’s away from the airport. T leaving this time was taking the car and driving to a larger airport so you would think that I’d be fine? Nope. I helped him carry his bags to the entry way, told him I’d see him in 3 days (he’s home over the American thanksgiving), and then listened to the garage door close from inside and then cried. He’s only gone 3 days this week, but still, the house seems so empty.

I guess I’ll go watch all that quality tv programming I’ve pvr’d until my tear ducts malfunction in defeat.

#85. Be a Dork

Often at work the discussions with co-workers become about books we are reading. A review in the paper on a book, or merely having one sticking out of your purse is enough to start a conversation about all things related to that book. Yesterday a co-worker showed up with a bag of books for another co-worker to borrow and a light went off. What about a company book exchange? We have approx. 50 female office workers within the company and a large portion of them read. So why not join my love for organization, reading, and saving money and create a company book exchange? It’s the perfect idea, and did I mention it looks good from an employer’s view also as company involvement. It won’t cost them a dime, except for a file located on a public drive, and maybe a book in a weekly pre-existing courier, and will increase employee morale.


So if this wasn’t being a big enough dork, I debated if I should set up the book exchange as an excel workbook, or an access database? Should I have one listing of all books, or alphabetical sheets for authors, which feed from individual employee book list sheets? Should it be color coded by employee? Yes, I’m THAT big of a dork, these were my thoughts on the drive to work today, that when I put the idea forward to my boss with shear enthusiasm and excitement it was automatically approved. Now I’m just gathering troops in my office to put together a list of their books at home and submit them to me. Sure it’s more work for me, but at least I’ll enjoy what I’m working on.

To disprove entire dork association with myself I will tell you of an embarrassing story - as I like to do this. While out on a run this week I ran by two boys outside playing with light savers – this is what I thought they were called. When re-telling the story within a group I was corrected as to the correct term - light sabre. “You know as in the Buffalo Sabres and their logo as sword type objects” – I always thought Sabres were a type of Buffalo, and had no clue what actual Buffalo Bill’s where? Some type of western villain? BLONDE moment. I also can’t tell you if a light sabre is from Star Wars or Star Trek? I’m not that kind of dork.