Rawbean was in town for a work related trade show/conference and we thought it would be fun to get together for dinner with a few other bloggers that neither of us had met.

I picked Rawbean up from her hotel and surprisingly we were making pretty good time until we hit the streets on foot. We emerged from the parking garage to absolute chaos. Apparently the subway had been shut down and there were mobs of people everywhere we looked, helicopters in the sky and of course cops in fancy pants directing traffic.

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We walked towards where I thought the restaurant was and then....we kept walking....and kept walking. I called Big Ben on his cell and voila, we were only about 15 minutes late. Leave it to me to pick the restaurant and then not be able to find it. There was a reason I got a GPS as a birthday gift this year!!

Big Ben and WIGSF were sitting at a table near the door (thanks guys) and Scott showed up a wee bit later. The five of us ate dinner, had some drinks and of course took a photo or two.

The idea of meeting up with a bunch of strangers seemed a bit daunting at first however, I had previously met both Scott and Rawbean so I felt much less anxious than I probably would have had I gone into this completely blind. Also, the bizarre thing about blogging is that you feel like you actually know these people.....so are they really strangers?

I had a great time as I always enjoy meeting new people and having a good laugh. I think that my blog is a pretty good representation of who I am in real life and I can say the same for the folks that I met.

Jennifer emailed me this article from the Star. It made me laugh so hard, enjoy!!

Man charged with battery after passing gas

Sep 24, 2008 11:05 PM

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va.–A West Virginia man who police said passed gas and fanned it toward a patrolman has been charged with battery on a police officer.

Jose A. Cruz, 34, of Clarksburg, was pulled over early Tuesday for driving without headlights, police said. According to the criminal complaint, Cruz smelled of alcohol, had slurred speech and failed three field sobriety tests before he was handcuffed and taken to a police station for a breathalyzer test.
As Patrolman T.E. Parsons prepared the machine, Cruz scooted his chair toward Parsons, lifted his leg and "passed gas loudly," the complaint said.
Cruz, according to complaint, then fanned the gas toward the officer.
"The gas was very odorous and created contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Patrolman Parsons," the complaint alleged.
He was also charged with driving under the influence, driving without headlights and two counts of obstruction.

Cruz acknowledged passing gas, but said he didn't move his chair toward the officer nor aim gas at the patrolman. He said he had an upset stomach at the time, but police denied his request to go to the bathroom when he first arrived at the station.
"I couldn't hold it no more," he said.

He also denied being drunk and uncooperative as the police complaint alleged. He added he was upset at being prepared for a breathalyzer test while having an asthma attack. The police statement said he later resisted being secured for a trip to a hospital that he requested for asthma treatment.
Cruz said the officers thought the gas incident was funny when it happened and laughed about it with him.

"This is ridiculous," he said. "I could be facing time."

I had the most glorious day this weekend. The weather was a perfect 24 degrees. I spent the morning shopping for some new clothes and the afternoon lazing about by the pool taking advantage of the lovely sunshine. 

In the evening a friend and I went to an Indian buffet restaurant and being the little piglets that we are, went down to the beach to enjoy some yummy ice cream afterwards.  We walked along the water and decided to put our feet in just to test the temperature. Of course it was freezing but in a strange way it felt really good. 

We picked up some rocks and tried to toss them in like the olden days. I remember as a child being able to skip a rock like no ones business however, there must be a technique to the art that I have lost over the years as I could not skip a stone to save my life. Plunk Plunk Plunk they all plopped into the water as if a weight had been tied to the bottom of each one. Ah well, there's always next year!!

I was at a wedding recently and had a lovely chat with this one guy. He loved to dance, was funny and had a great sense of humour.  Anyway so we were talking and he non- chalantly added that he has been divorced and has a child. BAH! 

I suppose at my ripe old age of 30 this should be expected. I mean people have lived, they have baggage and experience amongst other things. I personally have never even thought about marriage nor am I interested in having children. So therein my dilemma lies......should I stop being such an asshole and just go out with him for a drink? We are both going to the same event next week so I will see him either way. We have spoken on the phone and he did express an interest in going out again before the event however with everything going on lately I could not swing it. I'd imagine I will make up my mind after I see him again next week.  I was three sheets to the wind at the wedding and will be stone cold sober at this up coming event as I am driving, so what I thought was a great sense of humour might actually turn out to be dull. We shall see. 

Sorry folks I've been MIA for a while now. There was an unexpected death and a million things going on so needless to say I wasn't thinking....oh my blog....it needs to be updated!! 

I will get back to it sometime this week and let you hear the wonderful tales of my pool sitting. I folks, am the last person that should be kept in charge of a pool as bugs, dead mice and  bloated worms are not my forte. I actually had tears in my eyes this morning while cleaning out one of the filters. I'm not sure if it was because I felt sorry for the critter who met it's death in that basket or if I just didn't want to touch it Ha!!

I’m not a huge caffeine drinker, you know those people that “need” their morning coffee, I am not one of them. Every now and again I enjoy a nice tea in the morning or something a little fancier like a caramel macchiato but it’s not because I need one, it’s because I want one.

I’m astounded that some people go two, three times a day to coffee shops to get their fix. I used to work for a man and woman who would make upwards of 4 pots a day and drink every last drop. I suppose it’s an addiction but man that’s a lot of coffee.

I currently have 4 unused Tim Horton’s cups on my desk at work which have been accumulating for a good 5 months. You see every time someone from my office walks over to TH, the staff there puts an extra cup under the hot cup to prevent burning. This makes sense except…..they put the cups in a tray so there is absolutely no need for the 2nd cup. This irks me….so I have been saving the extra cups. When I return one day for a tea I will have them use the extra cups and will most likely lecture them for being wasteful. Granted I’m not being the most environmentally friendly….I am using a throw away cup after all. Clearly it’s time for me to dust off the travel mug if I’m going to get on my high horse and boss people around ☺

Though I’m not sure how much that will help……

I do know someone that took her travel mug to a coffee shop and guess what the staff did…..they filled up a large coffee cup to get the correct amount, poured the coffee into her travel mug and then threw the large cup out BAH!!!

Does anyone have any similar pet peeves??

I have this bizarre fear of lightning as most of you know. Go ahead laugh….get it all out but it really does affect my life. I will not go outside when there is lightning and will wait until it has finished before venturing out; if I am unlucky enough to be caught driving in a storm I do my best to stay on the road though I have been guilty of ducking when it strikes. I have an eye mask and ear plugs ready for wear if the sky decides to flash all evening during sleepy time and have found myself wearing both much more often than normal.

You see the stats just came out and from June 1 to August 28th we have had a total of 77 hours of storms…..23 hours is normal and last year we had just 8. We’ve also had 27 days with thunderstorms and last year again, there were 8. What the hell???? That’s almost an entire month of lightning.

I thought I would get over my fear a few years ago when I was caught camping on a beach in the most spectacular (ie scary) storm ever. We all crammed into the car and sat there for hours as the sky lit up, waiting for it to end. There was nothing I could do and I had to deal with it. I thought maybe, just maybe after that experience my silly fear would be gone, alas it is not. Cognitive behavioral therapy anyone haha!!!

Does anybody else have an irrational fear??

It's time for an update on the rather slow going list of goals I have to complete. I started out with vigor and excitement at the prospect of new adventures and trying new things. Unfortunately my drive seems to have fizzled as of late. I also find that I'm completing the easier tasks first (which really makes no sense) when really I should take on the longer tasks first IE learn to speak better French. Why give yourself 3 years when you can have one month haha!!

#17 Play a game of golf on a green

Much to the dismay of the other 6 people on the course I was able to complete this task!! Actually I went rather late in the day to a course where nobody really goes because A) it's super short (9 holes) and B) it's a shitty course. My friend thought this would be the perfect place for a beginner and she was right. I was terrible (as expected) but not super terrible, I shot a 67 (par was 27) oops!!

#38 Put a new battery in my watch

I feel that this one is rather self explanatory....I had 3 watches to choose from and decided to go with my heart rate monitor. I don't wear watches very often but I do try to wear this one when I'm at the gym. The battery had died recently so I fixed this one first.

#41 Visit 15 of my placements at work (6/15)

I have gone to two more placements since the last time I posted progress. This goal may be a little tricky in the future as it is no longer one of my work tasks however I may have a way around it :)

#44 Clean out my closet/under my bed/dresser

The closet I had done previously but the bed and dresser I tackled this weekend. I sure had a lot of stuff that really wasn't necessary to keep around and will be better suited for someone else. Yay for thrift shops and freecycling!!

#66 Plant a windowsill herb garden

I planted some basil and oregano. I had originally wanted them in the same planter (in a cute long holder) however things did not work out that way and I had to plant them all by their lonesome awwwww!

#69 Have my car detailed inside

I had them do this when my car was being fixed and man did it need a good cleaning. I always have a hell of a time cleaning out the area under my trunk popper with all of the little rocks and dirt that wedges in there. I find it impossible to get in that space however these men were able to work their magic and voila, it looks like new again!

So that's it for the update. I just realized that I began this goal list on August 22, 2007 and it has been just over a year since I started. I'm embarrassed to say that I have only completed 21 out of 75 goals thus far. I'm not completely upset with myself though as those are 21 things that I may never have tried otherwise or tasks that I would have put off until later. While my progress may be a little slow....at least I am making progress and I'm happy with that :)

It has been a bit of a bleh week for this gal. I was feverish and sick for a few days, off of work for one. I returned to this awful email sent out by someone at the top to all staff. The tone was terribly rude with absolutely no explanation as to why a certain thing was happening. I was not impressed and immediately sent a reply asking for an explanation, I have yet to get a response.


Our whole work environment lately has been toxic, staff morale is at an all time low, certain people aren't talking.......it's ridiculous. I'm a neutral person and get along with most....there's 10 of us how hard can it be? It's kind of sad really, I mean we all love what we do however it's difficult to work under such a heavy cloud. I feel like calling everyone into a room and telling them to lay their shit on the table and move on, get it out and move forward. I suppose that would only solve part of the problem......it's also difficult when you're being micromanaged.....

Sorry for the rant, it's overcast, chilly and this cat is still feeling a bit under the weather and when I've had it....I've had it!!!

Do any of your work environments resemble mine???

I am wondering just how many of you tip your masseuse/masseur and how much? You see pre accident I was lucky enough to enjoy luxurious massages once every two months as per my benefits and would tip accordingly.

Since the accident I have been going much more frequently........every week for the first month and every other week thereafter. I am still tipping as per usual but it's getting rather pricey. My work benefits have been exhausted and the car insurance benefits are kicking in however, they only pay a portion of the massages unlike my previous benefits which covered the full amount.

For those of you who get regular massages I'm assuming you would also tip each visit. Is it still expected with such frequent visits? I know my answer to that question is yes......I'm just wondering what others actually do. I mean I don't tip my dentist or my chiropractor so is it necessary to do so with a masseuse each and every visit? Don't get me wrong she works like a son of a bitch, does a fabulous job and I think she deserves one, it's just getting rather expensive now that I'm dishing out for part of the service as well as a tip much more frequently than before.

I got tagged by WIGSF to complete this meme of five things that frightened me when I was a child.

1) Bloody Mary and I'm not talking about the drink. I remember being in grade 3 or so and being told all about Bloody Mary, the scary woman that lived in the mirror. I was told to turn all of the lights out, put my finger to the mirror and say her name 13 times and poof she would appear with blood running down her face. I attempted this a few times and chickened out before I hit 13. I was so terrified that Mary would appear in my bedroom mirror on her own that I removed it from my bedroom and for years and years refused to have a mirror in my room.


2) I was quite young when I watched Psycho for the 1st time as it was playing on the television. I shut the movie off, demanded my parents come back inside (they were outside doing yard work though it was getting dark) and I couldn't sleep for days I was terrified.

3) I used to sleep sprawled out on the bed, limbs hanging over the edge until this one particular evening. I woke up to something hitting my hand......I held my breath, mustered all of the courage I possibly could and smacked whatever it was touching me. It felt hard.......was probably the cat playing with my finger tips or something but from that day forth I was freaked out about what was lurking under my bed and not once has a hand nor leg drifted past the edge of my bed since.

4) Unsolved Mysteries always intrigued/scared the crap out of me. Robert Stacks voice was soooo eerie; I remember watching an episode in my dark basement when all of a sudden the TV started to turn green and flip like crazy. It was most likely the picture tube but tell that to a creeped out little girl. I was certain the woman who had been thrown off a cliff was somehow inside my television taunting me.

5) I was always a little weary of strangers. I remember walking home one day and a car slowing down......I walked up the closest lawn I saw nonchalantly pretending I lived there when the car pulled right into the driveway and my heart went crazy. Turns out the person driving lived in the house and was slowing down to let me pass over their driveway before they pulled in.

Wiwille & Claire have honored me with the prestigious Artey Y Pico award. It is my understanding that this is given because of one's ability to inspire other bloggers and spawn the creative process through this sphere of online amateur entertainment..........

I'm not sure I was supposed to "borrow" the above paragraph from Wiwille but it was well written so what the hell :)

Upon receiving this award I must follow these four rules:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award through creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.

2. Each award should have the name of the author with a link to their blog.

3. Award winners have to post the award with the name and link to the blog of the person who gave them the award.

4. Please include a link to the Arte Y Pico blog so that everyone will know where the award came from.

Dddddrrrrruuuuummmmmmmmmmmmrooooooolllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Awwww I choose to hand out this wonderful award to the following 5 blogs, in no particular order:

1. Rawbean: You are definitely one of the most creative bloggers out there from the cartoon vegetables to the drunken pizza contests. There is never a dull moment over at Coke and Count Chocula, it's fun, honest and always interesting to read. Yay, shout out to Rawbean!!

2. 2DP: You sir are one hell of a writer! I thoroughly enjoy reading about the shenanigans at work in the Corporate Etiquette series and do believe that you have a fine eye when it comes to the photos that you choose. My only request would be for some more male representation in those photos :)

3. JLee: Another artsy fartsy type with a rather eclectic list of posts! One day there is a quiz to fill out, the next she has a picture of a portly half naked man surrounded my guns asking her readers to make an appropriate caption to go along with said photo. I love it!

4. Tokyo Tin Tin: I love reading about all of the wacky Parisian goings on over there! Cocoa kept in the coffee section at the supermarket.......the deed to your mothers house to get into school.......what are they thinking?? Oh and the music, I love the crazy youtube videos that you post!

5. Postsecret: I enjoy reading the new secrets that are posted every Sunday morning. Some are sad, others are thought provoking and a few hit close to home. I am grateful for those who share their secrets and wish each and every one of them peace and happiness.

I often read interesting......and by interesting I mean ridiculous stories in the newspaper and have a tendency to save the clippings for blog posts and what not. I did clean house recently though and threw a bunch of them away however was reminded about the stupidity of our world once again this week.

The latest clipping isn't the cream of the crop by any means but it's a good one nonetheless. We have this newish law that if one is caught going 50 KM/H or more over the speed limit their licence will be suspended and their car seized for seven days. Not to mention fines, court, paying to get the car back etc.

Three vehicles were impounded this past week:

The first man was going 147 km/h in an 80 km/h zone. He told police he was late for his prayer meeting.

The 2nd man was caught going 145 km/h in an 80 km/h zone and explained to officers that he was just out enjoying a holiday drive.

My favorite however was the last man. He was driving 138 km/h in an 80 zone. He told the officers that he had not noticed his actual speed because he was concentrating on sending a text message via his cell.

There was also the gem about a police officers gun discharging during .... wait for this.... a gun safety course that he was teaching.

Oh and I forgot to mention, somewhere in the States a car dealership that was giving away a free gun with the purchase of a new vehicle! Umm yeah......

I went to go and see Tropic Thunder this evening only to find that I clearly have issues reading the "Movie" section of the newspaper. A friend was meeting me there and as we approached the cashier we learned that TT was not showing until Wednesday. You see I saw Wednesday to Friday in the paper, however I thought it meant this past Wednesday.....DOH!!

There's a huge lineup behind us and I feel pressured to just pick a movie, any movie only I have no idea what's playing. He decides we should see either The Mummy or Batman. Hmmm I haven't seen the first 2 mummy movies for a reason....so I chose The Dark Knight. It wasn't something that I had wanted to see but figured meh I could stand to watch Christian Bale for a few hours.

I ended up really really enjoying the film and I must say Heath did a fantastic job as the Joker. I thought everyone was just saying he was wonderful because he had passed away blah blah but he truly was phenomenal in that role.

Any other suggestions for worthwhile films to see in the theatre as of late?? Can't promise I will make it on the right date haha but it's worth a go.

The NIN concert was amazing!! You know most bands will get up there, sing, do a shout out to the particular city they are in, flash some fancy lights and then they are finished. Not these guys! They always put on a phenomenal light show with big screens, lots of colour and a ton of energy. A friend of mine went for the first time and said that he was completely blown away by the experience and it far exceeded his expectations!! Yay!!

The video below is a mish mash of various songs that a fan put together from this tour. The quality is not great but it shows the various lights that NIN used just to give you an idea. Around the min 40 mark is a cool part with a grainy blue screen and special effects are used on the lens to show Trent's face coming through. As well I really enjoyed the very end clip with these crazy lights that looked like gigantic dangling windchimes; it was amazing!

Okay, seriously what the fuck is up with Youtube?? I just played the video and it says it's not available however plays it in a darker lighting which defeats the purpose. I saw this on Tokyo Tin Tin's as well...what's going on?? Ugh, try this link instead.






My friend is home but I have yet to see her. Unfortunately I am sick and off of work this fine day. Actually it's the perfect day to feel like crap because it's an overcast and gloomy day out there. I plan to cuddle up in bed and sleep, drink some tea and take some vitamins. Who the hell gets sick in the summer???