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Holidays

Posted on December 27, 2006 | Filed Under Family, Vacation, Drama

Hope everyone had a good Christmas…

We spent a couple days over in Victoria to spend Christmas with my family. It was really nice to see everyone and spend time with some of Jeremy’s relatives too, although there was so many people there we were exiled to sleep in the camper. It was cosy enough but not very comfortable…Jeremy managed to beat both me and my brother at every game we played.

The days in Victoria werent as relaxing as they should have been with Jeremy and I still recovering from a very bad Friday night. I had my first ever panic attack and hopefully my last. Theres no way to really describe that experience but if you type in panic attack into wikipedia and read the symptoms you will see that it was not a fun time. A couple hours in the hospital and a lot of sleep later and Im feeling better.

Jeremy and I both realized this morning as the alarm was going off that we should have taken this week off. Oh well, three days to work and then another long weekend to look forward to.

Thankfully work is very slow today so I can sit here and daydream about our trip to Europe that we are planning for April. We are going to do a 20 day trip to a bunch of countries- Belgium, France, Spain, Austria, Italy… Its gonna be so great!

 

~L

Robbed

Posted on October 5, 2006 | Filed Under Family, Rants, Drama

My parents’ house in suburban Victoria was robbed today. As they ransacked my parents’ bedroom they managed to find the small safe in the bottom of the closet and decided it was the paydirt. Somehow thieves carried the safe out of the front door of the house, pockets full of jewellery from my mom’s dresser and nobody noticed anything. Not the neighbor beside them who was home. Not the neighbor on the other side of them that was working in her front lawn. And not the neighbor across the street from them who was ALSO gardening in her front lawn.

How do you not notice people carrying a safe out someone’s house?

GRRRR!

My wedding band which matches my engagement ring was in the safe. Along with all my grandmother’s diamonds. Huge ones. And my great-grandmother’s ring too.

Sucks that the list my grandmother wrote up before she passed away with a decription and sizes of each diamond ring/piece of jewellery was in the safe as well.

My parents are OK and their kitten didnt run away, even with the front door being open all day. And for some reason, the camera, cell phone, jewellery in the bathroom and the TV and electronic equipment is all fine.

My mom tells me that the police didnt bother to fingerprint anything because “these people always wear gloves” That made me really mad. How can you just assume that without even LOOKING for fingerprints? That does not sound like good police work. I watch CSI!

Word of warning: The piece of wood in the window sill to lock the window DOES NOT WORK.

~L

New Bed to No Bed

Posted on August 20, 2006 | Filed Under Family, Home

Last weekend, Laura and I went out and bought a new bed. King sized. The potential to be the bed of all beds. We’re very excited.

Laura’s parents wanted our old one, so they came and picked it up with a truck at about 4 today. What a great idea that was…

The bed delivery got get here at around 5, take one look at the staircase, and say that they’d have to break the bed to fit it up the stairs. We bring it back up the alleyway and give it a try anyway (hey, it’s their job). If not for the very top step, it would fit just fine. They can bend it a bit more, but due to a tough wire along the perimiter of the bed it would be irrecoverably busted. Not wanting to lose the warantee on a bed that we might want to send back anyhow — I think it’s too firm, but I was willing to give it a test drive — I sent it back since i didn’t want to sign a waiver.

So, we’re without a bed for at least a week. We’ve got the futon, but after 7 months of use as my bed before Laura moved over, it’s already hard as a rock.

I guess our options are:

1. Get a smaller bed. I suspect that a Queen’s shortest dimension is the same as a King, though.

2. Get a matress without the hard perimiter wire (probably results in a softer matress, i don’t know). Maybe they’ll give us a trade-up? Sucks that they close on 5 on a Sunday and it’s just past 5 that they delivered it.

3. Get 4-5 friends to hoist it up to the deck with a good deal of rope, after having disassembed the planters and covered the wood panelling in cardboard to prevent tearing. That is, if the downstairs neighbours allow us to use their patio for an hour or so.

1 is cheaper, but possibly just as intractible. 2 probably involves going into the store during the daytime to try more beds. 3 begs me to release the inner engineer (Luke’s rope-fu is strong… perhaps he can help).

We could call 3 an Amish Bed Raising ;).

Well… we’ve got at least one sleepless night ahead to ponder the posibilities.

~j

Stash-what-sky?

Posted on June 25, 2006 | Filed Under Randomness, Family

A recent post by Chris prompted me to google for my name.

First, there are 56 google hits to my name, of which about 50 are actually me. I found this creepy site in the results; a site that tries to link names with employers: That zoominfo site lists Stanislav Stashevskyy, the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine.

Stashevskyy is aparently an OK translation of the original Ukranian/Russian “Сташевский” (If you can’t read that, your browser sucks). So I searched some more with that.

There’s Vlad (Влад) Stashevsky, the hot male model of the mid 90s.

Richard J Stashevsky, a headmaster of a christian school in Indiana.

Shmuel Stashevsky, who is at a university in Israel. He’s written a few books, including one about how people misbehave in organizations.

There’s 4 Stashevskys that I found in this list of Holocaust victims from a place in Poland.

I look like none of these people, except maybe Shmuel, who totally has my eyebrows. I have no idea why I’m posting this, just excited that I figured out how to spell my last name in cyrillic =).

~j

weekend update

Posted on June 20, 2006 | Filed Under Family, Home, Friends

Another busy weekend and I’m back at work already. I was lucky enough to get a ride to Victoria with my friend Adrienne’s sister, Sabrina, and her puppy Molly early Friday morning and we made the 9am ferry. Spent Friday and Saturday with Adrienne, Sabrina and others while we celebrated Adrienne and Russ’ upcoming wedding with a stagette and bridal shower. I documented the whole thing with my camera, but unfortunately I cant share them all. I will post some of them later this week.
Saturday afternoon I made it out to my parent’s place for a yummy home-cooked mom dinner and spent some time with my dad (mostly watching hockey!). Sunday morning my dad and I got up early before everyone else and went to Thetis Lake for a hike/walk…We saw a deer, but it was so far away the picture is really just of a brown blob. Then we went back home, woke up my mom and great aunt Pat and then we went out to Sidney for brunch and to the 1pm ferry home. I arrived home shortly after 4pm, had a short rest, then Jeremy and I cleaned up our place and cooked dinner. We had a fun dinner party with Mel, Chris, Jo and Scott and played a crazy game of Killer Bunnies. Note: The Ebola virus is BAAAD. Overall it was a great weekend!

Work is back to mostly normal, our manager is back at work after the big wigs realized they had no actual evidence…Im enjoying my new position so far, its more challenging and more fun! I have now fully staked my claim on this desk and moved everyone else’s stuff (sales guys used to use this one once in a while) to another one….muahahha.

Im looking forward to a quiet week of spending time playing with our new playstation2…i love megaman!

~L

Honey, while you’re up, can you get me a big bowl of WTF?

Posted on May 17, 2006 | Filed Under Day to day, Family, Rants

Hey, it’s Jeremy… the guy who never posts on here

So in general, my life is pretty good. If you read the title, don’t worry, i’ll get to that part in a bit. I’m feeling healthy — i’m enjoying weekly yoga classes and i should start biking again closer to June. I’ve had three extremely good days at work in a row — we’re releasing the tech-preview of the web-security product i’m working on and things are going exceedingly well. I also got a raise that i’m very happy with.

My juggling skills are improving since i’m practicing more often. I’m up to 30+ catches-without-dropping of 3-club juggling after just starting clubs two weeks ago. I’m heading to Bellingham with Luke and friends on Friday (I took Friday off). I’ve got some custom-made clubs on order that we’re going to pick up on the way down, which i’m very exited about. Even more exciting is that I’m going to be staying in a barn in the middle of a swamp with lots of other jugglers.

Unfortunately, I had a bit of a shock yesterday after coming home from a really good vanjug meeting and a nice visit afterwards with Luke and Jen. Hence the title.

First off, I found out that my Grandpa on my mom’s side has aparently had a stroke. I’m not sure how serious it is. I’m a bit estranged from that side of the family, so i feel nervous about phoning and trying to find out more. I wasn’t really close with my Grandpa, partially from competition with the 30-so cousins (i have 12 aunts/uncles on that side of the family), but mostly because my family was fairly insular. I’m more afraid that I’d end up having to talk to my mom…

Which brings us to the second shock. My youngest sister is only my half-sister. She found this out this week after finding out that my dad is O+ (the + means Rh+, the O is the blood group). My mother is also Rh+ (not sure of the blood group). My sister is Rh-. She found out when she had her daughter, who is Rh+ and needed blood transfusions after birth. It’s pretty much impossible to be Rh- with two Rh+ parents. Therefore, since we know for sure who the mother is, it’s extremely likely my dad is not my sister’s genetic father.

I’m upset that, once again, my mother has lied to my entire family. This is why i have no respect for my mother. Well, that and the stories of abuse from my childhood that i’ve no recollection of — I found out about a year ago from my Grandma on my dad’s side. To a certain extent, it’s not my mom’s fault; she’s Bi-polar with a few other mental illnesses. But, she’s hurt me and the rest of my family so much in the past 25 years it’s hard to forgive. I’m sorry if i sound bitter, but i think i’ve been through a lot in this respect.

This brings up some interesting thoughts. Namely who are my parents? What is my blood type? I don’t think i’ve even been told my blood type. I bear a very strong resemblance to my mother — hair, eyes, skin, build. I almost don’t want to know… If i’m not my dad’s genetic son, how would that change things? Would I even be able to figure out who my real father was if it turns out to be true? I hope i’m just being paranoid.

Either way, i am what i’ve become, no matter how that came about. I’m happy about where I am and who I’m with (my very significant other, my friends, and my co-workers). Who cares if i’m a literal bastard? It’s not like i’m nobility

Busy weekend

Posted on May 1, 2006 | Filed Under Day to day, Family, Friends

Three days away and it felt like a week. Thursday night I raced from work to home to get the one thing I forgot to pack: my mom’s bday present…Grabbed it and ran back to the bus depot and made it to the bus in time for the 7pm ferry. The ferry arrived half an hour late so I was late arriving in Victoria, but hurried to Syn to meet Kristin and Jacqueline. While I saw Kristin at Easter two weeks ago for a couple hours it has been months since Ive seen Jacqueline, so it was really nice to spend time with them and drink some yummy martinis and to catch up on what’s been going on. Jacqueline and I made it to the last bus, leaving Fort and Douglas at 11:50pm! so early! and made it to her new apartment. I spent the night on her couch, and her kitty George spent the night running around and being hyper! Apparently he’s usually very shy, so I feel honored that he was curious and let me pet him and kept me awake
Friday morning Jac was very nice to drive me to my friend Jen’s where Jen gave me a haircut and we got to have a good visit. I went with Jen to take her son Clay to daycare and then we went to Hillside Mall where I killed time browsing and she went to the doctor. On our way back to her house on the bus, Jen realized that she had a car I could have driven us around in! heh. She’s so used to not being able to drive it (with only her L) that she forgot I could! very funny…

After a little mix up of exactly where to meet, my friend Josh finally picked me up and we went to his place for a good visit, mostly involving us sitting around and listening to records, it was fun. Yet another friend I have barely talked to or spent any time with lately…so it was really nice to spend some time with so many friends in one visit.
I met my parents and brother at the Keg for dinner that night and we had a great time. Although I was so tired from a busy day that I pretty much just went straight to bed when we finally got home.

Saturday morning I slept in a bit and then got up to take my moms car to go pick up Jeremy from the ferry and my family headed up to Duncan. We met them up there eventually after taking a little detour to check out the Mill Bay ferry schedule. We arrived at my mom’s cousin’s and great aunt’s place and commenced the big birthday bash/ family reunion. It was fun to see all the people that I usually only see every couple years or even more. Pretty funny to see my little third cousins all grown up wearing makeup and listening to their ipods…I used to babysit them when they were babies! eek Im old

I changed beds/couches three times that night trying to get away from various snoring, but I guess thats bound to happen in a house with lots of people visiting. Needless to say, it was not a restful sleep…I think I got to sleep around 4am or so…
We were able to catch the 1025am Mill Bay ferry and we drove from Brentwood to make it for the noon ferry, but with the horrible traffic in Van we didnt get to the bus depot until after 3pm. That was a long day of travelling…it was so nice to crawl into my own bed for a nap, after three nights of couch/uncomfortable bed sleeping…

It was a tiring couple days but Im very happy to have been able to see friends that I miss dearly and to spend some quality family time too. Im very happy that next weekend is looking to be fun and not too stressful, although this week at work will be pretty crazy. We are shortstaffed and very busy, but the plus is that I get to work an earlier shift to help out in the mornings, so I should be off work every day by 4 or 430 so thats great!

~L

At work not doing work

Posted on January 31, 2006 | Filed Under Day to day, Family, Friends

It was so nice on my way home last night to have it be clear, not raining, and still light out! Ive been enjoying the daylight lately by walking home from the skytrain rather than busing. Ive even been able to see some pretty sunsets, when it hasnt been cloudy and raining.

I had very busy weekend: Left work early on Friday to catch the PCL for the 7pm ferry to go over to Victoria to my parent’s place. Up early Saturday to meet Adrienne for brunch and four hours of bridesmaid dress-trying-on at the bridal shop. I found a style of dress that looked great and got measured. Turns out my measurements are hourglass-y but a bit higher in each than I expected…Ill have to be careful to not gain weight between now and July 31st. Being around all those wedding dresses made me want to find one heh.

Saturday night had a big yummy family dinner…mmm, it was nice to have some mom’s cooking. And then up early Sunday to make the 11am ferry and get back home. Made it to the bus station by 130 to find that everyone in the city was trying to get into or out of chinatown (for chinese new years parade?) and there was no way I was getting a bus, so I braved the rain and wind and walked home. Home just after 2 to crawl into bed for a nap and to warm up. Slept in a little but made to Mel’s party just a little late. As usual, Mel was a great hostess and we had fun, watching movies and eating goodies. Halfway through my second glass of red wine I realized that it was Sunday night not Saturday and I had to go to work the next morning

Last night was quiet and relaxing, and quite domestic. Did many dishes, and three loads of laundry and hung out at home with Jules, who was very happy to sit on my lap and watch tv with me. Im glad that the show about a plane crash didnt give me nightmares, it was kinda scary. Jeremy worked late and made it home around 930. Sounds like its a busy week at work and he’ll be working late…Ive been getting used to him being home right after me lately Anyone wanna do something this week? Ill be at home with my cat

Resolutions…

Posted on January 5, 2006 | Filed Under Day to day, Family

I am feeling quite good about not making any resolutions last week. If I was gonna change any habits/routines of mine I would need to have better motivation than just because New Years went by…There probably is something I should work on but if i havent already started it there must be a valid reason…
There is some cranky people at my work this week with everyone trying to keep their resolutions: by quitting nicotine, caffeine, sugar or a combination.

My friend Micah wondered today if businesses notice a sharp decrease in cigarette sales the first week of january? I wonder…

I think the only way to quit smoking is to realize how bad it is for you and just decide. For some people it takes a long time. My father hasnt had a single smoke since his heart attack almost two years ago. I remember I asked him about it, if it was hard to stop and he told me that in the hospital bed next to him was an old man who was there for his third heart attack and he just decided he didnt want to be that old man in his future. And never wanted to feel that pain again.

Since I didnt make any resolutions it’s not really fair for me to hope that others have made one either. But I hope my mom will stop smoking this year. It’s selfish but I cant help it- I want her to stick around.