Computers ARE wrong!

You scored as Journalism. You are an aspiring journalist, and you should major in journalism! Like me, you are passionate about writing and expressing yourself, and you want the world to understand your beliefs through writing. Dance 83% Journalism 83% Art 75% Sociology 67% Psychology 67% Theater 67% English 58% Anthropology 50% Engineering 42% Philosophy 33% Biology 33% Mathematics 33% Linguistics 25% Chemistry 8% QuizFarm.comtable> Seriously? Journalism was the main thing I was NOT interested when I was studying writing at UVic. I guess they don't have a category for the aspiring Craft Lady of Steel. They were right about Chemistry though . . . >shudder< Thursday, January 26, 2006 Best Birthday Ever This has been the best actual birthday day I can remember in a long time. Why? Just lots of little things made my day. Got up for work, and Paul had put out a new ipod shuffle for me. Got to work, and there were various happy birthday signs up around the staff room (thanks Wednesday night staff!), a special birthday desktop on my computer (thanks Xta!), and the best birthday song ever waiting for me on my voicemail (thanks Kimmie!). The many phone calls and emails and text messages I got throughout the day were awesome, and yes Harmony, I DO think we should patent our special birthday song and overthrow the current birthday song and make millions . . . Lunch out with work folks, on to school, and many more special calls, and a message from Kimmie saying he had just finished BAKING me a special birthday treat! What fun! (I'll get it tomorrow). Home after school, and Paul went out to get me some cake (okay, pieces of cake, but we shared, and I shared the cake at lunch too, and I went for a longer than usual run today . . . hey man, it's my birthday!) and really made me feel special and wonderful and loved. In fact, I felt special and wonderful and loved all day long, which I guess is why it was the best birthday ever. Gosh! My 27th year has certainly started on the right foot. Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Abnormal According to my Vascular Surgeon, tests have shown that I have a 'slight abnormality' in Factor V Leiden which is one of the eight genetic clotting factors. This little bugger doesn't appear too serious on it's own, but in the presence of oral contraceptives (check), surgery (okay, a while ago on that area, but check), and physical abnormalities (uh, an extra rib? check) it can cause clotting (yes, I could have told you that). So what does all this mean? Well, I will have to see a Hemotologist, and then I'll know more. Tribute "It's a low-risk way to learn about investing, which is appealing to women," said Emily Trant, head of investor services for DigitalLook.com, which oversees the 12,000 ProShare investment clubs in Britain. That is my sister. Yes, the same sister who I so hastily accused of blog ruining back in December. Clearly, the blog has not been ruined, as the blog goes on, and Emily admitted to me recently that she feels a little betrayed by the blog, since she so enjoys reading it, and it snipped at her a little. So I'd like to play a little tribute to my not so little sis. There is an age difference of exactly 1 year, 3 months and 12 days between us, I being on the slightly older side, and she being on the slightly younger side, but the age difference is trivial. So trivial, indeed, I believe it caused an intense sibling rivalry which started the day she was born, and ran rampant for nearly 16 years, which was about when I moved out of the house. It rears it's ugly head every so often, but for the last 10 years or so we've gotten along reasonably well. Our mother blames herself for the trouble, and quite frankly, I blame her a little too. Her mistake, according to her, was not moving me into my 'big girl room' prior to bringing the new baby home from the hospital. Instead she brought the new baby home, put her in MY bed in MY room, and then proceeded to show me this new large place I'd be living in. I was, apparently, pretty pissed for a child of less than 16 months old, and seemingly, stayed pissed for most of my childhood and adolescence. There are many moments from our childhood, adolescence and teenage years where I did and said things which were pretty mean, and I don't think we need to revisit those moments, although Emily is pretty good at re-telling them, particularly once she's had a few cocktails. I acknowledge the fact that I could, and still can be, a pretty mean person when I want to be. The point is, having survived all those years with a horrific bitch of an older sister like me seems to have only made her stronger, and turned her into one of those annoying people (in the best possible way) who excels at absolutely EVERYTHING she does. (This is perhaps why I get so annoyed when she takes on an activity I enjoy, since I feel like I need SOMETHING that just I can be good at) So what has she done? Well . . . Played Ringette all through highschool and University, and I couldn't tell you whether she was any good at it because honestly, I never went to a game, but I know she had a butt-load of fun. Put herself through University by lifeguarding, and graduated DEBT FREE with a degree in Economics (honours?) Annoyed Olympic Swimmer Mark Johnston by being better at English than him Was a second runner up in the Miss Iberostar Barlevento contest Put a hole in the neighbour's garage by backing the trailer hitch of the van into it Moved to London (England) after graduating to get herself out of her comfort zone and got a job doing some important investment related mumbo jumbo Was so good at that they made her the head of some portion of said mumbo jumbo Took up Rowing, and despite the ugly calloused man hands, is loving it, and of course kicking ass (sculling ass?) Canoed the Bowring Lakes Did the West Coast Trail Has been traveling around countless places Lit her hair on fire at the office Christmas party the first year she was working in London I'm sure her proudest moments are yet to come, and whatever she chooses to do, she'll kick ass at it, cause that's just what she does. Don't worry Pamela, I'll do you another day. Tuesday, January 24, 2006 Let's have a free vote on the issue . . . Right. Let's have a free vote on issues, on rights we have fought and fought and fought for, people have died for, rights we are entitled to. Let's take a vote and see if all that fighting was in vein. Do you not think that ANY two people who are in love have the right to be married if they want to? Do you not think that a woman should have the right to control what happens to her body? Perhaps if you were a woman you would feel differently about this issue. Perhaps if your daughter or sister or mother were raped and as a result became pregnant you would change your mind. You know what, Mr. Harper, we're lucky you're a minority government. You are such a schmuck, you have inspired people like my partner, who at 30 had never once in his life voted before, to take the stroll over to the polling station, register, and vote against you. So it wasn't enough, it still got people motivated. How do you like that, you motivated people by being an asshole. And you know, I don't really care about this whole sponsorship scandal. I think your buddy Mr. Mulroney did far worse when he was in power, and I'm sure you woulda done the same. Mr. Harper, you've now topped the list of the 3 people I would punch in the face if given the chance. Thanks to you, Celine Dion can now sleep safe at night. Thursday, January 19, 2006 I am wearing Size 27 jeans. TWENTY-SEVEN, which incidentally is also how old I will be in exactly one week. This is the smallest pair of jeans I have ever squeezed my hiney into, and it's quite exciting. How I acquired said jeans must be blog worthy . . . Rebecca, our chock-full-of-british-attitude cashier at work is a fashion-a-holic, and also an ebay shopping whiz, and also the tryer of every fad diet to hit the market and so very skinny kinda lady, brought in a pair of jeans she had bought on ebay but turned out to be too big for her. They're Rock & Republic, a brand I'd never heard of before today, but apparently Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice) designed these jeans herself, and they retail for around $300, but internet savvy Becca got them for a steal of $80. Alas, the size 27 in the 'sexy fit' stretch denim was not the right fit for her, but they slid onto me like a fricken glove. Amazing. So she just handed em over, refusing any cash in exchange. I'm going to buy her a nice bottle of red wine, probably Liberty School, my favourite semi-pricey red, which is well worth each and every one of the thirty dollars. And a steal of a deal in exchange for well fitting jeans. Although I must admit, my ass hardly looks like the one in the picture. Sigh. Wednesday, January 18, 2006 chick peas If you have ever read this blog before, you will know I've been on a bit of a bean kick. Again, credit must go to Jill for inspiring this whole thing, and credit must be passed along to Isa Chandra Moskowitz the author of Vegan With a Vengance who inspired the whole bean shanadagans in the first place. Anyhoo, onto the Chick Pea, aka the Garbanzo bean, aka friggen delicious. Yummy in hummus, yummy in soup, stew, or just plain and dandy cold from a bowl. I usually toss about a half a cup or so into my spinach salad on Monday or Wednesday night for a little protein kick me up. And here's why. Chick-peas/1/2 cup cooked Calories 135 Total fat (g) 2.1 Saturated fat (g) 0.2 Monounsaturated fat (g) 0.5 Polyunsaturated fat (g) 1 Dietary fiber (g) 6.2 Protein (g) 7 Carbohydrate (g) 23 Cholesterol (mg) 0 Sodium (mg) 6 Folate (mcg) 141 Manganese (mg) 0.8 Copper (mg) 0.3 Phosphorus (mg) 138 Nutritious AND delicious. And the re-hydrated dried ones DO taste better than the canned ones. I've been eating them raw all afternoon, they sure taste more pea-y that way. Saturday, January 14, 2006 the bean craze goes on I found this book on my Mom's book shelf and snagged it last night. She's out of the country right now, so what ev. It's AWESOME! So many beany recipes. Even cookies and muffins and breads with beans. It's not a totally veggie book, but I think the veggie sections are totally worthwhile. It's put out by the bean growers of Ontario, or something like that. Good people to support. Last night I made the white bean stew a la Jill, a la Katie. Since I didn't have specific instructions, I winged a lot of it, so if Jill and I were to each freeze a portion of our stews and fed ex them to the other, I'm sure we'd have 2 entirely different, yet equally wonderful stews. Here is what I did: Sauteed 1 whole onion, and 3 cloves of garlic in the biggest pot I have. Add 1 1/4 cups of white wine, and 2 Tbsp tomato paste. Cook a little while. Add 2tsp crushed up fennel seeds, 2 tsp oregano, 2 tsp rosemary, 1/2 tsp sage, 1 tsp tarragon . . . and something else I can't remember right now. I put all the spices in my little garlic crushy thingy my Dad gave me for Christmas, and it did a nice job of breaking them up a bit. Then I sprinkled in 2 tbsp of flour as a thickener, and let simmer a mo or two. Toss in 1 parsnip, cut into little cubes, 2 carrots, chopped up, 1 head of cauliflower, chopped up. Simmer till tender. Then it looked like there wasn't going to be enough liquid, even for a stew, so I added another splash of wine, and 2 cups of veggie broth. Added 2 cups of cooked white beans, 1/2 cup or so of frozen peas, and let all the flavours hang out a bit to develop. Served over barley, cooked in veggie broth, which was delicious. The whole thing was incredibly tasty and healthy and wonderful. It will be made again. The whole thing was amazing, and my apartment smelled incredible. It made sooooo much stew, we each ate a heaping bowl, a serving went to paying of my debt to Xta (gotta love that barter system) and Paul has eaten another serving today for lunch. There are still at least 3 or 4 servings left. Friday, January 13, 2006 rediscovering The following have both been rediscovered after an absence of nearly 10 years. 1) THE LIBRARY!!! Wow, has it been that long? Yep, cause when I navigated my way onto the Vancouver Public Library website and logged myself in, it turns out I have a $0.50 fine from 1996 for some book I had on reserve about Generation X. Did you know they give you books FOR FREE???? And they will ship them to the branch closest to you? It's incredible. They even have DVD's you can borrow AT NO COST. Amazing. I have 3 cookbooks and 1 documentary on order. I may never buy a book again. Okay, that's a total lie, I'm addicted to buying books and I know it. But I am on a budget, so the library it is! Hurrah! 2) DRIED BEANS!!!! I remember when I went to UVic eating a lot of dried beans (nicely soaked and cooked, that is) and that too was nearly 10 years ago. I have to give credit where credit is due, so you should all know it was Jill who started the dried bean craze. Did you know a can of black beans can cost anywhere between $0.89 and $2.49 depending on the brand, and whether you hit a sale or not. And did you know that I went to my favourite bulk food store (favourite, though geographically undesirable unless I'm stopping by my parents place) earlier in the week and filled up a 1L jar of dried black beans for less than a dollar? And did you know when soaked and cooked that jar of beans will TRIPLE in size? Hot dang! So far this week I've soaked a cup of black beans, which turned into nearly 3 cups of black beans, and made our typical Tuesday night brown rice n beans dish (which made tasty leftovers last night for me, and a wrap for Xta's lunch yesterday, since she's terrified of rice and beans on their own, but disguised in a tortilla, she finds them quite tasty) and I'm currently soaking a cup of cannelini beans which will become this awesome stew inspired by Jill. I'm going to see if the library has a book about beans. Come to think of it, my Mom, who has unsuccessfully been trying to push beans on me for years, has a whole bean book at her house. I'll have to stop by for a visit today and see if I can find a turnip. Or a parsnip. Whatever. Bean away! Tuesday, January 10, 2006 trying to be a better me I don't like New Years Eve, really anything about it, but I did make a resolution this year that I feel strongly about keeping; I am not going to support Starbucks any more. Why? Well, mainly, I think there are too many of them. Anyone who has stood at the corner of Robson and Thurlow in Vancouver, trying to decide which Starbucks to go to, knows what I mean. There are now two locations in Kerrisdale, on the same street, just 2 blocks apart. A new Starbucks sprung up in place of the old pet food store on Arbutus and Valley Dr, after most of the stores there never re-opened their doors after a devastating fire in the Schezuan restaurant in that little strip. A new Starbucks on the corner of 16th and MacDonald, in the new retail complex where I cannot remember what was there before they started building. Nothing, perhaps? And on UBC campus, there are at least 4 locations that I know of, and they are all busy, all the time. I'm sure it will make no impact whatsoever, the absence of my occasional $5 Chai tea latte, or $2.62 London Fog, but I feel strongly about my $2.62 going to support the little guy instead of the jolly green giant. In further efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle, I'm attempting to always have my travel mug handy, make my beverages at home or work and use my handy thermos, take my own plates/bowls/tupperware to take out places when I go to them, which isn't often, buy more from bulk food places and take my containers with me to fill up on location to reduce packaging, and drive my car less when possible. Kudos go to Xta, who has chosen to continue to feed her Starbucks addiction (grande tazo chai, no water, no foam . . .) but not unless she has a travel mug. No mug = no drink. Horray! Every little bit counts, right? Wednesday, January 04, 2006 The C Word Is it really that offensive? Based on the shocked looks on the faces of two of our dinner guests new years eve up at the cabin, when I landed on Park Place, with a hotel on it, during an extremely competitive game of Monopoly, and yelled out, "FUCKING CUNT!!!" in dismay, I suppose it is. The rest of our dinner party either live with me, work with me, or have spent considerable time with me under the influence of a couple of cocktails and well know it doesn't take much for me to start talking like a trucker. I really consider the word FUCK to be an essential part of my vocabulary. It can be used in so many ways. An adjective; my fucking dog. A verb; fuck my dog. It can mean something bad; fuck you. It can mean something good; fuck me. It can explain confusion; what the fuck? It's just so fucking versatile. My sister got me this great book for Christmas called Fuck This Book where someone has taken the word FUCK and pasted it over one or more words in a variety of signs. It's awesome. But back to the C word. I think it's only so negative, harsh and offensive if we give it that power. Don't get me wrong, I don't think that theory applies to all words. There are certainly words out there with a historical context which I don't think are appropriate to be used at all, though the music industry tends to disagree with me. But the C word, CUNT, it is what it is. It's 4 letters, one vowel, three consonants. I don't think a word which is often used to refer to women's genitals should be treated with such taboo, because I think, quite frankly, our genitals are quite lovely. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) About Me Katie Gainfully unemployed, which rules. Student, which sucks. Married, which is interesting . . . 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