R.I.P. Bryan

About two weekends Bryan, who I've known since kindergarten, was in the hospital for unspecified reasons. He was released a couple days later proclaiming he'd have to make some serious life changes. He's always been a very fit person but he was going to have to give up smoking (a habit he's had since about grade 8). Today I found out he died from a heart attack on March 24th and his funeral is today.

Not until we started university did I realize how smart Bryan was. I wondered if he acted dumb because he was scared of what his friends would think. He couldn't hide it anymore once he was thriving in university. He finished a social work degree in 2002 and worked in the local jail ever since.

Bryan always had a soft spot for the downtrodden. He was a very generous supporter of the Humane Society and any organization that helped abused children. He had a good rapport with the inmates and wanted to be a good influence in their lives.

Mixed feelings to strong opinions about a new stadium

At first I was all for improvements to Mosaic Stadium in Regina. I was a little apprehensive about the building of a new covered stadium but I was going to wait until the feasibility study. For months we hear about the strength of the Saskatchewan economy and how this is something we could afford. Suddenly farmers all over the world refused to pay ridiculous prices for fertilizer and the government gets way less royalties from the potash industry than expected.

Before the provincial budget came out this week, we knew there would be cuts. A couple months ago, the government cut some coverage of chiropractic services but never did I expect it to be completely delisted. This is completely moronic -- people who can't afford pro-active services are going to cost the system more in re-active services (i.e., drugs and surgery). If we can't afford partial coverage of chiropractic services then we can't afford a stadium. If the people want a stadium get public money to fund it.

Andy Hallett Tribute Comic - The Afterword

For those of you have never saw Angel, this is not going to make any sense. Andy Hallett (who played Lorne) died from congestive heart disease a year ago. His good friend Mark Lutz (who played The Groosalugg) wrote the afterword in the new Angel comic "Lorne". An excerpt:

The rapport was instant, easy going, and warm. We spent the next hour talking about everything under the sun EXCEPT for the fact that we were both different colors and in these outrageous outfits on the ....Paramount.... back lot. Executives in suits would occasionally pass by us, everyone of them giving us some manner of ‘look’ that involved a combination of curiosity, mild-amusement and disbelief. Andy seized on every opportunity he could to make them laugh.

“Humans,” he said loudly in feigned disgust, “don’t they know it’s not polite to stare?”, to a gaggle of “suits” across the street.

“Who raised you, anyway Ma’am? Have you no respect for visible minorities?”, he inquired of who I instantly recognized as former head of Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing - but he, obviously, did not. She laughed heartedly and nodded in the direction of both the blue and green humanoids that had just verbally accosted her …an absurdity that I’m sure only could take place in ....Hollywood.....

Something You Should Learn in Kindergarten

I organized a documentary screening back in January at the university. A lady who works for the Faculty of Science helped a lot but was unable to make it to the event. Last month she borrowed the DVD and I haven't seen it since. We are donating the DVD to the public library and I said I'd drop it off weeks ago. I've been sending the lady who borrowed the DVD emails for weeks asking when I can pick it up from her with no reply. Finally today she admitted that she does not have the DVD anymore because she lent it to a friend. WHAT? THAT IS RIDICULOUS! You don't lend out something that isn't yours. I look like a jerk to the library because I'm waiting on someone I do not know to return the DVD.

Pet Peeve: Addendum

I thought of another one:
Nondescript subject headings for important emails.

The Physics Admin Assistant uses great subject headings:
Regional Science Fair Request
Seminar - March 19 3PM

The Math Ed Program Advisor uses the same subject heading every time:
Of Interest?????
Whether it is a You Tube video, news article, lesson plan, it is always the same. Being super busy with school right now, checking his emails are not a priority. Yesterday I found out he sent me information for a temporary teaching job* with the subject "Of Interest???" By the time I contacted the school, the position had been filled. Ack!




*not quitting school, it was for May-June.

Little Add

I added a Music, Movie & Book Recommend Gadget on the right. It is powered by the website Tastekid.

Notes in Church

LynnieC: My stomach hurts from the ghost of poopies future.
Janny: My stomach is feeling great from the ghost of poopies past.

Funny People Think I'm Funny (with Apologies to John Denver)

I sent this video to Jay Onrait to help with Olympic withdrawal. He loved it! It was a great start to the day to find out others appreciate your awesomeness.



Janny's note to Ky: It is alright to have a crush on Jay Onrait, I'm sure he could handle your high fives. Like your brother, I've watched him on TV for years. He's funny and charming and ridiculously tall. Viewers love him, people love working with him and that is why he was asked to anchor Olympic Morning.

Well that took long enough

I once read that if you ask your brain a question, it has no choice to answer it. It may not answer it right away but it never stops until it does.

This morning as I tied my shoes, I noticed my laces were made out of a nylon blend. I became annoyed because cotton shoe laces stay tied better. Shoe laces that won't stay tied reminded me of a time I re-lace a friend's shoes in a parking lot after midnight. The cops drove by and thought we were doing drugs. I chalked it up to strange behaviour and my friend's is anxious nature. I realized today the cops thought we pulled out the shoe lace so we could use intravenous drugs. Duh, why did it take me 12+ years to realize?

As I walked towards the bus stop, I heard the word antediluvian in the song Atlantis by Donovan. A couple years ago, in a semi-conscious state, I was bother that I didn't know what antediluvian meant. When I woke up in the morning and the weeks following, I was bothered where I had even heard the word.* People told me that I must have been reading something about Noah's Ark. This didn't make sense, I would remember that. It is amazing what the brain picks up when you are not paying attention. I spend so much time with music in the background as I work. This is the same reason why I realized I knew all the words to Bowie's "Space Oddity" as I caught my self singing the harmony part as I studied.






* Poet and I didn't know it.

Lazy Sunday Live 2010!

Never gets old:

BBC's How to Report the News

Language warning

Handsome Men's Club

Mom & Dad, don't bother watching, it won't make sense to you anyway.

I'm tired and frustrated and I don't want to do this anymore

Do you know how hard it is to do relativistic energy proofs when you have a migraine? I have a midterm tomorrow so choice do I have? I just want to curl up into a ball and cry. Drugs help relieve the pain but not the other symptoms.

I'm going to put on my new shoes, maybe they will help.

Pet Peeves

I’m a little grumpy. After 2 migraine free days, I, well, umm, have a migraine.*

1. water in my ears


2. people who touch the controls in my car. Tell me if you’re cold, don’t adjust it yourself.


3. People who complain but do nothing about it. Example: People who ride the bus in Regina complain about smoking in shelters but say nothing when they see it happen. Same goes for people who don’t vote.


4. Sniffling during class. Blow your nose!


5. People who don’t put CDs or DVDs back where they belong


6. Strangers who try to have a conversation with me while I’m going to the bathroom.**


7. eternal optimists

*I also like redundancy
** Lady janitor in the lab building is a notorious offender

Sometimes I remember the strangest things

I had a headache today, again. I slept a good portion of the afternoon and the acetaminophen with caffeine has me wide awake. With the Olympics on, there hasn't been much of new TV so nothing saved on the DVR to bide my time until I'm tired.* I received all the seasons of Gilmore Girls on DVD from my family last year for Christmas. I stopped watching episodes over the summer since I couldn't bare to watch anymore of season 6.** Last week I decided I could continue watching if I skipped parts of season 6 & 7.***

OK, I didn't want to talk about my headache, my sleeplessness or Gilmore Girls. Yes, Gilmore Girls makes me weepy sometimes but tonight it wasn't really the show that was making me weepy, it was Christiane Amanpour. You're probably thinking "What does CNN's chief international correspondent have anything to do with any of this?" She was made a cameo in the series finale of Gilmore Girls. Soon as I saw her I remembered a fellow teacher told me how she always wished she had become a journalist like Amanpour. This the first of many conversations about our path in life we take. All these feelings and insecurities came flooding back to me and it was a little much.

Sorry for the rambling.










* Please forgive, I just finished watching multiple episodes of Gilmore Girls. My brain is in fast talking mode.
** Not that it was bad, just hard to watch emotionally because you know what is going to happen.
*** Sorry, my brain is a little like this:

LORELAI: Because my brain is a wild jungle full of scary gibberish. "I'm writing a letter. I can't write a letter. "Why can't I write a letter? I'm wearing a green dress. "I wish I was wearing my blue dress. "My blue dress is at the cleaners. "'The Germans wore gray. You wore blue. ''Casablanca'. "'Casablanca' is such a good movie. "'Casablanca.' The white house. Bush. "Why don't I drive a hybrid car? I should drive a hybrid car. "I should really take my bicycle to work. "Bicycle. Unicycle. Unitard. Hockey puck. Rattlesnake. Monkey, monkey, underpants."

The Nose Knows

Today is the eighth consecutive day I've been sick. It started with a sore throat on Friday night then migraine Saturday then flu/cold by Sunday. My stomach is feeling much better but now it is just a dreadful head cold. I think my nose is playing tricks on me. It seems to start running like crazy whenever I've just washed my hands or if I even think of going to sleep.

New Highest Scrabble Score Ever! (With Apologies to May-B)

Beat my previous best score of 513 last week with a new high of 517! Woot!

As happy as I am for doing so well, I felt bad it had to happen when May-B was having such a rough game. Right after she had to swap her tiles, I played slumping for 100 points (my new highest single word score). She started a new game called "Thank God that is over".

Letters to Some Former Students

Dear Allison,
Glad to see that you are well and seem to have risen above where you came from. I always admired your cheery disposition in spite of your bad home situation. The fact that you are a new mother makes me feel very, very old.
Love, Janny

Dear Brandon,
Wow, you got hot. I'm sure you are still an idiot but the years since high school have been kind to you (unlike many others).
Love, Janny

Dear Andrea,
You've always seemed to have a sadness about you and I never knew why. I pray you can find the peace you are looking for.
Love, Janny

Dear Tyrel,
You seemed like you were one of those boys that would be stuck in that town forever. I am so proud of you for being more than the low expectations for you. It is amazing what the love a good woman can do for a man.
Love, Janny

Dear Travis,
I'm sorry if you thought I didn't like you. You thought you were my least favorite student but it was really the opposite. You honestly were the smartest student I have ever taught and I was just trying to push you to achieve what I knew you could.
In other news, I still tell people about how your grad date was a very attractive 23 years old.
Love, Janny

Dear Sabrina,
Is it bad that I knew that you'd be a girl that could never leave that town? Not necessarily a bad thing. I know you had big ambitions but family and friends were more important.
I forgot how hot your dad was. Also, your brother is still a piece of work but I think it is part of his genetics.
Love, Janny

Sometimes it is best to not know the context

Overheard at the university: "The Incredible Hulk and Morgan Freeman? That's just too much awesome for one conversation."

Ann-Margrock sings "Ain't Goin' to Be Your Fool"

I had this song stuck in my head this evening...