Playing catchup.

I haven't posted since Tuesday night, so I figured I should update.

Wednesday night was the last night of bowling before the two-week holiday break. Randy had brought Santa hats for us all to wear, but partway through the night we were all feeling a little warm (and the pompom was a little distracting while trying to line up shots) so we all took them off. Still, it was a cute touch.

The lanes were oilier than usual, so we were all having trouble. My first game was a little below average (151), my second game just sucked (127), and it took until the third game to figure out how my ball was reacting. I finished with four strikes in a row and got a 203, so that salvaged the night.

I continued for a few days to play phone tag with the headhunter who'd called on Tuesday afternoon, and finally got hold of her today. It seems the company is now insisting on someone with 10 years of QA experience, which isn't me (though I've worked closely with QA people for over 10 years). However, they're going to be hiring more people in January for positions that I'm better qualified for, so she told me to call in the second week of January if I don't hear from her before then. I also called the HR guy at Manulife whose number I had been given, but he's away on vacation until January 3.

I watched the leaders' debate tonight, and came away with a few observations. I'll cut them for length:

( My thoughts about the debate. )

Anyway, I'm sure I'll have more thoughts later...

I hope to finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow. (Yeah, right.) Just four people left to buy for, three of which should be as easy as pie. Then I'm supposed to call cuteteenboy to get together.

Almost finished with this pagan ritual.

I went out this afternoon to try to finish my Christmas shopping. I still want to try to find one more thing, though, but I don't know yet what it is. I'll know it when I see it.

I bought:

• an angora wrap and a copy of Wicked for Manuela (Mike's wife)


• a Power Rangers sweatshirt for Adam (Mike and Manuela's older son)


• an Incredibles sweatshirt for Brandon (their younger son)


• stuffed Lilo & Stitch toys for each of them (I'll let them fight over who gets which :) )


• Bill Maher's New Rules and a Doctor Who script book (the Tom Baker years) for Scott - I hope he doesn't have it already

I've developed a bad habit over the past couple of years when it comes to buying Scott's Christmas gifts - I'll be wandering around a bookstore, see something I think he'll like, and pick it up. Then five minutes later, I'll see something else I think he'll like, and pick that up too. Rinse and repeat. I think it was two years ago, in his words, I got him "a complete reading list." I was good to restrict it to only two books (though I almost got him a book on the making of the Hitchhiker's Guide movie too). I figure I'll toss in a Future Shop gift card or something too. I might do the same for Mike and Manuela. (I still have to figure out what the heck it was that I bought for Mike last year, wrapped and then put away without giving to him. It's about the shape and size of a coat, but I can't remember and I don't want to unwrap it. Maybe I should just make him open it here so that I can be surprised with him.)

I also have a strange feeling that I bought Wicked for someone else last year. I'll have to call Mike this week and ask him what I got Manuela last year before I wrap it.

I got home around 7:30, had dinner and watched most of the Leafs game. Ottawa can win all they want right now - it doesn't count until the playoffs. ;) Though I was getting frustrated at times. Note to the players: when Dominik Hasek is the opposing goalie, shooting the puck directly at him isn't going to work. Try aiming for where he isn't. Oh, and for the love of Pete, start lifting some weights, guys. Every game I've watched this year, the opposing players just have to look at you and they knock you off the puck.

When Ottawa scored to make it 5-2, I decided that it was time to call cuteteenboy. (Just as well; since the final was 8-2, I would have just given myself an ulcer if I'd continued to pay attention to the game.) As I'd suspected, he'd forgotten that we were going to get together this evening. Probably just as well, though, as I'm rather tired from wandering around a shopping mall full of people who give new meaning to the word "meander." His bf didn't sound too happy that I had called, though that might have been because I kept him on the phone for 45 minutes. But the Gaylaxicon 2006 webpage has now been updated with the following information:

• an updated bio and photo of our Writer/Editor Guest of Honour, Michael Rowe


• information on taking advantage of our Air Canada discount, for people flying to Toronto


• pre-registration, dealers, t-shirt/polo shirt and dinner ticket prices (they were on the flyer, which has always been available on the site, but now it's easier to find)

Shiny. :)

There are more updates to come, but he needs to finish setting up email addresses for some departments before he can put those other pages up.

On tap for later tonight: watch "In A Mirror Darkly, Part II" woth commentary. I watched part one last night, and it was quite interesting.

Oh, and I finally figured out how to make my computer use my cable modem to access Symantec's website and download the latest virus definitions, instead of having to unplug my phone to do it. (Yeah, I know, I should have been able to figure it out earlier. Silly me, looking in the menus and the help files for Norton rather than going to my Control Panel.) It seems I've picked up a Trojan (I should be so lucky). Unfortunately, the removal tool I downloaded from Symantec isn't getting rid of it, nor did Ad-Aware. It's called Vundo - if anyone has any suggestions as to how to get rid of it without trying to edit the registry, I'd appreciate them.