Friends

In the past week I have had the opportunity to catch up with some old friends. Some over the phone, some over coffee, some laying in the grass - soaking up the sun. We've covered weighty issues like divorce and job loss but also laughed until our sides hurt. I have some amazing friends.

But, the problem is: as you go through life, you never stop accumulating friends. Since we have the same number of hours in a day and days in a week, it makes it increasingly difficult to keep in touch with all of them. As much as you want to, sometimes weeks and even months can go by. But, with true friendships that time doesn't matter. You pick up where you left off, fill each other in and enjoy each other's company.

I feel so lucky to have crossed paths with so many amazing people. People I have worked with, gone to school with, met on trips halfway around the world. Thanks for being a part of my life!!

My Update

I'm following up my post about the fabric I bought to make cushions for the couch. I finally got the sewing machine out of the closet last week. For some reason I was all ready to do some sewing when I got home from work last Monday. (yes, at midnight!)

I got the machine out and changed the thread, being careful to remember all the spots it had to go through. I spun a bobbin of the colour I needed and put the bobbin in as well. Then I did a test on a scrap piece of fabric. I was perplexed when there were no stitches. I re-threaded and re-threaded the machine multiple times. I even googled my problem (but found nothing useful) Since my machine is an antique...I don't have a manual for it. By this point, it was 1:30am. I determined there was nothing I could do and headed to bed.

The next day, my mum & Grammie were coming for a visit. I suggested Mum take a look at my machine and see what I was doing wrong. After a brief 2 minutes, Mum discovered I was threading the needle from left to right rather than right to left. I couldn't believe something so simple could cause such headaches!! Thanks Mum!!

Anyway, I've been cutting, pinning and stitching away and here are a few photos of my project!

I Love My Mechanic!

My friend Sue says, that as you make your way through life, it is important to find yourself a good hair stylist and a good mechanic. If you can put complete trust in these two people...you are set.

I found my stylist about 5 years ago. The mechanic was a bit trickier. Since my brother is a Class A Mechanic at a Ford dealership, I originally took my Ford Tempo to him for repairs. Then I bought a VW. I faithfully took it to the dealership for oil changes and repairs while it was under warranty. However, I always felt like I was being taken for a ride...and not in my car. Their customer service was less than ideal and their prices were outrageous.

A little place called "Autobahn Motors" caught my eye while driving past. It had a classic Beetle in its showroom, so it was worth checking out :) What I discovered inside was a small operation with excellent service and decent prices. I have come to put complete trust in my mechanic Chris.

Even though he knows I have no idea how a car works, he always takes the time to show me the problem, the parts, etc. and explain what is wrong. If he thinks I can drive it for a while before it needs to be fixed, he'll tell me that. If he thinks it is unsafe for me to drive it, he'll give me a loaner until it is repaired.

Yesterday I was in the area and decided to pop in and get him to check a noise that my car had been making for a few days. Even though I didn't have an appointment, he took about 20 minutes to take it for a drive and find out what was making the noise. He assured me it is nothing to worry about and sent me on my way without charging me a cent.

I think this kind of customer service is awesome. So, if you're in the London area and drive a VW, I suggest taking your car to Chris to be seviced.

Sew - A Needle Pulling Thread

More than a year after I took my beginner sewing class, I thought I'd put my skills to use. I purchased a pattern and some fabric today!

Last year I was feeling inspired and signed up at a local sewing shop to learn how to sew. I took my antique sewing machine in for a tune up, purchased some fabric, a pattern and other supplies, and showed up on a Wednesday morning. My final product was a pair of pyjama pants. I should really take a photo and post it here. They turned out pretty good for my first project since Home-Ec class.

However, after my first class, my roommate bought a house and set the wheels in motion for looking for a new place and moving. The sewing machine got packed away and forgotten about.

Recently I've been feeling like my living room needs a spruce up and decided to try my hand at some throw cushions and curtains. I was feeling particularly ambitious today and ventured in to Fabricland. I picked out 2 types of fabric and a pattern. (Sewing Patterns for Dummies - pillows) I'd like to get started right away, but I have to start my shift at work now :( I will post my progress here, so stay tuned!

Adulting

3 down...1 to go. Of the 4 of us, I'm the only one left to have my colonoscopy. Unfortunately, I have to wait until June. (I'm kidding about the unfortunately part) Connie went last Friday and John went today. Both are in the clear. (so to speak) I talked to my brother this morning as he was preparing to go in for his appointment. He said the prep wasn't too bad but was not looking forward to the procedure. I asked for him to let me know how it went as I'm a little nervous about that too.

In the meantime, I got a phone call from my dentist...turns out I need a root canal. What? Are you kidding me? One horrific procedure at a time, please!

Anyway...John emailed me tonight to say that it was a relief to have it done. And...to quote "To be honest Janice I would rather go through that than some experiences at the dentist. It was a breeze and nothing to fret over." I thought it was ironic that he brought up the dentist :)

In the meantime...Jo-Anne is planning on having her surgery sometime next week. She has created a blog to update family and friends on progress. If you want to check it out, here is the link.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jkoiter

Cancer

Cancer. We hear the word pretty much every day:
There is a new cancer study.
It is ______ cancer awareness month.
Please donate to cancer research.

But, when it touches you personally, the word becomes so much more than just a word. It is a fear. Your worst fears realized. Last Thursday, my sister Jo-Anne was diagnosed with colon cancer. Hearing the words just did not seem real. I had no words to come out of my mouth. Even the next morning, I woke up wondering if it was just a dream.

This is my sister. She's a wife. A mom. A daughter. An aunt. A friend. This is not supposed to happen to her.

I've learned in the past few days that colon cancer is very rare in someone Jo-Anne's age. Also, because she is so young, her immediate family will need to be screened as well. That means colonoscopies for myself and my siblings.

On Friday (the day after her diagnosis) she went to have some blood work done and a chest XRAY. While she was getting the XRAY, she asked the technician if she knew how long the wait would be for her CAT scan and if she should just wait for a phone call. She had been told the day before that she would be put on an urgent list and it should be within 3 weeks. (Three weeks is a long time to wait when you're waiting to see if cancer has spread or is contained!) When the technician asked her circumstances, she was very sympathetic and said she would check on it. Amazingly, she came back to tell Jo-Anne there had been a cancellation on Monday morning at 9am...would she like that appointment? Wow!

So, Monday morning, she went for the CAT scan. We weren't really sure how long it would take to get any results, but I got a phone call from Jo-Anne that night. The doctor had reviewed her results and wanted to let her know that upon first look, it appears the cancer is contained. That is great news!

We are now just waiting for her to have her surgical consultation and book the surgery. In the meantime, my sister Connie has her colonoscopy booked for Friday and my doctor was putting in a referral for me today. (not sure if my brother has started the wheels in motion yet!) Thank you so much for your prayers and kind words. They have meant so much. I know it is a tough road ahead, but for now, I feel a bit of relief.

Straight Shooter!

During a trip home for Easter, my brother John (who is trying really hard to look like Gizzly Adams these days) brought his newest "toy". To John, a toy is something involved in the world of an Outdoorsman. ie: hunting, fishing, etc. So, when Jason & I arrived at Mom & Dad's I saw John, Dad & Josh prowling around down by the barn. I wasn't sure what they were up to, but it seemed typical enough.

After dinner, John asked if I'd like to come and see his new/old muzzle loader. I wasn't exactly sure what a muzzle loader was (actually...I still don't. some kind of really old gun) I wasn't really interested, but I thought I would give John a kick and see what this was all about. I borrowed a couple of layers from Mom as it was pretty cold and headed down to the barn.

John & Josh (his protege) were giving a demonstration on loading the gun. There were lots of steps and seemed pretty labour-intensive. I'm not really sure the point, other than just nostalgia I guess. The real excitement was when John asked if I'd like to shoot it. Ahhh, ya!






I took the gun and John helped me set up to take my shot. I was prepared for it to come back into my shoulder (from all my previous experience shooting a gun!) but it didn't really do that. It was LOUD though. After the shot was fired, Josh ran off to check the target (with a poor little groundhog on it) He came running back saying "you've got better aim than Dad!" Ha ha...I was shocked! Steve took a turn and missed the target and then Jason shot. He hit the target but wasn't quite as close as I was.





On the way home, we stopped in to see John's new puppies. They are pretty adorable, I'm sure you will agree!

Mac Trouble

After one week of being computerless, I'm happy to have my Macbook back in my posession and fully functional. Last Sunday, I opened i-tunes and it said there was an update available. I had said "later" to this message for about 2 weeks and finally decided to do the update. I let it run while Jason & I played crokinole. When it was done, it said to restart the computer. I hit restart and headed over to my friend Kim's house.

Imagine my horror when I came home and saw a blue screen. (I'm not calling it the "blue screen of death" because I thought that was a PC thing, but...I'm not sure anymore!)I tried restarting it again but I got the same thing. The next morning I went over to Jason's to google the problem. I tried various key combinations while doing the start up, but I kept getting the same result. Eek. I was totally freaking out. Mostly because all of the photos I've taken since getting my laptop would be gone...no back up. (lesson learned) Later that day, I lessened the freak out when I realized that my ipod had all my photos loaded on it. So, if worse came to worse, I still had those.

I contacted my friend Chris who is the most Mac-passionate guy I know. He's helped me out on numerous occasions and really came through for me this time. I still don't know what the problem was, but I have my computer back and better than ever. He loaded Leopard on it for me. (for all you PC users, Leopard is the most recent MAC operating system)

Furry Happy Monsters

While checking out Entertainment Weekly tonight, I stumbled across 25 Classic Sesame Street Visits. Being a life-long fan of the show, which incidentally is celebrating 40 years on the air, I had to check it out. (if you're interested http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20217995_6,00.html) Most of the photos had clips attached and they were so hilarious. Sesame Street has a way of making children's programming entertaining for adults and this video by REM had me laughing out loud as I sat at my desk in the newsroom :) Hope you enjoy it too!

Daily Photo Project (March)

Celebrating Another Year

Well, another year older, another year...wiser? Not sure about that one, but last week was the anniversary of my birth. Yes, it was 32 years ago that I was born. For some reason, birthdays are still a big deal to me. So, spreading out the celebrations for over a week was A-OK with me!

The weekend before, I did a little road trip to Lambton County :D I went to visit my Aunt Peggy, she's just so adorable. Then I went on to Petrolia. John & Karen and the kids came over to the Berrys and we had pizza and birthday cake! It was so yummy...Connie made a homemade chocolate/lemon layer cake. Unfortunately, the battery in my camera was dead so I didn't get any photos. I was so disappointed.

After supper with the family, I ventured on to Grammie's house. She was looking forward to having some company and had the tea on when I got there. My cousin Josh came after work and decided to stay over too. So, we had an impromptu slumber party. Grammie (who is quite the night hawk) and I stayed up talking until 1:30am! She's a great listener and I always like hearing her stories from the past. We had to put the clocks ahead that night, so the next morning, we were all still in bed when the phone rang at 11am!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon with Karla Ann in Sarnia. We played Scrabble (a rare occurance...I won!) and watched some old videos from highschool. Oh, the memories!





The next weekend Jason & I went to see Art Garfunkel in Toronto. (I think I'll save the details for another post) We also went to the Warhol exhibit at the Waterloo Children's Museum. What a great place! The London Children's Museum pales in comparison. PLUS they had original Warhol pieces on display and hands-on silk screening. It was a fun afternoon.





On my actual birthday, Karla Ann came to London and brought a picnic! It was such great weather that we sat in Victoria Park in shirt sleeves to enjoy it. Later on, I went to Jo-Anne & Nick's for a homemade dinner and then finished off the day at Starbucks with Sue.

Thanks to all my friends and family for making me feel so loved!

Left Behind

There is a movie out there, starring Kirk Cameron, called "Left Behind". The plot focuses on a guy in a post-apocalyptic world. It then shows all the hardships he endures as one of the ones left behind. This week, I'm feeling a connection this character. After all the decisions at work about who will be staying and leaving, I will be losing some of my favourite co-workers and I will be left in an empty newsroom. :(



DUANE DEINUM (LOOSE CANNON)I've always told Duane he is like my brother. Not that he is like my brother John, but he is like a brother to me. He's helped dig my car out of a snowbank, move a bed into my upper-level apartment, take a beetle for a test drive, even take a mouse out of mouse trap for me! I have a lot of respect for Duane as a person and have loved working with him. I value his opinion on things in all areas of life and we've had some really good talks. Duane loves race cars (I'm not sure if it's Nascar or stock car or what) and when I went to Monte Carlo right before the Grand Prix, he was flipping out! (well, as much as Duane can flip) ha ha...I remember how excited I was the day before I left for that trip and Duane had to put up with my spazziness that day! He was also cooperative when I was trying to get "action" shots on my new camera. Duane and his wife Debby have been such great friends and I look forward to lots more good times.


MURRAY BARNETT
For the past 10 years, Murray has been my go-to guy. We first met during my internship in Creative Services. He took me out on a shoot and then we got to go for lunch at East Side Mario's. We just clicked after discovering we both grew up on a farm, our moms are nurses, and he just seemed like part of the family. Murray has been there for me when my car wouldn't start - he'd give me a boost, when I needed something hung on the wall - he'd bring his tool belt, when I bought a standard car and didn't know how to drive it - he came with me to pick it up and then spent the afternoon teaching me how to shift. We've discussed politics, religion, relationships, Oprah, country music, musicals, family, careers, history, and pretty much everything in between. He's always got the dish and when he doesn't, he'll just make up something that sounds good :) There is no other like Murray (Beefy Forearms) Barnett and I will miss him tremendously.
TREVOR DIXON (AKA: JOEY)
Trevor started at the station shortly after I did. He was a long-haired hippy type that got along with everybody. Soon after, we started working the early morning shift together. If there's anything that bonds people together, it's starting your day at an ungodly hour! We would go to matinee movies (who else was available to see a movie in the afternoon?) and out for breakfast with the morning crew. I even convinced Trevor to come to our Board Game Nights. I think he was surprised that he actually had fun! ha ha. I set him up with his first email account and we made the trek to Cedar Point & The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame with Randy & Janice Meyer. I remember making a pact with Trevor a LONG time ago that I would watch Star Wars if he would watch The Sound of Music. As I recall, I held up my end of the bargain, but he never did watch Maria & The Captain. Trevor, I have 3 words for you: ONION RINGS...GASP!!



BOB SMITH
To me, Bob Smith is a real-live renaissance man. Not only is he a fantastic news anchor, but also a great line-up producer, farm-markets reporter and knows a plethora of information on anything you can think of. We share a love of The Beatles and both times I saw Paul McCartney, Bob was at the same concert. We had some great times working together on the noon news. One of my favourite shows was the Christmas Carol call-in. It seemed like everything went crazy with cameos of Sarah putting on her scarf, John Lees walking into the camera and John Wilson interrupting Bob & Peter while they were on the air! It was hilarious. I also remember Bob sticking up for me & my creativity when my tickle trunk was on air and a caller was complaining that there wasn't enough colour on it! Ha ha...Bob was quick to point out that it was FULL of colour! I shall miss you Hog-Boy, from Miss Piggy :)

JIM CRICHTON
Jim started anchoring the Windsor newscast from our London studio. It was during this time that I got the pleasure of working with him. I've never met such a hard-core newsie!! Jim takes his job very seriously but we also talked a lot about the 60's, cars and music (especially The Beatles) He dubbed me an "old soul" and I think there's something to that.



CHRIS PARR
Chris & I share a passion for music and have had lots of discussions about the best way to get an autograph :) I remember a LONG time ago, we were actually compiling a music trivia game! (Chris, maybe we should market that!) Chris has helped me out on numerous projects, shared his expertise and has been a great guy to work with.

Buzz Words

WORDS I'M TIRED OF HEARING THIS WEEK:

layoff
bumping
package
carriage-fee
CRTC
cut
slash
severence
cancelled
grave
revenue
broken model

Layoffs

In case you have heard or seen something in the media today, I thought I should fill you in on what's happening at work. First off, my job is safe for now but as you can imagine, a lot of my friends have lost their jobs and that is very sad.

Last week we were told that CTV was not applying to renew the licence on 2 of the 3 stations run out of our building. This signaled troubled times ahead. However, for 6 days, we didn't know how this would affect us. Today, we found out.

Effective today, our morning show was cancelled. Anyone who works directly for the morning show is laid off immediately. This includes my friend Chris who has worked here for about 20 years and one of my favourite co-workers Bob Smith...30 years! In addition to that, when Windsor & Wingham go off the air in August, more will be affected. This will include my friends Trevor, Duane & Murray. In total, 48 people were affected today.

Daily Photo Project (February)

Here is the February edition of the 2009 Daily Photo Project.

Daily Photo Project (January)

My project for 2009 is to take a daily photograph of myself for an entire year. This idea transpired and morphed from a couple of different sources. A few months ago, I heard a feature on CBC radio's "spark". They introduced us to a man that took a daily polaroid photograph for 18 years. http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/ They were not necessarily photos of himself, but there was one for each day and there were no "do-overs". Years after he passed away, a friend of his scanned them all and posted them online. I was intrigued by this.

Part of my idea also came from reading AJ Jacobs book The Year of Living Biblically. http://www.ajjacobs.com/books/yolb In the book, he tries to follow every rule in the Bible, literally. Part of this includes him not trimming his facial hair, so he had a photo layout showing the change in his beard each month. This inspired me.

So, on New Years Eve, I decided I would use the built-in camera in my computer to take a daily photograph of myself. I would do no do-overs and I wouldn't get upset if I missed a day because, let's face it...that's going to be a lot of photos! Missing a day here and there won't hurt :D

So, here is the month of January!

Clouds in my Coffee

I started drinking coffee early. While visiting my aunt Peggy, I would join the adults for coffee as early as I can remember. (I'm guessing about 10 or 11 years old) At that time, I just put whatever my parents put in their coffee, so for most of my life, I've taken my coffee with 2 creams and 2 sugars. It makes it easy at Tim Horton's ...double double. It has a nice ring to it :D

Recently, Jason & I were discussing coffee and how it sounds really cool when you say "I'll have a coffee...black." I really didn't think I'd enjoy black coffee, but decided I was going to start weaning myself down to black.

I started by ordering "regular" - 1 cream, 1 sugar. But, I found it wasn't creamy enough. However, I figured I could do without the sugar. So, I've been taking my coffee with double cream and NO sugar. I think eventually I will reduce the cream, but for now, that is my progress.

Janice the Hairstylist

Several years ago, when my company announced a major layoff, my mind got to wondering what I would do, if I were a part of it? What new path would I like to take? One of the ideas I had was to be a hair stylist. This may not seem like much of a goal, but I love getting my hair done and that great feeling when you've got a new look. I think it would be fun to give people that feeling. I am not retraining for this but it has been in the back of my mind for a while.

So, imagine how I felt when Jason let me cut his hair last week!

Quite a while ago, he got a bad haircut at a salon and since he was going to be getting it "fixed" anyway, he asked if I'd like to have a go. I was really nervous and kinda excited! I started with scissors but didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. He gingerly asked if I'd like to use the clippers. So, I gave them a go, but I still felt like I wasn't cutting enough hair. (I was being very cautious) I complained that the clippers weren't cutting enough and would like a different guard for them. Turns out, he only had the one. So, he suggested if I was REALLY careful, I could remove the guard. But I'd have to be really, really careful as it's really easy to make a goof this way. (just ask my friend Elvin whose wife took a bald swipe up the middle of his head!!) Everything was going along fine until I accidentally made a "notch" in the middle of the back of his head. A small "oops" escaped from my lips and that was the end of my haircut. He went to a proper stylist the next day and had it fixed.

I thought that was the end of my career until last weekend. Jason had "haircut" on his list of things to do on Saturday and I have to admit, it was getting a little shaggy. After going to see a movie on Saturday, we tried 2 different places, but we were too late. They were closed for the day. He assured me it was ok and he'd just get one next week.

On Sunday I had dinner at my sister's house and on the way home, I got a text "will you cut my hair?" Hmmm, really? Was he serious? He was willing to give me another chance? This time I was pretty impressed with the results. I didn't touch the front, but I trimmed up the back quite nicely - layers and everything! It is now Friday and he hasn't gone to get it "fixed" and hasn't had any crazy looks this week, so that's good. I will try and get some photos to post on here. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any of the actual event, but will try to get a before/after comparison :)

Sarah's Place

My friend Sarah just took the plunge into home ownership! Wow...congrats, Sarah! Last weekend I went to check out her new place. I felt like I was entering a swanky hotel when I got there. Her condo is in a brand new building and everything is no nice and new and modern! There's even a pool, hot tub and sauna. We didn't use them this time, but I'm totally going back for a weekend and make use of that feature. :) Here are a few pix of Sarah & her place.

Restaurant Poetry

a recent trip to Red Lobster inspired some poetry...

what shall we order?
shrimp, scallops and fish, oh my!
the scent of lemons

Red Lobster date night
shrimp, scallops and king crab legs
wow! a surprising delight