Coldest February on Record for Quebec, and Montreal

I normally like winter, but this winter has been harsh. It wasn't just snowy, it was cold. Very cold. Coldest  on record, and also it was one of the coldest places globally this year so far.

We're all sick of the cold. it's sad when -10 C appears to be warm

Cold wind blowing on....

Some might recognize a song by the Tragically Hip in that title. 

-27C plus the wind. So cold it was all hazy out this morning

Meh it's Thursday!

It's Thursday.  I'm still nursing a cold, that seems to have relocated itself in my sinuses and in my throat. Buckleys cough & congestion is doing wonders for my lungs. Don't feel I'm fighting bronchitis at least.

My laptop is still dead and I decided I'd wait to this week-end with black Friday sales to see if I can get a good price. I'm getting another Lenovo most likely the Thinkpad L440. Main reason I'd get the L instead of the X or T or E version is that it touts 12 HOURS of battery life. WOOT.

I hope to be energetic enough this week-end to finally winterize my yard.

Today I have this Death Cab by Cutie song stuck in my head... 

Spring my ass

It might be well past the first day of spring, but it's FREEZING out there. No spring clothes yet, still looking like Nanook of the North.... This photo was taking Saturday during the snow storm!

TGIF

I'm glad this week is over. IT's been a really clumsy week. On the plus side, it makes my friend laugh :P

I sent flying a bucket load  of empty  water bottles the other night, and after putting them all back on the counter managed to send them flying a second time.  Last night, I dropped a large bag on sunflower seed, and well the bag split and there was sunflower seeds by the butt load all over the floor.  This morning, I took out a container of blueberries from the fridge and wee, all the blueberries went all over the floor. 

At least I laugh at myself when this happens.  

This year, I definitely won't be wearing a sundress and open-toed sandals for the first day of spring, which is 7 days away.  I'm sure I'm going to look like Nanook of the north that day.

Vitamin C ice cubes

I've been complaining that I'd just realized that my favourite cough drops now contain aspartame and I really don't want it in my body. I'm sensitive to all sort of additives, this one is probably no exception. Probably one of the causes of my night time headaches.

So my buddy in Ireland suggested boiling citrus with cloves and adding honey to make some form of beverage to help my throat.

 

Perrier and Vitamin C cube.

I took his suggestion first washed 1 grapefruit, 2 clementines, 2 oranges and 2 lemons.  Once well scrubbed, I cut them into small quarters without ever peeling them. Put it in a pot cover will water, and I added 40 cloves. It actually has a bit of a cloves taste. You can also add cinnamon stick and ginger as well, both are also helpful, I personally don't care for either.  I readded water a few times.


The pot in my photo was my first batch. Hadn't put enough water or cloves in that one.  Once I deemed it cook, I let it cool down. Then I drain it, so there are no more clove pieces or peel/pith pieces of the citrus fruits.

I then put it in ice cube trays and froze them.  So when I need a cough drop, I put one or two squares in a mug, warm them up in the microwave and either add to perrier or my tea. Of course you can just use it as ice cubes to cool down your drink or even suck on.  Most would find them really bitter as I added no sugar. Most would add honey to the mixture when using. I like it as is.

Since using 2-3 cubes a night, it really helps my throat and keeps me away from the cough drops.

Vitamin C ice cubes.

Lopsided and tender

I made a point of not moving much last night. Moving was the difficulty so staying put was easy.  I still woke up this morning in pain and now it's primarily on my right side. To the point when I stand I'm completely lopsided.

Decided to stay home today. The effort required to move in that much pain is exhausting, I didn't sleep much the past few nights due to the pain, so going to try getting some sleep.

Last week or two weeks ago, I joined TWOO, which seems to have merged with Netlog, which used to have a name so close to Facebook that I originally mistook it for Facebook back in 2007. Not sure how much I like TWOO especially since using my hotmail to login , it took my over 200 contacts in hotmail and messaged each and every one of them. Without my permission. It says it asks. BULLSHIT.

There are people I've emailed with hotmail I would NEVER want to connect with ever. People I blocked even! I know it sent invites to everyone because it sent invites to my other email addresses. Like how would I benefit inviting MYSELF to connect?  What would be the point of connecting myself with my work email????

Like a lot of other companies and institutions and sites, they get access to an email address and they start spamming the person. They say you can option out, but often when you 'option out' it's like they confirm your email address and spam you more.

The answer isn't 42.....

As I mentioned a couple of entries ago,  I threw out my back. Well it feels more like I'm fighting an infection, like the flu, rather then just being muscle aches. 

Originally the pain was at the usual spot, the last disc in my spinal cord. That's the one that locks in certain conditions, and Sunday the pain was there. But by Monday it had migrated to surrounding area to that disc but n the right side. Tuesday it was spreading on the right side, but I figured I'd be fine for work Wednesday. I went to work Wednesday but in such pain, mostly in the back and a bit on the right. My back still hurts, but now it's also all my right side, from the hip to the knee. The muscles and connecting tissue hurts.  Getting up from sitting is uncomfortable at best, painful to the point I moan, groan or downright scream if no one is in earshot.

I walk so funny due to the pain that people I've never spoken to at work, asked me if I was ok. Yes I'm ok. Yes I'm in pain. Yes I'm walking funny.  No I really don't want to talk about it.  I just want to hide. Normally at the speed I walk, I can hide. But walking slower then a turtle, seems to take forever to get from my desk to parking lot and people have a chance to catch up with me.

I ended up doing really boring tests today, because I could stand  in front of a cart, and just move my arms and do the test. It involved doing 20 insertions on 9 connectors, to check the robustness of the new source for those connectors. Normally I'd assign a task of this type to an underling, usually an intern.  But today I did 180 insertions of cables into connectors. It's about as exciting as watching paint dry, but it's important work.  If we have to start using this part on 4 different product lines we still sell, it had better work. This testing took about 2 hours of my day but at least during those two hours, since mostly only my arms moved I wasn't in much pain.

People have suggested I see a doctor, to what end? So I get told I have a sore back? Or muscle aches? And be giving pain killers, which I won't take because they just upset my stomach but don't relieve my pain.  I'm almost sure this is viral and the reason I'm in this much pain is because I'm fighting a flu. In the same time frame as this back ache has been nasty headaches, where I feel someone is stabbing me. on the right side of the head.  I've also developed cold sores in my right nostril. That all points to fighting a flu. There are plenty of viruses going around at work.  So far I don't have respiratory symptoms or digestive ones, and I'm going to hope it stays that way. I'm in such pain when I move right now, it already makes going to the bathroom difficult I can't imagine having to run there in those conditions.

Despite being annoyed by the pain, I'm amused because I visualize how I would look like if I was in an animated cartoon. Most days I feel like I'm still 16, today I felt like I was 85. I guess in the end it all balances out.

Cold sores

Apparently my stress levels haven't gone down, as I woke up this morning with a large festering cold sore on the edge of my right nostril. It's leaking and swelled up. Will not be pretty later today. And I didn't even blow my nose, like wtf? 

I have an intern that is really pissing me off. Other then the fact he pulled a fast one last week - he left at noon on Friday, didn't ask for permission, just said goodbye to colleagues near his desk and left at lunch time!  He also tried to put overtime on his  timesheet which despite fact interns cannot do overtime.  He's also ignored my direct orders and not run the tests I asked him to run, to debug a problem he found and I didn't want engineers to waste their time on.   I asked him to run a script overnight at 4:30 pm. Despite not leaving before 6pm he didn't manage to ask or run the test I asked him overnight.   Not to outdo himself, he did it again last night. Two days in a row. 

Sadly this poor intern is now in my cross hairs. I'm a great boss for people with motivation,and initiative, I give you a lot of latitude to do your thing.  Don't do something to blow my trust. Once it's blown I trust nothing you do or say. This student has managed to make it there with his mistakes the past 2 weeks. What did he did because his mid-term evaluation was good that it was a reason to start being a moron? Does he not realize that he's also getting evaluated at the end and I will not forget how he disobeyed direct instructions.

Annoying cold and broken furnace

I noticed when I started the furnace up  in mid September that it wasn't working the way it should be. It also seems that the ventilation unit is no longer working. It's not a huge deal, I just had to call Gaz MetroPlus with whom I have a service contract to report the problem so they would send a tech.  They did yesterday, and the furnace is fixed, it now keeps the asked temperature, but the guy did not have a part for the ventilation unit. He will be back today to replace that. The guy saw it misbehave and decided to change it before it completely died on me.

Other then that I've had a cold for over a week. It comes and it goes. I took last Friday off to sleep and get rid of it. I was feeling so much better on Monday. Sadly Tuesday I started sneezing up a storm. Still sneezing and having a runny nose. I don't think it's allergies. It's really annoying because of course everytime I over blow my nose I end up with cold sores in my nostrils.

Ophelia going to hit Newfoundland today

Can't help but wonder if it will hit with a whimper like Mary or hit much harder. Last I checked it had downgraded substantially. At some point it was a category 4 hurricane when it passed near Bermuda. Now it appears to be a tropical storm strength, with gusts at hurricane level.

Regardless fall is here. It's all of 10C right now with a high of 14C today. BRRR.

Cold Spell freezes Ontario and Quebec

It's been frigid the last couple of days. It's -26C this morning. Not the type of weather that incites someone to spend much time outside. Thank Goddess my Grand Vitara starts up pretty well.   Oddly enough I haven't been cold outside, but I've been cold inside. It's not surprising.

At least we have electricity in this cold. I was reading that they lost electricity for more then 12 hours in Moosonee this week-end. If I lived in such a desolate area I'd definitely have an old style wood stove in my home, that I could use to heat and eat in case of power failures.  That's the one thing that sucks about my current house is that without electricity I have no heating. It sucks that even though my furnace is fueled by natural gas that I need electricity for it to work. I should be able to start it manually and have it work without needed electricity in case of power failures. 

At least our BBQ also has a side burner, so in case of power failures we can use it to warm up food, boil water, and of course we can BBQ things as well.

Time to go get ready to brace the cold.