tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-159497562024-03-07T17:14:21.661-04:00Life à la jen-macJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.comBlogger292125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-26831546528113789502015-02-12T12:39:00.000-04:002015-02-12T12:39:13.962-04:00More Science! A Sequel.Last time we spoke I told you about the time I volunteered to be a research assistant and then puked during the process. Now, we discuss the follow-up meeting.
Quick review: I signed up to volunteer as a research participant. I had to run as fast as I could on a treadmill while wearing a tight mouth/nose covering-mask-thing. I threw up, despite having fasted for about 13 hours beforehand. Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-16735850992297717832015-02-04T21:29:00.001-04:002015-02-04T21:29:26.579-04:00The One with the Science ExperimentHi friends!
I'm still unemployed because boy-oh-boy I love giving people I don't know the ability to stomp on my self esteem. I find keeping busy lessens the likelihood I feel poorly about myself, so with that in mind, I signed up to participate in a research project by a grad student at UPEI. Today was my first of nine sessions, a sort of intro session and likely the chance to determine if I Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-35398850001534315192015-01-09T23:23:00.003-04:002015-01-09T23:23:45.570-04:002014 RecaputalizationBeing an unemployed person who is a bit scared of weather below -15C, I have been indoors a lot this week. You know, because it's winter, in eastern Canada. I've been spending a bit too much time on the internet reading super important articles *cough* and reading some year-in-review type things. So here I am, typing my own 2014 summary, in between bites of emotionally-eating-job-rejection pasta Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-56669572303867902702014-12-28T21:04:00.000-04:002014-12-28T21:04:31.911-04:00HAL Veendam Cruise to Home - Part I
HAL Veendam docked at Bar Harbor
I was very fortunate at my old job to have about four weeks vacation per year. In PEI vacation starts at two weeks per year and after eight whole years of dedicated service vacation time jumps up to three weeks. By PEI standards I was completely spoiled and absolutely took advantage of it. For 2014 I was planning on taking most of my vacation in the summer Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-47301329597327969502014-11-24T14:24:00.001-04:002014-11-24T14:24:41.731-04:00House Acquisition, Part IIIIn the first part, we found a house that was awesome then decided it was unawesome.
In the second part, we looked a bunch of houses we didn't want.
In the third part, we... oh, this is the third, and final, part. Carry on.
It was rainy and gross the morning we arrived to tour the old-lady-driven house. Upon entering the house there was a sense of relief: there was nothing immediately wrong Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-77556392039069612822014-11-21T12:39:00.000-04:002014-11-21T12:39:15.571-04:00House Acquisition, Part IIWhen I last left you, we were feeling a bit down about walking away from a pretty good house.
Apparently it was not the first time that house had been on the market. Our realtor said it had previously been on the market, most likely the summer prior when the residents were around. I'm not sure if it ever ended up selling. I biked by a couple of times and although the for sale sign eventually Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-90078278080988632282014-11-20T11:23:00.001-04:002014-11-20T11:26:22.649-04:00Home Acquisition, Part INot unknown to most people, le Boyfriend and I bought a house and moved into it a few months ago. We were both first-time home buyers and somewhat unfamiliar with the process of buying a house. At the time I thought, "I'm going to blog about the house buying experience! How exciting!" but never did as the whole thing went pretty quickly and, well, it was summer. The only year I successfully Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-5911386857389362842014-10-01T17:03:00.000-03:002014-10-01T17:03:40.201-03:00FriskeyDespite having little to do this summer, I haven't blogged very much with the exception of a bunch of posts sitting in a draft folder. One thing I wanted to write about was Friskey. He was my family's cat from 1993 until, sadly, 2014.
I received Friskey as a gift from my brother in mid December 1993. Our family, specifically Jeff, had a cat prior to that. He name was Charlie and he was a "Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-65557751417344849822014-08-07T00:04:00.000-03:002014-08-07T00:11:48.032-03:00How I Became an EI PrincessI'm unemployed!
I was having trouble deciding about whether I should blog about being unemployed and the crumbling of my last workplace as potential employers could read this, as could former colleagues, but I don't think I have anything groundbreaking or controversial to say on the topic - nor shall I reveal information that isn't public knowledge. Mostly this is a wee bit of what happened but Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-38663173779018287442014-03-13T21:50:00.002-03:002014-03-13T23:54:24.161-03:00So, are you seeing anyone?Once upon a time, I was a single girl for a long long time. Despite that I have been in an extra delightful relationship for almost 2.5 years (high five!) I still get random flashbacks to how it felt to be single when it felt like everyone else was in a relationship. Most of the time it was A-Okay happy like a bag of ketchup chips, but there were times it kind of sucked.
One evening many moons Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-48671963320329640782014-01-12T12:43:00.004-04:002014-01-12T12:52:01.003-04:00Places to go, things to see, travelling in 2014!The arrival of a new year typically makes the travel section of my brain crank up, particularly if I don't have any travel planned. Right now I have absolutely nothing planned that involves a boat, a plane, or crossing a bridge (i.e., the most common ways one departs PEI). Lately I have been hanging out on the internet reading some travel blogs and realized the world is extra large and I have no Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-37448287319823166332014-01-01T23:28:00.002-04:002014-01-02T11:23:24.169-04:002013! It's over. Forever.You know how some people do a year summary at the end of the year with lots of links to previous posts for reference? I can't do that because 2013 has pretty much been my worst blogging year since I commenced blogging in 2002.
Here we go: 2013 summarized.
January
I woke up hungover at 10:15, slightly convinced I could still make it downtown to participate in the Polar Bear Dip which started at Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-23555143419667725802013-11-19T16:29:00.000-04:002013-11-19T16:29:30.521-04:00The Undisappointing Bed StoryRemember that time I felt all mature because I bought an expensive pillow that sucked? (Read: The Disappointing Pillow Story.)
What a life lesson. That pillow is currently still in two parts. One part is in the living room, useful for when sitting on the floor playing with Giant Kitty. The other part is... I don't know where it is. Perhaps on our spare bed?
Oh, what's that? SPARE BED?!
What a Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-9862304917019450482013-06-27T22:47:00.001-03:002013-06-27T22:50:00.071-03:00Taxation without Representation - Museums and MonumentsHi!
Le Boyfriend and I recently returned from Washington, DC. Prior to departure, a few people looked a bit confused when I told them where we were going. I suppose the American capital (not to be confused with the Capitol) doesn't seem like an obvious destination for a Canadian, but I had heard wonderful things about the city. Based on what friends had said, pictures I had seen, and articles I Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-11662299173114169472013-05-24T10:01:00.001-03:002013-05-24T10:03:39.105-03:00Edinburgh, so long ago.Once, a long time ago, in 2004 to be precise, two friends and I moved to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh's life, it was pretty insignificant. Wandering twenty year olds from foreign lands were not new to her. However, in my (our) life, it was incredibly significant.
I was thinking about this today as I was reading a blog of someone who had moved to Australia from Toronto, with a detour in Asia. She was Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-51046118520635164412013-04-17T11:36:00.003-03:002013-04-17T11:36:40.025-03:00The Disappointing Pillow StoryYou know what makes me feel like an adult? Buying things that aren't toys, books, clothing, food, or drink. Buying towels makes me feel mature, particularly if they are somewhat soft. Purchasing pillows makes me feel responsible, like an important member of society.
About a month ago I started hating my pillow. It was getting squishy and uncomfortable. Jealous, I asked le Boyfriend where he had Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-11826383191512545102013-04-15T13:58:00.000-03:002013-04-15T14:05:49.170-03:00Part I: Vacation! (An old one.)Last year I went on vacation!
Not really surprising given I would probably give up many luxuries in favour of travelling. The upside of taking on as little responsibility as possible in the form of permanent housing, offspring, money sucking investments, etc., is that I've been very fortunate to travel to many wonderful places with friends, family, or solo.
This past November, a friend and I Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-44982486653352640542013-02-26T22:22:00.000-04:002013-02-26T22:24:37.640-04:00Welcome home, Cuddly friend.Recently le Boyfriend and I adopted a cat/borderline kitten from the Humane Society in Charlottetown. He was just a day shy of six months old when we adopted him and cats under 6 mos are considered to still be kittens. However, he weighed over 8 lbs at the last point they had weighed him at the Humane Society, so he isn't kitten-ish in the sense you sometimes grunt with surprise at his weight Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-78144800865949828082013-01-09T15:19:00.002-04:002013-01-09T15:52:28.700-04:00What they don't tell you about winter.
When I lived in Edinburgh I came home for Christmas.
This happened.
It's winter! Like, really winter. The light dustings of snow are no more; they have been replace with massive chunks of extremely solid snow that are beneath layers of crusty ice. Today marked two intense winter activities: the return to work after Christmas vacation and the first super cold day. Well, not super Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-35160930927231971362012-12-21T21:26:00.000-04:002012-12-21T21:26:18.623-04:00Turning 30 with a high five!Recently I became 30 years old. Apparently this is monumental? If we were still using roman numerals to write out numbers, turning 30 (XXX) would be greatly appreciated after the stretch of space that was, for example, 28 (XXVIII). So much ink would be saved!
My plans for 30 varied depending on how old I was. And I never really thought "30", but more so "after I've been done of school for while"Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-70810193641564990772012-12-02T22:31:00.000-04:002012-12-02T22:31:20.899-04:00/hiatusSomething monumental has happened recently! It's so note-worthy that I am writing a blog about it.
Now, why am I writing a blog about it? [you ask]
Because I *can*! [I reply]
Seriously, le Boyfriend and I bought a laptop so I literally can write again. My laptop was getting to the point that I had to hold the screen at a very precise angle in order for it to work properly. Typing with one handJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-91920187782755370492012-09-10T22:35:00.000-03:002012-09-10T22:38:20.855-03:00Remove the x chromosome, replace it with a y.One day last week, a lovely friend and I were out for a lovely stroll around the lovely city. We also had some lovely beer on lovely Victoria Row, where it was cold and the server provided us with lovely blankets. On the way back to the bear cave (I'm still trying to come up with an appropriate name for chez Boyfriend and I), we were talking about guys we play frisbee with. We were jealous that Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-64945870135646622282012-08-27T22:41:00.002-03:002012-08-27T22:41:47.603-03:00Merde!"Merde" is how you get away with saying "shit" in public but remaining respectable. The "Merde" book series probably would not had been so quickly stocked in windows were the titles "A Year in the Shit", "Shit, Actually", or "Dial S for Shit".
Today's post is about merde, because a oiseau almost popped on me yesterday. It wouldn't be the first time, but it would probably be the grossest time.
AJenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-92021115836397267762012-07-11T23:14:00.001-03:002012-07-11T23:35:17.413-03:00Iceland: More than just a hockey team in "D2: The Mighty Ducks"
Icelandic pony YEEES!
Back in early March I got a bit stressed. My stars weren't properly aligning for a spring vacation - though that did eventually happen. Stress was relieved of duty when I got an email from Travel Zoo, or some equivalent travel email, announcing Iceland Air was having a lovely seat sale. Round-trip from Halifax to Reykjavik for certain dates was only $515. I mentally Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15949756.post-59457201127434731822012-05-16T12:37:00.000-03:002012-05-16T22:12:03.440-03:00What not to Eat on a First DateFor anyone who still has a Hotmail account, upon signing out you always are greeted with MSN/Sympatico's homepage which offers a flood of very informative articles. Sometimes I read some, sometimes I don't. Sometimes upon reading certain articles I get a little envious that the author actually got paid to write something so... pointless. Somewhere, someone thought, "Yes, we need someone to write Jenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00025785698954835400noreply@blogger.com0