A Skewed View

KITT, my pet, has been overdue for maintenance by some months, so now that I have paycheque once more I took it in to what was supposed to be the most reputable dealership in the city. I have been to almost every one in Edmonton. The first wanted to charge me to replace the seat belt mechanism that I later learned was lifetime warranty on Toyotas. The next couldn’t find anything wrong with a car that wouldn’t start, and told me that they don’t even enter my car anymore, they just “lean through the open window, turn the key and the car roars to life” – and wanted to charge me $85 bucks for it. The third, which I didn’t go to personally, supposedly completed an oil change on a friend’s vehicle. When the friend’s engine seized the next day because there was not a drop of oil in it, the dealership insisted that it wasn’t necessarily their fault. The fact that my friend's vehicle left their service department drained of oil which was not replace was apparently my friend’s respons...

You've never seen a SnowDeb before? (here's a better shot of the schnoz:) While we're looking at cute random things, wanna see something cute and gross? My parents went to Vancouver when I was maybe in grade eight and brought me back two things: a Smurfs 8-track tape and the above ladybug magnet. (The tape had surprisingly catch tunes, but alas is long gone.) Despite being only 2 cm long, this little bug has travelled with me through approximately nine moves. The gross part, though, is where I keep him. See his eyes? That's kitchen grease. No matter where I live, he's always sat on the fan hood over my stove. It's taken a toll on his visual acuity -- still, he's been such a trooper over the years, he can't wait to see what I'm having for dinner each night. ...thus ends the random portion of our day...

So, on the second week of my new job, I think I have the handle of things. Kind of. I heard from many staff that no one before me had been left alone at the front desk for weeks or months when first hired. I was alone my third day -- and it was actually only my second day working . I spent the first day listening and learning and doing bits of the work. Then because the company does occupational health testing (drug and alcohol testing as well as medicals), my second day on the job was spent being poked and prodded and persuaded to pee (really much harder to do than you'd think, when a nurse is on the other side of the accordion door listening to make sure you aren't pulling out medical tubing filled with someone else's urine). On the plus side, turns out I am very impressively healthy (and not on drugs, lest any of you wonder). On the less than plus side, my weight is in the range that is now known as "Prosperous". Hilarious, yes. But not healthy. So, my...