I have been pretty frustrated lately.

Of course for reasons of my own as well as external influences. But mostly because I have been looking in to moving out and renting a place for my own or with friends.

The problem is every time i even bring up *any* neighborhood with my mother, the answer is emphatically "that's a bad neighborhood".

It could be along the Danforth and Pape area, it could be along Yonge. It could be the Annex, anywhere. ANYWHERE.

Apparently i don't have the intellectual fortitude to decide what i'd like, what amenities i'd like to live near, or what sort of lifestyle i can lead.

I AM 27 YEARS OLD. wtf.

I am going to die a spinster.

where your brain went to.

I was scammed today and i'm really debating whether i ever want to answer a door during the day again.  I probabyl wouldn't have answered the door, actually, except i've been expecting a package.

I was busy doing something and some guy rang the doorbell and basically presented himself as a rep from our power company (though he never did actually say whom he worked for) and basically he managed to put our house number and name down on a form and get me to sign something for the power company to send us information about a natural gas and electricity price protection program.  I even remember asking him why it said registration form, and he said it was just to send us info.  Why i didn't just say no, i don't know.  Later, (practically the moment i closed the door) i realized what i'd signed and my stomach hit the floor.  I should have opened the door and ripped the paper out of his hand and shredded it right there.

The form was an application for the price protection program.  Full stop. Not information for it, an APPLICATION to JOIN.  So basically the guy lied to my face about what he was doing and now has a carbon copy of this registration form that basically signs us up for service with Summitt Energy.

So i have called their customer service number and basically they say they have to, by law, call back within 10 days to confirm, OR we can send an email, fax or registered mail prohibiting them from switching us...  

But really...  wtf?  How is it Ontarian law allows companies to just do this so flippantly? It has got to be illegal, particularly when the guy at the door is basically banking on getting someone who obviously doesn't know what they're signing.

And to that end, I feel pretty damned stupid for being taken in on his lie.  I pretty much feel like not dealing with anyone at the door again, be it someone contracted to do landscaping for us or the little boy scout and his dad down the street.

Years and years ago, Nostromo put out the n52, which is intended to be a game controller.  It uses keyboard keys and is sculpted for the left hand.  Sadly, since i need to draw with my left hand, i needed something similar for my right hand, which Nostromo has no intention of making.

Also, there don't appear to be any other ergonomic solutions that have the same keypress feel that keyboard keys would have.

So after looking in to the situation a bit more and googling the Nostromo again recently, I found this neat gadget from Ergodex also listed on Nostromo's Wikipedia page.



The unit is $150 USD - cheaper on some of their associated resellers.  I ordered mine off ThinkGeek on Sunday and received it today via DHL. 

The whole unit is about 15" wide by 10" tall, and accesses your computer via USB.  It comes with 25 keys, with the capability of accepting up to 50 unique keys in total (more keys can be purchased seperately).  Realistically though, for my uses, I only need about 10. 

The keys are coated on the bottom with the same sort of adhesive used on lint rollers - so they stick to clean surfaces and can be washed to reactivate the stickiness if need be.



Hopefully this will help with my hotkeying problems. I hate having to run my hands all over the keyboard in search of the photoshop tool i want :/

Roaming data charges for cell phones are *criminal*.

I just got back from a work trip to NYC that spanned all of 4.5 days.  This afternoon, Bell Mobility  just texted me to say that I owe them over $250.  Astounded, I phoned them up to see what the heck was going on, and it turns out they want $300+ for 11MB of transfer.

For a bit of comparison here, our household last month had a slight overage on bandwidth and we paid CDN $1 for each 1G over our limit.

So... really... wtf?  What a scam!

So been a little while since i actually talked about overall goings on.

I've pretty much been holed up at home, doing stuff for work.  I've just been put on a new project that is going to require the first stage done by Oct 3, and will be travelling to NYC at the end of this month to do a short seminar for a client.  Things are stop and go, busy or not busy.  so I have to try and keep myself busy one way or another. 

Staying motivated has been the problem, and I've sorta put myself in a situation where I can't really get out of the house on weekend nights because of my existing work and personal schedule. I'm trying to extricate myself from it, but it's hard not feeling like i've given myself a ball and chain as it is.

And even if i were to get out and about, where would I go? I really have no clue.

I'm also sorta concerned that I haven't been able to sit down and get my postcards organized and sent out. I recieved them and just need to get all the addresses sorted and sent out.  Personal doodling is coming and going, depending on how busy I happen to be. I need to push out some more boards for JasonM, which are already thumbnailed out.  Just having trouble finding the time and motivation.

I'm also gonna have to start thinking about packing again soon.  I think we take possession mid October - We'll be just south of Kingston on BrookLawn..  so a bit closer to the downtown area.
Still thinking about moving out, but it will have to happen after this move, i think.  I just need to not live at home much longer after this.  Is really sapping my will to live :/  

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ok, so I did a stupid thing - I had to update my phone's software and neglected to include contacts in my Backup. :(

so... i've pretty much lost all my numbers.
if you have my number or think I had yours, could you please send me either an email or text so I can add you back?


Thanks!

"Spanish basketball team poses for offensive picture"



Who was the marketing genious on this one?

Updated my depot with some recent sketches. Might go through a couple older sketchbooks and upload the choice stuff. Should also fill out the 2007 gap i went without updating my sketches... heh.



Anyhow, here are a few selected pieces from the batch:



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And the link to the full 2008 section.

My parents placed an offer on a 2004 house, south of Kingston Road, close to Bluffer's Park.  After some negotiation, we came to a mutually equitable amount with the seller.  It passed inspection with a few indications as to slight fixes here and there, but there is really nothing serious, and the house is in good condition.

I don't have photos, but I think my Dad does...

I do personally find the house a bit...  'too much'...  too much for me at least.  But then I was raised in neighborhoods that were wll established and known for having older homes.

This house being in this neighborhood sorta mixes that up though, since it is built in an established area.  The house itself is roomy, has high ceilings, good layout, and all of the aesthetic touches my mom likes...  Another selling point was that the place really demands very little additional attention, which is a good thing for my parents, I guess.

As for me? Well, I don't know whether it's just been our recent situation at the townhouse that has aggrevated the situation more, but I've really been thinking about moving out for a while now.  There's a bit of autonomy that I don't and really never had, that I really really need right now, and being crowded where I am really isn't helping.  

So house deal fell through the other day, as Mom went with the Realtor and house inspector...  apparently the roof has mould...  which would be a PITA to fix...  if it were even possible to try fixing...

So uhh....  Friday afternoon? They came back and cancelled.

Anyhow... Dad's back in town this Thursday, and Friday morning we should be going to see another house, on Markham, but south of Kingston Rd.  Googlecamming over it yields a nice neighborhood, surprisingly.  And really close to the lakeshore  O_O.

Really hoping this is the one.    

Went and saw Batman this afternoon with my Mom.

Good movie.

But very depressing, given most people who pay attention to the news know that Heath Ledger took his own life a few months ago. It bothers me a lot because seeing this film now makes me think about what sorta headspace he must have been to have done that, and how he may or may not have shown signs of being in distress before he took his life.

I think i've mentioned before here how my uncle passed away, and this movie brings to mind similar memories and unhappiness.

Nevertheless, the story made a good transition to film, and I'm impressed that the method of storytelling overall was less 'superhero-ey' and more contemporary.

Will be interesting to see what the third film brings.  

So we're moving.

Yes, again.

In November.

Not far, mind you. Still in Toronto. But to a place that's much more roomy. Hopefully less stressful than our current place.  It'll be closer to Morningside, down by UoT.  Seems like an older home, but must have been rebuilt at some time because it seems newer than most of the houses on the same street.

Huge lot, two story house with developed basement. HUUUUUUUGE driveway. will be giant pain to clear in winter. but nice house in developed area... and country-style interior, which is the sort of thing Mom likes very much.


A few photos here: http://flickr.com/photos/spacylittlecowgirl/

Catching up on job hunting for this week, as much of earlier this week has been occupied by a quick rush build from AWS (texturing and minor detailing left to do).

Not casting aside all hopes of working part/full time in Sl for the moment, but really hoping anything i do apply for is squarely related to my expertise, rather than *COMPLETELY UNRELATED* - IE: the teller job my Mom wants me to do in the mean time.  It's not like there aren't listings for related work out there anyway - it's just going to take time to find the right fit.

Incidentally, I really don't see the same pressure being placed on my Dad, who is supposed to be job hunting here as well.
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I need to put together postcards and mailouts this week and actually get in gear sending em out.  I finally picked up the 2008 Directory and have been picking out a bunch of places to get in touch with.  It's just a matter of buckling down and getting it done.

I also need to work on more finished pieces for the portfolio, start picking out sketches I'm happy with for the website. Try to get involved with the online art communities again...

That is, if I can actually manage being a member here there and everywhere again :P
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Also - I've joined the new D2 Ladder season.

Mission "This will not end well" commences.

Considering paying the fee to change my LJ name.

It's an anagram of my full name, but now that I think about it, it was a bad choice.

Does changing one's LJ name still cause linking issues? or does LJ automatically make the link changes now?

edit: OK - so I've gone through with it. Everything seems to have linked over properly. Now to manually change my links elsewhere...

I remember a time waaaaay back when I looked atwhat LJ had to offer for S2 themes and I went back to something simple because I didn't really grasp the usability of themes that used CSS extensively.

Revisiting that now, I'm rather happy with the customizability - even for basic members like myself.

I've chosen a basic, non-coloured theme for now. Will customize as I have the time/inclination.  In any case, plain black and grey on white suits my needs currently, as far as I'm concerned.

I may even decide to post more to my SL LJ account now :P

I still need to figure out just how to filter/syndicate my friends list for Flock though.  

This is sorta niche, but does anyone on my list know of any places in Toronto that sell Deleter and Tachikawa pen nibs?  Omochabox, through which i used to order, no longer seems to be around.  Akadot retail has some and I'm thinking about ordering from them, but it would be nice to know if i could pick these up locally somewhere.

Speaking of the Internet though, we went through a fair amount of hassle through Bell for about three weeks because the previous owner of this unit had service with a company that didn't shut off their line (which blocked Bell from setting up theirs).  Compounded with the fact that initially we were not going to get a land line, we additionally had to get our line manually set up through a specific office.  One week after our initial setup request (one day after my Dad and I arrived in TO), we still didn't have any service on the line.  I called the BellWorld store to ask about it, and the guy we'd been dealing with said 'bring the modem back, we'll get head office to run this manually, they'll have to send you a new one'.  So we dropped off the modem and waited just over another week for 1) Delivery of the modem 2) Actual Working Internet.  After 8 business days of not receiving ANYTHING, I gave their head office a call, only to be told that it would take 'another few days' for the modem to arrive.  Not only that, but they now had to send someone to set it up, and that the earliest they could have someone in to do that was June 18.  Note, here, that at no point prior to this had it been mentioned that we would need someone to do anything *more* than plugging the modem in to a phone line and in to a PC.  Moreover, had we known someone needed to be booked, we would have preferred that to have been done waaay back when we first made the service order.  Needless to say, both my mother and I were pretty unhappy and went directly to the original store to try and get things sorted out... But it turns out BellWorld stores operate completely separate from their head office, despite the fact they are supposed to be able to provide the exact same services, on a local level. (wtf!)  So not only could they *not* give me a modem to plug in to the wall for the service a BellWorld rep said (on the phone) was already operational at our unit, they then reaffirmed that a technician needed to be sent out, and that they would have to book an appointment.

Fed up and tired of not being able to pay bills, access email, and do other internet related things, we chose to subscribe to Rogers hispeed service from a store in that very same mall, and were given an install date of two days later.  We also went back to the original Bell store and cancelled our order.  Funny thing though - while my mother was on the phone to their head office to cancel the order, the rep on the phone tried to weedle her in to staying with Bell, promising they could get a rep there two days later.  Again, wtf? After weeks of lies and inadequate service, employees subscribing to Bell's model of service dropped the ball again.

So long story short, as far as my internet is concerned - Bell took 3 weeks to fail to give us service.  Rogers took 2 days to successfully get our lives closer to normal working order.