Monday, April 30, 2012

K and the Geocache

Posted by K  


You may or may not be familiar with the concept of Geocaching.

It's a kind of game/hobby where people use gps co-ordinates to hide and seek caches hidden all over the world. Basically it's a big treasure hunt. People hide a container of some sort (it can be as small as a film canister) and post the co-ordinates on the website. Other people on the site try to find the hidden objects using the co-ordinates. Some of the caches have little tokens you can take and trade. Some of them are hidden up a tree while others are magnetically attached to railings. When you find one you log it on the Geocaching website, and (if you're me) do a victory dance.

I'm on a team with awesome geocachers, and we've searched for caches in the past, some successfully, some not, but always fun.

Since there is no longer 6 feet of snow around here, I decided to try geocaching during my lunch break, as a way to force myself to get some exercise/fresh air that doesn't involve standing at a bus stop.

Armed with my fancy new phone and a gps app, I set out to boldly go where no one has gone before!...

Okay, several people have gone there before, that's kind of the point. But still, it was going to be awesome.

I figured it would take me around 20 minutes to find the cache and get back to work before my break was over, since my phone said the cache was only about 500 meters away.
 **I tried to convert the measurements to 'feet' for people who don't understand metric, but to be honest, I don't understand imperial. So yeah, we're at a measurement impasse. I know a meter is definitely bigger than a foot. Maybe 1 meter=2.5 feet? Don't quote me on that.**


Unfortunately by the time I got outside I was much farther away than anticipated.



Phone~"You are now 1 km (1000 meters) from the spot."

Me~ "Um, you just said I was only 500 meters away."

Phone~"I changed my mind."

Me~"You suck."


What was intended to be a relaxing/amusing lunch activity quickly became a bit of a fiasco.


One problem with looking at your phone and walking at the same time: you miss spotting big puddles.


I wish I was kidding about this.




It was at this point I began to wonder how many geocachers had been mistakenly arrested for lurking.


Needless to say I was less than impressed with myself. And, after three days of searching...


I still haven't found it.


But I will. Oh I will.


Unless I'm actually arrested. Then I'll probably just call it a day.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

All magic comes with a price...

Posted by K & M



We both love the new television series "Once Upon a Time". Some people say it's predictable. But we say it's a wonderful flashback to childhood classics (Remember Fairytale Theatre? Or when Disney made good movies? We do!), as well as a very good excuse to have a sleepover.

We decided to watch a marathon of episodes (using the magic of the internet, streaming the show onto the television). We got our snacks ready- chips & dip- and our drinks poured- cosmos. (mmmmmmm), and put our feet up.

Reinactment:

This is the life...


The first little bit went okay, minus the weird, Hecules-like intro the website insisted on showing. But as soon as we put on episode 2, BAM!

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next 25 minutes were very stressful, with M attempting to find an alternative website, and me cursing all things computer.

Did we mention that M has an anger problem? In fairness, she needed her Rumpelstiltskin fix.

Finally, thanks to magic of sketchy TV streaming sites, we came across a site which offered all the episodes in full! We were able to freely enjoy the filthy, metallic skin of Rumpelstiltskin; the naive, yet ferocious Snow White; and the refined black & white taste of the evil Queen.

Good really can triumph over computer evil. Maniacal Laugh.

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Happy Birthday to "Magic Hat"!

Posted by: M

There comes a time in life when we all need to give props to a special person in our lives.
Well, this is my moment:  Happy Birthday to Magic Hat!!! (a.k.a. K)
Cue theme song from "Shaft". Oh yeaaaaaah.
K is my partner in crime, my humor provider, my sis. So naturally, I have struggled with what birthday gift would possibly show her (and her hat) how awesome she is!

After much thinking and pondering, it finally came to me: RE-ENTER THE ENFORCER!!!

Act 1: Rid bus of all annoying backpack-wearing jerks who block the exit door.
"Be gone you punk!" *BOOF*

Act 2: Destroy any and all stress-inducing computers.
"Prepare to meet your doom, viruses!"

Act 3:  La piece de resistance!
"Let's go Mr. Quincy. No ear-phone eating tonight!"
My work here is done. Party hardy, K!

Love, M

Thursday, April 05, 2012

The Enforcer strikes again!

posted by M

When I was in high school, one of the most effective (and frankly hilarious) anti-drug commercials came on T.V. It featured a mother who would jump into rooms yelling things like, "When I SAY no weed, I MEAN no weed!!", all the while turning off favourite T.V. shows, dramatically ripping Game Boys out of hands and grounding her weed-smoking, delinquent son. She was known simply as, "The Enforcer".  Even more hilarious was the use of sayings like "Why you trippin?", but that's neither here nor there.

For reasons still unknown to me today, I really took to this commercial. I began to be known amongst my friends as our very own "Enforcer", getting dramatically worked up over injustices school-wide. I could be heard throughout the hallways declaring things like, "When I SAY don't crowd the halls, I MEAN don't crowd the halls!" and elbowing my way through clumping grade 9's. Or, "When I SAY use both sides of that paper, I MEAN use both sides of that paper!". It entertained us for some time.

In adulthood, I still find myself easily annoyed by people doing stupid and inconsiderate things. I have had to work hard, in fact, to learn ways to calm down and to not take people's careless acts so personally. In times when I feel the rage welling up, I have often reflected on my days as the Enforcer. I mean, what if I really COULD enforce things that annoy me? I could be like an honorary police officer, roaming the streets and stopping injustice everywhere! If I was a real, live Enforcer, I could even wear a fancy cowboy hat and badge, and NO ONE could question my decisions (or ensemble)!!

It would look something like this:
 
Yes, the hat would be this big.

 
Sweet! Now that I've got the all duds figured out, all I needs is to locate me some wrong-doers!


Like that jackbum at the park or beach who insists on smoking, despite the fact that it is illegal and there are signs everywhere:


How about a little H2O with that toxic stick? HAH!

Or one of those freaking tailgators who feels that you're just not driving fast enough for them, despite the fact you are already going 12km over the speed limit:

I WILL CRUSH YOU!!!

And last but not least, those people who take PARTIAL food (half a muffin or a partial orange) at meetings and get-togethers because they just want a little bit and "someone else will finish it off!". Come ON, we all know it's going to get thrown out!:


PUNT!

Ahhhhhhh, I feel so much better now :).

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

K versus the Pharmacy

Posted by K 


I'm in insurance "no-man's land" while I wait for my work coverage to kick in, which means I have to pay for my prescriptions myself.

This makes going to the pharmacy a bit of a sticky situation, as I never before realized how crazy expensive medicine is.

I used to only pay $2. I even remember getting annoyed when they split up an order and charged me $4. Ah, the good old days.


Before:


Look at me, not a care in the world, $2 prescriptions galore!



Now:  I have to be very careful how many prescriptions I hand over. It usually ends very poorly for me, and my bank account.


Sweating bullets, gingerly handing over a single prescription...BAM! $200 :(




Last night I had a new prescription to drop off, and I was extremely nerved up about what it would cost. I was even more concerned when the Pharmacist brought out a calculator to figure out the total:




I was in complete meltdown mode, with bright red face and waving fists.


I was expecting a big number, but over $1000?!?! I was freaking out! There is no way I can pay for that! After I flailed around dramatically and coughed out "Over $1000!?!? That's crazy!" , he looked me in the face, deadpan, and said:



This is after I dramatically passed out on the floor in protest.





Moral of the story? I should not be allowed to go out in public by myself. On the bright side, he's now so anxious to get me out of the pharmacy I'll never have to wait the usual 20 minutes again.