Monthly Archives: January 2009

Get Gmail*

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Shop Girl| Leave a comment

I don’t pretend to be a technological genius, but for an average person, I know this and that about web-related things and am pretty comfortable at least trying to figure things out on my own. It was actually one of the things the Hubster liked about me when we first met, as then (in my pre-blog days) I had my own website with photos, stories, etc that I maintained. It was nothing fancy, but it did the job.

Today I want to share a little gem with you–something that I can’t believe everyone hasn’t found out about yet: Gmail. Gmail is a webmail service provided by Google… it’s free, like Hotmail, only it’s 1000000 times better! It used to be all exclusive and you could only join if you invited by another Gmail user, but it’s available for everyone now! I converted about 2 years ago and have never looked back. Here’s why:

1. Gmail gives you more storage space than you, as an average user, will probably ever use. My account is currently packed with photos, long emails, even music, and I have hardly put a dent into my storage space.

2. Searching for emails in your account is so so so much easier. As it’s powered by Google, a wondrous search engine, you can quickly search through your entire account for an email you’ve forgotten. Forget folders… hello labels!

3. Remember spam? That’s funny… I can’t. I don’t really get any anymore.

4. You know all those big advertisements you see all over other email providers? Gone. Gmail uses small text-based ads that are hardly noticeable.

5. Gmail offers many other great services as a part of your Gmail account, such as Google Documents, Google Reader, or my personal favourite, Google Calender. I have a very busy schedule… and I even forget where I’m supposed to be on which day sometimes. Google Calender is a great tool that you can access anywhere you have internet access! But that’s not even the best part–you can invite your friends to share your calender with you! For example–the Hubster and I are both students at the same university, but we have opposite schedules all over campus. Because we have shared our calender, I can click his name and it will show me his schedule as well as mine (in different colours) so I can see what time he is finished / where his classes are! I have done this with several other friends as well, so it’s pretty awesome. Also–it’s completely private. You can set it so that only people you have shared it with can see your calender. Pretty neat, huh?

6. Last, but not least, my favourite–Google Talk. This comes free when you sign up for a Gmail account, and it’s like msn, but for Gmail users! You really need to see it to understand it, but you’ll love it like I do. :)

Anyway, these are just some of the reasons I love Gmail. I was also one of those kids who had a million different email addresses that a million different people have. I now have it set up with Gmail that any email I get from any of my old accounts is forwarded immediately to my Gmail address. So I never have to log into Hotmail or Yahoo again. If you’re ready to get a new email and say goodbye to your old [email protected]–go Gmail, or go home.

Gmail, I heart you. Join now!!

Shop Girl*

Posted in Cool Stuff*

Chapter Thirteen* Stranded At the Altar

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Shop Girl| 1 Comment

After nearly a year of writing it’s finally here: The Wedding Day post. As I write it feels as though something is coming to an end… in reality, this post really signifies not en end, but a new beginning of our life together.

I last wrote about the night before our wedding. If you are just reading for the first time now, I have been writing out the story of how I met my Hubster-to-be at just 19 years of age and how we then dated, got engaged and married in less than eight months. You can read Our Story* in entirety by clicking on it to find out about our first date or how he proposed just two months after we met. In any case, it all lead to here…

August 20th, 2005

When my alarm went off at 7:00am Telly flew out of bed and into the washroom. I slowly became aware of the commotion occurring upstairs, obviously signaling that I was not the first one awake. As I tried to register why Telly, who loves sleep like I do, would rush out of bed, or why anyone else in my family would be up so early on a Saturday, my foggy brain suddenly snapped:

I’m getting married today.

I knew there were a hundred things I needed to be doing and that my hairdresser would be arriving momentarily to do my hair for me, but I also knew that this would probably be one of the only moments of the day that I would have for myself… so I lay in bed trying to imagine how this day would be. This day that little girls dream of, this day of all days–our wedding day. In five hours I’d be married.

I’m getting married. Today.

Telly came back nearly dancing from the bathroom and pulled me out of bed. I snuck upstairs and was greeted with a big hug from my already very excited and stressed mother. She shooed me into the shower before the rest of my hulking little (big) brothers awoke and took all the hot water. Which they like to do. Often.

As I stepped out of the shower I heard the doorbell ring and I knew that my wonderful hairdresser had arrived and as of this moment it was going to get reeeeeally busy. When I came downstairs my hairdresser had transformed my laundry room into a salon and she ushered me into a chair as we were running on a tight schedule. I sent Telly upstairs to eat breakfast, and it never occurred to me to do the same myself.

Note to anyone getting married: never ever forget to eat on your wedding day. I’ll explain why later.

By around 8:15 my hair was done. As it was forecasted to be a hot overcast day with the possibility of rain, I wanted something that wouldn’t get messed if I was hit by a tornado. My hair is long and thick, so I wanted it all up off my neck.

Next I was pulled into the bathroom so Telly could make me beautiful. I don’t usually wear a ton of makeup (a little foundation, eye liner & mascara) but Telly (my esthetician/ maid of honor) opened her massive box of magic and went to work. When she finished, I felt like a different person (in a good way!). I somehow suddenly had a tan, huge beautiful eyelashes (more on this later) and felt like a princess with my pretty hair and make up. As she packed up I stood in front of a mirror (wearing my jogging pants and white collar-shirt) and put on my jewellery the whole thing suddenly felt so surreal…

I’m getting married today.

By 9:15am my mom called me upstairs saying it was time to go. My dress, veil and shoes were packed in the car, along with all other emergency items (makeup, bobby pins, etc etc). Now then–I have a really big family, and my wedding ceremony was being held an hour away from my parent’s home in Btown. We all crowded in the front hallway trying to decide who was going in which car and who was driving. In the end, instead of driving down with my Mom and Big Dad (which would have been the wisest choice) Telly & I voted to drive down with Peeah & Fireman, who live about 25 minutes away from the Temple, assuming they would know the area pretty well. As Big Dad gave everyone last minute directions and asked if everyone knew how to get there, everyone nodded yes and we piled into cars–my dress in one car, and I in the other.

It was now just after 9:30am. As we pulled out of the driveway we had about an hour and a half to get down to the temple… which should have put us in good time. As the bride, it was required that I be there at 11:00am to meet with The Hubster and complete some last minute things before we could be married. I thought it would be lots of time, right?

As we slipped onto the highway Peeah and Telly talked animatedly while I listened quietly. I kept waiting to feel nervous, as everyone had expected me to. In fact, Peeah and Telly asked me repeatedly in the car if I was “nervous yet”, but I just felt really calm and relaxed. I felt so relaxed that I fell asleep. On the way to my wedding. Yup. :)

I woke up as we turned off the highway toward the Temple, the way we always go–and the only way the four of us in the car knew how to get there. It was now 10:40, and without any interruptions we would arrive there just on time. That was when we started seeing orange construction signs. Lots of them. But that was ok… so long as the road was open I didn’t care how many orange signs I saw.

…and that was when I saw the man in the construction hat and vest holding a huge sign that read:

DETOUR

…are you kidding me?!?!?

Fireman pulled up beside the construction man for a quick chat. The construction man informed us that the entire road was closed, and that we would need to take an alternate round-about way to the temple. Unfortunately, the man was not from that city and could not give us directions. He merely pointed in the general direction other cars had headed and wished us luck.

I will not panic. I will not panic. I will not panic.

10:47am – We begin driving in what we hope to be the direction of the temple.

I’m going to be late for my own wedding. I’m going to be late for my own wedding.

10:52am - We realized that we have no idea where we are and frantically begin calling Big Dad’s cellphone for directions. (This was the pre-GPS era).

The Hubster will think I’ve had cold feet!! He’s going to think I’m not coming!!

11:01am - I am not at the temple. We are still driving aimlessly through the back roads of a city which none of us know well.

This will all be ok. This will all be ok. This will all be ok.

11:07am - We finally get directions and realize we are going absolutely the wrong way.

I’m going to make it. I’m going to make it.

11:19am - We arrive at the temple…twenty minutes behind schedule.

Meanwhile…

While we were on our “adventure drive” / trying to find a way to get to the temple, the Hubster was much better organized and prepared and arrived early. Minutes ticked by as he sat in the waiting room with family as our guests began to arrive. When 11:00am passed he thought maybe I was running late. By 11:15 he was just a wee bit concerned that maybe I had had cold feet. The constant questions about where I was, combined with Big Dad’s running jokes about why I wasn’t there (no doubt to ease the tension), were not much help. Unfortunately, as the Hubster was in the temple, his cell phone was turned off and I had no way to reach him to ensure him that I was on my way and that he was still going to be stuck with me for eternity!

When we finally pulled into the parking lot, Big Dad came running out of the temple with a concerned / stressed expression on his face. I was ushered (running) from the parking lot to the temple, leaving Telly and Peeah to grab all my things and follow behind me. Big Dad quickly helped me get organized and brought me to the Hubster, who sat quietly in a chair wearing a nervous expression. As I rushed toward him apologizing over and over he looked up, smiled and pulled me into a tight hug. We were then completed some paperwork and went our separate ways to get ready.

I’m getting married in 15 minutes.

As my mom helped me get ready in the bridal room all the stress of the car adventure slowly melted away. As we stood together in the mirror I still couldn’t believe that it was finally here.

I’m getting married in 5 minutes!!!

We walked toward the room where the Hubster was waiting with our family and friends. As he stood waiting for me his eyes shone and I was overwhelmed with happiness: I’m going to married this man for time and all eternity.

Right now.

As we held hands and looked into each others eyes it felt like time stopped, if just for a second. We were given some wonderful advice to begin our lives together as a married couple–a family. Our family.

…and then, it was over. We slipped rings onto each other’s hands and I was no longer Single Shop Girl–we were married… and I became the Wifester. :) As we stood holding hands amidst all the love and congratulations from our family it finally felt real… I could never remember feeling so happy.

I just got married to the man of my dreams!!!!

(You can click on pictures to enlarge them)

Shop Girl*

P.s. I love you, Hubster. xo

P.p.s. Stay tuned for more photos and details of the wedding reception!

All Chapters*

Previous* ———————————————————————– Next*

Posted in Our Story

A Wonderfully Unproductive Saturday*

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Shop Girl| Leave a comment

I love Saturdays.

It is really the only day of the week that is absolutely free. Monday – Fridays are full of school & assignments, and Sunday is church and preparing for the week ahead. Saturday is just Saturday. I like that.

So, in my head I like to plan out how I’ll spend them… you know, so I can use my time wisely and be really productive. This is how I planned out today:

8:00 - Wake up

9:00 – Gym

12:00 – Lunch with the Hubster

2:00 – Clean apartment

3:00 – Laundry

5:00 – Dinner

6:00 – Complete assignments due next week.

10:00 – Bed

So very productive, no? This how today actually went.

10:30 – Wake up, laze in bed a little longer. (most days I am out of bed by 7am)

10:45 – 1:00 – Read in bed, slowly get ready for the day.

1:00 – Lunch with my love! We had a fabulous sushi lunch downtown.

2:00 - Shop for teacher shoes downtown… end up buying a new game we can play together and another secret purchase that I am REALLY REALLY excited about. (!!!!!!)

3:00 - Come home and read again. (I really love this Amish series I am reading. SO interesting!)

5:00 – Clean up my living room & vacuum. Finally. (Have meant to do this all week but was a little preoccupied…)

6:00 – Dinner & catch up on 24. (…isn’t this season AMAZING? I’m sooo hooked!!!!)

7:30 – Curl up on the couch and play games with the Hubster… :)

9:00 – Sit at my computer, staring blankly at screen wondering what I should write about today.

…and here I am. I think my day was so much better than what I planned out… I love “date days” / spending time with the Hubster. We try hard to have a date night / day at least one day a week were we actually go out and do something together. It doesn’t always happen due to our busy (& often conflicting) school schedules, but we always make a point to spend time together. Our latest tradition is sitting down for dinner and watching Frasier together. We both absolutely love the show and have been watching through the seasons together. I think he’s beginning to enjoy it more than I do!

I hope your day was as unproductively fabulous as mine. :)

Shop Girl*

Posted in Daily Junk*

A Reflection on Reflecting about Reflection*

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Shop Girl| Leave a comment

Have you ever thought about what makes you, YOU? I mean, really thought about it?

Even though I often mock my classes mercilessly and sometimes feel as though I haven’t learned anything (content wise) being in teacher’s college has not only helped me become very self-aware, but also to be more comfortable with who I am and what makes me, me.

In Ontario, teacher’s college is allllll about reflecting. Reflect this, reflect that. Reflect here, reflect there. Reflect on what you ate for lunch, why you chose what you did, how it made you feel, and how it will impact you as an educator. As much I am sick of the task and often find it utterly pointless, it has helped me become reflective in all areas of my life and I’ve learned more about myself than anything else through this program.

Let me explain by confessing a secret: I struggled through my entire undergrad. I had difficulty getting through lectures and extracting the salient points unless they were extremely clear or on a power point. I found the entire format difficult and coasted through because I know how to write a strong essay. I’m not proud of it, but most of my marks were in the high 60′s – low 70′s range. Learning in university was never easy for me, and for four years I just thought it was because I was not as smart as everyone else there. I felt like I was always missing something… like everyone else had this great secret and I was dumb for not knowing it. It was a huge relief to graduate.

And then I started teacher’s college, already anticipating that I’d be a mediocre student again. But something magical happened: I started learning about learning–more specifically, I learned about how I learned. And after 4 years of feeling less intelligent than everyone else around me I learned that I am not dumb, I just learn differently than the format of most undergraduate classes. In a survey that took 5 minutes, I learned that I am a visual and kinesthetic learner which is why I find lectures with no visuals or slides so difficult to sit through and learn from. I probably would have done much better in a college class where classes are much more interactive and less theory based, but I had no idea… I just thought I was different. When I found out more about learning styles and multiple intelligences it was like this little chip on my shoulder I had been carrying around all this time finally fell off.

That’s just one example of the new self-reflective me. I am now so much more comfortable confronting my strengths and weaknesses. I am more confident. I feel like I’m getting to know myself.

You should try it. :)

Shop Girl*

Posted in My thoughts*

The Transcript Saga*

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Shop Girl| Leave a comment

It’s finally over. What a week… after a stressful couple of days I’ve become best friends with a wonderful UPS lady and have made Ghetto U hate the sound of my voice and recognize me by first name (this is a school of 40 000 students… not bad, eh!). I also am possibly not friends with the registrar’s office at Hippie U for the time being, but let me start at the beginning…

Monday
Monday dawned bright, sunny and care-free. I arrived to my educational law class with my laptop, prepared to expand my knowledge of… something. While my professor droned on about something unimportant, I took a moment to check my university email. Amidst the junk Hippie U likes to send out, there was an email from the Education Office with one little statement that changed the course of my whole week. It read:

This is a reminder of the OSSTF Qualification Evaluation Workshop scheduled for this Thursday, January 22nd.

Required Documents
Official Transcript of degrees. Photocopies are not acceptable. If courses within degree are from another institution, official transcripts of these courses are also required.

(Note: OSSTF Qualification normally costs $125. Attendance at this workshop with all the documentation with you = a free application. No transcripts = $125 fee. Or so we were told.)

For those of you that don’t know, I only completed the last three years of my undergrad at Hippie U. I started my post-secondary career at Ghetto U in the city and achieved four credits there before transferring. Which meant that I needed a transcript. By Thursday.

I spent the next two hours trying to remember my log in for the university’s intranet system so that I could request a transcript. As it’s been four years since I accessed the system, it took me… oh… 20 tries? The fun part is that after every so many they lock you out of the system for an hour before you can try and log in again.

I was finally able to get in and request my transcript of four credits that already appear on my Hippie U transcript. I’m pretty sure they just wanted the logo. *sigh*

Tuesday
I woke up bright and early Tuesday to begin making my calls. I needed to a) confirm that my transcript had been printed and was ready; and b) arrange a courier to pick it up. I needed to leave by 9:30 in order to make my first class, so I thought that left me plenty of time to get things arranged.

…riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

My first phone call was to Ghetto U to confirm that they had printed my transcript was easy peasie. Next I called UPS to arrange a pick up. I called the 1 800 number and ended up with some guy who could barely speak English. As I was trying to explain my situation, he was giving me all these awful directions. I called GU again to find out if they knew what the UPS man was talking about, and they told me a) that they do not assist in the courier pick up in anyway, and b) it sounded like the UPS man was on drugs.

By this point it was already 9:45. I decided just to skip the first hour of my class and go downtown to the UPS store and talk to someone in person, thinking that I would be in and out. Ha. I arrived at the store at 10:30… and I was there until 11:45. I found this wonderful UPS angel who helped me for the next three days. The first step was fighting with the UPS in the City to have my transcript delivered overnight, so I would have it by Wednesday afternoon. We finally got that set up, but GU needed a label to attach to my transcript in order for UPS to be able to pick it up. This was a nightmare. The first person I talked said they could not do this under any circumstances as they were only responsible for printing the transcripts and nothing more. I called back and found someone who felt bad for me and allowed me to send the label to her personal email so she could attach it for me. WOO! Unfortunately, after half an hour the email had not gone through and she told me she would be on lunch between 12 – 1pm.

So–to clarify: UPS cannot pick up any parcel without this label.

I left UPS to try and catch the last two hours of my class. After begging for forgiveness from my professor I arrived in time for the luncheon she had provided. Shortly before she was to begin lecturing again, I slipped out to call GU about the label. I got a hold of my label lady, and she informed me that she had received the label, but wasn’t able to find my transcript and UPS had already come and attempted to pick up my transcript… unsuccessfully. No label + lost transcript = no pick up.

You see, GU printed my transcript in my maiden name, and the UPS label arrived in my married name so there was all this confusion. (Just to clarify, I had specifically requested that my transcript have my MARRIED name on the envelope. *sigh*)

So, I immediately tried calling my UPS angel to see if they could go back to pick up my package again. Unfortunately she had stepped out to run errands and I could do nothing but leave a message. As the minutes ticked by I grew less and less hopeful that it would be picked up as everyone I talked to (except my UPS angel) was getting rather annoyed with me. My wonderful friends tried to de-stress me–Wang Bone* even drew a picture of me getting my transcript…she has magic powers. But I’ll explain later. FINALLY, an hour or so later, she called back to tell me she had sweet talked the driver into going back for me, but that I needed to confirm with GU that all was ready to go. It was expected to arrive at 10am the next morning. So, I dialed the number and this was the gist of the conversation:

Me: “Hi there, I’m just calling to confirm that my transcript is ready to be picked up?”

GU Man: “Name?”

Me: “Shop Girl. I called earlier…”

GU Man (audibly less friendly and annoyed): “Ahh yes.. we’ve heard about you.”

He then abruptly told me that it was all together and ready to go and hung up the phone. (I’m pretty sure they didn’t want to talk to me anymore after that. haha) So, by 4pm I thought all was settled… except that I hadn’t receieved either of the transcripts I needed yet, and I had ordered Hippie U’s three weeks ago.

Wednesday
I left for class a little earlier than usual so that I could stop by my registrar’s office (my new favourite place! HA) to confirm that they had printed my transcript and mailed it. After calmly and politely explaining my situation to a nice young student working at the desk, her supervisor came over and attempted at what I think was “help”… this consisted of cutting me off every time I tried to answer a question or stress the urgency of why I needed the transcript. I honestly don’t think the woman could have been more rude to me… and I was honestly as polite as I could be under the circumstances. As it turned out, they had absolutely no record of whether or not my transcript had been printed so I fought until she went and printed me a new one, free of charge.

I felt a bit better having one transcript in my possession, but it was now noon and I had not yet heard from UPS. By 2pm I called to see if it had arrived… and my UPS angel informed me that not only had it not come, but there was absoltely no record of it in ANY UPS system. She had no idea where it was, when it was coming, or if it had even been picked up. She asked me to call GU again to confirm that UPS had in fact arrived the night before to pick up my transcript. After the number of calls I made the day before, I was too nervous to call, so a lovely lovely friend called for me. They weren’t even impressed to hear from “fake me”, but did confirm that it had been picked up before hanging up. So, all I could do was wait. There was a possibility that it could arrive the next morning (the morning of my 9:30am workshop) but no guarantee.

P.s. When I arrived home that night and checked my mail… my Hippie U transcript that I had ordered 3 weeks ago was sitting in my mailbox. Oh well. :)

Thursday
I was absolutely exhauted when I woke up this morning. I was up late last night working on my essay and managed to get only 4 hours of sleep. But, like the keener student I am I jumped on the bus and headed to my workshop sans transcript, hoping that they would be reasonable and allow me to forward it once I received it. Thankfully my bus driver buddy was driving this morning and he kept me company / prevented me from dwelling on how angry / stressed I was until my little pink phone rang–my transcript had arrived!!

The Hubster, whom I love more than words can say, offered to pick it up and try and get it to me before the end of the workshop at 11am. I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders… I didn’t have it yet, but it was in Senior’s City. That’s a start, right? I made it to the workshop and got through my application. Just as the facilitator announced that he was collecting applications the Hubster texted me that he had arrived–five minutes before the workshop ended. How’s that for good timing?

As I stapled my two transcripts to my application I felt soooo good. GU and UPS (minus my UPS angel) probably hate my guts, but I don’t care. It’s done!!

Moral of the story: Wang-Bone* has magical future-predicting drawing powers. Also, never ever attend more than one university, ever… and order 100 transcripts just to have on hand. You know, just in case.

Shop Girl*