Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Michele's LiveJournal:

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Friday, March 20th, 2009
11:09 am	Mixed Soccer, anyone? Any Thunder Bay people interested in playing mixed soccer at the Sports Dome? The league is 8 weeks long, and kicks off April 6. $50/player (plus taxes). The league organizer is hoping to have 6 teams to start. An item to note: there'll be 5 players on the field at any time (per team), 2 of which must be female. Don't have a team? No worries, just sign up and you'll be placed on a team. The league organizer wants people to sign up by the weekend (if possible). You can do this online at http://www.thesportsdome.ca/ or drop by the Sports Dome and sign up in person. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
9:21 am	The Google image today is cute. 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by Eric Carle. Originally published in 1969, wow. (Comment on this)
Monday, March 9th, 2009
12:21 pm	Hello Dell Me: "Hello, I'd like to purchase a laptop for a business." Dell: "Let me transfer you to a salesperson" On hold. Me: "Hello, I'd like to purchase a laptop for a business." Dell: "Let me transfer you to a salesperson" On hold. Me: "Hello, I'd like to purchase a laptop for a business." Dell: "What is your business telephone number?" Me: "Area code 807--" Dell: (Interrupting) "Starting with the area code." Me: "Yes, that's what I was telling you..." Dell: "Let me transfer you to a salesperson" On hold Me: "Hello, I'd like to purchase a laptop for a business." Dell: "What is your business telephone number, starting with the area code?" ... (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, March 2nd, 2009
9:18 am	C'est moi Je suis trop paresseuse pour écrire cet 'post' en français. Eh bien, la plupart de cet post, quand même. Nous récevus le Thunder Bay Key pour le printemps le dernière nuit. Le Key est un magazine qui a l'information sur beaucoup des organizations et activités dans la ville. Un chose qui m'interesse est le classe français au college. C'est Français III, et le classe commence en la fin d'avril. Le milieu? J'oublie. Meh, probablement je ne prendrai pas le classe parce que j'ai des autres choses à faire. On verra. I don't feel like correcting the errors in the french bit. In other news, I actually play soccer this week. First time in almost a month. I'll have to dig up my soccer clothes. I'm in the process of editing a story to submit to the writing group this month -- it's an ultra-short story, <1000 words. I'm afraid my story is somewhat confusing, and it requires a lot of editing. It's a fiction piece, but not sci-fi. Maybe I should have written sci-fi, lately it seems easier to whip up. I'm even playing the email rpg again. It's fun to play, and naturally I expect everyone else connected with the game to share in this enthusiasm and post more often. I'm currently taking an SQL course right now. The database we're using is Oracle. Evidently, this and the following SQL course would prepare me for the necessary exams that would certify me as an "Oracle Database 10g Administrator Certified Associate". Too bad the course isn't in the 11g environment, but oh well. The differences between the two incarnations are probably not that significant. Anyways, I wasn't planning on doing this, since it's not necessary for my job to have a cert in a database system which I don't use here (we're using MS Access). But if I'm going to be hand-held right up to the exam, maybe I should take it. Something to put on my resume. Well, and Oracle just plain sounds cool to me. (Comment on this)
Saturday, September 27th, 2008
9:04 pm	Kira says... "Sugar is yummy and yummy." "Daddy is a man. Mommy is a princess!" (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Sunday, September 7th, 2008
11:55 am	Pedal Power My weekly goal is to bike 100km/week (commute to work daily by bicycle - which is 20km/day). My year-end goal is to bike 2000km, though I'd have to bike 20kms every workday between now and December to make it. If we have a late snow, I might be able to do it. I think I stopped bicycling last year in November. We'll see. I have cold-weather bicycle clothing, and that coupled with a good dose of stubborness, I might reach my goal! I copied the following from a post in the bikes forum. Something interesting to think about, though I can't verify these "facts". Pedal power — A cyclist can travel 1,037km (644 miles) on the energy equivalent of one litre of petrol. — Regular cycling can make you as fit as someone who is ten years younger. — A cyclist consumes 1/50th of the oxygen of a car making the same journey. — A twice daily half-hour commute will, over a year, consume the energy equivalent of 24lb of fat. — In 1949, 34 per cent of all mechanised journeys were made by bicycle. Fifty years later that figure had fallen to 2 per cent. — The rate of serious heart disease for civil servants who cycle 20 miles or more a week is 50 per cent lower than for their sedentary colleagues. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, August 29th, 2008
2:04 pm	“Theirs was a New York love, a checkered taxi ride burning rubber, and like the city their passion was open 24/7, steam rising from their bodies like slick streets exhaling warm, moist, white breath through manhole covers stamped ‘Forged by DeLaney Bros., Piscataway, N.J.’” I didn't write this. It is great nevertheless. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
9:50 am	Star Trek, woo. I had a really geeky dream. We (Ryan, Kira and I) were in a mall, and Ryan wanted to go jogging. So he left to go running around the mall; Kira and I turned around and saw familiarish people troop to the nearby bookstore. Curious, I followed them in. Turns out they were the surviving cast of the original Star Trek, and they were doing an unadvertized book signing. I guess they wrote an autobiographical book, in my dream. Anyways, I thought this was super great fun, because I like the original Star Trek and it would be neat to buy a book and get it signed by the cast. I hung around the authors' tables for a while, gazing at the brisk business they were doing with the growing crowd who realized that celebrities were in the house. I finally decided to get in line and get a book signed, so I went to the registration table. The guy there said "Sorry, you have to sign in to approach the Star Trek cast -- but the maximum number of customers has been reached for this session". I was mad at myself -- I could have signed in a long time ago, rather than admiring the hub-bub. So I hung around some more, with Kira patiently waiting at my side (this clearly is not reality). I finally caught Leonard Nimoy's eye and I dove in. "I'm really sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you could possibly sign my book." He smiles, and takes my book. He says something, I say something back, and I bring up the topic that I've recently contributed some writing to an anthology of short stories and poetry. "But it's just self-published," I say. He leans forward and cups his mouth with one hand, whispering. "This is self-published too." I smile and lean forward, whispering back. "That means you get ALL the profit." Ha ha, I have stupid dreams. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, May 12th, 2008
9:27 am	I met Jack Layton on Saturday at the Thunder Bay Trade Show. Really. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 30th, 2008
9:27 am	Computers rule the world Netfile is down. Apparently the CRA servers are receiving more hits than the population of Canada. So, for those people who want to netfile their taxes, the deadline has been extended to May 6. But you still have to pay today (at your local tax office, online, whatever). (3 Comments |Comment on this)
12:10 am	The government doesn't really need my money -- right? If I can't access the netfile site, does that mean I don't have to file a tax return? (Comment on this)
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
9:49 am	The book launch came and went... So last night was the book launch for 'Thunder on the Bay'. I was the mc for the evening, and I did an alright job. I'm not a great public speaker, but we got through the presentation without any major problems. There was one point in particular where I went off on a tangent and then forgot what I was going to say. Gotta hate when that happens. Oh well. poopsnail filmed and photographed the launch for me. Thank you Ryan! Thanks for carrying all those books around! One piece of trivial information: One box of 50 books (each book is approx 180 pages long) is 27 pounds. On Friday, several of us from The Writers' Circle were interviewed by CBQ radio. We were advertising the launch of our book. Click here to listen to the interview. 'Thunder on the Bay' is $15, if anyone wishes to buy a copy. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, April 3rd, 2008
9:02 am	Cette semaine (eh bien, depuis mardi) j'ai fait du vélo à travail. Il était un peu difficile m'habituer à l'exercise...et le siège me fait mal au derriére! Je pense que, apres une semaine (environ) mon corps m'y habituera. Mon travail est cinq kilomètres de ma maison. Je rentre chez moi pour le déjeuner, donc je fait du vélo un total de vingt kilomètres chaque journée de travail. Dans les autres nouvelles, j'organise une soirée chez moi à samedi. Mexican Night! Alors, tout le monde préparera des enchiladas, du riz, et des haricots frits. Et boire, bien sûr. Heh heh. Merci wordreference.com pour votre assistance avec des mots français, parce que je ne peux pas penser ce matin. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 31st, 2008
1:51 pm	( Mon prochain paintball marker ) Je l'aime, c'est très cool dans mon avis. J'ai tiré un il y a un semaine. Lisse, ferme, bonne précision. Seulement 250 à 350ish dollars. Aiii. Quand j'ai l'argent, peut-être je l'achètera. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
8:34 am	Do I hear crickets? Well, it's pretty much April now. Less than a month until the book launch. Tomorrow is the deadline to send literary works to the local writing contest. I'm not sure if I'm going to submit anything. Maybe my 'Anna' story. Maybe some flash fiction. Flash fiction is great. In fact, I think that my favourite type of fiction is of the condensed variety. So if anyone wants to share any short stories, I'd love to read them. There's a big echo in this room. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 20th, 2008
1:31 pm	Books are here Ok, so I have the books. I'm somewhat mortified that there's a typo in my introduction. There's an extra period on the last sentence of paragraph two. It stares at me, shrieking how horrible an editor I am. heh heh Oh well. I missed that. Not much can be done now. Otherwise, the book looks pretty slick. The cover is awesome, even more so when I compare it to the last anthology the writers' circle put out. I haven't done a thorough read-through of the book, mainly because I'm sick and tired of those stories and poems. And I don't want to learn of any more editing mistakes. Right now I know of two (one sentence has two periods, and one sentence in the first story has no period). All in all, the book is fine. I learned a lot about self-publishing by participating in this project. The next phase of this book thing is to throw a book launch. I'll be the master of ceremonies at that, which is scheduled for late next month. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008
4:24 pm	The books have shipped I just got an email from the book printers. The books have shipped, and I should be receiving them tomorrowish. I'm nervous. What if they look bad, or there's a million mistakes in them that I missed? The print they sent me in December looked alright, but still. Maybe something went wrong between then and now. I'm somewhat confident that the cover will at least look awesome. A graphic designer affiliated with the printer helped me with that. I gave her my cover idea (hooray for Corel Draw!), and she modified it some. I should post pictures of that -- the progression from idea to reality. The graphic designer worked within the constraints that I put on her (that is, it must have photograph A on the front cover and photograph B on the back). She made the background look modern and fresh (believe me, a big improvement over our last book which was printed here in town). The cover is black and gold. I picked gold because it brings out the fall colours in the nature photograph on the front. And it's the colour of Captain Kirk's uniform, natch. (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
9:59 pm	All is calm on the writing front. The anthology is at the printers, and I shall be receiving the final copy soon. I forwarded my latest short story to the writer's guild (now called Writers Northwest) for their review before the next meeting. I have another installment of 'Gallant's Great Space Safari' out, for the groaning pleasure of all. I think the most challenging stories to write are the really short ones (>500 words). I wrote one today. Ryan thinks it's good -- has a couple problem areas but it's otherwise ok. Does anyone else who looks at my journal also write fiction? (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Friday, March 14th, 2008
4:00 pm	Gallant's Great Space Safari - Part Four - Speed vs Velocity ( Four ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, March 10th, 2008
3:59 pm	Un person à mon travail m'a dit que son bébé a douze semaines. Pour huit de ces douze semaines, il a été hors de la ville (et souvent hors du pays) pour le travail. Blink. Ce person est plus âgé que moi (environ 45-50ish), un professional. Il a beaucoups d'argent. Pourquoi il choisit son travail sur son bébé? Pourquoi est-ce qu'il a eu un enfant si il ne dépenserait pas le temps avec il? Qu'est-ce que le but? (2 Comments |Comment on this)