Christmas done

Christmas is all done, and I'm glad. We had a roast at my dad's house on Christmas Eve, a turkey dinner at the in-law's place on Christmas Day, and we dropped by to see my grandmother this morning. I think everyone enjoyed the gifts we got them this year. Jenn and I started shopping pretty early, so we were able to spend some time looking for really nice presents.

Some of the fun stuff I got:

- Some excellent T-shirts (I'll post some action shots once I get to wear them)

- Left4Dead (fast zombies ARE scary after all!)

- a gift certificate that I used to buy a 1TB hard drive to finish off my Windows Home Server

- a large bowl of cookies

- a coffee mug with my pigs on it

I cleaned up this year! :)

When do we get to relax?

This weekend was crazy busy! Errands, baking, cooking, shopping, cleaning, a brunch out, and a dinner in with friends. I'm supposed to go out tonight with a group of people from work, but I'm feeling pretty wiped out. I may just make it a Blockbuster night tonight. Right after I make the bean salad for my office potluck tomorrow. Sheesh.

Certified!

I am now an MCTS, a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist. Is pretty much the easiest certification you can get, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? This was the first out of many exams, so I better get used to it, I suppose.

Since the busses here are on strike, I got up at 5:15am and was on the road by 5:40am, no coffee or breakfast. I was quite surprised when I got to the exam location by 6am. The exam was scheduled for 8:30am, so I went to a nearby Perkins for breakfast, and loitered for a bit. They took me early for my exam, and I was done by 9am. Whew! Needless to say, I am VERY glad that that is done. I was quite nervous about it, and I think I might have been a bit snippy or preoccupied recently. Sorry Jenn. :)

Stress levels

The funny thing about blogs is that if life is busy and interesting, you don't have as much time to write posts. Also, I am lazy.

This Friday I've got my first certification exam. I'm pretty sure the exam is 50 multiple choice questions, and a pass is 70%. That's not too bad. I'm almost done with the textbook, and the questions haven't been particularly difficult. I figure I can finish the textbook and do a few practice exams by Friday morning, and then I should be good to go. This damn bus strike might make it difficult to get in to get write the exam though. I'm just glad I booked it at a location in a mall near me, rather than at the main test centre downtown. If I had booked it downtown, I would just reschedule for the new year. I'll be very glad to get this done, I've been putting it off forever.

Thankfully, I've got all my Christmas shopping done except for two gifts: one for my wife, and one for my grandmother. I know what I'm getting for my wife, but it won't arrive in time for Christmas. I'm still working on something to get my grandmother, but I'm pretty sure she'll love whatever we get her.

Filthy hippies

On Saturday, I was out in the cold waving a Canadian flag in support of our government. I had never been to a rally before, so I didn't really know what to expect. Basically, it was a lot of Conservative MPs giving short speeches, and a very un-animated MC trying to get people to chant. It looked like a lot of the crowd had never been to a rally before either. That's to be expected, since most Conservatives have full-time jobs and get regular haircuts. :P

On Sunday, we lost electricity at our house at 11am, and it started getting pretty cold there by 5pm. So we packed up the guinea pigs and headed out to the in-law's place to spend the night. I didn't sleep well, so I'm feeling pretty rough this morning. 

This week, I hope to finish up my Christmas shopping. This will be a record for me, usually it comes down to the last week before Christmas, and I'm still running around.

Anti-coalition links and information

I've recieved a bunch of emails from people that I never thought saw things my way. But they passed on some good information and links, so I'll share them with you:

Anti-Coalition Rallies - Find one near you, and make your voice heard. Rallies aren't just for filthy hippies anymore!

Anti-Coalition Petition - Usually I laugh at online petitions, but this whole issue has me worried.

The Governor General of Canada - There are email addresses and phone numbers here.

Democracy?

I don't usually blog about politics, but I'm starting to get pretty angry. After claiming that he would never form a Coalition, Dion has gone ahead and made one. There are a number of reasons why this sucks:

1) He said he would never make a coalition with the NDP because of their economic policies. Now he is making a coalition with them so that they can help him make economic policy?

2) The Bloc would be able to demand whatever they want, and the Liberals would agree because they need the Bloc support. The Constitution was nice while it lasted, I suppose.

3) Dion led the Liberals to a humiliating defeat in the last election, and now he wants to lead us out of an economic crisis? People would have voted Liberal if they had confidence in Dion. They didn't, and they don't.

4) Dion is stepping down early next year, so the Liberal party would get to decide who the next PM is without letting Canada vote on it. Yay Democracy!

The worst part is that all of the Bloc, Liberal or NDP MPs are all doing what their party tells them. Nobody has the brains or testicular fortitude to stand up and say "Wait a minute! This isn't good for Canada...".

Hopefully the Governor General can show that her position is still relevant, and can tell Dion And Friends to go to hell.

Certification

A while ago, I decided that I wanted to get my Microsoft Certified IT Professional Certification. I figured that the little piece of paper would help me in my career, and that I may end up learning something while I was going through it. I bought some books, and started studying. That didn't last long, as I ended up getting quite lazy, and chose videogames over homework most of the time.

Now, I've got an annual review coming up, and I was reminded that I planned on finishing three exams by next May. That's going to be tight, but it should be doable if I get going on it now. I've gone through about 60% of the book for my 70-642 exam on Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration, and I was actually doing the lessons as I went. So I've got to power through the rest of it, and get my exam done by December 19th. That's the deadline I set myself for this first exam. The good news is that if I fail it, I can retake it again with this "Second Chance" promotion that they have.

All this, and I still have Christmas shopping to do. Ugh.