Letting the fox loose in the hen house

I am now the rep in charge of making sure that no one is harassed in the office. Reactions from colleagues include bursting into laughter or asking, "No, really? You?"

Truly, it doesn't seem right. It was because of my brilliant idea to put the featured guns 'n' gals for October one year as the screen saver on the computer in the shared reference office (many jobs past) that prompted the chair of our department to send around a strongly worded memo reminding us of the University's harassment policy. Some Women's Studies student had complained.

In all seriousness though, I'll do well at the task *because* I don't care about everyday workplace nonsense, but at the same time, I am hard-core about a diverse office.

Thank heaven for Japanese white bread

Forget baguettes, forget crusty Italian loaf - step aside rye, pumpernickel, and whole wheat - my new [admittedly unhealthy] carb joy is Japanese white bread. TM once described it to me as he had tried it in Tokyo. He said, "It's like a giant croissant".

Today we were out exploring north of Toronto. One mall up there is called J-Town. The last time I went there everything was shut except for one store, but this time it was open. It's a tiny complex mainly consisting of several restaurants, and one larger area which held a butcher, a grocery store, some china, and a bakery.

There are a lot of Asian grocery stores in the Toronto area so we didn't see too many different things, but the butcher had the most high-quality meat I've ever seen. Then we checked out the bakery. Near the cash, TM spied what looked like the loaf he had had in Tokyo. Of course we bought one.

Back home, I had a slice with some delicious yellow fig jam. Dear lord, this was mannah from heaven. It is indeed like having a decadent slice of croissant. I definitely didn't need to add any butter to it. TM was busy playing Halo and as I hadn't been considerate enough to cut him a slice of his own when I had helped myself, he asked for a bite as I sat next to him ooh-ing and ahh-ing over how good it tasted. He saw my look of incredulity and said, "Never mind." [Although I did then get up and cut a slice for him].

People, if you can find a decent Japanese bakery near you, try this stuff. It's so worth it.

I take my sleeping seriously

This is probably why I am starting to hate my upstairs neighbour. Oh I'm sure he's a young, partying dude and that's fine and all, but I'm not and I'm fine with making noise complaints every single time I hear his music through my ceiling.

It first started during the Olympics - he would come back home when the bars closed at 2am with a group of friends and crank up the music. I mean, this was loud, and I don't give a crap if it's Saturday or Friday night - I want to sleep. So TM started to call security several times until the music stopped.

It was annoying to the point that TM spoke with a friend of his who is a cop. She told us that as far as noise complaints go, you don't even have to wait until 11pm - whenever someone is making so much noise that it is interfering with your life, you can lodge a noise complaint. In some ways that makes for very intolerant living conditions, but then again, when dealing with a neighbour who is so clueless/ignorant, it's a good rule to know.

The other week we had to go to security again. This time the music was turned down immediately, but then there was audible music right through until 6am. I know that because I woke up at 6am to take the dog out and was confused about where the music was coming from. Later on when talking to a woman who is on the floor directly below him (we have a two-story condo so our bedroom is directly below his unit, but her unit is situated just to the side under his), she was commenting that his music was on all night.

Anyhow, after an initial noise complaint at two last night, the music was lowered but it started up again at 3am - at this lower volume. I think that drunk boy falls asleep to music. This time I got up and wandered over to security and we were both amazed about this guy. However, security must have done their thing as the music did indeed stop.

Perhaps I'll start to visit drunk boy at 6am when I get up with the dog...

And speaking of our doggy, here is her happy smile:

My doggy

She is a catalogue model, don't ya know?

Where do I live?

The other night TM and I were watching the series premiere of CW's Nikita. I'm used to seeing Toronto masquerading as other cities and it becomes a game to see what buildings you can recognize. At one point Nikita drove up to a building and TM remarked that it was City Hall. As I usually don't recognize anything, I was excited to see the familiar curves of City Hall. Right at the point where we were both agreeing - yes! yes! it *is* City Hall - onscreen Nikita stated to the guy in the car - We are at the UN.

This cracked us up beyond belief. I think for me it was so hilarious because I hold the UN in awe and here was a Toronto landmark (all very interesting in and of itself, but since I work right next door to it, not the 'omg the UN').

In other news, I can't stop eating comfort foods. It seems that Fall is encouraging me to gain. Nothing of course to do with my lack of will power...

New method of saving water

Normally we wash the dog about every three months in the upstairs shower stall. However, said stall is still filled with boxes from when everything was packed while our floors were redone. I had no energy to move all the boxes, so I just dragged the dog into the soaker tub on the main floor and washed her using that shower while I had my shower before work. It worked well.

With the higher sides of the tub, she couldn't run anywhere. She just stood miserably and endured her bath. Then when she had to shake, she shook herself still in the bath. Normally she runs out of the shower stall and gets water all over the bathroom, but she was way more inhibited by the sides of the tub. After a quick towel-dry, she went off and I just finished by showering/hair washing activity which also rinsed all the dog hair from the tub.

The dog never stays clean for long though. I think I saw her rolling in the dog park as I returned home on the streetcar. The dog does so much prefer to smell like sod/mud/poo/dead stuff. I preferred her burnt marshmallow scent this morning though (this is the scent of my doggy conditioning glitter spray). Too bad it never lasts.

Quitting is for quitters

I have cut down a lot on my caffeine consumption. I am down to a solo espresso in the morning. I do find that I am sleeping better. It used to be that I could have an espresso at midnight and be fast asleep half an hour later, but now caffeine does affect my sleep - one of the other stupid aspects of aging. Anyhow, today I thought, "Why don't I give up coffee completely?". It suffices to say that it lasted until noon.