vendredi, décembre 07, 2007
gimme gimme more, gimme more
Some things I did this week:
- For the jobs I keep applying for at the federal government, I keep getting invited to write tests to prove I'm not an idiot. Last weekend, the test was even called "idiot detection" - okay, not really, but "general competence" is about the same thing, don't you think? You can test your own competence on their website here.
But something went wrong on the way - I couldn't find the test location. They keep holding these at theUniversity of Ottawa campus, so I had my trusty map all printed and knew where to go. But there was nobody there - no signs, no line-ups, nothing on any of the four floors that I checked. It turned out that I had been told the wrong building, so it wasn't a measure of my incompetence that I couldn't find the thing. Argh. - I made a new soup. For a while I've been meaning to purchase and find a way to prepare kale that would be reasonably enjoyable. You always read about what an amazing food kale is, health-wise, so I thought I should try it. Well, it's a big leafy green thing, and most of the recipes I found were for hearty soups, so that's what I made. Bean and kale soup! It's super-healthy and pretty yummy, I have to say. I'm glad it turned out so well, 'cause the prep time was a bit crazy. I didn't use canned beans - soaked 'em overnight and cooked them for a couple hours; also, chopped kale for what seemed like a long time.
- I endured the obnoxious, overly-loud and piercing shriek of the fire alarm in our apartment building. Seriously, I get that it has to be loud, but this thing would cause hearing damage if you stuck around - maybe that's the secondary strategy, to force you out in order to save your hearing, not to protect yourself from fire. In apartment buildings like this, it's typically a false alarm or practice drill anyway.
My poor, poor kitties, though. They had followed me to the kitchen to request dinner and when that thing went off in the next room, they couldn't move their little paws fast enough to get safely under my bed. The floor mats strewn about the kitchen were evidence of their panic. I really didn't want to put them through the further stress of being yanked out, shoved into a carrying device and lugged outside, so I just closed the bedroom door and we left them inside. I wasn't too worried about it being an actual emergency, and at that point I was just angry about the stupid alarm making my eardrums bleed with the unnecessary blaring. - I finished writing and submitted my term paper for Provincial Politics about Ralph Klein. I handed it in a bit late, but my prof was understanding about it.
