The beaver is a proud and noble animal

I decided to go to Ottawa this weekend, bit of a spur-of-the-moment thing. Took the bus early saturday morning and just came back now. I spent a relaxing weekend fixing my dad's computer (only a minor thing to do this time), eating lots of mom-cooked food and generally doing nothing. Oh, and talking with Katy at decent hours too :) That last part was very, very nice and did wonders for my morale.

Started and finished a new paperback by Carl Hiaasen, a new author I discovered by fluke. Fun stuff to read. I recommend Skinny Dip, his most recent book. I'm going to start reading the new Christopher Moore book I also bought, which promises to be just as zany and fun as the others, yay!

This week should be fairly slow. I need to go over the fallout of last friday's conference call with IBM with my boss, as I think that what they're offering to do really won't suit our needs. Anyway, that's what's ahead for me this week.

Oooh, and the Salon des metiers d'arts is also starting this friday, so I'll be able to get some xmas shopping done there as well. I realized that I needed a parent-friendly gift for Katy, among other things.

Off to bed now, toodles all.

SOME Victorian nursing homes have become “grey light zones” with prostitutes visiting elderly clients for sex.

Aged care and sex industry figures said it was a common practice in public and private nursing homes to sneak “escorts” in. Some homes set aside special sex rooms.

Anna Priamo, a nursing supervisor at an inner-city nursing home, said frisky patients who harassed nurses were referred to a doctor who might arrange for a prostitute to visit them. “It's not something we put in our brochure,” Ms Priamo said.

“(The residents) might ask for it or if they make smarmy comments to nurses it would be mentioned to the doctor and the doctor would ask them (if they wanted an escort to be arranged). Most homes would do it if asked. It is part of our job to make sure people are socially and sexually and emotionally happy and healthy,” she said.

The Victorian Association of Health and Extended Care, which represents 70 per cent of the state's aged care providers, has formed a taskforce to examine the issue.

“As the population ages, this issue of sexuality in residential aged care is coming to the surface,” chief executive Mary Barry said. “Residents have rights. But it is a difficult, sensitive and touchy area.”

Krystel, a Melbourne prostitute for 18 years, said she had been hired to visit nursing homes to see people with Alzheimer's and intellectual disabilities. “It's usually done very privately,” she said. “I mean, you don't go in with fishnet stockings and that sort of thing. You see clients during the day so it looks more discreet. You go to the person whose name you've been allocated by the head charge nurse.”

Despite risking potential six-year jail terms under the Prostitution Control Act for providing prostitution services without a licence, some nursing home managers routinely give the practice the green light.

Ms Priamo, who has seen prostitutes brought in for elderly residents about five times, said there was a good reason relatives and other residents were kept in the dark about the practice. “What children would like to know their parents are using a prostitute?” she asked. “So, who would want to put their parents in a nursing home that does that?” she said.

Gabby Skelsey, who works for Resourcing Health and Education in the Sex Industry, said the sex worker organisation received about six inquiries a month from nursing homes wanting to order a prostitute.

“Carers will ring us and we will refer them on,” Ms Skelsey said. Krystel said her nursing home clients had usually lost a partner and were not visited by family. She said they would hire her only a couple of times a year because they couldn't afford more.

original link here: http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,11502543^13762,00.html

I was getting tired of always seeing ashre79's fortune cookies and never being able to get one for myself. So I made my own:

Get one for yourself :

Edit: if you have suggestions for fortunes, let me know :)

Edit #2: if you want to see the complete list of fortunes, click here : http://www.flubu.com/cgi-bin/cookie.cgi?dump=true

I had my not-interview this morning. It lasted a whole of 15 minutes. I think basically the lady wanted to see my face once before they hired me. Unless something serious happens, I do believe this is just pro forma and I'm going to get an offer by the end of the week. I still say this is weird as hell, considering I'm ALREADY WORKING THERE, but hey, what do I know.

Spent the whole afternoon fixing a computer for a staff member of the project. Her laptop had been acting wonky and she decided to do a complete re-install. Imagine the situation. A pristine installation of XP and Office XP, on a fixed IP on the McGill network with no firewall or anti-virus… It took me 5 hours to get all the shit cleaned out of it. We're talking 5 viruses, which aren't too bad, but 487 (!!!) spyware-related files. Every time I got one out, a bunch would pop out of the woodwork. Anyway, she's happy and that's extra money for me, so it's a win-win situation.

In the beginning there was a Plan.
And then came the Assumptions.
And the Assumptions were without form.
And the Plan was without substance.
And darkness was upon the face of the Workers.
And the Workers spoke among themselves, saying,
     “This is a crock of shit, and it stinks.”
And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said,
     “It is a pail of dung, and we can't live with the smell,”
And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying,
     “It is a pail of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it.”
And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying,
     “It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength.”
And the Directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another,
     “It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong.”
And the Directors went to the Vice Presidents, saying unto them,
     “It promotes growth, and it is very powerful.”
And the Vice Presidents went to the President, saying unto him,
     “This new plan will actively promote the growth and vigor of the company with very powerful effects.”
And the President looked upon the Plan and saw that it was good,
And the Plan became Policy.
And that, my friend, is how shit happens.

Yoinked from wtf_inc: http://www.divine-interventions.com/index2.html

Not work safe!

I'm in one of those moods:

Rc says: say hello to your mum for me
Katy says: i will
Katy says: and my dad?
Rc says: him too
Rc says: my bad for neglecting one of your parents
Rc says: it's like lefty and righty^†
Rc says: there needs to be balance
Rc says: parents are like boobies that way
Katy says: bad mental image
Rc says: and that last sentence is wrong in soooo many ways
Rc says: I'm quite happy about it :D

^† As background, those are Katy's boobs, and they get jealous if they don't have equal amounts of attention :D

I was chatting with blacksquiggles on MSN. It went like this:

Rc says: hey, do you have drill bits that could pierce metal? the equivalent of a toonie?
little miss doom and gloom says: probably, a good set should do, but it might ruin the bit trying
Rc says: see, Katy left me a two-pound coin and i want to drill through the middle to put it on my chain
little miss doom and gloom says: *nods*
Rc says: but i think i'd need a drill-press
little miss doom and gloom says: probably worth it to go buy a proper bit
little miss doom and gloom says: I'm getting a drill press for christmas
little miss doom and gloom says: I'm SUCH A GIRL!
Rc says: oooh
Rc says: girls with power tools
Rc says: SEXAY!
Rc says: heehee! i tried google for “girls with power tools” to see if I could find some sort of porn on it
Rc says: imagine that, none
Rc says: we could corner the market!
little miss doom and gloom says: :O
little miss doom and gloom says: insanity
little miss doom and gloom says: not even right ..
Rc says: want to start it up?
Rc says: i'm serious, we could make big money
Rc says: but then, you'd have to tell your kids you're a porn queen. that's always some sort of taint on the soul
little miss doom and gloom says: :) though I like the title.

So now, I truly want to start a project for girls with power tools. I figure we can all make some good money. Anybody interested? :D

Had a nice chat with Katy earlier tonight. Poor thing, she's really getting knackered with the time difference :(

Quote of the night:

I feel I should be in a Disney movie, like Winnie the Pooh. I'd sit in the corner, offer wisdom and have only one line: “long days… yes”.

Hang in there sweetie, only one more month to go and we'll be in the same timezone.