Favourite Author - Charles de Lint

First of all - yea to mobile blogging. It does work (see my previous post).

I just finished reading Little (Grrl) Lost by Charles de Lint. He is such an amazing story teller. By far one of my most favourite writers. He draws you into his world and his characters. I always leave wishing I lived in his world. Hoping that it is all real ans it is only because I don't have the right vision that I can't see the Crow Girls or Raven or the hobs or Littles. The very first book I read by him was Moonheart - which I think I may have actually bought for Dad. It's set in Ottawa about a house that straddles worlds called Tamsin House. I thought for the longest time that if I went looking I might get lucky and stumble upon one of it's many doorways. His magic, to me that's what it is, leaves me with such a sense of longing and wistfulness. P says I could get there if I only knew how.
I worked for five years, both part and full-time for CIBC and one of the other tellers had the same last name. I finally asked one day and she said he was some sort of cousin vy marriage. That six degrees of separation again! Mind you, I subscribe to his newslette, and he is very generous about responding to emails so I've had a couple of short correspondences with him, and I asked hi. About the relationship. He responded that he didn't really know or something to that effect. So much for six degrees!
But anyway when I purchased Little (Grrl) Lost I also picked up Dingo which was written last year and is a hardcover first edition. Woo-hoo! And I am so looking forward to reading it. Even more then the second installment in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. To me, that is candy, whereas the de Lint books satisfy a need deep in my soul. He calls out to something deep within me - I always feel it stirring when I read his stories.
Another wonderful thing about him is that he and his wife are accomplished musicians and one of these days I would like to go to Ottawa or somewhere to hear them play. Maybe even jam with them! (Are you listening Canada?)
Soon and very soon.

Testing Mobile Email Posting

I am trying to post to my blog from my phone via my Gmail account. This is pretty cool if it works. I guess the only thing I canLt do with gmail set up in my messaging is include attachments. Although if I set up an email account in the Outlook program on my PDA I think I might be able too! So let's see. Does this work?

Chetters!

I've not posted any pictures of my sweet little Chetters so here we go! p took this picture quite a while ago. It's the quintessence of Chetters for sure. He also says hi to Clara and Corwin!

Finally Some Photos!

I've been meaning to upload these for ages and I just never seem to get upstairs to the computer where the pics are. Well,I made it tonight. Feast your eyes on a plethora of pics. I guess I should do separate posts for different categories huh?

Well, here are some shots from the Police concert in May 2008. Awesome concert, had 12th row floors and Elvis Costello opened. Can you ask for anything better? (Not much I don't think!)

Week after Vacation Blues

I was starting to feel like maybe, just maybe I am starting to work to the standard my mgr needs. Then something happens and I think, okay did I miss the ball again? One of the mantras here and in my previous role is "balance getting on with it with getting it right. I feel like in my previous role there was more emphasis on getting on with it then getting it right (read perfect). And I am having a hard time with it. I don't know if it's just that I'm dumb from being overtired and physically weak and I'm missing things I might otherwise see. Or worse, maybe I'm just not cabable of seeing the things I am supposed to be able to see.

For example we have been having problems with one of our vendors because they are taking way to long to deliver on some things. So, we were told Dec 22 that all outstanding issues would be resolved by Jan 12th. Then yesterday we received an email saying that our rep would like to set up a meeting in the next two weeks to discuss the updates. My mgr expressed the concern that does that mean Jan 12th is no longer feasible? I emailed the rep and haven't heard back. In the mean time I asked if I should set up the meeting the rep suggested and was told yes. So I emailed the rep and asked what times the rep had available. The resposne was jan 23 after a certain time. So I booked the meeting. Then a couple of hours later I get a call from my mgr saying why is the meeting on Jan 23? I said, because that is the date I was given. Mgr says that is not good enough. Way too late. I said, well I still haven't heard back regarding Jan 12th. So I was told to cancel the meeting and mgr would call rep to try and get an earlier date I guess.

So my question is, is should I have anticipated that that would be too late? It's hard to book meetings with people as it is because they get booked up so far in advance. Should I have anticipated that Jan 23 was too far away and pushed for an earlier date? Maybe I should have because it was outside of the two weeks the rep originally suggested.

I think I am really trying, but I don't seem to be getting any farther ahead. and it really frightens me.

Happy New Year

Here's to 2009. May it be happy, healthy and prosperous (enough) for us all.