Bananas

Today’s post is brought to you by the word Bananas. As in, the last few days have been bananas.

I got up early on Saturday and made my way over to my parents’ place so that I could help my mom clean her 30 gallon fish tank. No one else (read: my brother) has ever bothered to learn how to take the filters apart and clean everything so it’s up to me to help my mom out.

I arrived at my folks’ just after ten in the morning. My dad was having the rage over one of the light fixture so I had to talk him out of his tree before my mom and I could get started. I don’t remember the last time we cleaned the tank but I’m guessing it’s been at least a year. I’m not sure if anyone out there knows how disgusting a dirty aquarium is so let me tell you: it’s gag worthy. The filters are all clogged with shit (literally), the water smells rank and whatever you have in the tank (rocks, plants, decorations) are covered in filth.

It took us about two hours to take everything out, carry the empty tank into the laundry room to scrub it and then put everything back together. We never had pets growing up that didn’t live in an aquarium. My mom’s always enjoyed having fish so I suck it up and help her whenever I can. Even though it irritates me to no end that I’m the only one who gets stuck with these types of duties.

The weather was so nice out on Saturday. It was 7 degrees and while that’s chilly under other circumstances, in early February it feels like a gift from the gods. While on the way home from my parents’, I was amazed by the amount of people out and about. It seemed like all of Toronto awoke from their hibernation and were out getting coffee, perusing antique shops and enjoying a laugh with their friends. It gave me hope that it will be warm again soon and that our days won’t always be so dreary.

Once home, I showered and got ready for our potluck. That’s right, me who ranted against our friends’ potluck, was hosting my own. I should explain though that S and K decided on the potluck earlier on in the week – I had nothing to do with it. Unlike our friends’ dinner, ours was pre-determined that everyone would bring something, no one was surprised by it. K was bringing home made chili, S was making her famous sweet and sour wings and P was bringing the items for a salad.

The gals arrived, dogs in tow, and we set about having some wine. K even remembered to bring the birthday cards she had picked up from the Outback. Surprisingly enough, the gift cards were still inside!

P brought some red wine and K some white. P and S went about enjoying the red.After taking a sip, S made a face. “Bleh,” she said.

“Don’t you like it?” P asked.

“It’s okay,” S lied.

P went to take her dog out to pee and K let us know that the red wine was P’s home made concoction. “You’re only telling me this now?!” S said. To be nice, S ended up drinking what was in her glass but did not waste the opportunity to open up a new bottle.

We proceeded to sit and chat and is usually the case, the conversation was both funny and intriguing. Somehow, we got onto the topic of sexuality and K got P to admit she is bi-sexual. P was trying to argue that we’re all bi-sexual and we can fancy someone of the same sex.

“I may find a woman beautiful, but I wouldn’t call that being attracted to her. It’s not like I want to sleep with her,” K said.

“See, I tend to think that finding someone beautiful equals being attracted to them,” P argued.

“So you’d sleep with a woman you found attractive?” K inquired.

“Uh,” P stammered. “Sure.”

P didn’t help her cause when she tried to explain her theory that we all choose who we are attracted to. “Ok, nevermind,” she said, “you guys aren’t getting it.”

Dinner was ready not long after and everything was delicious. It was my first time having chili and I’m happy to say it was a tasty experience.

Dinner was followed up with some Euchre. It was my first time trying that too and try as I might to enjoy the game, I didn’t have it in me. K and I were partners and we lost all games/matches while P and S kicked our asses. P was all over the game, she was in her element. I tried suggesting we teach the girls how to play poker but that went over like a lead balloon.

A few minutes after our last card game, the gals collected their dogs and dishes and said good-bye. As S closed the door she said, “Our neighbours probably think they’re a couple!” Considering how often K and P come over together, I can see how easy it would be for people to think that.

My day started off yesterday with me falling on some ice while out for a walk with the the little head. The sun was in my eyes and everything that had melted during Saturday’s heat wave had frozen over night. I couldn’t really see where the ice was and I slid while walking across an icy patch. I somehow managed to steer myself forward which is good because landing on my ass/tail bone would have really sucked.

I spent the rest of the day working on that damn web site. I was hopeful that it would only take me a few hours. I should have known better. I ended up working on it all day long. I stopped for meals and bathroom breaks but spent my Sunday in front of my computer plugging away. At about 9, my shoulders had enough and I called it a night by vegging in front of the TV watching the Grammy’s.

I thought doing all of that work yesterday would have made things today go a little smoother. It didn’t. Even though there was some navigation glitches, Larry insisted we launch today. And even though I thought it best we wait to iron out all of the bugs, he insisted. Only problem was, he didn’t give me the final go ahead until 4 in the afternoon. Going live wasn’t just a flick of a switch, it was going to take time. On our slow ass system, there’s no way I’d be able to leave at 5.

What irked me the most was that I’d have to do all of the work to launch the new site and then go back and fix all of the bugs anyway – only this time with a wider audience visiting the site. I was none too impressed. At about ten after five I noticed a major bug, the redirects from the old site to the new weren’t working. I tried everything I could, but it seemed like the system couldn’t handle the redirecting of the URLs from one set of pages to another.

I didn’t get out of the office till 6:30 and my back and shoulders were screaming for relief. I wish I could say tomorrow will be a better day but I know I’ll just be working on glitches and fixes.

Since I’ve been putting in extra hours, I’ll be taking this Friday off. S has booked it off too so in combination with Monday’s holiday, we’ll have a four day weekend. It will be some much deserved time off.