I haven’t really felt much like blogging lately. The frustration that has taken over at the office has sapped me of the energy and desire to blog. But, as my in-house HR professional so eloquently reminded me earlier today, “don’t get caught up in things. You have options, you’ll be out of there whereas those people are stuck there. That office is their entire life.”

So, with that in mind, I am trying my best to take each day as it comes. There is a lot of potential for drama, especially with the long-term employees who aren’t too thrilled with change. I’m checking job postings every night and sending my resume off to the ones I think would be a good fit for me. I’ve been through this before, I know that it takes awhile to find the right move.

What else has been happening in the land of Streetcar Chronicles?

S and I decided to tackle the room we’d been using as an office. Calling it an office is being entirely too polite. Essentially, the room was just used as storage. Oh sure, we have the router, modem and printer in there, but we also had boxes from when we moved in that needed to be looked through. Guests to the house probably looked in that room and thought, “wow, these girls are two –steps away from becoming hoarders.”

Well, enough of that. We spent this past Sunday going through each of the boxes, shredding about five large bags of paper and tossing out everything else that was deemed junk. We had a few pieces of furniture in the room (a small table we’d been using as a desk and two bookcases – all from Ikea) but I decided to donate the furniture to my colleague, Katie.

Katie emigrated here by herself a few years ago. Just last month, she was reunited with her three kids who have come to live here too. Katie moved into a bigger apartment a few weeks ago and I asked her if she’d be interested in any of the items of furniture S and I were planning on posting on Craigslist.

As it turned out, Katie ended up taking quite a bit off of our hands – the table, bookcases, an extra dresser we were no longer making use of and shelves. Yesterday after work, Katie’s oldest son and a friend of hers came by the house and carted the stuff away.

I’m glad Katie took the furniture. She’s such a sweet and sincere person. I know that it was probably difficult for her to accept the offer but I’m glad that she did. There are fewer people who are as deserving as she is.

With the room cleared out, the next phase is to head to Ikea and buy the couch, TV stand, rug and coffee table for the room. We’ve decided to make the room a second living room as the one in the basement is very cold in the summer while the air conditioning is on. The couch will also serve as a pull out bed so that folks can have somewhere to crash should they want to stay over.

Before we assemble any furniture, the room will need to be painted. Right now, the walls are bright pink, green and blue. The previous owners used the room as a bedroom for their young children, hence the spastic colours. S and I are going to be painting it a light grey, which will be a welcome change.

This coming weekend will be dedicated to furniture buying, assembly and painting. I’ve never painted before but S has and she says that she’s good at it so she’ll have to take the painting lead.

There is one hitch to this weekend; my friend M will be over for a BBQ lunch with her seven year old daughter. M is now single and back living in the city. The last time M was over at the house, things got a bit weird. My hope is that there won’t be as much wine consumed since the child will be here. Less wine should equal less awkwardness from M.

What else?

Oh yes, also on the house front, we had a contractor come through yesterday to have a look at our upstairs bathroom and the back addition. The bathroom is functional but it’s right out of the 1970s. The walls/tiles have been painted a baby blue, the sink is a seashell shape and the tub needs to go. The only salvageable part of the room is the toilet. Everything else must go, go, go.

While the contractor was here, we showed him the back addition and discussed options with him. The room is nice, but it wasn’t built properly and needs some work done. The extent of the work done has yet to be decided.

Beyond the house stuff, there’s this little event happening in the city this month called the G20. Fencing is currently being put up around the “red zone” and garbage cans, newspapers stands and transit shelters are being removed to avoid protesters having objects to throw.

Even though the delegates won’t be arriving under the end of the month, some protesters have already checked into the city.

My office is downtown and while it’s far enough from the red zone, I’m sure it is going to be a pain in the ass to get to work that week. Between road closures, diversions on transit and protests, it’s not going to be a fun time.

A lot of people in neighbouring office buildings have said that their offices will be closed. My office? As of today, we will be opened for business. My employers are of the belief that it will be cheaper to remain open and force people to use vacation days for the time off instead of shutting the business down for a few days.

I’ve heard that our office manager is pleading with the executive team to shut the office down the days leading up to the summit weekend. She understands that our commutes will be hellish and we’ll be frustrated and annoyed. I’m hoping that the executives will come to their senses and realize just how hard it will be for people to get to work.

Local theatres, the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower are all closing during the summit. Via Rail will be avoiding using Union Station the weekend the leaders are here because of the hassle. Yet, my brilliant executive team is all systems go.

I for one will not give them the satisfaction of using vacation days for time off. If they insist on being open, then my ass will be there. If I have to wait on a streetcar for an hour or force my way through a crowd of angry protesters, so be it.

Enough about me: S is doing great, funny as ever and always cracking me up with her zany antics. The pup is sporting a new haircut and has been enjoying her walks a lot more now that the weather’s cooled down a bit. The cat is her usual aloof self, one minute she’s pining away to sit on your lap, the other she’s tearing apart drywall.

So that’s about it; a quick little summary of the happenings in this here neck o’ the woods. What’s new with you, Internets?

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