On Demand and Our Time

What if you made enough money on a daily basis that every second of your time was literally worth money? Would you look at the clock, see that 30 minutes of unproductive/wasted time have occurred, and think ‘Oh, dang, now I’ve lost X amount of dollars’? I suppose that in most jobs, you are paid for…

Hiking, Trails, Google, and Some Fun Ideas

Over the past weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the Thames Valley Trail Association’s (TVTA) 40th Anniversary, which partnered with the Hike Ontario Annual Summit. Besides being an informative and inspiring event, it took place in the beautiful and newly-renovated Watershed Conservation Centre with the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA). Some of the…

The Dance of Employment Applications

If you’ve looked at the career boards out there lately, you may not be feeling too good about your situation, for three reasons: 1) there aren’t a lot of jobs available in your field, 2) you aren’t getting a lot of call backs from employers, or 3) there are a lot of companies looking to…

Frustration, Not Getting It, and Other Quandaries

In preparation for the month of November and my commitment to complete a 50,000 word novel in that time frame, I have been doing some casual reading on human psychology. What I’m interested in learning about is our motivations for doing things, our unspoken desires, and our nagging uncertainties. Most recently, I picked up Missing…

A Date with the Career Counselor

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been lucky enough to visit with a career counselor to talk about what makes me tick when it comes to working environment, desired career roles, and personal goals. It’s been exceedingly beneficial for me to step back and look clearly through the haze of competing and contradictory employment-related messages…

The Curse of the Hallux Valgus

I have a curse. It’s not rare, it’s not life-threatening, but it is a curse. Some days it hobbles me more than others, and I have to gingerly mince my way around. Thank god for corrective footwear. For those of you familiar with the term, ‘Hallux Valgus’ is a curse that modern people live with…

A Trip to Ottawa and Gatineau

Over the past Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I had the chance to visit Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. The weather was beautiful, I got some incredible pictures, and I went for many lengthy walks. Even the drive cooperated with our travel plans and we sailed through Toronto en route to our destination, then took a leisurely…

A femme fatale and a brilliant female scientist

It sounds like the beginning of a joke: A femme fatale and a female scientist walk into a bar….but that’s where the joke ends. Instead of ordering a drink, these two dynamos stand in the center of the room and let all eyes fall on them. The looks that they garner are filled with admiration…

A Circuitous Route into Money-Making

Anyone who has used Reddit before probably knows about the extensive and maze-like nature of the internet. It can lead you on crazy, circuitous journeys of exploration and fascination (or just plain hilarity). One site links to other interesting sites, and next thing you know you’ve been glued to your seat and your laptop for way…

From Ugly Cat to Super Cat Extraordinare

Given that I someday aspire to be the local ‘crazy cat lady’ and enrich the lives of felines everywhere, I spend a fair-to-moderate amount of my leisure time looking at pictures of cats doing funny and/or cute and/or silly things. Don’t get me wrong – I’m a big dog lover, too. I just find them…

Temptation is a Doctorate

I often feel compelled to write two or more blog posts in a day, and have to restrain myself from sitting down to type out the words buzzing around inside my brain. It’s a therapy, it’s an outlet, and it helps me to resist temptation. What is this 23-year-old female being tempted by? You might…

Fitness (Re)fresh

On this rainy, lazy day, I’m working to shake off the last vestiges of a cold that has plagued me for some days now. As with many of the colds I’ve recently sustained, it hasn’t involved anything more terrible than a general feeling of tiredness and malaise. To turn things around, I’m reading and planning…