I dodged the bullet. I finally got in and bought a replacement headlight bulb. I’ve only been driving my p’diddle (is that even a word?) around for the last month, cringing whenever I saw a police car.

I’d actually attempted to replace it last week, but I could not figure out the damn charts for what size bulb I needed. I have a business degree, not one in scientific obscurity. I might as well have been trying to decypher the Davinci Code.

“Why don’t you go ask someone at the auto parts counter?”

Yup, I could have sucked it up and asked. Then I looked over at the counter and saw that it was a teenage girl working there. Nope! I’d rather hold a flashlight out the window as I drove, than go ask her.

“But maybe she had a father who was a mechanic, or 3 older brothers who taught her all about cars” someone said to me.

You don’t understand. I wasn’t going to ask her because I was afraid she didn’t know the answer… I wasn’t going to ask her because I was afraid she DID know the answer!

So I left.

But yesterday a much older gentleman was working there and I could easily stow my pride and ask him.

If only physically replacing it was that easy.

Yup, I sat through all 3 1/2 hours of the 82nd Academy Awards last night.  It’s not like I had a whole lot of options to choose from.  Sunday nights are slim pickin’s.  And hey, I like movies. 

I think that this is only the 2nd time in my life that I’ve truly “watched” the Oscars.  Normally I just flip back and forth between them and whatever else might be on.  Or I tune in at the end, when the “real” awards are given out… Best actor/actress, director, and finally.. best motion picture.

Or I simply skip them entirely, and read about it the next day online or in the newspaper.

Not this year!  No siree.. this year I sat through from start to finish.  The good, the bad, and well… the blue.  Even when my fellow viewers were getting tired of watching, I held fast… I’d started watching, and dammit, I was going to finish watching!

I am sooooooo glad that it was not a night of “Avatar!” after “Avatar!” after even MORE “Avatar!” like I had expected.  I’m sure that I’m not the only one.  While it IS a good movie, I still think that better movies had been released last year.  Apparently the Academy agreed.  When it came to two of the biggies (motion picture, director), hugely insane budget Avatar was passed over in favour of independent movie The Hurt Locker.  I’ve seen both movies, and I have to say that The Hurt Locker is well deserving.  Frankly, I was a little afraid that the bone-headed move by one of its producers to email the Academy and ask for their votes might have hurt The Hurt Locker’s  chances at bringing home the hardware.  I am satisfied with the end results, though.  I don’t think that I could handle another Cameron “I’m the King of the World!” acceptance speech.

 At the end of the night, The Hurt Locker had 6 of those shiny little statuettes, while Avatar managed only 3.

As far as other highlights, I didn’t see Crazy Heart, so I can’t really comment on Jeff Bridges’ Best Actor nod, other than to say… It’s The Dude.  The Dude deserves what The Dude deserves.  Just don’t pee on The Dude’s rug.  Not cool, man.  Not cool.

I’m having a real hard time wrapping my brain around Sandra Bullock’s Best Actress win, but in all fairness… I didn’t see The Blind Side either.  And this award is given for a single movie performance, not a lifetime achievement award… So I’ll give Sandra the benefit of the doubt.

The rest was filled with the standard fare.  I’ve deliberately ignored the fact that Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin hosted this year’s show.  It’s better this way.

Oh.. and a special mention of Ben Stiller’s presentation of the Best Make-up award, when he came out dressed like a Na’vi alien from Avatar.  I think next year he should host the show… in character!

Well, I guess that this does impact me after all.  Shoppers will no longer accept my Blue Cross card, starting next week.  I’m not really sure if this is just a publicity thing and one of them will blink at the 11th hour or not, but I think that it’s time for me to move my prescriptions to somewhere closer.  I noticed on the drive home last night, that Guardian Drugs has a large sign proclaiming “We Accept All Blue Cross Plans”, so I think that I’ll move to them.  I gave up my Shoppers Optimum card to my ex, so I don’t even have that to lure me into the store now.  The last remaining tie to Shoppers is my post office box, and I’ve been contemplating closing that.  It’s such a pain to change mailing addresses, though.  I still haven’t made up my mind on that one.

This is a pretty big change.  I know quite a few people who regularly go to Shoppers and have Blue Cross.  I guess that you can still go there if you’re willing to pay upfront and go through the reimbursement process… I’ve done that before, and no thanks.

Curious to see how this is going to affect me.  I’m not sure if my work coverage is Medavie Blue Cross or not (Are there different kinds of Blue Cross?) , but I’ll have to check on this as soon as I’m back in the office.  The ironic thing is that I was just discussing (today) moving my prescriptions from Shoppers to Guardian because there is no Shoppers near where I now live.

Perfect timing, I guess.

As a Toronto Maple Leafs’ fan, I’ve had to get used to a little playful teasing, especially this season.  Most of the time, it comes from my friends who cheer for the Montreal Canadiens.  Yeah yeah yeah… I know…  they won the Cup in ‘93… I remember…

I did get a laugh when one of the guys at work sent this to me.

Never Too Young

Saw this on CNN.. This one’s for you, GreyLady…

It started off innocently enough. A stolen glance. The hint of a smile. A flutter deep within my core.

Oh, you like music too? I love music!

And then it just grew from there… hours spent together… listening intently… cataloging, organizing, renaming…  music, movies, podcasts.. and more! 

What’s this now?  You have your very own store!? 

I was in love!

Prepaid cards, I bought.  More music, I sought.

Sync me, love.          

I was fortunate enough that a couple of people realized that iTunes cards were a great gift idea for Christmas, and I’ve been able to go on a bit of a shopping spree.  Then I saw something that I hadn’t seen before… Walmart selling prepaid iTunes card for less than their face value?!  A $25 iTunes card for $20?  What’s up with that?  That must have been a sale, because I haven’t seen that since.  Too bad.  I need to stock up!

I never thought that I’d get as much use out of a piece of software as I have iTunes.  Is it perfect?  No… but what it does, it does extremely well. 

I was checking my voicemails on Friday, and there was one from a nice-sounding lady from CCS.  She said that her name was Josee, and that the comments on my exit interview from a few weeks ago had gotten some notice… and that they wanted to offer me something.

Really?  Cool.  Maybe it was a prepaid credit card!   A new car!    The keys to the vault!  I had to find out, so I called her back…

She told me that CCS President and CEO John Eisner read the comments that I wrote on my exit interview form, and thought that they were great.  Apparently they select a Client of the Year, and ask that person to come in and tell their story…  They were so impressed with mine that they were offering me the honour of Client of the Year.

Well, it wasn’t a car, but it was still nice to be noticed.  I’ve been a big fan of CCS ever since I managed to get over my pride and realized that I wasn’t going to dig myself out of debt based solely on my good looks and charm.  There just wasn’t enough of that to go around!  I can’t stress enough how helpful they were, and how I wish that I had gone to them sooner.  I even wrote a university paper on my experiences (got an ‘A’), and was asked to present that paper to my class.  I hope that anyone in debt trouble considers going to them, because I know first-hand how much better my life (and credit rating) is because of their program.

So it all sounded great.  Go in, tell my story, and walk out with a feeling of accomplishment.

“Oh, and just so you know” Josee continued, “we videotape the interview, and show it at our annual gathering, so everyone in the organization can see an example of how their work benefits our clients”

Ummmm… videotape?

Even over the phone, I’m sure that my blood pressure spiked…   I carefully considered how I was going to phrase my response…

“Well.. I’m a little surprised by all of this.. and honoured to be given the opportunity, but I’m going to have to respectfully decline the offer…”

I don’t think that she was expecting that.  Things had been going along so well.  So I explained further…

“I’m great at writing, and I think going in and talking to you would be fine… but sitting in front of a video camera… well that scares the shit out of me.. excuse my bluntness…  I’d be so uncomfortable that I don’t think you’d have anything that you’d even want to show to people…”

She said that she understood, and respected my position… and that she’d still like to take me up on my offer of writing my story, if I would agree to that.  By all means.  Not a problem.  I can hide behind my keyboard, and not have to worry about my hair being a mess.

Still, it was nice to be recognized…