equitable estoppel

i've spent a few nights over the past couple of weeks studying for an exam that i have to write in december, for professional certification. i once swore to myself that i'd never write another exam. and i've put off this certification because of the exam. but i can't put it off any longer and i have to write the dame thing. there are 2 text books i'll have to read between now and then. i hate exams...

it's going to be a busy fall - it's already a busy fall. work is pulling me in several directions at once. i need a raise... i have to do some teaching in december. that should go ok - it's a bit of a road trip for me, as the venue is several hours away. i'll have to find something interesting to do on the couple of nights i'll be in a city where it seems the biggest attraction is a federal prison....

i looked at the calendar yesterday and it struck me that christmas is 2 months away. it seems like a long ways away, but then i look back in time 2 months, and i see that it was the end of august, and that doesn't seem like that long ago. without question, it's going to sneak up on me again this year. and as usual, i'll probably wait until the last minute to do my christmas shopping. i hope to do most of the shopping online this year. if you want to know what to get me for christmas, ask, and i'll send you my list :P

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the express lane

the other day, i walked from my home to the nearest grocery store, about a 10 minute walk. it was a fine fall day, and i needed the brisk walk. i needed just one item, laundry soap. so i got there, walked straight to the aisle, picked out the soap and walked to the express checkout without even breaking stride. it's fun to do this, as i passed by people who were wandering about, pondering important decisions such as what brand of orange juice to get. so about 5 steps before i could make it to the express line (11 items or less), an older couple steered their cart into the checkout before me. suddenly she says to him, "oh we can't go in that lane". reluctantly, he steers the cart of of "my" lane, and goes to a different lane. as i step in front of them, i overhear her saying "we have more than 11 items don't we?". I peek over my shoulder and see about 3 items, but i'm not about to count with them.

i checked out, and i noticed the woman behind me also bought only one item, a cabbage that was about 12 inches in diameter. the total cost???? 97 cents!!! Then i got to thinking about a radio show i heard a couple of years ago, where the host was trying to decide about the best way to spend one dollar. One of the things he noted was about 100 litres of tap water. In the city where i live, our water bill comes to about 90 cents per thousand litres, or 9 cents per 100 litres. if you could split this cabbage, for about 10 cents i'm sure you could eat for a week! So for less than 20 cents of that one dollar, you could have tons of water (or about 100 litres) and a big pile of cabbage!

I walked home trying to think of other things i could do with the 80 cents i would have remaining...

working too hard

i've been working too hard lately, evenings, weekends. crap like that. i had a big presentation yesterday, and another tomorrow. i tend to get very worked up about public speaking - i don't know if it's a good thing or not, but i don't handle stress very well. it always turns out well in the end, but i still always get worked up about it. maybe i need this stress to motivate me to prepare. yesterday's presentation went quite well, and i hope tomorrow will too. after that, i'm going for a bike ride. i haven't been on a bike since the mud race....