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Christmas List 2011

tamara — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 21:17:15 +0000

Well, it’s that time you’ve all been waiting for (ha ha); with only 42 days left until Christmas, here is my 2011 Christmas list (incidentally, this is also my 100th post! Woo!). And to keep the tradition I started last year of, um, modifying the Twelve Days of Christmas, this is my life this semester:

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my life gave to me: 12 million project hours, 11 thousand keyframes in Maya, 10 times the workload of last year, 9 hundred lines of code (probably more), 8 render nodes in the school’s render farm (why?!), 7 trips to see my landlady about my bug infestation, 6 weeks remaining in my internship, 5 near-all-nighters pulled so far, 4 cups of tea a day, 3 humongous classes, 2 bus trips a day on packed buses, and 1 very, very tired Tamara!

And my obligatory notes:

1. Please do not buy me cosmetics, lotions, skin care, or any products of the kind. If you want to go this route, please buy me gift cards instead (Body Shop, LUSH, Lilou, et al). I’ve become so picky about what I put on my skin that I don’t want to risk you giving me something I will absolutely not use.

2. My preference for gifts in general is towards experiences (for example, a trip to a spa… or something) and consumables (food, money, gift cards, movie passes, etc.). Despite the fact that I have rather large wishlists on various sites, tangible things which persist (DVDs, books, etc.), are second priority, especially when I will be moving again in the middle of next year and I am trying to keep the number of possessions I own to a minimum!

3. Quality over quantity. Always.

List:

- Any sort of experience (spa visit, tickets to a play, travel pass, etc.)

- Money towards new camera lenses. A new camera lens would cost me between $250 – $320 right now (going rate on Future Shop’s website)

- Anything from Ten Thousand Villages, Teaopia, Happy Goat Coffee Co., or Second Cup

- Anything off my Amazon.ca wishlist (if you are doing this, please use the “buy” buttons on the wishlist itself, this will ensure the item gets removed and no duplicate buying will occur) or ThinkGeek wishlist (for all of the above, keep it under $40… some of the items are pretty pricey).

- Gift cards or certificates off the following list: iTunes, Tim Hortons, Second Cup, HMV, Spring, Payless ShoeSource, Amazon.ca, La Senza, The Body Shop, LUSH, IKEA, Paypal (yes, you can get Paypal certificates!), Lilou Organics

- A gift certificate from YouBar (for a box of custom nutrition bars–http://www.youbars.com/gifts). This one is pricey, so if you’re buying me this, don’t get me anything else! Also, I’m not sure if the included shipping is Canadian or not, so they might have to be contacted directly… or you could just give me money towards making my own set of bars.

- Another good gift which I will appreciate is giving a donation in my name to a charity from the following list:
- Charity:Water
- Stop the Traffik
- Restore NYC
- Equality Now!
- Calgary Food Bank
- Calgary Women’s Emergency Shelter
- Little Warriors
- Farm Forward
- MEOW Foundation

Please do not give me any of the following:

- Gift cards to clothing stores

- Coffee (beans, instant, etc.)

- Cosmetics / lotions

- Anything religious (excluding Christmas-themed things, obviously)– I have my own views on religion and beliefs, and I don’t have an interest in reading/watching religious books/movies, so please refrain from giving these as gifts.

I seem to remember having a comment from someone last year about my “do not give” list; I think someone thought it was arrogant of me to look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak. I can see their point. But I feel it is useful to provide a list of things which won’t be useful to me, as a preventive measure. This way, the gift-giver can rest assured he/she is giving me something I want or will use, or both. So it is there again this year.

Any questions, comments, etc.? Let me know . And feel free to pass this list or link on to anyone who needs ideas .

On Things Which Make Workdays Better

tamara — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:21:00 +0000

So I was trying to think of things which I could appreciate about the workday… and didn’t get very far. But I did manage to make a list of things which really make the workday better when they occur (which isn’t necessarily every day). Here is that list of 21 things which definitely make my workdays more tolerable:

1. Getting a good night’s sleep

2. Waking up on time

3. Not rushing in the morning

4. Being able to eat a decent breakfast

5. Not missing the bus

6. Getting the window seat on the bus

7. Not falling asleep on the bus

8. Not getting early morning visits from the boss (before 9am)

9. Not falling asleep at my desk

10. Realizing my plant survived the weekend

11. Getting notifications of a cancelled meeting– which I didn’t need to be at anyway

12. Realizing that my afternoon will not be wasted with a needless meeting

14. Realizing I may have a package (or two) waiting for me when I get home

15. Realizing I may see a good friend tonight

16. Actually getting work done

17. Writing good blog posts (counterproductive to #16, above, but oh well)

18. A nice, long lunch hour to spend as I choose

19. Having good, laid-back meetings with the boss

20. Playing around with an otherwise-boring project to make it more fun

21. Having random things happen (like when my boss left his phone alone in his office this morning, and it quacked like a goose every couple of seconds for over 30 minutes ).

On Topics Which I Am Currently Interested In

tamara — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:50:47 +0000

So, I just realized that both of the last two posts had to do with telephones and telephone calls. Completely unintentional on my part, and actually rather funny. The other thing I realized today is that I have been doing a lot of web reading lately on very few topics. Obviously, this would be because I have more than a passing interest in said topics. Now, I also seem to go through “phases” of interest in something, which means that I might not be interested in these topics in, say, a month, but for right now they are occupying at least some small part of my interest. Here is a list of my top five (or at least, the five I can think of first), plus some links just in case YOU happen to have an interest in these areas too:

1. Air transport– airline companies as a whole, what they are doing right, what they are doing wrong, customer service, airport/airplane/baggage experiences, “confessions of…”, etc.
- AOL Air Travel
- CBC: What Airlines are Doing Wrong

2. Related topic to the above: Smart packing for trips– the ‘one bag’ movement, how to pack smartly, how not to pack, what to take, what to buy at your destination, good bags, smart travelling.
- The Travelite FAQ
- OneBag

3. Decluttering and simplifying– clutter and Stuff, but life as well.
     – Unclutterer
     - Simply Stated: Blog
     - Frugal Babe
     - mnmlist

4. Personal Development– relationships, perspectives, healthy mindsets, healthy eating, exercise, viewpoints, advice, tips, etc.
      – The Happiness Project
      - Zen Habits
      - Tiny Buddha
      - Urban Monk

5. Personal Finance– On saving, and saving wisely (and getting rid of debt, loans, bad credit, etc). Also budgeting.
     - Get Rich Slowly
     – Dave Ramsey (author of The Total Money Makeover)
     - The Simple Dollar

I’ll add more links as I come across them. (This post has also struck me as a great jumping point for organizing a long list of links on Evernote. Maybe I’ll do this later). Other things I have been reading about: entrepreneurship, design, effective charities, and DIY crafts.

Current wishlist

tamara — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 19:43:48 +0000

Hey all,

Just another list, this time for the benefit of those of you who may be looking to get me a birthday gift. Or a Christmas gift. Or whatever. **For the boxsets: if you know other people who are looking at this list, communicate with them to make sure you don’t get duplicates!

1. A cbe hoodie (http://www.clothingbrandexperiment.com/index.html). I’d recommend collaborating on this one, it’s a bit pricey. Talk to me first if you are planning to pitch in for one, I have a Succeed discount code which will get you half price.

2. Bones (the tv show) DVD boxsets: Seasons 3 and up

3. Criminal Minds (tv show) DVD boxsets: Seasons 2 and up

4. CSI:NY DVD boxsets: Seasons 4 and up

5. Harry Potter 6 (regular DVD please, no blu-ray)

6. iTunes gift card

7. The Body Shop gift cards

… and that’s all I can think of right now. Cheers!

The Like List

tamara — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:16:23 +0000

I like…

1. Sunny days

2. The sun streaming in through the window in the morning

3. Walking outside at sunrise (just not the getting up part)

4. Lamb stew/curry/anything

5. Chai lattes

6. Fun scarves

7. The book “Trusting Soul” by Brian Andreas

8. Chinese food

9. Getting mail

10. Hearing from friends unexpectedly

11. Impromptu plans

12. Pear-flavoured Jelly Bellies

13. Shirts with horizontal stripes on them

14. Big boots

15. Candles (especially scented ones)

16. Tim Horton’s coffee and Ice Capps

17. Anberlin

18. The Shaolin Wahnam Institute

19. Fair trade

20. Concerts, the theatre, any sort of performance

21. Roses, lilacs, peonies (minus the ants), violets, clovers

22. Luck

23. Red, black, green, purple, blue, golden yellow

24. My Cat Hat and wool toque

25. Waking up to emails or texts from friends

26. Making multicoloured or themed collages

27. Bones (the tv series)

28. Programming something which works exactly as it should

29. Designing awesome things which make a statement

30. Long car and bus rides

31. Long talks which are good

32. Long hugs

33. Short lineups at the campus Tim Horton’s

34. Clam chowder soup

35. iTunes

36. (Fork and Knife) by Brand New

37. Cool tattoos

38. Music videos

39. Travelling by plane (except going through security)

40. Linguistics and languages and lingo

41. Doing well on things unexpectedly

42. Listening to good music through huge headphones

43. Alexander Keith’s and Strongbow

44. RENT

45. New York City

46. Meaningful gifts

47. Pictures of people and the memories which go with

48. Unexpected money

49. Chi-Kung

50. Cats who like me

51. Canada

52. Hot Chocolate and Apple Cider on cold days

53. Having a camera when a photo opportunity presents itself

54. Essence (an awesome boutique in TD Square, next to the Le Chateau)

55. Shopping on Etsy

56. Criminal Minds (the tv series)

57. Learning useful things in class

58. Having awesome guy friends

59. Long walks with good music

60. Clear, warm nights

61. Flat shoes

62. Gauntlets/arm-warmers

63. Good sales

64. Taking the train

65. Having good company over

——————————————

66. “Vox Populi” by 30 Seconds to Mars

67. Free fonts

68. Zen Habits (http://www.zenhabits.net)

69. Feeling good after a job interview

70. Getting flowers unexpectedly

71. Fresh air

72. The Canada flag

73. Chinese characters

74. Soft kleenex

75. Ten Thousand Villages

76. Jade

77. Being surrounded by happy people

78. Large chocolate chip cookies

79. Cool professors

80. Smiling from the heart and being on the receiving end of a smile from the heart =]

——————————————

81. Adobe Photoshop

82. Bracelets

83. Laughter

84. Those days right after winter where anything above 0 degrees Celsius is considered so warm

85. Shoes with good ankle supports

86. Catching a bus after running for it

87. All-you-can-eat

88. Learning something new every day

89. First dates

90. The Dalai Lama

91. Ginger Ale (especially Canada Dry)

92. Cell phones

93. Warm hoodies

94. Buying merchandise which supports a good cause

95. Collages

96. People ‘liking’ my posts on Tumblr

97. Having good things happen when I take the initiative

98. Good senses of humor

99. Art stores

100. Teddy bears

101. Sushi

102. Music which soars and rings in one’s ears

103. Not falling asleep on the bus

104. Early morning walks

105. The feeling of freedom after a huge house/room/closet cleaning

106. Good apple cider

107. Stargate SG-1

108. When my hair behaves

109. Scented candles

110. Unique items

111. Good customer service

112. Getting things done and not procrastinating

113. When Flash behaves and does wonderful things which work

114. The smell of rain, fresh bread, incense, guy’s cologne and spicy curry (not together, and all in moderation)

115. Total Energy Pulse Point Balm by The Body Shop

116. Late night chats with good friends

117. Feeling good about oneself

118. Peacoats

119. V for Vendetta

120. “Say (All I Need)” by OneRepublic

121. Seeing someone again whom you missed

122. Those quiet, peaceful snowfalls in which large flakes just sort of meander downwards with no wind or force

123. Seashells

124. Singing randomly when there’s no one listening

125. Finishing homework more than two days before it is due

126. Contact lenses

127. Mandarin oranges

128. Selling old textbooks

129. Happiness

130. Ottawa’s Transitway

… To be continued. =]