Can I Expense That?

Although I have been thinking recently that I should write a blog post sometime soon, I have to admit that the real motivation behind this post is to try out my new wireless keyboard. Ever since I had my internship last summer with a dual screen set-up, I haven't wanted to go back. Having two screens made my life a lot easier, if nothing else. Especially when working on design projects, the added screen space was a big benefit.
So, I've slowly been working my way towards a dual screen set up. I got a monitor for my birthday last year, as well as a laptop stand. The laptop stand brings the laptop screen up to a higher level. But with that, it also brings the rest of the laptop with it. This makes using the trackpad and keyboard a tad awkward. So now I needed a mouse and keyboard as well. Wireless was the preference. I stole recruited a mouse from home and then all I needed for my set up to be complete was a keyboard. I didn't get one for Christmas, so I've been keeping an eye out since then. However, during school it wasn't high priority because I didn't really have the room to have an elaborate dual screen set up, and thus didn't need the keyboard.
But ever since I've started my job and have been working from home, it's becoming increasingly important to me that I have a decent desk set up (I'm already wearing a wrist brace while I work to control the pain I get from being on the computer all day).
The real kicker about needing the keyboard for working at home meant that there was a pretty good chance I could get work to pay for it. I explained to my manager why I thought I needed a keyboard to work at home and he understood. I told him I wanted the $160 wireless full size Apple keyboard. He said try again. So I went with a Logitech keyboard with solar panel charging, designed for use with Macs, at half the price. (He doesn't know all that fancy stuff though, he just knows I got a keyboard under his $100 price limit). And so far, it's working great. The only downside is that it's not bluetooth; it needs to use a USB port. I might have to look into getting a USB port hub, since now all two of my USB ports are being used for my keyboard and mouse. I wonder if I could get work to pay for that too...
I also got work to pay for the wrist brace :)

As for other updates, I'm all settled into my new apartment. It's a really nice apartment. The floors are a pale laminate, which looks great but shows every piece of dirt. Sweeping has already become a regular occurrence. The kitchen isn't huge, but has a lot of cupboard space. I'm still waiting for my couch to arrive...the friend I asked to deliver it is apparently much busier than I anticipated. Hopefully I have it by the end of the month; I'm tired of sitting on folding chairs.
The building has some really nice amenities, which I will need to make an effort of using more often. (Using more often...I've only been here two weeks!) There's been some issues with the elevators the past couple days where only 1 out of 4 will respond to calls. In a building 42 stories tall, this can cause some serious delays. I overheard a man saying that he waited 25mins for the elevator! Being on the 4th floor, it's not too hard to take the stairs. But the stairs only end outside; there's no way to get to the stair well on the main floor inside the building. This means I usually take the stairs when I leave, but not when I arrive. (I haven't tried it yet, but I don't know if my key would even open the door to the stairs from the outside).
I started hand embroidering. It's been slow going, as it also tends to hurt my wrist, and I want to learn some proper stitches instead of just going at it head on. I started a flower last night, and you can tell which petal I started on and which one I did last because they get better as you go around. I'm still keeping up with practicing lettering, although no longer daily. And I bake. And fold origami. That's pretty much what occupies my evenings!

Observation + the Power of Branding

I've always thought that I'm a fairly observant person. I tend to notice little details that slip by other people. But more recently, I've started to notice that I might not be as observant as I might think. Or more accurately, I notice the tiny details, but the bigger picture might slip past me. A few incidents recently have been about branding.
For those who don't know, there is a bike share program in downtown Toronto. You can rent a bike for a couple of hours or the whole day and there are spots to pick up and drop off bikes just about every other block. The logo for the bike share program is two shades of green. And ever since I've been spending time in downtown Toronto (since last summer), I've thought that TD sponsored the program. Imagine my surprise last week when I was looking at the bike share stand more closely only to realize that TD is not mentioned anywhere. TD has got nothing to do with the bikes. I only thought that TD had something to do with it. Any guesses as to why? If you said because of the logo colour, you're right. My brain connected the shade of green of the bike share program to the colour of TD and assumed they were connected. It just goes to show the power of branding and the effect it can have on how we think about things. (Ever notice in Bell ads that every accent is blue?)
Not much going on for me other than work. I'm starting to get some more interesting things to do and my team is still as awesome as they were when I started. I've been practicing my hand lettering in the evenings and doing a fair bit of shopping. I'm finally fulfilling my dream of lots of summer dresses! I still can't cook meals for one. The apartment hunt is ongoing, but I'm going to see one tomorrow which I'm hopeful about. I'm excited for Emily to come back to Toronto, because I don't really have friends to hang out with right now. I'm planning on doing some baking tomorrow, and will probably take some into work, since I can't eat an entire batch of cookies by myself (let's not kid ourselves. I could easily eat a batch of cookies by myself. I just probably shouldn't).

180 Turn

A lot has changed since I last blogged! I am no longer a student living in Stratford, but a working woman in downtown Toronto. I was very lucky to have my manager from my internship last summer offer me a full time position to start after I finished school. So as of Monday, I've been working as a User Experience Designer, which is what I want my career to be in. It's been slow going so far, but that's to be expected with the first week. Lots of reading forms and signing up for accounts.
Now obviously with working in downtown Toronto, you also need to live in downtown Toronto. So far I've been sleeping on my sister's floor. Searching for an apartment has been stressful to say the least. I'm hoping to find an apartment with a friend of mine, so that I'm not coming home to an empty apartment every day. But two people means two sets of needs and wants, which is making the entire process more difficult. I went to see an apartment that looked promising this afternoon. Let's be honest, it's just about the only apartment I've found that meets all of our requirements and is not a sketchy looking 4 floor walk up. The apartment was nothing special; the bathrooms and kitchen are run down, but look functional. The bedrooms are big, which is its main selling point. It's definitely an older building, but it has some nice amenities. However, the apartment isn't available until June, which still leaves me looking for a place for May. Needless to say, I have some thinking to do and have to come to a decision in the near future.
My life doesn't have much else going on at the moment because of my temporary residence and the mental exhaustion of starting a new job and looking for a place to live. I'm hoping to do something fun this weekend. I want to start a bullet journal, so I'm going to go search for one at the mall. Also might go to the aquarium!

I'm Back

Today was the ideal day to relax and go to bed early and get a good nights sleep. And so obviously I blew it. It's harder and harder to go to bed early, even if I want to. I'm back in Waterloo now, because I have training all day tomorrow for being an International Peer Mentor this semester. It's one of the requirements to get the Global Experience Certificate, which I'm going for. It will be interesting to see how it goes, because I am not the most outgoing person and I've never before attempted to communicate with someone who doesn't know English.
Coming back to Waterloo was easier than I was expecting. I was thinking that I would have to get used to my apartment all over again, but I slipped right back into my routine here, which is nice. I'm the only one back so far. My two friends are supposed to arrive tomorrow. The other two roommates I had last term are on co-op this term so I will be getting two new roommates. Well, one of them didn't find a subletter, so there might only be 4 of us in the apartment for a while. That would be nice, just to not have so many people in such a small space.
Well, here's to hoping this year, and more specifically, this term, goes well!

I'm listening to Songza's Reddit 100 Most Beautiful Songs.

298. Do you want your friends to respond to this?
Getting comments is one of my favourite things.

299. Who is most likely to respond to a text from you?
Definitely not my Dad. Probably my BFFLAAT. Or my mom.

300(!). Who is least likely to respond to a text from you?
Ha! My dad ;)

Things That Made Thursday Awesome

1. I managed to sell my courseware that I bought accidentally.
2. I found $20 on the ground.
3. I had nachos and dip for lunch.
4. I saw a Scion IQ in real life.
5. I ate brownies.
6. I ate Rheo Thompson Chocolates.
7. Laundry (ok, I know what you're thinking, laundry can't possibly be a good thing. But there is one thing I like about doing laundry, more specifically: my bed sheets. Remaking my bed, while a struggle at times, guarantees that my bed will be in perfect shape when I go to bed. All the sheet corners will be tight, everything will be even on both sides, and it looks nice :D I love going to bed after I've washed my sheets)
8. I (finally) got my mail key (I had the pleasure of going through almost 2 years worth of mail, because clearly the tenants before us never checked the mail. And out of all of it, only 2 were not advertisements. Also, Rogers needs to calm the heck down).
9. I got two late birthday presents (tea thermos and sushi!)
10. I actually got more done on my to-do-list than I thought.
11. The repair guys (or rather, the guy and gal) came and fixed everything we had listed on our deficiencies list.
12. Only one more day till Summit!

Things That Made Thursday Not So Awesome
1. I had to go to an extra 3hr class this evening.
2. Said 3hr class gave me more reading to do.
3. I missed my bus and panicked to find another one (I still made it on time).
4. Laundry
5. The repair guy did something to the toilet to fix it, but in doing that, created another problem with it.

258. Something you want to learn.
Crocheting (I would like to become good at it). How to use all the settings on my camera. How to force creative thoughts....

Apartment Life (?!)

(I'm back!)
Everything's going pretty well in the new apartment. Still haven't met two of the girls...one hasn't even moved in yet. Oh well. I'm not complaining. My room is small, but I'm making it work. Now that most of my stuff is up off the floor, it seems bigger :) (I have a lot of stuff. Too much, really. Although I'm realizing now that I did not bring a lot of shirts with me. Guess I'll have to go shopping!)
This is the view out my window:

Pretty dece.
lol jk

This is actually the view out my window. Could be worse, I suppose. At least I'm not looking directly at another apartment building, which is what one would expect in this area. It will take some getting used to living in the apartment, but I'm sure it will all be fine.  The biggest thing for me will probably be thinking of meals to eat. Not even making them is an issue for me, just thinking of what to eat. Maybe I'll just continue on with the camp menu, but with added peanut butter :)
Also I don't know if this is weird or creepy, but I made a picture of Elliot my desktop background and it makes me smile every time I see it. I'm going to miss him so much.
Speaking of boys, Josh is very eager to see me. Like, he hasn't even moved in yet and he's already asking to see me tomorrow. He's already said that he really likes me, but I don't know how I feel about him. But I now understand when girls say they don't know how to break it off. I totally understand that. Because even though we haven't actually had a thing yet, I don't want to crush his hopes and dreams. Ugh. I can't deal with all this drama. I don't know how girls do this all the time.

I'm not going to catch up with the QOTD because I haven't posted in over a month, but I'll do a few and will continue on with them.

245. Opinion on insecurities.
I think everyone has them or has had them at some point. I think they are completely justified and people are entitled to have them.

246. Do you miss how things were a year ago?
Well, a year ago I was a lot more homesick than I am right now and was stepping into first year university not knowing anything, so not really.

247. Have you ever been to New York?
I think I landed at their airport once? I know that I flew over New York City once, because I remember seeing the Statue of Liberty from the air.

248. What is your favourite song at the moment?
Afire Love by Ed Sheeran

249. Age and Birthday?
18, but only for another couple weeks.