Aptenobytes

February 28, 2003

god- damn On the bright side, they probably won't deport me to Northern Ireland when I go to Austin. I'm white after all.

February 27, 2003

Tried to set things up to use Blogger, but apparently Shaw won't allow ftp connections from outside their network. Now that's just pooey! One month until I head off to Austin, TX for the AGS Conclave. I'm getting pretty excited about it. There's a lot of good courses. I'm kind of dissapointed that Lara isn't joining me. Last year was fun, and I'm not sure it'll be as fun by myself. On a more global topic, I'm betting money now. The American invasion of Iraq will have started by March 15th. It's a foregone conclusion at this point that the war will start. They need this war for too many reasons. I honestly don't think it can be stopped. It's tragic.

February 20, 2003

Started work on my GAGTL course again. I'm getting psyched because I'm off on my first solo holiday in years. I'm off to Austin, Texas for the annual American Gem Society conclave. I want to be a Registered Jeweller by the time I go to the one in 2004. Should be fun. Things have actually been pretty quiet around here, relatively speaking, so we've been focussing on our personal lives to a certain extent. Starting at the beginning of the year, I've started to diet. I realized that I had reached 245 pounds. Lara has been following the Atkins diet. As a vegetarian, that diet is pretty much impossible, but I've modified it a little but for myself. I've discovered that by cutting out carbohydrates and substituting a lot more soy and other bean proteins. I've also been eating a lot of Tofu dogs and veggie mushroom burgers, but the really cool thing is that I've been eating a lot more vegetables instead of huge bowls of pasta. Other little things I've changed in my diet are changing from sugar in my coffee to honey, no more sugary snacks, and using this weird Atkins chocolate syrup for my Mochas. I've now dropped twenty pounds, and yesterday I did something even more radical; I've joined a gym! I'll keep you updated. I won't bore you too much about my current projects, but let's just say that at the moment, I'm splitting my time with three major fights. The first is a copyright case with a local jeweller who stole one of our designs, and then had the temerity to advertise it in one of the magazines we advertise in. THe second is the ongoing battle with the federal government over the punitive excise tax on jewellery in Canada. And last, but certainly not least, A fight with Canada Post over their employees STEALING from not just us, but the jewellery industry generally. Yes, some Canada Post employees are THEIVES!!!! Am I pissed off? Yes!.