Thank-you, thank-you, THANK-YOU! :)

Recently it appears I've been the lucky recipient of many acts of kindness, and for that I say a big THANK-YOU to you all! Whether it's been breakfast, supper, lip gloss, hand soap, bubble tea, going for a walk, enjoying a nice chat, or a ride here and there, all of it has been greatly appreciated (you all know who you are ;P ) I'm a very lucky girl blessed by fantastic friends and family...

Oh yeah...and thanks for reading my blog, though it doesn't get updated often (some of you have probably fallen off your seats, seeing another posting from me...I tell you, it's all about the SHOCK value)!

Have a great week everyone!

What the..?!?

What else will the oil and gas industry come up with in order to make their consumers suffer even more? Aren't they already gauging us, paying $1.149/L at the pumps...

It was reported this evening on CTV News that Esso and Shell gas stations will be charging us consumers $0.50 to use the air, regardless of whether we're filling up our vehicles or are bikes! Okay, not like the whole whopping 50 cents is going to break the bank, but it's the principal of the matter!

What next? Paying for the use of the bathroom facilities at gas stations? Or better yet...you cannot use the washroom without a minimum $3 purchase of which, you will be charged an additional $0.25 transaction fee to use the debit unless your purchase exceeds $10...

Sheesh...

Craziness...

Sometimes things in life are hard to explain...for example, why should I benefit from someone's tragedy?

Many of you know already I have the opportunity to potentially get promoted (okay, the likelihood is about 90%, but still...). Anyways, the lady that will be retiring will actually be leaving sooner than her initially anticipated date (end of September). She has bumped her retirement date to the end of August now, due to a series of unfortunate events...

Firstly, her husband fell ill, 11 shifts before he was to retire from the Edmonton Fire Department...she got a call at work and the call indicated her hubby had collapsed at the hall and that as soon as they knew which hospital the EMS would be taking him to, they would call her back so that she could meet him at the hospital. Physically he is doing okay (apparently his nerves are not quite settled yet as he shakes quite often), but more than anything my coworker thinks her husband suffered a mental breakdown. Soooo close to retirement and this happens...YIKES.

Then this past week, her father passed away in the nursing home that she just move him into the week prior. She had indicated to me that her father had given up living as he was not responsive to her nor was he eating well (he was so weak that he couldn't even suck through a straw). So this past weekend, all her siblings were able to gather together to have a memorial service for her father...nonetheless, she showed up to work on Tuesday and kept on plugging away at her files. It saddens me as I don't think her father was a Christian man...

In preparation for her retirement, she had listed her home for sale. Due to the passing of her father, she was not able to meet with her realtor to go through the offers...and seeing as how her appointment with the realtor was scheduled for last Tuesday (the day of the passing of her father), I don't know that those offers that were submitted are valid anymore...plus her and her husband were going to go to Kamloops this past weekend to check out the construction and progress of their new home, but needless to say, this didn't happen either.

Lastly, another close friend of hers lost her battle with cancer on Monday. This (if memory serves) is the 5th funeral she will be attending for the year 2006.

I guess I feel guilty that I will likely somehow figure into this equation and out of all this happening to her, I will benefit from her misfortune. It's too bad the company couldn't send her off happily into retirement rather than letting her go due to personal, tragic recent events in her life...