finished more sections...

Well, I've updated the "All About Me" and the "Pictures of Life" sections. Well, not done the "Pictures of Life" section but almost done, just three more areas of that to edit, the Sheri section, the patti section and my trip to Montreal section. I also noticed I hadn't done some parts of the "Kwantlen" section; and perhaps, I may do the "Inspiration" section today, as it's not very large. That will leave me with the "Crime Prevention," "Humour," "Read" and "Watch" sections left to do.

With these sections, I'm ensuring all site graphics are working and properly linked up, as well, I'm checking to see that the navigational links are working properly.

Last night, I let our dog Angel stay with me in my room. She may be going to a new home on the island next week, so I'm trying to spend as much time as I can with her. She's so adorable but she is full of a lot of energy. She makes warp speed look slow. I wish we could keep her, but with my Mum's heart problems, she's too much for her to handle. And with me working during the day everyday, I'm not home enough to look after her. If we perhaps lived in a building with a gated courtyard we could take her there for a run each day but we don't have that. We also would never take her to an off leash park because she's too wild, and combined with her nervous nature, when she is outside around other people, she may run from the park into traffic or something and get hurt.

As I look for a place of my own, I know one thing that is important to me is finding a place that has a small courtyard, so that if I ever get a dog of my own, it will have a place to run around.

I've been very conflicted and somewhat selfish about this. I was mad at my Mom for wanting to give Angel away. But I understand that it's probably the right thing to do. Even as I type this and part of me wants to cry because Angel has brought a lot of love to our lives - a lot of love and happiness. I know that it's probably for the best. Even at times when I am home, and I have studying or reading to do, she'll come and want to play and monkey around with me and I can't. Kikko, our other dog, being older and smaller, has less energy and is content to just lie on the couch or the bed while I read and study.

Also, it's taken Kikko a long time to get used to Angel, and she still has a long way to go. It's way better now though, but still, again - it's a lot of energy looking after both of them.

If my Mom was in better health she wouldn't get rid of Angel. I know this is probably a decision that hurts Mum way more than it hurts me, because she has been with Angel almost everyday since she came into our lives back in December 2005.

Anyway, I want to get this stuff done that I'm working on, so I can finish it. I wanna take Angel out for a run, take her and Kikko (our other dog, older, smaller at 10lbs to Angel's 15lbs) to Stanley Park. I may go with my friend Janny tonight, so she can walk one of them and I can walk the other and then also video tape both of them. Maybe if I can, I will get ahold of a friend in the old building I used to live in, so that we can go in the old courtyard that was there, and let them both run loose, and video tape them romping around. For memory's sake.

- Steven

finished two sections to date...

Well, I just completed editing my top-of-the-page navigation links list on all the pages that make-up the "Art" section of my site: Art. To date, that leaves two sections finished: Art and Kwantlen; leaving All About Me, Pictures of Life, Crime Prevention, Humour, Inspiration, Listen, Read and Watch being uncomplete.

I may go in and do "Listen" right now, as it's only one page and it'll make me feel more accomplished.

Then, it's off to work.

- Steve

well...

It's been an interesting week. I found out some interesting things about my student union, which I'll get into more detail next weekend.

I saw some good movies.... including Superman Returns, The DaVinci Code as well as Paper Clips (a documentary). All of them were great.

I finally shut down my website as hosted on Tripod.com. The site there consists of all the section mainpages with redirects through to steveleenow.net. Now I just have to redo the menus at the top of every single page on my site and reindex it. That job should be done by month's end.

And that's about it.

I work tomorrow, 9am - 2pm. Then get to see Il Divo at GM Place with my Mom.

- Steven

wow

So it's been like 3 months since I posted on my blog, and it's been 6 months since I posted copy here at LJ. But I've made the jump. Today I sucked it up and purchased a year's worth of LJ. The circle is now complete, my life at Tripod is coming to an end.

Earlier this month I switched from Tripod to godaddy.com. Eventually godaddy.com will allow me to host everything related to mysite on one place (site, forum, blog, etc.) but right now I don't have the time to invest in redesigning my site to incorporate those features. So for now, I'll continue using LJ. But I can finally start getting video and picutres online. So expect way more of that in the months to come!

I'm also glad I was able to expand my blogs link list to LJ with the one year's plan I purchased. I also like how I could categorize them into friends, arts and politics topics.

Work goes okay. I'm enjoying it to a degree. But I'm at a crossroads. Do I make HR my career of choice? Or entertainment?

I have to make up my mind!

It's now or never!

But life took a jolt this week with my Mother being in the hospital and having a procedure done where they looked at her heart, and found some blockages. They were able to insert some stilts, which help expand the arteries that are blocked and help the blood flow again. My Mother was having bad angina like attacks - severe chest pains and ended up going to St. Paul's Hospital last week. I ended up being able to get the week off work to help her out, to visit her regularly and help her through that and to look after our two dogs here at home.

My Mother already had some major surgery to remove some blockages they found in the arteries in her neck, and so now this on top of that was a bit of a shock, because previous tests had revealed no blockage in the heart.

It's also scary because it's only been a year and a half since we lost Dad.

It's made me want to get myself in shape and get rid of the junk food we had in our house. Today, when my Mother had a follow-up with our family doctor, I was lucky to have been able to go in myself for an appointment for a checkup. I need to lose some weight. Tomorrow, I go in and get my bloodwork done.

I'm 216. Last October, when I last saw the doctor, I was 201. I should be at about 170-180 lbs. But I'm not. I'm out of shape. I eat too much junk food. I'm going to fix up my bike this weekend and get riding again. I'll rewatch SUPERSIZE ME so that I can remember why it's not good to eat McCrap.

I don't want to be my Mother in 30 years, having this kind of surgery done. I don't want to end up with diabetes. I want to be able to live to be 60, or 70 or even 80 (my Dad made it to 80).

I want to be healthy again!

Anyway, back to studying... and our dog is crying... time to take them walkies! ... and then some bedtime sleep would be nice!

- Steven

morning

Monday, April 10, 2006. 6:16 am.

I got up about an hour ago, no strike that, I was up on and off all night, I remember glancing at the clock at 3:16 am, thinking it was later and I remember being disappointed when I saw I still had two hours to go before I'd have to get up.

My alarms didn't work. Even my cell phone alarm, which is usually very loud and annoying, failed to go off. Luckily, my internal system is so wired that I was able to wake-up at the right time, to double check the time, to double check in my mind if I really wanted to get up, or if I simply wanted to sleep longer.

So no, I didn't sleep longer, not today. I did get out of bed, I checked the clocks, to see why they didn't go off, and then, I made my bed, slid on some underwear and a t-shirt before looking out the window for awhile, at the darkness outside, the fog that seemed to lie over Stanley Park, the sky that blurred the North Shore mountains.

I then proceeded to go into the kitchen to make tea. Well, I boiled the water at any rate. I still haven't gone back to make tea.

I opened the cage for our little puppy-dog, so she could get out and stretch her legs. She stretched her legs, but didn't move far from her bed. Too damn early to be up is the look she gave me. So I left her be, to get ready for the day.

So then, I proceeded to shower, starting by brushing my teeth. I did my teeth, gargled mouthwash, flossed and did my teeth again. Last night I used Crest Night Effects, this paste that you paint onto your teeth to help create a whiter smile. The stuff is incredibly difficult to paint onto your teeth.

I then showered, dried off, and trimmed my beard. I even shaved my throat, to make sure I look proper. I used deodorant and sprayed on some Stetson cologne, which is now bothering my allergies slightly.

Now, I'm sitting here writing my blog. My Mom comes to say goodbye, and wish me luck on my first day back to work. My Dog is getting anxious, scratching and crying at the door. I guess she's awake now, and wants to visit.

So I'll visit her, make some tea and eat some cereal. And then I'll head to work, travelling along the skytrain and out to Surrey.

Take care everyone,

- Steve