How to Eat a Burger at 100 Kilometers an Hour

Normally I don't condone doing anything other than driving when it comes to driving. No talking on cell phones, no texting. I rarely even condone eating anything other than simple finger food such as fries or chips, and drinking (non-alcoholic of course), but today for myself was a bit of an exception.

I was having a very strong craving for a burger while I was on my way to my class this evening. When I crave burgers, it has to be a burger from Triple O's or White Spot. Mmmm... I love the Triple O sauce, which I am convinced is some sort of mixture of mayo, ketchup, and perhaps some sort of cheese sauce... perhaps it's better to not know! Anyways, so I pull into the local Triple O's Drive Thru and put in my order.

The first portion of my meal, that being the fries, went well as I was driving my way to school... but the burger part was quite difficult. Firstly, for those of you who know me will know just how small my hands are. Thus due to my hands being ridiculously small I have a very hard time holding a burger with one hand. Basically, until I had eaten enough of the burger to be able to hold it in one hand, I had to wait until I was stopped at a red light in order to take a bite.

Secondly, unlike snack wraps or donairs where the food is nicely wrapped in an envelope-type tissue paper that you can simply shimmie down in order to keep the food wrapped while not eating the paper, burgers are round and most often not wrapped in a pouch-like wrapper, so you have to fold the paper around and underneath the burger so that you do not end up with a whole load of condiments and lettuce falling in your lap. Again, doing this while driving 100 km/hr with tiny nible hands is very hard to do.

Lastly, you know how at the end of the burger you sometimes end up with a little bit of bun, a larger portion of burger, and more condiments on your plate then burger in your hand? Well put that inside a not-so-well folded pouch-like tissue paper... Imagine me driving on the highway with this little bit of bun, a larger portion of burger, swimming in Triple O Sauce, wrapped in a large amount of tissue paper. I debated eating this last bit of my burger, but when it came down to it I knew that if I were to simply dig in I would have Triple O Sauce all over my face.
All in all, the burger was well worth the trouble.
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Speaking of burgers, I heard about this super large burger that you can get at a West Michigan Whitecaps minor baseball game.It has five beef patties, five pieces of cheese, nearly a cup of chili, lots of salsa and fritos (corn chips) on an 8-inch sesame-seed bun. It's calorie count is 4800 calories. To put that into daily caloric restrictions, my calorie intake per day should be between 1200 and 1250 (in order to maintain my weight). Thats approximately 4 days worth of calories, almost an entire work week's worth (say that aloud five times fast... bet you can't) of calories.

I dunno about the rest of you, but this makes me want to vomit. Who would be able to eat that in an entire sitting? I don't even want to know. Apparently if you can eat this $20 dollar burger in one setting, you can get a free special T-shirt. I'm not sure I can speak for everyone else, but for $20 I can-and would prefer to- buy a new T-shirt (special or not) without having to engage in massive gluttony.

Science World Funtastico!!!

March 18, 2009 is the day Jackie and I took a trip to Science World!!! The Lego exhibition was on and we were very very excited!
Although because it was in the middle of spring break we had to fight crowds like crazy! It was overwhelmingly busy that we decided to first duck into the small theater to see what was going on there. That's where we found this guy...

Then we decided to get the learning adventure started! Here's Jackie trying to listen in on somebody's personal conversations... actually you could barely hear what you were supposed to hear from those tubes because there were so many people!!!

Ever since I was a child I have had a specific fascination with water, waterfalls, and water toys so naturally I gravitated towards this wonderful contraption!
Although I love water and I love this water thing... My favorite part about the above picture is this guy...

I dunno if you can tell... but if you click on the picture to make it bigger, you will see that my camera apparently did not get rid of the red eye and so this scientist dude looks even more like a MAD SCIENTIST!!!

I constantly had to babysit Jackie as she always wanted to play with the other kids... hehe


So, Jackie and I found this area with these building sticks and whatnot and the plaque on the box of stick things said "can you build a figure taller than yourself?" Naturally Jackie and I stepped up to the challenge, but as you can see above, our first attempt did not go so well...

However we made it happen on our second attempt!!!
Side Note: Notice how the bottom section is fairly uniform and could possibly look structurally sound and the top part is well... not so much. Yeah! Guess who did the top part... That's right, yours truly (i.e. me!). I decided to take on a more creative and unique approach to it!
Further Note: as was reinforced throughout this exercise, neither of us are engineering students! Moreover, this emphasized my role as an arts student!

Well, nothing lasts forever unfortunately!

Tap dancing on a large piano is a lot more fun (and safer) than in your kitchen in your socks!

Notice the number of children around me compared to when Jackie was on this thing... Perhaps I looked too "adult" with my boots and whatnot!



So we finally got to the Lego section, and I realized that it was going to be more of a museum type thing with little sculptures of Lego stuff... it was interesting, but not enough to keep this ADD mind from wandering. Anywho, I did manage to take a photo of this Lego sculpture of the YVR Skytrain station.

Oh, and of course the large Lego Race car! I took it too seriously and put on my racing face...

Meanwhile Jackie just decided to smile away!

Science World from above!

Taking a well needed breather on our way up to the Omnimax.

Waiting for Van Gogh: Brush of Genius (our Omnimax experience for the day) to start.

I hate mind bending puzzles!!!

However Jackie seems to excel in them!

This is my new favorite Lizard!

Jackie trying to be a T-Rex

Jackie and I in the Beaver Dam!

Yes it was a great day of learning and building and playing with other people's little children. We both agreed that building that "thing" to make it as tall as ourselves was easily the highlight of the day! It's too bad somebody rushed to make it look more entertaining rather than focusing on structure! :P

Make Every Road Trip Into a Day at the Amusement Park

Plinky Asks:

Engineers are getting closer to the dream of the flying car. How would you sell one of these if you were an auto dealer?
Sure, it's only flown for 37 seconds so far, but any day now it'll be ready for consumers. What's your sales pitch?

Answer:

Stuck in Traffic? The car in front of you going too slow? No Worries, why not take a flying leap in this Luxury Leaper!

The Luxury Leaper offers you an astounding 37 seconds of pure high flying in order to jump to the front of the line!

Imagine carpooling to work everyday in a ride like a roller coaster! Make every road trip into a day at the amusement park! Baffle the thugs with your no-hydrolics-needed lift!

Your kids will never want you to drop them off 3 blocks away from the school anymore because your ride is super fly!

The Things You Find On Craigslist!

And I'm not talking about potential material products either!

I was bored at work (surprise surprise) when I came across a posting on Craigslist called "Best of Craigslist" which is a compilation of ridiculously funny/innapropriate/colourful postings. I read the following posting called Eleven Things I Hate About Working At a Liquor Store (Vancouver) and I just had to share it with you all! I hope you enjoy...
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Eleven Things I Hate About Working at a Liquor Store (Vancouver)

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Date: 2009-01-19, 5:38AM PST


1. Anyone under the age of 20 who rolls their eyes when I ask them for ID. I'm sorry -- you still look like a fucking kid, and the government of British Columbia says that fucking kids aren't supposed to be drinking so that's why I've IDed you. What -- do you think that it's OBVIOUS you've just turned 19 and I should just be able to tell? Well, sorry, I can't. So don't roll your eyes at me and sigh heavily when you reach for your cards. My job is on the line.

2. Anyone who can't believe that I want TWO pieces of government ID. Why can't you believe it? That's what my bosses tell me to ask for, so I ask for it. It's plastered everywhere: right when you walk in, on drink displays, and at every cash register. So, yes, I want TWO pieces of ID. No, your gym membership is not government ID! GODDAMMIT DON'T ROLL YOUR EYES AT ME.

3. People who buy one item and want, like, 10 plastic bags to carry their shit. What are you, some kind of serial environmental offender? What really kills me are the assholes who buy a PLASTIC bottle (virtually unbreakable), then want the plastic bottle in a paper bag, then want the plastic bottle in a paper bag in a plastic bag, then want a double plastic bag for their plastic bottle in a paper bag in a plastic bag. The best is when people catch me giving them a sour look and they say, "I'm taking the bus." Really. Does that make it better?

4. People who ask me to smile. Smiling isn't in my job description. The line up is HUGE. I'm just putting my head down and trying to plow down as MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE IN AS LITTLE TIME AS POSSIBLE SO YOU CAN ALL GO HOME AND DRINK FASTER. Speed requires concentration; when I concentrate I don't smile, so don't ask me to fucking smile when I'm already trying to be as fast as possible for you.

5. People who touch my hair. Generally happens about once or twice a busy weekend -- someone hammered (or weird) comes in and really wants to touch my hair. I know my hair tends to look fabulous, but just because I'm within arm's reach doesn't give you the right to maul my locks. Look, compliment, but don't touch!

6. Cell phones. Chewing gum, too. Okay -- I can accept that being irritated by chewing gum is a problem that I ought to keep to myself, but cell phones? Now that I've worked as a cashier I understand how intensely rude it is to be on your cell while going through the checkout. Just get off that damned cancer pod you've got glued to your ear and provide a little respect to the cashier. Once I had a lady refuse to acknowledge me because she was yakking on her cell, but then had the nerve to exclaim, "I just guess they don't do anything around here anymore!" when I pretended not to hear her asking for a bag.

7. People who buy one or two items and then hover at the end of my til while they stare at the receipt like they're trying to decipher the fucking Rosetta Stone. Okay -- so you wanna check your receipt because you seem to believe that I have incorrectly rung up ONE OR TWO ITEMS. But move on -- don't stand in the way of the next customer and, seriously, does it take a full 30 seconds of INTENSE FOCUS to understand your receipt? You're clearly an idiot, so get out already!

8. Gaggles of ten or so barely-post-teenage thugs/sluts/idiots who come into the store and scream and giggle and pose like they're already at the club. Being able to hear your idiot babble all the way from the other side of the store means that you're being too damned loud. I feel sorry for all the people within 30 feet of you, let alone 100. Groups like this generally have me bolting for the warehouse.

9. Restaurant owners who have special discount accounts but don't tell me that they have an account until everything is rung through. Oh, you own a restaurant? It's ever-so-popular, is it? Well, my! I'm sorry I didn't know who you were right away, because clearly you're VERY IMPORTANT because you own a restaurant. Now I have to ring the WHOLE THING through again because you didn't have the foresight to tell me who you were. Sorry for wasting your VERY IMPORTANT time.

10. Sleazy guys who press tips into my hand. Listen, buddy, that 72 cents of change you really wanna hand me while staring deep into my eyes does not impress. I'm not allowed to accept tips anyways. So don't try to tip me -- I don't like it, I have to say no, it's awkward. No, you can not have my number because you gave me 72 cents.

11. Older women who WANT me to ID them. Ugh, yeah, back to the ID thing. Listen -- I'm sorry you're 30-something and you don't look under 19 anymore. Really, I think people are beautiful at all ages. Don't worry about it! Just be gorgeous the way you are. But I still don't need to see your ID, so please stop shoving it at me. It just makes you look really desperate, especially in front of your friends.

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Anyways, don't get me wrong -- there are a great many things I love about my job. It pays well, my coworkers are pretty colourful, and the job tends to protect my safety and human dignity pretty damned well. When it's not sobusyIwanttokillmyself then it's a dream job. There's even a great many kinds of customers that I do love -- I just love bitching about the ones I hate more. :P

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Other Fun Postings Include:
-Executive Life for Sale (OR REPO)
-Carry My Casket-m4w
-Dear Mr. Scammer.. I am sorry - m4w (A Classic!!!)
-Dear Best Buy #305
-WANTED: ROADKILL

Please stop talking and start staring

Plinky Asks:
Who would you rather be seated next to on a daylong bus trip: a talkative person with a really irritating voice, or a quiet person who keeps staring at you?

My Answer:

I would prefer the quite starer because then I can easily put on my headphones and listen to my music without having to turn up the volume too loud to try and drown out the irritating voice. It is also easier to ignore people who just stare at you because if you try to ignore a talkative person (irritating voice or not) they will simply continue talking to you and even start to ask you why you are ignoring them. Ever spend time with a kid who constantly says "why? why? why?" after everything you say? Exactly!

Procrastination Station

Ok, so this is blog post numero 2 for the day... Exciting isn't it?!?

Anywho, so I just thought I'd mention that while getting bored with my normal procrastination methods, i.e. Finding about my friends lives through facebook, reading other people's blogs, watching The Daily Show, etc etc, I decided to try "Plinky".

"What the hell is a Plinky" one might say... I don't really know the answer to that question. All I know is it's another blog-type thingy but this one gives you prompts or questions to start your blogging post... basically it's for people who want to blog everyday but don't know what to write about. Once you've answered the prompt then it can be posted to Blogger and other fandangled blog related sites. Thus, if all of a sudden you notice some random post here that does not make sense (ok wait, that sounds like every posting of mine... haha), it is safe to assume that I am bored at work, bored at school, or that I have a paper of some sort to write... and don't want to.

Anywho, happy reading!

My Left Arm is Jealous of My Right Arm!

So, the painful "sprained/maybe fractured wrist" saga continues!

It has now been over a week and a half since "the incident". I have had continuous questions from random people as to what happened to my wrist or what I did to my wrist. I've noticed that if I don't answer fast enough (which is within 0.35 seconds of the last word in their question being audible), people will start guessing as to what happened. The number 1 answer that a lot of people have guessed for some weird reason has been a skiing accident, to which I always reply "I WISH!" A skiing accident would be far less embarrassing and would mean that I had been skiing recently. Of course, the last time I went skiing was back in high school... many many years ago! One of the most interesting guesses had to be that I sprained my wrist while smacking my boyfriend around... For those of you who know me and my boyfriend, well you can attest that I am much smaller than he is and that I would probably fail at smacking him around... not to mention the obvious that I love him and would never smack him around to begin with.

This whole issue with my wrist has definitely rekindled my hatred for clinics though! I called the clinic yesterday because although I'm pretty sure that it is simply a sprain, I wouldn't mind knowing what the results were from the Xray. The receptionist told me that yes, they had gotten the results back (finally) and that I would have to come in to talk to the doctor about them. Initially I think "ok so, if I have to go in and talk to the doctor, that must mean that something is outta wack" but then I think "if something was fractured or broken though, you would think that they would have called me when they got the xrays back rather than wait until I called them."

So I asked the receptionist if they would have called me when the xrays came in if something was wrong and she said "probably". First of all, PROBABLY???? What the hell does that mean, probably??? So then I asked her to specify yes or no as to whether they would have called me and she said yeah. My next issue then is why do I have to come in and talk to the doctor if nothing is broken/fractured? All the doctor is going to tell me is yep, it's a sprain... ice it for comfort... keep it in a splint when using it... try not to use it too much. Why can't the receptionist simply look at the results and say, yes it's broken/fractured, or no it's just a sprain - suck it up!
When I asked the receptionist if it was pretty safe to assume that it was just a sprain and nothing more she answers, "maybe, maybe not."

At this point I am ready to slam the phone down like a tween who just got into an argument with her best friend over wearing the same headband to school the other day!

Clinics are supposed to be helpful and easier/faster/more convenient to get to than your family doctor. I ended up having to ask the clinic to fax my results to my family doctor's office so that I can call them and get that receptionist to tell me (which I of course keep forgetting to do within their hours, thus I still don't know the results). I'm not waisting my time going to the clinic just so that they can tell me what I already know. In fact I think it is a ploy to raise their client/patient count for the day. I assume they must get some sort of funding or something for having a high number of patients going in and out of their office.

Anyways, here's hoping that I wont have to go to the clinic again anytime soon!

Onto less anoying (yet still slightly annoying) things, my left arm has expressed that it is feeling jealous of the lack of work my right arm has had to do lately! It is true that since "the incident" I have been driving (almost strictly) with my left hand, I carry more things and lift more things with my left hand, and I've even started trying to write with my left hand! As a result, my left arm has started to complain by cramping up in the biceps (by the way, it is a very very strange thing when the muscles in your biceps cramp up... I'm so used to cramping in my feet, thighs, toes and even palms of my hands but I have never experienced cramping in my biceps before) and feeling tight in the forearm. If this keeps up, I'm going to have to get a brace for my left hand too. Then what will I do??? Perhaps I should start teaching my feet how to drive...

My Eyes Feel Like Lava Lamps

You know how lava lamps have the lava that just sort of gloups up and down... my eyes are starting to feel like that on the inside!

I simply wanted to address the fact that I have just posted three (and now four) new blog entries. I decided that I couldn't sleep (maybe too much excitement because Jackie and I are going to Science World tomorrow/today) and so I thought I'd catch up on my blogging of the last couple of weeks.

Now I will post a new blog entry on my Tales From the TL blog (http://frontdesktltales.blogspot.com/) and then I think I will put my lava lamp eyes to sleep!

Anywho, I hope you enjoy!

"I May Owe You a Bag of Frozen Peas!"

So, Wednesday I was unloading the dishwasher when I suddenly started to tap dance in my kitchen. This is not an unusual sight at my house, as the kitchen used to be where I would practice my dances because well, there's no other place in my house (other than the bathroom) where I could actually hear the sounds from my taps on the floor (the rest of the house is carpeted). However, I was not actually practicing a dance, I am just never able to completely stand still, thus I tap!

This wont mean much for a lot of you out there but I did a flap on my right, followed by a flap on my left, and a brush of the right foot, finishing with a single pullback on my left foot; however, I did not land the pullback successfully... Lost my balance and...TaDaaa! Landed on my wrist while trying to avoid falling and hitting my head on the open dishwasher!
This here is the scene of the accident! Right in the area with the kitchen chair, pantry, sharp wall corner, and of course the open dishwasher door! So many Hazards!
It hurt so very much and was very red but I wasn't too concerned about it until I started to notice a rather large bump starting to form... not to mention the fact that I could not move it at all! So I grabbed a bag of frozen peas and sat down to nurse my hurt while finishing watching The Daily Show (Priorities!). I then called Richard to ask him if he'd like to join me on an adventure to the clinic but of course his liscense had expired and he hadn't gotten around to renewing it so I had to pick him up and drive.

Normally, a visit to the clinic will take anywhere from an hour to three or four... but the wait was so ridiculously fast that I only had time enough to call my mother and tell her that I fell, hurt my wrist, and that I had stolen a bag of frozen peas and will probably have to buy her another bag later because it would no longer be frozen (now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure I STILL have those peas in the backseat of my car... Ooops!)

Once the doc took a quick look, and poked and proded and pulled and pushed on my wrist she sent me to the local hospital to get some Xrays!

Again, normally waiting to get Xrays done is a full day event at best! This time while in the waiting room, I only had enough time to notice that they had John & Kate Plus 8 on the television, when I heard from down the hall "Kari Rice"... Then three quick snapshots and I was on my way home!
For the last week now, I have been learning to do things with my left hand or with both hands. Of course the hardest thing to do while wearing the splint is writing and of course I just happen to be right handed... and I really can't write with my left hand either!

Someone told me that she read once that if you practice writing backwards with your left hand, it can either help you write with your left hand normally or it's almost easier to write backwards with you left hand... I dunno about this claim so today during class I gave it a try...
You probably can't really see it but this is what I wrote...

With my left hand backwards:
"I WAS TOLD THAT IF I PRACTICED WRITING BACKWARDS WITH MY LEFT HAND I MIGHT BE ABLE TO TEACH MYSELF HOW TO WRITE WITH MY LEFT HAND.
I AM FINDING IT HARD TO DO IT. IN FACT IT SEEMS TO BE GETTING WORSE."

Then I wrote backwards with my right hand to compare:
"LETS TRY WITH MY RIGHT HAND. MY RIGHT HAND IS INJURED WHICH IS WHY I THOUGHT I COULD TRY WRITING WITH MY LEFT HAND. MY WRITING IS GENERALLY BAD. MY BACKWARDS WRITING WITH MY RIGHT HAND IS BAD ENOUGH. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT MY LEFT HAND IS MORE WIGGLY."

One final comparison, would be to write normally with my left hand:
"BUT IF YOU LOOK AT MY WRITING FORWARDS WITH MY LEFT HAND YOU CAN SEE THAT IT ISN'T MUCH DIFFERENT FROM MY BACKWARDS."

Yes, I know... it is very sad that I resort to doing something mindless and random like this during class. Don't worry, I am just as dissapointed/sad! Haha!

I never did hear back from the clinic/hospital about my Xray results, however seeing as it has now been one week and I can start to move my wrist a bit more, I'm pretty sure it was just a major sprain!

The Return of LAQ

Ah yes! The day that I was waiting for, for two weeks finally came! March 13, 2009 saw the return of Lori-Ann Quon back to the wonderful province of B.C., if only for the weekend! Yes, I got my best friend back for an evening, Jackie got her biological sister back for an evening, Jackie and I split up as new best friends for an evening! It was all very exciting!
The Quon family and Dave (I'm included in the family portion... but Dave isn't apparently. Probably because I've been around longer! haha! Even if/when those two get married I will still be more family than he is... at least in my eyes :P But I digress...) all went to White Spot for dinner to catch up and celebrate her return (and a little celebration was had for I had good news about a departure at work)!
I love this picture only because something messed up with the lighting and it looks like Jackie's head is poking through the window and the window blinds.

While Lori-Ann prefers the serious happy pose, Jackie can't seem to make her nostrals any bigger...

Oh, I may have been wrong about that last sentence! Hehe, I only kid because I love!
Finally Jackie gets her act together and I get a really nice shot of the two sisters who could very well be twins... even though they are separated by 5-ish years.
Lori-Ann and Dave looking mighty happy!

We went to momford's office in downtown Maple Ridge to tell one of her co-workers to go home because it was late, and Lori-Ann wanted me to take a picture of one of our main streets in Maple Ridge all dug up so that she can show her people in Fort Mac that our roads are made up of dirt and gravel!

After dinner, Lori-Ann Jackie and I took a quick trip to Castle Fun Park to do some go-karting!
The flash was not on for this picture, which is why everything is slightly blurry. I realized that the flash would be off right before Jackie took the picture so I thought I'd move to change that and thus the super blurry me! On the upside, Jackie thought this looked like a really good picture of the two of them so I thought I'd include it here!
Finally, la piece de resistance! All three best friends together again... if only for one night!

Maija-Liisa Memorial Scholarship FUNdraiser!!

Yes, I know my title is slightly lame! Yes, that is the best title I could come up with at the time! I am sure it would have sufficed even if I didn't capitalize the F U N in fundraiser, but then my title would seem boring... and we don't want boring! Anyways, this post is not about my ability to come up with lame titles so back off ok?!!

Wow... don't you hate fighting with yourself? I know I do! Anywho, lets get right to it!
On March 7, 2009 a bunch load of people gathered together at The Ranch Pub in Maple Ridge to commemorate the great loss we have all suffered, and to raise money for the Maija-Liisa Memorial Scholarship for SFU! The night was wonderfully organized by probably the most thoughtful group of people (most of which are young adults and students), and included draw prizes, a healthy silent auction, really amazingly good food, and of course alchohol (for those of us over the age of 19).
I spent some good time with my sister and new best friend Jackie, as well as a lot of the wonderful ladies that I used to dance with. (Don't Jackie and I look like identical twins??? I think soo!)
Aparently the Rice family dresses up for pub night! Dad doesn't usually wear a collared shirt unless he is dressing up. Then again, when I joked about the Rice family dressing up for pub night, he defended himself in saying "No! This is the ONLY clean shirt I have left... and if I'm going to wear a collared shirt then I should wear nice pants... and if I am going to wear nice pants I have to wear my good cowboy boots!" Oh, daddy!
Yes, fun was had by all (or at least I think fun was had by all... In my pictures it seems like fun was had by all!) Jacob and I like to pose seriously for couple photos! (HA!)
Haha! Right before taking this picture I yelled "Candid Shot!" and this is what candid shots usually look like! The youngens from the Dance Circle don't mind though (or at least I assume they don't mind... I don't remember anybody complaining at the time but whatever!)
You know, these girls have all grown up SO much and SO quickly! (does that make me sound OLD??? HA!) Molly, Marja-Leena, and Julia looking very adult-like (They still couldn't fool the waitress though (I'm guessing, haha)).
Molly, Marja-Leena, Jackie, and Julia once more! Looking good ladies!!
So, onto the main attraction (actually I thouroughly enjoyed just being able to spend time with and see the girls from the Dance Circle... but prizes are fun too!) Mom won the silent auction for some gardening tools and gloves and I think a gift certificate to the Triple Tree as well! Way to go mom!!
Haha! One of the highlights of the night!!! I (somewhat ruthlessly) won the silent auction for a Starbucks Gift Pack which included two hand painted ceramic mugs, a stainless steel water bottle, four Starbucks chocolatey treats, and a James Brown Cd!

Here's the mini story on how I won the Gift Pack. When I first got up to the table (After Rum and Coke #1) I looked at a few items then decided on three items to put my name down for: the Starbucks Gift Pack, a Disney Print, and a Bath/Candle at home Spa Pack. When I got outbid for the Disney Print and Bath Pack (After Rum and Coke #2) I was reminded that I should not bid again for the Bath Pack due to certain allergies that I have, thus I devoted all my attention to the Starbucks Pack!

I started to get obsessed about winning this thing (After Rum and Coke #3 or was it 4?) and my mom thought it would be funny to outbid me a couple times just to bug me. It then got to a point (After Rum and Coke #... I lost count) where I would be constantly standing near/beside/behind the display table to keep an eye on the sign sheet so that as soon as someone put their name down I would outbid them!

Finally I had the winning bid of $25.50... but when I gave in my money, I had forgotten how much I put down, and thought that I put down $26.50 so I ended up paying an extra dollar! All goes for a good cause though!
So, another funny winning story... Everybody was given 1 draw ticket with dinner and you could buy additional ones for a dollar each or 7 tickets for 5 dollars. So, I decided to buy 7 tickets and dad and Jacob decided to give me their tickets so that I can try to win something.

Initially there were three prizes that I would have liked to win: a set of two Indoor/Outdoor Roman Candles, A tea press with assorted teas, and two tickets to a Canucks game. I put the majority of my tickets in for the candles and the Tea set. Later in the evening, Jacob bought another 7 tickets and had written my name on all of them. So I went again and put more tickets in the tea set and candle holders, a couple more tickets for the Canucks game... then I put one single ticket in the jar for the Sunday Brunch for Two at The Pantry. Of course, what do I win? The sunday brunch!Jacob put up the envelope just as I went to take the picture. He says he likes this picture because I am the one not smiling in it thus I ruined the picture!!! :PYes, it was a really great evening! There were some small speeches from several people thank us all for coming out. A woman from F.A.C.T. (Families Against Crime and Trauma) came out to share her story and support for Maija-Liisa's family while also to tell us about and ask us to sign a petition to recognize Vehicular Homocide as a crime (Please go to : http://www.familiesagainstcrime.org/ to learn more about F.A.C.T and it's mission and to download and sign the petition as well if you like).

Marita also got up at the end to thank us all for coming and to thank and recognize all the wonderful people and friends who put this night together. She talked about how great it was that everybody came out and more importantly she reminded us that Maija-Liisa had so many aspirations that she wanted to achieve in life and that we all now should take on those aspirations and fulfill our own aspirations with her in mind! So touching. I cried... I'm sure I wasn't the only one!

This night was very important for me, but I think it would be safe to say that this night was MORE important for Maija-Liisa's parents, her sister Marja-Leena, as well as her closest friends to bring people together to commemorate and turn this negative event into a positive movement. Additionally, as I told Marita when she came around to say hi, it was very important that we all were there to let her and her family know that they have community support and that we will all be there for each and every one of them if and when they call on us!