Tricia's Musings

Random Thoughts about life in general, living in the big city of Toronto



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Archives for 2006

My meds are causing side effects

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My medications are causing side effects again … and no they aren’t causing the good kind of side effects either.

I’m back to itching, really severely itching, ALL OVER, a couple of hours after I take one of my heavy duty pain pills. There isn’t much that I can do about it since it’s a normal side effect of the drug, but geeezzzz, I’m already in pain, why do I have to itch too?

If anyone sees someone in a store or on the streets of Toronto, scratching away – It’s probably me.

To make things worse my pain doc prescribed duragesic patches yesterday. I’ve had fentanyl in the past when I’ve had one of my favorite medical tests done- the colonoscopy. They used it as a form of sedation. It does not work as a sedative on me at all – just so the GI docs out there know. I’d rather be put out with diprovan / propafol, and I’d rather not spend the rest of the day recovering from the test and itching like crazy either.

anyway, I’m going to try one of the patches in a little while. It’s a low dose patch at only 12 umg. If I’m lucky it won’t cause the dreaded itching.

Wish me luck!





Wish list – An Audi Car

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I think at some point in the near future Chris and I will have to get a new car. Probably by next year.

I haven’t really started looking at any cars yet – yes I always do my research on major purchases. However I did come across the Audi website earlier today and I spent some time looking at some of their new luxury cars. I found a few vehicles that I’d love to get if I could.

I’m drawn to sporty cars, so the new Audi TT coupe appeals to me. It’s sleek, beautiful, has race car engineering – what more could a girl want in a sports car? There’s even two folding seats in the back.

Did you know that you can get an Audi executive car with built in bullet proofing? Now I would hope that that wouldn’t be something I would need, but a CEO of a major company, or a celebrity might be interested in this very special feature.

I’m certainly having fun doing a little bit of Internet window shopping.

A Chance Meeting

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Guess who I ran into – almost literally – today?

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a doctors appointment this morning. I went to see a family doctor that specializes in pain management, who I’ve been seeing on average once a month since last January.

I walked into the building, took the elevator to the second floor and as I was walking towards my doctors office I saw a very familiar looking lady walking towards me.

It was Adrian Clarkson, Canada’s former Governor General.

I was looking at her thinking “Is that the Governor General, yeah I’m sure it is.” and she was looking at me, and I’m certain she knew I had recognized her. I nodded my head and went past her towards my doctors office because that is what Canadians do. We acknowledge celebrities, or otherwise well known people, but we generally don’t get all excited and mob them. We go about our business and let them get on with theirs.

Now, I’m sure the Americans, and possibly others from the many other Countries, that view this site might not know exactly what a Governor General is, so I’ll tell you:

Role and Responsibilities of the Governor General

The Office of the Governor General, Canada’s oldest continuing institution, is a thread that ties Canadians together. From Samuel de Champlain in 1608 to Viscount Monck in 1867 to Vincent Massey in 1952 to today’s Governor General, the institution of Governor General dates back nearly 400 years.

What is the Governor General’s position in Government?

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy. This means Canadians recognize The Queen as our Head of State. Canada’s Governor General carries out Her Majesty’s duties in Canada on a daily basis and is Canada’s de facto Head of State.

Like many other democracies, Canada has clearly defined the difference between the Head of State and Head of Government.

The Governor General

  • represents The Queen who is the Head of State
  • is appointed by The Queen on the advice of Canada’s Prime Minister

The Prime Minister

  • is the Head of Government
  • is the leader of the party with the most support in Parliament

What does the Governor General do?

The Governor General’s role is built on four major themes:

  • Representing the Crown in Canada
  • Representing Canadians and Promoting our Sovereignty
  • Celebrating Excellence
  • Bringing Canadians together

In a nutshell, the Right Honourable Governor General of Canada (currently Michaëlle Jean) is the closest thing we have to Royalty in Canada. I’m sure for Americans my chance meeting today would have been similar to bumping into one of your former presidents.

Actually, from time to time I work on my families history, and I believe, in fact I’m almost certain, that I might be related to one of Canadas 13 founding fathers – i.e. Canada’s Fathers of Confederation. Therefore, I might also be, in a manner of speaking, Canadian “royalty” as well.

Now isn’t that neat?

OsCommerce Cafe Membership

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I found a site that might be of interest to website designers. The osCommerce cafe where individuals or website designers can sign up for memberships of three months, six months or one year.

What’s this all about and why would you want a membership?

Well, if you visit the osCommerce website you’ll discover that for the low cost of a membership you’ll be able to download as many osCommerce templates as you like. You can use these templates to design your own website, or with some modification to the design website designers can offer these templates to their clients when designing sites for their customers.The osCommerce site was created in March 2006 by the author of “The Programmers’ Guide to osCommerce” – Myles O’Reilly.

The templates offered are kept as up to date as possible, and there is a fairly large selection from which to choose. The various template designs are laid out within easy to use category descriptions. If you are looking for a template to use on an Art or photography site simply select that category and you’ll discover several templates that might be suitable for that type of site. Other categories include Food and Drink, Games, Jewelry, Seasonal, software, and computers, as well as many more categories of design.

The osCommerce Cafe also offers a generous affiliate program that is free to all. By simply placing a referral link to The osCommerce cafe on your site you could earn 25% commission if someone signs up for a membership.

You’ll also find a tutorial section on the osCommerce Cafe website where you can delve into the knowledge base, or view several articles such as how to customize the templates or import to a database. Their FAQ section is also quite extensive covering 20 frequently asked questions with descriptive answers.

A three month membership with osCommerce costs $89, and as I stated above during your period of membership you can download an unlimited number of templates. Compare this to the cost of purchasing a single design from other companies at a price of perhaps $150 and you’ll realize that this company is offering you quite a bargain.

Tossing and turning

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I need to take a nap! I’m actually tired. Yes me, the one who seems to almost never sleep.

I had to go for a doctors appointment at 9:30 a.m. this morning which meant that I needed to get to bed at a more reasonable hour last night than I have been doing in the last several days.

Well that didn’t really work. I just didn’t feel tired until after 4 am this morning, and then when I went upstairs to join my husband in bed he was having trouble sleeping. We both tossed and turned, but Chris tossed more than I did.

He lay there, turning at least once a minute. Maybe he thought he was a bird on a rotisserie? He was kicking his legs, and every once in a while he’d shove his arm under his pillow and move the pillow over to my side of the bed so that I ended up with part of his pillow on my shoulder.

I’d just start to fall asleep and I’d feel a thump. Arghhh. He kept throwing his covers over onto my side of the bed.

Needless to say I only ended up getting at most one hours sleep.

I need a nap!

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