it's been a hard couple of weeks, reasons for which i won't get into. this week, i finally felt like i was able to get back on track. the longer day didn't hurt either. fridays are always good because i know i get to meet up with friends after work catch up on our week. one thing that i've been glued to is twitter feeds. i signed up for an account a year and a half ago to do some work research. now it's all the rage. i'm "following" my favourite news outlets using the twhirl app on my desktop. i get instant tweets from cbc news, cbc radio, spacing magazine, the mayor, etc, and various friends.

last week, i baked some cookies for my co-workers, and two of them thanked me over twitter. they also commented that i should "tweet" more than i do. my occasional tweets over the lifespan of my account amounted to under ten at the time, whereas my friend rob had like 1,500 tweets. jc told me that i was a "lurker" by being non-active and reading other feeds. i've been making an effort to undo my lurking status. i'll keep you informed.

cbc news twittered this about 9 hours ago canadians glued to YouTube. of course they are, i sure as hell am! where else can i find old episodes of my favourite tv ontario kids shows, or learn to fix my leaky toilet valve. yes, i used youtube on the weekend so i could figure out how to fix my toilet tank problems. i thought i'd solved it, but it's still a problem. any closet plumbers out there?

here's a completely unrelated story. thursday morning i was late for work. luckily i pulled on my sorels because of the cold because when i stepped outside it was snowing. it was quite pretty and i was enjoying the solitude (of being late). i waited for a train to cross at the tracks on strachan, and after i crossed them, i completely forgot about the huge puddle in the pothole that i'd been side stepping for the last month. except that day, it had been covered by a fresh dusting of snow... oh and it had frozen into black ice. i completely wiped out, legs in the air, as car after car drove past me. when i tried to right myself up, i slipped onto my back again. all i have to say is thank god i had my laptop wrapped around the back of my waste. that laptop shell and bag really helped to break my fall, and it still works fine! i had a small bump and bruise on my elbow, but otherwise, i didn't feel any aches until the next morning. and really, how lucky was i that the train had just passed, and there was no ice on the tracks? thank you buddha!

(above is a picture of the aforementioned track, however, the incident happened on the other side of the street. this picture also illustrated how i've felt lately, but i am better now)