Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Celina's birthday and a lost cell phone

Happy Belated Birthday, Celina! Hope you had a splendiferous day on Monday!

I know: we are bad, bad friends. Our card will be late once again. I had written down the date as the 22nd, yet somehow my faulty memory convinced me I was aiming for the 26th.

My excuse is really quite simple: I am aging rapidly.

As an example, today I lost our cell phone. I carried it with me, tucked safely in my purse all day. I always ensure the ring tone is muted, because I do not want to receive glares such as the ones I dole out to students whose cell phones play Human League's "Don't You Want Me, Baby?" halfway through a lecture. I'm kidding. They're more likely to have "You Spin Me Round" (The Chipmunks version) or the voice of Stewie from Family Guy.

After work, James agreed to meet me at the Quizno's at Fallowfield for takeout. At home, I couldn't for the life of me figure out what had happened to the phone. I remembered checking it for the correct time at about 6:30pm, before entering the resto. I couldn't find it in my coat pockets, my purse, the canvas bag containing my dress shoes, or my backpack. I even called to Quizno's to ask them to check the counters, but not a phone was in sight. Fearing that some hoodlum might have picked it up, downloaded Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" as the new ringtone, and text-messaged each of his 563 Facebook friends, I called Telus to suspend services.

I was feeling low. I mean, I generally do not lose things. I try to return items to the exact same location I took them from and kinda give heck to those who don't. It was all the same to James: our contract was up, so he was meaning to pick out a new handset anyway.

Less than an hour after I spoke with Erika at the call centre, James discovered the cell on the dresser in our room. Ooops.

I recall reading articles (I just don't recall where, exactly) that suggest one should regularly do puzzles like crosswords to exercise the leetle grey cells. I'm already scrambling to do a Sudoku a day; guess I'll have to up it to two.

Maybe our new phone will come with a Sudoku app. Maybe I should look for one that comes with a birthday reminder app, too.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

don't kiss me: i'm not Irish

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

'twas a gorgeous day out here, perfect for all the leprechauns to ditch work and part with their pots of gold while acquiring pots of ale.

Ontario primary and secondary school kids are on Spring Break this week: a good time to steer clear of the malls. I didn't take my own advice. The afternoon class I usually work was cancelled today, so I strolled over to the ByWard Market and down Sparks Street via Rideau Centre, noting that at least 90% of the population had donned their greenery for today. All the Irish pubs (and even the non-Irish ones) were overflowing with patrons on patios. Personally, I figured it was a little premature for the flipflops, shorts, and miniskirt/thigh-high boots/white legs sans pantyhose combos; on second thought, remembering last summer...

With so many residents claiming Irish ancestry, it's surprising that St. Paddy's isn't a municipal holiday. They might as well make it one: employees were bailing early this afternoon, and my guess is a number of people will be calling in sick tomorrow.

Who wouldn't want a holiday honoring a man who piped the rats out of Ireland, then celebrated by buying rounds of green Guinness, Starbucks green tea lattes, and shamrock shakes (grimace) for his friends, eh?

In parting, let me share a choice expression from this site: "May the Lord keep you in his hand / and never close his fist too tight."

Monday, January 25, 2010

climate change

Had you told me one year ago that it could rain on January 25, I wouldn't have believed you. Last year at this time, during the infamous OC Transpo strike, I was carpooling with friends and bundled up in three to four layers just so that I could survive the 20-30 minute walk from Constitution Square to the university without freezing my...extremities.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Happy Birthday, Duane!

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Happy 2010 - year of the house

It's long overdue, but thanks to everyone who sent us Christmas cards, photos, and newsletters--and in some cases, all three!

For the third year in a row, I did not send traditional holiday cards, nor did I send e-cards, as Gillian Deacon suggests in Green for Life (204). You'll just have to be content with a recap of our Christmas activities instead.

After a very physically and mentally challenging Fall term at UO, and given that my "flight" instinct is overdeveloped compared to my "fight" instinct, I was ready for AC110? on Dec 16th. James's manager drove us to the airport. I had a few anxious moments at security when I thought I wouldn't be allowed to bring two gifts as carry-on (they had electronic and metal parts). I was beginning to think I'd have to taxi over to the FedEx headquarters (at least it's close to Macdonald-Cartier), but bless the supervisor, she scanned the items separately and all was well.

My parents picked us up in Winnipeg, took us to brunch at Smitty's, followed by Christmas shopping at St. Vital. We spent the next few days in Rosenort. We celebrated Christmas with Mom & Dad and Perry, as well as with the larger P.S. Friesen family. Took in the REMC Sunday School Christmas program: so many kids I didn't recognize. Only a few more years before it will be the grandkids of my friends' children up there, I guess.

Our next destination was Dauphin. James's parents' newly renovated home (formerly Baba's house) was truly impressive. Their dining room is something out of "Style at Home." We made a trip to Brandon one day via Riding Mountain National Park. There was hoarfrost on the trees, and big, fluffy flakes were dropping from the sky as though we were inside a snow globe. In addition to Christmas dinner on the 25th when the whole family got together, we made visits to Brian & Michelle, Glenn & Kim, and to Baba in the care home. Thanks to the generosity of his big brother, James snowmobiled and ice-fished during his vacation (two must-do's on his list of winter activities in Manitoba).

We spent the better part of the day with Duane & Celina on the 28th. They took us to the buffet lunch at McPhillips Street Station--we actually had to take a shuttle between the parking lot and the casino entrance!--then we caught Avatar at Polo Park.

Spent a couple more days at my parents' home, and then it was time to fly back on the 30th and get motivated to work on our townhouse. We'd ordered a built-in unit for my office towards the beginning of December, which was scheduled to arrive January 4. We'd bought paint Dec 15th, knowing that we'd return late on the 30th, and that our favored paint store was closed Dec 31st. James did all the taping and other prep work; I painted. We did take time out for a potluck supper and a movie with Dave & Ci and Nicole on New Year's Eve. I'm pleased to say the paint was dry in time for the guys to install the shelves Jan 4th.

Bob the Builder started his handiwork Jan 5th. We had asked friends of ours if they could recommend a carpenter for a couple of small projects we had in mind: that's how we got to know Bob. He cut an arch into our kitchen wall and also a recessed audio equipment cupboard downstairs. We're very pleased with the results. Now it's a matter of obtaining window treatments for my office, more painting, and a bit of organizing/decluttering. For the latter, I need to figure out how to operate the new camera (we were perfectly happy with our old camera, but James hasn't been able to locate it since his business trip to Denver), then post photos of two IKEA bookcases and perhaps a few other items on UsedOttawa.

Will try to post photos once the dust has cleared. (It has already settled, believe me--numerous times, in fact. Mostly on the hardwood. Thank goodness for Bona!)