eaters of the world . . .

the wait is over!

2010-06-29T22:41:00.001-07:00

You can find me at www.themuffinmyth.com

the hold-up . . .

2010-02-11T21:17:00.000-08:00

Is the lack of a digital SLR camera. Or any other decent camera, for that matter. All of the pictures I have been taking of food look like complete crap, and I can't be starting a food blog with crappy food shots, now can I?

I'm leaving for a visit with the hus in Sweden in a couple of days. Upon my return I will be selling my car, and with some of the car money (SOME, the majority is getting squirreled away for much more important things) I'll be buying myself a camera that can take a decent close up food shot. Lucky me, I moved just a few blocks away from a camera shop with a decent stock of lightly used ones.

Then I'll post the URL. Patience, muffins.

hey universe

2010-01-05T13:40:00.000-08:00

We're vacating our apartment, which will be available for rent Feb 1st. It's a great split level 2 br 2 bathroom apartment with a wood burning fire place, balcony, huge stoarge space, in suite laundry, and a parking space. Rent goes up to $1400/month when we leave. If you are looking for a new place, or know anyone who is, let me know and I'll put you in touch with the right people.

a taste of what's to come . . .

2009-12-16T15:05:00.000-08:00

After thinking long and hard about a lot of things on a lot of levels, I have decided I need to be putting my blogging energy somewhere I feel is more productive. Come 2010 January I'll be launching a food blog called Deconstructing the Muffin Myth (url to come) where I'll be posting weekly food related rants, adventures, and recipes.

It seems these days that developing a following on the blog-o-sphere is one of the first steps to becoming a well known foodie, and ultimately getting into the cookbook or cooking show or other food related world. The efforts I put into blogging my personal life will soon be put into my food life, which is, I think, where more of my energy needs to be (as opposed to so much complaining about how much I hate school).

If any of you have any recipes you're itching to see featured, or want re (or de)-constructed, fire them in my direction. Any if any of you are blog-tech whizzes and have some advice (Nicole - how the heck did you create that 'about' page?) send that my way as well. And if you have a D-SLR camera collecting dust that you want to loan/barter/sell me, let me know.

I'll post a link to the new site when it's up and running.
:)Katie

the future of this blog . . .

2009-11-30T17:45:00.001-08:00

Is in question. I've been debating shutting 'er down for quite some time, and haven't largely because this is the only way I keep in touch with some of you. There are some things that bug me about the blog though, and I think it may be time to put my energy somewhere I feel better about. I'll keep you posted.

wedding slideshow

2009-11-02T08:24:00.001-08:00

We just got the first batch of wedding pictures from our amazing photographer. Its a little slideshow of the highlights, and is set to music, some of which is my very talented friend Harmony, who was kind enough to sing at our wedding, so watch with your sound turned on. You can see the slideshow by clicking here.

and the winner is . . .

2009-10-29T14:47:00.001-07:00

Stockholm, Sweden. See ya!

get with it

2009-10-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

Shake is out, pound is in. Get with it.

Is anyone else tired of hearing about H1N1?

rain

2009-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

It's raining, which is sweet 'cause I just dropped a wad of cash on rain gear for my bike. I was going to buy new jeans, but rain gear trumped fashion. Such is life. So my lower half is pretty water resistant - I got neoprene booties for over my shoes, which, I have learned, keep your feet dry-er, not dry; and a stylish pair of water proof pants (you need to wear something under them, I also learned). My upper half needs some upgrading, but will do for now. A new actually water proof, water proof jacket, and a pair of gortex over mitts are in my future.

Biking is the way to go. It is a guaranteed hour and a half of exercise a day, and kicks the shit out of riding the dank fogged up bus full of damp coughing UBC students. Even in the rain the bike is better than the bus, fo sho. And I get the triumphant feeling of making it to the top of the bloody hill each day. Except that I keep getting passed on the way up by a guy on a unicycle! A unicycle! No fooling! And having a bike on campus rules when you have a class in Anso and then 10 minutes later a class in MacMillan. There is no other way. I'm sure at least one loyal bloggee can back me up on that one.

Biking in does have it's limitations, for sure. Being that I bike in full gear and arrive a sweaty mess (giant hill), I have to lug in a change of clothes for the day in addition to my 800lb organic chemistry text book (I have now attached panniers for text hauling, and on Fridays I attach my basket and truck in my compost bucket too). And I have to get there early enough to facilitate my Mr. Rogers wardrobe change before getting to class - that doesn't always happen, I do end up getting to class a dripping mess and trying to carry my backpack and two panniers and maybe a bike basket full of compost, and then have to climb over 20 immaculately dressed second year science students (what time DO they get up to do that?) to get to the one shitty seat in the centre of the row. But I digress. I've been working on this situation and I think I may be getting it down. First I commandeered a second locker in the staff section of the public changeroom at the pool. Ha! Lockers on campus are mint, my friends, and not only do I have two for FREE, but I have keys to the building still, so I stash stuff all over the place. Mwahahaha. Not like I don't deserve it after what I put into that place, and the help I continue to give ("umm, you may want to go down and check your filter tank, it doesn't sound right . . .", "you can tell that from HERE?"). In one locker I have all of the usual accoutrement's - deoderant, shampoo, lotion, towel, that kind of shiz. In the other I have a pair of pants, change of shoes, socks, and a sweater. I bring in new tops each day because they are the lightest. Then I change and hang up my dank bike gear in there. It is still wet and dank when I get back 8 hours later. I may take a third locker for text books.

Just how dire is my rain jacket situation (this paragraph seems out of place, but I like it like this, so shut up, okay?), you ask? Okay, the one I bike in I bought about 7 years ago. It's not waterproof anymore. And my goretex one for every day use? I got that in grade 7. I'm not kidding - my name and phone number are written on the inside with indelible marker. I recently tried treating them with waterproofing stuff, and I think it actually wrecked the old one a little. Then, I think nearly 20 years is pretty impressive for a rain jacket. You?

Or?

2009-10-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

Maybe Sweden. Or maybe eastern Canada. Time will tell.

change . . .

2009-09-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Last night I was waiting with Harmony for the bus, making sure she'd make her way home. After, during the 1/2 block walk back to my apartment, I thought to myself, some things never change. (those who were at the wedding will know what I mean)

And change has come. Here it is:

Paul and I are moving to Scotland. Indeed, it is official.

I'm a good aunt, I swear . . .

2009-08-25T22:36:00.001-07:00

done!

2009-08-13T10:24:00.001-07:00

Well, that's it! Done! Paul and I are married!

We had an absolutely fantastic day. It was threatening rain, which was stressing me out, but we added an extra tent and walls for the big one at the last second. The brooms in trees did their job, the rain held out, and we had a marvelous day. The ceremony was quick and lighthearted, and the celebration was fun. We'll be waiting a while for our professional pics, but here are a few teasers sent to us by a neighbour . . . including the day after waterskiing in the wedding dress.

2. Saturday mornings with Kimmie

2009-07-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

My first week at the UBC AC I was told that on Saturday morning someone named Kim would show me the ropes with backwashing the filter tank, and I thought to myself, oh, I hope she's nice. Later that day I was introduced to this big tall hairy manly dude named Kim, and a beautiful friendship was born. In the early days I treaded carefully around the fact that he had a girly name, but that was short lived. Now he's Kimmie or Kimberley or Kimberley Anne (his middle name is Andrew) all the time.

One can't really describe Kimmie so much as experience him, so I'm not going to try that hard here - those who have met him will know what I'm talking about. Kimmie is the person with whom I've laughed the hardest and possibly had the most fun with in my entire life. He's a marvelously complex human being - tall and rugged and manly, yet collects african violets (I think he's got a bit of a problem actually). I took him to the african violet show at Van Dusen Gardens one year, and I'm not sure the blue rinse crowd knew what to make of him. He doesn't really drink, yet when he does he makes sure it's Jagermeister. He loves Star Trek, and any and all musicals. He's hands down the funniest person I've ever met, yet can also be the most serious. He's got one of the biggest hearts of anyone I've ever met. And he can clap the loudest. He for sure holds a permanent spot on my list of top 10 favourite human beings of all time.

So Kimmie and I worked the Saturday morning early maintenance shift together for about five years. When it looked like he was going to lose the shift due to seniority reasons, I changed the criteria for working that shift (makes much more sense, but I did have alterior motives) so that he'd be sure to secure the shift for the duration of his tenure at the UBC AC. We had fun. We made dirty nasty pool maintenance work a hoot. And we hold the record for the fastest backwash ever, at just 20 minutes and change (this job normally takes two people close to an hour).

Many of my other favourite UBC AC memories feature Kimmie, so he'll show up again, but he for sure deserves to be in a category of his own. Yay Kimmie!!!

1. The Katie and Christa Years

2009-07-04T09:09:00.000-07:00

Seriously, those were the best.

Before I started working at the UBC AC I had met Christa very briefly one time at some sort of a workshop - an NLS recert examiner's clinic, or something like that, I think.

I had been working for a few of the municipal pools, but wasn't getting the hours or recognition that I wanted from them, so decided to give up my shifts and spend the summer doing nothing but contract work (full circle now). Contract work is abundant in the summer months, but I was worried it was going to dry up come September and wasn't really sure what to do. Then Nicole pointed out a job posting for the Head Lifeguard position at UBC. I was teaching an NLS course in North Van at the time, and asked the programmer there if I could use their fax machine to send off my resume (which, which I looked at it years later, was terrible) for the job. Later that very night I saw Christa on the pool deck with her water polo team. She came over and asked what I was teaching, and I told her NLS. She asked if I was interested in teaching courses at UBC, and I said funny thing, I just applied for the Head Guard job there. She said, oh, you must be Katie! So we chatted for a while about the job, and I asked her to put in a good word. A few days later I got a call for the interview, and needless to say, I got the job. I found out later that since my resume was so terrible (not my experience, but my actual resume) they weren't going to bother contacting me. But Christa went back to them and said she had met me and I seemed really keen and passionate, so they decided to give me a call after all. Thanks Xta!!!

So I started working there, and immediately Christa and I started getting along famously. I remember the early days one of us would pull out a bottle of lotion and the other would go, "oooh! I use that one too!!" and then one of us would talk about heading to a yoga class, and the other would go, "yay! I do yoga too!!". And so it began. I have never worked with anyone else who I saw so completely eye to eye on how things should be done. We were a team, Christa and I, no doubt about that. We understood that the workload was shared, and when one of us was bogged down, the other would step in and help out. We taught courses together and each complimented the others teaching and evaluation style. When I threw my back out and couldn't stand up straight, Christa came and helped teach my NLS class in North Van. We amused ourselves by terrorizing the swim coaches together (I so miss those Steve and Derrick days). We bartered tasty food for jewellery making. We brought out each others inner crafter - Christa taught me to knit at work, and once I got the knitting bug we would regularly 'compromise the integrity of the facility' (according to our then manager) by knitting under our desks, in the classroom, on our breaks . . . it was good times. Christa is also one of the small handful of people I've met in my life who I have always felt I could talk to about anything, anytime, without any judgement whatsoever. It's a real gift to find that in a friend and a coworker.

I was sad when the Katie and Christa years ended, but she needed to move on, I understood that. I'm so glad we've remained friends, even though we don't see each other quite so often anymore. Christa has stayed a source of inspiration in my life, and seeing her leave the good benefits and regular paycheque life of the UBC AC and enter into the unreliable realms of contract work and self employment and succeed, helped me make the decision to take the plunge myself.

Thanks Christa, you rule! Real hard!

(and she really liked working with me too!)

the end of an era

2009-07-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday was my last day in official capacity at my job at the old UBC AC. I'd use the word 'work' pretty loosely for what I've been doing the past couple of weeks - my replacement started three weeks ago, and after a week and a half or so of training, I pretty much sat back at let him do everything, just being there to answer questions and intervene in absolute emergencies. With a little more than a week do go, my alarm went off at 4:35am for the last time. I rolled over and looked at the alarm and then said to my self, "fuck that." and went back to sleep. Anyways, it's all done now, and the staff did their best to send me off in style. I used to always make breakfast for the staff on Saturday mornings, and so for my last Saturday they put on an extra deluxe breakfast for me . . . pancakes, waffles, scads of fresh fruit, whipped cream, tea, and I drank four mimosas before 10am. It was pretty much one of the best days at work ever. Sunday I went in for my last staff inservice, and that was quite the fiasco. The staff presented me with some tokens of their appreciation - a cookbook they had made with recipes they had contributed with personal messages written on the backs of each recipe, one of the UBC Lifeguarding shirts that the staff had made (not uniforms, just shirts they wear around. it's weird, I know.) with my nickname 'the enforcer' put on the back, and a gift certificate to the campus bookstore to help with my texts come September. One of the staff brought me a 'special drink' in a water bottle which definitely wasn't water . . . and so it began. I knew there was a very high probability of getting tossed into the pool (it's just what happens on your last day) and so I had been carrying around a spare change of clothes for my final couple of days, and since inservice rolled around and I still hadn't gone in, I knew that was the day for sure. And tossed in I got. Twice. Well, once tossed and once carried in officer and a gentleman style. My strategy of just lying down on the ground and going completely limp when I saw them coming for me wasn't so good. Well, maybe it would have worked if it wasn't three buff young fellows doing the tossing.

Then things got ugly. The staff went out to a nearby watering hole for some drinks and appys. This would be the first, and last, time I went out with the staff. It all started out innocently enough with Dan, my replacement, buying me a 'muff dive' which I finally agreed to do from Xta's crotch (thanks for stepping in!). Next was the 'mine field', 10 shots of clear liquid lined up, 5 of which were water, the other five gin. They were shot 30 seconds apart from each other. It was awful. I did have a few pinch hitters, thankfully, but I think they mostly took care of water shots, not gin. Then were a few tequila shots, some other shots, more shots, and oh, did I mention the shots? I think it was the mine field on the nearly empty stomach that started the badness, but the thing that really tipped the scales was when they put a pocket mask in my mouth and used it as a funnel to pour beer down my throat. Huge thanks go to Mike Belly for finally sneaking me out there (and by finally I mean at 8pm) and to Tia for not only driving me home, but for pulling over so I could puke on the way. Needless to say I spent the remainder of the evening and the better part of the next morning wrapped around the toilet. This served as a good reminder of why I am glad my twenties are over. And thank god for Gravol.

So that's it, I'm done. The end of an era. I was 23 years old when I started that job. I owe a huge gratitude to my years at the UBC AC for so many things. I made some of the best friends I have, met the man who in just five weeks will be my husband, got inspired to go back to school and was supported hugely by both of the managers I worked with, got amazing experience and leadership opportunities in the industry, and learned an amazing amount from the people I interacted with. I learned things about pool chemistry and the ins and outs of filtration (like which side of the filter tank produces the biggest hairballs, which are better for throwing) that I never imagined. I learned to become a morning person. I dealt with spinals, heat stroke, broken hips, dislocated shoulders, and more heat exhaustion and hypoglycemia than I knew possible. It was all in all a very good experience.

Staying in my position for seven years is the stuff that legends are made of. The job obviously had it's challenges, and there are certainly parts I will not miss, but I'm glad to have gone out on a positive note. For that, I am going to blog my seven favourite things/memories about the UBC AC. Seven things for seven years . . . coming soon . . .

Jude Taro

2009-06-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

My first nephew, born Saturday June 13th 2009, 7lbs 14oz. Cam, I love you, you are a warrior!

Welcome to the world, Jude!

bad bad bad

2009-05-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes, I know. I've been a bad blogger, a bad money dieter, a bad eater, a bad runner, definitely a bad worker. Just bad. But I've been having lots and lots of fun!!! (except for the week where I was home with the most awful case of vertigo, that was not fun in any way)

Over the last two months I haven't accumulated any debt, but I haven't saved much either. There was the new computer, the trip to Calgary, the extravagent weekend away in Whistler, the great deal on wine for the wedding which couldn't be passed up, and now that summer is nearly upon is, the weekend getaways to the Sunshine Coast. And so many expenses looming . . . it gives me chest pain to think about it. I need to reevaluate the money diet and figure a way to work it for the summer months that has me saving some money, prevents me from cheating (as I have been lots over the last two months), and doesn't leave me feeling deprived. $60/week just isn't going to cut it when there are things like ferry fare and sipping cold beer on sunny patios to think about. I'm trying to put my thinking cap on and figure out a workable system to implement for June 1st.

week 18

2009-05-11T11:31:00.000-07:00

I'm too busy to spend money these days. That is until I get a free afternoon or evening, and then watch out! I didn't even withdraw my weekly $60 from the bank until Friday afternoon but there isn't much of it left after the weekend, and every single shred of it was spent on hooch. Fun times though.

My lovely bridesmaids informed me that I had better get my ass in gear and deal with bridal registry since they had already put the information out there. Yowza. I've struggled with the concept of registry and have been putting it off, but I guess it had to be done. So Friday afternoon I spent meandering through a kitchen store picking lovely things and Saturday afternoon saw me walking around the Bay zapping bar codes with a scanning gun. Interesting times. I second Nicole's recent rant about registry (baby, in her case) and how it's a big old load of bo-shit that you can't register online. Why is it that I can't go on the online catalogue from the comfort of my own home (office) and register on my own schedule (company dime)? More annoying is how if you don't want to be hit with a schwack of spam from the Bay and other companies they affiliate with, you can't just tick (or untick as it were) a box indicating your privacy preferences, you have to actually contact their privacy department and ask them to take you off the list. Bosch.

Anyways, after all the bar code scanning was done with, Tatjana and I headed upstairs to ladies wear where I was happy to find that my favourite bra (the T-shirt bra by Triumph) was on sale 25% off. I've been in desperate need of a new bra for MONTHS, so obviously snagged one. While we were up there we also checked out shoes since I need a pair to wear under my wedding dress. I saw some cute white flipflops with a flower on the front that I think will do if I find nothing else. Outdoor wedding on a very uneven lawn/beach = the most comfortable sensible pair of summertime flats I can find. So then we poked around the dresses since Tatjana still has yet to find her bridesmaid dress and has a very specific vision of what she wants to wear (I told them they could wear any black dress they wanted). She wants a halter dress with a deeply plunging v-neck, some paneling, and a skirt that goes just below the knee. So we're perusing the dresses and I happen to stick my hand into one of the racks and pull out a black v-neck halter dress. The only one around, and we couldn't find any more on nearby racks. She tries it on. It fits PERFECTLY, looks stunning, is EXACTLY what she wants, AND is on sale from $125 down to $25. How awesome is that? Defo the find of the day.

Obviously even though we were still out half an hour later than I said I would be home, we continued shopping. With my strapless wedding dress I am in need of a strapless bikini for the summer, and we just so happened so walk by the bathing suit section and find just that. It wasn't so bad all in all, I got my new bra and a new bikini all said and done for around $80. Doesn't beat Tatjana's $25 bridesmaid dress, but its the first shopping I've done in a very long time, and although I hadn't planned for it, I kept things under control.

This weekend is a long weekend and also Paul's birthday. Being his last birthday while I'm a working lady, I've decided to whisk him away for the weekend. We're going to Whistler, which we've been talking about doing for YEARS, staying here and going for dinner here. It's going to be a pricey weekend, but I've been planning for it for a while so I can absorb it. Yay!

weeks 14, 15, 16, 17, and month three wrap up

2009-04-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the blogging hiatus. It was finals, you see, and I decided to give up the interwebs in an attempt to increase productivity. It worked. I, Katherine Elizabeth, passed physical/organic chemistry all by myself. All. By. My. Self. Seriously people, do you know how awesome that is? Don't get me wrong, I didn't do shit hot, but I friggen passed, and not too bad. A solid pass, and I'll take it.

Okay, so you know when you go on a diet and you reach your goal weight and you feel invincible and start eating anything you want and gain a bunch of the weight back? Month three wasn't quite that bad, but it was up there. The money diet me knows that I should have waited until I had the cash money to pay for the new laptop, rather than assuming I would have the cash money and just going and buying it one day. I'll have you know though, that the laptop rules. I spent a little crazy month three, but I didn't acquire any debt, so I think I came out okay. The mastercard bill is hefty due to the laptop (which rules) and the trip to Calgary (which ruled hard!)

I set myself a cash budget for the trip to Calgary, and I'm pleased to report I stuck to it (thanks in part to easy access to Tim's debit card . . . heheh) and managed to come home with $20 still in my pocket (I stole that from your sock drawer). It was my adorably pregnant sister in law's 30th birthday, so I took my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook with me, and told Cam she could pick any cake out of the book, no matter how elaborate, and I'd make it for her. The winner was a devil's food cake with mint chocolate ganache, henceforth referred to as ganny. Soooo much ganny was consumed. Plans are in the work for future ganny creations . . . raspberry chocolate ganny, triple chocolate ganny cake, just a plain ol' cup o' ganny . . . Luckily we did a stairs workout and two killer abs workouts over the weekend as well - well I did the abs, Cammy watched. It was my punishment for getting to drink more than 1.5 glasses of good wine over the weekend. But I also got an incredible hot (stone massage from a wizard named) Carl. I mean Curt. If you're ever in Calgary you should go to the Oasis Spa and ask for a hot Carl. Curt, I mean Curt.

So now on to month four and I'm back on track. I'm working an insane amount over the next two months, but if everything goes according to plan (which it surely won't) I should be able to squirrel away a good chunk of money. My goal is to have enough to pay for the other half of my wedding dress (plus alterations), the photographer, inevitable extra wedding expenses I haven't yet thought of, and tuition for September.

Week 17 went okay. I made a stupid excuse to use my credit card for a dumb $10 purchase, which I won't do again. Otherwise I stuck to cash - I did dip into my $100 monthly money already, but hey, that's what it's for. I think week 18 is going to go much much better. My fingers are crossed.

week 13

2009-04-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Remember that $10 I was trying to make last over week 13? It was still in my wallet on Sunday morning when week 14 begun. Natch I blew it on treats on Sunday evening, but still, it lasted the week! Being off the hooch is such a money saver - but it is harder than I thought. I think because I'm depriving myself of it, I'm thinking about booze constantly, but I'm glad for the challenge. We went out Saturday evening and I volunteered to be designated driver. Not only did I get all the free soda and lime that I wanted, I stayed out not unreasonably late, had fun, had a decent sleep, and had a productive Sunday. Not the way it would have gone had I been drinking.

This week isn't going to be quite so frugal. With the long weekend coming up we plan to hit the Sunshine Coast for a relaxing weekend (packed full of organic chemistry studying, but still) which always entails extra treats and extra spending. I've set aside $100 cash for the weekend, and I plan to stick to it.

And can I just tell you all how awesome my new computer is? I just finished transferring all of the files over from my old clunker, which I'm about to send the way of the neighbourhood hobos. I'm currently downloading music from itunes and working at the same time, and it hasn't slowed down any. Duo processors rule! Money is going to be a bit tight this month due to the purchase, but it was totally overdue, and totally worth it.

Currently downloading: Chambermaid Swing by Parov Stelar. Check it out.

home cooking

2009-04-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

This money diet tip should be super obvious - cook yer own darn food! You can cook fabulous meals at home for a fraction of the price you would pay going out, and have fun too! Paul and I eat out a handful of times a year - typically on our anniversary, and maybe one or two other times. We really love cooking together, and lately we've been on a kick of trying all kinds of new recipes and building a bigger repertoire. Last weekend on Sunday we made a delish and healthy lentil soup with kale and tomatoes, and as an accoutrement we made these awesome baked polenta fries, and whipped up a chipotle lime sauce for dipping them in. OMFG were they ever good. One of our neighbourhood watering holes has polenta fries, but these home made ones were thinner and crisper and healthier being that they were baked and not deep fried. And they were so easy! I made the whole batch of polenta but we ended up making only about half of it into fries, and freezing the rest for future polenta fries emergencies. I'm sure the recipe could be easily veganized, but I did use the milk and Parmesan as specified. Try them out! Easy! Tasty! Gluten free! And polenta is cheap cheap cheap!

C&T - these are soooo going to make a hockey night appearance in your pad when I'm visiting!

week 12 and month three

2009-03-31T13:39:00.000-07:00

Suffice it to say the money diet is going well, and it felt fabulous to finish month three with a zero balance on my line of credit. I'm going to keep plugging away and now the big focus will move from debt repayment to saving, which is going to be cool. A few big ticket items on the horizon . . .

First of all, I'm typing this post on my brand new SHINY lenovo thinkpad laptop. It was high time I joined the new millennium and got myself one; my desktop at home (which I got five years ago as a hand me down from my brother) has been chugging along and getting slower and slower, a lot of the advanced level courses I teach now require powerpoint presentations, and it was getting not cool to try to borrow laptops all the time. I did some searching around and eventually found what I wanted at a good price, and now I have it. And it's shiny. My tax return will pay for about 1/3 of it, and the rest will come from some upcoming courses I'm going to be teaching and the inevitable end of semester rush of nursing student CPR renewals.

Next I've got an ever so important birthday for an ever so important soon to be legitimate sister in law coming up, which necessitates a weekend visit to Calgary. I've got to plan for the flight, and for the fun while I'm there.

After that another someone special has a birthday coming up, and I've got something extra special up my sleeve, since this will be the last birthday he will enjoy with an old lady who has a full time job. Once I become a hobo, I doubt I'll be forking over for special events like this one. More to come on this after, say, the May long weekend.

Then there is the minor detail of the wedding, which looms just four months away. FOUR MONTHS. Warm socks, anyone?

And after that, the supporting of myself through school without a reliable full time income. So the savings becomes so uber important.

For a variety of reasons, one of which is certainly the money diet, I have decided to go off the sauce for about a month (or until finals are done). While I'm not drinking I can do EXTREME money diet, like this week for example, which I'm attempting to get through on just ten dollars cash. Anyhoo, more later. I have a chemistry pre lab to get through (last one of the semester!!!) and a SHINY new laptop to play with.

week 11

2009-03-23T13:47:00.000-07:00

I was lying in bed last night and had a light bulb moment - I should just transfer the remaining $261 out of my savings account and pay off the line of credit once and for all, rather than waiting for new money to come in. Duh. So I woke up this morning and did just that. That's right ladies and gentlemen, the line of credit has a balance of $0.00. Shazam!!!

I went through my account history to figure out exactly how long I had been dragging that debt around for, and as it turns out I opened the account March 21st, 2006, and borrowed $4,290.00 to pay off my out of control credit card debt. The balance has gone down and up a few times over three years when I borrowed to pay tuition or another hefty credit card bill. And now it's gone. I seriously can't believe I dragged that debt around for three years and when I got serious about paying it off and got on the money diet it took just three months. Gah. Oh well, what's done is done, the debt is history, and now I can move forward.

Of course I'm not completely debt free yet - I still have three more monthly payments to make on my car, and there is the matter of the $3000 I owe to my mom. The car loan I'm not worried about - that was a $21,000 loan paid off over five years. It feels good to be at the end of that, and knowing the last payment will be done with before I leave my job. Whoohoo! The loan from my mom - well, that one is interest free (if it was from my dad, it would be another story) and now, facing paying for the wedding and paying for school, isn't the time to start paying it down. She wouldn't let me if I tried. One day though, when I'm in a better financial position, it'll get paid back. She knows I'm good for it.

So now I move on with the money diet now completely focused on SAVING moolah, rather than paying it back. OOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhh Yeah!!!!!!

week ten

2009-03-17T06:02:00.000-07:00

Do you know what the balance owing on my line of credit is after week ten? $261.49. TWO HUNDRED SIXTY ONE DOLLARS AND FORTY NINE CENTS. I paid off $800 in week ten, thanks in part to my mid month paycheque now having sufficient padding after I pay bills, and in part to the last of a series of courses I have been teaching.

So freaking close.

Check out the trailer for Maxed Out - a documentary about credit card debt in America. The Vancouver Public Library has five copies availble for loan.

be scentsible

2009-03-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

I like to smell nice, but perfumes give me a headache and make me stuffed up and sneezy, so I typically opt for the more mellow aromatics of a nice scented lotion. I used one for nearly a decade with patchouli and ylang ylang, but these days I like to smell like dessert - vanilla, coconut, and chocolate are my smell poisons of choice. Scented lotions can be pricey, and they can also be thick and strong smelling. I like to cut mine 50/50 with an inexpensive unscented lotion like Vaseline Intensive Care, which has the two birds with one stone effect of both cutting the scent to a level I find tolerable, and stretching the scented lotion twice as far. There be a scent savvy money diet tip for ya!

week nine report

2009-03-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

March may turn out to be a tough month for the money diet.

Week nine started out well - come Friday I still had all of my $60. Then I started spending money like it was 2008.

Poor Paul, on top of the twice weekly physio appointments for his being hit by car injuries, now has sustained a running injury which is quite serious and is having to attend twice weekly massage and physio appointment for that as well (plus ultra sound and bone scans to try and figure out what is going on). All of the user fees he's paying for the car accident physio will eventually be reimbursed when he settles his claim, however, that could take years. And we do have extended benefits that will cover 85% of the other physio and massage, but he's paying user fees up front. In short, he's extra broke, I feel sorry for him, so I started dishing out cash for feel better treats.

Friday afternoon, with $40 still in my weekly fund, I had lunch with my friend Ryan. It started out well, as we headed somewhere for which we had a two for one coupon, but took a turn when my friend ordered a beer, then I thought oh what the heck, I'll have a beer too. Then he ordered a second beer, and even though I was still only half way through my first, I went ahead and ordered a second one as well. All in all, a lunch I thought would only cost me around $10 ended up costing $27. But it was a fabulous lunch and I hadn't seen Ryan in ages and it was a great vent session - he got married in October and had all kinds of things go wrong. Their caterer went out of business, their ceremony venue burned to the ground, their shuttle never showed up to take guests to the reception site. Shit ain't so bad for me right now.

Friday evening, a little bit tipsy, and I thought you know what, fuck it. I've had a shitty week, Paul has had a shitty week, I'm going to go get us some nice wine and a few other weekend bevvies. I headed to the liquor store and dug into my $100 spend on anything monthly money and did just that. And so it continued. By the end of the weekend I had nothing left in my weekly money, $40 left in my monthly money, and had wiped my slush fund (which only had $35 in it anyways) clean.

Yes, I shuffled some cash around. But I did not use a credit or debit card, and I did not withdraw any new cash. Failure? I think not. I'll just have to be a little more frugal for the rest of March.

And, fueled with weekend treats and with the assistance of my good friend Tatjana, we got our wedding invites mostly done. It involved a lot of cutting, folding, sewing, and taping. Still one more step to go before they are done, and then we can start addressing and sending them out. I also taught another big CPR and First Aid course to a parents group, and made another big payment on my line of credit, which now has less in it than my savings account does! That feels pretty dang good!

Now, because I postponed my Sunday morning long run due to a bit of a hangover, I have to go do it in the snow. Ugh. I suppose I deserve that.

dissapointed in humanity

2009-03-06T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have come to believe that I must expect too much of people.

When I send out an email invite to an event, say, a girls night or a birthday party or any other kind of shin dig, I expect that the recipients of said email will take the one or two minutes out of their day to reply whether the answer is yes, no, or I don't know.

When I send an email to my staff trying to cover a shift or get a training session organized, I expect a reply whether they are able to work the shift or attend the session or not. Common courtesy, no?

When I send a text message to a classmate asking whether they'd like to meet for lunch in a patch of sun, I expect them to reply whether they want to/are able to or not. I don't expect no response whatsoever, and then a cheery, "How was your lunch? Did you find a patch of sun?" when I get to class.

And when I book a caterer for my wedding a whole year in advance, and then contact that caterer six months away from said wedding to start working on menu planning, I expect a) the caterer will return my calls and emails in a timely fashion, b) I still have a caterer, c) when said caterer FINALLY responds to me and bails on catering my wedding, they will APOLOGISE and then provide a list of alternate contacts for catering a summer weekend wedding just five months away.

My expectations must be unreasonable.

week eight report and month two wrap up

2009-03-02T09:24:00.000-08:00

Looking back at month two I have just one question for myself: why haven't I been doing this for longer?

Month two I took to heart the comments I had heard from a few people about just paying off the line of credit rather than trying to balance debt payments and savings. I have an automatic deposit set up for a contribution to my TFSA every other week (just $50) which still happened, but other than that, every extra penny that came in got dumped into debt repayment.

Month two was also cool because it was the first month that I got a money diet style credit card bill; a small one. Rather than relying on extra income to have enough money to pay the bill, I paid it off with my mid month paycheque AND had surplus to put into debt repayment. That felt so freaking good!

In month two I added $100 to my TFSA, paid off $450 on my line of credit. I also paid an $850 deposit on my wedding dress which isn't so money diet friendly, but in a money diet style victory, I did it without relying on credit. Sha-zam!

When I started the money diet in January, I was hopeful I would have my line of credit paid off by the time I left my job at the end of June. Now I'm quite confident I can have it paid off in full by the end of March, a full THREE MONTHS ahead of schedule. Look at me go!!! Now that wouldn't be possible if I hadn't booked this series of CPR and First Aid courses through February and March, but pre money diet I would have put some of that extra income towards debt repayment and spent most of it gluttonously. Three cheers for the money diet!!!

Week eight was a good one. I spent nothing until the weekend and then spent all but $5 in one shot. We had a fun Saturday afternoon riding our bikes around and picking up some ingredients for dinner. We decided we were in a weekend food rut - though we're committed to our weekday food routine, on the weekends when we like to make gourmet treat dinners we realized there were only six thing we made: pizza, risotto, cheesey baked pasta, potato thing, green rice (which can also liaise as a weekday dinner sometimes), and since the advent of my pasta rollers, a tasty fresh pasta dish. Of course there are infinite variations on the above six dishes, and they are fantastically tasty, but we were craving change. So we busted into some of the many cookbooks on our shelves, and tried some new things. And drank some great wine.

And now I feel like I need to go on a cleanse.

this study break is brought to you by p-corn

2009-02-25T16:50:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning for some time to start blogging my favourite money diet tips and tricks, and seeing as I'm deep in the thick of midterm studying, there seems like no better time than the present to start.

Popcorn, or p-corn in our house, is not only one of my favourite money diet tips, but one of my all time favourite snack foods. Zea mays averta is one of the most economical choices you can make in a snack food. In fact, according to the folks over at popcorn.org, popcorn gained popularity during the Great Depression since at only 5 or 10 cents a bag, it was one of the few luxuries down and out families could afford. These days for the price of a bag of chips you can buy a 2kg bag of popcorn kernels - that's a whole lotta p-corn!

Because I am a glutton, one of the best things about popcorn to me is that I can eat an entire (large) bowl of it without feeling disgusting. I cannot (and will not!) say the same for a bowl of chips. In fact, popcorn is so popular in our house that we recently bought a bag of chips on a splurge day and a few chips in decided to pop a batch of corn instead.

Please note I am NOT talking about nasty microwave popcorn. That shit is a) expensive, b) disgusting, and c) packed full of nasty chemicals. Stay away! We pop our corn stove top. We have a special stove top popper where you turn a crank that keeps the kernels moving at the bottom of the pot. It pops a nice tub of p-corn. Then we divvy it up. Paul likes his traditional style with butter and salt (in moderation, my lovelies) where I go a little left wing with nutritional yeast and Old Bay Seasoning. Yum!

For mere pennies (yes, pennies!) a bowl you've got yourself a snack that is naturally high in fibre, low in fat, and low in calories. Top it sensibly (or not, whatever you're into) and you're being nutritious with both your money diet, and your eating habits.

Horray for p-corn!

week seven

2009-02-23T08:32:00.000-08:00

This glorious week was reading week which meant I had the week off school. I also took the week off work since I have a load of vacation time to burn through before I leave my job in June, and I needed a mental health week. I also needed to learn six weeks worth of my chemistry course before the midterm, which is coming up this week. Additionally, I took the week off of running (I think I'm ready to get back at it now, my feet don't hurt much any more) and off of the healthy eating program. All week long I slept in (till like 7am!), stuffed my face with whatever I wanted, and studied. We hit the Sunshine Coast for the weekend and while I studied for most of the days, we made some super gourmet dinners and enjoyed some tasty Gibsons apple fritters. Mmmmhmmm.

I knew in advance with the nature of the week that this would likely be the week I cracked into the $100/month spend on anything money, and right I was. We enjoyed some bevvies at home and also did a bit of a neighbourhood pub crawl one night. And we needed more bevvies and lots of treats for the Gibsons weekend. It was all totally worth it.

This week we also went and bought all of the materials with which to make our wedding invites. I spent an afternoon with a family friend formatting the invite part, and now they are printed and ready for assembly. After the chem midterm we'll get cracking on putting them together. Most wedding magazines say that you should put aside 10% of your total budget for invites. Pfft. We've spent $50 so far on paper (and nice paper at that, cool textured stuff). We still need to get some pictures printed to go on the front and pay for postage to send them all out. I'm optimistic that we can get them all out for less than $150. We're doing an email RSVP rather than putting in reply cards with postage, and I re-sized the invites to fit conventional envelopes you can get a box of 100 of for a couple of bucks, rather than using the funky sized envelopes for $0.75 each.

And lastly, this weekend I taught the first of a series of four courses to a group of parents of small children who wanted custom CPR/First Aid courses put together for them. These courses, if I'm aggressive about it (which I plan to be), could see my line of credit all but paid off by mid March! Ha-za!

week six report - and the first half

2009-02-16T18:15:00.000-08:00

The money diet continues to work well for me. I won't bore you with the minute details of what I spent on what - other than that I made a stupid impulse buy this week of an $8 bottle of nail polish I don't really like. Impulse purchases are far and few between these days. I find that having a fixed amount of cash for the week forces me to think carefully about where my money goes. Wanting to get to the weekend with money left over for some cold brewski's keeps me on track so I'm not spending money all willy nilly during the week.

So I made it to the end of the week with $30 cash remaining. Ordinarily I would bank that $30 into my clothing/gifts slush fund, but not this week. Nope, this weekend I ran my very first half marathon and I felt as though I deserved a little extra pampering (ie, beer and greasy food) when it was said and done. So I rolled that $30 into the new week's fund to beef it up a bit. I've always believed that planned indulgences keep me on track the rest of the time, and I've been planning this indulgence a while.

In other money diet news, I got my mid month paycheque last week. I paid all the bills (phone, cellphone, car insurance, hydro, and mastercard) and had money left over to dump on the line of credit. That felt pretty freaking good. I think it was the smallest credit card bill I have had since having a credit card. I'm still spending on the credit card, but anything other than gas or groceries that goes on the card gets paid off right away. Like that very day. That I have now got myself into a financial position where I can pay an $800+ deposit on my wedding dress without having to rely on credit feels pretty awesome. I just wonder why I haven't been doing this all along . . . better now than never though, eh?

Okay, so and THEN I ran my very first half marathon (21.1km) on Sunday at the Pacific Road Runners First Half (first half marathon of the season, that is). It went okay. The first 15km were awesome, I was flying along, feeling pretty good, and on pace to go sub two hours which would have been INCREDIBLE for a first half. Things started to fall apart after that. I got some major cramping in my hip flexor which grew into searing nerve pain all down my left leg, which reduced me to a pace just short of a crawl for a few km. My friend Janice appeared like an angel out of the darkness (definitely the darkest moments of the race for me) biking along the course, handing me a water bottle, taking my jacket, and dishing out encouragement like nothing else. I'm not sure if I've ever loved anyone as much as I loved her right then.

Finishing the race was a total mental game, just convincing myself to push through the pain and keep going. I had to stop and stretch a couple of times which cost me a few min, but it was extremely necessary. I ran the whole thing though, didn't walk any of it, and finished with a respectable time of 2:06:52. It was a big learning curve (next time I'll wear my water belt so I can have a sip whenever I want to, not have to wait 20 min for the next water station, and I'll also start some hip flexor exercises), and although those last few km's were brutal, I'm kinda sorta looking forward to the next one.

I'm staying off my feet a few days though. Things hurt.

Paul also ran and placed 9th overall with a personal best time of 1:10:48. That's crazy fast, but hey, he's a crazy guy.

bought!

2009-02-13T18:49:00.001-08:00

In very un-money diet related news, I bought my wedding dress today!

I swore I wasn't going to wear white, I wasn't going to wear a strapless dress, and I didn't like sweetheart necklines. This is white (well, ivory, but shame shiz), strapless, and has a sweetheart neckline. And most infuriatingly, my mother picked it. But I love it, and I feel amazing in it.

If you want to see what I'll be walking down the isle in (and water skiing in the next day) click here, and search style 3906. I won't be wearing a veil, or that dopey look on my face, fear not. It's super simple, no beads, no sparkly crap, not poofey in the slightest. 100% silk, Canadian made and designed.

And I talked them down $200. Yay me!

week five report

2009-02-09T14:07:00.000-08:00

I had a pretty cranky week, but the money diet went well. I managed to not do any emotional spending, though I wish I could say the same for eating.

I spent $10 at the beginning of the week on chocolate vaginas. Chocolate vagina time is my favourite time of year at UBC, and trust me, buying only five of them was seriously holding myself back.

I was battling crazy foot pain all week and spent $5 on one of those flexible gel ice packs I can keep in my office fridge freezer so I can more easily ice after every run. Near the end of the week I figured out that the cause of the crazy foot pain was my shoes so had to go out and drop $180 on new ones. That was AFTER discount. But I just went for a pain free long run with tempo pieces, so totally worth it. That clearly didn't come out of the $60/week. I'm still not sure how to deal with those kind of purchases on the money diet, but I did teach a course on Friday afternoon that will more than cover the new shoes and I'll just put the money on my credit card right away.

One of the people in the course I taught on Friday was a girl on my staff whose family has an organic dairy in Creston and is in their first year of producing their own amazing organic cheese. She had a big shipment of cheese to sell at the farmers market and I told her I'd be happy to work on the barter system, so she paid her course fees in cheese. Horray!

$20 went to a Saturday night bottle of wine. Our first bottle was a great Portugese, and our second was a Malbec I was given for my birthday. Both delish. Friends of our popped by and dragged us downtown to the Saturday night spot our DJ friend plays at. Paul and I agreed to each take $20 and get in early, get out early. We stuck to our money budgets and left at our previously agreed upon time.

A super cranky week ended well.

everyone . . .

2009-02-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Meet Beatrice!

Isn't she pretty?

Beatrice is a combined Christmas/Birthday/Birthday gift from my parents and Paul. She has replaced my old clunky heavy bike that I never rode, but which just made some hobo very happy. The new steed is a light weight ladies hybrid by Trek which is a joy to ride and easy to carry up and down the stairs. And so pretty! It's hard to see in the picture, but the champagne coloured frame has funky flowers all over it. And I got a helmet also with flowers. Important stuff, you know. I look forward to a future filled with sunny afternoon bike rides!

week four report and month one wrap up

2009-02-02T10:34:00.000-08:00

Week four was easy. I got sick yet again, so spent a few bucks on cold medication, which was a waste of money - it made me feel worse than the cold. Another few bucks spent on eggs, and a few on a coffee date with a long lost friend, and that was it. I had over $40 left at the end of the week. I gave $20 of it to Paul to spend on weekend treats and the rest got banked in the slush fund. Yay! Of course having lots of leftover beer and wine in the house meant we didn't have to spend anything on booze this week at all, and that really helped. I'm not sure its all going to last as long as I had initially hoped, but the point is we're not spending money.

All in all I think month one of the money diet has been a success. I think the impact is really going to be felt more in month two. I still had the December credit card bill to contend with in January, but now that my credit card use has been drastically reduced change will be felt. My mid month paycheque did not normally cover my entire credit card bill. I would have to make sure I had some reserve or that I taught a course that would add extra income or dip into the line of credit or my overdraft in order to pay it off in full. I just got my statement for the bill due Feb 15th, and it is less than half of what it used to be. After I've paid all of my bills this month I should have a nice chunk of excess just from my regular paycheque, which never ever happened before. Feels pretty good.

In January I paid off $300 of my line of credit, and added $200 to my tax free savings account. That was all from the extra courses I taught on the side. In Feb I should be able to pay off more than that BEFORE taking into account extra courses. If only I could be this diligent when it comes to studying chemistry.

it happened

2009-01-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

Yup. It happened. I went and turned 30.

If someone had told me when I was 20 that I would spend my 30th birthday doing chemistry homework and going for a 17.5km run, I would have punched that someone square in the face. Then I would have sat back down on the couch to my meal of smokey barbecue Doritos and peanut butter m&m's, and spent a good day trying to conquer the legend of Zelda on SNES. My how times have changed. I also renewed my drivers license (now you're not allowed to smile for those pictures either!), had brunch with my sister Pamela, and had a good talk with my sister Emily, calling all the way from London.

We had a great soiree on Saturday night, packing our apartment with party goers ranging from almost two, to almost 62. The almost two year old was a great help in showing us all the simple joy in blowing out birthday candles and playing with helium balloons. We had a great tea party spread including mini cheddar and green onion scones with roasted red pepper and cream cheese in the middle, little canapes with chickpea mash and sliced radishes on top, and mini veggie Jamaican patties. Several varieties of dainty tea sandwiches cut into little wedges (no crusts obviously - my good friend Kimmie took care of eating them. Waste not!): egg salad, cucumber, roasted miso glazed tofu with roasted red pepper and spinach, to name a few. We also made pizzas and cut them up into little squares to fit the theme.

And the food that other folks brought was pretty spectacular too, from potstickers to cream puffs to home made crackers and cheese to strange little marzipan pigs to mini cupcakes. Oh so good. And (save for a few of the pigs) there was practically nothing left at the end of it all.

I made pink lemonade/vodka/soda cocktails which I served from my teapot, and my friend Chris made an insanely good celebration cocktail with champagne, soda, and St. Germain. Paul used the left over St. Germain to whip up a few (several) rounds of tasty shooters which came out towards the end of the night (after the almost two year olds and almost 62 year olds had left). Best of all, those who had been threatening to bring copious amounts of Jagermeister respectfully left it at home. Maybe my counter threat of making them do shots of Robitussin were heeded.

Red wine was spilled on the carpet, glasses were broken (not the good ones - we kept those locked away), and I'm pretty sure a new romance may have been sparked. All in all a great party!

I got some great gifts, the very best being a list sent to me by my sister Emily of 30 favourite fond memories / things she admires / things she thinks make me kind of unique, and my SIL Camilla sent me 30 text messages over about 24 hours with her 30 favourite memories of us together. Just goes to show the best things in life are free. Adding another Le Creuset piece to my collection was pretty sweet too.

week three report

2009-01-25T15:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so you know when you're on a diet and you have a few drinks on a Saturday night and then all of a sudden that order of poutine seems like a great idea and you blow all of your careful calorie counting? A similar thing happened with the money diet this week.

Sunday morning I headed out for my long run, and having learned my lesson the week before, stopped to buy some gels. And Sunday night is treat night in our house, so obviously I had to buy some Ben and Jerry's. On Tuesday I dropped some cash on a new terra cotta pot for re-potting my ailing jade plant. It had better start getting healthy in it's new home! Little bits and pieces were spent through the week, I can't remember exactly on what, but I do know that come Friday I had only around $20 left in the weekly fund. I ditched out on work early on Friday to do some shopping for ingredients for the upcoming birthday festivities, and spent very nearly every penny of the remaining weekly money, the spend on anything monthly money, and (here is where the cheating begins . . . just one fry won't hurt, will it?) $30 I got from returning a text book. That worked out to quite the spread, but I'll save the details for another post.

The soiree was fabulous (again, another post) and good times were had by the many, many people who packed into our apartment. A handful of us headed downtown as the festivities were winding down, and I made an inebriated grab for that moolah (poutine, full order just for me) I got from selling my accessory pack last week. Meh. So there. I done cheated. On my 30th birthday party. Sue me.

The very good news is that a) a new week is beginning, and I'm not going to let a relatively minor slip up ruin the whole diet, and b) many of the very generous people who stopped by last night gifted me with bottles of wine and other assorted hooch. I don't think we'll have to buy a bottle for at least a month, maybe more. That'll really help me stay on track, and maybe tuck a little away into the slush fund.

Tomorrow I will be 30.

is it worth it?

2009-01-22T07:20:00.000-08:00

I've been planning all along to take a summer class this year in May/June to take advantage of the free tuition credits that are a part of my benefits package. But I've been feeling right burnt out about school and the thought of a condensed summer course is just horrific right now, so I did some more thinking about it. Here is what I came up with:

Yes, taking a summer course and getting that one last course out of the free tuition credits would save me around $500. It would also prevent me from teaching several courses on contract that would earn me potentially thousands (above and beyond my full time job). Hmm. Save $500, or earn thousands, pay off debt, save for school in fall when I have no full time job, pay for wedding, save for future.

I've made my choice.

week two report

2009-01-18T10:46:00.000-08:00

Week two wasn't quite as thrifty as week one was, and I didn't manage to bank anything into the slush fund, but I'd still call it a success. I managed to get all the way to Thursday without cracking into the weekly $60, and being that Thursday was the hump day of what was turning into a pretty meh week, I felt like a couple of Thursday night bruskis, so picked up a six pack on my way home. I also went out and got the ingredients for my $10 lunch date on Friday, which also included some pilfering from our fridge since I blew $9.11 on specialty cheese for our gourmet grilled sandwiches (they were gooood). A few bucks on dish soap, and renting two DVD's (for the price of one thanks to the awesome coupon pack we got as a Christmas gift from my parents) saw me with $30 remaining on Saturday evening. Paul and I agreed to pool our resources and get some gourmet dinner ingredients and a nice bottle of wine. We made an incredible home made basil linguine (I freaking love my new pasta rollers, also a Christmas gift) with a simple but incredible tomato basil sauce, and had a young but great bottle of Portuguese wine ($40). We did not budget for the bottle of white wine necessary for the pasta sauce, so I cracked into the $100 spend on anything monthly money for the first time, but that bottle will last us a while for sauces and risottos and the like.

This coming week will be a challenge since I've got a birthday coming up. I figure the remainder of that monthly $$ will go towards hooch and ingredients for the little soiree we're throwing on the weekend. This week I also sold an accessory pack I had for my mixer that I never use for $100. I'm contemplating throwing that money on the birthday pile too. I know it's breaking the rules, but I figure if ever there was a time for rule breaking, it should be on a girl's 30th birthday. We'll see.

I did also teach a big course last Sunday, and after I had paid a second instructor and paid off my out of pocket expenses for that and a future course, I had $300 in my pocket. I am paying 5.2% interest on my line of credit, and earning 3% on my tax free savings account, so I figured that the split should be 2/3 debt repayment, 1/3 savings. I paid off $200 on the line of credit, and banked $100 in the savings account. That is going to be my strategy with extra money coming in. Lastly, I paid off what I hope will be my last big Mastercard bill. Now that I'm using it only for gas, groceries, and business expenses (which get paid off right away) the monthly bill should be significantly less than what it has been. I do face some expenses shortly though, having to renew my class 4 drivers license next week, and there is the matter of purchasing a wedding dress, which needs to be taken care of by mid February.

Okay, I can't put the long run off any further. Off I go.

the list book

2009-01-14T18:51:00.000-08:00

I was doing some tidying in my home office this week, and found an old notebook shoved into the back of a drawer. I couldn't remember what was in it or why I'd stashed it away at all. It is a pillow book (inspired by the 1996 movie of the same name) where I (and some of my friends of the time) wrote all kinds of lists. I got a good laugh reading through most of them. This one in particular (dated 1998):

Luke, Dad, and Mister's list of words or expressions that should be drinks:

-A Good Shag

-Lady of the Night (aka the Pink Prostitute)

-Headboard Handlebars

-Monica Lewinsky

-Fart Putty (shooter)

-Assfucker (very expensive drink)

-Sweaty Thighs (has salted rim)

-Sweatshop Factory

-Son of a Bitch

-Robert Miles

Luke, Dad, and Mister were all nicknames. I'll let you guess which one I was. The only drink we ever actually made was the Pink Prostitute. It went something like this:

1 1/2 oz Gin
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz orange juice
1/2 tsp grenadine
Shaken over ice

I'll put the challenge out there to invent (and make me) the rest of them for my birthday. After all, my 30th is just around the corner. I'm particularly intrigued by Headboard Handlebars.

week one report

2009-01-09T08:10:00.000-08:00

The $60 money week goes Sunday - Saturday. It's Friday morning and I still have $40 in my wallet, and I haven't dipped into the monthly fun money either. I spent $20 at the Canucks game on Sunday (tix were a Christmas/birthday gift from my brother to my sister and I) on beer and snacks. Today I'm going to pick up some UBC Farm eggs that are back on sale in the SUB (just in time!), and Saturday night we're going over to my parents for dinner to teach my mom to use the pizza stone and peel we gave her for Christmas, so free meal for us. Of the $30ish I'll still have on Saturday, we may spend a bit on some hooch to enjoy after dinner with the parents, but then we'll have some wine there and I've got to get up early on Sunday anyways, so we may not.

On Tuesday I bumped into neighbour and fellow oenophile Liminal Me (who learned that you should look before you lip off the person honking at you, they may just be offering you a ride home ;) !!) who had read about my spending plan and asked if that $60 per week includes wine. Yup. But don't think I'll be lowering myself to drinking plonk. If I want to drink something really nice on the weekend I'll just have to be more careful about where that $60 goes during the week. Paul is also trying out the spending plan, so collectively we have $120 per week. We can combine forces and do pretty well, me thinks. We've also been exploring some less expensive (under $20) wines from the old world, and there are some gems for sure.

Paul and I have for the first time started talking more openly and frankly about our spending and saving plans, which is a good thing. The first conversation got pretty tense and ended in tears, but now the air has cleared and the cards are on the table and we're working towards a common goal. Our finances are very much separate, we have no joint account or anything at this point. I pay the bills, he sends me his share via email money transfer. I take care of the big once a month grocery shop of staples and household items, he takes care of the once a week produce and perishables. He spends slightly more on food than I do, but he eats waaaaaaay more (endurance athlete = 6000 calories a day). It has worked for us thus far. So I said that at the end of the week whatever money I had left over was going to go into a slush fund for clothing and gifts. We talked about instead splitting that money up. Half will go into a personal slush fund for whatever we deem it, and the other half will go into a joint slush fund for things like vacations and wine to cellar.

Like a food diet, when you're on a money diet your success depends somewhat on the support of those around you. If people help you cheat, it doesn't help in the long run. I was talking to a friend yesterday and setting up a time for a business meeting (watch out SAFE, watch out LIT, CPR First is coming to get you!!!) and he suggested that we go to one of our favourite Indian restaurants. I explained how I was on this money diet and the restaurant may be out of my price range, and he replied that he wasn't on a money diet, so he'd just pay. That's not the point. I don't want people around me to feel like they have to cough up just because I'm doing some belt tightening. So we agreed on a $10 date. We'll either spend a max of $10 each on ingredients and make a killer lunch together (my grilled sandwich maker may be called into action) or we'll combine our dough and go somewhere that we can eat for $20 or under. I'm rooting for option 1. Although I do have a coupon for the a fore mentioned Indian restaurant, so it may work out as a part of option 2.

Now to hit the books.

Oh, and the holiday fat is nearly gone. I stepped on the scale this morning and four of those five lbs have vanished. Horray!

spending plan

2009-01-06T08:19:00.001-08:00

I don't know if you're supposed to work out a savings plan before a spending plan, but I figure getting my spending under control will be the first step. Once spending is under control I should be able to figure out how much I have available for debt re-payment and savings, without feeling deprived or having to dip into savings or depend on credit card use because I've over extended myself.

The plan:

I'm going to continue using my credit card for gas and groceries (groceries do NOT include specialty foods or treats) because they are fairly constant and I can earn airmiles on those purchases. I always pay of my credit card in full each month, never every carrying a balance (even if it sometimes has meant dipping into that line of credit), and will continue to do so (without dipping).

I am going to give myself $60 cash each week for day to day spending including any specialty food items, treats, wine, coffee out, etc. I am also going to allocate $100 cash each month for 'fun money' which I can blow on anything . . . drinks out, contraban, what have you. When on a food diet I've always believed that planned indulgences help keep you on track the rest of the time, so I don't see why a money diet would be any different. This $100 that I don't have to be accountable for is my indulgence money. Any cash remaining at the end of the week or month I am going to stash away in a fund for clothing and gifts.

The point is not to feel deprived, but to have some control and awareness of my spending. I'll try this out for a while, and re-evaluate.

2009 - trimming the fat

2009-01-03T10:04:00.000-08:00

The holidays are dunzo, and I trepidaciously stepped on the scale this morning to assess the damage. Miraculously, I appear to have only gained 5lbs. I'm not sure how that is possible with the copious eating and drinking I packed in, and the sorrowful lack of exercise due to snow and sickness, but there it is. Hopefully it'll go away quickly and my fitness will bounce back, cause that 1/2 marathon ain't getting any farther away.

But that is not the fat I speak of trimming. I am speaking of the money fat. I want to eliminate my consumer debt, increase my savings, and generally learn to manage my money in a more balanced manner. I am working my way through the Smart Cookies book, and I'll share my successes and slip-ups here so I am accountable to the blogosphere. Additionally, I'm thinking of trying to form a ladies money group so that, much like a weightwatchers weigh in, there will be a group to report to, be accountable to, and help each other along.

So now it begins . . .

My financial fears:

1. I do okay paycheque to paycheque (supplemented with the courses I teach on the side, otherwise I would not be able to make ends meet some of the time), but I don't have any reserve to deal with something unexpected, like a car repair.

2. My full time employment ends in just less than six months. I'm afraid I won't be able to earn enough or save enough to support myself and pay for school next year without going into the hole. I've also got to come up with money to pay for some of our wedding this summer.

3. I'm afraid I won't be able to save enough for Paul and I to buy a home down the road.

A money blunder I've made:

Paul and I moved in together effectively tripling what I was spending per month on housing, food, bills, etc. I had some savings which I blew through buying furniture for our apartment, and a down payment on a new car. I was not in any way living within my means, and quickly racked up around $3000 in credit card debt I couldn't seem to pay off. I swallowed my pride and went to my parents for a loan to pay off the card, and then promptly racked up nearly the same amount. I couldn't face telling them I'd done it again (and still haven't, so keep your mouths shut!) so I ended up taking out a line of credit at a drastically reduced interest rate (down to 5.2 from 18%) and transferring the debt there. I'm still chipping away at it, and truth be told I've dipped into it a few times to make tuition payments or even credit card payments, so the debt still sits at around $2500, PLUS the $3000 I plan on paying back to my mom eventually. Ugh.

The fact is, I spend more than I make. The extra work I do on the side is allowing me to break even and not accumulate more debt, but I'm not paying it off and I'm not saving. This changes now.

food bank fill-up

2008-12-09T15:25:00.000-08:00

I popped by one of my neighbourhood supermarkets to snag a couple of things this afternoon, and the food bank fill-up sponsored by one of the local radio stations was in full swing. They have food packages already made up of non-perishables that are reasonably priced. You can also donate any other canned or packaged non-perishable food. Last year I bought a couple of the packs and threw them in, but regretted it when I glanced at what was in them. This year I gave them the once over and then opted to create my own. The packs are full of crap! No-name instant macaroni dinners, salty soups, sugary juices . . . yuck. The nutrition student in me said no thanks! Just because times are tough and someone needs a little help from the food bank doesn't mean they should be (or want to be) eating junk that is definitely not nutritious. Instead I loaded up a basket with bags of brown rice, several varieties of dried beans, lentils, peas, and barley. I got twice as much (in weight) food in my basket for the same amount of money had I bought the pre-pack, and I left feeling good about the nutritional value of what I had donated.

Times are tougher this year, and the food bank needs help filling up. If you can't get to a donation location, you can go online and make a monetary donation. Every one dollar you donate turns into three dollars of food with the extra buying power afforded by the food bank. So drink one less bottle of wine, or eat one less dinner out, and make a donation that will really make a difference. Check out the basics for babies drive on the foodbank site as well.

update

2008-12-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

This morning I picked up four dozen UBC Farm eggs to last (hopefully) through the holidays until they restart their regular campus sales. None of the cartons had my mark. Maybe they'll come back to me in 2009.

Back to chemistry.

closing the loop

2008-11-23T08:51:00.000-08:00

I've been lacto-ovo vegetarian now for over 15 years. Although I've never struggled with eating eggs baked into things, like cookies or muffins, I have had a fairly constant battle with egg, uninterrupted. Being a strong supporter of the local food movement, I have come to terms with the egg being my best source of locally available protein. As a rule, I now only eat eggs from chickens I have met. The words 'free range' or 'free run' on a carton of supermarket eggs are often very misleading, and I swear I can actually smell the difference between a supermarket egg and the egg of a chicken I have met, observed it living its life in a happily chickeny way, and can pay a gratitude to for the gift of proteiny goodness it has laid. During the summer months when we frequent our property on the Sunshine Coast the egg is not an issue. There are a few local 'egg people' who keep chickens in their yard and sell eggs from the front porch on the honour system. At this time of year when our visits to the coast become less frequent, I buy up as many cartons of eggs as I can while I'm there, and do my best to ration them until the next visit. Inevitably they run out, and I find myself facing the dreaded supermarket egg, and questioning whether I can stomach it or not.

No more.

Happily, the UBC Farm has started selling their eggs from the little food co-op in the SUB over the winter months. I have volunteered on the farm and met the resident chickens, seen the space they occupy and the chicken-ness of their existence, meandering around and scratching at the grounds for insects and worms. These chickens, whom I have met, produce eggs so tasty that during the farmers market season the folks at the UBC Farm restrict egg purchases to one carton per family, to make things fair. People line up well before the market opens, and still may not be lucky enough to get eggs. It's not a problem for me, because that's the season of my Sunshine Coast Egg Lady eggs, so I don't to compete for the UBC ones. But for now, I have a local happy chicken source of the gift of protein over the winter. I owe a gratitude to you, chickens. Thank you!

Another benefit of all of my egg sources is that they use reused egg cartons, so do not generate any waste. I save my empty egg cartons and take them back every once in a while, to close the loop. I have had a growing pile of empty egg cartons on top of my kitchen cupboard which was waiting for a trip to the coast. But what with work and school and exams around the corner, a weekend escape was becoming more and more of a pipe dream. So imagine my delight when I dropped by the SUB to snag a carton of eggs, and saw a sign saying that the UBC Farm is DESPERATE for empty egg cartons. Horray! So I've bagged them all up and will drop them off next week. Curious as I am about my role in closing the loop, I decided to mark the bottom of each carton I return. I want to see if my used cartons will come back to me, and how many times.

I will report back.

help me!

2008-11-19T18:20:00.000-08:00

If anyone can tell me (BEFORE Nov 27th, and with references I can cite) what range of light intensity (in lux) Gammarus setosus can tolerate, OR what the range of light intensity is in the natural habitat of G. setosus, OR even just what ranges of light intensities exist in the fucking ocean, I will give you one million dollars.*

Seriously. I can find this information nowhere. And I need it real real bad.

*I will give you no actual money. But I'll probably make you some dang good cookies and get them to you fresh and tasty wherever you may be.

movember

2008-11-15T19:30:00.001-08:00

a special comment on prop 8 by Keith Olbermann

2008-11-14T05:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks Kimberley for sending me the link to this clip from MSNBC. You're right, it is amazingly articulated. Watch it.

yes we can! but no you can't.

2008-11-05T09:12:00.000-08:00

I watched President-elect Obama's acceptance speech last night with tears in my eyes. I, like many of you, was standing on the edge of hope. I hope this will change the world for the better. History has been made, progress has happened, a black man, who just 40 years ago wouldn't have been able to drink out of the same water fountain or sit next to a white person on a bus, is the next President of the United States. And how sad that on the same evening as such a wonderful achievement, the people of California, Florida, and Arizona voted yes to proposition 8, banning same sex marriages. I am sad beyond words over it. Progress is supposed to move forwards, not in the other direction. Yes we can.

on the election

2008-10-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

So, I voted yesterday. And today I'd like to tell you all what a bunch of B.S. I think it all was. Don't get me wrong - I'll always make time to vote and exercise my democratic right. It's the process that pisses me off.

Firstly, I think it's a bunch of crap that Steven Harper called this election, a full year before it was due, in the first place. $290 million tax payer dollars were spent on this fiasco, funding the slam campaigns, slanderous television ads, and incessant telemarketer style phone calls. I actually had to phone the campaign office of one of the major parties and let them know that the 5 - 7 phone calls per evening for four days straight was enough that they had lost our vote. And I had been truly leaning in their direction before that. Show me a political party that doesn't spend all of their resources telling me why the other guys are bad, rather who tells me what good they will do, and I'll vote for that party. On that note show me a politician who can carry on an intelligent debate, rather than name calling and finger pointing like six year olds in a school yard. Further, the fact that Steven Harper prompted this $290 million spend fest, and then built his campaign around 'staying true in the face of economic uncertainty' infuriates me beyond words. And now we have to look at his beady little yellow devil eyes and plastic Ken doll hair for another four years. I'm going to need a barf bucket.

Onward. What's with our electoral system? Okay, the Green Party got 6.8% of the popular vote, and got no seats. The Bloc got 10% of the popular vote, and got FIFTY seats. FIFTY! WTF!?? If 10% equals 50 seats, then surely 6.8% should equal SOMETHING. And maybe if it did, people wouldn't so much view voting Green as a wasted vote. I'm proud to be one of the 940,747 people who voted Green, whether it got them a seat or not. Speak up, people! Some of my other favourite parties didn't end up with any seats, or any percentage of the popular vote that added up to anything at all, but still . . . 2,319 proud Canadians voted for the Radical Marijuana party. And 2,263 voted for Neo Rhino party. Too bad neither of those had representation in my riding - the map of Canada really WOULD look more interesting in the shape of a rhino. Plus, although they promise to not keep any of their promises, the mandatory national gas barbeque registry and the guaranteed once a week orgasm sound pretty sweet too.

So why Green? I picked a list of four issues that were important to me, and then went on line and read the party platforms on each of those issues. It was a pretty close call between Green and the NDP, but then the NDP had to go and piss me off (see above incessant phone calls - which by the way must have worked, because the NDP did win our riding) so Green it was. Food security (support for family farms, banning terminator seeds, giving all farmers the right to save their seeds, creating seed banks of heritage seeds, creating space in supermarkets for locally grown food, implementing a 200km diet in school food programs, sustainable fisheries . . .), action on climate change, health care, and education were the issues near and dear to my heart. Plus as an added bonus, the Green party wanted to legalize marijuana (face it people, prohibition doesn't work), take the money it makes out of the hands of criminals, tax it, and put the money towards health care. Plus think of the millions the government would save by not trying to bust up all the little neighbourhood grow ops. Plus anyone who has ever been to Amsterdam knows how fucking civilized it is to go to a coffee shop and order a cappuccino and a doobie at 9am. Boo yah.

world farm animal day

2008-10-02T06:10:00.000-07:00

Today is world farm animal day. The very sad truth is that the majority of animal related food products (meat, eggs, dairy) come from animals living miserable lives in feedlots and factory farms. I don't believe in telling anyone what they should or should not eat, but I do believe in telling EVERYONE to THINK about where your food is coming from. If you are going to eat meat, choose meat from local small scale farms and do some research about the animal welfare choices they are making. Avoid ALL hormone fed animals (as much for your health as for theirs) and animals that are force fed feed that is not a natural part of their diet. Choose eggs from free range chickens that actually get to hang out outside and enjoy their chicken lives. Beware of supermarket labelling proclaiming free range and free run that is not necessairly what it says it is. Frequent farmers markets and develop relationships with the people who grow and raise the food they are selling you, who happily answer questions about how the animals were raised and what they were fed and even how they were slaughtered and processed.

Read good food books and educate yourself. Some of my favourites:

The 100 Mile Diet
The Omnivoire's Dilemma
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
In Defence of Food

And check out THIS page on Nicole's blog, where she has done the work of posting links to some great local small scale farms (and wineries!).

ahead of the game

2008-09-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

First a thanks for all of the kind thoughts sent my direction when we said goodbye to Buddy. It was the hardest, saddest day, and I know it'll take some time to get over saying goodbye to a great friend of nearly 15 years. I want to blog my favourite Buddy memories, and I will when I'm ready to.

Secondly, I would like to cautiously brag about being ahead of the game. It took some serious catch up work after the first crazy two weeks of September with work being the total gong show it is at that time of year, but I did it. Now I'm reading way ahead in the text and sitting (in the front row) in class actually understanding the lectures. The problem sets are done waaaaay before the next one is even released, which gives me time for extra review problems, which is resulting in good marks on quizzes. Assignments are done way before their due dates, and the next ones started weeks ahead of time. I have barely a shred of a social life right now due to all of this extra work, but it feels so good I don't really care. It is with great trepidation I brag about being ahead of the game, because the last time I was in this position and feeling good and handing assignments in before they were due, THIS happened, and then I ended up horribly behind. Fingers crossed for no repeat incidents.

sleep well sweet prince

2008-09-15T18:35:00.000-07:00

Buddy Trant, aka Mr. Bubbaroo

March 17, 1994 - September 15, 2008

May there be squirrels a plenty for you to chase.

Sleep well sweet prince, and may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

update! update! read all about it!

2008-09-11T17:59:00.000-07:00

Ok, yes, I know it's been a while. Gentle prodding noted.

So, since my last post:

-Paul and I had two glorious weeks of holidays. It rained a lot of the time, but I'll take a rainy day at my cabin over a sunny day at work any day. We spent all of the holiday on the Sunshine Coast (not so sunny this time around), with three nights spent camping at glorious Saltery Bay, and the remainder at my family property. The camping was awesome - we've been keeping our eyes peeled for bigger tents on sale, and on the way to our camping trip we stopped at Canadian Tire and found an awesome and HUGE Coleman tent on sale. And when Canadian Tire puts things on sale they don't fuck around, this thing was a steal. I was resisting getting a new tent since we have a perfectly good and only used 4 times little tent, but Paul insisted and man oh man am I glad he did. It was so awesome having a tent big enough to stand up and walk around in, particularly when the weather went bad. On the second night of our camping trip we were joined by another couple, Lindsay and Renelle, and good times were had. Once back at my family property we settled into a routine of sleeping in, going for runs (even all out 400's on the track), eating apple fritters, watching DVD's, and taking our incontinent geriatric dog on as many walks as he'd tolerate (and as such only had 2 in the house pooping incidents).

-I said to myself (and a few others) that we'd have some wedding decisions made by the end of the camping trip, or we were putting it off a year. Decisions were made, troubles talked out, issues resolved. The wheels are in motion for a wedding on our family property August 8th, 2009. I have put a deposit down on the photographer, met with a caterer who is on board for my dream of everything local, sourced out a bartender, ordered our tents, tables, chairs . . . everything we have to rent, and visited a local flower farm to see what kind of blooms will be in season for August next year. Paul and I are in total disagreement about what kind of flowers to have, so 4 weeks away from the wedding when the things that would be available are starting to be ready we are each going to produce a center piece and have people vote on which one they like best. I am not stressed out about this at all - first of all, we're talking about flowers, which will be beautiful no matter what. They're flowers. Secondly, I am going to win. I've done wedding flowers before, I'm crafty, and I'm a girl. Nuff said.

-We came back to town a few days before school started so I could do a bunch of CPR recerts for nursing and med students - a business I run on the side. Business exploded this year and I had trouble keeping up with demand. It's starting to slow down a bit now, but did well for paying tuition and squirrling a little wedding money away. This bodes well for my next point . . .

-I have given my unofficial 10 months notice at work. Yep, thats right. As of June 30th (ish) I'll be an unemployed bum. I wasn't going to say anything for a while, but my boss asked me straight up and I wasn't about to lie to him, so there you have it. I'm hoping to support myself and pay the bills with contract work and the CPR biz on the side, and I'm contemplating maybe snagging a part time job somewhere where I'm not in charge and problems aren't my problem. Necessity is the motherhood of invention, so time to cut the chord and make shit happen. Plus Paul and I will be married shortly thereafter, and I'll be his problem if it doesn't work out. He he he.

-Work stared, school started, and I haven't had a day off yet. September is madly busy as we screen and hire new staff and kick off our programs. I think I worked nearly 80 hours last week AND went to school. I have workshops all this weekend so still another week before I get proper days off, but I'm taking a half day tomorrow to catch up on reading. Reminding myself how this time next year I won't have to deal with this chaos is helping to get me through. As is good dark chocolate (I am now addicted to coco camino's organic 71% spiced chocolate . . . ginger and chili. Yum!) and 'mommy's special medicine' as Paul likes to call it. You know what I mean. And I don't mean those little blue pills all mom's like to pop. You know yours does too. For shaky legs. Pfft.

-Saturday is the five year anniversary of our first date. FIVE YEARS!!! We were going to use our airmiles for a romantic getaway weekend to Napa Valley, but we're still recovering from Europe and the wedding ain't gonna be cheap, so we decided to stay in town and go out for a super fancy dinner and splurge on a great bottle of wine to have at home beforehand. I think it's working out way better this way - I'm so behind on my reading already I think my head might explode if I had to go away for the weekend. Napa will be there another time.

Ok, chemistry calls. And I just threw up in my mouth a little as I typed that.

wedding schmedding

2008-08-14T06:12:00.000-07:00

The question I get asked most frequently these days is about how it's going with planning the wedding. The answer? Meh. Wedding planning is making me cranky, so I'm taking a break from it. It's just all so insane, and so expensive, and so much emotion is tied up with it. We don't have a venue, so we don't have a date, so I can't go ahead and book the amazingly talented (and very expensive) photographer I want to use.

On the one hand I feel like it would be financially irresponsible of us to have a wedding at all, being that Paul is only at the beginning of paying of some huge student loans, and I'm in my final year of working full time before becoming a full time student. We could take the wedding budget and squirrel it away for a future down payment, which seems like the responsible thing to do.

On the other hand I'm worried that if we don't have a wedding I'll feel bummed out about it, well, forever.

And then back to the first hand where I'm aware that weddings are a social construction and they don't really mean anything, and Paul and I can make a 'bigger' commitment to each other with out spending a whack of dough and doing it in front of a lot of people.

Yes it is a construction, and a silly one, but one that has become symbolic and meaningful and what other opportunity will we have to gather our friends and family together in this manner and publicly declare our commitment to one another.

Gah.

story of my running life

2008-07-31T08:27:00.000-07:00

For months, MONTHS I tell you, I have been dragging my ass out on these terrible horrible no good very bad runs. Awful runs, feeling like my legs were made of lead wrapped in concrete wrapped in some other ridiculously heavy construction material, just feeling low energy and shitty and bad. And yet still dragging myself out 3 - 4 times a week, partly with the mantra repeating in my head, "this will make you look good in your wedding dress, wedding dress, wedding dress . . ." and partly believing that a good run just had to be around the corner.

It finally came. I felt so good the whole time, good energy, light in the body, actually enjoying the run for the first time in months. It was glorious, and I could see other runs in the near future optimistically, seriously looking forward to my planned Sunday long run on the coast.

So obviously I woke up the next morning with this searing pain behind my knee, unable to fully straighten my left leg. *Sigh* Story of my running life. The good news is that thus far it appears to be muscular, so hopefully I'll be back at it before too long. Hopefully my comeback won't involve months of shitty runs again.

go go greens

2008-07-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a blissful afternoon visit with my old friend Harmony on her parents 17 acre farm, and a weekend produce run to my favourite organic farm on the Sunshine Coast, I've been up to my ears in delicious nutritious local produce - greens in particular.

I'm glad the local food movement is gaining steam. Eating locally is so much better for our planet, our communities, and ourselves than trucking produce in. But wait, buying locally from farmers is so much more expensive, isn't it? Well yes, the up front cost can be more but hidden costs add up. Your tax dollars go towards subsidizing fuel write offs for big companies, so you actually could be paying significantly more than you think for that pale tasteless tomato bouncing along in a refrigerator truck from California, not to mention the nutrient loss that started the second that tomato was picked in it's sad under ripe state (it never really reached it's nutritional peak in the first place). Plus, buying directly from local farmers means that 100% of the profit goes back to them, rather than the meager 19% most farmers get for their efforts, and anyone who has ever tried their hand at growing food knows that the $3 your local farmer is charging for a bunch of organic carrots is a freaking bargain for the back breaking labour it took to get them into your grocery bag.

So back to those greens - I left Harmony's place with a huge bag stuffed full of swiss chard and kale, munching on some of it during my drive back into the city. The following day for lunch I made myself "eggs in a nest" from Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. If you liked the 100 Mile Diet, you'll love this book too. You can get in line to borrow it from me when I'm done.

For the eggs in a nest you chop up some onion, carrots, garlic, and tomato. Her original recipe called for rehydrated dehydrated tomatoes because that's what she was working with at that time of year. I had fresh ones in the house, so that's what I used instead. So saute all of the above until slightly soft, adding the tomatoes near the end. Then take one really big bunch of swiss chard, roughly chop and add to the pan. Put a lid on it and let the chard wilt down a bit, then using a spoon make some hollows in the veg mixture, careful not to expose the pan. I made this dish for one, so I had to push all the veg in the middle of the pan and then make my hollow, but if you were making this for a bunch of people you'd have lots more stuff in the pan and would just go around the pan making little hollows where you could. Crack one free range egg you got from your favourite local egg source (for me the north road egg lady on the coast), and replace the lid. Allow the egg to poach amidst the greens and veg until it is done to your likeness. Barbara Kingsolver served this over brown rice, but I had quinoa in the fridge that needed to be eaten so I used that instead. This was one of the most delicious and nutritious lunches I've had in a while, and will be a repeat item in my house for sure.

With the kale I made a huge fritatta by chopping up this awesome sweet onion I got from the farm, bulb and greens and all, sauteing it in the pan and then course chopping the mass of kale I had and adding it in. Kale doesn't wilt down quite as much as other greens, so it took 12 egg lady eggs scrambled up with a touch of milk to cover it all. I let this cook on the stove top and then chucked it in the oven to cook for while in there. When nearly done I added sliced tomatoes and some grated cheese to the top (the only non local ingredient, but I'm working on that) and finished it under the broiler. It made 10 servings, and was yumolicious.

And now I'm ready for more greens!

OMG

2008-07-15T06:03:00.001-07:00

WHAT IF IT RAINS?????

My mother is getting to me.

busy busy

2008-07-12T07:32:00.001-07:00

Man oh man life has been busy! I feel like my summer is slipping away from me, but I am having a really good time. So, since my last post I have had a number of wedding planning related meltdowns, but have ultimately decided to take the que sera sera approach and believe things will work out. Nothing is set in stone at the moment, but save for the blessing of one uncle (and I don't think he'll say no) it looks like we'll be getting married August 15/09 on our family property on the Sunshine Coast. My mom is worried it might rain, and also that the property may have an unsightly pit of dirt where excavation for their new house is happening. I assured her that people would be looking at the bride, not the dirt pit. She may throw up a lattice and plant flowers to hide it. Whatever. I've been to try on wedding dresses one time, which was hilarious and fun and oh my good god there are some hideous and hideously expensive dresses out there. I am going to have my dress made by a girl I know from back as far as elementary school. It has to be custom made because I don't want to wear white, and the ladies at the dress store looked at me like I was on glue when I explained that by not white I don't mean ivory or cream. Anyways, I met with Laura, the dressmaker, yesterday and it turns out it is going to be considerably cheaper going this route, and I'll have the exact dress I want custom made for me. Yay! Other things that are working out include my god father, who is a judge, agreeing to marry us, and all of my most crafty friends offering their services at any time. Trust me ladies, your help will be enlisted.

spain, in a nutshell

2008-06-24T05:50:00.001-07:00

Leaving the tranquility of Finland for the chaos of Spain was a shocker for sure. Getting there was half the fun. I had booked these tickets online with some budget airline that no one had ever heard of before and we weren't entirely sure really existed. The tickets were so cheap (10 Euros return) we were mentally prepairing ourselves to have to rush around and try to get standby tickets on another airline. Plus our connection time was short considering we had to switch airlines, which meant collecting our bags off one airline, then rushing back to departures and checking in with another. It was very slow progress going through security in Helsinki due largely to what seemed like a blue rinse crowd tour we were stuck behind in line. Once we rounded the corner to the metal detectors and such, all became clear. There stood the better part of the blue rinse crowd chugging down the mickeys of hooch the security staff were taking out of their carry on luggage. It took a long time to get everyone through, but it was hilarious to watch. In spite of our flight leaving Helsinki late, we arrived in Amsterdam only a few minutes late and much to our delight as we were taxying to the gate we saw a whole cluster of airplanes with the logo of the budget airline I had booked with. It existed after all. Phew!

We arrived in downtown Barcelona at 10pm on Friday night - wow, what a nuthouse. We managed to find our hostel and dump our stuff, and then headed out to explore the night scene on las Ramblas. Coming from Helsinki which was so peaceful and always light, to Barcelona where it was dark and chaotic was a total shocker. But it was good. We set off to have a beer and some tapas at a restaurant right on las Ramblas where we knew we were going to get ripped off, but didn't really care. Then we needed to find Emily - my sister and her boyfriend Andy who live in London happened to have Saturday free, so they were flying to Barcelona on Friday night to have a short visit with us, returning to London Saturday evening. I admit it, our stellar plan of, "meet you in Barcelona Friday night . . ." wasn't well thought out and caused some problems, but in the end we found each other, and we had a great day of sight seeing together.

Things in Barcelona improved significantly for me once I acquired a set of earplugs and was actually able to sleep at all. We had three great days there of sightseeing, drinking, and eating. The weather was hot and sunny the whole time we were there. The best food definitely came from the market, and this held true all throughout Spain. After Barcelona we headed back to the airport where we picked up our rental car - a kicky Citroen C4 turbo diesel. I wasn't stoked on driving in Spain but Paul was still too injured to attempt to drive, so there I was doing the one thing I said I didn't want to do. We agreed that he would navigate and I would drive and if things got stressful we wouldn't snap at each other. I don't think either job was any less challenging than the others. The Spainish drive crazy, and the highways are market with several numbers and are quite confusing. Right away we took a wrong turn, which wouldn't have been a big deal except for the police had the exits blocked so not only could we not turn around, we sat for nearly an hour in stand still traffic. Still not sure what was going on, but eventually we got turned around and on the right road. The highways were expensive (nearly 40 Euros in tolls from Barcelona to San Sebasitan) but were fast and really nice to drive on.

We arrived in San Sebastian in the early evening and had to find a place to dump the car and then locate our hostel. We located it without much trouble, but the trouble was there was no one there to let us in. We sat outside for a while and then Paul left to try and call them. No answer. We were mulling over what to do and decided to check out some of the other places in the area. Paul left to go check out one that was reccomended in one of our two guide books, and while he was gone the hostel owner came back and was quick to get our bags inside and get us set up in one of the rooms. The place was very clean and modern inside, but was just rooms, no common area or anywhere to sit. The double room we were in ended up being bunk beds, which seemed fine but the room was too small to sit in or anything so the next day when some other people left he moved us into a triple room which had a bunk bed and another bed, and was much much bigger. Also had 2 balconies. San Sebastian was a nice change of pace from Barcelona. Still very beautiful and old and steeped in culture, but way less touristy. Not much english spoken there so we had to sharpen our questionable Spanish skills. I had a really hard time finding vegetarian food there and then ended up eating the same egg and potato fritatta on baguette style tapas over and over and over. Part of the problem was that our eating schedule didn't line up with the Spanish one, so while we were walking around at 7pm starving and trying to find a restaurant, none would open until 9pm. All a part of the Spanish learning curve. San Sebastian was also where we got engaged, so it was extra special there inspite of the weather, which was pretty crappy.

After three days we left San Sebastian and headed into la Rioja region to check out wine country. It was really beautiful - rolling hills with vineyards as far as the eye could see, and spectacular wine for a handful of Euros. We spent one night in Haro, the heart of la Rioja region. We arrived there in the middle of siesta time so the place was a bit of a ghost town, but come 5pm things livened up and we had a really nice night. We found a bunch of wine stores and managed to communicate that we were looking for some wine to drink now, and some to lay down for a few years. So far we haven't been dissapointed in any of them. 4 bottles came home with us. It would have been nice to have more than one day there to get an opportunity to check out the bodegas (wineries) but we needed to move on.

We left Haro and headed for the Pyrenees which was on Paul's list of must visit places, due largely to the Tour de France which always holds at least one stage in these mountains. Paul wanted to look up what the toughest climb would be in this year's Tour and then go spray paint something on the road, but instead we headed for l'Ainsa, a small town very close to the French boarder. We had pretty much just randomly picked it out of the tour book and didn't know much of it, but were pleasantly surpised when we got there. Getting there was quite the adventure. We took some wrong turns on the highways and ended up a bit lost, but once we got into the Pyrenees the road was easy to follow and amazingly challenging to drive on. I was going about 20km/hr for a large part of the drive, and Paul wasn't even telling me to go faster which said a lot about the sketchiness of the drive. Windy narrow mountain roads with crazy drops to the side, but spectacular scenery. Once in l'Ainsa we checked into our hotel and then asked the lady at the tourist office where a good spot for a picnic would be. She told us to walk up the stairs to the old town, and we did, and up at the top was a 13th century town! It was amazing to be sitting on the grass at the top of a mountain surrounded by such old beautiful (and well maintained) buildings looking down on the river canyon, eating cheese and drinking Spanish beer. What luck! We wandered through the village after our picnic, and then had a couple of glasses of wine on a restaurant balcony with the most spectacular views and no one around. Four glasses of wine cost us 4 Euros! It might have been a bit of a deal since I had to open the bottle for the bartender who had an injured hand, but still! Paul got to go for his altitude run in the Pyrenees, so he was a happy camper.

We left l'Ainsa a little earlier than planned because getting there from Haro had taken us so long and the drive was so sketchy, but we took a different road it was way shorter. We headed back to the Barcelona airport to drop of the rental car - I had had enough of driving in Spain and was not about to try to find a hotel when there was a free shuttle from the airport. We stayed the night at an airport hotel, which was relatively uneventful.

Up early the next morning and back to the aiport to catch our 9am flight to Amsterdam. After landing, getting our bags, getting the train to Amsterdam Central and finding our hotel, we enjoyed a day of pure gluttony. We went coffee shop hopping, then pub hopping, junk food hopping, checked out the red light district, more coffee shops, more junk food, walking around seeing the sights. It was a nice end to the trip.

On the flight home we were lucky enough to end up with a section three seats with no one in the middle seat, so that made the long daylight flight much more bearable. The trip was amazing, I had so much fun. Paul and I travelled really well together other than 1 small meltdown. Once I get the pictures uploaded to flickr I'll post a link. To all 746 of them. Yep.

It sucks to be back at work, but it's nice to be back in my own kitchen and bed.

news

2008-06-17T05:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have 10 days worth of travelling Spain to blog about, and that will come once the jet lag fades and the copious pile of work on my desk starts to dwindle. But for now, hot news! The mister and I are engaged!!! Yup, atop of Mont Igeldo on a grey day with little to no views of the city I was cluelessly meandering away from what he thought was the perfect spot and I called out to Paul to take a picture but he told me to wait and when I turned to hand him the camera there he was standing with a ring box in his hand. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and I said heck yes!!!!

So there ya have it. Spain updates to come in due time, but that news was bursting out of me first!

helsinki

2008-06-05T22:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday May 31st after working a half day that turned into leaving only 10 min only, I came home from work and frantically packed my bags, and then we were off! We flew the red eye Vancouver to Amsterdam and then a quick transfer to another flight Amsterdam to Helsinki. The flights were relatively uneventful other than poor Paul barfing four times (once on me) and the flight attendants being relatively unconcerned (responding to our button push a good 30 min later when they were serving drinks). The airplane food was gross, but that's nothing new. Arrived in Helsinki Sunday afternoon and made our way to our downtown hotel. We're staying at Glo Hotel an awesome little boutique hotel with a lot of art and character, really central. It's of course way out of our budget, but this is the leg of the trip being funded by UBC, so we're enjoying the luxory while we can. If you can afford it, I highly reccomend it. Finland is expensive in general (the beer is cheap!) but we've managed to spend not very much money all things considered.

I had pretty much no expectations for Helsinki, and it blew my mind! The lightness is really amazing. This time of year it's light out and sunny and warm nearly 23 hours a day. Around midnight it gets a little dim for a while, but no darkness to speak of. The city is gorgeous, steeped in character and history, clean and safe, bustling but not crowded, the Fins are amazingly friendly, and English is spoken everywhere. The Finnish language is very complex - every letter is pronounced. For example Tuullikki, the name of a girl who showed me around on Tuesday - you need to pronounce both t's, both l's and both k's. Challenging for our western tongues.

Monday morning Paul was off to the conference. We had breakfast together at our hotel buffet which was incredible, and had all the fixings for sandwiches too, so we made some for our lunches (and have done this every day, so didn't have to pay for 2 meals a day) and headed in opposite directions for the day. Paul out to Espos, the suburb where the conference was being held, and I meandering around the city. I did a guided tour and learned a lot of Finnish history, and then wandered through the markets and some of the historic buildings. Back to the hotel to try and nap off the jetlag, which proved extra challenging with it being light 23 hours a day. Paul returned around 5pm and had a brief nap, and then we headed out to meet Jens and Antti (Antti is a Finnish boys name, you need to say both the t's) who are in Paul's research group at UBC (Antti is also in my brother's fraternity and comes from a small town in northern Finland but has been at UBC the last few years . . . small world). We went back to the conference site to go to a wine and dine (more like wine and salad for me - vegetarian eating has been somewhat challenging here) with the conference people. Paul shook hands with the Finnish prof who was the external examiner for his PhD.

Tuesday I got up and went for a run with Paul, and discovered the window where I thought I'd be a faster runner than him has already closed, broken bones and everything. Back to the hotel for breakfast and sandwich making, and then he headed to the conference and I headed to meet Tuullikki, a girl friend of Antti's who he had arranged to take me around for the day. She was really kind and showed me around Helsinki's design district - some really cool and really expensive clothes, particularly once you translate Euros into Cdn dollars. In the evening Paul and I met up with Antti and Jens and some of Antti's friends and we went to a Finnish restaurant. My stomach had been bugging me till this point so we stopped at a pharmacy where Antti translated between me and the pharmacist and eventually I left with some Tums type thing. We came home early to bed totally exhausted.

Wednesday I went out to the conference with the boys and watched Paul give his talk. I realized that Paul had been getting a much worse deal - he's been at this conference listening to lectures on paper physics and I've been gallivanting around my new favourite European city. After the talks Paul, Jens, Antti, Juha (another Fin who did a stint at UBC a few years ago) and I got some Finnish beers and drank them in the park, then met up with the rest of the conference congregation and went on an hour boat trip from Espos to a little island (can't even begin to spell it) near downtown Helsinki where there is an old sea fortress built by the Swedes when they controlled Finland, and conquered by the Russians. We had a guided tour and then a banquet in the inner most fortress. The banquet hall was stunning, but the meal was among the worst any of us had ever eaten. There was lots of wine though.

Thursday Paul finally had a day to go sight seeing. We went for a run in the morning to the Olympic Stadium built in 1938 for the 1940 games, but war broke out in 1939 so it wasn't used till 1952. There is a tower you can go up and get a great view from. We went up, but my acrophobia took over and I went right back down after a quick look. After showers and breakfast I took Paul around downtown and showed him all the cool things I've discovered, and then we went and had a treat at Helsinki's oldest bakery where they used to make pastries for royalty. We met up with Jens for a drink at a bar literally on the roof of another hotel which has a great 360 view of all of Helsinki, and then out for a decent dinner.

If Helsinki and nordic Europe hasn't been on your list of places to visit, put it on! This place has really been amazing and I am genuinely sad to leave it. We will be back for sure. We leave this afternoon back to Amsterdam and then on to Barcelona, where my sister is going to meet us for a 22 hour visit! More adventures to come. . .

we're leaving on a jet plane . . .

2008-05-31T06:37:00.000-07:00

Yep. A Europe we will go go. We leave this evening and fly the red eye from Vancouver to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Helsinki, Finland. Paul has a conference in Helsinki that he could not be talked out of going to, and the trauma docs gave him the green light to fly after a nice x-ray of his lungs, so off we go. We will be in Helsinki from June 1st to 6th. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do while Paul is busy nerding it up with the other paper physics geeks, but I'm sure I'll find something. Finnish soap operas anyone? One night we're booked onto a boat cruise around the Baltic Sea which is supposed to be quite stunning.

On the 6th we fly back to Amsterdam, and then hop on another flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, Spain, which I managed to secure for a whopping 10 Euros each. Return. Plus taxes and shiz, so it worked out to 200 Euros for the two of us round trip. We have three nights booked in Barcelona and then we rent a car and are going to drive to San Sebastian where we have four nights booked. After that we have three nights unaccounted for until we have to be back in Barcelona for June 15th for a 9am flight back to Amsterdam. We're not sure where those three nights will take us, we've agreed to just wing it and see how it goes. Then just over 24 hours to chillax in Amsterdam and enjoy the cafes and the botanical gardens Cammy is insisting we see. Cafe first, gardens second. Understood. Then flying back home, arriving back some time the afternoon of June 16th.

I have to admit, I'm more nervous about this trip then I ever have been about travelling in third world countries. After surviving being trapped in a sinking boat and stuck in the middle of a military coup, I'm pretty sure I can handle pretty much anything travelling decides to throw at me, but this broken man of mine I'm not so sure about. I guess I'm nervous about his pain tolerance while sleeping in strange beds without his special bed contraptions (way too big to take with us) and while sitting in airplane seats for long periods of time and rickety rental cars. And I'm nervous about having to lug his luggage around the pedestrian only parts of San Sebastian trying to find our hotel which may or may not exist according the reviews on the website we booked through. I'm packing extra light with a wheelie bag that can be converted to a backpack so I can take over handling his stuff if need be. It's all apart of the fun of travelling, so whatever, we'll just roll with it.

I've got my money belt (with no actual money to put in it . . . hello overdraft, my name is Katie . . .) and my airplane pillow and two books on Spain and "Spanish for Dummies" audio CD's to listen to on my ipod and we've got a shit load of ativan and funky narcotics, so yeah. Whooohoo!

getting back to it

2008-05-11T16:52:00.001-07:00

I suppose I should have posted an update sooner, but time is of a premium these days and blogging took a low priority. Shocking, I know.

Paul is back at home now, which is great and also certainly has it's challenges. I stayed on medical leave last week to be home and provide care and help where needed, but I will go back to work next week. Paul is approaching his recovery with the same intensity with which he approaches all things he is serious about - the same intensity that saw him finish his PhD in less than 4 years, among other things. So watch out world, he's coming at ya! We've had an OT come in and do a home assessment and have been outfitted with all kinds of things to make it easier for him to be independent . . . bath seat, hand held shower, bed rail, bed lift wedge thing. Yep. We're officially octogenarians. And so good looking.

It seems the pain from having the surgery is wearing off, and so he's starting to feel all of the other things, like the 7 broken ribs, 2 fractured vertebrae, and all of the little fractures and bone fragments around his broken scapula and collarbone that they did not repair, letting time and the body do their jobs instead. We saw the trauma team again last week for a follow up chest x-ray, and the verdict was that the pneumothorax and hemothorax have resolved (thanks largely to the chest tube that was in for 3 days, and Paul's mega healthy lungs) which is really good news. Tomorrow we see the orthopaedic team again, and look forward to hearing what they have to say about pain management and starting rehab.

We documented pretty much everything with photos from lying in hospital beds to bandage changes. Out of respect for Paul's privacy I'm not going to post them on this blog, but you can check out the one he posted on his blog if you're interested in seeing him at his worst (still pretty dang cute if you ask me).

baby steps

2008-04-30T23:17:00.000-07:00

Paul is still in hospital, and seems to be making good progress. His surgery yesterday took longer than expected, but the surgeon felt it went well. He now has screws holding his scapula together and a metal plate on his clavicle, as well as a temporary hose coming out of his chest draining an impressive amount of fluid from around his lungs. This will hopefully come out sometime tomorrow. He managed to stand a few times this morning (turned a magnificant shade of green the first time), and went for a walk up and down the hall in the afternoon. Since the right side of his upper body doesn't work at all right now, we are getting to know each other VERY intimately. He started eating today. Two bites of muffin in the morning, two mouthfulls of spaghetti at lunch, and a few slurps of soup at dinner. He's doing well with fluids, although nausea is still a problem. Probably all the meds.

He may be coming home by the weekend, which will be nice for both of us. I can't seem to relax unless I'm at the hospital, in spite of being completely exhausted and living off of take out and vending machine food. It only just occured to me this evening that once he's at home, there won't be any nurses. Just me. Shit man. Mental list of things to do being compiled. Work has been good about giving me time off on medial leave. I got a message that they were working on covering next week for me too which I didn't really think would be necessary until I started to think about Paul coming home, and now I'm pretty sure it will be. I'll take it day by day.

Paul is the strongest person I know physically and mentally. I have no doubt he'll recover well and swiftly. It is hard to see him like this though.

life happening

2008-04-28T23:03:00.000-07:00

The post I was composing this morning while enjoying my first full blissful day off, no studying, not a care in the world, was derailed. I got a call from the hospital just after noon letting me know that Paul was there after being hit by a car on his bike. I have dreaded this call for the nearly five years we've been together. So off to the hospital I rushed - luckily we live only 4 blocks away, so rushing to the hospital can be done in short order.

He is currently stable, but has multiple broken ribs, broken clavicle, broken scapula (shoulder), some fractures along his spine (which don't seem to be of much concern), a punctured lung, and blood pooling around and in his right lung with is making breathing difficult. He also had some trauma to his head and has a concussion, but it seems his helmet did it's job, and he is really lucky as far as this is concerned.

After many x-rays and CT scans, the orthopedic people have decided they need to operate to repair his shoulder tomorrow. The socket in which the ball sits is cracked and has shifted, so that needs to be realigned and will be held in place with a screw. Since they are already going in there, they have also decided to repair his collar bone, which wouldn't normally be done, but what the heck. He will also need a tube put in his chest to drain out the blood and air putting pressure on his lungs. Surgery is booked for around 9am on Tuesday.

He is currently in an acute trauma unit, but I believe after the surgery he will be moved to a different trauma unit. Paul will likely be in hospital for the next 4 days or so. I would not recommend visiting until Wednesday, depending on how his recovery from surgery goes tomorrow.

I will update as frequently as I can.

April Snow

2008-04-20T13:42:00.001-07:00

I woke and saw
That softly, in the night
Sweet April lost her way!
And o’er the ground
A soft snow had fallen,
Displacing balmy showers-
So long a token of the
Fair freshness of nature’s
Wakening month.
Yet, lying ‘neath the fond
Caress of winter’s parting gift
We know the buds and green
Of spring will burst forth
Even more aglow
Vibrant with beauty!
From their rest
Beneath the snow.

Valerie Morrison
1917-2007

bill c-517: mandatory labelling of GE food

2008-04-19T14:25:00.000-07:00

This post is copied with permission from my dear friend Harmony's blog. This is a very important issue near and dear to my heart. Thanks Tro!

. . . . .

I urge you all to get involved in this very important issue. GMO foods are undertested and owned by major corporations who (yes, corporations are legally a who and not a what...scary) wield their power to destroy the lives of farmers in Canada and many parts of the world. You have the right to be able to make an informed choice about what you put in your and your childrens' bodies.

Please follow the actions suggested by Greenpeace on this site to pressure federal MPs to vote for the mandatory labeling of GMO foods, which may lead to a ban on them in Canada altogether. As of now, if you buy non-organic soy, wheat, corn, animal products, canola, yellow zucchini, potatoes, flax or cotton, you are likely paying for GMOs. The global food crisis is being worsened by this phenomenon, which seeks to limit nature's bounty to a few corporate owned Frankencrops.

Get involved! Everyone is needed for this, and we are so close to achieving victory.

sesame maple roasted tofu

2008-04-12T08:35:00.000-07:00

1 tsp canola oil
2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 medium onion, diced
1 brick o' firm tofu
1 Tbsp tahini paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Preheat your oven to 450. Dice up your fu into 1 inch cubes. Toss with canola oil, sesame oil, salt, pepper, and onions. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast in oven for 15-20 min, until tofu and onions are starting to brown. In the mean time, whisk together remaining ingredients into a delish sauce. Remove tofu from oven, toss with sesame maple sauce, return to oven and roast another 8 min or so.

I've made this recipe a few times, and it's always been tasty but the sugars in the maple syrup burn and stick to the pan, so you sorta have to scrap everything off and get lots of burnt bits in with your tofu. Last night I had the genius idea to put the whole thing on parchment paper, so I did, and it was fantastic. The maple sauce still burned a little where it was in a puddle around the outside, but that was easily removed and the tofu turned out so fantastically delish.

I served it hot over a nice big spinach salad. Yum yum.

fueled by chocolate milk

2008-04-09T06:14:00.000-07:00

Big whopping congratulations to UBC swimmers Brent Hayden, Brian Johns, Annamay Pierse, Tanya Hunks, and Savannah King for making the 2008 Olympic team. These are five incredibly talented athletes and really nice people who have worked hard for this. Must be all that chocolate milk they guzzle as a recovery drink after each workout. Research came out suggesting that chocolate milk was the perfect recovery drink for endurance athletes, what with it's high levels of protein and the additional sugars from the chocolate. And it's deliscious. So the UBC swim team jumped on that bandwagon and started chugging down chocolate milk after every workout, and even one time showering in it. I'm not even joking about that.

Last week I managed to 'acquire' a case of chocolate milk of my own during a huge intramural event on campus which seemed to be sponsored in part by the chocolate milk people, whoever they are. Everyone was walking around with a bottle or two of milk, but I wasn't having any of that nonsense so I marched over authoritatively, picked up an entire case, and walked away. I've since discovered that chocolate milk is good in everything. And by everything I mean in my tea, and straight up, which are the two ways I've consumed it so far. I have big plans for chocolate banana smoothies and chocolate french toast on the weekend (note to self, buy nutella before weekend), and I'm sure it'll get twisted into some sort of tasty alcoholic drink after classes are done. Who am I kidding, after 10am today. I get up early, ok. My 10am is your 3pm.

coming out

2008-04-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Although Paul and I have been living common law for four years now, we have never claimed it on our taxes.
Until now.

I figured we better because I've claimed him as my spouse on my extended benefits through work, and with the recent transfer to a new payroll system I had to sign about a gazillion papers verifying our common law status. It would catch up with us sooner or later. Actually, last year when we added his MSP coverage to my benefits plan, we both got letters from the government suggesting that our health care coverage didn't line up with our taxes, and we had better phone them and deal with it. Which we never did. So yeah.

Plus we realized I could claim his unused educational amounts, which beefed up my refund by over $800. Thanks Paul!

So the deal was, he'd transfer the education amount to me so long as I agreed to use that $$$ towards the trip to Europe he wants me to come on. Paul has a conference in Helsinki for four days in early June, which sees his flight to Europe, and the accommodation in Helsinki already paid for. The plan is I go with him, and after the conference we go to Prague for a few days, and then to Spain where we'll pick a couple of spots to chill out in for 10 days or so before heading home. Nice little holiday partially funded by UBC. And more funded by UBC once they get around to reimbursing me for my tuition this semester (another part of my benefits package - 12 credits a year of free tuition).

There it is. We've officially come out to the government.

And Paul, for the first time in his 33 years, did his own taxes.

final stretch

2008-04-02T05:50:00.001-07:00

The semester is nearly over. Eight days of classes left, including today. One research paper, two homework assignment, two problem sets, and one quiz to get through in the next eight days. Then classes are done, and I can just come to work, go home after eight hours and nap if need be, then study without being so tired the words I'm trying to read are swimming on the page.

I have reached the point in the semester, as I do every semester, where I somehow lose the ability to feed myself. I just run out of steam and rather than cook dinner or pack lunches, I eat crackers. I can't seem to deal with anything else, and it's horribly counter productive because I don't get fueled with the nutritious foods I need to keep myself going through exams. My strategy this semester was to plan ahead, and make healthy foods in bulk during periods of higher energy. I've got a bunch of lasagna individually portioned and waiting in the freezer, as well as a large batch of soup. Last weeks Green Quinoa got me through at least 5 days of lunches. I made up a huge batch of three bean and wild rice salad which will be another good grab and go high fibre high protein solution, and Paul whipped up a mean batch of borscht on Sunday which is portioned and frozen as well. Broccoli is cut up and waiting to be tossed into the steamer for an iron rich addition to any lunch or dinner, and a double batch of bran muffins is on stand by for breakfasts. Fruit is cut up and portioned into daily servings in the fridge, where yoghurt and a handful of frozen blackberries can be added at the last minute. I also got a gift certificate good for many of the AMS run food outlets in the student union building for participating in a focus group, so worst case I can go and *gasp* buy myself a sandwich.

I can survive eight more days.

turn off your lights!

2008-03-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight from 8-9pm is Earth Hour. Help take action against climate change by turning out your lights for the hour. Light some candles, go for a walk, or engage in some heat creating "activity" in the dark.

www.earthhour.org

green quinoa

2008-03-26T05:37:00.000-07:00

I came in to work this morning to find a big note written on the fridge which read, "One month of university to go. We can ALL do this."

It was uplifting. Last week I was contemplating cutting my losses and withdrawing from my classes, and quite frankly, the only thing stopping me was knowing I'd have to go back and do these classes all over again. So I keep plugging.

Anyways, I have an awesome recipe to share with y'all. Green Quinoa. Paul and I frequently make Green Rice, which is a tasty dish of brown rice cooked with sauteed onions and garlic, and then simmered in a veg broth with roasted seeded jalapenos, and finished with fresh cut cilantro stirred in. Mmmmmm. Back in the fall I snagged a couple of big bags of jalapenos from my favourite organic farmer on the Sunshine Coast, processed them en mass, and froze them in ice cube trays. Now when I get a hankering for the green rice dish, it's as easy as pulling a jalapeno cube out of the freezer and I'm ready to go. Paul loves cilantro, and so buys a bunch a week - more than we can possibly go through - I've decided I need to find a good cilantro pesto recipe (Liminal?) which I can freeze to deal with the excess. Last week as a part of the sustainability fair at UBC, they were selling some produce from the UBC farm, and among other things (purple broccoli, purple flowering broccoli, cabbage) I snagged a bag of organic spinach. Which meant I had 2 bags of spinach at home, again more than we could eat in salads until it started to wilt. What to do with all of that spinach? I contemplated soup, but couldn't find a recipe I liked, and then ultimately stumbled upon another, and somewhat different, green rice recipe. Being the meddler I am I gave it the old switcharoo and made it my own. I subbed in quinoa for the rice, added cubed tofu, and used one of my jalapeno cubes (yes, there was a point to all of those side snippets). So here it is - a protein and amino acid rich, chlorophyll heavy green dinner for everyone.

Green Quinoa:

1 med onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch spinach, washed and stemmed
1 bunch cilantro, washed
2 1/2 cups veg broth
2 jalapenos, 1 seeded*
1 1/2 cups quinoa, washed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 brick tofu, cubed

*I used one cube of my previously roasted, seeded, and pureed jalapenos, which is roughly equivalent to 2 peppers.

Put spinach, cilantro, jalapenos, and one cup of broth in a blender, and puree to liquefy. I found I had to add the greenery in several installments and needed to add a little more broth to keep things going, but it did become a wonderful bright green liquid in the end. In a large pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onions and saute until translucent. Add garlic and quinoa, and saute for a couple of minutes. Add green liquid, and remaining broth. At this point I also tossed in a half a brick of tofu, cubed. Increase heat to high and bring to boil. Once mixture is boiling, cover, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 15 min. After 15 min turn off the heat, but leave covered and let stand for 10 min. Fluff with fork, and season if desired. Mine needed a tiny touch of salt, but that was it.

So nutritious, so delicious, and so green. I've got green quinoa for lunch today. Mmmmmm.

for those of you who don't know

2008-03-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

Getting up at 4:30am sucks. Five days a week, for five and a half years. S. U. C. K. S. Ugh.

I probably wouldn't be so cranky about it, except I'm coming off a glorious four day weekend where not only did I stuff my face with food and wine, but I also got to sleep in until blissful 9am in a wonderful dark and quiet place.

Now back to reality. And three more weeks of classes.

Hijacked Future

2008-03-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

The following is a blurb about a documentary which will be aired on Saturday March 22nd on Global TV. If you're in Vancouver, that's channel 11 at 7pm. If not, check your local listings and find out where/when it's playing. Everyone should watch this. I've included the trailer down below.

It’s 7 am: Do you know where your toast came from?

Eating breakfast toast: a simple ritual to start the day. The bread probably came from a bakery or grocery store, but beyond that who knows where the wheat came from – never mind the seeds that grew the wheat. Do we need to know? A new documentary, “Hijacked Future” says yes, because those seeds that became the toast you ate this morning are being hijacked - right into a looming world food security catastrophe.

Catastrophe? Wait a minute. We see plenty of food on our supermarket shelves. Is our food security really at risk – or is this just scare mongering from the fringe?

While our industrial system of agriculture is providing abundance and variety today, this Global Currents documentary warns us that it’s an unsustainable system that will not be able to nourish and provide for us and our grandchildren in the future. It’s a system that literally runs on oil, from fertilizers and pesticides, to the trucks and planes that transport food. And the source of our food – seeds – is being hijacked by a handful of corporations from the farmers who have for millennia, grown and saved them.

But why should we care about a farmer’s seeds? Aren’t companies developing new seeds all the time? They are -- and that’s part of the problem -- because who controls the seeds, controls our food. More and more, that control is in the hands of a few multinational corporations whose bottom line is profit for their shareholders not necessarily an abundance of healthy food. Should anybody, the film asks, own seeds?

“Hijacked Future” takes us from the grain fields of Saskatchewan, to farmers and seed banks in Ethiopia, to north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, where the “Doomsday” vault is being built to stockpile seeds in the event of a global crisis.

The documentary looks at the increasingly fragile base of our North American industrial food system in order to bring all of us consumers of food to a better understanding of just what’s at stake with our daily bread. It asks us to question the wisdom of a system precariously based on oil and corporate seeds while we’re at the same time witnessing the impact of climate change.

As the film says, “It all starts with the seed, and the stakes are high… because who controls the seed, controls the food… Who will control the seeds we plant, and the food we put on our tables?” Will our future be…Hijacked?

Happy 98th Birthday

2008-03-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Or 14th, if you're going in people years. Yup, Mr. Bubbaroo is having a birthday today. He's a good two years beyond the long end of the average life expectancy for his breed, seems to have selective deafness (can't hear you telling him to do something, but can hear the food bin opening), barks at things that aren't there, "forgets" the rules, and poops all over the place. He's always got a smile on his face and a wagging tail, and is always ready to give his favourite people awesome hugs and snuggles. When he gets really excited, he sneezes continuously. He'll eat anything except celery and raw onions, and is an expert at peeling bananas. He'll do anything to chase a squirrel, including jumping out of the back window of a moving car. He is the best dog of all time. Happy birthday Buddy!

two things

2008-03-16T10:39:00.000-07:00

Two things to tell y'all.

First, I'll draw your attention to this post from May 2006, which I poached from Anne's blog:

"I’ve added a couple of new links to my blog. Just wanted to do some introductions.

The first, Liminal Me, is one of my sisters and a groovy gal.

The second, Katie the Mermaid Girl, is a friend and great knitting instructor.

Just for the sake of drawing some random and unnecessary connections, they are both vegetarians. Liminal Me recently did her first triathlon and Mermaid Girl is a swimmer and a runner. Both love to cook, both spend a lot of time on the same campus, and they live within four blocks of one another. And yet…. they’ve never met. They move in parallel universes. Dramatic, but true."

Well now we have! Liminal Me and I crossed paths yesterday afternoon in our neighbourhood wine shop. I saw who I thought she was, and took a chance sounding like a complete weirdo if she wasn't by asking if she was Liminal Me. After a couple of seconds of her looking blankly at me (and me feeling like a bit of a weirdo), she said, you're Katie! and gave me a big hug. We gabbed in the shop for the better part of half an hour or so, before going on with our days.

It was great to finally meet you in the flesh, Liminal, and I hope you enjoyed your wine!

Second, I had the BEST Saturday night last night. One apartment all to myself, one bottle of one of my favourite standby wines (Elderton Friends Cabernet Sauvignon), one small take out pizza, and five, yes five back to back episodes of Grey's Anatomy. Mmmmmm. Guilty pleasures.

mayonnaise dilemma

2008-03-13T07:39:00.000-07:00

I've been reading the Omnivore's Dilemma, both for personal interest and for school, and the book is blowing my mind. It's really well written and thoughtful, and is examining all aspects of the food industry.

As a result of the part of the book about corn and how it is broken down and reconstructed into everything from oils and sweeteners to adhesives and building materials, I've decided to try my best to stay away from processed foods. I never considered myself to be someone who consumed a lot of processed foods, and I guess I figured that as a vegetarian I was probably eating more or less good food most of the time. I definitely have an Yves addiction that needs to be dealt with, and the list of ingredients on my favourite vegetarian chick'n nuggets is making me cry. Corn, corn, corn.

Don't get me wrong, I love corn, corn is not the enemy. USDA polices forcing so called commodity crop (corn and soy mainly) farmers to grow more and more for less and less money, and at an increasing cost to our eco system (turning crude oil into fertilizers and pesticides isn't a good idea?) are the bad fellas. Corn grown sustainably for eating (rather than being processed) is awesome.

So I've been replacing my more processed than I had ever imagined sandwich slices with organic smoked tofu, making edamame salads with organic non GMO soy beans, eating nuts, beans, and organic free range eggs for protein. I'm trying to eat my food as whole as possible as often as possible. On Sunday, which in our house is dessert night, I made an angel food cake from scratch. This was previously the only cake I'd ever make from a mix, and now with a little help from Martha Stewart, I've learned that it is only marginally more time consuming to make one from scratch, and way more tasty. I'm not saying I'll never eat processed foods, hello, a veggie pepperoni pizza on a treat night, and I'm not going to throw away the ground round and nuggets in my deep freeze, but I'm doing my best.

So mayonnaise. I don't eat a lot of it, but sometimes I like a thin scraping in my sandwich or in my egg salad sandwich. It's also a dang tasty fry dip, and you know it. Yesterday I was telling this lady in one of my classes that I had to get home to attend to my yoghurt culture - I've been making my own yoghurt for over a year now. It has 2 ingredients; milk and some starter from the last batch of yoghurt. It's sooooo much better than commercial yoghurt with their yucky thickeners and shiz. Anyway, she says to me that she's never made yoghurt, but she makes her own mayo. I told her that I'd be open to making my own mayo except for my phobia of raw eggs, and she pointed out that there was raw eggs in the store bought stuff, plus a gazillion other processed ingredients. Somehow coming from a jar made me feel better about the rawness of the eggs, and I figured they must have been heat processed in some way to make them safe to eat. I don't know. Making it myself using local organic free range eggs is obviously going to be better for both my body and the planet than buying it in a jar. But there will be raw eggs. Yuck. I guess if I want to eat mayo occasionally I had better get my head around this thing.

Sigh.

deconstructing the muffin myth

2008-03-09T13:14:00.000-07:00

Muffins are, I think, an unfortunately misunderstood food. Misunderstood in that many people will grab a muffin from a coffee shop, bakery, grocery store, whathaveyou, honestly believing they are making a healthy choice. Sadly, most of the time they are not. The majority of these manufactured muffins are deceptively loaded with fats and sugars and are lacking in fibre. When spending some daily calories on the muffin, we may as well be eating a nice piece of cake. Really, we pretty much are.

I want to deconstruct the muffin myth, and reconstruct the identity of the muffin into what it should be - nourishing, filling, low fat, high fibre, healthy. My goal: reconstruct 100 muffin recipes. Or perhaps 99, since my bran muffin recipe will definitely get tossed in the mix. I'm going to need muffin testers, recipe testers, and recipes. If you have a muffin recipe (or just a type of muffin)you love and wish it was something healthier, but just as tasty or tastier than it already is, fire it in my direction and I'll tinker with it. If you love to bake and you want to help me test out the new recipes, let me know and I'll fire them in your direction and welcome feedback. If you love to eat muffins (hehe) let me know and if you're local, I'll give you some muffin samples for you to scrutinize.

Let the muffin revolution begin!

Christa Giles!

2008-02-28T09:54:00.000-08:00

For Pete's sake, update your friggen blog!

Don't you know that blog checking on the company dime is what gets me through the day?

killing time

2008-02-23T16:54:00.001-08:00

This post comes to you as I am killing time waiting for the touch up pink dye to set in my streaks. My lovely fella was kind enough to don a pair of gloves (swiped from work, of course) and re-apply the magic stuff. Everyone in the know (ok, two people in the know - my hair dresser and previously hot pink streaked SIL Cammy) told me I'd have to be redoing the streaks after about two weeks. Well, it's been four. My hair defies you all. The bits of pink closer to my scalp maintained their alarming hot pinkness, but the tips gradually faded out from hot pink to orange to a soft baby pink to nearly blond. After the touch up I've still got half a bottle of the pink goop left, so I figure I'm good for two more doses and then my hair will have to be dyed back to my natural colour. Or maybe not. Maybe I'll go crazy with some other funky do. I've got years and years of not colouring my hair to make up for here!

So this week has been reading week - ostensibly a time to spend reading those textbooks and catching up on assignments and shiz. Not me. I spent the week taking an 8am-4pm five day long first aid course. Why, you ask? Don't I have first aid coming out of my wazoo? Well yes I do, as a matter of fact. This course was a prerequisite for another course I am going to be taking in March which will enable me to teach yet another course. Much of the course I just finished up with (well not yet - practical exam 7:30am on Monday) was pretty mundane and stuff I can do in my sleep, but the instructor was mega cute and did a good job of tolerating my incessent inter-agency questions (but in aquatics we do this . . . ). Many of the other folks in the class had never taken any first aid course before, so it was a really interesting range of abilities. There was only one day I wished I wasn't there, and the post written exam beers on Friday from the brew pub downstairs were dang tasty.

Today is my Dad's birthday. Once I rinse the pink dye out of my hair we're heading over to the folk's place for dinner. I made an edamame salad, which was a recipe I was trying to replicate from taste memory alone from something someone picked up at a deli and brought to a potluck one time. I also made a delish double decker carrot cake with cream cheese icing. This was Dad's reqest, and how could I possibly say no? Particularly when I'm going to be asking for his help fixing the sliding bathroom door I busted off it's runners by kicking it when I was mad the other day. Happy birthday Dad!

happy v-day

2008-02-14T07:55:00.000-08:00

Veggie day, that is. Today marks for me 15 years as a vegetarian! To celebrate, I thought I'd blog my answers to two of the most common questions I get about being a vegetarian.

1. Why are you a vegetarian?

Well, to be honest the reasons have evolved over the years. Meat always grossed me out. Gristle, fat, veins, whatever, I thought it was gross. I started making the connection with the hunk of meat on my plate and the living thing it once was, and I could eat it no more. I made a new friend who was vegetarian, and I thought that was cool so I decided to do it too. At my friends Sasha and Melanie's 14th birthday party, I decided I was a vegetarian, and after a few days of mishaps with pepperoni pizza and KFC popcorn chicken, I really was. I have not intentionally eaten meat ever since.

The easiest way for me to explain why I am a vegetarian is this - I don't believe in loving one animal and eating another. I believe and animal is an animal is an animal. There are some animals which have been socially constructed as more acceptable to eat than others. It drives me bonkers when I hear omnivores saying things like, "oh I could never eat (insert cute cuddly animal of choice here), that would just be wrong!” I think if you're going to eat one, you should be open to eating them all. I also think that most meat eaters are hideously detached from what they're actually eating. Those sterile styrofoam trays of meat in the supermarket don't really leave people with the true image of what it is. I have the utmost respect for my uncle's fiancée and her kids, who eat the cattle they raise. I have absolutely no difficulty understanding what I am eating when I am looking at an eggplant or a soybean. It is what it is.

Then there are the ethical reasons - the factory farms and the conditions those animals are raised in, the amount of land it takes to grow feed for animals vs. the amount of land we could be feeding people from, the hormones those animals are given, the waste seeping into water systems surrounding big productions. Yuck.

2. I could never be a vegetarian, isn't it hard?

Umm, no. Picture the food you find the most repulsive, that you never want to eat. Do you have a hard time not eating that food? Me neither.

I'm not one of those militant vegetarians who tries to force it on everyone around me. I don't believe in pushing my beliefs on other people, and I expect to not have theirs pushed on me. Paul is an omnivore, and we live and eat together in harmony. It's not an issue unless people make it one.

So have a happy V-day. Eat your veggies!

snippets from project poop

2008-02-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

Finally today my mom was released from hospital. This evening found her finally on her way home, to what I'm sure are much more comfortable digs. The nursing staff will be brilliant when Pamela is at home practicing her undergrad nursing skills. They will be questionable at best when it's just Mom and Dad on their own.

During her stint in the hospital, Dad sent out daily (sometimes multiple times daily) progress reports to friends and family. Over the last 6 days or so the reports had a common theme - poop; or lack thereof. Anyone who has had surgery, or hurt themselves significantly enough to require the fun pain killers, knows what they can do to your GI tract . . .

I've pasted some of my favourite snippets from my Dad's emails. They will probably be mostly hilarious to people who know him, but the rest of you may appreciate the humour I find in having a surly old Dad stuck as the primary caregiver of my largely immobile and consipated mother, and 14 yr old incontinent dog . . .

"Heather's project for tomorrow is to have a BM, mine is to be not
there for it."

"Arrived @ 11:00 AM to find H on phone (what else is new), sitting
on bed waiting for the elusive BM. Took her for a long walk then had
to scoot (rush, hurry, run) back for the blessed event. She was not
pleased with the event; or lack there of."

"Heathers main problem at this point is her lack of having a BM.
She took 5 doses of 'Lactulose' to no effect; a hospital record I
think. An intermediate solution, that was partially successful was a
hydraulic wash out."

"I am still optimistic that Heather will be home sometime on
Tuesday. You are all welcome to phone or visit as your whims drive
you. You can bring food as well if you want (I really agonized over
including this one). Food items with lots of 'fiber' (roughage) is
probably what H needs, I will eat anything and I don't care if my kids
eat at all."

"Heather's problem with her lower tract still persists. She has taken
multiple doses of every mild to medium stimulant that exists. She has
just taken a more powerful med called 'citro-mag' with the hope it
will start her system. My dog, on the other hand, goes 3-4 times a day
inside or out - he doesn't care where.
I can't get around the idea that this room costs $200 + per day
and the only reason she's still here is because she can't ----. Just a
foolish aside; after I spilled a bit of the 'citro-mag' on my hand
when mixing it for Heather I foolishly licked it off my fingers.

Cheers for now David"

happy homecoming

2008-02-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

The spinal column has real joints (just like the knee, elbow, etc.) called facet joints. The facet joints link the vertebrae together and give them the flexibility to move against each other. The facets are the "bony knobs" that meet between each vertebra. There are two facet joints between each pair of vertebrae, one on each side. They extend and overlap each other to form a joint between the neighboring vertebra facet joint. The facet joints give the spine its flexibility.

My mom has had the bad luck of having those "bony knobs" wear down, resulting in a shift in the vertebrae causing the spinal chord to be pinched. This necessitated reconstructive surgery four years ago, and again last week, twice. They went in and ground down those bony knobs, drilled holes in the vertebrae and inserted posts running from L2 - L5. A bone graft was harvested from the pelvis, and little chips which should ultimately fuse with the spine and hold everything in place are held in with screws. Four years ago it was two vertebrae which needed fusing, but the spine degenerated further necessitating this second surgery.

Having the good fortune of living only four blocks from the hospital, I stopped by every day for a visit and to check on her progress. I watched my mom go from supine and barely conscious on day one, to WALKING laps around the ward on day three, getting all of the tubes out and enjoying much more mobility on day four, getting ready to go home on day five. Then the unpleasant news was delivered - a routine x-ray prompted a CT scan which showed that two of the screws were not in the right place. One was too close to a major blood vessel, and the other was not holding the fusion in place properly. So just as she was getting ready to go home, the tubes go back in and she's waiting for more surgery. The second surgery took place on Saturday, day six if you will, and was much less invasive than the first. Apparently the passage created for the screw was correct, but the screw did not follow the designated passage. This was corrected, the other screw pressing on the blood vessel was shortened, and she was closed up again. Up and walking the very next day, and fewer problems with nausea as a result of a change in pain meds.

Today, day nine, is the day she'll hopefully get to go home to start the two month long convalescence with no bending, twisting, or contact sports. My mom is fit and active, lean and healthy, walks, swims, goes to the gym, does all her physic exercises, and still her spine degenerated. Fingers crossed this is the last of it.

UPDATE: Not home yet . . . still in hospital awaiting elusive BM. Going on day 10 now . . .

UPDATE #2: Project poop a success. Finally coming home tonight!

good advice

2008-02-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

Contrary to what the comments section of my previous post may indicate, I have been getting a lot of really good feedback on the business plan. The advice coming from people who are in the know about such things is the same - keep it simple, and say what it is.

My Dad thinks I should be getting this done professionally - branding, that is. Although I'm sure I knew in the back of my mind that branding was a thing, until this week I didn't really understand what that thing entailed. Branding, I'm told, is an intensive project which will leave me with a cohesive look, word mark, colour scheme, and logo. Such a project is thought to run around $1000, which my Dad has offered to put up (with payback plan of course).

My sister has offered some sage advice about using words which for search engine optimization, and how to set up words and information on a site which will help me get indexed high up in Google.

I have had one name suggestion which I really like, and I like how it was come up with. All will be revealed at a later date if I decide to go this route.

Right now I'm trying to decide whether professional branding is the way to go, or whether I want to take this new name (which does what it says on the tin) and use the website I had used before for business cards, letterhead, and promo gizmos. I change my mind about every five seconds, so until that slows down I suppose I'll keep thinking about it.

I've got another project on the brew I'll need some feedback on too . . . stay tuned!

creative minds needed!

2008-02-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have a small business on the side teaching CPR and First Aid courses. It's pretty much an under the table in cash thing at the moment, but it is growing to the point I feel I need to go legit with it soon. My primary market thus far has been CPR recertifications for nursing students, who need to do them annually. Word of mouth is a powerful thing - my business has been growing steadily, and my market is growing. Recently I've been trekking over to Commercial drive to teach CPR and resuscitation to 'Parents on the Drive', a group of self organized parents who decided they needed CPR training after witnessing one of their daughters having a seizure, thinking she was choking, and realizing none of them knew what to do. I've also been teaching Emergency First Aid courses at one of the graduate student residences on campus where they've put together an emergency response team, and want in house training.

The end of January saw me taking an AED instructor trainer course, which enables me to teach people how to teach people to use those nifty automated external defibrillator units which are popping up all over the place, as well as being able to deliver the programs myself. This is HUGE for me as a contract instructor, particularly since UBC has decided to put AED units in all of the athletic facilities, and the program will ultimately expand to the entire campus. Someone has to do all that training!

February and the beginning of March will see me jumping through hoops to be able to teach the new Occupational First Aid program that the Lifesaving Society, the organization with which I am affiliated, has finally managed to get off the ground. In my opinion, the OFA program is seriously inferior to the SFA program we've already been teaching for years, but it is the program sanctioned by WCB, and therefore the program that tons of and tons of businesses need their employees to take. Again, this is huge for me as a contract instructor and even huger for me as an individual affiliate since it means I will be able to market myself to big businesses as someone who can show up and conduct this program for their staff on site.

The batch of business cards I ordered for myself at the end of this month last year is dwindling away (interestingly, I've gone through more of my personal business cards in one year than I have my business cards at work in 5 1/2 years) and it is nearly time to reorder. Enter your creative minds . . .

My current cards read, "CPR with Katie" and have a cool heart logo (an actual human heart, not a heart shape) and details about course options and contact info on them. I guess by default my company name is this "CPR with Katie", however, with the addition of all these other courses I can contract, and the intention of going legit with the side business and starting to market myself to companies, I need a new name. I'm planning on putting together a whole promotional package . . . company letter head on which I will write letters and send them out to businesses explaining how awesome I am, and that I can come to THEM and do all of their CPR and First Aid training on site, website, new business cards (I want to keep the logo), promotional pens or some other cheesy give-away . . . the whole shebang. I want a name that encompasses everything I can do, and that sounds cool. The only thing I can think of so far is "Custom First Aid" but I don't think that's cool enough, and I think it might be taken.

Please help me come up with a name! If I select the name you come up with, I'll send you a whole package of all the promotional shiz I put together, and a chocolate vagina. What's better than a chocolate vagina?

new do

2008-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

lecture hall rage

2008-01-24T07:45:00.000-08:00

Picture this; a lecture hall with 260 students. About 1/3 of the people there actually interested in learning, the other 2/3 there only to yap with their friends. I fall in the minority category, wanting to learn, desperately trying to concentrate on the lecture and hear what the prof is saying. People all around me yap yap yapping.

Yesterday, I got to class early, staked out a good spot close to the front, but not so close that I had to crane my neck to see the PowerPoint presentation. People around me are generally good, but then two yappers show up - a boy and a girl. About 5 min into the lecture I turn around and politely ask them to stop talking, and indicate I am having difficulty hearing the lecture. They say sure, and then just keep on talking. The talk the entire freaking lecture, in spite of me asking them several times to stop. At the end of the lecture as we're all packing up our stuff, I have words with them. The exchange goes like this:

Me: Your talking is not quiet. It's very distracting and makes it difficult to hear the lecture.

Sassy little bitch: Awesome!

Me: Maybe for you, but I'm trying to hear the prof.

SLB: I'm sure you could find somewhere else to sit.

Me: I'm sure you could find somewhere else to have your conversation. This is a classroom.

I could not believe this chick had the audacity to suggest that if I didn't like her talking I should move! I'm always so filled with rage by the end of this class, I almost feel like there is no point even going. This is what I'm paying for? Sitting in a lecture hall listening to 18yr olds who are experiencing freedom and adult responsibility for the first time? I may not make it through this semester!

here it is

2008-01-18T06:01:00.000-08:00

Some of you know, some of you don't know, so here it is: I flunked my chemistry course last semester. I'm still in the process of fighting red tape to be allowed to actually see my final exam with my own eyes, but if I flunked it, I flunked it, and that's that. I found out about said flunkage by way of receiving an email from the university letting me know I'd been de-registered from all other chem courses. Nice.

I've gone through a wide range of emotions about this over the last month, and at the end of it all, after some serious soul searching, this is what I have come up with . . .

1) My inherent academic laziness is not going to cut it with these science classes

and

2) Working full time while trying to go to school is insane.

So will the insanity stop? Well, not just yet. But it's getting in check. Finally seeing what basically everyone around me was seeing threw me into a state of total panic. I need to stop working full time soon, how can I make that happen? Will I be able to afford to pay for school? Will I need to get a student loan? Will I need to sell my car? How soon?

I went and saw the advisor for my department who gave me bad news, good news, and some insight. The bad news - UBC is renovating the chem labs this summer, so there will be no summer classes offered in chemistry (at least the ones I need to take). The good news - because of this they're giving flunkers like me special permission to take chem courses at the colleges this summer. The insight - I need to find balance. This, after I put my head down in my hands and moaned about how I was going to need to quit my job to make this happen, and just after I finally got 12 credits of free tuition per year negotiated into my benefits package. Oh cruel, cruel world.

I looked into things a little more and discovered that not only are there going to be no chem classes offered at UBC this summer, the biology lab course I was counting on taking over the summer isn't going to be offered either. So even if I kill myself taking chem all summer long, my standing will still be held back. It would seem that it makes the most sense to not take summer classes this year, to get to enjoy a summer for a change, and to work full time (or close to full time) for one more year. This way I can take it easy and recharge over the summer months, with the option of perhaps taking some fluffy GPA boosting courses I don't really need, and then in September tackle that chem course again having learned my lesson about the type of studying I need to be doing, and without the threat of having to chair a bargaining committee smack in the middle of the exam period. This also means I will be able to take advantage of more of those free tuition credits which just got negotiated into my benefits package, and I'll be working until the car is paid off. Yes, I'll be adding another year onto this journey, but it's not like I'm on the fast track program as it is. Having made this decision to not push through the summer feels like a million pounds have been lifted off of me.

I've also had some boundary setting conversations at work, like how I can't continue to work insane amounts of overtime the first week of every semester, which always results in falling behind in school. And how I can't participate in negative bitch sessions in the office, rather, having constructive problem solving conversations.

I'm hoping this will be a morale boosting semester for me, both at school and at work. I'm taking two biology courses this semester, which are much more suited to my learning style, and I find them actually interesting. I took a biology class at Langara that didn't transfer properly to UBC, so much of the content I've already learned, which makes things a little easier for me. Plus in one of my classes, which is taught by a wiry little lady with white spiky hair which in the first two weeks of the semester has been dyed lavender and then bright turquoise in the front, we have to read one of three books with ecology themes and answer questions about them on the final. One of the book options was the Omnivore's Dilemma, which I asked for and got for Christmas. I'm stoked about reading this book! Also she's given us the option of doing a written project for 15% of our mark, which reduces the midterm value by 5% and the final value by 10%. Sign me up!

the updated muffin recipe

2008-01-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

This is the fat free low sugar bran muffin recipe I developed and made famous during my Weight Watchers days. I've been continually tweaking it over the years, and I think it's absolutely perfect right now. I make a batch about once a week and throw them in the freezer. Paul and I each eat one every day. They are just about the most branny muffins you'll ever find, so if your system isn't used to a lot of fibre, you'll need to work up to eating one every day.

Katie's Bran Muffins

1 cup apple sauce, pumpkin puree, or grated zucchini
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2 eggs
2 cups skim milk (I use 2 cups water and 2 Tbsp skim milk powder)
3 cups wheat bran
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins or chopped dates (dates make the most moist muffin)

Take the raisins or chopped dates and put them in a small bowl. Pour hot water over them, and let them sit for a few min while you are mixing the rest of the stuff up. This will add mega moisture to the muffins.

Preheat your oven to 400. Mix the wet stuff, add the dry stuff, then drain the water out of the dates or raisins, and add them in too. Take your non-stick muffin cups and give them a teeny little spray of canola out of your enviro friendly refillable kitchen pumper spraying thingy. Spoon mix evenly into 12 muffin cups. Bake for 20 min. Enjoy!

I'm no longer sure of the points value of one of these suckers, and I no longer have the tools to find out. Maybe one of you in the know can figure it out for me.

don't try this at home

2007-12-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

Phase one December madness (bargaining, exams, teaching) is over. Phase two December madness (holiday parties, shopping, baking, crafting, family time) is upon us.

Saturday night saw us heading down to Paul's running club's annual holiday dinner, which this year was held at the Rowing Club near Stanley Park. Paul's parents live about a 5 min stroll away, so we figured we'd stop in there for a drink on the way to dinner. We took the bus town town and figured if we went up for one quick drink we'd arrive at our function fashionably about half an hour late.

The out-law's live on the 17th floor of a high rise building, so in to the elevator and up we go. A little more than half way up, Paul, who recently watched the movie Elf on tv, turns to me and says, "hey, you know what we should do?" and jumps.

The elevator stops.

And stays stopped.

We look at each other for a few moments, try pressing a few buttons, and then realize this is really happening. There is an emergency phone at the bottom of the elevator which connects us to an operator who tells us she will page an elevator technician to come and get us out, but in the meantime just relax, but if it starts getting stuffy or we start getting panicky, call back and they'll send the fire department to get us out right away. We hang up, sit there for about five seconds, and then Paul calls them back and requests the fire department. The poor guy doesn't do well in confined situations like small airplanes and elevators at the best of times, and this definitely wasn't the best of times.

After a few minutes went by we had Paul's parents and the building concierge trying to be helpful in the hallway, telling us to try to pry the door open, etc. Nothing worked. The fire department showed up after we'd been in there for about 30 min and they were able to get the exterior doors open and again suggested we try to pry open the interior door, but we couldn't do it. They were able to pry both doors open on the other elevator, but ours was stuck between floors so a safety mechanism was in place which only the elevator tech could release. I guess they probably don't want people prying doors open and accidentally falling out or something. I couldn't believe the bucket heads couldn't even get us out. So, we sit on the floor and wait. The fire men and Paul's dad were having a good laugh in the hallways, and telling us jokes through the door. I was finding the situation totally hilarious, and was trying my best not to laugh since I knew Paul wasn't finding things funny at all. Rather, he was lying on the floor with his eyes closed concentrating on deep breathing. His face was red and flushed, and his hands were cold and sweaty. Poor guy! After we'd been stuck in there nearly an hour, the elevator guy finally arrived. At first we heard a lot of banging and prying on the door, but nothing happened. Eventually he headed up a floor and was able to get to us from above, working his magic and releasing the inside doors. We were told to stay at the back, pass our stuff out to the fire men, who then quickly lifted us out. They told us that sometimes the elevators drop, so they've got to get people out as quickly as possible.

So, after being trapped in there for an hour, we were out safely, and rather than heading up to the folks place for a drink, we were on our way back down and racing towards our dinner. We arrived fashionably late, just as dinner was being served.

Waz going on?

2007-12-05T06:53:00.001-08:00

In brief . . .

My arm is on the mend - thanks for asking. It's still pretty painful now and then, but I'm back at work, and doing practically everything except for lifting some heavy things. I have minions for that.

Classes are done, exams are looming. The big scary Chem final is exactly one week away. I have a lot of studying to cram into the next six days.

Our collective agreement at work expires Dec 31st. We had planned on starting bargaining in early January, but just last week we were informed by the employer that there is a PSEC mandate for us to finish bargaining before the current CE expires. Not only that, but the parties must reach an agreement by Dec 10th, and then ratify prior to Dec 31st. I'm the chair of the bargaining committee, so this means that over the next six days, four will be spent at the table, and we may go around the clock for the last two.

Did I mention I need to study?

Also there is my regular job, and the end of semester/beginning of semester shiz that goes on. Busy times.

Plus, because I'm completely insane, I agreed to teach a Lifesaving Instructor crash course which starts two days after my finals are done. This means I will also have to recertify my IT status prior to then.

So December 18th I'll be ready to start my holiday baking, crafting, and shopping. If my head hasn't imploded by then.

ouch!

2007-11-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Apologies for the lack of posts lately, and the lack of posts to continue for a little while.

I fell down the stairs at work during a power outage - I was running down them to get to the filter room and isolate the system, and I hit a patch of shampoo or soap or something that someone had spilled, and went flying. I landed right arm out, and have mangled the tendons in my hand and arm, jarred my shoulder and neck, and bruised my ribs. It hurts.

So no repetitive motion, including typing (I'm using one hand here . . . slow progress), no lifting, no fun. I'll be back posting like crazy as soon as I can. Maybe in the meantime I'll post pictures - I seem to be able to drive the mouse with relative ease.

the pumpkins

2007-10-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

Over the summer when I actually had time for such things, I read the 100 Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon. For those of you who haven't read it yet, do. It's a lovely read, beautiful writing, and it's not at all preachy, rather, it presents as an experiment, and the inspirational and at times heartbreaking or hilarious results. The 100 Mile Diet isn't for me - I'm not willing to give up my vegetarian ways, and until rogue farmers in the lower mainland start growing soy or garbanzo beans, I'll have to out-source my protein. While the strict 100 mile radius isn't for me, the concept is: eat locally grown and produced food to reduce carbon emissions, boost local economy, save farmland from development, and ensure the family farms aren't taken over by big evil factory farms. Food starts to loose nutrients as soon as it is harvested, so a tomato you buy from a farmers market which was picked that very morning at optimum ripeness is not only going to taste infinitely better than a tomato which sat on a refrigerator truck all the way from California, but it's better for you too.

I was lucky enough to read the book while I was on my summer holidays, where we grow quite a lot of food on our property. All I had to do most days was trundle down the terraced garden and poke around to see if I could find any potatoes in the potato patch, if any of the yellow zucchini was big enough for picking, if any beets were crowning through the soil announcing their readiness for harvest. I could pick peppery arugula, lettuce, and nasturtium blossoms for a salad. Beans, peas, plums, apples, and blackberries also grow on the property. Many things we didn't grow ourselves could be found from the little (9 acre) organic farm a short trek into town, where the stunning produce (I've been banned from further discussion on the adorableness of his eggplants) is simply bunched and priced and laid out in a roadside booth with a drop box for cash or cheques. Organic free range eggs could be found in a variety of driveways where families simply have chickens hanging out in their back yards and sell whatever they don't consume themselves. While I'm not much of an egg person normally, I ate these eggs nearly every day (the local protein source) and they tasted like no egg I've ever had out of a supermarket box. I was on the five mile diet(give or take), and loving every moment of it.

Coming back to the city was depressing, but I've tried my best to keep up with the local food. One rainy weekend Paul and I headed back to Gibsons for some R&R, and much to my delight I discovered we still had zucchini and beans growing. I harvested everything, knowing that whatever I left behind would soon succumb to autumns soggy rot, and processed most of the zucchini to be frozen and later used in baking. While Paul was out for his Sunday long-run, I headed into town to see if my favourite organic farmer had any produce out. He did! Mostly peppers, but the variety! Green bell peppers, jalapeno, red hot cherry bomb, and something they had thought was going to be an Italian pickling pepper but ended up being bright multicoloured streaked peppers, some mild, some hot. I grabbed a bag of green peppers and a bag of the jalapenos, and then started heading back. It was then that I noticed another little farm on the side of the road with a hand painted sign advertising u-pick pumpkins. I pulled into their driveway and saw the pumpkin patch on my right, and a little covered stand with a drop box and a sign that said, "all pumpkins $5" on my left. I looked into my wallet and realized I only had a $20 bill, or a cheque. After a moment of contemplating how they might feel about me leaving a cheque for a couple of pumpkins, I just up and decided I'd get four. So I slogged into the soggy pumpkin patch, and spent about five minutes wandering around in the rain trying to decide on the four most perfect pumpkins, and then called my mom and told her not to buy any canned pumpkin for the Thanksgiving pies.

Two of the pumpkins have been chunked up, peeled, steamed, pureed, strained, and turned into pies. The other two are waiting to be processed - they will be roasted and then the flesh scraped out of the skins and pureed - I realized after the fact that this would be much less time consuming - and the pumpkin puree will be portioned and added to the collection of grated zucchini, roasted, skinned, and seeded jalapeno puree, and blackberries we've got in our freezer.

I love knowing exactly where my food came from. Remembering the rainy day I picked the pumpkins, chatting with the farmer who grew the adorable baby eggplants (I'll post pictures, you'll see) and the awesome jalapenos. I know I could have spent $20 on canned pumpkin from the supermarket and it would probably have been more pumpkin and definitely less work, but I supported a local family farm, I got to see and choose my pumpkins, I know how nutrient rich they are, and I reduced carbon emissions and packaging while I was at it.

Last week I volunteered at the UBC farm helping out with the fall harvest. We harvested over 500lbs of butternut squash (some had been harvested the day before, so their crop must have been over 1000lbs) and then scrubbed them clean and dunked them in a 10% bleach solution to eliminate any fungus or mold spores so they could be stored in the greenhouse and wouldn't contaminate any other produce. It was a sunny day October day and I got to hang out in the fields and then by the farm hut and chat with an agroecology student who actually lives on the farm, and a hkin student who wandered around in bare feet and wore a straw hat with flowers stuck in it. It was an awesome day, and I left with hands raw from the bleach, a sore back from lugging crates of produce around, and a backpack full of butternut squash which had been gnawed on by rodents so was unsaleable at market, but still perfectly fine for eating. It made awesome soup. I think I'll definitely go back and volunteer some more at the farm - it's such an oasis, I didn't even feel like I was in the city, and I think it will fulfill that getting my hands dirty and being connected with food part of me that has been missing in the city.

Eat local!

staying out of the red

2007-10-04T06:11:00.001-07:00

September has come and gone faster than I ever thought possible. And that 'summer' we supposedly had? Feels like a million miles away.

I was worried about September and the financial burden I knew it would be, but I'm happy to report that I managed to get through and pay my rent, car payment, car insurance, tuition, textbooks, misc bills, and actually live a little all without going into the red. This is thanks mostly to the awesome under the table business I've got going on the side, and the rate at which it continues to grow while seeing a steady stream of return business. With out the biz I wouldn't be able to afford any of the little extras. Huge props go to my littlest sis (who is considerably taller than me), Pamela, who helped get it all started and is my biggest source of free advertising.

So to celebrate making it through the month, and also cause I've got a few peeps who need a visit, I've been on the lookout for cheap flights to Calgary. I was checking flights every day for a couple of weeks, watching the price go up and down and up and down and up and down and down and down and OMFG I'VE NEVER SEEN PRICES THIS LOW!!! BOOK!! BOOK!! BOOK!! And since I booked I've been watching the prices every day go up and stay up, and am satisfied that the deal I got is the best deal of all time. Good things come to those who wait.

Now I have to go deal with my pumpkins . . .

love, life, and the institute of marriage

2007-09-29T06:31:00.001-07:00

I spoke last night with an old friend, whose phone calls I have, unfortunately, been terrible at returning. Finally connecting, he told me, among other things, he is splitting with his wife. This means the first three friends of mine to marry are now also the first three friends of mine to divorce. This is an unsettling trend.

Paul and I have been together over four years now, and while we have no plans to marry, neither do we have plans to not be together forever. We know several couples who have been together for a shorter (sometimes significantly) period of time than we, who are married - are those relationships more valid than ours? It depends on who you ask. I've certainly felt the 'unmarried shun' from some people, like the invitations addressed to 'Paul and Guest' (what, you think he's going to bring someone other than his common-law partner?), or the uncle of mine who didn't bother to include a picture of Paul on the family tree wall at a family reunion (not that Paul minded - I quite frankly would have liked to escape the wall myself).

Then there was my mother, who, when we made a comment about how the uber catholic grandparents would have been happy only if we had slept in seperate tents while camping, said, "even now that you're married?", and when I reminded her that we weren't, said, "oh yeah. I just feel like you are.".

I know being married is no more a guarantee of longevity in a relationship than not being married isn't, my first three friends to wed a perfect example. I know I don't need other people to validate the bond between Paul and I, and I know a piece of jewellery or a certificate isn't going to increase the strength of that bond. We don't need to stand in front of a crowd of people and profess our love in order for it to be real, but incase our lack of matrimonial status is confusing for any of you, here it is, pure and simple; I love Paul. And Billywilly. And the Bogowogo Man.

you'll have to excuse me, I'm not at my best . . .

2007-09-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

I keep thinking about doing a blog update, but couldn't seem to find the time, until now. I'm recovering from my first cold in over a year which has really flattened me more than I thought it would. The last two nights I went to bed at 7:30 and 9pm respectively, and I think one more night of solid sleep may get me back on my feet.

So, what's been going on? Well . . .

I've started classes at UBC. It's such a different experience than the last three years I've been taking classes at Langara. I feel generally much more relaxed. It's very serene to finish work and then leisurely stroll to classes in buildings I can literally see from work - much different than the mad dash across town, eating while driving, parking then running to class and maybe getting there on time. I don't think I realized how hard that was on me until I stopped doing it. I have, however, developed a bad habit of just working right up until 5 min before my class starts, which means I'm putting in close to an hour of overtime each day. I need to stop doing that. I also need to stop walking back to my office after class, where I inevitably get stopped and asked questions and end up working for another 1/2 hour or so.

The department I'm in is small, only about 1,200 including undergrad and graduate students. It is close knit, and a lot of work is put in to fostering a sense of community - weekly dinners where you hang out with fellow students and professors being just one example. I feel awesome about being in this department, it feels like the right fit, like coming home.

Sitting in lecture halls with 200 - 350 other students, rather than in small classrooms with 40 students max still feels bizarre to me. And I'm paying twice as much for this? Mmmmkay.

So what else?

I got a haircut which I hate. I think there were two problems; my hairdresser and I had our wires crossed when we were discussing the cut, and she was in a rush to get out of there. I was her last appointment of the day, and the person who went before me changed her mind about what she wanted half way through her cut, meaning I was sitting with dripping wet hair waiting for my turn for nearly an hour. Also meaning that my hairdresser, who just returned from mat leave, ended up working much later than she was supposed to and wanted to get the hell out of there and get home to her baby. Anyways, the result is hideous to me. A week has gone by and I still hate it. To me it looks like I had short hair which grew out badly. Anyways, it'll grow and I'll get over it. Pictures will NOT be posted.

And also?

Paul and I celebrated our fourth anniversary together! We did it up proper and went out for a fancy dinner, which thanks to a generous gift certificate from my old calculus tutor, Muna, didn't really break the bank at all. Afterwards we went out dancing and had an awesome time. Good times had by all.

That's pretty much it. Back to studying I go. Chemistry.