The Five-Day Work Week

Believe it or not, this is the first 5-day work week I have worked since the third week of July! This week has gone fast, but when you haven't worked a full week in three months the week seems so long.

So how did I manage to go three months working 4 days a week or less? It's a combination of my flex fridays, long weekends, time off for the wedding and my vacation in Hawaii.

But I made it to Friday, and with Remembrance falling on a Friday this year, I have the next three Fridays off, so another month will go by before my next 5-day work week...

Not A Winner...

I am not $54 million richer, but some lucky schmuck from small-town Alberta is...

I read an article on the CBC website today, outlining the problems past winners have run into. It summarized that winning the lottery does not make your problems go away, and can create new ones.

Here's my [rhetorical] question: since the only problem I have is financial, wouldn't winning the lottery solve that?

One of Many Awesome Things...

You know one thing I love about the Canucks this season? Everytime they score a goal (at home) Elevation is played. That song already gives me a natual high, tie it in the Canucks scoring, well it is just more awesome than words can describe...

My Mistake

The Rick Mercer Report wasn't on last night. In fact the season premier isn't for another two weeks. Oh well.

I enjoyed Da Vinci's City Hall. If you know Vancouver politics well enough, you can actually figure out some of the more obscure plotlines, and place the really story. On the other hand, some of them are pretty obvious...

Books

Time for an update on my reading adventures. During my time in Hawaii I read Vancouver (there is a previous post about this book) and the Red Tent by Anita Diamant:

I am currently reading All That Matters by Wayson Choy (author of the Jade Peony) for my next book club (November 6).

Tuesday Night TV

I don't think I have ever been able to say this - I am looking forward to tonight's television programming - especially the CBC (wait, did Hell just freeze over?).

There's a hockey game on tonight - Canucks vs. Wild, but that is on PPV and we don't have digital, so we will be listening to the game on CKNW. We did have the opportunity to watch tonight's game, but we both passed it up. We must be sick!

So exactly what is on TV tonight that has me looking forward to an evening in front of the tube? The Amazing Race, The Rick Mercer Report and Davinci City Hall (formally Da Vinci's Inquest, next thing we know it will be Da Vinici, Canadian Senator...).

Hawaii 05

I've taken such a long time to post this Blog, because I planning on adding photos. I will post a link when my photos are up online.
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I’m sorry to say I am now back in Vancouver after two, glorious weeks in the Hawaiian Islands. I became very used to the lifestyle there: going to the beach everyday, tanning, swimming – I was in heaven. Now I am home, and it is wet and cold, I can’t show off my tan, because I have to dress warmly – no more running around in bikinis and flip flops; but enough complaining, let me share my trip to Hawaii.

We left Vancouver on September 30th. I didn’t enjoy the first half hour or so of the flight out of Vancouver – it was very turbulent, and I don’t do well with turbulence. Once we were over Oregon though, it settled down, and I even got a good view of Crater Lake and Wizard Island. Considering the number of times I have flown to Los Angeles, I have never seen this geological landmark. All the other times it was either cloudy, dark or I was on the wrong side of the plane.

Since the flight to LA was only two and a half hours, with no movie and no food, Colin and I passed the time by playing cribbage.

This is the first time either of us have had to make a connection through LAX. Usually flying to LA means going to Disneyland – but not this time. Because we were flying on (British Airways) points, we couldn’t book a direct flight from Vancouver. This was mildly frustrating, considering that flying from Vancouver to Hawaii is only about thirty minutes longer than flying from LA to Hawaii. But it was a free flight (courtesy of my parents), so I can’t really complain.

DON’T EVER MAKE A CONNECTION AT LAX IF YOU CAN AVOID IT!

I have never seen such a gong show! We had an hour and half layover in LA. I assumed it would be enough time, except that it took the shuttle to take us from the Alaska Airlines terminal to the American Airlines terminal forty minutes to show up – and this is the only way to get from one terminal to the next, in our case.

I have made connections in many major US airports: SeaTac, O’Hare, DFW – they all have a great system; hop on a monorail and in a few minutes you arrive at your next terminal. This is not the case with LAX. When your shuttle does finally show up, you drive along the runway, dodging food and luggage trucks and breaking for planes taking off and landing.

We thought we finally reached our destination. But no, it was the American Eagle terminal, not the American Airlines terminal. So we hopped on another shuttle and again drove through the maze that is the LAX tarmac.

We had about 45 minutes before boarding by the time we reached our terminal. We scoped out the fast food restaurants and settled on dining at Burger King.



American Airline boasts that their airline has more legroom in economy than any other airline. More legroom my ass! We were in the second to last row of the plane, with a window and centre seat. God we were cramped!

We arrived in Maui at 8:30 PM (Hawaiian time), got our bags and looked into the cost of taking a cab to our hotel (the Maui Lu). It was going to be about $25 for one way, so we looked into renting a car. Good call Colin. While Oahu has an amazing bus system (The Bus), you really need a car to get around Maui, and the price was right.

We hopped into our car, left the airport in Kahalui and headed to our hotel in Kihei.

I quite liked the hotel we stayed in – we had an ocean view, right on the beach and our room turned out to be a loft. Too bad we were only in Maui for two days. I will have to re-think that when we return to Hawaii.

I called Lisa to let her know that we now had car, and she didn’t need to pick us up to drive us to the wedding… Travis’ mum answered the phone and told me that Lisa had gone to the hospital – she had been kicked in the head by a horse! Thank god she was ok.

I woke up early Saturday morning, around 5:30 AM. Of course I was still on Vancouver time, so it was really 8:30 AM, so nothing ridiculously early. I drifted in and out of sleep, until Lisa phoned at 7:30 AM. She filled me in on the previous evening’s events. She also updated us on the wedding plans:

Just before we arrived in Maui, Hurricane Kenneth was bearing down on the Island. By the time we arrived, it had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, but this still threw a wrench in the wedding plans.

The wedding was to take place at a house Travis and Clare rented, near Paia. This part of the island, however, is susceptible to rain, and made it impossible to hold the wedding there. Lisa informed us they we looking into moving the ceremony and dinner to Kihei, which happens to be in a rain shadow area, so is quite dry. Of course, nothing was final.

Since we had all morning and a good chunk of the afternoon, Colin and I went out for breakfast at Stella Blue’s Café. Afterwards we drove along the coast to Lahaina. We returned to the hotel around 1:00 PM to find out about the wedding plans: it was being moved to Kihei, to the Mana Kai, which was about ten minutes away from our hotel. We still had some time so we went for a walk around the hotel grounds and went in search of the Vancouver Monument.

On the beach, next to our hotel a monument has been erected to George Vancouver – it is the spot where he (supposedly) first landed when he came to Hawaii. The monument consists of a large cairn, with inscriptions and two (West Coast) totem poles.

After our walk, we returned to the hotel to get ready for the wedding.

The ceremony was a quiet one (only about 20 people attended, mostly family), on the beach in Kihei. Afterwards, we went to the hotel’s restaurant for dinner. I, of course, ordered the Mahi Mahi (a type of fish, if you were wondering).

Because of Lisa’s accident, Andrew and Lisa decided to leave the house in Paia and return to staying in Kihei, and booked a room at the Mana Kai. Shortly after dinner began Lisa left to go to bed. Andrew offered to drive us to the house in Paia to go to the reception. He followed us to our hotel, where we dropped of our car, and the three of us made our way towards Hana.

The house was gorgeous, unfortunately is was dark (and pouring with rain) so we couldn’t really see the property. There was an outdoor washroom, however, complete with toilet, sink and shower. I would have loved to use the washroom every day (which most of the guests at the house did), and it was surprisingly private.

I had a good time at the reception. Clare and Travis did the traditional cutting of the cake and the first dance. And later in the evening everyone got into dancing, something rarely seen at a house party. I drank a lot that night: I had some sort of tropical concoction at dinner; and back at the house I had a Malibu and Pineapple (you can purchase Malibu Rum at Costco in Hawaii!), a Corona, and 3 glasses of wine. And I was still standing.

We left the party around 1:00 AM and returned to Kihei just after 1:30 AM.

The next morning we got up, packed, checked out and met Lisa and Andrew for breakfast - back to Stella Blue’s Café. After breakfast the four of us checked out Hilo Hattie’s and then said our goodbyes as Colin and I had a flight to catch to Oahu.

We had some time to kill, so we checked out a small shopping mall in Kahalui, filled the car with gas (more like topped it off), and returned the car. While we were waiting for our flight to Honolulu, a ticket person at the gate said anyone flying to Honolulu could hop on an earlier flight – so we did.

Just after we taxied away from the gate it hit me – we were on this flight, but our luggage doesn’t know we were on this flight. So we sat around the airport in Honolulu for 45 minutes waiting for the plane with our luggage on it to arrive. Oops.

We grabbed a shuttle bus to Waikiki and settled into our hotel.
As is often custom for a first day/night of vacation, we decided to explore Waikiki. My grandpa wasn’t kidding when he said there were a lot of ABC stores in Honolulu – there were at least two per block in Waikiki Beach. We ate dinner at Smorgy’s – if you are in Waikiki, don’t ever eat at Smorgy’s. It was a buffet-style restaurant: the salads and desserts were ok, but the main courses were not very appetizing. Our digestive systems paid dearly.

October 3rd was our first, full day in Waikiki. Our hotel offered a buffet breakfast every morning, “breakfast on the beach.” Every morning, between 6:30am and 9:30am, you head down to the pool deck with your insulated lunch bag and fill it with breakfast goodies. We opted to sit by the pool and eat our breakfast every morning, then rent our chairs and towels (free) and literally cross the road and spend our mornings on Waikiki beach.

This particular part of Waikiki Beach, where we were staying, is known as Kuhio Beach. Kuhio Beach has been badly eroded over the years, so a wall was built to stop the erosion of the beach, forming a lagoon. It reminded me a lot of the pool at Kits Beach.

I liked this particular part of the beach because the water inside the wall was calm. Everyday we were at the beach Colin and I would swim out to the wall, where the water was quite rough, and get thrown of the wall by the waves. Lots of fun! We noticed one day, that someone has lost their swimming trunks. No we didn’t see a naked person, but we did see a pair of swim trunks floating in the water.

Later that day (because we have our priorities straight) we went in search of a sports bar that would be airing Wednesday’s Canucks games (Vancouver vs. Phoenix). After only a short while of searching we found one – the Round Table. We were set for Wednesday.

On Tuesday we hiked Diamond Head. Our trip there was our first experience with the Oahu Bus system – the Bus. It only costs $2 (to go anywhere on the Island), and, in most cases, we were able to use our transfers, so transportation was frugal.

Diamond Head is a relatively easy hike, apart from the 100 stairs you have to climb near the top. The hike is well worth it; once you get to the top you see the most amazing view. It was absolutely breathtaking.

On Wednesday we took the bus into downtown Honolulu to check out some of the sites. We walked through a small museum in the Hawaiian Supreme Court and then took a tour of the Iolani Palace – the only royal palace that exists on American soil.

The palace was beautiful with a distinct European style. The Hawaiian king who had it built was a world traveler and wanted to incorporate design and décor from around the world. It was even finished with West Coast cedar.

After our trip into the heart of Honolulu we returned to Waikiki and watched our first Canucks game since game seven, of round one of the 2004 Stanley Cup finals.

On a side note, we were actually at that game. Apparently we were featured on the CBC as 2 disgruntled Canucks’ fans – we were the last to leave our seats at GM Place that night. Anyways, back to Hawaii.

Of course, the Canucks won their season opener.

On Thursday, Colin and I went to Pearl Harbour. It was an awesome experience, apart from the bus ride (it was an hour and a half each way!). We arrived at the Arizona Memorial at 10:30 AM, but had to wait until 12:30 PM for our group to head out there, so we headed over to check out the USS Bowfin.

The USS Bowfin is a World War II sub that was commissioned on December 7, 1942 (exactly one year after the bombing of Pearl Harbour). I could not imagine spending anytime on a sub, but somehow 80 men managed to live, sleep and work on it.

After our tour of the Bowfin we headed back to the Arizona Memorial for our tour. It started with a brief video showing the attack. It actually had footage of the Arizona being hit – the woman next to me jumped out of her seat from the sound of the explosion! After the film, we boarded a boat and made our way to the Memorial. It was very interesting to say the remnants of the Arizona lying eerily in the water. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what Ford Island and Pearl Harbour were like 64 years ago. I tried imagine what the Arizona was like before her tragic end.

After our visit at the Arizona Memorial, we headed over to the USS Missouri. I have been on two aircraft carriers before, but never a battleship. The USS has great significance in [American] history (don’t forgot my degree is in US and 20th century history). It was on this ship the VJ (Victory over Japan) declaration was signed, thus ending the war in the Pacific.

On Friday and Saturday we decided to take a break from site-seeing and spent a couple of relaxing days on Waikiki beach. On Saturday afternoon we retuned to the Round Table for hockey game number two, Vancouver vs. Edmonton, but it was a Saturday and we were in the USA, so all screens were dedicated to football and baseball. With only a few minutes to spare we had to find a new place. The waitress at the Round Table suggested a bar that was only a couple of blocks away – Legends. Does every city of this planet have a sports bar called Legends?

This was one of those situations where something (mildly) disappointing happens, but the end result is so much better than you could have hoped for. This particular sports bar had hockey all the time, $2 Mai Tais and Canucks fans. The day we watched the Canucks-Oilies (not a typo, just my nickname for them) game there were even Edmonton fans there – well, the guy was actually a student from the University of Hawaii, who happened to be from Alberta, but was actually a Flames fan, but was cheering for Edmonton.

So there we were, in a sports bar, in Waikiki, with a good, fun Vancouver-Edmonton rivalry going on.

The Americans thought we were nuts. Who cares, there were more of us than them…

After numerous $2 Mai Tais we stumbled a way to dinner. A couple of guys from Vancouver suggested we try the Shore Bird (I thought they were saying Shoberg). We drunkenly stumbled our way through Waikiki, heading in the right direction, but not absolutely sure of where this place was. But funny things happen when you have been drinking. We were cutting through the Outrigger hotel, when all of a sudden I said (quite loudly) “hey it’s the Shore Bird, oh the Shore Bird not Shoberg, that makes more sense.” Yes in a drunken stupor, we quite accidentally happened upon our destination.

I managed to convince Colin to go shopping with me, so on Sunday we made our way to the Ala Moana shopping center. Definitely a must if you are visiting Honolulu. We bought lots of souvenirs, including macadamia nut honey (which Gavin had asked for).

That evening we went for a run along Waikiki Beach (about our third one). Colin went running more often than I did, but then he is training as part of his application to the police force (either VPD or RCMP). On the beach that night (and the previous evening) they had a huge movie screen set up, and were showing Bend It Like Beckham. We had both seen this movie before, but thought it would be a unique experience to sit on Waikiki beach and watch a movie. So we ran back to the hotel picked up a couple of chairs and towels and enjoyed a movie on the beach. It was unfortunate that we missed Saturday’s show, since they were showing a sneak preview of Wallace and Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which I really want to see. And it was free!

Let me weigh this: see Wallace and Grommit for free on Waikiki Beach or pay $10 to sit in Silver City to see it. Needless to say I was quite disappointed that we missed it.

We spent Canadian Thanksgiving lounging on Waikiki Beach. It made up for missing out on TWO turkey dinners. Guess I will just have to wait for my TWO turkey dinners at Christmas.

We headed back to Legends to watch the Vancouver-Detroit game. Because it was Columbus Day, we were somewhat outnumbered by Americans watching football and baseball, but we still made a good showing, and made a good point to be the loudest in the bar!

October 11 was one of my favourite days – the day we visited the Polynesian Cultural Centre. This was our big, vacation splurge. We decided to buy the Ambassador package which included a round trip coach ride to and from the Centre (it is on the North East part of Oahu, up towards the North Shore), a guided tour, luau, show, leis and other souvenirs.

The Polynesian Cultural Centre is run by Mormons and employs students from Hawaii’s Bringham Young University (which is right next door to the PCC). Before that I thought that there was only one BYU campus – the one in Salt Lake City. You learn something new everyday.

The PCC is a wonderful experience: you visit 6 Polynesian villages: Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga. Each village is recreated to depict what that particular Polynesian country was like, including housing, clothing food and traditions.

After our visit to the Aeotera (New Zealand) village, Colin had gained minor celebrity status for the day. Many of the villages get the audience involved; for instance we learned how to hula in Hawaii (this is also where I tried poi). In Aeotera two audience members were asked to come up and participate in a Maori War dance, not the Haka (which is done before every All Blacks game), but something similar.

Colin stole the show. He had the moves and the vocals down pat, and had the audience hooting and hollering. If you want to see his Maori war dance I have it on video.

Everywhere we went that day people were coming up to him and telling him how great his war dance was. I even overheard some people as we walked passed them say, “that’s the guy from the New Zealand village.” At the luau there were two women at our table from Utah, and one of them was just so excited that Colin was sitting at her table. She touched him and said “I am never washing this hand,” or something along those lines. It was hilarious.

Do you know how to get out taro root stains? I managed to sit in some at the luau and now have a purple stain on my shorts. I got some of it out, but it is still there.

Last Wednesday was our final day at Waikiki Beach. I sat on the beach and read for a record four hours. Later that afternoon we went to Legends to watch our final Canucks game in Hawaii. It was that stinker against Minnesota, a 6-0 loss. Thank god it was raining outside or I would have wasted my second to last day in Hawaii on a crappy hockey game.

For our last day in Hawaii Colin and I went to Hanauma Bay, a nature preserve and popular snorkeling destination. We were there for six hours, swimming with the fishes… I was hoping to see a sea turtle but didn’t manage to find one. I love being in the water, so snorkeling was an excellent idea. It took me a bit to get used to the gear, but once I settled in we were swimming far out; both of us are very strong swimmers so despite the strong tow and large waves, it wasn’t much of a challenge or danger.

It was the perfect way to spend our last day in Hawaii.

Because our flight home left at 8:00 AM, we were up at 4:30 AM to finish packing and be ready for our shuttle at 5:45 AM. The shuttle was 10 minutes late, and we were the first pick-up. We didn’t get to the airport until 6:30 AM, but were advised to be there no later than 6:00 AM. I asked the driver how the American Airlines counter was at the time of morning and he said it wouldn’t be busy. Not busy my ass, the line-up was almost out the door – thank goodness we were flying first class; and our plane was delayed 20 minutes.

The flight back to LAX was much more enjoyable than the flight over, but it helps when you sit in first class. The chairs were big and comfy and we were served food – an anomaly on planes nowadays.

Our breakfast started with fresh fruit and bagels; then, for the main course, we had a choice of frittatas, scrambled eggs or an omelet. A while after breakfast we were served warm, roasted nuts, then milk and cookies. Before we knew it we were in LA for our four hour layover.

We knew we could kill some time transferring terminals, but it wasn’t quite as bad as when we first transferred in LA; except we did almost collide with a baggage truck.

We settled ourselves at our gate and passed the time reading and eating dinner. There was a sports bar in our terminal, but it wasn’t airing the Canucks game. Had they been playing the Kings or Ducks there was a good chance the game would have been aired though. So Colin went back and forth from the gate to the bar to check out the highlights.

After awhile I started to feel cold. The air conditioning was blasting, but little did I know I was suffering from the onset of a cold. When Colin went to get dinner, I asked him to pick me up a Pumpkin Spice latte. I was looking forward to it. Except the Starbucks had closed. All the employees went for a break. WTF?! You are a Starbucks operating in a terminal full of flights going to Vancouver and Seattle and you shut down?!

It was supposed to re-open before my flight left, but never did.

We returned to Vancouver around 11:00 PM, and blew through customs in a record 5 minutes. We waited about 10 minutes for the baggage, and within 20 had two of our three bags, and then the carousel broke down.

We didn’t end up leaving the airport till 12:30 AM.

And here I am, back in Vancouver.

Pineapples and Pumpkins

As you know, from past posts, I was not happy about returning to Vancouver, but my first weekend back in town was a lot of fun.

I woke up Saturday morning and did four loads of laundry (less than I originally expected). After that I met up with Tina for our ritual walk to Marpole and coffee at Starbucks.

Since Saturday was such a nice day (and quite warm), I decided to dress somewhat Hawaiian. I wore a short sleeve top, capri pants and flip flops to show off my tan (which is fading fast), a puka shell necklace and a flower in my hair. Ok I stuck out like a sore thumb, but I was still in Hawaiian mode, and not ready accept the fact that it was Autumn and I was back in Vancouver.

Afterwards I headed over to my parents house for dinner and to give them their presents. I bought them some chocolate covered macadamia nuts and a package of Kona coffee - there is more, but they won't see it until Christmas. I decided to purchase Andrews birthday present in Hawaii: I bought him a Tiki Money God bottle opener and a Hawaiian shirt.

After dinner, Tina and I hooked back up - neither of us could be believe someone was actually free on a Saturday night. Tina needed to buy some things from London Drugs, so we made our way to Kerrisdale. After London Drugs we headed to the Kerrisdale Starbucks, where I purchased my second Pumpkin Spice latte of the day - I had to make up for the Starbucks issue at LAX (will be explained in monster blog entry on Hawaii).

While chatting away at Starbucks, I had a revelation, a Halloween revelation. I finally figured out what I was going to be for Halloween - Batgirl. Fun and functional, since I need to dress up like a super hero for work, so my costume works for both next weekend's parties and our Halloween promotion at work. Tina and decided to get together again the next day and go costume hunting.

I returned home just after 11pm, but stayed up till 3am watching Poltegeist. That is one of the best parts of Halloween - there is a plethora of cheesy horror films on TV.

Early Sunday afternoon, Tina and I started our costume hunt at Bazaar and Novelty (I love this store), where I found my bat ears. After that we headed to Value Village, where we both found all the things needed for our respective costumes.

While waiting in the extremely long line-up for the changing rooms, Lisa called Tina and invited us over to carve pumpkins.

I was definitely missing Hawaii last weekend, but all the Halloween themed fun took my mind off it, a little bit.

Why I Could Never Be a Vegetarian

The weekend before Colin and I left for Hawaii we joined his parents, brother and his brother's fiance for dinner. The decision was made to have dinner at The Naam, a vegetarian restaurant in Kitsilano.

I wasn't sure about eating vegetarian cuisine, but I am not adverse to trying new things, especially food (heck I've eaten haggis and poi) and I didn't really have a say in where we were dining, so the Naam it was; and Colin assured me that there would be something on the menu I would like.

The Naam is an extremely popular restaurant, especially on a Saturday night, so we had to wait to close to an hour before being seated. Someone made the decision though, that we should sit at separate tables, otherwise we would be waiting a lot longer. I was not happy with this decision because it was supposed to be a family outing, but turned into a date night (Colin and I decided to go sit on our own). Now don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my husband, but we were both looking forward to spending time with his family (yes, I actually like my in-laws) and catching up.

The decision to split up added to my unassuredness of the evening.

The waiter came by to order our drinks - I ordered a diet Pepsi - stupid me. I received an almost lecture-like reasoning on why The Naam didn't serve diet Pepsi or any pop for that matter. A simple "we don't serve pop" would have been suffice. So now I was feeling slightly jilted and embarrassed and I hadn't even looked at the menu yet.

I decided to order wine - I had a feeling with the way the night was heading I would need a glass. It was the must disgusting wine I have ever had. Apparently there is vegetarian wine too - but it was dry and bland!

I looked over the menu and most of the dishes looked appetizing. I considered ordering the Agadeshi tofu, since this is a favourite of mine, but decided to be adventurous and ordered a vegetarian enchilada. It was OK. Wasn't bad, wasn't great. It definitely tasted like something was missing though.

We then decided to order dessert. I choose pumpkin pie. You can't mess up pumpkin pie, right? Wrong. It was the most tasteless pie I have ever had. In fact everyone in the family commented on how bland their dessert was.

So I gave vegetarian a try, but never again. I am not a huge meat eater, but it wasn't the lack of meat available (and there was no fish, which I love), it was the lack of taste, in everything.

Rain

I want to go back to Hawaii! I became quite accustomed to hot, sunny weather and starting every day lounging on Waikiki Beach, reading for hours on end.

I think I may have found a place that I like better than Vancouver...

Greetings From Oahu

I have 6 minutes to write this post... Yes, I cracked and decided to hop online during my vacation. I still have an entire week here, for which I am very grateful. The weather is gorgeous and warm, a far cry, I hear, from the weather in Vancouver.

So far we have hiked Diamond Head, checked out Downtown Honolulu, including the Royal Palace and have visited Pearl Harbour. And have spent a few days lounging on Waikiki Beach. We even scoured Waikiki for a sports bar to watch the Canucks game - we found one and caught the game on Wednesday night against Phoenix.

Anyways, I am going to run and get ready to head out for an evening in Waikiki.

Aloha!

Aloha

Our Hawaiian vacation is just around the corner. In 48 hours I will be waking up and leaving for Hawaii and I can't wait.

Right now I am tired and sick. I haven't slept well in a while: I think it's a combination of Kiki returning to Gavin and Jess - I really miss him; excitement about my upcoming vacation and the fact I have a lot to get through at work before I leave tomorrow afternoon. I am worried about my cold. Colin had it last week and was quite sick. Yesterday I had a bit of a fever and today I am congested and have the inklings of a soar throat. I can't miss work to recoop though, especially since I am leaving for a 2-week vacation.

Right now there is construction going on right out side my office. The city has been repaving Main Street all summer and now they are at my section, repaving between 10th & 15th. Currently they are right outside my window - it reeks of tar and the whole building is shaking and as the trucks keep rolling up and down the street.

I am hoping they get the section between 15th and King Ed done while I am away - that way it won't affect my commute home!

Time With the Girls

This past weekend was spent almost entirely with my girlfriends: it was a Croftie reunion weekend of sorts, even though we do see each other a lot.

I met up with Thalia on Friday evening and started our night at Oakridge. Thalia had to pick up a christening gift for her niece and wanted to see what the Birks at Oakridge had. After that we grabbed some dinner and stopped by Rogers Video on the way back to my place.

I have to tell you, I have never seen the Marpole Rogers Video as busy as it was this particular Friday, and I have been going to that location for almost 5 years now - since Colin moved to Marpole. We lined up for about 10-15 minutes. Usually you only have to wait a few minutes, even on a Friday or Saturday night.

We rented Monster-in-Law. Considering we are both newlyweds we thought it would be an appropriate choice, but I will throw this disclaimer in here - we lucked out in the mother-in-law department. They are far from Jane Fonda's character in the movie. I actually enjoyed the movie. It was silly, but quite funny; and I don't mind Jennifer Lopez as an actress. Can't stand her as a singer though.

After the movie we looked at my photos. So far I have about 800 in the computer; haven't seen all the print ones yet, either. Needless to say I have yet to tackle organizing the wedding photos.

Colin and I spend time together most Saturday nights, but this Saturday he and Andrew were heading out to Travis' stag, so Lisa and I hooked up while our husbands were out partying.

We started the evening at Kisha Poppo for a sushi dinner and the headed over to Silver City - Riverport to catch Just Like Heaven. We both love all types of movies, but saw this evening as a good opportunity to catch a "chick flick." I really enjoyed the movie: it was cute and humourous. We didn't have any solid plans for after the movie so we decided to head out to White Rock to drop in on Mark's birthday party. It was a pretty quiet affair, just the usual guys hanging around the house.

We showed up at the right time. The guys were about to head out to Langley to go to the casino, but Tina didn't feel like going, so the three of us went to Starbucks. I had no idea how late Starbucks in Surrey are open. We were there till just before 1am.

We had a great time chit-chatting, gossiping and planning a Halloween party. I am very excited about the party, since Halloween is my favourite time of year, yet I never seem to have a Halloween party to go to. Now I have to come up with a good costume. I will only have a couple of weeks to put it together when I return from Hawaii, so I guess I will have to use my two weeks of lying on Waikiki Beach to come up with a killer idea for a Halloween costume.

On Sunday evening I met Thalia and Lisa at Benny's on Broadway for coffee. Tina couldn't make it out - mouse problems... It was a fun evening. I saw Jovo there with a friend. We said a brief hello and goodbye.

Only 8 days till I leave for Hawaii...

The Week Behind

This week had been a long week and a short week. Again my five-day week dissipated into four days, but for a very sad reason.

A very close friend of ours sister passed away suddenly last Thursday. She was my age, just a few weeks older than me. The frightening part is, the autopsy showed no reason for her death. Colin and I traveled to Victoria Tuesday night to be with our friend and his family, and to attend the memorial service on Wednesday.

But the rest of my week has been good. It has gone quickly, and I have been busy today which has made the day go very fast - my weekend starts in just over an hour.

I went to the SIN office this morning to finally update my SIN card. God, Canadian Government employees are the laziest bunch of sods I have ever met. I arrived at the office at 9:30 - it opened at 9:00. There were only about 5 other people there, but everyone was waiting. Finally, at 10:00, the wickets opened and the line started moving. After that it only took about 10 minutes to get to me, and only a few minutes to hand in my info. But I had to wait 30 minutes on top of that, because everyone seemed to be on a coffee break!

Tonight Thalia and I are going to hang out - it has been a few weeks, so I am sure we will have lots of gossip to catch up on.

Tomorrow night Colin and Andrew are going to Travis' stag, so Lisa and I are going to hang out. I don't think I have seen her since the wedding, so it will be fun to catch up.

Two weeks today I will be on a plane to Hawaii!

Burnin' Burns Bog

I was driving along Denman Street last night, on my way to the North Shore for my book club, when I had the sinking feeling that I had left the oven on, after baking a cake last night. But considering I was almost at the Lions Gate I chalked it up to that fleeting feeling you sometimes get and enjoyed my evening.

As I got close to home, however, I could smell smoke in the air. But it wasn't my apartment on fire (I did turn off the oven) - it was Burns Bog.

This morning I woke up to find ash all over my car and later in the morning, at work, it smelled like the bingo hall was on fire, but it was the bog - the winds were blowing all the smoke and ash towards downtown.

There is a strange haze in the air and I can still smell the smoke. Because it is a pete bog, Burns Bog could be burning for days. This is not the first time this has happened, however. Apparently the bog caught fire in 1996, but I don't remember it at all.

A Crazy Weekend

Friday was a slight improvement on Thursday. It wasn't a bad day, just a frustrating one. We got up Friday morning and met with Travis who opened us a joint account at Vancity. Another thing done on the long list of post-wedding things to do.

After that we went out for lunch with Travis, which we both really enjoyed. I haven't seen him in awhile, so it was fun to sit down with him and chat. After that Colin and I headed to Kerrisdale so I could go to the Royal Bank and finalize my name change on my account. It took about 15 minutes, but was pretty straight forward. After that we headed out to Surrey.

I also wanted to change my SIN number that day. There are SIN offices much closer to me than the one in Surrey, but Colin also needed to go to the CGRA office of which there is only one - in Surrey.

So I found a SIN office out there, which is relatively close to, but funnily enough, not in the same Government building as the CGRA office. I checked online as to what I would need to change my name on my SIN card - all it said was I would need an original of my marriage certificate - in the section referring to name change it did not say anything about my birth certificate or some other Government document to identify that I am, indeed, a Canadian citizen. I was highly pissed, but luckily I didn't have to wait in line - not like at the CGRA office and this where the frustration kicks in.

Colin had a pretty simple question to ask CGRA, so he called them. They said they couldn't answer it, and he would have to go to the local CGRA office. So we sat in the office for an hour. Now it seems that every time I am in a Government office, usually renewing my passport, I wait and wait and wait. Everyone in front of me takes forever, yet, when it is finally my turn, I am in and out in five minutes! And this is exactly what happened on Friday. After an hour of waiting it was finally Colin's turn. We talked to the agent for about 5 minutes, she answered the two questions Colin had - but here's the kicker - these were the most standard questions, and yet someone in Ottawa couldn't give Colin the answer over the phone and made us sit in a government office in Whalley for an hour!

Friday night was both hectic and relaxing. We finished putting away our presents, but the apartment was mess: boxes, tissue paper, bags and bits of Styrofoam everywhere. But at this point we were too tired to deal with it, so we left it and enjoyed the evening.

Yesterday I got up to go shopping with Mum and Colin headed off to an info session with the VPD. That afternoon we cleaned up the garbage left from the wedding presents. Last night we saw The Constant Gardener - excellent movie, except we were stuck sitting in the 2nd row from the front, which took some enjoyment out of the movie. Following the movie we went out for all you can eat sushi.

Tonight I am heading over to North Van for my book club - we are reading Couldn't Keep it to Myself by Wally Lamb. I finished it a month ago, so I hope I remember it!

A Bad Night

It has been a long time since I have had a night like this. It has been nothing overly bad, just a lot of small things that seemed to be the result of the previous small, bad thing... it all started a few hours ago when I went to Curves.

Today was my weigh in day. I was quite excited as I have been feeling and looking better - yet somehow I now weigh more and have a higher body fat percentage than when I started in February! How the hell did that happen! Especially since I look slimer, haven't gained any of the inches back... So that put me in a foul mood.

I decided during my workout I would go to the tanning salon after. I haven't been in about 6 weeks, and my tan is starting to fade. At this time of year I usually let my tan fall to the wayside, but since I am going to Hawaii in 3 weeks, I don't want to have to start from scratch (tanning-wise) when I get there.

I arrived there to find out that the hours of my tanning salon have changed. It used to be open till 9PM every week night - now it's only open till 9PM on Monday, Wednesday and Friday - it's Thursday and had closed at 6PM!

I decided to make taco salad tonight. After discovering the tanning salon was closed, I headed over to Safeways to pick up a couple of ingredients: avacado and taco chips. I was certain I had all the other ingredients at home.

Of course, I only decided while at Curves to make taco salad for dinner, so I had to thaw the meat out when I got home. In order to speed up this process I throw the frozen meat (in its ziploc bag) into a pot of hot water. But, as I got the pot out of the cupboard all the pot lids proceeded to fall and broke my Brown Betty (teapot).

With the evening I had been having this sent me to tears.

Our apartment is a mess right now because we are in the middle of a "spring" clean and trying to find somewhere to put our wedding presents. You'd think with 1200 square feet of space that wouldn't even be an issue, but that is a whole other entry.

In order to make some space in the kitchen so I could prepare dinner I did the dishes that were sitting in the sink. In doing that I managed to chip one of our new bowls - I only used it for the first time this morning.

Then when I went to collect the ingredients to make the salad I noticed there was no lettuce.

A few foul words came out of my mouth at this point, but I didn't feel like going back to Safeways just for a head of lettuce, so I made it without lettuce and put in extra tomato.

I'm not a big fan of lettuce anyways.

Since then things seem to be going smoothly. But I haven't checked the clothes in the dryer yet...

I hope tomorrow is a better day!

Back in the Swing

The wedding is nearly a month behind us now, and our lives have returned to normal. Or as normal as can be, which includes actually doing something with my volunteer positions for the sorority, which I have neglected for months - both locally and internationally.

Because I am a gluton for punishment I have been volunteering since graduating in 2001. Actually, I really do love what I do, which is why I am still doing it and there have been some great perks.

I started off as a Membership Development Advisor for our Eastern Canada/Eastern NY Region. I stayed in this position from April 2001 - September 2002. Over the summer of 2002, the role of the Regional volunteer changed, requiring more of us, including traveling. Traveling from Vancouver to back east is highly inconvenient and expensive, so it worked well for everyone when I took up a vacant position in the BC/California/Texas region. I volunteered as a Membership Recruitment Advisor until January 2005, when I took over as Regional Coordinator for that region. But just as I was getting settled into my new position, the whole system changed again and the entire regional system was done away with.

The regions were disbanded and small groups of chapters were placed together to form Clusters. Only one volunteer would be in charge of a cluster - the Chapter Operations Specialist - basically all regional positions rolled into one.

So now I am a COS for Texas.

I have had this position since May - I started actually doing stuff for it today. Of course no one is in school over the summer, but that is no excuse on my part; however my summer was consumed with the wedding. But that has been over for a month, so I have taken my time to look at my new position and get into contact with those I will be working with...

On an entirely different note, Gavin and Jess are moving into Kai's condo in Kits. Gavin is over at our place now emptying us out of house and home - which is fine by me, because we have nowhere to store our wedding presents. Currently it looks like The Bay exploded all over our living room, and front hall, and kitchen and....

The sad and hard thing with Gavin moving into his own place is that we have to give back Kiki, his cat. We have been Kiki-sitting since April and after five months I have grown extremely attached to the cat. But he is sticking around for a few more days, while Gavin and Jess get settled into their new place.

I am glad it is only a three-day work week for me. Usually I have plenty to do at work, but this is one of those weeks, and today is one of those days where I have absolutely nothing to do and am bored out off my skull.

Remember the scene from LA Story - "Bored Beyond Belief."

I am thankful these borning work days and few and far between.

Book Worm

I love to read. It is one of my favourite pastimes, especially now that I am done with school and have time to read what I want to read. Currently, I am a member of my sorority's alumnae association's book club, which means at least one new book a month for me to read. I usually have more on the go - right now I have three.

I have decided to post the books I have read since joining my book club. I got this idea from Glenscotia's blog, and I thought it was a neat one. So, if you like to read there may be something here that interests you...

I will start with the three I currently have on the go:


And now the rest; the most recent to way back when...

• Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Fowler
• The Birth of Venus - Sarah Dunant
• Tuesdays with Morrie - Mitch Album
• Wicked - Gregory McGuire
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon
• The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
• Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
• Drowning Ruth - Christina Schwarz
• The Bonesetter's Daughter - Amy Tan
• Can You Keep a Secret - Sophie Kinsella
• A Woman of Passion - Virginia Henley
• Sushi for Beginners - Marian Keyes
• Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks
• Prague - Arthur Phillips
• How To Be Good - Nick Hornby
• Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
• Atonement - Ian McEwan

New Orleans is Sinking...

How frightening that the Hip's hit song has come true. I cannot believe my eyes and ears when I see and hear what has happened to New Orleans. I can't imagine ever being in a situation like that. And I hope I never am. What has happened to those people in Louisiana and Mississippi I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemy.

Many different groups have speculated over the cause of Hurricane Katrina. It was a normal hurricane when it passed through Miami - so what the hell happened as it made its way across the Gulf? Mother Nature getting mad is what happened. The reason why Katrina became the destructive hurricane that she did was due to an increase in ocean temperature. Hurricanes are fed by warm water, so when the water is a couple degrees warmer than usual, bad things are bound to happen.

The pro-life groups believe that abortionists and pro-choicers are being punished for their bad "deeds." Apparently the destruction left in Biloxi and other Mississippi towns looked like a fetus. I am not kidding you - this is what some people believe.

Here is my theory though, which many seem to agree with: the ferocity of the hurricane was fueled by Global Warming. I am not an environmental nut; however there definately have been some warming trends and strange weather patterns over the past few years to open even the most skeptical eyes. And I am not a religious person, but I do believe in Karma - the United States government refuses to take action to deal with pollution. They didn't sign Kyoto, and according to George Bush, early in his first administration: "We are blessed with coal..."

I am certainly not saying that the people of New Orleans deserved what they got by any means, but the US government is the world's super power and they certainly have not set any good examples since George Bush came to power. Maybe they can redeem themselves for the mess in Iraq by taking action at home and becoming more environmentally cautious. Reducing emissions and other pollutants does make a difference and you can see results in your lifetime. Take, for example, BC's aircare program: In it's first 10 years it reduced [vehicle] emissions by 35%.

I digress, however. As a student of history it is hard to see what has happened to New Orleans. I have always wanted to visit the "Big Easy." Go see the French Quarter and the Garden District. I know New Orleans is one of my dad's favourite cities, and he and my mum were planning on visiting it next Spring - it won't be the same place. I doubt it will be ever again.