Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Victoria. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Christopher is excited like a puppy
Chris is excited because it looks like the rest of Canada outside now. Also: snow day!
Thursday, August 12, 2010
This entire city is nuts
You know, you go away for a while and you start thinking maybe this city isn't as weird as you've built it up to be.
And then you come home and first discover that your church's landlords are kicking you guys out in favour of another church group that is offering way more money. The crazy thing is that the building you've been renting belongs now to a yoga business, and so, when you're trying to explain the situation to people, you realise that the story boils down to money-minded yogis playing two groups of elderly church ladies off of each other, and that the cast of characters is just so very Victoria. Because do we have any residents other than yoga practitioners and elderly church ladies? I guess we have homeless people as well.*
And then, in the same day, you realise that in the time that you were gone, your neighbours acquired Illegal Chickens. As in: they now own chickens, which violates your municipality's bylaws because their lot is too small, but that's the cause of a big fight right now anyway, because every other municipality in this area allow chickens more freely, a fight that reached the point that people brought chickens to a city council meeting last winter. And so there's a good chance that these are Civil Disobedience Chickens.
Yogis, elderly church ladies and Civil Disobedience Chickens (not to mention rabbits that cause court battles): this is my life in Victoria, and it constantly amuses me.
* On a serious note, our little church is looking for a new home for the first time in 41 years. It's the end of an era. We're racing around trying to find a suitable spot by the end of the month, or else we'll be meeting in members' homes. On the positive side, we're taking this as an opportunity to find a more suitable home for the church, one that is more accessible for our elderly members (where they don't have to navigate steep steps to get to the bathroom), and where Chris and I don't have to clean up gross messes after community dances and battles of the bands.
And then you come home and first discover that your church's landlords are kicking you guys out in favour of another church group that is offering way more money. The crazy thing is that the building you've been renting belongs now to a yoga business, and so, when you're trying to explain the situation to people, you realise that the story boils down to money-minded yogis playing two groups of elderly church ladies off of each other, and that the cast of characters is just so very Victoria. Because do we have any residents other than yoga practitioners and elderly church ladies? I guess we have homeless people as well.*
And then, in the same day, you realise that in the time that you were gone, your neighbours acquired Illegal Chickens. As in: they now own chickens, which violates your municipality's bylaws because their lot is too small, but that's the cause of a big fight right now anyway, because every other municipality in this area allow chickens more freely, a fight that reached the point that people brought chickens to a city council meeting last winter. And so there's a good chance that these are Civil Disobedience Chickens.
Yogis, elderly church ladies and Civil Disobedience Chickens (not to mention rabbits that cause court battles): this is my life in Victoria, and it constantly amuses me.
* On a serious note, our little church is looking for a new home for the first time in 41 years. It's the end of an era. We're racing around trying to find a suitable spot by the end of the month, or else we'll be meeting in members' homes. On the positive side, we're taking this as an opportunity to find a more suitable home for the church, one that is more accessible for our elderly members (where they don't have to navigate steep steps to get to the bathroom), and where Chris and I don't have to clean up gross messes after community dances and battles of the bands.
Sunday, August 08, 2010
My Soggy Saturday Morning
This morning, Chris and I grabbed our umbrellas, drove and picked up Ky, and then headed up the peninsula to a farmers' market. We'd arranged to do this on our trip back here, because we'd neither the time nor the space to stop at fruit stands in the Okanagan (I miss you, many kinds of apricots and cherries that I didn't even know existed before!). The next best thing was to check out the farmers' market, since we'd never been to one on the Island before.
It ended up being the first rainy day in a very long time. We didn't mind so much, since we all had umbrellas. And everyone at the farmers' market was extra chatty, because there were fewer customers because of the rain. (Chris in particular loved this. He went there dressed from head to toe in Saskatchewan Roughrider paraphernalia, including a giant green golf umbrella, and so he got to talk football with CFL fans, and meet a few people from Saskatchewan too.)
A few observations:
1.) There was a live music performance (this part is the same as the one in Regina), which featured women in long skirts, one of whom was playing a tenor recorder (this part is different from the one in Regina). When I saw the tenor recorder, I may have shouted, "Awww, sweet!"
2.) Farmers' markets out here are lacking in Hutterites. I really missed the Hutterite-run booths you get in Saskatchewan farmers' markets. Those ones are my favourites.
3.) It's really hard to balance an umbrella and a bag of produce while fishing money out of your wallet. I am uncoordinated.
4.) This is the same as every farmers' market and fruit stand I visited, but it's really a good thing that I don't bring too much cash to stuff like that. I could spend a lot of money on fresh food.
5.) Tea is the nicest thing in the world after you've been standing in the rain for an hour.
I'm glad we went, and I want to check out some more farmers' markets over the next couple of months. The food we bought completely made my day. We bought cheese curds! Ones that are so fresh that they squeak in your teeth! (And we made poutine for supper!) I'm also excited about the blackberry vinaigrette that I made from the berries Chris bought. (I did question Chris about purchasing berries that can be picked for free in this city's parks. He justified the purchase by saying that they were inexpensive and he didn't feel like going berrying this week.)
(My intention was to take a picture and write a more coherent post about this morning, but my hands were too full with my umbrella to take out my camera, and it's now bedtime and so I'll have to just let this post be choppy and stream-of-consciousness.)
It ended up being the first rainy day in a very long time. We didn't mind so much, since we all had umbrellas. And everyone at the farmers' market was extra chatty, because there were fewer customers because of the rain. (Chris in particular loved this. He went there dressed from head to toe in Saskatchewan Roughrider paraphernalia, including a giant green golf umbrella, and so he got to talk football with CFL fans, and meet a few people from Saskatchewan too.)
A few observations:
1.) There was a live music performance (this part is the same as the one in Regina), which featured women in long skirts, one of whom was playing a tenor recorder (this part is different from the one in Regina). When I saw the tenor recorder, I may have shouted, "Awww, sweet!"
2.) Farmers' markets out here are lacking in Hutterites. I really missed the Hutterite-run booths you get in Saskatchewan farmers' markets. Those ones are my favourites.
3.) It's really hard to balance an umbrella and a bag of produce while fishing money out of your wallet. I am uncoordinated.
4.) This is the same as every farmers' market and fruit stand I visited, but it's really a good thing that I don't bring too much cash to stuff like that. I could spend a lot of money on fresh food.
5.) Tea is the nicest thing in the world after you've been standing in the rain for an hour.
I'm glad we went, and I want to check out some more farmers' markets over the next couple of months. The food we bought completely made my day. We bought cheese curds! Ones that are so fresh that they squeak in your teeth! (And we made poutine for supper!) I'm also excited about the blackberry vinaigrette that I made from the berries Chris bought. (I did question Chris about purchasing berries that can be picked for free in this city's parks. He justified the purchase by saying that they were inexpensive and he didn't feel like going berrying this week.)
(My intention was to take a picture and write a more coherent post about this morning, but my hands were too full with my umbrella to take out my camera, and it's now bedtime and so I'll have to just let this post be choppy and stream-of-consciousness.)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Looking more like a local
Until today, we had Saskatchewan plates on our car. When we moved out here, I read through all the requirements for students living out of province, and I did everything that Saskatchewan's auto insurance company required. We kept renewing our plates and buying insurance, and then some friends of ours were in an accident and found out that the province had stopped covering married students (but their brokers didn't stop selling insurance to married out-of-province students).
And so today we went and got BC license plates. It wasn't too much work to import our car: Chris always makes sure that our car gets properly maintained, and so the only thing that didn't pass inspection was a small burnt-out light bulb that illuminates the plates. Which cost $2 to replace. Getting the insurance took some work, but we found a good company, and we aren't paying too much money because we both have been driving for more than ten years, with good driving records.
But it's all so strange. Our Saskatchewan plates made us stand out around here. It was so easy to find our car, and it was an easy way to show people that, while we may live here, we aren't from here. We're permanent residents of another province, and we think that this province is insane. We still get to keep our Saskatchewan permanent residency as long as I'm a student, but not very many people look at my health card or my tax forms. It feels like we've given up a part of the prairies.
Chris is especially sad because we can't have our Saskatchewan Roughrider front plate anymore. BC requires two license plates, and so our Rider plate is now in the back window. He'd been hoping to get the real Roughrider license plates this summer, and then he found out that we had to give up Saskatchewan plates altogether. It was a sad, sad day in Christopher land.
I'm just glad that I know that we'll be fine if we're in a car accident now. But with a Toyota with BC license plates? Our car just became much, much harder to find in a Victoria parking lot.
And so today we went and got BC license plates. It wasn't too much work to import our car: Chris always makes sure that our car gets properly maintained, and so the only thing that didn't pass inspection was a small burnt-out light bulb that illuminates the plates. Which cost $2 to replace. Getting the insurance took some work, but we found a good company, and we aren't paying too much money because we both have been driving for more than ten years, with good driving records.
But it's all so strange. Our Saskatchewan plates made us stand out around here. It was so easy to find our car, and it was an easy way to show people that, while we may live here, we aren't from here. We're permanent residents of another province, and we think that this province is insane. We still get to keep our Saskatchewan permanent residency as long as I'm a student, but not very many people look at my health card or my tax forms. It feels like we've given up a part of the prairies.
Chris is especially sad because we can't have our Saskatchewan Roughrider front plate anymore. BC requires two license plates, and so our Rider plate is now in the back window. He'd been hoping to get the real Roughrider license plates this summer, and then he found out that we had to give up Saskatchewan plates altogether. It was a sad, sad day in Christopher land.
I'm just glad that I know that we'll be fine if we're in a car accident now. But with a Toyota with BC license plates? Our car just became much, much harder to find in a Victoria parking lot.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday Baby Bunny Blogging
Saturday, April 03, 2010
I always end up blogging during the lull
Chris is buying supplies for tomorrow's Easter Egg Hunt and our Easter Sunday dinner. (Wow, is our wee house ever going to be full tomorrow.) Meg, Karl and the wee Andrew are on the Island already, but haven't arrived at my house yet. I'm sitting beside a pile of laundry that needs folding and have Jacques Pépin on the TV in front of me.
I like these little lulls during busy holidays. Yesterday we were gone for most of the day, and surrounded by people: a city-wide Good Friday service at an arena with 1400 people, lunch at a barbeque place, an afternoon with Ariann. It all seemed even busier because we were in the middle of a wind storm that knocked the power out at our house for four hours, and caused crazy damage all across the city.
Yesterday was a good day, and tomorrow will be lovely, but I'm thankful for the lull right now.
I like these little lulls during busy holidays. Yesterday we were gone for most of the day, and surrounded by people: a city-wide Good Friday service at an arena with 1400 people, lunch at a barbeque place, an afternoon with Ariann. It all seemed even busier because we were in the middle of a wind storm that knocked the power out at our house for four hours, and caused crazy damage all across the city.
Yesterday was a good day, and tomorrow will be lovely, but I'm thankful for the lull right now.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
And like that, they were gone
It seems surreal to me that Mom and Dad were here this morning, now that they're gone. I've settled back into my old routine, and it's odd now to realise that my parents were actually at my house, and that they were here for a week. It also seems strange to me that it's Saturday again already; I'm pretty sure that was the fastest week ever.
The sun was shining yesterday and today, and so we ended up getting a little bit of nice weather at the end. I'm glad for that, because it even snowed this week. But yesterday we had a nice day and we drove around and took pictures of the ocean. That was Dad's only request for how he wanted to spend his last day: to drive somewhere where he could look at the ocean.
...those are pretty much the deepest thoughts you'll get from me right now. I purposely didn't use my SAD lamp today, so that I'd be really sleepy tonight and go to bed early (thanks to the stupid Daylight Savings Time and the loss of a whole hour from my night).
The sun was shining yesterday and today, and so we ended up getting a little bit of nice weather at the end. I'm glad for that, because it even snowed this week. But yesterday we had a nice day and we drove around and took pictures of the ocean. That was Dad's only request for how he wanted to spend his last day: to drive somewhere where he could look at the ocean.
...those are pretty much the deepest thoughts you'll get from me right now. I purposely didn't use my SAD lamp today, so that I'd be really sleepy tonight and go to bed early (thanks to the stupid Daylight Savings Time and the loss of a whole hour from my night).
Monday, March 08, 2010
Today was a big day
I took Mom to all my favourite spots downtown today (read: tea shops, A Little Bit of Hanoi,* the touristy parts of Chinatown, and Capital Iron). It was so fun; we got so much tea, and Mom got a nice purse from Chinatown and some scarves from A Little Bit of Hanoi. Mom had me take her picture all over downtown.
And then when I got home, Chris and Dad were building robots, which means that Dad had a lot of firsts today:
1.) He saw the Johnson Street Bridge raise to let a sailboat through ("That's amazing!" he keeps saying.)
2.) Pocky
3.) Lego Mindstorm
4.) Pulled pork sandwiches
It was a pretty big day for Dad. He's in a good mood after all that. (He's also getting all geared up to go visit his mom's cousin who lives up island. We call her Precious Pat, and she's the sweetest little thing. I'm excited to see her Hobbit Hole house again.)
Now I'm going to put my feet up and have another cup of tea, since I was walking all day. I'm going to have more of my new tea: Murchies has a new blend of tea that they released in time for the Olympics (and so they called it the 2010 blend). Darjeeling with jasmine? Yes please.
* By the way, anyone who is anywhere near Victoria should a.) check out that link above, and b.) go see Luanne at A Little Bit of Hanoi in Market Square. She's the best. She always remembers me when we go to see her store, and today she hugged me when she saw me and immediately guessed that it was my Mom that I'd brought.
And then when I got home, Chris and Dad were building robots, which means that Dad had a lot of firsts today:1.) He saw the Johnson Street Bridge raise to let a sailboat through ("That's amazing!" he keeps saying.)
2.) Pocky
3.) Lego Mindstorm
4.) Pulled pork sandwiches
It was a pretty big day for Dad. He's in a good mood after all that. (He's also getting all geared up to go visit his mom's cousin who lives up island. We call her Precious Pat, and she's the sweetest little thing. I'm excited to see her Hobbit Hole house again.)
Now I'm going to put my feet up and have another cup of tea, since I was walking all day. I'm going to have more of my new tea: Murchies has a new blend of tea that they released in time for the Olympics (and so they called it the 2010 blend). Darjeeling with jasmine? Yes please.
* By the way, anyone who is anywhere near Victoria should a.) check out that link above, and b.) go see Luanne at A Little Bit of Hanoi in Market Square. She's the best. She always remembers me when we go to see her store, and today she hugged me when she saw me and immediately guessed that it was my Mom that I'd brought.
Saturday, March 06, 2010
Ready to go to bed and it's only 8:45...
...but it's good having my parents here. We had a warm and sunny day today, and so Mom, Dad and I sat out in my backyard without any jackets, enjoying the sun and playing with Dad's GPS and my camera. The furthest afield we got was to the beach by my house, but that was perfect on such a sunny and clear day: we watched sailboats and people running around in shorts, and marveled at the fact that it's just the first weekend of March.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Finally feel like I live in a regular Canadian city
I swear this is my last post about the Olympics. (One more note: figure skating, I will miss you most of all! I've been watching CTV's ice dancing videos to remedy my Olympics withdrawal.) Yesterday was such a funny day in this city. For the first time, it felt like I was living somewhere like Regina. I had to miss the first part of the gold medal hockey game, because Chris had promised one of the old ladies from church that we'd go out for Sunday lunch with her.
The restaurant we went to -- a favourite among this city's seniors -- is usually crowded on Sunday for lunch. We'd attempted to go there with the same lady once before, but she hadn't made reservations and the line-up was out the door. Yesterday, the place was nearly empty. We arrived really early for our reservation and they seated us right away because no one had had our table before us.
I'd been worried that I'd have no idea what was going on with the game. I'd considered having my sister text-message me with updates, but we both forgot our cellphones on Sunday. (Which is for the best, because that would not have been so polite.) However, we didn't have to worry; we knew whenever Canada got a goal. An old man with an ancient transistor radio at his table sent Chris hand signals to update him on the score. When I went to get dessert, I could hear the kitchen staff shouting to the wait staff, "Now the score's 2-1!" It reminded me of being at a store or restaurant in Regina during a major football game; everyone's interested and is keeping each other updated.
I rushed to Ky's house (where we were planning on watching movies for the afternoon), and even she was willing to watch the rest of the game with me. We hardly breathed through the last few minutes. After we watched the gold medals being handed out, we went to the grocery store. Everywhere we went, there were people honking their horns and waving Canadian flags. Ky honked her horn back at them and we cheered with everyone else as we drove downtown. The first grocery store was on Douglas Street (which ended up being partially shuts down for celebration), and so we could hear the constant honking through the whole store. In the second grocery store, closer to the University, someone ran through the store cheering, and the cashiers starting cheering along with them.
Some days, I love how different this city is, that you usually see everyone in the city come together over mid-summer festivals where everyone's dressed like fairies and pirates. But some days, I love when we all come together like that and I feel like we're in just another Canadian city. It feels like home on those days.
(P.S. Would you believe that 80% of this entire country watched at least part of the game? I'm normally not a hockey fan, but that's just so cool.)
The restaurant we went to -- a favourite among this city's seniors -- is usually crowded on Sunday for lunch. We'd attempted to go there with the same lady once before, but she hadn't made reservations and the line-up was out the door. Yesterday, the place was nearly empty. We arrived really early for our reservation and they seated us right away because no one had had our table before us.
I'd been worried that I'd have no idea what was going on with the game. I'd considered having my sister text-message me with updates, but we both forgot our cellphones on Sunday. (Which is for the best, because that would not have been so polite.) However, we didn't have to worry; we knew whenever Canada got a goal. An old man with an ancient transistor radio at his table sent Chris hand signals to update him on the score. When I went to get dessert, I could hear the kitchen staff shouting to the wait staff, "Now the score's 2-1!" It reminded me of being at a store or restaurant in Regina during a major football game; everyone's interested and is keeping each other updated.
I rushed to Ky's house (where we were planning on watching movies for the afternoon), and even she was willing to watch the rest of the game with me. We hardly breathed through the last few minutes. After we watched the gold medals being handed out, we went to the grocery store. Everywhere we went, there were people honking their horns and waving Canadian flags. Ky honked her horn back at them and we cheered with everyone else as we drove downtown. The first grocery store was on Douglas Street (which ended up being partially shuts down for celebration), and so we could hear the constant honking through the whole store. In the second grocery store, closer to the University, someone ran through the store cheering, and the cashiers starting cheering along with them.
Some days, I love how different this city is, that you usually see everyone in the city come together over mid-summer festivals where everyone's dressed like fairies and pirates. But some days, I love when we all come together like that and I feel like we're in just another Canadian city. It feels like home on those days.
(P.S. Would you believe that 80% of this entire country watched at least part of the game? I'm normally not a hockey fan, but that's just so cool.)
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Today I got stuck in a rose bush
I can't believe how much I've done since I last posted.
First, Chris got sick. In true Chris fashion, he became spectacularly sick within the course of a couple of hours on Thursday, becoming the second sickest I've ever seen him, and then was nearly better by Friday evening. (The sickest I've seen him was when he hallucinated that his blankets were Russians revolutionaries who were trying to overthrow him.) I got to go guest lecture at his school on Friday while he stayed on the couch and watched Wrath of Khan.
Then, I did the two guest lectures on Friday and Monday. The kids were excited and so fun, and asked better questions than a lot of university students do. And when I brought up the slide with the most important words that we were going to recite together ("HITLER WAS NEVER ELECTED"), they (and Derek, their teacher) all shouted out the words that Chris taught them: "Hitler was elected in a free and democratic election!" As revenge, I told them to tell Chris that they don't believe in photosynthesis.
And THEN, Chris's brother (who I fondly call "Geoffy") has been here since Saturday morning and is leaving tomorrow. His visit has been simultaneously hilarious and exhausting, especially since he's here for such a short time and he's never been here before. I'm not used to doing more than one thing a day anymore, and we've been booking ourselves solid. (They were whale watching within a couple of hours of Geoff's arrival.) Today's probably been our most relaxed day (Geoff and I spent half the day watching the Olympics), and even today we went walking to Willow's Beach, a walk which resulted in us getting a wee bit lost because we thought we'd explore a bit, and then I got stuck in a rose bush in a park that was much larger than I thought it would be.
It's not a proper visit unless I get you completely lost somewhere within walking distance of my house. Apparently.
First, Chris got sick. In true Chris fashion, he became spectacularly sick within the course of a couple of hours on Thursday, becoming the second sickest I've ever seen him, and then was nearly better by Friday evening. (The sickest I've seen him was when he hallucinated that his blankets were Russians revolutionaries who were trying to overthrow him.) I got to go guest lecture at his school on Friday while he stayed on the couch and watched Wrath of Khan.
Then, I did the two guest lectures on Friday and Monday. The kids were excited and so fun, and asked better questions than a lot of university students do. And when I brought up the slide with the most important words that we were going to recite together ("HITLER WAS NEVER ELECTED"), they (and Derek, their teacher) all shouted out the words that Chris taught them: "Hitler was elected in a free and democratic election!" As revenge, I told them to tell Chris that they don't believe in photosynthesis.
And THEN, Chris's brother (who I fondly call "Geoffy") has been here since Saturday morning and is leaving tomorrow. His visit has been simultaneously hilarious and exhausting, especially since he's here for such a short time and he's never been here before. I'm not used to doing more than one thing a day anymore, and we've been booking ourselves solid. (They were whale watching within a couple of hours of Geoff's arrival.) Today's probably been our most relaxed day (Geoff and I spent half the day watching the Olympics), and even today we went walking to Willow's Beach, a walk which resulted in us getting a wee bit lost because we thought we'd explore a bit, and then I got stuck in a rose bush in a park that was much larger than I thought it would be.
It's not a proper visit unless I get you completely lost somewhere within walking distance of my house. Apparently.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Printers and Seals
Last night Chris ran by London Drugs and picked up the Canon printer that I'd picked out. It was neat reading all the different thoughts that you guys have on printers, because they reflect a lot of what I was wrestling through, in trying to decide on what we should get.
Our conclusion, in the end: stick with colour inkjet for now. If the only printing we were doing were black-and-white documents (which is most of what I do) we'd switch to laser, because monochromatic laser is much cheaper than colour inkjet. However, we need something a little more multipurpose than that, especially with Chris teaching grades 6-12 science. He doesn't do as much printing as I do, but he needs to be able to print in colour. (And we only have room for one printer.)
On the other hand, we're also going to get the cartridges refilled at least once before replacing them, and I'm following Gillian's advice and I'll keep emailing drafts to my supervisor, so that we don't have to deal with quite as much printing costs.
At the same time, we've been having fun playing around with the 4x6 photo paper that came with the printer (and the photo paper we have kicking around the house), and have been printing off a few wedding and family pictures to frame. They're turning out amazingly, even though the photo printing is just an (admittedly expensive) added bonus.
In other news: Huzzah! Hurrah! I took the afternoon off and hung out with Bronwyn today, since she's in town. We even went to the Oak Bay Marina, and their gigantic seals decided to all make an appearance for us today. They heard us tromping down the walkway and all came over to make eyes at us and do little tricks, in hopes that we brought them food. I apparently should never make plans to go see seals, because on those occasions I can never find any; today we just went on a whim while driving past, and they were all out and being cute.
Sometimes I go for weeks without going to the ocean, and then I forget that I even live on the West Coast. And sometimes I get to see mountains and seals and driftwood, and it feels like I'm on vacation. Four and a half years living in the city, and I still feel like I'm on vacation if I leave the house. (Especially if I go somewhere that isn't just the university or church.)
Our conclusion, in the end: stick with colour inkjet for now. If the only printing we were doing were black-and-white documents (which is most of what I do) we'd switch to laser, because monochromatic laser is much cheaper than colour inkjet. However, we need something a little more multipurpose than that, especially with Chris teaching grades 6-12 science. He doesn't do as much printing as I do, but he needs to be able to print in colour. (And we only have room for one printer.)
On the other hand, we're also going to get the cartridges refilled at least once before replacing them, and I'm following Gillian's advice and I'll keep emailing drafts to my supervisor, so that we don't have to deal with quite as much printing costs.
At the same time, we've been having fun playing around with the 4x6 photo paper that came with the printer (and the photo paper we have kicking around the house), and have been printing off a few wedding and family pictures to frame. They're turning out amazingly, even though the photo printing is just an (admittedly expensive) added bonus.
***
In other news: Huzzah! Hurrah! I took the afternoon off and hung out with Bronwyn today, since she's in town. We even went to the Oak Bay Marina, and their gigantic seals decided to all make an appearance for us today. They heard us tromping down the walkway and all came over to make eyes at us and do little tricks, in hopes that we brought them food. I apparently should never make plans to go see seals, because on those occasions I can never find any; today we just went on a whim while driving past, and they were all out and being cute.
Sometimes I go for weeks without going to the ocean, and then I forget that I even live on the West Coast. And sometimes I get to see mountains and seals and driftwood, and it feels like I'm on vacation. Four and a half years living in the city, and I still feel like I'm on vacation if I leave the house. (Especially if I go somewhere that isn't just the university or church.)
Friday, February 05, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Five small reflections on my week
These could have five small blog posts, but I kept procrastinating. And so you get them all at once.
OneAs we walked to the car, Chris said, "He was the friendliest of the hobbits." And then said that he would love to have a shop like that (albeit with higher ceilings).
Two
I went to a Christian-graduate-student small group this week, and there I met a fellow PhD student from my department, whom I'd never met before. And he's in his second year. Everyone was all, "Oh well of course you both probably know each other, considering the fact that you share an office..." I've heard his name before, and he knows a few of my friends, but I've somehow gone for a year and a half without meeting one of our PhDs. I should probably show up on campus a little more often.(It was really funny, because we were all talking about how easy it is to become completely isolated on campus, and how most of us have only met people in our own department since we've moved here. But apparently I haven't even met everyone who shares my office!)
Three
I find myself fascinated by the Microsoft OneNote website, and all the information about the newest version of Office being released this year. I seriously love that program; I spend more time using it than I do Word, because it works as if I had a stack of notebooks for my research and my comps reading notes, but also all my recipes and notes-to-self, but searchable and not a complete mess (as my life was when I was relying on physical notebooks).I find it strange that I am rhapsodizing about a Microsoft product, while all my friends and family seem to be going full-out Apple. (I was amused when I found a Lifehacker review saying the same thing, but in more detail.)
Four
I went a little overboard on the "but if we buy four it's cheaper!" school of grocery shopping today. Does anyone have a good recipe that calls for chickpeas? (Other than hummus? I already have a good one of those.) I find myself with five cans of chickpeas. And so very many cans of whole tomatoes.Five
I went to a talk given by a huge name in my field (seriously: he changed everything). It's nice to find out that someone who is your hero is also a nice person. (I also found out from a friend that another Big Name has a "prickly" personality, and this I find funny.)It was also good to take off the "Writing My Dissertation" cardigan and put on my "Going to a Conference" blazer, and think of myself as a little bit ambitious for a while. (And stop mentally putting the word "just" in front of my description of my research.)
Monday, January 25, 2010
This city is funny
I love the sort of city Victoria is, with its Mom-and-Pop businesses. I decided not to bother dealing with KitchenAid for fixing my mixer, because I knew I would have to pay for shipping the appliance and then for the repair on top of that, since the warranty has expired. So, I decided to track down a local small appliance repair shop.
Unfortunately, the place that all my initial research pointed to -- the awesomely-1950s-named "ABC Electric" -- has recently closed down. (One of the repair guys I talked to today was mourning the loss of ABC Electric. Apparently, they were going to fix his shaver for him but then they closed.)
So, I decided to take a shot in the dark: I picked a place that said it repaired restaurant and bakery equipment, hoping that they'd at least be able to give me a lead. In classic Victoria style, the place I found was called Mark's, and I talked to Mark himself on the phone. Mark told me that he dealt with commercial equipment and charged accordingly, and that he's been sending most mixers (including commercial ones) to an appliance place called Derek's. I phoned Derek's and spoke with Derek himself. Derek said he now sends all his KA mixers to a repair guy named Tommy, who operates out of a shop in his garage, over by the navy base. I've now talked to Tommy, who has set up an appointment for us to drop off the mixer at his place on Saturday morning, on our way out to the grocery store nearby.
I love this city: all of the region's mixers are serviced by a man named Tommy who operates out of his home and only takes cash or cheques. But he's trusted by all the repair guys in town, won't over-charge me, is really friendly, and was able to make a pretty safe guess about what went wrong in the mixer and what it will cost to repair.
I think I like this way of doing business.
Unfortunately, the place that all my initial research pointed to -- the awesomely-1950s-named "ABC Electric" -- has recently closed down. (One of the repair guys I talked to today was mourning the loss of ABC Electric. Apparently, they were going to fix his shaver for him but then they closed.)
So, I decided to take a shot in the dark: I picked a place that said it repaired restaurant and bakery equipment, hoping that they'd at least be able to give me a lead. In classic Victoria style, the place I found was called Mark's, and I talked to Mark himself on the phone. Mark told me that he dealt with commercial equipment and charged accordingly, and that he's been sending most mixers (including commercial ones) to an appliance place called Derek's. I phoned Derek's and spoke with Derek himself. Derek said he now sends all his KA mixers to a repair guy named Tommy, who operates out of a shop in his garage, over by the navy base. I've now talked to Tommy, who has set up an appointment for us to drop off the mixer at his place on Saturday morning, on our way out to the grocery store nearby.
I love this city: all of the region's mixers are serviced by a man named Tommy who operates out of his home and only takes cash or cheques. But he's trusted by all the repair guys in town, won't over-charge me, is really friendly, and was able to make a pretty safe guess about what went wrong in the mixer and what it will cost to repair.
I think I like this way of doing business.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Eagerly anticipating
My mom and dad are flying out here to visit in early March! We've been scheming about this for a long time, but Dad finally booked the plane tickets on Wednesday and so now we're making definite plans.
I can't begin to explain how excited I am about this. Mom and Dad have only been out here once, four years ago. We had somewhat made plans for them to come the next year (or at least Dad and I did), but then Dad got really sick, and then after his tracheostomy he wasn't sure about all the logistics of traveling with his medical equipment. But now, nearly three years after the trach, Dad has strengthened enough and has gotten used to his medical equipment enough that he's braving the flight out here. It's a pretty big milestone in Dad's recovery, and it makes me happy.
I'm also excited to show my parents Victoria, now that we know the city so much better (when they were last here, we didn't even know that there was a beach within walking distance of our house; they found that for us). I'm worried that, in my excitement, I'll over-plan the week and thus kill my father. And so I'm also trying to plan breaks for Dad, including a day off for him in which he'll hang out with Chris at the house (as it's Chris's Spring Break that week), and I'll take Mom walking downtown and to Chinatown.
I have something to look forward to. And I now know that I'll be taking a week off in early March, and so I'd better work accordingly.
I can't begin to explain how excited I am about this. Mom and Dad have only been out here once, four years ago. We had somewhat made plans for them to come the next year (or at least Dad and I did), but then Dad got really sick, and then after his tracheostomy he wasn't sure about all the logistics of traveling with his medical equipment. But now, nearly three years after the trach, Dad has strengthened enough and has gotten used to his medical equipment enough that he's braving the flight out here. It's a pretty big milestone in Dad's recovery, and it makes me happy.
I'm also excited to show my parents Victoria, now that we know the city so much better (when they were last here, we didn't even know that there was a beach within walking distance of our house; they found that for us). I'm worried that, in my excitement, I'll over-plan the week and thus kill my father. And so I'm also trying to plan breaks for Dad, including a day off for him in which he'll hang out with Chris at the house (as it's Chris's Spring Break that week), and I'll take Mom walking downtown and to Chinatown.
I have something to look forward to. And I now know that I'll be taking a week off in early March, and so I'd better work accordingly.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Laziest Blog Post Ever
My most recent Facebook status: [QoWP] carved pumpkins, ate apples right off a tree, walked to Brentwood Bay and climbed Mount Doug, and then made roasted pepper and carrot soup while watching the Riders game. And is now tired.
I'm pretty sure I just had the most autumn-y day ever. Delightful. (The full Flickr set is here.)
I'm pretty sure I just had the most autumn-y day ever. Delightful. (The full Flickr set is here.)
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Talking about the weather
Right now it is beautifully sunny outside, as it has been for the past several days. I just looked at the weather forecast, where I found a whole row of rain clouds:
I strongly suspect that the West Coast's rainy season is imminent. Should I forget about the housework and spend the rest of the day laying in the middle of the backyard, enjoying every last second of the sunshine before it's gone? Inquiring minds want to know.
I strongly suspect that the West Coast's rainy season is imminent. Should I forget about the housework and spend the rest of the day laying in the middle of the backyard, enjoying every last second of the sunshine before it's gone? Inquiring minds want to know.
Saturday, August 08, 2009
The upside to a cloudy day
When we were getting ready to come back to Victoria, the West Coast was going through a crazy heat wave. As we weren't getting any summer weather in Regina, I was starting to dream of everything I'd do in the Real Summer Weather when I got back here: most of it involved going to the beach.
It turned out that we brought the cold and rain back with us (which is good, because the BC interior needed that rain). But we also brought a cooler full of fresh fruit, which we picked up in Salmon Arm.
My original intention was to spend this weekend in my bathing suit. Instead, I'm experimenting with making apricot-cherry pie. And that's just fine by me. (I'll take pictures when it's all done.)
It turned out that we brought the cold and rain back with us (which is good, because the BC interior needed that rain). But we also brought a cooler full of fresh fruit, which we picked up in Salmon Arm.
My original intention was to spend this weekend in my bathing suit. Instead, I'm experimenting with making apricot-cherry pie. And that's just fine by me. (I'll take pictures when it's all done.)
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