you're so close but still a world away Until I have a little more to say, please enjoy this video of Silky and Salsa. They're gradually mellowing to each other's presence and I often find them hanging out in the same room together (albeit usually five feet away from each other). I sometimes use food to lure them even closer together - they're both little beggars who are highly motivated by food, so it works well. I'm pleased with their progress.

  | ¶ 10:22 p.m.

  some days I'm bursting at the seams with all my half remembered dreams Last night I started randomly searching for extended family members on Facebook. Since everybody and their grandmother is joining FB these days, I wasn't too surprised to see a bunch of my cousins listed too. Anyway, my cousin Kim had the following posted on her wall by one of her friends. You gotta try it.

Go to Google.com
Click on Maps.
Click on "get Directions".
From New York, New York
To Paris, France.
And read line # 24.

If you laugh let me know. I know I did. But for me, it was line #21 - I think it might vary if you use Google.ca. Happy Monday!  | ¶ 9:44 a.m.

  with pride and strength no one would test If you guessed that I was late handing in my term paper again, you'd be right. I'm not so great with academic deadlines these days. It's strange this time, because I've actually done quite a bit of preparation for the paper, and feel comfortable with the material, but just haven't mapped out a writing strategy yet.

The fact that my prof is a pretty rambling and ineffective lecturer has been a blessing and a curse, in that his classes are pretty excruciating, and if you want to grasp the material, you better just teach it to yourself. So that's what I've done. I'm all over the Plato and Augustine stuff, I really am, and maybe you'll understand why I'm having trouble getting started on the actual writing when you read the topic:

At the centre of Augustine’s On Christian Doctrine is the idea that the well-ordered relation of two people – in this case, neighbours – is the building block of political community. Self-consciously and explicitly, Augustine distinguishes this building block from the classical Greek alternative - friendship. Explain how and why Augustine deviates from the Greeks, and what the limits and possibilities of neighbour-love are for him.

The part I'm having trouble with is the notion that Augustine talked about "political community" in a piece called "on CHRISTIAN doctrine". He actually doesn't mention politics. He talks about God. A lot. God this, God that. So I'm going to just extrapolate from his discussion about how you must "love your neighbour as yourself" and no more, and that together the two of you are busy loving God "with all your heart, soul, and mind" in some kind of political (?) community. Or something.

In real life, I quit my job recently. It didn't take long working at the new law firm to be reminded just how you get treated at law firms. Not to paint all lawyers with the same brush, but it just seems like there are always those ones who come out of law school knowing how to rub their assistants the wrong way. I kinda clashed with Reuben and gave myself permission to walk away. Right after I did two straight weeks of nothing but filing...

The job was a good introduction to the Ottawa job market, though, so I've got some momentum (hopefully) and don't plan to be unemployed long. I've embarked on the drawn-out process of applying with the federal government. Silly written tests, multiple-choice French comprehension tests, interviews - here's hoping one of them pans out soon 'cause I'd sure like to join my neighbors in a political community of civil service.  | ¶ 11:01 p.m.

  let go of your heart, let go of your head, and feel it now
Some good luck came into my life last week in the form of a black cat named Silky. With so much talk of furry friends recently after froo's experiences with kitties, Devin and I had cats on the brain. Salsa has been my trusty companion for thirteen years, so we thought maybe another guy or gal would be a good addition.

We made a trip to Petcetera to see if they had anything that caught our eye. Well, the store here has an arrangement with the SPCA of Gatineau to display rescued cats, and there were three mature guys looking for homes. We hadn't really gone into this process envisioning a mature cat, but Silky was sitting in the window as you see in this photo, and she meowed at us through the glass. It was one of those amusing meows that looks fierce and determined but is silent from the observer's side. We felt she was speaking to us, so we went in and paid her a visit. She seemed like a nice young lady, but we weren't going to rush into anything, so we said good-bye and waited a couple days before coming back to bring her home.

She is five years old, and so there was a bit of apprehension about her temperament and habits, and how she would respond to Salsa. So yes, there was a bit of growling and some hissing (more on Salsa's part, I'm sad to say), but things have calmed down for the most part. They aren't exactly buddies, but they are aware of each other's presence and are working on accepting it. I feel bad for Salsa, because she just isn't really comfortable with other cats, so she's mostly been pretty terrified when Silky gets any closer than the distance you see in this pic. But they're gradually making progress and we see them getting ever closer and growing more relaxed as time goes by.

It is kinda fun to have another kitty around. I can tell she had a good home and good people before. We were provided with a bit of background information on her that revealed that she was given up because the owner had a newborn who was allergic, so she doesn't come from a neglectful environment at least, and doesn't have any behavioural issues.

Stay tuned for more Salsa & Silky reports.  | ¶ 11:53 p.m.

  send a little prayer out to ya 'cross the falling dark I'm turning into a massive David Gray fan. He's not new in music, but he's new to me, and wow, he's blowing me away with some of his songs. Here's one of my current favourites, called "the one I love".

  | ¶ 6:41 p.m.

  drag a salted kiss from this cup of bliss
I watched a heartwarming piece on CBC this morning. It was about a couple living in the Eastern Townships in Quebec who found a baby deer on their doorstep one morning, and proceeded to raise it for a couple years. They made every effort to keep him as "wild" as possible; although they let him come into their house (since they had to feed him with a bottle initially), "Hoppy" was mostly encouraged to stay outside as much as possible.

What a great, great thing to have captured on video - images of their "pet" sleeping on a warm bed in the winter months, playing with him in the snow, fitting him with an orange vest in hunting season so he didn't get shot (it worked), and even the deer snuggling up to their other adopted pet, a cat, and the two of them grooming each other (serious cuteness). If you get a chance to see it, tune in to The Lens on CBC for the piece called "Hoppy". Suitable for children, even..!  | ¶ 2:20 p.m.

  don't seem to have that much to show for all the hard work, the sweat and toil This is an excerpt from an article in "Ottawa Magazine" about organic wine, written by this lady (good website). Pretty interesting article, I thought.

Why don't more organic wineries promote the fact on their labels?

In a word, perception. Rightly, most consumers already think of wine as a natural product, though they're likely influenced less by knowledge of winemaking and more by those lovely leafy vineyards pictured on labels and in ads. So although they may seek out organic versions of lettuce, tomatoes, or beef, they don't necessarily think to do so for wine.

Many wineries are cautious about promoting their organic designation. They know that most consumers buy wine on the basis of its taste and quality - the organic part is just a bonus. It's a point of pride for many winemakers that consumers buy their wines for the "right reason": taste, not ideology. Organic wines also have an unfortunate history. In the past, they were perceived (often correctly) as being poorly made and prone to going bad quickly because they lacked preservatives.

As well, many vintners are wary of the red tape and cost required to designate themselves organic. They may not want to lock themselves into just one mode of production - especially in the event of a virulent attack of pests or rot, which might require emergency chemical treatment. In that situation, if an organic winery had to remove the designation from its label, it would be in the awkward situation of having to explain why to its consumers. Further, if a winery has several products and not all are organic, that might reflect badly on the others.

For this complex array of reasons, only a few organic wines actually make a selling point of the fact and highlight it on the label. Most others hide it on the back of the bottle in small print or don't mention it at all.

  | ¶ 1:10 p.m.

  she took a train to a little old town without a name I've never been a big tuna lover, but lately I've been trying the flavoured ones made by Clover Leaf and I have to recommend a flavour to you. It is the Dill & Lemon one - seriously a good snack. And I was surprised that I liked it, 'cause I'm also not one who puts lemon on fish. But they must have got the formula just right on this, because the lemon isn't overpowering. Try it!  | ¶ 12:15 p.m.

  looks like a lonely winter I have been enjoying the heat and humidity of central Canada so far this summer, but I'm a little worried about things to come if it's this hot already and we're only into the middle of June.

At 9:00 this morning it was twenty-nine degrees with the humidity. Now you know why they have air conditioning on some of the city buses. It can get a tad uncomfortable.

But man it's gorgeous. I love how the sky looks on a hazy summer morning. I can almost pretend I'm in Mexico. Cerveza!  | ¶ 9:13 a.m.

  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATE! My little sister Kate turns 16 today. Kate has grown up mainly as an only child, given that her four half-brothers and two half-sisters are old(er) folks ranging in age from 36 to 23, and have mostly lived in different cities for a good chunk of her life. It must be an interesting childhood for her, having all these siblings and not really knowing them very well, and not really seeing them all that much. We pop in for visits now and then but haven't really been a part of her daily experience.

For her 16th birthday, though, we wanted to do something special, and so I rounded up the group via email and we came up with a plan. Every teenager needs a digital camera, right, so froo suggested the creative idea to purchase it in one city, use it to photograph the siblings in that city giving birthday greetings of some sort, then ship it on to the next city. So by the time it was delivered to Kate in Moncton, it was loaded with images and even a video of people from coast to coast who wanted to make the day special. Although there are six of us, we are only dispersed among three cities, so it wasn't terribly chaotic to organize, and it turned out brilliantly. A sampling:

Calgary:




Vancouver:


Ottawa:


The camera was delivered Friday and I hear it was well-received. See the rest of the images here.  | ¶ 11:12 a.m.

  she's a local girl with local scars The other day I was invited to participate in testing for "French as my second language", further to a competition for a job I applied for with the federal government. So I made arrangements to miss work and headed to the test location. I'd been given the room number, so when I arrived and saw a woman waiting for an elevator so I tagged along behind her. It was only once I was in the elevator and the button I pressed didn't light up until she used her security card to authorize the selection that I realized I should have probably stopped at the guard's desk on my way in. Oops.

I said to her, "oh, you need a security pass to get in here?" she said "oui, tu es visiteur?". And I said "oui, I didn't know". By this time we'd arrived at the floor and so I just said "ou est la salle 300?" and she pointed me in the right direction. (Look at me, all practising my French for the test.) I noticed that the other two ladies sitting at the table for the test were wearing noticeable VISITOR badges. Oops.

Whatever, I wrote my two tests. I found out that I don't get tested for my speaking ability until I pass a couple other tests (this one, then an interview). I was trying to score well enough to get classified as an "intermediate" French person. I had to think real hard for some of the questions, but it paid off. I'm not only "intermediate" for reading comprehension, I'm "advanced" for writing. Who knew..!

Anyway, when I went to leave the building, I ran into a problem with the elevator. Nobody was in it to activate it with their security pass, so it wouldn't budge. So I ducked into a stairwell and was able to get into the lobby that way, and I swooped right past the security guard trying to look cool. But while I was in the stairwell, I noticed that the scene from the windows overlooking the alley section behind the building looked very cool and I really wanted to photograph the scene. So I did. Don't tell the government.  | ¶ 11:30 p.m.

  rest in peace

Today Sparky answered the call from cat heaven to go play with all the other kittens. Farewell, mister sparkles.

  | ¶ 8:23 p.m.

  your life hits a wall when your soul isn't fed To begin the month of June, Ottawa is pretending that it's already summer. The humidity is so high that you feel like you're swimming through it, and the temperature feels a full six degrees higher than without it. I don't hate it - after many years in the desert conditions of Alberta I'm trying to soak it up - but it might be getting a tad uncomfortable...

To begin the month of June, Sparky woke up at froo's house this morning exhibiting neurological symptoms that are a result of his condition. It actually sounds pretty scary; he's all wobbly on his skinny legs and having a hard time keeping his balance. froo rushed him to the vet but there's not a lot they can do except resume his interferon treatment (this was supposed to be his week off the stuff), and assess his comfort level to determine whether euthanasia is the most humane thing for him. froo wasn't ready to make a snap decision so she's got him home for the weekend and back on his medication, but it really isn't looking good. Add young Sparkles to your prayers this weekend.

To begin the month of June, Devin, Bridget and I are hitting the road for North Hatley for a summer kickoff poker game at Scott's. I am both organized and disorganized today: not organized enough to be packed before work this morning, but organized enough to get it done on my lunch break (there is excellent transit service to my apartment building from downtown all day long). We're leaving straight from the office.

To begin the month of June, I am planning to dive into my Plato and Augustine reading for a term paper that's due in two weeks. I have to say I don't really enjoy Plato, but I think I knew that from previous exposure to his stuff. I've done enough philosophy to feel more comfortable with Augustine, so that's what I've selected from the six assigned topics to write about. This is the first week where I had two class sessions (three hours each) and it's a bit grueling after a day at work, but I need this class for the degree and I'm determined to stick it out. Pretty soon I'm going to be one seriously educated legal assistant. **sigh**

How is June looking for you?  | ¶ 4:23 p.m.