the stars were bright, fernando Poor froo. She's having a bit of an odd vacation this week. After our "friend" Rat was dumped by his girlfriend and had already paid for a cruise to the Bahamas, he wanted to find someone to take her place. froo agreed to go with him. Then Rat and the girl got back together, so he retracted the offer to froo. She had already purchased a plane ticket to Florida, but he said he would reimburse her, so she was okay with that.

Round Two. Girl dumps Rat again, and he calls froo re-offering the vacation to her. She still has her plane ticket and agrees to make arrangements. Finds someone to take care of her kitten, books the time off work, arranges for a hotel in Orlando, packs her bags, and gets on a plane.

froo landed safely in Orlando last night, made her way to her hotel, spoke to Rat online who claimed he missed in connection in New York (?) (he was flying from Moncton). He tells her he's got a confirmed seat on a 6 AM flight, will be there.

froo waits and waits for him to show up, figures she'll get on the shuttle to the port, figures she'll get on the cruise ship, figures she'll get a drink and wait by the pool. But Rat was a no-show, and the cruise ship set sail for Coco Cay.

Finally tonight I got in touch with him, and now the story is something about not getting on a stand-by flight from Bangor, and then deciding to go through Houston and getting stuck there. We don't really buy it.

So froo is presently cruising solo (well, with 2400 strangers), and will probably have a fantastic trip. But the whole thing is kinda weird. Nice one, Rat.  | ¶ 11:52 p.m.

  you know I'll take you there I recently acquired the Immaculate Collection by Madonna (her greatest hits) and it's been fun to listen to these "old" favourites. "Papa don't preach", "Into the groove", "Cherish" - they all bring back some random memories. Actually the opening bit of "Vogue" just now made me flash back to high school. froo and I shared the attic as our bedroom (it was an old house, and had stairs going up there); we had our own TV and VCR, and we'd tape videos off MuchMusic, so Vogue was one of those.

It being the attic, it got pretty hot up there in the summertime, so Mom had the good sense to install a ceiling fan for us. It was way up there on the high ceiling, and had these really long chains hanging down to control its operation. I remember we used have Fozzie Bear tied up in one of them. It wasn't a suicide mission - he just liked the view.  | ¶ 10:06 a.m.

  Comments are back! Use 'em.  | ¶ 6:11 p.m.

  when you walk away I count the steps that you take Yesterday I ate a kosher lunch. "My" lawyers (i.e. the two that I work directly for) took me out for a welcome lunch and one of them is Jewish (we will call him "Reuben"), so we hit the Rideau Bakery for some kosher homemade goodness. According to Reuben there aren't a ton of gastronomic selections in Ottawa for the kosher Jew, but this place has a decent soup & sandwich sit-at-the-counter business going.

Most days, however, I'm an Ottawa explorer, strolling the downtown streets and taking in the city life. Spring has settled upon us just in time, so the weather is nice for walking. Since this city is a reasonably popular tourist destination, downtown feels somewhat geared to the visitor. There are lots of "chip stands" - converted motor-home-type vehicles with a walk-up order window and a full kitchen inside for preparing hot dogs and poutines for the hungry traveller - and an abundance of sidewalk restaurants and coffee shops, too. Since I'm still squeezing the last penny out of my bank account until I'm a paid employee again (payday is soon!), I'm avoiding anything resembling a store that might cause me to covet things. It's been depressing enough not to be able to spend any significant money on myself, no need to cause torture by shopping, eh.

One indulgence I might permit myself now and then is a poutine. It's a funny thing, this poutine business, in central Canada. They're just so serious about cheese here! For example, today I was perusing the wares offered by "Rosie's Deli" in the lobby of my building, and noticed that little bags of cheese curds were among the items available. They were beside the pre-packaged fruit and veggie snack plates, as though you pick them up for a snack..? And in other news, I was reading an interesting story in the Ottawa Citizen today about introducing the delicacy to New Yorkers:

But people have also been flocking to the gastropub at Seventh Avenue and Little West 12th Street to sample something comfortably familiar to Canadians, yet utterly foreign to the palates of fashionable New Yorkers: poutine.

Today I let Rosie make me a turkey sandwich for lunch. What did you eat?  | ¶ 7:04 p.m.

  the higher you climb, the better it gets; you will see things you'll never forget To soak up some of the spectacular weather we're having here, Devin and I headed down to the Byward Market for coffees and sight-seeing this morning (some pics here). The market isn't fully operational yet - the streets aren't completely shut down to traffic - but there are already plenty of booths and stalls with vendors selling their wares. I was amazed at the deals on fresh produce, so we picked up some peppers, lettuce and strawberries, all at super-cheap prices. These cuties were doing some entertaining, too:

  | ¶ 11:51 p.m.

  when I see you smile, it takes me back What a contrast today compared to Monday morning. That day was awful - crazy slushy snow and lake-sized puddles. And today? A beautiful twenty-two degrees and gloriously sunny - truly summer-y feeling. And to think I was contemplating visiting snowy Calgary this weekend; I've postponed that trip a couple weeks until they can decide to bring in some summertime for me.

My life in Ottawa thus far has consisted of limited exposure to downtown worklife, so since the weather turned nice on Wednesday, I've been spending my lunch hours wandering the streets near my building, discovering sandwich shops, fast food joints, and noting the locations of coffee shops, cool-looking restaurants, and dry cleaners. It's been kinda fun to explore downtown and get away from the learning saturation of the new job.

Today after froo and I were discussing the weather and she sent me an awful glimpse of winter-y Calgary on a webcam, I did a quick search for a local Ottawa camera and found one pointed at Parliament Hill. I told her I'd get over there and wave, so give me fifteen minutes and try to find me.

It took me a little longer than fifteen minutes to get there, but I gave her a shout when I made my way on to the lawn in front of the building, and she tried to find me on the webcam. I didn't realize I'd be so small and dark (the camera is obviously very high and pretty far back), so I probably looked a little odd trying to get myself in a position where she could actually identify me. I even took off my dark sweater.

"I'm wearing a white t-shirt and carrying a red bag!"
"Can you lie down or something?"
"Um, okay."

I'm the little white dot in the far left corner. She's got a few more silly shots of my progress across the grass here.

[/dork!]  | ¶ 9:35 p.m.

  this point of view is nothing that I'm used to I know you've all been dying to hear about my job. (Uh-huh, right.)

As mentioned earlier, I'm not working for securities lawyers this time around, so it's completely unfamiliar territory to me. I'll be able to explain it better later, but my rough understanding of it so far is that we act as the mediator between Health Canada and people or companies producing goods for market, be it in the area of natural products, health supplements, or even cosmetics. We assist with their Product License Application and then facilitate the "dialogue" that ensues between the parties as they negotiate the ingredients, health claims, labelling, etc. It could be a potentially interesting area to learn about. We'll see.

I didn't really enjoy my first two days on the job. It was pretty overwhelming, especially given that the lady before me (who was informed of her fate while I was in training on Monday morning) had fallen so far behind in her filing that there is about a six-month backlog of paperwork to sort through and file. Nobody really knows what kind of system she had, if any, and where to tackle the project anew. Filing is not my forte either, but since I know they fire people for failing to keep up, I'll be sure to be a little more on top of things. Go, me.

The firm has policies on everything from perfume-wearing to blogging, so I'll be pretty tight-lipped about things. Today was a better day, though. The people seem nice.  | ¶ 11:32 p.m.

  sing until the sun came out The weather down here is crazy! What's with the late-April soggy blizzard? When I got to work this morning, the bottoms of my pants were so wet they made a slapping noise against my boots when I walked. I wasn't quite prepared for the ankle-deep puddles I encountered on Elgin Street this morning, and seriously, that one I could not find a path around, so I just waded through. Jeepers, eh.

Also! What's with the Sunday night fire alarms in the rain..? Salsa was not loving the blaring alarm last night. The poor little cat came whipping down the hall so fast she bashed her hip into the door of my bedroom as she frantically searched for a place to hide. Normally she wouldn't be pleased to be put in her carrier-device and transported outside in the windy, rainy evening, but in this case it meant getting away from the piercing blast of fire alarm, so she was surprisingly calm about the whole thing.

I know there's been an over-abundance of cat posts lately, but I have to say that my beloved pet is acting so much more like her old self since her surgery, it's just so nice to see. Her tooth had been infected for several months, and I guess it was affecting her behaviour. I feel like a bad mother for not having attended to it sooner, but when they tell you it could be close to $1,000 to yank out a tooth, you have to stop and think. Luckily froo cares about cats, too, and lent my baby some money for the procedure. The result is a much happier, healthier cat, with renewed curiosity and playfulness, and even eyes with new life.

We keep finding her exploring new spaces, like a kitten would. Last night it was this fun perching spot on my desk. Silly Sals!  | ¶ 7:11 p.m.

  and we'll collect the moments one by one Scott hosted a year-end poker game on Friday night, so Devin, Bridget and I formed the Ottawa crew who made the trip down to join the Bishop's contingent. There I am in my ultra-stealthy poker-playing cowboy hat. It was a fun evening with plenty of munchies and beers. I almost won the first game, but not the second.

It's kind of interesting hanging out at Scott's place in the middle of the country, 'cause you never know what critters you're going to see lurking outside his patio doors looking for snacks. At one point I got up to fetch myself a fresh beer and saw the black claws of a raccoon looking for his marshmallows (Scott spoils those guys with sugar-y snacks). In the morning it was a squirrel and several blue jays taking turns grabbing peanuts. Devin got a few good photos of them if you want to see his set here.

On our way back from North Hatley on Saturday Devin and I found mistakenly found ourselves in an odd spot: driving around the track they use for the Grand Prix in Montreal. We were stopping for some quick sightseeing in Montreal and were trying to find the way to the waterfront area, the Old Montreal part of town. We must have taken a wrong turn and were suddenly stuck on a bridge heading toward the island with the racetrack. Judging by the amount of cyclists on the island, it appears that they open the track for recreational use. They also have a bazillion speed limit signs reminding you to observe the 30 kilometres-per-hour restriction. I wonder if they get any yahoos down there getting a bit crazy on the track now and then. It was kinda fun.  | ¶ 11:15 p.m.

  it's okay when there's nothing more to say to me I busted my knee last weekend. I was all on schedule, all keen to do my long run, decided to do it Saturday instead of Sunday, since adding a kilometre every week seems to take a 2-day toll on me. So I headed out Saturday evening to run my 9K loop. I was slow, never really got into a rhythm, and my knee was hurting. I don't usually think too much of the discomfort because my knees are kinda ruined from my basketball days and they pretty much always hurt. But yeah, I woke up Sunday and could barely walk. Same thing Monday, and the pain has only receded in the tiniest of increments all week. So I completely ignored the schedule this week and did no training. This, just before my 10-K weekend. Good thing I never signed up for that race..!

Anyway, I'm not terribly disappointed with being pushed back a week in my schedule. I take this as a signal from my body that I needed to rest up a bit. I might add more yoga to my training and pay more attention to my knees when they scream at me.

I'm starting work on Monday, so it's my last weekend of "freedom". I'm going to be working for some seemingly cool lawyers at a big law firm. The big news is that I'm branching out of my usual niche in the securities law field and moving into more commercial and regulatory stuff, whatever that entails. Should be interesting.  | ¶ 12:21 p.m.

  I'm the question and you're of course the answer In keeping with the annual celebration of our 30th birthday (the roadtrip extravaganza, don't you know), froo headed West from Calgary last weekend without me. While I was on cat-nurse duty, she chaperoned our niece Caia on a drive to Vancouver to visit some big fishies. It was a fulfillment of a Christmas gift commitment of an "adventure with Dani" that translated into a visit with Uncle Kris and a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium.

When I saw her photoset, I have to admit I was a little jealous. Apparently the Vancouver area enjoyed some nice twenty-degree temperatures all weekend, so while other areas of Canada (including Ottawa and Calgary) unwittingly re-visited winter for Easter, froo and Caia visited the beach...! It looks like they had a nice time visiting Kris and Tannis and petting the big whale.  | ¶ 11:57 p.m.

  you're the only one that will stay the same I don't know if I'm late to the game but it seems like me and a bazillion people from my past and present are just now discovering the wonders of Facebook. If you aren't familiar, it's one of those "networking" sites that lets you connect with "friends" based on details you give from your own email address books, the schools you attended, and other affiliations you have. You can even scroll through the friends lists of other people and make contact with people you may not have thought about in years. It's a bit trippy, honestly. I'm exchanging emails with people I know from elementary school, from random summers between university semesters, or even the odd person that I've touched base with now and then but haven't really talked to all that much.

I think most people are finding that the cool thing about the site is how easy it is to get set up. You don't have to write blurbs about yourself, you can join "groups" like "Moncton High School grad class 1992" (that's me, y'all), or even the silly "I judge you when you use poor grammar". You can upload a multitude of photos, write on each other's "walls", send private messages, and update your status (i.e. "Stacey is being interviewed"). And when you log in, it lets you know what all the people in your networks have added to their profiles, so there's minimal browsing to quickly get filled in.

It's been a long time since I felt part of a community, but I daresay this phenomenon is a brilliant step in creating something akin to a virtual community, in addition to connecting you to parts of your past you left behind (willingly or not). Pretty nifty.  | ¶ 8:48 p.m.

  sweet song of a summertime storm Okay, I'm so not in Calgary anymore. All of the malls in Ottawa are closed today! Out in Calgary, the capitalist centre of Canada, you can shop just about any holiday, including New Year's Day. I wonder what everyone does around here - are they all in church?

I'm sort of stuck close to home this weekend nursing my cat back to health. They ended up having to extract four of Salsa's teeth, so she's on some pretty serious pain medication (codeine every eight hours), in addition to antibiotics to ward off infection. They had her on an IV right up until I picked her up, so when we got home she was wobbling around the house drunk-like. Watching that was a bit heartbreaking for me - I just ache for animals in pain. She's also pretty raspy after being intubated for the surgery, so she's not as vocal as usual, and even her purring sounds off-key.

Anyway, enough with the cat business. I think it's time to tackle some spring cleaning. With school coming to an end and me starting work (in a week), I can put away my books and dust off my office clothes  | ¶ 9:50 a.m.

  come on and we'll sing, like we were free
Salsa is taking another trip to the vet in the morning. She's having minor surgery to have her teeth taken care of, so please send your prayers out for my kitty cat.

Update, 2:23 PM: The vet said the surgery went well. Phshew!  | ¶ 11:22 p.m.

  you're running for your life, you're a shooting star I had a very nice birthday celebration on Monday. You only turn 33 once, you know, and I think I made the best of it. I heard from everyone in my family either by card or by phone, and Devin did a good job handling the birthday outing. We had debated trying a fancy restaurant for dinner, but when I took a look around my closet, I decided I would wear jeans and make it a Keg night. After enjoying an appetizer of carrot cake at home, I had a lovely steak dinner. The waiter was kind enough to send out a sparkler with my B-52 coffee after dinner, too, so it was all very festive. Some pictures are here.

On Sunday I did my long run of the week, a full 8.2 kilometres! With the weather warming up here, Devin and I have started exploring the river and canal pathways, and I was happy to find that the river paths here are just as nice as the Calgary ones. We jogged along the Rideau River, crossed over and came back the other side. I can't wait for summer when everything is green and lush, and I'm drenched with the humid air (!). I explained to Devin that for me, until my conditioning gets better, these long runs are comparable to a over-indulging in beers, in that the recovery is much longer. I felt good that day, but I swear my mind turns a bit mushy for the two days following a new challenge to my fitness; I walk around rather zombie-like. Ah well.

I'm on track to being ready for a 10-K race being held in Ottawa on April 15, but I'm still debating whether to register. I didn't realize that the organizers of these events take the opportunity to gouge the runners with excessive registration fees (even if the proceeds go to charity..?!). This one is forty-six dollars, and I think that's a tad high, especially given my no-income status right now. I might hold off until I start work in a couple weeks and register for a race in May after receiving a paycheque.

Oh, and that's the other news: I have a job. We'll see if working in Ottawa agrees with me more than student-ing in Ottawa.  | ¶ 1:00 p.m.

 

Froo says: HB Sister!

Don't forget - 4th Annual 30th Bday WestCoast ExtraVaGanZa starts Thursday...
(thanks Kris & Tannis!)

  | ¶ 12:26 p.m.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FROO!  | ¶ 9:48 a.m.

  they build you up only to tear you down Yesterday I took shelter at a nuclear fallout bunker, the so-called "Diefenbunker", located just west of Ottawa near the village of Carp.

My political history prof told our class about the bunker recently, and it sounded intriguing. After this modest-looking entrance into the "blast tunnel", you turn a corner into a four-storey building buried in the ground, designed to withstand the impact of a very big bomb within a certain range, and function as a mini-headquarters of the Canadian government in case of such an event. It was designed to accommodate five-hundred and thirty-five people! I hadn't learned this during the course of my Dief research, but apparently Dief himself refused to visit the place 'cause he was mad that he wouldn't be allowed to bring his wife with him in case of emergency. It's true, we saw the Prime Minister's quarters and his room only had a single bed.

Anyway, it was pretty nifty, if not a little eerie, to check the place out. I wouldn't be able to handle the lack of daylight that place is necessarily subject to. But the facility is quite impressive, indeed a mini-city, including a "gym", an impressive cafeteria/restaurant (which was required to serve excellent food in case of an unplanned visit by the PM), a fully-equipped hospital, several de-contamination showers, a radio broadcast centre for the CBC, and the administrative offices required to house and serve the needs of all necessary government departments.

We were given a lot of information by our guide about the engineering specifications of the building. In addition to "floating floors", everything is spring mounted and reinforced to withstand crazy amounts of vibration and force. I didn't take note of the precise details - it was overwhelming and mind-boggling, but more useful in comprehending it all was the mere physical proof of one room in particular, the "Bank of Canada" Vault. This room was itself encased in crazy-thick walls, surrounded by several feet of space on all sides, and had the thickest door I've ever seen, with massive pistons to secure it closed. Since this vault was never used for its intended purpose (holding lots and lots of gold), our guide pointed out that it was now Canada's most secure "storage room".

It's amazing that a multi-million dollar facility such as this was never used for its intended purpose - I mean, it's great that it was never needed, but it's this odd sort of ghost town feeling to visit something like this. The government stopped using it altogether in 1994 and it was scheduled for demolition until a private group bought it and now runs it as a museum. Very educational, and recommended if you are fascinated by history like me.  | ¶ 2:14 p.m.