Dirt Roads to City Streets

A blog in search of an identity and a focus.

Name:
Location: Canada

Friday, December 15, 2006

Better than ice cream...

So... here I am. On my day off. At work. Coming up on 6 hours now. I know, I know. Poor me. After all, I dig ditches for a living. Er... shovel coal. No, wait. I chase preschoolers around. Um. Tame lions? No? Right. I copy-and-paste for a living. Right. So, poor me.

Anyway...been here for hours waiting for something that was supposed to need my urgent attention first thing this morning. Uh huh. What-evah. I have used the time productively (right up until I decided to blog, that is!), and now I'm taking a break.

Was supposed to go for lunch with KLT today, which plan done tanked, being as how I'm chained to my computer for the duration. Which sucks on a number of levels, as it's been approximately forever since we got together, plus - lunch. Who doesn't love lunch?

What else has been happening since I last posted (earlier this week! Twice in a week!)... Went for supper with Basia last night, which was fun, as always. She's been sik, which is never fun, but appears to be getting better and all reconnected and stuff, which is also good. She toured my new digs and has plans for the cleansing that needs to happen. Shared with me the inner working of Hippie Foods, which I find fascinating for some reason.

Oh, been meaning to share this. Recently, the city passed a bylaw making it illegal to leave your bodily excretions on the street - spit, urine...the works. Then there was a case where a homeless guy spit into a garbage can and got fined, which seemed a bit harsh. Anyway, I was walking to my parking stall a few nights ago, down a dark and less-than-fresh smelling alley, where I have to watch my step lest I skid in said excretions and there I saw it: the homeless response to the new bylaw. In a fruit box (the kind you get peaches in when you're canning) was a big steaming pile of human do-do. Not on the street - it was in a box. Easy to pick up, if your hobbies include collecting excrement. I wonder if that was a politically-motivated statement, or just an example of 'dude, I gotta go!'. A mystery for the ages, truly.


Last word(s): Gizmodo, The Gadget Guide - Coolest. Site. Ever.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Long time gone...

Okay...been gone a loooooong time, and finally, finally taking a few minutes to update you on what's been happening in Marie-land. This is going to take awhile, so sit down, grab a cuppa, and get comfy.

Big news first: the House!!
Yes, boys and girls. After renting for a zillion years, and moving far too often, I'm finally settling down and buying property of my own, which means, I hope, that I'll have a chance to memorize a postal code before I die. The place has a lot of potential (more, now that Francesco and Christmas have visited and helped me pick wall colours), and I'm putting down all new flooring and painting everything before I move in. And by "I", of course, I mean "people I'm paying". The house has 5 bedrooms, so plenty of room for me and my books, and mom and her stuff. Yes, my mom is moving in with me. I'm hopeful it will work out - she likes to putter and do projects, and I don't, so it means I pay for materials and she makes stuff happen. Plus, it's a bi-level, which means we each have our own space, and it's got a fireplace and a huge backyard (which Max-the-wonderdog will love) that Carriola has already staked out for growing projects (no, she won't be living there, but she does live a handful of blocks away, and she and her kidlets will be frequent visitors). I'm hoping (for reasons I'll explain below) to get into the place by mid-January, and have tentative plans for a house-warming party in early summer. Provided I can get all the boxes unpacked by that point. Fingers crossed. I'm very, very hopeful that I won't be moving again any time soon. I think my personal best as an adult is two-and-a-half-years at the same address. Let's see if I can make it to five years. Oh, and I had the best real estate agent ever, so let me know if you're in the market for someone. Mom never fully settled on an appropriate nickname (although Spike and Double-double were tossed around), she's definitely a keeper.


In related news, especially as relates to the timing of the project, mom is going for surgery at the end of January. It's complicated and not entirely risk-free, but we're all hopeful it will give her back some of the quality of life that has slowly been deteriorating over the past few years. Kellogg is going to take time off to assist mom afterwards, and I think mom's sister is as well, so I'll be breaking in those guest rooms fairly quickly.

Traveling along...
I took a wonderful vacay earlier this fall with my bestest friend Basia. We flew (first-class, baby!) to Boston and spent 10ish days there. It was amazing - the best parts of the trip were the ones we didn't plan for. We both fell in love with Provincetown on Cape Cod, which has to be the most tolerant and left-leaning town in the US. It was almost like being in Canada! ;) We took the opportunity to go whale-watching, which Blew. My. Mind. It was the coolest thing I've ever done. Okay, that sounds like I personal drove the boat and spotted the whales, when in reality I was totally along for the ride. But still! I was braced for sea-sickness and nausea, neither of which appeared, and it was just the best day on the ocean ever. Basia and I ate seafood every day (including once for breakfast, which was actually a little gross), and spent time at Salem, checking out the witchy stuff, and in Salem, NH, where we visited
America's Stonehenge which turned out to be one of the unexpected highlights of the trip. Sure, there was also outlet mall shopping, and buying waaaaaay too many Yankee candles in Maine, but the real highlights were the beaches and wee little out of the way places we discovered. My favourite beach was in Maine - black sand, amazing rocks, flat-flat-flat. We also visited lighthouses and brought home a ton of shells and stones and and and. It was our best vacay yet, and we're already planning next fall's excursion to New Mexico. If I get organized, I'll post some pics.

I'm a real, live girl!
After consulting with my company for a couple of years, I'm finally an employee. Sure, it meant a bit of a pay cut, but they tell me that the benefits are worth it. It's been so long since I worked somewhere with benefits that I'm taking their word for it! About the only change, from a day-to-day perspective, is that I now have an office with a window (it looks into someone else's window, but technically, I could stand really close and look up and see a sliver of sky), and I've got the password for the top-secret bomb shelter. Just kidding. No I'm not. Yes I am. The downside is that Mickelous is now in a different building, and not on the floor directly above me, which means I don't get to see him as much anymore, and his travels mean we don't have the opportunity to carpool. My drive-home bloodpressure thanks him, but I do miss him.


Fortunately, Lisel makes up for his absence by telling me all kinds of things I'm not allowed to share. She also stepped in to badger me (in a much politer fashion than Mickelous ever did) into participating in a cleanse. I'm on Day 7 of 9, and not noticing a great whacking change so far, which is a bit disappointing. If you must cleanse, then you should at least notice that it's happening, other than at mealtimes when you consume a shake instead of something solid. The next two days are going to be spent drinking goo again - it's slightly viscous - about the consistency of liquid plumbr (with only moderately improved taste) and it's not something I'm looking forward to. But, a deal's a deal. I do this and hopefully no one will ever make me do it again. Plus, what was I thinking to be cleansing during the pre-Christmas season? I missed out on all the goodies at the kids' Christmas party on Saturday (all those iced cookies that I eschewed rather than chewed!). Fortunately, I'll be finished in time for the adult party this Saturday, which promises to be its usual barn-burning good time.

Racers ready!
Yes, spending too much time watching Amazing Race this season (I won, in one office pool, and lost in another, thanks to my Hillbillies). I find that the show gives me tremendous opportunities to mock and heckle, which are skills I've spent many years honing. I've not been able to get into Survivor, in spite of the fact that one of my picks (Ozzy) is still in the running for the big bucks. I might not participate in the next pool - if you can't watch your investment, there's really no point.


Other television-related news. Hmmm.. I've really, really cut back this year. Like, to the point where I wonder why I'm spending such an obscene amount of money on cable. Then I remember that when I do watch, I pick up shows on the east-coast channels so I can get my viewing out of the way earlier. I'm still not engaged in either CSI or NCIS, shows which completely dominated my viewing last season. I follow, but rarely watch, Stargate: Atlantis, and have become wild about actor David Hewlett who is amazing. If you haven't already seen it, you must watch this clip on YouTube of him and his dog in his latest movie: A Dog's Breakfast. There's another great clip out there of him wearing nothing more than a rubber ducky, which I also recommend.

Things I haven't done that I meant to, really
I guess you could think of this as an early take on New Year's Resolutions (or just a look back over the year)

  • I'd planned to go for coffee with Apple Pie Dave, and that didn't happen.
  • I planned to call KLT, and it didn't happen (fortunately, she took pity and called me in spite of the threatening overtones of her last message, and we will probably get together before the year is out).
  • I meant to have Nancella redo the floors in my new house (squeee!) but the timing just didn't work out and she's been really great about not doing the work for me, although I continue to feel guilty because it's what I do.
  • I meant to go to Rhode Island on my vacay and didn't, so it remains on my list of places to go when I return to New England, because after having such a great time and seeing absolutely nothing in Boston, I will be returning.
  • I meant to send a card to Ken H. who is fighting cancer so valiantly with the help of his family. I will do that before the season is over.
  • I meant to write a novel in November for NaNoWriMo, but that didn't happen. I got started and promptly realized that spending 20 minutes thinking about it in advance was not the way to go. Next year?
  • I meant to be a better friend to all of the amazing people who put up with me and make every effort to stay in touch when I'm clearly too big of a wanker to do it myself. I'm hoping that living in a new place, with company that keeps me from hermitting, will inspire me to invite people over and entertain a little bit, fer Gawd's sake.
Odds are pretty good I won't blog again in 2006, so if I don't see you before 2007 comes along, have a happy holiday season!