Back from Hornby
Jun 28, 2010 Family life, Miscellaneous, Outdoors
Hello everyone,
After a week of being “single”, I joined my boys on Hornby Island for a week of holiday. It took me about 8 hours to get there (bus, bus, ferry, bus, bus, ferry, then Zak picked me up on Denman Island and we took the last ferry together) but I made it, and although my son was happy to see me, he hadn’t missed me too much either, which is good.
We had a “restful” week with some more fishing (I was in the canoe for my son’s second fish, a green ling that was pretty fierce), some wildlife viewing (bald eagles love when we leave fish heads on the beach in front of the cabin for them to pick up) a little bit of hiking, some free store looting (found a few more pajamas for the baby) and a lot of tide pooling. The crab trap Zak bought was a bust – it’s probably just not the right season for crabs, but all we caught was sun stars, HUGE starfish that were really hard to shake out of the cage. It was hard getting our boy in bed before 8 or 8:30 pm, but luckily, we slept in a windowless room and he slept in until 8 or 8:30 almost every morning. Less luckily, the room is also airless and we were warm, warm, warm! But we had a great time with Zak’s family.
Of course since we’ve been back our boy has reversed to waking up at 6:30 or 7, which has not done wonders for his mood. We came home on Saturday just in time for supper, I did three loads of laundry that evening, we unpacked, went to pick strawberries and raspberries on Sunday, and now I’m back at work. We have one more week of holiday planned in Kelowna, and very soon it will be the beginning of my mat leave. Time flies!
I don’t care about hockey…
Apr 16, 2010 Miscellaneous, Rant
In this period of hockey play-offs, I had to come clean. I really don’t care about hockey.
It wasn’t always like that. I followed hockey religiously until May 25, 1995. The day the Nordiques were sold to American interests. Until that day, I had been a huge fan of the Québec team – I watched or listened to every game, I knew the name and the number of every player, I went to as many games as I could afford, I had even worked for the team, although in the very unglamorous position of program seller, which meant mostly dressing in a skirt and putting up with drunk men asking us if they could buy us with the program.
Then my beloved team moved to Colorado. You have to understand that growing up as a fan of the Québec Nordiques meant growing up to hate the Montréal Canadians – it was part of the job description. So I hated Montréal with a passion, and when Québec was left without a team, so was I. I couldn’t possibly start rooting for the devil (Montréal) when I had spent the first 18 years of my life hating it. To make things worse, after years and years of cheering for a team that wasn’t going anywhere, “my” team went on to win the Stanley Cup for Colorado. I was devastated.
Ant that was the end of it. I was without a team, so I found other ways to spend my time. I also grew up and started wondering if professional sports were actually worth all the money and energy people spend on them. Questions started popping into my head, questions like, if all these people spent all that energy to solve the world’s worst problems instead of watching hockey for hours, how much better off would the world be? And with that in mind, I never watched a full hockey game again.
Now it’s playoff season. Both the Canadians and the Canucks won their first game last night. I know that because they talked about it on the news, but I really don’t care. On one hand, I wish the Canucks luck because their successes bring money and ambiance to my town. But they’re not “my” team. They are mercenaries, very well paid to PLAY A GAME! So on the other hand, I kinda wish they lose so we can start talking about something else.
Now I guess I should go buy an umbrella to protect myself from the tomatoes people are going to start throwing at me! And maybe next time I’ll tell you all about how I used to love baseball – until the Montréal Expos were sold to American interests…
Growing up is hard to do…
Dec 10, 2009 Miscellaneous
Having more responsibility at work sometimes suck.
Last week, someone was fired upon my recommendation.
To be fair, it’s been a long time coming, he knew he wasn’t reaching his goals as a trainee, he was given lots of chances to improve and the evaluation I was asked to write was based on pretty objective criteria. I don’t think someone else would have come to different conclusions, and he doesn’t hate me for it.
It still sucks. Especially since this person has tried so hard, wants to succeed so hard, puts in more hours than required and is nice to everyone. Oh, and he’s 60. Hard to find a new job at 60 in this economy. Just before Christmas
Sad day. I feel like crap. But then, probably not as much as he does…
Avertissement de neige
Jan 27, 2009 Français, Miscellaneous
Pour mes lectrices montréalaises et anciennes montréalaises… Vous vous demandez à quoi ça ressemble, à Vancouver, un avertissement de neige?
Ça ressemble à ça (et je suis tout à fait sérieuse) :
Température maximum : 2.6 °C
Température minimum : -6.5 °C
Précipitations : 0 mm
Autrement dit, dès qu’il est possible qu’il neige, on lance un avertissement. Assez cocasse pour les Québécois!
Snow falling in the dark…
Dec 26, 2008 Family life, Miscellaneous
I was walking on the street a few days ago, it was dark and I raised my head to see the white snow falling down against the blackness of the sky. It brought back memories from 20 years ago.
When I was about 10, I was a speek-skater. I would train 3 days a week: Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. Two days inside, in the rink, and one day outside, on the oval. Most speed-skaters are faster on the oval and like it better. There are less turns outside (proportionally for the same distance, as for, say, 400 m you will go around the oval once outside, but 4 times inside). But I was skinny, and what I lacked in strength, I made up for in technical skills. I was better than most at staying close to the blocks in the turns. Outside, there was less technical skill required, so I was at a disadvantage.
And there was the temperature and the wind. In Quebec City, in the winter, we were often freezing, and I get cold easily. So my skating sessions outside were not my favorite, even if Mom would often buy me a lollipop afterward. But there were a few magical moments. There were the medals, of course, and my short trips on the podium. But some moments were simpler and yet they are etched deeper in my memory.
Like the snowfalls. Some evenings, skating outside, I would finish a practice race, short of breath, happy to stand up after crouching down for 400, 800 or 1000 meters. And then, my hands on my hips, trying to catch my breath, I would look up at the sky. And see the white snow fall against the black backdrop of the sky. The snow falling on my head. And that made up for some of the pain.
Elections are coming…
Oct 8, 2008 Environment, Miscellaneous, Rant
The Canadian election is coming and I have a harder time than I wish deciding who to vote for.
I WILL vote. That much is certain. I don’t understand how some people can pass up the right to vote as if this was some unimportant chore that someone else can do for them. Voting gives you the right to complain about your leaders afterward if they’re doing bad. People have died around the world for the right to vote. All WE have to do is get informed beforehand, and then on voting day, get our asses off the couch and vote. That’s not too much to ask.
I am not voting for the Conservatives. That much is easy to decide. I think that Stephen Harper is a dangerous, scary man who sets Canada back years and years in terms of environmental and social policy. I am deeply ashamed of him and of his position on global warming and on crime, to name but a few. Just thinking that he could get a majority gives me hives. I just can’t stand this possibility!
Now who is left? Last election, I voted for the NDP because I really like their candidate, but this time, I’m not so sure. To be fair, I don’t know much about their candidate in my riding. But the NDP’s environmental policy is pretty much that of the Conservatives. And environmentalists around the world have shown that the cap-and-trade system (proned by the NDP) is not as effective as the Liberal’s carbon tax.
If I was in Quebec, I would probably vote for the Bloc Quebecois. But I’m not in Quebec. Enough said.
I would probably vote for the Liberals, even though I don’t like Dion much, because I really like the Green Shift idea an I think that the Liberals would best govern us at this time. The problem is, I really hate the candidate in my riding. She has been here forever, she hasn’t done anything, and last election I saw her at a town hall meeting and her personality really got on my nerves. She arrived (very) late, she acted like a diva… No thanks! She will probably win anyway, though. She always does, and by a landslide. Which means I don’t have to vote for her even though I want the Liberals to win. And that way I will still be able to live with myself the morning after.
The only choice left is the Greens. I don’t agree with some of their social policies, and frankly, I certainly wouldn’t want them to govern the country! But I figure a vote for the Greens would register as a vote for the environment. And that’s the main issue for me right now. I would like to have an Earth to pass on to my son. I really don’t get why people don’t figure this out: sure, the carbon tax may hurt the economy a bit (I’m not even sure that’s true, but let’s pretend it is). The planet’s implosion will hurt more than that, won’t it? We need to protect the Earth, or else there won’t be any economy left to complain about.
So I will most likely vote for the Greens, unless someone convinces me otherwise before next Tuesday. By the way, have you noticed? Tuesday is a full moon. I wonder if Harper is superstitious. Maybe he figures superstitious people won’t want to bring about any change on a full moon. Hopefully we will surprise him. Because if he’s elected with a majority, I’m the one who will turn into a werewolf…
Maybe this time, if Obama is elected, it’s Canadians that will be moving to the States!
Genius idea wanted!
Apr 10, 2008 Family life, Miscellaneous
I am going back to work in less than 4 months now, and although it may seem like it’s still ways away, I know it will be over in the blink of an eye given how fast the past 8 months went by and given that we have tons of projects for the summer. We still don’t have a spot in day care for our son, and likely won’t by the time we need it. So we need to either find a place in a family day care, or one of us would have to stay home.
Which is why we need a genius idea. There seem to be tons of people who come up with a seemingly so simple idea, grow it into a profitable company, get bought out by Google, Microsoft or another major corporation and retire wealthy. We need one of those great ideas so that one of us can stay home with Elliot and yet make enough money to allow us to keep a decent standard of living.
We’re still thinking… If you have one of those crazy good ideas and wish to share, don’t hesitate!