Hopefully clever comments about life in Vancouver, B.C. as lived by a French girl from Montreal
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
What a relief...
I'm reviewing weather reports for Montreal, the temperature seems to be going back up again. I'm soft-skinned now, I don't think I can handle -20! :-) Only one-day left... I'm leaving tomorrow night, woohoo! Work is almost done, just cleaning up so when I come back in January, I'm ready to tackle the next release.
Another weekend gone by, another week about to start. Fortunately, there are about two other really busy days of work and then I expect Wednesday to be about cleaning up (both my desk and my Inbox) and then on Thursday, I clean up at home, pack my luggage and leave for nine wonderful winter days in Montreal. It's not much of a winter in Vancouver these days, it was 11 degrees today and sunny! Felt more like April and that's what my daffodils seem to think as well. They are starting to grow, next thing I know, I'll have flowers on my balcony in January. Go figure.
On Friday, I got a lift home from Tucker who was in Coquitlam, visiting his step sister who just gave birth to a little girl. The family was happy, mom and baby are doing well. Tucker was also hoping to intercept his new computer, held by Purolator. When his apartment was broken into, that's one of the things they took. Unfortunately, the box was buried somewhere deep in the warehouse and not available for pickup until Monday. We then headed straight to the restaurant, where a big group of friends was having the annual Christmas dinner. We do this one per year, before everyone leaves for the holidays. It was quite fun, but Tucker and I decided to go home afterwards and no go out, we hadn't been home yet and were quite tired.
On Saturday, we did some Christmas shopping (Tucker did most of the shopping, I only had a couple of gifts left to buy). We went to Granville Island and on Granville street and avoided the malls. It was not too busy and quite pleasant. Came back home for a snack and to call in to work (meeting about the upcoming release), then more shopping for a few remaining items. I finally found a winter coat, something not too heavy but warm enough to wear when I'm waiting for the bus. I know you're not supposed to shop for yourself, but this was a necessity! Then, we had another dinner with another friend of Tucker's. Again, came back home early. We must be getting old ;)
Sunday, Tucker took off to finish his Christmas shopping and I stayed at home to do some work. I managed to get in a couple of good hours, which means less will need to be done Monday and Tuesday. Then, we both dressed up and went to see The Nutcracker. This was a gift from Tucker's mom for his birthday. It was a coproduction of the Alberta Ballet and the Ballet of British-Columbia. Quite the evening. And so many familiar orchestra pieces. Thanks Gail!
I'm well over my 40 hours this week, is it Friday yet?
This week has been insane, we're releasing next Wednesday, so things are wrapping up and that usually means cramming two weeks worth of work in seven days. Fortunately, there's a hard stop on the 22nd. If we're not done by then, it's bye, bye until January. The office is shutting down on the 23rd, until January 3. So people can actually have holidays. Good idea. And personally, I wasn't planning to stick around anyways... Is there still snow on the ground?
Flashback to Friday, after lunch. The right side of my mouth has been sore for a few days (new soreness) and as the afternoon progresses, is getting rapidly more inflamed and swelling quite a bit. Colleagues can even notice the difference in my face. So, at 3:30, I call my surgeon and ask for advice. It's not normal for swelling to return one week after the tooth extraction, so he sends a prescription for a more potent antibiotic to my drugstore. When I returned from work, I started with a double dose, prepared my stuff for Whistler and waited for Tucker to pick me up. Well, the ride to Whistler was awful. It was so painful and sore, the swelling was also preventing me from closing my mouth as part of the cheek was coming in between the top and bottom row of teeth. Good times!
This was going to be a day-by-day call type of weekend. Could I go snowboarding? I would have to wait and see how I felt Saturday morning. Unfortunately, not better, so I slept in while Tucker went out to test the slopes. I stayed in bed until noon, watching the movie Chocolat and eating yogourt. Then, I ventured out in the village, managed to get the ski school and equipment rental places to transfer my pre-paid class and rental to another weekend, did a bit of walking around and shopping, then returned to the hotel room around 3. Relaxed a bit more. Tucker arrived around 4, we changed to our bathing suits and went down to the pool and hot tub before his friends, Dennis and Jenn arrived.
By Saturday night, I was feeling a bit better, but still not really able to eat normal quantities of food. I wasn't going to snowboard this weekend, that's for sure. But I was told that I would have probably hated it this weekend. Whistler had lots of snow until Thursday and then Friday, it rained all day and then froze in the evening. Which made the skiing conditions really fast and hard, not good for a beginner snowboarder who falls all the time. I would have hurt myself most probably. So, I took my malaise in stride and decided that at least, I spent a good weekend relaxing. If I had stayed at home, I would have worked.
On Sunday, everyone woke up late and had a breakfast snack at Starbucks. I explored the village for an hour and went to see Bridget Jones 2. Entertaining but nothing to rave about.
Now, we are back in Vancouver. Another insane week at work is about to start. I'm still on antibiotics for at least another 8 days, I'll finish the pills just in time for Christmas!
Tucker's birthday is tomorrow (December 10) and he wanted to spend his birthday weekend snowboarding in Whistler. Who am I to say no? ;) So, after work and a light dinner, we will be heading out for a drive on the Sea-to-Sky. At night it's not impressive, but during a clear day, it's a really scenic drive. It's changing radically every time we drive it, all the road work that is planned on the highway for the 2010 Olympics is mind-boggling. Some sections that were a one-lane, curvy, mountainous road are now straight two-lane roads surrounded by open space. It's amazing how quickly they can blow up rock.
In Whistler, we are staying at Chateau Whistler, very chi-chi. The hotel is fun for its indoors-outdoors pool and hot tubs, especially when it's snowing. Great for après-snow, when you are so sore from riding for the first time this year.
I'm taking two days of lessons, and Tucker is meeting various friends who are coming up for the day on Saturday or Sunday. I only tried snowboarding a couple of times last year and don't feel really confident hitting the slopes. Some more practicing will help me gain confidence (and hopefully, skills). I hope the snow's not too hard, it hurts to fall repeatedly.
Have them recycled for parts instead, with any profit made from the sale of these parts being donated to local food banks.
I read an article about the Phones for Food initiative, and I thought it was a fantastic idea! Spread the word around. Old phones can be dropped off at most Rogers Wireless locations around the country.
I dream of eating solid foods again. Two days after the wisdom teeth removal, the most solid I can handle is overcooked pasta and scrambled eggs. Not a very exciting diet. And pudding seemed like a treat at the beginning, now, it's just too sweet.
On Saturday, I unfortunately missed my cooking class. First, I wasn't going to be able to eat anything we were preparing and second, the meds I am taking are upsetting my stomach so the idea of preparing and smelling food for three hours did not seem appealing whatsoever. So I slept in late, until noon. Maybe I was also really tired. In the afternoon, I went to get my hair done, highlights, lowlights, a cut... three hours later, I was quite pleased with the result. Melissa (my hairdresser) chose some really nice colors. New shades just in time for the holidays. After the hair appointment, I went to see Tucker's new TV: an HDTV-ready 26" flat screen from Toshiba. He is quite pleased with his purchase! Then, we headed out to Jenn and Denn's for dinner. Tucker had told them I could only eat soup, so Jenn made this yummy veggie veloute. How sweet of her. We then played euchre, a card game apparently really popular in Ontario. I had never played, but a few open hands and lots of explaining later, I could manage to follow the game.
Today, we had a brunch with Tucker's mom and his step-family. Great :-) The only items on the menu that I could manage were omelets and smoothies. It's too bad, the hotel where we usually go for brunches has a really nice buffet. Then, a little bit of Christmas shopping but not for very long. I must have had too many smoothies because my left jaw was just killing me. We went back home early, I took my pills and a nap, felt a bit better for dinner. I was adventurous tonight, I had Kraft dinner and canned smoked salmon. Beats another bowl of soup ;)
