Welcome Naomi!

And congratulations Stephen and Dina on the timely delivery of your latest project :-)

She's so beautiful, way to go!!

Milestones

I looked at the date today and realized that yesterday (October 26) was the date when I moved to Vancouver three years ago. And Tuesday, October 25, was when I was hired at my current job three months ago.

I won't say it... I won't say it... (time flies...)

Drenched

It wasn't raining when I made it to the Running Room for our Tuesday clinic, but it was surely coming down hard when we stepped out for our run. 4.5 km in heavy rain gets you... very wet :-) Coming back home on the bus was no fun either.

However, I just learned that the Running Room located 15 minutes away from my place (that's 15 minutes of walking, thank you very much) is also hosting a 1/2 marathon clinic. I e-mailed the store to ask them if I could switch location, the closer clinic starts next Tuesday.

I just can't do it

I cannot wake up at 6:45 on a Sunday morning to meet crazy people who intend on making running painful.

Last night, as I was setting my alarm, I asked myself: why am I doing this? OK, I have my goal of the half-marathon and I enjoy the feeling of keeping fit, but it doesn't have to be so hard. I guess the running sessions are designed with parents in mind, you know, people who have their hands full 24/7 and have to be efficient. That's not me. If I want to sleep in Sunday morning, I should be able to. After all, I work hard during the week, I study in the evening and train regularly. I should be allowed to enjoy my weekend.

So, I decided to pass on Sunday morning runs. And maybe even Wednesday, since they start at 6 p.m. and I can barely make it at the store by 6:15 if I rush home from work. Again, what's with the insane schedule, don't people work?

Today, I still kept on top of my running schedule though... even if I didn't manage to wake up in the wee hours of the morning :-)

Alice Munro and shopping

This was not a bad Saturday.

I started the day at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival, on Granville Island. I had bought a ticket to listen to a talk with Alice Munro. It was delightful, personal, and filled with honest laughter. She's quite the character.

Then, I hopped on the bus going downtown. I had some shopping to do and wanted to hit the big retail stores. I found a couple of things I was looking for, headed back home for lunch, then out again to shop on Granville Street. I found some new shoes, jeans and a shirt. I need new clothes, my wardrobe is a bit depressing.

I'm spending a quiet evening at home. I have a virtual meeting (chat) with my accounting team to work on our assignment for tomorrow. Then, I might watch a few episodes of Desperate Housewives and go to bed early. I have my long run tomorrow morning (7 km) and if I want to meet the running group, I have to be at the Running Room store at 8:30 a.m. Yikes!

I signed up for the Fall Classic again this year. It's on November 20. This will be good for my training, a nice fall 10km race. I ran this race last year and I sure hope they improved the end of the course. There was a short but very steep hill at the very end that just killed me. I was so out of breath I had to walk for a minute before running to the finish line.

Very, very embarrassing...

"Canada is one of the worst environmental performers in the industrialized world, according to a comprehensive new report released today by the David Suzuki Foundation."

Very embarrassing. Please read the report to see how bad we are really doing.

Tips for training and motivation

I started getting back into my running routine, with the hopes of running my first 1/2 marathon in February. However, with the winter coming up and no too much motivation to go out running when it's rainy and dark, I decided to sign up for a clinic at The Running Room. These clinics are quite popular (we have 35 people signed up in the 1/2 marathon clinic) and they help with things such as proper increases in run lengths, nutrition, safety and preventing injury... They also help with a little kick in the but to get you out there running three times per week. There's a clinic every Tuesday (half theory, half short run), a short technical run on Wednesdays (hill training, speed training) and a long run on Sundays.

With all this running, I realized that I will need extra gear if I don't want to do laundry every night :-)

I gave up...

and rented the first DVD for season 1 of Desperate Housewives. It was actually quite clever and funny, I can see what all the hype is about. This is good no-brainer TV, when you need pure entertainment. Loved it! I'll have to pace myself, otherwise I might spend critical studying time watching this show ;)

Not so lucky

At least, when it comes to gambling!

I was invited to the Hastings race track today, first time ever to the horse races. It takes a little while to understand how the bets work (there are all kinds of combinations you can bet on), but I tried my luck for seven of the ten races. Well, I can tell you right now, I have no luck. Not when it comes to gambling, anyways. Seven races, not one dollar won. I didn't bet a lot, I came with $20 to spend (I know, I know... big spender) and I left with $20 less in my pocket. I didn't actually expect to win anything, but it would have been nice to win one time at least. 0 in 7 is a bit hard on the morale, not very encouraging that's for sure.

At least, you are allowed to walk down to track level and you can watch these beautiful animals run. That was very impressive, they run so close to each other, you can feel the rumble when the pack goes by.

Oh goodness! Radio is back!

This morning, when I woke up at 6 to go for a run, I had the pleasure of hearing some of the voices I had been missing since mid August: CBC was back! The luxury, a full 15 minutes of news at the hour and local news every 1/2 past.

Not having a TV means you listen quite a bit to the radio. In the morning, there's Radio Canada Edition Colombie-Britannique, so I remember my French. Then, when I come home, I listen to the news and As It Happens. Even while I'm online for my accounting course, I like to keep the radio in the background. You can imagine how hard it was to not have this regular auditory contact with the world for two months. Good job for negotiating an agreement you guys.

Hopefully, the teachers and the government of BC can also do the same quickly, although it currently seems unlikely. It's an unfortunate situation, a few years back, BC Liberals voted a law making education an essential service (while promising this was not going to take away the right to strike), teachers go on strike in 2005, BC courts say the strike is illegal, forces teachers back to work, teachers say no way Jose and now they are facing huge penalties. In the mean time, 600,000 students cannot go to school and parents are left making all kinds of last-minute arrangements to find someone to look after the kids.

Total change of topic, I went to see The History of Violence last weekend, it made a lot of noise during the Toronto Film Fest, was getting positive reviews... Well, I was not impressed. I could have waited for the DVD. It was not a bad movie, but nothing that left me wanting more or wondering. Not like Crash, another movie that I saw a few weeks back (rental). Crash was an amazing movie, raised all kinds of important yet touchy issues, and the performance of the mostly unknown cast was really touching.

Melissa 1, Turkey 0

Last night's dinner was a success! Eight friends got together to celebrate Thanksgiving and the fall. We had a great time and the turkey turned out really nice. I followed the recipe from TurkeyHelp.com, it was pretty simple and straight forward. Tucker's cookies were also very popular and we tasted three BC white wines, including the very talked about Dirty Laundry Gewurztraminer. With a name like Dirty Laundry, you would think that people would stay away, but after Rob Feenie from the restaurant Lumière bought almost all cases he could get his hands on, it created quite a buzz in the city. I'm pretty sure the Gewurz we had was not the same Feenie bought (the winery has three different Gewurz, we tasted the Woo Woo Vines one), but it had such a pronounced aroma, almost infused with peaches yet not sickenly sweet. I would definitely buy it again.


Say "turkey"!!!

Now what? A half marathon, that's what!

Yes, yes, more silly projects, but they keep me busy and out of trouble. I work better with goals.

I have about 20 weeks to train until the Pacific Runners First Half Marathon in Vancouver. Might seem like a long time, but it's not, considering that I haven't done much running since "The Walk." My shins did hurt quite a bit after "The Walk" and I wanted to avoid injuries. With the return of the cool weather, I need some motivation to go out on a regular basis. Nothing like training on a deadline to get you going. I'm looking around for a good training schedule, something to keep me at the right pace to increase my running all the way to 21km.

Turkey-accessory shopping is almost done, I have my pan (with a rack), a meat thermometer, a baster (squirter?), some recipes (thanks Stephen!)... I have Lara working on appies and a soup, Geri is baking a pumpkin pie and butter tarts, Tucker is making some cookies and is going to help me with stuffing (cooked outside of the turkey, thank you very much). We're all set for a rich and filling dinner. Yum. I'm already looking forward to the leftovers ;)

Anyone with good turkey recipes?

I'm hosting Thanksgiving dinner next Saturday. And I've never cooked a turkey in my life :-) Hurray for experimenting!

Tucker and I normally have Thanksgiving dinner at Jenn & Den's place, but these guys are out of town next weekend. I figured, well, why can't we host our own dinner? I called Lara and Charles, and Gerri, and we now have a good crowd coming over to celebrate fall, friendships, and our fortunate lives. The dinner was originally scheduled for Sunday, but Gerri leaves town Sunday for her last train trip (she's a hostess on board Rocky Mountaineer Train Tours, traveling between Vancouver, the Okanagan, and the Rockies).

So, I reserved my grain-fed, non-medicated 14-pound turkey at Granville Island market, and have already planned the meal with some helpful tips from Tucker. I need to buy a turkey pan and a couple of other turkey-cooking accessories. And I need to find a simple, yet yummy, turkey recipe. Any ideas?